CoStar Group 10-K 2023-12-31

Filed 2024-02-22. 24 sections, 446K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON

What changed since the 2022-12-31 10-KNew, removed and reworded risk factor headings, then every item sentence by sentence.

Cover and table of contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

OR

☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ______ to ______

Commission file number 0-24531

csgp-logoa01a22.jpg

CoStar Group, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware52-2091509
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
1331 L Street, NW
Washington,DC20005

(Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

(202) 346-6500

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

Title of each classTrading SymbolName of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock ($0.01 par value)CSGPNasdaq Global Select Market

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

Yes o No x

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 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 o

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 o

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.

Large accelerated filerxAccelerated filero
Non-accelerated fileroSmaller reporting company☐
Emerging growth company☐

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.

o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

x

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.

o

Indicate by checkmark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).

o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).

Yes ☐ No x

As of June 30, 2023, the aggregate market value of the common stock (based upon the closing price of the stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market) of the registrant held by non-affiliates was approximately $36.0 billion. As of February 16, 2024, 408,409,321 shares of common stock were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement, which is expected to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Glossary of Terms4
PART I
Item 1.Business7
Item 1A.Risk Factors20
Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments32
Item 1CCybersecurity33
Item 2.Properties34
Item 3.Legal Proceedings34
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures34
PART II
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities35
Item 6.Reserved37
Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations38
Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk49
Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data51
Item 9.Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure51
Item 9A.Controls and Procedures51
Item 9B.Other Information52
Item 9C.Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections52
PART III
Item 10.Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance52
Item 11.Executive Compensation52
Item 12.Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters52
Item 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence52
Item 14.Principal Accountant Fees and Services52
PART IV
Item 15.Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules53
Item 16.Form 10-K Summary56
Signatures57
Index to Consolidated Financial StatementsF-1

Glossary of Terms

The following abbreviations or acronyms used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this "Report") are defined below:

Abbreviation or AcronymDefinition
2020 Credit AgreementThe second amended and restated credit agreement, dated July 1, 2020, which amended and restated in its entirety the then-existing credit agreement originally entered into on April 1, 2014, as amended by the first amendment to the second amended and restated credit agreement, dated May 8, 2023.
ACHAutomated Clearing House
ADRAverage daily rate
Apartments.com NetworkApartments.com, the flagship brand of our network of apartment marketing sites, and its network of rental websites
ARSAuction rate securities
ASCAccounting Standards Codification
ASUAccounting Standards Update
Audit CommitteeThe Audit Committee of the Board
BizBuySellBizBuySell.com and its network of business for-sale websites
BoardThe CoStar Group Board of Directors
BureauxLocauxThe legal entity, Comreal Info, a French société par actions simplifiée, the owner and operator of BureauxLocaux, a commercial real estate digital marketplace, in France
BureauxLocaux AcquisitionCoStar UK's acquisition of BureauxLocaux completed on October 1, 2021 pursuant to a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement dated October 1, 2021 between CoStar UK, M.A.J.E. Marketing & Strategie and an individual
Business ImmoThe legal entity BIH, a French société par actions simplifiée, the owner and operator of Business Immo, a leading commercial real estate news service provider in France
Business Immo AcquisitionCoStar UK's acquisition of the issued share capital of Business Immo on April 5, 2022
CAN-SPAM ActControlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act
CCPACalifornia Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act
CECLCurrent expected credit losses
CMBSCommercial mortgage-based securities
CODMChief Operating Decision Maker
Confidential InformationInformation about customers, employees, contractors, suppliers, vendors, and others such as landlords and tenants, including personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, credit card information, biometric data, sensitive or confidential transaction and account information, social security numbers, birthdates and financial information (for example, to facilitate the apartment rental application and payment process between a renter and property manager), as well as a broad range of proprietary and confidential business information, collectively
CoStar GroupThe legal entity, CoStar Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation, one or more of its consolidated subsidiaries or operating segments, or the entirety of CoStar Group, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries
CoStar UKThe legal entity, CoStar UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CoStar Group
Covenant Suspension PeriodA period of time defined in the 2020 Credit Agreement in which we maintain a corporate investment grade rating from any two of Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, Fitch Ratings, Inc. or Moody’s Investors Services, Inc. and no event of default is continuing
CPAColorado Privacy Act
CPRAThe California Privacy Rights Act
Abbreviation or AcronymDefinition
CRICoStar Realty Information, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of CoStar Group, Inc.
DSUsDeferred Stock Units
E.U.European Union
EBITDANet income before interest income or expense, net; other income or expense, net; loss on debt extinguishment; income taxes; depreciation and amortization
ESGEnvironmental, Social and Governance
ESPPEmployee Stock Purchase Plan
EURIBOREuro Interbank Offered Rate
FASBFinancial Accounting Standards Board
FCRAFair Credit Reporting Act
FTCFederal Trade Commission
GAAPGenerally accepted accounting principles in the U.S.
GDPRGeneral Data Protection Regulation
GILTIGlobal intangible low taxed income inclusion
GPP PlanA U.K. Group Personal Pension Plan
Halo Merger SubSnapped Halo Merger Sub Corp., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of CoStar Realty Information, Inc.
Homes.comA homes-for-sale listings site
Homes GroupThe legal entity Homes Group, LLC
Homes.com AcquisitionCRI's acquisition of Homes.com completed on May 24, 2021 pursuant to a securities purchase agreement dated April 14, 2021 between Landmark, Homes Group, LLC and CRI
Homes.com NetworkHomes.com, the flagship brand of our North American network of online platforms that manage workflow and marketing for residential real estate agents and brokers and provide portals for homebuyers to view residential property listings
HomesnapHomesnap is an online and mobile software platform that provides residential real estate professionals access to applications that manage residential real estate agent workflow and marketing campaigns delivered on third-party platforms acquired in the Homesnap Acquisition
Homesnap, Inc.The legal entity Homesnap, Inc., a Delaware corporation
Homesnap AcquisitionCRI's acquisition of Homesnap completed on December 22, 2020, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated November 20, 2020 between CRI, Halo Merger Sub Corp and Homesnap, Inc. Halo Merger Sub Corp. was merged with and into Homesnap, Inc., with Homesnap, Inc. surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CRI
ILSInternet listings services
IT SystemsInformation technology networks, systems and infrastructure to process, transmit and store electronic information and to communicate among our locations around the world and with our clients and vendors, collectively
Land.com NetworkOur network of sites featuring rural lands for sale including: LandsofAmerica, LandAndFarm and LandWatch
LandmarkLandmark Media Enterprises, LLC
LIBORLondon Interbank Offered Rate
LoopNet NetworkOur network of online marketplaces, including LoopNet.co.uk, CityFeet.com and Showcase.com, enabling commercial property owners, landlords and real estate brokers working on their behalf to advertise properties for-sale or for-lease and to submit detailed information about property listings
Matching RSUsAwards of matching restricted stock units awarded under the Company's Management Stock Purchase Plan
MLSMultiple listing services
MSPPManagement Stock Purchase Plan
Abbreviation or AcronymDefinition
OnTheMarketThe legal entity OnTheMarket Plc, the operator of onthemarket.com, a leading U.K. residential property portal.
OnTheMarket AcquisitionCoStar UK's acquisition of OnTheMarket completed in December 2023, pursuant to Rule 2.7 of the United Kingdom City Code on Takeovers and Mergers. The acquisition has been implemented by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under the U.K. Companies Act 2006
RentPathRentPath Holdings, Inc.
RevPARRevenue per available room
ROURight-of-use
RRSPA Canadian registered retirement savings plan
SECU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Securities ActSecurities Act of 1933, as amended
SEMSearch Engine Marketing
Senior Notes2.800% notes issued by CoStar Group, Inc. due July 15, 2030
SEOSearch Engine Optimization
SOFRSecured Overnight Financing Rate
SONIASterling Overnight Index Average
STAR ReportA benchmarking tool used by the hospitality industry to compare a hotel's performance against a set of similar hotels in the same geographical area
STRSTR, LLC together with STR Global Ltd is a global data and analytics company that specializes in benchmarking hotel performance and providing market insights to the industry
TCPATelephone Consumer Protection Act (as implemented by the Telemarketing Sales Rule)
Ten-XThe legal entity Ten-X Holding Company, Inc. and its directly and indirectly owned subsidiaries
Ten-X AcquisitionCRI's acquisition of Ten-X completed on June 24, 2020, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated May 13, 2020 between CRI, Crescendo Sub, Inc, and Ten-X
Term SOFRThe forward-looking SOFR term rates administered by CME Group Benchmark Administration Limited
TSRTotal shareholder return
U.K.The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
U.S.The United States of America
UCPAUtah Consumer Privacy Act
VCDPAVirginia Consumer Data Protection Act

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

We have made forward-looking statements in this Report and make forward-looking statements in our other reports filed with the SEC, press releases and conference calls that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include information that is not purely historic fact and include, without limitation, statements concerning our financial outlook for the year ending December 31, 2024 and beyond, our possible or assumed future results of operations generally and other statements and information regarding assumptions or expectations about our revenues, revenue growth rates, gross margin percentage, net income, net income per share, fully diluted net income per share, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per diluted share, weighted-average outstanding shares, cash flow from operating activities, operating costs, capital and other expenditures, the impact of current economic conditions on our revenues, revenue growth rates and profitability, key priorities for the year ending December 31, 2024, trends in customer behavior, legal proceedings and claims, legal costs, effective tax rate, product development and release, the anticipated benefits of completed or proposed acquisitions, the anticipated timing of acquisition closings and integrations, the anticipated benefits of cross-selling efforts, geographic and product expansion, planned service enhancements, expansion and development of our sales forces, planned sales and marketing activities and investments, investments in residential marketplace services and our residential marketplace strategy, the impact or results of sales and marketing initiatives, product integrations, elimination and de-emphasizing of services, net new bookings, contract renewal rates, use of proceeds from equity and debt offerings, the use of proceeds from any draws under our $750 million credit facility provided by the 2020 Credit Agreement, expectations regarding our compliance with financial and restrictive covenants in the 2020 Credit Agreement, employee relations, management’s plans, goals and objectives for future operations, sources and adequacy of liquidity and growth and markets for our stock. Sections of this Report that contain forward-looking statements include “Business,” “Risk Factors,” “Properties,” “Legal Proceedings,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk,” “Controls and Procedures” and the Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes.

