AOL Earnings Released, Company Posts Strongest Quarter In 10 Years

“AOL’s exceptionally talented team continues to execute against our strategy and our results show meaningful progress in the most important areas of media and technology. AOL plans to invest in our market leading strategies in 2014, while we continue to grow the company.”

“2013 was AOL’s most successful year in the last decade, and we accomplished our goal of industry level growth at scale for AOL,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL Chairman and CEO. “AOL’s exceptionally talented team continues to execute against our strategy and our results show meaningful progress in the most important areas of media and technology. AOL plans to invest in our market leading strategies in 2014, while we continue to grow the company.”

Q4 Consolidated AOL Revenue Trends:

• Q4 total revenue grew 13% year-over-year, driven by global advertising revenue growth.
• Global advertising revenue grew 23% year-over-year reflecting:
  • 63% growth in Third Party Network revenue driven by growth in the sale of premium formats across AOL’s programmatic platform and by the inclusion of revenue from Adap.tv. Third Party Network Revenue grew 20% excluding Adap.tv.
  • 7% growth in global display revenue driven by improved pricing related to growth in the sale of premium formats across AOL’s properties.
  • 2% decline in global search revenue driven primarily by fewer search queries resulting from a decline in domestic AOL subscribers.
• Subscription revenue declined 10% year-over-year and domestic AOL subscriber monthly average churn was 1.3% in Q4 2013 compared to a 10% decline year-over-year in subscription revenue and 1.8% monthly average churn in Q4 2012.

Q4 Consolidated AOL Profitability Trends:

• Operating income, net income and diluted EPS were negatively impacted by a pre-tax restructuring charge of $13.2 million, largely related to a reduction in personnel, including Patch.
• Adjusted OIBDA grew 19% year-over-year, driven by total revenue growth and a 25% decline in general and administrative expenses, partially offset by a 17% growth in costs of revenue expenses.
• Cost of revenues increased $70.5 million year-over-year, reflecting a $67.4 million increase in total Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC). TAC increases were driven by the inclusion of Adap.tv, growth in Third Party Network revenue and growth in our search marketing related efforts. Increased expenses associated with Adap.tv offset approximately $11 million of special (expense) items from Q4 2012 that did not reoccur in Q4 2013.
• General and administrative expenses declined $27.6 million in Q4 2013 year-over-year, due to a decline in marketing costs primarily related to AOL’s continued cost reduction efforts, and a decline in legal and consulting fees.

AOL Asset, Cash & Cash Flow Trends:

• AOL had $207.3 million of cash and equivalents at December 31, 2013. Q4 cash provided by operating activities and Free Cash Flow were $90.0 million and $60.4 million, up 17% and 30% year-over-year, respectively.
• AOL repurchased 0.9 million shares of common stock at an average price of $34.60 in Q4 2013, or approximately $32.6 million in aggregate. In 2013, AOL repurchased 3.9 million shares at an average price of $34.75, or approximately $135 million in aggregate. AOL has approximately $115 million left in its current share repurchase authorization.
• On December 31, 2013, AOL entered into an agreement to contribute Patch into a new joint venture which will be operated and majority owned by Hale Global. In connection with the transaction, AOL incurred $5.8 million in restructuring charges in Q4 2013. The transaction closed on January 29, 2014.
• On January 23, 2014, AOL acquired Gravity, a premier personalization technology and publisher solutions business, for approximately $82 million in cash. An additional approximately $8 million of consideration will be deferred and paid over a two-year service period for certain Gravity employees. As part of the transaction, AOL will acquire approximately $12 million of net operating losses, which is expected to result in a future cash tax benefit to AOL of approximately $5 million.

Brand Group

Brand Group revenue growth reflects continued growth in global display. Brand Group display revenue grew 6% globally driven by improved pricing as a result of growth in premium format impressions. Brand Group search revenue was flat year-over-year.

Brand Group Adjusted OIBDA improved significantly versus the prior year period, primarily due to the growth in display revenue discussed above as well as a reduction in personnel, primarily at Patch, and lower marketing costs. Lower year-over-year Brand Group operating expenses were partially offset by growth in TAC associated with AOL’s search marketing-related efforts.

Membership Group

Membership Group revenue declines reflect a 10% decline in subscription revenue driven by 10% fewer domestic AOL subscribers year-over-year. Membership Group revenue declines were partially offset by a 28% year-over-year reduction in churn rate to 1.3% and by 4% year-over-year growth in domestic average monthly subscription revenue per AOL subscriber (ARPU). Reduced churn and ARPU growth continues to reflect the benefits of AOL’s retention program and the impact of a price rationalization program. The decrease in Membership Group revenue year-over-year was also impacted by a decrease in search revenue of 7% due to fewer search queries resulting from a decline in domestic AOL subscribers.

Membership Group Adjusted OIBDA declines primarily reflect the decline in subscription revenue discussed above, partially offset by a decline in costs associated with the decline in subscribers.

AOL Networks

AOL Networks revenue increased 50% year-over-year, driven by significant growth in Third Party Network revenue which includes Adap.tv. Excluding Adap.tv, Third Party Network revenue grew approximately 20% year-over-year, driven by growth in the sale of premium formats across AOL’s programmatic platform. AOL Networks’ year-over-year revenue comparison was negatively impacted by the divestiture of StudioNow in Q1 2013. StudioNow contributed $1.4 million in revenue to AOL Networks in Q4 2012.

AOL Networks Adjusted OIBDA declined $0.5 million year-over-year driven by increased investments in our programmatic platforms and premium formats.

Corporate & Other

Corporate & Other Adjusted OIBDA improved significantly year-over-year, primarily driven by declines in marketing costs as a result of AOL’s broader cost reduction efforts, and a decline in legal costs.

Tax

AOL had Q4 2013 pre-tax income of $70.8 million and income tax expense of $35.3 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 49.9%. This compares to an effective tax rate of 47.2% for Q4 2012. The effective tax rate for Q4 2013 differed from the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate of 35.0% primarily due to the impact of foreign losses that did not produce a tax benefit. The effective tax rate for Q4 2012 differed from the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate due to the impact of foreign losses that did not produce a tax benefit and the impact of changes in state tax rates and apportionment on AOL’s deferred tax assets.

Cash Flow

Q4 2013 cash provided by operating activities was $90.0 million, while Free Cash Flow was $60.4 million, both up year-over-year primarily due to growth in Adjusted OIBDA, partially offset by timing of working capital.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

AOL Inc. will host a conference call to discuss fourth quarter 2013 financial results on Thursday, February 6, 2014, at 8:00 am ET. To access the call, parties in the United States and Canada should call toll-free (800) 237.9752 and other international parties should call (617) 847.8706. Additionally, a live webcast of the conference call, together with supplemental financial information, can be accessed through the Company’s Investor Relations website at http://ir.aol.com. In addition, an archive of the webcast can be accessed through the link above for one year following the conference call, and an audio replay of the call will be available for two weeks following the conference call by calling (888) 286.8010 and other international parties should call (617) 801.6888. The access code for the replay is 64912086.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION – UNAUDITED

Items impacting comparability: The following table represents certain items that impacted the comparability of net income attributable to AOL Inc. for the three months and years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 (In millions, except per share amounts):

Note Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release and its attachments include the financial measures Adjusted OIBDA and Free Cash Flow, both of which are defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These measures may be different than similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Explanations of our non-GAAP financial measures are as follows:

Adjusted OIBDA. We define Adjusted OIBDA as operating income before depreciation and amortization excluding the impact of restructuring costs, non-cash equity-based compensation, gains and losses on all disposals of assets, noncash asset impairments and write-offs and special items. We consider Adjusted OIBDA to be a useful metric for management and investors to evaluate and compare the ongoing operating performance of our business on a consistent basis across reporting periods, as it eliminates the effect of noncash items such as depreciation of tangible assets, amortization of intangible assets that were primarily recognized in business combinations, asset impairments and write-offs, as well as the effect of restructurings, gains and losses on asset sales and special items, which we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. We exclude the impacts of equity-based compensation to allow us to be more closely aligned with the industry and analyst community. A limitation of this measure, however, is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues in our business or the current or future expected cash expenditures for restructuring costs. The Adjusted OIBDA measure also does not include equity-based compensation, which is and will remain a key element of our overall long-term compensation package. Moreover, the Adjusted OIBDA measures do not reflect gains and losses on asset sales, impairment charges and write-offs related to goodwill, intangible assets and fixed assets or special items which impact our operating performance. We evaluate the investments in such tangible and intangible assets through other financial measures, such as capital expenditure budgets, investment spending levels and return on capital.

Free Cash Flow. We define Free Cash Flow as cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures, product development costs and principal payments on capital leases. We consider Free Cash Flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business that, after capital expenditures, capitalized product development costs and principal payments on capital leases, can be used for strategic opportunities, including investing in our business, making strategic acquisitions, and strengthening the balance sheet. Analysis of Free Cash Flow also facilitates management’s comparisons of our operating results to competitors’ operating results. A limitation on the use of this metric is that Free Cash Flow does not represent the total increase or decrease in cash for the period because it excludes certain non-operating cash flows.

Unique Visitor Metrics

We utilize unique visitor numbers to evaluate the performance of AOL Properties. In addition, we utilize unique visitor numbers to evaluate the reach of the AOL Advertising Network, which includes both AOL Properties and the Third Party Network. Unique visitor numbers provide an indication of our consumer reach. Although our consumer reach does not correlate directly to advertising revenue, we believe that our ability to broadly reach diverse demographic and geographic audiences is attractive to brand advertisers seeking to promote their brands to a variety of consumers without having to partner with multiple content providers. The source for our unique visitor information is a third party (comScore Media Metrix, or “Media Metrix”).

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements