DoubleVerify Reports Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results

In this article:

Increased Revenue by 22% Year-over-Year to $133.7 Million Driven by Global Growth in Social, CTV Measurement and Programmatic Activation

Achieved Net Income of $12.8 Million and Adjusted EBITDA of $40.0 Million, representing a 30% Adjusted EBITDA margin

Agreed to Acquire Scibids, the Global Leader in AI Powered Digital Campaign Optimization

NEW YORK, July 31, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DoubleVerify ("DV") (NYSE: DV), a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

"We are pleased to have delivered another quarter of solid growth and profitability and are excited to discuss our recently announced acquisition of Scibids, a global leader in AI-powered digital campaign optimization," said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. "Our second quarter performance demonstrates the durability of our core growth drivers - product innovation, channel expansion and global market penetration - and the impressive list of new enterprise logos that we have added to our roster underscore the power of our differentiated market offering. Our agreement to acquire Scibids will take that differentiation a step further, as its proven, AI-powered, real-time optimization algorithms will leverage DV’s media quality and performance data to drive superior KPIs and business outcomes for advertisers. We expect this strategic investment to transform our long-term growth trajectory by making our sizable and successful Activation business more impactful and enhancing our Measurement data all while accelerating DV’s evolution from protection to performance."

Second Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights:
(All comparisons are to the second quarter of 2022)

  • Total revenue of $133.7 million, an increase of 22%.

  • Activation revenue of $77.9 million, an increase of 29%.

  • Measurement revenue of $45.0 million, an increase of 16%.

    • Media Transactions Measured ("MTM") for Social and CTV increased by 41% and 32% respectively.

    • International measurement revenue increased by 39% with EMEA growth of 33% and APAC growth of 50%.

  • Supply-Side revenue of $10.8 million, an increase of 4%.

  • Net income of $12.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $40.0 million, which represented a 30% adjusted EBITDA margin.

Second Quarter and Recent Business Highlights:

  • Grew Total Advertiser revenue by 24% year-over-year in the second quarter primarily due to a 24% increase in Media Transactions Measured ("MTM"), while Measured Transaction Fee ("MTF") remained unchanged on a year-over-year basis.

  • Continued to achieve a Gross Revenue Retention rate of over 95% in the second quarter.

  • Grew premium-priced Authentic Brand Suitability (ABS) revenues by 51% year-over-year in the second quarter due to volume expansion by large existing global advertisers as well as by new customer activations.

  • Drove global market share growth through product upsells, international expansion and new enterprise logo wins. Notable new business wins include:

    • Expansions: Avis and Swarovski

    • New enterprise customer wins: Uber Brand Marketing, Sam’s Club, Pizza Hut, Revlon, Bose and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan

  • Expanded Meta viewability offering by extending media quality measurement to Facebook and Instagram Reels, a rapidly-growing short-form video environment with high levels of user engagement.

  • Extended media quality measurement to YouTube Shorts, Masthead, and In-feed Video formats.

  • Announced a partnership with Uber providing greater transparency into the quality of ad campaigns across the Uber Journey Ad format in the United States.

  • Signed a multi-year contract with Outbrain to provide DV’s Brand Safety Floor and fraud avoidance solutions beginning in June, ahead of Outbrain’s launch of Onyx, a new branding platform designed to maximize impact of awareness and consideration campaigns.

  • Partnered with TVision to align TVision’s viewer presence and eyes-on-screen attention data with DV’s ad exposure and user engagement attention data to provide the most comprehensive and scalable CTV attention offering in the market.

  • Continued collaboration with Roku to investigate emerging CTV ad fraud schemes, following the successful neutralization of SmokeScreen, a sophisticated ad fraud scheme that targeted CTV devices. The collaboration leverages Roku’s proprietary Advertising Watermark technology and DV’s cutting-edge Fraud Lab and anti-fraud solutions to efficiently identify and mitigate app spoofing.

Strategic Investment and Innovation Day:

  • Announced an agreement to acquire Scibids, a global leader in AI-powered digital campaign optimization, in a cash and stock transaction valued at $125 million and a potential earnout based on Scibids' achievement of certain performance milestones over 2023.

  • Announced an in-person Innovation Day for the investment community on Thursday, September 14th, from 1pm to 4pm at The Standard Hotel in New York City. The event will also be webcast live with an archived replay available on the following day.

"In the second quarter, we continued to deliver solid results with year-over-year revenue growth of 22% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 30%, driven by continued international expansion, and product successes in fast-growing sectors such as programmatic activation, Social and CTV," said Nicola Allais, CFO of DoubleVerify. "In addition to delivering solid growth and high profitability, we took advantage of our debt-free balance sheet and significant cash position to support the pending acquisition of Scibids. We expect this strategic AI investment to fortify our long-term growth profile and allow us to capture a greater share of a large and growing addressable market. With a broadly inline second quarter performance, we are reiterating our full-year 2023 guidance ranges and expect to deliver 24% full year revenue growth and a 31% adjusted EBITDA margin at the midpoints."

Third Quarter and Full-Year 2023 Guidance:

DoubleVerify anticipates Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA to be in the following ranges:

Third Quarter 2023:

  • Revenue of $135 to $141 million, a year-over-year increase of 23% at the midpoint.

  • Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $39 to $41 million, representing a 29% margin at the midpoint.

Full Year 2023:

  • Revenue of $557 to $569 million, a year-over-year increase of 24% at the midpoint.

  • Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $171 to $179 million, representing a 31% margin at the midpoint.

With respect to the Company’s expectations under "Third Quarter and Full Year 2023 Guidance" above, the Company has not reconciled the non-GAAP measure Adjusted EBITDA to the GAAP measure net income in this press release because the Company does not provide guidance for stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization expense, acquisition-related costs, interest income, and income taxes on a consistent basis as the Company is unable to quantify these amounts without unreasonable efforts, which would be required to include a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to GAAP net income. In addition, the Company believes such a reconciliation would imply a degree of precision that could be confusing or misleading to investors.

Conference Call, Webcast and Other Information

DoubleVerify will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss its second quarter 2023 financial results at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time today, July 31, 2023. To access the conference call, dial (877) 841-2987 for the U.S. or Canada, or (215) 268-9878 for international callers. The webcast will be available live on the Investors section of the Company’s website at https://ir.doubleverify.com/. An archived webcast will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the live event.

In addition, DoubleVerify plans to post certain additional historical quarterly financial information on the investor relations portion of its website for easy access to investors.

Key Business Terms

Activation revenue is generated from the evaluation, verification and measurement of advertising impressions purchased through programmatic demand-side and social media platforms.

Measurement revenue is generated from the verification and measurement of advertising impressions that are directly purchased on digital media properties, including publishers and social media platforms.

Supply-Side revenue is generated from platforms and publisher partners who use DoubleVerify’s data analytics to evaluate, verify and measure their advertising inventory.

Gross Revenue Retention Rate is the total prior period revenue earned from advertiser customers, less the portion of prior period revenue attributable to lost advertiser customers, divided by the total prior period revenue from advertiser customers.

Media Transactions Measured (MTM) is the volume of media transactions that DoubleVerify’s software platform measures.

Measured Transaction Fee (MTF) is the fixed fee DoubleVerify charges per thousand Media Transactions Measured.

International Revenue Growth Rates are inclusive of foreign currency fluctuations.

DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)

As of

As of

(in thousands, except per share data)

June 30, 2023

December 31, 2022

Assets:

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

$

295,437

$

267,813

Trade receivables, net of allowances for doubtful accounts of $10,757 and $8,893 as of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively

176,007

167,122

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

20,715

10,161

Total current assets

492,159

445,096

Property, plant and equipment, net

54,793

47,034

Operating lease right-of-use assets, net

62,499

64,692

Goodwill

343,682

343,011

Intangible assets, net

122,974

135,429

Deferred tax assets

4,901

35

Other non-current assets

1,657

1,731

Total assets

$

1,082,665

$

1,037,028

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity:

Current liabilities

Trade payables

$

8,837

$

6,675

Accrued expenses

36,945

33,085

Operating lease liabilities, current

8,851

7,041

Income tax liabilities

11,953

Current portion of finance lease obligations

3,139

1,846

Other current liabilities

8,476

8,310

Total current liabilities

66,248

68,910

Operating lease liabilities, non-current

73,369

74,086

Finance lease obligations

3,938

779

Deferred tax liabilities

1,132

12,890

Other non-current liabilities

3,756

3,504

Total liabilities

148,443

160,169

Commitments and contingencies (Note 13)

