UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

 (Mark One)

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

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 

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 001-35048 

DEMAND MEDIA, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(310) 656-6253 

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

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

None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐    No ☒ 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐    No ☒ 

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 ☒    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 (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒    No ☐ 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☒ 

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.:

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

As of June 30, 2015, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value, held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $74.3 million (based upon the closing sale price of the common stock on that date on the New York Stock Exchange). 

As of February 24, 2016, there were 20,250,726 shares of the common stock, $0.0001 par value, outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for its 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year to which this report relates.

DEMAND MEDIA, INC.

INDEX TO FORM 10-K

PART I 

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “predict,” “plan” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as guarantees of future performance. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our estimates of our financial results and our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in Item 1A. under the heading entitled “Risk Factors.” Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, except as required by law.

You should read this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents that we reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

Item 1. Business

As used herein, “Demand Media,” the “Company,” “our,” “we,” “us” and similar terms include Demand Media, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

“Demand Media” and other trademarks of ours appearing in this report are our property. This report contains additional trade names and trademarks of other companies. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us or our business by such companies, or any relationship with any of these companies.

Overview

Demand Media is a diversified Internet company that builds platforms across its media and marketplaces properties to enable communities of creators to reach passionate audiences in large and growing lifestyle categories. In addition, our branded content creation and diverse advertising offerings help advertisers find innovative ways to engage with their customers. 

Our business is comprised of two service offerings: Content & Media and Marketplaces.

Our Content & Media service offering derives the majority of its revenue from the sale of advertising on our online properties. We also generate revenue from the sale or license of content and the sale of content marketing services. Our Marketplaces service offering generates revenue from the sale of products and services through our art and design marketplaces. Information about our revenue by service offering is set forth in Note 16 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 15, “Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

On August 1, 2014, we completed the separation of Rightside Group, Ltd. (“Rightside”) from Demand Media, resulting in two independent, publicly traded companies (hereinafter referred to as the “Separation”). Following the Separation, Rightside operates our former domain name services business, while we continue to own and operate our Content & Media and Marketplaces businesses. The Separation was structured as a pro rata tax-free dividend involving the distribution of all outstanding shares of Rightside common stock to holders of Demand Media common stock as of the August 1, 2014 record date (the “Distribution”). Immediately following the Distribution, we completed a 1-for-5 reverse stock split of our outstanding and treasury shares of common stock. The financial results of Rightside are presented as discontinued operations in our consolidated statements of operations for all periods prior to fiscal 2015 presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Demand Media was incorporated in Delaware in March 2006. Our headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. We completed our initial public offering in January 2011 and our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “DMD.”

Content & Media

We create media content, including text articles, videos, photographs and designed visual formats, and publish such content to our online properties. We also leverage our content creation platform to provide custom content and other content marketing solutions to brands, advertisers and publishers.

Content Creation and Distribution. We create high-quality, informative and engaging digital content in a wide variety of formats including text articles and blogs, videos, original photography, slideshows, infographics and animated GIFs. We strive to create valuable long-lived content with positive revenue and traffic growth characteristics. Our content creation process employs algorithms and processes, as well as an editorial staff that identifies and curates the topics that are most appropriate for our distribution channels. Most of the content published on eHow and Livestrong.com was previously produced by a large community of freelance professionals, but we have recently shifted our content creation process to focus on building relationships with a smaller number of freelance content creators and influencers who have subject matter expertise and bring increased authority and credibility to their content. The content on Cracked is created through a collaborative process among our in-house editorial staff, comedians and a community of website enthusiasts.

We publish a majority of our content on our owned and operated online properties. Users visit our online properties through search engine referrals, direct navigation, social media referrals, e-mail and online marketing activities. Our properties are designed to be easily discoverable by users due to the combination of relevant content, search engine optimization and the ability of users to recommend and share our content via social media websites and applications such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Visitors access our online properties through desktop and mobile platforms, including mobile applications, and view our content on distribution channels such as Facebook and YouTube.

Our portfolio of owned and operated online properties includes:

We also distribute our content to brands and publishers as part of our content channels solution. We use our content creation platform to create original custom content for brands and publishers, which we host and seamlessly integrate onto dedicated sections of these customers’ websites. Our content channel agreements generally include a revenue sharing arrangement with regard to advertising revenue generated by the display of the content we create and distribute through these content channels.

Monetization. We have developed a multi-faceted monetization platform, incorporating a multitude of partners ranging from sell side platforms to advertising exchanges, that we deploy to our online properties and those hosted for our content channel customers. We use a series of sophisticated algorithms and proprietary methods to present visitors with relevant advertisements that can be dynamically optimized via creative rotation, frequency capping, and data to improve monetization performance. Our system of monetization tools also includes yield optimization systems that continuously evaluate the performance of advertisements on desktop and mobile in order to maximize revenue, while also utilizing ad management infrastructures that manage multiple ad formats and control ad inventory.

For monetization of our display ad inventory, our programmatic platform, D360, automates the selling of ad inventory utilizing third-party technology and sophisticated data sets. D360 matches advertisers looking for specific ads in connection with their campaign goals with the inventory available on our online properties in real time. We also create operational efficiencies by selling our premium display and native ad inventory directly to advertisers, while streamlining ad planning and buying and managing media campaigns through the use of technology and proprietary first-party data sets.

Content Marketing.  Our studioD business helps brands, advertisers and publishers develop a comprehensive and integrated digital content strategy. We provide our customers with topically relevant custom content; advise on distribution and publishing strategies; and track and measure client objectives to optimize content across formats and devices. The content we provide spans across text articles and blogs, videos, photography and designed visuals, such as infographics and animated GIFs. The content can be acquired outright or licensed, usually via revenue share agreements. We have increased our investment in our content marketing services over the past two years and intend to continue to expand this service offering in the future.

Marketplaces

Our Marketplaces service offering includes Society6, which we acquired in June 2013, and Saatchi Art, which we acquired in August 2014. Over the last two years, we have expanded our marketplace offerings in several ways, including continuing to introduce new products on Society6 and launching mobile applications for Saatchi Art and Society6. Our marketplace platforms provide consumers with tools to discover a large selection of original artworks and designs created by a leading global artist community of approximately 240,000 artists across both sites. Our marketplaces empower artists to reach a global audience of art lovers and earn a living pursuing their passion, while we handle various logistics such as coordination of print-on-demand production, global shipping and payment processes. We believe that our marketplaces are distinguished by the high quality products, caliber of artists and superior customer service we provide to both artists and buyers.

Society6. Society6 provides artists with an online commerce platform where they can feature and sell their original designs on a wide variety of lifestyle and home décor products, including art prints, phone and tablet cases, t-shirts and throw pillows. Artists post their designs, set the price for art prints, and select other products within the Society6 product portfolio on which the design can be sold. After a product is purchased, we utilize third-party vendors to produce, package and ship the product directly to the buyer. As of December 31, 2015, there were approximately 180,000 active artists on Society6, an increase of more than 38% from a year earlier. There are now more than 2.7 million unique designs available across the Society6 product portfolio, a 38% increase year-over-year. During 2015, Society6 customers came from over 100 countries and approximately 39% of Society6’s users accessed its services via mobile devices.

Saatchi Art. Saatchi Art is an online art gallery that provides a global community of artists a curated environment in which to exhibit and sell their artworks, including paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs, directly to customers around the world. Saatchi Art’s art advisory service provides individual collectors and trade professionals with complimentary access to an art curator who will select works for the customer to browse that are tailored to the customer's needs, space and style. There are currently more than 500,000 original, unique artworks created by over 60,000 artists available on the Saatchi Art platform. In addition, artists can choose to sell prints of the artworks they post on Saatchi Art and we contract with third-party vendors to produce and ship the prints directly to the purchaser. Saatchi Art customers are located in over 80 countries and approximately 20% of Saatchi Art’s customers have made repeat purchases, evidencing the high quality of the artwork and their purchasing experience.

Technology

Our technologies include software applications built to run on independent clusters of standard and commercially available servers located at co-location facilities located in North America. We make substantial use of off-the-shelf available open-source technologies such as Linux, PHP, MySQL, Redis, mongoDB, Memcache, and Lucene in addition to commercial platforms such as Microsoft, including Windows Operating Systems, SQL Server, and .NET. These systems are connected to the Internet via load balancers, firewalls, and routers installed in multiple redundant pairs. We also utilize third-party services to geographically deliver data using major content delivery network (“CDN”) providers. Virtualization is heavily deployed throughout our technology architecture, which affords scaling numerous properties in an efficient and cost effective manner. Enterprise class storage systems provide redundancy in order to maintain continued and seamless system availability in the event of most component failures.

Our data centers host most of our public-facing websites and applications, as well as many of our back-end business intelligence and financial systems. Some of our websites are hosted with a third-party cloud hosting provider. Each of our significant websites is designed to be fault-tolerant, with collections of application servers, typically configured in a load balanced state, in order to provide additional resiliency. Our environment is staffed and equipped with a full scale monitoring solution, which includes a Network Operations Center that is continuously staffed.

International Operations

We provide our products and services to consumers around the world. Our Content & Media service offering includes eHow en Español, Livestrong.com en Español and eHow Brasil (Spanish and Portuguese language sites that target both the U.S. and the worldwide Spanish/Portuguese-speaking markets), as well as eHow UK (an eHow site in the United Kingdom). Our marketplaces are available to artists and buyers globally. Information regarding financial data by geographic areas is set forth in Note 16 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 15, “Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and additional information regarding certain risks associated with our international operations is provided under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Customers

Our content & media customers currently include advertisers and advertising providers that purchase advertising space on our online properties, as well as third-party brands, publishers and advertisers for whom we provide content marketing solutions and/or create and host content on content channels as part of our studioD services. Our advertising strategy is currently focused on programmatic offerings that utilize various advertising network exchanges to manage our ad stack. We have also recently re-implemented direct sales channels to improve our advertising sales with brands and advertising agencies, particularly with respect to native and sponsored ad campaigns.

The products and artworks sold through our marketplaces are sold directly to consumers.

Competition

We operate in highly competitive and developing industries that are characterized by rapid technological change, various business models and frequent disruption of incumbents by innovative entrants.

Content & Media.  We face intense competition for our Content & Media service offering from a wide range of competitors. These markets are rapidly evolving, fragmented and competition could increase in the future as more companies enter the space. We compete for advertisers on the basis of a number of factors including return on marketing expenditures, price of our offerings, and the ability to deliver large amounts, or precise types, of segmented customer traffic. Our principal competitors in this space currently include various online media companies, ranging from large Internet media companies to specialized and enthusiast properties that focus on particular areas of consumer interest, as well as social media outlets such as Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest, where brands and advertisers are focusing a significant portion of their online advertising spend in order to connect with their customers. Some of our competitors have larger audiences and more financial resources than we have and many of our competitors are making significant investments, particularly in online video, in order to compete with various aspects of our business. Our primary competitors for our content marketing and custom content services are other companies, such as Contently and Skyword, that also provide content marketing services and/or employ a content creation model similar to our platform. 

Marketplaces.  Our art and design marketplaces compete with a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar companies selling comparable products. Society6 competes with companies, such as RedBubble, Zazzle and Minted, that utilize a print-on-demand model whereby specialty products are produced and shipped to customers with selected user or artist generated designs printed on them, as well as small online providers of niche customization services and product offerings. Saatchi Art competes with traditional offline art galleries, art consultants and other online properties selling original artwork, such as Artfinder, Artspace, Ugallery and Amazon Art. Our marketplaces must successfully attract, retain and engage both buyers and sellers to use our platforms. We believe that the principal competitive factors for our marketplaces include the quality, price and uniqueness of the products or artworks being offered; the selection of goods and artists featured; the ability to source numerous products efficiently and cost-effectively with respect to our print-on-demand products; customer service; the convenience and ease of the shopping experience we provide; and our reputation and brand strength. We expect competition to continue to intensify as online and offline businesses increasingly compete with each other and the barriers to enter online channels are reduced.

Many of our current Content & Media and Marketplaces competitors have, and potential competitors may have, substantially greater financial, marketing and other resources than we have; greater technical capabilities; greater brand recognition; longer operating histories; differentiated products and services; and larger customer bases. These resources may help some of our competitors respond more quickly as the industry and technology evolves, focus more on product innovation, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote substantially more resources to website and system development than we do. Additional information regarding competition is included under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Intellectual Property

Our intellectual property consists of trade secrets, trademarks, service marks, patents and copyrights and is, in the aggregate, important to our business. To protect our proprietary rights, we rely on a combination of trade secret, trademark, patent and copyright laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, together with contractual provisions and technical measures. As of February 24, 2016, we held more than 30 U.S. trademark registrations (some of which are registered in multiple classes), including “Demand Media,” “eHow,” “Society6” and “Cracked.” We have also registered certain trademarks in various countries outside of the U.S. As of February 24, 2016, we held approximately  15 patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and six patents granted by other jurisdictions, and we have approximately  15 patent applications pending in the United States and other jurisdictions. We rely more heavily on trade secret protection than patent protection. To protect our trade secrets, we control access to our proprietary systems and technology, including our platforms, and we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants, as well as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with other third parties. We generally do not register the copyrights associated with our content with the United States Copyright Office due to the relatively high cost we would incur to register all of our copyrights. In addition to the intellectual property we own, we also have licenses to use the “Saatchi” and “Livestrong.com” names as permitted by the terms of intellectual property or licensing agreements with the third parties who retain the ownership rights to such names. Additional information regarding certain risks related to our intellectual property is included under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

Regulation

We are subject to numerous laws and regulations in the U.S. and abroad, including laws and regulations relating to freedom of expression; information security; data privacy and data collection; pricing and fees; online content and the distribution of content; intellectual property rights, including secondary liability for infringement by others; product liability claims; taxation, including sales and value-added taxes (“VAT”); and online advertising and marketing, including email marketing and unsolicited commercial email.

In the United States, Congress has adopted legislation that regulates certain aspects of the Internet, including the Communications Decency Act, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the Lanham Act, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the CAN-SPAM Act. Advertising and promotional information presented to visitors on our online properties and our other marketing activities are subject to federal and state consumer protection laws that regulate unfair and deceptive practices. Because we operate large consumer-facing websites, we are also subject to state, federal and foreign laws and regulations governing privacy of users’ search habits and other information and data protection of consumers’ non-public personal information and preferences.

We must also comply with certain foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations, including restrictions imposed by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the economic and trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the U.S. Commerce Department based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign states, organizations and individuals. Additionally, some of the products and services we provide to customers globally may require approval under applicable U.S. export law.

Federal, state, local and foreign governments are also considering other legislative and regulatory proposals that would regulate the Internet in more and different ways than exist today, including with respect to taxes. New laws and regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, may significantly impact our business. The costs of compliance with the various laws and regulations applicable to us are high and may increase in the future and any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations may subject us to additional liabilities and penalties. See “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Employees

As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately 350 employees. None of our employees is represented by a labor union or is subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that relations with our employees are good.

Seasonality

Our Content & Media service offering is affected by seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and our Marketplaces service offering is affected by traditional retail seasonality as well as seasonal fluctuations in internet usage. Internet usage generally slows during the summer months while our marketplaces generally experience increased sales activity during the fourth quarter holiday season. These seasonal trends have caused, and will likely continue to cause, fluctuations in our quarterly results.

Available Information

We file reports with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any other filings required by the SEC. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports are made available free of charge in the investor relations section of our corporate website (http://ir.demandmedia.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The public may also read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on the investor relations section of our corporate website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, and press and earnings releases, on the investor relations section of our corporate website. Investors and others can receive notifications of press releases and SEC filings by signing up for email alerts. Investors and others should note that we also use social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the social media channels listed on the investor relations section of our corporate website. Further corporate governance information, including our corporate governance guidelines, board committee charters and code of business conduct and ethics, is also available on the investor relations section of our corporate website under the heading “Corporate Governance.”

Any references to our corporate website address in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are intended to be inactive textual references only. None of the information contained on our website is part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated by reference into this report or any other report or document we file with the SEC.

Item 1A.Risk Factors

In addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to our Business

If Internet search engines continue to modify their methodologies, traffic to our online properties could decline significantly. If we are unable to successfully drive traffic to our online properties, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

In order for our businesses to grow, we must attract new visitors to our online properties and retain our existing visitors. We depend on various Internet search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!, to direct a significant amount of traffic to our online properties, including online properties that we host for our content channel customers. Our Content & Media properties are particularly dependent on search referral traffic. For the year ended December 31, 2015, based on our internal data, a majority of the traffic directed to eHow and Livestrong.com came directly from Internet search engines and more than half of the traffic from search engines came from Google. Changes in the methodologies or algorithms used by search engines to display results could cause our online properties to receive less favorable placements or be removed from the search results. Internet search engines could decide that content on our online properties, or the size and placement of ad units displayed on webpages hosting our content, is unacceptable or violates their policies. Internet search engines could also view changes made to our online properties unfavorably, leading to lower search result rankings and a decrease in search referral traffic.

In addition, search engine providers typically display, together with organic search results, content and links that may divert traffic from the pages referenced in the organic search results, including paid search results and content and links that the search engine provider selects and displays in response to the key words used in specific search queries. Accordingly, even if we rank highly in organic search results, traffic to our properties may be reduced as a result of paid search results and other content included on the search results page generated by a search query.

Google, Bing and Yahoo! regularly deploy changes to their search engine algorithms. Since 2011, we have experienced fluctuations in the total number of Google search referrals to our online properties. During 2013, we experienced several negative changes in Google referrals to our Content & Media properties that, in the aggregate, were larger in magnitude than those we had previously experienced. Beginning in 2014, Bing and Yahoo! began to implement similar changes to their search engine algorithms. The changes to search engine algorithms by Google, Bing and Yahoo! have resulted in, and may continue to result in, substantial declines in traffic directed to our Content & Media properties, particularly eHow, which has contributed to significant revenue declines from our Content & Media properties. Any

future or ongoing changes made by search engines that negatively impact the volume of search referral traffic to any of our online properties could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success in attracting traffic to our Content & Media properties and converting these visitors into repeat users also depends, in part, upon our ability to identify, create and distribute high-quality content through engaging products and our ability to meet rapidly changing consumer demand. We may not be able to identify and create the desired content and produce an engaging user experience in a cost-effective or timely manner, if at all. We also utilize search engine optimization efforts to help generate search referral traffic to our online properties. If we are unable to successfully modify our search engine optimization practices in response to changes in search engine algorithms and search query trends, or if we are unable to generate increased traffic from other sources such as social media and direct navigation, we could continue to experience substantial declines in traffic to our Content & Media properties and to other properties that publish our content, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We generate the majority of our Content & Media revenue from advertising.  A reduction in advertising revenue, including as a result of lower ad unit rates, increased availability of ad blocking software, lower online advertising spend, a loss of advertisers or lower advertising yields, could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We currently generate the majority of our revenue from advertisements displayed on our online properties. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, after giving effect to the Separation, we generated 53%, 70% and 83%, respectively, of our total revenue from advertising, and we expect to continue to derive a significant amount of our revenue from advertising. We have experienced declines in ad unit rates for both desktop and mobile since 2014, resulting in lower advertising revenue, and any further reductions in ad unit rates would negatively impact our financial results. In addition, software developers have been increasing the availability of ad blocking software, particularly on mobile devices. Increased adoption of ad blocking software by users could reduce our advertising revenue and negatively impact our financial results.

We also believe that advertising spend on the Internet, as in traditional media, fluctuates significantly as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. These factors include variations in expenditures by advertisers due to budgetary constraints; the cyclical and discretionary nature of advertising spending, including the perceived impact of campaign strategies; general economic conditions, as well as economic conditions specific to the Internet and media industry; and the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Brands and advertisers are also increasingly focusing a portion of their online advertising budgets on social media outlets such as Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest, as well as on native and sponsored advertising campaigns. If this trend continues and we are unable to offer competitive or similarly valued advertising opportunities on our online properties, our revenue from advertising could be adversely impacted. An inability to maintain or increase our advertising revenue would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, our advertising strategy is currently focused on programmatic offerings that utilize various advertising network exchanges, including exchanges operated by Google and Rubicon Project, to manage our ad stack. Operating on a programmatic basis requires us to actively manage the sale of our owned and operated inventory on these exchanges. Although we had shifted our advertising strategy away from direct sales in early 2014, we have recently decided to implement direct sales channels again to improve our branded advertising sales, particularly with respect to native and sponsored ad campaigns. An inability to successfully manage our ad stack, including the programmatic process and our direct sales team, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, one component of our platform that we use to generate advertiser interest is our system of monetization tools, which is designed to match content with advertisements in a manner that optimizes revenue yield and end-user experience. Advertising providers and advertisers will stop placing advertisements on our online properties if their investments do not generate sales leads, branding opportunities and ultimately customers, or if we do not deliver their advertisements in an appropriate and effective manner. The failure of our yield-optimized monetization technology to effectively match advertisements with our content in a manner that results in increased revenue for advertisers would

have an adverse impact on our ability to maintain or increase our revenue from advertising. If any of our advertisers or advertising providers, and in particular Google, decides not to continue advertising on, or providing advertisements to, our online properties, or modifies its advertising policies in a manner that could negatively impact yield, we could experience a rapid decline in our revenue over a relatively short period of time.

We are dependent upon certain arrangements with Google for a significant portion of our revenue. A termination of, or a loss of revenue generated from, our agreements with Google would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have an extensive relationship with Google and a significant portion of our revenue is derived from advertising provided by Google. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, after giving effect to the Separation, we derived approximately 36%, 50% and 56%, respectively, of our total revenue from our arrangements with Google. Google provides cost-per-click advertisements and cost-per-impression advertisements to our online properties and we receive a portion of the revenue generated by such advertisements. We also utilize Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange, an auction marketplace that allows us to sell display advertising space on our online properties. In addition, we use Google’s DoubleClick ad serving technology to deliver advertisements to our online properties. Our services agreement with Google, which governs our various advertising relationships with them, currently expires in October 2016. Google has the right to terminate its agreements with us prior to their expiration upon the occurrence of certain events, including if Google reasonably believes that our use of its services violates the rights of third parties, and other breaches of contractual provisions, a number of which are broadly defined. If our agreements with Google are terminated, or we are unable to enter into new agreements with Google on terms and conditions favorable to us prior to the expiration of the current agreements, we may not be able to enter into agreements with alternative third-party advertisement providers or for alternative ad serving platforms on acceptable terms or on a timely basis or both.

Furthermore, our advertising agreement with Google may not continue to generate the same level of revenue that we have received from such arrangements during past periods for a variety of reasons, including a reduction in the amounts Google is able to charge advertisers and the possibility that our online properties do not generate sufficient traffic to realize our maximum revenue share percentage with Google. Our ability to generate online advertising revenue from Google also depends, in part, on Google’s assessment of the quality and performance characteristics of Internet traffic resulting from online advertisements placed on our online properties. In addition, Google may at any time change the nature of, or suspend, the services that it provides to online advertisers and the catalog of advertisers from which online advertisements are sourced, or modify its policies with respect to how advertisements may be displayed on a webpage. These types of changes or suspensions would adversely impact our ability to generate revenue from our advertising agreement with Google. Any termination of or change in the services that Google provides to us, or a loss of revenue generated by our advertising agreement with Google, would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Mobile devices are increasingly being used to access the Internet and our online media offerings may not be as effective when accessed through these devices. Additionally, mobile advertising yields are lower on average than desktop yields, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operation.

The number of people who access the Internet through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, rather than through desktop or laptop computers, has increased substantially in recent years. If we cannot effectively distribute our media content, products and services on these devices, we could experience a decline in visits and traffic and a corresponding decline in revenue. It is also more difficult to display advertisements on mobile devices without disrupting the consumer experience. We have made, and may make further, changes to the layouts and formats of our mobile sites in order to improve the user experience or comply with the requirements of our advertising partners, which could negatively impact our monetization efforts on mobile devices. In addition, mobile advertising yields on average are currently lower than those for desktop, in part due to the limitations involved in using cookies on mobile devices to track and optimize mobile advertising and the reduced screen space available to render ads to consumers. The significant increase in mobile consumption of our media content has contributed to a reduction in our Content & Media revenue per one thousand visits, or RPVs. As a result of these factors, the increasing use of mobile devices to access our content could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain changes to the business model for our Content & Media service offering and related expenditures could negatively impact our operating margins in the near-term and may not lead to increased revenue in the long-term.

