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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

In addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report and the exhibits hereto, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our business. Our business, financial condition, cash flows or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. This section contains forward-looking statements. You should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements set forth at the end of Item 1. Business of this Annual Report. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows or results of operations.

COVID-19 Risks

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and related impacts are having a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance and cash flows. We are unable to predict the extent to which the pandemic and related impacts will continue to adversely impact our business operations, financial performance, results of operations, financial position and the achievement of our strategic objectives.

Our operations, financial performance and cash flows have been negatively impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, the global slowdown of economic activity (including the decrease in demand for a broad variety of goods and services), disruptions in global supply chains and significant volatility, disruption of financial markets, a U.S. economic recession and, potentially, a global economic recession. Because the severity, magnitude, and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences are uncertain, rapidly changing, and difficult to predict, the pandemic’s impact on our operations and financial performance, as well as its impact on our ability to execute our business strategies and initiatives successfully, remains uncertain and difficult to predict. Further, the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and financial performance depends on many factors that are not within our control, including, but not limited, to: governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic (including restrictions on travel, transport and workforce pressures, and voluntary or mandated deferrals or postponements of elective procedures); the impact of the pandemic and actions taken in response on global and regional economies, travel, and economic activity; the availability of federal, state, local or non-U.S. funding programs; general economic uncertainty in key global markets and financial market volatility; global economic conditions and levels of economic growth; and the timing and pace of recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, which could be impacted by a number of factors, including limited provider capacity to perform procedures using our products that were deferred as a result of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has subjected, and may continue to subject, our operations, financial performance and financial condition to a number of risks, including, but not limited to those discussed below:

•Operations-related risks: Across all of our businesses, we have faced increased operational challenges from the need to protect employee health and safety. Some of these challenges include site shutdowns, workplace disruptions and restrictions on the movement of people, raw materials and goods, both at our own facilities and at customers and suppliers. We also experienced, and may continue experiencing, lower demand and volume for certain products and services, customer requests for potential payment deferrals or other contract modifications, delays of deliveries and other factors related directly and indirectly to the COVID-19 pandemic that adversely impact our businesses. We expect that the longer the period of economic and global supply chain disruption continues, the more material the cumulative adverse impact will be on our business operations, financial performance and results of operations. Our ability to manufacture our products is highly dependent on our ability to maintain the safety and health of our employees. The ability of our employees to work may be significantly impacted by one or more employees contracting or being exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, when the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic occurs, we may experience unpredictable increases in demand for certain of our products, which could exceed our capacity to meet such demand on a timely basis or at all, which could have a material adverse impact on our business operations, financial performance and results of operations. Further, the prioritization of vaccine distribution could affect the availability of transportation for our supply chain needs.

•Customer-related risks: In particular, as a result of impacts associated with preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses and governments have taken to quell the spread of COVID-19 and protect our customers, employees, and the patients receiving our products, we have experienced significant and unpredictable reductions in demand for certain of our products as health care customers re-prioritize the treatment of patients. In certain jurisdictions in the United States, governmental authorities have recommended, and in certain cases required, that elective procedures be suspended or canceled to avoid non-essential patient exposure to medical environments and potential infection with COVID-19 and to focus limited resources and personnel capacity toward the treatment of COVID-19. These measures and challenges significantly reduced our net sales and the situation remains challenging.

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In certain jurisdictions, however, the timing of the pandemic and public health measures have resulted in lower levels of COVID-19 cases and some hospitals have developed protocols such that elective procedures may be conducted safely and are approaching pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Further, once the pandemic subsides, we anticipate there may be some continued reluctance upon the part of some patients to seek medical attention in a hospital setting. In addition, for the majority of patients who do seek appointments with physicians and surgeries to be performed at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers relating to a variety of medical conditions, we anticipate there may be a substantial backlog. As a result, patients seeking to schedule or reschedule elective or deferrable procedures utilizing our products may have to navigate potentially limited healthcare provider capacity. We believe this likely patient reluctance and potential healthcare provider capacity could have an adverse effect on our sales following the end of the pandemic.

•Employee-related risks: In an attempt to proactively address the changed business environment caused by COVID-19, in order to preserve employees’ jobs and ensure we are able to quickly respond to increased customer demand, when deferrable procedures resume as permitted by development or conclusion of the pandemic, we made temporary work hour reductions, and corresponding salary reductions, where appropriate, for many of our employees. However, because the severity, magnitude, and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences are uncertain, rapidly changing, and difficult to predict, we may, in the future, have to consider taking additional actions including further reductions to salary and work hours, furloughs, restructuring, layoffs or extensions of remote work arrangements, which may negatively impact our workforce and our business. These negative impacts could include inhibiting our ability to quickly respond to increased customer demand and to take advantage of more favorable economic and market conditions after the pandemic subsides as well as lower productivity and higher employee attrition.

•Accounting-related risks: Generally accepted accounting principles and the related authoritative guidance are complex and involve subjective judgments. In particular, the accounting for revenue, inventory, goodwill, intangible assets, income taxes and other assets and liabilities requires reliance on forward looking estimates of sales and/or earnings. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, estimating the future performance of our business is extremely challenging and the range of deviation from internal estimates could be more significant in this environment. Changes in the underlying estimates, assumptions or judgments could have a material adverse impact on our future results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

•Leverage- and market-related risks: The current financial market dynamics and volatility pose heightened risks to our previously announced timelines for decreasing our leverage, which we expect to be delayed as we seek to maintain appropriate liquidity to compensate for lower cash flows from operations or as variables impacting our leverage ratios fluctuate with extreme market volatility.

•Liquidity- and funding-related risks: While we have significant sources of cash and liquidity and access to committed credit lines, a prolonged period of generating lower cash from operations could adversely affect our financial condition and the achievement of our strategic objectives. Additionally, there can also be no assurance that we will not face credit rating downgrades as a result of weaker than anticipated performance of our businesses, slower progress in decreasing our leverage or other factors. Future downgrades could further adversely affect our cost of funds and related margins, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets, and a significant downgrade could have an adverse commercial impact on our business. Conditions in the financial and credit markets may also limit the availability of funding or increase the cost of funding (including for receivables monetization or supply chain finance programs, as well as increased borrowing costs and higher interest rates), which could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations. Although the U.S. federal and other governments have instituted and/or announced a number of funding programs to support businesses, our ability or willingness to access funding under such programs may be limited by regulations or other guidance, or by further change or uncertainty related to the terms of these programs.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to adversely affect our operating and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in the risk factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic may also affect our operating and financial results in a manner that is not presently known to us or that we currently do not expect to present significant risks to our operations or financial results, particularly if the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated impacts reoccur in successive waves in the coming months.

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Market Risks

We face intense competition and may not be able to keep pace with the rapid technological changes in the medical devices industry, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The medical device markets in which we participate are highly competitive. We encounter significant competition across our product lines and in each market in which our products are sold from various medical device companies. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and marketing resources than we do, including as a result of consolidation among companies in our industry. Our primary competitors include Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic plc, as well as a wide range of medical device companies that sell a single or limited number of competitive products or which participate in only a specific market segment or segments. We also face competition from non-medical device companies, including pharmaceutical companies, which may offer alternative therapies for disease states also amenable to treatment using our products. New competitors may emerge in the future, potentially including companies introducing new sales or distribution models to our industry or leveraging robotic, navigation, and/or other automation technologies. Digital technologies have and may continue to increase in their applicability and importance to various aspects of our business, operating and competitive environments, R&D pipeline and product portfolio. We believe we will need to develop new and enhanced digital capabilities and competences in order to remain competitive.

In addition, the medical device markets in which we participate are characterized by extensive research and development and rapid technological change. Developments by other companies of products and/or services, processes or technologies may make our products or proposed products obsolete or less competitive and may negatively impact our net sales. It is necessary for us to devote continued efforts and financial resources to the development or acquisition of scientifically advanced technologies and products. In addition, we will need to apply our technologies cost-effectively across product lines and markets, obtain patent and other protection for our technologies and products, obtain required regulatory and reimbursement approvals and successfully manufacture and market our products consistent with our quality standards. If we fail to develop or acquire new products or enhance existing products, such failure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, a delay in the timing of the launch of next-generation products and the overall performance of, and continued physician confidence in, those products may result in declines in our market share and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may experience declines in market size, average selling prices for our products, medical procedure volumes and our share of the markets in which we compete, which may materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We continue to experience pressures across many of our businesses due to competitive activity, increased market power of our customers as the healthcare industry consolidates, national and regional government tenders, economic pressures experienced by our customers, public perception of our products, and the impact of managed care organizations and other third-party payers. These and other factors may adversely impact market sizes, as well as our share of the markets in which we compete, the average selling prices for our products or medical procedure volumes. There can be no assurance that the size of the markets in which we compete will increase above existing levels, that we will be able to regain or gain market share or compete effectively on the basis of price or that the number of procedures in which our products are used will increase above existing levels. Decreases in market sizes or our market share and declines in average selling prices or procedural volumes could materially adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

Continued consolidation in the healthcare industry or additional governmental controls exerted over pricing in key markets could lead to increased demands for price concessions or limit or eliminate our ability to sell to certain of our significant market segments, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Numerous initiatives and reforms by legislators, regulators and third-party payers to curb the rising cost of healthcare, and to increase access to care, have catalyzed a consolidation of aggregate purchasing power within the markets in which we sell our products. Additionally, a growing number of countries have instituted or are contemplating introducing regional or national tender processes driven primarily by price. In some cases, such processes may favor local companies to multinational companies like Boston Scientific. As the healthcare industry consolidates, competition to provide products and services is expected to continue to intensify, resulting in pricing pressures, decreased average selling prices and the exclusion of certain suppliers from important market segments. We expect that market demand, government regulation, third-party coverage and reimbursement policies, government contracting requirements and societal pressures will continue to change the worldwide healthcare industry, resulting in further business consolidations and alliances among our customers, which may increase competition, exert further downward pressure on the prices of our products and services and may adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Healthcare cost containment pressures, government payment and delivery system reforms, changes in private payer policies, and marketplace consolidations could decrease the demand for our products, the prices which customers are willing to pay for those products and/or the number of procedures performed using our devices, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our products are purchased principally by hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers around the world that typically bill various third-party payers, including government programs, authorities or agencies (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid in the U.S.) and private health plans, for the healthcare services provided to their patients. Governments and payers may also institute changes in healthcare delivery systems that may reduce funding for services or encourage greater scrutiny of healthcare costs. The ability of customers to obtain appropriate reimbursement for their products and services is critical to the success of medical technology companies because it affects which products customers purchase and the prices they are willing to pay. Reimbursement and funding vary by country and can significantly impact the acceptance of new products and technologies and the use of established products and technologies. We may find limited demand for promising new products unless reimbursement approval is obtained from private and governmental third-party payers. Further legislative or administrative reforms to the reimbursement systems in the U.S., Japan, or other countries in a manner that significantly reduce or eliminate reimbursement for procedures using our medical devices, including price regulation, site of service requirements, competitive bidding and tendering, coverage and payment policies, comparative effectiveness of therapies, heightened clinical data requirements, technology assessments and managed-care arrangements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations

Geopolitical Risks

We are subject to a number of market, business, financial, legal and regulatory risks and uncertainties with respect to our international operations that could have a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

International net sales accounted for 42 percent of our global net sales in 2020. An important part of our strategy is to continue pursuing growth opportunities in net sales and market share outside of the U.S. by expanding global presence, including in Emerging Markets. Our international operations are subject to a number of market, business and financial risks and uncertainties, including those related to our use of channel partners, geopolitical and economic instability, foreign currency exchange and interest rate fluctuations, competitive product offerings, local changes in healthcare financing and payment systems and healthcare delivery systems, local product preferences and requirements, including preferences for local manufacturers, workforce instability, weaker intellectual property protection in certain countries than exists in the U.S. and longer accounts receivable cycles. Such risks and uncertainties may adversely impact our ability to implement our growth strategy in these markets and, as a result, our sales growth, market share and operating profits from our international operations may be adversely affected.

Our international operations are subject to established and developing legal and regulatory requirements for medical devices in each country in which our products are marketed and sold. Most foreign countries have medical device regulations. Further, most countries outside of the U.S. require product approvals be renewed or recertified on a regular basis in order to continue to be marketed and sold there. In addition, several countries that previously did not have regulatory requirements for medical devices have established such requirements in recent years and other countries have expanded, or plan to expand, existing regulations, including requiring local clinical data in addition to global clinical data. These factors have caused or may cause us to experience more uncertainty, risk, expense and delay in obtaining approvals and commercializing products in certain jurisdictions, which could adversely impact our net sales, market share and operating profits from our international operations.

Further, international markets are affected by economic pressure to contain healthcare costs, which can lead to more rigorous evidence requirements and lower reimbursement rates for either our products directly or procedures in which our products are used. Governments and payers may also institute changes in healthcare delivery systems that may reduce funding for services or encourage greater scrutiny of healthcare costs. In addition, certain international markets may also be affected by foreign government efforts to reference reimbursement rates in other countries. All of these types of changes may ultimately reduce selling prices of our products and/or reduce the number of procedures in which our products are used, which may adversely impact our net sales, market share and operating profits from our international operations.

In addition, our international operations are subject to other established and developing U.S. and foreign legal and regulatory requirements, including FCPA and/or similar laws in other countries and U.S. and foreign import and export controls and licensing requirements, trade protection and embargo measures and customs laws. Global businesses, including those in the medical device industry, are facing increasing scrutiny of, and heightened enforcement efforts with respect to, their international operations. Any alleged or actual failure to comply with legal and regulatory requirements may subject us to government scrutiny, civil and/or criminal proceedings, sanctions and other liabilities, which may have a material adverse effect on our international operations, financial condition, results of operations and/or liquidity.

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On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) formally exited the European Union (EU), and a transition period began, during which time the U.K. and the EU negotiated a trade agreement and other terms associated with their future relationship. The transition period ended on December 31, 2020. The short- and long-term impact of the U.K.’s exit from the EU on European and global macroeconomic conditions, our business operations and results of operations remain unknown. Changes in industry regulations could have an effect on existing CE certificates being renewed and new certificates being issued which would impact the ability to trade; however, it is impossible to assess the full impact at this stage. We have implemented a Brexit Response Team and have put in place mitigation procedures intended to reduce any significant operational risks that have been identified to date.

Any significant changes in the political, economic, financial, competitive, legal and regulatory or reimbursement conditions where we conduct, or plan to expand, our international operations may have a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Credit and Financial Risks

If we are unable to manage our debt levels, maintain investment grade credit ratings at the three ratings agencies, or experience a disruption in our cash flows it could have an adverse effect on our cost of borrowing, financial condition or results of operations.

As part of our strategy to maximize stockholder value, we use financial leverage to manage our cost of capital. Our outstanding debt balance was $9.143 billion as of December 31, 2020 and $10.008 billion as of December 31, 2019. Although we currently have investment grade ratings at Moody's Investor Service, Standard & Poor's Rating Service and Fitch Ratings, our inability to maintain investment grade credit ratings could increase our cost of borrowing funds in the future and reduce our access to liquidity. Delays in our product development and new product launches could result in disruption in our cash flow or our ability to continue to effectively manage our debt levels could have an adverse effect on our cost of borrowing, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, our credit agreements contain a financial covenant that require us to maintain a minimum specified leverage ratio and place other limits on our business. If we are unable to satisfy this covenant, we may be required to obtain waivers from our lenders and no assurance can be made that our lenders would grant such waivers on favorable terms or at all and we could be required to repay any borrowings on demand.

We may record future intangible asset impairment charges related to one or more of our global reporting units, which could materially adversely impact our results of operations.

We test our goodwill balances in the second quarter of each year as of April 1 for impairment, or more frequently if impairment indicators are present or changes in circumstances suggest an impairment may exist. We assess goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level and, in evaluating the potential for impairment of goodwill, we make assumptions regarding estimated revenue projections, growth rates, cash flows and discount rates.

On a quarterly basis, we monitor the key drivers of fair value to detect events or other changes that would warrant an interim impairment test of our goodwill and other intangible assets. Relatively small declines in the future performance and cash flows of a reporting unit or asset group, changes in our reporting units or in the structure of our business as a result of future reorganizations, acquisitions or divestitures of assets or businesses, or small changes in other key assumptions, may result in the recognition of significant asset impairment charges, which could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

Current domestic and international economic conditions could adversely affect our cash flows and results of operations.

Uncertainty about global economic conditions, including those resulting from credit and sovereign debt issues, has caused and may continue to cause disruption in the financial markets, including diminished liquidity and credit availability. These conditions may adversely affect our suppliers, leading them to experience financial difficulties or be unable to borrow money to fund their operations, which could cause disruptions in our ability to produce our products. Our customers may experience financial difficulties or be unable to borrow money to fund their operations, which may adversely impact their ability or decision to purchase our products, particularly capital equipment, or to pay for our products that they purchase on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, we have accounts receivable factoring programs in certain European and Asian countries. Deterioration of the global economy or increase in sovereign debt issues may impact our ability to transfer receivables to third parties in certain of those countries. Third parties such as banks offering factoring programs in these countries are looking to reduce their exposure levels to government owned or supported debt. This could result in terminations of, or changes to the costs or credit limits of our existing factoring programs. Such terminations or changes could have a negative impact on our cash flow and days sales outstanding.

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The strength and timing of economic recovery remains uncertain and there can be no assurance that there will not be further deterioration in the global economy. Accordingly, we cannot predict to what extent global economic conditions, including sovereign debt issues and increased focus on healthcare systems and costs in the U.S. and abroad, may continue to impact negatively our average selling prices, net sales and profit margins, procedural volumes and reimbursement rates from third party payers. In addition, conditions in the financial markets and other factors beyond our control may adversely affect our ability to borrow money in the credit markets, access the capital markets and to obtain financing for acquisitions or other general corporate and commercial purposes.

Business and Operational Risks

Failure to integrate acquired businesses into our operations successfully could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

As part of our strategy to realign our business portfolio, we have completed multiple acquisitions in recent years and may pursue additional acquisitions in the future. Our integration of acquired businesses requires significant efforts, including corporate restructuring and the coordination of information technologies, research and development, sales and marketing, operations, regulatory, supply chain, manufacturing, quality systems and finance. These efforts result in additional expenses and involve significant management time. Some of the factors that could affect the success of our acquisitions include, among others, the effectiveness of our due diligence process, our ability to execute our business plan for the acquired companies, the strength of the acquired technology, results of clinical trials, regulatory approvals and reimbursement levels of the acquired products and related procedures, the continued performance of critical transition services, our ability to adequately fund acquired in-process research and development projects and retain key employees and our ability to achieve synergies with our acquired companies, such as increasing sales of our products, achieving cost savings and effectively combining technologies to develop new products. In addition, foreign acquisitions involve unique risks, including those related to integration of operations across different geographies, cultures and languages, currency risks and risks associated with the economic, political, legal and regulatory environment in specific countries. Our failure to manage successfully and coordinate the growth of the acquired companies could have an adverse impact on our business and our future growth. In addition, we cannot be certain that the businesses we acquire will become profitable or remain so, and if our acquisitions are not successful, we may record related asset impairment charges in the future or experience other negative consequences on our results.

We may not be successful in our strategy relating to future strategic acquisitions of, investments in, or alliances with, other companies and businesses, which have been a significant source of historical growth for us, and will be key to our diversification into new markets and technologies.

Our strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances are intended to further expand our ability to offer customers effective, high quality medical devices that satisfy their interventional needs. These acquisitions, investments and alliances have been a significant source of our growth. We face competition for acquisitions from other healthcare and non-healthcare acquirers, financial sponsors, and from the market for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Strength in the market for IPOs may reduce the set of opportunities available to us for M&A and/or cause us to need to pay higher prices. If we are unsuccessful in our acquisitions, investments and alliances, we may be unable to grow our business. The success of our strategy relating to future acquisitions, investments or alliances will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to:

•identify suitable opportunities for acquisition, investment or alliance, if at all,

•manage acquisition, investment or alliance opportunities within our capital capacity and prioritize those investments to execute on our strategy,

•manage our due diligence process to uncover potential issues with targets,

•finance any future acquisition, investment or alliance on terms acceptable to us, if at all,

•complete acquisitions, investments or alliances in a timely manner on terms that are satisfactory to us, if at all,

•successfully integrate and operate acquired businesses,

•successfully identify and retain key target employees,

•comply with applicable laws and regulations, including foreign laws and regulations, and

•protect intellectual property and to prevail in litigation related to newly acquired technologies.

Any potential future acquisitions we consummate may be dilutive to our earnings and may require additional debt or equity financing, depending on their size or nature.

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We may not realize the expected benefits from our restructuring and optimization initiatives, our long-term expense reduction programs may result in an increase in short-term expenses and our efforts may lead to unintended consequences.

We monitor the dynamics of the economy, the healthcare industry and the markets in which we compete and assess opportunities for improved operational effectiveness and efficiency and to better align expenses with revenues, while preserving our ability to make investments in research and development projects, capital and our people that we believe are important to our long-term success. As a result of these assessments, we have undertaken restructuring and optimization initiatives in order to enhance our growth potential and position us for long-term success. In November 2018, we announced a restructuring initiative (the 2019 Restructuring Plan) intended to support our effort to improve operating performance and meet anticipated market demands by ensuring that we are appropriately structured and resourced to deliver sustainable value to patients and customers. Key activities under the 2019 Restructuring Plan include supply chain network optimization intended to maximize our global manufacturing and distribution network capacity and building functional capabilities that support business growth. These activities were initiated in 2019, with the majority of activity expected to be complete by the end of 2022, following a one-year extension approved by our Board of Directors on February 22, 2021. The 2019 Restructuring Plan is expected to result in total pre-tax charges of approximately $375 million to $475 million and reduce gross annual pre-tax operating expenses by approximately $200 million to $250 million by the end of 2023 as program benefits are realized. We expect a substantial portion of the savings to be reinvested in strategic growth initiatives. These measures could yield unintended consequences, such as distraction of our management and employees, business disruption, inability to attract or retain key personnel and reduced employee productivity, which could negatively affect our business, sales, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, our restructuring and optimization initiatives result in charges and expenses some of which impact our operating results. We cannot guarantee that the activities under our restructuring plans or other optimization initiatives will result in the desired efficiencies and estimated cost savings.

Our future growth is dependent upon the development of new products and enhancement of existing products, which requires significant research and development, clinical trials and regulatory approvals, all of which may be very expensive and time-consuming and may not result in commercially viable products.

In order to develop new products and enhance existing products, we focus our research and development programs largely on the development of next-generation and novel technology offerings across multiple programs and businesses. The development of new products and enhancement of existing products requires significant investment in research and development, clinical trials and regulatory approvals. The results of our product development efforts may be affected by a number of factors, including our ability to anticipate customer needs, innovate and develop new products, complete clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals and reimbursement in the United States and abroad, manufacture products in a cost-effective manner, obtain appropriate intellectual property protection for our products and gain and maintain market approval of our products. There can be no assurance that any products now in development or that we may seek to develop in the future will achieve technological feasibility, obtain regulatory approval or gain market acceptance. If we are unable to develop and launch new products and enhanced products, our ability to maintain or expand our market position in the markets in which we participate may be materially adversely impacted. Further, we are continuing to investigate and have completed several acquisitions that involve opportunities to further expand our presence in and diversify into, priority growth areas by accessing new products and technologies. There can be no assurance that our investments will be successful or that we will be able to access new products and technologies on terms favorable to us, or that these products and technologies will achieve commercial feasibility, obtain regulatory approval or gain market acceptance. A delay in the development or approval of new products and technologies or our decision to reduce our investments may adversely impact the contribution of these technologies to our future growth.

