The main shopping area during Alibaba’s Singles Day shopping festival in Shanghai on Thursday.Credit…Aly Song/Reuters
The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said $84.5 billion in merchandise was sold on its platforms during the Singles Day shopping festival that ended on Thursday, an 8.5 percent increase over last year and an indication that Beijing’s campaign to tighten regulation of internet companies has not dimmed consumers’ enthusiasm for buying stuff online.
Even so, the growth in sales was down from the 26 percent increase that the company reported in 2020 compared with the year before.
The number Alibaba announces each year after its big retail bonanza is gross merchandise volume, which is meant to represent the total value of orders. There is no standardized way of calculating this metric within the e-commerce industry, so Alibaba has leeway to choose the result it reports.
This year’s figure captured sales from Nov. 1 through Nov. 11. Singles Day was once a 24-hour event, but has ballooned into a multiweek extravaganza. Before last year, Alibaba’s headline number captured sales on Nov. 11 only.
China’s government has moved rapidly over the past year to impose new strictures on giant internet companies, which long grew with little oversight of their business practices. Beijing now wants the tech industry to compete fairly and contribute more to society. In response, Alibaba put a socially conscious spin on this year’s Singles Day, emphasizing eco-friendly products and campaigns to help neglected children and seniors.
Before Thursday, it was not clear that Alibaba would release a final Singles Day sales figure at all this year. When asked about it by The New York Times this week, an Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment. Last month, Alibaba’s chief marketing officer, Chris Tung, said the company’s focus had shifted from pure sales growth to “sustainable growth.”
A supermarket in Manchester, England, in September. Retail sales fell in Britain in the third quarter, partly because of difficulties distributing goods.Credit…Jon Super/Associated Press
The British economy’s recovery slowed through the summer, delaying its return to its prepandemic size as supply shortages hampered businesses and exports declined.
Gross domestic product grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter, down from 5.5 percent in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday. The growth was driven by spending on services, especially in hotels, restaurants and entertainment as the last of the major pandemic restrictions were lifted in July and people vacationed in the country. A return to in-person doctor appointments also boosted the growth data.
But the recovery was weaker in other sectors. Retail sales fell as well as car sales because of the global shortage of semiconductors. Supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks have held back growth in Britain and are expected to last longer than previously anticipated. It’s a problem afflicting other countries, including Germany. There have been backups at Britain’s ports and difficulties distributing goods.
The changes to migration and trade because of Brexit, including fewer European Union workers and a stricter customs regime, have exacerbated the supply bottlenecks, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides independent forecasts for the British government.
Exports fell nearly 2 percent over the previous quarter, partly because of a decline in the export of transport equipment and machinery.
Britain’s “unique Brexit-related issues,” including additional customs paperwork, food safety checks and hurdles to tariff-free trade with the European Union, its biggest trading partner, “no doubt amplify the port and transport challenges,” Kallum Pickering, an economist at Berenberg Bank, wrote in a note to clients.
The slowing momentum in the world’s recovery from the pandemic has led to downgrades of global and British growth forecasts. The Bank of England said last week that the British economy would grow 7 percent this year, reducing its forecast by a quarter percentage point. It cut a whole percentage point off growth for 2022 — to 5 percent — as supply disruptions are expected to weigh on the economy until late in the year and the annual inflation rate is forecast to climb to about 5 percent in the spring.
The Bank of England said it would probably need to raise interest rates in the coming months as prices climbed, but it is waiting for more official data on what has happened in the labor market after the end of the government-sponsored furlough program in September. The central bank said that more than a million jobs were benefiting from the program as it ended and that there might be a small increase in unemployment now that those payments were over. The bank has to balance taming inflation without putting the recovery off course with tighter monetary policy.
As the recovery is expected to continue to slow, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research warned this week that British households will be “painfully squeezed” as prices rise, fiscal stimulus is reduced and tax increases come into force in April. The London institution also said the number of households that can’t afford basic necessities could double because of a cut to a major government benefit program.
Shoppers in Dublin last month. Economic output in the European Union is expected to grow 5 percent this year.Credit…Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Europe is facing fresh threats to its pandemic recovery as energy prices surge at a “tumultuous pace” and bottlenecks in the supply chain dampen growth and slow production, the European Commission said on Thursday.
In its latest economic forecast, the commission said sporadic pandemic-related lockdowns in some parts of Europe, together with emerging labor shortages, were adding to the disruptions, while inflation has hit a 10-year high.
Europe’s economy rebounded this year from the pandemic faster than expected, and regained prepandemic levels of growth during the summer. Among the 28 countries in the European Union, economic output is now expected to grow 5 percent this year, slightly better than a forecast made a few months ago — an unusually robust rebound after pandemic lockdowns shuttered the economy last year.
