UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

(Mark One)

 

 

 

x

 

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

 

 

 

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

or

 

 

 

o

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

 

 

 

 

For the transition period from                   to                  .

 

Commission File Number 0-27517

 

GAIAM, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

COLORADO

 

84-1113527

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

 

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

 

360 INTERLOCKEN BOULEVARD
BROOMFIELD, CO 80021
(Address of principal executive offices)

 

(303) 222-3600
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of Each Class

 

Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered

 

 

 

Class A Common Stock, $.0001 par value

 

NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

 

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:
None

 

Indicate by check mark if 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 Act.
YES
o  NO x

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed 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 (§229.405 of this chapter) 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, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company.  See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” ,”accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.  (Check one):

 

Large accelerated filer o

 

Accelerated filer x

Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

 

Smaller reporting company o

 

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

 

The aggregate market value of the voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $323,787,569 as of June 30, 2007, based upon the closing price on the NASDAQ Global Market on that date.  The registrant does not have non-voting common equity.

 

As of March 13, 2008, 19,735,074 shares of the registrant’s Class A common stock and 5,400,000 shares of the registrant’s Class B common stock were outstanding.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

The following documents (or portions thereof) are incorporated by reference into the Parts of this Form 10-K noted:

 

Part III incorporates by reference from the definitive proxy statement for the registrant’s 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this Form.

 

 



 

GAIAM, INC.

 

Annual Report on Form 10-K

 

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007

 

INDEX

 

 

 

 

 

Page
Number

PART I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3

Item 1.

 

Business

 

11

Item 1A.

 

Risk Factors

 

15

Item 1B.

 

Unresolved Staff Comments

 

15

Item 2.

 

Properties

 

15

Item 3.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

15

Item 4.

 

Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

 

15

 

 

 

 

 

PART II

 

 

 

16

Item 5.

 

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

16

Item 6.

 

Selected Financial Data

 

17

Item 7.

 

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

 

19

Item 7A.

 

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

 

26

Item 8.

 

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

 

27

Item 9.

 

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

 

52

Item 9A.

 

Controls and Procedures

 

52

Item 9B.

 

Other Information.

 

53

 

 

 

 

 

PART III

 

 

 

54

Item 10.

 

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

 

54

Item 11.

 

Executive Compensation

 

54

Item 12.

 

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

 

54

Item 13.

 

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

 

54

Item 14.

 

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

 

54

 

 

 

 

 

PART IV

 

 

 

54

Item 15.

 

Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

 

54

 

 

 

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

58

 

2



 

Item 1.  Business

 

Our Business

 

We are a lifestyle media company providing a broad selection of information, media, products and services to customers who value personal development, wellness, ecological lifestyles, responsible media and conscious community. We offer our customers the ability to make purchasing decisions and find responsible content based on these values while providing quality offerings at a price comparable to mainstream alternatives. We market our content, media and products through a multi-channel approach including traditional media channels, direct to consumers via catalogs, the Internet, direct response television, broadband, subscriptions and communities. At the end of 2007, our home media was carried by approximately 70,000 retail stores in the United States alone, and we had approximately 8 million direct customers.

 

We have established ourselves as a lifestyle media brand, content producer and licensor, information resource and authority in the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (“LOHAS”) market including the emerging Conscious Media market. We seek to become a unifying symbol of these emerging media and lifestyle genres. Our lifestyle brand is built around our ability to develop and offer media content, products, lifestyle solutions and community to consumers in the LOHAS and Conscious Media markets. Our content forms the basis of our proprietary offerings, on which we realize our highest margins, which then drive demand for parallel product and service offerings. Our operations are vertically integrated from content creation, through product development and sourcing, to customer service and distribution. We market our products and services across two segments, business and direct-to-consumer. We distribute our products in each of these sales segments from a single fulfillment center.

 

The LOHAS Market

 

The LOHAS market, which represented $227 billion in sales according to the 2000 Natural Business Communication study, consists of five main sectors:

 

·

Sustainable Economy. Renewable energy, energy conservation, recycled goods, environmental management services, sustainable manufacturing processes and related information and services.

 

 

·

Healthy Living. Natural and organic foods, dietary supplements, personal care products and related information and services.

 

 

·

Alternative Healthcare. Health and wellness solutions and alternative health practices.

 

 

·

Personal Development. Solutions, information, products and experiences relating to mind, body and spiritual development.

 

 

·

Ecological Lifestyles. Environmentally friendly cleaning and household products, organic cotton clothing and bedding, and eco-tourism.

 

We participate in all five sectors of the LOHAS market with an emphasis on Personal Development, Ecological Lifestyles and Alternative Healthcare.

 

3



 

The Conscious Media Market

 

We consider the Conscious Media market to consist of five distinct sectors:

 

·                  Children’s. Children’s entertainment and edutainment with a positive message.

 

·                  Family Entertainment. Entertainment that can be enjoyed by the entire family, containing no violence or profanity.

 

·                  Documentaries. Educational and informational programming (edutainment).

 

·                  Inspirational Entertainment. Entertainment that inspires people to expand their awareness and pursue positive changes in their lives.

 

·                  Personal Development. Informative and inspiring content that helps people to live a better life.

 

Our Content

 

Our business model revolves around content creation, which forms the basis for our proprietary products. We have an “in house” production team that produces programming, which has won 71 Telly awards and several medals at the International New York Film Festival. We are fully high definition and 5.1 surround sound capable and do the majority of our authoring and editing at our Colorado facility ensuring the quality standards that drives our awards. We also develop children’s programming, which have been the recipient of several Parent’s Choice and Kids First Awards recognizing new products that help children grow imaginatively, physically, and mentally. During 2007, we produced over 100 new titles and added 150 titles to our DVD library through acquisitions and remakes. We also develop and market music and audio CDs and publish printed content.

 

Our Products

 

Our visual media programs represent an integral part of our proprietary product offering. We currently stock approximately 10,000 stock keeping units, of which approximately 7,000 are branded proprietary offerings, including media, accessories and soft goods. In 2007, our proprietary products constituted over 75% of our product sales.

 

Our Sales Channels

 

We conduct our business across two segments. Our business segment customers are primarily national retailers, corporate accounts and the media. We conduct our direct to consumer business through our catalogs, the Internet, direct response television, broadband, subscriptions and communities.

 

Media

 

We develop, produce and license information and programming targeted to consumers who value personal development, wellness, spirituality, inspirational entertainment and conscious community. We have an award-winning library of titles that we sell to retailers, license to selected distributors operating outside of the United States, and license or sublicense for broadcast and download. Some of our media partners include Google, Comcast, LodgeNet, and Entertainment One. All of our licensing arrangements require our branding to be prominent on the programming and are subject to royalty agreements with our performing artists. While our licensing of the rights to manufacture and distribute certain of our media lowers recognized revenue, we improve contribution margins and branding through this licensing. We intend to continue to seek new licensees for our brand internationally and to move all of our current distribution agreements to licensing agreements.

 

4



 

DRTV

 

We use direct response television (“DRTV”) marketing to promote LOHAS products and services, particularly those aimed at the fitness/wellness market. DRTV marketing is a highly-scalable distribution channel for segments of our LOHAS product suite, and also provides broad marketing support for our retail partners, as well as creating new direct customers to which we cross-market a wide range of LOHAS products and services via our catalog, Internet, and subscription segments. We capitalize on both long-form DRTV shows as well as leading home shopping channels such as QVC. In 2006, we used the DRTV channel to launch our mass market brand “The Firm”.

 

Retailers

 

Since the inception of our retailer channel in 1998, we have increased our breadth and diversity. As of the end of 2007, our media titles could be found in approximately 70,000 stores in the United States, up from 68,000 at the end of 2006. We currently sell our media and other products across a variety of leading retailers, including bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders; media stores such as Best Buy and Blockbuster; beauty stores such as Ulta; home furnishing stores such as Bed, Bath and Beyond and ABC Carpet and Home; natural food stores such as Whole Foods Market; sporting goods stores such as Dick’s and REI; mass merchants such as WalMart and Target, our largest customer; e-tailers such as Amazon.com and Drugstore.com; and wholesale clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club. Many of these retailers display our products in branded store-within-store lifestyle presentations that may include custom fixtures that we design. We implemented our first store-within-store concept late in 2000 and the concept has grown to over 7,000 stores by the end of 2007, up from 6,000 stores at the end of 2006.

 

Through distributor arrangements, licensing agreements  and acquisitions, our branded products are found in Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia. We sell our media products to international accounts primarily under licensing agreements and we sell the remaining products through distributor relationships. Our intention is to focus on license arrangements in the future.

 

Services

 

We conduct operations as a solar energy integrator through our wholly owned subsidiary Real Goods Solar, Inc., offering turnkey services including the design, procurement, installation, grid connection, monitoring, maintenance and referrals for third-party financing of solar energy systems.  We also sell renewable energy products and sustainable living resources through Real Goods’ nationally distributed catalog and website.  On February 7, 2008, Real Goods filed a registration statement on Form S-1 relating to the initial public offering of its Class A common stock.

 

Catalogs

 

We offer a variety of LOHAS products directly to the consumer through our catalogs and through some consumer lifestyle publications. We mailed approximately 19 million catalogs in 2007. Our customer demographics are highly regarded with our customers having an average income over $85,000 and over 70% of them being college educated.

 

Internet

 

We use the Internet to sell our products and to provide information on the LOHAS lifestyle.  We currently offer approximately 10,000 stock keeping units on our website, www.gaiam.com.  We promote our website through our visual media, catalogs, print publications, product packaging and Internet links. We provide customer support for Internet sales from our in-house call center as a key component of our Internet approach.

 

5



 

Community and Subscription Services

 

We offer a variety of subscription paid services.  These services include online communities under various brands and subscription clubs.  During 2006, we acquired Spiritual Cinema Circle, a membership DVD club. During 2007, we acquired Zaadz, a leading social networking site for LOHAS consumers, Conscious Enlightenment, an online and offline community that offers rewards cards and operates several LOHAS magazines and Lime, a multichannel green lifestyle company.  In the fourth quarter of 2007 we also tested a beta site for our community development at gaia.com.

 

Our Operations

 

Sales Channels, Product Development and Sourcing

 

We sell our branded products across various sales channels. Non-proprietary products are only available through our catalogs and over the Internet. We use our catalog and Internet channels to test products before we develop products under our brand and distribute them through our other sales channels. Because we use a multi-channel approach to our business we are able to leverage our media and product development costs across all channels of our business.

 

Our development team designs our proprietary offerings, our merchandisers source these products both domestically and internationally and third party suppliers produce these products to our specifications. We design our products to supply information, enhance customers’ lifestyles and experiences and provide healthy, natural solutions while being eco-friendly and promoting a sustainable economy. We also screen the environmental and social responsibility of our suppliers. In order to minimize risk we often identify an alternate supplier for our products in a separate location.

 

Customer Service

 

We focus on building and maintaining customer relationships that thrive on loyalty and trust. We maintain a “no-risk guarantee” policy, whereby we provide a customer a full refund for our products that are returned at any time, for any reason. We have established a most valued customer program, which extends added benefits to our most loyal catalog and Internet customers. Our in-house customer service department includes product specialists who have specific product knowledge and assist customers in selecting products and solutions that meet their needs. We employ telephone routing software that directs each call to the appropriate representative. Our policy is to ship orders no later than the next business day, which we accomplish by stocking inventory that supports over 85% of our orders. We believe that by offering exceptional customer service we encourage repeat purchases by our customers, enhance our brand identity and reputation and build stronger relationships with our customers.

 

Established Infrastructure

 

We operate a 283,000 square foot distribution center near Cincinnati, Ohio, which provides fulfillment for most of our current domestic business needs and has the capacity to support the growth of our business. This central U.S. location allows us to achieve shipping cost efficiencies to most locations. The center is also located within 30 minutes of several major shipping company hubs. We use a supply chain management system that supports our entire operation, including fulfillment, inventory management, and customer service. Our fulfillment center is connected to our other facilities by a state-of-the art voice-over-Internet telecom network that allows us to maintain a high degree of connectivity within our organization.

 

Our Growth Strategies

 

Expand our Media Offering

 

Proprietary and authentic content lies at the core of our business model. Our media offerings introduce customers to us and help establish us as an authority in the LOHAS market. Our primary focus is on leveraging our content with branded lifestyle offerings through various media, catalogs, the Internet, and national retailers. We believe that the content-centric strategy is a competitive advantage and the multi-channel approach allows us the broadest possible consumer reach. It also provides the optimal “context” for us to market lifestyle products that are appropriate companions to the media.

 

6



 

We will continue to develop authentic content that caters to the LOHAS lifestyle in DVD, book and audio formats and also accelerate our efforts in the broadcast and online categories. To this end, we added wellness as a category to our media library in 2007 by producing DVDs with the Mayo Clinic as a partner. We intend to continue to expand our brand to the Conscious Media market, which incorporates children’s, family, inspirational and edutainment media. We believe we can establish our brand as a leading brand in some of these media categories.

 

We have expanded our visual media offerings internationally and plan to continue to expand this opportunity. We also intend to broaden the variety of formats we offer, from our traditional “physical media” (DVD, CD, etc), to making our content available online to our consumers in both one-shot “purchase” format or subscription services.

 

Capitalize on our market share positioning

 

We continue to grow our media market share. Based on Nielsen’s Videoscan, we grew our U.S. DVD market share in the fitness/wellness category from 26% in 2005 (over 40% on a pro forma basis, giving effect to our acquisition of the assets of GoodTimes Entertainment) to 45% in 2006 to 49% in 2007. With our market share now approaching 50%, we intend to sacrifice some of our market share in fitness in order to assume a category management role bringing competitive product into the mix to establish the most complete fitness assortment in the business. We believe by assuming this category management role, we can improve our revenues and profitability. Based on the same Nielsen scanning, we ended 2007 sixth in the non-theatrical U.S. DVD category with 6% market share. We intend to continue to grow our market share in the non-theatrical category through the production and acquisition of Conscious Media titles, focusing on children’s and family entertainment.  We also plan to extend our line of offerings into wellness and green living with solution based programming and media based kits, building store within store wellness offerings and continuing to grow our retail presence.

 

Improve our Profit Margins

 

We believe we can improve our profit margins with several distinct strategies. We will continue to focus our sales strategy on media that carries over 70% gross margins. We are establishing ourselves as a brand in the Conscious Media and wellness/fitness media market as well as in a genre we call edutainment. By continuing to grow our market share in media, we believe we can attract more media producers to work with our brand instead of the traditional studio or distributor model.

 

We continue to improve margins by our ability to serve the large retailers directly instead of going through third party distributors, as a result of the increased sales volume of our media. Since the GoodTimes transaction, we have been able to go directly to retailers like Wal-Mart and Kmart that were serviced by third party distributors prior to the acquisition.  During 2006 we implemented a new Vendor Manager Inventory System allowing us to improve store turns and reduce markdowns.

 

We launched a continuity and subscription business in second quarter of 2005 which we augmented with certain assets we acquired from GoodTimes and with our acquisition of a majority of the equity of Spiritual Cinema in 2006. These businesses carry over 85% gross margins and connect our media content directly to the consumer. We expect to continue to invest in this channel of business. We believe that with the increase in broadband acceptance in the consumer marketplace, coupled with our specialized media library and loyal direct customer base, we have an opportunity for strong growth at high margins.

 

We expect to grow our international business through licensing arrangements that carry low cost of goods. We have a valuable library of branded products, with only a small portion monetizing outside North America.

 

Strengthen our Lifestyle Brand

 

Our goal is to maintain our brand as an authority in the LOHAS market (including Conscious Media) and to establish our brand as a unifying symbol of the emerging LOHAS lifestyle. We plan to strengthen our brand by growing our media, making our brand more prominent across our catalog efforts, focusing on category management initiatives, increasing our store-within-store presence across national retailers, increasing our marketing and public relations efforts, and aggressively developing and marketing proprietary products while maintaining our high level of customer service. We initiated a branding study in late 2006 that drove this initiative during 2007.

 

7



 

Launch a Mass Market Brand in Fitness

 

We launched mass market media and products in fitness under “The Firm” brand in late 2006. We believe that the aging baby boomers at all income levels will be looking for fitness/wellness products. We do not market our brand except in media in certain mass market channels and believe there is growth opportunity for us in those channels under a different brand with our same attention to quality. We supported The Firm brand through DRTV dollars during 2007 and ended the year with over 1,500 doors carrying The Firm brand through a store-within-store display.

 

Expand our Proprietary Products

 

Our proprietary products, which we introduced in 1997, represented over 75% of our revenues in fiscal year 2007. These products carry a higher margin, provide for branding opportunity and distinguish us from our competitors. We currently offer proprietary products that range from media products to sleep, stress relief, yoga and Pilates accessories to organic cotton bedding and bath products. We have also expanded our exclusive media library to over 2,500 titles through acquisitions and internal development. We continue to develop and market proprietary products across the LOHAS sectors. We will continue to look for additional library acquisitions as we expand our content across the Conscious Media market. We are strengthening our supply chain globally by sourcing a greater number of products offshore and leveraging our expanding media sales to acquire lower costs from our replicators. We leverage our product development costs over all sales channels.

 

Capitalize on our Multi-channel Approach

 

Our multi-channel strategy affords us the broadest possible customer reach, as well as the ability to allow our customers to buy from us “what they want, when they want, where they want to.” This approach makes purchasing our lifestyle products convenient regardless of the channel that a customer prefers. It also allows us to migrate segments of our customer base across channels to develop deeper, longer-lasting relationships with them, and to convert them from purchasers of individual media products into subscribers to our “continuity programs,” whether those are DVD-based, or online access to communities and content on a continuity basis. Additionally, this diversified, strategic approach should provide for continued operating and business stability as we have the ability to cross-market lifestyle products and services regardless of the customer location or the channel to which we are marketing.

 

In our direct to consumer business we are open 24 hours a day, offering approximately 10,000 stock keeping units on our Internet site. As we increase the depth of media and community functionality available to our consumers, our Internet presence will transform from being merely a place to “order” product to a place to “consume” it, in real-time.

 

In our business segment, we continue to expand our presence in national retailers and currently have placements in approximately 70,000 retail points in the United States, up from 68,000 at the end of 2006 and 50,000 at the end of 2005. We also continue to expand our store-within-store concept in a variety of stores, including Whole Foods Market, Barnes & Noble Bookstores, Borders, Target, Ulta, Dick’s Sporting Goods, REI, ABC Carpet and Home and other national retailers. We currently have over 7,000 store within store concepts under the Gaiam and The Firm brands.

 

Complement our Existing Business with Selective Strategic Acquisitions

 

Our growth strategy is not dependent on acquisitions. However, we will consider those strategic acquisitions in the LOHAS market that complement our existing business, increase our media and related product offerings, expand our geographical reach, extend our channel distribution, and add to our direct customer base. We especially focus on companies with media content, a strong brand identity and customer and product information databases that augment our existing databases. We often allow some of the acquired company’s management team to retain responsibility for front-end business functions such as creative presentation and marketing, while consolidating operational functions under our existing infrastructure when we can realize economies of scale.

 

8



 

Establish a lifestyle community

 

In 2008, we plan to expand our community and social networking efforts, with specific focus on sustainability, personal development, healthy living, spirituality, alternative healthcare, and responsible media. We already work with leading experts in these fields to produce our current suite of media offerings. During 2008, we will continue to develop the online “space” for our customers to come together with each other and with our cadre of experts in these core LOHAS areas, to share ideas, discuss new trends and solutions, and allow our customers have access to world-class resources to deepen their understanding of issues that are central to how they choose to live their lives. During 2007, we launched our new community site at gaia.com. We believe that by developing a community of like-minded people, we can effect positive changes on the planet.

 

Our Business Segments

 

We separate our business into two business segments: the business segment which includes sales to businesses, retailers, international licenses, corporate accounts and media outlets; and the direct to consumer segment, which includes DRTV, catalogs, E-commerce, and subscription community services.

 

The business segment represented 42.4% of 2007 net revenues, while the direct to consumer segment represented 57.6% of net revenues. Our business segment is dependent upon a few major customers for a significant portion of its revenues. See Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements for further information on our segments.

 

Our Intellectual Property

 

Our tradename Gaiam and various product and Internet domain names are subject to trademark or pending trademark applications of Gaiam or a Gaiam company. We believe these trademarks are significant assets to our business.

 

Our Competitive Position

 

We believe that fragmented supplier and distribution networks characterize the LOHAS market, and we are not aware of a dominant leader. Our goal is to establish ourselves as the market leader.

 

Our business is evolving and competitive. Larger and better-established entities may acquire, invest in or form joint ventures with our competitors. Many of these entities have longer operating histories and have greater financial and marketing resources than we have. Increased competition from these or other competitors could reduce our revenue and profits. In addition, the smaller businesses we compete against may be able to more effectively personalize their relationships with customers.

 

Because we use multi-channel distribution for our products, we compete with various producers of similar products and services. Our competitors include Warner, Disney, Paramount, Fox, Lions Gate, Liberty Media, Nike, Reebok, thousands of small, local and regional businesses, and product lines or items offered by large retailers, manufacturers, publishers and media producers.

 

We believe the principal competitive factors in the LOHAS market are authenticity of information, unique content and distinctiveness of products and services, quality of product, brand recognition and price, and distribution capabilities. We believe we compete favorably on all these relevant factors.

 

We expect industry consolidation to increase competition. As our competitors grow, they may adopt aggressive pricing or inventory policies, which could result in reduced operating margins and loss of market share.

