Conduct of the Company The Company covenants and agrees that, except for matters (i) expressly permitted or expressly contemplated by this Agreement, (ii) set forth on Part 6.01 of the Company Disclosure Schedule, (iii) reasonably undertaken in connection with any COVID-19 Measures, (iv) undertaken with the prior written consent of Parent (which shall not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed), (v) required by Applicable Law or the rules and regulations of Nasdaq, from the date hereof until the earlier of the Effective Time and the termination of this Agreement in accordance with Article 8 hereof, the Company (A) shall, and shall cause each of its Subsidiaries to use commercially reasonable efforts to (1) conduct its business in the ordinary course in all material respects, substantially consistent with past practice, (2) to the extent consistent with the foregoing clause (1), maintain its business as a going concern and (3) keep available the services of its current officers and key employees and to preserve the goodwill of and maintain satisfactory relationships with those Persons having material business relationships with the Company and its Subsidiaries, and (B) shall not, and shall cause each of its Subsidiaries not to:
(a) amend the Company’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or amend any certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or other comparable charter or organizational documents, of the Company’s Subsidiaries;
(b) other than with respect to a direct or indirect wholly owned Subsidiary of the Company, (i) establish a record date for, declare, set aside or pay any dividends on, or make any other distributions (whether in cash, stock, property or otherwise) in respect of, or enter into any agreement with respect to the voting of, any capital stock of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries (or securities convertible or exchangeable therefor), (ii) split, reverse split, combine, subdivide or reclassify or otherwise amend the terms of any capital stock (or securities convertible or exchangeable therefor) of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, (iii) except as expressly provided in Section 6.01(c), issue or authorize the issuance of any other securities in respect of, in lieu of or in substitution for, shares of capital stock of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries (or securities convertible or exchangeable therefor), or (iv) purchase, redeem or otherwise acquire or offer to purchase, redeem or acquire any Company Securities, except for the net settlement of Company Equity Awards or acquisitions of shares of Company Common Stock by the Company, in each case, in satisfaction by holders of Company Equity Awards of the applicable withholding taxes or in accordance with the terms of the ESPP;
(c) issue, deliver, sell, grant, announce, pledge, transfer, subject to any Lien, otherwise encumber or dispose of any equity interests of the Company or incur any obligation to make any payments to any Person based on the price or value of any Company Securities, other than (i) the issuance of shares of Company Common Stock pursuant to (A) the terms of Company Equity Awards that are outstanding on the date hereof, in accordance with the applicable terms of such Company Equity Awards as in effect on the date of this Agreement or (B) grants or awards of Company Securities or Company Equity Awards required to be made pursuant to the terms of existing employment or other compensation agreements or arrangements in effect as of the date hereof; provided that such grants or awards are pursuant to a form of award agreement that has been made available to Parent or (ii) the issuance of shares of Company Common Stock under the ESPP and pursuant to the terms thereof and Section 2.06 of this Agreement or (iii) the issuance of equity interests of a wholly owned Subsidiary of the Company to the Company or another wholly owned Subsidiary of the Company;
(d) merge, consolidate or, other than in the ordinary course of business substantially consistent with past practice, enter into strategic alliance or similar legal partnership with any Person, file a voluntary petition for bankruptcy or liquidation, dissolve, liquidate, restructure or recapitalize or adopt a plan or agreement of, or resolutions providing for or authorizing, complete or partial bankruptcy, liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries;
(e) (i) increase the salary, wages, benefits, bonuses or other cash compensation payable or to become payable to the Company’s employees, officers, directors or Independent Contractors, except for increases (A) required to be made pursuant to the terms of existing employment or other compensation agreements or arrangements in effect as of the date hereof, (B) required under any Company Employee Plan pursuant to the terms in effect as of the date hereof or Collective Bargaining Agreement or under Applicable Law, (C) made in the ordinary course of business and substantially consistent with past practice, or (D) in connection with changes to benefits as part of annual enrollment; provided that such changes made as part of annual enrollment are made in the ordinary course of business, and (ii) other than as required by the terms of the applicable Company Employee Plan or under Applicable Law, enter into, adopt, amend (including by accelerating the vesting, payment or funding of any benefits under), modify or terminate any Company Employee Plan or plan, agreement, arrangement, or policy that would be a Company Employee Plan if in effect on the date hereof;
