CLEARONE INC - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

Form 10-K

(Mark One)

 

 

Commission file number 001-33660

 

CLEARONE, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (801) 975-7200

 

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

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

________________

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted 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 such files). ☒Yes ☐No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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. (Check one):

 

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell Company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐Yes ☒No

 

The aggregate market value of the shares of voting common stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $13.0 million at June 30, 2019, (the Company’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), based on the $2.23 closing price for the Company’s common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market on such date. For purposes of this computation, all officers, directors, and 10% beneficial owners of the registrant are deemed to be affiliates. Such determination should not be deemed to be an admission that such officers, directors, or 10% beneficial owners are, in fact, affiliates of the registrant.

 

The number of shares of ClearOne common stock outstanding as of March 25, 2020 was 16,650,725. 

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None

CLEARONE, INC.

 

Annual Report on Form 10-K For the year ended December 31, 2019

 

Table of Contents

​

		Page
	PART I	1
Item 1.	Business	1
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	14
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	22
Item 2.	Properties	22
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	22
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	22
	PART II	23
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	23
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	23
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	24
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	31
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	31
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	32
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	32
Item 9B.	Other Information	32
	PART III	33
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	33
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	35
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	38
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	39
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	40
	PART IV	41
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	41
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	41

​

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This report contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect our views with respect to future events based upon information available to us at this time. These forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of the words “believe,” “may,” “could,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “propose,” “plan,” “intend,” and similar words and expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements are statements that describe the proposed development, manufacturing, and sale of our products; statements that describe expectations regarding pricing trends, the markets for our products, our anticipated capital expenditures, our cost reduction and operational restructuring initiatives, and future impact of regulatory developments; statements with regard to the nature and extent of competition we may face in the future; statements with respect to the anticipated sources of and need for future financing; and statements with respect to future strategic plans, goals, and objectives and forecasts of future growth and value. Forward-looking statements are contained in this report under “Business” included in Item 1 of Part I, and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in Item 7 of Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on our predictions respecting events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences and timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including the risk factors discussed in this report under the caption “Item 1A Risk Factors.” These cautionary statements are intended to be applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. The cautionary statements contained or referred to in this report should also be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that may be issued by us or persons acting on our behalf. Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this report and we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.  

 

References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “ClearOne,” “we,” “us,” “CLRO” or “the Company” refer to ClearOne, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and, unless the context otherwise requires or is otherwise expressly stated, its subsidiaries.

 

 

GENERAL

 

ClearOne, Inc. (the Company) was incorporated in Utah in 1983 and reincorporated in Delaware on October 25, 2018. The Company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Company has other locations in Gainesville, Florida; Austin, Texas; Zaragoza, Spain; Chennai, India; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

 

We have been a global market leader enabling conferencing, collaboration, and network streaming solutions. We design, develop and sell conferencing, collaboration and network streaming solutions for voice and visual communications. The performance and simplicity of our advanced comprehensive solutions offer unprecedented levels of functionality, reliability and scalability.

 

Our comprehensive line of high-quality conferencing and collaboration products are targeted for large, medium and small businesses, as well as for personal use. We have been a global market leader in the installed professional audio conferencing market, where our products are used in numerous industries such as enterprise, healthcare, education, government, legal and finance. 

 

We have an established history of product innovation and plan to continue to apply our expertise in audio, video and networked AV to design, develop and introduce innovative new products and enhance our existing products. Our end-users range from some of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies and institutions to small and medium-sized businesses, higher education and government organizations, as well as individual consumers. We sell our commercial products to these end-users through a global network of independent distributors who, in turn, sell our products to dealers, systems integrators and other value-added resellers. We also sell directly to dealers, systems integrators and other value-added resellers. Our solutions save end-users time and money by creating a natural environment for collaboration and communication. Our partners, who are involved in system integration are benefitted with simpler project design and support costs with our products designed and built to work with each other seamlessly. 

 

On December 4, 2018, we closed a subscription rights offering (the “Rights Offering”) in which we raised $10.0 million in gross proceeds. In the Rights Offering, we issued one subscription right to each of our shareholders for each share of our common stock that they held. Each subscription right entitled the shareholder to purchase one share of our common stock at a purchase price of $1.20 per share. At the closing, we sold 8,306,535 shares of our common stock and returned subscriptions for 754,868 shares that were oversubscribed after allocating oversubscribed shares on a pro-rata basis. 

On December 17, 2019, the Company completed the issuance and sale of $3,000,000 aggregate principal amount of secured convertible notes of the Company (the “Notes”) and warrants (the “Warrants”) to purchase 340,909 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company (the “Common Stock”), in a private placement transaction. The Notes and Warrants were issued and sold to Edward D. Bagley, an affiliate of the Company, on the terms and conditions of a Note Purchase Agreement dated December 8, 2019 between the Company, certain subsidiary guarantors of the Company, and Mr. Bagley. The Notes are convertible to shares of the Company’s common stock at an initial conversion price of $2.11 per share, and the Warrants have an initial exercise price of $1.76 per share. 

Company Information

 

Our website address is http://www.clearone.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to such reports are available, free of charge, on our website in the “Investor Relations” section under “Company.” These reports are made available as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. These reports are also available on the SEC’s website, which is located at http://www.sec.gov.

 

For a discussion of certain risks applicable to our business, results of operations, financial position, and liquidity, see the risk factors described in “Item 1A, Risk Factors” below.

ITEM 1-BUSINESS  

Our Business Strategy

 

The Company’s primary challenge is the loss in revenue due to infringement of our patents by competitors and consequent reduction in cash flows due to operating losses and litigation costs. Our current strategy consists of the following three elements to overcome this adverse situation:

 

We currently participate in the following markets:

 

 

Our business goals are to:

 

 

We will continue to focus on our core strengths, which include the following:

 

 

ITEM 1- BUSINESS  

 PRODUCTS

 

Our products can be broadly categorized into the following:

 

 

AUDIO CONFERENCING

 

Our full range of audio conferencing products include (i) professional installed DSP based audio conferencing and sound-reinforcement products used in enterprise, healthcare, education and distance learning, government, legal and finance organizations, (ii) mid-tier premium conferencing products for smaller rooms and small and medium businesses which interface with video and web conferencing systems, (iii) affordable USB-based speakerphones that can be used with PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other portable devices, and (iv) traditional tabletop conferencing phones used in conference rooms and offices.

 

Our audio conferencing products feature our proprietary HDConference®, Distributed Echo Cancellation® and noise cancellation technologies to enhance communication during a conference call by eliminating echo and background noise. Most of our products also feature some of our other HDConference proprietary audio processing technologies such as adaptive modeling and first-microphone priority, which combine to deliver clear, crisp and full-duplex audio. These technologies enable natural and fatigue-free communication between distant conferencing participants.

 

Our audio conferencing products contributed 46.3% and 49.5% of our consolidated revenue in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Professional installed audio conferencing and sound reinforcement

 

We have been a global market leader in the professional installed audio conferencing market. We have been a pioneer in the development of high-end, professional conferencing products and we have established strong brand recognition for these products worldwide. Our installed professional conferencing products include the CONVERGE^® Pro 2, CONVERGE Pro and CONVERGE SR product lines.

 

Our flagship CONVERGE Pro 2 and CONVERGE Pro product lines lead our professionally installed audio products line. The CONVERGE Pro product line includes the CONVERGE Pro 880, CONVERGE Pro 880T, CONVERGE Pro 880TA, CONVERGE Pro 840T, CONVERGE Pro 8i, CONVERGE Pro TH20 and CONVERGE Pro VH20, and the CONVERGE SR product line including CONVERGE SR1212 and SR1212A which together offer various levels of integration and features to allow a commercial system integrator to optimize a system to fit diverse conferencing applications and environments.

 

We began shipping a limited number of SKUs of the latest generation of CONVERGE Pro products broadly called as CONVERGE Pro 2 at the end of 2016. We added more SKUs to CONVERGE Pro 2 line which now includes CONVERGE Pro 2 128, CONVERGE Pro 2 128D, CONVERGE Pro 2 128T, CONVERGE Pro 2 128TD, CONVERGE Pro 2 128V, CONVERGE Pro 2 128VD, CONVERGE Pro 2 128VT, CONVERGE Pro 2 128VTD, CONVERGE Pro 2 120, CONVERGE Pro 2 012, CONVERGE Pro 2 48T, CONVERGE Pro 2 48V, CONVERGE Pro 2 48VT, CONVERGE Pro 2 48VTD, CONVERGE Pro 2 128SR and CONVERGE Pro 2 128SRD.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

 CONVERGE Pro 2’s broad DSP platform satisfies clients’ diverse audio needs with these features:

 

 

CONVERGE Pro 2 line of products is ably supported by a touch panel controller, a GPIO expansion box, a USB expansion box and a wall-mount Bluetooth Expander. CONVERGE Pro 2 VoIP SKUs are certified to interoperate with Cisco, Avaya and ShoreTel SIP based VoIP systems and also interoperate with Microsoft Skype for Business.

 

Mid-Tier Premium Conferencing

 

Our INTERACT^® product line is a mid-tier, lower cost, conferencing product line designed to meet the needs of our larger customers with smaller conferencing rooms as well as small and medium businesses. The INTERACT product series is comprised of the INTERACT AT and the INTERACT Pro. Both systems can be easily connected to enterprise telephones, analog POTS lines, existing HD video codecs and soft video clients. These INTERACT systems also include a USB audio interface to connect to PCs, laptops and tablets, as well as to rich multimedia devices, such as video or web conferencing systems and emerging unified communication systems for enhanced collaboration.

 

During 2018, we introduced and started shipping CONVERGE Huddle, another addition to the mid-tier premium conferencing line. CONVERGE Huddle is a versatile solution for multiple use huddle room environments at a price point that meets budget requirements for audio and video collaboration applications. CONVERGE Huddle connects to ClearOne or third-party peripheral devices, such as microphones, speakers, cameras, and display screens and applications such as Spontania®, Skype® for Business, GoToMeeting ™, WebEx® through single clutter-free connection via USB 3.0 to laptop. It comes with the latest Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Noise Cancellation algorithms and a user-friendly CONSOLE® software. It can be mounted easily under a table, behind a display, on a wall or in a rack.

 

Speakerphone

 

Our CHAT® product line of speakerphones includes affordable and stylish USB based personal and group speakerphones. CHAT speakerphones provide full-duplex and rich full bandwidth frequency response for superior audio clarity. CHAT products are designed for a wide variety of applications and devices (fixed or portable) for greatly enhanced collaboration wherever and whenever needed. CHAT speakerphones are offered either as personal speakerphones under CHAT 50, CHAT 60 or CHAT 70 SKUs or as group speakerphones under CHAT 150, CHAT 160 and CHAT 170 SKUs.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

CHAT 50/60/70 personal speakerphones are approximately the size of a deck of cards, and connect to PCs and MACs for rich, clear, hands-free audio and playback. CHAT 150 group speakerphones are designed for small group use. These can also connect many of the same devices and applications as the CHAT personal speakerphones but feature three microphones in larger design for use by a larger number of participants. CHAT 150/160/170 group speakerphones have the ability to add high-quality, full-duplex speakerphones to user enterprise telephone handsets such as Avaya and Cisco. CHAT group speakerphones make it possible to introduce rich, crystal clear conferencing capability without the need for introducing a separate traditional conference phone. CHATAttach® is comprised of two CHAT 150 group speakerphones which can be daisy-chained together to function as a single conferencing system for much larger coverage than a single CHAT 150. CHAT group speakerphones are integral to our media collaboration product line as our media collaboration products are tightly integrated with CHAT group speakerphones for high quality audio experience.

