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Zynga Announces Fourth Quarter 2016 and 2016 Financial Results

February 9, 2017 4:04 PM

Delivered Results Above Guidance Range With $190.5M in Revenue and $201.5M in Bookings

Generated Operating Cash Flow of $60M in 2016

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 09, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), a leading social game developer, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016. In addition to today’s press release, a copy of our Q4 2016 Quarterly Earnings Letter, which outlines our Q4 and full year 2016 financial results and business outlook, is available on our website at http://investor.zynga.com. Zynga management will host a live Q&A session at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) today to discuss Zynga’s Q4 and full year 2016 performance.

“We had a strong Q4 and made significant progress this year in our turnaround and we’re encouraged by the fundamentals of our business as we head into 2017. We’re pleased with the performance of our live services and the quality of our new releases as we improved profitability and continued to sharpen our operating model,” said Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga. “We rallied around our company mission to connect the world through games and create the highest quality social experiences for our players. Our renewed commitment to our live operations is paying off with Zynga Poker and Words With Friends delivering outstanding revenue and bookings. We improved our quality and predictability, launching all games in our 2016 slate including two new NaturalMotion titles – CSR2 and Dawn of Titans – which we expect to be long term mobile franchises for us.”

“In Q4 we delivered another strong quarter with GAAP revenues of $190.5 million, above the high end of our guidance range, up 3% year-over-year and GAAP Net Loss was $35.4 million, below our guidance range but an improvement of 31% year-over-year. Our topline performance was driven by better than expected mobile bookings from Zynga Poker and CSR2, offset by correspondingly higher revenue deferrals. GAAP operating expenses were $162.4 million, down 8.5% year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $126.3 million, down 3.1% year-over-year and in line with our expectations resulting in higher operating leverage in the quarter. Our Adjusted EBITDA, which includes the change in deferred revenue, was $10.6 million, $1.4 million below our guidance range, due to the negative impact of higher revenue deferrals. Overall, our strong business performance delivered operating cash flow of $27.7 million, up $24.3 million year-over-year,” said Ger Griffin, CFO of Zynga.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Highlights

2016 Annual Financial Highlights

Mobile Highlights

Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
(in thousands, except per share data) December 31, 2016 September 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015
GAAP Results
Revenue $190,540 $182,424 $185,769 $741,420 $764,717
Net income (loss) $(35,432) $(41,737) $(51,198) $(108,173) $(121,510)
Diluted net income (loss) per share $(0.04) $(0.05) $(0.06) $(0.12) $(0.13)
Non-GAAP Results
Bookings $201,532 $196,723 $182,104 $754,533 $699,955
Adjusted EBITDA(1) $10,584 $3,580 $5,321 $48,846 $81,889

(1) In compliance with SEC Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations released May 17, 2016, Zynga's methodology for computing Adjusted EBITDA includes the change in deferred revenue. This methodology has been applied also for prior periods reported in this release previously reported without inclusion of deferred revenue.

Player Metrics (users and payers in millions)

Three Months Ended
December 31, September 30, December 31, Q4'16 Q4'16
2016 2016 2015 Q/Q Y/Y
Average daily active users (DAUs) 18 18 18 (1)% 1%
Average mobile DAUs 16 16 15 0% 5%
Average web DAUs 2 2 3 (4)% (18)%
Average monthly active user (MAUs) 63 66 68 (4)% (7)%
Average mobile MAUs 53 56 55 (5)% (5)%
Average web MAUs 10 10 13 2% (18)%
Average daily bookings per average DAU (ABPU) $0.120 $0.116 $0.110 3% 9%
Average monthly unique users (MUUs)(1) 56 57 48 (1)% 16%
Average monthly unique payers (MUPs)(1) 1.2 1.3 0.8 (6)% 50%
Payer conversion(1) 2.2% 2.3% 1.7% (5)% 29%

(1) MUUs, MUPs and payer conversion exclude certain games as our systems are unable to distinguish whether a player of these games is also a player of other Zynga games. We exclude players of these games to avoid potential duplication. For the third and fourth quarters of 2016, Vegas Diamond Slots and Daily Celebrity Crossword are excluded from MUUs, MUPs, and payer conversion. For the fourth quarter of 2015, CSR Racing, CSR Classics and Clumsy Ninja are excluded from MUUs, MUPs and payer conversion.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Summary

2016 Annual Financial Summary

First Quarter Outlook

Zynga’s outlook for the first quarter of 2017 is as follows:

GAAP:

Non-GAAP:

In addition to today’s press release, a copy of our Q4 2016 Quarterly Earnings Letter, which outlines our Q4 2016 financial results and business outlook, is available on our website at http://investor.zynga.com.

