LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) said it finished its fourth quarter of 2025 ahead of its own guidance on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA, as the company pointed to cost restructuring benefits, usage-driven upside, and early commercial traction for its newly launched Syntrix platform.
Fourth-quarter results topped guidance
Chief Executive Officer John Sabino said the company “outperformed our Q4 guidance on both the top and bottom lines,” citing higher variable revenue and improved cost discipline. Sabino reported revenue of $59.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $10.8 million for the quarter, both above the high end of guidance.
Collins provided additional quarterly details, including:
- Hosted services revenue: $51 million, down 15% year over year
- Recurring revenue: $52.9 million, or 89% of total revenue
- Professional services revenue: $8.3 million, down 36% year over year
- Average revenue per customer: $680,000, up 9% year over year
- Remaining performance obligations (RPO): $176 million, which Collins said declined in line with the same factors impacting revenue
- Net revenue retention: 78% in Q4, down from 80% in Q3
- Cash balance: $95 million at quarter-end
Management frames 2026 as a shift from rebuilding to execution
Sabino characterized 2026 as “a clear transition…from rebuilding to execution,” following a year in which the company said it strengthened its foundation by improving its balance sheet, optimizing its cost base, and tightening operations.
He outlined three areas of focus that management believes can support a return to growth over time: customer growth and retention; continued innovation of the core Conversational Cloud platform alongside scaling Syntrix; and expanding technology partnerships to broaden reach and unlock commercial opportunities.
Syntrix launch targets AI “assurance” and governance
Sabino said the company reached “a significant milestone” with the formal launch of Syntrix, a simulation and evaluation platform intended to help brands validate customer-facing AI agents and assess human agent readiness at scale. Sabino argued that many enterprises are not constrained by AI capability but by trust, pointing to concerns around performance, governance, and compliance that can prevent AI initiatives from moving into production.
Syntrix builds on LivePerson’s Conversation Simulator, which was introduced in November and is now described as the first capability within the broader Syntrix platform. Sabino said the company plans to add capabilities over coming quarters across simulation, analytics, governance, and auditability to support compliance. He emphasized that Syntrix is designed to integrate with LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud and is also “model and platform agnostic,” including integrations with other CX or CCaaS platforms.
On the call, Sabino also pointed to broader AI usage trends on the company’s core platform, saying that in Q4, “over 20% of all conversations leveraged our Generative AI tools.” He highlighted traction for Copilot Translate, which embeds real-time AI translation into agent workflows, and said the company remains on track to complete a multi-year platform modernization in the first half of 2026 to support higher generative AI traffic with improved resiliency.
During Q&A, Sabino said Syntrix is priced on a conversation-based consumption model rather than seats, with pricing shaped by factors such as the number of bots and agents being trained and the number of campaigns being evaluated. He said early customers indicate Syntrix can serve as both an upsell and a retention tool and that the company has “dozens of opportunities” in progress.
Renewals, expansions, and partner channels
Management highlighted renewal activity among large enterprise customers. Sabino cited significant renewals in the quarter including seven major financial services institutions, two major airline carriers, three telecom and internet service providers, and a major healthcare provider. Collins added that the company signed 40 deals in the quarter, including four new logos and 36 expansions, and said more than 40% of renewals included expanded commitments.
Both executives emphasized Google Cloud Marketplace as an increasingly important channel. Sabino said LivePerson secured a “multi-million-dollar renewal with an upsell” through the marketplace with a major European telecommunications provider and said the company expects “a material amount of revenue” to flow through Marketplace by the end of 2026, which he said should improve churn. Collins similarly said the company now expects “a material fraction of total revenue” to flow through the channel by the end of 2026.
Executives described the marketplace motion primarily as a retention and expansion lever today, simplifying procurement and positioning LivePerson spend closer to CTO and CIO budgets. Collins noted that the channel also introduces LivePerson to a “new set of stakeholders,” shifting engagement beyond heads of customer care toward CIOs.
LivePerson also discussed other partnerships, including a collaboration with IT Solutions aimed at improving renewal rates and expansion in SMB and mid-market segments with minimal additional overhead, and a new “LivePerson Sync” integration offering with Coral Active designed to connect LivePerson into systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft, and ServiceNow.
2026 guidance calls for revenue decline but positive net new ARR in the back half
For full-year 2026, management guided to revenue of $195 million to $207 million and adjusted EBITDA ranging from a loss of $4 million to a gain of $7 million. Sabino said the outlook implies a year-over-year revenue decline, while the company still expects to achieve positive net new ARR in the second half of 2026.
Collins explained the disconnect: historical periods of negative net ARR are expected to weigh on reported revenue through 2026, offsetting the revenue benefit from the anticipated positive net ARR later in the year. He said the company expects revenue to decline through the year, with the rate of decline flattening in the second half.
For the first quarter, LivePerson guided to revenue of $53 million to $55 million and adjusted EBITDA of $2 million to $5 million. Collins said Q1 is expected to be the “high point” for EBITDA in 2026 as the company increases investments in product innovation and commercial execution. He added the company does not expect adjusted EBITDA less capex to be positive in 2026 and said the company anticipates slightly negative free cash flow as it balances near-term efficiency with longer-term growth investments.
About LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN)
LivePerson, Inc is a technology company that develops conversational commerce and customer engagement software powered by artificial intelligence. Its platform enables businesses to connect with consumers through real-time messaging channels, transforming customer support and sales operations into interactive experiences. The company’s solutions are designed to reduce friction, boost consumer satisfaction and drive higher conversion rates by merging automated and human-assisted interactions.
The company’s flagship offering, the LiveEngage platform, provides enterprise-grade tools for managing live chat, chatbots and AI-driven virtual assistants across multiple channels.
