Activision blizzard announces better-than-expected third quarter 2013
financial results
Santa monica, calif.--(business wire)--activision blizzard, inc. (nasdaq: atvi) today announced better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter of 2013. outlook* gaap non-gaap *prior outlook was provided by the company in its august 1, 2013 earnings release for the third quarter, which ended september 30, 2013, the company delivered gaap net revenues of $691 million, as compared with $841 million for the third quarter of 2012. on a non-gaap basis, the company’s net revenues were $657 million, as compared with $751 million for the third quarter of 2012. gaap net revenues from digital channels were $409 million and represented a third-quarter record 59% of the company’s total net revenues. on a non-gaap basis, net revenues from digital channels were $399 million and represented 61% of the quarter’s total net revenues. for the third quarter of 2013, activision blizzard delivered gaap earnings per diluted share of $0.05, as compared with $0.20 for the third quarter of 2012. on a non-gaap basis, the company delivered earnings per diluted share of $0.08, as compared with $0.15 for the third quarter of 2012. the company reports results on both a gaap and a non-gaap basis. please refer to the tables at the back of this press release for a reconciliation of the company’s gaap and non-gaap results. bobby kotick, chief executive officer of activision blizzard, said, “our third-quarter results exceeded our expectations, and we are able to raise our outlook for 2013 net revenues and earnings per share. robust continued engagement with our core franchises drove digital revenue, which constituted a majority of all revenue. this quarter demonstrates that games like call of duty and world of warcraft engage and entertain our fans year round.” kotick added, “we recently released new titles in two of the most popular franchises in entertainment, call of duty: ghosts and skylanders swap force. we are thrilled by the quality of those games and we are excited to show what we can do with them on next-generation consoles in the coming weeks. we are also in the process of a beta launch for our first major free-to-play game, hearthstone: heroes of warcraft. however, we continue to believe that the fourth quarter this year presents a unique and challenging landscape due to increased competition and uncertainties surrounding the console transition. we are confident in our ability to navigate these challenges successfully, particularly in light of the recent completion of our transaction with vivendi and the focus and flexibility provided by our return to independence.” selected business highlights year to date, in both north america and europe activision publishing had two of the top-five best-selling games with skylanders giants™ and call of duty: black ops ii.¹ in both north america and europe, activision publishing’s skylanders giants was the #1 best-selling kids console and hand-held game overall in dollars for the first nine months of 2013.¹ as of september 30, 2013, blizzard entertainment’s world of warcraft remains the #1 subscription-based mmorpg, with approximately 7.6 million subscribers.² in north america, blizzard entertainment’s starcraft® ii: heart of the swarm® was the #1 pc game for the first nine months of 2013.³ on september 19, 2013, the company issued $2.25 billion of long-term debt, consisting of $1.5 billion of 5.625% senior notes due 2021 and $750 million of 6.125% senior notes due 2023. on october 11, 2013 the company borrowed approximately $2.5 billion under a seven-year secured term loan facility. the company now has a total of $4.75 billion in debt at a weighted average interest rate below 5%. on october, 11, 2013, activision blizzard, inc. completed its previously announced acquisition of approximately 429 million company shares and certain tax attributes from vivendi for approximately $5.83 billion, or $13.60 per share, in cash. asac ii lp, an investment vehicle led by activision blizzard ceo bobby kotick and chairman brian kelly, has also completed its purchase of approximately 172 million company shares from vivendi for approximately $2.34 billion in cash, or $13.60 per share, in a separate transaction. as a result of the transactions, activision blizzard is an independent company with a majority of its shares owned by public shareholders. vivendi has retained a stake of approximately 83 million shares, or approximately 12% of the company’s outstanding shares. company outlook during october, activision publishing released several new titles including: skylanders swap force™ on october 13, 2013; cabela’s® african safari, and wipeout™ crash and burn on october 15, 2013; spongebob squarepants™: plankton’s robotic revenge and teenage mutant ninja turtles™ on october 22, 2013; and angry birds™ star wars® on october 29, 2013. on november 5, 2013, activision publishing released its highly anticipated game, call of duty: ghosts, the next generation of call of duty and a stunning leap forward for the franchise. as the repurchase transaction with vivendi did not close on or before september 30, 2013 as previously expected, activision blizzard’s weighted average fully diluted share count is now expected to be 1.06 billion for the calendar year, and to be 785 million for the fourth quarter. activision blizzard is raising its outlook for calendar year 2013 from the estimates it provided on august 1, 2013, as follows: gaap outlook non-gaap outlook cy 2013 q4 2013 conference call today at 4:30 p.m. est, activision blizzard’s management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the