 

Tabletop Conferencing

 

Our tabletop conferencing product line offered under MAX® brand is comprised of the following product families: MAX EX and MAXAttach® wired conference phones; MAX Wireless and MAXAttach Wireless conference phones; and MAX IP and MAXAttach IP conferencing phones. Designed for use in executive offices or small conference rooms with multiple participants, MAX Wireless can be moved from room to room within 150 feet of its base station. MAXAttach Wireless was the industry’s first and remains the only dual-phone, completely wireless solution. This system gives customers tremendous flexibility in covering larger conference room areas. MAX EX and MAXAttach wired phones can be daisy chained together, up to a total of four phones. This provides even distribution of microphones, loudspeakers, and controls for better sound quality and improved user access in medium to large conference rooms. In addition, all MAXAttach wired phones can be used separately when they are not needed in a daisy-chain configuration. MAX IP and MAXAttach IP are VoIP tabletop conference phones which are based on the industry-standard SIP signaling protocol. These phones can also be daisy-chained together, up to a total of four phones.

 

PROFESSIONAL MICROPHONES

 

Our microphones contributed 35.2% and 32.0% of our consolidated revenue in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Beamforming Microphone Array

 

ClearOne began shipping the first generation Beamforming Microphone Array in March 2013. This product works with CONVERGE Pro 880, CONVERGE Pro 880T, CONVERGE Pro 880TA and CONVERGE Pro 840T.

 

Beamforming Microphone Array 2, the next generation Beamforming Microphone Array started shipping in the last quarter of 2017 and affirmed ClearOne’s clear industry leadership with the following outstanding features:

 

 

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

During the first quarter of 2019, the Company began shipping our patented Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile (BMA CT) to our partners.  All of the innovations developed for the BMA CT make the integrator’s job easier and more profitable. The BMA CT dramatically transforms how integrators can approach system design for ceiling tile installations, allowing for multi-array setups that can utilize a single, low-channel count DSP mixer while maintaining ClearOne’s high level of performance and reliability. Further simplification comes from the array’s built-in power amplifier, which allows each array to drive two 10-Watt, 8-Ohm loudspeakers. The BMA CT also features ClearOne’s proprietary adaptive steering technology (think of it as smart switching). This provides impeccable room coverage while eliminating the need to adjust individual beams. Integrators can daisy chain ceiling tiles via P-Link (ClearOne’s proprietary peripheral link) for larger conference setups – for simpler wiring and longer distances compared to networked home-run connections. P-Link also allows integrators to daisy chain additional peripherals such as wireless mics, USB Expanders, and GPIO Expanders.  The system supports all of this functionality with zero consumption of analog I/O and signal processing in the DSP mixer leaving those resources available for other needs.

 

Ceiling Microphone Array

 

The ClearOne Ceiling Microphone Array enhances almost any professional conferencing application which demands high-quality audio. The Ceiling Microphone Array is easily installed and combines affordability with exceptional audio quality. With three wide-range microphones mounted together into a single unit array, the Ceiling Microphone Array provides the rich sound of three individual unidirectional microphones while maintaining full 360-degree coverage. 

 

This product line was further strengthened in 2018 by the introduction of the Ceiling Microphone Array Analog-X series of ceiling microphones. These products feature superior sound quality, adjustability for desired height from 0 to 7 feet and numbered microphone elements for easy identification.

 

This product line was further expanded with the introduction of Ceiling Microphone Array Dante, a tri-element ceiling microphone array with built-in Dante audio networking for conferencing and sound reinforcement applications. Each Ceiling Microphone Array Dante utilizes three premium quality microphone elements to deliver 360-degree room coverage for boardrooms, conference rooms, telemedicine facilities and more. Dante networking technology offers simple installation with CAT5 or CAT6 cabling, and delivers uncompressed, multi-channel audio with near-zero latency and sample accurate time synchronization throughout the network.

 

Wireless Microphones

 

In 2013, ClearOne introduced WS800 Wireless Microphone Systems, including four new models of wireless microphones/transmitters (Tabletop/boundary, Gooseneck, Handheld, Bodypack) and a base-station receiver with either 4 or 8 channels, which connect to professional audio mixers. Since the Sabine acquisition in 2014, our portfolio of wireless microphone systems was enhanced by the introduction of digital compressed versions, Dante standard compatible versions and more frequency ranges catering to various international markets.

 

During 2017, we started shipping DIALOG^® 20, the two-channel wireless microphone system. Leveraging the full power of ClearOne's robust, adaptive frequency-hopping "spread" spectrum technology within the 2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum, DIALOG 20 has several advantages over fixed-frequency transmission. DIALOG 20 incorporates flexible features and multiple options usually available only in much larger systems. While DIALOG 20 works seamlessly with all commercially available mixers, it boasts additional features when natively interfacing with our new CONVERGE Pro 2 or new Beamforming Microphone Array 2.

 

VIDEO

 

Our video products include video collaboration and AV networking products. Our video products contributed 18.4% and 18.5% of our consolidated revenue in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Video Collaboration:

 

Our Media Collaboration suite of products is led by our comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading COLLABORATE® branded videoconferencing and collaboration solutions. 

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

COLLABORATE Live 300 includes a free 90-day COLLABORATE Space web conferencing subscription, a Skype for Business client, SIP/H.323 video conferencing, wireless presentation and interactive whiteboard capabilities — along with one CHAT 150 speakerphone and one UNITE 150 PTZ camera with 1080p30, 12x optical zoom. COLLABORATE Live 300 succeeded COLLABORATE Pro 300, which included video appliance, UNITE^® 150 camera, CHAT^® 150C speakerphone and 90-days subscription to Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing, SIP/H.323 video conferencing, in-room wireless presentation and optional Skype^® for Business native integration.

 

COLLABORATE Live 600 is a video collaboration system that delivers crystal-clear, full-duplex audio for medium-sized conference room environments.  It offers the same suite of built-in video conferencing capabilities, the UNITE 200 PTZ camera, an ultra-friendly user interface, and a 90-day free COLLABORATE Space trial subscription.  For audio, the system features two ClearOne CHAT® 150 speakerphones that daisy chain with CHATAttach® for crystal-clear audio quality. COLLABORATE Live 600 succeeded COLLABORATE Pro 600, which included video appliance, UNITE 200 camera, CHATAttach^® 150 speakerphones, and 90-days subscription to Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing, SIP/H.323 video conferencing with 4-way built-in MCU, in-room wireless presentation, optional Skype for Business native integration, capture recording and streaming. This solution is targeted at medium-size rooms.

 

For large-sized boardrooms, auditoriums, conference rooms, lecture halls, courtrooms, training centers and telemedicine facilities, COLLABORATE Live 900 delivers a complete professional quality collaboration system solution featuring a powerful combination of video components integrated with the most advanced audio DSP technology for the richest possible large meeting room collaboration experience. COLLABORATE 900 features a suite of built-in video conferencing capabilities including a Skype® for Business client, SIP/H.323 video conferencing, wireless presentation, interactive whiteboard, recording and streaming and a user interface that’s as simple and familiar as the interface found on a tablet or mobile device. It also includes a CONVERGE® Pro 2 DSP mixer, the industry’s most advanced audio processor and ClearOne’s Beamforming Microphone Array 2, which features adaptive steering technology (think of it as smart switching) to provide unsurpassed audio pick-up coverage of an entire room.  For high-quality video capture of all participants in the room, the COLLABORATE Live 900 comes with the UNITE® 200 PTZ 1080p60 camera with 12x optical zoom. The system also includes a 90-day free trial of the ClearOne COLLABORATE Space cloud-based video conferencing application. COLLABORATE Live 900 succeeded COLLABORATE Pro 900, which included video appliance, UNITE 200 camera, CONVERGE^® Pro installed audio endpoint, Beamforming Microphone Array and 90-days subscription to Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing, SIP/H.323 video conferencing with 4-way built-in MCU, multi-user in-room wireless presentation, optional Skype for Business native integration, capture recording and streaming. This solution is targeted at medium and large-size rooms.

 

COLLABORATE Live 1000 includes ClearOne’s newest beamforming microphone product, the Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile (BMA CT). COLLABORATE Live 1000 also includes COLLABORATE Space cloud conferencing, Skype® for Business client, SIP/H.323 video conferencing, wireless presentation, interactive whiteboard, recording, and streaming. The system comes complete with the CONVERGE Pro 2 48VT DSP mixer, the industry’s most advanced audio processor, and a user interface that’s as simple and familiar as that found on a tablet or mobile device. A UNITE® 200 PTZ 1080p60 camera with 12x optical zoom ensures high-quality capture of all room participants.

 

Rounding out ClearOne’s new COLLABORATE Live product line is COLLABORATE Live 200, a new video collaboration system with ultra-wide angle video capture, which is critical for viewing all conference participants in huddle spaces and smaller room environments. Designed specifically to meet huddle space budgets, COLLABORATE Live 200 features the UNITE 50 EPTZ 1080p30 camera with 3x digital zoom and a 120-degree wide-angle field of view. Other features are similar to those found in the COLLABORATE Live 300 system, including the free 90-day COLLABORATE Space subscription. 

 

Our Media Collaboration series also include COLLABORATE Space, a suite of solutions that unifies messaging, calls, meetings and, perhaps most importantly, minds in a way that will energize workflows and increase productivity for everyone involved in the enterprise. Designed as a persistent, user-friendly collaboration suite, COLLABORATE Space contains many powerful UCC capabilities, as well as the seamless ability to make calls outside the network. By adding phone credits on the account, customers can reach anyone in the world on a standard landline or mobile phone with the system’s integrated phone dialer.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

With COLLABORATE Space, users can work together one-on-one, or in groups of hundreds, with integrated file sharing, searchable archives, and user presence information. They can connect with colleagues and contacts, via audio and video, with the most intuitive collaboration tools. Users can meet immediately or schedule a meeting and access a full suite of collaboration features, including file sharing, whiteboarding, annotation, chat, and meeting minutes. Team members wishing to move from email can also create searchable private and public channels, organized by topic, which can be accessed from anywhere. They can also search, access and store agendas, notes, messages, documents, whiteboards, session recordings, and more.  Finally, COLLABORATE Space runs on any device, from desktop to mobile, and on any standards-based video endpoint.

COLLABORATE Space Enterprise has all the functionality people have come to expect from a full-featured cloud collaboration app, with the increased security and full, enterprise control associated with on-premise platforms. In addition to “Enterprise” platform, COLLABORATE Space is available in cloud-based “Basic” and “Pro” versions.

COLLABORATE Space was preceded by Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing service that can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. Spontania offered all sorts of collaboration tools such as screen sharing, application sharing, whiteboard, annotation over presentation, recording, hand-raise and chat. The service is targeted for any workspace including mobile, desktop and rooms of any size; and multiple use cases including meetings, classrooms and training sessions.

Bring your own video and web conferencing – COLLABORATE Versa series offer a USB PTZ camera, a speakerphone and a central hub that connects the laptop to the meeting room peripherals via single USB 3.0 connectivity. COLLABORATE Versa, compatible with Cisco WebEx^®, Google Hangouts^®, Microsoft Skype for Business^® and more, is also bundled with 90-days subscription of Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing. This solution is targeted at huddle spaces and medium conference rooms.

COLLABORATE Versa 50 features a ClearOne UNITE® 50 EPTZ 3x zoom 1080p30 camera to capture all participants in the room; a central hub for connecting to dual displays, cameras, audio endpoints, networks and other peripherals; a CHAT® 150 speakerphone with advanced audio processing for a rich conferencing experience; and a complimentary 90-day trial of COLLABORATE Space, ClearOne’s powerful cloud-based audio and video conferencing applications.

