Item 1A. Risk Factors.
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this annual report before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risk Factor Summary
The following is a summary of the principal risks that could materially adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and/or operating results. It is important that investors and stakeholders read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk contained below:
If Alliance fails to respond to or capitalize on the rapid technological development in the music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry, including changes in entertainment delivery formats, its business could be harmed.
If Alliance does not successfully optimize and operate its fulfillment network, its business could be harmed.
Disruptions in Alliance’s supply chain have increased product expenditures and could result in an adverse impact on results of operations.
Inflation could cause Alliance’s product costs and operating and administrative expenses to grow more rapidly than net sales, which could result in lower gross margins and lower net earnings.
Weakness in the economy, market trends and other conditions affecting the profitability and financial stability of Alliance’s customers could negatively impact Alliance’s sales growth and results of operations.
Our expansion places a strain on our management, operational, financial, and other resources.
Our expansion into new products, services, technologies, and geographic regions subjects us to additional business, legal, financial, and competitive risks;
Our business will suffer if we are not successful in developing and expanding our partner brands across our consumer base.
Consumer interests change rapidly and acceptance of products and entertainment offerings are influenced by outside factors;
If we are unable to navigate through global supply chain challenges, our business may be harmed;
If we are unable to adapt our business to the continued shift to ecommerce, our business may be harmed;
Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and logistics, and the loss of any of our key suppliers or service providers could negatively impact our business;
We face significant inventory risk;
We rely on third-party suppliers, labels, studios, publishers, suppliers, retail and ecommerce partners and other vendors, and they may not continue to produce products or provide services that are consistent with our standards or applicable regulatory requirements, which could harm our brand, cause consumer dissatisfaction, and require us to find alternative suppliers of our products or services;
Alliance’s existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect its ability to operate its business;
Covenants and events of default under Alliance’s Credit Facility could limit our ability to undertake certain types of transactions and adversely affect our liquidity;
Our indebtedness may limit our availability of cash, cause us to divert cash to fund debt service payments or make it more difficult to take certain other actions;
If we were unable to obtain or service our other external financings, or if the restrictions imposed by such financing were too burdensome, our business would be harmed;
Alliance has engaged in transactions with related parties, and such transactions present possible conflicts of interest that could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations;
We might not be able to obtain or maintain the listing of our Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market;
We are subject to risks arising from international trade policies, including the imposition of new or increased tariffs on imported goods.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
If we fail to respond to or capitalize on the rapid technological development in the music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry, including changes in entertainment delivery formats, our business could be harmed.
The music, video, gaming, entertainment and collectible industries continue to experience frequent change driven by technological development, including developments with respect to the formats through which music, films, television programming, games, and other content are delivered to consumers. With rapid technological changes and dramatically expanded digital content offerings, the scale and scope of these changes have accelerated in recent years. For example, consumers are increasingly accessing television, film, and other episodic content on streaming and digital content networks, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+ and Apple TV+. Additionally, consumers access music content through Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Spotify, and other providers. Video game services can be accessed through Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, GeForce, Steam, Stadia, xCloud, Shadow, Luna, and Switch Online.
Some entertainment offerings have gone direct to streaming channels and have not produced a physical content format. Direct release to streaming channels is likely to continue. Technological as well as other changes caused by the pandemic have caused significant disruption to the retail distribution of music and entertainment offerings and have caused and could in the future cause a negative impact on sales of our products and other forms of monetization of content. We may lose opportunities to capitalize on changing market dynamics, technological innovations, or consumer tastes if we do not adapt our content offerings or distribution capabilities in a timely manner. The overall effect that technological development and new digital distribution platforms have on the revenue and profits we derive from our entertainment content, including from merchandise sales derived from such content, and the additional costs associated with changing markets, media platforms and technologies, is unpredictable. If we fail to accurately assess and effectively respond to changes in technology and consumer behavior in the entertainment industry, our business may be harmed.
If we do not successfully optimize and operate our fulfillment network, our business could be harmed.
If we do not adequately predict customer demand or otherwise optimize and operate our fulfillment network successfully, it could result in excess or insufficient fulfillment, or result in increased costs, impairment charges, or both, and harm our business in other ways. As we continue to add fulfillment or add new businesses with different requirements, our fulfillment networks become increasingly complex and operating them becomes more challenging. There can be no assurance that we will be able to operate our networks effectively. In addition, a failure to optimize inventory in our fulfillment network could result in lost sales from under inventory positions or extra costs of holding excess inventory or write-downs on inventory. Due to tight labor markets, we may be unable to staff our fulfillment network and customer service centers adequately or must increase wages to attract more employees.
We rely on several shipping companies to deliver inventory to us and complete orders to our customers. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable terms with these companies or they experience performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and customer experience. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship completed orders to customers also may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, labor disputes, acts of war or terrorism, acts of God, and similar factors.
Under some of our commercial agreements, we maintain the inventory of other companies, thereby increasing the complexity of tracking inventory and operating our fulfillment network. Our failure to properly handle such inventory or the inability of these other companies to accurately forecast product demand would result in unexpected costs and other harm to our business and reputation.
We face competition. If we are unable to compete effectively with existing or new competitors, our revenues, market share and profitability could decline
Our businesses are rapidly evolving and competitive, and we have many competitors in different industries, including physical, e-commerce, and omni-channel retail, e-commerce services, digital content and electronic devices, web and infrastructure computing services, and transportation and logistics services, and across geographies, including cross-border competition. Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and/or greater brand recognition. They may also secure better terms from vendors, adopt more aggressive pricing, and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing.
The music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry is highly competitive. We compete in the U.S. and internationally with a wide array of large and small distributors, and sellers of vinyl records, CD’s, DVD’s, video games and other entertainment and consumer products. In addition, we compete with companies who are focused on building their brands across multiple product and consumer categories, including through entertainment offerings. Across our business, we face competitors who are constantly monitoring and attempting to anticipate consumer tastes and trends, seeking which will appeal to consumers, and introducing new products that compete with our products for consumer acceptance and purchase.
The market for physical media is becoming increasingly competitive as companies compete for a shrinking customer base. Distributors must differentiate themselves by offering unique products, exclusive content, and superior customer service. To be successful, we must correctly anticipate the types of entertainment, products and play patterns which will capture consumers’ interests and imagination, and quickly develop and introduce innovative products and engaging entertainment which can compete successfully for consumers’ limited time, attention, and spending. Specialized distributors often have an advantage in this regard, as they can be more agile and responsive compared to larger more diverse distributors. Additionally, partnerships with artists and content creators to secure exclusive releases can provide a unique competitive edge. As the market evolves, distributors that can innovate and meet the demands of niche audiences will likely thrive.
Competition is likely to continue intensifying, including with the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors, as our competitors enter into business combinations or alliances, and established companies in other market segments expand to become competitive with our business. In addition, new and enhanced technologies, including search, digital content, and electronic devices, are likely to continue to increase our competition. The Internet facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping, and increased competition may reduce our sales and profits.
Disruptions in Alliance’s supply chain have increased product expenditures and could result in an adverse impact on results of operations.
The occurrence of one or more natural or human induced disasters, including pandemic diseases or viral contagions such as the COVID-19 pandemic; geopolitical events, such as war, civil unrest attacks in a country in which Alliance’s suppliers are located; and the imposition of measures that create barriers to or increase the costs associated with international trade could result in disruption of Alliance’s logistics or supply chain network. For example, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the operations of Alliance and its suppliers and customers. Customer demand for certain products has also fluctuated during the pandemic which challenged Alliance’s ability to anticipate and/or procure product to maintain inventory levels to meet that demand. Additionally supply chain disruptions can be the result of the bankruptcy or failure of trucking and other logistics businesses. Labor shortages can also cause supply chain disruptions.
These factors have resulted in higher product inventory cost positions in certain products as well as delays in delivering those products to Alliance’s distribution centers, branches or customers, and similar results may occur in the future. Even when Alliance is able to find alternate sources for certain products, they may cost more or require Alliance to incur higher transportation costs, which could adversely impact Alliance’s profitability and financial condition. Any of these circumstances could impair Alliance’s ability to meet customer demand for products and result in lost sales, increased supply chain costs, penalties, or damage to Alliance’s reputation. Any such increased product costs from supplier disruption could adversely impact the results of operations and financial performance.
Inflation may continue to cause Alliance’s product costs and operating and administrative expenses to grow more rapidly than net sales, which could result in lower gross margins and lower net earnings .
Market variables, such as inflation of product costs from suppliers, labor rates and fuel, freight and energy costs, have and may continue to increase potentially causing Alliance to be unable to efficiently manage its product costs and operating and administrative expenses in a way that would enable it to leverage its revenue growth into higher net earnings. In addition, Alliance’s inability to pass on such increases in product costs to customers in a timely manner, or at all, could cause Alliance’s operating and administrative expenses to grow, which could result in lower gross profit margins and lower net earnings.
Weakness in the economy, market trends and other conditions affecting the profitability and financial stability of Alliance’s customers could negatively impact Alliance’s sales growth and results of operations.
Economic, political and industry trends affect Alliance’s business environments. Unfavorable conditions in the economy in the United States and abroad may negatively affect the growth of our business and have affected our results of operations. For example, macroeconomic events, including inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical issues , have led to economic uncertainty globally. Alliance serves several industries and markets in which the demand for its products and services is sensitive to the production activity, capital spending and demand for products and services of Alliance’s customers. Many of these customers operate in markets that are subject to cyclical fluctuations resulting from market uncertainty, trade and tariff policies, costs of goods sold, currency exchange rates, central bank interest rate fluctuations, economic downturns, recessions, foreign competition, offshoring of production, oil and natural gas prices, geopolitical developments, labor shortages, inflation, natural or human induced disasters, extreme weather, outbreaks of pandemic disease such as the COVID 19 pandemic, inflation, deflation, and a variety of other factors beyond Alliance’s control. Any of these factors could cause customers to idle or close stores, delay purchases, reduce wholesale purchasing levels, or experience reductions in the demand for their own retail and wholesale products or services.
Any of these events could also reduce the volume of products and services these customers purchase from Alliance or impair the ability of Alliance’s customers to make full and timely payments and could cause increased pressure on Alliance’s selling prices and terms of sale.
If we incurred any significant impairment charges, our net earnings would be reduced.
Declines in the profitability of acquired brands or our decision to reduce our focus or exit these brands may impact our ability to recover the carrying value of the related assets and could result in an impairment charge. Similarly, declines in our profitability may impact on the fair value of our reporting unit, which could result in a write-down of our goodwill and consequently harm our net earnings.
Risks Related to Expansion of our Business
Our expansion places a strain on our management, operational, financial, and other resources.
We are rapidly and significantly expanding operations, including increasing our product and service offerings and scaling our infrastructure to support our retail and services businesses. This expansion increases the complexity of our business and places strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions. We may not be able to manage growth effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.
We may not realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions or investments in our acquisitions or joint ventures, or those benefits may be delayed or reduced in their realization.
Acquisitions and investments have been a component of our growth and the development of our business, such as our acquisition of Hand Made by Robots in December 2024 and COKeM in September 2020. Acquisitions can broaden and diversify our brand holdings and product offerings and allow us to build additional capabilities and competencies of the company.
We cannot be certain that the products and offerings of companies we may acquire, or acquire an interest in, will achieve or maintain popularity with consumers in the future or that any such acquired companies or investments will allow us to market our products more effectively, develop our competencies or grow our business. In some cases, we expect that the integration of the companies that we may acquire into our operations will create production, marketing and other operating, revenue or cost synergies which will produce greater revenue growth and profitability and, where applicable, cost savings, operating efficiencies, and other advantages. However, we cannot be certain that these synergies, efficiencies, and cost savings will be realized. Even if achieved, these benefits may be delayed or reduced in their realization. In other cases, we may acquire or invest in companies that we believe have strong and creative management, in which case we may plan to operate them more autonomously rather than fully integrating them into our operations. We cannot be certain that the key talented individuals at these companies will continue to work for us after the acquisition or that they will develop popular and profitable products, entertainment, or services in the future. We cannot guarantee that any acquisition or investment we may make will be successful or beneficial, and acquisitions can consume significant amounts of management attention and other resources, which may negatively impact other aspects of our business.
Our expansion into new products, services, technologies, and geographic regions subjects us to additional business, legal, financial, and competitive risks.
We may have limited or no experience in our newer market segments, including collectibles, and our customers may not adopt our offerings. These offerings may present new and difficult technology challenges, and we may be subject to claims if customers of these offerings experience service disruptions or failures or other quality issues. In addition, profitability, if any, in our newer activities may be lower than in our older activities, and we may not be successful enough in these newer activities to recoup our investments in them. If any of this were to occur, it could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.
We may experience significant fluctuations in our operating results and growth rate.
We may not be able to accurately forecast our growth rate. We base our expense levels and investment plans on sales estimates. A significant portion of our expenses and investments is fixed, and we may not be able to adjust our spending quickly enough if our sales are less than expected.
Our revenue growth may not be sustainable, and our percentage growth rates may decrease. Our revenue and operating profit growth depends on the continued growth of demand for the products and services offered by us or our customers, and our business is affected by general economic and business conditions worldwide. A softening of demand, whether caused by changes in customer preferences or a weakening of the U.S. or global economies, may result in decreased revenue or growth.
Our sales and operating results will also fluctuate for many other reasons, including due to risks described elsewhere in this section and the following:
our ability to retain and increase sales to existing customers, attract new customers, and satisfy our customers’ demands;
our ability to retain and expand our network of customers;
our ability to offer products on favorable terms, manage inventory, and fulfill orders;
the introduction of competitive stores, websites, products, services, price decreases, or improvements;
changes in usage or adoption rates of the Internet, e-commerce, electronic devices, and web services, including outside the U.S.;
timing, effectiveness, and costs of expansion and upgrades of our systems and infrastructure;
the success of our geographic, service, and product line expansions;
the extent to which we finance, and the terms of any such financing for, our current operations and future growth;
the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, which may include significant monetary damages or injunctive relief and could have a material adverse impact on our operating results;
variations in the mix of products and services we sell;
variations in our level of merchandise and vendor returns;
the extent to which we offer free shipping, continue to reduce prices worldwide, and provide additional benefits to our customers;
factors affecting our reputation or brand image;
the extent to which we invest in technology and content, fulfillment, and other expense categories;
increases in the prices of fuel and gasoline, as well as increases in the prices of other energy products and commodities like paper and packing supplies;
the extent to which our equity-method investees record significant operating and non-operating items;
the extent to which operators of the networks between our customers and our stores successfully charge fees to grant our customers unimpaired and unconstrained access to our online services;
our ability to collect amounts owed to us when they become due;
the extent to which use of our services is affected by spyware, viruses, phishing and other spam emails, denial of service attacks, data theft, computer intrusions, outages, and similar events;
terrorist attacks and armed hostilities;
supply chain issues either in chip shortages; and
long lead time in the manufacturing vinyl LP’s.
Our international operations expose us to a number of risks.
Our international activities are insignificant to our revenues and profits, and we plan to further expand internationally. In certain international market segments, we have relatively little operating experience and may not benefit from any first-to-market advantages or otherwise succeed. It is costly to establish, develop, and maintain international operations, and promote our brand internationally. Our international operations may not be profitable on a sustained basis.
In addition to risks described elsewhere in this section, our international sales and operations are subject to a number of risks, including:
local economic and political conditions;
government regulation and compliance requirements (such as regulation of our product and service offerings and of competition), restrictive governmental actions (such as trade protection measures, including export duties and quotas and custom duties and tariffs), nationalization, and restrictions on foreign ownership;
restrictions on sales or distribution of certain products or services and uncertainty regarding liability for products, services, and content, including uncertainty as a result of less Internet- friendly legal systems, local laws, lack of legal precedent, and varying rules, regulations, and practices regarding the physical and digital distribution of media products and enforcement of intellectual property rights;
business licensing or certification requirements, such as for imports, exports, web services, and electronic devices;
limitations on the repatriation and investment of funds and foreign currency exchange restrictions;
limited fulfillment and technology infrastructure;
shorter payable and longer receivable cycles and the resultant negative impact on cash flow;
laws and regulations regarding consumer and data protection, privacy, network security, encryption, payments, and restrictions on pricing or discounts;
lower levels of consumer spending and fewer opportunities for growth compared to the U.S.;
lower levels of credit card usage and increased payment risk;
difficulty in staffing, developing, and managing foreign operations as a result of distance, language, and cultural differences.
different employee/employer relationships and the existence of works councils and labor unions;
compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other applicable U.S. and foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials and other third parties;
laws and policies of the U.S. and other jurisdictions affecting trade, foreign investment, loans, and taxes; and
geopolitical events, including war and terrorism.
As international physical, e-commerce, and other services grow, competition will intensify, including through adoption of evolving business models. Local companies may have a substantial competitive advantage because of their greater understanding of, and focus on, the local customer, as well as their more established local brand names. We may not be able to hire, train, retain, and manage required personnel, which may limit our international growth.
Our business will suffer if we are not successful in developing and expanding our partner brands across our consumer base.
Our strategy is to focus and expand larger global brands with an emphasis on developing and expanding those of our key partner brands, which we view as having the largest global potential across our customer base. As we concentrate our efforts on more brands, we believe we can gain additional leverage and enhance the consumer experience. This focus means that our success depends disproportionately on our and our new partners’ ability to successfully develop these new brands across our consumer base and to maintain and extend the reach and relevance of these brands to global consumers in a wide array of markets. This strategy has required us to acquire, build, invest in and develop our competencies in music, movies, gaming, consumer products and entertainment products. Acquiring, developing, investing in, and growing these competencies has required significant effort, time and money, with no assurance of success. The success of our brand blueprint strategy also requires significant alignment and integration among our business segments. If we are unable to successfully develop, maintain and expand key partner brands across our brand blueprint, our business performance will suffer.
Risks Related to Shifts in Consumer Demand
Consumer interests change rapidly, and acceptance of products and entertainment offerings are influenced by outside factors.
The interests of families, individuals, fans, and audiences evolve extremely quickly and can change dramatically from year to year and by geography. To be successful, we must correctly anticipate the types of entertainment, products and play patterns which will capture consumers’ interests and imagination and quickly develop and introduce innovative products and engaging entertainment which can compete successfully for consumers’ limited time, attention, and spending. This challenge is more difficult with the ever-increasing utilization of technology, social media, and digital media in entertainment offerings, and the increasing breadth of entertainment available to consumers. Evolving consumer tastes and shifting interests, coupled with an ever-changing and expanding pipeline of entertainment and consumer properties and products that compete for consumer interest and acceptance, create an environment in which some products and entertainment offerings can fail to achieve consumer acceptance, and other products and entertainment offerings can be popular during a certain period of time but then be rapidly replaced. As a result, our products and entertainment offerings can have short consumer life cycles.
