ADT · Read the filing

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

In addition to risks and uncertainties in the ordinary course of business that are common to all businesses, important factors that are specific to our industry and the Company could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. You should carefully consider the risks described below and in our subsequent periodic filings with the SEC. The following risk factors should be read in conjunction with Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes in this Annual Report.

Risks Related to Our Products and Services

Our growth is dependent upon our ability to keep pace with rapid technological and industry changes through a combination of partnerships with third parties, internal development, and acquisitions, in order to obtain and maintain new technologies for our products and service introductions that achieve market acceptance with acceptable margins.

Our business operates in markets that are characterized by rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, potential new entrants, and changes in customer needs and expectations. Accordingly, our future success depends in part on our ability to accomplish the following: identify emerging technological trends in our target end-markets; develop, acquire, and maintain competitive products and services that capitalize on existing and emerging trends; enhance our existing products and services by adding innovative features on a timely and cost-effective basis that differentiates us from our competitors; incorporate popular third-party interactive products and services into our product and service offerings; sufficiently capture and protect intellectual property rights in new inventions and other innovations; and develop or acquire and bring products and services, including enhancements, to market quickly and cost-effectively. Our ability to develop, alone or with third parties, or to acquire new products and services that are technologically innovative requires the investment of significant resources and can affect our competitive position. In addition, the dynamic nature of these changes requires that throughout 2023 and in future years we simultaneously engage in significant technology developmental efforts across our operations, including platform development, sales, marketing, customer care, customer self-service, virtual service, billing, and other substantive and administrative functions. While upgrading and implementing change to any one of our systems could present challenges, the age of our systems and architecture may present unique challenges that we have not previously encountered as we undertake these developmental efforts simultaneously across our operations. These acquisition and development efforts divert resources from other potential investments in our businesses, and they may not lead to the development of new commercially successful technologies, products, or services on a timely basis.

For example, in July 2020, we entered into the Google Commercial Agreement, pursuant to which Google has agreed to supply us with certain Google Devices and Services for sale to our customers. We have agreed, with certain exceptions, to exclusively provide or sell Google Devices and Services to our customers, although Google can sell the same or similar devices to our competitors who may more successfully commercialize products or services that are competitive to ours, thereby materially harming our business. Given this exclusivity arrangement with Google, if Google fails to perform or to provide Google Devices and Services that continually meet the demands of our customers, or fails to provide continued innovation and investment in their relevant product businesses, or if we fail to provide or sell the Google Devices and Services that Google provides, or if we fail to develop products and services with Google that our customers find desirable, all in a timely manner, or if Google were to begin offering security products or services competitive to our own, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be materially, adversely impacted. In addition, subject to customary termination rights related to breach and change of control, the Google Commercial Agreement has an initial term of seven years from the date that the Google Devices and Services are successfully integrated into our end-user security and automation platform. Product introductions and the timing of such integration are focused on customer experience and mutually agreed upon.

In November 2020, we announced the ongoing development of our ADT-owned next-generation professional security and automation technology platform. Our comprehensive interactive platform is expected to provide customers with a seamless experience across security, life safety, automation, and analytics through a common application that integrates the user experience, the customer service experience, and back-end support. We may not achieve a successful platform build in a timely manner, within budget, or in a manner that enables the commercialization of products and services that meet the continually evolving demands of our customers, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. As we begin to commercialize products based upon our interactive platform, we have adjusted our processes for reviewing and securing intellectual property rights. Nevertheless, we may become the target of additional lawsuits alleging that we have infringed the patents or technology of third parties. Regardless of the merits of these lawsuits and our steps taken to mitigate infringement risk, any allegations could cause us to incur significant costs to defend and resolve, and could harm our business and reputation, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In September 2022, we entered into a strategic relationship with State Farm with the goal of expanding our customer base by developing integrated solutions for State Farm’s customers. As part of the strategic relationship, in October 2022, we entered into the State Farm Development Agreement, pursuant to which State Farm committed up to $300 million to fund product and technology innovation, customer growth, and marketing initiatives with us. Subject to the terms of the State Farm Development Agreement, we have agreed not to enter into any development, marketing, distribution or other arrangement with certain competitors of State Farm and to refrain from developing, marketing, distributing, or making available to certain competitors of State Farm any products or services developed in connection with the State Farm Development Agreement. If we fail to successfully develop products and services that are utilized by State Farm’s customer base pursuant to the State Farm Development Agreement, we may not achieve or realize the anticipated financial, strategic and other benefits of the strategic relationship with State Farm, and our growth prospects and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. Subject to termination rights related to breach and change of control, the State Farm Development Agreement has an initial term of three years from October 13, 2022.

Any new or enhanced products and services that we develop pursuant to existing or new agreements with third parties may not satisfy customer preferences, and potential product failures may cause customers to reject our products and services. As a result, these products and services may not achieve market acceptance, and our brand image could suffer. In addition, our competitors may introduce superior products or business strategies, impairing our brand and the desirability of our products and services, which may cause customers to defer or forego purchases of our products and services, and impact our ability to charge monthly service fees. If our competitors implement new technologies before we are able to implement them, those competitors may be able to provide more effective products than ours, possibly at lower prices, and experience higher adoption rates and popularity. Any delay or failure in the introduction of new or enhanced solutions could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, the markets for our products and services may not develop or grow as we anticipate. The failure of our technology, products, or services to gain market acceptance, the potential for product defects, or the obsolescence of our products and services could significantly reduce our revenue, increase our operating costs, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We sell our products and services in highly competitive markets, including the home security and automation markets, the commercial fire and security markets, and the solar market, which may result in pressure on our profit margins and limit our ability to maintain or increase the market share of our products and services.

We experience significant competitive pressure in both the do-it-for-me (“DIFM”) and DIY spaces. The monitored security industry is highly fragmented and subject to significant competition and pricing pressures. We experience significant competitive pricing pressures in the DIFM space on installation, monitoring, and service fees. Several competitors offer comparable or lower installation and monitoring fees, and others may charge significantly more for installation, but in many cases, less for monitoring. In addition, in connection with our continued rollout of Google Nest products, and as our pricing model becomes more transparent to consumers and we offer more optionality with tiered pricing and pricing disaggregation as compared to our current pricing model, our competitors may be better able to underprice us in the marketplace and our customers and potential customers may determine they can achieve a lower cost solution or higher value with an alternative provider. Changes in the transparency of our pricing may also result in new customers selecting lower cost solutions than they otherwise would have and our existing customers switching to our lower cost solutions or demanding that we lower the cost of their existing solutions, which could impact our revenue and profitability. We also face competition in the DIY space from companies such as SimpliSafe, Apple HomeKit, and Amazon Ring, which enable customers to self-monitor and control their environments without third-party involvement through the Internet, text messages, emails, or similar communications. Some DIY providers may also offer professional monitoring with the purchase of their systems and equipment without a contractual commitment, or offer new IoT devices and services with automated features and capabilities, which may be appealing to customers and put us at a competitive disadvantage. In addition, certain DIY providers have a significantly broader customer base and product offering than us, allowing them to cross-sell interactive and security solutions that are competitive with our offerings to customers who are loyal to the competitor’s brand. Continuing shifts in customer preferences toward DIY systems could increase our attrition rates over time and the risk of accelerated amortization of customer contracts resulting from a declining customer base.

In addition, cable, telecommunications, and large technology companies have expanded into the home automation and monitored security industry and are bundling their existing offerings with interactive and monitored security services, often at lower monthly monitoring rates. These companies: (i) may have existing access to and relationships with customers, as well as highly recognized brands, which may drive increased awareness of their security/automation offerings relative to ours; (ii) may have access to greater capital and resources than us; and (iii) may spend significantly more on advertising, marketing, and promotional resources, as well as the acquisition of other companies with home automation solution offerings, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to drive awareness and demand for our products and services. We may also face competition for direct sales from our independent, third-party authorized dealers, who may offer installation for considerably less than we do in particular markets.

Additionally, one or more of our competitors either in the DIFM or DIY space could develop a significant technological advantage over us, allowing them to provide additional or better-quality service or to lower prices, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage. Continued pricing pressure, technology improvements, competitor brand loyalty, and continuing shifts in customer preferences toward self-monitoring and DIY could adversely impact our customer base, revenue, and/or pricing structure and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Furthermore, the new smart home standard Matter launched in 2022, with new Matter-compatible products already available in market. The project group was launched and introduced by Amazon, Apple, Google, Comcast, and others, with about 280 members currently in the working group, including ADT. The goal of the standard is to make all smart home devices interoperable. That means if you buy a product that includes the Matter logo, you can use it with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, or any other ecosystem that meets the standard. While this development is expected to benefit both consumers and smart home providers, it also presents increased risks for smart home companies, like ADT. Specifically, as smart home devices become interoperable with multiple platforms, the cost for consumers to switch providers and smart home platforms could decline significantly, making it more difficult for ADT to retain existing subscribers.

We also face competition in the commercial fire and security markets, including competition from large, global industrial companies, which may be positioned to offer products and services at lower cost than us or which may benefit from pre-existing or highly localized relationships and knowledge. Our ability to compete in the commercial fire and security business is also dependent on our ability to acquire and resell third-party products and services demanded by commercial customers, some of which we may not be able to provide. If we fail to build relationships with commercial customers or obtain the rights to resell third-party products and services required by commercial customers, our profitability, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

The solar energy industry is an emerging and constantly evolving market opportunity. The market has numerous competitors that could make it difficult for us to attract customers at prices we believe are appropriate, which could result in lower revenue and cash flow from operating activities. Rising interest rates may make it difficult to pass along the price to consumers and may impact sales or margin negatively. In addition, tax incentive regulations may shift consumer preference to financing options we do not undertake, such as third party owned solar arrangements in which the solar provider can claim the tax incentives. Supply chain issues related to both equipment and labor, as well as tariffs and trade barriers, export regulations, and other governmental restrictions on equipment, could disrupt our ability to install. We currently operate in a limited number of markets across multiple states, and we may not have the ability to successfully launch our business in additional states where competitors have or will establish their own operations. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully compete against larger or more established competitors. If the markets for solar energy do not develop to the size or at the rate we expect, or if we fail to compete effectively in this market, it may adversely impact our ability to meet our growth and revenue plans, which may adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We believe the solar energy industry will still take several years to fully develop and mature, and we cannot be certain that the market will grow to the size or at the rate we expect. Any future growth of the solar energy industry and the success of our solar offerings depend on many factors beyond our control, including recognition and acceptance of the solar market by consumers, the pricing of alternative sources of energy, a favorable regulatory environment, the continuation of expected tax benefits and other incentives, secure supply chain, and our ability to provide our solar offerings cost-effectively, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We face competition from traditional energy companies as well as solar and other renewable energy companies.

The solar energy industry is highly competitive and continually evolving as participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete with large utilities. We believe that our primary competitors are the established utilities that supply energy to homeowners by traditional means. We compete with these utilities primarily based on price, predictability of price, and the ease by which homeowners can switch to electricity generated by our solar offerings. If we cannot offer compelling value to customers based on these factors, then our solar business and revenue will not grow. Utilities generally have substantially greater financial, technical, operational and other resources than we do. As a result of their greater size, utilities may be able to devote more resources to the research, development, promotion and sale of their products or respond more quickly to evolving industry standards and changes in market conditions than we can. Furthermore, these competitors are able to devote substantially more resources and funding to regulatory and lobbying efforts.

