As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 10, 2023
Registration No. 333-273830
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
_________________
FORM
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
_________________
_________________
| 7310 | 86-2062844 | ||
(State or Other Jurisdiction of | (Primary Standard Industrial | (I.R.S. Employer |
250 S. Australian Avenue, Suite 1300
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
(877) 776-2402
(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)
_________________
Michael Seifert
President and Chief Executive Officer
PSQ Holdings, Inc.
250 S. Australian Avenue, Suite 1300
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
(877) 776-2402
(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)
_________________
With copies to:
Stephen Moran |
Jonathan Talcott |
_________________
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after this Registration Statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☒
If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
| ☒ | Smaller reporting company | | |||
Emerging growth company | |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.
The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where such offer or sale is not permitted.
Subject to completion, dated October 10, 2023
Preliminary Prospectus
PSQ HOLDINGS, INC.
Primary Offering
11,450,000 Shares of Class A Common Stock Issuable
Upon the Exercise of Warrants
Secondary Offering
10,012,500 Shares of Class A Common Stock
5,700,000 Warrants to Purchase Class A Common Stock
This prospectus relates to the issuance by us of up to 11,450,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Common Stock”) of PSQ Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “we,” “us” and “our”), that may be issued upon exercise of 5,750,000 Public Warrants (as defined herein) to purchase Class A Common Stock issued as part of the Units (as defined herein) in our IPO (as defined herein) and 5,700,000 Private Warrants (as defined herein) to purchase Class A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share of Class A Common Stock issued to the Colombier Sponsor (as defined herein) in connection with our IPO at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Warrant, which Private Warrants may be exercised by the Colombier Sponsor and the Colombier Sponsor Distributees (as defined herein) on a cashless basis. The Public Warrants and the Private Warrants are referred to in this Prospectus as the “Warrants”. The Warrants have an exercise price of $11.50 per share. The Public Warrants are generally exercisable only for cash, subject to the right of holders to exercise the Public Warrants on a cashless basis under certain limited circumstances provided for in the Warrant Agreement (as defined herein) relating to the Warrants. The Private Warrants are exercisable by the Colombier Sponsor, the Sponsor Distributees and certain other permitted transferees on a cashless basis as provided in the Warrant Agreement.
In addition, this prospectus also relates to the offer and sale, from time to time, by the selling security holders identified in this prospectus (such selling security holders and their permitted transferees, the “Selling Holders”) of (i) up to 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding, or the Colombier Sponsor Shares (as defined herein), that were issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock (as defined herein) in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination (as defined herein), which were originally acquired by the Colombier Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share, and subsequently distributed by the Colombier Sponsor to the Sponsor Distributees for no additional consideration, (ii) up to 5,700,000 Private Warrants and (iii) up to 5,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of Private Warrants.
This prospectus provides you with a general description of such securities and the general manner in which we and the Selling Holders may offer or sell the securities. More specific terms of any securities that we and the Selling Holders may offer or sell may be provided in a prospectus supplement that describes, among other things, the specific amounts and prices of the securities being offered and the terms of the offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus.
We will not receive any proceeds from the issuance of shares of Class A Common Stock upon the exercise of the Warrants unless the holders of the Warrants exercise their Warrants for cash. Cash proceeds associated with the exercises of our Warrants, if any, are highly dependent on the price of our Class A common stock and the spread between the exercise price of the Warrant and the price of our Class A common stock at the time of exercise. For example, to the extent that the price of our Class A common stock exceeds $11.50 per share, it is more likely that
holders of our Warrants will exercise their warrants. If the price of our Class A common stock is less than $11.50 per share, we believe it is much less likely that such holders will exercise their warrants. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by The New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) was $8.45 per share, which price was less than the $11.50 per share exercise price of the Private Warrants. There can be no assurance that our Warrants will be in the money after the date of this prospectus and prior to their expiration. Our Sponsor and the Sponsor Distributees have the option to exercise the Private Warrants on a cashless basis. Holders of Public Warrants may generally only exercise such Warrants for cash, subject to very limited exceptions in certain circumstances as provided for in the Warrant Agreement relating to the Warrants. See “Use of Proceeds.” Our registration of the shares of Class A Common Stock covered by this prospectus does not mean that we will issue or sell any of the shares of Class A Common Stock. We will bear all costs, expenses and fees in connection with the registration of the shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the Warrants. We provide more information about how we may sell the shares of Class A Common Stock in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.”
The securities registered for resale by the Selling Holders in the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part represent approximately 25.7% of our total shares outstanding (assuming the exercise of all of the outstanding Warrants for cash and no issuance of any Earnout Shares) and will therefore constitute a considerable percentage of our public float and will be available for immediate resale upon effectiveness of the registration statement and for so long as such registration statement remains available, subject to the expiration of the Lock-Up Period (as defined below), as applicable, or sooner in the case of the Private Warrants and shares of Class A Common Stock that may be issued upon exercise of the Private Warrants. The market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock could decline as a result of substantial sales of our Class A Common Stock by our Selling Holders or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time. In addition, the Selling Holders purchased the securities covered by this prospectus at different prices, some at prices significantly below the current trading price of such securities. For example, the Colombier Sponsor (as defined herein) purchased its 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding, or the Colombier Sponsor Shares, for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share. Accordingly, the Sponsor Distributees would potentially earn approximately $36.4 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving effect to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such resales) upon resale of all of the shares of Class A Common Stock constituting the Colombier Sponsor Shares that they received upon conversion of their Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination if they were to sell their shares at a price of $8.45, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023. The Sponsor Distributees also hold 5,700,000 Private Warrants, which were purchased by the Colombier Sponsor at a price of $1.00 per warrant in connection with our IPO. Accordingly, the Sponsor Distributees could earn approximately $1.0 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such resales) upon resale of their Private Warrants if they were to sell such Private Warrants at a price equal to $1.17, which was the closing price of Public Warrants as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock on the NYSE was $8.45 per share, which price was less than the $11.50 per share exercise price of the Private Warrants. Assuming the Sponsor Distributees exercised all of the Private Warrants on a cashless basis on August 9, 2023, the most recent day prior to the date of this prospectus on which either the “Fair Market Value” (as defined in the Warrant Agreement) of our Class A Common Stock or the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE exceeded $12.50 per share (which amount represents the exercise price of $11.50 per share of Class A Common Stock plus the $1.00 purchase price paid by the Colombier Sponsor for each Private Warrant) and immediately sold the 730,326 shares of Class A Common Stock that would have been acquired upon such cashless exercise (based on a Fair Market Value of our Class A Common Stock on such day of $13.19 per share and which amount would have been used for purposes of calculating the number of shares issuable upon such cashless exercise), and with such sales effected at a price equal to the $10.70 closing sale price of our Class A Common Stock on the NYSE on such day, the Sponsor Distributees could have potentially earned approximately $2.1 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving effect to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such sales). The Selling Holders may potentially make a significant profit with the sale of the securities covered by this prospectus depending on the trading price of our securities at the time of a sale and the purchase price of such securities by the applicable Selling Holders. While the Selling Holders may experience a positive rate of return based on the trading price of our securities, the public holders of our securities may not experience a similar rate of return on the securities they purchased due to differences in the applicable purchase price and trading price. Sales of our Class A Common Stock by the Selling Holders, or the perception that such sales may occur, may also cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well. See “Risk Factors — A significant number of shares of our Class A Common Stock and the Private Warrants will be available for public resale by the Selling Holders and, subject to the
Lock-Up Period in the case of the shares of Class A Common Stock constituting the Colombier Sponsor Shares (but not the Private Warrants or shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise thereof), may be sold into the market in the future upon effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part. The Selling Holders purchased the securities covered by this prospectus at different prices than prices paid by investors who purchased our securities in our IPO or in the public markets, and the prices paid by the Selling Holders were significantly below the current trading price of our securities. Sales of our Class A Common Stock by the Selling Holders, or the perception that such sales may occur, may cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to decline, perhaps significantly, even if our business is doing well.”
Our registration of the securities covered by this prospectus does not mean that either we or the Selling Holders will issue, offer or sell, as applicable, any of the securities. The Selling Holders may offer and sell the securities covered by this prospectus in a number of different ways and at varying prices. We provide more information about how the Selling Holders may sell the shares in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.” In addition, certain of the securities being registered hereby are subject transfer restrictions that may prevent the Selling Holders from offering or selling such securities upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See “Description of Securities” for more information.
Each share of our Class A Common Stock entitles its holder to one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders except as otherwise expressly provided by our Charter (as defined herein) or as provided by law. Each share of our Class C Common Stock entitles its holder, initially Mr. Michael Seifert, our Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, to a number of votes per share (rounded up to the nearest whole number) equal to (a) the aggregate number of outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock entitled to vote on the applicable matter as of the applicable record date plus 100, divided by (b) the aggregate number of outstanding shares of Class C Common Stock (the “Per Share Class C Voting Power”). As of the date of this prospectus, Mr. Seifert controls approximately 52.81% of our outstanding voting power due to his ownership all of our outstanding shares of Class C Common Stock and, as such, the result of most matters to be voted upon by our stockholders will be controlled by Mr. Seifert, who can base his vote upon his best judgment and his fiduciary duties to our stockholders, and who otherwise will be able to exercise a very significant degree of control over our company. In addition, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of applicable NYSE rules as of the date of this prospectus and, consequently, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. As a result, our stockholders do not have the same degree of corporate governance protections under NYSE rules as those afforded to stockholders of companies that are not “controlled companies.” For additional information please see the section entitled “Management — Controlled Company”.
You should read this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or amendment carefully before investing in our securities. Our Class A Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “PSQH” and our Warrants trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “PSQH.WS”. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of our Class A Common Stock as reported by NYSE was $8.45 per share and the closing price of our Public Warrants as reported by NYSE was $1.17. Each of our Warrants is exercisable for one share of Class A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company under the federal securities laws and, as such, are subject to certain reduced public company reporting requirements. See “Prospectus Summary — Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Smaller Reporting Company” on page 3 of this prospectus.
Investing in our Class A Common Stock and Warrants involves a high degree of risk. See the section titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 10.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) nor any other state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is , 2023.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION |
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
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MATERIAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES TO NON-U.S. HOLDERS |
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F-1 |
i
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS
This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-1 that we filed with the SEC using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, the Selling Holders may, from time to time, sell up to an aggregate of 10,012,500 shares of Class A Common Stock (which includes 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding that were issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination (or the Colombier Sponsor Shares) and up to 5,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding Private Warrants) and up to 5,700,000 Private Warrants from time to time through any means described in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.” More specific terms of any securities that the Selling Holders offer and sell may be provided in a prospectus supplement that describes, among other things, the specific amounts and prices of the Class A Common Stock and/or Private Warrants being offered and the terms of the offering. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale by such Selling Holders of the securities offered by them described in this prospectus. This prospectus also relates to the issuance by us of up to an aggregate of 11,450,000 shares of Class A Common Stock upon exercise of the Warrants.
A prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information included in this prospectus. Any statement contained in this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in such prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified will be deemed to constitute a part of this prospectus only as so modified, and any statement so superseded will be deemed not to constitute a part of this prospectus. You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. See “Where You Can Find More Information.”
We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any free writing prospectus we have prepared. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the shares of Class A Common Stock and Private Warrants offered hereby and only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent anything not contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. This prospectus is not an offer to sell our securities, and it is not soliciting an offer to buy our securities, in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of those documents only, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under “Where You Can Find More Information.”
On July 19, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), we consummated the transactions contemplated by that Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 27, 2023, (the “Merger Agreement”), each by and among PublicSq. Inc. (f/k/a PSQ Holdings, Inc.), a Delaware corporation (“Private PSQ”), Colombier Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation (“Colombier”), Colombier-Liberty Acquisition, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Colombier (“Merger Sub”), and Colombier Sponsor, LLC (the “Colombier Sponsor”), a Delaware limited liability company, in its capacity as purchaser representative, for the purposes set forth in the Merger Agreement, which, among other things, provided for the merger of Private PSQ into Merger Sub with Private PSQ surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Colombier (the “Business Combination”). At the closing of the Business Combination (the “Closing”), Colombier changed its name to “PSQ Holdings, Inc.”
Unless the context indicates otherwise, references to the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to PSQ Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries following the Closing of the Business Combination.
ii
FREQUENTLY USED TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the context otherwise requires, references to:
In this document:
“Board” refers to the board of directors of the Company. References herein to the Company will include its subsidiaries to the extent reasonably applicable.
“Business Combination” means the business combination of Colombier and Private PSQ pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement.
“Bylaws” means the Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company as in effect on the date of this prospectus.
“Charter” means the Restated Charter of the Company as in effect on the date of this prospectus.
“Class A Common Stock” means the shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company.
“Class C Common Stock” means the shares of Class C common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company.
“Closing” means the closing of the Business Combination.
“Closing Date” means July 19, 2023.
“Common Stock” means our Class A Common Stock and Class C Common Stock together.
“Company” means PSQ Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, following the Closing.
“Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
“Colombier” means the Company prior to the Closing.
“Colombier Sponsor” means Colombier Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.
“Colombier Class A Common Stock” means the Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of Colombier, prior to the Closing of the Business Combination.
“Colombier Class B Common Stock” means the Class B Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of Colombier, prior to the Closing of the Business Combination.
“Colombier Common Stock” means the Colombier Class A Common Stock and Colombier Class B Common Stock.
“Colombier Sponsor Shares” means Colombier Class B Common Stock initially purchased by the Colombier Sponsor in the private placement prior to the IPO, and the shares of Class A Common Stock issued upon the conversion thereof at the Closing.
“Deemed Equity Holder” means certain executive officers, employees and service providers of the Company designated by the Company, who may be entitled to receive Earnout Shares, if issued in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, in the form of an Earnout Equity Award issued by the Company from the Earnout Subpool of the Incentive Plan, provided such Deemed Equity Holder is, at the time the Earnout Shares, if any, are issued, then still providing services to the Company.
“DGCL” means the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, as amended.
“Earnout Equity Award” means an equity award issued by the Combined Company after the Closing to a Deemed Equity Holder from the Earnout Subpool.
“Earnout Shares” means up to 3,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock that may be issued by the Company to Participating Equityholders upon achievement of certain trading price-based targets for the Company Common Stock following Closing.
iii
“Earnout Subpool” means up to 2,700,000 of the total number of Earnout Shares which the Company set aside and reserved for issuance by the Company under the EIP and from which any Earnout Equity Awards will be made.
“Effective Time” means the effective time of the Merger in accordance with the Merger Agreement.
“EIP” means the PSQ Holdings, Inc. 2023 Stock Incentive Plan.
“ESPP” means the PSQ Holdings, Inc. 2023 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
“Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
“GAAP” means generally accepted accounting principles in the United States.
“Insider Letter” means the letter agreement, dated June 8, 2021, by and among Colombier, its officers and directors as of the date thereof, and the Colombier Sponsor.
“IPO” means the initial public offering of Colombier’s Units at a public offering price of $10.00 per Unit that it consummated on June 11, 2021.
“Merger” means the merger of Merger Sub with and into Private PSQ, with Private PSQ continuing as the surviving corporation and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Colombier, in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement.
“Merger Agreement” means the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 27, 2023, by and among Colombier, Merger Sub, Colombier Sponsor, as purchaser representative, and PSQ.
“NYSE” means the New York Stock Exchange.
“Participating Equityholder” means each Private PSQ Stockholder and each Deemed Equity Holder.
“Permitted Financing” means an equity or debt financing transaction or series of equity or debt financing transactions entered into by Private PSQ after the date of the Merger Agreement, by way of issuance, subscription or sale, which results in cash proceeds to Private PSQ prior to the Effective Time.
“Private PSQ” means PublicSq. Inc. (f/k/a PSQ Holdings, Inc.), a Delaware corporation, prior to the Business Combination. References herein to Private PSQ will include its subsidiaries to the extent reasonably applicable.
“Private PSQ Common Stock” means, collectively, the Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share, of Private PSQ prior to the Business Combination.
“Private PSQ Convertible Debt Notes” means the $22.5 million of 5% mandatorily convertible notes issued by Private PSQ in connection with the Permitted Financing and which converted into shares of PSQ Common Stock immediately prior to the Closing of the Business Combination.
“Private PSQ Convertible Securities” means, collectively, each outstanding option, warrant, convertible note or other right to subscribe or purchase any capital stock of Private PSQ or securities convertible into or exchangeable for, or that otherwise confer on the holder any right to acquire any capital stock of Private PSQ prior to the Closing of the Business Combination.
“Private PSQ Stockholders” refers to holders of Private PSQ Common Stock immediately prior to the Effective Time.
“Private Placement” means the private placement consummated simultaneously with the IPO in which Colombier issued the Private Warrants to the Colombier Sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Warrant for aggregate consideration of $5,700,000.
“Private Warrants” means one (1) whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one (1) share of Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $11.50 per share originally issued to the Colombier Sponsor in the Private Placement.
“PSQ Founder” means Michael Seifert, the current Chief Executive Officer of Private PSQ before the Closing and our current Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
iv
“Public Warrants” means one (1) whole redeemable warrant that was included in as part of each Unit, entitling the holder thereof to purchase one (1) share of Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $11.50 per share.
“Registration Rights Agreement” means the Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of July 19, 2023, by and among Colombier, the Colombier Sponsor, Private PSQ and certain Private PSQ Stockholders party thereto.
“SEC” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
“Selling Holders” means the selling security holders identified in this prospectus and their permitted transferees.
“Sponsor Distributees” means the members of Colombier Sponsor at the time of the Closing.
“Trust Account” means the trust account of Colombier, established at the time of our IPO, containing the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in our IPO, including from overallotment securities sold by Colombier’s underwriters, and the sale of Private Warrants following the closing of our IPO.
“Units” means the units issued in our IPO consisting of one (1) share of Colombier Class A Common Stock and one-third (1/3) of one Public Warrant.
“Warrants” means Private Warrants and Public Warrants, collectively.
“Warrant Agent” means Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.
“Warrant Agreement” means that certain Warrant Agreement, dated June 8, 2021, between Colombier and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as Warrant Agent.
v
MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA
This prospectus includes industry position, forecasts, market size and growth and other data that we obtained or derived from internal company reports, independent third-party reports and publications, surveys and studies by third parties and other industry data. Some data are also based on good faith estimates, which are derived from internal company research or analyses or review of internal company reports as well as the independent sources referred to above. Although we believe that the information on which we have based these estimates of industry position and industry data are generally reliable, the accuracy and completeness of this information is not guaranteed, and we have not independently verified any of the data from third-party sources nor have we ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon therein. Our internal reports have not been verified by any independent source. Statements as to industry position are based on market data currently available. While we are not aware of any misstatements regarding the industry data presented herein, these estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in this prospectus.
vi
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes, without limitation, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, plans, prospects, financial results or strategies regarding us and the future held by our management team and the products and markets, future financial condition, expected future performance and market opportunities of our business. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this prospectus, forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “estimate,” “continue,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “possible,” “predict,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target,” “designed to” or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical facts. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements.
