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Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET Senior Vice President of Finance - Kyle Ostgaard Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Michael Blend Chief Financial Officer - Tridivesh Kidambi Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us, and welcome to the System1 Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Kyle Ostgaard, Senior Vice President of Finance. Please go ahead. Kyle Ostgaard: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call for System1. Joining me today to discuss System1's business and financial results are Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Blend; and Chief Financial Officer, Tridivesh Kidambi. A recording of this conference call will be available on our Investor Relations website shortly after this call has ended. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that during the call, we will be making certain forward-looking statements. This includes statements relating to the operating performance of our business, future financial results and guidance, strategy, long-term growth and overall future prospects. We may also make statements regarding regulatory compliance matters. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied during this call, in particular, those described in our risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 filed on March 11 as well as the current uncertainty and unpredictability in our business, the markets and the global economy generally. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on management's assumptions and beliefs as of the date hereof, and System1 disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Our discussion today will include non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted gross profit. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or in isolation from our GAAP results. Information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures, including a reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to our most comparable historical GAAP financial measures may be found on our Investor Relations website. I would now like to turn the conference call over to System1's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Blend. Michael Blend: Thanks, Kyle. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining System1 on our Q2 earnings call. Before diving into the quarter, I would first like to thank all of System1's stakeholders, including our lenders and shareholders, for the approval of the debt exchange that was finalized last month. This took a lot of hard work by everyone involved. I am appreciative of our lender support and welcome them as preferred shareholders. The debt exchange was an important step in putting our company in a position to achieve our strategic goals, and we look forward to delivering on our vision and creating long-term shareholder value. Now on the operating front, we made encouraging progress across our products portfolio during the quarter as we focused on audience growth and deepening user engagement. Total sessions to our owned and operated product sites increased 31% year-over-year and 5% sequentially from Q1. Our sessions growth comes as many other digital publishers are seeing traffic declines from AI usage, and it's the result of both hard work from our team and the utility nature of our products. Unlike news sites or basic informational sites that are more prone to being supplanted by AI chatbots, our core products are in search, mapping and shopping. But some of these usage gains were offset by weaker monetization from Google, both at our Startpage search engine and in our partner marketing business. We continue to see volatile monetization from Google with payouts and advertising coverage moving up and down as Google works to improve the overall quality of its partner network. Now moving on to our shopping vertical. CouponFollow delivered a strong quarter. The business saw a strong rebound in Google SEO, helping organic sessions grow 11% versus Q1. CouponFollow is now the #2 coupon site by organic traffic behind only Reddit. The business saw continued success in paid acquisition with gross profit from paid traffic acquisition up 37% year-over-year. CouponFollow also keeps advancing and sharpening its internal AI capabilities, delivering meaningful improvements across content quality, advertising campaign management, coupon data verification and revenue optimization tools. Looking ahead, CouponFollow is actively pursuing opportunities in the AI and agentic commerce ecosystems. CouponFollow has high-quality proprietary promo code data as well as strong affiliate relationships with our merchants. We believe our data sets can be highly valuable to a wide range of consumer apps. We expect to introduce new AI-enabled commerce solutions in the near future that will further enhance the value we deliver to consumers and partners. Moving on to our geolocation vertical. The MapQuest team continues to deliver. Our display advertising performance remains strong, supported by healthy CPMs driven by our high-intent audience, the enduring trust of the MapQuest brand and the value of our first-party data. User engagement also continued to improve with total sessions increasing 25% year-over-year during the first half of 2026. Beyond our core navigation platform, we are expanding the MapQuest ecosystem through adjacent products, including Lighthouse, a family safety app that recently soft launched. MapQuest is also making meaningful investments in AI. Our MapQuest MCP server is launching this week, enabling MapQuest navigation and location data to integrate directly with AI agents and applications. We believe we will be able to leverage our existing B2B partners on the MapQuest platform as a sales channel to accelerate growth and adoption of these products. Additionally, in Q2, we completely revamped our RoadWarrior delivery app, which allows us to better support the needs of the drivers and small businesses that rely on the app for their day-to-day operations. And moving on to our Startpage private search engine. We continue to benefit from long-term tailwinds around consumer privacy. We saw continued growth in search queries during the quarter with 11% sequential growth in user sessions quarter-over-quarter. We saw particularly strong momentum on mobile, where the number of mobile app sessions increased 63% year-over-year. We're also seeing more and more web browsers and other entry points to the web electing to feature Startpage as their private search engine. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, Startpage user growth was more than offset by declining monetization from Google. The majority of our Startpage revenue comes from users clicking on advertising we syndicate from Google. And simply put, Google has been showing fewer ads when users search on Startpage and paying us less for each search query. This has limited our ability to fully translate usage growth into revenue. Resolving the Google monetization issue is a big priority for us, although it is worth noting that we believe this is an industry-wide problem affecting all search engines that work with Google. Beyond our established products, we're also encouraged by the early progress within our emerging products division, where we're focused on AI-driven subscription businesses. While these products remain relatively small today, we're seeing exceptional velocity in both product development and marketing experimentation. Our pace of learning has been significantly faster than we've experienced in prior product initiatives, giving us confidence that this portfolio will become an increasingly meaningful contributor over time. We've also started to make headway around monetization of large amount of first-party data. In Q2, we entered the market with our audience data product, which we call IntentStream. IntentStream collects, enriches and packages our nonprivate first-party data to provide brands with real-time prepurchase intent signals. One thing to note is this data set does not include any data from our Startpage search engine where privacy remains paramount. We're in the early stages of going to market with IntentStream. We started bringing on our first customers, and we look forward to reporting more on our progress here. Now turning to our partner network business. Q2 was a tale of 2 halves. During April and May, the partner network business was performing quite well and generating over $100,000 per day in net revenue. At the end of May and early June, Google pushed a partner network-wide change that caused our monetization to drop more than 30%. Lower monetization in turn led to a significant drop in spreads between revenue and traffic acquisition costs, which in turn caused a significant drop to our net revenue per day. By the end of June, we recovered about 50% of the daily net revenue, but the negative impact on Q2 was significant. We are working hard to fully stabilize the partner network business and get back to the levels we were at prior to the tuning event. At the same time, we have also remained intensely focused on diversifying our network partners, improving traffic quality and expanding monetization diversity to reduce our Google concentration risk going forward. As we look to the second half of the year, our strategic priorities are clear. First, we will continue investing in the development and growth of our products portfolio with particular emphasis on opportunities emerging around search, commerce, location and AI-driven consumer experiences. Second, we will remain focused on diversifying our partner network business and getting our daily gross profit back up to our prior levels. And finally, we will continue operating as efficiently as possible while concentrating investment behind our highest return growth opportunities. And as our overall business starts growing again, we intend to return to the M&A efforts that have proven very successful for us in the past. With that, I'll hand it over to Tridi to go over our financials. Take it away, Tridi. Tridivesh Kidambi: Thanks, Michael. I'd like to remind everyone that in the first quarter of this year, we made the decision to significantly reduce marketing activity related to search monetization across our owned and operated properties. The result of this change was to impact both sequential and year-over-year trends during the quarter, which I will highlight throughout my remarks. Let's get into the details. Q2 revenue was $30.2 million, representing a 61% year-over-year decrease and a sequential decrease of 19%. Excluding the impact of owned and operated marketing, revenue would have been $28.6 million in [ Q1 ], down 32% year-over-year and 6% sequentially. Products revenue was $19.5 million, decreasing 19% year-over-year while increasing 3% sequentially. The sequential growth was primarily driven by a 5% increase in total sessions. Products revenue per session was down 2% from Q1, primarily related to the Startpage monetization challenges in Q2, which Michael mentioned in his remarks. While the decline in monetization negatively impacted Q2 results, we remain encouraged by the continued strength of our products portfolio and growth potential. Products revenue accounted for 64% of total revenue. Marketing GAAP revenue was $10.7 million, down 80% year-over-year and down 42% sequentially, driven primarily by the wind down of owned and operated marketing activities. Excluding owned and operated, marketing GAAP revenue was down 49% year-over-year and down 21% sequentially. This decline was primarily driven by reduced monetization and increased volatility in the Google RSOC market, specifically exacerbated by the June trends Michael highlighted earlier. In Q2 of '26, we had 59 active partners, which we define as partners that generated at least $5,000 of GAAP revenue during the quarter. The number of active partners increased 5% sequentially, reflecting continued expansion across our partner base. This growth was partially offset by a 25% decline in revenue per active partner, primarily due to monetization volatility during the last month of the quarter. Despite this variability, the average active partner generated more than $155,000 in quarterly revenue. We ended the quarter with 28 scaled partners, which we define as partners generating at least $50,000 of revenue during the quarter. Scaled partners represented 47% of our active partner base in Q2, underscoring the continued progression and maturation of our partner ecosystem. Adjusted gross profit was $25.5 million, down 38% year-over-year and down 10% sequentially. Excluding the impact of owned and operated marketing, adjusted gross profit was $24.4 million, down 35% year-over-year and down 9% sequentially. Products segment profit was $17.5 million, down 23% year-over-year, but up 1% sequentially. The products segment accounted for 65% of total profit. Marketing segment profit was $9.5 million, down 51% year-over-year and down 24% sequentially. Turning to operating expenses and adjusted EBITDA. In Q2, operating expenses, net of add-backs, were $23.6 million, down 20% year-over-year and down 8% sequentially. The declines from the prior periods reflect our ongoing cost-saving initiatives as we remain focused on supporting our core business while making disciplined investments in growth. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 million in Q2, down 83% year-over-year and down 29% sequentially. While we had previously expected adjusted EBITDA to be up sequentially versus Q1, this was prior to the significant downturn in RSOC monetization we saw in June in our marketing business. We do expect EBITDA to sequentially increase quarter-over-quarter for the rest of the year. Lastly, I want to revisit the debt exchange we first announced in May and successfully closed on July 23. Under the new agreement, our total outstanding debt was reduced to $150 million from $302.6 million prior to our agreement to the exchange in May. Pro forma for the closing cash payment as part of the debt exchange, the company's cash balance at June 30 was $16.2 million. Pro forma for the new debt, our consolidated net leverage at June 30 was 5.88x. The new term strengthened our capital structure and with a stronger financial foundation in place, we are well positioned to execute on our strategic priorities and create long-term shareholder value. Given the continued volatility we are seeing, we are not providing Q3 or full year guidance at this time. Our Q2 results reflect an intentional shift in our revenue mix towards the products segment, where we see significant growth opportunities. We are well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities and execute on our strategy. We are operating as a more focused and agile company with a clear focus on investing in our core businesses and emerging products. Our new debt agreement positions us to continue investing in and growing our assets, enabling us to execute on our strategic initiatives and deliver sustainable long-term growth and value for our stakeholders. Thank you for joining us today. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Thomas Forte with Maxim Group. Thomas Forte: Michael and Tridi, congrats on the debt restructuring. I have a couple of questions. I'll go one at a time. So Michael or Tridi, on the Startpage, I think it's very interesting, the consumer interest in privacy, especially for search engines. Can you explain -- you had some very impressive sequential growth in usage, but you talked about monetization challenges. So is it netting out to growth or are the monetization challenges offsetting the very impressive growth in usage? Tridivesh Kidambi: Tom, thanks for the question. I can -- I'll answer that second part, which is, unfortunately, it's -- the monetization challenges are more than offsetting the growth that we're seeing in user sessions. But again, we're very pleased with the user growth that we're seeing and the team is doing a great job of executing on continuing to take advantage of and capitalize on some of the tailwinds that we're seeing around the surge towards privacy in the search space. Michael Blend: Yes. And I would say just -- and again, thanks for joining, Tom. I would say, to follow up on that, we are hopeful and early stages of being encouraged that Google's -- basically Startpage got caught up in some monetization challenges related to the entire Google partner network as Google has been looking to clean up the quality of their partner network. So we're hopeful that, that's kind of getting to the tail end of that cleanup. And we're seeing a little bit of green shoots in monetization on Startpage. Nothing that I want to definitively report yet, but -- and going back to the earlier part of your question, what's been really interesting about Startpage, which we believe is a quite valuable asset is that we're getting the tailwinds of all this interest in privacy. We've also seen during the quarter that -- and you might have seen this as well, a bit of a backlash to a lot of the AI integration that Google has been doing and a lot of consumers turning to more independent search engines. And because we have both privacy on Startpage and we've taken a bit of a stance against heavily integrating AI into Startpage, we're seeing users come over. So all we need now is for Google monetization to improve and also diversify beyond Google to other search providers. Thomas Forte: Excellent. And then for my second and last question, Michael and Tridi, I'd appreciate your thoughts, including high level, on agentic commerce. So when you listen to the mega cap techs, they talk about it very favorably. But at the same time, Amazon just pivoted to Alexa for Shopping from Rufus. So it's not clear to me, I guess, where things stand with agentic commerce, but I'd appreciate your thoughts, including what you're doing at the company-specific level to exploit the opportunity. Michael Blend: Sure. I'll take this, Tridi. So again, I think you're right, Tom, for the early stages on agentic commerce. What we have seen is that traffic coming out of AI apps, ChatGPT, but other apps as well, is quite motivated and quite inclined to purchase. So we believe that as people are starting their shopping excursions and finding more information that you're going to see increasing number -- increasing amounts of e-commerce emanating via AI. So where we're playing in that will really be related primarily right now to our CouponFollow product, and we're somewhat early stages in starting to exploit that. But on CouponFollow, we've got a couple of really interesting assets that really allow CouponFollow to be the second-leading couponing site on the Internet. And the 2 assets are, first of all, we've got a large library of current and up-to-date and verified promo codes. So what that means is when you go and actually use a CouponFollow promo code, it's got a high likelihood of working when you go enter it into a site. The second thing we have, which contributes to a lot of our monetization on CouponFollow, we've got really strong affiliate relationships with our commerce -- with a lot of e-commerce stores because people go to CouponFollow, they click off of CouponFollow and end up purchasing at a shopping site. We're pretty confident that as all of the number of shopping and commerce-related AI apps are proliferating and people are using more and more of those, pretty much every one of those apps, the most likely ways to make money are -- first of all, you're going to want promo codes and verified promo codes and you want them to work when the consumers click out of your app to go buy. And secondly, you're going to want a way to monetize purchases through affiliate relationships. So we have both of those assets in place. We're currently figuring out the best way to offer both of those up to the kind of agentic marketplace. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Dan Kurnos with StoneX. [Operator Instructions] Daniel Kurnos: Sorry to dial in, trying to listen to a few of these at once. So 3 questions for you. One, Michael, on the products side, I appreciate all the color. Can you -- I know you guys aren't giving guidance, but the sequential improvement is encouraging. I understand that the ad market, especially Startpage is floppy right now. You've been fighting with Google and Google changes for how many decades, Michael? But just in terms of what you're seeing underlying, I just -- have we kind of troughed here? Should we start to see some sequential improvement in the forward quarters? Or is the Startpage headwind too much? And then I got a couple more. Michael Blend: So I would put Startpage in the context of the overall Google market, the overall Google partner network, Dan. And by the way, thank you for joining. We cannot peer exactly inside the Google black box to give you anything definitive. But what it feels like to us -- and we've been a player in this for a very long time, and you're right, the last couple of years have felt like a couple of decades as Google has been working to kind of get their partner network under control. It feels to us like they are starting to make some moves that are resulting in a little bit less volatility. So we are hopeful that we are troughed here and going to start being back on the upswing on Startpage. And I would say, recently, we have seen some green shoots that's going to be coming back. We don't want to promise anything just yet until we've got a couple more months of data to show it. Those changes also, as they're getting things under control, would directly affect our partner network business, which really just needs stability from Google. We don't need much in the way of improvements in monetization. What we need are less dramatic moves up or down by Google. And so as we're seeing kind of what feels like a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel on the Google side, we would expect, if what we're seeing is correct, that would help both Startpage and our partner network. Daniel Kurnos: Got it. That's helpful. So let me ask a follow-up to that then. This does not count as my 3 questions. This is a 1A, Michael. It was actually nice to see a 5% sequential improvement in active partners. And I think Tridi said in his comments that you guys are seeing a 25% decline in revenue per active partner. I understand like you just laid out probably why, but you have been talking about active partner and partner network diversification. So can you maybe parse out how much you think is Google now? And how much is maybe like newer partners coming on, and it takes a while for them to scale, and so at some point, you should start to see more scaled spend as you continue to diversify or rediversify that active partner network? Michael Blend: Yes. So some of that was deliberate on our part. We wanted to have more diversification with more partners. And some of the larger partners were also some of the ones that may not have been as high as quality. But as we've been bringing on more partners and going out to other, one thing that's happening, Dan, in the marketplace is we -- if you looked at this industry a year ago, we had a multitude of large competitors in the partner network business. Now as Google has been making its changes and cleaning up the network, what we're seeing is that we are one of the very few kind of higher-quality scaled partners left -- scaled Google partners left. And so we're getting the benefit of both our systems being good, but also there's a more consolidated number of people working with Google at scale. And so a lot of those traffic acquisition partners out there are coming to us to try to work with our back end. So I guess the way to put it, a combination of the market, us being much bigger in the market, one of the fewer large players having a good platform to provide monetization and some deliberate moves on our part as well. Daniel Kurnos: So in theory, if things stabilize, you guys are in a better position to capitalize if you can get a little more visibility on the monetization piece? Michael Blend: Yes, that's right, Dan. I mean, look, I know you're also a follower of IAC. IAC has been -- traditionally been one of our largest competitors in this space. And kind of as you know, they shut down their business. So that would be an example of if you were an IAC partner and looking around for somewhere to continue your business, System1 would definitely be a place you want to come to. Daniel Kurnos: All right, Michael, I guess you can lead the witness because I was going to ask a related question, but I was going to ask that last. I guess I'll ask it now and just say, we have written publicly multiple times about the slew of trials going on in the space. And similar to IAC, you are at the crux of it. You actually have 3 or maybe even 4 bites at the apple here, and it's not just the ad tech trial; you also have AdSense for Domains. You've got AdWords potentially. I mean there's a whole slew of things in there. So I don't know what you want to say or don't want to say on this call, but it seems like everyone is kind of expecting settlements to start sometime in '27. I don't know if the arbitration -- we saw a couple of arbitration cases in the AdWords stuff, kind of small ones, nothing meaningful yet. So I'm just going to leave it open-ended and see if or what you want to say on that front because you guys have a lot of exposure there potentially for the good. Michael Blend: Yes. No -- yes. Thanks, Dan. I appreciate you asking the question. Trying to decide with Tridi how much we want to really talk about on this call. But I know you have been one of the few people kind of writing about this publicly. So I guess the summary for people listening is we're quite aware that Google has been adjudicated in the U.S. for some antitrust violations related to the search marketplace. And as you alluded to, there's a pretty large number of companies who are filing arbitration claims against Google at this point related to Google having a monopoly in the search market. I think that at this point, it feels as though the market is having -- believes that those claims are going to have some value. We're aware that -- to the extent that some of the claims are even, I believe, trading hands in the secondary market. So hedge funds are buying them up and that kind of thing. And you're right, System1 has been -- we've been traditionally, over the last 13, 14 years, very large players in the search market with Google. So we're players on the buy side. We're large players on the search syndication side, which is the other place they were adjudicated monopoly. So I guess what I would say is we are looking -- certainly looking at our claims that we might have, and we're working to determine the best way to move forward on those. Anything you want to add, Tridi? Tridivesh Kidambi: No, I think that's it. I think, to Michael's point, our financials historically are out there, and it's not that hard to figure out kind of how much work we've done with Google on both the buy side and the sell side. And we're actively engaged in charting the best path forward. Daniel Kurnos: I'll give -- you guys don't have to say it, but I'll give people a hint that, that number starts with a B, and it's not 1 in terms of dealings with Google because we've done the math. So I'll throw that out there, but I'll let people figure it out or read our note. And then just, Michael, last one for me is, can you just give me a sense of some of the 1P monetization work that you're doing, the 1P data stuff. Obviously, in an agentic world, 1P data is coveted. You guys clearly have a lot of it through product side. You have a lot of intent-driven stuff, a lot of signals. So I know it's super early, you talked about in your prepared remarks, but just anything you want to give us in terms of how you're thinking about monetizing it and how big you think it could be as you scale it? Michael Blend: Yes. No, great question, Dan. So when we're talking about kind of first-party data, which is the most valuable first-party data when advertisers are trying to advertise data that kind of tells you -- data that people tells you what they're interested in and data that tells you where people are going, those kind of things. And when you look at System1, we've got -- we don't really have data related to reading news, for instance. So if you've got like -- I think we're hearing a little feedback from you, Dan. But if you've got like a big news site, for instance, that kind of data is not that important for advertisers. But what we have is we've got MapQuest, which is a geolocation service that tells you where people are going. We've got CouponFollow, which tells us -- people go to CouponFollow when they're literally at point of purchase to buy something. And then we've got all of our partner network business, which is people are only reaching our sites when they've already clicked on an ad. And so they might be interested in something like a Ford automobile. They clicked on a Ford ad and they're coming to an article on our website about Ford autos. So that kind of data should be exactly the kind of data that advertisers want. So in the last 4 to 6 months, we basically have put together a technical platform to aggregate all of that data, slice it up into really any form that advertisers would want. And we recently have started kind of hitting the market, starting to talk with large brands, large advertising holding companies and basically get them on board to start buying it. So it's not -- there's nothing material to discuss right now because it's still early stages, but we do have people at this point starting to buy, purchase our data, use it in their advertising. And we're starting to see good feedback on that. So when you add up all of our traffic, we have one of the largest data sources of first-party data out there right now. And so we -- it's only upside for us. We're making almost no money from that. We think that it's got good potential upside. And hopefully, next quarter, we'll have some more material results to share with you. Daniel Kurnos: Don't worry, Michael. Everyone gets their news from TikTok now anyway. So it's not relevant. Michael Blend: Yes. Thank you, Dan and Tom, for all the good questions. Do we have anybody else on the line? Operator: There are no further questions. Michael Blend: All right. Well, thank you, everybody, for joining on our earnings call. Again, we want to thank our lenders for working out a structure with us that's going to allow System1 to thrive in the future. We look forward to speaking with all of you again next quarter and reporting on the good progress we've been making this quarter. Thanks again for joining. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in System1, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and System1 wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. System1 (SST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Finalized a critical debt exchange reducing total debt from $302.6 million to $150 million, positioning the company to resume M&A and strategic investments. Achieved 31% year-over-year growth in owned and operated product sessions, driven by the utility nature of search, mapping, and shopping tools which management believes are more resilient to AI displacement than news sites. Experienced significant monetization headwinds from Google, characterized by lower ad coverage and payouts at Startpage and a 30% drop in Partner Network monetization following a June tuning event. CouponFollow reached the #2 organic coupon site ranking behind Reddit, supported by an 11% sequential growth in organic sessions and a 37% year-over-year increase in paid traffic gross profit. Launched IntentStream to monetize non-private first-party data, packaging real-time prepurchase intent signals from MapQuest and CouponFollow for brands and advertising holding companies. Revamped the RoadWarrior delivery app and soft-launched Lighthouse, a family safety app, to expand the MapQuest ecosystem beyond core navigation. Reported that Startpage mobile app sessions grew 63% year-over-year, though this growth was more than offset by Google's industry-wide reduction in search ad frequency. Management expects adjusted EBITDA to increase sequentially for the remainder of the year, despite the June monetization downturn. Active pursuit of the 'agentic commerce' ecosystem is underway, leveraging proprietary promo code data and affiliate relationships for integration into third-party AI shopping applications. The MapQuest MCP server launch aims to integrate navigation and location data directly into AI agents, utilizing existing B2B partners as a primary sales channel. Strategic focus remains on diversifying the Partner Network to reduce Google concentration risk and stabilizing daily gross profit to levels seen prior to the June volatility. Guidance for Q3 and the full year is withheld due to continued volatility in the Google RSOC (Remote Search on Content) market. The debt exchange resulted in lenders becoming preferred shareholders, significantly strengthening the capital structure with a pro forma net leverage of 5.88x. Intentional wind-down of owned and operated marketing activities for search monetization significantly impacted year-over-year revenue comparisons. Google's partner network 'cleanup' remains a primary risk factor, causing unpredictable shifts in advertising coverage and payout rates across the industry. Management is actively evaluating potential antitrust claims against Google following recent U.S. adjudications regarding search market monopolies. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management confirmed that monetization declines currently more than offset impressive user growth, though they are seeing 'green shoots' of stabilization. The growth is attributed to a consumer backlash against AI integration in search and a preference for independent, privacy-focused engines. System1 plans to monetize its verified promo code library and affiliate relationships by providing the backend infrastructure for emerging AI shopping apps. Management believes AI-driven traffic is highly motivated and inclined to purchase, making their proprietary data sets highly valuable to developers. Active partners grew 5% sequentially as the company benefits from market consolidation following the exit of large competitors like IAC from the space. System1 is positioning itself as one of the few remaining high-quality, scaled Google partners for traffic acquisition entities. Management is 'actively engaged in charting the best path forward' regarding potential arbitration claims against Google for antitrust violations. Management noted that their historical volume of business with Google on both the buy and sell sides is publicly available and significant, while analysts estimated these dealings to be in the billions.

Revenue of $30.2 million GAAP Gross Profit of $24.3 million, margin of 80% Adjusted Gross Profit of $25.5 million, margin of 85% GAAP Net Loss of $15.3 million Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 million LOS ANGELES, August 05, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--System1, Inc. (NYSE: SST) ("System1" or the "Company"), which operates flagship internet utilities including CouponFollow, MapQuest, and Startpage, and a best-in-class customer acquisition and marketing platform powered by artificial intelligence, today announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2026. During the quarter, System1 launched a new suite of agentic AI products including MCP servers for MapQuest, its Dogpile search engine and its new IntentStream audience data platform, extending the Company's proprietary mapping, shopping and search data into the infrastructure AI agents rely on. "The second quarter was a pivotal one for System1 as we signed a transformative agreement to cut our gross debt by half and our Products business continued to demonstrate real operating strength," commented Michael Blend, System1’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. "We also launched several new agentic data products, including our MapQuest and Dogpile MCP servers. As we head into the second half of 2026, we are focused on capitalizing on the tailwinds and initiatives powering our Products business while returning our Partner Network to growth mode." Tridivesh Kidambi, Chief Financial Officer of System1, added, "Our Q2 results reflect our decision in late Q1 to significantly reduce marketing activity tied to search monetization across our owned and operated properties, leading to a planned decrease in year over year revenue but also driving adjusted gross margin up to 85% as a result of the higher-quality Products business generating the majority of our revenue and gross profit. The signing and closing of the debt exchange transaction sets us up to continue to invest in our Products business for the long-term while continuing to focus on operational efficiencies in our Partner Network business and cost structure in the short-term." Note: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP metrics that are defined and reconciled at the end of this release. Second Quarter 2026 Highlights CouponFollow.com became the second-largest organic coupon site in Q2, reflecting continued strength in our SEO-driven traffic and market position. Startpage continued its user growth across both our core Startpage.com experience as well as our mobile browser app. Startpage.com user sessions and mobile sessions app sessions grew 31% and 63% year-over-year, respectively. MapQuest completed the rebuild of its RoadWarrior app on a unified React Native platform, bringing iOS and Android to feature parity while improving development efficiency. The release also introduced a redesigned brand and user experience that simplifies core workflows and better supports drivers' daily needs. The Company launched IntentStream, its audience data product which collects, enriches and packages first-party data across its network of owned & operated properties. IntentStream provides brands with real-time pre-purchase intent signals, enabling them to reach consumers while purchase decisions are actively being made. System1 continued expanding its push into agentic AI through integration with LLMs: About System1, Inc. System1 operates flagship internet utilities including CouponFollow, MapQuest, and Startpage, and a best-in-class marketing platform powered by artificial intelligence, enabling third party publishers to monetize and maximize the value of user traffic across a wide range of advertising category verticals. For more information, visit www.system1.