Alliance Entertainment Holding (AENT) S-1IPO registration

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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 10, 2024

Registration No. [    ]

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT HOLDING CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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8201 Peters Road

Suite 1000

Plantation, Florida

(954) 255-4000

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Jeffrey Walker

Chief Executive Officer

8201 Peters Road

Suite 1000

Plantation, Florida

(954) 855-4000

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

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Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box:  ☒

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until this registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

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You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with information that is different. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, the securities covered hereby only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of the securities covered hereby. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed or will be filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under the heading “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”

For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor any of the underwriters have taken any action that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the securities covered hereby and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity and market share, is based on information from our own management estimates and research, as well as from industry and general publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. We believe that the data obtained from these industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies are reliable. Management estimates are derived from publicly available information, our knowledge of our industry and assumptions based on such information and knowledge, which we believe to be reasonable. Our management estimates have not been verified by any independent source, and

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we have not independently verified any third-party information. In addition, assumptions and estimates of our and our industry’s future performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause our future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” We are ultimately responsible for all disclosure included in this prospectus.

All other brand names or trademarks appearing in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are the property of their respective holders. Use or display by us of other parties’ trademarks or trade dress in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is not intended to, and does not, imply a relationship with, or endorsements or sponsorship of, us by the trademark or trade dress owners.

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FREQUENTLY USED TERMS

In this document:

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Alliance’s and Alliance’s management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this prospectus, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in deciding how to vote your proxy or instruct how your vote should be cast on the proposals set forth in this prospectus. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, our actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include:

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In addition, statements that “Alliance believes” and similar statements reflect Alliance’s beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to Alliance as of the date of this prospectus, and while Alliance believes such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and such statements should not be read to indicate that such party has conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information from this prospectus and does not contain all of the information that is important to you in making an investment decision. This summary is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed information included in this prospectus. Before making your investment decision with respect to our securities, you should carefully read this entire prospectus, including the information under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations “ and the financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to “we,“ “our, “ “us “ and other similar terms refer to Alliance.

Alliance

Alliance is a leading global wholesaler and distributor of physical media, entertainment products, hardware, and accessories across various platforms. Employing an established multi-channel strategy, Alliance operates as the vital link between renowned international manufacturers of entertainment content, such as Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers Home Video, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Microsoft, Nintendo, Take Two, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and others, and top-tier retail partners both domestically and internationally, serving as wholesale distributor, direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) distributor and e-commerce provider. Notable partners encompass giants like Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Wayfair, Costco, Dell, Verizon, Kohl’s, Target, Shopify, and others. Currently, the company sells its products, permitted for export, to more than 70 countries worldwide.

Additionally, Alliance manages a diverse portfolio of owned e-commerce brands, including Critics’ Choice, Collectors’ Choice, Movies Unlimited, DeepDiscount, popmarket, blowitoutahere, Fulfillment Express, Importcds, GamerCandy, WowHD, and others.

Alliance provides state-of-the art warehousing and distribution technologies, operating systems and services that seamlessly enable entertainment product transactions to better serve customers directly or through our distribution affiliates. These technology-led platforms with access to the Company’s in stock inventory of over 325,000 SKU products, consisting of vinyl records, video games, compact discs, DVD, Blu-Rays, toys, and collectibles, combined with Alliance’s sales and distribution network, create a modern entertainment physical product marketplace that provides the discerning customer with enhanced options on efficient consumer-friendly platforms inventory. Alliance is the retailers’ back office for in-store and e-commerce solutions. All electronic data interchange (“EDI”) and logistics are operational and ready for existing retail channels to add new products.

For the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, Alliance’s net revenues were $863.5 million and $911.6 million, respectively. Net income (loss) was $4.1 million and ($42.2) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $22.2 million and ($21.0) million, respectively. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis Of Financial Condition And Results Of Operations” for a description of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA.
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For the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, Alliance’s revenues were $1.16 billion and $1.42 billion, respectively, net income (loss) was ($35.4) million and $28.6 million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was ($17.6) million and $60.0 million, respectively.

Alliance was founded in 1990 (previously named CD Listening Bar, Inc.). Through a series of acquisitions and organic growth, Alliance has expanded and strengthened its global footprint and product breadth, and greatly increased its service capabilities. Since its inception, Alliance has made ten accretive business acquisitions, including Phantom Sound and Vision, MSI Music, Infinity Resources, Alliance, ANConnect, Mecca Electronics, Distribution Solutions, Mill Creek, COKeM and Think3Fold, LLC. Management believes that Alliance’s ability to successfully integrate acquisitions is underpinned by its highly efficient operating systems and experienced leadership team.

Management believes Alliance’s existing Service, Selection, and Technology offering has well-positioned the Company to capitalize on shifts towards e-commerce and Omni-Channel strategies, especially with retailers’ and manufacturers’ vastly increased reliance on our DTC fulfillment capabilities. For calendar years 2022 and 2023, approximately 20% and 28%, respectively, of unit volume was DTC. Alliance’s goal has always been to provide all the meta-data of content and images, service, selection, and purchasing to Omni-Channel retailers to expand their selection to compete with the leading on-line retailer. With over 700 employees worldwide, Alliance has over 4,000 unique customers and over 35,000 “Ship-To” locations.

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Alliance believes the three pillars of its business, Service, Selection, and Technology, create a powerful competitive advantage that will protect the Company’s market leadership and propel its future growth into the evolving physical entertainment product segments.

The Business Combination

On February 10, 2023, Alliance, Adara and Merger Sub consummated the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, a business combination of Legacy Alliance and Adara was effected by the merger of Merger Sub with and into Alliance (the “Merger”), with Alliance surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adara Following the consummation of the Merger on the closing date of the Business Combination, Adara changed its name from Adara Acquisition Corp. to Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation.

Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, Adara issued (i) 47,500,000 shares of Class A common stock of Adara to holders of common stock of Legacy Alliance and (ii) 60,000,000 shares of Class E common stock of Adara to the Legacy Alliance stockholders were placed in an escrow account to be released to such Legacy Alliance stockholders and converted into Class A common stock upon the occurrence of certain triggering events.

Corporate Information

The mailing address of Alliance’s principal executive office is 1401 N.W. 16^th Ave., Suite 100, Plantation, Florida 33324.

Risk Factors

Investing in our securities involves risks. You should carefully consider the risks described in “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11 before making a decision to invest in our Class A common stock. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations would likely be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our securities would likely decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Set forth below is a summary of some of the principal risks we face:

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THE OFFERING

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The number of shares of common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering is based on 50,937,370 shares of common stock outstanding as of June 10, 2024 and excludes:

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SUMMARY FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The selected historical consolidated statements of operations data of Alliance for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 is unaudited. The years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 and the historical consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2023 and 2022 are derived from Alliance’s audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The information below is only a summary and should be read in conjunction with the sections entitled “Alliance Entertainment’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements of Alliance, and the notes and schedules related thereto, which are included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Consolidated Statement of Operations Date

($ in thousands except share and per share amounts)

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Consolidated Balance Sheet Data

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RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. Our business, prospects, financial condition, or operating results could be harmed by any of these risks, as well as other risks not known to us or that we consider immaterial as of the date of this prospectus. The trading price of our securities could decline due to any of these risks, and, as a result, you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

If we fail to respond to or capitalize on the rapid technological development in the music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry, including changes in entertainment delivery formats, our business could be harmed.

The music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry continues to experience frequent change driven by technological development, including developments with respect to the formats through which music, films, television programming, games, and other content are delivered to consumers. With rapid technological changes and dramatically expanded digital content offerings, the scale and scope of these changes have accelerated in recent years. For example, consumers are increasingly accessing television, film and other episodic content on streaming and digital content networks, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+ and Apple TV+. Additionally, consumers access music content through Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Spotify and other providers. Video game services can be accessed through Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, GeForce, Steam, Stadia, xCloud, Shadow, Luna, and Switch Online.

Some entertainment offerings have gone direct to streaming channels and are not produced in a physical content format. Direct release to streaming channels is likely to continue. Technological as well as other changes caused by the pandemic have caused significant disruption to the retail distribution of music and entertainment offerings and have caused and could in the future cause a negative impact on sales of our products and other forms of monetization of content. We may lose opportunities to capitalize on changing market dynamics, technological innovations or consumer tastes if we do not adapt our content offerings or distribution capabilities in a timely manner. The overall effect that technological development and new digital distribution platforms have on the revenue and profits we derive from our entertainment content, including from merchandise sales derived from such content, and the additional costs associated with changing markets, media platforms and technologies, is unpredictable. If we fail to accurately assess and effectively respond to changes in technology and consumer behavior in the entertainment industry, our business may be harmed.

If we do not successfully optimize and operate our fulfillment network, our business could be harmed.

If we do not adequately predict customer demand or otherwise optimize and operate our fulfillment network successfully, it could result in excess or insufficient fulfillment, or result in increased costs, impairment charges, or both, and harm our business in other ways. As we continue to add fulfillment or add new businesses with different requirements, our fulfillment networks become increasingly complex and operating them becomes more challenging. There can be no assurance that we will be able to operate our networks effectively. In addition, a failure to optimize inventory in our fulfillment network could result in lost sales from inventory shortages or extra costs of holding excess inventory or write downs on inventory. Due to tight labor markets, we may be unable to adequately staff our fulfillment network and customer service centers or have to increase wages to attract more employees.

We rely on a number of shipping companies to deliver inventory to us and complete orders to our customers. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable terms with these companies or they experience performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and customer experience. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship completed orders to customers also may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, labor disputes, acts of war or terrorism, acts of God, and similar factors.

Under some of our commercial agreements, we maintain the inventory of other companies, thereby increasing the complexity of tracking inventory and operating our fulfillment network. Our failure to properly handle such inventory or the inability of these other companies to accurately forecast product demand would result in unexpected costs and other harm to our business and reputation.

We face competition. If we are unable to compete effectively with existing or new competitors, our revenues, market share and profitability could decline.

Our businesses are rapidly evolving and competitive, and we have many competitors in different industries, including physical, e-commerce, and omni-channel retail, e-commerce services, digital content and electronic devices, web and infrastructure computing

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services, and transportation and logistics services, and across geographies, including cross-border competition. Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and/or greater brand recognition. They may also secure better terms from vendors, adopt more aggressive pricing, and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing.

The music, video, gaming and entertainment industry is highly competitive. We compete in the U.S. and internationally with a wide array of large and small distributors, and sellers of vinyl records, CD’s, DVD’s, video games and other entertainment and consumer products. In addition, we compete with companies who are focused on building their brands across multiple product and consumer categories, including through entertainment offerings. Across our business, we face competitors who are constantly monitoring and attempting to anticipate consumer tastes and trends, seeking which will appeal to consumers, and introducing new products that compete with our products for consumer acceptance and purchase.

Competition may intensify, including with the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors, and as our competitors enter into business combinations or alliances and established companies in other market segments expand to become competitive with our business. In addition, new and enhanced technologies, including search, digital content, and electronic devices, may increase our competition. The Internet facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping, and increased competition may reduce our sales and profits.

Disruptions in Alliance’s supply chain have increased product expenditures and could result in an adverse impact on results of operations.

The occurrence of one or more natural or human induced disasters, including pandemic diseases or viral contagions such as the COVID-19 pandemic; geopolitical events, such as war, civil unrest attacks in a country in which Alliance’s suppliers are located; and the imposition of measures that create barriers to or increase the costs associated with international trade could result in disruption of Alliance’s logistics or supply chain network. For example, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the operations of Alliance and its suppliers and customers. Customer demand for certain products has also fluctuated during the pandemic which challenged Alliance’s ability to anticipate and/or procure product to maintain inventory levels to meet that demand. Additionally supply chain disruptions can be the result of the bankruptcy or failure of trucking and other logistics businesses. Labor shortages can also cause supply chain disruptions.

These factors have resulted in higher product inventory cost positions in certain products as well as delays in delivering those products to Alliance’s distribution centers, branches or customers, and similar results may occur in the future. Even when Alliance is able to find alternate sources for certain products, they may cost more or require Alliance to incur higher transportation costs, which could adversely impact Alliance’s profitability and financial condition. Any of these circumstances could impair Alliance’s ability to meet customer demand for products and result in lost sales, increased supply chain costs, penalties, or damage to Alliance’s reputation. Any such increased product costs from supplier disruption could adversely impact the results of operations and financial performance.

Inflation has caused and may continue to impact Alliance’s product costs and operating and administrative expenses to grow more rapidly than net sales, which could result in lower gross margins and lower net earnings.

Market variables, such as inflation of product costs from suppliers, labor rates and fuel, freight and energy costs, have and may continue to increase potentially causing Alliance to be unable to efficiently manage its product costs and operating and administrative expenses in a way that would enable it to leverage its revenue growth into higher net earnings. In addition, Alliance’s inability to pass on such increases in product costs to customers in a timely manner, or at all, could cause Alliance’s operating and administrative expenses to grow, which could result in lower gross profit margins and lower net earnings.

Weakness in the economy, market trends and other conditions affecting the profitability and financial stability of Alliance’s customers could negatively impact Alliance’s sales growth and results of operations.

