Introductory Note
On March 10, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), comScore, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), Charter Communications Holding Company, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Charter”), Qurate Retail, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Qurate”), and Pine Investor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company wholly owned by funds advised by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. (“Pine” and together with Charter and Qurate, referred to herein collectively, as the “Purchasers” and individually, as a “Purchaser”) completed the previously announced transactions contemplated by those certain Series B Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (individually, a “Purchase Agreement” and collectively, the “Purchase Agreements”), each dated as of January 7, 2021, by and between the Company and each Purchaser. On the Closing Date and pursuant to the Purchase Agreements, the Company issued and sold (a) to Charter, 27,509,203 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company (“Series B Preferred Stock”) in exchange for $68,000,000, (b) to Qurate, 27,509,203 shares of Series B Preferred Stock in exchange for $68,000,000 and (c) to Pine, 27,509,203 shares of Series B Preferred Stock in exchange for $68,000,000 (such transactions, collectively, the “Transactions”). The proceeds of the Transactions were used to pay off certain outstanding indebtedness of the Company.
The foregoing summary of the Purchase Agreements and the Transactions does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the Purchase Agreements, copies of which are attached as Exhibits 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and are incorporated herein by reference.
Item 1.01 | Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement. |
Stockholders Agreement
On the Closing Date, the Company and the Purchasers entered into a Stockholders Agreement (the “SHA”), pursuant to which, among other things, immediately following the consummation of the Transactions, the Company is obligated to take all necessary action to ensure that the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) consists of 10 total directors (two designees of each Purchaser, the chief executive officer of the Company and three individuals who were directors of the Company prior to the closing of the Transactions (the “Closing”)). See Item 5.02 of this Current Report on Form 8-K for disclosure regarding director appointments.
Under the SHA, the Company is obligated to take all necessary action (to the extent not prohibited by law) to cause the Board to nominate for election that number of individuals designated by a Purchaser that, if elected, would result in two designees of such Purchaser serving on the Board until the earlier of such time as such Purchaser (a) beneficially owns a number of shares of Series B Preferred Stock representing less than 50% of the number of shares of Series B Preferred Stock held by such Purchaser as of the Closing Date after giving effect to the Transactions (“Initial Preferred Stock Ownership”) as a result of such Purchaser’s Transfer (as defined in the SHA) of such shares to any of the other Purchasers or (b) beneficially owns Voting Stock (as defined in the SHA) representing less than 10% of the outstanding shares of common stock, par value $0.001, of the Company (the “Common Stock”) (on an as-converted basis), after which time such Purchaser’s designation rights will be reduced to one designee until such time as such Purchaser beneficially owns Voting Stock representing less than 5% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (on an as-converted basis), after which time such Purchaser will no longer have any rights to designate a nominee to serve on the Board thereunder.
Pursuant to the SHA, if one of the Purchasers (the “Buying Stockholder”) acquires from one of the other Purchasers (the “Selling Stockholder”) a number of shares of Series B Preferred Stock equal to (a) at least 50% (but less than 100%) or (b) 100% of the Selling Stockholder’s Initial Preferred Stock Ownership in accordance with the terms of the SHA, the Selling Stockholder will be obligated to cause one (in the case of clause (a)) or two (in the case of clause (b)) of its designated directors to resign, and the Company will be obligated to take all necessary action (to the extent not prohibited by applicable law) to cause the Board to appoint one or two, respectively, additional person(s) designated by the Buying Stockholder to fill such vacancy or vacancies, as applicable. If a Buying Stockholder acquires a number of shares of Common Stock equal to 10% or more of the number of shares of outstanding Common Stock as of such time (determined on an as-converted basis) from a person other than another Purchaser and its Permitted Transferees (as defined in the SHA), the Company will be obligated to, among other things, take all necessary action (to the extent not prohibited by applicable law) to cause the Board to (x) increase the size of the Board as required to enable the Buying Stockholder to designate one additional person to the Board, and (y) appoint such additional person designated by the Buying Stockholder to fill such newly created vacancy, in each case, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the SHA. In no event will a single Purchaser be entitled to designate a number of directors to the Board that would constitute a majority of the Board.
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