We have recently incurred significant expenses to improve the user experience and engagement on certain of our Content & Media properties by redesigning our websites; removing duplicative or low-quality content; reducing the ad unit density; changing the format of advertising units; improving the mobile experience and adding user engagement tools. Such expenses do not directly generate related revenue and certain changes will likely negatively impact our revenue and operating margins in the near-term. In particular, between 2013 and 2015, we removed a significant amount of content from eHow and Livestrong.com and reduced the number of ad units on each page, which collectively resulted in a large decrease in revenue and will continue to negatively impact revenue and operating margins due to the reduction in content and ad units generating advertising revenue on these sites. We may also incur additional expenses in order to further improve the product and user experience associated with our online properties. These recent changes and any additional changes may not result in increased visits to, or increased revenue generated by, our Content & Media properties in the near-term or long-term. We also plan to continue investing in building our studioD business, which develops and executes content marketing strategies and creates custom content for third-party brands, advertisers and publishers. If these customers do not perceive our content marketing and custom content services to be driving performance for their business, we may not be able to expand our relationship with our current customers or identify and attract new customers, and we may not generate sufficient revenue from this service offering to justify our planned investment in this business.

If we are unable to attract new customers to our marketplaces and successfully grow our marketplaces business, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We operate two leading art and design marketplaces and we recently launched a marketplace that carries boutique-style products for pets, as well as animal-themed clothing and accessories. We have limited experience in marketing, managing and growing these revenue streams.

The success of our marketplaces is dependent upon a number of factors, including:

One of the key factors to grow our marketplaces business is expanding our customer base. Our ability to attract new customers, some of whom may already purchase similar products from our competitors, depends in part on our ability to successfully drive traffic to our marketplaces using social media sites, e-mail marketing campaigns, paid referrals and search. We may incur significant expenses related to customer acquisition and the net sales from new customers may not ultimately exceed the cost of acquiring these customers. Additionally, we believe that many of the new customers for our marketplaces originate from word-of-mouth and other non-paid referrals from existing customers. If we fail to deliver a differentiated shopping experience or if customers do not perceive the products sold through our marketplaces to be of high value and quality, we may have difficulty retaining our existing customers and attracting new customers through referrals.

If we are unable to successfully grow our marketplaces, including as a result of lower customer growth or retention than expected, or if the revenue generated from initiatives related to our marketplaces is less than the costs of such initiatives, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If the mobile solutions available to buyers and sellers using our marketplaces are not effective, the growth prospects of our marketplaces could decline and our business could be adversely affected.

Consumers are increasingly conducting online shopping on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, rather than on desktop computers. Although we have recently introduced mobile applications for Society6 and Saatchi Art and we continue to focus on improving the mobile experience for buyers and sellers using our marketplaces, the smaller screen size and reduced functionality associated with some mobile device interfaces may make the use of our marketplace platforms more difficult or less appealing to our members, and visits to our marketplaces on mobile devices have not converted into purchases as often as visits made through desktop computers. Society6 and Saatchi Art sellers are also increasingly using mobile devices to operate and monitor their businesses on our platforms and if we are not able to deliver a rewarding experience to sellers using mobile devices, our marketplace businesses may suffer. Additionally, our recently launched mobile apps may not result in sufficient increased revenue to justify the expenses of developing and maintaining them, and we may encounter problems with operating the mobile apps in the future. If our members encounter difficulty accessing or using our marketplace platforms on their mobile devices, or if our members choose not to use our marketplace platforms on their mobile devices, our growth prospects and our business may be adversely affected.

We face significant competition, which we expect will continue to intensify, and we may not be able to maintain or improve our competitive position or market share.

We operate in highly competitive and still developing markets. The industries in which we compete are characterized by rapid technological change, various business models and frequent disruption of incumbents by innovative entrants. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors and a failure to increase, or the loss of, market share, would likely seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Content & Media

We face intense competition for our Content & Media service offering from a wide range of competitors. We compete for advertisers and customers on the basis of a number of factors including return on marketing expenditures, price of our offerings and the ability to deliver large amounts, or precise types, of segmented customer traffic. Our current principal competitors include:

We may be subject to increased future competition to our Content & Media service offering if any of our competitors devote increased resources to more directly address the online market for the professional creation and distribution of content. Many of our current and potential competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as greater brand recognition, longer operating histories, substantially greater financial, marketing and other resources, greater technical capabilities, access to larger customer bases and, in some cases, the ability to combine their online marketing products with traditional offline media such as newspapers or magazines. These companies may use these advantages to offer products and services similar to ours at a lower price, develop different products to compete with our current offerings and respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. For example, if Google chose to compete more directly with us, we may face the prospect of the loss of business or other adverse financial consequences due to Google’s significantly greater customer base, financial resources, distribution channels and patent portfolio. Given the intense competition that our Content & Media service offering faces, we may be unable to maintain or improve our competitive position or market share.  

Marketplaces

Our marketplaces compete with a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar companies selling comparable products. Society6 competes with companies, such as RedBubble, Zazzle and Minted, that utilize a print-on-demand model whereby specialty products are produced and shipped to customers with selected user or artist generated designs printed on them, as well as small online providers of niche customization services and product offerings. Saatchi Art competes with traditional offline art galleries, art consultants and other online properties selling original artwork, such as Artfinder, Artspace, Ugallery and Amazon Art. We expect competition to continue to intensify as online and offline businesses increasingly compete with each other, and because the barriers to entry into online channels can be low.

Our marketplaces must successfully attract, retain and engage both buyers and sellers to use our platforms. We believe that the principal competitive factors for our marketplaces include the quality, price and uniqueness of the products or artworks being offered; the selection of goods and artists featured; the ability to source numerous products efficiently and cost-effectively with respect to our print-on-demand products; customer service; the convenience and ease of the shopping experience we provide; and our reputation and brand strength.

Many of our marketplaces’ current competitors have, and potential competitors may have, longer operating histories, larger customer bases, greater technical capabilities, greater brand recognition, differentiated products and services, and substantially greater financial, marketing and other resources than we have. These resources may help

some of our competitors react more quickly as the industry evolves, focus more on product innovation, and devote substantially more resources to website and system development than we do. Some of our competitors may offer or continue to offer faster and/or free shipping, more favorable return policies or other transaction-related services which improve their user experience, but which could be impractical or inefficient for us to match. Some of our competitors may be able to use the advantages of brick-and-mortar stores or other sorts of physical presence to build their customer bases and drive sales. Our competitors may engage in more extensive research and development efforts, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, which may allow them to build larger customer bases or generate net sales from their customer bases more effectively than we do. For all of these reasons, we may not be able to compete successfully against the current and potential competitors to our artist marketplaces.

We rely on freelance artists to generate the artwork and designs sold through our art and design marketplaces. We may not be able to attract or retain enough artists to generate artwork and designs on a scale or of a quality sufficient to grow our business.

Our art and design marketplaces rely on artists to join our communities and contribute original artwork and designs that they seek to sell or monetize through the sale of art prints and other print-on-demand products. We rely on freelance artists to upload their unique art designs to Society6 or sell their original artwork on Saatchi Art and we may not be able to attract or retain enough artists to generate artwork and designs on a scale or of a quality sufficient to grow our business. Furthermore, our competitors may attempt to attract members of our artist communities by offering compensation and revenue-sharing arrangements that we are unable to match. If we are unable to continue attracting artists to our marketplaces, our revenues from sales of artwork and print-on-demand products will decrease, which would have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. 

We may not be successful in expanding our current product or service offerings, or expanding into new lines of business, which could limit our future growth.

Important potential areas of growth for us are the development of new product and service offerings and the acquisition or internal development of new lines of business, and we are currently developing certain niche media properties and mobile applications. New product and service offerings and new lines of business may be subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies frequently encountered by new businesses in competitive environments, many of which are beyond our control, including lack of market acceptance. If we develop or acquire new lines of business or new product or service offerings, we may not be able to effectively integrate and manage these new businesses and we may not recover the funds and resources we expend on developing or acquiring them. If we are unable to successfully expand the products and services we offer, or expand into new lines of business, our future growth would be limited which could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. 

Poor perception of our brands or business could harm our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our Content & Media business is dependent on attracting a large number of visitors to our online properties and providing leads and clicks to our advertisers, which depends in part on our reputation within the industry and with our users. Perception that the quality of our content may not be the same or better than that of other published Internet content, even if baseless, can damage our reputation. In addition, Livestrong.com is a licensed trademark from the Livestrong Foundation and there has been negative publicity surrounding Mr. Armstrong. Any damage to our reputation could harm our ability to attract and retain advertisers, visitors, customers and artists, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend upon the quality of traffic to our online properties to provide value to online advertisers and excessive low-quality traffic could have a material adverse effect on the value of such online properties to our third-party advertisement distribution providers and online advertisers and thereby adversely affect our revenue.

We depend upon the quality of traffic to our online properties to provide value to online advertisers. Low-quality traffic can include clicks associated with non-human processes, including robots, spiders or other software; the

mechanical automation of clicking; and other types of invalid clicks or click fraud. There is a risk that a certain amount of low-quality traffic, or traffic that is deemed to be invalid by advertisers, will be delivered to advertisers on our online properties. As a result, we may be required to credit future amounts owed to us by our advertising partners or repay them for amounts previously received if such future amounts are insufficient. Furthermore, low-quality or invalid traffic may be detrimental to our relationships with third-party advertisement distribution providers and online advertisers and could adversely affect our revenue.

Risks Relating to our Company

We have a history of operating losses and may not be able to operate profitably or generate positive cash flow.

We were founded in 2006 and, except for the year ended December 31, 2012, when we generated net income, we have had a net loss in every year from inception, including generating a net loss of $43.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. As of December 31, 2015 we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $395.6 million and we may incur net operating losses in the future. Moreover, our cash flows from operating activities do not currently cover all of our operating expenses, and we may not generate sufficient cash to cover operating expenses for the foreseeable future. Our ability to generate net income in the future will depend in large part on our ability to generate and sustain substantially increased revenue levels, while continuing to control our expenses. We may incur significant operating losses in the future for a number of reasons, including those discussed in other risk factors and factors that we cannot foresee, and we may be unable to generate net income or sufficient positive cash flows.

We may not be able to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms, if at all, or without substantial dilution to our stockholders, which may impact our ability to execute on our current or future business strategies.

We anticipate that our current cash, cash equivalents and cash provided by operating activities will be sufficient to fund our operations for the next 12 months. It is possible, however, that we may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations or otherwise have the capital resources to meet our future capital needs, including to invest in areas for growth, and we do not currently have a line of credit in place if we need to borrow funds. If we do not generate sufficient cash flow from operations or otherwise have sufficient capital resources available, we may need to enter into a new financing arrangement or dispose of certain assets to execute on our current or future business strategies, including developing new or investing in existing service offerings, maintaining our operating infrastructure, acquiring complementary businesses, hiring additional personnel or otherwise responding to competitive pressures. We cannot assure you that a new financing arrangement will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Furthermore, if we raise additional funds through the issuance of convertible debt or equity securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders could be significantly diluted, and these newly issued securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, if and when needed, our ability to fund our operations, meet obligations in the normal course of business, take advantage of strategic opportunities, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures would be significantly limited.

In connection with the Separation, our operational and financial profile changed and we entered into certain arrangements with Rightside under which we may have indemnification obligations.