We caution readers of this prospectus that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, which could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of financial and performance metrics, projections of market opportunity and market share, potential benefits and the commercial attractiveness to our customers of products and services sold through our platform, the prospects of our recently launched direct-to-consumer (“D2C”) business and the potential success of our marketing and expansion strategies. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in the prospectus, and on the current expectations of our management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including:
• changes in the competitive industries and markets in which we operate or plan to operate;
• changes in applicable laws or regulations affecting our business;
• our ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional opportunities;
• risks related to our limited operating history, the rollout and/or expansion of our business and the timing of our expected business milestones;
• risks related to our potential inability to achieve or maintain profitability and generate significant revenue;
• current and future conditions in the global economy, including as a result of economic uncertainty, and its impact on us, our business and the markets in which we operate;
• our ability to retain existing advertisers and consumer and business members and attract new advertisers and consumer and business members;
• our potential inability to manage growth effectively;
• our ability to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel;
• estimates for the prospects and financial performance of our business may prove to be incorrect or materially different from actual results;
• risks related to future market adoption of our offerings;
• risks related to our marketing and growth strategies;
• the effects of competition on our business;
• our ability to meet the continued listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange;
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• expectations with respect to our future operating and financial performance and growth, including when we will generate positive cash flow from operations;
• our ability to raise funding on reasonable terms as necessary to develop our products in the timeframe contemplated by our business plan;
• our ability to execute our anticipated business plans and strategy; and
• other risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus, including those under the section entitled “Risk Factors.”
If any of these risks materialize or any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that we presently do not know or that we currently believe are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect our expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this prospectus. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause our assessments to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this prospectus. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements may, and are likely to, differ materially, and potentially adversely, from any projections and forward-looking statements and the assumptions on which those forward-looking statements were based. There can be no assurance that the data contained herein is reflective of future performance to any degree. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a predictor of future performance as projected financial information and other information are based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to various significant risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or a person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements.
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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary does not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our Class A Common Stock or Warrants. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the matters discussed under the sections titled “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information,” “Business” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus before making an investment decision.
Company Overview
Our mission is to build the nation’s largest online platform dedicated to empowering like-minded, patriotic Americans to discover and support companies that share their values. The concept for our platform originated in early 2021 when Michael Seifert, our Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, after perceiving that many corporations were increasingly embracing progressive and highly-politicized priorities, as demonstrated by advertising, corporate philosophies, and company donations, was inspired to help create a “parallel economy” where consumer members with priorities that we consider reflective of traditional American values could connect with and patronize business members whose values align with their own. We originally incorporated PublicSq. Inc. (f/k/a PSQ Holdings, Inc.) (“Private PSQ”) in February of 2021, began development of our digital platform (mobile app and website) in May 2021, and launched our initial product regionally in San Diego County, California in October 2021 on iOS, Android, and on our website. After 10 months of testing in various markets and courting member feedback, we launched the PSQ platform nationwide on July 4, 2022. We release updates to the platform frequently and we consistently seek the feedback of our community, prioritize transparency about our goals and operations, and regularly develop our product offering to better meet the needs of the consumer members and business members on our platform. In July 2023, we commercially launched our first D2C product offering, disposable diapers and wipes under our pro-family “EveryLifeTM” brand. We continue to evaluate additional D2C opportunities and expect to expand and diversify our branded D2C offerings in areas where we believe there is significant existing market need in the future.
Our Values
We are passionate about our mission and that passion guides everything we do. We believe that our platform is the leading widely accessible repository dedicated to empowering like-minded, patriotic Americans to discover and support companies that share their values. As a company, we strive to connect consumer members with a wide selection of values-aligned and patriotic business members from a wide variety of industries. In order for a new business to join our platform, a representative of that business must agree that the business will respect the following five core values (the “five core values”) that we strive to uphold and promote within our community:
• We are united in our commitment to freedom and truth — that’s what makes us Americans.
• We will always protect the family unit and celebrate the sanctity of every life.
• We believe small business members and the communities who support them are the backbone of our economy.
• We believe in the greatness of the United States of America and will always fight to defend it.
• Our constitution is non-negotiable — government isn’t the source of our rights, so it can’t take them away.
These five core values are the foundation of our vision, which connects the consumer members and business members who use our platform to promote their voice through their purchasing power, or ‘vote with their wallet’.
Our Platform
We are free-to-use for consumer members, who can use our platform to search for and shop from values-aligned business members both locally and nationally. The types of business members found on our platform currently include, among others, retailers and other merchants, restaurants, banks and other service providers.
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Our platform can be accessed through two primary means:
• Mobile application — Our mobile app is available for both iOS and Android-based devices.
• Web — Members can access our full platform at publicsq.com.
In addition to our current platform directory, we are in the process of developing e-commerce capabilities on our platform that will provide consumer members with in-app shopping capabilities and allow them to purchase their favorite products and services directly within our app. We expect, in the near future, to partner with one or more third party payment platforms to support this functionality on our website and mobile app.
Our Growth Strategy
We are currently focusing on the following areas to drive our growth:
• Continue to Innovate and Improve our Platform Offering — We are continuously looking to improve our platform functionality and user experience, and to add new features and technologies to improve our platform and value proposition. We recently introduced an improved user interface and user experience that we expect will continue to serve our existing app users, attract new app users to our platform and grow application engagement with the availability of the e-commerce interface. We are in the process of rolling out an enhanced e-commerce platform, where our consumer members will be able to purchase products from our business members directly through our app and through which we will be able to realize transaction-based revenue fees through purchases being made using our platform.
• Expand Our Outreach Program — Growth in our consumer member base is an important driver for our business’ growth, and we believe that there is a significant opportunity to expand the number of consumer members and business members using our platform. Through our “Outreach Program,” we are collaborating with over 600 highly influential individuals, as of July 31, 2023, who serve as our ambassadors and influencers to raise awareness about and advocate for our platform and our five core values. We believe that our Outreach Program is key to growing our awareness and presence in the digital world. Participating influencers share their positive interactions with our platform and the various experiences connecting with patriotic business members that use our platform. Through media outreach, our ambassadors are able to actively onboard new business and consumer members on our platform. We actively seek to continue growing this program.
• Introduce Our Branded D2C Product Offerings — In July 2023, we commercially launched our first D2C product offering, disposable diapers and wipes, under our pro-family “EveryLifeTM” brand. We continue to evaluate additional D2C opportunities and expect to expand and diversify our branded D2C offerings in areas where we believe there is significant existing market need in the future. We believe these brands will enable us to fill gaps within consumer spending through our established primary customer acquisition channel.
• Increase Monetization on our Platform — We are still in the early stages of monetization on our platform and believe there are many avenues for sustained revenue growth that may be available to us in the future through our platform and the network of connections that it allows us to establish and grow. We have, however, incurred net losses since our inception and may not be able to monetize our platform or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We incurred net losses of $20.7 million and $27.4 million for the three-and six-months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, net losses of $7.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, and net losses of $1.9 million for the period from February 25, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. We are currently focused on near-term goals in two main areas — scaling our digital advertising business and developing new revenue streams, such as our e-commerce integration and the development and launch of our own business-to-business (“B2B”) offerings and the expansion of our D2C product offerings.
• Pursue Value-Enhancing Acquisitions — In order to fully capitalize on opportunities within our addressable market, as well as to further expand our platform and offerings, we intend, over time, to pursue value-enhancing acquisitions as they become available in the future. In so doing, we intend to focus on like-minded business members that respect our five core values, complement our values-aligned platform, and fulfil demand from our consumer members and business partners.
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Corporate Information
PSQ Holdings, Inc. is a Delaware corporation. Our principal executive offices are located at 250 S. Australian Avenue, Suite 1300, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401, and our telephone number is (877) 776-2402. Our principal website address is https://publicsq.com/. Information contained in, or accessible through, our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this prospectus.
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Smaller Reporting Company
We qualify as an “emerging growth company” (“EGC”), as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012. We may remain an EGC until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the consummation of our IPO, although if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time or if we have annual gross revenues of $1.235 billion or more in any fiscal year, we would cease to be an EGC as of December 31 of the applicable year. We also would cease to be an EGC if we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period. For so long as we remain an EGC, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different than the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold stock.
We are also a “smaller reporting company,” as defined in Rule 12b-2 promulgated under the Exchange Act. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (1) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (2) our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. For so long as we remain a smaller reporting company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure and other requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies.
Controlled Company Exemption
Michael Seifert, our Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, as a result of his ownership of all of the shares of our outstanding Class C Common Stock, owns 52.81% of our outstanding voting power for the election of directors as of the date of this prospectus. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of applicable NYSE rules as of the date of this prospectus and, consequently, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. Our stockholders do not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such requirements. Please see the section entitled “Management — Controlled Company”.
Risk Factor Summary
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section entitled “Risk Factors” immediately following this prospectus summary, that represent challenges that we face in connection with the successful implementation of our strategy and the growth of our business. In particular, the following considerations, among others, may offset our competitive strengths or have a negative effect on our business strategy, which could cause a decline in the price of shares of our Class A Common Stock or Warrants and result in a loss of all or a portion of your investment:
• We may not continue to grow or maintain our base of consumer and business members or advertisers and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.
• Our recent and rapid growth in platform participants may not be sustainable or indicative of future performance.
• The market for our platform and services may not be as large as we believe it to be, presently or in the future.
• We have limited experience with respect to determining optimal prices and pricing structure for our products and services, which may impact our financial results.
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• Our business faces significant competition, and if we are unable to compete effectively, our business and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
• The anticipated expansion of our operations, including in areas not part of our current operations, subjects us to additional risks that can adversely affect our operating results.
• Our business depends on hiring, developing and retaining highly skilled and dedicated employees, and any failure to do so, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
• Consumer tastes and preferences change over time and from time to time, as may public perception of us, which could be adversely affected by any negative publicity or reputational effects attributable to us or any of our affiliates or Outreach Program participants, which may impact our consumer and business members’ desire to utilize our platform and materially affect our business and operating results.
• If we cannot maintain our company culture as we grow, our success, business and competitive position may be harmed.
• Our success depends on establishing and maintaining a strong brand and active engagement by business and consumer members and advertisers on our platform, and any failure to establish and maintain a strong brand and member base, or adverse change in advertisers’ willingness to pay for advertising on our platform, would adversely affect our future growth prospects.
• Our success depends on establishing and maintaining a strong brand and base of business and consumer members actively on our platform, and any failure to establish and maintain a strong brand or member base would adversely affect our future growth prospects.
• Our five core values may not always align with the interests of our business or our stockholders.
• Any failure by us to attract advertisers or any change in or loss of relationships with our existing advertisers or the amounts advertisers are able or willing to spend to advertise on our platform could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
• If member engagement by business or consumer members on our platform fails to increase or declines, we may not be able to maintain or expand our advertising revenue and our business and operating results will be harmed.
• Changes to our existing platform and services could fail to attract engagement by consumer and business members with, or advertising spending on, our platform, which could materially affect our ability to generate revenues.
• We may not be able to able to expand into or to compete successfully in one or more of the highly competitive business areas in which we anticipate expanding, including e-commerce and the B2B market, or recently expanded into, including the D2C market that we recently entered into with our launch of EveryLife in July 2023.
• We are subject to payments-related risks.
• Uncertain global macro-economic and political conditions could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
• We may in the future make acquisitions, and such acquisitions could disrupt our operations, and may have an adverse effect on our operating results.
• We are or may be subject to numerous risks relating to the need to comply with data and information privacy laws.
• We are subject to cybersecurity risks and interruptions or failures in our information technology systems and as we grow, we will need to expend additional resources to enhance our protection from such risks.
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• If we fail to adequately protect our proprietary intellectual property (“IP”) rights, our competitive position could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets, generate reduced revenue and incur costly litigation to protect our rights.
• Our business depends on continued and unimpeded access to our directory information and services on the internet, which in turn relies on third-party telecommunications and internet service providers.
• We may be unable to successfully grow our business if we fail to compete effectively with others to attract and retain our executive officers and other key management and technical personnel.
• We may be exposed to risk if we cannot enhance, maintain, and adhere to our internal controls and procedures.
• Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
• Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and have a negative impact on our reputation or business.
• Compliance obligations imposed by new privacy laws, laws regulating social media platforms and online speech in the U.S., or industry practices may adversely affect our business.
• We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE listing standards and comply with reduced corporate governance standards as a result.
• Natural disasters, including and not limited to unusual weather conditions, epidemic outbreaks, terrorist acts and political events could disrupt our business schedule.
• We may require substantial additional funding to finance our operations, but adequate additional financing may not be available when we need it, on acceptable terms or at all.
• A significant number of shares of our Class A Common Stock and the Private Warrants will be available for public resale by the Selling Holders and, subject to the Lock-Up Period in the case of the shares of Class A Common Stock constituting the Colombier Sponsor Shares (but not the Private Warrants or shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise thereof), may be sold into the market in the future upon effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part. The Selling Holders purchased the securities covered by this prospectus at different prices than prices paid by investors who purchased our securities in our IPO or in the public markets, and the prices paid by the Selling Holders were significantly below the current trading price of our securities. Sales of our Class A Common Stock by the Selling Holders, or the perception that such sales may occur, may cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to decline, perhaps significantly, even if our business is doing well.
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THE OFFERING
We are registering the issuance by us of up to 11,450,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock that may be issued upon exercise of the Warrants to purchase Class A Common Stock, including the 5,750,000 Public Warrants to purchase Class A Common Stock issued as part of the Units in our IPO and the 5,700,000 Private Warrants issued to the Colombier Sponsor in the Private Placement at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Warrant. In addition, we are also registering the offer and sale, from time to time, by the Selling Holders of (i) up to 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding that were issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination, or the Colombier Sponsor Shares, which were originally acquired by the Colombier Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share, and subsequently distributed by the Colombier Sponsor to the Sponsor Distributees for no additional consideration, (ii) up to 5,700,000 Private Warrants issued to the Colombier Sponsor in the Private Placement at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Warrant and (iii) up to 5,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of Private Warrants. The Warrants have an exercise price of $11.50 per share. The Public Warrants are generally exercisable only for cash, subject to the right of holders to exercise the Public Warrants on a cashless basis under certain limited circumstances provided for in the Warrant Agreement relating to the Warrants. The Private Warrants are exercisable by the Colombier Sponsor, the Sponsor Distributees and certain other permitted transferees on a cashless basis as provided in the Warrant Agreement. The following information is as of October 3, 2023 and does not give effect to issuances of our Class A Common Stock, warrants or options to purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock after such date, or any exercise of warrants or options after such date.
Issuance of Class A Common Stock
Issuer |
PSQ Holdings, Inc. |
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Shares of our Class A Common Stock to be issued upon exercise of all Public Warrants and Private Warrants |
11,450,000 shares |
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Shares of our Class A Common Stock outstanding prior to (i) the exercise of all Public Warrants and Private Warrants, (ii) any issuance of Earnout Shares and (iii) any issuance of shares of Class A Common Stock under the EIP and ESPP |
24,340,075 shares |
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Use of Proceeds |
We may receive aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $131.7 million from the exercise of all Public Warrants and Private Warrants, assuming the exercise in full of all such Warrants for cash. The exercise of Warrants, and any proceeds we may receive from their exercise, are highly dependent on the price of our Class A common stock and the spread between the exercise price of the Warrant and the price of our Class A common stock at the time of exercise. For example, to the extent that the price of our Class A common stock exceeds $11.50 per share, it is more likely that holders of our Warrants will exercise their warrants. If the price of our Class A common stock is less than $11.50 per share, we believe it is much less likely that such holders will exercise their warrants. The $8.45 closing price per share of our Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023 was less than the $11.50 exercise price per share of the Warrants. There can be no assurance that our Warrants will be in the money after the date of this prospectus and prior to their expiration. Our Sponsor and the Sponsor Distributees have the option to exercise the Private Warrants on a cashless basis. Holders of Public Warrants may generally only exercise such Warrants for cash, subject to very limited exceptions in certain circumstances as provided for in the Warrant Agreement relating to the Warrants. |
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Unless we inform you otherwise in a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we intend to use the net proceeds, if any, from the exercise of such Warrants for general corporate purposes, which may include: (i) funding our D2C inventory and supply chain requirements; (ii) supporting our D2C and B2B operating expenses, including marketing and payroll; (iii) funding an increase in our payroll in the areas of engineering and product for the further development of our platform’s functionality, including the enhancement of e-commerce capabilities, consumer rewards programs, and platform scalability; (iv) launching targeted marketing initiatives, including brand awareness campaigns, direct-response advertising, promotional events, and the expansion of our Outreach Program; and (v) for other general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, working capital for operations and potential future acquisitions. We will pay the expenses associated with registering the sales by the selling stockholders, as described under “Use of Proceeds” and “Plan of Distribution” elsewhere in this prospectus. |
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Risk Factors |
See “Risk Factors” on page 10 of this prospectus and the documents referenced in that section for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in shares of our Class A Common Stock. |
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Resale of Class A Common Stock and |
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Shares of Class A Common Stock offered by the Selling Holders 10,012,500 shares of Class A Common Stock (including 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding that were issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination, or the Colombier Sponsor Shares, and up to 5,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding Private Warrants) |
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Private Warrants offered by the Selling |
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Exercise Price |
$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein |
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Redemption |
The Warrants are redeemable in certain circumstances. See “Description of Securities — Warrants” for further discussion. |
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Use of Proceeds |
We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Class A Common Stock and Private Warrants to be offered by the Selling Holders. |
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Lock-Up |
Subject to certain customary exceptions, the Class A Common Stock held by each of the Colombier Sponsor, the Sponsor Distributees and the former directors and officers of Colombier and which were issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination are subject to certain restrictions on transfer until July 19, 2024 (the “Lock-Up Period”), the one-year anniversary of the Closing Date, subject to early release if the closing price of our Class A Common Stock has equaled or exceeded $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing of the Business Combination, or, in the case of Private Warrants. The Private Warrants (including the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Warrants) were not transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the Closing of the Business Combination. Such restrictions on transfer of the Private Warrants and the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Warrants have expired, and accordingly the Private Warrants and such underlying shares of Class A Common Stock are currently transferrable, assignable and salable. See “Securities Act Restrictions on Resale of Securities — Lock-Up Agreements” for further discussion. |
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NYSE Ticker Symbols |
Class A Common Stock: “PSQH” Warrants: “PSQH.WS” |
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MARKET PRICE, TICKER SYMBOLS AND DIVIDEND INFORMATION
Market Price and Ticker Symbols
Our Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants are currently listed on NYSE under the symbols “PSQH” and “PSQH.WS,” respectively.
The closing price of our Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023, was $8.45 and $1.17, respectively.
Holders
As of October 3, 2023, there were 49 holders of record of our Class A Common Stock and one holder of record of our Public Warrants. A substantially greater number of holders are “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares of record are held by banks, brokers, and other financial institutions.
Dividend Policy
We have not paid any cash dividends on our Class A Common Stock to date. It is the present intention of our Board to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our Board does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition. The payment of any cash dividends is within the discretion of our Board. Further, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by the terms of financing or other agreements entered into by us or our subsidiaries from time to time.
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RISK FACTORS
An investment in our Class A Common Stock and Warrants involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. Our business, prospects, financial condition or operating results could be harmed by any of these risks, as well as other risks not currently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial. The trading price of our Class A Common Stock and Warrants could decline due to any of these risks, and, as a result, you may lose all or part of your investment.
In the course of conducting our business operations, we are exposed to a variety of risks. Any of the risk factors we describe below have affected or could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The market price of our securities could decline, possibly significantly or permanently, if one or more of these risks and uncertainties occurs. Certain statements in “Risk Factors” are forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risks Related to Our Financial Performance and Operation Risks Related to Our Business
We have a very limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects.