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly any statements or materials regarding System1’s future results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding System1 or its management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause System1’s actual financial results or operating performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Readers or users of this press release should evaluate the risk factors summarized below, which summary list is not exclusive. Readers or users of this press release should also carefully review the "Risk Factors" and other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, as well as our Form 10-Qs, Form 8-Ks and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time. Please refer to these SEC filings for additional information regarding the risks and other factors that may impact System1’s business, prospects, financial results and operating performance. Such risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to: (1) our ability to maintain our key relationships with network partners and advertisers, including our monetization arrangements; (2) our ability to collect, process, effectively utilize and safely store the first party data that we obtain through our services; (3) the performance of our marketing platform; (4) changes in customer demand for our services and our ability to quickly adapt to such changes; (5) our ability to maintain and attract consumers and advertisers in the face of changing economic or competitive conditions; (6) our ability to improve and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting and remediate identified material weaknesses; (7) our ability to successfully source and complete acquisitions and to integrate the operations of companies System1 acquires; (8) our ability to raise financing in the future as and when needed or on market terms; (9) our ability to compete with existing competitors and the entry of new competitors in the market; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations impacting the business in which we operate and our ability to maintain compliance with the various laws that our business and operations are subject to; (11) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; (12) our integration of new and developing technologies, including the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies; and (13) substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; and (14) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, they could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. System1’s independent auditors have not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the forward-looking statements for the purpose of their inclusion in this press release, and accordingly, do not express an opinion or provide any other form of assurance with respect thereto for the purpose of this press release. System1 will not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not take any statement regarding past trends or activities as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. Accordingly, you should not put undue reliance on these statements. Non-GAAP Measures: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and represent key metrics used by System1's management and board of directors to measure the operational strength and performance of its core business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing its business. Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit plus depreciation and amortization related to cost of revenues. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, impairment expense, stock-based compensation expense, deferred compensation, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, non-cash revaluation of warrant liability and acquisition and restructuring costs. System1 believes Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are relevant and useful metrics for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by management. There are limitations on the use of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA and it may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in System1's industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than System1 does, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit should not be considered a substitute for gross profit. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for income (loss) from operations, net income (loss), or net income (loss) attributable to System1 on a consolidated basis that System1 reports in accordance with GAAP. Although System1 uses Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA as financial measures to assess the performance of its business, such use is limited because it does not include certain costs necessary to operate System1's business. System1's presentation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as indications that its future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. The following table reconciles Revenue to Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit for the periods presented (in millions): The following table reconciles net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented (in millions): View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260805157655/en/ Contacts Investors: System1 Investor [email protected]

Parallel Bio returns to Bay Area roots, bringing computational and biological operations under one roof New advisors strengthen leadership in immunology, AI, drug development and cybersecurity SAN FRANCISCO, June 16, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Parallel Bio, a biotech company pioneering human-first drug discovery, today announced it is centering U.S. operations at its San Francisco Bay Area headquarters in Brisbane, CA, bringing computational and biological functions together in one location. The move builds on Parallel Bio's Bay Area foundation, as co-founders Robert DiFazio and Juliana Hilliard founded the company in San Francisco in 2021. At the time, DiFazio worked at Stanford University, directing an interdisciplinary institute of over 150 faculty studying human immunology, and Hilliard worked at Herophilus (formerly known as System1), adapting brain organoid technology for high-throughput drug discovery. The company is backed by Bay Area investors including AIX Ventures, which led Parallel Bio's $21 million Series A round; Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce; Jeff Dean, head of Google DeepMind; Y Combinator; and other biotech and deeptech funds. Parallel Bio also announced five new advisors as the company scales its platform and partnerships across multiple therapeutic areas: Shane Crotty, Professor and Chief Scientific Officer at one of the world’s leading institutes of human immunology Ron Philip, former CEO of Orbital Therapeutics and Spark Therapeutics Andre Esteva, CEO and co-founder of ArteraAI Rick Bright, PhD, CEO of Bright Global Health and former Director of BARDA Jason Kichen, Chief Information Security Officer of Fluidstack and adjunct faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. "For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has sought better ways to evaluate therapies in human biology before advancing into clinical studies. Parallel Bio is taking an important step toward addressing that challenge," said Philip. "I joined the advisory board because I believe their platform has the potential to meaningfully improve how new medicines are developed." These advisors bring deep experience across the company's core focus areas including human immunology, drug development, AI for medicine, and data infrastructure, positioning Parallel Bio to lead the transformation of drug development as the industry moves beyond animal testing. "We're fortunate to add these five exceptional advisors whose expertise will be invaluable as we scale our platform and partnerships," said DiFazio. "Likewise, bringing our team together in the Bay Area allows us to move faster and integrate our computational and biology work more tightly." With the move, Parallel Bio is actively recruiting scientific and engineering talent across the Bay Area. The company currently works with numerous pharmaceutical partners, including three Fortune 500 companies, who are testing more than 50 drugs and immunotherapies using Parallel Bio's organoid-based immune system modeling platform. "The Bay Area has always been our home, and this consolidation positions us to build on that foundation," said Hilliard. "We're excited to grow our team here and continue advancing human-first drug discovery with support from some of the world's leading experts in immunology, AI, and biotech." About Parallel Bio Parallel Bio is pioneering human-first drug discovery by creating the first map of human biology. The company generates data using groundbreaking biological and computational tools that track real clinical outcomes, enabling earlier, more reliable decisions about disease biology and drug discovery. The platform overcomes the core limitations of traditional animal testing, which almost always fails to predict how drugs will behave in people. Parallel Bio is building its own drug discovery pipeline in cancer and autoimmune disease while collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate therapies directly in human systems before costly and risky clinical trials. Founded in 2021 by two scientists with deep expertise in cutting-edge human models, Parallel Bio is backed by leading investors in AI and biotech, including AIX Ventures, Marc Benioff, and Jeff Dean. Learn more at parallel.bio. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616363147/en/ Contacts Media contact:[email protected]

