MarketWise, Inc. (MKTW) Q3 2022 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

financial crisis, it took some time for individual investors to fully re-engage in market activities. Importantly, we managed our business through that period by developing new content that addressed the particular financial environment, managed our marketing spend and costs appropriately, and ultimately experienced significant organic growth when individual investors re-entered the market. We expect this cycle to be similar. During the summer, as investors resumed pre-COVID travel and leisure routines, Subscribers were hesitant to spend on new subscriptions. As our customer acquisition costs remained high, we focused on streamlining our marketing spend and reducing overhead. I'll give you more detail on that in a moment, but first let me provide some high-level financial results. For the third quarter, we generated $119.9 million in revenues measured on a GAAP basis, a decline of 14.7% as compared to the year-ago quarter. Billings declined 23.9% year-over-year, to $105.1 million, and our adjusted cash flow from operations was $13.1 million, down from $34.7 million in the third quarter of last year. Our quarter's results continue to reflect lower consumer engagement and fewer new subscribers as compared to the prior year as a result of continued market volatility and reduced direct marketing spend during the quarter. With respect to our cost reduction initiative, During the second quarter, as our billings declined, we saw an opportunity to reduce our cost structure to defend our margins. We started that process in the second quarter, and those efforts continued through the third quarter. We originally targeted approximately $37 million in cash savings, which was a 15% reduction in our budgeted overhead. And as of the end of the third quarter, I'm happy to report that...