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Table of Contents

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

Form 10-Q

 

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

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2012

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: 001-35337

 

 

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware   20-2783228
(State of incorporation)   (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
111 Eighth Avenue   10011

New York, New York

(Address of principal executive office)

  (Zip code)

(212) 624-3700

(Registrant’s telephone number including area code)

 

 

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  þ        No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

Yes  þ        No  ¨

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

 

Large accelerated filer   þ    Accelerated filer   ¨   Non-accelerated filer   ¨   Smaller reporting company   ¨
     (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

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

Yes  ¨        No  þ

As of May 4, 2012, the Registrant had 50,659,526 shares of Common Stock (including unvested shares of restricted Common Stock).

 

 

 


Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

QUARTERLY REPORT ON FORM 10-Q

For the period ended March 31, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

          Page
Number
 

Forward-Looking Statements

     iii   

PART I

  

Financial Information

     1   

Item 1.

  

Financial Statements:

     1   
  

Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2012 (unaudited) and December 31, 2011

     1   
  

Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months ended March  31, 2012 and 2011 (unaudited)

     2   
  

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the three months ended March  31, 2012 and 2011 (unaudited)

     3   
  

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

     4   

Item 2.

  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     17   

Item 3.

  

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

     32   

Item 4.

  

Controls and Procedures

     32   

PART II

  

Other Information

     33   

Item 1.

  

Legal Proceedings

     33   

Item 1A.

  

Risk Factors

     33   

Item 2.

  

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

     49   

Item 6.

  

Exhibits

     49   

Signatures

     50   

Exhibit Index

     E-1   

WebMD®, WebMD Health®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, eMedicine®, MedicineNet®, theheart.org®, RxList®, Subimo®, Summex® and Medsite® are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.

 

ii


Table of Contents

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be, forward-looking statements. For example, statements concerning projections, predictions, expectations, estimates or forecasts and statements that describe our objectives, future performance, plans or goals are, or may be, forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect management’s current expectations concerning future results and events and can generally be identified by the use of expressions such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “likely,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “future,” “estimate,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “foresee,” and other similar words or phrases, as well as statements in the future tense.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be different from any future results, performance and achievements expressed or implied by these statements. The following important risks and uncertainties could affect our future results, causing those results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements:

 

   

failure to achieve sufficient levels of usage of our public and private portals and mobile platforms;

 

   

competition in attracting consumers and healthcare professionals to our public portals and mobile platforms;

 

   

competition for advertisers and sponsors for our public portals and mobile platforms;

 

   

reductions in promotional and educational spending by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for brand name prescription drugs, including as a result of lower revenue from such products, whether resulting from the amount and timing of regulatory approvals of such products, from the amount and timing of regulatory approvals of generic products that compete with existing brand name products or from other factors affecting the relevant markets;

 

   

the inability to successfully deploy new or updated applications or services;

 

   

failure to preserve and enhance the “WebMD” brand and our other brands;

 

   

the inability to attract and retain qualified personnel;

 

   

adverse economic conditions and disruptions in the capital markets;

 

   

adverse changes in general business or regulatory conditions affecting the healthcare, information technology and Internet industries; and

 

   

the other risks and uncertainties described in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

These factors are not necessarily all of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any of our forward-looking statements. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on our future results.

The forward-looking statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are made only as of the date of this Quarterly Report. Except as required by law or regulation, we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

 

iii


Table of Contents

PART I

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. Financial Statements

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share and per share data)

 

     March 31,
2012
    December 31,
2011
 
     (Unaudited)        

ASSETS

    

Current assets:

    

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 1,142,066      $ 1,121,217   

Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $1,018 at March 31, 2012 and $1,129 at December 31, 2011

     97,445        121,335   

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

     15,442        12,690   

Deferred tax assets

     21,316        20,482   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total current assets

     1,276,269        1,275,724   

Property and equipment, net

     53,621        57,139   

Goodwill

     202,104        202,104   

Intangible assets, net

     19,343        19,999   

Deferred tax assets

     51,953        55,017   

Other assets

     29,957        31,042   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

TOTAL ASSETS

   $ 1,633,247      $ 1,641,025   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

    

Current liabilities:

    

Accrued expenses

   $ 44,076      $ 55,238   

Deferred revenue

     90,321        88,055   

Liabilities of discontinued operations

     1,506        1,506   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total current liabilities

     135,903        144,799   

2.25% convertible notes due 2016

     400,000        400,000   

2.50% convertible notes due 2018

     400,000        400,000   

Other long-term liabilities

     21,503        21,790   

Commitments and contingencies

    

Stockholders’ equity:

    

Preferred stock, 50,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding

              

Common stock, $0.01 par value per share, 650,000,000 shares authorized; 62,410,849 shares issued at March 31, 2012 and 62,410,255 shares issued at December 31, 2011

     624        624   

Additional paid-in capital

     9,476,277        9,473,811   

Treasury stock, at cost; 6,564,288 shares at March 31, 2012 and 6,685,439 shares at December 31, 2011

     (287,346     (294,062

Accumulated deficit

     (8,513,714     (8,505,937
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity

     675,841        674,436   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

   $ 1,633,247      $ 1,641,025   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

1


Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands, except per share data, unaudited)

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012     2011  

Revenue

   $ 106,947      $ 131,609   

Cost of operations

     53,471        48,449   

Sales and marketing

     30,103        32,294   

General and administrative

     29,022        22,821   

Depreciation and amortization

     6,930        6,424   

Interest income

     11        16   

Interest expense

     5,836        3,141   

Gain on investments

     8,074        14,060   

Other expense

     1,200        53   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

(Loss) income before income tax (benefit) provision

     (11,530     32,503   

Income tax (benefit) provision

     (3,753     12,958   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income

   $ (7,777   $ 19,545   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income per common share:

    

Basic

   $ (0.14   $ 0.33   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ (0.14   $ 0.32   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares outstanding used in computing per share amounts:

    

Basic

     55,769        58,184   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

     55,769        67,173   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

2


Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands, unaudited)

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012     2011  

Cash flows from operating activities:

    

Net (loss) income

   $ (7,777   $ 19,545   

Adjustments to reconcile net (loss) income to net cash provided by operating activities:

    

Depreciation and amortization

     6,930        6,424   

Non-cash interest

     1,082        516   

Non-cash stock-based compensation

     16,900        9,813   

Deferred income taxes

     (3,971     4,798   

Gain on investments

     (8,074     (14,060

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

    

Accounts receivable

     23,890        5,688   

Prepaid expenses and other, net

     (4,023     622   

Accrued expenses and other long-term liabilities

     (11,694     (7,642

Deferred revenue

     2,266        (219
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by continuing operations

     15,529        25,485   

Net cash used in discontinued operations

            (142
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

     15,529        25,343   

Cash flows from investing activities:

    

Proceeds received from ARS option

     9,269        5,240   

Purchases of property and equipment

     (3,377     (4,849
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by investing activities

     5,892        391   

Cash flows from financing activities:

    

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

     754        10,220   

Cash used for withholding taxes due on stock-based awards

     (911     (3,172

Net proceeds from issuance of 2.50% convertible notes and 2.25% convertible notes

            774,745   

Purchases of treasury stock

     (415     (150,000

Excess tax benefit on stock-based awards

            7,355   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities

     (572     639,148   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     20,849        664,882   

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

     1,121,217        400,501   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

   $ 1,142,066      $ 1,065,383   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes.

 

3


Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(In thousands, except share and per share data, unaudited)

1.    Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Background

WebMD Health Corp. (the “Company” or “WebMD”) is a Delaware corporation that was incorporated on May 3, 2005. The Company completed an initial public offering on September 28, 2005. From the completion of the initial public offering through the completion of the Company’s merger with HLTH Corporation (“HLTH”) on October 23, 2009 (the “Merger”), the Company was more than 80% owned by HLTH. On October 23, 2009, the Merger was completed, with HLTH merging into WebMD and WebMD continuing as the surviving corporation. In the Merger, each share of HLTH Common Stock was converted into 0.4444 shares of WebMD Common Stock.

The Company provides health information services to consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, employers and health plans through its public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications. The Company’s public portals for consumers enable them to obtain health and wellness information (including information on specific diseases or conditions), check symptoms, locate physicians, store individual healthcare information, receive periodic e-newsletters on topics of individual interest and participate in online communities with peers and experts. The Company’s public portals for physicians and healthcare professionals make it easier for them to access clinical reference sources, stay abreast of the latest clinical information, learn about new treatment options, earn continuing medical education (“CME”) credit and communicate with peers. The Company also provides mobile health information applications for use by consumers and physicians. The Company’s public portals generate revenue primarily through the sale of advertising and sponsorship products, including CME services. The public portals’ sponsors and advertisers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and healthcare services companies, and consumer products companies whose products relate to health, wellness, diet, fitness, lifestyle, safety and illness prevention. The Company also generates revenue from advertising sold in WebMD the Magazine, a consumer magazine distributed to physician office waiting rooms. In addition, the Company generates revenue from the sale of certain information and data products. The Company’s private portals enable employers and health plans to provide their employees and members with access to personalized health and benefit information and decision-support tools that help them to make more informed benefit, treatment and provider decisions and motivate them to make healthier lifestyle choices. In addition, the Company offers clients of its private portals health and condition management programs and health coaching services on a per participant basis across an employee or plan population. The Company generates revenue from its private portals through the licensing of these portals and related services to employers and health plans either directly or through distributors.

Interim Financial Statements

The unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared by management and reflect all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring adjustments) that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of the interim periods presented. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of the operating results to be expected for any subsequent period or for the entire year ending December 31, 2012. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and regulations.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements and notes included herein should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes for the year ended December 31, 2011, which are included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

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Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Seasonality

The timing of the Company’s revenue is affected by seasonal factors. The Company’s public portal advertising and sponsorship revenue is seasonal, primarily due to the annual spending patterns of the advertising and sponsorship clients of the Company’s public portals. This portion of the Company’s revenue is usually the lowest in the first quarter of each calendar year, and generally increases during each consecutive quarter throughout the year. The timing of revenue in relation to the Company’s expenses, many of which do not vary directly with revenue, has an impact on cost of operations, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in each calendar quarter.

Accounting Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience, current business factors, and various other assumptions that the Company believes are necessary to consider to form a basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities, the recorded amounts of revenue and expenses, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. The Company is subject to uncertainties such as the impact of future events, economic and political factors, and changes in the Company’s business environment; therefore, actual results could differ from these estimates. Accordingly, the accounting estimates used in the preparation of the Company’s financial statements will change as new events occur, as more experience is acquired, as additional information is obtained and as the Company’s operating environment changes. Changes in estimates are made when circumstances warrant. Such changes in estimates and refinements in estimation methodologies are reflected in reported results of operations; if material, the effects of changes in estimates are disclosed in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Significant estimates and assumptions by management affect the allowance for doubtful accounts, the carrying value of long-lived assets (including goodwill and intangible assets), the amortization period of long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets), the carrying value, capitalization and amortization of software and Website development costs, the carrying value of investments, the provision for income taxes and related deferred tax accounts, certain accrued liabilities, revenue recognition, contingencies, litigation and related legal accruals and the value attributed to employee stock options and other stock-based awards.

Presentation of Segment Information

The Company generates its revenue through its public and private portals. Discrete financial information related to a measure of profit or loss for these two revenue streams is not available as they leverage many common expenses, and the Company does not separately allocate these common expenses in assessing the performance of its business. Accordingly, the Company views its business as one reportable operating segment.

The following table presents the revenues recognized related to the Company’s public portals and private portals during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011:

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012      2011  

Public portal revenues

   $ 87,776       $ 110,363   

Private portal revenues

     19,171         21,246   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 
   $ 106,947       $ 131,609   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Loss Contingencies

The Company accounts for loss contingencies in accordance with FASB ASC No. 450, “Contingencies.” Under ASC No. 450, accruals for loss contingencies are recorded when both (i) the information available indicates that it is probable that a liability has been incurred and (ii) the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. The Company records adjustments to these accruals to reflect the status of negotiations, settlements, advice of counsel and other information and events related to an individual matter.

Net (Loss) Income Per Common Share

Basic (loss) income per common share has been computed using the weighted-average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding during the period, adjusted to give effect to participating non-vested restricted stock during the periods it was outstanding. Diluted (loss) income per common share has been computed using the weighted-average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding during the period, increased to give effect to potentially dilutive securities and assumes that any dilutive convertible notes were converted, only in the periods in which such effect is dilutive (shares in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended  
     March 31,  
     2012     2011  

Numerator:

    

Net (loss) income

   $ (7,777   $ 19,545   

Effect of participating non-vested restricted stock

            (170
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income — Basic

     (7,777     19,375   

Interest expense on 2.50% convertible notes, net of tax

            1,503   

Interest expense on 2.25% convertible notes, net of tax

            315   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income — Diluted

   $ (7,777   $ 21,193   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Denominator:

    

Weighted-average shares — Basic

     55,769        58,184   

Employee stock options and restricted stock

            2,527   

2.50% convertible notes

            5,377   

2.25% convertible notes

            1,085   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Adjusted weighted-average shares after assumed conversions — Diluted

     55,769        67,173   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income per common share — Basic

   $ (0.14   $ 0.33   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income per common share — Diluted

   $ (0.14   $ 0.32   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

The Company has excluded its convertible notes, as well as certain outstanding stock options and restricted stock, from the calculation of diluted income per common share during the periods in which such securities were anti-dilutive. The following table presents the total weighted average number of potentially dilutive common shares that were excluded from the computation of diluted (loss) income per common share during the periods presented (shares in thousands):

 

     Three Months Ended
March  31,
 
         2012              2011      

Options and restricted stock

     11,530         1,968   

Convertible notes

     11,477           
  

 

 

    

 

 

 
     23,007         1,968   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

6


Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued an update to the existing guidance for goodwill and other intangible assets. The update simplifies how a company tests goodwill for impairment by allowing both public and nonpublic entities an option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. Under that option, an entity would no longer be required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines, based on that qualitative assessment, that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. The amendments are effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. The adoption of this amendment did not have an impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

In June 2011, the FASB issued an amendment to the existing guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. Under the amended guidance, entities have the option to present the components of net income and other comprehensive income in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. Entities no longer have the option of presenting the components of other comprehensive income within the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity. For public entities, the amendment is effective on a retrospective basis for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011, which for the Company is the first quarter in 2012. As the Company did not have any components of other comprehensive income during the periods presented in these accompanying consolidated financial statements, the adoption of this amendment did not have any impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or related disclosures.

In May 2011, the FASB issued amendments to the existing guidance on fair value measurement. The amendments are intended to create consistency between U.S. generally accepted accounting standards and International Financial Reporting Standards on measuring fair value and disclosing information about fair value measurements. The amendments clarify the application of existing fair value measurement requirements including (i) the application of the highest and best use valuation premise concepts, (ii) measuring the fair value of an instrument classified in a reporting entity’s shareholders’ equity, and (iii) quantitative information required for fair value measurements categorized within Level 3. In addition, the amendments require additional disclosure for Level 3 measurements regarding the sensitivity of fair value to changes in unobservable inputs and any interrelationships between those inputs. For public entities, the amendments are effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. These changes are required to be applied prospectively. The adoption of this amendment did not have any impact on the Company’s financial statements.

2.    Discontinued Operations

On September 14, 2006, the Company completed the sale of Emdeon Practice Services, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, “EPS”) to Sage Software, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of The Sage Group plc (the “EPS Sale”). The Company had certain indemnity obligations to advance amounts for reasonable defense costs for initially ten, and later four, former officers and directors of EPS (the “EPS Indemnification Obligations”) who were indicted in connection with an investigation by the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina (the “Investigation”) that began in 2003. The Investigation related principally to issues of financial accounting improprieties relating to Medical Manager Corporation, a predecessor of HLTH (by its merger into HLTH in September 2000), and more specifically, HLTH’s former Medical Manager Health Systems, Inc. subsidiary. Medical Manager Health Systems was a predecessor to EPS. On December 15, 2005, the United States Attorney announced the indictments of the ten former officers and employees of Medical Manager Health Systems. The indictment initially charged the defendants with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud, a violation

 

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Table of Contents

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 and conspiracy to commit money laundering, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h) but the second count was dismissed in 2009. One of the defendants passed away in 2008 and was dismissed from the indictment. Four of the defendants were dismissed from the case and two defendants were severed from the case and their cases were transferred to Tampa, Florida. In addition, one of the defendants entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the United States pursuant to which all charges were dismissed against him on July 26, 2010. The trial of two of the former officers of Medical Manager Health Systems began on January 19, 2010 and, on March 1, 2010, both men were found guilty by the jury; however, the Court set the verdict aside on May 27, 2010 and entered a judgment of acquittal. The government entered a notice of appeal with respect to the Court’s order. At that time, two other former officers of EPS were awaiting trial in Tampa, Florida, which was scheduled to begin on October 4, 2010; however, on July 9, 2010 the Court in Tampa placed the case against those defendants on hold pending resolution of the appeal of the South Carolina ruling. On June 8, 2011, upon the motion of the government, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed the government’s appeal of the District Court’s rulings, thereby ending the government’s case against the two defendants in South Carolina. On July 8, 2011, upon the motion of the government, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted a motion to dismiss the government’s case against the remaining two defendants in Florida.