(f) hire, engage or terminate the employment or engagement of (other than for cause, as determined by the Company) any employee, officer, director, or Independent Contractor whose annual base cash compensation exceeds $250,000;
(g) negotiate, enter into, amend or extend any Collective Bargaining Agreement;
(h) acquire or commit to acquire any business, assets, real property or capital stock of, or make any loans, advances or capital contribution to any Person or division thereof, whether in whole or in part (and whether by purchase of stock, purchase of assets, merger, consolidation, entrance into a joint venture or otherwise) that, individually involve a purchase price or principal amount of not more than $500,000 individually or $2,000,000 in the aggregate, other than one or more acquisitions of inventory, supplies, intellectual property assets, raw materials, equipment or similar assets in the ordinary course of business and in amounts substantially consistent with past practice;
(i) sell, assign, lease, license, pledge, transfer, abandon, subject to any Lien, permit to lapse or otherwise dispose of any assets, properties, or Company Intellectual Property, in each case having a value in excess of $500,000 individually or $5,000,000 in the aggregate, except in the ordinary course of the Company’s or its Subsidiaries’ business substantially consistent with past practice;
(j) agree to any exclusivity, non-competition or similar provision or covenant limiting the ability of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to compete or engage in any line of business, with any Person or in any geographic area, or pursuant to which any benefit or right would be required to be given or lost as a result of so competing or engaging, or which would have any such effect on Parent or any of its Affiliates after the Effective Time, except, in each case, in connection with Contracts entered into with customers, contractors, distributors, resellers, partners or suppliers of the Company and its Subsidiaries or similar arrangements, that (x) are made in the ordinary course of business substantially consistent with past practice, (y) are on terms substantially similar to any such restrictions existing on the date of this Agreement and (z) would not have any such effect (or otherwise restrict or bind) on Parent or any of its Affiliates (other than the Company and its Subsidiaries) after the Effective Time;
(k) adopt or change any of the accounting methods used by the Company materially affecting its assets, liabilities or business, except for such changes that are required by (i) GAAP (or any interpretation thereof), (ii) by any Applicable Law, including Regulation S-X under the Securities Act, or (iii) by any Governmental Authority or quasi-governmental authority (including the Financial Accounting Standards Board or any similar organization);
(l) except for borrowings of revolving loans under the Existing Credit Agreement and capital leases in the ordinary course of business and except for intercompany loans, guarantees, advance or capital contribution between the Company and any of its wholly-owned Subsidiaries or between any wholly-owned Subsidiaries of the Company, (i) incur, issue, or otherwise become liable for any additional Indebtedness in excess of $5,000,000 in the aggregate, (ii) modify in a manner materially adverse to the Company or its Subsidiaries the terms of any material Indebtedness existing as of the date hereof, (iii) assume, guarantee or endorse the obligations of any Person (other than a wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Company), (iv) make any loan, advance or capital contribution to any Person in excess of $500,000 in the aggregate, other than capital contributions and loans to any wholly owned Subsidiary, and extensions of trade credit in the ordinary course of business, (v) amend, modify or waive any provision of the Existing Credit Agreement (other than to waive or otherwise cure any “Default” or “Event of Default” thereunder provided that Parent has been provided prior written notice thereof and consented to such amendment, modification or waiver), or (vi) other than the regularly scheduled and required amortization payments under the Existing Credit Agreement, repurchase, prepay, terminate or refinance any Indebtedness arising under the Existing Credit Agreement;
(m) make, change or revoke any material Tax election, change any annual Tax accounting period, file any material amended Tax Return or file any material Tax Return in a manner inconsistent with past practice, enter into any “closing agreement” within the meaning of Section 7121 of the Code (or similar provision of state, local or non-U.S. law) in respect of any material Tax, settle any material Tax Proceeding, surrender any right to claim a material Tax refund, offset or other reduction in Tax liability, or consent to any extension or waiver of the limitations period applicable to any material Tax claim or assessment outside the ordinary course of business;
(n) make any commitment with respect to capital expenditures in excess of the amounts set forth in Part 6.01(n)(i) of the Company Disclosure Schedule;
(o) institute, settle or agree to settle any Proceedings, other than (i) the settlement of claims, liabilities or obligations (A) reserved against on the most recent balance sheet of the Company included in the Company SEC Documents or (B) involving payments of less than $500,000 individually or $1,000,000 in the aggregate; provided that neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall settle or agree to settle any Proceeding which settlement involves a conduct remedy or injunctive or similar relief or has a restrictive impact on the Company’s business or (ii) Proceedings brought against Parent or Merger Sub arising out of a breach or alleged breach of this Agreement by Parent or Merger Sub;
(p) enter into any material new line of business;
(q) fail to maintain in all material respects any Insurance Policies;
(r) other than in the ordinary course of business or as contemplated by this Agreement (i) amend, modify, renew or terminate, or grant any release or waiver under, any Material Contract (excluding the expiration of any Material Contract in accordance with its terms) or enter into any new Contract that would have been a Material Contract if in existence on the date of this Agreement, or (ii) renew or enter into any Contract with an Affiliate of the Company;
(s) voluntarily terminate, amend or fail to renew or preserve any Company Communications License as set forth on Part 6.01(s) of the Company Disclosure Schedule;
(t) conduct any reduction-in-force of employees or other service providers or otherwise implement any layoffs, in each case that could implicate the WARN Act; or
(u) authorize, commit or agree to take any of the foregoing actions. Notwithstanding anything set forth in this Agreement or any other documents related to the Merger, prior to the Closing, neither Parent nor Merger Sub shall, directly or indirectly, exercise any form of control over the Company, any of its subsidiaries, or any of the Governmental Permits, within the meaning of the FCC Rules and the FCC’s orders and other published rulings thereunder. In addition, the Company and its Subsidiaries may take such further commercially reasonable actions necessary to (x) respond to emergencies or protect the health and safety of the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s employees, suppliers, customers and other individuals having business dealings with the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company (including any COVID-19 Measures) or (y) respond to third-party supply or service disruptions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; provided that the Company shall, to the extent legally permissible and only if time permits, consult with Parent prior to taking the actions described in this sentence.
Conduct of the Company’s Business During the period from the date of this Agreement and continuing until the earlier of the Effective Time and the date nominees of Parent or Subsidiary constitute a majority of the members of the board of trustees of the Company (such earlier time, the “Control Time”), except either as consented to in writing (including by email or other electronic transmission) by Parent in response to a written or oral request therefore from the Company (which response shall not be unreasonably delayed), the Company shall, and shall cause its subsidiaries to, conduct its and their business in the ordinary course and use commercially reasonable efforts to conduct its and their business relationships with third parties and to keep available the services of their present officers and employees, provided that it does not require additional compensation, and preserve its and their relationships with customers, suppliers and others having business dealings with the Company and its subsidiaries, and to maintain the Company’s qualification as a REIT, in each case subject to the terms of or contemplated by this Agreement. In addition, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, except as expressly permitted in this Agreement, from the date hereof until the Control Time, the Company shall not, and shall cause its subsidiaries not to:
(a) (i) authorize, declare or pay any dividends on or make other distributions in respect of any of its stock (except for dividends by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company to its parent and except for distributions necessary for the Company to maintain its REIT qualification, avoid the incurrence of any taxes under Section 857 of the Code, avoid the imposition of any excise taxes under Section 4981 of the Code, or avoid the need to make one or more extraordinary or disproportionately larger distributions to meet any of the three preceding objectives), (ii) split, combine or reclassify any of its stock or issue or authorize or propose the issuance of any other securities or (iii) repurchase, redeem or otherwise acquire any shares of stock of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or any other securities thereof or any rights, warrants or options to acquire any such shares or other securities;
(b) except in accordance with the Share Option Agreement, issue, deliver, sell, pledge or encumber, or authorize or propose the issuance, delivery, sale, pledge or encumbrance of, any shares of its beneficial interests, stock or any other security;
(c) amend or propose to amend its declaration of trust, certificate of incorporation or bylaws (or similar organizational documents);
(d) (i) acquire or agree to acquire any material assets (including securities) outside the ordinary course or merge or consolidate with any person or engage in any similar transaction or (ii) make any loans, advances or capital contributions to, or investments in, any other person, other than to the Company or any wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and other than loans to auto dealers in the ordinary course of business which would, when originated, qualify as Eligible Receivables under the Warehouse Line;
