Description of Securities of Seattle Genetics, Inc

Our fourth amended and restated certificate of incorporation (as amended), or the Restated Certificate, authorizes us to issue 250,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share. As of February 3, 2020, 172,259,645 shares of common stock were outstanding and no shares of our preferred stock were outstanding.

The following summary description of our securities is based on the provisions of the Restated Certificate, our amended and restated bylaws, or Bylaws, and the applicable provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or DGCL, and the Washington Business Corporation Act, or WBCA,. This information may not be complete in all respects and is qualified entirely by reference to the provisions of the Restated Certificate, the Bylaws, the DGCL and the WBCA. The Restated Certificate and Bylaws are filed as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K to which this Description of Securities is an exhibit.

The holders of common stock are entitled to one vote per share on all matters to be voted on by the stockholders. Subject to the preferences of any outstanding shares of preferred stock, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably any dividends our board of directors declares out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends. If we are liquidated, dissolved or wound up, the holders of common stock are entitled to share pro rata all assets remaining after payment of liabilities and liquidation preferences of any outstanding shares of preferred stock. Holders of common stock have no preemptive rights or rights to convert their common stock into any other securities. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. Our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

Additional shares of authorized common stock may be issued, as authorized by our board of directors from time to time, without stockholder approval, except as may be required by applicable stock exchange requirements.

Pursuant to the Restated Certificate, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by the stockholders, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series. Our board of directors also has the authority to determine or alter the designation, rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions granted to or imposed upon any unissued series of preferred stock, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of the common stock. Our board of directors, without stockholder approval, may issue preferred stock with voting, conversion or other rights that are superior to the voting and other rights of the holders of common stock. The issuance of preferred stock may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of Seattle Genetics without further action by the stockholders, and may have the effect of delaying or preventing changes in management of Seattle Genetics. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock may have the effect of decreasing the market price of the common stock and may adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and reduce the likelihood that common stockholders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation.

As noted above, our board of directors, without stockholder approval, has the authority under our Restated Certificate to issue preferred stock with rights superior to the rights of the holders of common stock. As a result, the issuance of preferred stock may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of Seattle Genetics without further action by the stockholders and may adversely affect the voting and other rights of the holders of common stock.

Our Restated Certificate provides for our board of directors to be divided into three classes, with staggered three-year terms. As a result, only one class of directors is elected at each annual meeting of stockholders, with the

other classes continuing for the remainder of their respective three-year terms. Stockholders have no cumulative voting rights.

Our Restated Certificate also requires that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of the stockholders and may not be effected by a consent in writing, and that the stockholders may amend our Bylaws or adopt new bylaws only by the affirmative vote of 66-2/3% of the outstanding voting securities. Our Bylaws provide that a special meeting of the stockholders may be called only by our board of directors, our chairman, our chief executive officer, or by one or more stockholders holding shares in the aggregate entitled to cast not less than 50% of the outstanding shares of each class of stock entitled to vote at that meeting. These provisions may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control and may also delay or prevent changes in management of Seattle Genetics, which could have an adverse effect on the market price of our stock.

These and other provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and to discourage certain types of transactions that may involve an actual or threatened change of control. However, such provisions could have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares and, as a consequence, such provisions also may inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our shares that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts.

We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL which regulates acquisitions of some Delaware corporations. In general, Section 203 prohibits, with some exceptions, a publicly held Delaware corporation such as us from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

 

 

Section 203 of the DGCL generally defines a “business combination” to include any of the following:

 

 

 

 

 

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 that is an affiliate or associate of such entity or person.

Section 203 of the DGCL could depress our stock price and delay, discourage or prohibit transactions not approved in advance by our board of directors, such as takeover attempts that might otherwise involve the payment to our stockholders of a premium over the market price of our common stock.

We may also be subject to the provisions of Chapter 23B.19 of the WBCA, which imposes restrictions on certain transactions between a corporation and certain significant stockholders. The WBCA generally prohibits a “target corporation” (as defined in the WBCA) from engaging in certain significant business transactions with an “acquiring person,” which is defined as a person or group of persons that beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting securities of the target corporation, for a period of five years after such acquisition, unless the transaction or acquisition of shares is approved by a majority of the members of the target corporation’s board of directors prior to the time of the acquisition or at or subsequent to the acquiring person’s share acquisition time, such significant business transaction is approved by a majority of the members of the target corporation’s board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding voting shares, except for shares beneficially owned by or under the voting control of the acquiring person. Such prohibited transactions include, among other things:

 

 

After the five-year period, a “significant business transaction” may occur if it complies with “fair price” provisions specified in the statute. A corporation may not “opt out” of this statute. Depending on whether Seattle

Genetics meets the definition of a “target corporation” under the WBCA, Chapter 23B.19 of the WBCA may have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change in control of Seattle Genetics.

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare, Inc. Its address is P.O. Box 50500, Louisville, KY 40233 and its telephone number is (877)  ###-###-####.

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “SGEN.”