$8.8 Million Year-Over-Year Improvement in Net Results
Positive Cash from Operations
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA), a leading influencer marketing company that makes Creator Economy solutions for marketers, reported its financial and operational results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025.
Q3 2025
Financial Summary Compared to
Q3 2024
- Total revenue declined to $8.1 million, compared to $8.8 million
- Managed Services revenue increased 5% to $8.0 million compared to $7.7 million (excluding Hoozu)
- Reflecting our strategy to shed non-recurring, unprofitable projects in favor of larger, recurring accounts, Managed Services bookings declined 44% to $3.6 million, compared to $6.4 million (excluding Hoozu)
- Total costs and expenses declined 54% to $8.4 million, compared to $18.2 million
- Net income totaled $0.1 million, compared to a net loss of $8.8 million, continuing our return to profitability
- Adjusted EBITDA* for the quarter was $0.4 million, improving $3.8 million year-over-year
- Cash and equivalents as of September 30, 2025 totaled $51.4 million, reflecting positive cash from operations
Q3 2025
Highlights
- Won new business from Amazon, General Motors, Owens-Corning, and more
- Produced new work for Kellogg’s, Clorox, Nestle, Danone, and many more clients
- Enhanced our technology platform with AI-powered features that provide clients with strategic insights and campaign performance
- Recruited Steve Bonnell, EVP Account Management to lead our enterprise accounts and John Francis, VP Sales and Marketing Operations to strengthen our go-to-market strategy
* Adjusted EBITDA and revenue from on-going operations are non-GAAP financial measures. Refer to the definition and reconciliation of these measures under “Use of Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”
Management Commentary
“Q3 marks our third consecutive quarter of financial improvement and underscores the success of our transformation toward sustainable, profitable growth,” said Patrick Venetucci, CEO. “While total revenue and bookings declined due to the intentional shedding of unprofitable, non-recurring work and softness in certain sectors, the core health of our business is strong. Managed services revenue grew 14% year-to-date, expenses decreased drastically, net income grew again, and operations generated cash versus a multi-million dollar loss last year.
Since I became CEO, our strategy has been to fortify, simplify, and focus—strengthening our U.S. operations, refining our go-to-market, and prioritizing enterprise clients with recurring, high-growth potential. These efforts have driven double- and even triple-digit growth among enterprise accounts, new business wins from brands like Amazon, General Motors and Owens-Corning, and new productions for Kellogg’s, Clorox, Nestlé, and Danone. To support this momentum, we added key leaders including Steve Bonnell, EVP Account Management, and John Francis, VP Marketing and Revenue Operations. Alongside our service focus, we continue to invest in our technology platform—simplifying offerings and adding AI-powered insights to enhance client performance. With strong progress and growing opportunities, I’m confident in our trajectory and am proud of the progress that our team is making.”
Q3 2025
Financial Results
Total revenue in the third quarter of 2025 totaled $8.1 million. Excluding Hoozu, which was divested in December 2024, total revenue grew 2.5% year over year in the third quarter of 2024. Our core enterprise customer base grew by double digits in the current quarter, offset somewhat by a decline in revenues from non-core, less profitable customers compared with the prior-year quarter.
Cost of revenue in the third quarter of 2025 totaled to $4.2 million, or 51% of revenue, compared to $5.2 million, or 59%, in the prior-year quarter. Excluding Hoozu, the cost of revenue declined 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting improved margins and a more efficient cost structure.
Costs and expenses, excluding the cost of revenue, totaled $4.3 million for the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of , or 67%, from the third quarter of 2024. Sales and marketing costs were $1.1 million during the third quarter of 2025, a 62% decrease from $2.9 million in the prior-year quarter, largely due to our targeted workforce reduction in the fourth quarter of 2024, a temporary pause in advertising spending, and lower general contractor fees. General and administrative costs totaled $3.0 million during the quarter, $2.8 million, or 49%, lower than in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to a reduction in employee-related expenses following our targeted workforce reduction, reduced use of external contractors, and decreased spending on professional services and software licensing.
