-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, NB4xZoIZHHJVoW5/xQe6r/mFjtOKfP6fKC/B5Wp2oCNBty0SUttYqTLOuybG2fK9 X4GJUeF8ecWorWExHaDxeQ== 0000950135-00-000602.txt : 20000211 0000950135-00-000602.hdr.sgml : 20000211 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0000950135-00-000602 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 424B3 PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 1 FILED AS OF DATE: 20000210 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: ALLAIRE CORP CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0001016139 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: SERVICES-PREPACKAGED SOFTWARE [7372] IRS NUMBER: 411812820 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 1231 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: 424B3 SEC ACT: SEC FILE NUMBER: 333-95683 FILM NUMBER: 531948 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: ONE ALEWIFE CENTER 3RD FLOOR STREET 2: SUITE 552 CITY: CAMBRIDGE STATE: MA ZIP: 02140 BUSINESS PHONE: 6177612000 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: FOLEY HOAG & ELIOT LLP STREET 2: ONE POST OFFICE SQUARE CITY: BOSTON STATE: MA ZIP: 02109 424B3 1 ALLAIRE CORPORATION 1 Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) File No. 333-95683 ALLAIRE CORPORATION 376,690 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK The 376,690 shares of our common stock, $.01 par value per share, covered by this prospectus are being offered by certain of our stockholders on a delayed or continuous basis, pursuant to the exercise of registration rights. We will not receive any proceeds from the offering. We will bear the costs relating to the registration of the shares being offered by this prospectus (other than selling commissions). The selling stockholders (or any pledgees, donees, transferees or other successors in interest of the selling stockholders) may offer the shares, from time to time during the effectiveness of this registration statement, for sale through the Nasdaq National Market, in the over-the-counter market, in one or more negotiated transactions, or through a combination of methods of sale, at prices and on terms then prevailing or at negotiated prices. The selling stockholders may sell the shares through broker-dealers, who may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions. Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "ALLR." On February 8, 2000, the last reported sale price for the common stock on the Nasdaq National Market, was $136.25 per share. INVESTING IN OUR COMMON STOCK INVOLVES RISKS. SEE "RISK FACTORS" ON PAGE 3. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. ALL SECURITIES TO BE REGISTERED HEREBY ARE TO BE OFFERED BY THE SELLING STOCKHOLDERS. The date of this prospectus is February 10, 2000. 2 YOU SHOULD RELY ONLY ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT OR TO WHICH WE HAVE REFERRED YOU. WE HAVE NOT AUTHORIZED ANYONE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH INFORMATION THAT IS DIFFERENT. THIS DOCUMENT MAY ONLY BE USED WHERE IT IS LEGAL TO SELL THESE SECURITIES. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT MAY ONLY BE ACCURATE AS OF THE DATE OF THIS DOCUMENT. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Some of the statements under "Risk Factors," and elsewhere in this prospectus constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance, and are identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "potential" or "continue" or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors, including the risks outlined under "Risk Factors." These factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement made in this prospectus. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such statements. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this prospectus to conform the statements to actual results. 2 3 RISK FACTORS WE HAVE SUBSTANTIAL NET LOSSES AND MAY NOT BE PROFITABLE IN THE FUTURE. Since we began operations, we have incurred substantial net losses in every fiscal year. At September 30, 1999, we had an accumulated deficit of $37.0 million. Although we recorded a small profit for the quarter ended December 31, 1999, we cannot be certain that we will continue to be profitable. Failure to sustain profitability may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In addition, we have generated relatively small amounts of revenue until recent fiscal quarters, while increasing expenditures in all areas, particularly in sales and marketing and research and development, in order to execute our business plan. Although we have experienced revenue growth in recent periods, the growth has been off of a small base, and it is unlikely that the recent rate of growth is sustainable. DISAPPOINTING QUARTERLY REVENUE AND OPERATING RESULTS COULD CAUSE THE PRICE OF OUR COMMON STOCK TO FALL. Our quarterly revenue and operating results are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. If our quarterly revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or public market analysts, the price of our common stock could fall substantially. Our quarterly revenue may fluctuate for several reasons, including the following: - the market for web application servers and packaged e-business applications is in an early stage of development and it is therefore difficult to accurately predict customer demand; and - the sales cycle for our products and services varies substantially from customer to customer and, if our average sales price continues to increase as expected, we expect the sales cycle to lengthen. As a result, we have difficulty determining whether and when we will receive license revenue from a particular customer. In addition, because our revenue from training and consulting services is largely correlated with our license revenue, a decline in license revenue could also cause a decline in our services revenue in the same quarter or in subsequent quarters. Other factors, many of which are outside our control, could