EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1576427
Filing Year: 2023
Filename: 1576427_10-K_2023_0001576427-23-000023.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business
History and Development of the Company
Criteo S.A. was initially incorporated as a société par actions simplifiée, or S.A.S., under the laws of the French Republic on November 3, 2005, for a period of 99 years and subsequently converted to a société anonyme, or S.A. We are registered at the Paris Commerce and Companies Register under the number 484 786 249. Our agent for service of process in the United States ("U.S.") is National Registered Agents, Inc.
Business Overview
We are the global Commerce Media company that enables marketers and media owners to drive better commerce outcomes. We leverage commerce data and artificial intelligence ("AI") to connect ecommerce, digital marketing and media monetization to reach consumers throughout their shopping journey. Our vision is to bring richer experiences to every consumer by supporting a fair and open internet that enables discovery, innovation, and choice - powered by trusted and impactful advertising. Since 2018, and accelerating since 2020, we have deeply transformed the Company from a single-product to a multi-solution platform provider, fast diversifying our business into new solutions.
We enable brands', retailers' and media owners’ growth by providing best-in-class marketing and monetization services and infrastructure on the open Internet, driving approximately $30 billion of commerce outcomes for our customers - in the form of product sales for retailers, brands and marketers and advertising revenues for media owners. We differentiate ourselves by delivering the best performing commerce audiences at scale and we deliver this value by activating commerce data in a privacy-by-design way through proprietary AI technology to reach and engage consumers in real time with highly relevant digital advertisements ("ads") based on shared characteristics across all stages of the consumer journey. Our data offers deep insights into consumer intent and purchasing habits.
Our focus is on commerce media. As of December 31, 2022, we served approximately 22,000 clients including many of the largest and most sophisticated consumer brands, retailers, commerce companies and media owners in the world. We partner with them to capture user activity on their websites and mobile applications ("apps"), which we define as digital properties, and leverage that data to deliver superior ad performance to help marketers, brands and agencies reach their campaign objectives from top to bottom of the marketing funnel. This includes powering the retail media ecosystem as we enable brands to reach shoppers with relevant ads near the digital point of sale on retailer and marketplace websites while enabling retailers to monetize their ad inventory and add a new, high margin revenue stream. In each of the last three years, our average client retention rate, as measured on a quarterly basis, was approximately 90%.
Demonstrating the depth and scale of our commerce data, we have exposure to over $1 trillion in online sales transactions on our clients' digital properties in the year ended December 31, 2022. Based on this data and other assets, we activated over $3 billion of media spend on behalf of our clients and delivered 1.8 trillion targeted ads in the year ended December 31, 2022.
We have established our leading market position in commerce media by focusing on three key assets that differentiate us: actionable commerce data, extensive media access, and world-class predictive AI technology. Our large dataset is uniquely focused on commerce and shoppers, our media access across our broad direct network of media owner partners provides large consumer reach as we see over 750 million daily active users, and our purpose-built AI technology activates this data and media to drive multiple commerce outcomes for our customers. We continuously innovate, broaden our reach and leverage and strengthen Criteo’s Buyer Index, one of the world's biggest privacy-compliant data sets built through collaboration within our open ecosystem of marketer and media owner clients. Criteo's Buyer Index uses shopper intent data mapped to contextual signals to drive superior marketing outcomes.
Each day, we are presented with billions of opportunities to connect consumers with relevant advertising messages from our commerce and consumer brand clients in compliance with the highest privacy standards, including the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"). For each of these opportunities, our algorithms analyze massive volumes of shopping data to predict consumer preferences and intent, and deliver specific messaging for products or services that are likely to engage that particular consumer. The accuracy of our algorithms improves with every ad we deliver, as they incorporate new data while continuing to learn from prior interactions.
Historically, the legacy Criteo model had focused solely on converting our clients' website visitors into customers, enabling us to charge our clients when users engage with an ad we deliver, usually by clicking on it. This pay-for-performance pricing model clearly links the cost of an advertising campaign to its effectiveness and performance in driving conversions, and continues to be valued as such by our clients. We have since expanded our solutions to address a broader range of marketing and monetization goals for our clients, including audience targeting and brand awareness. We leverage pricing models consistent with industry standards that include cost-per click, cost-per-impression and cost-per-install, as well as volume-based fees for brands and large retailers using our Retail Media solutions, and, in certain cases, a set fee for the use of our platform capabilities.
In August 2022, we acquired the business of IPONWEB Holding Limited ("IPONWEB"), a market-leading AdTech company with world-class media trading capabilities, for $250 million, including approximately $180 million paid in cash and approximately $70 million paid in Criteo treasury shares at closing. The acquisition includes a potential earn-out consideration of up to $100 million to be paid in cash subject to certain financial and other performance milestones to be achieved in 2022 and 2023. This strategic acquisition is expected to accelerate our Commerce Media Platform vision by adding scale, complementary products, and stronger first-party data capabilities, further reducing our reliance on third-party cookies and other identifiers.
During 2022, we operated in 94 countries.
Our financial results include:
•Revenue of $2,017.0 million, $2,254.2 million and $2,072.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Gross profit of $795.2 million, $781.9 million and $688.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Contribution excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs, or Contribution ex-TAC, which is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, of $928.2 million, $920.8 million and $825.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Net income of $10.9 million, $137.6 million and $74.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively; and
•Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, of $267.3 million, $322.5 million and $251.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Please see the Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliation, included in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in this Form 10-K for reconciliations from Gross Profit to Contribution ex-TAC and net income to Adjusted EBITDA, in each case the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States or "U.S. GAAP".
Industry Trends
We operate in commerce media, the fourth wave in digital advertising, leveraging our performance assets along with our Retail Media expertise to deliver impactful ads and reach consumers throughout their shopping journey, when they are the most willing to purchase.
We believe the following trends are relevant in assessing our current and future business.
Ecommerce is Booming: According to eMarketer, global retail ecommerce penetration is expected to grow to 24% in 2025, up from 19% in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the boom of ecommerce as brands and retailers rapidly transformed their ecommerce presence. Ecommerce growth creates more advertising inventory in places where commerce audiences are, and it increases our ability to attract more ad spend. We are ideally positioned to complement Amazon and enable brands, agencies and retailers to activate commerce beyond Amazon, an opportunity which represents approximately 73% of consumers' online shopping1.
First-Party Data Unlocks Huge Potential: Amazon opened the way in the commerce media category, and other large retailers also leverage their shoppers’ first-party data to drive momentum to their advertising revenue. Many more retailers are now following suit in creating media experiences around their content assets utilizing their first-party data to curate and monetize their audiences. Driving advertising spend to their content requires advertising technology ("AdTech") and a huge network of shared data.
Trade Marketing Shifts to Digital: Brands have been taking advantage of this surge in ecommerce and accelerating the shift of their trade marketing budgets to online to address consumers at the digital point of sales, recreating in-store experiences on digital shelves. According to LUMA Partners, online trade marketing represents a market opportunity of approximately $80 billion and it is growing rapidly. This potential of digital trade marketing is enabling significant growth in the supply of retail media, available for brands to bid on to promote their products.
Brands, Retailers and Publishers Increasingly Depend on AdTech Partners: As technology quickly evolves in today's highly competitive environment, AdTech becomes increasingly critical for marketers. Consumers' shopping journeys are fragmented across multiple environments, websites, apps, devices, and physical stores, and we believe most marketers increasingly look at diversifying their significant reliance on walled-garden digital advertising partners, as walled gardens are closed online environments where advertisers have less access to customer data and less control over how to measure success. Changes in online identity make the environment more complex for both marketers and media owners around addressability and measurement, and require brands and retailers to better leverage AdTech providers to solve these problems for them. The ability for media owners, retailers, brands and agencies to identify users, create and monetize commerce audiences, and drive sales and customer loyalty, today relies on having the right technology partner, able to activate the right data in an efficient way and measure the results in a transparent way across channels.
Addressable Market
Starting with Retail Media, we estimate that our serviceable available market (excluding Amazon and China), or SAM, will reach $42 billion in advertising spend that we activate on behalf of our clients by 2025. We also estimate that our serviceable available market for the broader Commerce Media opportunity is expected to reach $110 billion in advertising spend by 2025.
When including Amazon and China, the Total Addressable Market, or TAM, for Commerce Media is expected to reach $290 billion in advertising spend by 2025.
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1 Source: eMarketer
Criteo's Transformation
Since 2018, and accelerating since 2020, Criteo has deeply transformed itself from a single-product (retargeting) to a multi-solution Commerce Media platform provider, fast diversifying the business. As of Q4 2022, non-Retargeting solutions represented approximately 47% of Contribution ex-TAC, compared to 32% in Q4 2021.
The Criteo Commerce Media Platform
We have made significant progress in our transformation journey to meet the needs of brands, marketers, retailers, and media owners in the evolving commerce landscape. With our unique Commerce Media Platform, we offer marketer and media owner clients a single platform for first-party data-based marketing and monetization, that provides a holistic suite of solutions, powered by AI technology and activates the world’s largest set of commerce data.
Our technology is optimized to drive trusted and impactful business outcomes efficiently and effectively for our brand, retailer and media owner clients. These include, for example, driving engagement for our clients' brand, shop, app, products and services, driving product sales, driving app installs and consumer visits, driving product consideration from targeted commerce audiences, or driving advertising revenue for media owners and retailers by monetizing their data and audiences with consumer brands.
The Criteo Commerce Media Platform is focused on performance, outcomes, commerce audiences, retail media and measurement. It is made available as individual products and services as part of our offering.
On the demand side:
•Commerce Max is a Commerce self-service Demand Side Platform (“DSP”) used by brands, agencies and retailers, enabling media planning and buying on retailer and open internet inventories leveraging Criteo's AI atop approved retailer data and unique commerce data, all with closed-loop product-level conversion measurement. .
•Commerce Growth is a powerful, self-service performance marketing tool used by Direct-to-Consumer brands and their agencies to activate outcomes-optimized customer acquisition and retention objectives.
On the supply side:
•Commerce Yield is a Commerce Media monetization stack and ad server giving retailers and marketplaces full control to achieve maximum monetization of their digital assets through inventory and data management, packaging, and in-depth insights.
•Commerce Grid is a Commerce Media Supply Side Platform ("SSP") giving media owners the control to optimize the monetization of their inventory and data assets.
Criteo's solutions work seamlessly across digital devices (desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets), commerce and advertising environments (browsers, apps, connected TV and physical retail stores), platforms and operating systems (Windows, Android, iOS/MacOS), advertising channels and formats (display, including social and native, online video, connected TV and ads on retailers' properties) and media environments (retail media, thousands of direct publishers and mobile app developers in the open Internet, and all major real-time bidding exchanges).
Criteo First-Party Media Network
Our First-Party Media Network is a component of our Commerce Media Platform and represents the combination of our unique data and media assets. It is the powerful combination of our network of direct relationships with media owners, including retailers, together with our Buyer Index dataset focused on commerce and shoppers that powers Criteo's First-Party Media Network.
Our First-Party Media Network enables consented data to interoperate across marketers, retailers and publishers to engage addressable consumers on a one-to-one basis. It also acts as our Truth set to predict how commerce audiences behave and how ads will perform and convert in the same way. We believe that the amount of addressability data we operate in environments that are deprived of third-party signals will allow us to remain effective at private, safe consumer engagement, to drive the best outcomes for our clients and to capture increasingly more advertising budgets.
Our First-Party Media Network won the 2021 Digiday Media Award for best first-party strategy.
Our Data assets: our first-party data-based Buyer Index
Our data assets include privacy-safe insights derived from our clients' proprietary commerce data about their own consumers, such as transaction activity on their digital properties, giving us exposure to over $1 trillion in online sales on a combined basis in 2022, representing approximately 40% of the global retail ecommerce sales excluding China1, or $2.7 billion worth of transactions per day on average.
Through direct integration with our clients' digital properties, we obtain large volumes of consented first-party data, expressed consumer shopping intent and engagement, and transactional data at individual product or service levels, which do not rely on cross-site tracking technologies, such as third-party cookies. The information we collect is anonymized and does not enable us to personally identify any individual consumer.
Our high quality first-party data assets help fuel the accuracy of our algorithms, which improve with the increasing quantity and quality of the data we obtain from our marketer and media owner customers and partners, as well as insights gained through our own extensive operational history. The combination of marketer data, media owner data and proprietary metadata gives us powerful insights into consumer purchasing habits that we use to price media inventory and create relevant ads to drive user engagement and impactful commerce outcomes for our customers. In addition to commerce data at the granular product SKU level, we seek to use as much relevant information as possible about the context and intent of a given user, collected from customers and media owner partners, to further refine our prediction accuracy.
We believe our access to first-party commerce data validates the trust that our clients place in us and differentiates us. Most of our clients typically provide real-time access to the products or services a visitor has viewed, researched, added to their shopping cart, or bought from them, and continuously receive updated information on over 4 billion products or services across 3,500 product categories, including pricing, images and descriptions. Many of our clients also provide us with their customers' purchase history data in formats that preserve privacy.
Over the years, we have built data collectives through data pooling amongst many of our marketer clients and media owner partners. The combination of these data collectives forms Criteo’s Buyer Index. For each of these data collectives, we ask our clients to grant us the permission to mutualize a significant portion of their proprietary data in an anonymized way with other clients who also contribute data to this collective data pool. With Criteo’s Buyer Index, we have built one of the world's largest and most open data sets focused on shoppers and their commerce activity across retailers and brands, and their activity on media owners’ properties.
The Criteo Buyer Index is comprised of the following data collectives:
•The Identity Graph allows us to match user identifiers provided by clients and publishers across devices and environments, both online and offline. Our algorithms link user identifiers together when they are deemed to belong to the same user. Examples of user identifiers, collected from our customers and partners, and part of our Identity Graph include: hashed customer logins and hashed emails, first-party and third-party cookies, app identifiers such as Android's AAID, in addition to linkages such as LiveRamp's IdentityLink. The graph has billions of identifiers, which we believe cover over 750 million unique Daily Active Users globally, for whom we collect commerce data in real time. In addition, the Identity Graph allows us to leverage offline CRM data of our clients' physical stores to match it with online user profiles, based on their offline shopping history.
•The Interest Map collects and organizes consumer intent and purchasing data across our network of commerce clients to build a comprehensive and accurate non-identifying shopper profile for all consumers on whom we have collected data. Our Interest Map applications include the Universal Catalog, which provides category and/or brand enrichment, as well as a unified view of the 4 billion products SKUs, across 3,500 product categories, available across the combined catalogs of our 22,000 commerce clients2. Every day, we have exposure to data on close to $3 billion in online sales on average through 75 million buyer journeys. With the Interest Map, we seek our clients' permission to use their data, on an aggregated and anonymized basis, to power products that are jointly offered to our clients in the collective.
The design and governance of Criteo’s Buyer Index are based on strict and differentiated guiding principles:
•Openness: we commit to a two-way exchange of data with our marketer and media owner clients and partners, whereby all parties contributing data to the collectives, in return for their contribution, benefit from the collective dataset via the Commerce Media Platform, and access cross-device user IDs and relevant Key Performance Indicators to better inform and optimize their advertising with us.
•Transparency: our clients' contribution and sharing of data within the data pools are based on a clear and permission-based usage by Criteo for the mutual benefits of all participants in the data collectives.
•Security: we apply high levels of data security and user privacy standards to the data we hold and manage for ourselves and our clients.
•Fairness: our data collectives are designed and governed in ways such that the value gained by each participant largely exceeds the individual contribution to the collectives, irrespective of the participant’s size.
Consistent with our data minimization principles, our technologies only rely on categories of data that are strictly necessary for the purpose of our services. This means that the user information we collect relates primarily to purchase intent. In addition, we provide consumers with easy-to-use and easy-to-access mechanisms to control their advertising experience and opt out of receiving targeted ads we deliver. This transparent, consumer-centric, and controllable approach to privacy empowers consumers to make better-informed decisions about our use of their data. We also actively encourage our clients and media owner partners to provide transparent and clear information to consumers about our collection and use of data relating to the ads we deliver and monitor.
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1 Source: eMarketer.
2 Products are not unique and may appear in the catalogs of different customers.
Our Media assets: our first-party media integrations and media buying scale
We provide our marketer clients with extensive real-time access to advertising inventory through direct relationships with thousands of media owner partners, as well as selective supply side partnerships. We define inventory as the combination of desktop web, mobile web, mobile in-app display, including social and native, online video displays, connected TV, and ad inventory on major retail ecommerce properties, including standard banners, native and sponsored product formats.
In some cases, we have negotiated direct and privileged access with publishers, giving us the opportunity to select, buy and price, on an impression-per-impression basis and in real time: (1) inventory that a publisher might otherwise only sell subject to minimum volume commitments; and/or (2) particular ad impressions before such impressions are made available to other potential buyers. Among their multiple benefits, these direct relationships can give us privileged access to first-party publisher data which allow us to bid on impressions without using third-party cookies or other third-party identifiers.
Many of our direct publisher partners have granted us preferred access to portions of their inventory because of our ability to effectively monetize that inventory. For example, within Criteo Retail Media, we access inventory and first-party data from ecommerce sites that are generally not available to traditional advertising demand. We believe this inventory and data from ecommerce retailers is particularly valuable for consumer brands looking to advertise their products in a multi-brand retail environment.
We price and buy inventory in real time and typically do not pre-buy any impression. In addition, in some instances, we may commit to buying minimum volumes of impressions to certain publisher partners. Across both our direct publisher relationships and inventory purchasing done on Real-Time Bidding (RTB) exchanges, we leverage our commerce-focused machine learning technology, also called the Criteo AI Engine, to value available advertising inventory quickly and accurately, and utilize that information to bid for inventory on a programmatic, automated basis.
Alongside our existing technologies to integrate directly with publishers, we have developed Criteo Direct Bidder, our header-bidding technology now integrated with Iponweb's publisher SSP, The MediaGrid. Header-bidding allows publishers to make their inventory simultaneously available for public auction to several competitive bidders, including RTB exchanges. Thanks to our large scale, Criteo Direct Bidder allows us to connect directly to the ad server of publishers in situations where publishers use header bidding to monetize their inventory, allowing us, among other advantages, to bypass RTB exchanges in the bidding process and to save publishers the take-rate RTBs would typically charge them. As a result, Criteo Direct Bidder helps publishers increase the average monetization of their inventory sold through Criteo Direct Bidder, relative to our overall spend through all channels. Using Criteo Direct Bidder, we were connected to publishers globally, on both web and apps, including: IBM Watson Advertising (The Weather Channel), Globo, OLX, NBC, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Leboncoin, Daily Mail, Viber, Axel Springer's websites, Marktplaats, M6, AJA Japan and EstSoft.
We take a variety of brand safety measures to ensure that the brand equity of our clients is preserved at all possible times. These measures include determining that each publisher's inventory meets our content requirements and those of our clients to ensure that their ads are not shown in inappropriate content categories, such as, for example, adult, violence, harassment or hate speech. In addition, we are an active member of the Coalition for Better Ads, supported by Google, and are compliant with their recommendations for user-friendly advertising formats. Criteo’s AI Engine is also integrated with Oracle Contextual Intelligence, a solution providing real-time content review and page-level pre-bid classification to clients across 11 standard brand safety categories. In recognition of our efforts to combat fraud and ensure a brand safe digital ecosystem for our advertisers, Criteo has been independently certified by the Trustworthy Accountability Group for the Certification Against Fraud and the Brand Safety Certification.
We believe that our ability to efficiently access, value and monetize inventory at scale results in a deeply liquid marketplace for both buyers and sellers of advertising, allowing us to deliver effective ads at the right price for our clients, even as the size and complexity of the marketing campaign increases.
Criteo AI Engine
Criteo AI Engine consists of multiple artificial intelligence algorithms, and the proprietary global hardware and software infrastructure that enables the Commerce Media Platform to operate in real time at significant scale, and activate our commerce datasets and unique media for effective marketing and monetization.
Criteo AI Engine leverages the Buyer Index, with the goal of maximizing consumer engagement to drive impactful business outcomes for clients through the delivery of highly relevant and personalized ads in real time.
Criteo AI Engine consists of:
•Lookalike finder algorithms. These algorithms create user audiences, or groups of consumers likely to be interested in and engage with a specific category of our clients’ products or services, from a predetermined audience seed based on other clients’ audiences that were already targeted and exposed to similar products or services in the context of previous advertising campaigns. Once created, these audiences are used by Criteo AI Engine as targets to reach and be exposed to tailored ads for relevant products or services for the purpose of a dedicated campaign. This set of algorithms typically supports Commerce Audiences campaigns to drive new prospects to consider brands, products or services with which they have not yet engaged in the past.
•Recommendation algorithms. These algorithms create ads tailored to specific consumer interest and intent by determining the specific products or services to include in the ad. These products and services may be ones that the consumer has already been exposed to, or that the algorithms predict the customer could be interested in. Alternatively, these may be products and services that other consumers within Criteo Buyer Index have been interested in.
•Dynamic Creative Optimization+ (DCO+). Based on the results of our dynamic creative algorithms, Criteo AI Engine automatically and dynamically assembles customized creative ad content on an impression-per-impression basis in real time, by optimizing each individual creative component in the ad, from the font, color, size and format of product images to the "call to action" or price discount. Our patented Dynamic Creative Optimization+ technology offers virtually unlimited personalization, with up to 17 trillion visual ad variations, without the need to define ad sizes or layouts upfront, while always maintaining the consistency of our clients' brand image.
•Predictive bidding algorithms. These algorithms predict the probability and nature of a user's engagement with a given ad. Such predicted user engagement can take the form of, for example, customer site visits, clicks, conversions, shopping basket value, specific product categories purchased, or even the gross margin of the purchased product or service that our client generates from such purchase. This prediction of engagement incorporates data from our marketer clients, our media owner clients and partners, including user intent, who our client is, the products offered in the ad, as well as data on the creative content of the ad and the media context in which the ad is displayed, as well as third-party sources. Together with our recommendation algorithms, the prediction algorithms allow us to determine the most appropriate price to pay for an ad impression, based on an individual user's predicted engagement, what our client is willing to pay for that engagement, as well as Criteo's own target margin (or economic "take rate" retained by Criteo) from placing that individual ad. Our bidding engine executes campaigns based on certain objectives set by our clients (such as cost-per-click, cost-per-order, cost-of-sales, cost-per-visit, cost-per-impression, cost-per-install or total campaign budget). After a bid for an ad impression is placed and won, Criteo AI Engine assembles and delivers individualized ads, and provides campaign reporting in near-real time.
•Software systems and processes. Our algorithms are supported by robust software infrastructure that allows us to operate seamlessly at a large scale through our network of approximately 45,000 servers as of the end of 2022. The architecture and processing capabilities of this technology have been designed to match the massive computational demands and complexity of our algorithms in real time. This technology enables data synchronization, storage and analysis across a large-scale distributed computing infrastructure in multiple geographies, as well as fast data collection and retrieval using multi-layered caching infrastructure.
•Experimentation platform. Our Research & Development team continuously tunes our Criteo AI Engine via experimentation and A/B tests. For example, in 2022, we performed about 1,500 online A/B tests and over 100,000 offline experiments and tests. We use an online/offline testing platform to improve the capabilities and effectiveness of our prediction models by measuring the correlation of specific parameters with user engagement, usually measured by consumer visits, clicks and conversions, typically in the form of sales. A dedicated team is constantly testing new types and sources of data, as well as new variables, to determine whether they help diminish the gap between, for example, predicted visits, click-throughs and conversions, and actual visits, click-throughs and conversions over the course of a live campaign.
A key attribute of Criteo AI Engine is the vast metadata of learnings on marketing and commerce effectiveness that we have accumulated from having delivered and measured responses to close to 12.5 trillion advertising impressions since our Company's inception.
We have long established and adopted Privacy-by-design as a central element of our technology and product design and development cycles, with a strong commitment to ensuring best practices in privacy, security and safety for consumers and our marketer and media owner customers. Since 2013, we have had a designated Data Privacy Officer along with a team of privacy experts. These experts are part of our R&D and Product organizations, and consider all facets of user privacy for the design of any new technology, solution or feature of the Commerce Media Platform. They also perform ongoing Privacy Impact Assessments to monitor potential risks during the product lifecycle and proactively mitigate those risks. The Data Privacy team delivers company-wide privacy training, enforces our privacy policies and is integral to ensuring that we build the best solutions and services. We regularly review and document our internal privacy policies, amend existing policies as necessary and enforce these policies with our clients, media owner partners and vendors.
Our Segments
Criteo reports its business results for three operating and reportable segments: Marketing Solutions, Retail Media and Iponweb.
•Marketing Solutions allow commerce companies to connect with their most valuable audiences to achieve their customer acquisition and retention goals.
◦Examples of expected business outcomes driven by Criteo Marketing Solutions include:
▪Discovery: creating and building brand awareness for a client's existing or new product or service, by targeting relevant high-quality consumer audiences showing intent for that particular product or service and reaching these audiences, for example, through online video ads and through Connected TV channels;
▪Choice: driving visits from new prospects on the website of our clients, or driving installations of our clients' apps by new consumers, by engaging such commerce audiences online (either on the web, in apps or on connected TV), with personalized ads offering products or services tailored to their predicted interest;
▪Purchase: driving sales for commerce clients by engaging consumers online, with personalized ads offering products or services for which they have already expressed shopping intent; or driving more sales from existing customers of our commerce clients, by accurately targeting and re-engaging these existing customers online with personalized ads offering new products or services that they have not yet purchased nor been exposed to.
Our clients' use and consumption of Criteo Marketing Solutions is made flexible through a set of tools and services, including:
▪Access to an integrated self-service client interface that reduces unnecessary complexity and cost associated with manual processes of having to use multiple DSPs and sources of inventory supply.
▪We also offer a managed-service approach to our larger clients, providing deep business intelligence and analytics services. Our teams of advisers aid our larger clients in setting goals for, extracting insights from, and evaluating trends and performance of their various advertising campaigns with us across multiple marketing goals, sources of inventory, advertising channels and formats, and the multiple digital devices that consumers may use.
In Marketing Solutions, our Commerce Audiences solutions are focused on attracting more customers for our marketer clients and growing their existing customer relationships with an always-on strategy, leveraging our AI engine to engage commerce audiences with the right ad for each opportunity:
•Increase awareness and interest in a brand, product, or services;
•Attract new consumers to an online and/or offline store;
•Generate leads from consumers who are in market for a brand, product or services;
•Get more shoppers and grow sales on an online and/or offline store; and
•Encourage consumers who purchased in the past to make additional purchases.
For Criteo Marketing Solutions, we typically purchase inventory programmatically on a CPM basis from our direct publisher partners and RTBs, through standard terms and conditions for the purchase of advertising inventory. This means that inventory purchased for Criteo Marketing Solutions is paid to the publisher irrespective of whether the user engages, in whatever form, with the advertisement delivered on that publisher's digital property. Pursuant to such arrangements, we purchase impressions for users that Criteo recognizes on these publishers' digital properties. Such arrangements are cancellable upon short notice and without penalty.
•Retail Media assists retailers in generating high-margin advertising revenues from consumer brands looking to address multiple marketing goals, and to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital store (also called "onsite") or on media owner properties on the open Internet (also called "offsite").
◦Examples of expected business outcomes driven by Criteo Retail Media include:
▪generating advertising revenue for retailers on their online store, by providing retailers with self-service access to our technology platform for them to monetize their ad inventory, commerce data, traffic and audiences directly with consumer brands across various marketing goals;
▪driving sales for consumer brand clients on the site of retailer partners, by connecting consumer brands and retailers and engaging consumers on the retailer's digital property with personalized ads offering specific brand products available on the retailer's digital store and for which consumers have expressed interest; and
▪driving sales for consumer brand clients on the site of retailer partners, by connecting consumer brands and retailers and engaging consumers outside of the retailer property on the open Internet with personalized ads offering specific brand products available on the retailer's digital store and for which consumers have expressed interest.
◦Our retailer and brand customers respectively manage their Retail Media revenues and budgets using a self-service interface. We charge retailers a negotiated supply-side platform fee and sometimes a technology fee, while brands pay us a negotiated demand-side platform fee. In addition, we may charge brands a managed-service fee and other fees for accessing additional insights.
For Retail Media onsite, we do not incur our own media cost as retailers use our platform to sell their inventory directly to consumer brands and we bill and collect media cost on their behalf.
We believe Criteo Retail Media is a particularly differentiated offering in the marketplace with significant growth opportunities. We will continue to roll out our Retail Media offering to new markets and adjacent verticals, making the digital stores of large retailers a key advertising channel to generate high gross margin revenue from consumer brands. In addition, we intend to grow the number of retailers we work with in the U.S. and Europe, deepen our share of wallets with existing retailer and brand customers, accelerate our geographic expansion in the APAC region, grow our offsite advertising capabilities for brands across our premium publisher network on the open Internet with our Commerce Max DSP, grow Retail Media for retailer marketplaces, bring more commerce insights to brands as a key value-added service and provide brands with an integrated view on their Retail Media spend on retailer sites.
