The Stock Repurchase Program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any amount of the Company’s ordinary shares, and may be modified, extended, suspended, or discontinued at any time. The timing and amount of repurchases will be determined by the Company’s management based on a variety of factors such as the market price of the Company’s ordinary shares, the Company’s corporate cash requirements, and overall market conditions. The Stock Repurchase Program is subject to applicable legal requirements, including federal and state securities laws and applicable NYSE rules.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company repurchased 1,221,451 ADSs, excluding the ADSs repurchased from Softbank, representing 54,965,295 Class A ordinary shares (each ADS is equivalent to 45 Ordinary Shares) for $1,953 on the open market, at a weighted average price of nil and $1.60 per ADS, respectively.
Stock Repurchase from SoftBank
On May 23, 2023, the Company entered into a share repurchase agreement (the “Share Repurchase Agreement”) with SoftBank Group Capital Limited (“SoftBank”), pursuant to which the Company repurchased Class A and Class B ordinary shares of 152,870,520, and 135,129,480, respectively, from SoftBank (“Share Repurchase”). The repurchase price was $1.1144 per ADS, and the aggregate purchase price was $7,132. The purchase price per share was greater than the market price, which closed at $0.93 per share on the day of the share repurchase. The Company used cash on hand for the Share Repurchase and retired the ordinary shares purchased.
Prior to the Share Repurchase, no person owns more than 50% of the Company’s outstanding shares or voting power. A change in control of the Company occurred by virtue of the consummation of the Share Repurchase, with Mr. Joseph Chen (“Mr. Chen”), the Company’s founder, chairman of board of directors and chief executive officer, becoming the Company’s largest and controlling shareholder. Immediately after giving effect to the Share Repurchase, Mr. Chen holds 156,204,091 Class A ordinary shares and 170,258,970 Class B ordinary shares, representing 38.8% of total outstanding shares and 78.3% of total voting power of the Company.
Additionally, immediately after giving effect to the Share Repurchase, SoftBank holds 117,388,451 Class A ordinary shares of the Company, which is less than the Softbank Base Holding as defined in the Company’s currently effective Memorandum and Articles of Association. As a result, SoftBank is no longer entitled to the special rights set forth in the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, including (i) the right to designate one director and (ii) approval rights with respect to certain matters such as a change-of-control event, election of directors at annual general meetings, new issuances of ordinary shares, and major acquisitions or disposals of assets.
In the Share Repurchase transaction, the Company initiated the transaction and thus paid a price greater than the market price at the transaction date without acquiring other rights or privileges, or entering other agreements. Therefore, the excess of $6,844 over ordinary shares’ par value was charged entirely to retained earnings.
There was no repurchase activity under the Stock Repurchase Program for the three months ended September 30, 2023.
7. SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION
Moatable, Inc. Stock options
The following table summarizes information with respect to share options outstanding as of September 30, 2023:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | Options outstanding | | Options exercisable |
| | | | | Weighted | | | | | | | | | | Weighted | | | | | | |
| | | | | average | | Weighted | | Weighted | | | | average | | Weighted | | Weighted |
| | | | | remaining | | average | | average | | | | remaining | | average | | average |
| | | Number | | contractual | | exercise | | intrinsic | | Number of | | contractual | | exercise | | intrinsic |
Range of exercise prices | | outstanding | | life | | price | | value | | exercisable | | life | | price | | value |
$ | 0.01 | | 91,646,055 | | 1.36 | | $ | 0.01 | | $ | 0.01 | | 91,646,055 | | 1.36 | | $ | 0.01 | | $ | 0.01 |
| | | 91,646,055 | | | | | | | $ | 0.01 | | 91,646,055 | | | | | | | $ | 0.01 |