Consumer acceptance of our or our partners’ entertainment offerings is also affected by outside factors, such as critical reviews, promotions, the quality and acceptance of films and television programs, music, video games, collectibles and content released into the marketplace at or near the same time, the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and leisure time activities, general economic conditions and public tastes generally, all of which could change rapidly and most of which are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that television programs and films, video games, video movies and collectibles we distribute will obtain favorable reviews or ratings, that films, video games, video movies we distribute will be popular with consumers and perform well in our distribution channels.
If we devote time and resources to distributing and marketing products or entertainment that consumers do not accept or do not find interesting enough to buy in sufficient quantities to be profitable to us, our revenues and profits may decline, and our business performance may be harmed. Similarly, if our product offerings and entertainment fail to correctly anticipate consumer interests, our revenues and earnings will be reduced.
An inability to develop, introduce and ship planned products, product lines and new brands in a timely and cost-effective manner may damage our business.
In acquiring new products, product lines and new brands we have anticipated dates for the associated product and brand introductions. When we state that we will introduce, or anticipate introducing, a particular product, product line or brand at a certain time in the future those expectations are based on completing the associated development, implementation, and marketing work in accordance with our currently anticipated development schedule. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to source and ship new or continuing products in a timely manner and on a cost-effective basis to meet constantly changing consumer demands.
The risk is also exacerbated by the increasing sophistication of many of the products we are distributing, providing greater innovation and product differentiation. Unforeseen delays or difficulties in the development process, significant increases in the planned cost of development, or changes in anticipated consumer demand for our products and new brands may cause the introduction date for products to be later than anticipated, may reduce or eliminate the profitability of such products or, in some situations, may cause a product or new brand introduction to be discontinued.
Risks Related to Our Supply Chain and Sales Channels
Disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain or logistics network could adversely affect our ability to fulfill customer demand and may increase our costs.
While global supply chain conditions have generally stabilized compared to the disruptions experienced in 2021 and 2022, we continue to face certain logistical and cost-related challenges, including fluctuating freight rates, labor shortages in transportation and warehousing, and longer lead times for certain products sourced internationally.
Although we have implemented strategies to mitigate these risks—such as diversifying our supplier base, leveraging alternative shipping methods, and negotiating improved carrier terms, there can be no assurance that these measures will be sufficient in the event of renewed disruption, geopolitical instability, or macroeconomic pressures.
If we are unable to effectively manage shipping logistics, maintain adequate inventory levels, or adjust pricing in response to cost increases, we may not be able to meet customer demand or sustain our margins. Any prolonged disruption or cost pressure in our supply chain could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we are unable to adapt our business to the continued shift to e-commerce, our business may be harmed.
In fiscal year 2025, ecommerce sales represented approximately 45% of our top four customers overall sales as consumers increasingly purchased our products online as compared to through in-store shopping. Ecommerce sales have resulted in retailers holding less inventory, which has caused us to adjust our supply chain. This supply chain is further strained by customers desiring faster delivery at reduced costs. Additionally, if our technology and systems used to support ecommerce order processing are not effective, our ability to deliver products on time on a cost-effective basis may be adversely affected. Failure to continue to adapt our systems and supply chain and successfully fulfill ecommerce sales could harm our business.
The concentration of our retail customer base and continued shift to ecommerce sales means that economic difficulties or changes in the purchasing or promotional policies or patterns of our major customers could have a significant impact on us.
For the year ended June 30, 2025, our top three customers generated approximately 40% of our net sales, and our largest customer accounted for approximately 15% of our total net sales. For the year ended June 30, 2024, our top customer accounted for 18% of total net sales.
Due to our customer concentration, if our top customer was to experience difficulties in fulfilling their obligations to us, cease doing business with us, significantly reduce the amount of their purchases from us, favor competitors or new entrants, change their purchasing patterns, impose unexpected fees on us, alter the manner in which they promote our products or the resources they devote to promoting and selling our products, or return substantial amounts of our products, our business may be harmed.
Our customers do not make binding long-term commitments to us regarding purchase volumes and make all purchases by delivering purchase orders. Any customer could reduce its overall purchase of our products and reduce the number and variety of our products that it carries, and the shelf space allotted for our products. In addition, increased concentration among our customers could negatively impact our ability to negotiate higher sales prices for our products and could result in lower gross margins than would otherwise be obtained if there were less consolidation among our customers. Furthermore, the failure or lack of success of a significant retail customer could negatively impact our revenues and profitability.
Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and logistics, and the loss of any of our key suppliers or service providers could negatively impact our business.
All the products we offer are manufactured by third-party labels, studios, publishers, and suppliers, and as a result we may be subject to price fluctuations or demand disruptions. Our operating results would be negatively impacted by increases in the costs of the products we offer, and we have no guarantees that costs will not rise. In addition, as we expand into new categories and product types, we expect that we may not have strong purchasing power in these new areas, which could lead to higher costs than we have historically seen in our current categories. We may not be able to pass increased costs on to consumers, which could adversely affect our operating results. Moreover, in the event of a significant disruption in the supply of the materials used in the manufacture of the products we offer, we and the vendors that we work with might not be able to locate alternative suppliers of materials of comparable quality at an acceptable price.
In addition, products, and merchandise we receive from manufacturers and suppliers may not be of sufficient quality or free from damage, or such products may be damaged during shipping, while stored in our warehouse fulfillment centers or with third-party ecommerce or retail customers or when returned by consumers. We may incur additional expenses, and our reputation could be harmed if consumers and potential consumers believe that our products do not meet their expectations, are not properly labeled or are damaged.
We purchase significant amounts from a limited number of suppliers with limited supply capabilities. There can be no assurance that our current suppliers will be able to accommodate our anticipated growth or continue to supply current quantities at preferential prices. An inability of our existing suppliers to provide products in a timely or cost-effective manner could impair our growth and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We generally do not maintain long-term supply contracts with any of our suppliers and any of our suppliers could discontinue selling to us at any time. The loss of any of our other significant suppliers, or the discontinuance of any preferential pricing or exclusive incentives they currently offer to us could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We continually seek to expand our base of product suppliers, especially as we identify new markets. We also require our new and existing suppliers to meet our ethical and business partner standards. Suppliers may also have to meet governmental and industry standards and any relevant standards required by our consumers, which may require additional investment and time on behalf of suppliers and us. If any of our key suppliers becomes insolvent, ceases, or significantly reduces its operations or experiences financial distress, or if any environmental, economic or other outside factors impact their operations. If we are unable to identify or enter distribution relationships with new suppliers or to replace the loss of any of our existing suppliers, we may experience a competitive disadvantage, our business may be disrupted and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our principal suppliers currently provide us with certain incentives such as extended payment terms, volume purchasing, trade discounts, cooperative advertising, and market development funds. A reduction or discontinuance of these incentives would increase our costs and could reduce our ability to achieve or maintain profitability. Similarly, if one or more of our suppliers were to offer these incentives, including preferential pricing, to our competitors, our competitive advantage would be reduced, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We face significant inventory risk.
In addition to risks described elsewhere relating to fulfillment network and inventory optimization by us and third parties, we are exposed to significant inventory risks that may adversely affect our operating results as a result of seasonality, new product launches, rapid changes in product cycles and pricing, defective merchandise, changes in consumer demand and consumer spending patterns, changes in consumer tastes with respect to our products, spoilage, and other factors. We endeavor to accurately predict these trends and avoid overstocking or understocking products we manufacture and/or sell. Demand for products, however, can change significantly between the time inventory or components are ordered and the date of sale. In addition, when we begin selling or manufacturing a new product, it may be difficult to establish vendor relationships, determine appropriate product or component selection, and accurately forecast demand. The acquisition of certain types of inventory or components requires significant lead-time and prepayment, and they may not be returnable. We carry a broad selection and significant inventory levels of certain products, and at times we are unable to sell products in sufficient quantities or to meet demand during the relevant selling seasons. If our inventory forecasting and production planning processes result in higher inventory levels exceeding the levels demanded by customers or should our customers decrease their orders with us, our operating results could be adversely affected due to costs of carrying the inventory and additional inventory write-downs for excess and obsolete inventory. Any one of the inventory risk factors set forth above may adversely affect our operating results.
If our third-party suppliers’ labels, studios, and publishers do not comply with applicable laws and regulations, our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.
Our reputation and our consumers’ willingness to purchase our products depend in part on our suppliers’ labels, studios, publishers, and other suppliers, and retail partners’ compliance with ethical employment practices, such as with respect to child labor, wages and benefits, forced labor, discrimination, safe and healthy working conditions, and with all legal and regulatory requirements relating to the conduct of their businesses. We do not exercise control over our suppliers, manufacturers, and retail partners and cannot guarantee their compliance with ethical and lawful business practices. If our suppliers, manufacturers, or retail partners fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, safety codes, employment practices, human rights standards, quality standards, environmental standards, production practices, or other obligations, norms, or ethical standards, our reputation and brand image could be harmed, and we could be exposed to litigation, investigations, enforcement actions, monetary liability, and additional costs that would harm our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in our shipping arrangements or any interruptions in shipping could adversely affect our operating results.
