S-3 1 ds3.htm FORM S-3 Form S-3
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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 14, 2003

Registration No. 333-          


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM S-3

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

 


 

ONYX SOFTWARE CORPORATION

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

 

Washington

(State or Other Jurisdiction

of Incorporation or Organization)

 

91-1629814

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

1100-112th Avenue NE, Suite 100

Bellevue, Washington 98004

(425) 451-8060

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of

Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

 


 

Brent R. Frei

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

Onyx Software Corporation

1100-112th Avenue NE, Suite 100

Bellevue, Washington 98004

(425) 451-8060

(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

 


 

Copies to:

Stephen M. Graham

Alan C. Smith

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

719 Second Avenue, Suite 900

Seattle, Washington 98104

(206) 839-4300

 


 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:    As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

 

If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box.  ¨

 

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box.  x

 

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ¨                     

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ¨                     

 

If delivery of the prospectus is expected to be made pursuant to Rule 434, please check the following box.  ¨

 


 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 


                        

Title of Each Class

of Securities to be Registered

 

Amount to be Registered

    

Proposed Maximum Offering Price Per Share(1)

  

Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1)

    

Amount of Registration Fee


Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share

 

795,000 shares

    

$1.065

  

$846,675

    

$78


                        

(1)   Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, based on the high and low sales prices of the common stock on February 12, 2003.

 


 

The registrant hereby undertakes to amend this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment that specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to Section 8(a), may determine.

 



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LOGO

 

795,000 Shares

 

ONYX SOFTWARE CORPORATION

 


 

Common Stock

 


 

We issued warrants to purchase 795,000 shares of our common stock to the selling shareholder listed on page 18 in connection with a restructuring of the lease for our principal business offices. The selling shareholder may offer for sale from time to time up to 795,000 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of these shares.

 

The selling shareholder may sell the shares in transactions on the Nasdaq National Market, in privately negotiated transactions or otherwise.

 

Our common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “ONXS.” On February 12, 2003, the last reported sales price of our common stock was $1.05 per share.

 


 

Investing in this stock involves risks.

See “ Risk Factors” beginning on page 4.

 


 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

The date of this prospectus is February 14, 2003.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

    

Page


Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

  

3

Risk Factors

  

4

Selling Shareholder

  

18

Plan of Distribution

  

19

Legal Matters

  

20

Experts

  

20

Where You Can Find More Information

  

21

 

You should rely only on the information provided or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. Neither we nor the selling shareholder has authorized anyone to provide you with different information. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than its date, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of common stock.

 

This prospectus is an offer to sell and a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities offered by this prospectus only in jurisdictions where the offer or sale is permitted.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

Our disclosure and analysis in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference, including the documents listed below in the section entitled “Where You Can Find More Information,” contain forward-looking statements, which provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation:

 

    information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, trends in financial results and business plans, including those relating to earnings growth and revenue growth;

 

    statements about the level of our costs and operating expenses relative to our revenues, and about the expected composition of our revenues;

 

    statements about our future capital requirements and the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents, investments and available bank borrowings to meet these requirements;

 

    information about the anticipated release dates of new products;

 

    statements about the expected termination of our excess facility commitments;

 

    other statements about our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions; and

 

    other statements that are not historical facts.

 

Words such as “believes,” “anticipates” and “intends” may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the factors described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this prospectus. Other factors besides those described in this prospectus could also affect actual results. You should carefully consider the factors described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in evaluating our forward-looking statements.

 

You should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this prospectus. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this prospectus, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should, however, review the factors and risks we describe in the reports we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, after the date of this prospectus.

 

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RISK FACTORS

 

Our operating results fluctuate and could fall below expectations of investors, resulting in a decrease in our stock price.

 

Our operating results have varied widely in the past, and we expect that they will continue to fluctuate in the future. If our operating results fall below the expectations of investors, it could result in a decrease in our stock price. Some of the factors that could affect the amount and timing of our revenue and related expenses and cause our operating results to fluctuate include:

 

    general economic conditions, which may affect our customers’ capital investment levels in management information systems and the timing of their purchases;

 

    rate of market acceptance of our customer relationship management, or CRM, solution;

 

    budget and spending decisions by our customers;

 

    customers’ decisions to defer orders or implementations, particularly large orders or implementations, from one quarter to the next, or to proceed with smaller-than-forecasted orders or implementations;

 

    level of purchases by our existing customers, including additional license and maintenance revenues;

 

    our ability to enable our products to operate on multiple platforms;

 

    our ability to compete in the highly competitive CRM market;

 

    the loss of any key technical, sales, customer support or management personnel and the timing of any new hires;

 

    our ability to develop, introduce and market new products and product versions on a timely basis;

 

    variability in the mix of our license versus service revenue, the mix of our direct versus indirect license revenue and the mix of services that we perform versus those performed by third-party service providers;

 

    our ability to successfully expand our operations, and the amount and timing of expenditures related to this expansion; and

 

    the cost and financial accounting effects of any acquisitions of companies or complementary technologies that we may complete.

 

As a result of all of these factors, we cannot predict our revenue with any significant degree of certainty, and future product revenue may differ from historical patterns. It is particularly difficult to predict the timing or amount of our license revenue because:

 

    our sales cycles are lengthy and variable, typically ranging between six and eighteen months from our initial contact with a potential customer to the signing of a license agreement, although the sales cycle varies substantially from customer to customer and occasionally sales require substantially more time;

 

    a substantial portion of our sales are completed at the end of the quarter and, as a result, a substantial portion of our license revenue is recognized in the last month of a quarter, and often in the last weeks or days of a quarter;

 

    in recent quarters, the contracting process of our sales cycle has taken more time than we have historically experienced;

 

    the amount of unfulfilled orders for our products at the beginning of a quarter is small because our products are typically shipped shortly after orders are received; and

 

    delay of new product releases can result in a customer’s decision to delay execution of a contract or, for contracts that include the new release as an element of the contract, will result in deferral of revenue recognition until such release.

 

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Even though our revenue is difficult to predict, we base our decisions regarding our operating expenses on anticipated revenue trends. Many of our expenses are relatively fixed, and we cannot quickly reduce spending if our revenue is lower than expected. As a result, revenue shortfalls could result in significantly lower income or greater loss than anticipated for any given period, which could result in a decrease in our stock price.

 

Economic conditions could adversely affect our revenue growth and ability to forecast revenue.

 

Our revenue growth and potential for profitability depend on the overall demand for CRM software and services. Because our sales are primarily to corporate customers, we are also impacted by general economic and business conditions. A softening of demand for computer software caused by the weakened economy, both domestic and international, has affected our sales and may continue to result in decreased revenue and growth rates. As a result of the economic downturn, we have also experienced and may continue to experience difficulties in collecting outstanding receivables from our customers. In addition, the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the armed conflict that followed, and the threat of additional potential conflicts have added or exacerbated economic, political and other uncertainties, which could adversely affect our sales and thus our revenue growth.

 

Our management team uses our proprietary software to identify, track and forecast future revenue, backlog and trends in our business. Our sales force monitors the status of all proposals, such as the date when they estimate that a transaction will close and the potential dollar amount of such sale. We aggregate these estimates regularly in order to generate a sales pipeline and then evaluate the pipeline at various times to look for trends in our business. While this pipeline analysis provides us with visibility about our potential customers and the associated revenue for budgeting and planning purposes, these pipeline estimates may not consistently correlate to revenue in a particular quarter or over a longer period of time. The slowdown in the domestic and international economies, as well as the effects of terrorist activity and actual and threatened armed conflict, may continue to cause customer purchasing decisions to be delayed, reduced in amount or cancelled, which could reduce the rate of conversion of the pipeline into contracts during a particular period of time. In particular, as a result of the economic slowdown, we believe that a number of our potential customers may delay or cancel their purchase of our software, consulting services or customer support services or may elect to develop their own CRM solution or solutions. A variation in the pipeline or in the conversion of the pipeline into contracts could adversely affect our business and operating results. In addition, because a substantial portion of our sales are completed at the end of the quarter, and often in the last weeks or days of a quarter, we may be unable to adjust our cost structure in response to a variation in the conversion of the pipeline into contracts in a timely manner, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We have also recently experienced a trend of smaller initial orders by new purchasers of our software. Some customers are reluctant to make large purchases before they have had the opportunity to observe how our software performs in their organization, and have opted instead to make their planned purchase in stages. Additional purchases, if any, may follow only if the software performs as expected. We believe that this is a symptom of poor economic conditions and increasing risk adversity among our customers. To the extent that this trend continues, it will impact the pace of our revenue flow, and could also result in a reduction of the total amount of revenue over time.

 

If we do not retain our key employees and management team, and integrate our new senior management personnel, our ability to execute our business strategy will be limited.

 

Our future performance will depend largely on the efforts and abilities of our key technical, sales, customer support and managerial personnel and on our ability to attract and retain them. In addition, our ability to execute our business strategy will depend on our ability to recruit additional experienced management personnel and to retain our existing executive officers. The competition for qualified personnel in the computer software and technology markets is particularly intense. We have in the past experienced difficulty in hiring qualified technical, sales, customer support and managerial personnel, and we may be unable to attract and retain such personnel in the future. In addition, due to the intense competition for qualified employees, we may be required to increase the level of compensation paid to existing and new employees, which could materially increase our

 

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operating expenses. Our key employees are not obligated to continue their employment with us and could leave at any time.

 

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated substantially since our initial public offering in February 1999. Consequently, potential employees may perceive our equity incentives such as stock options as less attractive, and current employees whose options are no longer priced below market value may choose not to remain employed by us. In that case, our ability to attract or retain employees will be adversely affected.

 

In October 2002, we eliminated the role of our President and Chief Operating Officer and we do not plan to hire a replacement for this position in the near term. In addition, we hired a new Senior Vice President of the Americas in April 2002, three new regional sales managers during the second quarter of 2002 and a new Vice President of Asia in October 2002. The restructuring of the management of our sales organization following the departure of our President and Chief Operating Officer and integration of these new sales officers and key employees may result in some disruption in our sales activities.

 

Fluctuations in support and service revenue could decrease our total revenue or decrease our gross margins, which could cause a decrease in our stock price.

 

During 2001 and the first nine months of 2002, our support and service revenue represented a higher percentage of our total revenue than in past periods, which negatively impacted our gross margins. To the extent that this trend continues, our gross margins will continue to suffer. Support and service revenue represented 37% of our total revenue in 1999 and 38% of our total revenue in 2000. Due largely to the decrease in license revenue in 2001, support and service revenue represented 61% of our total revenue in 2001. Support and service revenue represented 68% of our total revenue in the first nine months of 2002. We anticipate that support and service revenue will continue to represent a significant percentage of total revenue. Because support and service revenue has lower gross margins than license revenue, a continued increase in the percentage of total revenue represented by support and service revenue or a further decrease in license revenue, as we experienced in 2001 and the first nine months of 2002, could have a detrimental effect on our overall gross margins and thus on our operating results. Our support and service revenue is subject to a number of risks. First, we subcontract some of our consulting, customer support and training services to third-party service providers. Third-party contract revenue generally carries even lower gross margins than our service business overall. As a result, our support and service revenue and related margins may vary from period to period, depending on the mix of these third-party contract revenues. In addition, support and service revenue depends in part on ongoing renewals of support contracts by our customers, some of which may not renew their support contracts. The renewal rates of our support contracts declined during 2001 and the first nine months of 2002. We believe this occurred at least in part as a result of the economic downturn, and we cannot offer any assurance that these rates will increase or that they will not continue to decline. Finally, support and service revenue as a percentage of total revenue could decline further if customers select third-party service providers to install and service our products more frequently than they have in the past. If support and service revenue is lower than anticipated, our operating results could fall below the expectations of investors, which could result in a decrease in our stock price.

 

Our operating results may fluctuate seasonally, and these fluctuations may cause our stock price to decrease.

 

Our stock price may decrease due to seasonal fluctuations in our revenue. We have experienced and expect in the future to experience significant seasonality in the amount of our software license revenue. In fiscal years before 2001, we recognized more license revenue in our fourth quarter than in each of the first three quarters of the fiscal year and experienced lower license revenue in the first quarter than in the preceding fourth quarter. We believe that these fluctuations are caused in part by customer buying patterns and the efforts of our direct sales force to meet or exceed fiscal year-end quotas. Our fourth quarter 2001 revenue was, however, lower than the revenue we achieved in the first and second quarters, and was only slightly higher than the revenue we achieved in the third quarter. We believe that this deviation from our historical experience reflects recessionary economic

 

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conditions, and that in the current economic environment the approval process for capital spending will be lengthy. We experienced delays in the customer procurement process throughout 2002, which caused our seasonal sales to vary from the historical pattern. These delays may continue in 2003 or beyond, before we return to the seasonal patterns described above.

 

We have a limited operating history and are subject to the risks of new enterprises.

 

We commenced operations in February 1994 and commercially released the first version of our flagship product in December 1994. Accordingly, we have a limited operating history, and we face all of the risks and uncertainties encountered by early-stage companies. These risks and uncertainties include:

 

    no history of sustained profitability;

 

    uncertain growth in the market for, and uncertain market acceptance of, our solution;

 

    reliance on one product family;

 

    the risk that competition, technological change or evolving customer preferences, such as preferences for different computing platforms, could harm sales of our solution;

 

    the need to implement our sales, marketing and after-sales service initiatives, both domestically and internationally;

 

    the need to execute our product development activities;

 

    dependence on a limited number of key technical, customer support, sales and managerial personnel; and

 

    the risk that our management will be unable to effectively manage growth or any acquisition we may undertake.

 

The evolving nature of the CRM market increases these risks and uncertainties. Our limited operating history makes it difficult to predict how our business will develop.

 

We have incurred losses in recent periods, and may not again achieve profitability, which could cause a decrease in our stock price.

 

If we do not return to profitability in future quarters, our stock price could decrease. We incurred net losses in each quarter from Onyx’s inception through the third quarter of 1994, from the first quarter of 1997 through the second quarter of 1999, and from the first quarter of 2000 through the third quarter of 2002. As of September 30, 2002, we had an accumulated deficit of $120.4 million. Our accumulated deficit and financial condition have caused some of our potential customers to question our viability, which we believe has in turn hampered our ability to sell some of our products.

 

In the near-term, we believe our costs and operating expenses, excluding restructuring-related charges, will continue to decrease to a level that is closer to our expected revenue while allowing us to continue to invest in accordance with our strategic priorities. We may not, however, realize cost savings from these restructuring initiatives in future periods. In addition, we may be unable to achieve cost savings without adversely affecting our business and operating results. We may continue to experience losses and negative cash flows in the near term, even if sales of our products and services continue to grow.

 

In recent periods, our joint venture with Softbank Investment Corporation and Prime Systems Corporation, which is called Onyx Software Co., Ltd., or Onyx Japan, has incurred substantial losses. The minority shareholders’ capital account balance in Onyx Japan as of September 30, 2002 was $444,000. Additional Onyx Japan losses above approximately $1.1 million in the aggregate will be absorbed 100% by Onyx, as compared to 58% in prior periods, which could impact our ability to achieve profitability in future periods.

 

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Finally, we may need to significantly increase our sales and marketing, product development and professional services efforts to expand our market position and further increase acceptance of our products. We may not be able to increase our revenues sufficiently to keep pace with these growing expenditures, if at all, and, as a result, may be unable to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

 

If we are unable to compete successfully in the highly competitive CRM market, our business will fail.

 

Our solution targets the CRM market. This market is intensely competitive, fragmented, rapidly changing and significantly affected by new product introductions. We face competition in the CRM market primarily from front-office software application vendors, large enterprise software vendors and our potential customers’ information technology departments, which may seek to develop proprietary CRM systems. The dominant competitor in our industry is Siebel Systems, Inc., which holds a significantly greater percentage of the CRM market than we do. Other companies with which we compete include, but are not limited to, Amdocs Limited, BroadVision, Inc., Epiphany, Inc., Kana Communications, Inc., Oracle Corporation, PeopleSoft, Inc., Pivotal Corporation and SAP AG. Microsoft Corporation recently released its version of a new CRM product. As a result, we may also in the future compete with Microsoft.

 

In addition, as we develop new products, including new product versions operating on new platforms, we may begin competing with companies with whom we have not previously competed. It is also possible that new competitors will enter the market. In 2002, we experienced an increase in competitive pressures in our market, which has resulted in enhanced pricing competition among our competitors. A continued increase in competitive pressures in our market or our failure to compete effectively may result in pricing reductions, reduced gross margins and loss of market share. Many of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do. Furthermore, we believe that there will be ongoing consolidation among our competitors. As a result, they may be able to adapt more quickly to new technologies and customer needs, devote greater resources to promoting or selling their products and services, initiate and withstand substantial price competition, take advantage of acquisition or other strategic opportunities more readily or develop and expand their product and service offerings more quickly than we can. In addition, our competitors may form strategic relationships with each other and with other companies in attempts to compete more successfully against us. These relationships may take the form of strategic investments, joint marketing agreements, licenses or other contractual arrangements, any of which may increase our competitors’ ability, relative to ours, to address customer needs with their software and service offerings and that may enable them to rapidly increase their market share.

 

We may be unable to obtain the funding necessary to support the expansion of our business, and any funding we do obtain could dilute our shareholders’ ownership interest in Onyx.

 

Our future revenue may be insufficient to support the expenses of our operations, capital needs of Onyx Japan and the expansion of our business. We may therefore need additional equity or debt capital to finance our operations. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or to obtain funds through additional financing, we may have to reduce our development and sales and marketing efforts and limit the expansion of our business.

 

We currently have a loan and security agreement with Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, that allows us to borrow up to the lesser of (a) 75% of our eligible accounts receivable based on a borrowing base calculation and (b) $15.0 million. At the time of this filing, however, no additional amounts are available under the line of credit based on the level of our borrowing base and our outstanding letters of credit. Although we were in compliance with the financial covenants of this facility as of September 30, 2002, if we are unable to maintain compliance in the future, or if SVB decides to restrict our cash deposits, our liquidity will be further limited and our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.

 

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We recently announced that we had restructured our lease for our principal business offices to reduce our excess facilities obligations. The termination of these excess facilities commitments is contingent upon the following conditions, among others, being met as of April 30, 2004: (a) we are current in our payments under the lease and (b) we have not filed a bankruptcy or other liquidation petition, or otherwise attempted to reject or contest the lease. If we are not in compliance with any of these conditions as of April 30, 2004, our original lease will not terminate and we will be required to continue making payments on the excess facilities subject to the original lease. If this were to take place, our business, financial condition and operating results would be materially adversely affected.

 

To maintain the quotation of our common stock on the Nasdaq National Market, we must satisfy the financial and other listing criteria of the National Association of Securities Dealers. One of these criteria is that we must maintain a minimum shareholders’ equity balance of $10 million. Our shareholders’ equity as of September 30, 2002 totaled $17.9 million. If we are unable to continue to satisfy this and the other minimum listing requirements, we could lose our quotation on the Nasdaq National Market, which would impair the liquidity of our common stock and likely result in a decline in its market price.

 

Assuming our future financial performance is comparable to the most recent periods reported, we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, mitigation of our excess facilities liabilities, along with our ongoing operations and possible additional funding of Onyx Japan, will consume a material amount of our cash resources. As a result of these factors, along with the impact lower cash balances could have on our sales, we will likely need to seek additional funds through public or private equity financing or from other sources to fund our operations and pursue our growth strategy. We have no commitment for additional financing, and we may experience difficulty in obtaining funding on favorable terms, if at all. Any financing we obtain may contain covenants that restrict our freedom to operate our business or may require us to issue securities that have rights, preferences or privileges senior to our common stock and may dilute your ownership interest in Onyx.

 

We have been named as a defendant in securities class actions and other litigation, and have received other claims, that could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources.

 

We, several of our officers and directors and Dain Rauscher Wessels have been named as defendants in a series of related lawsuits filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of purchasers of publicly traded Onyx common stock during various time periods. The consolidated amended complaint in these lawsuits alleges that we violated the Securities Act of 1933, or Securities Act, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or Exchange Act, and seeks certification of a class action for purchasers of Onyx common stock in Onyx’s February 12, 2001 public offering and on the open market during the period January 23, 2001 through July 24, 2001. In addition, a shareholder to which we issued shares in the first quarter of 2001 has claimed that we made certain misrepresentations and omissions and otherwise violated the securities laws. None of the complaints or claims specifies the amount of damages to be claimed.

 

Onyx, one of its officers and one of its former officers have also been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers through December 6, 2000 of Onyx common stock sold under the February 12, 1999 registration statement and prospectus for our initial public offering. The complaint alleges that Onyx and the individual defendants violated the Securities Act by failing to disclose excessive commissions allegedly obtained by our underwriters pursuant to a secret arrangement whereby the underwriters allocated initial public offering shares to certain investors in exchange for the excessive commissions. The complaint also asserts claims against the underwriters under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act in connection with the allegedly undisclosed commissions.

 

Onyx’s directors and some of its officers have been named as defendants in a shareholder lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Washington in and for King County. The complaint alleges that the individual defendants breached their fiduciary duty and their duty of care to Onyx by allegedly failing to supervise Onyx’s public

 

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statements and public filings with the SEC. The complaint alleges that, as a result of these breaches, misinformation about Onyx’s financial condition was disseminated into the marketplace and filed with the SEC. The complaint asserts that these actions have exposed Onyx to harmful and costly securities litigation which could potentially result in an award of damages against Onyx.

 

Onyx intends to vigorously defend itself and, where applicable, its officers and directors against these lawsuits and claims, and believes it has several meritorious defenses and, in certain instances, counterclaims. If we are not successful in our defense of these claims, however, we could be forced to make significant payments to the plaintiffs and their lawyers and such payments, if not covered by our insurance carriers, could harm our financial condition, operating results and cash flows. Even if these claims are not successful, the litigation could result in substantial costs to Onyx and could divert management’s time and attention away from business operations. The uncertainty associated with substantial unresolved litigation may also impair our relationships with existing customers and our ability to obtain new customers.

 

Because many potential customers are unaware of the benefits of CRM systems, our solution may not achieve significant market acceptance.

 

The market for CRM systems is still emerging, and continued growth in demand for and acceptance of CRM systems remains uncertain. Even if the market for CRM systems grows, businesses may purchase our competitors’ solutions or develop their own. We believe that many of our potential customers are not fully aware of the benefits of CRM systems and that, as a result, CRM systems may never achieve significant market acceptance. We also believe that many of our potential customers perceive the implementation of a CRM system to require a great deal of time, expense and complexity. This perception has been exacerbated by well-publicized failures of certain CRM projects of some of our competitors. This, in turn, has caused some potential customers to approach purchases of CRM systems with caution or to postpone their orders or decline to make a purchase altogether. We have spent, and will continue to spend, considerable resources educating potential customers not only about our solution but also about CRM systems in general. Even with these educational efforts, however, market acceptance of our solution may not increase. We will not succeed unless we can educate our target market about the benefits of CRM systems and the cost effectiveness, ease of use and other benefits of our solution.

 

If potential customers do not accept the Onyx product family, our business will fail.

 

We rely on one product family for the success of our business. License revenue from the Onyx product family have historically accounted for nearly all of our license revenue. We expect product license revenue from the Onyx product family to continue to account for a substantial majority of our future revenue. As a result, factors adversely affecting the pricing of or demand for the Onyx product family, such as competition or technological change, could dramatically affect our operating results. If we are unable to successfully deploy current versions of the Onyx product family and to develop, introduce and establish customer acceptance of new and enhanced versions of the Onyx product family, our business will fail.

 

If we are unsuccessful in our attempt to enable our products to operate on multiple platforms, our revenue growth could be limited.

 

We originally designed our products to operate exclusively on the Windows NT and Microsoft BackOffice platforms. As a result, our primary market has historically been to customers that have developed or are willing to develop their enterprise computing systems around these platforms, which limits our potential sales. In December 2000, we announced the platform release of an Oracle version of our flagship product Onyx Employee Portal, or OEP, designed to operate on the Unix platform. Due to the complexity of the development of this new product version, we delayed the general availability of this product and subsequently launched the product in June 2002. In 2002 we also introduced an Oracle version of OEP designed to run on IBM AIX. We cannot predict the degree to which either new product version will achieve market acceptance or the extent to which they will perform as our customers expect. If our new product versions contain defects or errors, or otherwise do

 

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not run as expected, their market acceptance may be delayed or limited, and our reputation may be damaged. Further, if our new product versions do not achieve general market acceptance, our revenue growth will be limited. We believe that our ability to effectively expand our business into large enterprises depends on the successful release and market acceptance of our new product versions. If we are unable to expand into large enterprises, the growth of our business and our revenue will be limited. Moreover, enabling our products to run on multiple platforms could lengthen the development cycle, thus delaying the release date of future product versions or new products, which could further restrict our revenue growth.

 

If we are unable to compete effectively in the Internet-based solutions market, demand for our solution may be limited.

 

Our products communicate through public and private networks over the Internet. The success of our solution may depend, in part, on our ability to develop products that compete effectively in the Internet-based market. We are uncertain of the extent to which businesses will use the Internet as a means of communication and commerce and whether a significant market will develop for Internet-based CRM systems. The use of the Internet is evolving rapidly, and many companies are developing products that use the Internet. The increased commercial use of the Internet could require substantial modification of our products and the introduction of new products. We do not know what forms of products may emerge as alternatives to our existing ones, or to any future Internet-based or electronic commerce products and product features we may introduce.

 

In addition, critical issues concerning the commercial use of the Internet, including security, demand, reliability, cost, ease of use, accessibility, quality of service and potential tax or other government regulation, remain unresolved and may affect the use of the Internet as a medium to support the functionality and distribution of our products. If these critical issues are not favorably resolved, our Internet-related solution may not achieve market acceptance.

 

Privacy and security concerns, particularly related to the use of our software on the Internet, may limit the effectiveness of and reduce the demand for our solution.

 

The effectiveness of our solution relies on the storage and use of customer data collected from various sources, including information derived from customer registrations, billings, purchase transactions and surveys. The collection and use of such data by our customers for customer profiling may raise privacy and security concerns. Our customers generally have implemented security measures to protect customer data from disclosure or interception by third parties. However, the security measures may not be effective against all potential security threats. If a well-publicized breach of customer data security were to occur, our solution may be perceived as less desirable, which could limit our revenue growth.

 

In addition, due to privacy concerns, some Internet commentators, consumer advocates and governmental or legislative bodies have suggested legislation to limit the use of customer profiling technologies. The European Union and some European countries have already adopted some restrictions on the use of customer profiling data. If major countries or regions adopt legislation or other restrictions on the use of customer profiling data, our solution would be less useful to customers, and our sales could decrease.

 

We may be unable to efficiently restructure or expand our sales organization, which could harm our ability to expand our business.

 

To date, we have sold our solution primarily through our direct sales force. As a result, our future revenue growth will depend in large part on recruiting, training and retaining direct sales personnel and expanding our indirect distribution channels. These indirect channels include value-added resellers, or VARs, vertical service providers, or VSPs, original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, partners, system integrators and consulting firms. We have experienced and continue to experience difficulty in recruiting qualified direct sales personnel and in establishing third-party relationships with VARs, VSPs, OEM partners, systems integrators and consulting firms.

 

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In October 2002, we eliminated the role of our President and Chief Operating Officer and we do not plan to hire a replacement for this position in the near term. In addition, we hired a new Senior Vice President of the Americas in April 2002, three new regional sales managers during the second quarter of 2002 and a new Vice President of Asia in October 2002. We may face difficulty integrating these sales officers and key employees into our company, and are subject to the risk that this integration might not be successful. Our sales force restructuring efforts and future efforts to expand our sales force may not prove successful. If one or more of these initiatives is unsuccessful, our ability to retain top sales personnel may be affected, which could reduce our sales or limit our sales growth.

 

If our customers cannot successfully implement our products in a timely manner, demand for our solution will be limited.

 

The implementation of our products involves a significant commitment of resources by prospective customers. Our customers frequently deploy our products to large numbers of sales, marketing and customer service personnel, who may not accept our products. Our products are also used with a number of third-party software applications and programming tools. This use may present significant technical challenges, particularly as large numbers of personnel attempt to use our product concurrently. If an implementation is not successful, we may be required to deliver additional consulting services free of charge in order to remedy the problem. If our customers have difficulty deploying our software or for any other reason are not satisfied with our software, our operating results and financial condition may be harmed.

 

Rapid changes in technology could render our products obsolete or unmarketable, and we may be unable to introduce new products and services successfully and in a timely manner.

 

The CRM market is characterized by rapid change due to changing customer needs, rapid technological developments and advances introduced by competitors. Existing products can become obsolete and unmarketable when products using new technologies are introduced and new industry standards emerge. New technologies, including the rapid growth of the Internet, could change the way CRM systems are sold or delivered. We may also need to modify our products when third parties change software that we integrate into our products. As a result, the life cycles of our products are difficult to estimate.

 

To be successful, we must continue to enhance our current product line and develop new products that successfully respond to changing customer needs, technological developments and competitive product offerings. We may not be able to successfully develop or license the applications necessary to respond to these changes, or to integrate new applications with our existing products. We have delayed enhancements or new product release dates several times in the past, including in 2001 the Oracle/Unix version of our product, and may be unable to introduce enhancements or new products successfully or in a timely manner in the future. If we delay release of our products and product enhancements, or if they fail to achieve market acceptance when released, it could harm our reputation and our ability to attract and retain customers, and our revenues may decline. In addition, customers may defer or forego purchases of our products if we, our competitors or major technology vendors introduce or announce new products or product enhancements.

 

If we do not expand our international operations and successfully overcome the risks inherent in international business activities, the growth of our business will be limited.

 

To be successful, we must continue to expand our international operations and enter new international markets. This expansion may be delayed as a result of our recent operating expense reduction measures and general economic conditions. If we do expand internationally, it will require significant management attention and financial resources to successfully translate and localize our software products to various languages and to develop direct and indirect international sales and support channels. Even if we successfully translate our software and develop new channels, we may not be able to maintain or increase international market demand for our solution. We, or our VARs or VSPs, may be unable to sustain or increase international revenues from

 

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licenses or from consulting and customer support. In addition, our international sales are subject to the risks inherent in international business activities, including

 

    costs of customizing products for foreign countries;

 

    export and import restrictions, tariffs and other trade barriers;

 

    the need to comply with multiple, conflicting and changing laws and regulations;

 

    reduced protection of intellectual property rights and increased liability exposure; and

 

    regional economic, cultural and political conditions, including the direct and indirect effects of terrorist activity and armed conflict in countries in which we do business.

 

As noted above, Onyx Japan has incurred substantial losses in recent periods. The minority shareholders capital account balance as of September 30, 2002 was $444,000. Additional Onyx Japan losses above approximately $1.1 million in the aggregate will be absorbed 100% by Onyx, as compared to 58% in prior periods. Although we restructured Onyx Japan’s operations during the third quarter of 2002, which we expect to significantly reduce our future operating expenses and increase our ability to be profitable and cash flow positive in Japan, additional funding may be required to continue the operation of the joint venture. Our joint venture partners are not obligated to participate in any capital call and have indicated that they do not currently intend to invest additional sums in Onyx Japan. We are, however, discussing other ways our partners can assist Onyx Japan. If Onyx Japan continues to incur losses and no additional capital is invested, we may have to further restructure our operations in Japan.

 

Our foreign subsidiaries operate primarily in local currencies, and their results are translated into U.S. dollars. We do not currently engage in currency hedging activities, but we may do so in the future. Changes in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies have not materially affected our operating results in the past. Our operating results could, however, be materially harmed if we enter into license or other contractual agreements involving significant amounts of foreign currencies with extended payment terms if the values of those currencies fall in relation to the U.S. dollar over the payment period.

 

If we are unable to develop and maintain effective long-term relationships with our key partners, or if our key partners fail to perform, our ability to sell our solution will be limited.

 

We rely on our existing relationships with a number of key partners, including consulting firms, system integrators, VARs, VSPs and third-party technology vendors, that are important to worldwide sales and marketing of our solution. We expect an increasing percentage of our revenues to be derived from sales that arise out of our relationships with these key partners. In addition, to be successful and to more effectively sell our products to larger customers, we must develop successful new relationships with prestigious key partners. Key partners often provide consulting, implementation and customer support services, and endorse our solution during the competitive evaluation stage of the sales cycle. Although we seek to maintain relationships with our key partners, and to develop relationships with new partners, many of these existing and potential key partners have similar, and often more established, relationships with our competitors. These existing and potential partners, many of which have significantly greater resources than we have, may in the future market software products that compete with our solution or reduce or discontinue their relationships with us or their support of our solution. In addition, our sales will be limited if

 

    we are unable to develop and maintain effective, long-term relationships with existing and potential key partners;

 

    our existing and potential key partners endorse a product or technology other than our solution;

 

    we are unable to adequately train a sufficient number of key partners; or

 

    our existing and potential key partners do not have or do not devote the resources necessary to implement our solution.

 

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If our relationships with vertical service providers are unsuccessful, our ability to market and sell our solution will be limited.

 

We expect a material percentage of our revenues to be derived from our relationships with domestic and international VSPs that market and sell our CRM systems. If these VSPs do not successfully market our products, our operating results will be materially harmed. Because our relationships with VSPs are relatively new, we cannot predict the degree to which the VSPs will succeed in marketing and selling our solution. In addition, because the VSP model for selling software is relatively new and unproven in the CRM industry, we cannot predict the degree to which our potential customers will accept this delivery model. If the VSPs fail to deliver and support our solution, end-users could decide not to subscribe, or cease subscribing, for our solution. The VSPs typically offer our solution in combination with other products and services, some of which may compete with our solution.

 

Our sales cycle is long, and sales delays could cause our operating results to fluctuate, which could cause a decline in our stock price.

 

An enterprise’s decision to purchase a CRM system is discretionary, involves a significant commitment of its resources and is influenced by its budget cycles. To successfully sell our solution, we generally must educate our potential customers regarding the use and benefit of our solution, which can require significant time and resources. Consequently, the period between initial contact and the purchase of our solution is often long and subject to delays associated with the lengthy budgeting, approval and competitive evaluation processes that typically accompany significant capital expenditures. Our sales cycles are lengthy and variable, typically ranging between six and eighteen months from our initial contact with a potential customer to the signing of a license agreement, although the amount of time varies substantially from customer to customer and occasionally sales require substantially more time. When economic conditions weaken, sales cycles for software products tend to lengthen, and as a result, we experienced longer sales cycles in 2001 and 2002. We expect to continue to experience longer sales cycles than usual in 2003. Sales delays could cause our operating results to fall below the expectations of investors, which could result in a decrease in our stock price.

 

We may be unable to adequately protect our proprietary rights, which may limit our ability to compete effectively.

 

Our success depends in part on our ability to protect our proprietary rights. To protect our proprietary rights, we rely primarily on a combination of copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties, and protective contractual provisions such as those contained in license agreements with consultants, vendors and customers, although we have not signed these agreements in every case. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may copy aspects of our products and obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Other parties may breach confidentiality agreements and other protective contracts we have entered into, and we may not become aware of, or have adequate remedies in the event of, a breach. We face additional risk when conducting business in countries that have poorly developed or inadequately enforced intellectual property laws. While we are unable to determine the extent to which piracy of our software products exists, we expect piracy to be a continuing concern, particularly in international markets and as a result of the growing use of the Internet. In any event, competitors may independently develop similar or superior technologies or duplicate the technologies we have developed, which could substantially limit the value of our intellectual property.

 

Intellectual property claims and litigation could subject us to significant liability for damages and result in invalidation of our proprietary rights.

 

In the future, we may have to resort to litigation to protect our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Any litigation, regardless of its success, would probably be costly and require significant time and attention of our key management and

 

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technical personnel. Although we have not been sued for intellectual property infringement, we may face infringement claims from third parties in the future. The software industry has seen frequent litigation over intellectual property rights, and we expect that participants in the industry will be increasingly subject to infringement claims as the number of products, services and competitors grows and the functionality of products and services overlaps. Infringement litigation could also force us to

 

    stop or delay selling, incorporating or using products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property;

 

    pay damages;

 

    enter into licensing or royalty agreements, which may be unavailable on acceptable terms; or

 

    redesign products or services that incorporate infringing technology, which we might not be able to do at an acceptable price, in a timely fashion or at all.

 

Our products may suffer from defects or errors, which could result in loss of revenues, delayed or limited market acceptance of our products, increased costs and reputational damage.

 

Software products as complex as ours frequently contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new versions are released. Our customers are particularly sensitive to such defects and errors because of the importance of our solution to the day-to-day operation of their businesses. We have had to delay commercial release of past versions of our products until software problems were corrected, and in some cases have provided product updates to correct errors in released products. Our new products or releases, including any new or limited Oracle versions of our product that may be generally released, may not be free from errors after commercial shipments have begun. Any errors that are discovered after commercial release could result in loss of revenues or delay in market acceptance, diversion of development resources, damage to our reputation, increased service and warranty costs or claims against us.

 

In addition, the operation of our products could be compromised as a result of errors in the third-party software we incorporate into our software. It may be difficult for us to correct errors in third-party software because that software is not in our control.

 

Integration of recent past or future acquisitions may be difficult and disruptive.

 

We have completed several corporate acquisitions in the last few years. In the future, we may acquire additional complementary companies or technologies. Managing these acquisitions has entailed, and may in the future entail, numerous operational and financial risks and strains, including

 

    difficulty and cost in combining the operations and personnel of acquired businesses with our operations and personnel;

 

    disruption of our ongoing business and diversion of management’s time and attention to integrating or completing the development or commercialization of any acquired technologies;

 

    impairment of relationships with key customers of acquired businesses due to changes in management and ownership of the acquired businesses; and

 

    inability to retain key employees of any acquired businesses.

 

If we do not successfully integrate any acquisition, our business will suffer.

 

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You may be unable to resell your shares at or above the price at which you purchased them, and our stock price may be volatile.

 

Since our initial public offering in February 1999, the price of our common stock has been volatile, particularly in the last year. Our common stock reached a high of $44.00 per share on March 6, 2000 and traded as low as $1.01 per share on January 27, 2003. As a result of fluctuations in the price of our common stock, you may be unable to sell your shares at or above the price at which you purchased them. The trading price of our common stock could be subject to fluctuations for a number of reasons, including

 

    future announcements concerning us or our competitors;

 

    actual or anticipated quarterly variations in operating results;

 

    changes in analysts’ earnings projections or recommendations;

 

    announcements of technological innovations;

 

    the introduction of new products;

 

    changes in product pricing policies by us or our competitors;

 

    proprietary rights litigation or other litigation; or

 

    changes in accounting standards that adversely affect our revenues and earnings.

 

In addition, future sales of substantial numbers of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

 

Stock prices for many technology companies fluctuate widely for reasons that may be unrelated to operating results of these companies. These fluctuations, as well as general economic, market and political conditions, such as national or international currency and stock market volatility, recessions or military conflicts, may materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance and may expose us to class action securities litigation which, even if unsuccessful, would be costly to defend and distracting to management.

 

Our articles of incorporation and bylaws and Washington law contain provisions that could discourage a takeover.

 

Certain provisions of our restated articles of incorporation and bylaws, our shareholder rights plan and Washington law would make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would be beneficial for our shareholders. This could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. For example, certain provisions of our articles of incorporation or bylaws

 

    stagger the election of our board members so that only one-third of our board is up for reelection at each annual meeting;

 

    allow our board to issue preferred stock without any vote or further action by the shareholders;

 

    eliminate the right of shareholders to act by written consent without a meeting, unless the vote to take the action is unanimous;

 

    eliminate cumulative voting in the election of directors;

 

    specify a minimum threshold for shareholders to call a special meeting;

 

    specify that directors may be removed only with cause; and

 

    specify a supermajority requirement for shareholders to change those portions of our articles that contain the provisions described above.

 

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In October 1999, we adopted a shareholder rights plan, which is triggered upon commencement or announcement of a hostile tender offer or when any one person or group acquires 15% or more of our common stock. Once triggered, the rights plan would result in the issuance of preferred stock to the holders of our common stock other than the acquirer. The holders of this preferred stock would be entitled to ten votes per share on corporate matters. In addition, these shareholders receive rights under the rights plan to purchase our common stock, and the stock of the entity acquiring us, at reduced prices.

 

We are also subject to certain provisions of Washington law that could delay or make more difficult a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving us. In particular, Chapter 23B.19 of the Washington Business Corporation Act prohibits corporations based in Washington from engaging in certain business combinations with any interested shareholder for a period of five years unless specific conditions are met.

 

These provisions of our articles of incorporation, bylaws and rights plan and Washington law could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of Onyx, including, without limitation, discouraging a proxy contest or making more difficult the acquisition of a substantial block of our common stock. The provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

 

 

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SELLING SHAREHOLDER

 

We issued warrants to purchase 795,000 shares of our common stock to the selling shareholder in connection with our lease restructuring. The following table provides information regarding the selling shareholder and the number of shares of common stock that the selling shareholder is offering. The percentage ownership data is based on 50,787,654 shares of our common stock outstanding as of February 7, 2003. Under the rules of the SEC, beneficial ownership includes shares over which the indicated beneficial owner exercises voting or investment power. We believe that the selling shareholder has sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares beneficially owned. The information regarding shares beneficially owned after the offering assumes the sale of all shares offered by the selling shareholder.

 

Name and Address


  

Number of Shares Beneficially Owned Before Offering


  

Number

of Shares

Being

Offered


      

Shares Beneficially Owned After Offering


 
          

Number


    

Percent


 

Bellevue Hines Development LLC

  

795,000

  

795,000

(1)

    

0

    

0

%


(1)   Represents shares issuable upon exercise of three separate warrants to purchase Onyx common stock that were issued on January 13, 2003. The exercise prices of the warrants are as follows: 265,000 shares at $2.595 a share, 265,000 shares at $3.0275 a share and 265,000 shares at $3.46 a share.

 

We and the selling shareholder are parties to an Office Building Lease dated June 6, 2000, as amended by that certain First Amendment to Lease dated June 20, 2000, a Second Amendment to Lease dated August 6, 2001 and a Third Amendment to Lease dated January 13, 2003. The selling shareholder has not had any other material relationship with us or any of our affiliates within the past three years.

 

The selling shareholder has represented to us that it received the warrants to purchase Onyx shares for its own account, for investment only and not with a view toward publicly selling or distributing them, except in sales either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration. In recognition of the fact that the selling shareholder may wish nevertheless to be legally permitted to sell its shares when it deems appropriate, we have agreed with the selling shareholder to file a registration statement to register the shares for resale and to prepare and file all amendments and supplements necessary to keep the registration statement effective until the earlier of January 13, 2005 and the date on which the selling shareholder has sold all the shares covered by the registration statement.

 

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

 

The selling shareholder or its transferee or other successor-in-interest may sell the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus from time to time, in one or more transactions. The selling shareholder may sell the shares at fixed prices that may change, at market prices at the time of sale or at negotiated prices. The selling shareholder may sell the shares

 

    through the Nasdaq National Market or any other national securities exchange on which our common stock is then listed;

 

    in privately negotiated transactions; or

 

    through a combination of these transactions.

 

The selling shareholder may sell any shares covered by this prospectus that qualify for sale under Rule 144 of the Securities Act in transactions complying with Rule 144, rather than through this prospectus. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares by the selling shareholder.

 

The selling shareholder may sell the shares to or through broker-dealers, who may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from the selling shareholder or the purchasers. Any broker-dealer may act as a broker-dealer on behalf of a selling shareholder in connection with the offering of the shares. Any broker-dealers who assist in the sale of the shares covered by this prospectus may be considered “underwriters” within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Securities Act, and any commissions they receive or profits they earn on the resale of the shares may be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act.

 

If required, we will distribute a supplement to this prospectus to describe any material changes in the terms of the offering. We have the right to suspend the use of this prospectus for up to 60 days if we notify the selling shareholder that our board of directors has determined that the sale of our common stock at such time would be detrimental to us and our shareholders or if material nonpublic information exists that must be disclosed so that this prospectus, as in effect, does not include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to make the statements in this prospectus not misleading.

 

Subject to limited exceptions, we have agreed to bear all expenses in connection with the registration and sale of the shares being offered by the selling shareholder. We have also agreed to indemnify the selling shareholder against specified liabilities it incurs in connection with an actual or alleged untrue statement or omission of a material fact in the registration statement, including liabilities under the Securities Act. The selling shareholder has agreed to indemnify us against specified liabilities we incur in connection with our reliance on written information furnished by the selling shareholder expressly for use in connection with this prospectus.

 

The selling shareholder may elect not to sell any or all of the shares covered by this prospectus.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

 

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Seattle, Washington, has provided us with an opinion that the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus are legally issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

 

EXPERTS

 

Ernst & Young LLP, independent auditors, have audited our consolidated financial statements and schedule included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, as set forth in their report, which is incorporated by reference into this prospectus and elsewhere in the registration statement. Our consolidated financial statements and schedule are incorporated by reference in reliance on Ernst & Young LLP’s report, given on their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

 

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WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

 

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s Web site at http://www.sec.gov. The SEC’s Web site contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers, such as Onyx, that file electronically with the SEC. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. You may also obtain copies of the documents at prescribed rates by writing to the SEC’s Public Reference Section at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of its Public Reference Room.

 

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus the information we have filed with the SEC, which is considered to be a part of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following documents:

 

    Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act, which contains audited consolidated financial statements for the most recent fiscal year for which such statements have been filed;

 

    Our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed on May 14, 2002, August 14, 2002 and November 14, 2002;

 

    Our Current Reports on Form 8-K filed on January 17, 2002, January 29, 2002, January 29, 2002, January 30, 2002, April 16, 2002, October 7, 2002 and January 14, 2003; and

 

    Our registration statements on Form 8-A, filed on February 8, 1999 and October 28, 1999, which contain descriptions of our common stock and our Series A preferred stock purchase rights.

 

We also incorporate by reference into this prospectus all documents we file under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (a) after the initial filing date of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part and before the effectiveness of the registration statement and (b) after the effectiveness of the registration statement and before the shares offered by this prospectus have been sold. The most recent information that we file with the SEC automatically updates and supersedes older information. The information contained in any such filing will be deemed to be a part of this prospectus as of the date on which the document is filed, and any older information that has been modified or superceded will not be deemed to be part of this prospectus.

 

Upon request, we will provide to each person who receives a prospectus a copy of the information that has been incorporated by reference in this prospectus. You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us:

 

Onyx Software Corporation

Attention: Investor Relations

1100-112th Avenue NE, Suite 100

Bellevue, Washington 98004

(425) 451-8060

 

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LOGO


Table of Contents

PART II

 

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

 

Item 14.    Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution

 

The following table lists the costs and expenses payable by the registrant in connection with the sale of the common stock covered by this registration statement. All amounts are estimates except for the SEC registration fee:

 

SEC registration fee

  

$

78

Printing and engraving expenses

  

 

20,000

Legal fees and expenses

  

 

10,000

Accounting fees and expenses

  

 

10,000

Miscellaneous fees and expenses

  

 

922

    

Total

  

$

41,000

    

 

Item 15.    Indemnification of Directors and Officers

 

Sections 23B.08.500 through 23B.08.600 of the Washington Business Corporation Act, or WBCA, authorize a court to award, or a corporation’s board of directors to grant, indemnification to directors and officers on terms sufficiently broad to permit indemnification under certain circumstances for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act. Section 10 of the registrant’s bylaws provides for indemnification of the registrant’s directors, officers, employees and agents to the maximum extent permitted by Washington law. The directors and officers of the registrant also may be indemnified against liability they incur for serving in that capacity under a directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policy maintained by the registrant for this purpose.

 

Section 23B.08.320 of the WBCA authorizes a corporation to limit a director’s liability to the corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages for acts or omissions as a director, except in certain circumstances involving intentional misconduct, knowing violations of law or illegal corporate loans or distributions, or any transaction from which the director personally receives a benefit in money, property or services to which the director is not legally entitled. Section 5.2 of the registrant’s Restated Articles of Incorporation contains provisions implementing, to the fullest extent permitted by Washington law, these limitations on a director’s liability to the registrant and its shareholders.

 

The registrant has entered into indemnification agreements with certain of its officers and directors. The indemnification agreements provide the registrant’s officers and directors with indemnification to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

 

Item 16.    Exhibits

 

Exhibit No.


  

Description


5.1

  

Opinion of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, counsel to the registrant, regarding the legality of the common stock being registered

23.1

  

Consent of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Auditors

23.2

  

Consent of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (contained in Exhibit 5.1)

24.1

  

Power of attorney (contained on signature page)

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 17.    Undertakings

 

A.    The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

 

(1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

 

(i)  To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

 

(ii)  To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of a prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; or

 

(iii)  To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

 

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement;

 

(2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered in such post-effective amendment, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering of such securities; and

 

(3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered that remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

 

B.    The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering of such securities.

 

C.    Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by a director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question of whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of Bellevue, state of Washington, on the 14th day of February, 2003.

 

ONYX SOFTWARE CORPORATION

By:

 

/s/    BRENT R. FREI        


   

Brent R. Frei

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

 

POWER OF ATTORNEY

 

Each person whose signature appears below hereby authorizes and appoints Brent R. Frei and Brian C. Henry, or either of them, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent to act in his or her name, place and stead and to execute in the name and on behalf of each person, individually and in each capacity stated below, and to file, any and all amendments to this Registration Statement, including any and all post-effective amendments, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing, and ratifying and confirming all that they or their or his or her substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated below on the 14th day of February, 2003.

 

Signature


  

Title


/s/    BRENT R. FREI        


Brent R. Frei

  

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board (Principal Executive Officer)

/s/    BRIAN C. HENRY        


Brian C. Henry

  

Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President (Principal Financial Officer)

/s/    AMY E. KELLERAN        


Amy E. Kelleran

  

Vice President Finance, Corporate Controller and Assistant Secretary (Principal Accounting Officer)

/s/    H. RAYMOND BINGHAM        


H. Raymond Bingham

  

Director

/s/    TERESA A. DIAL        


Teresa A. Dial

  

Director

/s/    WILLIAM B. ELMORE        


William B. Elmore

  

Director

/s/    LEE D. ROBERTS        


Lee D. Roberts

  

Director

/s/    DANIEL R. SANTELL        


Daniel R. Santell

  

Director

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit Number


  

Description


5.1

  

Opinion of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, counsel to the registrant, regarding the legality of the common stock being registered

23.1

  

Consent of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Auditors

23.2

  

Consent of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (contained in Exhibit 5.1)

24.1

  

Power of attorney (contained on signature page)