# MAGNITE, INC. (MGNI) FY 2021 MD&A

Verbatim Item 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis from MAGNITE, INC.'s 10-K for fiscal year 2021.

SEC filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1595974/000159597422000010/mgni-20211231.htm
Accession: 0001595974-22-000010
Filing date: 2022-02-23
Report date: 2021-12-31
Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary.
Confidence: high

Company profile: /company/MGNI/
All MD&A years: /company/MGNI/mda/
Next year: /company/MGNI/mda/fy2022/ (FY 2022)

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 in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included in Item 8 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, beliefs, and expectations and that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and the "Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements."

Overview and Trends

    See "Item 1. Business" for an overview of our business, the industry in which we operate, and important industry trends.

Recent Developments

Telaria Merger, SpotX and SpringServe Acquisitions

On April 1, 2020, we completed the Telaria Merger, and on April 30, 2021, we completed the SpotX Acquisition. These transactions were transformative and have resulted in what we believe to be the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising platform and ad server, with scale, capabilities, and solutions exceeding those offered by competitors. We offer a single partner for transacting CTV, desktop display, video, audio and mobile inventory across all geographies and auction types.

As CTV viewership is growing rapidly and the pace of adoption is accelerating the shift of advertising budgets from linear television to CTV, these transactions have strategically positioned us to take advantage of this trend, and we believe that CTV will be our biggest growth driver in future periods.

The SpotX Acquisition resulted in a significant increase in our revenue and Revenue ex-TAC (as defined in section "Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics"), in particular in CTV and online video. Following the transaction, the percentage of our revenue attributable to CTV increased significantly, and because CTV is largely transacted through reserve auctions, these types of auctions have become a more significant portion of the transactions on our platform. The acquisition also resulted in an increase in related operating expenses, primarily associated with costs for personnel, data center and hosting costs, facilities, payments to sellers for revenue reported on a gross basis, and other ancillary costs to support the business. We expect some of those increases to be offset by cost saving activities that began in the second quarter of 2021 and continue to be in process. We are targeting in excess of $35 million in run-rate operating cost synergies over a two year period. As of December 31, 2021, we have achieved more than half of our cost synergy target on a run-rate basis.

The SpringServe Acquisition, which we completed in July 2021, expanded our video and CTV offering to include ad server functionality in addition to our programmatic SSP capabilities. The SpringServe ad server manages multiple aspects of video advertising for both programmatic transactions and inventory sold directly by the publisher, including forecasting, routing, customized ad experiences, and advanced podding logic. Combined with our SSP, the SpringServe ad server provides publishers a holistic yield management solution that works across their entire video advertising business to drive value. This is of particular importance for CTV publishers, who still sell a large percentage of their inventory through their direct sales team. We believe the acquisition of SpringServe is highly strategic as it allows us to offer publishers an independent full-stack solution to the walled gardens, which can be leveraged across their entire video advertising business.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Recent Developments

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global disruptions have negatively affected our revenue, results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition. Our business depends on the overall demand for advertising and on the economic health of our current and prospective sellers and buyers. In response to the pandemic and associated economic challenges, a significant number of advertisers, in particular with respect to certain categories of advertising that were particularly impacted by the pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders, reduced their advertising budgets, resulting in an overall decrease in advertising spend through our platform compared to our pre-COVID expectations. This decrease was particularly pronounced through the first half of 2020, where we experienced a significant decline in our revenues compared to our expectations. Our revenue trends improved significantly during the third and fourth quarters of 2020 as our revenue returned to positive growth.

During the first half of 2021, revenue from a number of advertising categories returned to pre-COVID spending levels, while certain categories including travel, auto, and entertainment remained below pre-COVID spending levels. In the second half of 2021, we continued to see lower levels of spending in travel and auto, in part due to global supply chain disruptions, and also faced challenges due to government stay-at-home orders in certain markets such as Australia. These factors were exacerbated by the

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spread of the Omicron variant in December 2021, which resulted in renewed macro-economic challenges. We expect such challenges to persist through the first quarter of 2022 and it is possible that they will increase in scope.

Due to the substantial uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the extent to which the pandemic (and actions taken in response to it by governments, businesses, and individuals) and other direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic will ultimately impact our business and is currently unknown, and depends on various factors, many of which are outside of our control. Refer to Item 1A. "Risk Factors" for additional information related to this risk.

2021 Channel Trends

Sellers use our technology to monetize their content across all digital channels, including CTV, mobile and desktop, and each of these channels will continue to represent a meaningful portion of our revenue in future periods. We track the breakdown of revenue across channels to better understand how our clients are transacting on our platforms, which informs decisions as to business strategy and the allocation of resources and capital.

Each of these digital channels has its own industry growth rate, with CTV and mobile projected to continue to grow steadily, while desktop growth flattens. MAGNA's October 2021 Programmatic Market forecast has estimated compound annual growth rates from 2021 to 2025 for mobile and desktop at 18% and 2%, respectively, and over the same period, eMarketer projected CTV to grow at a 24% compound annual growth rate.

We believe that CTV will be our biggest growth driver in future periods, and following the SpotX Acquisition we expect CTV revenue to represent a significantly higher percentage of our overall revenue compared to pre-acquisition periods.

We expect our mobile business to grow at a higher rate than desktop, consistent with industry trends and our historical results. Our mobile business consists of two components, mobile web and mobile applications. Initially our mobile business consisted primarily of mobile web, which is similar to our desktop business, but we expect our future growth within mobile to come largely from our mobile applications business and, in particular, mobile video.

Lower industry growth rates in desktop will make growing desktop revenue more challenging; however, in future periods we believe we will be able to grow our desktop business in excess of industry projections by capturing market share through SPO and expansion of publisher relationships. We expect our desktop business to decline as an overall percentage of our revenue in future periods. However, we expect that it will continue to represent a significant part of our revenue in the near term and therefore have a negative effect on our overall growth rate.

Components of Our Results of Operations

    We report our financial results as one operating segment. Our consolidated operating results are regularly reviewed by our chief operating decision maker, principally to make decisions about how we allocate our resources and to measure our consolidated operating performance.

