Item 1A. Risk Factors
An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations and that could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations are summarized and set forth in detail below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of these risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Under these circumstances, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Further, additional risks not currently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial also may impair our business, operations, liquidity and stock price materially and adversely. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties summarized and set forth in detail below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before you decide to invest in our common stock.
Summary of Risk Factors
We are providing the following summary of the risk factors contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to enhance the readability and accessibility of our risk factor disclosures. This summary does not address all the risks that we face. We encourage you to carefully review the full risk factors contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K in their entirety for additional information regarding the material factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. The primary categories by which we classify risks include those related to: (i) our business, (ii) cybersecurity, reliability and data privacy, (iii) intellectual property, (iv) macroeconomic conditions, (v) financial matters, (vi) regulatory and legal matters, (vii) our Separation from our Former Parent, and (viii) ownership of our common stock. Set forth below within each of these categories is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky.
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
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our ability to develop and timely deliver innovative technologies and services;
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the highly competitive nature of our industry;
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our relatively new monetization strategy may not be successful;
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our ability to develop, maintain, and expand key relationships with TV OEMs and content publishers;
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our ability to manage our disparate business operations efficiently;
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our ability to generate revenues from royalty-based and advertising-based revenue models;
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licensees delaying, refusing or being unable to make payments to us due to financial difficulties or otherwise;
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the difficulty of verifying royalty amounts owed to us under our licensing agreements;
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attracting and retaining the qualified and skilled employees needed to support our business;
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competition in the provision of entertainment offerings involving the distribution of digital content provided by third-party application and content providers through broadband;
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our ability to successfully execute acquisitions and divestitures;
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our ability to maintain enough content released in the DTS audio format;
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the sufficiency of demand for our Connected Car technologies to sustain projected growth;
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our ability to penetrate the streaming and downloadable content delivery markets;
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the interoperability of our technologies with consumer hardware devices;
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our ability to adequately manage our increasingly complex distribution agreements;
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investments in new products and services achieving technological feasibility or profitability;
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errors, defects, or unintended performance problems that could render our products or services inoperable;
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our dependence on the cooperation of third parties for the provision and delivery of our metadata;
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our reliance on third parties to design, manufacture, distribute and supply hardware devices upon which our TiVo software and services operate;
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our ability to forecast inventory levels;
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the time and expense of qualifying, certifying and supporting our technologies, products and services;
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our ability to expand our international sales and operations;
Risks Related to Cybersecurity, Reliability, and Data Privacy
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cybersecurity and stability risks, information technology system failures, and security breaches;
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legal obligations and potential liability or reputational harm related to our collection, storage, and use of personal and confidential information;
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
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intellectual property infringement claims and litigation resulting in significant costs or the loss of important intellectual property rights;
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failure or inability to protect or enforce our intellectual property or proprietary rights;
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failure to protect our brand from third-party infringement or increase our brand awareness;
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our use of open source software;
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our agreements to indemnify certain of our partners if our technology is alleged to infringe on third parties’ intellectual property rights;
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governmental and industry standards that may significantly limit our business opportunities;
Risks Related to Macroeconomic Conditions
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the impact of macroeconomic conditions, natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, or other natural or man-made catastrophic events on our business;
Risks Related to Financial Matters
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the impairment of our goodwill and other intangible assets;
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changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional tax assessments;
Risks Related to Regulatory and Legal Matters
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enactment of or changes to government regulation or laws related to our business;
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U.S. or international rules (or the absence of rules) that permit internet access network operators to degrade users’ internet service speeds or limit internet data consumption by users;
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liability for content that is distributed through or advertising that is served through our media platform;
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compliance with broadcast laws and regulations;
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compliance with anti-corruption or bribery laws;
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our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;