Our forward-looking statements are also identified by words such as “hope,” “anticipate,” “may,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “should,” “plan,” “estimate,” “predict,” “continue” and “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. You should understand that these forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting our judgment, beliefs and expectations, not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The following important factors, in addition to those discussed or referred to under the heading “Risk Factors,” and other unforeseen events or circumstances, could affect our future results and could cause those results or other outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements:

  • our inability to attract and retain new clients;

  • our inability to successfully develop and introduce new or updated information, analytics and online marketplace services;

  • our inability to compete successfully against existing or future competitors in attracting advertisers and in general;

  • competition;

  • the effects of fluctuations and market cyclicality;

  • the effects of global economic uncertainties and downturns or a downturn or consolidation in the real estate industry;

  • our inability to hire qualified persons for, or retain and continue to develop, our sales force, or unproductivity of our sales force;

  • our inability to retain and attract highly capable management and operating personnel;

  • the downward pressure that our internal and external investments may place on our operating margins;

  • our inability in increasing brand awareness;

  • our inability to maintain or increase internet traffic to our marketplaces, and the risk that the methods, including Google Analytics, that we use to measure unique visitors to our portals may misstate the actual number of unique persons who visit our network of mobile applications and websites for a given month or may differ from the methods used by competitors;

  • our inability to attract new advertisers;

  • our inability to successfully identify, finance, integrate and/or manage costs related to acquisitions;

  • the effects of cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities, and technical problems or disruptions;

  • the risks related to a large infrastructure project to build out our campus in Richmond, Virginia;

  • our inability to generate increased revenues from our current or future geographic expansion plans;

  • the risks related to acceptance of credit cards and debit cards and facilitation of other customer payments;

  • the effects of climate change and other events beyond our control;

  • the effects related to increased attention to ESG matters;

  • our inability to obtain and maintain accurate, comprehensive or reliable data;

  • our ability to enforce or defend our ownership and use of intellectual property;

  • our inability to successfully halt the operation of websites that aggregate our data, data from other companies or “copycat” websites that may misappropriate our data;

  • our inability to defend against potential legal liability for collecting, displaying or distributing information;

  • our inability to obtain or retain listings from real estate brokers, agents, property owners and apartment property managers;

  • our ability to maintain or establish relationships with third-party listing providers;

  • our ability to comply with the rules and compliance requirements of MLSs;

  • the risks related to international operations;

  • the effects of foreign currency fluctuations;

  • the effects of Brexit;

  • our indebtedness;

  • the effects of a lowering or withdrawal of the ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating agencies;

  • the effects of any actual or perceived failure to comply with privacy or data protection laws, regulations or standards;

  • the effects of changes in tax laws, regulations or fiscal and tax policies;

  • the effects of third-party claims, litigation, regulatory proceedings or government investigations; and

  • risks related to return on investment.

Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of, and are based on information available to us on, the date of this Report. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to update any such statements or release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or circumstances after the date of this Report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

PART I

Item 1. Business

In this Report, the words “we,” “our,” “us,” “CoStar Group” or the “Company” refer to CoStar Group, Inc. and its direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. This Report also refers to our websites, but information contained on those sites is not part of this Report.

CoStar Group, founded in 1987, is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the U.S. and U.K. based on the fact that we own and operate leading online marketplaces for commercial real estate and apartment listings in the U.S., based on the numbers of unique visitors and site visits per month; provide more information, analytics and marketing services than any of our competitors; offer the most comprehensive commercial real estate database available; and have the largest commercial real estate research department in the industry. We have created and compiled a standardized platform of information, analytics and online marketplace services where industry professionals and consumers of commercial real estate, including apartments, and the related business communities, can continuously interact and facilitate transactions by efficiently accessing and exchanging accurate and standardized real estate-related information. Our service offerings span all commercial property types, including office, retail, industrial, multifamily, land, mixed-use and hospitality. Through our Homes.com Network and our acquisition of OnTheMarket, we also offer online platforms that manage workflow and marketing for residential real estate agents and brokers and provide portals for homebuyers to view residential property listings.

Industry Overview

The market for real estate information and analysis is vast, based on the variety, volume and value of transactions related to real estate. Each transaction has multiple participants and multiple information requirements, and in order to facilitate transactions, industry participants must have extensive, accurate and current information and analysis. Members of the real estate and related business community require daily access to current data such as space availability, properties for-sale, rental units available, rental rates, vacancy rates, tenant movements, comparable sales, supply, new construction, absorption rates and other important market developments to carry out their businesses effectively. Market research (including historical and forecast conditions) and applied analytics are instrumental to the success of industry participants. There is a strong need for an efficient marketplace, where real estate professionals can exchange information, evaluate opportunities using standardized data and interpretive analyses and interact with each other on a continuous basis.

A large number of parties involved in commercial and residential real estate and the related business community make use of the services we provide in order to obtain information they need to conduct their businesses, including:

•Sales and leasing brokers•Government agencies
•Property owners•Mortgage-backed security issuers
•Property managers•Appraisers
•Design and construction professionals•Pension fund managers
•Real estate developers•Reporters
•Real estate investment trust managers•Tenant vendors
•Investment and commercial bankers•Building services vendors
•Mortgage bankers•Communications providers
•Mortgage brokers•Insurance companies’ managers
•Retailers•Institutional advisors
•Hospitality owners•Investors and asset managers
•Real estate agents

The commercial real estate and related business community historically operated in an inefficient marketplace because of the fragmented approach to gathering and exchanging information within the marketplace. Various organizations, including hundreds of brokerage firms, directory publishers and local research companies, collected data on specific markets and developed software to analyze the information they independently gathered. This highly fragmented methodology resulted in duplication of efforts in the collection and analysis of information, excessive internal cost and the creation of non-standardized data containing varying degrees of accuracy and comprehensiveness, resulting in a formidable information gap.

The creation and maintenance of a standardized information platform for commercial real estate requires infrastructure including a standardized database, accurate and comprehensive research capabilities, experienced analysts, easy-to-use technology and intensive participant interaction. By combining our extensive database, researchers, our experienced team of analysts and economists, technological expertise and broad customer base, we believe that we have created such a platform.

The apartment rental advertising industry serves property managers and owners who are tasked with finding renters to occupy vacant apartments, as well as renters who are searching for their next home. Property managers have several options at their disposal, including their own websites, drive-by and outdoor advertising, traditional classified ads, free online listing services, search engine marketing and ILS, like Apartments.com and the network of apartment listing websites we own and operate. Many apartment ILS websites feature only the rental availabilities that larger property owners pay to advertise, resulting in a poor user experience in which the renter’s search criteria return either limited or no results, irrelevant results or stale results that do not represent actual availabilities.

We believe that consumers expect accurate, actionable and comprehensive apartment rental information. Our apartment ILS websites include renter-focused features like the ability to filter search results according to various criteria (e.g., commute time to work); professional images of the properties, including immersive videos and 3-D interactive models; custom neighborhood profiles; and tenant reviews. Our network of apartment listing websites draws on our multifamily database and includes researched and verified information. We proactively gather information on available rentals to improve the accuracy of the listings on our apartment ILS websites, including real time unit-level availability, current pricing and rent specials. We have continually invested in our network to improve the features and services offered to property managers and website users. Recent additions include: dynamic lead forms that provide more information about prospective residents, making rent trends information publicly available, free digital ad retargeting and integrated online rental solutions, including lease applications with tenant credit and background checks. We believe that we have created and maintain easily searchable apartment ILS websites with a comprehensive selection of rentals, information on actual rental availabilities and rents and in-depth data on neighborhoods, as well as easy to use and actionable tools for the rental process.

We believe that consumers expect accurate, actionable and comprehensive homes-for-sale information on a platform that allows collaboration between homebuyers and agents. Our residential websites include homebuyer-focused features like the ability to filter search results according to various criteria (e.g., home features, view and lot type), review rankings of nearby schools and tools to educate consumers on the home buying process. We plan to develop origin

Showing the first 8K of 62K characters. Open the full section

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks related to our business

Our revenues and financial position will be adversely affected if we are not able to attract and retain clients. Our success and revenues depend on attracting and retaining subscribers to our information, analytics and online marketplace services. Our subscription-based services generate the largest portion of our revenues. Our revenue may not grow, or could decrease, if we cannot attract new customers, continue to keep our cancellation rate low and continue to sell new services to our existing customers. We may not be able to continue to grow our customer base, keep the cancellation rate low or sell new services to existing customers as a result of several factors, including, continuing global economic and geopolitical volatility, economic pressures and the impact of inflation on our costs and on customer spending; the business failure of current clients; customer decisions that they do not need our services or to use alternative services; customers’ and potential customers’ budgetary constraints; consolidation in the real estate and/or financial services industries; data quality; technical problems; competitive pressures; or devaluation of the local currencies of international customers relative to the U.S. dollar which impairs the purchasing power of such customers. We compete against many other real estate information, analytics and marketing service providers for business. If clients cancel services or decide not to renew their subscription agreements and we do not sell new services to our existing clients or attract new clients, then our renewal rate, net new bookings and revenues may decline or fail to meet expectations.

We may not be able to successfully develop and introduce new or upgraded information, analytics and online marketplace services that are attractive to our users and advertisers or successfully combine or shift focus from current services with less demand, which could decrease our revenues and our profitability. Our future business and financial success will depend on our ability to continue to anticipate the needs of customers and potential customers and to successfully introduce new and upgraded services, including services that make our marketplaces useful for users and attractive to advertisers. To be successful, we must be able to quickly adapt to changes in the industry, as well as rapid technological changes, by continually enhancing our information, analytics and online marketplace services. As a result, we must continually invest resources in research and development to improve the appeal and comprehensiveness of our services and effectively incorporate new technologies.

Developing new services and upgrades to services, as well as integrating and coordinating current services, imposes heavy burdens on our systems department, product development team, management and researchers. The processes are costly, and our efforts to develop, integrate and enhance our services may not be successful. In addition, launching and selling a new or upgraded service puts additional strain on our sales and marketing resources. If we are unsuccessful in obtaining greater market share or in obtaining widespread adoption of new or upgraded services, we may not be able to offset the expenses associated with the development, launch and marketing of the new or upgraded service, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. For example, we have and will continue to invest significantly in developing our marketplaces and content and, to generate brand awareness and site traffic, we have and will continue to invest significant resources in multi-channel marketing campaigns for select marketplaces. If these development efforts and marketing campaigns do not increase brand awareness, site traffic, subscriptions for marketplaces services and/or revenues, the cost of these campaigns could have an adverse effect on our financial results.

In addition, as we integrate acquired businesses, we continue to assess which services we believe will best meet the needs of our customers. If we eliminate or phase out a service and are not able to offer and successfully market and sell an alternative service, our revenues may decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may not be able to compete successfully against existing or future competitors in attracting advertisers, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. We compete to attract advertisers. Our competitors may have greater brand recognition or more direct sales personnel than we have and may generate more web traffic than we do, which may provide them with competitive advantages. To compete successfully for advertisers, we must continue to invest resources in developing our advertising platform and proving the effectiveness and relevance of our advertising services. Pressure from competitors seeking to acquire a greater share of our advertisers’ overall marketing budget could adversely affect our pricing and margins, lower our revenue and increase our research and development and marketing expenses. If we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or future competitors, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be adversely affected.

Competition could render our services uncompetitive and reduce our profitability. The markets for information systems and services and for online marketplaces in general are highly competitive and rapidly changing. Competition in these markets may increase further if economic conditions or other circumstances cause customer bases and customer spending to decrease and service providers to compete for fewer customer resources. Our existing or future competitors may have greater name recognition, larger customer bases, better technology or data, lower prices, easier access to data, greater user traffic or greater financial, technical or marketing resources than we have to provide services that users might view as superior to our offerings. Competitors may introduce different solutions that attract users away from our services or provide solutions similar to ours that

have the advantage of better branding or marketing resources. Our competitors may be able to undertake more effective marketing campaigns, obtain more data, adopt more aggressive pricing policies, make more attractive offers to potential employees, subscribers, advertisers, distribution partners and content providers or may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies or changes in user requirements. Increased competition could result in lower revenues and higher expenses, which would reduce our profitability.

Our operating results and revenues are subject to fluctuations and our quarterly financial results may be subject to market cyclicality, each of which could negatively affect our stock price. The real estate market may be influenced by general economic conditions, economic cycles, changes in interest rates, seasonality and many other factors, which in turn may impact our financial results. The different sectors of the large and fragmented industry, such as office, industrial, retail, multifamily, single family and others, are influenced differently by different factors, and have historically moved through economic cycles with different timing. As such, it is difficult to estimate the potential impact of economic cycles and conditions or seasonality from year-to-year on our overall operating results. For example, we generally see higher sales of Apartments.com listing services during the peak summer rental season and higher CoStar sales towards the end of the year; however, sales fluctuate from year-to-year and may fluctuate more widely when there are changes in general economic conditions or the industry.The timing of widely observed holidays and vacation periods, particularly slowdowns during the end-of-ye

Showing the first 8K of 80K characters. Open the full section

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 1C. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy

We have developed and implemented a cybersecurity risk management program intended to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our critical systems and information.

Our cybersecurity risk management program is guided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF). This does not imply that we meet any particular technical standards, specifications, or requirements at all times, only that we use the NIST CSF as a guide to help us identify, assess, and manage cybersecurity risks relevant to our business. Additionally, we engage a third-party vendor regularly to benchmark our information security program’s maturity against the NIST CSF.

Our cybersecurity risk management program is integrated into our overall enterprise risk management program, and shares common methodologies, reporting channels and governance processes that apply across the enterprise risk management program to other legal, compliance, strategic, operational, and financial risk areas.

Key elements of our cybersecurity risk management program include, but are not limited to the following:

a.Internal and external asset identification, assessment, monitoring and classification procedures to evaluate cybersecurity risks and inform mitigation efforts.

b.A security team principally responsible for managing (1) our cybersecurity risk assessment processes, (2) our cyber processes, and (3) our cyber threat and incident response;

c.The use of external service providers, where appropriate, to assess defenses, analyze threat intelligence, or otherwise assist with aspects of our security controls;

d.Cybersecurity awareness training of our employees, software development teams, incident response personnel, and senior management;

e.A cybersecurity incident response plan that includes procedures for responding to cybersecurity incidents; and regular tabletop exercises to assess our response readiness; and

f.A third-party risk management process for key service providers, suppliers, and vendors who access critical systems and data based on risk profile.

We have not identified material risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any prior cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected us, including our operations, business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. We face certain ongoing risks from cybersecurity threats that, if realized, are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our operations, business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. See Risk Factors – “Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business and financial condition.” and “Technical problems or disruptions that affect either our customers’ ability to access our services, or the software, internal applications, database and network systems underlying our services, could damage our reputation and lead to reduced demand for our information, analytics and online marketplace services, lower revenues and increased costs.”

Cybersecurity Governance

Our Board considers cybersecurity risk as part of its risk oversight function and has delegated to the Audit Committee oversight of cybersecurity and other information technology risks. The Audit Committee oversees management’s implementation of our cybersecurity risk management program.

Our Audit Committee receives reports from management on our cybersecurity risks. In addition, management updates the Audit Committee, as necessary, regarding any significant cybersecurity incidents. The Audit Committee reports to the full Board regarding its activities, including those related to cybersecurity.

Our management team is informed and monitors the prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation of cybersecurity threats. The team has primary responsibility for our overall cybersecurity risk management program and supervises both our internal cybersecurity personnel and our retained external cybersecurity consultants. Our management team’s experience includes industry-recognized certifications, such as CISSP, CISM, and CISA, decades of experience as part of our IT team, and previous cybersecurity leadership positions at various Fortune 500 companies and U.S. Defense contractors.

Our management team is informed about and monitors the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cybersecurity risks and incidents through various means, which may include briefings from internal security personnel; threat intelligence and other information obtained from governmental, public or private sources, including external consultants engaged by us; and alerts and reports produced by security tools deployed in the IT environment.

Item 2. Properties

Our headquarters is located at 1331 L Street, NW, in downtown Washington, DC, where we occupy approximately 169,000 square feet of office space, with a lease that expires on May 31, 2025 (with two five-year renewal options). Our headquarters is used primarily by our North America operating segment. Our principal facility in the U.K. is located in London, where we occupy 42,000 square feet of office space. Our lease for this facility has a term ending August 31, 2025. This facility is used by our International operating segment, including our recent acquisition, OnTheMarket.

Our staff in Richmond, Virginia occupy an owned building located at 501 S 5th Street, where we occupy approximately 310,000 square feet, an owned building located at 901 Semmes Avenue, where we own and occupy approximately 117,000 square feet; and leased space at 951 E Byrd St., where we occupy approximately 97,000 square feet. These locations house research, product development and sales functions. All of our owned properties are held under fee simple ownership and are not materially encumbered.

We also operate certain of our research, development and sales functions out of additional leased office spaces in Irvine, California; San Diego, California; and Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, we lease office space in a variety of other metropolitan areas. These locations include, among others, the following: Hendersonville, Tennessee; Norfolk, Virginia; Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California; and Los Angeles, California.

We believe these facilities are suitable and appropriately support our business needs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

Currently, and from time to time, we are involved in litigation incidental to the conduct of our business, including, among others, the legal actions discussed under “Contingencies” in Note 13 “Commitments and Contingencies” of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements. While our management presently believes that the ultimate outcome of these proceedings, individually and in the aggregate, will not materially harm our business, financial position, future results of operations or liquidity, legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and unfavorable rulings could, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, future results of operations or liquidity.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “CSGP.” As of January 31, 2024, there were 1,654 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy. We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock during the foreseeable future, but intend to retain any earnings for future growth of our business.

Recent Issues of Unregistered Securities. We did not issue any unregistered securities during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. The following table is a summary of our repurchases of common stock for the quarter ended December 31, 2023:

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

2023Total Number of Shares Purchased**(1)**Average Price Paid per ShareTotal Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or ProgramsMaximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
October 1 through 3112,677$76.89——
November 1 through 3014,44573.48——
December 1 through 318,25288.25——
Total35,374$78.15——
___________________

(1) The number of shares purchased consists of shares of common stock tendered by employees to the Company to satisfy the employees' minimum tax withholding obligations arising as a result of vesting of restricted stock grants under the Company’s 2016 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended, which shares were purchased by the Company based on their fair market value on the trading day immediately preceding the vesting date. None of these share purchases were part of a publicly announced program to purchase common stock of the Company.

Stock Price Performance Graph

The stock performance graph below shows how an initial investment of $100 in our common stock would have compared to:

  • An equal investment in the S&P 500 Index; and

  • An equal investment in the S&P 500 Internet Services & Infrastructure Index.

The comparison covers the period beginning December 31, 2018 and ending on December 31, 2023, and assumes the reinvestment of any dividends. Note that this performance is historical and is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

2023 Stock Chart.jpg

Company / Index12/31/1812/31/1912/31/2012/31/2112/31/2212/31/23
CoStar Group, Inc.$100.00$177.36$273.99$234.27$229.09$259.06
S&P 500 Index100.00131.49155.68200.37164.08207.21
S&P 500 Internet Services & Infrastructure Index100.00134.46156.09178.95137.79160.76

Item 6. Reserved

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains “forward-looking statements,” including statements about our beliefs and expectations. There are many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in any forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated above in under the heading “Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements” and in Item 1A. under the heading “Risk Factors,” as well as those described from time to time in our filings with the SEC.

All forward-looking statements are based on information available to us on the date of this filing and we assume no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the SEC and the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Report.

Overview

Our principal information, analytics and online marketplace services are described in the following paragraphs by type of service:

CoStar

CoStar is our subscription-based integrated platform for commercial real estate intelligence, which includes information about office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality and student housing properties, properties for sale, comparable sales, tenants, space available for lease, industry professionals and their business relationships, industry news and market status and provides lease analytical, risk management, and hospitality benchmarking capabilities. CoStar's revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 slowed compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. We expect CoStar's revenue growth rate for the year ending December 31, 2024 to be consistent with the revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily due to converting legacy STR customers to our new CoStar based benchmarking product offsetting lower inflation-based price adjustments.

Information Services

We provide real estate and lease management technology solutions, including lease administration, lease accounting and abstraction services, through our CoStar Real Estate Manager service offerings, as well as portfolio and debt analysis, management and reporting capabilities through our CoStar Risk Analytics service offerings. We also provide benchmarking and analytics for the hospitality industry both on a subscription basis and an ad hoc basis. We earn revenue on ad hoc transactions as reports or data are delivered to customers. We provide information services internationally, through our Business Immo, Belbex and Thomas Daily businesses in France, Spain and Germany, respectively. Information Services revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 slowed compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. We expect Information Services' revenue growth rate for the year ending December 31, 2024 to slow compared to the revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 as a result of transitioning legacy STR customers to our new CoStar based benchmarking product.

Multifamily

Apartments.com is the flagship brand of our apartment marketing network of subscription-based advertising services and provides property management companies and landlords with a comprehensive advertising destination for their available rental units and offers renters a platform for searching for available rentals. This network also earns transaction-based revenue primarily from providing online tenant applications, including background and credit checks, and rental payment processing. Multifamily's revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 accelerated compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 as a result of higher sales volumes driven by increases in pricing on renewals and an increase in the number of properties listed on our network. We expect Multifamily's revenue growth rate for the year ending December 31, 2024 to moderate compared to the revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 due to lower inflation-based price adjustments.

LoopNet

Our LoopNet network of commercial real estate websites offer subscription-based, online marketplace services that enable commercial property owners, landlords and real estate agents working on their behalf to advertise properties for sale or for lease and to submit detailed information about property listings. Commercial real estate agents, buyers and tenants use the LoopNet network of online marketplace services to search for available property listings that meet their criteria. LoopNet's revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 accelerated compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, due to an increase in the average price per listing. We expect LoopNet's revenue growth rate for the year ending December 31, 2024 to

slow compared to the revenue growth rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 as a result of disruptions related to transitioning sales and service activities to a dedicated LoopNet field sales team.

Residential

Our Homes.com Network and the acquisition of OnTheMarket have enabled us to expand our offerings to the residential for sale market. Homes.com is a homes for sale listings site that combines our proprietary research with listing information to allow homebuyers an informative and collaborative experience finding homes for sale or lease. Homes.com provides residential real estate professionals subscription-based access to applications that manage residential real estate agent workflow and receives transaction-based revenue for marketing campaigns delivered on third-party platforms. In February 2024, we began selling subscription memberships to promote the home listing as well as the agent in the sort order. OnTheMarket is a property portal in the U.K., which primarily offers subscriptions-based advertising services to agents. Residential's revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 decreased compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, due to the discontinuation of certain non-strategic products and services. We expect Residential's revenues for the year ending December 31, 2024 to increase compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 due to the OnTheMarket Acquisition and the launch of our new Homes.com product.

Other Marketplaces

Our other marketplaces include Ten-X, an online auction platform for commercial real estate and our BizBuySell and Land.com networks. The BizBuySell network provides online marketplaces for businesses and franchises for sale, and THE Land.com network provides online marketplaces for rural land for sale. Other marketplaces' revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 decreased compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, due to lower Ten-X transaction revenue, partially offset by growth in other products. We expect other marketplaces' revenues for the year ending December 31, 2024 to be consistent with the revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Subscription-based Services

The majority of our revenue is generated from service offerings that are distributed to our clients under subscription-based agreements that typically renew automatically and have a term of at least one year. We recognize subscription revenues on a straight-line basis over the life of the contract.

For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, our annualized net new bookings of subscription-based services on all contracts were approximately $286 million, $305 million and $217 million, respectively. Net new bookings is calculated based on the annualized amount of change in the Company's sales bookings resulting from new subscription-based contracts, changes to existing subscription-based contracts and cancellations of subscription-based contracts for the period reported. Net new bookings is calculated on all subscription-based contracts without regard to contract term. Net new bookings is considered an operating metric that is an indicator of future subscription revenue growth and is also used as a metric of sales force productivity by us and investors. However, information regarding net new bookings is not comparable to, nor should it be substituted for, an analysis of our revenues over time. Revenue from our subscription-based contracts were approximately 95%, 93% and 93% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in the percentage of our revenue from subscription-based contracts from 2022 to 2023 was primarily due to the growth in our subscription-based services.

For the trailing 12 months ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, our contract renewal rates for subscription-based services for contracts with a term of at least one year were approximately 90%, 90% and 92%, respectively; and, therefore, our cancellation rates for those services for the same periods were approximately 10%, 10% and 8%, respectively. Our contract renewal rate is a quantitative measurement that is typically closely correlated with our revenue results. As a result, we believe that the rate may be a reliable indicator of short-term and long-term performance absent extraordinary circumstances. Our trailing 12-month contract renewal rate may decline as a result of negative economic conditions, consolidations among our clients, reductions in customer spending or decreases in our customer base. Revenue from our subscription-based contracts with a term of at least one year were approximately 82%, 80% and 77% of total revenue for the trailing 12 months ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in the percentage of our revenue from subscription-based contracts for contracts with a term of at least one year from 2022 to 2023 was due to increases in sales of longer term advertising products. The decrease in the percentage of our revenue from subscription-based contracts with a term of at least one year from 2023 to 2022 was primarily due to the acquisitions of companies that contained a higher percentage of transaction-based revenue than our legacy businesses, as well as increases in sales of shorter term advertising products.

Development, Investments and Expansion

We plan to continue to invest in our business and our services, evaluate strategic growth opportunities and pursue our key priorities as described below. We are committed to supporting, improving and enhancing our information, analytics and online marketplace solutions, including expanding and improving our offerings for our client base and site users, including property owners, property managers, buyers, commercial tenants and residential renters and buyers. We expect to continue our software development efforts to improve existing services, introduce new services, integrate and cross-sell services, integrate recently completed acquisitions and expand and develop supporting technologies for our research, sales and marketing organizations. We may reevaluate our priorities as economic conditions continue to evolve.

Our key priorities for the year ending December 31, 2024 currently include:

*•*Continuing to develop and invest in our residential marketplaces. For Homes.com we are creating additional content for neighborhoods, parks, schools and condos. In February 2024, we launched our new Homes.com subscription memberships to promote the home listing as well as the agent in the sort order on the website. We intend to create an expanded dedicated sales force, to supplement the efforts of our sales team already in place. We plan to increase our residential marketing investment, including the launch of a brand campaign.

For OnTheMarket, we plan to integrate OnTheMarket into the Company’s operations including additional investment in marketing, content creation and enhancing OnTheMarket’s website to improve performance and facilitate better search engine optimization.

  • Continuing to enhance our facilities. We are expanding our research and technology center in Richmond, Virginia. We broke ground on the expansion in November 2022 and expect construction to be substantially completed in the first half of 2026. The expansion includes construction of two new buildings spanning 750,000 square feet and will bring our campus footprint to over 1 million square feet when completed. We plan to increase our research, technology, operations, software development, marketing and sales teams in this location.

In February 2024, we closed on the purchase of a building in Arlington, Virginia and we plan to build out a space for our employees. The lease on our current Washington, DC headquarters ends in 2025.

We expect our investment in these priorities will increase our research, selling and marketing and facilities expenses, including potential impairments of assets associated with the acquired building. Each of these will reduce our net income and may reduce our cash on hand for the year ending December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. We intend to continue to assess the need for additional investments in our business in order to develop and distribute new services and functionality within our current platform or expand the reach of, or otherwise improve, our current service offerings. Any future product development or expansion of services, combination and coordination of services or elimination of services or corporate expansion, development or restructuring efforts could reduce our profitability and increase our capital expenditures. Any new investments, changes to our service offerings or other unforeseen events could cause us to experience reduced revenues or generate losses and negative cash flow from operations in the future. Any development efforts must comply with our credit facility, which contains restrictive covenants that restrict our operations and use of our cash flow and may prevent us from taking certain actions that we believe could increase our profitability or otherwise enhance our business.

For further discussion of our Company, strategy and products, see our business overview set forth in "Item 1. Business" in this Report.

Impacts of Current Economic Conditions

In response to the concerns over inflation risk, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates over the past two years. It is currently unclear how the commercial real estate industry will ultimately be impacted by the current economic conditions. Rising interest rates or a period of elevated interest rates may reduce demand for all types of real estate. If the demand for office space or other real estate decreases significantly, there could be a downturn in the commercial real estate market that may materially adversely affect many of our clients. A depressed commercial real estate market would have a negative impact on our core customer base, which could impact our customers’ ability to subscribe and pay for our services and reduce demand for our services. Reduced demand and increased cancellations could cause our revenues or our revenue growth rates to decline and reduce our profitability.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We prepare and publicly release quarterly unaudited financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. We also disclose and discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures in our public releases, investor conference calls and filings with the SEC. The non-GAAP financial measures that we may disclose include EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin,

non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share. EBITDA is our net income before interest income or expense, net, other income or expense, net, loss on debt extinguishment, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. We typically disclose EBITDA on a consolidated and an operating segment basis in our earnings releases, investor conference calls and filings with the SEC. Adjusted EBITDA is different from EBITDA because we further adjust EBITDA for stock-based compensation expense, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring costs and settlements and impairments incurred outside our ordinary course of business. Adjusted EBITDA margin represents adjusted EBITDA divided by revenues for the period. Non-GAAP net income is determined by adjusting our net income for stock-based compensation expense, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring costs, settlement and impairment costs incurred outside our ordinary course of business and loss on debt extinguishment, as well as amortization of acquired intangible assets and other related costs, and then subtracting an assumed provision for income taxes. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents non-GAAP net income divided by the number of diluted shares outstanding for the period used in the calculation of GAAP net income per diluted share.

We may disclose adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share on a consolidated basis in our earnings releases, investor conference calls and filings with the SEC. The non-GAAP financial measures that we use may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Also, in the future, we may disclose different non-GAAP financial measures in order to help our investors meaningfully evaluate and compare our results of operations to our previously reported results of operations or to those of other companies in our industry.

We view EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share as operating performance measures. We believe that the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income is net income. We believe the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP net income per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA margin are net income per diluted share and net income divided by revenue, respectively. In calculating EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share, we exclude from net income the financial items that we believe should be separately identified to provide additional analysis of the financial components of the day-to-day operation of our business. We have outlined below the type and scope of these exclusions and the material limitations on the use of these non-GAAP financial measures as a result of these exclusions. EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as a measure of liquidity, as an alternative to net income or as an indicator of any other measure of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. Investors and potential investors in our securities should not rely on EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share as a substitute for any GAAP financial measure, including net income and net income per diluted share. In addition, we urge investors and potential investors in our securities to carefully review the GAAP financial information included as part of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q that are filed with the SEC, as well as our quarterly earnings releases, and compare the GAAP financial information with our EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share.

EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share may be used by management to internally measure our operating and management performance and may be used by investors as supplemental financial measures to evaluate the performance of our business. We believe that these non-GAAP measures, when viewed with our GAAP results and accompanying reconciliations, provide additional information to investors that is useful to understand the factors and trends affecting our business without the impact of certain acquisition-related items. We have spent more than 30 years building our database of commercial real estate information and expanding our markets and services partially through acquisitions of complementary businesses. Due to these acquisitions, our net income has included significant charges for amortization of acquired intangible assets, depreciation and other amortization, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring costs and loss on debt extinguishment. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share exclude these charges and provide meaningful information about the operating performance of our business, apart from charges for amortization of acquired intangible assets, depreciation and other amortization, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring costs; settlement and impairment costs incurred outside our ordinary course of business. We believe the disclosure of non-GAAP measures can help investors meaningfully evaluate and compare our performance from quarter-to-quarter and from year-to-year without the impact of these items. We also believe the non-GAAP measures we disclose are measures of our ongoing operating performance because the isolation of non-cash charges, such as amortization and depreciation, and other items, such as interest income or expense, net, other income or expense, net, income taxes, stock-based compensation expenses, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring costs, loss on debt extinguishment and settlement and impairment costs incurred outside our ordinary course of business, provides additional information about our cost structure, and, over time, helps track our operating progress. In addition, investors, securities analysts and others have regularly relied on EBITDA and may rely on adjusted EBITDA, adjusted

EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income or non-GAAP net income per diluted share to provide a financial measure by which to compare our operating performance against that of other companies in our industry.

Set forth below are descriptions of financial items that have been excluded from net income to calculate EBITDA and the material limitations associated with using this non-GAAP financial measure as compared to net income:

  • Amortization of acquired intangible assets in cost of revenues may be useful for investors to consider because it represents the diminishing value of any acquired trade names and other intangible assets and the use of our acquired technology, which is one of the sources of information for our database of commercial real estate information. We do not believe these charges necessarily reflect the current and ongoing cash charges related to our operating cost structure.

  • Amortization of acquired intangible assets in operating expenses may be useful for investors to consider because it represents the estimated attrition of our acquired customer base. We do not believe these charges necessarily reflect the current and ongoing cash charges related to our operating cost structure.

  • Depreciation and other amortization may be useful for investors to consider because they generally represent the wear and tear on our property and equipment used in our operations. We do not believe these charges necessarily reflect the current and ongoing cash charges related to our operating cost structure.

  • The amount of interest income or expense, net and other income or expense, net we generate and incur may be useful for investors to consider and may result in current cash inflows and outflows. However, we do not consider the amount of interest income or expense, net and other income or expense, net to be a representative component of the day-to-day operating performance of our business.

  • Income tax expense may be useful for investors to consider because it generally represents the taxes which may be payable for the period and the change in deferred income taxes during the period and may reduce the amount of funds otherwise available for use in our business. However, we do not consider the amount of income tax expense to be a representative component of the day-to-day operating performance of our business.

  • The amount of loss on our debt extinguishment may be useful for investors to consider because it generally represents losses from the early extinguishment of debt. However, we do not consider the amount of the loss on debt extinguishment to be a representative component of the day-to-day operating performance of our business.

Set forth below are descriptions of additional financial items that have been excluded from EBITDA to calculate adjusted EBITDA and the material limitations associated with using this non-GAAP financial measure as compared to net income:

  • Stock-based compensation expense may be useful for investors to consider because it represents a portion of the compensation of our employees and executives. Determining the fair value of the stock-based instruments involves a high degree of judgment and estimation and the expenses recorded may bear little resemblance to the actual value realized upon the future exercise or termination of the related stock-based awards. Therefore, we believe it is useful to exclude stock-based compensation in order to better understand the long-term performance of our core business.

  • The amount of acquisition- and integration-related costs incurred may be useful for investors to consider because such costs generally represent professional service fees and direct expenses related to acquisitions. Because we do not acquire businesses on a predictable cycle, we do not consider the amount of acquisition- and integration-related costs to be a representative component of the day-to-day operating performance of our business.

  • The amount of settlement and impairment costs incurred outside of our ordinary course of business may be useful for investors to consider because they generally represent gains or losses from the settlement of litigation matters, charges related to terminations of contracts or impairments of acquired intangible assets or other long lived assets. We do not believe these charges necessarily reflect the current and ongoing cash charges related to our operating cost structure.

  • The amount of restructuring costs incurred may be useful for investors to consider because they generally represent costs incurred in connection with a change in a contract or a change in the makeup of our properties or personnel. Because we do not carry out restructuring activities on a predictable cycle, we do not consider the amount of restructuring related costs to be a representative component of the day-to-day operating performance of our business.

The financial items that have been excluded from our net income to calculate non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share are amortization of acquired intangible assets and other related costs, stock-based compensation, acquisition- and integration-related costs, restructuring and related costs and settlement and impairment costs incurred outside

our ordinary course of business. These items are discussed above with respect to the calculation of adjusted EBITDA together with the material limitations associated with using this non-GAAP financial measure as compared to net income. In addition to these exclusions from net income, we subtract an assumed provision for income taxes to calculate non-GAAP net income. In both 2023 and 2022, we assumed a 26% tax rate, which approximated our historical long-term statutory corporate tax rate, excluding the impact of discrete items.

Management compensates for the above-described limitations of using non-GAAP measures by using a non-GAAP measure only to supplement our GAAP results and to provide additional information that is useful to investors to understand the factors and trends affecting our business.

