威瑞信 (VRSN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone. Welcome to Verisign's third-quarter 2024 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. Recording of this call is not permitted unless preauthorized.

大家好。歡迎參加威瑞信 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。除非預先授權，否則不允許本次通話進行錄音。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Atchley, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁兼公司財務主管 David Atchley 先生主持。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Verisign's third-quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me are Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman, President, and CEO; and George Kilguss, Executive Vice President and CFO.

謝謝你，接線生。歡迎參加威瑞信 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。與我一起的還有執行董事長、總裁兼執行長吉姆‧比索斯 (Jim Bidzos)；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 George Kilguss。

This call and presentation are being webcast from the Investor Relations website, which is available under About Verisign on verisign.com. There you will also find our earnings release. At the end of this call, the presentation will be available on that site, and within a few hours, the replay of the call will be posted.

本次電話會議和簡報透過投資者關係網站進行網路直播，該網站位於 verisign.com 上的「關於威瑞信」下。您也可以在那裡找到我們的財報。通話結束後，簡報將在該網站上發布，幾個小時內，通話的重播將被發布。

Financial results in our earnings release are unaudited and our remarks include forward-looking statements that are subject to the risks and uncertainties that we discuss in detail in our documents filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent report on Form 10-K. Verisign does not update financial performance or guidance during the quarter unless it is done through a public disclosure.

我們的收益發布中的財務表現未經審計，我們的言論包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到我們在向SEC 提交的文件（特別是10-K 表格的最新報告）中詳細討論的風險和不確定性的影響。威瑞信不會更新本季的財務表現或指導，除非以公開揭露的方式進行。

The financial review results in today's call and the matters we will be discussing today include GAAP results and two non-GAAP measures used by Verisign, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation information is appended to the slide presentation, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website available after this call.

今天電話會議的財務審查結果以及我們今天將討論的事項包括 GAAP 結果和威瑞信使用的兩項非 GAAP 指標、調整後 EBITDA 和自由現金流。幻燈片簡報中附有 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節訊息，您可以在本次電話會議後在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到該資訊。

Jim and George will provide some prepared remarks, and afterward, we will open the call for your questions. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jim.

吉姆和喬治將提供一些準備好的發言，然後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。說到這裡，我想把電話轉給吉姆。

Thank you, David. Good afternoon to everyone, and thank you for joining us. Just an apology here before I start that I might sneeze somewhere along the way, a little bit of allergy affect today.

謝謝你，大衛。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。在開始之前，我先向大家道歉，因為今天有點過敏，我可能會在途中打噴嚏。

We delivered another quarter of operational and financial stability by focusing on our mission as a critical Internet infrastructure operator. Also, we extended our unparalleled 27 years of 100% uninterrupted availability for the common net domain name resolution system.

透過專注於我們作為關鍵網路基礎設施營運商的使命，我們實現了另一個季度的營運和財務穩定性。此外，我們也延長了公共網路網域解析系統 27 年無與倫比的 100% 不間斷可用性。

For the third quarter, revenues grew 3.8% year over year, operating income grew 5.9% year over year, and earnings per share grew 13.1% year over year. At the end of September, the domain name base in .com and .net totaled $169.6 million domain names. During the third quarter, the domain name base decreased by 1.1 million names.

第三季營收年增3.8%，營業收入較去年同期成長5.9%，每股盈餘較去年同期成長13.1%。截至 9 月底，.com 和 .net 網域總數達 1.696 億美元。第三季度，網域數量減少了 110 萬個。

From a new registration perspective, the third quarter ended with 9.3 million new registrations compared with 9.9 million names for the same quarter last year. The renewal rate for the third quarter of 2024 is expected to be approximately 72.3% compared to 73.5% a year ago. As we have previously reported, we continue to see US registrars prioritize ARPU over customer acquisition through higher retail pricing levels, increased focus on aftermarket sales, and reduced spend on marketing to new customers compared with prior years.