    Revenue

    We generate revenue from the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory through our platform. Generally, our revenue is based on a percentage of the ad spend that runs through our platform, although for certain clients or transaction types we may receive a fixed CPM for each impression sold, and for advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders we earn revenue based on the full amount of ad spend that runs through our platform. We also generate revenue from the fee we charge clients for use of our Demand Manager header-bidding product and SpringServe ad server product, which we acquired on July 1, 2021. We recognize revenue upon the fulfillment of our contractual obligations in connection with a completed transaction, subject to satisfying all other revenue recognition criteria. For the majority of transactions executed through our platform, we act as an agent on behalf of the publisher that is monetizing its inventory, and revenue is recognized net of any advertising inventory costs that we remit to sellers. With respect to certain revenue streams for managed advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders, we report revenue on a gross basis, based primarily on our determination that the Company acts as the primary obligor in the delivery of advertising campaigns for our buyer clients with respect to such transactions.

Following the SpotX Acquisition, the percentage of our revenue reported on a gross basis increased significantly compared to pre-acquisition periods. During the first quarter of 2021 (prior to the SpotX Acquisition), our revenue reported on a gross basis was less than 3% of total revenue. For the three months ended December 31, 2021, our revenue reported on a gross basis increased to 19% of total revenue. As revenue streams acquired in the SpotX Acquisition continue to increase, the percentage of revenue reported on a gross basis may continue to increase in future periods. Any mix shift that causes an increase in the relative percentage of our revenue accounted for on a gross basis would result in a higher revenue contribution and an associated decrease in our gross margin percentage (with no underlying impact on gross profit or Revenue ex-TAC, as defined in section "Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics"). Our revenue recognition policies are discussed in more detail in Note 4 of the "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements."

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    Expenses

    We classify our expenses into the following categories:

    Cost of Revenue. Our cost of revenue consists primarily of data center costs, bandwidth costs, ad protection costs, depreciation and maintenance expense of hardware supporting our revenue-producing platform, amortization of software costs for the development of our revenue-producing platform, amortization expense associated with acquired developed technologies, personnel costs, facilities-related costs, and cloud computing costs. In addition, for revenue booked on a gross basis, cost of revenue includes traffic acquisition costs. Personnel costs included in cost of revenue include salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, and are primarily attributable to personnel in our network operations group who support our platform. We capitalize costs associated with software that is developed or obtained for internal use and amortize the costs associated with our revenue-producing platform in cost of revenue over their estimated useful lives. We amortize acquired developed technologies over their estimated useful lives.

    Sales and Marketing. Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, as well as marketing expenses such as brand marketing, travel expenses, trade shows and marketing materials, professional services, and amortization expense associated with client relationships, backlog, and non-compete agreements from our business acquisitions, and to a lesser extent, facilities-related costs and depreciation and amortization. Our sales organization focuses on increasing the adoption of our solution by existing and new buyers and sellers. We amortize acquired intangibles associated with client relationships and backlog from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives.

    Technology and Development. Our technology and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, as well as professional services associated with the ongoing development and maintenance of our solution, depreciation and amortization, and to a lesser extent, facilities-related costs. These expenses include costs incurred in the development, implementation, and maintenance of internal use software, including platform and related infrastructure. Technology and development costs are expensed as incurred, except to the extent that such costs are associated with internal use software development that qualifies for capitalization, which are then recorded as internal use software development costs, net, on our consolidated balance sheets. We amortize internal use software development costs that relate to our revenue-producing activities on our platform to cost of revenue and amortize other internal use software development costs to technology and development costs or general and administrative expenses, depending on the nature of the related project. We amortize acquired intangibles associated with technology and development functions from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives.

    General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, associated with our executive, finance, legal, human resources, compliance, and other administrative personnel, as well as accounting and legal professional services fees, facilities-related costs and depreciation and amortization, and other corporate-related expenses. General and administrative expenses also include amortization of internal use software development costs and acquired intangible assets from our business acquisitions over their estimated useful lives that relate to general and administrative functions.

    Merger, Acquisition, and Restructuring Costs. Our merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs consist primarily of professional service fees associated with the merger and acquisition activities, including cash-based employee termination costs, stock-based compensation charges, and other restructuring activities, including facility closures, relocation costs, and contract termination costs.

    Other (Income) Expense

    Interest (Income) Expense, Net. Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with our Convertible Senior Notes and credit facility ("Term Loan B Facility"), and their related amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount. Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash equivalents.

    Other Income. Other income consists primarily of rental income from commercial office space we hold under lease and have sublet to other tenants.

    Foreign Currency Exchange (Gain) Loss, Net. Foreign currency exchange (gain) loss, net consists primarily of gains and losses on foreign currency transactions and remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities on our balance sheet denominated in foreign currencies. Foreign currency monetary assets and liabilities consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and various intercompany balances held between our subsidiaries. Our primary foreign currency exposures are currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, principally the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro, and Japanese Yen.

    Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes

    We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (federal and state) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Tax laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without notice, due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the

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ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, such as changes in our business operations, acquisitions, investments, entry into new businesses and geographies, intercompany transactions, the relative amount of our foreign earnings, including earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize related tax benefits, the applicability of special tax regimes, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, changes in our stock price, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation, changes in the laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations related to tax, including changes to the global tax framework, competition, and other laws and accounting rules in various jurisdictions.    

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Results of Operations

    The following table sets forth our consolidated results of operations:

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    The following table sets forth our consolidated results of operations for the specified periods as a percentage of our revenue for those periods presented:

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Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019

    Revenue

Revenue increased $246.8 million, or 111%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year. Our revenue growth was driven primarily by organic growth as well as incremental revenue from the SpotX Acquisition, which was completed on April 30, 2021. On a pro forma basis, including revenue for Telaria, SpotX and SpringServe during the relevant pre-acquisition period, revenue increased 30% for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior period, primarily due to growth in all channels, mainly driven by CTV and mobile, and a rebound from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which were particularly pronounced in the first half of 2020.

Revenue increased $65.2 million, or 42%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the prior year. Our revenue growth was driven primarily by the Telaria Merger, completed on April 1, 2020, which contributed $60.1 million in revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020. On a per channel basis, CTV revenue increased $34.3 million, compared to the prior year (all as a result of the Telaria Merger), while mobile revenue increased $20.2 million, or a 23%, compared to the prior year, and desktop revenue increased $10.7 million, or 16%, compared to the prior year. Excluding the impact of the Telaria Merger, our revenue increased 3% year-over-year. Despite some recovery in our revenue trends beginning in the third quarter of 2020, our overall annual revenue growth was significantly negatively affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We expect our revenue will increase in 2022 compared to 2021, as a result of organic growth and contributions from recently acquired businesses, in particular with respect to our CTV revenue. Our revenue is largely a function of the number of advertising transactions and the price, or CPM, at which the inventory is sold, which results in total advertising spend on our platform, and, with respect to our revenue reported on a net basis, the take rate we charge for our services. Because pricing and take rate vary across publisher, channel and transaction type, our revenue is impacted by shifts in the mix of advertising spend on our platform. We believe that contributions to revenue from reserve auctions, in particular with respect to CTV which is largely transacted on a reserved basis, will continue to grow as a percentage of our total revenue. In general, we expect this shift will have a net positive impact on our revenue due to both an increase in the volume of transactions and average CPM, despite the fact that reserve auctions generally carry a lower take rate compared to open auction transactions.

