Cardlytics Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results

Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.

"In 2025, we took several steps to reset our business and improve our financial health," said Amit Gupta, CEO of Cardlytics. "Going forward, we remain well positioned to execute our mandate and deliver for our partners and advertisers, even as we navigate a decrease in MQUs following the conclusion of our Bank of America campaigns in January. We are moving forward with sharper focus and discipline to control our own destiny by prioritizing our initiatives that build on our core fundamental strengths."

"It has been reinvigorating to rejoin the Cardlytics team," said David Evans, CFO of Cardlytics. "I continue to believe in the strength and uniqueness of our platform. Leading up to this quarter, the business made several necessary decisions to right size our balance sheet to position the business for self-sustainability going forward. As such, we're taking a very focused, disciplined approach to execution and cost management in 2026."

Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results

• Total Revenue was $56.1 million, a decrease of 24.2% compared to $74.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Billings, a non-GAAP metric, was $94.1 million, a decrease of 19.0% compared to $116.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted Contribution, a non-GAAP metric, was $31.7 million, a decrease of 22.1% compared to $40.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Net Loss was $(8.3) million, or $(0.15) per share, based on 54.3 million weighted-average common shares outstanding, compared to a Net Loss of $(15.6) million, or $(0.31) per share, based on 51.0 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP metric, was $8.5 million, an increase of $2.1 million compared to $6.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted Net Income, a non-GAAP metric, was $1.6 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, based on 54.3 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to an Adjusted Net Income of $0.2 million, or $0.00 per diluted share, based on 51.0 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $13.0 million, an increase of $10.0 million compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $3.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
• Free Cash Flow, a non-GAAP metric, was $10.5 million, an increase of $11.9 million compared to $(1.5) million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results

• Total Revenue was $233.3 million, a decrease of 16.2% compared to $278.3 million in 2024.
• Billings, a non-GAAP metric, was $385.0 million, a decrease of 13.3% compared to $443.8 million in 2024.
• Adjusted Contribution, a non-GAAP metric, was $130.3 million, a decrease of 13.4% compared to $150.5 million in 2024.
• Net Loss was $(103.5) million, or $(1.95) per share, based on 53.1 million weighted-average common shares outstanding, compared to a Net Loss of $(189.3) million, or $(3.91) per share, based on 48.4 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP metric, was $10.1 million, an increase of $7.5 million compared to $2.5 million in 2024.
• Adjusted Net Loss, a non-GAAP metric, was $(17.3) million, or $(0.33) per diluted share, based on 53.1 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in 2025, compared to an Adjusted Net Loss of $(18.9) million, or $(0.39) per diluted share, based on 48.4 million weighted-average common shares outstanding in 2024.
• Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities was $9.3 million, an increase of $18.1 million compared to $(8.8) million in 2024.
• Free Cash Flow, a non-GAAP metric, was $(6.5) million an increase of $21.6 million compared to $(28.1) million in 2024.

Key Metrics

• Cardlytics MQUs in the quarter were 227.0 million, an increase of 18.4% compared to 191.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. For full year 2025, Cardlytics MQUs were 224.2 million, an increase of 17.7% compared to 190.5 million in 2024.
• Cardlytics ACPU in the quarter was $0.12, a decrease of 35.0% compared to $0.18 in the fourth quarters for 2025 and 2024. For the full year 2025, Cardlytics ACPU was $0.50, a decrease of 25.4% compared to $0.67 in 2024.

Definitions of MQUs and ACPU are included below under the caption "Non-GAAP Measures and Other Performance Metrics."

First Quarter 2026 Financial Expectations

Cardlytics anticipates Billings, Revenue, Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted EBITDA to be in the following ranges (in millions, except for percentage change rates):

Earnings Teleconference Information

Cardlytics will discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results during a teleconference today, March 4, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT. Following the completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on Cardlytics' website.

About Cardlytics

Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX) is a commerce media platform, powered by our publishers' first-party purchase data, that makes commerce smarter and more rewarding for everyone. We offer a range of solutions to help advertisers and publishers grow and strengthen customer loyalty. With visibility into approximately half of all card-based transactions in the U.S. and a quarter in the U.K., Cardlytics enables advertisers to engage consumers at scale and drive incremental sales through our industry-leading card-linked offer network. Publisher partners can enhance their platforms with relevant and personalized offers that improve the shopping experience for their customers. Learn more at www.cardlytics.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements related to our growth opportunity, our ability to deliver stronger execution and shareholder value, our intention to strengthen our competitive position, enhance our product and tech capabilities and expand our network of partners and advertisers and our financial guidance for the first quarter of 2026. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and were based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "should," "believe," "hope," "target," "project," "goals," "estimate," "potential," "predict," "may," "will," "might," "could," "intend," or variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control.

Our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: risks related to unfavorable conditions in the global economy and the industries that we serve; our quarterly operating results have fluctuated and may continue to vary from period to period; our ability to sustain our revenue growth and billings; risks related to our substantial dependence on our Cardlytics platform; risks related to our substantial dependence on JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association ("Chase"), Wells Fargo Bank, National Association ("Wells Fargo"), American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. ("American Express") and a limited number of other financial institution ("FI") partners; risks related to our ability to maintain relationships with Chase and Wells Fargo; the amount and timing of budgets by marketers, which are affected by budget cycles, economic conditions and other factors; our ability to generate sufficient revenue to offset contractual commitments to FI partners; our ability to attract new partners, including FI partners, and maintain relationships with bank processors and digital banking providers; our ability to maintain relationships with marketers; our ability to adapt to changing market conditions, including our ability to adapt to changes in consumer habits, negotiate fee arrangements with new and existing partners and retailers, and develop and launch new services and features; our ability to consummate the closing of the Bridg sale and receipts of the proceeds therefrom; and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2026 and in subsequent periodic reports that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. We undertake no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Non-GAAP Measures and Other Performance Metrics

To supplement the financial measures presented in our press release and related conference call or webcast in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"), we also present the following non-GAAP measures of financial performance in this press release: Billings, Adjusted Contribution, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per share and Free Cash Flow, as well as certain other performance metrics, such as monthly qualified users ("MQUs") and adjusted contribution per user ("ACPU").

A "non-GAAP financial measure" refers to a numerical measure of our historical or future financial performance or financial position that is included in (or excluded from) the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in our financial statements. We provide certain non-GAAP measures as additional information relating to our operating results as a complement to results provided in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial information presented herein should be considered in conjunction with, and not as a substitute for or superior to, the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered a measure of liquidity. There are significant limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Further, these measures may differ from the non-GAAP information, even where similarly titled, used by other companies and therefore should not be used to compare our performance to that of other companies.

We have presented Billings, Adjusted Contribution, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per share as non-GAAP financial measures in this press release. Billings represents the gross amount billed to customers and marketers for services in order to generate revenue. Cardlytics platform Billings is recognized gross of both Consumer Incentives and Partner Share. Cardlytics platform GAAP Revenue is recognized net of Consumer Incentives and gross of Partner Share. Bridg platform Billings is the same as Bridg platform GAAP Revenue. Adjusted Contribution measures the degree by which revenue generated from our marketers exceeds the cost to obtain the purchase data and the digital advertising space from our partners. Adjusted Contribution demonstrates how incremental Revenue on our platforms generates incremental amounts to support our sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative and other investments. Adjusted Contribution is calculated by taking our total Revenue less our Partner Share and other third-party costs. Adjusted Contribution does not take into account all costs associated with generating Revenue from advertising campaigns, including sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses and other expenses, which we do not take into consideration when making decisions on how to manage our advertising campaigns. Management views Adjusted Contribution as the most relevant metric to measure the financial performance as it reflects the dollars we keep after all of our partners are paid. Adjusted EBITDA represents our Net Loss before interest expense, net; depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation expense; acquisition, integration and divestiture costs; change in contingent consideration; foreign currency loss/(gain); impairment of goodwill and intangible assets; gain on debt extinguishment; loss on divestiture; and, in applicable periods, certain other income and expense items, such as restructuring and reduction of force; income tax benefit; and deferred implementation costs. Adjusted Net Income (Loss) represents our Net Loss before stock-based compensation expense; foreign currency loss/(gain); acquisition, integration and divestiture costs (benefits); amortization of acquired intangibles; change in contingent consideration; impairment of goodwill and intangible assets; gain on debt extinguishment; and loss on divestiture, and in applicable periods, certain other income and expense items, such as restructuring and reduction of force and income tax benefit. We define Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per share as Adjusted Net Income (Loss) divided by our weighted-average common shares outstanding, diluted. We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities, plus acquisition of property and equipment and capitalized software development costs. We believe Free Cash Flow is useful to measure the funds generated in a given period that are available for distribution or to sustain the business. We believe this supplemental information enhances stockholders' ability to evaluate our performance.

We believe the use of non-GAAP financial measures, as a supplement to GAAP measures, is useful to investors in that they eliminate items that are either not part of our core operations or do not require a cash outlay, such as stock-based compensation expense. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures when evaluating operating performance and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures help indicate underlying trends in the business, are important in comparing current results with prior period results and are useful to investors and financial analysts in assessing operating performance.

We define MQUs as targetable customers that have made a transaction using their account with an FI Partner or other partners in a given month, excluding pilot supply during the ramp up period, and whose transaction data was shared with Cardlytics. We then calculate a monthly average of these MQUs for the periods presented. We believe that the number of MQUs is an indicator of the Cardlytics platform's ability to drive engagement and is reflective of the consumer base and insights that we offer to marketers. We define ACPU as the Cardlytics platform Adjusted Contribution generated in the applicable period, divided by Cardlytics average MQUs in the applicable period. We believe that Adjusted Contribution is the most relevant metric as it reflects the value Cardlytics keeps after subtracting out rewards, Partner Share and other third-party costs. We believe that ACPU measures the Cardlytics platform's efficiency in converting marketer budgets into the value generated by customer engagement.

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