Growth will slow to a 4.3 percent pace next year and then decelerate to 2.5 percent in 2023, the commission said.
Europe spent hundreds of billions of euros to keep workers furloughed during national shutdowns, and such programs have helped millions of people stay in their jobs and avoid a surge in unemployment, the report said. About 1.5 million jobs were created from April to June, and nearly as many workers exited job retention schemes.
As in the United States and Britain, however, labor shortages have been plaguing industries that were quick to reopen, especially restaurants and parts of the retail sector. At the same time, there are still large numbers of people who are jobless and people who are available to work but not actively looking, the report said.
While the economic rebound has been swift, the surge in inflation is likely to weigh on the finances of Europe’s households and businesses. A jump in natural gas prices has led to higher electricity bills. Altogether, the price of goods, services, energy and food jumped 3.4 percent in September from a year earlier, and even without volatile food and energy prices, the inflation rate is the highest in a decade. Inflation is estimated to have climbed to 4.1 percent in October.
But prices have jumped because of postpandemic reopenings, the commission noted, so such pressures are expected to be largely fade over the next year, the commission said.
Elon Musk had asked his Twitter followers whether he should sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock, referring to a debate over how the wealthiest Americans should be taxed.Credit…Aly Song/Reuters
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, disclosed on Wednesday that he had sold about $5 billion worth of Tesla shares, in part to cover his tax obligations after exercising options on a large tranche of stock.
Mr. Musk sold about 4.5 million shares between Monday and Wednesday, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tesla’s stock closed trading on Wednesday at $1,067.95, which would value the shares at about $4.8 billion, but some were sold for slightly higher prices.
In the filings, Mr. Musk said he had sold about a million of the shares “solely” to cover taxes on 2,154,572 shares he picked up at $6.24 each. Those shares he acquired, for a total of $13.4 million, were instantly worth about $2.3 billion. Later Wednesday, he disclosed the sale of an additional 3.6 million shares, though he did not provide a reason for those divestments.
Mr. Musk still owns nearly 17 percent of Tesla’s stock, shares worth about $180 billion. Tesla recently passed $1 trillion in market valuation.
Over the weekend, Mr. Musk posted a poll to Twitter asking his followers whether he should sell 10 percent of his stock, referring to a political debate over whether the wealthiest Americans should be taxed according to their wealth rather than their income. He said he would abide by whatever respondents chose, and about 58 percent said to sell.
Regardless of the poll, the disclosures indicated that Mr. Musk had put a plan in place in September to sell shares when buying options. Mr. Musk holds more than 20 million stock options, worth nearly $30 billion, that expire in August. Many of those options are unlikely to qualify for preferential tax treatment, meaning he could owe billions of dollars in taxes if he exercises all of them.
Tesla’s stock slid 16 percent in the two days of trading after his Twitter post, though it gained 4.3 percent on Wednesday before Mr. Musk disclosed his trades. Tesla’s shares were up in aftermarket trading following his disclosures.
Stephen Gandel contributed reporting.
Correction:
An earlier version of this article misstated the day that Elon Musk sold $1.1 billion in Tesla shares to cover tax obligations. It was Monday, not Wednesday. (He sold an additional $3.9 billion in shares this week unrelated to the exercise of his stock options.)
China Evergrande has made interest payments totaling nearly $150 million on three bonds that had grace periods set to expire on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the German clearing house Clearstream said. The payments, which were made as a 30-day grace period on the coupon was set to expire, mean Evergrande has avoided default for now.
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have opened investigations into the embattled Silicon Valley company Ozy Media, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Federal prosecutors with the Eastern District of New York have in recent weeks been in contact with at least one companythat had dealings with Ozy, two people with knowledge of the matter said. In the parallel civil inquiry, S.E.C. investigators have contacted at least two companies that discussed investing in Ozy, two people with knowledge of the commission’s effort said.
The precise focus of the investigations could not be determined. A lawsuit filed last month accused Ozy of misleading potential investors. Companies’ statements to investors are often examined in S.E.C. investigations. READ MORE →
On Wednesday, Disney said its flagship streaming service had added 2.1 million subscriptions in the recent quarter, sharply fewer than analysts polled by FactSet had forecast. After a dazzling introduction in late 2019, Disney+ has encountered numerous headwinds, including a pandemic-related shortage of new shows, an increasingly competitive streaming environment, the delay of Indian Premier League cricket games and difficulties rolling out in Latin America. Slower growth is a concern because it makes it harder for Disney+ to achieve the 230 million to 260 million paid subscribers promised by the company by the end of the 2024 fiscal year. READ MORE →
Video
The animated version of the new Meta logo released by the company.
A sleek animation online shows logos of all Facebook’s apps and products fusing together to form a shimmering vision of the future: a two-tone blue infinity symbol next to the word “Meta.”