Economic, political and industry trends affect Alliance’s business environments. Alliance serves several industries and markets in which the demand for its products and services is sensitive to the production activity, capital spending and demand for products and services of Alliance’s customers. Many of these customers operate in markets that are subject to cyclical fluctuations resulting from market uncertainty, trade and tariff policies, costs of goods sold, currency exchange rates, central bank interest rate fluctuations, economic downturns, recessions, foreign competition, offshoring of production, oil and natural gas prices, geopolitical developments, labor shortages, inflation, natural or human induced disasters, extreme weather, outbreaks of pandemic disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, deflation, and a variety of other factors beyond Alliance’s control. Any of these factors could cause customers to

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idle or close stores, delay purchases, reduce wholesale purchasing levels, or experience reductions in the demand for their own retail and wholesale products or services.

Any of these events could also reduce the volume of products and services these customers purchase from Alliance or impair the ability of Alliance’s customers to make full and timely payments and could cause increased pressure on Alliance’s selling prices and terms of sale.

If we incurred any significant impairment charges, our net earnings would be reduced.

Declines in the profitability of acquired brands or our decision to reduce our focus or exit these brands may impact our ability to recover the carrying value of the related assets and could result in an impairment charge. Similarly, declines in our profitability may impact on the fair value of our reporting unit, which could result in a write-down of our goodwill and consequently harm our net earnings.

Risks Related to Expansion of our Business

Our expansion places a strain on our management, operational, financial, and other resources.

We are rapidly and significantly expanding operations, including increasing our product and service offerings and scaling our infrastructure to support our retail and services businesses. This expansion increases the complexity of our business and places strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions. We may not be able to manage growth effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions or investments in our acquisitions or joint ventures, or those benefits may be delayed or reduced in their realization.

Acquisitions and investments have been a component of our growth and the development of our business, such as our acquisitions of COKeM in September 2020 and the assets and liabilities of Think3Fold, LLC in 2022. Acquisitions can broaden and diversify our brand holdings and product offerings and allow us to build additional capabilities and competencies of the company.

We cannot be certain that the products and offerings of companies we may acquire, or acquire an interest in, will achieve or maintain popularity with consumers in the future or that any such acquired companies or investments will allow us to market our products more effectively, develop our competencies or grow our business. In some cases, we expect that the integration of the companies that we may acquire will create production, marketing and other operating, revenue or cost synergies which will produce greater revenue growth and profitability and, where applicable, cost savings, operating efficiencies and other advantages. However, we cannot be certain that these synergies, efficiencies, and cost savings will be realized. Even if achieved, these benefits may be delayed or reduced in their realization. In other cases, we may acquire or invest in companies that we believe have strong and creative management, in which case we may plan to operate them more autonomously rather than fully integrating them into our operations. We cannot be certain that the key talented individuals at these companies will continue to work for us after the acquisition or that they would develop popular and profitable products, entertainment or services in the future. We cannot guarantee that any acquisition or investment we may make will be successful or beneficial, and acquisitions can consume significant amounts of management attention and other resources, which may negatively impact other aspects of our business.

Our expansion into new products, services, technologies, and geographic regions subjects us to additional business, legal, financial, and competitive risks.

We may have limited or no experience in our newer market segments, and our customers may not adopt our offerings. These offerings may present new and difficult technology challenges, and we may be subject to claims if customers of these offerings experience service disruptions or failures or other quality issues. In addition, profitability, if any, in our newer activities may be lower than in our older activities, and we may not be successful enough in these newer activities to recoup our investments in them. If any of this were to occur, it could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.

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We may experience significant fluctuations in our operating results and growth rate.

We may not be able to accurately forecast our growth rate. We base our expense levels and investment plans on sales estimates. A significant portion of our expenses and investments is fixed, and we may not be able to adjust our spending quickly enough if our sales are less than expected.

Our revenue growth may not be sustainable, and our percentage growth rates may decrease. Our revenue and operating profit growth depends on the continued growth of demand for the products and services offered by us or our customers, and our business is affected by general economic and business conditions worldwide. A softening of demand, whether caused by changes in customer preferences or a weakening of the U.S. or global economies, may result in decreased revenue or growth.

Our sales and operating results will also fluctuate for many other reasons, including due to risks described elsewhere in this section and the following:

our ability to retain and increase sales to existing customers, attract new customers, and satisfy our customers’ demands;

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Our international operations expose us to a number of risks.

Our international activities are insignificant to our revenues and profits, and we plan to further expand internationally. In certain international market segments, we have relatively little operating experience and may not benefit from any first-to-market advantages or otherwise succeed. It is costly to establish, develop, and maintain international operations, and promote our brand internationally. Our international operations may not be profitable on a sustained basis.

In addition to risks described elsewhere in this section, our international sales and operations are subject to a number of risks, including:

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As international physical, e-commerce, and other services grow, competition will intensify, including through adoption of evolving business models. Local companies may have a substantial competitive advantage because of their greater understanding of, and focus on, the local customer, as well as their more established local brand names. We may not be able to hire, train, retain, and manage required personnel, which may limit our international growth.

Our business will suffer if we are not successful in developing and expanding our partner brands across our consumer base.

Our strategy is to focus on and expand relationship with larger global brands, with an emphasis on developing and expanding those of our key partner brands, which we view as having the largest global potential, across our customer base. As we concentrate our efforts on more brands, we believe we can gain additional leverage and enhance the consumer experience. This focus means that our success depends disproportionately on our and our new partners’ ability to successfully develop these new brands across our consumer base and to maintain and extend the reach and relevance of these brands to global consumers in a wide array of markets. This strategy has required us to acquire, build, invest in and develop our competencies in music, movies, gaming, consumer products and entertainment products. Acquiring, developing, investing in and growing these competencies has required significant effort, time and money, with no assurance of success. The success of our brand blueprint strategy also requires significant alignment and integration among our business segments. If we are unable to successfully develop, maintain and expand key partner brands across our brand blueprint, our business performance will suffer.

Risks Related to Shifts in Consumer Demand

Consumer interests change rapidly and acceptance of products and entertainment offerings are influenced by outside factors.

The interests of families, individuals, fans and audiences evolve extremely quickly and can change dramatically from year to year and by geography. To be successful, we must correctly anticipate the types of entertainment, products and play patterns which will capture consumers’ interests and imagination, and quickly develop and introduce innovative products and engaging entertainment which can compete successfully for consumers’ limited time, attention and spending. This challenge is more difficult with the ever- increasing utilization of technology, social media and digital media in entertainment offerings, and the increasing breadth of entertainment available to consumers. Evolving consumer tastes and shifting interests, coupled with an ever-changing and expanding pipeline of entertainment and consumer properties and products which compete for consumer interest and acceptance, create an environment in which some products and entertainment offerings can fail to achieve consumer acceptance, and other products and entertainment offerings can be popular during a certain period of time but then be rapidly replaced. As a result, our products and entertainment offerings can have short consumer life cycles.

Consumer acceptance of our or our partners’ entertainment offerings is also affected by outside factors, such as critical reviews, promotions, the quality and acceptance of films and television programs, music, video games, and content released into the marketplace at or near the same time, the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and leisure time activities, general economic conditions and public tastes generally, all of which could change rapidly and most of which are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that television programs and films, video games and video movies we distribute will obtain favorable reviews or ratings, or that films, video games and video movies we distribute will be popular with consumers and perform well in our distribution channels.

If we devote time and resources to distributing and marketing products or entertainment that consumers do not accept or do not find interesting enough to buy in sufficient quantities to be profitable to us, our revenues and profits may decline, and our business performance may be harmed. Similarly, if our product offerings and entertainment fail to correctly anticipate consumer interests, our revenues and earnings will be reduced.

An inability to develop, introduce and ship planned products, product lines and new brands in a timely and cost-effective manner may damage our business.

In acquiring new products, product lines and new brands we have anticipated dates for the associated product and brand introductions. When we state that we will introduce, or anticipate introducing, a particular product, product line or brand at a certain time in the future those expectations are based on completing the associated development, implementation, and marketing work in accordance with our currently anticipated development schedule. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to source and ship new or continuing products in a timely manner and on a cost-effective basis to meet constantly changing consumer demands.

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The risk is also exacerbated by the increasing sophistication of many of the products we are distributing, providing greater innovation and product differentiation. Unforeseen delays or difficulties in the development process, significant increases in the planned cost of development, or changes in anticipated consumer demand for our products and new brands may cause the introduction date for products to be later than anticipated, may reduce or eliminate the profitability of such products or, in some situations, may cause a product or new brand introduction to be discontinued.

Risks Related to Our Supply Chain and Sales Channels

If we are unable to navigate through global supply chain challenges, our business may be harmed

Beginning in 2021, and continuing through 2022, we faced global supply chain challenges with the production and delivery of some products being delayed due to logistics, including labor, trucking and container shortages, port congestion and other shipping disruptions. We have in the past experienced increases in material costs and shortages for some of our products or any periodic and unpredictable manufacturing shut-downs, for example due to COVID-19. While we have taken actions to lessen the impact of these supply chain challenges, such as through the use of alternative ports and air freight, such actions resulted in higher costs and there can be no assurance that the actions taken will continue to be effective. We have also increased prices in some cases to help offset increased costs. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to avoid supply chain challenges in the future, or if we face such challenges, that we will be able to increase prices in the future. We also cannot assure that price increases we have already taken will offset the entirety of the additional costs we have incurred and may incur in the future to mitigate the supply chain disruption. Further, if we are unable to negotiate favorable carrier agreements, deliver products on time or otherwise satisfy demand for our products, our business may be harmed.

If we are unable to adapt our business to the continued shift to ecommerce, our business may be harmed.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 and the nine months ended March 31, 2024, ecommerce sales represented approximately 24% and 39% of our top four customers overall sales as consumers increasingly purchased our products online as compared to through in-store shopping due to the continued transition to ecommerce accelerated by the shutdown and limited access to retail stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ecommerce sales have resulted in retailers holding less inventory, which has caused us to adjust our supply chain. This supply chain is further strained by customers desiring faster delivery at reduced costs. Additionally, if our technology and systems used to support ecommerce order processing are not effective, our ability to deliver products on time on a cost-effective basis may be adversely affected. Failure to continue to adapt our systems and supply chain and successfully fulfill ecommerce sales could harm our business.

The concentration of our retail customer base and continued shift to ecommerce sales means that economic difficulties or changes in the purchasing or promotional policies or patterns of our major customers could have a significant impact on us.

For the year ended June 30, 2023, our top five customers generated approximately 50%, of net sales and our top customer accounted for approximately 23% (including all channels, market segments and lines of business) of our total net sales and purchased a mix of products comprised of approximately 47% music, 24% games, 23% movies, and 6% Consumer Products. For the nine months ended March 31, 2024, our top two customers generated approximately 29% of total net sales and our top customer accounted for approximately 18% of total net sales, which consisted of a mix of products comprised of approximately 39% music, 33% games, 19% movies, 4% consumer products, 2% digital and 3% freight and distribution fees. For the year ended June 30, 2023 and nine months ended March 31, 2024, our top customer accounted for 23% and 18%, respectively of our total net sales including all channels, market segments and lines of business. Due to our customer concentration, if our top customer was to experience difficulties in fulfilling their obligations to us, cease doing business with us, significantly reduce the amount of their purchases from us, favor competitors or new entrants, change their purchasing patterns, impose unexpected fees on us, alter the manner in which they promote our products or the resources they devote to promoting and selling our products, or return substantial amounts of our products, our business may be harmed.

Our customers do not make binding long-term commitments to us regarding purchase volumes and make all purchases by delivering purchase orders. Any customer could reduce its overall purchase of our products and reduce the number and variety of our products that it carries, and the shelf space allotted for our products. In addition, increased concentration among our customers could negatively impact our ability to negotiate higher sales prices for our products and could result in lower gross margins than would otherwise be obtained if there were less consolidation among our customers. Furthermore, the failure or lack of success of a significant retail customer could negatively impact our revenues and profitability.

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Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and logistics, and the loss of any of our key suppliers or service providers could negatively impact our business.

All the products we offer are manufactured by third-party labels, studios, publishers and suppliers. As a result we may be subject to price fluctuations or demand disruptions. Our operating results would be negatively impacted by increases in the costs of the products we offer, and we have no guarantees that costs will not rise. In addition, as we expand into new categories and product types, we expect that we may not have strong purchasing power in these new areas, which could lead to higher costs than we have historically seen in our current categories. We may not be able to pass increased costs on to consumers, which could adversely affect our operating results. Moreover, in the event of a significant disruption in the supply of the materials used in the manufacture of the products we offer, we and the vendors that we work with might not be able to locate alternative suppliers of materials of comparable quality at an acceptable price.

In addition, products, and merchandise we receive from manufacturers and suppliers may not be of sufficient quality or free from damage, or such products may be damaged during shipping, while stored in our warehouse fulfillment centers or with third-party ecommerce or retail customers or when returned by consumers. We may incur additional expenses and our reputation could be harmed if consumers and potential consumers believe that our products do not meet their expectations, are not properly labeled or are damaged.