See Note 14 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of this Report for the reconciliation of our net income to our EBITDA.

Consolidated Results of Operations

The following table provides our selected consolidated results of operations for the indicated periods (in millions and as a percentage of total revenue):

Year Ended December 31,
202320222021
Revenues$2,455.0100%$2,182.4100%$1,944.1100%
Cost of revenues491.520414.019357.218
Gross profit1,963.5801,768.4811,586.982
Operating expenses:
Selling and marketing (excluding customer base amortization)989.940684.231622.032
Software development267.611220.910201.010
General and administrative381.516338.716256.813
Customer base amortization42.2273.6374.84
Total operating expenses(1)1,681.2681,317.4601,154.659
Income from operations(1)282.311451.021432.322
Interest income (expense), net213.6932.11(31.6)(2)
Other income, net5.4—3.4—3.3—
Income before income taxes(1)501.320486.522404.021
Income tax expense126.65117.05111.46
Net income(1)$374.715%$369.517%$292.615%
__________________________

(1) Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

The following table provides our revenues by type of service (in millions and as a percentage of total revenue):

Year Ended December 31,
202320222021
CoStar$925.238%$837.038%$722.837%
Information services170.97157.47141.77
Multifamily914.237745.434678.735
LoopNet264.811230.911207.511
Residential46.1273.7374.64
Other marketplaces133.85138.06118.86
Total revenues(1)(2)$2,455.0100%$2,182.4100%$1,944.1100%
__________________________

(1) For further discussion of our Company, strategy and products, see our business overview set forth in "Item 1. Business" in this Report. (2) Totals may not foot due to rounding.

Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2023 and Year Ended December 31, 2022

The following table provides a comparison of our selected consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in millions):

20232022Increase (Decrease)Increase (Decrease)
Revenues:
CoStar$925.2$837.0$88.210.5%
Information services170.9157.413.58.6
Multifamily914.2745.4168.822.6
LoopNet264.8230.933.914.7
Residential46.173.7(27.6)(37.4)
Other marketplaces133.8138.0(4.2)(3.0)
Total revenues2,455.02,182.4272.612.5
Cost of revenues491.5414.077.518.7
Gross profit1,963.51,768.4195.111.0
Operating expenses:
Selling and marketing (excluding customer base amortization)989.9684.2305.744.7
Software development267.6220.946.721.1
General and administrative381.5338.742.812.6
Customer base amortization42.273.6(31.4)(42.7)
Total operating expenses1,681.21,317.4363.827.6
Income from operations282.3451.0(168.7)(37.4)
Interest income, net213.632.1181.5565.4
Other income, net5.43.42.058.8
Income before income taxes501.3486.514.83.0
Income tax expense126.6117.09.68.2
Net income$374.7$369.5$5.21.4%

Revenues. Revenues increased $273 million, or 12.5%, to $2.5 billion. The increase in our revenues included:

  • an increase in Multifamily revenues of $169 million, or 22.6%, due to higher sales volume driven by an increase in the number of properties listed on our network and increases in pricing on renewals,

  • an increase in CoStar revenues of $88 million, or 10.5%, due to higher sales volume driven by the impact of annual price increases and customer upgrades on contract renewals, as well as an increase in subscribers,

  • an increase in LoopNet revenues of $34 million, or 14.7%, due to an increase in the average price for listings,

  • an increase in Information services revenues of $14 million, or 8.6%, primarily attributable to an increase in revenues for STR of $7 million, CoStar Real Estate Manager of $5 million and $2 million of revenue related to the Business Immo Acquisition,

  • a decrease in Residential revenues of $28 million, or 37.4%, due to the discontinuation of certain products and services that were inconsistent with our long-term business strategy partially offset by $2 million of revenue related to the OnTheMarket Acquisition and

  • a decrease in Other marketplaces revenues of $4 million, or 3.0%, due to lower property volumes auctioned on Ten-X partially offset by increases in revenue of Land.com.

Gross Profit and Cost of Revenues. Gross profit increased $195 million, or 11.0%, to $2.0 billion in 2023, and the gross profit percentage decreased from 81% to 80%. The increase in gross profit was due to higher revenues partially offset by an increase in the cost of revenues. Cost of revenues increased $78 million, or 18.7% to $492 million and, as a percentage of revenues, increased from 19% to 20%. The increase in cost of revenues included:

  • an increase in personnel costs of $61 million related to rising headcount to support our residential research efforts, and increases in salaries, bonus, stock-based compensation and benefits costs for our existing employees,

  • an increase of $25 million in technology costs to host our database and products and

  • an decrease of $11 million in expenses related to advertising purchased on behalf of customers.

Selling and Marketing Expenses. Selling and marketing expenses increased $306 million, or 44.7%, to $990 million and, as a percentage of revenues, increased from 31% to 40%. The increase included:

  • an increase in marketing expenses of $244 million for advertising our brands,

  • an increase in personnel and events costs of $63 million related to rising headcount in our sales force and increases in salaries, bonus, stock-based compensation and benefits costs for our existing employees and

Software Development Expenses. Software development expenses increased $47 million, or 21.1% to $268 million and, as a percentage of revenues, increased from 10% to 11%. The increase primarily included higher personnel costs of $42 million related to rising headcount to support our residential efforts and increases in salaries, bonus, stock-based compensation and benefits costs for our existing employees.

General and Administrative Expenses. General and administrative expenses increased $43 million, or 12.6%, to $382 million and, as a percentage of revenues, was consistent at 16%. The increase included:

  • an increase of $17 million in credit loss expense primarily due to our expectations that the downturn in the commercial real estate market will increase delinquent trade receivables,

  • an increase of $19 million in professional service costs due to diligence efforts associated with potential acquisitions and legal fees to defend our intellectual property rights and

  • an increase of $11 million in personnel costs related to increases in salaries, bonus, stock-based compensation and benefits costs for our existing employees and rising headcount.

Customer Base Amortization Expense. Customer base amortization expense decreased $31 million, or 42.7%, to $42 million and, as a percentage of revenues, decreased from 3% to 2%. The decrease was primarily attributable to acceleration of amortization of $16 million related to eliminating certain usage fees for agent access to the Homesnap product recorded in 2022, as well as a reduction in amortization expense related to customer base assets acquired in the acquisitions of LoopNet, ForRent and Ten-X, which have been amortizing on an accelerated basis since the respective acquisitions.

Interest Income, Net. Interest income, net increased $182 million, or 565.4%, to $214 million due to an increase in interest earned on our cash equivalents.

Other Income, Net. Other income, net was insignificant for both the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022.

Income Tax Expense. Income tax expense increased $10 million, or 8.2%, to $127 million and the effective tax rate increased 1% to 25% of income before income taxes. The increase in income tax expense was primarily attributable to additional income before income taxes and a benefit recognized in 2022 for state tax credits.

For a comparison of our results of operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2021, see Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was filed with the SEC on February 22, 2023.

Comparison of Business Segment Results for Year Ended December 31, 2023 and Year Ended December 31, 2022

We manage our business geographically in two operating segments, with the primary areas of measurement and decision-making being North America, which includes the U.S. and Canada, and International, which primarily includes Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Management relies on an internal management reporting process that provides revenue and operating segment EBITDA, which is our net income before interest income or expense, net, other income or expense, net, loss on debt extinguishment, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Management believes that operating segment EBITDA is an appropriate measure for evaluating the operational performance of our operating segments. EBITDA is used by management to internally measure operating and management performance and to evaluate the performance of our business.

Segment Revenues. North America revenues increased $260 million, or 12.3%, to $2.4 billion and included:

  • an increase in CoStar revenues of $86 million, or 10.7%, due to higher sales volume driven by the impact of annual price increases and customer upgrades on contract renewals, as well as an increase in subscribers,

  • an increase in Information services revenues of $7 million, or 5.9%, primarily attributable to an increase in revenues for CoStar Real Estate Manager of $5 million and STR of $3 million,

  • an increase in Multifamily revenues of $169 million, or 22.7%, due to higher sales volume driven by increases in pricing on renewals and an increase in the number of properties listed on our network,

  • an increase in LoopNet revenues of $32 million, or 14.2%, due to an increase in the average price for listings,

  • a decrease in Residential revenues of $30 million, or 40.4%, due to the discontinuation of certain products and services that were inconsistent with our long-term business strategy and

  • a decrease in Other marketplaces revenues of $4 million, or 3.0%, due to the lower property volumes auctioned on Ten-X partially offset by increases in revenue of Land.com..

International revenues increased $13 million, or 16.9%, to $89 million and primarily included:

  • an increase in Information services revenues of $6 million, or 18.8%, primarily attributable to an increase in revenues for STR of $4 million and $2 million of revenue related to the Business Immo Acquisition,

  • an increase in CoStar revenues of $2 million, or 6.5%, due to higher sales volume driven by the impact of annual price increases and customer upgrades on contract renewals, as well as an increase in subscribers,

  • an increase in LoopNet revenues of $2 million, or 30.6%, due to an increase in the average price for listings and

  • $2 million of revenue related to the OnTheMarket Acquisition.

Segment EBITDA. North America EBITDA decreased to $403 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, from $577 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in North America EBITDA was primarily due to increases in personnel costs, marketing costs, technology hosting costs, professional service fees, sales events costs, credit loss expense and occupancy costs partially offset by increases in revenues described above. International EBITDA decreased to a loss of $13 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was due to increased personnel costs, partially offset by, an increase in revenue.

