MARKETWISE, INC. (MKTW)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of operations of MarketWise, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“MarketWise,” “we,” “us,” and “our”), should be read together with our unaudited financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the discussion under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (the “Annual Report”). The following discussion contains forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ significantly from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause future results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section entitled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this report.

Overview

We are a leading multi-brand platform of subscription businesses that provides premium financial research, software, education, and tools for self-directed investors. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality, independent investment research, as well as several software and analytical tools, on a subscription basis.

MarketWise started in 1999 with the simple idea that, if we could publish intelligent, independent, insightful, and in-depth investment research and treat the subscriber the way we would want to be treated, then subscribers would renew their subscriptions and stay with us. Over the years, we have expanded our business into a comprehensive suite of investment research products and solutions. We now produce a diversified product portfolio from a variety of financial research brands such as Stansberry Research, Chaikin Analytics, Altimetry, TradeSmith, InvestorPlace, and Brownstone Research. Our entire investment research product portfolio is 100% digital and channel agnostic, and we offer all of our research across a variety of platforms, including desktop, laptop, and mobile devices, including tablets and mobile phones.

Today, we benefit from the confluence of a leading editorial team, a diverse portfolio of content and brands, and a comprehensive suite of investor-centric tools that appeal to a broad subscriber base.

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Second Quarter 2026 Highlights (1)

▪Total net revenue was $75.8 million in the second quarter 2026(2)

▪Total Billings were $91.2 million in the second quarter 2026, a year-over-year increase of 57%

▪Net loss was $2.6 million in the second quarter 2026

▪Cash from Operating Activities (“CFFO”) was $22.4 million in the second quarter 2026, an increase of $4.6 million compared to the second quarter 2025. On a year to date basis, CFFO improved by $0.8 million compared to first half of 2025.

▪Cash and cash equivalents were $32.9 million as of June 30, 2026, and no debt outstanding

(1) The second quarter 2026 and 2025 results reported herein are unaudited.

(2) Net Revenue (a GAAP measure) represents Billings that are recognized over the term of the subscription, which can be multiple years. Billings are amounts invoiced to customers in the period and is thus indicative of the current operating environment and demand for our products.

The following table presents net cash provided by operating activities, and the related margin as a percentage of net revenue, Adjusted CFFO (as defined below), a non-GAAP measure, and the related margin as a percentage of Billings, and Free Cash Flow, a non-GAAP measure, for each of the periods presented. For more information on our non-GAAP measures, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

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Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

We believe that our growth and future success are dependent upon several factors, including those below and those noted in the “Risk Factors” section in the Annual Report. The key factors below represent significant business opportunities as well as challenges that we must successfully address in order to continue our growth and improve our financial results.

Growing our subscriber base with compelling unit economics. We are highly focused on continuing to acquire new subscribers to support our long-term growth. Our marketing spend is a large driver of new subscriber growth. At the heart of our marketing strategy is our compelling unit economics that combine long-term subscriber relationships, highly scalable content delivery, cost-effective customer acquisition, and high-margin conversions.

Our Paid Subscribers (as defined below) as of December 31, 2025 generated average customer lifetime Billings of approximately $2,031, resulting in a LTV/CAC (as defined below) ratio of approximately 2.0x. For more information on Billings and our LTV/CAC ratio and the components of this ratio, see “Key Business Metrics” and “Definitions of Metrics.”

We adjust our marketing spend to drive efficient and profitable customer acquisition. We can adjust our marketing spend in near real-time, and we monitor costs per acquisition relative to the cart value of the initial subscription.

As of June 30, 2026, our Paid Subscriber base was 400 thousand, an increase of 6 thousand, or 1.5%, from 394 thousand at June 30, 2025. The increase in Paid Subscribers is a result of an increased investment in customer acquisition and direct marketing in the first half 2026 of which we expect to decline in the second half of 2026 as we reduce these investments and focus on monetization of our existing subscriber base.

Our Paid Subscriber base is comprised of subscribers obtained through both direct-to-paid acquisition and free-to-paid conversions. Since 2023, direct-to-paid acquisition has accounted for approximately 48% of our annual Paid Subscriber acquisition, and is largely driven by display ads and targeted email campaigns. Our free subscription products also serve as a significant source of new Paid Subscribers, accounting for approximately 52% of our annual Paid Subscriber acquisition.

Retaining and expanding relationships with existing subscribers. We believe that we have a significant opportunity to expand our relationships with our large base of Active Free and Paid Subscribers. Thanks to the quality of our products, we believe our customers will continue their relationship with us and extend and increase their subscriptions over time. As we deepen our engagement with our subscribers, our customers tend to purchase more and higher-value products. Our ARPU (as defined below) as of June 30, 2026 was $822, which increased by $347, or 73.3% from $474 as of June 30, 2025. For more information on ARPU, see “Key Business Metrics — Average Revenue Per User.”

Our high-value composition rate reflects the percentage of Paid Subscribers that have purchased more than $600 of our products over their lifetime. We believe our high-value composition rate reflects our ability to retain existing subscribers through renewals and our ability to expand our relationship with them when those subscribers purchase higher-value subscriptions. Our ultra high-value composition rate reflects the percentage of Paid Subscribers that have purchased more than $5,000 of our products over their lifetime. We believe our ultra high-value composition rate reflects our ability to successfully build lifetime relationships with our subscribers, often across multiple products and brands. As of June 30, 2026, 60% of our Paid Subscribers were high-value subscribers and 28% of our Paid Subscribers were ultra high-value subscribers.

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Definitions of Metrics

Throughout this discussion and analysis, a number of our financial and operating metrics are referenced which we do not consider to be key business metrics, but which we review to monitor performance, and which we believe may be useful to investors. These are:

High-value composition rate: High-value composition rate is the number of high-valued subscribers divided by Paid Subscribers. High-value subscribers are Paid Subscribers who have purchased greater than $600 in aggregate over their lifetime.

LTV/CAC ratio:

Lifetime Value (“LTV”) represents the average margin on customer lifetime Billings (that is, the estimated cumulative spend across a customer’s lifetime). Customer Acquisition Costs (“CAC”) are comprised of: direct marketing expenses; external revenue share expenses; retention and renewal expenses, copywriting and marketing salaries; telesales salaries and commissions; and customer service commissions.

We calculate LTV/CAC ratio as LTV divided by CAC. We use LTV/CAC ratio because we believe it is a standard metric for subscription-based businesses, and we believe that an LTV/CAC ratio above 3x is considered to be indicative of strong profitability and marketing efficiency. We believe that an increasing LTV per subscriber reflects our existing subscribers recognizing our value proposition, which will expand their relationship with us across our platform over time, either through a combination of additional product purchases or by joining our membership offerings. We believe investors should consider this metric when evaluating our ability to achieve a return on our marketing investment.

Net revenue retention: Net revenue retention is defined as Billings from all prior period cohorts in the current period, divided by all Billings from the prior period. We believe that a high net revenue retention rate is a measure of customer retention and an indicator of the engagement of our subscribers with our products. Investors should consider net revenue retention as an ongoing measure when evaluating our subscribers’ interest in continuing to subscribe to our products and spending more with us over time.

Subscriber count churn rate: Our subscriber count churn rate is defined as the number of paid subscribers who either cancelled or failed to renew all of their paid subscriptions during the period divided by the number of unique paid subscribers at the beginning of the period plus the number of new subscribers obtained during the period. Monthly subscriber count churn rate is defined by the annual subscriber count churn divided by twelve months.

Ultra high-value composition rate: Ultra high-value composition rate is the number of ultra high-valued subscribers divided by Paid Subscribers. Ultra high-value subscribers are Paid Subscribers who have purchased $5,000 in aggregate over their lifetime.

Key Business Metrics

We review the following key business metrics to measure our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We are not aware of any uniform standards for calculating these key

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metrics, which may hinder comparability with other companies who may calculate similarly titled metrics in a different way.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of operations of MarketWise, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“MarketWise,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our”), should be read together with our audited consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 and for each of the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 included elsewhere in this report. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ significantly from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause future results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements” in this report.

