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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

 

T         ANNUAL REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

                               FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2009

 

¨   TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM __________ TO __________

 

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 333-145871

 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.

 

CALIFORNIA

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

20-5611551

(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

 

                                                                

11400 W. Olympic Blvd., 14th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90064

 

Issuer’s telephone Number: (310) 807-8100

 

Securities registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act: None.

Securities registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: Common Stock: None

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o No x

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes o  No x

 

          Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x  No o

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer o                                                  Accelerated filer o

Non-accelerated filer o                                                 Smaller reporting company x

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o  No x

 

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the last sale price of the common stock reported on the OTC-Bulletin Board on June 30, 2009 was $4,951,137. 

The number of shares of registrant’s common stock outstanding, as of March 31, 2010 was 273,457,266. 

 


 

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

None.

2


 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

Page

PART I

Item 1.       Description of Business……………………………………………………….

4

Item 1A.    Risk Factors……………………………………………………………………

15

Item 2.       Properties………………………………………………………………………

24

Item 3.       Legal Proceedings……………………………………………………………..

24

Item 4.       Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders…………………………

26

 

 

PART II

Item 5.       Market for Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters…………………

27

Item 6.       Selected Financial Data……………………………………….………………...

28

Item 7.       Management’s Discussion and Analysis or Plan of Operation…………………

28

Item 7A.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risks…………………

31

Item 8.       Financial Statements and Supplementary Data…………………………………

35

Item 9.       Changes In and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure……

35

Item 9A.    Controls and Procedures……………………………………………………………………………

35

Item 9B.    Other Information…………………………………………………………………………………..

37

 

 

PART III

Item 10.     Directors, Executive Officers, Promoters and Control Persons;

 

                  Compliance With Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act……………………………………

38

Item 11.     Executive Compensation…………………………………………………………………………

41

Item 12.     Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and

 

                    Related Stockholder Matters……………………………………………………………….….

 44

Item 13.     Certain Relationship and Related Transactions…………………………………………………….

    45

Item 14.     Principal Accountant Fees and Services…………………………………………………………..

47

Item 15.     Exhibits……………………………………………………………

47

 

 

SIGNATURES…………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

48

 

 

3


 

 

PART I

ITEM 1.         DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS.

 

Corporate History

 

We were formed as a California Limited Liability Company on November 20, 1996. On September 15, 2006 we filed Articles of Incorporation with Statement of Conversion to convert to a California stock corporation. The Plan of Conversion provided for the issuance of an aggregate of 135,000,000 shares to the former Members of the Limited Liability Company. The Company began trading on the over-the-counter board effective January 11, 2008.

 

In July, 2008, the Company acquired Wowio, LLC for 21,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. Wowio, LLC, an e-book distribution outlet, was purchased as part of a multi-pronged approach to online content distribution.  As of June 30, 2009, the Company consummated a sale of 100% of its interest in Wowio to an affiliate of Brian Altounian, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company (“Altounian”), in exchange for a combination of forgiveness of indebtedness to Altounian, assumption of existing Company indebtedness and WOWIO liabilities in an approximate aggregate amount of $1,600,000 as well as an ongoing royalty in 20% of Wowio revenues (reducible to 10% at a certain threshold, in perpetuity).

 

In December, 2008, the Company purchased Long Distance Films, Inc. (“LDF”) to facilitate the financing and production of the film currently titled “Dead of Night” (the Film”). LDF is the owner of the copyright in the Film and has certain obligation and liabilities with respect to the financing, production and distribution of Film, all of which obligations and liabilities are non-recourse to the Company (except for the Company’s guaranties for residuals required to be given by The Writers’ Guild and the Screen Actors’ Guild).   LDF is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.  No consideration was paid by the Company for the acquisition of LDF.

 

Introduction

 

We are a comics-based entertainment company.  We own the rights to a library of over 5,600 comic book characters, which we adapt and produce for film, television and all other media. Our continually expanding library consists of characters that have appeared in comics in 25 languages and in more than 50 countries. Our library of comics-based characters spans across multiple genres and multiple target audiences. Not only have we developed many of our characters in-house, but we have also aggregated content from several third-party comics publishers, in many cases acquiring the rights to use these characters via all media except print publishing.  We believe that the size of our library gives us a competitive edge over other comics-based libraries, as we will be able to go to market quicker with new opportunities to exploit our characters.

 

We seek to be a leader in producing entertainment content for all platforms including film, television, direct-to-home, publishing, and digital media based on comic book characters providing new merchandising vehicles across all retail product lines.  By combining our character commercialization strategy with our extensive storytelling, packaging, and corporate management abilities, we seek to build a strategically diversified and profitable character-based entertainment business.

 

We believe our library has broader audience appeal than other comic character companies whose libraries comprise primarily of the traditional superhero characters. Our library includes characters that span all story genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, comedy, crime, action/adventure, and family.  While our library includes superhero characters, management believes this broad spectrum allows us to be protected by any unforeseen downturn in audience reaction to any single genre.

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In addition to a broad universe of more than 1,000 characters developed in-house, we also acquired the rights to the characters and storylines of Italian-based, SBE Publishing’s Horror/Sci-Fi Universe and French-based, Hexagon Comics, as well as U.S.-based Top Cow.  We believe that this library gives us an established international audience for our media exploitation plans. In addition to the international exploitation of these properties, there are significant other benefits to our relationships with SBE and Hexagon Comics, including providing us with the advantage of owning all exploitation rights (other than print publishing rights) to content created, without the burden of overhead to run extensive publishing entities, thus providing us with a constant source of new material. As our publishing partners expand their library, our character and story lists expand as well.  Our management believes that our strategy provides numerous synergies, including:

 

·

Development of individual character franchises by leveraging feature films, television programming, Internet/wireless, licensees, promotional partners, and advertisers.

·

Development and introduction of new characters, planted spin-offs and tie-ins with branded characters.

·

Reduced marketing and promotions costs by cross marketing the characters through different distribution media.

·

Interactive feedback from various affiliated and co-branded online destinations.

 

We believe that our strategy will offer the ability to communicate with audiences from around the world providing market analysis from fan, industry and creative perspectives that gauge the appeal of new Characters and stories.

 

In the 2nd quarter of 2008, we engaged the firm Sanli, Pastore & Hill (“SP&H”) to conduct a Fair Market valuation of our library of material. SP&H determined the fair market value and fair value of 100% equity interest in the intellectual property held and controlled by the Company under a going-concern premise is $150,038,000. In performing the valuation, SP&H used the American Society of Appraisers definition of fair market value. The valuation was filed in its entirety with the SEC on June 12, 2008.

 

In addition to creating and acquiring additional comic book and graphic novel content, in 2008 we began to expand into content distribution with our initial focus in the digital arena. In July, 2008, we acquired WOWIO, an e-book distribution outlet, to go along with DrunkDuck.com, our user-generated content creation website, as part of a multi-pronged approach to online content distribution. It was management’s intent to utilize this outlet to distribute digital versions of original properties from the Company’s library as well as other properties from its publishing partners.  The business plan for WOWIO required an infusion of capital; however, due to a number of factors that include 1) a global economic pull-back, impacting all industries, including the online advertising market, and 2) an inherited liability to pay WOWIO publishers royalties for the quarter immediately preceding the Company’s acquisition and subsequent inability to pay off such obligation, the Company was unable to raise such capital and as a result had to cease all marketing, promotional, and sales activity for WOWIO.  The Company kept WOWIO in a maintenance mode for approximately 12 months until it was determined by management to focus its limited resources on its core comic business and as of June 30, 2009, the Company consummated a sale of 100% of its interest in WOWIO to an affiliate of Brian Altounian, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company (“Altounian”), in exchange for a combination of forgiveness of indebtedness to Altounian, assumption of existing Company indebtedness and WOWIO liabilities in an approximate aggregate amount of $1,600,000 as well as an ongoing royalty in 20% of Wowio revenues (reducible to 10% at a certain threshold, in perpetuity).

 

                                                                               5


 

 

 

 

 

 

Library of Characters

 

Universe of Characters

Origins

# of Characters

SBE Horror 

Europe

 422 (ongoing)

Awesome Comics

North America

404

Top Cow Comics

North America

681 (ongoing)

Hexagon Comics

Europe

702

Platinum Studios Macroverse

Worldwide

1,200 (ongoing)

Platinum Studios Acquisitions

Worldwide

1,680 (ongoing)

  

SBE Horror

 

This library comprises of the following characters:

·

Characters: 422

Dylan Dog acquired from SBE:  422 characters

  

Our rights: We have all rights worldwide, not including print and some digital comic publishing rights.  The Company is in negotiations with Bonelli Editore to extend the rights agreement. 

 

Awesome Comics/RIP Media

·

Characters: 404

 

Our rights: We hold an option to acquire all rights worldwide, not including print comic publishing rights.  The rights are specific to those 404 Awesome Comics characters owned and controlled by RIP Media, Inc.  In some cases, there are some limitations on digital rights.  Currently, we have the exclusive right to enter into agreements related to the licensing of motion picture rights and allied/ancillary rights until the date upon which Platinum Studios’ CEO, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is no longer the Company’s CEO and Chairman of the Board and holds at least 30% of the outstanding capital stock of the Company.

 

Top Cow

·

Characters: 681

 

Our rights: We have all rights worldwide for film and television and for certain ancillary rights based on the audio-video production.  These rights extend to substantially all properties in which Top Cow has the contractual right to grant us.  We also have the right, but not the obligation, to renew the deal extending it to June 30, 2011.  Whether we renew or not, we will continue to have rights on certain projects in development that will run at least one year beyond the renewal decision date, with some potentially running on an ongoing basis should they achieve certain milestones, such as starting production on a film.

 

Hexagon Library from Mosaic Multimedia

·

Characters: 702

  

Our rights: We have all rights worldwide, not including print comic publishing rights, contingent on verification of chain-of-title and European legal documentation (on completion of paperwork, Platinum will have a long-term, exclusive option, with provision to buy out all restrictions and third-party approvals). Currently, we have the exclusive right to enter into agreements related to the licensing of motion picture rights and allied/ancillary rights in perpetuity subject to payment milestones.  The agreement requires the formation of an LLC that is co-owned by Mosaic Multimedia and Platinum Studios with Platinum Studios acting as manager.  The Company will move forward on formation of the LLC when it appears likely that exploitation will occur on one or more of the properties. 

                                                                               6


 

Recent Developments

 

Print Publishing

 

            Platinum Studios Comics (an imprint of the Company) has published over 50 comic books and graphic novels for distribution thorough traditional domestic channels and is developing international channels for worldwide print distribution.

 

Digital Publishing

 

Since the 3rd quarter of 2006, we have launched an online “e-commerce” store to sell merchandise, comic books and other products (store.platinumstudios.com), an online comics site to highlight the printed comics and graphic novels ( www.platinumstudioscomics.com ), a mobile storefront for distribution of digital content ( www.platinumstudiosmobile.com ), a web-comics site to host the digital distribution of our printed comic material and as a resource for independent comics creators to post new material ( www.drunkduck.com ) and we have developed multiple destination sites for individual comic properties. This digital publishing group has also created digital images that consumers can download to their mobile phones and personal computers for wallpapers and screensavers.

 

Filmed Entertainment

 

We currently have film and television development deals with several major film producers and several major studios including: Disney (Unique), Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks (Cowboys and Aliens), DreamWorks (Atlantis Rising) and Sony (untitled project).  Cowboys and Aliens production schedule has not been officially set, but it is anticipated by DreamWorks to commence something in the next 12 months if production moves forward.  In 2008, we entered into a co-production and distribution deal with Hyde Park Entertainment for a feature film based on the Platinum Studios-controlled property Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. We closed the financing for this film on February 6, 2009, and we commenced principal photography on February 26, 2009. We are currently in post-production on Dead of Night and, although there is currently no domestic distribution deal in place, the film is guaranteed a minimum 800 screen release in the United States by Australian based Omnilab PTY Ltd.  The Company anticipates the film will be released toward the end of 2010 or in 2011.  We are currently in contract negotiations on our first film from the Top Cow Entertainment comics library, The Witchblade. We hope to be in production on this film in the next 12 -24 months. In February 2009, we announced a development deal with Sony Animation to produce a major animated feature from Platinum’s library of characters and stories. A production schedule has not been set.  Also in 2009, the Company entered into an option agreements with FoxTV for Indestructible Man which is currently in development.

 

Merchandise/Licensing

 

As of the date of this Report, we have entered into Dylan Dog licensing agreements with:

Cartiere Paolo Pigna S.p.A. (school supplies)

International Tobacco Agency Srl (lighters)

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Fatex de La Ganga palmal (Male Apparel)

Global Watch Industries, S.p.A. (wrist watches)

Infinite Satue Srl. (collectibles)

Edibas Stationery Srl (calendars)

 

In 2006, we extended our branding philosophy to include our annual “The Comic Book Challenge”, a competition that allows independent creators to pitch original comic book ideas to a panel of live judges.  The winning contestant gets a publishing deal with revenue sharing across all distribution outlets.  In July 2007, we secured sponsorship arrangements with 5 corporations to underwrite the event and expose the Company to a wide, international audience. In subsequent years, we modified the structure of the contest in an attempt to reach the largest comic creator audience possible. The contest has been suspended in 2009 in order to reformat the structure so that the Company can pursue a distribution partner over broadcast or cable television networks.

 

In July, 2008, the Company signed a licensing agreement with Brash Entertainment to produce a multi-platform console video game based on Cowboys & Aliens. Brash paid the Company an advance of $250,000 for the exclusive rights. In December, 2008, the Company was notified that Brash Entertainment was ceasing operations and the rights to Cowboys & Aliens were returned to the Company without recourse. The Company is actively pursuing partners to develop video games for this property as well as Atlantis Rising, Dead of Night and other titles.

 

Industry Overview

 

The comic book market is highly sought after by the entertainment industry for the purpose of mining for new material.  As proof of this appeal, two recent trade articles have pinpointed the virtues of comics publishing as a credible source of new material in Hollywood.  Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter have each reported separately that the big moneymakers are fresh concepts and comic books. “Among the better averages were pics based on comic books: There were only 13 such films, and the $2.8 billion total means that each comic book hit averaged a $215 million gross.  Which explains why Hollywood is so hot to film comic books.” (“How to make box-office gold”, Marc Graser, Daily Variety 7/6/07).

 

It was also reported in July, 2007 that UK-based sales, production and finance house Intandem is embarking on a “new corporate strategy by acquiring a 5% stake in Los Angeles-based comic book publisher Radical Publishing and sister movie company Blatant Pictures, providing the company with another source of quality commercial product for studios and top distributors.” (“Intandem has Radical idea for content”, Stuart Kemp, Hollywood Reporter, 7/17/07).  These industry announcements all support our contention that comic-books and graphic novel publishing are a viable source for multiple forms of media exploitation.

 

The 2008 summer releases of comic-based feature films resulted in one of the most successful in US box office history. Between May 1 and August 15, 2008, 5 feature films based on comic books and graphic novels were released, namely Iron Man, The Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy2, and The Dark Knight. Iron Man became the first film in 2008 to earn $300M in US domestic box office and as of February 20, 2009, the film has grossed more than $580M worldwide (Box Office Mojo). The Dark Knight, the most recent in a long line of Batman-based movies, is on track to become one of the highest-grossing feature films of all time and as of February 20, 2009, its total worldwide gross stands at over $1 BILLION. The Dark Knight was the highest grossing movie of 2008 in domestic box office and worldwide. It is also the highest grossing comic book film of all time, beating previous record-holder Spider-Man. Unadjusted for inflation, it is now the second highest grossing film domestically of all time with a total of $533 Million, as of February 20, 2009. This trend supports our contention that comic books and graphic novels continue to be a leading source of original source material from which Hollywood pulls.

 

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Print Publishing

 

Every project we publish is designed for eventual adaptation to other media, including film and television.  Our core business model focuses on the exploitation of our characters in all media.  We license our characters and stories for domestic and/or international comics publishing.  In some cases, we produce our own publications under the “Platinum Studios Comics” label, but we also have agreements with other publishers and original copyright holders whereby our agreement provides for these parties to continue publishing comic books and generate new characters and stories which are added to our ever-growing library of material.  Under these agreements, the publisher retains the publishing rights and generates ongoing serial publications, maintaining large staffs within their publishing and distribution organizations to achieve these goals.  We benefit tremendously from this relationship as all new characters and story lines generated from new publications are added to our library, without the burden of carrying an entire publishing and distribution staff.  One such example of this arrangement is the Bonelli Publishing library from Italy, which has been producing comic books in printed form for over 50 years.  Popular characters from the Bonelli library include Nathan Never, Legs Weaver and Dylan Dog. Pursuant to our agreement with Bonelli Publishing, characters which they develop are added to our library.

 

Print Publishing Schedule

 

Since the successful launch of our inaugural graphic novel, Cowboys & Aliens, in December, 2006, we published over 50 comic books and graphic novels for distribution through traditional domestic channels.  These titles have all been published under the Platinum Studios Comics banner and they are sold directly to comic book stores through the industry’s sole distributor, Diamond Distribution.   The writers and artists of these titles are hired on a work-for-hire basis. In January 2008, we entered into a worldwide publishing agreement deal with HarperCollins for our graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens, currently in feature film development at Dreamworks, and in March 2008, we entered into a publishing agreement with The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc, for our property Unique, currently in feature film development at Disney Studios.

 

Distribution Model

 

We currently have four distribution channels to sell our print products: (1) direct to comic book stores, (2) online, (3) traditional book retail stores, and (4) international distributors.

 

All products offered directly to the thousands of comic book retailers throughout the United States must be listed through Diamond Comic Distributors.  Diamond was established in 1982 to provide comic book specialty retailers with wholesale, non-returnable comic books and related merchandise. Diamond has a vast network of strategically-located Distribution Centers throughout the world.

 

For our first year of publishing, we established a distribution agreement with Top Cow Productions to list our titles in Diamond’s wholesale catalog for retail comic book stores. By capitalizing on Top Cow Production’s long-standing relationship with Diamond, we were able to procure better placement in this wholesale catalog.  While this was our primary distribution chain, however, we recently established a direct contractual relationship with Diamond for the listing of our properties, giving us more flexibility regarding the types and number of products we offer to this direct market.

           

We also distribute our products to consumers and retailers via our Web store and comic book site (www.PlatinumStudiosComics.com). The site allows the comic book fan to get a closer look at the books, the creators and sample artwork.  We have also created a strategy of launching the published book online, updating one page per day, giving the readers and fans a place to preview the book and communicate with the creators one-on-one via our webcomic hosting site, Drunk Duck (www.drunkduck.com).

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We also distribute our products through established distribution companies, such as our current individual licensing arrangements with Harper Collins and Random House, who have agreed to distribute select properties in hardcover graphic novel form to book stores and libraries.  

 

Finally, we have recently established relationships with international publishing entities to distribute translated versions of our completed series of comic books to over 100 countries throughout the world.  These publishers generally pay advances against sales royalties without charging for translations and/or printing, making this distribution option a significant way to offset the costs of the domestic distribution chain.

 

As a comic publisher, we have discovered that there is little to no correlation between the sales of printed comics and the revenues generated by the affiliated media properties developed out of the underlying comic material. Men in Black, for example, generated over $1Billion in worldwide box office between two movies but had print sales of less than 5,000 per issue.  Additionally, we have seen that the distribution model for print can be considered fairly restrictive. Diamond Distributors previously raised the sales threshold for all print publishers, eliminating re-orders beyond 60 days, further restricting access to a broader print audience. Finally, the development expense for our print comics has, historically, barely been covered by the subsequent revenues, and in many cases, act as “loss leaders” for the launch of ancillary product streams. With the above considerations, we have reduced our output of print comics to approximately 5 – 10 titles per year, and we will most likely focus our efforts on printing just those titles that have a film, television, or video game development agreement. For the other titles in our library, we will restrict the distribution to a digital outlet such as Drunk Duck.

 

 

Digital Publishing

 

We have established ourselves as a leader in comics-based entertainment, and continue to build our already substantial library of characters and storylines.  We are currently pursuing a strategy to leverage our momentum in the entertainment space and commercialize our intellectual property through the most viable media outlets and channels, including the online content space.

 

Our Digital Publishing/Online Initiative Division’s mission is to leverage our library of intellectual property across multiple online channels and distribution platforms, and create an online community for fans of comic-based entertainment in all media.  Revenues for this online initiative will be derived from advertising, sponsorship, micro-transactions and intelligently monetized through tie-ins, merchandise and other long-tail strategies.

 

Online Comics Community - Drunk Duck

 

In 2006, we acquired Drunk Duck (www.drunkduck.com), an online web comic community boasting over 3,000 strips and 10 million monthly page views. Since the acquisition, we implemented several programming and feature upgrades to enhance the functionality and user-friendly interface of Drunk Duck, including a new section for print publishers to post their printed works online as well.  Today, the number of strips and stories exceeds 12,000 in number and the monthly page views are approximately 10,000,000.  The Company has a three-pronged effort to increase the value of Drunk Duck; namely instituting an aggressive marketing campaign to attract readers, a multi-pronged effort in business development to attract corporate sponsors and advertisers, and an outreach program to attract more webcomic creators.

 

We have explored the expansion of the Drunk Duck community in two ways: a) by creating multiple entry points to the database of comics segmented by genre, i.e. horror, sci-fi, manga, etc. and b) by creating alternate versions of the site in multiple languages, thus opening the offering to a worldwide audience of comic fans and creators.  Of significant value to us is the ability to monetize the traffic generated across the entire network through several avenues, including subscriptions, advertising and sponsored content, embedded product placement, and licensed exploitation opportunities.  Each of these revenue streams can be active on every site within the Drunk Duck network, as they work to drive traffic to one another, further maximizing the revenue potential of every visitor.  As the characters and stories themselves begin to establish a broader audience, additional revenue streams such as licensed products, merchandising and additional media outlets become viable options.

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Additionally, through its partnership with EZ Prints, in 2010, the Company will be launching a print-on-demand merchandise store which will allow the creators on Drunk Duck.com to earn revenue directly on their creations, revenue which the Company will share in.

 

Casual Games

 

Due to a renewed interest in retro arcade games like Pac-Man, Asteroids and Centipede, as well as new titles inspired by retro games, card and board games, puzzle games and the like, a new gaming sector, often collectively referred to as “casual games,” has evolved. The category is loosely defined as games with simple rules, that are easy to learn and can be played in very small increments of time – perfect for a 5-10 minute break at work. The most prevalent casual game genres today are puzzles, word games, and casual-action games, followed by tile/card and board games.

 

Our Drunk Duck portal includes a casual gaming section, with a variety of games featuring characters and story lines from our library.  We are in discussions with leading game developers to “re-skin” an assortment of casual games with our properties (i.e. changing the cosmetic nature of the game characters without changing the underlying software of the program), and we are continuing to evaluate several ways to monetize this product. In the past few years, the dominant business model for targeting the casual games audience was offering free online games that were monetized by advertising and sponsorships. A number of business models have now emerged, including fee-based downloadable games, premium online subscription services, skill-based gaming tournaments, in-game advertising and free game play supported by video advertising and sponsorships.

 

Online Initiatives

 

The Company is currently working with third parties as possible co-venturers to create an immersive, online world that expands upon the Company’s library of content and engages audiences through a variety of casual games and exclusive, interactive content.  Revenue from this initiative would be derived from a variety of sources including ad revenue, micro-transactions and purchase of digital content as well as physical merchandise.  

 

 

Filmed Entertainment:  Feature Films

 

We are aggressively pursuing a multi-pronged approach to create feature films:

 

·

Licensing characters and stories to third-party producers and/or affiliated major studios for production

·

Secure outside financing to produce our own individual films or slates of films

 

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Licensing Deals

 

Some examples of our current projects with major studios based on previously unbranded characters include:

 

·

Unique (Disney) - Based on a comic book series released in early 2007, Disney acquired the film rights to this project, although development on the project continues, no production schedule has been set.

·

 

Cowboys & Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount/Imagine/Universal) – Effective June 2007, Dreamworks optioned our property for development and production for joint distribution through Paramount and Universal with Imagine Entertainment as a producing partner. Following its separation from Paramount, the new Dreamworks is pursuing the development of the project, while Paramount maintains a right to co-finance. Although no official production schedule has been announced, Dreamworks anticipates the film going into production over the next 12 -18 months.  In January, 2010, the Company received an option payment from Dreamworks to retain their development and production rights for an additional 18 months.

 

·

 

 

Atlantis Rising (Dreamworks/Paramount/Imagine/Universal) – In June, 2007, Dreamworks agreed to option our property for development and production.

 

·

 

 

Sony Animation Development Deal – In February 2009, the Company announced a development deal with Sony Animation to produce a “hybrid” feature film (containing both animated and live-action elements), based on Platinum-owned characters

 

Production Slate Financing

 

As an alternative to licensing properties to studios, independent financing arrangements are becoming more prevalent in the entertainment industry.  While there are many ways to finance films, one of the options is to create an Intellectual Property-Backed Securitization vehicle to facilitate the funding efforts.  The structure is designed to (1) isolate the Intellectual Property assets needed for the production and exploitation of theatrically released films into a bankruptcy-remote vehicle, thus protecting the financial integrity of the Company from potential adverse performance of the picture slate, and (2) mitigate the performance risk across a number of films through structural credit enhancements.

 

The vast majority of issuance by dollar volume has occurred in the film industry because film catalogs represent large, predictable assets with clearly defined historical cash flows and relatively little variance. Similarly, future flows transactions backed by film catalogs tend to show less volatility as the film industry has followed the same pattern for many years where a few blockbusters (perhaps 5% of the total releases) finance the rest of the releases. This “all or nothing” type of economics, where the few hits pay for the many flops, works well for slates because the catalogs behave like a portfolio of assets whose diversification smoothes the volatility of revenues.

 

We are currently in contract negotiations on our first film from Top Cow comics library, The Witchblade.  We hope to be in production on this film sometime in the next 12 – 24 months.  We are always seeking out opportunity for other slate opportunities such as direct-to-home video slate and genre-specific, low- budget slates.

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In January 2008, we entered into a co-production and distribution deal with Hyde Park Entertainment for a feature film based on the Platinum Studios’-controlled property, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. Funding for the film closed in February 2009, we commenced principal photography on February 26, 2009 and completed principal photography in May, 2009.  We are currently in post-production on Dead of Night and, although there is currently no domestic distribution deal in place, the film is guaranteed a minimum 800-screen release in the United States.  The Company anticipates the film will be released toward the end of 2010 or in 2011.

 

Filmed Entertainment: Television                                                                

 

In television, we intend to (1) continue our strategy of licensing our characters and stories to third-party producers for sale to broadcast and cable television networks: and (2) secure third-party financing to produce our own specials and series.

 

Licensing Deals

 

We are currently working with several well-known producing partners in order to help bring other characters to the small screen. As with the normal business flow in the entertainment industry, projects constantly move up and down priority lists at networks based on a number of variables such as programming mix, audience taste, etc. 

 

Some examples of our current projects with major studios based on previously unbranded characters include:

 

Gunplay (Fox21) – Fox Television’s production entity, Fox 21 has agreed to option The Comic Book Challenge 2007 winner for development into a cable television show.

 

Indestructible Man (Fox21) – In July 2009, Fox21 optioned our original property for development into a cable series.

 

Merchandise/Licensing

 

We recognize a targeted merchandising and licensing strategy can produce significant revenues from characters who build their audience / fan base through any form of media exploitation – feature film, television, home video/DVD, print, online, wireless and gaming. We will seek to develop relationships with category leaders to help secure more retail support, increase the distribution of its products, and make us a key franchise for our licensees.

 

Licensees recognize the potential that comic based properties afford them in diversifying their retail mix with lines for multiple characters within one story, and, in so doing, expanding the potential consumer audience interested in their merchandise. It is not uncommon for a major theatrical release in the comic to film genre to secure over 50 licensees for an array of products, from action figures, games and trading cards, to party supplies, costumes, furniture, and packaged foods.

 

The opportunities within the merchandising and licensing arena for us are equally as wide ranging, including toys/games, collectibles, apparel, and numerous consumer goods.  We will pursue opportunities via the following channels:

 

·

General merchandising agreements with third parties in each major territory where films, television and new media will be released.

 ·

Collectible merchandising: cultivating the worldwide collector market by allowing licensees in other countries to break with the normal tradition of shipping only within their territory. In these agreements, we will allow such licensees to ship product to special retailers who have partnership arrangements with the Company. These items will carry a double royalty: the original royalty from the licensee and the additional royalty from the retailer allowed to carry the material.

 ·

The licensing of the Characters for customized advertising campaigns and/or media purchase campaigns.

 ·

Leveraging individual partners and licensees’ efforts together globally and locally to create critical mass, including promotions, contests, and third-party advertising on radio, television and new media.

 ·

The leveraging of our relationships with hundreds of comic book publishers and distributors worldwide for the distribution of the Characters in print form.

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Video Game Licensing

 

Whenever possible, we have made it a normal course of business to reserve interactive game rights for our properties. When licensing our properties to studios and networks, we negotiate to maintain control of the video game rights or, at the very least, the game rights for the “classic” intellectual property. We will establish publishing and distribution relationships with producers and other industry leaders in the game industry and we will act as creative co-producer to create either console games, handheld device games, online casual games and/or mobile games. In July, 2008, we executed a license, and separate producer, agreement, for the console game for Cowboys & Aliens with Brash Entertainment. Subsequently, Brash filed for cessation of operations and returned the rights back to the Company and we are currently searching for a replacement publishing partner. We are also actively seeking game deals for Atlantis Rising, and Dead of Night, both of which are in development and production, respectively, for feature films.

 

Collectibles Merchandising Strategy

 

Our collectible merchandising strategy will be an important area for income and branding. The collectible markets worldwide will be developed through the combination of an online and offline merchandising model.  We will establish merchandise-licensing arrangements that enable individual licensees’ ability to sell merchandise outside their territories through our distribution partners. Where licensees traditionally cannot cross borders to sell products available within their own licensed territories, we will establish a global capability for individual territory merchandise licensees to make their product available worldwide over our website (including co-branded and syndicated versions of the website).

 

Merchandise Licensing Industry

 

According to License Magazine, character-based licensed products – which include entertainment, television and movie characters - generated more than $39B at retail in 2003. Licensed toy lines in the character category alone were just over $5.6B that same year.  (NPD Group/FunWorld).  Top action properties, including Spider-Man, Buffy the Vampire Slayer , The X-Men , Hercules, and Star Wars, have built lucrative licensing programs across all product categories. In fact, franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars Episode I, Toy Story, and even Barney have garnered over $1 billion sales each in the U.S. alone.  We are looking to expand our merchandise lines in ways that benefit our franchises beyond current licensing agreements.

 

Merchandise licensing can include various products including sporting goods, apparel, home furnishings, stationery, packaged goods, books, and more, but the largest segment in this industry is toys.  In the toy business, companies like Mattel and Hasbro may develop their own core brands that include characters and storylines to drive and support their toy lines. Often they look to third parties, including entertainment studios, video game companies, and book authors & publishers to bring popular storylines and characters to their products.

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Through co-ventures, direct manufacturing, and merchandise licensing, we hope to expand our   franchises into a tactile world that extends consumers relationships with the characters and stories that they know and love. 

 

 

EMPLOYEES

 

We currently employ 6 full-time and 2 part-time employees. We have not experienced any work stoppages and we consider relations with our employees to be good. 

 

 

ITEM 1A.      RISK FACTORS

 

This investment has a high degree of risk. Before you invest you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and the other information in this prospectus. Each of the following risks may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. These risks may cause the market price of our common stock to decline, which may cause you to lose all or a part of the money you paid to buy our common stock

 

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

 

WE HAVE A LIMITED OPERATING HISTORY UPON WHICH YOU CAN BASE AN INVESTMENT DECISION.

 

Our company was formed on November 20, 1996 and has only recently begun to fully exploit our library of characters.  The first ten years of our existence were spent acquiring and building our library.  There can be no assurance at this time that we will operate profitably or that we will have adequate working capital to meet our obligations as they become due.  Management believes that our success will depend in large part on the continued shift from print to digital media as well as the ability to monetize that shift.  We intend to invest heavily in developing and marketing our library of characters, primarily for the web and traditional media outlets, i.e. film and television, with print as a secondary medium.  However, there can be no assurance that such investments will yield the anticipated returns.

 

COMPETITION FROM PROVIDERS OF SIMILAR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES COULD MATERIALLY ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR REVENUES AND FINANCIAL CONDITION

 

The industry in which we compete is a rapidly evolving, highly competitive and fragmented market, which is based on consumer preferences and requires substantial human and capital resources. We expect competition to intensify in the future. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete effectively.  We believe that the main competitive factors in the entertainment, media and communications industries include effective marketing and sales, brand recognition, product quality, product placement and availability, niche marketing and segmentation and value propositions. They also include benefits of one's company, product and services, features and functionality, and cost. Many of our competitors are established, profitable and have strong attributes in many, most or all of these areas. They may be able to leverage their existing relationships to offer alternative products or services at more attractive pricing or with better customer support. Other companies may also enter our markets with better products or services, greater financial and human resources and/or greater brand recognition. Competitors may continue to improve or expand current products and introduce new products. We may be perceived as relatively too small or untested to be awarded business relative to the competition. To be competitive, we will have to invest significant resources in business development, advertising and marketing.  We may also have to rely on strategic partnerships for critical branding and relationship leverage, which partnerships may or may not be available or sufficient. We cannot assure you that we will have sufficient resources to make these investments or that we will be able to make the advances necessary to be competitive. Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced gross margin and loss of market share. Failure to compete successfully against current or future competitors could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, operating results and financial condition.  

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THE SPECULATIVE NATURE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY MAY RESULT IN OUR INABILITY TO PRODUCE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THAT RECEIVE SUFFICIENT MARKET ACCEPTANCE FOR US TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

 

Certain segments of the entertainment, media and communications industry are highly speculative and historically have involved a substantial degree of risk. For example, if a property is optioned by a studio, the option may not get exercised, or if exercised, a film may still not be made, or even if a film is made, the success of a particular film, video game, program or recreational attraction depends upon unpredictable and changing factors, including the success of promotional efforts, the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and leisure time activities, general economic conditions, public acceptance and other tangible and intangible factors, many of which are beyond our control. If we are unable to produce products or services that receive sufficient market acceptance we may not generate sufficient revenues to maintain our operations and our business will be unsuccessful.

 

CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY MAY REDUCE THE DEMAND FOR THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES WE MAY OFFER FOLLOWING A BUSINESS COMBINATION.

 

The entertainment, media and communications industries are substantially affected by rapid and significant changes in technology. These changes may reduce the demand for certain existing services and technologies used in these industries or render them obsolete. We cannot assure you that the technologies used by or relied upon or produced by a target business with which we effect a business combination will not be subject to such occurrence. While we may attempt to adapt and apply the services provided by the target business to newer technologies, we cannot assure you that we will have sufficient resources to fund these changes or that these changes will ultimately prove successful. If we are unable to respond to quickly to changes in technology our business will fail.

 

WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT OUR BUSINESS MODEL, WHICH IS SUBJECT TO INHERENT UNCERTAINTIES.

 

Our business model is predicated on our ability to control all of the rights surrounding our IP in order to properly monetize and exploit each property in the most appropriate medium.  We cannot assure that there will be a large enough audience for our IP or the media projects or merchandise based on them, or that prospective customers will agree to pay the prices that we propose to charge.  In the event our customers resist paying the prices we set for our products, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

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MANY OF OUR COMPETITORS ARE LARGER AND HAVE GREATER FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES THAN WE DO AND THOSE ADVANTAGES COULD MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR US TO COMPETE WITH THEM.

 

The global media industry is competitive.  There are a substantial number of traditional and established print publishers, film studios, production companies and internet media companies with which we compete directly and indirectly, many of which have significantly greater financial resources, higher revenues, and greater economies of scale than us.  While we believe that we are unique in our utilization of web-based comics as our primary publishing option, new technologies may be developed in the future which will compete with our publishing plan, and such technology may already be in development.  We will attempt to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to penetrate the market.  We believe that our intellectual property is attractive to an online audience in light of the recent worldwide trend to move publishing from print to electronic media.  Nevertheless, there is no assurance that we will compete successfully with existing or future competitors in the film industry. If we are not successful in competing with these traditional and established businesses we will be unable to generate any revenues. 

 

WE MAY BE UNABLE TO ADEQUATELY PROTECT OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FROM INFRINGEMENT BY THIRD PARTIES.

 

Our business plan is significantly dependent upon exploiting our intellectual property. There can be no assurance that we will be able to control all of the rights for all of our property or that some of the rights may not revert to their original owners after the expiration of their respective option periods. We may not have the resources necessary to assert infringement claims against third parties who may infringe upon our intellectual property rights. Litigation can be costly and time consuming and divert the attention and resources of management and key personnel. We cannot assure you that we can adequately protect our intellectual property or successfully prosecute potential infringement of our intellectual property rights. Also, we cannot assure you that others will not assert rights in, or ownership of, trademarks and other proprietary rights of ours or that we will be able to successfully resolve these types of conflicts to our satisfaction. Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may result in a loss of revenue and could materially adversely affect our operations and financial condition.

 

OUR FILMS MIGHT BE LESS SUCCESSFUL ECONOMICALLY THAN WE ANTICIPATE.

 

We cannot predict the economic success of any of our films because the revenue derived from the distribution of a film depends primarily upon its acceptance by the public, which cannot be accurately predicted. The economic success of a film also depends upon the public’s acceptance of competing films, critical reviews, the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and leisure time activities, piracy and unauthorized recording, transmission and distribution of films, general economic conditions, weather conditions and other tangible and intangible factors, none of which can be predicted with certainty. We expect to release a limited number of films per year as part of our film slate. The commercial failure of just one of those films could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations in both the year of release and in the future.

 

OUR FILMS MIGHT BE MORE EXPENSIVE TO MAKE THAN WE ANTICIPATE.

 

We expect that future financing which we may obtain will provide the capital required to produce our film slate. Expenses associated with producing the films could increase beyond projected costs because of a range of factors such as an escalation in compensation rates of talent and crews working on the films or in the number of personnel required to work on films, or because of creative problems or difficulties with technology, special effects and equipment. In addition, unexpected circumstances sometimes cause film production to exceed budget.

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WE MIGHT BE DISADVANTAGED BY CHANGES OR DISRUPTIONS IN THE WAY FILMS ARE DISTRIBUTED.

 

The manner in which consumers access film content has undergone rapid and dramatic changes. Some ancillary means of distribution, such as the DVD market, have gained importance, while others have faded. We cannot provide any assurance that new distribution channels will be as profitable for the film industry as today’s channels or that we will successfully exploit any new channels. We can also not provide any assurance that current distribution channels, such as the DVD market, will maintain their profitability. In addition, films and related products are distributed internationally and are subject to risks inherent in international trade including war and acts of terrorism, instability of foreign governments or economies, fluctuating foreign exchange rates and changes in laws and policies affecting the trade of movies and related products.

 

WE MIGHT LOSE POTENTIAL SALES BECAUSE OF PIRACY OF FILMS AND RELATED PRODUCTS.

 

With technological advances, the piracy of films and related products has increased. Unauthorized and pirated copies of our films will reduce the revenue generated by those films and related products.

 

OUR SUCCESS IS DEPENDENT UPON AUDIENCE ACCEPTANCE OF OUR ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT WHICH IS DIFFICULT TO PREDICT

 

The production and distribution of comic books, online publishing, television programs, motion pictures and other entertainment content are inherently risky businesses because the revenues we derive and our ability to distribute and license rights to our content depend primarily upon its acceptance by the public, which is difficult to predict. Audience tastes change frequently and it is a challenge to anticipate what content will be successful at a certain point in time.  In addition, the commercial success of our content also depends upon the quality and acceptance of competing programs, motion pictures and other content available or released into the marketplace at or near the same time. Other factors, including the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and leisure time activities, general economic conditions, piracy, digital and on-demand distribution and growing competition for consumer discretionary spending may also affect the audience for our content. Furthermore, the theatrical success of a feature film may impact not only the theatrical revenues we receive but also those from other distribution channels, such as DVD sales, pay television and sales of licensed consumer products. A poor theatrical performance may also impact our negotiating strength with distributors and retailers, resulting in less desirable product promotion. Consequently, reduced public acceptance of our entertainment content has the ability to affect all of our revenue streams and would have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

WE MUST RESPOND TO AND CAPITALIZE ON RAPID CHANGES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR RESULTING FROM NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS IN ORDER TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE AND EXPLOIT NEW OPPORTUNITIES

 

Technology in the online and mobile arenas is changing rapidly. We must adapt to advances in technologies, distribution outlets and content transfer and storage (legally or illegally) to ensure that our content remains desirable and widely available to our audiences while protecting our intellectual property interests. The ability to anticipate and take advantage of new and future sources of revenue from these technological developments will affect our ability to continue to increase our revenue and expand our business. We may not have the right, and may not be able to secure the right, to distribute some of our licensed content across these, or any other, new platforms and must adapt accordingly. Similarly, we also must adapt to changing consumer behavior driven by technological advances such as video-on-demand and a desire for more short form and user-generated and interactive content. These technological advances may impact traditional distribution methods, such as reducing the demand for DVD product and the desire to see motion pictures in theaters. If we cannot ensure that our content is responsive to the lifestyles of our target audiences and capitalize on technological advances, our revenues will decline which may cause us to curtail operations.

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A DECLINE IN ADVERTISING EXPENDITURES COULD CAUSE OUR REVENUES AND OPERATING RESULTS TO DECLINE SIGNIFICANTLY IN ANY GIVEN PERIOD OR IN SPECIFIC MARKETS

 

We anticipate deriving revenues from the sale of advertising in print and on our digital media outlets. A decline in advertising expenditures generally or in specific markets could significantly adversely affect our revenues and operating results in any given period. Declines can be caused by the economic prospects of advertisers or the economy in general could alter current or prospective advertisers’ spending priorities. Disasters, acts of terrorism, political uncertainty or hostilities could lead to a reduction in advertising expenditures as a result of economic uncertainty. Our advertising revenues may also be adversely affected by changes in audience traffic, which advertisers rely upon in making decisions to purchase advertising. A decrease in our advertising revenues will adversely impact our results of operations.

 

 

 

WE COULD BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY STRIKES AND OTHER UNION ACTIVITY

 

We and our suppliers engage the services of writers, directors, actors and other talent, trade employees and others who are subject to collective bargaining agreements. If we or our suppliers are unable to renew expiring collective bargaining agreements, certain of which are expiring in the next year or two, it is possible that the affected unions could take action in the form of strikes or work stoppages. Such actions, higher costs in connection with these agreements or a significant labor dispute could adversely affect our business by causing delays in the production, the release date or by reducing the profit margins of our programming or feature films.

 

IF WE ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL FUNDING, OUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS WILL BE HARMED AND IF WE DO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL FINANCING, OUR THEN EXISTING SHAREHOLDERS MAY SUFFER SUBSTANTIAL DILUTION.

 

There is no assurance that we will not incur debt in the future, that we will have sufficient funds to repay any indebtedness or that we will not default on our debt obligations, jeopardizing our business viability.  We are continually at risk of default on obligations to and on behalf of our secured creditors, requiring ongoing funding, on a monthly basis, to avoid these defaults.  Furthermore, we may not be able to borrow or raise additional capital in the future to meet our needs or to otherwise provide the capital necessary to conduct our business. There can be no assurance that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. The inability to obtain additional capital will restrict our ability to grow and may reduce our ability to continue to conduct business operations. If we are unable to obtain additional financing, we will likely be required to curtail our marketing and development plans and without adequate financing or revenue generation, possibly cease our operations. Any additional equity financing may involve substantial dilution to our then existing shareholders.

 

IF WE DO NOT MAINTAIN THE CONTINUED SERVICE OF OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, OUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS MAY BE AFFECTED.

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Our success is substantially dependent on the performance of our executive officers and key employees.  Given our early stage of development, we are dependent on our ability to retain and motivate high quality personnel.  Although we believe we will be able to engage qualified personnel for such purposes, an inability to do so could materially adversely affect our ability to market, sell, and enhance our products.  The loss of one or more of our key employees or our inability to hire and retain other qualified employees, including but not limited to development staff, business development staff, digital publishing staff and corporate office support staff, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

WE MAY INCUR UNINSURED LOSSES IN THE OPERATION OF OUR BUSINESS.

           

There is no assurance that we will not incur uninsured liabilities and losses as a result of the conduct of our business.  We plan to maintain comprehensive liability and property insurance at customary levels.  We will also evaluate the availability and cost of business interruption insurance.  However, should uninsured losses occur we may be unable to cover these losses from our existing work capital which may cause us to incur significant losses.

 

The Company has unresolved tax liabilities which may hinder the Company's finances.

 

The company has unpaid liabilities due to various taxing authorities for employee obligations, which is estimated to be approximately $300,000.  We have entered into payment plans to pay off these liabilities but there can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to continue making such payments.  If the Company defaults on its payment plans, the governmental entities involved might exercise their collection powers, which may be abrupt and immediate, and could possibly levy upon existing accounts of the Company, with no notice or little advance warning.  Additionally, the Company has not yet filed its tax returns for 2006, 2007 and 2008 but intends to do so as soon as practicable; however, the Company does not believe that it actually owes any taxes for these years and, therefore, the failure to file will not have a materially adverse effect on the Company.

 

WE MAY INCUR LIABILITIES THAT WE MIGHT BE UNABLE TO REPAY IN THE FUTURE

 

We may incur liabilities with affiliated or unaffiliated lenders.  These liabilities would represent fixed costs which would be required to be paid regardless of the level of our business or profitability.  Our current liabilities as of December 31, 2009 were as follows:  accounts payable of $1,324,780, accrued expenses of $1,325,304, short-term notes payable of $12,541,105, related party notes payable of $3,103,973 (plus $182,003 in accrued interest), derivative liabilities of $1,201,000, deferred revenue of $1,681,653 and capital lease obligations of $48,406 for total current liabilities of $21,408,224.   Long-term liabilities, primarily in the form of notes ($11,430,932) were $11,442,559. There is no assurance that we will be able to pay all of our liabilities.  Furthermore, we are always subject to the risk of litigation from customers, suppliers, employees, and others because of the nature of our business, including but not limited to consumer lawsuits.  Litigation can cause us to incur substantial expenses and, if cases are lost, judgments, and awards can add to our costs. An increase in our costs may cause us to increase the prices at which we charge our customers which may lead to our customers to seek alternatives to our products. In such event, our revenues will decrease and we may be forced to curtail our operations. 

 

THE COMPANY HAS GRANTED A SECURITY INTEREST IN ALL OF ITS ASSETS TO SECURE DEBT FINANCING WHICH THE COMPANY MAY DEFAULT UPON UNLESS SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL FINANCING IS RECEIVED BY THE COMPANY.

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In May 2009, the Company entered into an agreement with its CEO, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, for Mr. Rosenberg to loan the Company $500,000 for a term of one year.  This amount is in addition to the approximately $4 Million previously loaned to the Company by Mr. Rosenberg.  In exchange for the additional loan of funds, Mr. Rosenberg required a security interests in all of the assets of the Company, securing both the repayment of new funds as well as 50% of the pre-existing debt, for a total of $2.4 million in secured debt held by Mr. Rosenberg.  In June, 2009, Mr. Rosenberg loaned the Company an additional $225,000 which was secured by the assets of the Company as well as securing an additional $1,125,000 of the remaining pre-existing debt. The secured debt carries a term of 12 months and requires monthly interest payments as well as certain affirmative and negative financial covenants.  If the Company is unable to raise additional outside funding, whether in the form of equity or debt, the Company may be unable to avoid a default under Mr. Rosenberg’s secured debt, triggering a right for Mr. Rosenberg to foreclose on the assets of the Company to repay all of the secured debt.

 

WE MAY INCUR UNANTICIPATED COST OVERRUNS WHICH MAY SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT OUR OPERATIONS.

 

We may incur substantial cost overruns in the development and enhancement of our electronic comics, printed comics, and merchandise.  Management is not obligated to contribute capital to us.  Unanticipated costs may force us to obtain additional capital or financing from other sources if we are unable to obtain the additional funds necessary to implement our business plan. There is no assurance that we will be able to obtain sufficient capital to implement our business plan successfully.  If a greater investment is required in the business because of cost overruns, the probability of earning a profit or a return of the Shareholders’ investment will be diminished.  

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OUR PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS, OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS WILL OWN A CONTROLLING INTEREST IN OUR VOTING STOCK AND INVESTORS WILL NOT HAVE ANY VOICE IN OUR MANAGEMENT.

 

Our principal stockholders, officers and directors, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately 60% of our outstanding common stock. Our Chairman, Scott Rosenberg and President and Chief Operating Officer, Brian Altounian beneficially own approximately 130,240,455 and 22,953,255 shares of our outstanding common stock, respectively. As a result, our principal stockholders, officers and directors, acting together, have the ability to control substantially all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including:

 

·

election of our board of directors;

·

removal of any of our directors;

·

amendment of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; and

·

adoption of measures that could delay or prevent a change in control or impede a merger, takeover or other business combination involving us.

 

As a result of their ownership and positions, our principal stockholders, directors and executive officers collectively are able to influence all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. In addition, sales of significant amounts of shares held by our principal stockholders, directors and executive officers, or the prospect of these sales, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Their stock ownership may discourage a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us, which in turn could reduce our stock price or prevent our stockholders from realizing a premium over our stock price.

 

WE MAY NEED TO RAISE ADDITIONAL CAPITAL, WHICH MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE ON ACCEPTABLE TERMS OR AT ALL.

 

We may be required to raise additional funds, particularly if we are unable to generate positive cash flow as a result of our operations.   We estimate that our capital requirements in the next six months will be approximately $2,500,000. There can be no assurance that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.  The inability to obtain additional capital may reduce our ability to continue to conduct business operations.  If we are unable to obtain additional financing, we will likely be required to curtail our research and development plans.  Any additional equity financing may involve substantial dilution to our then-existing shareholders.

 

BECAUSE OF OUR DEPENDENCE ON A LIMITED NUMBER OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS, ANY SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN DEALS WITH MAJOR FILM STUDIOS AND TELEVISION/CABLE NETWORKS MAY IMPAIR OUR ABILITY TO OPERATE PROFITABLY.

 

Our business to date has been dependent upon a small number of licensing transactions with major studios and television/cable networks. For the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, a very small number of transactions accounted for a disproportionately large percentage of our revenue. As of December 31, 2009, transactions to three customers account for 67% of our revenue.  Three transactions accounted for the revenues from two of the customers and an ongoing licensing from one of our properties accounted for all of the revenues from the third customer.  For the year ended December 31, 2008, three (3) transactions, one to each of three customers accounted for 71% of our revenue.  The loss of or significant reduction in transactions to any of these traditional media outlets could impair our ability to operate profitably and that we may not be able to replace any decline in revenue.

 

 

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DUE TO OUR HISTORY OF OPERATING LOSSES, OUR AUDITORS ARE UNCERTAIN THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE AS A GOING CONCERN.

 

            Our financial statements have been prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern.  For the years ended December 31, 2009, December 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007, we had net losses of approximately $3.4 million, $11.2 million and $5.2 million, respectively.  The independent auditors’ report issued in conjunction with the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009 contains an explanatory paragraph indicating that the foregoing matters raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.  We cannot guarantee that we can generate net income, increase revenues or successfully expand our operation in the future, and if we cannot do so, the company may not be able to survive and any investment in the Company may be lost.

 

 

RISKS RELATING TO OUR COMMON STOCK

 

BECAUSE THERE IS A LIMITED MARKET IN OUR COMMON STOCK, STOCKHOLDERS MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY IN SELLING OUR COMMON STOCK AND OUR COMMON STOCK MAY BE SUBJECT TO SIGNIFICANT PRICE SWINGS.

 

There can be no assurance that an active market for our Common Stock will develop. If an active public market for our Common Stock does not develop, shareholders may not be able to re-sell the shares of our Common Stock that they own and affect the value of the Shares.

 

 

IF WE FAIL TO REMAIN CURRENT ON OUR REPORTING REQUIREMENTS, WE COULD BE REMOVED FROM THE OTC BULLETIN BOARD WHICH WOULD LIMIT THE ABILITY OF BROKER-DEALERS TO SELL OUR SECURITIES AND THE ABILITY OF STOCKHOLDERS TO SELL THEIR SECURITIES IN THE SECONDARY MARKET.