•Iponweb specializes in building real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and third-party AdTech platforms. It enhances our scale and brings complementary capabilities on both the demand and the supply side to accelerate the execution of our Commerce Media Platform strategy by:
▪Integrating Iponweb's BidCore DSP for mid- and upper-funnel marketing into Commerce Max to find valuable commerce audiences on retailer sites, extend to commerce audiences that exist offsite across the open internet, and cover the entire consumer buying journey;
▪Adding The MediaGrid SSP to our Criteo Direct Bidder to expand our direct publisher footprint and enhance first-party data distribution and activation potential;
▪Strengthening our own R&D capabilities and allow platform customization for our most strategic enterprise and agency clients; and
▪Leveraging the BidSwitch media trading marketplace, connecting 126 demand and 145 supply partners, to broaden the distribution of commerce audiences on the open Internet.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe the Commerce Media Platform is transforming digital marketing and media monetization for our clients. We enable brands' and retailers' growth by making their marketing and monetization efforts more efficient, effective and measurable by driving trusted and impactful business outcomes across multiple marketing goals. We believe the following competitive strengths, supported by our first-mover advantage and 16 years of deep machine learning and AI expertise, have enabled us and will continue to enable us to capture a significant share of our commerce media opportunity:
Shopper Data. Our First Party Media Network leverages massive amounts of granular first-party data focused on commerce and shopping behaviors, through data sharing among our clients. With an estimated 750 million unique Daily Active Users in our Identity Graph, we are building one of the largest data sets focused on shoppers, with a scope and scale among the largest in the industry. Close to $3 billion worth of daily transactions across 4 billion product SKUs from 3,500 product categories are incorporated into our graph, allowing us to analyze about 75 million daily buyer journeys.
Consumer Reach, Scale and Network Effects. Our large and loyal base of customers and first-party media owner partners provide for stability and positive network effects. As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately 22,000 clients, including some of the largest ecommerce/retailers companies in the world, and our client retention rate was approximately 90%. Our direct integrations on both the demand and supply sides ensure privacy-compliant access to first-party data, shielding from the consequences of third-party cookie limitations. As we continue to grow our client base, we continue to grow the number of users who interact with our ads, increasing our consumer reach and allowing us to benefit from greater scale when buying inventory from publisher partners, many of whom have granted us preferred access to portions of their advertising inventory. There are also significant opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell our product portfolio within our large existing customer base. As clients spend more with us and we attract more media inventory and deliver more ads, our data assets grow, enabling us to deliver even more precisely targeted and personalized ads and generate a greater impact for our customers, both marketers and media owners. As a result, we believe more brands, commerce marketers and media owners may use our offering and potentially increase their spend with us. This, in turn, may enable us to increase monetization for media owners and retailers, further expanding our media network and enhancing our ability to drive performance for all clients. This cycle of self-reinforcing network effects, based on our large scale and loyal base of marketer and media owner customers and partners, may continue to fuel our business in the future.
Retail Media. Our Retail Media value proposition is unique in the market today. Our offering empowers brands and agencies to find valuable audiences on retailer sites using on-site sponsored and display ads but also extend these audiences off-site, across open internet inventory with unified reporting and closed-loop measurement, including product-level sales attribution. We enable brands, agencies, and multiple retailers to buy and sell retail media using a common platform, thus benefiting from meaningful network effects due to our unique position as the technology supporting a multi-retailer ecosystem, whereas most competitors in the retail media space focus on supporting siloed retailer walled gardens. Brands and their agencies use our platform to access unique inventory at meaningful scale, and retailers get access to brand marketing budgets at a scale they would not be able to access on their own. This creates a network effect where the value for clients only increases as more brand and retailer participants join the ecosystem. In addition, our deep technical integrations with retailers, requiring meaningful engineering investment from the retailer, make us very sticky with them and enable us to offer preferred or exclusive inventory to brands and agencies, as well as a superior shopper experience to consumers. We require multi-year commitments and product ads exclusivity as part of our standard retailer services agreements. Both our unique inventory access and increasingly deep technical integrations with other advertising technology and reporting platforms provide defensible relationships with brands and agencies. For example, our API partner program embeds our technology into ad platforms that brands and agencies already use to buy search, social, and other large platforms' ad inventory. Additionally, with many major brand and agency clients, we connect our reporting data directly into client analytics and reporting platforms via our APIs.
Superior Insights and Measurement. We believe we have superior capabilities for Commerce Insights and measurement. Our technology provides our clients with the unique ability to measure against product sales at the product SKU level. For example, our commerce insights can bring together organic shopping data with paid media metrics for brands.
Scaled Global Presence. We do business in 94 countries and have a direct operating presence through 27 offices in 18 countries. We have achieved this global presence by replicating and scaling our effective business model across all geographic markets. Large businesses are increasingly seeking global advertising partners able to provide comprehensive offerings that are effective across multiple geographies. We believe we can meet this demand by leveraging our scalable AI technology and global network of relationships and are well positioned to serve our clients in virtually every market in which they seek to drive trusted, impactful and measurable business results and commerce outcomes.
Strong Financial Model. Our profitable, cash-generative financial model allows us to invest for growth while maintaining healthy profitability. Our company has a sustainable, robust profitability margin. In the year ended December 31, 2022, our Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Contribution ex-TAC was 29%, including the impact of Iponweb’s lower margin profile. In addition, we manage our expense base in a disciplined way, and we have a clear plan to drive operating leverage from scaling and transitioning to more self-service solutions over time, as well as synergies with IPONWEB and optimizing our business processes. Our financial model generates a sustainable and significant amount of free cash flow. In 2022, net cash flows provided by operating activities were $256.0 million and consisted of net income of $10.9 million, $185.0 million in adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items and $60.1 million of cash flows used for working capital. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we generated free cash flow of $200.1 million. In addition, our company maintained a strong cash position of $348.2 million at the end of fiscal 2022, which, together with marketable securities and our Revolving Credit Facility, provides for financial liquidity of about $835 million, offering flexibility for executing on our strategic roadmap.
We believe having a profitable, cash-generative financial model providing financial flexibility and investment capacity is a strong competitive advantage, compared to multiple sub-scale companies in our industry.
Our Business & Growth Opportunities
Our mission is to power the world's marketers and media owners with trusted and impactful advertising. We enable our clients’ business growth through commerce media, by providing best-in-class marketing and monetization services and driving measurable business outcomes at scale. Our vision is to bring richer experiences to every consumer by supporting a fair and open internet that enables discovery, innovation, and choice - powered by trusted and impactful advertising for the world’s marketers and media owners.
Our overarching priority is to drive sustainable and profitable growth for our business. This involves investing in the fast-growing ecommerce space and broadening our value proposition to cover all commerce media marketing goals as part of our Commerce Media Platform driving measurable business outcomes to our marketer and media owner clients.
We are further expanding our rapidly growing retailer client base, becoming a platform of choice for agencies and brands and reinforcing our performance advantage. Other core elements of our broader business strategy include:
Strengthen the Core. We continuously strengthen our retargeting product, aimed at converting our clients' customers in both the web and apps. We intend to achieve this by leveraging our strong differentiators, including around Criteo Buyer Index and user identification thanks to our first-party media network, continuously improving Criteo's AI Engine technology and the strong performance of our core product in all environments despite the loss of third-party signals.
Expand Our Product Portfolio. As part of our transformation, we intend to continue to leverage our existing assets to diversify and strengthen our business outside of retargeting, continue to build and expand our suite of fast-growing new solutions, including Commerce Audiences and new capabilities from Iponweb and build further competitive moats around our core assets.
In fiscal year 2022, our non-retargeting solutions already represented close to 37% of our total business, as measured on a Contribution ex-TAC basis, including 47% in the fourth quarter 2022. We are investing in the growth of these non-retargeting solutions and expect them to represent close to 50% of our overall business in 2023, including of the integration of Iponweb.
Explore Strategic Game Changers. We look for opportunities to extend and accelerate the growth of our business by exploring and bringing strategic assets and capabilities through partnerships and M&A, in addition to executing organically.
For example, in 2022, we entered and expanded a number of partnerships.
•We expanded our efforts with leading ecommerce platforms, most notably Shopify. Criteo became a Shopify Plus partner and was included in their first AdTech partner cohort.
•We continued to invest in connecting with all the major Customer Data Platforms our client use. These enables consistent, real time 1st party customer data across our platform, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, Segment (Twilio), Klaviyo and more.
•In the fourth quarter, we launched proof of concept testing with two of the leading data clean room providers to evaluate their usage as secure environments that enable first-party data connections and syncing across marketers and media owners.
•Our growing reseller network for Commerce Growth continued to develop in APAC and has now started to roll out across EMEA.
•Over 70 agencies joined our training and incentive program, Criteo Premium Partners, showing promising signs of growth.
•Criteo’s clients are using partner powered creatives like United Plankton that helps to create video assets from static images expanding our portfolio of solutions.
•We entered proof of concept tests with a leading data provider, Axciom, to explore adding demographic data to performance to enhance client campaigns.
In the future, we intend to continue to collaborate with existing and new industry partners to extend the capabilities and functionalities of our Commerce Media Platform, beyond what we currently offer on a standalone basis.
We continue to have an active M&A pipeline, with a critical assessment on technologies and businesses that have the potential to accelerate our Commerce Media Platform strategy by enhancing, complementing or expanding our strategic capabilities, primarily through technology and broadening our Commerce Media capabilities across all channels. Key criteria for acquisitions include demonstrated revenue traction and a proven value proposition for clients and partners and ease of integration. We believe our entrepreneurial culture, growth opportunity, global scale, financial profile, strong brand and market position enable us to be an attractive acquirer.
•In August 2022, we closed the acquisition of IPONWEB, a market-leading AdTech company with world-class media trading capabilities, for $250 million comprised of a mix of cash and treasury shares of the Company, with an earn-out consideration of up to $100 million subject to certain financial and performance milestones. This strategic acquisition is expected to accelerate our Commerce Media Platform strategy by adding scale, complementary products, and stronger first-party data capabilities, further reducing our reliance on third-party cookies and other identifiers.
Drive Technology and Operations Excellence. We take a portfolio management approach to managing our business, organization and expense base: right-sizing or streamlining the parts of the business with stabilizing revenue in order to enable investments on the growing parts of our business into technology innovation and other strategic priorities. We intend to continue to invest in growing our business, while driving productivity and efficiency gains through operational excellence across the company and maintaining healthy profitability. We believe these investments will feed the long-term sustainable growth of Criteo. We intend to continue to make disciplined investments in our technology innovation and new product development, including in Retail Media, our first-party media network, customer acquisition and retention solutions, online video, Connected TV and Commerce Insights. We expect these investments to further strengthen our Commerce Media Platform. Driving operational excellence through the company to self-fund for our investments involves increasing automation and the scalability of our operations.
Infrastructure
Our ability to execute depends on our highly sophisticated global technology software and hardware infrastructure. As of December 31, 2022, our global infrastructure included approximately 45,000 servers through a global network of ten data centers, including one Hadoop cluster, that comprise to 3,000 servers hosting 800,000 processing cores, providing a storage capacity exceeding 280 petabytes and 1 petabyte of random-access memory. Our global infrastructure is divided into three independent geographic areas: Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA, and our services are delivered through one or more data centers that support each particular area. Within large areas, the data centers are strategically placed to be close to our clients, publishers and users. This provides the benefit of minimizing the impact of network latency within a particular geographic area, especially for time-constrained services such as RTB. In addition, we replicate data across multiple data centers to maximize availability and performance. We also generally seek to distribute workload across multiple locations to avoid overloads in our systems and increase reliability through redundancy. In addition, we consider sustainability factors as we evaluate our infrastructure footprint, including prioritizing resource efficiency and clean energy to operate sustainable data centers.
Within each data center, computing power is provided by horizontal build-outs of commodity servers arranged in multiple, highly redundant pools. Some of these pools are dedicated to handling incoming traffic and delivering ads while others are devoted to the data analytics involved in creating our ads. In particular, we use software specifically designed for processing large data sets, such as Hadoop, to run offline data analyzes and to train our AI and machine learning models. The results are then fed back to refresh and improve our prediction and recommendation algorithms.
We use multiple-layered security controls to protect Criteo AI Engine and our data assets, including hardware- and software-based access controls for our source code and production systems, segregated networks for different components of our production systems and centralized production systems management.
Our Clients
On the demand side for media activation, our diversified client base consists of more than 1,800 established brands and agencies, and more than 20,000 performance marketers, primarily in the retail, travel and classifieds verticals, and including some of the largest and most sophisticated commerce companies in the world.
On the supply side for media monetization, we power the Retail Media Networks of approximately 175 retailers, as media owners. We also partner with approximately 75% of the top 100 ComScore publishers in our largest markets.
As of December 31, 2022, we had a total of approximately 22,000 clients.
At the end 2022, approximately 67% of our client relationships were held directly with the client and the remaining 33% with advertising agencies or other third-parties on the Criteo Marketing Solutions side of the business, whereas 37% of our Criteo Retail Media revenue comes from agencies.
We believe our business is not substantially dependent on any particular client or group of clients. In 2022, 2021 and 2020, our largest client represented 7.7%, 7.0% and 3.5% of our revenue, respectively, and in 2022, 2021 and 2020, our largest 10 clients represented 17.8%, 16.6% and 13.7% of our revenue in the aggregate, respectively.
There is no group of clients under common control or clients that are affiliates of each other constituting an aggregate amount equal to 10% or more of our consolidated revenues, the loss of which would have a material adverse effect on Criteo.
We define a client to be a unique party from whom we have received a signed contract or an insertion order and for whom we have delivered an advertisement or monetized an advertising inventory during the previous 12 months. We count specific brands or divisions within the same business as distinct clients so long as those entities have separately signed insertion orders with us. In the case of some solutions within Criteo Retail Media, we count the parent company of the brands as an individual client, even if several distinct brands pertaining to the same parent company have signed separate contracts or insertion orders with us. On the other hand, we count a client who runs campaigns in multiple geographies as a single client, even though multiple insertion orders may be involved. When the insertion order is with an advertising agency, we generally consider the client on whose behalf the advertising campaign is conducted as the “client” for purposes of this calculation. In the event a client has its advertising spend with us managed by multiple agencies, that client is counted as a single client.
Our client base is composed of two client categories: the Enterprise client category (large clients), and the Growth client category (midmarket clients). Each client category is serviced through a combination of direct and indirect approaches, including through brand agencies for the Enterprise category, and performance agencies and resellers for the Growth category.
Research and Development
We invest substantial resources in research and development to maintain our leading position in Commerce Media. Aside from the walled garden platform, we have the largest concentration of R&D talents in the AdTech industry. Our engineering group is primarily located in research and development centers in Paris, France, Grenoble, France and Ann Arbor, Michigan. With the acquisition of Iponweb, we also have expanded our R&D engineering centers to include Berlin, Germany, Limasol, Cyprus and Yerevan, Armenia. We expect to continue to expand capabilities of our technology in the future and to invest significantly in continued research and development and new solutions efforts. We had 990 employees primarily engaged in Research and Development and Product as of December 31, 2022. Research and development expenses, including expenses related to the Product group, totaled $187.6 million, $151.8 million and $132.5 million for 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Intellectual Property
Our intellectual property rights are a key component of our success. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to establish, maintain and protect our proprietary rights. We generally require employees, consultants, clients, publishers, suppliers and partners to execute confidentiality agreements with us that restrict the disclosure of our intellectual property. We also generally require our employees and consultants to execute invention assignment agreements with us that protect our intellectual property rights.
Intellectual property laws, together with our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, provide only limited protection, and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed or misappropriated. The laws of certain countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of France and the U.S. and, therefore, in certain jurisdictions, we may be unable to protect our proprietary technology.
Agreements with our employees and consultants may also be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies to address any breach. Further, to the extent that our employees or consultants use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights to know-how and inventions relating thereto or resulting therefrom. Finally, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors and unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of the Criteo Commerce Media Platform or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary.
As of December 31, 2022, we held 25 patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and various foreign counterparts, and had filed four non-provisional patent applications in the U.S. and Europe. We also own and use registered and unregistered trademarks on or in connection with our products and services in numerous jurisdictions. In addition, we have also registered numerous internet domain names.
Our industry is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. In particular, leading companies in the technology industry have extensive patent portfolios. From time to time, third parties, including certain of these leading companies, have asserted and may assert patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights against us, our clients or our publishers. Litigation and associated expenses may be necessary to enforce our proprietary rights.
Privacy, Data Protection and Content Control
Legal and Regulatory
Privacy and data protection laws play a significant role in our business. The regulatory environment for the collection and use of consumer data by advertising networks, advertisers and publishers is frequently evolving in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The U.S. and foreign governments have enacted, considered or are considering legislation or regulations that could significantly restrict industry participants’ ability to collect, augment, analyze, use and share personal data, such as by regulating the level of consumer notice and consent required before a company can utilize cookies or other tracking technologies.
In the U.S., at both the federal and state level, there are laws that govern activities such as the collection and use of data by companies like us. At the federal level, online advertising activities in the U.S. have primarily been subject to regulation by the Federal Trade Commission, or the FTC, which has regularly relied upon Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, or Section 5, to enforce against unfair and deceptive trade practices, including alleged violations of consumer privacy interests. Various states have also enacted legislation that governs these practices. For example, on September 27, 2013, the governor of California signed into law AB 370, an amendment to the California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, or CalOPPA. This amendment requires that we disclose in our privacy policy how we respond to web browser "do not track" signals. Our current privacy policy discloses that we do not respond to web browser "do not track" signals but that we do respond to opt-out requests made through our proprietary opt-out button or through industry opt-out platforms (namely Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance). However, the U.S. privacy law framework may be subject to significant evolutions in the near future both at a federal and at a state level. At a federal level, lawmakers are currently considering the possibility of adopting a federal privacy law and a draft bill published in this regard in 2022 ("American Data Privacy and Protection Act"). In 2018, the State of California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA. The CCPA has been characterized as the first “GDPR-like” privacy statute to be enacted in the U.S. because its scope, and a number of the key provisions, resemble the GDPR. The CCPA establishes a new privacy framework for covered businesses by, among other requirements, creating an expanded definition of personal information, establishing new data privacy rights for consumers in the State of California, imposing special rules on the collection of personal data from minors, creating new notice obligations and new limits on the sale of personal information, and creating a new and potentially severe statutory damages framework for violations of the CCPA and for businesses that fail to implement reasonable security procedures and practices to prevent data breaches. As currently enacted, we and partners in our industry have been required to comply with these requirements since January 1, 2020, when the CCPA became effective. As with GDPR, the advertising technology marketplace may have to adapt to operating under the CCPA where it applies. Our advertising or publishing partners may impose new CCPA restrictions with which we must adapt and comply. In November 2020, the voters in California voted to pass the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), an Act that both amends and expands the scope of the CCPA. The CPRA became effective on January 1, 2023, with a look back period to January 1, 2022. The CPRA creates new criteria by which businesses can be regulated, expands the definition of “personal information” to more closely match Europe, a new audit requirement, and the creation of an agency to oversee enforcement of the CPRA. The CPRA also explicitly provides an opt-out right for cross-contextual behavioral advertising. We cannot predict the timing or outcome of this adaptation or the effect on our business. Adapting our business to the CCPA and the new requirements under the CPRA could involve substantial resources and expense, and may cause us to divert resources from other aspects of our business, all of which may adversely affect our business.
Other states in the U.S. are quickly adopting state enacted privacy laws. Virginia, Colorado and more recently, Connecticut and Utah passed consumer and privacy laws that differ slightly from the CCPA/CPRA. If other states follow suit, it could lead to a varied and complex regulatory landscape, which could result in material costs.
In addition, the Criteo Commerce Media Platform reaches users throughout the world, including in Europe, Australia, Canada, South America and Asia-Pacific. As a result, some of our activities may also be subject to the laws of foreign jurisdictions. In particular, data protection laws in Europe can be more restrictive regarding the collection and use of data than those in U.S. jurisdictions.
In the European Union, the two main pillars of the data protection legal framework are the E-Privacy Directive (Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was implemented in May 2018.
The E-Privacy Directive directs EU member states to ensure that accessing information on an Internet user’s computer, such as through a cookie and other similar technologies, is allowed only if the Internet user has been informed about such access and given his or her consent. A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified that such consent must be reflected by an affirmative act of the user, and European regulators are increasingly agitating for more robust forms of consent. These developments result in ending reliance on implied consent mechanisms that have been used to meet requirements of the E-Privacy Directive in some markets. A replacement for the E-Privacy Directive is still under discussion by EU member states to complement and bring electronic communication services in line with the GDPR and force a harmonized approach across EU member states. It is possible that the proposed e-privacy regulation could further raise the bar for the use of cookies and the fines and penalties for breach could be significant.
In December 2016, the EU institutions reached an agreement on the GDPR. The GDPR has updated principles drawn from the 1995 Data Protection Directive while imposing new levels of sanctions for non-compliance. The EU data protection authorities have also been granted power to impose administrative fines of up to a maximum of €20 million or 4% of the data controller's or data processor's global turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
We believe that the regulation has no material impact on our business or the way our technologies operate. However, GDPR is still a relatively recent regulation with no established case law. Therefore interpretations of the GDPR may vary, especially with respect to the articulation between GDPR (lex generali) and E-Privacy Directive (lex speciali) and the conditions for the collection of a valid "cookie" consent, and thus there can be no assurance that this will not have any particular impact on our business, technologies or practices in the medium to long term.
Further, on October 1, 2020, the French data protection authority (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, or CNIL) issued the final version of its guidelines on the use of cookies and other trackers and its final recommendations on modalities for obtaining users’ consent to store or read non-essential cookies and similar technologies on their devices. The recommendations provide that, when required, consent must be indicated by a clear and positive action of the data subject, such as by clicking on an “accept all” button on the first layer of the consent management platform. CNIL also noted that it should be as easy to refuse consent to the use of cookies as it is to accept consent, and an equivalent to the “refuse all” button should be present on the first layer of the consent management platform. Further, the ability to withdraw consent must be readily available at all times. Companies had until March 2021 to ensure compliance with these guidelines, and CNIL is still auditing many websites in France to verify if they comply with its guidelines.
As we continue to expand into other foreign jurisdictions, we may be subject to additional laws and regulations that may affect how we conduct business.
Self-Regulation
In addition to complying with extensive government regulations, we voluntarily and actively participate in several trade associations and industry self-regulatory groups that promulgate best practices or codes of conduct relating to targeted advertising. For example, the Internet Advertising Bureau EU & US, the Network Advertising Initiative, the European Digital Advertising Alliance and the Digital Advertising Alliance have developed and implemented guidance for companies to provide notice and choice to users regarding targeted advertising.
We also provide consumers with notice about our use of cookies and our collection and use of data in connection with the delivery of targeted advertising, and allow them to opt out from the use of such data for the delivery of targeted advertising. In an effort to harmonize the industry’s approach to internet-based advertising, these programs facilitate a user's ability to disable services of integrated providers, but also educate users on the potential benefits of online advertising, including access to free content and display of more relevant advertisements to them. The rules and policies of the self-regulatory programs that we participate in are updated from time to time and may impose additional restrictions upon us in the future.
Criteo became one of the first companies to broadly include an "Ad Choices" link in all the advertisements we deliver, which gives users access to clear, transparent, detailed and user-friendly information about personalized advertisements and the data practices associated with the advertisements they receive. In addition, we provide consumers with an easy-to-use and easy-to-access mechanism to control their advertising experience and opt out of receiving targeted advertisements we deliver.
We believe that this transparent consumer-centric approach to privacy empowers consumers to make better-informed decisions about our use of their data. We also actively encourage our clients and publishers to provide information to consumers about our collection and use of data relating to the advertisements we deliver and monitor.
Content Control and Brand Safety
Criteo strives to maintain a trusted advertising ecosystem aligned with the marketing goals and the brand requirements of our marketers and media owners alike. We have rigorous supply partner guidelines in place and we take a large variety of internal and external brand safety measures to ensure that the brand equity of our clients is protected. These measures include our partnership with industry recognized and MRC-accredited services from Oracle Advertising on web and Pixalate on app.
To protect our clients against invalid traffic (IVT), we have built advanced engine detection and filtration systems that will discard invalid bid requests, impressions and clicks, and we do not bill advertisers for the invalid traffic. We also leverage industry compliant blocklists from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Trustworthy Action Group (TAG) to filter out known sources of invalid traffic and we partner with industry recognized and MRC accredited service Pixalate to supplement our pre-bid and post-bid detection and filtration capabilities of IVT.
We are recognized for trust & safety and have been certified by the Trustworthy Accountability Group for Certification Against Fraud (CAF) and Brand Safety Certification (BSC) through an independent audit.
Government Regulation
Further to the laws and regulations governing privacy and data protection described above, we are subject to numerous domestic and foreign laws and regulations covering a wide variety of subject matters. New laws and regulations (or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations) may also impact our business. The costs of compliance with these laws and regulations are high and are likely to increase in the future and any failure on our part to comply with these laws may subject us to significant liabilities and other penalties. For additional information regarding a pending investigation into the Company's compliance with GDPR, please refer to Refer to Note 19, Commitments and Contingencies, in our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Competition
We compete in the commerce media market and in the broader market for digital marketing and media monetization, primarily through Display Advertising. Our market is complex, rapidly evolving, highly competitive, still fragmented and yet rapidly consolidating. We face significant competition in this market, which we expect to intensify in the future, partially as a result of potential new entrants in our market, including but not limited to large well-established internet publishers and players, in particular as we continue to expand the breadth of the Criteo Commerce Media Platform. We currently compete with large, well-established companies, such as Amazon, Meta Platforms, Google, and Microsoft, pure play Demand-Side Platforms ("DSPs"), such as The Trade Desk, Viant Technology or Google's DV360, pure play Supply-Side Platforms (“SSPs”) such as Magnite, PubMatic or Google Ad Manager, and pure play retail SSPs such as Microsoft's PromoteIQ or Publicis' CitrusAd, that focus on monetizing retailers' media, as well as smaller, privately held companies. Potential competition could emerge from large enterprise marketing platforms, like Adobe Systems Inc. ("Adobe"), Oracle Corporation ("Oracle") and Salesforce.com, Inc. ("Salesforce"), or public and private companies specialized in the Marketing Technology ("MarTech") space. In addition, web browsers, and desktop and mobile operating systems developed by large software companies like Google and Apple Inc. ("Apple") can have a significant influence and impact on the way we operate.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our industry include:
•access to granular commerce data on a large scale;
•technology-based ability to activate data, in particular commerce data, for multiple digital marketing and media monetization goals, along the entire consumer journey;
•technology-based ability to generate advertisers' desired business outcomes, including, but not limited to, high return on advertising spend at scale;
•relevance and breadth of solutions to address numerous digital marketing and media monetization goals;
•breadth and depth of consumer reach, including in all environments and devices across the open Internet;
•marketer and publisher control over the objectives, parameters and performance of their advertising campaigns through modular, flexible and easy-to-use tools and services available on a self-service interface;
•measurability of the advertising spend performance, based on clear and transparent measurement metrics;
•completeness and effectiveness of solutions across digital devices, commerce and advertising environments, platforms and operating systems, advertising channels and publisher environments;
•transparency of pricing models, aligning with the value propositions provided to marketers;
•openness, transparency, security and fairness of data sharing and data management practices;
•client trust;
•global presence;
•client service and detailed, transparent client reporting available on a self-service basis;
•commitment to data protection and user privacy; and
•ease of use.
We believe that we are well positioned in commerce media with respect to all of these factors and expect to continue to capture an increasing share of digital marketing and media monetization budgets worldwide.
Seasonality
Our client base consists primarily of companies in the Retail, Travel and Classifieds industries. In the digital Retail industry and the consumer brand verticals in particular, many businesses devote the largest portion of their advertising spend to the fourth quarter of the calendar year, to coincide with increased holiday spending by consumers. As a result, the concentration of advertising spend in the fourth quarter of the calendar year may be particularly pronounced. Our Retail clients typically conduct fewer advertising campaigns in the first and second quarters than they do in other quarters, while our Travel clients typically increase their travel campaigns in the first and third quarters and conduct fewer advertising campaigns in the second quarter. For Iponweb, the first and second quarters are seasonally low quarters in terms of Contribution ex-TAC, adjusted EBITDA and cash contribution, while the fourth quarter is the strongest quarter. As a result, our revenue tends to be seasonal in nature. If the seasonal fluctuations become more pronounced, our operating cash flows could fluctuate materially from period to period.
Employees and Human Capital Management
We have a demonstrated history of commitment to the well-being and success of our workforce, and our company is driven by our core values of “open, together and impactful”.
As of December 31, 2022, we had 3,716 employees. Our employees employed by French entities (1,053 employees) are represented by a labor union and employee representative bodies (works' council, employee delegates and a health and safety committee) and covered by collective bargaining agreements. We consider labor relations to be good and have not experienced any work stoppages, slowdowns or other serious labor problems that have materially impeded our business operations.
Our Board, with assistance from our Compensation Committee, has oversight of and periodically reviews the Company's strategies, initiatives and programs with respect to the Company's culture, talent recruitment, development and retention and employee engagement.
Talent Acquisition & Development
Attracting and retaining top talent is a key objective at Criteo. We are committed to offering an environment in which employees are ensured equal job opportunities and have a chance for advancement. As part of our transformation, we have undertaken a number of initiatives to enhance our employee value proposition and experience, very flexible working practices and the renovation of our main offices to offer attractive workplaces. Our compelling employee value proposition, attractive compensation packages and vibrant culture are instrumental in our ability to attract and retain talent.