 

Our success also depends upon the willingness of consumers to purchase media, goods and services that promote the values we espouse. While we believe our business plan and assumptions are reasonable, the demographic trends on which they are based may change and the current consumption levels may not be sustained. The decrease of consumer interest in purchasing goods and services that promote the values we espouse would materially and adversely affect our customer base and revenues and, accordingly, our financial prospects.

 

9



 

Our Employees

 

As of February 20, 2008, we employed approximately 454 individuals. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

 

Regulatory Matters

 

A number of existing and proposed laws restrict disclosure of consumers’ personal information, which may make it more difficult for us to generate additional names for our direct marketing, and restrict our ability to send unsolicited electronic mail or printed materials. Although we believe we are generally in compliance with current laws and regulations and that these laws and regulations have not had a significant impact on our business to date, it is possible that existing or future regulatory requirements will impose a significant burden on us.

 

We generally collect sales taxes only on sales to residents of states in which we have locations.  Currently, we collect sales taxes on certain sales to residents of California, Colorado, New York and Ohio. A number of legislative proposals have been made at the federal, state and local level, and by foreign governments, that would impose additional taxes on the sale of goods and services over the Internet and certain states have taken measures to tax Internet-related activities. If legislation is enacted that requires us to collect sales taxes on sales to residents of other states or jurisdictions, sales in our direct to consumer businesses may be adversely affected.

 

Our business is also subject to a number of other governmental regulations, including the Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule and related regulations of the Federal Trade Commission. These regulations prohibit unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with mail and telephone order sales and require sellers of mail and telephone order merchandise to conform to certain rules of conduct with respect to shipping dates and shipping delays. We are also subject to regulations of the U.S. Postal Service and various state and local consumer protection agencies relating to matters such as advertising, order solicitation, shipment deadlines and customer refunds and returns. In addition, merchandise that we import is subject to import and customs duties and, in some cases, import quotas.

 

Seasonality

 

See the “Quarterly and Seasonal Fluctuations” section of Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, for information pertaining to the seasonal aspects of our business.

 

Available Information

 

Our corporate website at www.gaiam.com/corporate provides information about us, our history, goals and philosophy, as well as certain financial reports and corporate press releases. Our www.gaiam.com website features a library of information and articles on personal development, healthy lifestyles and environmental issues, along with an extensive offering of media, products and services. We believe our website provides us with an opportunity to deepen our relationships with our customers and investors, educate them on a variety of issues, and improve our service. As part of this commitment, we have added a link on our corporate website to our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and all amendments to such reports. We make those reports available through our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after these reports are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

We have included our website addresses only as inactive textual reference, and the information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into the Form 10-K.

 

10



 

Item 1A.  Risk factors

 

We wish to caution you that there are risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different from those indicated by forward looking statements that we make from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, news releases, reports, proxy statements, registration statements and other written communications as well as oral forward looking statements made from time to time by our representatives. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those risks described below that we are presently aware of. Additional risks and uncertainties that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations, and historical results are not necessarily an indication of the future results. The cautionary statements below discuss important factors that could cause our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows to be materially adversely affected.

 

Changes in general economic conditions could have a material impact on our business

 

Changes in overall economic conditions that impact consumer spending could also impact our results of operations. Future economic conditions affecting disposable income such as employment levels, consumer confidence, business conditions, stock market volatility, weather conditions, acts of terrorism, threats of war, and interest and tax rates could reduce consumer spending or cause consumers to shift their spending away from our products. If the economic conditions and performance of the retail and media environment worsen, we may experience material adverse impacts on our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

Increased competition could impact our financial results

 

We believe that the LOHAS market includes thousands of small, local and regional businesses. Some smaller businesses may be able to more effectively personalize their relationships with customers, thereby gaining a competitive advantage. Although we believe that we do not compete directly with any single company that offers our entire range of merchandise and services, within each category we have competitors and we may face competition from new entrants. Some of our competitors or our potential competitors may have greater financial and marketing resources and greater brand recognition. In addition, larger, well-established and well-financed entities may acquire, invest in or form joint ventures with our competitors. Increased competition from these or other competitors could negatively impact our business.

 

Changing consumer preferences may have an adverse effect on our business

 

We target our business at consumers who assign high value to personal development, healthy lifestyles, responsible media, renewable energy and the environment. A decrease of consumer interest in purchasing goods and services that promote the values we espouse would materially and adversely affect our customer base and sales revenues and, accordingly, our financial prospects. Further, consumer preferences and product trends are difficult to predict. Our future success depends in part on our ability to anticipate and respond to changes in consumer preferences and we may not respond in a timely or commercially appropriate manner to such changes. Failure to anticipate and respond to changing consumer preferences and product trends could lead to, among other things, lower sales of our products, increased merchandise returns and lower margins, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Our strategy of offering branded products could lead to inventory risk and higher costs

 

An important part of our strategy is to feature branded products. These products are sold under our brand names and are manufactured to our specifications. We expect our reliance on branded merchandise to increase. The use of branded merchandise requires us to incur costs and risks relating to the design and purchase of products, including submitting orders earlier and making longer initial purchase commitments.

 

In addition, the use of branded merchandise limits our ability to return unsold products to vendors, which can result in higher markdowns in order to sell excess inventory. Our commitment to customer service typically results in us keeping a high level of merchandise in stock so we can fill orders quickly. Consequently, we run the risk of having excess inventory, which may also contribute to higher markdowns. Our failure to successfully execute a branded merchandise strategy or to achieve anticipated profit margins on these goods, or a higher than anticipated level of overstocks, may materially adversely affect our revenues.

 

11



 

We offer our customers liberal merchandise return policies. Our consolidated financial statements include a reserve for anticipated merchandise returns, which is based on historical return rates. It is possible that actual returns may increase as a result of factors such as the introduction of new merchandise, changes in merchandise mix or other factors. Any increase in our merchandise returns will correspondingly reduce our revenues.

 

Acquisitions may harm our financial results

 

We have historically expanded our operations in part through strategic acquisitions. We cannot accurately predict the timing, size and success of our acquisition efforts. Our acquisition strategy involves significant risks that could inhibit our growth and negatively impact our operating results, including the following: our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates at acceptable prices; our ability to complete successfully the acquisitions of candidates that we identify; our ability to compete effectively for available acquisition opportunities; increases in asking prices by acquisition candidates to levels beyond our financial capability or to levels that would not result in the returns required by our acquisition criteria; diversion of management’s attention to expansion efforts; unanticipated costs and contingent liabilities associated with acquisitions; failure of acquired businesses to achieve expected results; our failure to retain key customers or personnel of acquired businesses and difficulties entering markets in which we have no or limited experience. In addition, the size, timing and success of any future acquisitions may cause substantial fluctuations in our operating results from quarter to quarter. Consequently, our operating results for any quarter may not be indicative of the results that may be achieved for any subsequent quarter or for a full fiscal year. These fluctuations could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

 

The loss of the services of our key personnel could disrupt our business

 

We depend on the continued services and performance of our senior management and other key personnel, particularly Jirka Rysavy and Lynn Powers. Our strategy of allowing the management teams of some acquired companies to continue to exercise significant management responsibility for those companies makes it important that we retain key employees, particularly the sales and creative teams, of the companies we might acquire.

 

Our founder and chief executive officer Jirka Rysavy controls us

 

Mr. Rysavy holds 100% of our 5,400,000 outstanding shares of class B common stock and also owns 868,682 shares of Class A common stock. The shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of Class A common stock at any time. Each share of Class B common stock has ten votes per share, and each share of Class A common stock has one vote per share. Consequently, Mr. Rysavy is able to vote a majority of our stock, to exert substantial influence over us and to control matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors, increasing our authorized capital stock, or a merger or sale of our assets. As a result of Mr. Rysavy’s control, no change of control of us can occur without Mr. Rysavy’s consent.

 

Our success depends on the value of our brand

 

Because of our reliance on sales of proprietary products, our success depends on our brand. Building and maintaining recognition of our brand are important to attracting and expanding our customer base. If the value of our brand were adversely affected, we cannot be certain that we will be able to attract new customers, retain existing customers or encourage repeat purchases, and if the value of our brand were to diminish, our revenues, results of operations and prospects would be adversely affected.

 

Disputes concerning media content and intellectual property may adversely affect us

 

Most of our media content is subject to arrangements with third parties pursuant to which we have licensed certain rights to use and distribute media content owned by third parties or have licensed to third parties certain rights to use and distribute media content that we own. In addition, we have a number of agreements with third parties concerning the use of our media content and intellectual property, including agreements regarding royalties, distribution, duplication, etc. Allegations that we do not have rights to use media content and other disputes arising from such arrangements can be costly and may have a material adverse impact on our results.

 

12



 

Product liability claims against us could result in adverse publicity and potentially significant monetary damages.

 

As a seller of consumer products, we face an inherent risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that use of products we sell results in injuries. If such injuries or claims of injuries were to occur, we could incur monetary damages and our business could be adversely affected by any resulting negative publicity. The successful assertion of product liability claims against us also could result in potentially significant monetary damages and, if our insurance protection is inadequate to cover these claims, could require us to make significant payments from our own resources.

 

We are dependent on third party suppliers for the success of our proprietary products

 

We are dependent on the success of our proprietary products, and we rely on a select group of manufacturers to provide us with sufficient quantities to meet our customers’ demands in a timely manner, produce these products in a humane and safe environment for both their workers and the planet, maintain quality standards consistent with our brand, and meet certain pricing guarantees. Our overseas sourcing of these products continues to increase, and these arrangements carry risks associated with relying on products manufactured outside of the U.S., including political unrest and trade restrictions, currency fluctuations, transportation difficulties, work stoppages, and other uncertainties. In addition, a number of our suppliers are small companies, and some of these vendors may not have sufficient capital, resources or personnel to increase their sales to us or to meet our needs for increased commitments from them. The failure of our suppliers to provide sufficient quantities of our proprietary products could decrease our revenues, increase our costs, and damage our customer service reputation.

 

We rely on communications and shipping networks to deliver our products

 

Given our emphasis on customer service, the efficient and uninterrupted operation of order-processing and fulfillment functions is critical to our business. To maintain a high level of customer service, we rely heavily on a number of different outside service providers, such as printers, telecommunications companies and delivery companies. Any interruption in services from our principal outside service providers, including delays or disruptions resulting from labor disputes, power outages, human error, adverse weather conditions or natural disasters, could materially adversely affect our business. In addition, freight carriers must ship products that we source overseas to our distribution center, and a work stoppage or political unrest could adversely affect our ability to fulfill our customer orders.

