-Announces Special Dividend and $50 Million Stock Repurchase Program
-Focus on driving multi-year step function increase in valuation
Immersion Corporation, a leading developer and provider of technologies for haptics, reported management changes, a special cash dividend and a new stock repurchase program.
Effective immediately, Executive Chairman Eric Singer has been appointed President and CEO and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. The Board of Directors believes Eric Singer’s significant experience in operations, transactions and capital allocation as well as his deep technology experience will help to drive long-term shareholder value creation. Francis Jose will return to the role of General Counsel and oversee the Company’s ongoing intellectual property licensing efforts.
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“We thank Francis Jose for his work as CEO over the past 16 months. I look forward to continuing to work with the team on our core priorities in the coming year”
Immersion’s Board of Directors has also declared a special one-time dividend of 10 cents per share, based on the Company’s strong operating performance in 2022. This dividend is in addition to a new recently declared quarterly dividend program of 3 cents per share. In addition, Immersion’s Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program of up to $50.0 million for 2023. This new stock repurchase program replaces the stock repurchase program that had been in place in 2022 under which the Company repurchased a total of 2,542,065 shares (approximately 7.4% of shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021).
Eric Singer, President and CEO, stated, “Immersion has a unique set of assets, and the Board is redoubling its efforts to create a step function increase in value over the long term. Over the past two years, we have driven a significant increase in profitability, helping to fortify Immersion’s balance sheet with record levels of cash and investments. We now have multiple levers to drive shareholder value concurrent with our workstreams around monetization of our intellectual property, which encompasses entering new license arrangements and renewing existing licenses as well as our targeted litigation strategy, including but not limited to our recent lawsuit against Meta Platforms. Our special dividend and stock repurchase program underscore our financial flexibility to return value to shareholders in a very uncertain macro environment, and we intend to leverage our financial resources to continue to increase shareholder value.”
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The special dividend of $0.10 per share will be paid on January 30, 2023 to shareholders of record on January 15, 2023. In addition, the Company’s first quarterly dividend will be paid on January 30, 2023 to shareholders of record on January 15, 2023. Future quarterly dividends will be subject to further review and approval by the Board in accordance with applicable law. The Board reserves the right to adjust or withdraw the quarterly dividend in future periods as it reviews the Company’s capital allocation strategy from time to time.
The stock repurchase program allows for the repurchase of up to $50 million of Immersion common stock for a period of up to 12 months. The timing, pricing and sizes of any repurchases will depend on a number of factors, including the market price of the Company’s common stock and general market and economic conditions. The stock repurchase program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any dollar amount or number of shares, and the program may be suspended or discontinued at any time.
