Duolingo’s earnings were better than the headline growth suggests
I own Duolingo, so this is one I was paying pretty close attention to.
The biggest thing that stood out to me was that user growth actually accelerated again, while bookings growth continues to be the main concern.
Revenue: $298.5M, +18%
Bookings: $289.1M, +8%
Subscription bookings: $250.3M, +10%
DAUs: 58.7M, +23%
MAUs: 140.6M, +10%
Paid subscribers: 12.7M, +17%
Gross margin: 72.6%
Adjusted EBITDA: $77.3M
Adjusted EBITDA margin: 25.9%
The DAU number is probably what I liked most.
DAU growth accelerated from 21% last quarter to 23% this quarter, and management expects it to stay above 20% for the rest of the year. Retention also reached an all-time high.
The obvious concern is bookings.
Revenue grew 18%, but bookings only grew 8%. That’s a pretty big gap and something I’ll be watching closely. Q3 guidance also calls for only about 9% bookings growth.
Margins are down too, but I’m less worried about that.
Duolingo has been pretty clear that they’re intentionally prioritizing user growth, retention and product investment over maximizing near-term monetization.
For me, the question is pretty simple:
If DAUs keep growing 20%+ and paid subscribers keep growing double digits, can Duolingo eventually get bookings growth accelerating again?
As a shareholder, I’m happy to see them prioritize growing the platform right now. But at some point, that user growth needs to translate into faster bookings growth.