STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2023

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

NOTE 15 – STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On May 13, 2021, the Company made effective the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) for purpose of attracting and retaining employees, consultants and directors of the Company and its affiliates by providing each the opportunity to acquire an equity interest in the Company or other incentive compensation in order to align the interests of such individuals with those of the Company’s stockholders. The Plan provides for a maximum number of shares to be issued, limitations of shares to be delivered for incentive stock options and a maximum compensation amount for any non-employee member of the board of directors, among other provisions. The form of grants under the Plan includes stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock and RSUs. Additionally, during the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 the Company issued 157,396 and 320,788 shares of Common Stock, respectively, to Board of Director members for payment of quarterly fees in lieu of cash payments. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, stock-based compensation expense was $1.7 million and $2.6 million, respectively. For each of the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, stock-based compensation expense was $482,000.

During the six months ended June 30, 2023, certain employees, in lieu of paying withholding taxes on the vesting of certain shares of RSU awards, authorized the withholding of an aggregate of 500,494 shares of the Company’s Common Stock to satisfy statutory

withholding requirements related to such vesting. Shares withheld for the payment of withholding taxes are not deemed issued under the Plan and remain available for issuance.

The following table summarizes the activities for unvested Company RSUs granted to employees and Board of Directors members during the six months ended June 30, 2023:

	Unvested Restricted Stock Units
	Number of Shares		Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Unvested as of December 31, 2022		1,931,187	$	2.87
Granted		6,852,358	$	0.43
Vested		(2,197,854)	$	1.08
Forfeited/canceled		—	$	-
Unvested as of June 30, 2023		6,585,691	$	0.93

RSUs granted as set out in the table above include RSUs representing 3,900,000 shares with vesting based on market conditions tied to the Company’s stock price achieving a stated price for 45 consecutive trading days. The requisite service period for grants, including derived service periods for RSUs with market conditions, is between one and three years. As of June 30, 2023, there was $5.2 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested employee and Board of Directors members RSUs. The amount is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 0.8 years. The shares of Common Stock related to 849,334 vested awards included in the unvested restricted stock units table above were issued subsequent to June 30, 2023.

The following table summarizes the activities for unvested Company RSUs granted to non-employees, excluding Board of Directors members, during the six months ended June 30, 2023:

	Unvested Restricted Stock Units
	Number of Shares		Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Unvested as of December 31, 2022		82,645	$	1.21
Granted		2,870,564	$	0.82
Vested		(170,423)	$	0.68
Forfeited/canceled		—	$	-
Unvested as of June 30, 2023		2,782,786	$	0.84

The requisite service period for grants, including derived service periods for RSUs with market conditions, is generally between one and three years.  As of June 30, 2023, there was $2.0 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested non-employee, excluding Board of Director members, RSUs.  The amount is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.1 years.