Note 1: Organization and Business

Organization and Nature of Business

Genius Brands International, Inc. (“we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company”) is a global content and brand management company that creates and licenses multimedia content. Led by proven industry leaders, the Company distributes its content in all formats as well as a broad range of consumer products based on its characters. In the children's media sector, the Company’s portfolio features “content with a purpose” for toddlers to tweens, which provides enrichment as well as entertainment. New IP titles include the preschool property Rainbow Rangers, which debuted November 5, 2018 on Nickelodeon and preschool property Llama Llama; which debuted on Netflix in December 2017 and has been picked up by Netflix for a second season and is currently in production. Our library titles include the award winning Baby Genius, tween music-driven brand SpacePop; adventure comedy Thomas Edison's Secret Lab® and Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, created with and starring iconic investor Warren Buffett, which is distributed across the Company’s Genius Brands Network on Comcast’s Xfinity on Demand, AppleTV, Roku, Amazon Fire, You Tube and Amazon Prime as well as Connected TV and select international broadcast and streaming services. The Company also has a partnership with Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment which it manages for creation, production, licensing and management of original Stan Lee superhero programs.

In addition, the Company acts as licensing agent for Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House LLC who owns or controls the underlying rights to Llama Llama, leveraging its existing licensing infrastructure to expand this brand into new product categories, new retailers, and new territories.

The Company commenced operations in 2006, assuming all the rights and obligations of its then Chief Executive Officer, under an Asset Purchase Agreement between the Company and Genius Products, Inc., in which the Company obtained all rights, copyrights, and trademarks to the brands “Baby Genius,” “Kid Genius,” “123 Favorite Music” and “Wee Worship,” and all then existing productions under those titles. In 2011, the Company reincorporated in Nevada and changed its name to Genius Brands International, Inc. (the “Reincorporation”). In connection with the Reincorporation, the Company changed its trading symbol to “GNUS.”

In 2013, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) with A Squared Entertainment LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“A Squared”), A Squared Holdings LLC, a California limited liability company and sole member of A Squared (the “Parent Member”) and A2E Acquisition LLC, its newly formed, wholly-owned Delaware subsidiary (“Acquisition Sub”). Upon closing of the transactions, A Squared, as the surviving entity, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

On November 4, 2016, the Company filed a certificate to change its Articles of Incorporation to affect a reverse split on a one-for-three basis (the “2016 Reverse Split”). The 2016 Reverse Split became effective on November 9, 2016. All common stock share and per share information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”), including the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, have been adjusted to reflect retrospective application of the 2016 Reverse Split, unless otherwise indicated.

Liquidity

Historically, the Company has incurred net losses. For the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company reported net losses of $1,821,852 and $1,164,406, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company reported net losses of $5,27,101 and $3,732,183, respectively. The Company reported net cash used in operating activities of $5,486,708 and $5,029,810 for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. As of September 30, 2018, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $46,973,682 and total stockholders’ equity of $16,275,962. At September 30, 2018, the Company had current assets of $8,098,644, including cash and cash equivalents of $5,074,026 and current liabilities of $3,742,989. The Company had working capital of $4,355,655 as of September 30, 2018, compared to working capital of $8,041,279 as of December 31, 2017.

On January 8, 2018, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with certain accredited investors pursuant to which the Company sold approximately $1,800,000 of common stock and warrants to such investors (the “January 2018 Private Placement”). The Company issued and sold warrants to purchase 592,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $3.00 per share and issued 93,000 warrants representing offering costs.

On August 17, 2018, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “August 2018 Purchase Agreement”) with certain investors, pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell (i) an aggregate principal amount of $4.50 million in secured convertible notes, convertible into shares of our common stock, at a conversion price of $2.50 per share (the “Secured Convertible Notes”) and (ii) warrants to purchase 1,800,000 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $3.00 per share (the “Warrants,” and, together with the Secured Convertible Notes, the “Securities”). We received approximately $4,500,000 in gross proceeds from the offering.

The Secured Convertible Notes are senior secured obligations and are secured by certain tangible and intangible property of the Company as described in the August 2018 Purchase Agreement. Unless earlier converted or redeemed, the Secured Convertible Notes will mature on August 20, 2019. The Secured Convertible Notes bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum and are convertible at any time until a Secured Convertible Note is no longer outstanding, in whole or in part, at the option of the holders into shares of common stock at a conversion price of $2.50 per share. The Secured Convertible Notes have a beneficial ownership limitation such that none of the Investors have the right to convert any portion of their Secured Convertible Notes if the Investor (together with its affiliates or any other persons acting together as a group with the Investor) would beneficially own in excess of 9.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of our common stock issuable upon conversion of such Secured Convertible Notes. In addition, the Secured Convertible Notes provide for a conversion cap such that we may not issue any shares of our common stock upon conversion of Secured Convertible Notes which would exceed the aggregate number of shares of our common stock we could issue upon conversion of the Secured Convertible Notes without breaching our obligations, if any, under Nasdaq Stock Market LLC rules and regulations.