On August 1, 2014, we completed the Separation of Rightside from Demand Media. We may be unable to achieve some or all of the strategic and financial benefits that we expected would result from the Separation of Demand Media and Rightside, or such benefits may be delayed, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Following the Separation, we are also a smaller company focused on our Content & Media and Marketplaces businesses. This narrower business focus may leave us more vulnerable to changing market conditions and the diminished diversification of revenue, costs, and cash flows could cause our results of operation, cash flows, working capital and financing requirements to be subject to increased volatility. In addition, we entered into various agreements with Rightside in connection with the Separation that governed our relationship with Rightside subsequent to the Separation and contained certain indemnification obligations. If we are required to indemnify Rightside for certain liabilities and related losses arising in connection with any of these agreements or if Rightside is required to indemnify us for certain liabilities and related losses arising in connection with any of these agreements and

does not fulfill its obligations to us, we may be subject to substantial liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position.

If there is a determination that the Separation is taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, then we and our stockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities.

We received a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), together with an opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP, tax counsel to us (the “Tax Opinion”), substantially to the effect that, among other things, the Separation qualifies as a tax-free transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The private letter ruling and Tax Opinion relied on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from us and Rightside regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters. The private letter ruling did not address all the requirements for determining whether the Separation would qualify for tax-free treatment, and the Tax Opinion, which addressed all such requirements but relied on the private letter ruling as to matters covered by the ruling, is not binding on the IRS or the courts. Notwithstanding the private letter ruling and the Tax Opinion, the IRS could determine on audit that the Separation should be treated as taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings is not correct or have been violated or if it disagrees with the conclusions in the Tax Opinion that are not covered by the private letter ruling, or for other reasons, including as a result of certain significant changes in the stock ownership of us or Rightside after the Separation.

If the Separation ultimately is determined to be taxable, we would be subject to tax as if we had sold the Rightside common stock in a taxable sale for its fair market value, and our stockholders would be subject to tax as if they had received a taxable distribution equal to the fair market value of Rightside’s common stock that was distributed to them. Under the tax matters agreement we entered into with Rightside (the “Tax Matters Agreement”), we may be required to indemnify Rightside against all or a portion of the taxes incurred by Rightside in the event the Separation were to fail to qualify for tax-free treatment under the Code. If we are required to pay any tax liabilities in connection with the Separation pursuant to the Tax Matters Agreement or pursuant to applicable tax law, the amounts may be significant.

We have agreed to various restrictions to preserve the non-recognition treatment of the Separation, which may reduce our strategic and operating flexibility.

Pursuant to the Tax Matters Agreement, we may not take any action that would jeopardize the favorable tax treatment of the Separation. The restrictions under the Tax Matters Agreement may limit our ability to pursue certain strategic transactions or engage in other transactions that might increase the value of our business for the two-year period following the Separation. For example, we might determine to continue to operate certain of our business operations for the foreseeable future even if a sale or discontinuance of such business might have otherwise been advantageous. Moreover, in light of the requirements of Section 355(e) of the Code, we might determine to forgo certain transactions, including share repurchases, stock issuances, certain asset dispositions or other strategic transactions for some period of time following the Separation. In addition, our indemnity obligation under the Tax Matters Agreement might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control transaction for some period of time following the Separation.

The intangible assets and goodwill on our balance sheet may be subject to impairment. If our intangible assets or goodwill become impaired we may be required to record a significant non-cash charge to earnings which would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We carry a substantial amount of intangible assets on our balance sheet, primarily from the creation of our long-lived media content and from certain past acquisitions. We also carry goodwill on our balance sheet from certain acquisitions we have made. We assess potential impairments to our intangible assets and goodwill when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of such intangible assets or goodwill may not be recoverable. In the third quarter of 2014, we recorded a $232.3 million pretax impairment charge after we determined that the implied fair value of goodwill in our content and media reporting unit was substantially lower than its carrying value. We most recently performed our annual impairment analysis in the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2015, and based on the results, there were no goodwill impairment charges for the year ended December

31, 2015. Future significant and sustained declines in our stock price and market capitalization relative to our book value or our inability to generate sufficient revenue or cash flows from our long-lived media content or the businesses that we have acquired may result in us having to take additional impairment charges against certain of our intangible assets or goodwill. If we are required to record additional impairment charges in future periods, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition, particularly in the period such charge is taken.

Our operating results may fluctuate on a quarterly and annual basis due to a number of factors, which may make it difficult to predict our future performance.

Our revenue and operating results could fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. Therefore, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. In addition to other risk factors discussed in this section, factors that may contribute to the variability of our quarterly and annual results include:

It is possible that our operating results may fluctuate and our operating results may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors in one or more future quarters due to any of the factors listed above, a combination

of those factors or other reasons, which could have a material adverse impact on the price of shares of our common stock.

We have made and may make additional acquisitions that involve significant execution, integration and operational risks and we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any such acquisitions.

We evaluate acquisition and expansion opportunities on an ongoing basis and may pursue select acquisitions. We may continue to make acquisitions of complementary websites, businesses, solutions, technologies or talent in the future to increase the scope of our business. The identification of suitable acquisition candidates can be difficult, time-consuming and costly. Potential acquisitions require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, the expected benefits of acquisitions may not materialize as planned, including achieving certain financial and revenue objectives. Certain acquired businesses or the transactions entered into as part of business combinations may also carry contingent liabilities that could materially impact our future results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, we may not be able to successfully complete identified acquisitions. If we are unable to identify suitable future acquisition opportunities, reach agreement with such parties or obtain the financing necessary to make such acquisitions, we could lose market share to competitors who are able to make such acquisitions. This loss of market share could negatively impact our business, revenue and future growth.

Even if we successfully complete an acquisition, we may not be able to successfully assimilate and integrate the acquired websites, business, assets, technologies, solutions, personnel or operations, particularly if key personnel of an acquired company decide not to work for us, and we therefore may not achieve the anticipated benefits of such acquisition. Acquisitions also could harm our reputation or brands generally, as well as our relationships with existing customers. In addition, financing an acquisition may require us to (i) use substantial portions of our available cash on hand, (ii) incur additional indebtedness, which would increase our costs and impose operational limitations, and/or (iii) issue equity securities, which would dilute our stockholders’ ownership and could adversely affect the price of our common stock. We may also unknowingly inherit liabilities that arise after the acquisition and are not adequately covered by indemnities, and certain stockholders of an acquired company may dissent from or object to an acquisition or otherwise seek to assert claims related to the transaction.

We depend on key personnel to operate our business, and if we are unable to retain our current personnel or hire additional personnel, our ability to develop and successfully market our business could be harmed.

We believe that our future success is highly dependent on the contributions of our executive officers, as well as our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, including engineers, developers and sales personnel. Since 2013, we have had significant turnover in senior management including a new Chief Executive Officer and a new Chief Financial Officer. It is important that we retain other key personnel following these changes. In addition, qualified individuals that are critical to the success of our current and future business, including engineers, developers and sales personnel, are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs to attract and retain them. All of our officers and other employees are at-will employees, which means they can terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry would be extremely difficult to replace. Volatility or under-performance in our stock price may also affect our ability to attract new employees and retain our existing key employees. Our executive officers and employees may be more inclined to leave us if the perceived value of equity awards, including restricted stock units and stock options, decline. If we lose the services of key personnel or do not hire or retain other qualified personnel for key positions, our business and results of operation could be adversely affected. In addition, we do not maintain “key person” life insurance policies for any of our executive officers.

Our business is subject to online security risks, including cyberattacks and other security breaches, and any actual or perceived security breach could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Some of our systems, products and services involve the storage and transmission of information regarding our users, customers, and advertising and publishing partners, and our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to cyberattacks, malware or security incidents that result in third parties gaining access to such proprietary

information. An increasing number of websites have recently disclosed online security breaches, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks on portions of their websites or infrastructure. Our security measures may be breached and unauthorized parties may attempt to gain access to our systems and information through various means, including hacking into our systems or facilities, fraud, employee error, malfeasance, or inserting malicious code or malware into our code base. For example, in 2014 we determined that an unauthorized individual may have gained access to the user names, email addresses and passwords of certain eHowNow customers. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, users, or customers to disclose sensitive information or take other actions by using fraudulent “spoof” and “phishing” emails. Outside parties may also introduce viruses or other malware through “trojan horse” programs to our users’ computers in order to gain access to our systems and the data stored therein. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, often are not recognized until launched against a target and may be difficult to detect for a long time, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventive measures. Any security breach or unauthorized access could result in a misappropriation of our proprietary information or the proprietary information of our users, customers or partners, which could result in significant legal and financial exposure, an interruption in our operations and damage to our reputation. If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose users, customers, advertisers or publishers, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any security breach at a company providing services to us or our users, including third party payment processors, could have similar effects and we may not be fully indemnified for the costs we may incur as a result of any such breach. In addition, we may need to expend significant resources to protect against security breaches or to address problems caused by a breach, and the coverage limits on our insurance policies may not be adequate to reimburse us for any losses caused by security breaches.

We are subject to risks and compliance rules and regulations related to the third party credit card payment processing solutions integrated with our websites.

Many of our customers pay amounts owed to us using a credit card or debit card. For credit and debit card payments, we pay payment processing fees in addition to interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating expenses and adversely affect our net income. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules, certification requirements and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. We believe we and our payment processing service providers are compliant in all material respects with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which incorporates Visa’s Cardholder Information Security Program and MasterCard’s Site Data Protection standard. However, there is no guarantee that such compliance will be maintained or that compliance will prevent illegal or improper use of our systems that are integrated with our payment processing providers. If any of our third party payment processors fails to be in compliance with applicable credit card rules and regulations, we may be required to migrate to an alternate payment processor which could result in transaction downtime during the migration and/or a loss of customers and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position and business may suffer.

Our intellectual property, consisting of trade secrets, trademarks, service marks, patents and copyrights, is, in the aggregate, important to our business. We rely on a combination of trade secret, trademark, copyright and patent laws in the United States and other jurisdictions together with contractual provisions and technical measures to protect our proprietary rights. We rely more heavily on trade secret protection than patent protection. To protect our trade secrets, we control access to our proprietary systems and technology, including our platforms, and we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants, as well as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with other third parties.  We face risks related to our intellectual property including that:

Effective protection of our trade secrets, trademarks, service marks, copyrights and patents may not be available in all countries where we currently operate or in which we may operate in the future. Policing unauthorized use of our proprietary rights can be difficult and costly. In addition, it may be necessary to enforce or protect our intellectual property rights through litigation or to defend litigation brought against us, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention and could adversely affect our business, even if we are successful on the merits.

Some of our software and systems contain open source software, which may pose risks to our proprietary software and solutions.

We use open source software in our software and systems and will use open source software in the future. The licenses applicable to open source software typically require that the source code subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. From time to time, we may face claims from third parties demanding the release or license of the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software (which could include our proprietary source code), claiming infringement of their intellectual property rights, or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to purchase a costly license, publicly release the affected portions of our source code, be limited in the licensing of our technologies or cease offering the implicated solutions unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement or change the use of the implicated open source software. In addition to risks related to license requirements, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties, indemnities or other contractual protections with respect to the software (for example, non-infringement or functionality). Our use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our sites and systems that rely on open source software. Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage, and, if not addressed, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

The interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems, or those of third parties that we rely upon, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The availability of our online properties depends on the continuing operation of our information technology and communications systems. Any damage to or failure of our systems, or those of third parties that we rely upon (e.g., co-location providers for data servers, storage devices, and network access), could result in interruptions in our service, which could reduce our revenue and profits, and damage our brand. We have previously experienced certain server outages and computer distributed denial of service attacks, and any future server outages at our data center facilities or distributed denial of service attacks may cause all or portions of our online properties to become unavailable to users. Our systems are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, terrorist attacks, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses or other attempts to harm our systems, and one of our data centers is located in an area with a high risk of major earthquakes. Our data centers are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism, and to potential disruptions if the operators of these facilities have financial difficulties. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning is currently underdeveloped and does not account for all eventualities. The occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision to close a facility we are using without adequate notice for financial reasons or other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in lengthy

interruptions in our service. Delays or interruptions in our service may cause our users, advertisers, customers and/or artists to become dissatisfied with our offerings and could adversely affect our business.

Furthermore, third-party service providers may experience an interruption in operations or cease operations for any reason. If we are unable to agree on satisfactory terms for continued data center hosting relationships, we would be forced to enter into a relationship with other service providers or assume hosting responsibilities ourselves. If we are forced to switch hosting facilities, we may not be successful in finding an alternative service provider on acceptable terms or in hosting the computer servers ourselves. We may also be limited in our remedies against these providers in the event of a failure of service. We also rely on third-parties to provide certain components of our technology platform, such as hardware and software providers, and to serve as operators for our content delivery networks, or CDNs. A failure or limitation of service or available capacity by any of these third-party providers could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on technology infrastructure and a failure to update or maintain this technology infrastructure, or difficulty scaling and adapting our existing technology and network infrastructure to accommodate increased traffic, could adversely affect our business.

Significant portions of our content, products and services are dependent on technology infrastructure that was developed over multiple years. To be successful, our network infrastructure has to perform well and be reliable. The greater the user traffic and the greater the complexity of our products and services, the more computing power we will need. In the future, we may spend substantial amounts to purchase or lease data centers and equipment, upgrade our technology and network infrastructure to handle increased traffic on our online properties and roll out new products and services. Updating and replacing our technology infrastructure could be challenging to implement and manage, take time to test and deploy, cause us to incur substantial costs, cause us to suffer data loss, delays or interruptions in service or result in inefficiencies or operational failures. If we do not successfully update our technology and network infrastructure as needed, or if we experience inefficiencies and operational failures during such updates, the quality of our products and services and our users’ experience could decline. This could damage our reputation and lead us to lose current and potential users, advertisers, customers and artists. Failure to update our technology infrastructure as new technologies become available may also put us in a weaker position relative to a number of our key competitors. Competitors with newer technology infrastructure may have greater flexibility and be in a position to respond more quickly than us to new opportunities, which may impact our competitive position in certain markets and adversely affect our business. The costs associated with any adjustments to our technology and network infrastructure could also harm our operating results. Cost increases, loss of traffic or failure to accommodate new technologies could harm our business, revenue and financial condition.

Regulations concerning privacy and protection of data could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business and changes in these regulations could diminish the value of our services and cause us to lose visitors and revenue.

We receive, process and store large amounts of personal data from users of our online properties, freelance professionals who provide services to us and artists who post artworks or designs on our marketplaces. When a user visits one of our websites or certain pages of our content channel customers’ websites, we use technologies, including “cookies,” to collect information related to the user, such as the user’s Internet Protocol, or IP, address, demographic information, and history of the user’s interactions with content or advertisements previously delivered by us. The information that we collect about our users helps us deliver content and advertising targeted to these users. We post privacy policies on all of our owned and operated websites that set forth our policies and practices related to the collection, use, sharing, disclosure and protection of personal data. The storing, sharing, use, disclosure and protection of personal information and user data are subject to federal, state and international privacy laws, the purpose of which is to protect the privacy of personal information that is collected, processed and transmitted in or from the governing jurisdiction. A variety of federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of data that we receive from and about our users. The existing privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. Developments related to “instant personalization” and similar technologies potentially provide publishers with broader access to, and more detailed information about, users and have led to greater scrutiny of industry data collection practices by regulators and privacy advocates. In addition, new laws may be enacted, new industry self-regulation may be promulgated, or existing laws may be amended or re-

interpreted, in a manner that limits our ability to analyze user data. If requirements regarding the manner in which certain personal information and other user data are processed and stored change significantly, our business may be adversely affected, impacting our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we may be exposed to potential liabilities as a result of differing views on the level of privacy required for consumer and other user data we collect. We may also need to expend significant resources to protect against security breaches, including encrypting personal information, or remedy breaches after they occur, including notifying each person whose personal data may have been compromised and offering to provide credit monitoring services. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us or various third-party vendors and service providers to comply with applicable privacy policies or with industry standards or laws or regulations could result in a loss of consumer confidence in us, or result in actions against us by governmental entities or others, all of which could potentially cause us to lose consumers and revenue.

Third parties may sue us for intellectual property infringement or misappropriation or make similar claims which, if successful, could require us to pay significant damages, incur expenses or curtail our offerings.

We cannot be certain that our internally developed or acquired systems and technologies do not and will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, we license content, software and other intellectual property rights from third parties and may be subject to claims of infringement or misappropriation if such parties do not possess the necessary intellectual property rights to the products or services they license to us. We have in the past and may in the future be subject to legal proceedings and claims that we have infringed the patent or other intellectual property rights of a third party. These claims sometimes involve patent holding companies or other patent owners who have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patents may provide little or no deterrence. In addition, third parties may in the future assert intellectual property infringement claims against our customers, which we have agreed in certain circumstances to indemnify and defend against such claims. Any intellectual property-related infringement or misappropriation claims, whether or not meritorious, could result in costly litigation and could divert management resources and attention. If we are found liable for infringement or misappropriation, we may be required to enter into licensing agreements, if available on acceptable terms or at all, pay substantial damages or limit or curtail our systems and technologies. Also, any successful lawsuit against us could subject us to the invalidation of our proprietary rights. Moreover, we may need to redesign some of our systems and technologies to avoid future infringement liability. Any of the foregoing could prevent us from competing effectively and increase our costs.

Additionally, our marketplaces allow individuals to sell certain products or their original designs printed on art prints and various consumer products. On occasion, the designs or products posted to our marketplaces, including Society6 or Saatchi Art, may infringe certain copyrights or trademarks or misappropriate the right of publicity of well-known figures. As a result, we may be the subject of letters, lawsuits and takedown notices from rights holders, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act may not provide safe-harbors for all types of infringing content hosted on these properties. Addressing these types of claims could require us to expend time and resources, which could have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

We also license the names “Saatchi” and “Livestrong.com” pursuant to the terms of intellectual property or licensing agreements with third parties, which may be terminated by such third parties if we do not comply with certain requirements in the agreements.  If either of these licensing arrangements was terminated, we would experience business disruption and would have to incur significant resources to rebrand the relevant business, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a creator and a distributor of Internet content, we face potential liability and expenses for legal claims based on the nature and subject matter of the content that we create or distribute, or that are accessible via our online properties. If we are required to pay damages or expenses in connection with these legal claims, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

As a creator and distributor of original content and third-party provided content, we face potential liability in the United States and abroad based on a variety of theories, including copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, right of publicity, negligence, unlawful practice of a licensed profession and other legal theories based on the nature, creation or distribution of this information, and under various laws, including the Lanham Act and the Copyright Act. We may also be exposed to similar liability in connection with content that we do not create but that is posted to our

online properties and to our content channel customers’ online properties by users and other third parties through forums, comments, personas and other social media features. In addition, it is also possible that visitors to our online properties or our content channel customers’ online properties could bring claims against us for losses incurred in reliance upon information provided on such online properties. These claims, regardless of their merit, could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate and defend. If we become subject to these or similar types of claims and are not successful in our defense, we may be forced to pay damages, some of which may be substantial. If the content we distribute through our online properties or our content channel customers’ online properties violates the intellectual property rights of others or gives rise to other legal claims against us, we could be subject to substantial liability, which could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain U.S. and foreign laws and regulations could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business.

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the U.S. and abroad that may subject us to claims or other remedies. Our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations may subject us to additional liabilities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Laws and regulations that are particularly relevant to our business address freedom of expression; information security; privacy and data collection; pricing and fees; employment related matters; online content and the distribution of content, including liability for user reliance on such content; intellectual property rights, including secondary liability for infringement by others; product liability claims; taxation, including VAT and sales tax; and online advertising and marketing, including email marketing and unsolicited commercial email. See “ — Regulations concerning privacy and protection of data could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business and changes in these regulations could diminish the value of our services and cause us to lose visitors and revenue.”

In the United States, Congress has adopted legislation that regulates certain aspects of the Internet, including the Communications Decency Act, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the Lanham Act, the CAN-SPAM Act and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Advertising and promotional information presented to visitors on our online properties and our other marketing activities are subject to federal and state consumer protection laws that regulate unfair and deceptive practices. Many applicable laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the Internet. Moreover, the applicability and scope of the laws that do address the Internet remain uncertain. For example, the laws relating to the liability of providers of online services are evolving. Claims have been either threatened or filed against us under both U.S. and foreign laws for defamation, copyright infringement, patent infringement, privacy violations, cybersquatting, trademark infringement and discrimination. In the future, claims may also be brought against us based on tort law liability and other theories based on our content, products and services or content generated by our users.

We must also comply with certain foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations. Our business operations in countries outside the United States are subject to a number of U.S. federal laws and regulations, including restrictions imposed by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and economic and trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the U.S. Commerce Department based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign states, organizations and individuals. The FCPA is intended to prohibit bribery of foreign officials or parties and requires public companies in the United States to keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect those companies’ transactions. OFAC regulations prohibit U.S.-based entities from entering into or facilitating transactions with, for the benefit of, or involving the property of, persons, governments or countries designated by the U.S. government under one or more sanctions regimes, which could include transactions that provide a benefit that is received in an OFAC designated country. Additionally, some of the products and services we provide to customers globally may require approval under applicable U.S. export law.

VAT, sales and use, and similar tax laws and rates vary greatly by jurisdiction. We do not collect such taxes in every jurisdiction in which we have sales based on our belief that such taxes are not applicable. Certain jurisdictions in which we do not collect VAT, sales and use, or similar taxes on our sales may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest for prior periods, and a requirement to collect such taxes in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties and interest, or future requirements, including implementing products and

technologies to calculate, collect and remit such taxes, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The costs of compliance with these regulations may increase in the future as a result of changes in the regulations or the interpretation of them. Further, if we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could be exposed to claims for damages, financial penalties, reputational harm, incarceration of our employees or restrictions on our operations, which could increase our costs of operations, reduce our profits or cause us to forgo opportunities that would otherwise support our growth.

Changes in state, federal or international taxation laws and regulations may adversely affect our business.

Due to the global nature of the Internet, it is possible that, although our services and the Internet transmissions related to them typically originate in Nevada and California, governments of other states or foreign countries might attempt to regulate our transmissions or levy sales, income or other taxes relating to our activities. Tax authorities at the international, federal, state and local levels are also currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of companies engaged in Internet commerce. New or revised international, federal, state or local tax regulations may subject us or our customers to additional sales, income, VAT and other taxes. We cannot predict the effect of current attempts to impose sales, income, VAT or other taxes on commerce over the Internet. New or revised taxes and, in particular, additional sales taxes or VAT, would likely increase the cost of doing business online and decrease the attractiveness of advertising and selling goods and services over the Internet. New taxes could also create significant increases in internal costs necessary to capture data and collect and remit taxes. Any of these events could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We may not succeed in expanding our businesses internationally, which may limit our future growth, and operating internationally exposes us to certain additional risks and operating costs.

One potential area of growth for our business is internationally. The artwork and designs sold through our art and design marketplaces are created by a global community of artists and sold to customers around the world. We are also exploring translating and localizing our Society6 marketplace site into certain foreign languages. We have an eHow site in the United Kingdom, as well as eHow en Español, Livestrong.com en Español and eHow Brasil (Spanish and Portuguese language sites that target both the U.S. and the worldwide Spanish/Portuguese-speaking markets). We cannot be certain that we will be successful in introducing beyond the markets we currently serve or marketing our products and services internationally or that our products and services will gain market acceptance. If we are unable to expand and market our products and services internationally, it could have a negative effect on our future growth prospects. There are also risks inherent in conducting business in international markets, including the need to localize our products and services to foreign customers’ preferences and customs, difficulties in managing operations due to language barriers, distance, staffing and cultural differences, application of foreign laws and regulations to us, tariffs and other trade barriers, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, establishing management and financial systems and infrastructures, reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries, changes in foreign political and economic conditions, and potentially adverse tax consequences. Operating internationally, where we have limited experience, exposes us to additional risks and operating costs that may outweigh the financial and other benefits of operating in such markets.

A reclassification by tax authorities of any freelance professionals we currently or have previously contracted with from independent contractors to employees could require us to pay retroactive taxes and penalties and significantly increase our cost of operations.

We previously contracted with freelance professionals to create the substantial majority of the content for our online properties and we continue to contract with freelance professionals for various purposes, including to develop, create and edit content, and otherwise contribute to the content creation process, for our and our content channel customers’ online properties. Because we consider the freelance professionals who we contract with or have contracted with to be independent contractors, as opposed to employees, we do not withhold federal or state income or other employment related taxes, make federal or state unemployment tax or Federal Insurance Contributions Act payments, or provide workers’ compensation insurance with respect to such freelance professionals. Our contracts with freelance professionals that are classified as

independent contractors obligate the freelance professionals to pay these taxes. The classification of freelance professionals as independent contractors depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each relationship. In the event of a determination by federal or state taxing authorities that any freelance professionals we engage or have engaged as independent contractors are employees, we may be adversely affected and subject to retroactive taxes and penalties. In addition, if the freelance professionals we categorize as independent contractors were deemed to be employees, our costs associated with content creation could increase significantly, we could potentially incur fines, penalties or other damages, and our financial results would be adversely affected.

Risks Relating to Owning Our Common Stock

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and an active, liquid and orderly market for our common stock may not be sustained.

The trading price of our common stock has been, and is likely to be, highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, from the date of our initial public offering in January 2011 through February 24, 2016, our closing stock price, as adjusted for the Distribution and the 1-for-5 reverse stock split, has ranged from $4.05 to $48.75. As a result of the reverse stock split reducing the number of shares of our common stock that are outstanding, we may have a lower average daily trading volume, which could also lead to greater volatility in the trading price of our common stock or a less liquid market for our stock to trade. In addition, an active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained, which could depress the market price of our common stock.

In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this report, factors that may cause the trading price of our common stock to be volatile include:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for Internet-related companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the overall market and in the market price of a company’s securities. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in very substantial costs, divert our management’s attention and resources and harm our business, financial condition and results of operation.

The large number of shares eligible for public sale or subject to rights requiring us to register them for public sale could depress the market price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the market, and the perception that these sales could occur may also depress the market price of our common stock. As of February 24, 2016, we had 20,250,726 shares of common stock outstanding (excluding shares held in treasury).

Certain stockholders owning a significant amount of our outstanding shares of common stock are party to a stockholders agreement that entitles them to require us to register shares of our common stock owned by them for public sale in the United States, subject to the restrictions of Rule 144. In addition, certain stockholders, including investors in our preferred stock that converted into common stock as well as current and former employees, are eligible to resell shares of common stock under Rule 144 and Rule 701 without registering such shares with the SEC. Sales of our common stock as restrictions end or pursuant to registration rights may make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. These sales also could cause our stock price to fall and make it more difficult for shareholders to sell shares of our common stock.

In addition, as of February 24, 2016 we have over ten million shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans, of which approximately five million shares are registered under our registration statement on Form S-8 on file with the SEC. Subject to the satisfaction of applicable exercise periods, vesting requirements and, in certain cases, performance conditions, the shares of registered common stock issued upon exercise of outstanding options, vesting of future awards or pursuant to purchases under our employee stock purchase plan (the “ESPP”) will be available for immediate resale in the United States in the open market. We also have previously and may from time to time in the future issue shares of our common stock as consideration for acquisitions and investments. If any such acquisition or investment is significant, the number of shares that we may issue may in turn be significant.

Our stock repurchase program may be suspended or terminated at any time, which may result in a decrease in the trading price of our common stock.

Our board of directors previously approved a stock repurchase program under which we are authorized to repurchase up to $50.0 million of our common stock, of which approximately $19.2 million remains available as of December 31, 2015. Such stock repurchases may be limited, suspended, or terminated at any time without prior notice, and we have not repurchased any shares of our common stock since April 2013. There can be no assurance that we will repurchase additional shares of our common stock under our stock repurchase program or that any future repurchases will have a positive impact on the trading price of our common stock or earnings per share. Important factors that could cause us to limit, suspend or terminate our stock repurchase program include, among others, unfavorable market conditions, the trading price of our common stock, the nature of other investment or strategic opportunities presented to us from time to time, the rate of dilution of our equity compensation programs, the availability of adequate funds, and our ability to make appropriate, timely, and beneficial decisions as to when, how, and whether to purchase shares under the stock repurchase program. If we limit, suspend or terminate our stock repurchase program, our stock price may be negatively affected.

As a public company, we are subject to compliance initiatives that require substantial time from our management and result in significantly increased costs.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, and other rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE, impose various requirements on public companies, including requirements related to certain corporate governance practices. Compliance with these rules and regulations has resulted in significantly increased costs for us as a public company than we incurred as a private company, including substantially higher costs to obtain comparable levels of director and officer liability insurance. Proposed corporate governance laws and regulations under consideration may further increase our compliance costs. If compliance with these various legal and regulatory requirements diverts our management’s attention from other business concerns, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, these laws and regulations may make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors, on committees of our board of directors, or as executive officers.

We are required to make an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We are also required to obtain an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm. Section 404 requires us to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management and our independent registered public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting for each fiscal year. Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. If we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404, management may not be able to assess whether our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could result in a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements. In addition, if we fail to maintain effective controls and procedures, we may be unable to provide the required financial information in a timely and reliable manner or otherwise comply with the standards applicable to us as a public company. Any failure by us to provide the required financial information in a timely and reliable manner could materially and adversely impact our financial condition and the trading price of our securities. In addition, we may incur additional expenses and commitment of management’s time in connection with further assessments of our compliance with the requirements of Section 404, which could materially increase our operating expenses and adversely impact our results of operations.

If securities or industry analysts publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

We do not anticipate paying cash dividends and, accordingly, stockholders must rely on stock appreciation for any return on their investment.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future. As a result, only appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur, will provide a return to stockholders. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock.

Certain provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage takeover attempts and lead to management entrenchment.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could have the effect of delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our board of directors, including, among other things:

We are also subject to certain anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law. Under Delaware law, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other things, our board of directors has approved the transaction.

Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2.Properties

We do not own any real estate. We currently occupy approximately 52,000 square feet in a Santa Monica, California facility that serves as our corporate headquarters and houses nearly all of our personnel for both our Content & Media and Marketplaces service offerings. The lease for our Santa Monica facility expires in July 2024, provided that we have a one-time early termination right allowing us to terminate the lease effective as of August 2019. Our primary data center is located in Las Vegas, Nevada. We believe that our current data centers and offices will be adequate for the foreseeable future.

Item 3.Legal Proceedings

From time to time we are a party to various legal matters incidental to the conduct of our business. Certain of our outstanding legal matters include speculative claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. We record a liability when we believe that it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Based on our current knowledge, we do not believe that there is a reasonable possibility that the final outcome of the pending or threatened legal proceedings to which we are a party, either individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our future financial results. However, the outcome of such legal matters is subject to significant uncertainties.

Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

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

Market Information

Our common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “DMD”. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated and on a per-share basis, the high and low daily closing sales prices of our common stock as reported by the NYSE, as adjusted for the 1-for-5 reverse stock split that we effected on August 1, 2014.

Holders of Record

As of February 24, 2016, our common stock was held by 44  stockholders of record. A substantially greater number of holders of our common stock are “street name” holders, or beneficial holders, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our earnings will be used to provide working capital, to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

Performance Graph

The following performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or incorporated by reference into any filing of Demand Media under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

The graph compares the cumulative total return of our common stock for the period starting on January 26, 2011, the date of our initial public offering, and ending on December 31, 2015, with that of the S&P 500 Index and RDG Internet Composite Index over the same period. The graph assumes that the value of the investment was $100 on January 26, 2011, and that all dividends and other distributions were reinvested. Such returns are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

We did not issue or sell any equity securities that were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933 during the three months ended December 31, 2015.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

Under the stock repurchase plan announced on August 19, 2011 and further increased on February 8, 2012, we are authorized to repurchase up to $50 million of our common stock (of which approximately $19.2 million remains available as of December 31, 2015) from time to time in open market purchases or in negotiated transactions. The stock repurchase plan has no expiration date and such stock repurchases may be limited, suspended, or terminated at any time without prior notice. We did not repurchase any of our common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2015 and have not repurchased any shares of our common stock since April 2013.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

The consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, as well as the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, as well as the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, are derived from audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The historical results presented below are not necessarily indicative of financial results to be achieved in future periods.

The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To provide investors and others with additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed in the table below adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, or Adjusted EBITDA. We have provided a reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure to net income (loss), the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Our Adjusted EBITDA financial measure differs from GAAP net income (loss) in that it excludes net income (loss) from discontinued operations, as well as net interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), and certain other non-cash or non-recurring items impacting net income (loss) from time to time, principally comprised of depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation and, in fiscal 2014, goodwill impairment.  

Adjusted EBITDA is one of the primary measures used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our financial performance and operating trends, including period-to-period comparisons, because it excludes certain expenses that management believes are not indicative of our core operating results. Management believes that the exclusion of these expenses provides a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our underlying core revenue and operating costs that is focused more closely on the current costs necessary to operate our businesses and reflects our ongoing business in a manner that allows for meaningful analysis of trends. In addition, management believes that excluding certain non-cash charges can be useful because the amount of such expenses is the result of long-term investment decisions in previous periods rather than day-to-day operating decisions. Adjusted EBITDA is also one of the primary measures management uses to prepare and update our short and long term financial and operational plan and to evaluate investment decisions. We also frequently use Adjusted EBITDA in our discussions with investors, commercial bankers and other users of our financial statements. 

Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our consolidated revenue and operating results in the same manner as our management and in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to those of our peer companies. However, the use of non-GAAP financial measures has certain limitations because they do not reflect all items of income and expense that affect our operations. We compensate for these limitations by reconciling non-GAAP financial measures to the most

comparable GAAP financial measures. Further, non-GAAP financial measures do not have standardized meanings, and therefore other companies, including peer companies, may use the same or similarly named measures but exclude different items or use different computations, so comparability may be limited. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure. 

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods presented (in thousands):

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

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 6, “Selected Financial Data” and our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical data, this discussion contains forward-looking statements about our business, operations and financial performance based on current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to those discussed in “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and Item I, Part 1A, “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

We are a diversified Internet company that builds platforms across its media and marketplaces properties to enable communities of creators to reach passionate audiences in large and growing lifestyle categories. Our business is comprised of two service offerings: Content & Media and Marketplaces.

Content & Media

Our Content & Media service offering includes our leading owned and operated online properties that publish media content, including text articles, videos, photographs and designed visual formats. This content is published across several key categories on eHow, a do-it-yourself and how-to reference destination; Livestrong.com, a health and healthy living destination; Cracked, a humor site offering original and engaging comedy-driven video series, text articles and blogs; and certain other niche properties focused on specific interests.  Additionally, our studioD business develops and executes content marketing strategies and creates custom content for third-party brands, advertisers and publishers.

Our Content & Media service offering derives the majority of its revenue from the sale of advertising on our online properties. Our advertising revenue is principally dependent on the number of visits to our properties and the corresponding ad unit rates.  Since 2011, the total number of visits to our properties, particularly eHow, has substantially declined due to lower search engine referrals resulting from ongoing changes to search engine algorithms by Google, Yahoo! and Bing, as well as our decision to remove low quality and duplicative content.  We have also experienced lower ad monetization due to industry declines in cost-per-click ad rates and our decision to reduce the number of ads per page on certain articles. In addition, visits across our online properties continue to shift from desktop to mobile, with ad unit rates for mobile generally lower than desktop. Future changes to search engine algorithms that negatively impact the volume of referral traffic, declines in ad unit rates, or increased availability of ad blocking software, particularly on mobile devices, could result in a material adverse effect to our business and results of operations.

