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EXHIBIT 4.4
AMENDMENT NUMBER 3 TO
EXECUTIVE EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
This Amendment Number 3 (the "Amendment") is effective as of February
22, 2000 by and between INTERNET PICTURES CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation
(the "Company") and JAMES M. PHILLIPS (the "Executive").
WITNESSETH:
WHEREAS, the Company and the Executive entered into an Executive
Employment Agreement dated January 24, 1997, as amended by Amendment No. 1 dated
November 21, 1997 and Amendment No. 2 dated January 20, 1999 (as amended, the
"Employment Agreement");
WHEREAS, the Company and Executive desire to amend the Employment
Agreement;
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the covenants and mutual agreements
set forth herein and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and
sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties do hereby agree as
follows:
1. TERM OF EMPLOYMENT. Section 2 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended
by deleting the date "December 31, 2001" in both places where said date appears
and inserting in such places the date "December 31, 2004".
2. BASE COMPENSATION. Section 4 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by
(a) deleting the first word of that Section and adding the phrase "Effective
January 1, 2000 and throughout" in lieu thereof; and (b) deleting the phrase
"Three Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($375,000)," and inserting in its
place "Four Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($425,000)".
3. [RESERVED].
4. ANNUAL BONUS PAYMENT. Section 5 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended
by deleting the text of the paragraph and adding the following: "Within forty
five (45) days following each fiscal year of the Company covered by the Term
hereof, and in addition to his Base Compensation, the Company shall pay
Executive an annual bonus in an amount equal to one-half of his Base
Compensation (a bonus in the amount of $212,500) in the event his performance
warrants same and/or the Company's business plan goals have been met."
5. STOCK OPTION. Section 6 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by
deleting the last two sentences of the section and adding the following Section
6d. at the end of Section 6:
"d. Effective as of February 22, 2000, Executive is granted an
option to purchase One Million (1,000,000) shares of the capital stock
of the Company issued as an Incentive Stock Option, meeting the
requirements of Section 442(b) of the Internal
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Revenue Code of 1986 as amended. Executive may exercise this option at
the last quoted per share market price for the capital stock of the
Company as of the close of business on February 22, 2000. This option
shall be vested and exercisable as follows:
i. 100,000 shares as of February 22, 2000;
ii. 250,000 shares on December 31, 2000;
iii. 18,055 shares on the first of each month from
February 1, 2001 for the next 35 months, through December 1,
2003; and
iv. 18,075 shares on January 1, 2004.
The option granted pursuant to this Section 6d. shall be in addition to
all other options granted by the Company to Executive pursuant to this
Employment Agreement or any incentive compensation program or the
Equity Compensation Plan."
6. BENEFITS. Section 7 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by
inserting the following language immediately after Section 7e.:
"f. During the Term of Employment, the Company shall:
i. pay for the membership fees, dues and assessments at one
country club in the Knoxville, Tennessee area plus one or more
luncheon or dinner clubs as Executive determines are
appropriate to his carrying out his duties hereunder;
ii. provide Executive with personal financial (including
tax) counseling by a firm to be chosen by Executive from a
list of providers selected by the Company; and
iii. provide Executive with the cost of reasonable and
adequate security for himself and his family during the term
of this Employment Agreement.
g. It is the intention of the Company that Executive shall,
after taking into account any taxes on reimbursements or other benefits
under Sections 6(d), 7, 8 and 10 of this Employment Agreement, be kept
whole with respect to such reimbursement or other benefit. Accordingly,
except to the extent otherwise provided in the preceding sentence, to
the extent the benefits provided in such Sections 6(d), 7, 8 and/or 10
are taxable as income to Executive, the Company shall pay Executive in
connection therewith an amount which, after all taxes incurred by
Executive on such benefits are computed, equals the tax to be paid by
Executive."
h. During the term of this Agreement, the Company shall make
available to the Executive a loan of up to $2,000,000 (the "Line of
Credit"). Executive shall have the
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right to draw down any amount, up to and including the total amount
available under the Line of Credit, at any time during the term of this
Agreement. Any amounts drawn down by Executive from the Line of Credit
will be bear an interest rate not to exceed the Company's most
favorable borrowing rate at SunTrust or, if it ceases to maintain a
principal banking relationship with SunTrust, at such other financial
institutions where the Company maintains relationships. Any loan under
the Line of Credit will be secured solely by Company stock owned by
Executive or the Stock Options granted pursuant to this Employment
Agreement, and the Company may seek payment from Executive for amounts
due to the Company pursuant to any loan made under the Line of Credit
solely from proceeds of the sale of such Company stock. Proceeds from
the sale of Company stock sold by Executive shall be first applied to
the reduction of any outstanding indebtedness under the Line of Credit.
