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NON-CONSOLIDATED JOINT VENTURE AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
NON-CONSOLIDATED JOINT VENTURE AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

NOTE 5 — NON-CONSOLIDATED JOINT VENTURE AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

Formalized Joint Venture

 

On May 31, 2023, the Company formalized an agreement related to the formation of a joint venture established to engage in the clinical development, marketing, sale and distribution of Nexalin’s second generation transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (“tACS”) devices (“Gen-2 devices”) in China and other countries in the region. The Joint Venture is registered in Hong Kong.

 

As of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, (i) our operations are carried on outside of China; and (ii) the Joint Venture does not maintain any variable interest entity structure or operate any data center in China.

 

Under the Joint Venture Agreement, Wider is obligated to fund all operations for the initial 12-month period of the Joint Venture, after which Nexalin and Wider plan to jointly fund the Joint Venture’s operating expenses in accordance with their pro rata ownership.

 

The Joint Venture is controlled by a Board of Directors in which Wider is to have sole representation but neither the Company nor Wider has exclusive decision-making ability over day-to-day or significant operational decisions. Wider and Nexalin own 52% and 48% of the Joint Venture, respectively. In accordance with ASC 323 and ASC 810, the Company recognizes the equity method results of the Joint Venture on a one-quarter reporting lag; the Company recognized $5,783 and $0 of equity method investment income from the Joint Venture on a one-quarter reporting lag for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, on the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. The investment in the Joint Venture is accounted for using the equity method of accounting. The Company invested $96,000 in the joint venture in September 2023 which is recorded on the consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2023 as an Equity Method Investment. Wider invested $104,000. In accordance with ASC 323, Investments - Equity Method and Joint Ventures (“ASC 323”), the Company uses the equity method of accounting for its investment in the Joint Venture, an unconsolidated entity over which it does not have a controlling interest. The equity method of accounting requires the investment to be initially recorded at cost and subsequently adjusted for the Company’s share of equity in the unconsolidated entity’s earnings or losses. The Company evaluates the carrying amount of this investment in the Joint Venture for impairment in accordance with ASC 323. If the Company determines that a loss in the value of the investment is other than temporary, the Company writes down the investment to its estimated fair value. Any such losses are recorded to equity in income of unconsolidated entities in the Company’s consolidated statements of income. The Company has made an election to classify distributions received from the Joint Venture using the nature of the distribution approach. Distributions received are classified as cash inflows from operating activities based on the nature of the activities of the unconsolidated entity.

 

U.S. Asian Consulting Group, LLC

 

On May 9, 2018, the Company entered into a five-year consulting agreement with U.S. Asian Consulting Group, LLC (“U.S. Asian”). The consulting agreement was extended for an additional period of eight years upon the closing of our initial public offering. The two members of U.S. Asian are shareholders in the Company. Marilyn Elson is the Company’s Controller.

 

Pursuant to the consulting agreement, U.S. Asian provides consulting services to the Company with regard to, among other things, corporate development and financing arrangements. The Company pays U.S. Asian $10,000 per month for services rendered pursuant to the consulting agreement. The Company recorded consulting expenses related to the consulting agreement of $30,000 for each of the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 on the Company’s unaudited consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

 

Officers

 

On September 22, 2023, Marilyn Elson provided the Company notice that she was stepping down as Chief Financial Officer effective November 1, 2023. Since such date, Ms. Elson has continued as Controller for Nexalin Technology. Ms. Elson is the spouse of the other member of U.S. Asian.

 

On July 1, 2023, the Company entered into a new employment agreement with Mark White to serve as Chief Executive Officer, a new services agreement with David Owens, M.D. to serve as Chief Medical Officer and a new employment agreement with Michael Nketiah to serve as Senior Vice President, Quality, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs. Each of the foregoing agreements are governed by three-year terms and provide compensation in the form of performance-and service-based stock option awards based on the closing price of the Company’s publicly traded common stock on the applicable date of grant.

 

Under the terms of his employment agreement, Mr. White is entitled to (i) a sign-on/retention bonus consisting of a one-time lump-sum payment of $50,000 and a grant of nonqualified stock options to purchase 1,387,024 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $.894 per share subject to certain time and performance- and time-based vesting conditions.

 

Under the terms of his service agreement, Dr. Owens is entitled to (i) a sign-on/retention bonus consisting of a grant of nonqualified stock options to purchase 654,362 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $.894 per share subject to certain time- and performance-based vesting conditions.

 

Under the terms of his employment agreement Mr. Nketiah is entitled to nonqualified stock option grants to purchase 100,671 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $.894 subject to certain time and performance-based vesting conditions.

 

A portion of the nonqualified stock options granted to Messrs. White, Owens and Nketiah that are subject to future vesting are contingent upon the approval of the stockholders to increase the 2023 Plan capacity so as to authorize additional shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2023 Plan.

 

In addition to the retention payments, stock awards and nonqualified option grants described above, Messrs. White and Nketiah are receiving cash compensation and each of Messrs. White and Nketiah are eligible for performance-based cash bonuses. The 2023 performance-based milestones regarding Mr. White’s incentive compensation have been met for 2023, and he was awarded a cash bonus of $120,000 and 313,199 nonqualified stock options with a vesting date of July 1, 2024. The 2023 performance-based milestones regarding Mr. Nketiah’s incentive compensation have been met for 2023, and he was awarded a cash bonus of $50,000 and 218,121 nonqualified stock options with a vesting date of July 1, 2024.

 

The reported amounts are calculated in accordance with the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standard Codification Topic 718, “Compensation — Stock Compensation (“ASC 718”). ASC 718 focuses primarily on accounting for transactions in which an entity obtains employee services in share-based payment transactions, such as the options issued under our 2023 Plan.

 

Leases

 

Our principal executive office is located at 1776 Yorktown, Suite 550, Houston, Texas 77056. Under ASC 842 “Leases”, we have two separate sub-leases (through IIcom Strategic Inc. controlled and owned by our Chief Executive Officer) totaling approximately 4,000 square feet of office space under operating leases. Management and supporting staff are hosted at this location. Our lease costs for each of the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 were $9,500 and $13,500, respectively. The initial sub-leases expired in January of 2024. The Company has entered into a new one year sublease for 4,000 square feet of office space under an operating lease. Pursuant to the sublease, we pay and will pay the third party landlord (not the sub landlord) all direct and indirect rent costs under the primary lease directly for the leased premises. No additional payments are made to the Chief Executive Officer or the entity controlled by him.