Net income in the third quarter of 2025 was $0.1 million, or $0.01 per share, as compared to a net loss of $8.8 million, or $(0.52) per share in the third quarter of 2024, based on 18.4 million and 17.0 million average shares outstanding, respectively. Shares outstanding for our earnings per share calculation increased in the current period for dilutive share grants not included in periods of loss.
Adjusted EBITDA (as defined below, a non-GAAP measure management used as a proxy for operating cash flow) totaled $0.4 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared with $3.4 million loss in the comparative period.
As of September 30, 2025, our cash, cash equivalents, and investments totaled $51.4 million. The company has no outstanding long-term debt.
We previously announced our commitment to repurchase up to $10.0 million of our stock in the open market, subject to certain restrictions. Through September 30, 2025, we have purchased a total of 561,950 shares, investing $1.4 million under the repurchase program. No share purchases were made in the current quarter.
Conference Call
IZEA will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2025 results on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST. IZEA’s CEO Patrick Venetucci and CFO Peter Biere will host the call, followed by a question and answer period.
Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Time: 5:00 p.m. EST
Webcast link: https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1739515&tp_key=6773b72c4a
Toll-free dial-in number: 1-877-407-4018
International dial-in number: 1-201-689-8471
Please call the conference telephone number five (5) minutes before the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. A call replay will be made available approximately 3 hours after the conference ends until Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Toll-free replay number: 1-844-512-2921
International replay number: 1-412-317-6671
Replay ID: 13756677
About IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (“IZEA”), is an influencer marketing company with a mission to make creator economy solutions for marketers. We do this by lighting up the Creator Economy with IZEAs—our strategies, campaigns, and solutions that build brands and drive demand. Since launching the industry’s first-ever influencer marketing platform in 2006, IZEA has facilitated nearly 4 million collaborations between brands and creators.
Use of Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Managed Services Bookings is a key metric representing total sales orders received during a period, net of cancellations and refunds. Contracts vary by customer and scope, ranging from custom content projects to integrated marketing campaigns, and generally extend from several months up to a year. Managed Services Bookings provide a useful measure of overall demand but are not necessarily predictive of quarterly revenue, as the timing of revenue recognition varies with contract size, complexity, and customer arrangements. Certain customers enter into annual spend commitments that establish a defined budget for services to be performed throughout the year, while others engage the Company for specific campaigns or deliverables. These differing contract structures may influence the timing and distribution of bookings and related revenue. The Company uses this metric to evaluate customer and market trends, to plan operational staffing, and to inform product development initiatives.
“Adjusted EBITDA” is a non-GAAP financial measure under the Securities and Exchange Commission rules. EBITDA is commonly defined as “earnings before interest income and expense, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.” IZEA defines “Adjusted EBITDA” as earnings or loss before interest expense, interest income, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash stock-based compensation, gain or loss on asset disposals or impairment, and certain other unusual or non-cash income and expense items such as gains or losses on settlement of liabilities and exchanges, and changes in the fair value of derivatives, if applicable. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors as it primarily excludes non-cash and non-operating transactions, and it provides consistency to facilitate period-to-period comparisons.
Revenue from on-going operations and associated costs of revenue and other costs and expenses from on-going operations excludes revenue from and costs attributable to Hoozu in the prior year period. Hoozu was divested by the Company in December 2024. We believe this is useful to investors to facilitate period to period comparisons.
All companies do not calculate bookings and Adjusted EBITDA in the same manner. These metrics and financial measures, as presented by IZEA, may not be comparable to those presented by other companies. Moreover, these metrics and financial measures have limitations as analytical tools. You should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of our results of operations or, with respect to non-GAAP financial measures, as reported under GAAP. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and revenue and costs from on-going operations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are presented in the financial tables included in this press release.
Safe Harbor Statement
All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies, and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “hope,” “estimate,” “optimistic,” “believe,” “intend,” “ought to,” “likely,” “projects,” “plans,” “pursue,” “strategy” or “future,” or the negative of these words or other words or expressions of similar meaning. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations concerning product development and platform launches, future financial performance and operating results, including regarding recognition of bookings as revenues, the share repurchase authorization and any use of such authorization, growth, or maintenance of customer relationships, and expectations concerning IZEA’s business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; our ability to maintain disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.
