LiveOne Inc. projects full-year EBITDA of $8 million to $10 million following a restructuring effort that included workforce reductions and cost-cutting measures, the audio and entertainment platform said this week.
The company reported first-quarter revenue of more than $19 million and EBITDA exceeding $6 million, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Ellin. LiveOne reduced its workforce to 80 employees from 350 after restructuring operations, removed more than $5 million in liabilities during the quarter, increased net equity by more than $7 million and added $3.3 million in cash, Ellin said during a company presentation following the release of first-quarter results.
PodcastOne, LiveOne’s podcast subsidiary, generated $16 million in quarterly revenue and $1.6 million of EBITDA. The company provided full-year guidance for PodcastOne of $85 million to $90 million in revenue and $8 million to $10 million in EBITDA, compared with $61 million in revenue for the prior year and initial guidance of $68 million to $75 million for the current year, Ellin said.
“The business produced solid results during the quarter,” Ellin said during the presentation, highlighting PodcastOne’s ranking in Podtrac’s top 10 for the past 12 months and its sixth-place ranking among podcasts in the prior month. The platform features shows hosted by Adam Carolla and Jordan Harbinger, as well as true-crime programming developed in partnership with A&E. Dr. Phil was added to the platform approximately three months earlier.
The expansion of PodcastOne’s advertiser base represents a significant scaling of the business. LiveOne increased its advertiser base from approximately 70 advertisers at the time it acquired PodcastOne to more than 500 advertisers, Ellin said. The company also placed its first podcasts on Netflix and noted that major video streaming companies are increasingly entering the podcast market.
LiveOne’s broader platform encompasses diverse revenue streams and distribution partnerships. The company’s Slacker Radio service maintains more than 50 million tracks, over 100 million app downloads, 82 billion listens, more than 400,000 hours of podcast episodes and 500 curated radio stations. During the past six months, LiveOne announced distribution arrangements with LG, Vizio, AT&T and Samsung. The company also signed a four-year contract with one of the world’s largest retailers, though the retailer was not identified.
The platform reported a content library of more than 250,000 hours of video, over 500,000 hours of audio content and more than 1 billion codes. Ellin said the library could create opportunities involving artificial intelligence training models while supporting distribution relationships with Paramount, Amazon, Spotify and Apple. LiveOne is returning to live programming through its partnership with Team Boxing League, which plans to hold more than 60 events annually.
Cost reductions extended to LiveOne’s Custom Personalization Solutions business, described as a money-losing operation affected by the pandemic. The company cut more than 100 positions in that operation and plans to focus the business on celebrity brands connected to LiveOne’s podcast, music and boxing talent. LiveOne partnered with a Chicago-based distributor that assumed distribution and manufacturing functions.
Ellin said LiveOne currently spends no money on marketing and instead seeks to grow through distribution partners that provide audience reach in exchange for access to the company’s content. The company holds 46 patents and continues to add distributors monthly. Looking ahead, management is focused on exceeding $10 million in EBITDA by year-end, expanding revenue beyond $100 million and ultimately targeting revenue exceeding $250 million.
The company also highlighted its approximately $250 million net operating loss carryforward and said it expects artificial intelligence to support both revenue opportunities and cost savings going forward. Ellin noted that LiveOne trades at approximately half of revenue compared with music subscription peers that trade at roughly 2.94 times revenue. The company repurchased more than $7 million of its own stock and acquired an additional 150,000 shares of PodcastOne during the quarter.
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