Skillz Inc (SKLZ) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon all. I would like to welcome you all to Skillz Incorporated 2024 first quarter results call. (Operator Instructions)

大家下午好。歡迎大家參加 Skillz Incorporated 2024 年第一季業績電話會議。（操作員說明）

I'd now like to pass the conference over to your host Jim Leahy from JCIR to begin. So Jim, please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給來自 JCIR 的主持人吉姆·萊希 (Jim Leahy) 開始。那麼吉姆，請繼續。

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Skillz 2024 first quarter earnings conference call. On the call today are Andrew Paradise, Skillz Co-Founder and CEO; Casey Chafkin, Co-Founder, and CSO; Gaetano Franceschi, CFO.

下午好，歡迎參加 Skillz 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是 Skillz 聯合創辦人兼執行長 Andrew Paradise； Casey Chafkin，共同創辦人兼首席策略長；加埃塔諾·弗朗西斯基，財務長。

This afternoon, Skillz issued its earnings release reporting preliminary unaudited first quarter results, which is available on the company's Investor Relations website. The Company is in the process of completing its unaudited interim financial statements and other disclosures for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2024. Accordingly, we are announcing preliminary results from the first quarter, which are based on currently available information and are subject to revision as management completes the internal review.

今天下午，Skillz 發布了收益報告，報告了未經審計的第一季初步業績，該業績可在該公司的投資者關係網站上查看。本公司正在完成截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的財政季度未經審計的中期財務報表和其他揭露。因此，我們宣布第一季的初步業績，該業績基於當前可獲得的信息，並可能在管理層完成內部審查後進行修訂。

Our independent registered public accounting firm has not finalized its review of these preliminary financial results. In the event the Company determined it will not file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q by the prescribed deadline but will file an extension on 12b-25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Company is still in the process of completing its financial statements and other disclosures for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, we were not able to file our Form 10-K during a requisite extension period.

我們的獨立註冊會計師事務所尚未完成這些初步財務表現的審查。如果公司決定不在規定的截止日期前提交 10-Q 表格季度報告，但將向美國證券交易委員會提交 12b-25 表格延期報告。此外，本公司仍在完成截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的財政年度的財務報表和其他揭露，我們無法在必要的延期期間提交 10-K 表格。

As a result, we previously announced we received the notice from the NYSE that the Company was not in compliance with NYSE listing standards. The Company is working diligently to complete the necessary work to file the Form 10-K as soon as practicable and currently expects to file the Form 10-K within the six month period granted by the NYSE notice and intends to take all necessary steps to achieve compliance with applicable NYSE listing standards as soon as possible.

因此，我們先前宣布收到紐約證券交易所的通知，表示該公司不符合紐約證券交易所上市標準。公司正在努力工作，盡快完成提交 10-K 表格的必要工作，目前預計在紐約證券交易所通知授予的六個月內提交 10-K 表格，並打算採取一切必要措施來實現盡快遵守適用的紐約證券交易所上市標準。

Because our results for the quarter and last year are preliminary and still subject to review and audit by our independent registered public accounting firm, actual results may differ from these preliminary financial results and other financial information due to the completion of our internal procedures, final adjustments and other developments that may arise between now and the time the results are finalized.

由於我們本季和去年的業績是初步的，仍需經過我們獨立註冊會計師事務所的審查和審計，因此，由於我們的內部程序、最終調整的完成情況，實際結果可能與這些初步財務業績和其他財務資訊有所不同。

Before I turn the call over to Andrew, please note that some of management's comments today will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements, which are usually identified by the use of words such as will, expect, should or other similar phrases are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Therefore, you should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on them. We refer you to the company's SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact future operating results and financial condition.

在我將電話轉給安德魯之前，請注意，今天管理層的一些評論將包括聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述通常透過使用「意願」、「期望」、「應該」或其他類似短語等詞彙來識別，這些陳述面臨眾多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。因此，您在解釋和依賴它們時應該小心謹慎。我們建議您參閱該公司向 SEC 提交的文件，以更詳細地討論可能影響未來營運績效和財務狀況的風險。

During the call, management will discuss non-GAAP measures, which it believes can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the Company's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in the company's first quarter 2024 earnings release.

在電話會議期間，管理階層將討論非公認會計準則衡量標準，認為這些衡量標準有助於評估公司的營運表現。這些措施不應被孤立地考慮，也不應取代公司根據公認會計原則編制的財務表現。該公司 2024 年第一季財報中提供了這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整表。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew for some opening remarks, followed by a panel for a discussion of the Company's financial performance before we open the call for questions.

接下來，我將把電話轉給安德魯，讓他發表一些開場白，然後在我們開始提問之前，由小組討論公司的財務表現。

Before I review the progress we've made on our four strategic pillars. I want to share some comments on the significant strides we're making related to key litigation matters and our Fairplay initiatives. As you know, our proprietary platform provides certainty that every player is fairly matched against another real player. That is the foundation of competition and a clinical tenant of skill-based gaming.

在我回顧我們在四大戰略支柱上取得的進展之前。我想分享一些關於我們在關鍵訴訟事項和公平競賽舉措方面所取得的重大進展的評論。如您所知，我們的專有平台可以確保每個玩家都與另一個真實玩家公平匹配。這是競爭的基礎，也是基於技能的遊戲的臨床租戶。

Unfortunately, companies such as AviaGames, and we believe for PI gaming to not follow ethical fairness practices and utilize bots to the SI players. Often matching their consumers against bots instead of against real opponents. We previously reported that a jury awarded Skillz approximately $43 million in our patent infringement case against AviaGames.

不幸的是，像 AviaGames 這樣的公司，我們認為 PI 遊戲不遵循道德公平實踐，而是利用機器人來攻擊 SI 玩家。通常將消費者與機器人進行匹配，而不是與真正的對手進行匹配。我們之前曾報道過，在我們針對 AviaGames 的專利侵權案中，陪審團判給 Skillz 約 4,300 萬美元。

Subsequent to this jury award, Skillz and Big Run studios entered into a settlement agreement with AviaGames for a total of $80 million, which is almost twice the jury award. We received the first cash payment of $50 million for the settlement as of the end of April, beginning next year Skillz will receive $7.5 million for licensing royalty payments annually for four years.

在獲得評審團裁決後，Skillz 和 Big Run 工作室與 AviaGames 達成了總計 8,000 萬美元的和解協議，幾乎是評審團裁決金額的兩倍。截至 4 月底，我們收到了第一筆 5,000 萬美元的和解現金，從明年開始，Skillz 將在四年內每年收到 750 萬美元的許可使用費。

Let me be absolutely clear. The settlement does not end our fight to eliminate bots that the defraud consumers in our industry. The evidence that came out of the AviaGames trial shows what we believe is a wilful pattern of deceived by AviaGames and its executives. AviaGames tried to mask the usage of bots and their internal documents by referring to them as cucumbers and guides. The evidence presented in court clearly showed the presence of bots in their code. In fact, the word bots and robots appeared thousands of times Avia's documents.

讓我絕對清楚。和解協議並沒有結束我們消除行業內欺騙消費者的機器人的鬥爭。AviaGames 審判中得出的證據表明，我們認為 AviaGames 及其高層故意進行欺騙。AviaGames 試圖透過將機器人稱為「黃瓜」和「指南」來掩蓋機器人及其內部文件的使用。法庭上提供的證據清楚地表明他們的代碼中存在機器人。事實上，機器人和機器人這個詞在 Avia 的文檔中出現了數千次。

More specifically, the evidence revealed different types of bots created to lure players in and keep them playing and paying. Shark robot, Comfort robot, Induction robot, and Cache robots are just a few of the bot types, AviaGames engineered and based on evidence to ensure the match outcome, they desired. Evidence further indicate that the so-called Shark robot is deployed to take a player's money when the players winning too much. Comfort robot is used to give them a little win to keep them calling if they were on the losing streak.

更具體地說，證據顯示了不同類型的機器人是為了吸引玩家並讓他們繼續玩遊戲和付費而創建的。鯊魚機器人、舒適機器人、感應機器人和緩存機器人只是 AviaGames 設計並基於證據的幾種機器人類型，以確保他們期望的比賽結果。證據進一步表明，所謂的「鯊魚」機器人被部署來在玩家贏得太多時拿走玩家的錢。舒適機器人用於為他們帶來一點勝利，讓他們在連敗時繼續跟注。

The evidence presented at trial shows AviaGames in place new but they're doing was wrong. Internal e-mails highlighted and I quote on a certain level, it can be said that bad money drives out good money quote, and that quote the Skillz listed company will not dare to use bots quotes. And quote, no wonder that our stock is down quote. AviaGames documents show that even the most senior members of AviaGames finance team were unsure how to attribute revenue coming from these bots. We believe this evidence is damning and is now part of the public record.

審判中提供的證據表明 AviaGames 採取了新措施，但他們的做法是錯誤的。內部郵件突出顯示，我某程度上報價，可以說劣幣驅逐良幣報價，而Skillz上市公司也不敢使用機器人報價。並報價，難怪我們的股票報價下跌。AviaGames 文件顯示，即使是 AviaGames 財務團隊的最高階層成員也不確定如何歸因於這些機器人的收入。我們相信這些證據是確鑿的，現在已成為公共記錄的一部分。

But perhaps most concerning for our industry as I address you today is that AviaGames is still operating as normal in the app stores. They are still using bots, this very second to take consumers' hard-earned money. AviaGames is not the only company we understand is using bots in this way, which is why we will do everything in our power to help stop these dishonest practices.

但也許當我今天向您發表講話時，我們行業最關心的是 AviaGames 仍在應用程式商店中正常運作。他們仍在使用機器人，就在此時此刻，他們正在拿走消費者的血汗錢。據我們了解，AviaGames 並不是唯一一家以這種方式使用機器人的公司，因此我們將竭盡全力幫助阻止這些不誠實的行為。

While our settlement is the interest of our shareholders, the $80 million is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the magnitude of the fraud, we believe is being perpetrated on American consumers daily. Winning this first case was a big milestone, but we're far from done in our fight to uphold FairPlay and protect consumers. We believe this fraudulent inducement, misrepresentation and the outright theft of billions of hard-earned dollars. We're 100% committed to this effort and believe in addition to the trial verdict 31 and subsequent settlement, we will prevail in similar circumstances in the future. While at the same time eliminating bad actors from the gaming industry.

雖然我們的和解符合我們股東的利益，但與詐欺行為的嚴重程度相比，8,000 萬美元只是九牛一毛，我們相信美國消費者每天都在遭受這樣的詐欺行為。贏得第一個案件是一個重要的里程碑，但我們維護 FairPlay 和保護消費者的鬥爭還遠遠沒有完成。我們認為這種欺詐性誘導、不實陳述和公然竊取了數十億來之不易的美元。我們百分之百致力於這項努力，並相信除了審判判決 31 和隨後的和解之外，我們將在未來類似的情況下獲勝。同時消除遊戲產業中的不良行為者。

In addition to AviaGames. We're in the early stages of the lawsuit we filed in March against Papaya alleging fraudulent use of bots. We also note that class action lawsuits have already been filed against AviaGames and Papaya are hopeful that the government authorities, if they're listening out there, we'll take note of Skillz progress, identifying fraudulent use of bots in this industry and take action to protect consumers. As a cover proof of fraudulent use of bots at any company in this industry, we intend to initiate additional actions to help protect both our company, our industry and our consumers.

除了阿維亞遊戲。三月針對 Papaya 提起的訴訟正處於早期階段，該訴訟指控其欺詐性使用機器人。我們還注意到，已經針對 AviaGames 提起了集體訴訟，Papaya 希望政府當局（如果他們正在傾聽）我們會注意到 Skillz 的進展，識別該行業中機器人的欺詐性使用並採取行動以保護消費者。作為該行業任何公司欺詐性使用機器人的掩護證據，我們打算採取更多行動來幫助保護我們的公司、我們的行業和我們的消費者。

Our goal has been to reduce competition, but rather to ensure a level playing field for all companies in our industry and maintain the same level of commitment to providing of transparent and fair player experience. Skillz will continue to combat the disruptive usage of bots until systemic frauder industry is eliminated. Creating a better future in gaming is good for consumers, our industry, as well as for Skillz.

我們的目標是減少競爭，而是確保行業內所有公司的公平競爭環境，並保持相同程度的承諾，提供透明和公平的玩家體驗。Skillz 將繼續打擊機器人的破壞性使用，直到系統性詐欺行業被消除。創造更美好的遊戲未來對消費者、我們的產業以及 Skillz 都有好處。

Since we're the leading company that doesn't engage in consumer bot fraud. We anticipate the elimination of this practice will dramatically change LTV to Cash Card benefit, which would greatly accelerate the turnaround of our business.

因為我們是不參與消費者機器人詐欺的領先公司。我們預計，消除這種做法將極大地改變生命週期價值（LTV）到現金卡的好處，這將大大加速我們業務的周轉。

It's also important to note that our expectations for achieving positive adjusted EBITDA by late this year are not contingent on our legal activities. Our path to achieving this goal is in our control and will be determined by the success of our turnaround initiatives.

同樣重要的是要注意，我們對在今年年底前實現正調整 EBITDA 的期望並不取決於我們的法律活動。實現這一目標的道路在我們的掌控之中，並將取決於我們扭虧為盈計畫的成功與否。

Turning now to the business performance in Q1. Progress continues to be made on our four key pillars for returning Skillz to consistent top line growth and positive adjusted EBITDA, enhancing our platform to improve customer and developer engagement retention, up-leveling the organization, go-to-market initiatives and positioning Skillz for our path to profitability.

現在轉向第一季的業務表現。我們在四個關鍵支柱上繼續取得進展，使Skillz 恢復持續的營收成長和積極調整的EBITDA、增強我們的平台以提高客戶和開發人員的參與度、提升組織水平、進入市場計劃以及將Skillz 定位為我們的獲利之路。

With that said, we had some near-term challenges in Q1, which masks some of the progress. We know the progress on our turnaround initiatives will take time and they won't always be linear every quarter, particularly in a period such as Q1, where we implemented several new initiatives. That said, our ability to make further progress in improving retention, engagement, monetization and increasing our audience was not optimized in Q1. This is evident in our paying users for the quarter with paying now declining to $121,000 in Q1 2024 from $137,000 in Q4 2023. While this rate of sequential decline is significantly less than the sequential rate of decline from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023, we expected to perform better than we did.

話雖如此，我們在第一季遇到了一些近期挑戰，這掩蓋了一些進展。我們知道，我們的扭虧為盈計畫的進展需要時間，而且每季並不總是線性的，特別是在像第一季這樣的時期，我們實施了幾項新計畫。也就是說，我們在提高保留率、參與度、貨幣化和增加受眾方面取得進一步進展的能力在第一季並未優化。這在我們本季的付費用戶中顯而易見，目前的付費用戶從 2023 年第四季的 137,000 美元降至 2024 年第一季的 121,000 美元。雖然這一環比下降率明顯低於 2023 年第三季至 2023 年第四季的環比下降率，但我們預計表現會比實際情況更好。

In Q1, we saw issues with new customer onboarding and while we quickly took several actions, these actions do not fix the onboarding issues enough to benefit our performance in Q1. We continued to address new player onboarding issues and believe that as of late April, we've implemented the necessary changes to improve onboarding of new customers and get us back on track to execute our improvement initiatives. While our fixes the onboarding issues are still in the early stages, the data we have so far indicates our audience decline has slowed.