7. ATTORNEYS FEES. Section 8 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by
deleting the last sentence thereof.
8. [RESERVED].
9. TERMINATION.
Section 11a. of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by inserting
the language "raised in a timely manner by the Board of Directors" after the
word "part" at the conclusion of the second sentence of such Section and by
inserting the following sentence in lieu of the penultimate sentence: "Further,
any termination for Cause must be in writing, approved by a majority of the
members of the Board of Directors of the Company excluding Executive and must
state the bona fide reasons therefor."
Section 11b. of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by deleting
the text in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
"b. i. In the event (1) Executive terminates his employment by
resigning for Good Reason (as defined herein), (2) the Company elects
to terminate Executive prior to the expiration of the Term or any
renewal term for reasons that do not constitute a termination for
Cause,or (3) if Executive's employment is terminated in connection with
a Change of Control of the Company (as defined in the Company's 1997
Equity Compensation Plan), then Executive is free to obtain other
employment and Executive shall receive the following from the Company,
at the Company's expense:
A) Within one month of the Termination Date (as
defined herein), a lump sum severance payment in the amount of
three million dollars ($3,000,000);
B) The amount and value of his entire plan account
and interest under any investment plan or stock ownership plan
and all employer contributions made or payable to any such
plan for his account prior to the end of the month in which
the Termination Date occurs, shall be deemed vested and
payable to him. Such
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payment or distribution shall be in accordance with written
directions made by Executive;
C) All stock options, stock appreciation rights,
restricted stock and other incentive compensation granted to
Executive by the Company shall become immediately vested; and
D) Executive shall be entitled to continued
participation in all medical, dental, hospitalization and life
insurance coverage and in other employee benefit plans or
programs in which he was participating on the date of the
termination of his employment for a period of 36 months
following the Termination Date; provided that if Executive is
precluded from continuing his participation in any employee
benefit plan or program as provided in this subsection of this
Employment Agreement, he shall be provided with the after-tax
economic equivalent of the benefits provided under the plan or
program in which he is unable to participate for the period
specified in this clause, with the economic equivalent of any
benefit foregone deemed to be the lowest cost that would be
incurred by Executive in obtaining such benefit himself on an
individual basis, and payment of such after-tax economic
equivalent shall be made quarterly in advance.
b. ii. In the event that the termination of Executive's
employment is for one of the reasons set forth in this Section 11b. and
the aggregate of all payments or benefits made or provided to Executive
under Section 11b. and under all other plans and programs of the
Company (the "Aggregate Payment") is determined to constitute a
Parachute Payment, as such term is defined in Section 280G(b)(2) of the
Internal Revenue Code, the Company shall pay to Executive, prior to the
time any excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Internal Revenue
Code ("Excise Tax") is payable with respect to such Aggregate Payment,
an additional amount which, after the imposition of all income and
excise taxes thereon, is equal to the Excise Tax on the Aggregate
Payment. The determination of whether the Aggregate Payment constitutes
a Parachute Payment and, if so, the amount to be paid to the Executive
and the time of payment pursuant to this Section 11b. shall be made by
an independent auditor (the "Auditor") jointly selected by the Company
and Executive and paid by the Company. The Auditor shall be a
nationally recognized United States public accounting firm which has
not, during the two years preceding the date of its selection, acted in
any way on behalf of the Company or any Affiliate thereof. If Executive
and the Company cannot agree on the firm to serve as the Auditor, then
Executive and the Company shall each select one accounting firm and
those two firms shall jointly select the accounting firm to serve as
the Auditor.
iii. In the event of any termination of employment under this Section
11, Executive shall be under no obligation to seek other employment and
there shall be no offset against amounts due Executive under this
Employment Agreement on account of any remuneration attributable to any
subsequent employment.
