RingCentral, Inc. (RNG) FY 2024 MD&A
This page reproduces the company's own Item 7 MD&A text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed in the section entitled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below and elsewhere in this report, particularly in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included under Part I, Item1A.
This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2024 and 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023. Discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal 2023 as compared to fiscal 2022 is included in Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on February 22, 2024, as amended on April 24, 2024.
Overview
Over the past 25 years, RingCentral has transformed business communications, leading the shift from on-premises legacy communications to the cloud. Today, the company has an AI-powered multi-product portfolio including Unified Communications as a Service (“UCaaS”), Contact Center as a Service (“CCaaS”), Video & Events, and RingSense AI solutions. RingCentral’s core tenets include: a) Trust: We provide communications that businesses can trust with reliability, security, and privacy; b) Innovation: We execute through focused and strategic innovation, setting the bar in the industry for many market firsts; c) Partnerships: We have a diverse set of strategic partners, global service providers, channel partners, and third-party developers. RingCentral is designed for intelligent, connected, and effortless businesses communications, making employee and customer experiences more productive and efficient.
Our flagship cloud-based offerings, RingEX and RingCX, are subscription based and made available at different rates varying by the specific functionalities, services, and number of users. We primarily generate revenues from the sale of subscriptions to our offerings. Our subscription plans have monthly, annual, or multi-year contractual terms. We believe that this flexibility in contract duration is important to meet the different needs of our customers. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, subscriptions revenues accounted for over 90% of our total revenues. The remainder of our revenues are primarily comprised of product revenues from the sale of pre-configured phones and professional services. We do not develop or manufacture physical phones and only offer them as a convenience to our customers. We rely on third-party providers to develop and manufacture these devices and fulfillment partners to successfully serve our customers.
We use our direct inside sales force and indirect sales channels to market our product and our subscription offerings. Our indirect sales channels who sell our solutions consist of:
•Regional and global network of resellers and distributors;
•Global Service Providers and strategic partners who market and sell our RingEX, RingCX or other solutions, including co-branded solutions.
Our revenue has primarily been driven by our flagship RingEX, RingCentral Contact Center, RingCX, and other fees. Our revenue is derived from sales through our direct and indirect sales channels, including resellers and distributors, strategic partners and global service providers. As of December 31, 2024, we had customers from a range of industries, including financial services, education, healthcare, legal services, real estate, retail, technology, insurance, construction, hospitality, and state and local government, among others. For the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, the vast majority of our total revenues were generated in North America.
The growth of our business and our future success depend on many factors, including our ability to expand our customer base, expand our indirect sales channels, continue to innovate, grow revenues from our existing customer base, increase sales and revenues from our existing and new products, expand our distribution channels, and scale internationally.
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We have been actively implementing various measures to enhance operational efficiencies. These include stricter discipline in spending, increased productivity, efficiency gains, and optimizing our go-to-market strategies.
Macroeconomic Conditions and Other Factors
We are subject to risks and exposures caused by the current macroeconomic environment. Macroeconomic factors include persistent inflation, higher interest rates, change in government administration, supply chain disruptions, decreased economic output, geopolitical conflict and fluctuations in currency exchange rates, all of which can cause uncertainty. The overall macroeconomic environment may affect buying behavior from larger customers that could have an adverse impact on our results. We have in the past and may in the future experience lower upsell and increased downsell of additional RingEX (formerly RingCentral MVP) services within our existing base as customers slow hiring and rationalize their employee counts. We continuously monitor the impact of these circumstances on our business and financial results, as well as the overall global economy and geopolitical landscape. The implications of macroeconomic conditions on our business, results of operations and overall financial position, particularly in the long term, remain uncertain.
Key Business Metrics
In addition to United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) and financial measures such as total revenues, gross margin, and cash flows from operations, we review a number of key business metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. We discuss revenues and gross margin under “Results of Operations”, and cash flow from operations and free cash flows under “Liquidity and Capital Resources.” Other key business metrics are discussed below.
Annualized Exit Monthly Recurring Subscriptions
We believe that our Annualized Exit Monthly Recurring Subscriptions (“ARR”) is a leading indicator of our anticipated subscriptions revenues. We believe that trends in revenue are important to understanding the overall health of our business, and we use these trends in order to formulate financial projections and make strategic business decisions. Our ARR equals our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions multiplied by 12. Our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions equals the monthly value of all customer recurring charges at the end of a given month. For example, our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at December 31, 2024 was $207.4 million. As such, our ARR at December 31, 2024 was $2.49 billion compared to $2.33 billion at December 31, 2023.
