MediaAlpha, Inc. (MAX) FY 2024 MD&A

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included in “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements involving significant risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth in “Risk Factors,” our actual results may differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.

We have omitted discussion of 2022 results where it would be redundant to the discussion previously included in Part II, Item 7 "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is incorporated by reference, and should be referred to for information regarding this period.

Overview

Our mission is to help insurance carriers and distributors target and acquire consumers more efficiently and at greater scale through technology and data science. Our technology platform brings together leading insurance carriers and high-intent consumers through a real-time, programmatic, transparent, and results-driven ecosystem. We believe we are the largest online customer acquisition platform in our core verticals of P&C insurance, health insurance, and life insurance, supporting $1.5 billion in Transaction Value across our platform from these verticals in the year ended December 31, 2024.

We have multi-faceted relationships with top-tier insurance carriers and distributors. A buyer or a Demand Partner within our ecosystem is generally an insurance carrier or distributor seeking to reach high-intent insurance consumers. A seller or a Supply Partner is typically an insurance carrier looking to maximize the value of non-converting or low expected LTV consumers, or an insurance-focused research destination or other financial website looking to monetize high-intent users on their websites. During the year ended December 31, 2024, consumers shopped for insurance products through the websites of our diversified group of Supply Partners and our proprietary websites each month, driving an average of 9.9 million Consumer Referrals on our platform each month.

We generate revenue by earning a fee for each Consumer Referral sold on our platform. A transaction becomes payable upon a qualifying consumer action, such as a click, call or lead, and is generally not contingent on the sale of a product to the consumer.

We believe our technology is a key differentiator and a powerful driver of our performance. We maintain deep, custom integrations with partners representing the majority of our Transaction Value, which enable automated, data-driven processes that optimize our partners’ customer acquisition spend and revenue. Through our platform, our insurance carrier partners can target and price across over 35 separate consumer attributes to manage customized acquisition strategies.

Executive Summary

Highlights

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1.Transaction Value is an operating metric not presented in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA, Contribution, and Contribution Margin are non-GAAP financial measures. See “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations-Key business and operating metrics.” for additional information regarding the Company’s operating metrics and Non-GAAP metrics.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated $864.7 million of revenue and $1.5 billion of Transaction Value, representing increases of 122.8% and 151.4%, respectively, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, driven primarily by significant increases in customer acquisition spending by P&C carrier partners as they refocused on growth in response to improving underwriting profitability.

Contribution, which generally represents revenue less revenue share payments and online advertising costs, was $154.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, a year-over-year increase of 97.7%, driven primarily by the higher revenue. Contribution Margin was 17.9% for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with 20.1% for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Net income for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $22.1 million, compared with a net loss of $56.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, driven primarily by the increase in gross profit and lower equity-based compensation expense.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $96.1 million, a year-over-year increase of 254.4%, due primarily to higher gross profit.

Key factors affecting our business

Revenue

We believe that our future performance will depend on many factors, including those described below and in the section titled Part I, Item 1A “Risk factors” included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Secular trends in the insurance industry

Our technology platform was created to serve and grow with our core insurance end markets. We believe secular trends in the insurance industry are critical drivers of our revenue and will continue to provide strong tailwinds for our business over the long term. Customer acquisition spending by insurance carriers is growing over time, and as more consumers shop for insurance online, direct-to-consumer marketing, which fuels our revenue, has become the fastest growing insurance distribution channel. As mass-market customer acquisition becomes more costly, insurance carriers and distributors are increasingly focusing on optimizing customer acquisition spend, which is at the core of the service we deliver on our platform. As long as these secular trends persist, we expect digital insurance customer acquisition spending to continue to grow over time, and we believe we are well-positioned to benefit from this growth.

Transaction Value

We define “Transaction Value” as the total gross dollars transacted by our partners on our platform. Transaction Value is an operating metric not presented in accordance with GAAP, and is a driver of revenue based on the economic relationships we have with our partners. Transaction Value from Open Marketplace transactions is a direct driver of our revenue, while Transaction Value from Private Marketplace transactions is an indirect driver of our revenue (see “Key business and operating metrics” below). Transaction Value on our platform increased to $1.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $593.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, due primarily to an increase in customer acquisition spending by P&C insurance carriers in response to improvements in their underwriting profitability. We have developed multi-faceted, deeply integrated partnerships with insurance carriers and distributors, who may be both Demand Partners and Supply Partners on our platform. We believe the versatility and breadth of our offerings, coupled with our focus on high-quality products, provide significant value to insurance carriers and distributors, leading many of them to use our platform as their central hub for broadly managing digital customer acquisition and monetization, resulting in strong retention rates. For the year ended December 31, 2024, 96% of total insurance Transaction Value executed on our platform came from Demand Partner relationships in existence during 2023.

Our Demand and Supply Partners

Our success depends on our ability to retain and grow the number of high-quality Demand and Supply Partners on our platform. The aggregate number of Demand and Supply Partners active on our platform, excluding our agent partners, was

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approximately 1,230 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. We retain and attract Demand Partners by finding high-quality sources of Consumer Referrals to make available to our Demand Partners. We obtain these Consumer Referrals from our diverse network of Supply Partners as well as from our proprietary properties. We seek to develop, acquire and retain relationships with high-quality Supply Partners by developing flexible platforms to enable our Supply Partners to maximize their revenue, manage their demand side relationships in scalable and flexible ways and focus on long-term sustainable economics with respect to revenue share. Our relationships with our partners are deep and long standing and involve most of the top-tier insurance carriers in the industry. In terms of Demand Partners, during the year ended December 31, 2024, 15 of the top 20 largest auto insurance carriers by customer acquisition spend were on our platform.

Consumer Referrals

Our results depend in large part on the number of Consumer Referrals purchased on our platform and the pricing of such Consumer Referrals. The aggregate number of consumer clicks, calls, and leads purchased by insurance buyers on our platform increased to 118.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 98.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. We seek to increase the number and scale of our supply relationships and drive consumers to our proprietary properties through a variety of paid traffic acquisition sources. We continuously look to diversify our paid media sources to extend beyond search engine marketing, which has historically represented the bulk of our paid media spend, into other online media sources, including native, social, and display advertising.

Seasonality

Our results are subject to fluctuations as a result of seasonality. In particular, our P&C insurance vertical is typically characterized by seasonal strength in our quarters ending March 31 due to a greater supply of Consumer Referrals and higher customer acquisition budgets during the start of the year, and by seasonal weakness in our quarters ending December 31 due to a lower supply of Consumer Referrals available on a cost-effective basis and lower customer acquisition budgets from some buyers during those quarters. Our health insurance vertical is typically characterized by seasonal strength in our quarters ending December 31 due to open enrollment periods for health insurance and annual enrollment for Medicare during those quarters, with a material increase in consumer search volume for health products and a related increase in buyer customer acquisition budgets.

Other factors affecting our partners’ businesses include macro factors such as credit availability in the market, the strength of the economy and employment levels.

Cyclicality

Our results are also subject to fluctuations as a result of business cycles experienced by companies in the P&C insurance industry. These cycles in the P&C insurance industry are characterized by periods of “soft” market conditions, when carriers are profitable and are focused on increasing capacity and building market share, and “hard” market conditions, when carriers are experiencing lower or even negative underwriting profits and are seeking to increase their premium rates to improve their profitability. As our Demand Partners in the P&C insurance industry go through these market cycles, they often increase their customer acquisition spending during soft markets and reduce it during hard markets, causing their relative demand for Consumer Referrals from our platform to increase and decrease accordingly. Beginning in the second half of 2021, the P&C insurance industry entered a "hard” market, with many carriers experiencing lower than expected underwriting profitability due to higher than expected inflation in automobile claims costs, causing them to significantly reduce their customer acquisition spending on our platform. In late 2023, P&C insurance industry profitability began to improve as premium increases began to outpace loss cost inflation, causing them to begin to resume their marketing investments. This recovery gained significant momentum during 2024 as multiple carriers meaningfully increased their spending in our marketplaces.

Regulations

Our revenue and earnings may fluctuate from time to time as a result of federal, state, international and industry-based laws, directives and regulations and developing standards with respect to the enforcement of those regulations. Our business is affected directly because we operate websites, conduct telemarketing and email marketing and collect, process, store, share, disclose, transfer and use consumer information and other data. Our business is affected indirectly as our clients adjust their operations as a result of regulatory changes and enforcement activity within their industries. For example, the FTC has recently started taking a new position (in recent public statements and enforcement actions) regarding the consent rules under the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR"). These changes have required, and may in the future require, both us and our Partners to adjust their telemarketing activities. While it is unclear how some of these changes may ultimately be interpreted, they may have a significant impact on the market for leads, and may require us and our Partners to modify our telemarketing practices

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and policies. In addition, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") became effective on January 1, 2020 and has been amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"), which became effective January 1, 2023, and more than 20 other states have enacted or are considering similar laws, all of which may affect our business. While it is unclear how this new legislation may be modified or how certain provisions will be interpreted, the effects of this legislation are potentially significant, and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and incur substantial compliance-related costs and expenses. In addition, we are licensed as a health insurance broker in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, making us subject to certain insurance laws and regulations. Our Medicare business is also subject to federal rules governing the marketing of such policies. For a description of laws and regulations to which we are generally subject, see Item 1 “Business” and Item 1A “Risk Factors.”

In addition, we are impacted by the regulation of the insurance carriers with whom we do business. In most states, insurance carriers are required to obtain approval of their premium rates from the regulatory authority in such states. The timing of such approval process, as well as the willingness of insurance regulators to approve rate increases, can impact the profitability of new policies and the level of customer acquisition spending by carriers in a given period, which in turn can cause fluctuations in our revenue and earnings.

Key components of our results of operations

Revenue

We operate primarily in the P&C insurance, health insurance, and life insurance verticals and generate revenue through the purchase and sale of Consumer Referrals.

The price and amount of Consumer Referrals purchased and sold on our platform vary based on a number of market conditions and consumer attributes, including (i) geographic location of consumers, (ii) demographic attributes of consumers, (iii) the source of Consumer Referrals and quality of conversion by source, (iv) the volume of Consumer Referrals provided by our Supply Partners, (v) Demand Partner bid levels and (vi) Demand Partner demand and budgets.

In our Open Marketplace transactions, we generate revenue by delivering qualified clicks, calls, and leads and have control over these Consumer Referrals that are sold to our customers (Demand Partners) on our technology platform. In these arrangements, we have separate agreements with our suppliers (Supply Partners) and Demand Partners. Supply Partners are not a party to the contractual arrangements with our Demand Partners, nor are the Supply Partners the beneficiaries of our Demand Partner agreements. We separately pay (i) a revenue share to Supply Partners or (ii) a fee to internet search companies to drive consumers to our proprietary websites. We are the principal in Open Marketplace transactions. As a result, the price paid by the Demand Partners for Consumer Referrals sold is recognized as revenue and the price paid to the Supply Partner is included in cost of revenue.

In our Private Marketplace transactions, Supply Partners and Demand Partners contract with one another directly. In these transactions, we act as an agent, facilitating the sale of Consumer Referrals between these Supply and Demand Partners, by providing access to our platform to the Supply Partner for their use as a tracking, reporting, optimization, and analytics tool in transacting with the Demand Partner, and we generate revenue by charging the Supply Partner a platform fee on the Consumer Referrals transacted, which is a negotiated percentage of the Transaction Value of such transactions. We do not make any payments to Supply Partners in our Private Marketplace transactions.