The COLLABORATE Versa Pro 50 addresses today’s AV collaboration needs for COLLABORATE Space, MS Teams, Skype® for Business, Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting and Spontania with a complete huddle space solution. It features a CONVERGE® Huddle audio DSP mixer for a professional audio experience, a ClearOne UNITE® 50 EPTZ 3x zoom 1080p30 camera, a ceiling microphone array with 360-degree coverage reducing reverberation and noise, and a complimentary 90-day trial of ClearOne COLLABORATE Space. Customers purchasing the COLLABORATE Versa Pro 150 get upgraded to a 1080p30 UNITE® 150 PTZ camera with 12x optical zoom. 

COLLABORATE Versa Pro CT, includes a Huddle DSP mixer and the Huddle-compatible and patented BMA CTH that is a perfect fit for small-to medium-sized rooms. The COLLABORATE Versa Pro CT is a great room solution for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) collaboration using any cloud-based service. such as COLLABORATE® Space, Microsoft® Teams, WebEx^®, Zoom^®, and more. The system includes the Company’s new BMA CTH Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile with built-in AEC, providing the same impeccable room coverage as the BMA CT using adaptive steering (think of it as smart switching). The COLLABORATE Versa Pro CT system also includes mic/line inputs with AEC, line outputs, 4x10 Watt power amps, USB audio, mobile phone jack, and HDMI. The system comes preloaded with a project file ready for the most common room configuration. Or it can be further configured using CONSOLE® AI software, now with enhanced visualization and Audio Intelligence.

Additionally, both COLLABORATE Versa Pro 50 and Versa Pro 150 solutions feature a CONVERGE® Huddle audio DSP mixer for a professional audio experience, a Ceiling Microphone Array with 360-degree coverage that reduces reverberation and noise; and an optional clutter-free CONVERGE Huddle VESA mount.

UNITE 200/150 is a professional-grade PTZ camera series supporting USB, HDMI and IP connectivity. It delivers 1080p HD resolution, 12X optical zoom and is compatible with PC-based and Pro-AV applications, supporting wide range of meeting spaces.

UNITE 50 4K camera is plug-and-play ready with 120-degree field-of-view, digital zoom and pairs easily with any microphone/speaker combination. The UNITE 50 4K camera’s ultra-wide-angle field-of-view is ideally suited for PC-based video conferencing, web conferencing and unified communications, and other collaboration experiences in huddle spaces and small conference rooms. The camera also supports the USB Video Class (UVC) 1.1 standard for maximum compatibility with a wide variety of cloud and room-based solutions. Along with 4K30 resolution, the autofocus camera features 3x digital zoom and a full-function USB 3.0 interface for video and power. Its wide dynamic range provides support for optimal image capture — critical for all video conferencing.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

AV Networking

 

Our AV networking products are primarily sold under VIEW^® and VIEW Pro brands and deliver the ultimate IP A/V experience by streaming time sensitive high definition audio and video and control over TCP/IP networks. By combining audio and/or video content, meta-data and control signals into one digital stream in harmony with industry standards, its distributed, edge of the network architecture allows the hardware and the processing power to be distributed across any existing TCP/IP network. This leverages many of the advantages of using TCP/IP over traditional analog systems and other centrally controlled IP-based systems. The ClearOne VIEW and VIEW Pro products are powered by ClearOne’s patented StreamNet^® technology. A user can activate and control a single audio source or combination of audio sources, video sources, security systems, HVAC systems, lighting, and other room or facility monitoring functions such as paging or security access by just a single touch to its attractive touch screens. Alternatively, any PC, laptop, tablet, iPod, or other device with a built-in web browser with Flash can control the equipment connected to the system. The VIEW and VIEW Pro systems have no limits on the numbers of sources, displays, or amplifiers in a project and can be used in venues from high-end residential homes to large-scale commercial projects. The number of devices could be determined by the network bandwidth availability, number of media streams and its bandwidth requirements.

 

Converting an audio or video signal to TCP/IP preserves the digital quality of the signal across the network. Unlike analog systems, which lose quality over long distances, TCP/IP packets are decoded to retain the same digital quality as when they were encoded. The addition of Digital Encoder and Digital Decoder products with DVI/HDMI input and output enhances the flexibility of complete AV distribution system and makes it as easy to use as analog devices.

 

VIEW Pro solution provides 1080p60, H.264 high definition HDMI video-audio, 4:4:4 true-color, 24 bit per pixel video output. It comes with dual inputs encoder, single input encoder and single output decoder with balanced audio, general purpose control ports and clock synchronized video output. VIEW Pro system also provides PANORAMA^TM, a multi-view video composition and video-wall software application using its built-in video processing engine, without using external expensive hardware video processors. This continues to be truly differentiated in the professional market by offering complete AV streaming and distribution systems that can scale to fulfill projects of any size and complexity, from light commercial to the very largest environments. VIEW Pro products include E110 and E120 encoders and D110, D210 and D310 decoders. VIEW Pro solution also comes with multiple license options including audio mixing, video composition, video wall, multicast RTSP and local playback.

 

VIEW CONSOLE software gives integrators a comprehensive platform from which to configure, manage, monitor, and control VIEW system installation using an easy, modern interface. The new toolset, which spotlights the latest in advanced software development technologies, works across ClearOne’s full line of VIEW/VIEW Pro products. In 2017, we released an updated version of VIEW CONSOLE and PANORAMA software applications.

 

During 2018, the VIEW line of products was strengthened by the introduction of VIEW Lite. The VIEW Lite series which includes an encoder, a decoder and a controller, provide essential functionality that meets the full needs of simple AV over IP applications while simultaneously delivering superb price-to-performance value.

 

MARKETING AND SALES

 

We use a two-tier channel model through which we sell our commercial products to a worldwide network of independent professional audiovisual, information technology and telecommunications distributors, who then sell our products to independent systems integrators, dealers, and value-added resellers, who in turn work directly with the end-users of our products for product fulfillment and installation, if needed. Our products are also specified and recommended by professional audio-visual consultants. We also sell our commercial products directly to certain dealers, systems integrators, value-added resellers, and end-users.

 

Our product sales generated in the United States and outside the United States for the years ended December 31 are as follows:

 

 

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

We sell directly to our distributors and resellers in approximately 61 countries worldwide. We anticipate that the portion of our total product revenue from international sales will continue to be a significant portion of our total revenue as we further enhance our focus on developing new products, establishing new channel partners, strengthening our presence in key growth areas, complying with regional environmental regulatory standards, and improving product localization with country-specific product documentation and marketing materials.

 

Distributors, Resellers and Independent Integrators

 

We sold our products directly to approximately 345 distributors and direct resellers throughout the world during 2019. Distributors and resellers purchase our products at a discount from list price and resell them worldwide to hundreds of independent systems integrators, telephony value-added resellers, IT value-added resellers, and PC dealers on a non-exclusive basis. Our distributors maintain their own inventory and accounts receivable and are required to provide technical and non-technical support for our products to the next level of distribution participants. We work with our distributors and resellers to establish appropriate inventory stocking levels. We also work with our distributors and resellers to maintain relationships with our existing systems integrators, dealers, and other value-added resellers.

 

While dealers, resellers, and system integrators all sell our products directly to the end-users, system integrators typically add significant value to each sale by combining our products with products from other manufacturers as part of an integrated system solution. Commercial dealers and value-added resellers usually purchase our products from distributors and may bundle our products with products from other manufacturers for resale to the end-user. We maintain close working relationships with all our reseller partners and offer them education and training on all of our products.

 

Marketing

 

Much of our marketing effort is conducted in conjunction with our channel partners who provide leverage for us in reaching existing and prospective customers worldwide. We also regularly attend industry forums and exhibit our products at multiple regional and international trade shows, often with our channel partners. These trade shows provide exposure for our brand and products to a wide audience. We market our ClearOne-branded commercial products on our website www.clearone.com. We also conduct public relations initiatives to get press coverage and product reviews in industry and non-industry publications alike.

 

Customers

 

Since we sell through distributors and value-added resellers, we do not have comprehensive information on end-users who ultimately use our products. As a result, we do not know whether any end-user accounted for more than 10% of our total revenue during any of the periods reported in this Annual Report. Our customers are distributors and value-added resellers. During the year ended December 31, 2019, one distributor accounted for approximately 11% of consolidated revenue with no other customer accounting for more that 10% of consolidated revenue. During the year ended December 31, 2018 no customer accounted for more than 10% of consolidated revenue.

 

As discussed above, distributors facilitate product sales to a large number of independent systems integrators, dealers, and value-added resellers, and subsequently to their end-users. The loss of one or more distributors could reduce revenue and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Our orders fulfilled on which we had not recognized revenue were $0.2 million and $0.3 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. We had a backlog of unfulfilled orders of approximately $0.2 million and $0.3 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

Competition

 

The audio-visual product markets are characterized by intense competition, rapidly evolving technology, and increased business consolidation. We compete with businesses having substantially greater financial, research and product development, manufacturing, marketing, and other resources. If we are not able to continually design, manufacture, and successfully market new or enhanced products or services that are comparable or superior to those provided by our competitors and at comparable or better prices, we could experience pricing pressures and reduced sales, gross profit margins, profits, and market share, each of which could have a materially adverse effect on our business. Our competitors vary within each product category. We believe we are able to differentiate ourselves and therefore successfully compete as a result of the high audio quality of our products resulting from a combination of proprietary and highly advanced audio signal processing technologies and networking technology in the form of trade secrets and patented intellectual property, technical and channel support services, and the strength of our channels and brands. It is critical for our success to be able to defend our intellectual property including trademarks, trade secrets and patents from our competitors who have far more resources.

 

We believe the following principal factors drive our sales:

 

 

In the professional audio conferencing system and sound reinforcement markets our main competitors include AcousticMagic, AMX Biamp, BOSE, Crestron, Extron, Harman International/BSS, Peavey, Phoenix Audio, Polycom, QSC, Shure, Symetrix, Vaddio and Yamaha and their original equipment manufacturing (OEM) partners, along with several other companies potentially poised to enter the market.

 

Our primary competitors in the USB-based speakerphones market are GN Netcom (Jabra), Logitech, Phoenix Audio, Plantronics, Polycom, and Yamaha and their OEM partners.

 

In the tabletop audio conferencing market, we face significant competition from Avaya/Konftel, Phoenix Audio, Polycom and Yamaha, and from their OEM partnerships. A significant portion of the tabletop market is covered by sales through OEM partnerships. While we believe MAX products have unique features and superior quality, our limited OEM partnerships and pricing pressures from higher volume competitors limit our ability to expand our existing share of this market.

 

In the microphones market, our primary competitors include AKG, Audio Technica, Audix, Avlex/Mipro, Beyerdynamic, Biamp, Clock Audio, Lectrosonics, Nureva, Mediavision/Taiden, Polycom, Phoenix Audio, Sennheiser, Shure, TeachLogic, TOA, Yamaha/Revolabs and Vaddio and their OEM partners.

 

Our video conferencing products face tremendous competition from well established players as well as emerging players, including Acano/CISCO, Adobe Connect, Amazon Chime, Avaya (Radvision), Aver, Barco, Blackboard Collaborate, Blue Jeans, Cisco, Citrix, Fuze, Huawei, InFocus, Kramer, LifeSize, Magor, Pexip, Polycom, Microsoft Skype for Business, Starleaf, Telylabs, UNIFY, Videxio, Vidyo, Yealink, Zoom and ZTE.