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compliance with laws and regulations related to the payment of income taxes and collection of indirect taxes;
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changes to U.S. or foreign taxation laws or regulations;
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litigation, claims, regulatory inquiries, investigations, and other legal proceedings;
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evolving state and federal laws and regulations relating to our advertising, marketing and sales directly to consumers;
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lack of regulations relating to the compatibility between cable systems and CE equipment;
Risks Related to the Separation
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our ability to achieve some or all of the benefits that we expect to achieve from our Separation;
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failure of the Distribution to qualify for non-recognition treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
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indemnification liability if the Distribution and other related transactions are taxable to our Former Parent;
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continuing contingent tax-related liabilities of our Former Parent;
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adjustments of our tax accounts if our Former Parent utilizes certain pre-Separation tax attributes;
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restrictions that we agreed to in order to preserve the tax-free treatment of the Distribution;
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the unreliability of combined historical financial information as an indicator of future results as a standalone company;
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our ability to enjoy the same benefits of diversity, leverage and market reputation as a standalone company;
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our indemnification obligations to our Former Parent for certain liabilities, and our Former Parent’s ability to satisfy its indemnification obligations to us;
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potential liabilities arising out of state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws and legal distribution requirements;
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competition from our Former Parent;
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our ability to achieve contractual terms from unaffiliated third parties;
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
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uncertainty that an active trading market for our common stock will be sustained;
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our inability to guarantee the timing, amount or payment of dividends, if any, on our common stock in the future;
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dilution of a stockholder’s percentage of ownership in us in the future;
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provisions in our charter and bylaws and in the Tax Matters Agreement that may prevent or delay an acquisition of us;
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the limitations resulting from our selection of the Delaware Court of Chancery and the U.S. federal district courts as the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders; and
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the limitations resulting from our status as an emerging growth company.
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Risks Relating to Our Business Operations
We may not be able to develop and timely deliver innovative technologies and services in response to changes in our markets and industries.
The markets for our products, services and technologies are characterized by an increasingly competitive landscape, rapid change and technological evolution and obsolescence, new and improved product introduction, changing consumer demand, and evolving industry standards. We will need to continue to expend considerable resources on research and development in the future in order to continue to design, deliver and enhance innovative media, entertainment, audio, and machine learning products, services and technologies. The development of enhanced and new technologies, products, and services is a complex, costly and uncertain process requiring high levels of innovation, highly skilled engineering and development personnel, and the accurate anticipation of technological and market trends. For example, we recently announced new design wins for TiVo OS, our embedded operating system, and DTS AutoStage video service Powered by TiVo, our in-car video service. If we fail to timely and successfully deliver these products to our customers, our future growth and profitability may be negatively impacted. Despite our efforts, we:
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may not receive significant revenue from our current research and development efforts for several years, if at all;
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cannot ensure that the level of funding and significant resources we are committing for investments in new products, services and technologies will be sufficient or result in successful new products, services or technologies;
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cannot ensure that any new products or services that we develop will achieve market acceptance;
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cannot ensure that these new products, services or technologies will be as profitable as expected, if at all, even if we achieve market acceptance;
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cannot ensure that our newly developed products, services or technologies can be successfully protected as proprietary intellectual property rights or will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others;
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cannot prevent our products, services and technologies from becoming obsolete due to rapid advancements in technology and changes in consumer preferences;
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cannot ensure that revenue from new products, services or technologies will offset any decline in revenue from our products, services and technologies which may become obsolete;
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cannot ensure that our competitors and/or potential customers will not develop products, services or technologies similar to those developed by us, resulting in a reduction in the potential demand for our newly developed products, services or technologies; and
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may not correctly identify new or changing market trends at an early enough stage to capitalize on market opportunities.
Furthermore, the decision by a party dominant in the value chain to provide competing technologies at very low or no cost, or to offer additional incentives such as marketing spend commitments, could cause our customers and other manufacturers not to utilize our technologies or services. Our customers may choose to use technologies that their own in-house engineering teams have developed, or in which they have an interest. Accordingly, our revenue could decline if our customers choose not to incorporate our technologies in their products, or if they sell fewer products incorporating our technologies. Our failure to successfully develop new and improved products, services and technologies, including as a result of any of the risks described above, may reduce our future growth and profitability and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our products and services face intense competition from various sources, and we may not be able to compete effectively.