 

Information systems upgrades or integrations may disrupt our operations or financial reporting

 

We continually evaluate and upgrade our management information systems, which are critical to our business. These systems assist in processing orders, managing inventory, purchasing and shipping merchandise on a timely basis, responding to customer service inquiries, and gathering and analyzing operating data by business segment, customer, and stock keeping unit (a specific identifier for each different product). We are required to continually update these systems. Furthermore, if we acquire other companies, we will need to integrate the acquired companies’ systems with ours, a process that could be time-consuming and costly. If our systems cannot accommodate our growth or if they fail, we could incur substantial expenses and our business could be adversely affected.

 

Additionally, our success in E-commerce will depend upon our ability to provide a compelling and satisfying shopping experience. To remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the responsiveness, functionality and features of our online technology, and if we are unable to do this, our business could be adversely affected.

 

A material security breach could cause us to lose sales, damage our reputation or result in liability to us

 

Our computer servers may be vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions. We may need to expend significant additional capital and other resources to protect against a security breach or to alleviate problems caused by any breaches. Our relationships with our customers may be adversely affected if the security measures that we use to protect personal information such as credit card numbers are ineffective. We currently rely on security and authentication technology that we license from third parties. We may not succeed in preventing all security breaches and our failure to do so could adversely affect our business.

 

13



 

Our systems may fail or limit user traffic, which would cause us to lose sales

 

We support most of our business through our call center in Broomfield, Colorado. Even though we have back up arrangements, we are dependent on our ability to maintain our computer and telecommunications equipment in this center in effective working order and to protect against damage from fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure or similar events. In addition, growth of our customer base may strain or exceed the capacity of our computer and telecommunications systems and lead to degradations in performance or systems failure. We have experienced capacity constraints and failure of information systems in the past that have resulted in decreased levels of service delivery or interruptions in service to customers for limited periods of time. Although we continually review and consider upgrades to our technical infrastructure and provide for system redundancies and backup power to limit the likelihood of systems overload or failure, substantial damage to our systems or a systems failure that causes interruptions for a number of days could adversely affect our business. Additionally, if we are unsuccessful in updating and expanding our infrastructure, including our call center, our ability to grow may be constrained.

 

Government regulation of the Internet and E-commerce is evolving and unfavorable changes could harm our business

 

We are subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet and E-commerce. Such existing and future laws and regulations may impede the growth of the Internet or other online services.  These regulations and laws may cover taxation, user privacy, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, consumer protection, the provision of online payment services and quality of products and services.  There is lack of clarity on how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes and personal privacy apply to the Internet and E-commerce.  Unfavorable resolution of these issues may harm our business.

 

We may face legal liability for the content contained on our website

 

We could face legal liability for defamation, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement, personal injury or other claims based on the nature and content of materials that we publish or distribute on our website. If we are held liable for damages for the content on our website, our business may suffer. Further, one of our goals is for www.gaiam.com to be a trustworthy and dependable provider of information and services. Allegations of impropriety, even if unfounded, could therefore have a material adverse effect on our reputation and our business.

 

Relying on our centralized fulfillment center could expose us to losing revenue

 

Prompt and efficient fulfillment of our customers’ orders is critical to our business. Our facility in Cincinnati, Ohio handles our fulfillment functions and some customer-service related operations, such as returns processing. A majority of our orders are filled and shipped from the Cincinnati facility. The balance is shipped directly from suppliers. Because we rely on a centralized fulfillment center, our fulfillment functions could be severely impaired in the event of fire, extended adverse weather conditions, transportation difficulties or natural disasters. Because we recognize revenue only when we ship orders, interruption of our shipping would diminish our revenues.

 

We may face quarterly and seasonal fluctuations that could harm our business

 

Our revenue and results of operations have fluctuated and will continue to fluctuate on a quarterly basis as a result of a number of factors, including the timing of catalog offerings, timing of orders from retailers, recognition of costs or net sales contributed by new merchandise, fluctuations in response rates, fluctuations in paper, production and postage costs and expenses, merchandise returns, adverse weather conditions that affect distribution or shipping, shifts in the timing of holidays and changes in our merchandise mix. In particular, our net sales and profits have historically been higher during the fourth quarter holiday season. We believe that this seasonality will continue in the future.

 

Postage and shipping costs may increase and therefore increase our expenses

 

We ship our products, catalogs, and lifestyle publications to consumers and the cost of shipping is a material expenditure. Postage and shipping prices increase periodically and can be expected to increase in the future. Any inability to secure suitable or commercially favorable prices or other terms for the delivery of our merchandise and catalogs could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

14



 

Our business is subject to reporting requirements that continue to evolve and change, which could continue to require significant compliance effort and resources.

 

Because our common stock is publicly traded, we are subject to certain rules and regulations of federal, state and financial market exchange entities charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded. These entities, including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the SEC and the NASDAQ, periodically issue new requirements and regulations and legislative bodies also review and revise applicable laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. As interpretation and implementation of these laws and rules and promulgation of new regulations continues, we will continue to be required to commit significant financial and managerial resources and incur additional expenses.

 

Item 1B.   Unresolved staff comments

 

Not Applicable.

 

Item 2.     Properties

 

Our principal executive offices are located in Broomfield, Colorado. Our fulfillment center is located in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. This facility houses most of our fulfillment functions. We selected the Cincinnati site after considering the availability and cost of facilities and labor, proximity to major highways, air delivery hubs and support of local government of new businesses. We also believe that Cincinnati is ideal for providing the low cost shipping available from a single central point to a customer base that conforms to the overall U.S. population.

 

The following table sets forth certain information relating to our primary facilities:

 

Primary
Locations

 

Size

 

Use

 

Lease
Expiration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broomfield, CO

 

36,000 sq. ft.

 

Headquarters and customer service

 

May 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cincinnati, OH

 

283,000 sq. ft.

 

Fulfillment center

 

June 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York, NY

 

18,400 sq. ft.

 

Media office

 

April 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopland, CA

 

12 acres

 

Renewable energy demo site

 

Owned

 

 

We have an option to renew the existing lease for our fulfillment center. We have entered into a leasing arrangement, commencing April 1, 2008 and expiring March 31, 2015, for a new 12,700 square foot New York media office, which we intend to occupy when our current New York lease expires.  On January 15, 2008, we entered into an option to purchase land, an office building, and improvements located in Colorado for approximately $13.2 million in cash, which we estimate to be well below its replacement value.  It is our intention to purchase the property and relocate our corporate headquarters and customer service to this newly acquired property during the second quarter of 2008 upon expiration of our existing lease. We believe our other facilities are adequate to meet our current needs and that suitable additional facilities will be available for lease or purchase when, and as, we need them.

 

Item 3.     Legal proceedings

 

From time to time, we are involved in legal proceedings that we consider to be in the normal course of business. We do not believe that any of these proceedings will have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Item 4.     Submission of matters to a vote of security holders
 

No matters were brought to a vote of our shareholders in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007.

 

15



 

Part II

 

Item 5.     Market for registrant’s common equity, related stockholder matters and issuer purchases of equity securities
 

Stock Price History

 

Our Class A common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “GAIA”. On March 13, 2008, we had 7,872 shareholders of record and 19,735,074 shares of $.0001 par value Class A common stock outstanding. We have 5,400,000 shares of $.0001 par value Class B common stock outstanding, held by one shareholder.

 

The following table sets forth certain sales price and trading volume data for our Class A common stock for the period indicated:

 

 

 

High Bid

 

Low Bid

 

Close

 

Average
Daily
Volume

 

Fiscal 2007:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Quarter

 

$

30.73

 

$

19.50

 

$

29.68

 

227,383

 

Third Quarter

 

$

24.14

 

$

14.67

 

$

24.03

 

213,300

 

Second Quarter

 

$

18.50

 

$

14.15

 

$

18.23

 

200,805

 

First Quarter

 

$

15.85

 

$

11.65

 

$

15.74

 

195,993

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiscal 2006:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Quarter

 

$

15.20

 

$

11.98

 

$

13.68

 

144,163

 

Third Quarter

 

$

14.50

 

$

9.80

 

$

12.91

 

168,695

 

Second Quarter

 

$

19.98

 

$

13.88

 

$

14.02

 

140,701

 

First Quarter

 

$

16.49

 

$

12.18

 

$

16.11

 

59,677

 

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

The following table summarizes purchases of our Class A common stock that we made during the periods indicated:

 

Period

 

(a)
Total Number of Shares
Purchased

 

(b)
Average Price Paid per
Share

 

(c)
Total Number of Shares
Purchased as Part of
Publicly Announced Plans
or Programs

 

(d)
Maximum Number (or
Approximate Dollar
Value) of Shares that May
Yet Be Purchased Under
the Plans or Programs

 

February 1-28, 2007

 

2.5 million

(1)

$

13.14

 

0

 

0

 

 


(1)  We repurchased 2.5 million shares from Revolution Living LLC in a negotiated transaction. See Note 10, Shareholders’ Equity.

 

Dividend Policy

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. Our bank line of credit agreement permits, upon advance notification and maintaining of certain financial ratios, payment of dividends to our shareholders.

 

16



 

Sales of Unregistered Securities

 

During 2007, we issued 80,795 shares of our Class A common stock to purchase controlling ownership interests in two businesses. These shares were issued pursuant to an exemption from registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as transactions by an issuer not involving a public offering.

 

Equity Compensation Plan Information

 

The following table summaries equity compensation plan information for our Class A common stock:

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equity compensation plans approved by security holders

 

883,670

 

$

11.02

 

978,971

 

Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders

 

 

 

 

Total

 

883,670

 

$

11.02

 

978,971

 

 

Item 6.  Selected financial data

 

We derived the selected consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005 and consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2007 and 2006 set forth below from our audited consolidated financial statements which are included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. We derived the selected consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 and consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2005, 2004 and 2003 set forth below from our audited consolidated financial statements which are not included in this Form 10-K. The historical operating results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other period. You should read the data set forth below in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

 

17



 

 

 

Years ended December 31,

 

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

2004

 

2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net revenues

 

$

262,943

 

$

219,480

 

$

142,492

 

$

96,657

 

$

102,000

 

Cost of goods sold

 

94,565

 

79,150

 

61,977

 

48,646

 

48,927

 

Gross profit

 

168,378

 

140,330

 

80,515

 

48,011

 

53,073

 

Expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selling and operating

 

141,749

 

119,700

 

67,639

 

46,060

 

45,184

 

Corporate, general and administration

 

16,176

 

14,989

 

9,790

 

8,241

 

9,171

 

Total expenses

 

157,925

 

134,689

 

77,429

 

54,301

 

54,355

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income from operations

 

10,453

 

5,641

 

3,086

 

(6,290

)

(1,282

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other income (expense)

 

256

 

645

 

(533

)

(51

)

472

 

Interest income

 

3,892

 

3,260

 

358

 

160

 

74

 

Other income (loss)

 

4,148

 

3,905

 

(175

)

109

 

546

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income (loss) before income taxes and minority interest

 

14,601

 

9,546

 

2,911

 

(6,181

)

(736

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income tax expense (benefit)

 

5,767

 

3,774

 

974

 

(2,440

)

(461

)

Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiary,
net of tax

 

(310

)

(128

)

(601

)

(897

)

(697

)

Net income (loss)

 

$

8,524

 

$

5,644

 

$

1,336

 

$

(4,638

)

$

(972

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income (loss) per share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

$

0.34

 

$

0.23

 

$

0.08

 

$

(0.32

)

$

(0.07

)

Diluted

 

$

0.34

 

$

0.23

 

$

0.08

 

$

(0.32

)

$

(0.07

)

Shares outstanding:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

24,962

 

24,349

 

17,140

 

14,684

 

14,594

 

Diluted

 

25,214

 

24,617

 

17,354

 

14,684

 

14,594

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of December 31,

 

(in thousands)

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

2004

 

2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash

 

$

66,258

 

$

104,876

 

$

15,028

 

$

10,439

 

$

8,384

 

Working capital

 

106,815

 

140,147

 

37,216

 

31,488

 

29,531

 

Total assets

 

240,712

 

250,968

 

156,101

 

88,287

 

91,860

 

Total liabilities

 

34,251

 

26,700

 

40,716

 

17,472

 

18,347

 

Shareholders’ equity

 

200,388

 

218,606

 

107,286

 

66,346

 

69,485

 

 

18



 

Item 7.     Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

 

Forward-Looking Statements

 

This report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When used in this discussion, we intend the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “strive,” “future,” “intend” and similar expressions as they relate to us to identify such forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors set forth under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Market Risk” and elsewhere in this report. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ include, without limitation, general economic conditions, competition, loss of key personnel, pricing, brand reputation, acquisitions, new initiatives we undertake, security and information systems, legal liability for website content, merchandise supply problems, failure of third parties to provide adequate service, reliance on centralized customer service, overstocks and merchandise returns, our reliance on a centralized fulfillment center, increases in postage and shipping costs, E-commerce trends, future Internet related taxes, our founder’s control of us, fluctuations in quarterly operating results, consumer trends, customer interest in our products, the effect of government regulation and programs and other risks and uncertainties included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that no forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which reflect our views only as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking information.

 

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this document. This section is designed to provide information that will assist readers in understanding our consolidated financial statements, changes in certain items in those statements from year to year, the primary factors that caused those changes and how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect the consolidated financial statements.

 

Overview and Outlook

 

We are a lifestyle media company providing a broad selection of information, media, products and services to customers who value personal development, wellness, ecological lifestyles, responsible media and conscious community. Our media brand is built around our ability to develop and offer media content, products, lifestyle solutions and community to consumers in the LOHAS and the emerging Conscious Media markets.

 

We offer our customers the ability to make purchasing decisions and find responsible content based on these values while providing quality offerings at a price comparable to mainstream alternatives. We market our media and products through a multi-channel approach including traditional media channels, direct to consumers via the Internet, direct response marketing, community, subscriptions, catalog, and through national retailers and corporate accounts.

 

Our content forms the basis of our proprietary offerings, which then drive demand for parallel product and service offerings. Our operations are vertically integrated from content creations, through product development and sourcing, to customer service and distribution. We market our products and services across two segments, business and direct to consumer. We distribute products in each of these sales segments from a single fulfillment center or drop-ship products directly to customers.

 

Our business segment sells directly to retailers, both domestically and abroad with our products now available in approximately 70,000 retail doors in the United States. During 2007, this segment generated revenues of $111.5 million, up from $93.8 million during 2006, reflecting an 18.9% increase. This increase reflects our successful entrance into the international market and store within store expansion. During the year we expanded our store-within-store presence to over 7,000 lifestyle presentations, which are custom fixtures that we design.

 

19



 

Through its diverse media reach, the direct to consumer segment provides an opportunity to launch and support new media releases, a sounding board for new product testing, promotional opportunities, a growing community, and customer feedback on us and the LOHAS industry’s focus and future. During 2007, this segment generated revenues of $151.4 million, up from $125.7 million during 2006. This increase reflects growth of 20.5% with the continued investment into branded direct response marketing, membership programs and solar energy integrations.

 

During 2007, we completed several acquisitions targeted towards expanding and enhancing our media content and community reach. These acquisitions included Zaadz, a social networking site in the LOHAS space; Lime, a multimedia lifestyle company; Conscious Enlightenment, an on-line and off-line community; and a solar energy integration company.

 

We believe our growth will be driven by information, media content, products, and community delivered to the consumer via broadcast, catalog, Internet, retailers, international licensing, electronic downloads and subscription systems. We have increased our focus on our media content creation and distribution, which strategically provides increased branding opportunities, significantly higher operating contribution and greater mainstream penetration. We plan to invest in our community and membership businesses over the next two years to better capitalize on strong relationships with our loyal consumer audience and growing broadband. This will allow us to focus on better leveraging our content.

 

We believe a number of factors are important to our long-term success, including building our brands, increasing international growth by expanding into new markets primarily through license arrangements, extending our product lines into wellness and children’s programs, and enhancing our multimedia platform community through new media opportunities, new membership programs, initiatives and acquisitions.

 

Critical Accounting Policies

 

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, which requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K summarizes the significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

 

We believe the following to be critical accounting policies whose application has a material impact on our financial presentation, and involve a higher degree of complexity, as they require us to make judgments and estimates about matters that are inherently uncertain.

 

Allowances for Doubtful Accounts and Product Returns

 

We maintain allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of our customers to make required payments. We make estimates of the collectibility of our accounts receivable by analyzing historical bad debts, specific customer creditworthiness, and current economic trends. If the financial condition of our customers were to deteriorate such that their ability to make payments to us was impaired, additional allowances could be required.

 

We record allowances for product returns to be received in future periods at the time we recognize the original sale. We base the amounts of the returns allowances upon historical experience and future expectations.

 

Inventory

 

Inventory consists primarily of finished goods held for sale and is stated at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out method) or market. We identify the inventory items to be written down for obsolescence based on the item’s current sales status and condition. We write down discontinued or slow moving inventories based on an estimate of the markdown to retail price needed to sell through our current stock level of the inventories.

 

20



 

Goodwill and Other Intangibles

 

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase consideration over the estimated fair value of assets acquired less liabilities assumed in a business acquisition. Our other intangibles mainly consist of customer and marketing related assets. We no longer amortize goodwill, but instead we review it for impairment annually or more frequently if impairment indicators arise, on a reporting unit level. We compare the estimated fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, we consider the goodwill of the reporting unit not impaired. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, we perform the goodwill impairment test to measure the amount of impairment loss. We have allocated goodwill to two reporting units, and we use a market value method for the purposes of testing for potential impairment. The annual process of evaluating the potential impairment of goodwill is highly subjective and requires significant judgment at many points during the analysis. Application of alternative assumptions and definitions could yield significantly different results.

 

Investments

 

We account for investments in limited liability companies in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence or control, or in which we hold a five percent or more membership interest, under the equity method. We account for investments in corporations in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence or control, or in which we hold a twenty percent or more ownership, under the equity method. Under the equity method, we record our share of the income or losses of the investment by increasing or decreasing the carrying value of our investment and recording the income or expense through the consolidated statement of operations. Under the cost method of accounting, we carry investments in private companies at cost and adjust them only for other-than-temporary declines in fair value. Determining whether we have the ability to exercise significant influence or control over a company is highly subjective and requires a high degree of judgment.

 

Purchase Accounting

 

We account for the acquisition of a controlling interest in a business using the purchase method. In determining the estimated fair value of certain acquired assets and liabilities, we make assumptions based upon many difference factors, such as historical and other relevant information and analysis performed by independent parties. Assumptions may be incomplete, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that could affect the validity of such assumptions, estimates, or actual results.

 

Media Library

 

The media library asset represents the fair value of the library of produced videos acquired through business combinations, the purchase price of media rights to both video and audio titles, and the capitalized cost to produce media products, all of which we market to retailers and to direct-mail and online customers. We amortize the fair value of acquired or purchased media titles and content on a straight-line basis over succeeding periods on the basis of their estimated useful lives. We defer capitalized production costs for financial reporting purposes until the media is released and, then, we amortize these costs over succeeding periods on the basis of estimated sales. Historical sales statistics are the principal factor used in estimating the amortization rate.

 

Share-Based Compensation

 

As of January 1, 2006, we adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment, which requires companies to recognize compensation cost for share-based awards based on the estimated fair value of the award on date of grant. We measure compensation cost at the grant date based on the fair value of the award and recognize compensation cost upon the probable attainment of a specified performance condition or over a service period. We use the Black-Scholes option valuation model to calculate the fair value disclosures under SFAS 123(R). In calculating this fair value, there are certain assumptions that we use, as disclosed in Note 11, Share-Based Compensation, consisting of the expected life of the option, risk-free interest rate, dividend yield, and volatility. The use of a different estimate for any one of these components could have a material impact on the amount of calculated compensation expense.

 

21



 

Results of Operations

 

The following table sets forth certain financial data as a percentage of revenues for the periods indicated:

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

Net revenue

 

100.0

%

100.0

%

100.0

%

Cost of goods sold

 

36.0

%

36.1

%

43.5

%

Gross profit

 

64.0

%

63.9

%

56.5

%

Expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selling and operating

 

53.9

%

54.6

%

47.6

%

Corporate, general and administration

 

6.1

%

6.8

%

6.9

%

Total expenses

 

60.0

%

61.4

%

54.4

%

Income from operations

 

4.0

%

2.5

%

2.1

%

Other income (expense), net

 

1.5

%

1.8

%

-0.1

%

Income before income taxes and minority interest

 

5.5

%

4.3

%

2.0

%

Income tax expense

 

2.2

%

1.7

%

0.7

%

Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiary, net of tax

 

-0.1

%

%

-0.4

%

Net income

 

3.2

%

2.6

%

0.9

%

 

Year Ended December 31, 2007 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2006

 

Net revenue. Net revenue increased $43.5 million, or 19.8%, to $262.9 million during 2007 from $219.5 million during 2006. During the year, we added distribution to over 2,000 new retail doors, bringing the total number of retail doors in the United States to approximately 70,000. Net revenue in our direct to consumer segment increased $25.8 million, or 20.5%, to $151.5 million during 2007 from $125.7 million during 2006. This increase in the direct to consumer segment net revenue primarily reflects the continued success of our direct response marketing revenues and increased revenues from businesses acquired over the last year.  Net revenue in our business segment increased $17.7 million, or 18.9%, to $111.5 million during 2007 from $93.8 million during 2006, primarily reflecting our success in the international market.

 

Gross profit. Gross profit increased $28.0 million, or 20.0%, to $168.4 million during 2007 from $140.3 million during 2006. As a percentage of net revenue, gross profit increased slightly to 64.0% during 2007 from 63.9% during 2006. Gross profit in our direct to consumer segment increased $15.4 million, or 18.9%, to $97.1 million during 2007 from $81.7 million during 2006 and, as a percentage of net revenue, decreased to 64.1% during 2007 from 65.0% during 2006, primarily reflecting increased revenues in our solar operations which produce lower margins.  Gross profit in our business segment increased $12.6 million, or 21.5%, to $71.2 million during 2007 from $58.6 million during 2006 and, as a percentage of net revenue, increased to 63.9% during 2007 from 62.5% during 2006.

 

Selling and operating expenses. Selling and operating expenses increased $22.0 million, or 18.4%, to $141.7 million during 2007 from $119.7 million during 2006, resulting primarily from increased sales and investments made in community, branding, personnel, advertising, and marketing programs.  As a percentage of net revenue, selling and operating expenses decreased to 53.9% during 2007 from 54.6% during 2006.

 

Corporate, general and administration expenses. Corporate, general and administration expenses increased $1.2 million, or 7.9%, to $16.2 million during 2007 from $15.0 million during 2006, primarily due to our planned investments to support the increased revenue base.  As of percentage of net revenue, corporate, general and administration expenses decreased to 6.1% during 2007 from 6.8% during 2006, primarily reflecting the leverage on the higher revenue base.

 

Other income. Other income increased $0.2 million, or 6.2%, to $4.1 million during 2007 from $3.9 million during 2006.  As a percentage of net revenue, other income deceased to 1.5% during 2007 from 1.8% during 2006. The increase reflects the interest earnings from proceeds of our sale of our Class A common stock in the secondary offering during May 2006, partially offset by our use of cash to repurchase 2.5 million shares of our Class A common stock during 2007.

 

Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiaries, net of income taxes. Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiaries, net of income taxes, increased by $0.2 million, or 142.2%, to $0.3 million during 2007 from $0.1 million during 2006.

 

22



 

Net income.  Net income increased $2.9 million, or 51.0%, to $8.5 million during 2007 from $5.6 million during 2006. Earnings per share increased 47.8% to $0.34 per share during 2007 from $0.23 per share during 2006. The above factors improved our financial performance over 2006.

 

Year Ended December 31, 2006 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2005

 

Net revenue. Net revenue increased $77.0 million, or 54.0%, to $219.5 million during 2006 from $142.5 million during 2005. Our increase in revenue reflects the sales of media titles acquired from GoodTimes, coupled with strong performance in our direct marketing programs, continued penetration into existing retail stores, and the addition of new retail distribution outlets. During the year, we added distribution to over 18,000 new retail doors, bringing the total number of retail doors in the United States to 68,000. Net revenue in our direct to consumer segment increased by $53.4 million, or 73.8%, to $125.7 million during 2006 from $72.3 million during 2005, primarily reflecting strong performance in our direct marketing programs and revenue from the Spiritual Cinema acquisition in August 2006. Our direct response marketing programs continue to be a strong revenue source for this segment while providing a test marketing platform for new brands and products. Net revenue in our business segment increased by $23.6 million, or 33.7%, to $93.8 million during 2006 from $70.2 million during 2005.

 

Gross profit. Gross profit increased by $59.8 million, or 74.3%, to $140.3 million during 2006 from $80.5 million during 2005. As a percentage of net revenue, gross profit increased 740 basis points to 63.9% during 2006 from 56.5% during 2005. The increase in gross profit was primarily due to strong sales of media and direct marketing products which carry higher margins, but also carry higher selling and operating expenses. The increased media sales have allowed us to leverage our purchasing volume to receive improved buying discounts. We also continued to benefit from the elimination of fees previously paid for third party distribution following the GoodTimes transaction. Additionally, our strong cash position allowed us to take advantage of prompt pay vendor discounts.  The business segment’s gross profit increased to 62.5% in 2006 from 57.3% in 2005.  The direct to consumer segment’s gross profit increased to 65.0% in 2006, up from 55.7% in 2005.

 

Selling and operating expenses. Selling and operating expenses increased by $52.1 million, or 77.0%, to $119.7 million during 2006 from $67.6 million during 2005, primarily resulting from increased sales and operating expenses to support the revenue increases described above and the additional amortization expense associated with our purchase of GoodTimes’ media library.  As of percentage of net revenue, selling and operating expenses increased to 54.6% during 2006 from 47.6% during 2005, reflecting a change in revenue mix toward increased media and direct marketing products that carry higher selling and operating expenses, such as merchandising fees and advertising costs, along with higher gross margins.

 

Corporate, general and administration expenses. Corporate, general and administration expenses increased by $5.2 million, or 53.1%, to $15.0 million during 2006 from $9.8 million during 2005, primarily due to planned investments in our business to support the increased revenue base. As a percentage of net revenue, corporate, general and administration expenses decreased slightly to 6.8% during 2006 from 6.9% during 2005.

 

Other income (expense). Other income increased by $4.1 million to $3.9 million during 2006 from $0.2 million expense during 2005. As a percentage of net revenue, other income increased to 1.8% during 2006 from 0.1% expense during 2005. The increase in other income (expense) primarily consisted of interest on cash generated by the secondary offering of our Class A common stock and a gain of $0.5 million on the sale of a portion of our Series A Preferred Units of Life Balance Media Holdings LLC. We acquired this investment in August 2005 which originally represented a 19.9% ownership interest. In 2005, we recorded a $0.6 million loss on this investment for the period from August 22, 2005 through December 31, 2005, which was partially offset by interest income of $0.4 million.

 

Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiaries, net of income taxes. Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiaries, net of income taxes, decreased by $0.5 million, or 78.7%, to $0.1 million during 2006 from $0.6 million during 2005.

 

Net income.  Net income increased $4.3 million to $5.6 million during 2006 from $1.3 million during 2005. Earnings per share increased to $0.23 per share during 2006 from $0.08 per share during 2005. The above factors improved our financial performance over 2005.

 

23



 

Quarterly and Seasonal Fluctuations

 

The following table sets forth our unaudited results of operations for each of the quarters in 2007 and 2006. In our opinion, this unaudited financial information includes all adjustments, consisting solely of normal recurring accruals and adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations for the quarters presented. You should read this financial information in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The results of operations for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of future results of operations.

 

 

 

Fiscal Year 2007 Quarters Ended

 

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

March 31

 

June 30

 

September 30

 

December 31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net revenue

 

$

58,458

 

$

52,361

 

$

70,318

 

$

81,806

 

Gross profit

 

37,476

 

33,631

 

46,144

 

51,127

 

Income (loss) before income taxes and minority interests

 

2,828

 

(783

)

5,224

 

7,332

 

Net income (loss)

 

1,752

 

(346

)

2,918

 

4,200

 

Diluted net income (loss) per share

 

$

0.07

 

$

(0.01

)

$

0.12

 

$

0.17

 

Weighted average shares outstanding-diluted

 

25,813

 

24,655

 

24,970

 

25,154

 

 

 

 

Fiscal Year 2006 Quarters Ended

 

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

March 31

 

June 30

 

September 30

 

December 31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net revenue

 

$

51,752

 

$

43,161

 

$

51,786

 

$

72,781

 

Gross profit

 

33,162

 

26,891

 

32,629

 

47,648

 

Income (loss) before income taxes and minority interests

 

1,587

 

(2,125

)

2,522

 

7,562

 

Net income (loss)

 

890

 

(1,166

)

1,653

 

4,267

 

Diluted net income (loss) per share

 

$

0.04

 

$

(0.05

)

$

0.06

 

$

0.16

 

Weighted average shares outstanding-diluted

 

20,795

 

23,140

 

26,864

 

27,211

 

 

Quarterly fluctuations in our revenues and operating results are due to a number of factors, including the timing of new product introductions and mailings to customers, advertising, acquisitions (including costs of acquisitions and expenses related to integration of acquisitions), competition, pricing of products by vendors and expenditures on our systems and infrastructure. The impact on revenue and operating results due to the timing and extent of these factors can be significant. Our sales are also affected by seasonal influences. On an aggregate basis, we generate our strongest revenues and net income in the fourth quarter due to increased holiday spending and retailer fitness purchases.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Our capital needs arise from working capital required to fund operations, capital expenditures related to acquisition and development of media content, development of our Internet and community platforms and new products, acquisitions of new businesses, replacements, expansions and improvements to our infrastructure, and future growth. These capital requirements depend on numerous factors, including the rate of market acceptance of our product offerings, the ability to expand our customer base, the cost of ongoing upgrades to our product offerings, the level of expenditures for sales and marketing, the level of investment in distribution systems and facilities and other factors. The timing and amount of these capital requirements are variable and we cannot accurately predict them. Additionally, we will continue to pursue opportunities to expand our media libraries, evaluate possible investments in businesses, products and technologies, and increase our sales and marketing programs and brand promotions as needed.

 

We have a revolving line of credit agreement with a financial institution that expires on October 22, 2009.  The credit agreement permits borrowings up to the lesser of $15 million or our borrowing base which is calculated based upon the collateral value of our accounts receivable, inventory, and certain property and equipment. Borrowings under this agreement bear interest at the lower of prime rate less 75 basis points or LIBO plus 275 basis points. Borrowings are secured by a pledge of certain of our assets, and the agreement contains various financial covenants, including those requiring compliance with certain financial ratios. At December 31, 2007, we had no amounts outstanding under this agreement; however, $1.2 million was reserved for outstanding letters of credit.  We believe we have complied with all of the financial covenants under this credit agreement.

 

24



 

Cash Flows

 

The following table summarizes our primary sources (uses) of cash during the periods presented:

 

 

 

Years ended December 31,

 

(in thousands)

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

Net cash provided by (used in):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating activities

 

$

13,445

 

$

(504

)

$

6,734

 

Investing activities

 

(22,787

)

(9,742

)

(40,393

)

Financing activities

 

(29,432

)

99,270

 

38,708

 

Effects of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents

 

156

 

824

 

(460

)

Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents

 

$

(38,618

)

$

89,848

 

$

4,589

 

 

Operating activities. Our operating activities provided net cash of $13.4 million during 2007 and used cash of $0.5 million during 2006. Our net cash generated from operating activities during 2007 was primarily attributable to net income of $8.5 million, net non-cash expenses of $13.1 million, and increases to accounts payable and accrued liabilities of $2.7 million, partially offset by uses of funds resulting from increased inventory, accounts receivable, and deferred advertising costs of $5.5 million, $3.3 million, and $1.2 million, respectively. The increase in inventory reflects the additional products necessary to support the increased sales levels. Our net cash used in operating activities during 2006 was primarily attributable to an increase in inventory of $5.4 million, reduced payables and other liabilities of $10.8 million, and net other uses of $1.8 million, partially offset by net income of $5.6 million, net non-cash expenses of $8.6 million and decreases to accounts receivable of $3.3 million. The reduction in accounts payable of $6.9 million reflects our decision to buy direct from overseas factories which require payment upon shipment versus going through distributors with payment terms.  This change in buying strategy, coupled with other cost saving initiatives, increased our gross profit margin to 63.9% in 2006 from 56.5% in 2005.

 

Investing activities. Our investing activities used net cash of $22.8 million during 2007 and $9.7 million during 2006. The net cash used in investing activities during 2007 was used primarily to acquire businesses, property, equipment and other investments for $20.3 million and purchase media for $6.3 million, partially offset by proceeds from the sale of the Life Balance Media Holdings LLC (“LIME”) investment for $1.4 million and prepayment of a related promissory note of $2.4 million. We used our net cash in investing activities during 2006 primarily to increase our ownership interest in Conscious Media and Newmark Media and acquire an 85% ownership interest in Spiritual Cinema, resulting in net cash outlay of $7.0 million. Additionally, we acquired or produced additional media content and rights as well as sold other property and equipment for a net cash outlay of $2.7 million.

 

Financing activities. Our financing activities used net cash of $29.4 million during 2007 and provided net cash of $99.3 million during 2006. We used net cash in financing activities during 2007 primarily to repurchase 2.5 million shares of our Class A common stock for $32.9 million, which was partially offset by net proceeds and income tax benefits of $3.5 million from the exercise of stock options under our 1999 Long Term Incentive Plan. We generated our net cash provided by financing activities during 2006 primarily from our sale of 5,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock on May 24, 2006 and the sale of an additional 690,000 shares of our Class A common stock on June 13, 2006. The remaining 2006 net cash provided by financing activities resulted mainly from the exercise of stock options under our 1999 Long Term Incentive Program.

 

On November 8, 2007, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for 5,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock.  As of December 31, 2007, none of these shelf shares had been sold. On April 7, 2006, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for our Class A common stock with a total offering price not to exceed $100,000,000.  On May 24, 2006, we sold 5,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and on June 13, 2006 we sold 690,000 shares of our Class A common stock in underwritten offerings under the registration statement.  The combined stock sales in 2006 generated gross proceeds of $99.6 million.

 

25



 

We believe our available cash, cash expected to be generated from operations, cash generated by the sale of our Class A common stock, and borrowing capabilities should be sufficient to fund our operations on both a short-term and long-term basis. However, our projected cash needs may change as a result of acquisitions, product development, unforeseen operational difficulties or other factors.

 

In the normal course of our business, we investigate, evaluate and discuss acquisition, joint venture, minority investment, strategic relationship and other business combination opportunities in the LOHAS and Conscious Media markets. For any future investment, acquisition or joint venture opportunities, we may consider using then-available liquidity, issuing equity securities or incurring additional indebtedness.

 

Contractual Obligations

 

We have commitments pursuant to lease agreements, but do not have any outstanding commitments pursuant to long-term debt obligations or purchase obligations. The following table shows our commitments to make future payments under operating leases:

 

(in thousands)

 

Total

 

1 year

 

1-3 years

 

3-5 years

 

> 5 yrs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating lease obligations

 

$

12,336

 

$

3,455

 

$

4,146

 

$

2,328

 

$

2,407

 

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

We do not participate in transactions that generate relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as special purpose entities or variable interest entities, which have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other limited purposes.

 

Item 7A.   Quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk

 

We are exposed to market risks, which include changes in U.S. interest rates and foreign exchange rates. We do not engage in financial transactions for trading or speculative purposes.

 

Any borrowings we might make under our bank credit facility would bear interest at the lower of prime rate less 75 basis points or LIBOR plus 275 basis points. We do not have any amounts outstanding under our credit line, so any unfavorable change in interest rates would not have a material impact on our results from operations or cash flows unless we make borrowings in the future.

 

We purchase a significant amount of inventory from vendors outside of the U.S. in transactions that are primarily U.S. dollar denominated transactions. Since the percentage of our international purchases denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar is small, any currency risks related to these transactions are immaterial to us. However, a decline in the relative value of the U.S. dollar to other foreign currencies could lead to increased purchasing costs.  In order to mitigate this exposure, we make virtually all of our purchase commitments in U.S. dollars.

 

In 2003, we purchased a 50.1% interest in Gaiam Limited, formerly known as Leisure Systems International Limited, a U.K. based distributor. Since Gaiam Limited’s revenues are primarily denominated in foreign currencies, this investment exposes us to accounting risk associated with foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. However, we have determined that there was no material market risk exposure to our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows as of December 31, 2007 as a result of this investment.

 

26



 

Item 8.      Financial statements and supplementary data

 

Index to consolidated financial statements

 

 

 

 

 

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

 

28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaiam, Inc. Consolidated Financial Statements:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated balance sheets

 

 

 

30

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated statements of operations

 

 

 

31

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated statement of shareholders’ equity

 

 

 

32

 

 

 

Consolidated statements of cash flows

 

33

 

 

 

Notes to consolidated financial statements

 

34

 

 

 

Financial Statement Schedule:

 

 

Schedule II — Consolidated valuation and qualifying accounts

 

52

 

27



 

Report of independent registered public accounting firm

 

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of

Gaiam, Inc.

Broomfield, Colorado

 

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Gaiam Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, and the related consolidated statements of operations, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule II for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007.  We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting included in Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

 

A company’s 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 accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and (3) 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 the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, in 2006, Gaiam, Inc. and subsidiaries changed its method of accounting for share-based payments in accordance with the guidance provided in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment. As discussed in Note 9 to the consolidated financial statements, in 2007, Gaiam, Inc. and subsidiaries adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes—an interpretation of FASB Statement No.109.

 

28



 

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Gaiam Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule II for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007, when considered in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein. Also in our opinion, Gaiam Inc. and subsidiaries maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”).

 

 

/s/ Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman PC

 

 

March 12, 2008

 

Denver, Colorado

 

 

29



 

GAIAM, INC.

Consolidated balance sheets

 

 

 

December 31,

 

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

 

2007

 

2006

 

ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

66,258

 

$

104,876

 

Accounts receivable, net

 

30,157

 

25,324

 

Inventory, less allowances

 

29,839

 

24,313

 

Deferred advertising costs

 

3,602

 

3,965

 

Deferred tax assets

 

6,005

 

3,404

 

Other current assets

 

5,205

 

4,965

 

Total current assets

 

141,066

 

166,847

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Property and equipment, net

 

9,509

 

7,784

 

Media library, net

 

37,566

 

37,201

 

Deferred tax assets, net

 

4,057

 

5,958

 

Goodwill and other intangibles, net

 

44,410

 

28,879

 

Notes receivable and other assets

 

4,104

 

4,299

 

Total assets

 

$

240,712

 

$

250,968

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

23,620

 

$

21,464

 

Accrued liabilities

 

10,631

 

5,236

 

Total current liabilities

 

34,251

 

26,700

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minority interest

 

6,073

 

5,662

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commitments and contingencies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shareholders’ equity:

 

 

 

 

 

Class A common stock, $.0001 par value, 150,000,000 shares authorized, 19,553,631 and 21,749,936 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively

 

2

 

2

 

Class B common stock, $.0001 par value, 50,000,000 shares authorized, 5,400,000 shares
issued and outstanding at December 31, 2007 and 2006

 

1

 

1

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

174,046

 

200,906

 

Accumulated other comprehensive income

 

991

 

873

 

Retained earnings

 

25,348

 

16,824

 

Total shareholders’ equity

 

200,388

 

218,606

 

Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity

 

$

240,712

 

$

250,968

 

 

See accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements.

 

30



 

GAIAM, INC.

Consolidated statements of operations

 

 

 

Years Ended December 31,

 

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net revenue

 

$

262,943

 

$

219,480

 

$

142,492

 

Cost of goods sold

 

94,565

 

79,150

 

61,977

 

Gross profit

 

168,378

 

140,330

 

80,515

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selling and operating

 

141,749

 

119,700

 

67,639

 

Corporate, general and administration

 

16,176

 

14,989

 

9,790

 

Total expenses

 

157,925

 

134,689

 

77,429

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income from operations

 

10,453

 

5,641

 

3,086

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other income (expense)

 

256

 

645

 

(533

)

Interest income

 

3,892

 

3,260

 

358

 

Other income (expense)

 

4,148

 

3,905

 

(175

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income before income taxes and minority interest

 

14,601

 

9,546

 

2,911

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income tax expense

 

5,767

 

3,774

 

974

 

Minority interest in net income of consolidated subsidiaries, net of income taxes

 

(310

)

(128

)

(601

)

Net income

 

$

8,524

 

$

5,644

 

$

1,336

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income per share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

$

0.34

 

$

0.23

 

$

0.08

 

Diluted

 

$

0.34

 

$

0.23

 

$

0.08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

24,962

 

24,349

 

17,140

 

Diluted

 

25,214

 

24,617

 

17,354

 

 

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

 

31



 

GAIAM, INC.
Consolidated statement of shareholders’ equity

 

 

 

Class A 
Common
Stock

 

Class B 
Common
Stock

 

Additional
Paid-In

 

Accumulated
Other 
Comprehensive

 

Retained

 

 

 

(in thousands, except share data)

 

Shares

 

Amount

 

Shares

 

Amount

 

Capital

 

Income

 

Earnings

 

Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2004

 

9,411,897

 

$

1

 

5,400,000

 

$

1

 

$

54,933

 

$

850

 

$

10,561

 

$

66,346

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Issuance of common stock in conjunction with acquisitions and compensation

 

5,598,839

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40,907

 

 

 

40,907

 

Retained earnings adjustment to reflect Conscious Media as an equity investment from the date of initial investment through acquisition of a majority interest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(717

)

(717

)

Comprehensive loss:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,336

 

1,336

 

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of income taxes of $(155)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(586

)

 

(586

)

Comprehensive income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

750

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2005

 

15,010,736

 

1

 

5,400,000

 

1

 

95,840

 

264

 

11,180

 

107,286

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sale of common stock in underwritten offerings

 

5,690,000

 

1

 

 

 

93,601

 

 

 

93,602

 

Issuance of common stock in conjunction with acquisitions and compensation

 

1,049,200

 

 

 

 

11,465

 

 

 

11,465

 

Comprehensive income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5,644

 

5,644

 

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of income taxes of $393

 

 

 

 

 

 

609

 

 

609

 

Comprehensive income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6,253

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2006

 

21,749,936

 

2

 

5,400,000

 

1

 

200,906

 

873

 

16,824

 

218,606

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Issuance of common stock in conjunction with acquisitions and compensation

 

303,695

 

 

 

 

6,047

 

 

 

6,047

 

Repurchase of stock

 

(2,500,000

)

 

 

 

(32,907

)

 

 

(32,907

)

Comprehensive income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8,524

 

8,524

 

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of income taxes of $77

 

 

 

 

 

 

118

 

 

118

 

Comprehensive income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8,642

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2007

 

19,553,631

 

$

2

 

5,400,000

 

$

1

 

$

174,046

 

$

991

 

$

25,348

 

$

200,388

 