We recognize revenue derived from Consumer Referrals when we transfer these Consumer Referrals to our Demand Partners in an amount that reflects the consideration to which we are entitled. We recognize revenue pursuant to the framework contained in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606"), as issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”): (i) identify the contract with a client; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract, including whether they are distinct in the context of the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price, including the constraint on variable consideration; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when we satisfy the performance obligations.

Generally, our contracts with Demand Partners and Supply Partners specify a period of time covered and a budget governing spend limits. While contracts can specify a term, most of our contracts can be terminated at any time without penalty upon 30- or 60-days’ notice. As a result, the transaction price for the delivery of each Consumer Referral is determined and recorded in real time and no estimation of variable consideration or future consideration is required. We satisfy our performance obligations as services are provided. We do not promise to provide any other significant goods or services to our partners after delivery and generally do not offer a right of return.

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Costs and operating expenses

Costs and operating expenses consist primarily of cost of revenue, sales and marketing expenses, product expenses and general and administrative expenses.

Cost of revenue

Our cost of revenue is comprised primarily of revenue share payments to Supply Partners and traffic acquisition costs paid to search engines and social media platforms, as well as telephony infrastructure costs, internet and hosting costs, and merchant fees, and includes salaries, wages, equity-based compensation, the cost of health and other employee benefits for employees engaged in media buying, and other expenses including an allocated portion of rent and facilities expenses.

Sales and marketing

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of an allocation of personnel expenses for employees engaged in demand side and supply side business development and marketing, and include salaries, wages, equity-based compensation, and the cost of health and other employee benefits. Sales and marketing expenses also include costs related to attracting partners to our platform, including marketing and promotions, tradeshows and related travel and entertainment expenses. Sales and marketing expenses also include an allocated portion of rent and facilities expenses and depreciation and amortization expense.

Product development

Product development expenses consist primarily of an allocation of personnel expenses for employees engaged in technology, engineering and product development and include salaries, wages, equity-based compensation, and the cost of health and other employee benefits. Product development expenses also include an allocated portion of rent and facilities expenses and depreciation and amortization expense.

General and administrative

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of an allocation of personnel expenses for executive, finance, legal, people operations, and business analytics employees, and include salaries, wages, equity-based compensation, and the cost of health and other employee benefits. General and administrative expenses also include professional services, an allocated portion of rent and facilities expenses and depreciation and amortization expense.

Other expense (income), net

Other expense (income), net consists primarily of expenses and income not incurred by us in our ordinary course of business and that are not included in any of the categories listed above.

Interest expense

Interest expense consists primarily of interest expense associated with outstanding borrowings under our 2021 Credit Facilities and the amortization of deferred financing costs associated with these arrangements. See “Liquidity and capital resources-Financing activities” below.

Income tax expense (benefit)

MediaAlpha, Inc. is taxed as a corporation and pays corporate federal, state and local taxes on income allocated to it from QLH based upon MediaAlpha, Inc.’s economic interest held in QLH. QLH is treated as a pass-through partnership for income tax reporting purposes and is not subject to federal income tax. Instead, QLH’s taxable income or loss is passed through to its members, including MediaAlpha, Inc., pro-rata to their ownership interest in QLH. Accordingly, as our ownership interest in QLH increases, our share of the taxable income (loss) of QLH also increases. As of December 31, 2024, our ownership interest in QLH was 82.7%.

Net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interest

Net income (loss) is attributed to non-controlling interests in accordance with QLH’s limited liability company agreement. We allocate a share of the pre-tax income (loss) of the QLH incurred subsequent to the Reorganization Transactions

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to the non-controlling interest holders pro-rata to their ownership interest in QLH. The non-controlling interests balance represents the Class B-1 units, substantially all of which are held by Insignia and the Senior Executives.

Results of operations

The following table sets forth our operating results in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

Revenue

The following table presents our revenue, disaggregated by vertical, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

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The increase in P&C insurance revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was due primarily to an increase in customer acquisition spending by P&C carriers as insurance industry profitability improved throughout the year due to premium increases beginning to outpace loss cost inflation. The profitability of certain of our largest P&C insurance carriers improved significantly during the year, resulting in higher customer acquisition budgets from those carriers in addition to higher allocation of budgets by certain other Demand Partners.

The decrease in health insurance revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by a decrease in the supply of Consumer Referrals from our Medicare Supply Partners due to one of our partners ceasing operations during the first half of the year, as well as reduced advertising spend from our under-65 health insurance partners.

The increase in life insurance revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven by an increase in the supply of Consumer Referrals from our owned and operated sites.

The decrease in other revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by lower revenue from our travel vertical, as a significant increase in traffic acquisition costs for our Supply Partners reduced the supply of Consumer Referrals to our marketplaces.

Cost of revenue

The following table presents our cost of revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The increase in cost of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by higher revenue share payments to suppliers due to the overall increase in revenue and lower take rates, offset in part by a higher mix of transactions in our Private Marketplaces, which have a minimal impact on cost of revenue.

Sales and marketing

The following table presents our sales and marketing expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The decrease in sales and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by a decrease in equity-based compensation expense of $1.4 million and a decrease in amortization expense of $0.6 million, offset in part by an increase in personnel-related costs of $1.1 million due primarily to accruals for higher bonus payouts during the year ended December 31, 2024.

Product development

The following table presents our product development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

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The increase in product development expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by an increase in personnel-related costs of $2.1 million as we hired additional employees and due to accrual for higher bonuses, offset in part by a decrease in equity-based compensation expense of $1.3 million.