We purchase significant amounts from a limited number of suppliers with limited supply capabilities. There can be no assurance that our current suppliers will be able to accommodate our anticipated growth or continue to supply current quantities at preferential prices. An inability of our existing suppliers to provide products in a timely or cost-effective manner could impair our growth and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We generally do not maintain long-term supply contracts with any of our suppliers and any of our suppliers could discontinue selling to us at any time. The loss of any of our other significant suppliers, or the discontinuance of any preferential pricing or exclusive incentives they currently offer to us could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We continually seek to expand our base of product suppliers, especially as we identify new markets. We also require our new and existing suppliers to meet our ethical and business partner standards. Suppliers may also have to meet governmental and industry standards and any relevant standards required by our consumers, which may require additional investment and time on behalf of suppliers and us. If any of our key suppliers becomes insolvent, ceases or significantly reduces its operations or experiences financial distress, any environmental, economic or other outside factors impact their operations, we are unable to identify or enter distribution relationships with new suppliers or to replace the loss of any of our existing suppliers, we may experience a competitive disadvantage, our business may be disrupted and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

Our principal suppliers currently provide us with certain incentives such as extended payment terms, volume purchasing, trade discounts, cooperative advertising and market development funds. A reduction or discontinuance of these incentives would increase our costs and could reduce our ability to achieve or maintain profitability. Similarly, if one or more of our suppliers were to offer these incentives, including preferential pricing, to our competitors, our competitive advantage would be reduced, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We face significant inventory risk.

In addition to risks described elsewhere relating to fulfillment network and inventory optimization by us and third parties, we are exposed to significant inventory risks that may adversely affect our operating results as a result of seasonality, new product launches, rapid changes in product cycles and pricing, defective merchandise, changes in consumer demand and consumer spending patterns, changes in consumer tastes with respect to our products, spoilage, and other factors. We endeavor to accurately predict these trends and avoid overstocking or understocking products we manufacture and/or sell. Demand for products, however, can change significantly between the time inventory or components are ordered and the date of sale. In addition, when we begin selling or manufacturing a new product, it may be difficult to establish vendor relationships, determine appropriate product or component selection, and accurately forecast demand. The acquisition of certain types of inventory or components requires significant lead-time and prepayment, and they may not be returnable. We carry a broad selection and significant inventory levels of certain products, and at times we are unable to sell products in sufficient quantities or to meet demand during the relevant selling seasons. If our inventory forecasting and production planning processes result in higher inventory levels exceeding the levels demanded by customers or should our customers decrease their orders with us, our operating results could be adversely affected due to costs of carrying the inventory and additional inventory write-downs for excess and obsolete inventory. Any one of the inventory risk factors set forth above may adversely affect our operating results.

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If our third-party suppliers’ labels, studios, and publishers do not comply with applicable laws and regulations, our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.

Our reputation and our consumers’ willingness to purchase our products depend in part on our suppliers’ labels, studios, publishers, and other suppliers, and retail partners’ compliance with ethical employment practices, such as with respect to child labor, wages and benefits, forced labor, discrimination, safe and healthy working conditions, and with all legal and regulatory requirements relating to the conduct of their businesses. We do not exercise control over our suppliers, manufacturers, and retail partners and cannot guarantee their compliance with ethical and lawful business practices. If our suppliers, manufacturers, or retail partners fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, safety codes, employment practices, human rights standards, quality standards, environmental standards, production practices, or other obligations, norms, or ethical standards, our reputation and brand image could be harmed, and we could be exposed to litigation, investigations, enforcement actions, monetary liability, and additional costs that would harm our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in our shipping arrangements or any interruptions in shipping could adversely affect our operating results.

We primarily rely on the major suppliers for our shipping requirements. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable pricing and other terms with these suppliers or if one of the two experiences performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and our consumer or retail partner experience. Shipping vendors may also impose shipping surcharges from time to time. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship products to consumers and retailers may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, labor disputes, acts of war or terrorism, trade embargoes, customs and tax requirements and similar factors. For example, strikes at major international shipping ports have in the past impacted our supply of inventory from our third-party labels, studios, publishers, and suppliers, and the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China has caused, and may in the future lead to, increased tariffs, the revocation of current tariff exclusions for certain of our products, which may restrict the flow of the goods from China to the United States. We are also subject to risks of damage or loss during delivery by our shipping vendors. If our products are not delivered in a timely fashion or are damaged or lost during the delivery process, our consumers could become dissatisfied and cease shopping on our site or retailer or third-party ecommerce sites, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.

We are subject to risks related to online payment methods, including third-party payment processing-related risks.

We currently accept payments using a variety of methods, including checks, ACH, wire transfers, credit card, debit card, PayPal, and gift cards. As we offer new payment options to consumers, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements, fraud, and other risks. We also rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, and for certain payment methods, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and affect ability to achieve or maintain profitability. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI-DSS, and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we (or a third-party processing payment card transactions on our behalf) suffer a security breach affecting payment card information, we may have to pay onerous and significant fines, penalties and assessments arising out of the major card brands’ rules and regulations, contractual indemnifications or liability contained in merchant agreements and similar contracts, and we may lose our ability to accept payment cards for payment for our goods and services, which could materially impact our operations and financial performance.

Furthermore, as our business changes, we may be subject to different rules under existing standards, which may require new assessments that involve costs above what we currently pay for compliance. As we offer new payment options to consumers, including by way of integrating emerging mobile and other payment methods, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements and fraud. If we fail to comply with the rules or requirements of any provider of a payment method we accept, if the volume of fraud in our transactions limits or terminates our rights to use payment methods we currently accept, or if a data breach occurs relating to our payment systems, we may, among other things, be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose, or face restrictions placed upon, our ability to accept credit card payments from consumers or facilitate other types of online payments.

We also occasionally receive orders placed with fraudulent data and we may ultimately be held liable for the unauthorized use of a cardholder’s card number in an illegal activity and be required by card issuers to pay charge-back fees. Charge-backs result not only in our loss of fees earned with respect to the payment, but also leave us liable for the underlying money transfer amount. If our chargeback rate becomes excessive, card associations also may require us to pay fines or refuse to process our transactions. To mitigate credit card fraud, we use Kount to score all credit card orders for risk of fraud. In addition, we may be subject to additional

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fraud risk if third-party service providers or our employees fraudulently use consumer information for their own gain or facilitate the fraudulent use of such information. Overall, we may have little recourse if we process a criminally fraudulent transaction. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

We rely on third-party suppliers, labels, studios, publishers, suppliers, retail and ecommerce partners and other vendors, and they may not continue to produce products or provide services that are consistent with our standards or applicable regulatory requirements, which could harm our brand, cause consumer dissatisfaction, and require us to find alternative suppliers of our products or services.

We do not own or operate any manufacturing facilities. We use multiple third-party suppliers and labels, studios, publishers, suppliers based primarily in the United States, China and Mexico and other countries to a lesser extent, to manufacture and supply all the products we offer and sell.

We engage many of our third-party suppliers and labels, studios, publishers, suppliers on a purchase order basis and in most cases are not party to long-term contracts with them. The ability and willingness of these third parties to supply and manufacture the products we offer, and sell may be affected by competing orders placed by other companies and the demands of those companies. If we experience significant increases in demand or need to replace a significant number of existing suppliers or manufacturers, there can be no assurance that additional supply and manufacturing capacity will be available when required on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, or that any supplier or manufacturer will allocate sufficient capacity to us to meet our requirements. Furthermore, our reliance on suppliers and manufacturers outside of the United States, the number of third parties with whom we transact and the number of jurisdictions to which we sell complicates our efforts to comply with customs duties and excise taxes; any failure to comply could adversely affect our business. In addition, quality control problems, such as the use of materials and delivery of products that do not meet our quality control standards and specifications or comply with applicable laws or regulations, could harm our business. Quality control problems could result in regulatory action, such as restrictions on importation, products of inferior quality or product stock outages or shortages, harming our sales and creating inventory write-downs for unusable products.

We have also outsourced minute portions of our fulfillment process, as well as certain technology-related functions, to third-party service providers. Specifically, we are dependent on third-party vendors for credit card processing, and we use third-party hosting and networking providers to host our sites. The failure of one or more of these entities to provide the expected services on a timely basis, or at all, or at the prices we expect, or the costs and disruption incurred in changing these outsourced functions to being performed under our management and direct control or that of a third party, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are party to short-term contracts with some of our retail and ecommerce partners, and upon expiration of these existing agreements, we may not be able to renegotiate the terms on a commercially reasonable basis, or at all.

Further, our third-party labels, studios, publishers, suppliers and retail and ecommerce partners may:

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Risks Related to Our Debt

Alliance’s existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect its ability to operate its business.

On December 31, 2023, the Company as Parent and Guarantor, certain of its subsidiaries from time to time party thereto, as Borrowers and/or Guarantors, White Oak Commercial Finance, LLC, as administrative agent, and the other lenders from time to time party thereto, entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) which provides for a $120 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”). The Revolving Credit Facility matures on December 21, 2026 (the “Revolving Credit Facility Maturity Date”). As of March 31, 2024, the Company had $77.34 million outstanding under the Revolving Credit facility.

Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility bear interest at the 30-day SOFR rate, subject to a floor rate of 2.00%, plus a margin of 4.50% to 4.75%, depending on the level of the Company’s utilization of the facility and consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio. The effective interest rate for the period from execution of the Revolving Credit Facility through March 31, 2024 was 8.8%.

The Credit Agreement is secured by a first priority security interest on the Company’s and the borrowers’ and other guarantors’ cash, accounts receivable, books and records and related assets. In addition, the Credit Facility contains certain financial covenants, financial reporting requirements and affirmative covenants with which the Company is required to comply.

A breach of the covenants under the Credit Agreement could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under the Credit Facility could permit the lenders under the Credit Agreement to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under the Credit Agreement. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Credit Agreement, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lender accelerates the repayment of our borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.

The Revolving Credit Facility also includes an unused commitment fee of 0.25%. Upon the reduction or termination of the commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility prior to the Revolving Credit Facility Maturity Date, the Company will be required to pay an early termination fee of 2.0% if reduced or terminated prior to December 21, 2024 or 1.0% if reduced or terminated after December 21, 2024 but before August 21, 2025 plus an amount of minimum interest if reduced or terminated on or prior to June 21, 2025.

Availability under the Revolving Credit Facility is limited by formula based on eligible accounts receivable and eligible inventory, subject to adjustment at the discretion of the lenders.

Alliance’s outstanding indebtedness, including any additional indebtedness beyond our borrowings under the Credit Agreement, combined with its other financial obligations and contractual commitments could have significant adverse consequences, including:

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We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our then existing cash and cash equivalents. However, we may not have sufficient funds, and may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due under the Revolving Credit Facility or any other debt instruments. Failure to make payments or comply with other covenants under our existing credit facility or such other debt instruments could result in an event of default and acceleration of amounts due, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Government efforts to combat inflation, along with other interest rate pressures arising from an inflationary economic environment, could lead to us to incur even higher interest rates and financing costs.

Inflation has risen on a global basis, the United States has been experiencing historically high levels of inflation, and government entities have taken various actions to combat inflation, such as raising interest rate benchmarks. Government entities may continue their efforts, or implement additional efforts, to combat inflation, which could include among other things continuing to raise interest rate benchmarks and/or maintaining interest rate benchmarks at elevated levels. Such government efforts, along with other interest rate pressures arising from an inflationary economic environment, could lead to us to incur even higher interest rates and financing costs on our credit line with Bank of America and have material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our indebtedness may limit our availability of cash, cause us to divert cash to fund debt service payments or make it more difficult to take certain other actions.

We operate the business with an asset-based Revolving Credit Facility to fund working capital to support our Accounts Payable and our Inventory purchases. The outstanding indebtedness under the Revolving Credit Facility subjects us to the following risks:

If we were unable to obtain or service our other external financings, or if the restrictions imposed by such financing were too burdensome, our business would be harmed.

Due to the seasonal nature of our business, in order to meet our working capital needs we rely on borrowings under our Credit Agreement which provides for a $120,000,000 committed revolving asset-based loan credit facility. Availability under the Revolving Credit Facility is limited by formula based on eligible accounts receivable and eligible inventory, subject to adjustment at the discretion of the lenders. Any unexpected limitation could adversely affect our ability to access borrowings as needed.

Not only may our individual financial performance impact our ability to access sources of external financing, but significant disruptions to credit markets in general may also harm our ability to obtain financing. In times of severe economic downturn and/or distress in the credit markets, it is possible that one or more sources of external financing may be unable or unwilling to provide

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funding to us. In such a situation, it may be that we would be unable to access funding under our existing credit facilities, and it might not be possible to find alternative sources of funding.

We also may choose to finance our capital needs, from time to time, through the issuance of debt securities. Our ability to issue such securities on satisfactory terms, if at all, will depend on the state of our business and financial condition, any ratings issued by major credit rating agencies, market interest rates, and the overall condition of the financial and credit markets at the time of the offering. The condition of the credit markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated significantly in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. Variations in these factors could make it difficult for us to sell debt securities or require us to offer higher interest rates in order to sell new debt securities. The failure to receive financing on desirable terms, or at all, could damage our ability to support our future operations or capital needs or engage in other business activities.

If we are unable to generate sufficient available cash flow to service our outstanding debt, we would need to refinance our outstanding debt or face default. We cannot guarantee that we would be able to refinance debt on favorable terms, or at all.

Risks Related to our Management

Our success is dependent on the efforts and dedication of our officers and other employees.

