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Quotes & Info
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| VRNG > SEC Filings for VRNG > Form 10-Q on 15-May-2012 | All Recent SEC Filings |
15-May-2012
Quarterly Report
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The statements contained herein that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "will," "plan," "project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would," and similar expressions or variations intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management based on information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in the section titled "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 30, 2012. The forward-looking statements set forth herein speak only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
Overview
We provide a range of software products for mobile video entertainment, personalization and mobile social applications. Our comprehensive software platforms include applications that allow users to: (i) create, download and share mobile video entertainment content in the form of video ringtones for mobile phones, (ii) create social picture ringtone and ringback content, in the form of animated slideshows sourced from friends' social networks, (iii) create ReMixed video clips from artists and branded content, and (iv) utilize Fan Loyalty mobile applications for contestant based reality TV shows. Our applications and services have been launched with ten carriers in eight markets. The billing integrations that we have with these operators are of significant strategic value to our operations. In addition, we have deals in place with two of the four largest handset makers in the world. We believe that social network information and updates will be shared regularly when friends regularly communicate by voice and by text. Our video ringtone solutions and other mobile social and video applications, which encompass a suite of mobile and PC-based tools, enable users to create, download and share video and other social content with ease as part of the normal communication process, and provide our business partners with a consumer-friendly and easy-to-integrate monetization platform. While our current portfolio of applications and services represents what we believe to be cutting edge mobile technology that can work across many operating systems, we recognize that the pace at which the mobile landscape is changing has increased and the two most dominant operating systems are Google's Android and Apple's iOS. Moving forward, we intend to develop additional applications and services for these two key operating systems, as well as other dominant smartphone operating systems that may emerge. We believe that we can leverage our existing distribution and relationships to promote apps and services for these two operating systems.
We are a development stage company. From inception through March 31, 2012, we have raised approximately $34.8 million. These amounts have been used to finance our operations, as until now, we have not yet generated any significant revenues. From inception through March 31, 2012, we recorded losses of $43.2 million and net cash outflow from operations of $30.5 million. Our average monthly cash burn rate from operations for the three month period ended March 31, 2012, was approximately $0.4 million. For the three month period ended March 31, 2012, the operational cash burn included expenses incurred in connection with merger and acquisition activities, in the total amount of approximately $0.45 million.
In February 2012, we raised approximately $3.6 million through warrant exercises. Pursuant to agreements with warrant holders, we issued new warrants to purchase an aggregate of 2,660,922 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $1.76 per share (the "Reload Warrants"), with thepotential of raising up to an additional $5.0 million. The shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of thesewarrants are pending registration approval by the Securities Exchange Commission, pursuant to a Form S-3 Registration Statement filed on March 30, 2012.
On March 12, 2012, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") with VIP Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which will be our wholly-owned subsidiary ("Merger Sub"), and Innovate/Protect, Inc., a Delaware corporation and an intellectual property firm founded in 2011 whose wholly-owned subsidiary, I/P Engine, holds eight patents that were acquired from Lycos Inc. ("Innovate/Protect"), pursuant to which Innovate/Protect will merge with and into Merger Sub, with Merger Sub being the surviving corporation (the "Surviving Corporation") through an exchange of capital stock of Innovate/Protect for our capital stock (the "Merger").
Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, upon completion of the Merger, (i) each share of then-outstanding common stock of Innovate/Protect, par value $0.0001 per share (other than shares held by us, Innovate/Protect or any of our and their subsidiaries, which will be cancelled at the completion of the Merger) will be automatically converted into the right to receive the number of shares of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share multiplied by the Common Stock Exchange Ratio (as defined below) and (ii) each share of then-outstanding Series A Convertible Preferred Stock of Innovate/Protect, par value $0.0001 per share (other than shares held by us, Innovate/Protect or any of our and their subsidiaries, which will be cancelled at the completion of the Merger) will be automatically converted into the right to receive the same number of shares of our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, which as of March 31, 2012, 6,818 shares shall be initially convertible into an aggregate of 20,573,998 shares of our common stock (or at a current conversion rate of 3,017.6). The preferred stock to be issued, will have the powers, designations, preferences and other rights as will be set forth in a Certificate of Designations, Preferences and Rights of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to be filed by us prior to closing. The Common Stock Exchange Ratio initially is 3.0176, which is subject to adjustment in the event of a reverse stock split to provide the holders of shares of Innovate/Protect capital stock with the same economic benefit as contemplated by the Merger Agreement prior to any such reverse stock split. In addition, at the effective time of the Merger, we will issue to the holders of Innovate/Protect capital stock and the holder of Innovate/Protect's issued and outstanding warrant (on a pro rata as-converted basis) an aggregate of 15,959,838 warrants to purchase an aggregate of 15,959,838 shares of our common stock with an exercise price of $1.76 per share, each subject to equitable adjustment in the event of a reverse stock split. The issued and outstanding warrant to purchase Innovate/Protect common stock shall be exchanged for 250,000 shares of our common stock and 850,000 warrants to purchase 850,000 shares of our common stock with an exercise price of $1.76 per share, each subject to equitable adjustment in the event of a reverse stock split. In addition, the aggregate number of shares of our common stock and the aggregate number of warrants (and the aggregate number of shares of our common stock that may be purchased upon exercise thereof) to be issued in exchange for the issued and outstanding warrant of Innovate/Protect shall each be ratably adjusted to give effect to any partial exercise of such warrant prior to the effective time of the Merger.
In addition, at the effective time of the Merger, each outstanding and unexercised option to purchase Innovate/Protect common stock, whether vested or unvested will be converted into and become an option to purchase our common stock and we will assume such Innovate/Protect stock option in accordance with the terms of the Innovate/Protect 2011 Equity Incentive Plan. After the effective time of the Merger, (a) each Innovate/Protect stock option assumed by us may be exercised solely for shares of our common stock and (b) the number of shares of our common stock and the exercise price subject to each Innovate/Protect stock option assumed by us shall be determined by the Common Stock Exchange Ratio.
Immediately following the completion of the Merger, the former stockholders of Innovate/Protect are expected to own approximately 56.05% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company, and our current stockholders are expected to own approximately 43.95% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company. On a fully diluted basis, the former stockholders of Innovate/Protect are expected to own approximately 67.55% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company, and our current stockholders are expected to own approximately 32.45% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company.
We have expended significant effort and management attention on the proposed transaction. There is no assurance that the transaction contemplated by the Merger Agreement will be consummated. If the transaction is not consummated for any reason, our business and operations, as well as the market price of our stock and warrants may be adversely affected. For accounting purposes, based on our preliminary assessment, Innovate/Protect was identified as the "Acquirer", as it is defined in FASB Topic ASC 805. As a result, in the post-combination consolidated financial statements, Innovate/Protect's assets and liabilities will be presented at its pre-combination amounts, and our assets and liabilities will be recognized and measured in accordance with the guidance for business combinations in ASC 805. On April 6, 2012, we filed a Form S-4 Registration Statement with the Securities Exchange Commission regarding the proposed Merger with Innovate/Protect, although the Registration Statement is pending approval by the SEC. The Merger requires approval by the stockholders of both companies. We currently estimate that the Merger will be consummated in the third quarter of 2012.
As of March 31, 2012, we had approximately $3.6 million in cash and cash equivalents. We believe that current cash levels, after taking into effect the Merger with Innovate/Protect, will be sufficient to support our activity into the fourth quarter of 2012. The continuation of our business, as a going concern is dependent upon the successful consummation of our Merger with Innovate/Protect, or additional merger or acquisition, financing, and upon the further development of our products. In addition a significant portion of ourissued and outstanding warrants are currently "in the money" and the shares of common stock underlying such warrants will become freely tradable upon exercise after registration, with thepotential of up to $5 million of incoming funds for us. A Form S-3 Registration Statement was filed on March 30, 2012 and is pending approval by the Securities Exchange Commission. Provided that our stock price remains at or near its current level, we expect that the exercise of these instruments will generate substantial additional funds for our operations. There can be no assurance, however, that any such opportunities will materialize. All of our audited consolidated financial statements since inception have contained a "going concern" reference by our auditors, expressing substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Our financial statements were prepared using principles applicable to a going concern, which contemplate the realizations of assets and liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business for the foreseeable future, and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible effects on the recoverability and classification of assets, or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result if we are not able to continue as a going concern.
