Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 3566

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 3566
---
 you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may
lose some or all of your investment. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following
periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities. This type of litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial
costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources.

We
are a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and the rules of the SEC. As a result, we qualify for exemptions
from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

Poseidon
Bio, LLC owns a majority of our outstanding common stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of
the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq. Under these rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual,
group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements,
including:

    ●
    the
    requirement that a majority of our board of directors consist of “independent directors” as defined under the rules of
    Nasdaq;

    ●
    the
    requirement that we have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of directors who meet the Nasdaq independence standards
    for compensation committee members; and

    ●
    the
    requirement that our director nominations be made, or recommended to our full board of directors, by our independent directors or
    by a nominations committee that consists entirely of independent directors.

We
currently rely on these exemptions. If we continue to utilize such exemptions available to controlled companies, we may not have a majority
of independent directors, our nominations committee and compensation committee may not consist entirely of independent directors and
such committees may not be subject to annual performance evaluations. Accordingly, under these circumstances, you will not have the same
protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

We
do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock.

We
currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate
declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, future debt or other financing arrangements may contain
terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock. Any return to stockholders will
therefore