 

Our AV networking products face intense competition from a few well-established corporations of diversified capabilities and strengths, including AMX, Atlona, Aurora Multimedia, Barco, Biamp, Cisco, Crestron, Extron, Gefen, Goopie, Haivision, Hall Research, Infocus (Jupiter), Key Digital, Kramer, Liberty AV, Magenta Research, Matrox, Mediasite, Ncast, RGB Spectrum, SVSi/Harman, voLANte, Teracue, tvONE, VBrick, Visionary Solutions, WyreStorm and ZeeVee. We believe that our software based patented technology delivers superior audio and video streaming performance and flexibility and provides us with a competitive edge over other industry players.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

Sources and Availability of Raw Materials

 

We manufacture our products through electronics manufacturing services (“EMS”) providers, who are generally responsible for sourcing and procuring required raw materials and components. Most of the components that our EMS providers require for manufacturing our products are readily available from a number of sources. During 2017, we witnessed a significant tightening of the electronics market with demand for electronic products especially for memories and processors far exceeding the supply caused price increases and longer fulfillment cycles. During 2018 the fulfillment cycles improved. During 2019 tariff wars between USA and China created some uncertainty with respect to pricing and consequently affected the supply chain.

 

We continually work with our EMS providers to seek alternative sources for all our components and raw material requirements to ensure higher quality and better pricing. Most of our EMS providers and their vendors are duly qualified by our corporate quality assurance process. We work with our EMS providers to ensure that raw materials and components conform to our specifications.

 

Manufacturing

 

Currently, all of our products are manufactured by EMS providers. Our primary EMS provider is Flextronics.

 

Seasonality

 

We do not recognize a consistent pattern between the quarters to identify seasonality.

 

Research and Product Development

 

We are committed to research and product development and view our continued investment in research and product development as a key ingredient to our long-term business success. Our research and product development expenditures were approximately $5.8 million and $7.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Our core competencies in research and product development include (a) many audio technologies, including acoustic echo cancellation, noise cancellation and other advanced adaptive digital signal processing technologies, (b) networking and multimedia streaming technologies, (c) video technologies, and (d) cloud technologies. We also have expertise in wireless technologies, VoIP, software and network system development. We believe that continued investment in our core technological competencies is vital to developing new products and to enhancing existing products.

 

Intellectual Property and Other Proprietary Rights

 

We believe that our success depends in part on our ability to protect our proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws and confidentiality agreements and processes to protect our proprietary rights.

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately 83 patents and 7 pending patent applications, including foreign counterpart patents and foreign applications. Our patents and pending patent applications cover a wide range of our products and services including, but not limited to acoustic echo cancellation, beamforming microphone arrays, systems that enable streaming media over IP networks, algorithms for video processing, wireless conferencing systems, spatial audio, and technologies for the Internet of Things. The durations of our patents are determined by the laws of the country of issuance. For the U.S., patents may be 17 years from the date of issuance of the patent or 20 years from the date of its filing, depending upon when the patent application was filed. In addition, we hold numerous U.S. trademarks. The laws of foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property to the same degree as the laws of the United States.

ITEM 1 - BUSINESS

 

We will obtain patents and other intellectual property rights used in connection with our business when practicable and appropriate. Our intellectual property policy is to protect our products, technology and processes by asserting our intellectual property rights where appropriate and prudent. From time to time, assertions of infringement of certain patents or other intellectual property rights of others have been made against us. In addition, certain pending claims against a competitor are in various stages of litigation. See Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings and Note 8 – Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8) for information regarding current legal proceedings involving our intellectual property rights.

 

We are dependent on our intellectual property. If we are not able to protect our proprietary rights or if those rights are invalidated or circumvented, our business may be adversely affected. We may be subject to litigation and infringement claims, which could cause us to incur significant expenses or prevent us from selling our products or services. For more information concerning the risks related to patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property, please see “Risk Factors-Risks Related to our Business.”

 

We generally require our employees, certain customers and partners to enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements before we disclose any confidential aspect of our technology, services, or business. In addition, our employees are required to assign to us any proprietary information, inventions, or other technology created during the term of their employment with us. However, these precautions may not be sufficient to protect us from misappropriation or infringement of our intellectual property.

 

The Company is involved in patent infringement lawsuits against Shure Inc. ("Shure").

 

On April 24, 2017, Shure initiated litigation against the Company in the matter styled Shure Inc. v. ClearOne, Inc., 1:17-cv-03078, which is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, before the Honorable Edmond E. Chang. Shure’s initial complaint sought a declaratory judgment for non-infringement and invalidity of the Company’s U.S. Patent No. 9,635,186 ("’186 Patent") and Patent No. 9,264,553 ("’553 Patent"). In early 2018, Shure added a claim that the ‘186 Patent is unenforceable. The Court dismissed Shure’s request for declaratory judgment relating to the ’553 Patent, which at the time in 2017, had not been asserted by the Company against any defendant and had been submitted to the USPTO for reissue. The Company has filed counterclaims against Shure for willful infringement of the Company’s ’186 Patent and the Company’s U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806 ("’806 Patent").

 

On April 10, 2019, the Company filed a new lawsuit against Shure in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, styled ClearOne, Inc. v. Shure Inc., 1:19-cv-02421.  In this lawsuit, the Company asserts claims against Shure for infringement of the Company’s ’553 Patent and for trade secret misappropriation.

 

Employees

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had 127 full-time employees. Of these employees, 77 were located in the U.S. and 50 in locations outside the U.S. None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement and we believe our relationship with our employees is good. We also hire contractors with specific skill sets to meet our operational needs.

 

 

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

 

Investors should carefully consider the risks described below. The risks described below are not the only ones we face and there are risks that we are not presently aware of or that we currently believe are immaterial that may also impair our business operations. Any of these risks could harm our business. The trading price of our common stock could decline significantly due to any of these risks, and investors may lose all or part of their investment. In assessing these risks, investors should also refer to the other information contained or incorporated by reference in this annual report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes.

 

Risks Relating to Our Business

 

We face intense competition in all markets for our products and services and our operating results will be adversely affected if we cannot compete effectively against other companies.

 

The markets for our products and services are characterized by intense competition, pricing pressures and rapid technological change. Our competitive landscape continues to rapidly evolve, in particular with respect to our video-related services and products, as we move into new markets for video collaboration such as mobile, social and cloud-delivered video. We compete with businesses having substantially greater financial, research and product development, manufacturing, marketing, and other resources than we do. If we are not able to continually design, manufacture, and successfully introduce new or enhanced products or services that are comparable or superior to those provided by our competitors and at comparable or better prices, we could experience pricing pressures and reduced sales, gross profit margins, profits, and market share, each of which could have a materially adverse effect on our business.

 

Difficulties in estimating customer demand in our products segment could harm our profit margins.

 

Orders from our distributors and other distribution participants are based on demand from end-users. Prospective end-user demand is difficult to measure. This means that our revenue during any fiscal quarter could be adversely impacted by low end-user demand, which could in turn negatively affect orders we receive from distributors and dealers. Our expectations for both short and long-term future net revenues are based on our own estimates of future demand. Revenue for any particular time period is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty. We typically ship products within a short time after we receive an order; consequently, unshipped backlog has not historically been a good indicator of future revenue. We believe that the level of backlog is dependent in part on our ability to forecast revenue mix and plan our manufacturing accordingly. A significant portion of our customers’ orders are received during the last month of the quarter. We budget the amount of our expenses based on our revenue estimates. If our estimates of sales are not accurate and we experience unforeseen variability in our revenue and operating results, we may be unable to adjust our expense levels accordingly and our gross profit and results of operations will be adversely affected. Higher inventory levels or stock shortages may also result from difficulties in estimating customer demand.

 

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights or have insufficient proprietary rights, our business would be materially impaired.

 

We currently rely primarily on a combination of trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, patents, patents pending, and nondisclosure agreements to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products. Our success is dependent in part on obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights. If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property legal protection covering our products, then no assurances can be given that others will not independently develop technologies similar to ours, or duplicate or design around aspects of our technology. In addition, we cannot assure that any patent or registered trademark owned by us will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged, or that the rights granted thereunder will provide competitive advantages to us. Costly litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights. We believe our products and other proprietary rights do not infringe upon any proprietary rights of third parties; however, we cannot ensure that third parties will not assert infringement claims in the future. We currently hold only a limited number of patents. To the extent that we have patentable technology that is material to our business and for which we have not filed patent applications, others may be able to use such technology or even gain priority over us by patenting such technology themselves, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. With respect to any patent application we have filed, we cannot ensure that a patent will be awarded.

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

We are currently subject to patent litigation, including claims challenging the validity and enforceability of some of our patents, which could cause us to incur significant expenses or prevent us from protecting our products or services against competing products.

 

Our industry is characterized by vigorous protection of intellectual property rights. We have initiated litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which has resulted in our adversaries in such litigation challenging the validity, scope, and/or enforceability of our intellectual property. Irrespective of the merits of these claims, any resulting litigation could be costly and time consuming and could divert the attention of management and key personnel from other business issues. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase these risks. See Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings and Note 8 – Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8) for information regarding current legal proceedings involving our intellectual property rights.

Our sales depend to a certain extent on government funding and regulation.

 

In the audio conferencing products market, the revenue generated from sales of our audio conferencing products for distance learning and courtroom facilities depends on government funding. In the event government funding for such initiatives was reduced or became unavailable, our sales could be negatively impacted. Additionally, many of our products are subject to governmental regulations. New regulations could impact sales in a materially adverse manner.

Environmental laws and regulations subject us to a number of risks and could result in significant costs and impact on revenue. 

 

Regulations regarding the materials used in manufacturing, the process of disposing of electronic equipment and the efficient use of energy require us to take additional time to obtain regulatory approvals of new products in international markets. Such regulations may impact our ability to expand our sales in a timely and cost-effective manner and, as a result, our business could be harmed.

A material weakness was identified in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, we may be unable to report our financial results accurately on a timely basis, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information, the trading price of our common shares could decline and our access to the capital markets or other financing sources could become limited.

 

In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2017, our independent registered public accounting firm identified deficiencies in our system of internal control over financial reporting that it considered to be a material weakness related to the accurate and timely reporting of our financial results and disclosures for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and our testing and assessment of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting in a timely manner. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's Auditing Standard No. 5 defines a material weakness as 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 annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.  See Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures.”

 

We initiated remedial measures and conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2019 based on the framework set forth in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013 framework) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and concluded that remediation of the material weakness identified during the 2017 audit has been completed.

 

We conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2019 based on the framework set forth in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013 framework) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, concluding that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2019.

 

However, there can be no assurance that these actions, as well as further actions we may take, will allow us to prevent any material weakness in the future and provide a solid foundation to meet our reporting obligations under the Exchange Act. If we fail to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, or if additional material weaknesses or any significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting are discovered or occur in the future, our consolidated financial statements may contain material misstatements, and we could be required to restate our financial results. In addition, if we are unable to successfully remediate future material weakness and if we are unable to produce accurate and timely financial statements, our stock price may be materially adversely affected and we may be unable to maintain compliance with applicable stock exchange listing requirements.

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

 

Our profitability may be adversely affected by our continuing dependence on our distribution channels.

 

We market our products primarily through a network of distributors who in turn sell our products to value-added resellers. All of our agreements with such distributors and other distribution participants are non-exclusive, terminable at will by both parties, and generally short-term. No assurances can be given that any or all such distributors or other distribution participants will continue their relationship with us. Distributors and, to a lesser extent, value-added resellers cannot easily be replaced and any loss of revenues from these and other sources or our inability to reduce expenses to compensate for such loss of revenue could adversely affect our net revenue and profit margins.