To design experts, the change by a scandal-plagued company was the latest example of efforts by corporate America to create brands that are less unique and ultimately less offensive. It was also a reflection of the growing challenge for corporate identities to exist in many different sizes and digital settings at once, from V.R. headsets to smartwatches — a challenge that is magnified for Meta as it tries to establish an identity for something that largely doesn’t exist yet.
“It checks a lot of boxes,” said Michael Evamy, the author of “Logo,” an anthology of corporate brands and logos. “It’s very simple. It’s very visible at all scales. It’s blue.” (Blue, he noted, is historically a color associated with safety and trustworthiness. The infinity symbol, devoid of corners and jagged edges, can be seen as nonthreatening.) READ THE ARTICLE →
PARSIPPANY, N.J., Nov. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (Nasdaq: LINC) today, reported operating and financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 as well as recent business developments.
Third Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights and Recent Operating Developments
Revenue of $89.1 million, a 13.0{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase compared to prior year quarter
Operating income of $5.7 million, up 49.6{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} compared to prior year quarter
Adjusted EBITDA* of $8.4 million compared to $6.3 million for the prior year quarter
Student starts of 5,430 compared to 5,510 for the prior year quarter despite limited access to high schools over the past 18 months due to COVID restrictions
Ending student population of 14,000, up 6.4{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} compared to prior year quarter
Net cash of $31.3 million at quarter end, compared net debt of $1.5 million last year
Recently announced fourth quarter closing of the $46.5 million sale-leaseback transaction involving Denver, CO and Grand Prairie, TX properties further strengthens balance sheet
*See Use of “Non-GAAP Financial Information” below.
“Our team performed well during the third quarter as we generated better than expected high school starts, driving revenue growth into the fourth quarter,” said Scott Shaw, President & CEO. “ We also achieved continued enrollment strength, ending the quarter with a student population 6.4{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} higher than last year. Employers remain extremely challenged at finding skilled employees, which is increasing the already strong demand for Lincoln graduates and leading to additional opportunities with existing and potential corporate partners.”
“The real estate transactions announced in September have been moving forward and we recently closed on the first of these, the sale-leaseback of our Denver and Grand Prairie properties. The net cash proceeds from this transaction have been used to retire all of our outstanding debt and provide approximately $28.5 million in net proceeds, which will be recorded in the fourth quarter. With our significantly increased financial resources, we believe that we are well positioned to execute our growth strategies for the foreseeable future while continuing to invest in our core programs and operations. The combination of our third quarter performance and continued operational and financial momentum enables us to refine our 2021 full year guidance.”
2021 THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS (Quarter ended September 30, 2021 compared to quarter ended September 30, 2020)
Revenue increased $10.3 million, or 13.0{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to $89.1 million from $78.8 million. The increase in revenue results from an 8.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} higher average student population, driven by the 8.8{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in student starts for the nine months, and a 4.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in average revenue per student in the current quarter.
Educational services and facilities expense increased $3.9 million, or 11.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to $38.1 million from $34.2 million in the prior year comparable period. Additional costs were concentrated in instruction expense, books and tools expense and facilities expense. Instructional increases were driven in part by inflationary pressures on instructor salaries due to widespread instructor shortages and higher student population, which also drove additional books and tools expense. Facilities expense increased from the normalization of housing expenses for students during the quarter.
Selling, general and administrative expense increased $4.5 million, or 11.1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to $45.2 million driven primarily by increases in incentive and stock-based compensation due to our improved financial performance in addition to increased marketing investments
Operating income increased to $5.7 million from $3.8 million
Pre-tax income increased to $5.5 million from $3.6 million
Net income improved to $3.8 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, compared to $3.5 million, or $0.08 per diluted share
THIRD QUARTER SEGMENT RESULTS Transportation and Skilled Trades Segment Revenue increased $8.1 million, or 14.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to $64.9 million from $56.8 million in the prior year comparable period. The increase in revenue results from a 10.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} higher average student population, driven by the 10.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in student starts for the nine months, and a 3.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in average revenue per student in the current quarter.
Operating income improved to $11.8 million from $9.1 million in the prior year comparable quarter, driven mainly by revenue growth.
Healthcare and Other Professions Segment Revenue increased $2.1 million, or 9.8{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to $24.1 million from $22.0 million in the prior year comparable period. The increase in revenue results from a 4.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} higher average student population, driven by the 5.6{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in student starts for the nine months, and a 5.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increase in average revenue per student in the current quarter.
Operating income increased to $1.8 million from $1.7 million in the prior year comparable quarter. Operating leverage during the quarter was impacted by higher operating expenses, primarily driven by inflationary pressures on instructor salaries due to the widespread instructor shortage, especially in the nursing field.