On April 26, 2012, the NYSE Amex notified us that it had resolved the continued listing deficiency referenced in the NYSE Amex's letter dated May 24, 2011, which stated that we were not in compliance with Section 1003(a) (iv) of the NYSE Amex's continued listing standards. The NYSE Amex's conclusion was based on a review of available information, including our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our continued listing eligibility will be assessed on an ongoing basis.
Our Strategy
Our goal is to become a leading global provider and licensor of mobile video and mobile social applications, services and software, including mobile personalization, and interactive services via our different software platforms and maximize the benefits of our intellectual property. To achieve this goal, we plan to:
Grow our business. On March 12, 2012, we announced the entry into a Merger Agreement with Innovate/Protect. The objectives of the Merger are to maximize the economic benefits of our intellectual property assets, add significant talent in technological innovation, and be positioned to enhance its opportunities for revenue generation through the monetization of the combined company's assets. Innovate/Protect is the owner of certain patent assets acquired from Lycos, one of the largest search engine websites of its kind in the mid-late 1990s, including technologies that remain critical to current search platforms. We believe that the Merger, if consummated, will potentially enhance our technology, our portfolio of intellectual property, and as a result, open new business opportunities for our company.
Maintain and grow our product technology and monetization of intellectual property. Our technical team is made up of highly regarded industry professionals that continually ensure that our product is on the cutting-edge in terms of ease of use, functionality and look and feel. Our applications and services have millions of downloads and registered users, however there is no guarantee that we can maintain this leadership position. Separately, the mobile video and mobile social networking industries are in their infancy and in order to create a user base with scale and ultimately substantial revenue we will need to spend additional capital resources. In addition to product leadership we continue to grow our portfolio of intellectual property through internal development. We plan to continue to allocate technical resources to remain ahead of our competition and provide users with a product that is easy-to-use and cutting-edge. We have filed 24 patent applications for our platform (three of which have been issued to date) and we continue to create new intellectual property. We believe that, if consummated, the Merger will add significant talent in technological innovation, and position the combined company for potential enhanced opportunities and revenue generation through the monetization of the combined company's assets.
Continue to maintain a base of strategically important intellectual property. If consummated, the Merger will substantially increase our intellectual property portfolio, we believe that there are additional intellectual property assets that we will be able to partner with, license or acquire. Our success depends on not just the monetization of the existing portfolio of patents, but expanding it further.
Create additional applications and services. We intend to develop, license or acquire additional applications and services to distribute through our carrier, handset and application store partners. While we have gained significant user adoption for our products and services we believe that to achieve substantial revenue we will need to create new products in particular for Apple's iOS devices. Apple is currently the dominant operating system for the monetization of mobile applications followed by Android. We have already deployed 4 applications for Apple's iOS and generated over 1 million downloads on Android alone for our Facetones product. To be competitive we will continue to focus on the two most dominant smartphone platforms.
Grow our subscription services through mobile carrier partnerships. We have built our products so as to be easily integrated with mobile carriers and content aggregators. We believe the mobile carrier channel is one of the most cost effective channels to grow our user base and to monetize our products. Our subscription services are currently live in Belgium, India, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates and in limited release in the United States.
Generate revenue via software licensing partnerships. We have licensed our software to 2 of the 4 largest handset makers in the world, ZTE and Nokia. We believe that the market for pre-loaded software for mobile devices is a fast growing market that provides broad reach and sustainable recurring revenue.
Enhance our viral and social tools. We believe that there is substantial opportunity to increase the social and viral nature of our products, which will be critical for our growth. We will continue to add features to the product platforms to enhance their viral and social aspects and which enable users to connect with their existing social networks on platforms such as Facebook™, Twitter™ and LinkedIn™.
