In their daily (it seems) press release on February 5, 2008, YTB once again clouded any real numbers that might be released to the public.
(Please see correction at bottom)
YTB International, Inc. (Pink Sheets: YTBLA) ("YTB" or the "Company"), a leading international provider of Internet-based travel websites and home-based independent representatives, today announced that it ended 2007 with more than 130,000 RTAs, compared to 8,870 in the first quarter of 2005. The Company paid its Reps and RTAs more than $65 million in combined marketing and travel commissions through the third quarter of 2007.What we have here is apples and oranges. The "sales force" is RTAs--those that sell travel. Yet the commission reported is combined for the Reps and the RTAs.
Something smells here. According to the YTB report I received at the Founder's Tour, YTB paid out $90,666,140 in marketing commissions ALONE for the full year. Assuming (I know you hate when I do that) each quarter was equal, that would equal a payout of marketing commissions of $67,999,605 for the first three quarters--for the Reps alone. This does not include travel.
Now, the release does indeed say more than $65 million, but if it was more than $70 million you better believe it would have said that.
So, is YTB saying that the RTAs earned nothing and actually owed the company $3 million? I really do not understand. Why talk about the travel people and then include the opportunity people in the payout? It really makes it hard to figure out. Oops, I may have answered my own question.
Since there are two separate businesses, why can't we see a press release saying that there were 305,000 reps who earned a total of $90 million dollars and a total of 140,000 RTAs that earned a total of $12 million dollars. It eliminates the smoke and mirrors and would make it so much more clear. Scratch that--another questioned answered!
Do I see a restatement in their future, yet again?
CORRECTION: I pulled some incorrect numbers from the SEC filing and it does appear that YTB did in fact pay just over $65M in commissions out for the first 9 months of the year. The numbers I pulled were gross commissions received as was pointed out in a comment. However, it still does not explain why commissions were lumped together and not separate yet there was no differentiation of the Rep earnings versus the RTA earnings. It also does not address why the numbers that were presented at the Founders Tour are so vastly different.