Corporate and Other This category includes unallocated expenses incurred on behalf of the entire Company. Corporate and other expenses were $7.9 million and $6.9 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The additional expense in 2021 was primarily due to incentive and stock-based compensation tied in part to improved financial performance.
NINE MONTHS FINANCIAL RESULTS (Period ended September 30, 2021 compared to September 30, 2020)
Total revenue increased by $36.2 million, or 17.1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to $247.5 million, compared to $211.3 million
Student starts grew by 1,026, or 8.8{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to 12,681 compared to 11,655
Transportation and Skilled Trades segment revenue increased by $28.8 million, or 19.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to $177.6 million, compared to $148.8 million
The Healthcare and Other Professions segment revenue increased by $7.4 million, or 11.9{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to $69.9 million, compared to $62.5 million
Operating income increased to $15.2 million as compared to $3.7 million
FULL YEAR 2021 OUTLOOK As a result of the Company’s performance through the first nine months of 2021 and management’s outlook for the remainder of the year, Lincoln is now refining its 2021 full year guidance as follows:
Revenue growth in the range of 12{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to 14{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}
Student start growth in the range of 7{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} to 8{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}
Adjusted EBITDA* in the range of $35.0 million to $37.0 million
Pre-tax Income in the range of $25.0 million to $27.0 million
Capital expenditures of approximately $7.5 million
The above full year guidance excludes the gain related to the sale-leaseback transaction and the associated expenses in the fourth quarter.
*See Use of “Non-GAAP Financial Information” below.
CONFERENCE CALL INFO Lincoln will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time to discuss results. To access the live webcast of the conference call, please go to the Investor Relations section of Lincoln’s website at http://www.lincolntech.edu.
Participants can also listen to the conference call by dialing 844-413-0946 (domestic) or 216-562-0456 (international) and providing access code 4862849.
Please log in or dial into the call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time.
A replay of the call will also be available for seven days by calling 855-859-2056 (domestic) or 404-537-3406 (international) and providing access code 4862849.
ABOUT LINCOLN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES CORPORATION Lincoln Educational Services Corporation is a provider of diversified career-oriented post-secondary education helping to provide solutions to America’s skills gap. For 75 years, Lincoln has offered and continues to offer recent high school graduates and working adults degree and diploma programs. The Company operates under two reportable segments: Transportation and Skilled Trades and Healthcare and Other Professions. Lincoln has provided the nation’s workforce with skilled technicians since its inception in 1946. For more information, go to www.lincolntech.edu.
SAFE HARBOR Statements in this press release and in oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation regarding Lincoln’s business that are not historical facts, including those made in a conference call, may be “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the federal securities law. The words “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” and “continue,” and their opposites and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved, if at all. Generally, these statements relate to business plans or strategies and projections involving anticipated revenues, earnings or other aspects of the Company’s operating results. Such forward-looking statements include the Company’s current belief that it is taking appropriate steps regarding the pandemic and that students will return from leaves of absence and be able to complete their programs of study with in-person labs and available externships and that student growth will continue. The Company cautions you that these statements concern current expectations about the Company’s future performance or events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, risks and other influences many of which are beyond the Company’s control, that may influence the accuracy of the statements and the projects upon which the statements are based including, without limitation, impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, our inability to close on the sale of our Nashville campus; our failure to comply with the extensive regulatory framework applicable to our industry or our failure to obtain timely regulatory approvals in connection with acquisitions or a change of control of our Company; our success in updating and expanding the content of existing programs and developing new programs for our students in a cost-effective manner or on a timely basis; risks associated with changes in applicable federal laws and regulations; uncertainties regarding our ability to comply with federal laws and regulations, such as the 90/10 rule and prescribed cohort default rates; risks associated with the opening of new campuses; risks associated with integration of acquired schools; industry competition; our ability to execute our growth strategies; conditions and trends in our industry; the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our business and the U.S. and global economics; general economic conditions; and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Reports and Quarterly Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and Lincoln undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof.
(Tables to Follow) (In Thousands)
Three Months Ended
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
September 30,
(Unaudited)
(Unaudited)
2021
2020
2021
2020
REVENUE
$
89,059
$
78,792
$
247,520
$
211,303
COSTS AND EXPENSES:
Educational services and facilities
38,105
34,251
104,143
90,733
Selling, general and administrative
45,209
40,700
128,159
117,011
Loss (gain) on disposition of assets
–
1
1
(96
)
Total costs & expenses
83,314
74,952
232,303
207,648
OPERATING INCOME
5,745
3,840
15,217
3,655
OTHER:
Interest expense
(292
)
(278
)
(874
)
(960
)
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES
5,453
3,562
14,343
2,695
PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES
1,614
50
3,589
150
NET INCOME
$
3,839
$
3,512
$
10,754
$
2,545
PREFERRED STOCK DIVIDENDS
304
1,074
912
1,074
INCOME AVAILABLE TO COMMON SHAREHOLDERS
$
3,535
$
2,438
$
9,842
$
1,471
Basic
Net income per common share
$
0.11
$
0.08
$
0.30
$
0.05
Diluted
Net income per common share
$
0.11
$
0.08
$
0.30
$
0.05
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic
25,135
24,822
25,043
24,721
Diluted
25,135
24,822
25,043
24,721
Other data:
Adjusted EBITDA (1)
$
8,430
$
6,292
$
22,930
$
10,488
Depreciation and amortization
$
1,928
$
1,782
$
5,620
$
5,546
Number of campuses
22
22
22
22
Average enrollment
13,178
12,165
12,666
11,379
Stock-based compensation
$
757
$
670
$
2,093
$
1,287
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
16,683
$
3,754
$
17,750
$
10,222
Net cash used in investing activities
$
(1,736
)
$
(482
)
$
(5,252
)
$
(3,457
)
Net cash used in financing activities
$
(804
)
$
(1,647
)
$
(3,374
)
$
(17,816
)
Selected Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
September 30, 2021
(Unaudited)
Cash and cash equivalents
$
47,150
Current assets
110,953
Working capital
42,078
Total assets
253,456
Current liabilities
68,875
Long-term debt obligations, including current portion, net of deferred financing fees
15,848
Series A convertible preferred stock
11,982
Total stockholders’ equity
101,963
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
In addition to disclosing financial results that are determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), the Company believes it is useful to present non-GAAP financial measures that exclude certain significant items as a means to understand the performance of its business. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and reconciled net cash (debt) are measures not recognized in financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP.
We define EBITDA as income (loss) before interest expense (net of interest income), provision (benefit) for income taxes, depreciation and amortization.
We define Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA plus stock compensation expense.
We define reconciled net cash (debt) as our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash less both the short and long-term portion under the Company’s credit agreement, deferred financing fees, and amounts received under the CARES Act.
EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and reconciled net cash (debt) are presented because we believe they are useful indicators of our performance and our ability to make strategic acquisitions and meet capital expenditures and debt service requirements. However, they are not intended to represent cash flows from operations as defined by GAAP and should not be used as an alternative to net income (loss) as indicators of operating performance or cash flow as a measure of liquidity. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and reconciled net cash (debt) are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.
Following is a reconciliation of net income (loss) to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and reconciled net cash (debt):
Zillow, the electronic serious estate organization, said on Tuesday that it can be exiting Delivers, its enterprise that purchases and flips properties, and removing 25{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of its workforce.
The announcement was hooked up to Zillow’s 3rd-quarter earnings report. The firm’s revenue and earnings skipped analysts’ estimates.
“We’ve identified the unpredictability in forecasting household selling prices far exceeds what we expected,” Zillow CEO Prosperous Barton explained in the release. “Continuing to scale Zillow Provides would final result in much too substantially earnings and harmony-sheet volatility.”
The stock dropped about 7.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in extended trading following a 10{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} plunge for the duration of typical market place hours. The shares are now down about 10{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} for the yr as of Tuesday’s close.
Right here are the important numbers from earnings:
Earnings for every share: reduction of 95 cents adjusted vs. income of 16 cents for each share expected in a Refinitiv survey of analysts
Profits: $1.74 billion vs. $2.01 billion anticipated by Refinitiv
Income in Zillow’s Delivers organization, which competes with Opendoor, climbed to $1.17 billion in the quarter. That’s way up from $186 million a year previously, which was in the center of the pandemic and in a dry period of time for transactions. Nevertheless, the houses phase, which is primarily Offers, missing $422 million in the quarter, creating an general net loss at the corporation.
Shares of Opendoor rose 7{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in prolonged buying and selling. The inventory plunged alongside Zillow previously in the day, dropping 15{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} at the close.
Zillow released Delivers in December 2019, starting up with Southern California marketplaces. The iBuying, or immediate purchasing, product permitted householders to provide their home to Zillow for dollars, removing a lengthy bidding, product sales and closing method. They also failed to have to fear about costly repairs prior to placing their home on the market place.
“After closing on a property, Zillow will acquire treatment of vital repairs, functioning with regional contractors to comprehensive initiatives like a clean coat of paint, servicing HVAC models and other function a usual house owner would do to get their household completely ready for sale,” Zillow said in a push release at the time.
But the dwelling-flipping market place proved to be a drag for a enterprise that experienced crafted its manufacturer on listing houses across the nation and helping consumers and sellers link by way of a marketplace. Prior to shuttering the company, the business said on Monday that it would cease getting homes by way of the end of the year, citing restricted labor and supply marketplaces.
“We’re operating within just a labor- and source-constrained overall economy within a competitive authentic estate industry, specifically in the design, renovation and closing areas,” claimed Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow’s operating chief, in a statement this 7 days. “We have not been exempt from these market place and potential problems and we now have an operational backlog for renovations and closings.”
Barton explained to CNBC’s “Closing Bell” right after the report that Zillow’s top failure was its lack of ability to forecast housing price ranges precisely. At the start off of the Covid-19 pandemic, the marketplace dried up. It then bounced back again substantially, and charges in many marketplaces have climbed to history ranges.
For the household-flipping business to be worthwhile, a business has to be capable to market a dwelling for extra than the obtain price and have adequate margin remaining to deal with all the other fees, these as servicing and income and advertising and marketing expenditures. Barton mentioned the enterprise recognized that it really is not in a placement to correctly forecast in which household selling prices will be in 6 months “inside a narrow margin of error.”
Furthermore, Barton stated the Gives product reaches only a modest sliver of the company’s general viewers, which is successfully the full sector of homebuyers and sellers across the place.
Zillow’s net, media and engineering company grew profits 16{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in the quarter to $480 million, with gross income of just about $130 million.
“We just decided that remaining an iBuyer was as well risky, too unstable and eventually addressed also couple consumers,” Barton mentioned. He extra that, in closing the business enterprise, “the logic is clear, the emotion is challenging” mainly because of the layoffs.
Bloomberg claimed on Monday that Zillow was hunting to sell 7,000 properties for $2.8 billion to institutional investors, as it seemed to unload its portfolio of qualities. Some of these gross sales would be for underneath the order cost, Bloomberg mentioned.
Barton did not affirm or deny the quantities in the Bloomberg report. He told CNBC that the enterprise has constantly sold to these styles of consumers considering the fact that entering the market place, and he acknowledged that Zillow does have homes that it requirements to promote. The corporation acquired 3,805 houses in the second quarter and offered 2,086 in that time period.
“We are not in any form of fire sale,” he reported. “We are going to wind down the stock in an orderly way.”
You can find not a ton of conveniently available information on the car personal loan landscape in the U.S., so Consumer Experiences collected info on practically 858,000 car or truck financial loans. Turns out, it can be unsightly out there.
For illustration, around the past ten years, the ordinary monthly payment for a new motor vehicle climbed pretty much 25 {ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, to pretty much $600 right now. The complete total of vehicle personal loan financial debt out there currently in the U.S. is all over $1.4 trillion.
Building matters even worse, even vehicle shoppers with good to fantastic credit history rankings could be provided loans at absurdly superior interest prices. What is a consumer to do? Store close to aggressively for the best costs, and concentrate on the overall expense and the interest rate, not just the regular payment.
Positive, automobile procuring during a pandemic can be challenging, what with shortages and extended wait times, but you can find a different trouble for automobile consumers out there, and this 1 isn’t going to have nearly anything to do with a virus or the supply of semiconductor chips. Buyer Reports a short while ago gathered facts about pretty much 858,000 automobile loans from 17 significant car loan providers and found that, in small, it truly is a mess out there.
New-auto costs are way up, of system, but that is not the only reason why the average regular monthly payment for a new automobile these days is just about $600, a 25 per cent maximize from what it was 10 several years ago. The other purpose is that there is just not very good oversight of lending procedures. As Consumer Stories place it, the vehicle lending industry “operates in a regulatory morass,” and as a end result, quite a few shoppers whose credit is just wonderful are obtaining them selves trapped with subprime financial loans at higher curiosity charges.
The total total of car loan debt held by Us residents now sits at a not-insignificant $1.4 trillion, and some of that will take the form of what CR calls “economical sinkholes” or significant-curiosity, extended-term vehicle financial loans that are a recipe for disaster for several men and women who acquire them out. At their worst, some have yearly share costs above 25 p.c, but even a 19 p.c APR can indicate customers are spending significantly, much above the price tag on the sticker in the conclude.
CR’s guide case in point in its post about the exploration describes a borrower with “sterling credit score” who purchased a new 2018 Toyota Camry two years back and will finish up spending about $59,000 for it by the time the mortgage is paid out off in 2025. Though the normal financial loan for a human being with that buyer’s credit score was at 4.5 percent, the loan they acquired experienced a 19 per cent APR.
And that’s not the only off-putting illustration. CR uncovered someone from Texas who bought a new Chevrolet Suburban in January 2019 with a mortgage from GM Financial. In spite of what CR phone calls a “key credit score rating,” this borrower finished up with a 13.55 p.c APR and a month to month payment of $1628 for additional than 6 decades. That means an all round payment of far more than $122,000 for a car or truck with a value of $71,148.
This kind of lending suggests it’s not a large surprise that one particular in 12 persons in the U.S. with a motor vehicle financial loan or lease (just below eight million individuals) were being over 90 days late earning a automobile payment as of spring 2021. Practically 50 percent (46 percent) of the auto loans CR appeared at in the details set had been less than water, which means the buyer owed a lot more on the loan than the automobile was truly worth. The common these kinds of bank loan experienced a discrepancy of $3700.
It is honest to use the expression unscrupulous for some of the persons handing out car personal loan income. CR’s facts analysis uncovered that some dealers and creditors ended up not only basing the desire charge on standard factors like threat but “also on what they imagine they can get absent with.” Even however the publication’s data did not involve ethnic information for borrowers, racial discrimination is widespread sufficient in the lending industry that it could influence the charges car consumers are available, CR claimed. And even while money experts suggest an car bank loan ought to not make up more than 10 per cent of someone’s profits, CR’s information discovered that almost 25 p.c of debtors and nearly 50 {ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of subprime borrowers finished up with financial loans that ate up far more than 10 p.c of a person’s price range.
A further difficulty is that vehicles are simply just a lot more high priced now than in the past, which drives up the base amount of money wanted to get a motor vehicle in the to start with position. Information from the Saint Louis Fed shows that the average amount of money financed for new-car loans at finance businesses went from around $25,000 in 2009 and 2010 to $33,000 – $34,000 in 2021.
Putting all of these info jointly reveals a lending landscape that, in the serious earth, provides car consumers financial loans that may well not be harmless or even based mostly on their credit score. The amount of money they conclude up paying out is just as superior a price as the loan company can title without the consumer blanching. And consumers who don’t know that they can negotiate their personal loan conditions are much more probably to close up with their vehicle being taken away. Or, as Kathleen Engel, a exploration professor at Suffolk College Regulation School and vice chair of CR‘s board of directors, put it: “You are not assisting someone to get a motor vehicle if the odds are they’re heading to get rid of it . . . That’s having their income.”
There is no uncomplicated solution, but there are points people can do to secure by themselves. First, consider to finance an quantity you can find the money for: As CR factors out, customers whose regular monthly motor vehicle payments are additional than 10 per cent of their every month profits are at bigger risk of defaulting. And never do what way too many buyers do and fall short to comparison store. Glimpse close to for the finest personal loan rate and conditions before you signal on the dotted line.
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Client Reports spent a calendar year on an investigative report into car financial loans. The magazine’s conclusions are not precisely shocking to any auto fanatic — a horrifying variety of people today are overcharged for car or truck loans. But while we fanatics know this in our hearts, CR has the juicy, juicy data to again it up.
CR collected its details on nearly 858,000 loans from 17 lenders, as perfectly as borrower information like credit score scores, income and employment position. These had been received from mandatory filings submitted to the the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission in 2019 and 2020 detailing asset-backed securities, which are car or truck loans bundled into an asset traders can invest in into. Certainly there are much more than 858,000 superb motor vehicle loans in the place, but CR could only glance at the loans that demanded community disclosure.
To place the sample dimensions in context, an Experian report from February of 2021 place overall U.S. car mortgage debt at $1.37 trillion and the regular vehicle loan balance at $19,865. Multiplying CR‘s 858,000 borrowers by $20,000 gives us $17.1 billion — about 1.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of the total exceptional financial debt. On top rated of the uncooked knowledge, CR claimed it examined “countless numbers of pages of regulatory filings, court docket documents, trade publications, sector experiences, monetary data, public documents attained by way of the Flexibility of Information and facts Act, and [interviewed] additional than 90 federal and state regulators, advocacy companies, shoppers, legal professionals, lawful specialists, academics, and field groups.”
Together with lengthier financial loans getting the norm, CR stated the normal month-to-month payment is approximately $600, when 10 several years back it was about $450. Around 8 million Individuals are far more than 90 days late on those payments. And a regrettable selection of financial loans start out off terribly, with CR declaring 46{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of the loans in the facts it reviewed ended up underwater from the get-go, to the tune of $4,000 on ordinary.
Buyers with the same credit history scores would get billed wildly different interest prices, with “sellers and creditors environment desire charges dependent on what they consider they can get absent with.” This was real even for persons with prime and super-prime credit rating scores, the latter beginning at 720 and over. It was also regardless of purchaser race and ethnicity given that that facts is just not incorporated in the SEC filings.
CR reported close to 21,000 debtors in its information established with credit rating scores greater than 720 were being spending off loans with APRs of 10{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} or extra. Two California prospective buyers, every single with a key credit score and each individual seeking to invest in a 2017 Chevrolet Trax, financed by GM Economic. A person purchaser got a mortgage with a 4.9{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} APR, the other a loan with a 14.1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} APR.