Build a strong revenue base of recurring revenue. We will focus on recurring revenue stream generated by operator partners and advertising. We believe that our products and services are well suited for monetization through these avenues. While the mobile advertising market is promising, it is still in its infancy and our success is dependent on the growth of the market as a whole. Our aim is to penetrate this market through our established partnerships; however we recognize that the realization of this model on a significant scale will continue to require investment over a sustained period of time.
Find new forms of distribution. While we are currently focused on the mobile carrier distribution channel, we believe there are other avenues that could be successful distribution channels for us. Specifically, we believe broadcasters and content owners could greatly benefit by promoting our service to their customers by monetizing either their content or leveraging their relationship with advertisers via ads.
Business Overview
Our video ringtone platform was our primary product of focus from inception through the launch of our Facetones product in the third quarter of 2011. We continue to develop business for this product. We believe that our comprehensive video ringtone service represents the next stage in the evolution of the ringtone market from standard audio ringtones to high-quality video ringtones, with social networking capability and integration with web systems. Our solution, which encompasses a suite of mobile and PC-based tools, enables users to create, download and share video ringtones with ease. Furthermore, our solution, provides our business partners with a consumer-friendly and easy-to-integrate monetization platform. This platform combines a downloadable mobile application which works on multiple operating systems and over 400 mobile handsets, a WAP site, which is a simplified website accessible by a user on a mobile phone, and a website, together with a robust content integration, management and distribution system. As part of providing a complete end-to-end video ringtone platform, we have amassed a library of over 12,000 video ringtones that we provide for our users in various territories. Certain portions of this library are geographically restricted. We also have developed substantial tools for users to create their own video ringtones and for mobile carriers and other partners to include their own content and deliver it exclusively to their customers. Our VringForward™ video ringtone technology allows users to enjoy a rich social experience by sharing video ringtones from our library or which they created.
Until the end of 2009, our video ringtone service was offered to consumers for free. At that point, we moved to a paid service model together with mobile carriers and other partners around the world. The revenue model for our video ringtone service offered through the carriers is generally a subscription-based model where users pay a monthly fee for access to our service and additional fees for premium content. Our free version is still available in markets where we have not entered into commercial arrangements with carriers or other partners. We have built our video ringtone platform with a flexible back-end and front-end that is easy to integrate with the back-end systems of mobile carriers and easy to co-brand with mobile carriers. To date, we have filed 24 patent applications for our platform, three of which have been issued in the United States and we have received one notice of allowance in Europe to date, and we continue to create new intellectual property.
As of May 15, 2012, we have commercial video ringtone services with the following eight carriers and partners.
• Celcom AxiataBerhad, or Celcom, a mobile carrier in Malaysia, with 11.0 million subscribers. Celcom is one of the largest mobile telecommunications operators in Malaysia with the widest national 2G and 3G coverage in the country, with 25 thousand subscribers to our paid service. Celcom is a Vodafone partner and is part of the Axiata Group of Companies, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies with more than 160 million customers across 10 Asian markets (launched in October 2011);
• Maxis Mobile Services SDN BHD, or Maxis, a mobile carrier in Malaysia with 11.4 million subscribers, of which there are 139 thousand subscribers to our paid service and an additional 7 thousand subscribers on a free trial basis (launched in September 2009);
• Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, or Etisalat, a mobile carrier with 7.3 million subscribers in the United Arab Emirates and which has more than 94.0 million subscribers worldwide, where we have launched our products and services and have 23 thousand subscribers to our paid service, (launched in January 2010);
• Everything Everywhere Limited (EEL), a mobile carrier with almost 30.0 million subscribers in the United Kingdom. Our video ringtone platform launched was with Orange UK, a large mobile communications company and subsidiary of EEL, with 16.0 million subscribers and we have 33 thousand subscribers to our paid service (launched in February 2011);
• Starhub, a mobile carrier with 2.0 million subscribers in Singapore (initially launched in February 2011 and re-launched in the first quarter 2012);
• RTL in Belgium, part of the Bertelsman RTL Television network, has offered together with us, a subscription service on all three Belgian mobile operators (with a combined subscriber base of 1 million) that includes RTL content (launched in June 2010 with limited subscribers due to regulatory limitations introduced on mobile services);
• Hungama, a content and mobile services aggregator in India. The service with Hungama is being offered to customers of 15 different mobile carriers in India. Our paid service was on temporary hold as a result of regional legalities in India, however we re-launched the service in March 2012 in partnership with Hungama and Tata DOCOMO; and
• Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du Networks), a mobile carrier with 5.0 million subscribers in the United Arab Emirates, where we have launched our products and services in February 2012.