also cause variations in our quarterly revenue and operating results. Most of our expenses, such as employee compensation and rent, are relatively fixed. Moreover, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations regarding future revenue increases. As a result, any shortfall in revenue in relation to our expectations could cause significant changes in our operating results from quarter to quarter and could result in quarterly losses. OUR LIMITED OPERATING HISTORY MAKES THE EVALUATION OF OUR BUSINESS AND PROSPECTS DIFFICULT. We recorded our first revenue upon delivery of ColdFusion 1.5 to customers in February 1996. Accordingly, we have only a limited operating history on which you can base your evaluation of our business and prospects. In addition, our prospects must be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties encountered by companies in an early stage of development in new and rapidly evolving markets, particularly those markets which depend on the Internet. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKET FOR OUR PRODUCTS IS UNCERTAIN. If the market for web application servers and packaged e-business applications does not grow at a significant rate, our business, operating results and financial condition will be materially adversely affected. Web technology has been used widely for only a short time, and the market for web application servers and packaged e-business applications is new and rapidly evolving. As is typical for new and rapidly evolving industries, demand for recently introduced products is highly uncertain. 3 4 OUR FUTURE SUCCESS WILL DEPEND ON OUR ABILITY TO MARKET AND SELL ALLAIRE SPECTRA SUCCESSFULLY. We expect that our future financial performance will depend in part on sales of Allaire Spectra. We began commercial shipments of Allaire Spectra in December 1999. Market acceptance of Allaire Spectra will depend on the market for packaged e-business applications and customer demand for the specific functionality of Allaire Spectra. We cannot assure you that either will occur. In addition, we cannot assure you that Allaire Spectra will meet the performance needs or expectations of our customers or that it will be free of significant software defects or bugs. If Allaire Spectra does not meet customer needs or expectations, for whatever reason, our reputation could be damaged, or we could be required to upgrade or enhance the product, which could be costly and time consuming. OUR BUSINESS WILL BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED IF THE INTERNET DOES NOT BECOME A VIABLE AND SUBSTANTIAL COMMERCIAL MEDIUM. Our future success will depend upon the widespread adoption of the Internet as a primary medium for commerce and other business applications. If the Internet does not become a viable and substantial commercial medium, our business, operating results and financial condition will be materially adversely affected. The Internet has experienced, and is expected to continue to experience, significant user and traffic growth. This growth has, at times, caused user frustration with slow access and download times. The Internet infrastructure may not be able to support the demands placed on it by continued growth. Moreover, critical issues concerning the commercial use of the Internet, such as security, reliability, cost, accessibility and quality of service, remain unresolved and may negatively affect the growth of Internet use or the attractiveness of commerce and business communication on the Internet. In addition, the Internet could lose its viability due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased activity. As commercial use of the Internet increases, federal, state and foreign agencies could adopt regulations covering issues such as user privacy, content and taxation of products and services. If enacted, government regulations could limit the market for our products and services. REGULATIONS OR CONSUMER CONCERNS REGARDING PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET COULD LIMIT MARKET ACCEPTANCE OF ALLAIRE SPECTRA. The personalization features of Allaire Spectra allows our customers to develop and maintain web user profiles to tailor content to specific users. Profile development involves both data supplied by the user and data derived from the user's web site behavior. Privacy concerns may cause users to resist providing personal data or to avoid web sites that track user behavior. In addition, legislative or regulatory requirements may heighten consumer concerns if businesses must notify web site users that user profile data may be used to direct product promotion and advertising to users. Other countries and political entities, such as the European Economic Community, have adopted such legislation or regulatory requirements. The United States may do so in the future. If privacy legislation is enacted or consumer privacy concerns limit the market acceptance of personalization software, our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed. Allaire Spectra uses cookies to track demographic information and user preferences. A cookie is information keyed to a specific user that is stored on a computer's hard drive, typically without the user's knowledge. Cookies are generally removable by the user, although removal could affect the content available on a particular site. A number of governmental bodies and commentators in the United States and abroad have urged passage of laws limiting or abolishing the use of cookies. If such laws are passed or if users begin to delete or refuse cookies as a common practice, market demand for Allaire Spectra could be reduced. WE COMPETE WITH MICROSOFT WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY SUPPORTING MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGIES. We currently compete with Microsoft in the market for web application servers and related software products while simultaneously maintaining a working relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft has a longer