LinkedIn Announces First Quarter 2015 Results

Published on Apr 30, 2015 Categories: Earnings

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 30, 2015 - LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), the world's largest professional network on the Internet, with more than 350 million members, reported its results for the first quarter of 2015.

Revenue for the first quarter was $638 million, an increase of 35% compared to $473 million in the first quarter of 2014.
Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the first quarter was $43 million, compared to net loss of $13 million for the first quarter of 2014. Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $73 million, compared to $47 million for the first quarter of 2014. Non-GAAP net income excludes tax affected non-cash items, such as stock-based compensation and amortization of acquired intangible assets. For additional information, see section “Non-GAAP Financial Measures."
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $160 million, or 25% of revenue, compared to $117 million for the first quarter of 2014, or 25% of revenue.
GAAP diluted EPS for the first quarter was ($0.34), compared to GAAP diluted EPS of ($0.11) for the first quarter of 2014; non-GAAP diluted EPS for the first quarter was $0.57, compared to non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.38 for the first quarter of 2014.

“Q1 was a solid quarter in which we made meaningful progress against our multi-year strategic roadmap,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “During the quarter, we maintained steady growth in member engagement while achieving strong financial results.”

First Quarter Operating Summary

Talent Solutions: Revenue from Talent Solutions products totaled $396 million, an increase of 36% compared to the first quarter of 2014. Talent Solutions revenue represented 62% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015 and 2014.
Marketing Solutions: Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $119 million, an increase of 38% compared to the first quarter of 2014. Marketing Solutions revenue represented 19% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015, compared to 18% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2014.
Premium Subscriptions: Revenue from Premium Subscriptions products totaled $122 million, an increase of 28% compared to the first quarter of 2014. Premium Subscriptions represented 19% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015, compared to 20% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Revenue from the U.S. totaled $389 million, and represented 61% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015. Revenue from international markets totaled $248 million, and represented 39% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015.

Revenue from the field sales channel totaled $393 million, and represented 62% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015. Revenue from the online channel totaled $244 million, and represented 38% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2015.

First Quarter 2015 Highlights and Strategic Announcements

In the first quarter of 2015, LinkedIn:

Witnessed continued adoption of its professional publishing platform, eclipsing 100,000 member-generated long-form posts for the first time. When combined with SlideShare’s 18 million pieces of unique content, members can increasingly stay informed and discover relevant professional knowledge on LinkedIn.
Achieved its mobile moment, with the number of unique visiting members accessing LinkedIn via mobile devices surpassing 50%. LinkedIn continues to rapidly innovate in mobile, launching the LinkedIn Job Search app for Android during the quarter.
Introduced an expanded portfolio for its Marketing Solutions business, including the new LinkedIn Lead Accelerator, Network Display advertising, and revamped Sponsored InMail. The new end-to-end product suite allows marketers to reach, nurture, and acquire customers on and off LinkedIn, increasingly making LinkedIn the most effective platform to engage with professionals.

Additionally, earlier this month, LinkedIn announced the pending acquisition of lynda.com, which will change the way people connect to opportunity by combining an extensive library of skills-based video content with the hundreds of millions of members and millions of jobs on LinkedIn.

“LinkedIn demonstrated continued solid growth during the first quarter,” said Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn. “This performance comes amidst the backdrop of several important strategic investments to better position the business to execute on our long-term roadmap.”

Business Outlook

LinkedIn is providing guidance for the second quarter and full year 2015:

Q2 2015 Guidance: Revenue is expected to range between $670 million and $675 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $120 million. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $0.28. The company expects depreciation of approximately $68 million, amortization of approximately $24 million, and stock-based compensation of approximately $144 million. The company also expects approximately 129 million fully-diluted weighted shares.
Full Year 2015 Guidance: Revenue is expected to be approximately $2.90 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $630 million. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $1.90. The company expects depreciation of approximately $290 million, amortization of approximately $128 million, and stock-based compensation of approximately $500 million. The company also expects approximately 131 million fully-diluted weighted shares.

Quarterly Results Webcast and Conference Call

LinkedIn will host a webcast and conference call to discuss its first quarter 2015 financial results and business outlook today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Jeff Weiner and Steve Sordello will host the webcast, which can be viewed on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the company's financial and operating results. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on the website.

Upcoming Events

Management will participate in upcoming financial Q&A discussions at industry events on May 12th, 19th, and June 2nd of 2015. LinkedIn will furnish a link to these events on its investor relations website, http://investors.linkedin.com/ for both the live and archived webcasts.

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the ways companies hire, market and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 350 million members and has offices around the world.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement its condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, the company uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP diluted EPS (collectively the “non-GAAP financial measures”). The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The company believes that they provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making.

The company excludes the following items from one or more of its non-GAAP measures:

Stock-based compensation. The company excludes stock-based compensation because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. The company further believes this measure is useful to investors in that it allows for greater transparency to certain line items in its financial statements and facilitates comparisons to peer operating results.

Non-cash interest expense related to convertible senior notes. In November 2014, the company issued $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 0.50% convertible senior notes. In accordance with GAAP, the company separately accounted for the value of the conversion feature as a debt discount, which is amortized in a manner that reflects the company’s non-convertible debt borrowing rate. Accordingly, the company recognizes imputed interest expense on its convertible senior notes of approximately 4.7% in its statement of operations. The company excludes the difference between the imputed interest expense and coupon interest expense, net of any capitalized interest, because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. In addition, excluding this item from the non-GAAP measures facilitates comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to peer operating results.

Amortization of acquired intangible assets. The company excludes amortization of acquired intangible assets because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity. In addition, excluding this item from the non-GAAP measures facilitates comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to peer operating results.

Accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interest. The accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interest represents the accretion of the company's redeemable noncontrolling interest to its redemption value. The company excludes the accretion because it is non-cash in nature and because the company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operating performance. In addition, excluding this item from the non-GAAP financial measures facilitates comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to peer operating results.

Income tax effects and adjustments. The company adjusts non-GAAP net income by considering the income tax effects of excluding stock-based compensation and the amortization of acquired intangible assets. Beginning in the first quarter of 2014, the company has implemented a static non-GAAP tax rate for evaluating its operating performance as well as for planning and forecasting purposes. This projected 10-year weighted average non-GAAP tax rate eliminates the effects of non-recurring and period specific items, which can vary in size and frequency and does not necessarily reflect the company's long-term operations. Historically, the company computed a non-GAAP tax rate based on non-GAAP pre-tax income on a quarterly basis. Based on the company's current forecast, a tax rate of 23% has been applied to its non-GAAP financial results for the current period. This rate will be adjusted annually, if necessary. The company believes that adjusting for these income tax effects and adjustments provides additional transparency to the overall or “after tax” effects of excluding these items from its non-GAAP net income.

Dilutive shares under the treasury stock method. During periods with a net loss, the company excluded certain potential common shares from its GAAP diluted shares because their effect would have been anti-dilutive. On a non-GAAP basis, these shares would have been dilutive. As a result, the company has included the impact of these shares in the calculation of its non-GAAP diluted net income per share under the treasury stock method.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the “Trended Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” table in this press release. This accompanying table has more details on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures. Additionally, the company has not reconciled adjusted EBITDA or non-GAAP EPS guidance to net loss or GAAP EPS guidance because it does not provide guidance for either other income (expense), net, or GAAP provision for income taxes, which are reconciling items between net loss and adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP EPS. As items that impact net loss are out of the company's control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, the company is unable to provide such guidance. Accordingly, a reconciliation to net loss is not available without unreasonable effort.

Safe Harbor Statement

“Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release and the accompanying conference call contain forward-looking statements about our products, including our investments in products, technology and other key strategic areas, certain non-financial metrics, such as customer and member growth and engagement, and our expected financial metrics such as revenue, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP EPS, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation and fully-diluted weighted shares for the second quarter of 2015 and the full fiscal year 2015. The achievement of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements the company makes.

The risks and uncertainties referred to above include - but are not limited to - risks associated with: our limited operating history in a new and unproven market; engagement of our members; the price volatility of our Class A common stock; general economic conditions; expectations regarding the return on our strategic investments; execution of our plans and strategies, including with respect to mobile products and features; security measures and the risk that they may not be sufficient to secure our member data adequately or that we are subject to attacks that degrade or deny the ability of members to access our solutions; expectations regarding our ability to timely and effectively scale and adapt existing technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our solutions are accessible at all times with short or no perceptible load times; our ability to maintain our rate of revenue growth and manage our expenses and investment plans; our ability to accurately track our key metrics internally; members and customers curtailing or ceasing to use our solutions; our core value of putting members first, which may conflict with the short-term interests of the business; privacy and changes in regulations, which could impact our ability to serve our members or curtail our monetization efforts; litigation and regulatory issues; increasing competition; our ability to manage our growth; our international operations; our ability to recruit and retain our employees; the application of U.S. and international tax laws on our tax structure and any changes to such tax laws; acquisitions we have made or may make in the future; and the dual class structure of our Class A common stock.

Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, and additional information will also be set forth in our Form 10-Q that will be filed for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, which should be read in conjunction with these financial results. These documents are or will be available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations page of the company's website at http://investors.linkedin.com/. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of April 30, 2015, and LinkedIn undertakes no duty to update this information.

Download the Q1 2015 Consolidated Metrics here.