In connection with the EPS Sale, the Company agreed to retain the responsibility for the EPS Indemnification Obligations. During the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the Company recorded pre-tax charges of $73,347, $29,078 and $14,367, respectively, representing the Company’s estimate, and adjustments to its estimate of probable costs with respect to its indemnification obligation. That estimate included assumptions as to the duration of the trial and pre-trial periods, and the defense costs to be incurred during these periods. As a result of the June 8, 2011 and July 8, 2011 decisions discussed above, it is the Company’s understanding that the Investigation has concluded. As a result, the Company reversed the remaining accrual with respect to its EPS Indemnification Obligations of $7,527 through income from discontinued operations during the three months ended June 30, 2011.

Included within liabilities of discontinued operations related to this matter was $5,000 as of March 31, 2011, which represented certain reimbursements received from the Company’s insurance carriers between July 31, 2008 and December 31, 2010 under certain directors and officers liability insurance policies (the “Policies”) for expenses that the Company had incurred and expected to continue to incur for the EPS Indemnification Obligations. The Company had previously deferred recognizing these insurance reimbursements within the consolidated statement of operations because of the possibility they might have to be repaid to the insurance carriers under the terms of the applicable Policies. However, as a result of the June 8, 2011 and July 8, 2011 dismissals described above, the Company believes that the insurance carriers do not have the ability to recover this amount and accordingly, the Company reversed this accrual through income from discontinued operations during the three months ended June 30, 2011.

3.    Convertible Notes

2.50% Convertible Notes due 2018

On January 11, 2011, the Company issued $400,000 aggregate principal amount of its 2.50% Notes in a private offering. Unless previously converted, the 2.50% Notes will mature on January 31, 2018. Net proceeds from the sale of the 2.50% Notes were approximately $387,345, after deducting the related offering expenses, of which approximately $100,000 was used to repurchase 1,920,490 shares of the Company’s Common Stock at a price of $52.07 per share, the last reported sale price of the Company’s Common Stock on January 5, 2011, which repurchase settled on January 11, 2011. Interest on the 2.50% Notes is payable semi-annually on January 31 and July 31 of each year, commencing July 31, 2011. Under the terms of the 2.50% Notes, holders

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

were able to surrender their 2.50% Notes for conversion into the Company’s Common Stock at an initial conversion rate of 15.1220 shares of Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.50% Notes. This was equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $66.13 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.50% Notes were convertible into 6,048,800 shares of the Company’s Common Stock. Effective April 4, 2012, after giving effect to an adjustment resulting from a tender offer for the Company’s Common Stock that the Company completed on April 3, 2012 (see Note 6 for additional discussion), the conversion rate was adjusted to 15.3223 shares of Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.50% Notes. This is equivalent to an adjusted conversion price of approximately $65.26 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.50% Notes are convertible into 6,128,920 shares of Common Stock following the April 4, 2012 adjustment.

Under the terms of the 2.50% Notes, if the Company undergoes certain change of control transactions prior to the maturity date of the 2.50% Notes, holders of the 2.50% Notes will have the right, at their option, to require the Company to repurchase some or all of their 2.50% Notes at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the 2.50% Notes being repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the repurchase date. At the Company’s option, and to the extent permitted by the applicable rules of the Nasdaq Global Select Market (or the applicable rules of such other exchange on which the Company’s Common Stock may be listed), instead of paying the repurchase price in cash, the Company may pay the repurchase price in shares of its Common Stock or a combination of cash and shares of its Common Stock. However, in the case of certain change of control transactions in which the Company is acquired by a public company, the Company may elect to provide for conversion of the 2.50% Notes into acquirer common stock, in which case the repurchase option would not apply.

2.25% Convertible Notes due 2016

On March 14, 2011, the Company issued $400,000 aggregate principal amount of its 2.25% Notes in a private offering. Unless previously converted, the 2.25% Notes will mature on March 31, 2016. Net proceeds from the sale of the 2.25% Notes were approximately $387,400, after deducting the related offering expenses, of which approximately $50,000 was used to repurchase 868,507 shares of the Company’s Common Stock at a price of $57.57 per share, the last reported sale price of the Company’s Common Stock on March 8, 2011, which repurchase settled on March 14, 2011. Interest on the 2.25% Notes is payable semi-annually on March 31 and September 30 of each year, commencing September 30, 2011. Under the terms of the 2.25% Notes, holders were able to surrender their 2.25% Notes for conversion into the Company’s Common Stock at an initial conversion rate of 13.5704 shares of Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.25% Notes. This was equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $73.69 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.25% Notes were convertible into 5,428,160 shares of the Company’s Common Stock. Effective April 4, 2012, after giving effect to an adjustment resulting from a tender offer for the Company’s Common Stock that the Company completed on April 3, 2012 (see Note 6 for additional discussion), the conversion rate was adjusted to 13.7502 shares of Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.25% Notes. This is equivalent to an adjusted conversion price of approximately $72.73 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.25% Notes are convertible into 5,500,080 shares of Common Stock following the April 4, 2012 adjustment.

Under the terms of the 2.25% Notes, if the Company undergoes certain change of control transactions prior to the maturity date of the 2.25% Notes, holders of the 2.25% Notes will have the right, at their option, to require the Company to repurchase some or all of their 2.25% Notes at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the 2.25% Notes being repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the repurchase date. At the Company’s option, and to the extent permitted by the applicable rules of the Nasdaq Global Select Market (or the applicable rules of such other exchange on which the Company’s Common Stock may be listed),

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

instead of paying the repurchase price in cash, the Company may pay the repurchase price in shares of its Common Stock or a combination of cash and shares of its Common Stock. However, in the case of certain change of control transactions in which the Company is acquired by a public company, the Company may elect to provide for conversion of the 2.25% Notes into acquirer common stock, in which case the repurchase option would not apply.

4.    Related Party Transaction

Fidelity Employer Services Company LLC

Fidelity Employer Services Company LLC (“FESCO”) is a distributor of the Company’s private portals, integrating the private portals product into the human resources administration and benefit administration services that FESCO provides to its employer clients. The Company recorded revenue of $1,433 during the three months ended March 31, 2011 related to the FESCO relationship. FESCO is an affiliate of FMR LLC, which reported beneficial ownership of shares that represented approximately 14.9% of the Company’s Common Stock as of March 31, 2011. Beneficial ownership as of March 31, 2012 was less than 5% and accordingly FESCO is no longer deemed to be a related party.

5.    Fair Value of Financial Instruments and Non-Recourse Credit Facilities

The Company accounts for certain assets and liabilities at fair value, which is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Additionally, the Company uses valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. These inputs are prioritized below:

 

Level 1:

  Observable inputs such as quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2:

  Observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data.

Level 3:

  Unobservable inputs for which there is little or no market data, which require the use of the reporting entity’s own assumptions.

The Company did not have any Level 2 assets during the periods presented. The following table sets forth the Company’s Level 1 and Level 3 financial assets that were measured and recorded at fair value on a recurring basis as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011:

 

          March 31, 2012     December 31, 2011  
    Fair Value
Estimate
Using:
    Amortized
Cost

Basis
    Fair
Value
    Gross
Unrealized
Gains
    Amortized
Cost

Basis
    Fair
Value
    Gross
Unrealized
Gains
 

Cash and cash equivalents

    Level 1      $ 1,142,066      $ 1,142,066      $      $ 1,121,217      $ 1,121,217      $   

ARS Option

    Level 3                             1,195        1,195          

The following table reconciles the beginning and ending balances of the Company’s Level 3 assets, which consist of the ARS Option:

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012     2011  

Fair value as of the beginning of the period

   $ 1,195      $ 4,245   

Cash proceeds received

     (9,269     (5,240

Gain included in earnings

     8,074        14,060   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Fair value as of the end of the period

   $      $ 13,065   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Through April 20, 2010, the Company held investments in auction rate securities (“ARS”) which had been classified as Level 3 assets as described above. The types of ARS holdings the Company owned were backed by student loans, 97% guaranteed under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), and had credit ratings of AAA or Aaa when purchased. Historically, the fair value of the Company’s ARS holdings approximated par value due to the frequent auction periods, generally every 7 to 28 days, which provided liquidity to these investments. However, since February 2008, substantially all auctions involving these securities have been unsuccessful.

Effective April 20, 2010, the Company entered into an agreement pursuant to which the Company sold all of its holdings of ARS for an aggregate of $286,399. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company retained an option (the “ARS Option”), for a period of two years from the date of the agreement: (a) to repurchase from the purchaser the same principal amount of any or all of the various series of ARS sold, at the agreed upon purchase prices received on April 20, 2010; and (b) to receive additional proceeds from the purchaser upon certain redemptions of the various series of ARS sold. Since April 20, 2010 the ARS Option has been classified as a Level 3 asset as its valuation required substantial judgment. The historical redemption activity of the specific ARS underlying the ARS Option was the most significant assumption used to determine the estimated value of the ARS Option. The Company was required to reassess the value of the ARS Option at each reporting period and changes in value were recorded within the statement of operations. During the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company recognized gains of $8,074 and $14,060, and received cash proceeds of $9,269 and $5,240, respectively. In the aggregate, the Company received total cash proceeds of $41,302 through the ARS Option during the period from April 20, 2010 through March 31, 2012. As of March 31, 2012, the Company no longer had any remaining positions related to the ARS Option.

The Company also holds an investment in a privately held company which is carried at cost, and not subject to fair value measurements. However, if events or circumstances indicate that its carrying amount may not be recoverable, it would be reviewed for impairment. The total amount of this investment is $6,471 and it is included in other assets on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

For disclosure purposes, the Company is required to measure the outstanding value of its debt on a recurring basis. The following table presents the carrying value and estimated fair value (based on Level 1 market price data) of the Company’s convertible notes that were carried at historical cost as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011:

 

     March 31, 2012      December 31, 2011  
     Carrying Amount      Fair Value      Carrying Amount      Fair Value  

2.25% Notes

   $ 400,000       $ 380,200       $ 400,000       $ 382,704   

2.50% Notes

     400,000         360,000         400,000         371,972   

6.    Stock Repurchase Program, 2012 Tender Offer, and Other Repurchases

On December 4, 2008, the Company announced the authorization of a stock repurchase program (the “2008 Program”), at which time the Company was authorized to use up to $30,000, which was subsequently increased by $15,331 in July 2011, to purchase shares of WebMD Common Stock, from time to time, in the open market, through block trades or in private transactions, depending on market conditions and other factors. During August 2011, the Board of Directors terminated the 2008 Program and established a new stock repurchase program (the “2011 Program” and, collectively with the 2008 Program, the “Programs”) through which the Company was authorized to use up to $75,000 to purchase shares of WebMD Common Stock. During October 2011, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a $75,000 increase to the 2011 Program. During the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Company repurchased 15,600 shares at an aggregate cost of $415 under the 2011

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Program. No shares were repurchased under the 2008 Program during the three months ended March 31, 2011. As of March 31, 2012, $88,658 remained available for repurchases under the 2011 Program. Repurchased shares are recorded under the cost method and are reflected as treasury stock in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

On March 6, 2012, the Company commenced a tender offer to repurchase up to $150,000 of its Common Stock through a modified “Dutch auction” tender offer, at a price per share of either $24.50 or $26.00 (the “2012 Tender Offer”). On April 3, 2012, the Company completed the 2012 Tender Offer through which it repurchased 5,769,230 shares of its Common Stock at a price of $26.00 per share for total consideration of $150,000.

On January 5, 2011, the Company used $100,000 of the proceeds of the 2.50% Notes to repurchase 1,920,490 shares of the Company’s Common Stock at a price of $52.07 per share. Additionally, on March 8, 2011, the Company used $50,000 of the proceeds of the 2.25% Notes to repurchase 868,507 shares of the Company’s Common Stock at a price of $57.57 per share. See Note 3 for further discussion of the Company’s 2.50% Notes and 2.25% Notes. Neither of these share repurchases were made under the Programs.

7.    Intangible Assets

Intangible assets subject to amortization consist of the following:

 

    March 31, 2012     December 31, 2011  
    Gross
Carrying
Amount
    Accumulated
Amortization
    Net     Weighted
Average
Remaining
Useful Life(a)
    Gross
Carrying
Amount
    Accumulated
Amortization
    Net     Weighted
Average
Remaining
Useful Life(a)
 

Content

  $ 15,954      $ (15,954   $             $ 15,954      $ (15,954   $          

Customer relationships

    34,057        (21,374     12,683        6.2        34,057        (20,852     13,205        6.5   

Technology and patents

    14,700        (14,700                   14,700        (14,700              

Trade names-definite lives

    6,030        (3,834     2,196        4.2        6,030        (3,700     2,330        4.4   

Trade names-indefinite lives

    4,464               4,464        n/a        4,464               4,464        n/a   
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total

  $ 75,205      $ (55,862   $ 19,343        $ 75,205      $ (55,206   $ 19,999     
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

     

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

(a) The calculation of the weighted average remaining useful life is based on the net book value and the remaining amortization period of each respective intangible asset.

Amortization expense was $656 during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011. Aggregate amortization expense for intangible assets is estimated to be:

 

Year Ending December 31:

  

2012 (April 1st to December 31st)

   $ 1,970   

2013

   $ 2,627   

2014

   $ 2,627   

2015

   $ 2,617   

2016

   $ 2,257   

Thereafter

   $ 2,781   

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

8.    Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

In re WebMD Health Corp. Securities Litigation, Solomon v. Wygod, In re WebMD Health Corp. Shareholder Derivative Litigation

Six shareholder lawsuits, each of which is described below, have been filed in federal and state court in New York. The lawsuits relate to certain forward-looking information made publicly available by the Company.

On August 2, 2011 and August 26, 2011, federal securities class action complaints entitled Canson v. WebMD Health Corp., et al. and Malland v. WebMD Health Corp., et al., respectively, were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of the Company’s common stock between February 23, 2011 and July 15, 2011. On November 7, 2011, the two cases were consolidated under the caption In re WebMD Health Corp. Securities Litigation (the “Federal Securities Action”) and lead plaintiffs and lead counsel were appointed. An initial pretrial conference, previously scheduled for November 29, 2011, was adjourned to June 25, 2012. On February 14, 2012, the lead plaintiffs filed their consolidated amended complaint (the “Complaint”), which alleges claims on behalf of purchasers of the Company’s securities between February 23, 2011 and January 10, 2012. The Complaint alleges that the Company, and certain of its officers made false and misleading statements in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and seeks unspecified damages and costs. In accordance with a stipulated scheduling order, the defendants served a motion to dismiss the Complaint on April 30, 2012. Pursuant to the scheduling order, the lead plaintiffs have until July 2, 2012 to serve any opposition to the defendants’ motion and the defendants have until thirty (30) days thereafter to serve a reply.

On August 31, 2011, a shareholder derivative action entitled Solomon, et anno. v. Wygod, et al. was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County (the “State Court Derivative Action”). The State Court Derivative Action purports to assert claims on behalf of the Company, alleging breach of fiduciary duties, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, corporate waste and unjust enrichment by certain of the Company’s officers and directors. The State Court Derivative Action seeks unspecified damages, corporate governance changes, restitution, disgorgement and costs. The parties have agreed to stay the State Court Derivative Action until such time as the Federal Securities Action is dismissed with prejudice or any of the named defendants in the Federal Securities Action files an answer in that action.

On September 19, 2011, September 28, 2011 and October 25, 2011, shareholder derivative actions entitled Gordon v. Wygod, et al., Wargula v. Wygod, et al. and Garber v. Wygod, et al., respectively, were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Federal Derivative Action”). The complaints in the Federal Derivative Action purport to assert claims on behalf of the Company. Two of the complaints allege violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and all three complaints allege state law violations, including breach of fiduciary duties, corporate waste and unjust enrichment by certain of the Company’s officers and directors. The complaints seek unspecified damages, corporate governance changes, restitution, disgorgement and costs. The three actions have been consolidated under the caption In re WebMD Health Corp. Shareholder Derivative Litigation. Pursuant to a stipulated order, a consolidated complaint shall be filed not later than thirty (30) days after entry of an order on a motion to dismiss in the Federal Securities Action and the defendants need not respond to any prior filed complaints in the consolidated actions.

