NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) ("LivePerson" or the "Company"), a global leader in conversational AI, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Fourth Quarter Highlights

Total revenue was $123.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 21% as compared to the same period last year. Within total revenue, business operations revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased 21% year over year to $114.1 million, and revenue from consumer operations increased 21% year over year to $9.8 million.

LivePerson signed seven seven-figure deals and 107 deals in total in the fourth quarter, comprising 27 new and 80 existing customer contracts. Trailing-twelve-months average revenue per enterprise and mid-market customer increased 31% in the fourth quarter to another record high of $610,000, up from approximately $465,000 in the comparable prior-year period.

"LivePerson delivered a record 2021 with revenue up 28% year-over-year and reaching $469.6 million, with automated messaging volume on our Conversational Cloud increasing 44% year-over-year due to our strong customer engagement," said founder and CEO Robert LoCascio. "We expect 2022 to mark the next leg of our strategy to drive profitable growth within our core, our new voice AI capabilities, and our expansion into the space of AI assisted healthcare."

"While we are pleased with our performance in 2021, we see a more leveraged and scalable opportunity to accelerate profitable growth that focuses on platform innovations and strategic partners. With rapid expansion of new verticals and use-cases, longstanding, top-tier brands driving year-over-year usage growth, and the integration of new platform capabilities such as voice, we have a solid foundation to sustainably reach our long term goals for growth and profit," added CFO John Collins.

Customer Expansion

During the fourth quarter, the Company signed contracts with the following new customers:

• A leading provider of loyalty marketing services
• One of the three largest water companies in the U.K.
• One of the ten largest healthcare companies in the world
• A top 15 credit card issuer in the U.S.
• A British telecommunications service provider

The Company also expanded business with:

• One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world
• A top financial services organization in the U.K.
• A leading online travel agency
• One of the top three leading retail corporations in the world
• A Fortune 500 paint manufacturer and retailer

Net Loss and Adjusted Operating (Loss) Income

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $49.9 million or $0.70 per share, as compared to a net loss of $13.3 million or $0.20 per share in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating loss, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $11.4 million, as compared to an adjusted operating income of $12.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating (loss) income excludes amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

Adjusted EBITDA (Loss)

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial metric, for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $(4.4) million as compared to $18.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA excludes amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), and other expense (income).

A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures has been provided in the financial tables included in this press release. An explanation of the non-GAAP financial measures and how they are calculated is included below under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company's cash balance was $521.8 million at December 31, 2021, as compared to $654.2 million at December 31, 2020. 

Financial Expectations

The following forward-looking measures and the underlying assumptions involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and actual results may vary materially from these forward-looking measures. The Company does not present a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (or otherwise present such forward-looking GAAP measures) because it is impractical to forecast certain items without unreasonable efforts due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting, within a reasonable range, the occurrence and financial impact of and the periods in which such items may be recognized. In particular, these non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items, including amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, depreciation, other litigation and consulting costs, restructuring costs, contingent earn-out adjustments, provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), and other expense (income), which depend on future events that the Company is unable to predict. Depending on the size of these items, they could have a significant impact on the Company's GAAP financial results.

In light of the evolving macroeconomic environment, including shifts in consumer shopping behavior in our Gainshare business and government policy on COVID-19 testing, the Company is issuing a 2022 revenue guidance range of $544.8 million to $563.3 million, or 16.0% to 20.0% growth year-over-year. The revenue guidance range for the first quarter is $124.6 million to $126.8 million, or 15.5% to 17.5% growth year-over-year.

The Company is also issuing a 2022 adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $(20.0) million to $0.0 million, or a (3.7)% to 0.0% adjusted EBITDA margin, a non-GAAP financial metric. The Company is guiding for first quarter adjusted EBITDA in a range of $(26.1) million to $(21.8) million or a (20.9)% to (17.2)% adjusted EBITDA margin.

The Company's detailed financial expectations are as follows:

First Quarter 2022

Full Year 2022

The Company is guiding to non-GAAP gross margin of 67% to 70% for the full year 2022 and 65% to 66% for the first quarter of 2022.

Supplemental Fourth Quarter 2021 Presentation

LivePerson will post a presentation providing supplemental information for the fourth quarter 2021 on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

Earnings Teleconference Information

The Company will discuss its fourth quarter 2021 financial results during a teleconference today, February 24, 2022. To participate via telephone, callers should dial in five to ten minutes prior to the 5:00 p.m. Eastern start time; domestic callers (U.S. and Canada) should dial 1-877-407-0784, while international callers should dial 1-201-689-8560, and both should reference the conference ID "13725247."

The conference call will also be simulcast live on the Internet and can be accessed by logging onto the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

If you are unable to participate in the live call, the teleconference will be available for replay approximately two hours after the call. To access the replay, please call 1-844-512-2921 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-412-317-6671 (international). Please reference the conference ID "13725247." A replay will also be available on the investor relations section of the Company's web site at www.ir.liveperson.com.

About LivePerson

LivePerson makes life easier for people and brands everywhere through trusted conversational AI. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange and GM Financial, use our conversational solutions to orchestrate humans and AI at scale and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship - a conversational relationship - with their millions of consumers. LivePerson was named to Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies list for its leadership in artificial intelligence. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Investors are cautioned that the following financial measures used in this press release are "non-GAAP financial measures": (i) adjusted EBITDA, or earnings/(loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), other expense (income), depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs and other costs; (ii) adjusted EBITDA margin, or earnings/(loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes, interest income (expense), other expense (income), depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs and other costs divided by revenue; (iii) adjusted operating (loss) income, or operating income (loss) excluding amortization, stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, acquisition costs, deferred tax asset valuation allowance, and other costs; and (iv) free cash flow, or net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized software.

Non-GAAP financial information should not be construed as an alternative to any other measures of performance determined in accordance with GAAP, or as an indicator of our operating performance, liquidity or cash flows generated by operating, investing and financing activities as there may be significant factors or trends that it fails to address. We present non-GAAP financial information because we believe that it is helpful to some investors as one measure of our operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release and on our earnings call regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. Any such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to financial guidance, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is routine for our internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and year progress, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections and beliefs upon which we base our expectations may change. Although these expectations may change, we are under no obligation to inform you if they do. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation: major public health issues, and specifically the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, and their effects on the U.S. and global markets; our ability to retain key personnel, attract new personnel and to manage staff attrition; strain on our personnel resources and infrastructure from supporting our existing and growing customer base; the ability to successfully integrate past or potential future acquisitions; our ability to secure additional financing to execute our business strategy; delays in our implementation cycles; payment-related risks; potential fluctuations in our quarterly revenue and operating results; limitations on the effectiveness of our controls; non-payment or late payment of amounts due to us from a significant number of customers; volatility in the capital markets; recognition of revenue from subscriptions; customer retention and engagement; the migration of existing customers to our new platform; our ability to attract new customers and new consumer users of our consumer services; our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with social media and other third-party consumer messaging platforms and endpoints; the highly competitive markets in which we operate; general economic conditions; privacy concerns relating to the Internet that could result in new legislation or negative public perception; new regulatory or other legal requirements that could materially impact our business; governmental export controls and economic sanctions; industry-specific regulation and unfavorable industry-specific laws, regulations or interpretive positions; future regulation of the Internet or mobile devices; greater than anticipated income, non-income and transactional tax liabilities; failures or security breaches in our services, those of our third party providers, or in the websites of our customers; regulation or possible misappropriation of personal information belonging to our customers' Internet users; technology systems beyond our control and technology-related defects that could disrupt the LivePerson services; our dependence on the continued viability of the Internet; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights or potential infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties; the use of AI in our product offerings; the presence of, and difficulty in correcting, errors, failures or "bugs" in our products; our ability to license necessary third party software for use in our products and services, and our ability to successfully integrate third party software; potential adverse impact due to foreign currency and cryptocurrency exchange rate fluctuations; additional regulatory requirements, tax liabilities, currency exchange rate fluctuations and other risks as we expand internationally, as we expand into new offerings including AI-assisted healthcare and/or as we expand into direct-to-consumer services; risks related to our operations in Israel and Ukraine, and the civil and political unrest and potential for armed conflict in those regions; potential failure to meeting service level commitments to certain customers; legal liability and/or negative publicity for the services provided to consumers via our technology platforms; technological or other defects that could disrupt or negatively impact our services; our ability to maintain our reputation; our lengthy sales cycles; changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States; natural catastrophic events and interruption to our business by man-made problems; potential limitations on our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income; and risks related to our common stock being traded on more than one securities exchange. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the Company's reports and documents filed from time to time by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations contact
Richard Gu
ir-lp@liveperson.com
212-609-4214

SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.