Super League Enterprise, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2019 March (Form 10-Q)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
[X]
|
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
|
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019
OR
[ ]
|
TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE EXCHANGE ACT OF
1934
|
From the transition period
from to
Commission File Number 001-38819
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING, INC.
(Exact name of small business issuer as specified in its
charter)
Delaware
|
47-1990734
|
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or
organization)
|
(IRS Employer Identification No.)
|
2906 Colorado Ave.
Santa Monica, California 90404
(Address of principal executive offices)
(802) 294-2754
(Issuer’s telephone number)
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 [X] No [ ]
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted
electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every
Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant
to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (Sec.232.405 of this chapter) during
the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the
registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes
[X] 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.
Large accelerated filer
|
[ ]
|
Accelerated filer
|
[ ]
|
Non-accelerated filer
|
[ ]
|
Smaller reporting company
|
[X ]
|
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
|
Emerging growth company
|
[X]
|
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 Exchange Act).
Yes [ ] No [X]
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the
Act:
Title of each class
|
Trading Symbol(s)
|
Name of each exchange on which registered
|
Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share
|
SLGG
|
NASDAQ Capital Market
|
As of May 13, 2019, there were
8,368,833 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001
par value, issued and outstanding.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART
I
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM 1. CONDENSED FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING, INC.
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited)
ASSETS
Current
Assets
|
March
31,
2019
|
December 31,
2018
|
Cash
|
$21,486,000
|
$2,774,000
|
Accounts
receivable
|
315,000
|
488,000
|
Prepaid expenses
and other current assets
|
1,080,000
|
487,000
|
Total current
assets
|
22,881,000
|
3,749,000
|
|
|
|
Property
and Equipment, net
|
299,000
|
531,000
|
Intangible
and Other Assets, net
|
1,027,000
|
707,000
|
|
|
|
Total
assets
|
$24,207,000
|
$4,987,000
|
|
|
|
LIABILITIES
AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT)
|
|
|
Current
Liabilities
|
|
|
Accounts payable
and accrued expenses
|
$1,025,000
|
$813,000
|
Deferred
revenue
|
15,000
|
45,000
|
Convertible
debt and accrued interest, net
|
-
|
10,923,000
|
Total current
liabilities
|
1,040,000
|
11,781,000
|
|
|
|
Stockholders’
Equity (Deficit)
|
|
|
Preferred stock,
par value $0.001 per share; 10,000,000 shares authorized; no shares
issued or outstanding
|
-
|
-
|
Common stock, par
value $0.001 per share; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 8,368,833
and 4,610,109 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2019
and December 31, 2018, respectively.
|
18,000
|
14,000
|
Additional paid-in
capital
|
94,351,000
|
48,325,000
|
Accumulated
deficit
|
(71,202,000)
|
(55,133,000)
|
Total
stockholders’ equity (deficit)
|
23,167,000
|
(6,794,000)
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities
and stockholders’ equity
|
$24,207,000
|
$4,987,000
|
See accompanying notes to condensed financial
statements
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING, INC.
CONDENSED
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
|
For the Three Months
Ended March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
|
|
|
REVENUES
|
$249,000
|
$129,000
|
|
|
|
COST
OF REVENUES
|
74,000
|
123,000
|
|
|
|
GROSS
PROFIT
|
175,000
|
6,000
|
|
|
|
OPERATING
EXPENSES
|
|
|
Selling, marketing
and advertising
|
233,000
|
496,000
|
Technology platform
development
|
710,000
|
556,000
|
General and
administrative
|
5,368,000
|
3,080,000
|
Total operating
expenses
|
6,311,000
|
4,132,000
|
|
|
|
NET
OPERATING LOSS
|
(6,136,000)
|
(4,126,000)
|
|
|
|
OTHER
INCOME (EXPENSE)
|
|
|
Accrued interest
expense
|
(187,000)
|
(45,000)
|
Accretion of debt
discount
|
(2,684,000)
|
-
|
Beneficial
conversion feature
|
(7,067,000)
|
-
|
Other
|
5,000
|
-
|
Total
other income (expense)
|
(9,933,000)
|
(45,000)
|
|
|
|
NET
LOSS
|
$(16,069,000)
|
(4,171,000)
|
|
|
|
Net
loss attributable to common stockholders - basic and
diluted
|
|
|
Basic and diluted
loss per common share
|
$(2.68)
|
$(0.91)
|
Weighted-average
number of shares outstanding, basic and diluted
|
5,988,310
|
4,603,443
|
See accompanying notes to condensed financial
statements
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING, INC.
CONDENSED
STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY(DEFICIT)
FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH
31, 2019 AND 2018
(Unaudited)
For
the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019
|
|
|
Additional
|
|
|
|
Common
Stock
|
Paid-in
|
Accumulated
|
|
|
|
Shares
|
Amount
|
Capital
|
Deficit
|
Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BALANCE
– December 31, 2018
|
4,610,109
|
$14,000
|
$48,325,000
|
$(55,133,000)
|
$(6,794,000)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Initial public
offering of common stock, net of issuance costs (Note
6)
|
2,272,727
|
2,000
|
22,456,000
|
|
22,458,000
|
Automatic conversion of convertible debt to
common stock (Note 5)
|
1,475,164
|
2,000
|
13,791,000
|
|
13,793,000
|
Stock-based
compensation
|
10,833
|
–
|
2,712,000
|
–
|
2,712,000
|
Beneficial
conversion feature (Note 5)
|
–
|
–
|
7,067,000
|
–
|
7,067,000
|
Net
loss
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
(16,069,000)
|
(16,069,000)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BALANCE
– March 31, 2019
|
8,368,833
|
$18,000
|
$94,351,000
|
$(71,202,000)
|
$23,167,000
|
For
the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018
|
|
|
Additional
|
|
|
|
Common
Stock
|
Paid-in
|
Accumulated
|
|
|
|
Shares
|
Amount
|
Capital
|
Deficit
|
Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BALANCE
– December 31, 2017
|
4,603,000
|
$14,000
|
$38,191,000
|
$(34,507,000)
|
$3,698,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stock-based
compensation
|
–
|
–
|
860,000
|
–
|
860,000
|
Issuance of
warrants with convertible notes (Note 5)
|
–
|
–
|
322,000
|
–
|
322,000
|
Net
loss
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
(4,171,000)
|
(4,171,000)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BALANCE
– March 31, 2018
|
4,603,000
|
$14,000
|
$39,373,000
|
$(38,678,000)
|
$709,000
|
See accompanying notes to condensed financial
statements
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING,
INC.
CONDENSED
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited)
|
For the Three Months Ended March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
|
|
|
Net
loss
|
$(16,069,000)
|
$(4,171,000)
|
Adjustments
to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities:
|
|
|
Depreciation
and amortization
|
335,000
|
260,000
|
Stock-based
compensation
|
2,730,000
|
860,000
|
Amortization
of discount on convertible notes (Note 5)
|
2,684,000
|
31,000
|
Beneficial
conversion feature
|
7,067,000
|
-
|
In-kind
contribution of services
|
-
|
333,000
|
Changes
in assets and liabilities:
|
|
|
Accounts
receivable
|
173,000
|
(90,000)
|
Prepaid
expenses and other current assets
|
(610,000)
|
92,000
|
Accounts
payable and accrued expenses
|
211,000
|
(69,000)
|
Deferred
revenue
|
(30,000)
|
-
|
Accrued
interest on convertible notes
|
187,000
|
14,000
|
Net cash used in operating activities
|
(3,322,000)
|
(2,740,000)
|
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES
|
|
|
Purchase
of property and equipment
|
(18,000)
|
(93,000)
|
Capitalization
of software development costs
|
(332,000)
|
(21,000)
|
Acquisition
of other intangible assets
|
(74,000)
|
-
|
Net cash used in investing activities
|
(424,000)
|
(114,000)
|
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES
|
|
|
Proceeds
from issuance of common stock, net of issuance costs
|
22,458,000
|
-
|
Proceeds
from convertible note payable, net
|
-
|
2,815,000
|
Net cash provided by financing activities
|
22,458,000
|
2,815,000
|
|
|
|
INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH
|
18,712,000
|
(39,000)
|
CASH –
beginning of
period
|
2,774,000
|
1,709,000
|
CASH – end of period
|
$21,486,000
|
$1,670,000
|
|
|
|
SUPPLEMENTAL NONCASH FINANCING ACTIVITIES
|
|
|
Automatic conversion of convertible
debt to common stock (Note 5)
|
$13,793,000
|
-
|
See accompanying notes to condensed financial
statements
1.
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
Super
League Gaming, Inc. (“Super League,” the
“Company,” “we” or “our”) is a
leading esports community and content platform for gamers,
competitors, fans and friends of all ages and skill levels. Through
our proprietary, cloud-based technology platform, we connect our
network of gamers, venues and brand partners to enable local,
social and competitive esports that can be uniquely broadcast
through our platform. Utilizing our proprietary technology
platform, Super League operates physical and digital experiences in
partnership with publishers of top-tier game titles. Local movie
theaters, PC cafes and restaurant and retail venues are transformed
into esports arenas where players compete, socialize and spectate
while also developing sportsmanship, communication and
team-building skills. Super League's primary programs consist of:
(i) the first and only city-vs-city amateur esports competition;
(ii) monthly tournaments throughout the year playable both online
and from a multitude of physical locations across the U.S.; and
(iii) special events produced in partnership with consumer brands,
entertainment companies and game publishers, all powered by the
Super League platform. In addition, SuperLeagueTV supports all
Super League experiences with live streams of the competitions and
original video-on-demand content on Twitch and
YouTube.
Super
League was incorporated on October 1, 2014 as Nth Games, Inc. under
the laws of the State of Delaware and changed its name to Super
League Gaming, Inc. on June 15, 2015. We are an “emerging
growth company” as defined by the Jumpstart Our Business
Startups Act of 2012, as amended.
Initial Public Offering
On February 27, 2019, Super League completed its initial public
offering (“IPO”) of shares of its common stock,
pursuant to which an aggregate of 2,272,727 shares were offered and
sold at a public offering price of $11.00 per share, resulting in
net proceeds of $22,458,000 after deducting underwriting discounts,
commissions and offering costs of $2,542,000. Concurrent with the
closing of the IPO on February 27, 2019 (the “IPO Closing
Date”), in accordance with the related agreements, all
outstanding principal and interest of the 9.00% convertible notes
outstanding, totaling $13,793,000, was automatically converted into
1,475,164 shares of the Company’s common stock at a
conversion price of $9.35.
2.
SUMMARY
OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying condensed financial statements have been prepared
in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America (“US GAAP”) for interim
financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and
Rule 8-03 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, certain
information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP in annual financial
statements have been omitted or condensed in accordance with
quarterly reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”). These interim financial statements should be read
in conjunction with our audited financial statements for the year
ended December 31, 2018 included in our Registration Statement on
Form S-1, declared effective by the Securities and Exchange
Commission on February 25, 2019 (File No.
333-229144).
The
condensed interim financial statements of Super League include all
adjustments of a normal recurring nature which, in the opinion of
management, are necessary for a fair statement of Super
League’s financial position as of March 31, 2019, and results
of its operations and its cash flows for the interim periods
presented. The results of operations for the three
months ended March 31, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the
results to be expected for the entire fiscal year.
Use of Estimates
The
preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP
requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect
the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of
contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during
the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these
estimates. The Company believes that, of the significant accounting
policies described herein, the accounting policies associated with
revenue recognition, the valuation of convertible notes and related
common stock purchase warrants (hereinafter,
“warrants”) discussed at Note 5, stock-based
compensation expense, income taxes and valuation allowances against
net deferred tax assets, require its most difficult, subjective or
complex judgments.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is recognized when the Company transfers promised goods or
services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration
to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those
goods and services. In this regard, revenue is recognized when: (i)
the parties to the contract have approved the contract (in writing,
orally, or in accordance with other customary business practices)
and are committed to perform their respective obligations; (ii) the
entity can identify each party’s rights regarding the goods
or services to be transferred; (iii) the entity can identify the
payment terms for the goods or services to be transferred; (iv) the
contract has commercial substance (that is, the risk, timing, or
amount of the entity’s future cash flows is expected to
change as a result of the contract);and (v) it is probable that the
entity will collect substantially all of the consideration to which
it will be entitled in exchange for the goods or services that will
be transferred to the customer.
Super
League generates revenues and related cash flows from (i) brand and
media sponsorships, (ii) Platform-As-A-Service arrangements, and
(iii) direct to consumer offers including tournament fees for
participation in our physical and online multiplayer gaming
experiences, digital subscriptions and merchandise
sales.
Brand and Media Sponsorships. The Company generates brand and media
sponsorship revenues primarily from sales of various forms of
sponsorships and promotional campaigns for its online platforms and
from sponsorship at its in-person esports experiences. Brand and
media sponsorship revenue arrangements may include: exclusive or
non-exclusive title sponsorships, marketing benefits, official
product status exclusivity, product visibly and additional
infrastructure placement, social media rights (including rights to
create and post social content and clips), rights to on-screen
activations and promotions, display material rights, media rights,
hospitality and tickets and merchandising rights. Brand and media
sponsorship arrangements typically include contract terms for time
periods ranging from several weeks to multi-year
arrangements.
For
brand and media sponsorship arrangements that include performance
obligations satisfied over time, customers typically simultaneously
receive and consume the benefits under the agreement as the Company
satisfies its performance obligations, over the applicable contract
term. As such, revenue is recognized over the contract term based
upon estimates of progress toward complete satisfaction of the
contract performance obligations (typically utilizing a time,
effort or delivery-based method of estimation).
Platform-As-A-Service.
The Company
generates Platform-as-a-Service (“PaaS”) revenues
pursuant to arrangements with brand and media partners, retail
venues, game publishers and broadcasters that allow its partners to
run amateur esports experiences, and or capture specifically
curated gameplay content that is tailored for its partners’
distribution channels, leveraging and powered by the Super League
gaming and content technology platform. PaaS revenue arrangements
for one-off branded experiences and/or the development of content
tailored specifically for the Company’s partners’
distribution channels typically provide for a contractual delivery
or performance date, and as such revenues are recognized when
performance is substantially complete and or delivery
occurs.
Direct to Consumer
Revenue.
Direct to
consumer revenues include tournament fees, digital subscriptions
and merchandise. Direct to consumer revenues have primarily
consisted of the sale of season passes to gamers for participation
in Super League’s in-person and or online multiplayer gaming
experiences. For the periods presented herein, season passes for
gaming experiences were primarily comprised of multi-week packages
and also include one-time, single experience admissions. For the
three months ended March 31, 2019, digital subscription revenues
include revenues related to the Company’s Minehut asset
acquisition in June 2018, which provides various Minecraft server
hosting services on a subscription basis to the Minecraft gaming
community.
Revenue
collected in advance is recorded as deferred revenue until the
event occurs. For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018,
71% and 29% of revenues were recognized at a point in time, and 29%
and 71% of revenues were recognized over time,
respectively.
Revenue
collected in advance is recorded as deferred revenue until the
event occurs.
Advertising
Gaming
experience and Super League brand related advertising costs include
the cost of ad production, social media, print media, marketing,
promotions, and merchandising. The Company expenses advertising
costs as incurred. Advertising expenses for the three months ended
March 31, 2019 and 2018 were $147,000 and $125,000, respectively,
and are included in selling, marketing and advertising expenses in
the condensed statements of operations.
Technology Platform Development Costs
Technology
platform development costs include (i) allocated personnel costs,
including salaries, taxes and benefits related to our internal
software developers and engineers employed by Super League engaged
in developing and enhancing our proprietary gaming and content
technology platform, (ii) the amortization of capitalized internal
use software costs primarily comprised of capitalized costs for
third-party contract software development and engineering resources
engaged in developing and enhancing our proprietary gaming and
content technology platform, and (iii) costs incurred in connection
with the testing of our technology platform.
Deferred Financing Costs
Specific
incremental costs directly attributable to a proposed or actual
offering of securities or debt are deferred and charged against the
gross proceeds of the financing. In the event that the proposed or
actual financing is not completed, or is deemed not likely to be
completed, such costs are expensed in the period that such
determination is made. Deferred costs related to proposed offerings
of securities totaled $0 and $154,354 at March 31, 2019 and
December 31, 2018, respectively. Deferred financing costs, if any,
are included in other current assets in the condensed balance
sheet. Deferred financing costs charged against gross proceeds in
connection with the close of the Company’s IPO totaled
$517,000.
Property and Equipment
Property
and equipment are recorded at cost. Major additions and
improvements that materially extend useful lives of property and
equipment are capitalized. Maintenance and repairs are charged
against the results of operations as incurred. When these assets
are sold or otherwise disposed of, the asset and related
depreciation are relieved, and any gain or loss is included in the
statements of operations for the period of sale or disposal.
Depreciation and amortization are computed on a straight-line basis
over the estimated useful lives of the assets, typically over a
three- to five-year period.
Intangible Assets
Intangible
assets primarily consist of (i) software development costs, (ii)
domain name, copyright and patent registration costs and (iii)
other intangible assets, which are recorded at cost and amortized
using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of
the assets, ranging from three to ten years.
Software
development costs incurred to develop internal-use software during
the application development stage are capitalized and amortized on
a straight-line basis over the software’s estimated useful
life, which is generally three years. Software development costs
incurred during the preliminary stages of development are charged
to expense as incurred. Maintenance and training costs are charged
to expense as incurred. Upgrades or enhancements to existing
internal-use software that result in additional functionality are
capitalized.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
The
Company assesses the recoverability of long-lived assets whenever
events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying
value may not be recoverable. If the cost basis of a long-lived
asset is greater than the projected future undiscounted net cash
flows from such asset, an impairment loss is recognized. Impairment
losses are calculated as the difference between the cost basis of
an asset and its estimated fair value. Management believes that
there was no impairment of long-lived assets for the periods
presented herein. There can be no assurance, however, that market
conditions or demand for the Company’s products or services
will not change, which could result in long-lived asset impairment
charges in the future.
Stock-Based Compensation
Compensation
expense for stock-based awards is measured at the grant date, based
on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as an
expense, typically on a straight-line basis over the
employee’s requisite service period (generally the vesting
period of the equity award) which is generally two to four years.
Compensation expense for awards with
performance conditions that affect vesting is recorded only for
those awards expected to vest or when the performance criteria are
met. The fair value of restricted stock and restricted stock
unit awards is determined by the product of the number of shares or
units granted and the grant date market price of the underlying
common stock. The fair value of stock option and common stock
purchase warrant awards is estimated on the date of grant utilizing
the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model. The Company accounts
for forfeitures of awards as they occur.
Grants
of equity-based awards (including warrants) to non-employees in
exchange for consulting or other services are accounted for using
the fair value of the consideration received (i.e., the value of
the goods or services) or the fair value of the equity instruments
issued, whichever is more reliably measurable.
Noncash Stock-based compensation expense for the periods presented
was comprised of the following:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
Stock
options
|
$1,292,000
|
$632,000
|
Warrants
|
1,287,000
|
225,000
|
Restricted
stock units
|
151,000
|
3,000
|
Total
noncash stock compensation expense
|
$2,730,000
|
$860,000
|
Noncash
stock-based compensation expense for the three months ended March
31, 2019 included compensation expense resulting from the vesting
of certain performance options and warrants previously granted to
the Company’s Chief Executive Officer which vested upon
completion of the IPO, pursuant to an October 2018 amended employee
agreement and related vesting provisions of the underlying equity
grant agreements. Upon closing of the IPO, 83,333 options and
125,000 warrants vested, with an average grant date fair value of
$8.50, resulting in noncash stock compensation expense of
$1,770,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2019.
The fair value of these equity awards
was estimated on October 31, 2018, their original grant date, using
the Black Scholes-Merton option pricing model and the following
weighted-average assumptions: (i) volatility of 93%, (ii)
risk-free interest rate of 3.0%, and (iii) expected term of 6.5
years.
Risks and Uncertainties
Concentrations. The Company had certain customers whose
revenue individually represented 10% or more of the Company’s
total revenue, or whose accounts receivable balances individually
represented 10% or more of the Company’s total accounts
receivable, or whose accounts payable balances individually
represented 10% or more of the Company’s total accounts
payable, as follows:
For the
three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, three customers
accounted for 95% and one customer accounted for 70% of revenues,
respectively. At March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, three
customers accounted for 94% and 96% of accounts receivable. At
March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, three vendors accounted for
40% and 43% of accounts payable, respectively.
Segment Information
The
Company operates in one segment.
Earnings (Loss) Per Share
Basic
earnings (loss) per share is computed by dividing the income or
loss by the weighted-average number of outstanding shares of common
stock for the applicable period. Diluted earnings per share is
computed by dividing the income or loss by the weighted-average
number of outstanding shares of common stock for the applicable
period, including the dilutive effect of common stock equivalents.
Potentially dilutive common stock equivalents primarily consist of
employee stock options, warrants issued to employees and
non-employees in exchange for services and warrants issued in
connection with financings. All outstanding stock options, and
warrants for the periods presented have been excluded from the
computation of diluted loss per share because the effect of
inclusion would have been anti-dilutive.
Income Taxes
Income
taxes are accounted for using an asset and liability approach that
requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for
the expected future tax consequences of events that have been
recognized in the Company’s financial statements or income
tax returns. A valuation allowance is established to reduce
deferred tax assets if all, or some portion, of such assets will
more than likely not be realized, or if it is determined that there
is uncertainty regarding future realization of such
assets.
The
provision for income taxes for interim periods is determined using
an estimate of Super League’s annual effective tax rate,
adjusted for discrete items, if any, that are considered in the
relevant period. Each quarter, the Company updates the estimate of
the annual effective tax rate, and if the estimated tax rate
changes, a cumulative adjustment is recorded.
On
December 22, 2017, new U.S. federal tax legislation was enacted
that significantly changed the U.S. federal income taxation of U.S.
corporations, including by reducing the U.S. corporate income tax
rate from 35% to 21%, revising the rules governing net operating
losses and foreign tax credits, and introducing new anti-base
erosion provisions. Many of the changes were effective immediately,
without any transition periods or grandfathering for existing
transactions. The legislation is unclear in many respects and could
be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, as
well as interpretations and implementing regulations by the U.S.
Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service
(“IRS”), any of which could decrease or increase
certain adverse impacts of the legislation. In addition, it is
unclear how these U.S. federal income tax changes will affect state
and local taxation, which often uses federal taxable income as a
starting point for computing state and local tax
liabilities.
The new
legislation reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%
effective January 1, 2018. As a result, all deferred income tax
assets and liabilities, including NOL’s, have been measured
using the new rate under and are reflected in the valuation of
these assets as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. As a result, as of
December 31, 2017, the value of our deferred tax assets was reduced
by $4,278,626 and the related valuation allowance was reduced by
the same amount. Given the full valuation allowance provided for
net deferred tax assets for the periods presented herein, the
change in tax law did not have a material impact on the
Company’s financial statements provided herein. There may be
additional tax impacts identified in subsequent periods throughout
the Company’s fiscal year ending December 31, 2019 in
accordance with subsequent interpretive guidance issued by the SEC
or the IRS. Further, there may be other material adverse effects
resulting from the legislation that we have not yet identified. No
estimated tax provision has been recorded for tax attributes that
are incomplete or subject to change.
Recent Accounting Guidance
Recent Accounting Pronouncements - Recently Adopted.
In May 2014, the FASB issued a new accounting standard update
(“ASU”) addressing revenue from contracts with
customers, which clarifies existing accounting literature relating
to how and when a company recognizes revenue. Under the standard, a
company will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or
services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration
to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those
goods and services. In doing so, the Company is required to use
more judgment and make more estimates in connection with the
accounting for revenue contracts with customers than under previous
guidance. Such areas may include: (i) identifying performance
obligations in the contract, (ii) estimating the timing of
satisfaction of performance obligations, (iii) determining whether
a promised good or service is distinct from other promised goods or
services, including whether the customer can benefit from the good
or service on its own and whether the promise to transfer a good or
service is separately identifiable from other promises in the
contract, (iv) evaluating whether performance obligations are
satisfied at a point in time or over time, (v) allocating the
transaction price to separate performance obligations, and (vi)
determining whether contracts contain a significant financing
component.
The
Company used the modified retrospective method of adoption, which
would require the cumulative effect of initially applying the new
revenue standard as an adjustment to the opening balance of
retained earnings on January 1, 2019. Comparative prior year
periods would not be adjusted. The new accounting standard was
applied to all contracts at the date of initial application. There
was no cumulative effect of applying the new revenue standard to
contracts executed in prior periods. As such, the adoption of the
new accounting standard had no impact of on the balance sheet and
statement of operations in the current or prior
periods.
Recent
Accounting Pronouncements – Not Yet
Adopted.
In
February 2016, the FASB issued an ASU that requires lessees to
present right-of-use assets and lease liabilities on the balance
sheet. The new guidance is to be applied using a modified
retrospective approach at the beginning of the earliest comparative
periods in the financial statements and is effective for fiscal
years beginning after December 15, 2019 and early adoption is
permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact that this guidance
will have on its financial position, results of operations and
financial statement disclosures.
In June
2016, the FASB issued guidance on the measurement and recognition
of credit losses on most financial assets. For trade receivables,
loans, and held-to-maturity debt securities, the current probable
loss recognition methodology is being replaced by an expected
credit loss model. For available-for-sale debt securities, the
recognition model on credit losses is generally unchanged, except
the losses will be presented as an adjustable allowance. The
guidance will be applied retrospectively with the cumulative effect
recognized as of the date of adoption. The guidance will become
effective at the beginning of the Company’s first quarter of
the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 but can be adopted as
early as the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal year ending
December 31, 2020. The Company is currently assessing the impact
that adopting this new accounting guidance will have on its
financial statements and footnote disclosures.
3.
PROPERTY
AND EQUIPMENT
Property
and equipment consisted of the following for the periods
presented:
|
March 31,
2019
|
December 31,
2018
|
|
|
|
Furniture
and fixtures
|
$313,000
|
$207,000
|
Computer
hardware
|
3,107,000
|
3,195,000
|
|
3,420,000
|
3,402,000
|
Less:
accumulated depreciation
|
(3,121,000)
|
(2,871,000)
|
Property and
equipment, net
|
$299,000
|
$531,000
|
Depreciation
expense for property and equipment was $250,000 and $209,000 for
the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018,
respectively.
4.
INTANGIBLE
AND OTHER ASSETS
Intangible
and other assets consisted of the following for the periods
presented:
|
March 31,
2019
|
December 31,
2018
|
Capitalized
software development costs
|
$1,613,000
|
$1,281,000
|
Domain
|
70,000
|
68,000
|
Copyrights and
other
|
198,000
|
126,000
|
|
1,881,000
|
1,475,000
|
Less: accumulated
amortization
|
(854,000)
|
(768,000)
|
Intangible and
other assets, net
|
$1,027,000
|
$707,000
|
Amortization
expense totaled $85,000 and $51,000 for the three months ended
March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Future amortization expense
of intangible and other assets is expected to be as
follows:
For the
years ending December 31:
Remainder of
2019
|
$280,000
|
2020
|
342,000
|
2021
|
272,000
|
2022
|
43,000
|
2023
|
28,000
|
Thereafter
|
62,000
|
Total
|
$1,027,000
|
5. CONVERTIBLE NOTES PAYABLE
In
February through April 2018, the Company issued 9.00% secured
convertible promissory notes with a collective face value of
$3,000,000 (the “Initial 2018 Notes”). The Initial 2018
Notes (i) accrued simple interest at the rate of 9.00% per annum,
(ii) matured on the earlier of December 31, 2018 or the close of a
$15,000,000 equity financing (“Qualifying Equity
Financing”) by the Company, and (iii) all outstanding
principal and accrued interest was automatically convertible into
equity or equity-linked securities sold in a Qualifying Equity
Financing based upon a conversion rate equal to (x) a 10% discount
to the price per share of a Qualifying Equity Financing, with (y) a
floor of $10.80 per share. In addition, the holders of the Initial
2018 Notes were collectively issued warrants to purchase
approximately 55,559 shares of common stock, at an exercise price
of $10.80 per share and a term of five years (the “Initial
2018 Warrants”).
In May
through August 2018, the Company issued additional 9.00% secured
convertible promissory notes with a collective face value of
$10,000,000 (the “Additional 2018 Notes”). In May 2018,
all of the Initial 2018 Notes and related accrued interest,
totaling $3,056,000, were converted into the Additional 2018 Notes,
resulting in an aggregate principal amount of $13,056,000
(hereinafter collectively, the “2018 Notes”). The
holders of the converted Initial 2018 Notes retained their
respective Initial 2018 Warrants.
The 2018 Notes (i) accrued simple interest at the rate of 9.00% per
annum, (ii) matured on the earlier of the closing of an initial
public offering of the Company’s common stock on a national
securities exchange or April 30, 2019, and (iii) all outstanding
principal and accrued interest was automatically convertible into
shares of common stock upon the closing of an IPO at the lesser of
(x) $10.80 per share or (y) a 15% discount to the price per share
of the IPO. In addition, the holders of the 2018 Notes were
collectively issued 1,396,420 warrants to purchase common stock
equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the 2018 Notes
divided by $9.35 per share (the “2018 Warrants”). The
2018 Warrants are exercisable for a term of five years, commencing
on the close of an IPO, at an exercise price of $9.35 and are
callable at the election of the Company at any time following the
closing of an IPO. The 2018 Notes are secured by a security
interest in all of the assets, tangible and intangible, of the
Company.
The
proceeds from the sale of the 2018 Notes, the 2018 Warrants and the
Initial 2018 Warrants, were allocated to the instruments based on
the relative fair values of the convertible debt instrument without
the warrants and of the warrants themselves at the time of
issuance. The portion of the proceeds, totaling $5,933,000
allocated to the 2018 Warrants, was accounted for as a discount to
the debt, with the offsetting credit to additional paid-in capital.
The remainder of the proceeds were allocated to the convertible
debt instrument portion of the transaction. The resulting debt
discount is amortized over the period from issuance to April 30,
2019, the stated maturity date of the debt.
Debt
issuance costs were comprised of $389,000 of cash commissions and
warrants with a fair value of $223,000, paid and issued,
respectively, to third-parties in connection with the debt
financing, and are reflected as a discount to the debt instrument,
net of accumulated amortization, in the December 31, 2018 balance
sheet. Debt issuance costs are amortized over the term of the debt
as interest expense in the statement of operations.
Concurrent
with the closing of the IPO on February 27, 2019, all outstanding
principal and accrued interest outstanding under the 2018 Notes
totaling $13,793,000, was automatically converted into 1,475,164
shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price
per share of $9.35. As a result of the automatic conversion of the
2018 Notes and the application of conversion accounting, the
Company recorded an immediate charge to interest expense of
$1,384,000, representing the write-off of the unamortized
balance of debt discounts associated with the 2018 warrants and
cash commissions and warrants issued to third parties. Unamortized
debt discounts at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 totaled $0
and $2,684,000, respectively.
The
non-detachable conversion feature embedded in the 2018 Notes
provides for a conversion rate that is below market value at the
commitment date, and therefore, represents a beneficial conversion
feature (“BCF”). The BCF is generally recognized
separately at issuance by allocating a portion of the debt proceeds
equal to the intrinsic value of the BCF to additional paid-in
capital. The resulting convertible debt discount is recognized as
interest expense using the effective yield method. The BCF is
measured using the commitment date stock price. However, the
conversion feature associated with the 2018 Notes was not
exercisable until the consummation of an initial public offering by
the Company of its common stock, and therefore, was not required to
be recognized in earnings until the IPO related contingency was
resolved, which occurred on the IPO Closing Date. The commitment
date is the IPO Closing Date and the commitment date stock price
was $11.00 per share. The intrinsic value of the BCF on the IPO
Closing Date, which was limited to the net proceeds allocated to
the debt on a relative fair value basis, was approximately
$7,067,000, and is reflected as additional interest expense in the
condensed statement of operations for the three months ended March
31, 2019.
6.
STOCKHOLDERS’
EQUITY
Initial Public Offering
On February 27, 2019, the Super League completed its initial public
offering (“IPO’) of its common stock, pursuant to which
the Company issued and sold an aggregate of 2,272,727 shares of
common stock at $11.00 per share, raising aggregate net proceeds of
$22,458,000 after underwriting discounts, commissions and offering
costs of $2,542,000. Concurrent with the closing of the IPO on
February 27, 2019 (the “IPO Closing Date”), in
accordance with the related agreements, all outstanding
principal and interest for the 9.00% convertible notes outstanding,
totaling $13,793,000, was automatically converted into 1,475,164
shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of
$9.35.
Super League currently intends to use the net proceeds received
from the offering for working capital and general corporate
purposes, including sales and
marketing activities, product development and capital expenditures.
Super League may also use a portion of the net proceeds for the
acquisition of, or investment in, technologies, solutions or
businesses that may compliment the Company’s business and or
accelerate the Company’s growth.
Upon closing of the IPO, 83,333 options and 125,000 warrants
previously granted to the CEO (with an average grant date fair
value of $8.50) became fully vested. As a result, the
Company recorded an additional $1,770,000 of stock-based
compensation during the three months ended March 31,
2019.
Pursuant to the related underwriting agreement, in connection with
the completion of the IPO, for the purchase price of $50.00, the
Company issued a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock
equal to 3.0% of the shares sold in the IPO, or 68,182 shares, at
an exercise price of $11.00 per share (the
“Underwriters’ Warrants”). The
Underwriters’ Warrants are exercisable during the period
commencing from the date of the close of the IPO and ending five
years from the closing date of the IPO. The Underwriters’
Warrants represent additional noncash offering costs, with an
estimated grant date fair value of $547,000, which was reflected in
additional-paid-in capital when issued and as a corresponding
offering cost in the condensed statement of shareholders equity for
the three months ended March 31, 2019. The
fair value of the Underwriters’ Warrant was estimated on
February 27, 2019, the grant date, using the Black Scholes-Merton
option pricing model and the following weighted-average
assumptions: (i) volatility of 95%, (ii) risk-free interest rate of
2.5%, and (iii) expected term of 5 years.
Reverse Stock Split
On
February 8, 2019, the Company filed an amendment to the
Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation
to effect a reverse split of shares of the Company’s common
stock on a one-for-three basis (the “Reverse Stock
Split”). All references to common stock, warrants to purchase
common stock, options to purchase common stock, early exercised
options, restricted stock, share data, per share data and related
information contained in the financial statements have been
retrospectively adjusted to reflect the effect of the Reverse Stock
Split for all periods presented. No fractional shares were issued
in connection with the Reverse Stock Split. Any fractional shares
resulting from the Reverse Stock Split will be rounded down to a
whole share, and any effected stockholders will receive a cash
payment equal to the value of such fractional shares.
In-Kind Contribution of Services
In June
2017, the Company entered into an arrangement with a major media
network for $1,000,000 of in-kind contributions of media services
in exchange for 92,592 shares of common stock. This prepaid
advertising cost was amortized over an 18-month period ending as of
December 31, 2018. Expense included in selling, marketing and
advertising expenses in the statement of operations for usage of
the in-kind media services for the three months ended March 31,
2019 and 2018 was $0 and $333,333, respectively.
7.
SUBSEQUENT
EVENTS
The
Company evaluated subsequent events for their potential impact on
the financial statements and disclosures through the date the
financial statements were available to be issued, and determined
that no subsequent events occurred that were reasonably expected to
impact the financial statements presented herein.
ITEM 2.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
References in this report to “Super League Gaming,
Inc.” “Company,” “we,”
“us,” “our,” or similar references mean
Super League Gaming, Inc. References to the “SEC” refer
to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Forward-Looking Statements
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our
financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with
our condensed financial statements and the related notes included
elsewhere in this interim report. Our condensed financial
statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The
following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (the “Exchange Act”), including, without
limitation, statements regarding our expectations, beliefs,
intentions or future strategies that are signified by the words
“expect,” “anticipate,”
“intend,” “believe,” or similar language.
All forward-looking statements included in this document are based
on information available to us on the date hereof, and we assume no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Our
business and financial performance are subject to substantial risks
and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from
those projected in the forward-looking statements. In evaluating
our business, you should carefully consider the information set
forth under the heading “Risk Factors” included in Item
II, Part 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements.
Overview
Super
League Gaming, Inc. (“Super
League,” the “Company,” “we” or “our”) is a leading esports
community and content platform for gamers, competitors, fans and
friends of all ages and skill levels. Through our proprietary,
cloud-based technology platform, we connect our network of gamers,
venues and brand partners to enable local, social and competitive
esports that can be uniquely broadcast through our platform.
Utilizing our proprietary technology platform, Super League
operates physical and digital experiences in partnership with
publishers of top-tier game titles. Local movie theaters, PC cafes
and restaurant and retail venues are transformed into esports
arenas where players compete, socialize and spectate while also
developing sportsmanship, communication and team-building skills.
Super League's primary programs consist of: (i) the first and only
city-vs-city amateur esports competition; (ii) monthly tournaments
throughout the year playable both online and from a multitude of
physical locations across the U.S.; and (iii) special events
produced in partnership with consumer brands, entertainment
companies and game publishers, all powered by the Super League
platform. In addition, SuperLeagueTV supports all Super League
experiences with live streams of the competitions and original
video-on-demand content on Twitch and YouTube.
Executive Summary
Super
League is on the leading edge of the rapidly accelerating Esports
industry. Esports has become an established and vital part of the
entertainment landscape. At the professional level, thousands of
professional players on hundreds of teams compete in dozens of high
stakes competitions that draw significant audiences, both in person
and online. In addition, the value of brand sponsorships, media
rights and prize money continue to rise, as are professional team
valuations and the purchase price for securing franchises in
professional leagues.
We
believe there is a larger opportunity for the world of amateur
esports players. Amateur gamers are the gamers who enjoy the
competition, the social interaction and community, and the
entertainment value associated with playing and watching others
play. Competitive amateur gamers take part in over eight hours of
gameplay and watches up to nine hours of esports-related content
each week.
Super
League is a critically important component in providing the
infrastructure for amateur esports that is synergistic and
accretive to the greater esports ecosystem. Over the past four
years, we believe we have become the preeminent brand for amateur
esports by providing a proprietary, end-to-end platform that allows
our gamers to compete, socialize and spectate premium amateur
esports gameplay and entertainment both physically and digitally.
We celebrate amateur gamers and provide a differentiated way for
players and spectators to unite around the games they love for a
better, more inclusive social experience previously not available.
Not only do we offer premium amateur esports experiences, but also
can leverage our derivative gameplay content to become the most
comprehensive amateur esports content network. Our premium,
competitive gameplay experiences and elite amateur broadcasts,
coupled with the expansion of our game title portfolio, our retail
venue partner network and our strategic brand sponsorships
introduce new gamers into our customer funnel, to drive audience
growth and, ultimately, consumer and content
monetization.
At its
core, our platform serves two main functions. First, it enables
digital and physical experiences which generate gameplay content.
In turn, this content library enables a second function, which is
multi-platform gameplay and entertainment content distribution. One
of those content distribution channels is the physical retail venue
itself where our proprietary visualization and broadcast system
creates a “stadium screen” and transforms retail spaces
into interactive and entertaining amateur esports arenas. In
addition, this user-generated content can be distributed on our own
premium digital Twitch and YouTube channels as well as finding life
on social channels and other brand partner or third-party
platforms.
Digital and Physical Experiences. We believe that we can
monetize our digital and physical experiences in two primary
ways:
●
|
Traditionally,
we have created our own gameplay experiences to generate audience
and content and attracted brand and sponsorship dollars to those
offers. This continues to be a core revenue stream similar to our
partnerships with Logitech, Inc., Best Buy and Red Bull North
America.
|
●
|
We also
have new potential partners, including game publishers, retailers
and brands across various categories who engage us to develop their
own branded gameplay experiences, powered by our gaming and content
technology platform for their own customers. Platform-as-a- Service
is emerging as a revenue stream for 2019 and beyond, that can not
only deliver strong margin over time, but also adds to our audience
and content growth. This is most notably evidenced by our first
quarter 2019 activation with Samsung Retail, where Super
League’s platform powered a live retail experience built
around Fortnite and the influencer Ninja, that drove traffic to our
website and viewership to our Twitch channel.
|
Gameplay and Viewing Content. We also believe that we can
monetize our content, comprised of gameplay and viewing, in two
primary ways:
●
|
We can
monetize our content commercially through advertising revenues on
our own digital channels and by selling our content to third-party
broadcasters similar to the content Nickelodeon contracted from
Super League in 2018 to supplement their YouTube channel
programming. We have only begun to scratch the surface on
proprietary and third-party content distribution value that can be
derived from the platform.
|
●
|
The
second way we monetize content is through direct-to-consumer pay
walls for access to premium digital and physical experiences and
viewing content. We have historically offered a freemium model
where consumers can join Super League for free-to-play, casual
competitive experiences and charged for access to premium gameplay
experiences. We intend to expand our breadth of consumer digital
offers in 2019 and have already launched a beta product, a digital
monthly subscription offer for our youth demographic.
|
To
date, our revenues have been weighted towards experience
monetization, however we expect to see content monetization begin
to emerge as a revenue opportunity.
We
focus on five key performance indicators, or KPI’s, as
outlined below, to assess our progress and drive revenue growth.
The number of game titles and number of retail partner venues drive
audience, introducing more players and spectators to Super
League’s gaming and content platform. Growth in physical and
digital experiences across a wider portfolio can increase the
number of registered users and number of gameplay hours which will
have a significant impact on our content library. This focus on
audience and content generation ultimately impacts our viewership,
which has an amplification effect on potential revenue streams and
customer acquisition.
●
|
Game titles: We ended fiscal 2018 with four game titles in
our portfolio and currently have five game titles with the addition
of Street Fighter V. We continue to be in discussions with several
other identified titles to further expand our reach across various
genres, ages of players and skill levels.
|
●
|
Retail Partner Venues: While we are just seeding the build
out and monetization of our retail footprint, our recent
national-level announcements with Top Golf and ggCircuit LAN
centers provides access to hundreds of physical venue locations. We
ended fiscal 2018 with 46 active venues and grew to 59 total active
venues as of March 31, 2019.
|
●
|
Registered Users: We ended fiscal 2018 with approximately
300,000 registered users. During the first quarter of 2019, we
increased our registered users by 20%, to 366,000 registered
users.
|
●
|
Gameplay Hours: As of March 31, 2019, we
generated 36,000 hours of gameplay experiences, which was 21% of
our full year 2018 gameplay hours. Gameplay hours are impacted by
the timing of experiences held throughout the
year.
|
●
|
Viewership: Proving that we can attract revenues to our
platform and leverage the audiences our brand partners provide, we
generated 748,000 views during the first quarter of 2019, which was
80% of our full-year 2018 views of 925,000, leveraging our own
programming and the Samsung 837 Fortnite experience.
|
Initial Public Offering
On February 27, 2019, we completed our IPO, pursuant to which we
issued and sold an aggregate of 2,272,727 shares of our common
stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share
pursuant to
a registration statement on Form S-1, declared effective by the Securities and
Exchange Commission on February 25, 2019 (File No. 333-229144). We
raised net proceeds of approximately $22,458,000 after underwriting
discounts, commissions and other offering costs of
$2,542,000.
The principal purposes of the IPO were to obtain additional capital
to support our operations, to create a public market for our common
stock and to facilitate our future access to the public equity
markets. We currently intend to use the net proceeds received from
the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes,
including sales and marketing activities, product development and
capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds
for the acquisition of, or investment in, technologies, solutions
or businesses that may complement our business and or accelerate
our growth. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures,
including expenditure related to sales and marketing and product
development will depend on numerous factors, including the status
of our product development efforts, our sales and marketing
activities, expansion internationally, the amount of cash generated
or used by our operations, competitive pressures and other factors
described under “Risk Factors” in in our Prospectus
filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act with the SEC
on February 27, 2019, as well as Item II, Part 1A of this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q. Our management will have broad discretion in
the application of the net proceeds, and investors will be relying
on our judgment regarding the application of the net proceeds from
the IPO.
Concurrent with the closing of the IPO on February 27, 2019, in
accordance with the related agreements, all outstanding
principal and interest for the 9.00% convertible notes outstanding,
totaling $13,793,000, was automatically converted into 1,475,164
shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of
$9.35.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our unaudited interim condensed financial statements have been
prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America. Preparation of these
condensed statements requires management to make judgments and
estimates. Some accounting policies have a significant impact on
amounts reported in these condensed financial statements. The SEC
has defined a company’s critical accounting policies as the
ones that are most important to the portrayal of a company’s
financial condition and results of operations, and which require a
company to make its most difficult and subjective judgments. A
summary of significant accounting policies and a description of
accounting policies that are considered critical may be found in
the audited financial statements and notes thereto included in our
Prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act
with the SEC on February 27, 2019. In addition, refer to Note 2 to
the condensed financial statements included in this report. The
following accounting policies were identified during the current
period, based on activities occurring during the current period, as
critical and requiring significant judgments and
estimates.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is recognized when we transfer promised goods or services
to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which
we expect to be entitled in exchange for those goods and services.
In this regard, revenue is recognized when: (i) the parties to the
contract have approved the contract (in writing, orally, or in
accordance with other customary business practices) and are
committed to perform their respective obligations; (ii) we can
identify each party’s rights regarding the goods or services
to be transferred; (iii) we can identify the payment terms for the
goods or services to be transferred; (iv) the contract has
commercial substance (that is, the risk, timing, or amount of the
entity’s future cash flows is expected to change as a result
of the contract); and (v) it is probable that the entity will
collect substantially all of the consideration to which we will be
entitled in exchange for the goods or services that will be
transferred to the customer.
Super League generates revenues and related cash flows from (i)
brand and media sponsorships, (ii) Platform-As-A-Service
arrangements, and (iii) direct to consumer offers including
tournament fees for participation in our physical and online
multiplayer gaming experiences, digital subscriptions and
merchandise sales.
Brand and Media Sponsorships.
We generate brand and media sponsorship revenues
primarily from sales of various forms of sponsorships and
promotional campaigns for our online platforms and from sponsorship
at our in-person esports experiences. Brand and media sponsorship
revenue arrangements may include: exclusive or non-exclusive title
sponsorships, marketing benefits, official product status
exclusivity, product visibly and additional infrastructure
placement, social media rights (including rights to create and post
social content and clips), rights to on-screen activations and
promotions, display material rights, media rights,
hospitality and tickets and merchandising rights. Brand and media
sponsorship arrangements typically include contract terms for time
periods ranging from several weeks to multi-year
arrangements.
For
brand and media sponsorship arrangements that include performance
obligations satisfied over time, customers typically simultaneously
receive and consume the benefits under the arrangement as we
satisfy our performance obligations, over the applicable contract
term. As such, revenue is recognized over the contract term based
upon estimates of progress toward complete satisfaction of the
contract performance obligations (typically utilizing a time,
effort or delivery-based method of estimation).
Platform-As-A-Service. We
generate platform-as-a-service (“PaaS”) revenues pursuant to
arrangements with brand and media partners, retail venues, game
publishers and broadcasters that allow our partners to run amateur
esports experiences, and or capture specifically curated gameplay
content that is tailored for our partners’ distribution
channels, leveraging and powered by our Super League gaming and
content technology platform. PaaS revenue arrangements for one-off
branded experiences, and or, the development of content tailored
specifically for our partners’ distribution channels
typically provide for a contractual delivery or performance date,
and as such revenues are recognized when performance is
substantially complete and or delivery occurs.
Direct to Consumer Revenue.
Direct to consumer revenues include tournament fees, digital
subscriptions and merchandise. Direct to consumer revenues have
primarily consisted of the sale of season passes to gamers for
participation in our in-person and or online multiplayer gaming
experiences. For the periods presented herein, season passes for
gaming experiences were primarily comprised of multi-week packages
and also include one-time, single experience admissions. For the
three months ended March 31, 2019, digital subscription revenues
include revenues related to our Minehut asset acquisition in June
2018, which provides various Minecraft server hosting services on a
subscription basis to the Minecraft gaming
community.
Revenue from single experiences is recognized when the experience
occurs. Revenue from multi-week packages is recognized over time as
the multi-week experiences occur based on estimates of the progress
toward complete satisfaction of the applicable offer and related
performance obligations.
Advertising and Third-Party Content Revenue. We generate
content through digital and physical experiences that offer
opportunities for generating advertising revenue on our proprietary
digital channels. In addition, we license our content to third
parties seeking esports content for their own distribution
channels.
Revenue collected in advance is recorded as deferred revenue until
the event occurs.
Stock-based Compensation Expense.
Compensation
expense for stock-based awards is measured at the grant date, based
on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as an
expense, typically on a straight-line basis over the
employee’s requisite service period (generally the vesting
period of the equity award) which is generally two to four years.
Compensation expense for awards with
performance conditions that affect vesting is recorded only for
those awards expected to vest or when the performance criteria are
met. The fair value of restricted stock and restricted stock
unit awards is determined by the product of the number of shares or
units granted and the grant date market price of the underlying
common stock. The fair value of stock option and common stock
purchase warrant awards is estimated on the date of grant utilizing
the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model. The Company accounts
for forfeitures of awards as they occur.
Grants
of equity-based awards (including warrants) to non-employees in
exchange for consulting or other services are accounted for using
the fair value of the consideration received (i.e., the value of
the goods or services) or the fair value of the equity instruments
issued, whichever is more reliably
measurable.
Determining the fair value of stock-based awards at the grant date
requires significant estimates and judgments, including estimating
the market price volatility of our common stock, determination of
grant dates, future employee stock option exercise behavior and
requisite service periods.
Results of Operations for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 and
2018
The
following table sets forth a summary of our statements of
operations for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and
2018:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
REVENUES
|
$249,000
|
$129,000
|
COST OF REVENUES
|
74,000
|
123,000
|
GROSS PROFIT
|
175,000
|
6,000
|
|
|
|
OPERATING EXPENSES
|
|
|
Selling,
marketing and advertising
|
233,000
|
496,000
|
Technology
Platform development
|
710,000
|
556,000
|
General
and administrative
|
5,368,000
|
3,080,000
|
Total
operating expenses
|
6,311,0000
|
4,132,000
|
|
|
|
NET LOSS FROM OPERATIONS
|
(6,136,000)
|
(4,126,000)
|
|
|
|
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET
|
(9,933,000)
|
(45,000)
|
|
|
|
NET LOSS
|
$(16,069,000)
|
$(4,171,000)
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
Three
Months Ended
March
31,
|
|
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
$
Change
|
%
Change
|
Brand and Media
Sponsorships
|
$71,000
|
$90,000
|
$(19,000)
|
(21%)
|
Platform-as-a-service
|
167,000
|
-
|
167,000
|
100%
|
Direct to
Consumer
|
11,000
|
39,000
|
(28,000)
|
(72%)
|
|
$249,000
|
$129,000
|
$120,000
|
93%
|
Revenue
for the three months ended March 31, 2019 increased $120,000, or
93%, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2018. The change
in revenues for the periods presented was comprised of the
following:
●
|
Brand and Media Sponsorships. The
period over period decrease in brand and media sponsorship revenue
of $19,000, or (21)%, was primarily attributable to fluctuations in
brand and media sponsorship activities period to period, which is
based on the specific partnership arrangements with activities
during a particular period, the related performance obligations
satisfied during the period and the contractual consideration
associated with the activities during the period. Brand and media
sponsorship revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2019
included revenues for our Red Bull North America, Inc. master brand
partnership, and our Logitech G Challenge online tournament
commencing in February 2019. Brand and media sponsorship revenues
for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was primarily comprised
of revenues from our Logitech, Inc. brand sponsorship.
|
●
|
Platform-As-A-Service. We generate PaaS
revenues pursuant to arrangements with brand and media partners,
retail venues, game publishers and broadcasters that allow our
partners to run amateur esports experiences, and or capture
specifically curated gameplay content that is tailored for our
partners’ distribution channels, leveraging and powered by
our Super League gaming and content technology platform. PaaS
revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 included revenues
for our Samsung Fortnite event held in New York in March
2019.
|
●
|
Direct to Consumer.
The decrease in direct to consumer revenue
of $28,000, or 72%, was primarily due to a decrease in the number
of paid events during the three months ended March 31, 2019
compared to the prior year quarter. In the first quarter of 2019,
we held events that were free to play, consistent with our
strategic focus on increasing the volume of new gamers and
spectators introduced into our customer funnel to increase the
number of registered users on our platform, drive consumer
conversion, and increase the overall awareness of the Super League
brand and technology platform offerings. We intend to continue to
offer a combination of paid and free to play experiences going
forward. During the three months ended March 31, 2018, we charged
tournament fees for, and held the online qualifiers and commenced
the in-real-life experiences for our City Champs offer. Digital
subscription revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2019
were primarily comprised of subscription revenues related to our
Minehut asset acquisition in June 2018, which provides various
Minecraft server hosting services on a subscription basis to the
Minecraft gaming community.
|
Cost of Revenue
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
||
|
2019
|
2018
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
Cost
of revenue
|
$74,000
|
$123,000
|
$(49,000)
|
(40%)
|
Cost of
revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 decreased
$49,000, or (40%), compared to the three months ended March 31,
2018. The change in cost of sales was primarily due to the
following:
●
|
Increase in the
number of free to play experiences held during the three months
ended March 31, 2019 compared to the prior year quarter, consistent
with our strategic focus on increasing the volume of new gamers and
spectators introduced into our customer funnel to increase the
number of registered users on our platform, drive consumer
conversion, and increase the overall awareness of the Super League
brand and technology platform offerings. Costs incurred for these
promotional activities focused on increasing registered users and
increasing awareness of the Super League platform and its offerings
are reflected in selling, marketing and advertising expense for the
three months ended March 31, 2019.
|
●
|
Revenue generating events during the three months ended March 31,
2019 included our Samsung Fortnite event held in New York in March
2019 and the Logitech G Challenge online experiences which
commenced in February 2019.
|
●
|
During the three months ended March 31, 2018, we
held the online qualifiers for League of
Legends City Champs, and also commenced the in-real-life League of
Legends City Champs activities in March 2018, which are more labor
and cost intensive, requiring higher levels of cost to
execute.
|
Operating Expenses
Selling, Marketing and Advertising
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
||
|
2019
|
2018
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
Selling,
Marketing and Advertising
|
$233,000
|
$496,000
|
$(263,000)
|
(53%)
|
The
decrease in selling, marketing and advertising expenses of
$263,000, or 53%, was primarily due to the decrease in amortization
of noncash in-kind advertising costs which were initially
capitalized pursuant to a June 2017 third-party investment
agreement. The investment agreement included in-kind advertising
for use in future periods, valued at $1.0 million, as a component
of the consideration paid to us in exchange for equity in the
Company. This prepaid advertising cost was amortized over an
18-month period ending as of December 31, 2018. The decrease was
partially offset by an increase in marketing expense due to an
increase in marketing and promotional experiences during the three
months ended March 31, 2019 focused on widening our customer funnel
and attracting increased numbers of registered users to our
platform as described above. The increase included increased costs
related to influencers, event operations, content capture and other
costs to execute various marketing and promotional experiences
during the period.
Technology Platform Development
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
||
|
2019
|
2018
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
Technology
Platform Development
|
$710,000
|
$556,000
|
$154,000
|
28%
|
Technology
platform development costs include (i) allocated personnel costs,
including salaries, taxes and benefits related to our internal
software developers and engineers, employed by Super League,
engaged in developing and enhancing our proprietary gaming and
content technology platform, (ii) the amortization of capitalized
internal use software costs primarily comprised of capitalized
costs for third-party contract software development and engineering
resources engaged in developing and enhancing our proprietary
gaming and content technology platform, and (iii) costs incurred in
connection with the testing of our technology platform.
Software development costs incurred to
develop internal-use software during the application development
stage are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over
the software’s estimated useful life, which is generally
three years. The period over period increase primarily reflects an
increase in engineering headcount since the end of the prior year
in connection with the expansion of our internal use software
development activities.
General and Administrative
General
and administrative expense for the periods presented was comprised
of the following:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
Personnel
costs
|
$1,276,000
|
$1,250,000
|
26,000
|
2%
|
Office
and facilities
|
104,000
|
82,000
|
22,000
|
27%
|
Professional
fees
|
279,000
|
250,000
|
29,000
|
12%
|
Stock-based
compensation
|
2,730,000
|
860,000
|
1,870,000
|
217%
|
Depreciation
and amortization
|
258,000
|
209,000
|
49,000
|
23%
|
Other
|
721,000
|
429,000
|
292,000
|
68%
|
Total
general and administrative expense
|
$5,368,000
|
$3,080,000
|
$2,288,000
|
74%
|
A summary of the main drivers of the net increase in general
and administrative expenses of $2,288,000, or 74%, is as follows:
●
Increase
in personnel costs due primarily to a slight increase in headcount
since the end of the prior year comparable quarter in connection
with the continued expansion of our operations requiring additional
internal resources across our product, operations, and commercial
departments. During each of the three months ended March 31, 2019
and the three months ended March 31, 2018, we had average full-time
equivalent employees of 47 and 43, respectively.
●
Increase
in office and facilities expense due to the increase in leased
office space in June 2018 in connection with the expansion of our
SuperLeagueTV studio operations.
●
Increase
in noncash stock compensation expense primarily due to certain
performance options and warrants previously granted to our Chief
Executive Officer, which vested upon completion of our IPO,
pursuant to an October 2018 amended employee agreement and vesting
conditions in the underlying equity grant agreements. Upon closing
of the IPO, 833,333 stock options and 125,000 common stock purchase
warrants vested with an average grant date fair value of $8.50,
resulting in noncash stock compensation expense of $1,770,000
during the three months ended March 31, 2019.
●
Increase
in other general and administrative expenses primarily due to an
increase in directors and officer's insurance in connection with
the IPO, and an increase in variable costs associated with our
cloud-based technology platform.
Other Income (expense)
Other
income (expense), net, was primarily comprised of interest expense
related to the convertible notes outstanding during the periods
presented as follows:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
Accretion
of discount on convertible notes
|
$2,475,000
|
$31,000
|
2,444,000
|
>300%
|
Accrued
interest expense on convertible notes
|
187,000
|
14,000
|
173,000
|
>300%
|
Accretion
of convertible note issuance costs
|
209,000
|
-
|
209,000
|
100%
|
Beneficial
conversion feature
|
7,067,000
|
-
|
7,067,000
|
100%
|
|
$9,938,000
|
$45,000
|
$9,893,000
|
>300%
|
Interest Expense
Interest
expense for the periods presented primarily relates to the issuance
of 9.00% secured convertible promissory notes, commencing in
February 2018 through August 2018, as described below under
Liquidity and Capital
Resources. Principal and interest as of February 27, 2019,
the closing date of the IPO and December 31, 2018 totaled
$13,793,000 and $13,606,000, respectively. Concurrent with the closing of the IPO, in
accordance with the related agreements, all outstanding
principal and interest for the 9.00% convertible notes outstanding
was automatically converted into 1,475,164 shares of the
Company’s common stock at a conversion price of
$9.35.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
Our primary sources of liquidity to date have been net proceeds
from equity and debt financings, including the proceeds from our
IPO. Our management believes that our cash balances will be
sufficient to meet our cash requirements through at least May
2020. We may, however, encounter unforeseen difficulties that may
deplete our capital resources more rapidly than anticipated,
including those set forth under the heading “Risk
Factors” included in Part II, Item IA of this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q. Any efforts to seek additional funding could
be made through issuances of equity or debt, or other external
financing. However, additional funding may not be
available on favorable terms, or at all. The capital and credit
markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruption
periodically and such volatility and disruption may occur in the
future. If we fail to obtain additional financing when needed,
we may not be able to execute our business plans and our business
may suffer.
We are focused on expanding our service offerings through internal
development, collaborations, and through strategic acquisitions. We
are continually evaluating potential asset acquisitions and
business combinations. To finance such acquisitions, we might raise
additional equity capital, incur additional debt, or
both.
Cash Flows for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 and
2018
The following table summarizes the change in cash balances
for the periods presented:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
|
|
|
Net
cash used in operating activities
|
$(3,322,000)
|
$(2,740,000)
|
Net
cash used in investing activities
|
(424,000)
|
(114,000)
|
Net
cash provided by financing activities
|
22,458,000
|
2,815,000
|
Increase
(decrease) in cash
|
18,712,000
|
(39,000)
|
Cash
at beginning of period
|
2,774,000
|
1,709,000
|
Cash
at end of period
|
$21,486,000
|
$1,670,000
|
Cash Flows from Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities during the
three months ended March 31, 2019 was $3,322,000, which
primarily reflected our net loss of $16,069,000, net of
adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities of $12,747,000, which included $2,730,000 of
noncash stock compensation charges, $2,871,000 of noncash accrued
interest and accretion of debt discount, $7,067,0000 of noncash
interest expense related to the recognition of the beneficial
conversion feature upon the automatic conversion of the 2018 Notes
upon close of the IPO, and depreciation and amortization of
$335,000. Changes in working capital primarily reflected the impact
of a net decrease in accounts receivable, the prepayment of
insurance premiums and the settlement of payables in the ordinary
course. Net cash used in operating activities during the three
months ended March 31, 2018 was $2,740,000, which primarily
reflected our net loss of $4,171,000, net of adjustments to
reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities of
$1,431,000, which included $860,000 of non-cash stock compensation,
noncash amortization of prepaid in-kind advertising totaling
$333,333 and $260,000 of non-cash depreciation and amortization
charges. Changes in working capital primarily reflected increases
in receivables and the settlement of payables in the ordinary
course of business during the period.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities. Cash flows from investing activities were
comprised of the following for the periods
presented:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
|
|
|
Purchase
of property and equipment
|
$(18,000)
|
$(93,000)
|
Capitalization
of software development costs
|
(332,000)
|
(21,000)
|
Acquisition
of other intangible and other assets
|
(74,000)
|
–
|
Net cash used in investing activities
|
$(424,000)
|
$(114,000)
|
Cash Flows from Financing Activities. Cash flows from financing activities were
comprised of the following for the periods
presented:
|
Three Months Ended
March 31,
|
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
|
|
|
Proceeds
from issuance of common stock, net of issuance costs
|
$22,458,000
|
$-
|
Proceeds
from convertible notes payable, net of issuance cost
|
-
|
2,815,000
|
Net cash provided by financing activities
|
$22,458,000
|
$2,815,000
|
On February 27, 2019, we completed our IPO, pursuant to which we
issued and sold an aggregate of 2,272,727 shares of our common
stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share. We raised net
proceeds of approximately $22,458,000 after deducting underwriting
discounts, commissions and other offering costs of $2,542,00. We
currently intend to use the net proceeds received from the offering
for working capital and general corporate purposes,
including sales and marketing
activities, product development and capital expenditures. We may
also use a portion of the net proceeds for the acquisition of, or
investment in, technologies, solutions or businesses that may
compliment or business and or accelerate or growth. The amounts and
timing of our actual expenditure, including expenditure related to
sales and marketing and product development will depend on numerous
factors, including the status of our product development efforts,
our sales and marketing activities, expansion internationally, the
amount of cash generated or used by our operations, competitive
pressures and other factors described under “Risk
Factors” in our Prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)
under the Securities Act with the SEC on February 27, 2019, as well
as Item II, Part 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Our
management has broad discretion in the application of the net
proceeds, and investors will be relying on our judgment regarding
the application of the net proceeds from the
IPO.
Concurrent with the closing of the IPO on February 27, 2019, in
accordance with the related agreements, all outstanding
principal and interest for the 9.00% convertible notes outstanding,
totaling $13,793,000, was automatically converted into 1,475,164
shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of
$9.35. As of March 31, 2019, there is no debt
outstanding.
Pursuant to the related underwriting agreement, in connection with
the completion of the IPO, for the purchase price of $50.00, we
issued a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock equal to
3.0% of the shares sold in the IPO, or 68,182 shares, at an
exercise price of $11.00 per share (the “Underwriters’ Warrants”).
The Underwriters’ Warrants are exercisable during the period
commencing from the date of the close of the IPO and ending five
years from the closing date of the IPO. The Underwriters’
Warrants represent additional noncash offering costs, with an
estimated grant date fair value of $547,000, which was reflected in
additional-paid-in capital when issued and as a corresponding
offering cost in the condensed statement of shareholders equity for
the three months ended March 31, 2019.