Additionally, we strive to provide exceptional training opportunities and development programs for our employees. In 2022, over 45,924 training hours were delivered to our employees. To assess and improve employee retention and engagement, we periodically survey employees, and take action to address areas of employee concern. In 2022, we carried out 2 employee surveys, soliciting feedback on a wide range of topics including well-being, flexibility, and inclusion.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
As a global technology company, we believe that a diverse and inclusive culture is the cornerstone for driving creative collaboration and sustainable change across the industry. We are proud that our employees can be themselves at work and we value diversity in the workforce; as of December 31, 2022, 41% of our 3,716 employees are women. As stated in our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy, our mission is to sustain our focus on equity, and building stronger diversity through how we hire, develop, reward, and retain all talent at Criteo. We empower our employees to impact the industry, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do, delivering richer experiences for all. We are proud to have gender pay parity. Our efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace are led by a dedicated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leadership team who partner through the business and leverage our seven active Employees Resource Groups (“ERGs”) who engage with employees, support allyship and sponsorship to encourage community, networking and safe spaces for all diverse groups throughout Criteo. In 2022, 40% of our employees were involved in at least one of our seven ERGs. This work extends to our efforts to strengthen our inclusive culture and drive sustainable efforts that impact our environment and societal interests throughout and beyond Criteo.
Health, Safety and Wellness
Employee health, safety and wellness is a priority for Criteo. We devote time and effort across all of our locations to provide positive working conditions, work-life balance and a healthy office environment for our employees. The COVID-19 pandemic has helped us shape, define, and evolve our work model. We have built a flexible work approach for employees to be able to choose where they work best. We recognize and support employees with their work life integration and believe that flexibility is an essential element to remain engaged, efficient, and productive. We also believe in the importance of employee contribution and results, rather than focusing on where work is being completed. 
Total Rewards
We are focused on offering competitive compensation and comprehensive benefit packages designed to meet the needs of our employees and reward their efforts and contributions. We seek coherence and fairness in total compensation with reference to external market comparisons, internal equity, and the relationship between management and non-management compensation. Our total compensation packages include base pay, performance-based incentives, long-term incentives such as equity awards, retirement plans, healthcare and other insurance benefits, paid time off, paid family leave, employee assistance and wellbeing programs among many others.
Financial Information about Segments and Regions
Prior to the third quarter of 2022, we managed our operations as two reportable segments. Beginning in the third quarter of 2022, and following our acquisition of Iponweb, we report our segment results as Marketing Solutions, Retail Media and Iponweb:
•Marketing Solutions allow commerce companies to address multiple marketing goals by engaging their consumers with personalized ads across the web, mobile and offline store environments.
•Retail Media allows retailers to generate advertising revenues from consumer brands, and/or to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their data and audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital property or on the open Internet, that address multiple marketing goals.
•Iponweb specializes in building real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and third-party AdTech platforms.
For information about revenues, and contribution ex-TAC of our reporting segments, please see our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. For a breakdown of our revenue and non-current assets by region, please see Note 20 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. For information regarding risks associated with our international operations, please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of Part I in this Form 10-K.
Available Information
Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are made available, free of charge on our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). These documents may be accessed through our website at www.criteo.com under "Investors." Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute a part of this Form 10-K. We have included our website address in this Form 10-K solely as an inactive textual reference.
The SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants, such as Criteo, that file electronically with the SEC. With respect to references made in this Form 10-K to any contract or other document of Criteo, such references are not necessarily complete and you should refer to the exhibits attached or incorporated by reference to this Form 10-K for copies of the actual contract or document.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A Risk Factors
Investing in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks and all other information contained in this Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto, before investing in our ADSs. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, also may become important factors that affect us. If any of the following risks materialize, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed. In that case, the trading price of our ADSs could decline, and you may lose some or all of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
If we fail to innovate, enhance our brand, and adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, our offerings may become less competitive or obsolete. Our investments in new solutions and technologies to address new marketing goals for our clients are inherently risky and may not be successful.
Our industry and business are subject to rapid and frequent changes in technology, evolving client needs and the frequent introduction by our competitors of new and enhanced offerings. Our future success will depend on our ability to continuously enhance and improve our offerings to meet client needs, build our brand, scale our technology capabilities, add functionality to and improve the performance of the Criteo Commerce Media Platform, and address technological and industry advancements. If we are unable to enhance our solutions to meet market demand in a timely manner, we may not be able to maintain our existing clients or attract new clients, and our solutions may become less competitive or obsolete. Furthermore, brand promotion activities may not yield increased revenue sufficient to offset expenses or any increased revenue at all.
Our investments in our Commerce Media Platform and new technologies are inherently risky and may not be successful. Addressing broader marketing and monetization goals, in particular customer acquisition and brand awareness, is relatively new to us, and we have had to invest substantial resources to adapt our model, pricing and organization to support this expansion. It also implies investing in new advertising channels where we do not have a long or established track record of competing successfully. If we are not successful in expanding our solutions along broader marketing goals, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Furthermore, we believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases.
The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and we may not be able to compete successfully with our current or future competitors.
The market for digital advertising solutions, including specifically retail media, is highly competitive and rapidly changing. New technologies and methods of buying advertising present a dynamic competitive challenge as market participants develop and offer multiple new products and services aimed at facilitating and/or capturing advertising spend. With the introduction of new technologies and the influx of new entrants to the market, including large established companies, smaller companies that we do not yet know about, or companies that do not yet exist, we expect competition to persist and intensify in the future, which could harm our ability to increase sales and maintain our profitability.
Large and established internet and technology companies may have the power to significantly change the very nature of the digital advertising marketplaces in ways that could materially disadvantage us. Some of these companies could leverage their positions to make changes to their web browsers, mobile operating systems, platforms, exchanges, networks or other solutions or services that could be significantly harmful to our business and results of operations. Some of these companies also have significantly larger resources than we do, and in many cases have advantageous competitive positions in popular products and services such as Amazon Advertising, Google Search, YouTube, Chrome, Meta Platforms, and Apple Search Ads, which they can use to their advantage. Furthermore, our competitors have invested substantial resources in innovation, which could lead to technological advancements that change the competitive dynamics of our business in ways that we may not be able to predict.
In addition to competing for advertising spend, we compete with many companies for advertising inventory, some of whom also operate their own advertising networks or exchanges from which we buy advertising inventory. Some of the companies that we compete with, either for advertising spend or for advertising inventory, may also be our clients or affiliated with our clients or important sources of advertising inventory. Competitive pressure may incentivize such companies to cease to be our clients or cease to provide us with access to their advertising inventory.
If this were to occur, our ability to place advertisements would be significantly impaired and our results of operations would be adversely affected. Some large advertisers, which could include our own clients, are increasingly developing retail media platforms and in-house advertising technologies, facilitated by self-service tools. Similarly, large enterprise marketing platforms could create tools that offer our clients additional opportunities to allocate advertising dollars to in-house campaigns. Competition could also hinder the success of new advertising solutions that we offer in the future.
If any of these risks were to materialize, our ability to compete effectively could be significantly compromised and our results of operations could be harmed. Any of these developments would make it more difficult for us to sell our offerings and could result in increased pricing pressure, reduced gross margins, increased sales and marketing expense and/or the loss of market share.
The failure by Criteo AI Engine to accurately predict engagement by users could result in significant costs to us, lost revenue and diminished business opportunities.
The effective delivery of certain of our digital advertising solutions depends on the ability of Criteo AI Engine to predict the likelihood that a consumer will engage with any given internet display advertisement with a sufficient degree of accuracy so that our clients can achieve desirable returns on their advertising spend. We historically charged our clients primarily based on a cost-per-click pricing model, and our clients only paid us when a user engaged with the advertisement, usually by clicking on it. Although we have started evolving our pricing models alongside our broader suite of solutions, a large part of our revenue is still generated through cost-per-click pricing models or an equivalent.
Many of our agreements with clients are open-ended and often do not include a spending minimum. Similarly, our contracts with publishers generally do not include long-term obligations requiring them to make their inventory available to us over long periods of time. Therefore, we need to continuously deliver satisfactory results for our clients and publishers in order to maintain and increase revenue, which depends in part on the optimal functioning of Criteo AI Engine.
In addition, as we have increased the number of clients and publishers that use our offerings on a global basis, we have experienced significant growth in the amount and complexity of data processed by Criteo AI Engine and the number of advertising impressions we deliver. As the amount of data and number of variables processed by Criteo AI Engine increase, and the calculations that the algorithms must compute become increasingly complex, the risk of errors in the type of data collected, stored, generated or accessed also increases.
Fraudulent or malicious activity, including non-human traffic, could also impair the proper functioning of Criteo AI Engine. For example, the use of bots or other automated or manual mechanisms to generate fraudulent clicks or misattribute clicks on advertisements we deliver could overstate the performance of our advertising. Due to the higher CPM paid for online video and Connected TV advertisements, the risk of fraudulent traffic may increase as we increase our purchasing of online video and Connected TV inventory.
If we were to experience significant errors, defects, or fraudulent or malicious activity in Criteo AI Engine, our solution could be impaired or stop working altogether, which could prevent us from purchasing any advertising inventory and generating any revenue until the errors, defects or fraudulent or malicious activity were detected and corrected. Other negative consequences from significant errors, defects or fraudulent or malicious activity in Criteo AI Engine could include:
• a loss of clients and publishers or a decrease in inventory purchased by clients;
• fewer consumer visits to our client websites or mobile applications;
• lower click-through rates or conversion rates;
• lower profitability per impression, up to and including negative margins;
• faulty inventory purchase decisions for which we may need to bear the cost;
• lower return on advertising spend for our clients;
• lower price for the advertising inventory we are able to offer to publishers;
• delivery of advertisements that are less relevant or irrelevant to users;
• refusals to pay, demands for refunds, loss of confidence, withdrawal of future business and potential liability for damages or regulatory inquiries or lawsuits; and
• negative publicity or harm to our reputation.
As a result, the failure by Criteo AI Engine to accurately predict engagement of users and to continue to do so over time could result in significant costs to us, lost revenue and diminished business opportunities.
Regulatory, legislative or self-regulatory developments regarding internet or online matters could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.
Governmental authorities around the world have enacted, considered or are considering legislation or regulations that could significantly restrict our ability to collect, process, use, transfer and pool data collected from and about consumers and devices. Trade associations and industry self-regulatory groups have also promulgated best practices and other industry standards relating to targeted advertising.
In the European Union (the “EU”), the two main pillars of the data protection legal framework are the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (E-Privacy Directive) and the GDPR. The E-Privacy Directive directs EU member states to ensure that accessing information on an Internet user’s computer, such as through a cookie and other similar technologies, is allowed only if the Internet user has been informed about such access and given his or her consent. A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU clarified that such consent must be reflected by an affirmative act of the user in line with the requirements applicable to consent under the GDPR. These developments result in ending reliance on implied consent mechanisms that have been used to meet requirements of the E-Privacy Directive in some markets. A replacement by an E-Privacy Regulation for the E-Privacy Directive is still under discussion by EU member states to align it to the GDPR and force a harmonized approach across EU member states. It is possible that the proposed E-Privacy Regulation could further impede the use of cookies. However, the advancement of the legislative process for the adoption of the E-Privacy Regulation remains quite uncertain.
Under GDPR, data protection authorities have the power to impose administrative fines of up to a maximum of €20 million or 4% of the data controller’s or data processor’s total worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year. Similar sanctions would be applicable under the E-Privacy Regulation to cookie consent.
Further, on October 1, 2020, the French data protection authority (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, or "CNIL") issued the final version of its guidelines on the use of cookies and other trackers and its final recommendations on modalities for obtaining users’ consent to store or read non-essential cookies and similar technologies on their devices. The recommendations provide that, when required, consent must be indicated by a clear and positive action of the data subject, such as by clicking on an “accept all” button on the first layer of the consent management platform. CNIL also noted that it should be as easy to refuse consent to the use of cookies as it is to accept consent, and an equivalent “refuse all” button should be present on the first layer of the consent management platform. Further, the ability to withdraw consent must be readily available at all times. Companies had until March 2021 to ensure compliance with these guidelines. CNIL has launched investigations and sanctioned companies for lack of compliance with its guidelines on cookies. The European Center for Digital Rights (NOYB) has also filed several complaints with data protection authorities for failure to comply with GDPR requirements.
In January 2020, CNIL opened a formal investigation into Criteo in response to a November 2018 complaint filed by Privacy International. CNIL’s investigation also covers another complaint against Criteo received in December 2018 by CNIL from NOYB.
On August 3, 2022, the assigned investigator (rapporteur) issued a report that claimed certain GDPR violations. The report includes a proposed financial sanction against the Company of €60.0 million ($63.9 million). A final decision on resolution and potential financial penalties would likely not occur until mid-2023. Refer to Note 19. Commitments and Contingencies for more information.
In 2018, the State of California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”). The CCPA has been characterized as the first “GDPR-like” privacy statute to be enacted in the U.S. because its scope, and a number of the key provisions, resemble GDPR. The CCPA establishes a new privacy framework for covered businesses by, among other requirements, creating an expanded definition of personal information, establishing new data privacy rights for consumers in California, imposing special rules on the collection of personal data from minors, creating new notice obligations and new limits on the sale of personal information, and creating a new and potentially severe statutory damages framework for violations of the CCPA and for businesses that fail to implement reasonable security procedures and practices to prevent data breaches. As currently enacted, we and partners in our industry have been required to comply with these requirements since January 1, 2020, when the CCPA became effective. As with GDPR, the advertising technology marketplace may have to adapt to operating under the CCPA where it applies. Our advertising or publishing partners may impose new CCPA restrictions with which we must adapt and comply. In November 2020, voters in California voted to pass the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which both amends and expands the scope of the CCPA. The CPRA became effective on January 1, 2023, with a look back period to January 1, 2022. The CPRA creates new criteria by which businesses can be regulated, expands the definition of “personal information” to more closely match European regulations, a new audit requirement, and the creation of an agency to oversee enforcement of the CPRA. The CPRA also explicitly provides an opt-out right for cross-contextual behavioral advertising. We cannot predict the timing or outcome of this adaptation or the effect on our business. Adapting
our business to the CCPA and the new requirements and regulations under the CPRA could involve substantial resources and expense, and may cause us to divert resources from other aspects of our business, all of which may adversely affect our business.
In addition, other states in the U.S. are quickly adopting state enacted privacy laws. Virginia, Colorado and more recently, Connecticut and Utah passed consumer and privacy laws that differ slightly from the CCPA/CPRA. If other states follow suit, it could lead to a varied and complex regulatory landscape, which could result in material costs.
Clarifications of and changes to these existing and proposed laws, regulations, judicial interpretations and industry standards can be costly to comply with, and we may be unable to pass along those costs to our clients in the form of increased fees, which may negatively affect our operating results. Such changes can also delay or impede the development of new solutions, result in negative publicity and reputational harm, require significant management time and attention, increase our risk of non-compliance and subject us to claims or other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices, including our ability to charge per click or the scope of clicks for which we charge. Additionally, any perception of our practices or solutions as an invasion of privacy, whether or not such practices or solutions are consistent with current or future regulations and industry practices, may subject us to public criticism, private class actions, reputational harm or claims by regulators, which could disrupt our business and expose us to increased liability. Finally, our legal and financial exposure often depends in part on our clients’ or other third parties' adherence to and compliance with privacy laws and regulations and their use of our services in ways consistent with visitors’ expectations. If our clients fail to adhere to our contracts in this regard, or a court or governmental agency determines that we have not adequately, accurately or completely described our own solutions, services and data collection, use and sharing practices in our own disclosures to consumers, then we and our clients and publisher partners may be subject to potentially adverse publicity, damages and related possible investigation or other regulatory activity in connection with our privacy practices or those of our clients.
If we fail to access a consistent supply of advertising inventory and expand our access to such inventory, our business and results of operations could be harmed.
A large part of our revenue, in particular in our Criteo Marketing Solutions offering, is derived from placing advertisements on publisher digital properties that we do not own. As a result, we do not own or control the advertising inventory upon which our business depends. We currently access advertising inventory through various channels, including through direct relationships with publishers, supply side platforms and other platforms that aggregate advertising inventory, as well as large retailers..
Since advertising inventory available within walled-garden publisher environments tends to grow faster than other advertising inventory available on the market, general access or growth of our access to advertising inventory may be limited. In addition, industry or technological changes may affect our access to inventory or the price we pay for inventory.
Similarly, our ability to continue to purchase inventory from many of the publishers and large retailers with whom we have direct relationships depends in part on our ability to consistently pay sufficiently competitive CPMs for their advertising inventory, or in the case of some Criteo Retail Media solutions, to generate sufficient advertising revenue for retailers, as well as our ability to offer advertisements from high quality companies. As more companies compete for advertising impressions on advertising exchange platforms and other platforms that aggregate supply of advertising inventory, advertising inventory may become more expensive, which may adversely affect our ability to acquire it and to deliver advertisements on a profitable basis. We may in the future have to increasingly rely on direct relationships with strong publisher partners in order to maintain the necessary access to quality advertising inventory, and we may not be able to do so on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, to support the growth of our solutions for customer acquisition and brand awareness marketing goals, we will need to expand our access to online video and Connected TV inventory, both in the web, mobile applications, and on connected devices, the price of which may not be available on terms that are favorable to us.
Additionally, we are party to certain agreements with partners that provide us with preferred access to inventory. If the terms of those agreements change and we lose our preferred access, then our financial results could be adversely affected.
If we are not successful in these endeavors, our business and results of operations could be harmed.
Our success depends on our ability to implement our business transformation and achieve our global business strategies.
Our business has recently undergone, and continues to undergo, a significant transformation, partially in response to major changes in the advertising technology industry driven by, but not limited to, regulations such as GDPR and restrictions on data collection and use, including those implemented by large technology companies. The components of our transformation include diversification of our services as we shift away from third-party cookies, focus on growth and investment, and certain organization adjustments and cost optimization opportunities. Our future performance and growth depend on the success of this transformation and our new business strategies, including our management team’s ability to successfully implement them.
Our ongoing transformation has resulted, and may continue to result, in changes to business priorities and operations, capital allocation priorities, operational and organizational structure, and increased demands on management. Such changes could result in short-term and one-time costs, lost customers, reduced sales volume, higher than expected restructuring costs, loss of key personnel and other negative impacts on our business. We may also become subject to the risks of workforce dissatisfaction, negative publicity and business disruption in connection with these initiatives.
Completion of our business transformation may take longer than anticipated, and, once implemented, we may not realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits or the realization of such benefits may be delayed. The failure to realize benefits or savings, which may be due to our inability to execute plans, delays in the implementation of the transformation and our product roadmap, global or local economic conditions, competition, changes in the advertising technology industry and the other risks described herein, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as the trading price of our securities.
Our business depends on our ability to maintain the quality of content for our clients and publishers.
Our clients’ satisfaction depends on our ability to place advertisements with publisher content that is well-suited to the client’s product or service. If we are unable to keep our clients’ advertisements from being placed in unlawful or inappropriate content, our reputation and business may suffer. In particular, we could be treated as a spammer and blocked by internet service providers or regulators. In addition, if we place advertisements on websites containing content that is not permitted under the terms of the applicable agreements with a client, we may be unable to charge the client for impressions or clicks generated on those sites, the client may terminate their campaign, the client may require us to indemnify them for any resulting third party claims, or the client may allege breach of contract. Further, our publishers and exchange partners rely upon us not to place advertisements with inappropriate or unlawful content on their websites. As we grow our business to serve a larger number of clients using self-service tools with less intervention by us, it could become more challenging to train and support such clients to use such tools and to prevent inappropriate or unlawful advertisements from being shown. If we are unable to maintain the quality of our client and publisher content as the number of clients and publishers we work with continues to grow, our reputation and business may suffer and we may not be able to retain or secure additional clients or publisher relationships.
We may not be able to effectively integrate the businesses we acquire, which may adversely affect our ability to achieve our growth and business objectives.
We explore, on an ongoing basis, potential acquisitions of additional businesses, products, solutions, technologies or teams. If we identify an appropriate acquisition candidate, we may not be successful in negotiating the terms and/or financing of the acquisition, and our due diligence may fail to identify all of the problems, liabilities or other shortcomings or challenges of an acquired business, product, solution or technology, including issues related to intellectual property, product quality or architecture, employees or clients, regulatory compliance, including tax compliance, practices or revenue recognition or other accounting practices.
Any acquisition or investment may require us to use significant amounts of cash, incur debt, issue potentially dilutive equity securities or incur contingent liabilities or amortization of expenses, or impairment of goodwill and/or purchased long-lived assets, and restructuring charges, any of which could harm our financial condition or results. The Company has incurred and will incur significant transaction and acquisition-related costs in connection with its acquisitions, including legal, accounting, financial advisory, regulatory and other expenses. The payment of such transaction costs could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, acquisitions, including our recent acquisitions such as the IPONWEB Acquisition, involve numerous risks, any of which could harm our business, including:
• difficulties in integrating the operations, technologies, services and personnel of acquired businesses, especially if those businesses operate outside of our core competency and market;
• the need to integrate operations across different geographies, cultures and languages and to address the particular economic, currency, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries;
• cultural challenges associated with integrating employees from the acquired company into our organization;
• ineffectiveness, lack of scalability, or incompatibility of acquired technologies or services;
• potential loss of key employees of acquired businesses;
• inability to maintain the key business relationships and the reputation of acquired businesses;
• failure to successfully further develop the acquired technology in order to recoup our investment;
• unfavorable reputation and perception of the acquired product or technology by the general public;
• diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;
• liability or litigation for activities of the acquired business, including claims from terminated employees, clients, former shareholders or other third parties;
• implementation or remediation of controls, practices, procedures and policies at acquired businesses, including the costs necessary to establish and maintain effective internal controls; and
• increased fixed costs.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully integrate the businesses that we acquire or that we will be able to leverage the acquired commercial relationships, products, technologies or teams in the manner we anticipate. If we are unable to successfully integrate the businesses we have acquired or any business, product, solution, technology or team we acquire in the future, our business and results of operations could suffer, and we may not be able to achieve our business and growth objectives.
We will incur direct and indirect costs as a result of the acquisition of the business of IPONWEB Holding Limited. We may not realize the growth opportunities that are anticipated from the acquisition as we may experience difficulties in integrating IPONWEB’s business with ours.
We have substantial client concentration in certain local markets and solutions, with a limited number of clients accounting for a substantial portion of our revenues in those areas.
Although our overall customer base is well-diversified, with our largest 10 clients only representing 17.8% of our revenue in the aggregate in 2022, in certain of our local markets and specific solutions we derive a substantial portion of revenues from a limited number of clients. We cannot predict the future level of demand for our services and products that will be generated by these clients. In addition, revenues from these clients may fluctuate from time to time. Further, some of our contracts with these clients may permit them to terminate use of our products at any time (subject to notice and certain other provisions). If we fail to retain any of these clients and any of these clients terminate or reduce use of our products, our revenues within local markets or specific solutions may be negatively impacted.
Our international operations and expansion expose us to several risks.
As of December 31, 2022, we had a direct operating presence through 27 offices located in 18 countries and did business in 94 countries. Our current global operations and future initiatives involve a variety of risks, including:
• operational and execution risk, including localization of the product interface and systems, translation into foreign languages, adaptation for local practices, adequate coordination of timing to onboard local clients and publishers, difficulty of maintaining our corporate culture, challenges inherent to hiring and efficiently managing employees over large geographic distances, and the increasing complexity of the organizational structure required to support expansion and operations into multiple geographies and regulatory systems;
• insufficient, or insufficiently coordinated, demand for and supply of advertising inventory in specific geographic markets processed through Criteo AI Engine, which could impair its ability to accurately predict user engagement in that market;
• compliance with (and liability for failure to comply with) applicable local laws and regulations, including, among other things, laws and regulations with respect to data protection and user privacy, data use, tax and withholding, labor regulations, anti-corruption, environment, consumer protection, economic sanctions (including those resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine), public health crises (including the COVID-19 pandemic), spam and content, which laws and regulations may be inconsistent across jurisdictions;
• intensity of local competition for digital advertising budgets and internet display inventory;
• changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic conditions, including as a result of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine;
• risks related to tariffs and trade barriers, pricing structure, payment and currency, including aligning our pricing model and payment terms with local norms, higher levels of credit risk and payment fraud, difficulties in invoicing and collecting in foreign currencies and associated foreign currency exposure, restrictions on foreign ownership and investments, and difficulties in repatriating or transferring funds from or converting currencies; and
• limited or unfavorable intellectual property protection;
Additionally, operating in international markets also requires significant management attention and financial resources. We cannot be certain that the investment and additional resources required in establishing operations in other countries will produce desired levels of revenue or profitability.
Because our functional currency is the euro, while our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, we face exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Foreign currency exchange risk exposure also arises from intra-company transactions and financing with subsidiaries that have a functional currency different than the euro. While we are engaging in hedging transactions to minimize the impact of uncertainty in future exchange rates on intra-company transactions and financing, we may not hedge all of our foreign currency exchange rate risk. In addition, hedging transactions carry their own risks and costs, and could expose us to additional risks that could harm our financial condition and operating results.
The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine may adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The current conflict between Russia and Ukraine and related government actions are evolving and beyond our control, and given our global operations, such conflict may adversely affect our business and results of operations. As a result of this conflict, we decided to suspend all ad campaigns and digital advertising activities in Russia until further notice. Our current business in Russia and Ukraine is limited, and in 2021, it represented less than 2% of our Contribution ex-TAC. In addition, as part of the acquisition of the Iponweb business, we have entered into a transitional services agreement to cover certain R&D and back office functions that are delivered to the acquired Iponweb entities from contractors and/or employees based in Russia until June 2023.
The current conflict between Russia and Ukraine may also have the effect of heightening many other risks disclosed in our public filings, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to: adverse effects on global macroeconomic conditions, including increases in inflation; regional instability and geopolitical shifts; supply chain disruption; increased exposure to cyberattacks; limitations in our ability to implement and execute our business strategy, including our completed acquisition of the Iponweb business; risks to employees and contractors that we have in the region; and exposure to foreign currency fluctuations.
We face intense competition for employee talent, and if we do not retain and continue to attract highly skilled talent or retain our senior management team and other key employees, we may not be able to achieve our business objectives.
Our future success depends on our ability to continue to attract, hire, retain and motivate highly skilled employees, particularly AI experts, software engineers, product managers and other employees with the technical skills that enable us to deliver effective advertising solutions. Competition for diverse, experienced and highly skilled employees in our industry is intense, in particular in the fields of AI and data science, and we expect certain of our key competitors, who generally are larger than us and have access to more substantial resources, to pursue top talent on a global basis.
Our future success also depends on the continued service of our senior management team. As a global team heading a global company, our management team must operate and collaborate across multiple physical locations and geographies, which can make coordinated management more challenging. Business transformation periods, changes in leadership and changes due to business reorganization may result in uncertainty, impact business performance and strategies, and retention of key personnel. We may be unable to attract or retain the management and highly skilled personnel who are critical to our success, which could hinder our ability to keep pace with innovation and technological change in our industry or result in harm to our key client and publisher relationships, loss of key information, expertise or proprietary knowledge and unanticipated recruitment and training costs.
In addition, we believe that our corporate culture fosters teamwork, impactful results and an open environment. As our organization evolves and continues to adapt to a flexible remote working environment we may need to implement more complex organizational management structures or adapt our corporate culture and work environments to meet changing circumstances, such as during times of a natural disaster or adverse public health development or outbreak of contagious disease (including the COVID-19 pandemic).
These changes could impact our ability to compete effectively, or could have an adverse impact on our corporate culture.
Our future success will depend in part on our ability to expand into new industry verticals.
As we market our offering to a wider group of consumer brands and companies outside of our historical key industry verticals of retail, travel and classifieds, among others, we will need to adapt our solutions and effectively market our value to businesses in these new industry verticals. Our successful expansion into new industry verticals will depend on various factors, including our ability to:
• accumulate sufficient data sets relevant for those industry verticals to ensure that Criteo AI Engine has sufficient quantity and quality of information to deliver efficient and effective internet display advertisements applicable to the relevant industry;
• design solutions that are attractive to businesses in such verticals;
• work with clients in new industry verticals through the advertising agencies that manage their advertising budgets;
• hire personnel with relevant industry vertical experience to lead sales and product teams;
• provide high returns on advertising spend in such industries and maintain such high returns on advertising spend at scale; and
• transparently measure the performance of such advertising spend based on clear, measurable metrics.
If we are unable to successfully adapt our offering to appeal to businesses in industries other than our core verticals, or are unable to effectively market such solutions to businesses in such industries, we may not be able to achieve our growth or business objectives. Further, as we expand our client base and offering into new industry verticals, we may be unable to maintain our current client retention rates.
As we expand the market for our solutions, we may become more dependent on advertising agencies as intermediaries, which may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain business.
As we market our solutions, we may increasingly need advertising agencies to work with us in assisting businesses in planning and purchasing for broader marketing goals. In the last quarter of 2022, 37% of Criteo Retail Media’s gross media spend and 33% of Criteo Marketing Solutions’ gross media spend relied on advertising agencies.
Overall, we believe that accessing broader advertising budgets by partnering with advertising agencies represents a significant incremental business opportunity for us, though it also may involve significant risks. For example, if we have an unsuccessful engagement with an advertising agency on a particular advertising campaign, we risk losing the ability to work not only for the client for whom the campaign was run, but also for other clients represented by that agency. Further, if our business evolves such that we are increasingly working through advertising agency intermediaries, we would have less of a direct relationship with our clients. This may drive our clients to attribute the value we provide to the advertising agency rather than to us, further limiting our ability to develop long-term relationships directly with our clients. Additionally, our clients may move from one advertising agency to another, and, accordingly, even if we have a positive relationship with an advertising agency, we may lose the underlying client’s business when the client switches to a new agency.
The presence of advertising agencies as intermediaries between us and our clients thus creates a challenge to building our own brand awareness and maintaining an affinity with our clients, who are the ultimate sources of our revenue. In the event we were to become more dependent on advertising agencies as intermediaries, this may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain business. In addition, an increased dependency on advertising agencies may harm our results of operations, as a result of the increased agency fees we may be required to pay and/or as a result of longer payment terms from agencies.
Our business, including our global operations and sales, faces risks and negative impacts related to public health developments, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
We face various risks related to public health developments and outbreaks of contagious disease. Any outbreak of contagious diseases, and other adverse public health developments, could have a material adverse effect on the business of our customers and partners and on our business operations. The COVID-19 pandemic created volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption to global society, economics, financial markets and business practices. Pandemics may impact our business operations and financial position, as well as our employees, clients, partners and communities.
To the extent any public health development or outbreak adversely impacts our business, operations and financial results, it may also result in heightening the other risks described in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Our future success will depend in part on our ability to expand into new advertising channels.
We define an advertising channel as a specific advertisement medium to engage with a user or a consumer for which we currently purchase inventory through a specific source. We started delivering elements of our offering through internet display advertisements in desktop browsers. Since then, we have expanded into mobile in-browser and in-app, native display, including on social media platforms, and online video inventory.
We may decide to broaden the spectrum of our advertising channels further, including recently into Connected TV and Digital Out of Home, if we believe that doing so would significantly increase the value we can offer to clients. However, any future attempts to enter new advertising channels may not be successful.
Our success in expanding into any additional advertising channels will depend on various factors, including our ability to:
• identify additional advertising channels where our solutions could perform;
• accumulate sufficient data sets relevant for those advertising channels to ensure that Criteo AI Engine has a sufficient quantity and quality of information to deliver relevant personalized advertisements through those additional advertising channels;
• adapt our solutions to additional advertising channels and effectively market it for such additional advertising channels to our existing and prospective clients;
• integrate newly developed or acquired advertising channels into our pricing and measurement models, with a clear and measurable performance attribution mechanism that works across all channels, and is consistent with our privacy standards;
• achieve client performance levels through the new advertising channels that are similar to those delivered through existing advertising channels, and are not dilutive to the overall client performance;
• identify and establish acceptable business arrangements with inventory partners and platforms to access inventories in sufficient quality and quantity for these new advertising channels;
• maintain our gross margin at a consistent level upon entering one or more additional advertising marketing channels;
• compete with new market participants active in these additional advertising channels; and
• attract and retain key personnel with relevant technology and product expertise to lead the integration of additional advertising channels onto our platform, and sales and operations teams to sell and integrate additional advertising channels.
Any decrease in the use of current advertising channels, whether due to clients losing confidence in the value or effectiveness of such channels, regulatory or technology restrictions or if we are unable to successfully adapt our solutions to additional advertising channels and effectively market such offerings to our existing and prospective clients, or if we are unable to maintain our pricing and measurement models in these additional advertising channels, may prevent us from achieving our growth or business objectives.
We operate in a rapidly evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful. Our historical growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth, and we may have difficulty sustaining profitability.
We operate in a rapidly evolving industry. Our ability to forecast our future operating results is subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model future growth in both our business and the digital advertising market generally. We are subject to risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly evolving industries, including challenges in forecasting accuracy, determining appropriate nature and levels of investments, assessing appropriate returns on investments, achieving market acceptance of our existing and future offerings, managing client implementations and developing new solutions. If our assumptions regarding these uncertainties, which we regularly use and update to plan our business, are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in our markets, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
You should not consider our revenue growth in past periods to be indicative of our future performance. In future periods, our revenue could decline or grow more slowly than we expect. We believe the growth of our revenue depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:
• attract new clients, and retain and expand our relationships with existing clients;
• maintain the breadth of our media owner network and attract new publishers and media owners, including large retailers, publishers of web content, mobile applications and video and social games, in order to grow the volume and breadth of advertising inventory available to us;
• broaden our solutions portfolio to include additional marketing and monetization goals (including discovery and choice) for commerce companies and consumer brands across the open Internet, including web, apps and stores;
• adapt our offering to meet evolving needs of businesses, including to address market trends such as (i) the continued migration of consumers from desktop to mobile and from websites to mobile applications, (ii) the increasing percentage of sales that involve multiple digital devices, (iii) the increasing retailer adoption of retail media monetization solutions, (iv) the growing adoption by consumers of “ad-blocking” software on web browsers on desktop and/or on mobile devices and use or consumption by consumers of advertising-free services, (v) changes in the marketplace for and supply of advertising inventory, including the shift toward header bidding, (vi) changes in the overall ecosystem resulting in signal loss and (vii) changes in consumer acceptance of tracking technologies for targeted or behavioral advertising purposes;
• maintain and increase our access to data necessary for the performance of Criteo AI Engine;
• continuously improve the algorithms underlying Criteo AI Engine and apply state-of-the-art machine learning approaches and hardware; and
• continue to adapt to a changing regulatory landscape governing data use, data protection and privacy matters.
We also anticipate continuing to invest in our business to increase the scale of our Commerce Media Platform and expand our operations. In particular, we plan to continue to focus on maximizing our Contribution ex-TAC, as we believe this focus fortifies a number of our competitive strengths. Our focus on maximizing Contribution ex-TAC on an absolute basis may have an adverse impact on our gross margin and we cannot be certain that this strategy will be successful or result in increased liquidity or long-term value for our shareholders.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue from companies in the retail, travel and classified industries, and any downturn in these industries or any changes in regulations affecting these industries could harm our business.
A significant portion of our revenue is derived from companies in the Retail, Travel and Classifieds industries. For example, in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, 78.5%, 78.1%, 75.6% and 68.9%, respectively, of our combined revenue for Criteo Marketing Solutions was derived from advertisements placed for Retail commerce businesses. Any downturn or increased competitive pressure in any of our core industries, or other industries we may target in the future, may cause our clients to reduce their spending with us, or delay or cancel their advertising campaigns with us.
We experience fluctuations in our results of operations due to a number of factors, which make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or our guidance.
Our quarterly and annual results of operations fluctuate due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, comparing our results of operations on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Fluctuations in our results of operations could cause our performance to fall below the expectations of analysts and investors, and adversely affect the price of our ADSs. You should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. Factors that may affect our quarterly results of operations include:
•the nature of our clients’ products or services, including the seasonal nature of our clients’ advertising spending;
• lengthy implementation cycles resulting in substantial expenses incurred without any guarantee of revenue generation;
• demand for our offering and the size, scope and timing of digital advertising campaigns;
• for certain parts of our business, the relative lack of long-term agreements with our clients and publishers;
• client and publisher retention rates;
• market acceptance of our offering and future solutions and services (i) in current industry verticals and new industry verticals, (ii) in new geographic markets, (iii) in new advertising channels, or (iv) for broader marketing goals;
• the timing of large expenditures related to expansion into new solutions, new geographic markets, new industry verticals, acquisitions and/or capital projects;
• the timing of adding support for new digital devices, platforms and operating systems;
• the amount of inventory purchased through direct relationships with publishers versus internet advertising exchanges or networks;
• our clients’ budgeting cycles;
• changes in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors;
• consumers’ response to our clients’ advertisements, to online advertising in general and to tracking technologies for targeted or behavioral advertising purposes;
• our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses;
• network outages, errors in our technology or security breaches and any associated expense and collateral effects;
• foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, as some of our foreign sales and costs are denominated in their local currencies;
• failure to successfully manage or integrate any acquisitions; and
• general economic and political conditions in our domestic and international markets, including public health crises (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and geopolitical conflicts (such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine).
As a result, we may have a limited ability to forecast future revenue and expenses, and our results of operations may from time to time fall below our estimates or the expectations of public market analysts and investors.
Risks Related to Data Privacy, Intellectual Property and Cybersecurity
Our ability to generate revenue depends on our collection of significant amounts of data from various sources, which may be restricted by consumer choice, clients, publishers, browsers or other software, changes in technology, and new developments in laws, regulations and industry standards.
Our ability to optimize the delivery of internet advertisements for our clients depends on our ability to successfully leverage data, including data that we collect from our clients, data we receive from our publisher partners and third parties, and data from our own operating history. Using cookies and non-cookie based mechanisms, such as hashed emails, hashed customer log-ins, mobile phone numbers or mobile advertising identifiers, we collect information about the interactions of users with our clients’ and publishers’ digital properties (including, for example, information about the placement of advertisements and users’ shopping or other interactions with our clients’ websites or advertisements). Our ability to successfully leverage such data depends on our continued ability to access and use such data, which could be restricted by a number of factors, including consumer choices, restrictions imposed by counterparties (such as clients, supply sources and publishers, who may also compete with us for advertising spend and inventory), web browser developers or other software developers, changes in technology, including changes in web browser technology, increased visibility of consent or “do not track” mechanisms or “ad-blocking” software, the emergence of new opt-out signals such as “Global Privacy Control” and “Global Privacy Platform”, and new developments in, or new interpretations of, laws, regulations and industry standards. These types of restrictions could materially impair the results of our operations.
Web browser developers, such as Apple, Mozilla Foundation, Microsoft or Google, have implemented or may implement changes in browser or device functionality that impair our ability to understand the preferences of consumers, including by limiting the use of third-party cookies or other tracking technologies or data indicating or predicting consumer preferences. Today, four major web browsers - Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft’s Edge, and Samsung Internet Browser - block third party cookies by default. Internet users can also delete cookies from their computers at any time. In January 2020, Google announced that it plans to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome, which has since been delayed until the second half of 2024. Google controls more than 60% of the browser market and has an even more dominant position in the digital advertising market. These web browser developers have significant resources at their disposal and command substantial market share, and any restrictions they impose could foreclose our ability to understand the preferences of a substantial number of consumers. Although we are actively in the process of moving our business away from third-party cookies towards relying more on first-party data-based identifiers, if we are blocked from serving advertisements to a significant portion of internet users, our business could suffer and our results of operations could be harmed.
Similarly, Internet users are increasingly able to download free or paid “ad-blocking” software, including on mobile devices, which prevent third-party cookies from being stored on a user’s computer and block advertisements from being displayed to such user. In addition, Google has introduced ad blocking software in its Chrome browser that blocks certain ads based on quality standards established under a multi-stakeholder coalition. If such a feature inadvertently or mistakenly blocks ads that are not within the established blocking standards, or if such capabilities become widely adopted and the advertising technology industry does not collaboratively develop alternative technologies, our business could be harmed. The Interactive Advertising Bureau and Digital Advertising Alliance have also developed frameworks that allow users to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information under the CCPA, in ways that stop or severely limit the ability to show targeted ads.
In addition, search engines and other service providers that explicitly do not allow the tracking of data, such as DuckDuckGo, Inc., may be growing in popularity. If a significant number of web browser users switch to advertising-free services or platforms, our business could be materially impacted. Further, mobile devices allow users to opt out of the use of mobile device IDs for targeted advertising. For in-app advertising, data regarding interactions between users and devices are tracked mostly through stable, pseudonymous mobile device identifiers that are built into the device operating system with privacy controls that allow users to express a preference with respect to data collection for advertising, including to disable the identifier. These identifiers and privacy controls are defined by the developers of the mobile platforms and could be changed by the mobile platforms in a way that may negatively impact our business. For example, Apple announced in June 2020 that it will require user opt-in before permitting access to Apple’s unique identifier, or IDFA, and implemented iOS 15 in September 2021, which allows users to hide IP address information to prevent tracking web usage on the Safari browser and to shut off marketers’ ability to see if and when an email is opened through Apple’s Mail app. This shift from enabling user opt-out to an opt-in requirement is likely to have a substantial impact on the mobile advertising ecosystem and could harm our growth in this channel.
User privacy features of other channels of programmatic advertising, such as Connected TV or over-the-top video, are still developing. Technical or policy changes, including regulation or industry self-regulation, could harm our growth in those channels.
The data we gather is important to the continued development and success of Criteo Shopper Graph, which is a key element of the Criteo Commerce Media Platform. If too few of our clients provide us with the permission to share their data or if our clients choose to stop sharing their data, or if regulatory or other factors inhibit or restrict us from maintaining the data collectives underlying Criteo Shopper Graph, the value of Criteo Shopper Graph could be materially diminished, which could impact the performance of our products and materially impact our business.
In addition, our ability to collect and use data may be restricted or prevented by a number of other factors, including:
• the failure of our, or our clients’, network, hardware, or software systems;
• our inability to grow our client and publisher base in new industry verticals and geographic markets in order to obtain the critical mass of data necessary for Criteo AI Engine to perform optimally in such new industry verticals or geographic markets;
• malicious traffic (such as non-human traffic) that introduces “noise” in the information that we collect from clients and publishers; and
• interruptions, failures or defects in our data collection, mining, analysis and storage systems, including due to our reliance on external third-party providers for cloud computing services and data center hosting services, in a competitive market subject to close legal and regulatory scrutiny.
Any of the above described limitations could also harm our business and adversely impact our future results of operations.
Third parties may implement technical restrictions that impede our access to data and revenue opportunities upon which we rely, which could materially impact our business and results of operations.
A substantial portion of the data we rely on comes from our publisher partners and other third parties, including advertising exchange platforms (including supply-side platforms, or “SSPs”, such as Google’s Ad Manager). Similarly, we rely on our publisher partners, advertising exchange platforms and other third parties for opportunities to serve advertisements through which we generate our revenue. Our ability to successfully leverage such data and successfully generate revenue from such opportunities could be impacted by restrictions imposed by or on our publisher partners or other third parties, including restrictions on our ability to use or read cookies or other tracking features or our ability to use real-time bidding networks or other bidding networks.
For example, in light of GDPR, some SSPs imposed restrictions on our ability to bid on opportunities to serve ads. Third-party publishers are responsible under GDPR for gathering necessary user consents and indicating to SSPs that Criteo has been approved by the applicable users. As part of their efforts to comply with their understanding of the requirements of GDPR, which are subject to interpretation, certain SSPs that run advertising exchanges have required actions from such third party publishers with respect to such consents that appear stricter than regulations require. Similarly, SSPs and other relevant third parties may take similar actions in response to any new legislation or regulatory developments or interpretations in the future, in response to perceived user preferences, or for other reasons.
If third parties on which we rely for data or opportunities to serve advertisements impose similar restrictions or are not able to comply with restrictions imposed by other ecosystem participants, we may lose the ability to access data, bid on opportunities, or purchase digital ad space, which could have a substantial impact on our revenue.
Failures in the systems and infrastructure supporting our solutions and operations, including as we scale our offerings, could significantly disrupt our operations and cause us to lose clients.
In addition to the optimal performance of Criteo AI Engine, our business relies on the continued and uninterrupted performance of our software and hardware infrastructures. We currently place close to five billion advertisements per day and each of those advertisements can be placed in under 100 milliseconds.
Sustained or repeated system failures of our, or our third-party providers’, software or hardware infrastructures (such as massive and sustained data center or cloud service provider outages), which interrupt our ability to deliver advertisements quickly and accurately, our ability to serve and track advertisements, our ability to process consumers’ responses to those advertisements or otherwise disrupt our internal operations, could significantly reduce the attractiveness of our offering to clients and publishers, reduce our revenue or otherwise negatively impact our financial situation, impair our reputation and subject us to significant liability.
Additionally, if, for any reason, our arrangement with one or more data centers or cloud providers is terminated, we could experience difficulties and additional expense in arranging for new facilities and support, particularly given the current competitive nature of the data centers market at a worldwide scale, which involves high demands, low offers and strong pressure from providers to increase prices and diversify their client base. Any steps we take to ensure business continuity and increase the security, reliability and redundancy of our systems supporting the Criteo technology or operations may be expensive and may not be successful in preventing system failures. Similarly, advancements in machine learning approaches and other technology may require us to upgrade or replace essential hardware (such as graphics processing units), which could involve substantial resources and could be difficult to implement.
In addition, while we seek to maintain excess capacity to facilitate the rapid provision of new client deployments and the expansion of existing client deployments, we may need to increase data center hosting capacity, bandwidth, storage, power or other elements of our system architecture and our infrastructure as our client base and/or our traffic continues to grow. The expansion and improvement of our systems and infrastructure may require us to commit substantial financial, operational and technical resources, with no assurance that the providers will honor such requests or that our business will increase. Our existing systems may not be able to scale up in a manner satisfactory to our existing or prospective clients, and may not be adequately designed with the necessary reliability and redundancy of certain critical portions of our infrastructure to avoid performance delays or outages that could be harmful to our business. Our failure to continuously upgrade or increase the reliability and redundancy of our infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing base of global clients and publishers could adversely affect the functioning and performance of our technology and could in turn affect our results of operations.
Finally, our systems and the systems of our third-party providers are vulnerable to damage and increased costs from a variety of sources, some of which are outside of our control, including telecommunications failures, natural disasters, terrorism, power outages, a variety of other possible outages affecting data centers, increases in the price of energy needed to power and cool data centers, a decision to close any data center or the facilities of any other third-party provider without adequate notice, and malicious human acts, including hacking, computer viruses, malware/ransomware and other security breaches. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate some of these techniques or to implement adequate preventive measures.
If we are unable to prevent system failures, the functioning and performance of our solutions could suffer, which in turn could interrupt our business and harm our results of operations.
Our business involves the use, transmission and storage of personal data and confidential information, and the failure to properly safeguard such information could result in significant reputational harm and monetary damages.
Our business involves the use, storage and transmission of confidential consumer, client and publisher information and personal data, including certain purchaser data, as well as proprietary software and financial, employee and operational information. Security breaches could expose us to unauthorized disclosure of this information, litigation and possible liability, as well as damage to our relationships with our clients and publishers. If our security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee or contractor error, malfeasance or otherwise and, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to such data, our reputation could be damaged, our business may suffer and we could incur significant liability.
Our industry is prone to cyber-attacks by third parties seeking unauthorized access to our data or users’ data or to disrupt our ability to provide services. As a result of our prominence, the size of our user base, and the types and volume of personal data on our systems, we believe that we are a particularly attractive target for such breaches and attacks. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches and improper access to or disclosure of our data or user data, including personal information, trade secrets and intellectual property, or information from marketers, could result in the loss or misuse of such data, which could harm our business and reputation and diminish our competitive position. In addition, computer malware/ransomware, viruses, unauthorized access or system compromises and hacking by sophisticated actors, including potential attacks from nation-state actors, have become more prevalent in our industry. Our products embed open source software. There may be vulnerabilities in open source software that may make our products susceptible to cyberattacks. Security incidents have occurred on our systems in the past, and will likely occur on our systems in the future.
Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target. As a result, we are unable to anticipate some of these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures for such techniques. In addition, the perpetrators of such activity often are very sophisticated, and can include foreign governments and other parties with significant resources at their disposal.
Cyber-attacks continue to constantly evolve in sophistication and volume, and inherently may be difficult to anticipate and detect for long periods of time. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect data, and to prevent or detect security breaches, such measures have not provided, and cannot be expected to provide, absolute security, and we may incur significant costs in protecting against and remediating cyber-attacks. We may also have to expend considerable resources on determining the nature and extent of such attacks.
If an actual or perceived security breach occurs, the market perception of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose both clients and revenue. Any significant violations of data privacy or other security breaches could result in the loss of business, litigation and regulatory investigations and penalties that could damage our reputation and adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, if a high profile security breach occurs with respect to another provider of digital advertising solutions, our clients and potential clients may lose trust in the security of providers of digital advertising in general, and Display Advertising solutions in particular, which could adversely impact our ability to retain existing clients or attract new ones.
Additionally, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, consumers, our clients, our publishers or third-party providers into disclosing sensitive information such as user names, passwords or other information in order to gain access to our data, our clients’ data or our publishers’ data, which could result in significant legal and financial exposure and a loss of confidence in the security of our offering and, ultimately, harm to our future business prospects. A party who is able to compromise the security of our facilities, including our data centers or office facilities, or any device, such as a smartphone or laptop, connected to our systems could misappropriate our, our clients’, our publishers’ or consumers’ proprietary information, or cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations or those of our clients and/or publishers. We have expended significant resources to protect against such threats and to alleviate problems caused by breaches in security and may have to expend additional resources for such purposes in the future. Our errors and omissions insurance may be inadequate or may not be available in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, our policy may not cover any claim against us for loss of data or other indirect or consequential damages and defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly and divert management’s attention.
Our efforts to address undesirable activity on our platform may also increase the risk of retaliatory attacks. As a result, we may suffer significant legal, reputational, or financial exposure, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary information or other intellectual property, our business could be adversely affected.
Our patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights are important assets for us. Various events outside of our control pose a threat to our intellectual property rights, as well as to our products, services, and technologies. For example, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which we operate or intend to operate our business. Third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our proprietary rights or challenge proprietary rights held by us, and our pending and future trademark and patent applications may not be approved. Although we seek to obtain patent protection for our innovations, it is possible we may not be able to protect some of these innovations in a sufficient or effective manner. Moreover, we may not have adequate patent or copyright protection for certain innovations that later turn out to be important.
Furthermore, there is always the possibility, despite our efforts, that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable.
Breaches of the security of our information system, our third-party providers’ information system or other IT resources could also result in the exposure of our proprietary information. Additionally, our trade secrets may be independently developed by competitors. We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information will prevent unauthorized use or reverse engineering of our trade secrets or proprietary information.
To protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, we may initiate litigation against third parties. Any lawsuits that we initiate could be expensive, take significant time and divert management’s attention from other business concerns. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially valuable. Any increase in the unauthorized use of our intellectual property may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business may suffer if it is alleged or determined that our technology or another aspect of our business infringes the intellectual property rights of others.
The online and mobile advertising industries are characterized by the existence of large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual property and proprietary rights. Our success depends, in part, upon non-infringement of intellectual property rights owned by others and being able to resolve claims of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation without major financial expenditures or adverse consequences. From time to time, we may be the subject of claims that our services, solutions and underlying technology infringe or violate the intellectual property rights of others, particularly as we expand the scope and complexity of our business.
Regardless of whether claims that we are infringing trademarks, patents or other intellectual property rights have any merit, these claims are time-consuming and costly to evaluate and defend, and the outcome of any litigation is inherently uncertain. Some of our competitors have substantially greater resources than we do and are able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for longer periods of time than we could. Claims that we are infringing trademarks, patents or other intellectual property rights could subject us to significant liabilities for monetary damages, interfere with or delay our development, commercialization or provision of our offerings on acceptable terms, harm our reputation or require us to make technology or branding changes to our offerings.
In addition, we may be exposed to claims that the content contained in advertising campaigns violates the intellectual property or other rights of third parties and although we may have the right of recourse, this may be difficult or costly to enforce. Such claims could be made directly against us or against the advertising agencies we work with, and media networks and exchanges and publishers from whom we purchase advertising inventory.
Under our agreements with larger partners, including advertising agencies, media networks and exchanges and publishers, we may be required to indemnify such partners against claims with respect to an advertisement we served. We generally require our clients to indemnify us for any damages from any such claims. There can be no assurance, however, that our clients will have the ability to satisfy their indemnification obligations to us, and pursuing any claims for indemnification may be costly or unsuccessful. As a result, we may be required to satisfy our indemnification obligations to advertising agencies, media networks and exchanges and publishers or claims against us with our assets. This result could harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations, and could impact our relationships with advertising agencies, media networks and exchanges, or clients.
Our inability to use software licensed from third parties, or our use of open source software under license terms that interfere with our proprietary rights, could disrupt our business.
Our technology platform and internal systems incorporate software licensed from third parties, including some software, known as open source software, which we use without charge. Although we monitor our use of open source software, the terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide our technology offering to our clients. In the future, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our solutions, which licenses may not be available on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all.
Alternatively, we may need to re-engineer our offering or discontinue using portions of the functionality provided by our technology. In addition, the terms of open source software licenses may require us to provide software that we develop using such software to others on unfavorable terms, such as by precluding us from charging license fees or by requiring us to disclose our source code. Any such restriction on the use of our own software, or our inability to use open source or third-party software, could result in disruptions to our business or operations, or delays in our development of future offerings or enhancements of our existing platform, which could impair our business.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Shares and the ADSs and the Trading of the ADSs
The market price for the ADSs has been and may continue to be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.
The trading price of the ADSs has significantly fluctuated, and is likely to continue to fluctuate, substantially. The trading price of the ADSs depends on a number of factors, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. Since the ADSs were sold at our initial public offering in October 2013 at a price of $31.00 per share, the price per ADS has ranged as low as $5.89 and as high as $60.95 through December 31, 2022. The market price of the ADSs has fluctuated and may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our revenue and other results of operations;
•the guidance we may provide to the public, any changes in this guidance or our failure to meet this guidance;
•investor perception of risks in our industry, including but not limited to the competitive concentration of supply inventory or risks of fraudulent or malicious activity;
• failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of us and our securities, changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
• announcements by us, our competitors or large influential technology companies of significant technical innovations or changes, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
• changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of advertising technology or other technology companies, or those in our industry in particular;
• investor sentiment with respect to our competitors, business partners or industry in general;
• price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole;
• additional ADSs being sold into the market by us or the Company’s insiders;
• media coverage of our business and financial performance;
• developments in anticipated or new legislation or new or pending lawsuits or regulatory actions;
• other events or factors, including those resulting from economic recessions, natural disasters or weather events, cyberattacks, pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic), war (including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine), incidents of terrorism or other catastrophic events or responses to these events; and
• any other risks identified in this Form 10-K.
In addition, stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many technology companies. Stock prices of many technology companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, shareholders have instituted securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. Because of the past and the potential future volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business and adversely affect our business.
Our business could be negatively impacted by the activities of hedge funds or short sellers.
There is the risk that we may be subject, from time to time, to challenges arising from the activities of hedge funds, short sellers or similar individuals who may not have the best interests of shareholders or the Company in mind. Reports or other publications prepared and disseminated by such hedge funds or short sellers may cause significant fluctuations in our stock price based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business, and could cause the price of our ADSs or trading volume to decline. Furthermore, responding to such activities could be costly and time-consuming and may be intended to, and may in fact, divert the attention of our board of directors and senior management from the pursuit of our business strategies and adversely affect our business.
We may need additional capital in the future to meet our financial obligations and to pursue our business objectives. Additional capital may not be available on favorable terms, or at all, which could compromise our ability to meet our financial obligations and grow our business.
We currently have a senior unsecured revolving credit facility under which we may borrow up to €407 million (or its equivalent in U.S. dollars) for general corporate purposes, including the funding of business combinations (the "General RCF"). Maturity of this facility is in September 2027. While we anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months, we may need to raise additional capital to fund operations in the future or to finance acquisitions. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund the expansion of our research and development and sales and marketing efforts, increase working capital, take advantage of acquisition or other opportunities, or adequately respond to competitive pressures which could seriously harm our business and results of operations.
Furthermore, if we issue additional equity securities, shareholders will experience dilution, and the new equity securities could have rights senior to those of our ordinary shares. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. As a result, our shareholders bear the risk of our future securities offerings reducing the market price of the ADSs and diluting their interest.
We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our securities and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of the ADSs. In addition, French law may limit the amount of dividends we are able to distribute.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares and do not currently intend to do so for the foreseeable future. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to fund our growth, both organic and inorganic. In addition, we have used a portion of our available liquidity to repurchase our shares in the past (such repurchases being limited as per French law in scope (employee incentive purposes or external growth purposes only) and in amount (notably the Company cannot hold more than 10% of its share capital at any time)), and may continue to do so from time to time in the future.
In addition, to the extent any dividends are paid in the future, under French law, payment of such dividends may subject us to additional taxes, and the determination of whether we have been sufficiently profitable to pay dividends is made on the basis of our statutory financial statements prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in France. Therefore, we may be more restricted in our ability to declare dividends than companies not based in France. Please see the section entitled “Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities-Taxation-French Tax Consequences” in Item 5 of Part II in this Form 10-K for further details on such taxes and limitations.
Finally, exchange rate fluctuations may affect the amount of euros that we are able to distribute, and the amount in U.S. dollars that our shareholders receive upon the payment of cash dividends or other distributions we declare and pay in euros, if any. These factors could harm the value of ADSs, and, in turn, the U.S. dollar proceeds that holders receive from the sale of ADSs.
Because you are not likely to receive any dividends on your ADSs for the foreseeable future, the success of an investment in ADSs will depend upon any future appreciation in their value. Consequently, investors may need to sell all or part of their holdings of ADSs after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.
Our credit agreement contains, and future debt agreements may contain, restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business.
The credit agreement for the General RCF contains, and documents governing our future indebtedness may contain, numerous covenants that limit the discretion of management with respect to certain business matters. These covenants place restrictions on, among other things, our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to incur or guarantee additional indebtedness, pay dividends, sell certain assets or engage in mergers and acquisitions, and create liens. Our credit agreement also requires, and documents governing our future indebtedness may require, us or our subsidiaries to meet certain financial ratios and tests. To the extent we draw on the General RCF or incur new debt, the debt holders have rights senior to shareholders to make claims on our assets.
Our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to comply with these and other provisions of our debt agreements are dependent on our future performance, which will be subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control. The breach of any of these covenants or noncompliance with any of these financial ratios and tests could result in an event of default under the applicable debt agreement, which, if not cured or waived, could result in acceleration of the related debt and the acceleration of debt under other instruments evidencing indebtedness that may contain cross-acceleration or cross-default provisions.
Our by-laws and French corporate law contain provisions that may delay or discourage a sale of the Company.
Provisions contained in our by-laws and the corporate laws of France, the country in which we are incorporated, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our shareholders. In addition, provisions of our by-laws impose various procedural and other requirements, which could make it more difficult for shareholders to effect certain corporate actions. These provisions include, but are not limited to, the following:
• our ordinary shares are in registered form only and we must be notified of any transfer of our shares in order for such transfer to be validly registered;
• under French law, certain investments in any entity governed by a French law relating to certain strategic industries and activities (such as data processing, transmission or storage activities) by individuals or entities not French, not resident in France or controlled by entities not French or not resident in France are subject to prior authorization of the Minister of Economy (see the section entitled "Exchange Controls & Ownership by Non-French Residents" in Item 5 to Part II in this Form 10-K);
• provisions of French law allowing the owner of 90% of the share capital or voting rights of a public company to force out the minority shareholders following a tender offer made to all shareholders are only applicable to companies listed on a stock exchange of the EU and will therefore not be applicable to us;
• a merger (i.e., in a French law context, a stock-for-stock exchange following which our Company would be dissolved into the acquiring entity and our shareholders would become shareholders of the acquiring entity) of our Company into a company incorporated outside of the EU would require the unanimous approval of our shareholders;
• a merger of our Company into a company incorporated in the EU would require the approval of our board of directors as well as a two-thirds majority of the votes held by the shareholders present, represented by proxy or voting by mail at the relevant extraordinary shareholders' meeting;
• under French law, a cash merger is treated as a share purchase and would require the consent of each participating shareholder; and
• our shareholders have preferential subscription rights proportionally to their shareholding in our Company on the issuance by us of any additional securities for cash or a set-off of cash debts, which rights may only be waived by the extraordinary general meeting (by a two-thirds majority vote) of our shareholders or on an individual basis by each shareholder.
You may not be able to exercise your right to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs.
Holders of ADSs may exercise voting rights with respect to the ordinary shares represented by the ADSs only in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement, as amended from time to time. The deposit agreement provides that, upon receipt of notice of any meeting of holders of our ordinary shares, the depositary will fix a record date for the determination of ADS holders who shall be entitled to give instructions for the exercise of voting rights. Upon timely receipt of notice from us, if we so request, the depositary shall distribute to the holders as of the record date (1) the notice of the meeting or solicitation of consent or proxy sent by us and (2) a statement as to the manner in which instructions may be given by the holders.
You may instruct the depositary of your ADSs to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. Otherwise, you will not be able to exercise your right to vote, unless you withdraw the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs you hold. However, you may not know about the meeting far enough in advance to withdraw those ordinary shares. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary, upon timely notice from us, will notify you of the upcoming vote and arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We cannot guarantee you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your ordinary shares or to withdraw your ordinary shares so that you can vote them yourself.
If the depositary does not receive timely voting instructions from you, it may give a proxy to a person designated by us to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for the manner of carrying out voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to vote, and there may be nothing you can do if the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.
Your right as a holder of ADSs to participate in any future preferential subscription rights or to elect to receive dividends in shares may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.
According to French law, if we issue additional securities for cash, current shareholders will have preferential subscription rights for these securities proportionally to their shareholding in our Company unless they waive those rights at an extraordinary meeting of our shareholders (by a two-thirds majority vote) or individually by each shareholder.
However, our ADS holders in the U.S. will not be entitled to exercise or sell such rights unless we register the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. In addition, the deposit agreement provides that the depositary will not make rights available to you unless the distribution to ADS holders of both the rights and any related securities are either registered under the Securities Act or exempted from registration under the Securities Act.
Further, if we offer holders of our ordinary shares the option to receive dividends in either cash or shares, under the deposit agreement the depositary may require satisfactory assurances from us that extending the offer to holders of ADSs does not require registration of any securities under the Securities Act before making the option available to holders of ADSs. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we may not be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act.
Accordingly, ADS holders may be unable to participate in our rights offerings or to elect to receive dividends in shares and may experience dilution in their holdings. In addition, if the depositary is unable to sell rights that are not exercised or not distributed or if the sale is not lawful or reasonably practicable, it will allow the rights to lapse, in which case you will receive no value for these rights.
You may be subject to limitations on the transfer of your ADSs and the withdrawal of the underlying ordinary shares.
Your ADSs, which may be evidenced by American Depositary Receipts, are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of your ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary think it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law, government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason subject to your right to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares.
Temporary delays in the cancellation of your ADSs and your withdrawal of the underlying ordinary shares may arise because the depositary has closed its transfer books or we have closed our transfer books, the transfer of ordinary shares is blocked to permit voting at a shareholders’ meeting or we are paying a dividend on our ordinary shares.
In addition, you may not be able to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares when you owe money for fees, taxes and similar charges and when it is necessary to prohibit withdrawals in order to comply with any laws or governmental regulations that apply to ADSs or to the withdrawal of ordinary shares or other deposited securities.
U.S. investors may have difficulty enforcing civil liabilities against our Company and directors and senior management.
Certain of our directors and members of senior management, and those of certain of our subsidiaries, are non-residents of the U.S., and all or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of such persons are located outside the U.S. As a result, it may not be possible to serve process on such persons or us in the U.S. or to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against them or us based on civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the U.S. Additionally, it may be difficult to assert U.S. securities law claims in actions originally instituted outside of the U.S.
Foreign courts may refuse to hear a U.S. securities law claim because foreign courts may not be the most appropriate forums in which to bring such a claim. Even if a foreign court agrees to hear a U.S. securities law claim, it may determine that the law of the jurisdiction in which the foreign court resides, and not U.S. law, is applicable to the claim.
Further, if U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact, which can be a time-consuming and costly process, and procedural rules would still be governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the foreign court resides. In particular, there is some doubt as to whether French courts would recognize and enforce certain civil liabilities under U.S. securities laws in original actions or judgments of U.S. courts based upon these civil liability provisions. In addition, damages exceeding the actual damages in actions brought in the U.S. or elsewhere, such as punitive damages, may be unenforceable in France.
The enforceability of any judgment in France will depend on the particular facts of the case as well as the laws and treaties in effect at the time. The U.S. and France do not currently have a treaty providing for recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters; therefore the recognition and enforcement of any such judgment would be subject to French procedural law and may not be granted.
The rights of shareholders in companies subject to French corporate law differ in material respects from the rights of shareholders of corporations incorporated in the U.S.
We are a French company with limited liability. Our corporate affairs are governed by our by-laws and by the laws governing companies incorporated in France. The rights of shareholders and the responsibilities of members of our board of directors are in many ways different from the rights and obligations of shareholders in companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions.
For example, in the performance of its duties, our board of directors is required by French law to consider the interests of our Company while taking into consideration its social and environmental challenges, its shareholders, its employees and other stakeholders, rather than solely our shareholders and/or creditors. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder.
General Risk Factors
In periods of economic uncertainty, businesses may delay or reduce their spending on advertising, and we are exposed to the credit risk of some of our clients and customers, which could materially harm our business.
Global economic conditions have been, and may continue to be, significantly unstable in recent years, especially in the EU where we generated 35% of our revenue for 2022. Unstable conditions make it difficult for our clients and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities, and could cause our clients to reduce or delay their advertising spending with us as consumers are spending less. Worsening economic conditions and economic downturns, including conditions such as inflation, rising interest rates, recessions, or other changes in economic conditions may result in overall reductions in advertising spending, and businesses may curtail spending both on advertising in general and on a solution such as ours. We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown or recovery. Any macroeconomic deterioration could impair our revenue and results of operations.
Our evolving client portfolio exposes us to varied payment terms and additional credit risk, which could result in further exposure in the event of economic uncertainty or an economic downturn, including conditions such as inflation, rising interest rates, recession, pandemic or other changes in economic conditions.
Additionally, our exposure to credit risks relating to our financing activities may increase if our customers are adversely affected by periods of economic uncertainty, including inflation, rising interest rates, recession, pandemic, or other changes in economic conditions, or a global economic downturn. These losses have significantly impacted, and could continue to significantly impact, our operating results and financial condition.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of the ADSs may, therefore, be adversely impacted.
As a public company, we are required to maintain internal controls over financial reporting (“ICFR”) and to report any material weaknesses in such internal control. In addition, we are required to submit a report by management to the Audit Committee and external auditors on the effectiveness of our ICFR pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) and our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our ICFR. If we identify material weaknesses in our ICFR, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of SOX in a timely manner or assert that our ICFR are effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our ICFR when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of ADSs may be
adversely impacted, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.
Our failure to maintain certain tax regimes applicable to French technology companies may adversely affect our results of operations.
As a French technology company, we have benefited from certain tax advantages, including, for example, a reduced tax rate in France on technology royalty income received from global subsidiaries and the French research tax credit (crédit d’impôt recherche), or CIR. The French tax authority may audit these tax incentives and challenge all or part of their benefits. In such a case, we could be liable for additional corporate tax, and penalties and interest related thereto, which could have a significant impact on our results of operations and future cash flows. Furthermore, the tax laws may change, and could remove these incentives in the future or reduce their benefits. Specifically, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s international Pillar 2 tax reform could trigger law changes and generate additional tax expense.
We are a multinational organization faced with increasingly complex tax issues in many jurisdictions, and new taxes or laws, or revised interpretations thereof, may negatively affect our results of operations.
As a multinational organization operating in multiple jurisdictions, we are subject to taxation in several jurisdictions around the world with increasingly complex tax laws, the application of which can be uncertain. The amount of taxes we pay in these jurisdictions could increase substantially as a result of changes in the applicable tax principles, including increased tax rates, new tax laws or revised interpretations of existing tax laws and precedents, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and results of operations. For instance, several countries have proposed or enacted Digital Services Taxes ("DST"), many of which would apply to revenues derived from digital services. We will continue to assess the ongoing impact of DSTs that we pay in certain jurisdictions, as we anticipate that many jurisdictions may sign an agreement with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the coming years and that DSTs could be eliminated under Pillar 1. We also monitor the impact of Pillar 2.
U.S. Holders of our ADSs may suffer adverse tax consequences if we are treated as a “passive foreign investment company” for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
A non-U.S. corporation will be considered a “passive foreign investment company”, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for any taxable year if either (1) at least 75% of its gross income for such year is passive income or (2) at least 50% of the value of its assets (based on an average of the quarterly values of the assets during such year) is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. Passive income includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain non-active rents and royalties, net gains from the sale or exchange of property producing such income and net foreign (non-U.S.) currency gains. For this purpose, cash and assets readily convertible into cash are generally categorized as passive assets, subject to a limited working capital exception under proposed regulations. Goodwill and other un-booked intangibles are taken into account and being characterized as either active or passive, as appropriate; for example, our goodwill associated with active business activity is taken into account as a non-passive asset.
As the value of our assets for purposes of the above-mentioned PFIC asset test will generally be determined by reference to the market value of our ADSs, the determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will depend in large part upon the market value of our ADSs, which we cannot control.
Accordingly, fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to become a PFIC for the current taxable year or future taxable years. The determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will also depend, in part, upon the nature of our income and the valuation of our assets, including goodwill, which are subject to change from year to year. Moreover, as we have valued our goodwill based on the market value of our ADSs, a decrease in the price of ADSs may also result in becoming a PFIC. The composition of our income and assets may also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets.
For purposes of the above-mentioned PFIC tests, we will be treated as if we held our proportionate share of the assets and received directly our proportionate share of the income of any other corporation in which we directly or indirectly own at least 25% (by value) of the shares of such corporation.
Based on the value and composition of our assets, although not free from doubt, we do not believe we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2022, and we do not anticipate becoming a PFIC in the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.
The determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination that must be made on an annual basis applying principles and methodologies that are in some circumstances unclear. Since a separate factual determination as to whether we are or have become a PFIC must be made each year (after the close of such year), we cannot assure that we will not be or become a PFIC in the current year or any future taxable year.
If we are to be classified as a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder1 holds our ADSs, we would continue to be treated as a PFIC with respect to that U.S. Holder for such taxable year and, unless the U.S. Holder makes certain elections, for future years even if we cease to be a PFIC. The U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse tax consequences, including (1) the treatment of all or a portion of any gain on disposition of our ADSs as ordinary income (and therefore ineligible for the preferential rates that apply to capital gains with respect to non-corporate U.S. persons), (2) the application of an interest charge with respect to such gain and on the receipt of certain dividends on our ADSs and (3) required compliance with certain reporting requirements. Each U.S. Holder is strongly urged to consult its tax advisor regarding the application of these rules and the availability of any potential elections. For further information regarding the U.S. federal income tax considerations relevant to our potential status as a PFIC, please see the section entitled “Taxation-U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders-Passive Foreign Investment Company, or PFIC, Rules” in our Annual Report.
If a U.S. Holder is treated as owning at least 10% of our ADSs, such person may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.
If a U.S. Holder is treated as owning (directly, indirectly, or constructively through attribution) at least 10% of the total value of our stock or at least 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of our stock entitled to vote, such person may be treated as a “United States shareholder” (“U.S. Shareholder”) with respect to each “controlled foreign corporation” (“CFC”) in our group (if any). A non-U.S. entity treated as a corporation for U.S. tax purposes will constitute a CFC if one or more such U.S. Shareholders (generally defined as U.S. persons that-directly, indirectly, or constructively through attribution-own at least 10% of the vote or value of the entity) own in the aggregate more than 50% of the entity’s total vote or value.
If we are classified as both a CFC and a PFIC (as defined above), we generally will not be treated as a PFIC with respect to those U.S. Holders that are U.S. Shareholders during the period in which we are a CFC.
We do not believe we are currently a CFC. However, no assurances can be given that we are not a CFC or that we will not become a CFC in the future. Because our group includes one or more U.S. corporations, certain of our non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries could be treated as CFCs (regardless of whether or not we are treated as a CFC). A U.S. Shareholder of a CFC may be required to report annually and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of “Subpart F income,” “global intangible low-taxed income,” and investments of earnings in U.S. property by CFCs, regardless of whether we make any distributions to our shareholders. Subpart F income generally includes dividends, interest, certain non-active rents and royalties, gains from the sale of securities and income from certain transactions with related parties, and “global intangible low-taxed income” generally consists of net income of the CFC, other than Subpart F income and certain other types of income, in excess of certain thresholds. In addition, a U.S. shareholder that realizes gain from the sale or exchange of shares in a CFC may be required to classify a portion of such gain as dividend income rather than capital gain.
Failure to comply with such reporting requirements could result in adverse tax effects for U.S. Shareholders and potentially significant monetary penalties. An individual that is a U.S. Shareholder with respect to a CFC generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a U.S. Shareholder that is a U.S. corporation.
1 A U.S. Holder is a beneficial owner of our ADSs and is: (i) an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States for U.S. federal income tax purposes; (ii) a corporation, or other entity treated as an association taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, created in, or organized under the law of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; (iii) an estate the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source; or (iv) a trust (A) the administration of which is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court and which has one or more U.S. persons who have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (B) that has otherwise validly elected to be treated as a U.S. person under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended).
The determinations of CFC status and U.S. Shareholder status are complex and includes attribution rules, the application of which are not entirely certain. We cannot provide any assurances that we will assist investors in determining whether any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries is treated as a CFC or whether any investor is a U.S. Shareholder, or that we will furnish to any U.S. Shareholders information that may be necessary to comply with the aforementioned obligations. A U.S. Holder should consult its advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to an investment in our ADSs.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
We do not have any unresolved comments from the SEC staff.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties
Our headquarters are located in Paris, France, in an approximately 8,089 square meter facility, under a lease agreement expiring on July, 2030. In addition, we had 27 offices in 18 countries as of December 31, 2022. We currently lease space in data centers from third-party hosting providers to operate our servers located in the U.S. (Texas, Virginia), France, the Netherlands, Singapore and Japan. We believe that our facilities are adequate for our current needs.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
For a discussion of our legal proceedings, refer to Note. 19 Commitments and contingencies.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information
Our ADSs have been listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market ("Nasdaq") under the symbol “CRTO” since October 30, 2013. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for ADSs or our ordinary shares.
Holders
As of January 31, 2023, there were 35 holders of record of our ordinary shares and 198 participants in DTC that held our ADSs. The actual number of holders is greater, and includes beneficial owners whose ADSs are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record and DTC participants also does not include holders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.
ADS Performance Graph
The following graph matches our cumulative five-year total shareholder return on our ADSs with the cumulative total returns of the Russell 2000 Index and the Nasdaq Internet Index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our ADSs and in each index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from December 31, 2017 to December 31, 2022. The returns shown are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance.
The foregoing performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.
Dividends
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our equity securities in the foreseeable future and intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund our growth.
Subject to the requirements of French law and our by-laws, dividends may only be distributed from our statutory retained earnings. Dividend distributions, if any, will be made in euros and converted into U.S. dollars with respect to the ADSs, as provided in the deposit agreement. In addition, under the General RCF, we may not declare, make or pay dividends if our net debt to Adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio exceeds 2.0x.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
We spent $136 million on ADS repurchases in 2022, and we extended our previously authorized share repurchase program of up to $280 million of outstanding ADS to an increased amount of up to $480 million in December 2022.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities and Use of Proceeds
On August 1, 2022, we issued $70.2 million in ADS to the selling shareholders in the Iponweb acquisition pursuant to Rule 506 of Regulation D.
Exchange Controls & Ownership by Non-French Residents
Under current French foreign exchange control regulations there are no limitations on the amount of cash payments that we may remit to residents of foreign countries. Laws and regulations concerning foreign exchange controls do, however, require that all payments or transfers of funds made by a French resident to a non-resident, such as dividend payments, be handled by an accredited intermediary. All registered banks and substantially all credit institutions in France are accredited intermediaries.
Neither the French Commercial Code nor our by-laws presently impose any restrictions on the right of non-French residents or non-French shareholders to own and vote shares. However, (a) any non-French citizen, (b) any French citizen not residing in France, (c) any non-French entity or (d) any French entity controlled by one of the aforementioned persons or entities may have to file a declaration for statistical purposes with the Bank of France (Banque de France) within 20 working days following the date of certain direct foreign investments in us, including any purchase of our ADSs. In particular, such filings are required in connection with investments exceeding €15,000,000 that lead to the acquisition of at least 10% of our outstanding ordinary shares or voting rights or the crossing of either such 10% threshold. Violation of this filing requirement may be sanctioned by five years of imprisonment and a fine of up to twice the amount of the relevant investment. This amount may be increased fivefold if the violation is made by a legal entity.
Further, any investment (i) by (a) an non-French citizen, (b) any French citizen not residing in France, (c) any non-French entity or (d) any French entity controlled by one of the aforementioned persons or entities, (ii) that will result in the relevant investor (a) acquiring control of any entity registered in France, (b) acquiring all or part of a business line of an entity registered in France, or (c) for non-EU or non-EEA investors crossing, directly or indirectly, alone or in concert, a 25% threshold of voting rights in an entity registered in France, and (iii) made in certain strategic industries, , including activities likely to prejudice national defense interests, public policy or public security (such as cryptology, data capturing devices, data storage and IT systems) and research and development related to critical technologies (such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity is subject to the prior authorization of the French Ministry of Economy, which authorization may be conditioned on certain undertakings. For the purposes of (ii)(a) in the preceding sentence, ownership of at least 40% of our share capital or voting rights is regarded as a controlling interest, but a lower percentage might be held to be a controlling interest in certain circumstances depending upon factors such as the acquirer’s intention, the acquirer’s ability to elect directors, and financial reliance by the company on the acquirer.
If an investment requiring the prior authorization of the French Minister of Economy is completed without such authorization having been granted, the French Minister of Economy, at its discretion, might direct the relevant investor to nonetheless (i) submit a request for authorization, (ii) have the previous situation restored at its own expense or (iii) amend the investment. The relevant investor further may be found criminally liable and may be sanctioned with a fine not to exceed the greater of the following amounts: (i) twice the amount of the relevant investment, (ii) 10% of the annual turnover before tax of the target company or (iii) €5 million (for a company) or €1 million (for a natural person).
French Tax Consequences
The following describes the material French income tax consequences to U.S. Holders (as defined below) of purchasing, owning and disposing of the ADSs and ordinary shares, or the Securities as in force on the date of this Form 10-K.
This discussion does not purport to be a complete analysis or listing of all potential tax effects of the acquisition, ownership or disposition of our securities to any particular investor, and does not discuss tax considerations that arise from rules of general application or that are generally assumed to be known by investors. All of the following is subject to change. Such changes could apply retroactively and could affect the consequences described below.
For the purposes of this discussion, the term “U.S. Holder” means a beneficial owner of securities that is (1) an individual who is not a French tax resident under French domestic rules / applicable double tax treaty provisions and who is a U.S. citizen or resident for U.S. federal income tax purposes, or (2) a U.S. domestic corporation or certain other entities created or organized in or under the laws of the U.S. or any state thereof, including the District of Columbia, or (3) otherwise subject to U.S. federal income taxation on a net income basis in respect of securities.
If a partnership (or any other entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds securities, the tax treatment of a partner generally will depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If a U.S. Holder is a partner in a partnership that holds securities, such holder is urged to consult its own tax adviser regarding the specific tax consequences of acquiring, owning and disposing of securities.
This discussion applies only to investors that hold our securities as capital assets that have the U.S. dollar as their functional currency, that are entitled to treaty benefits under the “Limitation on Benefits” provision contained in the tax treaty between the Government of the U.S. and the Government of the French Republic for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital dated August 31, 1994, as amended by additional protocols of December 8, 2004 and January 13, 2009 ("The Treaty"), and whose ownership of the securities is not effectively connected to a permanent establishment or a fixed base in France.
Certain U.S. Holders (including, but not limited to, U.S. expatriates, partnerships or other entities classified as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes, banks, insurance companies, regulated investment companies, tax-exempt organizations, financial institutions, persons subject to the alternative minimum tax, persons who acquired the securities pursuant to the exercise of employee share options or otherwise as compensation, persons that own (directly, indirectly or by attribution) 5% or more of our voting stock or 5% or more of our outstanding share capital, dealers in securities or currencies, persons that elect to mark their securities to market for U.S. federal income tax purposes and persons holding securities as a position in a synthetic security, straddle or conversion transaction) may be subject to special rules not discussed below.
U.S. Holders are urged to consult their own tax advisers regarding the tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of securities in light of their particular circumstances, especially with regard to the “Limitations on Benefits” provision.
Furthermore, specific rules apply in France with respect to French assets that are held by or in foreign trusts. These rules, among other things, provide for the inclusion of trust assets in the settlor’s net assets for purpose of applying the French real estate wealth tax, for the application of French gift and inheritance tax to French assets held in trust, for a specific tax on capital on the French assets of foreign trusts not already subject to the French real estate wealth tax and for a number of French tax reporting and disclosure obligations. The following discussion does not address the French tax consequences applicable to securities held in trusts.
If securities are held in trust, the settlor, trustee and beneficiary are urged to consult their own tax adviser regarding the specific tax consequences of acquiring, owning and disposing of securities.
Purchasing Consequences
Financial Transactions Tax
Pursuant to Article 235 ter ZD of the French Tax Code ("FTC"), purchases of shares or ADSs of a French company listed on a regulated market of the European Union or an exchange formally acknowledged by the French Financial Market Authority ("AMF") are subject to a 0.3% French tax on financial transactions provided that the issuer’s market capitalization exceeds €1 billion as of December 1 of the year preceding the taxation year.
A list of companies whose market capitalization exceeds €1 billion as of December 1 of the year preceding the taxation year within the meaning of Article 235 ter ZD of the FTC is published annually by the French tax authorities. Pursuant to Regulations BOI-ANNX-000467-20211229 issued on December 29, 2021, Criteo is currently not included in such list. Please note that such list may be updated from time to time, or may not be published anymore in the future. Moreover, Nasdaq, on which Criteo's ADSs are listed for trading, is not currently acknowledged by the AMF but this may change in the future. Consequently, Criteo’s securities should not fall within the scope of the tax on financial transactions described above and purchasers of Criteo's securities in 2022 should not be subject to the tax on financial transactions.
Registration Duties
In the case where Article 235 ter ZD of the FTC is not applicable, transfers of shares which are not listed on a regulated market of the European Union or an exchange formally acknowledged by the AMF are subject to uncapped registration duties at the rate of 0.1%.
Ownership Consequences
Taxation of Dividends
Dividends paid by a French corporation to non-residents of France are generally subject to French withholding tax at a rate of 25% or 12.8% for individuals. Dividends paid by a French corporation in a non-cooperative State or territory, as set out in the list referred to in Article 238-0 A of the FTC, will generally be subject to French withholding tax at a rate of 75%, except to the extent this French corporation can prove that the main purpose and effect of the distribution is not transfer such dividend income in a non-cooperative State or territory with a view to avoiding taxes. However, eligible U.S. Holders entitled to Treaty benefits under the “Limitation on Benefits” provision contained in the Treaty who are U.S. tax residents, as defined pursuant to the provisions of the Treaty may be subject to the withholding tax at a reduced rate (as described below).
Under the Treaty, the rate of French withholding tax on dividends paid to an eligible U.S. Holder who is a U.S. tax resident as defined pursuant to the provisions of the Treaty, who is the ultimate owner of the distributed dividends, and whose ownership of the ordinary shares or ADSs is not effectively connected with a permanent establishment or fixed base that such U.S. Holder has in France, is generally reduced to 15%, or to 5% if such U.S. Holder is a corporation and owns directly or indirectly at least 10% of the share capital of the issuer, subject to certain procedural requirements discussed below.
For U.S. Holders that are not individuals but are U.S. residents, as defined pursuant to the provisions of the Treaty, the requirements for eligibility for Treaty benefits, including the reduced 15% or 5% withholding tax rates contained in the “Limitation on Benefits” provision of the Treaty, are complicated, and certain technical changes were made to these requirements by the protocol of January 13, 2009. U.S. Holders are advised to consult their own tax advisers regarding their eligibility for Treaty benefits in light of their own particular circumstances.
Dividends paid to an eligible U.S. Holder may immediately be subject to the reduced rates of 15% or 5% provided that such holder establishes before the date of payment that it is a U.S. resident under the Treaty by completing and providing the depositary with the applicable treaty forms (Form 5000 and Form 5001).
Dividends paid to a U.S. Holder that has not filed the Form 5000 before the dividend payment date will be subject to French withholding tax at the rate of 12.8%, 25% in 2022, or 75% if paid in a non-cooperative State or territory (as defined in Article 238-0 A of the FTC). Such U.S. Holder may claim a refund from the French tax authorities of the amount withheld in excess of the Treaty rates of 15% or 5%, if any, provided that such holder duly completes and provides the French tax authorities with the treaty forms (Form 5000 and Form 5001) before December 31 of the second calendar year following the year during which the dividend is paid. Certain qualifying pension funds and certain other tax-exempt entities are subject to the same general filing requirements as other U.S. Holders except that they may have to supply additional documentation evidencing their entitlement to these benefits.
Form 5000 and Form 5001, together with instructions, will be provided by the depositary to all U.S. Holders registered with the depositary. The depositary will arrange for the filing with the French Tax authorities of all such forms properly completed and executed by U.S. Holders of ordinary shares or ADSs and returned to the depositary in sufficient time so that they may be filed with the French tax authorities before the distribution in order to obtain immediately a reduced withholding tax rate.
The withholding tax refund, if any, will not occur before January 15 of the year following the calendar year in which the related dividend was paid.
Subject to certain conditions, corporations can obtain a full refund of the withholding tax if they are in loss-making position. In such case, the taxation is deferred and will occur if and when profits are made.
Because the withholding tax rate applicable under French domestic law to U.S. holders who are individuals does not exceed the cap provided in the Treaty (i.e. 15%), the domestic 12.8% withholding tax rate will generally apply to dividends paid to those U.S. holders, as opposed to the rate provided under the Treaty.
Wealth Tax
As from January 1, 2018, French wealth tax (impôt de solidarité sur la fortune) has been replaced by the real estate wealth tax (impôt sur la fortune immobilière) which applies to French tax residents on their worldwide real estate assets and non-French tax resident individuals owning French real estate assets or rights, directly or indirectly through one or more legal entities, and whose net taxable assets amount to at least 1,300,000 euros. Generally, real estate assets allocated to an operational activity are excluded from the scope of the real estate wealth tax, depending on the structuring. Shares of an operating company holding French real estate assets in which the relevant individual holds, directly and indirectly, less than 10% of the share capital or voting rights, are also exempt from real estate wealth tax.
The Treaty does not prevent the application of French real estate wealth tax to a U.S. Holder who would be a U.S. tax resident. However, based on the above domestic provisions and considering that Criteo SA is an operating company, the owning of ADSs or ordinary shares should not be subject to real estate wealth tax.
Disposition
Taxation on sale or other disposition
Generally, under French tax law, a foreign shareholder who is not a French tax resident for French tax purposes is not subject to French tax on any capital gain from the sale, exchange, repurchase or redemption of ordinary shares or ADSs, provided that this shareholder has not held more than 25% of our dividend rights, at any time during the preceding five years, either directly or indirectly, and, as relates to individuals, alone or with relatives (as an exception, a non-resident shareholder established, domiciled or incorporated in a non-cooperative State or territory as defined in Article 238-0 A of the FTC should be subject to a 75% withholding tax in France on any such capital gain, regardless of the fraction of the dividend rights it holds).
However, based on the Treaty, a U.S. Holder who is a U.S. tax resident for purposes of the Treaty, has no permanent establishment or fixed base in France within the meaning of the Treaty, and is entitled to Treaty benefits will only be subject to French tax on capital gain resulting from the sale of shares, units or rights in a company at least 50% of the assets of which consist of real estate located in France, or derives at least 50% of its value, directly or indirectly, from real estate located in France. Criteo SA is not expected to meet this standard. Pursuant to these provisions, capital gain resulting from the sale or other disposition of ADSs and ordinary shares should not be subject to taxation in France for this shareholder. U.S. Holders who own ordinary shares or ADSs through U.S. partnerships that are not residents for Treaty purposes are advised to consult their own tax advisors regarding their French tax treatment and their eligibility for Treaty benefits in light of their own particular circumstances.