Conference Call Details

Zynga management will also host a live Q&A session at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on February 9 to discuss the Company's fourth quarter and full year 2016 performance. Questions may be asked on the call, and the Company will respond to as many questions as possible.

The live Q&A session can be accessed at http://investor.zynga.com- a replay of which will be available through the website after the call - or via the below conference dial-in number:

Toll-Free Dial-In Number: (800) 537-0745 International Dial-In Number: (253) 237-1142 Conference ID: 52592710

About Zynga Inc.

Since its founding in 2007, Zynga's mission has been to connect the world through games. To date, more than 1 billion people have played Zynga's games across web and mobile, including FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, Hit it Rich! Slots and CSR Racing. Zynga's games are available on a number of global platforms including Apple iOS, Google Android, Facebook and Zynga.com. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has additional offices in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Finland and India. Learn more about Zynga at http://blog.zynga.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Key Operating and Financial Metrics

Operating Metrics. We manage our business by tracking several operating metrics: “DAUs,” which measure daily active users of our games, “MAUs,” which measure monthly active users of our games, “MUUs,” which measure monthly unique users of our games, “MUPs,” which measure monthly unique payers in our games, and “ABPU,” which measures our average daily bookings per average DAU, each of which is recorded by our internal analytics systems. The numbers for these operating metrics are calculated using internal company data based on tracking of user account activity. We also use third party network logins to help us track whether a player logged under two or more different user accounts is the same individual. We believe that the numbers are reasonable estimates of our user base for the applicable period of measurement; however, factors relating to user activity and systems may impact these numbers.

Please refer to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 and, when filed, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, for our definitions of “DAU,” “MAU,” “MUU,” “MUP” and “ABPU”.

Financial Metrics. We regularly review a number of key financial metrics, including the following metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends in our business, prepare financial projections and make strategic decisions.

Bookings. Bookings is a non-GAAP financial measure that is equal to revenue recognized during the period plus the change in deferred revenue during the period. We record the sale of virtual goods as deferred revenue and then recognize that revenue over the estimated average life of the purchased virtual goods or as the virtual goods are consumed. Advertising sales, which consist of certain branded virtual goods and sponsorships, are also deferred and recognized over the estimated average life of the branded virtual good, similar to online game revenue. Bookings, as opposed to revenue, is the fundamental top-line metric we use to manage our business, as we believe it is a useful indicator of the sales activity in a given period. Over the long term, the factors impacting our bookings and revenue are the same. However, in the short term, there are factors that may cause revenue to exceed or be less than bookings in any period.

Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net income (loss), adjusted for provision for (benefit from) income taxes; other income (expense), net; interest income; gain (loss) from significant legal settlements; restructuring expense, net; depreciation and amortization; impairment of intangible assets; stock-based expense; contingent consideration fair value adjustments; and acquisition-related transaction expenses. Zynga’s methodology for computing Adjusted EBITDA includes the impact of the changes in deferred revenue.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those statements relating to our outlook for the first quarter of 2017 under the heading “First Quarter Outlook” and statements relating to, among other things: our progress in our turnaround, our ability to grow our live services and create forever franchises, our ability to sharpen our operating model and deliver product, financial and operating performance, and our expectations with respect to new products and features.

Forward-looking statements often include words such as “outlook,” “projected,” “intends,” “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “expect,” and statements in the future tense are generally forward-looking. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered as an indication of our future performance. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update such statements.

More information about factors that could affect our operating results are described in greater detail in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), copies of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor Relations web site at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC’'s web site at www.sec.gov.

In addition, the preliminary financial results set forth in this release are estimates based on information currently available to us. While we believe these estimates are meaningful, they could differ from the actual amounts that we ultimately report in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. We assume no obligation and do not intend to update these estimates prior to filing our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We have provided in this press release certain non-GAAP financial measures to supplement our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP (our “GAAP financial statements”). Management uses non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing our financial results to assess operational performance and liquidity. Our non-GAAP financial measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

The presentation of our non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our GAAP financial statements. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to our non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods. We believe our non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow for greater transparency with respect to key financial metrics we use in making operating decisions and because our investors and analysts use them to help assess the health of our business.

We have provided reconciliations of our non-GAAP financial measures used in this press release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in the tables below.

Because of the following limitations of our non-GAAP financial measures, you should consider the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release with our GAAP financial statements. Some limitations of our non-GAAP financial measures include:

ZYNGA INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, unaudited)
December 31, December 31,
2016 2015
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $852,467 $742,217
Marketable securities 245,033
Accounts receivable 77,260 79,610
Income tax receivable 296 5,233
Restricted cash 6,199 209
Other current assets 29,254 39,988
Total current assets 965,476 1,112,290
Goodwill 613,335 657,671
Other intangible assets, net 25,430 64,016
Property and equipment, net 269,439 273,221
Restricted cash 3,050 986
Other long-term assets 29,119 16,446
Total assets $1,905,849 $2,124,630
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $23,999 $29,676
Income tax payable 1,889
Other current liabilities 75,754 77,691
Deferred revenue 141,998 128,839
Total current liabilities 243,640 236,206
Deferred revenue 158 204
Deferred tax liabilities 5,791 6,026
Other non-current liabilities 75,596 95,293
Total liabilities 325,185 337,729
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock and additional paid in capital 3,349,714 3,234,551
Treasury stock (98,942)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (128,694) (52,388)
Accumulated deficit (1,640,356) (1,296,320)
Total stockholders’ equity 1,580,664 1,786,901
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $1,905,849 $2,124,630

ZYNGA INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share data, unaudited)
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
December 31, 2016 September 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015
Revenue:
Online game $140,157 $134,254 $129,463 $547,291 $590,755
Advertising and other 50,383 48,170 56,306 194,129 173,962
Total revenue 190,540 182,424 185,769 741,420 764,717
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenue 62,629 62,675 63,397 238,546 235,985
Research and development 92,417 73,913 85,099 320,300 361,931
Sales and marketing 46,860 49,802 53,066 183,637 169,573
General and administrative 23,095 21,656 39,333 92,509 143,284
Impairment of intangible assets 20,677 20,677
Total costs and expenses 225,001 228,723 240,895 855,669 910,773
Income (loss) from operations (34,461) (46,299) (55,126) (114,249) (146,056)
Interest income 791 800 603 3,057 2,568
Other income (expense), net 1,476 980 1,463 6,461 13,306
Income (loss) before income taxes (32,194) (44,519) (53,060) (104,731) (130,182)
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes 3,238 (2,782) (1,862) 3,442 (8,672)
Net income (loss) $(35,432) $(41,737) $(51,198) $(108,173) $(121,510)
Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders:
Basic $(0.04) $(0.05) $(0.06) $(0.12) $(0.13)
Diluted $(0.04) $(0.05) $(0.06) $(0.12) $(0.13)
Weighted average common shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders:
Basic 888,272 882,408 922,540 878,827 913,511
Diluted 888,272 882,408 922,540 878,827 913,511
Stock-based expense included in the above line items
Cost of revenue $895 $1,049 $1,712 $3,720 $4,547
Research and development 21,158 18,662 24,063 84,236 94,548
Sales and marketing 1,516 1,541 2,320 7,254 7,501
General and administrative 2,910 3,223 3,677 12,251 24,979
Total stock-based expense $26,479 $24,475 $31,772 $107,461 $131,575

