Chegg Inc (CHGG) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Chegg's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Chegg 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Tracey Ford, Vice President of Investor Relations and ESG. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興向大家介紹主持人特蕾西·福特 (Tracey Ford)，她是投資者關係和 ESG 副總裁。請繼續。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining Chegg's Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call. On today's call are Dan Rosensweig, Co-Chairperson and CEO; and Andy Brown, Chief Financial Officer.

午安.感謝您參加 Chegg 2023 年第三季電話會議。出席今天電話會議的有聯合董事長兼執行長 Dan Rosensweig；和財務長安迪·布朗。

A copy of our earnings press release, along with our investor presentation, is available on our Investor Relations website, investor.chegg.com. A replay of this call will also be available on our website. We routinely post information on our website and intend to make important announcements on our media center website at chegg.com/mediacenter. We encourage you to make use of these resources.

我們的收益新聞稿以及投資者簡報的副本可在我們的投資者關係網站 Investor.chegg.com 上取得。我們的網站上也將提供本次電話會議的重播。我們定期在我們的網站上發布訊息，並打算在我們的媒體中心網站 chegg.com/mediacenter 上發布重要公告。我們鼓勵您利用這些資源。

Before we begin, I would like to point out that during the course of this call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding future events, including the future financial and operating performance of the company. These forward-looking statements are subject to material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We caution you to consider the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想指出，在本次電話會議期間，我們將對未來事件做出前瞻性陳述，包括公司未來的財務和經營業績。這些前瞻性陳述存在重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果有重大差異。我們提醒您考慮可能導致實際結果與前瞻性聲明中的結果有重大差異的重要因素。

In particular, we refer you to the cautionary language included in today's earnings release and the risk factors described in Chegg's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 21, 2023, as well as our other filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that we make today are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

我們特別建議您參閱今天的收益發布中包含的警示性語言以及Chegg 於2023 年2 月21 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的10-K 表格年度報告中所述的風險因素，以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件。美國證券交易委員會。我們今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述都是基於我們認為截至目前為止合理的假設。我們不承擔因新資訊或未來事件而更新這些聲明的義務。

During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Our GAAP results and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations can be found in our earnings press release and the investor slide deck found on our IR website, investor.chegg.com. We also recommend you review the investor data sheet, which is also posted on our IR website.

在本次電話會議中，我們將介紹 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標。我們的 GAAP 業績以及 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表可在我們的收益新聞稿中找到，以及在我們的 IR 網站 Investor.chegg.com 上找到的投資者幻燈片。我們也建議您查看投資者資料表，該資料表也發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上。

Now I will turn the call over to Dan.

現在我將把電話轉給丹。

Thank you, Tracey, and welcome, everyone, to our 2023 Q3 earnings call. Chegg had a good quarter, delivering better-than-expected results as we saw stabilization in new accounts and increases in overall retention and in the take rate of Chegg Study Pack.

謝謝特雷西，歡迎大家參加我們的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 Chegg 的季度業績表現出色，業績好於預期，因為我們看到新客戶數量趨於穩定，Chegg Study Pack 的整體留存率和採用率均有所提高。

In addition to our academic services, we continue to invest in skills where we are seeing very strong growth, all of which is good for the future of Chegg. Six months ago, leveraging the breakthroughs of artificial intelligence, we began to completely reinvent what we offer, how we offer it and to whom we offer it.

除了我們的學術服務之外，我們還繼續投資於成長強勁的技能，所有這些都對 Chegg 的未來有利。六個月前，利用人工智慧的突破，我們開始徹底重塑我們提供的產品、提供方式以及提供物件。

New technology platforms create a lot of hype and noise. But as the hype gives way to facts, we believe Chegg is in a great position to build the most impactful, scalable, AI-enabled personal learning assistant, which will expand our opportunities to serve more students in more ways and at a lower cost per customer. The history of the Internet has shown us that verticals win. Leading companies with a strong brand, category expertise, scale and resources can invigorate growth and create new opportunities when they move quickly and embrace change.

新技術平台引發了大量的炒作和噪音。但隨著炒作逐漸成為事實，我們相信Chegg 完全有能力打造最具影響力、可擴展、支援人工智慧的個人學習助手，這將擴大我們的機會，以更多方式、以更低的成本為更多學生提供服務。顧客。網路的歷史告訴我們，垂直產業會獲勝。擁有強大品牌、品類專業知識、規模和資源的領先公司在快速行動和擁抱變革時可以激發成長並創造新的機會。

In the world of AI, Chegg is particularly valuable and proprietary assets for education and learning, including our student-first brand, our reputation for quality and accuracy and our unique content and data set. Chegg also has a proven track record for improving student outcomes. And now by combining the best of what Chegg has to offer with the advancements in artificial intelligence, we are creating new opportunities to better serve our students.

在人工智慧領域，Chegg 對於教育和學習來說是特別有價值的專有資產，包括我們以學生為先的品牌、我們在品質和準確性方面的聲譽以及我們獨特的內容和數據集。 Chegg 在提高學生成績方面也有著良好的記錄。現在，透過將 Chegg 提供的最佳服務與人工智慧的進步相結合，我們正在創造新的機會來更好地為我們的學生服務。

It has been nearly a year since ChatGPT launched. We have all learned a lot and are experiencing how AI is impacting our lives. We know that students are using ChatGPT, but what is interesting is that they are using it for a variety of things, in addition to education. Because Chegg is verticalized for learning, what isn't surprising is that when students try us and compare us to more general AI solutions, Chegg outperforms.

ChatGPT 上線已經將近一年了。我們都學到了很多東西，並且正在經歷人工智慧如何影響我們的生活。我們知道學生正在使用 ChatGPT，但有趣的是，除了教育之外，他們還將其用於多種用途。因為 Chegg 是垂直學習的，所以當學生嘗試我們並將我們與更通用的人工智慧解決方案進行比較時，Chegg 表現出色也就不足為奇了。

That has led to incredibly high retention rates, and we are maintaining high customer satisfaction, such as 91% of students report that when they use Chegg, they get better grades, 89% say Chegg helps them learn their course material and 90% say they work more efficiently when using Chegg to understand their coursework. And we are now introducing new AI capabilities and features, which we expect will do even more for students.

這帶來了令人難以置信的高保留率，我們保持了較高的客戶滿意度，例如91% 的學生表示，當他們使用Chegg 時，他們獲得了更好的成績，89% 的學生表示Chegg 幫助他們學習課程材料，90% 的學生表示他們使用 Chegg 來理解他們的課程作業時，工作效率會更高。我們現在正在推出新的人工智慧功能和特性，我們預計這將為學生帶來更多好處。

We are excited about what we are building and we are moving quickly and rolling out the first phase of our new user experience. In September, we started to show our first cohort of users the updated capabilities with a new simple interface and a unified asking experience. This means Chegg can provide answers from our proprietary database of more than 150,000 subject matter experts and now with generative AI.

我們對我們正在建立的東西感到興奮，我們正在快速行動並推出新用戶體驗的第一階段。九月份，我們開始向第一批用戶展示更新的功能，包括新的簡單介面和統一的詢問體驗。這意味著 Chegg 可以從我們擁有超過 150,000 名主題專家的專有資料庫中提供答案，現在還可以使用生成人工智慧。

We are focused on usage, quality, accuracy and speed and are on track to introduce our own large language learning models trained on Chegg's unique data. In the coming months, you will see us offer more features, including multi-turn chat, which will create a simple and conversational experience and introduce personalized AI-enhanced learning aids such as practice tests, assessments, study guides and flash cards. We also plan to let students connect to each other and share content.

我們專注於使用、品質、準確性和速度，並有望推出基於 Chegg 獨特資料訓練的我們自己的大型語言學習模型。在接下來的幾個月中，您將看到我們提供更多功能，包括多輪聊天，這將創建簡單的對話體驗，並引入個性化的人工智慧增強學習輔助工具，例如練習測試、評估、學習指南和閃存卡。我們也計劃讓學生相互聯繫並分享內容。

Over time, all of this is designed to expand our TAM and increase our relevancy to millions more students than we serve today. It's truly an exciting time at Chegg. We are executing well against our plan, and we are on track to roll out even more features to more students in Q1 of 2024. We have only one agenda, to serve the student. What we do is incredibly hard to replicate, giving us a powerful moat.

隨著時間的推移，所有這些都是為了擴大我們的 TAM 並提高我們與比現在服務的數百萬名學生的相關性。在 Chegg，這確實是一個激動人心的時刻。我們的計劃執行得很好，我們預計在 2024 年第一季向更多學生推出更多功能。我們只有一個議程，那就是為學生服務。我們所做的事情非常難以複製，這給了我們強大的護城河。

The combination of our successful learning taxonomy, our over 100 million solutions generated by Chegg's subject matter experts and now the ability to leverage artificial intelligence means we can do what generic AI platforms cannot do. Our vision for a truly personalized learning system is coming to life.

