Kartoon Studios, Inc. 10-Q

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS. Other than as set forth below, there have been no material changes to the Risk Factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Risks Related to our Common Stock Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq Capital Market could result in a delisting of our common stock. If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq Capital Market, such as minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding minimum stockholders’ equity, minimum share price, and certain corporate governance requirements, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our common stock. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our common stock when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we would expect to take actions to restore our compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock, prevent our common stock from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement, or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements. On March 4, 2022, we received written notice from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) notifying us that for the preceding 30 consecutive business days, our common stock did not maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share (“Minimum Bid Price Requirement”) as required by Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The notice had no immediate effect on the listing or trading of our common stock, and our common stock will continue to trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “GNUS” at this time. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we have a grace period of 180 calendar days, or until August 31, 2022, to regain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). Compliance will be achieved automatically and without further action when the closing bid price of our common stock is at or above $1.00 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days at any time during the 180-day compliance period, in which case Nasdaq will notify us of our compliance and the matter will be closed. If, however, we do not achieve compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement by August 31, 2022, we may be eligible for additional time to comply. In order to be eligible for such additional time, we will be required to meet the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, with the exception of the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, and we must notify Nasdaq in writing of its intention to cure the deficiency during the second compliance period. There can be no guarantee that we will regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, that we will maintain compliance with other Nasdaq Listing Rules, or that we will be eligible for a second compliance period. Risks Related to the Wow Acquisition We may not realize all of the anticipated financial, marketing and operational benefits of the Wow Acquisition. The benefits we expect to achieve as a result of the Wow Acquisition will depend, in part, on our ability to realize anticipated growth opportunities and cost synergies. Our success in realizing these growth opportunities and cost synergies, and the timing of this realization, depends on the successful integration of Wow’s business and operations with our business and operations. Even if we are able to integrate our business with Wow’s business successfully, this integration may not result in the realization of the full benefits of the growth opportunities and cost synergies we currently expect within the anticipated time frame or at all. For example, me may be unable to eliminate duplicative costs, achieve growth plans, or effectively increase market share exposure. Moreover, we anticipate that we will incur substantial expenses in connection with the integration of our business with Wow’s business. While we anticipate that certain expenses will be incurred, such expenses are difficult to estimate accurately, and may exceed current estimates. 61 Accordingly, the benefits from the Wow Acquisition may be offset by costs incurred or delays in integrating the companies, which could cause our financial assumptions to be inaccurate. Exchange Rate fluctuations could result in significant foreign currency gains and losses and affect our business results. Because the results of Wow are reported in Canadian dollars, which we will then translate to U.S. dollars for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements, we will be exposed to more significant currency translation risk as a result of the Wow Acquisition. As a result, changes between the foreign exchange rates, in particular the Canadian dollar and the U.S. dollar, affect the amounts we record for our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and could have a negative effect on our financial results. We currently do not enter into hedging arrangements to minimize the impact of foreign currency fluctuations.