We primarily rely on the major suppliers for our shipping requirements. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable pricing and other terms with these suppliers or if one of the two experiences performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and our consumer or retail partner experience. Shipping vendors may also impose shipping surcharges from time to time. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship products to consumers and retailers may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, labor disputes, acts of war or terrorism, trade embargoes, customs and tax requirements and similar factors. For example, strikes at major international shipping ports have in the past impacted our supply of inventory from our third-party labels, studios, publishers, and suppliers, and the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China has and may in the future lead to increased tariffs, the revocation of current tariff exclusions for certain of our products, which may restrict the flow of the goods from China to the United States. We are also subject to risks of damage or loss during delivery by our shipping vendors. If our products are not delivered in a timely fashion or are damaged or lost during the delivery process, our consumers could become dissatisfied and cease shopping on our site or retailer or third-party ecommerce sites, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, and prospects.
We are subject to risks related to online payment methods, including third-party payment processing-related risks.
We currently accept payments using a variety of methods, including checks, ACH, wire transfers, credit card, debit card, PayPal, and gift cards. As we offer new payment options to consumers, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements, fraud, and other risks. We also rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, and for certain payment methods, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and affect our ability to achieve or maintain profitability. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI-DSS, and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we (or a third-party processing payment card transactions on our behalf) suffer a security breach affecting payment card information, we may have to pay onerous and significant fines, penalties and assessments arising out of the major card brands’ rules and regulations, contractual indemnifications or liability contained in merchant agreements and similar contracts, and we may lose our ability to accept payment cards for payment for our goods and services, which could materially impact our operations and financial performance.
Furthermore, as our business changes, we may be subject to different rules under existing standards, which may require new assessments that involve costs above what we currently pay for compliance. As we offer new payment options to consumers, including by way of integrating emerging mobile and other payment methods, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements and fraud. If we fail to comply with the rules or requirements of any provider of a payment method we accept, if the volume of fraud in our transactions limits or terminates our rights to use payment methods we currently accept, or if a data breach occurs relating to our payment systems, we may, among other things, be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose, or face restrictions placed upon, our ability to accept credit card payments from consumers or facilitate other types of online payments.
We also occasionally receive orders placed with fraudulent data and we may ultimately be held liable for the unauthorized use of a cardholder’s card number in an illegal activity and be required by card issuers to pay charge-back fees. Charge-backs result not only in our loss of fees earned with respect to the payment, but also leave us liable for the underlying money transfer amount. If our chargeback rate becomes excessive, card associations also may require us to pay fines or refuse to process our transactions. To mitigate credit card fraud, we use Kount to score all credit card orders for risk of fraud. In addition, we may be subject to additional fraud risk if third-party service providers or our employees fraudulently use consumer information for their own gain or facilitate the fraudulent use of such information. Overall, we may have little recourse if we process a criminally fraudulent transaction. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
We rely on third-party suppliers, labels, studios, publishers, suppliers, retail and ecommerce partners and other vendors, and they may not continue to produce products or provide services that are consistent with our standards or applicable regulatory requirements, which could harm our brand, cause consumer dissatisfaction, and require us to find alternative suppliers of our products or services.
We do not own or operate any manufacturing facilities. We use multiple third-party suppliers and labels, studios, publishers, suppliers based primarily in the United States, China and Mexico and other countries to a lesser extent, to manufacture and supply all the products we offer and sell.
We engage many of our third-party suppliers and labels, studios, publishers, suppliers on a purchase order basis and in most cases are not party to long-term contracts with them. The ability and willingness of these third parties to supply and manufacture the products we offer, and sell may be affected by competing orders placed by other companies and the demands of those companies. If we experience significant increases in demand or need to replace a significant number of existing suppliers or manufacturers, there can be no assurance that additional supply and manufacturing capacity will be available when required on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, or that any supplier or manufacturer will allocate sufficient capacity to us to meet our requirements. Furthermore, our reliance on suppliers and manufacturers outside of the United States, the number of third parties with whom we transact and the number of jurisdictions to which we sell complicates our efforts to comply with customs duties and excise taxes; any failure to comply could adversely affect our business. In addition, quality control problems, such as the use of materials and delivery of products that do not meet our quality control standards and specifications or comply with applicable laws or regulations, could harm our business. Quality control problems could result in regulatory action, such as restrictions on importation, products of inferior quality or product stock outages or shortages, harming our sales and creating inventory write-downs for unusable products.
We have also outsourced minute portions of our fulfillment process, as well as certain technology-related functions, to third-party service providers. Specifically, we are dependent on third-party vendors for credit card processing, and we use third-party hosting and networking providers to host our sites. The failure of one or more of these entities to provide the expected services on a timely basis, or at all, or at the prices we expect, or the costs and disruption incurred in changing these outsourced functions to being performed under our management and direct control or that of a third party, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are party to short-term contracts with some of our retail and ecommerce partners, and upon expiration of these existing agreements, we may not be able to renegotiate the terms on a commercially reasonable basis, or at all.
Further, our third-party labels, studios, publishers, suppliers and retail and ecommerce partners may:
have economic or business interests or goals that are inconsistent with ours;
take actions contrary to our instructions, requests, policies, or objectives;
be unable or unwilling to fulfill their obligations under relevant purchase orders, including obligations to meet our production deadlines, quality standards, pricing guidelines and product specifications, and to comply with applicable regulations, including those regarding the safety and quality of products;
have financial difficulties;
encounter raw material or labor shortages;
encounter increases in raw material or labor costs which may affect our procurement costs;
encounter difficulties with proper payment of custom duties or excise taxes;
disclose our confidential information or intellectual property to competitors or third parties;
engage in activities or employ practices that may harm our reputation; and
work with, be acquired by, or come under control of, our competitors.
Risks Related to Our Debt
Alliance’s existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect its ability to operate its business.
On December 31, 2023, the Company as Parent and Guarantor, certain of its subsidiaries from time to time party thereto, as Borrowers and/or Guarantors, White Oak Commercial Finance, LLC, as administrative agent, and the other lenders from time to time party thereto, entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) which provides for a $120 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”). The Revolving Credit Facility matures on December 21, 2026 (the “Revolving Credit Facility Maturity Date”). As of June 30, 2025, the Company had approximately $57 million outstanding under the Revolving Credit facility (see Note 8 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements)
Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility bear interest at the 30-day SOFR rate, subject to a floor rate of 2.00%, plus a margin of 4.5% to 4.75%, depending on the level of the Company’s utilization of the facility and consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio. The effective interest rate for the period from execution of the Revolving Credit Facility through June 30, 2025 and 2024, was 9.25% and 9.5% respectively.
On June 30, 2025, the Company entered into an amendment to which reduced the applicable interest rate margin from a range of 4.5% – 4.75% to a range of 4.0% – 4.25%, effective immediately. The Company expects the reduction in the applicable interest rate range to decrease its interest expense in future periods.
The Credit Agreement is secured by a first priority security interest on the Company’s and the borrowers’ and other guarantors’ cash, accounts receivable, books and records and related assets. In addition, the Revolving Credit Facility contains certain financial covenants, financial reporting requirements and affirmative covenants with which the Company is required to comply.
A breach of the covenants under the Credit Agreement could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under the Credit Facility could permit the lenders under the Credit Agreement to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under the Credit Agreement. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Credit Agreement, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lender accelerates the repayment of our borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.
The Revolving Credit Facility also includes an unused commitment fee of 0.25%. Upon the reduction or termination of the commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility prior to the Revolving Credit Facility Maturity Date, the Company will be required to pay an early termination fee of 2.0% if reduced or terminated prior to December 21, 2024, or 1.0% if reduced or terminated after December 21, 2024 but before August 21, 2025 plus an amount of minimum interest if reduced or terminated on or prior to June 21, 2025. The Company did not reduce or terminate the facility, and as of June 30, 2025, the early termination fee provisions had expired. The Company remains subject to the unused commitment fee.
Availability under the Revolving Credit Facility is limited by formula based on eligible accounts receivable and eligible inventory, subject to adjustment at the discretion of the lenders.
Alliance’s outstanding indebtedness, including any additional indebtedness beyond our borrowings under the Credit Agreement, combined with its other financial obligations and contractual commitments could have significant adverse consequences, including:
Requiring us to dedicate a portion of our cash resources to the payment of interest and principal, reducing money available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions, international expansion, new product development, new enterprise relationships and other general corporate purposes;
Increasing our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and market conditions;
Subjecting us to restrictive covenants that may reduce our ability to take certain corporate actions or obtain further debt or equity financing;
Limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we compete; and
Placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt or better debt servicing options.
We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our then existing cash. However, we may not have sufficient funds and may be unable to arrange for additional financing to pay the amounts due under the Revolving Credit Facility or any other debt instruments. Failure to make payments or comply with other covenants under our existing credit facility or such other debt instruments could result in an event of default and acceleration of amounts due, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
A breach of the covenants under the Revolving Credit Facility could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under the Revolving Credit Facility could permit the lenders under the Revolving Credit Facility to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under the Revolving Credit Facility. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Revolving Credit Facility, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lender accelerates the repayment of our borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.
Covenants and events of default under Alliance’s Credit Facility could limit our ability to undertake certain types of transactions and adversely affect our liquidity.
A breach of the covenants under the Revolving Credit Facility could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under the Revolving Credit Facility could permit the lenders under the Revolving Credit Facility to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under the Revolving Credit Facility. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Revolving Credit Facility, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lender accelerates the repayment of our borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.
Government efforts to combat inflation, along with other interest rate pressures arising from an inflationary economic environment, could lead to us to incur even higher interest rates and financing costs.