company’s results for the quarter ended september 30, 2013 and management’s outlook for the remainder of the calendar year. the company welcomes all members of the financial and media communities and other interested parties to visit the “investor relations” area of www.activisionblizzard.com to listen to the conference call via live webcast or to listen to the call live by dialing into 800 768 6544 in the u.s. with passcode 7807006. about activision blizzard activision blizzard, inc. is the world’s largest and most profitable independent interactive entertainment publishing company. it develops and publishes some of the most successful and beloved entertainment franchises in any medium, including call of duty, skylanders, world of warcraft, starcraft® and diablo. headquartered in santa monica california, it maintains operations throughout the united states, europe, and asia. activision blizzard develops and publishes games on all leading interactive platforms and its games are available in most countries around the world. more information about activision blizzard and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activisionblizzard.com. ¹according to the npd group and gfk chart-track and activision blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories²according to activision blizzard internal estimates³according to the npd group subscriber definition: world of warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play world of warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. internet game room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. the above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules. non-gaap financial measures: as a supplement to our financial measures presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“gaap”), activision blizzard presents certain non-gaap measures of financial performance. these non-gaap financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or as more important than, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with gaap. in addition, these non-gaap measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the items associated with the company’s results of operations as determined in accordance with gaap. activision blizzard provides net revenues, net income (loss), earnings (loss) per share and operating margin data and guidance both including (in accordance with gaap) and excluding (non-gaap) certain items. in addition, activision blizzard provides ebitda (defined as gaap net income (loss) before interest (income) expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization) and adjusted ebitda (defined as non-gaap operating margin (see non-gaap financial measure below) before depreciation). the non-gaap financial measures exclude the following items, as applicable in any given reporting period: the change in deferred revenues and related cost of sales with respect to certain of the company’s online-enabled games; expenses related to stock-based compensation; the amortization of intangibles from purchase price accounting; fees and other expenses related to the acquisition of 429 million shares of our common stock on october 11, 2013 from vivendi, pursuant to the stock purchase agreement dated july 25, 2013 and related debt financings; and the income tax adjustments associated with any of the above items. in the future, activision blizzard may also consider whether other significant non-recurring items should also be excluded in calculating the non-gaap financial measures used by the company. management believes that the presentation of these non-gaap financial measures provides investors with additional useful information to measure activision blizzard’s financial and operating performance. in particular, the measures facilitate comparison of operating performance between periods and help investors to better understand the operating results of activision blizzard by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of the company’s core business, operating results or future outlook. internally, management uses these non-gaap financial measures in assessing the company’s operating results, and measuring compliance with the requirements of the company’s debt financing agreements, as well as in planning and forecasting. activision blizzard’s non-gaap financial measures are not based on a comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles, and the terms non-gaap net revenues, non-gaap net income, non-gaap earnings per share, non-gaap operating margin, and non-gaap or adjusted ebitda do not have a standardized meaning. therefore, other companies may use the same or similarly named measures, but exclude different items, which may not provide investors a comparable view of activision blizzard’s performance in relation to other companies. management compensates for the limitations resulting from the exclusion of these items by considering the impact of the items separately and by considering activision blizzard’s gaap, as well as non-gaap, results and outlook, and by presenting the most comparable gaap measures directly ahead of non-gaap measures, and by providing a reconciliation that indicates and describes the adjustments made. in addition to the reasons stated above, which are generally applicable to each of the items activision blizzard excludes from its non-gaap financial measures, there are additional specific reasons why the company believes it is appropriate to exclude the change in deferred revenues and related cost of sales with respect to certain of the company’s online-enabled games. since activision blizzard has determined that some of our games’ online