operating history, a larger installed base of customers and substantially greater financial, distribution, marketing and technical resources than our company. As a result, we may not be able to compete effectively 4 5 with Microsoft now or in the future, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. We expect that Microsoft's commitment to and presence in the web application server and related software products market will substantially increase competitive pressure in the market. We believe that Microsoft will continue to incorporate web application server technology into its operating system software and certain of its server software offerings, possibly at no additional cost to its users. We believe that we must maintain a working relationship with Microsoft to achieve success. Most of our customers use Microsoft-based operating platforms, so it is critical to our success that our products be closely integrated with Microsoft technologies. Notwithstanding our historical and current support of the Microsoft platform, Microsoft may in the future promote technologies and standards more directly competitive with or not compatible with our technology. WE OPERATE IN HIGHLY COMPETITIVE MARKETS AND MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COMPETE EFFECTIVELY. The web application server and packaged e-business applications market is intensely competitive and rapidly changing. Many of our current and potential competitors have longer operating histories and substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources than we do and therefore may be able to respond more quickly than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. In the portion of the market with the highest product prices, we compete with large web and database platform companies that offer a variety of software products. We also compete with a number of medium-sized and start-up companies that have introduced or that are developing web application servers and packaged e-business applications. In the middle range of the market where product prices are significantly lower, we compete primarily against Microsoft. We expect that additional competitors will enter the market with competing products as the size and visibility of the market opportunity increases. Increased competition could result in pricing pressures, reduced margins or the failure of our products to achieve or maintain market acceptance. If, in the future, a competitor chooses to bundle a competing web application server or packaged e-business application with other products, the demand for our products might be substantially reduced. In addition, new technologies will likely increase the competitive pressures that we face. The development of competing technologies by market participants or the emergence of new industry standards may adversely affect our competitive position. As a result of these and other factors, we may not be able to compete effectively with current or future competitors, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. OUR FAILURE TO EFFECTIVELY INTEGRATE THE BUSINESSES OF BRIGHT TIGER, LIVE SOFTWARE AND VALTO SYSTEMS MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR BUSINESS. On April 12, 1999, we merged with Bright Tiger Technologies, on June 25, 1999, we merged with Live Software, and on December 23, 1999, we merged with Valto Systems. A failure to effectively integrate any of these businesses could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. There can be no assurance that we will be able to develop, market and sell the Bright Tiger, Live Software and Valto Systems products successfully. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to retain personnel from these companies. IF WE ACQUIRE OTHER BUSINESSES, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO RISKS THAT COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION AND OPERATING RESULTS. From time to time, we may pursue additional acquisitions to obtain complementary products, services and technologies. An acquisition may not produce the revenue, earnings or business synergies that we anticipated, and an acquired product, service or technology might not perform as expected. In pursuing any acquisition, our management could spend a significant amount of time and effort in identifying and completing the acquisition. If we complete an acquisition, we would probably have to devote a significant amount of management resources to integrate the acquired business with our existing business. 5 6 To pay for an acquisition, we might use our stock or cash. Alternatively, we might borrow money from a bank or other lender. If we use our stock, our stockholders would experience dilution of their ownership interests. If we use cash or debt financing, our financial liquidity will be reduced. OUR FAILURE TO EXPAND OUR SALES FORCE AND DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS WOULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR REVENUE GROWTH AND FINANCIAL CONDITION. To increase our revenue, we must increase the size of our sales force and the number of our indirect channel partners, including original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers and systems integrators. A failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. There is intense competition for sales personnel in our business, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in attracting, integrating, motivating and retaining new sales personnel. Our existing or future channel partners may choose to devote greater resources to marketing and supporting the products of other companies. In addition, we will need to resolve potential conflicts among our sales force and channel partners. WE DEPEND ON A SMALL NUMBER OF DISTRIBUTORS FOR A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF OUR REVENUE. We derive a substantial portion of our revenue from a small number of distributors. For the nine months ended September 30, 1999, revenue from the indirect distribution channel