Audible, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter 2000 Results; Content and Services Revenues Climb 49% From Q3 to Q4 2000; Reconfigured Amazon.com Alliance Reduces Audible's Cash Commitment
BusinessWire, 02/7/2001 17:06
WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2001--Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBL), the leading provider of Internet-delivered spoken audio (www.audible.com(TM)) for PC-based listening or mobile playback on AudibleReady(TM) portable digital audio players, today announced important strategic developments and results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2000.
Content and services revenues increased 49% in the fourth quarter 2000 over the third quarter to $1,027,359, 422% greater than the fourth quarter of 1999. For the full year 2000, content and services revenues increased 427% to $2,519,345, as compared with $477,675 for the full year 1999.
Audible's cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments in U. S. government obligations totaled $16.2 million on December 31, 2000. Net cash used in Q4 2000 was reduced to $4.2 million from $4.7 million for Q3 2000.
Amazon.com Cash Commitment
In another important development announced today, Audible, Inc. has reconfigured it's exclusive strategic and marketing alliance with Amazon.com in which Audible serves as the exclusive provider of digital spoken word products for download or streaming to Amazon's 30 million customers. The original agreement, struck on January 31, 2000, required Audible to pay Amazon.com a minimum of $10 million in 2002. This amount has been reduced to a future minimum cash commitment of $2.5 million through 2002.
"This agreement with Amazon.com comes on top of an outstanding year for Audible, highlighted by more than quadrupled annual content and services revenues along with significantly lower quarter to quarter operating expenditures," said Donald Katz, founder and chairman, Audible, Inc. "Our enhanced relationship with Amazon.com helps extend the reach of Audible's content and services business more deeply into Amazon's enormous customer base. This along with the cash implications of the reconfigured alliance will have a significant, positive effect on our business plan."
In other operating results, Audible's customer base for Q4 increased 47% from Q3 2000. During 2000, Audible increased its customer count by over 16,000 during Q4 to end the year with more than 51,000 customers. This represents a 283% rise over the 1999 year-end count of 13,300.
"In 2000, we executed successfully against all the key measures that we draw particular attention to - revenue, customer count, the universe of AudibleReady portable devices, premium content and an increasingly friendly user-experience," commented Tom Baxter, president and chief executive officer, Audible, Inc. "We have tremendous confidence in the long term viability of our business model for the following reasons: it does not rely on advertising-supported revenue but on revenue-generating sales of digital products; the successful scaling of our business continues as our site welcomes forty percent more customers each quarter; our marketing initiatives inform more prospective customers about the benefits of using our Internet audio service; and, as more people upgrade to high-speed online connections, access to our content is faster, more convenient and becomes a greater part of people's daily lives." Other Recent Highlights:
- Sony Electronics and Audible announced new digital voice recorder models that will be AudibleReady for introduction in spring 2001.
- Iomega will ship the HipZip(TM) digital audio player with full AudibleReady capability by mid-2001.
- The Digisette Duo-Aria arrived at retail channels and is also available at audible.com for a $99 price in conjunction with the AudibleListener(TM) membership plan.
- Card Access announced development of an AudibleReady module, available by mid-2001, expressly designed for playback of Audible's spoken audio on Handspring Visor(TM) PDAs.
- Susie Bright, Steve Marmel and Greg Proops launched new AudibleOriginal(TM) regular audio series with In Bed with Susie Bright, At the Edge of Audible and AudibleProops.
- AudibleManager 3.0 audio file management software was delivered, featuring significantly improved ease-of-use.
- Random House Audible released a list of new titles including e-audiobooks by Anna Quindlen, Robert Shiller, Bruce Sterling, Alan Deutschman, David Brooks and Amir Aczel, all of which are only available in audio at audible.com.
A live Webcast of Audible, Inc.'s Q4 2000 financial results conference call can be heard today at 5:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. PST), at www.audible.com/q4ir.
About Audible, Inc.:
Audible(R) (www.audible.com) is the Internet's largest, most diverse provider of premium spoken audio services for content download or playback on personal computers or AudibleReady(TM) mobile devices. Audible has more than 28,000 hours of audio programs and 160 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, magazine and newspaper publishers and business information providers. Audible.com is Amazon.com's (www.amazon.com) exclusive provider of spoken word products for downloading or streaming via the Web. Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House, Inc., to pioneer the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible. Among the Company's key business partners are Casio Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, SONICblue Incorporated's Rio Audio Group, Microsoft Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, RealNetworks, Inc., Texas Instruments and VoiceAge Corp.
Audible is a registered trademark of Audible, Inc.; AudibleListener, AudibleReady and www.audible.com are trademarks of Audible, Inc.