In
February and March 2018, we issued 9.00% secured convertible
promissory notes with a collective face value of $2,850,000 (the
“Initial 2018
Notes”). The Initial 2018 Notes (i) accrued simple
interest at the rate of 9.00% per annum, (ii) matured on the
earlier of December 31, 2018 or the close of a $15,000,000 equity
financing (“Qualifying
Equity Financing”) by us, and (iii) all outstanding
principal and accrued interest was automatically convertible into
equity or equity-linked securities sold in a Qualifying Equity
Financing based upon a conversion rate equal to (x) a 10% discount
to the price per share of a Qualifying Equity Financing, with (y) a
floor of $10.80 per share. In addition, the holders of the Initial
2018 Notes were collectively issued warrants to purchase
approximately 55,559 shares of common stock, at an exercise price
of $10.80 per share and a term of five years (the
“Initial 2018
Warrants”). Refer to Note 5 to the accompany condensed
financial statements elsewhere herein for additional
information.
Contractual Obligations
As of March 31, 2019, we had no significant commitments for capital
expenditures, nor do we have any committed lines of credit,
noncancelable operating leases obligations, other committed funding
or long-term debt, and no guarantees. The operating lease
for our corporate headquarters expired on May 31, 2017 and was
subsequently amended to operate on a month-to-month
basis.
Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Arrangements
We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financial
guarantees or other off-balance sheet commitments to
guarantee the payment obligations of any third parties. We have not
entered into any derivative contracts that are indexed to our
shares and classified as stockholder’s equity or that are not
reflected in our financial statements included elsewhere in this
prospectus. Furthermore, we do not have any retained or contingent
interest in assets transferred to an unconsolidated entity that
serves as credit, liquidity or market risk support to such entity.
We do not have any variable interest in any unconsolidated entity
that provides financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support
to us or engages in leasing, hedging or product development
services with us.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 2 to the accompany condensed financial statements
contained elsewhere herein.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT
MARKET RISKS
In the
ordinary course of our business, we are not currently exposed to
market risk of the sort that may arise from changes in interest
rates or foreign currency exchange rates, or that may otherwise
arise from transactions in derivatives.
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND
PROCEDURES
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended, (the “Exchange
Act”) our Chief Executive
Officer (“CEO”) and our Chief Financial Officer
(“CFO”) conducted an evaluation as of the end of
the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, of the
effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined
in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on
that evaluation, our CEO and our CFO each concluded that our
disclosure controls and procedures are effective to provide
reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in
the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act, (i) is
recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time
periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules
and forms and (ii) is accumulated and communicated to our
management, including our CEO and our CFO, as appropriate to allow
timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial
reporting identified in management’s evaluation pursuant to
Rules 13a-15(d) or 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act during the period
covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that materially
affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our
internal control over financial reporting.
PART
II
OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM
1. LEGAL
PROCEEDINGS
|
None.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
|
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You
should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the
other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including
our financial statements and the related notes thereto and
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding whether
to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events
or developments described below could harm our business, financial
condition, operating results, and growth prospects. In such an
event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you
may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and
uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem
immaterial also may impair our business operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We have incurred significant losses since our inception and we may
continue to experience losses in the future.
We incurred net losses of $16.0 million and $20.6 million during
the three months ended March 31, 2019 and the year ended December
31, 2018, respectively. Noncash expenses (excluding
depreciation and amortization of fixed and intangible assets)
totaled $12.7 million and $8.9 million for the three months ended
March 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2018, respectively.
As of March 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $71.2
million. Moreover, the report of our independent registered public
accounting firm to the financial statements for our fiscal year
ended December 31, 2018, included Prospectus filed pursuant to Rule
424(b) under the Securities Act with the SEC on February 27, 2019,
contains an explanatory paragraph stating that our recurring losses
from operations, accumulated deficit and cash used in operating
activities raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as
a going concern. We cannot predict if we will achieve profitability
soon or at all. We expect to continue to expend substantial
financial and other resources on, among other things:
●
investments
to expand and enhance our esports technology platform and
technology infrastructure, make improvements to the scalability,
availability and security of our platform, and develop new
offerings;
●
sales
and marketing, including expanding our customer acquisition and
sales organization and marketing programs, and expanding our
programs directed at increasing our brand awareness among current
and new customers;
●
investments
in bandwidth to support our video streaming
functionality;
●
contract
labor costs and other expenses to host our leagues and
tournaments;
●
costs
to retain and attract gamers and license first tier game titles,
grow our online gamer community and generally expand our business
operations;
●
hiring
additional employees;
●
expansion
of our operations and infrastructure, both domestically and
internationally; and
●
general
administration, including legal, accounting and other expenses
related to being a public company.
We may not generate sufficient revenue to offset such costs to
achieve or sustain profitability in the future. We expect to
continue to invest heavily in our operations, our online and in
person experiences, business development related to game
publishers, advertisers, sponsors and gamer acquisition, to
accelerate as well as maintain our current market position, support
anticipated future growth and to meet our expanded reporting and
compliance obligations as a public company.
We expect operating losses to continue in the near term in order to
carry out our strategic objectives. We consider historical
operating results, capital resources and financial position, in
combination with current projections and estimates, as part of our
plan to fund operations over a reasonable period of
time.
We believe our current cash, net proceeds from debt issuances and
our IPO will be sufficient to fund our working capital requirements
beyond the next 12 months. This belief assumes, among other things,
that we will continue to be successful in implementing our business
strategy and that there will be no material adverse developments in
the business, liquidity or capital requirements. If one or more of
these factors do not occur as expected, it could have a material
adverse impact on our activities, including (i) reduction or delay
of our business activities, (ii) forced sales of material assets,
(iii) defaults on our obligations, or (iv) insolvency. Our planned
investments may not result in increased revenue or growth of our
business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate
revenue sufficient to offset our expected cost increases and
planned investments in our business and platform. As a result, we
may incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and may
not be able to achieve and/or sustain profitability. If we fail to
achieve and sustain profitability, then we may not be able to
achieve our business plan, fund our business or continue as a going
concern. The financial statements included in this Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q do not contain any adjustments which might be
necessary if we were unable to continue as a going
concern.
We are a relatively young company, and we may not be able to
sustain our rapid growth, effectively manage our anticipated future
growth or implement our business strategies.
We have a limited operating history. Although we have experienced
significant growth since our gaming platform for amateur online and
in person gaming experiences was launched, and we established our
amateur city leagues, tournaments and competitions, our historical
growth rate may not be indicative of our future performance due to
our limited operating history and the rapid evolution of our
business model, including a focus on direct to consumer-based
gaming. We may not be able to achieve similar results or accelerate
growth at the same rate as we have historically. As our amateur
city leagues, tournaments and competitions continue to develop, we
may adjust our strategy and business model to adapt. These
adjustments may not achieve expected results and may have a
material and adverse impact on our financial condition and results
of operations.
In addition, our rapid growth and expansion have placed, and continue to
place, significant strain on our management and resources. This
level of significant growth may not be sustainable or achievable at
all in the future. We believe that our continued growth will depend
on many factors, including our ability to develop new sources of
revenues, diversify monetization methods including our direct to
consumer offerings, attract and retain competitive gamers, increase
engagement, continue developing innovative technologies,
tournaments and competitions in response to shifting demand in
esports and online gaming, increase brand awareness, and expand
into new markets. We cannot assure you that we will achieve any of
the above, and our failure to do so may materially and adversely
affect our business and results of operations.
We are subject to risks associated with operating in a rapidly
developing industry and a relatively new market.
Many
elements of our business are unique, evolving and relatively
unproven. Our business and prospects depend on the continuing
development of live streaming of competitive esports gaming. The
market for esports and amateur online gaming competition is
relatively new and rapidly developing and are subject to
significant challenges. Our business relies upon our ability to
cultivate and grow an active gamer community, and our ability to
successfully monetize such community through tournament fees,
digital subscriptions for our esports gaming services, and
advertising and sponsorship opportunities. In addition, our
continued growth depends, in part, on our ability to respond to
constant changes in the esports gaming industry, including rapid
technological evolution, continued shifts in gamer trends and
demands, frequent introductions of new games and titles and the
constant emergence of new industry standards and practices.
Developing and integrating new games, titles, content, products,
services or infrastructure could be expensive and time-consuming,
and these efforts may not yield the benefits we expect to achieve
at all. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in any of these
aspects or that the esports gaming industry will continue to grow
as rapidly as it has in the past.
We generate a portion of our revenues from advertising and
sponsorship. If we fail to attract more advertisers and sponsors to
our gaming platform or tournaments or competitions, or if
advertisers or sponsors are less willing to advertise with or
sponsor us, our revenues may be adversely affected.
We generate a growing portion of our revenues from advertising and
sponsorship, which we expect to further develop and expand in the
near future as online viewership of our esports gaming offerings
expand. Our revenues from advertising and sponsorship partly depend
on the continual development of the online advertising industry and
advertisers’ willingness to allocate budgets to online
advertising in the esports gaming industry. In addition, companies
that decide to advertise or promote online may utilize more
established methods or channels, such as more established internet
portals or search engines, over advertising on our gaming platform.
If the online advertising and sponsorship market does not continue
to grow, or if we are unable to capture and retain a sufficient
share of that market, our ability to increase our current level of
advertising and sponsorship revenue and our profitability and
prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
Furthermore, our core and long-term priority of optimizing the
gamer experience and satisfaction may limit our gaming
platform’s ability to generate revenues from advertising and
sponsorship. For example, in order to provide our gamers with an
uninterrupted competitive gaming experience, we do not place
significant amounts of advertising on our streaming interface or
insert pop-up advertisements during streaming. While this
decision could adversely affect our operating results in the
short-term, we believe it enables us to provide a superior gamer
experience on our gaming platform, which will help us expand and
maintain our current base of gamers and enhance our monetization
potential in the long-term. However, this philosophy of putting our
gamers first may also negatively impact our relationships with
advertisers, sponsors or other third parties, and may not result in
the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case the success of
our business and operating results could be harmed.
Our revenue model may not remain effective and we cannot guarantee
that our future monetization strategies will be successfully
implemented or generate sustainable revenues and
profit.
We
generate revenues from advertising and sponsorship of our league
tournaments, and through the operation of our live streaming gaming
platform using a revenue model whereby gamers can get free access
to certain live streaming of amateur tournaments, and gamers pay
fees to compete in league competition. We have generated, and
expect to continue to generate, a substantial portion of revenues
using this revenue model in the near term. We are, however,
particularly focused on implementing a direct to consumer model for
our expanding gamer base. Although our business has experienced
significant growth in recent years, there is no guarantee that our
direct to consumer packages will gain significant traction to
maximize our growth rate in the future, as the demand for our
offerings may change, decrease substantially or dissipate, or we
may fail to anticipate and serve gamer demands
effectively.
The loss of or a substantial reduction in activity by one or more
of our largest customers and/or vendors could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
During the three months ended March 31, 2019 and the year ended
December 31, 2018, (i) three customers accounted for 95% of our
revenue and four customers accounted for 82%, respectively, (ii)
three customers accounted for 94% and 96% of accounts receivable,
respectively, and (iii) three vendors accounted for 40% and 43% of
accounts payable, respectively. The loss of or a substantial
reduction in activity by one or more of our largest customers could
materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition
and results of operations.
Our marketing and advertising efforts may fail to resonate with
amateur gamers.
Our amateur city league tournaments and competitions are marketed
through a diverse spectrum of advertising and promotional programs
such as online and mobile advertising, marketing through websites,
event sponsorship and direct communications with our gaming
community including via email, blogs and other electronic means. An
increasing portion of our marketing activity is taking place on
social media platforms that are either outside, or not totally
within, our direct control. Changes to gamer preferences,
marketing regulations, privacy and data protection laws, technology
changes or service disruptions may negatively impact our ability to
reach target gamers. Our ability to market our amateur city league
tournaments and competitions is dependent in part upon the success
of these programs. If the marketing for our amateur city league
tournaments and competitions fails to resonate and expand with the
gamer community, or if advertising rates or other media placement
costs increase, our business and operating results could be
harmed.
We have a unique community culture that is vital to our success.
Our operations may be materially and adversely affected if we fail
to maintain this community culture as we expand in our addressable
gamer communities.
We have cultivated an interactive and vibrant online social gamer
community centered around amateur online and in person gaming. We
ensure a superior gamer experience by continuously improving the
user interface and features of our gaming platform along with
offering a multitude of competitive and recreational gaming
experiences with first tier esports games. We believe that
maintaining and promoting a vibrant community culture is critical
to retaining and expanding our gamer community. We have taken
multiple initiatives to preserve our community culture and values.
Despite our efforts, we may be unable to maintain our community
culture and cease to be the preferred platform for our target
gamers as we expand our gamer footprint, which would be detrimental
to our business operations.
The amateur esports gaming industry is intensely competitive.
Gamers may prefer our competitors’ amateur leagues,
competitions or tournaments over our own.
Competition in the amateur esports gaming industry generally is
intense. Our competitors range from established leagues and
championships owned directly, as well as leagues franchised by,
well known and capitalized game publishers and developers,
interactive entertainment companies and diversified media companies
to emerging start-ups, and we expect new competitors to continue to
emerge throughout the amateur esports gaming ecosystem. If our
competitors develop and launch competing amateur city leagues,
tournaments or competitions, or develop a more successful amateur
online gaming platform, our revenue, margins, and profitability
will decline.
The amateur esports gaming industry is very “hit”
driven. We may not have access to “hit” games or
titles.
Select game titles dominate competitive amateur esports and online
gaming, including League of Legends, Minecraft, Fortnite and
Overwatch, and many new games titles are regularly introduced in
each major industry segment (console, mobile and PC
free-to-download). Despite the number of new entrants, only a very
few “hit” titles account for a significant portion of
total revenue in each segment.
The size and engagement level of our online and
in person gamers are critical to our success and are
closely linked to the quality and popularity of the esports game
publishers with which we have licenses. Esports game publishers on
our gaming platform, including those who have entered into license
agreements with us, may leave us for other gaming platforms or
amateur leagues which may offer better competition, and terms and
conditions than we do. Furthermore, we may lose esports game
publishers if we fail to generate the number of gamers to our
amateur tournaments and competitions expected by such publishers.
In addition, if popular esports game publishers cease to license
their games to us, or our live streams fail to attract gamers, we
may experience a decline in gamer traffic, direct to consumer
opportunities and engagement, which may have a material and adverse
impact on our results of operations and financial
conditions.
Although we have entered into multi-year agreements with the
publishers of League of Legends and Minecraft, if we fail to
license multiple additional “hit” games or any of our
existing licensed esports game publishers with which we
currently have a license decide to breach the license agreement or
choose not to continue with us once the term of the license
agreement expires, the popularity of our amateur city leagues,
tournaments and competitions may decline and the number of our
gamers may decrease, which could materially and adversely affect
our results of operations and financial condition.
In addition to the esports games we have licensed, we must continue
to attract and retain the most popular esports gaming titles in
order to maintain and increase the popularity of our amateur city
leagues, tournaments and competitions, and ensure the sustainable
growth of our gamer community. We must continue to identify and
enter into license agreements with esports gaming publishers
developing “hit’ games that resonate with our community
on an ongoing basis. We cannot assure you that we can continue to
attract and retain the same level of first-tier esports game
publishers and our ability to do so is critical to our future
success.
We have not entered into definitive license agreements with certain
game publishers that we currently have relationships with, and we
may never do so.
Although we have relationships with Supercell and Epic Games for
experiences involving Clash Royale and Fortnite, respectively, we
currently do not have definitive license agreements in place with
respect to these relationships. We currently anticipate that we
will enter into license agreements with both parties in the future,
however no assurances can be given as to when we will be able to
come to terms agreeable to both parties, if ever. In the event that
we are not able to come to mutually agreeable terms and enter into
definitive license agreements with each of Supercell and Epic
Games, they may unilaterally choose to discontinue their
relationship with the Company, thereby preventing us from offering
experiences on our platform using Clash Royale or Fortnite, as the
case may be. Should either Supercell or Epic Games choose not to
allow us to offer experiences involving Clash Royale and Fortnite
to our users, the popularity of our amateur city leagues,
tournaments and competitions may decline and the number of our
gamers may decrease, which could materially and adversely affect
our results of operations and financial condition.
If we fail to keep our existing gamers highly engaged, to acquire
new gamers, to successfully implement a direct to consumer model
for our gaming community, our business, profitability and prospects
may be adversely affected.