我們成功的學習分類法、Chegg 主題專家產生的超過 1 億個解決方案以及現在利用人工智慧的能力相結合，意味著我們可以做到通用人工智慧平台無法做到的事情。我們對真正個人化學習系統的願景正在成為現實。

To make it easier for you to see what we are building, we've created a video for you that is available on our IR website, where you can see how the product is evolving. We believe this will give you a sense of just how powerful Chegg can become, including our ability to blend our academic support and skills efforts by integrating career pathways into the student experience.

為了讓您更輕鬆地了解我們正在開發的產品，我們為您製作了一個視頻，您可以在我們的 IR 網站上觀看該視頻，您可以在其中看到產品是如何發展的。我們相信，這會讓您感受到 Chegg 的強大力量，包括我們透過將職業道路融入學生體驗來將學術支援和技能努力結合起來的能力。

We are beginning to see the investments we've made in skills pay off. By leveraging the latest advances in AI to accelerate our program development, we are able to create relevant, customized, high-impact programs faster and at a lower cost. We will also be releasing a suite of AI training programs over the coming months through our B2B partnership and direct-to-student efforts we continue to see Chegg skills grow and expect it to become a meaningful contributor in the years ahead.

我們開始看到我們在技能方面的投資得到了回報。透過利用人工智慧的最新進展來加速我們的專案開發，我們能夠更快、更低成本地創建相關的、客製化的、高影響力的專案。我們還將在未來幾個月透過我們的B2B 合作夥伴關係和直接面向學生的努力發布一套人工智慧培訓計劃，我們將繼續看到Chegg 技能的增長，並期望它在未來幾年成為有意義的貢獻者。

We are widening the aperture for Chegg, and we hope to reach a much larger audience of learners, one that historically we have been unable to serve before. This is where much of the future growth will come from, and our plan is to continue to execute each quarter towards this vision. And before I turn it over, I want to acknowledge Andy as he plans to retire once we hire his replacement early next year.

我們正在擴大 Chegg 的範圍，我們希望能夠接觸到更多的學習者，這是我們以前無法服務的。這是未來成長的大部分來源，我們的計劃是繼續每個季度執行這個願景。在我移交之前，我想感謝安迪，因為他計劃在我們明年初聘請他的繼任者後退休。

I am deeply grateful for the incredible contributions Andy has made during his 12-year tenure at Chegg. Under his leadership, we have grown from a physical textbook rental business to a global online learning platform that has supported more than 22 million students over the last decade. He guided us through our transition to a fully digital business and, in doing so, grew our digital revenue from 0 to over $700 million annually.

我對 Andy 在 Chegg 的 12 年任期中做出的令人難以置信的貢獻深表感謝。在他的領導下，我們已經從實體教科書租賃業務發展成為全球線上學習平台，在過去十年中為超過 2,200 萬名學生提供了支援。他指導我們完成向全數位化業務的轉型，並在此過程中將我們的數位收入從每年 0 增長到超過 7 億美元。

In fact, when Andy took on the role of CFO, Chegg was unprofitable. But today, Chegg is profitable and is expected to generate nearly $220 million in adjusted EBITDA and approximately $170 million in free cash flow this year. These are remarkable accomplishments, and none of them would have been possible without Andy's leadership and vision.

事實上，當安迪擔任財務長時，切格還沒有獲利。但如今，Chegg 已實現盈利，預計今年將產生近 2.2 億美元的調整後 EBITDA 和約 1.7 億美元的自由現金流。這些都是非凡的成就，如果沒有安迪的領導和遠見，這些成就都是不可能的。

On a personal note, I want to thank Andy for his partnership, guidance and friendship over the last decade. He has truly left an indelible mark on this company and will forever be part of the Chegg and Rosensweig family. And with that, I will turn it over to Andy.

就我個人而言，我要感謝安迪在過去十年中的合作、指導和友誼。他確實給這家公司留下了不可磨滅的印記，並將永遠成為 Chegg 和 Rosensweig 家族的一員。有了這個，我會把它交給安迪。

Thanks, Dan, for those kind words. It's been an amazing journey over the past 12-plus years, and I'm extremely thankful to you and the Chegg team and proud of what we have collectively accomplished. Also, a big shout out to Tracey and Diana, you are the best IR team I've had the pleasure to work with. You guys are just awesome.

謝謝丹的客氣話。過去 12 年多來，這是一次奇妙的旅程，我非常感謝您和 Chegg 團隊，並對我們共同取得的成就感到自豪。另外，我要向 Tracey 和 Diana 致敬，你們是我有幸合作過的最好的 IR 團隊。你們太棒了。

Our company has become an industry leader, a cherished brand that is loved by millions of students worldwide with a future that is incredibly exciting. Having the opportunity to work for a mission-driven company that is integral to helping students learn has been super rewarding, and I thank you.

我們的公司已成為行業領導者，是一個深受全球數百萬學生喜愛的珍貴品牌，擁有令人難以置信的令人興奮的未來。有機會在一家以使命為導向的公司工作，這對幫助學生學習至關重要，這是非常有意義的，我感謝你。

Now back to business. Q3 was a good quarter, exceeding our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance and, as Dan mentioned, we are encouraged by the continued positive trends such as increasing retention rate and Chegg Study Pack take rate. Total revenue was $158 million, driven by Subscription Services revenue of $140 million, where we had 4.4 million subscribers during the quarter.

現在回到正題。第三季度是一個不錯的季度，超出了我們的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 指導，正如 Dan 所提到的，我們對持續的積極趨勢感到鼓舞，例如保留率和 Chegg Study Pack 的採用率不斷提高。總收入為 1.58 億美元，主要得益於 1.4 億美元的訂閱服務收入，本季我們擁有 440 萬訂閱服務用戶。

Skills and Other revenue was $18 million, driven by strong growth in Skills, offset primarily by the change in the Required Materials model, which is now a revenue share, as well as some advertising softness. We remain disciplined on the expense side, aligning investments with our AI-focused strategy, which supported another adjusted EBITDA beat this quarter versus guidance, coming in at $39 million or 25% margin.

技能和其他收入為 1,800 萬美元，主要受到技能強勁增長的推動，但主要被所需材料模型的變化（現在是收入分成）以及一些廣告疲軟所抵消。我們在費用方面保持嚴格，使投資與我們以人工智慧為中心的策略保持一致，該策略支援本季調整後的 EBITDA 再次超出預期，達到 3,900 萬美元或 25% 的利潤率。

We had 2 onetime items that impacted our GAAP gross margin and net income for the quarter. First, during the design of our new generative AI experience, we determined that certain content and system types were no longer necessary. As a result, we have taken a charge of $41.8 million, of which approximately $38.2 million was included in cost of goods sold, which impacted gross margin, and $3.6 million included in G&A.

我們有 2 個一次性項目影響了本季的 GAAP 毛利率和淨利潤。首先，在設計新的生成式人工智慧體驗時，我們確定不再需要某些內容和系統類型。因此，我們收取了 4,180 萬美元的費用，其中約 3,820 萬美元計入銷售成本，這影響了毛利率，360 萬美元計入一般管理費用。

The second item is we recorded a gain of $32.1 million from the repurchase of some of our outstanding convertible debt at a discount during the quarter, which was recorded in other income. We have a strong balance sheet and drive significant free cash flow, which we expect will continue. And for full year 2023, we now expect free cash flow to be approximately $170 million.

第二項是，我們在本季以折扣價回購部分未償還可轉換債務，獲得了 3,210 萬美元的收益，該收益記錄在其他收入中。我們擁有強大的資產負債表並推動大量自由現金流，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。我們現在預計 2023 年全年的自由現金流約為 1.7 億美元。

We have opportunistically retired both convertible debt and equity, returning approximately $1.2 billion and $800 million, respectively, to investors through repurchases over the last 3 years. We ended the quarter with $674 million of cash and investments, with total convertible debt outstanding of $603 million at par value. We continue to believe that the combination of our operating model, balance sheet and cash flows sets us up to deliver on our mission to serve students across the world, leverage AI to expand our offerings and our TAM and ultimately return to growth while maintaining strong profitability.

我們伺機退出了可轉換債務和股權，在過去 3 年中透過回購分別向投資者返還了約 12 億美元和 8 億美元。本季結束時，我們擁有 6.74 億美元的現金和投資，以面額計算的未償還可轉換債務總額為 6.03 億美元。我們仍然相信，我們的營運模式、資產負債表和現金流的結合使我們能夠實現為世界各地的學生提供服務的使命，利用人工智慧來擴展我們的產品和TAM，並最終在保持強勁盈利能力的同時恢復增長。 。

Now moving on to guidance. For Q4, we expect total revenue to be between $185 million and $187 million, with Subscription Services revenue between $164 million and $166 million, gross margin between 73% and 74% and adjusted EBITDA between $62 million and $64 million or 34% margin.

現在繼續指導。對於第四季度，我們預計總營收在1.85 億美元至1.87 億美元之間，訂閱服務收入在1.64 億美元至1.66 億美元之間，毛利率在73% 至74% 之間，調整後EBITDA 在6200萬美元至6,400 萬美元之間，即34% 的利潤率。

In closing, we expect the development of AI will allow Chegg to embrace a much larger opportunity over time. We believe there is nobody better equipped to meet the current or future needs of students than Chegg. We have an industry-leading brand, proprietary data, strong operating model and a balance sheet to extend our leadership in the future.

