Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq:
VERB)
("VERB" or the "Company"), the company behind MARKET.live, the
innovative multi-vendor, multi-presenter livestream social shopping
platform, announces today that VERB CEO Rory J. Cutaia has issued a
year-end letter to its stockholders, published in its entirety
below.
Dear Verb Stockholders
As the year draws to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity
to thank you all for your continuing support, to reflect on the
events of the past year, including the enormous challenges we faced
together, as well as the accomplishments, of which there have been
many, and share a glimpse of our exciting path forward in 2024 and
beyond.
2023 began with our Board and senior management team already
engrossed in the all-consuming process of selling our SaaS business
division assets, an almost 9-month long endeavor, marked by endless
business presentations, ongoing due diligence and negotiation
sessions, as well as associated legal, accounting, and regulatory
matters, culminating in an offer from the successful bidder that
was accepted by our Board.
Following the closing of the sale last June, we began in earnest
to focus all of our energies and resources on our MARKET.live
livestream social selling business with our newly constituted
management team that was now comprised of approximately 80 fewer
people than we had before the sale.
And yet, this newly energized team accomplished more in the past
6 months than we had in what feels like the prior 2 years combined.
Here is a list of most, but not all of the accomplishments and
achievements our management team has delivered in just the 6-month
period following the sale:
- Operational Excellence:
- Seamlessly transitioned into new roles, updated policies and
procedures, and operationalized our business for scalable,
measurable growth.
- Digital Transformation:
- Launched a new cutting-edge website at verb.tech and introduced
a new IR interface for an enhanced user experience.
- Strategic Relocation:
- Negotiated an early termination of our high-priced Newport
Beach office lease, as the office was no longer needed for our new
business focus, and moved to a far more cost-effective, and more
use-appropriate office/studio in Los Alamitos, boasting a new
livestream studio facility with multiple sets, and bringing us
closer to the Los Angeles influencer/creator talent pool.
- Creative Spaces:
- Pioneered our first creator room, fostering innovation and
collaboration within the creator community as well as within our
own team.
- Cultural Inclusivity:
- Expanded our target audience with the addition of our first
Spanish-speaking host.
- New Recurring Revenue Vertical:
- Launched a new recurring revenue line of business through
dropship program subscriptions, complete with a new, highly
effective, data driven dedicated landing page, a national TV
campaign, and a comprehensive end-to-end sales funnel featuring top
products.
- Affiliate and Creator Partnerships:
- Partnered with a renowned brand to facilitate the drop-shipping
business, that also provides a diverse inventory for TikTok
affiliates and creators.
- Created New Strategic Relationships:
- Shopify:
- Became one of the first companies to commercially launch the
post-beta version of a new Shopify program, solidifying MARKET.live
as a hub for seamless inventory and ecommerce synchronization with
any of the hundreds of thousands of retailers using Shopify’s
ecommerce solution.
- TikTok:
- Integrated MARKET.live with TikTok and within a few short weeks
climbed the ranks to become one of the most popular video selling
producers.
- Developed and launched a unique, custom integration for our
TikTok shop, allowing us to manage multiple sellers and stores
across different categories positioning us for exponential growth
while staying compliant with TikTok’s exceedingly stringent
rules.
- Exclusive Access on TikTok:
- Invited into exclusive categories on TikTok, granting us early
access to sell popular items ahead of the competition.
- Among the first companies to receive ‘TikTok Studio’ access,
enhanced capability, by invitation only, that allowed us to
integrate our livestream multicast programming capabilities with
TikTok.
- Innovative Initiatives:
- Launched an exclusive partnership program with TikTok pursuant
to which MARKET.live sellers’ products are delivered to newly
constructed TikTok warehouses and distribution centers, from which
TikTok manages the actual fulfillment and shipping of MARKET.live
sellers’ products at either dramatically reduced costs, or in some
cases, free of charge.
- TikTok Key Account Status:
- Positioned to earn the ‘TikTok Key Account’ designation in
2024, unlocking unprecedented access and opportunities.
- Live Streaming Prowess:
- MARKET.live was selected by MyPillow’s Mike Lindell for his
return to live selling with back-to-back shows.
- Strategic Expansion:
- Actively adding new merchants and vendors weekly, expanding our
ecosystem. More than 70 new merchants added in the
just the past 8 weeks, with more added every week.
- Top-Tier Talent:
- Welcomed a new mega-merchandiser, elevating our vision and
enhancing our product procurement capabilities for accelerated
growth in 2024.
- Audience Segmentation:
- Building two distinct MARKET.live channels, segmented by target
demographic, to capitalize on the “Under - 40” social media trends,
positioning ourselves for accelerated growth among the fastest
growing social selling demographic.
- Balance Sheet Enhancement:
- In the past 6 months, we paid-down approximately $5.5 million
in debt, representing a 66% reduction.
- NASDAQ Compliance:
- We believe the massive reduction in debt coupled with our
drastically reduced overhead, among other planned initiatives,
should allow us to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum
shareholder equity requirements.
- Cost Control Initiatives Driving Efficiencies:
- Our newly constituted finance department procedures and
processes provides far greater visibility and corresponding
controls and accountability over every cost center of the business,
driving operational excellence.
As we disclosed earlier this year, we executed a letter of
intent to acquire certain revenue generating assets we believed
were complimentary to our MARKET.live business objectives from
certain parties with whom we were engaged for other aspects of our
MARKET.live business. However, after many months of due diligence,
we concluded that the opportunity, as well as the relationship were
not the right fits for our business, and we recently terminated
both.
As we began the relationship with TikTok and launched our
technology integration, we experienced almost immediate, rapid
growth, recognized by TikTok, as referenced above, as being among
the top producers. However, that growth revealed flaws in a key
partner’s supply chain whose capabilities fell far short of their
representations. This forced us to pull back for almost 10 weeks
while we sourced replacement suppliers and finalized other
partnerships we had been working on.
Fortunately, those new relationships are now in place, required
technology integrations complete, and performance capabilities
tested, allowing us to look forward to 2024 with great optimism and
excitement. Especially so now, as our team experienced first-hand
how rapidly the growth came once we completed the technology
integration with TikTok and opened the faucet. Within a few short
weeks we had developed a stable of more than 1600
TikTok affiliates who signed on to sell MARKET.live vendors’
products. With the new vendor and supplier relationships in place,
we are now beginning to rebuild that stable of TikTok affiliates,
which could be akin to a massive army of sales reps, selling
MARKET.live products to their own fans and followers.
Of course I recognize that we are all disappointed with the
current share price caused by a combination of unprecedented,
prolonged poor capital markets conditions and the corresponding
machinations of bad actors. However, share price has very little to
do with the value a strategic buyer places on the business in a
sale. Accordingly, while we have virtually no control over market
conditions and the share price, we do have control over the
intrinsic value we are creating as evidenced by the long list of
achievements detailed above. As such, we believe our long-term
investors may have an opportunity to generate returns that are not
reflected in the share price alone.
These achievements represent our relentless pursuit of
excellence and innovation as well as our unstoppable determination
and perseverance to overcome any obstacle, and any challenge, and
there have been many. As we begin 2024, we are primed for the
success we and you have surely earned and deserve.
Thank you for your continued trust and confidence and as I’ve
said many times before, we will continue to earn it every day.
Thank you and god bless.
Rory
About VERB
Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB), is a market leader
in interactive video-based sales applications. The Company’s
MARKET.live platform is a multi-vendor, multi-presenter, livestream
social shopping destination at the forefront of the convergence of
ecommerce and entertainment, where hundreds of retailers, brands,
creators and influencers can monetize their base of fans and
followers across social media channels. The Company is
headquartered in Las Vegas, NV and operates creator studios in Los
Alamitos, California and Philadelphia, PA.
Follow VERB AND MARKET.LIVE here:
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@market.live_official
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/market.liveofficial
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/market.liveofficial/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/verb-tech/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@market.liveofficial
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis communication contains
"forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties and include, without
limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or
imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain
words such as "anticipate," "expect," "project," "plan," or words
or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are
based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that
involve risks and uncertainties. If any of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or if any of our assumptions prove
incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from the
results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Investors are referred to our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information
regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results
to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking
statement. All forward-looking statements in this press release are
based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we
do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking
statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances
that exist after the date on which they were made, except as
required by law.
Investor Relations:investors@verb.tech
Media Contact:info@verb.tech
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