EX-4.6 2 gciex4620191231x10k.htm EXHIBIT 4.6 Exhibit
Exhibit 4.6

DESCRIPTION OF COMMON STOCK
The following description of the common stock of Gannett Co., Inc. (formerly known as New Media Investment Group Inc.) (we, us, our or the “Company”) does not describe every aspect of our common stock and is subject, and is qualified in its entirety by reference, to all the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and all the provisions of our amended and restated bylaws.
Authorized Capitalization
Our authorized capital stock consists of (1) 2,000,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share and (2) 300,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share.
The following is a description of the material terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws. We refer you to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Common Stock
Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share of common stock held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors, which means that the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock can elect all of the directors standing for election, and the holders of the remaining shares are not able to elect any directors.
Subject to any preference rights of holders of any preferred stock that we may issue in the future, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, declared from time to time by our Board out of legally available funds. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common stock are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after the payment of liabilities, subject to any rights of holders of our preferred stock prior to distribution.
Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights.
Preferred Stock
Our Board has the authority, without action by our stockholders, to issue preferred stock and to fix voting powers for each class or series of preferred stock, and to provide that any class or series may be subject to redemption, entitled to receive dividends, entitled to rights upon dissolution, or convertible or exchangeable for shares of any other class or classes of capital stock. The rights with respect to a series or class of preferred stock may be greater than the rights attached to our common stock. It is not possible to state the actual effect of the issuance of any shares of our preferred stock on the rights of holders of our common stock until our Board determines the specific rights attached to that preferred stock. The effect of issuing preferred stock could include, among other things, one or more of the following:
 
restricting dividends in respect of our common stock;
Anti-Takeover Effects of Delaware Law, Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws
 
diluting the voting power of our common stock or providing that holders of preferred stock have the right to vote on matters as a class;
 
impairing the liquidation rights of our common stock; or
 
delaying or preventing a change of control of us.
The following is a summary of certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a

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Exhibit 4.6

tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by stockholders.
Authorized but Unissued Shares
The authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and our preferred stock will be available for future issuance without obtaining stockholder approval, except to the extent such approval is required by law or the listing requirements of NYSE. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control over us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Delaware Business Combination Statute
We are organized under Delaware law. Some provisions of Delaware law may delay or prevent a transaction that would cause a change in our control.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), as amended, an anti-takeover law, will not apply to us. In general, this statute prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date of the transaction by which that person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. For purposes of Section 203, a business combination includes a merger, asset sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder, and an interested stockholder is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years prior, did own, 15% or more of voting stock.
Other Provisions of Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws
At the 2018 annual meeting of stockholders, our stockholders approved amendments to our Bylaws that eliminate the classification of our Board into three classes. As a result, commencing with the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, directors of the class standing for election at that meeting were reelected for a one-year (instead of a three-year) term. The remaining directors continue to serve out their respective three-year terms. The entire Board will be elected annually commencing with the 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that directors may be removed only for cause and only with the affirmative vote of at least 80% of the voting interest of stockholders then issued and outstanding.
Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, shares of our preferred stock may be issued from time to time, and the Board is authorized to determine and alter all rights, preferences, privileges, qualifications, limitations and restrictions without limitation. See “Preferred Stock” above.
Ability of Our Stockholders to Act
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws do not permit our stockholders to call special stockholders’ meetings. Written notice of any special meeting so called shall be given to each stockholder of record entitled to vote at such meeting not less than 10 or more than 60 days before the date of such meeting, unless otherwise permitted or required by law.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that nominations of persons for election to our Board may be made at any annual meeting of our stockholders, or at any special meeting of our stockholders called for the purpose of electing directors, (a) by or at the direction of our Board or (b) by any of our stockholders. In addition to any other applicable requirements, for a nomination to be properly brought by a stockholder, such stockholder must have given timely notice thereof in proper written form to the Secretary of the Company. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to or mailed and received at our principal executive offices (a) in the case of an annual meeting of stockholders, not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders; provided, however, that in the event that the annual meeting

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Exhibit 4.6

is called for a date that is not within 30 days before or after such anniversary date, notice by a stockholder in order to be timely must be so received not later than the close of business on the tenth day following the day on which such notice of the date of the annual meeting was mailed or such public disclosure of the date of the annual meeting was made, whichever first occurs; and (b) in the case of a special meeting of our stockholders called for the purpose of electing directors, not later than the close of business on the tenth day following the day on which notice of the date of the special meeting was mailed or public disclosure of the date of the special meeting was made, whichever first occurs.
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that no business may be transacted at any annual meeting of our stockholders, other than business that is either (a) specified in the notice of meeting given by or at the direction of our Board, (b) otherwise properly brought before the annual meeting by or at the direction of our Board, or (c) otherwise properly brought by any of our stockholders. In addition to any other applicable requirements, for business to be properly brought before an annual meeting by a stockholder, such stockholder must have given timely notice thereof in proper written form to our Secretary. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to or mailed and received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders; provided, however, that in the event that the annual meeting is called for a date that is not within 30 days before or after such anniversary date, notice by a stockholder in order to be timely must be so received not later than the close of business on the tenth day following the day on which such notice of the date of the annual meeting was mailed or such public disclosure of the date of the annual meeting was made, whichever first occurs.
Forum Selection Clause
Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors or officers to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine.
Limitations on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of a fiduciary duty as a director, except to the extent such exemption is not permitted under the DGCL, as amended from time to time.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by law. We are also expressly authorized to advance certain expenses (including attorneys’ fees and disbursements and court costs) to our directors and officers and carry directors’ and officers’ insurance providing indemnification for our directors and officers for some liabilities. We believe that these indemnification provisions and insurance are useful to attract and retain qualified directors and executive officers.
We have entered into separate indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers. Each indemnification agreement provides, among other things, for indemnification to the fullest extent permitted by law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation against (i) any and all expenses and liabilities, including judgments, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement of any claim with our approval and counsel fees and disbursements, (ii) any liability pursuant to a loan guarantee, or otherwise, for any of our indebtedness and (iii) any liabilities incurred as a result of acting on our behalf (as a fiduciary or otherwise) in connection with an employee benefit plan. The indemnification agreements provide for the advancement or payment of all expenses to the indemnitee and for reimbursement to us if it is found that such indemnitee is not entitled to such indemnification under applicable law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. These provisions and agreements may have the practical effect in some cases of eliminating our stockholders’ ability to collect monetary damages from our directors and executive officers.

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Exhibit 4.6

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that, in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Corporate Opportunity
Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, to the extent permitted by law:
 
the Fortress Stockholders have the right to, and have no duty to abstain from, exercising such right to, engage or invest in the same or similar business as us, do business with any of our clients, customers or vendors or employ or otherwise engage any of our officers, directors or employees;
Transfer Agent and Registrar
 
if the Fortress Stockholders or any of their officers, directors or employees acquire knowledge of a potential transaction that could be a corporate opportunity, they have no duty to present, communicate or offer such corporate opportunity to us, our stockholders or affiliates;
 
we have renounced any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, such corporate opportunities; and
 
in the event that any of our directors and officers who is also a director, officer or employee of any of the Fortress Stockholders acquires knowledge of a corporate opportunity or is offered a corporate opportunity, provided that this knowledge was not acquired solely in such person’s capacity as our director or officer and such person acted in good faith, then such person is deemed to have fully satisfied such person’s fiduciary duty and is not liable to us if any of the Fortress Stockholders pursues or acquires such corporate opportunity or if such person did not present the corporate opportunity to us.
The registrar and transfer agent for our common stock is American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, LLC.
Listing
Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “GCI.”


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