Akamai Technologies 10-Q 2023-03-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

or

Commission file number 000-27275

Akamai Technologies, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

145 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02142

(617) 444-3000

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number,

Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No x

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock as of May 5, 2023: 152,202,115

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

FORM 10-Q

FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED MARCH 31, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS, continued

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed consolidated financial statements.

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

Showing the first 8K of 84K characters. Open the full section

This quarterly report on Form 10-Q, particularly Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations set forth below, and notes to our unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included herein contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management as of the date hereof based on information currently available to our management. Use of words such as “believes,” “could,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” “if,” “continues,” “goal,” “likely,” “may,” “will” or similar expressions indicates a forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make. See “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q and in our other reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of certain risks associated with our business. We disclaim any obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, including the potential impact of any mergers, acquisitions, divestitures or other events that may be announced after the date hereof.

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which we have prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), for interim periods and with Regulation S-X promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). The preparation of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and related items, including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, accounts receivable and related reserves, valuation and impairment of marketable securities, goodwill and acquired intangible assets, capitalized internal-use software development costs, impairment and useful lives of long-lived assets, income taxes and stock-based compensation. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances at the time they are made. Actual results may differ from our estimates. See the section entitled “Application of Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year-ended December 31, 2022 for further discussion of our critical accounting policies and estimates.

Overview

We provide solutions to power and protect life online through our massively distributed worldwide network of servers, or our Akamai Connected Cloud. The Akamai Connected Cloud is comprised of an edge and cloud architecture for cloud computing, security and content delivery, and central to our financial success. The key factors that influence our financial success are our ability to build on recurring revenue commitments for our security and performance offerings, increase traffic on our network, continue to develop, scale and successfully bring to market our cloud computing platform and compute-to-edge solutions that meet the needs of professional users and enterprises, effectively manage the prices we charge for our solutions, develop new products and appropriately manage our capital spending and other expenses. The purpose of this discussion and analysis section is to provide material information relevant to an assessment of our financial condition and results of operations from management’s perspective, including to describe and explain key trends, events and other factors that impacted our reported results and that are likely to impact our future performance.

Revenue

For most of our solutions, our customers commit to contracts having terms of a year or longer, which allows us to have a consistent and predictable base level of revenue. In addition to a base level of revenue, we are also dependent on delivery customers, and to a lesser extent some security and computing customers, where usage of our solutions is more variable. As a result, our revenue is impacted by the amount of traffic we serve on our network and the usage of cloud computing services, the rate of adoption of gaming, social media and video platform offerings, the timing and variability of customer-specific one-time events and geopolitical, economic and other developments that impact our customers' businesses. Seasonal variations that impact traffic on our network, such as holiday-related activities, can cause revenue fluctuations from quarter-to-quarter. Over the longer term, our ability to expand our product portfolio and to effectively manage the prices we charge for our solutions are key factors impacting our revenue growth.

We have observed the following trends related to our revenue in recent years:

• Increased sales of our security solutions, led by application security solutions and segmentation solutions from our acquisition of Guardicore Ltd., and increased sales of our compute solutions, primarily attributable to our acquisition of Linode Limited Liability Company ("Linode") in early 2022, have made a significant contribution to revenue growth. During the first quarter of 2023, security represented the largest share of revenue with security and compute revenue representing over half of our total revenue. We plan to continue to invest in these areas with a focus on further enhancing our product portfolios and extending our go-to-market capabilities, particularly in certain markets and through our channel partners.

• Traffic on our network continues to grow as compared to prior years, however, the rate of traffic growth is impacted by a number of external factors. Most recently, as we and our customers manage through a time of economic headwinds and uncertainty, we expect traffic growth rates to be impacted. Conversely, our rate of traffic growth increased significantly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. These traffic fluctuations may continue to impact our delivery revenue. We expect traffic growth rates to improve for the remainder of 2023 as compared to last year.

• The prices paid by some of our customers have declined in recent years due to competition and contract renewals, which negatively impacts our revenue growth rates. We have been able to mitigate some of the negative impacts to our revenue growth rates by upselling incremental solutions to our existing customers. We are taking steps to try to maintain alignment between customer traffic volumes and unit pricing.

• Revenue from our international operations has generally been growing at a faster pace in recent years than from our U.S. operations, particularly from new customer acquisition and cross-selling of incremental solutions. Because we publicly report in U.S. dollars, if the dollar strengthens, our reported revenue results will be negatively impacted. Conversely, a weaker dollar would benefit our reported results.

• We have experienced variations in certain types of revenue from quarter-to-quarter. In particular, we typically experience higher revenue in the fourth quarter of each year for some of our solutions as a result of holiday season activity. In addition, we experience quarterly variations in revenue attributable to, among other things, the nature and timing of software and gaming releases by our customers; whether th

Showing the first 8K of 83K characters. Open the full section

Interest Rate Risk

Our portfolio of cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments is maintained in a variety of securities, including U.S. government agency obligations, commercial paper and high-quality corporate bonds. The majority of our investments are classified as available-for-sale securities and carried at fair market value with cumulative unrealized gains or losses recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders' equity. A sharp rise in interest rates could have an adverse impact on the fair market value of certain securities in our portfolio. We do not currently hedge our interest rate exposure and do not enter into financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. If market interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from March 31, 2023 levels, the fair value of our available-for-sale portfolio would decline by approximately $7.2 million.