 

Companies trading on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board must be reporting issuers under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and must be current in their reports under Section 13, in order to maintain price quotation privileges on the OTC Bulletin Board. If we fail to remain current on our reporting requirements, we could be removed from the OTC Bulletin Board. As a result, the market liquidity for our securities could be severely adversely affected by limiting the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities and the ability of stockholders to sell their securities in the secondary market. In addition, we may be unable to get re-listed on the OTC Bulletin Board, which may have an adverse material effect on our Company.

 

OUR COMMON STOCK IS SUBJECT TO THE “PENNY STOCK” RULES OF THE SEC AND THE TRADING MARKET IN OUR SECURITIES IS LIMITED, WHICH MAKES TRANSACTIONS IN OUR STOCK CUMBERSOME AND MAY REDUCE THE VALUE OF AN INVESTMENT IN OUR STOCK.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted Rule 15g-9 which establishes the definition of a "penny stock," for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require:

 

·

that a broker or dealer approve a person's account for transactions in penny stocks; and

                                                                              23


 

 

·

the broker or dealer receive from the investor a written agreement to the transaction, setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased.

 

In order to approve a person's account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must:

  

·

obtain financial information and investment experience objectives of the person; and

 

·

make a reasonable determination that the transactions in penny stocks are suitable for that person and the person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stocks.

 

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the Commission relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form:

 

·

sets forth the basis on which the broker or dealer made the suitability determination; and

 

·

that the broker or dealer received a signed, written agreement from the investor prior to the transaction.

 

Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the "penny stock" rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of our common stock and cause a decline in the market value of our stock.

 

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and about the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

 

THE EXERCISE OF OUTSTANDING OPTIONS AND WARRANTS AND CONVERIONS OF CONVERTIBLE DEBT MAY HAVE A DILUTIVE EFFECT ON THE PRICE OF OUR COMMON STOCK.

 

To the extent that outstanding stock options and warrants are exercised, or convertible debt is converted into common stock, dilution to our stockholders will occur. Moreover, the terms upon which we will be able to obtain additional equity capital may be adversely affected, since the holders of the outstanding options and warrants can be expected to exercise, and holders of convertible debt can be expected to convert them at a time when we would, in all likelihood, be able to obtain any needed capital on terms more favorable to us than the exercise terms provided by the outstanding options and warrants.

 

WE DO NOT EXPECT TO PAY DIVIDENDS IN THE FUTURE; ANY RETURN ON INVESTMENT MAY BE LIMITED TO THE VALUE OF OUR COMMON STOCK.

 

We do not currently anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends on our Common Stock will depend on earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors affecting it at such time as the board of directors may consider relevant. Our current intention is to apply net earnings, if any, in the foreseeable future to increasing our capital base and development and marketing efforts. There can be no assurance that the Company will ever have sufficient earnings to declare and pay dividends to the holders of our Common Stock, and in any event, a decision to declare and pay dividends is at the sole discretion of the our Board of Directors. If we do not pay dividends, our Common Stock may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if its stock price appreciates.

                                                                              24


 

 

 

 

 

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES.

 

Our offices are located at 11400 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA  90064, and consist of approximately 12,400 square feet. We entered into a five year lease for our offices which requires payments of $35,835 per month or minimum annual payments of $127,429 in 2006, $387,383 in 2007, $402,878 in 2008, $418,993 in 2009, $435,753 in 2010 and $298,147 in 2011. Our lease expires on August 31, 2011.  We are currently in arrears in our rent and, on September 21, 2009, the landlord obtained an unlawful detainer judgment against the Company; however, the landlord has expressed a continuing interest on working out an arrangement that allows the Company to remain in the space and, to that end, has entered into a short-term agreement with the Company to forebear on eviction and execution on the judgment while the parties negotiate. For a complete description of this matter, please see the section entitled "Legal Proceedings."

 

 

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

Michael Tierney v. Platinum. On or about March 16, 2009, a former employee of the Company filed a suit against the Company in Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC409739) alleging, among other things, wrongful termination, fraudulent inducement, defamation, violation of California Labor Code. No specific damages had been pleaded. This former employee was terminated for cause as a result of grossly negligent/intentional misrepresentation of contractual relations with third parties in marketing materials. The misrepresentations caused the company to lose a potential deal with a particularly well-known comics website. On December 8, 2009, the Company attended a court-ordered mediation at which the Company entered into a binding settlement agreement that disposes of the entire case.  Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Company has agreed to issue an aggregate of 340,000 of restricted stock to plaintiff and plaintiff’s attorney and to pay plaintiff $12,500 due in one year.

Transcontinental Printing v. Platinum. On or about July 2, 2009, Transcontinental Printing, a New York corporation, filed suit against the Company in Superior Court, County of Los Angeles (Case No. SC103801) alleging that the Company failed to pay for certain goods and services provided by Transcontinental in the total amount of $106,593. The Company believes that Transcontinental failed to mitigate damages and, therefore, the amount owed is in dispute,  The Company will diligently pursue a settlement with this plaintiff but there can be no guarantee that such a settlement can be reached. This case is currently set to go to trial on March 26, 2010.

Harrison Kordestani v. Platinum. Harrison Kordestani was a principal of Arclight Films, with whom the Company had entered into a film slate agreement. One of the properties that had been subject to the slate agreement was “Dead of Night.” Arclight fired Mr. Kordestani and subsequently released Dead of Night from the slate agreement. In late January 2009, Mr. Krodestani had an attorney contact the Company as well as its new partners who were on the verge of closing the financing for the “Dead of Night.” Mr. Kordestani, through his counsel, claimed he was entitled to reimbursement for certain monies invested in the film while it had been subject to the Arclight slate agreement. Mr. Krodestani’s claim was wholly without merit and an attempt to force an unwarranted settlement because he knew we were about to close a deal. We responded immediately through outside counsel and asserted that he was engaging in extortion and the company would pursue him vigorously if he continued to try and interfere with our deal. The company has not heard anything further from Mr. Kordestani but will vigorously defend any suit that Mr. Kordestani attempts to bring.

                                                                              25


 

 

Doubleclick, Inc. v. Platinum. On February 19, 2009, a lawsuit was filed by Doubleclick, Inc. against the Company in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The claim is basically a breach of contract claim. The contract at issue was a three-year agreement to provide ad serving services, requiring a minimum $3,500/month payment with no termination clause. The employee who executed the agreement without having counsel review it is no longer with the Company. Between February and June 2008, the Company attempted to negotiate an “out” without luck. The service was far too expensive and the Company could no longer afford it and stopped using it around June/July 2008. Doubleclick is seeking approximately $118,000, plus interest and late fees for the balance of the contract. The Company has engaged outside counsel, Jeffrey Reina with the law firm of LIPSITZ GREEN SCIME CAMBRIA LLP in Buffalo, NY to handle this matter. On October 18, 2009, the Company entered into a settlement agreement whereby it agreed to pay to Doubleclick the sum of $37,500 no later than February 18, 2010 to settle the lawsuit; pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Company also entered into a Confession of Judgment whereby Judgment shall be entered against the Company for the full amount of the lawsuit of $133,390 in the event the Company does not make full payment of the settlement amount by February 18, 2010.  Doubleclick agreed on an additional reduction of $5,000 in the amount due if paid earlier.  On February 2, 2010, the Company paid Doubleclick $32,500 as payment in full on the settlement.

 

Paul Franz v. WOWIO, LLC and Platinum. A lawsuit was filed against WOWIO and the Company by Paul Franz, a former consultant to WOWIO, asserting that WOWIO had breached its payment obligations under a consulting agreement. On September 2, 2009, WOWIO, which was no longer owned by the Company as of such date, entered into a Settlement and Release Agreement with Paul Franz, whereby Paul Franz released the Company and WOWIO from all liability and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.

 

TBF Financial Inc. v. Platinum. On or about August 20, 2009, TB Financial, Inc. filed suit against the Company in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC420336) alleging that the Company breached a written lease agreement for computer equipment and seeking damages of $42,307 plus interest at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum from July 7, 2008. On November 19, 2009, TB Financial filed a Request for Default against the Company; however, the Company turned the matter over to Company counsel to oppose any requests for default.  On February 24, 2010, a default judgment was entered against the Company in the amount of $51,506.12 and the Company received a request for Writ of Execution on March 1, 2010.  The Company’s outside counsel is filing the necessary motion to attempt to set aside the judgment.  If we are successful in such set aside motion, the Company will aggressively pursue a settlement of these claims.

 

Rustemagic v. Rosenberg & Platinum Studios. On or about June 30, 2009, Ervin Rustemagic filed suit against the Company and its President, Scott Rosenberg, in the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC416936) alleging that the Company (and Mr. Rosenberg) breached an agreement with Mr. Rustemagic thereby causing damages totaling $125,000. According to the Complaint, Mr. Rustemagic was to receive 50% of producer fees paid in connection with the exploitation of certain comics-based properties. Rustemagic claims that he became entitled to such fees and was never paid. The Company and Rosenberg deny that Rustemagic is entitled to the gross total amount of money he is seeking. The matter has now been removed to arbitration.

 

Douglass Emmet v. Platinum Studios On August 20, 2009, Douglas Emmet 1995, LLC filed an Unlawful Detainer action against the Company with regard to the office space currently occupied by the Company. The suit was filed in the California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, (Case No. SC104504) and alleged that

the Company had failed to make certain lease payments to the Plaintiff and was, therefore, in default of its lease obligations. The Plaintiff prevailed on its claims at trial and, subsequently, on October 14, 2009 entered into a Forbearance Agreement with the Company pursuant to which Douglas Emmet agreed to forebear on moving forward with eviction until December 31, 2009, if the Company agreed to pay to Douglas Emmet 50% of three month’s rent, in advance, for the months of October, November and December 2009. As of January 1, 2010, the Company was required to pay to Douglas Emmet the sum of $466,752 to become current under the existing lease or face immediate eviction and judgment for that amount. Prior to January 1, 2010, Douglas Emmet agreed to a month-to-month situation where Platinum pays 50% of its rent at the beginning of the month and the landlord holds back on eviction and enforcement of judgment while they evaluated whether they will consider negotiating a new lease with the Company that would potentially demise some of the Company’s current officer space back to the landlord as well as potentially forgive some of the past due rent. There can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to negotiate such a deal with the landlord and therefore, may be required to find new office space as well as suffer the entry of judgment for the full amount owed under the existing lease.

                                                                              26


 

With exception to the litigation disclosed above, we are not currently a party to, nor is any of our property currently the subject of, any additional pending legal proceeding that will have a material adverse effect on our business, nor are any of our directors, officers or affiliates involved in any proceedings adverse to our business or which have a material interest adverse to our business.

 

 

ITEM 4.    SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

 

No matter was submitted to a vote of security holders during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year covered by this report.

 

 

                                                                              27


 

PART II

 

ITEM 5.    MARKET FOR COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS.

 

Our common stock was approved for quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “PDOS” on January 10, 2008. For the periods indicated, the following table sets forth the high and low bid prices per share of common stock. These prices represent inter-dealer quotations without retail markup, markdown, or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

 

 

Fiscal 2009

Quarter Ended

High

Low

March 31

June 30

September 30

December 31

$0.085

$0.065

$0.11

$0.096

$0.02

$0.035

$0.0385

$0.046

 

 

Fiscal 2008

Quarter Ended

High

Low

March 31

June 30

September 30

December 31

$0.21

$0.175

$0.155

$0.08

$0.09

$0.13

$0.08

$0.014

 

As of December 31, 2009, our shares of common stock were held by approximately 400 stockholders of record. The number of record holders was determined from the records of our transfer agent and does not include beneficial owner’s common stock whose shares are held in the names of various securities brokers, dealers and registered clearing agencies.

 

The transfer agent of our common stock is Computershare Limited, whose address is 250 Royall Street, Canton MA 02021.  The phone number of the transfer agent is (800) 962-4284.

 

Dividends

 

We have not declared any dividends to date. We have no present intention of paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, as we intend to use earnings, if any, to generate growth. The payment by us of dividends, if any, in the future, rests within the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend, among other things, upon our earnings, our capital requirements and our financial condition, as well as other relevant factors. There are no restrictions in our articles of incorporation or bylaws that restrict us from declaring dividends

 
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

 

            On February 20, 2009 the Company opened a Private Placement round, offering up to 30,000,000 shares of common stock at an offer price of $0.05/share.  The Company sold 1,300,000 shares for a total of $65,000 under this offering.  In September, 2009, the Company opened a Private Placement round offering up to 30,000,000 shares of common stock at an offer price of $0.05/share.  This round was completed on December 21st with the Company selling 19,250,821 shares valued at $962,541 in cash and debt conversion.  These Private Placements were offered pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 506 promulgated thereunder.

                                                                              28


 

 

ITEM 6.    SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

           

            Not applicable.

 

 

 

ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OR PLAN OF OPERATION.

Forward-looking Statements

Some of the information in this prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate" and "continue," or similar words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they:

·

discuss our future expectations;

 ·

contain projections of our future results of operations or of our financial condition; and

 ·

state other "forward-looking" information.

 

We believe it is important to communicate our expectations. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to accurately predict or over which we have no control. Our actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth under "Risk Factors," "Business" and elsewhere in this prospectus. See "Risk Factors."

GENERAL

We are a comics-based entertainment company.  We own the rights to a library of over 5,600 of comic book characters, which we adapt and produce for film, television and all other media. Our library contains characters in a full range of genre and styles.  With deals in place with film studios and media players, our management believes we are positioned to become a leader in the creation of new content across all media.  

We are focused on adding titles and expanding our library with the primary goal of creating new franchise properties and characters.  In addition to in-house development and further acquisitions, we are developing content with professionals outside the realm of comic books.  We have teamed up with screenwriters, producers, directors, movie stars, and novelists to develop entertainment content and potential new franchise properties.  We believe our core brand offers a broader range of storylines and genres than the traditional superhero-centric genre.  Management believes this approach is maintained with Hollywood in mind, as the storylines offer the film industry fresh, high-concept brandable content as a complimentary alternative to traditional super hero storylines.

Over the next several years, we are working to become the leading independent comic book commercialization producer for the entertainment industry across all platforms including film, television, direct- to-home, publishing, and digital media, creating merchandising vehicles through all retail product lines.  Our management believes this will allow us to maximize the potential and value of our owned content creator relationships and acquisitions, story development and character/franchise brand-building capabilities while keeping required capital investment relatively low.

                                                                              29


 

We derive revenues from a number of sources in each of the following areas:  Print Publishing, Digital Publishing, Filmed Entertainment, and Merchandise/Licensing.

Set forth below is a discussion of the financial condition and results of operations of Platinum Studios, Inc. (the “Company”, “we”, “us,” and “our”) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 and 2008.  The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the information set forth in the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this report.

 

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2009 COMPARED TO THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008

NET REVENUE

Net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2009 was $292,940 compared to $822,488 for the year ended December 31, 2008.  Currently the Company derives most of its revenue from options to purchase rights, the purchase of rights to properties and first look deals. This type of revenue can vary significantly between quarters and years.  In previous years, the Company also derived revenues from comic book publishing.  The decrease in revenues from 2008 to 2009 of approximately $530,000 was related to a decrease in rights and option fees for filmed entertainment of $120,000, a decrease in merchandising licensing revenues of $276,000, a decrease in comic book publishing revenues of $85,000 and a decrease in miscellaneous revenues of $49,000.

 

EXPENSES

Cost of revenues

For the year ended December 31, 2009, cost of revenues was $73,390 compared to $198,864 for the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease is primarily due to the elimination of printed comic books due to cash conservation initiatives. 

Operating expenses

Operating expenses decreased $2,879,169 or approximately 59% for the year ended December 31, 2009 to $1,929,151, as compared to $4,808,320 for the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease was due to reductions in advertising costs, payroll and contractor costs as the Company has worked to streamline its business model to conserve cash while making the necessary expenditures to ensure the growth of the company.

Research and development

Research and development costs decreased $329,362 or 63% for the year ended December 31, 2009 to $196,688, as compared to $526,050 for the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease was primarily due to decreased artwork expense and consulting fees.

                                                                              30


 

Impairment of intangibles

            For the year ended December 31, 2009, impairment of intangibles was $0 as compared to $2,499,380 for the year ended December 31, 2008.  This decrease was due wholly to the impairment taken against the goodwill for the WOWIO asset during 2008.  With the reduction in online advertising and a negative EBITDA for the entity on its own, the Company took the most conservative approach to the impairment issue by reducing the amount of goodwill, effectively reducing the value of the asset to zero. 

Stock option expense

            Stock option expense was $85,766 for the year ended December 31, 2009 as compared to $3,387,796 for the year ended December 31, 2008.  This decrease was due to the issuance of stock to employees from the stock option plan in the first quarter of 2008. The majority of the options vested at the time of the grant, resulting in a significant non-cash expense during 2008.  The expense for 2009 was related to current year vesting on the options issued during 2008.  The Company does not expect to incur significant stock option expense in future years.

Depreciation and amortization

For the year ended December 31, 2009 depreciation and amortization was $153,368 compared to $176,175 for the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease is related fixed assets becoming fully depreciated during the year.

Gain on settlement of debt

The Company recorded a gain on settlement of debt of $453,451 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009.  This net gain was primarily due to the final payment to the Wowio former partners through the issuance of common stock, partially offset by losses incurred in the settlement of accounts payable and notes payable through the issuance of common stock.

