Exhibit
10.1
ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT
THIS
ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT (the “ Agreement ”)
is made and entered into as of November 2, 2006 among
ANSWERS CORPORATION , a Delaware corporation
(“ Buyer ”), INTERESTING.COM,
INC. , a New York corporation (“
Seller ”) and CHRIS WHITTEN
(“ Shareholder ”; Seller and
Shareholder collectively referred to as the “ Selling
Parties ”).
WHEREAS , Seller is engaged in, among other things, the
business of operating web properties that cultivate and facilitate
the growth of frequently asked questions through an organic process
of end-users asking and answering each other's questions,
including, among others, www.faqfarm.com and
www.wikianswers.com (the “ Business
”); and
WHEREAS , Seller desires to sell, and Buyer desires to
purchase and acquire all of the Transferred Assets (as hereinafter
defined) including, without limitation, all intellectual property
of and contractual rights of the Seller associated
therewith.
NOW,
THEREFORE , in
consideration of the mutual benefits to be derived from this
Agreement and the representations, warranties, covenants,
agreements, conditions and promises contained herein and therein,
the parties hereto hereby agree as follows.
Capitalized
terms used in this Agreement and not otherwise defined herein shall
have the meanings ascribed to such terms as set forth on
Exhibit A attached hereto and made a part
hereof.
1.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF
ASSETS .
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Transferred
Assets. Other than
Excluded Assets (as defined in Section 1.2 below), Seller hereby
sells, transfers, assigns, and delivers free from all Encumbrances
(other than those set forth in Section 5.1(e) of the Seller
Disclosure Schedule) to Buyer, and Buyer hereby purchases,
acquires, and accepts from Seller, the right, title, and interest
in and to the properties and assets of Seller listed on
Schedule 1.1 attached hereto and made a part
hereof, all in accordance with the provisions set forth in this
Agreement (the “ Transferred Assets
”).
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Excluded
Assets. Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary contained in this Agreement, the parties
agree that Seller is not selling, assigning, transferring,
conveying, or delivering (nor does Seller have any obligation to
assign, transfer, convey or deliver) to Buyer, and the Transferred
Assets shall not include, any assets that are not Transferred
Assets (the “ Excluded Assets
”).
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2.
EXCLUDED
LIABILITIES .
All liabilities
of Seller are referred to herein as “ Excluded
Liabilities ”. As between Seller and Buyer, Seller
shall be solely responsible for and pay any and all debts, losses,
damages, obligations, liens, assessments, judgments, fines,
disposal, and other costs and expenses, liabilities, and claims,
including, without limitation, interest, penalties, and fees of
counsel and experts, as the same are incurred, of every kind or
nature whatsoever (all the foregoing being a “
Claim ” or the “
Claims ”), made by or owed to any person to
the extent any of the foregoing relates to (i) the Excluded Assets,
or (ii) the Excluded Liabilities, including, without limitation,
liabilities arising from or in connection with the Transferred
Assets, arising in connection with or on the basis of events, acts,
omissions, occurring or existing prior to or on the Closing Date.
All responsibility with respect to the Excluded Liabilities shall
remain with Seller.
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The aggregate
purchase price payable to Seller for the Transferred Assets is Two
Million U.S. Dollars (U.S. $2,000,000) in cash, due and payable on
the Closing Date by wire transfer of immediately available funds to
such bank account as Seller shall direct in writing (the “
Purchase Price ”).
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Seller shall
pay any and all municipal, county, state and federal sales and
documentary transfer taxes, impositions, liens, leases,
assessments, sales and similar charges or taxes if any, incurred by
Buyer, Seller or Shareholder in connection with the transaction
contemplated by this Agreement. Each party shall in a timely manner
sign and swear to any return, certificate, questionnaire, or
affidavit as to matters within its knowledge required in connection
with the payment of any such tax.
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The Purchase
Price shall be allocated among the Transferred Assets in the manner
required by Treasury Regulation §1.1060-1T as mutually agreed
upon between the Seller and Buyer (the “
Allocation ”). Buyer shall deliver its
determination with respect to the Allocation within thirty (30)
days after the Closing Date. The parties agree that: except as
otherwise required by law (i) the Allocation shall be binding on
the parties for all federal, state, local and foreign tax purposes,
and (ii) the parties shall file with its respective federal income
tax returns consistent IRS Forms 8594 - Asset Acquisition
Statements under Section 1060, including any required IRS forms,
Schedules, or amendments thereto, which shall reflect the
allocation set forth in the Allocation pursuant to this Section
3.3.
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4.
CLOSING;
POST-CLOSING
.
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The closing of
the transactions contemplated hereunder (the “
Closing ”) will take place on the date
hereof, unless another date is agreed to in writing by the parties
(the “ Closing Date ”). The Closing
shall take place at Buyer's offices located at 237 West 35
th Street, Suite 1101, New York, New York, unless
another place is agreed to in writing by the parties.
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After the
Closing, as reasonably requested by Buyer, Seller shall provide
reasonable assistance to the Buyer and its accountants and
attorneys in connection with the preparation of financial reports
and tax returns of Buyer as they relate to the Transferred Assets.
Selling Parties shall be reimbursed for all expenses and costs
incurred by them in providing such assistance. Selling Parties will
not be required to provide any assistance or disclose any
information with respect to matters taken adverse to the interests
or which may be taken adversely to the interests of the Selling
Parties.
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The Selling
Parties shall, from time to time, at Closing or at any time
thereafter, do or procure the doing of all such acts and/or execute
or procure the execution of all such documents, in a form
reasonably satisfactory to Buyer, as Buyer may reasonably consider
necessary for giving full effect to this Agreement and securing to
Buyer the full benefit of the rights, powers, and remedies
conferred upon Buyer in this Agreement.
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Seller shall
promptly, but no later than 10 business days after the Closing
Date, transfer or deliver to Buyer any of the Transferred Assets
delivered to, or retained or received by, Seller after the Closing
Date.
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Immediately
following the Closing, Seller shall cooperate and comply with any
and all strategies, policies and steps reasonably necessary,
appropriate or desirable, related to Buyer's communications and
interactions with contributors to and supervisors of the community
known as the “Wiki Answers Community” (the “
Community ”) for the purpose of preserving
the community aspects of the web property known as
www.faqfarm.com and www.wikianswers.com (the “
FAQ Farm Websites ”) and ensuring the
continuity of active Community participation by Internet users,
including, but not limited to, those steps as set forth on
Exhibit B attached hereto.
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Immediately
following the Closing, Seller undertakes to complete the required
documentation in order to complete and execute the assignment of
ownership to Buyer of the domain names, registered trademarks,
trademark applications and the databases that are part of the
Transferred Assets.
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Each Selling
Party shall cooperate with Buyer and, at Buyer’s request,
each Selling Party shall remit to Buyer all revenues collected from
the operation of the Business provided by or on behalf of Buyer
after the Closing Date.
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Seller shall
deliver to Buyer a file of all databases that are part of the
Transferred Assets in the form and media reasonably requested by
Buyer at or prior to the Closing.
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5.
REPRESENTATIONS AND
WARRANTIES .
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Representations and Warranties of Seller and
Shareholder. Except as
otherwise set forth in the disclosure schedule delivered by Seller
to Buyer concurrently with the execution of this Agreement (the
“ Seller Disclosure Schedule ”),
Seller and Shareholder jointly and severally represent and warrant
to Buyer as follows:
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Organization; Good Standing; Qualification and
Power . Seller is a
corporation, duly organized, validly existing, and in good standing
under the laws of the State of New York. Seller has full corporate
power and authority to transfer the Transferred Assets to Buyer, to
carry on the Business as now conducted, and possesses all
governmental and other permits, licenses, and other authorizations
to own, lease, or operate its assets and properties as now owned,
leased, and operated and to carry on the Business as presently
conducted, except where the failure to procure such permits,
licenses, and other authorizations such would not reasonably be
expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on Seller. Seller is
duly qualified and in good standing to do business in those
jurisdictions listed in Section 5.1(a) of the Seller Disclosure
Schedule, being all of the jurisdictions in which the failure to be
so qualified and in good standing could reasonably be expected to
have a Material Adverse Effect on Seller.
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Due
Authority. All corporate
action on the part of Seller, its directors, officers and
shareholders necessary for the authorization, execution, delivery,
and performance of this Agreement and any Related Agreements (as
defined in Section 6 below), if applicable, has been taken prior to
the Closing. Neither the execution and delivery of this Agreement
nor the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby will:
(i) conflict with or violate any law, ordinance, or regulation or
any decree or order of any court or administrative or other
governmental body that is either applicable to, binding upon, or
enforceable against Seller; or (ii) except where consent is
required and obtained, result in any breach of or default under any
mortgage, lease, promissory note, contract, purchase order,
indenture, trust, or other instrument or written agreement which is
either binding upon or enforceable against Seller or
Shareholder.
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Financial
Information; Operational Results - Material Adverse
Change. As of the dates
and for the periods indicated thereon, the financial information
included in Section 5.1(c)(i) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule
(“ Financial Information ”), (i) is
correct and complete in all material respects; (ii) is compiled in
accordance with the books and records of Seller; and (iii) fairly
presents the results of operations of the Business. Since September
30, 2006, and as of the date hereof, there has not been any
Material Adverse Change in the financial condition, results of
operations, Transferred Assets, liabilities or business condition
of Seller or the Business, except for changes arising as a result
of general economic conditions, conditions affecting Seller’s
industry generally or changes arising as a result of the public
announcement of the transaction subject to this Agreement. The FAQ
Farm Websites (A) have collectively accumulated to date no less
than 250,000 unique questions, no less than 400,000 unique
edits/answers, and no less than 200,000 pages that are indexed in
Google; and (B) as of October 23, 2006, have collectively attracted
no less than 100,000 registered users known as “FAQ
Farmers” and are supervised by no less than 25 supervising
editors known as “FAQ Farm Supervisors.”
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Tax
Matters. Except as set
forth in Section 5.1(d) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule, (i)
Seller has paid or adequately provided for any and all taxes,
license fees, or other governmental charges levied, assessed, or
imposed upon any of the Transferred Assets and the Business; (ii)
Seller has filed all tax returns and reports required by federal,
state, and local tax authorities, and such returns are correct,
true and complete; and (iii) Seller is not involved in any dispute
with any tax authority nor has it received any notice of any
deficiency, audit, or other indication of deficiency from any tax
authority with respect to the Business.
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Title to the
Transferred Assets. Except as set forth in Section 5.1(e) of the
Seller Disclosure Schedule, Seller has good, valid, and marketable
title to or a valid, transferable license to use, all Transferred
Assets, personal, tangible and intangible. At the Closing, none of
the Transferred Assets will be subject to any Encumbrance (other
than rights retained by any licensor of intellectual property to
the Seller) or charge of any kind.
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Section
5.1(f)(i) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule contains a true and
complete list of all of Seller’s patents, patent
applications, registered copyrights, copyright applications,
registered trademarks and trademark applications relating to or
used in the Business. The Transferred Assets include all
Intellectual Property Rights or licenses thereto owned or used by
Seller necessary to administer, develop, use, and maintain the
Business as currently being conducted. All statements and
representations made by Seller in any pending Intellectual Property
Rights applications, filings or registrations were true in all
material respects as of the time they were made. Except as set
forth in Section 5.1(f)(i) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule, no
registered Intellectual Property Right owned by Seller and used in
the Business has lapsed, expired or been abandoned or canceled, or
is subject to any injunction, judgment, order, decree or ruling or
is subject to any pending or, to the knowledge of Seller,
threatened oppositions, cancellations, interferences or other
proceedings in any country.
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Seller has
developed and is the owner of all rights, title, and interests in,
or has obtained the right to use, all of the Intellectual Property
Rights comprising the Transferred Assets (the “
Transferred Intellectual Property Rights ”).
Except as set forth on Section 5.1(f)(ii) of the Seller Disclosure
Schedule, neither Selling Party has granted any license of or right
to use any item of the Transferred Intellectual Property Rights.
Other than this Agreement and the other agreements contemplated
hereby, there is no agreement, decree, arbitral award, or other
provision or contingency that obligates either Seller or
Shareholder to grant licenses in current or future Intellectual
Property Rights to be developed by Seller or Shareholder related in
any way to the Transferred Assets other than as set forth in
Section 5.1(f)(ii)(A) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule. Section
5.1(f)(ii)(B) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule specifically sets
forth a true, complete, and correct list of all Third Party
Licenses. To Seller’s knowledge, Seller has the right to use
the Third Party Licenses in the Business as currently conducted.
Except as set forth on Section 5.1(f)(ii) of the Seller Disclosure
Schedule, to Seller’s knowledge, the Third Party Licenses are
in full force and effect and Seller has made any and all payments
required through the date hereof in connection with its rights to
use the Third Party Licenses.
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To the
knowledge of the Selling Parties, none of the Transferred
Intellectual Property Rights are being infringed by any third
party. To the knowledge of the Selling Parties, with respect to the
Transferred Assets, Seller is not infringing, nor has it received
any notice that it is infringing, on any Intellectual Property
Rights of any third party and no claim is pending or has been made
to such effect. With respect to questions and answers
submitted by persons not affiliated with Seller or Shareholder to
the FaqFarm.com or Wikianswers.com Websites, the Seller’s and
Shareholder’s knowledge of infringement for the purposes of
this Section 5.1(f)(iii) will be limited to their actual
knowledge.
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Except as set
forth in Section 5.1(f)(iv) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule, all
current and past officers, employees, and consultants of Seller who
have been involved in the development, operation and/or maintenance
of the Transferred Assets, but specifically excluding persons
contributing questions, answers or other discussion and commentary
to the websites associated with the Business, have executed and
delivered to and in favor of Seller an agreement regarding the
protection of confidential and proprietary information and the
assignment to Seller of all Intellectual Property Rights arising
from the services performed for Seller by such persons
(collectively, the “ Confidentiality
Agreements ”).
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Except as set
forth in Section 5.1(f)(v) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule, all
works that were created, prepared, or delivered by consultants,
independent contractors, or other third parties for or on behalf of
Seller and/or Shareholder, but specifically excluding content on
the websites associated with the Business that are produced by
persons contributing questions, answers or other discussion and
commentary on the websites associated with the Business; (A) are
and shall constitute “works made for hire” specially
ordered or commissioned by Seller within the meaning of United
States' copyright law, or (B) all right, title, and interest
therein (including any materials and elements created, prepared or
delivered by such parties in connection therewith) have been
assigned to Seller. No current or former shareholder, employee,
consultant, or independent contractor of Seller has any rights
(other than unwaivable moral rights) in or to any of the
Transferred Intellectual Property Rights.
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All Technology
included within the Transferred Assets (the “
Transferred Technology ”) are free from any
material defect, bug, virus, time bomb, Trojan horse, backdoor, or
programming, design, or documentation error and all such Technology
operates and runs in a reasonable manner, except in each case as
would not materially and adversely affect the performance of the
Transferred Technology as currently used by Seller in conducting
the Business.
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Seller does
not, and has not, collected personally identifiable information
from users of its websites, except in a manner disclosed in a
privacy statement prominently displayed on such sites. Seller has
reasonably adequate security measures in place to protect the
customer information it receives through such sites from illegal
use by third parties or use by third parties in a manner that
violates the rights of privacy of its users.
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The Terms of
Use associated with the FAQ Farm Websites have been displayed
substantially as set forth on Section 5.1(g) of the Seller
Disclosure Schedule since November 5, 2003.
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Section 5.1(g)
of the Seller Disclosure Schedule sets forth a true and complete
list of all material written or oral agreements and other
instruments relating to the Business or the Transferred Assets to
which Seller and/or Shareholder is a party (the “
Material Agreements ”). Each Material
Agreement (A) is the legal, valid and binding obligation of Seller
and, to the knowledge of each Selling Party, the legal, valid, and
binding obligation of each other party thereto, in each case
enforceable in accordance with its terms, (B) is in full force and
effect, and (C) to the knowledge of each Selling Party, except as
set forth in Section 5.1(g) of the Seller Disclosure Schedule, the
other party or parties thereto is or are not in material default
thereunder.
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For purposes of
this Section and Section 5.1(h) below, the term “
material ” shall mean and refer to those
agreements, contracts, instruments or arrangements (as applicable)
that involve payments or expenditures by or to Seller, or otherwise
have an annual, aggregate value of at least U.S.$ 5,000.
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No
Defaults. Seller has in
all material respects performed all the obligations required to be
performed by it to date and is not in default or alleged to be in
default under (i) its corporate documents or (ii) any material
agreement, lease, license, contract, commitment, instrument or
obligation to which Seller is a party or by which any of its
properties, assets, or rights are or may be bound or affected and,
to the knowledge of each Selling Party, there exists no event,
condition, or occurrence that, with or without due notice or lapse
of time, or both, would constitute such a default by it of any of
the foregoing.
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Litigation. There are no claims, actions, suits, or
proceedings pending by or against, or otherwise affecting any of
the Selling Parties, the Transferred Assets, or the Business, and
to Seller’s knowledge, there are no claims, actions, suits,
proceeding, or investigations threatened by or against, or
otherwise affecting any of the Selling Parties, the Transferred
Assets, or the Business.
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Compliance. Seller has in the past duly materially complied
and is presently duly materially complying with all applicable
laws, whether statutory or otherwise, rules, regulations, orders,
ordinances, and judgments and decrees of all governmental
authorities (federal, state, local or otherwise) (collectively,
“ Laws ”), as well as their own rules,
policies, and procedures relating to privacy, data protection, and
the collection and use of personal information collected, used, or
held for use by Seller in the conduct of the Business. None of the
Selling Parties has recei
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