從新註冊量來看，第三季末新增註冊量為 930 萬，去年同期為 990 萬。2024 年第三季的續約率預計約為 72.3%，而去年同期為 73.5%。正如我們之前報導的，我們繼續看到美國註冊商透過提高零售定價水平、更加關注售後市場銷售以及減少新客戶行銷支出，將 ARPU 置於客戶獲取之上。

In addition, and as expected, China-related weakness continues. These factors are impacting new registrations and renewal rates in 2024. During the third quarter, the US region was lower by approximately 850,000 names, kind of related weakness contributed to most of the remaining sequential decline in the third quarter. The domain name base from our EMEA region was up nearly 200,000 names during the third quarter.

此外，正如預期的那樣，與中國相關的疲軟仍在繼續。這些因素正在影響 2024 年的新註冊和續約率。第三季度，美國地區的名字減少了約 85 萬個，這種相關的疲軟導致了第三季度剩餘的大部分連續下降。第三季度，歐洲、中東和非洲地區的網域庫增加了近 20 萬個名稱。

As we've noted in our prior earnings calls, we have been developing and piloting new registrar marketing programs with our channel to support our goal of returning to domain name base growth. While we have seen good response to our new programs, it does take time for registrars to adopt and integrate them into their sales cycle. As a result, many are looking towards 2025 to engage more fully.

正如我們在先前的財報電話會議中指出的那樣，我們一直在透過我們的管道開發和試點新的註冊商行銷計劃，以支持我們恢復網域基礎成長的目標。雖然我們的新計劃得到了良好的反響，但註冊服務商採用這些計劃並將其整合到銷售週期中確實需要時間。因此，許多人期待 2025 年能更充分參與。

Accordingly and with current trends persisting, returning the entire DNB to growth in the second half of 2025 may be more challenging. With that being said, we're doing what we can to help refocus the registrars towards higher renewal rate cohorts with our new programs, and we will provide full-year guidance for 2025 during our February earnings call.

因此，在當前趨勢持續的情況下，讓整個 DNB 在 2025 年下半年恢復成長可能更具挑戰性。話雖如此，我們正在盡我們所能，透過我們的新計劃幫助註冊商重新關注續訂率更高的群體，並且我們將在 2 月份的財報電話會議上提供 2025 年全年指導。

With the current trends tracking in line with our forecast from last quarter, we are narrowing our expectations for the change in the domain name base to be between negative 2.9% and negative 2.3% for full-year 2024, decreasing the midpoint by 10 basis points.

目前的趨勢與我們上季的預測一致，我們將 2024 年全年域名基數變化的預期縮小到負 2.9% 至負 2.3% 之間，中點降低了 10 個基點。

Moving now to the company's contracts. On September 26, ICANN posted the revised .com registry agreement for public comment. The comment period runs through November 5. The current .com registry agreement expires November 30, and we expect the renewal process to be completed by that date.

現在轉向公司的合約。9 月 26 日，ICANN 發布了修訂後的 .com 註冊管理機構協議以徵求公眾意見。徵求意見期間截至11月5日。目前的 .com 註冊管理機構協議將於 11 月 30 日到期，我們預計續約流程將在該日期之前完成。

Also, as we previously disclosed, we have agreed to discussions with the NTIA regarding .com pricing and the health of the .com ecosystem. Dot-com ecosystem includes the retail and secondary markets as part of possible mutually agreed solutions that serve the public interest and benefit end users, especially businesses and consumers. These discussions are separate from the .com registry agreement renewal process with ICANN. We're engaged with the NTIA now in these discussions, but we have no further update at this time.

此外，正如我們先前所揭露的，我們已同意與 NTIA 就 .com 定價和 .com 生態系統的健康狀況進行討論。互聯網生態系統包括零售和二級市場，作為可能的共同商定解決方案的一部分，這些解決方案服務於公共利益並使最終用戶（尤其是企業和消費者）受益。這些討論獨立於與 ICANN 的 .com 註冊管理機構協議續約流程。我們現在正在與 NTIA 進行這些討論，但目前沒有進一步的更新。

Our financial and liquidity position continues to remain stable at $645 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of the quarter. During the third quarter, we repurchased 1.7 million shares for $301 million. At quarter end, $1.28 billion remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program.

截至本季末，我們的財務和流動性狀況持續保持穩定，現金、現金等價物和有價證券為 6.45 億美元。第三季度，我們以 3.01 億美元的價格回購了 170 萬股股票。截至季末，目前股票回購計畫仍有 12.8 億美元可供使用和授權。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to George. I'll return when George has completed his report with closing remarks. George?

現在我想把電話轉給喬治。等喬治完成他的報告和結束語後我就會回來。喬治？

Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. For the quarter ended September 30, 2024, the company generated revenue of $391 million, up 3.8% from the same quarter of 2023; and delivered operating income of $269 million, an increase of 5.9% from the same quarter a year ago.

謝謝吉姆，大家下午好。截至2024年9月30日的季度，該公司營收3.91億美元，較2023年同季成長3.8%；實現營業收入2.69億美元，較去年同期成長5.9%。

Operating expense in Q3 2024 totaled $121 million and $368 million for the nine months ended September 30, which compares to $122 million in Q3 2023 and $368 million for the first three quarters of 2023. Net income in the third quarter totaled $201 million compared to $188 million a year earlier, which produced diluted earnings per share of $2.07 for the third quarter of 2024 compared to $1.83 for the same quarter of 2023. Operating cash flow for the third quarter of 2024 was $253 million and free cash flow was $248 million compared with $245 million and $217 million, respectively, in the year-ago quarter.

2024 年第三季的營運費用總計為1.21 億美元，截至9 月30 日的九個月營運費用為3.68 億美元，而2023 年第三季的營運費用為1.22 億美元，2023 年前三個季度的營運費用為3.68 億美元。第三季淨利總計 2.01 億美元，而去年同期為 1.88 億美元，這使得 2024 年第三季攤薄後每股收益為 2.07 美元，而 2023 年第三季攤薄後每股收益為 1.83 美元。2024 年第三季的營運現金流為 2.53 億美元，自由現金流為 2.48 億美元，去年同期分別為 2.45 億美元和 2.17 億美元。

I'll now discuss our updated full-year 2024 guidance. Revenue is now expected to be between $1.554 billion and $1.559 billion. Operating income is now expected to be between $1.054 billion and $1.059 billion. Interest expense and non-operating income net, which includes interest income estimates, is now expected to be an expense of between $32 million and $42 million.

我現在將討論我們更新的 2024 年全年指引。目前預計收入在 15.54 億美元至 15.59 億美元之間。目前營業收入預計在 10.54 億美元至 10.59 億美元之間。利息支出和非營業收入淨額（包括利息收入估算）目前預計支出在 3,200 萬至 4,200 萬美元之間。

Capital expenditures are now expected to be between $25 million and $35 million. And the GAAP effective tax rate is still expected to be between 21% and 24%. Overall, Verisign continued to demonstrate sound financial discipline during the quarter.

目前預計資本支出將在 2,500 萬至 3,500 萬美元之間。而GAAP有效稅率仍預計在21%至24%之間。總體而言，威瑞信在本季繼續表現出良好的財務紀律。

Now I'll turn the call back to Jim for his closing remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給吉姆，讓他作結束語。

Thank you, George. In closing, and especially for those who may be new to Verisign, I'd like to say more about what we do and what it takes to deliver 27 years of uninterrupted DNS availability for com and net. We recently published a blog, Myths Versus Facts About Verisign. In it, we refer to our infrastructure, which is better described as a complex system comprised of many critical components. We often describe it as a proprietary purpose-built network.

謝謝你，喬治。最後，尤其是對於那些剛接觸威瑞信的人，我想詳細介紹我們所做的工作以及如何為 com 和 net 提供 27 年不間斷的 DNS 可用性。我們最近發布了一篇部落格《關於威瑞信的神話與事實》。在其中，我們指的是我們的基礎設施，最好將其描述為由許多關鍵組件組成的複雜系統。我們經常將其描述為專有的專用網路。

Let me briefly describe and expand some of what's behind that. First, an important part of what makes our system unique is our multiple redundant data centers that can receive, process, and immediately distribute globally millions of updates to registration data, all that can happen in under 20 seconds and arrive at our global resolution constellation. And then we can immediately reply to queries within milliseconds anywhere in the world.

讓我簡要描述並擴展背後的一些內容。首先，我們系統獨特的一個重要部分是我們的多個冗餘資料中心，它們可以接收、處理並立即在全球範圍內分發數百萬個註冊資料更新，所有這些都可以在20 秒內發生並到達我們的全球分辨率星座。然後我們可以在世界任何地方立即在幾毫秒內回覆查詢。

We also maintain to the maximum extent possible, control of the remote sites from hardware and firmware up, allowing for better security practices such as firmware, boot loader and code verification; single-purpose proprietary and optimized DNS processing, which provides additional layers of protection against cyber attacks; elimination of shared services, meaning dedicated capacity and no multi-tenancy for networks or compute resources throughout the entire system, which is one reason we do not rely on public cloud services but have developed our own purpose-built private cloud infrastructure.

我們也最大程度地從硬體和韌體上保持對遠端站點的控制，從而實現更好的安全實踐，例如韌體、引導程式和程式碼驗證；單一用途的專有和最佳化的 DNS 處理，提供針對網路攻擊的額外保護層；消除共享服務，意味著整個系統中的網路或運算資源具有專用容量且無需多租戶，這是我們不依賴公有雲服務而是開發自己的專用私有雲基礎設施的原因之一。

Network compute and all other resources are dedicated to delivering on our core mission: registry, resolution, and route services. This allows us to mitigate risks such as collateral damage that arise in public cloud infrastructure. With service locations in more than 60 countries in data centers we wholly own or secure colocation space as we lease, the entire system was designed with maximum diversity that includes operating systems, compute, network and security hardware, transit providers and more, and overcapacity measured in orders of magnitude.

網路運算和所有其他資源都致力於實現我們的核心使命：註冊、解析和路由服務。這使我們能夠減輕公有雲基礎設施中出現的附帶損害等風險。我們在60 多個國家/地區的資料中心設有服務地點，我們完全擁有或在租賃時確保託管空間的安全，整個系統的設計具有最大的多樣性，包括作業系統、運算、網路和安全硬體、傳輸提供者等，並測量了容量過剩數量級。

The most critical component of our system is the 600-plus skilled engineers cybersecurity, InfoSec and DNS specialists that maintain, operate and protect it. That and a lot more that we don't talk publicly about is what it takes to achieve an unparalleled 100% availability record of 27-plus years spanning four decades, processing, on average, hundreds of billions of transactions per day.

我們系統最關鍵的組成部分是 600 多名技術精湛的工程師網路安全、資訊安全和 DNS 專家，他們負責維護、操作和保護系統。這些以及我們沒有公開談論的更多內容是如何實現 27 多年、跨越 40 年、平均每天處理數千億筆交易的無與倫比的 100% 可用性記錄。

Critical infrastructure that has reliant parties counted in the billions, users, devices, and more around the world, and it deserves no less. Every quarter, you hear me thank our teams for their commitment and dedication to our mission. Delivering this level of performance and reliability is a source of pride and deep responsibility for our employees.

關鍵基礎設施在全球範圍內擁有數十億的依賴方、用戶、設備等，它值得擁有。每個季度，你都會聽到我感謝我們的團隊對我們使命的承諾和奉獻。提供這種程度的性能和可靠性是我們員工的自豪感和深刻的責任感。

Thanks for your attention today. This concludes our prepared remarks. Now we'll open the call for your questions. Operator, we're ready for the first question.

感謝您今天的關注。我們準備好的演講到此結束。現在我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。接線員，我們準備好回答第一個問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Rob Oliver, Baird.

（操作員說明）Rob Oliver，Baird。

Great. Jim, I want to touch on your comments relative to the channel marketing efforts that you guys are engaged in. The registrars' prioritization of ARPU in this environment is not new, and I know initially when you guys rolled out these -- or announced the rollout of these plans, your hope was to grow domains in '25.

偉大的。吉姆，我想談談您對您們所從事的通路行銷工作的評論。在這種環境中，註冊服務商對 ARPU 進行優先排序並不新鮮，而且我知道，最初當你們推出這些計劃或宣布推出這些計劃時，你們的希望是在 25 年增長域名。

It certainly sounds like you're less confident about that now. So, I just wanted to get an update from you on how those plans are going, if you've needed to tweak them at all or any color you could provide, unless something's changed at the registrar end that we're missing. How you guys are pivoting or adjusting to try to reaccelerate that growth in '25?

聽起來你現在對此確實不太有信心了。所以，我只是想從您那裡得到有關這些計劃進展情況的最新信息，如果您需要調整它們或您可以提供的任何顏色，除非我們缺少的註冊商端發生了某些變化。你們如何調整或調整以嘗試在 25 年重新加速成長？

Okay. Thanks, Rob. So correct me if I'm wrong, I think I heard two questions in there. One was about ARPU and the other one is about, call it, slipping into 2025. Is that fair? Is that kind of your question?

好的。謝謝，羅布。如果我錯了，請糾正我，我想我聽到了兩個問題。一個是關於 ARPU，另一個是關於進入 2025 年。這樣公平嗎？這是你的問題嗎？

Yeah. Well, I think really, it's more the slip beyond '25 because I think the prioritization of ARPU is something that you guys have talked about and we've seen at the registrars, unless there's a change there, I guess. So that's half a question, James, please.

是的。好吧，我認為實際上，這更多的是 25 年後的下滑，因為我認為 ARPU 的優先級是你們已經討論過的，我們已經在註冊商那裡看到了，除非那裡有變化，我猜。詹姆斯，這只是一個問題。

Yeah. Well, let me take them in reverse order then. When we're talking about the programs moving into 2025, the registrars are not able to engage quickly enough to put the programs into effect. So we see some of that slipping from '24 into '25 and therefore, we're pushing out a little further and saying that could impact our goal of returning to growth in the second half of 2025.

是的。好吧，那麼讓我以相反的順序來解釋它們。當我們談論進入 2025 年的計劃時，註冊服務機構無法足夠快地參與以使計劃生效。因此，我們看到其中一些從 24 年滑落到 25 年，因此，我們將進一步推遲，並表示這可能會影響我們在 2025 年下半年恢復成長的目標。

Your second question about ARPU is we see clear indications of the registrars that are public companies. They've been very clear about a lot of their improvements and their performance coming from increased retail prices and higher average resale domains.

你關於 ARPU 的第二個問題是，我們看到明確的跡象表明註冊商是上市公司。他們非常清楚，他們的許多改進和績效都來自於零售價格的提高和平均轉售域名的提高。

GoDaddy disclosed recently that their resell revenue is in excess of $100 million per quarter. So that's the kind of ARPU that certainly understandable that they're pursuing it. But we still believe that ARPU is cyclical, and at some point, our return to customer acquisition is important. And I'll invite George to add any more color if you care to.

GoDaddy 最近透露，他們每季的轉售收入超過 1 億美元。因此，他們追求的 ARPU 值當然是可以理解的。但我們仍然相信 ARPU 是週期性的，在某些時候，我們對客戶獲得的回報很重要。如果你願意的話，我會邀請喬治添加更多顏色。

Yeah, I think that's right, Jim. Rob, as Jim mentioned in the prepared remarks, we were down about 1.1 million in the quarter, 850 million from the US was the largest component there. And over the past few quarters, as you alluded to, we have seen US registrars focus shift towards improving their profitability, and they're really doing that three ways.

是的，我認為是對的，吉姆。羅布，正如吉姆在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們本季減少了約 110 萬人，其中來自美國的 8.5 億人是其中最大的組成部分。正如您所提到的，在過去的幾個季度中，我們看到美國註冊商的重點轉向提高盈利能力，他們實際上正在以三種方式做到這一點。

One is, they've been raising retail prices; two, they have, as Jim alluded to also, been focusing on the increased aftermarket sales, which they're basically marking up and selling currently owned inventory of premium names at premium prices. And so while that generates substantial revenue for them, on a per domain name basis, the registry doesn't obviously get compensated in that environment.

一是，他們一直在提高零售價格；第二，正如吉姆也提到的那樣，他們一直專注於增加售後市場銷售，他們基本上是在加價並以高價出售目前擁有的優質品牌庫存。因此，雖然這為他們帶來了可觀的收入，但在每個網域的基礎上，註冊管理機構在這種環境下顯然沒有得到補償。

And lastly, they've been reducing their marketing spend there. So that's really been the headwind with ARPU in the US markets.

最後，他們一直在減少在那裡的營銷支出。因此，這確實是美國市場 ARPU 的阻力。

As far as China is concerned, we continue to see a weak macroeconomic environment there. We've also seen some increased regulation over there as well. And while Q3 was -- the sequential decline was a little bit less in Q3 from China, we still haven't seen any material change there. So right now, we don't expect that market to have turned the corner just yet, but we're keeping an eye on it.

就中國而言，我們仍然看到宏觀經濟環境疲軟。我們也看到那裡的監管有所加強。儘管第三季中國的環比下降幅度稍小一些，但我們仍然沒有看到任何實質變化。因此，目前我們預計市場尚未出現好轉，但我們正在密切關注。

That's helpful. My second question was on China. So if you could just pick that up, George, that's helpful. Do you guys expect, or can you update us on your thought relative to how, or if you stand to benefit if we do see kind of continued uptick in economic activity in China.

這很有幫助。我的第二個問題是關於中國的。所以，喬治，如果你能接受這個，那就很有幫助了。你們是否期望，或能否向我們介紹一下你們的最新想法，或者如果我們確實看到中國經濟活動持續回升，你們是否會受益。

In other words, certainly, there's a cyclical element that you guys have, I think, helped the pain from. There's also been, as you pointed out, some regulatory issues, regulation. But I guess one thing we hear from investors often is sort of secular versus cyclical. So do you guys expect to benefit in China as -- or if we see economic activity in China rebound?

換句話說，我認為，當然，你們有一個週期性的因素來緩解痛苦。正如您所指出的，還有一些監管問題、監管問題。但我想我們經常從投資者那裡聽到的一件事是長期性與週期性。那麼，如果我們看到中國的經濟活動反彈，你們是否預期會在中國受益？

Yeah. I can just tell you historically, when the China economy was doing better, we also benefited. As far as how that dynamic has changed, we're keeping an eye on it. Some of our registrars did pilot a few of our programs last quarter, and we're pleased with the results. So we're engaging with them and other registrars into 2025 to engage with our programs, and we hope that those will benefit us in 2025.

是的。我只能告訴你，從歷史上看，當中國經濟表現更好時，我們也受益。至於這種動態如何變化，我們正在密切關注。我們的一些註冊商上季度確實試點了我們的一些計劃，我們對結果感到滿意。因此，我們正在與他們和其他註冊商合作，直至 2025 年參與我們的計劃，我們希望這些計劃能讓我們在 2025 年受益。

Got it. And then last one for me, George, also for you, just on that cost side. So there was some outperformance on the operating income side relative to the -- at least the two estimates that are out there. But just curious, as you look at what potentially is these ongoing efforts on the marketing side, how we should think about the potential impact to costs? Or are those rationalized certainly through the end of '24?

知道了。最後一個對我來說，喬治，也對你來說，只是在成本方面。因此，至少與現有的兩個估計值相比，營業收入的表現有些出色。但只是好奇，當你看看行銷方面這些持續努力的潛力是什麼時，我們該如何考慮對成本的潛在影響？或者到 24 年底這些一定會合理化嗎？

And how we might think about them? Not asking you to guide the cost for '25, but how we might think about the potential for incremental costs on these channel marketing efforts.

我們如何看待它們？不是要求您指導 25 年的成本，而是我們如何考慮這些通路行銷工作的增量成本潛力。

Yes, a couple of things. I mean if you look at the midpoint of our guidance, it would imply that we're going to probably spend a little bit more here in Q4. If you look at our headcount trends, we were able to hire about 12 people in the quarter.

是的，有幾件事。我的意思是，如果你看看我們指導的中點，這意味著我們可能會在第四季度花費更多一點。如果你看看我們的員工人數趨勢，你會發現我們在本季度僱用了大約 12 名員工。

Finding the right people to align with our mission and the skill sets that we need takes a little bit of time, and we've been looking for those people. So some of the investments that we've been trying to make this year have been pushed a little bit into the fourth quarter. I would expect expenses to grow more in 2025 than they have in 2024, and we'll give you guidance next quarter on that.

尋找適合我們使命和所需技能的人才需要一些時間，我們一直在尋找這些人。因此，我們今年一直試圖進行的一些投資已被推遲到第四季。我預計 2025 年的支出成長將超過 2024 年，我們將在下個季度為您提供相關指導。

As it relates to marketing programs, we're always trying to make sure that the marketing programs are accretive to our business. And so, to the extent that we're finding success in our programs, we'll probably going to lean more into them and invest more in those programs, but we believe they'll be accretive. If you find they're not accretive, then you'll probably see us pull back on a few of those programs. So clearly, we're trying to drive profitable growth as we have been for a number of years for the company.

由於它與行銷計劃相關，我們始終努力確保行銷計劃能夠促進我們的業務成長。因此，如果我們的計劃取得了成功，我們可能會更專注於這些計劃並對這些計劃進行更多投資，但我們相信它們會帶來增值。如果您發現它們沒有增值作用，那麼您可能會看到我們撤回其中一些計劃。很明顯，我們正在努力推動利潤成長，就像我們多年來為公司所做的那樣。

That's great. I appreciate all the time. Thank you, guys.

那太棒了。我一直很感激。謝謝你們，夥計們。

Max Moore, Citi.

馬克斯摩爾，花旗銀行。

Don't worry, Ygal will be back next quarter. I guess just maybe looking at capital allocation and buybacks, this year is tracking, I think, the one of your largest ever on buybacks. So just how should we think about the pace of buybacks from here? And then also, would you consider just given the amount of free cash you have consider anything on the leverage side, maybe lever up to increase the pace of buyback?

別擔心，Ygal 下個季度就會回來。我想也許只是看看資本配置和回購，我認為今年是有史以來規模最大的回購之一。那我們該如何考慮從這裡開始的回購步伐呢？然後，考慮到您擁有的自由現金數量，您是否會考慮槓桿方面的任何事情，也許提高槓桿以加快回購速度？

Well, let me respond to your question and invite George afterwards as well. On part of it certainly about leverage, I think you could probably determine from my comments about our operations that I've provided a little bit more color on. We're very careful and conservative about approach to cybersecurity.

