Arena Group Holdings, Inc. - Annual Report: 2018 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

[X] ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

[  ] TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from __________ to __________

Commission file number 1-12471

THEMAVEN, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(775) 600-2765

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Common Stock $0.01 par value

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes [  ] No [X]

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.

If emerging growth company, indicated 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 13(b) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes [  ] or No [X]

As of June 30, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the Common Stock held by non-affiliates was $15,478,406. This calculation is based upon the closing price of the Common Stock of $0.65 per share on that date, as reported by the OTC Markets Group Inc.

As of December 31, 2020, the Registrant had 175,597,695 shares of Common Stock outstanding.

Form 10-K

Table of Contents

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Although TheMaven, Inc. (“TheMaven,” the “Company,” “us,” “we,” or “our”), has made certain filings through Current Reports on Form 8-K, this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) is the Company’s first periodic filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) since the filing of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. We intend to file a comprehensive Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the interim periods during fiscal 2019 as soon as possible. Thereafter, we intend to file Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second, and third quarters of 2020. Finally, we intend to timely file the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements and information in this Annual Report may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and include, without limitation, statements concerning the Company’s business strategy, future revenues, market growth, capital requirements, product introductions and expansion plans and the adequacy of the Company’s funding. Other statements contained in this Annual Report that are not historical facts are also forward-looking statements. The Company has tried, wherever possible, to identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and other comparable terminology.

The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements presented in this Annual Report, or that the Company may make orally or in writing from time to time, are based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. Such statements are based on assumptions, and the actual outcome will be affected by known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties and factors that are beyond the Company’s control or ability to predict. Although the Company believes that its assumptions are reasonable, however, these assumptions are not guarantees of future performance, and some will inevitably prove to be incorrect. As a result, the Company’s actual future results can be expected to differ from its expectations, and those differences may be material. Accordingly, investors should use caution in relying on forward-looking statements, which are based only on known results and trends at the time they are made, to anticipate future results or trends. Certain risks are discussed in this Annual Report and from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC.

This Annual Report and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report.

This Annual Report is being filed for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, as a late report to comply with the reporting obligations applicable to the Company under the Exchange Act. Unless specifically required to provide information for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, by the rules and regulations of the SEC, the discussion of the business of the Company reflects its current assets and current operations. Where the information relates to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, the Company has made a reasonable effort herein to make that clear. Also, to be clear, the financial information in the consolidated financial statements and footnotes accompanying this Annual Report and the other financial information and management’s discussion about the consolidated financial statements relate to the historical periods for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

Part I

Item 1. Business

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate, and entertain. We operate a significant portion of the media businesses for Sports Illustrated (as defined below) and own and operate TheStreet, Inc. (the “TheStreet”), and power more than 250 independent brands including History, Maxim, Ski Magazine, and Biography. The Maven technology platform (the “Maven Platform”) provides digital publishing, distribution and monetization capabilities for the Sports Illustrated and TheStreet businesses as well as a coalition of independent, professionally managed online media publishers (each a “Channel Partner” or a “Maven”). Each Channel Partner joins the media-coalition by invitation-only and is drawn from premium media brands, professional journalists, subject matter experts, and social leaders. Mavens publish content and oversee an online community for their respective channels, leveraging our proprietary technology platform to engage the collective audiences within a single network. Generally, Mavens are independently owned, strategic partners who receive a share of revenue from the interaction with their content. When they join, we believe Mavens will benefit from the proprietary technology of the Maven Platform, techniques, and relationships. Advertising revenue may improve due to the scale we have achieved by combining all Mavens onto a single platform and the large and experienced sales organization. They may also benefit from our membership marketing and management systems, which we believe will enhance their revenue. Additionally, we believe the lead brand within each vertical creates a halo benefit for all Mavens in the vertical while each of them adds to the breadth and quality of content. While they benefit from these critical performance improvements they also may save substantially in costs of technology, infrastructure, advertising sales, and member marketing and management.

Please see “Our Future Business” and “Future Liquidity” for additional important information in Item 7.

Corporate History

We were originally incorporated as Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (“Integrated”), in Delaware in 1990. On July 22, 2016 Amplify Media, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware and on July 27, 2016, it changed its name to Amplify Media Network, Inc. (“Amplify Media Network”). Amplify Media Network changed its name again on October 14, 2016 to TheMaven Network, Inc. (“TheMaven Network”).

On October 11, 2016, Integrated and TheMaven Network entered into a share exchange agreement (the “Share Exchange Agreement”) whereby the stockholders of TheMaven Network agreed to exchange all of the then issued and outstanding shares of common stock for shares of common stock of Integrated. On November 4, 2016, the parties consummated a recapitalization pursuant to the Share Exchange Agreement and, as a result, TheMaven Network became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integrated. Integrated changed its name to TheMaven, Inc. on December 2, 2016. On March 5, 2018, TheMaven Network changed its name to Maven Coalition, Inc. (“Maven Coalition 1”).

HubPages Merger

HubPages, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“HubPages”), became our wholly-owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated March 13, 2018 (“Agreement and Plan of Merger”), and as amended by the Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated April 25, 2018 (“First Amendment”), the Second Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated June 1, 2018 (“Second Amendment”), the Third Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated May 31, 2019 (“Third Amendment”), and the Fourth Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 15, 2020 (the “Fourth Amendment,” and collectively with the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and the Third Amendment, the “HubPages Merger Agreement”) between us, HubPages, and HP Acquisition Co, Inc. (“HPAC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours incorporated in Delaware on March 13, 2018 in order to facilitate the acquisition of HubPages by us. Pursuant to the HubPages Merger Agreement, HPAC merged with and into HubPages, with HubPages continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours (the “HubPages Merger”). On August 23, 2018, we acquired all the outstanding shares of HubPages pursuant to the HubPages Merger.

Say Media Merger

Say Media, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Say Media”), became our wholly-owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated October 12, 2018 and as amended on October 17, 2018 (collectively, the “Say Media Merger Agreements”) between us, Say Media, SM Acquisition Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation (“SMAC”), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours incorporated on September 6, 2018 to facilitate a merger, and Matt Sanchez, solely in his capacity as a representative of the Say Media security holders. Pursuant to the Say Media Merger Agreement, SMAC merged with and into Say Media, with Say Media continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours (the “Say Media Merger”). On December 12, 2018, we acquired all the outstanding shares of Say Media pursuant to the Say Media Merger Agreements.

Acquisition of TheStreet, Inc. and Relationship with Cramer Digital

TheStreet became our wholly-owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated June 11, 2019, as amended (the “TheStreet Merger Agreement”), between us, Say Media, and TST Acquisition Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation (“TSTAC”), a newly-formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours formed in order to facilitate the acquisition of TheStreet by us. Pursuant to TheStreet Merger Agreement, TSTAC merged with and into TheStreet, with TheStreet continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours (the “TheStreet Merger”). On August 7, 2019, we acquired all the outstanding shares of TheStreet pursuant to the TheStreet Merger.

On August 7, 2019, in connection with the TheStreet Merger, we entered into a letter agreement (the “Original Cramer Agreement”) with finance and stock market expert Jim Cramer, who co-founded TheStreet, which sets forth the terms of the Cramer Services to be provided by Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital, Inc. (“Cramer Digital”), a production company owned and controlled by Mr. Cramer, featuring the digital rights and content created by Mr. Cramer and his team of financial experts. A second letter agreement providing additional terms was entered into on April 16, 2020 (the “Second Cramer Agreement,” and together with the Original Cramer Agreement, the “Cramer Agreement”).

The Cramer Agreement provides for Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital to create content for Maven on each business day during the term of the Cramer Agreement, prepare special content for us, make certain personal appearances and provide other services as reasonably requested and mutually agreed to (collectively, the “Cramer Services”). In consideration for the Cramer Services, we pay Cramer Digital a commission on subscription revenues and net advertising revenues for certain content (the “Revenue Share”). In addition, we pay Cramer Digital approximately $3,000,000 as an annualized guarantee payment in equal monthly draws, recoupable against the Revenue Share. We also issued two options to Cramer Digital pursuant to our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2019 Plan”). The first option was to purchase up to two million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.72, the closing stock price on August 7, 2019, the grant date. This option vests over 36 months. The second option was to purchase up to three million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.54, the closing stock price on April 21, 2020, the grant date. In the event Cramer Digital and we agree to renew the term of the Cramer Agreement for a minimum of three years from the end of the second year of the current term, 900,000 shares will vest on the first day of the third year of the term as so extended (the “Trigger Date”). The remaining shares will vest equally on the 12-month anniversary of the Trigger Date, the 24-month anniversary of the Trigger Date and the 36-month anniversary of the Trigger Date.

In addition, we provide Cramer Digital with a marketing budget, access to personnel and support services, and production facilities. Finally, the Cramer Agreement provides that we will reimburse fifty percent of the cost of the rented office space by Cramer Digital, up to a maximum of $4,250 per month.

The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement

On June 14, 2019, we entered into a licensing agreement (the “Initial Licensing Agreement”), as amended by Amendment No. 1 to Licensing Agreement, dated September 1, 2019 (the “First Amendment”), Amendment No. 2 to Licensing Agreement, dated April 1, 2020 (the “Second Amendment”), and Amendment No. 3 to Licensing Agreement, dated July 28, 2020 (the “Third Amendment” and, together with the Initial Licensing Agreement, First Amendment, and the Second Amendment, the “Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement”) with ABG-SI LLC (“ABG”), a Delaware limited liability company and indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Authentic Brands Group, pursuant to which we have the exclusive right and license in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand to operate the Sports Illustrated (“Sports Illustrated”) media business (in the English and Spanish languages), including to (i) operate the digital and print editions of Sports Illustrated (including all special interest issues and the swimsuit issue) and Sports Illustrated for Kids, (ii) develop new digital media channels under the Sports Illustrated brands and (iii) operate certain related businesses, including without limitation, special interest publications, video channels, bookazines and the licensing and/or syndication of certain products and content under the Sports Illustrated brand (collectively, the “Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands”).

The initial term of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement commenced on October 4, 2019 upon the termination of the Meredith License Agreement (as defined below) and continues through December 31, 2029. We have the option, subject to certain conditions, to renew the term of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement for nine consecutive renewal terms of 10 years each (collectively with the initial term, the “Term”), for a total of 100 years. The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement provides that we will pay to ABG annual royalties in respect of each year of the Term based on gross revenues (“Royalties”) with guaranteed minimum annual amounts. On the execution of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement, we prepaid ABG $45,000,000 against future royalties. ABG will pay to us a share of revenues relating to certain Sports Illustrated business lines not licensed to us, such as all gambling-related advertising and monetization, events, and commerce. The two companies are partnering in building the brand worldwide.

Pursuant to a publicly announced agreement, dated May 24, 2019, between ABG and Meredith Corporation (“Meredith”), an Iowa corporation, Meredith previously operated the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands under license from ABG (the “Meredith License Agreement). On October 3, 2019, we, and Meredith entered into a Transition Services Agreement and an Outsourcing Agreement (collectively, the “Transition Agreement”), whereby the parties agreed to the terms and conditions under which Meredith continued to operate certain aspects of the business, and provided certain services during the fourth quarter of 2019 as all activities were transitioned over to us. Through these agreements, we took over operating control of the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands, and the Transition Agreement was terminated.

Merger of Subsidiaries

On December 19, 2019, our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Maven Coalition 1 and HubPages, were merged into another of our wholly owned subsidiaries, Say Media. On January 6, 2020, Say Media changed its name to Maven Coalition, Inc. (the “Maven Coalition”).

Asset Acquisition of Petametrics Inc.

On March 9, 2020, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Petametrics Inc., doing business as LiftIgniter, a Delaware corporation (“LiftIgniter”), and Maven Coalition, whereby Maven Coalition purchased substantially all the assets of LiftIgniter’s machine learning platform, which personalizes content and product recommendations in real-time. The purchased assets included LiftIgniter’s intellectual property and excluded certain accounts receivable. Maven Coalition also assumed certain of LiftIgniter’s liabilities. The purchase price consisted of: (i) a cash payment of $184,086 on February 19, 2020, in connection with the repayment of certain of its outstanding indebtedness; (ii) a cash payment at closing of $131,202; (iii) collections of certain accounts receivable; (iv) on the first anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our common stock; and (v) on the second anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our common stock.

Corporate Offices

Our executive offices are located at 225 Liberty Street, 27^th Floor, New York, New York 10281. At our California and Seattle locations, we carry out the software development and other operational activities. Our current telephone number is (775) 600-2765.

Recapitalization Accounting

On October 11, 2016, Integrated and TheMaven Network entered into the Share Exchange Agreement that provided for each outstanding share of common stock of TheMaven Network to be converted into 4.13607 shares of our common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”), and for each outstanding warrant and stock option to purchase shares of common stock of TheMaven Network be cancelled in exchange for a warrant or stock option to purchase shares of our common stock based on the Exchange Ratio (the “Recapitalization”).

On November 4, 2016, the consummation of the Recapitalization became effective and pursuant to the Recapitalization, we: (i) issued to the stockholders of TheMaven Network an aggregate of 12,517,152 shares of our common stock; and (ii) issued to MDB Capital Group, LLC (“MDB”), as an advisory fee, warrants to purchase 1,169,607 shares of our common stock. Existing stock options to purchase 175,000 shares of our common stock were assumed pursuant to the Recapitalization.

Business and Technology

We have developed a proprietary online publishing platform that provides Channel Partners the ability to produce and manage editorially focused content and community interaction through tools and services provided by us. We have also developed proprietary advertising technology, techniques, and relationships that allow our Channel Partners to monetize online editorially focused content through various display and custom content advertising solutions and services (the “Advertising Solutions” and, together with the Maven Platform, the “Maven Platform Services”).

The Maven Platform launched in “preview” form in May 2017 when the first channels went live and has been substantially enhanced with ongoing development and the integration of three other platform acquisitions. We have incorporated state-of-the-art mobile, video, communications, social, notifications, and other technology into the Maven Platform, including modern DevOps processes with continuous integration/continuous deployment and an entirely cloud-based back-end. The software engineering and product development teams are experienced at delivering service at scale. We continue to develop the Maven Platform software by combining proprietary code with components from the open-source community, plus select commercial services as well as identifying, acquiring and integrating other platform technologies, where we see unique long-term benefits to us.

The Maven Platform Services feature:

In connection with providing the Maven Platform Services, we enter into contracts with advertising networks to serve display or video advertisements on the digital media pages associated with its various channels. We also enter into contracts with internet users that subscribe to premium content on the digital media channels. These contracts provide internet users with a membership subscription (each, a “Membership”) to access the premium content for a given period of time, which is generally one year.

Our Channel Partners use the Maven Platform Services to produce, manage, host, and monetize their content in accordance with the terms and conditions between partner agreements between each of our Channel Partners and us (the “Partnership Agreements”). Pursuant to the Partnership Agreements, we and our Channel Partners split revenue generated from the Maven Platform Services used in connection with our Channel Partner’s content based on certain metrics such as whether the revenue was from direct sales, whether revenue was generated by our Channel Partner or us, whether the revenue was generated in connection with a Membership, whether based on standalone or bundled subscriptions, and whether the revenue was derived from affiliate links.

Subject to the terms and conditions of each Partnership Agreement and in exchange for the Maven Platform Services, our Channel Partners grant us, for so long as our Channel Partner’s assets are hosted on the Maven Platform, (i) exclusive control of ads.txt with respect to our Channel Partner’s domains and (ii) the exclusive right to include our Channel Partner’s website domains and related URLs in our network in a consolidated listing assembled by third party measurement companies such as comScore, Nielsen, and/or other similar measuring services selected by us. As such, the Maven Platform serves as the primary digital media and social platform with respect to each of our Channel Partners’ website domains during the applicable term of each Partnership Agreement.

Our Brands and Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is to continue to expand the coalition by adding new Mavens in key verticals that management believes will expand the scale of unique users interacting on the Maven Platform. In each vertical, we seek to build around a leading brand, such as Sports Illustrated (for sports) and TheStreet (for finance), surround it with subcategory Maven specialists, and further enhance coverage with individual expert contributors. The primary means of expansion is adding independent Mavens and/or acquiring publishers that have premium branded content and can broaden the reach and impact of the Maven Platform.

Maven

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate, and entertain. We operate the media businesses for Sports Illustrated and TheStreet, and power more than 250 independent brands including History, Maxim, and Biography. These brands range from individual thought-leaders to world-leading independent publishers, operating on the Maven Platform, a shared digital publishing, monetization and distribution platform.

Sports Illustrated

We assumed management of the Sports Illustrated media assets (pursuant to the Sports Illustrated License Agreement) on October 4, 2019. Sports Illustrated is owned by ABG, a brand development, marketing, and entertainment company that owns a global portfolio of media, entertainment, and lifestyle brands. Since assuming management of the Sports Illustrated media assets, we have implemented significant changes to rebuild the historic brand and beacon of sports journalism, to evolve the business and to position it for growth and continued success going forward.

TheStreet and Cramer Digital

TheStreet is a leading financial news and information provider to investors and institutions worldwide and has produced business news and market analysis for individual investors for more than 20 years. TheStreet brings its editorial tradition, strong subscription platform and valuable membership base to us, and benefits from our mobile-friendly CMS, social, video, and monetization technology.

