Description of Common Stock of the Company registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

The following information is a summary of information concerning the common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), of IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (“we,” "our,” or “us”) and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (the “Certificate of Incorporation”), and Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), each of which are incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.1 is a part.

We have 210,000,000 authorized shares of capital stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which 200,000,000 shares are Common Stock and 10,000,000 shares are “blank-check” preferred stock.

 

The holders of our Common Stock have equal ratable rights to dividends from funds legally available if and when declared by our board of directors and are entitled to share ratably in all of our assets available for distribution to holders of Common Stock upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs. Our Common Stock does not provide the right to preemptive, subscription or conversion rights and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions or rights. Holders of Common Stock are entitled to one non-cumulative vote per share on all matters on which shareholders may vote, meaning that shareholders may not give more than one vote per share to any single nominee for election to our board of directors.

Our Articles of Incorporation authorize the issuance of up to 10,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our Board of Directors. We do not currently have any outstanding shares of preferred stock.

The provisions of Nevada law and our bylaws may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing another party from acquiring control of the company. These provisions may discourage and prevent coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids.

Nevada law contains a provision governing the acquisition of a controlling interest. This law provides generally that any person or entity that acquires 20% or more of the outstanding voting shares of a publicly-held Nevada corporation in the secondary public or private market may be denied voting rights with respect to the acquired shares, unless a majority of the disinterested shareholders of the corporation elects to restore such voting rights in whole or in part. The control share acquisition act provides that a person or entity acquires “control shares” whenever it acquires shares that, but for the operation of the control share acquisition act, would bring its voting power within any of the following three ranges: 20 to 33-1/3%; 33-1/3 to 50%; or more than 50%.

A “control share acquisition” is generally defined as the direct or indirect acquisition of either ownership or voting power associated with issued and outstanding control shares. The shareholders or board of directors of a corporation may elect to exempt the stock of the corporation from the provisions of the control share acquisition act through adoption of a provision to that effect in the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the corporation. Our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws do not exempt our Common Stock from the control share acquisition act.

The control share acquisition act is applicable only to shares of “Issuing Corporations” as defined by the Nevada law. An Issuing Corporation is a Nevada corporation which (i) has 200 or more shareholders, with at least 100 of such shareholders being both shareholders of record and residents of Nevada, and (ii) does business in Nevada directly or through an affiliated corporation.

The Nevada “Combination with Interested Stockholders Statute” may also have an effect of delaying or making it more difficult to effect a change in control of our company. This statute prevents an “interested stockholder” and a resident domestic Nevada corporation from entering into a “combination,” unless certain conditions are met. The statute defines “combination” to include any merger or consolidation with an “interested stockholder,” or any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or other disposition, in one transaction or a series of transactions with an “interested stockholder” having (i) an aggregate market value equal to 5% or more of the aggregate market value of the assets of the corporation, (ii) an aggregate market value equal to 5% or more of the aggregate market value of all outstanding shares of the corporation, or (iii) representing 10% or more of the earning power or net income of the corporation.

An “interested stockholder” means the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting shares of a resident domestic corporation, or an affiliate or associate thereof. A corporation affected by the statute may not engage in a “combination” within three years after the interested stockholder acquires its shares unless the combination or purchase is approved by the board of directors before the interested stockholder acquired such shares. If approval is not obtained, then after the expiration of the three-year period, the business combination may be consummated with the approval of the board of directors or a majority of the voting power held by disinterested stockholders, or if the consideration to be paid by the interested stockholder is at least equal to the highest of (i) the highest price per share paid by the interested stockholder within the three years immediately preceding the date of the announcement of the combination or in the transaction in which he became an interested stockholder, whichever is higher, (ii) the market value per common share on the date of announcement of the combination or the date the interested stockholder acquired the shares, whichever is higher, or (iii) if higher for the holders of preferred stock, the highest liquidation value of the preferred stock.

Our Articles of Incorporation are silent as to cumulative voting rights in the election of our directors. Nevada law requires the existence of cumulative voting rights to be provided for by a corporation’s Articles of Incorporation.  As such, the combination of the present ownership by a few stockholders of a significant portion of our issued and outstanding Common Stock and lack of cumulative voting makes it more difficult for other stockholders to replace our board of directors or for a third party to obtain control of us by replacing our board of directors. Our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws do not contain any explicit provisions that would have an effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of our company.

Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “IZEA.”

The transfer agent and registrar for our Common Stock is Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions.