Snap Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Daily Active Users increased 14% year-over-year to 397 million

Second quarter revenue was $1,068 million

Trailing twelve months operating cash flow was $250 million

Trailing twelve months Free Cash Flow was $81 million

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.

“We are excited by the progress we have made delivering increased return on investment for our advertising partners, growing our community to 397 million daily active users, and reaching more than 4 million Snapchat+ subscribers,” said Evan Spiegel, CEO.

Q2 2023 Financial Summary

• Revenue was $1,068 million, compared to $1,111 million in the prior year.
• Net loss was $377 million, compared to $422 million in the prior year.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $(38) million, compared to $7 million in the prior year.
• Operating cash flow was $(82) million, compared to $(124) million in the prior year.
• Free Cash Flow was $(119) million, compared to $(147) million in the prior year.

Q2 2023 Summary & Key Highlights

We grew and deepened our engagement with our community:

• DAUs were 397 million in Q2 2023, an increase of 50 million, or 14% year-over-year.
• DAUs increased sequentially and year-over-year in each of North America, Europe, and Rest of World.
• Total time spent watching Spotlight content more than tripled year-over-year, and Spotlight reached more than 400 million monthly active users on average in Q2, an increase of 51% year-over-year.
• Since launching My AI, our AI-powered chatbot, over 150 million people have sent over 10 billion messages, which we believe makes My AI among the largest consumer chatbots available today.
• We introduced My AI Snaps for Snapchat+ subscribers, allowing subscribers to send Snaps to My AI and receive an AI-generated Snap back that keeps the conversation going.
• We expanded our Stories revenue share program to more creators, helping more people build businesses on Snapchat and enabling them to create content for our community.
• We onboarded new media partners and renewed agreements globally as we continue to grow our local content offering, including ITV in the UK, ProSieben in Germany, Network 18 in India, and ESPN in the Netherlands.

We are focused on accelerating and diversifying our revenue growth:

• We are seeing significant adoption of our new 7/0 Pixel Purchase optimization model, which contributed to a more than 40% quarter-over-quarter increase in 7/0 Pixel Purchase conversions.
• The combination of improvements to our machine learning (ML) infrastructure and systems for ad ranking and optimization have led to more relevant ads and a more than 30% increase in purchase related conversions quarter-over-quarter.
• We introduced our Event Quality Score system to advertisers to measure the quality and integrity of their data, which we expect will lead to improvement in attribution and advertiser performance.
• We made fundamental improvements to our privacy-preserving identity graph and modeled conversions, which will strengthen the connection between identity, attribution, and optimization.
• Snapchat+, our subscription service that offers exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features, reached over 4 million paying subscribers in Q2, one year after launch.
• We introduced new Snapchat+ features like app icons, custom themes, and Bitmoji pets & cars on the Snap Map.
• We launched ads in Spotlight for all advertisers globally, allowing brands to reach the Snapchat audience on our newest surface.
• We are testing My AI monetization with sponsored links that connect our community with partners relevant to their conversation in that moment, while helping brands reach Snapchatters who have indicated potential interest in their offerings.
• We launched First Story, which enables advertisers to reserve the first video ad between Friend Stories, making First Story the latest offering in our takeover lineup, following First Commercial and First Lens.
• We made it easier for brands and creators to work together with the US launch of the Snap Star Collab Studio for brands to source, partner, and drive results with Snap Stars.

We invested in our augmented reality platform:

• We launched Lens Performance Toolkit in Lens Studio, which offers developers a dashboard view of performance-related metrics for Lenses that are in development.
• We introduced ML Retouch, our newest retouch feature powered by ML in Lens Studio, which enables Creators to easily switch on the feature for realistic skin retouch and accurate texture.
• We announced a partnership with Roboflow that enables Lens Studio developers to utilize Roboflow’s ML tools to easily train and bring models directly into SnapML.
• We launched our first Snap AR Learn Hub, which includes AR courses to teach different AR development concepts in Lens Studio, along with a library of live streams and product tutorials.
• We partnered with OPI, a beauty brand, on a Lens featuring first-of-its-kind Snap AR tech called Nails Segmentation, which makes the digital nail try-on experience more realistic than ever before.
• Snapchat and Disney came together in a groundbreaking collaboration at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that illustrated how Augmented Reality can enhance storytelling, and brought to life legendary characters and tales in celebration of Disney100.
• Snapchat’s AR Studio in Paris teamed up with Daft Punk to celebrate the release of Random Access Memories 10th Anniversary Edition by bringing to life “Daft Punk: Memories Unlocked,” a series of new augmented reality experiences for fans around the world.
• Camera Kit Live was launched to additional venues and music tours, including Duran Duran’s successful arena tour, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and the NBA draft.
• We introduced new advanced Snapchat Lenses built by teams from the Snap AR community including Brick.it which used SnapML to integrate Brick.it’s custom-built ML model, letting Snapchatters scan a pile of toy bricks, identify pieces, and suggest ideas for what can be built.
• In honor of Juneteenth, Snap Lens Network developer, Andre Elijah Immersive, and Santa Monica History Museum collaborated to show the city’s history in AR – bringing stories out of the museum and into the neighborhood.

Q3 Outlook

As we enter Q3, we anticipate continued robust growth in our global community and, as a result, our financial guidance for Q3 is built on the assumption that DAU will reach 405 million to 406 million in Q3. From a revenue perspective, our business remains in a period of rapid transition as we work to improve our advertising platform, while forward visibility of advertising demand remains limited. Our guidance range for Q3 revenue reflects our best estimate of these factors, with total revenue estimated to be between $1,070 to $1,130 million implying negative 5% to flat year-over-year growth. At this level of revenue, we estimate that Adjusted EBITDA will be between negative $50 million and negative $100 million reflecting estimated infrastructure costs per DAU of $0.79 to $0.84 in Q3, as we continue to invest in ML, AI, and other infrastructure to improve the performance of our ad platform, drive deeper content engagement, and bring innovative product experiences to our community. This forecast also assumes modest sequential headcount growth as we continue to carefully calibrate our operating investments to focus on the inputs most essential to the acceleration of topline growth.

Conference Call Information

Snap Inc. will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2:30 p.m. Pacific / 5:30 p.m. Eastern today. The live audio webcast along with supplemental information will be accessible at investor.snap.com. A recording of the webcast will also be available following the conference call.

Snap Inc. uses its websites (including snap.com and investor.snap.com) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligation under Regulation FD.

Definitions

Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, reduced by purchases of property and equipment.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards includes common shares outstanding, restricted stock units, restricted stock awards, and outstanding stock options.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss), excluding interest income; interest expense, other income (expense), net; income tax benefit (expense); depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation expense; payroll and other tax expense related to stock-based compensation; and certain other non-cash or non-recurring items impacting net income (loss) from time to time.

A Daily Active User (DAU) is defined as a registered Snapchat user who opens the Snapchat application at least once during a defined 24-hour period. We calculate average DAUs for a particular quarter by adding the number of DAUs on each day of that quarter and dividing that sum by the number of days in that quarter.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) is defined as quarterly revenue divided by the average DAUs.

A Monthly Active User (MAU) is defined as a registered Snapchat user who opens the Snapchat application at least once during the 30-day period ending on the calendar month-end. We calculate average Monthly Active Users for a particular quarter by calculating the average of the MAUs as of each calendar month-end in that quarter.

Note: For adjustments and additional information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures and other items discussed, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” and “Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics.”

About Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. For more information, visit snap.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including statements regarding guidance, our future results of operations or financial condition, future stock repurchase programs or stock dividends, business strategy and plans, user growth and engagement, product initiatives, objectives of management for future operations, and advertiser and partner offerings, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “going to,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. We caution you that the foregoing may not include all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release.

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this press release primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends, including our financial outlook, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geo-political conflicts, that we believe may continue to affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties related to: our financial performance; our ability to attain and sustain profitability; our ability to generate and sustain positive cash flow; our ability to attract and retain users, partners, and advertisers; competition and new market entrants; managing our growth and future expenses; compliance with new laws, regulations, and executive actions; our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our intellectual property; our ability to succeed in existing and new market segments; our ability to attract and retain qualified team members and key personnel; our ability to repay or refinance outstanding debt, or to access additional financing; future acquisitions, divestitures, or investments; and the potential adverse impact of climate change, natural disasters, health epidemics, macroeconomic conditions, and war or other armed conflict, as well as risks, uncertainties, and other factors described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our most recent periodic report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, which is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will be made available in our periodic report that will be filed with the SEC for the period covered by this press release and other filings that we make from time to time with the SEC. In addition, any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, including future developments related to geo-political conflicts and macroeconomic conditions, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, as described below, to understand and evaluate our core operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures, which may be different than similarly titled measures used by other companies, are presented to enhance investors’ overall understanding of our financial performance and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

We use the non-GAAP financial measure of Free Cash Flow, which is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, reduced by purchases of property and equipment. We believe Free Cash Flow is an important liquidity measure of the cash that is available, after capital expenditures, for operational expenses and investment in our business and is a key financial indicator used by management. Additionally, we believe that Free Cash Flow is an important measure since we use third-party infrastructure partners to host our services and therefore we do not incur significant capital expenditures to support revenue generating activities. Free Cash Flow is useful to investors as a liquidity measure because it measures our ability to generate or use cash. Once our business needs and obligations are met, cash can be used to maintain a strong balance sheet and invest in future growth.

We use the non-GAAP financial measure of Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as net income (loss); excluding interest income; interest expense; other income (expense), net; income tax benefit (expense); depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation expense; payroll and other tax expense related to stock-based compensation; and certain other non-cash or non-recurring items impacting net income (loss) from time to time. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude in Adjusted EBITDA.

We use the non-GAAP financial measure of non-GAAP net income (loss), which is defined as net income (loss); excluding amortization of intangible assets; stock-based compensation expense; payroll and other tax expense related to stock-based compensation; certain other non-cash or non-recurring items impacting net income (loss) from time to time; and related income tax adjustments. Non-GAAP net income (loss) and weighted average diluted shares are then used to calculate non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share. Similar to Adjusted EBITDA, we believe these measures help identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses we exclude in the measure.

We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information about our financial performance, enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by our management for financial and operational decision-making. We are presenting these non-GAAP measures to assist investors in seeing our financial performance through the eyes of management, and because we believe that these measures provide an additional tool for investors to use in comparing our core financial performance over multiple periods with other companies in our industry.

For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, please see “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Snap Inc., “Snapchat,” and our other registered and common law trade names, trademarks, and service marks are the property of Snap Inc. or our subsidiaries.