LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) Issues Stockholder Letter
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO), an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform, released today the following letter to stockholders from its CEO and Chairman Robert Ellin.
The full text of the letter follows:
Dear Valued Stockholders,
I am writing to provide an important update on LiveOne's key recent developments, performance and progress on its key strategic priorities to drive stockholder value.
I am pleased to report that LiveOne has successfully completed its $45 million restructuring initiative and delivered significant cost savings while positioning the company for future growth.
Recent Key Achievements:
- Completed $10 million common stock equity financing at $7.50 per share, further strengthening its balance sheet
- Reduced workforce to 95 employees from 300+, leveraging AI to drive efficiencies
- Eliminated $14 million in short-term liabilities
- Repurchased $6.5 million in stock, with $5.5 million remaining in its buyback program
- Acquired 347,000 additional shares of PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC)
Bitcoin Treasury Program:
- Currently $5 million is deployed in Bitcoin treasury holdings, including deploying Bitcoin yield strategy with Arca
- Board approves up to $500 million treasury authorization to expand LiveOne's crypto asset treasury strategy
- Expands Web3 strategy, tokenizing and monetizing 10,000+ hours of video content on blockchain
- Adds world-class advisory board, including Lou Kerner, Andy Vick, Steve McClurg, and Steve Lehman.
Financial Position:
- Currently $18+ million in cash, including $5 million in Bitcoin, providing a strong foundation for future growth and investment
Business Highlights:
- Closed 6 B2B deals (including Amazon, TextNow, a top retailer and a Fortune 250 streaming company) generating $50 million in revenue, with up to 72 potential B2B deals in its pipeline
- Added Steve Lehman as Chief Advisor to Rob Ellin, leading M&A and B2B partnership initiatives
- Surpassed 1.3 million total members, including over 1 million Tesla users
- Exploring strategic options to increase stockholder value, including consolidation, sale, or merger opportunities
PodcastOne Update:
- Reported preliminary Q1 Fiscal 2026 record Adjusted EBITDA* of $1M+ (348% increase YoY) and Revenue of $14.5M+ (19% increase YoY)
- Raised guidance to $55-60 million in revenue and $4.5-6 million in Adjusted EBITDA* for Fiscal 2026, representing an increase of $5-6.5 million in Adjusted EBITDA* compared to last year
- Achieved nine consecutive months in Podtrac's Top 10 Publishers rankings (currently #9)
TV Adaptations:
- Sold three podcasts to the largest streaming platforms, including "Varnamtown," "Vigilante," and "The Opportunist." Expects green light of a pilot for at least one show shortly, with 10 additional shows in the pipeline
Future Plans:
- Considering potential IPO or merger of Slacker into a SPAC or potential sale to further enhance stockholder value
- Intends to continue aggressive stock buyback program to enhance stockholder value
- Continues to leverage AI and other technologies to drive growth and efficiency
- Increases live events with Reality Games on December 11, with stars such as Kordell Beckham, Chloe Veitch, Chase Demoor and many others. Historically, live events like Social Gloves (Q2 Fiscal 2022) have generated upwards of $27M in revenue and $4.5M in Adjusted EBITDA*
Reverse Stock Split:
- Recently completed a reverse stock split — a proactive, stockholder-approved move to maintain LiveOne's Nasdaq listing and strengthen its market position which supports LiveOne's M&A and partnership efforts, and boosts visibility with institutional investors
Valuation Opportunity:
We believe our company's stock is significantly undervalued, trading at a substantial discount to our industry peers. The industry average multiple is 3.3x revenues, whereas LiveOne is trading at only approximately 60% of revenues, representing a steep discount. In light of this fact, I, Robert Ellin and other LiveOne senior management and board members have committed to purchasing up to $3 million worth of LiveOne shares of common stock, demonstrating our confidence in LiveOne's future prospects and our belief that LiveOne is materially and considerably undervalued.
Thank you for your continued support in our vision and strategy.
Sincerely,
Robert Ellin
Chairman and CEO, LiveOne
About LiveOne
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) is an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform focused on delivering premium experiences and content worldwide through memberships and live and virtual events. LiveOne's subsidiaries include Slacker, PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC), PPVOne, Custom Personalization Solutions, LiveXLive, DayOne Music Publishing, Drumify and Splitmind. LiveOne, a dedicated over-the-top application powered by Slacker, is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Spotify, Samsung, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and through STIRR's OTT applications. For more information, visit liveone.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X at @liveone. For more investor information, please visit ir.liveone.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "may," "might," "will," "will likely result," "would," "should," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "could," "believe," "seek," "continue," "contemplate," "predict," "potential," "target" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: LiveOne's reliance on its largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; LiveOne's ability to consummate any proposed financing (including the public offering announced in this press release), acquisition, spin-out, special dividend, merger, distribution or transaction, the timing of the consummation of any such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to the consummation of any such event (including the public offering announced in this press release) would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the consummation of any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, merger, special dividend, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance stockholder value; LiveOne's ability to continue as a going concern; LiveOne's ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its users and paid members; LiveOne identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; LiveOne's ability to implement its recently announced crypto treasury strategy and/or purchase crypto assets from time to time pursuant to such strategy, including for the maximum announced amount; LiveOne's intent to repurchase shares of its and/or PodcastOne's common stock from time to time under LiveOne's announced stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; LiveOne's ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other debt covenants; LiveOne successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management's relationships with industry stakeholders; LiveOne's ability to repay its indebtedness when due; LiveOne's ability to satisfy the conditions for closing on its announced additional convertible debentures financing; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings and/or LiveOne's ability to pay any amounts due in connection with any such legal proceedings; significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty and risks related to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets; regulatory developments related to crypto assets and crypto asset markets; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of LiveOne's subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in LiveOne's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on July 15, 2025, and in LiveOne's other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and LiveOne disclaims any obligation to update these statements, except as may be required by law. LiveOne intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
*About PodcastOne's Non-GAAP Financial Measures*
To supplement PodcastOne's consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), PodcastOne presents Contribution Margin (Loss) and Adjusted Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), which are non-GAAP financial measures, as measures of its performance. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, or superior to, operating loss and or net income (loss) or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to net cash provided by operating activities or any other measures of PodcastOne's cash flows or liquidity.
PodcastOne uses Contribution Margin (Loss) and Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the performance of its operating segment. PodcastOne believes that information about these non-GAAP financial measures assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of its business separate from non-operational factors that affect operating income (loss) and net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. Adjusted EBITDA is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of Adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in PodcastOne's business. Accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, Adjusted EBITDA as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.
Contribution Margin (Loss) is defined as Revenue less Cost of Sales before (a) Cost of Sales share-based compensation expense, (b) depreciation, and (c) amortization of developed technology. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, other (income) expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization and before (a) non-cash GAAP purchase accounting adjustments for certain deferred revenue and costs, (b) legal, accounting and other professional fees directly attributable to acquisition activity, (c) employee severance payments and third party professional fees directly attributable to acquisition or corporate realignment activities, (d) certain non-recurring expenses associated with legal settlements or reserves for legal settlements in the period that pertain to historical matters that existed at acquired companies prior to their purchase date and a one-time minimum guarantee to effectively terminate a live events distribution agreement post COVID-19, and (e) certain stock-based compensation expense. Management does not consider these costs to be indicative of our core operating results.
With respect to projected full fiscal year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA, a quantitative reconciliation is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the high variability, complexity and low visibility with respect to purchase accounting adjustments, acquisition-related charges and legal settlement reserves excluded from Adjusted EBITDA. PodcastOne expects that the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on its future GAAP financial results.
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