We expect that our technologies will continue to compete with technologies of internal design groups at competing companies or from our customers. The internal design groups of these companies create their own audio, entertainment, and media solutions. If these internal design groups introduce unique solutions that are comparable or superior to our technology, they may not need to license our technology. These groups may design technology that is less expensive to implement or that enables products with higher performance or additional features. Many of these groups have substantially greater resources, greater financial strength and lower cost structures which may allow them to undercut our price. They also have the inherent advantage of access to internal corporate strategies, technology road maps and technical information. As a result, they may be
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able to bring alternative solutions to market more easily and quickly. We face competitive risks across all our businesses, including:
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our Media Platform and Pay-TV solutions face significant competition from companies that produce and market TV operating systems, program guides and television schedule information in a variety of formats, including passive and interactive on-screen electronic guide services, online listings, over the top applications and against customers and potential customers who choose to build their own TV operating systems or interactive program guide;
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our advanced video solutions compete with other CE products and home entertainment services (such as Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV and Chromecast) as well as products and service offerings built by other service providers or their suppliers for consumer spending;
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our Smart TV solutions compete with other operating systems for Smart TVs, including TV manufacturers with their own in-house solutions (e.g., Samsung with Tizen) or TV manufacturers that use competing third-party solutions (e.g., Google TV).
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our Consumer Electronics and audio technologies compete with other providers of audio products and services such as Dolby and Sonos, with Dolby being the primary competitor in high-definition audio processing and enjoying advantages in selling its digital multi-channel audio technology, having introduced such technology before we did and having achieved mandatory standard status in product categories that we have not, including terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in the United States;
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our Connected Car technologies compete with internal design groups of automotive manufacturers and other automobile technology suppliers that provide similar technologies by employing different approaches; and
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our competitive position is affected by the rate of adoption and incorporation of our technologies by semiconductor manufacturers, assemblers, foundries, manufacturers of consumer and communication electronics, and the automotive and surveillance industry.
In the future, our licensed technologies may also compete with other emerging technologies that may be less expensive and provide higher performance than our solutions. Companies with these competing technologies may also have greater resources. Technological change could render our technologies obsolete, and new, competitive technologies could emerge that achieve broad adoption and adversely affect the use of our technologies and intellectual property.
Some of our current or future competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do, may enjoy greater brand recognition than we do, or may have more experience or advantages than we have in the markets in which they compete. Further, many of the consumer hardware and software products that include our technologies also include technologies developed by our competitors. In order for us to remain competitive in this market, we must continue to invest significant resources in innovation and product development in order to enhance our technologies and our existing products and services and introduce new high-quality technologies, products and services to meet the wide variety of such competitive pressures. Our ability to generate revenue from our business will suffer if we fail to do so successfully.
Our monetization strategy is relatively new and may not be successful, which could adversely impact our business.
Our Media Platform’s monetization strategy depends on our ability to generate revenue from advertisers, primarily from the sale of digital advertising and related services and media and entertainment promotional spending. Our success will depend on our ability to increase the number of active users and the number of hours that are viewed by them. As the user base grows and we increase the amount of content offered and viewed by users, we will need to effectively monetize the user base based on their viewing activity. Our ability to deliver more relevant advertisements to users and to increase the value of our services to advertisers depends in part on the collection or use of user engagement data, which may be restricted or prevented due to a number of factors including users having the ability to opt out from our, our service providers’, or our advertising partners’ collection and use of this data, restrictions imposed by advertisers, content providers, or service providers, changes in technology, and developments in laws, regulations, and industry standards. If users spend most of their time within content where we have limited or no ability to place advertisements or leverage user information, users opt out from our ability to collect data for use in providing more relevant advertisements, or we are otherwise not able to collect or use such information, we may not be able to achieve the expected growth in monetization revenue or profitability. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in executing our monetization strategy, or in accurately forecasting potential revenues from our Media Platform solutions.
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Our Media Platform business may not be successful in developing, maintaining, and expanding key relationships with TV OEMs and content publishers.
Our monetization strategy depends on our ability to develop, maintain and expand our relationships with key TV manufacturing partners and content publishers. The initial focus of TiVo OS was to launch in Smart TVs in the EU market, which is a relatively new market for our Media Platform business. However, the overall success of our monetization strategy will depend in part on our ability to expand TiVo OS into additional Smart TVs for the United States and other international markets.