Press Contact
John Francis
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Phone: 407-674-6911
Email: [email protected]
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IZEA Worldwide, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheets |
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| September 30, 2025 | December 31, 2024 | ||||||
| Assets | |||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 51,390,884 | $ | 44,644,468 | |||
| Accounts receivable, net | 3,389,511 | 7,781,824 | |||||
| Prepaid expenses | 754,473 | 1,079,045 | |||||
| Short term investments | — | 6,427,488 | |||||
| Other current assets | 9,701 | 97,215 | |||||
| Total current assets | 55,544,569 | 60,030,040 | |||||
| Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation | 37,414 | 103,574 | |||||
| Software development costs, net of accumulated amortization | 2,292,497 | 2,086,660 | |||||
| Total assets | $ | 57,874,480 | $ | 62,220,274 | |||
| Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||
| Accounts payable | 1,350,287 | 1,511,747 | |||||
| Accrued expenses | 2,518,669 | 3,734,123 | |||||
| Contract liabilities | 4,129,798 | 8,188,651 | |||||
| Total current liabilities | 7,998,754 | 13,434,521 | |||||
| Finance obligation, less current portion | — | 4,034 | |||||
| Total liabilities | 7,998,754 | 13,438,555 | |||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | — | — | |||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||
| Preferred stock; $.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding | — | — | |||||
| Common stock; $0.0001 par value; $50,000,000 shares authorized; shares issued: $17,929,603 and $17,518,018, respectively, shares outstanding: $17,040,480 and $16,931,169, respectively. | 1,793 | 1,752 | |||||
| Treasury stock at cost: 889,123 and 586,849 shares at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively | (2,344,698 | ) | (1,622,065 | ) | |||
| Additional paid-in capital | 155,355,938 | 154,593,800 | |||||
| Accumulated deficit | (103,087,042 | ) | (104,297,055 | ) | |||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) | (50,265 | ) | 105,287 | ||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | 49,875,726 | 48,781,719 | |||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 57,874,480 | $ | 62,220,274 | |||
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IZEA Worldwide, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations |
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| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 8,072,380 | $ | 8,831,794 | $ | 25,173,975 | $ | 24,878,493 | |||||||
| Costs and expenses: | |||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | 4,152,375 | 5,210,104 | 12,940,561 | 14,355,679 | |||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 1,095,363 | 2,879,320 | 3,179,162 | 9,142,590 | |||||||||||
| General and administrative | 3,004,321 | 5,840,027 | 8,842,379 | 12,995,910 | |||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 150,740 | 239,849 | 460,334 | 669,783 | |||||||||||
| Impairment of goodwill | — | 4,016,722 | — | 4,016,722 | |||||||||||
| Total costs and expenses | 8,402,799 | 18,186,022 | 25,422,436 | 41,180,684 | |||||||||||
| Income (loss) from operations | (330,419 | ) | (9,354,228 | ) | (248,461 | ) | (16,302,191 | ) | |||||||
| Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||
| Change in the fair value of digital assets | — | (51,702 | ) | — | 28,414 | ||||||||||
| Interest expense | (1,654 | ) | (1,654 | ) | (5,092 | ) | (5,654 | ) | |||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 479,818 | 605,644 | 1,463,566 | 1,909,735 | |||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | 478,164 | 552,288 | 1,458,474 | 1,932,495 | |||||||||||
| Net income (loss) before income taxes | $ | 147,745 | $ | (8,801,940 | ) | $ | 1,210,013 | $ | (14,369,696 | ) | |||||
| Tax benefit | — | 33,621 | — | 140,699 | |||||||||||
| Net income ( loss) | 147,745 | (8,768,319 | ) | 1,210,013 | (14,228,997 | ) | |||||||||