Overview

We are a leading multi-brand platform of subscription businesses that provides premium financial research, software, education, and tools for self-directed investors. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality, independent investment research, as well as several software and analytical tools, on a subscription basis.

MarketWise started in 1999 with the simple idea that, if we could publish intelligent, independent, insightful, and in-depth investment research and treat the subscriber the way we would want to be treated, then subscribers would renew their subscriptions and stay with us. Over the years, we have expanded our business into a comprehensive suite of investment research products and solutions. We now produce a diversified product portfolio from a variety of financial research brands such as Stansberry Research, Chaikin Analytics, Altimetry, TradeSmith, InvestorPlace, and Brownstone Research. Our entire investment research product portfolio is 100% digital and channel agnostic, and we offer all of our research across a variety of platforms, including desktop, laptop, and mobile devices, including tablets and mobile phones.

Today, we benefit from the confluence of a leading editorial team, diverse portfolio of content and brands, and a comprehensive suite of investor-centric tools that appeal to a broad subscriber base.

2025 Highlights

▪Paid Subscribers were 374 thousand as of December 31, 2025 compared with 506 thousand as of December 31, 2024

▪Total net revenue was $328.1 million for full year 2025 compared with $408.7 million for full year 2024 (1)

▪Total Billings was $271.2 million for full year 2025 compared with $239.1 million for full year 2024

▪Net income was $64.0 million for full year 2025 compared with $93.1 million for full year 2024

▪Cash from Operating Activities (“CFFO”) was $46.0 million for full year 2025 compared with $(22.2) million for full year 2024

▪Cash and cash equivalents were $70.1 million as of December 31, 2025, and no debt outstanding

(1) Net Revenue (a GAAP measure) represents Billings that are recognized over the term of the subscription, which can be multiple years. Billings are amounts invoiced to customers in the period and is thus indicative of the current operating environment and demand for our products.

The following table presents CFFO, and the related margin as a percentage of net revenue, and Adjusted CFFO (as defined below), a non-GAAP measure, and the related margin as a percentage of Billings, for each of the periods

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presented. For more information on Adjusted CFFO and Adjusted CFFO Margin (as defined below), see “— Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

We believe that our growth and future success are dependent upon several factors, including those below and those noted in the “Risk Factors” section in this report. The key factors below represent significant business opportunities as well as challenges that we must successfully address in order to continue our growth and improve our financial results.

Growing our subscriber base with compelling unit economics. We are highly focused on continuing to acquire new subscribers to support our long-term growth. Our marketing spend is a large driver of new subscriber growth. At the heart of our marketing strategy is our compelling unit economics that combine long-term subscriber relationships, highly scalable content delivery, cost-effective customer acquisition, and high-margin conversions.

Our Paid Subscribers (as defined below) as of December 31, 2025 generated average customer lifetime Billings of approximately $2,031, resulting in a LTV/CAC (as defined below) ratio of approximately 2.0x compared to 1.3x at December 31, 2024. For more information on Billings and our LTV/CAC ratio and the components of this ratio, see “—Key Business Metrics” and “—Definitions of Metrics,”

We adjust our marketing spend to drive efficient and profitable customer acquisition. We can adjust our marketing spend in near real-time, and we monitor costs per acquisition relative to the cart value of the initial subscription.

As of December 31, 2025, our Paid Subscriber base was 374 thousand, down 132 thousand, or 26.0% as compared to 506 thousand at December 31, 2024, primarily related to elevated churn associated with the shutdown of our Legacy Research business. At the time of shutdown, paid Legacy Research subscribers were given replacement subscriptions to other affiliates within MarketWise for at least the duration of their original subscription. These subscribers accounted for 58 thousand or approximately 44% of the overall 132 thousand decrease in the year, with the remainder of the decline primarily coming from lower value subscribers.

Our Paid Subscriber base is comprised of subscribers obtained through both direct-to-paid acquisition and free-to-paid conversions. Since 2023, direct-to-paid acquisition has accounted for approximately 48% of our annual Paid Subscriber acquisition, and is largely driven by display ads and targeted email campaigns. Our free subscription products also serve as a significant source of new Paid Subscribers, accounting for approximately 52% of our annual Paid Subscriber acquisition.

Retaining and expanding relationships with existing subscribers. We believe that we have a significant opportunity to expand our relationships with our large base of Active Free Subscribers and Paid Subscribers. Thanks to the quality of our products, we believe our customers will continue their relationship with us and extend and increase their subscriptions over time. As we deepen our engagement with our subscribers, our customers tend to purchase more and higher-value products. Our ARPU (as defined below) as of December 31,

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2025 was $670, which increased 70.1% from $394 as of December 31, 2024. For more information on ARPU, see “Key Business Metrics — Average Revenue Per User.”

Our high-value composition rate reflects the percentage of Paid Subscribers that have purchased more than $600 of our products over their lifetime. We believe our high-value composition rate reflects our ability to retain existing subscribers through renewals and our ability to expand our relationship with them when those subscribers purchase higher-value subscriptions. Our ultra high-value composition rate reflects the percentage of Paid Subscribers that have purchased more than $5,000 of our products over their lifetime. We believe our ultra high-value composition rate reflects our ability to successfully build lifetime relationships with our subscribers, often across multiple products and brands. As of December 31, 2025, 63% of our Paid Subscribers were high-value subscribers and 30% of our Paid Subscribers were ultra high-value subscribers.

We may face challenges and uncertainty in retaining and expanding relationships with existing subscribers due to the wind-down of operations of Legacy Research announced in February 2024 and any reputational harm associated with misconduct of former employees as discussed in the Risk Factor “Failure to maintain and protect our reputation for trustworthiness and independence may harm our business” included elsewhere in this annual report.

Definitions of Metrics

Throughout this discussion and analysis, a number of our financial and operating metrics are referenced which we do not consider to be key business metrics, but which we review to monitor performance, and which we believe may be useful to investors. These are:

High-value composition rate: High-value composition rate is the number of high-valued subscribers divided by Paid Subscribers. High-value subscribers are Paid Subscribers who have purchased $600 in aggregate over their lifetime.

LTV/CAC ratio: We calculate LTV/CAC ratio as LTV divided by CAC. We use LTV/CAC ratio because it is a standard metric for subscription-based businesses, and we believe that an LTV/CAC ratio above 3x is considered to be indicative of strong profitability and marketing efficiency. We believe that an increasing LTV per subscriber reflects our existing subscribers recognizing our value proposition, which will expand their relationship with us across our platform over time, either through a combination of additional product purchases or by joining our membership offerings. Investors should consider this metric when evaluating our ability to achieve a return on our marketing investment. Lifetime value (“LTV”) represents the average margin on average customer lifetime Billings (that is, the estimated cumulative spend across a customer’s lifetime). Customer acquisition cost (“CAC”) is defined as direct marketing spend, plus external revenue share expense, plus retention and renewal expenses, plus copywriting and marketing salaries, plus telesales salaries and commissions, plus customer service commissions.

Net revenue retention: Net revenue retention is defined as Billings from all prior period cohorts in the current period, divided by all Billings from the prior period. We believe that a high net revenue retention rate is a measure of customer retention and an indicator of the engagement of our subscribers with our products. Investors should consider net revenue retention as an ongoing measure when evaluating our subscribers’ interest in continuing to subscribe to our products and spending more with us over time.

Subscriber count churn rate: Our subscriber count churn rate is defined as the number of paid subscribers who either cancelled or failed to renew all of their paid subscriptions during the period divided by the number of unique paid subscribers at the beginning of the period plus the number of new subscribers obtained during the period. Monthly subscriber count churn rate is defined by the annual subscriber count churn divided by twelve months.

Ultra high-value composition rate: Ultra high-value composition rate is the number of ultra high-valued subscribers divided by Paid Subscribers. Ultra high-value subscribers are Paid Subscribers who have purchased $5,000 in aggregate over their lifetime.

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Key Business Metrics

We review the following key business metrics to measure our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We are not aware of any uniform standards for calculating these key metrics, which may hinder comparability with other companies who may calculate similarly titled metrics in a diff

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