Our success depends on our ability to maintain and grow the number
of amateur gamers attending and participating in our in-person and
online tournaments and competitions, and using our gaming platform,
and keeping our gamers highly engaged. Of particular importance is
the successful deployment and expansion of our direct to consumer
model to our gaming community for purposes of creating predictable
recurring revenues.
In order to attract, retain and engage amateur gamers and remain
competitive, we must continue to develop and expand our city
leagues, including internationally, produce engaging tournaments
and competitions, successfully license the newest “hit”
esports games and titles, implement new technologies and
strategies, improve features of our gaming platform and stimulate
interactions in our gamer community.
A
decline in the number of our amateur gamers in our ecosystem may
adversely affect the engagement level of our gamers, the vibrancy
of our gamer community, or the popularity of our amateur league
play, which may in turn reduce our monetization opportunities, and
have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial
condition and results of operations. If we are unable to attract
and retain, or convert gamers into direct to consumer-based paying
gamers, our revenues may decline and our results of operations and
financial condition may suffer.
We
cannot assure you that our online and in person gaming
platform will remain sufficiently popular with amateur gamers to
offset the costs incurred to operate and expand it. It is vital to
our operations that we remain sensitive and responsive to evolving
gamer preferences and offer first-tier esports game content that
attracts our amateur gamers. We must also keep providing amateur
gamers with new features and functions to enable superior content
viewing, and social interaction. Further, we will need to continue
to develop and improve our gaming platform and to enhance our brand
awareness, which may require us to incur substantial costs and
expenses. If such increased costs and expenses do not effectively
translate into an improved gamer experience and direct to
consumer-based, long-term engagement, our results of operations may
be materially and adversely affected.
The ability to grow our business is dependent in part on the
success and availability of mass media channels developed by third
parties, as well as our ability to develop commercially successful
content, and amateur tournaments and competitions.
The success of our business is driven in part by the commercial
success and adequate supply of third-party mass media channels for
which we may distribute our content, amateur league tournaments and
competitions, including Twitch, YouTube and ESL.tv. Our success
also depends on our ability to accurately predict which channels
and platforms will be successful with the esports gaming community,
our ability to develop commercially successful content and
distribute via SuperLeagueTV, which is presently available on
Twitch, amateur tournaments and competition for these channels and
gaming platforms and our ability to effectively manage the
transition of our gamers from one generation or demographic to the
next. Additionally, we may enter into certain exclusive licensing
arrangements that affect our ability to deliver or market our
amateur gaming tournaments and competitions on certain channels and
platforms. A channel or platform may not succeed as expected or new
channels or platforms may take market share and gamers away from
platforms for which we have devoted significant resources. If
demand for the channels or platforms for which we are developing
amateur tournaments or competitions is lower than our expectations,
we may be unable to fully recover the investments we have made, and
our financial performance may be harmed. Alternatively, a channel
or platform for which we have not devoted significant resources
could be more successful than we initially anticipated, causing us
to not be able to take advantage of meaningful revenue
opportunities.
Our business is subject to risks generally associated with the
entertainment industry.
Our business is subject to risks that are generally associated with
the entertainment industry, many of which are beyond our control.
These risks could negatively impact our operating results and
include the popularity, price to play, and timing of release of our
esports licensed games, economic conditions that adversely affect
discretionary consumer spending, changes in gamer demographics, the
availability and popularity of other forms of entertainment, and
critical reviews and public tastes and preferences, which may
change rapidly and cannot necessarily be predicted.
If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand or if we incur
excessive expenses in this effort, our business, results of
operations and prospects may be materially and adversely
affected.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand is of
significant importance to the success of our business. A
well-recognized brand is important to increasing the number of
esports gamers and the level of engagement of our overall gaming
community which is critical in enhancing our attractiveness to
advertisers and sponsors. Since we operate in a highly competitive
market, brand maintenance and enhancement directly affect our
ability to maintain and enhance our market position.
Although we have developed our brand and amateur tournaments and
competitions through word of mouth referrals, key strategic
partners and our esports game publisher licensors, as we expand, we
may conduct various marketing and brand promotion activities using
various methods to continue promoting our brand. We cannot assure
you, however, that these activities will be successful or that we
will be able to achieve the brand promotion effect we
expect.
In addition, any negative publicity in relation to our league
tournaments or competitions, or operations, regardless of its
veracity, could harm our brands and reputation. Negative publicity
or public complaints from gamers may harm our reputation, and if
complaints against us are not addressed to their satisfaction, our
reputation and our market position could be significantly harmed,
which may materially and adversely affect our business, results of
operations and prospects.
Negative gamer perceptions about our brand, gaming platform,
amateur city leagues, tournaments or competitions and/or business
practices may damage our business and increase the costs incurred
in addressing gamer concerns.
Esports gamer expectations regarding the quality, performance and
integrity of our amateur city league tournaments and competitions
are high. Esports gamers may be critical of our brand, gaming
platform, amateur city leagues, tournaments or competitions and/or
business practices for a wide variety of reasons. These negative
gamer reactions may not be foreseeable or within our control to
manage effectively, including perceptions about gameplay fairness,
negative gamer reactions to game content via social media or other
outlets, components and services, or objections to certain of our
business practices. Negative gamer sentiment about our business
practices also can lead to investigations from regulatory agencies
and consumer groups, as well as litigation, which, regardless of
their outcome, may be costly, damaging to our reputation and harm
our business.
Technology changes
rapidly in our business and if we fail to anticipate
or successfully implement new
technologies or adopt new business strategies, technologies or
methods, the quality, timeliness and competitiveness of our amateur
city leagues, tournaments or competition may
suffer.
Rapid
technology changes in the esports gaming market require us to
anticipate, sometimes years in advance, which technologies we must
develop, implement and take advantage of in order to be and remain
competitive in the esports gaming market. We have invested, and in
the future may invest, in new business strategies including a
direct to consumer model, technologies, products, or games or
first-tier game titles to continue to persistently engage the
amateur gamer and deliver the best online and
in person gaming experience. Such endeavors may involve
significant risks and uncertainties, and no assurance can be given
that the technology we choose to adopt and the features that we
pursue will be successful. If we do not successfully implement
these new technologies, our reputation may be materially adversely
affected and our financial condition and operating results may be
impacted. We also may miss opportunities to adopt technology, or
develop amateur city leagues, tournaments or competitions that
become popular with gamers, which could adversely affect our
financial results. It may take significant time and resources to
shift our focus to such technologies, putting us at a competitive
disadvantage.
Our development process usually starts with particular gamer
experiences in mind, and a range of technical development and
feature goals that we hope to be able to achieve. We may not be
able to achieve these goals, or our competitors may be able to
achieve them more quickly and effectively than we can based on
having greater operating capital and personnel resources. If we
cannot achieve our technology goals within the original development
schedule, then we may delay their release until these goals can be
achieved, which may delay or reduce revenue and increase our
development expenses. Alternatively, we may be required to
significantly increase the resources employed in research and
development in an attempt to accelerate our development of new
technologies, either to preserve our launch schedule or to keep up
with our competitors, which would increase our development
expenses.
We may experience security breaches and cyber threats.
We continually face cyber risks and threats that seek to damage,
disrupt or gain access to our networks and our gaming platform,
supporting infrastructure, intellectual property and other assets.
In addition, we rely on technological infrastructure, including
third party cloud hosting and broadband, provided by third party
business partners to support the in person and online
functionality of our gaming platform. These business partners are
also subject to cyber risks and threats. Such cyber risks and
threats may be difficult to detect. Both our partners and we
have implemented certain systems and processes to guard against
cyber risks and to help protect our data and systems. However, the
techniques that may be used to obtain unauthorized access or
disable, degrade, exploit or sabotage our networks and gaming
platform change frequently and often are not detected. Our systems
and processes, and the systems and processes of our third-party
business partners, may not be adequate. Any failure to prevent or
mitigate security breaches or cyber risks, or respond adequately to
a security breach or cyber risk, could result in interruptions to
our gaming platform, degrade the gamer experience, cause gamers to
lose confidence in our gaming platform and cease utilizing it, as
well as significant legal and financial exposure. This could
harm our business and reputation, disrupt our relationships with
partners and diminish our competitive position.
Successful exploitation of our networks and gaming platform can
have other negative effects upon the gamer experience we offer. In
particular, the virtual economies that exist in certain of our
licensed game publishers’ games are subject to abuse,
exploitation and other forms of fraudulent activity that can
negatively impact our business. Virtual economies involve the
use of virtual currency and/or virtual assets that can be used or
redeemed by a player within a particular online game or
service.
Our business could be adversely affected if our data privacy and
security practices are not adequate, or perceived as being
inadequate, to prevent data breaches, or by the application of data
privacy and security laws generally.
In the course of our business, we may collect, process, store and
use gamer and other information, including personally identifiable
information, passwords and credit card information, the latter of
which is subject to PCI-DSS compliance. Although we take measures
to protect this information from unauthorized access, acquisition,
disclosure and misuse, our security controls, policies and
practices may not be able to prevent the improper or unauthorized
access, acquisition or disclosure of such information. The
unauthorized access, acquisition or disclosure of this information,
or a perception that we do not adequately secure this information
could result in legal liability, costly remedial measures,
governmental and regulatory investigations, harm our profitability
and reputation and cause our financial results to be materially
affected. In addition, third party vendors and business partners
receive access to information that we collect. These vendors and
business partners may not prevent data security breaches with
respect to the information we provide them or fully enforce our
policies, contractual obligations and disclosures regarding the
collection, use, storage, transfer and retention of personal data.
A data security breach of one of our vendors or business partners
could cause reputational harm to them and/or negatively impact our
ability to maintain the credibility of our gamer
community.
Data privacy, data protection, localization, security and
consumer-protection laws are evolving, and the interpretation and
application of these laws in the United States, Europe (including
compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation), and
elsewhere often are uncertain, contradictory and changing. It is
possible that these laws may be interpreted or applied in a manner
that is averse to us or otherwise inconsistent with our practices,
which could result in litigation, regulatory investigations and
potential legal liability or require us to change our practices in
a manner adverse to our business. As a result, our reputation and
brand may be harmed, we could incur substantial costs, and we could
lose both gamers and revenue.
We depend on servers to operate our games with online features and
our proprietary online gaming service. If we were to lose server
functionality for any reason, our business may be negatively
impacted.
Our
business relies on the continuous operation of servers, some of
which are owned and operated by third parties. Although we strive
to maintain more than sufficient server capacity, and provide for
active redundancy in the event of limited hardware failure, any
broad-based catastrophic server malfunction, a significant
service-disrupting attack or intrusion by hackers that circumvents
security measures, a failure of disaster recovery service or the
failure of a company on which we are relying for server capacity to
provide that capacity for whatever reason could degrade or
interrupt the functionality of our platform, and could prevent the
operation of our platform for both in-person and online gaming
experiences.
We also rely on networks operated by third parties to support
content on our platform, including networks owned and operated by
game publishers. An extended interruption to any of these services
could adversely affect the use of our platform, which would have a
negative impact on our business.
Further, insufficient server capacity could also negatively impact
our business. Conversely, if we overestimate the amount of server
capacity required by our business, we may incur additional
operating costs.
Our online gaming platform and games offered through our gaming
platform may contain defects.
Our online gaming platform and the games offered through our gaming
platform are extremely complex and are difficult to develop and
distribute. We have quality controls in place to detect defects in
our gaming platform before they are released. Nonetheless, these
quality controls are subject to human error, overriding, and
reasonable resource or technical constraints. Further, we have not
undertaken independent third-party testing, verification or
analysis of our gaming platform and associated systems and
controls. Therefore, our gaming platform and quality controls and
preventative measures we have implemented may not be effective in
detecting all defects in our gaming platform. In the event a
significant defect in our gaming platform and associated systems
and controls is realized, we could be required to offer refunds,
suspend the availability of our city league competitions and other
gameplay, or expend significant resources to cure the defect, each
of which could significantly harm our business and operating
results.
We may experience system failures, outages and/or disruptions of
the functionality of our platform. Such failures, delays and other
problems could harm our reputation and business, cause us to lose
customers and expose us to customer liability.
We may experience system failures, outages and/or disruptions of
our infrastructure, including information technology system
failures and network disruptions, cloud hosting and broadband
availability at in person and online experiences. Our
operations could be interrupted or degraded by any damage to or
failure of:
●
our
computer software or hardware, or our customers’ or
suppliers’ computer software or hardware;
●
our
network, our customers’ networks or our suppliers’
networks; or
●
our
connections and outsourced service arrangements with third
parties.
Our systems and operations are also vulnerable to damage or
interruption from:
●
power
loss, transmission cable cuts and other telecommunications and
utility failures;
●
hurricanes,
fires, earthquakes, floods and other natural
disasters;
●
a
terrorist attack in the U.S. or in another country in which we
operate;
●
interruption
of service arising from facility migrations, resulting from changes
in business operations including acquisitions and planned data
center migrations;
●
computer
viruses or software defects;
●
loss
or misuse of proprietary information or customer data that
compromises security, confidentiality or integrity; or
●
errors
by our employees or third-party service providers.
From
time to time in the ordinary course of our business, our network
nodes and other systems experience temporary outages. As a means of
ensuring continuity in the services we provide to our community and
partners, we have invested in system redundancies via
partnerships with industry leading cloud service providers,
proactive alarm monitoring and other back-up infrastructure, though
we cannot assure you that we will be able to re-route our services
over our back-up facilities and provide continuous service to
customers in all circumstances without material degradation.
Because many of our services play a critical role for our community
and partners, any damage to or failure of the infrastructure we
rely on could disrupt or degrade the operation of our network, our
platform and the provision of our services and result in the loss
of current and potential community members and/or partners and harm
our ability to conduct normal business
operations.
We use third-party services and technologies in connection with our
business, and any disruption to the provision of these services and
technologies to us could result in negative publicity and a
slowdown in the growth of our users, which could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our business partially depends on services provided by, and
relationships with, various third parties, including cloud hosting
and broadband providers, among others. To this end, when our cloud
hosting and broadband vendors experience outages, our esports
gaming services will be negatively impacted and alternative
resources will not be immediately available. In addition, certain
third-party software we use in our operations is currently publicly
available free of charge. If the owner of any such software decides
to charge users or no longer makes the software publicly available,
we may need to incur significant costs to obtain licensing, find
replacement software or develop it on our own. If we are unable to
obtain licensing, find or develop replacement software at a
reasonable cost, or at all, our business and operations may be
adversely affected.
We exercise no control over the third-party vendors that we rely
upon for cloud hosting, broadband and software service. If such
third parties increase their prices, fail to provide their services
effectively, terminate their service or agreements or discontinue
their relationships with us, we could suffer service interruptions,
reduced revenues or increased costs, any of which may have a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and
results of operations.
Growth and engagement of our gamer community depends upon effective
interoperability with mobile operating systems, networks, mobile
devices and standards that we do not control.
We
make our services available across a variety of mobile operating
systems and devices. We are dependent on the interoperability of
our services with popular mobile devices and mobile operating
systems that we do not control, such as Android and iOS. Any
changes in such mobile operating systems or devices that degrade
the functionality of our services or give preferential treatment to
competitive services could adversely affect usage of our services.
In order to deliver high quality services, it is important that our
services work well across a range of mobile operating systems,
networks, mobile devices and standards that we do not control. We
may not be successful in developing relationships with key
participants in the mobile industry or in developing services that
operate effectively with these operating systems, networks, devices
and standards. In the event that it is difficult for our users to
access and use our services, particularly on their mobile devices,
our user growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our
business and operating results could be adversely
affected.
Our business depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our
executive officers, key employees and qualified personnel, and our
business operations may be severely disrupted if we lose their
services.
Our future success depends substantially on the continued efforts
of our executive officers and key employees. If one or more of our
executive officers or key employees were unable or unwilling to
continue their services with us, we might not be able to replace
them easily, in a timely manner, or at all. Since the esports
gaming industry is characterized by high demand and intense
competition for talents, we cannot assure you that we will be able
to attract or retain qualified staff or other highly skilled
employees. In addition, as the Company is relatively young, our
ability to train and integrate new employees into our operations
may not meet the growing demands of our business which may
materially and adversely affect our ability to grow our business
and hence our results of operations.