Our revenue growth has been tempered, and may be negatively impacted in the future, by reductions in revenue resulting from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Refer to Item 1A. "Risk Factors" for additional information related to this risk factor and the impact it may have on our business.

    Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue increased by $123.9 million, or 159%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year primarily due to an increase in traffic acquisition cost of $49.9 million driven by the increase in revenue reported on a gross basis as a result of the SpotX Acquisition, an increase in depreciation and amortization expenses of $43.2 million also associated with the SpotX Acquisition, and an increase in data and bandwidth expenses of $21.4 million.

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Cost of revenue increased $20.4 million, or 35%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily due to the Telaria Merger. Cost of revenue includes an increase of $11.8 million in data and bandwidth expenses, $4.5 million in depreciation and amortization, and $2.0 million in media costs.

Our cost of revenue will continue to increase in future periods primarily due to the impacts of recently completed acquisitions that have expanded the size of our revenue and expense base, increases in hosting costs and other expenses to support the growth of our business, increases in traffic acquisition costs associated with revenue reported on a gross basis, and an increase in amortization of intangible assets resulting from the Telaria Merger and the SpotX Acquisition.

Cost of revenue may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period, on an absolute dollar basis and as a percentage of revenue, depending on revenue levels and the volume of transactions we process supporting those revenues, and the timing and amounts of depreciation and amortization of equipment and software.

    Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses increased by $94.4 million, or 124%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year primarily due to an increase of $54.1 million in amortization of acquired intangibles and other assets as a result of the SpotX Acquisition and the Telaria Merger as well as increases in headcount from the SpotX Acquisition, resulting in an additional $36.8 million of personnel related expenses.

Sales and marketing expenses increased by $31.5 million, or 71%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily due to the Telaria Merger and associated increases in amortization related to acquired intangibles and other assets and increases in headcount. Sales and marketing expenses increased by $20.4 million related to personnel expenses and $12.8 million related to depreciation and amortization associated with the Telaria Merger. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in expenses of $2.4 million related to travel and industry events due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase in 2022 compared to 2021 in absolute dollars primarily due to a full year of additional headcount costs and amortization of acquired intangible assets as a result of the SpotX Acquisition, new hiring to support our growth, and increases in travel and entertainment expenses.

Sales and marketing expenses may fluctuate quarter to quarter and period to period, on an absolute dollar basis and as a percentage of revenue, based on revenue levels, the timing of our investments and seasonality in our industry and business.

    Technology and Development

Technology and development expenses increased by $22.9 million, or 44%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year, primarily due to an increase of $21.2 million in personnel costs as a result of the increased headcount associated with the SpotX Acquisition and a full-year of results from the Telaria Merger.

Technology and development expenses increased by $11.3 million, or 28%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to an increase of $11.6 million in personnel costs as a result of the increased headcount associated with the Telaria Merger.

We expect technology and development expenses to increase in 2022 compared to 2021 in absolute dollars, primarily due to a full year of additional headcount costs related to the SpotX and SpringServe Acquisitions and new hiring to support our growth.

The timing and amount of our capitalized development and enhancement projects may affect the amount of technology development costs expensed in any given period. As a percentage of revenue, technology and development expense may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period based on revenue levels, the timing and amounts of technology and development efforts, the timing and the rate of the amortization of capitalized projects and the timing and amounts of future capitalized internal use software development costs.

    General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses increased by $11.8 million, or 22%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year, primarily due to increases of $6.3 million in personnel expenses, $1.5 million in professional services, and $1.1 million in software license mainly attributed to the growth of the overall business as a result of the SpotX Acquisition.

General and administrative expenses increased by $13.2 million, or 33%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to increases of $7.1 million in personnel expenses and $4.0 million in facilities related expenses, both primarily associated with the Telaria Merger. In addition, professional services increased by $3.0 million mainly attributed to the growth of the overall business as a result of the Telaria Merger. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in bad debt expense of $1.3 million.

We expect general and administrative expenses to increase in 2022 compared to 2021 in absolute dollars primarily due to a full year of additional headcount costs related to the SpotX Acquisition and new hires to support our overall growth, as well as additional costs assuming a return to office work environment in 2022.

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General and administrative expenses may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and period to period based on the timing and amounts of expenditures in our general and administrative functions as they vary in scope and scale over periods. Such fluctuations may not be directly proportional to changes in revenue.

    Merger, Acquisition, and Restructuring Costs

We incurred merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs of $38.2 million and $17.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, primarily related to the SpotX and SpringServe Acquisitions, which were completed on April 30, 2021 and July 1, 2021, respectively, and the Telaria Merger, which was completed on April 1, 2020. In 2021, these costs included professional fees related to investment banking advisory, legal, and other professional service fees of $28.4 million, one-time cash-based employee termination benefit costs of $6.2 million, facility closure costs of $2.5 million, and non-cash stock-based compensation expense associated with double-trigger accelerations and severance benefits of $1.1 million. Costs incurred in 2020 included professional services of $9.9 million, one-time cash-based employee termination benefit costs of $5.7 million, and non-cash stock-based compensation expense and severance benefits of $1.9 million.

Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs increased by $15.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily due to increased professional services and cash and non-cash acceleration and termination benefits, as referenced above, associated with the Telaria Merger and resulting restructuring activities.

    Other (Income) Expense, Net

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Interest expense, net increased by $19.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year, mainly due to interest expense associated with the Convertible Senior Notes (defined below), which the Company entered into during March 2021, and interest expense associated with the Term Loan B Facility (defined below), which the Company entered into during April 2021, both in connection with the closing of the SpotX Acquisition. Interest (income) expense, net was immaterial in the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Other income increased by $0.8 million and $3.4 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, compared to the prior years due to a subleased property acquired from the Telaria Merger in April 2020 and additional subleases entered into in 2021 and 2020.