functionality represents an essential component of gameplay and, as a result, a more-than-inconsequential separate deliverable, we recognize revenues attributed to these game titles over their estimated service periods, which may range from five months to a maximum of less than a year. the related cost of sales is deferred and recognized as the related revenues are recognized. internally, management excludes the impact of this change in deferred revenues and related cost of sales in its non-gaap financial measures when evaluating the company’s operating performance, when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods, and when assessing the performance of its management team. management believes this is appropriate because doing so enables an analysis of performance based on the timing of actual transactions with our customers, which is consistent with the way the company is measured by investment analysts and industry data sources. in addition, excluding the change in deferred revenues and the related cost of sales provides a much more timely indication of trends in our operating results. cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: information in this press release that involves activision blizzard’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements under the heading “company outlook,” are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. activision blizzard generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “might,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” "anticipates," "estimate," “future," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "remain," "scheduled," "set to," "subject to," "upcoming" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. factors that could cause activision blizzard’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of activision blizzard’s titles, increasing concentration of titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, activision blizzard’s ability to predict consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as first-person action, “toys to life” and massively multiplayer online games and preferences among hardware platforms, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, changing business models including digital delivery of content, competition, including from used games and other forms of entertainment, possible declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, particularly during the ongoing console transition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, the current regulatory environment, litigation risks and associated costs, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality "hit" titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, capital market risks, the possibility that expected benefits related to the recently completed transactions with vivendi may not materialize as expected, the amount of our debt and the limitations imposed by the covenants in the agreements governing our debt, and the other factors identified in the risk factors section of activision blizzard’s most recent annual report on form 10-k, as amended, and our quarterly report on form 10-q for the quarter ended september 30, 2013. the forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to activision blizzard as of the date of this release, and activision blizzard assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. although these forward-looking statements are believed to be true when made, they may ultimately prove to be incorrect. these statements are not guarantees of the future performance of activision blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. cost of sales -product costs cost of sales -online subscriptions cost of sales -software royaltiesand amortization cost of sales -intellectualproperty licenses productdevelopment sales andmarketing general andadministrative total costs andexpenses operatingincome net income basicearnings pershare diluted earningsper share net revenues cost of sales -product costs cost of sales -onlinesubscriptions cost of sales -software royaltiesand amortization cost of sales -intellectualproperty licenses productdevelopment sales andmarketing general andadministrative total costs andexpenses operatingincome basicearnings pershare diluted earningsper share cost of sales -product costs cost of sales -onlinesubscriptions cost of sales -software royaltiesand amortization cost of sales -intellectualproperty licenses productdevelopment sales andmarketing general andadministrative total costs andexpenses operatingincome basic earningsper share diluted earningsper share cost of sales -product costs cost of sales -online subscriptions cost of sales -software royaltiesand amortization cost of sales -intellectualproperty licenses productdevelopment sales andmarketing general andadministrative total costs andexpenses operatingincome basic earningsper share diluted earningsper share $ increase (c) reflects fees and other expenses related to the repurchase of 429 million shares of our common stock from vivendi (the "purchase transaction") completed on october 11, 2013 and related debt financings. 1,255 4,320 4,320 excluding the impact of: 960 (35 ) (35 ) 2,215 4,285 4,285 0.05 0.83 1.06 excluding the impact of: 0.61 (0.07 ) (0.10 ) 0.03 0.07 0.10 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.07 0.72 0.89 1.16 727 (e) reflects fees and other expenses related to the repurchase of 429 million shares of our common stock from vivendi (the "purchase transaction") completed on october 11, 2013 and related debt financings. weighted average share count as a result of the share repurchase) commencing on january 1, 2013.
