Mondee Holdings (MOND) Risk Analysis

The trading market for our Common Stock will rely, in part, on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have, and may never obtain, research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no or few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our Common Stock would likely decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our Common Stock, the price of the our Common Stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our Common Stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our Common Stock, which in turn could cause the price of our Common Stock to decline.

The trading price of our Common Stock is likely to be volatile and could be subject to fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Common Stock. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our Common Stock include the following: - price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;- volatility in the trading prices and trading volumes of travel industry stocks;- changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other travel companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;- sales of shares of our Common Stock by stockholders or by us;- failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our Company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;- the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;- announcements by us or our competitors of new offerings or platform features;- the public's reaction to our press releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;- rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;- actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations;- actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors' businesses or the competitive landscape generally;- litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;- developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;- announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, services or technologies by us or our competitors;- new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;- changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;- any significant change in our management;- general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets; and - other factors described in this "Risk Factors" section. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company's securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention and resources.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our executive officers and directors, excluding Prasad Gundumogula, who serves as our Chief Executive Officer, and their respective affiliates beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 5% of outstanding our Common Stock. Mr. Gundumogula beneficially owns more than 30% of the outstanding shares of our Common Stock, which includes (i) shares he owns directly, (ii) the 6,000,000 Earn-Out Shares that he received upon the closing of the Business Combination, and (iii) shares he is deemed to beneficially own through both (a) his control of the Mondee Group LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("Mondee Group"), and (b) through his spouse, Madhuri Pasam ("Pasam"). In addition, the pre-Business Combination equity holders of the Legacy Mondee Stockholder and their affiliates (the "Legacy Mondee Equityholders") control a majority of our voting power as a result of their ownership of our Common Stock after the consummation of the Pro Rata Distribution. Even when the Legacy Mondee Equityholders cease to own shares of our Common Stock representing a majority of the voting power, for so long as the Legacy Mondee Equityholders, including Mr. Gundumogula, continue to own a significant percentage of our Common Stock, the Legacy Mondee Equityholders will still be able to significantly influence the composition of our Board and the approval of actions requiring approval of our stockholders through their combined voting power. Accordingly, the Legacy Mondee Equityholders, indulging Mr. Gundumogula, have significant influence with respect to our management, significant operational and strategic decisions, business plans and policies through their voting power. Furthermore, the Legacy Mondee Equityholders, through their combined voting power, may be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our Company or a change in the composition of our Board and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of us. This significant concentration of ownership may have a negative impact on the trading price for our Common Stock, because investors often perceive disadvantages in owning stock in companies where there is a concentration of ownership in a small number of stockholders. Moreover, the concentration of voting power could deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of Common Stock as part of a sale of our Company and ultimately may negatively affect the market price of the Common Stock.

Prior to the Business Combination, equity holders in the Legacy Mondee Stockholder subscribed for an aggregate of 60,800,000 shares of our Common Stock at purchase prices ranging between approximately $3.99 per share and $9.91 per share. In addition, following the consummation of the Business Combination, each Class A ordinary share and Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Business Combination was automatically canceled and converted into newly issued shares in our Common Stock in accordance with the terms of the Business Combination Agreement. On March 10, 2023, the Legacy Mondee Stockholder effected the Pro Rata Distribution. The Sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 for the 6,037,500 Class B ordinary shares, of which the Sponsor subsequently transferred certain of those shares to directors of ITHAX and certain affiliates of the Sponsor. In connection with the Business Combination, each of those Class B ordinary shares was converted on a one-for-one basis to shares of our Common Stock, and the Sponsor forfeited 603,750 shares of our Common Stock, resulting in the Sponsor holding 5,197,200 shares of our Common Stock. The Sponsor and Cantor paid $6,750,000 in the aggregate to purchase an aggregate of 675,000 private placement units. In connection with the Business Combination, the 337,500 private placement warrants underlying the private placement units were exchanged for 337,500 warrants of our Company with an exercise price of $11.50 per share. On September 13, 2022, the Sponsor dissolved and distributed its shares of our Common Stock and the 232,500 private placement warrants it held to members of the Sponsor on a pro rata basis. In connection with the PIPE Financing, the PIPE Investors paid $70,000,000 to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 shares of our Common Stock for $10.00 per share. For more details on the foregoing transactions, see "Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions." Holders of our Outstanding Warrants are less likely to exercise their respective Outstanding Warrants to the extent that the exercise prices of their Outstanding Warrants exceed the market price of our Common Stock. There is no guarantee that the Outstanding Warrants will be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the Outstanding Warrants may expire worthless. As such, any cash proceeds that we may receive in relation to the exercise of the Outstanding Warrants overlying shares of Common Stock will be dependent on the trading price of our Common Stock. Given the relatively lower purchase prices that some of our stockholders paid to acquire shares of our Common Stock, these stockholders, some of whom are our Selling Securityholders, in some instances will earn a positive rate of return on their investments, which may be a significant positive rate of return, depending on the market price of our shares of Common Stock at the time that such stockholders choose to sell their shares of our Common Stock. Investors who purchase shares of our Common Stock on the Nasdaq may not experience a similar rate of return on the shares of our Common Stock that they purchase due to differences in the purchase prices and the current trading price.

Our Common Stock is listed under the symbol "MOND" on the Nasdaq. However, we cannot assure you that an active trading market for our Common Stock will develop on that exchange or elsewhere or, if developed, that any market will be sustained. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of the likelihood that an active trading market for the our Common Stock will develop or be maintained, the liquidity of any trading market, your ability to sell your shares of our Common Stock when desired or the prices that you may obtain for your shares of our Common Stock. We cannot predict the prices at which our Common Stock will trade.

If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, such as the corporate governance requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our Common Stock. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our Common Stock and would impair our stockholders' ability to sell or purchase our Common Stock when they wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with the listing requirements would allow our Common Stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our Common Stock, or prevent future non-compliance with the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq.

Our Certificate of Incorporation, provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for state law claims for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders to us or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding or abetting such an alleged breach; (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or the Certificate of Incorporation or the Bylaws, or to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Certificate of Incorporation or the Bylaws; (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any current or former director, officer, employee, agent or stockholder, whether arising under the DGCL, the Certificate of Incorporation or the Bylaws, or such actions as to which the DGCL confer jurisdiction on the Delaware Court of Chancery; or (v) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The foregoing provisions will not apply to any claims as to which the Delaware Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of such court, which is rested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than such court (including claims arising under the Exchange Act), or for which such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction, or to any claims arising under the Securities Act and, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any action asserting a claim arising under the Securities Act. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules or regulations thereunder. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such Securities Act claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, the Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, United States District Court for the District of Delaware shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce the forum provision with respect to claims under the federal securities laws. This choice of forum provision in our Certificate of Incorporation may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies' charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and rules and regulations thereunder.

Our Certificate of Incorporation, our Bylaws, and the Delaware General Corporation Law ("DGCL"), contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by the our Board and therefore depress the trading price of our Common Stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for our stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors to our Board who are not nominated by the current members of our Board or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. Among other things, the Certificate of Incorporation and the Bylaws include provisions regarding: - the ability of our Board to issue shares of our Preferred Stock, including "blank check" preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;- the limitation of the liability of, and the indemnification of, our directors and officers;- removal of the ability of our stockholders to take action by written consent in lieu of a meeting;- the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by a majority of our Board, which could delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of members of our Board;- controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of our Board and stockholder meetings;- the ability of our Board to amend our Bylaws, which may allow our Board to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend our Bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and - advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders' meeting, which could preclude stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders and delay changes in our Board, and also may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us. These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our Board or management.

Previously, the Legacy Mondee Stockholder beneficially owned, in the aggregate more than 50% of the combined voting power for the election of our Board. However, on March 10, 2023, the Legacy Mondee Stockholder effected the pro rata distribution of the 60,800,000 shares of our Common Stock it held to its equity holders in accordance with the amended and restated limited liability company agreement of the Legacy Mondee Stockholder (the "Pro Rata Distribution"). Upon the consummation of the Pro Rata Distribution, the Legacy Mondee Stockholder no longer controlled a majority of the voting power of our outstanding voting stock, and as a result, we ceased to be a "controlled company" within the meaning of Nasdaq's corporate governance standards. As a result, we are subject to additional corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that: - a majority of our board be independent directors;- our nominating and corporate governance committee must have a formal written charter and be composed entirely of independent directors; and - our compensation committee must have a formal written charter and be composed of entirely independent directors Nasdaq's rules provide for phase-in periods for these requirements (including that each such committee consist of a majority of independent directors within 90 days of no longer being a "controlled company"), but we must be fully compliant with the requirements within one year of the date on which we cease to be a "controlled company." As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, a majority of the directors on our Board are independent, and each of the directors serving on our audit, nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees are independent. We also adopted formal written charters for each of our audit, nominating and corporate governance, and our compensation committees at the closing of the Business Combination. While as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are in compliance with the additional Nasdaq corporate governance requirements listed above, we may be unable to retain the number of independent directors needed to comply with such rules during the transition period. Moreover, until we are fully subject to these requirements, our stockholders will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

Both the private placement warrants and the Preferred Financing Warrants were issued in registered form under the Amended and Restated Warrant Agreement and the Preferred Financing Warrant Agreement, respectively (such agreements, collectively, the "Outstanding Warrant Agreements"). The Outstanding Warrant Agreements provide that the terms of the applicable Outstanding Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder of the applicable Outstanding Warrants to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision or correct any mistake and to provide for the delivery of Alternative Issuance (as defined therein) pursuant to Section 4.4 of the applicable Outstanding Warrant Agreement, but otherwise requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then-Outstanding Warrants, as applicable, to make any other amendments.

The 96,300 shares of our Series A Preferred Stock that were sold in September 2022, October 2023 and December 2023 as part of the Preferred Financing Transaction for $1,000 per share rank senior to shares of our Common Stock with respect to liquidation preferences. Upon any dissolution, liquidation or winding up, whether voluntary or involuntary, holders of shares of our Series A Preferred Stock will be entitled to receive distributions out of our assets in an amount per share equal to $1,000 plus all accrued and unpaid dividends before any distributions shall be made on any shares of our Common Stock. In addition, holders of shares of our Series A Preferred Stock will be entitled to dividends at a rate equal to the SOFR plus 8.50% per annum (which rate increases to SOFR plus 12.00% per annum beginning on the second anniversary of the consummation of the Preferred Financing Transaction). The preferential rights described above could result in divergent interests between the holders of shares of our Series A Preferred Stock and the holders of our Common Stock.

In order to raise additional capital, we may, in the future, offer additional shares of our Common Stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our Common Stock, including in connection with mergers and acquisitions. We may sell shares of our Common Stock or other securities in any other offering at a price per share that is less than the current market price of our Common Stock, and investors purchasing shares of our Common Stock or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing stockholders. The sale of additional shares of our Common Stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our Common Stock would dilute all of our stockholders, and if such sales of convertible securities into or exchangeable into our Common Stock occur at a deemed issuance price that is lower than the current exercise price of our Outstanding Warrants the exercise price for those Outstanding Warrants would adjust downward to the deemed issuance price pursuant to price adjustment protection contained in the Outstanding Warrant Agreements.

We classify our private placement warrants as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings. As a result, our consolidated balance sheets in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include derivative liabilities that relate to embedded features contained within our private placement warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging, provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors that are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our private placement warrants each reporting period, although we do not anticipate that the amount of such gains or losses would be material. Furthermore, the impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities, although we do not anticipate that such effect would be material. As of December 31, 2023, there are 232,500 private placement warrants outstanding.