Utilities could also offer other value-added products or services that could help them compete with us even if the cost of electricity they offer is higher than ours. In addition, a majority of utilities’ sources of electricity are non-solar, which may allow utilities to sell electricity more cheaply than we can. Moreover, regulated utilities are increasingly seeking approval to “rate-base” their own residential solar and storage businesses. Rate-basing means that utilities would receive guaranteed rates of return for their solar and storage businesses. This is already commonplace for utility scale solar projects and commercial solar projects. Our competitiveness would be significantly harmed should more utilities receive regulatory permission to rate-base

residential solar or storage because we do not receive guaranteed profits for our solar service offerings. Utilities also control the process by which our solar customers connect to the grid. These sometimes lengthy processes can involve inspections that are scheduled at the utility’s discretion and slow interconnection application processing times that can delay customers’ systems from becoming operational. In some cases, customers who have financed the purchase of their solar system may have to begin making their monthly loan payments before their system becomes operational due to these delays, which may lead to customer dissatisfaction. This dependency on utilities for interconnection may negatively impact our sales or increase our costs.

We also face competition from other residential solar service providers. Some of these competitors have a higher degree of brand name recognition, differing business and pricing strategies, offer products and services that we do not, may be able to better capitalize on tax credits or other incentive programs, may have greater capital resources than we have, as well as extensive knowledge of our target markets. If we are unable to establish or maintain a consumer brand that resonates with customers, maintain high customer satisfaction, or compete with the pricing and products offered by our competitors, our sales and market share position may be adversely affected, as our growth is dependent on originating new customers. We also face competitive pressure from companies that may offer lower-priced consumer offerings than we do, and from companies who have solar offerings that we do not, such as solar leases and power purchase agreements.

In addition, we compete with companies that are not regulated like traditional utilities but that have access to the traditional utility electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure. These energy service companies are able to offer customers electricity supply-only solutions that are competitive with the net cost of electricity produced by the solar systems we sell. This may limit our ability to attract customers, particularly those who wish to avoid long-term loans or large up-front cash payments or have an aesthetic or other objection to putting solar panels on their roofs.

Furthermore, we face competition from purely finance-driven non-integrated competitors that subcontract out the installation of solar energy systems, from installation-only businesses, from large construction companies and from electrical and roofing companies. In addition, local installers that might otherwise be viewed as potential solar partners may gain market share by being able to be the first providers in new local markets.

As the solar industry grows and evolves, we expect to continue to face existing competitors as well as new competitors who are not currently in the market (including those resulting from the consolidation of existing competitors) that achieve significant developments in alternative technologies or new products such as storage solutions, loan products, or other programs related to third-party ownership. Our failure to adapt to changing market conditions, to compete successfully with existing or new competitors, and to adopt new or enhanced technologies could limit our growth and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

If the insurance industry changes its practice of providing incentives to homeowners for the use of alarm monitoring services, we may experience a reduction in new customer growth or an increase in our customer attrition rate.

It has been common practice in the insurance industry to provide a reduction in rates for policies written on homes that have monitored security systems. This practice benefits our business. There can be no assurance that insurance companies will continue to offer these rate reductions.

In addition, as a result of our strategic relationship with State Farm, other insurance companies may favor our competitors or otherwise modify their practices. If these incentives are reduced or eliminated, new homeowners who otherwise might not feel the need for monitored security services would have to be acquired through our standard sales and marketing processes, which could be at a higher cost of acquisition, and existing customers may choose to disconnect or not renew their service contracts, which could increase our attrition rates. In each case, our growth prospects and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

The retirement of older telecommunications technology by telecommunications providers and limitations on our customers’ options of telecommunications services and equipment could materially adversely affect our business, increase customer attrition, and require significant capital expenditures.

Certain elements of our operating model have historically relied on our customers’ continued selection and use of traditional copper wireline telecommunications service to transmit alarm signals to our monitoring centers. There is a growing trend for customers to switch to the exclusive use of cellular or IP-based technology in their homes and businesses, as telecommunication providers discontinue their copper wireline services in favor of IP-based technology. Many of our customers’ security systems rely on technology that is not operable with newer cellular or IP-based networks, and as such, will not transmit alarm signals on these networks. The discontinuation of copper landline services, older cellular technologies, and other services by telecommunications providers, as well as the switch by customers to the exclusive use of cellular or IP-based technology, may require system upgrades to alternative, and potentially more expensive, alarm systems to function and transmit alarm signals properly. This could increase our customer revenue attrition, as was the case when we sought to migrate certain customers off of the earlier 2G networks, and slow new customer generation.

In February 2022, a major provider of 3G cellular networks began to retire this network and a major provider of Code-Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) began to do so in December 2022. Of our customers impacted by these retirements, we transitioned, or provided our customers with the means to transition, all but a relatively small number of customer accounts. None of these remaining customers have responded to our multiple requests to upgrade their systems and therefore we could not transition them prior to the relevant transition dates. A failure to effectively transition these customers away from retired networks will result in a loss of signal to the systems and certain services we provide, which may impact our ability to bill and collect for services provided. Implementation of additional service charges in connection with these transitions may cause customers to view such charges unfavorably, which could increase our customer attrition. We cannot know the full impact of network retirement on our customers and therefore on our business until sometime after all such retirements have occurred.

If we are unable to upgrade cellular equipment at customer sites to meet new network standards or to respond to other changes carriers are making or may make to their networks in a timely and cost-effective manner, whether due to an insufficient supply of electronic components or parts, an insufficient skilled labor force, or due to any other reason, or if we are sued by one or more customers due to our inability to provide certain services, or due to any loss incurred while we are not able to provide certain services, or due to any continuous billing for services after a prior or future transition date, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, could be materially adversely affected. We have also recently become aware that one or more telecom carriers are beginning the process to retire their time-division multiplexing (“TDM”) nodes that service toll-free numbers, which could require us to further upgrade certain of our customer equipment. We do not currently know the timing or impact of such actions.

In November 2017, as part of the FCC’s efforts to facilitate the transition from traditional copper-based wireline networks to IP-based fiber broadband networks, the FCC repealed its rules requiring telecommunications carriers to provide direct advanced public notice to consumers of the retirement of copper-based wireline networks. Many of our customers rely solely on copper-based telephone networks to transmit alarm signals from their premises to our monitoring stations. Since some customer alarm systems are not compatible with IP-based communication paths, we will be required to upgrade or install new technologies, which may include the need to subsidize the replacement of the customers’ outdated systems at our expense. The carrier’s ability to retire copper-based wireline networks without advanced notice could lead to customer confusion and impede our ability to timely transfer customers to new network technologies. Any technology upgrades or implementations could require significant capital expenditures, may increase our attrition rates, and may also divert management and other resource attention away from customer service and sales efforts for new customers. In the future, we may not be able to successfully implement new technologies or adapt existing technologies to changing market demands. If we are unable to adapt in a timely manner to changing technologies, market conditions or customer preferences, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, we use broadband Internet access service to support our product offerings, such as video monitoring and surveillance, and as a communications option for alarm monitoring and other services. Video monitoring and surveillance services use significantly more bandwidth than non-video Internet activity. As utilization rates and penetration of these services increase, the need for increased network capacity might necessitate incurring additional capital or operational expenditures to avoid service disruptions as well as ensure a seamless video experience for our customers, which could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Police and fire departments could refuse to respond to calls from monitored security service companies.

Police departments in certain jurisdictions do not respond to calls from monitored security service companies unless certain conditions are met, such as video or other verification or eyewitness accounts of suspicious activities, either as a matter of policy or by local ordinance. We offer video verification or the option to receive a response from private guard companies in certain jurisdictions, which increases the cost of some security systems and may increase the cost to customers. If more police and fire departments refuse to respond or are prohibited from responding to calls from monitored security service companies unless certain conditions, such as those mentioned above, are met, our ability to attract and retain customers could be negatively impacted, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Our reputation as a service provider of high-quality security offerings may be materially adversely affected by product defects or shortfalls in customer service.

Our business depends on our reputation and ability to maintain good relationships with our customers, dealers, suppliers, and local regulators, among others. Our reputation may be harmed either through product defects, such as the failure of one or more of our customers’ alarm systems, or shortfalls in customer service. Customers generally judge our performance through their interactions with staff at our monitoring and customer care centers, dealers, and field installation and service technicians, as well as their day-to-day interactions with our products and mobile applications. Any failure to meet customers’ expectations in such customer service areas could cause an increase in attrition rates or make it difficult to obtain new customers. Any harm to our reputation or customer relationships caused by the actions of our dealers, personnel, or third-party product or service providers or any other factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In addition, we have attempted to control the operating costs of certain of our customer care operations through the use of lower cost labor in certain foreign countries that may be subject to relatively higher degrees of political and social instability and may lack the infrastructure to withstand political unrest or natural disasters. The occurrence of natural disasters, pandemics, political or economic instability, or other activities in such countries could result in the sudden and continued closure of operations that in turn could cause our failure to maintain our existing level and quality of customer care. The practice of utilizing labor based in foreign countries has come under increased scrutiny in the United States. Governmental authorities could seek to limit or penalize our operations, and our customers may not value the services provided by such operations. In addition, we are subject to applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations, such as The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, that prohibit certain types of payments and which could expose us to significant penalties, fines, settlements, costs and consent orders that may curtail or restrict our business. Any such outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Unauthorized use of our brand names by third parties, and the expenses incurred in developing and preserving the value of our brand names, may materially adversely affect our business.

Our brand names are critical to our success. Unauthorized use of our brand names by third parties may materially adversely affect our business and reputation, including the perceived quality and reliability of our products and services. We rely on trademark law, company brand name protection policies, and agreements with our employees, customers, business partners, and others to protect the value of our brand names. Despite our precautions, we cannot provide assurance that those procedures are sufficiently effective to protect against unauthorized third-party use of our brand names. In particular, in recent years, various third parties have used our brand names to engage in fraudulent activities, including unauthorized telemarketing conducted in our names to induce our existing customers to switch to competing monitoring service providers, lead generation activities for competitors, and obtaining personally identifiable or personal financial information. Third parties sometimes use our names and trademarks, or other confusingly similar variations thereof, in other contexts that may impact our brands. We may not be successful in detecting, investigating, preventing, or prosecuting all unauthorized third-party use of our brand names. Future litigation with respect to such unauthorized use could also result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources. These factors could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Third parties hold rights to certain of our key brand names outside of the U.S.

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to use trademarks to capitalize on our brands’ name-recognition and to further develop our brands in the U.S, as well as in other international markets should we choose to expand and continue to grow our business outside of the U.S. in the future. Not all of the trademarks that are used by our brands have been registered in all of the countries in which we may do business in the future, and some trademarks may never be registered in any or all of these countries. Rights in trademarks are generally territorial in nature and are obtained on a country-by-country basis by the first person to obtain protection through use or registration in that country in connection with specified products and services. Some countries’ laws do not protect unregistered trademarks at all, or make them more difficult to enforce, and third parties may have filed for “ADT,” “PROTECTION ONE,” or similar marks in countries where we have not registered these brands as trademarks. Accordingly, we may not be able to adequately protect our brands everywhere in the world and use of such brands may result in liability for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, or unfair competition.

In particular, certain trademarks associated with the ADT brand, including “ADT” and the blue octagon, are owned in all territories outside of the U.S. and Canada by Johnson Controls, which acquired and merged with and into Tyco. In certain instances, such trademarks are licensed in certain territories outside the U.S. and Canada by Johnson Controls to third parties. Pursuant to a trademark agreement entered into between The ADT Corporation and Tyco (the “Tyco Trademark Agreement”) in connection with the separation of The ADT Corporation from Tyco in 2012, which endures in perpetuity, we are prohibited from ever registering, attempting to register or using such trademarks outside the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and Canada, and we may not challenge Tyco’s rights in such trademarks outside the U.S. and Canada. Additionally,

under the Tyco Trademark Agreement, we and Tyco each has the right to propose new secondary source indicators (e.g., “Pulse”) to become designated source indicators of such party. To qualify as a designated source indicator, certain specified criteria must be met, including that the indicator has not been used as a material indicator by the non-proposing party or its affiliates over the previous seven years. If we are unable to object to Tyco’s proposal for a new designated source indicator by successfully asserting that the new indicator did not meet the requisite criteria, we would subsequently be precluded from using, registering, or attempting to register such indicator in any jurisdiction, including the U.S. and Canada, whether alone or in connection with an ADT brand. Any dilution, infringement, or customer confusion with respect to our brand or use of trade names, or the inability to use such names as we expand our existing and create new strategic relationships, could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In addition, in November 2019, we sold all of our shares of ADT Canada to TELUS and, among other things, entered into a non-competition and non-solicitation agreement with TELUS pursuant to which we agreed not to directly or indirectly engage in a business competitive with ADT Canada, subject to limited exceptions for cross-border commercial customers and mobile safety applications, for a period of seven years. In connection with our sale of ADT Canada, we also entered into a patent and trademark license agreement with TELUS granting them (i) the use of our patents in Canada for a period of seven years and (ii) the exclusive rights to use our trademarks in Canada for a period of five years followed by non-exclusive use of our trademarks for an additional two years. Any violation by TELUS of our agreements with them, or their misuse of our intellectual property or behavior by TELUS in a manner that incorrectly reflects poorly on us because of TELUS’s use of our intellectual property could damage our brand and reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Our Operations

We rely on a significant number of our customers remaining with us as customers for long periods of time.

New customers require an upfront investment, and we generally achieve revenue break-even in less than two and a half years. Accordingly, our long-term profitability is dependent on long customer tenure. This requires that we minimize our rate of customer disconnects, or attrition, which can increase as a result of factors such as customer relocations, problems experienced with our product or service quality, customer service, customer non-pay, unfavorable general economic conditions, and the preference for lower pricing of competitors’ products and services over ours. If attrition rates were to rise significantly, we may be required to accelerate the depreciation and amortization expense for, or to impair, certain of our assets, including with respect to subscriber and customer relationships, which would cause a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we fail to keep our customers for a sufficiently long period of time, or our attrition rates increase, our profitability, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Delays, costs, and disruptions that result from upgrading, integrating, and maintaining the security of our information and technology networks and systems could materially adversely affect us.

We are dependent on information technology networks and systems, including Internet and Internet-based or “cloud” computing services, to collect, process, transmit, and store electronic information. We have completed a significant number of acquisitions of companies that operate different technology platforms and systems. We are currently implementing modifications and upgrades to our information technology systems and also integrating systems from our various acquisitions, including making changes to legacy systems, replacing legacy systems with successor systems with new functionality, and implementing new systems. The dynamic nature of these and other changes we are undertaking require that throughout 2023 and in future years we simultaneously engage in significant technology developmental efforts across our operations, including platform development, sales, marketing, customer care, customer self-service, virtual service, billing, and other substantive and administrative functions. While upgrading and implementing change to any one of our systems could present challenges, the age of our systems and architecture may present unique challenges that we have not previously encountered as we undertake these developmental efforts simultaneously across our operations. Any delay in making such changes or replacements or in purchasing new systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. There are inherent costs and risks associated with integrating, replacing and changing these systems and implementing new systems, including potential disruption of our sales, operations and customer service functions, potential disruption of our internal control structure, substantial capital expenditures, additional administration and operating expenses, retention of sufficiently skilled personnel to integrate, implement and operate the new systems, demands on management time, securing our systems along with dependent processes from cybersecurity threats, and other risks and costs of delays or difficulties in transitioning to new systems or of integrating new systems into our current systems. In addition, our information technology system implementations may not result in productivity improvements at a level that outweighs the costs of implementation, or at all. The implementation of or delay in implementing new information technology systems may also cause disruptions in our business operations, and impede our ability to comply with constantly evolving laws, regulations and industry

standards addressing information and technology networks, privacy and data security, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Due to the ever-changing threat landscape, our products may be subject to potential vulnerabilities of wireless and IoT devices; our services may be subject to certain risks, including hacking or other unauthorized access to control or view systems and obtain private information; and our normal operations may be disrupted.

Companies that collect and retain sensitive and confidential information as we do are under increasing attack by cybercriminals and other actors around the world. Attacks may come from phishing, malware, ransomware, or other methods. While we implement security measures within our products, services, operations, and other actors’ systems, those measures may not prevent: cybersecurity breaches; the unauthorized access, capture, or alteration of information; the exposure or exploitation of potential security vulnerabilities; distributed denial of service attacks; the installation of malware or ransomware; acts of vandalism; computer viruses; or misplaced data or data loss that could materially adversely impact our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. We are the target of a number of these forms of attack each year. If one of these attacks is successful, it may result in significant financial costs for us, lead to a loss of business, or harm our reputation and our business relationships. Third parties, including our partners and vendors, could also be a source of security risk to us, or cause disruptions to our normal operations, in the event of a failure of their own products, components, networks, security systems, and infrastructure. For example, in 2021, one of our vendors, the Ultimate Kronos Group (“Kronos”), which is a workforce management and human capital management cloud provider, experienced a ransomware attack that resulted in Kronos temporarily decommissioning the functionality of certain of its cloud software, requiring us to find alternative methods to properly pay our employees and to monitor the status of the work in progress of certain of our projects in a timely manner. In addition, some of the products we sell and provide services for are categorized as IoT and may become targets for cybercriminals and other actors attempting an attack. The significant increase in the number of our employees working from home further exposes us to security risks. We cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography, or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology protecting the networks that access our products and services.

A significant actual or perceived (whether or not valid) theft, loss, fraudulent use or misuse of customer, employee, or other personally identifiable data, whether by us, our partners and vendors, or other third parties, or as a result of employee error or malfeasance or otherwise, non-compliance with applicable industry standards or our contractual or other legal obligations regarding such data, or a violation of our privacy and information security policies with respect to such data, could result in costs, fines, litigation, or regulatory actions against us. Such an event could additionally result in unfavorable publicity and therefore materially and adversely affect the market’s perception of the security and reliability of our products and services and our credibility and reputation with our customers, which may lead to customer dissatisfaction and could result in lost sales and increased customer revenue attrition.

In addition, we depend on our information technology infrastructure for business-to-business and business-to-consumer electronic commerce. Security breaches of, or sustained attacks against, this infrastructure could create system disruptions and shutdowns that could negatively impact our operations. Increasingly, our products and services are accessed through the Internet, and security breaches in connection with the delivery of our services via the Internet may affect us and could be detrimental to our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. There can be no assurance that our continued investments in new and emerging technology and other solutions to protect our network and information systems will prevent any of the risks described herein. In addition, any delay in making such investments due to conflicting budget priorities or otherwise could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. There can be no assurance that our insurance will be sufficient to protect against all of our losses from any future disruptions or breaches of our systems or other events as described herein.

We depend on third-party providers and suppliers for components of our security, automation and solar systems, third-party software licenses for our products and services, and third-party providers to transmit signals to our monitoring facilities and provide other services to our customers. Any failure or interruption in products or services provided by these third parties could harm our ability to operate our business.

The components for the security, automation and solar systems that we install are manufactured by third parties. We are therefore susceptible to interruptions in supply and to the receipt of components that do not meet our standards. Our suppliers may be susceptible to disruptions from fire, natural disasters, weather and the effects of climate change (such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm severity), health epidemics and pandemics, transmission interruptions, extended power outages, human or other error, malicious acts, terrorism, war, sabotage, government actions, or other concerns impacting their local workforce or operations, all of which are beyond our and their control. Any financial or other difficulties our providers face may have negative effects on our business.

We exercise limited control over our suppliers, which increases our vulnerability to problems with the products and services they provide or to their choice of which companies they will allow to sell their products. There also has been a recent worldwide shortage of electronic components, causing lead times for such components’ manufacture and delivery to increase, and existing commitments by certain manufacturers to be extended and, in certain cases, allocations to be made. While a single cause of the shortages has not been identified, it is believed that among other reasons, there has been a surge in demand for such components and major growth in certain sectors which rely on such components, and these trends may continue and increase. Certain of our key suppliers have seen this impact their ability to obtain certain components which could present challenges to our ability to obtain the inventory necessary to meet the demands of our new and existing customers, and to complete crucial initiatives such as the upgrading of cellular equipment at customer sites to meet new network standards. We are also subject to supply chain disruption should we learn that any of our suppliers is in violation of legislation which bans the import of goods based on their method of production, such as through the use of forced labor or otherwise. Our efforts to minimize the risk of a disruption from a single supplier may not be effective, and we have experienced some disruptions in our supply chain during each of 2021 and 2022. Any continued or more significant interruption in supply could cause significant delays in installations and repairs and the loss of current and potential customers. Although some specific shortages may be resolved, they may recur. From time to time, we may also experience product recalls and other unplanned product repairs or replacements with customers. In 2022, for example, we experienced such product service events, none of which were material, although there can be no assurance that any such future product service events will not be more extensive or more costly, material to us, and/or require the outlay of cash while we pursue cost recovery from manufacturers and suppliers, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in pursuing recoveries from those third parties. If a previously installed component were found to be defective, we might not be able to recover the costs associated with its repair or replacement across our installed customer base, and these costs, or the diversion of technical personnel to address the defect could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In the event of a product recall or litigation against our suppliers or us, we could experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

ADT Solar purchases solar panels and other components from a limited number of suppliers, making it susceptible to quality issues, shortages, and price changes. If we fail to develop, maintain, and expand our relationships with these or other suppliers, we may be unable to adequately meet anticipated demand for solar energy systems, or may only be able to offer systems at higher costs or after delays. If one or more of our suppliers ceases or reduces production, we may be unable to quickly identify alternate suppliers or to qualify alternative products on commercially reasonable terms. For example, in February 2022, our primary supplier of solar panels announced that it was exiting the solar module business. Any failure to find replacement providers in a timely manner when we lose a supplier, experience a reduction in the quality of a supplier, or experience a price increase, could, among other things, result in our inability to complete existing installations in a timely manner, accept new engagements, achieve margins that are acceptable to us and consistent with past performance, and maintain our reputation as a provider of high quality solar solutions. There have also been periods of industry-wide shortages of key components, including solar panels, in times of rapid industry growth. The manufacturing infrastructure for some of these components has a long lead time, requires significant capital investment, and relies on the continued availability of key commodity materials, potentially resulting in an inability to meet demand for these components. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows may be harmed not only as a result of any increases in costs associated with our solar offerings but also any failure of these costs to decline. If we do not reduce our cost structure in the future, our ability to continue to be profitable may be impaired. Declining costs related to raw materials, manufacturing and the sale and installation of our solar service offerings have been a key driver in the pricing of our solar service offerings and, more broadly, customer adoption of solar energy. While historically the prices of solar panels and raw materials have declined, the cost of solar panels and raw materials could increase in the future, and such products’ availability could decrease, due to a variety of factors, including restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic or any re-emergence thereof, tariffs and trade barriers, export regulations, regulatory or contractual limitations, industry market requirements, and changes in technology and industry standards. Any decline in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar compared to the functional currency of component suppliers could increase component prices. In addition, the U.S. government has imposed tariffs on solar cells manufactured in China. Any of these shortages, necessity to find alternative suppliers, delays, or price changes could limit growth, cause cancellations, or adversely affect profitability, and result in loss of market share and damage to our brand, materially adversely affecting our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We rely on third-party software for key automation features in certain of our offerings and on the interoperation of that software with our own, such as our mobile applications and related platform. We could experience service disruptions if customer usage patterns for such offerings exceed, or are otherwise outside of, design parameters for the system and the ability for us or our third-party provider to make corrections. Such interruptions in the provision of services could result in our inability to meet customer demand, damage our reputation and customer relationships, and materially and adversely affect our business. We also rely on certain software technology that we license from third parties and use in our products and services to perform key functions and provide critical functionality. For example, we license the software platform for our monitoring operations from third parties. Because a number of our products and services incorporate technology developed and maintained by third parties, we are, to a certain extent, dependent upon such third parties’ ability to update, maintain, or enhance their current products and

services; to ensure that their products are free of defects or security vulnerabilities; to develop new products and services on a timely and cost-effective basis; and to respond to emerging industry standards, customer preferences, and other technological changes. Further, these third-party technology licenses may not always be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If our agreements with third-party vendors are not renewed or the third-party software becomes obsolete, is incompatible with future versions of our products or services, or otherwise fails to address our needs, we cannot provide assurance that we would be able to replace the functionality provided by the third-party software with technology from alternative providers. Furthermore, even if we obtain licenses to alternative software products or services that provide the functionality we need, we may be required to replace hardware installed at our monitoring centers, work from home environments, and at our customers’ sites, including security system control panels and peripherals, in order to execute our integration of or migration to alternative software products. Any of these factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We also rely on various third-party telecommunications providers and signal processing centers to transmit and communicate signals to our monitoring facilities and work from home environments in a timely and consistent manner. These telecommunications providers and signal processing centers could deprioritize or fail to transmit or communicate these signals to the monitoring facilities and work from home environment for many reasons, including disruptions from fire, natural disasters, weather, and the effects of climate change (such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm severity), health epidemics or pandemics, transmission interruption, extended power outages, human or other error, malicious acts, provider preferences regarding the signals that get transmitted, government actions, war, terrorism, sabotage, or other conflicts, or as a result of disruptions to internal and external networks or third party transmission lines. The failure of one or more of these telecommunications providers or signal processing centers to transmit and communicate signals to our monitoring facilities and work from home environments in a timely manner could affect our ability to provide alarm monitoring, home automation, and interactive services to our customers. We also rely on third-party technology companies to provide automation and interactive services to our customers. These technology companies could fail to provide these services consistently, or at all, which could result in our inability to meet customer demand and damage our reputation. There can be no assurance that third-party telecommunications providers, signal processing centers, and other technology companies will continue to transmit and communicate signals to our monitoring facilities and work from home environments or provide home automation and interactive services to customers without disruption. Any such failure or disruption, particularly one of a prolonged duration, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

An event causing a disruption in the ability of our monitoring facilities or customer care resources, including work from home operations, to operate could materially adversely affect our business.

A disruption in our ability to provide security monitoring services or otherwise provide ongoing customer care to our customers could have a material adverse effect on our business. A disruption could occur for many reasons, including fire, natural disasters, weather, and the effects of climate change (such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm severity), health epidemics or pandemics, transmission interruption, extended power outages, human or other error, malicious acts, provider preferences regarding the signals that get transmitted, government actions, war, terrorism, sabotage, or other conflicts, or as a result of disruptions to internal and external networks or third party transmission lines. Monitoring and customer care could also be disrupted by information systems and network-related events or cybersecurity attacks, such as computer hacking, computer viruses, worms, or other malicious software, distributed denial of service attacks, malicious social engineering, or other destructive or disruptive activities that could also cause damage to our properties, equipment, and data. A failure of our redundant back-up procedures or a disruption affecting multiple monitoring facilities or work from home environments could disrupt our ability to provide security monitoring or customer care services to our customers. If we experience such disruptions, we may experience customer dissatisfaction and potential loss of confidence, and liabilities to customers or other third parties, each of which could harm our reputation and impact future revenues. We could also be subject to claims or litigation with respect to losses caused by such disruptions. Our insurance may not be sufficient to fully cover our losses or may not cover a particular event at all. Any such disruptions or outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has had and could continue to have a significant negative impact on our employees, our customers, our suppliers, and our ability to carry on our normal operations, including those operations now conducted in a work from home environment, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, that became a global pandemic in 2020, and subsequent variants, have contributed to consumer unease and decreased discretionary spending. We cannot predict the ultimate effects of the outbreak or any resurgence of COVID-19 or any resulting social, political, and economic conditions that result therefrom. Neither can we predict the effectiveness and distribution of vaccines nor the government response to the pandemic. We continue to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on all aspects of our business. This includes the health of our

employees, the protection of our customers, and our ability to continue to operate all aspects of our operations. Our employees are susceptible to COVID-19 in the ordinary course of their work, and we cannot be certain that additional employees will not contract COVID-19, be required to quarantine as a result of coming in contact with others who have the disease, or be unable to work in order to care for someone with the disease. Any such instances, could result in legal claims and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. The health and safety of our customers is also a top priority and we similarly take precautions to protect their health and well-being. The refusal of customers to allow us to enter their residences, premises, or businesses due to the fear of COVID-19 could have a material impact on our business, and the spreading of the disease between our customers and our employees could interrupt our operations, result in legal claims and damage our brand. Any such result could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We rely on monitoring centers and customer care centers as an integral part of our ongoing business operations and we have deployed hybrid and remote working options. The closure of any site or the widespread illness of the employees remaining in any such site could result in a material disruption to our business. Because the majority of employees who staff these operations currently conduct their jobs from home, our work from home environment could subject us to the failure of the communications networks serving our employees which we no longer control and who may not have sufficient back up capabilities. In addition, this work from home environment results in more home access points that are susceptible to cybersecurity attacks, such as computer hacking, computer viruses, worms or other malicious software or malicious activities. In addition, our monitoring centers are listed by UL and must meet certain requirements to maintain that listing. UL has adopted a temporary standard that enables our operators to work from home while remaining within the listing requirements and we must ensure that each such home environment continues to meet all such requirements as well as the UL permanent requirements, which have been established by UL. Our employees who work from home may also experience a decrease in the quality of job performance, whether immediate or over time. Any such impact with respect to our employees who are working from home could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We also have been negatively impacted by, and may in the future be negatively impacted by, travel restrictions or “shelter-in-place” mandates that impact the ability of our employees to reach our operations and to reach or be permitted access to our customer sites, changes in policies of emergency responders in certain jurisdictions who have declined to respond to certain verified or non-verified burglar alarm calls, restrictions on business operations, and the ability of our dealers and suppliers to operate in conditions resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic. We could also be subject to claims or litigation with respect to losses caused by such disruptions. Our insurance may not be sufficient to fully cover these losses, or any of the other losses we may have experienced or will experience as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In addition, the imposition of any mandatory vaccination or testing requirements that may become applicable to our employees should there be a resurgence of COVID-19 may result in employee attrition, including attrition of critically skilled labor, difficulty in obtaining services, parts, components and equipment from impacted suppliers, and increased costs. Any of these or other negative impacts on our employees, first responders, customers, operations, dealers, suppliers, or business generally, or any lack of insurance coverage for a related claim or loss, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our independent, third-party authorized dealers may not be able to mitigate certain risks such as information technology breaches, data security breaches, product liability, errors and omissions, and marketing compliance.

We generate a portion of our new customers through our authorized dealer network. We rely on independent, third-party authorized dealers to implement mitigation plans for certain risks they may experience, including, but not limited to, information technology breaches, data security breaches, product liability, errors and omissions, and marketing compliance. In addition, our dealers rely on other third parties to submit orders and transmit data and may themselves be subject to many of these same risks. If our authorized dealers, or the third parties on whom they rely, experience any of these risks, or fail to implement mitigation plans for their risks, or if such implemented mitigation plans are inadequate or fail, we may be susceptible to business, legal, or reputational risks associated with our authorized dealers on which we rely to generate customers. Any interruption or permanent disruption in the generation of customer accounts or services provided by our authorized dealers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We may pursue business opportunities that diverge from our current business model, or invest in new businesses, services, and technologies outside the traditional security and interactive services market, any of which may materially adversely affect our business results.

We have and will continue to pursue and invest in new business opportunities that diverge from our current business model and practices, including expanding our products or service offerings, investing in new and unproven technologies, adding customer acquisition channels, and forming new alliances with companies to market our services. We can provide no assurance that any such business opportunities or investments will prove to be successful. Among other negative effects, our pursuit of such business opportunities could cause our cost of investment in new customers to grow at a faster rate than our recurring revenue

and fees collected at the time of installation. In addition, any new business partner may not agree to the terms and conditions or limitations on liability that we typically impose upon third parties. Acquisitions in recent years have also significantly expanded our risk profile. For example, we have in the past acquired several companies that sell and service fire and integrated security systems to business customers, which significantly expanded our commercial fire and security capabilities, reach, and customer base. In addition, as we expand our products and services to larger commercial installations, we may have customers who experience large commercial losses that result in claims and lawsuits against us and result in damage to our brand and reputation. In addition, in December 2021 we acquired ADT Solar although our core business was not then extended to the residential solar market. In January 2022, we announced that together with Ford, we would be forming a new entity, Canopy, which represents our entry into the automotive space, and in September 2022, we announced a strategic relationship with State Farm and our intention to develop products and services to satisfy certain needs of State Farm’s property and casualty customers which represents a significant entry point into the insurance industry. We are also currently exploring the option of offering certain of our monitoring services under non-ADT brands to international markets outside of the U.S. Additionally, any new alliances or customer acquisition channels could require large investments of capital to develop such business, or have higher cost structures than our current arrangements, which could reduce operating margins and require more working capital. In the event that working capital requirements exceed operating cash flow, we could be required to draw on our revolving credit facility, or pursue other external financing, which may not be readily available. We may also experience capital loss on some or all of our investments, insufficient revenue from such investments to offset new liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments, distraction of management from current operations, and issues not identified during pre-investment planning and due diligence that could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such investments and incur unanticipated liabilities. In recent years, for example, we have recorded losses with respect to our acquisitions of ADT Solar and Cell Bounce. Any of these factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We continue to integrate our acquisitions, which may divert management’s attention from our ongoing operations. We may not achieve all of the anticipated benefits, synergies, or cost savings from our acquisitions.

Our acquisitions require the integration of many separate companies that have previously operated independently. The continued integration of operations, systems, products, and personnel from our acquisitions will continue to require the attention of our management and place demands on other internal resources if they are to be successful. The diversion of management’s attention, and any difficulties encountered in the transition and integration process, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, the overall continued integration of our acquired businesses may result in material unanticipated problems, expenses, liabilities, competitive responses, and loss of customer relationships. The difficulties of combining the operations of the companies may generally include, among others:

•difficulties in achieving anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities, and growth prospects from the combination;

•difficulties in the integration of operations and systems, and in replacing numerous systems, including those involving management information, purchasing, accounting and finance, sales, billing, employee benefits, payroll, data privacy, physical security, cyber security, and regulatory compliance, many of which may be dissimilar;

•conforming standards, controls, procedures, accounting and other policies, equipment ownership models, business cultures, and compensation structures;

•difficulties in establishing a control environment compliant with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “SOX Act”) across all companies;

•difficulties which may arise from matters not revealed or understood in the pre-acquisition diligence process such as external and internal threats and vulnerabilities in systems, websites or products and other cyber-related concerns, theft of data or other assets of the acquired company, legacy claims in tax, litigation or otherwise of the acquired company;

•difficulties in the assimilation of employees, including possible culture conflicts and different opinions on technical decisions and product roadmaps;

•difficulties in managing the expanded operations of a significantly larger and more complex company;

•challenges in gaining acceptance of the acquisition within the investment community;

•challenges in attracting and retaining key personnel and in establishing and maintaining an integrated human capital framework;

•challenges in ensuring the sales practices of acquired businesses conform to the regulatory environment within which we operate, including, among others, with respect to marketing and sales practices;

•coordinating a geographically dispersed organization; and

•challenges with ensuring that environmental, social and governance or corporate social responsibility policies of acquired companies are in compliance with ADT’s policies and practices.

In addition, we continue to integrate the financial reporting systems and processes of various companies we have acquired. Successfully implementing our business plan and complying with the SOX Act and other regulations requires us to be able to prepare timely and accurate consolidated financial statements. Any delay in this implementation of, or disruption in, the transition to new or enhanced systems, procedures, or controls, including internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures, may cause us to present restatements or cause our operations to suffer, and we may be unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective and to obtain an unqualified report on internal controls from our independent registered public accounting firm.

Any of these difficulties in combining operations could result in increased costs, decreases in the amount of expected revenues, and further diversion of management’s time and energy, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our customer generation strategies through third parties, including our authorized dealer and affinity marketing programs, and our use of celebrities and social media influencers, and the competitive market for customer accounts may expose us to risk and affect our future profitability.

An element of our business strategy is the generation of new customer accounts through third parties, including our authorized dealers, and future operating results depend in large part on our ability to continue to manage this business generation strategy effectively. We currently generate accounts through hundreds of independent third parties, including authorized dealers, and a significant portion of our accounts originate from a smaller number of such third parties. If we experience a loss of authorized dealers or third-party sellers representing a significant portion of our customer account generation, or if we are unable to replace or recruit authorized dealers, other third-party sellers, or alternate distribution channel partners in accordance with our business strategy, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, we are subject to reputational risks that may arise from the actions of our dealers and their employees, independent contractors, and other agents that are wholly or partially beyond our control, such as violations of our marketing policies and procedures as well as any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations. If our dealers engage in marketing practices that are not in compliance with local laws and regulations, we may be in breach of such laws and regulations, which may result in regulatory proceedings and potential penalties that could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, unauthorized activities in connection with sales efforts by employees, independent contractors, and other agents of our dealers, including calling consumers in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, predatory door-to-door sales tactics, and fraudulent misrepresentations, could subject us to governmental investigations and class action lawsuits for, among others, false advertising and deceptive trade practice damage claims, against which we will be required to defend. Such defense efforts are costly and time-consuming, and there can be no assurance that such defense efforts will be successful, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The successful promotion of our brands also depends on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and on our ability to offer member discounts and special offers for our products and services to our partners. We have actively pursued affinity marketing programs, which provide members of participating organizations with special offers on our products and services. These organizations may require us to pay higher fees to them, decrease our pricing for their members, introduce additional competitive options, or otherwise alter the terms of our participation in their marketing programs in ways that are unfavorable to us. These organizations may also terminate their relationships with us if we fail to meet contract service levels and/ or member satisfaction standards, among other things. If any of our affinity or marketing relationships is terminated or altered in an unfavorable manner, we may lose a source of sales leads, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

We also rely on marketing by social media influencers and celebrity spokespersons that represent the ADT brand to generate new customers. The promotion of our brand, products, and services by social media influencers and celebrities is subject to FTC regulations, including, for example, a requirement to disclose any compensatory arrangements between ADT and influencers in any reviews or public statements by such influencers about ADT or our products and services. These social media influencers and celebrities, with whom we maintain relationships, could also engage in activities or behaviors or use their platforms to communicate directly with our customers in a manner that violates applicable regulations or reflects poorly on our brand and that behavior may be attributed to us or otherwise adversely affect us. In connection with the promotion of ADT’s brand by influencers and celebrities, ADT is also subject to a twenty-year FTC consent decree from 2014 which requires adherence to a robust internal compliance process. In addition, influencers and celebrities who are associated with ADT may engage in behavior that is unrelated to ADT but that causes damage to our brand because of these associations. Any such activities or behaviors of the social media influencers or celebrities we engage, or our failure to adhere to the compliance processes as required by the FTC consent decree, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, or on our reputation.

We face risks in acquiring and integrating customer accounts.

An element of our business strategy may involve the bulk acquisition of customer accounts. Acquisitions of customer accounts involve a number of risks, including the possibility of unexpectedly high rates of attrition and unanticipated deficiencies in the accounts and systems acquired despite our investigations and diligence prior to acquisition. We face competition from other alarm monitoring companies, including companies that may offer higher prices and more favorable terms for customer accounts purchased, and/or lower minimum financial or operational qualification or requirements for purchased accounts. This competition could reduce the acquisition opportunities available to us, slowing our rate of growth, and/or increasing the price we pay for such account acquisitions, thus reducing our return on investment and negatively impacting our revenue and results of operations. We can provide no assurance that we will continue to be able to purchase customer accounts on favorable terms or at all in the future.

The purchase price we pay for customer accounts is affected by the recurring revenue historically generated by such accounts, as well as several other factors, including the level of competition, our prior experience with accounts purchased in bulk from specific sellers, the geographic location of the accounts, the number of accounts purchased, the customers’ credit scores, and the type of security or automation equipment or platform used by the customers. In purchasing accounts, we have relied on management’s knowledge of the industry, due diligence procedures, and representations and warranties of bulk account sellers. We can provide no assurance that in all instances the representations and warranties made by bulk account sellers are true and complete or, if the representations and warranties are inaccurate, that we will be able to recover damages from bulk account sellers in an amount sufficient to fully compensate us for any resulting losses. In addition, we may need to incorporate and maintain specialized equipment and knowledge in order to service customer accounts purchased, or pay to upgrade such customers to ADT equipment. If any of these risks materialize, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to recruit and retain sufficient personnel at all levels of our organization, our ability to manage our business could be materially and adversely affected.

Our success depends in part upon the continued services of sufficient talent at all levels of our organization, including, our management team, sales representatives, installation and service technicians and call center talent. Our ability to recruit and retain sufficient talent for these positions is based on our reputation as a successful business with a culture of fairly hiring, training, and promoting qualified employees. However, our success could be impacted adversely by the competitive labor environment and require us to incur wages and benefits in excess of our planned expenditure. Labor shortages in recent years made talent recruitment particularly challenging and competitive. In addition, we acquire businesses from time to time that have rates of employee attrition significantly higher than our own and we may experience difficulty or delay in hiring to fill positions due to these higher rates or in bringing the employee attrition rate of such acquired businesses to a level consistent with our own. The loss, incapacity, or unavailability for any reason of sufficient personnel at any level of our organization, higher than expected payroll and other costs associated with the hiring and retention of sufficient talent at all levels of our organization or the inability or delay in hiring new employees, whether in management, sales, installation and service technicians, or call center personnel, could materially adversely affect our business financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The loss of or changes to our senior management could disrupt our business.

Competition for senior management talent having security, home automation, and solar industry experience has increased. Factors that impact our ability to attract and retain senior management include compensation and benefits and our successful reputation as a top provider in these industries. Our success partly depends on our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. James D. DeVries’, ability, along with the ability of other senior management and key employees, to effectively implement our business strategies and to continue to identify and grow talent through our annual strategic talent planning process. In addition, the success of each of our segments depends on a highly qualified leader with relevant industry and operational experience, as well as its entire management team. The unexpected loss of any member of our senior management team and the related loss of their knowledge of products, offerings, and industry experience, and the difficulty of quickly finding qualified senior management talent to replace any such loss, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Adverse developments in our collective bargaining agreements or other agreements with some employees could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

As of December 31, 2022, approximately 1,100 of our employees at various sites, or approximately 5% of our total workforce, were represented by unions and covered by collective bargaining agreements. We are currently a party to approximately 24 collective bargaining agreements. Almost one-third of these agreements are up for renewal in any given year. We cannot predict the outcome of negotiations of the collective bargaining agreements covering our employees. If we are unable to reach new agreements or renew existing agreements, employees subject to collective bargaining agreements may engage in strikes, work slowdowns, or other labor actions, which could materially disrupt our ability to provide services. New labor agreements or the renewal of existing agreements may impose significant new costs on us, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows in the future.

If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, investor confidence in our business and the trading prices of our securities.

We may identify a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. If material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting are discovered, they may adversely affect our ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information timely and accurately and, as a result, our financial statements may contain material misstatements or omissions.

In addition, it is possible that control deficiencies could be identified by our management or by our independent registered public accounting firm in the future or may occur without being identified. Such a failure could result in regulatory scrutiny, and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial condition, lead to a default under our indebtedness and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Regulations and Litigation

If we fail to comply with constantly evolving laws, regulations, and industry standards addressing information and technology networks, privacy, and data security, we could face substantial penalties, liability, and reputational harm, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Along with our own confidential data and information retained in the normal course of our business, we or our partners collect and retain significant volumes of third party data, some of which is subject to certain laws and regulations. Our ability to analyze this data to provide the customer with an improved user experience is a valuable component of our services, but we cannot provide assurance that the data we require will be available from these sources in the future or that the cost of such data will not increase. If the data that we require is not available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all, we may not be able to provide certain parts of our current or planned products and services, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, we may also collect and retain other sensitive types of data, including, among other things, audio recordings of telephone calls and video images of customer sites. We must comply with applicable federal and state laws and regulations governing the collection, retention, processing, storage, disclosure, access, use, security, and privacy of such information in addition to our own posted information security and privacy policies and applicable industry standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. The legal, regulatory, and contractual environment surrounding the foregoing continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing amount of focus on privacy and data security issues with the potential to affect our business. These privacy and data security laws, regulations, and standards, as well as contractual requirements, could increase our cost of doing business, and failure to comply with these laws, regulations, standards, and contractual requirements could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation, and/or adverse publicity. In the event of a breach of personal information that we hold or that is held by third parties on our behalf, we may be subject to governmental fines, individual and class action claims, remediation expenses, and/or harm to our reputation. In 2020, we disclosed that a Company technician had secured unauthorized personal access to certain customers’ in-home security systems, resulting in individual and class action legal claims against us. We could incur significant legal costs in defending existing or new claims or in the ultimate resolution of such claims, and we may suffer reputational harm and damage to our brand as a result of such claims or any related publicity. Further, if we fail to comply with applicable privacy and security laws, regulations, policies, and standards; properly protect the integrity and security of our facilities and systems and the data located within them; or defend against cybersecurity attacks; or if our third-party service providers, partners, or vendors fail to do any of the foregoing with respect to data and information assessed, used, stored, or collected on our behalf; or should we fail to

prevent future rogue actors from undertaking actions similar to those described above, our reputation and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Examples of certain requirements we face include those with respect to the Health Insurance Portability Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, the California Privacy Rights Act, the Colorado Privacy Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, and the General Data Protection Regulation. These laws and regulations are examples of our need to comply with costly and complex requirements at state, federal, and international levels. As these requirements continue to evolve, and expand to additional jurisdictions, we may incur or be required to incur costs or change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business and failure to comply could result in significant penalties that may materially adversely affect our reputation and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Infringement of our intellectual property rights could negatively affect us.

We rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, confidentiality provisions, and licensing arrangements to establish and protect our proprietary rights. We cannot guarantee, however, that the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights will be adequate to prevent infringement of our rights or misappropriation of our intellectual property or technology. Adverse events affecting the use of our trademarks could also negatively impact our brands. In addition, if we expand our business outside of the U.S. in the future, effective patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in some jurisdictions. Furthermore, our confidentiality agreements with certain of our employees and third parties to protect our intellectual property could be breached or otherwise may not provide meaningful protection for our confidential information, trade secrets, and know-how related to the design, manufacture, or operation of our products and services. In 2021, we initiated certain litigation to protect our intellectual property rights, which has now been resolved. These types of litigation actions may continue for long periods of time, may not be successful, or may result in impairment of certain of our intellectual property rights, and our need to continue to bring claims may be significant and may be indefinite. Any future proceedings on any such matters could be burdensome and costly, and we may not prevail. Further, adequate remedies may not be available in the event of an unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information, trade secrets, or know-how. If we fail to successfully enforce our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could suffer, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Allegations that we have infringed upon the intellectual property rights of third parties could negatively affect us.

We may be subject to claims of intellectual property infringement by third parties. In particular, as our services have expanded, we have become subject to claims alleging infringement of intellectual property, including litigation brought by special purpose or so-called “non-practicing” entities that focus solely on extracting royalties and settlements by alleging infringement and threatening enforcement of patent rights. These companies typically have little or no business or operations, and there are few effective deterrents available to prevent such companies from filing patent infringement lawsuits against us. Our exposure to intellectual property infringement claims may increase as we continue to build our new proprietary platform announced in November 2020 as part of our partnership with Google or expand upon our existing intellectual property in the future. In addition, we rely on licenses and other arrangements with third parties covering intellectual property related to many of the products and services that we market. Notwithstanding these arrangements, we could be at risk for infringement claims from third parties. Additionally, our patent agreement with Tyco, which generally includes a covenant by Tyco not to bring an action against us alleging that the manufacture, use, or sale of any products or services in existence as of the date of our separation from Tyco infringes any patents owned or controlled by Tyco and used by us on or prior to such date, does not protect us from infringement claims for future product or service expansions. In general, if a court determines that one or more of our services infringes on intellectual property rights owned by others, we may be required to cease marketing those services, to obtain licenses from the holders of the intellectual property at a material cost or on unfavorable terms, or to take other potentially costly or burdensome actions to avoid infringing third-party intellectual property rights. The litigation process is costly and subject to inherent uncertainties, and we may not prevail in litigation matters regardless of the merits of our position. Intellectual property lawsuits or claims may become extremely disruptive if the plaintiffs succeed in blocking the trade of our products and services and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We may be subject to class actions and other lawsuits which may harm our business and results of operations.

We have been and we may continue to be subject to class action litigation involving alleged violations of privacy, consumer protection laws, employment laws or other matters. In addition, we have previously been subject to securities class actions relating to our IPO, and we may in the future be subject to additional securities litigation that may be lengthy and may result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources. Results cannot be predicted with certainty, and an adverse outcome in such litigation could result in monetary damages or injunctive relief that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In addition, we are currently and may in the future become subject to legal proceedings and commercial or contractual disputes other than class actions. These are typically claims that arise in the normal course of business including, without limitation, commercial general liability claims, automobile liability claims, contractual disputes, worker’s compensation claims, labor law and employment claims, and claims that we infringed on the intellectual property of others. There is a possibility that such claims may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows that is greater than we anticipate and/or negatively affect our reputation.

Increasing government regulation of telemarketing, email marketing, door-to-door sales, and other marketing methods may increase our costs and restrict the operation and growth of our business.

We rely on telemarketing, email marketing, door-to-door sales, and other marketing channels, including social media conducted internally and through third parties to generate a substantial number of leads for our business, all of which are subject to federal, state and local regulation. Telemarketing and email marketing activities are subject to an increasing amount of regulation in the U.S. Regulations have been issued by the FTC and the FCC that place restrictions on unsolicited telephone calls to residential and wireless telephone customers, whether direct dial or by means of automatic telephone dialing systems, prerecorded, or artificial voice messages and telephone fax machines, and require us to maintain a “do not call” list and to train our personnel to comply with these restrictions. The FTC regulates sales practices generally and email marketing and telemarketing specifically, including through their consent decree on ADT that regulates our use of social media influencers and celebrities, and has broad authority to prohibit a variety of advertising or marketing practices that may constitute “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Most of the statutes and regulations in the U.S. applicable to telemarketing and email marketing allow a private right of action for the recovery of damages or provide for enforcement by the FTC and FCC, state attorneys general, or state agencies permitting the recovery of significant civil or criminal penalties, costs and attorneys’ fees if regulations are violated. We strive to comply with all such applicable regulations, but can provide no assurance that we, our authorized dealers or third parties that we rely on for telemarketing, email marketing, and other lead generation activities will be in compliance with all applicable regulations at all times. Although our contractual arrangements with our authorized dealers, affinity marketing partners, and other third parties generally require them to comply with all such regulations and to indemnify us for damages arising from their failure to do so, we can provide no assurance that the FTC and FCC, private litigants, or others will not attempt to hold us responsible for any unlawful acts conducted by our authorized dealers, affinity marketing partners and other third parties or that we could successfully enforce or collect upon any indemnities. Additionally, certain FCC rulings and FTC enforcement actions may support the legal position that we may be held vicariously liable for the actions of third parties, including any telemarketing violations by our independent, third-party authorized dealers that are performed without our authorization or that are otherwise prohibited by our policies. The FCC, FTC, and state agencies have relied on certain actions to support the notion of vicarious liability, including, but not limited to, the use of our brand or trademark, the authorization or approval of telemarketing scripts, or the sharing of consumer prospect lists. Changes in such regulations or the interpretation thereof that further restrict such activities could result in a material reduction in the number of leads for our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our business operates in a regulated environment and any new, or changes to existing, laws or regulations, or our failure to comply with any such rules or regulations could be costly to us, harm our business and operations, and impede our ability to grow our existing business, any new businesses that we acquire, or investment opportunities that we pursue.

Our operations and employees are subject to various federal, state, and local laws and regulations in such areas as consumer protection, occupational licensing, environmental protection (including climate change regulations), labor and employment, tax, permitting, and other laws and regulations. Most states in which we operate have company and employee licensing laws directed specifically toward the sale, installation, monitoring, and maintenance of fire and security devices, as well as solar systems and energy storage solutions. Our business relies heavily upon the use of both wireline and wireless telecommunications to communicate signals, and telecommunications companies are regulated by federal, state, and local governments.

Increased public awareness and concern regarding global climate change may result in more international, regional, and/or federal or other requirements or expectations that could mandate more restrictive or expansive standards than existing regulations. There continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty, as well as consumer and investor unease. We or our suppliers may be required to make increased capital expenditures to improve our services or product portfolio to meet new regulations and standards. Further, our customers and the markets we serve may impose environmental standards through regulation, market-based emissions policies, or consumer preference that we may not be able to timely meet due to the required level of capital investment or technological advancement. There can be no assurance that our compliance or our efforts to improve our services or products will be successful, and there can be no assurance that proposed regulation or deregulation will not have a negative competitive impact, or that economic returns will reflect our investments in new product development. If environmental laws or regulations are either changed or adopted and

impose significant operational restrictions and compliance requirements upon our business or products, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Federal laws restricting or banning imports of equipment or supplies from specific companies or regions of the world may limit our ability to meet customer demands or to increase prices.

In certain jurisdictions, we are required to obtain licenses or permits to comply with standards governing employee selection and training and to meet certain standards in the conduct of our business. The loss of such licenses or permits or the imposition of conditions to the granting or retention of such licenses or permits could have a material adverse effect on us. Furthermore, in certain jurisdictions, certain security systems must meet fire and building codes to be installed, and it is possible that our current or future products and service offerings will fail to meet such codes, which could require us to make costly modifications to our products and services or to forego operating in certain jurisdictions.

We must also comply with numerous federal, state, and local laws and regulations that govern matters relating to our interactions with residential customers, including those pertaining to privacy and data security, consumer financial and credit transactions, home improvement contracts, warranties, and door-to-door solicitation. These laws and regulations are dynamic and subject to potentially differing interpretations, and various federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory bodies may initiate investigations, expand current laws or regulations, or enact new laws and regulations, regarding these matters. As we expand our product and service offerings and enter into new jurisdictions, we may be subject to more expansive regulation and oversight. For example, as a result of internal growth and through our acquisition of various commercial businesses, we are expanding commercial offerings and exploring markets outside of the U.S., and we will need to identify and comply with laws and regulations that apply to such services and our operations generally in the relevant jurisdictions. In addition, our financing and lending activities subject us to various rules and regulations, such as the U.S. federal Truth in Lending Act and analogous state legislation. Also, as we continue to expand our sales to government entities, we will be subject to additional contracting regulations, disclosure obligations, and various civil and criminal penalties, among other things, in a significant manner that we are not subject to today.

In addition, and in connection with our acquisition of ADT Solar, the installation of solar energy systems requires employees to work at heights with complicated and potentially dangerous systems. There is risk of serious injury or death if proper safety procedures are not followed. ADT Solar operations are subject to regulation under OSHA, and equivalent state laws. Changes to OSHA requirements, or stricter interpretation or enforcement of existing laws or regulations, could result in increased costs. Failure to comply with applicable OSHA regulations or other federal, state, and local laws and regulations related to any aspect of our business, even if no work-related serious injury or death occurs, may result in civil or criminal enforcement and substantial penalties, significant capital expenditures, or suspension or limitation of operations. Any such accidents, citations, violations, injuries, or failure to comply with industry best practices may result in adverse publicity, which could damage our reputation and competitive position, and may adversely affect our business.

Changes in these laws or regulations or their interpretation could dramatically affect how we do business, acquire customers, and manage and use information we collect from and about current and prospective customers and the costs associated therewith. We strive to comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to our interactions with all customers. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices.

Changes in laws or regulations could require us to change the way we operate or to utilize resources to maintain compliance, which could increase costs or otherwise disrupt operations. In addition, failure to comply with any applicable laws or regulations could result in substantial fines or revocation of our operating permits and licenses. If laws and regulations were to change or if we or our products failed to comply with them, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Existing electric utility industry regulations, and changes to regulations, may present technical, regulatory, or economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar energy systems that may significantly reduce demand for our solar energy systems.

Federal, state, and local government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry, and internal policies and regulations promulgated by electric utilities, heavily influence the market for electricity generation products and services. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and the interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation. Governments and utilities continuously modify these regulations and policies. These regulations and policies could deter potential customers from purchasing renewable energy, including solar energy systems. This could result in a significant reduction in the potential demand for ADT Solar energy systems.

Market prices of retail electricity generated by utilities or other energy sources could decline for a variety of reasons. Any such declines in retail prices of electricity or changes in customer preferences would adversely impact our business. In addition, depending on the region, electricity generated by solar energy systems competes most effectively with expensive peak-hour electricity from the electric grid rather than the less expensive average price of electricity. Modifications to the utilities’ peak hour pricing policies or rate design, such as a flat rate, could require us to lower the price of solar energy systems to compete with the price of electricity from the electric grid.

Our solar sales model may rely on net metering and related policies to offer competitive pricing to customers, and changes to such policies may significantly reduce demand for our solar offerings.

Net metering policies are designed to allow homeowners to serve their own energy load using on-site generation. Electricity that is generated by a solar energy system and consumed on-site avoids a retail energy purchase from the applicable utility, and excess electricity that is exported back to the electric grid generates a retail credit within a homeowner’s monthly billing period. At the end of the monthly billing period, if the homeowner has generated excess electricity within that month, the homeowner typically carries forward a credit for any excess electricity to be offset against future utility energy purchases. At the end of an annual billing period or calendar year, utilities either continue to carry forward a credit, or reconcile the homeowner’s final annual or calendar year bill using different rates (including zero credit) for the exported electricity.

Utilities, their trade associations, and fossil fuel interests in the country are currently challenging net metering policies, and seeking to eliminate them, cap them, reduce the value of the credit provided to homeowners for excess generation, or impose charges on homeowners that have net metering.

In addition, any changes to government or internal utility regulations and policies that favor electric utilities could reduce ADT Solar’s competitiveness and cause a significant reduction in demand for our products and services. Certain jurisdictions have proposed assessing fees on customers purchasing energy from solar energy systems or imposing a new charge that would disproportionately impact solar energy system customers who utilize net metering, either of which would offset savings for those customers and could reduce demand for solar energy systems. For example, on December 15, 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) passed “NEM 3.0”, a new net energy metering policy that substantially reduces the rate at which homeowners who submit an interconnection application after April 13, 2023 will be compensated for any excess electricity generated by their solar system that is pushed back to the utility grid. We expect this will significantly reduce demand in the California market. California is currently not a major market for ADT Solar, and this policy change may limit our ability to grow in that market. Similar government or utility policies adopted in the future could reduce demand for our products and services, increase the operational burdens to install solar systems, increase the amount of time between the sale and installation of solar systems, and adversely impact growth and timing of revenue recognition. Any such changes to existing government regulations or policies, or the imposition of new regulations and policies that increase the cost of solar systems, whether directly or indirectly, to our customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Interconnection limits or circuit-level caps imposed by regulators or utilities may significantly reduce our ability to sell solar systems and energy storage solutions in certain markets or slow interconnections, harming our growth rate and customer satisfaction scores.

Interconnection rules establish the circumstances in which rooftop solar will be connected to the electricity grid. Interconnection limits or circuit-level caps imposed by regulators may curb our growth in key markets. Utilities throughout the country have different rules and regulations regarding interconnection and some utilities cap or limit the amount of solar energy that can be interconnected to the grid. Interconnection regulations are typically heavily influenced by claims from utilities regarding the amount of solar energy that can be connected to the grid without causing grid reliability issues or requiring significant grid upgrades. In most jurisdictions, we rely on utilities and their personnel to perform these interconnections. Solar systems generally do not provide power to customers until they are interconnected to the grid. These limitations related to interconnection may reduce demand for our solar systems and energy storage solutions, increase our costs, and otherwise adversely impact our business.

The ADT Solar business may rely on the availability of rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives. The expiration, elimination, or reduction of these rebates, credits, and incentives could adversely impact our business.

U.S. federal, state, and local government bodies provide incentives to end users, distributors, system integrators, and manufacturers of solar energy systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives such as system performance payments and payments for renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation. ADT Solar may rely on these governmental rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives to market solar systems and energy storage solutions to customers. However, these incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted, or be reduced or terminated as solar energy adoption rates increase. These reductions or terminations often occur without warning.

Reductions in, or eliminations/expirations of, governmental incentives could adversely impact our sales, increase cost of materials, and reduce the size of our addressable market, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Specifically, future results of operations may be impacted by the potential discontinuation or material reduction or other change in the federal solar tax credit (the “ITC”). In August 2022, the IRA was signed into law. Among other things, the IRA extended the ITC until 2032 to allow a qualifying homeowner to deduct 30% of the cost of installing residential solar systems from their U.S. federal income taxes. Under its current terms, the ITC will remain at 30% through the end of 2032 and be further reduced in increments down to 0% after the end of 2034, unless extended. Any changes to the IRC that decrease such benefits as currently in effect could materially adversely impact our business.

We could be assessed penalties for false alarms.

Some local governments impose assessments, fines, penalties, and limitations on either customers or the alarm companies for false alarms. Certain municipalities have adopted ordinances under which both permit and alarm dispatch fees are charged directly to the alarm companies. Our alarm service contracts generally allow us to pass these charges on to customers. If more local governments impose assessments, fines, or penalties for false alarms, or these charges become significant, or we are unable to collect these charges because customers are unwilling or unable to pay them, or our customers terminate or fail to renew their services with us because of these charges, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Adoption of statutes and governmental policies purporting to characterize certain of our charges as unlawful may adversely affect our business.

Generally, if a customer cancels their contract with us prior to the end of the initial contract term, other than in accordance with the contract, we may charge the customer an early cancellation fee. Consumer protection policies or legal precedents could be proposed or adopted to restrict the charges we can impose upon contract cancellation. Such initiatives could compel us to increase our prices during the initial term of our contracts and consequently lead to less demand for our services and increased customer attrition. Adverse judicial determinations regarding these matters could cause us to incur legal exposure to customers against whom such charges have been imposed and expose us to the risk that certain of our customers may seek to recover such charges through litigation, including class action lawsuits. Any such loss in demand for our services, increase in attrition, or the costs of defending such litigation and enforcement actions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In the absence of net neutrality or similar regulation, certain providers of Internet access may block our services or charge their customers more for using our services, or government regulations relating to the Internet could change, which could materially adversely affect our revenue and growth.

Our interactive and home automation services are primarily accessed through the Internet and our security monitoring services, including those utilizing video streaming, are increasingly delivered using Internet technologies. Users who access our services through mobile devices, such as smart phones, laptops, and tablet computers must have a high-speed Internet connection, such as broadband, 4G/LTE, or 5G, to use our services. Currently, this access is provided by telecommunications companies and Internet access service providers that have significant and increasing market power in the broadband and Internet access marketplace. In the absence of government regulation, these providers could take measures that affect their customers’ ability to use our products and services, such as degrading the quality of the data packets we transmit over their lines, giving our packets low priority, giving other packets higher priority than ours, blocking our packets entirely, or attempting to charge their customers more for using our products and services. To the extent that Internet service providers implement usage-based pricing, including meaningful bandwidth caps, or otherwise try to monetize access to their networks, we could incur greater operating expenses and customer acquisition and retention could be negatively impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Furthermore, to the extent network operators were to create tiers of Internet access service and either charge us for or prohibit our services from being available to our

customers through these tiers, our business could be negatively impacted. Some of these providers also offer products and services that directly compete with our own offerings, which could potentially give them a competitive advantage. In addition, the FCC recently rolled back net neutrality protections in the U.S. as described below and most other countries have not adopted formal net neutrality or open Internet rules.

In December 2017, the FCC re-classified broadband Internet access service as an unregulated information service and repealed the specific rules against blocking, throttling, or “paid prioritization” of content or services. It retained a rule requiring Internet service providers to disclose their practices to consumers, entrepreneurs, and the FCC. This elimination of net neutrality rules and any further changes to the rules could affect the market for broadband Internet access service in a way that impacts our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Given the nature of our business, we are exposed to greater risks of liability for employee acts or omissions or system failures than may be inherent in other businesses.

If a customer or third-party believes that it has suffered harm to person or property due to an actual or alleged act or omission of one of our authorized dealers, independent contractors, employees or other agents, or due to a security, fire, or interactive system failure, they (or their insurers) may pursue legal action against us, and the cost of defending the legal action and of any judgment against us could be substantial. In particular, because our products and services are intended to help protect lives and real and personal property, we may have greater exposure to litigation risks than businesses that provide other commercial, consumer, and small business products and services. In the event of litigation with respect to such matters, it is possible that the risk-mitigation provisions in our standard customer contracts may be deemed not applicable or unenforceable and, regardless of the ultimate outcome, we may incur significant costs of defense that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, and there can be no assurance that any such defense efforts will be successful.

We may be subject to liability for obligations of The Brink’s Company under the Coal Act or other coal-related liabilities of The Brink’s Company.

On May 14, 2010, The ADT Corporation acquired Broadview Security, a business formerly owned by The Brink’s Company. Under the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992, as amended (“Coal Act”), The Brink’s Company and its majority-owned subsidiaries as of July 20, 1992 (including certain legal entities acquired in the Broadview Security acquisition) are jointly and severally liable with certain of The Brink’s Company’s other current and former subsidiaries for health care coverage obligations provided for by the Coal Act. A Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (“VEBA”) trust has been established by The Brink’s Company to pay for these liabilities, although the trust may have insufficient funds to satisfy all future obligations. We cannot rule out the possibility that certain legal entities acquired in the Broadview Security acquisition may also be liable for other liabilities in connection with The Brink’s Company’s former coal operations. At the time of the separation of Broadview Security from The Brink’s Company in 2008, Broadview Security entered into an agreement pursuant to which The Brink’s Company agreed to indemnify it for any and all liabilities and expenses related to The Brink’s Company’s former coal operations, including any health care coverage obligations. The Brink’s Company has agreed that this indemnification survives The ADT Corporation’s acquisition of Broadview Security. We in turn agreed to indemnify Tyco for such liabilities in our separation from it. If The Brink’s Company and the VEBA are unable to satisfy all such obligations, we could be held liable, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our business would be adversely affected if certain of our independent contractors were classified as employees.

We rely on third-party independent contractors in addition to our existing workforce to perform certain tasks including installation and service of our customer alarm and other systems. From time to time, we are involved in lawsuits and claims that assert that certain independent contractors should be treated as our employees. The state of the law regarding independent contractor status varies from state to state and is subject to change based on court decisions, legislation, and regulation. If any of our independent contractors or our subcontractors were classified as employees, such individuals could become entitled to the reimbursement of certain expenses and to the benefit of wage-and-hour laws, result in ADT being liable for employment and withholding tax and benefits for such individuals, and result in ADT being liable to such individuals for violations of other laws protecting employees. Any such determination could result in a material reduction of the number of subcontractors we can use for our business or significantly increase our costs to serve our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Existing or new tariffs and other trade restrictions imposed on imports from China or other countries where much of our end-user equipment is manufactured, or any counter-measures taken in response, may harm our business and results of operations.

New tariffs imposed on imports from China, where certain components included in our end-user equipment are manufactured, and any counter-measures taken in response to such new tariffs, may harm our business and results of operations. In 2018 and 2019, the U.S. federal government imposed tariffs on certain alarm equipment components manufactured in China, and on other categories of electronic equipment manufactured in China that we install in our customers’ premises, such as batteries and thermostats, as well as imported solar energy equipment. Certain of these tariffs are as high as 25% and such tariffs have increased our costs for such equipment as a result of some or all of such new tariffs being passed on to us by our suppliers. If any or all such costs continue to be passed on to us by our suppliers, we may be required to raise our prices, which could result in the loss of customers and harm our business and results of operations. Alternatively, we may seek to find new sources of end-user products, which may result in higher costs and disruption to our business. In addition, the U.S. federal government’s 2018 National Defense Authorization Act imposed a ban on the use of certain surveillance, telecommunications, and other equipment manufactured by certain of our suppliers based in China, to help protect critical infrastructure and other sites deemed to be sensitive for national security purposes in the U.S. This federal government ban implemented in August 2019, and the ban on use of certain covered equipment by federal contractors implemented in August 2020, has required us to find new sources of end-user products, which has resulted in higher costs and disruption to our business. It is also possible additional tariffs will be imposed on imports of equipment that we install in end-user premises, or that our business will be impacted by retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries, causing us to raise our prices or make changes to our business, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

In addition, in November 2021, President Biden signed the Secure Equipment Law into effect, and in November 2022, the FCC adopted rules stating that they will no longer review or give licenses to the equipment that makes use of radio frequencies manufactured by companies believed to pose a national security threat, including Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, and Hikvision. This could impact our ability to source products compatible with a customer’s existing system, or make repairs if new, compatible equipment cannot be sourced. In the November 2022 order, the FCC also issued an additional Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in which it asks if existing authorizations should be revoked, and if so, how. If existing authorizations were revoked, it could limit ADT’s ability to maintain and service existing customer equipment. It could also force some customers to replace equipment currently in service. We are also subject to supply chain disruptions should we learn that any one of our suppliers is in violation of legislation such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act signed into law in December 2021, which bans the import of goods based on their method of production, such as through the use of forced labor, or otherwise. In addition, on March 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the “DOC”) initiated an investigation into alleged tariff circumvention efforts involving crystalline silicon PV modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam at the request of Auxin Solar, which represented 65% of all module imports in 2021. Upon initiation of the investigation, all imports of these materials from these countries were immediately subject to tariffs between 50% - 250%, causing many suppliers to halt shipments. On June 6, 2022, President Biden invoked emergency authority to waive these tariffs for two years while the investigation continues. On December 2, 2022, the DOC announced initial findings that some of the companies under investigation are circumventing tariffs, and the determination must now be made if the circumvention is minor or significant. Any inability to source product, product parts, or other components required by our business in a timely and cost effective manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Macroeconomic and Related Factors

General economic conditions can affect our business, and we are susceptible to changes in the business economy, in the housing market, and in business and consumer discretionary income, which may inhibit our ability to grow our customer base and impact our results of operations.

Demand for our products and services is affected by the general economy, the business environment, and the turnover in the housing market, among other things. Downturns in the general economy, the business environment, and the housing market would reduce opportunities to make sales of our products and services. Downturns in the rate of the sale of new and existing homes, which we believe drives a substantial portion of our new residential customer volume in any given year, and downturns in the rate of commercial property development, which drives demand for our commercial offerings, would reduce opportunities to make sales of new security, fire, home automation, and solar systems and services and reduce opportunities to take over existing security, fire, and home automation systems. Recoveries in the housing market increase the occurrence of relocations, which may lead to customers disconnecting service and not contracting with us in their new homes.

The demand for our products and services is also dependent, in part, on national, regional, and local economic conditions, as well as our customers’ level of discretionary income. When our customers’ discretionary income is reduced (such as by higher housing, energy, interest, operating or other costs, or where the actual or perceived wealth of customers has decreased as a result of circumstances such as lower real estate values, increased foreclosure rates, inflation, increased tax rates, or other economic disruptions), we could experience increased attrition rates and reduced customer demand. Where levels of business activity decline, the commercial fire and security business could experience increased attrition rates and reduced demand. No assurance can be given that we will be able to continue acquiring quality customers or that we will not experience higher attrition rates. Our long-term revenue growth rate primarily depends on installations and new contracts exceeding disconnects. If customer disconnects or defaults increase, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Rising interest rates or increased consumer lender fees could adversely impact our sales, profitability, and our financing costs.

Our business model, in part, relies on customers financing the purchase price of their system through ADT or third-party lenders. Those lenders charge us fees on the principal balance of those loans. Rising interest rates, as we have experienced during 2022 and which we may continue to experience, may increase the lenders’ cost of capital and those increased costs will result in an increase in the fees charged to us. In addition, where we have committed to provide financing internally, as interest rates rise, our cost of capital also gets more expensive and we may not be able to pass on such increased costs to our customers. Any increase in those fees or costs will have an adverse impact on our ability to offer attractive pricing on our alarm, solar, and other offerings to customers, which could negatively impact sales and profitability of our consumer and small business, commercial, and solar energy offerings, or increase the cost to us upon the sale of our aggregated customer loans. Any such outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We are subject to credit risk and other risks associated with our customers, dealers, and third-party lenders.

A substantial part of our revenue is derived from the recurring monthly revenue due from customers under alarm monitoring contracts. Therefore, we are dependent on our customers’ ability and willingness to pay amounts due under alarm monitoring contracts in a timely manner. Although customers are contractually obligated to pay amounts due under an alarm monitoring contract and are generally contractually obligated to pay cancellation fees if they prematurely cancel the contract during its initial term (typically between two and five years), customers’ payment obligations are unsecured, which could impair our ability to collect any unpaid amounts from our customers. To the extent customer payment defaults under alarm monitoring contracts are greater than anticipated, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

We have introduced and will continue to explore different commercial terms for our products and services, such as increasing or otherwise changing the amount of up-front payments, providing different financing options, such as retail installment contracts for the amount of up-front payments associated with our transactions, or offering longer or shorter contract term options. These options could increase the credit risks associated with our customers, and the introduction of, or transition to, different options could result in quarterly revenue and expense fluctuations that are significantly greater than our historic patterns. While we intend to manage such credit risk by evaluating the credit quality of customers eligible for our financing options and non-standard term lengths, our efforts to mitigate risk may not be sufficient to prevent an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Some of these customer financing options may be supported by financing arrangements with third parties, including uncommitted receivables securitization financing agreements, which may impose or result in limitations on the products and services we offer that are financed under such arrangements. These limitations may adversely affect our relationships with customers, and may subject us to risk with respect to our ability to generate current levels of cash flow should, for example, such arrangements be terminated. In addition, rising interest rates, as we have experienced during 2022 and which we may continue to experience, could increase the costs of our products and services substantially. Any such result could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We also place a substantial reliance on third party lenders in order to access loan products for our customers in our solar segment. The financial difficulty or insolvency of any such third party lender has and may in the future result in a delay in customer installations, a write-off in accounts receivables, or other negative impacts on the customer experience or our financial condition. In addition, any disruption in our relationship with a third party lender could have an adverse impact on certain customer relationships or result in liability to us. For example, in 2022, a large third party lender notified us that it had entered insolvency proceedings. The outcome from this insolvency proceeding could result in repayment of certain loans that did not achieve permission to operate within the required timeframe. Certain third party lenders also have the contractual right to require us to repurchase loans if we fail to achieve certain contractual milestones with respect to customer installations. If any of our third party lenders invokes such a right, the necessary repurchases could have a material, adverse effect on our cash flow

for the quarter in which they occur. Industry trends could also change, for example, by third party lenders more systematically requiring the repurchase of loans, or requiring a guarantee with respect to amounts that such lenders would otherwise require be repurchased, if we fail to achieve the relevant milestones. In February 2023, one of our largest third party lenders of loans advised us that they are implementing such policies effective during the first quarter of 2023, with additional policy changes forthcoming this year, and we are in discussions with them regarding the relevant loan portfolio. We cannot predict the timing or extent to which the broader industry will implement such changes or the related impact on us. Failure to maintain effective customer financing options and satisfactory relationships with third party lenders or the decision by a third party lender to require us to repurchase or guarantee loans could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Offering more commercial term and financing options, and transitions between such options, may introduce operational complexity, require the devotion of resources that could otherwise be deployed elsewhere, and may increase market valuation risks due to differences in the financial treatment of different offerings. Such increased offerings or transitions between different offerings or equipment ownership models could also result in customer confusion or dissatisfaction, limit or remove our ability to offer “free device” promotions or other customer satisfaction programs, and may provide competitors with the opportunity to target our existing and potential clients by offering such “free device” promotions, or other customer satisfaction programs that we may be unable to offer. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Under the standard alarm monitoring contract acquisition agreements that we enter into with our dealers, if a customer terminates his or her service with us during the first thirteen months after we have acquired the alarm monitoring contract, the dealer is typically required to substitute with a compatible alarm monitoring contract or compensate us in an amount based on the original acquisition cost of the terminating alarm monitoring contract. We are subject to the risk that dealers will breach these obligations. Although we generally withhold specified amounts from the acquisition cost paid to dealers for alarm monitoring contracts (“holdback”), which may be used to satisfy or offset these and other applicable dealer obligations under the alarm monitoring contract acquisition agreements, there can be no guarantee that these amounts will be sufficient to satisfy or offset the full extent of the default by a dealer of its obligations under its agreement. If the holdback proves insufficient to cover dealer obligations, we are also subject to the credit risk that the dealers may not have sufficient funds to compensate us or that any such dealer will otherwise breach its obligation to compensate us for a terminating alarm monitoring contract. To the extent defaults by dealers of the obligations under their agreements are greater than anticipated, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets represent a significant portion of our total assets, and we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets.

As of December 31, 2022, we had a carrying value of goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets of approximately $10.9 billion. We review goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets for impairment at least annually. We review long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in business circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset or asset group may not be fully recoverable. Impairment may result from, among other things, deterioration in performance; adverse market conditions; adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations, including changes that restrict our activities or affect the products and services we offer; challenges to the validity of certain registered intellectual property; reduced sales of certain products or services incorporating registered intellectual property; increased attrition; and a variety of other factors. For example, during the third quarter of 2022, as a result of ADT Solar’s underperformance of recent operating results in successive quarters relative to expectations, as well as the current macroeconomic conditions, including the impact of a continued increase in interest rates, we performed a quantitative interim impairment assessment on the Solar reporting unit as of September 30, 2022. Based on the results of our quantitative interim goodwill impairment analysis, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $149 million during the third quarter of 2022. Depending on future circumstances, it is possible that we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets. Any future determination of impairment of goodwill or other identifiable intangible assets could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We have significant deferred tax assets, and any impairments of or valuation allowances against these deferred tax assets in the future could materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (and in Canada up to the time of sale of ADT Canada and for back years as per the sale agreement with respect to the sale of ADT Canada), and in various state, territorial, provincial, and local jurisdictions. The amount of income taxes we pay is subject to our interpretation and application of tax laws in jurisdictions in which we file. Changes in current or future laws or regulations, the imposition of new or changed tax laws or regulations, or new related interpretations by taxing authorities in the jurisdictions in which we file could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our future consolidated federal and state income tax liability may be significantly reduced by tax credits and tax net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards available to us under the applicable tax codes. Certain of the entities we have acquired had material NOL carryforwards prior to our acquisition. Our ability to fully utilize these deferred tax assets, however, may be limited for various reasons, including whether projected future taxable income becomes insufficient to recognize the full benefit of our NOL carryforwards prior to their expirations. If a corporation experiences an “ownership change,” Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) provide annual limitations with respect to the ability of a corporation to utilize its NOL (as well as certain built-in losses) and tax credit carryforwards against future U.S. taxable income. In general, an ownership change may result from transactions increasing the ownership of certain stockholders in the stock of the corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year testing period.

Because our ability to fully utilize the NOL carryforwards of our entities is subject to the limitations under Section 382 of the IRC, it is also possible that future changes in the direct or indirect ownership in our equity might result in additional ownership changes that may trigger the imposition of additional limitations under Section 382 of the IRC with respect to these tax attributes.

In addition, audits by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) as well as state, territorial, provincial, and local tax authorities could reduce our tax attributes and/or subject us to tax liabilities if tax authorities make adverse determinations with respect to our NOL or tax credits carryforwards. Any future disallowance of some or all of our tax credits or NOL carryforwards as a result of legislative change could materially adversely affect our tax obligations. Any increase in taxation or limitation of benefits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

ADT US Equity

ADT · 10-K · period ended 2022-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

ADT US Equity☆

ADT · 10-K · period ended 2022-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

ADT US Equity