Additionally, certain products or groups of products, in particular new products or enhancements of existing products, may have a disproportionate impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Failure to meet growth projections, poor clinical outcomes, increasing regulatory requirements, launch delays and inability to effectively scale manufacturing and achieve targeted margins with respect to any of these products or groups of products in particular may materially adversely impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Interruption of our supply chain or manufacturing operations, including resulting from natural disasters, further public heath crises and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Our products are designed and manufactured in technology centers around the world, either by us or third parties. In most cases, the manufacturing of any specific product is concentrated in one or a few locations. Factors such as a failure to follow specific internal protocols and procedures, equipment malfunction, environmental factors or damage to one or more of our facilities could adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products. In the event of an interruption in manufacturing, we may be unable to quickly move to alternate means of producing affected products or to meet customer demand. In the event of a significant interruption, for example, as a result of a failure to follow regulatory protocols and procedures, we may experience

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lengthy delays in resuming production of affected products due primarily to needs for regulatory approvals. As a result, we may experience loss of market share, which we may be unable to recapture and harm to our reputation, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Disruptions in the supply of the materials and components used in manufacturing our products or the sterilization of our products by third-party vendors could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We purchase the majority of the materials and components used in manufacturing our products from third-party vendors. Certain of these materials and components are purchased from single sources due to quality considerations, expertise, costs or constraints resulting from regulatory requirements. In certain cases, we may not be able to establish additional or replacement vendors for such materials or components in a timely or cost effective manner, largely as a result of FDA regulations that require validation of materials and components prior to their use in our products and the complex nature of our and many of our vendors' manufacturing processes. A reduction or interruption in the supply of materials and components used in manufacturing our products, an inability to timely develop and validate alternative sources if required or a significant increase in the price of such materials or components could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, many of our products require sterilization prior to sale and we utilize a mix of internal resources and contract sterilizers to perform this service. To the extent we or our contract sterilizers are unable to sterilize our products, whether due to capacity, availability of materials for sterilization, regulatory or other constraints, including federal and state regulations on the use of ethylene oxide, we may be unable to transition to other internal resources, contract sterilizers, sterilizer locations or sterilization methods in a timely or cost effective manner or at all, which could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Legal and Regulatory Risk Factors

Healthcare policy changes, including healthcare reform legislation, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Political, economic and policy influences are leading the healthcare industry to make substantial structural and financial changes that will continue affecting our results of operations. Government and private sector initiatives limiting the growth of healthcare costs (including price regulation), coverage and payment policies, comparative effectiveness of therapies, technology assessments and healthcare delivery structure reforms, are continuing in many countries where we do business. We believe that these changes are causing the marketplace to put increased emphasis on the delivery of more treatments that can reduce costs, improve efficiencies and/or increase patient access. Although we believe our less-invasive products and technologies generate favorable clinical outcomes, value and cost efficiency, the resources and evidence necessary to demonstrate value to our customers, patients, payers and other stakeholders may be significant, and it may take a longer period of time to gain widespread adoption. Moreover, there can be no assurance that our strategies will succeed for every product.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 were enacted into law in the U.S. in March 2010. Certain provisions of this law, including comparative effectiveness research, pilot programs to evaluate alternative payment methodologies and other changes to the payment systems, have started changing the way healthcare is delivered, reimbursed and funded. While the extent to which it has affected our business is not clear, these changes, over the long-term, may adversely affect our business and results of operations. The new U.S. Administration may attempt to reverse some of the previous Administration’s changes to the ACA, particularly related to healthcare coverage for the uninsured, and is further expected to introduce more ambitious healthcare legislation, which could include what is commonly referred to as a “public option” or changes to Medicare age requirements. If passed, this legislation would lead to increased coverage levels and utilization of services; however, at this point, the impact of any such changes is unclear because specific changes have not been enacted or implemented.

We cannot predict the specific healthcare programs and regulations that will be ultimately implemented by regional and national governments globally. However, any changes that lower reimbursements for either our products and/or procedures using our products reduce medical procedure volumes and/or increase cost containment pressures on us or others in the healthcare sector could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

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We are subject to extensive and dynamic medical device regulation, which may impede or hinder the approval or sale of our products and, in some cases, may ultimately result in an inability to obtain approval of certain products or may result in the recall or seizure of previously approved products.

Our products, marketing, sales and development activities and manufacturing processes are subject to extensive and rigorous regulation by the FDA pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDC Act), by comparable agencies in foreign countries and by other regulatory agencies and governing bodies. Under the FDC Act, medical devices must receive FDA clearance or approval or an exemption from such clearance or approval before they can be commercially marketed in the U.S. In the EU, we will be required to comply with the new Medical Device Regulation (MDR or EU MDR) effective May 2021 (extended from May 2020) which will supersede the current Medical Device Directives. Medical devices which have a valid CE Certificate to the current Directives (issued before May 2021) can continue to be sold until May 2024 or until the CE Certificate expires, whichever comes first, providing there are no significant changes to the design or intended use. The CE Mark is applied following approval from an independent notified body or declaration of conformity. The process of obtaining marketing approval or clearance from the FDA or by comparable agencies in foreign countries for new products, or with respect to enhancements or modifications to existing products, could:

•take a significant period of time,

•require the expenditure of substantial resources,

•involve rigorous pre-clinical and clinical testing, as well as increased post-market surveillance,

•require changes to products and

•result in limitations on the indicated uses of products.

In addition, exported devices are subject to the regulatory requirements of each country to which the device is exported. Some countries do not have medical device regulations, but in most foreign countries, medical devices are regulated. Frequently, regulatory approval may first be obtained in a foreign country prior to application in the U.S. due to differing regulatory requirements; however, other countries, such as China for example, require approval in the country of origin or legal manufacturer first. Most countries outside of the U.S. require that product approvals be renewed or recertified on a regular basis, generally every four to five years. The renewal or recertification process requires that we evaluate any device changes and any new regulations or standards relevant to the device and conduct appropriate testing to document continued compliance. Where renewal or recertification applications are required, they may need to be renewed and/or approved in order to continue selling our products in those countries. There can be no assurance that we will receive the required approvals for new products or modifications to existing products on a timely basis or that any approval will not be subsequently withdrawn or conditioned upon extensive post-market study requirements.

Our global regulatory environment is becoming increasingly stringent and unpredictable, which could increase the time, cost and complexity of obtaining regulatory approvals for our products, as well as the clinical and regulatory costs of supporting those approvals. Several countries that did not have regulatory requirements for medical devices have established such requirements in recent years and other countries have expanded on existing regulations. Certain regulators are exhibiting less flexibility and are requiring local preclinical and clinical data in addition to global data. While harmonization of global regulations has been pursued, requirements continue to differ significantly among countries. We expect this global regulatory environment will continue to evolve, which could impact our ability to obtain future approvals for our products or could increase the cost and time to obtain such approvals in the future.

The FDA and other worldwide regulatory agencies actively monitor compliance with local laws and regulations through review and inspection of design and manufacturing practices, recordkeeping, reporting of adverse events, labeling and promotional practices. The FDA can ban certain medical devices, detain or seize adulterated or misbranded medical devices, order repair, replacement or refund of these devices and require notification of health professionals and others with regard to medical devices that present unreasonable risks of substantial harm to the public health. The FDA can take action against a company that promotes "off-label" uses. The FDA may also enjoin and restrain a company for certain violations of the FDC Act and other amending Acts pertaining to medical devices, or initiate action for criminal prosecution of such violations. Any adverse regulatory action, depending on its magnitude, may restrict a company from effectively marketing and selling its products, may limit a company's ability to obtain future premarket clearances or approvals and could result in a substantial modification to our business practices and operations. International sales of medical devices manufactured in the U.S. that are not approved by the FDA for use in the U.S., or that are banned or deviate from lawful performance standards, are subject to FDA export requirements.

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Regulations regarding the development, manufacture and sale of medical devices are evolving and subject to future change. We cannot predict what impact, if any, those changes might have on our business. Failure to comply with regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product or manufacturer could result in fines, delays or suspensions of regulatory clearances or approvals, seizures or recalls of products, physician advisories or other field actions, operating restrictions and/or criminal prosecution. We may also initiate field actions as a result of a failure to strictly comply with our internal quality policies. The failure to receive product approval clearance on a timely basis, suspensions of regulatory clearances, seizures or recalls of products, physician advisories or other field actions, or the withdrawal of product approval by the FDA or by comparable agencies in foreign countries could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our products are continually subject to clinical trials and other analyses conducted by us, our competitors or other third parties, the results of which may be unexpected, or perceived as unfavorable by the market, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

As a part of the regulatory process of obtaining marketing clearance for new products and new indications for existing products, we conduct and participate in numerous clinical trials with a variety of study designs, patient populations and trial endpoints. Unexpected or inconsistent clinical data from existing or future clinical trials or other analyses conducted by us, by our competitors or by third parties, including acquired businesses prior to acquisition by us, or the FDA's or the market's perception of this clinical data, may adversely impact our ability to obtain product approvals, our position in, and share of, the markets in which we participate and our business, financial condition, results of operations or future prospects.

The medical device industry and its customers continue to face scrutiny and regulation by governmental authorities and are often the subject of numerous investigations, often involving marketing and other business practices or product quality issues including device recalls or advisories. These investigations could result in the commencement of civil and criminal proceedings; imposition of substantial fines, penalties and administrative remedies, including corporate integrity agreements, stipulated judgments or exclusion; diversion of our employees' and management's attention; imposition of administrative costs and have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity; and may lead to greater governmental regulation in the future.

The medical devices we design, develop, manufacture and market are subject to rigorous regulation by the FDA and numerous other federal, state and foreign governmental authorities. These authorities continue to closely scrutinize our industry. We have received and in the future may receive, subpoenas and other requests for information from Congress and state and federal governmental agencies, including, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense, as well as from foreign governments and agencies. The requests and/or subpoenas we have received relate primarily to financial arrangements with healthcare providers, regulatory compliance and sale and/or product promotional practices. We have cooperated with these subpoenas and other requests for information and expect to continue to do so in the future. We cannot predict when a matter will be resolved, the outcome of the matter or its impact on us and cooperation may involve significant costs, including document production costs. An adverse outcome in any matter could include the commencement of an investigation, civil and criminal proceedings, substantial fines, penalties and administrative remedies, including exclusion from government reimbursement programs, entry into Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs) with governmental agencies and amendments to any existing CIAs. In addition, resolution of any matter could involve the imposition of additional and costly compliance obligations. Cooperation with requests and investigations from external agencies result in employee resource costs and diversion of employee focus. If any requests or investigations continue over a long period of time, they could divert the attention of management from the day-to-day operations of our business and impose significant additional administrative burdens on us. These potential consequences, as well as any adverse outcome from these requests or investigations, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

In addition, certain foreign governments, state governments (including that of Massachusetts, where we are headquartered) and the U.S. federal government have enacted legislation aimed at increasing transparency of our interactions with healthcare providers. As an example, compliance with the U.S. Physician Payment Sunshine Act requires us by law to disclose payments and other transfers of value to all U.S. physicians and U.S. teaching hospitals at the U.S. federal level made after August 1, 2013. Any failure to comply with these legal and regulatory requirements could impact our business. In addition, we have and may continue to devote substantial additional time and financial resources to further develop and implement enhanced structure, policies, systems and processes to comply with enhanced legal and regulatory requirements, which may also impact our business.

We anticipate that governmental authorities will continue to scrutinize our industry closely and that additional regulation may increase compliance and legal cost and exposure to litigation and have additional adverse effects on our operations.

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Changes in tax laws, unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies, or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations and/or liquidity.

We are subject to income taxes as well as non-income based taxes and tariffs, in both the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision, and we have established contingency reserves for material, known tax exposures. However, the calculation of such tax exposures involves the application of complex tax laws and regulations in many jurisdictions, as well as interpretations as to the legality under European Union state aid rules of tax advantages granted in certain jurisdictions. Therefore, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these disputes or other tax audits or that issues raised by tax authorities will be resolved at a financial cost that does not exceed our related reserves and the actual outcomes of these disputes and other tax audits could have a material impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

Changes in tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, in the jurisdictions where we are subject to tax could materially impact our effective tax rate. The U.S. enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on December 22, 2017 and we expect the U.S. Treasury to issue future notices and regulations under the TCJA. Certain provisions of the TCJA and the regulations issued thereunder could have a significant impact on our future results of operations as could interpretations made by the Company in the absence of regulatory guidance and judicial interpretations. The change in administration and control of Congress in the U.S. may result in additional U.S. tax law changes that could have a material impact on our future effective tax rate.

