Zoom Communications, Inc. (ZM) FY 2023 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 the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” and in other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

Our mission is to make communications frictionless and secure.

Zoom enables people to connect to others, share ideas, make plans, and build toward a future limited only by their imagination. Our frictionless communications and collaboration platform started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why Zoom is an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for large enterprises, small businesses, and individuals alike. We provide a unified communications and collaboration platform that delivers happiness and fundamentally changes how people interact, connecting them through frictionless and secure meetings, phone, chat, content sharing and more. Our Developer Platform enables customers, developers, and service providers to easily build apps and integrations on top of Zoom’s industry-leading video communications and collaboration platform, with opportunities for global discovery and distribution. Our virtual and hybrid event solutions allow users to seamlessly create and manage engaging events.

We believe that face-to-face communications build greater empathy and trust. We strive to live up to the trust our customers place in us by delivering a communications solution while prioritizing their privacy and security. Our 28 co-located data centers worldwide and the public cloud in conjunction with our proprietary adaptive rate codec enable us to provide both high-quality and high-definition, real-time video to our customers even in low-bandwidth environments.

We generate revenue from the sale of subscriptions to our unified communications and collaboration platform. Subscription revenue is driven primarily by the number of paid hosts as well as purchases of additional products, including Zoom Phone, Zoom Spaces, Zoom Events, Zoom Contact Center and Zoom IQ for Sales. A host is any user of our unified communications and collaboration platform who initiates a Zoom Meeting and invites one or more participants to join that meeting. We refer to hosts who subscribe to a paid Zoom Meeting plan as “paid hosts.” We define a customer as a separate and distinct buying entity, which can be a single paid user or host or an organization of any size (including a distinct unit of an organization) that has multiple paid hosts. Our Zoom One Basic offering is free and gives hosts access to Zoom Meetings with core features but with the limitation that meetings time-out at 40 minutes. Our core paid offerings are available with our Zoom One bundles: Zoom One Pro, Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. The Zoom One bundles are designed for different business needs and are composed of Zoom Meetings, Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Whiteboard and Mail and Calendar as well as Zoom Phone, Zoom Webinars and Zoom Rooms for our Enterprise plans. We also offer vertical-specific plans for Education, Healthcare and Government which provide incremental features and functionality, such as different participant limits, administrative controls, and reporting.

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For Zoom Phone, plans include Zoom Phone Pro, which provides extension-to-extension calling or can be used with the Bring Your Own Carrier model wherein the customer connects Zoom Phone to an existing carrier. We also offer Regional Unlimited and Regional Metered calling plans in four specific markets (Australia/New Zealand, Japan, United Kingdom/Ireland and United States/Canada). In addition, we introduced the Global Select plan in August 2020, which allows customers to select from local numbers and domestic calling in more than 45 countries and territories where Zoom has local public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) coverage.

Our revenue was $4,393.0 million, $4,099.9 million, and $2,651.4 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively, representing period-over-period growth rate of 7% and 55% for fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2022, respectively. We had net income of $103.7 million, $1,375.6 million, and $672.3 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. Net cash provided by operating activities was $1,290.3 million, $1,605.3 million, and $1,471.2 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

Macroeconomic Conditions and other Factors

Recent changes in macroeconomic conditions such as high inflation, recessionary and uncertain environments, and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, have and may continue to cause uncertainty in our business. For the year ended January 31, 2023, we experienced continued growth in total revenue and revenue from Enterprise customers. However, macroeconomic conditions, including high inflation and continued uncertainty regarding the current and future political and economic environment, have and may continue to impact the future demand for subscriptions to our unified communications and collaboration platform. For example, for the year ended January 31, 2023, we experienced unfavorable foreign currency impact as a result of the continued strengthening of the U.S. dollar compared to certain foreign jurisdictions where we do a significant amount of business, which resulted in a $69.1 million negative impact on revenue for the year ended January 31, 2023.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations resorted to mandating employees to work from home, which resulted in these organizations seeking out video communication solutions like ours to keep employees as productive as possible, even while working from home. There is no assurance that we will experience an increase in paid hosts or that new or existing users will continue to utilize our service after the COVID-19 pandemic has tapered globally. As reported in prior periods we experienced significant revenue growth. This revenue growth has declined and we expect our revenue growth to generally decline as compared to prior periods. Many factors may contribute to declines in our growth rate, among other things, higher market penetration, increased competition, slowing demand for our platform from the tapering of the COVID-19 pandemic, a slower than anticipated capitalization on growth opportunities, and the maturation of our business.