Stockholders’ equity

Common stock, $0.001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized, 167,250 shares issued and 167,234 outstanding as of June 30, 2023; 1,000,000 shares authorized, 165,448 shares issued and 165,417 outstanding as of December 31, 2022

167

165

Additional paid-in capital

787,562

756,299

Treasury stock, at cost, 16 shares and 31 shares as of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively

(528

)

(796

)

Retained earnings

152,531

127,517

Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of income taxes

(5,510

)

(6,326

)

Total stockholders’ equity

934,222

876,859

Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$

1,082,665

$

1,037,028

DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (UNAUDITED)

Three Months Ended June 30,

Six Months Ended June 30,

(in thousands, except per share data)

2023

2022

2023

2022

Revenue

$

133,744

$

109,805

$

256,338

$

206,528

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)

26,191

18,836

50,143

35,713

Product development

31,941

23,222

60,496

44,810

Sales, marketing and customer support

31,537

24,733

57,249

51,417

General and administrative

19,755

21,529

39,943

41,204

Depreciation and amortization

9,676

8,317

18,659

17,357

Income from operations

14,644

13,168

29,848

16,027

Interest expense

247

223

503

455

Other (income) expense, net

(2,476

)

145

(5,210

)

191

Income before income taxes

16,873

12,800

34,555

15,381

Income tax expense

4,034

2,510

9,541

512

Net income

$

12,839

$

10,290

$

25,014

$

14,869

Earnings per share:

Basic

$

0.08

$

0.06

$

0.15

$

0.09

Diluted

$

0.07

$

0.06

$

0.15

$

0.09

Weighted-average common stock outstanding:

Basic

166,540

163,610

166,088

163,114

Diluted

172,488

170,223

172,129

170,359

Comprehensive income:

Net income

$

12,839

$

10,290

$

25,014

$

14,869

Other comprehensive (loss) income:

Foreign currency cumulative translation adjustment

(377

)

(5,634

)

816

(7,204

)

Total comprehensive income

$

12,462

$

4,656

$

25,830

$

7,665

DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (UNAUDITED)

Accumulated

Other

Comprehensive

Additional

Income (Loss)

Total

Common Stock

Treasury Stock

Paid-in

Retained

Net of

Stockholders’

(in thousands)

Shares

Amount

Shares

Amount

Capital

Earnings

Income Taxes

Equity

Balance as of January 1, 2023

165,448

$

165

31

$

(796

)

$

756,299

$

127,517

$

(6,326

)

$

876,859

Foreign currency translation adjustment

1,193

1,193

Shares repurchased for settlement of employee tax withholdings

30

(787

)

(787

)

Stock-based compensation expense

11,992

11,992

Common stock issued upon exercise of stock options

527

1

1,765

1,766

Common stock issued upon vesting of restricted stock units

182

Treasury stock reissued upon settlement of equity awards

(35

)

914

(914

)

Net income

12,175

12,175

Balance as of March 31, 2023

166,157

$

166

26

$

(669

)

$

769,142

$

139,692

$

(5,133

)

$

903,198

Foreign currency translation adjustment

(377

)

(377

)

Shares repurchased for settlement of employee tax withholdings

57

(1,966

)

(1,966

)

Stock-based compensation expense

15,399

15,399

Common stock issued under employee purchase plan

49

1,138

1,138

Common stock issued upon exercise of stock options

711

1

3,990

3,991

Common stock issued upon vesting of restricted stock units

333

Treasury stock reissued upon settlement of equity awards

(67

)

2,107

(2,107

)

Net income

12,839

12,839

Balance as of June 30, 2023

167,250

$

167

16

$

(528

)

$

787,562

$

152,531

$

(5,510

)

$

934,222

Balance as of January 1, 2022

162,347

$

162

50

$

(1,802

)

$

717,228

$

84,249

$

(771

...

)

$

799,066

Foreign currency translation adjustment

(1,570

)

(1,570

)

Shares repurchased for settlement of employee tax withholdings

41

(1,058

)

(1,058

)

Stock-based compensation expense

10,994

10,994

Common stock issued to non-employees

4

Common stock issued upon exercise of stock options

572

1

1,677

1,678

Common stock issued upon vesting of restricted stock units

195

Net income

4,579

4,579

Balance as of March 31, 2022

163,118

$

163

91

$

(2,860

)

$

729,899

$

88,828

$

(2,341

)

$

813,689

Foreign currency translation adjustment

(5,634

)

(5,634

)

Shares repurchased for settlement of employee tax withholdings

320

(8,133

)

(8,133

)

Stock-based compensation expense

9,517

9,517

Common stock issued under employee purchase plan

41

768

768

Common stock issued upon exercise of stock options

176

838

838

Common stock issued upon vesting of restricted stock units

798

1

(1

)

Treasury stock reissued upon settlement of equity awards

(128

)

3,447

(3,447

)

Net income

10,290

10,290

Balance as of June 30, 2022

164,133

$

164

283

$

(7,546

)

$

737,574

$

99,118

$

(7,975

)

$

821,335

DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED)

Six Months Ended

June 30,

(in thousands)

2023

2022

Operating activities:

Net income

$

25,014

$

14,869

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities

Bad debt expense

3,706

1,997

Depreciation and amortization expense

18,659

17,357

Amortization of debt issuance costs

147

147

Non-cash lease expense

3,293

3,882

Deferred taxes

(16,639

)

(3,974

)

Stock-based compensation expense

26,980

20,253

Interest expense

25

72

Loss on disposal of fixed assets

5

1,345

Impairment of long-lived assets

1,510

Other

209

(302

)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities

Trade receivables

(12,214

)

(21,942

)

Prepaid expenses and other assets

(11,168

)

(949

)

Trade payables

2,126

2,262

Accrued expenses and other liabilities

(7,979

)

(9,978

)

Net cash provided by operating activities

32,164

26,549

Investing activities:

Purchase of property, plant and equipment

(7,671

)

(13,606

)

Net cash (used in) investing activities

(7,671

)

(13,606

)

Financing activities:

Proceeds from revolving credit facility

50,000

Payments to revolving credit facility

(50,000

)

Payment of contingent consideration related to Zentrick acquisition

(3,247

)

Proceeds from common stock issued upon exercise of stock options

5,757

2,516

Proceeds from common stock issued under employee purchase plan

1,138

768

Payments related to offering costs

(6

)

Finance lease payments

(1,028

)

(907

)

Shares repurchased for settlement of employee tax withholdings

(2,753

)

(9,191

)

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

3,114

(10,067

)

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash

15

(738

)

Net increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash

27,622

2,138

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash - Beginning of period

267,938

221,725

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash - End of period

$

295,560

$

223,863

Cash and cash equivalents

$

295,437

$

223,738

Restricted cash (included in prepaid expenses and other current assets on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets)

123

125

Total cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash

$

295,560

$

223,863

Supplemental cash flow information:

Cash paid for taxes

$

41,284

$

1,161

Cash paid for interest

$

389

$

282

Non-cash investing and financing activities:

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new operating lease liabilities, net of impairments and tenant improvement allowances

$

1,261

$

79,565

Acquisition of equipment under finance lease

$

5,479

$

Capital assets financed by accounts payable and accrued expenses

$

480

$

Stock-based compensation included in capitalized software development costs

$

411

$

258

Comparison of the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2023 and June 30, 2022

Revenue

Three Months Ended June 30,

Change

Change

Six Months Ended June 30,

Change

Change

2023

2022

$

%

2023

2022

$

%

(In Thousands)

(In Thousands)

Revenue by customer type:

Activation

$

77,942

$

60,495

$

17,447

29

%

$

147,834

$

113,526

$

34,308

30

%

Measurement

44,989

38,903

6,086

16

86,374

72,737

13,637

19

Supply-side customer

10,813

10,407

406

4

22,130

20,265

1,865

9

Total revenue

$

133,744

$

109,805

$

23,939

22

%

$

256,338

$

206,528

$

49,810

24

%

Adjusted EBITDA

In addition to results determined in accordance with GAAP, Management believes that certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, are useful in evaluating our business. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenue. The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, to the most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Three Months Ended June 30,

Six Months Ended June 30,

2023

2022

2023

2022

(In Thousands)

(In Thousands)

Net income

$

12,839

$

10,290

$

25,014

$

14,869

Net income margin

10

%

9

%

10

%

7

%

Depreciation and amortization

9,676

8,317

18,659

17,357

Stock-based compensation

15,167

9,259

26,980

20,253

Interest expense

247

223

503

455

Income tax expense

4,034

2,510

9,541

512

M&A and restructuring costs (a)

700

527

700

1,180

Offering, IPO readiness and secondary offering costs (b)

122

309

Other (recoveries) costs (c)

(266

)

2,690

(533

)

3,887

Other (income) expense (d)

(2,476

)

145

(5,210

)

191

Adjusted EBITDA

$

40,043

$

33,961

$

75,963

$

58,704

Adjusted EBITDA margin

30

%

31

%

30

%

28

%

____________________

(a)

M&A and restructuring costs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 consist of transaction costs related to the agreement to acquire Scibids Technology SAS ("Scibids"). M&A and restructuring costs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 consist of transaction costs, integration and restructuring costs related to the acquisition of OpenSlate.

(b)

Offering, IPO readiness and secondary offering costs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 consist of third-party costs incurred for an underwritten secondary public offering by certain stockholders of the Company.

(c)

Other recoveries for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 consist of sublease income for leased office space. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, other costs consist of costs related to the departures of the Company’s former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Customer Officer, impairment related to a subleased office space and costs related to the disposal of furniture for unoccupied lease office space, partially offset by sublease income.

(d)

Other (income) expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and June 30, 2022 consist of interest income earned on interest-bearing monetary assets, and of the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

We use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin as measures of operational efficiency to understand and evaluate our core business operations. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors for period to period comparisons of the core business and for understanding and evaluating trends in operating results on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance.

These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for an analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of the limitations of these measures are:

  • they do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital needs;

  • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect capital expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;

  • they do not reflect income tax expense or the cash requirements to pay income taxes;

  • they do not reflect interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal debt payments; and

  • although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges related mainly to intangible assets, certain assets being depreciated and amortized will have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements.

In addition, other companies in the industry may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently, therefore limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure. You should compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using the non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally.

Total stock-based compensation expense recorded in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income is as follows:

Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended

June 30,

June 30,

(in thousands)

2023

2022

2023

2022

Product development

$

5,975

$

3,544

$

10,354

$

6,910

Sales, marketing and customer support

4,746

2,587

8,253

6,416

General and administrative

4,446

3,128

8,373

6,927

Total stock-based compensation

$

15,167

$

9,259

$

26,980

$

20,253

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "plan," "seek," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Any statements in this press release regarding future revenues, earnings, margins, financial performance or results of operations (including the guidance provided under "Third Quarter and Full-Year 2023 Guidance"), and any other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events, and that actual events may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors include, but are not limited to, the competitiveness of our solutions amid technological developments or evolving industry standards, the competitiveness of our market, system failures, security breaches, cyberattacks or natural disasters, economic downturns and unstable market conditions, our ability to collect payments, data privacy legislation and regulation, public criticism of digital advertising technology, our international operations, our use of "open source" software, our limited operating history and the potential for our revenues and results of operations to fluctuate in the future. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks may emerge from time to time. It is not possible for us to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make.

Further information on these and additional risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those included in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are included under the caption "Risk Factors" under our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 1, 2023, Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on July 31, 2023 and other filings and reports we make with the SEC from time to time.

We have based our forward-looking statements on our management’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available to our management at the time the statements are made. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and, except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.

About DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify is a leading software platform for digital media measurement and analytics. Our mission is to make the digital advertising ecosystem stronger, safer and more secure, thereby preserving the fair value exchange between buyers and sellers of digital media. Hundreds of Fortune 500 advertisers employ our unbiased data and analytics to drive campaign quality and effectiveness, and to maximize return on their digital advertising investments – globally.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230731196987/en/

Contacts

Investor Relations
Tejal Engman
DoubleVerify
IR@doubleverify.com

Media
Chris Harihar
Crenshaw Communications
646-535-9475
chris@crenshawcomm.com

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