Loss on derivative liability

The Company recorded a loss on derivative liability of $267,000 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009. The derivative liability, recorded in connection with new debts payable to the Company’s CEO during 2009, is re-valued at each reporting date with changes in value being recognized as part of current earnings.

Interest expense

For the year ended December 31, 2009 interest expense was $1,373,755 compared to $403,009 for the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase is primarily related to amortization of debt discount recorded as interest expense in connection with new debts payable to the Company’s CEO during 2009.

As a result of the foregoing, the net loss decreased by $7,859,661 for the year ended December 31, 2009, to $3,384,822, as compared to $11,244,483 for 2008.  Approximately $5,801,000 of the decrease was attributable to decrease in losses taken on intangible assets and stock option issuances.  Operating expense and research and development expense contributed to the decrease in net loss by approximately $3,208,000.  These decreases were offset by increases in interest and loss on derivative liability of approximately $1,237,000.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Net cash used in operations during the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 was $971,048, primarily due to the net loss of the company.

                                                                              31


 

Net cash used by investing activities was $13,998,455 for the year ended December 31, 2009, primarily related to the Dead of Night production costs.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $15,079,547 for the year ended December 31, 2009, primarily related to the financing for the Dead of Night production.

At December 31, 2009 the Company had cash balances of $152,067 and a restricted cash balance of $127,890.  Restricted cash will be used in the production of the film Dead of Night.  The Company will issue additional equity and may consider debt financing to fund future growth opportunities and support operations. Although the Company believes its unique intellectual content offers the opportunity for significantly improved operating results in future quarters, no assurance can be given that the Company will operate on a profitable basis in 2010, or ever, as such performance is subject to numerous variables and uncertainties, many of which are out of the Company’s control.

 

ITEM 7A.    QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

MARKET RISKS

We conduct our operations in primary functional currencies: the United States dollar, the British pound and the Australian dollar. Historically, neither fluctuations in foreign exchange rates nor changes in foreign economic conditions have had a significant impact on our financial condition or results of operations. We currently do not hedge any of our foreign currency exposures and are therefore subject to the risk of exchange rate fluctuations. We invoice our international customers primarily in U.S. dollars, except in the United Kingdom and Australia, where we invoice our customers primarily in British pounds and Australian dollars, respectively. In the future we anticipate billing certain European customers in Euros, though we have not done so to date.

We are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of foreign subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars in consolidation and as our foreign currency consumer receipts are converted into U.S. dollars. Our exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations also arises from payables and receivables to and from our foreign subsidiaries, vendors and customers. Foreign exchange rate fluctuations did not have a material impact on our financial results in the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008.

Financial instruments which potentially subject us to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents and trade accounts receivable. We place our cash and cash equivalents with high credit quality institutions to limit credit exposure. We believe no significant concentration of credit risk exists with respect to these investments.

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to trade accounts receivable are limited due to the wide variety of customers who are dispersed across many geographic regions.

GOING CONCERN

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business.  The Company has incurred significant losses which have resulted in an accumulated deficit of $24,094,900 as of December 31, 2009. The Company plans to seek additional financing in order to execute its business plan, but there is no assurance the Company will be able to obtain such financing on terms favorable to the Company or at all.  These items raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.  The accompanying financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects related to recovery and classification of assets, or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

                                                                              32


 

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

We do not have any off balance sheet arrangements that are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, revenues, and results of operations, liquidity or capital expenditures.

 

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

REVENUE RECOGNITION

Revenue from the licensing of characters and storylines (“the properties”) owned by the Company are recognized when the earnings process is complete. This is considered to have occurred when persuasive evidence of an agreement between the customer and the Company exists, when the properties are made available to the licensee and the Company has satisfied its obligations under the agreement, when the fee is fixed or determinable and when collection is reasonably assured. The Company derives its licensing revenue primarily from options to purchase rights, the purchase of rights to properties and first look deals. For options that contain non-refundable minimum payment obligations, revenue is recognized ratably over the option period, provided all the criteria for revenue recognition have been met.  Revenue received under first look deals is recognized ratably over the first look period, which varies by contract provided all the criteria for revenue recognition have been met. For licenses requiring material continuing involvement or performance based obligations, by the Company, the revenue is recognized as and when such obligations are fulfilled. The Company records as deferred revenue any licensing fees collected in advance of obligations being fulfilled or if a licensee is not sufficiently creditworthy, the Company will record deferred revenue until payments are received. License agreements typically include reversion rights which allow the Company to repurchase property rights which have not been used by the studio (the buyer) in production within a specified period of time as defined in the purchase agreement. The cost to repurchase the rights is generally based on the costs incurred by the studio to further develop the characters and story lines.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT COSTS

Character development costs consist primarily of costs to acquire properties from the creator, development of the property using internal or independent writers and artists, and the registration of a property for a trademark or copyright. These costs are capitalized in the year incurred if the Company has executed a contract or is negotiating a revenue generating opportunity for the property. If the property derives a revenue stream that is estimable, the capitalized costs associated with the property are expensed as revenue is recognized. If the Company determines there is no determinable market for a property, it is deemed impaired and is written off.

PURCHASED INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND LONG-LIVED ASSETS

Intangible assets are capitalized at acquisition costs and intangible assets with definite lives are amortized on the straight-line basis.  The Company periodically reviews the carrying amounts of intangible assets and property.  Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment, and purchased intangibles subject to amortization, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, the impairment charge to be recognized is measured by the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the asset.

                                                                              33


 

 

ADVERTISING COSTS

Advertising costs are expensed the later of when incurred or when the advertisement is first run. For the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, advertising expenses were $0 and $48,080, respectively.

 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research and development costs, primarily character development costs and design not associated with an identifiable revenue opportunity, are charged to operations as incurred. For the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, research and development expenses were $196,688 and $526,050, respectively.

INCOME TAXES

            At December 31, 2009, the Company had net loss carry forwards available to offset future taxable income, if any, of approximately $10,800,000, which will begin to expire in 2019. The utilization of the net operating loss carryforwards is dependant on tax laws in effect at the time the net operating loss carryforwards can be utilized. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 significantly limits the annual amount that can be utilized for certain of these carry forwards as a result of the change in ownership.

Deferred taxes are provided on a liability method whereby deferred tax assets are recognized for deductible temporary differences and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and deferred tax liabilities are recognized for taxable temporary differences. Temporary differences are the differences between the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax basis. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in the tax laws and rates on the date of enactment.

           

The Company recognizes tax benefits from uncertain positions if it is "more likely than not" that the position is sustainable, based upon its technical merits. The initial measurement of the tax benefit is the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority having full knowledge of all relevant information.

The Company, as a matter of policy, would record any interest and penalties associated with uncertain tax positions as a component of income tax expense in its statement of operations.  There are no penalties accrued as of December 31, 2009, as the Company has significant net operating loss carry forwards, even if certain of the Company’s tax positions were disallowed, it is not foreseen that the Company would have to pay any taxes in the near future. Consequently, the Company does not calculate the impact of interest or penalties on amounts that might be disallowed.

DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

Platinum Studios entered into a Credit Agreement on May 6, 2009, with Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of two secured promissory notes and an unsecured promissory note. Two warrants were issued to Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of various promissory notes as of May 6, 2009 and June 3, 2009.

                                                                              34


 

A description of the notes is as follows:

May 6, 2009 Secured Debt - The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $2,400,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The original principal amount of $2,400,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 25,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.048 per share.

June 3, 2009 Secured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $1,350,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.038. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The original principal amount of $1,350,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.038 per share.

June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $544,826, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. The Company is required to make payments of $29,687 per month. The monthly payments are to be applied first to interest and second to principal. The remaining principal amount is to be repaid upon the expiration of the note on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the note at any time. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default.

In determining the fair market value of the embedded derivatives, we used discounted cash flows analysis. We also used a binomial option pricing model to value the warrants issued in connection with these debts. The Company determined the fair value of the embedded derivatives to be $715,904 and the fair value of the warrants to be $934,000. These embedded derivatives have been accounted for as a debt discount that will be amortized over the one year life of the notes.  Amortization of the debt discount has resulted in a $920,816 increase to interest expense for twelve months ended December 31, 2009.

A description of the Warrants is as follows:

1)  The May 6, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 25,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.048 per share. The May 6, 2009 warrant is exercisable up until May 6, 2019. The May 6, 2009 warrant shall expire and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

                                                                              35


 

2)  The June 3, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.038 per share. The June 3, 2009 warrant is exercisable up until June 3, 2019. The June 3, 2009 warrant shall expire and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

In determining the fair market value of the Warrants, we used the binomial model with the following significant assumptions:  exercise price $0.038 – $0.048, trading prices $0.04 - $0.08, expected volatility 115.6% - 116.2%, expected life of 60 months, dividend yield of 0.00% and a risk free rate of 3.2% - 3.56%. The fair value of these warrants has been recorded as part of the debt discount as discussed above as well as being recognized as a derivative liability. The derivative liability is re-valued at each reporting date with changes in value being recognized as part of current earnings. This re-valuation resulted in a loss of $267,000 during the twelve months ended December 31, 2009.

 

 

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

The FASB issued guidance under Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2010-06, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures". The ASU requires certain new disclosures and clarifies two existing disclosure requirements.  The new disclosures and clarifications of existing disclosures are effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009.  We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our financial statements.

The FASB issued guidance under Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2010-08, “Technical Corrections to Various topics.  The ASU eliminates certain inconsistencies and outdate provisions and provides needed clarifications.  The changes are generally nonsubstantive nature and will not result in pervasive changes to current practice.  However, the amendments that clarify the guidance on embedded derivatives and hedging (ASU Subtopic 815-15) may cause a change in the application of the Subtopic.  The clarifications of the guidance on embedded derivatives and hedging (Subtopic 815-15) are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2009.

 

ITEM 8.         FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

All financial information required by this Item is attached hereto at the end of this report beginning on page 53 and is hereby incorporated by reference.

 

ITEM 9.         CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

None

ITEM 9A.      CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

                                                                              36


 

Disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) are controls and other procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that the information that we are required to disclose in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Controller, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

In connection with the preparation of this Annual Report, our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Controller, carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2009. In making this evaluation, our management considered the matters relating to the material weaknesses discussed below. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Controller concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at the reasonable assurance level as of December 31, 2009.

 

In light of the material weaknesses described below, we performed additional analyses and other procedures to ensure that our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). These measures included, among other things, expansion of our year-end closing procedures, including the expanded review and analysis of the accounting between the Company and the Distributor, dedication of significant internal resources and an external consultant to scrutinize account analyses, reserve estimates, asset valuations, proper accounting treatment for revenues and expenses and account reconciliations at a detailed level. As a result of these and other expanded procedures, we concluded that the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report present fairly, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with GAAP.

 

Our management, under the supervision of our Chief Executive Officer and Controller, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Internal control over financial reporting includes policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company, (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company, and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

 

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with existing policies or procedures may deteriorate. Further, because of changes in conditions, effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting may vary over time.

 

A material weakness is a control deficiency, or combination of control deficiencies (within the meaning of PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2), that results in there being more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by employees in the normal course of their assigned functions. Management has identified the following material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009:

 

As of December 31, 2009, we did not maintain effective controls over the following items:  (i) timely and routine process for reconciling certain accounts to the general ledger; (ii) detailed documentation and analysis to support certain valuation estimates; (iii) proper application of stock compensation expense and incomplete record keeping related to stock option grants; (iv) proper application of the provision of SOP 00-2 Accounting by Producers or Distributors of Films for the recognition of revenues and expenses associated with the Company’s  various distribution agreements ; (v) timely assessment of accounts for realizability or impairment; (vi) accurate valuation and supporting documentation for certain assets and (vii) formal process over changes, access and controls and procedures related to our information technology systems.

                                                                              37


 

 

During 2009, our internal accounting personnel did not have sufficient depth, skills and experience to recognize errors and deficiencies in accounting policies and procedures required to properly account for the proper application of stock compensation expenses.  We also had insufficient formalized processes to ensure that accounting policies and procedures implemented were properly scrutinized or revised for the new corporate organizational structure in order to provide reasonable reliability.

 

As a result of the material weaknesses described above, our management concluded that as of December 31, 2009, we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting.

 

In response to the identified material weaknesses, we have remedied the specific accounting policies and procedures which led to the errors requiring restatement. We have established additional policies and enhanced the procedures that we will follow and have addressed these items as follows: (i)  the Company has added an experienced accounting and financial person  with industry experience, (ii) is implementing a formal closing process,  (iii) has employed an experienced consultant to oversee internal controls and procedures implementation by December 31, 2010; (iv) the Company has retained a third party valuation firm to value specific assets including intangible assets and allocated personnel to ensure that certain asset and liability accounts are properly reviewed and documented.

 

In addition, our management, with oversight from our Board, has dedicated significant resources to improve our control environment and to review, remediate and implement controls and procedures to satisfy the Company’s requirement to be compliant with the requirements of Sarbanes Oxley by December 31, 2010.  We intend to further expand our internal accounting personnel, information technology systems and personnel and compliance capabilities by attracting additional talent, enhancing training and implementing system and process improvements in our accounting and record keeping. These ongoing efforts are focused on implementing process changes to strengthen our internal control and monitoring activities.

 

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

Other than as described above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2009, that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION

None.

                                                                              38


 

PART III

 

ITEM 10.             DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, PROMOTERS AND CONTROL PERSONS; COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 16(A) OF THE EXCHANGE ACT

The following table sets forth information about our executive officers, key employees and directors as of December 31, 2009.

 

Name

Age

Position

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

48

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Brian Kenneth Altounian

47

President, Chief Operating Officer and Director

Jill Zimmerman

48

Director

Helene Pretsky

47

Corporate Secretary and General Counsel

__________________

Scott Rosenberg has been our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 15, 2006 and Mr. Rosenberg served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Platinum Studios, LLC, our predecessor, since November 1996.   Mr. Rosenberg established Platinum Studios, LLC in 1996 following a successful, high-profile career in the comic book industry. As founder and head of Malibu Comics, Rosenberg produced the Men In Black comic book, which he took to Sony to become a billion-dollar film franchise. At Malibu, Rosenberg developed an innovative grass-roots marketing approach, reaching out directly to fans, retailers, and press to allow Malibu to be distributed alongside top industry players at a fraction of what the major companies spent—notably, in the pre-Internet age, without the opportunities and advantages provided by the web. Malibu’s marketing savvy and ability to create and develop new characters and new ideas led to a fierce bidding war to acquire the company, and in 1994 Malibu was bought by Marvel Comics. Mr. Rosenberg holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Denver.

Brian Altounian has been our Chief Operating Officer since June 2005 and was appointed to serve as President and Director in September 2006. Mr. Altounian's background includes business development, finance, operations and administration and he has applied those skills to a variety of start-ups, Fortune 100 companies, and public and private organizations. Mr. Altounian has worked extensively in the entertainment and high-tech industries, the bread and butter of Los Angeles' commercial culture.

From May, 2005 through mid-January, 2008, he sat on the Board of Directors of Cereplast, Inc. (CERP.OTC), a manufacturer of proprietary bio-based, renewable plastics, where he has also served as the Audit Committee Chairman.  From August, 2004 through June, 2006, he sat on the Board of Directors of Machine Talker (MTKN.OTC), which has created a breakthrough technology in smart security wireless networks.  From May, 2003 through June, 2006, he sat as Chairman of the Board of Directors of XsunX, Inc. (XSNX.OTC), a developer of revolutionary thin film photovoltaic solar cell technology. His expertise is in the area of developing corporate infrastructure and assisting early-stage companies to execute on their business plans and grow, often through the access of capital through the public equity markets and from December, 2003 through June, 2007, he has provided advisory support to a number of these early-stage technology companies such as Warp9 (WNYN.OTC), Imaging3, Inc. (IMGG.OTC), BioSolar, Inc (BSRC.OTC), Carbon Sciences, Inc. (CABN.OTC) and Origin Oil, Inc. (OOIL.OTC).  His first foray in the high-tech space came as Executive Vice President of Main Course Technologies, a wireless applications developer which he co-founded in January 2000 and ran until May, 2003.

                                                                              39


 

Prior to his adventures in the high-tech arena, Mr. Altounian spent 12 years in the entertainment industry with a successful consulting practice, advising entertainment companies in the areas of finance, administration, operations and business development. His clients have included Disney Interactive, Two Oceans Entertainment Group, The Santa Barbara Grand Opera Association, International Documentary Association, In-Finn-Ity Productions and many others.  He also held senior management positions in-house at Lynch Entertainment, a television production company where he held the position of Vice President, Finance from January 1998 through December 1999;  Time Warner Interactive, a CD-ROM and interactive game company where he served as Vice President, Finance from July, 1995 – May, 1996; National Geographic Television, serving as Finance Director for this world-renown documentary film production company, specifically for the National Geographic Specials for the NBC Television Network from July, 1992 – June, 1996; and from 1987 through June, 1992, as Business Services Manager for WQED, the country’s first community-owned Public Television stations where he oversaw the finances and operations for numerous television documentary series.

Most recently, he was Consulting Producer on Random 1, a reality television series that debuted in November 2005 on the A&E Network and Executive Producer on the documentary feature film Lost in Woonsocket .  Mr. Altounian also recently founded a non-profit media organization, Lost & Found in America, Inc., where he currently sits as Chairman of the Board for this company that creates media projects that support local community-based non-profit groups serving underserved segments of the US population.