Inflation has risen on a global basis, the United States has been experiencing historically high levels of inflation, and government entities have taken various actions to combat inflation, such as raising interest rate benchmarks. Government entities may continue their efforts, or implement additional efforts, to combat inflation, which could include among other things continuing to raise interest rate benchmarks and/or maintaining interest rate benchmarks at elevated levels. Such government efforts, along with other interest rate pressures arising from an inflationary economic environment, could lead to us to incur even higher interest rates and financing costs on our Credit Agreement with White Oak Commercial Financing, LLC. and have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our indebtedness may limit our availability of cash, cause us to divert cash to fund debt service payments or make it more difficult to take certain other actions.
We operate the business with an asset-based line of credit to fund working capital to support our Accounts Payable and our Inventory purchases.
make it more difficult and/or costly for us to pay or refinance our debts as they become due, particularly during adverse economic and industry conditions, because a decrease in revenues or increase in costs could cause cash flow from operations to be insufficient to make scheduled debt service payments;
require a substantial portion of our available cash to be used for debt service payments, thereby reducing the availability of our cash to fund working capital, capital expenditures, development projects, acquisitions or other strategic opportunities, dividend payments, share repurchases and other general corporate purposes;
make it more difficult for us to raise capital to fund working capital, make capital expenditures, pay dividends, pursue strategic initiatives or for other purposes and result in higher interest expense, which could be further increased in case of current or future borrowings subject to variable rates of interest;
require that materially adverse terms, conditions, or covenants be placed on us under our debt instruments, which could include, for example, limitations on additional borrowings or limitations on our ability to create liens, pay dividends, repurchase our common stock or make investments, any of which could hinder our access to capital markets or our flexibility in the conduct of our business and make us more vulnerable to economic downturns and adverse competitive industry conditions; and
jeopardize our ability to pay our indebtedness if our business experienced a severe downturn.
If we were unable to obtain or service our other external financing, or if the restrictions imposed by such financing were too burdensome, our business would be harmed.
Due to the seasonal nature of our business, to meet our working capital needs, we rely on a revolving credit agreement that provides for a $120,000,000 committed revolving asset-based loan Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility contains certain restrictive covenants setting forth leverage and coverage requirements and certain other limitations typical of an investment-grade facility. These restrictive covenants may limit our future actions as well as our financial, operating, and strategic flexibility.
Not only may our financial performance impact our ability to access external financing sources, but significant disruptions to credit markets in general may also harm our ability to obtain financing. In times of severe economic downturn and/or distress in the credit markets, it is possible that one or more sources of external financing may be unable or unwilling to provide funding to us. In such a situation, it may be that we would be unable to access funding under our existing credit facilities, and it might not be possible to find alternative sources of funding.
We also may choose to finance our capital needs, from time to time, through the issuance of debt securities. Our ability to issue such securities on satisfactory terms, if at all, will depend on the state of our business and financial condition, any ratings issued by major credit rating agencies, market interest rates, and the overall condition of the financial and credit markets at the time of the offering. The condition of the credit markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated significantly in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. Variations in these factors could make it difficult for us to sell debt securities or require us to offer higher interest rates in order to sell new debt securities. The failure to receive financing on desirable terms, or at all, could damage our ability to support our future operations or capital needs or engage in other business activities.
If we are unable to generate sufficient available cash flow to service our outstanding debt, we would need to refinance our outstanding debt or face default. We cannot guarantee that we would be able to refinance debt on favorable terms, or at all.
Risks Related to our Management
Our success is dependent on the efforts and dedication of our officers and other employees.
Our officers and employees are at the heart of all our efforts. It is their skill, innovation and hard work that drive our success. We compete with many other potential employers in recruiting, hiring, and retaining our management team and our many other skilled officers and employees around the world. The increasing prevalence of remote work creates further challenges in retaining employees as some employees desire more flexibility in their employment and the ability to work remotely opens more employment opportunities. The impact of failing to retain key employees can be high due to loss of key knowledge and relationships, loss of creative talent, lost productivity, hiring and training costs, all of which could result in lower profitability. We cannot guarantee that we will recruit, hire, or retain the key personnel we need to succeed.
Our future success also depends on the continued leadership of key executives, including Mr. Bruce Ogilvie, our Executive Chairman, and Mr. Jeff Walker, our Chief Executive Officer. The loss of any key members of our management team, including Mr. Ogilvie and Mr. Walker, or the failure to attract and retain talented individuals with the necessary skill sets for our diverse and evolving business could materially and adversely affect our operations and financial results. We cannot guarantee that we will successfully recruit, hire, or retain the personnel essential to our success.
If we fail to develop diverse top talent, we may be unable to compete, and our business may be harmed.
To compete successfully, we must continuously develop a diverse group of talented people. We promote a diverse and inclusive work environment. To that end, we have set goals and objectives with respect to hiring and retention of talented, diverse employees, who we believe will foster new ideas and perspectives that will benefit our business. Competition for diverse talent is intense. We cannot guarantee we will achieve our goals or that our actions will result in expected benefits to our business.
Alliance has engaged in transactions with related parties, and such transactions present possible conflicts of interest that could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Alliance has entered into transactions with related parties, including our two principal stockholders. We have entered into transactions with companies owned by Bruce Ogilvie and Jeffrey Walker, including GameFly Holdings, LLC. For the year ended June 30, 2025, and 2024, Alliance made sales of new release movies, video games, and video game consoles to GameFly Holdings LLC in the amount of $2.7 million and $8.4 million, respectively. GameFly, a customer of Alliance, is equally owned by Bruce Ogilvie and Jeff Walker, the two shareholders of Alliance. Alliance believes the amounts payable to GameFly are at fair market value. Although the agreement between Alliance and GameFly can be terminated by either party at any time, given Mr. Ogilvie’s and Mr. Walker’s positions with Alliance as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. We may in the future enter into additional transactions with entities in which majority shareholders, executive officers and members of our board of directors and other related parties hold ownership interests. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”
Transactions with such related parties present potential for conflicts of interest, as the interests of the third-party owned related entity and its shareholders may not align with the interests of our stockholders with respect to the negotiation of, and certain other matters. For example, conflicts of interest may arise in connection with decisions regarding the structure and terms of the GameFly contract, contractual remedies, events of default and dealings with customers.
Pursuant to our related party transactions policy, all additional material related party transactions that we enter require either (i) the unanimous consent of our audit committee or (ii) the approval of a majority of the members of our board of directors. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Policies and Procedures for Related Party Transactions.” Nevertheless, we may have achieved more favorable terms if such transactions had not been entered into with related parties and these transactions, individually or in the aggregate, may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations or may result in government enforcement actions or other litigation.
Risks Related to Our Technology and Intellectual Property
Our business may be harmed if we are unable to protect our critical intellectual property rights.
Our intellectual property, including our trademarks and tradenames, copyrights, patents, and rights under our license agreements and other agreements that establish our intellectual property rights and maintain the confidentiality of our intellectual property, is of critical value. We rely on a combination of trade secret, copyright, trademark, patent, and other proprietary rights laws to protect our rights to valuable intellectual property in the U.S. and around the world. From time to time, third parties have challenged, and may in the future try to challenge, our ownership of our intellectual property in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, our business is subject to the risk of third parties counterfeiting our products or infringing on our intellectual property rights, as well as the risk of unauthorized third parties copying and distributing our entertainment content or leaking portions of planned entertainment content. We may need to resort to litigation to protect our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Similarly, third parties may claim ownership over certain aspects of our products, productions, or other intellectual property. Our failure to successfully protect our intellectual property rights could significantly harm our business and competitive position.
Failure to successfully operate our information systems and implement new technology effectively could disrupt our business or reduce our sales or profitability.
We rely extensively on various information technology systems and software applications to manage many aspects of our business, including product development, management of our supply chain, sale and delivery of our products, royalty and financial reporting and various other processes and transactions. We are critically dependent on the integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems and related back-up systems. These systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, malware and other cybersecurity breaches, catastrophic events such as hurricanes, fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, acts of war or terrorism and usage errors by our employees or partners. The efficient operation and successful growth of our business depends on these information systems, including our ability to operate them effectively and to select and implement appropriate upgrades or new technologies and systems and adequate disaster recovery systems successfully. The failure of our information systems or third-party hosted technology to perform as designed or our failure to implement and operate them effectively could disrupt our business, require significant capital investments to remediate a problem or subject us to liability.
If our electronic data is compromised, our business could be significantly harmed.
We and our business partners maintain significant amounts of data electronically in locations around the United States and in the cloud. This data relates to all aspects of our business, including current and future products and entertainment under development, and also contains certain customer, consumer, supplier, partner and employee data. We maintain systems and processes designed to protect this data, but notwithstanding such protective measures, there is a risk of intrusion, cyber-attacks or tampering that could compromise the integrity and privacy of this data. Cyber-attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication, and intensity, and are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. They are often carried out by motivated, well-resourced, skilled, and persistent actors, including nation states, organized crime groups, “hacktivists” and employees or contractors acting with malicious intent. Cyber-attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware and key loggers, ransomware, a denial-of-service attack, a malicious website, the use of social engineering and other means to affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our technology systems and data. Cyber-attacks could also include supply chain attacks, which could cause a delay in the manufacturing of our products. In addition, we provide confidential and proprietary information to our third-party business partners in certain cases where doing so is necessary to conduct our business. While we obtain assurances from those parties that they have systems and processes in place to protect such data, and where applicable, that they will take steps to assure the protections of such data by third parties, those partners may also be subject to data intrusion or otherwise compromise the protection of such data. Any compromise of the confidential data of our customers, consumers, suppliers, partners, employees or ourselves, or failure to prevent or mitigate the loss of or damage to this data through breach of our information technology systems or other means could substantially disrupt our operations, harm our customers, consumers, employees and other business partners, damage our reputation, violate applicable laws and regulations, subject us to potentially significant costs and liabilities and result in a loss of business that could be material.
Risks Related to Matters Outside our Control That May Impact Our Business
Risks Related to International Trade Policies and Tariffs
We are subject to risks arising from changes in international trade policies, including the imposition of new or increased tariffs on imported goods. These risks are particularly relevant to our gaming and collectibles categories, where a significant portion of our inventory is sourced from foreign suppliers.
There have recently been significant changes to international trade policies and tariffs affecting imports and exports. Any significant increases in tariffs on goods or materials or other changes in trade policy could negatively affect our search for a target and/or our ability to complete a business combination.
Recently, the U.S. has implemented a range of new tariffs and increases to existing tariffs. In response to the tariffs announced by the U.S., other countries have imposed, are considering imposing and may in the future impose new or increased tariffs on certain exports from the United States. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and other countries with respect to trade policies, taxes, government regulations and tariffs, and we cannot predict whether and to what extent current tariffs will continue or trade policies will change in the future.
Tariffs, the threat of tariffs or increases in tariffs, could materially increase our cost of goods sold. While we may be able to offset some of these increases through price adjustments, there is no guarantee that market conditions will support such increases without negatively affecting consumer demand. In some cases, higher retail prices could increase revenues, but these effects are uncertain and highly dependent on our ability to maintain price elasticity and competitive positioning in the marketplace.
If we are unable to pass through increased costs or if supply chain disruptions prevent us from sourcing key products, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Adverse economic conditions in the markets in which we and our employees, consumers, customers, suppliers, and manufacturers operate could negatively impact our ability to produce and ship our products, and lower our revenues, margins and profitability.
Various economic conditions in the markets we, our employees, consumers, customers, suppliers, and manufacturers operate, could have a significant negative impact on our revenues, profitability and business. The occurrence of adverse economic conditions can result in manufacturing and other work stoppages, slowdowns, and delays; shortages or delays in production or shipment of products or raw materials; delays or reduced purchases from customers and consumers; and other factors that cause increases in costs or delay in revenues. Inflation, such as what consumers in the U.S. and other economies are experiencing, can cause significant increases in the costs of other products which are required by consumers, such as gasoline, home heating fuels, or groceries, may reduce household spending on the discretionary products and entertainment we offer. Weakened economic conditions, higher interest rates, lowered employment levels or recessions may also significantly reduce consumer purchases of our products and spending on entertainment. Economic conditions may also be negatively impacted by terrorist attacks, wars, and other conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, natural disasters, increases in critical commodity prices or labor costs, or the prospect of such events. Such a weakened economic and business climate, as well as consumer uncertainty created by such a climate, could significantly harm our revenues and profitability.
Our success and profitability not only depend on consumer demand for our products, but also on our ability to produce and sell those products at costs which allow us to make a profit. Rising fuel and raw material prices, due to inflation or otherwise, for paperboard and other components such as resin used in plastics or electronic components, increased transportation and shipping costs, and increased labor costs in the markets in which our products are manufactured all may increase the costs we incur to produce and transport our products, which in turn may reduce our margins, reduce our profitability and harm our business.
Changes in U.S., global or regional economic conditions could harm our business and financial performance.
Our financial performance is impacted by the level of discretionary consumer spending in the markets in which we operate. Reductions in stimulus payments provided to consumers, high inflation and rising interest rates on credit cards could impact discretionary spending. Recessions, credit crises and other economic downturns, or disruptions in credit and financial markets in the U.S. and in other markets in which we operate can result in lower levels of economic activity, lower employment levels, less consumer disposable income, and lower consumer confidence. Similarly, reductions in the value of key assets held by consumers, such as their homes or stock market investments, can lower consumer confidence and consumer spending power. Any of these factors can reduce the amount which consumers spend on the purchase of our products and entertainment. This in turn can reduce our revenues and harm our financial performance and profitability.
Our global operations mean we transact business in many different jurisdictions with many different currencies. As a result, if the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and a local currency for an international market in which we have significant sales or operations changes, our financial results as reported in U.S. dollars, may be meaningfully impacted even if our business in the local currency is not significantly affected. Similarly, our expenses can be significantly impacted, in U.S. dollar terms, by exchange rates, meaning the profitability of our business in U.S. dollar terms can be negatively impacted by exchange rate movements which we do not control. Depreciation in key currencies may have a significant negative impact on our revenues and earnings as they are reported in U.S. dollars.
Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate due to seasonality in our business and union strikes impacting the availability of content.
Sales of our music, video movies, video games and other entertainment products are seasonal, with an increase of retail sales occurring during the period from October through December for the holiday season. This seasonality for our consumer products business has increased over time, as retailers become more and more efficient in their control of inventory levels through quick response or just in time inventory management techniques, including the use of automated inventory replenishment programs. Further, ecommerce continues to grow significantly and accounts for a higher portion of the ultimate sales of our products to consumers. Ecommerce retailers tend to hold less inventory and take inventory closer to the time of sale to consumers than traditional retailers. As a result, customers are timing their orders so that they are being fulfilled by suppliers, such as us, closer to the time of purchase by consumers. While these techniques reduce a retailer’s investment in inventory, they increase pressure on suppliers like us to fill orders promptly and thereby shift a significant portion of inventory risk and carrying costs to the supplier. This can also result in our losing significant revenues and earnings if our supply chain is unable to supply product to our customers when they want it.
The level of inventory carried by retailers may also reduce or delay retail sales resulting in lower revenues for us. If we or our customers determine that one of our products is more popular at retail than was originally anticipated, we may not have sufficient time to procure and ship enough additional products to fully meet consumer demand. Additionally, the logistics of supplying more product within shorter time periods increases the risk that we will fail to achieve tight and compressed shipping schedules, which also may reduce our sales and harm our financial performance.
Our entertainment business is also subject to seasonal variations based on the timing of music, television, film, gaming content releases. Release dates are determined by several factors, including the timing of holiday periods, geographical release dates and competition in the market.
This seasonal pattern of our business requires significant use of working capital, mainly to purchase inventory during the months prior to the holiday season and requires accurate forecasting of demand for products during the holiday season in order to avoid losing potential sales of popular products or producing excess inventory of products that are less popular with consumers. Our failure to accurately predict and respond to consumer demand, resulting in our underproducing popular items and/or overproducing less popular items, would reduce our total sales and harm our results of operations.
As a result of the seasonal nature of our business, we would be significantly and adversely affected, in a manner disproportionate to the impact on a company with sales spread more evenly throughout the year, by unforeseen events such as a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, economic shock or pandemic that harms the retail environment or consumer buying patterns during our key selling season, or by events such as strikes or port delays or other supply chain challenges that interfere with the shipment of goods, particularly from the Far East, during the critical months leading up to the holiday shopping season.
Risks Related to Taxes and Government Related Matters
We face additional tax liabilities and collection obligations. Changes in, or differing interpretations of, income tax laws and rules, and changes in our geographic operating results, may impact our effective tax rate.
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as tax collection and reporting obligations in various other jurisdictions where we conduct business. Changes in tax laws, regulations, or their interpretations, whether at the federal, state, or international level, could increase our tax liabilities or compliance costs. For example, the OECD’s Pillar Two initiative has resulted in the implementation of a 15% global minimum tax in the European Union and other jurisdictions, and additional countries are actively considering similar legislation. At this time, we do not expect these developments to have a material impact on our effective tax rate or financial position, but we continue to monitor legislative activity across relevant jurisdictions.
In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced a corporate alternative minimum tax and a 1% excise tax on certain stock repurchases. These provisions currently do not have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements. In addition, we are subject to routine audits by domestic and international tax authorities. The outcome of tax audits or disputes, changes in applicable tax laws or rates, or changes in the recognition of deferred tax assets could materially affect our effective tax rate, income tax expense, or cash flows.
We are subject to various government regulations, violations of which could subject us to sanctions or otherwise harm our business. In addition, we could be the subject of future product liability suits or merchandise recalls, which could harm our business.
We are subject to significant government regulations, including, in the U.S., under The Consumer Products Safety Act, The Federal Hazardous Substances Act, and The Flammable Fabrics Act, as well as under product safety and consumer protection statutes in our international markets. In addition, certain of our products are subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration or similar international authorities. Advertising to children is subject to regulation by the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and a host of other agencies globally, and the collection of information from children under the age of 13 is subject to the provisions of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and other privacy laws around the world. The collection of personally identifiable information from anyone, including adults, is under increasing regulation in many markets, such as the General Data Protection Regulation adopted by the European Union, and data protection laws in the United States and in a number of other counties. While we take all the steps, we believe are necessary to comply with these acts and regulations, we cannot assure you that we will be in compliance and, if we fail to comply with these requirements or other regulations enacted in the future, we could be subject to fines, liabilities or sanctions which could have a significant negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may also be subject to involuntary product recalls or may voluntarily conduct a product recall. While costs associated with product recalls have generally not been material to our business, the costs associated with future product recalls individually or in aggregate in any given fiscal year could be significant. In addition, any product recall, regardless of direct costs of the recall, may harm the reputation of our products and have a negative impact on our future revenues and results of operations.
