As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 26, 2010

Registration No. 333-165081

 

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

Amendment No. 2
to

Form S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

GREEN DOT CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

605 East Huntington Drive, Suite 205

Monrovia, CA 91016

(626) 739-3942

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

John C. Ricci

General Counsel

Green Dot Corporation

605 East Huntington Drive, Suite 205

Monrovia, CA 91016

(626) 739-3942

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

 

 

Copies to:

 

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:  As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

 

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  o

 

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o          

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o          

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o          

 

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):

 

 

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment that specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

Subject to completion, dated April 26, 2010

 

          Shares

 

Class A Common Stock

 

 

This is an initial public offering of shares of the Class A common stock of Green Dot Corporation. We are selling           shares of our Class A common stock, and the selling stockholders are selling           shares of our Class A common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock by the selling stockholders. The estimated initial public offering price is between $      and $      per share.

 

 

 

 

We have two classes of authorized common stock – Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock are virtually identical, except with respect to voting and conversion. Each share of our Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share. Each share of our Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes per share and will be convertible at any time into one share of our Class A common stock.

 

 

 

 

We intend to apply for the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE under the symbol ‘‘GDOT.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Dot and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option, for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus, to purchase from them up to           additional shares of our Class A common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.

 

 

 

 

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 9 of this prospectus.

 

 

 

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 

 

Delivery of the shares of our Class A common stock will be made on or about          , 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          , 2010

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us and delivered or made available to you. Neither we nor the selling stockholders have authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in this prospectus. We and the selling stockholders are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our Class A common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

 

No action is being taken in any jurisdiction outside the United States to permit a public offering of our Class A common stock or possession or distribution of this prospectus in that jurisdiction. Persons who come into possession of this prospectus in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus applicable to that jurisdiction.

 

Until          , 2010, all dealers that buy, sell or trade in our Class A common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

	•	Innovative Product and Marketing Expertise.  We are an innovator in the development, merchandising and marketing of prepaid financial services. We believe we were the first company to combine the products, technology platform and distribution channel required to make retailer-distributed GPR cards a viable product offering. Our consumer focus has led us to enhance our product packaging and product displays in retail locations to educate consumers and promote our products and services more effectively. We believe that we have the strongest brand in the prepaid financial services industry, and we continue to build brand awareness using national television advertising.
	•	Leading Retail Distribution.  We have established a nationwide retail distribution network, consisting of approximately 50,000 retail store locations, which gives us access to the vast majority of the U.S. population. According to a Scarborough Research survey, which was conducted between August 2008 and September 2009, at least 93% of U.S. adult respondents had shopped at one or more of the stores of our current retail distributors within the past twelve months.
	•	Leading Reload Network in the United States.  We believe our Green Dot Network is the leading reload network for prepaid cards in the United States. We also believe that it can be expanded and adapted to many new and evolving applications in the electronic payments industry.
	•	Proprietary Technology.  Green PlaNET, our centralized processing platform, includes a variety of proprietary software applications that, together with third-party applications, run our front-end, back-end, anti-fraud, regulatory compliance and customer service processing systems. It enables us to develop, distribute and support a variety of products and services effectively. This platform also enables our cards and Green Dot Network to interoperate with Visa, MasterCard and other payment or funds transfer networks, allowing our cardholders to make purchases and complete other transactions.
	•	Business Model with Powerful Network Effects.  The combination of our broad group of products and services, large portfolio of active cards, nationwide footprint of retail distributors and proprietary technology creates powerful network effects. Growth in the number of our product and service offerings or network participants enhances the value we deliver to all network participants. For example, we are able to attract retail distributors because of the large number of consumers who actively use our reload network. We believe the breadth and depth

		of our network would be difficult to replicate and represents a significant competitive advantage, as well as a barrier to entry for potential competitors.

	•	Vertical Integration.  We believe that we are more vertically integrated than our competitors, based on our distribution capabilities, processing platform, program management skills and proprietary reload network. Whereas we have built our offerings primarily around our own internally-developed capabilities, none of our competitors has been able to offer products and services similar to ours without collaborating with third parties to provide one or more of the essential features of prepaid financial service offerings, such as program management or the reload network. Our vertical integration has allowed us to reduce costs across our operations and, we expect, will continue to provide us with opportunities to reduce operational costs in the future. It also enables us to scale our business quickly in response to rising demand and to ensure high-quality service for our customers.
	•	Strong Regulatory and Compliance Infrastructure.  We employ a proactive approach to licensing, regulatory and compliance matters, which we believe provides us with an important competitive advantage. We believe that this has helped us develop strong relationships with leading retailers and financial institutions and has prepared us well for changes in the regulatory environment.

	•	Increasing the Number of Network Participants.  We intend to enhance the network effects in our business model in the following ways:

	•	attracting new users by introducing new products, improving current products and promoting our products;
	•	expanding and strengthening our distribution by establishing relationships with additional high-quality retail chains and accelerating our entry into new distribution channels; and
	•	adding businesses that accept reloads or payments through, and applications for, the Green Dot Network by continuing to enroll additional third-party prepaid card program providers in our reload network and to identify additional uses for our reload network’s cash transfer technology.

	•	Increasing Revenue per Customer.  We intend to pursue greater revenue per customer by improving cardholder retention, increasing card usage and increasing adoption of optional revenue-generating services.
	•	Improving Operating Efficiencies.  We intend to leverage our growing scale and vertical integration to generate incremental operating efficiencies, which will provide us with the flexibility to engage in new marketing programs, reduce pricing and make other investments in our business to maintain our leadership position.
	•	Broadening Brand and Product Awareness.  We intend to broaden awareness of the Green Dot brand and our products and services through national television advertising, online advertising and ongoing enhancements to our packaging and merchandising.
	•	Acquiring a Bank and Complementary Businesses.  We intend to pursue acquisitions that will help us achieve our strategic objectives, particularly those designed to improve operating revenue growth and operating efficiencies. In February 2010, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Utah-based Bonneville Bancorp, a bank holding company, and its subsidiary commercial bank, Bonneville Bank, for an aggregate cash purchase price of approximately $15.7 million, and filed applications with the appropriate federal and state regulators seeking approvals for this transaction. We believe this acquisition will increase the efficiency with which we introduce and manage potential new products and services, reduce the risk that

		we would be negatively impacted by changes in the business practices of the banks that issue our cards, reduce the sponsorship and service fees and other expenses that we pay to third parties, and allow us to serve our customers better and more efficiently through a more vertically integrated platform.

	•	our growth rates may decline in the future;
	•	operating revenues derived from sales at Walmart and our other three largest retail distributors represented 66%, 9%, 8% and 6%, respectively, of our total operating revenues during the five months ended December 31, 2009, and the loss of operating revenues from any of these retail distributors would adversely affect our business;
	•	our future success depends upon our retail distributors’ active and effective promotion of our products and services, but their interests and operational decisions might not always align with our interests;
	•	the industry in which we compete is highly competitive and has a number of major participants, which could adversely affect our operating revenue growth; and
	•	we operate in a highly regulated environment; failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or changes in those laws or regulations that adversely affect our operating methods, could negatively impact our business.

Class A common stock offered by us		shares
Class A common stock offered by the selling stockholders		shares
Class A common stock to be outstanding after this offering		shares
Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering		shares(1)
Total Class A and Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering		shares
Voting rights		We have two classes of authorized common stock – Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of our Class A and Class B common stock are virtually identical, except with respect to voting and conversion. The holders of our Class B common stock are entitled to ten votes per share, and the holders of our Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share. The holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, unless otherwise required by law. Each share of our Class B common stock is convertible into one share of our Class A common stock at any time and will convert automatically upon certain transfers or the date that the total number of shares of Class B common stock outstanding represents less than 10% of the total number of shares of Class A and Class B common stock outstanding. See “Description of Capital Stock.”
Use of proceeds		We expect to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, products, services, technologies or assets. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. See “Use of Proceeds.”
Dividends		We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock, and we do not currently intend to pay any cash dividends on our Class A common stock for the foreseeable future.
Proposed NYSE symbol		“GDOT”

(1)		The shares of our Class B common stock outstanding after this offering will represent approximately     % of the total number of shares of our Class A and Class B common stock outstanding after this offering and     % of the combined voting power of our Class A and Class B common stock outstanding after this offering.

	•	5,687,321 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of December 31, 2009 with a weighted average exercise price of $7.98 per share (including           shares that we expect to be sold in this offering by certain selling stockholders upon the exercise of vested stock options with a weighted average exercise price of $      per share and the conversion of the shares received into Class A common stock);
	•	130,500 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options granted after December 31, 2009 with an exercise price of $25.00 per share;
	•	4,567,242 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2009 with a weighted average exercise price of $22.31 per share, including a warrant to purchase up to 4,283,456 shares that is exercisable only upon the achievement of performance goals specified in our arrangement with PayPal, Inc.; and
	•	shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance under our 2010 Equity Incentive Plan, which will become effective on the first day that our Class A common stock is publicly traded, as more fully described in “Executive Compensation – Employee Benefit Plans – 2010 Equity Incentive Plan.”

