Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ: UPWK) reported second-quarter revenue rose 18.6% as demand rose for remote work. The Santa Clara, California-based online staffing platform also announced a former Facebook executive will serve as its new CFO.
In its earnings announcement, Upwork reported gross services volume rose 12% year over year to $582.0 million in the second quarter — the fifth consecutive quarter of deceleration in gross services and a drop from 14.9% growth in gross services volumen in Q1. Gross margin was roughly flat.
“We capitalized on the global shift towards remote work and the widespread need for flexible talent solutions, welcoming a surge of new customers,” President and CEO Hayden Brown said.
| (US$ thousands) | Q2 2020 | Q2 2019 | % change |
| Revenue | $87,531 | $73,783 | 18.6% |
| Gross profit | $62,123 | $52,195 | 19.0% |
| Gross margin | 71.0% | 70.7% | |
| Net loss | ($11,024) | ($2,451) | nm |
“But when we step back and see 30 million Americans unemployed, stimulus programs largely dried up and potentially not more forthcoming for individuals or small businesses, it’s quite possible that we’re going to be heading into a deeper recession,” Brown said in a conference call.Upwork also announced that it hired Jeff McCombs as CFO effective Tuesday.
McCombs takes over from former CFO Brian Kinion, who will continue with the company as an advisor through October.
McCombs joins Upwork after having served as CFO at Doctor On Demand since 2018. He was CFO at OpenTable from 2016 to 2018 and CFO at Flipboard from 2014 to 2015. McCombs had served as head of global business operations at Facebook from 2010 to 2014.
Revenue by segment
| (US$ thousands) | Q2 2020 | Q2 2019 | % change |
| Marketplace | $78,464 | $65,728 | 19.4% |
| Managed services | $9,067 | $8,055 | 12.6% |
Guidance
Upwork forecast third-quarter revenue of between $89.0 million and $91.0 million, a year-over-year increase of between 13.0% and 15.5%.
Share price and market cap
Shares in Upwork were down 13.02% to $15.23 as of 12:03 p.m. Eastern time. They were down 14.20% below its 52-week high. The company had a market cap of $2.02 billion.