LIVEONE ANNOUNCES AUDIO DIVISION GUIDANCE OF $88 MILLION AND $17 MILLION IN ADJUSTED EBITDA FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

Rhea-AI Summary

LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) announced its audio division guidance, forecasting over $88 million in revenue and approximately $17 million in Adjusted EBITDA for Fiscal Year 2023, marking an 18% increase in revenue and a 100% increase in Adjusted EBITDA from FY 2022. The company aims to enhance its Slacker Radio and PodcastOne platforms, with the latter achieving record revenue of $8.7 million in Q1 FY 2023. LiveOne's overall guidance for FY 2023 estimates revenue between $126 million and $129 million.

Positive

• Projected revenue of over $88 million for audio division, up 18% from $74.5 million in FY 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA expected to reach approximately $17 million, doubling from $8.8 million in FY 2022.
• Slacker Radio surpasses 2.5 million total members, with 1.7 million monthly paying members, up from 1.48 million.
• PodcastOne records revenue of $8.7 million in Q1 FY 2023, showing strong growth.

Negative

• None.

• Audio Division Consists of Streaming Music Service, Slacker Radio and Podcast Network, PodcastOne
  
  
• Webcast Scheduled for Tuesday, September 13th at 2pm ET to Introduce Brad Konkol, President of Slacker Radio and Kit Gray, President of PodcastOne 

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO), an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment and technology platform, announced today guidance for its audio division consisting of Slacker Radio and PodcastOne as well as a webcast scheduled for Tuesday, September 13th at 2pm ET.

Robert Ellin, Chairman and CEO of LiveOne, commented, "We are pleased to announce that our audio division consisting of streaming music service, Slacker Radio and podcasting network, PodcastOne are expected to achieve revenue in excess of $88 million and approximately $17 million in Adjusted EBITDA* for Fiscal Year 2023, an increase of 18% in revenue from $74.5 Million and 100% in Adjusted EBITDA from $8.8 Million in Fiscal Year 2022."

Mr. Ellin continued, "I am proud of my team that continues to execute on growing paid members for Slacker Radio while enhancing our technology offering with existing auto partners, adding Android Auto partners and solidifying B2B preload partnerships with leading mobile phone manufacturers and wireless carriers. PodcastOne continues to add amazing talent to its robust lineup of podcasts, which is attracting new top-tier advertisers and driving profitable revenue. I applaud our team's resiliency in these turbulent financial markets as they have shifted all their intellectual and financial capital to deliver substantial revenue, cash flow and Adjusted EBITDA in their respective subsidiaries."

LiveOne also updated its company-wide guidance for Fiscal Year 2023 expected to be revenue between $126 million and $129 million and Adjusted EBITDA between $8 million and $11 million.

Slacker Radio, a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of LiveOne

• Recently surpassed 2.5 Million total members, including 800,000 free members on an ad-supported model**
• Over 1.7 Million monthly paying members versus 1.48 million at March 31, 2022**
• 2 Million paid members expected by March 2023**
• Recently Launched Android Automotive App to reach next generation connected vehicles

PodcastOne, a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of LiveOne

• PodcastOne posted record revenue of $8.7 million in Q1 Fiscal Year 2023
• PodcastOne recently closed $8.1 million financing at a post-money valuation of $68 million
• PodcastOne spin-out and dividend of a portion of its common equity to 15K+ LiveOne shareholders is expected to be completed by the end of Fiscal Year 2023
• PodcastOne Ranked #8 on Podtrac's List of Top U.S. Podcast Publishers with record unique monthly audience exceeding 7.3 million, more than 2.1 billion downloads annually, and 325 podcasts

"The podcasting industry is growing exponentially and my team at PodcastOne continues to impress on a daily basis by signing top talent and welcoming high-quality advertisers to the platform," said Kit Gray, President of PodcastOne.