Revenue of $37.2 million GAAP Gross Profit of $23.3 million, Margin of 63% Adjusted Gross Profit of $28.2 million, Margin of 76% GAAP Net Loss of $57.6 million Adjusted EBITDA of $2.7 million LOS ANGELES, May 12, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--System1, Inc. (NYSE: SST) ("System1" or the "Company"), which operates flagship internet utilities including CouponFollow, MapQuest, and Startpage.com, and a best-in-class customer acquisition and marketing platform powered by artificial intelligence, today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2026. "This quarter marked an important reset for System1 as we narrowed our focus to where we see the greatest opportunities to win: the intersection of AI and consumer intent," commented Michael Blend, System1’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. "With our best-in-class marketing platform and category-leading offerings, System1 is uniquely equipped to thrive as AI agents become a primary interface for shopping, search and travel. We are agile, focused, and ready to lead in the AI-driven future." Tridivesh Kidambi, Chief Financial Officer of System1, added, "The actions we took this quarter are expected to deliver meaningful cost savings, while also improving our financial profile going forward. We also continue to make meaningful progress on right-sizing our capital structure, which we believe will give us greater flexibility to invest across our highest-return opportunities. We view this past quarter as a clear inflection point for both the year ahead and the future for our businesses, and we are well-positioned to drive stronger operating performance and long-term shareholder value." Note: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP metrics that are defined and reconciled at the end of this release. First Quarter 2026 Highlights Significantly reduced our marketing activities for search monetization during the quarter to enable the Company to operate with greater focus, improved execution and adopt a lower go-forward cost structure. CouponFollow.com further enhanced its Content Management System with AI-powered tools, delivering fresher content, smarter code testing, and higher-quality coupons to help users save more time and money. Startpage.com continued to add key features to its core consumer experience, including sports updates as well as flight status and booking functionality. MapQuest.com delivered year-over-year organic traffic growth of 14%, and site-wide revenue growth of 23%, driven by several product releases focused on optimizing the consumer experience. About System1, Inc. System1 operates flagship internet utilities including CouponFollow, MapQuest, and Startpage.com, and a best-in-class marketing platform powered by artificial intelligence, enabling third party publishers to monetize and maximize the value of user traffic across a wide range of advertising category verticals. For more information, visit www.system1.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly any statements or materials regarding System1’s future results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding System1 or its management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause System1’s actual financial results or operating performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Readers or users of this press release should evaluate the risk factors summarized below, which summary list is not exclusive. Readers or users of this press release should also carefully review the "Risk Factors" and other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, as well as our Form 10-Qs, Form 8-Ks and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time. Please refer to these SEC filings for additional information regarding the risks and other factors that may impact System1’s business, prospects, financial results and operating performance. Such risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to: (1) our ability to maintain our key relationships with network partners and advertisers, including our monetization arrangements; (2) our ability to collect, process, effectively utilize and safely store the first party data that we obtain through our services; (3) the performance of our marketing platform; (4) changes in customer demand for our services and our ability to quickly adapt to such changes; (5) our ability to maintain and attract consumers and advertisers in the face of changing economic or competitive conditions; (6) our ability to improve and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting and remediate identified material weaknesses; (7) our ability to successfully source and complete acquisitions and to integrate the operations of companies System1 acquires; (8) our ability to raise financing in the future as and when needed or on market terms; (9) our ability to compete with existing competitors and the entry of new competitors in the market; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations impacting the business in which we operate and our ability to maintain compliance with the various laws that our business and operations are subject to; (11) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; (12) our integration of new and developing technologies, including the adoption of AI and machine learning technologies; and (13) substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; and (14) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, they could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. System1’s independent auditors have not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the forward-looking statements for the purpose of their inclusion in this press release, and accordingly, do not express an opinion or provide any other form of assurance with respect thereto for the purpose of this press release. System1 will not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not take any statement regarding past trends or activities as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. Accordingly, you should not put undue reliance on these statements. Non-GAAP Measures: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and represent key metrics used by System1's management and board of directors to measure the operational strength and performance of its core business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing its business. Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit plus depreciation and amortization related to cost of revenues. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, impairment expense, stock-based compensation expense, deferred compensation, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, non-cash revaluation of warrant liability and acquisition and restructuring costs. System1 believes Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are relevant and useful metrics for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by management. There are limitations on the use of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA and it may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in System1's industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than System1 does, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit should not be considered a substitute for gross profit. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for income (loss) from operations, net income (loss), or net income (loss) attributable to System1 on a consolidated basis that System1 reports in accordance with GAAP. Although System1 uses Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA as financial measures to assess the performance of its business, such use is limited because it does not include certain costs necessary to operate System1's business. System1's presentation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as indications that its future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512038619/en/ Contacts Investors: System1 Investor Relations [email protected]

Full Year Results Demonstrate Strength of Platform in Challenging Operating Environment Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results: Revenue Decreased 23% Over Prior Year to $266.1 million Gross Profit Decreased 1% Over Prior Year to $100.4 million Adjusted Gross Profit Increased 1% Over Prior Year to $153.4 million Adjusted Gross Profit Margin Increased to 58% from 44% Year-Over-Year GAAP Net Loss Decreased 17% Over Prior Year to $81.2 million Adjusted EBITDA Increased 9% Over Prior Year to $41.9 million Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights: Revenue Decreased 31% Over Prior Year to $51.9 million Gross Profit Decreased 33% Over Prior Year to $21.3 million Adjusted Gross Profit Decreased 22% Over Prior Year to $34.9 million Adjusted Gross Profit Margin Increased to 67% from 59% Over Prior Year GAAP Net Loss Decreased 1% Over Prior Year to $17.8 million Adjusted EBITDA Decreased 54% Over Prior Year to $8.2 million LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--System1, Inc. (NYSE: SST) ("System1" or the "Company"), an omnichannel customer acquisition marketing platform, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025. "Our full-year 2025 results demonstrate the strength and resilience of our platform and the disciplined execution of our team." said Michael Blend, System1’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. "While we experienced macro and market-specific headwinds in the fourth quarter, continued investment in our products and AI capabilities is positioning the business for long-term growth. We look forward to hosting a call in the near future to provide additional perspective on our strategy, performance, and opportunities ahead." Tridivesh Kidambi, Chief Financial Officer of System1, added, "Despite a challenging operating environment in the fourth quarter, our full-year performance reflects solid execution against our strategic priorities combined with prudent financial resource management. In collaboration with our key stakeholders, we are continuing to evaluate opportunities to strengthen our balance sheet and optimize our capital structure. We believe this balanced approach positions us well for the future, and we look forward to discussing our financial results and broader corporate updates in the near future." Note: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP metrics that are defined and reconciled at the end of this release. Fourth Quarter Business Highlights Startpage.com had 1.6 million daily active users in December 2025, up 42% year-over-year. Mapquest.com had 36 million sessions in December 2025, up 24% year-over-year. CouponFollow.com launched new AI-powered tools that enhance partnership performance by optimizing offer visibility and driving stronger results for brand partners across the platform. About System1, Inc. System1 operates several flagship brands across multiple consumer verticals, including shopping, travel and search, and a best-in-class customer acquisition and marketing platform powered by AI and machine learning. The Company's platform is omnichannel and omnivertical, delivering high-intent customers to its advertising partners to maximize their reach and effectiveness. For more information, visit www.system1.