The Company believes that the Federal Securities Action, the State Court Derivative Action and the Federal Derivative Action are without merit and intends to vigorously defend against them. The Company is unable to predict the outcomes of these actions or to reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, arising from the claims asserted therein.

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

Other Legal Proceedings

In the normal course of business, the Company and its subsidiaries are involved in various claims and legal proceedings. While the ultimate resolution of these matters, including those discussed in Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K, has yet to be determined, the Company does not believe that their outcomes will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

9.    Stock-Based Compensation

The Company has various stock-based compensation plans (collectively, the “Plans”) that provide for the grant of stock options, restricted stock awards, and other awards based on WebMD Common Stock.

The 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan (as amended, the “2005 Plan”) is the only existing plan under which future grants can be made. The maximum number of shares of the Company’s Common Stock that may be subject to awards under the 2005 Plan was 18,200,000 as of March 31, 2012, subject to adjustment in accordance with the terms of the 2005 Plan. The Company had an aggregate of 2,134,471 shares of Common Stock available for future grants under the 2005 Plan at March 31, 2012.

Stock Options

Generally, options under the Plans vest and become exercisable ratably over periods ranging from four to five years based on their individual grant dates, subject to continued employment on the applicable vesting dates, and generally expire within ten years from the date of grant. Options are granted at prices not less than the fair market value of the Company’s Common Stock on the date of grant. The following table summarizes stock option activity for the Plans:

 

     Shares     Weighted
Average
Exercise Price
Per Share
     Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life (In Years)
     Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value(1)
 

Outstanding at January 1, 2012

     11,054,381      $ 32.46         

Granted

     238,700        32.92         

Exercised

     (191,914     22.86         

Cancelled

     (1,357,938     44.07         
  

 

 

         

Outstanding at March 31, 2012

     9,743,229      $ 31.04         7.0       $ 13,240   
  

 

 

         

Vested and exercisable at the end of the period

     4,756,939      $ 28.99         5.4       $ 10,306   
  

 

 

         

 

(1) The aggregate intrinsic value is based on the market price of the Company’s Common Stock on March 30, 2012, the last trading day in March 2012, which was $25.58, less the applicable exercise price of the underlying option. This aggregate intrinsic value represents the amount that would have been realized if all the option holders had exercised their options on March 30, 2012.

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

The fair value of each option granted is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model considering the weighted average assumptions noted in the following table. Expected volatility is based on implied volatility from traded options of the Company’s Common Stock combined with historical volatility of the Company’s Common Stock. The expected term represents the period of time that options are expected to be outstanding following their grant date, and was determined using historical exercise data combined with assumptions for future exercise activity. The risk-free rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve for periods equal to the expected term of the options on the grant date.

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012     2011  

Expected dividend yield

     0.0     0.0

Expected volatility

     0.42-0.45        0.30-0.32   

Risk-free interest rate

     0.75     1.97

Expected term (years)

     4.7        4.6   

Weighted average fair value of options granted during the period

   $ 12.20      $ 15.38   

On February 23, 2012, the Company’s directors and certain officers voluntarily surrendered a total of 960,600 non-qualified stock options with a weighted average exercise price of $46.85 per share. None of these individuals received any consideration or promise of consideration in exchange for the surrender of these stock options. These options were originally granted under the 2005 Plan, and therefore, upon their surrender, the shares underlying these options were returned to the 2005 Plan and became available for grant under such plan. During the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Company expensed the remaining unrecognized stock-based compensation expense of $8,076 related to these stock options.

Restricted Stock Awards

The Company’s Restricted Stock consists of shares of the Company’s Common Stock which have been awarded to employees with restrictions that cause them to be subject to substantial risk of forfeiture and restrict their sale or other transfer by the employee until they vest. Generally, the Company’s Restricted Stock awards vest ratably over periods ranging from three to five years from their individual award dates subject to continued employment on the applicable vesting dates. The following table summarizes the activity of the Company’s Restricted Stock:

 

     Shares     Weighted
Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
 

Balance at January 1, 2012

     1,205,333      $ 36.18   

Granted

     10,000        27.49   

Vested

     (145,836     31.30   

Forfeited

     (93,000     35.83   
  

 

 

   

Balance at March 31, 2012

     976,497      $ 36.88   
  

 

 

   

Proceeds received from the exercise of options to purchase shares of the Company’s Common Stock were $754 and $10,220 during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Additionally, in connection with the exercise of certain stock options and the vesting of restricted stock, the Company made payments of $911 and $3,172 during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, related to employee statutory withholding taxes that were satisfied by withholding shares of Common Stock of equal value from the respective employees. The proceeds and payments described above are reflected within cash flows from financing activities within the accompanying consolidated statements of cash flows.

 

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WEBMD HEALTH CORP.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)

 

The intrinsic value related to stock options that were exercised, combined with the fair value of shares of restricted stock that vested, aggregated $4,764 and $30,303 for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Other

Each year, the Company issues shares of its Common Stock to each WebMD non-employee director with a value equal to their annual board and committee retainers. The Company recorded $86 of stock-based compensation expense for each of the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 in connection with these issuances.

Summary of Stock-Based Compensation Expense

The following table summarizes the components and classification of stock-based compensation expense:

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012      2011  

Stock options

   $ 13,743       $ 6,623   

Restricted stock

     3,071         3,104   

Other

     86         86   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 16,900       $ 9,813   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Included in:

     

Cost of operations

   $ 2,757       $ 2,103   

Sales and marketing

     2,161         2,391   

General and administrative

     11,982         5,319   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 16,900       $ 9,813   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

As of March 31, 2012, approximately $64,900 of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to unvested awards (net of estimated forfeitures) is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 2.6 years, related to the Plans.

Tax benefits attributable to stock-based compensation represented 39% of stock-based compensation expense during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.

10.    Other expense

Other expense consists of the following items:

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012      2011  

Severance(a)

   $ 1,200       $   

Legal expense(b)

             53   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Other expense

   $ 1,200       $ 53   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(a) Represents cash severance and related expenses due to the resignation of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and the related search for a new Chief Executive Officer.

 

(b) Represents the costs and expenses incurred by the Company related to the investigation by the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina and the SEC and the related Coverage Litigation.

 

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ITEM 2.    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This Item 2 contains forward-looking statements with respect to possible events, outcomes or results that are, and are expected to continue to be, subject to risks, uncertainties and contingencies. See “Forward-Looking Statements” on page iii above. The results of operations for the periods reflected in this Quarterly Report are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for future periods, and our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to those listed under “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report, those discussed in this Item 2 and those included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report. In this Item 2, dollar amounts (other than per share amounts) are stated in thousands, unless otherwise noted.

Overview

Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations, or MD&A, is provided as a supplement to the Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report and is intended to provide an understanding of our results of operations, financial condition and changes in our results of operations and financial condition. Our MD&A is organized as follows:

 

   

Introduction.    This section provides: a general description of our company and its business; background information on certain trends, transactions and other developments affecting our company; and a discussion of how seasonal factors may impact the timing of our revenue.

 

   

Critical Accounting Estimates and Policies.    This section discusses those accounting policies that are considered important to the evaluation and reporting of our financial condition and results of operations, and whose application requires us to exercise subjective and often complex judgments in making estimates and assumptions. In addition, all of our significant accounting policies, including our critical accounting policies, are summarized in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (which we refer to as the SEC).

 

   

Results of Operations and Supplemental Financial and Operating Information.    These sections provide our analysis and outlook for the significant line items on our statements of operations, as well as other information that we deem meaningful to understand our results of operations on a consolidated basis.

 

   

Liquidity and Capital Resources.    This section provides an analysis of our liquidity and cash flows, as well as a discussion of our commitments that existed as of March 31, 2012.

 

   

Recent Accounting Pronouncements.    This section provides a summary of the most recent authoritative accounting standards and guidance that have either been recently adopted by our company or may be adopted in the future.

Introduction

Our Company.    WebMD Health Corp. is a Delaware corporation that was incorporated on May 3, 2005. We completed an initial public offering on September 28, 2005. Our Common Stock trades under the symbol “WBMD” on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Our Business.    We are a leading provider of health information services to consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, employers and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications.

Our public portals for consumers enable them to obtain health and wellness information (including information on specific diseases or conditions), check symptoms, locate physicians, store individual healthcare information, receive periodic e-newsletters on topics of individual interest and participate in online communities with peers and experts. Our public portals for physicians and healthcare professionals make it easier for them to access clinical reference sources, stay abreast of the latest clinical information, learn about new treatment options, earn continuing medical education (which we refer to as CME) credit and communicate with peers. We also provide mobile health information applications for use by consumers and physicians. We generate revenue

 

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from our public portals primarily through the sale of advertising and sponsorship products, as well as CME services. Our public portals’ sponsors and advertisers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, healthcare services companies, and consumer products companies whose products relate to health, wellness, diet, fitness, lifestyle, safety and illness prevention. We also generate revenue from advertising sold in WebMD the Magazine, a consumer magazine distributed to physician office waiting rooms. In addition, we generate revenue from the sale of certain information products.

Our private portals enable employers and health plans to provide their employees and members with access to personalized health and benefit information and decision-support tools that help them to make more informed benefit, treatment and provider decisions and motivate them to make healthier lifestyle choices. We also provide health and condition management programs for use by our private portals clients’ employees and members to help them become and stay well. In addition, we offer clients telephonic, online and onsite health coaching services for their employees and members. We generate revenue from our private portals through the licensing of our technology and content to employers and health plans, either directly or through our distributors. We offer our health coaching services on a per participant basis across an employee or plan population.

Background Information on Certain Trends Influencing the Use of Our Services.    Several key trends in the healthcare, consumer products and Internet industries are influencing the use of healthcare information services of the types we provide or are developing. Those trends are described briefly below:

 

   

Use of the Internet by Consumers and Physicians.    The Internet has emerged as a major communications medium and has already fundamentally changed many sectors of the economy, including the marketing and sales of financial services, travel, and entertainment, among others. The Internet is also changing the healthcare industry and has transformed how consumers and physicians find and utilize healthcare information.

 

  Healthcare consumers increasingly seek to educate themselves online about their healthcare-related issues, motivated in part by the larger share of healthcare costs they are being asked to bear due to changes in the benefit designs being offered by health plans and employers. The Internet has fundamentally changed the way consumers obtain health and wellness information, enabling them to have immediate access to searchable information and dynamic interactive content to check symptoms, assess risks, understand diseases, find providers and evaluate treatment options.

 

  The Internet has also become a primary source of information for physicians seeking to improve clinical practice and is growing relative to traditional information sources, such as conferences, meetings and offline journals.

 

   

Online Marketing and Education Spending for Healthcare Products.    Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies spend large amounts each year marketing their products and educating consumers and physicians about them; however, only a small portion is currently spent on online services. We believe that these companies, which comprise the majority of the advertisers and sponsors of our public portals, are becoming increasingly aware of the effectiveness of the Internet relative to traditional media in providing health, clinical and product-related information to consumers and physicians, and this increasing awareness will, over time, result in increasing demand for our services. In addition, in an effort to improve operating efficiencies, some pharmaceutical companies have been reducing their field sales forces in the past several years. We believe that, in their effort to achieve greater overall marketing efficiency, pharmaceutical companies will, over time, increase the use of online promotional marketing to physicians and other healthcare professionals, including through the use of our services. However, notwithstanding our general expectation for increased future demand, we cannot predict how long it will take for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies to shift a more significant portion of their marketing expenditures to online services. In addition, our advertising and sponsorship revenue may vary significantly from quarter to quarter due to a number of factors, including general economic and regulatory conditions and the following:

 

  The majority of our advertising and sponsorship contracts are for terms of approximately four to twelve months. We have relatively few longer term advertising and sponsorship contracts.

 

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  The time between the date of initial contact with a potential advertiser or sponsor regarding a specific program and the execution of a contract with the advertiser or sponsor for that program, as well as the additional time period before our services are delivered, may be longer than expected, especially for larger contracts, and may be subject to delays over which we have little or no control, including as a result of budgetary constraints of the advertiser or sponsor or their need for internal approvals, including internal approvals relating to compliance with the laws and regulations applicable to the marketing of healthcare products. In the past year, we experienced a lengthening of this internal review process by pharmaceutical companies, which resulted in delays in contracting as well as delays in recognizing expected revenue under executed contracts and which may continue to cause such delays.

Other factors that may affect the timing of contracting for specific programs with advertisers and sponsors, or receipt of revenue under such contracts, include: the timing of FDA approval for new products or for new approved uses for existing products; the timing of FDA approval of generic products that compete with existing brand name products and any increase in the number or significance of such approvals or of withdrawals of products from the market; the timing of roll-outs of new or enhanced services on our public portals; seasonal factors relating to the prevalence of specific health conditions and other seasonal factors that may affect the timing of promotional campaigns for specific products; and the scheduling of conferences for physicians and other healthcare professionals.

 

   

Reaching Health-Conscious Consumers.    More than half of the traffic to our consumer portals is in areas of health and wellness that are not related solely to diseases and conditions. We expect that the demand for reaching health-conscious consumers will continue to grow. In addition to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, our public portals advertisers and sponsors include consumer products companies whose products relate to health, wellness, diet, fitness, lifestyle, safety and illness prevention. We plan to continue to focus on increasing sponsorship revenues from consumer products companies, retailers and other companies that are interested in communicating health-related or safety-related information about their products or services to our audience. However, our services for these clients are subject to competition from traditional media, Internet search engines, social media Internet sites, general purpose consumer sites, and numerous other alternatives. In addition, revenues from consumer products companies are more likely to reflect general economic conditions, and to be reduced to a greater extent during economic downturns or recessions, than revenues from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Accordingly, revenues from this portion of our business may fail to increase or may increase more slowly than we expect and may be subject to significant quarter-to-quarter variations.

 

   

Mobile.    Consumers and healthcare professionals are increasingly using mobile devices to access the Internet, with physicians increasingly using mobile devices in diagnosis and treatment at the point of care. Mobile, while not yet a meaningful source of revenue for us, is expected to be an important area of growth for the future. We are focused on delivering a multi-screen platform that extends the user experience beyond the desktop portal onto the mobile device. During the first quarter of 2012:

 

  we launched our WebMD Baby application for the iPhone;

 

  we rolled out new releases of Medscape Mobile for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices and we launched Medscape Mobile for the Kindle Fire platform; and

 

  we introduced WebMD the Magazine for the iPad beginning with the March issue of the magazine.

Later this year, we plan to release a new version of our flagship WebMD Mobile application, as well as new applications in specific health and wellness areas.

 

   

Initiatives to Improve Our Services.    In the past several years, video and multi-media applications have become an increasingly important part of what users expect from Internet sites. In addition, consumers are increasingly using the Internet to access social media as a means to communicate and exchange information, including regarding health and wellness. Similarly, physicians and other healthcare

 

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professionals are increasingly participating in condition or topic specific community groups and other interactive applications. We have invested and intend to continue to invest in software and systems that allow us to meet the demands of our users and sponsors, including customized content management and publishing technology to deliver interactive content, multimedia programming and personalized health applications that engage our users. We also continue to develop new content areas and redesign others to make them more engaging for our users. For example, during the first quarter of 2012, we updated our Symptom Checker on webmd.com to offer our audience a new, more personalized experience. Users of our Symptom Checker can now print a report to share with their doctors and there is also an opportunity to save searches, so that users can go back and view their past searches.

 

   

Recent Developments in the Business Outlook for Our Public Portals.    Notwithstanding our general expectation for increased future demand for our public portal services, we experienced reduced public portal advertising and sponsorship revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the prior year period, as a result of what we believe has been a more cautious business outlook by many of our larger customers since late 2011. Certain of our pharmaceutical company customers experienced patent expirations for highly profitable drugs in 2011 and others expect to do so in 2012 and 2013. Such patent expirations allow for competition from lower priced generic versions of these drugs and generally result in the termination of marketing efforts for the drug. Additionally, we believe that these patent expirations have also led to, and may continue to lead to, significant overall reductions in marketing expenditures by some of these pharmaceutical companies across their entire product portfolios, as well as delays in their budgeting and purchase decisions. As a result, we experienced reduced revenues in late 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, and expect to continue to experience such reductions for much of 2012, particularly in the area of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing and advertising. While we expect to see an increase in the number of new pharmaceutical products coming to market later in 2012, marketing for these products is not anticipated to begin until the second half of 2012 and, as a result, sales of advertising and sponsorship services that we may make relating to these new products, if any, are not likely to contribute significantly to revenue until 2013.

