SEC Form S-8 filed by PodcastOne Inc.

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 27, 2025

Registration No. 333-             

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

PodcastOne, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

345 North Maple Drive, Suite 295

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)(Zip Code)

Consulting Agreements, dated as of October 9, 2024 and October 14, 2024, between PodcastOne, Inc. and various Consultants

(Full title of the plan)

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

This Registration Statement is being filed by PodcastOne, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) in accordance with the requirements of Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), in order to register 1,500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, $0.00001 par value per share (the “common stock”), as the maximum number of shares of common stock issuable under the Consulting Agreements between the Company and various consultants (the “Consulting Agreements”, and the recipients, the “Consultants”) as provided therein.

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE 10(a) PROSPECTUS

Item 1. Plan Information.

The Company will provide to each Consultant with documents that contain information related to the applicable Consulting Agreement, and other information including, but not limited to, the disclosure required by Item 1 of Form S-8, which information is not required to be and is not being filed as a part of this Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424 under the Securities Act. The foregoing information and the documents incorporated by reference in response to Item 3 of Part II of this Registration Statement, taken together, constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.

Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information.

The Company will provide to each Consultant a written statement advising of the availability of documents incorporated by reference in Item 3 of Part II of this Registration Statement (which documents are incorporated by reference in this Section 10(a) prospectus) and of documents required to be delivered pursuant to Rule 428(b) under the Securities Act without charge and upon written or oral request by contacting:

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference

The following documents previously filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are incorporated herein by reference:

All documents we file with the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, except as to any portion of any report or documents that is not deemed filed under such provisions, (1) on or after the date of filing of the registration statement containing this prospectus and prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement, and (2) on or after the date of this prospectus until the earlier of the date on which all of the securities registered hereunder have been sold or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part has been withdrawn, shall be deemed incorporated by reference in this prospectus and to be a part of this prospectus from the date of filing of those documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this registration statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document, which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein, modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this registration statement. Under no circumstances will any information filed under items 2.02 or 7.01 of a Current Report on Form 8-K be deemed to be incorporated by reference, unless such Current Report on Form 8-K expressly provides to the contrary.

Item 4. Description of Securities

Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

Certain partners of Foley Shechter Ablovatskiy LLP own shares of our common stock, which represent, in the aggregate, beneficial ownership of less than 1% of our common stock. No expert named in the registration statement as having prepared or certified any part thereof (or is named as having prepared or certified a report or valuation for use in connection with such registration statement) or counsel named in the registration statement as having given an opinion upon the validity of the securities being offered pursuant to this registration statement or upon other legal matters in connection with the registration or offering such securities was employed for such purpose on a contingency basis. Also, other than as set forth herein, at the time of such preparation, certification or opinion or at any time thereafter, through the date of effectiveness of such registration statement or that part of such registration statement to which such preparation, certification or opinion relates, no such person had, or is to receive, in connection with the offering, a substantial interest, direct or indirect, in our Company or any of our parents or subsidiaries. Nor was any such person connected with our Company or any of our parents or subsidiaries as a promoter, managing or principal underwriter, voting trustee, director, officer or employee.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

Section 102 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”) permits a corporation to eliminate the personal liability of its directors or its stockholders for monetary damages for a breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except where the director breached his or her duty of loyalty, failed to act in good faith, engaged in intentional misconduct or knowingly violated a law, authorized the payment of a dividend or approved a stock repurchase in violation of Delaware corporate law or obtained an improper personal benefit. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”), contains provisions that limit the liability of our directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for:

Section 145 of the DGCL provides that a corporation has the power to indemnify a director, officer, employee, or agent of the corporation and certain other persons serving at the request of the corporation in related capacities against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlements actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with an action, suit or proceeding to which he or she is or is threatened to be made a party by reason of such position, if such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, in any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful, except that, in the case of actions brought by or in the right of the corporation, no indemnification shall be made with respect to any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery or other adjudicating court determines that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all of the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the Court of Chancery or such other court shall deem proper.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”) provide that we are required to indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that we are obligated to advance expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of any action or proceeding, and permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director, employee or other agent for any liability arising out of his or her actions in that capacity regardless of whether we would otherwise be permitted to indemnify him or her under the provisions of Delaware law.

The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and officers for breach of their fiduciary duty. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and other stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent that we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers as required by these indemnification provisions

In addition, in the future, we may enter into indemnification agreements with our directors and officers and some of our executives may have certain indemnification rights arising under their employment agreements with us. These indemnification agreements may require us, among other things, to indemnify our directors and officers for some expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and settlement amounts incurred by a director or officer in any action or proceeding arising out of his or her service as one of our directors or officers, or any of our subsidiaries or any other company or enterprise to which the person provides services at our request.

These indemnification provisions and the indemnification agreements may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of our officers and directors for liabilities, including reimbursement of expenses incurred, arising under the Securities Act. We have been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, indemnification of directors or officers for liabilities arising under the Securities Act is against public policy and, therefore, such indemnification provisions may be unenforceable.

We also maintain a general liability insurance policy that covers certain liabilities of directors and officers of our Company arising out of claims based on acts or omissions in their capacities as directors or officers, whether or not we would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under the DGCL or the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed

Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits

The following exhibits are filed with or incorporated by reference into this registration statement:

Item 9. Undertakings

(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

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

(i) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

(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 this 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 offered range may be reflected in the form of 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; and

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

provided, however, that Paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section do not apply if the registration statement is on Form S-8 (§239.16b of this chapter), and the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m or 78o(d)) 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 herein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3 to remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered hereby which 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 of 1933, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) 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 thereof.

(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the provisions described in the first paragraph of Item 15 above, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the 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 such 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 whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

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-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Los Angeles, State of California, on June 27, 2025.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

The registrant and each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Kit Gray, Robert S. Ellin and Ryan Carhart and each of them singly, his, her or its true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him, her or it and in his, her or its name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign and file any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement on Form S-8, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite or necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he, she, or it might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their or his substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.

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