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iv. Any amounts due under this Section 11 are in the nature of
severance payments in amounts considered to be reasonable by the
Company and are not in the nature of a penalty.
v. `Good Reason' shall mean, at any time during the Term of this
Employment Agreement or any renewal or other extension of the Term of
this Employment Agreement, the occurrence of any one of the following
events:
A) The assignment to Executive by the Company of
duties inconsistent with Executive's duties as defined in
Section 3 of this Employment Agreement, any change to the
Executive's title as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, or
any material change in his duties or responsibilities without
his prior written consent, except in connection with the
termination of the Executive's employment (1) for Cause, (2)
if the Executive becomes Disabled (as defined herein), (3) as
a result of the Executive's death or (4) by the Executive
other than for Good Reason;
B) A reduction by the Company in Executive's Base
Compensation as is defined by this Employment Agreement or as
the same may be increased from time to time during the term of
this Employment Agreement;
C) The failure of the Company to obtain the specific,
written assumption of this Employment Agreement by any
successor or assign of the Company or any person acquiring
substantially all of the Company's assets;
D) Any material breach by the Company of this
Employment Agreement; or
E) The Company relocates its principal place of
business to a location more than 50 miles from Oak Ridge,
Tennessee.
vi. `Termination Date' means the date as of which the Executive's
employment with the Company is terminated by the Company or by the
Executive for any reason which, except in the event of the Executive's
death, shall be specified in a written notice received by either party
from the other."
Section 11c.iii. of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by
deleting the text in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
"iii. The Executive becomes disabled while employed during the term of
this Employment Agreement. `Disabled' shall mean that the Executive has
a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that renders the
Executive substantially unable to perform all of the Executive's duties
as required under Section 3 of this Employment Agreement for 180 days
out of any 360 day period. The date of the disability is the date
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on which the Executive is certified as having incurred a disability by
a physician mutually acceptable to the Executive (or the Executive's
representative) and the Company."
Section 11 of the Employment Agreement is hereby amended by deleting
the last sentence of Section 11 -- for clarity, the sentence following
subsection 11c. that commences with "In such event ...." -- entirely and
replacing it with the following:
"d. In the event Executive's employment is terminated due to his death,
his estate or his beneficiaries, as the case may be, shall be entitled
to:
i. Base Compensation for a period of 90 days
following the date of death;
ii. the continued right to exercise any
stock option for the remainder of its term, such
option to become fully vested and exercisable at the
date of his death;
iii. any amounts earned, accrued or owing to
Executive but not yet paid under this Employment
Agreement;
iv. have any amount of the note provided for
in Section 7g. of this Employment Agreement that
remains unpaid by Executive or unforgiven by the
Company immediately forgiven;
v. his wife shall be entitled, at the
Company's expense, to continued participation in all
medical, dental, and hospitalization programs in
which he was participating on the date of his death
until his wife reaches the age of 65; and
vi. his wife shall be entitled to receive,
at the Company's expense, in addition to any survivor
benefits otherwise provided, a life annuity equal to
50% of any pension to which Executive would have been
entitled assuming he had retired and had been
receiving retirement payments at the time of his
death based upon his credited service to that date.
e. In the event Executive's employment is terminated due to his
Disability, he shall be entitled in such case to the following (but in
no event less than the benefits due him under the then-current
disability program of the Company):
i. an amount equal to the sum of 60% of Base
Compensation, at the annual rate in effect at
Termination of his employment, for a period ending
with the end of the month in which he becomes 65,
less the amount of any disability benefits provided
to Executive by the Company (other than
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benefits attributable to Executive's own
contributions) under any disability plan;
ii. the continued right to exercise any
stock option for the remainder of its term, such
option to become fully vested and exercisable on the
date of his termination due to Disability;
iii. any amounts earned, accrued or owing to
Executive but not yet paid under this Employment
Agreement;
iv. continued participation, at the
Company's expense, in medical, dental,
hospitalization and life insurance coverage and in
all other employee plans and programs in which he was
participating on the date of termination of his
employment due to Disability until he attains age 65;
and
v. other or additional benefits in
accordance with applicable plans and programs of the
Company."
10. NOTICES AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. The addresses for Executive and the
Company, as reflected on the Employment Agreement, shall be changed to reflect
the Company's current address of 1009 Commerce Park Drive, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
The address to which Executive's counsel shall be sent copies shall be changed
to reflect the following: Shepherd D. Tate, Esq., Tate, Lazarini & Beall, PLC,
50 N. Front Street, Suite 850, Memphis, TN 38103.
11. NO FURTHER CHANGES. All other terms of the Employment Agreement not
otherwise amended hereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.
12. COUNTERPARTS. This Amendment may be executed in counterparts, with each such
counterpart being deemed an original.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed the Amendment Number 3 as
of the date first above written.
COMPANY:
INTERNET PICTURES CORPORATION
By: /s/ John J. Kalec
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Its: Vice President/Chief Executive Officer
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EXECUTIVE:
/s/ James M. Phillips
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JAMES M. PHILLIPS
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