We need to identify, establish and maintain relationships with content publishers to provide users with popular streaming services, channels and content. Furthermore, we need to develop new relationships with local content partners or enter into new arrangements with existing content publishers as we enter into new international markets or expand our services and features. Some TV manufacturers will not deploy TiVo OS unless specific content publishers are on the platform, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to secure relationships with the key content publishers.
We do not typically receive license revenue from our TiVo OS arrangements with TV manufacturers, and we expect to incur significant expenses in connection with these commercial agreements. The primary economic benefits that we expect to derive from these license arrangements will be indirect, primarily from growing the number of active users to generate advertising-related revenue. If these arrangements do not result in an increase in active users, or if that growth does not result in an increase in advertising-related revenue, our business may be harmed. If we are not successful in maintaining existing and creating new relationships with TV manufacturing partners, or if we encounter technological, content licensing, or other impediments to these relationships, our ability to grow our business could be adversely impacted. In addition, if our TV manufacturing partners reduce their forecasts or delay the market launch dates for distributing Smart TVs with TiVo OS, or if they choose to deploy with a competitor’s operating system or develop their own operating system, our business may be harmed.
We may not be able to manage our disparate business operations efficiently, which may lead to disposition of such business and related assets.
Our effort to rationalize our disparate business operations could require our management to refocus on certain business operations while disinvesting in others. Additionally, as business strategy and product markets continue to evolve, we may dispose, discontinue, or divest product lines or business divisions. Disposing or discontinuing existing product lines or business divisions, or separating business units, provides no assurance that operating expenses will be reduced or will not cause us to incur material charges associated with such decisions.
Furthermore, the disposition or discontinuance of an existing product line or business division, or separation or spinoff of a business unit, entails various risks, including the risk of not being able to obtain a purchaser, or, if obtained, that the purchase price may not be equal to at least the net asset book value for the product line or business unit, or the value that investors place on it as reflected by our stock price. Other risks of such actions include adversely affecting employee morale, managing the expectations of, and maintaining good relations with, customers of disposed or discontinued product lines or business divisions, which could prevent selling other products to them. We may also incur other significant liabilities and costs associated with disposal or discontinuance of product lines or business divisions, or separation of business units, including employee severance costs, relocation expenses, impairment of lease obligations and long-lived assets, and expenses associated with tax, legal and financial advisers. The effects of such actions may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business depends, in part, on royalty-based and advertising-based revenue models, which are inherently risky.
Our business is dependent, in part, on future royalties and/or advertising revenues paid to us by customers and partners. Royalty payments under our licenses may be based upon, among other things, the number of subscribers for Pay-TV, a percent of net sales, a per-unit sold basis or a fixed monthly, quarterly or annual amount. Advertising-related revenue may be based upon, among other things, the number of users who watch a particular service, availability of inventory, advertiser interest and opportunities to personalize advertisements. We are dependent upon our ability to structure, negotiate and enforce agreements for the determination and payment of royalties and advertising-based revenue, as well as upon our customers’ and partners’ compliance with their agreements. We face risks inherent in royalty-based and/or advertising-based business models, many of which are outside of our control, such as the following:
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the number of subscribers our Pay-TV customers have or the number of set top boxes our Pay-TV customers provide to their end-user subscribers;
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the number of end users and time spent viewing content and advertising available within devices that incorporate our licensed technology;
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the rate of adoption and incorporation of our technology by semiconductor manufacturers, assemblers, foundries, manufacturers of consumer and communication electronics, and the TV, automotive, consumer electronics, and surveillance industries;
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the willingness and ability of advertisers to use our advertising placements that are available via our licensed technology;
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the allocation by advertisers of their budgets to traditional advertising, such as traditional television, radio and print, and to advertising through social media and other digital platforms;
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the willingness and ability of content owners and content aggregators to make their content available via our licensed technology;
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the willingness and ability of advertising technology partners to license their products and services to us for use in our licensed technology;
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the willingness and ability of suppliers to produce materials and equipment that support our licensed technology in a quantity sufficient to enable volume manufacturing;
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ability of our customers to purchase such materials and equipment on a cost-effective and timely basis;
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the length of the design cycle and our customers’ ability to successfully integrate certain of our technologies into integrated circuits;
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the demand for products that incorporate our licensed technology;
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the cyclicality of supply and demand for products using our licensed technology;
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the seasonal nature of advertising consumption and the associated variance to revenue based on those changes;
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the impact of economic downturns and labor disruptions such as strikes; and
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the impact of poor financial performance of our customers.