Interest under the Secured Convertible Notes is payable in arrears beginning on September 1, 2018 and thereafter on each of December 1, 2018, March 1, 2019, June 1, 2019 and at maturity when all amounts outstanding under the Secured Convertible Notes become due and payable. Subject to certain equity conditions, we may redeem the Secured Convertible Notes at any time prior to maturity. If we do not meet such equity conditions at maturity, we are obligated to repay in cash one-sixth of the then outstanding principal amount of the Secured Convertible Notes each month for the six months following the date of maturity, with the first such payment due on the date of maturity, followed by payments each month thereafter.

The Secured Convertible Notes contain certain negative covenants, including prohibitions on the incurrence of indebtedness or liens. The Secured Convertible Notes also contain standard and customary events of default including, but not limited to, failure to make payments when due, failure to observe or perform covenants or agreements contained in the Secured Convertible Notes or the bankruptcy or insolvency of the Company or any of our subsidiaries.

The Warrants entitle the holders to purchase 1,800,000 shares of common stock. The Warrants are not exercisable until after six months from the date of issuance and expire five and half years from the date of issuance. The Warrants have an exercise price of $3.00 per share. In the event of a “Fundamental Transaction” (as defined in the Warrants), the Investors have the right to receive the value of the Warrants as determined in accordance with the Black Scholes option pricing model.

On September 28, 2018, Llama Productions LLC, a California limited liability company (“Llama”) and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Loan and Security Agreement”) with Bank Leumi USA (the “Lender”), pursuant to which the Lender agreed to make a secured loan in an aggregate amount not to exceed $4,231,989 to Llama (the “Loan”). The proceeds of the Loan will be used to pay the majority of the expenses of producing, completing and delivering two 22 minute episodes and sixteen 11 minute episodes of the second season of the animated series Llama Llama to be initially exhibited on Netflix.

To secure payment of the Loan, Llama has granted to the Lender a continuing security interest in and against, generally, all of its tangible and intangible assets, which includes all seasons of the Llama Llama animated series.

Under the Loan and Security Agreement, Llama can request revolving loan advances under (a) the Prime Rate Loan facility and (b) the LIBOR Loan facility, each as further described in the Loan and Security Agreement attached as an exhibit hereto. Prime Rate Loan advances shall bear interest, on the outstanding balance thereof, at a fluctuating per annum rate equal to 1.0% plus the Prime Rate (as such term is defined in the Loan and Security Agreement), provided that in no event shall the interest rate applicable to Prime Rate Loans be less than 4.0% per annum. LIBOR Loan advances shall bear interest, on the outstanding balance thereof, for the period commencing on the funding date and ending on the date which is one (1), three (3) or six (6) months thereafter, at a per annum rate equal to 3.25% plus the LIBOR determined for the applicable Interest Period (as such terms are defined in the Loan and Security Agreement), provided that in no event shall the interest rate applicable to LIBOR Loans be less than 3.25% per annum.

The Maturity Date of the Prime Rate Loan facility and LIBOR Loan facility is March 31, 2021.

In addition, on September 28, 2018, Llama and Lender entered into Amendment No. 2 to Loan and Security Agreement, effective as of August 27, 2018, by and between Llama and the Lender (the “Amendment”). Pursuant to the Amendment, the original Loan and Security Agreement, dated as of August 5, 2016 and amended as of November 7, 2017 (the “Original Loan and Security Agreement”), was amended to (i) reduce the loan commitment thereunder to $1,768,010, which is a reduction of $3,075,406 from the original loan commitment under the Original Loan and Security Agreement and (ii) include the Llama Llama season two obligations under the Loan and Security Agreement as obligations under the Original Loan and Security Agreement.

While the Company believes that its cash balances and working capital combined with its production facility and deal pipeline will be sufficient to fund operations for the next twelve months, there can be no assurance that cash flows from operations will continue to improve in the near future. If the Company is unable to attain profitable operations and attain positive operating cash flows, it may need to (i) seek additional funding, (ii) scale back its development or production plans, or (iii) reduce certain operations.