 

Although we rely on our distribution channels to sell our products, our distributors and other distribution participants are not obligated to devote any specified amount of time, resources, or efforts to the marketing of our products, or to sell a specified number of our products. There are no prohibitions on distributors or other resellers offering products that are competitive with our products, and some do offer competitive products. The support of our products by distributors and other distribution participants may depend on the competitive strength of our products and the price incentives we offer for their support. If our distributors and other distribution participants are not committed to our products, our revenue and profit margins may be adversely affected.

 

Additionally, we offer our distributors price protection on their inventory of our products. If we reduce the list price of our products, we will compensate our distributors for the respective products that remain in their inventory on the date the price adjustment becomes effective, provided that they have been providing inventory reports consistently and the inventory was bought within the six months preceding the price adjustment date. Our net revenue and profit margins could be adversely affected if we reduce product prices significantly or distributors happen to have significant on-hand inventory of the affected product at the time of a price reduction. Further, if we do not have sufficient cash resources to compensate distributors on terms satisfactory to them or us, our price protection obligations may prevent us from reacting quickly to changing market conditions.

 

Product development delays or defects could harm our competitive position and reduce our revenue.

 

We have in the past experienced, and may again experience, technical difficulties and delays with the development and introduction of new products. Many of the products we develop contain sophisticated and complicated circuitry, software and components and utilize manufacturing techniques involving new technologies. Potential difficulties in the development process that we may experience include the following: (a) meeting required specifications and regulatory standards; (b) hiring and keeping a sufficient number of skilled developers; (c) meeting market expectations for performance; (d) obtaining prototype products at anticipated cost levels; (e) having the ability to identify problems or product defects in the development cycle; and (f) achieving necessary manufacturing efficiencies.

 

Once new products reach the market, they may have defects, or may be met by unanticipated new competitive products, which could adversely affect market acceptance of these products and our reputation. If we are not able to manage and minimize such potential difficulties, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected.

 

We depend on an outsourced manufacturing strategy, and any disruption in outsourced services could negatively impact our product availability and revenues.

 

We outsource the manufacturing of all of our products except digital signage and wireless microphone products to electronics manufacturing services (“EMS”) providers located outside the U.S. If any of these EMS providers experience (i) difficulties in obtaining sufficient supplies of components, (ii) component prices significantly exceeding anticipated costs, (iii) an interruption in their operations, or (iv) otherwise suffers capacity constraints, we could experience a delay in production and shipping of these products, which would have a negative impact on our revenue. Should there be any disruption in services due to natural disaster, economic or political difficulties, transportation restrictions, acts of terror, quarantines or other restrictions associated with infectious diseases, or other similar events, or any other reason, such disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business. Operating in the international outsourcing environment exposes us to certain inherent risks, including unexpected changes in regulatory requirements and tariffs, and potentially adverse tax consequences, which could materially affect our results of operations. Currently, we have no second source of manufacturing for a large portion of our products.

Switching from one EMS provider to another is an expensive, difficult and a time-consuming process, with serious risks to our ability to successfully transfer our manufacturing operations. Our operations, and consequently our revenues and profitability, could be materially adversely affected if we are forced to switch from any of our EMS providers to another EMS provider due to any of a number of factors, including financial difficulties faced by the manufacturer, disagreements in pricing negotiations between us and the manufacturer or organizational changes in the manufacturer.

 

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

 

The cost of delivered product from our EMS providers is a direct function of their ability to buy components at a competitive price and to realize efficiencies and economies of scale within their overall business structures. If they are unsuccessful in driving efficient cost models, our delivered costs could rise, affecting our profitability and ability to compete. In addition, if the EMS providers are unable to achieve greater operational efficiencies, delivery schedules for new product development and current product delivery could be negatively impacted.

 

EMS providers often require long range forecasts to help them plan their operations as well as to allocate their resources. We are tied to these forecasts through contracts as well as to maintain harmony in business relationships. Our ability to react to actual demand from our customers and order optimum levels of inventory is severely limited due to these forecasts provided to the EMS providers. Our inability to accurately forecast our future demands could lead to either excess inventory causing potential inventory obsolescence and cashflow problems or shortage in inventory causing potential loss of revenue.

 

Additionally, the sourcing and availability of raw materials necessary for our EMS providers to manufacture certain of our products, including "conflict minerals" has been and could continue to be significantly constrained, which is likely to result in continued elevated price levels. Furthermore, compliance with SEC disclosure and reporting requirements in the future regarding the use of "conflict minerals" mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products. As a result, we may not be able to obtain the materials necessary to manufacture our products, which could force us to cease production or search for alternative supply sources, possibly at a higher cost. Such disruptions may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

Global economic conditions have adversely affected our business in the past and could adversely affect our revenues and harm our business in the future.

 

Adverse economic conditions worldwide have contributed to slowdowns in the communications industry and have caused a negative impact on the specific segments and markets in which we operate. Adverse changes in general global economic conditions can result in reductions in capital expenditures by end-user customers for our products, longer sales cycles, the deferral or delay of purchase commitments for our products and increased competition. These factors have adversely impacted our operating results in prior periods and could also impact us again in the future. Global economic concerns, such as the varying pace of global economic recovery, European and domestic debt and budget issues, the slowdown in economic growth in large emerging markets such as China and India, and international currency fluctuations, may continue to create uncertainty and unpredictability in the global and national economy. A global economic downturn would negatively impact technology spending for our products and services and could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Further, global economic conditions may result in a tightening in the credit markets, low liquidity levels in many financial markets, decrease in customer demand and ability to pay obligations, and extreme volatility in credit, equity, foreign currency and fixed income markets.

Such adverse economic conditions could negatively impact our business, particularly our revenue potential, potentially causing losses on investments and the collectability of our accounts receivable. These factors potentially include: the inability of our customers to obtain credit to finance purchases of our products and services, customer or partner insolvencies or bankruptcies, decreased customer confidence to make purchasing decisions resulting in delays in their purchasing decisions, decreased customer demand or demand for lower-end products, or decreased customer ability to pay their obligations when they become due to us.

 

We are a smaller company than some of our competitors and may be more susceptible to market fluctuations, other adverse events, increased costs and less favorable purchasing terms.

 

Since we are a relatively small Company, there is a risk that we may be more susceptible to market fluctuations and other adverse events. In particular, we may be more susceptible to reductions in government and corporate spending from our government and enterprise customers. We may also experience increased costs and less favorable terms from our suppliers than some of our larger competitors who may have greater leverage in their purchasing spend. Any of these outcomes could result in loss of sales or our products being more costly to manufacture and thus less competitive. Any such unfavorable market fluctuations, reductions in customer spending or increased manufacturing costs could have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

 

Difficulties in integrating future acquisitions could adversely affect our business.

 

Any acquisition involves numerous risks and challenges, including difficulties and time involved in integrating the operations, technologies and products of the acquired companies, entering new business or product lines, the diversion of our management’s attention from other business concerns, geographic dispersion of operations, generating market demand for expanded product lines and the potential loss of key customers or employees of an acquired Company. Failure to achieve the anticipated benefits of any future acquisitions or to successfully integrate the operations of these or any other companies or assets we acquire, could also harm our business, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, we cannot assure you that we will not incur material charges in future periods to reflect additional costs associated with any future acquisitions we may make.

 

Profitability could be negatively impacted if we do not adequately forecast the demand for our products and are unable to monetize our long-term inventories.

 

We hold approximately $6.3 million in long-term inventories. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully anticipate changing consumer preferences and product trends or economic conditions and, as a result, we may not successfully monetize our long-term inventory. Inventory levels in excess of consumer demand may result in inventory write-downs and the sale of excess inventory at discounted prices, which could have an adverse effect on the image and reputation of our brands and negatively impact profitability.

 

Conditions in China, India, Spain and United Arab Emirates may affect our operations.

 

We have different teams working outside the U.S. in China, India, Spain and United Arab Emirates offering various services including research and development, sales and marketing, and manufacturing operations support. Our ability to operate the company smoothly may be affected significantly if either one or more of these countries are adversely impacted by political, economic, security and military conditions in these countries.

 

Product obsolescence could harm demand for our products and could adversely affect our revenue and our results of operations.

 

Our industry is subject to technological innovations that could render existing technologies in our products obsolete and thereby decrease market demand for such products. If any of our products becomes slow-moving or obsolete and the recorded value of our inventory is greater than its market value, we will be required to write down the value of our inventory to its fair market value, which would adversely affect our results of operations. In limited circumstances, we are required to purchase components that our outsourced manufacturers use to produce and assemble our products. Should technological innovations render these components obsolete, we will be required to write down the value of this inventory, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

 

International sales account for a significant portion of our net revenue and risks inherent in international sales could harm our business.

 

International sales represent a significant portion of our total product revenue. We anticipate that the portion of our total product revenue from international sales will continue to increase as we further enhance our focus on developing new products for new markets, establishing new distribution partners, strengthening our presence in emerging economies, and improving product localization with country-specific product documentation and marketing materials. Our international business is subject to the financial and operating risks of conducting business internationally, including the following:

 

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

 

We may not be able to hire and retain qualified key and highly-skilled technical employees, which could affect our ability to compete effectively and may cause our revenue and profitability to decline.

 

We depend on our ability to hire and retain qualified key and highly skilled employees to manage, research and develop, market, and service new and existing products. Competition for such key and highly-skilled employees is intense, and we may not be successful in attracting or retaining such personnel. To succeed, we must hire and retain employees who are highly skilled in the rapidly changing communications and Internet technologies. Individuals who have the skills and can perform the services we need to provide our products and services are in great demand. Because the competition for qualified employees in our industry is intense, hiring and retaining employees with the skills we need is both time-consuming and expensive. We may not be able to hire enough skilled employees or retain the employees we do hire. In addition, provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and related rules of the SEC impose heightened personal liability on some of our key employees. The threat of such liability could make it more difficult to identify, hire and retain qualified key and highly-skilled employees. We have relied on our ability to grant stock options as a means of recruiting and retaining key employees. Accounting regulations requiring the expensing of stock options will impair our future ability to provide these incentives without incurring associated compensation costs. If we are unable to hire and retain employees with the skills we seek, our ability to sell our existing products, systems, or services or to develop new products, systems, or services could be hindered with a consequent adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position, or liquidity. In addition, given the current political climate regarding the U.S. immigration laws, we may not be able attract highly-skilled technical employees from abroad.

 

We rely on third-party technology and license agreements, the loss of any of which could negatively impact our business.

 

We have licensing agreements with various suppliers for software and hardware incorporated into our products. These third-party licenses may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The termination or impairment of these licenses could result in delays of current product shipments or delays or reductions in new product introductions until equivalent designs can be developed, licensed, and integrated, if at all possible, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

We may have difficulty in collecting outstanding receivables.

 

We grant credit to substantially all of our customers without requiring collateral. In times of economic uncertainty, the risks relating to the granting of such credit will typically increase. Although we monitor and mitigate the risks associated with our credit policies, we cannot ensure that such mitigation will be effective. We have experienced losses due to customers failing to meet their obligations. Future losses could be significant and, if incurred, could harm our business and have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial position.

 

Interruptions to our business could adversely affect our operations.

 

As with any Company, our operations are at risk of being interrupted by earthquake, fire, flood, and other natural and human-caused disasters, including disease and terrorist attacks. Our operations are also at risk of power loss, telecommunications failure, human error, physical or electronic security breaches and computer viruses (which could leave us vulnerable to the loss of confidential proprietary information as well as disruption of our business activities) and other infrastructure and technology-based problems. To help guard against such risks, we carry business interruption loss insurance to help compensate us for losses that may occur, but we cannot assure that such coverage would protect us from all such possible losses.