Finance and stock market expert Jim Cramer, who co-founded TheStreet, and his team of financial experts continue their influential work with the brand. As part of the closing of the TheStreet Merger, we entered into the Cramer Agreement with Mr. Cramer, pursuant to which Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital, a new production company, will provide the Cramer Services, including certain content offerings under Mr. Cramer’s editorial control.

HubPages

We acquired HubPages to enhance the user’s experience by increasing content. HubPages operates a network of 27 premium content channels that act as an open community for writers, explorers, knowledge seekers, and conversation starters to connect in an interactive and informative online space. HubPages operates in the United States.

Say Media

We acquired Say Media to enhance the user’s experience by increasing content. Say Media operates a comprehensive online media publishing platform and enables brand advertisers to engage today’s social media consumer through rich advertising experiences across its network of web properties. Say Media operates in the United States and has subsidiaries located in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

LiftIgniter

LiftIgniter provides a distribution and recommendation engine for premium publishers. The LiftIgniter platform connects users efficiently to hundreds of professional content creators, with custom recommendations of content aligned with users’ personal passions. Aided by machine-learning technology, publishers can identify and target those interested in their content. LiftIgniter activates the value of hosting hundreds of premium journalists on a single platform by interconnecting them through unified content distribution.

Intellectual Property

We have seven patent registrations in the United States in connection with our technology. All of our patent registrations are owned by Maven Coalition, Inc.

Maven and Key Design

We currently have trademark registrations directed to our primary key design logo and the MAVEN name in the United States, Australia, China, the European Union, India, and New Zealand, as well as international Madrid Protocol registrations. We have trademark applications directed to our primary key design logo and the MAVEN name pending in Japan and Canada.

Moreover, we have a U.S. trademark registration for the word mark MAVEN COALITION, a European Union trademark registration for the word mark THEMAVEN, and a U.S. trademark registration for the word mark A MAVEN CHANNEL. We have trademark applications for the word mark A MAVEN CHANNEL pending in Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and New Zealand, as well as a pending international Madrid Protocol application.

We have a trademark registration for the word mark BULL MARKET FANTASY in the United States and a trademark application for BULL MARKET FANTASY pending in Canada. We have trademark applications for the word marks SPORTSLIGHTNING and STREETLIGHTNING pending in the United States.

TheStreet

We have a trademark registration for the word marks THE STREET, THESTREET, THESTREET.COM and the related design in the United States. We have a trademark registration for the word marks ALERTS PLUS, ALPHA RISING, BANKING MY WAY, INCOME SEEKER, and REALMONEY in the United States.

HubPages

We have trademark registrations for the word mark HUBPAGES in the United States, Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, India, Peru, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines, as well as an international Madrid Protocol registration.

We continue to file updated trademark applications to reflect our branding evolution and intend to continue strengthening our trademark portfolio as financial resources permit.

Our Channel Partners and Licensing

In connection with our Partnership Agreements and any other applicable agreements between us and our Channel Partners, (i) we and our affiliates own and retain (a) all right, title, and interest in and to the Maven Platform, Advertising Solutions, and data collected by us, and (b) we and our licensors’ trademarks and branding and all software and technology we use to provide and operate the Maven Platform and Advertising Solutions, and (ii) each Channel Partner owns and retains (a) all right, title, and interest in and to the Channel Partner’s assets, content, and data collected by Channel Partner and (b) each Channel Partner’s trademarks and branding.

Seasonality

We expect to experience typical media company advertising and membership sales seasonality, which is strong in the fiscal fourth quarter and slower in the fiscal first quarter.

Competition

Currently we believe that there are dozens of competitors delivering niche media content on the web and on mobile devices and an even broader array of general media companies and major media brands. All those competitors use mobile alerts, invest heavily in video, and leverage social media. We believe that we have developed distribution, production, and technology tactics that are superior because our management team’s tactics in the past with prior companies have proven to be highly engaging and effective for our particular model, which organizes channels into interest groups, led by key brands, such as Sports Illustrated in the sports vertical and TheStreet.com in the finance vertical.

The web provides unlimited access to the market by niche or general media companies, so there are a large number and variety of direct competitors of ours competing for audience and ad and membership dollars. The general business of online media, combined with some level or method of leveraging community attracts many potential entrants, and in the future, there may be strong competitors that will compete with us in general or in selected markets. These and other companies may be better financed and be able to develop their markets more quickly and penetrate those market more effectively. The following is a list of possible competitors and their respective categories:

We believe that we compete on the basis of our technology, substantial scale in traffic, ease of use, recognized lead media brands, and platform evolution through a continuing development and acquisition program. We believe that our scale, methods, technology, and experience enable us to compete for a material amount of market share of media dollars and membership revenue.

Government Regulations

Our operations are subject to a number of U.S. federal and state laws and regulations that involve privacy, rights of publicity, data protection, content regulation, intellectual property, or other subjects. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and being tested in courts and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations often are uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate.

A number of government authorities, both in the United States and abroad, and private parties are increasing their focus on privacy issues and the use of personal information. All states have enacted some form of data privacy legislation, including data security and breach notification laws in all 50 states, and some form of regulation regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information at the federal level and in several states. California has been the most active in the area of consumer privacy legislation, including passing a comprehensive law requiring transparency, access, and choice known as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), which was amended in November 2020 by a ballot measure known as the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”).The CCPA went into effect January 1, 2020, with enforcement having begun in June 2020. The CPRA goes into effect over time, with enforcement to begin July 2023. Other states are also considering comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. Certain states have also enacted legislation requiring certain encryption technologies for the storage and transmission of personally identifiable information, including credit card information, and more states are considering laws for or have enacted laws about information security, which may require the adoption of written information security policies that are consistent with state laws if businesses have personal information of residents of those states. Data privacy and information security legislation is also being considered at the federal level, concerning the privacy of individuals and use of internet and marketing information. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and attorneys general in several states have oversight of business operations concerning the use of personal information and breaches of the privacy laws under existing consumer protection laws. In particular, an attorney general or the FTC may examine privacy policies to ensure that a company discloses all material practices and fully complies with representations in the policies regarding the manner in which the information provided by consumers and other visitors to a website is used and disclosed by it, and the failure to do so could give rise to a complaint under state or federal unfair competition or consumer protection laws. The California Attorney General has begun aggressively investigating companies, especially those with websites, with respect to CCPA compliance and these investigations reportedly include inquiries into issues for which there has not yet been clear guidance issued by the state, such as regarding third party cookies that collect personal information from users when they visit our and other websites.

We review our privacy policies and overall operations on a regular basis to ensure compliance with applicable U.S. federal and state laws, and to the extent applicable, any foreign laws. We launched a CCPA compliance program in January 2020 and at the end of 2020 reviewed the program and made adjustments to our privacy notice and compliance program practices to account for our evolving practices and the new CCPA regulations, which were promulgated in July 2020 and continue to be subject to ongoing rulemaking. We believe the position we take regarding various CCPA issues, including third party cookies, is based on sound and good faith interpretations of the law based on consultation with legal counsel. However, there are conflicting interpretations of the law that have been adopted by various parties in the digital media industry, and given the lack of guidance to date on many of these issues, our compliance posture on some issues might not be accepted by the State of California.

In addition to the laws of the United States, we may be subject to foreign laws regulating web sites and online services, and the laws in some jurisdictions outside of the United States are stricter than the laws in the United States. For instance, in May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) went into effect in the European Union (the “EU”) and European Economic Area and Switzerland. The GDPR includes operational requirements for companies that receive or process personal data of residents of the European Union that include significant penalties for non-compliance. In addition, some EU countries are considering or have passed legislation implementing additional data protection requirements or requiring local storage and processing of personal data or similar requirements that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. How the GDPR will be fully applied to online services, including cookies and digital advertising, is still being determined through ongoing rulemaking and evolving interpretation by applicable authorities. We operate a GDPR compliance program that we believe, based on our good faith interpretation of the GDPR in consultation with counsel, is consistent with our obligations under that law. The highest court in the EU recently ruled that the US/EU Privacy Shield was inadequate under GDPR and questioned the viability or legality of any EU to U.S. personal data transfer methods. We are working to address this issue, for instance, including standard contractual clauses as part of our Data Processing Agreements, and we continue to monitor the development of EU to U.S. personal data transfer methods and the law relating thereto.

Social networking websites are under increasing scrutiny. Legislation has been introduced on the state and federal level that could regulate social networking websites. Some rules call for more stringent age-verification techniques, attempt to mandate data retention or data destruction by Internet providers, and impose civil and/or criminal penalties on owners or operators of social networking websites.

The FTC regularly considers issues relating to online behavioral advertising (a/k/a interest-based advertising), which is a significant revenue source for us, and Congress and state legislatures are frequently asked to regulate this type of advertising, including requiring consumers to provide express consent for tracking purposes, so that advertisers may know their interests and are, therefore, able to serve them more relevant, targeted ads. Targeted ads generate higher per impression fees than non-targeted ads. New laws, or new interpretations of existing laws, could potentially place restrictions on our ability to utilize our database and other marketing data (e.g., from third parties) on our own behalf and on behalf of our advertising clients, which may adversely affect our business.

Legislation concerning the above described online activities has either been enacted or is in various stages of development and implementation in other countries around the world and could affect our ability to make our websites available in those countries as future legislation is made effective. It is possible that state and foreign governments might also attempt to regulate our transmissions of content on our website or prosecute us for violations of their laws. U.S. law offers limited safe harbors and immunities to publishers for certain liability arising out of user-posted content, but other countries do not. Further, there are a number of legislative proposals in the United States, and internationally, that could impose new obligations in areas affecting our business, such as liability for copyright infringement by third parties and liability for defamation or other claims arising out of user-posted content. Our business could be negatively impacted if applicable laws subject us to greater regulation or risk of liability.

Our business could also be adversely affected if regulatory enforcement authorities, such as the California Attorney General or EU/EEA data protection authorities, take issue with any of our approaches to compliance, or if new laws, regulations or decisions regarding the collection, storage, transmission, use and/or disclosure of personal information are implemented in such ways that impose new or additional technology requirements on us, limit our ability to collect, transmit, store and use or disclose the information, or if government authorities or private parties challenge our data privacy and/or security practices that result in liability to, or restrictions, on us, or we experience a significant data or information breach which would require public disclosure under existing notification laws and for which we may be liable for damages and/or penalties.

Furthermore, governments of applicable jurisdictions might attempt to regulate our transmissions or levy sales or other taxes relating to our activities even though we do not have a physical presence and/or operate in those jurisdictions. As our platforms, products and advertisement activities are available over the Internet anywhere in the world, multiple jurisdictions may claim that we are required to qualify to do business as a foreign corporation in each of those jurisdictions and pay various taxes in those jurisdictions. We address state and local jurisdictions where we believe we have nexus, however, there can be no assurance that we have complied with all jurisdictions that may assert that we owe taxes.

Available Information

Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13 of the Exchange Act, are available free of charge after we electronically file or furnish them to the SEC. The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

There are numerous factors that affect our business and operating results, many of which are beyond our control. The following is a description of significant factors that might cause our future results to differ materially from those currently expected. The risks described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and/or our ability to pay our debts and other liabilities could suffer. As a result, the trading price and liquidity of our securities could decline, perhaps significantly, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks discussed below also include forward-looking statements and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements.”

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION

Our business operations have been and may continue to be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. An outbreak of respiratory illness caused by COVID-19 emerged in late 2019 and has spread globally. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic based on the rapid increase in global exposure. COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world. Many national governments and sports authorities around the world have made the decision to postpone/cancel high attendance sports events in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In addition, many governments and businesses have limited non-essential work activity, furloughed and/or terminated many employees and closed some operations and/or locations, all of which has had a negative impact on the economic environment.

Beginning in March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenue and earnings began to decline largely due to the cancellation of high attendance sports events and the resulting decrease in traffic to the Maven Platform and advertising revenue. This initial decrease in revenue and earnings were partially offset by revenues generated by TheStreet, as well as some recovery of sporting events (including, in some cases, limited in-person attendance) that have generated content for the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands. Despite this perceived recovery, the future impact, or continued impact, from the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain.

The extent of the impact on our operational and financial performance will depend, in part, on future developments, including the duration and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, related group gathering and sports event advisories and restrictions, and the extent and effectiveness of containment actions taken, all of which remain uncertain at the time of issuance of our accompanying consolidated financial statements.

These and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, or other pandemics or epidemics, could have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this Annual Report under the “Risk Factors” section.

Because of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty about their persistence, we may need to raise more capital to continue operations. At December 31, 2018, we had cash of $2,406,596. From January 1, 2019 through the issuance date of our accompany consolidated financial statements, we raised aggregate net proceeds of approximately $150.7 million through various debt and preferred stock private placements. As of January 4, 2021 we had cash of approximately $9.4 million. Please refer to Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under the section entitled “Future Liquidity,” for additional information. We have seen stabilization in our markets since the spring and believe that based on our current assessment of the impact of COVID-19 we have sufficient resources to fully fund our business operations through 12 months from the issuance date of our accompanying consolidated financial statements. However, due to the uncertainty regarding the duration of the impact of COVID-19 and its effect on our financial performance and the potential that our traffic and advertising revenue becomes destabilized again, we may require additional capital. We have not had difficulties accessing the capital markets during 2020, however, due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we may experience difficulties in the future.

As market conditions present uncertainty as to our ability to secure additional capital, there can be no assurances that we will be able to secure additional financing on acceptable terms, or at all, as and when necessary to continue to conduct operations. Our future liquidity and capital requirements will depend upon numerous factors, including the success of our offerings and competing technological and market developments. We may need to raise funds through public or private financings, strategic relationships, or other arrangements. There can be no assurance that such funding, will be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Furthermore, any equity financing will be dilutive to existing stockholders, and debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants that may limit our operating flexibility with respect to certain business matters. Strategic arrangements may require us to relinquish our rights or grant licenses to some or substantial parts of our intellectual property. If funds are raised through the issuance of equity securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders will be reduced, stockholders may experience additional dilution in net book value per share, and such equity securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of the holders of our existing capital stock. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may not be able to continue operating, develop or enhance products, take advantage of future opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We have incurred losses since our inception, have yet to achieve profitable operations, and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We have had losses from inception, and as a result, have relied on capital funding or borrowings to fund our operations. Our accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2018 was approximately $34.5 million. We have not issued our financial statements for any periods during 2019 and 2020. While we anticipate generating profits in 2021, the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic yields some doubt as to our ability to do so and could require us to raise additional capital. We cannot predict whether we will be able to continue to find capital to support our business plan if the negative effects of the pandemic continue longer than anticipated.

We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we do not adequately address these material weaknesses or if other material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting are discovered, our financial statements could contain material misstatements and our business, operations and stock price may be adversely affected. As disclosed under Item 9A, Controls and Procedures, of this Annual Report, our management has identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2018 and we expect to identify material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting for at December 31, 2019 and 2020. We expect to have remediated our material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting by March 31, 2021, of which there can be no assurance. Under standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 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 financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Although no material misstatement of our historical financial statements was identified, the existence of these material weaknesses or significant deficiencies could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and we could be required to restate our financial statements. Further, significant costs and resources may be needed to remediate the identified material weaknesses or any other material weaknesses or internal control deficiencies. If we are unable to remediate, evaluate, and test our internal controls on a timely basis in the future, management will be unable to conclude that our internal controls are effective and our independent registered public accounting firm will be unable to express an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls. If we cannot produce reliable financial reports, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, the price of our common stock could be adversely impacted and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

As of the date of this filing, we currently lack certain internal controls over our financial reporting. While we have three independent directors serving on our board of directors (our “Board”), have added to our accounting staff, and have hired a new Chief Technology Officer, we are implementing such controls at this time. The lack of such controls makes it difficult to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed and submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported as and when required.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to develop and implement the necessary internal controls over financial reporting. The absence of such internal controls may inhibit investors from purchasing our shares and may make it more difficult for us to raise debt or equity financing.

If we fail to retain current users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with the Maven Platform, our business would be seriously harmed. The success of our business heavily depends on the size of our user base and the level of engagement of our users. Thus, our business performance will also become increasingly dependent on our ability to increase levels of user engagement in existing and new markets. We are continuously subject to a highly competitive market in order to attract and retain our users’ attention. A number of factors could negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if:

Any decrease in user retention, growth, or engagement could render our products less attractive to users, advertisers, or our Channel Partners, thereby reducing our revenues from them, which may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will succeed in developing products and services that eventually become widely accepted, that we will be able to timely release products and services that are commercially viable, or that we will establish ourselves as a successful player in a new business area. Our inability to do so would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed. The digital media industry is fragmented and highly competitive. There are many players in the digital media market, many with greater name recognition and financial resources, which may give them a competitive advantage. Some of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution, and other resources than we do. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, customer, and user requirements and trends. In addition, our customers and strategic partners may become competitors in the future. Certain of our competitors may be able to negotiate alliances with strategic partners on more favorable terms than we are able to negotiate. Pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins, losses, or the failure of the Maven Platform to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance, any of which could adversely affect our revenues and operating results. With the introduction of new technologies, the evolution of the Maven Platform, and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future.

We may have difficulty managing our growth. We have added and expect to continue to add channel partner and end-user support capabilities, to continue software development activities and to expand our administrative operations. In the past two years, we have entered into multiple strategic transactions. These strategic transactions, which have significantly expanded our business, have and are expected to place a significant strain on our managerial, operational, and financial resources. To manage any further growth, we will be required to improve existing, and implement new, operational, customer service, and financial systems, procedures and controls and expand, train, and manage our growing employee base. We also will be required to expand our finance, administrative, technical, and operations staff. There can be no assurance that our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures, and controls will be adequate to support our anticipated growth, that management will be able to hire, train, retain, motivate, and manage required personnel or that our management will be able to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities. If we are unable to manage growth effectively, our business could be harmed.

The strategic relationships that we may be able to develop and on which we may come to rely may not be successful. We will seek to develop strategic relationships with advertising, media, technology, and other companies to enhance the efforts of our market penetration, business development, and advertising sales revenues. These relationships are expected to, but may not, succeed. There can be no assurance that these relationships will develop and mature, or that potential competitors will not develop more substantial relationships with attractive partners. Our inability to successfully implement our strategy of building valuable strategic relationships could harm our business.

We rely heavily on our ability to collect and disclose data and metrics in order to attract new advertisers and retain existing advertisers. Any restriction, whether by law, regulation, policy, or other reason, on our ability to collect and disclose data that our advertisers find useful would impede our ability to attract and retain advertisers. Our advertising revenue could be seriously harmed by many other factors, including:

The occurrence of any of these or other factors could result in a reduction in demand for advertisements, which may reduce the prices we receive for our advertisements or cause advertisers to stop advertising with us altogether, either of which would negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The sales and payment cycle for online advertising is long, and such sales, which have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, may not occur when anticipated or at all. The decision process is typically lengthy for brand advertisers and sponsors to commit to online campaigns. Some of their budgets are planned a full year in advance. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the amount and pricing of advertising throughout the media industry and it is uncertain when and to what extent advertisers will return to more normal spending levels. The decision process for such purchases, even in normal business situations, is subject to delays and aspects that are beyond our control. In addition, some advertisers and sponsors take months after the campaign runs to pay, and some may not pay at all, or require partial “make-goods” based on performance.

We are dependent on the continued services and on the performance of our key executive officers, management team, and other key personnel, the loss of which could adversely affect our business. Our future success largely depends upon the continued services of our key executive officers, management team, and other key personnel. The loss of the services of any of such key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. We depend on the continued services of our key personnel as they work closely with both our employees and our Channel Partners. Such key personnel are also responsible for our day-to-day operations. Although we have employment agreements with some of our key personnel, these are at-will employment agreements, albeit with non-competition and confidentiality provisions and other rights typically associated with employment agreements. We do not believe that any of our executive officers are planning to leave or retire in the near term; however, we cannot assure that our executive officers or members of our management team will remain with us. We also depend on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain, and motivate other highly skilled technical, managerial, sales, operational, business development, and customer service personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully attract, assimilate, or retain sufficiently qualified personnel. The loss or limitation of the services of any of our executive officers, members of our management team, or key personnel, including our regional and country managers, or the inability to attract and retain additional qualified key personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Our revenues could decrease if the Maven Platform does not continue to operate as intended. The Maven Platform performs complex functions and is vulnerable to undetected errors or unforeseen defects that could result in a failure to operate or inefficiency. There can be no assurance that errors and defects will not be found in current or new products or, if discovered, that we will be able to successfully correct them in a timely manner or at all. The occurrence of errors and defects could result in loss of or delay in revenue, loss of market share, increased development costs, diversion of development resources, and injury to our reputation or damage to our efforts to expand brand awareness.

Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results. Our growth will depend in part on the ability of our users and Channel Partners to access the Maven Platform at any time and within an acceptable amount of time. We believe that the Maven Platform is proprietary, and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering, operations, and software development teams for their continued performance. It is possible that the Maven Platform may experience performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing the Maven Platform software simultaneously, denial of service attacks, or other security related incidents. We may not be able to identify the cause or causes of any performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may be that it will be difficult to maintain and/or improve our performance, especially during peak usage times and as the Maven Platform becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. If the Maven Platform software is unavailable or if our users are unable to access it within a reasonable amount of time or at all, our business would be negatively affected. Therefore, in the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our infrastructure, partner or user data may be permanently lost. Moreover, the Partnership Agreements with our Channel Partners include service level standards that obligate us to provide credits or termination rights in the event of a significant disruption in the Maven Platform. 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 adversely affected.

We operate our exclusive coalition of professional-managed online media channels on third party cloud platforms and data center hosting facilities. We will rely on software and services licensed from, and cloud platforms provided by, third parties in order to offer our digital media services. Any errors or defects in third-party software or cloud platforms could result in errors in, or a failure of, our digital media services, which could harm our business. Any damage to, or failure of, these third-party systems generally could result in interruptions in the availability of our digital media services. As a result of this third-party reliance, we may experience the aforementioned issues, which could cause us to render credits or pay penalties, could cause our Channel Partners to terminate their contractual arrangements with us, and could adversely affect our ability to grow our audience of unique visitors, all of which could reduce our ability to generate revenue. Our business would also be harmed if our users and potential users believe our product and services offerings are unreliable. In the event of damage to, or failure of, these third-party systems, we would need to identify alternative channels for the offering of our digital media services, which would consume substantial resources and may not be effective. We are also subject to certain standard terms and conditions with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud related to data storage purposes. These providers have broad discretion to change their terms of service and other policies with respect to us, and those changes may be unfavorable to us. Therefore, we believe that maintaining successful partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and other third-party suppliers is critical to our success.

Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in the Maven Platform could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Because the Maven Platform is complex, undetected errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may occur, especially when updates are deployed. Despite testing by us, errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may not be found in the Maven Platform until after they are deployed to our customers. We expect from time to time to discover software errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs in the Maven Platform and anticipate that certain of these errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs will only be discovered and remediated after deployment to our Channel Partners and used by subscribers. Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our software could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of the Maven Platform, loss of competitive position, or claims by our Channel Partners or subscribers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem.

Malware, viruses, hacking attacks, and improper or illegal use of the Maven Platform could harm our business and results of operations. Malware, viruses, and hacking attacks have become more prevalent in our industry and may occur on our systems in the future. Any security breach caused by hacking, which involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems, or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware, or other computer equipment, and the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results. Any failure to detect such attack and maintain performance, reliability, security, and availability of products and technical infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may also seriously harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.

Our information technology systems are susceptible to a growing and evolving threat of cybersecurity risk. Any substantial compromise of our data security, whether externally or internally, or misuse of agent, customer, or employee data, could cause considerable damage to our reputation, cause the public disclosure of confidential information, and result in lost sales, significant costs, and litigation, which would negatively affect our financial position and results of operations. Although we maintain policies and processes surrounding the protection of sensitive data, which we believe to be adequate, there can be no assurances that we will not be subject to such claims in the future.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our business could suffer. Our success significantly depends on our proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws, employee and third-party non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements and other methods to protect our proprietary technology. However, these only afford limited protection, and unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of the Maven Platform’s features and functionality, or to use information that we consider proprietary or confidential. There can be no assurance that the Maven Platform will be protectable by patents, but if they are, any efforts to obtain patent protection that is not successful may harm our business in that others will be able to use our technologies. For example, previous disclosures or activities unknown at present may be uncovered in the future and adversely impact any patent rights that we may obtain. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. There can be no assurance that the steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights will be adequate or that third parties will not infringe or misappropriate our trademarks, copyrights and similar proprietary rights. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our Intellectual Property rights, those proceedings could be expensive and time-consuming and could distract our management from our business operations. Our business, profitability, and growth prospects could be adversely affected if we fail to receive adequate protection of our proprietary rights.

If we are not able to maintain our “Maven” brand, or further develop widespread awareness of the Maven brand, our ability to expand our customer base may be impaired and our business may suffer. We believe that establishing and maintaining the “Maven” brand name and any related trade and service marks in a cost-effective manner will be important to our success and crucial in gaining new users and new Channel Partners and publishers. The importance of brand recognition may increase as a result of established and new competitors offering service and products similar to ours. To the extent we are able, we intend to increase our marketing and branding expenditures in an effort to increase awareness of the “Maven” brand. If our brand-building strategy is unsuccessful, these expenses may never be recovered, and our business could be harmed.

In addition, our brand can be harmed if our users, Channel Partners and publishers have a negative experience using the Maven Platform. Maintaining and enhancing our brand may require us to make substantial investments and these investments may not be successful. We may also fail to adequately support the needs of our users or customer, which could erode confidence in our brands. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our Maven brand, or if we incurred excessive expenses in this effort, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected and we may fail to achieve the widespread brand awareness that is critical for broad user adoption of our Maven community.

We could be required to cease certain activities and/or incur substantial costs as a result of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights. Some of our competitors, and other third parties, may own technology patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and website content, which they may use to assert claims against us. We cannot assure you that we will not become subject to claims that we have misappropriated or misused other parties’ intellectual property rights. Any claim or litigation alleging that we have infringed or otherwise violated intellectual property or other rights of third parties, with or without merit, and whether or not settled out of court or determined in our favor, could be time-consuming and costly to address and resolve, and could divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel.

The results of any intellectual property litigation to which we might become a party may require us to do one or more of the following:

If we are required to make substantial payments or undertake any of the other actions noted above as a result of any intellectual property infringement claims against us, such payments or costs could have a material adverse effect upon our business and financial results.

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy, data protection, and personal information, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, telecommunications, employee classification, product liability, taxation, economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions, securities law compliance, and online payment services. The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, monetary penalties, or other government scrutiny. In addition, foreign data protection, privacy, competition, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and could be interpreted or applied in ways that could limit or harm our business, require us to make certain fundamental and potentially detrimental changes to the products and services we offer, or subject us to claims. For example, laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third-parties are currently being tested by a number of claims, including actions based on invasion of privacy and other torts, unfair competition, copyright, and trademark infringement, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content provided by users.

These United States federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, which could adversely affect our business. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. Any change in legislation and regulations could affect our business. For example, regulatory or legislative actions affecting the manner in which we display content to our users or obtain consent to various practices could adversely affect user growth and engagement. Such actions could affect the manner in which we provide our services or adversely affect our financial results.

Furthermore, significant penalties could be imposed on us for failure to comply with various statutes or regulations. Violations may result from:

While we prioritize ensuring that our business and compensation model are compliant, and that any product or income related claims are truthful and non-deceptive, we cannot be certain that the FTC or similar regulatory body in another country will not modify or otherwise amend its guidance, laws, or regulations or interpret in a way that would render our current practices inconsistent with the same.

Our services involve the storage and transmission of digital information; therefore, cybersecurity incidents, including those caused by unintentional errors and those intentionally caused by third parties, may expose us to a risk of loss, unauthorized disclosure or other misuse of this information, litigation liability and regulatory exposure, reputational harm and increased security costs. We and our third-party service providers experience cyber-attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. We expect to incur significant costs in ongoing efforts to detect and prevent cybersecurity-related incidents and these costs may increase in the event of an actual or perceived data breach or other cybersecurity incident. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased opportunities for cyber-criminals and the risk of potential cybersecurity incidents, as more companies and individuals work online. We cannot ensure that our efforts to prevent cybersecurity incidents will succeed. An actual or perceived breach of our cybersecurity could impact the market perception of the effectiveness of our cybersecurity controls. If our users or business partners, including our Channel Partners, are harmed by such an incident, they could lose trust and confidence in us, decrease their use of our services or stop using them in entirely. We could also incur significant legal and financial exposure, including legal claims, higher transaction fees and regulatory fines and penalties, which in turn could have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and operating results. While our insurance policies include liability coverage for certain of these types of matters, a significant cybersecurity incident could subject us to liability or other damages that exceed our insurance coverage.

Prior employers of our employees may assert violations of past employment arrangements. Our employees are highly experienced, having worked in our industry for many years. Prior employers may try to assert that our employees are breaching restrictive covenants and other limitations imposed by past employment arrangements. We believe that all of our employees are free to work for us in their various capacities and have not breached past employment arrangements. Notwithstanding our care in our employment practices, a prior employer may assert a claim. Such claims will be costly to contest, highly disruptive to our work environment, and may be detrimental to our operations.

Our products may require availability of components or known technology from third parties and their non-availability can impede our growth. We license/buy certain technology integral to our products from third parties, including open-source and commercially available software. Our inability to acquire and maintain any third-party product licenses or integrate the related third-party products into our products in compliance with license arrangements, could result in delays in product development until equivalent products can be identified, licensed, and integrated. We also expect to require new licenses in the future as our business grows and technology evolves. We cannot provide assurance that these licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

Government regulations may increase our costs of doing business. The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to online media, communities, commerce, security and privacy could harm our business, operating results and financial condition by increasing our costs and administrative burdens. It may take years to determine whether and how existing laws such as those governing intellectual property, privacy, security, libel, consumer protection and taxation apply. Laws and regulations directly applicable to Internet activities are becoming more diverse and prevalent in all global markets. We must comply with regulations in the United States, as well as any other regulations adopted by other countries where we may do business. The growth and development of Internet content, commerce and communities may prompt calls for more stringent consumer protection laws, privacy laws, and data protection laws, both in the United States and abroad, as well as new laws governing the taxation of these activities. Compliance with any newly adopted laws may prove difficult for us and may harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We may face lawsuits or incur liabilities in the future in connection with our businesses. In the future, we may face lawsuits or incur liabilities in connection with our businesses. For example, we could face claims relating to information that is published or made available on the Maven Platform. In particular, the nature of our business exposes us to claims related to defamation, intellectual property rights, and rights of publicity and privacy. We might not be able to monitor or edit a significant portion of the content that appears on the Maven Platform. This risk is enhanced in certain jurisdictions outside the United States where our protection from liability for third-party actions may be unclear and where we may be less protected under local laws than we are in the United States. We could also face fines or orders restricting or blocking our services in particular geographies as a result of content hosted on our services. If any of these events occur, our business could be seriously harmed.

RISKS RELATED TO AN INVESTMENT IN OUR SECURITIES

There may be no liquid market for our common stock. We provide no assurances of any kind or nature whatsoever that an active market for our common stock will ever develop. There has been no sustained activity in the market for our common stock. Investors should understand that there may be no alternative exit strategy for them to recover or liquidate their investments in our common stock. Accordingly, investors must be prepared to bear the entire economic risk of an investment in us for an indefinite period of time. Even if an active trading market develops over time, we cannot predict how liquid that market might become. Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Markets Group, Inc.’s (the “OTCM”) Pink Open Market (the “OTC Pink”). Trading in stock quoted on over-the-counter markets is often thin and characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors that may have little to do with our operations or business prospects. The trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in price in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include:

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the United States securities laws, which will require expenditure of capital and other resources, and may divert management’s attention. We are a public reporting company subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Sarbanes”), and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Complying with these rules and regulations have caused us and will continue to cause us to incur additional legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, be time-consuming or costly, and continue to increase demand on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly, and current reports with respect to our business and operating results. We are not current on our SEC filings and the cost of completing historical filings in addition to maintaining current financial reporting has been, and will continue to be, a financial burden for us. If we fail to or are unable to comply with Sarbanes, we will not be able to obtain independent accountant certifications that Sarbanes requires publicly traded companies to obtain. Further, by complying with public disclosure requirements, our business and financial condition are more visible, which we believe may result in increased threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. Compliance with these additional requirements may also divert management’s attention from operating our business. Any of these may adversely affect our operating results.

We may not be able to attract the attention of major brokerage firms or securities analysts in our efforts to raise capital. In due course, we plan to seek to have our common stock quoted on a national securities exchange in the United States. There can be no assurance that we will be able to garner a quote for our common stock on an exchange. Even if we are successful in doing so, security analysts and major brokerage houses may not provide coverage of us. We may also not be able to attract any brokerage houses to conduct secondary offerings with respect to our securities.

Because we are subject to the “penny stock” rules and regulations, the level of trading activity in our stock is limited, and our stockholders may have difficulties selling their shares. SEC regulations define penny stocks to be any non-exchange equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exemptions. The regulations of the SEC promulgated under the Exchange Act require additional disclosure relating to the market for penny stocks in connection with trades in any stock defined as a penny stock. Unless an exception is available, those regulations require the broker-dealer to deliver, prior to any transaction involving a penny stock, a standardized risk disclosure schedule prepared by the SEC, to provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the purchaser’s account, to make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity, if any, in the secondary market for a stock that becomes subject to the penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage market investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock. There can be no assurance that our common stock will qualify for exemption from the penny stock rules. In any event, even if our common stock were exempt from the penny stock rules, we would remain subject to Section 15(b)(6) of the Exchange Act, which gives the SEC the authority to restrict any person from participating in a distribution of penny stock, if the SEC finds that such a restriction would be in the public interest.

In addition to the “penny stock” rules promulgated by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives, and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy and sell our stock.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not Applicable.

Item 2. Properties

On February 22, 2017, we entered into an agreement (the “Western Sublease”) to sublease approximately 2,900 square feet for our executive offices and operational facilities, located at 2125 Western Avenue, Suite 502, Seattle, Washington 98101, at a rate of $6,180 per month through August 31, 2017. On August 30, 2017, we and the lessor amended the Western Sublease to extend the term through January 31, 2018 and to provide us with an option to extend the term of the Western Sublease through April 30, 2018. We exercised this option and, ultimately, occupied these offices through May 2018.

On April 25, 2018, we entered into an office sublease agreement (the “1500 Fourth Ave Sublease”) to sublease a portion of the “master premises” consisting of 7,457 rentable square feet of office space for our then-executive offices at 1500 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200, Seattle, Washington 98101. The 1500 Fourth Ave Sublease commenced on June 1, 2018 with an expiration date of October 31, 2021. The amount of monthly rent payable per square foot under the 1500 Fourth Ave Sublease was $25.95 for the first year, $35.00 for the second year, $36.00 for the third year, and $37.00 for the remainder of the term. On March 1, 2020, we assumed the entire lease for the remaining term of 20 months.

On September 19, 2018, we entered into a membership agreement with WeWork for office space located at 995 Market Street, San Francisco, California. The agreement commenced on October 1, 2018. We paid approximately $17,400 per month, which included certain conference room credits and printer credits. We also paid a service retainer in the amount of $26,100. We terminated our membership agreement effective October 31, 2020.

On December 12, 2018, as part of our acquisition of Say Media, we assumed the office lease (the “Portland Lease”) of 10,000 rentable square feet at 424 SW Fourth Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204. The Portland Lease began on July 1, 2015, and expired June 30, 2020. Monthly lease payments increased from $18,750 in July 2015 to $27,500 in June 2020.

On August 7, 2019, as part of its acquisition of TheStreet, we assumed the office lease of approximately 35,000 rentable square feet at 14 Wall Street, 15th Floor, New York, New York 10005. The lease had a remaining term of 16 months, expiring on December 31, 2020. Monthly lease payments from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2020 were $150,396. On October 30, 2020, we entered into a surrender agreement (the “Surrender Agreement”) pursuant to which we effectively surrendered the property back to the owner and landlord. Pursuant to the Surrender Agreement, we agreed to pay $68,868 per month from January 2020 through June 1, 2021 to satisfy the total outstanding balance of $1,239,626 owed to the lessor. The first $500,000 of payments will be drawn from a security deposit, which is held by the lessor. The lessor agreed not to charge any late fees, interest charges, or other penalties relating to the surrender of the property.

Effective October 1, 2019, we entered into an office lease (the “Santa Monica Lease”) of approximately 5,258 rentable square feet at 301 Arizona Avenue, 4th Floor, Santa Monica, California 90401. The Santa Monica Lease has a term of 5 years, expiring on September 30, 2024. The initial monthly rent was $36,806 and increased to $37,910 in October 2020.

Effective October 3, 2019, we entered into a condominium lease (the “Washington Square Lease”) of a multifamily townhome at 26 Washington Square North, New York, New York 10011. The Washington Square Lease had a term of one year, expiring on October 2, 2020, with monthly rent payments of $10,000. This property was used by our executive officers when they were in New York for matters related to our business. We terminated this lease in March 2020 when we entered into the 30 West Lease (as defined below).

On January 14, 2020, we entered into an office sublease agreement (the “Liberty Street Sublease”) of approximately 40,868 rentable square feet at 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10281, with an effective date of February 1, 2020 with lease payments commencing November 1, 2020 and expiring on November 30, 2032. Monthly lease payments from November 1, 2020 through October 31, 2025 are $252,019.

Effective March 1, 2020, we entered into a corporate apartment lease (the “30 West Lease”) at 30 West Street, New York, New York 10004. The 30 West Lease has a term of 18 months, expiring on August 31, 2021, with monthly lease payments of $8,000 through February 2021 and $8,500 from March 2021 through the expiration of the lease.

We believe that the rates we are paying under our property leases are competitive in our various real estate markets, and we would be able to find comparable lease properties in the event we changed locations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may be subject to claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. We are not currently subject to any pending or threatened legal proceedings that we believe would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure

Not applicable.

Part II.

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

As of December 1, 2016, our common stock is quoted on the OTCM’s OTC Pink trading under the symbol “MVEN.”

The following table sets forth the high and low bid prices during the periods indicated, as reported by the OTCM. Such prices reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, mark-down or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

Holders

As of December 31, 2020, there were approximately 200 holders of record of our common stock. We believe that there are additional holders of our common stock who have their stock in “street name” with their brokers. Currently, we cannot determine the approximate number of those street name holders. As of such date, 175,651,683 shares of our common stock were issued and outstanding.

Dividends

We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock, and our present policy is to retain any future earnings to support our operations and finance the growth and development of our business. We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our Board.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

None.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

Any securities that we sold that were not registered under the Securities Act during the previous three years have previously been included in a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Not applicable to a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of SEC Regulation S-K.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018 should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our discussion includes forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. We use words such as “anticipate”, “estimate”, “plan”, “project”, “continuing”, “ongoing”, “expect”, “believe”, “intend”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.

Please see “Our Future Business” and “Future Liquidity” for additional important information.

Overview

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate, and entertain. We operate the media businesses for Sports Illustrated and TheStreet, and power more than 250 independent brands including History, Maxim, and Biography. The Maven Platform provides digital publishing, distribution, and monetization capabilities to our own Sports Illustrated and TheStreet media businesses as well as to the Channel Partners. Generally, the Channel Partners are independently owned strategic partners who receive a share of revenue from the interaction with their content. They also benefit from our membership marketing and management systems to further enhance their revenue.

Our growth strategy is to continue to expand by adding new premium publishers with high quality brands and content either as independent Channel Partners or by acquiring publishers as owned and operated entities. By adding premium content brands, we will further expand the scale of the Maven Platform, improve monetization effectiveness in both advertising and subscription revenues, and enhance the attractiveness to consumers and advertisers.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2018, our principal sources of liquidity consisted of cash of $2,406,596, approximately $2.5 million available for borrowing under our factoring facility with Sallyport Commercial Finance, LLC (“Sallyport”), and anticipated additional funding under the 12% senior secured subordinated convertible debenture (referred to herein as the “12% convertible debentures”) financing of approximately $2.1 million, which occurred in March and April 2019. The maximum amount available to us under the factoring facility with Sallyport was $3,500,000.

We continued to be focused on growing our existing operations and seeking accretive and complimentary strategic acquisitions as part of our growth strategy. We believed, that with additional sources of liquidity and the ability to raise additional capital or incur additional indebtedness to supplement our then internal projections, we would be able to execute our growth plan and finance our working capital requirements.

We have financed our working capital requirements since inception through issuances of equity securities and various debt financings. Our working capital as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 was as follows:

As of December 31, 2018, we had a working capital deficit of $12,316,305, consisting of $9,533,342 in total current assets and $21,849,647 in total current liabilities. Included in current assets as of December 31, 2017 was $3,000,000 of restricted cash. The $3,000,000 of restricted cash was received prior to December 31, 2017 and was classified as restricted cash in the December 31, 2017 balance sheet and then subsequently reclassified to cash in January 2018 upon completion of the private placement of 1.2 million shares of our common stock. In addition, the investment was classified as an investor demand payable in the December 31, 2017 balance sheet and then subsequently reclassified to equity in January 2018 upon completion of this private placement.

Our cash flows during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 consisted of the following:

For the year ended December 31, 2018, net cash used in operating activities was $7,417,680, consisting primarily of approximately $7,080,000 for general and administrative expenses.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, net cash used in investing activities was $23,589,027, consisting primarily of $18,035,356 for business acquisitions (which included the acquisition of HubPages where we recognized $6,740,000 for developed technology and $268,000 for the trade name, and the acquisition of Say Media where we recognized $8,010,000 for developed technology, $480,000 for the trade name, and $480,000 for a noncompete agreement), $3,366,031 for promissory notes receivable, and $2,156,015 for our capitalized platform development.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, net cash provided by financing activities was $29,914,747, consisting of (i) $12,315,496 in net proceeds after payment of issuance costs from the issuance of shares of Series H convertible preferred stock (the “Series H Preferred Stock”) (for additional information see below), (ii) $1,250,000 in net proceeds from a private placement of 500,000 shares of our common stock (iii) $16,637,680 in aggregate proceeds, less repayments, from the issuance of 8% promissory notes, 10% convertible debentures, 10% original issue discount senior secured convertible debentures (referred to herein as the “10% OID convertible debentures), and 12% convertible debentures, and (iv) $667,825 in net proceeds from promissory notes issued in favor of certain of our officers, offset by $956,254 in repayments under our factoring facility with Sallyport.

On August 10, 2018, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 19,400 shares of our Series H Preferred Stock at a stated value of $1,000, initially convertible into 58,785,606 shares of our common stock, at the option of the holder subject to certain limitations, at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.33 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $19,399,250. Of the shares of Series H Preferred Stock issued, Strome Mezzanine Fund LP (“Strome”) received 3,600 shares, James C. Heckman, our then-Chief Executive Officer, received 1,200 shares, and Joshua Jacobs, our then-President, received 30 shares upon conversion of the 10% OID convertible debentures.

Our consolidated financial statements have been presented on the basis that we are a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We had revenues of $5,700,199 during 2018 and have experienced recurring net losses from operations and negative operating cash flows. Consequently, we were dependent upon continued access to funding and capital resources from both new investors and related parties. If continued funding and capital resources are unavailable at reasonable terms, we may not be able to implement our growth plan and plan of operations. These financings may include terms that may be highly dilutive to existing stockholders.

Future Liquidity

From January 1, 2019 to the issuance date of our accompanying consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, we continued to incur operating losses and negative cash flow from operating and investing activities. We have raised $64.7 million in net proceeds pursuant to the sale and issuances of Series H Preferred Stock, Series I convertible preferred stock (the “Series I Preferred Stock”), Series J convertible preferred stock (the “Series J Preferred Stock”), and Series K convertible preferred stock (the “Series K Preferred Stock”) and $85.9 million in various debt financings. Our cash balance as of January 4, 2021 was approximately $9.4 million. Summarized below are the additional debt financings and/or issued equity securities through the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements.

Debt Financings

Included in the $85.9 million of debt financings (see Note 24, Subsequent Events, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further details) are the following:

12% Convertible Debentures. On March 18, 2019, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with three accredited investors, Strome Mezzanine Fund II, LP (“Strome II”), B. Riley FBR, Inc. (“B. Riley FBR”), and John Fichthorn, our Chairman of our Board, pursuant to which we issued 12% convertible debentures in the aggregate principal amount of $1,696,000. We paid a placement agent fee of $96,000 to B. Riley FBR.

On March 27, 2019, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with two accredited investors, including B. Riley FBR, pursuant to which we issued 12% convertible debentures in the aggregate principal amount of $318,000. We paid a placement agent fee of $18,000 to B. Riley FBR.

On April 8, 2019, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with an accredited investor, Todd D. Sims, a member of our Board, pursuant to which we issued a 12% convertible debenture in the aggregate principal amount of $100,000.

The 12% convertible debentures issued on March 18, 2019, March 27, 2019, and April 8, 2019 are convertible into shares of our common stock at the option of the investor at any time prior to December 31, 2020, at a conversion price of $0.40 per share, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, and similar transactions, and beneficial ownership blocker provisions. Until December 18, 2020, the date we filed a Certificate of Amendment to our Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (the “Certificate of Amendment”), to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock, the holders were unable to fully convert their respective 12% convertible debentures. We granted the holders a security interest pursuant to a security agreement, dated October 18, 2018, to secure the obligations under the 12% convertible debentures. We also entered into a registration rights agreement with the investors, pursuant to which we agreed to register for resale on behalf of the selling stockholders, the shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion of the 12% convertible debentures. On December 31, 2020, noteholders converted the 12% convertible debentures representing an aggregate of $18,104,949 of the then-outstanding principal and accrued but unpaid interest into 53,887,470 shares of our common stock at effective conversion per-share prices ranging from $0.33 to $0.40. Despite the terms of the 12% convertible debentures, the noteholders agreed to allow us to repay accrued but unpaid interest in shares of our common stock. The remaining 12% convertible debentures representing an aggregate of $1,130,903 of outstanding principal and accrued interest were not converted and, instead, such amounts were repaid in cash to the noteholders.

12% Senior Secured Note. On June 10, 2019, we entered into a note purchase agreement with one accredited investor, BRF Finance Co., LLC (“BRF Finance”), an affiliated entity of B. Riley Financial, Inc. (“B. Riley”), pursuant to which we issued to the investor a 12% senior secured note, due July 31, 2019, in the aggregate principal amount of $20,000,000, which after taking into account BRF Finance’s placement fee of $1,000,000 and its legal fees and expenses, resulted in the receipt by us of net proceeds of $18,865,000, of which $16,500,000 was used to fund TheStreet escrow account and the remainder for general corporate purposes. The balance outstanding under the 12% senior secured note was no longer outstanding as of June 14, 2019. Please see the section entitled “Amended and Restated 12% Senior Secured Notes” below.

Amended and Restated 12% Senior Secured Notes. On June 14, 2019, we entered into an amended and restated note purchase agreement with one accredited investor, BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, which amended and restated note purchase agreement, and the 12% senior secured note issued by us thereunder on June 10, 2019. Pursuant to the amended and restated note purchase agreement, we issued an amended and restated 12% senior secured note, due June 14, 2022, in the aggregate principal amount of $68,000,000, which amended, restated, and superseded the $20,000,000 12% senior secured note originally issued by us on June 10, 2019. We received additional gross proceeds of $48,000,000, which after taking into account the placement fee paid to BRF Finance, a registered broker-dealer affiliated with B. Riley, of $2,400,000 and legal fees and expenses of the investor, resulted in us receiving net proceeds of $45,550,000, of which $45,000,000 was used to prepay the Royalties and the remainder for general corporate purposes. We also paid a success fee to B. Riley FBR of $3,400,000.

On August 27, 2019, we entered into a first amendment to the amended and restated note purchase agreement with one accredited investor, BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, which amended the amended and restated 12% senior secured note due June 14, 2022. Pursuant to this first amendment, we received additional gross proceeds of $3,000,000, which after taking into account BRF Finance’s placement fee of $150,000 and its legal fees and expenses, resulted in us receiving net proceeds of $2,832,618.

On October 8, 2019, we issued the third amended and restated 12% senior secured note due June 14, 2022 in connection with a partial paydown of the second amended and restated 12% senior secured note due June 14, 2022. We also issued 5,000 shares of our Series J Preferred Stock to BRF Finance as a partial payment of approximately $4,800,000 of the outstanding balance.

On February 27, 2020, we entered into a second amendment to the amended and restated note purchase agreement dated as of June 14, 2019 with one accredited investor, BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, which further amended the amended and restated 12% senior secured note due June 14, 2022. Pursuant to the second amendment to the amended and restated note purchase agreement, we replaced our previous $3,500,000 working capital facility with Sallyport with a new $15,000,000 working capital facility with FPP Finance LLC (“FastPay”); and (ii) BRF Finance issued a letter of credit in the amount of approximately $3,000,000 to our landlord for our lease of the premises located at 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10281.

The balance outstanding under our amended and restated 12% senior secured notes as of the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 was $56,296,090, which included outstanding principal of $48,838,702, payment of in-kind interest of $7,457,388 that we were permitted to add to the aggregate outstanding principal balance. During October 2019, approximately $4,800,000 of the outstanding balance was converted to Series J Preferred Stock (for further details refer to Amendment 1 under the heading Delayed Draw Term Note).

FastPay Credit Facility. On February 6, 2020, we entered into a financing and security agreement with FastPay, pursuant to which FastPay extended a $15,000,000 line of credit for working capital purposes secured by a first lien on all of our cash and accounts receivable and a second lien on all other assets. Borrowings under the facility bear interest at the LIBOR Rate plus 8.50% and have a final maturity of February 6, 2022. This line of credit was amended by that certain first amendment to financing and security agreement dated March 24, 2020 to permit us to amend and restate the 12% senior secured notes. The aggregate principal amount outstanding, plus accrued and unpaid interest, as of December 31, 2020 was approximately $7,179,000.

Effective January 30, 2020, our factoring facility available with Sallyport was closed and funds were no longer available for advance. As of May 4, 2020, there was no balance outstanding under the facility.

Delayed Draw Term Note. On March 24, 2020, we entered into a second amended and restated note purchase agreement with BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, in its capacity as agent for the purchasers, which further amended and restated the amended and restated note purchase agreement dated June 14, 2019, as amended. Pursuant to the second amended and restated note purchase agreement, we issued a 15% delayed draw term note (the “Term Note”), in the aggregate principal amount of $12,000,000 to the investor. Up to $8,000,000 in principal amount under the Term Note is due on March 31, 2021, with the balance thereunder due on June 14, 2022. Interest on amounts outstanding under the Term Note are payable in kind in arrears on the last day of each fiscal quarter.

On March 25, 2020, we drew down $6,913,865 under the Term Note, and after payment of commitment and funding fees paid to BRF Finance in the amount of $793,109, and other of its legal fees and expenses that we paid, we received net proceeds of approximately $6,000,000. The net proceeds were used by us for working capital and general corporate purposes. Additional borrowings under the note requested by us may be made at the option of the purchasers.

Pursuant to the second amended and restated note purchase agreement, interest on amounts outstanding under the notes previously issued under the amended and restated note purchase agreement with respect to (i) interest payable on the notes previously issued under the amended and restated note purchase agreement on March 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020, and (ii) at our option, with the consent of requisite purchasers, interest payable on the notes previously issued under the amended and restated note purchase agreement on September 30, 2020, in lieu of the payment in cash of all or any portion of the interest due on such dates, will be payable in kind in arrears on the last day of such fiscal quarter.

In connection with entering into the second amended and restated note purchase agreement, we entered into an amendment to our $15 million FastPay working capital facility to permit the additional secured debt that may be incurred under the Term Note.

Pursuant to the second amended and restated note purchase agreement, dated October 23, 2020 (“Amendment 1”), interest payable on the notes on September 30, 2020, December 31, 2020, March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021, September 30, 2021, and December 31, 2021 will be payable in-kind in arrears on the last day of such fiscal quarter. Alternatively, at the option of the holder, such interest amounts can be converted into shares of our common stock at the price we last sold shares of our common stock. In addition, $3,367,090, including $3,295,506 of principal amount of the Term Note and $71,585 of accrued interest, was converted into shares of our Series K Preferred Stock and the maturity date of the Term Note was changed from March 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022. The aggregate principal amount outstanding as of December 31, 2020 was $4,294,228 (including payment of in-kind interest of $675,868, which was added to the outstanding note balance).

Payroll Protection Program Loan. On April 6, 2020, we issued a note in favor of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., pursuant to the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”). We received total proceeds of approximately $5.7 million under the note. In accordance with the requirements of the CARES Act, we will use proceeds from the note primarily for payroll costs. The note is scheduled to mature on April 6, 2022 and has a 0.98% interest rate and is subject to the terms and conditions applicable to loans administered by the SBA under the CARES Act. The balance outstanding as of the issuance of our consolidated financial statements was $5,702,725.

The note may be eligible for forgiveness for the principal amounts that are used for the limited purposes that qualify for forgiveness under SBA requirements. In order to obtain forgiveness, we must request it and must provide documentation in accordance with the SBA requirements and certify that the amounts we are requesting to be forgiven qualify under those requirements. We will remain responsible under the note for any amounts not forgiven, and that interest payable under the note will not be forgiven but that the SBA may pay the note interest on forgiven amounts. Requirements for forgiveness, among other requirements, provide for eligible expenditures, necessary records/documentation, or possible reductions of the forgiven amount due to changes in number of employees or compensation. It is our expectation that 100% of the principal amount of the note will be forgiven.

Equity Securities

Included in the $64.7 million of equity raises (see Note 24, Subsequent Events, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further details) are the following:

Series H Preferred Stock. Between August 14, 2020 and August 20, 2020, we entered into several securities purchase agreements for the sale of Series H Preferred Stock with certain accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 2,253 shares, at a stated value of $1,000 per share, initially convertible into 6,825,000 shares of our common stock at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.33 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,730,000 for working capital and general corporate purposes. The number of shares issuable upon conversion of the Series H Preferred Stock will be adjusted in the event of stock splits, stock dividends, combinations of shares, and similar transactions. Each share of Series H Preferred Stock is entitled to vote on an as-if-converted to common stock basis, subject to beneficial ownership blocker provisions and other certain conditions. On October 28, 2020, we entered into a mutual rescission agreement with two of the investors, pursuant to which the stock purchase agreements associated with 2,146 shares of Series H Preferred Stock were rescinded and deemed null and void.

Series I Preferred Stock. On June 27, 2019, 25,800 authorized shares of our preferred stock were designated by our Board as Series I Preferred Stock. On June 28, 2019, we closed on a securities purchase agreement with certain accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 23,100 shares of Series I Preferred Stock at a stated value of $1,000, initially convertible into 46,200,000 shares of our common stock at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.50 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $23,100,000 for working capital and general corporate purposes. The number of shares issuable upon conversion of the Series I Preferred Stock will be adjusted in the event of stock splits, stock dividends, combinations of shares and similar transactions. Each share of Series I Preferred Stock is entitled to vote on an as-if-converted to common stock basis, subject to certain conditions.

In consideration for its services as placement agent, we paid B. Riley FBR a cash fee of $1,386,000 plus $52,500 in reimbursement of legal fees and other transaction costs. We used approximately $18,300,000 of the net proceeds from the financing to partially repay the amended and restated 12% senior secured note due June 14, 2022, and to pay deferred fees of approximately $3,400,000 related to that borrowing facility.

On December 18, 2020, in connection with the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock, the then-outstanding shares of Series I Preferred Stock automatically converted into shares of our common stock. Accordingly, we do not have any shares of our Series I Preferred Stock currently outstanding.

Series J Preferred Stock. On October 4, 2019, 35,000 authorized shares of our preferred stock were designated by our Board as Series J Preferred Stock. On October 7, 2019, we closed on a securities purchase agreement with certain accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 20,000 shares of Series J Preferred Stock at a stated value of $1,000, initially convertible into 28,571,428 shares of our common stock at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.70 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $20,000,000 for working capital and general corporate purposes. The number of shares issuable upon conversion of the Series J Preferred Stock will be adjusted in the event of stock splits, stock dividends, combinations of shares, and similar transactions. Each share of Series J Preferred Stock is entitled to vote on an as-if-converted to common stock basis, subject to certain conditions.

On September 4, 2020, we closed on an additional Series J Preferred Stock issuance with two accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 10,500 shares of Series J Preferred Stock at a stated value of $1,000 per share, initially convertible into 15,000,000 shares of our common stock at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.70, for aggregate gross proceeds of $6,000,000 for working capital and general corporate purposes.

On December 18, 2020, in connection with the filing of the Certificate of Amendment to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock, the then-outstanding shares of Series J Preferred Stock automatically converted into shares of our common stock. Accordingly, we do not have any shares of our Series J Preferred Stock currently outstanding.

Series K Preferred Stock. On October 22, 2020, 20,000 shares of our preferred stock were designated by our Board as Series K Preferred Stock. Between October 23, 2020 and November 11, 2020, we entered into several securities purchase agreements with accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued an aggregate of 18,042 shares of Series K Preferred Stock at a stated value of $1,000 per share, initially convertible into 45,105,000 shares of our common stock at a conversion rate equal to the stated value divided by the conversion price of $0.40 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $18,042,090. The number of shares issuable upon conversion of the Series K Preferred Stock will be adjusted in the event of stock splits, stock dividends, combinations of shares, and similar transactions. Each share of Series K Preferred Stock is entitled to vote on an as-if-converted to common stock basis, subject to other certain conditions.

In consideration for its services as placement agent, we paid B. Riley FBR a cash fee of $400,500. We used an approximately $3,400,000 of the net proceeds from the financing to partially repay the amended and restated 12% secured senior notes due June 14, 2022 and used approximately $2,600,00 for payment on a prior investment, with the remainder of approximately $12,000,000 for working capital and general corporate purposes.

On December 18, 2020, in connection with the filing of the Certificate of Amendment to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock, the then-outstanding shares of Series K Preferred Stock automatically converted into shares of our common stock. Accordingly, we do not have any shares of our Series K Preferred Stock currently outstanding.

Going Concern

We performed an annual reporting period going concern assessment. Management is required to assess our ability to continue as a going concern. This Annual Report has been prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business. Our accompanying consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if we are unable to continue as a going concern.

We have a history of recurring losses. Our recurring losses from operations and net capital deficiency have been evaluated by management to determine if the significance of those conditions or events would limit our ability to meet our obligations when due. In part, the operating loss realized in fiscal 2018 was primarily a result of investments in people, infrastructure for the Maven Platform and the operations rapidly expanding during fiscal 2018 with the acquisitions of HubPages and Say Media, along with continued costs based on the strategic growth plans in other verticals.

As reflected in our accompanying consolidated financial statements, we had revenues of $5,700,199 for the year ended December 31, 2018, and have experienced recurring net losses from operations, negative working capital, and negative operating cash flows. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we incurred a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $44,113,379, utilized cash in operating activities of $7,417,680, and as of December 31, 2018, had an accumulated deficit of $34,539,954. We have financed our working capital requirements since inception through the issuance of debt and equity securities.

In 2020, we have also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many national governments and sports authorities around the world have made the decision to postpone/cancel high attendance sports events in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. In addition, many governments and businesses have limited non-essential work activity, furloughed, and/or terminated many employees and closed some operations and/or locations, all of which has had a negative impact on the economic environment. As a result of these factors, we experienced a decline in traffic, advertising revenue, and earnings since early March 2020, due to the cancellation of high attendance sports events and the resulting decrease in traffic to the Maven Platform and advertising revenue. We have implemented cost reduction measures in an effort to offset our revenue and earnings declines, while experiencing increased cash flows by growth in digital subscriptions. The extent of the impact on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, related group gathering and sports event advisories and restrictions, and the extent and effectiveness of containment actions taken, all of which remain uncertain at the time of issuance of our accompanying consolidated financial statements.

Management has evaluated whether relevant conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Substantial doubt exists when conditions and events, considered in the aggregate, indicate it is probable that a company will not be able to meet its obligations as they become due within one year after the issuance date of its financial statements. Management’s assessment is based on the relevant conditions that are known or reasonably knowable as of December 31, 2020.

Management’s assessment of our ability to meet our future obligations is inherently judgmental, subjective and susceptible to change. The factors that we considered important in our going concern analysis, include, but are not limited to, our fiscal 2021 cash flow forecast and our fiscal 2021 operating budget. Management also considered our ability to repay our convertible debt through future equity and the implementation of cost reduction measures in effect to offset revenue and earnings declines from COVID-19. These factors consider information including, but not limited to, our financial condition, liquidity sources, obligations due within one year after the issuance date of our accompanying financial statements, the funds necessary to maintain operations and financial conditions, including negative financial trends or other indicators of possible financial difficulty.

In particular, our plan for the: (1) 2021 cash flow forecast, considered the use of our working capital line with FastPay (as described in Note 24, Subsequent Events, to our accompanying consolidated financial statements) to fund changes in working capital, where we have available credit of approximately $8 million as of the issuance date of the accompanying consolidated financial statements, and that we do not anticipate the need for any further borrowings that are subject to the holders approval, from our 12% amended senior secured notes (as described in Note 24, Subsequent Events, to our accompanying consolidated financial statements) where we may be permitted to borrow up to an additional $5 million; and (2) 2021 operating budget, considered that approximately sixty-five percent of our revenue is from recurring subscriptions, generally paid in advance, and that digital subscription revenue, that accounts for approximately thirty percent of subscription revenue, grew approximately thirty percent in 2020 demonstrating the strength of our premium brand, and the plan to continue to grow our subscription revenue from our 2019 acquisition of TheStreet (as described in Note 24, Subsequent Events, to our accompanying consolidated financial statements) and to launch premium digital subscriptions from our Sports Illustrated licensed brands (as described in Note 24, Subsequent Events, to our accompanying consolidated financial statements), in January 2021.

We have considered both quantitative and qualitative factors as part of the assessment that are known or reasonably knowable as of December 31, 2020, and concluded that conditions and events considered in the aggregate, do not raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a one-year period following the financial statement issuance date.

Results of Operations

For the year ended December 31, 2018, the total net loss was $26,067,883. The total net loss increased by $19,783,570 from $6,284,313 in 2017. The primary reasons for the increase in the total net loss is that the operations rapidly expanded during 2018 (see below comparison). The basic and diluted net loss per common share for the year ended December 31, 2018 was $1.69, compared to $0.42 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The primary reasons for the increase in the net loss attributable to common stockholders is the deemed dividend on Series H Preferred Stock of $18,045,496, the other expenses of $12,145,644, and the weighted average shares outstanding calculated on a daily weighted average, basic and diluted, increase to 26,135,299 shares from 14,919,232 shares due to the issuance of our common stock in a private placement, partial vesting of restricted stock, exercise of common stock warrants, issuance of restricted stock awards in connection with the acquisitions of HubPages and Say Media, and issuance of shares of our common stock in connection with the acquisition of Say Media.

Our growth strategy is principally focused on adding new publisher partners to our technology platform. In addition, where the right opportunity exists, we will also acquire related online media, publishing and technology businesses by merger. This combined growth strategy has expanded the scale of unique users interacting on our technology platform with increased revenues during 2018. We expect revenues increases in subsequent years will come from organic growth in operations, addition of more publisher partners, and mergers and acquisitions.

Comparison of 2018 to 2017

Revenue

For the year ended December 31, 2018, we had revenue of $5,700,199, as compared to revenue of $76,995 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The primary source of revenue was from advertising and membership subscriptions of $5,614,953 and $85,246, respectively, in 2018 and $62,777 and $14,218, respectively, in 2017. During 2018, revenue was primarily from operations of on-line media channels from the Mavens generating advertising and membership subscriptions, and as a result of the acquisition of HubPages in August 2018 and Say Media in December 2018. During 2017, revenue was primarily from operations of on-line media channels, which went live in May 2017, generating advertising and memberships that began in the third quarter of 2017.

Cost of Revenue

For the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized cost of revenue of $7,641,684 from operating our online media channels primarily attributable to fixed monthly cost of providing our digital media network channels and advertising and membership services, as compared to $1,590,636 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase of $6,051,048 in cost is primarily from our Channel Partners’ guarantee payments of $896,928, payroll and benefits of $450,366, amortization of our capitalized platform development of $1,324,373 (which resulted from spending for our capitalized platform development of during 2018 $4,006,399), amortization of acquired developed technology of $558,423 (which resulted from the acquisitions of HubPages and Say Media for the technology development during 2018 of $14,750,000), and revenue share payments of $2,247,453.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, since our technology operations were primarily in the application and development phase we capitalized platform development of $4,006,399, as compared to $2,605,162 in 2017, consisting of $2,086,963 in payroll and related expenses, including taxes and benefits, as compared to $1,990,589 in 2017, and $1,850,384 in stock based compensation for related personnel, as compared to $614,573 in 2017, resulting in amortization of $1,836,625 reflected in cost of revenue for our capitalized platform development, as compared to $512,252 in 2017.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we incurred research and development expenses of $1,179,944 from development of our platform in the preliminary project and post-implementation stages, as compared to $114,873 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase in research and development expenses is primarily from payroll and benefits of $640,760, stock-based compensation of $196,867, and other related research and development costs of $209,120.

General and Administrative. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we incurred general and administrative expenses of $10,892,443 from payroll and related expenses, professional services, facilities costs, stock-based compensation of related personnel, depreciation and amortization, and other corporate expense, as compared to $4,720,824 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase in general and administrative expenses of $6,171,619 is primarily from our increase in headcount from 24 to 87, with three additional senior executives, the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, and the Chief Product Officer, fourteen in technology development and forty-six in administration, along with the related benefits of $1,393,144. In addition to the payroll and related benefits, we incurred additional stock-based compensation of $2,588,785, travel of $80,305, conferences of $444,919, facilities costs of $230,835, consultants of $143,972, public relations of $91,338, insurance of $92,310, and professional fees of $997,358.

Other (Expenses) Income

For the year ended December 31, 2018, we had net other expenses of $12,145,644, as compared to net other income of $65,025 for the year ended December 31, 2017, which was the result primarily from the items below.

Change in Valuation of Warrant Derivative Liabilities. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the decrease in the fair value of the warrant derivative liabilities resulted in a gain of $964,124. We did not have any warrant derivative liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Change in Valuation of Embedded Derivative Liabilities. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the increase in the fair value of the embedded derivative liabilities resulted in a loss of $2,971,694, as compared to the decrease in the fair value of $64,614 for the year ended December 31, 2017.

True-Up Termination Fee. On June 15, 2018, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with four investors to sell $4,775,000 principal amount of 10% senior convertible debentures. Strome purchased $3,000,000 of such principal amount and two of our senior executives and another investment fund purchased the remaining $1,775,000 of such amount. On June 15, 2018, we also modified two previous securities purchase agreements dated January 4, 2018 and March 30, 2018 with Strome to eliminate the true-up provision under which we were committed to issue up to 1,700,000 shares of our common stock in certain circumstances. As consideration for such modification, we issued a warrant to Strome to purchase 1,500,000 shares of our common stock, exercisable at an initial price of $1.19 per share for a five-year period. The estimated fair value of this warrant on the June 15, 2018 issuance date of $1,344,648, calculated pursuant to the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, was charged to operations as true-up termination fee during the year ended December 31, 2018. We did not have a true-up termination fee for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Settlement of Promissory Notes Receivable. On December 12, 2018, pursuant to the merger agreement with Say Media entered into on October 12, 2018, as amended on October 17, 2018, we settled the promissory notes receivable by effectively forgiving $3,366,031 of the balance due as of December 31, 2018. We did not have any settlement of promissory notes receivable for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Interest Expense. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we incurred interest expense of $2,508,874, primarily consisting of amortization of accretion of original issue discount and debt discount on notes payable of $671,436, extinguishment of debt of $2,620,253, accrued interest of $193,416, and other interest of $120,629, less gain on extinguishment of embedded derivatives liabilities upon extinguishment of host instrument of $1,096,860, as compared to no interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Liquidated Damages. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we recorded $2,940,654 of liquidated damages primarily from issuance of the Series H Preferred Stock and 12% convertible debentures since we determined that: (i) a registration statement registering shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion of the Series H Preferred Stock and conversion of the 12% convertible debentures would not be declared effective by the SEC within the requisite time frame; and (ii) that we would not be able to maintain the timely filing of our periodic reports with the SEC in order to satisfy the public information requirements under the securities purchase agreements. We did not have any liquidated damages for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Deemed Dividend on Series H Preferred Stock. For the year ended December 31, 2018, in connection with the issuance of 19,400 shares of our Series H Preferred Stock, we recorded a beneficial conversion feature in the amount of $18,045,496 for the underlying shares of our common stock since the nondetachable conversion feature was in-the-money (the conversion price of $0.33 per share was lower than the closing price of our common stock of $0.86) at the issuance date. The beneficial conversion feature was recognized as a deemed dividend. We did not have a deemed dividend for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Recent Disruptions to Our Operations

Our normal business operations have recently been disrupted by a series of events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and related measures to control it. See “Item 1A, Risk Factors – Because of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty about their persistence, we may not be able to continue operations as a going concern.”

Seasonality

We expect to experience typical media company advertising and membership sales seasonality, which is strong in the fiscal fourth quarter and slower in the fiscal first quarter.

Effects of Inflation

To date inflation has not had a material impact on our business or operating results.

Our Future Business

During 2019, we announced that our Board, supported by its management team, had commenced a process to explore strategic growth opportunities through mergers and acquisitions. In connection with our strategic growth, in 2019, we completed our previously announced proposed acquisition and licensing agreement as follows:

TheStreet

On June 11, 2019, we, TSTAC, a newly-formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours, and TheStreet, entered into TheStreet Merger Agreement, pursuant to which TSTAC would merge with and into TheStreet, with TheStreet continuing as the surviving corporation in TheStreet Merger and as an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours. On August 7, 2019, we consummated TheStreet Merger, pursuant to which TSTAC merged with and into TheStreet.

Pursuant to TheStreet Merger Agreement, all issued and outstanding shares of common stock of TheStreet (other than those shares with respect to which appraisal rights have been properly exercised) were exchanged for an aggregate of $16,500,000 in cash. Further, pursuant to the terms of TheStreet Merger Agreement, on June 10, 2019, we deposited $16,500,000 into an escrow account pursuant to an escrow agreement, dated June 10, 2019, by and among the Company, TheStreet and Citibank, N.A., as escrow agent. TheStreet Merger was funded through a debt financing arranged by a subsidiary of B. Riley (see below “Funding for Acquisition of TheStreet”).

On August 7, 2019, in connection with TheStreet Merger, we entered into the Cramer Agreement with Mr. Cramer, pursuant to which Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital agreed to provide the Cramer Services. In consideration for the Cramer Services, we pay Cramer Digital the Revenue Share. In addition, we pay Cramer Digital approximately $3,000,000 as an annualized guarantee payment in equal monthly draws, recoupable against the Revenue Share. We also issued two options to Cramer Digital pursuant to our 2019 Plan. The first option was to purchase up to two million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.72, the closing stock price on August 7, 2019, the grant date. This option vests over 36 months. The second option was to purchase up to three million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.54, the closing stock price on April 21, 2020, the grant date. In the event Cramer Digital and we agree to renew the term of the Cramer Agreement for a minimum of three years from the end of the second year of the current term, 900,000 shares will vest on the Trigger Date. The remaining shares will vest equally on the 12-month anniversary of the Trigger Date, the 24-month anniversary of the Trigger Date, and the 36-month anniversary of the Trigger Date.

In addition, we provide Cramer Digital with a marketing budget, access to personnel and support services, and production facilities. Finally, the Cramer Agreement provides that we will reimburse fifty percent of the cost of the rented office space by Cramer Digital, up to a maximum of $4,250 per month.

Funding for Acquisition of TheStreet. On June 10, 2019, we entered into a note purchase agreement with one accredited investor, BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, pursuant to which we issued to the investor a 12% senior secured note, due July 31, 2019, in the aggregate principal amount of $20,000,000, which after taking into account the placement fee to B. Riley FBR of $1,000,000 and legal fees and expenses of the investor, resulted in us receiving net proceeds of $18,865,000, of which $16,500,000 was deposited into the escrow account to fund TheStreet merger consideration and the balance of $2,365,000 was to be used by us for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement

On June 14, 2019, we and ABG, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Authentic Brands Group, entered into the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement, pursuant to which we have the exclusive right and license in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand to operate the Sports Illustrated media business (in the English and Spanish languages), including to (i) operate the digital and print editions of Sports Illustrated (including all special interest issues and the swimsuit issue) and Sports Illustrated for Kids, (ii) develop new digital media channels under the Sports Illustrated brands, and (iii) operate certain related businesses, including without limitation, special interest publications, video channels, bookazines, and the licensing and/or syndication of certain products and content under the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands. We are not required to implement geo filtering or other systems to prevent users located outside the territory from accessing the digital channels in the territory.

The initial term of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement commenced on October 4, 2019, upon the termination of the Meredith License Agreement and continues through December 31, 2029. We have the option, subject to certain conditions, to renew the term of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement for nine consecutive renewal terms of 10 years each, for a total of 100 years.

The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement provides that we will pay to ABG Royalties in respect of each year of the Term based on gross revenues, with guaranteed minimum annual amounts. We prepaid $45,000,000 to ABG against future Royalties. ABG will pay to us a share of revenues relating to certain Sports Illustrated business lines not licensed to us, such as all gambling-related advertising and monetization, events, and commerce. The two companies are partnering in building the brand worldwide. This transaction was funded through a debt financing arranged by a subsidiary of B. Riley (see below “Funding for Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement”).

Pursuant to the Meredith License Agreement between ABG and Meredith, Meredith operated the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands under license from ABG. On October 3, 2019, Meredith and we entered into various agreements, including the Transition Agreement, whereby the parties agreed to the terms and conditions under which Meredith continued to operate certain aspects of the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands, and provided certain services during the fourth quarter of 2019 until all activities were transitioned over to us. Through these agreements, we took over operating control of the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands, and the Transition Agreement was terminated on October 4, 2019.

Pursuant to the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement, we issued to ABG warrants to acquire 21,989,844 shares of our common stock (the “Warrants”). Half of the Warrants have an exercise price of $0.42 per share (the “Forty-Two Cents Warrants”). The other half of the Warrants have an exercise price of $0.84 per share (the “Eighty-Four Cents Warrants”). The Warrants provide for the following: (1) 40% of the Forty-Two Cents Warrants and 40% of the Eighty-Four Cents Warrants will vest in equal monthly increments over a period of two years beginning on the one-year anniversary of the date of issuance of the Warrants (any unvested portion of such Warrants to be forfeited by ABG upon certain terminations by us of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement); (2) 60% of the Forty-Two Cents Warrants and 60% of the Eighty-Four Cents Warrants will vest based on the achievement of certain performance goals for the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands in calendar years 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023; (3) under certain circumstances we may require ABG to exercise all (and not less than all) of the Warrants, in which case all of the Warrants will be vested; (4) all of the Warrants will automatically vest upon certain terminations of the Licensing Agreement by ABG or upon a change of control of us; and (5) ABG will have the right to participate, on a pro-rata basis (including vested and unvested Warrants, exercised or unexercised), in any of our future equity issuances (subject to customary exceptions).

Funding for the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement. On June 14, 2019, we entered into an amended and restated note purchase agreement with one accredited investor, BRF Finance, an affiliated entity of B. Riley, which amended and restated the 12% senior secured note dated June 10, 2019. Pursuant to this amendment, we issued an amended and restated 12% senior secured note, due June 14, 2022, in the aggregate principal amount of $68,000,000, which amended, restated, and superseded that $20,000,000 12% senior secured note issued by us on June 10, 2019 to the investor. We received additional gross proceeds of $48,000,000, which, after taking into account BRF Finance’s placement fee of $2,400,000 and legal fees and expenses of the investor, we received net proceeds of $45,550,000, of which $45,000,000 was paid to ABG against future Royalties in connection with the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement, dated June 14, 2019, with ABG, and the balance of $550,000 was used by us for working capital and general corporate purposes.

In 2020, we completed the following acquisitions:

Asset Acquisition of LiftIgniter

On March 9, 2020, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with LiftIgniter and Maven Coalition, whereby Maven Coalition purchased substantially all the assets of LiftIgniter’s machine learning platform, which personalizes content and product recommendations in real-time. The purchased assets included LiftIgniter’s intellectual property and excluded certain accounts receivable. Maven Coalition also assumed certain of LiftIgniter’s liabilities. The purchase price consisted of: (i) a cash payment of $184,086 on February 19, 2020, in connection with the repayment of certain of its outstanding indebtedness; (ii) a cash payment at closing of $131,202; (ii) collections of certain accounts receivable; (iv) on the first anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our Common Stock; and (v) on the second anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our common stock.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported periods. The more critical accounting estimates include estimates related to revenue recognition, platform development, impairment of long-lived assets, and stock-based compensation. We also have other key accounting policies, which involve the use of estimates, judgments and assumptions that are significant to understanding our results, which are described in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in our consolidated financial statements.

Our discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Report, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of the financial statements. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Revenue

We adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”), as the accounting standard for revenue recognition, which was effective as of January 1, 2017. Since we had not previously generated revenue from customers, we did not have to transition its accounting method from ASC 605, Revenue Recognition.

Revenues are recognized when control of the promised goods or services are transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for those goods or services. We generate all of our revenue from contracts with customers. The following is a description of the principal activities from which we generate revenue:

Advertising. We enter into contracts with advertising networks to serve display or video advertisements on the digital media pages associated with its various channels. In accordance with ASC 606, we recognized revenue from advertisements, the impression bid prices, and revenue are reported on a real-time basis. Although reported advertising transactions are subject to adjustment by the advertising network partners, any such adjustments are known within a few days of month end. We owe its independent publisher Channel Partners a revenue share of the advertising revenue earned which is recorded as service costs in the same period in which the associated advertising revenue is recognized.

Membership. We enter into contracts with internet users that subscribe to premium content on the digital media channels. These contracts provide internet users with a membership subscription to access the premium content for a given period of time, which is generally one year. In accordance with ASC 606, we recognize revenue from each membership subscription over time based on a daily calculation of revenue during the reporting period. Subscriber payments are initially recorded as deferred revenue on the balance sheet. As we provide access to the premium content over the membership subscription term, we recognize revenue and proportionately reduce the contract liability balance. We owe its independent publisher Channel Partners a revenue share of the membership subscription revenue earned, which is initially deferred and recorded as a contract fulfillment cost. We recognize contract fulfillment costs over the membership subscription term in the same pattern that the associated membership subscription revenue is recognized.

Cost of Revenue

Our cost of revenue represents the cost of providing our digital media network channels and advertising and membership services. The cost of revenue that we have incurred in the periods presented primarily include:

Research and Development

Research and development consist primarily of expenses incurred in the research and development of our platform in the preliminary project and post-implementation stages.

Our research and development expenses include:

Platform Development

For the years presented, substantially all of our technology expenses are platform development costs that were capitalized as intangible costs. Technology costs are expensed as incurred or capitalized into property and equipment in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC Topic 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other. This ASC requires that costs incurred in the preliminary project and post-implementation stages of an internal use software project be expensed as incurred and that certain costs incurred in the application development stage of a project be capitalized.

We capitalize internal labor costs, including compensation, benefits and payroll taxes, incurred for certain capitalized platform development projects. Our policy with respect to capitalized internal labor stipulates that labor costs for employees working on eligible internal use capital projects are capitalized as part of the historical cost of the project when the impact, as compared to expensing such labor costs, is material.

Platform development capitalized during the application development stage of a project include:

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of:

Stock-Based Compensation

We provide stock-based compensation in the form of (i) restricted stock awards to employees and directors, (ii) stock option grants to employees, directors, and consultants, and (iii) the Channel Partners Warrants.

We account for restricted stock awards and stock option grants to employees, directors, and consultants by measuring the cost of services received in exchange for the stock-based payments as compensation expense in our financial statements. Restricted stock awards and stock option grants to employees, which are time-vested are measured at fair value on the grant date and charged to operations ratably over the vesting period. Restricted stock awards and stock option grants to employees that are performance-vested are measured at fair value on the grant date and charged to operations when the performance condition is satisfied.

We account for stock-based payments to certain directors and consultants and its Channel Partners by determining the value of the stock compensation based upon the measurement date at either (i) the date at which a performance commitment is reached or (ii) at the date at which the necessary performance to earn the equity instruments is complete.

The fair value of restricted stock awards, which are time-vested is determined using the quoted market price of our common stock at the grant date. The fair value of restricted stock awards which provide for performance-vesting and a true-up provision (as described in Note 17, Stockholders’ Equity, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements) is determined through consultants with our independent valuation firm using the binomial pricing model at the grant date. The fair value of stock options granted and Channel Partner Warrants granted as stock-based payments are determined utilizing the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which is affected by several variables, the most significant of which are the life of the equity award, the exercise price of the stock option or warrants, as compared to the fair market value of our common stock on the grant date, and the estimated volatility of our common stock over the term of the equity award. Estimated volatility is based on the historical volatility of our common stock and is evaluated based upon market comparisons. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant. The fair market value of common stock is determined by reference to the quoted market price of our common stock.

We capitalize the cost of stock based compensation awards based on the fair value of such awards for platform development and expenses the cost of stock based compensation awards based on the fair value of such awards to cost of revenues, general and administrative expense, or research and development expenses, as appropriate, in its consolidated statements of operations.

Income Taxes

We utilize the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax law is recognized in results of operations in the period that includes the enactment date.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

We periodically evaluate the carrying value of long-lived assets to be held and used when events or circumstances warrant such a review. The carrying value of a long-lived asset to be held and used is considered impaired when the anticipated separately identifiable undiscounted cash flows from such an asset are less than the carrying value of the asset. In that event, a loss is recognized based on the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the long-lived asset. Fair value is determined primarily by reference to the anticipated cash flows discounted at a rate commensurate with the risk involved.

Sequencing Policy

Under authoritative guidance, we adopted a sequencing policy whereby, in the event that reclassification of contracts from equity to assets or liabilities is necessary pursuant to ASC 815 due to our inability to demonstrate we have sufficient authorized shares of our common stock, shares of our common stock will be allocated on the basis of the earliest issuance date of potentially dilutive instruments, with the earliest grants receiving the first allocation of shares. Pursuant to ASC 815, issuance of securities to our employees or directors are not subject to the sequencing policy.

Based on a preliminary analysis, we determined that during the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2019, we did not have authorized and unissued shares of our common stock available for issuance that we could potentially be required to deliver under our equity contracts. Information with respect to the issuance of dilutive and potentially dilutive instruments subsequent to the year ended December 31, 2018 is in our accompany consolidated financial statements in Note 24, Subsequent Events, under the heading Sequencing Policy.

On December 18, 2020, we filed a Certificate of Amendment to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock from 100,000,000 shares to 1,000,000,000 shares. As a result, as of December 18, 2020, we have a sufficient number of authorized but unissued shares of our common stock available for issuance required under all of our securities that are convertible into shares of our common stock.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report includes Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2018, the following transactions, obligations, or relationships represent our off-balance sheet arrangements:

Warrant Derivative Liabilities

L2 Warrants. Effective as of August 3, 2018, pursuant to the reset provision, we adjusted the exercise price to $0.50 per share (the floor exercise price) for the warrants previously issued to L2 Capital, LLC (“L2”) and issued additional warrants to L2 to purchase up to 640,405 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.50 per share (as further described in Note 17, Stockholders’ Equity, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements). As a result of the exercise price of the warrants being reduced to the floor exercise price on August 3, 2018 and triggering of the reset provision, the warrants no longer contained any reset provisions and will continue to be carried on our consolidated balance sheets as a derivative liability at fair value, as adjusted at each period-end since, among other criteria, delivery of unregistered shares is precluded upon exercise. The warrants are exercisable for a period of five years, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments, and may, in the event there is no effective registration statement covering the re-sale of the warrant shares, be exercised on a cashless basis in certain circumstances. Warrants exercisable for up to 1,066,963 shares of our common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2018, with a derivative liability at fair value of $418,214. L2 exercised these warrants during September 2019 on a cashless basis, therefore, this derivative liability had no impact on our cash resources.

Strome Warrants. On June 15, 2018, we modified the two securities purchase agreements dated January 4, 2018 and March 30, 2018 with Strome to eliminate the true-up provision under which we were committed to issue up to 1,700,000 shares of our common stock in certain circumstances (as further described in Note 17, Stockholders’ Equity, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements). As consideration for such modification, we issued warrants to Strome (the “Strome Warrants”) to purchase up to 1,500,000 shares of our common stock, at an initial exercise price of $1.19 per share for a period of five years, subject to a reset provision and customary anti-dilution provisions. Strome was also granted observer rights on our Board. On August 3, 2018, as a result of the warrant exercise price being reduced to the floor exercise price and the triggering of the reset provision, the warrants no longer contained any reset provisions and will continue to be carried on our consolidated balance sheets as a derivative liability at fair value, as adjusted at each period-end since, among other criteria, delivery of unregistered shares is precluded upon exercise. Warrants exercisable for up to 1,500,000 shares of our common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2018, with a derivative liability fair value of $587,971. In the event Strome decided to exercise these warrants, since shares of our common stock were available to settle the instrument, there would be no impact to our cash resources.

B. Riley Warrants. On October 18, 2018, we issued warrants to the investors to purchase up to 875,000 shares of our common stock in connection with the 10% OID convertible debentures, with an exercise price of $1.00 per share (as further described in Note 17, Stockholders’ Equity, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements). The warrant instrument provides that upon the consummation of a subsequent financing, the $1.00 exercise price shall be adjusted under certain conditions. We determined that the aforementioned $1.00 exercise price adjustment provisions were inconsequential since we did not anticipate a consumption of a subsequent financing that would trigger a subsequent financing condition, therefore, we will carry the warrants on our consolidated balance sheets as a derivative liability at fair value, as adjusted at each period-end since, among other criteria, delivery of unregistered shares is precluded upon exercise. The warrants are exercisable for a period of seven years, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments, and may, if at any time after the six-month anniversary of the issuance of the warrants there is no effective registration statement covering the re-sale of the shares of common stock underlying the warrants, be exercised on a cashless basis. Warrants exercisable for up to 875,000 shares of our common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2018, with a derivative liability fair value of $358,050. In the event B. Riley decided to exercise these warrants (which are subject to certain contractual exercise limitations), since shares of our common stock were available to settle the instrument after considering the contractual exercise limitations, there would be no impact to our cash resources.

Embedded Derivative Liabilities

12% Convertible Debentures. On December 12, 2018, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with three accredited investors, pursuant to which we issued to the investors 12% convertible debentures in the aggregate principal amount of $13,091,528, which included (i) the roll-over of an aggregate of $3,551,528 in principal and interest of the 10% OID convertible debentures issued to two of the investors on October 18, 2018 (as further described in Note 15, Convertible Debt, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements), and (ii) a placement fee of $540,000 to the placement agent, B. Riley FBR, in the offering. After payment of legal fees and expenses of the investors, we received net proceeds of $8,950,000. The 12% convertible debentures issued on December 12, 2018 are convertible into shares of our common stock at the option of the investor at any time prior to December 31, 2020, at a conversion price of $0.33 per share, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, and similar transactions, and beneficial ownership blocker provisions. The 12% convertible debentures are due and payable on December 31, 2020. Interest accrues at the rate of 12% per annum, payable on the earlier of conversion or December 31, 2020. Our obligations under the 12% convertible debentures are secured pursuant to the security agreement we entered into with each investor.

Subject to us receiving stockholder approval to increase our authorized number of shares of our common stock, principal on the 12% convertible debentures are convertible into shares of our common stock, at the option of the investor, at any time prior to December 31, 2020, at a conversion price of $0.33 per share, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, and similar transactions, and beneficial ownership blocker provisions.

Upon issuance of the 12% convertible debentures, we recognized a conversion option, buy-in feature, and default remedy feature as embedded derivatives that were bifurcated from the note instruments; therefore, we will carry the embedded derivative liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets at fair value, as adjusted at each period-end since, among other criteria, delivery of unregistered shares is precluded upon conversion. As of December 31, 2018, the fair value of the embedded derivative liabilities was $7,387,000. In the event the investors decided to exercise their conversion rights under the debentures (which are subject to certain contractual conversion limitations), since shares of our common stock are available to settle the instruments after considering the contractual conversion limitations, there would be no impact to our cash resources.

Contractual Obligations

The following table sets forth our principal cash operating obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2018, aggregating to $1,871,106.

* Subsequent to December 31, 2018, we entered into to several operating lease obligations which are not reflected in the table (refer to Note 24, Subsequent Events, in our accompanying consolidated financial statements).

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Not applicable to a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of SEC Regulation S-K.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

All information required by this item is listed in the Index to Financial Statements in Part IV, Item 15(a)1 of this Annual Report.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

On February 5, 2018, our Board dismissed Gumbiner Savett Inc. (“Gumbiner”) as its independent registered public accounting firm.

Gumbiner’s report on our financial statements for the fiscal period from July 22, 2016 (“Inception”) and ending on December 31, 2016, did not contain an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion and was not qualified or modified as to audit scope, or accounting principle, except that Gumbiner’s report contained an explanatory paragraph stating that there was substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. During the fiscal period from Inception and ending on December 31, 2016, and during the subsequent interim period through February 5, 2018, the date of Gumbiner’s dismissal, we had no disagreements (as defined in Item 304 of Regulation S-K) with Gumbiner on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to Gumbiner’s satisfaction, would have caused it to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreements in connection with any opinion to the subject matter of the disagreement. Furthermore, during the period of Gumbiner’s retention, there were no reportable events of the type described in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K, except with respect to the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as discussed below.

On February 5, 2018, our Board engaged BDO USA, LLP (“BDO”), which is an independent registered public accounting firm registered with, and governed by the rules of, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, as our independent registered public accounting firm. During the period from Inception and ending on December 31, 2016, and through February 5, 2018, neither we nor anyone on our behalf consulted BDO regarding either (i) the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction regarding us, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on our financial statements, and neither a written report nor oral advice was provided to us that was an important factor considered by us in reaching a decision as to the accounting, auditing, or financial reporting issue; or (ii) any matter that was the subject of a disagreement (as that term is defined in Item 304(a)(1)(iv) of Regulation S-K and the related instructions) or a “reportable event” (as that term is defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K). On September 28, 2018, our Board dismissed BDO as its independent registered public accounting firm.

On January 9, 2019, our Board engaged Marcum LLP (“Marcum”) as its new independent registered public accounting firm. The engagement of Marcum was approved by the Audit Committee of our Board. From our fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and through January 9, 2019, neither we nor anyone acting on our behalf consulted with Marcum regarding either (i) the application of accounting principles to a specific transaction, either completed or proposed; or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on our financial statements, and no written report was provided to us or oral advice was provided that Marcum concluded was an important factor considered by us in reaching a decision as to the accounting, auditing or financial reporting issue; or (ii) any matter that was the subject of either a disagreement (as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(iv) of Regulation S-K) or a reportable event (as described in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K).

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining a system of disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) that is designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal executive officer(s) and principal financial officer(s), or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

In accordance with Exchange Act Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15, an evaluation was completed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. Based on that evaluation, our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective in providing reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act was recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Internal control over financial reporting is a process, including policies and procedures, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Our management assessed our internal control over financial reporting based on the Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013 Framework) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Our system of internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives. Furthermore, smaller reporting companies face additional limitations. Smaller reporting companies employ fewer individuals and find it difficult to properly segregate duties. Smaller reporting companies tend to utilize general accounting software packages that lack a rigorous set of software controls.

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 on a timely basis.

Based on our evaluation under the framework in COSO, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2018. This conclusion is based on such criteria and we believe that control over financial reporting was ineffective because: (i) we lacked monitoring over the completeness and accuracy of our underlying accounting records, information technology systems, and had ineffective controls over our period end financial disclosure and reporting processes; (ii) we had inadequate segregation of duties consistent with control objectives; and (iii) we have a history of untimely filed periodic reports, including being unable to file any periodic reports since our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 (that was filed late in 2020). As a result we deemed these to be material weaknesses.

Management, with the participation of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, intends to remediate the material weaknesses identified as of December 31, 2018. We have engaged external certified public accountants to assist our accounting department and Chief Financial Officer in preparing the necessary periodic reports. In TheStreet Merger, we also acquired some additional employees with accounting experience that has assisted us with preparing our periodic reports. We believe our accounting department is now competent and capable of bringing us current with our periodic filing obligations. In addition, our Audit Committee is now assisting our Board in fulfilling its responsibility to oversee (i) the integrity of our financial statements, our accounting and financial reporting processes, and financial statement audits, (ii) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (iii) our systems of internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, (iv) the engagement of our independent registered public accounting firm, and its qualifications, performance, compensation, and independence, (v) review and approval of related party transactions, and (vi) the communication among our independent registered public accounting firm, our financial and senior management, and our Board.

In addition, we intend to undertake the following additional remediation measures to address the material weaknesses described in this Annual Report:

We have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in us being unable to fully implement our remediation plan. We will continue to evaluate and implement procedures as deemed appropriate to remediate these material weaknesses; however, we expect that the remediation of those matters that were deemed material weaknesses will be complete no later than March 31, 2021.

Auditor’s Report on Internal Control Over Financing Reporting

This Annual Report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to the rules of the SEC that permit us to provide only management’s report in this Annual Report.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

In connection with our continued monitoring and maintenance of our controls procedures as part of the implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes, we continue to review, test, and improve the effectiveness of our internal controls. Other than with respect to the remediation efforts discussed above, there have not been any changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the year ended December 31, 2018 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information

None.

Part III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Current Officers and Directors

The following table includes the names, ages, and titles of our directors and executive officers. Directors are to be elected each year by our stockholders at an annual meeting. Each director holds his office until his successor is elected and qualified or resignation or removal. Executive officers are appointed by our Board. Each executive officer holds his office until he resigns or is removed by our Board or his successor is appointed and qualified.

Former Officers and Directors

The following table includes the names, ages, and titles of our directors and executive officers who served as a director or executive officer during fiscal 2018 but who no longer serve as an executive officer or director.

Biographical Information on Officers and Directors

Ross Levinsohn has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a director since August 26, 2020. Mr. Levinsohn joined us on June 14, 2019 as the Chief Executive Officer of Sports Illustrated. Mr. Levinsohn also served as one of our directors briefly in 2017. Mr. Levinsohn was an executive with Tribune Publishing from August 21, 2017 until January 17, 2019, serving first as the Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Times and then as the Chief Executive Officer of Tribune Interactive. He was the managing partner of Whisper Partners, an advisory firm, from June 2016 to August 2017. Mr. Levinsohn also previously served as Chief Executive Officer at Guggenheim Digital Media from January 2013 to June 2014. Mr. Levinsohn served in various executive positions at Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo!), a multi-national internet company, from October 2010 to August 2012, including as the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Head of Global Media and Head of the Americas. Mr. Levinsohn co-founded and served as managing director at Fuse Capital, an investment and strategic equity management firm focused on investing in and building digital media and communications companies, from 2007 to 2010. Prior to his time at Fuse Capital, Mr. Levinsohn spent six years at News Corporation, serving in roles including President of Fox Interactive Media and Senior Vice President of Fox Sports Interactive. Earlier in his career, Mr. Levinsohn held senior management positions with AltaVista, CBS Sportsline and HBO. We believe that Mr. Levinsohn is qualified to serve as one of our directors because of his vast executive experience with various media companies and his understanding of our business through his service as our Chief Executive Officer.

Paul Edmondson has served as our President since October 10, 2019. Mr. Edmondson also served as our Chief Operating Officer of the Company from August 23, 2018 until December 9, 2019. Mr. Edmondson oversees our platform business that offers the core content management system, programmatic advertising technology and multitenant subscription stack for publishers serving partner publishers and our owned and operated properties. Mr. Edmondson joined Maven with the acquisition of HubPages, where he served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer beginning in January 2006. Prior to HubPages, he served as the Group Product Manager for Microsoft Corporation’s MSN Entertainment. He joined Microsoft Corporation with the acquisition of MongoMusic, Inc., and prior to that he developed applications for Hewlett-Packard Company. We believe Mr. Edmondson is qualified to serve as our President because he has over 23 years of technology experience and is an experienced entrepreneur and executive.

Douglas B. Smith has served as our Chief Financial Officer since May 3, 2019. Before joining us, Mr. Smith served as the Chief Financial Officer of Ashworth College from March 2016 to April 2019. From May 2015 to March 2016, Mr. Smith served as the Chief Financial Officer of Scout Media. Mr. Smith also served as the Chief Financial Officer of GLM Shows from November 2011 to May 2014, EducationDynamics from July 2009 to November 2011, Datran Media from June 2005 to December 2008, and Peppers & Rogers Group from October 2000 to May 2005. He also served as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Primedia from May 1993 to October 2000. Prior to his corporate experience, Mr. Smith served as the Senior Vice President of the Bank of New York from June 1982 to May 1993. Mr. Smith earned his Masters of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Connecticut College.

Andrew Kraft has served as our Chief Operating Officer since October 1, 2020. Mr. Kraft joined us in December 2018 and served in a variety of senior leadership roles before transitioning to a consulting role from April 2020 through October 2020, when he rejoined us as a full-time employee. Prior to joining us, Mr. Kraft served in a variety of roles on the executive team of Xandr, a division of AT&T Inc., formerly known as AppNexus, for seven years, including as the head of Business and Corporate Development, as a co-founder of the company’s publisher business and head of Publisher Strategy, and as the Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Kraft was the Senior Vice President, AMP & Publisher Solutions for Collective, where he led business development for the company’s audience management and monetization platform. Mr. Kraft studied Physics and Theater at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Avi Zimak has served as our Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Global Strategic Partnerships since December 9, 2019. Before joining us, Mr. Zimak served as the Chief Revenue Officer & Publisher of New York Media from March 2017 to December 2019. From September 2012 to January 2015, Mr. Zimak served as the Vice President of Sales of North America for Outbrain. Mr. Zimak also served as the General Manager of The Americas for Outbrain from January 2015 to February 2017. He served on various management teams at Hearst Corporation from August 2007 to September 2012 and worked toward the launch and oversight of the Hearst App Lab. Mr. Zimak served in national sales roles for Condé Nast from 2003 to 2007, Time Inc. from 2001 to 2003, Advance Publications American City Business Journals from 1998 to 2001, and Ziff Davis from 1997 to 1998. Mr. Zimak received his Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1997.

Jill Marchisotto has served as our Chief Marketing Officer since October 1, 2020. She also served as our Chief Consumer Marketing & Membership Officer from November 2019 until October 2020. Ms. Marchisotto joined us in 2019 with our acquisition of TheStreet, where she led the consumer subscription business and marketing strategy for the brand’s suite of products, including Jim Cramer’s popular investment club. Her roles with TheStreet included Executive Director, Consumer Marketing from October 2017 until October 2019; Senior Director of Marketing from February 2017 until October 2017; and Director of Marketing from May 2016 until January 2017. From May 2013 to May 2016, Ms. Marchisotto served as the Consumer Marketing, Retention, and Gift Program Lead for Bloomberg L.P. Prior to that, Ms. Marchisotto worked extensively in both digital and print media and served in various marketing roles at Conde Nast and Wenner Media.

James C. Heckman served as our Chief Executive Officer and one of our directors from November 4, 2016 until his resignation on August 26, 2020. Mr. Heckman also served as our President from November 2016 through December 2017. Mr. Heckman has extensive experience in Internet media, advertising, video, and online communities. He was the Chief Executive Officer of North American Membership Group, Inc., including its subsidiary Scout Media, Inc., from October 2013 to May 2016, and Chairman of the board of directors from May 2016 to July 2016. From April 2011 to August 2012, Mr. Heckman served as Head of Global Media Strategy for Yahoo!, leading all significant transactions and revenue strategy under Ross Levinsohn, where he architected a partnership between AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!. He was previously the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 5to1, an advertising platform, from August, 2008 through its 2011 sale to Yahoo!; Chief Strategy Officer of Zazzle.com from 2007 to 2008; Chief Strategy Officer of FOX Interactive Media from 2005 to 2007, where he architected the ad alliance between Myspace and Google; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Scout.com, from April 2001 through to its sale to FOX Interactive Media in September 2005; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rivals.com from 1997 to 2000; and President and Publisher of NFL Exclusive, official publication for every NFL team, from 1991 to 1998. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Washington.

Joshua Jacobs has served as a member of our Board since May 31, 2017. Mr. Jacobs also served as President from January 1, 2018 to October 10, 2019, as Executive Chairman from May 1, 2017 until January 27, 2018. He has served as a member of the board of directors of Resonant Inc., a late-stage software development company located in Goleta, California, since June 2018, and as a member of the board of directors of Logiq, a global e-commerce, mCommerce, MarTech and Fintech enablement platform, since September 2020. Mr. Jacobs served as a member of the board of directors of Invoca, Inc., a private company focused on conversation intelligence software, from June 2012 until December 2020. Mr. Jacobs was the President, Services at Kik Interactive from May 2015 to December 2016. From June 2011 to April 2014, Mr. Jacobs was Chief Executive Officer of Accuen Media, an Omnicom Company. From September 2009 to April 2011, Mr. Jacobs was Senior Vice President of Marketing for Glam Media. From July 2007 to October 2009, Mr. Jacobs was the Vice President and General Manager of Advertising Platforms at Yahoo!. He has also held leadership positions at X1 Technologies and Bigstep. Mr. Jacobs also serves on the board of directors of the following public companies: Resonant Inc. (Nasdaq) and Logiq Inc. (OTCQX). We believe that Mr. Jacobs is qualified to serve as one of our directors because of his expertise and experience in digital media, technology, and advertising businesses.

Martin Heimbigner served as our Chief Financial Officer from May 15, 2017 to May 3, 2019. Mr. Heimbigner provided professional services in various roles, including as a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, and director for many organizations through the professional services firms of Tatum and Pacific CFO Group, LLC from 2003 to 2014, and then again through Pacific CFO Group, LLC from May 2016 to March 2017. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of BSQUARE Corporation, where he led corporate finance, human resources, legal, and information technology activities, as well as SEC reporting, from November 2014 to May 2016.

William Sornsin was one of our founders and served as our Chief Operating Officer from November 2016 through August 2018, and then again from December 2019 until September 2020. Prior to joining us, Mr. Sornsin served as the Chief Technology Officer of North American Membership Group, Inc., including its subsidiary Scout Media, Inc., from October 2013 to January 2016, and as the Chief Operating Officer from January 2016 to July 2016. Mr. Sornsin ran MSN’s Core Technology team before joining Mr. Heckman in 1999 as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Rivals.com. In 2001, he became co-founder and Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the original Scout.com and served as the Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Fox Interactive Media after the acquisition of Scout Media, Inc. in 2005. Prior to his service at Rivals.com and Scout Media, Inc., Mr. Sornsin held a variety of roles at Microsoft, including Group Manager of MSN Core Technology and Product Planning Lead for Microsoft Exchange. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical/Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of California – Los Angeles.

Benjamin Joldersma served as the Chief Technology Officer of the Company from November 2016 until September 2020. Mr. Joldersma has developed a deep expertise in large-scale systems, rapid development and online product innovation. He served as the Chief Technology Officer of North American Membership Group, Inc., including its subsidiary Scout Media, Inc., from January 2016 to July 2016, and as the Chief Product Officer, responsible for product vision and all software engineering, from October 2013 to January 2016. Mr. Joldersma was a Senior Software Engineer at Google from December 2012 to October 2013, working on imagery-related products under the Geo organization, and Principal Software Engineer at Yahoo! from June 2011 to December 2012, working on advertising platform technology. He was a System Architect at 5to1 from August 2008 through its June 2011 sale to Yahoo!. Mr. Joldersma was the founder of Skull Squadron, a company at which he held software architecture and engineering positions from 2007 to 2009; was a founder of All-In-One Creations from 2004 to 2007; served as a software engineer at aQuantive in 2006; as a software design engineer at Pacific Edge Software in 2005; as a lead software architect at Scout Media, Inc. from 2001 to 2005; as a web developer at Rivals.com from 1999 to 2001; and as a web design engineer at Microsoft from 1998 to 1999. He studied Computer Science at the University of Puget Sound.

Peter Mills has served as one of our directors since September 2006. Mr. Mills is an entrepreneur in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Cimbal, Inc., a startup company developing a mobile payments system in Los Altos, California, from June 2014 to December 2015. From May 2004 until December 2012, he was Vice President of Sales at Speck Design, a leading product design firm with offices in Palo Alto, California. From July 2007 to April 2008, Mr. Mills served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the board of directors of Integrated. He spent 15 years selling sophisticated industrial robotics and automation systems with Omron Adept Technology, Inc., the leading U.S. manufacturer of industrial robots, and Hewlett-Packard Company. He also served as the Vice President of Sales from October 2000 to September 2001 at Softchain, an enterprise supply chain software company acquired by RiverOne, Inc. in 2001, which was later acquired by i2 Technologies, Inc. in 2006. Mr. Mills has significant experience with respect to the design and manufacturing needs of a variety of industries including medical devices, disk drives, consumer products, food packaging, printers, computers and networking, and semiconductor equipment. He has extensive international business experience in Japan, Singapore, and Korea. Mr. Mills earned a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and an A.B. in engineering, cum laude, from Dartmouth College. We believe Mr. Mills is qualified to serve as one of our directors because of his prior management experience and significant business experience within a variety of industries.

Todd Sims has served as a member of our Board since August 23, 2018. Mr. Sims is a representative of B. Riley Financial and currently serves as the President of B. Riley Venture Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial (“BRVC”). Prior to his current position with BRVC, Mr. Sims served as a member of B. Riley Financial’s board of directors since October 2016. Since March 2010, Mr. Sims has served as Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy of Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc., one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world, overseeing business and corporate development for its ticketing business, AXS Digital, LLC. Prior to that, Mr. Sims spent more than 15 years building Internet businesses. In the mid 1990’s, Mr. Sims served as ESPN’s executive producer of NFL.com, NBA.com and NASCAR Online. Mr. Sims also served on the management team of eCompanies, LLC, an incubator which has incubated a number of companies including Jamdat Mobile Inc. (acquired by Electronic Arts Inc.), Business.com Inc. (acquired by R.H. Donnelley Corp.), and Boingo Wireless, Inc. Mr. Sims serves as an advisor to the Los Angeles Dodgers Tech Accelerator and is a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. Mr. Sims’ digital experience provides an important resource to our Board and qualifies him for service as a director.

John A. Fichthorn has served as a member of our Board since August 23, 2018. Mr. Fichthorn is currently the Founder and Portfolio Manager of MedTex Ventures. From April 2017 to April 2020, Mr. Fichthorn served as Head of B. Riley Alternatives, a division of B. Riley Capital Management, LLC (“B. Riley Capital Management”), which is an SEC-registered investment adviser and wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley. Mr. Fichthorn was a Co-Founder of Dialectic Capital Management, LLC, an investment management firm, and has been a portfolio manager of the firm since 2003. Mr. Fichthorn was employed by Maverick Capital from 2000 until 2003, most recently as Managing Director of the technology group. From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Fichthorn was an analyst at Alliance Capital working across multiple hedge fund products and as a member of the technology team. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Fichthorn was an Analyst at Quilcap Corporation, a short-biased hedge fund where he covered all sectors, with a focus on technology. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Fichthorn worked at Ganek & Orwicz Partners. Mr. Fichthorn is the lead independent director of Quantum Corporation since April of 2019, and he was a Director of Health Insurance Innovations (aka Benefytt Corporation), Inc. from Dec 2017 until the company’s sale in August of 2020. Mr. Fichthorn also served on the boards of California Micro Devices and Immersion Corporation as well as several private company boards. Mr. Fichthorn has significant experience in accounting and financial matters with the unique perspective of representing the interests of stockholders on several public company boards, all of which qualify him for service as one of our directors.

Rinku Sen has served as one of our directors since November 3, 2017. Ms. Sen is a writer and a political strategist. She is currently Senior Strategist at Race Forward, having formerly served as Executive Director and as Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines. She is also a James O. Gibson Innovation Fellow at PolicyLink. Under Ms. Sen’s leadership, Race Forward has generated some of the most impactful racial justice successes of recent years, including Drop the I-Word, a campaign for media outlets to stop referring to immigrants as “illegal,” resulting in the Associated Press, USA Today, LA Times, and many more outlets changing their practice. Her books Stir it Up and The Accidental American theorize a model of community organizing that integrates a political analysis of race, gender, class, poverty, sexuality, and other systems. She writes and curates the news at rinkusen.com. We believe that Ms. Sen is qualified to serve as a director because of her experience and qualifications as a journalist and political activist.

David Bailey has been one of our directors since January 28, 2018. Since 2013, Mr. Bailey as served as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BTC Inc., which is an industry leader in the digital currency and blockchain space. Through its subsidiaries, BTC Inc. is the publisher of the world’s leading digital (Bitcoin Magazine, Distributed, and Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network) and print publications (Distributed Magazine and yBitcoin Magazine) dedicated to the cryptocurrency and blockchain spaces, an internationally recognized conference series, a blockchain venture studio, a marketing firm and more. Through his guidance, the company has reached millions of readers, facilitated dozens of clients and pioneered technology that is helping build the future. Mr. Bailey is also a board member of Po.et, a shared, open, universal ledger designed to record metadata and ownership information for digital creative assets. After a highly successful token sale and the first wave of publishers integrating with Po.et, the platform is poised to become a new standard for rewarding content creators and publishers alike. Mr. Bailey is also a member of the board of directors of Blockchain Education Network, sits on the board of advisors for the University of Alabama, and since September 2019 has been the general partner of UTXO Management. Mr. Bailey is a graduate of the University of Alabama. We believe that Mr. Bailey is qualified to serve as a director because of his experience in print and digital publications.

Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our officers, directors, and persons who own more than ten percent of a class of our equity securities that is registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act within specified time periods to file certain reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. Officers, directors, and ten-percent stockholders are required by regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely on a review of copies of the reports furnished to us and written representations from persons concerning the necessity to file these reports, we believe that all reports required to be filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act during fiscal 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 were filed with the SEC on a timely basis, except for the following:

Code of Ethics

A Code of Ethics that applies to the executive officers and the other employees of the Company, was approved and adopted by our Board on January 1, 2020. Copies of the Code of Ethics may be obtained free of charge by written request to TheMaven, Inc., attention Chief Financial Officer, 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10281. We have also filed a copy of the Code of Ethics as an exhibit to this Annual Report.

Nomination Committee

We have not adopted any material changes to the procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to our Board.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee of our Board was formed September 14, 2018. The Audit Committee assists our Board in fulfilling its responsibility to oversee (a) the integrity of our financial statements, our accounting and financial reporting processes and financial statement audits, (b) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (c) our systems of internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, (d) the independent auditor’s engagement, qualifications, performance, compensation and independence, (e) review and approval of related party transactions, and (f) the communication among our independent auditors, our financial and senior management and our Board . The Audit Committee currently consists of Peter Mills, who serves as its Chairman, and John Fichthorn. Our Board has determined that Mr. Mills, the Chairman of the Audit Committee, is an “audit committee financial expert” as defined under SEC rules.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

The following table sets forth certain compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to the following “named executive officers,” which is defined as follows:

We did not have any individuals for whom disclosure would have been required but for the fact that the individual was not serving as an executive officer as of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

Summary Compensation Table

Narrative Discussion of Summary Compensation Table of Named Executive Officers

The following is a narrative discussion of the material information that we believe is necessary to understand the information disclosed in the foregoing Summary Compensation Table. The following narrative disclosure is separated into sections, with a separate section for each of our named executive officers.

With respect to fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, each named executive officer received a base salary and was eligible for a stock option award pursuant to our 2016 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2016 Plan”). Information on the specific components of the 2016 Plan can be found below under the heading “Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans”.

James C. Heckman

Stock Option Awards during fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018

Employment Agreement

On November 4, 2016, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. James C. Heckman (the “Heckman Employment Agreement”). The Heckman Employment Agreement contemplated an employment term of a period of three years beginning on July 18, 2016, with Mr. Heckman serving as our Chief Executive Officer, President, and a director. Mr. Heckman was paid a base salary of $300,000 per annum and was entitled to the same employment benefits available to our employees as well as the reimbursement of business expenses during the term of employment. The Heckman Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would have been entitled to one year’s severance equal to his annual salary amount. He is also subject to a restrictive covenant on competitive employment for up to two years after termination of the Heckman Employment Agreement, so long as we continue to pay his annual salary amount during that period, and a restrictive covenant on solicitation of employees, customers and vendors of the Company for up to one year after termination of the agreement. Mr. Heckman resigned as our Chief Executive Officer and a director on August 26, 2020 and we entered into a Separation Agreement with him with respect to his service in those positions. On the same date, we entered into a Consulting Agreement with Mr. Heckman, pursuant to which Mr. Heckman will serve as a consultant for a one-year period beginning on August 26, 2020.

Joshua Jacobs

Stock Option Awards during fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018

Employment Agreement

On May 17, 2017, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Joshua Jacobs, as revised on August 23, 2017 (“Jacobs Employment Agreement”). The Jacobs Employment Agreement provided that Mr. Jacobs would serve as the Executive Co-Chairman of our Board and our Chief Revenue Officer. Pursuant to the Jacobs Employment Agreement, Mr. Jacobs earned a salary of $225,000 per annum, was granted stock options under the 2016 Plan exercisable for up to 300,000 shares of our common stock, and a performance-based bonus opportunity up to $75,000. Mr. Jacobs was entitled to the employment benefits available to our employees and reimbursement of business expenses. Pursuant to the Jacobs Employment Agreement, Mr. Jacobs was eligible to earn a minimum monthly bonus so long as we met certain revenue targets as provided in the agreement. In the event we fail to meet the monthly revenue targets, Mr. Jacobs will not receive the minimum monthly bonus. Additionally, he was eligible to receive a quarterly “catch-up” bonus in the event we were able to meet certain additional monthly revenue targets. In total, Mr. Jacobs could receive a bonus of $75,000 in cash. The Jacobs Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would be entitled to severance and acceleration of vesting of equity grants. Finally, the Jacobs Employment Agreement includes standard provisions for assignment of intellectual property developed while an employee, protection of our confidential information, and non-competition and non-solicitation of employees.

Effective January 1, 2018, we entered into an amended and restated employment agreement with Mr. Jacobs (the “A&R Jacobs Employment Agreement”), which superseded the Jacobs Employment Agreement. Pursuant to the A&R Jacobs Employment Agreement, Mr. Jacobs agreed to serve as our President and Executive Chairman of our Board. Pursuant to the A&R Jacobs Employment Agreement, (i) Mr. Jacobs’ annual base salary was increased to $300,000, (ii) the vesting conditions related to the options exercisable for up to 300,000 shares of our common stock were amended, and (iii) he was to be awarded additional stock options under the 2016 Plan, exercisable for up to 600,000 shares of our common stock. Mr. Jacobs’ annual performance-based bonus opportunity was set at a maximum of $30,000 to be calculated as follows: a bonus payment of up to $15,000 based on certain revenue goals for us and up to $15,000 based on certain revenue goals for HubPages. In the event either HubPages or we do not meet its respective revenue goals, the applicable bonus amount will be reduced pro-ratably.

In October 2019, Mr. Jacobs resigned as our President, but he remains a member of our Board. In connection with this service as a director, we entered into a director agreement with him on January 1, 2020. In addition, beginning on May 1, 2020, he receives additional compensation of $20,000 per month for certain specified consulting services to us pursuant to a Strategic Financing Addendum to his director agreement.

Benjamin Joldersma

Stock Option Awards during fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018

Employment Agreement

On November 4, 2016, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Benjamin Joldersma (the “Joldersma Employment Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Joldersma agreed to serve as our Chief Technology Officer for a period of three years beginning on July 18, 2016. Pursuant to the Joldersma Employment Agreement, we initially paid Mr. Joldersma an annual base salary of $250,000, which was increased to $275,000 in 2018. Mr. Joldersma was entitled to the same employment benefits that we offer to our employees and was entitled to reimbursement of business expenses during the term of his employment. The Joldersma Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would be entitled to three month’s severance at a rate equal to his monthly salary amount. He was also subject to a restrictive covenant on competitive employment for up to two years after termination of the agreement, so long as we continue to pay his annual salary amount during that period, and a restrictive covenant on solicitation of our employees, customers, and vendors for up to one year after termination of the agreement. Mr. Joldersma resigned as our Chief Technology Officer, and was replaced by Indraneel Mukherjee, on September 30, 2020.

Director Compensation in 2018

We compensate our independent directors with cash fees and/or equity awards. In May 2020, our Board determined that directors would not receive any cash compensation for their services as one of our directors in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide additional compensation for a director who acts as chairperson of one or more committees of our Board. A director who is also one of our executives or employees, including employed through one of our subsidiaries, does not receive any additional compensation for these services as a director while providing service as an executive officer or employee. In those instances, we report the total compensation of directors that are also one of our named executive officers in the Summary Compensation Table above. The following table sets forth, for the year ended December 31, 2018, the compensation paid to members of our Board.

Director Compensation

Director Compensation Policies

On April 26, 2017, our Board approved director compensation consisting of the following: (i) cash compensation to non-management directors of $25,000 per year, payable monthly, (ii) grants of stock option awards to non-management directors to purchase up to 45,000 shares of our common stock, and (iii) an option to elect to receive stock option awards in lieu of a part of or the entire annual cash compensation amount at a rate of $0.75 per option, determined as a proxy for an actual Black-Scholes option pricing on the date of grant, with the options having the same exercise price and vesting schedule as the annual stock option awards.

On August 23, 2018, our Board approved and adopted the Outside Director Compensation Policy (the “August 2018 Compensation Policy”). The August 2018 Compensation Policy applied to non-employee directors (the “Outside Directors”), providing that the Outside Directors would be granted a restricted stock option award equal to that number of shares of our common stock equal in value to $50,000. The shares of our common stock underlying each award would vest in equal monthly installments through the end of the year in which the restricted stock option award was granted. The Outside Directors no longer receive cash compensation under the August 2018 Compensation Policy.

On September 14, 2018, our Board approved and adopted a new Outside Director Compensation Policy (the “September 2018 Compensation Policy”). The September 2018 Compensation Policy includes the same provisions of the August 2018 Compensation Policy, except that it adds an annual grant of a stock option award equal to that number of shares equal in value to $50,000 to any Outside Director that serves as the chairperson of one or more committees of our Board.

Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change-of-Control

Mr. Heckman

The Heckman Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would have been entitled to one year’s severance equal to his annual salary amount. Subsequent to fiscal 2018, Mr. Heckman and we entered into a Separation Agreement, dated August 26, 2020, pursuant to which we agreed to hire Mr. Heckman as a consultant for a one-year period and pay him a monthly consulting fee of approximately $29,200 per month. The terms of the consulting arrangement were set forth in a separate consulting agreement.

Mr. Jacobs

The Jacobs Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would have been entitled to a severance payment equal to the annual salary due for remainder of the initial one-year term of the Jacobs Employment Agreement and acceleration of vesting of equity grants. Additionally, Mr. Jacobs’ entered into a director agreement that provides for various termination events under which the options granted pursuant to that agreement would remain exercisable for a period one year after termination.

Mr. Joldersma

The Joldersma Employment Agreement provided for various termination events under which he would be entitled to three month’s severance at a rate equal to his monthly salary amount. Subsequent to fiscal 2018, Mr. Joldersma and we entered into a Separation Agreement, dated October 5, 2020, pursuant to which we paid him severance of approximately $111,000.

Outstanding Equity Awards at 2018

The following table provides information concerning options to purchase shares of our common stock held by the named executive officers on December 31, 2018.

Outstanding Equity Awards At Fiscal Year-End