(e) sell, lease, license, encumber or otherwise dispose of any of its assets or any interest therein, other than in the ordinary course (including the disposition of any assets acquired as a result of a foreclosure), or adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring or other reorganization;
(f) incur or suffer to exist any indebtedness for borrowed money or guarantee any such indebtedness, guarantee any debt of others, enter into any “keep-well” or other agreement to maintain any financial statement condition of another person or enter into any arrangement having the economic effect of any of the foregoing, except for borrowings under the Warehouse Line;
(g) make or rescind any Tax election or settle or compromise any Tax liability of the Company or any of its subsidiaries;
(h) make or agree to make any capital expenditures other than in amounts of less than $75,000 in the aggregate;
(i) pay, discharge, settle or satisfy any Claim (whether absolute, accrued, asserted or unasserted, contingent or otherwise), other than the payment, discharge, settlement or satisfaction, in the ordinary course of business or in accordance with their terms, of Claims whether recognized or disclosed in the most recent financial statements (or the notes thereto) of the Company included in the Company Filed SEC Documents or incurred since the date of such financial statements in the ordinary course of business except for cash payments (x) paid by any insurer or person other than the Company and any subsidiary of the Company, plus (y) an amount paid by the Company or any subsidiary of the Company not exceeding $100,000 per Claim, liability or obligation or $500,000 for all Claims in the aggregate.
(j) (i) modify, amend or terminate any material contract, (ii) waive, release or assign any material rights or claims, (iii) waive the benefits of, or agree to modify in any manner, any confidentiality, standstill or similar agreement, or fail to enforce any such agreement to the fullest extent practicable, including by seeking injunctive relief and specific performance or (iv) except, with respect to this clause (iv), in the ordinary course of business, enter into any material contracts or transactions;
(i) increase the compensation or benefits of any director, trustee, officer or employee, except for, in the cases of non-officer employees, increases in the ordinary course that are consistent with past practice, (ii) adopt any material amendment to a Benefit Plan, (iii) enter into, amend or modify any employment, consulting, severance, termination or similar agreement with any director, trustee, officer or employee, (iv) accelerate the payment of compensation or benefits to any director, officer or employee, (v) take any action to fund or in any other way secure the payment of compensation or benefits under any Benefit Plan or compensation agreement or arrangement; or change any actuarial or other assumption used to calculate funding obligations with respect to any pension plan or change the timing or manner in which contributions to any pension plan are made or the basis on which such contributions are determined or (vi) take any action that could give rise to severance benefits payable to any officer, trustee, director, or employee of the Company or any subsidiary as a result of consummation of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement; provided that nothing in this paragraph (k) shall preclude the payment by the Company of accrued, but unpaid bonuses to employees for 2004 and retroactive salary adjustments in each case as set forth in Section 6.1(k) of the Company Disclosure Schedule;
(l) take any action to exempt or make not subject to or to otherwise waive or cause to be inapplicable (x) the provisions of any Takeover Statute or (y) Section 7.2 of the Declaration of Trust, in each case to any individual or entity (other than Parent or its subsidiaries), or any action taken thereby, which individual, entity or action would have otherwise been subject to the restrictive provisions thereof and not exempt therefrom;
(m) take any action to delist the Shares from Nasdaq;
(n) make any material change to its methods of accounting in effect on the date hereof, except as required by changes in GAAP as concurred with by the Company’s independent auditors, or change its fiscal year;
(o) enter into any transaction with any of its affiliates other than pursuant to arrangements in effect on the date hereof which have been disclosed to Parent;
(p) accelerate the collection of receivables or defer the payment of payables, or modify the payment terms of any receivables or payables, in each case, other than in the ordinary course of business;
(q) securitize, or create any financing arrangements in the nature of a collateralized debt obligation with respect to, any accounts receivable, loans or other assets;
(r) amend or modify the existing agreement between Company and Company Financial Advisor; or
(s) authorize any of, or commit or agree to take any of, the foregoing actions or any action that would result in a breach of any representation, warranty or agreement of the Company contained in this Agreement as of the date when made or as of any future date or would result in any of the conditions to the Merger not being satisfied or in a material delay in the satisfaction of such conditions.