 

   

Use of Health Management Applications.    In a healthcare market where a greater share of the responsibility for healthcare costs and decision-making has been shifting to consumers, use of information technology to assist consumers in making informed decisions about healthcare has also increased. We believe that, through our private portals, we are well positioned to play a role in this environment. However, our strategy depends, in part, on increasing usage of our private portal services by our employer and health plan clients’ employees and members and being able to demonstrate a sufficient return on investment and other benefits for our private portals clients from those services. Increasing usage of our private portal services requires us to continue to develop new and updated applications, features and services. In addition, we face competition in the area of online healthcare decision-support tools and health management applications. Many of our competitors have greater financial, technical, product development, marketing and other resources than we do, and may be better known than we are. We also expect that, for clients that have been adversely affected by general economic conditions or are seeking to reduce expenses for other reasons, we may continue to experience some reduction in contract renewals for our private portal services, as well as some reductions in the size of existing contracts.

 

   

International.    We are pursuing opportunities to expand the reach of our brands outside the United States. In certain markets outside the United States, we expect that we would accomplish this through partnerships or joint ventures with other companies having expertise in the specific country or region. In October 2009, we launched our first major consumer portal outside the United States in partnership with Boots, the United Kingdom’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer. In addition, in certain markets outside of the United States, we expect to provide some of our online services directly to healthcare professionals and, to a lesser extent, consumers.

 

   

Healthcare Reform Legislation.    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (which we refer to as the Reform Legislation), was signed into law in March 2010. The Reform Legislation makes extensive changes to the system of healthcare insurance and benefits in the United States. In general, the Reform Legislation seeks to reduce

 

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healthcare costs and decrease the number of uninsured legal United States residents by, among other things, requiring individuals to carry, and certain employers to offer, health insurance or be subject to penalties. The Reform Legislation also imposes new regulations on health insurers, including guaranteed coverage requirements, prohibitions on certain annual and all lifetime limits on amounts paid on behalf of or to plan members, increased restrictions on rescinding coverage, establishment of minimum medical loss ratio requirements, a requirement to cover certain preventive services on a first dollar basis, the establishment of state insurance exchanges and essential benefit packages, and greater limitations on how health insurers price certain of their products. The Reform Legislation also contains provisions that will affect the revenues and profits of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including new taxes on certain sales of their products. Many of the provisions of the Reform Legislation that expand insurance coverage will not become effective until 2014, and many provisions require regulations and interpretive guidance to be issued before they will be fully implemented. Some provisions do not apply to health plans that were in place when the Reform Legislation was enacted and have not been substantially changed since. In addition, it is difficult to foresee how individuals and businesses will respond to the choices available to them under the Reform Legislation. Furthermore, the Reform Legislation will result in future state legislative and regulatory changes, which we are unable to predict at this time, in order for states to comply with certain provisions of the Reform Legislation and to participate in grants and other incentive opportunities. In addition, a number of parties have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Reform Legislation. The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the individual mandate aspect of the Reform Legislation and certain other matters regarding the Reform Legislation and is expected to render its decision by June 2012.

While we do not currently anticipate any significant adverse effects on WebMD as a direct result of the application of the Reform Legislation to our business or on our company in its capacity as an employer, we are unable to predict what the indirect impacts of the Reform Legislation will be on WebMD’s business through its effects on other healthcare industry participants, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies that are advertisers and sponsors of our public portals and employers and health plans that are clients of our private portals. Healthcare industry participants may respond to the Reform Legislation or to uncertainties created by the Reform Legislation by reducing their expenditures or postponing expenditure decisions, including expenditures for our services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. However, we believe that certain aspects of the Reform Legislation and future implementing regulations that seek to reduce healthcare costs may create opportunities for WebMD, including with respect to our personal health record applications and health and benefits decision-support tools and, more generally, with respect to our capabilities in providing health and wellness information and education. For example, the Reform Legislation encourages use of wellness programs through grants to small employers to establish such programs, permission for employers to offer rewards, in the form of waivers of cost-sharing, premium discounts, or additional benefits, to employees for participating in these programs and meeting certain standards, and the inclusion of wellness services and chronic disease management among the essential health benefits that certain plans are required to provide. However, we cannot yet determine the scope of any such opportunities or what competition we may face in our efforts to pursue such opportunities.

The healthcare industry in the United States and relationships among healthcare payers, providers and consumers are very complicated. In addition, the Internet and the market for online and mobile services are relatively new and still evolving. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the trends identified above will continue or that the expected benefits to our business from our responses to those trends will be achieved. In addition, the market for healthcare information services is highly competitive and not only are our existing competitors seeking to benefit from these same trends, but the trends may also attract additional competitors.

Background Information on Certain Transactions and Other Significant Developments

2012 Tender Offer.    On April 3, 2012, we completed a tender offer for our Common Stock and repurchased 5,769,230 shares at a price of $26.00 per share or aggregate consideration of $150,000 (we refer to this as the

 

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2012 Tender Offer). The 2012 Tender Offer represented an opportunity for WebMD to return capital to stockholders who elected to tender their shares of WebMD Common Stock, while stockholders who chose not to participate in the tender offer automatically increased their relative percentage interest in our company at no additional cost to them.

Convertible Notes.    On January 11, 2011, we issued $400,000 aggregate principal amount of 2.50% Convertible Notes due 2018 (which we refer to as the 2.50% Notes) in a private offering. Unless previously converted, the 2.50% Notes will mature on January 31, 2018. Net proceeds from the sale of the 2.50% Notes were approximately $387,345, after deducting the related offering expenses, of which approximately $100,000 was used by us to repurchase 1,920,490 shares of WebMD Common Stock at a price of $52.07 per share, the last reported sale price of WebMD Common Stock on January 5, 2011, which repurchase settled on January 11, 2011. Interest on the 2.50% Notes is payable semi-annually on January 31 and July 31 of each year, commencing July 31, 2011. Under the terms of the 2.50% Notes, as adjusted in April 2012 following completion of the 2012 Tender Offer, holders may surrender their 2.50% Notes for conversion into WebMD Common Stock at a conversion rate of 15.3223 shares of WebMD Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.50% Notes. This is equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $65.26 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.50% Notes are convertible into 6,128,920 shares of Common Stock following the April 4, 2012 adjustment.

On March 14, 2011, we issued $400,000 aggregate principal amount of 2.25% Convertible Notes due 2016 (which we refer to as the 2.25% Notes) in a private offering. Unless previously converted, the 2.25% Notes will mature on March 31, 2016. Net proceeds from the sale of the 2.25% Notes were approximately $387,400, after deducting the related offering expenses, of which approximately $50,000 was used to repurchase 868,507 shares of WebMD’s Common Stock at a price of $57.57 per share, the last reported sale price of WebMD Common Stock on March 8, 2011, which repurchase settled on March 14, 2011. Interest on the 2.25% Notes is payable semi-annually on March 31 and September 30 of each year, commencing September 30, 2011. Under the terms of the 2.25% Notes, as adjusted in April 2012 following completion of the 2012 Tender Offer, holders may surrender their 2.25% Notes for conversion into WebMD Common Stock at a conversion rate of 13.7502 shares of Common Stock per thousand dollars principal amount of the 2.25% Notes. This is equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $72.73 per share of Common Stock. In the aggregate, the 2.25% Notes are convertible into 5,500,080 shares of Common Stock following the April 4, 2012 adjustment.

Auction Rate Securities.    Effective April 20, 2010, we entered into an agreement pursuant to which we sold our holdings of auction rate securities (which we refer to as ARS), for an aggregate of $286,399. Under the terms of the agreement, we retained an option (which we refer to as the ARS Option), for a period of two years from the date of the agreement: (a) to repurchase from the purchaser the same principal amount of any or all of the various series of ARS sold at the agreed upon purchase prices received on April 20, 2010; and (b) to receive from the purchaser additional proceeds upon certain redemptions of the various series of ARS sold. Through the ARS Option, we received cash proceeds of $9,269 during the first quarter of 2012 and $5,240 during the first quarter of 2011. We recorded pretax gains of $8,074 and $14,060 during the first quarters of 2012 and 2011, respectively, related to the ARS Option. As of March 31, 2012, we no longer had any remaining positions related to the ARS Option and will receive no further cash proceeds.

Voluntary Surrender of Certain Option Grants.    On February 23, 2012, our directors, and certain officers voluntarily surrendered certain grants of non-qualified options to purchase WebMD Common Stock made to them, one of which was made in 2007, some in 2010 and some in 2011 and all of which were out-of-the-money at the time of surrender. None of these individuals received any consideration or promise of consideration in exchange for the surrender of these stock options. These options were originally granted under our 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan (which we refer to as the 2005 Plan), and therefore, upon their surrender, the shares underlying these options were returned to the 2005 Plan and became available for grant under such plan. These surrenders of stock options were intended to allow WebMD to use the shares that became available under the 2005 Plan to attract new employees and to motivate and retain current key employees. During the first quarter of 2012, we recorded pre-tax stock-based compensation expense of $8,076 related to the voluntary surrender of these options, which represented the remaining unrecognized stock compensation amounts for such grants.

 

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Seasonality

The timing of our revenue is affected by seasonal factors. Our public portal advertising and sponsorship revenue is seasonal, primarily due to the annual spending patterns of the advertising and sponsorship clients of our public portals. This portion of our revenue is usually the lowest in the first quarter of each calendar year, and generally increases during each consecutive quarter throughout the year. The timing of revenue in relation to our expenses, many of which do not vary directly with revenue, has an impact on cost of operations, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in each calendar quarter.

Critical Accounting Estimates and Policies

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our MD&A is based upon our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, which were prepared in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience, current business factors, and various other assumptions that we believe are necessary to consider to form a basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities, the recorded amounts of revenue and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We are subject to uncertainties such as the impact of future events, economic and political factors, and changes in our business environment; therefore, actual results could differ from these estimates. Accordingly, the accounting estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements will change as new events occur, as more experience is acquired, as additional information is obtained and as our operating environment changes. Changes in estimates are made when circumstances warrant. Such changes in estimates and refinements in estimation methodologies are reflected in reported results of operations; if material, the effects of changes in estimates are disclosed in the notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

We evaluate our estimates on an ongoing basis, including those related to revenue recognition, the allowance for doubtful accounts, the carrying value of long-lived assets (including goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets), the amortization period of long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets), the carrying value, capitalization and amortization of software and Website development costs, the carrying value of investments, the provision for income taxes and related deferred tax accounts, certain accrued expenses, contingencies, litigation and related legal accruals and the value attributed to employee stock options and other stock-based awards.

Critical Accounting Policies

We believe the following reflects our critical accounting policies and our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements:

 

   

Revenue Recognition.    Revenue from advertising is recognized as advertisements are delivered or as publications are distributed. Revenue from sponsorship arrangements, content syndication and distribution arrangements, information services and licenses of healthcare management tools and private portals as well as related health coaching services are recognized ratably over the term of the applicable agreement. Revenue from the sponsorship of CME is recognized over the period we substantially complete our contractual deliverables as determined by the applicable agreements.

For contracts that contain multiple deliverables that were entered into prior to January 1, 2011, revenue is allocated to each deliverable based on its relative fair value determined using vendor-specific objective evidence (“VSOE”). In certain instances where fair value does not exist for all the elements, the amount of revenue allocated to the delivered elements equals the total consideration less the fair value of the undelivered elements to the extent VSOE exists for the undelivered elements. In instances where fair value does not exist for the undelivered elements, the entire consideration is recognized over the period that the last element is delivered.

 

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Contracts that contain multiple deliverables that were entered into subsequent to January 1, 2011 are subject to Accounting Standards Update No. 2009-13 Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements (“ASU 2009-13”). ASU 2009-13 requires the allocation of revenue to each deliverable of multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements, based on the relative selling price of each deliverable. It also changes the level of evidence of selling price required to separate deliverables by allowing a company to make its best estimate of the standalone selling price of deliverables when more objective evidence of selling price is not available.

We adopted ASU 2009-13 on a prospective basis for arrangements entered into or materially modified on or subsequent to January 1, 2011. Beginning January 1, 2011, pursuant to the guidance of ASU 2009-13, when a sales arrangement contains multiple deliverables, we allocate revenue to each deliverable based on relative selling price. The selling price for a deliverable is based on VSOE if available, third-party evidence (“TPE”) if VSOE is not available, or best estimate of selling price if neither VSOE nor TPE is available. We then recognize revenue on each deliverable in accordance with our revenue recognition policies over the period that delivery occurs. VSOE of selling price is based on the price charged when the deliverable is sold separately. In determining VSOE, we require that a substantial majority of the selling prices fall within a reasonable range based on historical pricing trends for specific products and services. TPE is based on competitor prices of similar deliverables when sold separately. We are generally not able to determine TPE of selling price as we are unable to reliably determine what competitors’ selling prices are for comparable services, combined with the fact that our services often contain unique features and customizations such that comparable services do not exist. The determination of best estimate of selling price is a judgmental process that considers multiple factors including, but not limited to, recent selling prices and related discounting practices for each service, market conditions, customer classes, sales channels and other factors.

The adoption of ASU 2009-13 did not have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

 

   

Long-Lived Assets.    Our long-lived assets consist of property and equipment, goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill and other intangible assets arise from the acquisitions we have made. The amount assigned to intangible assets is subjective and based on fair value using exit price and market participant view, such as discounted cash flow and replacement cost models. Our long-lived assets, excluding goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets, are amortized over their estimated useful lives, which we determine based on the consideration of several factors including the period of time the asset is expected to remain in service. We evaluate the carrying value and remaining useful lives of long-lived assets, excluding goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets, whenever indicators of impairment are present. We evaluate the carrying value of goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets annually, or whenever indicators of impairment are present. We use a discounted cash flow approach to determine the fair value of goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets. Long-lived assets held for sale are reported at the lower of cost or fair value less cost to sell. There was no impairment of goodwill or indefinite lived intangible assets noted as a result of our impairment testing in 2011.

 

   

Fair Value of Investments in Auction Rate Securities (ARS).    Through April 20, 2010, we held investments in ARS which were backed by student loans, 97% guaranteed under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), and had credit ratings of AAA or Aaa when purchased. Historically, the fair value of these ARS holdings approximated par value due to the frequent auction periods, generally every 7 to 28 days, which provided liquidity to these investments. However, since February 2008, substantially all auctions involving these securities have been unsuccessful.

Effective April 20, 2010, we entered into an agreement pursuant to which we sold all of our holdings of ARS for an aggregate of $286,399. Under the terms of the agreement, we retained an option (the “ARS Option”), for a period of two years from the date of the agreement: (a) to repurchase from the purchaser the same principal amount of any or all of the various series of ARS sold, at the agreed upon purchase prices received on April 20, 2010; and (b) to receive additional proceeds from the purchaser upon certain redemptions of the various series of ARS sold. Since April 20, 2010, the ARS Option has been classified as a Level 3 asset as its valuation required substantial judgment. The historical redemption activity of the

 

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specific ARS underlying the ARS Option was the most significant assumption used to determine the estimated value of the ARS Option. We were required to reassess the value of the ARS Option at each reporting period and changes in value were recorded within the statement of operations. During the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, we recognized gains of $8,074 and $14,060, and received cash proceeds of $9,269 and $5,240, respectively. In the aggregate, we received total cash proceeds of $41,302 through the ARS Option during the period from April 20, 2010 through March 31, 2012. As of March 31, 2012, we no longer had any remaining positions related to the ARS Option. See Note 5 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report for additional information regarding our ARS Option.

 

   

Stock-Based Compensation.    Stock-based compensation expense for all share-based payment awards granted is determined based on the grant-date fair value. The grant date fair value for stock options is estimated using the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model. We recognize these compensation costs net of an estimated forfeiture rate on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally the vesting term of the share-based payment awards. As of March 31, 2012, there was approximately $64.9 million of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense (net of estimated forfeitures) related to unvested stock options and restricted stock awards held by employees, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 2.6 years, related to our stock-based compensation plans.

 

   

Deferred Taxes.    Our deferred tax assets are comprised primarily of net operating loss carryforwards and federal tax credits. These net operating loss carryforwards and federal tax credits may be used to offset taxable income in future periods, reducing the amount of taxes we might otherwise be required to pay. A significant portion of our net deferred tax assets, including the portion related to excess tax benefits of stock-based awards, are reserved for by a valuation allowance as required by relevant accounting literature. The remaining portion of our net deferred tax assets are no longer reserved for by a valuation allowance. Management determines the need for a valuation allowance by assessing the probability of realizing deferred tax assets, taking into consideration factors including historical operating results, expectations of future earnings and taxable income. Management will continue to evaluate the need for a valuation allowance in the future.

 

   

Tax Contingencies.    Our tax contingencies are recorded to address potential exposures involving tax positions we have taken that could be challenged by tax authorities. These potential exposures result from applications of various statutes, rules, regulations and interpretations. Our estimates of tax contingencies reflect assumptions and judgments about potential actions by taxing jurisdictions. We believe that these assumptions and judgments are reasonable. However, our accruals may change in the future due to new developments in each matter and the ultimate resolution of these matters may be greater or less than the amount that we have accrued. Consistent with our historical financial reporting, we have elected to reflect interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as part of the income tax (benefit) provision.