We have a very limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects or forecast our future results. We are subject to the same risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by new companies in rapidly evolving markets. Our financial results in any given quarter can be influenced by numerous factors, many of which we are unable to predict or are outside of our control, including:
• market adoption of our platform;
• our ability to maintain and grow our platform offerings, traffic, and engagement;
• our ability to attract and retain consumers and business members and advertisers;
• the success of our Outreach Program;
• the amount of advertising we can attract to our platform and the pricing of our advertising products;
• the diversification and growth of our revenue sources beyond current sources, including our ability to successfully launch new products and realize revenues from increased e-commerce functionality on our platform, including through consumer transactions executed in our platform, and through the sale of our own D2C branded products;
• our ability to grow and generate revenue from our B2B offerings once launched;
• the development and introduction of new products, or services by us or our competitors;
• increases in marketing, sales, and other operating expenses that we may incur to grow and expand our operations and to remain competitive, and increased expenses we have incurred and will continue to incur as a public company;
• legislation and regulation that forces us to change our content policies and practices (including those relating to our products, services and advertisements of our business members);
• our ability to maintain and increase gross margins and operating margins;
• system failures or breaches of security or privacy;
• competition in the markets in which we operate, and our ability to successfully compete; and
• negative publicity we may encounter as we seek to grow our values-focused business.
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To date, we have not generated significant revenues or achieved profitability, and may never generate significant revenues or become profitable.
We have incurred net losses since our inception, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We incurred net losses of $20.7 million and $27.4 million for the three- and six-months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, $7.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, and net losses of $1.9 million for the period from February 25, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. We generated revenue of $0.5 million and $0.9 million for the three- and six-months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, revenue of $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, and revenue of $7 thousand for the period from February 25, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. Our expenses will likely increase in the future as we develop and launch new offerings and platform features, expand in existing and new markets, increase our sales and marketing efforts and continue to invest in our platform, as well as a result of our becoming a public company. Our efforts to grow our business may be more costly than we expect and may not result in increased revenue or growth in our business. We may be required to make significant capital investments and incur recurring or new costs, and our investments may not generate sufficient returns and our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity may be adversely affected. Any failure to increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow on a consistent basis or at all. If we are unable to successfully address these risks and challenges as we encounter them, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected. If we are unable to generate adequate revenue growth and manage our expenses, we may continue to incur net losses in the future, which may be substantial, and we may never be able to achieve or maintain profitability. We also expect our costs and expenses to increase in future periods, which could negatively affect our future results of operations if our revenue does not increase. In particular, we intend to continue to expend significant funds to further develop our platform. We will also face increased compliance costs associated with growth, the expansion of our business and consumer member base, and being a public company. Our efforts to grow our business may be more costly than we expect, or the rate of our growth in revenue may be slower than we expect, and we may not be able to increase our revenue enough to offset our increased operating expenses. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including the other risks described herein, and unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications or delays, and other unknown events. If we are unable to achieve and sustain profitability, the value of our business may significantly decrease.
We believe there is a significant market opportunity for our business, and we intend to invest aggressively to capitalize on this opportunity. These efforts may be more costly than we expect and may not result in increased revenue or growth in our business. Any failure to increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow. Furthermore, if our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flow or losses resulting from our investment in acquiring platform consumers and businesses or expanding our operations, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will ever achieve or sustain profitability and may continue to incur significant losses going forward. Any failure by us to achieve or sustain profitability on a consistent basis could cause the value of our Class A Common Stock and Private Warrants to decline.
Inflationary pressures, particularly in the United States, could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows and results of operations. The U.S. economy is currently experiencing a bout of inflation, in part due a collision of booming demand with constrained supply, forcing prices to rise. To combat inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as counterparts in other countries have made a series of aggressive interest rate hikes commencing in 2022 and extending into early 2023 in an attempt to cool global economies. Inflation did not have a significant impact on our results of operations for the three- and six-months ended June 30, 2023, the year ended December 31, 2022 or for the period from February 25, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. We anticipate a material increase in labor, cost of sales and operating expenses for at least the remainder of 2023, if not longer.
We may require substantial additional funding to finance our operations, but adequate additional financing may not be available when we need it, on acceptable terms or at all.
Since our inception, we have financed our operations and capital expenditures primarily through equity investments. In the future, we could be required to raise capital through public or private financing or other arrangements. Such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all, and our failure to raise capital when needed could harm our business. In addition, inflation rates in the U.S. have been higher than in previous years, which
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may result in higher costs of capital and constrained credit and liquidity. The Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns over inflation risk. Increases in interest rates could impact our ability to access the capital markets. We may sell equity securities or debt securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner as we may determine from time to time. If we sell any such securities in subsequent transactions, our current investors may be materially diluted. Any debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants and could reduce our operational flexibility or achieve profitability. If we cannot raise funds on acceptable terms, we may not be able to grow our business or respond to competitive pressures and consumer member demand.
We may need to raise additional funds, and we may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise additional equity financing, our shareholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the per share value of our Class A Common Stock and Private Warrants could decline. Furthermore, if we engage in debt financing, the holders of debt would have priority over the holders of our equity holders, and we may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness. We may also be required to take other actions that would otherwise be in the interests of the debt holders and force us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios, any of which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. If we need additional capital and cannot raise it on acceptable terms, we may not be able to, among other things:
• develop or enhance our products;
• to expand our sales and marketing and research and development organizations;
• acquire complementary technologies, products or businesses;
• expand operations in the United States or internationally;
• hire, train, and retain employees; or
• respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements.
• Our failure to have sufficient capital to do any of these things could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our past successful fund-raising efforts do not guarantee long term liquidity, and we may be unable to obtain additional financing to fund the operation and growth of our business.
We may require additional financing to fund the operations or growth of our business but cannot guarantee that any such fund-raising efforts will be successful and our past fundraising success should not be viewed as predictive of our ability to raise funds in the future. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of our business.
Our growth to date may not be sustainable or indicative of future performance.
We have experienced significant member growth in the number of business and consumer members participating on our platform since our inception as Private PSQ in 2021. Our month over month (“MoM”) consumer member growth rate (as measured by the number of active consumer members as of the last day of each month) was 29.7% for the period from June 1, 2022 through July 31, 2023, and our MoM business growth rate (as measured by the number of business members that have joined our platform as of the last day of each month) was 16.5% for the period from June 1, 2022, through July 31, 2023. We have also experienced significant growth of average daily unique sessions, which refers to the average number of unique IP addresses accessing our platform on mobile and desktop devices in a single day. Since we began tracking this data on January 18, 2023, our average daily unique sessions have grown 404% to an average of 453,226 per day for the month of July 2023, compared to an average of 89,843 sessions per day for the period from January 18, 2023 through January 31, 2023. Our growth has placed and is expected to continue to place significant demands on our management, financial, operational, technological and other resources. The growth and expansion of our business depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:
• increase awareness of our brand and successfully compete with other companies that compete against us;
• launch new lines of products, services and functionality, including the ability to conduct e-commerce transactions in our platform and our ability to expand our D2C product offerings;
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• continue to innovate and introduce new offerings on our platform;
• maintain and improve our technology platform supporting our app-based platform;
• identify and maintain key supplier and manufacturer relationships to support our D2C brands;
• maintain quality control over our product offerings; and
• expand the number of consumer and business members and advertisers using our platform.
The growth and expansion of our business, including launching new offerings, products, services and functionality such as e-commerce and D2C product sales, has and will continue to place significant demands on our management, technology and operations teams and require significant additional resources, financial and otherwise, to meet our needs, which may not be available in a cost-effective manner, or at all. We expect to expend substantial resources on:
• sales and marketing efforts to increase brand awareness, further engaging our existing and prospective consumer and business members, and driving use of our platform and sales of products and services through our platform and supporting our D2C initiatives;
• product innovation, development and/or acquisition, distribution, marketing and sales efforts;
• technology platform maintenance to support sales of our products; and
• general administration, including increased finance, legal, compliance and accounting expenses associated with being a public company.
Our investments may not result in the growth of our business. Even if these investments do result in the growth of our business, if we do not effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to successfully execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy the expectations of consumer or business members or maintain high-quality product offerings, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. You should not rely on our historical rate of growth as an indication of our future performance or the rate of growth we may experience going forward or with respect to any new products or services we may introduce.
In addition, to support continued growth, we must effectively integrate, develop and motivate existing and new employees while maintaining our corporate culture. We face significant competition for personnel. To attract top talent, we will need to offer competitive compensation and benefits packages. We may also need to increase our employee compensation levels to remain competitive in attracting and retaining talented employees. In addition, we may face challenges in attracting employees whose values align with our own. The risks associated with a rapidly growing workforce may be particularly acute as we expand further into areas, such as the D2C market. Additionally, we may not be able to hire new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs or successfully integrate new hires, our efficiency, ability to meet forecasts and employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We will also be required to manage numerous relationships with various businesses, suppliers and vendors, service providers, ambassadors and influencers participating in our Outreach Program and other third parties. Further growth of our operations, information technology systems or internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations. If we are unable to manage the growth of our organization effectively, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially adversely affected.
We may not be successful in growing or maintaining the base of consumer and business members that use our platform.
In order to grow, we must attract, retain and engage our consumer and business members and advertisers on our platform and maintain an active consumer member base. Our active members may not grow, and may decline which, in turn, may affect our continued ability to attract businesses and advertisers to our platform.
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If current and potential consumer members of our platform do not perceive their experience with our platform to be useful, or consider the information, services and products that are offered through our platform directory to be relevant to their personal taste and interests, we may not be able to attract new consumer members, retain existing consumer members, recover past consumer members or maintain or increase the frequency and duration of consumer members’ engagement.
Our target demographic market is American consumers who desire to purchase products and services from businesses that share their patriotic, pro-American values. We also may not be able to penetrate our target demographic market in a meaningful manner to grow our number of members. When signing up for our platform, businesses are required to confirm that they respect our five core values. The number of consumers or businesses who are willing to make such a confirmation may be less than we expect, potentially limiting the demand for our platform. Further, a large portion of consumer or business members in the United States may not share our values. These factors may limit our ability to further increase our member base and attract advertisers. If we are unable to increase the base of consumers and businesses actively using our platform, or if our members and advertisers do not believe our platform provides them with sufficient value and utility, our business would be materially and adversely affected.
There are many other factors that could negatively affect member and advertiser growth, retention and engagement, including if:
• new competitors enter the market with business models similar to ours;
• competitors mimic our products or product features or create more engaging platforms or products, causing members to utilize their products instead of, or more frequently than, our products;
• we do not provide a compelling member experience because of the decisions we make regarding our products or the type and frequency of products, services and advertisements that we display on our platform;
• the content (including products, services and advertisements of our business members) is not relevant to consumer members’ tastes or interests;
• search queries by consumer members do not yield relevant results;
• third parties do not permit or continue to permit their content to be displayed on our platform;
• consumer and business members have difficulty or are blocked from installing, updating or otherwise accessing our platform on mobile devices or web browsers;
• our adherence to our five core values results in business decisions that are not in our best financial interests;
• there are changes in the amount of time consumer members spend across apps and platforms, including ours;
• consumer and business members use or spend more time on other platforms that they feel are more relevant or engaging;
• we are unable to provide engaging and relevant content on our platform;
• technical or other problems frustrate the consumer and business member experience, particularly if those problems prevent us from delivering our services in a fast and reliable manner;
• we are no longer able to attract influencers and ambassadors to our Outreach Program or the efforts by influencers and ambassadors on our behalf do not result in meaningful additional engagement with our platform by consumer members, businesses members or advertisers;
• we are unable to successfully educate consumer members on how to utilize new products and product features that we introduce, such as e-commerce shopping features;
• unscrupulous manufacturers and suppliers attempt to counterfeit, pirate, sell, and gray market our authentic D2C product offerings, which would cause us to incur expenses to combat these attacks and could materially and adversely impact our business and harm our reputation;
• consumer spending levels decrease due to increased inflationary pressures;
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• platform participants behave in ways that negatively affect public perception of our platform;
• changes in laws and regulations adversely affect our business;
• we are unable to address member and advertiser concerns regarding the content, privacy and security of our platform;
• we are unable to combat spam, hostile, inappropriate, misleading, abusive or offensive content or usage of our products or services;
• consumer members adopt new technologies that block our products or services or where our products or services may be displaced in favor of other products or services, or may not be featured or otherwise available;
• our reputation, or public perception of us or persons associated with us;
• third-party initiatives that may enable greater use of our platform, including consumer discounts or rewards, are discontinued;
• merchants exist on our platform that do not provide consumer members with positive shopping experiences, for example, if products are not of the quality depicted on the platform or not readily available for purchase, are not priced competitively or for other reasons do are not in line with changing consumer preferences;
• there are macro level conditions that are beyond our control, such as national or regional economic or political conditions within the United States that affect our member base and that cause consumer members to spend less time on our platform; or
• Any failure to increase or any decrease in member growth, retention or engagement would render our platform less attractive to consumer and business members or advertisers, and would materially harm our business, revenue and financial results.
The report of our independent registered public accounting firm, UHY LLP, contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
To date, our primary sources of liquidity since our inception as Private PSQ in 2021 have been through funding from financing activities. We reported operating and net losses for the three- and six-months ended June 30, 2023, the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from February 25, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 and had negative cash flows from operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the six months ended June 30, 2023. As a result, the audit opinion of our independent registered public accounting firm accompanying our audited financial statements included in this prospectus includes an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern. If we do not realize sufficient capital from our business operations we may be required to raise additional capital or funds from other sources, and our ability to continue as a going concern could be materially adversely affected.
Our management’s plans in regard to these matters are discussed in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern. If we do not realize sufficient capital from our business operations we may be required to raise additional capital or funds from other sources, and our ability to continue as a going concern could be materially adversely affected. We note that from March through June 2023, we issued $22.5 million in mandatorily convertible notes, of which $22.5 million has been received as of June 30, 2023, as part of a Permitted Financing under the Merger Agreement (the “PSQ Convertible Debt Notes”). In July 2023, in connection with the consummation of the Business Combination, the PSQ Convertible Debt Notes automatically converted into shares of Private PSQ Common Stock immediately prior to completion of the Business Combination at a conversion rate based upon an implied $100 million fully diluted pre-money valuation of PSQ, excluding the PSQ Convertible Debt Notes. In conjunction with the consummation of the Business Combination, we also received proceeds totaling $34.9 million in July 2023, after giving effect to Colombier’s stockholder redemptions and before payment of transaction expenses, which will be utilized to fund our operations and growth plans. We believe that as a result of the Business Combination our existing cash and short-term investments, as well as, proceeds from the Business Combination will be sufficient to fund operations and capital needs for at least one year from the date that the condensed consolidated financial statements were issued for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2023.
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The market for our platform and services may not be as large as we believe it to be.
We believe the market for our values-aligned platform is substantial, but it is still relatively new, and it is uncertain to what extent or how widespread market acceptance of our platform will be or how long such acceptance, if achieved, may be sustained. Our success will depend on the willingness of people to widely adopt the PSQ experience, values and the products and services that we offer through our platform. If the public does not perceive our products and services sold through our platform to be beneficial, or chooses not to adopt them as a result of concerns regarding privacy, accessibility, or for other reasons, including an unwillingness to confirm that they respect our five core values or as a result of negative incidents or experiences they encounter through our platform, or instead opt to use alternatives to our platform, then the market for our platform may not continue to grow, may grow slower than we expect, or may not achieve the growth potential we expect, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our business depends on hiring, developing and retaining highly skilled and dedicated employees, and any failure to do so, including turnover in our senior management and other key personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We strive to attract, motivate, and retain team members in the West Palm Beach, Florida market who share a dedication to our five core values and vision, but given the increasingly competitive market for talent, we may not be successful in doing so. Our hiring requirements and employees seeking work elsewhere could impair our ability to meet the demands of our customers and could harm our business especially due to a prolonged gap in skills in the marketplace. Other companies, including competitors, may be successful in recruiting and hiring team members away from us, and it may be difficult for us to find suitable replacements on a timely basis, on competitive terms or at all. In addition, we may experience employee turnover as a result of the ongoing “great resignation” occurring throughout the economy.
None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We consider our relations with our employees to be very positive. Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and prospective employees. The principal purposes of our incentive plans are to attract, retain and motivate select employees, executive officers and directors through the granting of stock-based compensation awards and cash-based performance bonus awards. If these plans do not successfully incentivize our potential and current employees to join and stay with us, we may experience difficulties meeting the demands of our business and consumer members, which could harm our business and operating results.
If we cannot maintain our company culture as we grow, our success and our business and competitive position may be harmed.
We believe our culture has been a key contributor to our success to date and that the critical nature of the platform that we provide promotes a sense of greater purpose and fulfillment in our employees. Any failure to preserve our culture could negatively affect our ability to retain and recruit personnel, which is critical to our growth, and to our ability to effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives. As we grow and develop the infrastructure of a public company, we may find it difficult to maintain these important aspects of our culture. If we fail to maintain our company culture, our business and competitive position may be harmed.
Our success depends on establishing and maintaining a strong brand and base of business and consumer members of our platform, and any failure to establish and maintain a strong brand or member base would adversely affect our future growth prospects.
Since our inception as private PSQ in 2021, we have developed what we believe is a strong brand and base of business and consumer members. Growing, maintaining, protecting and enhancing the “PSQ” brand is critical to expanding our base of business and consumer members and advertisers and increasing the frequency with which they use our platform. We believe that sustaining a favorable reputation for our brand and platform will depend largely on our ability to maintain consumer trust in our solutions and in the quality and integrity of the directory content and other information found and products and services offered through our platform. We believe that having our business members confirm that they respect our five core values helps ensure platform mutual trust in order to protect our brand and drive consumer and business satisfaction and retention. In addition to having our business members confirm our five core values, we verify and vet our business members for quality and values-alignment by researching the businesses through search engines to assess their public reputation and conducting diligence calls with the businesses. If we do not successfully continue to grow and maintain a strong brand, our business would be adversely affected.
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In addition, we have received and expect to continue to receive a high degree of media coverage, including social media coverage, around the world. If such media coverage presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information regarding us (or if public perception of us becomes less favorable for any other reason, including shifts in consumer tastes or preferences or other factors, many of which are outside of our control), such coverage could damage our reputation in the industry and with current and potential business and consumer members, employees, and investors, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be adversely affected.
Negative publicity or media coverage about us or persons or businesses associated with us could adversely affect our reputation and our business, results of operations and future growth prospects.
We have in the past and may in the future receive a high degree of media coverage around the world. Negative publicity or other changes in public perceptions about our company, including our technology, values and ideologies, sales practices, personnel or customer service, or regarding any of our ambassadors and influencers in our Outreach Program or others who publicly support our business, could adversely affect the growth of our business, our reputation or demand for our platform, and diminish confidence in and the use of products and services sold through our platform. Such negative publicity also could have an adverse effect on the size, engagement, and loyalty of our business and consumer member base and advertisers and result in decreased revenue, all of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. In addition, any negative publicity could adversely affect the willingness of vendors, service providers and others to do business with us. Because of our industry and the growing use of social and digital media by consumers and third parties generally to disseminate and share information increases the speed and extent to which information, misinformation and opinions can be shared, negative publicity or other information affecting public perception of us, our brands or products on social or digital or other media could adversely affect, potentially swiftly and materially, our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our success depends in part on the continued success of our Outreach Program which engages highly influential individuals to act as influencers and ambassadors to advocate for our platform and our five core values. Any adverse publicity relating to our ambassadors and influencers, or the loss of their services, could adversely affect our success.