Foreign exchange (gain) loss, net is impacted by movements in exchange rates and the amount of foreign currency-denominated cash, receivables, and payables, which are impacted by our billings to buyers, payments to sellers, and intercompany balances. The foreign currency gain, net during the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily attributable to the currency movements between the British Pound, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, and Euro relative to the U.S. Dollar. The foreign currency loss, net during the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily attributable to the currency movements between the same foreign currencies mentioned above relative to the U.S. Dollar and the foreign currency loss, net during the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily attributable to the currency movements between the British Pound and the Euro relative to the U.S. Dollar.

    Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes

We recorded an income tax benefit of $95.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to an income tax expense of $0.7 million and income tax benefit of $1.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily the result of the deferred tax liability associated with acquisitions that occurred during the year and the tax liability associated with foreign subsidiaries. The tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily the result of the domestic valuation allowance and the tax liability associated with foreign subsidiaries. The tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2019 was the result of a deferred tax liability associated with the RTK.io acquisition, the release of a foreign valuation allowance resulting from a change to a cost-plus arrangement for a foreign subsidiary, the domestic valuation allowance, and the tax liability associated with foreign subsidiaries.

Key Operating and Financial Performance Metrics

    In addition to our GAAP results, we review non-GAAP financial measures, including Revenue ex-TAC and Adjusted EBITDA, to help us evaluate our business on a consistent basis, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, establish budgets, measure the effectiveness of investments in our technology and development and sales and marketing, and assess

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our operational efficiencies. Our non-GAAP financial measures are discussed below. Revenue and net income (loss) are discussed above under the headings "Components of Our Results of Operations" and "Results of Operations."

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Year Ended"],["","December 31, 2021","","December 31, 2020","","December 31, 2019"],["","(in thousands)"],["Financial Measures and non-GAAP Financial Measures:"],["Revenue","$","468,413","","","$","221,628","","","$","156,414"],["Revenue ex-TAC","416,455","","","219,602","","","156,414"],["Gross profit","266,751","","","143,881","","","99,023"],["Net income (loss)","65","","","(53,432)","","","(25,478)"],["Adjusted EBITDA","148,659","","","43,065","","","25,694"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Revenue ex-TAC

    Revenue ex-TAC is revenue excluding traffic acquisition cost ("TAC"). Traffic acquisition cost, a component of Cost of revenue, represents what we must pay sellers for the sale of advertising inventory through our platform for revenue reported on a gross basis. In calculating Revenue ex-TAC, we add back the cost of revenue, excluding TAC, to gross profit, the most comparable GAAP measurement. Revenue ex-TAC is a non-GAAP financial measure. Our management believes Revenue ex-TAC is a useful measure in assessing the performance of Magnite as a combined company following the SpotX Acquisition and facilitates a consistent comparison against our core business without considering the impact of traffic acquisition costs related to revenue reported on a gross basis.

Our use of Revenue ex-TAC has limitations as an analytical tool and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under GAAP. A potential limitation of this non-GAAP financial measure is that other companies, including companies in our industry which have similar business arrangements, may define Revenue ex-TAC differently, which may make comparisons difficult. Because of these and other limitations, you should consider our non-GAAP measures only as supplemental to GAAP-based financial performance measures, including revenue, net income (loss) and cash flows.

The following table presents the calculation of gross profit and reconciliation of gross profit to Revenue ex-TAC for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Year Ended"],["","December 31, 2021","","December 31, 2020","","December 31, 2019"],["","(in thousands)"],["Revenue","$","468,413","","","$","221,628","","","$","156,414"],["Less: Cost of revenue","201,662","","","77,747","","","57,391"],["Gross profit","266,751","","","143,881","","","99,023"],["Add back: Cost of revenue, excluding TAC","149,704","","","75,721","","","57,391"],["Revenue ex-TAC","$","416,455","","","$","219,602","","","$","156,414"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

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We track the breakdown of Revenue ex-TAC across channels to better understand how our clients are transacting on our platform, which informs decisions as to business strategy and the allocation of resources and capital. The following table presents Revenue ex-TAC by channel:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Revenue ex-TAC"],["","Year Ended"],["","December 31, 2021","","December 31, 2020","","December 31, 2019"],["","(in thousands)"],["Channel:"],["CTV","$","143,407","","","$","34,319","","","$","\u2014"],["Desktop","112,981","","","76,930","","","68,302"],["Mobile","160,067","","","108,353","","","88,112"],["Total","$","416,455","","","$","219,602","","","$","156,414"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Revenue ex-TAC increased $196.9 million, or 90%, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in Revenue ex-TAC was primarily due to contributions from the SpotX and SpringServe Acquisitions and the Telaria Merger, which were completed on April 30, 2021, July 1, 2021, and April 1, 2020, respectively, as well as organic growth across all channels as the business recovered from COVID-19 advertising lows in 2020.

Revenue ex-TAC increased $63.2 million, or 40%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in Revenue ex-TAC was primarily attributable to contributions from the Telaria Merger, which was completed on April 1, 2020.

We expect Revenue ex-TAC to increase through the remainder of 2022 as compared to the same period in the prior year. We believe that CTV will be our biggest growth driver in future periods and continue to represent a higher percentage of our overall Revenue ex-TAC.

Adjusted EBITDA

    We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, amortization of acquired intangible assets, impairment charges, interest income or expense, and other cash and non-cash based income or expenses that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance, including, but not limited to foreign exchange gains and losses, acquisition and related items, non-operational real estate expense (income), net, and provision (benefit) for income taxes. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our performance for the following reasons:

•Adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors and securities analysts to measure a company’s performance without regard to items such as those we exclude in calculating this measure, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon their financing, capital structures, and the method by which assets were acquired.

•Our management uses Adjusted EBITDA in conjunction with GAAP financial measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget, as a measure of performance and the effectiveness of our business strategies, and in communications with our board of directors concerning our performance. Adjusted EBITDA may also be used as a metric for determining payment of cash incentive compensation.

•Adjusted EBITDA provides a measure of consistency and comparability with our past performance that many investors find useful, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of operations, and also facilitates comparisons with other peer companies, many of which use similar non-GAAP financial measures to supplement their GAAP results.

Although Adjusted EBITDA is frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluations of companies, Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. These limitations include:

•Stock-based compensation is a non-cash charge and will remain an element of our long-term incentive compensation package, although we exclude it as an expense when evaluating our ongoing operating performance for a particular period.

•Depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, and the assets being depreciated or amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, but Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for these replacements.

•Impairment charges are non-cash charges related to goodwill, intangible assets and/or long-lived assets.

•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect non-cash charges related to acquisition and related items, such as amortization of acquired intangible assets, merger or acquisition related severance costs, and changes in the fair value of contingent consideration.

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•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash and non-cash charges and changes in, or cash requirements for, acquisition and related items, such as certain transaction expenses and expenses associated with earn-out amounts.

•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in our working capital needs, capital expenditures, non-operating real estate expenses or income, or contractual commitments.

•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash requirements for income taxes and the cash impact of other income or expense.

•Other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

    Our Adjusted EBITDA is influenced by fluctuations in our revenue, cost of revenue, and the timing and amounts of the cost of our operations. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), income (loss) from operations, or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

    The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss), the most comparable GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","","Year Ended"],["","","","","","December 31, 2021","","December 31, 2020","","December 31, 2019"],["","","","(in thousands)"],["Net income (loss)","","","","","$","65","","","$","(53,432)","","","$","(25,478)"],["Add back (deduct):"],["Depreciation and amortization expense, excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets","","","","","25,017","","","24,337","","","28,818"],["Amortization of acquired intangibles","","","","","121,869","","","24,911","","","3,308"],["Stock-based compensation expense","","","","","40,735","","","28,491","","","18,825"],["Merger, acquisition, and restructuring costs, excluding stock-based compensation expense","","","","","37,106","","","15,682","","","2,041"],["Non-operational real estate expense (income), net","","","","","553","","","198","","","\u2014"],["Interest (income) expense, net","","","","","19,848","","","(50)","","","(789)"],["Foreign exchange (gain) loss, net","","","","","(1,480)","","","2,220","","","481"],["Other non-operating (income) expense, net","","","","","(1)","","","15","","","\u2014"],["Provision (benefit) for income taxes","","","","","(95,053)","","","693","","","(1,512)"],["Adjusted EBITDA","","","","","$","148,659","","","$","43,065","","","$","25,694"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Adjusted EBITDA increased by $105.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to increases in revenue from both organic growth and the SpotX and SpringServe Acquisitions, which are discussed in section "Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019" and improved operating leverage from our increased scale and related cost synergies.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by $17.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to the increase in revenue from the Telaria Merger and improved operating leverage from our increased scale and related merger cost synergies.

We expect Adjusted EBITDA to continue to increase as a result of continued growth in revenue, ongoing operating leverage, and the realization of additional cost synergies.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

    Liquidity

At December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $230.4 million, of which $44.9 million was held in foreign currency denominated cash accounts, and an aggregate gross principal amount of $758.2 million of indebtedness outstanding under our Term Loan B Facility (as defined below) and our Convertible Senior Notes (as defined below). In addition, we are party to a $65.0 million Revolving Credit Facility, of which approximately $5.1 million is assigned to outstanding but undrawn letters of credit. See "Capital Resources" below for further information about our outstanding debt.

Our principal cash requirements for the 12 month period following this report primarily consist of personnel costs, contractual payment obligations, including office leases, data center costs and cloud hosting costs, capital expenditures, payment of interest and required principal payments on our Convertible Senior Notes and Term Loan B Facility, taxes, and cash requirements to fund working capital. In the longer term, we would expect to have similar cash requirements, with increases in absolute dollars associated with the continued growth of our business and expansion of operations. See "Contractual Obligations and Known Future Cash Requirements" for a further discussion of our known material contractual obligations.

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Our working capital needs and cash conversion cycle, which is influenced by seasonality and may be negatively impacted as a result of COVID-19, can have large fluctuations due to the timing of receipts from buyers and timing of disbursements to sellers. In addition, in the event a buyer defaults on payment, we may still be required to pay sellers for the inventory purchased. Additionally, our capital expenditure investments tend to be higher in the second half of the year. The impacts from changes in working capital and capital expenditures can significantly impact our cash flows and therefore, our liquidity during any period presented.

We have historically relied upon cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operations, borrowings under credit facilities and issuance of debt for our liquidity needs. Our ability to meet our cash requirements depends on, among other things, our operating performance, competitive developments, and financial market conditions, all of which are significantly affected by business, financial, economic, political, global health-related and other factors, many of which we may not be able to control or influence.

We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents, cash generated from operating activities, and available borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital requirements for at least the next twelve months from the issuance of our financial statements. However, there are multiple factors that could impact our cash balances in the future, including the factors described above with respect to working capital and cash conversion cycles, as well as the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on buyers and sellers and the factors set forth in Part I, Item 1A: "Risk Factors" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Capital Resources

On April 30, 2021, we completed the SpotX Acquisition, which included cash consideration of $640.0 million, and on July 1, 2021, we completed the SpringServe Acquisition, which included cash consideration of $31.1 million, excluding indemnification holdback.

In March 2021, we sold convertible senior notes ("Convertible Senior Notes") for gross proceeds of $400.0 million. The Convertible Senior Notes are senior, unsecured obligations with interest payable semi-annually in cash at a rate of 0.25% per annum in arrears on March 15 and September 15. The Convertible Senior Notes will mature on March 15, 2026, unless earlier converted, redeemed, or repurchased. The initial conversion rate is 15.6539 shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes, which represents an initial conversion price of approximately $63.88 per share of the Company’s common stock and is subject to adjustment as described in the Offering Memorandum. At December 31, 2021, the balance of the Convertible Senior Notes was $390.4 million, net of unamortized debt issuance costs of $9.6 million. Accrued interest for the Convertible Senior Notes at December 31, 2021 was $0.3 million.

In conjunction with the issuance of the Convertible Senior Notes, we entered into capped call transactions to reduce the Company's exposure to additional cash payments above principal balances in the event of a cash conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes. The Company may owe additional cash or shares to the holders of the Convertible Senior Notes upon early conversion if our stock price exceeds $91.260 per share, which is subject to certain adjustments. Although the Company’s incremental exposure to the additional cash payment above the principal amount of the Convertible Senior Notes is reduced by the capped calls, conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes by the holders may cause dilution to the ownership interests of existing stockholders. See Note 18 in the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" for more information regarding terms and conditions of the Convertible Senior Notes and the capped call transactions.

On April 30, 2021, and in conjunction with the SpotX Acquisition, we entered into a credit agreement (the "Credit Agreement") with Goldman Sachs Bank USA as administrative and collateral agent, and other lending parties thereto for a $360.0 million seven-year senior secured term loan facility ("Term Loan B Facility") and a $52.5 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility"), which was subsequently increased to $65.0 million in June 2021. As part of the Term Loan B Facility, the Company received $325 million in proceeds, net of discounts and fees, which were used to finance the SpotX Acquisition and related transactions and for general corporate purposes. At December 31, 2021, amounts available under the Revolving Credit Facility were $59.9 million, net of letters of credit outstanding in the amount of $5.1 million. Accrued interest for the Term Loan B Facility at December 31, 2021 was $1.8 million.

On December 13, 2021, the Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program, under which the company is authorized to purchase up to $50.0 million of its common stock over the twelve month period commencing December 10, 2021. The repurchase program allows the company to repurchase its common stock using open market stock purchases, privately negotiated transactions, block trades or other means in accordance with U.S. securities laws. Under the share repurchase program, 349,245 shares were purchased in open market purchases through December 31, 2021 for a total of approximately $6.0 million at an average of $17.20 per share. Approximately $44.0 million worth of shares remained available for purchase under the plan as of December 31, 2021.

In the future, we may attempt to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities or through equity-linked or debt financing arrangements. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or equity-linked securities, the ownership of our existing stockholders will be diluted. If we raise additional financing by incurring indebtedness, we will be subject to increased fixed payment obligations and could also be subject to restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, and

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other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Any future indebtedness we incur may result in terms that could be unfavorable to equity investors.

An inability to raise additional capital could adversely affect our ability to achieve our business objectives. In addition, if our operating performance during the next twelve months is below our expectations, our liquidity and ability to operate our business could be adversely affected.

Our cash and cash equivalents balance is affected by our results of operations, the timing of capital expenditures which are typically greater in the second half of the year, and by changes in our working capital, particularly changes in accounts receivable and accounts payable. The timing of cash receipts from buyers and payments to sellers can significantly impact our cash flows from operating activities and our liquidity for, and within, any period presented. Our collection and payment cycle can vary from period to period depending upon various circumstances, including seasonality, and may be negatively impacted as a result of COVID-19.

    Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods presented:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Year Ended"],["","December 31, 2021","","December 31, 2020","","December 31, 2019"],["","(in thousands)"],["Cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities","$","126,589","","","$","(12,065)","","","$","31,983"],["Cash flows provided by (used in) investing activities","(690,997)","","","32,636","","","(23,388)"],["Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities","678,053","","","7,354","","","(205)"],["Effects of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash","(683)","","","918","","","46"],["Change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash","$","112,962","","","$","28,843","","","$","8,436"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

    Operating Activities

    Our cash flows from operating activities are primarily driven by revenues generated from advertising activity, offset by the cash costs of operations, and are significantly influenced by the timing of and fluctuations in receipts from buyers and related payments to sellers. Our future cash flows will be diminished if we cannot increase our revenue levels and manage costs appropriately.

    During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash provided by operating activities was $126.6 million, compared to net cash used in operating activities of $12.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 and net cash provided by operating activities of $32.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2019. Our operating activities included net income of $0.1 million, and net losses of $53.4 million, and $25.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, and 2019, respectively, which were offset by non-cash adjustments of $94.6 million, $76.4 million, and $51.5 million, respectively. Net changes in our working capital resulted in increases of $31.9 million and $5.9 million in cash provided by operating activities in 2021 and 2019, respectively. In 2020, net changes in our working capital increased cash used from operating activities by $35.1 million. The net changes in working capital for all periods presented are primarily due to the timing of cash receipts from buyers and the timing of payments to sellers.

    We believe that cash flows from operations will continue to fluctuate, but in general will increase over time as our business continues to grow.

    Investing Activities

    Our primary investing activities have consisted of acquisitions of businesses, purchases of property and equipment, capital expenditures in support of creating and enhancing our technology infrastructure, and investments in, and maturities of, available-for-sale securities. Purchases of property and equipment and investments in internal use software development may vary from period-to-period due to the timing of the expansion of our operations, changes to headcount, and the cycles of our internal use software development. We anticipate investment in internal use software development to slightly increase compared to past years' investment levels as we continue to innovate new solutions on our platform. As the business continues to grow, we expect our investment in property and equipment to increase compared to 2021. Historically, a majority of our purchases in property and equipment have occurred in the latter half of the year in preparation for the peak volumes of the fourth quarter and early in the first quarter of the following year. We expect those trends to continue, with higher levels of property and equipment spend in the latter half of next year compared to the first half of the year. Investments in, and maturities of, available-for-sale securities and acquisitions of businesses vary from period-to-period.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used by investing activities was $691.0 million compared to net cash provided by investing activities of $32.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 and net cash used by investing activities of $23.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2019. During the year ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we used

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cash for purchases of property and equipment of $17.7 million, $14.3 million, and $11.4 million, respectively, and used cash for investments in our internally developed software of $11.4 million, $7.7 million, and $8.5 million, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we used net cash of $661.9 million to acquire SpotX, SpringServe, and Nth Party. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we acquired $54.6 million cash in the Telaria Merger. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we used net cash of $11.0 million for the acquisition of RTK.io and had net maturities of investments in available-for-sale securities of $7.5 million.

    Financing Activities

    Our financing activities consisted of our Convertible Senior Notes offering, amounts borrowed under our Term Loan B Facility, and transactions related to our equity plans. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019 we provided net cash of $678.1 million and $7.4 million, and used net cash of $0.2 million, respectively, for financing activities. Cash inflows from financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 included $400.0 million in proceeds from our Convertible Senior Notes offering, $349.2 million in net proceeds from our Term Loan B Facility, cash proceeds from stock options exercised of $9.4 million and $3.7 million cash proceeds from issuance of common stock under our employee stock purchase plan. These inflows for the year ended December 31, 2021 were partially offset by a $39.0 million payment for capped call transactions entered into in connection with the Convertible Senior Notes offering, debt issuance cost payments of $30.4 million, repurchases of $6.0 million of treasury stock in conjunction with our stock repurchase plan, $6.5 million for income tax deposits paid in respect of vesting of stock-based compensation awards that were reimbursed by the award recipients through surrender of shares, $1.8 million repayment of Term Loan B, and repayment of $0.6 million financing lease obligations. Cash inflows from financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 included cash proceeds from stock option exercised of $13.5 million and cash proceeds from issuance of common stock under our employee stock purchase plan of $1.7 million, partially offset by payments of $7.9 million for income tax deposits paid in respect of vesting of stock-based compensation awards that were reimbursed by the award recipients through surrender of shares. Cash outflows from financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 included payments of $1.8 million for income tax deposits paid in respect of vesting of stock-based compensation awards that were reimbursed by the award recipients through surrender of shares, which were partially offset by cash proceeds from issuance of common stock under our employee stock purchase plan of $1.1 million and cash proceeds from stock option exercised of $0.6 million.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

    We do not have any relationships with other entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities that have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. We did not have any other off-balance sheet arrangements at December 31, 2021 other than the short-term operating leases and the indemnification agreements described below, and commitments mentioned in Note 17 - Commitments and Contingencies.

Contractual Obligations and Known Future Cash Requirements

    Our principal commitments consist of obligations under our Convertible Senior Notes, Term Loan B Facility, Revolving Credit Facility, leases for our various office facilities, including our corporate headquarters in New York, New York and offices in Los Angeles, California, operating lease agreements, including data centers and cloud hosting services that expire at various times through 2031, and indemnification holdback associated with the SpringServe Acquisition. In certain cases, the terms of the lease agreements provide for rental payments on a graduated basis.

We received rental income from subleases totaling $4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

The following table summarizes our future lease obligations, payments of principal and interest under our debt agreements, sublease income, and other future payments due under non-cancelable agreements at December 31, 2021.

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[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","2022","","2023","","2024","","2025","","2026","","Thereafter","","Total"],["","(in thousands)"],["Lease liabilities associated with leases included Right of Use Assets as of December 31, 2021","$","22,491","","","$","19,354","","","$","16,522","","","$","8,796","","","$","6,734","","","$","27,095","","","$","100,992"],["Obligations for leases not included in Lease liabilities as of December 31, 2021","92","","","138","","","143","","","145","","","148","","","50","","","716"],["Convertible Senior Notes","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","400,000","","","\u2014","","","400,000"],["Interest, Convertible Senior Notes","1,000","","","1,000","","","1,000","","","1,000","","","208","","","\u2014","","","4,208"],["Term Loan B (1)","3,600","","","3,600","","","3,600","","","3,600","","","3,600","","","340,200","","","358,200"],["Interest, Term Loan B (2)","20,803","","","20,593","","","20,440","","","20,174","","","19,964","","","26,255","","","128,229"],["Operating sublease income","(4,605)","","","(4,481)","","","(4,322)","","","(1,306)","","","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","(14,714)"],["Other non-cancelable obligations","10,835","","","5,865","","","3,229","","","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","\u2014","","","19,929"],["Total","$","54,216","","","$","46,069","","","$","40,612","","","$","32,409","","","$","430,654","","","$","393,600","","","$","997,560"],["(1) Includes only scheduled amortization of payments and excludes currently unknown prepayment amounts that will be required, per terms of the Credit Agreement, after the end of each fiscal year."],["(2) Interest payments are based on an assumed rate of 5.75%, which was the rate used as of December 31, 2021 for the associated Credit Agreement."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Payments associated with our Convertible Senior Notes are based on contractual terms and intended timing of repayments of long-term debt and associated interest and do not assume conversion prior to the maturity date.

Other non-cancelable obligations include other agreements in the normal course of business and purchase consideration that extend beyond a year.

    In the ordinary course of business, we enter into agreements with sellers, buyers, and other third parties pursuant to which we agree to indemnify buyers, sellers, vendors, lessors, business partners, lenders, stockholders, and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses resulting from claims of intellectual property infringement, damages to property or persons, business losses, or other liabilities. Generally, these indemnity and defense obligations relate to our own business operations, obligations, and acts or omissions. However, under some circumstances, we agree to indemnify and defend contract counterparties against losses resulting from their own business operations, obligations, and acts or omissions, or the business operations, obligations, and acts or omissions of third parties. These indemnity provisions generally survive termination or expiration of the agreements in which they appear. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors, executive officers and certain other officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors, officers, or employees. No demands for indemnification have been made as of December 31, 2021.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

    Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

    We believe that the following assumptions and estimates have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements: (i) the determination of revenue recognition as net versus gross in our revenue arrangements, (ii) the determination of the estimated useful lives of internal-use software development costs, (iii) the recoverability of intangible asset and goodwill, (iv) assumptions used in the valuation models to determine the fair value of stock options, awards with market and performance conditions and stock-based compensation expense, (v) the assumptions used in the valuation of acquired assets and liabilities in business combinations, and (vi) income taxes, including the realization of tax assets and estimates of tax liabilities. There have been no significant changes in our accounting policies or estimates from those disclosed in our audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

    We believe that the accounting policies disclosed below include estimates and assumptions critical to our business and their application could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. In addition to these critical policies, our significant accounting policies are included within Note 2 of our "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" within this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Revenue Recognition    

    We generate revenue from transactions where we provide a platform for the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory. Generally, our revenue is based on a percentage of the ad spend that runs through our platform, although for certain clients or transaction types we may receive a fixed CPM for each impression sold, and for advertising campaigns that are transacted through insertion orders we earn revenue based on the full amount of ad spend that runs through our platform. We also generate revenue from the fee we charge clients for use of our Demand Manager header-bidding product, and from our SpringServe ad server product, which we acquired on July 1, 2021. Our platform dynamically connects sellers and buyers of advertising inventory in a digital marketplace. Our solution incorporates proprietary machine-learning algorithms, sophisticated data processing, high-volume storage, detailed analytics capabilities, and a distributed infrastructure. Digital advertising inventory is created when consumers access sellers’ content. Sellers provide digital advertising inventory to our platform in the form of advertising requests, or ad requests. When we receive ad requests from sellers, we send bid requests to buyers, which enable buyers to bid on sellers’ digital advertising inventory. Winning bids can create advertising, or paid impressions, for the seller to present to the consumer.

The total volume of spending between buyers and sellers on our platform is referred to as advertising spend. We keep a percentage of that advertising spend as a fee, and remit the remainder to the seller. The fee that we retain from the gross advertising spend on our platform is recognized as revenue. The fee earned on each transaction is based on the pre-existing agreement we have with the seller and the clearing price of the winning bid. We recognize revenue upon fulfillment of our performance obligation to a client, which occurs at the point in time an ad renders and is counted as a paid impression, subject to a contract existing with the client and a fixed or determinable transaction price. Performance obligations for all transactions are satisfied, and the corresponding revenue is recognized, at a distinct point in time. We have no arrangements with multiple performance obligations. We consider the following when determining if a contract exists (i) contract approval by all parties, (ii) identification of each party’s rights regarding the goods or services to be transferred, (iii) specified payment terms, (iv) commercial substance of the contract, and (v) collectability of substantially all of the consideration is probable.

The determination of whether revenue should be reported on a gross or net basis is based on an assessment of whether we are acting as the principal or an agent in the transaction. In determining whether we are acting as the principal or an agent, we followed the accounting guidance for principal-agent considerations. Making such determinations involves judgment and is based on an evaluation of the terms of each arrangement, none of which are considered presumptive or determinative.

For the majority of transactions on our platform, we have determined that we do not act as the principal in the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory because we are not the primary obligor as we do not have control of the digital advertising inventory and do not set prices agreed upon within the auction marketplace, and therefore we report revenue on a net basis. However, for certain transactions related to revenue streams acquired in connection with the Telaria Merger and the SpotX Acquisition, we report revenue on a gross basis, based primarily on our determination that we act as the primary obligor in the delivery of advertising campaigns for buyers with respect to such transactions.

Internal Use Software Development Costs

We capitalize certain internal use software development costs associated with creating and enhancing internally developed software related to our technology infrastructure. These costs include personnel and related employee benefits expenses for employees who are directly associated with and who devote time to software projects, and external direct costs of materials and services consumed in developing or obtaining the software. Software development costs that do not meet the qualification for capitalization, as further discussed below, are expensed as incurred and recorded in technology and development expenses in the results of operations.

    Software development activities generally consist of three stages, (i) the planning stage, (ii) the application and infrastructure development stage, and (iii) the post implementation stage. Costs incurred in the planning and post implementation stages of software development, including costs associated with the post-configuration training and repairs and maintenance of the developed technologies, are expensed as incurred. We capitalize costs associated with software developed for internal use when the planning stage is completed, management has authorized further funding for the completion of the project, and it is probable that the project will be completed and perform as intended. Costs incurred in the application and infrastructure development stages, including significant enhancements and upgrades, are capitalized. Capitalization ends once a project is substantially complete and the software and technologies are ready for their intended purpose.

We amortize internal use software development costs using a straight-line method over a three year estimated useful life, commencing when the software is ready for its intended use. The straight-line recognition method approximates the manner in which the expected benefit will be derived. We determined the life of internal use software based on historical software upgrades and replacement. The Company evaluates internal use software in use for abandonment and use that as a significant indicator for impairment on a quarterly basis.

Valuation of Goodwill and Intangibles

The valuation of assets acquired in a business combination and asset impairment reviews require the use of significant estimates and assumptions. The acquisition method of accounting for business combinations requires us to estimate the fair value of

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assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and any noncontrolling interest in an acquired business to properly allocate purchase price consideration between assets that are depreciated or amortized and goodwill.

Long-lived assets, including property and equipment, long-term prepayments, and intangible assets, excluding goodwill, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. The evaluation is performed at the lowest level of identifiable cash flows independent of other assets. An impairment loss would be recognized when estimated undiscounted future cash flows generated from the assets are less than their carrying amount. Measurement of an impairment loss would be based on the excess of the carrying amount of the asset group over its fair value.

We evaluate goodwill annually or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that goodwill may be impaired. In accordance with guidance related to impairment testing, we have the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether or not it is necessary to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test. If the qualitative assessment option is not elected, or if the qualitative assessment indicates that it is more likely than not that the fair value is less than its carrying amount, a quantitative analysis is then performed. The quantitative analysis, if performed, compares the estimated fair value of the Company with its respective carrying amount, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of the Company exceeds its carrying amount, including goodwill, goodwill is considered not to be impaired and no additional steps are necessary. If the fair value is less than the carrying amount, including goodwill, then an impairment adjustment must be recorded up to the carrying amount of goodwill.

Stock-Based Compensation

Compensation expense related to employee and non-employee stock-based awards is measured and recognized on the fair value of the awards granted. We have granted awards to employees that vest based solely on continued service, or service conditions, awards that vest based on the achievement of performance targets, or performance conditions, and awards that vest based on our stock price exceeding a peer index, or market conditions. The fair value of each option award containing service and/or performance conditions is estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of awards containing market conditions is estimated using a Monte-Carlo lattice model. For service condition awards, stock-based compensation expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service periods of the awards, which is generally four years. For performance condition and market condition awards, stock-based compensation expense is recognized using a graded vesting model over the requisite service period of the awards. For market condition awards, expense recognized is not subsequently reversed if the market conditions are not achieved.

Determining the fair value of stock-based awards at the grant date requires judgment. Our use of the Black-Scholes option-pricing model and Monte-Carlo lattice model requires the input of subjective assumptions such as the expected term of the option, the expected volatility of the price of our common stock, risk-free interest rates, the expected dividend yield of our common stock, and the fair value of our common stock. The assumptions used in our valuation models represent management’s best estimates. These estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. If factors change and different assumptions are used, our stock-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future.

Business Combinations

    The results of businesses acquired in a business combination are included in our consolidated financial statements from the date of acquisition. We allocate the purchase price of a business combination, which is the sum of the consideration provided, which may consist of cash, equity or a combination of the two, to the identifiable assets and liabilities of the acquired business at their acquisition date fair values. The excess of the purchase price over the amount allocated to the identifiable assets and liabilities, if any, is recorded as goodwill. 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 revenues and cash flows, discount rates and selection of comparable companies.

    When we issue stock-based or cash awards to an acquired company’s stockholders, we evaluate whether the awards are contingent consideration or compensation for post-business combination services. The evaluation includes, among other things, whether the vesting of the awards is contingent on the continued employment of the selling stockholder beyond the acquisition date. If continued employment is required for vesting, the awards are treated as compensation for post-acquisition services and recognized as expense over the requisite service period.

    We estimate the fair value of intangible assets acquired generally using a discounted cash flow approach, which includes an analysis of the future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset and the risk associated with achieving these cash flows. The key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow model include the discount rate that is applied to the forecasted future cash flows to calculate the present value of those cash flows and the estimate of future cash flows attributable to the acquired intangible asset, which include revenue, expenses and taxes. The carrying value of acquired working capital assets and liabilities approximates its fair value, given the short-term nature of these assets and liabilities.

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Income Taxes

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes.

Although we believe we have adequately reserved for our uncertain tax positions, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different. We adjust these reserves as facts and circumstances change, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will affect the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rate in the period in which such determination is made.

The provision for income taxes includes the effect of reserve provisions and changes to reserves that are considered appropriate as well as the related net interest and penalties. In addition, we are subject to the continuous examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Services ("IRS") and other tax authorities which may assert assessments against us. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations and assessments to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

    The information set forth under Note 2 to our "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" under the caption "Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" is incorporated herein by reference.