We continue to monitor the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been widespread, and while the COVID-19 pandemic has tapered, it continues to fluctuate in severity. Our recent declines in revenue growth are primarily attributable to the tapering of the COVID-19 pandemic along with other macroeconomic factors. At the same time, it is starting to become clear that some of the behavioral trends the COVID-19 pandemic fostered, including the shift to remote and hybrid work, may remain in place for an indeterminate amount of time. Given this, it is not possible for us to quantify how the tapering of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our current and future operations.

In addition the global impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including various sanctions and export restrictions on Russia and Belarus by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other governmental authorities remain highly uncertain. The Russia-Ukraine war impacted our EMEA revenue for the year ended January 31, 2023. Our customers in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine represented less than 1% of our net assets and total consolidated revenue as of the year ended January 31, 2023. If the Russia-Ukraine war continues or worsens, leading to additional sanctions, tightened export restrictions, and greater global economic disruptions and uncertainty, our business and results of operations could be materially impacted.

We are continuously monitoring the impact of these circumstances on our business and financial results, as well as the overall global economy and geopolitical landscape. The implications of macroeconomic conditions on our business, results of operations and overall financial position, particularly in the long term, remain uncertain. On February 7, 2023, as a result of the economic environment, we announced a restructuring plan intended to reduce operating costs and continue advancing our ongoing commitment to profitable growth. The restructuring plan includes a reduction of our current workforce by approximately 15%.

Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

Acquiring New Customers

We are focused on continuing to grow the number of customers that use our platform. Our operating results and growth prospects will depend, in part, on our ability to attract new customers. While we believe there is a significant market

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opportunity that our platform addresses, it is difficult to predict customer adoption rates or the future growth rate and size of the market for our platform. We will need to continue to invest in sales and marketing in order to address this opportunity by hiring, developing, and retaining talented sales personnel who are able to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time.

Expansion of Zoom Across Existing Enterprise Customers

We believe that there is a large opportunity for growth with many of our existing customers. Many customers have increased the size of their subscriptions as they have expanded their use of our platform across their operations. Some of our larger customers start with a deployment of Zoom Meetings with one team, location, or geography, before rolling out our platform throughout their organization. Several of our largest customers have deployed our platform globally to their entire workforce following smaller initial deployments. This expansion in the use of our platform also provides us with opportunities to market and sell additional products to our customers, such as Zoom for Home, Rooms at each office location, Developer Platform solutions, Spaces, Events, Contact Center and IQ for Sales. In order for us to address this opportunity to expand the use of our products with our existing customers, we will need to maintain the reliability of our platform and produce new features and functionality that are responsive to our customers’ requirements for enterprise-grade solutions.

We quantify our expansion across existing Enterprise customers through our net dollar expansion rate. We define Enterprise customers as distinct business units who have been engaged by either our direct sales team, resellers, or strategic partners. Revenue from Enterprise customers represented 54.8%, 47.6% and 45.6% of total revenue for the year ending January 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Our net dollar expansion rate includes the increase in user adoption within our Enterprise customers, as our subscription revenue is primarily driven by the number of paid hosts within a customer and the purchase of additional products, and compares our subscription revenue from the same set of Enterprise customers across comparable periods. We calculate net dollar expansion rate as of a period end by starting with the annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) from all Enterprise customers as of 12 months prior (“Prior Period ARR”). We define ARR as the annualized revenue run rate of subscription agreements from all customers at a point in time. We calculate ARR by taking the monthly recurring revenue (“MRR”) and multiplying it by 12. MRR is defined as the recurring revenue run-rate of subscription agreements from all Enterprise customers for the last month of the period, including revenue from monthly subscribers who have not provided any indication that they intend to cancel their subscriptions. We then calculate the ARR from these Enterprise customers as of the current period end (“Current Period ARR”), which includes any upsells, contraction, and attrition. We divide the Current Period ARR by the Prior Period ARR to arrive at the net dollar expansion rate. For the trailing 12-months calculation, we take an average of the net dollar expansion rate over the trailing 12 months. Our net dollar expansion rate may fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the level of penetration within our customer base, expansion of products and features, and our ability to retain our Enterprise customers. Our trailing 12-month net dollar expansion rate for Enterprise customers was 115%, 130%, and 152% as of January 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Retention of Online Customers

In addition to Enterprise customers, we also have a significant number of customers that subscribe to our services directly through our website (“Online customers”). Online customers represent a diverse customer base, ranging from individual consumers to small and medium size businesses. We continue to focus on acquisition and retention of our online customer base through various strategies to improve the features and functionalities of our products and services. Revenue from Online customers represented 45.2%, 52.4%, and 54.4% of total revenue for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The ability to retain these Online customers will have an impact on our future revenue. The online monthly average churn for our Online customers was 3.4%, 3.9%, and 4.9% per month for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. One of the dynamics in the Online portion of the business is the MRR contribution from customers that have retained Zoom services for a certain portion of time as these customers tend to maintain their subscriptions and contribute meaningfully to the Online business. As of January 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 the percentage of total Online MRR from Online customers with a continual term of service of at least 16 months was 72.0%, 59.0% and 10.0% respectively.

We calculate our online average monthly churn by starting with the Online customer MRR as of the beginning of the applicable quarter (“Entry MRR”). We define Entry MRR as the recurring revenue run-rate of subscription agreements from all Online customers except for subscriptions that we recorded as churn in a previous quarter based on the customers' earlier indication to us of their intention to cancel that subscription. We then determine the MRR related to customers who canceled or downgraded their subscription or notified us of that intention during the applicable quarter (“Applicable Quarter MRR Churn”) and divide the Applicable Quarter MRR Churn by the applicable quarter Entry MRR to arrive at the MRR churn rate for Online Customers for the applicable quarter. We then divided that amount by three to calculate the online average monthly churn.

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Innovation and Expansion of Our Platform

We continue to invest resources to enhance the capabilities of our platform. For example, we have recently introduced a number of product enhancements, including new features for Zoom Phone, Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars, and Zoom Events and launched Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Virtual Agent, Zoom IQ for sales, Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Mail and Calendar. We addressed new work-from-home realities with the introduction of Zoom for Home, a solution designed for the home office that combines Zoom software enhancements with compatible hardware. We also deliver Zoom Phone calling plans in more than 45 countries and territories as of January 31, 2023. Third-party developers are also a key component of our strategy for platform innovation to make it easier for customers and developers to extend our product portfolio with new functionalities. We believe that as more developers and other third parties use our platform to integrate major third-party applications, we will become the ubiquitous platform for communications and collaboration. We will need to expend additional resources to continue introducing new products, features, and functionality, and supporting the efforts of third parties to enhance the value of our platform with their own applications.

An end-to-end encryption (“E2EE”) option is available to free and paid Zoom customers globally who host meetings with up to 200 participants as well as on Zoom Phone. Zoom’s E2EE uses the same AES-256-GCM encryption that secures Zoom meetings by default, but with Zoom’s E2EE, the meeting host, or originating caller in the case of Zoom Phone, as opposed to Zoom's servers, generates encryption keys and uses public key cryptography to distribute these keys to the other meeting participants or call recipient.

International Opportunity

Our platform addresses the communications and collaboration needs of users worldwide, and we see international expansion as a major opportunity. Our revenue from the rest of world (APAC and EMEA) represented 30%, 33%, and 31% of our total revenue for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. The decrease in revenue from the rest of the world in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 was due to the impact of the strengthening of the U.S dollar along with macroeconomic conditions in the EMEA region. We plan to add local sales support in further select international markets over time. We use strategic partners and resellers to sell in certain international markets where we have limited or no direct sales presence. While we believe global demand for our platform will continue to increase as international market awareness of Zoom grows, our ability to conduct our operations internationally will require considerable management attention and resources, and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal and regulatory systems, alternative dispute systems, and commercial markets.

Key Business Metrics

We review the following key business metrics to measure our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions.

Number of Enterprise Customers

We believe that our ability to increase the number of Enterprise customers is an indicator of our potential future business opportunities, the growth of our business, and an indicator of our market penetration. Increasing awareness of our platform and capabilities, coupled with the mainstream adoption of our technology, has expanded the diversity of our customer base to include organizations of all sizes across all industries. Over time, we expect Enterprise customers to represent a larger share of our business. As of January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, we had approximately 213,000, 191,000, and 141,100 Enterprise customers, respectively.

Customers Contributing More Than $100,000 of Trailing 12 Months Revenue

We focus on growing the number of customers that contribute more than $100,000 of trailing 12 months revenue as it is a measure of our ability to scale with our customers and attract larger organizations to Zoom. Revenue from these customers represented 27%, 22%, and 20% of total revenue for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. As of January 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, we had 3,471, 2,725, and 1,644 customers, respectively, that contributed more than $100,000 of trailing 12 months revenue, demonstrating our rapid penetration of larger organizations, including enterprises. These customers are a subset of Enterprise customers.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, we believe that free cash flow (“FCF”) is a non-GAAP financial measure that is useful in evaluating our liquidity.

Free Cash Flow

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We define FCF as GAAP net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment. We believe that FCF is a useful indicator of liquidity that provides information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated from our operations that, after investments in property and equipment, can be used for future growth. FCF is presented for supplemental informational purposes only and has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of other GAAP financial measures, such as net cash provided by operating activities. It is important to note that other companies, including companies in our industry, may not use this metrics, may calculate t metrics differently, or may use other financial measures to evaluate their liquidity, all of which could reduce the usefulness of these non-GAAP metrics as a comparative measure.

The following table presents a summary of our cash flows for the fiscal years presented and a reconciliation of FCF to net cash provided by operating activities, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP:

Components of Results of Operations

Revenue

We derive our revenue from subscription agreements with customers for access to our unified communications and collaboration platform. Our customers generally do not have the ability to take possession of our software. We also provide services, which include professional services, consulting services, and online event hosting, which are generally considered distinct from the access to our unified communications and collaboration platform. The amount of revenue recognized reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for these services over the contract term which can include a free period discount.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue primarily consists of costs related to hosting our unified communications and collaboration platform and providing general operating support services to our customers. These costs are related to our co-located data centers, third-party cloud hosting, integrated third-party PSTN services, personnel-related expenses, amortization of capitalized software development and acquired intangible assets, royalty payments, and allocated overhead.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development expenses primarily consist of personnel-related expenses directly associated with our research and development organization, depreciation of equipment used in research and development, and allocated overhead. Research and development costs are expensed as incurred.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of personnel-related expenses directly associated with our sales and marketing organization. Other sales and marketing expenses include advertising and promotional events to promote our brand, such as awareness programs, digital programs, public relations, tradeshows, and our user conference, Zoomtopia, and allocated overhead. Sales and marketing expenses also include credit card processing fees related to sales and amortization of deferred contract acquisition costs.

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General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses primarily consist of personnel-related expenses associated with our finance and legal organizations; professional fees for external legal, accounting, and other consulting services; expected credit losses; insurance; certain indirect taxes; litigation settlements; corporate security and regulatory expenses; and allocated overhead.

(Losses) gains on Strategic Investments, Net

(Losses) gains on strategic investments, net consist primarily of remeasurement gains or losses on our equity investments.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense) income, net consists primarily of interest income and net accretion on our marketable securities and effect of changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Provision for (Benefit from) Income Taxes

Provision for (benefit from) income taxes consists primarily of income taxes related to federal, state, and foreign jurisdictions where we conduct business.

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Results of Operations

The following tables set forth selected consolidated statements of operations data and such data as a percentage of revenue for each of the fiscal years indicated:

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Comparison of Fiscal Years Ended January 31, 2023 and 2022

Revenue

Revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $293.1 million, or 7.1%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase in revenue was due to a 23.6% increase in revenue from subscription services provided to Enterprise customers, of which 87.6% and 12.4% were from existing and new customers, respectively. This increase was partially offset by a 7.7% decline in revenue from subscription services provided to Online customers.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $45.9 million, or 4.4%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to an increase of $147.9 million in personnel-related expenses, which includes an increase of $104.9 million in stock-based compensation expense, mainly driven by additional headcount and expanded equity programs, an increase of $29.8 million  related to subscription to software-based services, and an increase in allocated overhead of $8.7 million, partially offset by a decrease of $144.6 million in costs mainly driven by the net impact of the transition from third-party cloud hosting to internal data centers and cloud optimization.

Gross margin increased to 74.9% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 from 74.3% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase in gross margin was mainly due to increased efficiencies as we expanded our internal data center capacity; in addition, during the current fiscal year, we reinstated the 40-minute time limit for meetings with more than two endpoints from our free Basic accounts for more than 125,000 K-12 school domains worldwide, which was temporarily lifted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cost-saving measures were partially offset by the impact from higher stock-based compensation expense.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development expense for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $411.1 million, or 113.2%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to higher personnel-related expenses of $388.4 million, which includes a $248.7 million increase in stock-based compensation expense, mainly driven by the increased headcount and expanded equity programs, and an increase of $139.7 million in non-stock based related personal costs due to a 67% increase in headcount. The remainder of the increase was primarily attributable to an increase of $21.6 million in allocated overhead expenses.

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Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expense for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $560.6 million, or 49.4%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase in sales and marketing expense was primarily due to higher personnel-related expenses of $471.4 million, which includes an increase of $303.1 million in stock based compensation, mainly driven by additional headcount and expanded equity programs, and an increase of $82.1 million in amortization of deferred contract acquisition costs. The remaining increase was primarily due to an increase of $76.9 million in marketing and sales event-related costs mainly due to an increase in awareness, social media and digital programs, and an increase of $14.9 million in allocated overhead expenses.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $93.7 million, or 19.4%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase in general and administrative expense was primarily due to an increase of $193.2 million in personnel-related expenses, which includes a $151.7 million increase in stock-based compensation expense, mainly driven by additional headcount and expanded equity programs, and an increase of $11.4 million related to subscription to software-based services offset by a decrease of $71.1 million in litigation settlement expense, net of amounts estimated to be covered by insurance and a decrease of $24.1 million related to professional services composed primarily of legal and other consulting fees.

Gains on Strategic Investments, Net

Losses on strategic investments, net recognized during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 were primarily driven by $36.8 million of unrealized losses recognized on our publicly traded equity securities, while gains on strategic investments, net recognized during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022 were driven by $49.9 million of unrealized gains recognized on our privately held equity securities, partially offset by $6.2 million unrealized losses recognized on our publicly traded equity securities.

Other (Expense) Income, Net

Other income (expense), net for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 increased by $47.1 million, or 824.1%, compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The increase was mainly driven by an increase of $45.6 million in investment yield.

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Provision for (Benefit from) Income Taxes

Provision for income taxes for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 was $145.6 million, compared to a benefit from income taxes of $274.0 million the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The change in income taxes was primarily due to tax shortfalls on stock-based compensation, non-deductible stock-based compensation expense, changes in the valuation allowance on certain state deferred tax assets, and other compensation-related permanent differences as of January 31, 2023, compared to tax windfalls on stock-based compensation and the valuation allowance release on the U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

For a discussion of the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022 compared to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of January 31, 2023, our principal sources of liquidity were cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $5.4 billion, which were held for working capital purposes and for investment in growth opportunities. Our marketable securities generally consist of high-grade commercial paper, corporate bonds, agency bonds, corporate and other debt securities, U.S. government agency securities, and treasury bills.

We have financed our operations primarily through income from operations and sales of equity securities. Cash from operations could also be affected by various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the recent changes in macroeconomic conditions such as high inflation, recessionary environments, and the fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, could impact the timing of cash collections from our customers and other risks detailed in the section titled “Risk Factors.” However, based on our current business plan and revenue prospects, we believe our existing cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, together with net cash provided by operations, will be sufficient to meet our needs for at least the next 12 months and allow us to capitalize on growth opportunities. We believe we will meet longer-term expected future cash requirements and obligations through a combination of cash flows from operating activities and available cash balances. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including our revenue growth rate, subscription renewal activity, billing frequency, the timing and extent of spending to support further sales and marketing and research and development efforts, as well as expenses associated with our international expansion, and the timing and extent of additional capital expenditures to invest in existing and new office spaces as well as data center infrastructure. We may, in the future, enter into arrangements to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, services, and technologies, including intellectual property rights. We may choose or be required to seek additional equity or debt financing. In the event that additional financing is required from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital when desired, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected.

Our material cash requirements from known contractual and other obligations primarily relate to our leases for office space and equipment, as well as non-cancelable purchase obligations. Expected timing of those payments are as follows:

The contractual commitment amounts in the table above are associated with agreements that are enforceable and legally binding. Obligations under contracts that we can cancel without a significant penalty are not included in the table above. See the “Future minimum lease payments” table in Note 7 and “Non-cancelable Purchase Obligations” in Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for more details.

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Cash Flows

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

Operating Activities

Our largest source of operating cash is cash collections from our customers for subscriptions to our platform. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities are for employee-related expenditures, costs related to hosting our platform, and marketing expenses. Net cash provided by operating activities is impacted by our net income adjusted for certain non-cash items, such as stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization expenses, as well as the effect of changes in operating assets and liabilities.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1,290.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023, compared to $1,605.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022. The decrease in operating cash flow was mainly driven by higher income tax payments and lower increases in deferred revenue.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities of $318.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 was primarily due to cash paid for acquisition, net of cash acquired, of $120.6 million, purchases of property and equipment of $103.8 million, purchases of strategic investments of $69.1 million, net purchases of marketable securities of $13.9 million, and purchases of intangible assets of $11.3 million.

Net cash used in investing activities of $2,859.1 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022 was primarily due to net purchases of marketable securities of $2,404.8 million, purchases of strategic investments of $305.1 million, purchases of property and equipment of $132.6 million, purchases of intangible assets of $13.0 million, and cash paid for acquisition, net of cash acquired, of $3.5 million.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities of $936.9 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 was primarily due to cash paid for repurchases of common stock of $1.0 billion, offset by proceeds from issuance of common stock pursuant to our employee stock purchase plan (“ESPP”) of $53.7 million and proceeds from the exercise of stock options of $8.6 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $34.1 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022 was primarily due to proceeds from issuance of common stock pursuant to our ESPP of $59.3 million, proceeds from the exercise of stock options of $14.4 million, offset by proceeds from international employee stock sales remitted to employees and tax authorities of $40.0 million.

For a discussion of the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022.

Stock Repurchase Program

In February 2022, our board of directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $1.0 billion of our Class A common, which was completed in December 2022. See Note 10 "Stockholders’ Equity and Equity Incentive Plans" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information related to share repurchases.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC under the Securities Act.

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Critical Accounting Estimates

Critical accounting estimates are those accounting estimates that require the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. These estimates are developed based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Critical accounting estimates are accounting estimates where the nature of the estimates are 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 impact of the estimates on financial condition or operating performance is material.

We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 1 “Summary of Business and Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements, the following critical estimates involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity.

Revenue Recognition

We derive our revenue primarily from subscription agreements with customers for access to our unified communications and collaboration platform and services. We also provide other services, which include professional services, consulting services, and online event hosting, which were immaterial to our consolidated financial statements. Revenue is recognized when a customer obtains control of promised services. The amount of revenue recognized reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for these services over the contract term which can include a free period discount. We apply judgment during the identification of a contract to determine the customer’s ability and intent to pay, which is based on a variety of factors, including the customer’s historical payment experience or, in the case of a new customer, credit and financial information pertaining to the customer. The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which we expect to be entitled in exchange for transferring services to the customer. Variable consideration is included in the transaction price if, in our judgment, it is probable that a significant future reversal of cumulative revenue recognized under the contract will not occur.

Cost to Obtain a Contract

We primarily capitalize sales commissions and associated payroll taxes paid to internal sales personnel that are incremental costs from the acquisition of customer contracts. These costs are recorded as deferred contract acquisition costs in the consolidated balance sheets. We determine whether costs should be deferred based on our sales compensation plans and if the commissions are incremental and would not have occurred absent the customer contract.

Sales commissions paid upon the initial acquisition of a customer contract are amortized over an estimated period of benefit of three years, which is typically greater than the contractual terms of the customer contracts. Significant judgment is required in arriving at this estimated period of benefit. We determine the period of benefit for commissions paid for the acquisition of the initial customer contract by taking into consideration the initial estimated customer life and the technological life of our unified communications and collaboration platform and related significant features. We do not pay sales commissions upon contract renewal. Amortization is recognized on a straight-line basis commensurate with the pattern of revenue recognition.

Business Combinations and Valuation of Goodwill and Intangible Assets

We account for our business combinations using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires, among other things, allocation of the fair value of purchase consideration to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their estimated fair values on the acquisition date. The excess of the fair value of purchase consideration over the values of these identifiable assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. When determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, we make estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets. Our estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable and, as a result, actual results may differ from estimates. During the measurement period, not to exceed one year from the date of acquisition, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with a corresponding offset to goodwill if new information is obtained related to facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date. After the measurement period, any subsequent adjustments are reflected in the consolidated statements of operations. Acquisition costs, such as legal and consulting fees, are expensed as incurred.

Goodwill amounts are not amortized, but rather tested for impairment at least annually, in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year, or more often if circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. As of January 31, 2023, no impairment of goodwill has been identified.

Intangible assets consist of acquired identifiable intangible assets resulting from business combinations, as well as other intangible assets purchased outside of a business combination. Finite-lived intangible assets are initially recorded at fair value and are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives. We routinely evaluate the estimated remaining useful

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lives of our finite-lived intangible assets and whether events or changes in circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are recorded at fair value and are not amortized. We review the useful lives of indefinite-lived intangible assets each reporting period to determine whether events and circumstances continue to support the indefinite useful life classification. If we determine that the life of an intangible asset is no longer indefinite, that asset would be tested for impairment and amortized prospectively over its estimated remaining useful life. We have not recorded any impairment charges during the fiscal years presented.

Strategic Investments

Accounting for strategic investments in privately held debt and equity securities in which we do not have a controlling interest or significant influence requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions.

Valuations of privately held securities are inherently complex and require judgment due to the lack of readily available market data. Privately held debt and equity securities are valued using significant unobservable inputs or data in an inactive market. The valuation requires our judgment due to the absence of market prices and inherent lack of liquidity. The carrying values of our privately held equity securities are adjusted if there are observable price changes in a same or similar security from the same issuer or if there are identified events or changes in circumstances that may indicate impairment, as discussed below. In determining the estimated fair value of our strategic investments in privately held companies, we utilize the most recent data available, as adjusted to reflect the specific rights and preferences of those securities we hold.

We assess our privately held debt and equity securities strategic investment portfolio quarterly for indicators for impairment. Our impairment analysis encompasses a qualitative assessment evaluates key factors including but not limited to the investee’s financial metrics, market acceptance of the product or technology, and the rate at which the investee is using its cash. If the investment is considered to be impaired, we record the investment at fair value by recognizing an impairment through the consolidated statement of operations and establishing a new carrying value for the investment.

The privately held debt and equity securities we hold, and their rights and preferences relative to those of other securities within the capital structure, may impact the magnitude by which our investment value moves in relation to movement of the total enterprise value of the company. As a result, our investment value in a specific company may move by more or less than any change in the value of that overall company. An immediate decrease of ten percent in enterprise value of our largest privately held equity securities held as of January 31, 2023 would not have had a material impact on the value of our investment portfolio.

Income Taxes

We use the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, income tax expense is recognized based on the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax liabilities and assets for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our consolidated financial statements or tax returns. We make assumptions, judgments and estimates to determine the current income tax provision (benefit), deferred tax asset and liabilities and valuation allowance recorded against a deferred tax asset. The assumptions, judgments and estimates relative to the current income tax provision (benefit) take into account current tax laws, their interpretation and possible results of foreign and domestic tax audits. Changes in tax law, their interpretation and resolution of tax audits could significantly impact the income taxes provided in our consolidated financial statements. Assumptions, judgments and estimates relative to the amount of deferred income taxes take into account future taxable income. Any of the assumptions, judgments and estimates mentioned above could cause the actual income tax obligations to differ from our estimates.

Critical accounting estimates and the related assumptions are evaluated periodically as conditions warrant, and changes to such estimates are recorded as new information or changed conditions require.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See “Summary of Business and Significant Accounting Policies” in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.