EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1282224
Filing Year: 2024
Filename: 1282224_10-K_2024_0001079973-24-000452.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
We are a leading independent entertainment marketing and production company. Through our subsidiaries, 42West LLC (“42West”), The Door Marketing Group LLC (“The Door”), Shore Fire Media, Ltd (“Shore Fire”), Viewpoint Computer Animation, Inc. (“Viewpoint”), Be Social Public Relations, LLC (“Be Social”), B/HI Communications, Inc. (“B/HI”), The Digital Dept, LLC (“The Digital Dept.”) formerly known as Socialyte LLC (“Socialyte”) and Special Projects Media, LLC (“Special Projects”) we provide expert strategic marketing and publicity services to many of the top brands, both individual and corporate, in the motion picture, television, music, gaming, culinary, hospitality and lifestyle industries. 42West (Film and Television, Gaming), Shore Fire (Music), and The Door (Culinary, Hospitality, Lifestyle) are each recognized global PR and marketing leaders for the industries they serve. (B/HI is considered a division of 42West throughout the rest of our discussion.) Viewpoint adds full-service creative branding and production capabilities to our marketing group. Be Social and Socialyte, collectively rebranded as The Digital Dept., provides influencer marketing capabilities through divisions dedicated to influencer talent management, brand campaign strategy and execution, and influencer event ideation and production. Special Projects is the entertainment industry’s leading celebrity booking firm, specializing in uniting brands and events with celebrities and influencers across the entertainment, media, fashion, consumer product and tech industries. Dolphin’s legacy content production business, founded by our Emmy-nominated Chief Executive Officer, Bill O’Dowd, has produced multiple feature films and award-winning digital series, primarily aimed at family and young adult markets.
We were first incorporated in the State of Nevada on March 7, 1995 and domesticated in the State of Florida on December 4, 2014. Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DLPN”.
We currently operate in two reportable segments: our entertainment publicity and marketing segment and our content production segment. The entertainment publicity and marketing segment is composed of 42West, Shore Fire, The Door, Viewpoint, The Digital Dept. and Special Projects and provides clients with diversified services, including public relations, entertainment content marketing, strategic communications, social media and influencer marketing, celebrity booking, creative branding, and the production of promotional video content. The content production segment is composed of Dolphin Films, Inc. (“Dolphin Films”) and a department within Dolphin, which develop, produce and distribute feature films, television and digital content.
With respect to our entertainment publicity and marketing segment, we have endeavored to create an “earned media marketing super group,” combining marketing, public relations, influencer marketing, celebrity sponsorships and talent booking, experiential marketing, branding, and digital production, that will serve as a platform for organic growth via the cross-selling of services among our subsidiaries. By way of example, our initial public relations companies (42West, Shore Fire, and The Door) have identified the capability to run influencer marketing campaigns for clients as a “must have” in today’s environment, which requires the ability to drive social media awareness and engagement. Thus, we believe that The Digital Dept. will be able to provide a critical competitive advantage in the acquisition of new clients in the entertainment and lifestyle marketing space and will continue to fuel topline revenue growth as the average revenue per client increases with the cross-selling of influencer marketing services. Furthermore, influencer marketing campaigns are also considered essential to the earned media campaigns of so many consumer products in today’s online marketplace, creating large cross-selling opportunities between our PR agencies and The Digital Dept.’s expertise and services.
We believe that our expanding portfolio of earned media marketing companies will continue to attract future acquisitions. We believe that our “marketing super group” is unique in the industry, as a collection of best-in-class earned media service providers across a variety of entertainment and lifestyle verticals. We further believe that with each new acquisition in this space, our portfolio will increase its breadth and depth of services and, therefore, be able to offer an even more compelling opportunity for other industry leaders to join and enjoy the benefits of cross-selling to a wide variety of existing and potential clients. Thus, we believe we can continue to grow both revenues and profits through future acquisitions into our entertainment publicity and marketing segment.
Finally, we believe our ability to engage a broad consumer base through our best-in-class pop culture assets provides us an opportunity to make investments in products or companies which would benefit from our collective marketing power. We call these investments “Ventures,” or “Dolphin 2.0” (with “Dolphin 1.0” being the underlying businesses of each of our subsidiaries).
Simply put, we seek to own some of the assets we are marketing. Specifically, we want to own assets where our experience, industry relationships and marketing power will most influence the likelihood of success. This leads us to seek investments in the following categories of assets: 1) Content; 2) Live Events; and 3) Consumer Products.
By way of example, our first content investment was made in June 2022, when we entered into a multi-year deal with IMAX to jointly finance the development and production of a slate of feature-length documentaries for the global market. The first project under this deal is for “The Blue Angels,” co-produced by legendary Hollywood filmmaker J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions. “The Blue Angels” follows the newest class of the storied Navy and Marine Corps flight squadron through intense training and into their first season of heart-stopping aerial artistry, while also sharing the emotional stories of the veterans on the team who, this year, will take their final flights. It will mark the first time the iconic blue and yellow F/A-18 Super Hornets will be featured in IMAX. The film is expected to be released in IMAX theaters in May of 2024.
Growth Opportunities and Strategies
For Dolphin 1.0, we are focused on driving growth through the following efforts:
Expand and grow 42West to serve more clients with a broad array of interrelated services. We believe that the launch and growth of a large number of streaming services over the last five years represents tremendous organic growth opportunities for 42West, due to the increase in potential new clients and a larger number of individual projects to promote.
Enhanced by Dolphin’s acquisitions of The Digital Dept. and Viewpoint, 42West has the ability to both structure influencer marketing campaigns and to create promotional and marketing content for clients, which are critical services for entertainment content marketers in today’s digital world.
Through our acquisition of B/HI in January 2021 (considered a division of 42West), 42West has entered into the “sister” entertainment verticals of video gaming and e-sports. We believe these industries represent a tremendous growth opportunity for 42West.
Furthermore, the growing involvement in non-entertainment businesses by many of our existing entertainment clients has allowed 42West to establish a presence and develop expertise outside its traditional footprint. Using this as a foundation, we are now working to expand our involvement in these new areas, including consumer products “fronted” by recognizable celebrities or “branded” with recognizable intellectual property.
Expand and grow Shore Fire Media to serve more clients in more genres of music and in more markets. For over 30 years, Shore Fire has been a leader in providing public relations and marketing services to a broad array of songwriters, recording artists, publishers and others within the music industry, primarily from its headquarters in Brooklyn. We plan to significantly expand Shore Fire’s presence in other major music markets, including Los Angeles, Nashville and Miami, which we believe will provide greater access to potential clients across a wide array of popular musical genres, including pop, country and Latin.
Expand and grow The Door through the expansion of its Consumer Products PR business. The Door’s market-leading position in both the food and hospitality verticals, with many clients that have consumer-facing products and the need for attendant marketing campaigns, has provided the Company with the requisite experience for a successful expansion across the high-margin consumer products PR business with potential clients both inside and outside of the food and hospitality verticals. We plan to significantly increase the number of consumer products PR accounts at The Door. Such accounts often generate higher monthly fees and longer-term engagements than any other of our customer verticals.
Expand The Digital Dept.’s Talent Roster + Platform Presence. The Digital Dept. has a well-known influencer talent management roster, representing over 200 individual talent that tend to specialize in the beauty, fashion and wellness industries, and that tend to use Instagram as their primary user engagement platform. We plan to strategically scale into new verticals with significant potential, including the highly lucrative skin care/cosmetics/beauty vertical, which has a long history of branding and co-marketing partnerships with the entertainment industry. Additionally, broadening our talent pool across platforms like TikTok and YouTube will allow us to offer brand partners premium access to the coveted Young Adult segment. These are sizable addressable markets that add another dimension to our growth strategy. We believe they present promising avenues for further diversification and expansion.
Diversify The Digital Dept.’s Brand Client Bases. The Digital Dept. has a division dedicated to working with brands to create the strategy and subsequently execute influencer marketing campaigns, with a specialization in the beauty, fashion and wellness industries. Through 42West, The Door and Shore Fire, The Digital Dept. can offer their services to several new verticals, including motion picture and television content, podcasts, musical artists and labels, restaurant groups, hotels and resorts, the travel industry, the gaming and e-sports industry, and the marketers of broader consumer products. The ability for The Digital Dept. to reach clients of 42West, The Door and Shore Fire provides The Digital Dept. with the opportunity to diversify its client base, while allowing 42West, The Door and Shore Fire to increase their service offerings to, existing and future clients, potentially driving increased revenues.
Expand The Digital Dept.’s Influencer Event Business to New Markets. The Digital Dept. has a division dedicated to producing influencer “showrooms,” wherein The Digital Dept. rents a venue and hosts up to 200 influencers over 2 days to sample a wide variety of beauty, fashion and wellness products. Since 2021, The Digital Dept. has hosted multiple such showrooms per year, all in Los Angeles. We plan to add additional showrooms in New York City and Miami, to further expand this successful format.
Leverage Special Projects’ Industry Reputation and Position to Expand Clientele. Special Projects already books celebrity talent to marquee events across the entertainment, media, fashion, consumer product and tech verticals. 42West, Shore Fire and The Door all have multiple clients that regularly seek to book celebrities for commercial endorsement or seek to host events with celebrity attendance to garner out-sized media coverage. The ability for Special Projects to reach clients of 42West, The Door and Shore Fire provides Special Projects with the opportunity to expand its clientele, while allowing 42West, The Door and Shore Fire to increase their service offerings to existing and future clients, potentially driving increased revenues.
Opportunistically grow through complementary acquisitions. We plan to selectively pursue acquisitions to further enhance our competitive advantages, scale our revenues, and increase our profitability. Our acquisition strategy is based on identifying and acquiring companies that complement our existing entertainment publicity services businesses. We believe that complementary businesses, such as PR firms in other entertainment verticals, can create synergistic opportunities that may increase profits and operating cash flow.
For Ventures, or Dolphin 2.0, we are focused on driving growth through the following efforts:
Build a portfolio of premium film, television and digital content. We intend to grow and diversify our portfolio of film, television and digital content by capitalizing on demand for high quality digital media and film content throughout the world marketplace. We plan to balance our financial risks against the probability of commercial success for each project. We believe that our strategic focus on content and creation of innovative content distribution strategies will enhance our competitive position in the industry, ensure optimal use of our capital, build a diversified foundation for future growth and generate long-term value for our shareholders. Finally, we believe that marketing strategies that will be developed by our best-in-class entertainment PR and marketing companies will drive our creative content, thus creating greater potential for profitability.
Develop Live Events. With the acquisition of Special Projects, Dolphin now has the expertise in house to develop and produce live events. 42West, Shore Fire, The Door and The Digital Dept. all have market-leading expertise in promoting live events, through public relations and influencer marketing respectively, from movie and television premieres, award shows, music festivals, food festivals, and many more. We believe we can conceive and execute our own live events, whether B2C or B2B, that leverage our ability to book celebrity talent, as well as run best-in-class earned media marketing campaigns to attract sponsors and attendance.
Develop Consumer Products. We believe there are many consumer product categories that have strong historical influence from either celebrities, influencers or the entertainment industry in general, including liquor, cosmetics, skin care, fashion, supplements, and wellness products, to name just a few. Across our PR firms and The Digital Dept., we represent both brands in these verticals, as well as many individual celebrities and influencers, with proprietary consumer products in these verticals. We believe we can conceive and partner with leading producers and distributors across several consumer product verticals to launch a wide variety of products that leverage our ability to access celebrity and influencer talent, as well as run best-in-class earned media marketing campaigns to launch brand awareness, maintain brand prominence, and enhance sales and distribution efforts.
Entertainment Publicity and Marketing
42West
Through 42West, an entertainment public relations agency, we offer talent publicity, entertainment (motion picture and television) marketing, video game and eSports marketing, entertainment consumer product marketing, and strategic communications services. Prior to its acquisition, 42West grew to become one of the largest independently-owned public relations firms in the entertainment industry, and in March 2022, 42West was ranked #2 in the annual rankings of the nation’s Power 50 PR firms by the New York Observer, the highest position held by an entertainment PR firm. As such, we believe that 42West has served, and will continue to serve, as an “acquisition magnet” for us to acquire new members of our marketing “super group,” which has the ability to provide synergistic new members with the opportunity to grow revenues and profits through 42West’s access, relationships and experience in the entertainment industry.