ZYNGA INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands, unaudited)
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
December 31, 2016 September 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015
Operating activities:
Net income (loss) $(35,432) $(41,737) $(51,198) $(108,173) $(121,510)
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization 9,612 10,511 11,966 41,770 54,315
Stock-based expense 26,479 24,475 31,772 107,461 131,575
(Gain) loss from sales of investments, assets and other, net (134) (82) 725 26 (5,558)
Tax benefits (costs) from stock-based awards 899 989
Excess tax benefits (costs) from stock-based awards (899) (989)
Accretion and amortization on marketable securities 1 11 770 323 5,711
Deferred income taxes 746 (4,304) (3,542) (1,988) (12,693)
Impairment of intangible assets 20,677 20,677
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable, net (4,909) (5,793) 7,604 3,834 10,148
Income tax receivable 714 939 (217) 2,425 (1,929)
Other assets (2,407) 1,923 (4,307) (4,926) (16,167)
Accounts payable 6,558 4,145 (1,292) (3,613) 10,934
Deferred revenue 10,992 14,299 (3,665) 13,113 (64,762)
Income tax payable 1,889 1,889
Other liabilities 13,634 (4,032) 14,849 (12,802) (34,511)
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 27,743 21,032 3,465 60,016 (44,447)
Investing activities:
Purchases of marketable securities (101,091)
Sales and maturities of marketable securities 4,500 35,535 165,181 244,837 867,198
Acquisition of property and equipment (3,692) (2,674) (985) (10,313) (7,832)
Business acquisitions, net of cash acquired (19,410) (33,630) (20,023)
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment 174 1,458 64 3,209 814
Proceeds from sale of equity method investment 10,507
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 982 14,909 164,260 204,103 749,573
Financing activities:
Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (1,259) (498) (1,036) (3,422) (2,902)
Repurchases of common stock (30,204) (88,409) (142,596) (88,409)
Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan and exercise of stock options 351 2,685 275 5,921 7,567
Excess tax benefits (costs) from stock-based awards 899 989
Acquisition-related contingent consideration payment (10,230) (10,230) (10,790)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (41,342) 2,187 (88,271) (150,327) (93,545)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (1,235) (197) (257) (3,542) (667)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (13,852) 37,931 79,197 110,250 610,914
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 866,319 828,388 663,020 742,217 131,303
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $852,467 $866,319 $742,217 $852,467 $742,217

ZYNGA INC.
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP RESULTS
(In thousands, except per share data, unaudited)
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
December 31, 2016 September 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015
Reconciliation of Revenue to Bookings
Revenue $190,540 $182,424 $185,769 $741,420 $764,717
Change in deferred revenue 10,992 14,299 (3,665) 13,113 (64,762)
Bookings $201,532 $196,723 $182,104 $754,533 $699,955
Reconciliation of Net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA
Net income (loss) $(35,432) $(41,737) $(51,198) $(108,173) $(121,510)
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes 3,238 (2,782) (1,862) 3,442 (8,672)
Other income (expense), net (1,476) (980) (1,463) (6,461) (13,306)
Interest income (791) (800) (603) (3,057) (2,568)
Restructuring expense, net (191) (49) 19,748 1,938 36,480
Depreciation and amortization 9,612 10,511 11,966 41,770 54,315
Acquisition-related transaction expenses 75 249 274 1,144
Contingent consideration fair value adjustment 9,145 (5,810) (3,288) (9,025) 6,112
Gain (loss) on legal settlements (1,681)
Impairment of intangible assets 20,677 20,677
Stock-based expense 26,479 24,475 31,772 107,461 131,575
Adjusted EBITDA $10,584 $3,580 $5,321 $48,846 $81,889
Reconciliation of Cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 27,743 21,032 3,465 60,016 (44,447)
Acquisition of property and equipment (3,692) (2,674) (985) (10,313) (7,832)
Excess tax benefits (costs) from stock-based awards 899 989
Free cash flow $24,051 $18,358 $3,379 $49,703 $(51,290)

ZYNGA INC.
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FIRST QUARTER 2017 OUTLOOK
(In thousands, except per share data, unaudited)
First Quarter 2017
Reconciliation of Revenue to Bookings
Revenue$ 185,000
Change in deferred revenue 5,000
Bookings$ 190,000
Reconciliation of Net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA
Net income (loss)$(16,000)
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes 3,500
Other income (expense), net (1,500)
Interest income (1,000)
Depreciation and amortization 8,000
Stock-based expense 21,000
Adjusted EBITDA$ 14,000
GAAP diluted shares 881,000
Net income (loss) per share$(0.02)

CONTACTS

Rebecca Lau [email protected]

Stephanie HessVice President of Communications[email protected]

Source: ZYNGA INC.

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