	•	the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our preferred stock into 24,941,521 shares of our Class B common stock and the conversion by the selling stockholders of           shares of our Class B common stock into a like number of shares of our Class A common stock, in each case immediately prior to the completion of this offering;
	•	the filing of our restated certificate of incorporation and the effectiveness of our restated bylaws, which will occur immediately following the completion of the offering; and
	•	no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to an additional           shares of our Class A common stock from us and the selling stockholders in this offering.

		Year Ended July 31,																				Five Months Ended
		2005				2006				2007				2008				2009				December 31, 2009
		(Unaudited)
		(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:
Operating revenues:
Card revenues			$21,771				$36,359				$45,717				$91,233				$119,356				$50,895
Cash transfer revenues			12,064				20,616				25,419				45,310				62,396				30,509
Interchange revenues			5,705				9,975				12,488				31,583				53,064				31,353
Total operating revenues			39,540				66,951				83,624				168,126				234,816				112,757
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing expenses			19,148				28,660				38,838				69,577				75,786				31,333
Compensation and benefits expenses(1)			11,584				18,499				20,610				28,303				40,096				26,610
Processing expenses			6,990				8,547				9,809				21,944				32,320				17,480
Other general and administrative expenses			6,521				10,077				13,212				19,124				22,944				14,020
Total operating expenses			44,243				65,783				82,469				138,948				171,146				89,443
Operating income			(4,703	)			1,168				1,155				29,178				63,670				23,314
Interest income			300				301				771				665				396				115
Interest expense			(474	)			(823	)			(625	)			(247	)			(1	)			(2	)
Income before income taxes			(4,877	)			645				1,301				29,596				64,065				23,427
Income tax expense (benefit)			—				111				(3,346	)			12,261				26,902				9,764
Net income			(4,877	)			535				4,647				17,335				37,163				13,663
Dividends, accretion and allocated earnings of preferred stock			—				(367	)			(5,157	)			(13,650	)			(29,000	)			(9,170	)
Net income (loss) allocated to common stockholders			$(4,877	)			$168				$(510	)			$3,685				$8,163				$4,493
Earnings (loss) per common share:
Basic			$(0.48	)			$0.02				$(0.05	)			$0.34				$0.68				$0.37
Diluted			$(0.48	)			$0.01				$(0.05	)			$0.26				$0.52				$0.29
Weighted-average common shares issued and outstanding			10,228				10,873				11,100				10,757				12,036				12,222
Weighted-average diluted common shares issued and outstanding			10,228				13,194				11,100				14,154				15,712				15,425
Pro forma earnings per common share (unaudited):
Basic																			$1.01				$0.37
Diluted																			$0.91				$0.34
Pro forma weighted-average shares issued and outstanding (unaudited):
Basic																			36,978				37,164
Diluted																			40,654				40,367

(1)		Includes stock-based compensation expense of $0, $0, $156,000, $1.2 million and $2.5 million for the years ended July 31, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, and $6.8 million for the five months ended December 31, 2009.

																						Five Months
																						Ended
		Year Ended July 31,																				December 31,
		2005				2006				2007				2008				2009				2009
		(Dollars in thousands)
Statistical Data (Unaudited):
Number of GPR cards activated			428,737				721,561				894,295				2,167,004				3,106,923				2,105,908
Number of cash transfers			2,262,854				4,055,775				4,992,956				9,153,119				14,084,458				8,188,264
Number of active cards as of period end(1)			289,086				428,300				625,165				1,270,072				2,056,828				2,688,975
Gross dollar volume(2)			$414,910				$801,956				$1,134,175				$2,831,278				$4,702,914				$2,734,087

(1)		Represents the total number of GPR cards in our portfolio that have had a purchase, reload or ATM withdrawal transaction during the previous 90-day period.
(2)		Represents the total dollar volume of funds loaded to our GPR card and reload products in the specified period.

	•	an actual basis; and
	•	an as adjusted basis to give effect to the sale of the           shares of our Class A common stock offered by us in this prospectus at an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.

		As of
		December 31, 2009
		Actual				As Adjusted(1)
		(In thousands)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(2)		$	71,684			$
Settlement assets(3)			42,569				42,569
Total assets			183,108
Settlement obligations(3)			42,569				42,569
Long-term debt			—				—
Total liabilities			111,744				111,744
Total stockholders’ equity			71,364

(1)		Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $      per share would increase or decrease, respectively, our cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, total assets and total stockholders’ equity by approximately $      million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions.
(2)		Includes $15.4 million of restricted cash. We maintain restricted deposits in bank accounts to support our line of credit.
(3)		Our retail distributors collect customer funds for purchases of new cards and reloads and then remit these funds directly to bank accounts established on behalf of those customers by the banks that issue our cards. Our retail distributors’ remittance of these funds takes an average of three business days. Settlement assets represent the amounts due from our retail distributors for customer funds collected at the point of sale that have not yet been remitted to the card issuing banks. Settlement obligations represent the amounts that are due from us to the card issuing banks for funds collected but not yet remitted by our retail distributors and not funded by our line of credit. We have no control over or access to customer funds remitted by our retail distributors to the card issuing banks. Customer funds therefore are not our assets, and we do not recognize them in our consolidated financial statements.

 

This offering and an investment in our Class A common stock involve a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding to invest in our Class A common stock. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment.

 

Risks Related to Our Business

 

     Our growth rates may decline in the future.

 

In recent quarters, our operating income and net income, while still increasing significantly year over year, have not always increased sequentially and the rate of growth of our operating revenues has declined. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue our historical growth rates in future periods, and we would expect seasonal or other influences to cause periodic sequential quarterly declines in our operating income and net income. In the near term, our continued growth depends in significant part on our ability, among other things, to attract new users of our products, to expand our reload network and to increase our revenues per customer. Since the value we provide to our network participants relates in large part to the number of users of, businesses that accept reloads or payments through, and applications enabled by, the Green Dot Network, our operating revenues could suffer if we were unable to increase the number of purchasers of our GPR cards and to expand and adapt our reload network to meet consumers’ evolving needs. We may fail to expand our reload network for a number of reasons, including our inability to produce products and services that appeal to consumers and lead to increased new card sales, our loss of one or more key retail distributors or our loss of key, or failure to add, businesses that accept reloads or payments through the Green Dot Network, which we refer to as our network acceptance members.

 

We may not be able to increase card usage and cardholder retention, which have been two important contributors to our growth. Currently, many of our cardholders use their cards infrequently or do not reload their cards. We may be unable to generate increases in card usage or cardholder retention for a number of reasons, including our inability to maintain our existing distribution channels, the failure of our cardholder retention and usage incentives to influence cardholder behavior, our inability to predict accurately consumer preferences or industry changes and to modify our products and services on a timely basis in response thereto, and our inability to produce new features and services that appeal to cardholders.

 

As the prepaid financial services industry continues to develop, our competitors may be able to offer products and services that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar to or better than ours. This may force us to compete on the basis of price and to expend significant advertising, marketing and other resources in order to remain competitive. Even if we are successful at increasing our operating revenues through our various initiatives and strategies, we will experience an inevitable decline in growth rates as our operating revenues increase to higher levels and we may also experience a decline in margins. If our operating revenue growth rates slow materially or decline, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

 

     Operating revenues derived from sales at Walmart and our other three largest retail distributors represented 66%, 9%, 8% and 6%, respectively, of our total operating revenues during the five months ended December 31, 2009, and the loss of operating revenues from any of these retail distributors would adversely affect our business.

 

Most of our operating revenues are derived from prepaid financial services sold at our four largest retail distributors. As a percentage of total operating revenues, operating revenues derived from products and services sold at the store locations of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (or Walmart) and our three

other largest retail distributors, as a group, were approximately 66% and 23%, respectively, in the five months ended December 31, 2009. While we do not expect calendar 2010 operating revenues derived from products and services sold at Walmart stores to increase as a percentage of our total operating revenues, we expect that Walmart and our other three largest retail distributors will continue to have a significant impact on our operating revenues in future years. It would be difficult to replace any of our large retail distributors, particularly Walmart, and the operating revenues derived from sales of our products and services at their stores. Accordingly, the loss of Walmart or any of our other three largest retail distributors would have a material adverse effect on our business, and might have a positive impact on the business of one of our competitors if it were able to replace us. In addition, any publicity associated with the loss of any of our large retail distributors could harm our reputation, making it more difficult to attract and retain consumers and other retail distributors, and could lessen our negotiating power with our remaining and prospective retail distributors.

 

Our contracts with these retail distributors have terms that expire at various dates between 2011 and 2013, subject to early termination provisions. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue our relationships with our largest retail distributors on the same or more favorable terms in future periods or that our relationships will continue beyond the terms of our existing contracts with them. Our operating revenues and operating results could suffer if, among other things, any of our retail distributors renegotiates, terminates or fails to renew, or to renew on similar or favorable terms, its agreement with us or otherwise chooses to modify the level of support it provides for our products.

 

Our future success depends upon our retail distributors’ active and effective promotion of our products and services, but their interests and operational decisions might not always align with our interests.

