Cardlytics Announces First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDLX), a digital advertising platform, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

"We've made marked progress across our key business pillars, which continue to underpin our journey to 'platformize' Cardlytics and position ourselves as the leading commerce media platform," said Amit Gupta, CEO of Cardlytics. "Our expanding ecosystem, depth and breadth of our data, and ongoing tech investments are strengthening our position and providing differentiated value to our partners and advertisers."

"We’ve built a resilient platform and are making strategic decisions as we look to future-proof our business," said Alexis DeSieno, CFO of Cardlytics. "With recent actions to strengthen our balance sheet, we’re taking a targeted, disciplined approach to cost management while continuing to invest in key areas for growth.”

First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

• Revenue was $61.9 million, a decrease of 8% year-over-year compared to $67.6 million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Billings, a non-GAAP metric, was $97.6 million, a decrease of 7% year-over-year compared to $105.2 million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted Contribution, a non-GAAP metric, was $32.4 million, a decrease of 12% year-over-year compared to $37.1 million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Net Loss was $(13.3) million, or $(0.26) per diluted share, based on 51.9 million fully diluted weighted-average common shares, compared to a Net Loss of $(24.3) million, or $(0.56) per diluted share, based on 43.2 million fully diluted weighted-average common shares in the first quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP metric, was $(4.4) million compared to $0.2 million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted Net Loss was $(11.1) million, or $(0.21) per diluted share, based on 51.9 million fully diluted weighted-average common shares, compared to Adjusted Net Loss of $(4.1) million, or $(0.09) per diluted share, based on 43.2 million fully diluted weighted-average common shares in the first quarter of 2024.
• Net cash used in operating activities was $(6.7) million, compared to $(17.6) million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Free Cash Flow, a non-GAAP metric, was $(10.8) million, compared to $(22.4) million in the first quarter of 2024.

Key Metrics

• Cardlytics monthly qualified users ("MQUs") were 214.9 million, an increase of 12% year-over-year, compared to 191.2 million in the first quarter of 2024.
• Cardlytics adjusted contribution per user ("ACPU") was $0.13 compared to $0.17 in the first quarter of 2024.

Definitions of MQUs and ACPU are included below under the caption “Other Performance Metrics."

The following table presents MQUs for the historical periods indicated:

The following table presents ACPU for the historical periods indicated:

Second Quarter 2025 Financial Expectations

Cardlytics anticipates Billings, Revenue, Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted EBITDA to be in the following ranges (in millions, except for percentage change rates):

Earnings Teleconference Information

Cardlytics will discuss its first quarter 2025 financial results during a live audio webcast today, May 7, 2025, at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT. Following the completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on Cardlytics’ website.

About Cardlytics

Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX) is a digital advertising platform. We partner with financial institutions to run their rewards programs that promote customer loyalty and deepen relationships. In turn, we have a secure view into approximately 1 of every 2 card-based transactions in the U.S., allowing us to see where and when consumers are spending their money. We use these insights to help marketers identify, reach, and influence likely buyers at scale, as well as measure the true sales impact of marketing campaigns. Headquartered in Atlanta, Cardlytics has offices in Menlo Park, Los Angeles, New York, and London. Learn more at www.cardlytics.com.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements related to our strategic initiatives to strengthen our business and market position and our financial guidance for the second quarter of 2025. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and were based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "should," "believe," "hope," "target," "project," "goals," "estimate," "potential," "predict," "may," "will," "might," "could," "intend," or variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control.

Our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: risks related to unfavorable conditions, including, but not limited to, inflationary pressure or the imposition of tariffs and other trade protection measures, in the global economy and the industries that we serve; our quarterly operating results have fluctuated and may continue to vary from period to period; our ability to sustain our revenue growth and billings; risks related to our substantial dependence on our Cardlytics platform; risks related to our substantial dependence on JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association (“Chase”), Bank of America, National Association (“Bank of America”), Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”), American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (“American Express”) and a limited number of other financial institution (“FI”) partners; risks related to our ability to maintain relationships with Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America; the amount and timing of budgets by marketers, which are affected by budget cycles, economic conditions and other factors; our ability to generate sufficient revenue to offset contractual commitments to FI partners; our ability to attract new partners, including FI partners, and maintain relationships with bank processors and digital banking providers; risks related to our competitive market, including our ability to compete successfully with our current or future competitors; our ability to maintain relationships with marketers; our ability to adapt to changing market conditions, including our ability to adapt to changes in consumer habits, negotiate fee arrangements with new and existing partners and retailers, and develop and launch new services and features; and other risks detailed in the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2025 and in subsequent periodic reports that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. We undertake no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Non-GAAP Measures and Other Performance Metrics

To supplement the financial measures presented in our press release and related conference call or webcast in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we also present the following non-GAAP measures of financial performance in this press release: Billings, Adjusted Contribution, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss, Adjusted Net Loss per share and Free Cash Flow, as well as certain other performance metrics, such as MQUs and ACPU.