Mr. Altounian holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Jill M. Zimmerman has been a director since September 16, 2006.  Since May 2005, Ms. Zimmerman has served as a Vice President at the Alford Group, a consulting firm based in Evanston, Illinois. Ms. Zimmerman previously served as a Crisis Program Supervisor and Director of Development at Alternatives, Inc. a not-for profit corporation from November 1994 through May 2005. Ms. Zimmerman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Masters degree from the University of Chicago.

Helene Pretsky has been our general counsel since January, 2006 and our corporate secretary and Executive Vice President since October 1 2006. Ms. Pretsky, a securities/corporate attorney with expertise in intellectual property, has focused her twenty-year legal career on representing start-up, early-stage revenue companies in the high-tech, emerging technologies and entertainment industries. Ms Pretsky was an associate at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison from 1987 to 1994,  and associate at Kinsella, Boesch, Fujikawa & Towle from 1994 to 2000 where Ms. Pretsky provided the full range of corporate representation for private and public companies, including public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions and preferred stock financings; complex patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark licensing and protection agreements; cooperative research, development and commercialization agreements; and domestic and international distribution and sales arrangements. From 2000 to 2005, Ms. Pretsky served as General Counsel and VP of Business Affairs of Virtual Fonlink, Inc., a cutting edge mobile payment services hardware and software solutions company, which she also co-founded.  Ms. Pretsky provided the full range of corporate and securities work for such company, including preparation and negotiation of private placements, technology development and license agreements and strategic partnership contracts with Motorola, Nextel, Sprint, SAfeNet and TNS. She was also instrumental in creating the company's overall business and intellectual property strategies.  

                                                                              40


 

Ms. Pretsky, a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where she graduated in the top 15% of her class and was a member of its prestigious Law Review.

 

SIGNIFICANT EMPLOYEES

 

Dan Forcey, Vice President, Content Development

Mr. Forcey has served as Platinum’s Vice President of Content Development since January of 2007.  Prior to that, he served as Platinum’s Communications Manager from December of 2002, coordinating their public relations efforts and managing multiple websites for the company, including the corporate site platinumstudios.com, the fan portal, jeremiahportal.com, and the Unique Experience alternative reality game. 

 

For the past 10 years, Mr. Forcey has worked extensively across the United States and Canada as a stuntman, fight choreographer, and teacher of movement and stage combat and is a world-recognized expert in fencing and swordfighting. Mr. Forcey 's stunt work includes multiple television shows and feature films both in the U.S. and abroad, including Oscar-nominated movies like Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World , Flags of Our Fathers, and Letters from Iwo Jima.  From 1997 through 2002, Mr. Forcey has held faculty positions at York University, the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, the University of Southern California, Cal State University, Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, and the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. During his various tenures, he has instructed students in acting, movement for actors, stage combat and clowning.

 

On 1996, Mr. Forcey graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California with an undergraduate degree in theatre with a minor in philosophy.   Mr. Forcey graduated Magna cum laude from York University while receiving his graduate degree in acting and movement, writing his master's thesis on the use of the British quarterstaff.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

 

Except for Brian Altounian, our President, our officers devote 100% of their time to our business.  Our Chief Executive officer, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, is permitted to enter into separate producer agreements for our productions through his own loan-out corporation, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Productions, Inc., provided that all compensation that he receives through these agreements are considered as compensation he receives as CEO of the Company and therefore taken into account in setting his annual compensation. The Producer agreements are standard in the industry for heads of media companies.  Mr. Rosenberg did not receive any compensation under this arrangement for the years ended December 31, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. During 2009, Mr. Rosenberg received $250,000 as a producer fee for Dead of Night.  A loan-out company is use in the entertainment industry and is used for actors, musicians, directors, producers, writers and other key individuals. In a typical loan-out company arrangement, the individual forms the corporation which he controls. The corporation hires the individual with the salary to be set from time to time to reflect the activity of the corporation. Instead of the individual being hired directly, a deal is made with the loan-out company which in turn lends the services of its employee. In order to give the hiring company comfort that the individual will be committed to doing the work the individual may be asked to sign an inducement letter, which confirms that he or she will look only to the loan-out corporation for compensation.

 

Up until June 30, 2009, Brian Altounian, President of the Company, devoted 100% of his time to the Company’s business.  Effective July 1, 2009, concurrent with the consummation of the purchase by Alliance Acquisition (an affiliate of Mr. Altounian’s) of the Company’s subsidiary WOWIO, LLC, Mr. Altounian reduced his time commitment  to the Company to 20% (with a corresponding reduction in salary).  The primary focus of Mr. Altouian’s 20% time commitment is raising financing for the Company.  Since the Company is entitled to a royalty in perpetuity from WOWIO, the success of WOWIO could have a positive financial impact on the Company. 

                                                                              41


 

Our Board of Directors is comprised of Mr, Rosenberg, Mr. Altounian and Jill Zimmerman.  Ms. Zimmerman is an outside director with a full-time job in the non-profit sector. She devotes her time as director to the Company on an as needed basis which includes weekly Board calls.

                                                                              42


 

TERM OF OFFICE

 

Pursuant to our bylaws, our directors are elected at our annual meeting of stockholders and each director holds office until his successor is elected and qualified. Officers are elected by our Board of Directors and hold office until an officer's successor has been duly appointed and qualified unless an officer sooner dies, resigns or is removed by the Board.

 

COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD

 

We currently do not have an audit committee, compensation committee, nominations and governance committee of our board of directors.

  

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

 

There are no family relationships among our executive officers and directors.

 

CODE OF ETHICS

 

We have adopted our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct for Officers, Directors and Employees that applies to all of our executive officers and directors. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on our corporate website at www.platinumstudios.com, under the corporate tab on the Company’s home page.  Upon request, we will provide to any person without charge a copy of our Code of Ethics. Any such request should be made to the Company, 11400 W. Olympic Blvd. 14th Floor, Los Angeles, California, 90064, and Attention: Brian Altounian.

 

ITEM 11.       EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

 

The following table sets forth the compensation paid or accrued by us to our Chief Executive Officer and President and Chief Operating Officer and each of our other officers whose compensation exceeded $100,000 for each of the Company’s last four completed fiscal years.

 

Name and

Principal Position

 Year

 Salary ($)

Bonus ($)

 

 

 Stock Awards ($)

 Option Awards ($)

 

 

 Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($)

  Change in Pension Value and Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Earnings ($)

All Other Compensation ($)

 Total ($)

Scott  Mitchell Rosenberg,

CEO (1)

2009

2008

2007

 

$550,000

$300,000

$300,000

 

-

-

-

 

    -

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

         -

-

-

 

         -

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

$550,000

$300,000

$300,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian K. Altounian, President/COO (2)

2009

2008

2007

 

$180,000

$300,000  

$300,000

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

$180,000

$300,000

$300,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helene Pretsky, EVP Bus. Affairs

2009 2008

2007

 

$137,000(3)

$137,948

$185,000

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

 

 $137,000 $137,948

$185,000

 

                                                                              43


 

 

 

(1) $300,000 of Mr. Rosenberg’s 2009 and $75,000 of his 2008 salary was deferred.

(2) $300,000 of Mr. Altounian’s 2007 and $75,000 of his 2008 salary was deferred.

(3) $76,398 of Ms. Prestsky’s 2009 salary was deferred.

 

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End Table.

 

The following table sets forth information with respect to grants of options to purchase our common stock to the named executive officers at December 31, 2009.

 

Option Awards

 

Stock Awards

 

 

Name    

 

  Number of

Securities

Underlying

Unexercised

Options (#) Exercisable

 

  Number of

Securities

Underlying

Unexercised

Options (#) Unexercisable

 

  Equity

Incentive

Plan Awards:

Number of

Securities Underlying

Unexercised

Unearned

Options (#)

 

  Option

Exercise

Price ($)

 

  Option

Expiration

Date

 

  Number of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not

Vested (#)

 

  Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not

Vested ($)

 

  Equity

Incentive

Plan Awards: Number of

Unearned

Shares,

Units or

Other Rights

That Have

Not

Vested (#)

 

  Equity Incentive

Plan Awards:

Market or Payout

Value of

Unearned

Shares, Units or

Other

Rights

That Have

Not

Vested ($)

 

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Altounian

 

 

7,965,000

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

$0.10

 

 

January 8, 2018

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

   

Director Compensation

The following table sets forth with respect to the named directors, compensation information inclusive of equity awards and payments made for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009.

  Name   (a)

 

Fees Earned or Paid in Cash   ($)   (b)

 

Stock Awards   ($)   (c)

 

Option   Awards ($)   (d)

 

Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($)   (e)

 

Change in Pension Value and Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Earnings   (f)

 

All Other Compensation   ($)   (g)

 

Total   ($)   (h)

 

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0--

 

Brian Altounian

 

 

-0-

 

 

$787,500

 

 

$886,505

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

$1,674,005-

 

Jill Zimmerman

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

$50,700-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

-0-

 

 

$50,700-

 

                                                                              44


 

 

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS

 

We currently have no employment agreements with our executive officers.

 

 

SECURITIES AUTHORIZED FOR ISSUANCE UNDER EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS

 

EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION

 

The following table shows information with respect to each equity compensation plan under which our common stock is authorized for issuance as from inception (November 20, 1996) through December 31, 2009.

 

Plan category

Number of securities

to be issued upon

exercise of

outstanding options,

warrants and rights

 

Weighted average

exercise price of

outstanding options,

warrants and rights

Number of securities

remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a)

 

(a)

(b)

(c)

Equity compensation plans approved by security holders

 

19,085,000

 

$0.14

 

45,000,000

 

 

 

 

Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders

 

-0-

 

-0-

 

-0-

 

 

 

 

Total

18,985,000

 

45,000,000

 

 Description of the Platinum Studios, Inc. 2007 Incentive Plan

 

The Platinum Studios, Inc. 2007 Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) has initially reserved 45,000,000 shares of common Stock for issuance. Under the Plan, options may be granted which are intended to qualify as Incentive Stock Options ("ISOs") under Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the "Code") or which are not ("Non-ISOs") intended to qualify as Incentive Stock Options thereunder. In addition, direct grants of stock or restricted stock may be awarded.

 

Purpose . The primary purpose of the Plan is to attract and retain the best available personnel in order to promote the success of our business and to facilitate the ownership of our stock by employees and others who provide services to us.

                                                                              45


 

 

Administration . The Plan is administered by the compensation committee of our Board of Directors, for any period in which the Company is subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act shall consist of not less than two members of the Board each of whom shall qualify as non-employee directors.

 

Eligibility .   Under the Plan, options may be granted to employees, directors or consultants of the Company, as provided in the Plan.

 

Terms of Options . The term of each option granted under the Plan shall be for such period as may be determined by the Committee but not to exceed ten years. Each option grants shall be contained in a stock option agreement between the optionee and Platinum Studios and such terms shall be determined by the Board of Directors consistent with the provisions of the Plan, including the following:

 

(a) Purchase Price. The purchase price of the common stock subject to each stock option shall be determined by the Committee at the time the Option is granted but shall not be less than 100% fair market value on the date of grant. If any Employee to whom an option that is an incentive stock option is granted owns stock possessing more than ten percent (10%) of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the Company or any parent corporation, within the meaning of Section 424(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”), or any subsidiary corporation of the Company, within the meaning of Section 424(f) of the Code, then the exercise price per share shall not be less than one hundred ten percent (110%) of the fair market value per share on the date of grant and the option term shall not exceed five (5) years measured from the date of grant.

 

            (b) Vesting. The dates on which each option (or portion thereof) shall be exercisable and the conditions precedent to such exercise, if any, shall be fixed by the Committee, in its discretion, at the time such option is granted. All options or grants which include a vesting schedule will vest in their entirety upon a change of control transaction as described in the Plan;

 

 (c) Expiration. The expiration of each option shall be fixed by the Committee, in its discretion.

 

On June 2, 2008, the Company’s Board of Directors and shareholders holding a majority of the Company’s outstanding stock approved an amendment to the Company’s 2007 Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) to increase the number of shares subject to the Plan from 30,000,000 to 45,000,000 shares.

 

 

 

Item 12.          SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT

 

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2009, the number of and percent of our common stock beneficially owned by:

 

·

all directors and nominees, naming them,

 

·

our executive officers,

 

·

our directors and executive officers as a group, without naming them, and

 

·

persons or groups known by us to own beneficially 5% or more of our common stock:

 

We believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.

                                                                              46


 

 

A person is deemed to be the beneficial owner of securities that can be acquired by him within 60 days from March 31, 2010 upon the exercise of options, warrants or convertible securities. Each beneficial owner's percentage ownership is determined by assuming that options, warrants or convertible securities that are held by him, but not those held by any other person, and which are exercisable within 60 days of March 31, 2010 have been exercised and converted.

 

 

 

Title of Class

 

Name of

Beneficial Owner

 

Number of Shares

Beneficially Owned

 

Percent of Total

Common Stock

 

Scott Rosenberg (1)

 

 

131,134,455

 

 

51.0%

Common Stock

 

Brian Altounian (2)

 

 

20,755,455

 

 

7.73%

Common Stock

 

Jill Zimmerman (3)

 

 

500,000

 

 

*

Common Stock

 

Helene Pretsky (4)

 

 

8,453,869

 

 

3.2%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Stock

 

Charlotte Rosenberg

 

 

17,208,575

 

 

6.7%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Stock

 

All Executive Officers and Directors as a Group (3 persons )

 

 

160,843,779

 

 

61.9%

 

*Less than one percent.    

 

(1)

 

 

 

 

(2)

 

 

 

 

(3)

 

 

(4)

Includes 135,000 shares of common stock beneficially owned by Pamela Rosenberg, the wife of Scott Rosenberg. Mr. Rosenberg disclaims beneficial ownership of these shares.  Also includes 16,875,000 shared held by the Scott Mitchell Rosenberg GRIT, of which Mr. Rosenberg is the Trustee.

 

Includes 6,750,000 shares previously owned by Brian Altounian as well as 5,250,000 shares of restricted stock granted January 9, 2008 under the Company’s 2007 Employee Incentive Program and 7,965,000 options granted on January 9, 2008 under the Company’s 2007 Employee Incentive Program which are fully vested and presently exercisable.

 

Jill Zimmerman was granted 500,000 options on January 9, 2008 under the Company’s 2007 Employee Incentive Program, which are fully vested and presently exercisable.

 

Includes 2,000,000 shares of restricted stock granted January 9, 2008 under the Company’s 2007 Employee Incentive Program and 6,000,000 options granted on January 9, 2008 under the Company’s 2007 Employee Incentive Program which are fully vested and presently exercisable.

 

                                                                              47


 

 

 

 

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.

 

We have an exclusive option to license individual characters, subject to existing third party rights, within the RIP Awesome Library of RIP Media, Inc., a related entity in which Scott Rosenberg is a majority shareholder. The Company did not exercise this right during the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008.

 

 

 

Our Chief Executive officer, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, is permitted to enter into separate producer agreements for our productions through his own loan-out corporation, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Productions, Inc., provided that all compensation that he receives through these agreements are considered as compensation he receives as CEO of the Company and therefore taken into account in setting his annual compensation. The Producer agreements are standard in the industry for heads of media companies and in no way can negatively impact, impede or affect the Company’s ability to make deals with production companies for its properties.  Mr. Rosenberg did not receive any compensation under this arrangement for the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2009.

 

At December 31, 2005, we owed RIP Media $20,000 in uncollateralized loans.  During 2006, we repaid in full the $20,000 uncollateralized loans received during 2004. At December 31, 2007 we owed RIP Media $10,000 in uncollateralized loans. During 2008, we repaid $8,595 in uncollateralized loans received during 2007. These loans accrued interest at 5% for the years ended December 31, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005 and 6% for the year ended December 31, 2006, respectively.

 

During 2008, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg loaned the company an additional $196,998 to help fund operations.

 

During 2008 the Company repaid $82,827 in loans previously provided by Brian Altounian. At December 31, 2008 the remaining balance for these loans was $78,172. At December 31, 2008, we owed $193,079 to Brian Altounian for consulting services provided prior to his employment.   At June 30, 2009, we owed $795,000 to Brian Altounian for a combination of loans, consulting services and accrued salary.  In connection with the acquisition by an affiliate of Mr. Altounian of 100% interest in the Company’s subsidiary, WOWIO, LLC, on June 30, 2009, Mr. Altounian executed a release of all such amounts owed to him by the Company as of such date as partial consideration for the purchase of WOWIO.

 

               For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, Scott Rosenberg loaned the Company an additional $1,103,534 to help fund operations.  The Company entered into a Credit Agreement on May 6, 2009, with Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of two secured promissory notes and an unsecured promissory note. Two warrants were issued to Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of various promissory notes as of May 6, 2009 and June 3, 2009.  The advances in 2009 increased Rosenberg’s security interest held in the Company’s assets to approximately $3,750,000.  These transactions were:

               May 6, 2009 Secured Debt - The May 6, 2009 secured debt has an aggregate principal amount of $2,400,000, is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048 and bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. The original principal amount of $2,400,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. In connection with this debt the Company also issued ten-year warrants to purchase 25,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.048 per share.

                                                                              48


 

               June 3, 2009 Secured Debt - The June 3, 2009 secured debt amounted to an aggregate principal amount of $1,350,000, is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.038 and bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. The original principal amount of $1,350,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010 but may be prepaid at any time.  In connection with this debt the Company also issued ten-year warrants to purchase 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.038 per share.

               June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt - The remaining debts due Rosenberg are unsecured in an aggregate principal amount of $544,826, are convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048 and bear interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. The Company is required to make payments of $29,687.50 per month on this unsecured debt. The monthly payments are to be applied first to interest and second to principal. The remaining principal amount is to be repaid upon the expiration of the note on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the note at any time.