最後，我們預計隨著時間的推移，人工智慧的發展將使 Chegg 獲得更大的機會。我們相信，沒有人比 Chegg 更能滿足學生目前或未來的需求。我們擁有業界領先的品牌、專有數據、強大的營運模式和資產負債表，以擴大我們未來的領先地位。

With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for your questions.

這樣，我會將電話轉給接線員詢問您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

In your prepared remarks, Dan, you talked about the new user experience and how you started with the first cohort in September. I was hoping you could tell us a little bit about that cohort, how large it is and what's the planned roll-out from here to reach your entire user base?

Dan，在您準備好的發言中，您談到了新的用戶體驗以及您如何開始 9 月的第一批用戶。我希望您能告訴我們一些關於該群體的信息，它有多大，以及計劃從這裡推出什麼以覆蓋您的整個用戶群？

Yes. Thanks. So the rollout goes to 2 groups, obviously, it goes to existing customers and it goes to new customers. So we started at 1% rollout. We went to 10% rollout. We're already now at 25% rollout. So it continues to go up because the response has been really positive.

是的。謝謝。因此，此次推出分為兩組，顯然，它面向現有客戶，面向新客戶。所以我們從 1% 的部署開始。我們進行了 10% 的部署。我們現在已經推出了 25%。所以它繼續上升，因為反應非常積極。

So you can expect -- well, what we've done -- and we have a video coming out for you to be able to see it. What we've done is we've improved -- 2 things to begin with, which is the user interface is much simpler, much more into the easy to use; and then we are now also able to generate answers to questions using generative AI in addition to the 150,000 experts in our database of over 100 million. So that is what we are rolling out now.

所以你可以期待——嗯，我們所做的——我們準備了一個視頻供你觀看。我們所做的就是改進──首先有兩件事，那就是使用者介面更加簡單，更加易於使用；除了我們超過 1 億的資料庫中的 15 萬名專家之外，我們現在還能夠使用生成式人工智慧產生問題的答案。這就是我們現在推出的。

The next big phase where the user experience will change even more dramatically when we do multi-turn chat, which will be coming closer to the end of this year and then to the first quarter of next year. So it's been really positive. Feedback has been really positive, which is why we've gone to -- from 1% to 25%. And we think it's going to make a massive difference in future growth, and we're incredibly (inaudible) about it.

下一個大階段，當我們進行多輪聊天時，用戶體驗將發生更加巨大的變化，這將接近今年年底，然後是明年第一季。所以這確實是正面的。回饋非常積極，這就是我們從 1% 提高到 25% 的原因。我們認為這將對未來的成長產生巨大的影響，我們對此感到難以置信（聽不清楚）。

Yes, I'm sorry. I must have lost you there. So I'll just read the transcript. You don't have to repeat anything. Actually, let me just ask my follow-up question. I apologize. You mentioned in terms of existing and new customers, I just was wondering if we can get a little bit more color from a subscriber perspective. I know initially when ChatGPT was kind of called out and was hitting new customers, are you seeing any difference between existing and new customer signing?

是的，對不起。我一定是在那裡失去你了。所以我就讀一下文字記錄吧。你不必重複任何事情。實際上，讓我問我的後續問題。我道歉。您提到了現有客戶和新客戶，我只是想知道我們是否可以從訂閱者的角度獲得更多的色彩。我知道最初當 ChatGPT 被召喚並吸引新客戶時，您是否發現現有客戶和新客戶簽約之間有什麼區別？

Well, what we said in the prepared remarks was we're seeing record retention. So when students use Chegg and they use generative AI, ChatGPT and others, we win handily. And that is because we have a proven experience that actually improves outcomes, teaches the student, doesn't just give the answer and is designed specifically and exclusively for the learning experience. And so when students see that, plus you combine with the accuracy and quality, we win handily, and that's why our retention is doing extraordinarily well.

嗯，我們在準備好的發言中所說的是，我們看到了記錄的保留。因此，當學生使用 Chegg 並使用生成式 AI、ChatGPT 等時，我們就輕鬆獲勝。這是因為我們擁有經過驗證的經驗，可以真正改善成果、教導學生，而不僅僅是給出答案，而且是專門為學習體驗而設計的。因此，當學生看到這一點，再加上你將準確性和品質結合起來，我們就輕鬆獲勝，這就是為什麼我們的保留率表現得非常好。

So the battle is going to be messaging for new customers. And we're already seeing from the roll-out test that you talked about earlier, we're already seeing very positive response from new customers as they start to see the new user interface and the first part of the experience.

因此，這場戰鬥將是向新客戶傳遞訊息。從您之前提到的推出測試中我們已經看到，當新客戶開始看到新的使用者介面和體驗的第一部分時，我們已經看到了非常積極的反應。

So we're extraordinarily optimistic right now because, really, it's just a matter of getting the message -- getting the product out, executing well on that, getting it communicated. And then we continue to improve all of our metrics, including getting close to where we wanted to get to a new account growth, so we can start to expand new account growth and grow again. So we're really excited about where we are and the plan seems to be working so far.

所以我們現在非常樂觀，因為實際上，這只是獲取資訊的問題——推出產品，良好執行，並進行溝通。然後我們繼續改進所有指標，包括接近我們想要的新客戶成長目標，這樣我們就可以開始擴大新客戶成長並再次成長。因此，我們對目前的情況感到非常興奮，而該計劃到目前為止似乎正在發揮作用。

Next question, Kunal Madhukar with UBS.

下一個問題是瑞銀集團的 Kunal Madhukar。

A couple, if I could. One, on the international side, could you give us a sense of what you're seeing on the international front in terms of growth? And second would be, again, on the international side would be competition. So how is your content relevant to customers or students internationally? And what kind of competitive landscape do you face in places like Brazil, (inaudible) and Mexico?

如果可以的話，一對。第一，在國際方面，您能否向我們介紹您在國際方面看到的成長？其次，在國際方面，競爭也是如此。那麼您的內容與國際客戶或學生的相關性如何？在巴西（聽不清楚）和墨西哥等地，您面臨什麼樣的競爭格局？

Sure. So on the international front, as you recall, in 2019, we really didn't have an international business. Now it's over 10% of our business. So we've made substantial progress. Similar to the U.S., when COVID came and we peaked COVID, we almost doubled the number of new accounts that we would be doing in the course of the year during peak COVID.

當然。所以在國際方面，正如你所記得的，2019 年我們確實沒有國際業務。現在它占我們業務的 10% 以上。所以我們已經取得了實質進展。與美國類似，當新冠疫情到來且疫情達到頂峰時，我們的新帳戶數量幾乎是新冠疫情高峰期間全年新增帳戶數量的兩倍。

But then, of course, as COVID has gone away, those numbers have gone down. And so we are now beginning to start to look to return to growth of new accounts, and we're seeing great progress in that. And international is actually one of the places where we're really seeing great progress.

但當然，隨著新冠疫情的消失，這些數字也有所下降。因此，我們現在開始開始尋求恢復新帳戶的成長，並且我們在這方面看到了巨大的進展。國際實際上是我們真正看到巨大進步的地方之一。

The relevancy goes up because of AI. We're able to translate better, translate less expensive. And we're able to build out more categories faster, so that's a really positive step. And we're also finding the right pricing. So as cost per customer goes down, margins will go up even if we reduce pricing internationally. So that's all been really positive. And so I would say, we're making really great progress in international, even more so than the U.S. right now, and the U.S. is making really good progress.

由於人工智慧，相關性上升。我們能夠翻譯得更好、翻譯成本更低。我們能夠更快地建立更多類別，因此這是非常積極的一步。我們也在尋找合適的定價。因此，隨著每位客戶的成本下降，即使我們降低國際定價，利潤也會上升。所以這一切都是非常正面的。所以我想說，我們在國際上取得了非常大的進步，甚至比美國現在還要進步，而美國正在取得非常好的進步。

Next question, Ryan MacDonald with Needham & Company.

下一個問題是由 Needham & Company 的 Ryan MacDonald 提出的。

Congrats on a nice quarter. Andy, best of luck. Dan, maybe just can you dig into the subscriber trends and what we're seeing on a quarter-over-quarter basis more? And maybe just sort of clarify on what you mean on the retention side versus what you're seeing in terms of net new subscriber growth. And when do you think maybe we start to see that subscriber number or count sort of trough and start to show growth as we look over the next few quarters here?

恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。安迪，祝你好運。丹，也許您可以深入研究訂閱者趨勢以及我們在季度與季度之間看到的情況嗎？也許只是澄清一下您在保留方面的含義與您在新訂戶淨增長方面所看到的含義。您認為我們什麼時候開始看到訂戶數量或計數出現低谷，並在我們展望未來幾季時開始顯示成長？

Yes. So Andy has coined the phrase, subscription math, so in his honor upon his retirement. I'll sort of walk us through this a little bit, which is, when an account comes up for renewal, what we mean by we've seen incredibly high renewal rates is of those that come up for renewal, they are renewing at a much higher rate and staying on longer than they ever have.

是的。因此，安迪在他退休後創造了“訂閱數學”這個詞，以紀念他。我將向我們介紹一下這一點，也就是說，當一個帳戶需要續訂時，我們所說的我們看到令人難以置信的高續訂率是指那些需要續訂的帳戶，他們的續訂率是比以往任何時候都更高的利率和停留時間。

And we're also seeing a significant improvement in take rate, which is almost 1 out of every 2 new customers now is taking the more expensive version. And they're retaining at the same rate as the less expensive version. So those mechanisms are all extraordinarily positive and is why we're able to improve our profitability and generate a lot of free cash flow, and it's really positive for the business.

我們也看到使用率顯著提高，現在幾乎每 2 個新客戶中就有 1 個正在使用更昂貴的版本。而且它們的保留率與較便宜的版本相同。因此，這些機制都非常積極，這就是為什麼我們能夠提高盈利能力並產生大量自由現金流，這對業務來說確實是積極的。

So the opportunity is to start to sell more new accounts. We are selling significantly more new accounts in 2023 than we did in 2019 before COVID. I mean it's millions more a year. So we still generate millions of new accounts a year.

所以機會就是開始銷售更多的新帳戶。與新冠疫情爆發之前的 2019 年相比，我們 2023 年銷售的新帳戶數量顯著增加。我的意思是每年還有數百萬。因此，我們每年仍然會產生數百萬個新帳戶。

What we want -- what we have to do is overcome the incredible rise that we took in COVID and then hit the trough, as you point out, which we think we're approaching that trough on new account growth. We're -- and with the new product and the new marketing messages and the new capabilities that we're going to have in it, we think that we're somewhere around the trough. I can't pick the particular day or a moment.

我們想要的——我們必須做的是克服新冠疫情帶來的令人難以置信的增長，然後跌入低谷，正如你所指出的，我們認為我們正在接近新帳戶增長的低谷。憑藉新產品、新行銷訊息以及我們將擁有的新功能，我們認為我們正處於低谷附近。我無法選擇特定的日子或時刻。

On a given day, we're at the trough. Some days, we're above the trough. Some days, we're a little bit below the trough. But we're where we wanted to get to first, and then from there, we start to grow again. And so that is the entire effort of the company is to invigorate growth again. We have a lot of variables in which we need to execute on. But as we're executing on it, we expect that's exactly what's going to happen.

在某一天，我們正處於低谷。有時候，我們會高於低谷。有時候，我們的水平略低於低谷。但我們首先達到了我們想要達到的目標，然後從那裡開始，我們再次開始成長。因此，公司的全部努力就是再次激發成長活力。我們有很多需要執行的變數。但當我們執行它時，我們預計這正是將會發生的事情。

Helpful color. And maybe on international, last quarter, you talked about rolling out a new payment infrastructure in India as part of the international growth. And I think that was supposed to come online in August. And it seems like in some of our survey work that you're starting to see more of an uptick there. But can you just talk about India and how big that opportunity is and if you're starting to see some of that stronger momentum from the new payment infrastructure.

有用的顏色。也許在國際上，上個季度，您談到在印度推出新的支付基礎設施，作為國際成長的一部分。我認為它應該在八月上線。在我們的一些調查工作中，您似乎開始看到更多的上升趨勢。但您能否談談印度，以及這個機會有多大，以及您是否開始看到新的支付基礎設施帶來的一些更強勁的勢頭。

Yes, I'll start with the second part first. Yes, we are seeing -- it's not just the payment infrastructure that we had to do. But you're right, we did that, but it's also getting the appropriate pricing in India, which we've been able to do.

是的，我先從第二部開始。是的，我們看到——我們要做的不僅僅是支付基礎設施。但你是對的，我們做到了，但它也在印度獲得了適當的定價，我們已經做到了。

So what's interesting and really positive is when we lower prices internationally, we obviously see an increase in conversion, which is exactly what you want. But we're also seeing an uptick in people that take the more expensive version of what we have. So when you take the increase in conversion and the higher take rate or the more expensive product, the margins on the product are remaining very similar right now to what they were before, which is a really positive step.

因此，有趣且真正積極的是，當我們在國際上降低價格時，我們顯然會看到轉換率的增加，而這正是您想要的。但我們也發現，購買較昂貴版本產品的人數增加。因此，當你考慮到轉換率的增加和更高的採用率或更昂貴的產品時，產品的利潤率現在仍然與以前非常相似，這是一個非常積極的步驟。

Now in terms of the size of what we think India can be, we actually think it could be millions. That's our objective is in India. It's got the largest English-speaking community outside of America. There's a huge focus on learning, a huge focus on STEM and an increasing awareness of Chegg. And as we roll out the AI capabilities, we think that's even going to expand well beyond that.

現在就我們認為印度的規模而言，我們實際上認為它可能有數百萬。這就是我們的目標是在印度。它擁有美國以外最大的英語社區。人們非常注重學習、STEM 以及對 Chegg 的認識不斷增強。當我們推出人工智慧功能時，我們認為它的範圍甚至會遠遠超出這個範圍。

Also, as we mentioned that we're starting -- our expectation is over time to build community, and we think sharing of Chegg will also be a great viral way to accelerate growth. So I would say India is a real highlight of what we're seeing right now. And again, your survey work, I think, backs that up.

此外，正如我們所提到的，我們正在開始 - 我們的期望是隨著時間的推移建立社區，我們認為 Chegg 的共享也將是加速成長的一種很好的病毒式傳播方式。所以我想說，印度是我們現在所看到的一個真正的亮點。我認為，你的調查工作再次證明了這一點。

Next question, Doug Anmuth with JPMorgan.

下一個問題是摩根大通的 Doug Anmuth。

It's Bryan Smilek on for Doug. Congrats on the retirement, Andy. Just to start, can you just walk us through the results from the back-to-school season and how it shaped up versus your expectations? And then I guess, secondly, just shifting a bit, can you elaborate more on the Skill strategy? And what are the drivers of success that you're seeing there so far?

布萊恩·斯邁萊克 (Bryan Smilek) 替補道格 (Doug)。恭喜退休，安迪。首先，您能否向我們介紹一下返校季的結果以及它與您的期望相比如何？然後我想，第二，稍微改變一下，你能詳細說明一下技能策略嗎？到目前為止，您看到的成功驅動因素是什麼？

Back-to-school has gone well. I mean, look, it's the third quarter in a row now where we've beaten our own expectations both on the top line and on the bottom line and quite substantially. So all of those are reflections of excellent execution that our team has been doing, and you see them in the results. So we would say that it's going very well versus our original expectations, we're ahead of where we thought we would be in the number of subscribers we have, in our retention numbers. And so all of this is good news.

返校進展順利。我的意思是，看，現在我們已經連續第三個季度在營收和利潤上都大大超出了我們自己的預期。因此，所有這些都反映了我們團隊一直在做的出色執行，您可以在結果中看到它們。因此，我們可以說，與我們最初的預期相比，一切進展順利，我們在訂戶數量和保留數量方面都領先於我們的預期。所以這一切都是好消息。

The opportunity for Chegg, as I said, is to expand the aperture, open it up because we can use AI now. We have more ways to add more content and a lower cost per content and make it relevant to a much larger group of people. And that is really exciting and really one of the biggest growth opportunities that we've seen in years. So we're fired up about that.

正如我所說，Chegg 的機會是擴大光圈，打開它，因為我們現在可以使用人工智慧。我們有更多方法來添加更多內容和降低每個內容的成本，並使其與更多的人群相關。這確實令人興奮，也是我們多年來看到的最大的成長機會之一。所以我們對此感到很興奮。

On the Skills side, we've made an investment over the last couple of years to really change the way we do Skills to make them lower cost, higher quality, greater completion rates and work through our B2B partners, particularly Guild, and we're seeing excellent growth. So year-over-year growth of Skills is quite high.

在技​​能方面，我們在過去幾年中進行了投資，以真正改變我們的技能開發方式，使其成本更低、品質更高、完成率更高，並透過我們的B2B 合作夥伴（特別是Guild）開展工作，我們」我們看到了出色的成長。因此，技能的同比增長相當高。

And if it continues this way, we expect it to be a very meaningful part of our business in the years to come because we're expanding not just through Guild, but we're expanding direct to corporations where we signed our first customer, indeed. rather than lay people up that they are going to use us to retrain their employees. So this is exactly the kind of investments that we wanted to make in businesses that have higher ARPU. I mean the average ARPU of our Chegg Study Pack customers, $17, these are as much as $5,000. So we are really bullish on where we're going with Skills.

如果這種情況繼續下去，我們預計它將在未來幾年成為我們業務中非常有意義的一部分，因為我們不僅透過 Guild 進行擴張，而且還直接擴展到我們簽下第一個客戶的公司。 。而不是讓人們知道他們將利用我們來重新培訓他們的員工。因此，這正是我們想要對 ARPU 較高的企業所進行的投資。我的意思是我們 Chegg Study Pack 客戶的平均 ARPU 為 17 美元，相當於 5,000 美元。因此，我們非常看好技能的發展方向。

Now the next big opportunity is, as we talked about in the prepared remarks, and as you can see in the video, if you take a look at it, is we're building Skills taxonomy. So what we want to do is help college kids assess where they really are with the kind of skills that they need to be employable on top of their academic learnings and then help them master those skills so that they can, in fact, be employable.