Additionally, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission (EC) and individual taxing jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business have recently focused on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations. The OECD has released its comprehensive plan to create an agreed set of international rules for fighting base erosion and profit shifting. In addition, the OECD, the EC and individual countries are examining changes to how taxing rights should be allocated among countries considering the digital economy. As a result, the tax laws in the U.S. and other countries in which we and our affiliates do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis and any such changes could materially adversely affect our business. Furthermore, changes in customs laws and regulations in the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions could have a material impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

Our operations in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica presently benefit from various tax incentives and grants. Unless these incentives and grants are extended, they will expire between 2027 and 2035. If we are unable to renew, extend, or obtain new incentive and grants, the expiration of the existing incentives and grants could have a material impact on our financial results in future periods.

We may not effectively be able to protect our intellectual property or other sensitive data, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The medical device market in which we participate is largely technology driven. Physician customers have historically moved quickly to new products and new technologies. As a result, intellectual property rights, particularly patents and trade secrets, play a significant role in product development and differentiation. However, intellectual property litigation is inherently complex and unpredictable and appellate courts can overturn lower court decisions. Furthermore, as our business increasingly relies on technology systems and infrastructure, our intellectual property, other proprietary technology and other sensitive data are potentially vulnerable to loss, damage or misappropriation. Finally, our ability to protect novel business models is uncertain.

Competing parties in our industry frequently file multiple suits to leverage patent portfolios across product lines, technologies and geographies and to balance risk and exposure between the parties. In some cases, several competitors are parties in the same proceeding, or in a series of related proceedings, or litigate multiple features of a single class of devices. These forces frequently drive settlement not only of individual cases, but also of a series of pending and potentially related and unrelated cases. In addition, although monetary and injunctive relief is typically sought, remedies and restitution are generally not determined until the conclusion of the trial court proceedings and can be modified on appeal. Accordingly, the outcomes of individual cases are difficult to time, predict or quantify and are often dependent upon the outcomes of other cases in other geographies.

A number of third parties have asserted that our current and former product offerings infringe patents owned or licensed by them. We have similarly asserted that products sold by our competitors infringe patents owned or licensed by us. Adverse outcomes in one or more of the proceedings against us could limit our ability to sell certain products in certain jurisdictions, or reduce our operating margin on the sale of these products and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

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Patents and other proprietary rights are and will continue to be essential to our business and our ability to compete effectively with other companies will be dependent upon the proprietary nature of our technologies. We rely upon trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations, strategic alliances and licensing opportunities to develop, maintain and strengthen our competitive position. We pursue a policy of generally obtaining patent protection in both the U.S. and abroad for patentable subject matter in our proprietary devices and attempt to review third-party patents and patent applications to the extent publicly available in order to develop an effective patent strategy, avoid infringement of third-party patents, identify licensing opportunities and monitor the patent claims of others. We own numerous U.S. and foreign patents and have numerous patent applications pending. We also are party to license agreements pursuant to which patent rights have been obtained or granted in consideration for cash, cross-licensing rights or royalty payments. No assurance can be made that any pending or future patent applications will result in the issuance of patents, that any current or future patents issued to, or licensed by, us will not be challenged or circumvented by our competitors, or that our patents will not be found invalid. In addition, we may have to take legal action in the future to protect our patents, trade secrets or know-how or to assert them against claimed infringement by others. Any legal action of that type could be costly and time consuming and no assurances can be made that any lawsuit will be successful. We are generally involved as both a plaintiff and a defendant in a number of patent infringement and other intellectual property-related actions. The invalidation of key patents or proprietary rights that we own, or an unsuccessful outcome in lawsuits to protect our intellectual property, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

In addition, the laws of certain countries in which we market and plan on manufacturing some of our products in the near future, do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property in these countries, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Furthermore, our intellectual property, other proprietary technology and other sensitive data are potentially vulnerable to loss, damage or misappropriation from system malfunction, computer viruses and unauthorized access to our data or misappropriation or misuse thereof by those with permitted access and other events. While we have invested to protect our intellectual property, products and other data and continue to work diligently in this area, there can be no assurance that our precautionary measures will prevent breakdowns, breaches, cyber-attacks or other events. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations.

We rely on the proper function, availability and security of information technology systems to operate our business and a cyber-attack or other breach of these systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We rely on information technology systems, including technology from third party vendors, to process, transmit and store electronic information in our day-to-day operations. Similar to other large multi-national companies, the size and complexity of our information technology systems makes them vulnerable to a cyber-attack, malicious intrusion, breakdown, destruction, loss of data privacy, or other significant disruption. Our information systems require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain, protect and enhance existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, evolving systems and regulatory standards, the increasing need to protect patient and customer information and changing customer patterns. In addition, third parties may attempt to hack into our products to obtain data relating to patients or disrupt performance of our products or to access our proprietary information and the technology from third party vendors that we rely upon may have defects or vulnerabilities which, in turn, create vulnerabilities or disruptions in our system. Any failure by us to maintain or protect our information technology systems, products and data integrity, including from cyber-attacks, intrusions or other breaches, could result in the unauthorized access to patient data and personally identifiable information, theft of intellectual property or other misappropriation of assets, or otherwise compromise our confidential or proprietary information and disrupt our operations, or, in the worst case, could result in harm to patients. Such failure, or demonstration of vulnerability to such failure, may also result in additional regulatory scrutiny. We also grow our company through acquisitions and may face risks associated with defects and vulnerabilities in their systems as we work to integrate the acquisitions into our information technology system.

In the U.S., federal and state privacy and security laws require certain of our operations to protect the confidentiality of personal information including patient medical records and other health information, and to comply with other requirements with respect to personal data. In Europe, the Data Protection Directive requires us to manage individually identifiable information in the EU and, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may impose fines of up to four percent of our global revenue. Internationally, some countries have also passed laws that require individually identifiable data on their citizens to be maintained on local servers and that may restrict transfer or processing of that data. We believe that we meet the expectations of applicable regulations and that the ongoing costs and impacts of ensuring compliance with such rules are not material to our

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business. However, there is no guarantee that we will avoid enforcement actions by governmental bodies or civil actions based on this growing body of regulations. Enforcement actions could be costly and interrupt regular operations of our business. Any of these events, in turn, may cause us to lose existing customers, have difficulty preventing, detecting and controlling fraud, have disputes with customers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, be subject to legal claims and liability, have regulatory sanctions or penalties imposed, have increases in operating expenses, incur expenses or lose revenues as a result of a data privacy breach or theft of intellectual property, or suffer other adverse consequences, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Pending and future intellectual property litigation could be costly and disruptive to us.

We operate in an industry that is susceptible to significant intellectual property litigation and, in recent years, it has been common for companies in the medical device field to aggressively challenge the patent rights of other companies. We are currently the subject of various patent litigation proceedings and other proceedings described in more detail under Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report. Intellectual property litigation is expensive, complex and lengthy and its outcome is difficult to predict. Adverse outcomes in one or more of these matters could have a material adverse effect on our ability to sell certain products and on our operating margins, financial condition, results of operation or liquidity. Pending or future patent litigation may result in significant royalty or other payments or injunctions that can prevent the sale of products and may significantly divert the attention of our technical and management personnel. In the event that our right to market any of our products is successfully challenged, we may be required to obtain a license on terms which may not be favorable to us, if at all. If we fail to obtain a required license or are unable to design around a patent, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Pending and future product liability claims and other litigation, including private securities litigation, stockholder derivative suits and contract litigation, may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations or liquidity.

The design, manufacturing and marketing of medical devices of the types that we produce entail an inherent risk of product liability claims. Many of the medical devices that we manufacture and market are designed to be implanted in the human body for long periods of time or indefinitely. A number of factors could result in an unsafe condition or injury to, or death of, a patient with respect to these or other products that we manufacture or sell, including physician technique and experience in performing the surgical procedure, component failures, manufacturing flaws, design defects, off-label use or inadequate disclosure of product-related risks or product-related information. These factors could result in product liability claims, a recall of one or more of our products or a safety alert relating to one or more of our products. Product liability claims may be brought by individuals or by groups seeking to represent a class.

We are currently the subject of product liability litigation proceedings and other proceedings described in more detail under Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action lawsuits, is difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits often seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, including not only actual damages, but also punitive damages. The magnitude of the potential losses relating to these lawsuits may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. In addition, the cost to defend against any future litigation may be significant. Product liability claims, securities and commercial litigation and other litigation in the future, regardless of the outcome, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. Additionally, we maintain an insurance policy providing limited coverage against securities claims and we are substantially self-insured with respect to product liability claims and fully self-insured with respect to intellectual property infringement claims. The fact that we do not maintain third-party insurance coverage for all categories of losses increases our exposure to unanticipated claims and adverse decisions and these losses could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

Any failure to meet regulatory quality standards applicable to our manufacturing and quality processes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a medical device manufacturer, we are required to register our establishments and list our devices with the FDA and are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA for compliance with its Quality System Regulation requirements, which require manufacturers of medical devices to adhere to certain regulations, including testing, quality control and documentation procedures. In addition, the Federal Medical Device Reporting regulations require us to provide information to the FDA whenever there is evidence that reasonably suggests that a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or, if a malfunction were to occur, could cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections by the FDA which may result in observations on Form 483 and in some cases warning letters that require corrective action. In the European

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Community, we are required to maintain certain International Standards Organization (ISO) certifications in order to sell our products and must undergo periodic inspections by notified bodies to obtain and maintain these certifications. Many other countries in which we do business have requirements similar to those of the U.S. or the EU and other foreign governments or agencies may subject us to periodic inspections as well.If we, or our manufacturers, fail to adhere to quality system regulations or ISO requirements, this could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining regulatory clearances, recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Our business could be negatively impacted by corporate social responsibility and sustainability matters.

In recent years, there has been an increased focus from certain investors, customers, employees, and other stakeholders concerning corporate social responsibility and sustainability matters. From time to time, we announce certain initiatives, including goals, regarding our focus areas, which include environmental matters, responsible sourcing, social investments and diversity, equity and inclusion. We could fail, or be perceived to fail, in our achievement of such initiatives or goals, or we could fail in accurately reporting our progress on such initiatives and goals. Such failures could be due to changes in our business. Moreover, the standards by which corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts and related matters are measured are developing and evolving, and certain areas are subject to assumptions that could change over time. In addition, we could be criticized for the scope of such initiatives or goals or perceived as not acting responsibly in connection with these matters. Any such matters, or related corporate social responsibility and sustainability matters, could have a material adverse impact on our future results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our world headquarters is located in Marlborough, Massachusetts, with principal regional headquarters located in Singapore and Voisins-le-Bretonneux, France. As of December 31, 2020, our principal manufacturing and technology centers were located in Minnesota, California and Indiana within the U.S., as well as internationally in Ireland, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Brazil and Switzerland. Our products are distributed worldwide from primary customer fulfillment centers in Massachusetts, the Netherlands, and Japan. As of December 31, 2020, we maintained 16 principal manufacturing facilities, including seven in the U.S., three in Ireland, two in Costa Rica, one in Puerto Rico, one in Malaysia, one in Brazil and one in Switzerland, as well as various distribution and technology centers around the world. Many of these facilities produce and manufacture products for more than one of our divisions, and also perform research activities. The following is a summary of our facilities as of December 31, 2020 (in approximate square feet):

Owned(1) Leased(2) Total

(1) Includes our principal manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, Ireland, Puerto Rico and one facility in Costa Rica, our manufacturing facility in Malaysia, our primary customer fulfillment centers in Massachusetts, the Netherlands and Japan, and our global headquarters location in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

(2) Includes our principal manufacturing facilities in California, Indiana, Brazil, Switzerland and one in Costa Rica, and our regional headquarters located in Singapore and Voisins-le-Bretonneux, France.

(3) International facilities includes Puerto Rico.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

See Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report and incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not Applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

The principal market on which our common stock is traded is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “BSX.”

Holders of Record

As of January 29, 2021, there were 6,943 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

We did not pay a cash dividend in 2020, 2019 or 2018 on our common stock and currently we do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock. We may consider declaring and paying a cash dividend in the future; however, there can be no assurance that we will do so.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

Please see Item 12. "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters" under Part III of this Annual Report for information on where to find information required by Item 201(d) of Regulation S-K.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchases

In the fourth quarter of 2020, we repurchased approximately 15.7 million shares of our common stock pursuant to our share repurchase authorization for a total of approximately $535 million in cash. We made no share repurchases in 2019 or 2018. Refer to Note L – Stockholders' Equity to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional information.

The following table provides information with respect to purchases by Boston Scientific Corporation of equity securities that are registered by us pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act, during the fourth quarter of 2020:

(1) Excludes any fees, commissions or other expenses related to such repurchases.

(2) On December 14, 2020, our Board of Directors approved, and we announced, a new stock repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.000 billion of our common stock (2020 share repurchase program). As of December 31, 2020, we had $1.000 billion remaining available under the 2020 share repurchase program. On January 25, 2013, our Board of Directors approved, and on January 29, 2013, we announced, a program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.000 billion of our common stock (2013 share repurchase program). During the fourth quarter of 2020, we repurchased approximately $535 million of our common stock under the 2013 share repurchase program, which represented the full amount remaining under that authorization.

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Stock Performance Graph

The graph below compares the five-year total return to stockholders on our common stock with the return of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Stock Index and the S&P Healthcare Equipment Index. The graph assumes $100 was invested in our common stock and in each of the named indices on December 31, 2015 and that any dividends were reinvested.

Note: The stock price performance shown on the graph above is not indicative of future price performance. This graph shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

FIVE-YEAR SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

(in millions, except per share data)

Operating Data

Net income (loss) per common share:

Balance Sheet Data

The data above should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis provides information management believes to be relevant to understanding the financial condition and results of operations of Boston Scientific Corporation and its subsidiaries for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. For a full understanding of our financial condition and results of operations, this discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report.

For additional information on our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018, refer to our previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K.

COVID-19 Pandemic

In December 2019, the novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2), and its disease commonly known as COVID-19 (COVID-19), was reported in China and has since widely impacted the global public health and economic environment. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19, including all additional variations and strains thereof, a global pandemic (COVID-19 pandemic). While the majority of procedures using our products are deferrable, most of the conditions that we treat are generally fairly acute and cannot be deferred for extended periods. As the pandemic spread worldwide and with COVID-19 cases confirmed in all major geographies, many elective and semi-emergent procedures were postponed, enabling hospital staff to focus critical resources on caring for COVID-19 patients. Some jurisdictions mandated elective procedure bans that included financial penalties for non-compliance, certain of which continued to be in effect throughout the year, or evolved to reduce capacity available for elective procedures, including in some cases restricting elective procedures to those that are outpatient procedures only. In other jurisdictions, the timing of the pandemic and public health measures resulted in lower levels of COVID-19 cases, while hospitals developed protocols such that elective procedures could be conducted safely.

The ongoing pandemic and accompanying restrictions negatively impacted our net sales and our results of operations in 2020. We experienced some improvement in our global sales trends in the second half of 2020 as previously deferred procedures resumed and referral rates improved. However, as COVID-19 cases re-surged in many locations around the world and new, more contagious variant strains of COVID-19 emerged in late 2020, renewed restrictions were implemented in areas that had previously reopened, including in parts of Europe and the U.S. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued emergency use authorizations for two COVID-19 vaccines and regulatory bodies in other geographies around the world have also authorized COVID-19 vaccines for use. The timing and success of efforts to distribute and administer these vaccines to broad portions of the population, enabling widespread immunity to COVID-19, will impact the duration and extent of the pandemic and its effect on demand for our products.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented cost reduction initiatives, including decreases in travel, meetings and customer events, hiring, clinical programs and certain research and development projects. We also implemented a temporary four-day work week for many employees globally and reduced employee compensation, including temporary significant cuts in the salaries of our executive officers and the cash retainer paid to our Board of Directors. In addition, we temporarily closed and/or reduced production levels at certain of our manufacturing sites in an effort to align our build plans to the current and expected demand environment. As COVID-19 cases began to decrease in certain geographies mid-year, we implemented a careful and tiered approach for employees to return to our sites following state and local ordinances, and continue to adjust for the recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases, including outbreaks of new variants of the disease. Employees with the greatest need to access onsite resources to perform their roles have returned first, while those who can effectively work remotely will continue to do so in order to facilitate maximum social distancing in our sites and within our communities. For non-executive officer employees, in those jurisdictions where temporary four-day work weeks and reductions in employee compensation were in effect, those measures concluded at the beginning of the third quarter. We also announced the end of the aforementioned reductions in executive officer pay and further announced that a portion of the annual cash retainer for our Board of Directors would be restored, beginning with a payment made during the fourth quarter of 2020. While we have implemented measures to reduce costs, our operating expenses as a percentage of net sales increased during 2020, as compared to the prior year, as approximately 70 percent of our operating expenses are fixed in nature. Our gross profit margin was also unfavorably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, due primarily to manufacturing costs associated with abnormally low production levels in our plants. All of our plants have now resumed manufacturing and have returned to more normalized production levels exiting 2020.

Because the severity, magnitude, and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences are uncertain and rapidly changing, the pandemic’s impact on our operations and financial performance, as well as its impact on our ability to

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execute our business strategies and initiatives successfully, remains uncertain and difficult to predict. Procedural delays from the further resurgence of COVID-19 infections and the emergence of new, more contagious variant strains of COVID-19 may continue to negatively impact demand for our products, net sales, gross profit margin and operating expenses as a percentage of net sales in 2021.

We have evaluated the recoverability of the assets in our consolidated balance sheet in accordance with relevant authoritative accounting literature. We considered the disruptions caused by COVID-19, including revised forecasted sales and customer demand, a decline in the price of our common stock and macroeconomic factors potentially impacting accounts receivable, inventory, investments, intangible assets, goodwill and other assets and liabilities. Where forward-looking estimates are required, we made a good-faith estimate based on information available as of the balance sheet date. We have continued to monitor for indicators of impairment through the date of this Annual Report filed on Form 10-K, and reflected accordingly in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

We continue to focus our efforts on the health and safety of patients, healthcare providers and employees, while executing our mission of transforming lives through innovative medical solutions to improve the health of patients around the world. Since the onset of COVID-19, our global crisis management team has focused on protecting our employees and customers, optimizing our operations and securing our supply chain. We have successfully implemented business continuity plans including establishing a medical advisory group for employees, leveraging work from home infrastructure to facilitate social distancing, limiting sales visits to critical cases and accelerating capabilities to provide remote physician support. While we expect the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to negatively impact our 2021 performance, we continue to believe our long-term fundamentals remain strong and we will manage through these challenges with strategic focus and the winning spirit of our global team.

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Executive Summary

Financial Highlights and Trends

In 2020, we generated net sales of $9.913 billion, as compared to $10.735 billion in 2019. This decrease of $823 million, or 7.7 percent, included operational declines of 7.8 percent and the positive impact of 10 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations.1 Operational net sales included $413 million in 2020 associated with our acquisition of Vertiflex, Inc. (Vertiflex) for the period prior to June 2020 and our acquisition of BTG plc (BTG) for the period prior to mid-August 2020, for both of which there were no prior period net sales. Operational net sales also included $41 million in 2019 associated with our global embolic microspheres portfolio, for which there were no comparable period sales in 2020 following our divestiture in the third quarter of 2019, and our intra-uterine health business, for which there were no comparable period sales in 2020 following our divestiture in the second quarter of 2020. Refer to the Business and Market Overview section for further discussion of our net sales by global business.

Our reported net loss available to common stockholders in 2020 was $115 million, or $0.08 per diluted share. Our reported results for 2020 included certain charges and/or credits totaling $1.492 billion (after-tax), or $1.04 per diluted share. Excluding these items, adjusted net income available to common stockholders for 2020 was $1.378 billion, or $0.96 per diluted share. 1,2

Our reported net income in 2019 was $4.700 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share. Our reported results for 2019 included certain charges and/or credits totaling $2.466 billion (after-tax), or $1.75 per diluted share. Excluding these items, adjusted net income for 2019 was $2.234 billion, or $1.58 per diluted share.1

1Operational net sales growth rates, which exclude the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and adjusted measures, which exclude certain items required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (U.S. GAAP), are not prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a replacement for, the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Refer to Additional Information for a discussion of management’s use of these non-GAAP financial measures.

2In May 2020, we completed an offering of 10,062,500 shares of 5.50% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A (MCPS) at a price to the public and liquidation preference of $100 per share. Refer to the reconciliations below for the impact of the MCPS cumulative preferred stock dividends on our calculations of earnings per share (EPS).

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The following is a reconciliation of our results of operations prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP to those adjusted results considered by management. Refer to Results of Operations for a discussion of each reconciling item:

(in millions, except per share data) Earnings Impact per Share(3)

Reported Net income (loss) $ (82)

Reported Preferred stock dividends (33)

Reported Net income (loss) available to common stockholders $ (115) $ (0.08)

Non-GAAP adjustments:

Goodwill and other intangible asset impairment charges 465 0.32

Acquisition/divestiture-related net charges (credits) 115 0.08

Restructuring and restructuring-related net charges (credits) 146 0.10

Litigation-related net charges (credits) 261 0.18

Investment portfolio net losses (gains) (331) (0.23)

EU MDR implementation costs 25 0.02

Deferred tax expenses (benefits) 41 0.03

Discrete tax items 69 0.05

Adjusted net income (loss) available to common stockholders $ 1,378 $ 0.96

(3) For 2020, the effect of assuming the conversion of MCPS into shares of common stock was anti-dilutive, and therefore excluded from the calculation of EPS. Accordingly, GAAP Net loss and Adjusted net income were reduced by cumulative Preferred stock dividends, as presented in our consolidated statements of operations, for purposes of calculating GAAP Net loss available to common stockholders. We have assumed dilution of 13.8 million common stock equivalents related to employee stock options for all or a portion of the non-GAAP adjustments, which were anti-dilutive for GAAP purposes due to our Net loss position.

(in millions, except per share data) Earnings Impact per Share

Reported Net income (loss) $ 4,700 $ 3.33

Non-GAAP adjustments:

Intangible asset impairment charges 102 0.07

Acquisition/divestiture-related net charges (credits) 672 0.48

Restructuring and restructuring-related net charges (credits) 68 0.05

Litigation-related net charges (credits) 72 0.05

Investment portfolio net losses (gains) 3 0.00

EU MDR implementation costs 5 0.00

Debt extinguishment net charges (credits) 67 0.05

Deferred tax expenses (benefits) (4,102) (2.91)

Discrete tax items 18 0.01

Adjusted net income (loss) $ 2,234 1.58

Cash provided by operating activities was $1.508 billion in 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had total debt of $9.143 billion, Cash and cash equivalents of $1.734 billion and working capital of $3.013 billion. Refer to Liquidity and Capital Resources for further information.

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Business and Market Overview

The following section describes our results of operations by reportable segment and business unit. For additional information on our businesses and their product offerings, see Item 1. Business of this Annual Report.

MedSurg

Endoscopy

Our Endoscopy business develops and manufactures devices to diagnose and treat a broad range of gastrointestinal (GI) and pulmonary conditions with innovative, less invasive technologies. Our net sales of Endoscopy products of $1.780 billion represented 18 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Our Endoscopy net sales decreased $114 million, or 6.0 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This decrease included operational net sales declines of 6.3 percent and the positive impact of 30 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were primarily driven by declines in elective or semi-emergent upper endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic environment, partially offset by growth in our infection prevention franchise.

Urology and Pelvic Health

Our Urology and Pelvic Health business develops and manufactures devices to treat various urological and pelvic conditions for both male and female anatomies. Our net sales of Urology and Pelvic Health products of $1.286 billion represented 13 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Urology and Pelvic Health net sales decreased $127 million, or 9.0 percent on an as reported and operational basis in 2020, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were due primarily to a reduction in sales of our prosthetic urology and pelvic floor franchises which were negatively impacted by the COVID -19 pandemic given their elective or semi-emergent nature and the divestiture of our Intrauterine Health business in the second quarter of 2020. These decreases were partially offset by growth in our prostate health franchise.

Rhythm and Neuro

Cardiac Rhythm Management

Our Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) business develops and manufactures a variety of implantable devices that monitor the heart and deliver electricity to treat cardiac abnormalities. Our net sales of CRM products of $1.704 billion represented 17 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Our net sales of CRM products decreased $235 million, or 12.1 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This decrease included operational net sales declines of 12.4 percent and the positive impact of 20 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were driven by a decline in both defibrillator and pacemaker procedures due to the deferral of semi-emergent and emergent procedures in the COVID-19 pandemic environment.

Electrophysiology

Our Electrophysiology business develops and manufactures less-invasive medical technologies used in the diagnosis and treatment of rate and rhythm disorders of the heart. Our net sales of Electrophysiology products of $287 million represented three percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Our Electrophysiology net sales decreased $42 million, or 12.8 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This decrease included operational net sales declines of 13.5 percent and the positive impact of 80 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. Sales of our mapping and navigation products and our core diagnostic and therapeutic devices declined year over year due to the impact of COVID-19 and deferral of elective Electrophysiology procedures.

Neuromodulation

Our Neuromodulation business develops and manufactures devices to treat various neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain. Our net sales of Neuromodulation products of $761 million represented 8 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Neuromodulation net sales decreased $112 million, or 12.8 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This decrease included operational net sales declines of 13.0 percent and the positive impact of 10 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were primarily due to sales declines in our spinal cord stimulation (SCS) systems due to deferral of elective procedures in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. The unfavorable

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impact was partially offset by higher SuperionTM Indirect Decompression System sales, which was purchased as part of our Vertiflex acquisition in the second quarter of 2019, and deep brain stimulation (DBS) system sales.

Cardiovascular

Interventional Cardiology

Our Interventional Cardiology business develops and manufactures technologies for diagnosing and treating coronary artery disease and structural heart conditions. Our net sales of Interventional Cardiology products of $2.299 billion represented 23 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Our Interventional Cardiology net sales decreased $517 million, or 18.4 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This decrease included operational net sales declines of 18.2 percent and the negative impact of 10 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were primarily driven by our coronary stent and other complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) franchises, with a significant slowdown in procedural volumes in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. Within our structural heart business, sales of our WATCHMANTM Left Atrial Appendage Closure (LAAC) Device were also negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during the first half of 2020. They were further negatively impacted by $179 million in revenue reserves primarily related to our conversion to a consignment inventory model for our LAAC franchise with the launch of our next-generation WATCHMAN FLXTM Device in the U.S. This program to shift to a consignment model, whereby revenue will be recognized in the future as units are consumed by the customer, has now concluded. In the fourth quarter of 2020, we announced a voluntary recall of our LOTUS EdgeTM Aortic Value System and the discontinuation of our LOTUS program due to complexities associated with the product delivery system and given the additional time and investment required to develop and reintroduce an enhanced delivery system. We will instead focus our resources and efforts on the remainder of the portfolio and are encouraged by the successful launch of our ACURATE neo2 Aortic Valve System in Europe, initiated in the third quarter of 2020.

Peripheral Interventions

Our Peripheral Interventions business develops and manufactures products to diagnose and treat peripheral arterial and venous diseases, as well as products to diagnose, treat and ease various forms of cancer. In the third quarter of 2019, we completed the acquisition of BTG plc (BTG). We integrated BTG's Interventional Medicine (IM) portfolio into our Peripheral Interventions division, adding complementary technologies in the areas of venous disease and interventional oncology. Our net sales of Peripheral Interventions products of $1.577 billion represented 16 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. Our Peripheral Interventions net sales increased $185 million, or 13.3 percent, in 2020, as compared to 2019. This increase included operational net sales growth of 13.1 percent and the positive impact of 20 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. These year-over-year changes were primarily driven by the Interventional Oncology franchise, including our TheraSphereTM Y-90 radioactive glass microspheres acquired with BTG, as well as growth in our drug-eluting portfolio, including the EluviaTM Drug-Eluting Stent and RangerTM Drug-Coated Balloon. Excluding BTG for the period prior to mid-August 2020, for which there were no prior year net sales and the related divestiture of our drug-eluting and bland embolic microsphere portfolio, our Peripheral Interventions net sales decreased $35 million, or 2.5 percent, in 2020, compared to 2019, primarily due to the deferral of semi-emergent and elective procedures in the COVID-19 pandemic environment, notably impacting core peripheral technologies and stents.

Specialty Pharmaceuticals

Following the closing of our BTG acquisition, we have presented the Specialty Pharmaceuticals business as a standalone operating segment alongside our reportable segments. Our Specialty Pharmaceuticals business develops and manufactures acute care antidotes to treat overexposure to certain medications and toxins. These products are sold primarily in the U.S. through small, specialist sales teams and through commercial partners elsewhere, where approved or permitted. Our net sales of Specialty Pharmaceuticals products of $219 million represented 2 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020. On December 1, 2020, we announced the execution of a definitive agreement pursuant to which we agreed to sell our Specialty Pharmaceuticals business for a purchase price of $800 million, subject to certain adjustments, including cash on hand at the closing date of the transaction. The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

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Emerging Markets

As part of our strategic imperatives to drive global expansion, described in Item 1. Business of this Annual Report, we are seeking to grow net sales and market share by expanding our global presence, including in Emerging Markets. We define Emerging Markets as the 20 countries that we believe have strong growth potential based on their economic conditions, healthcare sectors and our global capabilities. We have increased our investment in infrastructure in these countries in order to maximize opportunities. Periodically, we assess our list of Emerging Markets which is currently comprised of the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Our Emerging Markets net sales represented 11 percent of our consolidated net sales in 2020 and 12 percent in 2019. In 2020, our Emerging Markets net sales declined 12.7 percent on a reported basis including operational net sales declines of 9.2 percent and the negative impact of 350 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations, as compared to 2019. The decline in 2020 was largely driven by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our sales in Brazil, India and China. In addition, during 2020, our net sales in China were negatively impacted by recent national tenders driving down prices for drug-eluting stent products, including the impact of customer price concessions and inventory repurchases associated with business model changes. Our future net sales in Emerging Markets may continue to be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as geopolitical and economic instability and a number of other factors.

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Results of Operations

Net Sales

The following table provides our net sales by business and the relative change in growth on a reported basis:

Specialty Pharmaceuticals 219 81 n/a n/a n/a

Refer to Executive Summary for further discussion of our net sales and a comparison of our 2020 and 2019 net sales.

In 2019, we generated net sales of $10.735 billion, as compared to $9.823 billion in 2018. This increase of $912 million, or 9.3 percent, included operational growth of 11.1 percent and the negative impact of 180 basis points from foreign currency fluctuations. Operational net sales included approximately $378 million in 2019 associated with the acquisitions of NxThera, Inc. (NxThera) in the second quarter of 2018, Claret Medical, Inc. (Claret) in the third quarter of 2018, Augmenix, Inc. (Augmenix) in the fourth quarter of 2018, Vertiflex in the second quarter of 2019, and BTG in the third quarter of 2019, each with less than a full year of prior period related net sales.

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Gross Profit

Our gross profit was $6.448 billion in 2020 and $7.620 billion in 2019. As a percentage of net sales, our gross profit decreased to 65.0 percent in 2020, as compared to 71.0 percent in 2019. The following is a rollforward of our gross profit margins and a description of the drivers of the change from period to period:

Gross Profit Margin

Manufacturing cost reductions 0.8%

Sales pricing and mix (0.6)%

Inventory step-up amortization (0.4)%

Net impact of foreign currency fluctuations 0.7%

All other, including other period expense (0.8)%

Manufacturing cost reductions 0.6%

Sales pricing and mix (1.4)%

Abnormal production variances (1.5)%

WATCHMAN FLXTM transition (0.5)%

LOTUS EdgeTM discontinuation (1.2)%

Inventory step-up amortization (0.6)%

Net impact of foreign currency fluctuations 0.2%

All other, including other period expense (1.6)%

A significant factor contributing to the decrease in our gross profit margin for 2020 as compared to 2019 was manufacturing costs of $149 million associated with abnormally low production levels resulting from plant shutdowns and reduced operations. In addition, we recorded $119 million of inventory charges associated with the global, voluntary recall of all unused inventory of our LOTUS EdgeTM Aortic Valve System and discontinuation of the LOTUS platform. Our gross margin was further negatively impacted in 2020 due to our conversion to a consignment inventory model for our LAAC franchise with the launch of our next-generation WATCHMAN FLXTM Device. In addition, the unfavorable product mix due to the deferral of procedures using higher-margin products, price declines related primarily to sales of our coronary drug-eluting stent products, excess and obsolete inventory charges due to lower forecasted demand for certain of our products as well as the amortization of the inventory fair value step up recorded in connection with our acquisition of BTG contributed to a decrease in gross margin. These decreases were partially offset by manufacturing cost reductions driven by our process improvement programs in each period as well as favorable foreign currency fluctuations.

The primary factors contributing to the decrease in our gross profit margin for 2019 as compared to 2018 were the negative impacts of pricing declines related primarily to sales of our coronary drug-eluting stent products, as well as increased levels of scrap associated with recently launched products and excess and obsolete inventory. In addition, in connection with our recent acquisitions, we adjusted acquired inventory from manufacturing cost to fair value. The step-up in value is amortized through gross profit over an average estimated inventory turnover period. In 2019, we recorded increased cost of $46 million associated with these step-ups. This was partially offset by manufacturing cost reductions driven by our process improvement programs as well as favorable foreign currency fluctuations.

EU MDR Implementation Costs

The European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) is a replacement of the existing European Medical Devices Directive (MDD) regulatory framework, and manufacturers of medical devices are required to comply with EU MDR beginning in May 2021 (previously May 2020) for new product registrations and by May 2024 for medical devices which have a valid CE Certificate to the current Directives (issued before May 2021).

We consider the adoption of EU MDR to be a significant change to a regulatory framework, and therefore, certain incremental costs specific to complying with EU MDR for previously registered products are not considered to be ordinary course expenditures in connection with regulatory matters. As such, certain of these costs are excluded from management's assessment of operating performance and from our operating segments' measures of profit and loss used for making operating decisions and

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assessing performance. We began our implementation efforts in late-2019 and incurred associated expenses of $51 million in 2020. We expect to incur total expenses of approximately $150 million to $200 million over the four year implementation period, which will be recorded primarily within Cost of products sold.

Operating Expenses

The following table provides a summary of certain of our operating expenses:

Year Ended December 31,

(in millions) $ % of Net Sales $ % of Net Sales $ % of Net Sales

Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) Expenses

In 2020, our SG&A expenses decreased $154 million, or 4 percent, as compared to 2019 and were 150 basis points higher as a percentage of net sales. The decrease in SG&A expenses was due primarily to our efforts to reduce expenditures to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our results of operations. We implemented several cost reduction initiatives, including decreases in travel, meetings and customer events, hiring and other variable spending. We also implemented a temporary four-day work week for many employees globally and reduced employee compensation, including temporary significant cuts in the salaries of our executive officers and the cash retainer paid to our Board of Directors. For non-executive officer employees, in those jurisdictions where temporary four-day work weeks and reductions in employee compensation were in effect, those measures concluded at the beginning of the third quarter. We also announced the end of the aforementioned reductions in executive officer pay and further announced that a portion of the annual cash retainer for our Board of Directors would be restored, beginning with a payment made during the fourth quarter of 2020.

In 2019, our SG&A expenses increased $371 million, or 10 percent, as compared to 2018 and were 40 basis points higher as a percentage of net sales. This increase in SG&A expenses as a percentage of net sales was primarily due to acquisition-related charges primarily associated with our acquisition and integration of BTG, partially offset by savings from ongoing cost optimization initiatives. These increased SG&A expenses were also partially offset by a $25 million net gain recorded in the first quarter primarily associated with a portion of a litigation settlement with Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (Edwards). For further details regarding the presentation of the Edwards litigation settlement see Litigation-related net charges (credits) below.

Research and Development (R&D) Expenses

We remain committed to advancing medical technologies and investing in meaningful research and development projects across our businesses. In 2020, our R&D expenses decreased $31 million, or 3 percent, as compared to 2019, and were 60 basis points higher as a percentage of net sales. We expect to continue to make investments across our businesses in order to maintain a pipeline of new products that we believe will contribute to profitable sales growth.

In 2019, our R&D expenses increased $61 million, or 6 percent, as compared to 2018, and were 40 basis points lower as a percentage of sales as a result of investments across our businesses.

Royalty Expense

In 2020, our Royalty expense decreased $20 million, or 31 percent, as compared to 2019 and was 10 basis points lower as a percentage of net sales and relates primarily to the expiration of certain royalty agreements.

In 2019, our Royalty expense decreased $5 million, or 7 percent, as compared to 2018 and was 10 basis points lower as a percentage of net sales. The decrease in Royalty expense in 2019, as compared to 2018, relates primarily to contractual reductions in royalty rates associated with certain products.

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Other Operating Expenses

The following table provides a summary of certain of our other operating expenses, which are excluded by management for purposes of evaluating operating performance, refer to Additional Information for a further description of certain operating expenses:

Year Ended December 31,

Goodwill impairment charges 73 — —

Intangible asset impairment charges 460 105 35

Contingent consideration net expense (benefit) (100) (35) (21)

Restructuring net charges (credits) 52 38 36

Litigation-related net charges (credits) 278 115 103

Amortization Expense

In 2020, our Amortization expense increased $90 million, or 13 percent, as compared to 2019. In 2019, our Amortization expense increased $101 million, or 17 percent, as compared to 2018. The increases in each period were driven by an increase in the balance of amortizable intangible assets due to recent acquisitions, including BTG.

Goodwill Impairment Charges

In 2020, we recorded Goodwill impairment charges of $73 million related to the execution of a definitive agreement to sell our Specialty Pharmaceuticals business. We did not record any Goodwill impairment charges in 2019 or 2018. Refer to Note A – Significant Accounting Policies to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional information and Critical Accounting Estimates for a discussion of key assumptions used in our goodwill impairment testing and future events that could have a negative impact on the recoverability of our goodwill.

Intangible Asset Impairment Charges

In 2020, our Intangible asset impairment charges were $460 million, primarily associated with our acquisitions of Apama Medical Inc. and nVision Medical Corporation (nVision) following management’s decision to cancel the programs due to cost to complete, time to market, overall economic viability or, specific to nVision, our understanding of the clinical evidence necessary to commercialize the technology. Intangible asset impairment charges in 2020 also included charges related to our acquisition of Sadra Medical, Inc. (Sadra Medical) as a result of lower sales forecasts, as well as the cost of quality remediation efforts following the voluntary recall of our LOTUS EdgeTM Aortic Valve System and subsequent discontinuation of the LOTUS platform.

Refer to Critical Accounting Estimates for a discussion of key assumptions used in our intangible asset impairment testing and future events that could have a negative impact on the recoverability of our intangible assets.

Contingent Consideration Net Expense (Benefit)

The $100 million benefit recorded in 2020 related to a reduction in the contingent consideration liability for certain prior acquisitions for which we reduced the probability of achievement of associated revenue and/or regulatory milestones upon which payment is conditioned, or in the case of nVision, for milestones that would not be achieved due to discontinuation of the R&D program. In 2019 and 2018, we recorded net benefits related to the change in fair value of our contingent consideration liability. Refer to Note B – Acquisitions and Strategic Investments to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional details related to our contingent consideration arrangements.

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Restructuring Net Charges (Credits)

In June 2016, our Board of Directors approved, and we committed to a restructuring initiative (the 2016 Restructuring Plan), which was initiated in the second quarter of 2016 and substantially completed in 2019. The 2016 Restructuring Plan resulted in total pre-tax charges of $271 million and approximately $255 million in cash outlays.

In addition, in November 2018, our Board of Directors approved, and we committed to, a new global restructuring program (the 2019 Restructuring Plan). The 2019 Restructuring Plan, for which our Board of Directors approved an expansion in February 2021, is expected to result in total pre-tax charges of approximately $375 million to $475 million and approximately $340 million to $440 million of these charges are expected to result in cash outlays. A substantial portion of the savings are being reinvested in strategic growth initiatives.

Total restructuring and restructuring-related net charges pursuant to these programs were $116 million in 2020, $82 million in 2019 and $96 million in 2018. In addition, on November 17, 2020, we announced a global, voluntary recall of all unused inventory of our LOTUS EdgeTM Aortic Valve System, and our decision to retire the entire LOTUS platform. We estimate the decision will result in total pre-tax restructuring and restructuring-related net charges of approximately $80 million to $90 million, which includes $30 million to $40 million of estimated charges expected to result in future cash outlays. We recorded $55 million of restructuring and restructuring-related net charges associated with the product discontinuation in 2020, and expect the remaining activity to be substantially complete during early 2021. See Note H – Restructuring-related Activities to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional details on our restructuring plans.

Litigation-related Net Charges (Credits)

We recorded litigation-related net charges of $278 million in 2020, primarily related to transvaginal mesh products, inclusive of a reserve related to claims made by a coalition of state attorneys general.

We recorded litigation-related net charges of $115 million in 2019, which included a net charge of $223 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily related to litigation with Channel Medsystems, Inc. (Channel), net charges of $25 million in the third quarter of 2019 and $15 million in the second quarter of 2019, primarily related to transvaginal surgical mesh product liability litigation, and a gain of $148 million recorded in the first quarter of 2019, which represents a portion of the total $180 million one-time settlement payment received from Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (Edwards) in January 2019. We record certain legal and product liability charges, credits and costs of defense, which we consider to be unusual or infrequent and significant as Litigation-related net charges (credits) in our consolidated financial statements. All other legal and product liability charges, credits and costs are recorded within SG&A expenses. As such, a portion of the related gain from the Edwards settlement was recorded in SG&A expenses in our consolidated statements of operations.

We continue to assess certain litigation and claims to determine the amounts, if any, that management believes will be paid as a result of such claims and litigation, and therefore, additional losses may be accrued and paid in the future, which could materially adversely impact our operating results, cash flows and/or our ability to comply with the financial covenant required by our credit agreements. Refer to Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional discussion of our material legal proceedings.

Interest Expense

The following table provides a summary of our Interest expense and average borrowing rate:

(in millions) Year Ended December 31,

Weighted average borrowing rate 3.6 % 4.8 % 3.6 %

Interest expense and our average borrowing rate decreased in 2020, as compared to 2019, primarily due to our euro-denominated senior notes offering in November 2019, which carry lower interest rates than the senior notes we partially repaid with proceeds from the offering. In 2019, we incurred debt extinguishment charges of $86 million presented in Interest expense in our consolidated statements of operations associated with repayments of debt using proceeds from our November 2019 offering.

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Refer to Liquidity and Capital Resources in this Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operationsand Note E – Hedging Activities and Fair Value Measurements and Note F – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for information regarding our debt obligations.

Other, net

The following are the components of Other, net:

Year Ended December 31,

Interest income $ 3 $ 30 $ 3

Net foreign currency gain (loss) (32) (358) 11

Net gains (losses) on investments 383 (30) 155

Other income (expense), net 7 (1) (14)

In 2020, we recorded a $363 million gain on our investment in Pulmonx Corporation presented in Other, net to remeasure to fair value based on observable market prices. Certain gains and losses associated with our investment portfolio are included in Investment portfolio net losses (gains) presented in the reconciliation of our results of operations prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP to those adjusted results considered by management. Refer to Financial Summary for the reconciliation and Additional Information for a discussion of management's use of non-GAAP financial measures.

In 2019, we settled all outstanding non-designated forward currency contracts that we entered into for the purpose of managing our exposure to currency exchange rate risk related to the British pound sterling-denominated purchase price of BTG. We recognized a $323 million loss in Other, net due to changes in fair value of the contracts. These amounts are included in Acquisition/divestiture-related net charges (credits) presented in the reconciliation of our results of operations prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP to those adjusted results considered by management. Refer to Financial Summary for the reconciliation and Additional Information for a discussion of management's use of non-GAAP financial measures.

Tax Rate

The following table provides a summary of our reported tax rate:

Year Ended December 31,

Impact of certain receipts/charges(1) 8.3 % 594.2 % 30.7 %

(1) These receipts/charges are taxed at different rates than our effective tax rate.

The change in our reported tax rate for 2020, as compared to 2019, relates primarily to the deferred tax benefit of intra-entity transfers of intellectual property rights realized in 2019, as well as a shift in geographical mix of earnings to higher-tax jurisdictions. This is partially offset by the impact of certain receipts and charges that are taxed at different rates than our effective tax rate. These receipts and charges include goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges, acquisition/divestiture-related net charges, restructuring and restructuring-related net charges, litigation-related net charges, as well as certain discrete tax items primarily related to the resolution of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit, as explained below, tax windfall benefits associated with share-based payments, and impacts of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted on March 27, 2020.

The change in our reported tax rate for 2019, as compared to 2018, relates primarily to the deferred tax benefit of intra-entity transfers of intellectual property rights partially offset by increased current tax expense related to the U.S. taxation of current foreign earnings.

In the second quarter of 2018, a decision was entered by the U.S. Tax Court resolving all disputes for Guidant Corporation for its 2001 through 2006 tax years and our 2006 and 2007 tax years as well as the tax issues related to our 2006 transaction with Abbott Laboratories. Additionally, we resolved all issues with the IRS Office of Appeals for our 2008 through 2010 tax years. The final settlement calculation resulted in a final net tax payment of $303 million plus $307 million of estimated interest,

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which was remitted in the second quarter of 2018. Due to the final settlement of these disputes, we recorded a net tax benefit of $250 million in 2018 to remove a reserve related to these years.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, we received a Revenue Agent Report (RAR) from the IRS for our 2011 through 2013 tax years. We remitted $93 million to the IRS in the fourth quarter of 2018 reflecting the net balance of tax and interest due for these years after consideration of amounts owed to us by the IRS. Due to the resolution of these tax years, we recorded a net tax benefit of $90 million to remove a reserve related to these years.

In the third quarter of 2020, we received notification from the IRS regarding the examination of our 2014 through 2016 tax years stating that the Joint Committee on Taxation completed its review on July 21, 2020, and the IRS examination was resolved. Due to the resolution of these tax years, we recorded a net tax benefit of $91 million in the third quarter of 2020 to release the reserves related to these years. We received a refund of $62 million from the IRS in the fourth quarter of 2020 reflecting the net balance of amounts owed to us by the IRS after consideration of tax and interest due for these years.

Economic stimulus legislation has been enacted in many countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., the CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and provided an estimated $2.2 trillion in COVID-19 pandemic related relief, and included tax relief and government loans, subsidies and other relief for entities in affected industries. While we have not applied for government loans, we have taken advantage of the benefits offered in multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S. provision allowing taxpayers to defer payment of the employer portion of certain payroll taxes through the end of 2020. This allowed us to preserve cash generated from operations to service our debt obligations and other near-term commitments.

See Note J – Income Taxes to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional details on our tax rate.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Based on our current business plan, we believe our existing balance of Cash and cash equivalents, future cash generated from operations, access to capital markets and existing credit facilities will be sufficient to fund our operations, invest in our infrastructure, pay our legal-related liabilities, pay taxes due and service and repay our existing debt for at least the next 12 months. Please refer to Contractual Obligations and Commitments below for additional details on our future payment obligations and commitments.

Due to the uncertainty of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, we took proactive steps to reduce costs and ensure we are in a strong position to support customers and patients as healthcare systems recover and elective and semi-emergent procedures resume. These actions included taking steps to manage outstanding borrowings and increase available liquidity, preemptively amending our financial covenant requirement for our outstanding credit arrangements, implementing significant cost reductions as described above in COVID-19 Pandemic and slowing planned capital expenditures. We also created a cross-functional strategic cash management team to take appropriate actions to ensure we continue to optimize funds to execute our core mission.

In May 2020, we completed an offering of $1.700 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior notes and used the net proceeds to prepay $1.250 billion of amounts outstanding under our February 2021 and April 2021 Term Loan and pay related fees, expenses and premiums, as well as to refinance $450 million of amounts outstanding under our Revolving Credit Facility. We now have full access to the $2.750 billion of available liquidity under our Revolving Credit Facility. In May 2020, we also completed public equity offerings of our preferred stock and common stock, as discussed below, and used a portion of the combined net proceeds to repay in full the remaining amounts outstanding under the April 2021 Term Loan. During the third quarter of 2020, we made a further prepayment of the remaining $250 million outstanding under our February 2021 Term Loan.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, we redeemed $250 million of our $500 million 3.375% senior notes due 2022 (May 2022 Notes) at a redemption price calculated in accordance with the terms of the May 2022 Notes and its indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest through, but excluding, the date of redemption. Also in the fourth quarter of 2020, we repurchased approximately 15.7 million shares of our common stock pursuant to the 2013 share repurchase program for a total of approximately $535 million in cash, which represented the full amount remaining under that authorization. Refer to Equity for additional information below.

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As of December 31, 2020, we had $1.734 billion of unrestricted Cash and cash equivalents on hand, comprised of $1.584 billion invested in money market funds and time deposits and $150 million in interest bearing and non-interest-bearing bank accounts. We invest excess cash on hand in short-term financial instruments that earn at market interest rates while mitigating principal risk through instrument and counterparty diversification, as well as what we believe to be prudent instrument selection. We limit our direct exposure to securities in any one industry or issuer. As of December 31, 2020, we had no commercial paper debt outstanding, resulting in an additional $2.750 billion of available liquidity.

For additional details related to our debt obligations, including our financial covenant requirement, refer to Note F – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The following provides a summary and description of our net cash inflows (outflows):

Year Ended December 31,

Cash provided by (used for) operating activities $ 1,508 $ 1,836 $ 310

Cash provided by (used for) investing activities (411) (5,041) (1,921)

Cash provided by (used for) financing activities 293 2,973 1,432

Operating Activities

In 2020, cash provided by operating activities decreased $328 million, as compared to 2019. This decrease was primarily due to revenue declines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by implementation of spend controls. In addition, included in 2020 was a settlement payment related to litigation with Channel, whereas 2019 included a litigation-related receipt of $180 million from Edwards.

Investing Activities

In 2020, cash used for investing activities primarily included Purchases of property, plant and equipment of $376 million, Payments for investments and acquisitions of certain technologies of $146 million, partially offset by Proceeds from royalty rights of $87 million.

In 2019, cash used for investing activities primarily included Payments for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired of $4.382 billion relating to our acquisitions of BTG, Vertiflex and Millipede, Purchases of property, plant and equipment of $461 million, Payments for investments and acquisitions of certain technologies of $149 million, partially offset by Proceeds from divestiture of certain businesses of $90 million relating to the sale of our drug-eluting and bland embolic microsphere portfolio to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (Varian) in connection with our acquisition of BTG. Cash used for investing activities also included Payments for settlements of hedge contracts of $199 million, of which $95 million relates to the termination and settlement of our outstanding forward currency contracts designated as net investment hedges in our Euro-denominated entities and $294 million relates to the settlement of our non-designated forward currency contracts entered into for the purpose of managing our exposure to currency exchange rate risk related to the British-pound sterling (GBP) denominated purchase price of BTG. Refer to Note E – Hedging Activities and Fair Value Measurements consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Reportfor further information.

Financing Activities

Our cash flows provided by financing activities reflect issuances and repayments of debt, including our senior notes, term loans, commercial paper program and Revolving Credit Facility as well as net proceeds from issuances of our common stock and preferred stock in connection with public offerings, Payments for repurchase of common stock and Proceeds from issuances of shares of common stock pursuant to employee stock compensation and purchase plans as discussed in Note L – Stockholders' Equity to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report.

In addition, our financing activities included Payment of contingent consideration previously established in purchase accounting of $49 million in 2020, $66 million in 2019 and $19 million in 2018 and Payments for royalty rights of $97 million in 2020 and $69 million in 2019. In 2019, we also sold our rights to future royalties associated with the ZytigaTM Drug for $256 million in cash presented within Proceeds from royalty rights transfer.

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Our liquidity plans are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those described in Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report, some of which are outside our control. Macroeconomic conditions, adverse tax and litigation matter outcomes and other risks and uncertainties could limit our ability to successfully execute our business plans and adversely affect our liquidity plans.

Debt

The following table presents the current and long-term portions of our total debt:

As of

Current debt obligations $ 13 $ 1,416

The following table presents the portions of our total debt that are comprised of fixed and variable rate debt instruments, which are presented on an amortized cost basis:

As of

Fixed-rate debt instruments $ 9,123 $ 7,587

Variable rate debt instruments 20 2,421

As of and through December 31, 2020, we were in compliance with the financial covenant required by our credit facilities described above. For additional details related to our debt obligations, including our financial covenant requirements, refer to Note F – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report.

Equity

On May 27, 2020, we completed an offering of 10,062,500 shares of 5.50% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A (MCPS) at a price to the public and liquidation preference of $100 per share. The net proceeds from the MCPS offering were approximately $975 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses. On May 27, 2020, we also completed an offering of 29,382,500 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $34.25 per share. The net proceeds from the common stock offering were approximately $975 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.

In addition, during 2020 we received $111 million in proceeds from stock issuances related to our stock option and employee stock purchase plans, as compared to $123 million in 2019. Proceeds from the exercise of employee stock options and employee stock purchases vary from period to period based upon, among other factors, fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock and in the exercise and stock purchase patterns of employees. Stock-based compensation expense related to our stock ownership plans was $170 million in 2020 and $157 million in 2019. Stock-based compensation expense varies from period to period based upon, among other factors, the timing, number and fair value of awards granted during the period, forfeiture levels related to unvested awards and employee contributions to our employee stock purchase plan, as well as the retirement eligibility of stock award recipients.

On January 25, 2013, our Board of Directors approved and on January 29, 2013, we announced a program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.000 billion of our common stock (2013 share repurchase program). In the fourth quarter of 2020, we repurchased approximately 15.7 million shares of our common stock pursuant to the 2013 share repurchase program for a total of approximately $535 million in cash, which represented the full amount remaining under that authorization.

On December 14, 2020, our Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.000 billion of our common stock (2020 share repurchase program). As of December 31, 2020, we had the full amount remaining available under the 2020 share repurchase program.

We did not repurchase any shares of our common stock during 2019. There were approximately 263 million shares in treasury as of December 31, 2020 and 248 million shares in treasury as of December 31, 2019.

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Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following table provides a summary of certain information concerning our obligations and commitments to make future payments and is based on conditions in existence as of December 31, 2020:

License and software commitments(2) 2 2 2 2 2 — 11

Legal reserves 505 — — — — — 505

(1) Debt obligations are comprised of our senior notes outstanding as of December 31, 2020. This does not include unamortized debt issuance discounts, deferred financing costs and gain on fair value hedges or capital lease obligations. Refer to Note F – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional information.

(2) In accordance with U.S. GAAP, these obligations relate to expenses associated with future periods and are not reflected in our consolidated balance sheets. Interest payments included above are calculated based on rates and required fees applicable to our outstanding debt obligations as of December 31, 2020 described in Note F – Contractual Obligations and Commitments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report. Interest payments above do not include interest on variable rate debt instruments.

The amounts in the table above with respect to purchase obligations relate primarily to non-cancellable inventory commitments and capital expenditures entered in the normal course of business. Royalty obligations reported above represent minimum contractual obligations under our current royalty agreements.

The table above does not include:

•Our long-term liability for legal matters that are probable and estimable of $64 million due to the timing of payment being uncertain. Refer to Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for more information,

•Any future obligations to make payments of contingent consideration pursuant to certain of our acquisition agreements, due to the exact amount and timing of payments being uncertain. Refer to Note B – Acquisitions and Strategic Investments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for more information,

•Adjustments to increase our estimated one-time transition tax totaling $97 million, which are pending review by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and unrecognized tax benefits, accrued interest and penalties and other related items totaling $159 million because the timing of their future cash settlement is uncertain. Refer to Note J – Income Taxes to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for more information,

•With certain of our acquisitions, we acquired IPR&D projects that require future funding to complete. We estimate that the total remaining cost to complete acquired IPR&D projects is between $130 million and $140 million. Net cash inflows from the projects currently in development are expected to continue through 2038, following the respective launches of these technologies in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Certain of our acquisitions also involve the potential payment of contingent consideration, but the timing and amounts are uncertain. See Note B – Acquisitions and Strategic Investments to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for more information,

•Holders of our MCPS will be entitled to receive, when, as and if declared by our Board of Directors, or an authorized committee thereof, out of funds legally available for payment, cumulative dividends at the annual rate of 5.50% of the liquidation preference of $100 per share, payable in cash or, subject to certain limitations, by delivery of shares of

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common stock or any combination of cash and shares of common stock, at our election; provided, however, that any unpaid dividends on the MCPS will continue to accumulate as described in the Certificate of Designations, and

•On January 21, 2021, we announced our entrance into a definitive agreement to acquire Preventice Solutions, Inc. (Preventice). We have been an investor in Preventice since 2015 and currently hold an equity stake of approximately 22 percent. The transaction price to acquire the remaining stake is expected to result in a net cash payment of approximately $720 million upon closing and up to an additional $230 million payment upon achievement of a commercial milestone. The acquisition is expected to close during the first half of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Legal Matters

For a discussion of our material legal proceedings see Note K – Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our financial results are affected by the selection and application of accounting policies and methods. We have adopted accounting policies to prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP.

To prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, management makes estimates and assumptions that may affect the reported amounts of our assets and liabilities, including our contingent liabilities, as of the date of our financial statements and the reported amounts of our revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Our actual results may differ from these estimates. We consider estimates to be critical (i) if we are required to make assumptions about material matters that are uncertain at the time of estimation or (ii) if materially different estimates could have been made or it is reasonably likely that the accounting estimate will change from period to period. The following are areas considered to be critical and require management’s judgment: Revenue Recognition, Bad Debt Reserves, Inventory Provisions, Valuation of Intangible Assets and Contingent Consideration Liability, Goodwill Valuation, Legal and Product Liability Accruals and Income Taxes.

See Note A – Significant Accounting Policies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report for additional information related to our accounting policies and our consideration of these critical accounting areas. In addition, see Note B – Acquisitions and Strategic Investments and Note D – Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets for further discussion of the valuation of goodwill and intangible assets and contingent consideration, Note J – Income Taxes for further discussion of income tax related matters, Note K – Commitments and Contingencies for further discussion of legal and product liability matters and Note P – Revenue for further discussion of revenue recognition.

Revenue Recognition

Deferred Revenue

We record a contract liability, or deferred revenue, when we have an obligation to provide a product or service to the customer and payment is received or due in advance of our performance. When we sell a device with a future service obligation, we defer revenue on the unfulfilled performance obligation and recognize this revenue over the related service period. Generally, we do not have observable evidence of the standalone selling price related to our future service obligations; therefore, we estimate the selling price using an expected cost plus a margin approach. We allocate the transaction price using the relative standalone selling price method. The use of alternative estimates could result in a different amount of revenue deferral.

Our contractual liabilities are primarily composed of deferred revenue related to the LATITUDETM Patient Management System, within our Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) business. Revenue is recognized over the average service period which is based on device and patient longevity. Our contractual liabilities also include deferred revenue related to the LUX-DxTM Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) system, also within our CRM business, for which revenue is recognized over the average service period based on device longevity and usage. The use of alternative assumptions could impact the period over which revenue is recognized.

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Variable Consideration

We generally allow our customers to return defective, damaged and, in certain cases, expired products for credit. We base our estimate for sales returns upon historical trends and record the amount as a reduction to revenue when we sell the initial product. In addition, we may allow customers to return previously purchased products for next-generation product offerings. For these transactions, we defer recognition of revenue on the sale of the earlier generation product based upon an estimate of the amount of product to be returned when the next-generation products are shipped to the customer. Uncertain timing of next-generation product approvals, variability in product launch strategies, product recalls and variation in product utilization all affect our estimates related to sales returns and could cause actual returns to differ from these estimates.