 

Substantially all of our operating revenues are derived from our products and services sold at the stores of our retail distributors. Revenues from our retail distributors depend on a number of factors outside our control and may vary from period to period. Because we compete with many other providers of consumer products for placement and promotion of products in the stores of our retail distributors, our success depends on our retail distributors and their willingness to promote our products and services successfully. In general, our contracts with these third parties allow them to exercise significant discretion over the placement and promotion of our products in their stores, and they could give higher priority to the products and services of other companies. Accordingly, losing the support of our retail distributors might limit or reduce the sales of our cards and MoneyPak reload product. Our operating revenues may also be negatively affected by our retail distributors’ operational decisions. For example, if a retail distributor fails to train its cashiers to sell our products and services or implements changes in its systems that disrupt the integration between its systems and ours, we could experience a decline in our product sales. Even if our retail distributors actively and effectively promote our products and services, there can be no assurance that their efforts will result in growth of our operating revenues.

 

     The industry in which we compete is highly competitive, which could adversely affect our operating revenue growth.

 

The prepaid financial services industry is highly competitive and includes a variety of financial and non-financial services vendors. Our current and potential competitors include:

 

 

Some of these vendors compete with us in more than one of the vendor categories described above, while others are primarily focused in a single category. In addition, competitors in one category have worked or are working with competitors in other categories to compete with us. A portion of our cash transfer revenues is derived from reloads to cards managed by companies that compete with us as program managers. We also face potential competition from retail distributors or from other companies, such as Visa, that may in the future decide to compete, or compete more aggressively, in the prepaid financial services industry.

 

We also compete with businesses outside of the prepaid financial services industry, including traditional providers of financial services, such as banks that offer demand deposit accounts and card issuers that offer credit cards, private label retail cards and gift cards.

 

Many existing and potential competitors have longer operating histories and greater name recognition than we do. In addition, many of our existing and potential competitors are substantially larger than we are, may already have or could develop substantially greater financial and other resources than we have, may offer, develop or introduce a wider range of programs and services than we offer or may use more effective advertising and marketing strategies than we do to achieve broader brand recognition, customer awareness and retail penetration. We may also face price competition that results in decreases in the purchase and use of our products and services. To stay competitive, we may have to increase the incentives that we offer to our retail distributors and decrease the prices of our products and services, which could adversely affect our operating results.

 

Our continued growth depends on our ability to compete effectively against existing and potential competitors that seek to provide prepaid cards or other electronic payment products and services. If we fail to compete effectively against any of the foregoing threats, our revenues, operating results, prospects for future growth and overall business could be materially and adversely affected.

 

     We operate in a highly regulated environment, and failure by us or the businesses that participate in our reload network to comply with applicable laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

We operate in a highly regulated environment, and failure by us or the businesses that participate in our reload network to comply with the laws and regulations to which we are subject could negatively impact our business. We are subject to state money transmission licensing requirements and a wide range of federal and other state laws and regulations, which are described under “Business – Regulation” below. In particular, our products and services are subject to an increasingly strict set of legal and regulatory requirements intended to protect consumers and to help detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit activities.

 

Many of these laws and regulations are evolving, unclear and inconsistent across various jurisdictions, and ensuring compliance with them is difficult and costly. For example, with increasing frequency, federal and state regulators are holding businesses like ours to higher standards of training, monitoring and compliance, including monitoring for possible violations of laws by the businesses that participate in our reload network. Failure by us or those businesses to comply with the laws and regulations to which we are subject could result in fines, penalties or limitations on our ability to conduct our business, or federal or state actions, any of which could significantly harm our reputation with consumers and other network participants, banks that issue our cards and regulators, and could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

     Changes in laws and regulations to which we are subject, or to which we may become subject, may increase our costs of operation, decrease our operating revenues and disrupt our business.

 

Changes in laws and regulations may occur that could increase our compliance and other costs of doing business, require significant systems redevelopment, or render our products or services less profitable or obsolete, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. We could

face more stringent anti-money laundering rules and regulations, as well as more stringent licensing rules and regulations, compliance with which could be expensive and time consuming. For example, more stringent anti-money laundering regulations could require the collection and verification of more information from our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations.

 

Changes in laws and regulations governing the way our products and services are sold could adversely affect our ability to distribute our products and services and the cost of providing those products and services. If onerous regulatory requirements were imposed on the sale of our products and services, the requirements could lead to a loss of retail distributors, which, in turn, could materially and adversely impact our operations.

 

In light of current economic conditions, legislators and regulators have increased their focus on the banking and consumer financial services industry, and there are extensive proposals in the U.S. Congress that could substantially change the way banks (including card issuing banks) and other financial services companies are regulated and able to offer their products to consumers. These changes, if made, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations. For example, changes in the way we or the banks that issue our cards are regulated could expose us to increased regulatory oversight and litigation. In addition, changes in laws and regulations that limit the fees that can be charged or the disclosures that must be provided with respect to our products and services could increase our costs and decrease our operating revenues.

 

     Our pending bank acquisition will, if successful, subject our business to significant new, and potentially changing, regulatory requirements, which may adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

Upon consummation of our pending bank acquisition, we will become a “bank holding company” under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, or BHC Act. As a bank holding company, we will be required to file periodic reports with, and will be subject to comprehensive supervision and examination by, the Federal Reserve Board. Among other things, we and the subsidiary bank we acquire will be subject to risk-based and leverage capital requirements, which could adversely affect our results of operations and restrict our ability to grow. These capital requirements, as well as other federal laws applicable to banks and bank holding companies, could also limit our ability to pay dividends. We also would likely incur additional costs associated with legal and regulatory compliance as a bank holding company, which could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, as a bank holding company, we would generally be prohibited from engaging, directly or indirectly, in any activities other than those permissible for bank holding companies. This restriction might limit our ability to pursue future business opportunities we might otherwise consider but which might fall outside the activities permissible for a bank holding company. See “Business – Regulation – Bank Regulations.”

 

Moreover, substantial changes to banking laws are possible in the near future. There are extensive proposals in the U.S. Congress that could substantially change the regulatory framework affecting our operations. These changes, if they are made, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

     We rely on relationships with card issuing banks to conduct our business, and our results of operations and financial position could be materially and adversely affected if we fail to maintain these relationships or we maintain them under new terms that are less favorable to us.

 

Substantially all of our cards are issued by Columbus Bank and Trust Company or GE Money Bank. Our relationships with these banks are currently, and will be for the foreseeable future, a critical component of our ability to conduct our business and to maintain our revenue and expense structure, because we are currently unable to issue our own cards, and, notwithstanding our pending bank acquisition, will be unable to do so for the foreseeable future at the volume necessary to conduct our business, if at all. If we lose or do not maintain existing banking relationships, we would incur significant switching and other costs and expenses and we and users of our products and services

could be significantly affected, creating contingent liabilities for us. As a result, the failure to maintain adequate banking relationships could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our agreements with the banks that issue our cards provide for revenue-sharing arrangements and cost and expense allocations between the parties. Changes in the revenue-sharing arrangements or the costs and expenses that we have to bear under these relationships could have a material impact on our operating expenses. In addition, we may be unable to maintain adequate banking relationships or, following their expiration in 2012 and 2013, renew our agreements with the banks that currently issue substantially all of our cards under terms at least as favorable to us as those existing before renewal.

 

     We receive important services from third-party vendors, including card processing from Total System Services, Inc. Replacing them would be difficult and disruptive to our business.

 

Some services relating to our business, including fraud management and other customer verification services, transaction processing and settlement, card production and customer service, are outsourced to third-party vendors, such as Total System Services, Inc. for card processing and Genpact International, Inc. for call center services. It would be difficult to replace some of our third-party vendors, particularly Total System Services, in a timely manner if they were unwilling or unable to provide us with these services in the future, and our business and operations could be adversely affected.

 

     Changes in credit card association or other network rules or standards set by Visa and MasterCard, or changes in card association and debit network fees or products or interchange rates, could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

We and the banks that issue our cards are subject to Visa and MasterCard association rules that could subject us to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by the card associations or networks for acts or omissions by us or businesses that work with us, including card processors, such as Total Systems Services, Inc. The termination of the card association registrations held by us or any of the banks that issue our cards or any changes in card association or other debit network rules or standards, including interpretation and implementation of existing rules or standards, that increase the cost of doing business or limit our ability to provide our products and services could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, from time to time, card associations increase the organization and/or processing fees that they charge, which could increase our operating expenses, reduce our profit margin and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

Furthermore, a substantial portion of our operating revenues is derived from interchange fees. For the five months ended December 31, 2009, interchange revenues represented 27.8% of our total operating revenues, and we expect interchange revenues to continue to represent a significant percentage of our total operating revenues in the near term. The amount of interchange revenues that we earn is highly dependent on the interchange rates that Visa and MasterCard unilaterally set and adjust from time to time. In light of recent legislation in foreign jurisdictions and recent attention generally on interchange rates in the United States, interchange rates could decline in the future. If that happens, our operating revenues, operating results, prospects for future growth and overall business could be materially and adversely affected.

 

     Our business could suffer if there is a decline in the use of prepaid cards as a payment mechanism or there are adverse developments with respect to the prepaid financial services industry in general.