We partner with highly influential individuals to increase consumer awareness of the PSQ platform and promote our five core values through our Outreach Program. Our success depends in part on the continued success of our Outreach Program, which engages influencers and ambassadors to promote the PSQ platform. The reputation and popularity of the ambassadors and influencers participating in our Outreach Program has a significant impact on the success of the Outreach Program. Our Outreach Program may be negatively impacted by a number of factors, including the reputation and popularity of our ambassadors and influencers engaged in promoting us. Adverse publicity relating to an ambassador or influencer could adversely impact our revenues and results of operations as well as our ability to maintain or generate a consumer base. Additionally, a decline in the number of ambassadors and influencers or in their popularity, could adversely impact our success. We believe that maintaining and enhancing our Outreach Program is important to our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to maintain and enhance the Outreach Program, or if excessive expenses are incurred in an effort to do so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
The failure of our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board to protect their reputation could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and image. Additionally, if any of our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board develop a reputation that is misaligned with our five core values, it could have a material adverse effect on our business reputation and image.
The failure of our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board to protect their reputation could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and image. Our success is partially dependent on the reputations of these individuals. The reputations of any of our ambassadors’, influencers’ or members of our senior management or Board may be harmed due to factors outside our control, including activities in which these individuals might engage in their personal capacities or on behalf of other endeavors in which they may be involved with, which could negatively impact our image and have a material adverse effect on our business.
Additionally, if any of our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board develops a reputation that is misaligned with our five core values, it could have a material adverse effect on our business reputation and image. If any of these individuals express views that are incongruent with our five core values, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, including adversely affecting our relationships with our business partners or deterring others from doing business with us.
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To the extent that our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board cease to be appealing to consumer members, business members or advertisers or to our other business partners, or their reputation is adversely affected, the value of the brands they promote, and the sales of the related products produced by the promoted brands on our platform, could be adversely affected and that adverse effect could be material. Damage to the reputations of our ambassadors, influencers or members of our senior management or Board could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, as well as require additional resources to maintain or rebuild our reputation.
We have offered and intend to continue to offer incentives, including economic incentives, to influencers and ambassadors in our Outreach Program to join and promote our platform, and these arrangements have involved and are expected to continue to involve fixed payment obligations or the issuances of equity that are not contingent on actual revenue or performance metrics generated by the applicable influencer, which may adversely impact our financial performance, results of operations and liquidity.
Our consumer and business member base and member engagement and advertiser growth are directly driven by the information and services available on our platform. As part of our Outreach Program, we have partnered with a number of influential individuals to promote our platform as influencers and ambassadors, which has enabled our significant platform growth. Our goal is to attract even more influencers and ambassadors to our platform, further accelerating our platform’s growth, and we have offered and intend to continue to offer incentives, including economic incentives, to influencers and ambassadors to join our Outreach Program. These incentives have or may include cash incentives and equity grants. To the extent our revenue and/or member growth assumptions associated with any influencer or ambassador do not meet our expectations or realize our expected return on investment, our financial performance, results of operations and liquidity may be negative impacted. In addition, to the extent any influencers, ambassadors, members of our management team, members of our Board, or others who are associated with or promote our business are the subject of negative publicity, such negative publicity our any relationship we have with any such person may adversely affect our business.
Certain content or communications by consumer or business members participating on our platform could deter current or potential consumer and business members from using our platform and adversely affect relationships with our business partners, and we may face negative publicity, litigation or other legal actions or other potential harm or liability as a result of that content, regardless of whether such content violated any law.
Consumer and business members participating on our platform may make controversial communications as part of their business communications, whether on our platform or in other settings. Any such content may result in negative publicity, regardless of whether such content violated any law. In addition, any such content, even if not generated by us, may expose us to the risk of litigation or other formal legal action or liability. We may be sued or face regulatory liability for claims relating to communications or information that is made available on our platform, including, but not limited to, claims of defamation, disparagement, intellectual property infringement, or other alleged damages could be asserted against us. Additionally, such content could harm our efforts to attract and retain other consumer and business members and advertisers or result in other harm to our business.
Further, we must continually manage and monitor our platform and detect violations of our terms of service. If a significant amount of conduct that violates our terms of service was not detected and remediated by us in a timely manner, or if a significant amount of information was perceived by members or the media to violate our terms of service, whether or not such perceptions were accurate, our brand, business and reputation could be harmed. This risk increases as our platform continues to grow. In the event our members do not agree with our policies and procedures or their implementation, such members could decrease their usage of us (or cease using us entirely), which could have a material adverse effect on our business or our results of operations for any period. Additionally, there is a risk that members will make communications that may be viewed as representing certain political viewpoints, leading to public perceptions that we endorse those viewpoints, regardless of whether or not such perceptions are accurate. There can be no guarantee that current or future negative publicity, complaints, allegations, political controversies, investigations or legal proceedings with respect to our platform, even if baseless, will not generate adverse publicity that could damage our reputation. Any damage to our reputation could harm our ability to attract and retain business and consumer members.
Our five core values may not always align with the interests of our business or our stockholders.
We consider our five core values as a guide to the decisions we make, which we believe are essential to our success in increasing our business and consumer member and advertiser growth rate and engagement and in serving the best, long-term interests of both us and our stockholders. In the past, we have forgone, and may in the future forgo, certain expansion or revenue opportunities that we do not believe are aligned with our five core values, even if our
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decision may negatively impact our operating results. Decisions that we make based on our five core values that do not align with our business objectives or contribute to the economic value of shares of our capital stock to our stockholders may not result in the benefits that we expect, in which case our member engagement, business, operating results, and financial condition could be harmed.
We have a dual class multiple voting stock structure. Our Class A Common Stock, with one vote per share, is held by all of our stockholders other than our Founder who holds shares of our Class C Common Stock, which provides our Founder with voting control with respect to all matters to be voted upon by our stockholders (except for certain matters which require a supermajority vote or the approval of both the Class A Common Stock and Class C Common Stock voting as separate classes, with respect to which the holders of the Class C Common Stock will have sufficient voting power to prevent, but not on their own approve), so long as our Founder continues to hold shares of Class C Common Stock with the rights and preferences set forth in our Charter. Accordingly, our Founder exercises significant additional control over the direction of our business and the decisions we make as a result of his ownership of Class C Common Stock, and our Founder has significant influence over how we apply our five core values and any changes that that we may make to our core values in the future.
Any failure by us to attract advertisers or any change in or loss of relationships with our existing advertisers could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
For the three- and six-months ended June 30, 2023, and the year ended December 31, 2022, substantially all of our revenue was generated by the sale of advertising products. Our ability to grow our business depends on our ability to maintain and expand our advertiser base. To do so, we must demonstrate to prospective advertisers of the benefits of our products, including those who may not be familiar with our platform or the products and services offered by us or by business members participating on our platform. In addition, we may incur costs to attract advertisers and these costs could be significant. We must also convince existing and prospective advertisers that our advertising products work to their benefit and achieve their desired return on investment. The universe of advertisers willing to advertise on our platform may be more limited than may be the case for other platforms and marketplaces, as advertisers on our platform are required to confirm that they respect our core values.
Our advertisers do not typically enter into long-term obligations to advertise on our platforms. In addition, we rely heavily on advertising spend by small and medium-sized local business members, which can have high failure rates and often have limited advertising budgets. As a result, we may experience attrition in our advertisers in the ordinary course of business resulting from several factors, including losses to competitors, lower priced competitors, perceptions that our advertising solutions are unnecessary or ineffective, declining advertising budgets, closures and bankruptcies. We must continually add new advertisers both to replace advertisers who choose not to renew their advertising or who go out of business, or otherwise fail to fulfill their advertising contracts with us, and to grow our business. Our advertisers’ decisions to renew will depend on a number of factors, including the degree of satisfaction with the return on their advertising investment in us and their ability to continue their operations and spending levels. If we are unable to attract new advertisers or if existing advertisers do not renew with us or if we experience significant advertiser attrition, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be harmed.
Additionally, most advertisers rely on tools that measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns in order to allocate their advertising spend among various formats and platforms. If we are unable to accurately measure the effectiveness of advertising on our platform, or if we are unable to convince advertisers that our platform should be part of their larger advertising budget, our ability to increase the demand and pricing of our advertising tools and maintain or scale our revenue may be limited or decline. Our ability to develop and offer products that accurately measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign on our platform is critical to our ability to attract new advertisers and retain, and increase spend from, our existing advertisers.
In addition, web and mobile browser developers, such as Apple, Microsoft or Google, have implemented and may continue to implement changes, including requiring additional user permissions, in their browser or device operating system that impair our ability to measure and improve the effectiveness of advertising on our platform. Such changes include limiting the use of first-party and third-party cookies and related tracking technologies, such as mobile advertising identifiers, and other changes that limit our ability to collect information that allows us to attribute members’ actions on advertisers’ websites to the effectiveness of advertising campaigns run on our platform. For example, Apple launched its Intelligent Tracking Prevention (“ITP”) feature in its Safari browser. ITP blocks some or all third-party cookies by default on mobile and desktop and ITP has become increasingly restrictive over time.
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Apple’s related Privacy-Preserving Ad Click attribution, intended to preserve some of the functionality lost with ITP, would limit cross-site and cross-device attribution, prevent measurement outside a narrowly-defined attribution window, and prevent advertisement re-targeting and optimization. Further, Apple introduced an App Tracking Transparency framework that limits the ability of mobile applications to request an iOS device’s advertising identifier and may also affect our ability to track business and consumer members’ actions off our platform and connect user interactions with on-platform advertising. Similarly, Google recently announced that it plans to stop supporting third-party cookies in its Google Chrome browser. These web and mobile browser developers have also implemented and may continue to implement changes and restrictions in browser or device functionality that limit our ability to communicate with or understand the identity of our business and consumer members.
These restrictions and changes make it more difficult for us to provide the most relevant advertisements to our consumer members, as well as decrease our ability to measure the effectiveness of, re-target or optimize advertising on our platform. Developers may release additional technology that further inhibits our ability to collect data that allows us to measure the effectiveness of advertising on our platform. Any other restriction, whether by law, regulation, policy (including third-party policies) or otherwise, on our ability to collect and share data which our advertisers find useful or that further reduces our ability to measure the effectiveness of advertising on our platform would impede our ability to attract, grow and retain advertisers. Advertisers and other third parties who provide data that helps us deliver personalized, relevant advertising may restrict or stop sharing this data and it therefore may not be possible for us to collect this data within the platform or from another source.
We rely heavily on our ability to collect data and metrics to help new and existing advertisers understand the performance of advertising campaigns. If advertisers do not perceive our metrics to be accurate representations of our business and consumer members and user engagement, or there are inaccuracies in our metrics, advertisers may decrease or eliminate allocations of their budgets or resources to our platform, which could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
If member engagement by business or consumer members on our platform fails to increase or declines, our revenue, business and operating results will be harmed.
The number of businesses and consumer members that use our platform and their level of engagement on the platform are critical to our success. We must continue to engage and retain existing business and consumer members on our platform, as well as attract, engage and retain new business and consumer members. The number of business and consumer members on our platform may not continue to grow at the current growth rate in platform participation that we have experienced since inception, if at all, and it may even decline.
If current and potential business and consumer members do not perceive their experience with our platform to be useful, the content generated on the platform to be valuable or relevant or the connections with businesses and consumers that may result from platform engagement to be worthwhile, we may not be able to attract new business and consumer members, retain existing business and consumer members or maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement on our platform. In addition, if our existing business and consumer members decrease the frequency or duration of their engagement or the growth rate or our business and consumer members base slows or reverses, we may be required to incur significantly higher marketing expenses than we currently anticipate in order to acquire new business and consumer members or retain current business and consumer members.
There are many factors that could negatively impact our ability to grow, retain and engage current and prospective businesses and consumer members, including, but not limited to:
• members failing to migrate their engagement from or increasing their engagement with competitors’ platforms, products or services instead of, or more frequently than, our platform;
• changes in the amount of time consumer members spend across all applications and platforms, including our platform;
• our failure to introduce platform enhancements that business and consumer members find engaging, or our introduction of new features, terms, policies or procedures, or making changes to our platform, that are not favorably received by current or prospective business and consumer members;
• decline in the quality or competitiveness of the businesses or products offered on our platform;
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• technical or other problems frustrating the user experience, such as problems that prevent us from delivering our services in a fast and reliable manner;
• business and consumer members having difficulty installing, updating or otherwise accessing the PSQ platform on mobile devices or through the app or web browsers;
• member behavior on our platform changing;
• decreases in consumer or business member sentiment due to questions about the quality or usefulness of our platform, concerns about the nature of businesses, products and services or advertising content made available on the platform, concerns related to privacy, safety, security, well-being or other factors;
• consumer members become less able or willing to spend money on values-aligned products and services offered through our platform;
• changes mandated by legislation, government and regulatory authorities, or litigation that adversely impacts our platform or consumer members;
• changes to how we promote different features on our platform;
• public perception of us, our platform or our members becomes less favorable or unfavorable due to actions by platform participants, changes in tastes and interests or other reasons;
• initiatives designed to attract and retain members and engagement are unsuccessful or discontinued, whether as a result of actions by us, third parties, or otherwise;
• if we, or other partners and companies or individuals with whom we have commercial or other relationships, or other participants in the industry, are the subject of adverse media reports or other negative publicity; or
• if we are unable to preserve and enhance our brand and reputation as a trusted values-aligned platform.
Any decrease in member growth, retention or engagement could render our service less attractive to consumer or business members and advertisers, and could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, business member affirmation of and adherence to our five core values is a critical feature of our platform because we believe it demonstrates that the business members on the platform are actually values-aligned with us and our consumer members. If business members on our platform are not correctly or accurately verified, or if our verification processes prove to be ineffective, it could result in distortion of perceived growth metrics or adverse member experiences. If we were to change our affirmation and adherence methods, that may adversely impact our ability to add new members or retain existing members and advertisers.
If we fail to generate and maintain a sufficiently high quality directory of business members on our platform, we may be unable to provide consumer members with the information they are looking for, which could negatively impact our traffic and revenue.
Our success depends on our ability to provide consumer members with the information they seek, which in turn depends on the quantity and quality of the business member directory information provided by us on our platform. In addition, we may not be able to provide consumer members the information they seek if the information on our platform is not up-to-date. If our platform does not provide useful or current information about local business members, our brand and our business could be harmed.
If we are unable to provide consumer members with the information they seek, or if they can find equivalent or better content on other platforms, they may stop or reduce their use of our platform, and traffic to our website and on our mobile app may decline. If our member traffic declines, our advertisers may also stop or reduce the amount of advertising on our platform and our business could be further harmed.
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We are subject to payments-related risks.
We accept payments using a variety of methods, including credit and debit cards. As we offer new payment options to our business and consumer members, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements, and fraud. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and lower profitability.
We rely on third-party payment processors to process payments, refunds, and reimbursements made generally to us by business members subscribing to our platform and consumer members using our platform. Under our commercial agreements with these third party payment processors, they may terminate the relationships with us. If one of these third parties terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we could incur substantial delays and expense in finding and integrating an alternative payment service provider to process payments from business members, and the quality and reliability of any such alternative payment service provider may not be comparable. Further, the software and services provided by these third parties may not meet our expectations, may contain errors or vulnerabilities, and could be compromised or experience outages. Additionally, payment processing software is complex and involves automated processes implemented by us and third parties that we engage that can be misinterpreted or susceptible to errors. These risks have caused us, and may in the future cause us, to lose our ability to accept and account for online payments or other payment transactions, which could disrupt our business for an extended period of time, make our platform less convenient and attractive to members, expose business members information to unauthorized disclosures and abuse, and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain business members, or materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, ability to forecast accurately, and results of operations.
If we are unable to maintain our chargeback or refund rates at levels that credit and debit card issuers and payment processors deem acceptable, these entities may increase fees for chargeback transactions or for many or all categories of transactions, may increase the rates of declining transactions, or they may terminate their relationship with us. Any increases in fees could adversely affect our operating results, particularly if we elect not to raise the prices for transactions on our platform to offset the increase. The termination of our ability to process payments on any major credit or debit card or through certain online payment service providers or payment processors could significantly impair our ability to operate our business.
We may also be subject to or voluntarily comply with a number of other laws and regulations relating to money laundering, money transmission, international money transfers, privacy and information security, and electronic fund transfers. If we are found to be in violation of such applicable laws or regulations, we could be subject to civil and criminal penalties or forced to cease our payments processing services or otherwise make changes to our business practices.
Uncertain global macro-economic and political conditions could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our results of operations could be materially affected by economic and political conditions in the United States and internationally, including inflation, deflation, interest rates, availability of capital, war, terrorism, aging infrastructure, pandemics, energy and commodity prices, trade laws, election cycles and the effects of governmental initiatives to manage economic conditions. Current or potential business and consumer members may delay or decrease spending on our products and services sold through our platform as their business and/or budgets are impacted by economic conditions. The inability of current and potential business and consumer members to pay us for products and services sold through our platform may adversely affect our earnings and cash flows.
If we fail to maintain adequate operational and financial resources, we may be unable to execute our business plan or maintain high levels of service and member satisfaction.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, rapid growth, which has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. Our organizational structure may become more complex as we scale our operational, financial, compliance and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures, and expand internationally. As we continue to grow, we will face challenges of integrating, developing, training, and motivating a growing employee base and navigating a complex
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regulatory landscape. If we fail to successfully manage our anticipated growth and change, the quality of our products and services sold through our platform may suffer, which could negatively affect our brand and reputation and harm our ability to attract and retain consumer and, business members and advertisers on our platform.
To manage growth in our operations and personnel, we will need to continue to grow and improve our operational, financial, and management controls and our reporting systems and procedures. We will require significant capital expenditures and the allocation of valuable management resources to grow and change in these areas. Our expansion has placed, and our expected future growth will continue to place, a significant drain on our management, consumer and business member experience, research and development, sales and marketing, administrative, financial, and other resources.
We anticipate that significant additional investments will be required to scale our operations and increase productivity, to address the needs of consumer and business members and advertisers or members of our platform, to further develop and enhance products and services sold through our platform, and to expand into new areas and to scale with our overall growth. If additional investments are required due to significant growth, this will increase our costs, which may adversely affect our ability to become or remain profitable.
We may not be able to scale our systems, technology, or network infrastructure to ensure that our platform is accessible.
It is important to our success that our platform members be able to access our platform at all times. We have previously experienced, and may experience in the future, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to the number of members accessing our platform simultaneously, and denial of service or fraud or security attacks. For example, we experienced two related outages in late May 2023 as a result of exceptionally high demand and traffic on our app, and our platform was unavailable to business and consumer members for less than 24 hours. We took immediate remediation steps to insure swift restoration of our app. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the availability of our platform, especially during peak usage times and as our solutions become more complex and our member traffic increases. If our platform is unavailable when members attempt to access it or it does not load as quickly as they expect, members may seek other services to obtain the information for which they are looking, and may not return to our platform as often in the future, or at all. This would negatively impact our ability to attract members and advertisers and increase the frequency with which they use our website and mobile app. We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve the availability of our platform and to enable rapid releases of new features and products. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be harmed.
Our disaster recovery program contemplates transitioning our platform and data to a backup center in the event of a catastrophe. Our platform runs within a hybrid cloud service provider inside a virtual private cloud. It utilizes many managed services, as well as a mixture of elastic compute cloud. We currently use multiple availability zones within that region for fault tolerance, redundancy and high availability. We have not yet tested the procedure in full, and the transition procedure may take several days or more to complete. During this time, our platform may be unavailable in whole or in part to our members.