 

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Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data and expresses that data as a percentage of revenue for the periods presented:

 

     Three Months Ended March 31,  
     2012     2011  
     $     %(a)     $      %(a)  

Revenue

   $ 106,947        100.0      $ 131,609         100.0   

Cost of operations

     53,471        50.0        48,449         36.8   

Sales and marketing

     30,103        28.1        32,294         24.5   

General and administrative

     29,022        27.1        22,821         17.3   

Depreciation and amortization

     6,930        6.5        6,424         4.9   

Interest income

     11               16           

Interest expense

     5,836        5.5        3,141         2.4   

Gain on investments

     8,074        7.5        14,060         10.7   

Other expense

     1,200        1.1        53           
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

(Loss) income before income tax (benefit) provision

     (11,530     (10.8     32,503         24.7   

Income tax (benefit) provision

     (3,753     (3.5     12,958         9.8   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Net (loss) income

   $ (7,777     (7.3   $ 19,545         14.9   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(a) Amounts may not add due to rounding.

Revenue from our public portal advertising and sponsorship is derived from online advertising and sponsorship products, online CME services, information and data services and other print services (including advertisements in WebMD the Magazine). Revenue from our private portal services is derived from licensing our private online portals to employers, healthcare payers and others, along with related services including health and condition management programs and personalized health coaching services. Our customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and consumer products companies, as well as employers and health plans.

Cost of operations consists of salaries and related expenses, and non-cash stock-based compensation expense related to providing and distributing services and products we provide to customers and costs associated with the operation and maintenance of our public and private portals. Cost of operations also consists of editorial and production costs, Website operations costs, non-capitalized Website development costs, costs we pay to our distribution partners, costs associated with our health and condition management programs and personalized health coaching services, and costs related to the production and distribution of our publications, including costs related to creating and licensing content, telecommunications, leased properties and printing and distribution.

Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of advertising, product and brand promotion, as well as selling expenses including salaries and related expenses, and non-cash stock-based compensation for account executives and account management. These expenses include items related to salaries and related expenses of marketing personnel, costs and expenses for marketing programs, and fees for professional marketing and advertising services.

General and administrative expense consists primarily of salaries, non-cash stock-based compensation and other salary-related expenses of administrative, finance, legal, information technology, human resources and executive personnel. Also included in general and administrative expense are general insurance and costs of accounting and internal control systems to support our operations.

Our discussions throughout this MD&A make reference to certain non-cash expenses. Our principal non-cash expenses are related to the awards of all share-based payments to employees and non-employee directors, such as grants of employee stock options and restricted stock. Non-cash stock-based compensation expense is reflected in the same expense captions as the related salary cost of the respective employee.

 

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The following table is a summary of our non-cash expenses included in the respective statements of operations captions:

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012      2011  

Stock-based compensation expense included in:

     

Cost of operations

   $ 2,757       $ 2,103   

Sales and marketing

     2,161         2,391   

General and administrative

     11,982         5,319   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 16,900       $ 9,813   
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Three Months Ended March 31, 2012 and 2011

The following discussion is a comparison of our results of operations on a consolidated basis for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.

Revenue

Our total revenue decreased 18.7% to $106,947 from $131,609 in the prior year period. This decrease is primarily due to lower revenue from our public portals. A more detailed discussion regarding changes in revenue is included below under “— Supplemental Financial and Operating Information.”

Costs and Expenses

Cost of Operations.    Cost of operations increased to $53,471 for the three months ended March 31, 2012 from $48,449 in the prior year period. As a percentage of revenue, cost of operations was 50.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to 36.8% for the prior year period. Included in cost of operations in the three months ended March 31, 2012 was non-cash expense related to stock-based compensation of $2,757 compared to $2,103 in the prior year period. Cost of operations excluding such non-cash expense was $50,714 or 47.4% of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $46,346 or 35.2% of revenue for the prior year period. The increase in absolute dollars was primarily attributable to an increase of approximately $6,000 of expenses associated with the operations and maintenance of our network, including efforts to drive and support the increased traffic to our websites, expenses related to the development of new content and the development of tools and features designed to increase the engagement of visitors to our websites, and costs associated with the creation and delivery of our advertising and sponsorship programs. The increase in these expenses was partially offset by a decrease of $1,600 of distribution expense related to the phase out of our affiliate partner sites and other distribution partners. The increase as a percentage of revenue, excluding the non-cash expenses discussed above, for the three months ended March 31, 2012 compared to the prior year period, was due to the decrease in our revenue of 18.7%, combined with the increase in our cost of operations as certain of these expenses are fixed in nature and do not vary directly with revenue.

Sales and Marketing.    Sales and marketing expense decreased to $30,103 for the three months ended March 31, 2012 from $32,294 in the prior year period. As a percentage of revenue, sales and marketing expense was 28.1% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 24.5% in the first quarter of 2011. Included in sales and marketing expense was non-cash expense related to stock-based compensation of $2,161 and $2,391 in the first quarters of 2012 and 2011, respectively. Sales and marketing expense, excluding such non-cash expenses, was $27,942 or 26.1% of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $29,903 or 22.7% of revenue for the prior year period. The decrease in absolute dollars was primarily attributable to a decrease in certain compensation related costs attributable to the lower revenue in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the prior year period. The increase as a percentage of revenue, excluding the non-cash expenses discussed above, for 2012 compared to 2011 was primarily due to the decrease in our revenue of 18.7% without a commensurate decrease in our sales and marketing expenses as certain of these expenses are fixed in nature.

 

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General and Administrative.    General and administrative expense increased to $29,022 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, from $22,821 in the prior year period. As a percentage of revenue, general and administrative expense was 27.1% in the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to 17.3% in the prior year period. Included in general and administrative expense in the first quarters of 2012 and 2011 was non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $11,982 and $5,319, respectively. The increase in non-cash stock-based compensation expense was primarily due to the voluntary surrender of stock options by certain of our officers and directors during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and the related acceleration of the unrecognized stock-based compensation expense associated with those options. General and administrative expense, excluding such non-cash expense, was $17,040 or 15.9% of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $17,502 or 13.3% of revenue for the prior year period. While our general and administrative expenses, excluding non-cash stock-based compensation expense, were slightly lower during the March 2012 quarter compared to the March 2011 quarter, these expenses during the current year represented a higher percentage of revenue due to the 18.7% decrease in revenue.

Depreciation and Amortization.    Depreciation and amortization expense was $6,930 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $6,424 in the same period last year. The increase over the prior year period was attributable to additional depreciation expense associated with capital expenditures made during 2011.

Interest Income.    Interest income decreased to $11 for the three months ended March 31, 2012 from $16 in the same period last year.

Interest Expense.    Interest expense was $5,836 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $3,141 in the same period last year. Interest expense in the 2012 and 2011 quarters included non-cash interest expense of $1,082 and $516, respectively. The increase in interest expense is a result of the 2.50% Notes and 2.25% Notes being outstanding for the full first quarter of 2012 while only being outstanding for a portion of the first quarter of 2011.

Gain on Investments.    During the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, we recorded a gain on investments of $8,074 and $14,060, respectively, related to adjustments in the value of our ARS Option. See “— Introduction — Background Information on Certain Transactions and Other Significant Developments — Auction Rate Securities” for additional information.

Other Expense.    Other expense was $1,200 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $53 in the same period last year. For the three months ended March 31, 2012, other expense included cash severance and related expenses due to the resignation of our Chief Executive Officer as well as expenses incurred in connection with the search for a new Chief Executive Officer. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, other expense consisted of $53 of external legal costs and expenses related to the investigation by the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina and the SEC and the related insurance coverage litigation.

Income Tax (Benefit) Provision.    The income tax benefit was $3,753 for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to an income tax provision of $12,958 for the three months ended March 31, 2011.

 

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Supplemental Financial and Operating Information

The following table and the discussion that follows presents information for groups of revenue based on similar services we provide, as well as information related to a non-GAAP performance measure that we use to monitor the performance of our business which we refer to as “Earnings before interest, taxes, non-cash and other items” or “Adjusted EBITDA.” Due to the fact that Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure, we have also included a reconciliation from Adjusted EBITDA to net (loss) income.

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2012     2011  

Revenue

    

Public portal advertising and sponsorship

   $ 87,776      $ 110,363   

Private portal services

     19,171        21,246   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
   $ 106,947      $ 131,609   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Earnings before interest, taxes, non-cash and other items (Adjusted EBITDA)

   $ 11,251      $ 37,858   

Interest, taxes, non-cash and other items

    

Interest income

     11        16   

Interest expense

     (5,836     (3,141

Income tax benefit (provision)

     3,753        (12,958

Depreciation and amortization

     (6,930     (6,424

Non-cash stock-based compensation

     (16,900     (9,813

Gain on investments

     8,074        14,060   

Other expense

     (1,200     (53
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (loss) income

   $ (7,777   $ 19,545   
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

The following discussion is a comparison of the results of operations for our two groups of revenue and our Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.

Public Portal Advertising and Sponsorship.    Public portal advertising and sponsorship revenue was $87,776 in the three months ended March 31, 2012, a decrease of $22,587 or 20.5% from the three months ended March 31, 2011. We believe that this decrease related primarily to a more cautious business outlook by many of our larger customers, and related reductions in their marketing expenditures. For a more detailed discussion, see “— Background Information on Certain Trends Influencing the Use of Our Services — Recent Developments in the Business Outlook for Our Public Portals.” In general, pricing remained relatively stable for our advertising and sponsorship programs and was not a significant source of the revenue decrease.

Private Portal Services.    Private portal services revenue was $19,171 in the three months ended March 31, 2012, a decrease of $2,075 or 9.8% from the prior year period. The decline in revenue during the first quarter of 2012 was primarily due to the full year impact of customers lost during 2011 and a reduction in the level of services purchased by some of our customers. In general, pricing remained relatively stable for our private portal services and was not a significant source of the revenue decrease. The number of customers using our private portal platform at March 31, 2012 was 118 compared to 124 customers using our private portal platform at March 31, 2011.

Adjusted EBITDA.    Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $11,251 or 10.5% of revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2012 from $37,858 or 28.8% of revenue in the prior year period. This decrease as a percentage of revenue was primarily due to the lower revenue in 2012. Many of our expenses are fixed in nature and do not vary directly with revenue, and accordingly, our Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue will fluctuate primarily as a result of changes in our revenue.

Explanatory Note Regarding Adjusted EBITDA.    Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should be viewed as supplemental to, and not as an alternative for, “net (loss) income” calculated in accordance with GAAP. Our management uses Adjusted EBITDA as an additional measure of performance for purposes of

 

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business decision-making, including developing budgets, managing expenditures, and evaluating potential acquisitions or divestitures. Period-to-period comparisons of Adjusted EBITDA help our management identify additional trends in financial results that may not be shown solely by period-to-period comparisons of net (loss) income. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in their analysis of our results for reasons similar to the reasons why our management finds it useful and because it helps facilitate investor understanding of decisions made by our management in light of the performance metrics used in making those decisions. In addition, we believe that providing Adjusted EBITDA, together with a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net (loss) income, helps investors make comparisons between us and other companies that may have different capital structures, different effective income tax rates and tax attributes, different capitalized asset values and/or different forms of employee compensation. Please see the “Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Information” filed as Exhibit 99.1 to this Quarterly Report for additional background information regarding our use of Adjusted EBITDA. Exhibit 99.1 is incorporated in this MD&A by reference.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of March 31, 2012, we had $1,142,066 of cash and cash equivalents, and working capital of $1,140,366. Our cash and cash equivalents and working capital are affected by the timing of each period end in relation to items such as payments received from customers, payments made to vendors, the timing of interest payments related to our convertible debt, and internal payroll and billing cycles, as well as the seasonality within our business. Accordingly, our working capital, and its impact on cash flow from operations, can fluctuate materially from period to period.

Cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2012 was $15,529, which related to consolidated net loss of $7,777, adjusted for the gain on investments of $8,074, the non-cash income tax benefit of $3,971 related to deferred income taxes, and other non-cash expenses of $24,912, which include depreciation and amortization expense, non-cash interest expense and non-cash stock-based compensation expense. Additionally, changes in operating assets and liabilities resulted in an increase in cash of $10,439, primarily due to cash provided by a decrease in accounts receivable of $23,890 and an increase in deferred revenue of $2,266 offset by cash used as a result of a decrease in accrued liabilities of $11,694 and an increase in prepaid and other assets of $4,023.

Cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2011 was $25,485, which related to consolidated net income of $19,545, adjusted for the gain on investments of $14,060, for the non-cash income tax provision of $4,798 related to deferred income taxes, and other non-cash expenses of $16,753, which include depreciation and amortization expense, non-cash interest expense and non-cash stock-based compensation expense. Additionally, changes in operating assets and liabilities resulted in a cash use of $1,551, primarily due to cash used by a decrease in accrued liabilities of $7,642 and a decrease in deferred revenue of $219 offset by cash provided as a result of a decrease in accounts receivable of $5,688 and a decrease in prepaid expenses and other assets of $622.

Cash provided by investing activities was $5,892 in the first quarter of 2012, compared to cash provided by investing activities of $391 in the first quarter of 2011. We received $9,269 related to our ARS Option in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $5,240 in the 2011 period. We used $3,377 in connection with purchases of property and equipment in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $4,849 of purchases of property and equipment in the prior year period.

Cash used in financing activities was $572 in the first quarter of 2012, compared to cash provided by financing activities of $639,148 in the first quarter of 2011. Cash provided by financing activities in the first quarter of 2012 related to $754 of proceeds received from the exercise of stock options. Cash provided by financing activities in the first quarter of 2011 principally related to the issuance of $400,000 aggregate principal amount of 2.50% Notes and $400,000 aggregate principal amount of 2.25% Notes. After deducting the related issuance costs, the issuance of our 2.50% Notes and 2.25% Notes resulted in an aggregate cash inflow of $774,745. Other sources of cash during the first quarter of 2011 included $10,220 of proceeds received from the exercise of stock options and $7,355 of a tax benefit on stock-based awards. Cash used in financing activities in

 

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the first quarter of 2012 related to $911 used for withholding taxes on stock-based awards and $415 used for the repurchase of our Common Stock. Cash used in financing activities in the first quarter of 2011 principally related to $150,000 used for the repurchase of our Common Stock and $3,172 used for withholding taxes on stock-based awards.

Included in our consolidated statements of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2011 are cash flows used in operating activities of our discontinued operations of $142 in payments made in connection with the defense costs of the former officers and directors of our former EPS subsidiary in connection with the investigation by the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina and the SEC.

Potential future uses of cash include repurchases of our Common Stock and our anticipated capital expenditure requirements for 2012, which we currently estimate to be up to $30,000 and which relate to expansion of our facilities and improvements that will be deployed across our public and private portal Websites in order to enable us to service future growth in unique users and page views, as well as to create new sponsorship areas for our customers, and to improve the systems used to provide our private portal applications.

Based on our plans and expectations, we believe that our available cash resources and future cash flow from operations will provide sufficient cash resources to meet the cash commitments of our convertible notes and to fund our currently anticipated working capital and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next twenty-four months. Our future liquidity and capital requirements will depend upon numerous factors, including retention of customers at current volume and revenue levels, implementation of new or updated application and service offerings, competing technological and market developments and potential future acquisitions. In addition, our ability to generate cash flow is subject to numerous factors beyond our control, including general economic, regulatory and other matters affecting us and our customers. We plan to continue to enhance our online services and to continue to invest in acquisitions, strategic relationships, facilities and technological infrastructure and product development. We intend to grow each of our existing businesses and enter into complementary ones through both internal investments and acquisitions. We may need to raise additional funds to support expansion, develop new or enhanced applications and services, respond to competitive pressures, acquire complementary businesses or technologies or take advantage of unanticipated opportunities. If required, we may raise such additional funds through public or private debt or equity financing, strategic relationships or other arrangements. We cannot assure that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all, or that such financing will not be dilutive to our stockholders. Future indebtedness may impose various restrictions and covenants on us that could limit our ability to respond to market conditions, to provide for unanticipated capital investments or to take advantage of business opportunities.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued an update to the existing guidance for goodwill and other intangible assets. The update simplifies how a company tests goodwill for impairment by allowing both public and nonpublic entities an option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. Under that option, an entity would no longer be required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines, based on that qualitative assessment, that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. The amendments are effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. The adoption of this amendment did not have an impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

In June 2011, the FASB issued an amendment to the existing guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. Under the amended guidance, entities have the option to present the components of net income and other comprehensive income in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. Entities no longer have the option of presenting the components of other comprehensive income within the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity. For public entities, the amendment is effective on a retrospective basis for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011, which for our company is the first quarter in 2012. As we did not have any components of other

 

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comprehensive income during the periods presented in these accompanying consolidated financial statements, the adoption of this amendment did not have any impact on our consolidated financial statements or related disclosures.