Marketing professionals at 42West develop and execute marketing and publicity strategies for dozens of movies and television shows annually, as well as for individual actors, filmmakers, recording artists, video game publishers, and authors. Through 42West, we provide services in the following areas:
Entertainment Marketing
We provide marketing direction, public relations counsel and media strategy for productions (including theatrical films, DVD and VOD releases, television programs, and online series) as well as content producers, ranging from individual filmmakers and creative artists to production companies, film financiers, DVD distributors, and other entities. Our capabilities include worldwide studio releases, independent films, television programming and web productions. We provide entertainment marketing services in connection with film festivals, awards campaigns, event publicity and red-carpet management.
Talent Publicity
We focus on creating and implementing strategic communication campaigns for performers and entertainers, including film, television and Broadway stars. Our talent roster includes multiple Oscar-, Emmy- and Tony-winning actors. Our services in this area include ongoing strategic counsel, media relations, studio, network, charity, corporate liaison and event support.
Video Game and eSports Publicity
We provide marketing direction, public relations counsel and media strategy for video game publishers as well as eSports leagues, and other entities in the gaming industry. Our capabilities include global game releases (web, console and mobile), independent releases, eSports tournament and league publicity, and various gaming events.
Entertainment Consumer Product Marketing
We provide marketing direction, public relations counsel and media strategy for leading toy companies, consumer product companies and divisions of major entertainment studios, and entertainment memorabilia companies. Our capabilities include product launch and feature releases, media strategy, and industry conference execution.
Strategic Communications
Our strategic communications team advises brands and non-profits seeking to utilize entertainment and pop culture in their marketing campaigns. We also help companies define objectives, develop messaging, create brand identities, and construct long-term strategies to achieve specific goals, as well as manage functions such as media relations or internal communications on a day-to-day basis. Our clients include major studios and production companies, record labels, media conglomerates, technology companies, philanthropic organizations, talent guilds, and trade associations, as well as a wide variety of high-profile individuals, ranging from major movie and pop stars to top executives and entrepreneurs.
Shore Fire
Through Shore Fire, we represent musical artists and culture makers at the top of their fields. Shore Fire’s dedicated teams in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville wield extensive, varied expertise to strategically amplify narratives and shape reputations for career-advancing effect. We believe Shore Fire is the largest public relations agency in the music business, representing top recording artists in multiple genres, songwriters, music producers, record labels, music industry businesses, venues, trade organizations, authors, social media personalities and cultural institutions.
The Door
Through The Door, a hospitality, lifestyle and consumer products public relations agency, we offer traditional public relations services, as well as social media marketing, creative branding, and strategic counsel. Prior to its acquisition, The Door was widely considered the leading independent public relations firm in the hospitality and lifestyle industries. Among other benefits, The Door acquisition has expanded our entertainment verticals through the addition of celebrity chefs and their restaurants, as well as with live events, such as some of the most prestigious and well-attended food and wine festivals in the United States. Our public relations and marketing professionals at The Door develop and execute marketing and publicity strategies for dozens of restaurant and hotel groups annually, as well as for individual chefs, live events, and consumer-facing corporations.
The Digital Dept.
Through The Digital Dept. we offer management for individual influencers, brand marketing services (both paid and organic influencer marketing campaigns) and influencer event development and production services, with teams in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville. The Digital Dept. has a talent management roster of more than 200 market-leading influencers, representing some of the most sought-after creators, from digital-only to celebrity-level talent. The Digital Dept.’s brands division represents some of the world's most iconic brands, providing a full suite of services for paid influencer campaigns, from strategy and casting, through execution and delivery, with in-depth analytics and reporting. And, The Digital Dept.’s events division produces both proprietary showrooms to connect brands and influencers, as well as custom events for specific brands, at locations across Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
Special Projects
Special Projects is a creative content, and special events agency that elevates media, fashion, and lifestyle brands through the unique use of celebrities and storytelling. Trusted by both companies and public figures, Special Projects creates opportunities that garner press, build engagement, drive sales, and uniquely position our partners within the zeitgeist. Its core services include talent strategy and partnerships, event activation and guest list curation, and brand amplification through celebrities, influencers, and culture-defining personalities. Its keen trend-spotting and cultural forecasting abilities allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of pop culture and highlight new talents before they hit the mainstream.
Viewpoint
Viewpoint is a full-service, boutique creative branding and production agency that has earned a reputation as one of the top producers of promotional brand-support videos for a wide variety of leading cable networks in the television industry. Viewpoint’s capabilities run the full range of creative branding and production, from concept creation to final delivery, and include: brand strategy, concept and creative development, design & art direction, script & copywriting, live action production & photography, digital development, video editing & composite, animation, audio mixing & engineering, project management and technical support.
Content Production
Dolphin Films and Dolphin Digital Studios
Dolphin Films is a content producer of motion pictures. We own the rights to several scripts that we intend to produce at a future date. Dolphin Digital Studios creates original content to premiere online. We own several concepts and scripts that we intend to further develop and produce at a future date.
In June 2022, we entered into an agreement with IMAX Corporation (“IMAX”) to co-produce and co-finance a documentary motion picture on the flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy called the Blue Angels. IMAX and Dolphin each agreed to fund 50% of the production budget which was estimated at approximately $4 million. On November 7, 2023, the Company agreed to pay and paid an additional $250,000, which represented 50% of the estimated additional production costs to complete the documentary. As of December 31, 2023, we had paid $2,250,000 in connection with this agreement.
The Blue Angels is expected to be released in May of 2024.
Competition
The businesses in which we engage are highly competitive. Through 42West, Shore Fire and The Door, we compete against other public relations and marketing communications companies, as well as independent and niche agencies to win new clients and maintain existing client relationships. Through Viewpoint and The Digital Dept., we compete against other creative branding and influencer marketing agencies as well as in-house teams at many of our clients. Through Special Projects, we compete with other celebrity booking or live event production companies. Our content production business faces competition from companies within the entertainment business and from alternative forms of leisure entertainment, such as travel, sporting events, video games and computer-related activities. We are subject to competition from other digital media and motion production companies, as well as from large, well-established companies within the entertainment industry that have significantly greater development, production, distribution and capital resources than us. We compete for the acquisition of literary properties and for the services of producers, directors, actors and other artists as well as creative and technical personnel and production financing, all of which are essential to the success of our business. In addition, our productions compete for audience acceptance and advertising dollars.
We believe that we compete on the basis of the following competitive strengths:
· Market Reputations of 42West, Shore Fire and The Door - 42West, Shore Fire and The Door consistently rank among the most prestigious and powerful public relations firms in the United States (each ranking in the Top 50 Most Powerful PR Firms in various recent years, as published by the New York Observer), which is a significant competitive advantage given the nature of the entertainment marketing and public relations industry, in which “perception is power;”
· An Exceptional Management Team-our CEO, Mr. O’Dowd, has a 25-year history of producing and delivering high-quality family entertainment. In addition, 42West’s CEO, Amanda Lundberg, The Door’s CEO, Charlie Dougiello, and President, Lois O’Neill, and Shore Fire’s President Marilyn Laverty are all longtime PR practitioners, with decades of experience, and are widely recognized as among the top communications strategists in the entertainment, hospitality and music industries, as evidenced by the market reputation of their companies. Furthermore, The Digital Dept. Co-CEOs Ali Grant and Sarah Boyd, are widely respected influencer marketing experts who have built their reputations from the very beginning of the industry 10-15 years ago. Lastly, Nicole Vecchiarelli and Andrea Oliveri, Co-CEOs of Special Projects, are considered best-in-class in celebrity curation and booking;
· Our Ability to Offer Interrelated Services-we believe that our ability to offer influencer marketing expertise, experiential marketing, and creative branding opportunities for our 42West, The Door and Shore Fire clients, primarily through the services of The Digital Dept., Special Projects and Viewpoint, will allow us to expand and grow our relationships with existing clients and also attract new ones; and,
· Our Ability to Offer Services Across Multiple Verticals of Entertainment - we believe that our ability to offer relationship access and marketing reach across all of the film, television, podcast, music, celebrity chef, hospitality, gaming and e-sports industries will be attractive to marketers of consumer products who desire a broad campaign across pop culture, which will allow us to expand our client base and grow the size of our campaigns.
Human Capital Management
Our People and Culture
Because our business is predominantly service-based, the quality of the personnel we employ is crucial to our success and growth. Our employees and contractors are our most valuable assets. We believe our relationship with our employees is great, and we also utilize consultants in the ordinary course of our business and hire additional employees on a project-by-project basis in connection with the production of digital media projects or motion pictures. We conduct training and development in our subsidiaries to ensure our employees maintain the quality for which we are known.
As of March 6, 2023, we had 245 full-time employees, all of which are located within the United States.
Diversity and Inclusion
Dolphin and our subsidiaries are committed to diversity and inclusion, and our culture reinforces these values on a day-to-day basis, beginning with our leadership team. Our leadership team, which includes our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Vice-President of Human Resources and the leaders of our subsidiaries, is composed of 75% women and minorities. Likewise, the Board of Directors is composed of 57% women and minorities.
Other Compensation and Benefits
The Company offers competitive compensation and benefits packages that meet the needs of its employees, including equity incentive awards, retirement plans, health, dental, and vision benefits, basic life insurance and short and long-term disability coverage, among other benefits. The Company analyzes market trends and monitors its own compensation practices to attract, retain, and promote employees and reduce turnover and associated costs.
Regulatory Matters
We are subject to state and federal work and safety laws and disclosure obligations, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and similar state organizations.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements under Section 13(a) and Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.
Corporate Offices
Our corporate headquarters is located at 150 Alhambra Circle, Suite 1200, Coral Gables, Florida 33134. Our telephone number is (305) 774-0407. We also have offices located at:
· 600 3rd Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York, New York 10016,
· 1840 Century Park East, Suite 200, Los Angeles, California 90067; and
· 12 Court Street, Suite 1800, Brooklyn, New York 11201
Available Information
The Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports are available free of charge through the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website, www.dolphinentertainment.com, as soon as reasonably practical after they are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a website, www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information filed electronically with the SEC by the Company. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information when you enroll your email address by visiting the “Investor Relations” section of our website. The content of any website referred to in this document is not incorporated by reference into this document.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Risks Related to our Business and Financial Condition
Our results of operations are highly susceptible to unfavorable economic conditions.
Economic downturns often severely affect the marketing services industry. Some of our corporate clients may respond to weak economic performance by reducing their marketing budgets, which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses related to operations. In addition, economic downturns could lead to reduced public demand for varying forms of entertainment for which we are engaged to provide public relations and media strategy and promotional services. Such reduced demand for our services could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.
We have a history of net losses and may continue to incur net losses.
We have a history of net losses and may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to achieve profitability in the future. For the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, our net loss was $24,396,725 and $4,780,135. Our accumulated deficit was $133,611,204 and $109,214,479 at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our ability to generate net profit in the future will depend on our ability to realize the financial benefits from the operations of 42West, The Door, Shore Fire, Viewpoint, The Digital Dept. and Special Projects and the success of our Dolphin 2.0 initiatives, as no single project is likely to generate sufficient revenue to cover our operating expenses. If we are unable to generate net profit at some point, we will not be able to meet our debt service or working capital requirements. As a result, we may need to (i) issue additional equity, which could substantially dilute the value of your share holdings, (ii) sell a portion or all of our assets, including any project rights which might have otherwise generated revenue, or (iii) cease operations.
We currently have substantial indebtedness which may adversely affect our cash flow and business operations and may affect our ability to continue to operate as a going concern.
The table below sets forth our total principal amount of debt as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.