As a multinational corporation, we are subject to a host of governmental regulations throughout the world, including antitrust, employment, customs and tax requirements, anti-boycott regulations, environmental regulations, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Complying with these regulations imposes costs on us which can reduce our profitability and our failure to successfully comply with any such legal requirements could subject us to monetary liabilities and other sanctions that could further harm our business and financial condition.
Risks Related to Litigation
We may face increased costs in achieving our sustainability goals and any failure to achieve our goals could result in reputational damage.
We view sustainability challenges as opportunities to innovate and continuously improve our product design and operational efficiencies. We also believe the long-term viability and health of our own operations and our supply chain, and the significant potential for environmental improvements, are critical to our business success. We have set key goals and objectives in this area as described in our business section of this Form 10-K.
We devote significant resources and expenditure to help achieve these goals. It is possible that we will incur significant expense in trying to achieve these goals with no assurance that we will be successful. Additionally, our reputation could be damaged if we fail to achieve our sustainability goals, or if we or others in our industry do not act, or are perceived not to act, responsibly with respect to the production and packaging of our products.
Our entertainment business involves risks of liability claims for media content, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
As a distributor of media content, we may face potential liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright or trademark infringement, and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials distributed. These types of claims have been brought, sometimes successfully, against producers and distributors of media content. Any imposition of liability that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.
We are involved in litigation, arbitration or regulatory matters where the outcome is uncertain, and which could entail significant expense.
As a larger multinational corporation, we are subject to regulatory investigations, risks related to internal controls, litigation and arbitration disputes, including potential liability from personal injury or property damage claims by the users of products that have been or may be developed by us, claims by third parties that our products infringe upon or misuse such third parties’ property or rights, or claims by former employees for employment related matters. Because the outcome of litigation, arbitration and regulatory investigations is inherently difficult to predict, it is possible that the outcome of any of these matters could entail significant cost for us and harm our business. The fact that we operate in a significant number of international markets also increases the risk that we may face legal and regulatory exposures as we attempt to comply with a large number of varying legal and regulatory requirements. Any successful claim against us could significantly harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
On June 6, 2024, Office Create Corporation filed a complaint against COKeM International Ltd. (“COKeM”) in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota alleging contributory trademark infringement, contributory false designation of origin and unjust enrichment relating to COKeM’s [alleged] distribution of a specific video game, Cooking Mama: Cookstar. Office Create Corporation is seeking damages of no less than $20,913,200, plus interest of 9% accruing from October 3, 2022. On August 29, 2024, COKeM filed a response denying all allegations. COKeM intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit. On September 12, 2024, COKeM filed a Third-Party Complaint against Planet Entertainment LLC and Steven Grossman asserting claims for indemnification and contribution. Mediation has been postponed. Office Create Corporation has filed an amended complaint impleading the former owner, chairman, CFO and SVP of Sales for COKeM seeking willful trademark infringement claims and civil conspiracy. Alliance filed an amended Answer insofar as any new claims pertain to COKeM directly on March 12, 2025. The Amended Complaint is now seeking damages in excess of $35MM. The court did schedule a settlement conference for August 11, 2025 but Office Create Corporation cancelled it with no new date scheduled. COKeM has offered a settlement amount of $330,000 which has been rejected by Office Create Corporation. COKeM believes that Office Create Corporation is relying on case law that has been overturned and precedent that is not-binding in the 8th Circuit. COKeM has some insurance coverage for this claim with CNA but the policy is capped at $2.5 million for all claims and also has to be shared with the VPPA class action claim(s) discussed below.
On August 8, 2024, a class action complaint, Feller v. Alliance Entertainment, LLC and DirectToU, LLC, was filed under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). The complaint alleges that the Company violated the VPPA by disclosing users’ personally identifiable information, as well as information regarding videos they viewed on the Company’s website, to Facebook through the use of Facebook Pixel. The Company is evaluating the claims and intends to defend against the allegations vigorously. At this time, the potential outcome or range of financial impact cannot be reasonably estimated.
Jonathan Hoang To v. DirectToU, LLC, United States District Court for the Northern District of California; Case No. 3:24-cv-06447; Douglas Feller, Jeffry Haise, and Joseph Mull v. Alliance Entertainment, LLC and DirectToU, LLC, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:24-cv-61444; and Vivek Shah v. DirectToU, LLC, JAMS Arbitration, No. 5220006749.- On or about September 12, 2024, Jonathan Hoang To, who allegedly used the website www.deepdiscount.com; Douglas Feller and Jeffry Haise, who allegedly used the website www.ccvideo.com; Joseph Mull and Vivek Shah, who allegedly used the website www.moviesunlimited.com. The lawsuits also put at issue any other website owned or operated by Alliance Entertainment, LLC (“Alliance”) or one of its corporate affiliates, including the websites www.ccmusic.com and wowhd.co.uk. The lawsuits bring claims against DirectToU, LLC (“DirectToU”) and/or Alliance, alleging a violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) related to the alleged collection of, and alleged disclosure to Meta and other third parties, including data brokers, of alleged private information and user data regarding a user’s account information and video viewing/purchasing history from the respective Websites. Plaintiff Hoang To also alleges violations of California’s state VPPA equivalent, as well as violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. DirectToU and Alliance dispute the allegations and will defend the lawsuits vigorously. The parties in the Hoang To matter have reached a settlement with respect to all potential class members. The settlement agreement has been submitted to the court for approval, slated for December 15, 2024. An approved settlement would cover the class members covered by the Feller matter, rendering such litigation moot. A motion to stay the Feller matter pending court approval of the settlement in Hoang To has been filed and granted. Counsel for the Feller parties filed a motion to intervene and stay the settlement in Hoang, which motions were rejected. The parties await final settlement approval. The settlement was rejected and the court has mandated the parties initiate discovery with respect to third-party data collection. The Alliance parties have filed a reply memorandum in support of its motion to compel arbitration on April 28, 2025. The parties reached a settlement on June 12, 2025, whereby COKem will pay to the class a settlement amount of $1.577MM and COKeM’s insurance carrier CNA has approved to cover their part of the settlement amount. COKeM will have an estimated receivable of $1.377M. The company had accrued for the liability and the receivables from CNA on the balance sheet for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. The settlement approval before the court is pending and is expected to be ruled on in late October/early November 2025.
McConigle v. Alliance/DirectToU, LLC: On December 29, 2024, McConigle filed a class action lawsuit against the Company in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case No. 0:24-cv-62443-DSL), alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (“TCPA”). On August 8, 2025, subsequent to year-end, the parties entered into a settlement agreement for $70,000. The Company did not record an accrual for this matter as of June 30, 2025, as the amount was not considered material to the consolidated financial statements. The Company does not expect any further material impact from this matter.
Algomus v. Alliance: Alliance received a cease and desist notice from Algomus on July 24, 2025, alleging that Alliance breached a non-solicitation provision of a Master Services Agreement between the parties when Alliance agreed to become the Category Advisor for Walmart. Alliance responded to the letter on August 8, 2025, asserting that Algomus’s position lacks merit. Alliance had been conducting business with Walmart prior to the Master Services Agreement, and Algomus and Walmart’s relationship is not governed by the language of the non-solicitation provision.
On June 9, 2025, Sparkle Pop, LLC v. Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation and Alliance Entertainment. LLC (U.S. Bankruptcy Court for MD-In Re Diamond Comic Distributors): Sparkle Pop has sued the Alliance entities in bankruptcy court alleging theft of trade secrets and tortious interference with contracts arising out of Alliance’s successful bid and subsequent termination of the Asset Purchase Agreement in the DCD bankruptcy matter. Alliance brought a motion to dismiss the original complaint with prejudice, but during the pendency of the motion plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint. Alliance will file a motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint shortly.
Risks Related to Accounting Matters
Alliance Has Fully Remediated Previously Identified Material Weaknesses in Its Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, we believe we fully remediated previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As a result, management has concluded, based on its assessment conducted in accordance with Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, that our internal controls were effective as of June 30, 2025.
However, maintaining effective internal controls is an ongoing process subject to inherent limitations. Changes in personnel, evolving business processes, new systems implementations, or other factors may impact the effectiveness of our controls. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that additional material weaknesses will not be identified in the future. If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, or if our remediation measures are not effective, any such newly identified or existing material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding the timely filing of periodic reports, in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements. Investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, and our stock price may decline as a result.
Prior to the Business Combination, Adara had accounted for its outstanding Warrants as a warrant liability and following the Business Combination, Alliance is now required to determine the value warrant liability for the Private Warrants quarterly, which could have a material impact on Alliance’s financial position and operating results.
Included on Alliance’s balance sheet as of June 30, 2025, and 2024, contained elsewhere in this Form 10-K, are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within the Warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”) provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statements of income and comprehensive income. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly based on factors that are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
Following the Business Combination, although Alliance has determined that the Public Warrants are treated as equity, Alliance is required to continue to recognize the changes in the fair value of the Private Warrants from the prior period, if any, in its operating results for the current period, which could have a material impact on Alliance’s financial position and operating results.
Since Alliance currently qualifies as an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, it could make Alliance’s securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare Alliance’s performance to the performance of other public companies.
Alliance qualifies as an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 405 promulgated under the Securities Act and Rule12b-2 promulgated under the Exchange Act. As such, Alliance will be eligible for and intends to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies, including (a) the exemption from the auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (b) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and say-on- golden parachute voting requirements and (c) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as Alliance is an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies, which Alliance will not be able to do for its next fiscal year.