在第一季度，我們看到了新客戶入職方面的問題，雖然我們迅速採取了多項行動，但這些行動並不足以解決入職問題，不足以有利於我們在第一季的業績。我們繼續解決新玩家入職問題，並相信截至 4 月下旬，我們已經實施了必要的更改，以改善新客戶的入職，並使我們回到執行改進計劃的正軌。雖然我們對引導問題的修復仍處於早期階段，但迄今為止的數據表明我們的受眾下降速度已經放緩。

At this time. We do not believe the onboarding issues and our execution in Q1 will stop Skillz from being adjusted EBITDA positive in Q4 2024. At the same time, we continue to do a good job with expense management with Q1 2024 OpEx in line with Q4 2023. Excluding Q4 onetime accrual reversals. Our adjusted EBITDA loss again improved on a year-over-year basis. Our focus remains on optimizing cash and growing LTV, and we feel we're at the right levels for those metrics. Our intent is to refocus on scaling traffic.

此時。我們認為，入職問題和第一季的執行不會阻止 Skillz 在 2024 年第四季實現調整後的 EBITDA 為正值。同時，我們繼續做好費用管理，2024年第一季營運支出與2023年第四季保持一致。不包括第四季一次性應計沖銷。我們調整後的 EBITDA 虧損再次較去年同期有所改善。我們的重點仍然是優化現金和提高生命週期價值，我們認為我們處於這些指標的正確水平。我們的目的是重新關注擴展流量。

In Q1, we trending towards a six-month payback period on our user acquisition spend. We achieved this through both reducing user acquisition spend while also being focused on spending in the best channels. We're beginning to focus on scaling in areas where we see good returns. As we execute our turnaround initiatives, we continue to believe our unique platform can generate significant returns for our shareholders.

在第一季度，我們的用戶獲取支出趨向於六個月的投資回收期。我們透過減少用戶獲取支出，同時專注於最佳管道的支出來實現這一目標。我們開始專注於在我們看到良好回報的領域中擴展。當我們執行扭虧為盈計畫時，我們仍然相信我們獨特的平台可以為股東帶來可觀的回報。

With that baseline of expectations, as I think about the first of our four key pillars ,enhancing our platform to improve customer and developer engagement and retention. The first quarter reflected some ongoing progress despite our uneven execution, a key initiative for this new product pipeline we have in place. New updates or features introduced since our 4Q call include Instant Match, which we introduced in Q4 and which we continue to refine to improve performance, including by encouraging players to play and match templates one-tier higher.

有了這個期望基線，當我想到我們的四個關鍵支柱中的第一個時，就是增強我們的平台以提高客戶和開發人員的參與度和保留率。儘管我們的執行情況參差不齊，但第一季仍反映出一些持續進展，這是我們實施的新產品線的關鍵舉措。自我們第四季度電話會議以來推出的新更新或功能包括即時匹配，我們在第四季度引入了即時匹配，我們繼續改進以提高性能，包括鼓勵玩家玩更高一級的遊戲和匹配模板。

In addition, at GDC, we previewed an exciting new feature, which received a strong response, Live brackets. We believe Live brackets, which is planning for launch on our games player this year, will be a great retention engagement vehicle to help drive new players to the platform. We also continued to refine single sign-on, which is improving the early user experience.

此外，在 GDC 上，我們預覽了一項令人興奮的新功能，它得到了強烈的反響：Live Brackets。我們相信，計劃今年在我們的遊戲播放器上推出的 Live Brackets 將成為一個很好的保留參與工具，有助於吸引新玩家進入該平台。我們也持續完善單一登錄，從而改善早期用戶體驗。

As we look over the balance of 2024, we intend to build on the momentum in our pipeline of new features, our best and most active players, or VIPs, and we continue to focus on improving their experience. In Q1 we introduced VIP exclusive cash events on two of our most popular games with encouraging participation, and we'll continue to host these events going forward.

當我們展望 2024 年的餘下時間時，我們打算在新功能、最優秀、最活躍的玩家或 VIP 方面繼續保持勢頭，並繼續專注於改善他們的體驗。在第一季度，我們在兩款最受歡迎的遊戲上推出了 VIP 專屬現金活動，鼓勵大家參與，今後我們將繼續舉辦這些活動。

Overall, our VIP programming initiatives helped maintain revenue of these players from Q4 to Q1, also driving an increase in GLPAI.

總體而言，我們的 VIP 計劃計劃有助於維持這些玩家從第四季度到第一季的收入，也推動了 GLPAI 的成長。

We also continued to enhance our live ops capabilities, which allowed us to look at trends in real-time and initiate offers to drive engagement and monetization. We expect this will be particularly beneficial to our VIP initiatives. For our second pillar, up-leveling the organization. In Q1, we continued to optimize our product development, marketing, data and analytics resources. And as we discussed on our Q4 call, we've strengthened our finance team with the addition of our new CFO, a new controller, and a new head of F&A.

我們還繼續增強我們的即時營運能力，這使我們能夠即時查看趨勢並發起報價以推動參與和貨幣化。我們預計這將對我們的 VIP 計劃特別有利。對於我們的第二個支柱，提升組織水準。第一季度，我們持續優化產品開發、行銷、數據和分析資源。正如我們在第四季度電話會議上討論的那樣，我們透過增加新的財務長、新的財務總監和新的財務與會計主管來加強我們的財務團隊。

Moving to our new Las Vegas headquarters in January. It continues to foster a greater level of collaboration, accountability and idea generation. Across the board, I can sense a greater sense of optimism from our team for the goals we want to achieve in the near and long term, reflecting the benefits of the culture and collaboration we've established by being together in one location, will continue to reduce our reliance on expensive third-party contractors and remote workforce with that work being absorbed by our Las Vegas and Bangalore based teams.

一月搬到我們的拉斯維加斯新總部。它繼續促進更高層次的協作、問責和創意產生。總的來說，我可以感覺到我們的團隊對我們想要在短期和長期實現的目標更加樂觀，這反映了我們透過在一個地點共同建立的文化和合作的好處，並將繼續減少我們對昂貴的第三方承包商和遠端勞動力的依賴，這些工作由我們位於拉斯維加斯和班加羅爾的團隊承擔。

Moving on to our third pillar, our go-to market. [UA] spend in Q1 was consistent with Q4 levels and remains at our lowest level since 2018 and fairly stable, approaching a six month payback. In Q2, our focus will turn towards scaling stand to facilitate growth as we continue to focus on optimizing UA spend. We continue to spend through our key, which provides us with better pricing transparency and keeps the margin within the Skillz family.

繼續我們的第三個支柱，我們的目標市場。 [UA] 第一季的支出與第四季度的水平一致，仍處於 2018 年以來的最低水平，並且相當穩定，接近六個月的投資回收期。在第二季度，我們的重點將轉向擴大展位以促進成長，同時我們將繼續專注於優化用戶獲取支出。我們繼續透過我們的密鑰進行支出，這為我們提供了更好的定價透明度，並保持了 Skillz 系列的利潤。

Going forward, we'll continue to focus on spending in the areas of work well for us to drive profitable growth while maintaining our financial discipline on UA spend. We are continuing to focus on incubating games that are difficult for companies engaging and bot trying to replicate and to deliver a payback period within our return time-line.

展望未來，我們將繼續專注於工作領域的支出，以推動獲利成長，同時保持普遍獲取支出的財務紀律。我們將繼續專注於孵化那些對於公司參與和機器人難以複製並在我們的回報時間表內提供投資回收期的遊戲。

The revised share agreements we've discussed previously, will continuing to open up new opportunities in this area, and we're beginning to seed developers to build games for specific high-value in-demand genres. We will complement these actions with prioritizing investment in user acquisition to scale the user base.

我們之前討論過的修訂後的股份協議將繼續在這一領域開闢新的機會，我們開始為開發者提供種子，為特定的高價值需求類型開發遊戲。我們將透過優先投資用戶獲取來補充這些行動，以擴大用戶群。

Finally, I'll talk a little bit about our fourth pillar, which is demonstrating a clear path to profitability. Despite the onboarding issues I highlighted earlier the impact in Q1 performance, I'm still encouraged by the progress we've achieved, it become profitable. We remain optimistic that we're on pace to achieve our goal of generating positive adjusted EBITDA on a run-rate basis in Q4 of this year. Our adjusted EBITDA loss was negative $18 million in Q1 2024, and excluding legal expenses related to lawsuits, adjusted EBITDA was negative $14 million. This compares to negative $21 million in Q1 2023.

最後，我將談談我們的第四個支柱，它展示了一條清晰的盈利之路。儘管我之前強調了入職問題對第一季業績的影響，但我仍然對我們所取得的進展感到鼓舞，它已經實現盈利。我們仍然樂觀地認為，我們正在努力實現今年第四季以運行率產生正調整 EBITDA 的目標。2024 年第一季度，我們調整後的 EBITDA 損失為負 1,800 萬美元，不包括與訴訟相關的法律費用，調整後的 EBITDA 為負 1,400 萬美元。相比之下，2023 年第一季的虧損為 2,100 萬美元。

Operating cash flow in Q1 was negative $4 million. Excluding the increase in accounts payable in Q1, our operating cash flow was negative $14 million in line with adjusted EBITDA. We ended Q1 with cash and cash equivalents of $301 million. In cash balance as of the end of Q1 does not include the $50 million received in April from Avia. Cumulus cash position and our continued improvements in our monthly operating cash burn is a significant runway to return our business to sustainable profitable growth.

第一季營運現金流為負 400 萬美元。排除第一季應付帳款的增加，我們的營運現金流為負 1,400 萬美元，與調整後的 EBITDA 一致。第一季結束時，我們的現金和現金等價物為 3.01 億美元。截至第一季末的現金餘額不包括 4 月從阿維亞公司收到的 5,000 萬美元。Cumulus 現金狀況以及我們每月營運現金消耗的持續改善是我們業務恢復可持續獲利成長的重要途徑。

I want to reiterate something I highlighted on our Q4 call and in our view, our current valuation gives no wait the value of our operating platform, the progress we've made to date on our turnaround plan and our trajectory to generate a positive adjusted EBITDA run rate by late this year.

我想重申我在第四季度電話會議上強調的一些內容，在我們看來，我們當前的估值立即體現了我們營運平台的價值、我們迄今為止在周轉計劃方面取得的進展以及我們產生正調整EBITDA 的軌跡今年底的運行率。

In closing, even with the new customer onboarding setback in Q1, we remain cautiously optimistic that our actions undertaken to date are positioning us to return to profitable growth. We know that we still have significant work ahead of us but we're confident that we're on the right path with execution against our four strategic pillars.

最後，即使第一季新客戶入駐遇到挫折，我們仍然謹慎樂觀地認為，我們迄今為止採取的行動正在使我們恢復獲利成長。我們知道，我們仍有大量工作要做，但我們相信，我們正走在正確的道路上，並執行我們的四大戰略支柱。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Gaetano.

有了這個，我會把它交給加埃塔諾。

Thank you, Andrew, and good afternoon, everyone. first quarter revenue was $25 million, down 43% year over year and down 19% sequentially. Our paid user conversion rate, which is paying now divided by now was 14% in Q1, slightly down from 15% in Q4 due to continued focus in the quarter on new user onboarding. As Andrew indicated, we are confident in our ability to continue to maintain our current payback period and begin to invest to grow sequentially.