December 31,
Related party debt (noncurrent)	 $ 1,107,873 $ 1,107,873
Notes payable (current and noncurrent) 	 $ 3,880,000 $ 1,368,960
Convertible notes payable (current and noncurrent)	 $ 5,100,000 $ 5,050,000
Convertible note payable - fair value option $ 355,000 $ 343,556
Term loan (current and noncurrent)	 $ 5,482,614 $ 2,867,592
Line of credit $ 400,000 $ -
Non-convertible promissory note - Socialyte (current) $ 3,000,000 $ 3,000,000
Our indebtedness could have important negative consequences, including:
· our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, future productions or other purposes may be impaired, or such financing may not be available on favorable terms or at all;
· we may have to pay higher interest rates upon obtaining future financing, thereby reducing our cash flows; and
· we may need a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make principal and interest payments on our indebtedness, reducing the funds that would otherwise be available for operations and future business opportunities.
Our ability to service our indebtedness will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance and our ability to obtain additional financing, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions, the profitability of our content production and entertainment publicity and marketing businesses and other factors contained in these Risk Factors, some of which are beyond our control.
If we are not able to generate sufficient cash to service our current or future indebtedness, we will be forced to take actions such as reducing or delaying digital or film productions, delaying or abandoning potential acquisitions, delaying Dolphin 2.0 initiatives, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our indebtedness or seeking additional debt or equity capital or bankruptcy protection. We may not be able to effect any of these remedies on satisfactory terms or at all and our indebtedness may affect our ability to continue to operate as a going concern.
Our stock price has recently been volatile and may be volatile in the future, and as a result, investors in our common stock could incur substantial losses.
Our stock price has recently been volatile and may be volatile in the future. We may incur rapid and substantial increases or decreases in our stock price in the foreseeable future that may or may not coincide in timing with the disclosure of news or developments by us. The stock market in general, and the market for entertainment companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, investors may experience losses on their investment in our common stock. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including the following:
· announcements of state-of-the-art means of content production and entertainment publicity and marketing, or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;
· announcements related to any delays in production or rollout of entertainment content;
· our ability to meet or exceed the rapidly-changing expectations of our clients;
· news that audience acceptance of and interest in our digital media productions, and therefore the commercial success of our content production business, is lower or higher than we expected;
· our ability to adapt to rapid change in technology, forms of delivery, storage, and consumer preferences related to digital content;
· announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us, our strategic collaboration partners or our competitors;
· variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;
· trading volume of our common stock;
· developments concerning our collaborations or partners;
· the impact of any local or global pandemic and its effect on us;
· the perception of the entertainment publicity and marketing or digital content production by the public, legislatures, regulators and the investment community;
· developments or disputes concerning intellectual property rights;
· significant lawsuits, including patent or shareholder litigation;
· our ability or inability to raise additional capital and the terms on which we raise it;
· sales of our common stock by us or our shareholders;
· declines in the market prices of stocks generally or of companies that are perceived to be similar to us; and
· general economic, industry and market conditions.
Our management has determined that our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal controls over financial reporting are not effective as we have identified material weaknesses in our internal controls.
As disclosed in Part II, Item 9A. Controls and Procedures of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, management concluded that for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective and we identified several material weaknesses. Our management concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
We have commenced our remediation efforts as discussed in Part II, 9A. Controls and Procedures of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to address the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting and ineffective disclosure controls and procedures. If our remedial measures are insufficient, or if additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls occur in the future, we could be required to restate our financial results, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, restrict our ability to access the capital markets, require us to expend significant resources to correct the weakness or deficiencies, harm our reputation and otherwise cause a decline in investor confidence. In addition, we could be subject to, among other things, regulatory or enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, (the “SEC” or the “Commission”).
We rely on information technology systems that are susceptible to cybersecurity risks. In the event of a cybersecurity incident, we could experience operational interruptions, incur substantial additional costs, become subject to legal or regulatory proceedings or suffer damage to our reputation.
We rely on information technologies and infrastructure to manage our businesses, including digital storage of marketing strategies and client information, films and digital programming and delivery of digital marketing services for our businesses. Data maintained in digital form is subject to the risk of intrusion, tampering and theft. The incidence of malicious technology-related events, such as cyberattacks, computer hacking, computer viruses, worms or other destructive or disruptive software, denial of service attacks or other malicious activities is on the rise worldwide. Power outages, equipment failure, natural disasters (including extreme weather), terrorist activities or human error may also affect our systems and result in disruption of our services or loss or improper disclosure of personal data, business information or other confidential information.
Likewise, data privacy breaches, as well as improper use of social media, by employees and others may pose a risk that sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information, strategic plans and trade secrets, could be exposed to third parties or to the general public. We also utilize third parties, including third-party “cloud” computing services, to store, transfer or process data, and system failures or network disruptions or breaches in the systems of such third parties could adversely affect our reputation or business. Any such breaches or breakdowns could lead to business interruption, exposure of our or our clients’ proprietary or confidential information, data corruption, damage to our reputation, exposure to legal and regulatory proceedings and other costs. Such events could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, we could be adversely affected if any of our significant customers or suppliers experience any similar events that disrupt their business operations or damage their reputation. Efforts to develop, implement and maintain security measures are costly, may not be successful in preventing these events from occurring and require ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. Although we maintain monitoring practices and protections of our information technology to reduce these risks, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent the risk of a security breach of our databases or systems that could adversely affect our business.
We will require additional financing, and we may not be able to raise funds on favorable terms or at all.
We had negative working capital of $6.7 million as of December 31, 2023. With our current cash on hand, expected revenues, and based on our current average monthly expenses, we anticipate we will need additional funding in order to continue our operations at their current levels, and to pay the costs associated with being a public company, for the next 12 months. To the extent we acquire additional businesses, we will also require additional funding in the future to support our operations.
The most likely source of future funds presently available to us will be through the sale of equity capital. Any sale of share capital will result in dilution to existing shareholders. Furthermore, we may incur debt in the future, and may not have sufficient funds to repay our future indebtedness or may default on our future debts, jeopardizing our business viability.
Risks Related to Our Entertainment Publicity and Marketing Business
Our business could be adversely affected if we fail to retain the principal sellers, and other key employees of 42West, The Door, Viewpoint, Shore Fire, The Digital Dept. and Special Projects and the clients they serve.
The success of our entertainment publicity and marketing business operated by 42West, The Door, Viewpoint, Shore Fire, The Digital Dept. and Special Projects, our marketing subsidiaries, substantially depends on our ability to retain the services of their former owners and certain key employees. If we lose the services of one or more of these individuals, our ability to successfully implement our business plan with respect to our entertainment publicity and marketing business and the value of our common stock could be materially adversely affected. Although we entered into employment agreements with each of the principal sellers, there can be no assurance that they will serve the terms of their respective employment agreements or choose to remain with us following the expiration of such terms. In addition, the employees of our marketing subsidiaries, and their skills and relationships with clients, are among our most valuable assets. An important aspect of the business’ competitiveness is its ability to retain such key employees. If our marketing subsidiaries fail to hire and retain a sufficient number of these key employees, it may have a material adverse effect on our overall business and results of operations.
Our marketing subsidiaries’ talent rosters currently include some of the best known and most highly respected members of the entertainment, hospitality, and musical communities. These include major studios and networks, corporations, well-known consumer brands, celebrity chefs, leading restaurant and hotel brands, recording artists and social media influencers. These clients often form highly loyal relationships with certain public relations and marketing professionals rather than with a particular firm. The employment agreements with the principal sellers currently contain non-competition provisions that prohibit the principal sellers from continuing to provide services to such clients should they leave our Company, however, clients are free to engage other public relations and marketing professionals and there can be no assurance that they will choose to remain with our Company. The success of our marketing subsidiaries, therefore, depends on our ability to continue to successfully maintain such client relationships should the principal sellers or other key employees leave our Company. If we are unable to retain the current marketing subsidiaries’ current clients or attract new clients, then we could suffer a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We operate in a highly competitive industry.
The entertainment publicity and marketing business is highly competitive. Through our marketing subsidiaries, we must compete with other agencies, and with other providers of marketing and publicity services, in order to maintain existing client relationships and to win new clients. Through Viewpoint, we compete against other creative branding agencies, as well as in-house creative teams at many of our clients. The client’s perception of the quality of an agency’s creative work and the agency’s reputation are critical factors in determining its competitive position.
The success of our entertainment publicity and marketing business depends on its ability to consistently and effectively deliver marketing and public relations services to our clients.
Our marketing subsidiaries’ success depends on its ability to effectively and consistently staff and execute client engagements to achieve the clients’ unique personal or professional goals. Our marketing subsidiaries work to design customized communications or publicity campaigns tailored to the particular needs and objectives of particular projects. In some of their engagements, our marketing subsidiaries rely on other third parties to provide some of the services to its clients, and we cannot guarantee that these third parties will effectively deliver their services or that we will have adequate recourse against these third parties in the event they fail to effectively deliver their services. Other contingencies and events outside of our control may also impact our marketing subsidiaries’ ability to provide its services. Our marketing subsidiaries’ failure to effectively and timely staff, coordinate and execute its client engagements may adversely impact existing client relationships, the amount or timing of payments from clients, its reputation in the marketplace and ability to secure additional business and our resulting financial performance. In addition, our contractual arrangements with our clients may not provide us with sufficient protections against claims for lost profits or other claims for damages.
If we are unable to adapt to changing client demands, social and cultural trends or emerging technologies, we may not remain competitive and our business, revenues and operating results could suffer.
We operate in an industry characterized by rapidly changing client expectations, marketing technologies, and social mores and cultural trends that impact our target audiences. The entertainment industry continues to undergo significant developments as advances in technologies and new methods of message delivery and consumption emerge. These developments drive changes in our target audiences’ behavior to which we must adapt in order to reach our target audiences. In addition, our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond to changing social mores and cultural trends that impact the entertainment industry and our target audiences. We must adapt our business to these trends, as well as shifting patterns of content consumption and changing behaviors and preferences of our target audiences, through the adoption and exploitation of new technologies. If we cannot successfully exploit emerging technologies or if the marketing strategies we choose misinterpret cultural or social trends and prove to be incorrect or ineffective, any of these could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
A significant labor dispute in our clients’ industries could have a material adverse effect on our business.
An industry-wide strike or other job action by or affecting the Writers Guild, Screen Actors Guild or other major entertainment industry union could reduce the supply of original entertainment content, which would in turn reduce the demand for our talent and entertainment marketing services. An extensive work stoppage would affect feature film production as well as television and commercial production and could have a material adverse effect on our clients and the motion picture production industry in general. Contracts between entertainment industry unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which we refer to as AMPTP, expire from time to time. The failure to finalize and ratify a new agreement with the AMPTP or the failure to enter into new commercial contracts upon expiration of the current contracts could lead to a strike or other job action. Any such severe or prolonged work stoppage could have an adverse effect on the television and/or motion picture production industries and could severely impair our clients’ prospects. Any resulting decrease in demand for our talent and entertainment marketing and other public relations services would have a material adverse effect on our cash flows and results of operations. For example, the Writers Guild of America (“WGA”) went on strike between May 2 and September 27, 2023 and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“SAG-AFTRA”) went on strike between July 14 and November 9, 2023. The combination of both WGA and SAG-AFTRA being on strike and the duration of each of the strikes adversely affected the revenues of 42West during the year ended December 31, 2023.
Clients may terminate or reduce their relationships with us on short notice.
As is customary in the industry, our marketing subsidiaries’ agreements with their respective clients generally provide for termination by either party on relatively short notice, usually 30 days. Consequently, these clients may choose to reduce or terminate their relationships with us, on a relatively short time frame and for any reason. If a significant number of the marketing subsidiaries’ clients were to reduce the volume of business, they conduct with us or terminate their relationships with us completely, this could have a material adverse effect upon our business and results of operations. Viewpoint’s revenue is derived on a project-by-project basis. Clients may decide to use other creative branding and production companies for their projects which would have an adverse effect upon our business and results of operations.
Revenues from our Entertainment Publicity and Marketing segment are susceptible to declines as a result of unfavorable economic conditions.
Economic downturns often severely affect the marketing services industry. Some of our corporate clients may respond to weak economic performance by reducing their marketing budgets, which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses related to operations. In addition, economic downturns could lead to reduced public demand for varying forms of entertainment for which we are engaged to provide public relations and media strategy and promotional services. Such reduced demand for our services could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.
If our clients experience financial distress, or seek to change or delay payment terms, it could negatively affect our own financial position and results.
We have a large and diverse client base, and at any given time, one or more of our clients may experience financial difficulty, file for bankruptcy protection or go out of business. Unfavorable economic and financial conditions, could result in an increase in client financial difficulties that affect us. The direct impact on us may include reduced revenues, write-offs of accounts receivable and expenditures billable to clients, and may negatively impact our operating cash flow.
Risks Related to Acquisitions
We are subject to risks associated with acquisitions and we may not realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions.
We regularly undertake acquisitions that we believe will enhance our service offering to our clients. These transactions can involve significant challenges and risks, including that the transaction does not advance our business strategy or fails to produce a satisfactory return on our investment. Our customary business, legal and financial due diligence with the goal of identifying and evaluating the material risks involved may be unsuccessful in ascertaining or evaluating all such risks. Though we typically structure our acquisitions to provide for future contingent purchase payments that are based on the future performance of the acquired entity, our forecasts of the investment’s future performance also factor into the initial consideration. When actual financial results differ, our returns on the investment could be adversely affected. Identifying suitable acquisition candidates can be difficult, time-consuming and costly, and we may not be able to identify suitable candidates or complete acquisitions in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis or at all.
Even if we complete an acquisition, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of such transaction. Our recent acquisitions have required, and any similar future transactions may also require, significant efforts and expenditures, including with respect to integrating the acquired business with our historical business. We may encounter unexpected difficulties, or incur unexpected costs, in connection with acquisition activities and integration efforts, including, without limitation:
· diversion of management attention from managing our historical core business;
· potential disruption of our historical core business or of the acquired business;
· the strain on, and need to continue to expand, our existing operational, technical, financial and administrative infrastructure;
· inability to achieve synergies as planned;
· challenges in controlling additional costs and expenses in connection with and as a result of the acquisition;
· dilution to existing shareholders from the issuance of equity securities;
· becoming subject to adverse tax consequences or substantial depreciation;
· difficulties in assimilating employees and corporate cultures or in integrating systems and controls;
· difficulties in anticipating and responding to actions that may be taken by competitors;
· difficulties in realizing the anticipated benefits of the transaction;
· inability to generate sufficient revenue from acquisitions to offset the associated acquisition costs;
· potential loss of key employees, key clients or other partners of the acquired business as a result of the change of ownership; and
· the assumption of and exposure to unknown or contingent liabilities of the acquired businesses.
If any of our acquisitions do not perform as anticipated for any of the reasons noted above or otherwise, there could be a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition.
Losses incurred by us subsequent to completion of an acquisition may not be indemnifiable by the seller or may exceed the seller’s indemnification obligations.
As discussed above, there may be liabilities assumed in any acquisition that we did not discover or that we underestimated in the course of performing our due diligence. Although a seller generally will have indemnification obligations to us under an acquisition agreement, these obligations are usually subject to financial limitations, such as general deductibles and maximum recovery amounts, as well as time limitations. We cannot assure you that our right to indemnification from any seller will be enforceable, collectible or sufficient in amount, scope or duration to fully offset the amount of any losses that we incur with respect to a particular acquisition. Any such liabilities, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Risks Related to our Common Stock and Preferred Stock
We have recently issued, and may in the future issue, a significant amount of equity securities and, as a result, your ownership interest in our Company has been, and may in the future be, substantially diluted and your investment in our common stock could suffer a material decline in value.
From January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023, the number of shares of our common stock issued and outstanding has increased from 8,020,381 to 18,219,531 shares. During this period, we issued approximately (i) 5.1 million aggregate shares of our common stock as consideration or earnout consideration for acquisitions; (ii) 2.8 million to Lincoln Park Capital Fund LLC related to our purchase agreement with them; (iii) 1.4 million shares through an offering pursuant to a Registration Statement on Form S-3; (iv) 0.6 million to certain holders of convertible notes that exercised their right to convert all or a portion of their convertible notes; and (v) 0.2 million as stock compensation to certain employees. As of December 31, 2023, we had outstanding convertible notes payable that as of the date of this report are still outstanding in the aggregate principal amount of $5.1 million, which are convertible using a 90-day trading average stock price. As a result of these past issuances and potential future issuances, your ownership interest in the Company has been, and may in the future be, substantially diluted.
The market price for our common stock has been volatile, and these issuances could cause the price of our common stock to continue to fluctuate substantially. Once restricted stock issued in either private placements or to the sellers of the companies we acquired becomes freely tradable, these shareholders may decide to sell their shares of common stock and, if our stock is thinly traded, this could have a material adverse effect on its market price.
We may need to raise additional capital and may seek to do so by conducting one or more private placements of equity securities, securities convertible into equity securities or debt securities, or through a combination of one or more of such financing alternatives. Such issuances of additional securities would further dilute the equity interests of our existing shareholders, perhaps substantially, and may further exacerbate any or all of the above risks.
The Series C Convertible Preferred Stock has super voting rights that may adversely affect our shareholders.
The Series C Convertible Preferred Stock is held by Dolphin Entertainment LLC, an entity owned by Mr. O’Dowd. As of December 31, 2023, Series C Preferred Stock is convertible into 4,738,940 shares of our common stock. A stock restriction agreement entered into with Mr. O’Dowd in 2020 prohibits the conversion of Series C Convertible Preferred Stock into common stock unless the majority of the independent directors of the Board vote to remove the restriction. The stock restriction agreement will be immediately terminated upon a change of control as defined in the agreement.
On September 27, 2022, the Company’s shareholders approved an amendment to the terms of the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock included in our Articles of Incorporation to increase the number of votes per share of common stock the Series C is convertible into from three votes per share to five votes per share.
As of December 31, 2023, the Series C Preferred Stock is entitled to 23,694,699 votes which is approximately 57% of our voting securities. The holder of Series C Convertible Preferred Stock is entitled to vote together as a single class on all matters upon which common shareholders are entitled to vote. Your voting rights will be diluted as a result of these super voting rights.
If we are unable to maintain compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements, our stock could be delisted, and the trading price, volume and marketability of our stock could be adversely affected.
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. We cannot assure you, that we will be able to maintain compliance with Nasdaq’s current listing standards, or that Nasdaq will not implement additional listing standards with which we will be unable to comply.
Failure to maintain compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements could result in the delisting of our shares from Nasdaq, which could have a material adverse effect on the trading price, volume and marketability of our common stock. Furthermore, a delisting could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and obtain additional financing in the future or result in a loss of confidence by investors or employees.
The sale or issuance of our common stock to Lincoln Park may cause dilution and the sale of the shares of common stock acquired by Lincoln Park, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause the price of our common stock to fall.
On August 10, 2022, the Company entered into a purchase agreement (the “LP 2022 Purchase Agreement”) with Lincoln Park, pursuant to which Lincoln Park committed to purchase up to $25 million of our common stock. Concurrently with the execution of the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement, we issued 57,313 shares of common stock to Lincoln Park as a commitment fee.
The purchase shares sold pursuant to the Purchase Agreement may be sold by us to Lincoln Park at our discretion from time to time over a 36-month period. The purchase price for shares that we may sell to Lincoln Park under the Purchase Agreement will fluctuate based on the price of our common stock. Depending on market liquidity at the time, sales of such shares may cause the trading price of our common stock to fall.
We have the right to control the timing and amount of any sales of our shares to Lincoln Park in our sole discretion, subject to certain limits on the number of shares that can be sold on a given date. Sales of shares of our common stock, if any, to Lincoln Park will depend upon market conditions and other factors to be determined by us. Therefore, Lincoln Park may ultimately purchase all, some or none of the shares of our common stock that may be sold pursuant to the Purchase Agreement and, after it has acquired shares, Lincoln Park may sell all, some or none of those shares. Sales to Lincoln Park by us could result in substantial dilution to the interests of other holders of our common stock. Additionally, the sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock to Lincoln Park, or the anticipation of such sales, could make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and at a price that we might otherwise wish to effect sales, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business and operations.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
As of the date of this report, we do not own any real property. For our headquarters and content production business, we lease 3,024 square feet of office space in Coral Gables, Florida. For our entertainment publicity and marketing business, we lease one office space in each of Manhattan, New York, Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California.
We believe that our properties are sufficient to meet our current and projected business needs. We periodically review our facility requirements and may acquire new facilities, or modify, update, consolidate, dispose of or sublet existing facilities, based on evolving business needs.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We currently do not have any material legal proceedings, including those relating to claims arising in the ordinary course of business.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Market Information and Holders of our Common Stock
Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DLPN.”
As of March 25, 2024, there were approximately 305 shareholders of record, of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock based on information provided by our transfer agent.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Company Purchases of Equity Securities
None.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [Reserved].

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The objectives of our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations are to provide users of our consolidated financial statements with a narrative explanation from the perspective of management of our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity and certain other factors that may affect future results. This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business and future financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for additional factors relating to such statements and see “Risk Factors” included in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our past operating results are not necessarily indicative of operating results in any future periods.
Overview
We are a leading independent entertainment marketing and production company. We were first incorporated in the State of Nevada on March 7, 1995 and domesticated in the State of Florida on December 4, 2014. Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DLPN.”
Through our subsidiaries 42West, Shore Fire and The Door, we provide expert strategic marketing and publicity services to many of the top brands, both individual and corporate, in the entertainment and hospitality industries. 42West (Film and Television, Gaming), Shore Fire (Music), and The Door (Culinary, Hospitality, Lifestyle) are each recognized global PR and marketing leaders for the industries they serve. Viewpoint adds full-service creative branding and production capabilities to our marketing group. The Digital Dept. provides influencer marketing capabilities through divisions dedicated to influencer talent management, brand campaign strategy and execution, and influencer event ideation and production. Special Projects is the entertainment industry’s leading celebrity booking firm, specializing in uniting brands and events with celebrities and influencers across the entertainment, media, fashion, consumer product and tech industries. Dolphin’s legacy content production business, founded by our Emmy-nominated Chief Executive Officer, Bill O’Dowd, has produced multiple feature films and award-winning digital series, primarily aimed at family and young adult markets.
We have established an acquisition strategy based on identifying and acquiring companies that complement our existing entertainment publicity and marketing services and content production businesses. We believe that complementary businesses, such as public relations companies in new and distinct entertainment verticals, can create synergistic opportunities and bolster profits and cash flow. We have identified potential acquisition targets and are in various stages of discussion with such targets. We completed the Special Projects acquisition during 2023 (discussed below), and intend to complete at least one acquisition during 2024, but there is no assurance that we will be successful in doing so, whether in 2024 or at all.
We have also established an investment strategy, “Ventures” or “Dolphin 2.0,” based upon identifying opportunities to develop internally owned assets, or acquire ownership stakes in others’ assets, in the categories of entertainment content, live events and consumer products. We believe these categories represent the types of assets wherein our expertise and relationships in entertainment marketing most influences the likelihood of success. We are in various stages of internal development and outside conversations on a wide range of opportunities within these Ventures. We intend to enter into additional investments during 2024, but there is no assurance that we will be successful in doing so, whether in 2024 or at all.
Special Projects Acquisition
On October 2, 2023, (the “Special Projects Closing Date”), the Company acquired all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Special Projects Media LLC, a New York limited liability company (“Special Projects”), pursuant to a membership interest purchase agreement (the “Special Projects Purchase Agreement”) between the Company and Andrea Oliveri, Nicole Vecchiarelli, Foxglove Corp and Alexandra Alonso (“Sellers”). Special Projects is a celebrity and influencer talent booking and events agency that elevates media, fashion, and lifestyle brands. Special Projects has headquarters in New York and Los Angeles.
The consideration paid by the Company in connection with the acquisition of Special Projects is approximately $10.0 million, which is subject to adjustments based on a customary post-closing cash consideration adjustment. On the Special Projects Closing Date, the Company paid the Sellers $5.0 million cash and issued the Sellers 2.5 million shares of the Company’s common stock. The Company partially financed the cash portion of the consideration with the Refinancing Transaction described in Note 11 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As part of the Special Projects Purchase Agreement, the Company entered into employment agreements with Andrea Oliveri and Nicole Vecchiarelli, each for a period of four years.
For more information on the Special Projects Acquisition, refer to Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements.
How We Assess the Performance of Our Business
In assessing the performance of our business, we consider a variety of performance and financial measures. The key indicators of the financial condition and operating performance of our business are revenues, direct costs, payroll and benefits, selling, general and administrative expenses, legal and professional expenses, other income/expense and net income. Other income/expense consists mainly of interest expense, non-cash changes in fair value of liabilities, costs directly relating to our acquisitions, and gains or losses on extinguishment of debt and disposal of fixed assets.
We operate in two reportable segments: our entertainment publicity and marketing segment and our content production segment. The entertainment publicity and marketing segment is composed of 42West, The Door, Shore Fire, Viewpoint, The Digital Dept. and Special Projects, and provides clients with diversified services, including public relations, entertainment content marketing, strategic communications, influencer marketing, celebrity booking and live event production, creative branding, and the production of promotional video content. The content production segment is composed of Dolphin Films, Inc. (“Dolphin Films”) and Dolphin Digital Studios, which produce and distribute feature films and digital content.
Entertainment Publicity and Marketing (“EPM”)
Our revenue is directly impacted by the retention and spending levels of existing clients and by our ability to win new clients. We believe that we have a stable client base, and we have continued to grow organically through referrals and by actively soliciting new business. We earn revenues primarily from the following sources: (i) celebrity talent services; (ii) content marketing services under multiyear master service agreements in exchange for fixed project-based fees; (iii) individual engagements for entertainment content marketing services for durations of generally between three and six months; (iv) strategic communications services; (v) engagements for marketing of special events such as food and wine festivals; (vi) engagement for marketing of brands; (vii) arranging strategic marketing agreements between brands and social media influencers or celebrities, (viii) curating and booking celebrities for live events; and (ix) content production of marketing materials on a project contract basis. For these revenue streams, we collect fees through either fixed fee monthly retainer agreements, fees based on a percentage of contracts or project-based fees.
We earn entertainment publicity and marketing revenues primarily through the following:
· Talent - We earn fees from creating and implementing strategic communication campaigns for performers and entertainers, including Oscar, Tony and Emmy winning film, theater and television stars, directors, producers, celebrity chefs and Grammy winning recording artists. Our services in this area include ongoing strategic counsel, media relations, studio and/or network liaison work, and event and tour support. We believe that the proliferation of content, both traditional and on social media, will lead to an increasing number of individuals seeking such services, which will drive growth and revenue in our Talent departments for several years to come.
· Entertainment Marketing and Brand Strategy - We earn fees from providing marketing direction, public relations counsel and media strategy for entertainment content (including theatrical films, television programs, DVD and VOD releases, and online series) from virtually all the major studios and streaming services, as well as content producers ranging from individual filmmakers and creative artists to production companies, film financiers, DVD distributors, and other entities. In addition, we provide entertainment marketing services in connection with film festivals, food and wine festivals, awards campaigns, event publicity and red-carpet management. As part of our services, we offer marketing and publicity services tailored to reach diverse audiences. We also provide marketing direction targeted to the ideal consumer through a creative public relations and creative brand strategy for hotel and restaurant groups. We expect that increased digital streaming marketing budgets at several large key clients will drive growth of revenue and profit in 42West’s Entertainment Marketing division over the next several years.
· Strategic Communications - We earn fees by advising companies looking to create, raise or reposition their public profiles, primarily in the entertainment industry. We also help studios and filmmakers deal with controversial movies, as well as high-profile individuals address sensitive situations. We believe that growth in the Strategic Communications division will be driven by increasing demand for these varied services by traditional and non-traditional media clients who are expanding their activities in the content production, branding, and consumer products PR sectors.
· Creative Branding and Production - We offer clients creative branding and production services from concept creation to final delivery. Our services include brand strategy, concept and creative development, design and art direction, script and copyrighting, live action production and photography, digital development, video editing and composite, animation, audio mixing and engineering, project management and technical support. We expect that our ability to offer these services to our existing clients in the entertainment and consumer products industries will be accretive to our revenue.
· Digital Media Influencer Marketing Campaigns - We arrange strategic marketing agreements between brands and social media influencers, for both organic and paid campaigns. We also offer services for social media activations at events. Our services extend beyond our own captive influencer network, and we manage custom campaigns targeting specific demographics and locations, from ideation to delivery of results reports. We expect that our relationship with social media influencers will provide us the ability to offer these services to our existing clients in the entertainment and consumer products industries and will be accretive to our revenue.
·
Celebrity Booking and Live Event Programming - We arrange for brands and events to book celebrity and influencer talent. Our services include the creation of the strategy to elevate the brand or event through celebrity and/or influencer inclusion, to the booking of celebrities and influencers for commercial endorsements or appearances, to the curation of event lists and securing attendance, to the coordination and production of live events. We believe the expansion of brands seeking celebrity and/or influencer endorsements, as well as celebrity and/or influencers to attend brand-sponsored live events, will drive growth and revenue for the next several years.
Content Production (“CPD”)
Project Development and Related Services
We have a team that dedicates a portion of its time to identifying scripts, story treatments and novels for acquisition, development and production. The scripts can be for either digital, television or motion picture productions. We have acquired the rights to certain scripts that we intend to produce and release in the future, subject to obtaining financing. We have not yet determined if these projects would be produced for digital, television or theatrical distribution.
We have completed development of several feature films, which means that we have completed the script and can begin pre-production once financing is obtained. We are planning to fund these projects through third-party financing arrangements, domestic distribution advances, pre-sales, and location-based tax credits, and if necessary, sales of our common stock, securities convertible into our common stock, debt securities or a combination of such financing alternatives; however, there is no assurance that we will be able to obtain the financing necessary to produce any of these feature films.
In June 2022, we entered into an agreement with IMAX Corporation (“IMAX”) to co-produce and co-finance a documentary motion picture on the flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy called the Blue Angels. IMAX and Dolphin each agreed to fund 50% of the production budget which was estimated at approximately $4 million. On November 7, 2023, we agreed to pay and paid an additional $250,000, which represented 50% of the estimated additional production costs to complete the documentary. As of December 31, 2023, we had paid $2,250,000 in connection with this agreement. On April 25, 2023, IMAX entered into an acquisition agreement with Amazon Content Services LLC, (the “Amazon Agreement”) for the distribution rights of The Blue Angels. We estimate that we will derive approximately $3.75 million from this agreement. On February 22, 2024, the Company received $777,905 from IMAX, as a first installment in connection with the Amazon Agreement.
Revenues
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we derived substantially all of our revenues from our entertainment publicity and marketing segment. The entertainment publicity and marketing segment includes revenues from Special Projects from the Special Projects Closing Date through December 31, 2023.
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our content production segment derived revenues from the domestic distribution of Believe, a feature film that was released in 2013. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2022, the content production segment recognized revenue from the minting and sale of an NFT collection titled Creature Chronicles: Exiled Aliens. We expect to generate income from our content production segment during 2024 with the release of “The Blue Angels” documentary motion picture, discussed in the “Project Development and Related Services” above.
The table below sets forth the percentage of total revenue derived from our segments for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022:
December 31,
Revenues:
Entertainment publicity and marketing	 99.9 % 98.9 %
Content production	 0.1 % 1.1 %
Total revenue	 100 % 100 %
Expenses
Our expenses consist primarily of:
(1) Direct costs - includes certain costs of services, as well as certain production costs, related to our entertainment publicity and marketing business. Included within direct costs are immaterial impairments for any of our content production projects.
(2) Payroll and benefits expenses - includes wages, stock-based compensation, payroll taxes and employee benefits.
(3) Selling, general and administrative expenses - includes all overhead costs except for payroll, depreciation and amortization and legal and professional fees that are reported as a separate expense item.
(4) Acquisition costs - includes legal, consulting and audit fees related to our acquisitions.
(5) Depreciation and amortization - includes the depreciation of our property and equipment and amortization of intangible assets and leasehold improvements.
(6) Impairment of goodwill - includes an impairment charge as a result of triggering events identified during the second quarter of 2023.
(7) Impairment of intangible assets - includes an impairment charge as a result of a rebranding of two of our subsidiaries during the third quarter of 2023.
(8) Write-off of notes receivable - includes the write-off of the notes receivable from Midnight Theatre. Refer to Note 8 to the consolidated financial statement for additional information.
(9) Change in fair value of contingent consideration - includes changes in the fair value of the contingent earn-out payment obligations for the Company’s acquisitions. The fair value of the related contingent consideration is measured at every balance sheet date and any changes recorded on our consolidated statements of operations.
(10) Legal and professional fees - includes fees paid to our attorneys, fees for investor relations consultants, audit and accounting fees and fees for general business consultants.
Other Income and Expenses
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, other income and expenses consisted primarily of: (1) changes in the fair values of convertible notes and warrants; (2) interest income; and (3) interest expense.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to year ended December 31,
Revenues
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our revenues were as follows:
December 31,
Revenues:
Entertainment publicity and marketing	 $ 43,067,557 $ 40,058,880
Content production 	 55,518 446,678
Total revenue	 $ 43,123,075 $ 40,505,558
Revenues from entertainment publicity and marketing increased by approximately $3.0 million, or 8.0%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase is primarily driven by $4.7 million additional revenues from a full year of Socialyte in 2023, $1.0 million of revenues from Special Projects, which was acquired in October 2, 2023, offset by a $2.5 million decrease in revenue from our existing subsidiaries.
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the content production segment derived $55,518 and $18,078 of revenues from the domestic distribution of Believe, a feature film released in December 2013. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the majority of the content production segment revenue was derived from the sale of our NFT collection, which did not reoccur in 2023. We expect to generate income in our content production segment in the summer of 2024 with the release of the Blue Angels documentary film.
Expenses
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our operating expenses were as follows:
December 31,
Expenses:
Direct costs $ 946,962 $ 3,566,336
Payroll and benefits 35,030,257 28,947,730
Selling, general and administrative 8,434,549 6,572,020
Acquisition costs 116,151 480,939
Impairment of goodwill 9,484,215 906,337
Impairment of intangible assets 341,417 -
Write-off of notes receivable 4,108,080 -
Change in fair value of contingent consideration 33,226 (47,285 )
Depreciation and amortization 2,253,619 1,751,211
Legal and professional 2,485,096 2,903,412
Total expenses	 $ 63,233,572 $ 45,080,700
Direct costs are mainly attributable to the EPM segment and decreased by approximately $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in direct costs is mainly driven by $0.9 million in direct costs related to NFT production and marketing costs for the year ended December 31, 2022, that were not present in the same period in 2023, as well as a $1.5 million decrease in direct costs primarily attributable to a decrease in Viewpoint’s revenue as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022.
Payroll and benefits expenses increased by approximately $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily related to an increase of $4.1 million for a full year of Socialyte payroll in 2023 compared to only 1.5 months in 2022, $0.5 million of Special Projects payroll for the period between October 2, 2023 and December 31, 2023, and an increase of $1.7 million payroll due to additional headcount and salary increases to our employees in 2023, offset by $0.2 million of stock compensation issued to our employees in 2022.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by approximately $1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022.
The increase is primarily related to:
· $0.3 million increases in travel, meals and entertainment expense;
· $0.7 million of additional office expenses;
· $0.5 million increase in bad debt expense; and
· $0.7 million of selling, general and administrative expenses for Socialyte and Special Projects.
These increases were partially offset by:
· $0.1 million impairment of an ROU asset in 2022; and
· $0.1 million of rent expense due to an office lease that expired.
Acquisition costs for the year ended December 31, 2023 were $0.1 million, related to our acquisition of Special Projects on October 2, 2023. Acquisition costs for the year ended December 31, 2022 were $0.5 million, primarily related to our acquisition of Socialyte on November 14, 2022.
Depreciation and amortization increased $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 related primarily to the amortization of Socialyte and Special Projects intangible assets in 2023.
Impairment of goodwill was $9.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.
As discussed in Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in the second quarter of 2023, we performed a quantitative assessment driven by triggering events related to declines in our market capitalization combined with the lack of positive response from the market to positive information related to future projects. The quantitative assessment resulted in the impairment of goodwill in the amount of $6.5 million of one of our entertainment publicity and marketing segment reporting units. In addition, as part our annual goodwill impairment review, we concluded that the fair value of the same reporting unit’s goodwill was below its carrying amount and recorded an impairment charge amounting to $3.0 million.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, we bypassed the optional qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative assessment of goodwill. Based on the quantitative assessment, we determined that fair value of the reporting units was above the carrying value with the exception of one of the reporting units in the entertainment publicity and marketing segment. For the goodwill value assigned to that reporting unit, we concluded the fair value of that reporting unit’s goodwill was below its carrying amount. As a result, an impairment charge of $0.9 million was recorded during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Impairment of intangible assets was $0.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. As discussed in Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, during the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company recognized an impairment of the trademarks and trade names of Socialyte and Be Social in connection with the rebranding of both subsidiaries as the new “The Digital Dept.” of the Company.
Write-off of notes receivables was $4.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. As discussed in Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, during the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company determined the Midnight Theatre Notes had been impaired, resulting from a review of Midnight Theatre’s operating results and projections. As a result, as of December 31, 2023 the Company wrote off all outstanding Midnight Theatre Notes and any accumulated unpaid interest receivable.
Change in fair value of the contingent consideration was a loss of $33.2 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared a $47.3 thousand gain for the year ended December 31, 2022. The main components of the change in fair value of contingent consideration were the following:
· B/HI: this contingent consideration was settled in June 2022, therefore, no changes were recorded in the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company recorded a $76.1 thousand gain for the year ended December 31, 2022.
· Be Social: The Company recorded losses of $33.2 thousand and $28.2 thousand for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Legal and professional fees decreased by approximately $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, due to legal, consulting and audit fees incurred during the first quarter of 2022 related to our restatement of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of, and for the three and nine month period ended September 30, 2021 included in our Form 10-Q for that period, and our revisions of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the three month period ended March 31, 2021 and as of and for the three and six month period ended June 30, 2021, included in our Forms 10-Q for March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, respectively, all of which was disclosed in our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-K filed on May 26, 2022.
Other Income and (Expenses)
December 31,
Other income and (expenses):
Change in fair value of convertible note $ (11,444 ) $ 654,579
Change in fair value of warrants	 10,000 120,000
Interest income	 2,877 309,012
Interest expense	 (2,085,107 ) (864,814 )
Total	 $ 2,083,674 $ 218,777
Change in fair value of Convertible Note at Fair Value - We elected the fair value option for a convertible note issued in 2020. The fair value of the convertible note is re-measured at every balance sheet date and any changes are recorded on our consolidated statements of operations. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recorded changes in the fair value of the convertible note issued in 2020 in the amount of a loss of $11.4 thousand and a gain of $0.7 million, respectively. None of the decrease in the value of the convertible notes was attributable to instrument specific credit risk.
Change in fair value of warrants - Warrants issued with the convertible note payable issued in 2020, were initially measured at fair value at the time of issuance and subsequently remeasured at estimated fair value on a recurring basis at each reporting period date, with changes in estimated fair value of each respective warrant liability recognized as other income or expense. During the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the fair value of the warrants decreased by $10.0 thousand and $0.1 million, respectively; therefore, we recorded gains in the change in the fair value of the warrants for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 for those amounts, on our consolidated statements of operations.
Interest income - Interest income decreased by $0.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the reversal of interest income in connection with the write-off of the Midnight Theatre notes receivable during 2023.
Interest expense - Interest expense increased by $1.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to increased convertible and nonconvertible notes, the BankProv term loan in connection with the purchase of Socialyte, as well as the promissory note issued in connection with the purchase of Socialyte, which were all outstanding during 2023 for a longer period as compared to the prior year. In addition, interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2023 includes the $79,286 prepayment penalty and $91,859 write-off of unamortized debt issue costs in connection with the Refinancing Transaction as defined in Notes 4 and 11 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Equity in losses of unconsolidated affiliates
Equity in earnings or losses of unconsolidated affiliates includes our share of income or losses from equity investees.
Midnight Theatre
As part of the Company’s ongoing monitoring of its equity method investments, during the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company determined their investment in Midnight Theatre was impaired and therefore recorded an impairment for the entire balance of its investment as of December 31, 2023. This determination was made resulting from a review of Midnight Theatre’s operating results and projections and the Company concluded the resulting decline in the carrying value of this investment was determined to be other than temporary in nature. The impairment amounted to $0.7 million and is recorded within equity in losses of unconsolidated affiliates in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Prior to the impairment recognition, the Company recorded losses in connection with its equity method investment in Midnight Theatre amounting to $0.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a loss of $0.1 million in connection with its equity method investment in Midnight Theatre.
Crafthouse Cocktails
As part of the Company’s ongoing monitoring of its equity method investments, during the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company determined their investment in Crafthouse Cocktails was deemed to be impaired and therefore recorded an impairment for the entire balance of its investment as of September 30, 2023. As a result, no equity gain or loss was recorded during the three months ended September 30, 2023 or thereafter. This determination was made after Crafthouse Cocktails was unable to secure their latest round of funding. The Company concluded the resulting decline in the carrying value of this investment was not temporary in nature. The impairment amounted to $1.2 million and is recorded within equity in losses of unconsolidated affiliates in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
During the year ended December 31, 2023 and prior to the impairment, we recorded losses of $88.0 thousand from our equity investment in Crafthouse Cocktails, compared to losses of $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, respectively.
Income Tax Benefit
We had an income tax expense of $0.05 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to an expense of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The income tax expense for years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 reflect the accrual of a valuation allowance in connection with the limitations of our indefinite lived tax assets to offset our indefinite lived tax liabilities. To the extent the tax assets are unable to offset the tax liabilities, we have recorded a deferred expense for the tax liability (a “naked credit”).
As of December 31, 2023, we have approximately $54.0 million of pre-tax net operating loss carryforwards for U.S. federal income tax purposes that begin to expire in 2028; federal net operating losses generated after December 31, 2017 have an indefinite life and do not expire. Additionally, we have state net operating loss carryforwards amounting to $57.8 million that begin to expire in 2029. A portion of the carryforwards may expire before being applied to reduce future income tax liabilities.
In assessing the ability to realize the deferred tax assets, we consider whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of the deferred tax asset is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which these temporary differences become deductible. We believe it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized and we have accordingly recorded a full valuation allowance as of both December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Net Loss
Net loss was approximately $24.4 million or $1.69 per share based on 14,413,154 weighted average shares outstanding for basic loss per share and on a fully diluted basis for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Net loss was approximately $4.8 million or $0.49 per share based on 9,799,021 weighted average shares outstanding for basic loss per share and $0.56 per share based on 9,926,926 weighted average shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis for the year ended December 31, 2022
Net loss for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, were related to the factors discussed above.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Cash Flows
Year Ended December 31,
Statement of Cash Flows Data:
Net cash used in operating activities $ (4,617,167 ) $ (4,027,228 )
Net cash used in investing activities (4,537,174 ) (7,919,355 )
Net cash provided by financing activities 9,517,183 10,913,806
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash 362,842 (1,032,777 )
Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 7,197,849 8,230,626
Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 7,560,691 $ 7,197,849
Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities was $4.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, an increase of $0.6 million from cash used in operating activities of $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in net cash used in operations was primarily as a result of (i) $19.7 million of increased net loss for the period; offset by (ii) a $3.5 million increase in non-cash items such as depreciation and amortization, bad debt expense, share-based compensation and impairment of capitalized production costs; (iii) $8.9 million of impairment of goodwill and intangible asset; (iv) $4.6 million of write-off of notes receivables; and (v) a $2.1 million net change in working capital.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $4.5 million, which related primarily to:
Outflows:
· $4.5 million payment related to the acquisition of Special Projects, net of cash acquired; and
· $29.0 thousand purchases of fixed assets.
Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $7.9 million, which related primarily to:
Outflows:
· $3.1 million of issuance of notes receivable;
· $4.7 million payment related to the acquisition of Socialyte, net of cash acquired; and
· $0.1 million purchases of fixed assets.
Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 mainly related to:
Inflows:
· $5.8 million proceeds from the term loan related to Bank United;
· $3.6 million proceeds from convertible and non-convertible notes payable;
· $2.2 million of proceeds from the Lincoln Park facility;
· $2.0 million proceeds from the sale of common stock through an offering; and
· $0.4 million net proceeds from the revolving credit facility.
Outflows:
· $3.2 million of repayment of term loan;
· $0.5 million payment of Be Social contingent consideration;
· $0.4 million payment of interest to related party;
· $0.2 million payments on convertible and non-convertible notes payable; and
· $0.2 million payments of debt origination and debt extinguishment costs.
Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 mainly related to:
Inflows:
· $5.8 million of proceeds from the Lincoln Park equity facility;
· $3.1 million proceeds from convertible and non-convertible notes payable and
· $2.9 million proceeds from the BankProv term loan.
Outflows:
· $0.3 of repayment of notes payable; and
· $0.6 payment of B/HI contingent consideration.
Debt and Financing Arrangements
Total debt amounted to $19.3 million as of December 31, 2023 compared to $13.7 million as of December 31, 2022, an increase of $5.6 million or 40.9%. The increase related primarily to $5.5 million of term loan in connection with the refinancing transactions described below.
Our debt obligations in the next twelve months from December 31, 2023 increased from the obligations as of December 31, 2022. The current portion of the debt increased to $4.9 million from $4.3 million, mainly due to an increase in the current portion of the BKU Term Loan (defined below in “Credit and Security Agreement - Refinancing Transaction”) in the amount of $0.6 million as compared to the current portion of the BankProv Term Loan in the prior year. We expect our current cash position, cash expected to be generated from our operations and other availability of funds, as detailed below, to be sufficient to meet our debt requirements.
2022 Lincoln Park Transaction
On August 10, 2022, the Company entered into a purchase agreement (the “LP 2022 Purchase Agreement”) and a registration rights agreement (the “LP 2022 Registration Rights Agreement”) with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC (“Lincoln Park”), pursuant to which the Company could sell and issue to Lincoln Park, and Lincoln Park was obligated to purchase, up to $25,000,000 in value of its shares of common stock from time to time over a 36-month period. Pursuant to the terms of the LP 2022 Registration Rights Agreement, the issuance of shares pursuant to the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement have been registered pursuant to our effective registration statement on Form S-1, and the related prospectus dated September 15, 2022.
The Company may direct Lincoln Park, at its sole discretion, and subject to certain conditions, to purchase up to 50,000 shares of common stock on any business day (a “Regular Purchase”). The amount of a Regular Purchase may be increased under certain circumstances up to 75,000 shares if the closing price is not below $7.50 and up to 100,000 shares if the closing price is not below $10.00, provided that Lincoln Park’s committed obligation for Regular Purchases on any business day shall not exceed $2,000,000. The purchase price for Regular Purchases (the “Purchase Price”) shall be equal to 98.75% of the lesser of: (i) the lowest sale price of the Common Stock during the Purchase Date, or (ii) the average of the three (3) lowest closing sale prices of the Common Stock during the ten (10) business days prior to the Purchase Date. In the event we purchase the full amount allowed for a Regular Purchase on any given business day, we may also direct Lincoln Park to purchase additional amounts as accelerated and additional accelerated purchases. The purchase price for the accelerated and additional accelerated purchases shall be equal to the lesser of 96% of (i) the closing sale price on the accelerated purchase date, or (ii) such date’s volume weighted average price.
Pursuant to the terms of the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement, at the time the Company signed the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement and the LP 2022 Registration Rights Agreement, the Company issued 57,313 shares of common stock to Lincoln Park as consideration for its commitment (“LP 2022 commitment shares”) to purchase shares of our common stock under the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement. The commitment shares were recorded as a period expense and included within selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.
Under applicable rules of the NASDAQ Capital Market, the Company could not issue or sell more than 19.99% of the shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately prior to the execution of the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement to Lincoln Park under the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement without shareholder approval. At a meeting held on September 27, 2022, our shareholders approved the issuance of up to $25 million of shares of our common stock pursuant to the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company sold 1,150,000 shares of common stock at prices ranging between $1.65 and $2.27 pursuant to the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement and received proceeds of $2.2 million. Subsequent to December 31, 2023, the Company sold 350,000 shares of common stock at prices ranging between $1.27 and $1.53 pursuant to the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement and received proceeds of $495,200.
The Company evaluated the contract that includes the right to require Lincoln Park to purchase shares of common stock in the future (“put right”) considering the guidance in ASC 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASC 815-40”) and concluded that it is an equity-linked contract that does not qualify for equity classification, and therefore requires fair value accounting. The Company has analyzed the terms of the freestanding put right and has concluded that it has insignificant value as of December 31, 2023.
2021 Lincoln Park Transaction
On December 29, 2021, we entered into a purchase agreement (the “LP 2021 Purchase Agreement”) and a registration rights agreement (the “LP 2021 Registration Rights Agreement”) with Lincoln Park. Pursuant to the terms of the LP 2021 Purchase Agreement, Lincoln Park has agreed to purchase from us up to $25,000,000 of our common stock (subject to certain limitations) from time to time during the term of the LP 2021 Purchase Agreement.
The LP 2021 Purchase Agreement was terminated effective August 12, 2022 in connection with the LP 2022 Purchase Agreement and the Company did not sell any shares pursuant to this agreement subsequent to that date. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company sold 1,035,000 shares of common stock at prices ranging between $3.47 and $5.15 and received proceeds of $4.4 million.
Convertible Notes Payable
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company issued three convertible notes payable in the aggregate amount of $1,000,000. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had ten convertible notes payable outstanding. The convertible notes payable bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum, with initial maturity dates ranging between the second anniversary and the sixth anniversary of their respective issuances. The balance of each convertible note payable and any accrued interest may be converted at the noteholder’s option at any time at a purchase price based on a 90-day average closing market price per share of the common stock. On November 15, 2023, the Company entered into agreements with two noteholders, holding a total of five convertible promissory notes, to extend the maturity date for two additional years. For one of these noteholders (holding three convertible notes), the Company agreed to lower the minimum conversion price to $1.00 per share. For the remaining convertible notes, three may not be converted at a price less than $2.50 per share and four of the convertible notes payable may not be converted at a price less than $2.00 per share, which were their original terms.
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the principal balance of the convertible promissory notes was $5,100,000 and $5,050,000, respectively, of which all were recorded as noncurrent liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets under the caption “Convertible notes payable”.
The Company recorded interest expense related to these convertible notes payable of $543,472 and $275,278 during the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. In addition, the Company made cash interest payments amounting to $538,764 and $277,778 during the year ended December 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, related to the convertible notes payable.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the holder of two convertible notes converted the aggregate principal balance of $900,000 into 450,000 shares of common stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share. At the moment of conversion, accrued interest related to these notes amounted to $9,500 and was paid in cash.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company paid $50,000 to a noteholder as partial repayment for the convertible promissory note.
During the year ended December 31, 2022, the holder of one convertible promissory note issued during 2021 converted the principal balance of $500,000 into 125,604 shares of common stock at a conversion price of $3.98 per share. At the moment of conversion, accrued interest related to this note amounted to $5,278 and was paid in cash.
It is our experience that convertible notes, including their accrued interest are converted into shares of the Company’s common stock and not settled through payment of cash. Although we are unable to predict the noteholder’s intentions, we do not expect any change from our past experience.
Convertible Note Payable at Fair Value
As of December 31, 2023, we have one convertible promissory note outstanding with an aggregate principal amounts of $0.5 million for which we elected the fair value option. As such, the estimated fair value of the note was recorded on its issue date. At each balance sheet date, we record the fair value of the convertible promissory note with any changes in the fair value recorded in the consolidated statements of operations. The convertible promissory note at fair value matures on March 4, 2030 and as of December 31, 2023, we had a balance of $0.4 million in noncurrent liabilities related to this convertible promissory note measured at fair value.
The Company recorded interest expense related to this convertible note payable at fair value of $39,452 during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. In addition, the Company made cash interest payments amounting to $39,452 during the years ended December 30, 2023 and 2022 related to this convertible note payable at fair value.
Similar to the Convertible notes discussed above, our historical experience has been that these convertible notes payable at fair value are converted into shares of the Company’s common stock prior to their maturity date and not settled through payment of cash.
Nonconvertible Promissory Notes
As of December 30, 2023, we have outstanding unsecured nonconvertible promissory notes in the aggregate amount of $3.9 million which bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum and mature between November 2024 and March 2029. For these nonconvertible promissory notes, $0.5 million was recorded as current liabilities and $3.4 million was recorded as noncurrent liabilities as of December 31, 2023.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company issued two unsecured nonconvertible promissory notes in the aggregate amount of $2.6 million and received proceeds of the same amount.
Subsequent to December 31, 2023, we issued a nonconvertible promissory note to Mr. Donald Scott Mock, brother of Mr. O’Dowd for $900,000 and received proceeds of $900,000. The nonconvertible promissory note bears interest at 10% and matures on January 16, 2029.
Nonconvertible Promissory Notes - Socialyte
As discussed in Note 4 and Note 14 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, as part of the acquisition of Socialyte, we entered into an unsecured promissory note amounting to $3.0 million (“Socialyte Promissory Note”). The Socialyte Promissory Note matured on September 30, 2023 and was payable in two payments: $1.5 million on June 30, 2023 and $1.5 million on September 30, 2023. The Socialyte purchase agreement allows the Company to offset a working capital deficit against the Socialyte Promissory Note. As such, on June 30, 2023, the Company deferred these installment payments until the final post-closing working capital adjustment is agreed upon with the seller of Socialyte. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has a balance of $3,000,000 in current liabilities under the caption “Notes payable”, current portion in its consolidated balance sheet related to this note.
Credit and Security Agreement
In connection with the purchase of Socialyte discussed in Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, Socialyte, and Social MidCo, (“MidCo”), a company wholly owned by Dolphin, entered into a Credit and Security Agreement with BankProv (“Credit Agreement”), which included a $3,000,000 secured term note (“BankProv Term Loan”) and $500,000 of a secured revolving line of credit (“Revolver”).
Term Loan
The Bank Prov Term Loan had a term of five years, with a maturity date of November 14, 2027. The Company was required to repay the Bank Prov Term Loan through 60 consecutive monthly payments of principal, based upon a straight-line amortization period of 84 months, based on the principal amount outstanding, plus interest at an annual rate of 7.37%, commencing on December 14, 2022, and continuing on the corresponding day of each month thereafter until it was paid in full. Any remaining unpaid principal balance, including accrued and unpaid interest and fees, if any, was to be due and payable in full on November 14, 2027, its maturity date.
The Bank Prov Term Loan was repaid on September 29, 2023 as part of the Refinancing Transaction discussed below; therefore, as of December 31, 2023, there were no amounts outstanding under the Bank Prov Term Loan.
Revolver
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company had drawn on $400,000 from the Revolver, which was repaid on September 29, 2023 as part of the Refinancing Transaction discussed below. Therefore, as of December 31, 2023, there were no amounts outstanding under the Revolver. When drawn, the outstanding principal balance of the Revolver accrued interest from the date of the draw of the greater of (i) 5.50% per annum, or (ii) the Prime Rate (as defined in the Revolver) plus 0.75% per annum.
Refinancing Transaction
On September 29, 2023, the Company entered into a loan agreement with BankUnited (“BankUnited Loan Agreement”) in which the existing Credit Agreement with BankProv was repaid (the “Refinancing Transaction”). The BankUnited Loan Agreement includes: (i) $5,800,000 secured term loan (“BKU Term Loan”), (ii) and $750,000 of a secured revolving line of credit (“BKU Line of Credit”) and (iii) $400,000 Commercial Card (“BKU Commercial Card”). The BKU Term Loan carries a 1.0% origination fee and matures in September 2028, the BKU Line of Credit carries an initial origination fee of 0.5% and an 0.25% fee on each annual anniversary and matures in September 2026; the BKU Commercial Card does not have any initial or annual fee and matures in September 2026. The BKU Term Loan has a declining prepayment penalty equal to 5% in year one, 4% in year two, 3% in year three, 2% in year four and 1% in year five of the outstanding balance. The BKU Line of Credit and BKU Commercial Card can be repaid without any prepayment penalty.
Interest on the BKU Term Loan accrues at 8.10% fixed rate per annum. Principal and interest on the BKU Term Loan shall be payable on a monthly basis based on a 5-year amortization. Interest on the BKU Line of credit is payable on a monthly basis, with all principal due at maturity. The BKU Commercial Card payment is due in full at the end of each bi-weekly billing cycle.
The BankUnited Credit Facility contains financial covenants tested semi-annually on a trailing twelve-month basis that require the Company to maintain a minimum debt service coverage ratio of 1.25:1.00 and a maximum funded debt/EBITDA ratio of 3.00:1.00. In addition, the BankUnited Credit Facility contains a liquidity covenant that requires the Company to hold a cash balance at BankUnited with a daily minimum deposit balance of $1,500,000. Bank United will begin the testing of financial covenants as of June 30, 2024.
The Refinancing Transaction was accounted for as an extinguishment of debt. In connection with this extinguishment, the Company incurred a prepayment penalty of $79,286 and wrote-off unamortized debt origination costs of $91,859 related to the Term Loan, which were both recognized as interest expense in the condensed consolidated statement of operations.
IMAX Agreement
As discussed in Note 25 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, on June 24, 2022, we entered into the Blue Angels Agreement with IMAX. Under the terms of this agreement, as of December 31, 2022, we paid $1,500,000 pursuant to the Blue Angels Agreement, which was recorded as capitalized production costs. On April 26, 2023, we paid the remaining $500,000 pursuant to the Blue Angels Agreement. On November 7, 2023, the Company agreed to pay and paid 50% of additional production costs to complete the documentary in the amount of $250,000.
On April 25, 2023, IMAX entered into the Amazon Agreement for the distribution rights of the documentary The Blue Angels. We estimate that we will derive approximately $3.75 million from the acquisition agreement and we expect that the documentary motion picture will be released in May of 2024.
On February 22, 2024, the Company received $777,905 from IMAX, as a first installment in connection with the Amazon Agreement.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and related notes, as well as the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. Management evaluates its accounting policies, estimates and judgments on an on-going basis. Management bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions. Our significant accounting policies are discussed in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.”
An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and if different estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements.
We consider the fair value estimates, including those related to acquisitions, valuations of goodwill, intangible assets, acquisition-related contingent consideration and convertible debt to be the most critical in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements as they are important to the portrayal of our financial condition and require significant or complex judgment and estimates on the part of management. Further details on each item are discussed below. See Note 16 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for information pertaining to acquisition-related fair value adjustments.
Goodwill
Goodwill results from business combination acquisitions. Goodwill is recorded as the difference, if any, between the aggregate consideration paid for an acquisition and the fair value of the net tangible assets and other intangible assets acquired. As of December 31, 2023, in connection with the acquisitions of our subsidiaries, we have a balance of $25.2 million of goodwill on our consolidated balance sheets which management has assigned to the entertainment publicity and marketing segment. We account for goodwill in accordance with ASC 350, “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other” (“ASC 350”). Goodwill is not amortized; however, it is assessed for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if triggering events occur. The Company’s annual assessment is performed in the fourth quarter.
For purposes of the annual assessment, management initially performs a qualitative assessment, which includes consideration of the economic, industry and market conditions in addition to our overall financial performance and the performance of these assets. If our qualitative assessment does not conclude that it is more likely than not that the estimated fair value of the reporting unit is greater than the carrying value, we perform a quantitative analysis. In a quantitative test, the fair value of a reporting unit is determined based on a discounted cash flow analysis. A discounted cash flow analysis requires us to make various assumptions, including assumptions about future cash flows, growth rates and discount rates. The assumptions about future cash flows and growth rates are based on our long-term projections. Assumptions used in our impairment testing are consistent with our internal forecasts and operating plans. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, there is no impairment. If not, we recognize an impairment equal to the difference between the carrying amount of the reporting unit and its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill.
During the second quarter of the 2023 year, the Company’s stock price remained constant and did not respond as positively as expected to new information on the Company’s future projects and forecasts; this, in combination with recurring net losses, resulted in the Company’s market capitalization to be less than the Company’s book value. The Company considered this to be a triggering event, and therefore performed a quantitative analysis of the fair value of goodwill during the second quarter of 2023. As a result of this quantitative analysis, during the second quarter of 2023, the Company recorded an impairment of goodwill amounting to $6.5 million, which is included in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023.
In addition, as part of the Company’s annual goodwill impairment review, we performed a quantitative assessment that determined that the fair value was greater than the carrying value with the exception of one of the reporting units in the entertainment publicity and marketing segment. For the goodwill value assigned to that reporting unit, we concluded the fair value of that reporting unit’s goodwill was below its carrying amount. As a result, we recorded an impairment charge amounting to $3.0 million, which is included in the condensed consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, we bypassed the optional qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative assessment that determined that the fair value was greater than the carrying value with the exception of one of its reporting units in the entertainment publicity and marketing segment. For the goodwill value assigned to that reporting unit, we concluded the fair value of that reporting unit’s goodwill was below its carrying amount. As a result, an impairment charge of $0.9 million was recorded during the year ended December 31, 2022.
Intangible assets
In connection with the acquisitions of our subsidiaries, the Company acquired in aggregate an estimated $22.5 million of intangible assets with finite useful lives initially estimated to range from 2 to 13 years. The intangible assets consist primarily of customer relationships, trade names and non-compete agreements.
Intangible assets are initially recorded at fair value and are amortized using the straight-line method over their respective estimated useful lives and reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. If a triggering event has occurred, an impairment analysis is required. The impairment test first requires a comparison of undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated over the useful life of an asset to the carrying value of the asset. If the carrying value of the asset exceeds the undiscounted cash flows, the asset would not be deemed recoverable. Impairment would then be measured as the excess of the asset’s carrying value over its fair value. See Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion. Events or circumstances that might require impairment testing include the loss of a significant client or clients, the identification of other impaired assets within a reporting unit, loss of key personnel, the disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit, significant decline in stock price or a significant adverse change in business climate or regulations.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, we recognized an impairment of the trademarks and trade names of Socialyte and Be Social in connection with the rebranding of both subsidiaries as the new “The Digital Dept.” of the Company. The impairment amount was determined to be the carrying value of both the trademark and trade name intangible assets as of September 30, 2023 (the date the rebranding was effective), which amounted to $341,417 during the year ended December 31, 2023 and is included within impairment of intangible assets in the consolidated statements of operations.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, we amortized $2.1 million that was recorded in our consolidated statement of operations related to our intangible assets.
Business Combinations and Contingent Consideration
The determination of the fair value of net assets acquired in a business combination and specifically the estimates of acquisition-related contingent consideration (sometimes referred to as “earn-out liabilities”) requires estimates and judgments of future cash flow expectations for the acquired business and the related identifiable tangible and intangible assets. Fair values of net assets acquired are calculated using expected cash flows and industry-standard valuation techniques. Fair values of earn-out liabilities are estimated using income approaches such as discounted cash flows or option pricing models.
Due to the time required to gather and analyze the necessary data for each acquisition, U.S. GAAP provides a “measurement period” of up to one year in which to finalize these fair value determinations. During the measurement period, preliminary fair value estimates may be revised if new information is obtained about the facts and circumstances existing as of the date of acquisition, or based on the final net assets and working capital of the acquired business, as prescribed in the applicable purchase agreement. Such adjustments may result in the recognition of, or an adjustment to the fair values of, acquisition-related assets and liabilities and/or consideration paid, and are referred to as “measurement period” adjustments. Measurement period adjustments are recorded to goodwill. Other revisions to fair value estimates for acquisitions are reflected as income or expense, as appropriate. See Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for information pertaining to acquisition-related fair value adjustments.
Significant changes in the assumptions or estimates used in the underlying valuations, including the expected profitability or cash flows of an acquired business, could materially affect our operating results in the period such changes are recognized.
Convertible debt
The terms of our convertible debt agreements are evaluated to determine whether the convertible debt instruments contain both liability and equity components, in which case the instrument is a compound financial instrument. Convertible debt agreements are also evaluated to determine whether they contain embedded derivatives, in which case the instrument is a hybrid financial instrument. Judgement is required to determine the classification of such financial instruments based on the terms and conditions of the convertible debt agreements.
Estimation methods are used to determine the fair values of the liability and equity components of compound financial instruments and to determine the fair value of embedded derivatives included in hybrid financial instruments. Fair values of convertible debt are estimated using pricing models such as the Monte Carlo Simulation. Evaluating the reasonableness of these estimations and the assumptions and inputs used in the valuation methods requires a significant amount of judgement and is therefore subject to an inherent risk of error. See Note 13 and Note 16 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for information pertaining to acquisition-related fair value adjustments.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
For a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Not required for smaller reporting companies.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The financial statements required by this Item 8 are included at the end of this Report beginning on page as follows:
Page
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (Auditor Firm ID: 248)	
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023 and 2022	
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022	
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022	
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
We carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) as of December 31, 2023. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to material weaknesses identified in our internal control over financial reporting described below.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We are responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined by Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Our internal controls are designed to provide reasonable assurance as to the reliability of our financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Internal control over financial reporting has inherent limitations and may not prevent or detect misstatements. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Further, because of changes in conditions, the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting may vary over time.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, as required by Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(c). The framework on which such evaluation was based is contained in the report entitled “Internal Control - Integrated Framework” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework) (the “COSO Report”). We concluded that based on our evaluation, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023, due to the following material weaknesses:
Control Environment, Risk Assessment, and Monitoring
As previously reported, we did not maintain appropriately designed entity-level controls impacting the control environment, risk assessment procedures, and monitoring activities to prevent or detect material misstatements in the consolidated financial statements. These deficiencies were attributed to: (i) lack of structure and responsibility, insufficient number of qualified resources and inadequate oversight and accountability over the performance of controls, (ii) ineffective identification and assessment of risks impacting internal control over financial reporting, including fraud risks, and (iii) ineffective evaluation and determination as to whether the components of internal control were present and functioning.
Control Activities and Information and Communication
These material weaknesses contributed to the following additional material weaknesses within certain business processes and the information technology environment:
· We did not fully design, implement and monitor general information technology controls in the areas of user access, and segregation of duties for systems supporting substantially all of the Company’s internal control processes.
· We did not design and implement, and retain appropriate documentation of formal accounting policies, procedures and controls across substantially all of the Company’s business processes to achieve timely, complete and accurate financial accounting, reporting, and disclosures. Additionally, we did not design and implement adequate controls pertaining to the period-end financial reporting, classification of contingent consideration, journal entries, completeness and accuracy of underlying data used in the performance of controls and account reconciliations.
· We did not appropriately design and implement management review controls at a sufficient level of precision to detect a material misstatement over complex accounting areas and disclosures including business combinations, complex transactions, revenue recognition, income tax, and lease accounting.
We are neither an accelerated filer nor a large accelerated filer, as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, and are not otherwise including in this 2023 Form 10-K an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not required to be attested to by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to Item 308(b) of Regulation S-K.
Management’s Remediation Plan for Material Weaknesses in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The Company and its Board are committed to maintaining a strong internal control environment. We have begun the process of designing and implementing effective internal controls measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting and remediate the material weaknesses. Our internal control remediation efforts include the following:
· Developing formal policies and procedures over the Company’s fraud risk assessment and risk management function;
· Developing policies and procedures to enhance the precision of management review of financial statement information and control impact of changes in the external environment;
· We have entered into an agreement with a third-party consultant that assists us in analyzing complex transactions and the appropriate accounting treatment;
· We have implemented a new enterprise resource planning systems that will allow us to setup proper review and approval of transactions;
· We are enhancing our policies, procedures and documentation of period end closing procedures;
· Implementing policies and procedures to enhance independent review and documentation of journal entries, including segregation of duties; and
· Reevaluating our monitoring activities for relevant controls.
Management is beginning the process of implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of these and other processes, procedures and controls and will make any further changes deemed appropriate. Management believes our planned remedial efforts will effectively remediate the identified material weaknesses. As we continue to evaluate and work to improve our internal control over financial reporting, management may determine it is necessary to take additional measures to address control deficiencies or determine it necessary to modify the remediation plan described above.
Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures
A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. We do not expect that our disclosure controls will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with associated policies or procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
Changes in Internal Controls
During the most recently completed fiscal quarter, there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
During the Company’s fourth quarter, no director or officer adopted or terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement or a non-Rule 10B5-1 trading arrangement.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBIT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) Documents filed as part of this report:
(1) Financial Statements
See Item 8 for Financial Statements included with this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
(2) Financial Statement Schedules
None.
(3) Exhibits
The exhibits identified in the Exhibit Index below are included herein or incorporated by reference.
Exhibit Index
Exhibit No.
Description
Incorporated by Reference
1.1
Underwriting Agreement, dated October 31, 2023
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 1.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on November 2, 2023.
2.1
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated July 5, 2018, by and among the Company, The Door, Merger Sub and the Members.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on July 11, 2018.
2.3*
Membership Interest Purchase Agreement dated as of October 2, 2023, by and among Dolphin Entertainment, Inc., and the Sellers party thereto.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on October 6, 2023.
3.1
Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. (conformed copy incorporating all amendments through September 29, 2022).
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on March 31, 2023.
3.2
Bylaws of Dolphin Digital Media, Inc., dated as of December 3, 2014.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on December 9, 2014.
4.1
Registration Rights Agreement, dated July 5, 2018, by and among the Company and the Members party thereto.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on July 11, 2018.
4.2
Description of Common Stock
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020
4.3
Form of Convertible Promissory Note
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 13, 2023.
4.4
Registration Rights Agreement dated as of October 2, 2023, by and among Dolphin Entertainment, Inc., and the Sellers party thereto.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on October 6, 2023.
10.1
Dolphin Entertainment Inc., 2017 Equity Incentive Plan.†
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8, filed on August 8, 2017.
10.3
Purchase agreement dated August 10, 2022 with Lincoln Park Capital Fund LLC
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed on August 15, 2022.
10.4
Registration Rights Agreement dated August 10, 2022 with Lincoln Park Capital Fund LLC
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed on August 15, 2022.
10.5
Membership Interest Purchase Agreement dated as of November 14, 2022, by and between Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. and NSL Ventures, LLC.
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed on November 14, 2022.
10.6
Form of Subscription Agreement
Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 13, 2023.
21.1
List of Subsidiaries of the Company.
Filed herewith.
23.1
Consent of Grant Thornton LLP
Filed herewith.
31.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer of the Company, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Filed herewith.
31.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer of the Company pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Filed herewith.
32.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer of the Company pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Furnished herewith.
32.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer of the Company pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Furnished herewith.
101.INS
Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)
Filed herewith.
101.SCH
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
Filed herewith.
101.CAL
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
Filed herewith.
101.DEF
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
Filed herewith.
101.LAB
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
Filed herewith.
101.PRE
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
Filed herewith.
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)
† Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.
* Schedules (and similar attachments) have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Company agrees to furnish supplementally a copy of any omitted schedule to the Securities and Exchange Commission upon request.