accounted for 51% of our total revenue, and one distributor, Ingram Micro, accounted for 37% of total revenue. For the nine months ended September 30, 1998, revenue from our indirect distribution channel accounted for 40% of total revenue and Ingram Micro accounted for 22% of total revenue. The loss of, or a reduction in orders from, Ingram Micro or any other significant distributor could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. WE MAY EXPERIENCE LOST OR DELAYED SALES AS OUR SALES CYCLE LENGTHENS. A longer sales cycle reduces our ability to forecast revenue levels and may result in lost sales. Any delay or loss in sales of our products could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition, and could cause operating results to vary significantly from quarter to quarter. As we increase our sales and marketing focus on larger sales to businesses and other large organizations, we expect that increased executive-level involvement of information technology officers and other senior managers of our customers will be required. Potential large sales may be delayed, or lost altogether, because we will have to provide a more comprehensive education to prospective customers regarding the use and benefits of our products. Our customers' purchase decisions may be subject to delays over which we may have little or no control, including budgeting constraints, internal purchase approval review procedures and the inclusion or exclusion of our products on customers' approved standards lists. THE MARKET FOR OUR PRODUCTS IS RAPIDLY CHANGING, AND THE FAILURE OF OUR PRODUCTS TO CONTINUE TO SATISFY THE WEB DEVELOPER COMMUNITY WOULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR OPERATING RESULTS. If our products do not continue to satisfy the web developer community or otherwise fail to sustain sufficient market acceptance, our business, operating results and financial condition would be materially adversely affected. We believe that a significant contributing factor to our initial growth has been our ability to create and maintain strong relationships with the community of web developers that initially adopted our products. This community of early adopters demands rapid improvements in the performance, features and reliability of our products, as well as a high level of customer service. Due in part to the emerging nature of the web application server and packaged e-business applications market and the substantial resources available to many market participants, we believe there is a time-limited opportunity to achieve product adoption. 6 7 OUR EFFORTS TO DEVELOP BRAND AWARENESS MAY BE UNSUCCESSFUL, WHICH COULD LIMIT OUR ABILITY TO ACQUIRE NEW CUSTOMERS AND GENERATE ONGOING REVENUE GROWTH. We believe that developing and maintaining awareness of the "Allaire," "ColdFusion," "HomeSite," "JRun" and "Allaire Spectra" brand names is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our products. If we fail to promote and maintain our brands or incur significant related expenses, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. To promote our brands, we may find it necessary to increase our marketing budget or otherwise increase our financial commitment to creating and maintaining brand awareness among potential customers. Although we have obtained a United States registration of the trademark "ColdFusion," we are aware of other companies, including competitors, that use the word "Fusion" in their marks alone or in combination with other words, and we do not expect to be able to prevent third party uses of the word "Fusion" for competing goods and services. For example, NetObjects markets its principal products for designing, building and updating web sites under the names "NetObjects Fusion" and "NetObjects Team Fusion." Competitors that use marks that are similar to our brand names may cause confusion among actual and potential customers, which could prevent us from achieving significant brand recognition. TO BE COMPETITIVE, WE MUST CONTINUE TO ENHANCE OUR EXISTING PRODUCTS AND DEVELOP NEW PRODUCTS. To be competitive, we must develop and introduce product enhancements and new products which increase our customers' ability to develop and deploy web applications. In the past, we have been forced to delay introduction of several new products. If we fail to develop and introduce new products and enhancements successfully and on a timely basis, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. IF WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE LICENSING TECHNOLOGY FOR OUR PRODUCTS FROM THIRD PARTIES, OUR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS COULD BE DELAYED. We license technology that is incorporated into our products from third parties. The loss of access to this technology could result in delays in our development and introduction of new products or enhancements until equivalent or replacement technology could be accessed, if available, or developed internally, if feasible. These delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. In light of the rapidly evolving nature of web technology and our strategy to pursue industry partnerships, we believe that we will increasingly need to rely on technology from third party vendors, such as Microsoft, which may also be competitors. There can be no assurance that technology from others will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. OUR FAILURE TO PROPERLY MANAGE OUR GROWTH COULD STRAIN OUR RESOURCES AND ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR BUSINESS. Our failure to manage our rapid growth could have a material adverse effect on the quality of our products, our ability to retain key personnel and our business, operating results and financial condition. Our revenue increased 156% for the nine months ended September 30, 1999 from the same period in 1998. The number of our employees increased from 93 at January 1, 1998 to 270 at January 1, 2000. To manage future growth effectively we must maintain and enhance our financial and accounting systems and controls, integrate new personnel and manage expanded operations. IF WE LOSE THE SERVICES OF JOSEPH ALLAIRE OR DAVID ORFAO, OUR BUSINESS WOULD SUFFER. Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and efforts of Joseph J. Allaire, our founder, Chairman of the Board, and Executive Vice President, and David J. Orfao, our President and Chief Executive Officer. The loss of the services of Mr. Allaire or Mr. Orfao could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. We also depend on the ability of our executive officers and other members of senior management to work effectively as a team. We do not have employment 7 8 agreements with any of our executive officers, and we do not have any key person life insurance other than for Mr. Allaire and Mr. Orfao. WE MAY BE UNABLE TO HIRE AND RETAIN THE SKILLED PERSONNEL WE NEED TO SUCCEED. Qualified personnel are in great demand throughout the software industry. Our success depends in large part upon our ability to attract, train, motivate and retain highly skilled employees, particularly sales and marketing personnel, software engineers and other senior personnel. Our failure to attract and retain the highly trained technical personnel that are integral to our direct sales, product development, service and support teams may limit the rate at which we can generate sales and develop new products or product enhancements. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. OUR SUCCESS DEPENDS ON OUR ABILITY TO PROTECT OUR PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY. Our success depends to a significant degree upon the protection of our software and other proprietary technology. The unauthorized reproduction or other misappropriation of our proprietary technology could enable third parties to benefit from our technology without paying us for it. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Although we have taken steps to protect our proprietary technology, they may be inadequate. Existing trade secret, copyright and trademark laws offer only limited protection. In addition, we rely in part on "shrinkwrap" and "clickwrap" licenses that are not signed by the end user and, therefore, may be unenforceable under the laws of certain jurisdictions. Moreover, the laws of other countries in which we market our products may afford little or no effective protection of our intellectual property. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights, the proceedings could be burdensome and expensive and could involve a high degree of risk. CLAIMS BY OTHER COMPANIES THAT WE INFRINGE THEIR COPYRIGHTS OR PATENTS COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION. If any of our products violate third party proprietary rights, we may be required to reengineer our products or seek to obtain licenses from third parties to continue to offer our products. Any efforts to reengineer our products or obtain licenses on commercially reasonable terms may not be successful, and, in any case, would substantially increase our costs and have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. We do not conduct comprehensive patent searches to determine whether the technology used in our products infringes patents held by third parties. In addition, product development is inherently uncertain in a rapidly evolving technological environment in which there may be numerous patent applications pending, many of which are confidential when filed, with regard to similar technologies. Although we are generally indemnified against claims that third party technology that we license infringes the proprietary rights of others, this indemnification is not always available for all types of intellectual property rights (for example, patents may be excluded) and in some cases the scope of such indemnification is limited. Even if we receive broad indemnification, third party indemnitors are not always well-capitalized and may not be able to indemnify us in the event of infringement, resulting in substantial exposure to us. There can be no assurance that infringement or invalidity claims arising from the incorporation of third party technology in our products, and claims for indemnification from our customers resulting from these claims, will not be asserted or prosecuted against us. These claims, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources in addition to potential product redevelopment costs and delays, all of which could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, any claim of infringement could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim, even if the claim is invalid, and could distract our management from their business. A party making a claim also could secure a judgment that requires us to pay substantial damages. A judgment could also include an injunction or other court order that could prevent us from selling our products. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. 8 9 OUR BUSINESS COULD BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED IF OUR PRODUCTS FAIL TO PERFORM PROPERLY. Software products as complex as ours may contain undetected errors or "bugs," which result in product failures or security breaches or otherwise fail to perform in accordance with customer expectations. Errors in certain of our products have been detected after the release of the product. The occurrence of errors could result in loss of or delay in revenue, loss of market share, failure to achieve market acceptance, diversion of development resources, injury to our reputation, or damage to our efforts to build brand awareness, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. WE COULD INCUR SUBSTANTIAL COSTS AS A RESULT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY CLAIMS RELATING TO OUR CUSTOMERS' CRITICAL BUSINESS OPERATIONS. Many of the web applications developed and deployed with our products are critical to the operations of our customers' businesses. Any failure in a customer's web application could result in