UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): May 20, 2022

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (832) 402-1051

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company x

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 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

On May 20, 2022, Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) received a deficiency letter (the “Nasdaq Letter”) from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”), notifying the Company that it is not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1), which requires the Company to maintain a minimum of $2,500,000 in stockholders’ equity for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Stockholders’ Equity Requirement”), nor is it in compliance with either of the alternative listing standards, market value of listed securities of at least $35 million or net income of $500,000 from continuing operations in the most recently completed fiscal year, or in two of the three most recently completed fiscal years. The Company’s failure to comply with the Stockholders’ Equity Requirement was based on the Company’s filing of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, reporting the stockholders’ equity of $1,797,864.

Pursuant to the Nasdaq Letter, the Company has 45 calendar days from the date of the Nasdaq Letter to submit a plan to regain compliance and the Company intends to submit such a plan during this period. If it accepts the plan, Nasdaq can grant an extension of up to 180 calendar days from the date of the Nasdaq Letter to evidence compliance. In the event the plan is not accepted by the Nasdaq staff, or in the event the plan is accepted and the 180-day extension period granted but the Company fails to regain compliance within such plan period, the Company would have the right to a hearing before an independent panel. The hearing request would stay any suspension or delisting action pending the conclusion of the hearing process and the expiration of any additional extension period granted by the panel following the hearing.

The Company intends to take all reasonable measures available to regain compliance under the Nasdaq Listing Rules and remain listed on Nasdaq. However, there can be no assurance that Nasdaq will grant the Company’s request for an extension or that the Company will ultimately regain compliance with all applicable requirements for continued listing.

Neither the Nasdaq Letter nor the Company’s noncompliance have an immediate effect on the listing or trading of the Company’s Class A common stock or common stock purchase warrants, which will continue to trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “DRCT” and “DRCTW,” respectively.

Forward Looking Statements

This Current Report on Form 8-K may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and which are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties. As used below, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Direct Digital. We use words such as “could,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “expect,” “likely,” “believe,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “prospect,” “project” and other similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but not all forward-looking statements include these words. All statements contained in this Current Report on Form 8-K that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements. All of our forward-looking statements involve estimates and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of our industry experience and our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, many factors could affect our actual operating and financial performance and cause our performance to differ materially from the performance expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our dependence on the overall demand for advertising, which could be influenced by economic downturns; any slow-down or unanticipated development in the market for programmatic advertising campaigns; the effects of health epidemics, such as the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic; operational and performance issues with our platform, whether real or perceived, including a failure to respond to technological changes or to upgrade our technology systems; any significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential and/or personal information we hold, or of the security of our or our customers’, suppliers’ or other partners’ computer systems; any unavailability or non-performance of the non-proprietary technology, software, products and services that we use; unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry, particularly concerns regarding data privacy and security relating to our industry’s technology and practices, and any perceived failure to comply with laws and industry self-regulation; restrictions on the use of third-party “cookies,” mobile device IDs or other tracking technologies, which could diminish our platform’s effectiveness; any inability to compete in our intensely competitive market; any significant fluctuations caused by our high customer concentration; our limited operating history, which could result in our past results not being indicative of future operating performance; any violation of legal and regulatory requirements or any misconduct by our employees, subcontractors, agents or business partners; any strain on our resources, diversion of our management’s attention or impact on our ability to attract and retain qualified board members as a result of being a public company; our dependence, as a holding company, on receiving distributions from Direct Digital Holdings, LLC to pay our taxes, expenses and dividends; and other factors and assumptions discussed in the “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” and other sections of our filings with the SEC that we make from time to time. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of these assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual operating and financial performance may vary in material respects from the performance projected in or implied by these forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this Current Report on Form 8-K to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances, and we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.