For a comparison of our business segment results of operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2021, see Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was filed with the SEC on February 22, 2023.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We believe the balance of cash and cash equivalents, which was $5.2 billion as of December 31, 2023, along with cash generated by ongoing operations and continued access to capital markets, will be sufficient to satisfy our cash requirements over the next 12 months and beyond. Our material cash requirements include the following contractual and other obligations.

Debt. As of December 31, 2023, we had outstanding an aggregate principal amount of $1.0 billion of Senior Notes due July 15, 2030. Future interest payments associated with the Senior Notes are $196.0 million, with $28.0 million payable within 12 months.

Leases. We have lease arrangements for office facilities, data centers and certain vehicles. As of December 31, 2023, we had fixed lease payment obligations of $110 million, with $39 million payable within 12 months.

Purchase Obligations. Our purchase obligations are associated with agreements that are enforceable and legally binding and that specify all significant terms, including fixed or minimum services to be used, fixed, minimum or variable price provisions, and the approximate timing of the transaction and have an original term greater than one year. The services acquired under these agreements primarily relate to web hosting, sponsorship agreements, third-party data or listings and software subscriptions. As of December 31, 2023, we had purchase obligations of $264 million, with $81 million payable within 12 months.

Construction Commitments. We are expanding our Richmond, Virginia campus, which is expected to result in material cash requirements in 2024 and beyond. We broke ground on the expansion in November 2022 and expect construction to be substantially completed in the first half of 2026. We negotiated various tax incentives with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Richmond including the allowance to use market-based income apportionment for income taxes and partial reimbursements of property tax assessments related to the value of the campus expansion. These incentives are conditional upon achieving job creation and capital expenditure targets from 2022 to 2029. Failure to meet these targets could result in a reduction of the value of the tax incentives and repayment of previous tax reductions. The value of the incentives is dependent on our taxable income.

We expect the total cost of construction, net of the estimated value of the tax incentives from 2023 to 2032, to be in the range of $450 – $600 million. We have engaged a project manager, architects and a general contractor on terms that generally require payments as services are provided or construction is performed. As of December 31, 2023, we have paid $128 million and we have committed to spend an additional $437 million as further work is performed under these contracts. We plan to amend these contracts to include additional commitments as construction progresses. Total cash expenditures for 2024 are expected to be approximately $385 million. We expect to fund the expansion with cash on hand.

In January 2024, the Company entered into a conditional purchase and sale agreement for an office building in Arlington, Virginia. The Company closed on the transaction in February 2024 along with an agreement to purchase the land underlying the building. These transactions totaled $340.0 million, inclusive of property taxes, titling insurance and other transaction costs and were paid with cash on hand.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including, among others, our operating results, expansion and integration efforts and our level of acquisition activity or other strategic transactions. To date, we have grown in part by acquiring other companies, and we expect to continue to make acquisitions.

Cash and cash equivalents increased to $5.2 billion as of December 31, 2023, compared to cash and cash equivalents of $5.0 billion as of December 31, 2022. The increase in cash and cash equivalents for the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to cash flow from operations of $489.5 million, partially offset by spending on capital assets

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $489.5 million compared to $478.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The $10.8 million increase was primarily due to higher net income, excluding certain non-cash expenses.

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $238.6 million compared to $69.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The change was primarily due to an increase in cash paid for acquisitions of $93.3 million, increased spending for the Richmond campus of $82.3 million, and a decrease in proceeds from sale of property and equipment and other assets of $30.1 million.

Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $3.7 million compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $734.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The change was primarily due to $745.7 million of net proceeds from our September 2022 equity offering.

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and revenues and expenses during the period reported. The following accounting policies involve a “critical accounting estimate” because they are particularly dependent on estimates and assumptions made by management about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimates are made. In addition, while we have used our best estimates based on facts and circumstances available to us at the time, different acceptable assumptions would yield different results. Changes in the accounting estimates are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, which may have a material impact on the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations. We review these estimates and assumptions periodically and reflect the effects of revisions in the period that they are determined to be necessary. We consider policies relating to the following matters to be critical accounting policies:

  • Intangible assets and goodwill;

  • Income taxes;

  • Revenue recognition; and

  • Business combinations.

With respect to our accounting policy for intangible assets and goodwill, we further supplement in Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of this Report with the following:

We assess the impairment of identifiable intangibles and goodwill whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Judgments made by management relate to the expected useful lives of intangible assets and our ability to recover the carrying value of such assets. The accuracy of these judgments may be adversely affected by several factors, including the factors listed below:

  • Significant underperformance relative to historical or projected future operating results;

  • Significant changes in the manner of our use of the acquired assets or the strategy for our overall business;

  • Significant negative industry or economic trends; or

  • Significant decline in our market capitalization relative to net book value for a sustained period.

When we determine that the carrying value of intangible assets may not be recovered based upon the existence of one or more of the above indicators, we test for impairment.

Goodwill and identifiable intangible assets that are not subject to amortization are tested annually for impairment by each reporting unit on October 1 of each year and are also tested for impairment more frequently based upon the existence of one or more of the above indicators.

Goodwill represents the future economic benefits arising from a business combination and is calculated as the excess of purchase consideration paid in a business combination over the fair value of assets of the net identifiable assets acquired. Goodwill is not amortized, but instead tested for impairment at least annually by each reporting unit, or more frequently if an event or other circumstance indicates that the fair value of a reporting unit may be below its carrying amount. We may first assess qualitative factors to evaluate whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or elect to bypass the qualitative assessment. If it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, or we elect to bypass the qualitative assessment, we then perform a quantitative assessment by determining the fair value of each reporting unit. We estimate the fair value of each reporting unit based on a projected discounted cash flow model that includes significant assumptions and estimates including our discount rate, growth rate and future financial performance. Assumptions about the discount rate are based on a weighted average cost of capital for comparable companies and determined by management to be commensurate with the risk in our current business model. Assumptions about the growth rate and future financial performance of a reporting unit are based on our forecasts, business plans, economic projections and anticipated future cash flows. These assumptions are subject to change from period-to-period and could be adversely impacted by the uncertainty surrounding global market conditions, commercial real estate conditions and the competitive environment in which we operate. Changes in these or other factors could negatively affect our reporting units' fair value and potentially result in impairment charges. Such impairment charges could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. The fair value of each reporting unit is compared to the carrying amount of the reporting unit. If the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds the fair value, then an impairment loss is recognized for the difference.

As of October 1, 2023, we assessed the relevant qualitative factors for our North America reporting unit and concluded that it was not more likely than not that the fair value of this reporting unit was less than its respective carrying amounts. We elected to bypass performing the qualitative screen and performed the first step quantitative analysis of the goodwill impairment test for our International reporting unit in 2023, which indicated that the fair value of this unit exceeded its carrying value. There have been no events or changes in circumstances as a result of our qualitative impairment analysis on October 1, 2023, that would indicate that the carrying value of each reporting unit may not be recoverable.

For an in-depth discussion of each of our significant accounting policies, including our critical accounting policies and further information regarding estimates and assumptions involved in their application, see Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of this Report.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report for further discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, including the expected dates of adoption.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

We provide information, analytics and online marketplace services to commercial real estate and related business communities within the regions where we operate which primarily include, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin

America. The functional currency for a majority of our operations is the local currency, with the exception of certain international locations for which the functional currency is the British Pound.

Fluctuations in the British Pound, Canadian dollar and Euro may have an impact on our business, results of operations and financial position. For both the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, revenues denominated in foreign currencies were approximately 4%, of total revenue. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, our revenues would have decreased by approximately $10 million and $8 million, respectively, if the U.S. dollar exchange rate used strengthened by 10%. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, our revenues would have increased by approximately 4% and $8 million, respectively, if the U.S. dollar exchange rate used weakened by 10%. Fluctuations in the exchange rates of revenues denominated in any other foreign currencies would have had an immaterial impact on our consolidated results. In addition, we have assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. We currently do not use financial instruments to hedge our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations with respect to our foreign subsidiaries. We may seek to enter into hedging transactions in the future to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations, but we may be unable to enter into hedging transactions successfully, on acceptable terms or at all. As of December 31, 2023, accumulated other comprehensive loss included a loss from foreign currency translation adjustments of approximately $17.6 million.

We do not believe we have material exposure to market risks associated with changes in interest rates related to cash equivalent securities held as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, we had of cash and cash equivalents. If there is an increase or decrease in interest rates, there will be a corresponding increase or decrease in the amount of interest earned on our cash and cash equivalents. We currently diversify our cash and cash equivalents holdings amongst multiple financial institutions and AAA-rated Government and Treasury Money Market Funds.

We are subject to interest rate market risk in connection with our revolving credit facility. On July 1, 2020, we entered into the 2020 Credit Agreement, which provides for variable rate borrowings of up to $750 million. On July 1, 2020, we issued $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes. Changes in interest rates would not have a material impact to our current interest and debt financing expense, as all of our borrowings except for our credit facility are fixed rate, and no amounts were outstanding under our credit facility as of December 31, 2023. See Note 11 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report for additional information regarding our 2020 Credit Agreement.