a claim for substantial damages against us, regardless of our responsibility for the failure. Although we maintain general liability insurance, including coverage for errors and omissions, there can be no assurance that our existing coverage will continue to be available on reasonable terms or will be available in amounts sufficient to cover one or more large claims, or that the insurer will not disclaim coverage as to any future claim. WE MAY BE AFFECTED BY UNEXPECTED YEAR 2000 PROBLEMS. Many existing computer systems and software products do not properly recognize dates after December 31, 1999. This "Year 2000" problem could result in miscalculations, data corruption, system failures or disruptions of operations. We are subject to potential Year 2000 problems affecting our products, our internal systems and the systems of our vendors and distributors, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. To date, however, we have not experienced significant Year 2000 problems. Because ColdFusion, Homesite and JRun do not involve data storage, the ability of a web application built with these products to comply with Year 2000 requirements is largely dependent on whether the database underlying the application is Year 2000 compliant. Therefore, there can be no assurance that web applications developed using our products will comply with Year 2000 requirements. For example, if these products are connected to a database that is not Year 2000 compliant, the information received by the application may be incorrect. In addition, there can be no assurance that Year 2000 errors or defects will not be discovered in our internal software systems and, if such errors or defects are discovered, there can be no assurance that the defects or the costs of making such systems Year 2000 compliant will not be material. Year 2000 errors or defects in the internal systems maintained by our vendors or distributors could require us to incur significant unanticipated expenses to remedy any problems or replace affected vendors and could reduce our revenue from our indirect distribution channel. ANTI-TAKEOVER PROVISIONS OF OUR CHARTER AND DELAWARE LAW COULD PREVENT OR DELAY A CHANGE OF CONTROL OF OUR COMPANY. Our corporate documents and Delaware law contain provisions that might enable our management to resist a takeover of our company. These provisions might discourage, delay or prevent a change in the control of our company or a change in our management. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. The existence of these provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. 9 10 THE PRICE OF OUR COMMON STOCK HAS BEEN AND MAY CONTINUE TO BE VOLATILE. The price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile. The price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of events and factors relating to our company, our competitors and the market for our products, such as: - quarterly variations in our operating results; - announcements of new technological innovations or new products by us or our competitors; - changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts; and - news relating to trends in our markets. In addition, the stock market in general, and the market prices for Internet-related companies in particular, have experienced extreme volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of these companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Recently, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have often instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders brought such a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. The lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management. 10 11 ALLAIRE We develop, market and support Web application servers and related software products that enable the development and deployment of sophisticated e-business Web sites and applications. Our products interoperate with emerging Web application technologies as well as key enterprise information systems technologies, and include features and tools that increase the productivity of Web developers. With the introduction of our new Allaire Spectra product, we provide both a Web application server and advanced content management, commerce and personalization capabilities in a packaged e-business application. Our products are designed to enable businesses such as Williams-Sonoma, Kaiser Permanente and autobytel.com to build and manage large-scale, content-rich, transaction-oriented Web sites and applications. A Web application server is a software program that hosts Web applications and enables access to these applications through Web browsers, client hardware devices and other applications. A Web application server also enables hosted applications to access a company's servers and other internal systems. The Web application server is the software technology that is central to the Web as a computing platform, much as the operating system is central software technology to desktop computing. According to Forrester Research, the market for Web application servers will triple from $692 million in 1999 to $2.1 billion in 2002. We believe that the central technology role of Web application servers places leading Web application server vendors in a strong position to sell related software products. This additional software includes development tools, management products and packaged e-business applications. We were incorporated in Minnesota on February 1, 1996 as the successor to a Minnesota limited liability company and reincorporated in Delaware on April 25, 1997. Our principal executive offices are located at One Alewife Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140. Our telephone number at that location is (617) 761-2000. "ColdFusion", "HomeSite" and "Bright Tiger" are federally registered trademarks of Allaire. We have applied for federal registration of the trademarks "Allaire" and "Allaire Spectra". The Allaire, ColdFusion, HomeSite and JRun logos are trademarks of Allaire. Other trademarks or service marks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective holders. 11 12 SELLING STOCKHOLDERS The shares covered by this prospectus are being offered for sale from time to time during the period of effectiveness of this registration statement for the accounts of the selling stockholders set forth below. Each of the selling stockholders acquired the shares being offered hereunder pursuant to either: - an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated June 14 1999, among Allaire, Sprint Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation, and Live Software, Inc., a California corporation; or - an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 23, 1999, among Allaire, VSI Acquisition Corp., a Massachusetts corporation, and Valto Systems, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation. We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement on Form S-3, of which this prospectus forms a part, with respect to the resale of the shares from time to time on the Nasdaq National Market or in privately-negotiated transactions. We have agreed to use our best efforts to keep such registration statement effective until December 23, 2000, or, if earlier, until the distribution contemplated in this prospectus has been completed. The table below sets forth, as of January 18, 2000, certain information regarding the beneficial ownership of each selling stockholder. Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as otherwise indicated, each stockholder named in the table has sole voting and investment power with respect to the shares set forth opposite such stockholder's name. We have calculated the percentage beneficially owned based upon the 13,402,847 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 18, 2000. We do not know when or in what amounts a selling stockholder may offer shares for sale. The selling stockholders may not sell any or all of the shares offered in connection with this prospectus. Because the selling stockholders may offer all of some of the shares pursuant to this offering, and because there are currently no agreements, arrangements or understandings with respect to the sale of any of the shares that will be held by the selling stockholders after completion of the offering, we can not estimate the number of the shares that will be held by the selling stockholders after completion of the offering. However, for purposes of this table, we have assumed that, after completion of the offering, none of the shares covered by this prospectus will be held by the selling stockholders. This registration statement will also cover any additional shares of common stock that become issuable in connection with the shares registered for sale under this prospectus by reason of any stock dividend, stock split, recapitalization or other similar transaction effected without the receipt of consideration that results in an increase in the number of outstanding shares of our common stock.
SHARES SHARES TO BE BENEFICIALLY OWNED BENEFICIALLY PRIOR TO OFFERING NUMBER OF OWNED AFTER OFFERING ------------------ SHARES BEING -------------------- NAME NUMBER PERCENT OFFERED NUMBER PERCENT - ---- ------- ------- ------------ -------- -------- Paul Colton.............................. 380,430 2.8% 190,215 190,215 1.4% James DeLapa............................. 22,825 * 10,568 12,257 * Barbara Duchesne......................... 90,000 * 45,000 45,000 * Shannon Gillikin......................... 21,135 * 10,568 10,567 * Tim Gelinas.............................. 21,135 * 10,568 10,567 * David Kenyon............................. 5,284 * 2,642 2,642 * Imre Kifor............................... 135,000 1.0% 67,500 67,500 * David Pool............................... 79,257 * 39,629 39,628 *
- --------------- * Less than 1% 12 13 The following selling stockholders have had during the past three years the following material relationships with us or any of our predecessors or affiliates: - Paul Colton was a director and an officer of Live Software, Inc.; - James DeLapa and David Pool were directors of Live Software, Inc.; - Shannon Gillikin was an officer of Live Software, Inc.; - Barbara Duchesne was a director of Valto Systems, Inc.; and - Imre Kifor was a director and an officer of Valto Systems, Inc. Of the total shares of common stock listed as owned beneficially by the selling stockholders, 75,340 of the shares are held in escrow accounts to secure their indemnification obligations to us. It is expected that these shares (less any shares that may be distributed from the escrow account to us in satisfaction of indemnification claims) will be released from escrow and distributed to each of the selling stockholders in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement pursuant to which the selling stockholder acquired his or her shares. The number of shares indicated as owned by each selling stockholder includes those shares (representing approximately 10% of the number of shares beneficially owned by each selling stockholder) which such selling stockholder is entitled to receive upon distribution of these shares from the escrow account. USE OF PROCEEDS We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of common stock offered in connection with this prospectus by the selling stockholders. PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION The shares may be sold from time to time by the selling stockholders, or by pledgees, donees, transferees or other successors in interest. Such sales may be made on one or more exchanges or in the over-the-counter market, or otherwise at prices and at terms then prevailing or at prices related to the then current market price, or in negotiated transactions. The shares may be sold by one or more of the following: (a) a block trade in which the broker or dealer so engaged will attempt to sell the shares as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction; (b) purchases by a broker or dealer as principal and resale by such broker or dealer for its account pursuant to this prospectus; (c) an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of such exchange; and (d) ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker solicits purchasers. In effecting sales, brokers or dealers engaged by the selling stockholders may arrange for other brokers or dealers to participate. Brokers or dealers will receive commissions or discounts from selling stockholders in amounts to be negotiated immediately prior to the sale. Such brokers or dealers and any other participating brokers or dealers may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of the Securities Act in connection with such sales, and any commission received by them and profit on any resale of the shares as principal might be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. In addition, any securities covered by this prospectus which qualify for sale pursuant to Rule 144 may be sold under Rule 144 rather than pursuant to the prospectus. If a selling stockholder notifies us that any material arrangement has been entered into with a broker-dealer for the sale of the shares through a block trade, special offering, exchange distribution or secondary distribution or a purchase by a broker or dealer, we will file a supplement to this prospectus, if required, pursuant to Rule 424(c) under the Securities Act, disclosing the following information: - the name of each selling stockholder and of the participating broker-dealer(s); - the number of shares involved; - the price at which such shares were sold; 13 14 - the commissions paid or discounts or concessions allowed to such broker-dealer(s), where applicable; - that such broker-dealer(s) did not conduct any investigation to verify the information set out or incorporated by reference in this prospectus; and - other facts material to the transaction. We have agreed to pay the expenses incurred in connection with preparing and filing the registration statement and this prospectus (other than selling commissions). We have agreed to indemnify the selling stockholders against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. LEGAL MATTERS The validity of the shares of common stock offered hereby will be passed upon for our company by Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP of Boston, Massachusetts. EXPERTS The financial statements as of December 31, 1998 and 1997 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 1998, incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed on September 15, 1999, as amended, have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, independent accountants, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting. WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement on Form S-3 under the Securities Act with respect to the common stock offered in connection with this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement. We have omitted certain parts of the registration statement in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Commission. For further information with respect to us and our common stock, you should refer to the registration statement. Statements contained in this prospectus as to the contents of any contract or any other document referred to are not necessarily complete, and, in each instance, you should refer to the copy of the contract or document filed as an exhibit to or incorporated by reference in the registration statement. Each such statement is qualified in all respects by reference to such exhibit. You may read any document that we have filed or will file with the Commission without charge at the public reference facilities maintained by the Commission at the following locations:
MAIN OFFICE REGIONAL OFFICES - ----------- ---------------- Room 1024 Suite 1400 Judiciary Plaza 500 West Madison Street 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Chicago, Illinois 60661 Washington, D.C. 20549 7 World Trade Center Thirteenth Floor New York, New York 10048
You may obtain copies of all or any portion of the documents that we file with the Commission from the Public Reference Section of the Commission at Room 1024, Judiciary Plaza, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20549, or by calling the Commission at 1-800-SEC-0330, at prescribed rates. Our filings are also available to the public on the Commission's Website at http://www.sec.gov. 14 15 Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market. Reports and other information concerning our company may be inspected at the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., 1725 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. INFORMATION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE The Commission allows us to "incorporate by reference" the information we file with them, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus, and information that we later file with the Commission will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and any future filings we will make with the Commission under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. (a) Our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1998; (b) Our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 1999, June 30, 1999 and September 30, 1999; (c) Our current reports on Form 8-K dated April 27, 1999 (as amended on June 15, 1999) and September 3, 1999; and (d) Our registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-86568) as declared effective by the Commission on September 28, 1999. (e) the description of our common stock contained in the registration statement on Form 8-A filed with the Commission on January 15, 1999 under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description. You may request a copy of these filings at no cost by writing or calling us at the following address and telephone number: Allaire Corporation One Alewife Center Cambridge, MA 02140 Attention: Chief Financial Officer (617) 761-2000 15 -----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----