| Weighted average common shares outstanding – basic | 17,074,681 | 16,956,497 | 17,142,358 | 17,024,645 | |||||||||||
| Basic income (loss) per common share | $ | 0.01 | $ | (0.52 | ) | $ | 0.07 | $ | (0.84 | ) | |||||
| Weighted average common shares outstanding – diluted | 18,377,063 | 16,956,497 | 18,150,970 | 17,024,645 | |||||||||||
| Diluted income (loss) per common share | $ | 0.01 | $ | (0.52 | ) | $ | 0.07 | $ | (0.84 | ) | |||||
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IZEA Worldwide, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) |
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| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 147,745 | $ | (8,768,319 | ) | $ | 1,210,013 | $ | (14,228,997 | ) | |||||
| Other comprehensive income (loss) | |||||||||||||||
| Unrealized gain (loss) on securities held | — | 84,855 | (12,209 | ) | 235,662 | ||||||||||
| Unrealized gain (loss) on currency translation | 1,048 | (94,195 | ) | (143,343 | ) | (106,497 | ) | ||||||||
| Total other comprehensive income (loss) | 1,048 | (9,340 | ) | (155,552 | ) | 129,165 | |||||||||
| Total comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 148,793 | $ | (8,777,659 | ) | $ | 1,054,461 | $ | (14,099,832 | ) | |||||
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Revenue Details
Revenue details by type:
| Three Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||
| Managed Services Revenue | ||||||||||||||
| On-Going Operations | $ | 8,036,430 | 100 | % | $ | 7,671,221 | 87 | % | $ | 365,209 | 5 | % | ||
| Hoozu | — | — | % | 954,703 | 11 | % | (954,703 | ) | (100)% | |||||
| Total Managed Services Revenue | 8,036,430 | 100 | % | 8,625,924 | 98 | % | (589,494 | ) | (7)% | |||||
| SaaS Services Revenue | 35,950 | — | % | 205,870 | 2 | % | (169,920 | ) | (83)% | |||||
| Total Revenue | $ | 8,072,380 | 100 | % | $ | 8,831,794 | 100 | % | $ | (759,414 | ) | (9)% | ||
| Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||
| Managed Services Revenue | |||||||||||||
| On-Going Operations | $ | 24,996,871 | 99 | % | $ | 21,889,570 | 88 | % | $ | 3,107,301 | 14 | % | |
| Hoozu | — | — | % | 2,283,359 | 9 | % | (2,283,359 | ) | (100)% | ||||
| Total Managed Services Revenue | 24,996,871 | 99 | % | 24,172,929 | 97 | % | 823,942 | 3 | % | ||||
| SaaS Services Revenue | 177,104 | 1 | % | 705,564 | 3 | % | (528,460 | ) | (75)% | ||||
| Total Revenue | $ | 25,173,975 | 100 | % | $ | 24,878,493 | 100 | % | $ | 295,482 | 1 | % | |
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IZEA Worldwide, Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income (Loss) to Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA |
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| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||||
| Net income (loss) from operations | $ | 147,745 | $ | (8,768,319 | ) | $ | 1,210,013 | $ | (14,228,997 | ) | |||||
| Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets | — | 4,016,722 | — | 4,016,722 | |||||||||||
| Adjustment to fair market value of digital assets | — | 51,702 | — | (28,414 | ) | ||||||||||
| Non-cash stock-based compensation | 445,643 | 1,579,236 | 1,086,489 | 2,328,356 | |||||||||||
| Non-cash stock issued for payment of services | 89,995 | 79,057 | 269,991 | 229,063 | |||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 150,740 | 239,849 | 460,334 | 669,783 | |||||||||||
| Interest expense | 1,654 | 1,654 | 5,092 | 5,654 | |||||||||||
| Interest income | (482,760 | ) | (607,712 | ) | (1,429,292 | ) | (1,908,729 | ) | |||||||
| Tax benefit | — | (33,621 | ) | — | (140,699 | ) | |||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA(1) | $ | 353,017 | $ | (3,441,432 | ) | $ | 1,602,627 | $ | (9,057,261 | ) | |||||
| Revenue | $ | 8,072,380 | $ | 8,831,794 | $ | 25,173,975 | $ | 24,878,493 | |||||||
| Operating EBITDA as a % of Revenue | 4.4 | % | (39.0)% | 6.4 | % | (36.4)% | |||||||||
(1) Adjusted EBITDA presentation varies from prior disclosure, primarily to exclude non-operating items such as interest income.
