(1) Summary of Operations and Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Operations

Shutterstock, Inc. (the “Company” or “Shutterstock”) operates an industry-leading global marketplace for commercial digital imagery. Commercial digital imagery consists of licensed photographs, illustrations and videos that companies use in their visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications and video content. The Company licenses commercial digital imagery to its customers. Contributors upload their digital imagery to the Company’s website in exchange for a royalty payment based on customer download activity. The Company maintains its primary office location in New York City.

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements reflect the operations of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Unaudited Interim Financial Statements

The interim consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2013 and the consolidated statements of operations and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 are unaudited. The unaudited interim financial statements have been prepared on a basis consistent with the annual financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary to state fairly the Company’s financial position as of March 31, 2013 and its results of consolidated operations and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012. The financial data and the other financial information disclosed in these notes to the financial statements related to these periods are also unaudited. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2013 or for any other future annual or interim period.

There have been no changes in the significant accounting policies from those that were disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 filed on March 1, 2013. These financial statements should also be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2012. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in the financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2012 included herein was derived from the audited financial statements as of that date, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP.

Reorganization

In May 2012, in connection with the filing of a registration statement for the Company’s initial public offering (the “IPO”), Shutterstock Images LLC, a New York limited liability company (the “LLC”) formed Shutterstock, Inc., a Delaware corporation, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the LLC. On October 5, 2012, the LLC reorganized, by way of a merger of the LLC with and into Shutterstock, Inc. with Shutterstock, Inc. surviving in the merger (the “Reorganization”). In connection with this Reorganization, the preferred and common membership interests in the LLC, including any interests that vested upon the Reorganization, were exchanged for shares of Shutterstock, Inc. common stock and the outstanding value appreciation rights of the LLC were exchanged for options to purchase shares of common stock of Shutterstock, Inc.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires the Company’s management to make a number of estimates and assumptions relating to the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the period. The Company evaluates its significant estimates on an ongoing basis, including, but not limited to allowance for doubtful accounts, goodwill, intangibles, non-cash equity-based compensation, income tax provision and for certain non-income tax accruals. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Revenue Recognition

All revenue, net of refunds, is generated from the license of digital content through subscription or usage based plans. The Company’s four plans are: subscription plans, On Demand plans, Pay As You Go, and credit pack plans. The Company recognizes revenue when the following basic criteria are met: there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, performance or delivery of services has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured. The Company considers persuasive evidence of an arrangement to be an electronic order form, or a signed contract, which contains the fixed pricing terms. Performance or delivery is considered to have occurred upon either the ratable passage of time over the contract period, a usage basis or upon the expiration of a contract period for which there are unused downloads or credits. Collectability is reasonably assured since most of the Company’s customers purchase products by making electronic payments at the time of a transaction with a credit card. The Company establishes a chargeback allowance based on factors surrounding historical credit card chargeback trends and other information. As of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the Company has recorded a chargeback allowance of $90 and $70, respectively, which is included in other liabilities. Collectability is assessed for customers who pay on credit based on a credit evaluation for new customers and transaction history with existing customers. Any cash received in advance of revenue recognition is recorded as deferred revenue.

Subscription plans range in length from thirty days to one year. Subscription plan revenues are recognized on a straight-line basis using a daily convention method over the plan term. On Demand plans are for a one-year term and permit the customer to download up to a fixed amount of digital content. On-demand revenues are recognized at the time the customer downloads the digital content on a per unit basis. Revenue related to unused digital content, if any, is recognized in full at the end of the plan term. Pay As You Go plans provide for individual image download. The Company recognizes revenue as the customer downloads images. Credit-pack plans are generally for a one-year term and enable the customer to purchase a fixed number of credits which can then be utilized to pay for downloaded digital content. The number of credits utilized for each download depends on the digital content size and format. Credit-pack revenues are recognized based on customer usage on a per credit basis as digital content is downloaded. Revenue related to unused credits, if any, is recognized in full at the end of the plan term. Most plans automatically renew at the end of the plan term unless the customer elects not to renew. The Company recognizes revenue from its four types of plans on a gross basis in accordance with the authoritative guidance on principal-agent considerations as the Company is the primary obligor in the arrangement, has latitude in establishing the product’s price, performs a detailed review of the digital content before accepting it to its collection to ensure it is of high quality before it may be purchased by our customers, can reject contributor’s images in its sole discretion, and has credit risk.