In May 2011, the FASB issued amendments to the existing guidance on fair value measurement. The amendments are intended to create consistency between U.S. generally accepted accounting standards and International Financial Reporting Standards on measuring fair value and disclosing information about fair value measurements. The amendments clarify the application of existing fair value measurement requirements including (i) the application of the highest and best use valuation premise concepts, (ii) measuring the fair value of an instrument classified in a reporting entity’s shareholders’ equity, and (iii) quantitative information required for fair value measurements categorized within Level 3. In addition, the amendments require additional disclosure for Level 3 measurements regarding the sensitivity of fair value to changes in unobservable inputs and any interrelationships between those inputs. For public entities, the amendments are effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. These changes are required to be applied prospectively. The adoption of this amendment did not have any impact on our financial statements.

 

ITEM 3.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Interest Rate Sensitivity

The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal and maintain adequate liquidity.

Our cash and money market investments, which approximate $1.1 billion at March 31, 2012, are not subject to changes in interest rates.

The 2.50% Notes and the 2.25% Notes have fixed interest rates; therefore, changes in interest rates will not impact our results of operations or financial position.

ITEM 4.    Controls and Procedures

As required by Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(b), WebMD management, including the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of WebMD’s disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e), as of March 31, 2012. Based on that evaluation, the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that WebMD’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of March 31, 2012.

In connection with the evaluation required by Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(d), WebMD management, including the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, concluded that no changes in WebMD’s internal control over financial reporting occurred during the first quarter of 2012 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, WebMD’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

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PART II

OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 1.    Legal Proceedings

The information relating to legal proceedings contained in Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report is incorporated herein by this reference.

ITEM 1A.    Risk Factors

This section describes circumstances or events that could have a negative effect on our financial results or operations or that could change, for the worse, existing trends in our business. The occurrence of one or more of the circumstances or events described below could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows or on the trading prices of our Common Stock and convertible notes or of securities that we may issue in the future. The risks and uncertainties described in this Quarterly Report are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to us, or that we currently believe are immaterial, may also adversely affect our business and operations.

 

 

Risks Related to Our Operations and the Healthcare Content We Provide

If we are unable to provide content and services that attract and retain users to The WebMD Health Network on a consistent basis, our advertising and sponsorship revenue could be reduced

Users of The WebMD Health Network have numerous other online and offline sources of healthcare information and related services. Our ability to compete for user traffic on our public portals depends upon our ability to make available a variety of health and medical content, decision-support applications and other services that meet the needs of a variety of types of users, including consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, with a variety of reasons for seeking information. Our ability to do so depends, in turn, on:

 

   

our ability to hire and retain qualified authors, journalists and independent writers;

 

   

our ability to license quality content from third parties; and

 

   

our ability to monitor and respond to increases and decreases in user interest in specific topics.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to develop or acquire needed content, applications and tools at a reasonable cost. In addition, since consumer users of our public portals may be attracted to The WebMD Health Network as a result of a specific condition or for a specific purpose, it is difficult for us to predict the rate at which they will return to the public portals.

A significant portion of the traffic to The WebMD Health Network is directed to us through the algorithmic search results on Internet search engines such as Google. Accordingly, in addition to providing quality health content and tools, we seek to design our Websites to deliver that content and tools in ways that will cause them to rank well in algorithmic search engine results, which makes it more likely that search engine users will visit our Websites. This is commonly referred to as search engine optimization, or SEO. However, there can be no assurance that our SEO efforts will succeed in improving the ranking of our content or, even if they do result in such improvement, that the improved ranking will result in increased numbers of users and page views for our Websites. In addition, search engines frequently change the criteria that determine site rankings in their search results and our SEO efforts will not be successful if we do not respond to those changes appropriately and on a timely basis. Search engine providers may also prioritize search results generated by certain types of queries, including health related queries, based on criteria they select or may otherwise intermediate in the search results generated, which could, in some circumstances, reduce the ranking that would otherwise be provided to our Websites and increase the ranking of other sites. The failure to successfully manage SEO across The WebMD Health Network could result in a substantial decrease in traffic to The WebMD Health Network.

 

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Because we generate revenue by, among other things, selling sponsorships of specific pages, sections or events on The WebMD Health Network, a decline in user traffic levels or a reduction in the number of pages viewed by users could cause our revenue to decrease and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Developing and implementing new and updated features and services for our public and private portals and our mobile applications may be more difficult than expected, may take longer and cost more than expected, and may not result in sufficient increases in revenue to justify the costs

Attracting and retaining users of our public portals and our mobile applications and clients for our private portals requires us to continue to improve the technology underlying those portals and applications and to continue to develop new and updated features and services for those portals and applications. If we are unable to do so on a timely basis or if we are unable to implement new features and services without disruption to our existing ones, we may lose potential users and clients.

We rely on a combination of internal development, strategic relationships, licensing and acquisitions to develop our portals, mobile applications and related features and services. Our development and/or implementation of new technologies, features and services may cost more than expected, may take longer than originally expected, may require more testing than originally anticipated and may require the acquisition of additional personnel and other resources. There can be no assurance that the revenue opportunities from any new or updated technologies, applications, features or services will justify the amounts spent.

We face significant competition for our healthcare information products and services

The markets for healthcare information products and services are intensely competitive, continually evolving and, in some cases, subject to rapid change.

 

   

Our public portals and mobile applications face competition from numerous other companies, both in attracting users and in generating revenue from advertisers and sponsors. We compete for users with online services and Websites that provide health-related information, including both commercial sites and not-for-profit sites. We compete for advertisers and sponsors with: health-related Websites; general purpose consumer Websites that offer specialized health sub-channels or functions; other high-traffic Websites that include both healthcare-related and non-healthcare-related content and services, including social media Websites; search engines that provide specialized health search; and advertising networks that aggregate traffic from multiple sites. Our public portals also face competition from offline publications and information services.

 

   

Our private portals compete with: providers of healthcare decision-support tools and online health management applications, including personal health records; wellness and disease management vendors; and health information services and health management offerings of healthcare benefits companies and their affiliates.

Many of our competitors have greater financial, technical, product development, marketing and other resources than we do. These organizations may be better known than we are and have more customers or users than we do. We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to compete successfully against these organizations or any alliances they have formed or may form. In addition, we expect that competitors will continue to enter these markets.

Failure to maintain and enhance the “WebMD” brand could have a material adverse effect on our business

We believe that the “WebMD” brand identity that we have developed has contributed to the success of our business and has helped us achieve recognition as a trusted source of health and wellness information. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing that brand is important to expanding the user base for our public portals, to our relationships with sponsors and advertisers, and to our ability to gain additional employer and healthcare

 

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payer clients for our private portals. We have expended considerable resources on establishing and enhancing the “WebMD” brand and our other brands, and we have developed policies and procedures designed to preserve and enhance our brands, including editorial procedures designed to provide quality control of the information we publish. We expect to continue to devote resources and efforts to maintain and enhance our brands. However, we may not be able to successfully maintain or enhance our brands, and events outside of our control may have a negative effect on our brands. If we are unable to maintain or enhance our brands, and do so in a cost-effective manner, our business could be adversely affected.

We have a limited operating history

We have a limited operating history and participate in relatively new markets. These markets, and our business, have undergone significant changes during their short history and can be expected to continue to change. Many companies with business plans based on providing healthcare information and related services through the Internet have failed to be profitable and some have filed for bankruptcy or ceased operations. Even if demand from users exists, we cannot assure you that our business will be profitable.

Recent and pending management changes may disrupt our operations and our ability to recruit and retain other personnel

The Chief Executive Officer of our company left in January 2012. Our Chief Financial Officer is currently also serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer, while our Board conducts a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Changes in senior management and uncertainty regarding pending changes may disrupt our operations and may impair our ability to recruit and retain other needed personnel. Any such disruption or impairment may have an adverse effect on our business.

Our failure to attract and retain qualified executives and employees may have a material adverse effect on our business

Our business depends largely on the skills, experience and performance of key members of our management team and other key employees. We also depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain qualified writers and editors, software developers and other technical personnel and sales and marketing personnel. Competition for qualified personnel in the healthcare information services and Internet industries is intense. We cannot assure you that we will be able to hire or retain a sufficient number of qualified personnel to meet our requirements, or that we will be able to do so at costs that are acceptable to us. Failure to do so may have an adverse effect on our business.

Our advertising and sponsorship revenue may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and its amount and timing may be subject to factors beyond our control, including regulatory changes affecting advertising and promotion of drugs and medical devices, FDA approvals of specific products, and general economic conditions

Our advertising and sponsorship revenue may vary significantly from quarter to quarter due to a number of factors, many of which are not within our control, and some of which may be difficult to forecast accurately, including potential effects on demand for our services as a result of regulatory changes affecting advertising and promotion of drugs and medical devices and general economic conditions. The majority of our advertising and sponsorship programs are for terms of approximately four to twelve months. We have relatively few longer term advertising and sponsorship programs. We cannot assure you that our current advertisers and sponsors will continue to use our services beyond the terms of their existing contracts or that they will enter into any additional contracts.

The time between the date of initial contact with a potential advertiser or sponsor regarding a specific program and the execution of a contract with the advertiser or sponsor for that program, as well as the additional time period before our services are delivered, may be longer than expected, especially for larger contracts, and may be subject to delays over which we have little or no control, including as a result of budgetary constraints of the advertiser or sponsor or their need for internal approvals, including internal approvals relating to compliance

 

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with the laws and regulations applicable to the marketing of healthcare products. In the past year, we experienced a lengthening of this internal review process by pharmaceutical companies, which has resulted in delays in contracting as well as delays in recognizing expected revenue under executed contracts and which may continue to cause such delays. Other factors that could affect the timing of contracting for specific programs with advertisers and sponsors, or receipt of revenue under such contracts, include:

 

   

the timing of FDA approval for new products or for new approved uses for existing products;

 

   

the timing of FDA approval of generic products that compete with existing brand name products and any increase in the number or significance of such approvals;

 

   

the timing of withdrawals of products from the market;

 

   

the timing of rollouts of new or enhanced services on our public portals;

 

   

seasonal factors relating to the prevalence of specific health conditions and other seasonal factors that may affect the timing of promotional campaigns for specific products; and

 

   

the scheduling of conferences for physicians and other healthcare professionals.

We may be unsuccessful in our efforts to increase advertising and sponsorship revenue from consumer products companies

Much of our advertising and sponsorship revenue has, in the past, come from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. We have been focusing on increasing sponsorship revenue from consumer products companies that are interested in communicating health-related or safety-related information about their products to our audience. However, while many consumer products companies are increasing the portion of their promotional spending used on the Internet, we cannot assure you that these advertisers and sponsors will find our consumer Websites to be as effective as other Websites or traditional media for promoting their products and services. In addition, revenues from consumer products companies are more likely to reflect general economic conditions, and to be reduced to a greater extent during economic downturns or recessions, than revenues from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Accordingly, revenues from this portion of our business may be subject to significant quarter-to-quarter variations and we may be unsuccessful in our efforts to develop this portion of our business.

Increasingly, individuals are using mobile devices to access online content and services and, if we fail to capture a significant share of this portion of the market for online health information services or fail to generate revenue from it, our business could be adversely affected

The number of people who access online content and services through mobile devices has increased dramatically in the past few years, including the number of physicians and other healthcare professionals who do so. New devices and new platforms continue to be developed and released. It is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in developing and maintaining versions of our services for use on these devices and we may need to devote significant resources to their creation, maintenance and support. If we fail to capture a significant share of this increasingly important portion of the market for online health information services (including the market for information services for physicians and other healthcare professionals), it could adversely affect our business.

We do not currently generate meaningful revenue from our mobile health information services, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. Even if demand for our mobile applications exists and we achieve a significant share of the market for mobile health information services, we cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve significant revenue or profits from these services. Although we believe that the substantial majority of our mobile users also access and engage with The WebMD Health Network on personal computers where we generate advertising and sponsorship revenue, our users could increasingly access our services through mobile devices. If users access our services through mobile devices as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile services, our revenue and financial results may be negatively affected.

 

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Lengthy sales and implementation cycles for our private online portals make it difficult to forecast our revenues from these applications and may have an adverse impact on our business

The period from our initial contact with a potential client for a private online portal and the first purchase of our solution by the client is difficult to predict. In the past, this period has generally ranged from six to twelve months, but in some cases has been longer. Potential sales may be subject to delays or cancellations due to a client’s internal procedures for approving large expenditures and other factors beyond our control, including the effect of general economic conditions on the willingness of potential clients to commit to licensing our private portals. The time it takes to implement a private online portal is also difficult to predict and has lasted as long as six months from contract execution to the commencement of live operation. Implementation may be subject to delays based on the availability of the internal resources of the client that are needed and other factors outside of our control. As a result, we have limited ability to forecast the timing of revenue from new clients. This, in turn, makes it more difficult to forecast our financial performance for future periods. In addition, some of our client contracts may permit termination, by the client, prior to the end of the stated contract term, which can also make it more difficult to forecast our future financial performance.

During the sales cycle and the implementation period, we may expend substantial time, effort and money preparing contract proposals, negotiating contracts and implementing the private online portal without receiving any related revenue. In addition, many of the expenses related to providing private online portals are relatively fixed in the short term, including personnel costs and technology and infrastructure costs. If our private portal revenue is lower than expected, we may not be able to reduce related short-term spending in response. Any shortfall in such revenue would have a direct impact on our results of operations.

Our ability to renew existing agreements with employers and health plans will depend, in part, on our ability to continue to increase usage of our private portal services by their employees and plan members

In a healthcare market where a greater share of the responsibility for healthcare costs and decision-making has been shifting to consumers, use of information technology (including personal health records) to assist consumers in making informed decisions about healthcare has also increased. We believe that through our WebMD Behavior Change Platform, including our personal health record application, we are well positioned to play a role in this environment. However, our strategy depends, in part, on increasing usage of our private portal services by our employer and health plan clients’ employees and members and being able to demonstrate a sufficient return on investment and other benefits for our private portals clients from those services. Increasing usage of our private portal services requires us to continue to develop new and updated applications, features and services. In addition, we face competition in the area of healthcare decision-support tools and online health management applications and health information services. Many of our competitors have greater financial, technical, product development, marketing and other resources than we do, and may be better known than we are. We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to meet our development and implementation goals or that we will be able to compete successfully against other vendors offering competitive services and, if we are unable to do so, we may experience static or diminished usage for our private portal services and possible non-renewals of our customer agreements.

We may be subject to claims brought against us as a result of content we provide

Consumers access health-related information through our online services, including information regarding particular medical conditions and possible adverse reactions or side effects from medications. If our content, or content we obtain from third parties, contains inaccuracies, it is possible that consumers, employees, health plan members or others may sue us for various causes of action. Although our Websites and mobile applications contain terms and conditions, including disclaimers of liability, that are intended to reduce or eliminate our liability, the law governing the validity and enforceability of online agreements and other electronic transactions is evolving. We could be subject to claims by third parties that our online agreements with consumers and physicians that provide the terms and conditions for use of our public or private portals or mobile applications are unenforceable. A finding by a court that these agreements are invalid and that we are subject to liability could harm our business and require costly changes to our business.

 

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We have editorial procedures in place to provide quality control of the information that we publish or provide. However, we cannot assure you that our editorial and other quality control procedures will be sufficient to ensure that there are no errors or omissions in particular content. Even if potential claims do not result in liability to us, investigating and defending against these claims could be expensive and time consuming and could divert management’s attention away from our operations. In addition, our business is based on establishing the reputation of our portals as trustworthy and dependable sources of healthcare information. Allegations of impropriety or inaccuracy, even if unfounded, could harm our reputation and business.

Expansion to markets outside the United States will subject us to additional risks

One element of our growth strategy is to seek to expand our online services to markets outside the United States. In certain markets outside the United States, we expect that we would accomplish this through partnerships or joint ventures with other companies having expertise in the specific country or region. In addition, in certain markets outside of the United States, we expect to provide some of our online services directly to healthcare professionals and, to a lesser extent, consumers. Our participation in international markets will still be subject to certain risks beyond those applicable to our operations in the United States, such as:

 

   

challenges caused by language and cultural differences;

 

   

difficulties in staffing and managing operations from a distance;

 

   

uncertainty regarding liability for services and content;

 

   

burdens of complying with a wide variety of legal, regulatory and market requirements;

 

   

variability of economic and political conditions, including the extent of the impact of adverse economic conditions in markets outside the United States;

 

   

tariffs or other trade barriers;

 

   

fluctuations in currency exchange rates;

 

   

potentially adverse tax consequences, including restrictions on repatriation of earnings; and

 

   

difficulties in protecting intellectual property.

 

 

Risks Related to the Internet and Our Technological Infrastructure

Any service interruption or failure in the systems that we use to provide online services could harm our business

Our online services are designed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption. However, we have experienced and expect that we will in the future experience interruptions and delays in services and availability from time to time. We rely on internal systems as well as third-party vendors, including data center providers, bandwidth providers and mobile carriers, to provide our online services. We may not maintain redundant systems or facilities for some of these services. In the event of a catastrophic event with respect to one or more of these systems or facilities, we may experience an extended period of system unavailability, which could negatively impact our relationship with users. In addition, system failures may result in loss of data, including user registration data, content, and other data critical to the operation of our online services, which could cause significant harm to our business and our reputation.

To operate without interruption or loss of data, both we and our service providers must guard against:

 

   

damage from fire, power loss and other natural disasters;

 

   

communications failures;

 

   

software and hardware errors, failures and crashes;

 

   

security breaches, computer viruses and similar disruptive problems; and

 

   

other potential service interruptions.

 

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Any disruption in the network access or co-location services provided by third-party providers to us or any failure by these third-party providers or our own systems to handle current or higher volume of use could significantly harm our business. We exercise little control over these third-party vendors, which increases our vulnerability to problems with services they provide.

Any errors, failures, interruptions or delays experienced in connection with these third-party technologies and information services or our own systems could negatively impact our relationships with users and adversely affect our brand and our business and could expose us to liabilities to third parties. Although we maintain insurance for our business, the coverage under our policies may not be adequate to compensate us for all losses that may occur. In addition, we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at an acceptable cost.

Implementation of additions to or changes in hardware and software platforms used to deliver our online services may result in performance problems and may not provide the additional functionality that was expected

From time to time, we implement additions to or changes in the hardware and software platforms we use for providing our online services. During and after the implementation of additions or changes, a platform may not perform as expected, which could result in interruptions in operations, an increase in response time or an inability to track performance metrics. In addition, in connection with integrating acquired businesses, we may move their operations to our hardware and software platforms or make other changes, any of which could result in interruptions in those operations. Any significant interruption in our ability to operate any of our online services could have an adverse effect on our relationships with users and clients and, as a result, on our financial results. We rely on a combination of purchasing, licensing, internal development, and acquisitions to develop our hardware and software platforms. Our implementation of additions to or changes in these platforms may cost more than originally expected, may take longer than originally expected, and may require more testing than originally anticipated. In addition, we cannot provide assurance that additions to or changes in these platforms will provide the additional functionality and other benefits that were originally expected.

If the systems we use to provide online portals experience security breaches or are otherwise perceived to be insecure, our business could suffer

We retain and transmit confidential information, including personal health records, in the processing centers and other facilities we use to provide online services. It is critical that these facilities and infrastructure remain secure and be perceived by the marketplace as secure. A security breach could damage our reputation or result in liability. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against security breaches and hackers or to alleviate problems caused by breaches. Despite the implementation of security measures, this infrastructure or other systems that we interface with, including the Internet and related systems, may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, hackers, improper employee or contractor access, computer viruses, programming errors, denial-of-service attacks or other attacks by third parties or similar disruptive problems. Any compromise of our security, whether as a result of our own systems or the systems that they interface with, could reduce demand for our services and could subject us to legal claims from our clients and users, including for breach of contract or breach of warranty.

Our online services are dependent on the development and maintenance of the Internet infrastructure

Our ability to deliver our online services is dependent on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet by third parties. The Internet has experienced a variety of outages and other delays as a result of damages to portions of its infrastructure, and it could face outages and delays in the future. The Internet has also experienced, and is likely to continue to experience, significant growth in the number of users and the amount of traffic. If the Internet continues to experience increased usage, the Internet infrastructure may be unable to support the demands placed on it. In addition, the reliability and performance of the Internet may be harmed by increased usage or by denial-of-service attacks. Any resulting interruptions in our services or increases in response time could, if significant, result in a loss of potential or existing users of and advertisers and sponsors on our Websites and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the attractiveness of our services.

 

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Customers who utilize our online services depend on Internet service providers and other Website operators for access to our Websites. All of these providers have experienced significant outages in the past and could experience outages, delays and other difficulties in the future due to system failures unrelated to our systems. Any such outages or other failures on their part could reduce traffic to our Websites.

Third parties may challenge the enforceability of our online agreements

The law governing the validity and enforceability of online agreements and other electronic transactions is evolving. We could be subject to claims by third parties that the online terms and conditions for use of our Websites, including disclaimers or limitations of liability, are unenforceable. A finding by a court that these terms and conditions or other online agreements are invalid could harm our business.

We could be subject to breach of warranty or other claims by clients of our online portals if the software and systems we use to provide them contain errors or experience failures

Errors in the software and systems we use could cause serious problems for clients of our online portals. We may fail to meet contractual performance standards or client expectations. Clients of our online portals may seek compensation from us or may seek to terminate their agreements with us, withhold payments due to us, seek refunds from us of part or all of the fees charged under those agreements or initiate litigation or other dispute resolution procedures. In addition, we could face breach of warranty or other claims by clients or additional development costs. Our software and systems are inherently complex and, despite testing and quality control, we cannot be certain that they will perform as planned.

We attempt to limit, by contract, our liability to our clients for damages arising from our negligence, errors or mistakes. However, contractual limitations on liability may not be enforceable in certain circumstances or may otherwise not provide sufficient protection to us from liability for damages. We maintain liability insurance coverage, including coverage for errors and omissions. However, it is possible that claims could exceed the amount of our applicable insurance coverage, if any, or that this coverage may not continue to be available on acceptable terms or in sufficient amounts. Even if these claims do not result in liability to us, investigating and defending against them would be expensive and time consuming and could divert management’s attention away from our operations. In addition, negative publicity caused by these events may delay or hinder market acceptance of our services, including unrelated services.

 

 

Risks Related to the Healthcare Industry, Healthcare Regulation and Internet Regulation

Developments in the healthcare industry could adversely affect our business

Most of our revenue is derived from the healthcare industry and could be affected by changes affecting healthcare spending. We are particularly dependent on pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies for our advertising and sponsorship revenue. General reductions in expenditures by healthcare industry participants could result from, among other things:

 

   

government regulation or private initiatives that affect the manner in which healthcare providers interact with patients, payers or other healthcare industry participants, including changes in pricing or means of delivery of healthcare products and services;

 

   

consolidation of healthcare industry participants;

 

   

reductions in governmental funding for healthcare; and

 

   

adverse changes in business or economic conditions affecting healthcare payers or providers, pharmaceutical, biotechnology or medical device companies or other healthcare industry participants.

Federal and state legislatures and agencies periodically consider reforming aspects of the United States healthcare system. Significant federal healthcare reform legislation was enacted in March 2010, as discussed in the next risk factor.

 

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Even if general expenditures by industry participants remain the same or increase, developments in the healthcare industry may result in reduced spending in some or all of the specific market segments that we serve or are planning to serve. For example, use of our products and services could be affected by:

 

   

changes in the design of health insurance plans;

 

   

the timing of FDA approvals of generic products that compete with existing brand name products and any increase in the number or significance of such approvals or of withdrawals of brand name products from the market;

 

   

the timing of FDA approvals for new products or few new approved uses for existing products and any decrease in the number or significance of new drugs or medical devices coming to market or new approved uses for existing such products; and

 

   

decreases in marketing expenditures by pharmaceutical or medical device companies, including as a result of governmental regulation or private initiatives that discourage or prohibit advertising, sponsorship or educational activities by pharmaceutical or medical device companies or that discourage or prohibit their use of online services for some or all such activities.

In addition, our customers’ expectations regarding pending or potential industry developments may also affect their budgeting processes and spending plans with respect to products and services of the types we provide.

The healthcare industry has changed significantly in recent years, and we expect that significant changes will continue to occur. However, the timing and impact of developments in the healthcare industry are difficult to predict. We cannot assure you that the markets for our products and services will continue to exist at current levels or that we will have adequate technical, financial and marketing resources to react to changes in those markets.

Federal health care reform legislation enacted in 2010 could adversely affect our healthcare industry customers and clients, causing them to reduce expenditures, including expenditures for our services

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (which we refer to as the Reform Legislation), was signed into law in March 2010. The Reform Legislation makes extensive changes to the system of healthcare insurance and benefits in the U.S. In general, the Reform Legislation seeks to reduce healthcare costs and decrease the number of uninsured legal U.S. residents by, among other things, requiring individuals to carry, and certain employers to offer, health insurance or be subject to penalties. The Reform Legislation also imposes new regulations on health insurers, including guaranteed coverage requirements, prohibitions on certain annual and all lifetime limits on amounts paid on behalf of or to plan members, increased restrictions on rescinding coverage, establishment of minimum medical loss ratio requirements, a requirement to cover certain preventive services on a first dollar basis, the establishment of state insurance exchanges and essential benefit packages, and greater limitations on how health insurers price certain of their products. The Reform Legislation also contains provisions that will affect the revenues and profits of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including new taxes on certain sales of their products.

Many of the provisions of the Reform Legislation that expand insurance coverage will not become effective until 2014, and many provisions require regulations and interpretive guidance to be issued before they will be fully implemented. Some provisions do not apply to health plans that were in place when the Reform Legislation was enacted and have not been substantially changed since. In addition, it is difficult to foresee how individuals and businesses will respond to the choices available to them under the Reform Legislation. Furthermore, the Reform Legislation will result in future state legislative and regulatory changes, which we are unable to predict at this time, in order for states to comply with certain provisions of the Reform Legislation and to participate in grants and other incentive opportunities. In addition, a number of parties have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Reform Legislation. The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the individual mandate aspect of the Reform Legislation and certain other matters regarding the Reform Legislation and is expected to render its decision by June 2012. Accordingly, while we do not

 

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currently anticipate any significant adverse effects on WebMD as a direct result of application of the Reform Legislation to our business or on our company in its capacity as an employer, we are unable to predict what the indirect impacts of the Reform Legislation will be on WebMD’s business through its effects on other healthcare industry participants, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies that are advertisers and sponsors of our public portals and employers and health plans that are clients of our private portals. Healthcare industry participants may respond to the Reform Legislation or to uncertainties created by the Reform Legislation by reducing their expenditures or postponing expenditure decisions, including expenditures for our services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Government regulation of healthcare creates risks and challenges with respect to our compliance efforts and our business strategies

The healthcare industry is highly regulated and is subject to changing political, legislative, regulatory and other influences. Existing and new laws and regulations affecting the healthcare industry could create unexpected liabilities for us, could cause us to incur additional costs and could restrict our operations. Many healthcare laws are complex, and their application to specific products and services may not be clear. In particular, many existing healthcare laws and regulations, when enacted, did not anticipate the healthcare information services that we provide. However, these laws and regulations may nonetheless be applied to our products and services. Our failure to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations, or other failure to comply, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and negatively affect our business. Even in areas where we are not subject to healthcare regulation directly, we may become involved in governmental actions or investigations through our relationships with customers that are regulated, and participation in such actions or investigations, even if we are not a party and not the subject of an investigation, may cause us to incur significant expenses. Some of the risks we face from healthcare regulation are as follows:

 

   

Regulation of Drug and Medical Device Advertising and Promotion.    The WebMD Health Network provides services involving advertising and promotion of prescription and over-the-counter drugs and medical devices and claims of nutritional supplements. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finds that any of our products and services or any information on The WebMD Health Network, in our mobile applications, or in WebMD the Magazine violates applicable regulations, they may take regulatory or judicial action against us and/or the advertiser or sponsor of that information. State attorneys general may take similar action based on their state’s consumer protection statutes. Any increase or change in regulation of drug or medical device advertising and promotion could make it more difficult for us to contract for sponsorships and advertising. We cannot predict what actions the FDA or industry participants may take in the future. It is also possible that new laws would be enacted that impose restrictions on such advertising. In addition, recent private industry initiatives have resulted in voluntary restrictions, which advertisers and sponsors have agreed to follow. Our advertising and sponsorship revenue could be materially reduced by additional restrictions on the advertising of prescription drugs and medical devices to consumers, whether imposed by law or regulation or required under policies adopted by industry members.

 

   

Anti-kickback Laws.    There are federal and state laws that govern patient referrals, physician financial relationships and inducements to healthcare providers and patients. The federal healthcare programs anti-kickback law prohibits any person or entity from offering, paying, soliciting or receiving anything of value, directly or indirectly, for the referral of patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs or the leasing, purchasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending the lease, purchase or order of any item, good, facility or service covered by these programs. Many states also have similar anti-kickback laws that are not necessarily limited to items or services for which payment is made by a federal healthcare program. These laws are applicable to manufacturers and distributors and, therefore, may restrict how we and some of our customers market products to healthcare providers, including e-details. Any determination by a state or federal regulatory agency that any of our practices violate any of these laws could subject us to civil or criminal penalties and require us to change or terminate some portions of our business and could have an adverse effect on our business. Even an unsuccessful challenge by regulatory authorities to our practices could result in adverse publicity and be costly for us to respond to.

 

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False Claims Laws.    The Federal False Claims Act imposes liability on any person or entity who, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment by a Federal healthcare program. In addition, various states have enacted false claim laws analogous to the Federal False Claims Act, and many of these state laws apply where a claim is submitted to any third-party payor and not merely a federal healthcare program. When an entity is determined to have violated the Federal False Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government plus civil penalties. In recent years an increasing number of Federal False Claims Act cases have been brought against drug manufacturers and resulted in significant monetary settlements and imposition of federally supervised corporate integrity agreements in circumstances that include allegations that company sponsored CME was unlawful off label promotion. Any action against us for violation of these laws could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and may adversely affect our ability to operate our business. Similarly, False Claims Act actions and resulting Corporate Integrity Agreements involving our customers may influence their willingness to continue to use our services.

 

   

Medical Professional Regulation.    The practice of most healthcare professions requires licensing under applicable state law. In addition, the laws in some states prohibit business entities from practicing medicine. If a state determines that some portion of our business violates these laws, it may seek to have us discontinue those portions or subject us to penalties or licensure requirements. Any determination that we are a healthcare provider and have acted improperly as a healthcare provider may result in liability to us.

 

   

GINA.    The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in employment and in health insurance coverage. The law applies to our private portal customers, including both employers and group health plans. WebMD’s Health Risk Assessment (or HRA), HealthQuotient, is typically offered to employees as a voluntary component of their employer-sponsored wellness program. Title I of GINA can have significant implications for wellness programs offered by group health plans in that it prohibits the collection of genetic information, which includes an individual’s family medical history, prior to or in connection with enrollment or for underwriting purposes. Underwriting purposes include providing incentives or rewards for completion of an HRA that requests genetic information. Title II of GINA prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information as well as the request or purchase of genetic information of employees or their family members with limited exceptions, including a limited exception for voluntary wellness programs. WebMD may face challenges as a result of varying interpretations of the law by our customers and by the multiple enforcing agencies including the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and Treasury and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Interpretations of the law have required us to modify the HealthQuotient product and we could experience increases in operational costs or decreases in demand for our products. State legislation, such as recent legislation in California prohibiting any form of discrimination by businesses based on genetic information, including in housing, public accommodation, and the provision of emergency services, could have additional implications for service we provide in those states.

Government regulation of the Internet could adversely affect our business

The Internet and its associated technologies are subject to government regulation. However, whether and how existing laws and regulations in various jurisdictions, including privacy and consumer protection laws, apply to the Internet is still uncertain. Our failure, or the failure of our business partners or third-party service providers, to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations to our products and services and the manner in which we deliver them, or any other failure to comply with such laws and regulations, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and negatively affect our business. In addition, new laws and regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, may be adopted with respect to the Internet and online services, including in areas such as: user privacy, confidentiality, consumer protection, marketing, pricing, content, copyrights and patents, and characteristics and quality of products and services. We cannot predict how these laws or regulations will affect our business.

 

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Internet user privacy, personal data security and the use of consumer information to track online activities are major issues both in the United States and abroad. For example, in February 2009, the FTC published Self-Regulatory Principles to govern the tracking of consumers’ activities online in order to deliver advertising targeted to the interests of individual consumers (sometimes referred to as behavioral advertising). These principles serve as guidelines to the industry. In December 2010, following a series of workshops, the FTC issued a preliminary staff report containing a proposed framework for businesses and policymakers for online consumer privacy issues and, in March 2012, the FTC issued a final report setting forth its current views on best practices, to protect the privacy of consumers, to be implemented by companies that collect and use consumer data. The U.S. Department of Commerce has also issued a draft green paper on privacy issues. Both agencies expressed a willingness to support legislation and the FTC calls on industry to accelerate the pace of self-regulation and calls on Congress to develop baseline privacy legislation. The FTC has otherwise been active in investigating and entering into consent decrees under its current unfair or deceptive trade practices authority with companies because of their online privacy and data security practices. There is a possibility of legislation, regulation and increased enforcement activities relating to privacy and behavioral advertising. Some bills have been introduced in Congress, and more are expected, that, if passed, could impose substantial new regulations on online behavioral advertising activities. We have privacy policies posted on our Websites that we believe comply with existing applicable laws requiring notice to users about our information collection, use and disclosure practices. We also notify users about our information collection, use and disclosure practices relating to data we receive through offline means such as paper health risk assessments. Moreover, we take steps to reasonably protect certain sensitive personal information we hold. We cannot assure you that the privacy policies and other statements we provide to users of our products and services, or our practices will be found sufficient to protect us from liability or adverse publicity in this area. A determination by a state or federal agency or court that any of our practices do not meet applicable standards, or the implementation of new standards or requirements, could adversely affect our business.