好吧，讓我回答你的問題，然後也邀請喬治。其中一部分肯定與槓桿有關，我想您可能可以從我對我們運營的評論中確定我已經提供了更多的色彩。我們對網路安全的態度非常謹慎和保守。

That also applies to financial stability. We're very cautious. We're not over levered. There's a lot of reasons for that. There are a variety of factors. Financial stability and operational stability, security and stability, and the infrastructure that we operate, all those things to us are the same thing. It's all part of the company's stability.

這也適用於金融穩定。我們非常謹慎。我們沒有過度槓桿化。這有很多原因。有多種因素。金融穩定和營運穩定、安全和穩定以及我們營運的基礎設施，所有這些對我們來說都是同一件事。這都是公司穩定性的一部分。

We obviously don't -- we are not as leveraged as we possibly could be, and we -- certainly, that's not a priority for us and that's not something that we're going to do. We don't guide to buybacks. Obviously, historically, you've seen what we've done. George, I'd like you to comment further.

顯然，我們沒有——我們沒有盡可能地發揮槓桿作用，而且我們——當然，這不是我們的優先事項，也不是我們要做的事情。我們不指導回購。顯然，從歷史上看，您已經看到了我們所做的事情。喬治，我希望你進一步發表評論。

Yes, Max, I mean, I think look at we're trying to return on excess cash to shareholders in the most efficient way possible. We've been doing that for a number of years. We'll continue to evaluate the methods and the ways to do that and the appropriate amounts based on our plans and our investment strategy.

是的，馬克斯，我的意思是，我認為我們正在努力以最有效的方式向股東返還多餘的現金。我們這樣做已經很多年了。我們將繼續根據我們的計劃和投資策略評估實現這一目標的方法和途徑以及適當的金額。

So, as Jim said, we don't guide to it, but we try to, I would just look historically what we've done and if our philosophy changes, we'll clearly communicate it to you.

因此，正如吉姆所說，我們不會指導它，但我們會嘗試這樣做，我只會回顧歷史我們所做的事情，如果我們的理念發生變化，我們會清楚地傳達給您。

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then maybe just on some of the marketing initiatives. I don't know if you've given some examples of some of the programs you are looking to implement, but if there's any color there you could share, that would be helpful.

好的，太好了。這很有幫助。然後也許只是一些行銷舉措。我不知道您是否給出了您想要實現的一些程序的一些示例，但是如果您可以分享任何顏色，那將會很有幫助。

Yeah. As we've mentioned, I think in summary, we've really been looking to give more choice to registrars that have potentially differing go-to-market strategies. While I'd rather not provide specifics for competitive reasons, an example of choice could be offering multiple programs that should appeal to registrars that are looking to sell more product or TLDs to existing customers.

是的。正如我們所提到的，我認為總而言之，我們確實一直在尋求為具有潛在不同上市策略的註冊服務商提供更多選擇。雖然出於競爭原因我不想提供具體信息，但選擇的一個例子可以是提供多個計劃，這些計劃應該能夠吸引那些希望向現有客戶銷售更多產品或 TLD 的註冊商。

And then there are some programs that we're looking to appeal to registrars that maybe prefer new customer acquisition. But we're also trying to align these programs with registrars' goals of pursuing higher renewal rate cohorts. And to the extent we can find those win-win opportunities, we think we'll be successful in that effort.

然後，我們希望推出一些計劃來吸引那些可能更喜歡獲取新客戶的註冊商。但我們也在努力使這些計劃與註冊商追求更高續約率群體的目標保持一致。只要我們能夠找到這些雙贏的機會，我們認為我們的努力就會成功。

Okay, great thanks guys.

好的，非常感謝大家。

This concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back to David Atchley for any additional or closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。我現在想將電話轉回給大衛·阿奇利，請其發表補充或結束語。

Thank you, operator. Please call the Investor Relations department with any follow-up questions from this call. Thank you for your participation. This concludes our call. Have a good evening.

謝謝你，接線生。如果本次電話會議有任何後續問題，請致電投資者關係部門。感謝您的參與。我們的通話到此結束。祝你晚上愉快。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。