We are currently in discussions with several other mobile carriers and we will be pursuing additional agreements with mobile carriers over the next 12 to 24 months. As of May 15, 2012, our partners have an aggregate of approximately 700 million subscribers, of which 227 thousand are paid subscribers to our service, and another 9 thousand subscribers have enrolled on a free-trial basis.
Our new Facetones™ social ringtone platform generates social visual ringtone content automatically by aggregating and displaying a user's friends' pictures from social networks and then displaying as a video ringtone, as well as a video ringback tone. These ringtones do not replace, but rather enhance, standard ringtone and ringback tones with relevant, current social content that is visually displayed. The Facetones™ product is available for devices running Android, iOS, and Nokia's Symbian S3. We are currently working together with mobile handset makers to develop this application for other operating systems.
Facetones™ is experiencing growth both in consumer downloads and in the number of commercial deals with major partners already announced. The product is being made available to consumers in several different configurations and with a variety of distribution and monetization methods. As of May 5, 2012, the Facetones™ free ad-supported version had more than a million downloads and is generating more than 3.8 million requests in mobile ad inventory on a weekly basis.
Facetones™ is offered directly to consumers via leading mobile application stores and download sites where both for purchase versions (at prices ranging from $1 to $5), as well as ad-supported free versions are available. Facetones is available in application stores integrated into popular handsets such as the Google Android Market and Apple App Store. We have announced placement deals for the app with GetJar, the world's largest independent app store, Mobango and AppBrain. In August 2011, we launched Facetones™ in Japan for Android users through the DOCOMO market, a mobile internet portal operated by NTT DOCOMO, INC., the largest mobile phone operator in Japan, with more than 50 million users. In October 2011, Verizon, the largest mobile operator in the United States, announced the launch of Facetones™ as a subscription service for Verizon subscribers for $0.99 a month. We continue to pursue business for Facetones™ together with handset manufacturers. In December 2011, we launched Facetones™ for Symbian in cooperation with Nokia. In January 2012, we launched Facetones™ for iPhone which generates, as of the end of February 2012, close to a thousand daily downloads without any promotion. In March 2012, we shifted from providing an ad-based free-of-charge for iPhone to a one-time fee ads-free app.
In addition to our direct to consumer and carrier marketed versions of the Facetones™ application, we believe that licensing our software to handset makers will provide a growing and significant revenue stream during 2012 and beyond. In November 2011, we announced an agreement with ZTE Corporation, the largest handset maker in China and fourth-largest globally, to preload the Facetones™ application on Android handsets manufactured by ZTE. ZTE will pay us a royalty for each device that our software is pre-loaded on. These ZTE handsets will be sold via mobile phone operators and through various OEM contracts to brand name handset manufacturers. In addition, we have entered into a development contract with Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, to supply Facetones for Nokia's S3 devices, subsequent to delivering this version of our application it was recently launched on the Nokia Ovi Store.
Early in 2011, we launched our new Video ReMix platform that allows users to download an application for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) or Android phones and create their own music video by tapping on a variety of music beats and video files. Essentially, the user is able to "Remix" this music video content and add his own user generated video to the mix and then view this content or share it with friends via Facebook® or other social networks. This application turns the smartphone or tablet into a virtual video ReMix sound/video board where this "mixing" is accomplished by simple tapping on the touch screen interface. The . . .
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