SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG), the leading student-first connected learning platform, today reported financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2024.
“Q2 has been transformational for Chegg, completing our restructure, outlining an exciting vision for the future, and completing the rollout of conversational instruction capability and automated solutions just in time for the back-to-school season,” said Nathan Schultz, Chief Executive Officer & President of Chegg, Inc. “We are executing our product vision to evolve Chegg from a solutions-based study platform to one that supports students holistically with 360 degrees of individualized academic and functional support, which meets the needs of the modern student.”
Second Quarter 2024 Highlights
- Total Net Revenues of $163.1 million, a decrease of 11% year-over-year
- Subscription Services Revenues of $146.8 million, a decrease of 11% year-over-year
- Gross Margin of 72%
- Non-GAAP Gross Margin of 75%
- Net Loss was $616.9 million
- Non-GAAP Net Income was $26.5 million
- Adjusted EBITDA was $44.1 million
- 4.4 million Subscription Services subscribers, a decrease of 9% year-over-year
Total net revenues include revenues from Subscription Services and Skills and Other. Subscription Services includes revenues from our Chegg Study Pack, Chegg Study, Chegg Writing, Chegg Math, and Busuu offerings. Skills and Other includes revenues from Chegg Skills, Advertising, and any other revenues not included in Subscription Services.
For more information about non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP gross margin and adjusted EBITDA, and a reconciliation of non-GAAP net income to net (loss) income, gross margin to non-GAAP gross margin and adjusted EBITDA to net (loss) income, see the sections of this press release titled, “Use of Non-GAAP Measures,” “Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA,” and “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”
Business Outlook
Third Quarter 2024
- Total Net Revenues in the range of $133 million to $135 million
- Subscription Services Revenues in the range of $116 million to $118 million
- Gross Margin between 67% and 68%
- Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $19 million to $21 million
For more information about the use of forward-looking non-GAAP measures, a reconciliation of forward-looking net loss to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter 2024, see the below sections of the press release titled “Use of Non-GAAP Measures,” and “Reconciliation of Forward-Looking Net Loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA.”
An updated investor presentation and an investor data sheet can be found on Chegg’s Investor Relations website https://investor.chegg.com.
Prepared Remarks – Nathan Schultz, CEO & President, Chegg, Inc.
Thank you, Tracey. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining Chegg’s 2nd quarter earnings call. I’m so very proud of how Chegg shows up for students and of our teams’ endeavor to build an unparalleled learning platform. Since assuming the CEO role 65 days ago, I spearheaded a significant restructuring effort to create a leaner, more efficient organization, which will allow us to move faster, smarter, and make investments for the long term. In 2025, our restructuring program will generate non-GAAP expense savings in the range of $40-50 million and has allowed us to remain committed to our goals of 30%+ adjusted EBITDA margin and at least $100 million of Free Cash Flow. Additionally, we have outlined a new product vision to evolve Chegg from a solutions-based study platform to one that supports the whole student with 360 degrees of individualized academic and functional support. Our talented teams are hard at work building the products and experiences that bring our new vision to life. However, let’s start with Q2.
For Q2, we exceeded our guidance delivering $146.8 million in revenue and $44.1 million in Adjusted EBITDA. We continued to integrate AI into Chegg Study, completing several foundational programs, and most importantly, the complete rollout of conversational instructional capability and automated solutions—all in time for the upcoming back-to-school season. As a result, we are seeing positive reception, as demonstrated by an increase in student engagement. I’d like to specifically call out two exciting trends: first, 70% of subscribers are engaging in conversational instruction; second, students are asking more questions. The number of questions asked by students increased 74% year-over-year versus Q2 2023, and in H1 ’24 alone, students asked a whopping 16.2 million questions, which is a 109% year-over-year increase.
While pleased with the product advancements we implemented in Q2, we are only getting started. Our sights are fixed on innovations that leverage both our key differentiators and the generational technology shift in which we find ourselves. Speaking of which, I would like to spend a few minutes highlighting three key differentiators.
First, we are obsessed with studying students. With more than a decade of insights into student needs, motivations, and behaviors, we consistently work to evolve and align our services to the modern student experience. We apply deep learning science from an in-house team to create a verticalized user experience that reflects how students learn best. For example, we provide step-by-step solutions, jargon-free explanations, and simplified concepts to make learning accessible. This deep understanding of students culled from millions of learning interactions drives our product innovation.
Second, we have been built from the bottom up to deliver high-quality, accurate content at scale. Students care deeply about accuracy and quality of instruction. In our study of more than 11,000 students globally, 47% of those who use Generative AI for university study say receiving incorrect information is a top concern. This lack of trust has led 67% of students to spend additional time verifying the information they receive from AI tools. This is inefficient, and we can do better. To that end, Chegg will launch this fall a student-facing satisfaction guarantee aligned to the quality and accuracy of our content, to better support student success and differentiate Chegg.
Third, and finally, Chegg’s brand awareness remains high, with 75% of U.S. college students having heard of Chegg. We plan to build on our strong foundation in Q3, launching our “Small Steps, Big Wins” marketing campaign this back-to-school season. This will extend our reach into channels where students are congregating, such as TikTok, Instagram, and on campus, to increase our top of funnel. Additionally, we will start to test services delivered on Discord and through Chrome extensions, with the goal of making sure Chegg is everywhere our current and future students are.
The differentiators we have built over the last decade have positioned us for success as we execute our product roadmap and dive headfirst into the generational technology shift ushered in by AI. Our mission is to build from our foundation to support student outcomes – not by delivering AI education but rather education enhanced by AI. With that in mind, I would like to take you through some examples of the AI architecture we have built.
First, we have created proprietary technology that allows Chegg to deeply understand students’ questions. When a question is asked, we create a full picture: why they asked it, at what depth the answer should be given, and most exciting, how we can use this question to develop a series of next-best actions that creates an individualized learning pathway, driving student engagement and retention.
Second, our evolving architecture takes an innovative multi-source approach, leveraging foundational and proprietary language models, our industry-leading symbolic math engine, our deep catalog of learning content, and our subject matter experts to deliver the best learning solutions possible. To fully realize our ground-breaking vision for integrating AI with our proprietary content and computational models, we have built a sophisticated, source-agnostic Orchestrator that intelligently selects the best approach to assist each student. You can think of the Orchestrator as an air-traffic controller. Using this approach, accuracy and quality remain paramount. As such, we have also developed a proprietary quality rubric that assesses all possible content sources and language models. We believe this enables Chegg to take advantage of any future innovations that foundational language models will inevitably create while maintaining the quality that has built our brand.
As always, we have developed our innovative approach to servicing students with scale and cost in mind. Today, we produce solutions at a 75% reduction per unit vs. human creation alone. The bottom line is that we are now creating more content, of higher quality, at lower cost. And as you know, content is the primary driver of our acquisition flywheel.
Before I turn it over to David, I want to briefly talk about what you can expect regarding product innovation in Q3 as well as an exciting new partnership as we get set for our back-to-school rush.
On the global product side, we are well underway in implementing our iterative approach to product development. This fall, we will be testing a variety of innovations. As an example, we have developed a feature internally referred to as Starting Point, which is meant to address the common issue of students simply not knowing where to start, whether they are studying for a mid-term or writing an important paper. This introduces a whole new way for students to leverage Chegg on their learning journey. In addition to Starting Point, we have developed two new applications, one that keeps students on track and another that organizes students’ notes and turns them into study tools. As we get more products into students’ hands through iterative development, you are beginning to see the evolution of Chegg from a Q&A platform to one that delivers 360 degrees of support.
On the international front, we will be launching a fully localized product experience in Mexico by the end of September. Our end-to-end localization strategy adapts Chegg Study to meet the cultural, linguistic, and user experience requirements of key international markets. As our first fully localized market, Mexico will serve as the playbook for future localization efforts. We remain excited about the growth opportunities that international expansion provides.
Finally, I’m excited to announce that we are expanding our Chegg Perks program through a partnership with Max, one of the leading global streaming services. Max delivers exclusive original series and blockbuster movies as well as a library of beloved TV that our U.S. subscribers will now be able to access with ads. Max joins our other Perks partners, including Tinder, DoorDash, Calm, and others, to enrich the value of a Chegg subscription.
In closing, we continue to execute the plan that we believe will return our company to growth. The way back will take time and will be accomplished through steady execution of our vision to serve the whole student, thoughtful implementation of our unique AI strategy, and building off our durable differentiators, which include a deep knowledge of students, a content foundation built for quality and scale, and a brand that students know and love.
Now, with that, I will turn it over to David…
Prepared Remarks – David Longo, CFO, Chegg, Inc.
Thank you, Nathan,
Today, I will present our financial performance for the second quarter of 2024 and our outlook for Q3.
Q2 was a solid quarter. We remained focused on delivering our new AI-driven experiences to students around the world, made progress on key metrics which we believe will support both revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth over time, and continued to execute prudent expense management to maintain strong profitability. We exceeded our Q2 guidance on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA and our balance sheet remains healthy.
Before I jump into the results of the quarter, in the Shareholder Letter related to the restructuring, we committed to sharing key metrics that would assist investors to understand and model our company. Our earnings presentation on our investor relations website includes these key metrics for Q2. These are the metrics we review to understand the trends and health of our business.
Moving on to our second quarter performance, we had 4.4 million subscribers in the quarter, with 25% coming from international. Total revenue was $163 million, down 11% year-over-year, including Subscription Services revenue of $147 million. Subscription Services ARPU was down 3% year-over-year, which was primarily driven by the international promotional pricing we introduced last year to bolster conversion and retention. Overall monthly retention for Chegg Study and Study Pack remained strong and was up 23 basis points year-over-year. Skills and Other revenue was $16 million, a decrease of 4% year-over-year.
Second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $44 million represented a margin of 27%. This is above our guidance due to the better than anticipated revenue, as well as ongoing expense management to preserve profitability and cash flows as we navigate the path back to growth. As planned, the restructuring had a minimal impact on our Q2 adjusted EBITDA, and the full financial savings will not be realized until 2025.
We had a few notable GAAP items this quarter, specifically an impairment charge and a large discreet item in our income tax provision. As a result of continued industry pressure and declines in our market capitalization, and as required by accounting rules, we completed an impairment test on our goodwill, intangible assets and property & equipment. The test resulted in $481.5 million of non-cash impairment charges that were excluded from our Q2 adjusted EBITDA.
In addition, the goodwill impairment impacted our Q2 income tax provision as we are now in three years of cumulative pretax losses in the U.S. This triggered the necessity of a $141.6 million non-cash valuation allowance recorded on all U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets which is included in the Q2 income tax provision.
Free Cash Flow was negative $3.6 million in the second quarter, which was driven by severance payments related to our restructuring and an increase in net working capital largely related to the timing of accounts payable items. Capital expenditures were $17.8 million in the quarter, of which $13 million were content costs. Content costs were down 7% year-over-year, even with an increase of 74% in the number of questions asked.
Looking at the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash and investments of $605 million and a net cash balance of $4.5 million.
With respect to Q3 guidance, we expect:
- Total revenue between $133 and $135 million, with Subscription Services revenue between $116 and $118 million;
- Gross margin to be in the range of 67 to 68 percent;
- And adjusted EBITDA between $19 and $21 million.
In closing, while these numbers are not where we want them to be, like many companies in the ed-tech space, we are dealing with the challenges of the changing landscape. As Nathan detailed earlier, we are working to implement the vision to get us back to growth, but it will take some time before we see the benefits. I am committed to delivering our financial goals. We believe there is a significant opportunity ahead for Chegg and I am confident in our team and our ability to succeed.
With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for your questions.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
To access the call, please dial 1-877-407-4018, or outside the U.S. +1-201-689-8471, five minutes prior to 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (or 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time). A live webcast of the call will also be available at https://investor.chegg.com under the Events & Presentations menu. An audio replay will be available beginning at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time (or 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time) on August 5, 2024, until 8:59 p.m. Pacific Time (or 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time) on August 12, 2024, by calling 1-844-512-2921, or outside the U.S. +1-412-317-6671, with Conference ID 13747410. An audio archive of the call will also be available at https://investor.chegg.com.
Use of Investor Relations Website for Regulation FD Purposes
Chegg also uses its media center website, https://www.chegg.com/press, as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor https://www.chegg.com/press, in addition to following press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
About Chegg
Chegg provides individualized learning support to students as they pursue their educational journeys. Available on demand 24/7 and powered by over a decade of learning insights, the Chegg platform offers students AI-powered academic support thoughtfully designed for education coupled with access to a vast network of subject matter experts who ensure quality. No matter the goal, level, or style, Chegg helps millions of students around the world learn with confidence by helping them build essential academic, life, and job skills to achieve success. Chegg is a publicly held company based in Santa Clara, California and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information, visit www.chegg.com.
Use of Non-GAAP Measures
To supplement Chegg’s financial results presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), this press release and the accompanying tables and the related earnings conference call contain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP cost of revenues, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP weighted average shares, non-GAAP net income per share, and free cash flow. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, please see the section of the accompanying tables titled, “Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA,” “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” “Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow,” and “Reconciliation of Forward-Looking Net Loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA.”
The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Chegg defines (1) adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA, adjusted for share-based compensation expense, other income, net, acquisition-related compensation costs, impairment expense, restructuring charges, content and related assets charge and transitional logistic charges; (2) non-GAAP cost of revenues as cost of revenues excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, acquisition-related compensation costs, restructuring charges, content and related assets charge, and transitional logistic charges; (3) non-GAAP gross profit as gross profit excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, acquisition-related compensation costs, restructuring charges, content and related assets charge, and transitional logistic charges; (4) non-GAAP gross margin is defined as non-GAAP gross profit divided by net revenues; (5) non-GAAP operating expenses as operating expenses excluding share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, acquisition-related compensation costs, restructuring charges, impairment expense, impairment of lease related assets, and loss contingency; (6) non-GAAP income from operations as loss from operations excluding share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, acquisition-related compensation costs, restructuring charges, impairment expense, content and related assets charge, impairment of lease related assets, loss contingency, and transitional logistic charges; (7) non-GAAP net income as net (loss) income excluding share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, acquisition-related compensation costs, amortization of debt issuance costs, the income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments, restructuring charges, impairment expense, content and related assets charge, impairment of lease related assets, gain on sale of strategic equity investment, gain on early extinguishment of debt, loss contingency and transitional logistic charges; (8) non-GAAP weighted average shares outstanding as weighted average shares outstanding adjusted for the effect of shares for stock plan activity and shares related to our convertible senior notes, to the extent such shares are not already included in our weighted average shares outstanding; (9) non-GAAP net income per share is defined as non-GAAP net income divided by non-GAAP weighted average shares outstanding; and (10) free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities adjusted for purchases of property and equipment. To the extent additional significant non-recurring items arise in the future, Chegg may consider whether to exclude such items in calculating the non-GAAP financial measures it uses.
Chegg believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide meaningful supplemental information regarding Chegg’s performance by excluding items that may not be indicative of Chegg’s core business, operating results or future outlook. Chegg management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing Chegg’s operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and believes that such measures enhance investors’ overall understanding of our current financial performance. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate comparisons of Chegg’s performance to prior periods.
As presented in the “Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA,” “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” “Reconciliation of Forward-Looking Net Loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA,” and “Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow” tables below, each of the non-GAAP financial measures excludes or includes one or more of the following items:
Share-based compensation expense.
Share-based compensation expense is a non-cash expense that varies in amount from period to period and is dependent on market forces that are often beyond Chegg’s control. As a result, management excludes this item from Chegg’s internal operating forecasts and models. Management believes that non-GAAP measures adjusted for share-based compensation expense provide investors with a basis to measure Chegg’s core performance against the performance of other companies without the variability created by share-based compensation as a result of the variety of equity awards used by other companies and the varying methodologies and assumptions used.
Amortization of intangible assets.
Chegg amortizes intangible assets, including those that contribute to generating revenues, that it acquires in conjunction with acquisitions, which results in non‑cash expenses that may not otherwise have been incurred.
Contacts
Media Contact: Tonya B. Hudson, press@chegg.com
Investor Contact: Tracey Ford, IR@chegg.com
