Exhibit 4.2
DESCRIPTION OF FORTINET’S SECURITIES REGISTERED
PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
As of December 31, 2021, Fortinet, Inc. (“we,” “us” or “our”) had one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended: our common stock.
The following summary of the terms of our common stock is based upon our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and applicable provisions of law. The summary is not complete, and is qualified by reference to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are incorporated by reference herein. We encourage you to read our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) for additional information.
Capitalization
Our authorized capital stock consists of 310,000,000 shares of capital stock, including 300,000,000 shares of common stock, par value of $0.001 per share, and 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value of $0.001 per share.
Common Stock
Dividend Rights
Subject to preferences that may apply to any shares of preferred stock outstanding at the time, the holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends out of funds legally available if our board of directors, in its discretion, determines to issue dividends and then only at the times and in the amounts that our board of directors may determine.
Voting Rights
Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. We have not provided for cumulative voting for the election of directors in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for all members of our board of directors to stand for election annually for one-year terms. Our amended and restated bylaws provide for a majority voting standard for uncontested elections of directors.
Right to Receive Liquidation Distributions
Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the assets legally available for distribution to our stockholders would be distributable ratably among the holders of our common stock and any participating preferred stock outstanding at that time, subject to prior satisfaction of all outstanding debt and liabilities and the preferential rights of and the payment of liquidation preferences, if any, on any outstanding shares of preferred stock.
Other Rights and Preferences
Our common stock is not entitled to preemptive rights, and is not subject to conversion, redemption or sinking fund provisions.
Preferred Stock
Our board of directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by Delaware law, to issue preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series and any of its qualifications, limitations, or restrictions, in each case without further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors can also increase or decrease the number of shares of any series of preferred stock, but not below the number of shares of that series then outstanding, without any further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in our control and might adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock.
Anti-Takeover Provisions
The provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another person from acquiring control of our company. These provisions, which are summarized below, may have the effect of discouraging takeover bids.
Delaware Law
We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the person became an interested stockholder unless:
•prior to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;
•the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder, (i) shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) shares owned by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or
•at or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the board of directors of the corporation and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.
Generally, a business combination includes a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction or series of transactions together resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An interested stockholder is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns or, within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, did own 15% or more of a corporation’s outstanding voting stock. We expect the existence of this provision to have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions our board of directors does not approve in advance. We also anticipate that DGCL Section 203 may also discourage attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by stockholders.
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaw Provisions
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws include a number of provisions that could deter hostile takeovers or delay or prevent changes in control of our company, including the following:
•Board of Directors Vacancies. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws authorize only our board of directors to fill vacant directorships, including newly created seats. In addition, the number of directors constituting our board of directors is permitted to be set only by a resolution adopted by a majority vote of our entire board of directors. These provisions prevent a stockholder from increasing the size of our board of directors and then gaining control of our board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees. This makes it more difficult to change the composition of our board of directors but promotes continuity of management.
•Stockholder Action; Special Meetings of Stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our stockholders may not take action by written consent, and may only take action at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by stockholders holding not less than 25% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the matters to be brought before the proposed special meeting, a majority of our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors, our chief executive officer or our president, thus prohibiting stockholders who do not meet the ownership threshold from calling a special meeting. These provisions might delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders to take any action, including the removal of directors.
•Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations. Our amended and restated bylaws provide advance notice procedures for stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws also specify certain requirements regarding the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. These provisions might preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders if the proper procedures are not followed. We expect that these provisions might also discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our company.
•Proxy Access. Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, in certain circumstances, a stockholder or group of up to 20 stockholders may include director candidates that they have nominated in our annual meeting proxy materials. Such stockholder or group of stockholders need to own 3% or more of our outstanding common stock continuously for at least three years (i) preceding and including the date of submission of the nomination notice and (ii) following the date we implemented proxy access in the amended and restated Bylaws, whichever is later. The number of stockholder-nominated candidates appearing in any of our annual meeting proxy materials cannot exceed the greater of two individuals or 20% of our board of directors. The nominating stockholder or group of stockholders is also required to deliver certain information, and each nominee is required to meet certain qualifications, as described in more detail in the amended and restated bylaws.
•No Cumulative Voting. The DGCL provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting.
•Supermajority Requirements for Amendments of Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Our Amended and Restated Bylaws. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of voting stock is required to amend, alter or repeal, or adopt any provision as part of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation inconsistent with the purpose and intent of, certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Further, the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of voting stock is required to amend or repeal our amended and restated bylaws, although our amended and restated bylaws may be amended by a simple majority vote of our board of directors.
•Issuance of Undesignated Preferred Stock. Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by the stockholders, to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock with rights and preferences, including voting rights, designated from time to time by our board of directors. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock enables our
board of directors to render more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or other means.
•Choice of Forum. Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of alternate forum, state and federal courts located within the state of Delaware are the exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by, or other wrongdoing by, any of our directors, officers, employees or agents to the corporation or the corporation’s stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; (iv) any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or (v) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States would be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Federal Forum Provision”). In December 2018, the Delaware Court of Chancery found that provisions such as the Federal Forum Provision are not valid under Delaware law. In light of this decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery, we do not intend to enforce the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated bylaws unless and until there is a final determination by the Delaware Supreme Court regarding the validity of provisions such as the Federal Forum Provision. To the extent the Delaware Supreme Court makes a final determination that provisions such as the Federal Forum Provision are not valid as a matter of Delaware law, our board of directors intends to amend our amended and restated bylaws to remove the Federal Forum Provision.
Listing
Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “FTNT.”
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