 

As the prepaid financial services industry evolves, consumers may find prepaid financial services to be less attractive than traditional or other financial services. Consumers might not use prepaid financial services for any number of reasons, including the general perception of our industry. For example, negative publicity surrounding other prepaid financial service providers could impact our

business and prospects for growth to the extent it adversely impacts the perception of prepaid financial services among consumers. If consumers do not continue or increase their usage of prepaid cards, our operating revenues may remain at current levels or decline. Predictions by industry analysts and others concerning the growth of the prepaid financial services as an electronic payment mechanism, including those included in this prospectus, may overstate the growth of any industry, segment or category, and you should not rely upon them. The projected growth may not occur or may occur more slowly than estimated. If consumer acceptance of prepaid financial services does not continue to develop or develops more slowly than expected or if there is a shift in the mix of payment forms, such as cash, credit cards, traditional debit cards and prepaid cards, away from our products and services, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

 

     Fraudulent and other illegal activity involving our products and services could lead to reputational damage to us and reduce the use and acceptance of our cards and reload network.

 

Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to capture cardholder account information in order to engage in illegal activities such as counterfeiting and identity theft. We rely upon third parties for some transaction processing services, which subjects us to risks related to the vulnerabilities of those third parties. A single significant incident of fraud, or increases in the overall level of fraud, involving our cards and other products and services, could result in reputational damage to us, which could reduce the use and acceptance of our cards and other products and services, cause retail distributors or network acceptance members to cease doing business with us or lead to greater regulation that would increase our compliance costs.

 

     A data security breach could expose us to liability and protracted and costly litigation, and could adversely affect our reputation and operating revenues.

 

We, the banks that issue our cards and our retail distributors, network acceptance members and third-party processors receive, transmit and store confidential customer and other information in connection with the sale and use of our prepaid financial services. Our encryption software and the other technologies we use to provide security for storage, processing and transmission of confidential customer and other information may not be effective to protect against data security breaches by third parties. The risk of unauthorized circumvention of our security measures has been heightened by advances in computer capabilities and the increasing sophistication of hackers. The banks that issue our cards and our retail distributors, network acceptance members and third-party processors also may experience similar security breaches involving the receipt, transmission and storage of our confidential customer and other information. Improper access to our or these third parties’ systems or databases could result in the theft, publication, deletion or modification of confidential customer and other information.

 

A data security breach of the systems on which sensitive cardholder data and account information are stored could lead to fraudulent activity involving our products and services, reputational damage and claims or regulatory actions against us. If we are sued in connection with any data security breach, we could be involved in protracted and costly litigation. If unsuccessful in defending that litigation, we might be forced to pay damages and/or change our business practices or pricing structure, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operating revenues and profitability. We would also likely have to pay (or indemnify the banks that issue our cards for) fines, penalties and/or other assessments imposed by Visa or MasterCard as a result of any data security breach. Further, a significant data security breach could lead to additional regulation, which could impose new and costly compliance obligations. In addition, a data security breach at one of the banks that issue our cards or at our retail distributors, network acceptance members or third-party processors could result in significant reputational harm to us and cause the use and acceptance of our cards to decline, either of which could have a significant adverse impact on our operating revenues and future growth prospects.

     Litigation or investigations could result in significant settlements, fines or penalties.

 

We have been the subject of general litigation and regulatory oversight in the past, and could be the subject of litigation, including class actions, and regulatory or judicial proceedings or investigations in the future. The outcome of litigation and regulatory or judicial proceedings or investigations is difficult to predict. Plaintiffs or regulatory agencies in these matters may seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts or seek to have aspects of our business suspended or modified. The monetary and other impact of these actions may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. The cost to defend, settle or otherwise resolve these matters may be significant.

 

If regulatory or judicial proceedings or investigations were to be initiated against us by private or governmental entities, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Adverse publicity that may be associated with regulatory or judicial proceedings or investigations could negatively impact our relationships with retail distributors, network acceptance members and card processors and decrease acceptance and use of, and loyalty to, our products and related services.

 

     We must adequately protect our brand and the intellectual property rights related to our products and services and avoid infringing on the proprietary rights of others.

 

The Green Dot brand is important to our business, and we utilize trademark registrations and other means to protect it. Our business would be harmed if we were unable to protect our brand against infringement and its value was to decrease as a result.

 

We rely on a combination of trademark and copyright laws, trade secret protection and confidentiality and license agreements to protect the intellectual property rights related to our products and services. We may unknowingly violate the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others and, thus, may be subject to claims by third parties. If so, we may be required to devote significant time and resources to defending against these claims or to protecting and enforcing our own rights. Some of our intellectual property rights may not be protected by intellectual property laws, particularly in foreign jurisdictions. The loss of our intellectual property or the inability to secure or enforce our intellectual property rights or to defend successfully against an infringement action could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

 

We are exposed to losses from cardholder account overdrafts.

 

Our cardholders can incur charges in excess of the funds available in their accounts, and we may become liable for these overdrafts. While we decline authorization attempts for amounts that exceed the available balance in a cardholder’s account, the application of card association rules, the timing of the settlement of transactions and the assessment of our monthly maintenance fee, among other things, can result in overdrawn accounts.

 

Maintenance fee assessment overdrafts accounted for approximately 91% of our aggregate overdrawn account balances in the five months ended December 31, 2009. Maintenance fee assessment overdrafts occur as a result of our charging a cardholder, pursuant to our terms and conditions, our monthly maintenance fee at a time when he or she does not have sufficient funds in his or her account. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates – Reserve for Uncollectible Overdrawn Accounts.”

 

Our remaining overdraft exposure arises primarily from late-posting. A late-post occurs when a merchant posts a transaction within a card association-permitted timeframe but subsequent to our release of the authorization for that transaction, as permitted by card association rules. Under card association rules, we may be liable for the amount of the transaction even if the cardholder has made additional purchases in the intervening period and funds are no longer available on the card at the time the transaction is posted.

Overdrawn account balances are funded on our behalf by the bank that issued the overdrawn card. We are responsible to this card issuing bank for any losses associated with these overdrafts. Overdrawn account balances are therefore deemed to be our receivables due from cardholders. We maintain reserves to cover the risk that we may not recover these receivables due from our cardholders, but our exposure may increase above these reserves for a variety of reasons, including our failure to predict the actual recovery rate accurately. To the extent we incur losses from overdrafts above our reserves or we determine that it is necessary to increase our reserves substantially, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

 

     We face settlement risks from our retail distributors, which may increase during an economic downturn.

 

The vast majority of our business is conducted through retail distributors that sell our products and services to consumers at their store locations. Our retail distributors collect funds from the consumers who purchase our products and services and then must remit these funds directly to accounts established on behalf of these consumers at the banks that issue our cards. The remittance of these funds by the retail distributor takes on average three business days. If a retail distributor becomes insolvent, files for bankruptcy, commits fraud or otherwise fails to remit proceeds to the card issuing bank from the sales of our products and services, we are liable for any amounts owed to the card issuing bank. As of December 31, 2009, we had assets subject to settlement risk of $42.6 million. Given the unprecedented volatility in global financial markets and the frequent occurrence of negative economic events, the approaches we use to assess and monitor the creditworthiness of our retail distributors may be inadequate, and we may be unable to detect and take steps to mitigate an increased credit risk in a timely manner.

 

A further economic downturn could result in settlement losses, whether or not directly related to our business. We are not insured against these risks. Significant settlement losses could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

     Future acquisitions or investments could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition.

 

We are in the process of acquiring a bank holding company and its subsidiary commercial bank, although we cannot guarantee when, if ever, this acquisition will be completed. In addition, we may pursue other acquisitions or investments that we believe will help us to achieve our strategic objectives. The process of integrating an acquired business, product or technology can create unforeseen operating difficulties, expenditures and other challenges such as:

 

 

 

If we are unable to address these difficulties and challenges or other problems encountered in connection with our bank acquisition or any future acquisition or investment, we might not realize the anticipated benefits of that acquisition or investment, we might incur unanticipated liabilities or we might otherwise suffer harm to our business generally.

 

To the extent we pay the consideration for any future acquisitions or investments in cash, it would reduce the amount of cash available to us for other purposes. Future acquisitions or investments could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities or the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, amortization expenses, or impairment charges against goodwill on our balance sheet, any of which could harm our financial condition and negatively impact our stockholders.

 

     Economic, political and other conditions may adversely affect trends in consumer spending.

 

The electronic payments industry, including the prepaid financial services segment within that industry, depends heavily upon the overall level of consumer spending. Sustained deterioration in general economic conditions in the United States might reduce the number of our cards that are purchased or reloaded, the number of transactions involving our cards and the use of our reload network and related services. If general economic conditions result in a sustained reduction in the use of our products and related services, either as a result of a general reduction in consumer spending or as a result of a disproportionate reduction in the use of card-based payment systems, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially harmed.

 

     Our business is dependent on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of computer network systems and data centers.

 

Our ability to provide reliable service to cardholders and other network participants depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer network systems and data centers as well as those of our retail distributors, network acceptance members and third-party processors. Our business involves movement of large sums of money, processing of large numbers of transactions and management of the data necessary to do both. Our success depends upon the efficient and error-free handling of the money that is collected by our retail distributors and remitted to network acceptance members or the banks that issue our cards. We rely on the ability of our employees, systems and processes and those of the banks that issue our cards, our retail distributors, our network acceptance members and third-party processors to process and facilitate these transactions in an efficient, uninterrupted and error-free manner.

