BlackLine (BL) S-8 Registration of securities for employees

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 25, 2022

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

BlackLine, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	46-3354276
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

21300 Victory Boulevard, 12th Floor

Woodland Hills, CA 91367

(818) 223-9008

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

2016 Equity Incentive Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Marc Huffman

Chief Executive Officer

BlackLine, Inc.

21300 Victory Boulevard

12th Floor

Woodland Hills, CA 91367

(818) 223-9008

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Katharine A. Martin, Esq.	Karole Morgan-Prager, Esq.
Allison B. Spinner, Esq.	Chief Legal and Administrative Officer
Lisa L. Stimmell, Esq.	BlackLine, Inc.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.	21300 Victory Boulevard, 12th Floor
650 Page Mill Road	Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Palo Alto, CA 94304	(818) 223-9008
(650) 493-9300

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a 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	☐
		Emerging growth company	☐

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.  ☐

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) registers additional shares of common stock of BlackLine, Inc. (the “Registrant”) reserved for issuance under the Registrant’s 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2016 Plan”). The number of shares of the Registrant’s common stock available for grant and issuance under the 2016 Plan is subject to an annual increase on the first day of each fiscal year starting on January 1, 2017, by an amount equal to the least of (i) 6,196,000 shares, (ii) five percent (5%) of the outstanding shares of the Registrant’s common stock on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year or (iii) a lower number of shares of common stock determined by the Registrant’s board of directors or a committee thereof.

This Registration Statement registers an aggregate of 2,949,212 shares of the Registrant’s common stock available for grant and issuance under the 2016 Plan, all of which became available for grant and issuance under the 2016 Plan on January 1, 2022.

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS

The information specified in Item 1 and Item 2 of Part I of Form S-8 is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with the provisions of Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the introductory note to Part I of Form S-8. The documents containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 will be delivered to the participants in the equity benefit plans covered by this Registration Statement as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

The Registrant hereby incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”):

(1) The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the Commission on February 25, 2022 pursuant to Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”);

(2) All other reports filed by the Registrant with the Commission pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the Registrant’s Annual Report referred to in (1) above (excluding any documents or portions of documents that are furnished under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of a current report on Form 8-K and any exhibits included with such items); and

(3) The description of the Registrant’s Common Stock contained in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the Commission on October 18, 2016, pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, as updated by the description of the Registrant’s registered securities contained in Exhibit 4.2 to the Registrant’s annual report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the Commission on February 27, 2020, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or that deregisters all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any subsequently filed document which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Item 4. Description of Securities.

Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a corporation’s board of directors to grant, and authorizes a court to award, indemnity to officers, directors, and other corporate agents.

The Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that limit the liability of its directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Consequently, the Registrant’s directors will not be personally liable to it or its stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for the following:

• any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the Registrant or its stockholders;

• acts or omissions not in good faith or that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;

• unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions; and

• any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit.

Any amendment to, or repeal of, these provisions will not eliminate or reduce the effect of these provisions in respect of any act, omission or claim that occurred or arose prior to that amendment or repeal. If the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended to provide for further limitations on the personal liability of directors of corporations, then the personal liability of the Registrant’s directors will be further limited to the greatest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law.

Further, the Registrant has entered into or will enter into indemnification agreements with each of its directors and executive officers that may be broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in the Delaware General Corporation Law. These agreements require the Registrant to provide indemnification for certain expenses and liabilities incurred in connection with any action, suit, proceeding, or alternative dispute resolution mechanism, or hearing, inquiry, or investigation that may lead to the foregoing, against its directors and executive officers to which they are a party, or are threatened to be made a party, by reason of the fact that they are or were a director, officer, employee, agent, or fiduciary of our company, or any of our subsidiaries, by reason of any action or inaction by them while serving as an officer, director, employee, agent, or fiduciary, or by reason of the fact that they were serving at our request as a director, officer, employee, agent, or fiduciary of another entity. In the case of an action or proceeding by, or in the right of, the Registrant or any of its subsidiaries, no indemnification will be provided for any claim where a court determines that the indemnified party is prohibited from receiving indemnification. The Registrant believes that these agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve as directors and executive officers.

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The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions that are included in the Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and in indemnification agreements that the Registrant has entered into or will enter into with its directors and executive officers may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against its directors and executive officers for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against the Registrant’s directors and executive officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit the Registrant and other stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent that the Registrant pays the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and executive officers as required by these indemnification provisions. At present, the Registrant is not aware of any pending litigation or proceeding involving any person who is or was one of its directors, officers, employees or other agents or is or was serving at its request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, for which indemnification is sought, and the Registrant is not aware of any threatened litigation that may result in claims for indemnification.

The Registrant has obtained insurance policies under which, subject to the limitations of the policies, coverage is provided to its directors and executive officers against loss arising from claims made by reason of breach of fiduciary duty or other wrongful acts as a director or executive officer, including claims relating to public securities matters, and to the Registrant with respect to payments that may be made by it to these directors and executive officers pursuant to its indemnification obligations or otherwise as a matter of law.

Certain of the Registrant’s non-employee directors may, through their relationships with their employers, be insured and/or indemnified against certain liabilities incurred in their capacity as members of the Registrant’s board of directors.

Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.

Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.

		Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit Number	Description	Form	File No.	Exhibit	Filing Date
4.1	Specimen common stock certificate of the Registrant	S-1	333-213899	4.1	9/30/2016
5.1	Opinion of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation
23.1	Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
23.2	Consent of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation (contained in Exhibit 5.1 hereto)
24.1	Power of Attorney (contained on signature page hereto)
99.1	2016 Equity Incentive Plan and form of equity award agreements thereunder	S-1/A	333-213899	10.10	10/17/2016
107.1	Filing Fee Table

Item 9. Undertakings.

A. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

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(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; and

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement.

Provided, however, that paragraphs (A)(1)(i) and (A)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

B. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

C. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Woodland Hills, State of California, on February 25, 2022.

BLACKLINE, INC.
By:	/s/ Marc Huffman
Name:	Marc Huffman
Title:	Chief Executive Officer

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Marc Huffman and Mark Partin, and each of them, as such individual’s true and lawful attorney in fact and agent with full power of substitution, for such individual in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Registration Statement on Form S-8 (including post-effective amendments), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney in fact, proxy and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully for all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney in fact, proxy and agent, or the individual’s substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement on Form S-8 has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Signature	Title	Date
/s/ Marc Huffman Marc Huffman	Director and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)	February 25, 2022
/s/ Mark Partin Mark Partin	Chief Financial Officer	February 25, 2022
/s/ Patrick Villanova Patrick Villanova	Chief Accounting Officer (Principal Accounting Officer)	February 25, 2022
/s/ Owen Ryan Owen Ryan	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Graham Smith Graham Smith	Director	February 25, 2022

/s/ Kevin Thompson Kevin Thompson	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Therese Tucker Therese Tucker	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Thomas Unterman Thomas Unterman	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Sophia Velastegui Sophia Velastegui	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Barbara Whye Barbara Whye	Director	February 25, 2022
/s/ Mika Yamamoto Mika Yamamoto	Director	February 25, 2022