A “non-GAAP financial measure” refers to a numerical measure of our historical or future financial performance or financial position that is included in (or excluded from) the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in our financial statements. We provide certain non-GAAP measures as additional information relating to our operating results as a complement to results provided in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial information presented herein should be considered in conjunction with, and not as a substitute for or superior to, the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered a measure of liquidity. There are significant limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Further, these measures may differ from the non-GAAP information, even where similarly titled, used by other companies and therefore should not be used to compare our performance to that of other companies.

We have presented Billings, Adjusted Contribution, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss per share as non-GAAP financial measures in this press release. Billings represents the gross amount billed to customers and marketers for services in order to generate revenue. Cardlytics platform Billings is recognized gross of both Consumer Incentives and Partner Share. Cardlytics platform GAAP Revenue is recognized net of Consumer Incentives and gross of Partner Share. Bridg platform Billings is the same as Bridg platform GAAP Revenue. Adjusted Contribution measures the degree by which Revenue generated from our marketers exceeds the cost to obtain the purchase data and the digital advertising space from our partners. Adjusted Contribution demonstrates how incremental Revenue on our platforms generates incremental amounts to support our sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative and other investments. Adjusted Contribution is calculated by taking our total Revenue less our Partner Share and other third-party costs. Adjusted Contribution does not take into account all costs associated with generating Revenue from advertising campaigns, including sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses and other expenses, which we do not take into consideration when making decisions on how to manage our advertising campaigns. Management views Adjusted Contribution as the most relevant metric to measure the financial performance as it reflects the dollars we keep after all of our partners are paid. Adjusted EBITDA represents our Net Loss before interest expense, net; depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation expense; foreign currency (gain) loss; loss (gain) on disposal or divestiture; and change in contingent consideration; and, in applicable periods, certain other income and expense items, such as impairment of goodwill and intangible assets; gain on debt extinguishment; acquisition, integration and divestiture costs (benefit); restructuring and reduction of force; income tax benefit; and deferred implementation costs. Adjusted Net Loss as our Net Loss before stock-based compensation expense; foreign currency (gain) loss; amortization of acquired intangibles; loss (gain) on disposal or divestiture; change in contingent consideration; and, in applicable periods, certain other income and expense items, such as gain on debt extinguishment; acquisition, integration and divestiture costs (benefit); restructuring and reduction of force; impairment of goodwill and intangible assets and income tax benefit. We define Adjusted Net Loss per share as Adjusted Net Loss divided by our weighted-average common shares outstanding, diluted. We define Free Cash Flow as net cash used in operating activities, plus acquisition of property and equipment and capitalized software development costs and, in applicable periods, acquisition of patents. We believe free cash flow is useful to measure the funds generated in a given period that are available for distribution or to sustain the business. We believe this supplemental information enhances stockholders' ability to evaluate our performance.

We believe the use of non-GAAP financial measures, as a supplement to GAAP measures, is useful to investors in that they eliminate items that are either not part of our core operations or do not require a cash outlay, such as stock-based compensation expense. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures when evaluating operating performance and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures help indicate underlying trends in the business, are important in comparing current results with prior period results and are useful to investors and financial analysts in assessing operating performance.

We define MQUs as targetable customers that have made a transaction using their account with an FI Partner or non-FI Partner in a given month, excluding pilot supply during the ramp up period, and whose transaction data was shared with Cardlytics. We then calculate a monthly average of these MQUs for the periods presented. We believe that the number of MQUs is an indicator of the Cardlytics platform's ability to drive engagement and is reflective of the consumer base and insights that we offer to marketers. As of January 1, 2025, we will no longer report Cardlytics Monthly Active Users given we do not receive equivalent user data from our newer bank partners. We define ACPU as the Cardlytics platform Adjusted Contribution generated in the applicable period, divided by Cardlytics average MQUs in the applicable period. We believe that Adjusted Contribution is the most relevant metric as it reflects the value Cardlytics keeps after subtracting out rewards, Partner Share and other third-party costs. We believe that ACPU measures the Cardlytics platform's efficiency in converting marketer budgets into the value generated by customer engagement. Beginning on March 31, 2025, we will no longer report Cardlytics Average Revenue per User.

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