A U.S. Holder who owns ordinary shares or ADSs through U.S. partnerships that are not residents for Treaty purposes are advised to consult their own tax advisors regarding their French tax treatment and their eligibility for Treaty benefits in light of their own particular circumstances.
A U.S. Holder that is not a U.S. resident for Treaty purposes or is not entitled to Treaty benefits (and in both cases is not resident, established or incorporated in a non-cooperative State or territory as defined in Article 238-0 A of the FTC) and has held more than 25% of Criteo's dividend rights at any time during the preceding five years, either directly or indirectly, and, as relates to individuals, alone or with relatives will be subject to a levy in France at the rate of (i) 25% if such U.S. Holder is a corporate body or a legal entity, or (ii) 12.8% if such U.S. Holder is an individual.
Special rules apply to U.S. Holders who are residents of more than one country.
Gift and Inheritance Tax
Generally, under French tax law, the following assets are subject to gift and inheritance tax:
•all movable or immovable property located in France or outside France when the donor or the deceased had his or her tax residence in France within the meaning of Article 4 B of the FTC;
•movable or immovable property located in France (including French real estate assets held indirectly), when the donor or the deceased is not domiciled for tax purposes in France;
•movable and immovable property located in France or outside France received from a donor or deceased domiciled outside France by an heir, donee or legatee who is domiciled for tax purposes in France within the meaning of Article 4 B of the FTC and has been so domiciled for at least six years during the last ten years preceding the year in which he or she receives the property.
However, under the Convention between the Government of the U.S. and the Government of the French Republic for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Estates, Inheritances and Gifts, dated November 24, 1978 (as amended by the protocol of December 8, 2004 and as amended on January 13, 2019), if the U.S. Holder is domiciled in the U.S. and is a U.S. tax resident for purposes of the Treaty, has no permanent establishment or fixed base in France within the meaning of the Treaty, and is entitled to Treaty benefits, only French real estate assets and shares, units or other interests in a company or legal entity whose assets consist, directly or through one or more other companies or legal entities, of at least 50% of real property located in France or of rights relating to such property can be subject to gift and inheritance tax.
U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders
The following section is a summary of the U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to U.S. Holders, as defined below, of owning and disposing of ADSs or ordinary shares.
This section applies only to a U.S. Holder that holds ADSs or ordinary shares as capital assets (generally, property held for investment) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. This section does not address the U.S. federal estate, gift or other non-income tax considerations or any state, local or non-U.S. tax considerations relating to the ownership or disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares. In addition, it does not set forth all of the U.S. federal income tax considerations that may be relevant in light of the U.S. Holder’s particular circumstances, including alternative minimum tax consequences, the potential application of the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), known as the Medicare contribution tax and tax consequences applicable to U.S. Holders subject to special rules, such as:
•certain banks and other financial institutions;
•dealers in securities or currencies;
•traders that elect to use a mark-to-market method of accounting;
•persons holding ADSs or ordinary shares as part of a hedging transaction, straddle, wash sale, conversion transaction or other integrated transaction or persons entering into a constructive sale with respect to the ADSs or ordinary shares;
•persons whose functional currency for U.S. federal income tax purposes is not the U.S. dollar;
•entities or arrangements classified as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
•insurance companies;
•pension plans;
•cooperatives;
•regulated investment companies;
•real estate investment trusts;
•tax-exempt entities, including private foundations and “individual retirement accounts” or “Roth IRAs”;
•certain former U.S. citizens or long-term residents;
•persons who acquire their ADSs or ordinary shares pursuant to any employee share option or otherwise as compensation;
•persons required for U.S. federal income tax purposes to conform the timing of income accruals with respect to the ADSs or ordinary shares to their financial statements under Section 451(b) of the Code;
•persons that directly, indirectly or constructively own 10% or more of our shares (by vote or value); or
•persons holding ADSs or ordinary shares in connection with a trade or business conducted outside of the U.S.
If an entity or arrangement that is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds ADSs or ordinary shares, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a partner will depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Partnerships holding ADSs or ordinary shares and partners in such partnerships should consult their tax advisers as to the particular U.S. federal income tax consequences of owning and disposing of the ADSs or ordinary shares.
Each U.S. Holder should consult its tax advisor as to the U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax considerations relevant to it with respect to the ownership and disposition of our ADSs or ordinary shares in light of its particular circumstances.
This section is based on the Code, administrative pronouncements, judicial decisions, final Treasury regulations, and the income tax treaty between France and the U.S. (the “Treaty”), all as of the date hereof, any of which is subject to change or differing interpretations, possibly with retroactive effect.
A “U.S. Holder” is a holder who, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is a beneficial owner of ADSs or ordinary shares and who is:
•a citizen or individual resident of the U.S.;
•a corporation, or other entity classified as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, created or organized in or under the laws of the U.S., any state thereof or the District of Columbia;
•an estate the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source; or
•a trust if a court within the U.S. is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons has or have the authority to control all of the trust’s substantial decisions, or the trust has validly elected to be treated as a domestic trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In general, it is expected that a U.S. Holder who owns ADSs will be treated as the owner of the underlying shares represented by those ADSs for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The remainder of this discussion assumes that a U.S. Holder of our ADSs will be treated in this manner. Accordingly, no gain or loss will be recognized if a U.S. Holder exchanges ADSs for the underlying shares represented by those ADSs.
U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisers concerning the U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of owning and disposing of ADSs or ordinary shares in their particular circumstances.
Taxation of Distributions
We do not currently expect to make distributions on our ADSs or ordinary shares. If we are not and have not been a PFIC (as discussed below in the section entitled “-Passive Foreign Investment Company, or PFIC, Rules”), in the event that we do make distributions of cash or other property, the following rules would apply. The gross amount of any distributions paid on ADSs or ordinary shares, other than certain pro rata distributions of ADSs or ordinary shares, will be treated as dividends to the extent paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles). To the extent such amount is treated as a dividend, it will generally be includible in the gross income of a U.S. Holder as dividend income on the day actually or constructively received by the U.S. Holder, in the case of ordinary shares, or by the depositary, in the case of ADSs. If distributions exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits, such excess distributions will generally constitute a return of capital to the extent of the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in its ADSs or ordinary shares and will result in a reduction thereof. To the extent such excess exceeds a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the ADSs or ordinary shares, such excess will generally be subject to tax as capital gain. Because we do not intend to determine our earnings and profits in accordance with U.S. federal income tax principles, the full amount of any distribution we pay is generally expected to be treated as a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Dividends received on our ADSs or ordinary shares will not be eligible for the dividends received deduction allowed to corporations in respect of dividends received from U.S. corporations.
Individuals and other non-corporate U.S. Holders will be subject to tax at the lower capital gains tax rate applicable to “qualified dividend income,” provided that certain conditions are satisfied, including that (1) the ADSs or ordinary shares on which the dividends are paid are readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S., or we are eligible for the benefits of the Treaty, (2) we are neither a PFIC nor treated as such with respect to a U.S. Holder (as discussed below) for the taxable year in which the dividend is paid or the preceding taxable year, and (3) certain holding period requirements are met.
If we are eligible for benefits under the Treaty, dividends we pay on our ADSs or ordinary shares, regardless of whether such ADSs or shares are considered readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S., would be eligible for the reduced rates of taxation described in the preceding paragraph, provided the other conditions described above are satisfied. Further, as discussed below under “-Passive Foreign Investment Company, or PFIC, Rules”, although there can be no assurance that we will or will not be considered a PFIC for any taxable year, we believe we were not a PFIC for our 2022 taxable year and we do not anticipate that we will be a PFIC in the current and future taxable years. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the availability of the reduced tax rate on dividends in their particular circumstances.
For U.S. foreign tax credit purposes, dividends paid on our ADSs or ordinary shares generally will be treated as income from foreign sources and generally will constitute passive category income. The amount of any dividend income paid in euro will be the U.S. dollar amount calculated by reference to the exchange rate in effect on the date of actual or constructive receipt, regardless of whether the payment is in fact converted into U.S. dollars at that time.
If the foreign currency received as a dividend is converted into U.S. dollars on the date it is received, a U.S. Holder will generally not be required to recognize foreign currency gain or loss in respect of the dividend income. If the foreign currency received as a dividend is not converted into U.S. dollars on the date of receipt, a U.S. Holder will have a basis in the foreign currency equal to its U.S. dollar value on the date of receipt. Any gain or loss realized on a subsequent conversion or other disposition of the foreign currency will be treated as U.S. source ordinary income or loss.
Sale or Other Disposition of ADSs or Ordinary Shares
Subject to the discussion below under “-Passive Foreign Investment Company, or PFIC, Rules”, gain or loss realized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. Holder held the ADSs or ordinary shares for more than one year. The amount of the gain or loss will equal the difference between the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the ADSs or ordinary shares disposed of and the amount realized on the disposition, in each case as determined in U.S. dollars. Long-term capital gain of individuals and certain other non-corporate U.S. Holders will generally be eligible for a reduced rate of taxation. The deductibility of a capital loss may be subject to limitations. Any capital gain or loss will generally be treated as U.S.-source gain or loss for U.S. foreign tax credit purposes, which will generally limit the availability of foreign tax credits.
Passive Foreign Investment Company, or PFIC, Rules
Under the Code, we will be a PFIC for any taxable year in which either (i) 75% or more of our gross income consists of “passive income,” or (ii) 50% or more of the average quarterly value of our assets consist of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, “passive income.” For purposes of the above calculations, we will be treated as if we hold our proportionate share of the assets of, and receive directly our proportionate share of the income of, any other corporation in which we directly or indirectly own at least 25%, by value, of the shares of such corporation.
Passive income includes, among other things, interest, dividends, certain non-active rents and royalties, net gains from the sale or exchange of property producing such income and net foreign currency gains. For this purpose, cash and assets readily convertible into cash are categorized as passive assets, and our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles are taken into account.
The determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination that must be made on an annual basis applying principles and methodologies that are in some circumstances unclear. Based on the value and composition of our assets, although not free from doubt, we do not believe we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2022, and we do not expect to be a PFIC in the current taxable year or the foreseeable future. Since a separate factual determination as to whether we are or have become a PFIC must be made each year (after the close of such year), we cannot assure you that we will not be or become a PFIC in the current year or any future taxable year.
If we are classified as a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or ordinary shares, the PFIC rules discussed below generally will apply to such U.S. Holder for such taxable year, and unless the U.S. Holder makes certain elections, will apply in future years even if we cease to be a PFIC.
If we were a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder held ADSs or ordinary shares (assuming such U.S. Holder has not made a timely mark-to-market or QEF election, as described below), gain recognized by a U.S. Holder on a sale or other disposition (including certain pledges) of the ADSs or ordinary shares would be allocated ratably over the U.S. Holder’s holding period for the ADSs or ordinary shares. The amounts allocated to the taxable year of the sale or other disposition and to any year before we became a PFIC would be taxed as ordinary income. The amount allocated to each other taxable year would be subject to tax at the highest rate in effect for individuals or corporations, as appropriate, for that taxable year, and an additional tax based on the interest charge generally applicable to underpayments of tax would be imposed on the amount allocated to that taxable year. Further, to the extent that any distribution received by a U.S. Holder on its ADSs or ordinary shares exceeds 125% of the average of the annual distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares received during the preceding three years or the U.S. Holder’s holding period, whichever is shorter, that distribution would be subject to taxation in the same manner as gain, described immediately above.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or ordinary shares and any of our non-U.S. affiliated entities are also PFICs, the holder will be treated as owning a proportionate amount (by value) of the shares of each such non-U.S. affiliate classified as a PFIC for purposes of the application of these rules. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the PFIC rules to any of our subsidiaries.
A U.S. Holder can avoid certain of the adverse rules described above by making a mark-to-market election with respect to its ADSs or ordinary shares, provided that the ADSs or ordinary shares are “marketable.” ADSs or ordinary shares will be marketable if they are traded in other than de minimis quantities on at least 15 days during each calendar quarter (“regularly traded”) on a “qualified exchange” or other market within the meaning of applicable Treasury regulations. We expect that our ADSs, but not our ordinary shares, will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, which is a qualified exchange for these purposes, but no assurances may be given in this regard. Consequently, assuming that our ADSs are regularly traded, if a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs, it is expected that the mark-to-market election would be available to such holder were we to be or become a PFIC. In addition, because, as a technical matter, a mark-to-market election cannot be made for any lower-tier PFICs that we may own, a U.S. Holder may continue to be subject to the PFIC rules with respect to such holder’s indirect interest in any investments held by us that are treated as an equity interest in a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
If a U.S. Holder makes the mark-to-market election, it will recognize as ordinary income any excess of the fair market value of the ADSs or ordinary shares at the end of each taxable year over their adjusted tax basis, and will recognize an ordinary loss in respect of any excess of the adjusted tax basis of the ADSs or ordinary shares over their fair market value at the end of the taxable year (but only to the extent of the net amount of income previously included as a result of the mark-to-market election). If a U.S. Holder makes the election, the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the ADSs or ordinary shares will be adjusted to reflect the income or loss amounts recognized.
Any gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares in a year when we are a PFIC will be treated as ordinary income and any loss will be treated as an ordinary loss (but only to the extent of the net amount of income previously included as a result of the mark-to-market election). If a U.S. Holder makes such a mark-to-market election, tax rules that apply to distributions by corporations which are not PFICs would apply to distributions by us (except that the lower applicable capital gains rate for qualified dividend income would not apply). If a U.S. Holder makes a valid mark-to-market election, and we subsequently cease to be classified as a PFIC, such U.S. Holder will not be required to take into account the mark-to-market income or loss described above during any period that we are not classified as a PFIC.
In addition, in order to avoid the application of the foregoing rules, a U.S. person that owns shares in a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes may make a “qualified electing fund” (“QEF”) election with respect to such PFIC, if the PFIC provides the information necessary for such election to be made. If a U.S. person makes a QEF election with respect to a PFIC, the U.S. person will be currently taxable on its pro rata share of the PFIC’s ordinary earnings and net capital gain (at ordinary income and capital gain rates, respectively) for each taxable year that the entity is classified as a PFIC and will not be required to include such amounts in income when actually distributed by the PFIC. No assurances can be given that we will provide holders with the information necessary for U.S. Holders to make a QEF election.
In addition, if we were a PFIC or, with respect to a particular U.S. Holder, were treated as a PFIC for the taxable year in which we paid a dividend or for the prior taxable year, the preferential dividend rates discussed above with respect to dividends paid to certain non-corporate U.S. Holders would not apply.
If a U.S. Holder owns ADSs or ordinary shares during any year in which we are a PFIC, the U.S. Holder must file annual reports, containing such information as the U.S. Department of the Treasury may require on IRS Form 8621 (or any successor form) with respect to us, with the U.S. Holder’s federal income tax return for that year, unless otherwise specified in the instructions with respect to such form.
U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisers concerning our potential PFIC status and the potential application of the PFIC rules.
THE PRECEDING SUMMARY OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS IS INTENDED FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE TAX ADVICE. U.S. HOLDERS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS AS TO THE U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, AND NON-U.S. TAX CONSIDERATIONS GENERALLY APPLICABLE TO THEM OF THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR ADSs OR ORDINARY SHARES IN THEIR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. [Reserved]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
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 our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a global technology company driving superior commerce outcomes for marketers and media owners through the world’s leading Commerce Media Platform. We operate in commerce media, the future of digital advertising, leveraging commerce data and artificial intelligence ("AI") to connect ecommerce, digital marketing and media monetization to reach consumers throughout their shopping journey. Our vision is to bring richer experiences to every consumer by supporting a fair and open internet that enables discovery, innovation, and choice - powered by trusted and impactful advertising. We have accelerated and deeply transformed the Company from a single-product to a multi-solution platform provider, fast diversifying our business into new solutions.
We enable brands', retailers' and media owners’ growth by providing best-in-class marketing and monetization services and infrastructure on the open Internet, driving approximately $30 billion in ecommerce sales for our clients - in the form of product sales for retailers, brands and marketers and advertising revenues for media owners. We differentiate ourselves by delivering high-performing commerce audiences at scale and we deliver this value by activating commerce data in a privacy-by-design way through proprietary AI technology to reach and engage consumers in real time with highly relevant digital advertisements ("ads") across all stages of the consumer journey. Our data offers deep insights into consumer intent and purchasing habits.
Our focus is on commerce media. Our clients include many of the largest and most sophisticated consumer brands, commerce companies and media owners in the world. We partner with them to capture user activity on their websites and mobile applications ("apps"), which we define as digital properties, and leverage that data to deliver superior ad performance to help marketers, brands and agencies reach their campaign objectives. This includes powering the retail media ecosystem as we enable brands to reach shoppers with relevant ads near the digital point of sale on retailer and marketplace websites while enabling retailers to add a new revenue stream.
Demonstrating the depth and scale of our data, we collected data on over $1 trillion in online sales transactions1 on our clients' digital properties in the year ended December 31, 2022. Based on this data and other assets, we delivered 1.8 trillion targeted ads in the year ended December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, we served approximately 22,000 clients and, in each of the last three years, our average client retention rate, as measured on a quarterly basis, was approximately 90%.
We serve a wide range of clients and our revenue is not concentrated within any single client or group of clients. In 2022, 2021 and 2020, our largest client represented 7.7%, 7.0%, and 3.5% of our revenue, respectively, and in 2022, 2021 and 2020, our largest 10 clients represented 17.8%, 16.6% and 13.7% of our revenue in the aggregate, respectively. There is no group of customers under common control or customers that are affiliates of each other constituting an aggregate amount equal to 10% or more of our consolidated revenues, the loss of which would have a material adverse effect on the Company.
We operate in 94 countries through a network of 27 offices located in Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), the Americas and Asia-Pacific. As a result of our significant international operations, our revenue from outside of France, our home country, accounted for 94.5% of our revenue for year ended December 31, 2022.
The Company's foreign currency risk exposure to the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Brazilian real and the U.S. dollar against the euro (the euro still remains the Company's functional currency) is described in Item 7 note B. Liquidity and Capital Resources to our Management's Discussion and Analysis included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
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1 Excluding Criteo Retail Media
Our financial results include:
•Revenue of $2,017.0 million, $2,254.2 million and $2,072.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Gross profit of $795.2 million, $781.9 million and $688.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Contribution ex-TAC, which is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, of $928.2 million, $920.8 million and $825.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively;
•Net Income of $10.9 million, $137.6 million and $74.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively; and
•Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, of $267.3 million, $322.5 million and $251.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Please note that reconciliations of Gross Profit to Contribution ex-TAC and Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA - in each case the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States or "U.S. GAAP," are presented in the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this filing.
We are focused on maximizing Contribution ex-TAC. We believe this focus builds sustainable long-term value for our business and fortifies a number of our competitive strengths, including a highly liquid marketplace for digital advertising inventory. As part of this focus, we seek to maximize our percentage of overall marketing spend in the digital advertising market over the long-term. In addition, this focus enriches liquidity for both advertisers and publishers resulting in more effective advertising for clients, better monetization for publishers and more relevant advertisements for consumers. We believe our results of operations reflect this focus.
Acquisitions
In August 2022, we closed the acquisition of IPONWEB, a market-leading AdTech company with world-class media trading capabilities, for $250 million comprised of a mix of cash and treasury shares of the Company, with an earn-out consideration of up to $100 million subject to certain financial and performance milestones. This strategic acquisition is expected to accelerate our Commerce Media Platform strategy by adding scale, complementary products, and stronger first-party data capabilities, further reducing our reliance on third-party cookies and other identifiers.
A. Operating Results.
Basis of Presentation
The key elements of our results of operations include:
Revenue
We sell personalized display advertisements featuring product-level recommendations either directly to clients or to advertising agencies. Historically, the Criteo model has focused solely on converting our clients' website visitors into customers, enabling us to charge our clients only when users engage with an ad we deliver, usually by clicking on it. As part of our Company transformation, we have expanded our solutions to address a broader range of marketing goals for our clients.
We offer three families of solutions to our commerce and brand clients:
•Criteo Marketing Solutions allow commerce companies to address multiple marketing goals by engaging their consumers with personalized ads across the web, mobile and offline store environments.
•Criteo Retail Media allows retailers to generate advertising revenues from consumer brands, and/or to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their data and audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital property or on the open Internet, that address multiple marketing goals.
•Iponweb specializes in building real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and 3rd-party ad tech platforms.
We also have multiple pricing models which now include percentage of spend models in addition to cost-per-click, cost-per-install and cost-per-impression. We report revenues on a gross basis for our Marketing Solutions segment, and primarily on a net basis for our Retail Media and Iponweb segments.
Cost of Revenue
Our cost of revenue primarily includes traffic acquisition costs and other cost of revenue.
Traffic Acquisition Costs. Traffic acquisition costs consist primarily of purchases of impressions from publishers on a CPM basis, incurred to generate our revenues. We purchase impressions directly from publishers or third-party intermediaries, such as advertisement exchanges. We recognize cost of revenue on a publisher by publisher basis as incurred. Costs owed to publishers but not yet paid are recorded in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position as trade payables.
For solutions within Criteo Retail Media, we pay for the inventory of our retailer partners on a revenue sharing basis, effectively paying the retailers a portion of the click-based revenue generated by user clicks on the sponsored products advertisements or impressions on the commerce display advertisements displaying the products of our consumer brand clients.
For a discussion of the trends we expect to see in traffic acquisition costs, see the section entitled " - Highlights and Trends - Contribution ex-TAC" in Item 7.D - Trend Information below.
Other Cost of Revenue. Other cost of revenue includes expenses related to third-party hosting fees, depreciation of data center equipment, the cost of data purchased from third parties and digital taxes. The Company does not build or operate its own data centers and none of its Research and Development employments are dedicated to revenue generating activities. As a result, we do not include the costs of such personnel in other cost of revenue.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses consist of research and development, sales and operations, and general and administrative expenses. Salaries, bonuses, equity awards compensation, pension benefits and other personnel-related costs are the most significant components of each of these expense categories.
Research and Development Expense. Research and development expense consists primarily of personnel-related costs for our employees working in the engine, platform, site reliability engineering, scalability, infrastructure, engineering program management, product, analytics and other teams, including salaries, bonuses, equity awards compensation and other personnel related costs. Also included are non-personnel costs such as subcontracting, consulting and professional fees to third-party development resources, allocated overhead, including internal IT and depreciation and amortization costs. These expenses are partially offset by the French research tax credit that is conditional upon the level of our expenditures in research and development.
Sales and Operations Expense. Sales and operations expense consists primarily of personnel-related costs for our employees working in our sales, account strategy, sales operations, publisher business development, analytics, marketing, technical solutions, creative services and other teams, including salaries, bonuses, equity awards compensation, and other personnel-related costs. Additional expenses in this category include travel and entertainment, marketing and promotional events, marketing activities, provisions for doubtful accounts, subcontracting, consulting and professional fees paid to third parties, allocated overhead, including internal IT, and depreciation and amortization costs.
General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expense consists primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, equity awards compensation, pension benefits and other personnel-related costs for our administrative, legal, information technology, human resources, facilities and finance teams. Additional expenses included in this category include travel-related expenses, subcontracting and professional fees, audit fees, tax services and legal fees, as well as insurance and other corporate expenses, along with allocated overhead, including internal IT and depreciation and amortization costs.
Financial and Other Income (Expense)
Financial and Other Income (Expense) primarily consists of:
•Positive impact of foreign exchange derivatives entered-into to secure the cash consideration of the Iponweb acquisition
•Exchange differences arising on the settlement or translation into local currency of monetary balance sheet items labeled in euros (the Company's functional currency). We are exposed to changes in exchange rates primarily in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea and Brazil. The U.S. dollar, the British pound, the Korean won, and the Japanese yen are our most significant foreign currency exchange risks. At December 31, 2022, our exposure to foreign currency risk was centralized at parent company level and hedged. These exchange differences in euro are then translated into U.S. dollars (the Company's reporting currency) according to the average euro/U.S. dollar exchange rate.
•Interest received on our cash and cash equivalents and interest incurred on outstanding borrowings under our debt loan agreements and revolving credit facilities ("RCFs").
•Proceeds from sale of data center equipment to third-parties, made as part of Criteo's data center update program.
We monitor foreign currency exposure and look to mitigate exposures through normal business operations and hedging strategies.
Provision for Income Taxes
We are subject to potential income taxes in France, the U.S. and numerous other jurisdictions. We recognize tax liabilities based on estimates of whether additional taxes will be due. These tax liabilities are recognized when we believe that certain positions may not be fully sustained upon review by tax authorities, notwithstanding our belief that our tax return positions are supportable.
Our effective tax rates differ from the statutory rate applicable to us primarily due to valuation allowance on deferred tax assets, differences between domestic and foreign jurisdiction tax rates, Research Tax Credit offsets, which are non-taxable items, potential tax audit provision settlements, share-based compensation expenses that are non-deductible in some jurisdictions under certain circumstances, non-tax deductible provision from the loss contingency on regulatory matter, and transfer pricing adjustments. We license access to our technology to our subsidiaries and charge a royalty fee to these subsidiaries for such access. In France, we benefit from a reduced tax rate of 10% on a large portion of this technology royalty income. (See Note 17).
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of revenue, assets, liabilities, costs and expenses. We base our estimates and assumptions on historical experience and other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates.
An accounting policy is deemed to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, if different estimates reasonably could have been used, or if changes in the estimate that are reasonably possible could materially impact the financial statements. We believe estimates associated with (1) gross vs net assessment in revenue recognition,, (2) allowances for credit losses, (3) income taxes, including i) recognition of deferred tax assets arising from the subsidiaries projected taxable profit for future years, ii) evaluation of uncertain tax positions associated with our transfer pricing policy and iii) recognition of income tax position in respect with tax reforms recently enacted in countries we operate, (4) assumptions used in valuing acquired assets and assumed liabilities in business combinations, (5) assumptions used in the valuation of goodwill, intangible assets and right of use assets - operating lease, (6) assumptions used in the valuation model to determine the fair value of share-based compensation plan and (7) assumptions surrounding the recognition and valuation of contingent liabilities and losses, are critical as they are made based on assumptions about matters which are uncertain.. See Note 1. Principles and Accounting Methods to our audited consolidated financial statements beginning on page for a description of our other significant accounting policies.
Revenue Recognition - Gross vs Net Assessment
For revenue generated from arrangements that involve purchasing inventory from media owners, there is significant judgment in evaluating whether we are the principal, and report revenue on a gross basis, or the agent, and report revenue on a net basis. In this assessment, we consider if we obtain control of the specified goods or services before they are transferred to the customer, as well as other indicators such as the party primarily responsible for fulfillment, inventory risk, and discretion in establishing price. The assessment of whether we are considered the principal or the agent in a transaction could impact our revenue and cost of revenue recognized on the consolidated statements of income.
Trade Receivables, Net of Allowances for Doubtful Accounts
We apply Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which requires the measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost that an entity does not expect to collect over the asset's contractual life, considering past events, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts of future economic conditions.
For accounts receivable measured at amortized cost, we use aging analysis, and probability of default methods to evaluating and estimating the expected credit losses.
Deferred Tax Assets
Deferred taxes are recorded on all temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and on tax losses, using the liability method. Differences are defined as temporary when they are expected to reverse within a foreseeable future. We may only recognize deferred tax assets if we determine that it is probable that future taxable profit will be available against which the unused tax losses and tax credits can be utilized. As a result, the measurement of deferred income tax assets is reduced, if necessary, by a valuation allowance for any tax benefits which are not expected to be realized. If future taxable profits are considerably different from those forecasted that support recording deferred tax assets, we will have to revise downwards or upwards the amount of the deferred tax assets, which could have a significant impact on our financial results.
This determination requires many estimates and judgments by our management for which the ultimate tax determination may be uncertain.
Uncertain Tax Positions
We recognize tax benefits from uncertain tax positions only if we believe that 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. These uncertain tax positions include our estimates for transfer pricing that have been developed based upon analyses of appropriate arms-length prices.
Assumptions Used in the Valuation of Intangible Assets
In order to value our intangible assets, management prepares multi-year projections of revenue, TAC, gross profit, operating expenses, taxes and after tax margins relating to the operations associated with the intangible assets being valued. These projections are based on the estimates of management at the time they are prepared and include subjective assumptions regarding industry growth and other matters.
Goodwill
Goodwill is not amortized and is tested for impairment at least annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. In the course of 2022, the Company has reassessed its operating and reportable segments in accordance with ASC 280 and now reports its results of operations through three segments: Marketing Solutions, Retail Media and Iponweb. Goodwill has been allocated to these segments using a relative fair value allocation approach.
The Company has selected December 31 as the date to perform its annual impairment test. The test is performed at the reporting unit level, which we have determined to be Marketing Solutions, Retail Media and Iponweb. In the impairment assessment of its goodwill, the Company performs an impairment test, which involves assumptions regarding estimated future cash flows to be derived from the reporting unit. The estimated future cash flows are used to derive the fair value of the reporting unit, which is then compared to its net book value, including goodwill . If these estimates or their related assumptions change in the future, the Company may be required to record impairment for these assets. If the net book value exceeds its fair value, then the Company would be required to recognize an impairment loss. The impairment loss to be recognized would be calculated by comparing the fair value of the Company to its net book value, including goodwill. There is also significant judgement in the allocation of the net book value of the Company to each of its segments, as many of the assets are not directly attributable to the Company's operating segments.