General and administrative

The following table presents our general and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The decrease in general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by a decrease in equity-based compensation of $15.7 million and a $1.0 million decrease in directors and officers insurance premiums, offset in part by a $7.5 million increase driven primarily by higher legal fees and a charge of $7.0 million to establish a reserve relating to the FTC Matter, a $1.1 million increase in accounting and professional fees, and a $0.6 million increase in personnel-related costs.

Equity-based compensation

The following table presents our equity-based compensation expense that was included in cost of revenue and operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The decrease in equity-based compensation expense for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by certain RSUs granted to key employees at IPO being fully vested as of December 31, 2023, offset in part by higher expenses related to annual awards of RSUs granted to employees.

Amortization

The following table presents our amortization of intangible asset expense that was included in operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

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The decrease in amortization expense for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was immaterial.

Other expense, net

The following table presents our other expense, net for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The increase in other expense, net for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by a $7.0 million charge to increase the TRA liability as a result of remeasuring the non-current portion of the liability to the amount of payment under the agreement considered to be probable, offset in part by a one-time contract termination fee of $1.7 million received from one of our Supply Partners in the Health and Life insurance verticals that ceased operations during the year ended December 31, 2024, and by an impairment charge of $1.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 related to a cost method investment that did not recur in 2024.

Interest expense

The following table presents our interest expense for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

The decrease in interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with the year ended December 31, 2023, was driven primarily by the impact of lower outstanding balances in the current year period.

Income tax expense (benefit)

The following table presents our income tax expense (benefit) for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

For the year ended December 31, 2024, our income tax expense of $1.4 million consisted primarily of the tax impacts of changes in our valuation allowance and uncertain tax positions. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our income tax benefit consisted primarily of the tax impacts of changes in our uncertain tax positions, as we recorded a valuation allowance against losses incurred during that year.

Key business and operating metrics

In addition to traditional financial metrics, we rely upon certain business and operating metrics that are not presented in accordance with GAAP to estimate the volume of spending on our platform, estimate and recognize revenue, evaluate our business performance and facilitate our operations. Such business and operating metrics should not be considered in isolation from, or as an alternative to, measures presented in accordance with GAAP and should be considered together with other operating and financial performance measures presented in accordance with GAAP. Also, such business and operating metrics may not necessarily be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

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Adjusted EBITDA

We define “Adjusted EBITDA” as net income (loss) excluding interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation expense on property and equipment, amortization of intangible assets, as well as equity-based compensation expense and certain other adjustments as listed in the table below. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we present to supplement the financial information we present on a GAAP basis. We monitor and present Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management to understand and evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude in the calculations of Adjusted EBITDA. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. In addition, presenting Adjusted EBITDA provides investors with a metric to evaluate the capital efficiency of our business.

Adjusted EBITDA is not presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measures presented in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of Adjusted EBITDA rather than net income, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. These limitations include the fact that Adjusted EBITDA excludes interest expense on debt, income tax expense (benefit), equity-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, and certain other adjustments that we consider to be useful to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results. In addition, other companies may use other measures to evaluate their performance, including different definitions of “Adjusted EBITDA,” which could reduce the usefulness of our Adjusted EBITDA as a tool for comparison.

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA with net income (loss), the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

(1)Transaction expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024 consist of $1.2 million of legal and accounting fees incurred by us in connection with resale registration statements filed with the SEC. Transaction expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023 consist of $0.6 million of legal and accounting fees incurred by us in connection with the amendment to the 2021 Credit Facilities, the tender offer filed by the Company's largest shareholder in May 2023, and a resale registration statement filed with the SEC.

(2)Contract settlement consists of $1.7 million of income for the year ended December 31, 2024 recorded in connection with a one-time contract termination fee received from one of our Supply Partners in the Health and Life insurance verticals that ceased operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.

(3)Changes in TRA related liability for the year ended December 31, 2024 consist of a $7.0 million charge to increase the TRA liability as a result of remeasuring the non-current portion of the liability to the amount of payment under the agreement considered to be probable. Changes in TRA related liability for the year ended December 31, 2023 consist of immaterial expense.

(4)Legal expenses of $11.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, consist of a $7.0 million loss reserve established in connection with the FTC Matter and legal fees incurred in connection with such matter. Legal expenses of $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 consist of legal fees incurred in connection with the FTC Matter and costs associated with a legal settlement unrelated to our core operations.

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(5)Reduction in force costs for the year ended December 31, 2023 consist of $1.2 million of severance benefits provided to the terminated employees in connection with the RIF Plan. Additionally, equity-based compensation expense includes $0.3 million of charges related to the RIF Plan for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Contribution and Contribution Margin

We define “Contribution” as revenue less revenue share payments and online advertising costs, or, as reported in our consolidated statements of operations, revenue less cost of revenue (i.e., gross profit), as adjusted to exclude the following items from cost of revenue: equity-based compensation; salaries, wages, and related costs; internet and hosting costs; amortization; depreciation; other services; and merchant-related fees. We define “Contribution Margin” as Contribution expressed as a percentage of revenue for the same period. Contribution and Contribution Margin are non-GAAP financial measures that we present to supplement the financial information we present on a GAAP basis. We use Contribution and Contribution Margin to measure the return on our relationships with our Supply Partners (excluding certain fixed costs), the financial return on and efficacy of our online advertising costs to drive consumers to our proprietary websites, and our operating leverage. We do not use Contribution and Contribution Margin as measures of overall profitability. We present Contribution and Contribution Margin because they are used by our management and board of directors to manage our operating performance, including evaluating our operational performance against budget and assessing our overall operating efficiency and operating leverage. For example, if Contribution increases and our headcount costs and other operating expenses remain steady, our Adjusted EBITDA and operating leverage increase. If Contribution Margin decreases, we may choose to re-evaluate and re-negotiate our revenue share agreements with our Supply Partners, to make optimization and pricing changes with respect to our bids for keywords from primary traffic acquisition sources, or to change our overall cost structure with respect to headcount, fixed costs and other costs. Other companies may calculate Contribution and Contribution Margin differently than we do. Contribution and Contribution Margin have their limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results presented in accordance with GAAP.