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly any statements or materials regarding System1's future results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding System1 or its management team's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause System1's actual financial results or operating performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Readers or users of this press release should evaluate the risk factors summarized below, which summary list is not exclusive. Readers or users of this press release should also carefully review the "Risk Factors" and other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, as well as our Form 10-Qs, Form 8-Ks and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time. Please refer to these SEC filings for additional information regarding the risks and other factors that may impact System1's business, prospects, financial results and operating performance. Such risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to: (1) our ability to maintain our key relationships with network partners and advertisers, including our monetization arrangements; (2) our ability to collect, process, effectively utilize and safely store the first party data that we obtain through our services; (3) the performance of our responsive acquisition marketing platform; (4) changes in customer demand for our services and our ability to incorporate to such changes; (5) our ability to maintain and attract consumers and advertisers in the face of changing economic or competitive conditions; (6) our ability to improve and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting and remediate identified material weaknesses; (7) our ability to successfully source and complete acquisitions and to integrate the operations of companies System1 acquires; (8) our ability to raise financing in the future as and when needed or on market terms; (9) our ability to compete with existing competitors and the entry of new competitors in the market; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations impacting the business in which we operate and our ability to maintain compliance with the various laws that our business and operations are subject to; and (11) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; (12) our integration of new and developing technologies, including the adoption of AI and machine learning technologies; and (13) substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; and (14) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, they could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. System1's independent auditors have not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the forward-looking statements for the purpose of their inclusion in this press release, and accordingly, do not express an opinion or provide any other form of assurance with respect thereto for the purpose of this press release. System1 will not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not take any statement regarding past trends or activities as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. Accordingly, you should not put undue reliance on these statements. Non-GAAP Measures: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and represent key metrics used by System1's management and board of directors to measure the operational strength and performance of its core business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing its business. Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit plus depreciation and amortization related to cost of revenues. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, deferred compensation, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, non-cash revaluation of warrant liability and acquisition and restructuring costs. System1 believes Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are relevant and useful metrics for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by management. There are limitations on the use of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA and it may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in System1's industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than System1 does, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit should not be considered a substitute for gross profit. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for income (loss) from operations, net income (loss), or net income (loss) attributable to System1 on a consolidated basis that System1 reports in accordance with GAAP. Although System1 uses Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA as financial measures to assess the performance of its business, such use is limited because it does not include certain costs necessary to operate System1's business. System1's presentation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as indications that its future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. The following tables reconcile net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented (in millions): The following table reconciles Revenue to Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit for the periods presented (in millions): View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311248465/en/ Contacts Investors: System1 Investor Relations [email protected]

Management is accelerating a shift toward sports and entertainment assets where the company maintains a proprietary competitive advantage and can actively drive value. The sale of Dun & Bradstreet for $630 million and exits from Paysafe, System1, and Sightline represent a deliberate move away from non-strategic public securities. Black Knight Football Club (BKFC) is now the primary value driver, with AFC Bournemouth achieving significant transfer profits while maintaining Premier League performance. The acquisition of the remaining 60% of FC Lorient consolidates BKFC's multi-club model to capture operational synergies across European football leagues. Management expressed dissatisfaction with the current stock price, stating it does not reflect the intrinsic value of the platform's private, proprietary assets. Operational improvements at portfolio companies are being paired with increased disclosure to provide shareholders better visibility into asset-level results. The company is exploring strategic alternatives for its Restaurant Group as part of a disciplined effort to redeploy capital into higher-returning opportunities. Phase 1 of the stadium renovation for AFC Bournemouth is expected to be completed by the 2026/2027 season, doubling hospitality capacity. Phase 2 of the stadium expansion is targeted for the 2027/2028 season, aiming for an 80% increase in total capacity to over 20,000 seats. A $55 million tax refund is expected in the summer of 2026, providing a near-term liquidity injection from realized losses on public security exits. The Board is prioritizing capital flexibility in the short term, which may lead to more selective and opportunistic share repurchases compared to previous levels. Future investments through the JANA Partners relationship will be constrained to a 'smaller box' focused specifically on sports and entertainment opportunities. Operating expenses for 2025 were impacted by $24 million in nonrecurring management charges, $14 million in noncash impairment charges at the Restaurant Group, and $5 million of increased professional fees associated with a recent proxy contest. In the fourth quarter of 2025, a $69 million loss from unconsolidated holdings was primarily driven by a large goodwill write-off at Alight. The Board was refreshed with four new independent directors in 2025 to improve governance and shareholder alignment following a proxy contest. The termination of an external management agreement earlier in the year contributed to a structural reduction in ongoing corporate operating expenses. Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Management is reviewing every individual asset to determine the appropriate timing for monetization as they transition to a more focused portfolio. The company has announced it is exploring strategic alternatives for its Restaurant Group as part of a broader effort to monetize non-strategic assets and focus on sports and entertainment. Current internal marks are based on a 12.5% premium to par value established during the FC Lorient acquisition. Management views 3x revenue as a relevant benchmark based on where other Premier League teams have traded in the private market. Management believes the core football investment is largely insulated from AI-driven disintermediation. Financial services holdings are viewed as 'sheltered' due to long-term contracts, though they are actively implementing AI to improve internal efficiencies. SpaceX is currently valued based on its publicly announced merger with xAI and has appreciated significantly since Cannae's initial investment. Under the new strategic focus, management expects the SpaceX holding to eventually serve as a source of cash for redeployment. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here.