Customers typically pay in advance (or upon commencement of the term) via credit card, wire or check. Fees paid or invoiced in advance are deferred and recognized as described above. Customers that do not pay in advance are invoiced and are required to make payment under standard credit terms. The Company does not generally offer refunds or the right of return to customers. There are situations in which a customer may receive a refund which is determined on a case-by-case basis.

The Company also licenses digital content to customers through third party resellers. The Company contracts with third party resellers around the world to access markets where the Company does not have a significant presence. Third party resellers sell the Company’s products directly to end-user customers and remit a fixed amount to the Company based on the type of plan sold. The terms of the reseller program indicate that the third party reseller is the primary obligor to the end-user customer and bears the risks and rewards as principal in the transaction. In assessing whether the Company’s revenue should be reported on a gross or net basis with respect to our reseller program, the Company follows the authoritative guidance in ASC 605-45 Principal Agent Considerations. The Company recognizes revenue on a net basis in accordance with the type of plan sold, consistent with the plan descriptions above. The Company generally does not offer refunds or the right of return to resellers.

Equity-Based Compensation

Between June 7, 2007 and October 5, 2012, the Company was organized as a limited liability company. Beginning in 2011, the Company granted equity rights similar to options under its Value Appreciation Rights Plan (“VAR Plan”) in the form of value appreciation rights (the “VAR Plan awards”). Each VAR Plan award had an exercise price, a vesting period and an expiration date, in addition to other terms and conditions similar to typical equity option grant terms and conditions. The VAR Plan awards were subject to a time-based vesting requirement and a condition that a change of control occur in order to trigger a payment with respect to the VAR Plan awards. In connection with the Reorganization, all of the VAR Plan awards were exchanged for options to purchase an aggregate of 1,661,719 shares of common stock of Shutterstock, Inc. with only a time-based vesting requirement, which were granted pursuant to the Company’s 2012 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”).

The Company measures and recognizes non-cash equity-based compensation expense for all equity-based payment awards made to employees based on estimated fair values. The value portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as expense over the requisite service period. For awards with a change of control condition, an evaluation is made at the grant date and future periods as to the likelihood of the condition being met. Compensation expense is adjusted in future periods for subsequent changes in the expected outcome of the change of control conditions until the vesting date. Forfeitures are estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates.

The Company uses the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to determine the fair value of stock options and other equity-based awards granted pursuant to the 2012 Plan, stock purchased pursuant to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“2012 ESPP”) and the VAR Plan awards, which are discussed further in Note 10, Equity-Based Compensation.

The determination of the grant date fair value using an option-pricing model requires judgment as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables. These variables include the Company’s fair value of the common ownership interest pre-IPO, the Company’s closing market price at the grant date post-IPO, the expected unit price volatility over the expected term of the awards, awards’ exercise and cancellation behaviors, risk-free interest rates, and expected dividends, which are estimated as follows:

·	*Fair Value of Common Membership Unit.* Prior to completion of the IPO, the Company’s fair value of common ownership interest was estimated internally and approved by the Board of Managers (“BOM”) because the Company was not publicly traded. The Company’s intention upon granting VAR Plan awards was for the granted award to have an exercisable price per unit that was not less than the per unit fair value of the Company’s common equity on the date of grant. The valuations of the Company’s common equity unit were prepared in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Statement on Standards for Valuation Services 1: Valuation of a Business, Business Ownership Interest, Security, or Intangible Asset. The assumptions used in the valuation model were based on future expectations combined with the Company’s judgment. In the absence of a public trading market, the Company exercised significant judgment and considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine the fair value of the common equity unit as of the date of each VAR Plan award grant. Some, but not all of these factors included operating and financial performance, current business conditions and projections, the hiring of key personnel, the Company’s history and introduction of new functionality and services, the Company’s stage of development, the likelihood of achieving a liquidity event for the common ownership interests, any adjustment necessary to recognize a lack of marketability for our common ownership interests, the market performance of comparable publicly traded companies, and U.S. and global capital market conditions. The Company also obtained independent third party valuations on a periodic basis. After October 11, 2012, the date the Company’s common stock began trading on the NYSE, the grant date fair value for stock-based awards is based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the NYSE on the date of grant and fair value for all other purposes related to stock-based awards shall be the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the NYSE on the relevant date.

·	*Expected Term.* The expected term was estimated using the simplified method allowed under Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) guidance.

·	*Volatility.* As the Company did not have a trading history for its common ownership interest pre-IPO and does not have a significant trading history for its common stock post-IPO, the expected price volatility for the common ownership interests and common stock was estimated by taking the average historic price volatility for industry peers based on daily price observations over a period equivalent to the expected term of the VAR Plan awards and stock options granted post-IPO. Industry peers consist of several public companies similar in size, stage of life cycle and financial leverage. The Company did not rely on implied volatilities of traded options in the industry peers’ common stock because the volume of activity was relatively low. The Company intends to continue to consistently apply this process using the same or similar public companies until a sufficient amount of historical information regarding the volatility of the Company’s own common stock becomes available, or unless circumstances change such that the identified companies are no longer similar to the Company, in which case, more suitable companies whose share prices are publicly available would be utilized in the calculation.

·	*Risk-free Interest Rate.* The risk-free interest rate is based on the yields of U.S. Treasury securities with maturities similar to the expected term of each award group.

·	*Dividend Yield.* The Company has historically paid cash dividends or distributions to its members. Post-IPO, the Company does not intend to pay cash dividends or distributions in the foreseeable future. As a result, the Company uses an expected dividend yield of zero.

If any of the assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model changes significantly, the fair value for future awards may differ materially compared with the awards granted previously. The awards granted pursuant to the 2012 Plan, the 2012 ESPP and VAR Plan are subject to a time-based vesting requirement. The majority of stock option awards granted under the 2012 Plan vest over four years. The 2012 ESPP provides for purchase periods approximately every six months and a participant must be employed on the purchase date to participate in the 2012 ESPP. The VAR Plan awards had a condition that a change of control (as defined in the VAR Plan) must occur for a payment to trigger with respect to the VAR Plan awards. In connection with the Company’s Reorganization, all of the VAR Plan awards were exchanged for options to purchase shares of common stock of Shutterstock, Inc. which do not include a change of control condition. As of March 31, 2012, no equity-based compensation expense, related to the VAR Plan awards, had been recognized because the qualifying events had not occurred. As a result of the completion of the IPO, the Company began recording share-based compensation expense using the accelerated attribution method, net of forfeitures, based on the grant date fair value of the VAR Plan awards that were exchanged for options to purchase shares of common stock of Shutterstock, Inc. as part of the Company’s Reorganization.

For any equity-based awards that qualified for liability classification pre-IPO, the Company has elected to use the intrinsic value method to value the common membership interest in accordance with authoritative guidance on stock compensation. See Note 10, Equity-Based Compensation, for further information.

Income Taxes

The Company filed its income tax returns as a limited liability company and was taxed as a “pass through” partnership for federal and state income tax purposes for all periods prior to its Reorganization on October 5, 2012. For all periods prior to the Reorganization, the Company recognized no federal and state income taxes, as the members of the LLC, and not the Company itself, were subject to income tax on their allocated share of the Company’s earnings. However, the Company was subject to taxation on allocable portions of its net income or other taxes based on various methodologies employed by taxing authorities in certain localities. The Company generally made monthly dividend distributions to its members under the terms of the LLC’s operating agreement, subject to the Company’s operating cash needs.

Effective with the Reorganization, the Company became a Delaware corporation, and therefore became subject to federal and state tax expense after October 5, 2012. As a result of this tax status change, the Company recorded an incremental net deferred tax asset and a one-time non-cash tax benefit of approximately $28,811.

The Company filed tax returns as a partnership for the period from January 1, 2012 through October 5, 2012 and will file tax returns as a corporation for the period from October 6, 2012 through December 31, 2012. Significant management judgment is required in projecting ordinary income/(loss) in order to determine the Company’s estimated effective tax rate.

The Company accounts for unrecognized tax benefits using a more-likely-than-not threshold for financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions, taken or expected to be taken, in a tax return. The Company establishes reserves for tax-related uncertainties based on estimates of whether, and the extent to which, additional taxes will be due. The Company records an income tax liability, if any, for the difference between the benefit recognized and measured and the tax position taken or expected to be taken on the Company’s tax returns. To the extent that the assessment of such tax positions changes, the change in estimate is recorded in the period in which the determination is made. The reserves are adjusted in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the outcome of a tax audit or lapses in statutes of limitations. Any reserve for uncertain tax positions is included in the income tax provision. Penalties and interest, if any, on uncertain tax positions are included in income tax expense.

The Company assessed the realizability of deferred tax assets and determined that based on the available evidence, including a history of taxable income and estimates of future taxable income, it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be realized. The Company will continue to evaluate its ability to realize deferred tax assets on a quarterly basis. Significant management judgment is required in determining the provision for income taxes and deferred tax assets and liabilities. In the event that actual results differ from these estimates, the Company will adjust these estimates in future periods which may result in a change in the effective tax rate in a future period.

The Company is subject to certain compliance requirements for non-income taxes, including but not limited to payroll, value-added and sales-based taxes. Where appropriate, the Company has made accruals for these matters, which are reflected in the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Net Income Per Share

Basic net income per share is computed by dividing the net income attributable to common stockholders/members by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. The Company applies the two-class method for calculating and presenting income per share. Under the two-class method, net income is allocated between shares of common stock and other participating securities based on their contractual participating rights to share in the earnings as if all of the earnings for the period have been distributed. Participating securities are defined as securities that participate in dividends with common stock according to a pre-determined formula or a contractual obligation to share in the income of the entity. Any potential issuance of common shares, including those that are contingent and do not participate in dividends, are excluded from weighted average number of common shares outstanding. Undistributed net income (loss) for a given period is apportioned to participating members based on the weighted-average number of each class of securities outstanding during the applicable period as a percentage of the combined weighted-average number of these securities outstanding during the period. Income available to common stockholders/members is computed by deducting dividends paid to preferred members, accretion to redemption value on preferred members shares, less income allocated to participating securities including unvested shares for the restricted award holder since these unvested shares have participating rights. See Note 10, Equity-Based Compensation, for further discussion.

Diluted net income per share is computed by dividing the net income available to common stockholders/members adjusted for any changes in income that would result from the assumed conversion of the potential common shares by the weighted average common shares outstanding and all potential common shares, if they are dilutive. Diluted net income available to common stockholders/members for the three months ended March 31, 2013 includes the effect of 1,837,251 options to purchase common stock while 53,750 options to purchase common stock were excluded since they were anti-dilutive. The Company had no assumed shares available to purchase for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

A reconciliation of assumed exercised shares used in calculating basic and diluted income (loss) share available to common stockholders/members follows:

	Three Ended March 31,
	2013	2012
Basic	33,398,797	20,849,242
Stock options and employee stock purchase plan shares	442,258	—
Unvested restricted stock awards	10,788	—
Diluted	33,851,843	20,849,242

Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Comprehensive income (loss) includes certain changes in stockholders’ equity that are excluded from net income (loss) such as cumulative foreign currency translation adjustments and unrealized gains or losses on marketable securities. The Company’s net income equals comprehensive income for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012.

Recently Issued Accounting Standard Updates

None of the recently issued accounting standard updates is expected to have a material impact.