Description of Securities

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934



As of December 31, 2019, frontdoor, inc. had one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): its common stock, par value $0.01 per share (our “common stock”). References herein to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer to frontdoor, inc., a Delaware corporation, and not to any of its subsidiaries.



The following description of the terms of our common stock is only a summary. This description is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit is a part. We encourage you to read our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) for additional information.  



General



Our authorized capital stock consists of 2,000,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and 200 million shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share, all of which shares of preferred stock are undesignated. Our board of directors may establish the rights and preferences of the preferred stock from time to time.



Common Stock



Each holder of shares of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters to be voted upon by the common stockholders, and there are no cumulative voting rights. Subject to any preferential rights of any outstanding preferred stock, holders of shares of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably the dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of funds legally available for that purpose. If there is a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our Company, holders of our common stock would be entitled to a ratable distribution of its assets remaining after the payment in full of debts, liabilities and any preferential rights of any then-outstanding preferred stock.



Holders of our common stock have no preemptive or conversion rights or other subscription rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. All outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and non-assessable. The rights, preferences and privileges of the 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



Under the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our board of directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by the DGCL, and by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, to issue up to 200 million shares of preferred stock in one or more series without further action by the holders of our common stock. Our board of directors has the discretion, subject to the limitations proscribed by the DGCL and by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, dividend rights, conversion rights, redemption privileges and liquidation preferences, of each series of preferred stock.



Corporate Governance



Single Class Capital Structure. 



We have a single class share capital structure with all stockholders entitled to vote for director nominees and each holder of common stock entitled to one vote per share.



Director Elections. 



Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with Class I composed of two directors, Class II composed of three directors and Class III composed of two directors. The directors designated as Class I directors have terms expiring at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders; the directors designated as Class II directors have terms expiring at the 2020 annual meeting of stockholders; and the directors designated as Class III directors have terms expiring at the 2021 annual meeting of stockholders. Commencing with the 2020 annual meeting of stockholders, directors for each class will be elected at the annual meeting of stockholders held in the year in which the term for that class expires and thereafter each director will serve for a term of one year and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. Consequently, by 2022, all of our directors will stand for election each year for one year terms, and our board will therefore no longer be divided into three classes.



At any meeting of stockholders for the election of directors at which a quorum is present, the election will be determined by a majority of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote in the election, with directors not receiving a majority of the votes cast required to tender their resignations for consideration by the board, except that in the case of a contested election, the election will be determined by a plurality of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote in the election. Before the board of directors is declassified, it would take at least two elections of directors for any individual or group to gain control of our board of directors. Accordingly, while our classified board of directors is in effect, these provisions could discourage a third party from initiating a proxy contest, making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to gain control of our Company.



Special Stockholder Meetings. 



Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the chairman of the board of directors or the board of directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of the entire board of directors may call special meetings of our stockholders. Stockholders may not call special meetings of stockholders.



Majority Vote for Mergers and Other Business Combinations. 



Mergers and other business combinations involving our Company will generally be required to be approved by a majority vote where such stockholder approval is required.



Anti-Takeover Effects of Various Provisions of Delaware Law and Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws



Provisions of the DGCL and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make it more difficult to acquire our Company by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or otherwise, or to remove incumbent officers and directors. These provisions, summarized below, may discourage certain types of coercive takeover practices and takeover bids that our board of directors may consider inadequate and to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of our Company to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of its ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure it outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging takeover or acquisition proposals because, among other things, negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.



Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute



As a Delaware corporation, we are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, an anti-takeover statute. In general, Section 203 of the DGCL prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years following the time the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination or the acquisition of shares that resulted in a stockholder becoming an interested stockholder is approved in a prescribed manner. Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Generally, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns (or within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status did own) 15 percent or more of a corporation’s voting stock. The existence of this provision would be expected to have an anti-takeover effect with

respect to transactions not approved in advance by our board of directors, including discouraging attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by our stockholders.



Size of Board and Vacancies



Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the number of directors on our board of directors will be fixed exclusively by our board of directors. Any vacancies created in our board of directors resulting from any increase in the authorized number of directors or the death, resignation, retirement, disqualification, removal from office or other cause will be filled by a majority of the board of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum is present, or by a sole remaining director. Any director appointed to fill a vacancy on our board of directors will be appointed for a term expiring at the next annual meeting of stockholders, and until his or her successor has been elected and qualified.



Director Removal



Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that (i) prior to the board being fully declassified as discussed above stockholders will be permitted to remove a director only for cause, consistent with the DGCL requirements for classified boards; and (ii) after our board of directors has been fully declassified, stockholders may remove our Company’s directors with or without cause. Removal will require the affirmative vote of at least two thirds of our Company’s voting stock.



Stockholder Action by Written Consent



Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation expressly eliminates the right of stockholders to act by written consent. Stockholder action may only take place at an annual or a special meeting of our stockholders.



Requirements for Advance Notification of Stockholder Nominations and Proposals



Our amended and restated bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and nomination of candidates for election as directors other than nominations made by or at the direction of our board of directors or a committee of our board of directors.



No Cumulative Voting



The DGCL provides that stockholders are denied the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors, unless the Company’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting.



Undesignated Preferred Stock



The authority that our board of directors possesses to issue preferred stock could potentially be used to discourage attempts by third parties to obtain control of our Company through a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise by making such attempts more difficult or more costly. Our board of directors may be able to issue preferred stock with voting rights or conversion rights that, if exercised, could adversely affect the voting power of the holders of common stock.



Dissenters’ Rights of Appraisal and Payment



Under the DGCL, with certain exceptions, our stockholders will have appraisal rights in connection with a merger or consolidation of our Company. Pursuant to the DGCL, stockholders who properly request and perfect appraisal rights in connection with such merger or consolidation will have the right to receive payment of the fair value of their shares as determined by the Delaware Court of Chancery.



Stockholders’ Derivative Actions



Under the DGCL, any of our stockholders may bring an action in our name to procure a judgment in our favor, also known as a derivative action, provided that the stockholder bringing the action is a holder of our shares at the time of the transaction to which the action relates or such stockholder’s stock thereafter devolved by operation of law.



Exclusive Forum



Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless our board of directors otherwise determines, the state courts of the State of Delaware, or, if no state court located in the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our Company, any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors or officers to our Company or our stockholders, creditors or other constituents, any action asserting a claim against our Company or any of our directors or officers arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against our Company or any of our directors or officers governed by the internal affairs doctrine.



We have included this exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation because such provision, in our view, is in the best interests of our Company and our stockholders for the following reasons: (1) the exclusive forum provision provides that certain intra-corporate disputes will be litigated in Delaware, the state in which our Company is incorporated and whose law governs such disputes; (2) the Delaware Chancery Court has developed extensive expertise in dealing with corporate law issues, as well as a substantial and influential body of case law interpreting Delaware’s corporate law; (3) the exclusive forum provision will help us avoid multiple lawsuits in numerous jurisdictions relating to the same dispute, thus preventing corporate resources from being unnecessarily diverted to address duplicative, costly and wasteful multi-forum litigation; (4) the exclusive forum provision will provide value to our Company and our stockholders by facilitating consistency and predictability in litigation outcomes and reducing the risk that the outcome of cases in multiple jurisdictions could be inconsistent, even though each jurisdiction purports to follow Delaware law; (5) the exclusive forum provision does not materially change the substantive legal claims or remedies available to our stockholders, but rather only regulates the forum in which stockholders may file claims relating to certain specified intra-corporate disputes; and (6) our board of directors has the ability to consent to an alternative forum in appropriate circumstances where the board determines that the interests of our Company and our stockholders are best served by permitting a particular dispute to proceed in a forum other than Delaware.



Limitations on Liability, Indemnification of Officers and Directors and Insurance



The DGCL authorizes corporations to limit or eliminate the personal liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary damages for breaches of directors’ fiduciary duties as directors, and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation includes such an exculpation provision. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws include provisions that indemnify, to the fullest extent allowable under the DGCL, the personal liability of directors or officers for monetary damages for actions taken as a director or officer of our Company, or for serving at our request as a director or officer or another position at another corporation or enterprise, as the case may be. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws also provide that we must indemnify and advance reasonable expenses to our directors and officers, subject to our receipt of an undertaking from the indemnified party as may be required under the DGCL. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation expressly authorizes us to carry directors’ and officers’ insurance to protect our Company and our directors, officers and certain employees against some liabilities.



The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions that are in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions may also have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit our Company and its stockholders. However, these provisions do not limit or eliminate our rights, or those of any stockholder, to seek non-monetary relief such as an injunction or rescission in the event of a breach of a director’s duty of care. The provisions do not alter the liability of directors under the federal securities laws. In

addition, your investment may be adversely affected to the extent that, in a class action or direct suit, we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. There is currently no pending material litigation or proceeding against any of our directors, officers or employees for which indemnification is sought.



Authorized but Unissued Shares



Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock will be available for future issuance without your approval. We may use additional shares for a variety of purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, to fund acquisitions and as employee compensation. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of our Company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.



Transfer Agent and Registrar



The transfer agent and registrar for shares of our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.

Listing



Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol “FTDR.”