LiveOne - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Q3 FY2025 revenue was $29,445k, down 6% year-over-year, with Adjusted EBITDA of $1,541k and operating loss widening to $(5,113)k; Audio Division revenue was $27,100k and Audio Adjusted EBITDA $3,600k.
• Guidance was cut materially: consolidated revenue to $112–$120M (from $120–$135M in Q2 and $140–$155M in Q1) and Adjusted EBITDA to $6–$10M (from $8–$15M in Q2 and $16–$20M in Q1); Audio Division revenue to $106–$115M while Audio Adjusted EBITDA was maintained at $12–$20M.
• Management is pivoting to direct-billed and ad-supported conversion of Tesla users (800k total; 475k+ ad-supported) and accelerating B2B monetization with $44M contracted revenue and five deals closed; DAX partnership should ramp ad monetization over 90–120 days.
• Cash stood at $10,854k; capex was ~$900k for integrated player; buyback reaffirmed with $6.2M remaining; LVO owns ~72% of PODC and acquired 342k shares this quarter (925k total at $2.37 avg).
• Key near-term catalysts: execution on Tesla conversion (ARPU/pricing uplift), DAX ad ramp, and B2B deal closures; estimates comparison was unavailable via S&P Global at time of analysis (see Estimates Context).

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Audio Division delivered $27,100k revenue and $3,600k Adjusted EBITDA in Q3, driven by improved Contribution Margin and lower opex; nine‑month Audio revenue reached $90,600k (+13% YoY) and YTD Audio Adjusted EBITDA $14,100k.
• Rapid user acquisition and conversion: 800k Tesla users (475k+ ad-supported) with direct-billed Premium subscribers up 78% and overall direct-billed subscribers up 130% since October 2024 under the renewed Tesla program.
• Strategic momentum: $44M contracted revenue, five B2B deals closed, robust pipeline (70+ deals); management reaffirmed a $12M buyback with $6.2M remaining, signaling confidence.
• “Providing for the first time ever, each front property with our logo…in every single Tesla car…this is in perpetuity” and “we will have data information of each of our subscribers…This is a multibillion-dollar opportunity” — Robert Ellin (CEO).

What Went Wrong

• Consolidated revenue declined 6% YoY; operating loss widened by $4.36M YoY to $(5,113)k; Adjusted EBITDA fell to $1,541k vs $3,313k prior year; consolidated guidance cut significantly on revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.
• Media/Other and Corporate were headwinds in Q3 Adjusted EBITDA (Media $(500)k, Corporate $(1,500)k); impairment charges elevated operating expenses (intangible assets impairment $3,807k).
• Monetization lag on new ad-supported users: DAX ad ramp is 90–120 days; interim margin pressure risk acknowledged though not fully visible in Q3 given only ~30 days of ad-supported activity.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the LiveOne Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results and Business Update webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. Thank you, and I would now like to turn the conference over to Aaron Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Sullivan, you may begin.

Aaron Sullivan (CFO)

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to LiveOne's Business Update and Financial Results conference call for the company's third quarter ended December 31, 2024. Presenting on today's call with me is Rob Ellin, CEO and Chairman of LiveOne. I would like to remind you that some of the statements made on today's call are forward-looking and are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve various risks and uncertainties. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future performance of the company, including expected future financial results, and expected future growth in the business. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed on this call for a variety of reasons.

Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for information about factors which could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, including those described on its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2024, and subsequent SEC filings. You'll find reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures discussed today in the company's earnings release, which is posted on its Investor Relations website. The company encourages you to periodically visit the Investor Relations website for important content. The following discussion, including responses to your questions, contains time-sensitive information and reflects management's view as of the date of this call, February 14, 2025. Except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise this information after the date of the call.

I'd like to highlight to investors that this call is being recorded. The company is making it available to investors and media via webcast, and a replay will be available on its website in the Investor Relations section shortly following the conclusion of the call. Additionally, it is the property of the company, and any redistribution, transmission, or rebroadcast of this call or the webcast in any form without the company's express written consent is strictly prohibited. Now, I would like to turn the call over to LiveOne CEO, Rob Ellin.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Thank you, Aaron. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, everyone, for joining. This has been an extraordinarily challenging and exciting quarter for the company. Thanks to the unwavering dedication and relentless drive of the LiveOne team, we've achieved record revenues of $95 million in the first nine months and $29 million plus for the quarter, underscoring our ability to navigate an extraordinary challenge and turn it into the biggest opportunity of the history of the company. Our audio business, Slacker Radio and PodcastOne, I'm pleased to report, broke $90 million in revenues for the first time in the history of the company, accompanied by $14.1 million of adjusted EBITDA for the nine months. This outstanding performance demonstrates our ability to pivot, survive, and thrive.

We've made significant strides to diversify the business and diversify our partnerships, especially in the B2B partnerships with five deals signed in the last 90 days, adding over $44 million in revenues, including $25 million with a Fortune 500 media conglomerate and $16.5 million with Amazon. We expect to close at least two more partnerships by year-end. Our pipeline is robust, with over 70 B2B partnerships in various stages of development, with billion-to-trillion-dollar companies. Now for the challenge and the opportunity of a lifetime. Our partnership with Tesla changed dramatically from being a white-label partner in Tesla cars with a guaranteed $3 a month from Tesla as long as the customer, that car owner, signed up and paid $9.99 for connectivity.

We have now renewed our contract for the 12th straight year with Tesla, providing for the first time ever beachfront property with our logo, with our branding right in the front of every single Tesla car. The amazing part, this is in perpetuity. With the help and support of Tesla and using AI marketing and multiple strategies that the company has used over the years to convert all of the car owners into true subscribers, both free and paid, for the first time ever, we will have data and information of each of our subscribers. This is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. For anyone that's been an investor or part of my companies over the years, wish you for the moon. This is now that unique moonshot you have that you're going to struggle and take some hits in revenues for a period of time.

As you look at the future of this, all you have to believe is that you can get over $3 a month. You have this beachfront real estate, and now the rents have been going up for 12 years, but we were not able to raise our rents at all. These numbers have exceeded any expectations of management, analysts, and most of all, Tesla themselves. Since December, we signed over a staggering 800,000-plus new users. That is 40% of the entire pool of the 2 million Tesla cars in North America. This collaboration is nothing short of transformative. We believe the partnership provides a proof of concept that can help us with the success of signing those B2B partners. Imagine partners with 10 million to a billion-plus eyeballs. I have been talking about a flywheel for the last seven years.

As you see us sign those massive B2B deals, this is proof. Now think about whether a Facebook, an Amazon, a Walmart, a Microsoft, an Amex, anyone with 10 million to a billion eyeballs, if we can convert 40%, even if we can convert 1% or 2% of those users, we have a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. As we move forward, we're pivoting our business model, leveraging our partnerships, and delivering our music platform to large user bases in B2B deals. In addition to our continued growth, I'm pleased to reiterate that LiveOne is committed to $12 million to a stock buyback program. We currently have $6.2 million remaining on that buyback program and it shows the confidence we will continue to buy and show our confidence in the future of our company and provide that proof of concept that the company and the management are backing and believers in our company.

We are committed to continue our growth both in terms of revenue and market presence. Our cash position increased by $4 million, so almost $11 million, after paying off $3 million to East West Bank and acquiring 900,000 shares of our subsidiary, PodcastOne. I couldn't be more excited about where podcasting is going. The presidency was won with the help of podcasting. Fox just bought Red Podcast Network for over 15 times revenues. Conan O'Brien's network sold for over 15 times revenues to SiriusXM. You're seeing deals with Kelsey Brothers selling for $150 million, SmartLess for $125 million. We have one of the biggest networks in podcasting. I'm excited to share the PodcastOne subsidiary has achieved record revenues and traffic for the quarter.

We've expanded our network to become the eighth largest in the industry, have secured a major partnership with Amazon, a three-year deal worth $16.5 million, and have just guided to $51 million in revenues and for the first time positive EBITDA for the year. Positive EBITDA of the year means the fourth quarter has to be substantial EBITDA, and we fully expect that that number is going to continue going forward for the year. These achievements demonstrate our commitment to delivering high-quality content, innovative solutions to our audience, advertising partners. We're excited about the future of LiveOne and PodcastOne, and we look forward to continued growth. To further accelerate our growth, we are working with multiple bankers, including JP Morgan, to explore all M&A opportunities that can enhance our business and unlock additional values.

The steps align with our strategic goals of expanding our market presence and strengthening our office. I want to thank our employees, our partners, our shareholders for our continued trust and support, and I look forward to the following quarter. Thank you, everyone, and I'll open it up to Q&A.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. If you're called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, it is star one if you would like to ask a question. Your first question comes from the line of Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners. Your line is open.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Great. Thanks so much. On your website, you offer Slacker Radio for $3.33 per month today. I look, it's $39.99 for the year. Is this the RPU we should suggest we think about going forward? It's the question I get most from investors. They want to try to understand what the RPU looks like going forward.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think that dynamic is challenging to answer exactly. We did say recently we'll be raising our prices. As this change with Tesla is happening, what we found is, as we found, a lot of people want to buy a year-long subscription, which is exceptional for us. What we found is that pricing elasticity, there's an opportunity to raise prices substantially. As you're aware and have seen with Spotify, they've raised their prices substantially. They just announced another price increase. I think this is the opportunity now that the company is collecting real data, actually has an understanding of not just having a VIN number of a car, but actually having Brian Kinstlinger and Rob Ellin and the names and data and emails and credit cards and so on.

This will be the time that we're really going to find out how far we can expand those. If you look at the industry, we're the top 10 in the industry. We're the lowest by far in terms of pricing. I think there's a huge opportunity to increase our prices over the next 12 months.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Okay. If I were to buy a Tesla today, do I get free service to attract me for some period of time? I'm just curious how a new Tesla plays out now.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Yeah, it's a great question. You have the opportunity, right? And remember, this all just happened as of December 4th. On December 4th, we renewed our contract. Experience dynamically, right? That contract when we guaranteed $3 a month, right? Now we have the opportunity to upsell that customer with the help of Tesla. You have the opportunity of getting subscription, right? That is monthly or for a year, right? Or you have the opportunity now, as of 30 days ago, to be able to turn that service back on, right? You look in your car, every single Tesla car on the left-hand side, you'll see our logo for the first time ever. You click on that button. If you choose it, you could either choose ad supported or you can have subscription with no ads.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Right. No, I get that. I'm curious. For example, I buy my car, I have free Sirius radio for a month, and then it goes away, but I have the option. Do I get, is it going to start playing day one and then you have to have so much time to select ad supported or buy? That's what I'm curious about.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Yeah, great question. We have not yet. As of 30 days ago, we launched the free ad supported. To our shock and excitement, right, as we said yesterday, we've signed over 450,000 free ad supported subscribers. What we decided to do is that we've had such success for 12 years with Tesla in the usage, right, and the time people spent, right? We did not want to take the risk that they switched and did not sign up for subscription because it is a little clunky and a little complicated. What I have to do, you have to hit a barcode, right? You have to sign up. You have to put your information in. You have to put a credit card in. This gave them an easy way that we get them back into the funnel. We get those consumers back in the funnel.

We give them, and when you turn on the music, you'll get your five favorite songs you've listened to, whether you've been a subscriber for a year or for 12 years, right? You'll get your five favorite songs, and then our DJs and VJs will invite you to a special offer to sign up for subscription. I can't answer you that. We're learning every day and figuring out daily what that next offering is going to be. Some of it will be free forever. Some will be discounted offers. We'll come up with strategies and what works the best, right? We're learning on the job here. I mean, the fact that we've signed this many subscribers is just, it's so substantial. You've rarely ever seen a model where you can sign 40% of the total allocated pool of cars. We signed 800 out of 2 million.

Even the more amazing part is they're using it for an average of like 36 minutes three times a day. It shows proof of how much people love our service, right? How loyal they are to our service. I think that's going to continue. It'll be a telltale sign that I can't imagine we're not going to deliver way more than $3 a month, right? Whether it's ad supported or it's subscribers down the line.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Okay. Last question I've got related to PodcastOne. You've added a number of new shows and new talent. We've talked about this for quarters. Your costs are going up twice as fast as revenue over the last 12 to 18 months. I would have expected eventually the gross margin would stabilize and start to increase as shows added six to nine months ago start to drive revenue to offset that new content. Maybe talk about what's delaying the revenue streams and given these dynamics, has anything at all changed on your onboarding strategy?

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Not at all. I mean, what you have right now is when you're signing these deals, there's some upfront money, right? The industry, right, whether you like it or not, advertisers pay in 90-120 days. It takes time to onboard them. Some of these, you're writing checks upfront, and people aren't even moving over to our network for four or five months because they're on the contract with whoever they were before. It's also a challenging environment, right? You got to be aggressive right now, and you got to get people into the funnel and sign them, right? Once you sign them, right, you're going to start to see all those brand new revenue streams that you and I and Brian have been talking about that eventually change those margins dynamically, right?

Right now, if you look at AudioBoom, public company, you're going to see worse. Their margins are even lower than us, right? Right now, it's a land grab, right? You got to grab those great talents, right? You got to grab as many of them as you can that you believe fit into the dynamics of your network. That'll change the.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Just to follow up on that, how do you think about that? How do you think the time when it takes to start to see the trend reverse? I mean, you've seen your margins get cut significantly. When do we get back to 10%? Are we over a year out? Are we 18 months? Just maybe talk about that.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

I think it's happening right now. I've been talking about for the last two quarters. Brian, you and I have watched in so many industries, right? You have the first wave, right? You watched $17 billion of acquisition and some of the wildest deals. Wondery, who was across the street from me, sold for $350 million, right? They were doing the same revenues we're doing today, right? I'm sorry, they were doing the same revenues we were doing when I bought the company, right? They sold for like 30 times revenues. You watched Amazon, Apple. You watched Amazon, Apple, Sirius, Spotify, iHeart. Buy everybody out there, right? There was left with little networks, the smaller networks are out there, right? The radio companies who are obviously struggling terribly with their own issues, right? Now you're starting to see that second round of acquisitions.

When you see Conan O'Brien sell for 15 times revenues, 15 times revenues, and then you see Red sell for around the same, right? You're starting to see where some of it's desperation, some of it's perspiration, some of it's just reality of how big podcasting has become, right? Trump has said he won the election off podcasting. He just announced a head of media for podcasting, right? The world is changing there and what Rupert Murdoch amazingly probably had some desperation as well realized yesterday. He's got to go back and buy podcasts because he's losing all his talent. All the talent's moving away from radio and television. As the big guys start to roll those back up, right? Where we sit in the world, right? We sit in the world of under $5 million podcasts, right? Maybe we'll get to a $10 million one.

We sit in sort of that microcap land of the best podcasters who are true podcasters. I think the model is going to change again dynamically as these acquisitions happen. The roll-up will happen, and then the pricing will come back in a way better form in the next six to nine months.

Brian Kinstlinger (Analyst)

Great. Thanks so much, Rob.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Thanks, Brian.

Operator (participant)

Excuse me. Your next question comes from the line of Sean McGowan with Roth Capital Partners. Your line is open.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Morning, Rob. Morning, Aaron. How are you?

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Good, Sean. How are you doing?

Good.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Good. Good. A couple of questions back on the Tesla situation. With the ad supported subscribers, are you yet monetizing any of that advertising? Are you up and running with that? We are just touching.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

This all just happened, right? December 4, we launched the paid service. Shock and awe, we signed an amazing amount of subscribers, right? We then said, "We've got to take a little bit of risk here," which will definitely put some of the paid subscribers because we can get it for free day one. You may not sign for this. We knew we'd take a little bit of risk in it. I couldn't believe in my wildest dreams, Sean, that we would sign 450,000 and be adding still today. We're still adding like 5,000-8,000 a day of ad supported subscribers.

We signed this partnership with DAX, the biggest programmatic advertising company in the world, right? We signed the deal. I think we announced it 30 days ago. We're just in the beginning of it. Advertising takes 90-120 days minimum to really kick in. If you listen today, if you have a Tesla car, you'll start to see ads hitting, okay? There are still some technology things that are just coming into play, right? I'm hoping that Tesla is going to relaunch and re-alert, right? When they upgrade their software the next time, they're going to tell all these car owners again that they have an opportunity, right, for paid and free. As they do that, we'll be building more and more of that traffic and audience and understanding of that traffic and audience and usage to be able to lock in those advertisers.

I fully expect in six to nine months, I can't imagine we're not going to be $3 a month on the ad supported, and I can't imagine we won't be way higher than $3 a month on the paid side. Spotify just came out, and they were asked just recently, "Why do they have an ad supported?" Right? Their answer was, "Because 60% of those within a 24-month period convert to long-term subscribers." Right? I'm not expecting 60%, but if we could have 20-30% of them convert to long-term subscribers, right? We're going to be building back that base strongly, right? We're going to be building back that guaranteed revenues, and then our advertising is really going to start to take off and hopefully explodes into the second, third, fourth quarter of this year.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Okay. Believe it or not, what I was kind of getting at with the question is, this might sound a little surprising, is why isn't the gross margin actually lower? Because aren't you paying the record labels for the music that these listeners are listening to and not really getting revenue for it? How are those costs recorded, and why isn't that actually more out of whack?

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

I mean, to be honest with you, you're not even seeing that yet, right? That just started. We're 30 days into that, right? Yes, there is some element, right? Every day you add another ad supported, until you drive those revenues, you're absolutely going to have some cost, right? It's not a giant cost, but you're going to have some cost before that advertising comes in and pays for it. You're not really seeing that yet.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Okay. You would not expect to see that margin pressure in that interim period? I was bracing myself for actually a worse gross margin performance in Slacker because you are paying out the record companies but not getting the revenue yet for these new subscribers. Are you just not paying very much to the record labels at this time?

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

No, it's not that I remember. The ad supported only launched 30 days ago. You only have 30 days of it, right?

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Okay. In the quarter.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

That's it.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

All right.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Yeah. You're not really getting that in last quarter.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Okay. Last question is, how close are we to seeing revenue from sources other than Slacker and podcasts? We've talked a lot about that, and I know you made a lot of progress. You sold press releases about coffee, but how close are we to that being needle-moving?

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

I don't know about needle-moving, but exciting, right? Publishing business grew another 100% or so, right? We just got a number one song with Scissor. That would be a big payday for us. You don't have to get to giant revenues to have huge value, right? In publishing they sell for, as you know, you know better than anybody, you guys own part of Renaissance, right? These are 12-25 times EBITDA numbers. We see really exciting stuff happening with our publishing business. It's with Splitmind and Drumify. Our product business, we just launched our coffee a couple of days ago. We sold out on the first day. I would say this is our year to have some transformative moves. Do I think it's going to be dynamic? Is it going to take our revenues? Is it going to take it up $10 million, $20 million?

No. Is it going to be on a trajectory, right, that we have those kind of abilities over the next two to three years? Absolutely.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

On our television side, yeah, we didn't talk about this on the call, but we sold our second show. We sold Varnumtown to a major streaming platform. That's three that are sold now. Those three that are sold, I mean, if you really hit those, a television show and just going back my career, I had the movie 300 and Spiderwick Chronicles, right? Just the royalty fees on those with tens and tens of millions of dollars are just pure profit with no risk, right? We have no risk in these deals. If they hit as television shows, they're going to be extraordinary bottom line increases for us.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

Yeah. I can't wait to see Varnumtown. I can't wait. That'll be good.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Thank you.

Sean McGowan (Analyst)

All right. Thank you.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Me too.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, it is Star One if you would like to ask a question. With no further questions at this time, I will turn the call back to Mr. Rob Ellin for closing remarks.

Rob Ellin (Founder and CEO)

Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining. Again, this is a transformative time for the company. Complicated time, but exciting time. As I've said probably a few times on this call, I mean, I never in my wildest dreams. Aaron never in his wildest dreams. No one in our management team, all of our Slacker Radio guys have been doing this for the better part. Some of them have been here as much as two decades and been at the company and have seen some amazing B2B partnerships, but nobody's ever seen 40% conversion. This is a telltale sign of how much our product is like, right? There's a reason that we've been award-winning. We're going to struggle a little bit. We're going to fight through this. We survived COVID, lost all of our live business, came out bigger and stronger than ever.

We're going to do the same thing here. I can confidently tell you that if you're looking out 12 months, this is the first time the company has had an opportunity to be a multi-billion dollar company over the next two to three years. These B2B deals, we have 70 of them in the pipeline. We're landing them. They're starting to come in. We've announced five of them so far. You keep landing these B2B deals. Every one of my companies, from Digital Turbine to Majesco to Trinity, every one of them were built on the backs of B2B deals. I say this totally humbly. I've never had a stock that didn't go to $25 or better. A few have gone to $100 or better. We never know when they really take off, when lightning strikes. This is a different market out there.

This is a different world out there. We got a lot of work to do. I can tell you confidently this is the first time that I see a multi-billion dollar company over the next 24-36 months. If we stay focused, we keep executing, we fight through the difficult times, I just want to thank everyone for joining and thanks for staying with us. We will continue to fight here, and you will see us in the market buying back stock very shortly. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.