LivePerson Announces Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Results

In the news release, LivePerson Announces Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Results, issued 15-Mar-2023 by LivePerson, Inc. over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that the 14th paragraph should read “For full year 2023 guidance, we expect total revenue to range from $422 million to $436 million or (18)% to (15)% year over year. We also expect Adjusted EBITDA to range from $15 million to $32 million , or a margin of 4% to 7%.” Rather than “For full year 2023 guidance, we expect total revenue to range from $395 million to $410 million or (18.9)% to (2)% year over year. We also expect Adjusted EBITDA to range from $20 million to $38 million , or a margin of 5.1% to 9.3%.” as originally issued inadvertently. The subsequent table titled Full Year 2023 has been updated to reflect the information. The complete, corrected release follows:

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) (“LivePerson” the “Company”, “we” or “us”), a global leader in conversational AI, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Fourth Quarter Highlights

Total revenue was $122.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 1% as compared to the same period last year as the company continues to execute on its plan to exit non-core lines of business. Within total revenue, business operations revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased 1% from the comparable prior-year period to $113.0 million, and revenue from consumer operations decreased 3% from the comparable prior-year period to $9.4 million.

LivePerson signed 90 deals in total for the fourth quarter, consisting of 44 new and 46 existing customer contracts, including 1 seven-figure deal. While the aggregate number of existing customer deals is down year over year, the aggregate number of Enterprise deals is up 21.7% year over year. Trailing-twelve-months average revenue per enterprise and mid-market customer increased 11% for the fourth quarter to $680,000, up from approximately $610,000 for the comparable prior-year period.

“As an AI & Automation company, LivePerson empowers enterprises to harness and leverage proprietary data and Large Language Models to achieve better business outcomes,” said founder and CEO Robert LoCascio. “For the past several years, we have focused on the AI opportunity presented by conversational commerce experiences. I can confidently tell you that we are at the forefront of Conversational AI and leading the enterprise market with our vision to digitize conversations between brands and their consumers. This market sets us up well for significant growth ahead, with a long runway for future growth.  At the same time, we believe the unit economics of our business and our cost initiatives will provide the ingredients for a highly profitable business model. I am very confident in the trajectory that our business is on and believe 2023 will be a strong and pivotal year for the company.”

“Our success in reducing costs last year, coupled with additional cost reductions in the current quarter, is expected to yield double-digit adjusted EBITDA margins and positive free cash flow in our B2B Core beginning in the second quarter,” said John Collins. “We have materially improved the P&L and reallocated resources to focus on the B2B Core, establishing a solid foundation to execute on AI-led growth in the second quarter and beyond, despite expecting a decline of more than $70 million in non-Core revenue year over year, much of which was set in motion by the profitable growth strategy we launched last year.”

Customer Expansion

During the fourth quarter, the Company signed 90 total deals for the quarter, including:

• One of Australia’s largest banks;
• One of the largest personal injury law firms in the U.S.; and
• A leading provider of pension and investment products in Australia.

The Company also expanded business with:

• A top 3 global airline ;
• One of the largest online travel companies; and
• One of the world’s largest online gambling operators.

Additional Information

As previously disclosed, the Company’s subsidiary WildHealth participated in a Medicare demonstration program (the “Program”) during 2022, under which certain non-core services were provided and reimbursed by Medicare.  In November 2022, WildHealth received a notice that Medicare was suspending reimbursements for services rendered under the Program pending further review.   While the Company currently believes that the services rendered under the Program in the fourth quarter of 2022 were valid, in view of the inherent uncertainty as to the timing and amount of further reimbursement for services rendered under the Program, the Company has elected to take a reserve for revenue associated with services delivered under the Program in the fourth quarter of 2022 for which payment has not yet been collected.  Had the Company recognized revenues associated with services delivered under the Program during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, our revenue would have been within the previous guidance ranges for the fourth quarter and full year.

In February 2023, in light of remaining capacity under our 2019 Stock Incentive Plan and to reduce dilution to our stockholders, our board of directors elected to pay accrued 2022 employee bonuses in cash instead of settling those obligations in stock as previously intended (and assumed for purposes of providing our annual and quarterly guidance, as we elected to pay such bonuses in stock for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years).