In August 2019, we issued $1,150.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.375% convertible senior notes due 2027. In May 2018, we issued $1,150.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.125% convertible senior notes due 2025. These notes have a fixed annual interest rate, so they do not give rise to financial or economic interest exposure associated with changes in interest rates. However, the fair value of fixed rate debt instruments fluctuates when interest rates change. Additionally, the fair value can be affected when the market price of our common stock fluctuates. We carry the notes at face value less an unamortized discount on our interim condensed consolidated balance sheet, and we present the fair value for required disclosure purposes only.

Our exposure to risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to any borrowings under our 2022 Credit Agreement, which has a variable rate of interest. There were no outstanding borrowings under the 2022 Credit Agreement as of March 31, 2023.

Foreign Currency Risk

Growth in our international operations will incrementally increase our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations as well as other risks typical of international operations that could impact our business, including, but not limited to, differing economic conditions, changes in political climate, differing tax structures and other regulations and restrictions. Due to the strengthening U.S. dollar, our revenue results have been negatively impacted. The strengthening U.S. dollar has the opposite effect on expenses that are denominated in foreign currencies, but only partially offsets the impact to our revenue. A hypothetical 10% strengthening or weakening in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the foreign currencies in which our revenues and expenses are denominated would not result in a material impact to our interim condensed consolidated financial statements.

Transaction Exposure

Foreign exchange rate fluctuations may adversely impact our consolidated results of operations as exchange rate fluctuations on transactions denominated in currencies other than functional currencies result in gains and losses that are reflected in our interim condensed consolidated statements of income. We enter into short-term foreign currency forward contracts to offset foreign exchange gains and losses generated by the re-measurement of certain assets and liabilities recorded in non-functional currencies. Changes in the fair value of these derivatives, as well as re-measurement gains and losses, are recognized in our interim condensed consolidated statements of income within other expense, net. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses from these forward contracts were determined to be immaterial during the three months ended March 31, 2023. We do not enter into derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Translation Exposure

To the extent the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency-denominated transactions will result in increased revenue and operating expenses. Conversely, our revenue and operating expenses will decrease when the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies.

Foreign exchange rate fluctuations may also adversely impact our consolidated financial condition as the assets and liabilities of our foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars in preparing our interim condensed consolidated balance sheet. These gains or losses are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders' equity.

Credit Risk

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to accounts receivable are limited to certain customers to which we make substantial sales. Our customer base consists of a large number of geographically dispersed customers diversified across numerous industries. We believe that our accounts receivable credit risk exposure is limited. As of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, there was one customer with an accounts receivable balance greater than 10% of our accounts receivable. We believe that at March 31, 2023, the concentration of credit risk related to accounts receivable was insignificant.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, respectively), evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2023. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended ("the Exchange Act"), means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2023, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial

Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting as described below.

Material Weakness in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

A material weakness in internal control over financial reporting related to income taxes was identified in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, which continues to exist as of March 31, 2023. Specifically, the Company did not design and maintain effective controls over the adoption and application of new accounting standards related to income taxes.

This material weakness resulted in immaterial errors to net deferred tax assets and provision for income taxes for the interim periods ended March 31, 2022, June 30, 2022 and September 30, 2022. These immaterial errors also resulted in a revision to previously issued quarterly financial statements for each of these periods. Additionally, this material weakness could result in misstatements of the aforementioned account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the Company's annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

Remediation Plan for the Material Weakness

The Company’s management, under the oversight of the Audit Committee, is in the process of designing and implementing changes in processes and controls to remediate the material weakness. We have taken steps to enhance the design and precision of our process for evaluating the adoption and application of new accounting standards in the area of income taxes. Our enhanced design includes the involvement of external tax advisors, as applicable.

The material weakness will not be considered remediated until management completes its remediation plan and the enhanced control operates for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that the related control is effective. The Company will monitor the effectiveness of its remediation plan and will refine its remediation plan as appropriate.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

No change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) occurred during the quarter ended March 31, 2023 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

**Item 1.**Legal Proceedings

We are party to various litigation matters, governmental proceedings, investigations, claims and disputes that we consider routine and incidental to our business. We do not currently expect the results of any of these matters to have a material effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

The following are important factors that could cause our actual operating results to differ materially from those indicated or suggested by forward-looking statements made in this annual report on Form 10-K or presented elsewhere by management from time to time.

Financial and Operational Risks

We may face slowing revenue growth which could negatively impact our profitability and stock price.

The revenue growth we have enjoyed in recent years may not continue in future periods and could decline, which could negatively impact our profitability and stock price. Our revenue depends on the amount of services we deliver, continued growth in demand for our delivery, compute and security solutions and our ability to maintain the prices we charge for them. In particular, varying levels of the amount of traffic on our network can have a significant impact on our short-term revenue growth rate.

We experienced a significant increase in revenue from our delivery solutions in 2020 due in large part to greater consumption of online media and games during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders across the globe. In 2021 and 2022, our revenue growth from delivery solutions declined as stay-at-home orders were lifted. Numerous factors impact our revenue, traffic and sales growth including:

• our ability to build on recurring revenue commitments for our security, compute and delivery offerings;

• our ability to develop new products;

• the pace of introduction of over-the-top video delivery initiatives by our customers;

• the popularity of our customers’ streaming offerings as compared to those offered by other companies;

• factors that impact the pricing and unit pricing we can obtain for our offerings;

• variation in the popularity of online gaming;

• customers utilizing their own data centers and implementing solutions that limit or eliminate reliance on third-party providers like us;

• the adoption of permanent hybrid or work from home policies by employees; and

• general macroeconomic, regulatory and geopolitical conditions, including the war in Ukraine, and industry pressures.

We have experienced significant growth in revenue from our security and compute solutions in recent years. If we do not increase our industry recognition as a security and compute solutions provider, develop or acquire new solutions in a rapidly-changing environment where security threats are constantly evolving or ensure that our solutions operate effectively and are competitive with products offered by others, our security or compute revenue, or both, may decline.

We are dependent upon the overall economic health of our current and prospective customers and the continued growth and evolution of information technology. We have experienced revenue declines in recent quarters for portions of our business that include our delivery-based solutions and expect this trend to continue because of continued pricing pressure due to competition and fluctuations in traffic growth rates. For example, approximately 1% of our 2021 revenue had been generated from traffic into Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and we experienced a decline in revenue in 2022 related to the war in Ukraine due to a decrease in traffic in these countries. In addition, in 2021 and 2022, some of our customers continued to experience disruptions to their businesses following the emergence of COVID-19 variants. These disruptions or changes in international, national, regional and local economic conditions could adversely affect our business. Any of these circumstances would negatively impact our revenues.

Our ability to increase our overall revenue also depends on many other factors including how well we can:

• retain existing customers, including by maintaining the levels of existing services they buy and by delivering consistent and quality performance levels;

• upsell new solutions to existing customers;

• expand our customer base;

• develop and sell innovative and appealing new solutions;

• continue to expand our sales internationally;

• successfully integrate our recent acquisitions into our business;

• address potential commoditization of certain of our solutions, which can lead to lower prices and loss of customers to competitors;

• maintain pricing and make decisions on pricing strategy;

• successfully manage the sales cycle, including improving the ability of or pace at which our customers or prospects purchase new services and solutions;

• counteract multi-vendor policies that could cause customers to reduce their reliance on us;

• handle other competitive threats to our business;

• adapt to changes in our customer contracting models from a committed revenue structure to a "pay-as-you-go" approach, which would make it easier for customers to stop doing business with us, or from traditional overage billing models to ones that do not incorporate surcharges for usage above committed levels; and

• manage the impact of changes in general economic conditions, geopolitical conditions, industry pressures, public health issues, natural disasters and public unrest on our ability to sell, market and provide our solutions.

If we are unable to increase revenues, our profitability and stock price could suffer.

Global economic and geopolitical conditions may harm our industry, business and results of operations.

We operate globally and as a result, our business, revenues and profitability are impacted by global macroeconomic conditions. The success of our activities is affected by general economic and market conditions, including, among others, inflation, interest rates, tax rates, economic uncertainty, political instability, warfare, changes in laws, trade barriers, the actual or perceived failure or financial difficulties of additional financial institutions, reduced consumer confidence and spending and economic and trade sanctions. The U.S. capital markets experienced and continue to experience extreme volatility and disruption following the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Furthermore, inflation rates in the U.S. have recently increased to levels not seen in decades. Such economic volatility could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and future market disruptions could negatively impact us. These unfavorable economic conditions could increase our operating costs, which could negatively impact our profitability. Geopolitical destabilization and warfare have impacted and could continue to impact global currency exchange rates, resources from our suppliers, and ability to operate or grow our business. For example, as a result of the recent uncertain macroeconomic environment, we have experienced elongated sales cycles with our customers and prospects and customers are delaying purchases of our solutions.

Additionally, we have offices and employees located in regions that historically have and may experience periods of political instability, warfare, changes in laws, trade barriers, and economic and trade sanctions. Adverse conditions in these countries directly affect our operations. As a result, our operations and employees could be disrupted and may not be able to function at full capacity, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

Failure to control expenses could reduce our profitability, which would negatively impact our stock price.

Maintaining or improving our profitability depends both on our ability to increase our revenue, even with the potential challenges discussed above, and limit our expenses. We base our decisions about expense levels and investments on estimates of our future revenue and future anticipated rates of growth; however, many of our expenses are fixed costs for a certain amount of time so it may not be possible to reduce costs in a timely manner or without incurring fees to

Showing the first 8K of 83K characters. Open the full section

Attached as Exhibit 101 to this report are the following formatted in XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language): (i) Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, (ii) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, (iii) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, (iv) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, (v) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 and (vi) Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.