Our officers and employees are at the heart of all our efforts. It is their skill, innovation and hard work that drive our success. We compete with many other potential employers in recruiting, hiring, and retaining our management team and our many other skilled officers and employees around the world. The increasing prevalence of remote work creates further challenges in retaining employees as some employees desire more flexibility in their employment and the ability to work remotely opens up more employment opportunities. The impact of failing to retain key employees can be high due to loss of key knowledge and relationships, loss of creative talent, lost productivity, hiring and training costs, all of which could result in lower profitability. We cannot guarantee that we will recruit, hire or retain the key personnel we need to succeed.

Our future success will depend on the leadership of our key executives such as Mr. Bruce Ogilvie, our Executive Chairman, and Mr. Jeff Walker, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ogilvie and Mr. Walker are executives of other companies, including GameFly Holdings, Inc. GameFly is a customer of Alliance. Alliance uses GameFly’s Lakewood, California warehouse to ship and fulfill products for Alliance’s customers. A conflict of interest may arise with respect to their allocation of business time and such conflicts may not be resolved in Alliance’s favor. Our loss of key management or other employees, inability to drive success through our new leaders, or our inability to retain or hire talented people with the skill sets we need for our diverse and changing business, could significantly harm our business.

If we fail to develop diverse top talent, we may be unable to compete, and our business may be harmed.

To compete successfully, we must continuously develop a diverse group of talented people. We promote a diverse and inclusive work environment. To that end, we have set goals and objectives with respect to hiring and retention of talented, diverse employees, who we believe will foster new ideas and perspectives that will benefit our business. Competition for diverse talent is intense. We cannot guarantee we will achieve our goals or that our actions will result in expected benefits to our business.

Alliance has engaged in transactions with related parties, and such transactions present possible conflicts of interest that could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Alliance has entered transactions with related parties, including our two principal stockholders. We have entered into transactions with companies owned by Bruce Ogilvie and Jeffrey Walker, including GameFly Holdings, LLC. For the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 and nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, Alliance made sales of new release movies, video games, and video game consoles to GameFly Holdings LLC in the amount of $16.8 million, $7.5 million, $7.9 million and $3.5 million, respectively. GameFly, a customer of Alliance, is equally owned by Bruce Ogilvie and Jeff Walker, the two shareholders of Alliance. Alliance believes the amounts payable to GameFly are at fair market value. The agreement between Alliance and GameFly can be terminated by either party at any time, given Mr. Ogilvie’s and Mr. Walker’s positions with Alliance as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. Additionally Mr. Ogilvie made loans to us ranging from $7.6 million to $17.0 million during the months of June, July and August 2023. As of March 31, 2024, $10,000,000 principal amount of these loans remain outstanding. We may in the future enter into additional transactions with entities in which majority shareholders, executive officers and members of our board of directors and other related parties hold ownership interests. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

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Transactions with such related parties present potential for conflicts of interest, as the interests of the third-party owned related entity and its shareholders may not align with the interests of our stockholders with respect to the negotiation of, and certain other matters. For example, conflicts of interest may arise in connection with decisions regarding the structure and terms of the GameFly contract, contractual remedies, events of default and dealings with customers.

Pursuant to our related party transactions policy, all additional material related party transactions that we enter into require either (i) the unanimous consent of our audit committee or (ii) the approval of a majority of the members of our board of directors. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Policies and Procedures for Related Party Transactions”. Nevertheless, we may have achieved more favorable terms if such transactions had not been entered into with related parties and these transactions, individually or in the aggregate, may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations or may result in government enforcement actions or other litigation.

Alliance’s management has limited experience in operating a public company.

Alliance’s executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Alliance’s management team may not successfully or effectively manage its transition to a public company that will be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of Alliance.

Alliance may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience, and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal controls over financial reporting required of public companies in the United States. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for Alliance to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the United States may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that Alliance will be required to expand its employee base and hire additional employees to support its operations as a public company, which will increase its operating costs in future periods.

Risks Related to Our Technology and Intellectual Property

Our business may be harmed if we are unable to protect our critical intellectual property rights.

Our intellectual property, including our trademarks and tradenames, copyrights, patents, and rights under our license agreements and other agreements that establish our intellectual property rights and maintain the confidentiality of our intellectual property, is of critical value. We rely on a combination of trade secret, copyright, trademark, patent and other proprietary rights laws to protect our rights to valuable intellectual property in the U.S. and around the world. From time to time, third parties have challenged, and may in the future try to challenge, our ownership of our intellectual property in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, our business is subject to the risk of third parties counterfeiting our products or infringing on our intellectual property rights, as well as the risk of unauthorized third parties copying and distributing our entertainment content or leaking portions of planned entertainment content. We may need to resort to litigation to protect our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Similarly, third parties may claim ownership over certain aspects of our products, productions or other intellectual property. Our failure to successfully protect our intellectual property rights could significantly harm our business and competitive position.

Failure to successfully operate our information systems and implement new technology effectively could disrupt our business or reduce our sales or profitability.

We rely extensively on various information technology systems and software applications to manage many aspects of our business, including product development, management of our supply chain, sale and delivery of our products, royalty and financial reporting and various other processes and transactions. We are critically dependent on the integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems and related back-up systems. These systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, malware and other cybersecurity breaches, catastrophic events such as hurricanes, fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, acts of war or terrorism and usage errors by our employees or partners. The efficient operation and successful growth of our business depends on these information systems, including our ability to operate them effectively and to select and implement appropriate upgrades or new technologies and systems and adequate disaster recovery systems successfully. The failure of our information systems or third-party hosted technology to perform as designed or our failure to implement and operate them effectively could disrupt our business, require significant capital investments to remediate a problem or subject us to liability.

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If our electronic data is compromised our business could be significantly harmed.

We and our business partners maintain significant amounts of data electronically in locations around the United States and in the cloud. This data relates to all aspects of our business, including current and future products and entertainment under development, and also contains certain customer, consumer, supplier, partner and employee data. We maintain systems and processes designed to protect this data, but notwithstanding such protective measures, there is a risk of intrusion, cyber-attacks or tampering that could compromise the integrity and privacy of this data. Cyber-attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication, and intensity, and are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. They are often carried out by motivated, well-resourced, skilled, and persistent actors, including nation states, organized crime groups, “hacktivists” and employees or contractors acting with malicious intent. Cyber-attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware and key loggers, ransomware, a denial-of-service attack, a malicious website, the use of social engineering and other means to affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our technology systems and data. Cyber-attacks could also include supply chain attacks, which could cause a delay in the manufacturing of our products. In addition, we provide confidential and proprietary information to our third-party business partners in certain cases where doing so is necessary to conduct our business. While we obtain assurances from those parties that they have systems and processes in place to protect such data, and where applicable, that they will take steps to assure the protections of such data by third parties, those partners may also be subject to data intrusion or otherwise compromise the protection of such data. Any compromise of the confidential data of our customers, consumers, suppliers, partners, employees or ourselves, or failure to prevent or mitigate the loss of or damage to this data through breach of our information technology systems or other means could substantially disrupt our operations, harm our customers, consumers, employees and other business partners, damage our reputation, violate applicable laws and regulations, subject us to potentially significant costs and liabilities and result in a loss of business that could be material.

Risks Related to Matters Outside our Control That May Impact Our Business

The global coronavirus outbreak or other similar outbreaks of communicable infections, diseases, or public health pandemics in the markets in which we and our employees, consumers, customers, partners, licensees, suppliers and manufacturers operate, could substantially harm our business.

The global outbreak of the coronavirus which continues to adversely impact global populations, and any other variants or outbreaks of communicable infections, diseases or other adverse public health conditions in markets in which we, our employees, consumers, customers, partners, licensees, licensors, suppliers and manufacturers operate, could have a significant negative impact on our business, revenues and profitability. The occurrence of these types of events can result, and in the case of the coronavirus has resulted in, disruptions and damage to our business, caused by a number of factors:

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We have reopened our offices, providing employees with flexibility in their return to the office by working partially in the office and partially remote. We have taken measures to safely bring additional workers back to the office, including a return to fully remote work when variants emerge which increase infection rates significantly in areas where we do business. The transition back from fully remote work to partial remote and partial in person may be difficult for some employees. We are actively soliciting feedback and making modifications to provide our employees with a productive and safe environment, and plan to continue to monitor employee efficiency, satisfaction, and morale as we continue to transition. There can be no assurance that employees will not have some disruption in their work due to the transition. Changes in flexible working arrangements could impact employee retention, employees’ productivity, and morale, strain our technology resources and introduce operational risks. Additionally, the risk of cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents may be heightened as a result of our moving increasingly towards a remote working environment, which may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks.

Adverse economic conditions in the markets in which we and our employees, consumers, customers, suppliers and manufacturers operate could negatively impact our ability to produce and ship our products, and lower our revenues, margins and profitability.

Various economic conditions in the markets we, our employees, consumers, customers, suppliers and manufacturers operate, could have a significant negative impact on our revenues, profitability and business. The occurrence of adverse economic conditions can result in manufacturing and other work stoppages, slowdowns and delays; shortages or delays in production or shipment of products or raw materials; delays or reduced purchases from customers and consumers; and other factors that cause increases in costs or delay in revenues. Inflation, such as what consumers in the U.S. and other economies are experiencing, can cause significant increases in the costs of other products which are required by consumers, such as gasoline, home heating fuels, or groceries, may reduce household spending on the discretionary products and entertainment we offer. Weakened economic conditions, higher interest rates, lowered employment levels or recessions may also significantly reduce consumer purchases of our products and spending on entertainment. Economic conditions may also be negatively impacted by terrorist attacks, wars and other conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, natural disasters, increases in critical commodity prices or labor costs, or the prospect of such events. Such a weakened economic and business climate, as well as consumer uncertainty created by such a climate, could significantly harm our revenues and profitability.

Our success and profitability not only depend on consumer demand for our products, but also on our ability to produce and sell those products at costs which allow us to make a profit. Rising fuel and raw material prices, due to inflation or otherwise, for paperboard and other components such as resin used in plastics or electronic components, increased transportation and shipping costs, and increased labor costs in the markets in which our products are manufactured all may increase the costs we incur to produce and transport our products, which in turn may reduce our margins, reduce our profitability and harm our business.

Changes in U.S., global or regional economic conditions could harm our business and financial performance.

Our financial performance is impacted by the level of discretionary consumer spending in the markets in which we operate. Reductions in stimulus payments provided to consumers, high inflation and rising interest rates on credit cards could impact discretionary spending. Recessions, credit crises and other economic downturns, or disruptions in credit and financial markets in the U.S. and in other markets in which we operate can result in lower levels of economic activity, lower employment levels, less consumer disposable income, and lower consumer confidence. Similarly, reductions in the value of key assets held by consumers, such as their homes or stock market investments, can lower consumer confidence and consumer spending power. Any of these factors can reduce the amount which consumers spend on the purchase of our products and entertainment. This in turn can reduce our revenues and harm our financial performance and profitability.

Our small global operations mean we transact business in many different jurisdictions with many different currencies. As a result, if the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and a local currency for an international market in which we have significant sales or operations changes, our financial results as reported in U.S. dollars, may be meaningfully impacted even if our business in the local currency is not significantly affected. Similarly, our expenses can be significantly impacted, in U.S. dollar terms, by exchange rates, meaning the profitability of our business in U.S. dollar terms can be negatively impacted by exchange rate movements which we do not control. Depreciation in key currencies may have a significant negative impact on our revenues and earnings as they are reported in U.S. dollars.

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Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate due to seasonality in our business and union strikes impacting the availability of content.

Sales of our music, video movies, video games and other entertainment products are seasonal, with an increase of retail sales occurring during the period from September through December for the holiday season. This seasonality for our consumer products business has increased over time, as retailers become more and more efficient in their control of inventory levels through quick response or just in time inventory management techniques, including the use of automated inventory replenishment programs. Further, ecommerce continues to grow significantly and accounts for a higher portion of the ultimate sales of our products to consumers. Ecommerce retailers tend to hold less inventory and take inventory closer to the time of sale to consumers than traditional retailers. As a result, customers are timing their orders so that they are being fulfilled by suppliers, such as us, closer to the time of purchase by consumers. While these techniques reduce a retailer’s investment in inventory, they increase pressure on suppliers like us to fill orders promptly and thereby shift a significant portion of inventory risk and carrying costs to the supplier. This can also result in our losing significant revenues and earnings if our supply chain is unable to supply product to our customers when they want it.

The level of inventory carried by retailers may also reduce or delay retail sales resulting in lower revenues for us. If we or our customers determine that one of our products is more popular at retail than was originally anticipated, we may not have sufficient time to procure and ship enough additional products to fully meet consumer demand. Additionally, the logistics of supplying more product within shorter time periods increases the risk that we will fail to achieve tight and compressed shipping schedules, which also may reduce our sales and harm our financial performance.

Our entertainment business is also subject to seasonal variations based on the timing of music, television, film and gaming content releases. Release dates are determined by several factors, including the timing of holiday periods, geographical release dates and competition in the market. Additionally, the SAG AFTRA strike has created a lack of content for DVDs and other entertainment sectors. This could negatively effect our business.

This seasonal pattern of our business requires significant use of working capital, mainly to purchase inventory during the months prior to the holiday season and requires accurate forecasting of demand for products during the holiday season in order to avoid losing potential sales of popular products or producing excess inventory of products that are less popular with consumers. Our failure to accurately predict and respond to consumer demand, resulting in underproducing popular items and/or overproducing less popular items, would reduce our total sales and harm our results of operations.

As a result of the seasonal nature of our business, we would be significantly and adversely affected, in a manner disproportionate to the impact on a company with sales spread more evenly throughout the year, by unforeseen events such as a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, economic shock or pandemic that harms the retail environment or consumer buying patterns during our key selling season, or by events such as strikes or port delays or other supply chain challenges that interfere with the shipment of goods, particularly from the Far East, during the critical months leading up to the holiday shopping season.

Risks Related to Taxes and Government Related Matters

We face additional tax liabilities and collection obligations. Changes in, or differing interpretations of, income tax laws and rules, and changes in our geographic operating results, may impact our effective tax rate.

We are subject to a variety of taxes and tax collection obligations in the U.S. (federal and state) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. We may recognize additional tax expense and be subject to additional tax liabilities, including other liabilities for tax collection obligations due to changes in laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations related to tax, including changes to the global tax framework, competition, and other laws and accounting rules in various jurisdictions. Such changes could come about as a result of economic, political, and other conditions. Proposals to reform U.S. and foreign tax laws could significantly impact how U.S. multinational corporations are taxed on global earnings and could increase the U.S. corporate tax rate. For example, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “Inclusive Framework”) has put forth two proposals—Pillar One and Pillar Two—that revise the existing profit allocation and nexus rules and ensure a minimal level of taxation, respectively. On December 12, 2022, the European Union member states agreed to implement the Inclusive Framework’s global corporate minimum tax rate of 15%. Other countries are also actively considering changes to their tax laws to adopt certain parts of the Inclusive Framework’s proposals. Although we cannot predict whether or in what form these proposals will be enacted into law, these changes, if enacted into law, would not have a material impact on our effective tax rate, income tax expense and cash flows. On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which contained certain tax measures, including, among other items, a corporate alternative minimum tax of

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15% on some large corporations and an excise tax of 1% on certain corporate stock buy-backs. Moreover, an increasing number of jurisdictions are considering or have adopted laws or administrative practices that impose new tax measures, including revenue-based taxes, targeting online commerce and the remote selling of goods and services. These include new obligations to collect sales, consumption, value added, or other taxes on online marketplaces and remote sellers, or other requirements that may result in liability for third party obligations. For example, non-U.S. jurisdictions have proposed or enacted taxes on online marketplace service revenues. Proliferation of these or similar unilateral tax measures may continue unless broader international tax reform is implemented. Our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected by additional taxes imposed on us prospectively or retroactively or additional taxes or penalties resulting from the failure to comply with any collection obligations or failure to provide information about our customers, suppliers, and other third parties for tax reporting purposes to various government agencies. In some cases, we also may not have sufficient notice to enable us to build systems and adopt processes to properly comply with new reporting or collection obligations by the effective date.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and in United Kingdom tax jurisdictions. We also conduct business activities between our operating units, and we are subject to transfer pricing rules in the United Kingdom in which we operate. There is some degree of uncertainty and subjectivity in complying with transfer pricing rules. Our effective tax rate could be impacted by changes in, or the interpretation of, tax laws, such as those being considered by the current United States administration and other jurisdictions in which we do business, or by changes in the amount of revenue and earnings we derive, or are determined to derive by tax authorities, from jurisdictions with differing tax rates.

In addition, we have been and may be subject to tax examinations by federal, state, and international jurisdictions, and these examinations can result in significant tax findings if the tax authorities interpret the application of laws and rules differently than we do or disagree with the intercompany rates we are applying. We assess the likelihood of outcomes resulting from tax uncertainties. While we believe our estimates are reasonable, the ultimate outcome of these uncertain tax benefits, or results of possible current or future tax examinations, may differ from our estimates and may have a significant adverse impact on our business and operating results.

We are subject to various government regulations, violation of which could subject us to sanctions or otherwise harm our business. In addition, we could be the subject of future product liability suits or merchandise recalls, which could harm our business.

We are subject to significant government regulations, including, in the U.S., under The Consumer Products Safety Act, The Federal Hazardous Substances Act, and The Flammable Fabrics Act, as well as under product safety and consumer protection statutes in our international markets. In addition, certain of our products are subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration or similar international authorities. Advertising to children is subject to regulation by the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and a host of other agencies globally, and the collection of information from children under the age of 13 is subject to the provisions of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and other privacy laws around the world. The collection of personally identifiable information from anyone, including adults, is under increasing regulation in many markets, such as the General Data Protection Regulation adopted by the European Union, and data protection laws in the United States and in a number of other counties. While we take all the steps, we believe are necessary to comply with these acts and regulations, we cannot assure you that we will be in compliance and, if we fail to comply with these requirements or other regulations enacted in the future, we could be subject to fines, liabilities or sanctions which could have a significant negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may also be subject to involuntary product recalls or may voluntarily conduct a product recall. While costs associated with product recalls have generally not been material to our business, the costs associated with future product recalls individually or in aggregate in any given fiscal year could be significant. In addition, any product recall, regardless of direct costs of the recall, may harm the reputation of our products and have a negative impact on our future revenues and results of operations.

As a multinational corporation, we are subject to a host of governmental regulations throughout the world, including antitrust, employment, customs and tax requirements, anti-boycott regulations, environmental regulations, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Complying with these regulations imposes costs on us which can reduce our profitability and our failure to successfully comply with any such legal requirements could subject us to monetary liabilities and other sanctions that could further harm our business and financial condition.

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Risks Related to Litigation

We may face increased costs in achieving our sustainability goals and any failure to achieve our goals could result in reputational damage.

We view sustainability challenges as opportunities to innovate and continuously improve our product design and operational efficiencies. We also believe the long-term viability and health of our own operations and our supply chain, and the significant potential for environmental improvements, are critical to our business success.

We devote significant resources and expenditure to help achieve these goals. It is possible that we will incur significant expense in trying to achieve these goals with no assurance that we will be successful. Additionally, our reputation could be damaged if we fail to achieve our sustainability goals, or if we or others in our industry do not act, or are perceived not to act, responsibly with respect to the production and packaging of our products.

Our entertainment business involves risks of liability claims for media content, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

As a distributor of media content, we may face potential liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright or trademark infringement, and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials distributed. These types of claims have been brought, sometimes successfully, against producers and distributors of media content. Any imposition of liability that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

We are involved in litigation, arbitration or regulatory matters where the outcome is uncertain, and which could entail significant expense.

As a larger multinational corporation, we are subject to regulatory investigations, risks related to internal controls, litigation and arbitration disputes, including potential liability from personal injury or property damage claims by the users of products that have been or may be developed by us, claims by third parties that our products infringe upon or misuse such third parties’ property or rights, or claims by former employees for employment related matters. Because the outcome of litigation, arbitration and regulatory investigations is inherently difficult to predict, it is possible that the outcome of any of these matters could entail significant cost for us and harm our business. The fact that we operate in a significant number of international markets also increases the risk that we may face legal and regulatory exposures as we attempt to comply with a large number of varying legal and regulatory requirements. Any successful claim against us could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In particular, on March 31, 2023, a class action complaint, titled Matthew McKnight v. Alliance Entertainment Holding Corp. f/k/a Adara Acquisition Corp., Adara Sponsor LLC, Thomas Finke, Paul G. Porter, Beatriz Acevedo-Greiff, W. Tom Donaldson III, Dylan Glenn, and Frank Quintero, was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery against our pre-Business Combination board of directors and executive officers and the Sponsor, alleging breaches of fiduciary duties by purportedly failing to disclose certain information in connection with the Business Combination and by approving the Business Combination. We have entered into a Stipulation and Proposed Order Regarding Dismissal and Compromise of Class Action for Court Approval with the plaintiff which is subject to formalizing and final documentation of the settlement and court approval.

Risks Related to Accounting Matters

Alliance has identified material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting. If remediation of such material weaknesses is not effective, or if we fail to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, Alliance’s ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements, comply with applicable laws and regulations, or access the capital markets could be impaired.

Alliance has identified material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting. If we fail to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, Alliance’s ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements, comply with applicable laws and regulations, or access the capital markets could be impaired.

As a public company, Alliance is actively evaluating its internal control over financial reporting in a manner that meets the standards of publicly traded companies required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404. A material weakness is defined as

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a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Alliance is ultimately responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. As disclosed in Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,” management noted several material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2023, which have not been remediated as of March 31, 2024. Refer to “Item 9A. Control and Procedures” for a detailed discussion regarding the material weaknesses identified, as well as management’s remediation plans.

We are actively engaged in developing a remediation plan designed to address these material weaknesses, however, we cannot guarantee that these steps will be sufficient or that we will not have these or other material weaknesses in the future. If our remediation measures are insufficient to address the material weaknesses, or if additional material weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting are discovered or occur in the future, our financial statements may contain material misstatements and we could be required to restate our financial results.

If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, or if our remediation measures are not effective, any such newly identified or existing material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.

Prior to the Business Combination, Adara had accounted for its outstanding Warrants as a warrant liability and following the Business Combination, Alliance is now required to determine the value warrant liability for the Private Warrants quarterly, which could have a material impact on Alliance’s financial position and operating results.

Included on Alliance’s balance sheet as of June 30, 2023 are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within the Warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”) provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statements of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly based on factors which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.

Following the Business Combination, although Alliance has determined that the Public Warrants are treated as equity, Alliance is required to continue to recognize the changes in the fair value of the Private Warrants from the prior period, if any, in its operating results for the current period, which could have a material impact on Alliance’s financial position and operating results.

We incur significantly increased expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

As a public company, we face increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs, and expenses as a public company that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including the requirements of Section 404, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the PCAOB and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements have increased costs and made certain activities more time-consuming. A number of those requirements require Alliance to carry out activities Alliance had not done previously. For example, Alliance created new board committees and has adopted new internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, expenses associated with SEC reporting requirements have been incurred. Furthermore, issues in complying with those requirements have been identified, and Alliance has incurred additional costs in connection with remediation of such compliance issues. As an example, management has identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. There may be additional material weaknesses, or a significant deficiency in the future. Alliance could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect Alliance’s reputation or investor perceptions of it. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Risks associated with Alliance’s status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified people to serve on Alliance’s board of directors or as executive officers. The

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additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations have increased legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting, and administrative activities, and may continue to do so. These increased costs require Alliance to divert a significant amount of funds that could otherwise be used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase these related costs.

Alliance’s failure to timely and effectively implement controls and procedures required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could negatively impact its business.

For the current fiscal year, Alliance Entertainment has opted to take advantage of staff guidance to omit management’s certification and the auditor’s report required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. However, it is important to note that, if Alliance does not qualify as a “non-accelerated filer” or an “emerging growth company,” Alliance will be required to provide attestation on internal controls. The standards required for a public company under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are significantly more stringent than those required of Alliance as a privately held company. We may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements applicable to us after the Business Combination. If Alliance is not able to implement the additional requirements of Section 404(a) in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, it may not be able to assess whether its internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject it to adverse regulatory consequences and could harm investor confidence and the market price of its securities.

Since Alliance currently qualifies as an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, it could make Alliance’s securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare Alliance’s performance to the performance of other public companies.

Alliance qualifies as an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 405 promulgated under the Securities Act and Rule12b-2 promulgated under the Exchange Act. As such, Alliance will be eligible for and intends to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies, including (a) the exemption from the auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (b) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and say-on-golden parachute voting requirements and (c) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements. Alliance will remain an emerging growth company, since Alliance total annual gross revenue of in excess of $1.235 billion during fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 (as indexed for inflation). In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as Alliance is an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies, which Alliance will not be able to do for its next fiscal year.

Even after Alliance no longer qualifies as an emerging growth company, it may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company” or “non-accelerated filer,” which would allow it to continue to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements. Moreover, smaller reporting companies may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in their Annual Reports on Form 10-K.

Investors may find the Class A common stock less attractive because Alliance will rely on these exemptions, which may result in a less active trading market for our Class A common stock and its price may be more volatile.

Risks Related to Our Securities and This Offering

The warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of the Warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with Alliance.

The warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such

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jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. Alliance will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of the Warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in the warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of the Warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to:

This choice of forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, Alliance may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.

Alliance may redeem unexpired Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to a Warrant holder, thereby making the Warrants worthless.

Alliance has the ability to redeem outstanding Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which Alliance gives proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the Warrants become redeemable, Alliance may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the Warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or it is unable to affect such registration or qualification. Alliance will use its best efforts to register or qualify such shares of Class A common stock under the blue-sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the Warrants were offered in the IPO, if necessary. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force holders (i) to exercise the Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for a holder to do so, (ii) to sell Warrants at the then-current market price when the holder might otherwise wish to hold Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of the Warrants. None of the Private Warrants are redeemable by Alliance so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.

If Warrant holders exercise Public Warrants on a “cashless basis,” they will receive fewer shares of Alliance common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

There are circumstances in which the exercise of the Public Warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is not effective by a specified date, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of the Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when Alliance shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise Warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available; if that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their Warrants on a cashless basis.