We currently rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our products. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We outsource substantially all of the infrastructure relating to our cloud-accessible products to third-party hosting services. Our cloud-based products depend on protecting the virtual cloud infrastructure hosted by third-party hosting services by maintaining its configuration, architecture, features and interconnection specifications, as well as the information stored in these virtual data centers, which is transmitted by third-party internet service providers. Any limitation on the capacity of our third-party hosting services could impede our ability to onboard new consumers and business members or expand the usage of our existing business and consumer members, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any incident affecting our third-party hosting
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services’ infrastructure may be caused by human error, intentional bad acts, cybersecurity incidents, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, war, terrorist attacks, power losses, hardware failures, systems failures, telecommunications failures and similar events. A prolonged service disruption affecting our cloud-based solution for any of the foregoing reasons would negatively impact our ability to serve our business and consumer members and could damage our reputation with current and potential business and consumer members, expose us to liability, cause us to lose business and consumer members or otherwise harm our business. We may also incur significant costs for using alternative equipment or taking other actions in preparation for, or in reaction to, events that damage the third-party hosting services we use.
In the event that our service agreements with our third-party hosting services are terminated, or there is a lapse of service, elimination of services or features that we utilize, interruption of internet service provider connectivity or damage to such facilities, we could experience interruptions in access to our platform as well as significant delays and additional expense in arranging or creating new facilities and services and/or re-architecting our cloud solution for deployment on a different cloud infrastructure service provider, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on various information technology systems, including our licensed Sage-Intacct enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system to manage our operations, which subjects us to inherent costs and risks associated with maintaining, upgrading, replacing and changing systems, including impairment of our information technology, potential disruption of our internal control systems, substantial capital expenditures, demands on management time, adequate training and other risks of delays or difficulties in upgrading, transitioning to new systems or of integrating adjoining systems to our current systems. Such changes or disruptions can have a material adverse impact in delivering financial information on a timely basis to the SEC and the public markets.
Our business depends on continued and unimpeded access to our directory information and services on the internet, which in turn relies on third-party telecommunications and internet service providers (“ISPs”). If we or those who engage with our content experience disruptions in such internet service for any reason, such as the failure of ISPs to provide reliable services, or if ISPs are able to block, degrade or charge for access to our content and services, we could incur additional expenses and the loss of traffic and advertisers.
Products and services sold through our platform depend on the ability of members to access our platform and the services available on our platform via the internet. Currently, we rely on services from third-party telecommunications providers in order to provide services to our business members and their customers. In addition, we depend on ISPs to provide uninterrupted and error-free service through their networks. We exercise little control over these third-party providers, which increases our vulnerability to problems with the services they provide. Furthermore, telecommunications and ISPs have significant market power in the broadband and internet access marketplace, including incumbent telephone companies, cable companies, mobile communications companies and government-owned service providers.
Moreover, when internet problems occur, it may be difficult to identify the source of the problem and confirm whether it is due to the acts and omissions of our service providers or another cause. Service disruption or outages, whether caused by our service, the products or services of our third-party service providers, or our business members or their customers’ equipment and systems, may result in loss of market acceptance of our platform and any necessary repairs or other remedial actions may force us to incur significant costs and expenses.
Additionally, laws or regulations that adversely affect the growth, popularity or use of the internet, including changes to laws or regulations impacting internet neutrality, could decrease the demand for our products or offerings, increase our operating costs, require us to alter the manner in which we conduct our business and/or otherwise adversely affect our business. We could experience discriminatory or anti-competitive practices that could impede our growth, cause us to incur additional expense or otherwise negatively affect our business. For example, paid prioritization could enable ISPs to impose higher fees and otherwise adversely impact our business. Internationally, government regulation concerning the internet, and in particular, network neutrality, may be developing or may not exist at all. Within such an environment, without network neutrality regulations, we could experience discriminatory or anti-competitive practices that could impede both our and our business members domestic and international growth, increase our costs or adversely affect our business.
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Engagement by consumer and business members on our platform, and our ability to monetize our platform depend upon effective operation within and compatibility with operating systems, networks, devices, web browsers and standards, including mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control.
We make our content available across a variety of operating systems and through websites. We are dependent on the compatibility of our content with popular devices, desktop and mobile operating systems, and web browsers that we do not control, such as Android, and iOS. Any changes in such systems, devices or web browsers that degrade the functionality of our content or give preferential treatment to competitive content could adversely affect usage of our content.
A significant portion of our traffic accesses our content and services through mobile devices and, as a result, our ability to grow traffic, engagement and advertising revenue is increasingly dependent on our ability to generate revenue from content viewed and engaged with on mobile devices. A key element of our strategy is focusing on mobile applications (“apps”), and we expect to continue to devote significant resources to the creation and support of developing new and innovative mobile products, services and apps. We are dependent on the interoperability of our content and our apps with popular mobile operating systems, streaming tools, networks and standards that we do not control, such as the Android and iOS operating systems. We may not be successful in maintaining or developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing content that operates effectively with these technologies, systems, tools, networks, or standards. Any changes in such systems, or changes in our relationships with mobile operating system partners, or mobile carriers, or in their terms of service or policies that reduce or eliminate our ability to distribute and monetize our content, impair access to our content by blocking access through mobile devices, make it hard to readily discover, install, update or access our content and apps on mobile devices, limit the effectiveness of advertisements, give preferential treatment to competitive, or their own, content or apps, limit our ability to measure the effectiveness of branded content, or charge fees related to the distribution of our content or apps could adversely affect the consumption and monetization of our content on mobile devices. Additionally, if the number of platforms for which we develop our product expands, it will result in an increase in our operating expenses. In the event that it is more difficult to access our content or use our apps and services, particularly on mobile devices, or if our members choose not to access our content or use our apps on their mobile devices or choose to use mobile products that do not offer access to our content or our apps, or if the preferences of our traffic require us to increase the number of platforms on which our product is made available to our traffic, our traffic growth, engagement, advertising targeting and monetization could be harmed and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our platform or products could materially and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
The software underlying our platform and products is highly technical and complex. Our software has previously contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected errors, bugs or vulnerabilities. In addition, errors, failures and bugs may be contained in open source software utilized in building and operating our products or may result from errors in the deployment or configuration of open source software. Some errors in our software may only be discovered after the software has been deployed or may never be generally known. Any errors, bugs or vulnerabilities discovered in our software after it has been deployed, or never generally discovered, could result in interruptions in platform availability, product malfunctioning or data breaches, and thereby result in damage to our reputation, adverse effects upon members, loss of consumer and business members and relationships with third parties, including social media networks, loss of revenue or liability for damages. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these problems or risks within an acceptable period of time.
The loss of Michael Seifert, Our Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, or other key personnel, or failure to attract and retain other highly qualified personnel, could harm our business.
Our future success depends in large part on the continued services of senior management and other key personnel. In particular, we are dependent on the services of Michael Seifert, our Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, who is critical to the future vision and strategic direction of our business. We rely on our leadership team and key employees in the areas of engineering, sales and product development, design, marketing, operations, strategy, security, financial, legal and general and administrative functions. Our senior management and other key personnel are all employed on an at-will basis, which means that their employment could be terminated by us at any time, for any reason, and without notice. Conversely, employees may voluntarily terminate their employment at any time, for any reason, and without notice, and the risk of forfeiting equity incentives and/or losing other employee benefits might not
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be sufficient incentive for them to remain employed with us. We currently maintain key-person life insurance policies on all of our officers. If we lose the services of our senior management or other key personnel, or if we are unable to attract, train, assimilate, and retain the highly skilled personnel that we need, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Our future success depends on our continuing ability to attract, train, assimilate, and retain highly skilled personnel, including software engineers and sales personnel. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous software and other technology companies. We may not be able to retain our current key employees or attract, train, assimilate, or retain other highly skilled personnel in the future. We may incur significant costs to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, and we may lose new employees to our competitors or other technology companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. As we move into new geographies, we will need to attract and recruit skilled personnel in those areas. If we are unable to attract and retain suitably qualified individuals who are capable of meeting our growing technical, operational, and managerial requirements, on a timely basis or at all, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Changes in tax rates, changes in tax treatment of companies engaged in e-commerce, or the adoption of new tax legislation may adversely impact our financial results.
Due to shifting economic and political conditions in both the United States or elsewhere, tax policies, laws, or rates may be subject to significant changes in ways that impair our financial results. Various jurisdictions have enacted or are considering digital services taxes, which could lead to inconsistent and potentially overlapping tax regimes. In the United States, the rules dealing with federal, state and local income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us. In recent years, many such changes have been made and changes are likely to continue to occur in the future. It cannot be predicted whether, when, in what form, or with what effective dates, new tax laws may be enacted, or regulations and rulings may be promulgated or issued under existing or new tax laws, which could result in an increase in our tax liability or require changes in the manner in which we operates in order to minimize or mitigate any adverse effects of changes in tax law or in the interpretation thereof.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of approximately $4.6 million and $2.4 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future federal income tax liabilities. The deductibility of such U.S. federal NOLs each year is limited to 80% of our taxable income for such year. In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the amount of benefits from our NOL carryforwards may be impaired or limited if we incur a cumulative ownership change of more than 50% over a three-year period. We have not conducted a study to determine if any such changes have occurred that could limit our ability to use our NOL carryforwards. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past and the Business Combination is expected to result in an ownership change. As a result, our use of our U.S. federal NOL carryforwards will likely be limited. Any such disallowance may result in greater tax liabilities than we would incur in the absence of such a limitation and any increased liabilities could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.
We hold a portion of our cash and cash equivalents that we use to meet our working capital needs in deposit accounts that could be adversely affected if the financial institutions holding such funds fail.
Although we generally seek to diversify our cash and cash equivalents across several financial institutions in an attempt to minimize exposure to any one of these entities, we currently hold, and in the future, may hold, a portion of our cash and cash equivalents that we use to meet our working capital needs in deposit accounts at financial institutions. The balance held in these accounts may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) standard deposit insurance limit of $250,000. If a financial institution in which we hold such funds fails or is subject to significant adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets, we could be subject to a risk of loss of all or a portion of such uninsured funds or be subject to a delay in accessing all or a portion of such uninsured funds. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and Signature Bank were closed by state regulators and the FDIC was appointed receiver for each bank. The FDIC created successor bridge banks and all deposits of SVB and
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Signature Bank were transferred to the bridge banks under a systemic risk exception approved by the United States Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC. While we have taken and will continue to take steps to mitigate the risk of loss of or delayed access to all or a portion of our funds held at various financial institutions, if any financial institution in which we hold funds for working capital were to fail, we cannot provide any assurances that such governmental agencies would take action to protect our uninsured deposits in a similar manner.
Natural disasters, including and not limited to unusual weather conditions, epidemic outbreaks, terrorist acts and political events could disrupt our business schedule.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters, including and not limited to tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and earthquakes, unusual weather conditions, pandemics and endemic outbreaks, terrorist attacks or disruptive political events in certain regions where our facilities are located, or where our third-party contractors’ and suppliers’ facilities are located, could adversely affect our business. Natural disasters including tornados, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes may damage our facilities or those of our suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Terrorist attacks, actual or threatened acts of war or the escalation of current hostilities, or any other military or trade disruptions impacting our domestic or foreign suppliers of components of our products, may impact our operations by, among other things, causing supply chain disruptions and increases in commodity prices, which could adversely affect our raw materials or transportation costs. These events also could cause or act to prolong an economic recession in the United States or abroad. In addition, the disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans and, more generally, any of these events could cause consumer member confidence and spending to decrease, which could adversely impact our operations.
Risks Related to Our Business Strategy and Industry
Our business faces significant competition, and if we are unable to compete effectively, our business and operating results would be adversely affected.
Competition among digital advertising platforms for engagement with our directory information, products and services by business and consumer members, consumers and advertisers is intense. We compete against many companies to attract engagement with our platform including well-established companies that have far greater financial resources and much larger user bases than we have, and companies that offer a variety of internet and mobile device-based information, products and services. As a result, it will require significant effort on our part to attract engagement away from our competitors and our competitors’ platforms may take a variety of actions to retain existing or acquire new platform engagement at the expense of the growth of engagement on our platform, which would negatively affect our business. We believe that our ability to compete effectively for platform engagement will depend upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:
• the willingness of business and consumer members to adopt our values-aligned platform and support our mission;
• the popularity, usefulness and reliability of our platform information, and of the products and services sold through our platform, as compared to that of our competitors;
• the timing of introduction and market acceptance of the products and services offered through our platform;
• the continued expansion and adoption of products and services sold through our platform;
• our ability, and the ability of our competitors, to develop new products and enhancements to existing services;
• our ability, and the ability of our competitors, to attract, develop and retain influencers and ambassadors for our Outreach Program;
• our ability to generate revenues from our current and anticipated platform offerings;
• our ability to attract business members to advertise on our platform;
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• the frequency, relative prominence and appeal of the business members and advertising displayed by us or our competitors;
• public perceptions about the predominance of certain political viewpoints on our platform, regardless of whether those perceptions are accurate;
• changes mandated by, or that we elect to make to address, legislation, regulatory constraints or litigation;
• our ability to attract, retain and motivate talented employees;
• the costs of developing and procuring new services and products, relative to those of our competitors;
• acquisitions or consolidation within our industry, which may result in more formidable competitors; and
• our reputation and brand strength relative to our competitors.
We also face significant competition for advertiser spend. We compete against online and mobile businesses and traditional online directories and platforms, for advertising budgets. In determining whether to buy advertising, our advertisers will consider the demand for our content, demographics of our traffic, advertising rates, results observed by advertisers, and alternative advertising options. The increasing number of digital media options available, including through social networking tools and news aggregation websites, has expanded consumer choice significantly, resulting in traffic fragmentation and increased competition for advertising. In addition, some of our larger competitors have substantially broader content, product or service offerings and leverage their relationships based on other products or services to gain additional share of advertising budgets. Further, we expect that our core values will not appeal to all advertisers, and that as a result the universe of advertisers willing to advertise on our platform may be more limited than may be the case for other platforms and marketplaces. We will need to continue to innovate and improve the monetization capabilities of our platform in order to remain competitive. We believe that our ability to compete effectively for advertiser spend depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:
• the willingness of advertisers to confirm that they respect our core values;
• the size and composition of our user base relative to those of our competitors;
• our advertising targeting capabilities, and those of our competitors;
• the timing and market acceptance of our advertising content and advertising products, and those of our competitors;
• our marketing and selling efforts, and those of our competitors;
• public perceptions about the predominance of certain political viewpoints on our platform, regardless of whether those perceptions are accurate;
• the pricing for our advertising products and services relative to those of our competitors;
• the return our advertisers receive from our advertising products and services, and those of our competitors; and
• our reputation and the strength of our brand relative to our competitors.
We have limited experience with respect to determining the optimal prices and pricing structures for our products and services, which may impact our financial results.
We expect that we may need to change our pricing model from time to time, including as a result of competition, global economic conditions, reductions in spending levels by our consumer and business members and advertisers generally, changes in product mix, pricing studies or changes in how data analytics are employed by organizations. Similarly, as we introduce new products and services, we may have difficulty determining the appropriate price structure for future products and services sold through our platform, including because we may pursue business lines or enter markets in which our current management team has limited prior experience. In addition, as new and existing competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours, or revise their pricing structures, we may be unable to attract new members and advertisers at the same price or based on the same pricing model as we
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have used historically. Moreover, as we continue to target selling products and services through our platform to larger organizations, these larger organizations may demand substantial price concessions. As a result, we may be required from time to time to revise our pricing structure or reduce our prices, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
The expansion of our operations, including in areas not part of our current operations, subjects us to additional risks that can adversely affect our operating results.
We foresee further expansion of our operations as part of our growth strategy. Our current and foreseeable operations subject us to a variety of risks, including:
• challenges recruiting and retaining talented and capable management and employees;
• competition from other companies with significant market share in those markets and with better understanding of demand;
• difficulties in enforcing contracts, collecting accounts receivables, and longer payment cycles;
• challenges complying with varying securities and competition laws and regulations in other countries;
• differing regulatory and legal requirements and possible enactment of additional regulations or restrictions, which could delay or prevent the use of our services in some jurisdictions;
• transaction risk, which may negatively affect our revenue, cost of net revenue, and gross margins, and could result in exchange losses;
• heightened exposure to political instability, war, pandemics and terrorism; and
• overlapping of different tax regimes.
Any of these risks could harm our operations and reduce our sales, adversely affecting our business, operating results, financial condition and growth prospects.
Changes to our existing platform and services could fail to attract engagement with our platform and advertisers or fail to generate revenue.
We expect to introduce changes to our existing platform over time and from time to time, and these changes may be significant. For example, in the first quarter of 2023 we introduced the 2.0 version of the PSQ app, and we are in the process of rolling out e-commerce functionality on our platform, which we expect to complete later this year. In addition, in July 2023, we commercially launched our first D2C product offering, disposable diapers and wipes, under our pro-family “EveryLifeTM” brand. We continue to evaluate additional D2C opportunities and expect to expand and diversify our branded D2C offerings in areas where we believe there is significant existing market need in the future. The success of our platform and enhancements we make depend substantially on consumer member tastes and preferences that change in often unpredictable ways. If our platform enhancements fail to increase engagement on our platform and attract advertisers, we may fail to generate sufficient revenue or operating profit to justify our investments in these enhancements, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected. In addition, we have launched and expect to continue to launch strategic initiatives, which do not directly generate revenue but which we believe will enhance our attractiveness to consumer and business members on our platform, as well as advertisers. In the future, we expect to invest in new platform innovations, products, services, and initiatives to generate revenue, but there is no guarantee these approaches will be successful or that the costs associated with these efforts will not exceed the revenue generated. If our strategic initiatives do not enhance our ability to monetize our existing platform or enable us to develop new approaches to monetization, we may not be able to maintain or grow our revenue or recover any associated development costs and our operating results could be adversely affected.
If we fail to successfully launch our new e-commerce functionality or new D2C product offerings, introduce new platform innovations or expand effectively into new markets, our revenue and our business may be harmed.
A key element of our growth strategy depends on our ability to develop and market new products that appeal to our consumer members. The success of our innovation and product development efforts is affected by our ability to anticipate changes in consumer preferences, the technical capability of our innovation staff, our ability to comply
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with applicable governmental regulations, and the success of our management and sales and marketing teams in introducing and marketing new products. There can be no assurance that we will successfully develop and market new products that appeal to consumer members. For example, product designs we develop may not contain the product attributes desired by our consumer members. Any such failure, including any failure by our e-commerce functionality to gain market acceptance or generate meaningful transaction activity and revenue or any failure of our D2C branded consumer product initiative, may lead to a decrease in our growth, sales and ability to achieve profitability, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Additionally, the development and introduction of new products may require substantial marketing expenditures, which we may be unable to recoup if new products do not gain widespread market acceptance. If we are unsuccessful in meeting our objectives with respect to new or improved products, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
We may not be able to expand into or to compete successfully in a highly competitive D2C market.
The D2C product markets in which we have recently begun to operate and hope to operate in the future are highly competitive and rapidly evolving, with many new brands and product offerings emerging in the marketplace. We may face significant barriers to market entry and competition from both established, well-known legacy consumer packaged goods (“CPG”) players and other emerging D2C brands. We compete and expect to continue to compete based on various product attributes including values-aligned branding, effectiveness, affordability and design, as well as our ability to establish direct relationships with our consumers members through our platform.