About LiveOne, Inc. 
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, LiveOne, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVO) (the "Company") is an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment and technology platform focused on delivering premium experiences and content worldwide through memberships and live and virtual events. As of September 8, 2022, the Company has accrued a paid and free ad-supported membership base of 2.5 million**, streamed over 2,900 artists, has a library of 30 million songs, 600 curated radio stations, and over 300 podcasts/vodcasts, hundreds of pay-per-views, personalized merchandise, released music-related NFTs, and created a valuable connection between fans, brands, and bands. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries include Slacker Radio, React Presents, Gramophone Media, Palm Beach Records, Custom Personalization Solutions, LiveXLive, PPVOne and PodcastOne, which generates more than 2.48 billion downloads per year and 300+ episodes distributed per week across its stable of top-rated podcasts. LiveOne is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and through OTT, STIRR, and XUMO. For more information, visit www.liveone.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter at @liveone.

* About Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), we present Contribution Margin (Loss) and Adjusted Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), which are non-GAAP financial measures, as measures of our performance. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, or superior to, operating loss and or net income (loss) or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to net cash provided by operating activities or any other measures of our cash flows or liquidity.

We use Contribution Margin (Loss) and Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the performance of our operating segment. We believe that information about these non-GAAP financial measures assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our business separate from non-operational factors that affect operating income (loss) and net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. Adjusted EBITDA is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of Adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business. Accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, Adjusted EBITDA as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Contribution Margin (Loss) is defined as Revenue less Cost of Sales. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, other (income) expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization and before (a) non-cash GAAP purchase accounting adjustments for certain deferred revenue and costs, (b) legal, accounting and other professional fees directly attributable to acquisition activity, (c) employee severance payments and third party professional fees directly attributable to acquisition or corporate realignment activities, (d) certain non-recurring expenses associated with legal settlements or reserves for legal settlements in the period that pertain to historical matters that existed at acquired companies prior to their purchase date and a one-time minimum guarantee to effectively terminate a live events distribution agreement post COVID-19, (e) depreciation and amortization (including goodwill impairment, if any), and (f) certain stock-based compensation expense. Management does not consider these costs to be indicative of our core operating results.

With respect to projected full year 2023 Adjusted EBITDA, a quantitative reconciliation is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the high variability, complexity and low visibility with respect to purchase accounting adjustments, acquisition-related charges and legal settlement reserves excluded from Adjusted EBITDA. We expect that the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on our future GAAP financial results.

Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "may," "might," "will," "will likely result," "would," "should," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "continue," "target" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: the Company's reliance on one key customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; the Company's ability to consummate any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, distribution or transaction, including the proposed spin-out of PodcastOne or its pay-per-view business, the timing of the closing of such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to closing would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the closing of any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance shareholder value; PodcastOne's ability to list on a national exchange; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its users and paid members; the Company identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; the Company's intent to repurchase shares of its common stock from time to time under its announced stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; the Company's ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other covenants; the Company successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management's relationships with industry stakeholders; the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of the Company's subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on June 29, 2022, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2022, filed with the SEC on August 15, 2022, and in the Company's other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company disclaims any obligations to update these statements, except as may be required by law. The Company intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

** Included in the total number of paid members for the reported periods are certain members which are the subject of a contractual dispute. LiveOne is currently not recognizing revenue related to these members.

LiveOne IR Contact:
(310) 601-2505 
ir@liveone.com

Press Contact: 
LiveOne 
aileen@liveone.com
917.842.9653

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SOURCE LiveOne, Inc.

FAQ

What is LiveOne's revenue guidance for FY 2023?

LiveOne forecasts revenue between $126 million and $129 million for Fiscal Year 2023.

What is the expected Adjusted EBITDA for LiveOne's audio division?

The audio division is projected to achieve approximately $17 million in Adjusted EBITDA for FY 2023.

How did PodcastOne perform in Q1 FY 2023?

PodcastOne posted record revenue of $8.7 million in the first quarter of FY 2023.

What growth did Slacker Radio experience?

Slacker Radio surpassed 2.5 million total members, including 800,000 free ad-supported members, and increased paid members to 1.7 million.