Free Cash Flow,or FCF, is anon-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures and capital lease obligations. We believe that FCF provides investors with an indicator of our ability to generate positive cash flows after meeting our obligations with regard to capital expenditures (including capital lease obligations).
Key Operating Metrics
Total Subscribers - We define total subscribers as the approximate number of subscribers that, as of the end of a period, are identified as subscribing directly to our products on a paid basis, excluding accounts that access our solutions via resellers or that purchase only domain names from us. Subscribers of more than one brand, and subscribers with more than one distinct billing relationship or subscription with us, are counted as separate subscribers. Total subscribers for a period reflects adjustments to add or subtract subscribers as we integrate acquisitions and/or are otherwise able to identify subscribers that meet, or do not meet, this definition of total subscribers. In the third quarter of 2018, these adjustments had a negligible impact on our total subscriber count.
Average Revenue Per Subscriber (ARPS) - We calculate ARPS as the amount of revenue we recognize in a period, including marketing development funds and other revenue not received from subscribers, divided by the average of the number of total subscribers at the beginning of the period and at the end of the period, which we refer to as average subscribers for the period, divided by the number of months in the period. See definition of “Total Subscribers” above. ARPS does not represent an exact measure of the average amount a subscriber spends with us each month, since our calculation of ARPS is impacted by revenues generated bynon-subscribers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements concerning our financial guidance for fiscal year 2018, our belief that we are positioned to transition back to revenue growth in 2019, our investment and operational plans, including our ability to execute these plans and expectations that these plans will simplify our business and deliver increased customer value, our expectation that our reorganization or elimination of certain of our legal entities will provide us with tax benefits, and our expectations of future growth and financial and operational performance in general. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts, and statements identified by words such as “expects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “may,” “continue,” “positions,” “confident,” and variations of such words or words of similar meaning and the use of future dates. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, intentions, expectations, strategies or prospects will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual
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