IZEA Reports Q4 2024 Revenue of $11.0 million, up 24%

ORLANDO, Fla., March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:IZEA), a leading influencer marketing company that makes Creator Economy solutions for marketers, reported its financial and operational results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2024.

Q4 2024 Financial Summary Compared to Q4 2023

Total revenue increased 23.7% to $11.0 million, compared to $8.9 million

Managed Services bookings increased 52.8% to $11.7 million, compared to $7.6 million

Managed Services revenue increased 24.0% to $10.9 million, compared to $8.8 million

Total costs and expenses increased 28.0% to $14.2 million, compared to $11.1 million

Net loss was $4.6 million, including $2.7 million of one-time charges, compared to a net loss of $1.5 million

Adjusted EBITDA* for the quarter was $(1.5) million, compared to $(1.1) million

Cash, cash equivalents, and investments as of December 31, 2024 totaled $51.1 million

Q4 2024 Highlights

Targeted workforce reductions save $5.1 million in full-time and contract labor annually

Divestiture of Hoozu investment; $3.4 million in 2024 revenue, $0.7 million annual net loss, cash negative

Won new business from Academy Sports, NHTSA, and Navy Federal Credit Union

Produced new work for Warner Bros.' Superman film, Vital Proteins, and Danone, surpassing performance goals

Recruited Kerry Griffin, Chief Talent Officer, to enhance talent programs to attract, retain and develop top talent

FY 2024 Financial Summary Compared to FY 2023

Total revenue was $35.9 million, compared to $36.2 million

Net loss was $18.9 million, including $8 million in one-time charges, compared to a net loss of $7.4 million

Adjusted EBITDA* was $(8.6) million, compared to $(5.5) million

* Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. Refer to the definition and reconciliation of this measure under "Use of Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Management Commentary"We saw another healthy increase in Managed Services bookings and revenue in Q4," commented Patrick Venetucci, CEO. "A transformational change is happening at IZEA. We took swift action in Q4 to fortify, simplify and focus our operations. The changes that we made to our cost structure, go-to-market model and technologies are accelerating our path to profitability."

Q4 2024 Financial ResultsTotal revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 increased 23.7% to $11.0 million, compared to $8.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Revenue from Managed Services increased by 24.0% to $10.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue from SaaS Services increased by 5.7% to $117,423 in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

Cost of revenue increased to $6.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, or 62.2% of revenue, compared to $4.7 million, or 53.1%, in the prior-year quarter. The nominal cost increase is due to higher revenues in the recent quarter, while the percentage cost increase was driven by lower average margins from our ongoing customer base.

Costs and expenses other than the cost of revenue totaled $7.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, $1.0 million or 15.3% above the prior-year quarter. Sales and marketing costs were $3.0 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, $0.4 million or 14.2% higher than the prior-year quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher compensation costs and increased spending on general contractors, partially offset by lower advertising expenses. General and administrative costs totaled $3.7 million during the quarter, remaining nearly flat with a $0.1 million, or 3.8%, increase compared to the prior-year quarter. Severance and contract cancellation costs of $1.3 million reflected in total costs and expenses is related to our targeted workforce reductions, which represent approximately $5.1 million in annualized cost savings.

Net loss in the fourth quarter of 2024 was $4.6 million, or $(0.27) per share, as compared to a net loss of $1.5 million, or $(0.09) per share in the fourth quarter of 2023, based on 17.0 million and 16.4 million average shares outstanding, respectively.

Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below, a non-GAAP measure management uses as a proxy for operating cash flow) totaled $(1.5) million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $(1.1) million in the comparative period. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 was a loss of 13% compared to a loss of 12% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

As of December 31, 2024, our cash, cash equivalents, and investments totaled $51.1 million. The company has no outstanding long-term debt.

We previously announced our commitment to repurchase up to $10.0 million of our stock in the open market, subject to certain restrictions. During the fourth quarter of 2024, we purchased a total of 199,011 shares at an average share price of $2.71 under our program for an aggregate investment of $0.5 million. Through March 25th, 2025, we've purchased 385,947 shares, investing $1.0 million under the program.

Conference CallIZEA will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter 2024 results on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EDT. IZEA's CEO Patrick Venetucci and CFO Peter Biere will host the call, followed by a question and answer period.

Date: Thursday, March 27, 2025Time: 5:00 p.m. EDTToll-free dial-in number: 1-877-407-4018International dial-in number: 1-201-689-8471

Please call the conference telephone number five (5) minutes before the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. A call replay will be made available approximately 3 hours after the conference ends until Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Toll-free replay number: 1-844-512-2921International replay number: 1-412-317-6671Replay ID: 13751682

About IZEA Worldwide, Inc.IZEA Worldwide, Inc. ("IZEA"), is an influencer marketing company with a mission to make creator economy solutions for marketers. We do this by lighting up the Creator Economy with IZEAs—our strategies, campaigns, and solutions that build brands and drive demand. Since launching the industry's first-ever influencer marketing platform in 2006, IZEA has facilitated nearly 4 million collaborations between brands and creators.

Use of Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures Managed Services bookings measure all sales orders received during a period less cancellations received, or refunds given during the same period. Sales order contracts vary in complexity with each customer and range from custom content delivery to integrated marketing services; our contracts generally run from several months for smaller contracts to twelve months for larger contracts. We recognize revenue from our Managed Services contracts based on a percentage of completion basis as we deliver the content or services over time, which can vary greatly from a few weeks to a year. For this reason, Managed Services bookings, while an overall indicator of the health of our business, may not be used to predict quarterly revenues and could be subject to future adjustments.

Managed Services bookings is a useful metric as it reflects the amount of orders received in one period, even though revenue may be reflected over time. Management uses the Managed Services bookings metric to plan its operating staff, identify key customer group trends, enlighten go-to-market activities, and inform its product development efforts.

"Adjusted EBITDA" is a non-GAAP financial measure under the Securities and Exchange Commission rules. EBITDA is commonly defined as "earnings before interest income and expense, taxes, depreciation, and amortization." IZEA defines "Adjusted EBITDA" as earnings or loss before interest expense, interest income, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash stock-based compensation, gain or loss on asset disposals or impairment, and certain other unusual or non-cash income and expense items such as gains or losses on settlement of liabilities and exchanges, and changes in the fair value of derivatives, if applicable.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors as it primarily excludes non-cash and non-operating transactions, and it provides consistency to facilitate period-to-period comparisons.

All companies do not calculate bookings and Adjusted EBITDA in the same manner. These metrics and financial measures, as presented by IZEA, may not be comparable to those presented by other companies. Moreover, these metrics and financial measures have limitations as analytical tools. You should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of our results of operations or, with respect to non-GAAP financial measures, as reported under GAAP. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is presented in the financial tables included in this press release.

Safe Harbor StatementAll statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies, and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "hope," "estimate," "optimistic," "believe," "intend," "ought to," "likely," "projects," "plans," "pursue," "strategy" or "future," or the negative of these words or other words or expressions of similar meaning. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations concerning product development and platform launches, future financial performance and operating results, including regarding recognition of bookings as revenues, the share repurchase authorization and any use of such authorization, growth, or maintenance of customer relationships, and expectations concerning IZEA's business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; our ability to maintain disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.

Press ContactMatt GrayIZEA Worldwide, Inc.Phone: 407-674-6911Email:

 

IZEA Worldwide, Inc.Consolidated Balance Sheets

 

 

December 31,2024

 

December 31,2023

Assets

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

$

44,644,468

 

 

$

37,446,728

 

Accounts receivable, net

 

7,781,824

 

 

 

5,012,373

 

Prepaid expenses

 

1,079,045

 

 

 

739,988

 

Short term investments

 

6,427,488

 

 

 

17,126,057

 

Other current assets

 

97,215

 

 

 

26,257

 

Total current assets

 

60,030,040

 

 

 

60,351,403

 

 

 

 

 

Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation

 

103,574

 

 

 

205,377

 

Goodwill

 

—

 

 

 

5,280,372

 

Intangible assets, net of accumulated depreciation

 

—

 

 

 

1,749,441

 

Digital assets

 

—

 

 

 

162,905

 

Software development costs, net of accumulated amortization

 

2,086,660

 

 

 

2,056,972

 

Long term investments

 

—

 

 

 

9,618,996

 

Total assets

$

62,220,274

 

 

$

79,425,466

 

 

 

 

 

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

1,511,747

 

 

 

1,504,348

 

Accrued expenses

 

3,734,123

 

 

 

3,083,460

 

Contract liabilities

 

8,188,651

 

 

 

8,891,205

 

Contingent liability

 

—

 

 

 

114,400

 

Total current liabilities

 

13,434,521

 

 

 

13,593,413

 

 

 

 

 

Finance obligation, less current portion

 

4,034

 

 

 

63,419

 

Deferred purchase price, less current portion

 

—

 

 

 

60,600

 

Deferred tax liability

 

—

 

 

 

394,646

 

Total liabilities

 

13,438,555

 

 

 

14,112,078

 

 

 

 

 

Commitments and Contingencies

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

 

 

Stockholders' equity:

 

 

 

Preferred stock; $.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Common stock; $0.0001 par value; $50,000,000 shares authorized; shares issued: $17,518,018 and $16,602,155, respectively, shares outstanding: $16,931,169 and $16,236,300, respectively.

 

1,752

 

 

 

1,660

 

Treasury stock at cost: 586,849 and 365,855 shares at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively

 

(1,622,065

)

 

 

(1,019,997

)

Additional paid-in capital

 

154,593,800

 

 

 

152,027,110

 

Accumulated deficit

 

(104,297,055

)

 

 

(85,444,794

)

Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)

 

105,287

 

 

 

(250,591

)

Total stockholders' equity

 

48,781,719