Net Monthly Subscription Dollar Retention Rate
We believe that our Net Monthly Subscription Dollar Retention Rate provides insight into our ability to retain and grow subscriptions revenue, as well as our customers’ potential long-term value to us. We believe that our ability to retain our customers and expand their use of our solutions over time is a leading indicator of the stability of our revenue base and we use these trends in order to formulate financial projections and make strategic business decisions. We define our Net Monthly Subscription Dollar Retention Rate as (i) one plus (ii) the quotient of Dollar Net Change divided by Average Monthly Recurring Subscriptions.
We define Dollar Net Change as the quotient of (i) the difference of our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the end of a period minus our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the beginning of a period minus our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the end of the period from new customers we added during the period, all divided by (ii) the number of months in the period. We define our Average Monthly Recurring Subscriptions as the average of the Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the beginning and end of the measurement period.
For example, if our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions were $118 at the end of a quarterly period and $100 at the beginning of the period, and $20 at the end of the period from new customers we added during the period, then the Dollar Net Change would be equal to ($0.67), or the amount equal to the difference of $118 minus $100 minus $20, all divided by three months. Our Average Monthly Recurring Subscriptions would equal $109, or the sum of $100 plus $118, divided by two. Our Net Monthly Subscription Dollar Retention Rate would then equal 99.4%, or approximately 99%, or one plus the quotient of the Dollar Net Change divided by the Average Monthly Recurring Subscriptions.
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Our key business metrics for the five quarterly periods ended December 31, 2024 were as follows (dollars in billions, except percentages):
| December 31, 2024 | September 30, 2024 | June 30, 2024 | March 31, 2024 | December 31, 2023 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Monthly Subscription Dollar Retention Rate | 99% | 99% | 99% | 99% | 99% | |||||||||||||
| Annualized Exit Monthly Recurring Subscriptions | $ | 2.49 | $ | 2.48 | $ | 2.43 | $ | 2.37 | $ | 2.33 |
Components of Results of Operations
Revenues
Our revenues for the years presented generally consists of subscriptions and other revenues. Our subscriptions revenue primarily includes recurring fixed plan subscription fees, variable usage-based fees for usage in excess of plan limits, one-time fees, recurring license and other fees, derived from sales through our direct and indirect sales channels, including resellers and distributors, strategic partners and global service providers. We provide subscription services to our customers pursuant to contractual arrangements that range in duration typically from one month to five years. Our subscription services are based on the functionalities and services selected by a customer and may automatically renew for additional periods at the end of the initial subscription term. We believe that this flexibility in contract duration is important to meet the different needs of our customers.
We generally bill our subscription fees in advance. We recognize subscription revenue over the term of the agreement. Amounts billed in excess of revenue recognized for the period are reported as deferred revenue on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
We also generate revenues through sales of our subscriptions and products by resellers, strategic partners, and global service providers. When we control the performance of the contractual obligations, we record the revenues on a gross basis and amounts retained by our resellers are recorded as sales and marketing expense. Our assumption of such control is evidenced when, among other things, we are primarily responsible for the delivery of the service or products, have inventory risk, and have discretion in establishing pricing of the arrangement.
“Other revenues” includes product revenues from the sale of pre-configured phones, and professional services. Product revenue is recognized when the product has been delivered to the customer. Professional services revenue is recognized as and when services are delivered.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Margin
Our cost of subscriptions revenue primarily consists of fees paid to third-party telecommunications providers, network operations, costs to build out and maintain data centers, including co-location fees for the right to place our servers in data centers owned by third parties, depreciation of servers and equipment, along with related utilities and maintenance costs, amortization of acquired technology related intangible assets, personnel costs associated with customer support of the functionality of our platform and data center operations, including share-based compensation expenses, and allocated costs of facilities and information technology.
We define subscriptions gross margins as subscriptions revenue minus the cost of subscriptions revenue expressed as a percentage of subscriptions revenue.
Cost of other revenue is comprised primarily of the cost associated with the purchase of phones, personnel costs for employees and contractors, including share-based compensation expenses, cost of third parties used for professional services, and allocated costs of facilities and information technology.
Operating Expenses
We classify our operating expenses as research and development, sales and marketing, general and administrative expenses, and asset write-down charges.
Our research and development efforts are focused on developing new and expanded features for our solutions, integrations with distributors and other software platforms, and improvements to our backend architecture. Research and
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development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs for employees and contractors, including share-based compensation expenses, and allocated costs of facilities and information technology, software tools and product certification. We expense research and development costs as incurred, except for certain internal-use software development costs that we capitalize. We believe that investment in our products is important for our future growth, and our research and development expenses may fluctuate as a percentage of our total revenues from period to period depending on the timing of these expenses.
Sales and marketing expenses are the largest component of our operating expenses and consist primarily of personnel costs for employees and contractors directly associated with our sales and marketing activities including share-based compensation expenses, internet advertising fees, television, radio and billboard advertising, public relations, commissions paid to employees, resellers and other third parties, amortization of capitalized sales commissions, trade shows, credit card fees, marketing and promotional activities, amortization of acquired customer relationship intangibles, and allocated costs of facilities and information technology. We expect to incur incremental sales and marketing expenses to support our growth while driving cost efficiencies by further optimizing our go-to-market strategies.
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including share-based compensation expenses, for employees and contractors engaged in infrastructure and administrative activities to support the day-to-day operations of our business. Other significant components of general and administrative expenses include professional service fees, allocated costs of facilities and information technology, cost of compliance with certain government-imposed taxes, the costs of legal matters, business acquisition costs, changes in the fair-value of contingent consideration and loss contingencies. We expect the general and administrative expenses to reflect the impact of our operational efficiency measures as we realign our hiring strategies and rationalize our discretionary spending.
Asset write-down charges consist of write-offs related to our assets, including deferred and prepaid sales commission and acquired intangibles balances, whenever events or changes in circumstances have occurred that could indicate the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Interest expenses consist primarily of interest costs on our debt arrangements, as well as amortization of the debt discount and issuance costs in connection with our long-term debt.
Other income (expenses) consist primarily of the following:
•unrealized gains and losses from fair value adjustments on our long-term investments;
•gains and losses on extinguishment of debt relating to the partial repurchase of our convertible notes;
•gains and losses arising from agreements with strategic partners;
•the realized impact on foreign exchange resulting from the settlement of our foreign currency assets and liabilities as well as unrealized impact on foreign exchange resulting from remeasurement of transactions and monetary assets and liabilities denominated in non-functional currencies; and
•interest income from our investments.
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Results of Operations
The following tables set forth selected consolidated statements of operations data and such data as a percentage of total revenues. The historical results presented below are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future period (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| Revenues | ||||||||||
| Subscriptions | $ | 2,297,192 | $ | 2,100,329 | $ | 1,887,756 | ||||
| Other | 103,203 | 102,100 | 100,574 | |||||||
| Total revenues | 2,400,395 | 2,202,429 | 1,988,330 | |||||||
| Cost of revenues | ||||||||||
| Subscriptions | 593,294 | 557,050 | 531,098 | |||||||
| Other | 112,213 | 107,241 | 110,633 | |||||||
| Total cost of revenues | 705,507 | 664,291 | 641,731 | |||||||
| Gross profit | 1,694,888 | 1,538,138 | 1,346,599 | |||||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||||
| Research and development | 329,323 | 335,851 | 362,256 | |||||||
| Sales and marketing | 1,096,448 | 1,068,050 | 1,057,231 | |||||||
| General and administrative | 266,447 | 333,048 | 292,898 | |||||||
| Asset write-down charges | — | — | 283,689 | |||||||
| Total operating expenses | 1,692,218 | 1,736,949 | 1,996,074 | |||||||
| Income (loss) from operations | 2,670 | (198,811) | (649,475) | |||||||
| Other income (expense), net | ||||||||||
| Interest expense | (64,995) | (35,997) | (4,807) | |||||||
