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Description of the Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Basis of presentation The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the United States of America generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Dropbox and its wholly owned subsidiaries
Consolidation All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Reclassifications
Certain reclassifications have been made to prior year balances in order to conform to the current period presentation. For the year ended December 31, 2021, a gain related to the partial termination of the Company's lease for its San Francisco, California corporate headquarters was reclassified from "Other (loss) income, net" to "Net (gain) loss on real estate assets". These reclassifications had no impact on the previously reported net income or accumulated deficit.
Use of estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported and disclosed in the Company’s consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. These estimates are based on information available as of the date of the consolidated financial statements. Management evaluates these estimates and assumptions on a regular basis. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates.

The Company’s most significant estimates and judgments related to the remeasurement of its lease liability, valuation of right-of-use and related lease assets and income taxes.
In the first quarter of 2024, the Company determined that the useful lives of certain infrastructure server and component assets, which are included in “Property and equipment, net”, should be increased from four to five years, as the Company plans to extend the economic life of these assets in light of recent technological advancements. This change in useful lives will be effective beginning fiscal year 2024, and will have an estimated favorable impact to cost of revenue and operating income in fiscal year 2024 of approximately $30.5 million based on assets that were included in “Property and equipment, net” as of December 31, 2023.
Financial information about segments and geographic areas The Company manages its operations and allocates resources as a single operating segment. Further, the Company manages, monitors, and reports its financials as a single reporting segment. The Company’s chief operating decision-maker is its Chief Executive Officer, who reviews financial information presented on a consolidated basis for purposes of making operating decisions, assessing financial performance, and allocating resources.
Foreign currency transactions
The assets and liabilities of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries are translated from their respective functional currencies into U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date. Revenue and expense amounts are translated at the average exchange rate for the period. Foreign currency translation gains and losses are recorded in other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax.
Gains and losses realized from foreign currency transactions (those transactions denominated in currencies other than the foreign subsidiaries’ functional currency) are included in Other (loss) income, net. Monetary assets and liabilities are remeasured using foreign currency exchange rates at the end of the period, and non-monetary assets are remeasured based on historical exchange rates.
Revenue recognition, Cost of revenue, and Deferred commissions, net
The Company derives its revenue from subscription fees from customers for access to its platform. The Company’s policy is to exclude sales and other indirect taxes when measuring the transaction price of its subscription agreements. The Company accounts for revenue contracts with customers through the following steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, the Company satisfies a performance obligation

The Company’s subscription agreements are generally non-cancelable and have monthly or annual contractual terms with a small percentage having multi-year contractual terms. Revenue is recognized ratably over the related contractual term beginning on the date that the platform is made available to a customer. Access to the platform represents a series of distinct services as the Company continually provides access to, and fulfills its obligation to the end customer over the subscription term. The series of distinct services represents a single performance obligation that is satisfied over time. The Company recognizes revenue ratably because the customer receives and consumes the benefits of the platform throughout the contract period.

The Company bills in advance for monthly contracts and typically bills annually in advance for contracts with terms of one year or longer. The Company also recognizes an immaterial amount of contract assets, or unbilled receivables, primarily related to consideration for services completed but not billed at the reporting date. Unbilled receivables are classified as receivables when the Company has the right to invoice the customer.

The Company records contract liabilities when cash payments are received or due in advance of performance to deferred revenue. Deferred revenue primarily relates to the advance consideration received from the customer.

The price of subscriptions is generally fixed at contract inception and therefore, the Company’s contracts do not contain a significant amount of variable consideration. As a result, the amount of revenue recognized in the periods presented from performance obligations satisfied (or partially satisfied) in previous periods was not material.
Cost of revenue consists primarily of expenses associated with the storage, delivery, and distribution of the Company’s platform for both paying users and free users. These costs, which are referred to as infrastructure costs, include depreciation of servers located in co-location facilities that the Company leases and operates, rent and facilities expense for those datacenters, network and bandwidth costs, support and maintenance costs for infrastructure equipment, and payments to third-party datacenter service providers. Cost of revenue also includes salaries, bonuses, benefits, travel-related expenses, and stock-based compensation, which are referred to as employee-related costs, for employees whose primary responsibilities relate to supporting the Company’s infrastructure and delivering user support. Other non-employee costs included in cost of revenue include credit card fees related to processing customer transactions and allocated overhead, such as facilities, including rent, utilities, depreciation on leasehold improvements and other equipment shared by all departments, and shared information technology costs. In addition, cost of revenue includes amortization of developed technologies, professional fees related to user support initiatives, and property taxes related to the datacenters.
Deferred commissions, net is stated as gross deferred commissions less accumulated amortization. Deferred commissions are considered to be incremental and recoverable costs of obtaining a contract with a customer such as sales commissions earned by the Company’s sales force including related payroll taxes and revenue share earned by strategic partners. These amounts have been capitalized as deferred commissions within prepaid and other current assets and other assets on the consolidated balance sheets.
Stock-based compensation
The Company has primarily granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to its employees and members of the Board of Directors under the 2008 Equity Incentive Plan (“2008 Plan”), the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (“2017 Plan”), and the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (“2018 Plan” and together with the 2008 Plan and 2017 Plan, the "Dropbox Equity Incentive Plans”). Since August 2015, the Company has granted RSUs, which have a service-based vesting condition over a four-year period vesting quarterly, as the only stock-based awards to its employees, with the exception of awards granted to its co-founder and certain executives, and has not granted any stock options to employees under the Dropbox Equity Incentive Plans. The
Company recognizes compensation expense associated with RSUs on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period and accounts for forfeitures in the period in which they occur.

The Board of Directors determines the fair value of each share of underlying common stock based on the closing price of the Company's Class A common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the date of the grant.

In December 2017, the Board of Directors approved the Company’s Co-Founder Grant, consisting of 10.3 million shares of Class A Common Stock in the form of RSAs which were granted to Drew Houston, the Company’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. This Co-Founder Grant has service-based, market-based, and performance-based vesting conditions. The Co-Founder Grant is excluded from Class A common stock issued and outstanding until the satisfaction of these vesting conditions. The Company estimated the grant date fair value of the Co-Founder Grant using a model based on multiple stock price paths developed through the use of a Monte Carlo simulation that incorporates into the valuation the possibility that certain stock price targets may not be satisfied. The first tranche of the Co-Founder Grant vested in the fourth quarter of 2021. The stock-based compensation expense for the Co-Founder Grant is recognized utilizing the accelerated attribution method over the requisite service period identified as the derived service period over which the market conditions are expected to be achieved, and is not reversed if the market conditions are not satisfied. Therefore, no incremental stock-based compensation was recognized upon vesting of these RSAs. See Note 12 "Stockholders' (Deficit) Equity" to our consolidated financial statements for further information.
Advertising and promotional expense
Advertising and promotional expenses are primarily included in sales and marketing expenses within the consolidated statements of operations and are expensed when incurred. Advertising and promotional expenses were $131.7 million, $94.8 million, and $108.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash consists primarily of cash on deposit with banks and includes amounts in transit from payment processors for credit and debit card transactions, which typically settle within five business days. Cash equivalents include highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity date of 90 days or less from the date of purchase.

The Company monitors its credit risk by considering factors such as historical experience, credit ratings, current economic conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts.
Short-term investments
The Company’s short-term investments are primarily comprised of corporate notes and obligations, U.S. Treasury securities, certificates of deposit, asset-backed securities, commercial paper, U.S. agency obligations, foreign government securities, supranational securities, and municipal securities. The Company determines the appropriate classification of its short-term investments at the time of purchase and reevaluates such designation at each balance sheet date. The Company has classified and accounted for its short-term investments as available-for-sale securities as the Company may sell these securities at any time for use in its current operations or for other purposes, even prior to maturity. As a result, the Company classifies its short-term investments, including securities with stated maturities beyond twelve months, within current assets in the consolidated balance sheets.
The Company's short-term investments are recorded at fair value each reporting period. Unrealized gains and losses on these short-term investments are reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive loss in the consolidated balance sheets until realized. Unrealized gains and losses for any short-term investments that management intends to sell or it is more likely than not that management will be required to sell prior to their anticipated recovery are recorded in other income, net. The Company segments its portfolio based on the underlying risk profiles of the securities and has a zero-loss expectation for U.S. treasury and U.S. government agency securities. The Company regularly reviews the securities in an unrealized loss position and evaluates the current expected credit loss by considering factors such as credit ratings, issuer-specific factors, current economic conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts.
Concentrations of risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and short-term investments. Although the Company deposits its cash and cash equivalents with multiple well-established financial institutions, the deposits, at times, may exceed federally insured limits. The Company has not experienced any losses on its deposits of cash and cash equivalents and management believes that the institutions where the Company has deposits are financially stable and, accordingly, minimal credit risk exists.
Trade and other receivables, net and Non-trade receivables
Trade and other receivables, net
Trade and other receivables, net consists primarily of trade receivables that are recorded at the invoice amount, net of an allowance for expected credit losses.

The allowance for expected credit losses is based on the Company’s assessment of the collectability of accounts receivable. The Company assesses collectability by reviewing accounts receivable on a collective basis where similar characteristics exist and on an individual basis when the Company identifies specific customers with known disputes or collectability issues. The Company regularly reviews the adequacy of the allowance for expected credit losses by considering the age of each outstanding invoice, the collection history of each customer, and other relevant factors, including contractual term and current and future economic conditions. The Company's allowance for expected credit losses was $1.1 million and $0.7 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Non-trade receivables
The Company records non-trade receivables to reflect amounts due for activities outside of its subscription agreements, such as indemnification assets and receivables from tenants. Non-trade receivables totaled $6.9 million and $6.5 million, as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and are classified within prepaid expenses and other current assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. See "—Lease obligations” for further discussion.
Property and equipment, net
Equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful life of the related asset, which is generally three to seven years. Leasehold improvements are amortized on a straight-line basis over the shorter of their estimated useful lives or the term of the related lease.
The following table presents the estimated useful lives of property and equipment:

Property and equipmentUseful life
Buildings
20 to 30 years
Datacenter and other computer equipment
3 to 5 years
Office equipment and other
3 to 7 years
Leasehold improvementsLesser of estimated useful life or remaining lease term
Lease obligations
The Company leases office space, datacenters, and equipment under non-cancelable finance and operating leases with various expiration dates through 2036. The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease at inception.

Operating lease right-of-use assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the present value of the future lease payments at commencement date. The interest rate implicit in the Company’s operating leases is not readily determinable, and therefore an incremental borrowing rate is estimated to determine the present value of future payments. The estimated incremental borrowing rate factors in a hypothetical interest rate on a collateralized basis with similar terms, payments, and economic environments. Operating lease right-of-use assets also include any prepaid lease payments and lease incentives.

Certain of the operating lease agreements contain rent concession, rent escalation, and option to renew provisions. Rent concession and rent escalation provisions are considered in determining the single lease cost to be recorded over the lease term. Single lease cost is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term commencing on the date the Company has the right to use the leased property. The lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease. The Company generally uses the base, non-cancelable, lease term when recognizing the lease assets and liabilities, unless it is reasonably certain that the option will be exercised.

In addition, certain operating lease agreements contain tenant improvement allowances from its landlords. These allowances are accounted for as lease incentives and decrease the Company's right-of-use asset and reduce single lease cost over the lease term.

As part of the Company's Virtual First strategy, Dropbox has retained a portion of its office space for in-person collaboration while the remainder will be subleased. The Company recorded total impairment charges of $3.6 million, $175.2 million and $31.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, related to real estate assets as a result of changes in the corporate real estate market which impacted the Company's subleasing strategy in conjunction with the Virtual First model. See Note 9 "Leases" to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company executed an amendment to partially terminate the lease ("the lease amendment") for its San Francisco, California corporate headquarters. As a result of the lease amendment, the Company recognized a one-time gain of $158.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the corresponding remeasurement of the lease liability and adjustment of the right-of-use asset (which was previously impaired), partially offset by an increase in the liability for unrecoverable common area maintenance costs. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company also executed an amendment to partially terminate its San Francisco, California corporate headquarters. As a result of the lease amendment, the Company recognized a one-time gain of $13.6 million from the corresponding remeasurement of the lease liability and adjustment of the right-of-use asset. The gains are recorded within net (gain) loss on real estate assets. See Note 9 "Leases" for further information.

The Company leases certain equipment from various third parties, through equipment finance leases. These leases either include a bargain purchase option, a full transfer of ownership at the completion of the lease term, or the terms of the leases are at least 75 percent of the useful lives of the assets and are therefore classified as finance leases. These leases are capitalized in property and equipment, net and the related amortization of assets under finance leases is included in depreciation and amortization expense in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations. Initial asset values and finance lease obligations are based on the present value of future minimum lease payments.
The Company’s finance lease agreements may contain lease and non-lease components. The non-lease components include payments for support on infrastructure equipment obtained via finance leases, which when not significant in relation to the overall agreement, are combined with the lease components and accounted for together as a single lease component.
Internal use software
The Company capitalizes certain costs related to developed or modified software solely for its internal use and cloud-based applications used to deliver its platform. The Company capitalizes costs during the application development stage once the preliminary project stage is complete, management authorizes and commits to funding the project, and it is probable that the project will be completed and that the software will be used to perform the function intended. Costs related to preliminary project activities and post implementation activities are expensed as incurred. Capitalized internal use software costs were not material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Business combinations
The Company uses best estimates and assumptions, including but not limited to, future expected cash flows, expected asset lives, and discount rates, to assign a fair value to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business combinations as of the acquisition date. These estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. During the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, adjustments to the fair value of these tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed may be recorded, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the fair value of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.
Long-lived assets, including goodwill and other acquired intangible assets, net
The Company evaluates the recoverability of its property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. The evaluation is performed at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability of these assets is measured by a comparison of the carrying amounts to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate. If such review determines that the carrying amount of specific property and equipment or intangible assets is not recoverable, the carrying amount of such assets is reduced to its fair value.