Contingent Losses and Liabilities
With respect to litigation, claims and non-income tax risks, that may result in a provision to be recognized, we exercise significant judgment in measuring and recognizing provisions or determining exposure to contingent liabilities that are related to pending litigation, other outstanding claims and non income tax audits. These judgment and estimates are subject to change as new information becomes available.
Equity Awards Compensation
We account for share-based compensation in accordance with ASC 718 - Compensation - Stock Compensation. Under the fair value recognition provisions of this guidance, share-based compensation is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award and is recognized as expense, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award.
Determining the fair value of share-based awards at the grant date requires judgment. The determination of the grant date fair value of RSUs is based on the share price on the grant date. We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to determine the fair value of share options. The determination of the grant date fair value of options using an option-pricing model is affected by our estimated ordinary share fair value as well as assumptions regarding a number of other complex and subjective variables.
These variables include the fair value of our ordinary shares, the exercise price of the option, the expected term of the options, our expected share price volatility, risk-free interest rates, and expected dividends, which are estimated as follows:
•Fair value of our ordinary shares. Following our initial public offering, we established a policy of using the closing sales price per ADS as quoted on Nasdaq on the date of grant for purposes of determining the fair value of ordinary shares.
•Exercise price of the option. Following our initial public offering, we established a policy of using the closing sales price per ADS as quoted on Nasdaq on the date of grant for purposes of determining the exercise price with a floor value of 95% of the average of the closing sales price per ADS for the 20 trading days preceding the grant.
•Expected term. The expected term represents the period that our share-based awards are expected to be outstanding. As we do not have sufficient historical experience for determining the expected term of the ordinary share option awards granted, we have based our expected term on the simplified method, which represents the average period from vesting to the expiration of the award.
•Expected volatility. Prior to our initial public offering, as we did not have a trading history for our ordinary shares, the expected share price volatility for our ordinary shares was estimated by taking the average historic price volatility for industry peers based on daily price observations over a period equivalent to the expected term of the ordinary share option grants. From the initial public offering, the expected share price volatility takes into account the Criteo closing share price from the initial public offering date to the grant date and closing share price of industry peers for the remaining expected term of the ordinary share option grant.
•Risk-free rate. The risk-free interest rate is based on the yields of France Treasury securities with maturities similar to the expected term of the options for each option group.
•Dividend yield. We have never declared or paid any cash dividends and do not presently plan to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Consequently, we use an expected dividend yield of zero.
If any of the assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model changes significantly, share-based compensation for future awards may differ materially compared with the awards granted previously.
The following table presents the range of assumptions used to estimate the fair value of options granted during the periods presented:
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
Volatility
-% - % 39.2% - 39.9%
Risk-free interest rate
- % -% 0.00% - 0.25%
Expected life (in years)
- - 6 years
Dividend yield
-% -% - %
There were no grants of share options during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
For a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements applicable to us, see Note 1 to our audited consolidated financial statements beginning on page.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
As required by the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), we provide reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures contained in this document to the most directly comparable measures under GAAP, which are set forth in the financial tables below.
Reconciliation of Contribution ex-TAC to Gross Profit
We define Contribution ex-TAC as a profitability measure akin to gross profit. It is calculated by deducting traffic acquisition costs from revenue and reconciled to gross profit through the exclusion of other cost of revenue. Contribution ex-TAC is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We have included Contribution ex-TAC because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to evaluate operating performance, generate future operating plans and make strategic decisions. In particular, we believe that this measure can provide useful measures for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that Contribution ex-TAC provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations in the same manner as our management and board of directors. Our use of Contribution ex-TAC has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are: (a) other companies, including companies in our industry which have similar business arrangements, may address the impact of TAC differently; (b) other companies may report Contribution ex-TAC or similarly titled measures but calculate them differently, which reduces their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these and other limitations, you should consider Contribution ex-TAC alongside our other U.S. GAAP financial result measures. The below table provides a reconciliation of Contribution ex-TAC to gross profit:
Twelve Months Ended
December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
Gross Profit 795,200 781,944 688,018
Other Cost of Revenue 133,024 138,851 137,028
Contribution ex-TAC $ 928,224 $ 920,795 $ 825,046
Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income
We define Adjusted EBITDA as our consolidated earnings before financial income (expense), income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted to eliminate the impact of equity awards compensation expense, pension service costs, certain restructuring, integration and transformation costs, certain acquisition costs and a loss contingency related to a regulatory matter. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We have included Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short-term and long-term operational plans. In particular, we believe that the elimination of equity awards compensation expense, pension service costs, certain restructuring, integration and transformation costs, certain acquisition costs and a loss contingency related to a regulatory matter in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations in the same manner as our management and board of directors. Our use of Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are: (a) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements; (b) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; (c) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the potentially dilutive impact of equity-based compensation; (d) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to us; and (e) other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate Adjusted EBITDA or similarly titled measures differently, which reduces their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these and other limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA alongside our U.S. GAAP financial results, including net income.
Twelve Months Ended
December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
Net income $ 10,875 $ 137,647 $ 74,689
Adjustments:
Financial (Income) expense (17,053) 1,044 1,939
Provision for income taxes 31,186 16,169 32,197
Equity awards compensation expense 65,035 44,955 31,425
Pension service costs 1,756 1,324 2,232
Depreciation and amortization expense 89,018 88,402 88,238
Acquisition-related costs 12,584 11,256 286
Loss contingency on regulatory matter 63,221 - -
Restructuring, integration and transformation (gain) costs 10,677 21,698 19,989
Total net adjustments 256,424 184,848 176,306
Adjusted EBITDA $ 267,299 $ 322,495 $ 250,995
Twelve Months Ended
December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(Gain) from forfeitures of share-based compensation awards - (427) (2,655)
Facilities related (gain) costs 1,452 16,020 12,975
Payroll related (gain) costs 7,373 4,480 5,911
Consulting costs related to transformation 1,852 1,625 3,758
Total restructuring, integration and transformation (gain) costs $ 10,677 $ 21,698 $ 19,989
Results of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020
Revenue breakdown by segment
We report our segments results as Marketing Solutions, Retail Media and Iponweb:
•Criteo Marketing Solutions allow commerce companies to address multiple marketing goals by engaging their consumers with personalized ads across the web, mobile and offline store environments.
•Criteo Retail Media allows retailers to generate advertising revenues from consumer brands, and/or to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their data and audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital property or on the open Internet, that address multiple marketing goals.
•Iponweb specializes in building real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and 3rd-party ad tech platforms.
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands)
Revenue as reported $ 2,017,003 $ 2,254,235 $ 2,072,617 (11) % 9 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 147,636 (19,713) 3,239
Revenue at constant currency (1)
$ 2,164,639 $ 2,234,522 $ 2,075,856 (4) % 8 %
Marketing Solutions as reported $ 1,762,517 $ 2,007,239 $ 1,806,431 (12) % 11 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies $ 142,661 $ (16,511) $ 4,364
Marketing Solutions at constant currency (1)
$ 1,905,178 $ 1,990,728 $ 1,810,795 (5) % 10 %
Retail Media as reported (2)
$ 202,317 $ 246,996 $ 266,186 (18) % (7) %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies $ 4,975 $ (3,202) $ (1,125)
Retail Media at constant currency (1)
$ 207,292 $ 243,794 $ 265,061 (16) % (8) %
Iponweb revenue as reported $ 52,169 $ - $ - N/A N/A
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies $ -
Iponweb revenue at constant currency $ 52,169 $ - $ - N/A N/A
(1) Information herein with respect to results presented on a constant currency basis is computed by applying prior period average exchange rates to current period results. We have included results on a constant currency basis because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to evaluate operating performance. Management reviews and analyzes business results excluding the effect of foreign currency translation because they believe this better represents our underlying business trends. The table above reconciles the actual results presented in this section with the results presented on a constant currency basis.
(2) In all arrangements running on Criteo's Commerce Media platform, the Company recognizes revenue on a net basis, whereas revenue from arrangements running on legacy Retail Media solutions were accounted for on a gross basis. Most clients using Criteo’s legacy Retail Media solutions transitioned to this platform by the end of 2022. During the transition period, Revenue declined but Contribution ex-TAC margin increased. Contribution ex-TAC was not impacted by this transition.
2022 Compared to 2021
Revenue in 2022 decreased $(237.2) million, or (11)% (or (4)% on a constant currency basis) to $2.0 billion compared to 2021. Year-over-year decrease in revenue was driven by our existing clients, partly offset by net new clients accounted for approximately 6% of 2022 organic revenue and positive contribution from Iponweb. Excluding Iponweb, our total number of clients was stable year-over-year across regions.
Marketing Solutions revenue decreased (12)% (or (5)% on a constant currency basis) to $1.8 billion for 2022, reflecting decreased spend from large clients, notably on our retargeting solutions, as they adjusted their advertising budgets to the current uncertain macro economic environment.
Retail Media revenue decreased(18)% (or (16)% on a constant currency basis) to 202.3 million for 2022, as the strong performance with large retailers across the U.S. and EMEA was more than offset was more than offset by the technical and transitory impact related to the ongoing client migration to the Company's platform. Criteo's platform accounted for the majority of Retail Media revenue, or close to 79% for the year ended December 31, 2022, and its revenue is accounted for on a net basis. In 2021, around 50% of Retail Media revenue was accounted for on a net basis, and as a result of this transition to a full platform business, the growth of Retail Media revenue was temporarily impacted. Reflecting the underlying economic performance, Retail Media's Contribution ex-TAC increased 29% (or 33% on a constant currency basis) in the year ended December 31, 2022, mainly driven by continued strength in Retail Media onsite, particularly in the U.S. market.
2021 compared to 2020
Revenue in 2021 increased $181.6 million, or 9% (or 8% on a constant currency basis) to $2,254.2 million compared to 2020. 84% of the year-over-year increase in revenue was driven by the contribution from our existing clients, and 16% of the year-over-year increase was driven by the contribution from new clients. We added 285 net new clients year-over-year across regions.
The year-over-year increase in revenue on a constant currency basis was largely attributable to the increase in the average price charged to advertisers, and partially offset by the decreased number of impressions delivered by us.
Marketing Solutions revenue increased 11% (or 10% on a constant currency basis) to $2,007.2 million for 2021, reflecting increased spend from Retail clients, both on our retargeting, audience targeting and omnichannel solutions, partially offset by incremental identity and privacy changes, as expected.
Retail Media revenue decreased (7)% (or (8)% on a constant currency basis) to $246.9 million for 2021, as the strong performance with large retailers across the U.S. and EMEA was more than offset by the technical and transitory impact related to the ongoing client migration to the Company's platform. Criteo's platform accounted for a fast-growing share of Retail Media revenue, or about 50% for the year ended December 31, 2021, and its revenue is accounted for on a net basis. In 2020, less than 5% of Retail Media revenue was accounted for on a net basis, and as a result of this transition to a full platform business, the growth of Retail Media revenue was temporarily impacted. Reflecting the underlying economic performance, Retail Media's Contribution ex-TAC increased 59% (or 58% on a constant currency basis) in the year ended December 31, 2021, driven by continued strength in Retail Media onsite, in particular in the U.S. market, and growing network effects of the platform.
Revenue breakdown by region
Information in this Form 10-K with respect to results presented on a constant currency basis was calculated by applying prior period average exchange rates to current period results. Management reviews and analyzes business results excluding the effect of foreign currency translation because they believe this better represents our underlying business trends. Below is a table which reconciles the actual results presented in this section with the results presented on a constant currency basis.
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands)
Revenue as reported $ 2,017,003 $ 2,254,235 $ 2,072,617 (11) % 9 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 147,636 (19,713) 3,239
Revenue at constant currency (*)
$ 2,164,639 $ 2,234,522 $ 2,075,856 (4) % 8 %
Americas
Revenue as reported $ 891,267 $ 916,825 $ 894,854 (3) % 2 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies (596) 1,380 12,770
Revenue at constant currency (*)
$ 890,671 $ 918,205 $ 907,624 (3) % 3 %
EMEA
Revenue as reported $ 706,861 $ 844,312 $ 749,672 (16) % 13 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 86,587 (24,324) (4,528)
Revenue at constant currency (*)
$ 793,448 $ 819,988 $ 745,144 (6) % 9 %
Asia-Pacific
Revenue as reported $ 418,875 $ 493,098 $ 428,091 (15) % 15 %
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 61,645 3,231 (5,003)
Revenue at constant currency (*)
$ 480,520 $ 496,329 $ 423,088 (3) % 16 %
(*) Revenue at constant currency excludes the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and is computed by applying the average exchange rates for the prior year to the following year figures.
2022 Compared to 2021
Our revenue in the Americas region decreased $(25.6) million, or (3)% (or (3)% on a constant currency basis) to $891.3 million for 2022 compared to 2021. This decrease was driven by negative retail trends, in particular with large customers across Marketing Solutions and by the impact of recognizing revenue on a net basis for clients transitioning to the Company's platform, partially offset by the continued strong performance of Retail Media, as the platform continues to scale with consumer brands and large retailers and growing network effects of the platform.
Our revenue in the EMEA region decreased $(137.5) million, or (16)% (or (6)% on a constant currency basis) to $706.9 million for 2022 compared to 2021. This decrease was driven by the suspension of our business in Russia effective as of March 2022, and by the continued decline in retail over the year in our main Marketing Solutions markets, in particular in France, UK and Germany, partially offset by the positive performance of Retail Media across the region.
Our revenue in the Asia-Pacific region decreased $(74.2) million, or (15)% (or (3)% on a constant currency basis) to $418.9 million for 2022 compared to 2021. The decrease was driven by reduced spend from retail clients in the region, in particular in Japan and South-Asia, partly offset by our business in India.
Additionally, $2,017 million of revenue for 2022 was negatively impacted by $147.6 million of currency fluctuations, particularly as a result of the depreciation of the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the British pound sterling compared to the U.S. dollar.
2021 Compared to 2020
Our revenue in the Americas region increased $22.0 million, or 2% (or 3% on a constant currency basis) to $916.8 million for 2021 compared to 2020. This increase was driven by continued positive retail trends, in particular with large clients across Marketing Solutions, and continued strong performance of Retail Media, as the Company's platform continues to scale with consumer brands and large retailers, partially offset by the impact of recognizing revenue on a net basis for clients transitioning to the platform.
Our revenue in the EMEA region increased $94.6 million, or 13% (or 9% on a constant currency basis) to $844.3 million for 2021 compared to 2020. This increase was driven by positive retail trends in our main markets, in particular in Germany and emerging markets, positive traction with large clients across our retargeting and new solutions, and continued strong performance of Retail Media across the region.
Our revenue in the Asia-Pacific region increased $65.0 million, or 15% (or 16% on a constant currency basis) to $493.1 million for 2021 compared to 2020. The increase was driven by the recovery of our large clients in the region, in particular in Japan, as well as positive contributions from Retail clients in South-East Asia.
Additionally, $2,254 million of revenue for 2021 was positively impacted by $(19.7) million of currency fluctuations, particularly as a result of the depreciation of the Turkish Lira, Russian Ruble, Japanese Yen and the Brazilian real, partially offset by the appreciation of the Euro and the British pound sterling, compared to the U.S. dollar.
Cost of Revenue
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percentages)
Traffic acquisition costs
$ (1,088,779) $ (1,333,440) $ (1,247,571) (18)% 7%
Other cost of revenue
(133,024) (138,851) (137,028) (4)% 1%
Total cost of revenue $ (1,221,803) $ (1,472,291) $ (1,384,599) (17)% 6%
% of revenue (61) % (65) % (67) %
Gross profit % 39 % 35 % 33 %
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percentages)
Marketing Solutions (1,047,822) (1,211,087) (1,059,680) (13)% 14%
Retail Media (40,957) (122,353) (187,891) (67)% (35)%
Iponweb (1)
- - - - -
Traffic Acquisition Costs $ (1,088,779) $ (1,333,440) $ (1,247,571) (18)% 7%
(1) There are no traffic acquisition costs associated with the Iponweb solutions as we are acting as agent in all the arrangements. Refer to Note 1. Principles and Accounting Methods for a detailed description of our accounting policies.
2022 Compared to 2021
Cost of revenue for 2022 decreased $(250.5) million, or (17)%, compared to 2021. This decrease was primarily the result of a $(244.7) million, or (18)% decrease in traffic acquisition costs (or (14)% on a constant currency basis), and by a $(5.8) million, or (4)% decrease in other cost of revenue.
The 13% decrease in Marketing Solutions' traffic acquisition costs related primarily to the (25)% decrease (or (14)% increase on a constant currency basis) in the average CPM for inventory purchased, including lower CPMs for signal-limited environments where Criteo continues to perform, partially offset by a 15% increase in the number of impressions we purchased, reflecting our expanding relationships with existing and new publisher partners, in particular through direct connections, to support client demand for advertising campaigns.
Traffic acquisition costs in Retail Media decreased by 67% reflecting the technical and transitory impact related to the ongoing client migration due to the transitioning of our platform because we recognize revenue on a net basis in all arrangements running on the platform.
The decrease in other cost of revenue includes a $10.2 million decrease in allocated depreciation and amortization expense and a $0.2 million in data acquisition costs, partially offset by $(3.3) million increase in hosting costs, $(1.3) million increase in other cost of sales mainly due to the digital tax and proceeds from disposal of datacenter equipments.
2021 Compared to 2020
Cost of revenue for 2021 increased $87.7 million, or 6%, compared to 2020. This increase was primarily the result of a $85.9 million, or 7% increase in traffic acquisition costs (or 6% on a constant currency basis), and by a $1.8 million, or 1% (or 2% on a constant currency basis), increase in other cost of revenue.
The 14% increase in Marketing Solutions' traffic acquisition costs related primarily to the 6% increase (and 5% increase on a constant currency basis) in the average CPM for inventory purchased, reflecting the year-over-year recovery in the digital advertising market following the trough of the pandemic-related recession in the second quarter of 2020 and our preferred relationships with media owners, as well as the 8% increase in the number of impressions we purchased, reflecting our expanding relationships with existing and new publisher partners, in particular through direct connections, to support client demand for advertising campaigns.
Traffic acquisition costs in Retail Media decreased by 35% reflecting the technical and transitory impact related to the ongoing client migration due to the transitioning of our RMP. Because we recognize revenue on a net basis in all arrangements running on the RMP, we expect our Traffic acquisition costs for Retail Media to decrease over time as all of our clients are transitioned to the RMP. The increase in other cost of revenue includes a $(5.2) million increase in allocated depreciation and amortization expense, $(3.0) million increase in other cost of sales mainly due to the digital tax, partially offset by $5.7 million in hosting costs and $0.8 million in data acquisition costs.
Contribution excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs
We consider Contribution ex-TAC as a key measure of our business activity. Our strategy focuses on maximizing our Contribution ex-TAC on an absolute basis over maximizing our near-term gross margin. We believe this focus builds sustainable long-term value for our business by fortifying a number of our competitive strengths, including access to advertising inventory, breadth and depth of data and continuous improvement of the Criteo AI Engine’s performance, allowing it to deliver more relevant advertisements at scale. As part of this focus, we continue to invest in building preferred relationships with direct publishers and pursue access to leading advertising exchanges.
The following table sets forth our revenue and Contribution ex-TAC by segment:
Year Ended December 31,
Segment 2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
Revenue Marketing Solutions $ 1,762,517 $ 2,007,239 $ 1,806,431
Retail Media 202,317 246,996 266,186
Iponweb 52,169 - -
Total 2,017,003 2,254,235 2,072,617
Contribution ex-TAC(1)
Marketing Solutions 714,695 796,152 746,751
Retail Media 161,360 124,643 78,295
Iponweb (2)
52,169 - -
Total 928,224 920,795 825,046
(1) Refer to the "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section for a definition of this Non-GAAP metric.
(2) There are no traffic acquisition costs associated with the Iponweb solutions as we are acting as agent in all the arrangements. Refer to Note 1. Principles and Accounting Methods for a detailed description of our accounting policies.
Constant Currency Reconciliation
Information in this Form 10-K with respect to results presented on a constant currency basis was calculated by applying prior period average exchange rates to current period results. Management reviews and analyzes business results excluding the effect of foreign currency translation because they believe this better represents our underlying business trends. Below is a table which reconciles the actual results presented in this section with the results presented on a constant currency basis:
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands)
Revenue as reported $ 2,017,003 $ 2,254,235 $ 2,072,617 (11)% 9%
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 147,636 (19,713) 3,239
Revenue at constant currency $ 2,164,639 $ 2,234,522 $ 2,075,856 (4)% 8%
Traffic acquisition costs as reported $ (1,088,779) $ (1,333,440) $ (1,247,571) (18)% 7%
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies (63,434) 12,263 (1,605)
Traffic acquisition cost at constant currency $ (1,152,213) $ (1,321,177) $ (1,249,176) (14)% 6%
Contribution ex-TAC as reported $ 928,224 $ 920,795 $ 825,046 1% 12%
Conversion impact U.S. dollar/other currencies 84,202 (7,450) 1,634
Contribution ex-TAC at constant currency $ 1,012,426 $ 913,345 $ 826,680 10% 11%
Other cost of revenue as reported $ (133,024) $ (138,851) $ (137,028) (4)% 1%
Gross profit as reported $ 795,200 $ 781,944 $ 688,018 2% 14%
Research and Development Expenses
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percent of revenue)
Research and development expenses
$ (187,596) $ (151,817) $ (132,513) 24% 15%
% of revenue
(9) % (7) % (6) %
2022 Compared to 2021
Research and development expenses for 2022 increased $35.8 million, or 24%, compared to 2021. This increase mainly related to an increase in headcount-related expenses and the amortization of Iponweb acquisition-related intangible assets.
2021 Compared to 2020
Research and development expenses for 2021 increased $19.3 million, or 15%, compared to 2020. This increase mainly related to an increase in headcount-related expenses driven by the negative impact of our increasing stock price.
Sales and Operations Expenses
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percent of revenue)
Sales and operations expenses $ (377,996) $ (325,616) $ (330,285) 16% (1)%
% of revenue (19) % (14) % (16) %
2022 Compared to 2021
Sales and operations expenses for 2022 increased $52.4 million, or 16%, compared to 2021. This increase was mainly driven by an increase in headcount-related costs and the amortization of Iponweb acquisition-related intangible assets.
2021 Compared to 2020
Sales and operations expenses for 2021 decreased $(4.7) million, or (1)%, compared to 2020. This decrease was mainly driven by lower net bad debt expense, lower depreciation and amortization costs and lower rent and facilities costs due to the right-sizing of our real estate footprint, partially offset by the reversal of a provision that was settled in 2020 and the negative impact of our increasing stock price on headcount-related expenses.
General and Administrative Expenses
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percent of revenue)
General and administrative expenses $ (205,330) $ (152,634) $ (116,395) 35% 31%
% of revenue (10) % (7) % (6) %
2022 Compared to 2021
General and administrative expenses for 2022 increased $52.7 million, or 35%, compared to 2021. This increase was mainly related to the loss contingency related to the CNIL matter as described in Note 19 and an increase in headcount-related costs.
2021 Compared to 2020
General and administrative expenses for 2021 increased $36.2 million, or 31%, compared to 2020. This increase was mainly related to an increase in third-party services as part of our on-going transformation program and an increase in headcount related costs including the negative impact of our increasing stock price on compensation expense.
Financial and Other Income (Expense)
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percent of revenue)
Financial and Other Income (Expense) $ 17,783 $ 1,939 $ (1,939) 817% (200)%
% of revenue 0.9 % 0.1 % (0.1) %
2022 Compared to 2021
Financial and Other Income for 2022 increased by $15.8 million, or 817% compared to 2021. The $17.8 million financial and other income for the period ended December 31, 2022 was mainly driven by the positive impact of foreign exchange derivatives entered-into to secure the cash consideration of the Iponweb acquisition. This was partially offset by the $4.7 million accretion of earn-out liability related to Iponweb acquisition.
Other impacts come from the foreign exchange reevaluations net of related hedging of our operations, income from cash and cash equivalent, and the financial expense relating to our €407 million available Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) up-front fees amortization and non-utilization costs. At December 31, 2022, our exposure to foreign currency risk was centralized at Criteo S.A. and hedged using foreign currency swaps or forward purchases or sales of foreign currencies.
2021 Compared to 2020
Financial and Other Income for 2021 decreased by $(3.9) million, or (200)% compared to 2020. The $(1.9) million financial and other income for the period ended December 31, 2021 was mainly driven by the financial expense relating to our $350 million available Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), including up-front fees amortization and non-utilization costs, partially offset by income from cash and cash equivalent. Financial and Other income for the period ended December 31, 2021 was supported by $3.0 million in proceeds from disposal of servers and equipments and $2.4 million in dividends received from a minority interest. At December 31, 2021, our exposure to foreign currency risk was centralized at Criteo S.A. and hedged using foreign currency swaps, forward purchases or sales of foreign currencies.
Provision for Income Taxes
Year Ended December 31, % change
2022 2021 2020 2022 vs 2021 2021 vs 2020
(in thousands, except percent information)
Provision for income tax expense (benefit) $ 31,186 $ 16,169 $ 32,197 93% (50)%
% of revenue 2 % 1 % 2 %
Effective tax rate 74.1 % 10.5 % 30.1 %
2022 Compared to 2021
The provision for income taxes for 2022 increased by $15.0 million, or 93%, compared to 2021. The annual effective tax rate for 2022 was 74.1%, compared to an annual effective tax rate of 10.5% for 2021. The annual effective tax rate differs from the statutory rates primarily due to the impact of the domestic tax deduction applicable to technology royalty income we received from our subsidiaries, differences in tax rates in foreign jurisdictions, tax loss carryforwards in certain foreign subsidiaries, non-recognition of deferred tax assets related to tax losses and temporary differences, recognition of previously unrecognized tax losses and equity awards compensation expense.
In 2022, our income before taxes decreased by $111.8 million to $42.1 million, compared to 2021, generating a $10.9 million theoretical income tax expense at a nominal standard French tax rate of 25.82%. This theoretical tax expense is impacted mainly by the following items contributing to a 31.2 million effective tax expense and a 74.1% effective tax rate: $1.7 million of deferred tax assets on which we recognized a valuation allowance, $16.9 million resulting from the non-tax deductible provision following the loss contingency on regulatory matters (refer to Note 19) , $6.2 million of permanent differences (mainly employee costs and intercompany transactions), $1.6 million related to the French business tax, Cotisation sur la Valeur Ajoutée des Entreprises, or “CVAE”, and $2.9 million of net effect of share-based compensation offset by a $6.7 million tax deduction resulting from technology royalty income we received from our subsidiaries, $2.9 million Research and Development tax credit in France, and the recognition or reversal of valuation allowance on deferred tax assets of $1.3 million. Please see Note 17 to our audited consolidated financial statements for more detailed information on the provision for income taxes.
Amounts recognized in our Consolidated Financial Statements are calculated at the level of each subsidiary within our Consolidated Financial Statements. As at December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, the valuation allowance against net deferred income taxes amounted to $31.1 million, $35.0 million and $37.3 million, which related mainly to Criteo Corp. ($5.7 million, $5.7 million and $13.3 million, respectively), Criteo Brazil ($3.3 million, $2.7 million and $2.8 million, respectively), Criteo Ltd ($8.1 million, $7.6 million and $7.4 million, respectively), Criteo China ($1.1 million, $3.3 million and $3.3 million, respectively), Criteo Singapore ($1.5 million, $4.2 million and $3.3 million), Criteo Pty ($2.6 million, $2.7 million and $2.8 million) and Criteo France ($6.5 million, $6.2 million and $1.0 million, respectively).
2021 Compared to 2020
The provision for income taxes for 2021 decreased by $(16.0) million, or (50)%, compared to 2020. The annual effective tax rate for 2021 was 10.5%, compared to an annual effective tax rate of 30.1% for 2020. The annual effective tax rates differs from the statutory rates primarily due to the impact of the domestic tax deduction applicable to technology royalty income we received from our subsidiaries, differences in tax rates in foreign jurisdictions, tax loss carryforwards in certain foreign subsidiaries, non-recognition of deferred tax assets related to tax losses and temporary differences, recognition of previously unrecognized tax losses and equity awards compensation expense.
In 2021, our income before taxes increased by $46.9 million to $153.8 million, compared to 2020, generating a $43.7 million theoretical income tax expense at a nominal standard French tax rate of 28.40%. This theoretical tax expense is impacted mainly by the following items contributing to a $16.2 million effective tax expense and a 10.5% effective tax rate: $1.7 million of deferred tax assets on which we recognized a valuation allowance, $6.6 million resulting from the BEAT expense, $6.5 million of permanent differences (mainly based on employee costs, depreciation expenses and intercompany transactions), $2.2 million related to the French business tax, Cotisation sur la Valeur Ajoutée des Entreprises, or “CVAE”, offset by a $25.7 million tax deduction resulting from technology royalty income we received from our subsidiaries, $4.8 million Research and Development tax credit, the recognition or reversal of valuation allowance on deferred tax assets of $10.4 million and $1.4 million of net effect of share-based compensation.
Please see Note 17 to our audited consolidated financial statements for more detailed information on the provision for income taxes. Amounts recognized in our Consolidated Financial Statements are calculated at the level of each subsidiary within our Consolidated Financial Statements. As at December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the valuation allowance against net deferred income taxes amounted to $36.4 million, $37.3 million and $25.3 million, which related mainly to Criteo Corp. ($5.7 million, $13.3 million and $12.8 million, respectively), Criteo Brazil ($2.7 million, $2.8 million and $3.2 million, respectively), Criteo Ltd ($7.6 million, $7.4 million and $7.5 million, respectively), Criteo China ($3.3 million, $3.3 million and $3.3 million, respectively), Criteo Singapore ($4.2 million, $3.3 million and $2.8 million), Criteo Pty ($2.7 million, $2.8 million and $2.6 million) and Criteo France ($6.2 million, $1.0 million and $(7.7) million, respectively).
Unaudited Quarterly Results of Operations
The following tables set forth our unaudited consolidated statement of income data for the last eight quarters. We derived this information from our unaudited interim consolidated financial information, which, in the opinion of management, includes all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the information for the quarters presented. The quarterly results of operations have been prepared by, and are the responsibility of, our management and have not been audited or reviewed by our independent registered public accounting firm. You should read this information together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes beginning on page.
Three Months Ended
December 31, 2022 September 30, 2022 June 30, 2022 March 31, 2022 December 31, 2021 September 30, 2021 June 30, 2021 March 31, 2021
(in thousands)
Consolidated Statements of Income Data:
Revenue $ 564,425 $ 446,921 $ 495,090 $ 510,567 $ 653,267 $ 508,580 $ 551,311 $ 541,077
Cost of revenue
Traffic acquisition costs (1)
(281,021) (233,543) (280,565) (293,650) (377,076) (297,619) (331,078) (327,667)
Other cost of revenue (36,810) (33,771) (29,550) (32,893) (31,840) (34,935) (37,364) (34,712)
Gross profit 246,594 179,607 184,975 184,024 244,351 176,026 182,869 178,698
Operating expenses
Research and development expenses (69,348) (42,725) (41,496) (34,027) (44,860) (33,345) (41,915) (31,697)
Sales and operations expenses (99,633) (90,051) (99,313) (88,999) (89,892) (75,619) (80,751) (79,354)
General and administrative expenses (28,969) (42,353) (100,672) (33,336) (43,855) (34,877) (40,474) (33,428)
Total operating expenses (197,950) (175,129) (241,481) (156,362) (178,607) (143,841) (163,140) (144,479)
Income from operations 48,644 4,478 (56,506) 27,662 65,744 32,185 19,729 34,219
Financial and Other income (expense) (6,144) 3,485 16,412 4,030 3,330 (154) (519) (718)
Income before taxes 42,500 7,963 (40,094) 31,692 69,074 32,031 19,210 33,501
Provision for income taxes (26,451) (1,442) 7,121 (10,414) 5,864 (7,801) (4,181) (10,051)
Net income $ 16,049 $ 6,521 $ (32,973) $ 21,278 $ 74,938 $ 24,230 $ 15,029 $ 23,450
Net income available to shareholders of Criteo S.A. 15,400 6,579 (33,614) 20,587 73,765 23,481 14,804 22,406
(1) In all arrangements running on Criteo's Commerce Media Platform, the Company recognizes revenue on a net basis, whereas revenue from arrangements running on legacy Retail Media solutions and on Marketing Solution solutions are accounted for on a gross basis. Refer to Note 1. Principles and Accounting Methods for a detailed description of our accounting policies.
B. Liquidity and Capital Resources.
Market Risk
We are mainly exposed to changes of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
The functional currency of the Company is the euro, while our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. Because we incur some of our expenses and derive revenues in currencies other than the euro, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange risk as our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Foreign exchange risk exposure also arises from intra-company transactions and financing with subsidiaries that have a functional currency different than the euro. The statements of financial position of consolidated entities having a functional currency different from the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the closing exchange rate (spot exchange rate at the statement of financial position date) and the statement of income, statement of comprehensive income and statement of cash flow of such consolidated entities are translated at the average period to date exchange rate. The resulting translation adjustments are included in equity under the caption “Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income” in the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity.
Since 2013, the Company has had a foreign currency risk management policy in place. At December 31, 2022, our exposure to foreign currency risk was centralized at Criteo S.A. and hedged using foreign currency swaps or forward purchases or sales of foreign currencies.
Foreign Currency Risk
A 10% increase or decrease of the British pound, the euro, the Japanese yen or the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar would have impacted the Consolidated Statements of Income including non-controlling interests as follows:
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
GBP/USD
+10% -10% +10% -10% +10% -10%
Net income impact
$ (444) $ 444 $ (351) $ 351 $ 116 $ (116)
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
BRL/USD
+10% -10% +10% -10% +10% -10%
Net income impact
$ (235) $ 235 $ (38) $ 38 $ (41) $ 41
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
JPY/USD +10% -10% +10% -10% +10% -10%
Net income impact $ 2,489 $ (2,489) $ 619 $ (619) $ 614 $ (614)
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
EUR/USD +10% -10% +10% -10% +10% -10%
Net income impact $ (2,169) $ 2,169 $ 11,162 $ (11,162) $ 9,360 $ (9,360)
Counterparty Risk
As of December 31, 2022, we show a positive net cash position. We utilize cash pooling arrangements, reinforcing cash management centralization. Investment and financing decisions are carried out by our internal central treasury function. We only deal with counterparties with high credit ratings. In addition, under our Investment and Risk Management Policy, our central treasury function ensures a balanced distribution between counterparties.
Liquidity Risk
We are mainly exposed to changes of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Sources of Liquidity
Our principal sources of liquidity are our cash and cash equivalents and cash generated from operations. We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our equity securities in the foreseeable future.
We are party to a loan agreement and several RCFs with third-party financial institutions. Our loan and RCF agreements as of December 31, 2022 are presented in the table below:
Nominal/ Authorized amounts
(RCF Only) Amount drawn as of December 31, 2022 (RCF only) Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2022
Nature (in thousands) Interest rate Settlement date
Bank Syndicate RCF - September 2022 (1)
€ 407,000 € - € - Floating rate: EURIBOR / SOFR + margin depending on leverage ratio September 2027
For additional information regarding our RCF agreement, please refer to Note 10 - Financial Liabilities and Note 19 - Commitments.
This RCF is unsecured and contain customary events of default and covenants, including compliance with a total net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio and restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness. At December 31, 2022, we were in compliance with the leverage ratio.
We are also party to short-term credit lines and overdraft facilities with HSBC Holdings plc, LCL and BNP Paribas. We are authorized to draw up to a maximum of €21.5 million ($22.9 million) in the aggregate under those short-term credit lines and overdraft facilities. As of December 31, 2022, we had not drawn on either of these facilities. Our banks have the ability to terminate such facilities on short notice.
Our cash and cash equivalents are invested primarily in demand deposit accounts and term deposits that primarily aim at preserving capital. Our cash, and cash equivalents at December 31, 2022 were held for working capital and general corporate purposes, which could include acquisitions, and amounted to $348.2 million as of December 31, 2022. The $(67.3) million decrease in cash and cash equivalents compared with December 31, 2021 primarily resulted from an increase of $256.0 million in cash from operating activities partially offset by a decrease of $(166.1) million in cash used for investing activities and a decrease of $(113.0) million in cash used for financing activities. In addition, the cash flows were also negatively impacted by $(44.1) million due to foreign exchange rates impact on our consolidated cash position in USD over the period. We do not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes. Our policy is to invest any cash in excess of our immediate requirements in investments designed to preserve the principal balance and provide liquidity. Accordingly, our cash and cash equivalents are invested primarily in demand deposit accounts and term deposit accounts
Furthermore, Criteo had financial liquidity of approximately $835.0 million, including its cash position, short term investments and its Revolving Credit Facility as of December 31, 2022. Overall, we believe that our current financial liquidity, combined with our expected cash-flow generation in 2023, enables financial flexibility and the meeting of all material contractual obligations.
We have also reserved $100m in cash (classified as Restricted cash on our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position) to fund the earn-out liability obligations, resulting from the Iponweb acquisition. (see Note 2)
Share buy-back programs
In December 2021, we completed a $100 million share repurchase program. In 2022, we completed an additional $136 million share repurchase.
All above programs have been implemented under our multi-year authorization granted by Board of Directors. On December 7, 2022, this authorization was extended to a total amount of $480 million. Other than these repurchase programs, we intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund our growth.
Operating and Capital Expenditure Requirements
In 2022, 2021 and 2020, our actual capital expenditures were $55.8 million, $53.0 million and $65.5 million respectively, primarily related to the acquisition of data center and server equipment, and internal IT systems. We expect our capital expenditures to remain at, or slightly below, 4% of revenue for 2023, as we plan to continue to build, reshape and maintain additional data center equipment capacity in all regions and increase our investments supporting our new work from home policy as part of our office right sizing program.
On August 1st, 2022 we entered into a definitive purchase agreement which resulted in the Iponweb acquisition for $(135.5) million of cash consideration paid. In 2021 we acquired all of the outstanding shares of Doobe In Site Ltd. ("Mabaya"), financed by available cash resources.
We believe our existing cash balances will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements through at least the next 12 months.
Our future working capital requirements will depend on many factors, including the rate of our revenue growth, the amount and timing of our investments in personnel and capital equipment, and the timing and extent of our introduction of new products and product enhancements.
If our cash and cash equivalents balances and cash flows from operating activities are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we may need to raise additional funds through equity, equity-linked or debt financings to support our operations, and such financings may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. We may also need to raise additional funds in the event we determine in the future to effect one or more acquisitions of businesses, technologies, assets or products.
If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, our operations and ability to execute our business strategy could be adversely affected. If we raise additional funds through the incurrence of indebtedness, such indebtedness would have rights that are senior to holders of our equity securities and could contain covenants that restrict our operations. Any additional equity financing will be dilutive to our shareholders.
Historical Cash Flows
The following table sets forth our cash flows for 2022, 2021 and 2020 :
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands)
Cash flows provided by operating activities $ 255,985 $ 220,913 $ 185,356
Cash used in investing activities (166,119) (76,367) (101,093)
Cash used for financing activities $ (113,044) $ (80,117) $ (57,747)
Our cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2022 were held for working capital and general corporate purposes, which could include acquisitions. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents compared with December 31, 2021, primarily resulted from an increase of $256.0 million in cash flows from operating activities fully offset by a decrease of $(166.1) million in cash flows used for investing activities and a decrease of $(113.0) million in cash flows used for financing activities.
Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities is primarily impacted by the increase in the number of clients using our solution and by the amount of cash we invest in personnel to support the anticipated growth of our business. Cash provided by operating activities has typically been generated from net income and by changes in our operating assets and liabilities, particularly in the areas of accounts receivable and accounts payable and accrued expenses, adjusted for certain non-cash and non-operating expense items such as depreciation, amortization, equity awards compensation, deferred tax assets and income taxes.
In 2022, net cash flows provided by operating activities were $256.0 million and consisted of net income of $10.9 million, $185.0 million in adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items and $60.1 million of cash flows from working capital. Adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items primarily consisted of depreciation and amortization expense of $150.3 million, equity awards compensation expense of $65.0 million, changes in deferred tax assets of $3.6 million, partially offset by $(11.0) million of accrued income taxes net of income tax paid and $(22.9) million of other non-cash and non-operating items. In 2022, our cash generated by operating activities benefited from strong working capital leverage, largely due to the impact from strong collections, in particular Iponweb, which has favorable seasonality in the fourth quarter.
The $60.1 million increase in cash resulting from changes in working capital primarily consisted of a $0.7 million decrease due to changes in operating lease liabilities and right of use assets, a $(14.7) million increase in other current assets (including prepaid expenses and VAT receivables) and a $(41.9) million increase in accounts receivable partially offset by a $(17.9) million decrease in accrued expenses such as payroll and payroll related expenses and VAT payables and a $133.8 million increase in accounts payable mainly due to seasonality.
In 2021, net cash flows provided by operating activities were $220.9 million and consisted of net income of $137.6 million, $124.9 million in adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items and $(41.6) million of cash flows from working capital. Adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items primarily consisted of depreciation and amortization expense of $90.9 million, equity awards compensation expense of $44.5 million, changes in deferred tax assets of $(18.6) million, $2.0 million generated on disposal of non-current assets, and by $6.0 million of accrued income taxes net of income tax paid.
The $(41.6) million decrease in cash resulting from changes in working capital primarily consisted of a $(2.6) million decrease due to changes in operating lease liabilities and right of use assets, a $(19.7) million increase in other current assets (including prepaid expenses and VAT receivables) and a $(135.0) million increase in accounts receivable partially offset by a $33.6 million increase in accrued expenses such as payroll and payroll related expenses and VAT payables and $82.7 million increase in accounts payable.
In 2020, net cash flows provided by operating activities were $185.4 million and consisted of net income of $74.7 million, $154.6 million in adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items and $(44.0) million of cash flows from working capital. Adjustments for non-cash and non-operating items primarily consisted of depreciation and amortization expense of $106.6 million, equity awards compensation expense of $28.8 million, changes in deferred tax assets of $3.7 million, $2.7 million generated on disposal of non-current assets, $1.9 million from other non-operating items, and by $10.9 million of accrued income taxes net of income tax paid.
The $(44.0) million decrease in cash resulting from changes in working capital primarily consisted of a $(33.3) million decrease in accounts payable, a $(5.8) million decrease due to changes in operating lease liabilities and right of use assets, a $(7.2) million increase in other current assets (including prepaid expenses and VAT receivables) and a $(4.0) million increase in accounts receivable partially offset by a $6.3 million increase in accrued expenses such as payroll and payroll related expenses and VAT payables.
Investing Activities
Our investing activities to date have consisted primarily of purchases of servers and other data-center equipment and business acquisitions.
In 2022, net cash flows used in investing activities were $166.1 million and consisted of $55.8 million for purchases of servers and other data-center equipment and capitalized software development costs, $138.0 million for business acquisitions and $27.8 million change in other non-current financial assets resulting from investments in Marketable Securities (see Note 4).
In 2021, net cash flows used in investing activities were $76.4 million and consisted of $53.0 million for purchases of servers and other data-center equipment and capitalized software development costs, $10.4 million for business acquisitions and $12.9 million change in other non-current financial assets resulting from investments in Marketable Securities (see Note 4).
In 2020, net cash flows used in investing activities were $101.1 million and consisted of $65.5 million for purchases of servers and other data-center equipment, $1.2 million for business acquisitions and $34.4 million change in other non-current financial assets resulting from investments in Marketable Securities (see Note 2 and 3).
Financing Activities
In 2022, net cash used in financing activities was $113.0 million mainly resulting from the $135.7 million impact from our share repurchase program, partially offset by $21.9 million change relating to the recognition of a positive impact of foreign exchange reevaluations net of related hedging and $1.0 million proceeds from stock-options exercises.
In 2021, net cash used in financing activities was $80.1 million mainly resulting from the $25.2 million proceeds from stock-options exercises and the $100.0 million impact from our share repurchase program.
In 2020, net cash used in financing activities was $57.7 million mainly resulting from the $10.9 million impact of the €140 million drawing from May 2020 to November 2020 as part of our available Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) and the $43.7 million impact from our share repurchase program.
C. Off-balance Sheet Arrangements.
We do not have any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, including entities sometimes referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities that were established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. We therefore believe that we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.
D. Tabular Disclosure of Contractual Obligations.
Our principal commitments consist of non-cancelable operating leases for our various office facilities and data centers, and other contractual commitments consisting of obligations to our hosting services providers, and providers of software as a service.
The following table discloses aggregate information about material contractual obligations and periods in which payments were due as of December 31, 2022. Future events could cause actual payments to differ from these estimates.
Less than 1 year 1 to 5 years More than 5 years Total
(in thousands of U.S. Dollars)
Operating Leases 33,920 58,459 19,665 112,044
Other purchase obligations 55,770 8,506 - 64,276
Total $ 89,690 $ 66,965 $ 19,665 $ 176,320
E. Trend Information.
Key Metrics
We review three key metrics to help us monitor the performance of our business and to identify trends affecting our business. These key metrics include number of clients, Contribution ex-TAC, and Adjusted EBITDA. We believe these metrics are useful to understanding the underlying trends in our business. The following table summarizes our key metrics for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
(in thousands, except number of clients)
Number of clients 21,600 21,745 21,460
Contribution ex-TAC $ 928,224 $ 920,795 $ 825,046
Adjusted EBITDA $ 267,299 $ 322,495 $ 250,995
Number of Clients
We define a client to be a unique party from whom we have received a signed contract or an insertion order and for whom we have delivered an advertisement or monetized an advertising inventory during the previous 12 months. We believe this criteria best identifies clients who actively use our set of solutions. We count specific brands or divisions within the same business as distinct clients so long as those entities have separately signed insertion orders with us. In the case of some solutions within Criteo Retail Media, we count the parent company of the brands as an individual client, even if several distinct brands pertaining to the same parent company have signed separate contracts or insertion orders with us. On the other hand, we count a client who runs campaigns in multiple geographies as a single client, even though multiple insertion orders may be involved. When the insertion order is with an advertising agency, we generally consider the client on whose behalf the advertising campaign is conducted as the “client” for purposes of this calculation. In the event a client has its advertising spend with us managed by multiple agencies, that client is counted as a single client.
We believe that our ability to increase the number of clients is an important indicator of our ability to grow revenue over time. While our client count has increased over time, this metric can also fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to the seasonal trends in advertising spend of clients and the timing and amount of revenue contribution from new clients. Therefore, there is not necessarily a direct correlation between a change in clients in a particular period and an increase or decrease in our revenue over that same period.
Contribution ex-TAC
Contribution ex-TAC as a profitability measure akin to gross profit. It is calculated by deducting traffic acquisition costs from revenue and reconciled to gross profit through the exclusion of other cost of revenue. Contribution ex-TAC is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Contribution ex-TAC because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to evaluate operating performance, generate future operating plans and make strategic decisions. In particular, we believe that this measure can provide useful measures for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that Contribution ex-TAC provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations in the same manner as our management and board of directors. Please see above for a discussion of the limitations of Contribution ex-TAC and a reconciliation of Contribution ex-TAC to gross profit, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure in the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this filing.
Our management views our Contribution ex-TAC as a key measure to evaluate, plan and make decisions on our business activities and sales performance. In particular, we believe this can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that Contribution ex-TAC provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations in the same manner as our management and board of directors. Contribution ex-TAC is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Please see above for a discussion of the limitations of Contribution ex-TAC and a reconciliation of Contribution ex-TAC to gross profit, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure, for 2021 and 2022.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA represents our consolidated earnings before financial income (expense), income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted to eliminate the impact of equity awards compensation expense, pension service costs, certain restructuring, integration and transformation costs, certain acquisition costs and a loss contingency related to a regulatory matter. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short-term and long-term operational plans. In particular, we believe that the elimination of equity awards compensation expense, pension service costs, certain restructuring, integration and transformation costs, certain acquisition costs and a loss contingency related to a regulatory matter in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business,
Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations in the same manner as our management and board of directors. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Please see above for a discussion of the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure in the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this filing.
Highlights and Trends
Contribution ex-TAC
Our Contribution ex-TAC for 2022 was $928 million, a 10% increase over 2021, at constant currency. This performance was driven by growth in Retail Media and Commerce Audiences, offsetting lower Retargeting. It also reflects significant headwinds from foreign exchange rates and the wind down of operations in Russia. We are focused on maximizing our Contribution ex-TAC on an absolute basis. We believe this focus builds sustainable long-term value for our business by fortifying a number of our competitive strengths, including access to digital advertising inventory, breadth and depth of data and continuous improvement of the Criteo AI Engine’s performance, allowing us to deliver more relevant advertisements at scale.
Our Adjusted EBITDA for 2022 was $267.3 million, a (17)% decrease over 2021. Our decrease in Adjusted EBITDA for 2022 compared to 2021 was primarily the result of the 1% increase in Contribution ex-TAC over the period, partly offset by a 11% increase in our Non-GAAP operating expenses. This drove a 29% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2022. Our 2022 investments in the strategic growth areas of our business, such as Retail Media, our first-party media network, acquisition solutions, video, Connected TV and Commerce Insights to accelerate growth drove a lower Adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of Contribution ex-TAC compared to 2021. Over time, we expect to continue to invest in the growth areas of our business and to maintain a healthy profitability as we continue to deliver sustainable revenue growth and as we benefit from operating leverage, rightsizing our cost base and continued discipline in our expense management. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Please see above for a discussion of the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure.
Number of Clients
Since our inception, we have significantly grown the number of clients with which we do business. We had close to 22,000 clients as of December 31, 2022, flat compared to our client base as of December 31, 2021. In recent years, the expansion of our clients has been driven our global footprint and our commercial expansion in existing markets, our continued development of large clients in the Retail vertical, especially in ecommerce, our expansion of midmarket clients and our penetration into the consumer brand vertical through some of our Criteo Retail Media offerings. We believe that our ability to increase our number of clients is a leading indicator of our ability to grow revenue over time. We expect to continue to focus our attention and investment on further growing our client base across all regions, client categories and verticals, with continued strong focus on ecommerce.
Client Retention
We believe our ability to retain and grow revenue from our existing clients is a useful indicator of the stability of our revenue base and the long-term value of our client relationships. Our offering, the Criteo Commerce Media Platform, is powered by AI technology and aims to cover the entire marketing funnel (Awareness, Audience Targeting, Conversion). Our technology is optimized to drive impactful business outcomes from marketing and monetization for retailers and brands. We measure our client satisfaction through our ability to retain them and the revenue they generate quarter after quarter.
We define client retention rate as the percentage of live clients during the previous quarter that continued to be live clients during the current quarter. This metric is calculated on a quarterly basis, and for annual periods, we use an average of the quarterly metrics. We define a live client as a client whose advertising campaign has or had been generating revenue for us on any day over the relevant measurement period. In each of 2022, 2021 and 2020, our client retention rate was approximately 90%.
Seasonality
Our client base consists primarily of businesses in the digital Retail, Travel and Classifieds industries, which we define as commerce clients. In the digital Retail industry and the consumer brand verticals in particular, many businesses devote the largest portion of their advertising spend to the fourth quarter of the calendar year, to coincide with increased holiday spending by consumers. With respect to Criteo Retail Media, the concentration of advertising spend in the fourth quarter of the calendar year is particularly pronounced. Our Retail clients typically conduct fewer advertising campaigns in the first and second quarters than they do in other quarters, while our Travel clients typically increase their travel campaigns in the first and third quarters and conduct fewer advertising campaigns in the second quarter. As a result, our revenue tends to be seasonal in nature, but the impact of this seasonality has, to date, been partly offset by our significant growth and geographic expansion. If the seasonal fluctuations become more pronounced, our operating cash flows could fluctuate materially from period to period.
___________________________________________________
1 Excluding Criteo Retail Media.
F. Safe Harbor.
This Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. See "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements."

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
We are mainly exposed to changes of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
For a description of our foreign exchange risk and a sensitivity analysis of the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on our net income, please see "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - B. Liquidity and Capital Resources" in this Form 10-K.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The information required by Item 8 is set forth on pages through of this Form 10-K.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
There have been no changes in our independent registered public accounting firm, Deloitte & Associés, or disagreements with our accountants on matters of accounting and financial disclosure.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Criteo carried out an evaluation as of December 31, 2022, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or furnished under the Exchange Act, such as this Annual Report on Form 10-K, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms.
Disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to reasonably assure that this information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Our management assessed, with the oversight of our board of directors, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria established in the Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this assessment, our management has concluded that the Company's internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2022. The effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022 has been audited by Deloitte & Associés, our independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in its attestation report, which appears on page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act, that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2022, that have materially affected, or that are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal controls will prevent all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within Criteo have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decisions making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies and procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information
Not applicable.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The information required by this item (other than the information set forth in the next paragraph in this Item 10) will be included in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC, and is incorporated herein by reference.
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the "Code of Conduct") that is applicable to all of our employees, officers (including our chief executive and senior financial officers), directors, temporary workers and interns. The Code of Conduct is available on our website at criteo.investorroom.com under "Governance." The Audit Committee of our board of directors is responsible for overseeing the Code of Conduct and our board of directors is required to approve any waivers of the Code of Conduct for employees, executive officers and directors. We expect that any amendments to the Code of Conduct, or any waivers of its requirements required to be disclosed under the rules of the SEC or Nasdaq will be disclosed on our website.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation
The information called for by this item will be included in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The information called for by this item will be included in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information called for by this item will be included in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services
The information called for by this item will be included in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC, and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
(a) Financial Statements
The financial statements listed in the accompanying Index to Consolidated Financial Statements on page are filed as part of this Form 10-K. All schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the required information is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.
(b) Exhibits
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit Description Schedule/ Form File Number Exhibit File Date
2.1
Merger Agreement, dated as of October 3, 2016, by and among Criteo Corp., TBL Holdings, Inc., Hooklogic, Inc. and Fortis Advisors LLC
8-K 001-36153 2.1 October 4, 2016
2.2 Amended and Restated Framework Purchase Agreement, dated as of August 1, 2022, by and among the Company, Sellers, Mr. Ljubisa Bogunovic in his capacity as trustee of the “IW General Management Trust” and Mr. Boris Mouzykantskii
10-Q 001-36153 2.1 August 5, 2022
3.1 Updated By-laws (as of February 23, 2023) (English translation)
8-K 001-36153 3.1 February 24, 2023
4.1
Amended and Restated Deposit Agreement, dated as of December 28, 2021, among the Company, the Bank of New York Mellon, as depositary, and all owners and holders from time to time of American Depositary Shares issued thereunder
8-K 001-36153
4.1 December 29, 2021
4.2#
Agreement to Furnish Debt Instruments
4.3
Description of Registrant's Securities
10-K 001-36153 4.3 March 2, 2020
10.1†
Non-Compete Agreement between the registrant and each of Messrs. Rudelle, Le Ouay and Niccoli
333-191223 10.5 October 2, 2013
10.2†
2014 Stock Option Plan (including forms of Stock Option Grant Agreement and Exercise Notice)
S-8 333-197373 99.1 July 11, 2014
10.3†
Amended 2016 Stock Option Plan (including forms of Stock Option Grant Agreement and Exercise Notice) (English Translation)
S-8 333-258256 99.1 July 29, 2021
10.4†
Summary of BSA Terms and Conditions
10-K 001-36153 10.7 February 29, 2016
10.5†
Form of BSA Grant Document (English translation)
10-K 001-36153 10.9 March 1, 2017
10.6†
Summary of BSPCE Plan
333-191223 10.8 September 18, 2013
10.7†
Form of BSPCE Grant Document (English translation)
333-191223 10.11 September 18, 2013
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit Description Schedule/ Form File Number Exhibit File Date
10.8†
Amended and Restated 2015 Time-Based Restricted Stock Units Plan (including form of Grant Letter) (English Translation)
S-8 333-258256 99.2 July 29, 2021
10.9†
Amended and Restated 2015 Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units Plan (including form of Grant Letter) (English Translation)
S-8 333-258256 99.3 July 29, 2021
10.10†
Criteo Executive Bonus Plan
10-K 001-36153 10.15 February 29, 2016
10.11†
Offer Letter between the Registrant and Sarah Glickman, dated August 27, 2020
8-K 001-36153 10.1 September 3, 2020
10.12†
Amendment to Offer Letter between Criteo Corp. and Sarah Glickman, dated August 27, 2020
10-Q 001-36153 10.1 May 5, 2021
10.13†
Amendment to Offer Letter between Criteo Corp. and Sarah Glickman, dated as of March 16, 2022
10-Q 001-36153 10.1 May 5, 2022
10.14
Amendment and Restatement Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2017, by and among the registrant, as borrower, and BNP Paribas, Crédit Lyonnais (LCL), HSBC France, Natixis and Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking
8-K 001-36153 4.1 March 30, 2017
10.15
Form of Offer to Directors, Officers or Specifically Designated Persons to Subscribe Liability Insurance and Provide Indemnification
10-K 001-36153 10.22 March 1, 2019
10.16†
Management Agreement between the registrant and Megan Clarken, dated October 2, 2019
8-K 001-36153 10.1 October 30, 2019
10.17†
Amendment to Management Agreement between the registrant and Megan Clarken, dated November 22, 2019
10-K 001-36153 10.18 March 2, 2020
10.18†
Employment Agreement between the registrant and Ryan Damon, dated August 1, 2018
10-K 001-36153 10.19 March 2, 2020
10.19†
Amendment to Executive Employment Agreement between Criteo Corp. and Ryan Damon, dated as of March 16, 2022
10-Q 001-36153 10.2 May 5, 2022
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit Description Schedule/ Form File Number Exhibit File Date
10.20 Multicurrency Revolving Facility Agreement, dated as of September 27, 2022, among the Company, certain of its subsidiaries, the lenders party thereto from time-to-time, BNP Paribas, Crédit Lyonnais (LCL), HSBC Continental Europe and Société Générale, as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers, Bank of Montreal Europe PLC, Citibank N.A., London Branch and Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), as mandated lead arrangers, BNP Paribas, as coordinator and documentation agent, Société Générale, as agent, and Société Générale and HSBC Continental Europe, as sustainability coordinators
8-K 001-36153 10.1 September 28, 2022
21.1#
List of Subsidiaries
23.1#
Consent of Deloitte & Associés
31.1#
Certificate of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
31.2#
Certificate of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.1*
Certificate of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
101# The following financial statements from Criteo S.A.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, formatted in iXBRL (Inline Extensible Business Reporting Language): (i) the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position, (ii) the Consolidated Statements of Income, (iii) the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, (iv) the Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity, (v) the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and (vi) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as iXBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)
† Indicates management contract or compensatory plan.
# Filed herewith.
* Furnished herewith.