 

In the event of a breakdown, a catastrophic event (such as fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure or physical break-in), a security breach or malicious attack, an improper operation or any other event impacting our systems or processes, or those of our vendors, or an improper action by our employees, agents or third-party vendors, we could suffer financial loss, loss of customers, regulatory sanctions and damage to our reputation. The measures we have taken, including the implementation of disaster recovery plans and redundant computer systems, may not be successful, and we may experience other problems unrelated to system failures. We may also experience software defects, development delays and installation difficulties, any of which could harm our business and reputation and expose us to potential liability and increased operating expenses. Some of our contracts with retail distributors, including our contract with Walmart, contain service level standards pertaining to the operation of our systems, and provide the retail distributor with the right to collect damages and potentially to terminate its contract with us for system downtime exceeding stated limits. If we face system interruptions or failures, our business interruption insurance may not be adequate to cover the losses or damages that we incur.

     We must be able to operate and scale our technology effectively to match our business growth.

 

Our ability to continue to provide our products and services to a growing number of network participants, as well as to enhance our existing products and services and offer new products and services, is dependent on our information technology systems. If we are unable to manage the technology associated with our business effectively, we could experience increased costs, reductions in system availability and losses of our network participants. Any failure of our systems in scalability and functionality would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

     If we are unable to keep pace with the rapid technological developments in our industry and the larger electronic payments industry necessary to continue providing our network acceptance members and cardholders with new and innovative products and services, the use of our cards and other products and services could decline.

 

The electronic payments industry is subject to rapid and significant technological changes, including continuing advancements in the areas of radio frequency and proximity payment devices (such as contactless cards), e-commerce and mobile commerce, among others. We cannot predict the effect of technological changes on our business. We rely in part on third parties, including some of our competitors and potential competitors, for the development of, and access to, new technologies. We expect that new services and technologies applicable to our industry will continue to emerge, and these new services and technologies may be superior to, or render obsolete, the technologies we currently utilize in our products and services. Additionally, we may make future investments in, or enter into strategic alliances to develop, new technologies and services or to implement infrastructure change to further our strategic objectives, strengthen our existing businesses and remain competitive. However, our ability to transition to new services and technologies that we develop may be inhibited by a lack of industry-wide standards, by resistance from our retail distributors, network acceptance members, third-party processors or consumers to these changes, or by the intellectual property rights of third parties. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to develop new technologies and adapt to technological changes and evolving industry standards. These initiatives are inherently risky, and they may not be successful or may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

     As a public company, we will be subject to additional financial and other reporting and corporate governance requirements that may be difficult for us to satisfy, will raise our costs and may divert resources and management attention from operating our business.

 

We have historically operated as a private company. After this offering, we will need to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, annual and quarterly information and other reports that are specified in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and SEC regulations. Thus, we will need to ensure that we have the ability to prepare on a timely basis financial statements that comply with SEC reporting requirements. We will also become subject to other reporting and corporate governance requirements, including the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, and the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the regulations promulgated thereunder, which will impose significant new compliance obligations upon us. As a public company, we will be required, among other things, to:

 

 

 

The adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting must be assessed by management for each year commencing with the year ending December 31, 2011. We do not currently have comprehensive documentation of our internal control over financial reporting, nor do we document our compliance with these controls on a periodic basis in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Furthermore, we have not tested our internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 and, due to our lack of documentation, this testing would not be possible at this time. If we were unable to implement the controls and procedures required by Section 404 in a timely manner or otherwise to comply with Section 404, management might not be able to certify, and our independent registered public accounting firm might not be able to report on, the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting, we might be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis and might suffer adverse regulatory consequences or violate NYSE listing standards. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements.

 

The changes necessitated by becoming a public company will require a significant commitment of additional resources and management oversight that will increase our costs and might place a strain on our systems and resources. As a result, our management’s attention might be diverted from other business concerns. In addition, we might not be successful in implementing and maintaining controls and procedures that comply with these requirements. For example, in connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2009, we identified a significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting relating to our financial statement closing process and the need to enhance our financial reporting resources and infrastructure. If we fail to maintain an effective internal control environment or to comply with the numerous legal and regulatory requirements imposed on public companies, we could make material errors in, and be required to restate, our financial statements. Any such restatement could result in a loss of public confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and sanctions imposed on us by the SEC.

 

     Our future success depends on our ability to attract, integrate, retain and incentivize key personnel.

 

Our future success will depend, to a significant extent, on our ability to attract, integrate, retain and incentivize key personnel, namely our management team and experienced sales, marketing and program and systems management personnel. We must retain and motivate existing personnel, and we must also attract, assimilate and motivate additional highly-qualified employees. We may experience difficulty assimilating our newly-hired personnel, which may adversely affect our business. Competition for qualified management, sales, marketing and program and systems management personnel can be intense. Competitors have in the past and may in the future attempt to recruit our top management and employees. If we fail to attract, integrate, retain and incentivize key personnel, our ability to manage and grow our business could be harmed.

 

     We might require additional capital to support our business in the future, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

 

If our unrestricted cash and cash equivalents balances and any cash generated from operations and from this offering are not sufficient to meet our future cash requirements, we will need to access additional capital to fund our operations. We may also need to raise additional capital to take

advantage of new business or acquisition opportunities. We may seek to raise capital by, among other things:

 

 

We may not be able to raise needed cash in a timely basis on terms acceptable to us or at all. Financings, if available, may be on terms that are dilutive or potentially dilutive to our stockholders, and the prices at which new investors might be willing to purchase our Class A common stock could be lower than the initial public offering price. The holders of new securities may also receive rights, preferences or privileges that are senior to those of existing holders of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we were to raise cash through a debt financing, the terms of the financing might impose additional conditions or restrictions on our operations that could adversely affect our business. If we require new sources of financing but they are insufficient or unavailable, we would be required to modify our operating plans to take into account the limitations of available funding, which would harm our ability to maintain or grow our business.

 

     The occurrence of catastrophic events could damage our facilities or the facilities of third parties on which we depend, which could force us to curtail our operations.

 

We and some of the third-party service providers on which we depend for various support functions, such as customer service and card processing, are vulnerable to damage from catastrophic events, such as power loss, natural disasters, terrorism and similar unforeseen events beyond our control. Our principal offices, for example, are situated in the foothills of southern California near known earthquake fault zones and areas of elevated wild fire danger. If any catastrophic event were to occur, our ability to operate our business could be seriously impaired, as we do not maintain redundant systems for critical business functions, such as finance and accounting. In addition, we might not have adequate insurance to cover our losses resulting from catastrophic events or other significant business interruptions. Any significant losses that are not recoverable under our insurance policies, as well as the damage to, or interruption of, our infrastructure and processes, could seriously impair our business and financial condition.

 

Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock and This Offering

 

     We cannot assure you that a market will develop for our Class A common stock or what the market price of our Class A common stock will be.

 

No public trading market currently exists for our Class A common stock, and one may not develop or be sustained after this offering to provide you with adequate liquidity. If a market does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of Class A common stock at an attractive price or at all. We cannot predict the prices at which our Class A common stock will trade. The initial public offering price for our Class A common stock will be determined through negotiations among us, the selling stockholders and representatives of the underwriters and may not bear any relationship to the market price at which our Class A common stock will trade in the public market following this offering or to any other established criteria of the value of our business. A significant portion of our shares may not trade following the offering because our existing stockholders will continue to own approximately     % of our shares. If these shares do not trade, there may be limited liquidity for shares of our Class A common stock following this offering.

 

     The price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

 

In the recent past, stocks generally, and financial services company stocks in particular, have experienced high levels of volatility. The trading price of our Class A common stock following this

offering may fluctuate substantially and may be higher or lower than the initial public offering price. The trading price of our Class A common stock following this offering will depend on a number of factors, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock as you may be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid in this offering. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our Class A common stock include the following:

 

 

In the past, many companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have become subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

 

     Our operating results may fluctuate in the future, which could cause our stock price to decline.

 

Our quarterly and annual results of operations may fluctuate in the future as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. If our results of operations fall below the expectations of investors or any securities analysts who follow our Class A common stock, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline substantially. Fluctuations in our quarterly or annual results of operations may be due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

 

 

 

     Concentration of ownership among our existing directors, executive officers and principal stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

 

Our Class B common stock has ten votes per share and our Class A common stock, which is the stock we are selling in this offering, has one vote per share. Assuming the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares is not exercised, based upon beneficial ownership as of December 31, 2009, following this offering, our current directors, executive officers, holders of more than 5% of our total shares of common stock outstanding and their respective affiliates will, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately     % of our outstanding Class A and Class B common stock, representing approximately     % of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, these stockholders will be able to exercise a controlling influence over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, and will have significant influence over our management and policies for the foreseeable future. Some of these persons or entities may have interests that are different from yours. For example, these stockholders may support proposals and actions with which you may disagree or which are not in your interests. The concentration of ownership could delay or prevent a change in control of our company or otherwise discourage a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of our company, which in turn could reduce the price of our Class A common stock. In addition, these stockholders, some of which have representatives sitting on our board of directors, could use their voting control to maintain our existing management and directors in office, delay or prevent changes of control of our company, or support or reject other management and board of director proposals that are subject to stockholder approval, such as amendments to our employee stock plans and approvals of significant financing transactions. See “Description of Capital Stock – Anti-Takeover Provisions.”