現在，下一個重大機會是，正如我們在準備好的評論中談到的，正如您在影片中看到的，如果您看一下，我們正在建立技能分類法。因此，我們想要做的是幫助大學生評估他們在學術學習之外的就業所需技能的真實水平，然後幫助他們掌握這些技能，以便他們實際上能夠就業。

These are all things that are now possible that we've always wanted to do that are made much more possible because of the combination of Chegg and AI. And so this is the direction that we intend to go, which is B2B through Guild, B2B direct to corporations and direct to student through Chegg. So these are all future growth opportunities that we're building now.

這些都是我們一直想做的事情現在都成為可能，並且由於 Chegg 和人工智慧的結合而變得更加可能。所以這就是我們打算走的方向，透過Guild進行B2B，直接面對企業的B2B，透過Chegg直接面對學生。因此，這些都是我們現在正在建立的未來成長機會。

Next question, Josh Baer with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題是摩根士丹利的喬許貝爾 (Josh Baer)。

Andy, congratulations on your planned retirement. You've mentioned the pretty large charge on the GAAP basis related to the content and systems no longer necessary. I was hoping you could just provide some color on what that means, the types of content and systems that you're referring to? And then what it means from a cost savings perspective looking forward?

安迪，恭喜你計劃退休。您提到了與不再需要的內容和系統相關的按照 GAAP 計算的相當大的費用。我希望您能就這意味著什麼、您所指的內容和系統的類型提供一些說明？那麼從未來節省成本的角度來看，這又意味著什麼呢？

Yes. It's actually not that large, truth be told. When you look over the last, call it, 10 years or so, we spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars on content. So relatively speaking, it's small, and there's a hodge-podge of a whole bunch of different things that are included in that.

是的。說實話，它實際上並沒有那麼大。當你回顧過去十年左右的時間時，我們在內容上花了數億美元。所以相對來說，它很小，而且裡麵包含了一大堆不同的東西。

So yes, it's something that as the team went through and looking at what the new Chegg experience is going to be, and we're starting to roll that out, there are certain aspects that the team decided wasn't going to be part of the, as I'll call it, the new Chegg. And as a result, we took the charge.

所以，是的，當團隊經歷並研究新的 Chegg 體驗將會是什麼，並且我們開始推出它時，團隊決定不參與某些方面我稱之為新 Chegg。結果，我們承擔了責任。

And like I said -- it's like I said, relatively small. From an impact going forward, it does -- most of that, as I said in my prepared remarks, rolls through the cost of goods sold. So it does have a couple of hundred, maybe upwards of 300 basis point impact on the gross margin. But nonetheless, it was necessary and relatively small in the scheme of things.

就像我說的——就像我說的，相對較小。從未來的影響來看，確實如此——正如我在準備好的發言中所說，其中大部分都計入了銷售商品的成本。因此，它確實對毛利率產生了幾百甚至300個基點的影響。但儘管如此，它是必要的，而且在計劃中相對較小。

Okay. And then -- go ahead.

好的。然後——繼續吧。

I was going to say, just to clarify that point, it's a positive impact on the gross margins.

我想說的是，只是為了澄清這一點，這對毛利率有正面的影響。

Yes, yes. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. [poor choice]. Yes. Thank you.

是的是的。對不起，對不起。 [糟糕的選擇]。是的。謝謝。

I know. That was clear. That was clear. And then I wanted to just get just a quick update on Study Pack. Sort of talked about adoption trends in a couple of ways pretty positively. Just wondering, like overall, are you still thinking about ARPU and Study Pack adoption as a growth driver? Like is there more room to go? And then in relation to gen AI and the new customers coming on board, is it sort of consistent behavior with other alternatives out there?

我知道。這很清楚。這很清楚。然後我想快速獲得 Study Pack 的更新。某種程度上，我們以多種方式非常積極地談論了採用趨勢。只是想知道，總體而言，您是否仍在考慮將 ARPU 和 Study Pack 的採用作為成長動力？例如還有更多空間嗎？然後，就新一代人工智慧和新客戶的加入而言，它的行為與其他替代方案是否一致？

Yes, you're going to have to explain the last part of that question again, but let me just address that first part of it. So when we first started rolling out Chegg Study Pack, we had about a 13% take rate, and we're now up to over 50%. So yes, we continue to see it as a driver.

是的，您將不得不再次解釋該問題的最後部分，但讓我只解決它的第一部分。因此，當我們第一次開始推出 Chegg Study Pack 時，我們的使用率約為 13%，現在已超過 50%。所以，是的，我們繼續將其視為一個驅動因素。

But I think what ultimately is going to happen now, I'm not sure people have really understood the level of change that we are doing with our product. So in less than a year, we are completely reinventing the Chegg user experience to be much broader, much more relevant to a bigger group of people and much more global in its nature.

但我認為現在最終會發生什麼，我不確定人們是否真正理解我們對產品所做的改變的程度。因此，在不到一年的時間裡，我們徹底重塑了 Chegg 用戶體驗，使其範圍更廣、與更多人群更相關，並且本質上更加全球化。

And so the new experience will likely end up maybe with just 1 SKU rather than 2, but with 2 different price points, depending on the capabilities that students are going to want access to. So we think between AI and Skills and the other issues that we're helping students address, there's a real opportunity to continue to improve our ARPU on a per customer basis.

因此，新體驗最終可能只有 1 個 SKU，而不是 2 個，但有 2 個不同的價格點，取決於學生想要獲得的功能。因此，我們認為，在人工智慧和技能以及我們正在幫助學生解決的其他問題之間，確實有機會繼續提高每個客戶的 ARPU。

And so we are focused on testing messaging and pricing. I wouldn't expect that anytime soon. I think the single most important thing that we need to do is to get the new product and user experience out there. And if we continue to see the positive feedback that we're getting now, that I think you're going to see that just as we've laid out over the course of the rest of this year and the first quarter of next year. And then we'll keep adding and adding and adding.

因此，我們專注於測試訊息傳遞和定價。我沒想到很快就會出現這種情況。我認為我們需要做的最重要的事情就是推出新產品和使用者體驗。如果我們繼續看到現在得到的正面回饋，我想你們將會看到這一點，就像我們在今年剩餘時間和明年第一季所製定的那樣。然後我們將繼續添加、添加、添加。

The key is just creating overwhelming value so that students see the value and the pricing. And every time that we have done that, we've been able to be successful.

關鍵是創造壓倒性的價值，讓學生看到價值和定價。每次我們這樣做，我們就能獲得成功。

Next question, Brent Thill with Jefferies.

下一個問題由 Jefferies 的 Brent Thill 回答。

Andy, great working with you over the years. One of the questions I've asked you guys for kind of multiple years is just you had really high margin. And given a lot of the AI components that you have to build out, why not spend a little more to kind of get the right infrastructure in for the next 5 years? Can you do AI infrastructure and keep your margins where they're at? You obviously guided to a pretty strong margin for next quarter. If you could just update the trade-offs that you're thinking through here.

安迪，多年來與您合作非常愉快。多年來我一直問你們的問題之一就是你們的利潤率非常高。鑑於您必須建造大量人工智慧組件，為什麼不多花一點錢在未來 5 年內獲得合適的基礎設施呢？你能做人工智慧基礎設施並維持現有的利潤嗎？顯然，您為下個季度提供了相當強勁的利潤率。如果您可以更新您在這裡考慮的權衡。

Yes, I'll start and let Andy end with a flourish. This is a highly profitable business. I mean, we have 70%-plus gross margins. We have EBITDA margins that we believe will continue to grow as we grow. And as Andy has pointed out over the years, we'll likely approach 40% EBITDA margins as we get even bigger and bigger, which we are working very hard to return to that growth path.

是的，我會開始並讓安迪以華麗的方式結束。這是一項高利潤的業務。我的意思是，我們的毛利率超過 70%。我們相信 EBITDA 利潤率將隨著我們的發展而持續成長。正如安迪多年來指出的那樣，隨著我們規模越來越大，我們的 EBITDA 利潤率可能會接近 40%，我們正在非常努力地重返成長道路。

So the spending is -- we've increased our spending in each of the categories over the last bunch of years as we see opportunities to invest. I can tell you, as the CEO, we have not held back on investing things that we think are valuable to students and valuable to investors. We're just fortunate that our business model can produce as much as $170 million in free cash flow this year as an example.

因此，隨著我們看到投資機​​會，過去幾年我們增加了各個類別的支出。我可以告訴你，作為首席執行官，我們並沒有停止投資那些我們認為對學生有價值、對投資者有價值的東西。幸運的是，我們的商業模式今年可以產生高達 1.7 億美元的自由現金流。

So I think when people look how to value this company, we've got a company that's going to do nearly $220 million in EBITDA, $170 million in free cash flow, with a big growth opportunity ahead of it. And as we see those opportunities like we did in Skills, we invested in it, like we transformed the company to all digital. We invested in it like we are doing now with AI.

因此，我認為，當人們考慮如何評估這家公司的價值時，我們發現這家公司的 EBITDA 將達到近 2.2 億美元，自由現金流將達到 1.7 億美元，前方還有巨大的成長機會。當我們看到這些機會時，就像我們在技能方面所做的那樣，我們對其進行了投資，就像我們將公司轉變為全數位化一樣。我們對它進行了投資，就像我們現在對人工智慧所做的那樣。

We're not holding anything back from AI. We're just able to re-purpose a number of the costs of things that were higher cost of content creation to now more efficient cost of content creation. So I will tell you that when we see opportunities to move faster and grow, we will. It's very hard to replicate what Chegg does. These are complicated systems and processes and learning taxonomies, and we want to get it right.

我們不會對人工智慧有任何保留。我們能夠將一些原本較高的內容創作成本重新調整為現在更有效率的內容創作成本。所以我會告訴你，當我們看到更快行動和成長的機會時，我們會的。 Chegg 所做的事情很難複製。這些都是複雜的系統、流程和學習分類法，我們希望能做到正確。

So we don't have the situation that AI has where students don't trust it. We want to be in a situation where our accuracy and relevancy and user experience are designed the way students expect it, and that's why we continue to get such high results and such high retention.

所以我們不會出現像人工智慧這樣學生不信任它的情況。我們希望我們的準確性、相關性和使用者體驗按照學生期望的方式設計，這就是我們繼續獲得如此高的結果和如此高的保留率的原因。

I'll let Andy sort of address any other parts of that.

我會讓安迪來解決其他部分的問題。

No. Dan, I think you nailed it. And I think the key thing here is we're not starving the business at all. We're making massive investments. We made a big investment in scale AI that we talked about last quarter. And it's something I remind our team frequently, and that is to Dan's point, we're driving more EBITDA and free cash flow than many of our competitors are doing in revenue.

不，丹，我認為你成功了。我認為關鍵是我們根本沒有讓業務挨餓。我們正在進行大規模投資。我們在上個季度談到的大規模人工智慧方面進行了大量投資。我經常提醒我們的團隊，這就是丹的觀點，我們推動的 EBITDA 和自由現金流比許多競爭對手的收入還要多。

And so when we need to deploy capital, we can do it, and we will do it, and we are doing it in our new generative AI product. So we're absolutely beating the business, and we -- our goal, like Dan said earlier, is to get back on a growth track, and we'll make the appropriate investments to do that.

因此，當我們需要部署資本時，我們可以做到，我們將會做到，而且我們正在我們新的生成式人工智慧產品中做到這一點。因此，我們絕對擊敗了業務，我們的目標，就像丹早些時候所說的那樣，是回到成長軌道，我們將進行適當的投資來做到這一點。

Next question, Jason Celino with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

下一個問題是來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Jason Celino。

Great. Just a couple for me. Nice to hear the initiatives on the Skill side. Can you just talk about the go-to-market there, particularly as you try to target some corporate customers like Indeed?

偉大的。對我來說只是一對。很高興聽到技能方面的舉措。您能談談那裡的市場推廣嗎，特別是當您試圖瞄準一些像 Indeed 這樣的企業客戶時？

Yes. So I think it's sort of fascinating. One of the things that I'm not sure that we even understood the value of was that, over the last bunch of years, we've had as many as 22 million students subscribe to Chegg and many more used free versions of our writing product and others, so we've had tens of millions of students that have gone into the workplace. So our brand is actually quite popular.

是的。所以我認為這很有趣。我不確定我們是否理解其價值的一件事是，在過去的幾年裡，我們已經有多達 2200 萬名學生訂閱了 Chegg，還有更多人使用了我們寫作產品的免費版本等等，所以我們已經有數以千萬計的學生進入了職場。所以我們的品牌其實很受歡迎。

And so as we were working with Guild and as we saw that Guild business grow, and then we saw that our completion rates got beyond 50%, which is really hard to do with online courses, we began to be approached by people like, well, can you do this for us? But we don't necessarily want to take the whole situation with Guild because Guild does online education as well as Skills. And so that prompted us to build a tiger team that is going into corporations that know Chegg, that have a lot of employees that have used Chegg, that value Chegg. And so that is how we got started.

因此，當我們與 Guild 合作時，我們看到 Guild 業務不斷增長，然後我們看到我們的完成率超過了 50%，這對於線上課程來說確實很難做到，我們開始被一些人聯繫，例如，你能為我們做這個嗎？但我們不一定想把整個情況交給公會，因為公會既做線上教育，也做技能。因此，這促使我們建立了一支老虎團隊，該團隊將進入了解 Chegg 的公司，這些公司有很多員工使用過 Chegg，並且重視 Chegg。我們就是這樣開始的。

We hired Colin Coggins, who is now running that group. And so he's responsible for all of those efforts, and he's making immediate progress, to be honest with you. Indeed is just the first of what we imagine will be many over time. There's a lot of large companies.

我們聘請了科林·科金斯（Colin Coggins），他現在負責管理該團隊。因此，他對所有這些努力負責，而且說實話，他正在立即取得進展。事實上，這只是我們想像中隨著時間的推移將會發生的許多事情中的第一個。有很多大公司。

The difference that we do versus other companies out there that do skills, so if you take some companies, they have a marketplace of skills and they package it and they sell what they have. Other companies have a very limited scope of what they build their content for, and their content may or may not be updated regularly.

我們與其他提供技能的公司的區別在於，如果你看一些公司，他們有一個技能市場，他們將其打包並出售他們擁有的東西。其他公司的內容建構範圍非常有限，他們的內容可能會也可能不會定期更新。

Chegg has become a bespoke content creator in the skills space because we're creating for students as well as for Guild, which is frontline workers, and now as well as for corporation. The corporations come to us and they say, "Look, the single most important thing that we need to reeducate or train our employees on is this."

Chegg 已成為技能領域的客製化內容創作者，因為我們正在為學生和 Guild（一線工人）創作，現在也為公司創作。公司來找我們，他們說：“看，我們需要對員工進行再教育或培訓的最重要的事情就是這一點。”

Originally, these Skills businesses grew B2B because it was a benefit being offered, come to our company and you can train on this stuff. Now it's becoming an imperative, with the corporation is saying, "This is exactly what we need to do." And one of the benefits of AI is been we've gone from 13 weeks of creating a course, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to 5 or 6 weeks and maybe $40,000. So our ability to do it at a much greater speed and much bigger scale, personalized specifically to the needs of those corporations has improved. And so that's why we're starting to make real good progress on our own corporate B2B.

最初，這些技能業務發展為 B2B，因為它提供了一種福利，來到我們公司，你可以接受這些東西的培訓。現在它已成為當務之急，該公司表示：“這正是我們需要做的。”人工智慧的好處之一是我們創建一門課程的時間從 13 週、數十萬美元縮短到 5 或 6 週、也許 40,000 美元。因此，我們以更快的速度、更大的規模、專門針對這些公司的需求進行個人化的能力得到了提升。這就是為什麼我們開始在我們自己的企業 B2B 方面取得真正的良好進展。

Okay. Great. Helpful. And then when I think about the stabilization you're seeing on the retention side, how much of partnerships come into play? And then when we think about future partners, like what are the types of characteristics or things you look for in that?

好的。偉大的。有幫助。然後，當我考慮您在保留方面看到的穩定性時，有多少合作夥伴關係發揮了作用？然後，當我們考慮未來的合作夥伴時，您會尋找哪些類型的特徵或東西？

Jason, you broke up a little bit. You're talking about retention in partnerships. Is that what you were asking about?

傑森，你們分手了一點。您正在談論保留合作夥伴關係。這就是你問的嗎？

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

So look, we have really great partnerships so far with Calm and now Tinder and DoorDash are examples, and others are looking to work with us. We use it in 2 different ways. One of them is to help increase conversion and the other is to help improve retention. Because the way the deals work is the students can't get access to the free DoorDash or the free Tinder or the free Calm if they don't retain on Chegg.

所以看，到目前為止，我們與 Calm 建立了非常好的合作夥伴關係，現在 Tinder 和 DoorDash 就是例子，其他人也正在尋求與我們合作。我們以兩種不同的方式使用它。其中之一是幫助提高轉換率，另一個是幫助提高保留率。因為優惠的運作方式是，如果學生不保留 Chegg，他們就無法使用免費的 DoorDash、免費的 Tinder 或免費的 Calm。

And as you've seen, our retention numbers are going up. It's for a whole host of reasons, quality being the single most important thing, but the overall value of which these partnerships are adding to it.

正如您所看到的，我們的保留人數正在上升。原因有很多，其中品質是最重要的事情，但這些合作關係所增加的整體價值。

So yes, we are being approached by and we are in discussions with a number of people and different ways to offer a Chegg premium pack, and other things that we can do because students value the ability to get access to the things that they want through Chegg. And these partners really value the ability to reach college students more efficiently than they ever have before. And so it's been a positive surprise for us, to be honest with you.

所以，是的，我們正在與許多人聯繫，我們正在與許多人討論以不同的方式提供 Chegg 高級包，以及我們可以做的其他事情，因為學生重視透過訪問他們想要的東西的能力切格。這些合作夥伴非常重視比以往更有效地接觸大學生的能力。老實說，這對我們來說是一個正面的驚喜。

Next question, Brian Peterson with Raymond James.

下一個問題是布萊恩彼得森和雷蒙德詹姆斯。

This is [Jessica] on for Brian. I just have a little bit of follow-up on an earlier question. In terms of headcount, what kind of investments are you considering for a hiring strategy? Like in areas like AI and Skills, which are great growth areas for you, are you looking for more personnel? Or are you having -- are you looking for more partnerships like scale AI that helps cover help you need?

我是[潔西卡]為布萊恩代言的。我只是對之前的問題進行一些跟進。就員工人數而言，您正在考慮對招募策略進行哪些投資？就像人工智慧和技能等對您來說是巨大成長領域的領域一樣，您是否正在尋找更多人員？或者您正在尋找更多的合作夥伴關係，例如規模人工智慧，以幫助滿足您所需的幫助？

Yes. One of the things that we did earlier this year, which was very unfortunate, but back in June, we really began to understand the magnitude of what we wanted to invest in. And then we made the difficult decision to eliminate almost 90 jobs in the company so that we have the headway to be able to add jobs into our AI space. So we have moved the majority of the personnel that we plan to move. We've opened up room to be able to add people as we need to add them.

是的。我們今年早些時候做了一件非常不幸的事情，但早在6 月份，我們就真正開始了解我們想要投資的規模。然後我們做出了艱難的決定，在該領域裁減近90 個工作崗位.公司，以便我們能夠在人工智慧領域增加就業機會方面取得進展。因此，我們已經轉移了計劃轉移的大部分人員。我們已經開闢了空間，以便能夠根據需要添加人員。

In terms of AI partnerships, one of the things that we've built is something internally is called the orchestrator, which allows us to work with any and all AI partners depending on which is the most efficient and relevant to produce the best result at the best price for us for our students, if we choose to do that.

在人工智慧合作夥伴關係方面，我們在內部建構的東西之一被稱為協調器，它使我們能夠與任何和所有人工智慧合作夥伴合作，具體取決於哪個是最有效和最相關的，以產生最佳結果。如果我們選擇這樣做，我們將為我們的學生提供最優惠的價格。

So we're not looking for -- we don't need many more partnerships in order to build what we want to build. It's really about execution right now. So we've always been judicious about adding heads. We don't really add all that many heads per year. But the ones that we will add will be focused on getting all of these services rolled out the way we've discussed it on the call.

因此，我們不是在尋找 - 我們不需要更多的合作夥伴關係來建立我們想要建造的東西。現在真正重要的是執行力。所以我們在增加人頭方面總是很明智。我們每年並沒有真正增加那麼多人頭。但我們將添加的服務將專注於按照我們在電話中討論的方式推出所有這些服務。

Great. That's good to hear. Also, as a quick follow-up, are -- so as you're rolling out further capabilities with your AI tools, are students receptive to having AI on Chegg being like a coach and lies beyond study help. Like could AI connect you to career guidance and mental wellness, is that helps keep them subscribed on Chegg even when they're done with classes.

偉大的。聽起來還不錯。此外，作為快速跟進，當您使用 AI 工具推出更多功能時，學生是否願意讓 Chegg 上的 AI 就像教練一樣，超出學習幫助範圍。就像人工智慧可以將你與職業指導和心理健康聯繫起來一樣，這有助於讓他們在 Chegg 上訂閱，即使他們已經完成了課程。

The answer is absolutely yes, and that's precisely what we're building. So in the short term, the first step is to convert all the academic support. That is the single most valuable thing that we do and the most obvious thing that we do. From there, we are building the skills pathways, which is the ability to assess, do you have the skills necessary.

答案是肯定的，而這正是我們正在建構的。所以短期來看，第一步就是把所有的學術支援都轉換掉。這是我們所做的最有價值的事情，也是我們所做的最明顯的事情。從這裡開始，我們正在建立技能途徑，即評估您是否具備必要技能的能力。

So just to envision the following scenario, you go to school A, we know that students that go to school A that major in finance end up going into the following 10 companies in your state and the skills that you need outside of academics to be proficient or these things, we'll be able to tell all the students that. Then we'll be able to assess you versus your other classmates or against an assessment test, and then we'll be able to offer you the ability to learn those skills.

想像下面的場景，你去A學校，我們知道去A學校金融專業的學生最終會進入你所在州的以下10家公司，以及你需要精通學術之外的技能或者這些事情，我們就能告訴所有的學生。然後我們將能夠與其他同學或評估測驗來評估您，然後我們將能夠為您提供學習這些技能的能力。

Those kinds of things will be not only make Chegg more valuable while at school, but also be able to stay with you once you're outside of school.

這些事情不僅會讓 Chegg 在學校時變得更有價值，而且在你離開學校後也能留在你身邊。

The second area that we're working on are the areas that were originally were Chegg Life, which is financial literacy, mental health, those kinds of things. And so the ability to use a coach precisely, as you say, it's internally is called the coach. It will not only encourage you to do things academically and skills, but also acknowledge when you're not getting enough sleep or when you may want to talk to somebody. So it's precisely the kind of things that we want to do.

我們正在研究的第二個領域是最初屬於 Chegg Life 的領域，即金融知識、心理健康等。因此，正如你所說，在內部精確使用教練的能力稱為教練。它不僅會鼓勵您在學術和技能上做事，而且還會在您睡眠不足或您可能想與某人交談時得到認可。所以這正是我們想做的事。

When I joined the company, 14 years ago, we said we wanted to go from 4 days a year rent return to 365 days a year. Well, we've gotten a halfway there or 1/3 of the way there, I should say. And we think these new capabilities will continue to expand the region to just stay annually on Chegg. We really have not offered an annual subscription in ages but one of the things that once we roll out these perks and roll out these other capabilities.

14 年前，當我加入公司時，我們說我們希望將每年 4 天的租金回報改為每年 365 天。好吧，我應該說，我們已經完成了一半或 1/3。我們認為這些新功能將繼續擴大該地區，每年只停留在 Chegg 上。我們確實已經很久沒有提供年度訂閱了，但一旦我們推出這些福利並推出這些其他功能，其中之一就是。

We do think there's going to be an interest in an annual subscription because you will use Chegg more and more each day for things beyond just academic support. You use it for mental support, you'll use it for skill support, for coaching, for time management. There's a whole host of things that we'll be able to do that we've never been able to do before that we're always on the original desire and road map to do. So yes.

我們確實認為人們會對年度訂閱感興趣，因為您每天都會越來越多地使用 Chegg 來獲得學術支援以外的其他用途。你用它來進行精神支持，你將用它來進行技能支持、指導和時間管理。我們將能夠做很多以前從未做過的事情，而我們始終遵循最初的願望和路線圖去做。所以是的。

Next question, Alex Fuhrman with Craig Hallum Capital Group.

下一個問題是 Craig Hallum Capital Group 的 Alex Fuhrman。

I wanted to ask about the marketing strategy. Has your marketing needed to change at all over the past couple of quarters as AI has emerged as a little bit of a competitive threat? And as you look into next year, is it pretty much the same playbook? Or are there any differences in how you go to market with your customers that we should expect to see next year?

我想問一下行銷策略。由於人工智慧已經成為一種競爭威脅，您的行銷在過去幾季是否需要做出改變？當你展望明年時，你會發現這幾乎是同樣的劇本嗎？或者我們預計明年會看到您與客戶進入市場的方式有何不同？

You can expect to see differences in the messaging and differences in the format and differences in the vehicle. So I'll take each one. The first one and the most important one is we will be able to start to message the new capabilities. Remember, we get millions of students that come in a month, but because you come up against the paywall from day 1, we will now have more valuable messaging and differentiated messaging that we think will improve conversion. That's what it's opportune to us, without even bringing in any other customers into the funnel.

您可能會看到訊息傳遞的差異、格式的差異以及車輛的差異。所以我會每一件都拿走。第一個也是最重要的一個是我們將能夠開始發布新功能的消息。請記住，我們一個月內將吸引數百萬學生，但由於從第一天起就面臨付費牆，我們現在將擁有更有價值的消息和差異化消息，我們認為這將提高轉換率。這對我們來說是合適的，甚至不需要將任何其他客戶引入管道。

But of course, we want to expand the funnel and we should be able to expand the funnel because the kinds of things that we can do will now be relevant to students well beyond just the STEM-B categories. And that is one that we intend to use, that increased messaging in other environments.

但當然，我們希望擴大漏斗，而且我們應該能夠擴大漏斗，因為我們現在能做的事情與學生的相關性遠遠超出了 STEM-B 類別。這就是我們打算使用的一種方法，可以增加其他環境中的訊息傳遞。

The environment that I'm not -- I don't think will surprise you will be environments like TikTok. So it might surprise you to know that Chegg produces a lot of videos for TikTok now. The ones that don't do very well get to 100,000 people, the ones that do very well get to over 1 million people.

我不認為像 TikTok 這樣的環境會讓你感到驚訝。因此，您可能會驚訝地發現 Chegg 現在為 TikTok 製作了大量影片。做得不好的可以接觸到10萬人，做得很好的可以接觸到超過100萬人。

So our ability to show the product in video and message it through influencers on college campuses, we think we'll expand who's aware of us and what they're aware of us for and that will be the big increase that you see in terms of Chegg's effort to get the message out once the product is rolled out more fully, which will be next year.

因此，我們有能力在影片中展示產品並透過大學校園裡的影響者傳達訊息，我們認為我們將擴大誰了解我們以及他們了解我們的原因，這將是您在以下方面看到的巨大增長一旦產品更全面地推出（明年），Chegg 就會努力傳達這個訊息。

Okay. That's really helpful.

好的。這真的很有幫助。

By the way, we've seen a really positive response from TikTok already. And we've seen really responsible -- we've seen the beginning of positive response on conversion for the customers that are getting the new version of Chegg. So these things are things that we hope to work and expect to work, and we're seeing good first signs of them working.

順便說一句，我們已經看到 TikTok 的積極回應。我們已經看到了真正負責任的做法 - 我們已經看到獲得新版本 Chegg 的客戶在轉換方面開始產生積極的反應。因此，這些事情是我們希望並期望能夠發揮作用的事情，我們看到了它們發揮作用的良好初步跡象。

Next question, Eric Sheridan with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題是高盛的埃里克·謝裡丹（Eric Sheridan）。

Maybe 2, if I can. One big picture, Dan, how should we be thinking about pricing power longer term with respect to AI? I know there's sort of this debate out there among investors about whether AI is something that is inflationary, deflationary, sort of offense versus defense.

如果可以的話，也許是 2 個。丹，我們該如何考慮人工智慧的長期定價權？我知道投資者之間有這樣的爭論：人工智慧會導致通貨膨脹、通貨緊縮，或是進攻或防守。

So I would love to think about how you think about AI capabilities feeding back broader to sort of pricing in the platform over the medium to long term. And then second, more shorter-term question. Just as we exit this year and go into next year, any updates on your strategy with respect to language and more language capabilities on the platform.

因此，我很想思考您如何看待人工智慧功能在中長期內對平台的定價產生更廣泛的影響。然後是第二個更短期的問題。正如我們今年退出並進入明年一樣，您在平台上有關語言和更多語言功能的策略是否有任何更新。

Yes. A lot of really good questions there. Let me try to unpack them. So the first thing is -- let me just get to the language one. On the language one, we have said that we acquired Busuu, and the initial execution and integration of Busuu did not go as planned. And we are now seeing that turn around and get into positive territory again. And so that is a really good scenario.

是的。那裡有很多非常好的問題。讓我嘗試打開它們的包裝。所以第一件事是──讓我談談語言問題。關於語言一，我們說過我們收購了博樹，但博樹的最初執行和整合並沒有按計劃進行。我們現在看到這種情況出現逆轉並再次進入積極的領域。所以這是一個非常好的場景。

There are 3 places for the language areas to grow. Obviously, we're in Europe where it's much more prominent direct to the consumer. Believe it or not, B2B on its own and through the partnership with Guild are also growth areas for us as more corporations want English language. And because we have the partnership with Guild, that's one that we think will continue to expand.

語言區有3個地方可以發展。顯然，我們在歐洲，直接面向消費者的方式更為突出。不管你相信與否，隨著越來越多的公司需要英語，B2B 本身以及透過與 Guild 的合作也是我們的成長領域。因為我們與 Guild 建立了合作關係，所以我們認為這種合作關係將會繼續擴大。

And then the ultimate one is the Premium model in the U.S. All of those things are in flight now. And internally, we expect to see the results of those efforts over the course of this semester and then increasing next year. So those are also growth opportunities, just like Skills. In fact, we consider language a skill. So we think that whole category is a growth category for Chegg, even starting now.

最後的一款是美國的高級型號。所有這些東西現在都在飛行中。在內部，我們期望在本學期看到這些努力的成果，然後在明年增加。所以這些也是成長機會，就像技能一樣。事實上，我們認為語言是一種技能。因此，我們認為整個類別對於 Chegg 來說都是一個成長類別，即使從現在開始也是如此。

So on the ARPU area and pricing power, we have shown that we have pricing power when we rolled out the bundle. We also -- last year, when we took the dollar increase, we said that the dollar increase was designed to increase the number of people that took the bundle. So that actually did so by 5 or 6 points, which is what our estimate was.

因此，在 ARPU 面積和定價能力方面，我們在推出捆綁包時就已經證明了我們擁有定價能力。去年，當我們增加美元時，我們說增加美元是為了增加領取捆綁包的人數。所以實際上提高了 5 或 6 個點，這就是我們的估計。

Going forward, I don't really see charging extra for AI as a good decision for businesses. I think it's an opportunity for the company to do it better to pick up market share and retain their pricing. And I sit on the Board of Adobe, so we have a lot of these conversations there as well.

展望未來，我並不認為對人工智慧收取額外費用對企業來說是一個好的決定。我認為這是該公司更好地提高市場份額並保持定價的機會。我是 Adob​​e 董事會成員，因此我們也進行了許多此類對話。

For Chegg, as I mentioned earlier, I think, ultimately, we get to 1 SKU that has all of this, has the academic support, has the Skills pathways and then has the support for the other areas of your life. And I think depending on which of those capabilities you want access to the price point will go up. But there's always got to be, particularly for college students, a smart price point to get them started out.

對於 Chegg，正如我之前提到的，我認為最終我們會得到 1 個 SKU，它擁有所有這些，擁有學術支持，擁有技能途徑，然後為你生活的其他領域提供支持。我認為，根據您想要使用哪些功能，價格將會上漲。但總是需要有一個明智的價格點來幫助他們入門，特別是對於大學生來說。

And so I think we see being able to improve ARPU by adding and improving the amount of things that we can provide and the number of people that are willing to pay for the higher SKU once they become Chegg customers. So yes, we know we have pricing power. We've taken that power. We could take more of that power now. But the goal is to return to new account growth, which we're getting closer and closer to every day. And so that is more of our primary focus right now than pricing.

因此，我認為我們可以透過增加和改進我們可以提供的產品數量以及成為 Chegg 客戶後願意為更高 SKU 付費的人數來提高 ARPU。所以，是的，我們知道我們有定價權。我們已經掌握了這種力量。我們現在可以利用更多的力量。但我們的目標是恢復新客戶成長，我們每天都離這個目標越來越近。因此，這比定價更成為我們現在的主要關注點。

There are no further questions. I would like to turn the floor over to Dan Rosensweig for closing remarks.

沒有其他問題了。我想請丹‧羅森斯韋格 (Dan Rosensweig) 致閉幕詞。

Yes. Listen, let me start again by thanking Andy. Without his friendship and partnership and leadership, Chegg would not be nearly as successful as it's been. We love who we serve. We love the ability to serve them and working with Andy has been one of the professional honors of my career.

是的。聽著，讓我再次感謝安迪。如果沒有他的友誼、夥伴關係和領導力，Chegg 就不會像現在這樣成功。我們熱愛我們所服務的人。我們喜歡為他們服務的能力，與安迪一起工作一直是我職業生涯中的職業榮譽之一。

As we go forward, what we realize is the opportunity to do more for students and do it for more students is now opened up again because of AI. And so as we come out of the COVID-accelerated growth rate that was not sustainable, we are hitting that trough, as one of you mentioned earlier, and getting to the point where retention is growing and length of time that people are growing and ARPU is growing, and it really is about adding new accounts.

隨著我們的前進，我們意識到，由於人工智慧，現在再次為學生提供了為更多學生做更多事情的機會。因此，當我們走出新冠疫情帶來的不可持續的加速增長率時，正如你們中的一位之前提到的，我們正在觸及低谷，並達到留存率不斷增長、用戶增長的時間長度和ARPU 的程度。正在成長，而且確實是關於添加新帳戶。

And as we get closer to where we want to get to first and then roll out the new product and service, we see ourselves serving tens of millions more students a year over the next bunch of years. So the future of Chegg really does look exciting. The investments that we're making now are ones that we anticipate will make a big difference in our future growth.

隨著我們越來越接近我們想要首先實現的目標，然後推出新產品和服務，我們預計在接下來的幾年裡，我們每年將為數千萬學生提供服務。所以 Chegg 的未來看起來確實令人興奮。我們現在正在進行的投資預計將對我們未來的成長產生重大影響。

And we're really excited about the business. And we're proud of our team and the execution they did for the third quarter in a row to beat and exceed and to increase the amount of cash flow that we're producing. So we're just going to keep working hard and reporting out on those results, and I think you're going to be very excited over the years to come. So thank you, Andy, and thanks, everybody, for joining.

我們對這項業務感到非常興奮。我們為我們的團隊以及他們在第三季度連續超越並增加我們產生的現金流量的執行力感到自豪。因此，我們將繼續努力並報告這些結果，我認為您在未來幾年將會非常興奮。謝謝你，安迪，也謝謝大家的加入。

Thank you.

謝謝。

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。