In calculating our net income (loss) in accordance with GAAP, we accrued $9.2 million for 2022 employee bonuses for the year ended December 31, 2022, which would have been an add-back to Adjusted EBITDA but for the board of directors’ February 2023 decision to settle such bonus in cash. If the Company paid such bonuses in stock, Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022 would have been $(6.9) million.  As such bonuses will now be paid in cash, our stock-based compensation add-back to Adjusted EBITDA has been reduced by $9.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 and reported Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022, giving effect to this change, is $(16.2) million. Had the Company not (1) taken the WildHealth revenue reserve referenced above and (2) elected to pay the 2022 bonus in cash, then adjusted EBITDA would have been within the previous guidance ranges for the fourth quarter and the full year.

Net Loss and Adjusted Operating (Loss) Income

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $41.7 million or $0.55 per share, as compared to a net loss of $49.9 million or $0.70 per share for the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating loss, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $16.1 million, as compared to an $11.4 million adjusted operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted operating (loss) income excludes amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, stock-based compensation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, acquisition costs, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $(5.2) million as compared to $(4.4) million for the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA excludes amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, provision for income taxes, acquisition costs, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures has been provided in the financial tables included in this press release. An explanation of the non-GAAP financial measures and how they are calculated is included below under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company’s cash balance was $391.8 million at December 31, 2022, as compared to $521.8 million at December 31, 2021.

Financial Expectations

The following forward-looking measures and the underlying assumptions involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and actual results may vary materially from these forward-looking measures. The Company does not present a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and non-GAAP gross margin to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (or otherwise present such forward-looking GAAP measures) because it is impractical to forecast certain items without unreasonable efforts due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting, within a reasonable range, the occurrence and financial impact of and the periods in which such items may be recognized. In particular, these non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items, including amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, benefit from income taxes, interest income (expense), and other expense (income), which depend on future events that the Company is unable to predict. Depending on the size of these items, they could have a significant impact on the Company’s GAAP financial results.

For the first quarter of 2023 guidance, we expect total revenue to range from $106 million to $109 million or (18.5%) to (16.1%) year over year.  We also expect Adjusted EBITDA loss to range from $(8) million to $(5.5) million, or a margin of (7.4)% to (5.1)%.   The year over year decrease in revenue and the sequential decrease in adjusted EBITDA are both driven primarily by decreases in non-Core revenue expected beginning in the first quarter including decreasing Gainshare labor and variable revenue and decreasing professional services revenue from healthcare. We also observed smaller-than-expected deal sizes in the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter of 2022, indicating friction in our sales cycle from the macroenvironment. Lower deal sizes in the fourth quarter also negatively impacted our expectations for the first quarter.

For full year 2023 guidance, we expect total revenue to range from $422 million to $436 million or (18)% to (15)% year over year.  We also expect Adjusted EBITDA to range from $15 million to $32 million, or a margin of 4% to 7%.

Consistent with the themes of transparency and focus on B2B Core, we think providing guidance on B2B Core recurring revenue would also be instructive for investors.

For the first quarter of 2023, we expect recurring revenue to range from $80 million to $83 million or (6.9)% to (3.4)% year over year.  For adjusted EBITDA, we expect a loss in the range of $(8.3) million to (5) million, or a margin of (9.6)% to (5.8)%.

For the full year of 2023, we expect recurring revenue to range from $334 million to $347 million or 0% to 4% growth year over year and adjusted EBITDA to range from $27 million to $40 million, or a margin of 7.6% to 10.9%.

On an annualized basis, we expect the B2B Core to exit the year with 16% to 19% adjusted EBITDA margins and 7% to 10% free cash flow margins.

Disaggregated Revenue

Included in the accompanying financial results are revenues disaggregated by revenue source, as follows:

Stock-Based Compensation

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to stock-based compensation, as follows:

Amortization of Purchased Intangibles and Finance Leases 

Included in the accompanying financial results are expenses related to the amortization of purchased intangibles and finance leases, as follows:

Supplemental Fourth Quarter 2022 Presentation

LivePerson will post a presentation providing supplemental information for the fourth quarter 2022 on the investor relations section of the Company’s web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

Earnings Teleconference Information

The Company will discuss its fourth quarter of 2022 financial results during a webcast today, March 15, 2023, at 5:00 PM ET. CEO Robert LoCascio and CFO John Collins will be joined by LivePerson AI team leaders who will share insights about the company’s AI strategy, including product demonstrations and Q&A.

The video webcast can be accessed by logging onto the investor relations events section of the Company’s web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

If you are unable to participate in the live webcast, it will be available for replay until March 29, 2023. To access the replay, please visit the Company’s web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

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