謝謝你，安德魯，大家下午好。第一季營收為 2,500 萬美元，年減 43%，季減 19%。我們的付費用戶轉換率（按現在付費除以現在）在第一季為 14%，略低於第四季的 15%，原因是本季繼續專注於新用戶引導。正如安德魯所指出的，我們對繼續維持當前投資回收期並開始投資以實現連續成長的能力充滿信心。

Turning to OpEx, research and development expense was $5 million, down 48% year over year. On a GAAP basis, R&D was 18% of Q1 revenue. Sales and marketing expense was $21 million, down 40% year-over-year, including $2 million of stock-based compensation. On a GAAP basis, sales and marketing was 83% of Q1 revenue compared to 79% in the year-ago quarter and 75% in Q4.

營運支出方面，研發費用為 500 萬美元，年減 48%。以 GAAP 計算，研發佔第一季營收的 18%。銷售和行銷費用為 2,100 萬美元，年減 40%，其中包括 200 萬美元的股票薪酬。以 GAAP 計算，銷售和行銷佔第一季營收的 83%，而去年同期為 79%，第四季為 75%。

Q1 UA marketing was $5.6 million, a decrease of 33% from Q1 of last year and a 3% decrease quarter over quarter. While Q1 engagement marketing was $8.9 million, down 50% from Q1 of last year and down 34% from Q4. General and administrative expense was $23 million, down $5 million or 18% year over year, inclusive of $6.6 million in stock-based compensation. On a GAAP basis, G&A was 91% of Q1 revenue.

第一季UA行銷收入為560萬美元，比去年第一季下降33%，季減3%。而第一季的互動行銷收入為 890 萬美元，比去年第一季下降 50%，比第四季下降 34%。一般及管理費用為 2,300 萬美元，年減 500 萬美元，即 18%，其中包括 660 萬美元的股票薪酬。以 GAAP 計算，G&A 佔第一季營收的 91%。

The net loss of $27 million compares to a net loss of $36 million in Q1 2023. The adjusted EBITDA loss in the first quarter was $18 million, a 15% improvement year over year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was negative 70% in Q1 2024 compared to negative 47% in Q1 2023. We continue to expect our cost structure will benefit this year from lower cost for items including legal, audit and insurance fees, as well as continued prudent management of our cost base.

淨虧損為 2,700 萬美元，而 2023 年第一季的淨虧損為 3,600 萬美元。第一季調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 1,800 萬美元，較去年同期改善 15%。2024 年第一季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為負 70%，而 2023 年第一季為負 47%。我們仍然預計，今年我們的成本結構將受益於法律、審計和保險費用等項目成本的降低，以及對成本基礎的持續審慎管理。

Additionally, interest expense will continue to decline year over year given the reduction in outstanding debt. We ended the first quarter with $301 million of cash comprised of $291 million in cash and cash equivalents and $10 million in restricted cash. As Andrew noted earlier, this does not include the $50 million received from Avia at the end of April. At the end of Q1, we had [$129.7 million] of total outstanding debt. With our improving cash burn, we have the flexibility to deploy capital to enhance shareholder value.

此外，由於未償債務減少，利息支出將繼續逐年下降。第一季結束時，我們的現金為 3.01 億美元，其中包括 2.91 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及 1,000 萬美元的限制性現金。正如安德魯早些時候指出的，這不包括 4 月底從阿維亞公司收到的 5000 萬美元。第一季末，我們的未償債務總額為 [1.297 億美元]。隨著現金消耗的改善，我們可以靈活地部署資本以提高股東價值。

At this time, we'll turn the call to the operator for the Q&A session.

此時，我們會將通話轉給接線生進行問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our Q&A and today's conference call. We'd like to thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們先生們，我們的問答和今天的電話會議到此結束。我們衷心感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。