 

Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our information and expose us to liability, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.

 

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and that of our employees, customers, licensors, vendors and business partners, including personally identifiable information of our customers and employees, in our data centers and on our networks. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Security breaches have occurred with increased frequency and sophistication in recent years. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, disrupt our operations, and damage our reputation, which could adversely affect our business. 

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

 

Risks Relating to Share Ownership

Global Financial, Economic and Social Conditions Could Deteriorate.

Our business could be materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic conditions generally.  The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus, which causes the disease now known as COVID-19, was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally. Government efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus through lockdowns of cities, business closures, restrictions on travel and emergency quarantines, among others, and responses by businesses and individuals to reduce the risk of exposure to infection, including social distancing in the form of reduced travel, cancellation of meetings and public and private events, and implementation of work-at-home policies, among others, have caused significant disruptions to the global economy and normal business operations across a growing list of sectors and countries, including in the United States.  The foregoing have, and are likely to continue to adversely affect business confidence and consumer sentiments, and have been, and may continue to be, accompanied by significant volatility and declines in financial markets and asset values.  The spread of the coronavirus, particularly if its development into a worldwide health crisis worsens, also may have broader macro-economic implications, including reduced levels of economic growth and possibly a global recession, the effects of which could be felt well beyond the time the pandemic is contained, and which could adversely affect demand for our products and our results of operations and financial condition. The impact of COVID-19 on any of our suppliers, co-manufacturers, distributors or transportation or logistics providers may negatively affect the price and availability of our products and impact our supply chain. If the pandemic continues to evolve into a severe worldwide health crisis, the disease could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and adversely impact the trading price of our common stock.

Our stock price fluctuates as a result of the conduct of our business and stock market fluctuations. 

 

The market price of our common stock has experienced significant fluctuations and may continue to fluctuate significantly. The market price of our common stock may be significantly affected by a variety of factors, including the following:

 

 

ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS

Our stock price may in the future not meet the minimum bid price for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Our ability to publicly or privately sell equity securities and the liquidity of our common stock could be adversely affected if we are delisted from The Nasdaq Capital Market.

 

Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1) provides that the closing bid price for our common stock may not be below $1.00 per share for any period of 30 consecutive trading days to maintain our continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market ("Minimum Bid Price Rule"). Although we are currently in compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Rule, there can be no assurance that our common stock will continue to satisfy this rule. If we were to fail to comply with the Minimum Bid Price Rule in the future and became subject to delisting, such delisting from Nasdaq would adversely affect our ability to raise additional financing through the public or private sale of equity securities, would significantly affect the ability of investors to trade our securities and would negatively affect the value and liquidity of our common stock. Delisting also could have other negative results, including the potential loss of confidence by employees, the loss of institutional investor interest and fewer business development opportunities.

 

Rights to acquire our common stock could result in dilution to other holders of our common stock.

 

As of December 31, 2019, there were outstanding options to acquire approximately 544,647 shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $9.01 per share. During the terms of these options, the holders thereof will have the opportunity to profit from an increase in the market price of the common stock. The existence of these options may adversely affect the terms on which we can obtain additional financing, and the holders of these options can be expected to exercise such options at a time when we, in all likelihood, would be able to obtain additional capital by offering shares of our common stock on terms more favorable to us than those provided by the exercise of these options.

 

The sale of additional shares of our common stock could have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.

 

The sale of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, such as the Rights Offering that we completed in December 2018 and the Notes and Warrants that we issued in December 2019, could adversely affect prevailing market prices and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of our equity securities. Most shares of common stock currently outstanding are eligible for sale in the public market, subject in certain cases to compliance with the requirements of Rule 144 under the securities laws. Shares issued upon the exercise of stock options granted under our stock option plan generally will be eligible for sale in the public market. We also have the authority to issue additional shares of common stock and shares of one or more series of preferred stock. The issuance of such shares could dilute the voting power of the currently outstanding shares of our common stock and could dilute earnings per share.

 

If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the price of our common stock could decline.

 

The liquidity of the trading market for our common stock may be affected in part by the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control the opinions of these analysts. The price of our stock could decline if one or more equity analysts downgrade our stock or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary or cease publishing reports about us or our business.

 

Write off of capitalized legal expenses related to our defense of patents could negatively impact our net income and stockholders' equity.

 

Our intangible assets include capitalized legal expenses net of amortization of $11.0 million related to our defense of patents from infringement by our competitors. Legal expenses have been capitalized upon satisfaction of two conditions: (a) a determination being made that a successful defense of this litigation is probable, and (b) that the monetary benefits arising out of such successful defense will be in excess of the costs for the defense. If either one of these conditions fail to be satisfied in the future, the carrying amount in the books may have to be written off either completely or partially. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in the defense of these litigation claims, in whole or in part.

 

Not applicable.

 

 

We occupied a 5,000 square-foot facility in Gainesville, Florida under the terms of an operating lease that was terminated in January 2020. The Gainesville facility was used primarily to support our research and development activities. During January 2020 we entered into an operating lease for a 1,350 square-foot facility in Gainesville, Florida expiring in February 2023.

 

We currently occupy a 21,443 square-foot facility in Salt Lake City, Utah under the terms of an operating lease expiring in March 2024, with an option to extend for additional five years. The facility supports our principal administrative, sales, marketing, customer support, and research and product development activities.

 

We occupy a 950 square-foot facility in Austin, Texas - under the terms of an operating lease expiring in October 2022. This facility supports our sales, marketing, customer support, and research and development activities.

 

We occupy a 3,068 square-foot facility in Zaragoza, Spain under the terms of an operating lease expiring in March 2020.  This office supports our research and development and customer support activities

 

We occupy a 6,175 square-foot facility in Chennai, India - under the terms of an operating lease expiring in August 2021. This facility supports our administrative, marketing, customer support, and research and product development activities.

 

We occupy a 40,000 square-foot warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah under the terms of an operating lease expiring in April 2025, which serves as our primary inventory fulfillment and repair center.  

 

We believe our current facilities are adequate to meet our needs for the foreseeable future and that suitable additional or alternative space will be available in the future on commercially reasonable terms as needed.

 

 

See Note 8 – Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8) for information regarding legal proceedings in which we are involved, which is incorporated in this Item 3 by reference.

 

 

Not Applicable. 

 

 

Market Information

 

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol CLRO. On March 25, 2020, there were 16,650,725 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding held by approximately 300 shareholders of record. Each broker dealer or a clearing corporation that holds shares for customers is counted as a single shareholder of record.

 

Dividends

 

The Company paid a cash dividend of $0.07 per share of ClearOne common stock in the first quarter of 2018. As part of the focus on preserving cash in connection with our litigation to defend our strategic patents from infringement, on June 13, 2018, the Company announced the suspension of its dividend program until such time as the Company deems it appropriate to once again declare dividends.

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

None.

 

Sales of Unregistered Securities

 

None.

 

 

Not applicable.

 

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report, as well as our other filings with the SEC. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions, as set forth under “Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth in the following discussion and under the caption “Risk Factors” in Item 1A and elsewhere in this report.

 

OVERVIEW

 

ClearOne is a global Company that designs, develops and sells conferencing, collaboration, and network streaming solutions for voice and visual communications. The performance and simplicity of our advanced, comprehensive solutions offer a high level of functionality, reliability and scalability.

 

We derive a major portion of our revenue from audio conferencing products and microphones by promoting our products in the professional audio-visual channel. We have extended our total addressable market from the installed audio conferencing market to adjacent complementary markets – microphones, video collaboration and AV networking. We have achieved this through strategic technological acquisitions as well as by internal product development.

 

During the first quarter of 2019, we began shipping our patented Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile (BMA CT) to our partners.  All of the innovations developed for the BMA CT make the integrator’s job easier and more profitable. The BMA CT dramatically transforms how integrators can approach system design for ceiling tile installations, allowing for multi-array setups that can utilize a single, low-channel count digital-signal-processing (DSP) mixer while maintaining ClearOne’s high level of performance and reliability. Further simplification comes from the array’s built-in power amplifier, which allows each array to drive two 10-Watt, 8-Ohm loudspeakers. The BMA CT also features ClearOne’s proprietary adaptive steering technology (think of it as smart switching). This provides impeccable room coverage while eliminating the need to adjust individual beams. Integrators can daisy chain ceiling tiles via P-Link (ClearOne’s proprietary peripheral link) for larger conference setups – for simpler wiring and longer distances compared to networked home-run connections. P-Link also allows integrators to daisy chain additional peripherals such as wireless mics, USB Expanders, and GPIO Expanders.  The system supports all of this functionality with zero consumption of analog I/O and signal processing in the DSP mixer leaving those resources available for other needs. The Company was awarded a Sound & Video Contractor magazine “Best of Show Award” for BMA CT, showcased at InfoComm conference in Orlando, Florida in June 2019. 

 

During 2019 we introduced COLLABORATE® Live video collaboration solutions, which include a full line of five solutions, tailored to fit any installation. COLLABORATE Live 1000, which includes the BMA CT, creates the ultimate video collaboration solution for larger spaces. COLLABORATE Live 900, 600, 300, and 200 systems provide different choices of microphones, cameras, and group speakerphones to fit every type of installation from auditoriums and lecture halls to boardrooms and huddle spaces. All COLLABORATE Live systems feature built-in cloud connectivity and capabilities that empower users to collaborate like never before, in large conferencing space environments, with unmatched audio and video, interactive whiteboard, presentation, recording, streaming and cloud connectivity with a user interface that is as intuitive and simple as using their familiar mobile or tablet devices. We introduced during the year five different models of COLLABORATE Live to suit different room environments from small huddle spaces to larger conference rooms.

 

We also introduced COLLABORATE^® Space to our growing family of collaboration solutions.  It’s a suite that unifies messaging, calls and meetings and will energize workflows and increase productivity for everyone involved in the enterprise. Designed as a persistent, user-friendly collaboration suite, COLLABORATE Space contains many powerful UCC capabilities, as well as the seamless ability to make calls outside the network.  We also added new features including classroom functionality, multiple screen support, and more. The new classroom functionality now found within COLLABORATE Space provides Q&A participation, giving each user electronic “hand raise” capability. There’s also new moderator control over audio and video for all participants, which can number up to 100. If needed, additional participants can be added to any classroom in increments of 100. The moderator also has the ability to transfer the “presenter” role to any participant during the session. Additionally, COLLABORATE Space now includes multi-display support for the moderator host of any conference. Up to 3 displays can be used – one for local participants, one for remote participants, and one for content sharing.  COLLABORATE Space, users can work together one-on-one, or in groups of hundreds, with integrated file sharing, searchable archives, and user presence information. They can connect with colleagues and contacts, via audio and video, with the most intuitive collaboration tools. Users can meet immediately or schedule a meeting and access a full suite of collaboration features, including file sharing, whiteboarding, annotation, chat, and meeting minutes.

 

 

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

We also expanded our bring your own device (BYOD) room solutions, by introducing COLLABORATE Versa 50, Vera Pro 50, Versa Pro 150 and Versa Pro CT. They bring together plug-and-play connectivity with high-quality audio and HD video to enhance the BYOD conference experience in huddle spaces, mid-size meeting rooms and executive offices. All COLLABORATE Versa solutions are compatible with high-quality cloud-based applications such as ClearOne COLLABORATE Space, Skype® for Business, Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting and ClearOne Spontania, among others.

 

In August 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued patent number 10,397,697 to ClearOne. This patent, entitled “Band-Limited Beamforming Microphone Array,” describes a method, among other things, of making or using a band-limited beamforming microphone array by augmenting beamformed audio signals with additional audio signals that are not included in the beamforming process. The microphones that generate these additional signals are referred to as non-beamforming microphones. The invention significantly extends design flexibility because the augmented beamforming technology enables a broad range of design choices from larger, higher performance, higher cost beamforming arrays, to smaller beamforming arrays with good performance for less demanding environments at a lower cost.

 

On August 5, 2019, the Honorable Edmond E. Chang of the Northern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction order in the Company’s ongoing litigation with Shure Incorporated in Case No. 17-cv-3087 (N.D. Ill.).  In that litigation, ClearOne asserts that Shure’s MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone, which competes with ClearOne’s beamforming microphone array products, infringes certain of ClearOne’s patents. The August 5 order held that ClearOne had "met its burden of demonstrating entitlement to the extraordinary relief of a preliminary injunction" on U.S. Patent No. 9,813,806 (the "'806 Patent").  The Court held that ClearOne established that "Shure is likely infringing the ’806 Patent and [that Shure] has not raised a substantial question of the patent’s validity."  The injunction order prohibits Shure from “manufacturing, marketing, and selling the MXA910 to be used in its drop-ceiling mounting configuration, including marketing and selling the MXA910 in a way that encourages or allows integrators to install it in a drop-ceiling mounting configuration."

 

We also continued our programs to cut costs and to speed up product development that we believe will enable us to get back to a growth path.

 

On December 17, 2019, we completed the issuance and sale of $3,000,000 aggregate principal amount of secured convertible notes of the Company (the “Notes”) and warrants (the “Warrants”) to purchase 340,909 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share of the Company (the “Common Stock”), in a private placement transaction. The Notes and Warrants were issued and sold to Edward D. Bagley, an affiliate of the Company, on the terms and conditions of a Note Purchase Agreement dated December 8, 2019 between the Company, certain subsidiary guarantors of the Company, and Mr. Bagley. The Notes are convertible to shares of the Company’s common stock at an initial conversion price of $2.11 per share, and the Warrants have an initial exercise price of $1.76 per share.

Overall revenue declined in 2019 across all product groups. We believe the on-going infringement of ClearOne’s patents — which is improperly forcing the Company to compete against its own patented technology — is the major cause of our revenue decline in the audio conferencing and microphones categories. We believe the revenue decline in video products was caused partially by increased competition in the space as well as due to reduced attention from our partners caused by the alternatives made available through infringement of our patents. 

 

Our gross profit margin in 2019 declined to 45% compared to 47% in 2018. Gross profit margin decreased primarily due to increase in material costs and inventory obsolescence costs partially offset by reduction in overhead costs. Net loss decreased from $16.7 million in 2018 to $8.4 million in 2019. The decrease in net loss was primarily due to reduction in income tax provision and operating expenses partially offset by decrease in gross profit due to reduced revenue in 2019. Tax expenses were higher in 2018 due to recording a full valuation allowance on our net deferred tax assets. 

 

Industry conditions

 

We operate in a very dynamic and highly competitive industry which is dominated on the one hand by a few players with respect to certain products like traditional video conferencing appliances while on the other influenced heavily by a fragmented reseller market consisting of numerous regional and local players. The industry is also characterized by venture capitalist funded start-ups and private companies willing to fund cumulative cash losses in order to gain market share and achieve certain non-financial goals.

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Economic conditions, challenges and risks

 

The audio-visual products market is characterized by intense competition and rapidly evolving technology. Our competitors vary within each product category. Our installed professional audio conferencing products, which is our flagship product category, continue to be ahead of the competition despite the reduction in revenues. Our strength in this space is largely due to our fully integrated suite of products consisting of DSP mixers, wide range of professional microphone products and video collaboration products. Despite our strong leadership position in the installed professional audio conferencing market, we face challenges to revenue growth due to the limited size of the market and pricing pressures from new competitors attracted to the commercial market due to higher margins.

 

Despite the decline in revenue, our video products and beamforming microphone arrays, especially BMA-CT are critical to our long term growth. We face intense competition in this market from well-established market leaders as well as emerging players rich with marketing funds. We expect our strategy of combining Collaborate Space, our cloud-based video conferencing product, Collaborate Live, our appliance-based media collaboration product, our high quality professional cameras, and our high-end audio conferencing technology will generate high growth in the near future. We believe we are also well positioned to capitalize on the continuing migration away from the traditional hardware-based video conferencing systems to software-based video conferencing applications.

 

We derive a major portion of our revenue (approximately 46% for the year ended December 31, 2019) from international operations and expect this trend to continue in the future. Most of our revenue from outside the U.S. is billed in U.S. dollars and is not exposed to any significant currency risk. However, we are exposed to foreign exchange risk if the U.S. dollar is strong against other currencies as it will make U.S. Dollar denominated prices of our products less competitive.

 

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) was reported in Wuhan, China. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread and has already caused severe global disruptions. The extent of COVID-19’s effect on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic, all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict considering the rapidly evolving landscape. If the pandemic continues to evolve into a severe worldwide health crisis, the disease could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and adversely impact the trading price of our common stock.

Deferred Revenue

 

Deferred revenue decreased from $0.3 million in 2018 to $0.2 million in 2019.

 

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following table sets forth certain items from our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, together with the percentage change each item represents. Throughout this discussion, we compare results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019 (“2019”) to the year ended December 31, 2018 (“2018” or “the comparable period”).

 

 

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Revenue

 

Our revenue decreased to $25.0 million in 2019 compared to $28.2 million in 2018. The highest decline was seen in audio conferencing category with 17% decline followed by video products with 11% decline and microphones with 2% decline. The decline in audio conferencing category was due to decline in all product lines led by CONVERGE Pro and CHAT product lines. The decline in microphones category was primarily due to decline in beamforming microphones. The decline in revenue from video products was mainly due to fall in demand for our network media streaming products. We believe the on-going infringement of ClearOne’s patents is the major cause of our revenue decline in audio conferencing and microphones categories. We believe the revenue decline in video products was caused partially by increased competition in the space as well as due to reduced attention from our partners caused by the alternatives made available through infringement of our patents.

 

The share of audio conferencing products in our product mix declined marginally from 50% to 46%. The share of microphones in the revenue mix increased from 32% in 2018 to 35% in 2019. Share of video products in the revenue mix remained the same at 18.5%.

 

During 2019, revenue declined across all major markets except India, Middle East and certain parts of Asia. The decline was more pronounced in the USA, Canada, Northern Europe, China and Latin America. Asia Pacific including Middle East decreased by 2%, Europe and Africa declined by 13% and Americas declined by about 15%.

 

We believe, although there can be no assurance, that we will return to growth path through our strategic initiatives namely product innovation, cost reduction and defense of our intellectual property.

 

Cost of Goods Sold and Gross Profit

 

Cost of goods sold (“COGS”) includes expenses associated with finished goods purchased from outsourced manufacturers, the manufacture of our products (including material and direct labor), our manufacturing and operations organization, property and equipment depreciation, warranty expense, freight expense, royalty payments, and the allocation of overhead expenses.

 

Our gross profit during 2019 was approximately $11.2 million or 45% compared to approximately $13.4 million or 47% in 2018. Gross profit margin declined primarily due to increase in material costs and inventory obsolescence costs partially offset by reduction in overhead costs.

 

Our profitability in the near-term continues to depend significantly on our revenues from audio conferencing products. We hold long-term inventory and if we are unable to sell our long-term inventory, our profitability might be affected by inventory write-offs and price mark-downs. Our long-term inventory includes approximately $1.3 million of wireless microphones related finished goods and assemblies, $1.7 million of CONVERGE Pro, CONVERGE Pro 2 and BMA products and about $2.2 million of raw materials that will be used primarily for manufacturing installed professional audio conferencing products.

 

Operating Expenses and Profits (Losses)

 

Operating income/(loss), or income/(loss from operations, is the surplus or deficit after operating expenses are deducted from gross profits. Operating expenses include sales and marketing (“S&M”) expenses, research and product development (“R&D”) expenses and general and administrative (“G&A”) expenses. Total operating expenses were $19.8 million in 2019, compared to $23.7 million in 2018, which included $0.2 million in impairment of assets. The following contains a more detailed discussion of expenses related to sales and marketing, research and product development, general and administrative, and other items.

 

Sales and Marketing S&M expenses include sales, customer service, and marketing expenses such as employee-related costs, allocations of overhead expenses, trade shows, and other advertising and selling expenses.

 

S&M expenses in 2019 decreased by 20% from $7.9 million in 2018 to $9.9 million in 2019. The decrease was mainly due to decreases in commissions to independent reps, payments to consultants, inventory costs for demonstration equipment, employee related costs and tradeshow exhibition costs.

 

 MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Research and Product Development R&D expenses include research and development, product line management, engineering services, and test and application expenses, including employee-related costs, outside services, expensed materials, depreciation, and an allocation of overhead expenses.

 

R&D expenses decreased during 2019 to $5.8 million from $7.8 million in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to decreases in employee-related costs and allocations of overhead expenses.

 

General and Administrative G&A expenses include employee-related costs, professional service fees, allocations of overhead expenses, litigation costs, and corporate administrative costs, including costs related to finance and human resources.

G&A expenses were approximately $6,045 thousand in 2019 compared with approximately $5,950 thousand in 2018 which included $161 thousand of impairment of assets. The increase was primarily due to increases in overhead allocations, amortization of intangible assets, miscellaneous taxes and insurance costs partially offset by decreases in legal expenses, employee related costs, stock based compensation and consulting expenses

 

Provision for income taxes

 

The effective tax benefit rate was 1% (benefit) in 2019 as compared to effective tax rate of 62.9% during 2018. Income tax expense for 2019 was $0.1 million as compared to $6.4 million in 2018. The decrease in the effective tax rate as well as income tax expense was primarily due to decrease in the change in valuation allowance on the Company’s net deferred tax assets from approximately $9.9 million in 2018 to $2.4 million in 2019. We have been recording valuation allowance since 2018 and have not been claiming tax benefit against our losses as we have concluded that it is more likely than not that our deferred tax assets were not realizable primarily due to our recent pre-tax losses. 

   

LIQUIDITY, CAPITAL RESOURCES AND FINANCIAL POSITION

 

As of December 31, 2019, our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $4.1 million compared to $11.2 million as of December 31, 2018. Our working capital was $18.9 million and $28.4 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Net cash flows used in operating activities were approximately $4.7 million during 2019, a decrease of approximately $2.0 million from $6.6 million used in operating activities in 2018. The decrease in cash used was primarily due to a decrease in net loss by $8.3 million partially offset a decrease in non-cash charges of $6.1 million and increase in cash outflows due to change in operating assets and liabilities of $0.2 million which includes $4.5 million towards payment of a bond for securing the preliminary injunction in our litigation to stop the infringement of our patents and decrease in inventories by $3.6 million.

 

Net cash used in investing activities was $5.1 million during 2019 compared to net cash provided by investing activities of $3.2 million during 2018, a decrease in cash used of $8.3 million. The increase in cash used in investing activities was primarily due to a decrease in net cash inflows from marketable securities of approximately $8.0 million.

 

Capitalization of patent defense costs. We capitalize external legal costs incurred in the defense of our patents when we believe that a significant, discernible increase in value will result from the defense and a successful outcome of the legal action is probable. When we capitalize patent defense costs we amortize the costs over the remaining estimated useful life of the patent, which is 15 to 17 years. During 2019 we spent $5.1 million of legal costs related to the defense of our patents and capitalized the entire amount.

 

Net cash provided by financing activities was $2.7 million during 2019 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $9.2 million during 2018, a decrease in cash provided of $6.5 million. The decrease was primarily to decrease in capital raised by $7.2 million partially offset by the absence of payments for dividends and stock repurchases of $0.7 million.

We are currently pursuing all available legal remedies to defend our strategic patents from infringement. We have already incurred approximately $13.6 million in costs from 2016 through December 31, 2019 towards this litigation and may be required to incur more to continue to enforce our patents. We have been actively engaged in preserving cash by suspending our dividend program, allowing the share repurchase program to expire and implementing company-wide cost reduction measures. 

 

 

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

During 2018, we raised additional proceeds of $9.9 million (net of issuance costs) from the Rights Offering. During December 2019 we raised approximately $2.7 million (net of issuance costs) from the issue of senior convertible notes. We also believe additional cash will be generated as we consume our inventory and bring it down to historical levels. We also believe that the measures taken by us to defend our patents and enforce our intellectual property rights will yield higher revenues in the future. We believe all of these and effective management of working capital will provide the liquidity needed to meet our short-term and long-term operating requirements and finance our growth plans. We also believe that our strong portfolio of intellectual property and our solid brand equity in the market will enable us to raise additional capital if and when needed to meet our short and long-term financing needs. In addition to capital expenditures, we may use cash in the near future for selective infusions of technology, sales and marketing, infrastructure, and other investments to fuel our growth.

 

At December 31, 2019, we had inventory totaling $17.7 million, of which non-current inventory accounted for $6.3 million. This compares to total inventories of $22.2 million and non-current inventory of $9.0 million as of December 31, 2018.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

		Payment Due by Period
		Total				Less Than 1 Year				1-3 Years				3-5 Years				More than 5 years
Senior Convertible Notes		$	3.0			$	—			$	1.1			$	1.9			$	—
Operating lease obligations			3.0				0.7				1.3				1.0				—
Purchase obligations			0.8				0.8				—				—				—
Total		$	6.8			$	1.5			$	2.4			$	2.9			$	—

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance-sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our financial condition, changes in financial conditions, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources, results of operations or liquidity.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES 

Our discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial position are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). We review the accounting policies used in reporting our financial results on a regular basis. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. We evaluate our assumptions and estimates on an ongoing basis and may employ outside experts to assist in our evaluations. We believe that the estimates we use are reasonable; however, actual results could differ from those estimates. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 - Business Description, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of this report. We believe the following critical accounting policies identify our most critical accounting policies, which are the policies that are both important to the representation of our financial condition and results and require our most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain.

Revenue and Associated Allowances for Revenue Adjustments and Doubtful Accounts

The Company recognizes revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation. The Company recognizes revenue from sales agreements upon transferring control of a product to the customer. This typically occurs when products are shipped or delivered, depending on the delivery terms, or when products that are consigned at customer locations are sold to dealers or end users. Revenue recognized during the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 for equipment sales was $24,513, and for software, licenses, etc. was $529. Sales returns and allowances are estimated based on historical experience. Provisions for discounts and rebates to customers, estimated returns and allowances, ship and credit claims and other adjustments are provided for in the same period the related revenues are recognized, and are netted against revenues. For returns, the Company recognizes a related asset for the right to recover returned products with a corresponding reduction to cost of goods sold. The Company reviews warranty and related claims activity and records provisions, as necessary. 

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Frequently, the Company receives orders with multiple delivery dates that may extend across reporting periods. Since each delivery constitutes a performance obligation, the Company allocates the transaction price of the contract to each performance obligation based on the stand-alone selling price of the products. The Company invoices the customer for each delivery upon shipment and recognizes revenues in accordance with delivery terms. Although payment terms vary, distributors typically pay within 45 days of invoicing and dealers pay within 30 days of invoicing. As scheduled delivery dates are within one year, revenue allocated to future shipments of partially completed contracts are not disclosed.

 

The Company has elected to record freight and handling costs associated with outbound freight after control over a product has transferred to a customer as a fulfillment cost and include it in cost of revenues. Taxes assessed by government authorities on revenue-producing transactions, including value-added and excise taxes, are presented on a net basis (excluded from revenues) in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. 

 

The details of deferred revenue and associated cost of goods sold and gross profit are as follows:

 

 

The Company offers rebates and market development funds to certain of its distributors, dealers/resellers, and end-users based upon the volume of product purchased by them. The Company records rebates as a reduction of revenue in accordance with GAAP.

 

The Company provides, at its discretion, advance replacement units to end-users on defective units of certain products under warranty. Since the purpose of these units is not revenue generating, the Company tracks the units due from the end-user, until the defective unit has been returned. Any amount due from the customer upon failure to return the products is accounted as receivable only after establishing customer's failure to return the products. The inventory due from the customer is accounted at cost or market value whichever is lower.

 

Impairment of Goodwill and Intangible Assets

 

We perform impairment tests of goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite useful lives on an annual basis in the fourth fiscal quarter, or sooner if a triggering event occurs suggesting possible impairment of the values of these assets. Impairment testing for these assets involves a two-step process. In the first step, the fair value of the reporting unit holding the assets is compared to its carrying amount. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the second step of the impairment test is performed to measure the amount of the impairment loss, if any. In the second step, the fair value of the reporting unit is allocated to all of its assets and liabilities, including intangible assets and liabilities not recorded on the balance sheet. The excess, if any, of the fair value of the reporting unit over the sum of the fair values allocated to identified assets and liabilities is the value of goodwill to be compared to its carrying value. 

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

 

We assess the impairment of long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and definite-lived intangible assets subject to amortization, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset or asset group to estimated future undiscounted net cash flows of the related asset or group of assets over their remaining lives. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future undiscounted cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the estimated fair value of the asset. Impairment of long-lived assets is assessed at the lowest levels for which there are identifiable cash flows that are independent of other groups of assets. The impairment of long-lived assets requires judgments and estimates. If circumstances change, such estimates could also change. Assets held for sale are reported at the lower of the carrying amount or fair value, less the estimated costs to sell.

 

Accounting for Income Taxes

 

We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions. We account for income taxes following ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes, recognizing deferred tax assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates for the effect of temporary differences between book and tax basis of recorded assets and liabilities. We estimate our current tax position together with our future tax consequences attributable to temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items, such as deferred revenue, depreciation, and other reserves for tax and accounting purposes. These temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities. We assess the likelihood that our deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income, prior year carryback, or future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences. To the extent we believe that recovery is not more likely than not, we establish a valuation allowance against these deferred tax assets. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any valuation allowance recorded against our deferred tax assets.

 

To the extent we establish a valuation allowance in a period, we must include and expense the allowance within the tax provision in the consolidated statement of operations. In accordance with ASC Topic 740, “Accounting for Income Taxes”, we analyzed our valuation allowance at December 31, 2018 and determined that based upon available evidence it is more likely than not that certain of our net deferred tax assets will not be realized and, accordingly, we have recorded a full valuation allowance against these deferred tax assets in the amount of $13.8 million. Please refer to Note 13 - Income Taxes in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

 

Share-Based Payments

 

We estimate the fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which requires certain estimates, including an expected forfeiture rate and expected term of options granted. We also make decisions regarding the method of calculating expected volatilities and the risk-free interest rate used in the option-pricing model. The resulting calculated fair value of stock options is recognized as compensation expense over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. When there are changes to the assumptions used in the option-pricing model, including fluctuations in the market price of our common stock, there will be variations in the calculated fair value of our future stock option awards, which results in variation in the compensation cost recognized.

 

IMPACT OF RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

 

For descriptions of recently issued accounting standards, see Note 1. Business Description, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Not Applicable

 

 

Financial statements and supplementary data required by this are included herein as a separate section of this Form 10-K, beginning on page F-1, and are incorporated in this Item 8 by reference. 

 

None.

 

 

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the required time periods, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance, as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure. As required by Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, we have completed an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and the Senior Vice President of Finance, of the effectiveness and the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2019. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives. Based upon this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level as of December 31, 2019.

 

The effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures is subject to certain limitations, including the exercise of judgment in designing, implementing, and evaluating the controls and procedures, the assumptions used in identifying the likelihood of future events, and the inability to eliminate improper conduct completely. A controls system, no matter how well designed and operated, cannot provide absolute assurance that the objectives of the controls system are met, and no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a Company have been detected. As a result, there can be no assurance that our disclosure controls and procedures will detect all errors or fraud.

 

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 Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Our 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 U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

 

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

Our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 based on the framework set forth in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013 framework) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our assessment using that criteria, management concluded that the design and operation of our internal control over financial reporting were effective as of December 31, 2019.

 

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

As part of our remediation efforts to address the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting that existed as of December 31, 2018, throughout 2019 we implemented a remediation plan to hire, train, and retain individuals with appropriate skills and experience, assign responsibilities and hold individuals accountable for their roles related to internal control over financial reporting to improve the accounting and financial reporting process as of December 31, 2019.

 

 

None.

Name		Age		Position		Director or Officer Since
Zeynep “Zee” Hakimoglu		65		Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President(4)		See Note 4
Larry R. Hendricks		76		Director(1)(2)(3)		2003
Eric L. Robinson		53		Director(1)(2)(3)		2015
Bruce Whaley		68		Director(1)(2)(3)		2019
Narsi Narayanan		49		Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Secretary		2009

(1)

Member of the Audit and Compliance Committee

(2)

Member of the Compensation Committee

(3)

Member of the Nominating Committee

(4)

Officer since July 2004; Director since April 2006; Chairman of the Board since July 2007.

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Name and Principal Position		Salary				Option Awards				Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation				All Other Compensation				Total
Zeynep Hakimoglu - Chief Executive Officer and President
Year ended December 31, 2019		$	355,000			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	355,000
Year ended December 31, 2018		$	355,000			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	355,000
Narsi Narayanan - Senior Vice President of Finance
Year ended December 31, 2019		$	196,500			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	196,500
Year ended December 31, 2018		$	196,500			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	196,500

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Name		Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options Exercisable				Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options Unexercisable(1)				Option Exercise Price ($)				Option Grant Date				Option Expiration Date
Zeynep Hakimoglu			10,000				—				3.004				05-26-2010				05-26-2020
			10,000				—				5.480				08-05-2011				08-05-2021
			25,000				—				3.920				05-11-2012				05-11-2022
			25,000				—				8.220				08-22-2013				08-22-2023
			40,000				—				8.340				09-12-2014				09-12-2024
			50,000				—				11.960				03-11-2016				03-11-2026
			10,000				—				11.000				12-14-2016				12-14-2026
			33,333				6,667				9.900				06-01-2017				06-01-2027
Narsi Narayanan			10,000				—				3.004				05-26-2010				05-26-2020
			10,000				—				5.480				08-05-2011				08-05-2021
			20,000				—				3.920				05-11-2012				05-11-2022
			15,000				—				8.220				08-22-2013				08-22-2023
			20,000				—				8.340				09-12-2014				09-12-2024
			25,000				—				11.960				03-11-2016				03-11-2026
			2,500				—				11.000				12-14-2016				12-14-2026
			16,666				3,334				9.900				06-01-2017				06-01-2027

(1)	One-third of the shares underlying each stock option vest on the first anniversary of the grant date and the remaining shares vest equally over a period of 24 months following the first anniversary of the grant date.

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Name		Fees Earned or Paid in Cash(1)				Option Awards				Other Compensation				Total
Larry R. Hendricks			37,800				—				—				37,800
Eric L. Robinson			37,200				—				—				37,200
Bruce Whaley			25,100				—				—				25,100