Revenue Decreased 31% Year-Over-Year to $61.6 million GAAP Gross Profit Decreased 8% Year-Over-Year to $22.8 million Adjusted Gross Profit Decreased 4% Year-Over-Year to $36.1 million Adjusted Gross Profit Margin Increased to 59% from 42% Year-Over-Year GAAP Net Loss Improved 28% Year-Over-Year to $22.0 million Adjusted EBITDA Decreased 4% Year-Over-Year to $9.9 million LOS ANGELES, November 05, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--System1, Inc. (NYSE: SST) ("System1" or the "Company"), an omnichannel customer acquisition marketing platform, today announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2025. "System1's business shift towards our higher margin Products segment continued, as Products are now a majority of our gross profit. Integrating AI across our business continues to drive meaningful gains, as we saw a significant improvement in overall gross margin and a continued higher reduction in operating expenses," commented Michael Blend, System1’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. "While our marketing business was challenged due to product changes at our largest advertising partner Google, we are making strong progress shifting our marketing focus to a newer Google product where we believe we are the market leader. I’m proud of how our organization continues to adapt, innovate, and position System1 for long-term growth." Tridivesh Kidambi, Chief Financial Officer of System1, added, "While recent results in our marketing business have been negatively impacted by product changes at our largest advertising partner, we remain confident in the underlying strength of our platform and strategy. Our ongoing investments in AI-driven automation and decision-making are already delivering operational efficiencies, and we believe these advancements position us strongly to navigate this dynamic landscape and deliver long-term value." Note: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP metrics that are defined and reconciled at the end of this release. Third Quarter 2025 Highlights CouponFollow.com extended its reach in the European market, successfully launching beta versions of localized coupon content in Germany, France and Poland – marking key milestones in its global expansion strategy. MapQuest launched redesigned apps on iOS and Android, adding new features around route optionality, enhanced user preferences and CarPlay support. Startpage.com released Vanish Private AI Chat, a mobile app that provides access to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity through Startpage’s signature proxy layer. Users’ IP addresses, queries, and conversations are not logged and remain private. Vanish is available on iOS and Android. 1.org, System1’s charitable-focused search engine, released new gamification features to improve retention and secured its first nonprofit partnership with Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines. Earlier this year, the Company informed one of its traffic partners that a significant portion of its traffic delivered was invalid in origin. Our analysis was independently verified by trusted third parties in the space. This partner has thus far refused to provide a refund, and as a result the Company is committed to pursuing recovery through all available channels. System1 is committed to enforcing the highest standards of traffic quality across all partners and to protecting the long-term interests of our advertisers and shareholders. Given the current uncertainty related to one of our key advertising partners’ marketplaces, as well as the potential impact of broader volatility in online advertising demand, we do not plan to provide financial guidance for the fourth quarter of 2025. About System1, Inc. System1 operates several flagship brands across multiple consumer verticals, including shopping, travel and search, and a best-in-class customer acquisition and marketing platform powered by AI and machine learning. The Company's platform is omnichannel and omnivertical, delivering high-intent customers to its advertising partners to maximize their reach and effectiveness. For more information, visit www.system1.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly any statements or materials regarding System1’s future results. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding System1 or its management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause System1’s actual financial results or operating performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Readers or users of this press release should evaluate the risk factors summarized below, which summary list is not exclusive. Readers or users of this press release should also carefully review the "Risk Factors" and other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, as well as our Form 10-Qs, Form 8-Ks and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time. Please refer to these SEC filings for additional information regarding the risks and other factors that may impact System1’s business, prospects, financial results and operating performance. Such risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to: (1) our ability to maintain our key relationships with network partners and advertisers, including our monetization arrangements; (2) our ability to collect, process, effectively utilize and safely store the first party data that we obtain through our services; (3) the performance of our marketing platform; (4) changes in customer demand for our services and our ability to quickly adapt to such changes; (5) our ability to maintain and attract consumers and advertisers in the face of changing economic or competitive conditions; (6) our ability to improve and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting and remediate identified material weaknesses; (7) our ability to successfully source and complete acquisitions and to integrate the operations of companies System1 acquires; (8) our ability to raise financing in the future as and when needed or on market terms; (9) our ability to compete with existing competitors and the entry of new competitors in the market; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations impacting the business which we operate and our ability to maintain compliance with the various laws that our business and operations are subject to; (11) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; (12) our integration of new and developing technologies, including the adoption of AI and machine learning technologies; and (13) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, they could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. System1’s independent auditors have not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the forward-looking statements for the purpose of their inclusion in this press release, and accordingly, do not express an opinion or provide any other form of assurance with respect thereto for the purpose of this press release. System1 will not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not take any statement regarding past trends or activities as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. Accordingly, you should not put undue reliance on these statements. Non-GAAP Measures: Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and represent key metrics used by System1's management and board of directors to measure the operational strength and performance of its core business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing its business. Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit plus depreciation and amortization related to cost of revenues. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, deferred compensation, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, non-cash revaluation of warrant liability and acquisition and restructuring costs. System1 believes Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are relevant and useful metrics for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by management. There are limitations on the use of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA and it may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in System1's industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than System1 does, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit should not be considered a substitute for gross profit. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for income (loss) from operations, net income (loss), or net income (loss) attributable to System1 on a consolidated basis that System1 reports in accordance with GAAP. Although System1 uses Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA as financial measures to assess the performance of its business, such use is limited because it does not include certain costs necessary to operate System1's business. System1's presentation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as indications that its future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251105413945/en/ Contacts Investors: System1 Investor Relations [email protected]

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Release Date: November 05, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. System1 Inc (NYSE:SST) reported strong growth in its product segment, with revenue increasing by 8% year over year. The company successfully launched new features across its major products, including MapQuest and StartPage, enhancing user engagement. System1 Inc (NYSE:SST) is making significant progress in integrating AI across its operations, with plans to launch new AI-powered products. The company is focusing on international expansion for its Coupon Follow service, launching language-specific sites in Germany and France. Despite challenges, System1 Inc (NYSE:SST) maintained healthy profitability with an adjusted gross profit of $36 million. System1 Inc (NYSE:SST) faced a significant disruption due to Google's reduction in monetization on its AdSense for Domains product, impacting its marketing business. The company's marketing revenue declined by 43% year over year, reflecting volatility in the segment. Revenue per session decreased, driven by weaker advertiser demand, particularly affecting the coupon follow-up business. The transition away from Google's AFD product occurred sooner than expected, causing short-term challenges. System1 Inc (NYSE:SST) identified invalid traffic from a large advertising partner, leading to ongoing disputes and potential legal action. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with SST. Is SST fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Can you talk about your efforts with Microsoft and if you're able to capitalize on Bing's market share gains? A: Michael Blend, CEO: We work closely with Bing, similar to our partnership with Google. Historically, Google's network outperformed Bing's, but recently, Bing's performance has improved. We've been shifting more efforts towards Bing as monetization increases. We maintain strong partnerships with Bing and Yahoo and aim to expand our business with them. Q: In your earnings release, you mentioned StartPage.com's efforts with ChatGPT and cloud. Are there other ways you're working with OpenAI and Anthropic? A: Michael Blend, CEO: We launched Vanish, a private AI product, addressing consumer concerns about privacy when using AI for sensitive matters. We're working with various AI models to rebuild our platform and develop new products. While Vanish is our current AI product, we plan to introduce more consumer-focused AI agents in specific verticals over the next year. Q: How has the transition from Google's AFD product impacted your marketing segment? A: Michael Blend, CEO: The transition from Google's AFD product was challenging, impacting both our owned and partner marketing businesses. AFD was a significant part of our marketing revenue, but we've been focusing on Google's new Arsock product. The transition is nearly complete, and we expect greater stability and growth in 2026. Q: What are your plans for the product segment, given its strong performance? A: Michael Blend, CEO: We plan to increase investment in our product segment, focusing on acquiring direct users and expanding internationally. Our products like Coupon Follow, MapQuest, and StartPage have strong market positions, and we aim to develop new products in search, shopping, and geolocation spaces. Q: Can you provide more details on your financial performance and outlook? A: Pvesh Kanbi, CFO: Q3 revenue was $61.6 million, down 31% year-over-year. Marketing revenue declined due to the AFD transition, while product revenue grew 8%. We ended the quarter with $54.6 million in cash and $265 million in term loan debt. We anticipate providing guidance soon as Google marketplace dynamics stabilize. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.