The following table reconciles Contribution with gross profit, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

Transaction Value

We define “Transaction Value” as the total gross dollars transacted by our partners on our platform. Transaction Value is an operating metric not presented in accordance with GAAP, and is a driver of revenue based on the economic relationships we have with our partners. Our partners use our platform to transact via Open and Private Marketplace transactions. In our Open Marketplace model, revenue recognized represents the fees paid by our Demand Partners for Consumer Referrals sold and is equal to the Transaction Value and revenue share payments to our Supply Partners represent costs of revenue. In our Private Marketplace model, revenue recognized represents a platform fee billed to the Demand Partner or Supply Partner based on an agreed-upon percentage of the Transaction Value for the Consumer Referrals transacted, and accordingly there are no associated costs of revenue. We utilize Transaction Value to assess the overall level of transaction activity through our platform. We believe it is useful to investors to assess the overall level of activity on our platform and to better understand the sources of our revenue across our different transaction models and verticals.

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The following table presents Transaction Value by platform model for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

The following table presents Transaction Value by vertical for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

Consumer Referrals

We define “Consumer Referral” as any consumer click, call or lead purchased by a buyer on our platform. Click revenue is recognized on a pay-per-click basis and revenue is earned and recognized when a consumer clicks on a listed buyer’s advertisement that is presented subsequent to the consumer’s search (e.g., auto insurance quote search or health insurance quote search). Call revenue is earned and recognized when a consumer transfers to a buyer and remains engaged for a requisite duration of time, as specified by each buyer. Lead revenue is recognized when we deliver data leads to buyers. Data leads are generated either through insurance carriers, insurance-focused research destination websites or other financial websites that make the data leads available for purchase through our platform, or when consumers complete a full quote request on our proprietary websites. Delivery occurs at the time of lead transfer. The data we generate from each Consumer Referral feeds into our analytics model to generate conversion probabilities for each unique consumer, enabling discovery of predicted return and cost per sale across the platform and helping us to improve our platform technology. We monitor the number of Consumer Referrals on our platform in order to measure Transaction Value, revenue and overall business performance across our verticals and platform models.

The following table presents the percentages of total Transaction Value generated from clicks, calls and leads for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

Number of Demand and Supply Partners

The aggregate number of Demand and Supply Partners on our platform determines in part the level of Consumer Referral demand and supply on our platform. We use the number of Demand and Supply Partners on our platform to evaluate our current business performance and future business prospects.

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Liquidity and capital resources

Overview

Our principal sources of liquidity are our cash flow generated from operations and cash and funds available under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility. Our principal uses of cash include funding of our operations, interest payments, and mandatory principal payments on our long-term debt. As of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, our cash and cash equivalents totaled $43.3 million and $17.3 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, the aggregate principal amount outstanding under the 2021 Term Loan Facility was $158.5 million and our borrowing capacity available under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility was $45.0 million.

Our business is seasonal and cyclical in nature and these trends, if continued for a long period of time, could impact our cash flows generated from operations, requiring us to draw on our available borrowing capacity under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility or raise additional funds in the short term. During the second half of 2021, the auto insurance industry began to experience a cyclical downturn, as supply chain disruptions and cost increases caused by the pandemic and overall inflationary pressures contributed to higher-than-expected P&C insurance claims costs, which led many carriers to reduce their customer acquisition spending to preserve their profitability. However, we believe that the hard market cycle has now turned and in 2024 the market improved rapidly as a number of our key carrier partners meaningfully increased their customer acquisition spending. While we expect this improvement to continue, we are currently unable to accurately predict the pace or slope of this recovery beyond the first quarter of 2025.

On February 21, 2023, we received a civil investigative demand from the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) regarding compliance with the FTC Act and the TSR, as they relate to the advertising, marketing, promotion, offering for sale, or sale of healthcare-related products, the collection, sale, transfer or provision to third parties of consumer data, telemarketing practices, and/or consumer privacy or data security. We have cooperated fully with the FTC investigation. On October 30, 2024, we received an initial settlement demand from the staff of the FTC (the “FTC Staff”) stating that the FTC Staff is prepared to recommend that the FTC approve the filing of a complaint against the Company for violations of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, the TSR and the Government and Business Impersonation Rule (the “Impersonation Rule”). The FTC Staff proposes to seek injunctive and monetary relief and civil penalties. If obtained in whole or in part, the monetary relief and penalties proposed by the FTC Staff would have an adverse, and potentially material, effect on the Company’s liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. The total amount of the monetary relief and penalties proposed by the FTC Staff significantly exceeds our existing liquidity and financial resources. Any such costs above the existing liquidity and financial resources would require us to seek additional capital, incur debt or otherwise take significant actions in order to satisfy the claims and there can be no assurances that such financing could be obtained on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, the proposed injunctive terms, if obtained in whole or in part, could materially and adversely affect our ability to operate our business in the Health insurance vertical, including how we conduct our marketing activities and endeavors to ensure compliance with consumer protection laws by itself and third parties with which we do business. We strongly disagree with the allegations and believe we have substantial and meritorious defenses to the claims. Among other things, we believe that our conduct does not rise to the legal standard required for the FTC to obtain the proposed monetary relief and penalties. We continue to engage in good faith with the FTC and seek to resolve this matter prior to litigation, but we are prepared to defend ourselves vigorously if a complaint is filed.

We believe that our expected near-term revenue, cash on hand and availability to access cash available under the 2021 Credit Facilities will be sufficient to meet our projected operating and debt service requirements, and we expect that we will continue to comply with our financial covenants under the 2021 Credit Facilities, for at least the next twelve months. To the extent that our current liquidity is insufficient to fund future activities or any amounts we agree to pay in settlement of the FTC's claims, or our financial results are below our expectations due to cyclical conditions in our primary vertical markets or other factors and we do not remain in compliance with our financial covenants under the 2021 Credit Facilities, we may need to take additional actions to reduce operating costs, negotiate amendments to or waivers of the terms of such credit facilities, refinance our debt, or raise additional capital. We have historically not used funds available under our credit facilities to fund our operations or to make payments required under our credit facilities.

We may in the future engage in merger and acquisition or other activities, including share repurchases, that could require us to draw on our existing credit facilities or raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities or through debt financing arrangements. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, the ownership of our existing stockholders will be diluted. The incurrence of additional debt financing would result in debt service obligations, and any future instruments governing such debt could provide for operating and financing covenants that could restrict our operations. Our material cash requirements include our long-term debt, operating lease obligations, and any payments under the TRA. In addition, we may require material cash to fund our defense costs and/or any amounts that we may agree to pay to resolve the FTC Matter.

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Cash flows

The following table presents a summary of our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the dollar and percentage changes between the periods:

Operating activities

Net cash provided by operating activities consists primarily of net income (loss), adjusted for certain (i) non-cash items including equity-based compensation expense, changes in deferred taxes, amortization of intangible assets, and deferred debt issuance costs, and (ii) changes in operating assets and liabilities (accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable, accrued expenses and deferred rent).

Collection of accounts receivable depends upon the timing of our receipt of payments. We aim to align our separate payment obligations to Supply Partners and traffic acquisition sources for our proprietary websites with the timing of our receipt of separate payments from our Demand Partners. With respect to Supply Partners who are also Demand Partners, we maintain separate agreements for selling and buying and, in the majority of cases, such partners do not have a right of offset with respect to their buy-side payments, nor do we have a right of offset with respect to sell-side payments to such partners. The majority of our accounts receivable are less than 60 days old. If we were to experience a delay in receiving a payment from a buyer within a quarter, our operating cash flows for that quarter could be adversely impacted.

Cash flows provided by operating activities were $45.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with $20.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was driven primarily by the increase in net income, offset in part by timing of payments of our accounts receivables and accounts payable.

Investing activities

Our investing activities consist primarily of purchases of property and equipment, purchases of intangible assets, and investments.

Cash flows used in investing activities were $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase resulted primarily from the purchase of certain intangible assets during the year ended December 31, 2024.

Financing activities

Our financing activities consist primarily of proceeds from and repayments on our term debt facilities and revolving line of credit, payments of debt issue costs, and transactions related to our common stock.

Cash flows used in financing activities were $19.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with $17.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was due primarily to a required Excess Cash Flow principal payment on the 2021 Term Loan Facility and higher payments made for shares withheld for taxes on vesting of RSUs during the year ended December 31, 2024, offset in part by higher payments made pursuant to the TRA and distributions to non-controlling interests during the year ended December 31, 2023.

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Senior secured credit facilities

2021 Credit Facilities

On July 29, 2021, QuoteLab, LLC and QLH entered into an amendment (the “First Amendment”) to the 2020 Credit Agreement (as amended by the First Amendment, the "Existing Credit Agreement"). The Existing Credit Agreement provides for a new senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $190.0 million (the “2021 Term Loan Facility”), the proceeds of which were used to refinance all of the $186.4 million outstanding under the existing 2020 Term Loan Facility and the unpaid interest thereon as of the date of the First Amendment, to pay fees related to these transactions, and to provide cash for general corporate purposes, and a new senior secured revolving credit facility with commitments in an aggregate amount of $50.0 million (the “2021 Revolving Credit Facility” and, together with the 2021 Term Loan Facility, the "2021 Credit Facilities"), which replaced the 2020 Revolving Credit Facility. Our obligations under the 2021 Credit Facilities are guaranteed by QLH and secured by substantially all assets of QLH and QuoteLab, LLC.

On June 8, 2023, QuoteLab, LLC and QLH entered into a Second Amendment (the “Second Amendment”) to the Existing Credit Agreement, (as amended by the Second Amendment, the “Amended Credit Agreement”). The Second Amendment amended the Existing Credit Agreement, effective on the amendment date, to, among other things, replace the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) applicable to the 2021 Credit Facilities with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), with a credit spread adjustment of 0.10% per annum, as the interest rate benchmark.

Borrowings under the 2021 Credit Facilities bear interest at a rate equal to, at our option, the Term SOFR or Daily Simple SOFR, plus an applicable margin, with a floor of 0.00%, or a base rate plus an applicable margin. The applicable margins will be based on our consolidated total net leverage ratio as calculated under the terms of the Amended Credit Agreement (the “Leverage Ratio”) for the prior fiscal quarter and range from 2.00% to 2.75% with respect to the Term SOFR or Daily Simple SOFR and from 1.00% to 1.75% with respect to the base rate.