Many of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources than us and some of whose products are well accepted in the marketplace today. Many also have longer operating histories, established supply chains, larger fulfillment infrastructures, greater technical capabilities, faster shipping times, lower-cost shipping, lower operating costs, greater financial, marketing, institutional and other resources and larger consumer bases than we do. These factors may also allow our competitors to derive greater revenue, margins and profits from their existing consumer bases, acquire consumers at lower costs or respond more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in product trends and consumer shopping behavior. These competitors may engage in more extensive research and development efforts, enter or expand their presence in any or all of the ecommerce or retail channels where we compete, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns, and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, which may allow them to build larger consumer bases or generate revenue from their existing consumer bases more effectively than we do. As a result, these competitors may be able to offer comparable or substitute products to consumers at similar or lower costs. This could put pressure on us to lower our prices, resulting in lower revenue and margins or cause us to lose market share even if we lower prices.
We expect competition in the D2C product markets to continue to increase. We believe that our ability to compete successfully in this market depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:
• the size and composition of our consumer member base;
• the number of products that we offer and feature across our platform;
• consumer member demand for products sold by values-aligned business members;
• our information technology infrastructure;
• the quality and responsiveness of our customer service;
• our selling and marketing efforts;
• the quality and price of the products that we offer;
• the convenience of the shopping experience that we provide on our app;
• our ability to identify and partner with key suppliers and manufacturers;
• our ability to distribute our products and manage our operations; and
• our reputation and brand strength.
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If we fail to enter into and compete successfully in this market, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
The D2C market is subject to unique risks related to payment, which, if realized, could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The introduction and sale of our D2C branded products will likely require us to accept online payments using a variety of methods, including credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and other forms of payment. As a result of offering such payment methods, we may become subject to regulations and compliance requirements (including obligations to implement enhanced authentication processes that could result in significant costs and reduce the ease of use of our payments products), as well as the risk of payment fraud. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we may incur interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and lower profitability. We would need to rely on third parties to provide certain PSQ-branded payment methods and payment processing services, including the processing of credit cards and debit cards. In each case, it could disrupt our business if these companies become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us. For example, payment processing for our recently launched D2C disposable diaper and wipe products under our pro-family “EveryLifeTM” brand is provided by a third-party payment processer which allows customers to pay using a variety of methods. We may also be subject to payment card association operating rules if we elect to process our own payments in the future, including data security rules, certification requirements, and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. Failure to comply with these rules or requirements, as well as any breach, compromise, or failure to otherwise detect or prevent fraudulent activity involving our data security systems, could result in our being liable for card issuing banks’ costs, subject to fines and higher transaction fees, and loss of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from our business and consumer members, process electronic funds transfers, or facilitate other types of online payments, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.
We would also be subject to or voluntarily comply with a number of other laws and regulations relating to payments, money laundering, international money transfers, privacy, data use, data protection, data security, data localization, network security, consumer protection, and electronic fund transfers. If we were found to be in violation of applicable laws or regulations, we could be subject to additional requirements and civil and criminal penalties, or forced to cease providing certain services.
The D2C model may expose us to significant inventory risks.
The sale of our D2C branded products, including our recently launched disposable diaper and wipe products under our pro-family “EveryLifeTM” brand, may expose us to significant inventory risks that may adversely affect our operating results, as a result of seasonality, new product launches, rapid changes in product cycles and pricing, defective merchandise, warranty claims, recalls, changes in consumer and business member demand and spending patterns, changes in consumer member tastes with respect to our products, and other factors. Despite our best efforts, we may not be able to accurately predict these trends and avoid overstocking or understocking D2C products we would manufacture and sell. Demand for products can change significantly between the time inventory or components are ordered and the date of sale. In addition, if we begin selling or manufacturing a new D2C product, it may be difficult to establish vendor relationships, determine appropriate product or component selection, and accurately forecast demand. The acquisition of certain types of inventory or components requires significant lead-time and prepayment and they may not be returnable. Any one of the inventory risk factors set forth above may adversely affect our operating results.
We may in the future make acquisitions, and such acquisitions could disrupt our operations, and may have an adverse effect on our operating results.
In order to expand our business, we have made and expect to continue to make acquisitions as part of our growth strategy. The success of our future growth strategy will depend on our ability to identify, negotiate, complete and integrate acquisitions and, if necessary, to obtain satisfactory debt or equity financing to fund those acquisitions. Acquisitions are inherently risky, and any acquisitions we complete may not be successful. Any acquisitions that we may undertake in the future involve numerous risks, including, but not limited to, the following:
• difficulties in integrating and managing the operations, personnel, systems, technologies, and products of the companies we acquire;
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• diversion of our management’s attention from normal daily operations of our business;
• our inability to maintain the key business relationships and the reputations of the businesses we acquire;
• uncertainty of entry into markets in which we have limited or no prior experience and in which competitors have stronger market positions;
• our inability to increase revenue from an acquisition;
• increased costs related to acquired operations and continuing support and development of acquired products;
• our responsibility for the liabilities of the businesses we acquire;
• potential goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges and amortization associated with acquired businesses;
• adverse tax consequences associated with acquisitions;
• changes in how we are required to account for our acquisitions under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), including arrangements that we assume from an acquisition;
• potential negative perceptions of our acquisitions by consumer and business members, financial markets or investors;
• failure to obtain required approvals from governmental authorities under competition and antitrust laws on a timely basis, if at all, which could, among other things, delay or prevent us from completing a transaction, or otherwise restrict our ability to realize the expected financial or strategic goals of an acquisition;
• our inability to apply and maintain our internal standards, controls, procedures and policies to acquired businesses;
• potential loss of key employees of the companies we acquire;
• potential security vulnerabilities in acquired products that expose us to additional security risks or delay our ability to integrate the product into our service offerings;
• difficulties in increasing or maintaining security standards for acquired technology consistent with our other services, and related costs;
• ineffective or inadequate controls, procedures and policies at the acquired company;
• inadequate protection of acquired IP rights; and
• potential failure to achieve the expected benefits on a timely basis or at all.
Acquisitions involve many complexities, including, but not limited to, risks associated with the acquired business’ past activities, difficulties in integrating personnel and human resource programs, integrating technology systems and other infrastructures under our control, unanticipated expenses and liabilities, and the impact on our internal controls and compliance with the regulatory requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). There is no guarantee that our acquisitions will increase our profitability or cash flow, and our efforts could cause unforeseen complexities and additional cash outflows, including financial losses. As a result, the realization of anticipated synergies or benefits from acquisitions may be delayed or substantially reduced.
Additionally, acquisitions or asset purchases made entirely or partially for cash may reduce our cash reserves or require us to incur debt under credit agreements or otherwise. We may seek to obtain additional cash to fund any acquisition by selling equity or debt securities. We may be unable to secure the equity or debt funding necessary to finance future acquisitions on terms that are acceptable to us. If we finance acquisitions by issuing equity, convertible debt or other equity-linked securities, our existing stockholders will experience ownership dilution. The incurrence of debt may subject us to financial or other covenants, or other constraints on our business. The occurrence of any
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of the foregoing risks associated with acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, particularly in the case of a larger acquisition or substantially concurrent acquisitions.
Any acquisitions, partnerships or joint ventures that we enter into could disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, we may evaluate potential strategic acquisitions of businesses, including partnerships or joint ventures with third parties. We may not be successful in identifying acquisition, partnership and joint venture candidates. In addition, we may not be able to continue the operational success of such businesses or successfully finance or integrate any businesses that we acquire or with which we form a partnership or joint venture. We may have potential write-offs of acquired assets and/or an impairment of any goodwill recorded as a result of acquisitions. Furthermore, the integration of any acquisition may divert management’s time and resources from our core business and disrupt our operations or may result in conflicts with our business. Any acquisition, partnership or joint venture may not be successful, may reduce our cash reserves, may negatively affect our earnings and financial performance and, to the extent financed with the proceeds of debt, may increase our indebtedness. We cannot ensure that any acquisition, partnership or joint venture we make will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be unable to successfully grow our business if we fail to compete effectively with others to attract and retain our executive officers and other key management and technical personnel.
We believe our future success depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly competent personnel. Our employees are at-will and not subject to employment contracts. We could potentially lose the services of any of our senior management personnel at any time due to a variety of factors that could include, without limitation, death, incapacity, military service, personal issues, retirement, resignation or competing employers. Our ability to execute current plans could be adversely affected by such a loss. We may fail to attract and retain qualified technical, sales, marketing and managerial personnel required to continue to operate our business successfully. Personnel with the expertise necessary for our business are scarce and competition for personnel with proper skills is intense.
In addition, new hires frequently require extensive training before they achieve desired levels of productivity. Additionally, attrition in personnel can result from, among other things, changes related to acquisitions, retirement and disability. We may not be able to retain existing key technical, sales, marketing and managerial employees or be successful in attracting, developing or retaining other highly-qualified technical, sales, marketing and managerial personnel, particularly at such times in the future as we may need to fill a key position. If we are unable to continue to develop and retain existing executive officers or other key employees or are unsuccessful in attracting new highly-qualified employees, our financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Risks Related to Regulatory, Compliance and Legal
We are or may be subject to numerous risks relating to the need to comply with data and information privacy laws.
We are or may become subject to data privacy and securities laws and regulations that apply to the collection, transmission, storage, use, processing, destruction, retention and security of personal information. Our current privacy policies and practices are designed to comply with privacy and data protection laws in the United States. These policies and practices inform members how we handle their personal information and, as permitted by law, allow members to change or delete the personal information in their member accounts. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve in the United States, both federally and at the state level, as well as in other jurisdictions worldwide, and these laws and regulations may at times be conflicting. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction or is inconsistent with our practices, and our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection rules may be unsuccessful. We must devote significant resources to understanding and complying with this changing landscape. Failure to comply with federal, state, provincial and international laws regarding privacy and security of personal information could expose us to penalties under such laws, orders requiring that we change our practices, claims for damages or other liabilities, regulatory investigations and enforcement action (including fines and penalties), litigation, significant costs for remediation, and damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect
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on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Although we endeavor to comply with our published privacy policies and related documentation, and all applicable privacy and security laws and regulations, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Even if we have not violated these laws and regulations, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Additionally, if we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of personal information, including sensitive personal information (e.g. financial information), we could be found to have breached our contracts with certain third parties.
There are numerous U.S. and Canadian federal, state, and provincial laws and regulations related to the privacy and security of personal information. Determining whether protected information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy standards and our contractual obligations can be complex and may be subject to changing interpretation. For example, in 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which, among other things, requires new disclosures to California consumers and affords such consumers new abilities to opt out of certain sales of information and may restrict the use of cookies and similar technologies for advertising purposes. The CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, was amended on multiple occasions and is the subject of regulations issued by the California Attorney General regarding certain aspects of the law and its application. Moreover, California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”) in November 2020. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA, creating additional obligations relating to consumer data, with enforcement beginning July 1, 2023. Aspects of the CCPA and CPRA remain unclear, resulting in further uncertainty and potentially requiring us to modify our data practices and policies and to incur substantial additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Similar laws have been proposed, and likely will be proposed, in other states and at the federal level, and if passed, such laws may have potentially conflicting requirements that would make compliance challenging. Similar state laws have been passed in Virginia, Colorado, Utah and Connecticut and other states are expected to follow. If we fail to comply with applicable privacy laws, we could face civil and criminal fines or penalties.
Failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure, or misrepresentations regarding our current privacy practices, can also constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce and be construed as a violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the “FTCA”), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a). The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of our business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. The FTC may also bring an action against a company who collects or otherwise processes personal information for any statements it deems misleading or false contained in privacy disclosures to consumers. While we use best efforts to comply with our published privacy policies and related documents, we may at times fail to do so, or may be perceived to have failed to do so. In addition, we may unsuccessful in achieving compliance if our personnel, partners, or service providers fail to comply with our published privacy policies and related documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential foreign, local, state and federal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices. In addition, state attorneys general are authorized to bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations that threaten the privacy of state residents. We cannot be sure how these regulations will be interpreted, enforced or applied to our operations. In addition to the risks associated with enforcement activities and potential contractual liabilities, our ongoing efforts to comply with evolving laws and regulations at the federal and state level may be costly and require ongoing modifications to our policies, procedures and systems.
As our business grows, we may also become subject to international privacy laws regulating the collection, transmission, storage, use, processing, destruction, retention and security of personal information. For example, in the European Union, the collection, transmission, storage, use, processing, destruction, retention and security of personal data is governed by the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) in addition to other applicable laws and regulations. The GDPR came into effect in May 2018, repealing and replacing the European Union Data Protection Directive, and imposing revised data privacy and security requirements on companies in relation to the processing of personal data of European Union data subjects. The GDPR, together with national legislation, regulations and guidelines of the European Union Member States governing the collection, transmission, storage, use, processing, destruction, retention and security of personal data, impose strict obligations with respect to, and restrictions on, the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and processing of personal data. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the European Union that are not deemed to have protections for personal information, including the United States. The GDPR authorizes fines for certain violations of up to 4% of the total global annual turnover of the preceding financial year or €20 million,
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whichever is greater. Such fines are in addition to any civil litigation claims by data subjects. Separately, Brexit has led and could also lead to legislative and regulatory changes and may increase our compliance costs. As of January 1, 2021, and the expiry of transitional arrangements agreed to between the United Kingdom and the European Union, data processing in the United Kingdom is governed by a United Kingdom version of the GDPR (combining the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), exposing us to two parallel regimes, each of which authorizes similar fines and other potentially divergent enforcement actions for certain violations. On June 28, 2021, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the United Kingdom, allowing for the relatively free exchange of personal information between the European Union and the United Kingdom. Other jurisdictions outside the European Union are similarly introducing or enhancing privacy and data security laws, rules and regulations, which could increase our compliance costs and the risks associated with noncompliance.
Overall, because of the complexity of these laws, the changing obligations and the risk associated with our collection and use of data, we cannot guarantee that we are, or will be, in compliance with all applicable U.S., Canadian, or other international regulations as they are enforced now or as they evolve.
We are subject to cybersecurity risks and interruptions or failures in our information technology systems and as we grow, we will need to expend additional resources to enhance our protection from such risks. Any cyber incident could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption, loss of members or advertisers on our platform and/or a financial loss that has a material adverse impact on our business and that could subject us to legal claims.
We rely on sophisticated information technology (“IT”) systems and infrastructure to support our business. At the same time, cybersecurity incidents, including deliberate attacks, malware, viruses, ransomware attacks, denial of service attacks, phishing schemes, and other attempts to harm IT systems are prevalent and have increased, including due to the possibility that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the escalating tensions between China and Taiwan could result in increased cyber-attacks or cybersecurity incidents by state actors or others. Our technologies, systems and networks and those of our vendors, suppliers and other business partners may become the target of cyberattacks or information security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of proprietary and other information, or other disruption of business operations. In addition, certain cyber incidents, such as surveillance or vulnerabilities in widely used open source software, may remain undetected for an extended period. Our systems for protecting against cybersecurity risks may not be sufficient. As the sophistication of cyber incidents continues to evolve, we have been and will likely continue to be required to expend additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to cyber incidents. Additionally, any of these systems may be susceptible to outages due to fire, floods, power loss, telecommunications failures, usage errors by employees, computer viruses, cyber-attacks or other security breaches or similar events. The failure of any of our IT systems may cause disruptions in our operations, which could adversely affect our revenues and profitability, and lead to claims related to the disruption of our services from members of the PSQ platform and advertisers.
Hackers and data thieves are increasingly sophisticated and operate large-scale and complex automated attacks, which may remain undetected until after they occur. Despite our efforts to protect our information technology networks and systems, payment processing, and information, we may not be able to anticipate or to implement effective preventive and remedial measures against all data security and privacy threats. Our security measures may not be adequate to prevent or detect service interruption, system failure, data loss or theft, or other material adverse consequences. No security solution, strategy, or measures can address all possible security threats. Our applications, systems, networks, software, and physical facilities could have material vulnerabilities, be breached, or personal or confidential information could be otherwise compromised due to employee error or malfeasance, if, for example, third parties attempt to fraudulently induce our personnel or our business members to disclose information or usernames and/or passwords, or otherwise compromise the security of our networks, systems and/or physical facilities. We cannot be certain that we will be able to address any such vulnerabilities, in whole or part, and there may be delays in developing and deploying patches and other remedial measures to adequately address vulnerabilities, and taking such remedial steps could adversely impact or disrupt our operations. We expect similar issues to arise in the future as products and services sold through our platform are more widely adopted, and as we continue to introduce future products and services. An actual or perceived breach of our security systems or those of our third party service providers may require notification under applicable data privacy regulations or for customer relations or publicity purposes, which could result in reputational harm, costly litigation (including class action litigation), material contract
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breaches, liability, settlement costs, loss of sales, regulatory scrutiny, actions or investigations, a loss of confidence in our business, systems and payment processing, a diversion of management’s time and attention, and significant fines, penalties, assessments, fees, and expenses. The costs to respond to a security breach or to mitigate any security vulnerabilities that may be identified could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful. These costs include, but are not limited to: retaining the services of cybersecurity providers; complying with requirements of existing and future cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations, including the costs of notifying regulatory agencies and impacted individuals; and maintaining redundant networks, data backups, and other damage-mitigation measures. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices in response to a security breach or related regulatory actions or litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, most jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities, and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such mandatory disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach.
We may not have adequate insurance coverage for handling cyber security incidents or breaches, including fines, judgments, settlements, penalties, costs, attorney fees, and other impacts that arise out of incidents or breaches. If the impacts of a security incident or breach, or the successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), it could harm our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to all or part of any future claim or loss. Moreover, our privacy risks are likely to increase as we continue to expand, grow our consumer and business member base, and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of personal or sensitive data.
Issues in the use of artificial intelligence, including machine learning and computer vision (together, “AI”), in our analytics platforms may result in reputational harm or liability.
AI is enabled by or integrated into some of our analytics platforms and is a growing element of our business offerings going forward. As with many developing technologies, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and use, and therefore our business. AI algorithms may be flawed. Data sets may be insufficient, of poor quality, or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by data scientists, engineers, and end-users of our systems could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. If the analyses that AI applications assist in producing are deficient or inaccurate, we could be subjected to competitive harm, potential legal liability, and brand or reputational harm. Some uses of AI present ethical issues, and our judgment as to the ethical concerns may not be accurate. If we use AI as part of our platform in a manner that is controversial because of the purported or real impact on our business members or vendors, this may lead to adverse results for our financial condition and operations or the financial condition and operations of our business members, which may further lead to us experiencing competitive harm, legal liability and brand or reputational harm.
Compliance obligations imposed by new privacy laws, laws regulating social media platforms and online speech in the U.S., or industry practices may adversely affect our business.
New laws and regulations could restrict our ability to conduct marketing by, for example, restricting the emailing or targeting of members or use of certain technologies like AI. For example, federal, state and foreign governmental authorities continue to weigh the privacy implications inherent in the use of third-party “cookies” and other methods of online tracking for behavioral advertising and other purposes. Regulatory authorities have enacted and, continue to consider legislation that could significantly restrict the ability of companies to engage this these activities, by regulating the consumer notice and consent requirements before a company can employ cookies and similar tracking technologies, or how companies can use the data gathered by such technologies. Similarly, private market participants may deploy technologies or require certain practices that limit our ability to obtain or use certain information about our business and consumer members. For example, Google has indicated that it will ultimately phase out the use of cookies to track members of its search services in future versions of its Chrome web browser, and Apple has updated its iOS mobile operating system to require app developers to obtain opt-in consent before tracking members of its various services. If these types of changes are implemented (or as a result of their implementation), our ability to determine how our business and consumer members are using our services and to use targeted advertising in a
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cost-effective manner may be limited. New laws in other jurisdictions may also require us to change our content moderation practices, or privacy policies and practices in ways that harm our business or create the risk of fines or other penalties for non-compliance.
If we infringe on the intellectual property (“IP”) of others, we could be exposed to substantial losses and face restrictions on our operations.
We may become subject to legal claims alleging that we have infringed the IP rights of others. To date, we have not fully evaluated the extent to which other parties may bring claims that our technology, including our use of open source software, infringes on the IP rights of others. The availability of damages and royalties and the potential for injunctive relief have increased the costs associated with litigating and settling patent infringement claims. Any claims, whether or not meritorious, could require us to spend significant time, money, and other resources in litigation, pay damages and royalties, develop new IP, modify, design around, or discontinue existing products, services, or features, or acquire licenses to the IP that is the subject of the infringement claims. These licenses, if required, may not be available at all or have acceptable terms. As a result, IP claims against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.
Inadequate technical and legal IP protections could prevent us from defending or securing our proprietary technology and IP.
Our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our proprietary information and technology. We may be unsuccessful in adequately protecting our IP. No assurance can be given that confidentiality, non-disclosure, or invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, or other parties will not be breached and will otherwise be effective in controlling access to and distribution of our platform or solutions, or certain aspects of our platform or solutions, and proprietary information. Further, these agreements do not prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our platform or solutions. Additionally, certain unauthorized use of our IP property may go undetected, or we may face legal or practical barriers to enforcing our legal rights even where unauthorized use is detected.
Our ability to implement our business plan successfully depends in part on our ability to further build brand recognition using our trademarks, service marks, proprietary products, trade secrets and other IP, including our name and logos.
We rely on U.S. trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws, as well as license agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and confidentiality and other contractual provisions to protect our IP. The success of our business depends on our continued ability to use our existing trademarks, trade names, and service marks to increase brand awareness and further develop our brand as we expand into new markets. We have registered and applied to register trademarks and service marks in the United States. We may not be able to adequately protect our trademarks and service marks, and our competitors and others may successfully challenge the validity or enforceability of our trademarks and service marks and other IP. There can also be no assurance that pending or future U.S. trademark applications will be approved in a timely manner or at all, or that such registrations will effectively protect our brand names and trademarks.
If we fail to adequately protect our proprietary IP rights, our competitive position could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets, generate reduced revenue and incur costly litigation to protect our rights.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary IP rights, including certain methodologies, practices, tools, technologies and technical expertise we utilize in designing, developing, implementing and maintaining applications and processes and related technologies. To date, we have relied primarily on trademarks, trade secrets and other IP laws, non-disclosure agreements with our employees, consultants and other relevant persons and other measures to protect our IP, and intend to continue to rely on these and other means, including and not limited to patent protection, in the future. However, the steps we take to protect our IP may be inadequate, and we may choose not to pursue or maintain protection for our IP in the United States or foreign jurisdictions. We will not be able to protect our IP if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our IP. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our technology and use information that we regard as proprietary to create technology that competes with ours.
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Further, the laws of some countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and mechanisms for enforcement of IP rights in some foreign countries may be inadequate. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying and use of our technologies and proprietary information may increase. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing upon, misappropriating or otherwise violating our technology and IP.
We rely in part on trademarks, trade secrets, proprietary know-how and other confidential information to maintain our competitive position. Although we enter into non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements with our employees, enter into non-disclosure agreements with our business members, consultants and other parties with whom we have strategic relationships and business alliances and enter into IP assignment agreements with our consultants and vendors, no assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to and distribution of our technology and proprietary information. Further, these agreements do not prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our products.
We could face employee claims.
We could face employee claims against us based on, among other things, wage and hour violations, discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination that may also create not only legal and financial liability, but also negative publicity that could adversely affect us and divert our financial and management resources that would otherwise be used to benefit the future performance of our operations.
Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and have a negative impact on our reputation or business.
From time to time, we may be party to various claims and litigation proceedings.
Even when not merited, the lawsuits and other legal proceedings may divert management’s attention, and we may incur significant expenses in pursuing or defending these lawsuits or other legal proceedings. The results of litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments or settlements in some of these legal disputes may result in adverse monetary damages, penalties or injunctive relief against us, which could negatively impact our financial position, cash flows or results of operations. Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future.
Furthermore, while we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, our insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable. Even if we believe a claim is covered by insurance, insurers may dispute our entitlement to recovery for a variety of potential reasons, which may affect the timing and, if the insurers prevail, the amount of our recovery.
Risks Related to Our Operations as a New Public Company
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert our management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified independent board members.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting and corporate governance requirements of the Exchange Act, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). Compliance with these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. Among other things, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Although we have already hired additional personnel to help comply with these requirements, we may need to further expand our legal and finance departments in the future, which will increase our costs and expenses.
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In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expense and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business and prospects may be harmed. As a result of disclosure of information in the filings required of a public company and in this prospectus, our business and financial condition will become more visible, which may result in threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may have increasing difficulty attracting and retaining qualified outside independent board members.
The directors and management of publicly traded corporations are increasingly concerned with the extent of their personal exposure to lawsuits and shareholder claims, as well as governmental and creditor claims that may be made against them in connection with their positions with publicly held companies. Outside directors are becoming increasingly concerned with the availability of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance to pay on a timely basis the costs incurred in defending shareholder claims. Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance is expensive and difficult to obtain. The SEC and the NYSE have also imposed higher independence standards and certain special requirements on directors of public companies. Accordingly, it may become increasingly difficult to attract and retain qualified outside directors to serve on our Board.
Stock trading volatility could impact our ability to recruit and retain employees.
Volatility or lack of appreciation in our stock price may also affect our ability to attract and retain our key employees. Employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested equity have not significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase price of the shares or the exercise price of the options, or conversely, if the exercise price of the options that they hold are significantly above the market price of our common stock. If we are unable to retain our employees, or if we need to increase our compensation expenses to retain our employees, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Members of our management team have limited or no prior experience managing a public company.
Most of the members of our senior management team have no experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors, and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition to being a public company, which will subject us to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts, investors and regulators. These new obligations and constituents will require significant attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are an Emerging Growth Company, making comparisons to non-Emerging Growth companies difficult or impossible.
We are an Emerging Growth Company (“EGC”) as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and we have taken and expect to continue to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, registrations statements and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a
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nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts EGCs from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. This exemption may make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies that are neither EGCs nor EGCs that have opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We may be exposed to risk if we cannot enhance, maintain, and adhere to our internal controls and procedures.
As a public company trading on the NYSE, we have significant requirements for enhanced financial reporting and internal controls. The process of designing and implementing effective internal controls is a continuous effort that will require us to anticipate and react to changes in our business accounting, auditing and regulatory requirements and to expend significant resources to maintain a system of internal controls that is adequate to satisfy our reporting obligations as a public company, and we are still early in the process of generating a mature system of internal controls and integration across business systems. If we are unable to establish or maintain appropriate internal financial reporting controls and procedures, it could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations on a timely basis, result in material misstatements in our financial statements, and harm our operating results.
Matters impacting our internal controls may cause us to be unable to report our financial information in an accurate manner or on a timely basis and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions by the SEC or violations of NYSE rules. There also could be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements also could suffer if we or our independent registered public accounting firm continue to report a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. This could materially adversely affect us and lead to a decline in the market price of our common stock.
UHY LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary to provide reliable financial reports and reduce the risk of fraud. We continue to evaluate measures to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If any new material weaknesses are identified in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable NYSE listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our share price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
Additionally, if our revenue and other accounting, auditing or tax systems do not operate as intended or do not scale with anticipated growth in our business, the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting could be adversely affected. Any failure to develop, implement, or maintain effective internal controls related to our revenue and other accounting, auditing or tax systems and associated reporting could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.
We have encountered difficulties with growth and change. If we fail to address these difficulties in assessing data usage, if the personnel handling our accounting, auditing or finance function fail to perform at an appropriate level for a public company, or if other weaknesses in internal controls are detected, it may be determined that we have a material
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weakness. In addition, most of our employees who work within our accounting, auditing and financial reporting functions have limited to no experience managing a publicly traded company and have limited to no experience implementing, monitoring and enforcing the internal financial, auditing and accounting controls for a publicly traded company. The identification of a material weakness could result in regulatory scrutiny and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial condition and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flow or results of operations.
We are in the process of designing and implementing measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting to remediate any possible material weaknesses, primarily by implementing additional review procedures within our accounting, auditing and finance department, hiring additional staff, designing and implementing information technology and application controls in our financially significant systems, and, if appropriate, engaging external auditing and accounting experts to supplement our internal resources in our computation and review processes. While we are designing and implementing measures to remediate the material weaknesses, we cannot predict the success of such measures or the outcome of our assessment of these measures at this time. We can give no assurance that these measures will remediate either of the deficiencies in internal control or that additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. Our failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements that may lead to a restatement of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.
As a public company, we are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for each annual report on Form 10-K to be filed with the SEC. This assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. We are required to disclose changes made in our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis. To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we expect to need to undertake various actions, such as implementing new internal controls and procedures and hiring accounting or internal audit staff. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC, the NYSE or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources. We have begun the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404, but we may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion.
As a public company, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur increased expenses associated with the costs of being a public company.
We have and expect to continue to face a significant increase in insurance, legal, auditing, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company that we did not currently incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including the requirements of Section 404 of that Act, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”), the SEC and the NYSE, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements have and will continue to increase our costs and make certain activities more time-consuming. A number of those requirements require us to carry out activities that we have not done previously. For example, we recently created new board committees and adopted new internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, additional expenses associated with SEC reporting requirements have and will continue to be incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if our independent registered accounting firm identifies a material weakness or significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), we could incur additional costs to remediate those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of it. Being a public company has and may in the future make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance. We may ultimately be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage with increased self-retention risk or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage in the future. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our common stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.
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The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by various rules and regulations applicable to public companies has and is expected to continue to increase legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, auditing, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs will require us to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise be used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by shareholders and third-parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.
To the extent we incur indebtedness in the future, such indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition, our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to operate our business, our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry and our ability to pay our debts and could divert our cash flow from operations for debt payments.
In the future, we may have a material amount of indebtedness and leverage. Our level of indebtedness increases the possibility that we may be unable to generate cash sufficient to pay the principal of, interest on, or other amounts due with respect to our indebtedness. Our leverage and debt service obligations could adversely impact our business, including by:
• impairing our ability to generate cash sufficient to pay interest or principal, including periodic principal payments;
• increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
• requiring the dedication of a portion of our cash flow from operations to service our debt, thereby reducing the amount of our cash flow available for other purposes, including capital expenditures, dividends to stockholders or to pursue future business opportunities;
• requiring us to sell debt or equity securities or to sell some of our core assets, possibly on unfavorable terms, to meet payment obligations;
• limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industries in which we compete; and
• placing us at a possible competitive disadvantage with less leveraged competitors and competitors that may have better access to capital resources.
Any of the foregoing factors could have negative consequences on our financial condition and results of operations.
Limited insurance coverage and availability may prevent us from obtaining insurance to cover all risks of loss.
We have insured certain products and launches to the extent that insurance was available at acceptable premiums. This insurance will not protect us against all losses due to specified exclusions, deductibles and material change limitations.
We have obtained and maintain insurance for director and officers, cybersecurity, business owner, commercial general liability and workers’ compensation, based on a variety of factors, including the availability of insurance in the market, the cost of available insurance and the redundancy of our operating entities. Higher premiums on insurance policies will increase our costs and consequently reduce our operating income by the amount of such increased premiums. If the terms of these insurance policies become less favorable than those currently available, there may be limits on the amount of coverage that we can obtain or we may not be able to obtain insurance at all. Even as obtained, our insurance will not cover any loss in revenue incurred as a result of a partial or total loss.
Moreover, our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover our liabilities related to such hazards or operational risks. In addition, passenger insurance may not be accepted or may be prohibitive to procure. Moreover, we may not be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates we consider reasonable and commercially justifiable, and insurance may not continue to be available on terms as favorable as our current arrangements. The occurrence of a significant uninsured claim, or a claim in excess of the insurance coverage limits maintained by us, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
Future sales of our Class A Common Stock could cause the market price for our Class A Common Stock to decline.
We cannot predict the effect, if any, that market sales of shares of our Class A Common Stock or the availability of shares of our Class A Common Stock for sale will have on the market price of our Class A Common Stock prevailing from time to time. Sales of substantial amounts of shares of our Class A Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that those sales will occur, could cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to decline or be depressed.
We may issue our securities if we need to raise capital in connection with a capital expenditure, working capital requirement or acquisition. The number of shares of our Class A Common Stock issued in connection with a capital expenditure, working capital requirement or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock. Any perceived excess in the supply of our shares in the market could negatively impact our share price and any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you.
An active market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to factors specific to us as well as to general market or economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
Our issuance of additional capital stock in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, the EIP, the ESPP or otherwise will dilute all other stockholders.
We expect to issue additional capital stock in the future that will result in dilution to all other stockholders. We expect to grant equity awards to employees, directors and consultants under the Incentive Plan and grant options to our employees under the ESPP. We may also raise capital through equity financings in the future. As part of our business strategy, we may acquire or make investments in complementary companies, products or technologies and issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition or investment. Any such issuances of additional capital stock may cause stockholders to experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the per share value of our common stock to decline.
There can be no assurance that we will continue to be able to comply with the continued listing standards of the NYSE.
Our continued eligibility to maintain the listing of our Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants on the NYSE depends on a number of factors, including the price of our Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants and the number of persons that hold our Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants. If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange for failure to meet its listing standards, and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, then our Class A Common Stock could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we and our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
• a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
• reduced liquidity for our securities;
• a determination that the Class A Common Stock is a “penny stock,” which will require brokers trading the Class A Common Stock to adhere to more stringent rules, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for shares of Class A Common Stock;
• a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
• a decreased ability for us to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
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If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our securities adversely, the price and trading volume of our securities could decline.
The trading market for our securities will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, markets, revenue streams, and competitors. Securities and industry analysts do not currently, and may never, publish research on us. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, our share price and trading volume would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who may cover us adversely change their recommendation regarding our shares of common stock, or provide relatively more favorable recommendations with respect to competitors, the price of our shares of common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.
We do not intend to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future.
We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to finance the further development and expansion of our business and do not intend to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, restrictions contained in the Stockholders’ Agreement and future agreements and financing instruments, business prospects and such other factors as our Board deems relevant.
Because there are no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Class A Common Stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your Class A Common Stock at a price greater than what you paid for it.
We intend to retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and there are no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on shares of our Class A Company Common Stock will be at the sole discretion of the Board. The Board may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, implications of the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us and such other factors as the Board may deem relevant. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in the Class A Common Stock unless you sell your Class A Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.
Our stockholders may experience dilution in the future.
The percentage of shares of the Class A Common Stock owned by current stockholders may be diluted in the future because of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including, without limitation, equity awards that we may grant to our directors, officers and employees, or the exercise of Warrants. Such issuances may have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of the Class A Common Stock.
Our Warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A Common Stock.
In connection with the Business Combination, we assumed from Colombier, Warrants to purchase 11,450,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at $11.50 per share. Such Warrants, when and if exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock and may reduce the value of the Class A Common Stock.
The exercise of Warrants, and any proceeds we may receive from their exercise, are highly dependent on the price of our Class A common stock and the spread between the exercise price of the Warrant and the price of our Class A common stock at the time of exercise. For example, to the extent that the price of our Class A common stock exceeds $11.50 per share, it is more likely that holders of our Warrants will exercise their warrants. If the price of our Class A common stock is less than $11.50 per share, we believe it is much less likely that such holders will exercise their warrants. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE was $8.45 per share, which price was less than the $11.50 per share exercise price of the Private Warrants. There can be no assurance that our Warrants will be in the money after the date of this prospectus and prior to their expiration.
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Our Sponsor and the Sponsor Distributees have the option to exercise the Private Warrants on a cashless basis. Holders of Public Warrants may generally only exercise such Warrants for cash, subject to very limited exceptions in certain circumstances as provided for in the Warrant Agreement relating to the Warrants.
Our Founder and Chief Executive Officer, will continue to exercise significant control over our business and operations, including through his holdings of a special Class C Common Stock with majority voting rights.
Michael Seifert, our Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, hold shares of our Class C Common Stock. Each holder of Class C Common Stock has the right to a number of votes (rounded up to the nearest whole number) per share of Class C Common Stock held of record by such holder as of the applicable record date equal to (i) (x) the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock entitled to vote on such matter as of the applicable record date, plus (y) one hundred (100); divided by (ii) the total number of shares of Class C Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the applicable record date. Consequently, since Mr. Seifert is the sole holder of the Class C Common Stock as of the date of this prospectus, he possess approximately 52.81% of the voting power of our common equity, and, as a result Mr. Seifert has the ability to control the result of most matters to be voted upon our stockholders. Mr. Seifert’s Class C shares will automatically convert into Class A Common Stock upon transfer (subject to customary exceptions for transfers for estate planning purposes), but Mr. Seifert has agreed not to sell any of his Class C Common Stock during the period (the “Lock-Up Period”) commencing from the Closing and ending on the earlier of (A) the one (1) year anniversary of the date of the Closing, (B) the first date subsequent to the Closing with respect to which the closing price of our Class A Common Stock has equaled or exceeded $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing or (C) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property. Mr. Seifert can transfer shares of Class C Common Stock to certain “permitted transferees” without consequence. In addition, although any shares of Class C Common Stock transferred to any person or entity who is not a permitted transferee will automatically convert into shares of Class A Common Stock, the remaining shares of Class C Common Stock, collectively, will continue to control the outcome any vote until such time as the Class C Common Stock is voluntarily converted into Class A Common Stock, or involuntarily converted into Class A Common Stock as a result of Mr. Seifert no longer being an officer or director of PSQ, or upon the transfer of shares Class C Common Stock, individually or in a series of transaction (other than transfers to permitted transferees), of greater than 50% of the number of shares of Class C Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately following closing of the Business Combination.
This concentrated control may limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transactions requiring stockholder approval. In addition, this concentrated control may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders. As a result, such concentrated control may adversely affect the market price of our Class A Common Stock.
A significant number of shares of our Class A Common Stock and the Private Warrants will be available for public resale by the Selling Holders and, subject to the Lock-Up Period in the case of the shares of Class A Common Stock constituting the Colombier Sponsor Shares (but not the Private Warrants or shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise thereof), may be sold into the market in the future upon effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part. The Selling Holders purchased the securities covered by this prospectus at different prices than prices paid by investors who purchased our securities in our IPO or in the public markets, and the prices paid by the Selling Holders were significantly below the current trading price of our securities. Sales of our Class A Common Stock by the Selling Holders, or the perception that such sales may occur, may cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to decline, perhaps significantly, even if our business is doing well.
