Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
Registration No. 333-170467

PROSPECTUS

 

4,269,051 Shares

 

 

Class A Common Stock

 

 

The selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are selling all of the 4,269,051 shares of our Class A common stock offered hereby and will receive all of the proceeds from this offering. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock in this offering.

 

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 is convertible at any time into one share of our Class A common stock.

 

Our Class A common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “GDOT.” On December 7, 2010, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE was $62.66 per share.

 

 

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 426,904 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 10 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 December 13, 2010.

 

 

December 7, 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. 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.

 

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 February 2009 and March 2010, 94% of U.S. adult respondents had shopped at one or more of the stores of our current retail distributors within the prior 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 represent 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. The parties intend to consummate the transaction as soon as practicable following regulatory approval of our proposed bank acquisition, although there can be no assurance that we will obtain regulatory approval or that our proposed bank acquisition will close. 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 from our three other largest retail distributors, as a group, represented 63%, and 20%, respectively, of our total operating revenues and 64% and 19%, respectively, of our total operating revenues, excluding stock-based retailer incentive compensation, for the nine months ended September 30, 2010, 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;

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

	•	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 or economics (e.g., reducing interchange rates), could negatively impact our business.

Class A common stock offered by the selling stockholders		4,269,051 shares

Class A common stock to be outstanding after this offering		13,377,336 shares

Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering		28,417,273 shares(1)

Total Class A and Class B common stock to be outstanding after this offering		41,794,609 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		The selling stockholders are selling all of the shares in this offering. 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.
NYSE symbol		“GDOT”

(1)		The shares of our Class B common stock outstanding after this offering will represent approximately 68.0% of the total number of shares of our Class A and Class B common stock outstanding after this offering and 95.5% of the combined voting power of our Class A and Class B common stock outstanding after this offering.

	•	4,289,900 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of September 30, 2010 with a weighted average exercise price of $10.34 per share (other than 936,301 shares that we expect to be sold in this offering by certain selling stockholders upon the exercise of vested stock options and the conversion of the shares received into shares of our Class A common stock);

	•	4,283,456 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of a warrant outstanding as of September 30, 2010, with an exercise price of $23.70 per share, that is exercisable only upon the achievement of performance goals specified in our arrangement with PayPal, Inc.;
	•	50,000 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options granted after September 30, 2010 with an exercise price of $46.15 per share; and

	•	2,200,000 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance under our 2010 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2010 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (including 64,500 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of September 30, 2010 with an exercise price of $36.00 per share, and the shares described in the immediately preceding bullet), each of which contains provisions that will automatically increase its share reserve each year, as more fully described in “Executive Compensation – Employee Benefit Plans.”

	•	the conversion by the selling stockholders of 3,729,381 shares of our Class B common stock (including 936,301 shares that we expect to be sold in this offering by certain selling stockholders upon the exercise of vested stock options) into a like number of shares of our Class A common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and

	•	no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to an additional 426,904 shares of our Class A common stock from the selling stockholders in this offering.

																						Five Months
																						Ended				Nine Months
		Year Ended July 31,																				December 31,				Ended September 30,
		2005				2006				2007				2008				2009				2009				2009				2010
		(Unaudited)																								(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			$	93,011			$	124,978
Cash transfer revenues			12,064				20,616				25,419				45,310				62,396				30,509				49,383				73,630
Interchange revenues			5,705				9,975				12,488				31,583				53,064				31,353				46,554				81,106
Stock-based retailer incentive compensation(1)			—				—				—				—				—				—				—				(7,673	)
Total operating revenues			39,540				66,951				83,624				168,126				234,816				112,757				188,948				272,041
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing expenses			19,148				28,660				38,838				69,577				75,786				31,333				52,430				87,777
Compensation and benefits expenses(2)			11,584				18,499				20,610				28,303				40,096				26,610				32,827				50,474
Processing expenses			6,990				8,547				9,809				21,944				32,320				17,480				27,092				43,131
Other general and administrative expenses			6,521				10,077				13,212				19,124				22,944				14,020				18,721				33,997
Total operating expenses			44,243				65,783				82,469				138,948				171,146				89,443				131,070				215,379
Operating income			(4,703	)			1,168				1,155				29,178				63,670				23,314				57,878				56,662
Interest income			300				301				771				665				396				115				179				269
Interest expense			(474	)			(823	)			(625	)			(247	)			(1	)			(2	)			(3	)			(48	)
Income before income taxes			(4,877	)			645				1,301				29,596				64,065				23,427				58,054				56,883
Income tax expense (benefit)			—				111				(3,346	)			12,261				26,902				9,764				24,344				22,589
Net income			(4,877	)			535				4,647				17,335				37,163				13,663				33,710				34,294
Dividends, accretion and allocated earnings of preferred stock			—				(367	)			(5,157	)			(13,650	)			(29,000	)			(9,170	)			(22,886	)			(16,094	)
Net income (loss) allocated to common stockholders		$	(4,877	)		$	168			$	(510	)		$	3,685			$	8,163			$	4,493			$	10,824			$	18,200
Basic earnings (loss) per common share:
Class A common stock			—				—				—				—				—				—				—			$	0.87
Class B common stock		$	(0.48	)		$	0.02			$	(0.05	)		$	0.34			$	0.68			$	0.37			$	0.90			$	0.87
Basic weighted-average common shares issued and outstanding
Class A common stock			—				—				—				—				—				—				—				1,442
Class B common stock			10,228				10,873				11,100				10,757				12,036				12,222				12,046				18,232
Diluted earnings (loss) per common share:
Class A common stock			—				—				—				—				—				—				—			$	0.81
Class B common stock		$	(0.48	)		$	0.01			$	(0.05	)		$	0.26			$	0.52			$	0.29			$	0.70			$	0.81
Diluted weighted-average diluted common shares issued and outstanding
Class A common stock			—				—				—				—				—				—				—				22,884
Class B common stock			10,228				13,194				11,100				14,154				15,712				15,425				15,545				21,441

(1)		Represents the recorded fair value of the shares for which our right to repurchase lapsed during the specified period pursuant to the terms of the agreement under which we issued 2,208,552 shares of our Class A common stock to Walmart. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Overview – May 2010 Changes to Our Relationship with Walmart” for more information. Prior to the three months ended June 30, 2010, we did not incur any stock-based retailer incentive compensation.

(2)		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, $6.8 million for the five months ended December 31, 2009 and $2.0 million and $5.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2010, respectively.

																						Five Months				Nine Months
																						Ended				Ended
		Year Ended July 31,																				December 31,				September 30,
		2005				2006				2007				2008				2009				2009				2010
		(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				4,735,792
Number of cash transfers			2,262,854				4,055,775				4,992,956				9,153,119				14,084,458				8,188,264				19,227,426
Number of active cards as of period end(1)			289,086				428,300				625,165				1,270,072				2,056,828				2,685,975				3,279,232
Gross dollar volume(2)			$414,910				$801,956				$1,134,175				$2,831,278				$4,702,914				$2,734,087				$7,736,236

(1)		Represents the total number of GPR cards in our portfolio that 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.

		As of
		September 30,
		2010
		(In thousands)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(1)		$	140,744
Settlement assets(2)			11,784
Total assets			213,379
Settlement obligations(2)			11,784
Long-term debt			—
Total liabilities			92,914
Total stockholders’ equity			120,465

(1)		Includes $5.2 million of restricted cash. We maintain restricted deposits in bank accounts to support our line of credit.
(2)		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 have fluctuated and the rate of growth of our operating revenues generally has declined on a sequential basis and in the three months ended September 30, 2010, the rate of growth was negative relative to the second quarter of 2010. 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 and fluctuations in stock-based retailer incentive compensation caused by variations in our stock price to cause sequential quarterly fluctuations and periodic declines in our operating revenues, operating income and net income. In particular, our results for the three months ended March 31, 2010 were favorably affected by large numbers of taxpayers electing to receive their refunds via direct deposit on our cards, and our results for the subsequent two quarters were adversely affected by stock-based retailer incentive compensation that reduced our total operating revenues. The incremental seasonal operating revenues in the three months ended March 31, 2010 may not be replicated in the remaining quarter of 2010 and the ongoing stock-based retailer incentive compensation will continue to reduce our total operating revenues. Thus, our quarterly total operating revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 may be below those in the three months ended March 31, 2010.

 

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 operating 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 would be adversely affected.

 

Operating revenues derived from sales at Walmart and from our three other largest retail distributors, as a group, represented 63% and 20%, respectively, of our total operating revenues and 64% and 19%, respectively, of our total operating revenues, excluding stock-based retailer incentive compensation, during the nine months ended September 30, 2010, 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 Walmart and from products and services sold at the store locations our three other largest retail distributors, as a group, were approximately 63% and 20%, respectively, in the nine months ended September 30, 2010. We do not expect calendar 2010 operating revenues derived from products and services sold at Walmart stores to change significantly as a percentage of our total operating revenues from the percentage in the nine months ended September 30, 2010, and 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 2015, but they can in limited circumstances, such as our material breach or insolvency or, in the case of Walmart, our failure to meet agreed-upon service levels, certain changes in control of GE Money Bank or us, or our inability or unwillingness to agree to requested pricing changes, be terminated by these retail distributors on relatively short notice. See “Business – Our Business Model – Our Distribution – Our Relationship with Walmart” for more information regarding the termination rights under our contract with Walmart. 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.

 

Most 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.

 

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 might result from a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

 

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, the banks that issue our cards 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, the banks that issue our cards 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.

 

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. For example, in June 2010, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of Treasury published for comment proposed new rules regarding, among other things, the applicability of the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money laundering provisions to prepaid products such as ours. If adopted as proposed, these new rules would establish a more comprehensive regulatory framework for access to prepaid financial services. As currently drafted, the proposed rules would significantly change the way customer data, including identification information, is collected for certain prepaid products (including our cards) by shifting the point of collection from us to our retail distributors. We believe that, if the rules are adopted as currently proposed, we and our retail distributors would need to modify operational elements of our product offering to comply with the proposed rules. If we or any of our retail distributors were unwilling or unable to make any required operational changes to comply with the proposed rules as adopted, we would no longer be able to sell our cards through that noncompliant retail distributor, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations. However, as the proposed rules are subject to further comment and revision, it is difficult to determine with any certainty what obligations the final rules might impose or what impact they might have on our business or that of our retail distributors.

 

State and federal legislators and regulatory authorities have become increasingly focused on the banking and consumer financial services industries, and continue to propose and adopt new legislation that could result in significant adverse changes in the regulatory landscape for financial institutions (including card issuing banks) and other financial services companies (including us). For example, changes in the way we or the banks that issue our cards are regulated, such as the changes under the recently-enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, related to the consolidation of the primary federal regulator for savings banks with the primary federal regulator for national banks and the establishment of a federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or the Bureau, with oversight over us and our products and services, could expose us and the banks that issue our cards to increased regulatory oversight, more burdensome regulation of our business, and increased litigation risk, each of which could increase our costs and decrease our operating revenues. Additionally, changes to the limitations placed on fees, the interchange rates 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 actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.

 

From time to time, we may release guidance in our quarterly earnings releases, quarterly earnings conference calls, or otherwise, regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which includes forward-looking statements, is based on projections prepared by our management. These projections are not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles or examines the projections. Accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect to those projections.

 

Projections are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We intend to state possible outcomes as high and low ranges that are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but we can provide no assurances that actual results will not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release guidance is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any of these persons.

 

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions underlying the guidance furnished by us will prove to be incorrect or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from our guidance and the variations may be material. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged not to rely upon our guidance in making an investment decision with respect to our Class A common stock.

 

Any failure to implement our operating strategy successfully or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in this “Risk Factors” section could result in our actual operating results being different from our guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.

 

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

 

If we complete 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 and regulations are possible in the near future. The Dodd-Frank Act made numerous changes to the regulatory framework governing banking organizations, and many of the provisions must be implemented by regulation. These regulations could likewise substantially affect our business and operations. There are proposals in the U.S. Congress that could make additional changes to 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 GE Money Bank or Columbus Bank and Trust Company, a division of Synovus 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, even if we consummate 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 2015, 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 nine months ended September 30, 2010, interchange revenues represented 29.8% 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 set and adjust from time to time. There is a substantial likelihood that interchange rates for certain products and certain issuing banks will decline significantly in the future as a result of the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the Federal Reserve Board to implement regulations that will likely substantially limit interchange fees for many issuers. While the interchange rates that may be earned by us and the bank we propose to acquire will be unaffected by this new law, there can be no assurance that future legislation or regulation will not impact our interchange revenues substantially. If interchange rates decline, whether due to actions by Visa or MasterCard or future legislation or regulation, we would likely need to change our fee structure to compensate for lost interchange revenues. To the extent we increase the pricing of our products and services, we might find it more difficult to acquire consumers and to maintain or grow card usage and customer retention. We also might have to discontinue certain products or services. As a result, 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 prepaid financial services as an electronic payment mechanism, including those included in this prospectus, may overstate the growth of an 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 engage in illegal activities involving our cards or cardholder information, such as counterfeiting, fraudulent payment or refund schemes and identity theft. We rely upon third parties for some transaction processing services, which subjects us and our cardholders 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 the card’s monthly maintenance fee, among other things, can result in overdrawn accounts.

 

Maintenance fee assessment overdrafts accounted for approximately 94% of aggregate overdrawn account balances in the nine months ended September 30, 2010. Maintenance fee assessment overdrafts occur as a result of our charging a cardholder, pursuant to the card’s terms and conditions, the 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 September 30, 2010, we had assets subject to settlement risk of $11.8 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 newly public company, we are subject to financial and other reporting and corporate governance requirements that may be difficult for us to satisfy, and which have raised and may continue to raise our costs and which have diverted and may continue to divert resources and management attention from operating our business.

 

We have historically operated as a private company. On July 27, 2010, we completed an initial public offering. As a result, we are required 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 must be certain that we have the ability to prepare on a timely basis financial statements that comply with SEC reporting requirements. We are also 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 impose significant new compliance obligations upon us. As a public company, we are 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 are in the process of documenting our internal control over financial reporting, but do not 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 require a significant commitment of resources and management oversight that has increased and may continue to 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 our 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 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. 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 Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock and 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 may fluctuate substantially. The trading price of our Class A common stock depends 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.

 

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 being sold 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 September 30, 2010, after giving effect to a November 2010 partnership distribution by an existing stockholder that resulted in the conversion of 2,059,068 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of

September 30, 2010 into a like number of shares of Class A common stock and the issuance of 936,301 shares of Class B common stock to be acquired by certain selling stockholders through option exercises at the closing of this offering in order to sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock in this offering, 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 56.6% of our outstanding Class A and Class B common stock, representing approximately 71.6% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, these stockholders are able to exercise a controlling influence over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, and 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 becoming eligible for sale in the near future.

 

Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public market, 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.

 

Our Class A common stock began trading on the NYSE on July 22, 2010; however, to date there have been a limited number of shares trading in the public market. Upon completion of this offering, we will have outstanding 41,794,609 shares of our Class A and Class B common stock, assuming no exercise of outstanding options or warrants after September 30, 2010 (other than as described in this sentence) and based on the number of shares outstanding as of September 30, 2010 after giving effect to the issuance of 936,301 shares of our Class B common stock to be acquired by certain selling stockholders through option exercises at the closing of this offering in order to sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock in this offering. Substantially all of the 5,241,758 shares of Class A common stock sold in our initial public offering are, and all of the shares sold in this offering will be, immediately tradable without restriction. Of the remaining shares:

 

 

 

 

 

The lock-up and market standoff agreements entered into prior to our initial public offering generally expire on January 18, 2011, except that with respect to the lock-up agreements the expiration date 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 following our initial public offering during which the lock-up agreements are in effect. The lock-up agreements for this offering expire 90 days after the date of this prospectus, except the 90-day period may similarly 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 90-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.

 

Pursuant to the terms of our ninth amended and restated registration rights agreement, immediately following this offering, the holders of approximately 25,250,027 shares of our Class A and Class B common stock and warrants to purchase 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 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.

 

In addition, after giving effect to the exercise of options to purchase 936,301 shares of Class B common stock by certain selling stockholders in order to sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock in this offering, there will be 6,489,900 shares of our Class A and Class B common stock that have been registered and are subject to options outstanding or reserved for future issuance under our stock incentive plans. Of these shares, approximately 2,700,000 shares will be eligible for sale upon the exercise of vested options immediately after the expiration of the lock-up and market standoff agreements entered into prior to our initial public offering. In addition, the shares subject to an unvested warrant to purchase up to 4,283,456 shares of our Class B common stock will be eligible for sale after the expiration of lock-up and/or market standoff agreements entered into prior to our initial public offering.

 

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 certificate of incorporation and 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 certificate of incorporation and 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 continue to 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 currently 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. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. 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. 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.

 

The selling stockholders are selling all of the shares in this offering. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock by the selling stockholders.

 

Our Class A common stock has been listed on the NYSE under the symbol “GDOT” since July 22, 2010. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our Class A common stock. Our initial public offering was priced at $36.00 per share on July 21, 2010. The following table sets forth for the periods indicated the high and low sales prices per share of our Class A common stock as reported on the NYSE:

 

 

On December 7, 2010, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE was $62.66 per share.

 

As of September 30, 2010, we had three holders of record of our Class A common stock and 194 holders of record of our Class B common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than this number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.

 

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 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 nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2010 and the balance sheet data as of September 30, 2010 from our unaudited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere 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. In the opinion of our management, our unaudited financial data reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal and recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair statement of our results for those periods. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of our results to be expected in any future period.