Loans under the 2021 Credit Facilities will mature on July 29, 2026. Loans under the 2021 Term Loan Facility amortize quarterly, beginning with the first business day after December 31, 2021 and ending with June 30, 2026, by an amount equal to 1.25% of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the term loans initially made. In addition the 2021 Term Loan Facility also requires mandatory prepayments of principal in the amount of any Excess Cash Flow (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) on an annual basis. We generated Excess Cash Flow for the year ended December 31, 2023, and prepaid approximately $3.0 million of the principal under the 2021 Term Loan Facility during the year ended December 31, 2024. As of December 31, 2024 we did not generate any Excess Cash Flows. The 2021 Revolving Credit Facility does not require amortization of principal and will mature on July 29, 2026.

As of December 31, 2024, we had $157.4 million of outstanding borrowings, net of deferred debt issuance costs of $1.0 million, under the 2021 Term Loan Facility, and $5.0 million of borrowings outstanding under the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility.

Contractual and Other Obligations

Our material cash requirements include the principal and interest payments under the 2021 Credit Facilities and payments under the Tax Receivables Agreement, which are discussed in more detail below.

Tax Receivables Agreement

Our purchases (through Intermediate Holdco) of Class B-1 units from certain unitholders in connection with the IPO, as well as exchanges of Class B-1 units subsequent to the IPO (together with an equal number of shares of our Class B common stock) for shares of our Class A common stock (or, at our election, cash of an equivalent value) (“Exchange”), and the Pre-IPO Leveraged Distribution and other actual or deemed distributions by QLH to its members pursuant to the Exchange Agreement (See Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Organization and Background” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K) have resulted and are expected to continue to result in increases in our allocable tax basis in the assets of QLH. These increases in tax basis are expected to increase (for tax purposes) depreciation and amortization deductions allocable to us and, therefore, reduce the amount of tax that we otherwise would be required to pay in the future. This increase in tax basis may also decrease gain (or increase loss) on future dispositions of certain assets to the extent tax basis is allocated to those assets.

In connection with the IPO, we entered into the Tax Receivables Agreement (“TRA”), as amended, with Insignia, the Senior Executives, and White Mountains related to the tax basis step-up of the assets of QLH and certain net operating losses of

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Intermediate Holdco. The agreement requires us to pay Insignia and the Senior Executives or any assignees 85% of the cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax we realize (or are deemed to realize) as a result of (i) any increases in tax basis of assets of QLH resulting from any Exchange, and (ii) certain other tax benefits related to making our payments under the TRA. The TRA also requires us to pay White Mountains 85% of the amount of the cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax that we realize (or are deemed to realize) as a result of the utilization of the net operating losses of Intermediate Holdco attributable to periods prior to the IPO and the deduction of any imputed interest attributable to our payment obligations under the TRA. We amended the TRA on October 1, 2023 to, among other things, provide for use of a blended state tax rate and replace the LIBOR with the SOFR as the interest rate benchmark.

In addition to tax expenses, we may also make payments under the TRA, which could be significant. We account for the income tax effects and corresponding TRA effects resulting from any Exchange by recognizing an increase in our deferred tax assets, based on enacted tax rates at the date of the Exchange. We evaluate the likelihood that we will realize the benefit represented by the deferred tax asset and, to the extent that we estimate that it is more likely than not that we will not realize the benefit, we will reduce the carrying amount of the deferred tax asset with a valuation allowance. The amounts to be recorded for both the deferred tax assets and the liability for our obligations under the TRA are estimated at the time of any purchase or exchange as a reduction to stockholders’ equity, and subsequent changes to the measurement of liability due to the effects of changes in any of our estimates after this date are recognized within other expense, net in the consolidated statement of operations. Similarly, the effect of subsequent changes in the enacted tax rates will be included in net income (loss). Judgment is required in assessing the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our consolidated financial statements. A change in our assessment of such consequences, such as realization of deferred tax assets, changes in our assessment of probability of making payments under the TRA, changes in blended tax rates, changes in tax laws or interpretations thereof could materially impact our results. As of December 31, 2024, we recorded $7.0 million of estimated payments related to the 2024 tax year due under the TRA within liabilities under tax receivables agreement, net of current portion on the consolidated balance sheets as these payments are probable and payable during the first quarter of 2026. As of December 31, 2023, we had no payments due pursuant to the TRA, as in conjunction with recording a valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets and projections of future taxable income we determined that we do not consider the payments under the TRA to be probable for the foreseeable future, and so remeasured our liabilities pursuant to the TRA to be zero. Based on the significant improvement in our pre-tax income for the year ended December 31, 2024 and the current forecasts, we expect that in the foreseeable future, there may be sufficient positive evidence, and/or that the objective negative evidence in the form of history of pre-tax losses will no longer be present, in which event we may be required to release a portion or all of the valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets and may also be required to record a liability pursuant to the TRA.

Recent accounting pronouncements

For a discussion of new accounting pronouncements recently adopted and not yet adopted, See Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Summary of significant accounting policies” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical accounting estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and in doing so, we have to make estimates, assumptions and judgments affecting the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates, assumptions and judgments on historical experience and on various other factors we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Different assumptions and judgments would change the estimates used in the preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements, which, in turn, could change our results from those reported. We evaluate our critical accounting estimates, assumptions and judgments on an ongoing basis.

An accounting policy is considered to be critical if the nature of the estimates or assumptions is material due to the levels of subjectivity and judgment necessary to account for highly uncertain matters or the susceptibility of such matters to change, and the effect of the estimates and assumptions on financial condition or operating performance. The accounting policies we believe to reflect our more significant estimates, judgments and assumptions that are most critical to understanding and evaluating our reported financial results are: business combination, goodwill and intangible assets, impairment of long-lived assets, equity-based compensation, income taxes, and liabilities related to the TRA.

Also, See Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Summary of significant accounting policies” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Business combinations

We account for business acquisitions in accordance with ASC Topic 805 - Business Combinations, which requires us, among other things, to recognize the fair value of all the assets acquired and liabilities assumed; the recognition of acquisition-related costs in the consolidated statements of operations; and contingent purchase consideration to be recognized at their fair values on the acquisition date with subsequent adjustments recognized in the consolidated statements of operations. The excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the identified assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. Operating results of the acquired entity are reflected in our consolidated financial statements from the date of acquisition.

We perform valuations of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in an acquisition and allocate the purchase price to the respective net tangible and intangible assets of the acquired business. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires management to use significant judgment and estimates including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, costs, and cash flows, discount rates and selection of comparable companies and comparable transactions. Our estimates of fair value are based on assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable and, as a result, actual results may differ from estimates. For material acquisitions, we engage the assistance of valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements of certain assets acquired or liabilities assumed in a business combination. During the measurement period, which does not exceed one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. At the conclusion of the measurement period, any subsequent adjustments are reflected in the consolidated statements of operations.

Impairment of Goodwill

Goodwill is calculated as the excess of the purchase consideration paid in a business combination over the fair value of the assets acquired less liabilities assumed. Goodwill is not amortized, but rather is evaluated for impairment on an annual basis, or whenever indications of potential impairment exist. In the absence of any indications of potential impairment, the evaluation of goodwill is performed during the fourth quarter of each year. For the purposes of goodwill impairment testing, the Company has one reporting unit.

Goodwill impairment is the amount by which a reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. When testing goodwill for impairment, we may first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is necessary to perform a goodwill impairment test or bypass the qualitative assessment in any period and proceed directly to the goodwill impairment test. If we perform a qualitative assessment, we are required to perform a goodwill impairment test only if we conclude that it is more likely than not that the reporting unit’s fair value is less than the carrying value of its assets. Should this be the case or if we decide to proceed directly to the goodwill impairment test, we identify whether a potential impairment exists by comparing the estimated fair value of the reporting unit with the carrying value, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value, goodwill is not considered to be impaired, and no additional steps are necessary. If, however, the estimated fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, then we recognize an impairment loss equal to the amount by which the reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill.

For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, there were no impairments recognized for goodwill.

Impairment of long-lived assets

Long-lived assets such as property and equipment and finite lived intangible assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. Factors that we consider in deciding when to perform an impairment review include significant underperformance of our business in relation to expectations, significant negative industry or economic trends and significant changes or planned changes in the use of our assets. An impairment loss is recognized on long-lived assets in the consolidated statements of operations when indicators of impairment are present and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than the carrying amount of the assets. In such cases, the carrying value of these assets are adjusted to their estimated fair values and assets held for sale are adjusted to their estimated fair values less selling expenses.

For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, there were no impairments recognized for long-lived assets.

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Income taxes

We are subject to U.S. federal, state and foreign income taxes with respect to our allocable share of any taxable income or loss of QLH, as well as any stand-alone income or loss we generate. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision or benefit for income taxes and in evaluating uncertain tax positions.

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events included in our consolidated financial statements. Under this method, we determine deferred tax assets and liabilities on the basis of the differences between the consolidated financial statements and tax bases of assets and liabilities by using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is recognized on our consolidated statements of operations in the period in which the enactment date occurs.

We record valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets when we determine that they are more likely than not to be realized. Evaluating the need for and the amount of a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets often requires significant judgment and extensive analysis of all available evidence. In making such a determination, we consider all available positive and negative evidence and the weight of that evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax planning strategies and recent results of operations. The weight given to the potential effect of negative and positive evidence is commensurate with the extent to which it can be objectively verified.

We recognize tax benefits from uncertain tax positions only if it is more likely than not the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized from such positions are measured based on the largest benefit having a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized.

Liabilities related to the tax receivables agreement

As described in Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Organization and Background” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are a party to the TRA, under which we are contractually committed to pay the non-controlling interest holders in QLH 85% of the amount of any tax benefits that we actually realize, or in some cases are deemed to realize as a result of certain transactions. Amounts payable under the TRA are contingent upon, among other things, (i) the generation of future taxable income, to support realization and (ii) the tax laws and rates, including state apportionment, applicable at the time of each Exchange.

We recognize obligations under the TRA after concluding if it is probable that we would have sufficient future taxable income in aggregate over the term of the TRA to utilize the related tax benefits. The projection of future taxable income is inherently uncertain and involves judgment. In projecting taxable income, the Company considers certain assumptions, including revenue growth and operating margins among others. Actual taxable income may differ from our estimates, which could impact the timing or obligation to make payments under the TRA. The TRA liability is calculated by (i) determining the tax attributes subject to the TRA, (ii) applying a blended tax rate to the tax attributes, and (iii) calculating the iterative impact. The blended tax rate consists of the U.S. federal statutory corporate income tax rate and an assumed combined state and local income tax rate driven by future estimated apportionment factors and statutory corporate income tax rates applicable to each state. To the extent our estimate of future state apportionment changes and/or there are changes in tax law, this could significantly impact the amounts required to be paid under the TRA. If we are not be able to fully utilize all or part of the related tax benefits, we reduce the portion of the liability related to the tax benefits not expected to be utilized and record the offsetting benefit on our consolidated statements of operations. We involve a third party specialist to calculate the liability under the TRA using a complex model.

Additionally, we recognize the amount of TRA Payments expected to be paid within the next 12 months and classify this amount as current and included within accrued expense on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. This determination is based on our estimate of taxable income for the next fiscal year. The Company may elect to completely terminate the TRA early only with the written approval of each of a majority of its independent directors, although it has no plans to do so at this time. In such event, the Company would be required to make an immediate cash payment equal to the present value of the anticipated future tax benefits that are the subject of the TRA.

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