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Third, if Alliance calls the Public Warrants for redemption, Alliance’s management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise Warrants to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the Warrant exercise price by surrendering the Warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the Warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined in the next sentence) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose shall mean the average reported last sale price of the Class A common stock for the ten trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of Warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

The receipt of cash proceeds from the exercise of our Warrants is dependent upon the market price exceeding the $11.50 exercise price and the Warrants being exercised for cash.

The receipt of cash proceeds from the exercise of our Warrants is dependent upon the market price exceeding the $11.50 exercise price and the Warrants being exercised for cash. The $11.50 exercise price per share of the Warrants is considerably higher than the $1.32 closing sale price of the Class A common stock on October 17, 2023. If the price of our Class A Common Stock remains below the respective Warrant exercise prices per share, we believe warrant holders will be unlikely to cash exercise their Warrants, resulting in little or no cash proceeds to us.

In addition, we may lower the exercise price of the Warrants in accordance with the Warrant Agreement to induce the holders to exercise such warrants. We may effect such a reduction in exercise price without the consent of such warrant holders and such reduction would decrease the maximum amount of cash proceeds we would receive upon the exercise in full of the Warrants for cash. Further, the holders of the Private Warrants and the Underwriter Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time and the holders of the Public Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time a registration statement is not effective, and a prospectus is not currently available for the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon such exercise. Accordingly, we would not receive any proceeds from a cashless exercise of Warrants.

Concentration of ownership among Alliance’s executive officers, directors and their affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

As of the date of this prospectus, the executive officers and directors and their affiliates collectively beneficially owned, directly, or indirectly, excluding the Contingent Consideration Shares, approximately 95% of the outstanding Class A common stock.

As a result, these stockholders are able to exercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, appointment and removal of officers, any amendment of our Certificate of Incorporation and approval of mergers and other business combination transactions requiring stockholder approval, including proposed transactions that would result in Alliance’s stockholders receiving a premium price for their shares and other significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these stockholders.

Our common stock has historically been thinly traded, and you may be unable to sell at or near ask prices or at all if you need to sell or liquidate a substantial number of shares at one time.

Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, our common stock has historically been traded at relatively low volumes. As a result, the number of persons interested in purchasing our common stock at or near bid prices at any given time may be relatively small. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including that we are currently a small company which is still relatively unknown to securities analysts, stock brokers, institutional investors and others in the investment community that generate or influence sales volume, and that even if we came to the attention of such persons, they tend to be risk-averse and reluctant to follow an unproven company such as ours or purchase or recommend the purchase of our shares until such time as we become more seasoned and viable. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in our shares is minimal, as compared to a seasoned issuer which has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on share price. We cannot provide any assurance that a broader or more active public trading market for our common stock will develop or be sustained, or that trading levels will be sustained.

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Our common stock may be subject to the penny stock rules adopted by the SEC that require brokers to provide extensive disclosure to their customers prior to executing trades in penny stocks. These disclosure requirements may cause a reduction in the trading activity of our common stock, which could make it more difficult for our stockholders to sell their securities.

Rule 3a51-1 of the Exchange Act establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a minimum bid price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to a limited number of exceptions, including for having securities registered on certain national securities exchanges. If our common stock were delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market, market liquidity for our common stock could be severely and adversely affected.

For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the penny stock rules require that a broker or dealer approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks and the broker or dealer receive from the investor a written agreement to the transaction setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased. In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must obtain financial information and investment experience and objectives of the person and make a reasonable determination that the transactions in penny stocks are suitable for that person and that such person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stocks.

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prepared by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form, sets forth:

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and commission payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

Because of these regulations, broker-dealers may not wish to engage in the above-referenced necessary paperwork and disclosures and/or may encounter difficulties in their attempt to sell shares of our common stock, which may affect the ability of selling stockholders or other holders to sell their shares in any secondary market and have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in any secondary market. These additional sales practice and disclosure requirements could impede the sale of our common stock even if and when our common stock becomes listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. In addition, the liquidity of our common stock may decrease, with a corresponding decrease in the price of our common stock.

No assurance can be given that our stock will not be subject to these “penny stock” rules in the future.

Investors should be aware that, according to Commission Release No. 34-29093, the market for “penny stocks” has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include: (1) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (2) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (3) boiler room practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (4) excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differential and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (5) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, along with the resulting inevitable collapse of those prices and with consequent investor losses. The occurrence of these patterns or practices could increase the future volatility of our share price.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about Alliance, its business, or its market, or if they change their recommendations regarding Alliance’s securities adversely, the price and trading volume of Alliance’s securities could decline.

The trading market for Alliance’s securities is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about Alliance, its business, market or competitors. Securities and industry analysts do not currently, and may never, publish research on Alliance. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of Alliance, Alliance’s share price and trading volume would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who may cover Alliance change their recommendation regarding Alliance’s shares of common stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about its competitors, the price of Alliance’s shares of common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover Alliance were to cease coverage of Alliance or fail to

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regularly publish reports on it, Alliance could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause its share price or trading volume to decline.

Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on Alliance’s common stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell Alliance’s common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

Alliance may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and has no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends as a public company in the future will be made at the discretion of Alliance’s board of directors and will depend on, among other things, Alliance’s results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that Alliance’s board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, Alliance’s ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness it or its subsidiaries incur. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in the Class A common stock unless you sell your shares of common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

Anti-takeover provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of Alliance, which may be beneficial to its stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by its stockholders to replace or remove Alliance’s then current management.

The Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that may delay or prevent an acquisition of Alliance or a change in its management. These provisions may make it more difficult for stockholders to replace or remove members of the board of directors. Because the board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of the management team, these provisions could in turn frustrate or prevent any attempt by the stockholders to replace or remove current management. In addition, these provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of Class A common stock. Among other things, these provisions include:

Moreover, because Alliance is incorporated in Delaware, it is governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns 15% or more of its outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with Alliance for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired 15% or more of Alliance’s outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. This could discourage, delay or prevent a third party from acquiring or merging with Alliance, whether or not it is desired by, or beneficial to, its stockholders. This could also have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for Alliance’s common stock, including transactions that may be in its stockholders’ best interests. Finally, these provisions establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings. These provisions would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders. For more information, see the section titled “Description of Securities — Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and the Existing Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws.”

The Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will, subject to certain exceptions, be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel, which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders.

The Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in the name of Alliance, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any officer, director or other employee of Alliance or Alliance’s shareholders, any action asserting a claim against Alliance, its directors, officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or the Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws and certain other

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actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit or make more costly a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the Certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm Alliance’s business, operating results and financial condition.

The Certificate of Incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, The Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless Alliance consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. There is, however, the uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

A possible “short squeeze” due to a sudden increase in demand of our Class A common stock that largely exceeds supply may lead to price volatility in our Class A common stock.

Investors may purchase our Class A common stock to hedge existing exposure in our Class A common stock or to speculate on the price of our Class A common stock. Speculation on the price of our Class A common stock may involve long and short exposures. To the extent aggregate short exposure exceeds the number of shares of our Class A common stock available for purchase in the open market, investors with short exposure may have to pay a premium to repurchase our common stock for delivery to lenders of our Class A common stock. Those repurchases may in turn, dramatically increase the price of our Class A common stock until investors with short exposure are able to purchase additional Class A common stock to cover their short position. This is often referred to as a “short squeeze.” A short squeeze could lead to volatile price movements in our common stock that are not directly correlated to the performance or prospects of our Class A common stock and once investors purchase the shares of Class A common stock necessary to cover their short position the price of our Class A common stock may decline.

We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred shares under the 2023 Plan, which would dilute the interest of our stockholders.

Pursuant to the Certificate of Incorporation, our authorized capital stock consists of 490,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, 60,000,000 shares of Class E common stock and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock. As of the date of this prospectus, we have 50,937,370 shares of Class A common Stock and 60,000,000 shares of Class E common stock outstanding and no shares of preferred stock outstanding. We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock under the 2023 Plan. Pursuant to our 2023 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan, Alliance may issue an aggregate of up to 151,000 additional shares of Class A common stock, which amount may be subject to increase from time to time. For additional information about this plan, please read the discussion under the heading “Alliance’s Executive Compensation — Employee Benefit Plans.” Additionally, as of the date of this prospectus, hawse have Warrants outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 9,920,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share and additional warrants to purchase 50,090 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $3.75 per share. The shares of contingent Class E common stock are automatically convertible into shares of Class A common stock in three equal tranches when the price of the Class A common stock reaches $20, $30, and $50 per share, and under a variety of conditions within five, seven and ten years from the date of the Business Combination. We may also issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future in connection with, among other things, future acquisitions or repayment of outstanding indebtedness, without stockholder approval, in a number of circumstances.

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The issuance of additional common stock or preferred shares:

Management will have broad discretion over the use of the proceeds from this offering and may not use the proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion with respect to the use of proceeds of this offering, including for any of the purposes described in the section of this prospectus supplement titled “Use of Proceeds.” You will have limited information concerning our management’s specific intentions regarding the use of the proceeds of this offering and be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds of this offering. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of our existing cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and the net proceeds from this offering, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. The results and effectiveness of the use of proceeds are uncertain, and we could spend the proceeds in ways that you do not agree with or that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing securities. These investments may not yield a favorable return to our shareholders. Our failure to apply these funds effectively could harm our business, delay the development of our pipeline product candidates and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

If you purchase shares of our common stock sold in this offering, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

Since the price per share of our common stock being offered is higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, you will suffer immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. Based on a public offering price of $8.00 per share of our common stock, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, if you purchase shares of common stock in this offering, you will suffer immediate dilution of $8.19 per share with respect to the net tangible book value of common stock. See “Dilution” for a more detailed discussion of the dilution you will incur if you purchase shares of common stock in this offering.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from our issuance and sale of shares of our Class A common stock in this offering will be approximately $ 8.6 million (or approximately $10.0 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full), based upon an assumed public offering price of $8.00 per share and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us.

We currently expect to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes

While we currently have no agreements or commitments to complete any such transaction at this time, we may use a portion of the net proceeds for these purposes.

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed public offering price of $8.00 per share would increase or decrease the net proceeds from this offering by approximately $1.15 million, assuming that the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase or decrease of 100,000 in the number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us would increase or decrease our net proceeds by approximately $0.74 million, assuming the assumed public offering price remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Changing circumstances may cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate. Our management will retain broad discretion over the use of the proceeds from this offering. We may ultimately use the proceeds for different purposes than what we currently intend. Pending any ultimate use of any portion of the proceeds from this offering, if the anticipated proceeds will not be sufficient to fund all the proposed purposes, our management will determine the order of priority for using the proceeds, as well as the amount and sources of other funds needed.

Pending our use of the net proceeds from this offering, we may invest the net proceeds in a variety of capital preservation investments, including short-term, investment grade, interest bearing instruments and U.S. government securities.

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MARKET INFORMATION FOR SECURITIES AND DIVIDEND POLICY

Market Information

Our Class A common stock and warrants are quoted on the NASDAQ under the symbol “AENT” and “AENTW,” respectively.

Holders

Although there are a larger number of beneficial owners, at June 30, 2023, there were 47 holders of record of our Class A common stock and 39 holders of record of our warrants.

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on the Class A common stock to date. We may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment, and we have no current plans to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of the Board and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that we may deem relevant. We do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of the Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Further, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by the terms of financing or other agreements entered by us or our subsidiaries from time to time.

Description of Registrant’s Securities

A description of our capital stock is in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table shows our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of March 31, 2024:

You should read the data set forth in the table below in conjunction with “Use of Proceeds,” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, as well as our unaudited financial statements and the accompanying notes and the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023, which is included in this prospectus supplement.

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Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $ 8.00 per share, would increase (decrease) our as adjusted cash, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity (deficit) and total capitalization by approximately $1.15 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase (decrease) of 100,000 shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us would increase (decrease) our as adjusted cash, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by approximately $0.74 million, assuming the public offering price remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only and will be adjusted based on the actual public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

The total above excludes:

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be immediately diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) as of March 31, 2024 was $(18.3) million, or $(0.36) per share of our Class A common stock. Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities. Historical net tangible book value (deficit) per share represents historical net tangible book value divided by the 50,937,370 shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2024.

After giving effect to our (i) issuance and sale of 1,250,000 shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, based upon the assumed initial public offering price of $8.00 per share, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, totaling approximately $8.6 million of net proceeds; our as adjusted net tangible book value as of March 31, 2024, would have been $(9.7 million), or $(0.19) per share of Class A common stock. This amount represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of $ 0.17 per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of $8.00 per share to new investors purchasing shares of Class A common stock in this offering. We determine dilution by subtracting the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the amount of cash that a new investor paid for a share of Class A common stock. The following table illustrates this dilution:

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Each $ 1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $8.00 per share, would increase (decrease) the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by approximately $0.02 per share and the dilution to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by approximately $0.02 per share, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase of 100,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.02 and the dilution to new investors participating in this offering would decrease by approximately ($0.02), assuming no change in the assumed public offering price and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A decrease of 100,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would (decrease) the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by approximately ($0.02) and the dilution to new investors participating in this offering would increase by $0.02, assuming no change in the assumed public offering price and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock in full, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after the offering would be $(0.16) per share, the increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to existing stockholders would be $(0.20) per share and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value to new investors would be $8.16 per share.