Even after Alliance no longer qualifies as an emerging growth company, it may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company” or “non-accelerated filer,” which would allow it to continue to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements. Moreover, smaller reporting companies may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in their Annual Reports on Form 10-K.
Investors may find the Class A common stock less attractive due to Alliance’s reliance on these exemptions, which could result in a less active trading market for the stock and potentially greater price volatility.
Risks Related to Our Securities
The warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of the Warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with Alliance.
The warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. Alliance will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of the Warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in the warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of the Warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to:
the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and
having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice of forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, Alliance may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
Alliance may redeem unexpired Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to a Warrant holder, thereby making the Warrants worthless .
Alliance has the ability to redeem outstanding Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading- day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which Alliance gives proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the Warrants become redeemable, Alliance may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the Warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or it is unable to affect such registration or qualification. Alliance will use its best efforts to register or qualify such shares of Class A common stock under the blue-sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the Warrants were offered in the IPO, if necessary. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force holders (i) to exercise the Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for a holder to do so, (ii) to sell Warrants at the then-current market price when the holder might otherwise wish to hold Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of the Warrants. None of the Private Warrants are redeemable by Alliance so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
If Warrant holders exercise Public Warrants on a “cashless basis,” they will receive fewer shares of Alliance common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash .
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the Public Warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is not effective by a specified date, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of the Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when Alliance shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise Warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available; if that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their Warrants on a cashless basis.
Third, if Alliance calls the Public Warrants for redemption, Alliance’s management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise Warrants to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the Warrant exercise price by surrendering the Warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the Warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined in the next sentence) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose shall mean the average reported last sale price of the Class A common stock for the ten trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of Warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The receipt of cash proceeds from the exercise of our Warrants is dependent upon the market price exceeding the $11.50 exercise price and the Warrants being exercised for cash.
The receipt of cash proceeds from our Warrants’ exercise depends on the market price exceeding the $11.50 exercise price and the Warrants being exercised for cash. The $11.50 exercise price per share of the Warrants is considerably higher than the $6.00 closing sale price of the Class A common stock on September 8, 2025. If the price of our Class A Common Stock remains below the respective Warrant exercise prices per share, warrant holders will unlikely cash exercise their Warrants, resulting in little or no cash proceeds to us.
In addition, we may lower the exercise price of the Warrants in accordance with the Warrant Agreement to induce the holders to exercise such warrants. We may affect such a reduction in exercise price without the consent of such warrant holders and such reduction would decrease the maximum amount of cash proceeds we would receive upon the exercise in full of the Warrants for cash. Further, the holders of the Private Warrants and the Underwriter Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time. The holders of the Public Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time a registration statement is not effective. A prospectus is not currently available for issuing Class A common stock shares upon such exercise. Accordingly, we would not receive any proceeds from a cashless exercise of Warrants.
Concentration of ownership among Alliance’s executive officers, directors and their affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.
As of the date of this Form 10-K, the executive officers and directors and their affiliates collectively beneficially owned, directly, or indirectly, excluding the Contingent Consideration Shares, approximately 99% of the outstanding Class A common stock.
As a result, these stockholders are able to exercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, appointment and removal of officers, any amendment of our Certificate of Incorporation and approval of mergers and other business combination transactions requiring stockholder approval, including proposed transactions that would result in Alliance’s stockholders receiving a premium price for their shares and other significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these stockholders.
An active trading market may not develop for our securities, and you may not be able to sell your Class A common stock at or above the price per share for which you purchased it.
Our Class A common stock shares are thinly traded, and we cannot predict when or if an active trading market will develop or how liquid that market might become. If such a market does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of Class A common stock at a time or at price that is attractive to you, or at all.
The trading market for our Class A common stock in the future could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to several factors, including, but not limited to:
Actual or anticipated variations in our results of operations.
Our ability or inability to generate revenues or profit.
The relatively small number of shares in our public float, which could exacerbate stock price volatility.
Increased competition.
Furthermore, our stock price may be impacted by unrelated or disproportionate factors to our operating performance. These market fluctuations, along with general economic, political, and market conditions—such as recessions, interest rates, or international currency fluctuations—may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock. Due to our status as a smaller reporting company, the limited number of shares in our public float could contribute to extreme fluctuations in our Class A common stock price, increasing the risk of price volatility.
We might not be able to maintain the listing of our Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Our Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain the listing standards of that exchange, which include requirements that we maintain our stockholders’ equity, total value of shares held by unaffiliated stockholders, and market capitalization above certain specified levels. If we fail to maintain the Nasdaq listing requirements on an ongoing basis, our Class A common stock might cease to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market, and may move to the OTCQX, OTCQB or OTC Pink Open Market operated by OTC Markets Group, Inc. These quotation services are generally considered to be less efficient, and to provide less liquidity, than the Nasdaq Capital Market.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about Alliance, its business, or its market, or if they change their recommendations regarding Alliance’s securities adversely, the price and trading volume of Alliance’s securities could decline.
The trading market for Alliance’s securities is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about Alliance, its business, market, or competitors. Securities and industry analysts do not currently, and may never, publish research on Alliance. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of Alliance, Alliance’s share price and trading volume would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who may cover Alliance change their recommendation regarding Alliance’s shares of common stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about its competitors, the price of Alliance’s shares of common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover Alliance were to cease coverage of Alliance or fail to regularly publish reports on it, Alliance could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause its share price or trading volume to decline.
Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on Alliance’s common stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell Alliance’s common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.
Alliance may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and has no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends as a public company in the future will be made at the discretion of Alliance’s board of directors and will depend on, among other things, Alliance’s results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that Alliance’s board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, Alliance’s ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness it or its subsidiaries incur. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in the Class A common stock unless you sell your shares of common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.
Anti-takeover provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of Alliance, which may be beneficial to its stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by its stockholders to replace or remove Alliance’s then current management.
The Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that may delay or prevent an acquisition of Alliance or a change in its management. These provisions may make it more difficult for stockholders to replace or remove members of the board of directors. Because the board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of the management team, these provisions could in turn frustrate or prevent any attempt by the stockholders to replace or remove current management. In addition, these provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of Class A common stock. Among other things, these provisions include:
the limitation of the liability of, and the indemnification of, its directors and officers.
a prohibition on actions by its stockholders except at an annual or special meeting of stockholders.
a prohibition on actions by its stockholders by written consent; and
the ability of the board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a “poison pill” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by the board of directors.
Moreover, because Alliance is incorporated in Delaware, it is governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL), which prohibits a person who owns 15% or more of its outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with Alliance for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired 15% or more of Alliance’s outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. This could discourage, delay, or prevent a third party from acquiring or merging with Alliance, whether or not it is desired by, or beneficial to, its stockholders. This could also have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for Alliance’s common stock, including transactions that may be in its stockholders’ best interests. Finally, these provisions establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings. These provisions would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders. For more information, see the section titled “ Description of Securities — Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and the Existing Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws .”
The Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will, subject to certain exceptions, be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel, which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders.
The Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in the name of Alliance, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any officer, director or other employee of Alliance or Alliance’s shareholders, any action asserting a claim against Alliance, its directors, officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or the Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit or make more costly a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees, or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the Certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm Alliance’s business, operating results and financial condition.
The Certificate of Incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, The Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless Alliance consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. There is, however, the uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
A possible “short squeeze” due to a sudden increase in demand of our Class A common stock that largely exceeds supply may lead to price volatility in our Class A common stock.
Investors may purchase our Class A common stock to hedge existing exposure in our Class A common stock or to speculate on the price of our Class A common stock. Speculation on the price of our Class A common stock may involve long and short exposures. To the extent aggregate short exposure exceeds the number of shares of our Class A common stock available for purchase in the open market, investors with short exposure may have to pay a premium to repurchase our common stock for delivery to lenders of our Class A common stock. Those repurchases may in turn, dramatically increase the price of our Class A common stock until investors with short exposure are able to purchase additional Class A common stock to cover their short position. This is often referred to as a “short squeeze.” A short squeeze could lead to volatile price movements in our common stock that are not directly correlated to the performance or prospects of our Class A common stock and once investors purchase the shares of Class A common stock necessary to cover their short position the price of our Class A common stock may decline.
We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred shares under the 2023 Plan, which would dilute the interest of our stockholders.
Pursuant to the Certificate of Incorporation, Alliance’s authorized capital stock consists of 490,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, 60,000,000 shares of Alliance Class E common stock and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock. As of the date of this 10-K, we have 50,957,370 shares of Class A common Stock outstanding and no shares of preferred stock outstanding. We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock under the 2023 Plan. Pursuant to Alliance’s 2023 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan, Alliance may issue an aggregate of up to 1,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, which amount may be subject to increase from time to time. For additional information about this plan, please read the discussion under the heading “ Alliance’s Executive Compensation — Employee Benefit Plans .” Additionally, as of the date of this 10-K, Alliance has Warrants outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 9,920,090 shares of common stock. Alliance may also issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future in connection with, among other things, future acquisitions, or repayment of outstanding indebtedness, without stockholder approval, in a number of circumstances.
The issuance of additional common stock or preferred shares:
may significantly dilute the equity interest of holders of Class A common stock.
may subordinate the rights of holders of shares of common stock if one or more classes of preferred stock are created, and such shares of preferred stock are issued, with rights senior to those afforded to Class A common stock.
could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and
may adversely affect prevailing market prices for the Class A common stock and/or Warrants.
