Description of Capital Stock of Registrant

Contract Categories: Business Finance - Stock Agreements
EX-4.1 2 a41capitalstock.htm EXHIBIT 4.1 Exhibit

EXHIBIT 4.1

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK OF 8X8, INC.

General
The following description of our capital stock and provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws is a summary only and not a complete description.

Our authorized capital stock consists of 200,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share.

Common Stock
As of March 31, 2019, 96,119,888 shares of our common stock were outstanding. Each holder of our common stock is entitled to:
•
one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders;
•
dividends as may be declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for that purpose, subject to the rights of any preferred stock that may be outstanding; and
•
his, her or its pro rata share in any distribution of our assets after payment or providing for the payment of liabilities and the liquidation preference of any outstanding preferred stock in the event of liquidation.

Holders of common stock have no cumulative voting rights, redemption rights or preemptive rights to purchase or subscribe for any shares of our common stock or other securities. All of the outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of our common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

Preferred Stock
Our board of directors has the authority, subject to any limitations prescribed by Delaware law, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix and determine the relative rights and preferences of the shares constituting any series to be established, without any further vote or action by the stockholders. Any shares of our preferred stock so issued may have priority over our common stock with respect to dividend, liquidation, redemption, voting and other rights.

Our board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. Although the issuance of preferred stock could provide us with flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, under some circumstances, it could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Delaware Law, Our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws
Certain provisions of our charter documents and Delaware law could have an anti-takeover effect and could delay, discourage or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interests, including attempts that might otherwise result in a premium being paid over the market price of our common stock.
Charter and By-laws



Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws contain provisions that could have the effect of delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our board of directors, including, among other things:
•
no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
•
the ability of our board of directors to issue shares of preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
•
the exclusive right of our board of directors to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our board of directors;
•
a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
•
the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors or by stockholders holding shares of our common stock representing in the aggregate a majority of votes then outstanding, which could delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
•
the ability of our board of directors, by majority vote, to amend our by-laws, which may allow our board of directors to take additional actions to prevent a hostile acquisition and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend our by-laws to facilitate a hostile acquisition; and
•
advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute
We are also subject to certain anti-takeover provisions under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or the DGCL. Under Section 203 of the DGCL, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or (i) our board of directors approves the transaction prior to the stockholder acquiring the 15% ownership position, (ii) upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder acquiring the 15% ownership position, the stockholder owns at least 85% of the outstanding voting stock (excluding shares owned by directors or officers and shares owned by certain employee stock plans) or (iii) the transaction is approved by the board of directors and by the stockholders at an annual or special meeting by a vote of 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock (excluding shares held or controlled by the interested stockholder). These provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts.

In general, Section 203 defines an interested stockholder as any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by any such entity or person.

A Delaware corporation may opt out of this provision by express provision in its original certificate of incorporation or by amendment to its certificate of incorporation or by-laws approved by its stockholders. We have not opted out of Section 203. The statute could prohibit or delay mergers or other takeover or change in control attempts and, accordingly, may discourage attempts to acquire us.

Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare, and its address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021.

Listing
Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “EGHT.”