Perion Network notified by Microsoft Bing of decision to exclude some publishers

Perion Network (PERI) announced updated Q2 and full-year 2024 financial guidance. In recent days, Perion was notified by Microsoft (MSFT) Bing of its decision to exclude a number of publishers from its search distribution marketplace. Similar notices were provided to other Microsoft Bing search distribution partners. As a result of these actions, in addition to the changes in advertising pricing and mechanisms implemented by Microsoft Bing during the first quarter of 2024, search revenue from the company’s agreement with Microsoft Bing is expected to represent less than 5% of Perion’s revenue in the second half of 2024. As the company continues to work with other search engines, our agreement with Microsoft Bing is no longer material to Perion. Perion is updating its second quarter and full-year guidance to reflect these actions by Microsoft Bing. While these actions are the primary driver of the reduced EBITDA guidance, Perion has also seen a recent decline in revenue from standard video and display formats. The company believes these declines reflect market conditions as well as a transition to higher premium formats that offer advertisers higher ROI. Perion continues to see increased revenue from higher premium formats but not at a level sufficient to offset the revenue decrease from this change.