The Company reviews goodwill for impairment at least annually in the fourth quarter, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances would more likely than not reduce the fair value of its single reporting unit below its carrying value. At December 31, 2023, the single reporting unit had a negative carrying value of net assets. Goodwill allocated to the single reporting unit is $402.2 million at December 31, 2023.

The Company has not recorded impairment charges on goodwill or intangible assets for the periods presented in these consolidated financial statements.

The Company recorded total impairment charges of $3.6 million, $175.2 million and $31.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, related to real estate assets as a result of changes in the corporate real estate market which impacted the Company's subleasing strategy in conjunction with our Virtual First model. See Note 9 "Leases" for further information.

Acquired property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets are amortized over their useful lives. The Company evaluates the estimated remaining useful life of these assets when events or changes in circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization. If the Company revises the estimated useful life assumption for any asset, the remaining unamortized balance is amortized or depreciated over the revised estimated useful life on a prospective basis.
Income taxes
Deferred income tax balances reflect the effects of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of the Company’s assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates expected to apply when taxes are actually paid or recovered. In addition, deferred tax assets are recorded for net operating loss and credit carryforwards.
A valuation allowance is provided against deferred tax assets unless it is more likely than not that they will be realized based on all available positive and negative evidence. Such evidence includes, but is not limited to, recent cumulative earnings or losses, expectations of future taxable income by taxing jurisdiction, and the carry-forward periods available for the utilization of deferred tax assets. As of December 31, 2022, the Company released the valuation allowance on its U.S. federal and certain state deferred tax assets resulting in an income tax benefit of $420.2 million.

The Company uses a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain income tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount, which is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement. The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense.

Although the Company believes that it has adequately reserved for its uncertain tax positions, it can provide no assurance that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be materially different. The Company evaluates its uncertain tax positions on a regular basis and evaluations are based on a number of factors, including changes in facts and circumstances, changes in tax law, correspondence with tax authorities during the course of an audit, and effective settlement of audit issues.

To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will affect the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made and could have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ("TCJA") subjects a U.S. shareholder to current tax on global intangible low-taxed income ("GILTI") earned by foreign subsidiaries. The Company accounts for GILTI as a period cost as incurred.
Fair value measurement
The Company applies fair value accounting for all financial assets and liabilities and non-financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis. The Company defines fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining fair value measurements for assets and liabilities, the Company considers the principal or most advantageous market in which it would transact and the market-based risk measurements or assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, such as risks inherent in valuation techniques, transfer restrictions, and credit risk. Fair value is estimated by applying the following hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value into three levels and bases the categorization within the hierarchy upon the lowest level of input that is available and significant to the fair value measurement:

Level 1—Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2—Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in inactive markets, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3—Inputs that are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimate of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
Recently issued accounting pronouncements not yet adopted and Recently adopted accounting pronouncements
In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures, which requires disclosure of incremental segment information on an annual and interim basis. ASU 2023-07 will be effective for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2024, and interim periods within the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2025, with early adoption permitted, and requiring application on a fully retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on the Company's consolidated financial statement disclosures.

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, to enhance income tax disclosures primarily through changes in rate reconciliation and income taxes paid disclosures. The amendments in ASU 2023-09 are effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2024 on a
prospective basis. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on the Company's consolidated financial statement disclosures.

Recently adopted accounting pronouncements

In March 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-02, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Troubled Debt Restructurings and Vintage Disclosures, which eliminates the accounting guidance on troubled debt restructurings for creditors in ASC 310-40 and amends the guidance on "vintage disclosures" to require disclosure of current-period gross write-offs by year of origination. The ASU also updates the requirements related to accounting for credit losses under ASC 326 and adds enhanced disclosures for creditors with respect to loan refinancings and restructurings for borrowers experiencing financial difficulty. The Company adopted ASU 2022-02 on January 1, 2023. The adoption of the standard did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price in a business combination over the fair value of net tangible and intangible assets acquiredGoodwill amounts are not amortized, but tested for impairment on an annual basis.
Net income per share
The Company computes net income per share using the two-class method required for multiple classes of common stock and participating securities. The rights, including the liquidation and dividend rights, of the Class A common stock and Class B common stock are substantially identical, other than voting rights. Accordingly, the Class A common stock and Class B common stock share equally in the Company’s net income and losses.