XML 31 R20.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.25.3
Note 14 - Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Notes to Financial Statements  
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 14  Commitments and Contingencies

 

Contractual Obligations

 

As of  September 30, 2025, the Company is obligated under agreements with various music right holders and labels, festivals, clubs, events, concerts, artists, promoters, venues, music labels and publishers and other contractual obligations to make guaranteed payments as follows: $8.9 million for the fiscal year ending  March 31, 2026, $4.5 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, $0.5 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, $0.4 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028 and $0.4 million thereafter.

 

On a quarterly basis, the Company records the greater of the cumulative actual content acquisition costs incurred or the cumulative minimum guarantee based on forecasted usage for the minimum guarantee period. The minimum guarantee period of time is the period that the minimum guarantee relates to, as specified in each agreement, which may be annual or a longer period. The cumulative minimum guarantee, based on forecasted usage, considers factors such as listening hours, revenue, members, and other terms of each agreement that impact the Company’s expected attainment or recoupment of the minimum guarantees based on the relative attribution method.

 

Several of the Company’s content acquisition agreements also include provisions related to the royalty payments and structures of those agreements relative to other content licensing arrangements, which, if triggered, could cause the Company’s payments under those agreements to escalate, which included payments to be made in common stock. In addition, record labels, publishers and performing rights organizations with whom the Company has entered into direct license agreements have the right to audit the Company’s content acquisition payments, and any such audit could result in disputes over whether the Company has paid the proper content acquisition costs. However, as of September 30, 2025, the Company does not believe it is probable that these provisions of its agreements discussed above will, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

On January 15, 2025, PodcastOne entered into a three-year Enterprise Service and Advertising Agreement (the “Agreement”) with ART19 LLC (“ART19”), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. to move the existing network of PodcastOne programming to the ART19 hosting platform. The Agreement is expected to drive additional monetization opportunities across PodcastOne’s vast library of popular podcasts. Pursuant to the Agreement ART19 is required to pay PodcastOne a minimum guarantee of $15.0 million over the term of the Agreement based on PodcastOne achieving certain minimum impressions amount, which guarantee is subject to adjustment as provided in the Agreement, including if PodcastOne achieves higher minimum impressions amounts. In addition, the Agreement provides for a revenue share split between PodcastOne and ART19 based on gross sales revenue achieved by PodcastOne under the Agreement. During the three and six months ended September 30, 2025 the Company recognized $1.4 million and $2.8 million in revenue associated with the minimum guarantee, respectively.

 

Employment Arrangements

 

As of September 30, 2025, the Company has an employment agreement and employment arrangement with its two named executive officers (“Section 16 Officers”) that provide salary payments of $0.7 million and target bonus compensation of up to $0.3 million on an annual basis. Furthermore, such employment agreement contains a severance clause that could require severance payments in the aggregate amount of $0.03 million (excluding the value of potential payouts of discretionary bonuses, pro-rata bonuses, and potential accelerated vesting of equity awards granted to such executive officer) to the Company’s CFO.

 

On June 27, 2025 and effective as of  June 1, 2025 (the “Effective Date”), PodcastOne entered into a new employment agreement with Kit Gray, the Company’s current President of PodcastOne (the “Gray Employment Agreement”). Pursuant to the Gray Employment Agreement, Mr. Gray was granted, among other things, 15,000 restricted stock units of the Company.

 

On  June 27, 2025 and effective as of the Effective Date, the Company entered into a new employment agreement with Sue McNamara, the Company’s current Chief Revenue Officer of PodcastOne (the “McNamara Employment Agreement”). Pursuant to the McNamara Employment Agreement, Ms. McNamara was granted, among other things, 2,500 restricted stock units of the Company.

 

The Company’s CEO agreed to forgive his salary of $0.5 million per annum for the period from August 2021 until December 31, 2022 in exchange for shares of the Company’s common stock and/or restricted stock units to be issued in the future. As of  September 30, 2025, the Company’s board of directors has not yet determined the number of shares of the Company’s common stock and/or restricted stock units to be issued to the CEO as such compensation.

 

Legal Proceedings 

  

From time to time, the Company is involved in legal proceedings and other matters arising in connection with the conduct of its business activities. Many of these proceedings may be at the preliminary stages and/or seek an indeterminate amount of damages. In the opinion of management, after consultation with legal counsel, such routine claims and lawsuits are not significant and we do not currently expect them to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or liquidity.

 

In April 2021, Schuyler Hoversten, a former employee of the Company, filed a complaint in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles (Central) against each of the Company and Mr. Ellin. The plaintiff alleged claims for breach of oral contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of implied contract, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, promissory estoppel and nonpayment of wages. Plaintiff is seeking monetary damages and punitive and exemplary damages in an amount to be proven at trial and or constitutionally permissible, as well as interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees. The trial in this matter was held in late September and early October 2025. On October 8, 2025, after a conclusion of the jury trial in this matter, the court issued an order with the jury’s verdict awarding the plaintiff a total of approximately $800,000 as monetary damages. The plaintiff may also be entitled to pre- and post-judgment interest at the statutory rate of 10%. The Company plans to appeal the verdict in this matter and believes that it has strong grounds to prevail in this matter on appeal and/or seek a settlement of this matter for a reduced amount of damages.