          The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrants are subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

ITEM 14.     PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

 

AUDIT FEES

 

The aggregate fees billed for professional services rendered by our principal accountants for the audit of our financial statements, for the reviews of the financial statements included in our annual report on Form 10-K, and for other services normally provided in connection with statutory filings were $80,275 and $79,903 for the years ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008 respectively.

 

AUDIT-RELATED FEES

 

We did not incur any audit-related fees rendered by our principal accountants during the years ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008.

 

ALL OTHER FEES

 

All other fees for other professional services rendered by our principal accountants during the years ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008 were $6,823   and $7,071.

 

AUDIT COMMITTEE PRE-APPROVAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

 

The board of directors acts as the audit committee, and consults with respect to audit policy, choice of auditors, and approval of out of the ordinary financial transactions.

 

ITEM 15. EXHIBITS.

 

31.1*

 

Certification by Chief Executive Officer, required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a) of the Exchange Act

 

 

 

31.2*

 

Certification by Interim Chief Financial Officer, required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a) of the Exchange Act

 

 

 

32.1*

 

Certification by Chief Executive Officer, required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) of the Exchange Act and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code

 

 

 

32.2*

 

Certification by Interim Chief Financial Officer, required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) of the Exchange Act and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code

                                                                              49


 

* Filed herewith.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              50


 

 

 

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

In accordance with Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Los Angeles, State of California, on March 31, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platinum Studios, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

 

 

 

 

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

 

 

 

Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

and Chairman of the Board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Brian Altounian

 

 

 

 

Brian Altounian

 

 

 

President, Chief Operating Officer

& Principal Financial and Accounting Officer

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated:

 

Signature

Title

Date

 

 

 

/s/ Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

March 31, 2010

 

 

 

/s/ Brian Altounian

Brian Altounian

President, Chief Operating Officer

& Principal Financial and Accounting Officer

 

March 31, 2010

 

 

 

/s/ Jill Zimmerman

Jill Zimmerman

Director

March 31, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              51


 

 

                                                                              52


 

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

 

To the Board of Directors

Platinum Studios, Inc.

Los Angeles, California

 

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Platinum Studios, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2009 and 2008, and the related consolidated statements of operations, shareholders' deficit, and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2009.  These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management.  Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

 

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).  Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement.  An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.  An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.  We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

 

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Platinum Studios, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2009 and 2008, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2009, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

 

We were not engaged to examine management's assessment of the effectiveness of Platinum Studios, Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009, included in the accompanying Form 10-K and, accordingly, we do not express an opinion thereon.

 

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern.  As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the Company has suffered recurring losses from operations which have resulted in an accumulated deficit.  This raises substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.  Management's plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 2.  The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

 

 

HJ Associates & Consultants, LLP

Salt Lake City, Utah

March 31, 2010

                                                                              53


 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

 

                                                                              54


 

The accompanying footnotes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements

 

 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OPERATIONS

                                                                              55


 

 

The accompanying footnotes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements

 

                                                                              56


 

 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIT

Two Years Ended December 31, 2009

 

The accompanying footnotes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements

                                                                              57


 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.,

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

 

 The accompanying footnotes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements

 

 

                                                                              58


 

 

 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.,

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Continued)

 

The accompanying footnotes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              59


 

 

 

 

PLATINUM STUDIOS, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2009 AND 2008

( 1 ) Description of business

Nature of operations – The Company controls a library consisting of more than 5,600 characters and is engaged principally as a comics-based entertainment company adapting characters and storylines for production in film, television, publishing and all other media.

Platinum Studios, LLC was formed and operated as a California limited liability company from its inception on November 20, 1996 through September 14, 2006. On September 15, 2006, Platinum Studios, LLC filed with the State of California to convert Platinum Studios, LLC into Platinum Studios, Inc., (“the Company”, “Platinum”) a California corporation.  This change to the Company structure was made in preparation of a private placement memorandum and common stock offering in October, 2006 (Note 12).

On December 10, 2008, the Company purchased Long Distance Films, Inc. to facilitate the financing and production of the film currently titled “Dead of Night”.  Long Distance Films, Inc. has no assets, liabilities or equity other than 100 shares of common stock wholly owned by Platinum Studios, Inc. No consideration was paid by the Company for the acquisition of Long Distance Films, Inc.

( 2 ) Going concern

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred significant losses which have resulted in an accumulated deficit of $24,094,900 as of December 31, 2009. The Company plans to seek additional financing in order to execute its business plan, but there is no assurance the Company will be able to obtain such financing on terms favorable to the Company or at all. These items raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The accompanying financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects related to recovery and classification of assets, or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

( 3 ) Summary of significant accounting policies

Reclassifications – Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified in order to conform to the current year’s presentation.

Revenue recognition - Revenue from the licensing of characters and storylines (“the properties”) owned by the Company are recognized in accordance with FASB guidance where revenue is recognized when the earnings process is complete. This is considered to have occurred when persuasive evidence of an agreement between the customer and the Company exists, when the properties are made available to the licensee and the Company has satisfied its obligations under the agreement, when the fee is fixed or determinable and when collection is reasonably assured.

                                                                              60


 

The Company derives its licensing revenue primarily from options to purchase rights, the purchase of rights to properties and first look deals. For options that contain non-refundable minimum payment obligations, revenue is recognized ratably over the option period, provided all the criteria for revenue recognition have been met. Option fees that are applicable to the purchase price are deferred and recognized as revenue at the later of the expiration of the option period or in accordance with the terms of the purchase agreement. Revenue received under first look deals is recognized ratably over the first look period, which varies by contract provided all the criteria for revenue recognition under SAB 104 have been met.

For licenses requiring material continuing involvement or performance based obligations, by the Company, the revenue is recognized as and when such obligations are fulfilled.

The Company records as deferred revenue any licensing fees collected in advance of obligations being fulfilled or if a licensee is not sufficiently creditworthy, the Company will record deferred revenue until payments are received.

 

License agreements typically include reversion rights which allow the Company to repurchase property rights which have not been used by the studio (the buyer) in production within a specified period of time as defined in the purchase agreement. The cost to repurchase the rights is generally based on the costs incurred by the studio to further develop the characters and story lines.

 

Use of estimates - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

Cash and cash equivalents – The Company considers all highly liquid investment securities with an original maturity date of three months or less to be cash equivalents.

 

Concentrations of risk - Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of uninsured cash balances. The Company maintains its cash balances with what management believes to be a high credit quality financial institution. At times, balances within the Company’s cash accounts may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) limit of $250,000.

 

During the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, the Company had customer revenues representing a concentration of the Company’s total revenues. In 2009 three customers represented approximately 67% of total revenues. In 2008, three customers represented approximately 71% of total revenues.

            Derivative Instruments – Platinum Studios entered into a Credit Agreement on May 6, 2009, with Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of two secured promissory notes and an unsecured promissory note. Two warrants were issued to Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of various promissory notes as of May 6, 2009 and June 3, 2009.

            A description of the notes is as follows:

                                                                              61


 

            May 6, 2009 Secured Debt - The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $2,400,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The original principal amount of $2,400,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 25,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.048 per share.

            June 3, 2009 Secured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $1,350,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.038. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The original principal amount of $1,350,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.038 per share.

            June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $544,826, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. The Company is required to make payments of $29,687.50 per month. The monthly payments are to be applied first to interest and second to principal. The remaining principal amount is to be repaid upon the expiration of the note on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the note at any time. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default.

            In determining the fair market value of the embedded derivatives, we used discounted cash flows analysis. We also used a binomial option pricing model to value the warrants issued in connection with these debts. The Company determined the fair value of the embedded derivatives to be $715,904 and the fair value of the warrants to be $934,000 as of June 30, 2009. The embedded derivatives have been accounted for as a debt discount that will be amortized over the one year life of the notes.  Amortization of the debt discount has resulted in a $920,816 increase to interest expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009.

            A description of the Warrants is as follows:

          1)  The May 6, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 25,000,000 shares of   the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.048 per share. The May 6, 2009      warrant is exercisable up until May 6, 2019. The May 6, 2009 warrant shall expire and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

2)  The June 3, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 14,062,500 shares of   the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.038 per share. The June 3, 2009 warrant is exercisable up until June 3, 2019. The June 3, 2009 warrant shall expire           and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

                                                                              62


 

            In determining the fair market value of the Warrants, we used the binomial model with the following significant assumptions:  exercise price $0.038 – $0.048, trading prices $0.01 - $0.08, expected volatility 124.4%, expected life of 60 months, dividend yield of 0.00% and a risk free rate of 3.59%. The fair value of these warrants has been recorded as part of the debt discount as discussed above as well as being recognized as a derivative liability. The derivative liability is re-valued at each reporting date with changes in value being recognized as part of current earnings. This revaluation for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 resulted in a loss of $267,000.

 

 

Depreciation - Depreciation is computed on the straight line method over the following estimated useful lives:

 

 

Fixed assets Useful Lives 

 

Furniture and fixtures 7 years

Computer equipment 5 years

Office equipment 5 years

Software 3 years

Leasehold improvements Shorter of lease term or useful economic life

 

Character development costs - Character development costs consist primarily of costs to acquire properties from the creator, development of the property using internal or independent writers and artists, and the registration of a property for a trademark or copyright. These costs are capitalized in the year incurred if the Company has executed a contract or is negotiating a revenue generating opportunity for the property. If the property derives a revenue stream that is estimable, the capitalized costs associated with the property are expensed as revenue is recognized.

 

If the Company determines there is no determinable market for a property, it is deemed impaired and is written off.

 

Fair Value of Financial Instruments – The carrying values of cash on hand, receivables, payables and accrued expenses approximate their fair value due to the short period to maturity of these instruments.

 

Film development costs – Film development costs includes the unamortized costs of completed films and films in production.  The capitalized costs include all direct production and financing costs, capitalized interest and production overhead.  The costs of the film productions are amortized using the individual-film-forecast-method, whereby the costs are amortized and participations and residual costs are accrued in proportion that current year’s revenues bears to managements’ estimate of ultimate revenue at the beginning of the current year expected to be recognized from exploitation, exhibition or sale of the film.  Ultimate revenue includes estimates over a period not to exceed ten years following the date of initial release.

 

Film development costs are stated at the lower of amortized cost or estimated fair value.  The valuation of the film development costs are reviewed on a title by title basis, when an event or change in circumstances indicates the fair value of the film is less than the unamortized cost.  The fair value of the film is determined using managements’ future revenue and cost estimates in an undiscounted cash flow approach.  Additional amortization is recorded in an amount by which unamortized costs exceed the estimated fair value of the film.  Estimates of future revenue involve measurement uncertainty and it is therefore possible that reductions in the carry costs of film development costs may be required as a consequence of changes in managements’ future revenue estimates. 

                                                                              63


 

 

The Company considers all or part of the film development costs to be a current asset if during the next twelve months, based on managements’ assessment of ultimate revenue, all or part of film development costs will be amortized using the individual-film-forecast-method.

 

Purchased intangible assets and long-lived assets – Intangible assets are capitalized at acquisition costs and intangible assets with definite lives are amortized on the straight-line basis. The Company periodically reviews the carrying amounts of intangible assets and property.  Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment, and purchased intangibles subject to amortization, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, the impairment charge to be recognized is measured by the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the asset. On July 15, 2008, Platinum Studios, Inc. purchased Wowio, LLC an on-line distributor of e-books. Wowio, LLC, is an online source for downloading digital books and comics. Due to market conditions and cash flow constraints, the Company considered all Wowio, LLC intangible assets to be fully impaired. This resulted in expense of $2,499,880 during 2008.

 

Advertising costs - Advertising costs are expensed the later of when incurred or when the advertisement is first run. For the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, advertising expenses were $0 and $48,080, respectively.

 

Research and development - Research and development costs, primarily character development costs and design not associated with an identifiable revenue opportunity, are charged to operations as

incurred. For the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, research and development expenses were $196,688 and $526,050, respectively.

 

Income taxes – Deferred taxes are provided on a liability method whereby deferred tax assets are recognized for deductible temporary differences and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and deferred tax liabilities are recognized for taxable temporary differences. Temporary differences are the differences between the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax basis. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in the tax laws and rates on the date of enactment.

 

Net income/(loss) per share – Basic income per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the periods, excluding shares subject to repurchase or forfeiture. Diluted income per share increases the shares outstanding for the assumption of the vesting of restricted stock and the exercise of dilutive stock options and warrants, using the treasure stock method, unless the effect is anti-dilutive.

 

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Recently issued accounting pronouncements The FASB issued guidance under Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2010-06, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures". The ASU requires certain new disclosures and clarifies two existing disclosure requirements.  The new disclosures and clarifications of existing disclosures are effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009.  We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our financial statements.

The FASB issued guidance under Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2010-08, “Technical Corrections to Various topics.  The ASU eliminates certain inconsistencies and outdate provisions and provides needed clarifications.  The changes are generally nonsubstantive nature and will not result in pervasive changes to current practice.  However, the amendments that clarify the guidance on embedded derivatives and hedging (ASU Subtopic 815-15) may cause a change in the application of the Subtopic.  The clarifications of the guidance on embedded derivatives and hedging (Subtopic 815-15) are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2009.

 

 

 

( 4 ) Property and equipment

 

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. The cost of repairs and maintenance are expensed when incurred, while expenditures refurbishments and improvements that significantly add to the productive capacity or extend the useful life of an asset are capitalized. Upon asset retirement or disposal, any resulting gain or loss is included in the results of operations.

 

 

 

 

For the year ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, property and equipment at cost includes assets acquired under capital leases of $261,290 and $273,150, respectively. Depreciation expense charged to operations for the year ended December 31, 2009 and 2008 were $62,064 and $84,870.

 

 

( 5 ) Due to related party

 

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( 6 ) Short-term and long-term debt

 

 

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( 6 ) Short-term and long-term debt (continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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( 6 ) Short-term and long-term debt (continued)

 

 

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( 6 ) Short-term and long-term debt (continued)

 

 

 

 

( 7 ) Operating and capital leases

 

The Company has entered into operating leases having expiration dates through 2011 for real estate and various equipment needs, including office facilities, computers, office equipment and a vehicle.

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On July 10, 2006, the Company entered into an operating agreement for the lease of real property located in Los Angeles, California.  The agreement has a five year term, commencing September 1, 2006 and ending August 31, 2011. The Company is currently in default of its lease agreement and is negotiating new lease terms.

 

Rent expense under non-cancelable operating leases were $371,837 and $321,252 for the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.

 

The Company has various non-cancelable leases for computers, software, and furniture, at a cost of $264,248 and $273,150 at December 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.  The capital leases are secured by the assets which cannot be freely sold until the maturity date of the lease.  Accumulated amortization for equipment under capital leases totaled $174,569 and 139,271 at December 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively.  The Company is currently in default on the majority of its lease agreements and as a result, all future payments are immediately due. The Company is negotiating new lease terms.

 

At December 31, 2009, future minimum rental payments required under non-cancelable capital leases that have initial or remaining terms in excess of one year are as follows:

 

 

( 8 ) Commitments and Contingencies

 

During 2004, the Company entered into an agreement with Top Cow Productions, Inc. to acquire certain rights in and to certain comic books, related characters, storylines and intellectual property (the properties). The current agreement period expires on June 30, 2010. The Company has the right to extend the agreement for an additional twelve month period for an additional $350,000 and has pre-paid $75,000 toward this extended period. If the Company enters into production on a particular property, additional fees based on a percentage of the adjusted gross revenue resulting from the production, as defined in the agreement, will be due to the owner. The agreement is collateralized by a security interest in and to all rights licensed or granted to the Company under this agreement including the right to receive revenue. The current agreement period cost of $350,000 is included in Other Assets on the balance sheet and is being amortized on a straight-line basis beginning in 2006 when the rights became available for exploitation.

As of December 31, 2009, eight unsecured short term notes totaling $776,661 have exceeded their maturity date, are due upon demand, and could be considered in default. The Company is currently negotiating with the note holders to extend the maturity dates of these notes.

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The Company’s legal proceeds are as follows:

Michael Tierney v. Platinum. On or about March 16, 2009, a former employee of the Company filed a suit against the Company in Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC409739) alleging, among other things, wrongful termination, fraudulent inducement, defamation, violation of California Labor Code. No specific damages had been pleaded. This former employee was terminated for cause as a result of grossly negligent/intentional misrepresentation of contractual relations with third parties in marketing materials. The misrepresentations caused the company to lose a potential deal with a particularly well-known comics website. On December 8, 2009, the Company attended a court-ordered mediation at which the Company entered into a binding settlement agreement that disposes of the entire case.  Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Company has agreed to issue an aggregate of 340,000 of restricted stock to plaintiff and plaintiff’s attorney and to pay plaintiff $12,500 due in one year.

Transcontinental Printing v. Platinum. On or about July 2, 2009, Transcontinental Printing, a New York corporation, filed suit against the Company in Superior Court, County of Los Angeles (Case No. SC103801) alleging that the Company failed to pay for certain goods and services provided by Transcontinental in the total amount of $106,593. The Company believes that Transcontinental failed to mitigate damages and, therefore, the amount owed is in dispute,  The Company will diligently pursue a settlement with this plaintiff but there can be no guarantee that such a settlement can be reached. This case is currently set to go to trial on March 26, 2010.

Harrison Kordestani v. Platinum. Harrison Kordestani was a principal of Arclight Films, with whom the Company had entered into a film slate agreement. One of the properties that had been subject to the slate agreement was “Dead of Night.” Arclight fired Mr. Kordestani and subsequently released Dead of Night from the slate agreement. In late January 2009, Mr. Krodestani had an attorney contact the Company as well as its new partners who were on the verge of closing the financing for the “Dead of Night.” Mr. Kordestani, through his counsel, claimed he was entitled to reimbursement for certain monies invested in the film while it had been subject to the Arclight slate agreement. Mr. Krodestani’s claim was wholly without merit and an attempt to force an unwarranted settlement because he knew we were about to close a deal. We responded immediately through outside counsel and asserted that he was engaging in extortion and the company would pursue him vigorously if he continued to try and interfere with our deal. The company has not heard anything further from Mr. Kordestani but will vigorously defend any suit that Mr. Kordestani attempts to bring.

Doubleclick, Inc. v. Platinum. On February 19, 2009, a lawsuit was filed by Doubleclick, Inc. against the Company in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The claim is basically a breach of contract claim. The contract at issue was a three-year agreement to provide ad serving services, requiring a minimum $3,500/month payment with no termination clause. The employee who executed the agreement without having counsel review it is no longer with the Company. Between February and June 2008, the Company attempted to negotiate an “out” without luck. The service was far too expensive and the Company could no longer afford it and stopped using it around June/July 2008. Doubleclick is seeking approximately $118,000, plus interest and late fees for the balance of the contract. The Company has engaged outside counsel, Jeffrey Reina with the law firm of LIPSITZ GREEN SCIME CAMBRIA LLP in Buffalo, NY to handle this matter. On October 18, 2009, the Company entered into a settlement agreement whereby it agreed to pay to Doubleclick the sum of $37,500 no later than February 18, 2010 to settle the lawsuit; pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Company also entered into a Confession of Judgment whereby Judgment shall be entered against the Company for the full amount of the lawsuit of $133,390 in the event the Company does not make full payment of the settlement amount by February 18, 2010.  Doubleclick agreed on an additional reduction of $5,000 in the amount due if paid earlier.  On February 2, 2010, the Company paid Doubleclick $32,500 as payment in full on the settlement.

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Paul Franz v. WOWIO, LLC and Platinum. A lawsuit was filed against WOWIO and the Company by Paul Franz, a former consultant to WOWIO, asserting that WOWIO had breached its payment obligations under a consulting agreement. On September 2, 2009, WOWIO, which was no longer owned by the Company as of such date, entered into a Settlement and Release Agreement with Paul Franz, whereby Paul Franz released the Company and WOWIO from all liability and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.

TBF Financial Inc. v. Platinum. On or about August 20, 2009, TB Financial, Inc. filed suit against the Company in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC420336) alleging that the Company breached a written lease agreement for computer equipment and seeking damages of $42,307 plus interest at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum from July 7, 2008. On November 19, 2009, TB Financial filed a Request for Default against the Company; however, the Company turned the matter over to Company counsel to oppose any requests for default.  On February 24, 2010, a default judgment was entered against the Company in the amount of $51,506.12 and the Company received a request for Writ of Execution on March 1, 2010.  The Company’s outside counsel is filing the necessary motion to attempt to set aside the judgment.  If we are successful in such set aside motion, the Company will aggressively pursue a settlement of these claims.

Rustemagic v. Rosenberg & Platinum Studios. On or about June 30, 2009, Ervin Rustemagic filed suit against the Company and its President, Scott Rosenberg, in the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles (Case No. BC416936) alleging that the Company (and Mr. Rosenberg) breached an agreement with Mr. Rustemagic thereby causing damages totaling $125,000. According to the Complaint, Mr. Rustemagic was to receive 50% of producer fees paid in connection with the exploitation of certain comics-based properties. Rustemagic claims that he became entitled to such fees and was never paid. The Company and Rosenberg deny that Rustemagic is entitled to the gross total amount of money he is seeking. The matter has now been removed to arbitration.

Douglass Emmet v. Platinum Studios On August 20, 2009, Douglas Emmet 1995, LLC filed an Unlawful Detainer action against the Company with regard to the office space currently occupied by the Company. The suit was filed in the California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, (Case No. SC104504) and alleged that the Company had failed to make certain lease payments to the Plaintiff and was, therefore, in default of its lease obligations. The Plaintiff prevailed on its claims at trial and, subsequently, on October 14, 2009 entered into a Forbearance Agreement with the Company pursuant to which Douglas Emmet agreed to forebear on moving forward with eviction until December 31, 2009, if the Company agreed to pay to Douglas Emmet 50% of three month’s rent, in advance, for the months of October, November and December 2009. As of January 1, 2010, the Company was required to pay to Douglas Emmet the sum of $466,752 to become current under the existing lease or face immediate eviction and judgment for that amount. Prior to January 1, 2010, Douglas Emmet agreed to a month-to-month situation where Platinum pays 50% of its rent at the beginning of the month and the landlord holds back on eviction and enforcement of judgment while they evaluated whether they will consider negotiating a new lease with the Company that would potentially demise some of the Company’s current officer space back to the landlord as well as potentially forgive some of the past due rent. There can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to negotiate such a deal with the landlord and therefore, may be required to find new office space as well as suffer the entry of judgment for the full amount owed under the existing lease.

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With exception to the litigation disclosed above, we are not currently a party to, nor is any of our property currently the subject of, any additional pending legal proceeding that will have a material adverse effect on our business, nor are any of our directors, officers or affiliates involved in any proceedings adverse to our business or which have a material interest adverse to our business.

 

 

( 9 ) Wowio, LLC

 

On July 15, 2008, Platinum Studios, Inc. purchased Wowio, LLC an on-line distributor of e-books. Under the terms of the Agreement the Company acquired from the Members of Wowio, LLC 100% of the membership interests of WOWIO for a total purchase price of $3,150,000 payable in shares of common stock of the Company. Under the terms of the Agreement, the number of shares of Common Stock issued on a particular payment date will be calculated by dividing one third of the purchase price by the average closing trading price of a share of the Common Stock for the five trading days immediately prior to such payment date, with a minimum price of $0.15 per share. On July 16, 2008, 7,000,000 shares were issued to the former members of Wowio, LLC representing one third of the total purchase price. One-third of the shares were issued on the three-month anniversary of the closing date and one-third of the shares were issued during the three months ended March 31, 2009.

Wowio, LLC, is a leading online source for downloading digital books and comics. This acquisition was intended to continue the expansion of Platinum Studios’ global digital media distribution strategy.

The total basis of Wowio, LLC’s contributed assets and liabilities as of the closing date of the purchase was allocated to the estimated fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed as set forth in the following table:

 

The purchase of Wowio, LLC resulted in the recording of $2,499,380 in goodwill. At December 31, 2008 it was determined that this asset was fully impaired and the full amount was expensed.

 

On June 30, 2009 the Company sold Wowio, LLC to related parties for the assumption of an aggregate of $1,636,064 in debt owed by the Company and an additional $1,513,936 to be paid via a royalty of 20% of gross revenues generated by Wowio Penn, its successors and assigns, after which the royalty rate would decrease to 10%, and remain at 10% in perpetuity. See note 15, discontinued operations, for a discussion of the impact of the sale on current operations.

 

 

(10 ) Related party transactions

 

            The Company has an exclusive option to enter licensing/acquisition of rights agreements for individual characters, subject to existing third party rights, within the RIP Awesome Library of RIP Media, Inc., a related entity in which Scott Rosenberg is a majority shareholder.

            Scott Mitchell Rosenberg also provides production consulting services to the Company’s customers (production companies) through Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Productions (another related entity) wholly owned by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. At the time the Company enters into a purchase agreement with a production company, a separate contract may be entered into between the related entity and the production company. In addition, consulting services regarding development of characters and storylines may also be provided to the Company by this related entity.  Revenue would be paid directly to the

                                                                              74


 

related entity by the production company.

 

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2009, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg loaned the company an additional $1,103,534 to help fund operations.

 

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2009, the Company repaid $71,675 in loans and interest on loans provided by Brian Altounian.

 

            The Company entered into a Credit Agreement on May 6, 2009, with Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of two secured promissory notes and an unsecured promissory note. Two warrants were issued to Scott Rosenberg in connection with the issuance of various promissory notes as of May 6, 2009 and June 3, 2009.

            A description of the notes is as follows:

 

            May 6, 2009 Secured Debt - The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $2,400,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the May 6, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The original principal amount of $2,400,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on May 6, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The May 6, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 25,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.048 per share.

 

            June 3, 2009 Secured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $1,350,000, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.038. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Secured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. Interest is payable upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The original principal amount of $1,350,000 is to be repaid upon the expiration of the notes on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the notes at any time. The June 3, 2009 Secured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default. In connection with this debt the Company also issued warrants to purchase 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock for $0.038 per share.

 

            June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt - The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has an aggregate principal amount of $544,826, and is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $0.048. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of eight percent per annum. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt bears interest at the rate of ten percent per annum. The Company is required to make payments of $29,687.50 per month. The monthly payments are to be applied first to interest and second to principal. The remaining principal amount is to be repaid upon the expiration of the note on June 3, 2010. The Company may prepay the note at any time. The June 3, 2009 Unsecured Debt has the following features that can be considered to be embedded derivatives: (i) the conversion feature of the notes, (ii) a holder’s right to force a redemption of the Notes upon an event of default, and, (iii) the increased interest rate upon an event of default.

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            In determining the fair market value of the embedded derivatives, we used discounted cash flows analysis. We also used a binomial option pricing model to value the warrants issued in connection with these debts. The Company determined the fair value of the embedded derivatives to be $715,904 and the fair value of the warrants to be $934,000 as of June 30, 2009. The embedded derivatives have been accounted for as a debt discount that will be amortized over the one year life of the notes.  Amortization of the debt discount has resulted in a $920,816 increase to interest expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009.

            A description of the Warrants is as follows:

1)  The May 6, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 25,000,000 shares of   the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.048 per share. The May 6, 2009 warrant is exercisable up until May 6, 2019. The May 6, 2009 warrant shall expire           and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

2)  The June 3, 2009 warrant entitles the holder to purchase up to 14,062,500 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $0.038 per share. The June 3, 2009 warrant is exercisable up until June 3, 2019. The June 3, 2009 warrant shall expire and no longer be exercisable upon a change in control. The exercise price and the   number of shares underlying the warrant is subject to anti-dilution adjustments from time to time if the Company issues common stock at below the exercise price at that time for the warrants.

            In determining the fair market value of the Warrants, we used the binomial model with the following significant assumptions:  exercise price $0.038 – $0.048, trading prices $0.01 - $0.08, expected volatility 124.4%, expected life of 60 months, dividend yield of 0.00% and a risk free rate of 3.59%. The fair value of these warrants has been recorded as part of the debt discount as discussed above as well as being recognized as a derivative liability. The derivative liability is re-valued at each reporting date with changes in value being recognized as part of current earnings. This revaluation for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 resulted in a loss of $267,000.                                 

 

( 11 ) Shareholders equity

 

On July 1, 2007, the Board of Directors approved the cancellation/conversion of $1,720,857 in debt due to Scott Mitchell Rosenberg consisting of $1,625,000 in principal and $95,857 of accrued interest through conversion of the debt into 17,208,575 shares of common stock of the Company valued at $0.10 per share. In addition, Mr. Rosenberg received a warrant to purchase 243,750 additional shares of common stock for his agreement to accept this offer from the Company rather than demanding repayment of the debt amount.

 

Effective July 12, 2007, the Company obtained board approval of an incentive plan under which equity incentives would be granted to officers, employees, non-employee directors and consultants of the Company.  The board further resolved for 45,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, $0.0001 par value, be reserved for issuance in accordance with the requirements of this plan. During 2008 the Company granted 7,950,000 shares of restricted common stock to employees and consultants. The Company also granted 13,965,000 in options to executive management.

During 2008, the Company issued 9,513,764 for cash in private placement, 9,819,491 shares for debt and accounts payable conversion, 21,230,216 for services and 14,000,000 for the purchase of Wowio, LLC.

On February 20, 2009 the Company opened a Private Placement round, offering up to 30,000,000 shares of common stock at an offer price of $0.05/share.  The Company sold 1,300,000 shares for a total of $65,000 under this offering.  In September, 2009, the Company opened a Private Placement round offering up to 30,000,000 shares of common stock at an offer price of $0.05/share.  This round was completed on December 21st with the Company selling 19,250,821 shares valued at $962,541 in cash and debt conversion. 


 

On February 25, 2009, the Company issued the final payment of 7,000,000 shares to the former members of Wowio, LLC in accordance with the Wowio, LLC purchase agreement. These shares were valued at $560,000.

 

 

( 12 ) Stock Compensation

 

Warrants and options outstanding at December 31, 2009 are summarized as follows:

 

 


 

( 13 ) Income Taxes

 

The provision (benefit for income taxes differs from the amount computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to loss before income taxes as follows at December 31:

 

 

Deferred income tax assets (liabilities) are comprised of the following as of December 31:

 

At December 31, 20099, the Company had net loss carry forwards available to offset future taxable income, if any, of approximately $10,800,000, which will begin to expire in 2019. The utilization of the net operating loss carryforwards is dependant on tax laws in effect at the time the net operating loss carryforwards can be utilized. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 significantly limits the annual amount that can be utilized for certain of these carry forwards as a result of the change in ownership.

Deferred taxes are provided on a liability method whereby deferred tax assets are recognized for deductible temporary differences and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards deferred tax liabilities are recognized for taxable temporary differences. Temporary differences are the differences between the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax basis. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in the tax laws and rates on the date of enactment.


            The Company recognizes tax benefits from uncertain positions if it is "more likely than not" that the position is sustainable, based upon its technical merits. The initial measurement of the tax benefit is the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority having full knowledge of all relevant information.

The Company, as a matter of policy, would record any interest and penalties associated with uncertain tax positions as a component of income tax expense in its statement of operations.  There are no penalties accrued as of December 31, 2009, as the Company has significant net operating loss carry forwards, even if certain of the Company’s tax positions were disallowed, it is not foreseen that the Company would have to pay any taxes in the near future. Consequently, the Company does not calculate the impact of interest or penalties on amounts that might be disallowed.

The Company has not filed any income tax returns for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.  The following table summarizes the open tax years for each major jurisdiction:

 

Jurisdiction

Open Tax Years

Federal

2006 - 2009

California

2006 - 2009

Louisiana

2009

 

 

 

As the Company has significant net operating loss carry forwards, even if certain of the Company’s tax positions were disallowed, it is not foreseen that the Company would have to pay any taxes in the near future. Consequently, the Company does not calculate the impact of interest or penalties on amounts that might be disallowed.

 

 

 ( 14 ) Film Development Costs

 

Film development costs includes the unamortized costs of completed films and films in production.  The capitalized costs include all direct production and financing costs, capitalized interest and production overhead.  The costs of the film productions are amortized using the individual-film-forecast-method, whereby the costs are amortized and participations and residual costs are accrued in proportion that current year’s revenues bears to managements’ estimate of ultimate revenue at the beginning of the current year expected to be recognized from exploitation, exhibition or sale of the film.  Ultimate revenue includes estimates over a period not to exceed ten years following the date of initial release.

 

Film development costs are stated at the lower of amortized cost or estimated fair value.  The valuation of the film development costs are reviewed on a title by title basis, when an event or change in circumstances indicates the fair value of the film is less than the unamortized cost.  The fair value of the film is determined using managements’ future revenue and cost estimates in an undiscounted cash flow approach.  Additional amortization is recorded in an amount by which unamortized costs exceed the estimated fair value of the film.  Estimates of future revenue involve measurement uncertainty and it is therefore possible that reductions in the carry costs of film development costs may be required as a consequence of changes in managements’ future revenue estimates. 

 

On December 10, 2008, the Company purchased Long Distance Films, Inc. to facilitate the financing and production of the film currently titled “Dead of Night”. Long Distance Films, Inc. has no assets, liabilities or equity other than 100 shares of common stock wholly owned by Platinum Studios, Inc. Additionally, Long Distance Films had recorded no revenue or expenses. As consideration for this acquisition the Company closed a financing arrangement to provide funding for the production of “Dead of Night”.


 

As of December 31, 2009, all of the film development costs are related to the “Dead of Night” production.  Based on management’s assessment of ultimate revenue and anticipated release date of the film, $9,380,257 of total film development of $11,492,135 will be amortized during 2010.

 

( 15 ) Subsequent events

 

On January 20th, 2010, the Company filed an S-1 related to the offer and resale of up to 41,000,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share, by the selling stockholder, Dutchess Opportunity Fund II, LP, or "Dutchess". Of such shares, (i) Dutchess has agreed to purchase 41,000,000 pursuant to the investment agreement dated January 12, 2010, between Dutchess and us, and (ii) NO shares were issued to Dutchess in consideration for the investment. Subject to the terms and conditions of such investment agreement, we have the right to put up to $5,000,000 million in shares of our common stock to Dutchess.  This arrangement is sometimes referred to as an Equity Line.   

We will not receive any proceeds from the resale of these shares of common stock offered by Dutchess. We will, however, receive proceeds from the sale of shares to Dutchess pursuant to the Equity Line. When we put an amount of shares to Dutchess, the per share purchase price that Dutchess will pay to us in respect of such put will be determined in accordance with a formula set forth in the Investment Agreement. Generally, in respect of each put, Dutchess will pay us a per share purchase price equal to ninety-five percent (95%) of the daily volume weighted average price of our common stock during the five (5) consecutive trading day period beginning on the trading day immediately following the date of delivery of the applicable put notice.

Dutchess may sell the shares of common stock from time to time at the prevailing market price on the Over-the Counter (OTC) Bulletin Board, or on an exchange if our shares of common stock become listed for trading on such an exchange, or in negotiated transactions. Dutchess is an underwriter within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") in connection with the resale of our common stock under the Equity Line.