 

     Our stock price could decline due to the large number of outstanding shares of our common stock eligible for future sale.

 

Upon completion of this offering, we will have outstanding           shares of our common stock, assuming no exercise of outstanding options or warrants after          , 2010. The shares sold in this offering will be immediately tradable without restriction. Of the remaining shares:

 

 

 

The lock-up and market standoff agreements expire 180 days after the date of this prospectus, except that with respect to the lock-up agreements the 180-day period may be extended for up to 34 additional days under specified circumstances where we announce or pre-announce earnings or a material event occurs within 17 days prior to, or 16 days after, the termination of the 180-day period. The representatives of the underwriters may, in their sole discretion and at any time without notice, release all or any portion of the securities subject to lock-up agreements.

 

Immediately following this offering, the holders of approximately           shares of our Class B common stock will be entitled to rights with respect to the registration of these shares under the Securities Act. See “Description of Capital Stock – Registration Rights.” If we register the resale of their shares following the expiration of the lock-up and market standoff agreements, these stockholders could sell those shares in the public market without being subject to the volume and other restrictions of Rules 144 and 701.

 

After the closing of this offering, we intend to register approximately           shares of our Class A and Class B common stock subject to options outstanding or reserved for future issuance under our stock incentive plans. Of these shares,           shares will be eligible for sale upon the exercise of vested options after the expiration of the lock-up and market standoff agreements. In addition, the shares subject to an outstanding warrant to purchase 283,786 shares of our Class B common stock could be eligible for sale after the expiration of the lock-up and market standoff agreements. Assuming our other outstanding warrant vests, up to an additional 4,283,456 shares will be eligible for sale after the expiration of lock-up and/or market standoff agreements.

 

Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public market following this offering, or even the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline. These sales could also make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate.

 

     Because the initial public offering price of our Class A common stock will be substantially higher than the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our outstanding Class A and Class B common stock following this offering, new investors will incur immediate and substantial dilution.

 

The initial public offering price will be substantially higher than the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our Class A and Class B common stock immediately following this offering based on the total value of our tangible assets less our total liabilities. Therefore, if you purchase shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate dilution of approximately $      per share, the difference between the price per share you pay for our Class A common stock and its pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share following the offering. See “Dilution.” Furthermore, investors purchasing shares of our Class A common stock in this offering will only own approximately     % of our outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock (and have     % of the combined voting power of the outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock) after the offering even though they will have contributed     % of the total consideration received by us in connection with our sale of shares of our capital stock. To the extent outstanding options and warrants to purchase our Class B common stock are exercised, investors purchasing our Class A common stock in this offering will experience further dilution.

 

     We will have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering.

 

We cannot specify with certainty the particular uses of the net proceeds that we will receive from this offering. Our management will have broad discretion in the application of these proceeds, including for any of the purposes described in the section entitled “Use of Proceeds.” Accordingly, you

will have to rely upon the judgment of our management with respect to the use of the proceeds, with only limited information concerning management’s specific intentions. Our management may spend a portion or all of the net proceeds from this offering in ways that our stockholders may not desire or that may not yield a favorable return. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value. In addition, a majority of the offering is comprised of shares of our Class A common stock being sold by the selling stockholders, and we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of those shares.

 

     Our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a takeover that stockholders consider favorable and could also reduce the market price of our stock.

 

Our restated certificate of incorporation and our restated bylaws contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change in control of our company. These provisions could also make it more difficult for stockholders to nominate directors for election to our board of directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions, among other things:

 

 

These and other provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and our restated bylaws, as well as provisions under Delaware law, could discourage potential takeover attempts, reduce the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock and result in the trading price of our Class A common stock being lower than it otherwise would be. See “Description of Capital Stock,” including “ – Preferred Stock” and “ – Anti-Takeover Provisions.”

 

     If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our Class A common stock, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.

 

We expect that the trading price for our Class A common stock will be affected by any research or reports that securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who may elect to cover us or our business downgrade their evaluations of our Class A common stock, the price of our Class A common stock would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company, we could lose visibility in the market for our Class A common stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

     We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. Should we complete our proposed acquisition of a bank holding company and its subsidiary commercial bank, as a bank holding company, our ability to pay future dividends could be limited by the capital requirements imposed under the BHC Act, as well as other federal laws applicable to banks and bank holding companies. We intend to retain any earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, you will likely receive a return on your investment in our Class A common stock only if the market price of our Class A common stock increases.

 

In addition to historical information, this prospectus contains forward-looking statements. We may, in some cases, use words, such as “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potentially,” “will” or “may,” or other similar words and expressions that convey uncertainty about future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus include, among other things, statements about:

 

 

The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors include those we discuss in this prospectus under the caption “Risk Factors.” You should read these

risk factors and the other cautionary statements made in this prospectus as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this prospectus.

 

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

 

This prospectus also contains estimates and other statistical data, including those relating to market size, transaction volumes, demographic groups and growth rates of the markets in which we participate, that we have obtained from industry publications and reports. These industry publications and reports generally indicate that they have obtained their information from sources believed to be reliable, but do not guarantee the accuracy and completeness of their information. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to these estimates, as there is no assurance that any of them will be reached. Although we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data contained in these industry publications and reports, based on our industry experience we believe that the publications and reports are reliable and that the conclusions contained in the publications and reports are reasonable.

 

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from the sale of the           shares of our Class A common stock that we are selling in this offering of approximately $      million, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. If the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares in this offering is exercised in full, based on the same assumptions, we estimate that our net proceeds will be approximately $      million. Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price would increase or decrease, respectively, the net proceeds to us by approximately $      million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock by the selling stockholders.

 

The principal purposes of our selling shares in this offering are to obtain additional capital, to create a public market for our Class A common stock and to facilitate our future access to the public equity markets. We expect to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures. We do not have more specific plans for the net proceeds from this offering. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds for the acquisition of, or investment in, complementary businesses, products, services, technologies or assets.

 

We have not yet determined our anticipated expenditures and therefore cannot estimate the amounts to be used for each of the purposes discussed above. The amounts and timing of any expenditures will vary depending on the amount of cash generated by our operations, competitive and technological developments and the rate of growth, if any, of our business. Accordingly, our management will have significant flexibility in applying the net proceeds from this offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of these net proceeds. Pending the uses described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the United States government. The goal with respect to the investment of these net proceeds will be capital preservation and liquidity so that these funds are readily available to fund our operations.

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock, and we do not currently intend to pay any cash dividends on our Class A common stock for the foreseeable future. Should we complete our proposed acquisition of a bank holding company and its subsidiary commercial bank, as a bank holding company, the Federal Reserve Board’s risk-based and leverage capital requirements, as well as other federal laws applicable to banks and bank holding companies, could limit our ability to pay dividends. See “Business – Regulation – Bank Regulations” below. We expect to retain future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. Any future determination to pay dividends on our Class A common stock, if permissible, will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other factors, our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, plans for expansion and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

 

The following table sets forth our consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and capitalization as of December 31, 2009 on:

 

 

The information below is illustrative only, and our capitalization following the completion of this offering will be adjusted based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of the offering determined at the pricing of this offering. You should read this table together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” each included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

 

 

 

In the table above, the number of shares outstanding as of December 31, 2009 does not include:

 

 

If you invest in our Class A common stock in this offering, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price of our Class A common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of our Class A and Class B common stock after giving effect to this offering. As of December 31, 2009, our pro forma net tangible book value, before giving effect to this offering, was approximately $     , or $      per share. Our pro forma net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, divided by           , the number of outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our preferred stock into shares of our Class B common stock and including shares acquired through option exercises in order to be sold in this offering.

 

After giving effect to the sale by us of the           shares of our Class A common stock offered by us in this prospectus at an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of December 31, 2009 would have been approximately $      million, or $      per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $      per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $      per share to new investors purchasing shares of our Class A common stock at the initial public offering price. The following table illustrates this per share dilution:

 

 

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $      would increase or decrease, respectively, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering by $      per share and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value to new investors by $      per share, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering would be $      per share, and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to investors in this offering would be $      per share.

 

The following table summarizes on the pro forma basis described above, the difference between our existing stockholders and the purchasers of shares of our Class A common stock in this offering with respect to the number of shares of our common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid to us, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share, before deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions:

 

 

 

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $      per share would increase or decrease, respectively, total consideration paid by new investors and total consideration paid by all stockholders by approximately $      million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same.

 

Except as noted, the above discussion and tables assume no exercise of our stock options or warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2009, consisting of 5,687,321 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options with a weighted average exercise price of approximately $7.98 per share, and 4,567,242 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants with a weighted average exercise price of approximately $22.31 per share. If all of these options and warrants were exercised, then:

 

 

The following tables present selected historical financial data for our business. You should read this information together with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information, each included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected consolidated financial data in this section are not intended to replace the financial statements and are qualified in their entirety by the consolidated financial statements and related notes.