Except as otherwise indicated, the discussion and the tables above assume no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of our common stock and excludes:

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The objective for the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” is to provide information the Company’s management team believes is necessary to achieve an understanding of its financial condition and the results of business operations with particular emphasis on the Company’s future and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements, and footnotes.

This analysis contains forward-looking statements concerning the Company’s performance expectations and estimates. Other than statements with historical context, commentary should be considered forward- looking and carries with it risks and uncertainties.

Alliance is a leading global wholesaler and a key player in the entertainment industry, boasts a diverse portfolio of owned brands, including Critics’ Choice, Collectors’ Choice, Movies Unlimited, DeepDiscount, popmarket, blowitoutahere, Fulfillment Express, Importcds, GamerCandy, WowHD, and others. As a leading global wholesaler, direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) distributor, and e-commerce provider, Alliance operates as the vital link between renowned international manufacturers of entertainment content, such as Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers Home Video, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Microsoft, Nintendo, Take Two, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and others.

This pivotal role extends to connecting these manufacturers with top-tier retail partners both domestically and internationally. Notable partners encompass giants like Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Wayfair, Costco, Dell, Verizon, Kohl’s, Target, Shopify, and others.

Employing an established multi-channel strategy, Alliance distributes physical media, entertainment products, hardware, and accessories across various platforms. Currently, the company sells its products, permitted for export, to more than 70 countries worldwide.

Alliance provides state-of-the art warehousing and distribution technologies, operating systems and services that seamlessly enable entertainment product transactions to better serve customers directly or through our distribution affiliates. These technology-led platforms with access to the Company’s in stock inventory of over 325,000 SKU products, consisting of vinyl records, video games, compact discs, DVD, Blu-Rays, toys, and collectibles, combined with Alliance’s sales and distribution network, create a modern entertainment physical product marketplace that provides the discerning customer with enhanced options on efficient consumer-friendly platforms inventory. Alliance is the retailers’ back office for in-store and e-commerce solutions. All electronic data interchange (“EDI”) and logistics are operational and ready for existing retail channels to add new products.

Merger and Business Acquisition

Alliance has a proven history of successfully acquiring and integrating competitors and complementary businesses. The Company will continue to evaluate opportunities to identify targets that meet strategic and economic criteria.

On July 1, 2022, Alliance purchased the assets and liabilities of Think3Fold, LLC, a collectibles distribution company. This acquisition resulted in increased shelf space at our largest customer and expanded our product offerings.

On February 10, 2023, Alliance, Adara and Merger Sub consummated the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, a business combination of Legacy Alliance and Adara was effected by the merger of Merger Sub with and into Alliance (the “Merger”), with Alliance surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adara. Following the consummation of the Merger on the closing of the Business Combination, Adara changed its name from Adara Acquisition Corp. to Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation.

While the legal acquirer in the Business Combination Agreement was Adara, for financial accounting and reporting purposes under U.S. GAAP, Legacy Alliance was the accounting acquirer, and the Merger was accounted for as a “reverse recapitalization.” A reverse recapitalization (i.e., a capital transaction involving the exchange of stock by Adara for Legacy Alliance’s stock) does not result in a new basis of accounting, and the consolidated financial statements of the combined entity represent the continuation of the consolidated financial statements of Legacy Alliance in many respects. Accordingly, the consolidated assets, liabilities, and results of operations of Legacy Alliance became the historical consolidated financial statements of the combined company, and Adara’s assets, liabilities and results of operations were consolidated with Legacy Alliance beginning on the acquisition date. Operations prior to the Business Combination are presented as those of Legacy Alliance. The net assets of Adara were recognized at historical cost (which was consistent with carrying value), with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded.

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Upon consummation of the Business Combination, the most significant change in Legacy Alliance’s future reported financial position and results of operations was a decrease in net Equity of $787,000 as compared to Legacy Alliance’s consolidated balance sheet.

As a result of the Business Combination, Alliance Entertainment became the successor to an SEC-registered company, which required us to hire additional personnel and implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices. We are incurring additional annual expenses as a public company for, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees and additional internal and external accounting, legal and administrative resources, including increased audit and legal fees.

Macroeconomic Uncertainties

Unfavorable conditions in the economy in the United States and abroad may negatively affect the growth of our business and have affected our results of operations. For example, macroeconomic events, including rising inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates, recent bank failures, two wars and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to economic uncertainty globally. The effect of macroeconomic conditions may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. If, however, economic uncertainty increases or the global economy worsens, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

Key Performance Indicators

Management monitors and analyzes key performance indicators to evaluate financial performance, including:

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Results of Operations Three Months Ended March 31, 2024, Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

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Net Revenue: Year-over-year, net revenue decreased from $228 million to $211 million (-$17 million, -7%) for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Along with other retailers and distributors in the United States, we are not immune to the macroeconomic headwinds caused by high interest rates and consumer discretion prompted by reduced buying power. Alliance Entertainment stands out as a value-added retail distributor with our exclusive distribution rights for approximately 160 studios and labels in the film and music industry. This extensive portfolio of unique content enables us to cater to bulk B2B and direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses with a vast selection of products unavailable through other distributors. Our unique DTC suite of distribution and inventory solutions for the e-commerce retail industry, including our consumer direct subsidiary DirectToU LLC, enabled over 33% of our gross sales revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024, versus approximately 33% for the same period prior year.

Year-over-year, gaming sales decreased from $55 million to $43 million (-$12 million, -22%) for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The average selling price of gaming products increased 40% which was offset by a decrease in volume as we focus on profitable growth. As gaming suppliers attempt to transition to subscription-based models, we are experiencing increased sales of gaming hardware and accessories including retro arcade games. We continue to monitor gaming market trends to ensure we have the right product mix to meet market demand and maximize profitability.

Vinyl record sales increased from $75 million to $78 million ($3 million, 4%) for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The average selling price of Vinyl was up 10% and partially offset by decreased volume resulting in net revenue improvement versus the prior year. Music Compact Discs (CDs) sales declined marginally from $25.6 million to $25.4 million ($.2 million, 1%) due to a lack of prominent new releases versus prior year. The average selling price of CDs increased by 9%, however, the decline in volume offset the gains resulting in a marginal decline in revenue year-over-year. Physical movie sales, which include DVDs, Blu-Ray, and Ultra HD, increased from $33 million to $42 million ($9 million, 27%) versus the same period last year. The average selling price of physical film products significantly increased year over year and partially offset by a decline in volume. Digital sales of our exclusive content increased approximately 75% over the same period prior year. The consistent flow of new theatrical releases, combined with 4K and collectable SteelBook content, continues to drive home video sales. We expect the trend of higher price points to continue as brick & mortar retailers cater to the consumer preference for omnichannel shopping experiences and curated content versus inexpensive, mass market product offerings. Alliance Entertainment’s ability to offer retailers in-store and on-line channels a deep, extensive library of both music and movies helps provide them the products for a cohesive shopping experience based on personal preference and engagement with their respective brands.

Consumer products revenue decreased from $19 million to $9 million (-$10 million, or -53%) versus the prior year. The average selling price has increased by more than 60% versus the prior year period as the toys & collectibles industry normalizes in the post-pandemic era. And while volume declined for the three months ended March 31, 2024, margins improved significantly as we rationalized our inventory and procure market driven collectables and accessories.

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Cost of Revenues: Total cost of revenues, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased from $200 million to $183 million (-$17 million or -9%) the prior year period primarily due to the direct relation of product costs to sales volume. However, gross margin dollars increased the prior year period as product margins improved from 12.0% to 13.3% primarily due to less overstock inventory resulting in significantly less consumer incentives to stimulate demand.

Operating Expenses: Total operating expenses decreased from $34.7 million to $28.8 million (-5.9 million, -17%) and decreased as a percentage of net revenue over the same period prior year from 15.3% to 13.6% (-1.7% points). Total distribution and fulfillment expense declined 25% and decreased from 6.6% to 5.3% (-1.3% points) as a percentage of net revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024, versus the same period prior year. Fulfillment payroll was $7.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, and $9.5 million (-$2.1 million, -22%) for the same period of the prior year. Low unemployment rates, combined with competition for temporary labor, increased the average cost per labor hour approximately 4% versus the prior year. To address the scarcity of labor resources, we have invested in warehouse automation and will continue to use temporary labor forces to manage changes in demand. Since we believe that for the foreseeable future, there will be upward pressure on labor availability and costs, we continue to innovate our warehouse processes to reduce fulfilment costs. Total selling, administrative, and general costs decreased by $0.8 million or 6% compared to the same period last year due primarily due to the reduction in workforce last Spring to right size the back-office support for the business.

Interest Expense: For the three months ended March 31, 2024, interest expense decreased from $3.2 million to $3.1 million (-$0.1 million, -3%) versus the same period of the prior year. While our effective interest rate increased from 6.9% to 10.0% (3.1 points), the financial impact was tempered by a significant decline of the average revolver balance from $150 million to $94 million (-$56 million, -37%) year over year.

Income Tax: For the three months ended March 31, 2024, an income tax benefit of $0.5 million was recorded compared to a $2.9 million benefit for the same period in the prior year. Alliance reported a pretax loss of $3.9 million and pretax loss of $10.6 million for the three-months ended March 31, 2024, and 2023, respectively. The expected annual effective tax rate for twelve months ended June 30, 2024, is 50%, including two discrete one-time tax adjustments for out of period goodwill adjustment and the distribution of Restricted Stock Units. Without these adjustments, the annual effective tax rate would have been 28%.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures: For the three months ended March 31, 2024, we had non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.9 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA of approximately -$2.4 million prior year or a year-over-year improvement of $5.3 million. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net gain or loss adjusted to exclude: (i) income tax expense; (ii) other income (loss); (iii) interest expense; and (iv) depreciation and amortization expense and (v) fair value of Warrants and other non- recurring expenses. Our method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from other issuers and accordingly, this measure may not be comparable to measures used by other issuers. We use Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our own operating performance and as an integral part of our planning process. We present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure because we believe such a measure is useful to investors as a reasonable indicator of operating performance. We believe this measure is a financial metric used by many investors to compare companies. This measure is not a recognized measure of financial performance under GAAP in the United States and should not be considered as a substitute for operating earnings (losses), net earnings (loss) from continuing operations or cash flows from operating activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. See the table below for a reconciliation, for the periods presented, of our GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA.

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Results of Operations Nine Months Ended March 31, 2024, Compared to Nine Months Ended March 31, 2023

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Net Revenues: Net revenues decreased from $912 million to $864 million (-$47 million, -5%) for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 over the prior year period. Along with other retailers and distributors in the United States, we are not immune to the macroeconomic headwinds caused by high interest rates and consumer discretion prompted by reduced buying power. Alliance Entertainment stands out as a value-added retail distributor thanks to our exclusive distribution rights for approximately 160 studios and labels in the film and music industry. This extensive portfolio of unique content enables us to cater to bulk B2B and DTC businesses with a vast selection of products unavailable through other distributors. Our unique DTC suite of distribution and inventory solutions for the e-commerce retail industry, including our consumer direct subsidiary DirectToU LLC, enabled approximately 40% of our gross sales revenue for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, versus 34% for the same period prior year.

Gaming sales decreased from $333 million to $287 million (-$46 million, -14%) for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 over the prior year period. The average selling price of gaming products nearly doubled and offset by a decrease in volume as we transitioned to higher dollar margin products including hardware and retro arcade games. Gaming hardware sales were up significantly as suppliers capitalized on gaming social trends and subscription-based models.

Vinyl record sales remained consistent at $242 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, compared to the prior year period. The average selling price of vinyl was up 6% and partially offset by volume versus the prior year period. Music compact discs (CDs) increased from $91 million to $97 million ($6 million, 7%). The continued popularity of K-Pop helped us realize a 12% increase in the average selling price of CDs, however, the decline in volume offset some of the gains but resulted in a year-over-year revenue improvement. Physical movie sales, which include DVDs, Blu-Ray, and Ultra HD, increased from $147 million to $159 million ($12 million, 8%) versus the same period last year. The average selling price of physical film products increased 18% year-over-year and partially offset by the decline in volume. Digital sales of our exclusive content more than doubled compared to the same period last year. The consistent flow of new theatrical releases continues to drive home video sales, combined with 4K and more recently SteelBook collectables, drove the average selling price higher. We expect the trend of higher price points to continue as brick & mortar retailers cater to the consumer preference for omnichannel shopping experiences and curated content versus inexpensive, mass market product offerings. Alliance Entertainment’s ability to offer retailers in-store and on-line channels a deep, extensive library of both music and movies helps provide them the products for a cohesive shopping experience based on personal preference and engagement with their respective brands.

Consumer products revenue decreased from $65 million to $35 million (-$30 million, or -46%) for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, versus the same period prior year. The average selling price has increased by 27% versus the same period prior year as the toys & collectibles industry normalizes in the post-pandemic era. And while volume declined for the period, margins more than doubled as we rationalized our inventory and procure market driven collectables and accessories.

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Cost of Revenues: Total cost of revenues, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased from $838 million to $762 million (-$76 million or -9%) compared to the prior year period primarily due to the direct relation of product costs to sales volume. However, gross margin dollars increased year over year as product margins improved from 8.1% to 11.8% primarily due to less overstock inventory resulting in significantly less consumer incentives to stimulate demand.

Operating Expenses: Total operating expenses decreased from $107 million to $88 million (-$19 million, 18%) and decreased as a percentage of net revenue over the same period prior year from 11.7% to 10.2%. There was a $2.1 million transaction expense for a non-cash out of period transaction, without which total operating costs as a percentage of net revenue would have decreased to 10.0%. This adjustment is directly related to the purchase accounting of a recent acquisition by the company. Had this adjustment been recognized within the designated measurement period, it would have led to an increase in the goodwill of the Company. Total distribution and fulfillment expense declined 24% and decreased from 5.5% to 4.4% as a percentage of net revenue for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, versus the same period prior year. Fulfillment payroll was $24 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, and $32 million (-$8 million, 25%) for the same period of the prior year. Low unemployment rates and competition for temporary labor increased the average cost per labor hour by approximately 3% versus the same period prior year. To address the scarcity of labor resources, we have invested in warehouse automation and will continue to use temporary labor forces to manage changes in demand. Since we believe that there will be upward pressure on labor availability and costs for the foreseeable future, we will continue to innovate our warehouse processes to reduce fulfillment costs. Total selling, administrative, and general costs decreased by $1.0 million or 2% compared to the same period last year primarily due to the reduction in the workforce. Selling, administrative, and general costs also include a one-time expense of $1.4 million for restricted stock awards. IC DISC Commissions were $0 for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, versus $2.8 million for the same period of the prior year. The IC DISC was discontinued as of December 31, 2022, and no additional expenses were incurred.

Interest Expense: For the nine months ended March 31, 2024, interest expense increased from $9.1 million to $9.5 million ($0.4 million, 4%) versus the same period of the prior year. The primary driver was an increase of our effective interest rate from 5.5% to 8.8% and offset by a reduction of the average revolver balance from $167 million to $114 million (-$53 million, -32%) for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 versus the nine months ended March 31, 2023.

Income Tax: For the nine months ended March 31, 2024, an income tax expense of $2.0 million was recorded compared to a benefit of $11.4 million for the same period in the prior year. Alliance reported a pretax income of $4.1 million and a pretax loss of $42.2 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2024, and 2023, respectively. The expected annual effective tax rate for twelve months ending June 30, 2024, is 50%, including two discrete one-time tax adjustments for out of period goodwill adjustment and the distribution of Restricted Stock Units. Without these adjustments, the annual effective tax rate would have been 28%.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures: For the nine months ended March 31, 2024, we had non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $22.2 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA of approximately -$21.0 million for the prior year or a year-over-year improvement of $43.2 million. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net gain or loss adjusted to exclude: (i) income tax expense; (ii) other income (loss); (iii) interest expense; and (iv) depreciation and amortization expense and (v) fair value of Warrants and other non- recurring expenses. Our method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from other issuers and accordingly, this measure may not be comparable to measures used by other issuers. We use Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our own operating performance and as an integral part of our planning process. We present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure because we believe such a measure is useful to investors as a reasonable indicator of operating performance. We believe this measure is a financial metric used by many investors to compare companies. This measure is not a recognized measure of financial performance under GAAP in the United States and should not be considered as a substitute for operating earnings (losses), net earnings (loss) from continuing operations or cash flows from operating activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. See the table below for a reconciliation, for the periods presented, of our GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA.

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Results of Operations Year Ended June 30, 2023, Compared to Year Ended June 30, 2022

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Net Revenue: Year-over-year, total Net Revenues decreased from $1,417 million to $1,159 million (-$259 million or -18%) for the year ended June 30, 2023. Along with other Retailers and Distributors in the United States, we are not immune to the macroeconomic headwinds caused by increased inflation and interest rates. Our business to business (“B2B”) customer base, which are primarily retailers, are reacting relatively conservatively with their inventory positions due to economic uncertainty and those retailers have their own inventory supply chain challenges. Our DTC channels are facing constant competition and it’s important for our merchants to keep investing while keeping a tight rein on inventories. Our B2B wholesale customer base revenue was down almost 20% over the previous year due to their relatively rigorous inventory management. However, as economic conditions stabilized, our B2B revenues improved to -8% year over year in the fourth fiscal quarter of the year ended June 30, 2023. For the year ended June 30, 2023, our DTC omni-channel sales decreased 11%, our DirectToU division outperformed B2B with sales up 7% year over year.

Year-over-year, for the year ended June 30, 2023, vinyl sales decreased 2% to $324 million. Gaming products revenue decreased 30% to $391 million; however, the decline in demand for physical gaming products presents an opportunity as we expect to benefit from industry consolidation. Combined, for the year ended June 30, 2023, gaming and vinyl revenue totaled $715 million and 62% of our revenue mix compared to $887 million and 63% of total revenue in the prior year. While we captured an increase in the average selling price in Gaming, it was not enough to offset the negative impact of decreased volume. For the year ended June 30, 2023, the

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average selling price of Vinyl was flat and volume was down marginally; however, for the trailing three months, both price and volume improved year over year. Consumer Products, including revenue from our July 1, 2022, acquisition of Think3Fold, increased from $58 million to $80 million ($22 million, 37%) versus the prior year. We benefited from an increase in both the average selling price and volume. As the popularity of collectibles grows, an increasing number of musicians, celebrities, sport organizations, and content providers are expanding their portfolio of merchandise as a way to connect with their audiences. The average selling price of music Compact Disc’s (CD’s) was essentially flat, and a decrease in volume resulted in a 16% year-over-year revenue decline. We expect this trend for CDs to continue due to the popularity and growth of on-line streaming services. Similarly, physical movie sales declined 28% year over year as the average price increase was not enough to offset the reduction of volume.

Cost of Revenues: Total cost of revenues, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased from $1,235 million to $1,055 million ($180 million or 15%) year over year primarily due to the direct relation of product costs to sales volume. Gross Margin dollars declined as a result of lower sales and a lower overall product margin of 9.0% compared to 12.9% in the prior year. The gross margin decline of approximately 4% points for the year ended June 30, 2023, over the same period prior year, was primarily due to an inventory adjustment to address the exorbitant landed cost experienced during supply chain disruptions related to Covid and reduced supplier MDF. The Company recorded an inventory write-down of $7.1 million to reduce its gaming arcades to their estimated net realizable value. In addition, excessive transportation costs of $15.3 million, arcade markdowns of $12.2 million, and additional reserves for consumer products inventory of $3.7 million were recorded. The postponement of some theatrical releases delayed MDF in the form of Price Protection. Price Protection is the mechanism used by vendors to stimulate sales when demand slows to reduce the return of product. Also, since gaming products are largely non-returnable, the supply chain does not have an established practice and cadence for mark downs like the movie and music industries. As such, gaming products typically require the distributor to bear the risk of slow-moving inventory which may increase the cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales. The change in MDF in future periods is dependent on consumer demand for gaming products and the volume and success of new movie and music releases. In addition, higher freight costs negatively impacted the cost of sales due to general rate hikes and incremental fuel surcharges.

Operating Expenses: Total operating expenses as a percentage of net revenue increased year-over-year from 9.9% to 11.8%. Total distribution and fulfillment expense, as a percentage of net revenue, increased from 4.5% to 5.4% for the year ended June 30, 2023, versus the same period prior year. Fulfillment payroll was $40.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2023, and $46.5 million for the same period of the prior year. Despite low unemployment rates, the average cost per labor hour is down 3% versus the prior year as we increased our throughput rate and reduced our use of overtime. To address the scarcity of labor resources, we are investing in additional warehouse automation and will continue to use temporary labor forces to manage changes in demand. We believe that for the foreseeable future, there will continue to be upward pressure on labor costs and availability; however, our investment in warehouse automation began to show significant improvements in the fourth fiscal quarter of the year ended June 30, 2023. The primary factor for the increased Fulfillment expenses is storage fees, which amounted to $4.6 million for the year ended June 30, 2023. The annual storage expenses will decline as the incremental inventory occupying this space is sold. Total Selling, Administrative, and General costs increased by $0.6 million or 1% versus the same period last year; however, non-customer impact staffing reductions were made in fourth fiscal quarter to reduce costs and position the company for the future. For the year ended June 30, 2023, vs same period prior year, Consolidated Depreciation and Amortization expense decreased from $8.3 million to $6.6 million ($1.6 million or -20%) due to fully depreciated assets and the declining balance method of intangible asset amortization. Transaction Costs for the year ended June 30, 2023, were $5.0 million for expenses related to the Think3Fold acquisition and the merger with Adara. These expenses were required for legal, financial advisory and other professional fees associated with the acquisition and execution of the business combination agreement. Year over year, the IC DISC Commissions decreased from $9.9 million to $2.8 million due to reduced eligible sales and elimination of the IC DISC. The owners of the IC-DISC forgave the commission expense for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022, which was recorded as a capital contribution by our shareholders.

Interest Expense: For the year ended June 30, 2023, Interest Expense increased from $4.1 million to $11.7 million ($7.6 million or 189%) versus the prior year. The primary driver for the increase was a higher average revolver balance of $156 million and an increase of 3.7% points of effective interest rate to 6.0%.

Income Tax: For the year ended June 30, 2023, an income tax benefit of $9.1 million was recorded compared to an expense of $9.4 million for the same period in the prior year. Alliance reported a pretax loss of $(44.5) million and pretax net income of $38.0 million for the years ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively. The annual effective tax rate (“ETR”) for the year ended June 30, 2023, was -21%. Provision for income taxes, effective tax rate and statutory federal income tax rate for the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 were as follows:

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Non-GAAP Financial Measures: For the year ended June 30, 2023, we had non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $(17.6) million compared with Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $60.0 million prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended June 30, 2023, includes excessive transportation costs of $15.3 million, arcade markdowns of $12.2 million, incremental arcade storage fees of $4.6 million and additional reserves for consumer products inventory of $3.7 million. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net gain or loss adjusted to exclude: (i) income tax expense; (ii) other income (loss); (iii) interest expense; and (iv) depreciation and amortization expense and (v) other infrequent, non- recurring expenses. Our method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from other issuers and accordingly, this measure may not be comparable to measures used by other issuers. We use Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our own operating performance and as an integral part of our planning process. We present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure because we believe such a measure is useful to investors as a reasonable indicator of operating performance. We believe this measure is a financial metric used by many investors to compare companies. This measure is not a recognized measure of financial performance under GAAP in the United States and should not be considered as a substitute for operating earnings (losses), net earnings (loss) from continuing operations or cash flows from operating activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. See the table below for a reconciliation, for the periods presented, of our GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA.

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LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Liquidity: On December 21, 2023, Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation entered into a Revolving Credit Facility, which is a three-year $120 million senior secured asset-based credit facility with White Oak Commercial Finance, LLC. The Revolving Credit Facility replaces the Company’s revolver with Bank of America (the “Prior Credit Facility”). The Prior Credit Facility was scheduled to expire on December 31, 2023.

The Company has implemented certain strategic initiatives to reduce expenses and focus on the sale of higher margin products. As a result of the new credit facility, combined with these initiatives and the Company’s financial performance for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024, the Company has concluded that it has sufficient cash to fund its operations and obligations (from its cash on hand, operations, working capital and availability on the credit facility) for at least twelve months from the issuance of these consolidated financial statements.

Our primary sources of liquidity are cash and cash equivalents, cash provided by operating activities, and borrowings under our credit facility. As of March 31, 2024, in addition to the $1.6 million of cash, we carried a $81 million revolver balance on our $120 million credit facility under the Loan and Security Agreement with White Oak Commercial Finance, LLC. Since June 30, 2023, our available collateral decreased from $135 million to $115 million ($20 million, 15%); however, our availability increased from $2 million to $34 million, an increase of $32 million, as we converted accounts receivable and inventory to cash which was used to reduce debt. Combined with a lower loan ceiling of $120 million versus $175 million, we have reduced debt service costs.

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Our liquidity position has not changed significantly since the Business Combination, and we intend to principally rely on our borrowing capacity under the Revolving Credit Facility as well as any renewal of such facility. Although the Company does not currently intend to do so, following this offering, the Company may seek to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities.

The receipt of cash proceeds from the exercise of our Warrants is dependent upon the market price exceeding the $11.50 exercise price and the Warrants being exercised for cash. Since the exercise price of the Warrants of $11.50 per share is significantly greater than the current market price of the Class A common stock, we do not expect the Warrants to be exercised until such time, if ever, that the market price of the Class A common stock exceeds the exercise price of the Warrants. If the price of our Class A common stock remains below the respective Warrant exercise prices per share, we believe warrant holders will be unlikely to cash exercise their Warrants, resulting in little or no cash proceeds to us.

In addition, we may lower the exercise price of the Warrants in accordance with the Warrant Agreement to induce the holders to exercise such Warrants. We may effect such reduction in exercise price without the consent of such warrant holders and such reduction would decrease the maximum amount of cash proceeds we would receive upon the exercise in full of the Warrants for cash. Further, the holders of the Private Warrants and the Underwriter Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time and the holders of the Public Warrants may exercise such Warrants on a cashless basis at any time an effective registration statement is not available for the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon such exercise. Accordingly, we would not receive any proceeds from a cashless exercise of Warrants.

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Cash Flow: The following table summarizes net cash provided by or used in operating activities, investing activities and financing activities for the periods indicated and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023.