Failure to comply with laws relating to privacy and security of personal information, including personal health information, could result in liability to us and concerns about privacy-related issues could damage our reputation and our business

Privacy and security of personal information stored or transmitted electronically, including personal health information, is a major issue in the United States. While we strive to comply with all applicable privacy and security laws and regulations, as well as our own posted privacy policies, any failure or perceived failure to comply may result in proceedings or actions against us by government entities or others, or could cause us to lose users and customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. There has been an increase in the number of private privacy-related lawsuits filed against companies in recent months. In addition, we are unable to predict what additional legislation or regulation in the area of privacy of personal information, including personal health information, could be enacted and what effect that could have on our operations and business. Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded and even if we are in compliance with applicable laws, could damage our reputation and harm our business.

The Privacy Standards and Security Standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (or HIPAA) establish a set of national privacy and security standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information by health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers (referred to as covered entities) and their business associates. Previously, only covered entities were directly subject to potential civil and criminal liability under these Standards. However, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) amended the HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards and made certain provisions applicable to those portions of our business, such as those managing employee or plan member health information for employers or health plans, that are business associates of covered entities. Currently, we are bound by certain contracts and agreements to use and disclose protected health information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Standards and Security Standards. Beginning on February 17, 2010, some provisions of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards began to apply directly to us. For periods prior to that, depending on the facts and circumstances, we could potentially be subject to criminal liability for aiding and abetting or

 

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conspiring with a covered entity to violate the Privacy Standards or Security Standards. As of February 17, 2010, we became directly subject to HIPAA’s criminal and civil penalties. HITECH increased civil penalty amounts for violations of HIPAA and significantly strengthens enforcement by requiring HHS to conduct periodic audits to confirm compliance and authorizing state attorneys general to bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations of HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards that threaten the privacy of state residents. It is expected that HHS will issue additional regulations to implement many of the HITECH amendments. We cannot assure you that we will adequately address the risks created by these amended HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards. In addition, we are unable to predict what changes to these Standards might be made in the future or how those changes, or other changes in applicable laws and regulations, could affect our business.

Failure to maintain CME accreditation could adversely affect Medscape, LLC’s ability to provide online CME offerings

Medscape, LLC’s continuing medical education (or CME) activities are planned and implemented in accordance with the current Essential Areas and Elements and the Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, or ACCME, which oversees providers of CME credit, and other applicable accreditation standards. ACCME’s standards for commercial support of CME are intended to assure, among other things, that CME activities of ACCME-accredited providers, such as Medscape, LLC, are independent of “commercial interests,” which are defined as entities that produce, market, re-sell or distribute healthcare goods and services, excluding certain organizations. “Commercial interests,” and entities owned or controlled by “commercial interests,” are ineligible for accreditation by the ACCME.

From time to time, the ACCME revises its standards for commercial support of CME. As a result of certain past ACCME revisions, we adjusted our corporate structure and made changes to our management and operations intended to allow Medscape, LLC to provide CME activities that are developed independently from programs developed by its sister companies, which may not be independent of “commercial interests.” We believe that these changes allow Medscape, LLC to satisfy the applicable standards.

Medscape, LLC’s current ACCME accreditation expires in 2016. In order for Medscape, LLC to renew its accreditation, it will be required to demonstrate to the ACCME that it continues to meet ACCME requirements. If Medscape, LLC fails to maintain its status as an accredited ACCME provider (whether at the time of such renewal or at an earlier time as a result of a failure to comply with existing or additional ACCME standards), it will not be permitted to accredit CME activities for physicians and other healthcare professionals. Instead, Medscape, LLC would be required to use third parties to provide such CME-related services. That, in turn, could discourage potential supporters from engaging Medscape, LLC to develop CME or education-related activities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Government regulation and industry initiatives could adversely affect the volume of sponsored online CME programs implemented through our Websites or require changes to how Medscape, LLC offers CME

CME activities may be subject to government oversight or regulation by Congress, the FDA, HHS, and state regulatory agencies. Medscape, LLC and/or the sponsors of the CME activities that Medscape, LLC accredits may be subject to enforcement actions if any of these CME activities are deemed improperly promotional, potentially leading to the termination of sponsorships. Medscape, LLC and/or the sponsors of the CME activities that Medscape, LLC accredits also could be affected by industry initiatives regarding funding for CME.

During the past several years, educational activities, including CME, directed at physicians have been subject to increased governmental scrutiny to ensure that sponsors do not influence or control the content of the activities. In response, pharmaceutical and medical device companies have developed and implemented internal controls and procedures that promote adherence to applicable regulations and requirements. In implementing these controls and procedures, supporters of CME may interpret the regulations and requirements differently and may implement varying procedures or requirements. These controls and procedures:

 

   

may discourage pharmaceutical companies from providing grants for independent educational activities;

 

   

may slow their internal approval for such grants;

 

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may reduce the volume of sponsored educational programs that Medscape, LLC produces to levels that are lower than in the past, thereby reducing revenue; and

 

   

may require Medscape, LLC to make changes to how it offers or provides educational programs, including CME.

In June 2011, the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates approved a report entitled, “Financial Relationships with Industry in Continuing Medical Education,” that largely adopts the CME ethical principles already espoused by other industry and accreditation organizations, including ACCME, PhRMA, and AdvaMed. Although the report recognizes that industry support of CME may help make CME more accessible and affordable, the report proposes that CME should, when possible, be provided without commercial support and without the participation of individuals who have financial interest in the educational subject matter. Although we do not anticipate that this will have a material impact on our business, it is possible that this report, or other voluntary industry guidelines, will negatively influence the availability of commercial support for Medscape CME programs and/or physician participation in Medscape CME programs funded by commercial support.

Future changes to laws, regulations or accreditation standards, or to the internal compliance programs of supporters or potential supporters, may further discourage, significantly limit, or prohibit supporters or potential supporters from engaging in educational activities with Medscape, LLC, or may require Medscape, LLC to make further changes in the way it offers or provides educational activities.

 

 

Other Risks Applicable to Our Company and to Ownership of Our Securities

Our Stockholder Rights Plan and provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover, which could adversely affect the value of our Common Stock

Our Board of Directors has adopted a Stockholder Rights Plan, which could prevent or delay a takeover of WebMD by causing substantial dilution to a potential acquirer that attempts to acquire beneficial ownership of more than 12% of the outstanding shares of WebMD Common Stock on terms not approved by our Board of Directors. In addition, our Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, as well as Delaware corporate law, contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change of control or changes in our management and board of directors that holders of our Common Stock might consider favorable and may prevent them from receiving a takeover premium for their shares. These provisions include, for example, our classified board structure and the authorization of our board of directors to issue up to 50 million shares of preferred stock without a stockholder vote. In addition, our Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that stockholders may not act by written consent and may not call special meetings. These provisions apply even if an offer to purchase our company may be considered beneficial by some of our stockholders. If a change of control or change in management is delayed or prevented, the market price of our Common Stock could decline.

If certain transactions occur with respect to our capital stock, limitations may be imposed on our ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits to reduce our income taxes

WebMD has substantial accumulated net operating loss (NOL) carryforwards and tax credits available to offset taxable income in future tax periods. If certain transactions occur with respect to WebMD’s capital stock (including issuances, redemptions, recapitalizations, exercises of options, conversions of convertible debt, purchases or sales by 5%-or-greater shareholders and similar transactions) that result in a cumulative change of more than 50% of the ownership of capital stock over a three-year period (as determined under rules prescribed by Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and applicable Treasury regulations), an annual limitation would be imposed with respect to the ability to utilize WebMD’s NOL carryforwards and federal tax credits that existed at the time of the ownership change.

In November 2008, HLTH repurchased shares of its Common Stock in a tender offer. The tender offer resulted in a cumulative change of more than 50% of the ownership of HLTH’s capital, as determined under rules

 

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prescribed by Section 382 of the Code and applicable Treasury regulations. As a result of this ownership change, there is an annual limitation imposed on the amount of the NOL carryforwards and federal tax credits existing at the time of the ownership change that we may use to offset income in each tax year following the ownership change.

On April 3, 2012, WebMD completed a modified “Dutch Auction” tender offer whereby we purchased $150 million of WebMD Common Stock at a price of $26.00 per share (the “Dutch Auction Tender Offer”). Completion of the Dutch Auction Tender Offer may increase the possibility of another ownership change and corresponding annual limitation, which could decrease the existing annual limitation and would apply to all NOL carryforwards and tax credits generated prior to this potential new ownership change.

We may not be successful in protecting our intellectual property and proprietary rights

Our intellectual property and proprietary rights are important to our businesses. The steps that we take to protect our intellectual property, proprietary information and trade secrets may prove to be inadequate and, whether or not adequate, may be expensive. We rely on a combination of trade secret, patent and other intellectual property laws and confidentiality procedures and non-disclosure contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. We cannot assure you that we will be able to detect potential or actual misappropriation or infringement of our intellectual property, proprietary information or trade secrets. Even if we detect misappropriation or infringement by a third party, we cannot assure you that we will be able to enforce our rights at a reasonable cost, or at all. In addition, our rights to intellectual property, proprietary information and trade secrets may not prevent independent third-party development and commercialization of competing products or services.

Third parties may claim that we are infringing their intellectual property, and we could suffer significant litigation or licensing expenses or be prevented from providing certain services, which may harm our business

We could be subject to claims that we are misappropriating or infringing intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others. These claims, even if not meritorious, could be expensive to defend and divert management’s attention from our operations. If we become liable to third parties for infringing these rights, we could be required to pay a substantial damage award and to develop non-infringing technology, obtain a license or cease selling the products or services that use or contain the infringing intellectual property. We may be unable to develop non-infringing products or services or obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. We may also be required to indemnify our customers if they become subject to third-party claims relating to intellectual property that we license or otherwise provide to them, which could be costly.

Acquisitions, business combinations and other transactions may be difficult to complete and, if completed, may have negative consequences for our business and our security holders

WebMD has been built, in part, through acquisitions. We intend to continue to seek to acquire or to engage in business combinations with companies engaged in complementary businesses. In addition, we may enter into joint ventures, strategic alliances or similar arrangements with third parties. These transactions may result in changes in the nature and scope of our operations and changes in our financial condition. Our success in completing these types of transactions will depend on, among other things, our ability to locate suitable candidates and negotiate mutually acceptable terms with them, and to obtain adequate financing. Significant competition for these opportunities exists, which may increase the cost of and decrease the opportunities for these types of transactions. Financing for these transactions may come from several sources, including:

 

   

cash and cash equivalents on hand and marketable securities;

 

   

proceeds from the incurrence of indebtedness; and

 

   

proceeds from the issuance of common stock, preferred stock, convertible debt or of other securities.

 

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The issuance of additional equity or debt securities could:

 

   

cause substantial dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders at the time of the issuance;

 

   

cause substantial dilution of our earnings per share;

 

   

subject us to the risks associated with increased leverage, including a reduction in our ability to obtain financing or an increase in the cost of any financing we obtain;

 

   

subject us to restrictive covenants that could limit our flexibility in conducting future business activities; and

 

   

adversely affect the prevailing market price for our outstanding securities.

We do not intend to seek security holder approval for any such acquisition or security issuance unless required by applicable law, regulation or the terms of then-existing securities.

Our business will suffer if we fail to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies or to assess the risks in particular transactions

We have in the past acquired, and may in the future acquire, businesses, technologies, services, product lines and other assets. The successful integration of the acquired businesses and assets into our operations, on a cost-effective basis, can be critical to our future performance. The amount and timing of the expected benefits of any acquisition, including potential synergies between our company and the acquired business, are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those relating to:

 

   

our ability to maintain relationships with the customers of the acquired business;

 

   

our ability to retain or replace key personnel of the acquired business;

 

   

potential conflicts in sponsor or advertising relationships or in relationships with strategic partners;

 

   

our ability to coordinate organizations that are geographically diverse and may have different business cultures; and

 

   

compliance with regulatory requirements.

We cannot guarantee that any acquired businesses will be successfully integrated with our operations in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. Failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses or to achieve anticipated operating synergies, revenue enhancements or cost savings could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although our management attempts to evaluate the risks inherent in each transaction and to value acquisition candidates appropriately, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain all such risks or that acquired businesses and assets will perform as we expect or enhance the value of our company as a whole. In addition, acquired companies or businesses may have larger than expected liabilities that are not covered by the indemnification, if any, that we are able to obtain from the sellers.

We may not be able to raise additional funds when needed for our business or to exploit opportunities

Our future liquidity and capital requirements will depend upon numerous factors, including the success of our service offerings, market developments, and repurchases of our Common Stock. We may need to raise additional funds to support expansion, develop new or enhanced applications and services, respond to competitive pressures, acquire complementary businesses or technologies or take advantage of unanticipated opportunities. If required, we may raise such additional funds through public or private debt or equity financing, strategic relationships or other arrangements. There can be no assurance that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all, or that such financing will not be dilutive to our stockholders.

 

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ITEM 2.    Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

(c) The following table provides information about purchases by WebMD during the three months ended March 31, 2012 of equity securities that are registered by us pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act:

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

Period

   Total Number
of Shares
Purchased(1)
     Average
Price Paid
per Share
     Total Number of Shares
Purchased as Part of
Publicly Announced
Plans or Programs(2)
     Approximate Dollar Value of
Shares that May Yet Be
Purchased Under the Plans
or Programs(2)
 

1/1/12 - 1/31/12

     26,266       $ 27.19         15,600       $ 88,658,226   

2/1/12 - 2/29/12

     11,342       $ 27.21               $ 88,658,226   

3/1/12 - 3/31/12

     33,872       $ 25.58               $ 88,658,226   
  

 

 

       

 

 

    

Total

     71,480       $ 26.43         15,600      
  

 

 

       

 

 

    

 

(1) Includes the following number of shares withheld from WebMD Restricted Common Stock that vested during the respective periods in order to satisfy withholding tax requirements related to the vesting of the awards: 10,666 in January, 11,342 in February and 33,872 in March. The value of these shares was determined based on the closing price of WebMD Common Stock on the date of vesting.

 

(2) In August 2011, a stock repurchase program (the “Program”) was established through which WebMD was authorized to use up to $75,000,000 to purchase shares of its Common Stock. During October 2011, WebMD’s Board of Directors authorized a $75,000,000 increase to the Program. For additional information see Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report.

ITEM 6.    Exhibits

The exhibits listed in the accompanying Exhibit Index on page E-1 are filed or furnished as part of this Quarterly Report.

 

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SIGNATURES

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

 

WEBMD HEALTH CORP.
By:   /S/    ANTHONY VUOLO
  Anthony Vuolo
  Interim Chief Executive Officer and
  Chief Financial Officer

Date: May 10, 2012

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit No.

  

Description

    3.1    Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed on October 23, 2009 (Reg. No. 333-162651))
    3.2    Amended and Restated By-laws of the Registrant (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed on October 23, 2009 (Reg. No. 333-162651))
    3.3    Certificate of Designations for Series A Junior Preferred Stock (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 3, 2011, as amended on November 7, 2011)
  10.1    Letter Agreement, dated as of January 19, 2012, between the Registrant and Wayne T. Gattinella (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.60 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 29, 2012)*
  10.2    Form of Agreement to Forfeit Non-Qualified Options, dated as of February 23, 2012, between the Registrant and Each of its Non-Employee Directors (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 29, 2012)*
  10.3    Form of Agreement to Forfeit Non-Qualified Options, dated as of February 23, 2012, between the Registrant and Certain Employees (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 29, 2012)*
  31.1    Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Chief Executive Officer of Registrant
  31.2    Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification of Chief Financial Officer of Registrant
  32.1    Section 1350 Certification of Chief Executive Officer of Registrant
  32.2    Section 1350 Certification of Chief Financial Officer of Registrant
  99.1    Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
100.INS    XBRL Instance Document
100.SCH    XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
100.CAL    XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
100.DEF    XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
100.LAB    XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
100.PRE    XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

 

 

* Agreement relates to executive compensation.

 

E-1