 

We derived the statement of operations data for the years ended July 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and for the five months ended December 31, 2009, and the balance sheet data as of July 31, 2008 and 2009 and December 31, 2009, from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. We derived the balance sheet data as of July 31, 2007 from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this prospectus. We derived the statement of operations data for the years ended July 31, 2005 and 2006 and the balance sheet data as of July 31, 2005 and 2006 from our unaudited consolidated financial statements not included in this prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of our results to be expected in any future period.

 

The pro forma per share data give effect to the conversion of all currently outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into shares of our Class B common stock upon the closing of this offering, as though the conversion had occurred at the beginning of the indicated fiscal period. For further information concerning the calculation of pro forma per share information, please refer to note 2 and note 12 of our notes to consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You should read the following discussion and analysis in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

Overview

 

Green Dot is a leading prepaid financial services company providing simple, low-cost and convenient money management solutions to a broad base of U.S. consumers. We believe that we are the leading provider of general purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards in the United States and that our Green Dot Network is the leading prepaid reload network in the United States. We sell our cards and offer our reload services nationwide at approximately 50,000 retail store locations, which provide consumers convenient access to our products and services.

 

We were founded in October 1999 to distribute and service GPR cards. In 2001, we sold our first such card at a Rite Aid store in Virginia. Between 2001 and 2004, we concentrated on increasing our distribution capacity and established distribution agreements with CVS, The Pantry Stores (Kangaroo Express) and Radio Shack, among others. In 2004, we launched the Green Dot Network, which allowed our cardholders to reload funds onto their cards at any of our retail distributors’ locations regardless of where their cards were initially purchased. For example, this allowed our cards purchased at Rite Aid stores to be reloaded at CVS stores. We also began to market the Green Dot Network to providers of third-party prepaid card programs, which enabled their cardholders to reload funds onto their cards through our Green Dot Network. In 2005, we continued to expand our distribution capacity by establishing a distribution relationship with Walgreens. In May 2007, we began marketing and distributing Green Dot-branded cards over the Internet and through our website.

 

In October 2006, we entered into agreements with Walmart and GE Money Bank to manage a co-branded GPR card program for Walmart and to provide reload network services at Walmart stores through our Green Dot Network. After an extensive product design and pilot period, we launched the Walmart MoneyCard program in approximately 2,500, or 70%, of Walmart’s U.S. stores in July 2007. In October 2007, we launched a Visa-branded non-reloadable gift card program at most of these stores. By December 31, 2009, we offered the Walmart MoneyCard in more than 3,600, or 97%, of Walmart’s U.S. stores. Since its inception, the Walmart MoneyCard program has been highly successful, contributing significantly to the increase in our total operating revenues. To enhance the value proposition to cardholders, in February 2009, significant pricing changes were made to the Walmart MoneyCard program. The new card fee, monthly maintenance fee and point-of-sale, or POS, swipe reload fee for Walmart MoneyCards at Walmart stores were each lowered to $3.00 from $8.94, $4.94 and $4.64, respectively. Our revenues from Walmart have increased significantly in response to these pricing changes, as substantial increases in volumes more than offset the revenue impact of the lower fees.

 

In July 2009, we re-launched our core Green Dot-branded GPR card with new packaging, features and pricing. Our innovative new package contains a temporary prepaid card, for the first time visible to the consumer through the packaging, that can be used immediately upon activation. New card features include free online bill payment services and a fee-free ATM network with approximately 17,000 participating ATMs. We reduced the new card fee from $9.95 to $4.95. We raised the monthly maintenance fee from $4.95 to $5.95, and at the same time instituted maintenance fee waivers for months in which cardholders either load $1,000 or more onto their cards or make at least 30 purchase transactions in order to encourage increased card usage and cardholder retention. The re-launch of the Green Dot-branded GPR card generated significant increases in volume that more than offset the revenue impact of the lower new card fee.

In September 2009, we further expanded our distribution capacity by entering into a distribution agreement with 7-Eleven. Also, in September 2009, PayPal became a new acceptance member in the Green Dot Network, allowing PayPal customers to add funds to a new or existing PayPal account using our MoneyPak product. These funds can be used immediately by account holders unlike funds loaded to PayPal accounts from a bank account, which may not be available for several days. In October 2009, we further expanded our distribution capacity by entering into a joint marketing and referral agreement with Intuit Inc. In January 2010, Intuit integrated into its TurboTax software an option that allows its customers to receive their tax refunds via direct deposit to a Green Dot co-branded GPR card, called a TurboTax Refund Card, that we manage.

 

Key Business Metrics

 

We designed our business model to provide low-cost, easy-to-use financial products and services to a large number of customers through retail store and online distribution. We review a number of metrics to help us monitor the performance of, and identify trends affecting, our business. We believe the following measures are the primary indicators of our quarterly and annual performance.

 

Number of GPR Cards Activated – represents the total number of GPR cards sold through our retail and online distribution channels that are activated (and, in the case of our online channel, also funded) by cardholders in a specified period. We activated 894,000, 2.2 million and 3.1 million GPR cards in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, and 976,000 and 2.1 million GPR cards in the five months ended December 31, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

 

Number of Cash Transfers – represents the total number of MoneyPak and POS swipe reload transactions that we sell through our retail distributors in a specified period. We sold 5.0 million, 9.2 million and 14.1 million MoneyPak and POS swipe reload transactions in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, and 5.0 million and 8.2 million MoneyPak and POS swipe reload transactions in the five months ended December 31, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

 

Number of Active Cards – represents the total number of GPR cards in our portfolio that have had a purchase, reload or ATM withdrawal transaction during the previous 90-day period. We had 625,000, 1.3 million and 2.1 million active cards outstanding as of July 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, and 1.4 million and 2.7 million active cards outstanding as of December 31, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

 

Gross Dollar Volume – represents the total dollar volume of funds loaded to our GPR card and reload products. Our gross dollar volume was $1.1 billion, $2.8 billion and $4.7 billion in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, and $1.6 billion and $2.7 billion in the five months ended December 31, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

 

Key components of our results of operations

 

Operating Revenues

 

We classify our operating revenues into the following three categories:

 

Card Revenues.  Card revenues consist of new card fees, monthly maintenance fees, ATM fees and other revenues. We charge new card fees when a consumer purchases a GPR or gift card in a retail store. We charge maintenance fees on GPR cards to cardholders on a monthly basis pursuant to the terms and conditions in our cardholder agreements. We charge ATM fees to cardholders when they withdraw money or conduct other transactions at certain ATMs in accordance with the terms and conditions in our cardholder agreements. Other revenues consist primarily of fees associated with optional products or services, which we generally offer to consumers during the card activation process. Optional products and services that generate other revenues include providing a second card for an account, expediting delivery of the personalized GPR card that replaces the temporary card obtained at the retail store and upgrading a cardholder account to one of our premium programs – the VIP program or Premier Card program – which provide benefits for our more active cardholders.

Historically, our card revenues have also included customer service fees that we charged in accordance with the terms and conditions in our cardholder agreements.

 

Our aggregate new card fee revenues vary based upon the number of GPR cards activated and the average new card fee. The average new card fee depends primarily upon the mix of products that we sell since there are variations in new card fees among Green Dot-branded and co-branded products and between GPR cards and general purpose gift cards. Our aggregate monthly maintenance fee revenues vary primarily based upon the number of active cards in our portfolio and the average fee assessed per account. Our average monthly maintenance fee per active account depends upon the mix of Green Dot-branded and co-branded cards in our portfolio and upon the extent to which fees are waived based on significant usage. Our aggregate ATM fee revenues vary based upon the number of cardholder ATM transactions and the average fee per ATM transaction. The average fee per ATM transaction depends upon the mix of Green Dot-branded and co-branded active cards in our portfolio and the extent to which cardholders enroll in our VIP program, which has no ATM fees, or effect ATM transactions on our fee-free ATM network.

 

Cash Transfer Revenues.  We earn cash transfer revenues when consumers purchase and use a MoneyPak or fund their cards through a POS swipe reload transaction in a retail store. Our aggregate cash transfer revenues vary based upon the total number of MoneyPak and POS swipe reload transactions and the average price per MoneyPak or POS swipe reload transaction. The average price per MoneyPak or POS swipe reload transaction depends upon the relative numbers of cash transfer sales at our different retail distributors and on the mix of MoneyPak and POS swipe reload transactions at certain retailers that have different fees for the two types of reload transactions.

 

Interchange Revenues.  We earn interchange revenues from fees remitted by the merchant’s bank, which are based on rates established by Visa and MasterCard, when cardholders make purchase transactions using our cards. Our aggregate interchange revenues vary based primarily on the number of active cards in our portfolio and on the mix of cardholder purchases between those using signature identification technologies and those using personal identification numbers.

 

Operating Expenses

 

We classify our operating expenses into the following four categories:

 

Sales and Marketing Expenses.  Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of the sales commissions we pay to our retail distributors and brokers for sales of our GPR and gift cards and reload services in their stores, advertising and marketing expenses, and the costs of manufacturing and distributing card packages, placards and promotional materials to our retail distributors and personalized GPR cards to consumers who have activated their cards. We generally establish sales commission percentages in long-term distribution agreements with our retail distributors, and aggregate sales commissions are determined by the number of prepaid cards and cash transfers sold at their respective retail stores. We incur advertising and marketing expenses for television and online advertisements of our products and through retailer-based print promotions and in-store displays. Advertising and marketing expenses are recognized as incurred and typically deliver a benefit over an extended period of time. For this reason, these expenses do not always track changes in revenues. Our manufacturing and distribution costs vary primarily based on the number of GPR cards activated.

 

Compensation and Benefits Expenses.  Compensation and benefits expenses represent the compensation and benefits that we provide to our employees and the payments we make to third-party contractors. While we have an in-house customer service organization, we employ third-party contractors to conduct all call center operations, handle routine customer service inquiries and provide temporary support in the area of IT operations and elsewhere. Compensation and benefits expenses associated with our customer service and loss management functions generally vary in line with the size of our active card portfolio, while the expenses associated with other functions do not.

Processing Expenses.  Processing expenses consist primarily of the fees charged to us by the banks that issue our prepaid cards, the third-party card processor that maintains the records of our customers’ accounts and processes transaction authorizations and postings for us, and Visa and MasterCard, which process transactions for us through their respective payment networks. These costs generally vary based on the total number of active cards in our portfolio.

 

Other General and Administrative Expenses.  Other general and administrative expenses consist primarily of professional service fees, telephone and communication costs, depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment, losses from unrecovered customer purchase transaction overdrafts and fraud, rent and utilities, and insurance. We incur telephone and communication costs primarily from customers contacting us through our toll-free telephone numbers. These costs vary with the total number of active cards in our portfolio as do losses from unrecovered customer purchase transaction overdrafts and fraud. Costs associated with professional services, depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment, and rent and utilities vary based upon our investment in infrastructure, risk management and internal controls and are generally not correlated with our operating revenues or other transaction metrics.

 

Income Tax Expense

 

Our income tax expense consists of the federal and state corporate income taxes accrued on income resulting from the sale of our products and services. Since the majority of our operations are based in California, most of our state taxes are paid to that state.

 

Comparison of Five Months Ended December 31, 2008 and 2009

 

Operating Revenues

 

The following table presents a breakdown of our operating revenues among card, cash transfer and interchange revenues:

 

 

Card Revenues.  Our card revenues totaled $50.9 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $4.4 million, or 10%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily due to period-over-period growth of 116% in the number of GPR cards activated and 92% in the number of active cards in our portfolio, largely offset by the February 2009 reduction in new card and monthly maintenance fees for the Walmart MoneyCard and the July 2009 reduction in the new card fee for Green Dot-branded cards. These fee reductions also contributed to the decline in card revenues as a percentage of total operating revenues. We expect our card revenues will continue to increase in absolute dollars as the number of our cards grows, but we do not expect them to shift significantly as a percentage of our total operating revenues from the percentage for the five months ended December 31, 2009.

 

Cash Transfer Revenues.  Our cash transfer revenues totaled $30.5 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $6.1 million, or 25%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily due to period-over-period growth of 64% in the number of cash transfers sold, partially offset by a shift in our retail distributor mix toward Walmart, which generally has lower

fees than our other retail distributors and significantly reduced the POS swipe reload fee in February 2009. We expect our cash transfer revenues will continue to increase in absolute dollars because of the recent increase in the number of GPR cards activated and the addition of PayPal as a network acceptance member, but we do not expect them to shift significantly as a percentage of total operating revenues from the percentage for the five months ended December 31, 2009.

 

Interchange Revenues.  Our interchange revenues totaled $31.4 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $13.1 million, or 72%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily due to period-over-period growth of 92% in the number of active cards in our portfolio. We expect our interchange revenues will continue to increase in absolute dollars, but we do not expect them to shift significantly as a percentage of total operating revenues from the percentage for the five months ended December 31, 2009.

 

Operating Expenses

 

The following table presents a breakdown of our operating expenses among sales and marketing, compensation and benefits, processing, and other general and administrative expenses:

 

 

Sales and Marketing Expenses.  Our sales and marketing expenses were $31.3 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, a decrease of $3.7 million, or 10%, from the comparable period in 2008. This decrease was primarily the result of a $4.3 million decline in advertising and marketing expenses. During the 2009 comparison period, we did no television advertising and deployed fewer new in-store displays. The decrease in sales and marketing expenses was also the result of a $2.7 million, or 13%, decline in the sales commissions we paid to our retail distributors and brokers because of reductions in the commission percentages we paid to our retail distributors, most significantly Walmart. These declines were partially offset by a $3.3 million increase in our manufacturing and distribution costs due to increased numbers of GPR cards and MoneyPaks sold. We expect our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our total operating revenues to increase significantly in the year ending December 31, 2010 from the percentage in the five months ended December 31, 2009 as we strategically engage in television advertising, which we recommenced in January 2010, and as the contractual sales commission percentage that we are obligated to pay to Walmart increases substantially in May 2010 to a level approximating where it was before mid-February 2009.

 

Compensation and Benefits Expenses.  Our compensation and benefits expenses were $26.6 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $11.2 million, or 73%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily the result of a $7.1 million increase in employee compensation and benefits, which included a $5.8 million increase in stock-based compensation. In December 2009, our board of directors awarded 257,984 shares of common stock to our Chief Executive Officer to compensate him for past services rendered to our company. The number of shares awarded was equal to the number of shares subject to fully vested options that unintentionally expired unexercised in June 2009. The aggregate grant date fair value of this award was

approximately $5.2 million, based on an estimated fair value of our common stock of $20.01, as determined by our board of directors on the date of the award. We recorded the aggregate grant date fair value as stock-based compensation on the date of the award. The increase in compensation and benefits expenses was also the result of a $4.1 million increase in third-party contractor expenses as the number of active cards in our portfolio and associated call volumes grew from the five months ended December 31, 2008 to the five months ended December 31, 2009. We expect our compensation and benefits expenses to increase as we continue to add personnel and incur additional third-party contractor expenses to support expanding operations and as we assume the reporting requirements and compliance obligations of a public company. However, we expect these expenses to decline as a percentage of our total operating revenues from the percentage in the five months ended December 31, 2009 since the expenses in this five-month period included an unusually large amount of stock-based compensation expense and since aggregate compensation and benefits should grow more slowly than total operating revenues as we scale our business.

 

Processing Expenses.  Our processing expenses were $17.5 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $5.7 million, or 49%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily the result of period-over-period growth of 92% in the number of active cards in our portfolio, partially offset by lower fees charged to us under agreements with one of the banks that issue our cards and our third-party card processor that became effective in November 2008 and by more efficient use of our card processor through the purging of inactive accounts and more effective use of analysis and reporting tools. We expect our processing expenses to increase in absolute dollars but to decline slowly as a percentage of our total operating revenues from the percentage in the five months ended December 31, 2009 as our contracts with our third-party providers generally contain tiered-pricing structures under which an increasing number of transactions and cards results in lower per-transaction costs.

 

Other General and Administrative Expenses.  Our other general and administrative expenses were $14.0 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009, an increase of $4.6 million, or 48%, from the comparable period in 2008. This increase was primarily the result of a $2.6 million increase in professional service fees due to our potential bank acquisition and other corporate development initiatives and a $1.2 million increase in telephone and communication expenses due to increased use of our call center and our interactive voice response system, or IVR, as the number of active cards in our portfolio increased. We expect other general and administrator expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we incur additional costs related to the growth of our business and as we assume the reporting requirements and compliance obligations of a public company. However, we expect these expenses to decline as a percentage of our total operating revenues from the percentage in the five months ended December 31, 2009 as we benefit from past significant investments that we have made and from the potential acquisition of a bank.

 

Income Tax Expense

 

The following table presents a breakdown of our effective tax rate among federal, state and other:

 

 

Our income tax expense increased by $2.3 million to $9.8 million in the five months ended December 31, 2009 from the comparable period in 2008, and there was a slight decline in the effective tax rate. We expect our effective tax rate to decline over the next two years as changes in

California tax law result in less of our income before income taxes being allocated to the state of California.

 

Comparison of Fiscal 2008 and 2009

 

Operating Revenues

 

The following table presents a breakdown of our operating revenues among card, cash transfer and interchange revenues:

 

 

Card Revenues.  Our card revenues totaled $119.4 million in fiscal 2009, an increase of $28.1 million, or 31%, from fiscal 2008. This increase was primarily due to year-over-year growth of 43% in the number of GPR cards activated and 62% in the number of active cards in our portfolio, partially offset by the February 2009 reduction in new card and monthly maintenance fees for the Walmart MoneyCard. This reduction in fees also contributed to the decline in card revenues as a percentage of total operating revenues.

 

Cash Transfer Revenues.  Our cash transfer revenues totaled $62.4 million in fiscal 2009, an increase of $17.1 million, or 38%, from fiscal 2008. This increase was primarily due to year-over-year growth of 54% in the number of cash transfers, partially offset by a shift in our retail distributor mix toward Walmart, which generally has lower fees than our other retail distributors and significantly reduced the POS swipe reload fee in February 2009.

 

Interchange Revenues.  Our interchange revenues totaled $53.1 million in fiscal 2009, an increase of $21.5 million, or 68%, from fiscal 2008. This increase was primarily due to year-over-year growth of 62% in the number of active cards in our portfolio.

Operating Expenses

 

The following table presents a breakdown of our operating expenses among sales and marketing, compensation and benefits, processing, and other general and administrative expenses: