Seattle-based streaming-turned-computer-vision company RealNetworks Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK) founder and CEO Robert Glaser has offered to buy all outstanding shares of the company.
With the proposal, announced Monday, Glaser, who currently owns about 38% of RealNetworks' outstanding shares together with his affiliates, would purchase the remaining 62% at 67 cents per share. RealNetworks currently has 47.26 million outstanding shares, according to Yahoo! Finance, making the proposed deal worth about $19.6 million and the company worth about $31.7 million.
"While this offer initiates a process that will unfold over a period of time, we want to assure all of our agents and clients that business will continue as usual, and we expect there to be no change in the products, services or support we provide," Glaser said in a news release.
According to paperwork RealNetworks filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February, the company faces delisting from the Nasdaq unless it can get its stock price to at least $1 per share for at least 10 consecutive business days. RealNetworks has until Aug. 17 to meet this requirement, but it might qualify for an additional 180-day compliance period if it does not. RealNetworks' stock closed at 57 cents Monday.
Erik Prusch and Bruce Jaffe, independent directors of RealNetworks' board, will make up an independent special committee to consider Glaser's offer, according to RealNetworks. The two will "will retain independent financial and legal advisors to consider the proposal," the company said in a release.
During the first quarter, RealNetworks generated $13.3 million in revenue. That's a far cry from its heyday in the 2000s, when the company, which owns the once-ubiquitous RealPlayer digital media player, generated as much as $152.6 million in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2008.
RealNetworks acquired Rhapsody in 2003, and Rhapsody began operating independently in 2010. Rhapsody announced plans to acquire Napster in 2011 and rebranded to the once-famous file-sharing service in 2016. RealNetworks sold Napster for about $70.6 million in 2020.
RealNetworks now offers facial recognition technology through its SAFR brand and a text messaging management platform called Kontxt. It also has a casual games arm called GameHouse.
In the release, RealNetworks said it won't disclose information about the offer until the committee and the board "have approved a specific transaction or otherwise concluded its review of strategic alternatives."