| Other income (expense) | 15,100 | 77,963 | (219,771) | |||||||
| Other income (expense), net | (49,895) | 41,966 | (224,578) | |||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (47,225) | (156,845) | (874,053) | |||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 11,063 | 8,395 | 5,113 | |||||||
| Net loss | $ | (58,288) | $ | (165,240) | $ | (879,166) |
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Percentage of Total Revenues*
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||
| Revenues | ||||||||
| Subscriptions | 96 | % | 95 | % | 95 | % | ||
| Other | 4 | 5 | 5 | |||||
| Total revenues | 100 | 100 | 100 | |||||
| Cost of revenues | ||||||||
| Subscriptions | 25 | 25 | 27 | |||||
| Other | 5 | 5 | 6 | |||||
| Total cost of revenues | 29 | 30 | 32 | |||||
| Gross profit | 71 | 70 | 68 | |||||
| Operating expenses | ||||||||
| Research and development | 14 | 15 | 18 | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 46 | 48 | 53 | |||||
| General and administrative | 11 | 15 | 15 | |||||
| Asset write-down charges | — | — | 14 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 70 | 79 | 100 | |||||
| Income (loss) from operations | — | (9) | (33) | |||||
| Other income (expense), net | ||||||||
| Interest expense | (3) | (2) | 0 | |||||
| Other income (expense) | 1 | 4 | (11) | |||||
| Other income (expense), net | (2) | 2 | (11) | |||||
| Loss before income taxes | (2) | (7) | (44) | |||||
| Provision for income taxes | — | — | — | |||||
| Net loss | (2 | %) | (8 | %) | (44 | %) |
* Percentages may not add up due to rounding.
Comparison of Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022:
Revenues
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subscriptions | $ | 2,297,192 | $ | 2,100,329 | $ | 196,863 | 9 | % | $ | 2,100,329 | $ | 1,887,756 | $ | 212,573 | 11 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Other | 103,203 | 102,100 | 1,103 | 1 | % | 102,100 | 100,574 | 1,526 | 2 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenues | $ | 2,400,395 | $ | 2,202,429 | $ | 197,966 | 9 | % | $ | 2,202,429 | $ | 1,988,330 | $ | 214,099 | 11 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of total revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subscriptions | 96 | % | 95 | % | 95 | % | 95 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % |
Subscriptions revenue. Subscriptions revenue increased by $196.9 million, or 9%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. The increase was primarily due to the acquisition of new customers, sale of new products, upsells of RingEX and additional offerings to our existing customer base. Our sales are derived from our direct and indirect sales channels, including resellers, distributors, strategic partners and global service providers.
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Other revenues. Other revenues increased by $1.1 million, or 1%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023, higher device sales as a result of overall growth in business compared to the respective prior year period.
Although we expect to continue to add new customers for our products, including new product sales, and increase the usage of our products for existing customers, we will monitor the macroeconomic factors that could impact customer buying behavior and demand, including contract duration, timing of customer purchases, churn, upsell and down-sell, renewals, payment terms, and credit card declines, all of which could cause variability in our revenue.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Margin
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subscriptions | $ | 593,294 | $ | 557,050 | $ | 36,244 | 7 | % | $ | 557,050 | $ | 531,098 | $ | 25,952 | 5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Other | 112,213 | 107,241 | 4,972 | 5 | % | 107,241 | 110,633 | (3,392) | (3) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total cost of revenues | $ | 705,507 | $ | 664,291 | $ | 41,216 | 6 | % | $ | 664,291 | $ | 641,731 | $ | 22,560 | 4 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of total revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subscriptions | 25 | % | 25 | % | 25 | % | 27 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 5 | % | 5 | % | 5 | % | 6 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross margins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subscriptions | 74 | % | 73 | % | 73 | % | 72 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | (9) | % | (5) | % | (5) | % | (10) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total gross margin % | 71 | % | 70 | % | 70 | % | 68 | % |
Subscription cost of revenues and gross margin. Cost of subscriptions revenues increased by $36.2 million, or 7%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. The higher cost of subscription revenues was primarily due to a $32.9 million increase in third-party costs to support our solution offerings, a $14.3 million increase in infrastructure support costs, and a $5.5 million increase in personnel and contractor costs, partially offset by a $16.9 million decrease in the amortization of our intangible assets.
During fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023, our subscription gross margin remained relatively consistent period over period.
Other cost of revenues and gross margin. Cost of other revenues increased by $5.0 million, or 5%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023, primarily due to an increase in costs associated with phone sales.
We expect to continue investing in our infrastructure and capacity to improve the availability of our offerings, including new products, supporting the growth of both our new and existing customers.
Research and Development
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 329,323 | $ | 335,851 | $ | (6,528) | (2) | % | $ | 335,851 | $ | 362,256 | $ | (26,405) | (7) | % | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of total revenues | 14 | % | 15 | % | 15 | % | 18 | % |
Research and development expenses decreased by $6.5 million, or (2)%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This decline was primarily due to $17.0 million decrease in share-based compensation due to rationalization of stock grants and $8.8 million reduction in professional fees, partially offset by $13.8 million increase in headcount cost and $4.7 million increase in overhead costs.
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We believe that investment in our products is important for our future growth, and our research and development expenses may fluctuate as a percentage of our total revenues from period to period depending on the timing of these expenses.
Sales and Marketing
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | $ | 1,096,448 | $ | 1,068,050 | $ | 28,398 | 3 | % | $ | 1,068,050 | $ | 1,057,231 | $ | 10,819 | 1 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of total revenues | 46 | % | 48 | % | 48 | % | 53 | % |
Sales and marketing expenses increased by $28.4 million, or 3%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This increase was primarily driven by a $52.5 million increase in third-party commissions and an $22.5 million increase in amortization of deferred sales commission costs. These increases were partially offset by a $15.6 million decrease in personnel and contractor costs, primarily due to headcount reductions, $16.6 million decrease in share-based compensation due to rationalization of stock grants, a $9.1 million reduction in advertising and marketing costs driven by disciplined spending, and a $5.3 million reduction in professional fees.
We expect to incur incremental sales and marketing expenses to support our growth while driving cost efficiencies by further optimizing our go-to-market strategies.
General and Administrative
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | $ | 266,447 | $ | 333,048 | $ | (66,601) | (20) | % | $ | 333,048 | $ | 292,898 | $ | 40,150 | 14 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of total revenues | 11 | % | 15 | % | 15 | % | 15 | % |
General and administrative expenses decreased by $66.6 million, or (20)%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This decrease was primarily driven by a $47.9 million reduction in share-based compensation due to rationalization of stock grants, $16.4 million decrease in professional fees, $3.7 million decrease in personnel and contractor costs driven by headcount reductions, and a $4.5 million decrease driven by changes in the fair value of our contingent consideration related to our acquisition of certain assets of Hopin, Inc., partially offset by a $6.1 million increase in overhead costs.
We expect the general and administrative expenses to reflect the impact of our operational efficiency measures as we realign our hiring strategies and rationalize our discretionary spending.
Other Income (Expense), Net
| Year ended December 31, | Year ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2024 | 2023 | $ Change | % Change | 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | $ | (64,995) | $ | (35,997) | $ | (28,998) | 81% | $ | (35,997) | $ | (4,807) | $ | (31,190) | 649% | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense) | 15,100 | 77,963 | (62,863) | (81)% | 77,963 | (219,771) | 297,734 | nm | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | $ | (49,895) | $ | 41,966 | $ | (91,861) | nm | $ | 41,966 | $ | (224,578) | $ | 266,544 | nm |
*nm - not meaningful
Interest expense. Interest expense increased by $29.0 million, or 81%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This increase was mainly attributable to interest incurred under our Credit Agreement and the 2030 Senior Notes that were raised in 2023.
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Other income (expense). Other income decreased by $62.9 million, or (81)%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This decline was primarily due to a $53.4 million reduction in gains from the early extinguishment of debt during the year ended December 31, 2023, a $5.8 million increase in loss on foreign exchange, and a $4.5 million decrease in interest income from our investments, driven from lower interest rates on our money market funds.
Other income and expense, net, can fluctuate in the future due to changes in interest rates on our money market funds, interest expense on our Credit Agreement, and fluctuations in currency exchange rates in the current macroeconomic environment.
Net Loss
Net loss decreased by $107.0 million, or (65)%, during fiscal year 2024 as compared to fiscal year 2023. This decrease was largely due to a $201.5 million reduction in loss from operations, driven by higher subscription revenues and lower operating expenses as a percentage of total revenue. The reduction in operating expenses was achieved through continued disciplined spending, including an $87.6 million decrease in share-based compensation and a $33.5 million reduction in professional fees. These reductions in operating expenses were partially offset by non-operating factors, including a $53.4 million decrease in gains from the early extinguishment of debt, a $29.0 million increase in interest expense related to our Credit Agreement and 2030 Senior Notes, a $5.8 million increase in loss on foreign exchange, and a $4.5 million decrease in interest income from our investments, driven from lower interest rates on our money market funds.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity is a measure of our ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet the short-term and long-term cash requirements of our business operations, and debt obligations as they become due.
We finance our operations primarily through sales to our customers, which could be billed either monthly or annually one year in advance. For customers with annual or multi-year contracts and those who opt for annual invoicing, we generally invoice only one annual period in advance and revenue is deferred for such advanced billings. We also have access to additional liquidity from our Term Loan and Revolving Credit Facility. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $242.8 million and $222.2 million, that included $7.4 million and $1.1 million in restricted cash in the form of a bank deposit for issuance of a foreign bank guarantee, respectively.
Under our share repurchase programs, share repurchases may be made at our discretion from time to time in open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, or other means, subject to a minimum cash balance. The programs do not obligate us to repurchase any specific dollar amount or to acquire any specific number of shares of our Class A Common Stock. The timing and number of any shares repurchased under the programs will depend on a variety of factors, including stock price, trading volume, and general business and market conditions. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased and settled approximately 9.6 million shares of our Class A Common Stock, by paying an aggregate amount of approximately $322.4 million under the plans previously authorized by our Board, which includes $1.2 million in excise taxes paid in the fourth quarter of 2024. As of December 31, 2024, approximately $168.1 million remained authorized and available under our share repurchase programs for future share repurchases. In February 2025, our board of directors authorized an incremental $100.0 million share repurchase, subject to certain limitations. The authorization does not expire. Refer to Note 11, Stockholders’ Deficit and Convertible Preferred Stock and Note 18 – Subsequent Events in the accompanying notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
In June 2024, we completed the acquisition of certain assets of Mitel for $26.3 million paid in cash. Refer to Note 8 - Business Combinations, in the accompanying notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
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The following table sets the current outstanding debt principal and the future payments as of December 31, 2024 (in thousands):
| 2025 Convertible Notes | 2026 Convertible Notes | Term Loan | 2030 Senior Notes | Total | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $ | 161,326 | $ | — | $ | 20,000 | $ | — | $ | 181,326 | ||||||||
| 2026 | — | 609,065 | 20,000 | — | 629,065 | |||||||||||||
| 2027 | — | — | 20,000 | — | 20,000 | |||||||||||||
| 2028 | — | — | 310,000 | — | 310,000 | |||||||||||||
| 2029 onwards | — | — | — | 400,000 | 400,000 | |||||||||||||
| Total principal amount | $ | 161,326 | $ | 609,065 | $ | 370,000 | $ | 400,000 | $ | 1,540,391 |
We have access to additional liquidity of $350.0 million available under our delayed draw-down Term Loan and $225.0 million available under our Revolving Credit Facility. Refer to Note 6, Long-Term Debt, in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding our Credit Agreement, the 2030 Senior Notes and the Convertible Notes. We were in compliance with all debt covenants as of December 31, 2024. We believe that cash flows from our operations, combined with $350 million of incremental capacity on our Term Loan and $225 million on our Revolving Credit Facility, as well as our ability to raise cash through additional financing, will provide adequate liquidity to extinguish our 2025 and 2026 Convertible Notes on a timely basis as contractually required.
We believe that cash flows from our operations, existing liquidity sources as well as capital resources and ability to raise cash through additional financing will satisfy our future cash requirements and obligations for at least the next 12 months. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including revenue growth and costs incurred to support customer growth, acquisitions and expansions, operating expenses, and capital equipment required to support our headcount and in support of our co-location data center facilities, our interest payments for both our Term Loan and 2030 Senior Notes, and the repayment of our 2025 Convertible Notes and/or our 2026 Convertible Notes. Our capital expenditures in future periods are expected to grow in line with our business. We continually evaluate our capital needs and may decide to raise additional capital to fund the growth of our business for general corporate purposes through public or private equity offerings or through additional debt financing. The timing and amount of any such financing requirements will depend on a number of factors, including the maturity dates of our existing debt. We may from time to time seek to refinance certain of our outstanding debt through issuances of new notes or convertible debt, term loans, exchange transactions or debt repurchases. Such issuances, exchanges or repurchases, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, our ability to negotiate acceptable terms, our liquidity position and other factors. Refer to risk factors in Part I, Item 1A in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Cash Flows
The table below provides selected cash flow information for the periods indicated (in thousands):
| Year ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 483,276 | $ | 399,662 | $ | 191,305 | ||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (109,359) | (90,449) | (87,210) | |||||||
| Net cash used in financing activities | (351,081) | (358,018) | (98,218) | |||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes | (2,220) | 1,016 | (3,055) | |||||||
| Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | $ | 20,616 | $ | (47,789) | $ | 2,822 |
Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities is driven by the timing of customer collections, as well as the amount and timing of disbursements to our vendors, the amount of cash we invest in personnel, sales, marketing, innovation and infrastructure costs to support the anticipated growth of our business, and payments under strategic arrangements.
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Net cash provided by operating activities was $483.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The cash flow from operating activities was primarily driven by timing of cash receipts from customers and global service providers, offset by cash payments for personnel-related costs and payments to vendors along with interest payments on our debt obligations.
Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased by $83.6 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. This change reflects working capital impacts resulting from the timing of payments and collections as well as interest payments on our debt obligations.
Net Cash Used In Investing Activities
Our primary investing activities consist of our capital expenditures and expenditures for internal-use software, business acquisitions, and cash paid for intellectual property assets.
Net cash used in investing activities was $109.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This was primarily driven by $80.5 million in capital expenditures, including personnel-related costs associated with the development of internal-use software, and $26.3 million in cash paid for business combinations.
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 increased by $18.9 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. This increase was primarily driven by $11.6 million for business combinations, and $4.8 million in capital expenditures, including personnel-related costs associated with the development of internal-use software.
Net Cash Used In Financing Activities
Our primary financing activities include utilizing cash to repurchase Class A Common Stock under our share repurchase programs, servicing and repaying debt, paying contingent consideration, proceeds from issuance under our stock plans, paying taxes related to these plans, and meeting our existing financing commitments.
Net cash used in financing activities was $351.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This was primarily driven by $322.4 million paid, including excise taxes, to repurchase and retire approximately 9.6 million shares of our Class A Common Stock under our share repurchase program. Additionally, cash outflows included $24.9 million for debt service costs and debt repayments, $10.3 million for contingent consideration, $6.0 million for taxes associated with our stock plans, and $4.3 million to fulfill our existing financing commitments. These expenditures were partially offset by $16.7 million in proceeds from issuance of stock in connection with our stock plans.
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024, decreased by $6.9 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. This decrease was primarily due to a $35.2 million net financing cash outflow during the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 as a result of issuance of new debt and repurchases of convertible notes, partially offset by a $14.9 million increase for debt service costs and repayments, and $11.3 million increase in payments for the repurchase and retirement of our Class A Common Stock.
Free Cash Flow
To supplement our statements of cash flows presented on a GAAP basis, we use non-GAAP measures of cash flows to analyze cash flow generated from our operations. We define free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure, as GAAP net cash provided by (used in) operating activities adjusted for capitalized expenditures that include purchases of property and equipment and capitalized internal-use software. We believe information regarding free cash flow provides useful information to management and investors in understanding the strength of liquidity and available cash. A limitation of the use of free cash flow is that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in our cash balance for the period. Free cash flow should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to cash flows from operations, and should be considered alongside our other GAAP-based financial liquidity performance measures, such as net cash provided by operating activities and our other GAAP financial results.
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The following table presents a reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, for each of the periods presented (in thousands):
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 483,276 | $ | 399,662 | $ | 191,305 | ||||
| Capitalized expenditures | (80,528) | (75,740) | (86,443) | |||||||
| Non-GAAP free cash flow | $ | 402,748 | $ | 323,922 | $ | 104,862 |
Remaining Performance Obligations
We have generally signed new customer contracts with typical subscription terms ranging from one month to five years. At any point in the contract term, there can be amounts allocated to services that we have not yet contractually performed, which constitute our remaining performance obligations. Until we meet our performance obligations, we do not recognize them as revenues in our consolidated financial statements. Our remaining performance obligations exclude contracts with an original expected length of less than one year. Contract revenue as of December 31, 2024 that has not yet been recognized was approximately $2.6 billion.
Deferred Revenue
Deferred revenue primarily consists of the unearned portion of monthly or annual invoiced fees for our subscriptions, which we recognize as revenue in accordance with our revenue recognition policy. For customers with multi-year contracts, we generally invoice for monthly or only one annual subscription period in advance. Therefore, our deferred revenue balance does not capture the full contract value of multi-year contracts. Accordingly, we believe that deferred revenue is not a reliable indicator of future revenues and we do not utilize deferred revenue as a key management metric internally.
Contractual Obligations
The following summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2024 (in thousands):
| Payments due by period | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 year | 1 to 3 years | 3 to 5 years | More than 5 years | Total | ||||||||||||||
| Operating lease obligations (1) | $ | 23,000 | $ | 26,611 | $ | 5,043 | $ | — | $ | 54,654 | ||||||||
| Supplier financing arrangements (2) | 633 | 1,097 | — | — | 1,730 | |||||||||||||
| Principal payments on long-term debt (3) | 181,326 | 649,065 | 310,000 | 400,000 | 1,540,391 | |||||||||||||
| Contractual interest payments on long-term debt (3) | 57,160 | 110,487 | 70,421 | 34,000 | 272,068 | |||||||||||||
| Purchase obligations (4) | 63,758 | 70,121 | 32,409 | — | 166,288 | |||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 325,877 | $ | 857,381 | $ | 417,873 | $ | 434,000 | $ | 2,035,131 |
(1)Represents obligations under non-cancellable lease agreements for our corporate and worldwide offices, and colocation data centers. For more information regarding our lease obligations, refer to Note 9 - Leases included in Part II, Item 8, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
(2)Amounts include established financing arrangements with certain third-party financial institutions and participating suppliers. For more information regarding our supplier financing arrangements, refer to Note 1 - Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies included in Part II, Item 8, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
(3)Represents our principal and contractual interest payments on our long-term debt. For more information regarding our long-term debt, refer to Note 6 - Long-Term Debt included in Part II, Item 8, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
(4)Purchase obligations are primarily related to third-party managed hosting services and represent our non-cancellable open purchase orders and contractual obligations for which we have not received the goods or services as of December 31, 2024.
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Indemnification Obligations
Certain of our agreements with sales agents, resellers and customers include provisions for indemnification against liabilities if our products infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights. To date, we have not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnification provisions and have not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2024.
Contingencies
We are and may be in the future subject to certain legal proceedings and from time to time may be involved in a variety of claims, lawsuits, investigations, and proceedings relating to contractual disputes, intellectual property rights, employment matters, regulatory compliance matters, and other matters relating to various claims that arise in the normal course of business. We record a provision for a liability when we believe that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred, and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount of loss. Such legal proceedings are inherently unpredictable and subject to significant uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Should any of these estimates and assumptions change or prove to be incorrect, it could have a significant impact on our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows.
Refer to Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In many cases, the accounting treatment of a particular transaction is specifically dictated by U.S. GAAP and does not require management’s judgment in its application. In other cases, management’s judgment is required in selecting among available alternative accounting standards that provide for different accounting treatment for similar transactions. The preparation of consolidated financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts we report as assets, liabilities, revenues, costs, and expenses, and affect the related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. In many instances, we could reasonably use different accounting estimates, and in some instances changes in the accounting estimates are reasonably likely to occur from period to period. Accordingly, our actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by our management. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected. A summary of our significant accounting policies is included in Note 1 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, which is incorporated herein by reference. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.
Revenue Recognition
We primarily derive our revenues from subscriptions, sale of products, and professional services. Subscriptions revenue is generally recognized over the period of the subscription contract. Subscription contracts generally allow the customers to terminate their services at any time during the first 30 to 60 days of the subscription period and are charged for the term of usage. Upon cancellation during the termination period, customers receive a pro-rata refund for any amounts paid. After the end of the termination period, the contract is non-cancellable and the customer is obligated to pay for the remaining term of the contract. For sale of products, revenue is recognized when control is transferred. For professional services, revenue is recognized as and when services are rendered.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
For a summary of recent accounting pronouncements and the anticipated effects on our consolidated financial statements, see Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.
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