A 2018 Toyota Camry purchaser in Maryland, whose “sterling credit score” would generally advantage a 4.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} APR, in its place recognized a six-yr mortgage at 19{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. If the buyer had compensated off the personal loan, they would have used $59,000 on the Camry by the finish of 2025. As an alternative, the car was repossessed.
The situation has once in a while set dealers and loan providers at odds with one particular a further. For prospective buyers in the facts established, creditors confirmed profits just 4{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of the time, which was additional normally than they verified employment. When the financial institutions never do their diligence about a buyer’s personal loan worthiness, this kind of as verifying revenue or work, the seller can finish up with skyrocketing repossessions. In a person situation in South Carolina, the lending lender even went following the dealership for the terrible loans the supplier then in switch sued the financial institution.
A single of the very important takeaways in this article is the obtrusive want for purchaser schooling. When the loan companies that would go on record explained to CR potential buyers have alternatives when it comes to funding, which is incontestably genuine, a significant number of customers are not aware of (and hence have not been educated about) their choices or simply do not have the time or assets to effectively investigation them. Car consumers are irrationally centered on the car’s invest in selling price or the regular monthly payment, not how much they will fork out via the lifestyle of the personal loan. For some explanation, quite a few in the info set assume the supplier to do the greatest for the consumer.
How frequently do you suppose that essentially happened?
Search no more than the point that, for every CR, at least 80{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of vehicle funding is organized by means of sellers, who are legally permitted to mark up a lender’s APR by 1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}-2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Paul Metrey, an SVP at the Countrywide Car Sellers Affiliation, instructed CR “there is no monetary incentive for dealers to current for a longer period-term or extra pricey credit solutions to individuals.” But it seems absurd to us to think that GM Monetary would not locate a way to reward a GM seller who goosed a personal loan for an more 2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. It is tough to switch down totally free funds.
Head more than CR to examine out the full story. It truly is lengthy, but it need to be necessary looking through for absolutely everyone acquiring a mortgage from any loan company to acquire any form of motor vehicle.
Warhol explained, “Art is what you can get away with.” So is automobile financing.
Fb on Friday was hit with multiple experiences stemming from documents delivered to information retailers by Frances Haugen, a former employee turned whistleblower.
The experiences cite interior company exploration and files that show the firm is conscious of quite a few of the harms its applications and services induce but both won’t rectify the challenges or struggles to handle them.
In accordance to a report from NBC, Fb ran an experiment that showed how a new profile for a conservative mom from North Carolina commenced, in just two times, to acquire suggestions to be a part of teams connected to the much-correct conspiracy team QAnon.
By the summer time of 2020, , the documents present, Facebook was internet hosting countless numbers of non-public QAnon groups and pages with millions of followers, NBC described. Fb has since banned QAnon teams.
Bloomberg claimed on documents that showed staff at Facebook expressed shock and outrage after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“I’m struggling to match my benefit to my employment right here,” a single employee wrote, in accordance to the Bloomberg story. “I arrived right here hoping to impact adjust and strengthen society, but all I have observed is atrophy and abdication of duty.”
With an picture of himself on a display screen in the background, Fb co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies right before the Dwelling Economical Companies Committee in the Rayburn Dwelling Office Developing on Capitol Hill Oct 23, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Pictures
Interior Fb analysis of the Jan. 6 insurrection observed that the insurance policies and treatments set in put by the business were being not sufficient to avoid the development of teams related to “Stop the Steal,” according to a CNN report. The organization taken care of each piece of “Prevent the Steal” written content independently, alternatively than as component of a larger complete, the report notes.
The New York Instances documented on Friday, primarily based on paperwork from Haugen, that a Facebook info scientist wrote to his colleagues to say that 10{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of all U.S. sights of political content material on the web page were of posts alleging that the 2020 U.S. presidential was fraudulent.
The stories adhere to a collection of stories from the Wall Road Journal titled “The Fb Files,” from documents offered by Haugen. Most notably, the sequence located interior paperwork that confirmed Fb was informed of the damage induced by its Instagram provider to teenagers’ mental overall health.
Frances Haugen, Facebook whistle-blower, speaks all through a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021.
Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Before this thirty day period, Haugen testified right before a Senate panel about the reports. Fb attempted to discredit Haugen at the time and continues to drive again in opposition to the stories stemming from the documents she’s produced.
“At the heart of these tales is a premise which is untrue,” Fb wrote in a statement to CNBC. “Of course, we are a business and we make gain, but the plan that we do so at the expense of people’s protection or wellbeing misunderstands where our very own business pursuits lie. The reality is we have invested $13 billion and have about 40,000 persons to do a person job: keep people today risk-free on Fb.”
Watch: Fb requires to be bullish on its have stock, claims Wedgewood Partners’ CIO