 

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

 

32



 

GAIAM, INC.
Consolidated statements of cash flows

 

 

 

Years ended December 31,

 

(in thousands)

 

2007

 

2006

 

2005

 

Operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net income

 

$

8,524

 

$

5,644

 

$

1,336

 

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depreciation

 

2,120

 

1,926

 

2,146

 

Amortization

 

10,169

 

5,883

 

2,555

 

Noncash share-based compensation

 

1,024

 

623

 

 

Minority interest in consolidated subsidiaries

 

310

 

128

 

601

 

Noncash loss on disposal of property

 

265

 

 

 

Noncash (gain) loss from equity method investment

 

(127

)

(680

)

646

 

Deferred and stock option income tax (benefit) expense

 

(701

)

730

 

472

 

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts receivable, net

 

(3,330

)

3,319

 

(11,066

)

Inventory, net

 

(5,546

)

(5,373

)

3,143

 

Deferred advertising costs

 

(1,230

)

(531

)

(1,281

)

Other assets

 

(771

)

(1,413

)

(1,813

)

Accounts payable

 

345

 

(6,859

)

11,399

 

Accrued liabilities

 

2,393

 

(3,901

)

(1,404

)

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

 

13,445

 

(504

)

6,734

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investing activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purchase of property, equipment and media rights

 

(9,536

)

(3,412

)

(1,589

)

Proceeds from sale of property and equipment

 

 

668

 

 

Purchase of acquisitions, investments, and note, net of cash acquired

 

(17,122

)

(6,998

)

(38,804

)

Proceeds from sale of investments

 

3,871

 

 

 

Net cash used in investing activities

 

(22,787

)

(9,742

)

(40,393

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financing activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repurchase of Class A common stock, including related costs

 

(32,907

)

 

 

Net proceeds from issuance of common stock and tax benefits from option exercises

 

3,475

 

99,270

 

38,708

 

Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities

 

(29,432

)

99,270

 

38,708

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Effects of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents

 

156

 

824

 

(460

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents

 

(38,618

)

89,848

 

4,589

 

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

 

104,876

 

15,028

 

10,439

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

 

$

66,258

 

$

104,876

 

$

15,028

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplemental cash flow information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest paid

 

$

174

 

$

23

 

$

 

Income taxes paid

 

6,746

 

949

 

1,196

 

Common stock issued for acquisitions

 

1,504

 

4,943

 

2,150

 

 

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

 

33



 

Notes to consolidated financial statements

 

1. Organization, Nature of Operations, and Principles of Consolidation

 

References in this report to “we”, “us”, “our” or “Gaiam” refer to Gaiam, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless we indicate otherwise. We are a lifestyle media company providing a broad selection of information, media, products and services to customers who value personal development, wellness, ecological lifestyles, responsible media and conscious community. We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Colorado on July 7, 1988.

 

We have prepared the accompanying consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, and they include our accounts and those of our subsidiaries.  Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

 

2.  Significant Accounting Policies

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents

 

Cash and cash equivalents include demand deposit accounts with financial institutions and highly liquid investments, which mature within three months of date of purchase. The fair value of the cash and cash equivalents approximates their carrying value due to their short maturities.

 

Concentration of Risk and Allowances for Doubtful Accounts

 

We have potential concentration of credit risk in our accounts receivable in that two of our top customers, one of which is Target, accounted for 50.3% of accounts receivable, net as of December 31, 2007.  These customers are major retailers in the United States to which we made significant sales during the calendar year end holiday season.

 

We maintain allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of our customers to make required payments. We make estimates of the collectibility of our accounts receivable by analyzing historical bad debts, specific customer creditworthiness, and current economic trends. The allowance for doubtful accounts was $1.3 million and $1.4 million as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. If the financial condition of our customers were to deteriorate such that their ability to make payments to us was impaired, additional allowances could be required.

 

Product Returns

 

We record allowances for product returns to be received in future periods at the time we recognize the original sale. We base the amounts of the returns allowances upon historical experience and future expectations.

 

Inventory

 

Inventory consists primarily of finished goods held for sale and is stated at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out method) or market. We identify the inventory items to be written down for obsolescence based on the item’s current sales status and condition. We write down discontinued or slow moving inventories based on an estimate of the markdown to retail price needed to sell through our current stock level of the inventories. As of December 31, 2007 and 2006, we estimated obsolete or slow-moving inventory to be $3.5 million and $3.6 million, respectively.

 

Advertising Costs

 

Deferred advertising costs relate to the preparation, printing, advertising and distribution of infomercials and catalogs. We defer such costs for financial reporting purposes until the catalogs and infomercials are distributed and advertised, then we amortize these costs over succeeding periods on the basis of estimated direct relationship sales. We amortize seasonal catalogs within seven months and our annual catalogs within one year. Forecasted sales statistics are the principal factor we use in estimating the amortization rate. We expense other advertising and promotional costs as incurred. Amounts recorded as advertising expense were $39.9 million, $35.5 million, and $17.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006, and 2005, respectively, and we include these amounts in selling and operating expense.

 

34



 

We record sales discounts or other sales incentives as a reduction to revenues. We identify and record as expense those cooperative advertising expenses we pay, which are for advertisements meeting the separable benefit and fair value tests, as part of selling and operating expense.

 

Property and Equipment

 

We state property and equipment at cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. We included in property and equipment the cost of internal-use software, including software used in connection with our websites. We expense all costs related to the development of internal-use software other than those incurred during the application development stage. We capitalize the costs we incur during the application development stage and amortize them over the estimated useful life of the software, which is typically three years. We compute depreciation of property and equipment on the straight-line method over estimated useful lives, generally three to ten years. We amortize leasehold and building improvements over the shorter of the estimated useful lives of the assets or the remaining term of the lease or remaining life of the building, respectively.

 

Investments

 

We account for investments in limited liability companies in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence or control, or in which we hold a five percent or more membership interest, under the equity method. We account for investments in corporations in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence or control, or in which we hold a twenty percent or more ownership, under the equity method. Under the equity method, we record our share of the income or losses of the investment by increasing or decreasing the carrying value of our investment and recording the income or expense through the consolidated statement of operations. Under the cost method of accounting, we carry investments in private companies at cost and adjust only for other-than-temporary declines in fair value. We include investments under the cost and equity methods in notes receivable and other assets.

 

We evaluate our long-lived assets, including investments, on at least an annual basis to test for impairment or valuation issues, and concluded that, as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, no indicators of impairment were present.

 

Purchase Accounting

 

We account for the acquisition of a controlling interest in a business using the purchase method. In determining the estimated fair value of certain acquired assets and liabilities, we make assumptions based upon many different factors, such as historical and other relevant information and analysis performed by independent parties. Assumptions may be incomplete, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that could affect the validity of such assumptions, estimates, or actual results. The estimated fair value of assets and liabilities acquired in recent business combinations are preliminary as of December 31, 2007. We expect to obtain information necessary to finalize the estimated values during 2008.

 

Media Library

 

The media library asset represents the fair value of our library of produced videos acquired through business combinations, the purchase price of media rights to both video and audio titles, and the capitalized cost to produce media products, all of which we market to retailers and to direct-mail and online customers. We have presented the media library net of accumulated amortization of approximately $23.2 million and $16.2 million at December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively, which is being amortized over the estimated useful life of the titles, which range from five to fifteen years. Additionally, we anticipate incurring during 2008 approximately $11.4 million in participation expenses, primarily royalties, related to acquired and produced media content.

 

Media library costs to produce media content consist of costs incurred to produce the media content, net of accumulated amortization. We recognize these costs, as well as participation costs, as operating expenses on an individual film basis in the ratio that the current year’s gross revenues bear to our estimate of total ultimate gross revenues from all sources to be earned over a seven year period. We state capitalized production costs at the lower of unamortized cost or estimated fair value on an individual film basis. We continually review revenue forecasts, based primarily on historical sales statistics, and revise these forecasts when warranted by changing conditions. When estimates of total revenues and other events or changes in circumstances indicate that a film has a fair value that is less than its unamortized cost, we recognize an impairment loss in the current period for the amount by which the unamortized cost exceeds the film’s fair value.

 

35



 

During 2007, capitalized production cost for released films was approximately $1.4 million, and for those films not yet released was approximately $4.8 million. Additionally, as of December 31, 2007, we estimate that approximately $2.0 million or 24.1% of the unamortized costs for released films will be amortized during 2008, and approximately 69.1% of the unamortized costs for released films will be amortized within the next three years. Accumulated amortization for produced media content at December 31, 2007 and 2006 was approximately $11.0 million and $8.1 million, respectively. Amortization expense for produced media content for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005 was $2.9 million, $1.4 million, and $1.0 million, respectively.

 

The acquired media rights have $29.2 million of remaining unamortized costs as of December 31, 2007 that will be amortized on a straight-line basis over 12 to 96 months. Amortization expense for acquired and purchased media rights for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005 was $4.7 million, $4.1 million, and $1.5 million, respectively. Based upon the acquired media titles and rights at December 31, 2007, we expect the annual amortization expense for the next five years to approximate $5.8 million per annum. In 2005, we added $32.3 million in media assets from our acquisition of content and programming from GoodTimes.

 

Based on total media library costs at December 31, 2007 and assuming no subsequent impairment of the underlying assets or a material increase in the video productions or media acquired, we expect the amortization expense for the next five years to be approximately $7.5 million per annum.

 

Goodwill and Other Intangibles

 

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase consideration over the estimated fair value of assets acquired less liabilities assumed in a business acquisition. Our other intangibles mainly consist of customer and marketing related assets. We no longer amortize goodwill, but instead we review it for impairment annually or more frequently if impairment indicators arise, on a reporting unit level. We compare the estimated fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, we consider the goodwill of the reporting unit not impaired. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, we perform the goodwill impairment test to measure the amount of impairment loss. We have allocated goodwill to two reporting units, and we use a market value method for the purposes of testing for potential impairment. The annual process of evaluating the potential impairment of goodwill is highly subjective and requires significant judgment at many points during the analysis. Application of alternative assumptions and definitions could yield significantly different results.

 

We have allocated the entire goodwill balance of $42.9 million at December 31, 2007 to our two segments, direct to consumer and business. The following table sets forth the changes in goodwill for the period December 31, 2005 through December 31, 2007 by reportable segment.

 

(in thousands)

 

Direct to 
Consumer
Segment

 

Business
Segment

 

Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2005

 

$

5,708

 

$

11,687

 

$

17,395

 

Additions

 

5,606

 

4,919

 

10,525

 

Foreign currency rate change

 

 

429

 

429

 

Balance at December 31, 2006

 

11,314

 

17,035

 

28,349

 

Additions

 

10,568

 

3,871

 

14,439

 

Foreign currency rate change

 

 

68

 

68

 

Balance at December 31, 2007

 

$

21,882

 

$

20,974

 

$

42,856