CORRESP 1 filename1.htm livecurrent_corresp-082509.htm


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375 Water Street, Suite 645
Vancouver, BC, V6B5C6, Canada
Telephone (604) 453-4870

August 25, 2009

Via electronic mail at dcaoletters@sec.gov

Office of the Chief Accountant
Division of Corporation Finance
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C. 20549

Re:  Restatement of Financial Statements by Live Current Media Inc.
       Your File No.:  000-29929

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Live Current Media Inc. builds businesses around domain names that we own.  Currently, almost all of our revenues are generated by www.perfume.com, a website that sells fragrances and other beauty products.

We are a smaller reporting company with common stock registered pursuant to section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and, as such, we are required by section 13 of the Exchange Act to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On June 18, 2009 we were advised by Ernst & Young, our independent registered public accounting firm, that the audit opinion dated March 24, 2009 on our December 31, 2008 consolidated financial statements could no longer be relied upon.  We were further advised by Ernst & Young that there were errors in our September 30, 2008 interim consolidated financial statements, in our December 31, 2008 consolidated financial statements and in our March 31, 2009 interim consolidated financial statements.  Based on the foregoing, our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that the previously filed consolidated financial statements contained in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2008, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2009 should no longer be relied upon due to errors in the consolidated financial statements which include the following:

(i)           Warrants that we issued in conjunction with a financing that we closed on November 19, 2008 should have been valued and classified as a liability in our financial statements, rather than as equity.  This will require an adjustment in our consolidated financial statements at December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

 
 

 
Office of the Chief Accountant
Division of Corporation Finance
August 25, 2009
Page 2



(ii)           As part of the acquisition of Entity Inc. (“Auctomatic”), we agreed to issue a total of approximately 1,000,000 shares to the former shareholders of Auctomatic.  Of these, 413,604 shares were to be issued to three members of Auctomatic’s management, one third each on the first, second and third anniversaries of the transaction, conditional on the individuals remaining as our employees.  The portion of the fair value of the shares to be issued based on the period of service these individuals provided to us, computed in relation to the period of service required for the individuals to become entitled to the shares, should have been recorded as an expense in our consolidated financial statements at June 30, 2008, September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

(iii)           As part of the employment agreement signed with our President and Chief Corporate Development Officer that became effective January 1, 2008, we are required to pay him a bonus of CDN $100,000 on January 1, 2009 and CDN $100,000 on January 1, 2010.  These bonuses are to be paid only if he remains an officer of the Company at those dates.  A portion of these bonuses should have been accrued as a liability and recorded as additional compensation expense in our consolidated financial statements at September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

Since filing the Current Report on Form 8-K disclosing our need to restate these financial statements, we have determined that the financial statements that were included in the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008 were also impacted by the errors set forth above, as well as by the following errors:

(i)           As part of the employment agreement signed with our former President and Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Ehrlich, that became effective September 11, 2007, we were required to pay him bonuses of CDN $250,000 on October 1, 2008 and CDN $250,000 on October 1, 2009.  These bonuses were to be paid only if he remained an officer of the company at those dates.  A portion of the bonus should have been accrued as a liability and recorded as additional compensation expense in our consolidated financial statements at March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008, September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

(ii)          As part of the acquisition of Auctomatic, we calculated the purchase price allocation based on an average share price of $2.672 at the date of the announcement of the acquisition.  Since the number of shares to be issued under the merger agreement was to be defined closer to the closing date of the merger, the purchase price allocation should have been calculated on an average share price of $2.922 at the date of closing.  This resulted in an error in the purchase price allocation whereby the goodwill was recorded incorrectly in our consolidated financial statements at June 30, 2008, September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

 
 

 
Office of the Chief Accountant
Division of Corporation Finance
August 25, 2009
Page 3


(iii)         The calculation of stock based compensation for stock options granted under our Stock Option Plan were based on a Black-Scholes valuation utilizing an expected life of 3 years.  According to GAAP, a company with limited historical data pertaining to stock options should calculate the term of its stock options using a defined formula.  As a result, the term has been revised to 3.375 years, and the incremental stock based compensation expense has been recorded in our consolidated financial statements at March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008, September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008, and March 31, 2009.

(iv)         In Q1 2008, we acquired additional shares in our subsidiary, Domain Holdings Inc. in exchange for settling intercompany debt.  This was recorded as a step-acquisition of additional interest in this subsidiary.  This resulted in goodwill and an effect to the non-controlling interest (NCI) in our consolidated financial statements at March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008, September 30, 2008, December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009, none of which was previously recorded.

(v)          We are required to estimate our deferred tax liability in relation to potential taxes owing on any gains on disposal of our domain name intangible assets.  US GAAP does not permit taxable temporary differences associated with indefinite life intangible assets to be considered as evidence to otherwise reduce a valuation allowance associated with deductible timing differences in the same entity.  As a result, we are required to record a related deferred tax liability and expense in our consolidated financial statements at December 31, 2008.

(vi)         We disposed of a domain name at December 31, 2008 and did not record the disposition of the website development costs associated with the domain name.  Due to the fact the amount was immaterial, we recorded the disposition of the website development costs in Q1 of 2009.  However, we are including this adjustment in our restated consolidated financial statements at December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

(vii)        We have incorrectly accrued audit fees for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2008 in each of those years, instead of accruing the expenses in the months subsequent to the fiscal year.  Due to the fact the amounts were immaterial, we did not reflect the adjustment at December 31, 2008, however we are including this adjustment in our restated consolidated financial statements at December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

(viii)        In our response to an SEC comment letter dated May 28, 2009, we indicated that we would present amounts related to the minimum payments owing to the BCCI and IPL under our Global Cricket Venture separately on our balance sheets and statements of operations.  This modification to the presentation of our consolidated financial statements will affect our balance sheets and statements of operations at December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

 
 

 
Office of the Chief Accountant
Division of Corporation Finance
August 25, 2009
Page 4


Included as an attachment to this letter are spreadsheets showing all of the adjustments to the quarterly financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008 and September 30, 2008.

Amending our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008 and September 30, 2008 (collectively, the “Quarterly Report Amendments”) will be extremely burdensome for our company inasmuch as we have a limited number of staff persons who have the expertise to prepare them and these individuals will still be required to continue working on our day-to-day operations and on the preparation of documents for our on-going reporting obligations.  Furthermore, the cost of having our auditors review the Quarterly Report Amendments will be significant, at a time when our resources are limited and the prospect of being able to raise additional funds for working capital is unlikely.

We understand that the Office of the Chief Accountant is concerned with enhancing transparency and relevancy of financial reporting and promoting the fair presentation and credibility of financial statements used for investment decisions.  Set forth below is a detailed explanation of the ways in which we intend to amend our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which we believe will provide adequate protection for investors and is not inconsistent with the public interest.

(i)           We will include an explanatory note at the beginning of the Form 10-K amendment that discusses the reason for the amendment.

(ii)          We will prepare the MD&A based on the restated annual and quarterly financial information, explaining our operating results, trends and liquidity during each interim and annual period presented.

(iii)         We will include audited annual financial statements for the most recent two years, restated as necessary and with the appropriate columns labeled “restated”.
 
(iv)         We will include footnote disclosure restating the quarterly financial information with respect to the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008 and September 30, 2008, in lieu of filing the Quarterly Report Amendments.

(v)          We will include footnote disclosure reconciling the previously filed annual financial information to the restated financial information, on a line-by-line basis and for each material type of error separately, within and for the periods presented in the financial statements.

(vi)         We will make the appropriate revisions to Item 9A to disclose any material weaknesses that were identified as a result of the restatement and supplement, as appropriate, management’s original disclosure to include any other material information so that the disclosures are not misleading.  We will also disclose the certifying officers’ conclusion regarding the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by the amended filing.

 
 

 
Office of the Chief Accountant
Division of Corporation Finance
August 25, 2009
Page 5


By providing the quarterly information within the amendment to our Form 10-K, we believe that investors will be in possession of the information they need to make their investment decisions.   We do not believe that filing the Quarterly Report Amendments will provide any additional benefit to the users of the financial statements.  We expect to have the draft of the amendment to our Form 10-K completed by September 11, 2009.

For these reasons we would like to obtain confirmation from the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance that it will not raise further comment regarding our need to file the Quarterly Report Amendments.

We ask that you contact our attorney, Mary Ann Sapone, at 707-937-2059 with any questions you might have regarding our request.
 

 
 
Very truly yours,

LIVE CURRENT MEDIA INC.



By:  /s/ C. Geoffrey Hampson                                           
        C. Geoffrey Hampson
        Chief Executive Officer
 
cc:  jacobss@sec.gov
      babular@sec.gov

 
 

 
 
EXHIBITS
 
 
March 31, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
ASSETS
                 
Current
                 
Cash and cash equivalents
  $ 4,905,745     $ -     $ 4,905,745  
Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of nil)
    142,220       -       142,220  
Prepaid expenses and deposits
    165,062       -       165,062  
Current portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    140,540       -       140,540  
Total current assets
    5,353,567       -       5,353,567  
                         
Long-term portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    23,423       -       23,423  
Deferred acquisition costs
    121,265       -       121,265  
Property & equipment
    314,600       -       314,600  
Website development costs
    147,025       -       147,025  
Intangible assets
    1,625,881       -       1,625,881  
Goodwill
    -       66,692       66,692  
Total Assets
  $ 7,585,761     $ 66,692     $ 7,652,453  
                         
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Current
                       
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
  $ 1,311,817     $ -     $ 1,311,817  
Bonuses payable
    -       215,025       215,025  
Deferred revenue
    19,644       -       19,644  
NCI Liability
    -       23,972       23,972  
Deferred tax liability
    -       246,759       246,759  
Current portion of deferred lease inducements
    20,138       -       20,138  
Total current liabilities
    1,351,599       485,756       1,837,355  
                         
Deferred lease inducements
    70,483       -       70,483  
Total Liabilities
    1,422,082       485,756       1,907,838  
                         
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Common Stock
                       
Authorized: 50,000,000 common shares, $0.001 par value
                       
Issued and outstanding:
                       
21,446,623 common shares (December 31, 2007 - 21,446,623)
    12,456       -       12,456  
Additional paid-in capital
    10,671,119       (57,394 )     10,613,725  
Accumulated deficit
    (4,519,896 )     (361,670 )     (4,881,566 )
Total Stockholders' Equity
    6,163,679       (419,064 )     5,744,615  
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
  $ 7,585,761     $ 66,692     $ 7,652,453  

 
 

 
 
For the quarter ended March 31, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
                   
SALES
  $ 1,848,479     $ -     $ 1,848,479  
                         
COSTS OF SALES
    1,486,062       -       1,486,062  
                         
GROSS PROFIT
    362,417       -       362,417  
                         
EXPENSES
                       
Amortization and depreciation
    15,266       -       15,266  
Corporate general and administrative
    447,895       63,750       511,645  
ECommerce general and administrative
    169,813       -       169,813  
Management fees and employee salaries
    1,073,546       85,179       1,158,725  
Corporate marketing
    26,459       -       26,459  
ECommerce marketing
    149,187       -       149,187  
Other expenses
    629,856       -       629,856  
Total Expenses
    2,512,022       148,929       2,660,951  
                         
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSES)
                       
Global Cricket Venture expenses
    (55,317 )     -       (55,317 )
Gain from sales and sales-type lease of domain names
    168,206       -       168,206  
Interest and investment income
    42,498       -       42,498  
Minority interest
    -       51,506       51,506  
Total Other Income (Expenses)
    155,387       51,506       206,893  
                         
NET LOSS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD
  $ (1,994,218 )   $ (97,423 )   $ (2,091,641 )
                         
BASIC AND DILUTED LOSS PER SHARE
  $ (0.10 )     (0.00 )   $ (0.10 )
                         
WEIGHTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMON
                       
SHARES OUTSTANDING - BASIC AND DILUTED
    19,970,334       -       19,970,334  
 
 
 

 
 
June 30, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
ASSETS
                 
Current
                 
Cash and cash equivalents
  $ 1,897,940     $ -     $ 1,897,940  
Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of nil)
    131,898       -       131,898  
AR from GCV
    733,539       -       733,539  
Prepaid expenses and deposits
    310,726       -       310,726  
Current portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    98,378       -       98,378  
Total current assets
    3,172,481       -       3,172,481  
                         
Long-term portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    23,423       -       23,423  
Property & equipment
    1,225,440       -       1,225,440  
Website development costs
    276,030       -       276,030  
Intangible assets
    1,625,881       -       1,625,881  
Goodwill
    2,417,296       177,438       2,594,734  
Total Assets
  $ 8,740,551     $ 177,438     $ 8,917,989  
                         
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Current
                       
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
  $ 1,518,222     $ -     $ 1,518,222  
Bonuses payable
    333,442       340,276       673,718  
Due to shareholders of Auctomatic
    781,117       -       781,117  
Deferred revenue
    15,787       -       15,787  
Deferred tax liability
    -       246,759       246,759  
Current portion of deferred lease inducements
    20,138       -       20,138  
Total current liabilities
    2,668,706       587,035       3,255,741  
                         
Deferred lease inducements
    65,449       -       65,449  
Total Liabilities
    2,734,155       587,035       3,321,190  
                         
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Common Stock
                       
Authorized: 50,000,000 common shares, $0.001 par value
                       
Issued and outstanding:
                       
22,078,026 common shares (December 31, 2007 - 21,446,623)
    13,087       -       13,087  
Additional paid-in capital
    12,483,794       52,765       12,536,559  
Accumulated deficit
    (6,490,485 )     (462,362 )     (6,952,847 )
Total Stockholders' Equity
    6,006,396       (409,597 )     5,596,799  
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
  $ 8,740,551     $ 177,438     $ 8,917,989  
 
 
 

 
 
For the quarter ended June 30, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
                   
SALES
  $ 1,935,454     $ -     $ 1,935,454  
                         
COSTS OF SALES
    1,578,886       -       1,578,886  
                         
GROSS PROFIT
    356,568       -       356,568  
                         
EXPENSES
                       
Amortization and depreciation
    43,888       -       43,888  
Corporate general and administrative
    591,169       -       591,169  
ECommerce general and administrative
    100,495       -       100,495  
Management fees and employee salaries
    1,479,782       124,664       1,604,446  
Corporate marketing
    20,243       -       20,243  
ECommerce marketing
    129,885       -       129,885  
Other expenses
    33,691       -       33,691  
Total Expenses
    2,399,153       124,664       2,523,817  
                         
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSES)
                       
Interest and investment income
    16,680       -       16,680  
Minority interest
    -       23,972       23,972  
Total Other Income (Expenses)
    16,680       23,972       40,652  
                         
NET LOSS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD
  $ (2,025,905 )   $ (100,692 )   $ (2,126,597 )
                         
BASIC AND DILUTED LOSS PER SHARE
  $ (0.10 )     (0.00 )   $ (0.10 )
                         
WEIGHTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMON
                       
SHARES OUTSTANDING - BASIC AND DILUTED
    20,832,026       -       20,832,026  
 
 
 

 
 
September 30, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
ASSETS
                 
Current
                 
Cash and cash equivalents
  $ 802,744     $ -     $ 802,744  
Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of nil)
    67,577       -       67,577  
Prepaid expenses and deposits
    101,042       -       101,042  
Current portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    23,423       -       23,423  
Total current assets
    994,786       -       994,786  
                         
Long-term portion of receivable from sales-type lease
    23,423       -       23,423  
Deferred financing costs
    106,055       -       106,055  
Deferred acquisition costs
    320,264       -       320,264  
Property & equipment
    1,135,130       -       1,135,130  
Website development costs
    351,199       -       351,199  
Intangible assets
    1,625,881       -       1,625,881  
Goodwill
    2,428,602       177,438       2,606,040  
Total Assets
  $ 6,985,340     $ 177,438     $ 7,162,778  
                         
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Current
                       
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
  $ 2,004,416     $ -     $ 2,004,416  
Bonuses payable
    489,960       449,096       939,056  
Due to shareholders of Auctomatic
    749,699       -       749,699  
Deferred revenue
    12,371       -       12,371  
Deferred tax liability
    -       246,759       246,759  
Current portion of deferred lease inducements
    20,138       -       20,138  
Total current liabilities
    3,276,584       695,855       3,972,439  
                         
Deferred lease inducements
    60,414       -       60,414  
Total Liabilities
    3,336,998       695,855       4,032,853  
                         
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                       
Common Stock
                       
Authorized: 50,000,000 common shares, $0.001 par value
                       
Issued and outstanding:
                       
22,141,026 common shares (December 31, 2007 - 21,446,623)
    13,150       -       13,150  
Additional paid-in capital
    13,175,885       150,502       13,326,387  
Accumulated deficit
    (9,540,693 )     (668,919 )     (10,209,612 )
Total Stockholders' Equity
    3,648,342       (518,417 )     3,129,925  
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
  $ 6,985,340     $ 177,438     $ 7,162,778  
 
 
 

 
 
For the quarter ended September 30, 2008
 
As previously reported
   
Restatement adjustment
   
As restated
 
                   
SALES
  $ 1,954,684     $ -     $ 1,954,684  
                         
COSTS OF SALES
    1,602,249       -       1,602,249  
                         
GROSS PROFIT
    352,435       -       352,435  
                         
EXPENSES
                       
Amortization and depreciation
    96,707       -       96,707  
Amortization of website development costs
    29,143       -       29,143  
Corporate general and administrative
    643,674       -       643,674  
ECommerce general and administrative
    114,973       -       114,973  
Management fees and employee salaries
    1,334,414       206,557       1,540,971  
Corporate marketing
    4,962       -       4,962  
ECommerce marketing
    99,412       -       99,412  
Other expenses
    20,000       -       20,000  
Total Expenses
    2,343,285       206,557       2,549,842  
                         
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSES)
                       
Global Cricket Venture expenses
    (1,010,023 )     -       (1,010,023 )
Accretion interest expense
    (56,600 )     -       (56,600 )
Interest and investment income
    7,266       -       7,266  
Total Other Income (Expenses)
    (1,059,357 )     -       (1,059,357 )
                         
NET LOSS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD
  $ (3,050,207 )   $ (206,557 )   $ (3,256,764 )
                         
BASIC AND DILUTED LOSS PER SHARE
  $ (0.14 )     (0.01 )   $ (0.15 )
                         
WEIGHTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMON
                       
SHARES OUTSTANDING - BASIC AND DILUTED
    21,625,005       -       21,625,005