Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, we use adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, which are non-GAAP financial measures, to evaluate the operating and financial performance of our business, identify trends affecting our business, develop projections and make strategic business decisions. In this press release, we are also presenting the following additional non-GAAP financial measures for certain periods: revenue - excluding SinglePlatform and adjusted EBITDA - excluding SinglePlatform. A non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s operating performance, financial position or cash flow that excludes amounts that are included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP or includes amounts that are excluded from the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
Our non-GAAP financial measures may not provide information that is directly comparable to that provided by other companies in our industry, as other companies in our industry may calculate non-GAAP financial results differently. In addition, there are limitations in using non-GAAP financial measures because they are not prepared in accordance with GAAP and exclude expenses that may have a material impact on our reported financial results. For example, adjusted EBITDA excludes interest expense, which has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. The presentation of non-GAAP financial information is not meant to be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. We urge you to review the additional information about our non-GAAP measures shown below, including the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their comparable GAAP financial measures, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
Revenue - excluding SinglePlatform is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as revenue excluding revenue contributed by our SinglePlatform business, which we sold on December 5, 2019. We believe that this measure helps investors evaluate and compare our past performance excluding the impact of a non-core business that we have sold.
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as net (loss) income, excluding the impact of interest expense (net), income tax expense (benefit), depreciation, amortization of other intangible assets, stock-based compensation, restructuring expenses, transaction expenses and charges, gain on sale of business, (gain) loss of unconsolidated entities, impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets, and shareholder litigation reserve. We view adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure and believe it helps investors evaluate and compare our core operating performance from period to period.
Adjusted EBITDA - excluding SinglePlatform is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as adjusted EBITDA less adjusted EBITDA contributed by our SinglePlatform business, which we sold on December 5, 2019. Adjusted EBITDA contributed by our SinglePlatform business excludes the impact of corporate costs that we had allocated to SinglePlatform. We believe that this measure helps investors evaluate and compare our past performance excluding the impact of a non-core business that we have sold.
Free Cash Flow, or FCF, is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures and financed equipment. 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 financed equipment).
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 2020, no such adjustments were made.
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 by non-subscribers.
3