Earnout Liability |
12 Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||
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Dec. 31, 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Earnout Liability | 12. Earnout Liability
At the closing of the Merger, the Airship AI securityholders that hold shares of common stock of Airship AI, Airship AI options, Airship AI earnout warrants or Airship AI SARs have the contingent right to receive up to 5,000,000 earnout shares of the Company’s common stock if the following earnout milestones are met.
Any earnout shares issuable under the Merger Agreement to an Airship AI securityholder in respect of each Airship AI option or Airship AI SAR held by such holder as of immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger shall be earned by such holder on the later of (i) the occurrence of the applicable earnout milestone, and (ii) the date on which the option in respect of such Airship AI option or SAR in respect of such Airship AI SAR, as applicable, becomes vested pursuant to its applicable vesting schedule, but only if such holder continues to provide services (whether as an employee, director or individual independent contractor) to the Company or one of its subsidiaries through such date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any earnout shares that are not earned by Airship AI securityholder in respect of its options or SARs on or before the fifth anniversary of the closing date of the Merger shall be forfeited without any consideration. Any earnout shares that are forfeited pursuant to the Merger Agreement shall be reallocated to the other Airship AI securityholders who remain entitled to receive earnout shares in accordance with their respective earnout pro rata shares.
These earnout shares have been categorized into two components: (i) the “Vested Shares” - those associated with earnout holders with vested equity at the closing of the Merger that will be earned upon achievement of the earnout milestones and (ii) the “Unvested Shares” - those associated with earnout holders with unvested equity at the closing of the Merger that will be earned over the remaining service period with the Company on their unvested equity shares and upon achievement of the earnout milestones. The Vested Shares, which represent 95% of the total earnout shares are classified as liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in the consolidated statements of operations due to the variability in the number of earnout shares at settlement which could change upon a change of control event. The earnout arrangement contains a settlement provision that violates the indexation guidance under ASC 815-40. The Unvested Shares are equity-classified share-based compensation to be recognized over time under ASC 718 due to the service component.
As of September 30, 2024, the Company determined the first operating performance milestone was achieved resulting in the vesting of 1,250,000 earnout shares, of which 1,160,906 shares of the Company’s common stock were issued to applicable personnel on January 7, 2025. The fair value of the 1,160,906 vested shares on the issuance date of $5,282,008 was determined using the Company’s closing trading price on January 7, 2025 and was reclassified from earnout liability to equity as additional paid in capital on the consolidated balance sheet. The remaining 89,094 shares that vested as of September 30, 2024 will continue to be valued on a recurring basis as a Level 1 instrument until issued. The remaining unvested earnout shares continue to be accounted for as liabilities until their respective triggering event occurs. As of December 31, 2024, the estimated fair value of the earnout liability was $23,304,808 and decreased to $2,620,933 as of December 31, 2025 primarily due to the common stock issued to settle approximately $5.3 million of earnout liability on January 7, 2025, the decrease in the Company’s share price and a decline in revenue, which resulted in a gain due to the change in fair value of the earnout liability during the year ended December 31, 2025 of approximately $15.4 million. During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company recorded a loss from the change in fair value of the earnout liability of approximately $18.2 million. The Company records the gain and losses from the change in fair value of the earnout liability on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. See Note 13– Fair Value Measurements for more information.
In addition, a portion of the earnout shares may be issued to individuals with unvested equity awards. While the payout of these shares requires the achievement of the earnout milestones, the individuals must complete the remaining service period associated with these unvested equity awards to be eligible to receive the earnout shares. As a result, these unvested earn-out shares are equity-classified awards and have an aggregated grant date fair value of $2,675,223 (or $5.96 per share). During each of the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company stock-based compensation expense for the vesting of earnout shares was $535,044, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested earnout shares totaled $1,605,136. The weighted average period over which this remaining compensation cost is expected to be recognized is 3 years. |