We had approximately $2.7 billion of goodwill and intangible assets as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, we believe our intangible assets will be recoverable; however, changes in the economy, the business in which we operate and our own relative performance could change the assumptions used to evaluate intangible asset recoverability. In the event that we determine that an asset has been impaired, we would recognize an impairment charge equal to the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the asset. We continue to monitor these assumptions and their effect on the estimated recoverability of our intangible assets.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Financial Statements meeting the requirements of Regulation S-X, including reports of independent registered public accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, are set forth beginning at page F-1. Supplementary data is set forth in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “Consolidated Results of Operations.”

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

As of December 31, 2023, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal year. Based on the foregoing, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2023 and were operating at a reasonable assurance level.

We continue to implement a financial system that is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operational and financial accounting processes. This implementation is expected to be a multi-year project. Consistent with any process change that we implement, the design of the internal controls has and will continue to be evaluated for effectiveness as part of our overall assessment of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures. We expect that the implementation of this system will improve our internal control over financial reporting.

Other than the implementation of a new financial system noted above, there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during our most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management of CoStar Group is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting and for the assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. As defined by the SEC, internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or supervised by, the Company’s principal executive and principal financial officers, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP.

The Company’s internal control over financial reporting is supported by written policies and procedures, which (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the Company’s assets; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of the Company’s management and directors; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

In connection with the preparation of the Company's annual financial statements, management of the Company has undertaken an assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013 framework) issued by the Committee of

Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Management's assessment included an evaluation of the design of the Company's internal control over financial reporting and testing of the operational effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

Based on this assessment, management has concluded that the Company's internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.

Ernst & Young LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited the Company's financial statements included in this report, has issued an attestation report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, a copy of which is included in this Report.

In December 2023, we completed the OnTheMarket Acquisition. As permitted by the SEC, we have elected to exclude the internal controls of this acquisition, which has not been integrated into our existing processes and controls, from our assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. The excluded financial position of OnTheMarket represented less than 1% of our total assets as of December 31, 2023, and less than 1% of our revenues and total operating costs for the year then ended. We will include the internal controls of OnTheMarket in our assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024.

Item 9B. Other Information.

None.

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections.

Not applicable.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

CoStar Group has adopted a Code of Conduct for its directors. In addition, CoStar Group has adopted a separate Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for its officers and employees, including its principal executive, financial and accounting officers, or persons performing similar functions. Copies of each of these codes may be found in the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at https://investors.costargroup.com/leadership. We intend to disclose future amendments to certain provisions of our Codes, or waivers of such provisions granted to executive officers and directors, as required by the SEC rules on the Company's website within four business days following the date of such amendment or waiver.

The remaining information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders under the captions “Director Nominees,” “Executive Officers,” Corporate Governance Highlights,” “Board Committees,” “Insider trading arrangements and policies,” and, if applicable, “Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports.”

Item 11. Executive Compensation

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders under the captions “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” “Director Compensation,” “Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation,” and “Compensation Committee Report.”

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders under the captions “Equity Compensation Plan Information” and “Stock Ownership Information.”

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders under the captions “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions” and “Corporate Governance Matters.”

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders under the caption “Ratification of the Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.”

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

(a)(1) The following financial statements are filed as a part of this Report: CoStar Group, Inc. Consolidated Financial Statements.

(a)(2) Financial statement schedules: Additional financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or not required or because the required information is incorporated herein by reference or included in the financial statements or related notes included elsewhere in this report.

(a)(3) The documents required to be filed as exhibits to this Report under Item 601 of Regulation S-K are listed as follows:

Exhibits

Exhibit No.Description
3.1Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of CoStar Group, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 7, 2021).
3.2Fourth Amended and Restated By-Laws of CoStar Group, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 9, 2022).
4.1Specimen Common Stock Certificate (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Registration Statement on Form S-4 of the Registrant (Reg. No. 333-174214) filed with the SEC on June 3, 2011).
4.2Description of the Registrant's Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 23, 2022).
4.3Indenture, dated as of July 1, 2020, by and among CoStar Group, Inc., as issuer, the guarantors named therein and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee, relating to the 2.800% Senior Notes due 2030, including the form of 2.800% Senior Notes due 2030 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 1, 2020).
*10.1CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Stock Incentive Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 to the Registration Statement on Form S-8 of the Registrant (Reg. No. 333-212278) filed with the SEC on June 28, 2016).
*10.2First Amendment to the CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Stock Incentive Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed April 25, 2018).
*10.3CoStar Group, Inc. 2007 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed June 8, 2012).
*10.4CoStar Group, Inc. 2007 Stock Incentive Plan French Sub-Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Registrant’s Report on Form 10-K filed February 29, 2008).
*10.5Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Restricted Stock Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers, directors and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.6Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Restricted Stock Grant Agreement for Service Awards between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.7Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Restricted Stock Unit Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.8Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Incentive Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.9Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Incentive Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and Andrew C. Florance (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.7 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.10Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Nonqualified Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers, directors and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
Exhibit No.Description
*10.11Form of CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Plan Nonqualified Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and Andrew C. Florance (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.12Form of 2007 Plan Restricted Stock Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers, directors and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed June 22, 2007).
*10.13Form of 2007 Plan Restricted Stock Unit Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 20, 2014).
*10.14Form of 2007 Plan Incentive Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
*10.15Form of 2007 Plan Incentive Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and Andrew C. Florance (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
*10.16Form of 2007 Plan Nonqualified Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its officers and employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.10 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
*10.17Form of 2007 Plan Nonqualified Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its directors (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.11 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
*10.18Form of 2007 Plan Nonqualified Stock Option Grant Agreement between the Registrant and Andrew C. Florance (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.12 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
*10.19Form of 2007 Plan French Sub-Plan Restricted Stock Agreement between the Registrant and certain of its employees (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.10 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 29, 2008).
*10.20CoStar Group, Inc. 2016 Cash Incentive Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 28, 2016).
*10.21Second Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (No. 333-258220) filed with the SEC on July 28, 2021).
*10.22Canadian Addendum to CoStar Group ESPP (filed herewith).
*10.23CoStar Group, Inc. Management Stock Purchase Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.21 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 23, 2018).
*10.24Summary of Non-Employee Director Compensation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on October 24, 2013).
*10.25Employment Agreement for Andrew C. Florance (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to Amendment No. 1 to the Registrant's Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Reg. No. 333-47953) filed with the SEC on April 27, 1998).
*10.26First Amendment to Andrew C. Florance Employment Agreement, effective January 1, 2009 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.16 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 24, 2009).
10.27Form of Indemnification Agreement between the Registrant and each of its officers and directors (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 7, 2004).
10.28Deed of Office Lease by and between GLL L-Street 1331, LLC and CoStar Realty Information, Inc., dated February 18, 2011, and made effective as of June 1, 2010 (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on form 10-Q filed on April 29, 2011).
10.29Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of July 1, 2020, by and among CoStar Group, Inc., as borrower, CoStar Realty Information, Inc., as co-borrower, the lenders party thereto and Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 1, 2020)
10.30First Amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of May 8, 2023, among CoStar Group, Inc., as borrower, CoStar Realty Information, Inc., as co-borrower, the lenders from time to time party thereto and Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed July 26, 2023)
21.1Subsidiaries of the Registrant (filed herewith).
23.1Consent of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (filed herewith).
Exhibit No.Description
31.1Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (filed herewith).
31.2Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (filed herewith).
32.1Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (furnished herewith).
32.2Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (furnished herewith).
97CoStar Group, Inc. Clawback Policy, effective September 13, 2023 (filed herewith).
101.INSThe following financial statements from the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, formatted in Inline XBRL: (i) Consolidated Statements of Operations; (ii) Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income; (iii) Consolidated Balance Sheets; (iv) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows; and (v) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, tagged as blocks of text and including detailed tags.
101.SCHInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
101.CALInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
101.DEFInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document.
101.LABInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
101.PREInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
104The cover page from the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, formatted in Inline XBRL (included as Exhibit 101).
  • Management Contract or Compensatory Plan or Arrangement.

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary

None.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) 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.

COSTAR GROUP, INC.
By:/s/ Andrew C. Florance
February 21, 2024Andrew C. Florance
President and Chief Executive Officer

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each individual whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Andrew C. Florance and Scott T. Wheeler, and each of them individually, as their true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this report, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and to all documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, herein by ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or his or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, this report has been signed by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

SignatureCapacityDate
/s/ Michael R. KleinChairman of the BoardFebruary 21, 2024
Michael R. Klein
/s/ Andrew C. FloranceChief Executive Officer andFebruary 21, 2024
Andrew C. FlorancePresident and a Director
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Scott T. WheelerChief Financial OfficerFebruary 21, 2024
Scott T. Wheeler(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
/s/ Angelique G. BrunnerDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Angelique G. Brunner
/s/ Michael J. GlossermanDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Michael J. Glosserman
/s/ John W. HillDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
John W. Hill
/s/ Laura Cox KaplanDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Laura Cox Kaplan
/s/ Christopher J. NassettaDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Christopher J. Nassetta
/s/ Louise S. SamsDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Louise S. Sams
/s/ Robert W. MusslewhiteDirectorFebruary 21, 2024
Robert W. Musslewhite

COSTAR GROUP, INC.

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID Number 42)F-2
Consolidated Statements of OperationsF-6
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive IncomeF-7
Consolidated Balance SheetsF-8
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ EquityF-9
Consolidated Statements of Cash FlowsF-10
Notes to Consolidated Financial StatementsF-12

F-1

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders of CoStar Group, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of CoStar Group, Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated February 21, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the

Showing the first 8K of 178K characters. Open the full section