LiveOne said fiscal 2026 was a turnaround year, with annual revenue of $77.1 million and a near break-even adjusted EBITDA result, while the company’s fourth quarter returned to positive adjusted EBITDA. Still, investors sent the stock lower, with shares falling 12.75% to $5.305 from $6.08 after the report. The company did not provide a forecast for the quarter in the materials reviewed, but management raised fiscal 2027 guidance and pointed to a pipeline of new partnerships, AI licensing opportunities and continued balance-sheet repair.
LiveOne described fiscal 2026 as a year of recovery after losing Tesla, its largest customer. Chief Executive Rob Ellen said the company “lost $65 million out of $75 million in revenues” at one point, but still managed to rebuild its operations through cost cuts, debt reduction and growth at PodcastOne.
The most important improvement came from the podcast business. PodcastOne generated $61.7 million in revenue for the year, up from $17 million when LiveOne acquired the business, according to Ellen. He said the unit swung to $6.3 million in adjusted EBITDA from a $6.5 million loss at acquisition, a $12 million change.
Slacker, the company’s music service, also improved. Revenue was $11.8 million for the year, and adjusted EBITDA was negative $200,000. In the fourth quarter, Slacker posted $2.6 million in revenue and $600,000 in adjusted EBITDA.
The company said it also reduced corporate overhead to about $2.7 million to $3 million per quarter and completed a major balance-sheet cleanup. Management said the business is now positioned for further growth through partnerships, acquisitions and AI-related monetization.
- Debt and equity actions: more than $15 million of equity converted at $7.50 a share, with junior debt fully paid down.
The company’s financial position remains challenging despite these improvements. LiveOne’s current ratio stands at 0.54, indicating short-term liquidity pressure, while levered free cash flow was negative $16.21 million in the last twelve months. InvestingPro assigns the company a "WEAK" financial health score of 1.35, and subscribers can access 8 additional ProTips—including insights on cash burn and profitability—plus a comprehensive Pro Research Report covering LiveOne and 1,400+ other US equities.
No quarterly EPS or revenue forecast was provided for the reported period, so a direct beat-or-miss comparison is not available. Even so, the results showed a clear operational improvement.
The most notable figure was the fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $300,000, which moved the company back into positive territory after a difficult year. Full-year adjusted EBITDA was still slightly negative at $900,000, but that is a major improvement for a company that said it absorbed a large revenue hit after losing Tesla.
PodcastOne’s annual revenue of $61.7 million also stood out as a record, and its $6.3 million in adjusted EBITDA marked a strong swing from the business it was when acquired. That kind of improvement is more important here than a single-quarter earnings surprise, because the company is still in a turnaround phase and investors are watching for sustained operating leverage.
LiveOne shares fell 12.75% to $5.305 from $6.08 after the report. The stock is now closer to the lower end of its 52-week range of $3.7 to $9.2, trading about 22.6% above the low and 42.3% below the high.
The decline suggests investors were not fully convinced by the company’s turnaround story, even though management highlighted better profitability, lower debt and stronger guidance. The stock move may also reflect concern about the timing of future revenue, since many of the company’s new partnerships are still early and management said meaningful revenue can take 90 to 180 days or longer to build.
No trading volume data was provided, so unusual volume could not be confirmed.
LiveOne raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to revenue of $85 million to $95 million and adjusted EBITDA of $8 million to $10 million. Management said the forecast assumes continued growth from business-to-business partnerships, stable operating expenses and limited headcount additions.
The company said it expects revenue from new deals to ramp later in the year. Management cited recent and pending partnerships with AT&T, Samsung, LG, Vizio and a major retailer with more than 50 million monthly subscribers. It also said an accretive acquisition is expected soon, along with the announcement of a new president.
Beyond core operations, LiveOne is betting on AI licensing. Ellen said the company’s 250,000 hours of video and more than 500,000 hours of audio content could be licensed to AI developers, with revenue recognition expected “imminently.” He also said the company expects to benefit from the broader consolidation of the podcast and media markets.
Ellen called the year “transformational” and said the company’s subsidiaries “fought through this year and battled and turned this around.” He said the turnaround came after severe pressure from the loss of Tesla and debt holders.
He also praised PodcastOne leader Kit Gray, saying, “Kit Gray showed up as our Jalen Brunson,” and credited him for growing the business from $17 million in revenue at acquisition to $61 million this year.
On the balance sheet, Ellen said, “We have now paid down all of our junior debt. We have now converted over $15 million of equity at $7.5 a share. We have cleansed our balance sheet dramatically.” He added that the company is now in the “best shape we’ve ever been in.”
Analysts focused on four main areas: the AT&T partnership, AI licensing, Tesla conversion rates and the timing of new revenue.
Questions from Barry Sine of Litchfield Hills Research centered on AT&T’s structure and revenue timing. Ellen said the deal is a three-way arrangement involving AT&T, Cisco and LiveOne, with access to 67 million to 70 million subscribers.
Barry Sine also asked about AI monetization. Ellen said multiple parties are pursuing licensing deals for LiveOne and PodcastOne content, and he described the company’s audio and video archives as valuable training data for AI models.
Brian Kinstlinger of Alliance Global Partners asked about Tesla conversion metrics. Ellen said LiveOne has 1.3 million active Tesla users, with recent monthly conversion rates of about 1% to 2%, and estimated the paid subscriber base at about 200,000.
Kinstlinger also asked about the ramp for new TV and carrier partnerships. Ellen said meaningful revenue usually takes 90 to 180 days, though some deals, such as Amazon and Paramount, took much longer to become material.
Conference Call Operator: Good morning, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to LiveOne’s fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended March 31st, 2026 financial results and business update conference call. During today’s call, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be opened for questions. Presenting on today’s call is Rob Ellen, CEO and Chairman of LiveOne, and Craig Christensen, Interim CFO of LiveOne. I would like to remind you that some of the statements made on today’s call are forward-looking and are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve various risks and uncertainties. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future performance of the company, including expected future financial results and expected future growth in the business. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed on this call for a variety of reasons.
Please refer to the company’s filings with the SEC for information about factors which could cause the company’s actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, including those described in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31st, 2026, and subsequent SEC filings. You’ll find reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures discussed today in the company’s earnings release, which is posted on its investor relations website. The company encourages you to periodically visit its investor relations website for important content. The following discussion, including responses to your questions, contains time-sensitive information and reflects management’s view as of the date of this call, June 24th, 2026. Except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise this information after today’s call.
I’d like to highlight to all participants that this call is being recorded. The company will make it available to investors and media via webcast, and a replay will be available on its website in the investor relations section shortly following the conclusion of this call. Additionally, it is the property of the company, and any redistribution, transmission, or rebroadcast of this call or the webcast in any form without the company’s expressed written consent is strictly prohibited. Now, I would like to turn the call over to LiveOne’s CEO, Rob Ellen.
Rob Ellen, CEO and Chairman, LiveOne: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. This has been a transformational year for LiveOne. I want to start by applauding my team at LiveOne, at PodcastOne, at Slacker, and our merch business. Each of those subsidiaries have fought through this year and battled and turned this around. LiveOne reported this morning $77 million in revenues. Our audio business, $73 million, $73.5 million and $6.1 million in EBITDA. This is hugely transformative for the company. It’s been a tough battle. In 30-plus years of running public companies, we lost our major customer, Tesla. We lost $65 million out of $75 million in revenues. We took punches from our debt holders, our banks, our investors in a brutal market. At one point, it felt like the Knicks game. I’m wearing my Knicks hat today as this was comeback time for LiveOne. Our teams rallied and did n