This press release contains information that is not historical fact and may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, Audible's limited operating history, history of losses, uncertain market for its services, and its inability to license or produce compelling audio content and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
AUDIBLE INC.COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
Three months ended------------------December 31, September 30,------------------ --------------2000 2000------------------ --------------(unaudited) (unaudited)
Revenue, net:
Content and services $1,027,359 $690,040
Hardware 654,647 234,307
Other 189,129 189,130---------- ----------Total revenue, net 1,871,135 1,113,477
Operating expenses:
Cost of content and services revenue 1,205,328 1,158,684
Cost of hardware revenue 1,058,525 468,535
Production expenses 1,394,947 1,635,045
Development 792,630 1,306,371
Sales and marketing 3,936,598 3,370,018
General and administrative 1,247,135 1,379,826---------- ----------
Total operating expenses $9,635,163 $9,318,479---------- ----------
Loss from operations ($7,764,028) ($8,205,002)----------- -----------
Other income, net 274,717 354,979----------- -----------
Loss before state income tax benefit ($7,489,311) ($7,850,023)
State income tax benefit $316,310 $0----------- -----------
Net loss ($7,173,001) ($7,850,023)=========== ===========
Basic and diluted net lossper common share $ (0.27) $ (0.29)=========== ===========
Adjusted basic and diluted net loss per common share (1) $ (0.25) $ (0.28)=========== ===========
Weighted average shares outstanding 27,013,239 27,014,489=========== ===========
(1) Adjusted to exclude non-cash amortization relating to warrantsissued for services totaling $344,112 and $236,741 for thethree months ended December 31, 2000 and September 30, 2000 respectively, and for non cash compensation related toemployee stock grants and options totaling $179,971 and$139,134 for the three months ended December 31, 2000 andSeptember 30, 2000, respectively.
AUDIBLE INC.CONDENSED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
Three months ended Year endedDecember 31, December 31,---------------------- --------------------2000 1999 2000 1999------ ------ ------ ------(unaudited) (unaudited) (unaudited)
Revenue, net:
Content and services $1,027,359 $196,797 $2,519,345 $477,675
Hardware 654,647 34,335 1,273,117 313,627
Other 189,129 189,131 756,518 951,303---------- ---------- ---------- ----------Total revenue, net 1,871,135 420,263 4,548,980 1,742,605
Operating expenses:
Cost of content and services revenue 1,205,328 338,079 3,667,799 812,062
Cost of hardware revenue 1,058,525 36,192 2,571,994 307,395
Production expenses 1,394,947 1,265,149 6,457,638 3,397,297
Development 792,630 911,260 4,444,531 2,680,108
Sales and marketing 3,936,598 2,835,717 16,052,207 6,108,988
General and administrative 1,247,135 966,719 5,548,085 3,015,227---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total operating expenses $9,635,163 $6,353,116 $38,742,254 $16,321,077---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Loss from operations ($7,764,028) ($5,932,853) ($34,193,274)($14,578,472)---------- ---------- -- ---------- -----------
Other income, net 274,717 563,108 1,601,830 1,102,161---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Loss before state income tax benefit ($7,489,311) ($5,369,745) ($32,591,444)($13,476,311)
State income tax benefit 316,310 0 316,310 0---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Net loss ($7,173,001) ($5,369,745) ($32,275,134)($13,476,311)========== ========== ============ ===========
Basic and diluted net loss per common share $ (0.27) $ (0.21) $ (1.21) $ (0.85)======= ======= ======= =======
Adjusted basic and diluted net loss per common share (1)(2) $ (0.25) $ (0.18) $ (1.14) $ (0.75)======= ======= ======= =======
Weighted average shares outstanding 27,013,239 25,563,462 26,643,589 15,890,528========== ========== ========== ==========
(1) Adjusted to exclude non-cash amortization relating to warrantsissued for services totaling $344,112 and $731,661 for thethree months ended December 31, 2000 and December 31, 1999,respectively, and for non cash compensation related toemployee stock grants and options totaling $179,971 and$54,435 for the three months ended December 31, 2000 andDecember 31, 1999, respectively.
(2) Adjusted to exclude non-cash amortization relating to warrantsissued for services totaling $1,243,445 and $1,349,726 for theyear ended December 31, 2000 and December 31, 1999,respectively, and for non cash compensation related toemployee stock grants and options totaling $561,740 and$181,450 for the year ended December 31, 2000 and December 31,1999, respectively.
AUDIBLE INC.CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
December 31, December 31,
Assets 2000 1999-------------- -------------(unaudited)
Current Assets
Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments including interest receivable $ 16,202,096 $ 36,880,058
Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts 193,752 50,890
Inventory 118,170 0
Royalty advances 847,396 652,342
Prepaid expenses and other current assets 464,133 672,526
Notes receivable due from stockholders 50,000 150,000------------ ------------
Total current assets 17,875,547 38,405,816
Property and equipment, net 2,818,792 1,423,003
Other assets 37,510 96,980------------ ------------
Total Assets $ 20,731,849 $ 39,925,799============ ============
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current Liabilities
Accounts payable $ 1,754,440 $ 1,513,492
Accrued expenses and compensation 2,397,879 1,594,676
Royalty obligations, current 772,700 503,500
Current maturities of obligations under capital leases 47,187 263,320
Advances, current 453,476 934,765------------ ------------
Total current liabilities 5,425,682 4,809,753
Deferred cash compensation 211,065 177,762
Advances, non current 0 252,174
Royalty obligations, non current 502,000 60,500
Obligations under capital leases, net of current maturities 0 47,187
Stockholders' Equity
Common stock 275,470 257,096
Additional paid-in capital 92,196,174 68,969,417
Deferred compensation and services (11,867,358) (725,764)
Notes due from stockholders for common stock (391,703) (579,025)
Treasury stock at cost (143,061) (142,015)
Accumulated deficit (65,476,420) (33,201,286)------------ ------------
Total Stockholders' Equity 14,593,102 34,578,423
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 20,731,849 $ 39,925,799============ ============
CONTACT: Audible, Inc., Wayne
Andrew Kaplan, 973/837-2734
akaplan@audible.com
Daniel Scheffey, 973/837-2784
dscheffey@audible.com
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