If any of our executive officers and key employees terminates their
services with us, our business may be severely disrupted, our
financial condition and results of operations may be materially and
adversely affected and we may incur additional expenses to recruit,
train and retain qualified personnel. If any of our executive
officers or key employees joins a competitor or forms a competing
company, we may lose gamers, know-how and key
professionals and staff members. Certain of our executive officers
and key employees have entered into a non-solicitation and
non-competition agreements with us. However, certain provisions
under the non-solicitation and non-competition agreement may
be deemed legally invalid or unenforceable. If any dispute arises
between our executive officers and us, we cannot assure you that we
would be able to enforce
these non-compete agreements.
Our business is subject to regulation, and changes in applicable
regulations may negatively impact our business.
We are subject to a number of foreign and domestic laws and
regulations that affect companies conducting business on the
Internet. In addition, laws and regulations relating to user
privacy, data collection, retention, electronic commerce, virtual
items and currency, consumer protection, content, advertising,
localization, and information security have been adopted or are
being considered for adoption by many jurisdictions and countries
throughout the world. These laws could harm our business by
limiting the products and services we can offer consumers or the
manner in which we offer them. The costs of compliance with these
laws may increase in the future as a result of changes in
interpretation. Furthermore, any failure on our part to comply with
these laws or the application of these laws in an unanticipated
manner may harm our business and result in penalties or significant
legal liability.
In addition, we include modes in our gaming platform that allow
players to compete against each other. Although we structure and
operate these skill-based competitions with applicable laws in
mind, our skill-based competitions in the future could become
subject to evolving rules and regulations and expose us to
significant liability, penalties and reputational
harm.
Our online activities are subject to various laws and regulations
relating to privacy and child protection, which, if violated, could
subject us to an increased risk of litigation and regulatory
actions.
In addition to our gaming platform, we use third-party
applications, websites, and social media platforms to promote our
amateur tournaments and competitions and engage gamers, as well as
monitor and collect certain information about gamers in our online
forums. A variety of laws and regulations have been adopted in
recent years aimed at protecting children using the internet such
as the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act of 1998
(“COPPA”). COPPA sets forth, among other things, a
number of restrictions on what website operators can present to
children under the age of 13 and what information can be collected
from them. COPPA is of particular concern to us, and in an effort
to minimize our risk of potential exposure, we retained a COPPA
expert as a consultant and have posted a compliant privacy policy,
terms of use and various other policies on our website. We
undertake significant effort to implement certain precautions to
ensure that access to our gaming platform for competitive gameplay
is COPPA compliant. Despite our efforts, no assurances can be given
that such measures will be sufficient to completely avoid exposure
and COPPA violations, any of which could expose us to significant
liability, penalties, reputational harm and loss of revenue, among
other things.
The laws and regulations concerning data privacy are continually
evolving. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could
harm our business.
Consumers are able to play our licensed game titles online, using
our platform. We collect and store information about our consumers
both personally identifying and non-personally identifying
information. Numerous federal, state and international laws address
privacy, data protection and the collection, storing, sharing, use,
disclosure and protection of personally identifiable information
and other user data. Numerous states already have, and are looking
to expand, data protection legislation requiring companies like
ours to consider solutions to meet differing needs and expectations
of creators and attendees. Outside the United States, personally
identifiable information and other user data is increasingly
subject to legislation and regulations in numerous jurisdictions
around the world, the intent of which is to protect the privacy of
information that is collected, processed and transmitted in or from
the governing jurisdiction. Foreign data protection, privacy,
information security, user protection and other laws and
regulations are often more restrictive than those in the United
States. In particular, the European Union and its member states
traditionally have taken broader views as to types of data that are
subject to privacy and data protection laws and regulations and
have imposed greater legal obligations on companies in this regard.
For example, in April 2016, European legislative bodies adopted the
General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which became effective on May 25,
2018. The GDPR applies to any company established in the
European Union as well as to those outside of the European Union if
they collect and use personal data in connection with the offering
of goods or services to individuals in the European Union or the
monitoring of their behavior. The GDPR enhances data
protection obligations for processors and controllers of personal
data, including, for example, expanded disclosures about how
personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of
information, mandatory data breach notification requirements and
onerous new obligations on service
providers. Non-compliance with the GDPR may
result in monetary penalties of up to €20 million or 4%
of annual worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. In addition, some
countries are considering or have passed legislation implementing
data protection requirements or requiring local storage and
processing of data or similar requirements that could increase the
cost and complexity of delivering our services.
The GDPR and other changes in laws or regulations
associated with the enhanced protection of certain types of
personal data could greatly increase our cost of providing our
products and services or even prevent us from offering certain
services in jurisdictions in which we operate. The European
Commission is also currently negotiating a new ePrivacy Regulation
that would address various matters, including provisions
specifically aimed at the use of cookies to identify an
individual’s online behavior, and any such ePrivacy
Regulation may provide for new compliance obligations and
significant penalties. Any of these changes to European Union data
protection law or its interpretation could disrupt and/or harm our
business.
Further, following a referendum in June 2016 in which voters in the
United Kingdom approved an exit from the European Union, the United
Kingdom government has initiated a process to leave the European
Union, which has created uncertainty with regard to the regulation
of data protection in the United Kingdom. In particular, although a
Data Protection Bill designed to be consistent with
the GDPR is pending in the United Kingdom’s
legislative process, it is unclear whether the United Kingdom will
enact data protection laws or regulations designed to be consistent
with the GDPR and how data transfers to and from the
United Kingdom will be regulated. The interpretation and
application of many privacy and data protection laws are, and will
likely remain, uncertain, and it is possible that these laws may be
interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our
existing data management practices or product features. Although
player interaction on our platform is subject to our privacy
policies, end user license agreements (“EULAs”), and terms of service, if we fail to
comply with our posted privacy policies, EULAs, or terms of
service, or if we fail to comply with existing privacy-related or
data protection laws and regulations, it could result in
proceedings or litigation against us by governmental authorities or
others, which could result in fines or judgments against us, damage
our reputation, impact our financial condition and/or harm our
business.
In addition to government regulation, privacy advocacy and industry
groups may propose new and different self-regulatory standards that
either legally or contractually apply to us. Any inability to
adequately address privacy, data protection and data security
concerns or comply with applicable privacy, data protection or data
security laws, regulations, policies and other obligations could
result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our
reputation, inhibit sales and harm our business. Further, our
failure, and/or the failure by the various third-party service
providers and partners with which we do business, to comply with
applicable privacy policies or federal, state or similar
international laws and regulations or any other obligations
relating to privacy, data protection or information security, or
any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized release
of personally identifiable information or other user data, or the
perception that any such failure or compromise has occurred, could
damage our reputation, result in a loss of creators or attendees,
discourage potential creators and attendees from trying our
platform and/or result in fines and/or proceedings by governmental
agencies and/or users, any of which could have an adverse effect on
our business, results of operations and financial condition. In
addition, given the breadth and depth of changes in data protection
obligations, ongoing compliance with evolving interpretation of
the GDPR and other regulatory requirements requires time
and resources and a review of the technology and systems currently
in use against the requirements of GDPR and other
regulations.
The preparation of our financial statements involves the use of
good faith estimates, judgments and assumptions, and our financial
statements may be materially affected if such good faith estimates,
judgments or good faith assumptions prove to be
inaccurate.
Financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America
(“GAAP”) typically require the use of good faith
estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported
amounts. Often, different estimates, judgments and assumptions
could reasonably be used that would have a material effect on such
financial statements, and changes in these estimates, judgments and
assumptions may occur from period to period over time. Significant
areas of accounting requiring the application of management’s
judgment include, but are not limited to, determining the fair
value of assets, share-based compensation and the timing and amount
of cash flows from assets. These estimates, judgments and
assumptions are inherently uncertain and, if our estimates were to
prove to be wrong, we would face the risk that charges to income or
other financial statement changes or adjustments would be required.
Any such charges or changes would require a restatement of our
financial statements and could harm our business, including our
financial condition and results of operations and the price of our
securities. See “Management’s Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations” for a
discussion of the accounting estimates, judgments and assumptions
that we believe are the most critical to an understanding of our
financial statements and our business.
We may be held liable for information or content displayed on,
retrieved from or linked to our gaming platform, or distributed to
our users.
Our interactive live streaming platform enables gamers to exchange
information and engage in various other online activities. Although
we require our gamers to register their real name, we do not
require user identifications used and displayed during gameplay to
contain any real-name information, and hence we are unable to
verify the sources of all the information posted by our gamers. In
addition, because a majority of the communications on our online
and in person gaming platform is conducted in real time,
we are unable to examine the content generated by gamers before
they are posted or streamed. Therefore, it is possible that gamers
may engage in illegal, obscene or incendiary conversations or
activities, including publishing of inappropriate or illegal
content that may be deemed unlawful. If any content on our platform
is deemed illegal, obscene or incendiary, or if appropriate
licenses and third-party consents have not been obtained, claims
may be brought against us for defamation, libel, negligence,
copyright, patent or trademark infringement, other unlawful
activities or other theories and claims based on the nature and
content of the information delivered on or otherwise accessed
through our platform. Moreover, the costs of compliance may
continue to increase when more content is made available on our
platform as a result of our growing base of gamers, which may
adversely affect our results of operations.
Intensified government regulation of the Internet industry could
restrict our ability to maintain or increase the level of traffic
to our gaming platform as well as our ability to capture other
market opportunities.
The Internet industry is increasingly subject to strict scrutiny.
New laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to
address new issues that come to the authorities’ attention.
We may not timely obtain or maintain all the required licenses or
approvals or make all the necessary filings in the future. We also
cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain the required
licenses or approvals if we plan to expand into other Internet
businesses. If we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required
licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, we may be
subject to various penalties, which may disrupt our business
operations or derail our business strategy, and materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
From time to time we may become involved in legal
proceedings.
From time to time we may become subject to legal proceedings,
claims, litigation and government investigations or inquiries,
which could be expensive, lengthy, disruptive to normal business
operations and occupy a significant amount of our employees’
time and attention. In addition, the outcome of any legal
proceedings, claims, litigation, investigations or inquiries may be
difficult to predict and could have a material adverse effect on
our business, operating results, or financial
condition.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate a state or federal court
located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for
certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which
could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable
judicial forum for disputes with us.
Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws, unless we consent in
writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and
exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding
brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of
breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers
or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action
asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of
the Delaware General Corporation Law, or (iv) any action
asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal
affairs doctrine shall be a state or federal court located within
the State of Delaware, in all cases subject to the court’s
having personal jurisdiction over indispensable parties named as
defendants. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring
any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have
notice of and consented to this provision. The forum
selection clause in our amended and restated bylaws may have
the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us or our directors and
officers and may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a
favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party
intellectual property rights.
From time to time, third parties may claim that we have infringed
their intellectual property rights. For example, patent holding
companies may assert patent claims against us in which they seek to
monetize patents they have purchased or otherwise obtained.
Although we take steps to avoid knowingly violating the
intellectual property rights of others, it is possible that third
parties still may claim infringement.
Existing or future infringement claims against us, whether valid or
not, may be expensive to defend and divert the attention of our
employees from business operations. Such claims or litigation could
require us to pay damages, royalties, legal fees and other costs.
We also could be required to stop offering, distributing or
supporting esports games, our gaming platform or other features or
services which incorporate the affected intellectual property
rights, redesign products, features or services to avoid
infringement, or obtain a license, all of which could be costly and
harm our business.
In addition, many patents have been issued that may apply to
potential new modes of delivering, playing or monetizing
interactive entertainment software products and services, such as
those offered on our gaming platform or that we would like to offer
in the future. We may discover that future opportunities to provide
new and innovative modes of game play and game delivery to gamers
may be precluded by existing patents that we are unable to license
on reasonable terms.
Our technology, content and brands are subject to the threat of
piracy, unauthorized copying and other forms of intellectual
property infringement.
We regard our technology, content and brands as proprietary and
take measures to protect our technology, content and brands and
other confidential information from infringement. Piracy and other
forms of unauthorized copying and use of our technology, content
and brands are persistent, and policing is difficult. Further, the
laws of some countries in which our products are or may be
distributed either do not protect our intellectual property rights
to the same extent as the laws of the United States or are poorly
enforced. Legal protection of our rights may be ineffective in such
countries. In addition, although we take steps to enforce and
police our rights, factors such as the proliferation of technology
designed to circumvent the protection measures used by our business
partners or by us, the availability of broadband access to the
Internet, the refusal of Internet service providers or platform
holders to remove infringing content in certain instances, and the
proliferation of online channels through which infringing product
is distributed all have contributed to an expansion in unauthorized
copying of our technology, content and brands.
Third parties may register trademarks or domain names or purchase
internet search engine keywords that are similar to our registered
trademark or pending trademarks, brands or websites, or
misappropriate our data and copy our gaming platform, all of which
could cause confusion, divert gamers away from our gaming platform
and league tournaments, or harm our reputation.
Competitors and other third parties may purchase
(i) trademarks that are similar to our trademarks and
(ii) keywords that are confusingly similar to our brands or
websites in Internet search engine advertising programs and in the
header and text of the resulting sponsored links or advertisements
in order to divert gamers from us to their websites. Preventing
such unauthorized use is inherently difficult. If we are unable to
prevent such unauthorized use, competitors and other third parties
may continue to drive potential gamers away from our gaming
platform to competing, irrelevant or potentially offensive
platforms, which could harm our reputation and cause us to lose
revenue.
We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our
intellectual property, which could harm our business and
competitive position.
We regard our registered trademark and pending trademarks, service
marks, pending patents, domain names, trade secrets, proprietary
technologies and similar intellectual property as critical to our
success. We rely on trademark and patent law, trade secret
protection and confidentiality and license agreements with our
employees and others to protect our proprietary
rights.
We have invested significant resources to develop our own
intellectual property and acquire licenses to use and distribute
the intellectual property of others on our gaming platform. Failure
to maintain or protect these rights could harm our business. In
addition, any unauthorized use of our intellectual property by
third parties may adversely affect our current and future revenues
and our reputation.
Policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology is difficult
and expensive. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright,
trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to
protect our intellectual property rights. Further, we require every
employee and consultant to execute proprietary information and
invention agreements prior to commencing work. Despite our efforts
to protect our proprietary rights, third parties may attempt to
copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property or seek
court declarations that they do not infringe upon our intellectual
property rights. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual
property is difficult and costly, and we cannot assure you that the
steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our
intellectual property. From time to time, we may have to resort to
litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could
result in substantial costs and diversion of our
resources.
Our patent and trademark applications may not be granted and our
patent and trademark rights, once patents are issued and trademarks
are registered, may be contested, circumvented, invalidated or
limited in scope, and our patent and trademark rights may not
protect us effectively once issued and registered, respectively. In
particular, we may not be able to prevent others from developing or
exploiting competing technologies and trademarks, which could have
a material and adverse effect on our business operations, financial
condition and results of operations.
Currently, we have three patent applications pending, one
registered trademark and eighteen pending trademark applications,
along with licenses from game publishers to utilize their
proprietary games. For our pending patent applications and we
cannot assure you that we will be granted patents pursuant to our
pending applications as well as future patent applications we
intend to file. Even if our patent applications succeed, it is
still uncertain whether these patents will be contested,
circumvented or invalidated in the future. In addition, the rights
granted under any issued patents may not provide us with sufficient
protection or competitive advantages. The claims under any patents
that issue from our patent applications may not be broad enough to
prevent others from developing technologies that are similar or
that achieve results similar to ours. It is also possible that the
intellectual property rights of others will bar us from licensing
and from exploiting any patents that issue from our pending
applications. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending
patent applications owned by others exist in the fields in which we
have developed and are developing our technology. These patents and
patent applications might have priority over our patent
applications and could subject our patent applications to
invalidation. Finally, in addition to those who may claim priority,
any of our pending patent and trademark applications may also be
challenged by others on the basis that they are otherwise invalid
or unenforceable.
We may be held liable for information or content displayed on,
retrieved from or linked to our gaming platform, or distributed to
our users.
Our interactive live streaming platform enables gamers to exchange
information and engage in various other online activities. Although
we require our gamers to register their real name, we do not
require user identifications used and displayed during gameplay to
contain any real-name information, and hence we are unable to
verify the sources of all the information posted by our gamers. In
addition, because a majority of the communications on our online
and in person gaming platform is conducted in real time,
we are unable to examine the content generated by gamers before
they are posted or streamed. Therefore, it is possible that gamers
may engage in illegal, obscene or incendiary conversations or
activities, including publishing of inappropriate or illegal
content that may be deemed unlawful. If any content on our platform
is deemed illegal, obscene or incendiary, or if appropriate
licenses and third-party consents have not been obtained, claims
may be brought against us for defamation, libel, negligence,
copyright, patent or trademark infringement, other unlawful
activities or other theories and claims based on the nature and
content of the information delivered on or otherwise accessed
through our platform. Moreover, the costs of compliance may
continue to increase when more content is made available on our
platform as a result of our growing base of gamers, which may
adversely affect our results of operations.
Intensified government regulation of the Internet industry could
restrict our ability to maintain or increase the level of traffic
to our gaming platform as well as our ability to capture other
market opportunities.
The Internet industry is increasingly subject to strict scrutiny.
New laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to
address new issues that come to the authorities’ attention.
We may not timely obtain or maintain all the required licenses or
approvals or make all the necessary filings in the future. We also
cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain the required
licenses or approvals if we plan to expand into other Internet
businesses. If we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required
licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, we may be
subject to various penalties, which may disrupt our business
operations or derail our business strategy, and materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
From time to time we may become involved in legal
proceedings.
From time to time we may become subject to legal proceedings,
claims, litigation and government investigations or inquiries,
which could be expensive, lengthy, disruptive to normal business
operations and occupy a significant amount of our employees’
time and attention. In addition, the outcome of any legal
proceedings, claims, litigation, investigations or inquiries may be
difficult to predict and could have a material adverse effect on
our business, operating results, or financial
condition.
Risks Related to our Common Stock
Although out common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market,
our shares are likely to be thinly traded for some time and an
active market may never develop.
Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital
Market, it is likely that
initially there will be a very limited trading market for our
common stock, and we cannot ensure that a robust trading market
will ever develop or be sustained. Our shares of common stock may
be thinly traded, and the price, if traded, may not reflect our
actual or perceived value. There can be no assurance that there
will be an active market for our shares of common stock in the
future. The market liquidity will be dependent on the perception of
our operating business, competitive forces, state of the esports
gaming industry, growth rate and becoming cash flow profitable on a
sustainable basis, among other things. We may, in the future, take
certain steps, including utilizing investor awareness campaigns,
press releases, road shows, and conferences to increase awareness
of our business and any steps that we might take to bring us to the
awareness of investors may require we compensate financial public
relations firms with cash and/or stock. There can be no assurance
that there will be any awareness generated or the results of any
efforts will result in any impact on our trading volume.
Consequently, investors may not be able to liquidate their
investment or liquidate it at a price that reflects the value of
the business and trading may be at an inflated price relative to
the performance of our company due to, among other things,
availability of sellers of our shares. If a market should develop,
the price may be highly volatile. Because there may be a low price
for our shares of common stock, many brokerage firms or clearing
firms may not be willing to effect transactions in the securities
or accept our shares for deposit in an account. Even if an investor
finds a broker willing to effect a transaction in the shares of our
common stock, the combination of brokerage commissions, transfer
fees, taxes, if any, and any other selling costs may exceed the
selling price. Further, many lending institutions will not permit
the use of low-priced shares of common stock as collateral for any
loans.
Our stock price may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of
your investment.
The trading price of our common stock following this offering may
fluctuate substantially and may be higher or lower than the initial
public offering price. This may be especially true for companies
with a small public float. The trading price of our common stock
following this offering will depend on several factors, including
those described in this “Risk
Factors” section, many of
which are beyond our control and may not be related to our
operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose
all or part of your investment in our common stock since you might
be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid in
this offering. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading
price of our common stock include:
●
changes
to our industry, including demand and regulations;
●
we
may not be able to compete successfully against current and future
competitors;
●
competitive
pricing pressures;
●
our
ability to obtain working capital financing as
required;
●
additions
or departures of key personnel;
●
sales
of our common stock;
●
our
ability to execute our business plan;
●
operating
results that fall below expectations;
●
loss
of any strategic relationship, sponsor or licensor;
●
any
major change in our management;
●
changes
in accounting standards, procedures, guidelines, interpretations or
principals; and
●
economic,
geo-political and other external factors.
In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for
technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price
and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or
disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies.
Broad market and industry factors, as well as general economic,
political and market conditions such as recessions or interest rate
changes, may seriously affect the market price of our common stock,
regardless of our actual operating performance. These fluctuations
may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our stock
shortly following this offering. If the market price of our common
stock after this offering does not exceed the initial public
offering price, you may not realize any return on your investment
in us and may lose some or all of your investment.
In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the
overall market and the market prices of particular companies’
securities, securities class action litigations have often been
instituted against these companies. Litigation of this type, if
instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a
diversion of our management’s attention and resources. Any
adverse determination in any such litigation or any amounts paid to
settle any such actual or threatened litigation could require that
we make significant payments.
If securities industry analysts do not publish research reports on
us, or publish unfavorable reports on us, then the market price and
market trading volume of our common stock could be negatively
affected.
Any trading market for our common stock will be influenced in part
by any research reports that securities industry analysts publish
about us. We may not obtain any future research coverage by
securities industry analysts. In the event we are covered by
research analysts, and one or more of such analysts downgrade our
securities, or otherwise reports on us unfavorably, or discontinues
coverage of us, the market price and market trading volume of our
common stock could be negatively affected.
We have not paid cash dividends in the past and do not expect to
pay dividends in the future. Any return on investment will likely
be limited to the value of our common stock.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not
anticipate doing so in the foreseeable future. The payment of
dividends on our common stock will depend on earnings, financial
condition and other business and economic factors affecting us at
such time as our board of directors may consider relevant. If we do
not pay dividends, our common stock may be less valuable because a
return on your investment will only occur if our stock price
appreciates.
Since we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital
stock in the foreseeable future, stock price appreciation, if any,
will be your sole source of gain.
We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any,
to finance the growth and development of our business. In addition,
the terms of any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying
dividends. As a result, appreciation, if any, in the market price
of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the
foreseeable future.
Future issuances of debt securities, which would rank senior to our
common stock upon our bankruptcy or liquidation, and future
issuances of preferred stock, which would rank senior to our common
stock for the purposes of dividends and liquidating distributions,
may adversely affect the level of return you may be able to achieve
from an investment in our common stock.
In the future, we may attempt to increase our capital resources by
offering debt securities. In the event of a bankruptcy or
liquidation, holders of our debt securities, and lenders with
respect to other borrowings we may make, would receive
distributions of our available assets prior to any distributions
being made to holders of our common stock. Moreover, if we issue
preferred stock in the future, the holders of such preferred stock
could be entitled to preferences over holders of common stock in
respect of the payment of dividends and the payment of liquidating
distributions. Because our decision to issue debt or preferred
securities in any future offering, or borrow money from lenders,
will depend in part on market conditions and other factors beyond
our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or
nature of any such future offerings or borrowings. Holders of our
common stock must bear the risk that any such future offerings we
conduct or borrowings we make may adversely affect the level of
return they may be able to achieve from an investment in our common
stock.
We are an emerging growth company, and any decision on our
part to comply only with certain reduced reporting and disclosure
requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our
common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company, and, for as long as we
continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to
take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements
applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging
growth companies,” including:
●
not
being required to have our independent registered public accounting
firm audit our internal control over financial reporting under
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
●
reduced
disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our
periodic reports and annual report on Form 10-K; and
●
exemptions
from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on
executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden
parachute payments not previously approved.
We could be an emerging growth company for up to five
years following the completion of this offering. Our status as
an emerging growth company will end as soon as any of the
following takes place:
●
the
last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07
billion in annual revenue;
●
the
date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at
least $700 million of equity securities held by
non-affiliates;
●
the
date on which we have issued, in any three-year period, more than
$1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities;
or
●
the
last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of
the completion of this offering.
We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock
less attractive if we choose to rely on the exemptions afforded
emerging growth companies. If some investors find our common stock
less attractive because we rely on any of these exemptions, there
may be a less active trading market for our common stock and the
market price of our common stock may be more volatile.
Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay
adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as
those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use
this extended transition period for complying with new or revised
accounting standards that have different effective dates for public
and private companies until the earlier of the date we (i) are no
longer an emerging growth company or
(ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended
transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our
financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply
with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company
effective dates.
We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public
company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an
“emerging growth company.”
Upon
completion of this offering, we will become a public company and
expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses
that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley
Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and
Nasdaq, impose various requirements on the corporate governance
practices of public companies. We expect these rules and
regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs
and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and
costly. We expect to incur significant expenses and devote
substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the
requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For
example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to
adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls
and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company
will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain
director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to
accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially
higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition,
we will incur additional costs associated with our public company
reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to
find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as
executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring
developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we
cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount
of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such
costs.
In the past, stockholders of a public company often brought
securities class action suits against the company following periods
of instability in the market price of that company’s
securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could
divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and
other resources from our business and operations, which could harm
our results of operations and require us to incur significant
expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or
not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability
to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is
successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant
damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our
financial condition and results of operations.
Because of our status as an emerging growth company, you will not
be able to depend on any attestation from our independent
registered public accounting firm as to our internal control over
financial reporting for the foreseeable future.
Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be
required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control
over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act until the later of the year following our first
annual report required to be filed with the SEC or the date we are
no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in
the JOBS Act. Accordingly, you will not be able to depend on any
attestation concerning our internal control over financial
reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm
for the foreseeable future. Subsequent to the time frame
above, our independent registered public accounting firm will not
be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control
over financial reporting pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act until such time that the Company becomes an
“accelerated filer,” as defined by the
SEC.
Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us
or our customers may have a material adverse effect on our
business, cash flow, financial condition or results of
operations.
New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules,
regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could
affect the tax treatment of our earnings and adversely affect our
operations, and our business and financial performance. Further,
existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could
be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For
example, on December 22, 2017, President Trump signed tax
legislation into law, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act of 2017, that contains many significant changes to the U.S. tax
laws. The new legislation reduced the corporate income tax
rate from 34% to 21% effective January 1, 2018, causing all of our
deferred income tax assets and liabilities, including NOLs, to be
measured using the new rate and which value is reflected in the
valuation of these assets as of December 31, 2017. As a result, the
value of our deferred tax assets decreased by approximately $4.3
million and the related valuation allowance has been reduced by the
same amount. Our analysis and interpretation of this legislation is
ongoing. Given the full valuation allowance provided for net
deferred tax assets for the periods presented herein, the change in
tax law did not have a material impact on our financial statements
provided herein. There may, however, be additional tax impacts
identified in subsequent fiscal periods in accordance with
subsequent interpretive guidance issued by the SEC or the Internal
Revenue Service. Further, there may be other material adverse
effects resulting from the legislation that we have not yet
identified. No estimated tax provision has been recorded in the
financial statements included herein for tax attributes that are
incomplete or subject to change.
The foregoing items could have a material adverse effect on our
business, cash flow, financial condition or results of
operations. In addition, it is unclear how these U.S. federal
income tax changes will affect state and local taxation, which
often uses federal taxable income as a starting point for computing
state and local tax liabilities. The impact of this tax
legislation on holders of our common stock is also uncertain and
could be adverse. We urge our stockholders and investors to consult
with our legal and tax advisors with respect to this legislation
and the potential tax consequences of investing in or holding our
common stock.
We have granted, and may continue to grant, share incentive awards,
which may result in increased share-based compensation
expenses.
We adopted our Amended and Restated 2014 Stock Option and Incentive
Plan (the “2014 Plan”) in October 2014, for purposes of granting
share-based compensation awards to employees, directors and
consultants to incentivize their performance and align their
interests with ours. We account for compensation costs for all
share-based awards issued under the 2014 Plan using a fair-value
based method and recognize expenses in our statements of
comprehensive loss in accordance with GAAP. Under the 2014 Plan, we
are authorized to grant options to purchase shares of common stock
of our Company, restricted share units to receive shares of common
stock and restricted shares of common stock. For the three months
ended March 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2018, we
recorded share-based compensation expense of $2.73 million and $2.5
million, respectively, primarily related to issuances and vesting
of awards under the 2014 Plan.
We believe the granting of share incentive awards is important to
our ability to attract and retain employees, and we will continue
to grant share incentive awards to employees in the future. As a
result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may
increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of
operations.
ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE
OF PROCEEDS
|
Unregistered Sales of Equity
Securities
In
connection with the completion of our IPO, we sold to the joint
book-running managers for the IPO, Northland Securities, Inc. and
Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, warrants to purchase an aggregate
of 68,182 shares of our common stock for a purchase price of $50
(the “Underwriter
Warrants”). The Underwriter Warrants have a term of
five years and have an exercise price of $11.00 per
share.
The offers, sales and issuances of the securities described in this
Item 2 were deemed to be exempt from registration under the
Securities Act under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities
Act as transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering.
The recipients of securities in each of these transactions
represented their intention to acquire the securities for
investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection
with any distribution thereof and appropriate legends were affixed
to the stock certificates and instruments issued in such
transactions. All recipients had adequate access, through their
relationships with us, to information about
us. The share and per share
information in this Item 2 reflects the one-for-three reverse
stock split of our common stock that was consummated on February 8,
2019.
Use of Proceeds
On February 27, 2019, we completed our IPO, pursuant to which we
issued and sold an aggregate of 2,272,727 shares of our common
stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share
pursuant to
a registration statement on Form S-1, declared effective by the Securities and
Exchange Commission on February 25, 2019 (File No. 333-229144). We
raised net proceeds of approximately $22,458,000 after underwriting
discounts, commissions and other offering costs of
$2,542,000. No payments for such
expenses were made directly or indirectly to any of our officers
and directors, or persons owning 10% or more of any class of our
equity securities, or to any of our affiliates. Northland
Securities, Inc. and Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC acted as
joint book-running managers of the offering. National Securities
Corporation acted as co-managers of the
offering.
There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds
from our initial public offering as described in our Prospectus. As
described in our Prospectus, the principal purposes of the IPO were to obtain
additional capital to support our operations, to create a public
market for our common stock and to facilitate our future access to
the public equity markets. We intend to use the net proceeds
received from the offering for working capital and general
corporate purposes, including
sales and marketing activities, product development and capital
expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds for the
acquisition of, or investment in, technologies, solutions or
businesses that may compliment or business and or accelerate or
growth. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures,
including expenditure related to sales and marketing and product
development will depend on numerous factors, including the status
of our product development efforts, our sales and marketing
activities, expansion internationally, the amount of cash generated
or used by our operations, competitive pressures and other factors
described under “Risk Factors” in our Prospectus filed
pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act with the SEC on
February 27, 2019, as well as Item II, Part 1A of this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q. Our management will have broad discretion in
the application of the net proceeds, and investors will be relying
on our judgment regarding the application of the net proceeds from
the IPO.
ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR
SECURITIES
|
None.
ITEM 4.
MINE
SAFETY
DISCLOSURES
|
|
Not
applicable.
ITEM 5.
OTHER INFORMATION
|
None.
ITEM 6. EXHIBITS
|
(b)
|
Exhibits
|
Exhibit No.
|
|
Description
|
|
|
|
|
Certification
of the Principal Executive Officer, pursuant to Section
302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certification
of the Principal Financial Officer, pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certification
of the Principal Executive Officer and Principal
Financial Officer, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted
pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002
|
|
|
|
|
101.INS
|
|
XBRL
Instance Document
|
|
|
|
101.SCH
|
|
XBRL
Taxonomy Extension Schema
|
|
|
|
101.CAL
|
|
XBRL
Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase
|
|
|
|
101.DEF
|
|
XBRL
Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
|
|
|
|
101.LAB
|
|
XBRL
Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase
|
|
|
|
101.PRE
|
|
XBRL
Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase
|
|
|
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on
its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly
authorized.
|
|
SUPER LEAGUE GAMING, INC.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By
|
/s/
Ann Hand
|
|
|
|
Ann Hand
President and Chief Executive Officer
(Principal Executive Officer)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By
|
/s/
Clayton Haynes
|
|
|
|
Clayton Haynes
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
|
Date: May 15, 2019
|
|
|
|
-41-