We believe that there are opportunities to increase the number of visits to our online properties, both from direct visits by users and search engine referrals, by building high-quality products that provide a better user experience and lead to increased engagement. Since 2013, we have focused our efforts on redesigning our websites; refining our content library; rationalizing ad unit density; and developing a greater variety of content formats, particularly formats better suited for mobile devices. We have also recently started a new initiative to work with a network of contributors and influencers to create more authoritative and engaging content. These changes could negatively impact revenue and increase our operating expenses in the near term, but we believe that by providing consumers with an improved user and content experience, we will be able to increase the number of visits and revenue in a sustained fashion over the long-term. We also believe there are opportunities to increase our advertising revenue by optimizing our ad product stack and increasing branded ad sales through direct sellers and by offering more innovative products such as native advertisements and sponsored ad placements. However, if the overall ad unit rates we receive continue to decline, we could experience lower advertising revenue even if the number of visits to our properties increases.

Historically, the majority of our advertising revenue has been generated by our relationship with Google. While Google continues to be our primary ad vendor for ad monetization, in 2015 we began to significantly diversify our monetization partners and will continue to do so going forward. Google also serves as one of our primary technology

platform partners in connection with our programmatic ad sales offering. Any change in the type of services that Google provides to us, or to the terms of our agreements with Google, could adversely impact our results of operations.

Marketplaces

Through our Marketplaces service offering, we operate two leading art and design marketplaces where large communities of artists can market and sell their original artwork or their original designs printed on a wide variety of products. Society6 provides artists with an online commerce platform to feature and sell their original designs on a wide variety of consumer and home décor products such as art prints, phone and tablet cases, t-shirts and throw pillows. Saatchi Art is an online art gallery featuring a wide selection of original paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography that provides a global community of artists a curated environment in which to exhibit and sell their work directly to customers around the world.

Our Marketplaces service offering generates revenue from the sale of products and services through our art and design marketplaces.  On Society6, revenue is generated from the sale of print-on-demand products. Saatchi Art primarily generates revenue through commissions on the final sale price of original works of art. Our Marketplaces service offering is principally dependent on the number of transactions and average revenue per transaction generated by products and services sold through our online marketplaces. We believe there are opportunities to increase the number of transactions and the average revenue per transaction by attracting new visitors to our marketplaces via diverse online and offline marketing, improving conversion of visitors to purchasing customers, continuing to introduce new products, and offering product bundling and other promotions.

The revenue generated by our Marketplaces service offering has higher costs associated with it as compared to our Content & Media service offering due to variable product costs, including outsourced product manufacturing costs, artist royalties, marketing costs, and shipping and handling costs. During the year ended December 31, 2015, a higher percentage of our total revenue was generated by our Marketplaces service offering as compared to the prior year. If our revenue sources continue to shift from our Content & Media service offering to our Marketplaces service offering, our total costs relative to our revenue will be negatively impacted.

Separation

On August 1, 2014, we completed the separation of Rightside Group, Ltd. (“Rightside”) from Demand Media, Inc., resulting in two independent, publicly traded companies (hereinafter referred to as the “Separation”). Following the Separation, Rightside operates our former domain name services business, while we continue to own and operate our Content & Media and Marketplaces businesses. The Separation was structured as a pro rata tax-free dividend involving the distribution of all outstanding shares of Rightside common stock to holders of Demand Media common stock as of the August 1, 2014 record date (the “Distribution”). Immediately following the Distribution, we completed a 1-for-5 reverse stock split of our outstanding and treasury shares of common stock. The financial results of Rightside are presented as discontinued operations in our consolidated statements of operations for all periods prior to fiscal 2015 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Unless it is disclosed, all financial results represent continuing operations.

Revenue

For the years ended December 31, 2015,  2014 and 2013, we reported revenue of $126.0 million, $172.4 million and $209.4 million, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2015,  2014 and 2013, our Content & Media revenue accounted for 59%,  79% and 93% of our total revenue, respectively, and our Marketplaces revenue accounted for 41%,  21% and 7% of our total revenue, respectively. 

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review a number of business metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate our business, measure the performance of our business model, identify trends impacting our business, determine resource allocations, formulate financial projections and make strategic business decisions. Measures which we believe are the primary indicators of our performance are as follows:

Content & Media Metrics

Marketplaces Metrics

The following table sets forth our key business metrics for the periods presented:

Basis of Presentation

Revenue

Our revenue is primarily derived from sales of advertising and from products and services sold through our online marketplaces.

Service Revenue

Content & Media

We generate Content & Media service revenue primarily from advertisements displayed on our online properties and on certain webpages of our content channel customers’ online properties that are hosted by our content services. Articles, videos and other forms of content generate advertising revenue from a diverse mix of advertising methods including performance-based cost-per-click advertising, in which an advertiser pays only when a visitor clicks on an advertisement; display advertisements, where revenue is dependent upon the number of advertising impressions delivered; native advertisements, which are advertisements created to match the form and function of the platform on which they appear; sponsored content; or advertising links. At times we enter into revenue-sharing arrangements with our customers, and if we are considered the primary obligor, we report the underlying revenue on a gross basis in our consolidated statements of operations and record the revenue-sharing payments to our customers in service costs.

We also generate Content & Media service revenue from the sale or license of media content, including the creation and distribution of content for third-party brands, advertisers and publishers through our studioD business. Revenue from the sale or perpetual license of media content is recognized when the content has been delivered and the contractual performance obligations have been fulfilled. Revenue from the non-perpetual license of media content is recognized over the period of the license as content is delivered or when other related performance criteria are fulfilled. In circumstances where we distribute our content on third-party properties and the customer acts as the primary obligor, we recognize revenue on a net basis. In addition, we previously provided social media services and generated Content & Media service revenue from recurring management support fees, overage fees in excess of standard usage terms, outside consulting fees and initial set-up fees. As of February 2015, we no longer provide social media services.

Marketplaces

We generate service revenue from commissions we receive from facilitating the sale of original art by artists to customers through Saatchi Art. We recognize service revenue arising from the sale of original art net of amounts paid to the artist because we are not the primary obligor in the transaction, we do not have inventory risk, and we do not establish the prices for the art sold. We also recognize this service revenue net of any sales allowances. Revenue is recognized after the original art has been delivered and the return period has expired. Payments received in advance of delivery and completion of the return period are included in deferred revenue in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. We periodically provide incentive offers to customers to encourage purchases, including percentage discounts off current purchases, free shipping and other offers. Value-added taxes (“VAT”), sales tax and other taxes are not included in Marketplaces service revenue because we are a pass-through conduit for collecting and remitting any such taxes.

Product Revenue

We recognize product revenue from sales of Society6 products upon delivery, net of estimated returns based on historical experience. Product revenue for Society6 is recognized net of sales allowances and return allowances. We recognize product revenue from the sale of prints through Saatchi Art when the prints are delivered and the return period has expired. Payments received in advance of delivery and, with respect to the Saatchi Art prints, prior to completion of the return period are included in deferred revenue in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Product revenue is recorded at the gross amount due to the following factors: we are the primary obligor in a transaction, we have inventory and credit risk, and we have latitude in establishing prices and selecting suppliers. We periodically provide incentive offers to customers to encourage purchases, including percentage discounts off current purchases, free shipping and other offers. VAT, sales tax and other taxes are not included in product revenue because we are a pass-through conduit for collecting and remitting any such taxes.

Service Costs

Service costs consist of payments relating to our Internet connection and co-location charges and other platform operating expenses, including depreciation of the systems and hardware used to build and operate our content creation and distribution platform; expenses related to creating, rewriting, or auditing certain content units; and personnel costs related to in-house editorial, customer service and information technology. Service costs also include payments to our customers pursuant to revenue-sharing arrangements where we are the primary obligor. In the near term, we expect service costs to decrease as a percentage of revenue primarily as a result of lower personnel and information technology expenses.

Product Costs

Product costs consist of outsourced product manufacturing costs, artist royalties, and personnel costs. In the near term, we expect our product costs to remain relatively flat as a percentage of product revenue. 

Shipping and Handling

Shipping and handling charged to customers are recorded in service revenue or product revenue, as applicable. Associated costs are recorded in service costs or product costs.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of sales and marketing personnel costs, sales support, public relations, advertising, marketing and general promotional expenditures. Fluctuations in our sales and marketing expenses are generally the result of our efforts to drive growth in our product and service offerings. We currently anticipate that our sales and marketing expenses will increase in the near term as a percentage of revenue as we grow our marketing activities across all our platforms, especially our studioD and Marketplaces offerings.

Product Development

Product development expenses consist primarily of expenses incurred in our software engineering, product development and web design activities and related personnel costs. Fluctuations in our product development expenses are generally the result of hiring personnel to support and develop our platforms, including the costs to improve our owned and operated online properties and related mobile applications, as well as the costs to develop future product and service offerings. We currently anticipate that our product development expenses will remain relatively flat in the near term as a percentage of revenue.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs from our executive, legal, finance, human resources and information technology organizations and facilities related expenditures, as well as third-party professional fees and insurance. Professional fees are largely comprised of outside legal, audit and information technology consulting. We currently anticipate that general and administrative expenses will decrease in the near term as a percentage of revenue due to managed reduction of expenses.

Amortization of Intangible Assets

We capitalize certain costs (i) allocated to the purchase price of certain identifiable intangible assets acquired in connection with business combinations and (ii) incurred to develop media content that is determined to have a probable economic benefit. We amortize these costs on a straight-line basis over the related expected useful lives of these assets. We determine the appropriate useful life of intangible assets by performing an analysis of expected cash flows based on our historical experience of intangible assets of similar quality and value. In the event of content remediation in future periods, additional accelerated amortization expense may be incurred in the periods such actions occur. We expect amortization expense related to business combinations to decrease in the near term due to fewer acquisitions as compared to prior years. Amortization as a percentage of revenue will depend upon a variety of factors, such as the amounts and mix of our investments in content and identifiable intangible assets acquired in business combinations.

Goodwill

We test goodwill for impairment in the fourth quarter of each year unless there are interim indicators that suggest that it is more likely than not that goodwill may be impaired. Goodwill is tested at the reporting unit level and as of December 31, 2015 we determined that we have two reporting units: content and media and marketplaces. We did not record any goodwill impairment charges for the year ended December 31, 2015. We may be required to record impairment charges on our remaining goodwill in future periods. For the year ended December 31, 2014, due to unexpected revenue declines attributed to lower traffic and monetization yields on certain of our content and media websites, we lowered our future cash flow expectations. As a result, we performed an interim assessment of impairment of the goodwill in our content and media reporting unit in the third quarter of 2014 and recorded a $232.3 million goodwill impairment charge in 2014.

Stock-based Compensation

Included in operating expenses are expenses associated with stock-based compensation, which are allocated and included in service costs, sales and marketing, product development and general and administrative expenses. Stock-based compensation expense is largely comprised of costs associated with stock options, restricted stock units and

restricted stock granted to employees, directors and non-employees, and expenses relating to our Employee Stock Purchase Plan. We record the fair value of these equity-based awards and expenses at their cost ratably over related vesting periods.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income consists of interest earned on cash balances and short-term investments. We typically invest our available cash balances in money market funds and short-term United States Treasury obligations. Interest expense principally consisted of interest on outstanding debt and amortization of debt issuance costs associated with our credit facility, which was fully repaid in November 2014.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net consists primarily of transaction gains and losses on foreign currency-denominated assets and liabilities and gains or losses on sales of businesses. We expect that these gains and losses will vary depending upon movements in underlying currency exchange rates and whether we dispose of any businesses.

Provision for Income Taxes

Since our inception, we have been subject to income taxes principally in the United States, and certain other countries where we have or had a legal presence, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada and Argentina. We may in the future become subject to taxation in additional countries based on the foreign statutory rates and our effective tax rate could fluctuate accordingly.

Income taxes are computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

We currently believe that based on the available information, it is more likely than not that our deferred tax assets will not be realized, and accordingly we have taken a full valuation allowance against all of our United States federal and certain state and foreign deferred tax assets. Federal and state laws impose substantial restrictions on the utilization of net operating loss and tax credit carry-forwards in the event of an “ownership change,” as defined in Section 382 of the Code. Currently, we do not expect the utilization of our net operating loss and tax credit carry-forwards in the near term to be materially affected as no significant limitations are expected to be placed on these carry-forwards as a result of our previous ownership changes.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in the United States. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

We believe that the estimates and assumptions associated with our revenue recognition, accounts receivable and allowance for doubtful accounts, goodwill, capitalization and useful lives associated with our intangible assets, discontinued operations, income taxes, stock-based compensation and the recoverability of our long-lived assets including our media content portfolio, have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies and estimates.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue when four basic criteria are met: persuasive evidence of a sales arrangement exists; performance of services has occurred; the sales price is fixed or determinable; and collectability is reasonably assured. We consider persuasive evidence of a sales arrangement to be the receipt of a signed contract. Collectability is assessed based on a number of factors, including transaction history and the credit worthiness of a customer. If it is determined that collection is not reasonably assured, revenue is not recognized until collection becomes reasonably assured, which is generally upon receipt of cash. We record cash received in advance of revenue recognition as deferred revenue.

For arrangements with multiple deliverables, we allocate revenue to each deliverable if the delivered item(s) has value to the customer on a standalone basis and, if the arrangement includes a general right of return relative to the delivered item, delivery or performance of the undelivered item(s) is considered probable and substantially in our control. The fair value of the selling price for a deliverable is determined using a hierarchy of (1) Company-specific objective and reliable evidence, then (2) third-party evidence, then (3) best estimate of selling price. We allocate any arrangement fee to each of the elements based on their relative selling prices.

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

We maintain an allowance for doubtful accounts to reserve for potentially uncollectible receivables from our customers based on our best estimate of the amount of probable losses from existing accounts receivable. We determine the allowance based on an analysis of historical bad debts, customer concentrations, customer credit-worthiness and current economic trends. In addition, past due balances over 60 days and specific other balances are reviewed individually for collectability on at least a quarterly basis. During the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, our allowance for doubtful accounts and bad debt expense were not significant and we expect that this trend will continue in the near term.

Goodwill

Goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquired entity over the fair value of the acquired net assets. Goodwill is tested for impairment annually during the fourth quarter of our fiscal year or when events or circumstances change in a manner that indicates goodwill might be impaired. Events or circumstances that could trigger an impairment review include, but are not limited to, a significant adverse change in legal factors or in the business climate, an adverse action or assessment by a regulator, unanticipated competition, a loss of key personnel, significant changes in the manner of our use of the acquired assets or the strategy for our overall business, significant negative industry or economic trends, a decline in our stock price leading to an extended period when our market capitalization is less than the book value of our net assets, or significant underperformance relative to expected historical or projected future results of operations.

Goodwill is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level, which is one level below or the same as an operating segment. During the second quarter of 2015, we made certain changes to our management structure below our chief operating decision maker and, as a result of these changes, we determined that Society6, which had previously been included in our content and media reporting unit, should be combined with the Saatchi Art reporting unit to create a marketplaces reporting unit. A change in reporting units requires that goodwill be tested for impairment. Therefore, we performed an interim assessment of impairment of goodwill for the Saatchi Art reporting unit during the second quarter of 2015 and determined an impairment did not exist. As of December 31, 2015, we determined that we have two reporting units: content and media and marketplaces.

When testing goodwill for impairment, we first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is necessary to perform step one of a two-step goodwill impairment test for each reporting unit. We are required to perform step one only if we conclude that it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than the carrying value of its assets. Should this be the case, the first step of the two-step process is to identify whether a potential impairment exists by comparing the estimated fair values of our reporting units with their respective carrying values, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds the carrying value, goodwill is not considered to be impaired and no additional steps are necessary. If, however, the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying

value, then a second step is performed to measure the amount of the impairment loss, if any. The amount of the impairment loss is the excess of the carrying amount of the goodwill over its implied fair value. The estimate of implied fair value of goodwill is primarily based on an estimate of the discounted cash flows expected to result from that reporting unit, but may require valuations of certain internally generated and unrecognized intangible assets such as our software, technology, patents and trademarks.

For the year ended December 31, 2014, due to unexpected revenue declines attributable to lower traffic and monetization yield on certain of our content and media websites, we lowered our future cash flow expectations. As a result of the decline in our cash flow forecast as well as a sustained decline in our market capitalization which remained at a level below the book value of our net assets for an extended period of time, we performed an interim assessment of impairment of the goodwill in our content and media reporting unit in the third quarter of 2014. Based on our analyses, we determined that the implied fair value of goodwill was substantially lower than the carrying value of goodwill for the content and media reporting unit and as a result, we determined that the implied fair value of the goodwill in the content and media reporting unit was zero. Accordingly, we recorded $232.3 million for the goodwill impairment charge in 2014. 

For the year ended December 31, 2015, we performed our annual goodwill impairment test in the fourth quarter of the year, consistent with our existing accounting policy, and we determined that there was no impairment charge for the year ended December 31, 2015. As of December 31, 2015, there was $10.4 million of goodwill recorded in our marketplaces reporting unit. We may be required to record goodwill impairment charges in future periods.  

Intangible Assets—Media Content

We capitalize the direct costs incurred to acquire our media content that is determined to embody a probable future economic benefit. Costs are recognized as finite-lived intangible assets based on their acquisition cost to us. All costs incurred to deploy and publish content are expensed as incurred, including the costs incurred for the ongoing maintenance of websites on which our content resides. We generally acquire content when our internal systems and processes provide reasonable assurance that, given predicted consumer and advertiser demand relative to our predetermined cost to acquire the content, the content unit will generate revenue over its useful life that exceeds the cost of acquisition. In determining whether content embodies a probable future economic benefit required for asset capitalization, we make judgments and estimates including the forecasted number of visits and the advertising rates that the content will generate. These estimates and judgments take into consideration various inherent uncertainties including, but not limited to, total expected visits over the content’s useful life; the fact that our content creation and distribution model is evolving and may be impacted by competition and technological advancements; our ability to expand existing and enter into new distribution channels and applications for our content; and whether we will be able to generate similar economic returns from content in the future. Management has reviewed, and intends to regularly review, the operating performance of content in determining probable future economic benefits of our content.

Capitalized media content is amortized on a straight-line basis over its useful life, which is typically five years, representing our estimate of when the underlying economic benefits are expected to be realized and based on our estimates of the projected cash flows from advertising revenue expected to be generated by the deployment of such content. These estimates are based on our plans and projections, comparison of the economic returns generated by our content with content of comparable quality and an analysis of historical cash flows generated by that content to date.

We continue to perform evaluations of our existing content library to identify potential improvements in our content creation and distribution platform. As a result of these evaluations, we elected to remove certain content units from our content library, resulting in $3.4 million, $7.7 million and $3.1 million of related accelerated amortization expense in the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Intangible Assets—Acquired in Business Combinations

We perform valuations of assets acquired and liabilities assumed on each acquisition accounted for as a business combination and allocate the purchase price of each acquired business to our respective net tangible and intangible assets. Acquired intangible assets include: trade names, non-compete agreements, owned website names, artist

relationships, customer relationships, technology, media content, and content publisher relationships. We use valuation techniques to value these intangibles assets, with the primary technique being a discounted cash flow analysis. A discounted cash flow analysis requires us to make various assumptions and estimates including projected revenue, operating costs, growth rates, useful lives and discount rates. Intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method which approximates the pattern in which the economic benefits are consumed.

Recoverability of Long-lived Assets

We evaluate the recoverability of our long-lived tangible and intangible assets with finite useful lives for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. Such trigger events or changes in circumstances may include: a significant decrease in the market price of a long-lived asset, a significant adverse change in the extent or manner in which a long-lived asset is being used, a significant adverse change in legal factors or in the business climate, including those resulting from technology advancements in the industry, the impact of competition or other factors that could affect the value of a long-lived asset, a significant adverse deterioration in the amount of revenue or cash flows we expect to generate from an asset group, an accumulation of costs significantly in excess of the amount originally expected for the acquisition or development of a long-lived asset, current or future operating or cash flow losses that demonstrate continuing losses associated with the use of a long-lived asset, or a current expectation that, more likely than not, a long-lived asset will be sold or otherwise disposed of significantly before the end of its previously estimated useful life. We perform impairment testing at the asset group level that represents the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. If events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable and the expected undiscounted future cash flows attributable to the asset group are less than the carrying amount of the asset group, an impairment loss equal to the excess of the asset’s carrying value over its fair value is recorded. Fair value is determined based upon estimated discounted future cash flows. Assets to be disposed of, if any, are separately presented on our consolidated balance sheets and reported at the lower of their carrying amount or fair value less costs to sell, and are no longer depreciated or amortized.

Discontinued Operations

We report the results of operations of a business as discontinued operations if the disposal of a component represents a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on our operations and financial results. The results of discontinued operations are reported in discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations for current and prior periods commencing in the period in which the business meets the criteria of a discontinued operation, and include any gain or loss recognized on closing or adjustment of the carrying amount to fair value less cost to sell.

On August 1, 2014, we completed the Separation of Rightside from Demand Media, resulting in two independent, publicly traded companies. Following the Separation, Rightside operates our former domain name services business, while we continue to own and operate our Content & Media and Marketplaces businesses. The financial results of Rightside are presented as discontinued operations in our consolidated statements of operations for the years ended

December 31, 2014 and 2013.  We reclassified the following activity in our consolidated statements of operations from continuing operations to discontinued operations (in thousands):

Income Taxes

We account for our income taxes using the liability and asset method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or in our tax returns. In estimating future tax consequences, generally all expected future events other than enactments or changes in the tax law or rates are considered. Deferred income taxes are recognized for differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities at the enacted statutory tax rates in effect for the years in which the temporary differences are expected to reverse. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets, and valuation allowances are provided when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amounts expected to be realized.

We operate in various tax jurisdictions and are subject to audit by various tax authorities. We believe any adjustments that may ultimately be required as a result of any of these audits will not be material to our consolidated financial statements.

We recognize a tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the consolidated financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon settlement. We recognize interest and penalties accrued related to unrecognized tax benefits in our income tax (benefit) provision in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Our evaluations of uncertain tax positions are based upon their technical merits, and relevant tax law and the specific facts and circumstances as of each reporting period. Changes in facts and circumstances could result in material changes to the amounts recorded for such tax contingencies.

We calculate our current and deferred tax provision based on estimates and assumptions that could differ from the actual results reflected in income tax returns filed in subsequent years. Adjustments based on filed returns are recorded when identified. The amount of income taxes we pay is subject to ongoing audits by federal, state and foreign tax authorities. Our estimate of the potential outcome of any uncertain tax issue is subject to management’s assessment of relevant risks, facts, and circumstances existing at that time. To the extent that our assessment of such tax positions changes, the change in estimate is recorded in the period in which the determination is made.

Stock-based Compensation 

We measure and recognize compensation expense for all stock-based payment awards made to employees, non-employees and directors based on the grant date fair values of the awards. For stock option awards to employees with service based vesting conditions, the fair value is estimated using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model. The value of an award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as expense over the requisite service periods in our consolidated statements of operations. We elected to treat stock-based payment awards with graded vesting schedules and time-based service conditions as a single award and recognize stock-based compensation expense on a straight-line basis (net of estimated forfeitures) over the requisite service period. Stock-based compensation expenses are classified in the consolidated statement of operations based on the department to which the related employee reports. Our stock-based awards are comprised principally of stock options, restricted stock units and, in the past, restricted stock awards.

The Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model requires management to make assumptions and to apply judgment in determining the fair value of our awards. The most significant assumptions and judgments include the expected volatility, expected term of the award and estimated forfeiture rates.

We estimated the expected volatility of our awards from the historical volatility of selected public companies within the Internet and media industry with comparable characteristics to Demand Media, including similarity in size, lines of business, market capitalization, revenue and financial leverage. We calculated the weighted average expected life of our options based upon our historical experience of option exercises combined with estimates of the post-vesting holding period. The-risk free interest rate is based on the implied yield currently available on U.S. Treasury issues with terms approximately equal to the expected life of the option. The expected dividend rate is zero as we currently have no history or expectation of paying cash dividends on our common stock. The forfeiture rate is established based on applicable historical forfeiture patterns adjusted for any expected changes in future periods.

Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our results of operations for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of financial results is not necessarily indicative of future results.