As of the date of this prospectus, assuming the exercise of all of the outstanding Warrants for Class A Common Stock and conversion of Class C Common Stock for Class A Common Stock, we would have 39,003,753 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding, of which 10,012,500 shares of Class A Common Stock (representing 4,312,500 shares currently outstanding and 5,700,000 shares underlying the Private Warrants), representing approximately 25.7% of the total number of shares outstanding, are being registered by the registration statement of
45
which this prospectus forms a part for resale by the Selling Holders. The securities registered for resale by the Selling Holders in the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part will therefore constitute a considerable percentage of our public float and will be available for immediate resale upon effectiveness of the registration statement and for so long as such registration statement remains available, subject to the expiration of the Lock-Up Period, as applicable, or sooner in the case of the Private Warrants and shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Warrants. The market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock could decline as a result of substantial sales of our Class A Common Stock by our Selling Holders or the perception that such sales may occur. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time.
In addition, the Selling Holders purchased the securities covered by this prospectus at different prices, some at prices significantly below the current trading price of such securities. The Colombier Sponsor purchased its 4,312,500 shares of Class A Common Stock currently outstanding, or the Colombier Sponsor Shares, for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share. Accordingly, the Sponsor Distributees would potentially earn approximately $36.4 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving effect to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such resales) upon resale of all of the shares of Class A Common Stock constituting the Colombier Sponsor Shares that they received upon conversion of their Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Closing of the Business Combination if they were to sell their shares at a price of $8.45, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023. The Sponsor Distributees also hold 5,700,000 Private Warrants, which were purchased by the Colombier Sponsor at a price of $1.00 per warrant in connection with our IPO. Accordingly, the Sponsor Distributees could earn approximately $1.0 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such resales) upon resale of their Private Warrants if they were to sell such Private Warrants at a price equal to $1.17, which was the closing price of Public Warrants as reported by the NYSE on October 3, 2023. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock on the NYSE was $8.45 per share, which price was less than the $11.50 per share exercise price of the Private Warrants. Assuming the Sponsor Distributees exercised all of the Private Warrants on a cashless basis on August 9, 2023, the most recent day prior to the date of this prospectus on which either the “Fair Market Value” (as defined in the Warrant Agreement (as defined herein)) of our Class A Common Stock or the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE exceeded $12.50 per share (which amount represents the exercise price of $11.50 per share of Class A Common Stock plus the $1.00 purchase price paid by the Colombier Sponsor for each Private Warrant)) and immediately sold the 730,326 shares of Class A Common Stock that would have been acquired upon such cashless exercise (based on a Fair Market Value of our Class A Common Stock on such day of $13.19 per share and which amount would have been used for purposes of calculating the number of shares issuable upon such cashless exercise), and with such sales effected at a price equal to the $10.70 closing sale price of our Class A Common Stock on the NYSE on such day, the Sponsor Distributees could have potentially earned approximately $2.1 million of profit in the aggregate (before giving effect to any brokerage or other transaction costs that may be incurred by them in connection with any such sales). The Selling Holders may potentially make a significant profit with the sale of the securities covered by this prospectus depending on the trading price of the Company’s securities at the time of a sale and the purchase price of such securities by the applicable Selling Holders. While the Selling Holders may experience a positive rate of return based on the trading price of our securities, the public holders of our securities may not experience a similar rate of return on the securities they purchased due to differences in the applicable purchase price and trading price. Selling Holders may also have an incentive to sell their securities because of the likelihood that they will still profit on such sales because such securities were acquired by the Selling Holders at an acquisition cost significantly less than the prices paid by public investors in our securities.
In connection with the Closing, we, the Colombier Sponsor and certain of our stockholders entered into the Registration Rights Agreement, pursuant to which such stockholders are entitled to, among other things, certain registration rights, including demand, piggy-back and shelf registration rights, subject to certain requirements and customary conditions. Certain parties to the Registration Rights Agreement have agreed not to sell, transfer, pledge or otherwise dispose of certain shares of our Class A Common Stock they hold until July 19, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the Closing Date, subject to early release if the closing price of our Class A Common Stock has equaled or exceeded $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing of the Business Combination, or, in the case of Private Warrants. The Private Warrants, and shares of Class A Common
46
Stock issuable upon exercise thereof, are no longer subject to a lock-up and may be sold at any time. The sale of shares of our Class A Common Stock or Private Warrants registered pursuant to the Registration Statement or the perception that sales may occur, could cause the market price of our securities to drop significantly.
We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE listing standards and, as a result, we qualify for, and rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. As a result, you do not and may not in the future have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.
We have a dual class structure which allows our Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Michael Seifert, to control a majority of the voting power of our common equity. As a result, we qualify as a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of NYSE. Under these rules, a listed company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and will elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, specifically director nominees be selected or recommended to the board by independent directors. It is our intention to generally comply with these corporate governance requirements as of the date of this prospectus, with the exception of our nominating and corporate governance committee, which is not be comprised entirely of independent directors. It is our intention as of the date of this prospectus to comply with the requirements that (i) a majority of our Board consist of independent directors and (ii) we have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors. However, we may at any time after the date of this prospectus elect to avail ourselves of one or more additional controlled company exemptions provided that we continue to qualify as a controlled company. To the extent we rely on any of these exemption, holders of our Class A Common Stock will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of NYSE and we cannot predict the impact this may have on the price of our Class A Common Stock.
Our Warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and were recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A Common Stock.
On April 12, 2021, the SEC Staff issued the SEC Staff Statement, wherein the SEC Staff expressed its view that certain terms and conditions common to SPAC warrants may require the warrants to be classified as liabilities on the SPAC’s balance sheet as opposed to being treated as equity. Specifically, the SEC Staff Statement focused on certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers following a business combination, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing the Warrants. In light of the issues raised in the SEC Staff Statement, and pursuant to the guidance in ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), determined that its warrants should be classified as derivative liabilities measured at fair value on its balance sheet, with any changes in fair value to be reported each period in earnings on our statement of operations.
As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors that are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our Warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our stockholders in the public market following could cause the market price for the Class A Common Stock to decline.
The sale of shares of our Class A Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of Class A Common Stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for the us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that it deems appropriate.
As of the date of this prospectus we have a total of 24,340,075 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding (i) without giving effect to any awards that may be issued under the EIP, EPP or any Earnout Shares that may be issued in the future, and (iii) assuming no exercise of the outstanding Warrants. All shares currently held by Public Stockholders and all of the shares issued in the Business Combination to former Private PSQ stockholders are freely tradable without registration under the Securities Act, and without restriction by persons other than our “affiliates” (as defined under Rule 144 under the Securities Act, (“Rule 144”)), including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates.
47
Simultaneously with the execution and delivery of the Merger Agreement, certain stockholders of Private PSQ, who collectively own approximately 36.0% of the shares of our Class A Common Stock outstanding as of the date of this prospectus, agreed with Colombier pursuant to lock-up agreements, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any of their shares of the Class A Common Stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of the Class A Common Stock during the period from the date of the Closing until July 19, 2024, the one year anniversary of the Closing of the Business Combination, the one year anniversary of the Closing Date, subject to early release if the closing price of our Class A Common Stock has equaled or exceeded $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing of the Business Combination, or, in the case of Private Warrants. Similarly, the Class A Common Stock that was issued upon conversion of the Colombier Class B Common Stock in connection with the Business Combination is subject to a lock-up whereby, subject to certain limited exceptions, such shares are not transferable or saleable until the earlier of (A) one year after the Closing Date or (B) subsequent to the Business Combination, if (x) the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing, or (y) we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
In addition, the shares of Class A Company Common Stock reserved for future issuance under the EIP and ESPP will become eligible for sale in the public market once those shares are issued, subject to any applicable vesting requirements, lock-up agreements and other restrictions imposed by law. A total number of 7,088,696 shares of the Class A Common Stock and 600,000 shares of the Class A Common Stock have been reserved for future issuance under the EIP and EPP, respectively. We have filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of the Class A Common Stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Class A Common Stock issued pursuant to the EIP and ESPP, which automatically became effective upon filing. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statement will be available for sale in the open market.
In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of the Class A Common Stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of the then-outstanding shares of the Class A Common Stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. We may continue to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We cannot predict whether investors will find securities issued by us less attractive because we elect to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find those securities less attractive as a result of its reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth
48
companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the closing of our IPO, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion; (iii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our Class A Common Stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the last business day of the second fiscal quarter of such year; or (iv) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
49
USE OF PROCEEDS
We will receive up to an aggregate of approximately $131.7 million from the exercise of all Warrants, assuming the exercise in full of all such Warrants for cash. Cash proceeds associated with the exercises of our Warrants, if any, are therefore dependent on the trading price of our shares of Class A Common Stock. To the extent that the Warrants are exercised on a “cashless basis,” the amount of cash we would receive from the exercise of the Warrants will decrease. On October 3, 2023, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock as reported by the NYSE was $8.45 per share, which price was less than the $11.50 per share exercise price of the Warrants. There can be no assurance that the trading price of our Class A Common Stock will exceed the exercise price per share of the Warrants after the date of this prospectus and prior to their expiration. Until such time occurs, we believe that holders of our Warrants are less likely to exercise their Warrants for cash. We cannot assure you that the Warrants will ever be exercised or that we will realize any meaningful cash proceeds from exercises of Warrants in the future.
Unless we inform you otherwise in a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we intend to use the net proceeds, if any, from the exercise of the Warrants for general corporate purposes, which may include: (i) funding our D2C inventory and supply chain requirements; (ii) supporting our D2C and B2B operating expenses, including marketing and payroll; (iii) funding an increase in our payroll in the areas of engineering and product for the further development of our platform’s functionality, including the enhancement of e-commerce capabilities, consumer rewards programs, and platform scalability; (iv) launching targeted marketing initiatives, including brand awareness campaigns, direct-response advertising, promotional events, and the expansion of our Outreach Program; and (v) for other general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, working capital for operations and potential future acquisitions.
All of the shares of Class A Common Stock and the Private Warrants (including shares of Class A Common Stock underlying such Private Warrants) offered by the Selling Holders pursuant to this prospectus will be sold by the Selling Holders for their respective accounts. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these sales.
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UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Introduction
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information presents the combination of financial information of Colombier and Private PSQ, adjusted to give effect to the Business Combination and related transactions. The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X as amended by the final rule, Release No. 33-10786 “Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses” to depict the accounting for the transaction (“Transaction Accounting Adjustments”) and present the reasonably estimable synergies and other transaction effects that have occurred or are reasonably expected to occur (“Management’s Adjustments”). Colombier has elected not to present Management’s Adjustments and will only be presenting Transaction Accounting Adjustments in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of June 30, 2023 assumes that the Business Combination occurred on June 30, 2023. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2023 and for the year ended December 31, 2022 presents pro forma effect to the Business Combination as if it had been completed on January 1, 2022.
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements have been presented for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily reflect what the Company’s financial condition or results of operations would have been had the acquisition occurred on the dates indicated. Further, the pro forma condensed combined financial information also may not be useful in predicting the future financial condition and results of operations of the Company. The actual financial position and results of operations may differ significantly from the pro forma amounts reflected herein due to a variety of factors.
The historical financial information of Colombier was derived from the audited financial statements of Colombier as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 and the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Colombier as of and for the six months ended June 30, 2023. The historical financial information of Private PSQ was derived from the audited financial statements of Private PSQ as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 and the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Private PSQ as of and for the six months ended June 30, 2023. This information should be read together with Colombier’s and Private PSQ’s audited and unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, and related notes, the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”.
Description of the Business Combination
On February 27, 2023, Colombier entered into a Merger Agreement by and among Colombier, Merger Sub, the Colombier Sponsor, and Private PSQ. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, a business combination between Colombier and Private PSQ was effected and the name of Colombier was changed to “PSQ Holdings, Inc.” More specifically, and as described in greater detail below, at the Effective Time of the Merger:
• Merger Sub merged with and into Private PSQ, with Private PSQ being the surviving company following the Merger and continuing in existence as a wholly owned subsidiary of Colombier;
• any Private PSQ Convertible Securities which remain outstanding and have not been exercised or do not convert automatically into shares of Private PSQ Common Stock prior to the Effective Time were cancelled without consideration;
• each share of Private PSQ Common Stock, other than shares held by the PSQ Founder, were automatically converted into the right to receive 19.476836 shares of Class A Common Stock; and
• each share of Private PSQ Common Stock held by the PSQ Founder were automatically converted into the right to receive 19.476836 shares of Class C Common Stock.
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Merger Consideration
Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, the consideration delivered to the holders of Private PSQ Common Stock in connection with the Merger was a number of newly issued shares of Class A Common Stock with an aggregate value equal to $200.0 million, subject to adjustments for Private PSQ’s closing debt (net of cash).
In addition to Private PSQ Stockholders’ rights to receive Class A Common Stock or Class C Common Stock, as applicable, in the Merger, Participating Equityholders are entitled to receive up to 3,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock in the event trading price-based are satisfied during the five-year period commencing on the date of the Closing and ending on the fifth anniversary thereof (the “Earnout Period”). Specifically, Earnout Shares will be earned if one or more of the three triggering events described below occurs:
• in the event that, and upon the date during the Earnout Period on which, the volume-weighted average trading price of Class A Common Stock quoted on the NYSE (or such other exchange on which the shares of Class A Common Stock are then listed) for any twenty (20) trading days within any thirty consecutive trading day period (the “Earnout Trading Price”) is greater than or equal to $12.50, the Participating Equityholders will be entitled to receive an aggregate of 1,000,000 Earnout Shares (“Triggering Event I”);
• in the event that, and upon the date during the Earnout Period on which, the Earnout Trading Price is greater than or equal to $15.00, the Participating Equityholders will be entitled to receive an aggregate of 1,000,000 additional Earnout Shares (“Triggering Event II”); and
• in the event that, and upon the date during the Earnout Period on which, the Earnout Trading Price is greater than or equal to $17.50, the Participating Equityholders will be entitled to receive an aggregate of 1,000,000 additional Earnout Shares (“Triggering Event III”, together with Triggering Event I and Triggering Event II, “Triggering Events”).
If, during the Earnout Period, there is a change of control of the Company pursuant to which the Company or its stockholders have the right to receive consideration implying a value per share of Class A Common Stock equaling or exceeding the Earnout Trading Price underlying one or more Triggering Events, then, immediately prior to the consummation of such change of control, (i) to the extent the relevant Triggering Event has not previously occurred, such relevant Triggering Event shall be deemed to have occurred and (ii) each Participating Equityholder shall be entitled to receive its pro rata share of the applicable number of Earnout Shares to be issued based on the deemed occurrence of the applicable Triggering Event(s).
The Company’s obligation to issue Earnout Shares to a Deemed Equity Holder shall, in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, be satisfied by the issuance of an Earnout Equity Award to the Deemed Equity Holder from the Earnout Subpool, which Earnout Equity Award will be made no earlier than as soon as practicable following the applicable Triggering Event, will be subject to the terms of the EIP and may be in the form, including an award of fully-vested stock, and subject to any terms and conditions, as the Board shall determine at the time of grant.
If the conditions for payment of the Earnout Shares are satisfied and assuming all originally designated Deemed Equity Holders are then still providing services to the Company, 10% of the aggregate Earnout Shares will be payable to the Private PSQ Stockholders in accordance with their respective pro rata shares of the total number of shares of Private PSQ Common Stock outstanding as of immediately prior to the Closing, and 90% of the aggregate Earnout Shares will be allocated among the Deemed Equity Holders as Earnout Equity Awards. If any Deemed Equity Holder ceases providing services to the Company prior to the occurrence of any Triggering Event(s) (or an earlier change of control of the Company), such Deemed Equity Holder will forfeit his or her right to receive any Earnout Shares relating to such individual’s status as a Deemed Equity Holder for such future Triggering Event(s) (or earlier change in control), with the result that any subsequently earned Earnout Shares shall be distributed, in accordance with their respective pro rata shares, among the remaining Participating Equityholders.
52
The following tables summarize the pro forma number of shares of our Common Stock outstanding immediately following the consummation of the Business Combination, discussed further in the sections below, excluding the potential dilutive effect of the Warrants, equity awards under the EIP or EPP and the Earnout Shares.
Equity Capitalization Summary |
Shares |
% |
|||
Private PSQ Stockholders |
21,522,825 |
73.6 |
% |
||
Colombier Public Stockholders |
3,422,651 |
11.7 |
% |
||
Sponsor |
4,312,500 |
14.7 |
% |
||
Total common stock |
29,257,976 |
100.0 |
% |
Anticipated Accounting Treatment
The Business Combination was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with GAAP. Under this method of accounting, although Colombier acquired all of the outstanding equity interests of Private PSQ in the Business Combination, Colombier was treated as the “acquired” company and Private PSQ was treated as the accounting acquirer for financial statement reporting purposes. Accordingly, the Business Combination was treated as the equivalent of Private PSQ issuing stock for the net assets of Colombier, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of Colombier were stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded. Operations prior to the Business Combination were those of Private PSQ.
Private PSQ was determined to be the accounting acquirer based on evaluation of the following facts and circumstances:
• Private PSQ’s existing stockholders have the ability to control decisions regarding election and removal of directors and officers of the Company;
• Private PSQ is the larger entity in terms of substantive operations and employee base;
• Private PSQ comprises the ongoing operations of the Company; and
• Private PSQ’s existing senior management is the senior management of the Company.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of June 30, 2023 and the unaudited pro forma condensed combined statements of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2023 and for the year ended December 31, 2022 are based on the audited and unaudited historical financial statements of Colombier and Private PSQ. The unaudited pro forma adjustments are based on information currently available, and assumptions and estimates underlying the unaudited pro forma adjustments are described in the accompanying notes. Actual results may differ materially from the assumptions used to present the accompanying unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information and include immaterial rounding differences.
53
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED BALANCE SHEET
JUNE 30, 2023
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
Private PSQ |
Colombier |
Transaction |
Pro Forma |
||||||||||||
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ |
6,170 |
$ |
1,201 |
$ |
34,728 |
|
B |
$ |
25,263 |
|||||
|
|
|
(6,038 |
) |
C |
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
(10,798 |
) |
D |
|
|||||||||
Short-term investments |
|
10,050 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
10,050 |
||||||
Prepaid expense and other current assets |
|
1,034 |
|
49 |
|
2,571 |
|
D |
|
3,654 |
|||||
Total current assets |
|
17,254 |
|
1,250 |
|
20,463 |
|
|
38,967 |
||||||
Intangible assets, net |
|
2,439 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
2,439 |
||||||
Operating lease right-of-use asset |
|
211 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
211 |
||||||
Property and equipment, net |
|
137 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
137 |
||||||
Deposits |
|
38 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
38 |
||||||
Marketable securities held in Trust Account |
|
— |
|
175,879 |
|
(141,151 |
) |
A |
|
— |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
(34,728 |
) |
B |
|
|
||||||
Total assets |
$ |
20,079 |
$ |
177,129 |
$ |
(155,416 |
) |
$ |
41,792 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
LIABILITIES, TEMPORARY EQUITY AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT) |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ |
573 |
$ |
— |
$ |
(18 |
) |
D |
$ |
555 |
|||||
Accrued expenses |
|
2,177 |
|
3,450 |
|
(4,285 |
) |
D |
|
1,342 |
|||||
Deferred revenue |
|
114 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
114 |
||||||
Current portion of operating lease liabilities |
|
186 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
186 |
||||||
Income taxes payable |
|
— |
|
958 |
|
— |
|
|
958 |
||||||
Total current liabilities |
|
3,050 |
|
4,408 |
|
(4,303 |
) |
|
3,155 |
||||||
Convertible promissory notes |
|
37,071 |
|
— |
|
(37,071 |
) |
E |
|
— |
|||||
Operating lease liabilities, non-current |
|
33 |
|
— |
|
— |
|
|
33 |
||||||
Warrant liabilities |
|
— |
|
8,817 |
|