For example, the ability to enjoy digital entertainment content downloaded or streamed over the internet has caused some consumers to elect to cancel their Pay-TV subscriptions. If our Pay-TV customers are unable to maintain their subscriber bases, the royalties they owe us will decline. In addition, large streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have launched ad-supported tiers in their streaming services, which may further increase competition for streaming advertising revenue. Also, the recent strikes called by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA reduced the demand for advertising and media and entertainment promotional spending campaigns, which could negatively impact our business and results of operations. Although the strikes have been resolved, there can be no assurance that there would not be reduced demand for advertising and media and entertainment promotional spending campaigns for a period of time, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Our licensees may delay, refuse to or be unable to make payments to us due to financial difficulties or otherwise, or shift their licensed products to other companies to lower their royalties to us.
A number of our customers may face severe financial difficulties from time to time, which may result in their inability to make payments to us in a timely manner, or at all. In addition, we have had a history of, and we may in the future experience, customers that delay or refuse to make payments owed to us under license or settlement agreements. Our customers may also merge with or may shift the manufacture of licensed products to companies that are not currently licensees of our technology. This could make the collection process complex, difficult, and costly, which may adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
It is difficult for us to verify royalty amounts owed to us under our licensing agreements, and this may cause us to lose revenue.
The terms of our license agreements often require our customers to document their use of our technology and report related data to us on a quarterly basis. Although our license terms generally give us the right to audit books and records of our customers to verify this information, audits can be expensive, time consuming, and may not be cost justified based on our understanding of our customers’ businesses, especially given the international nature of our customers. Our license compliance program audits certain customers to review the accuracy of the information contained in their royalty reports in an effort to decrease the likelihood that we will not receive the royalty to which we are entitled under the terms of our license agreements, but we cannot ensure that such audits will be effective to that end.
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Competition for employees is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain the qualified and skilled employees needed to support our business.
Our future success depends, in part, upon our ability to recruit and retain key management, technical, sales, marketing, finance, and other critical personnel. Competition for qualified management, technical and other personnel is intense, and we may not be successful in attracting and retaining such personnel. If we fail to attract and retain qualified employees, including internationally, our ability to grow our business could be harmed.
Competition for people with the specific skills that we require is significant. In order to attract and retain personnel in a competitive marketplace, we believe that we must provide a competitive compensation package, including cash and equity-based compensation. Volatility in our stock price may from time to time adversely affect our ability to recruit or retain employees. If we are unable to hire and retain qualified employees, or conversely, if we fail to manage employee performance or reduce staffing levels when required by market conditions, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We face competitive risks in the provision of entertainment offerings involving the distribution of digital content provided by third party application and content providers through broadband.
We have previously launched access in certain of our products and services to the entertainment offerings of Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Max, Disney+, VUDU, Paramount+, Peacock, and others for the distribution of digital content directly to broadband-connected TiVo devices. These entertainment offerings typically involve no significant long-term commitments. We face competitive, technological and business risks in our ongoing provision of entertainment offerings involving the distribution of digital content through broadband to consumer televisions with such offerings, including the availability of premium and high-definition content, as well as the speed and quality of the delivery of such content to partner devices. For instance, we face increased competition from a growing number of broadband-enabled devices from providers such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon FireTV and Chromecast that provide broadband-delivered digital content directly to a consumer’s television connected to such a device. Additionally, we face competition from online content providers and other personal computer (“PC”) software providers who deliver digital content directly to a consumer’s PC, which in some cases may then be viewed on a consumer’s television. The TiVo OS solution faces competition from other Smart TV operating systems, as well as non-Smart TVs that utilize broadband-enabled devices. If we are unable to provide a competitive entertainment offering on our own, or an equivalent offering with other third parties, the attractiveness of the TiVo service to new users would be harmed as consumers increasingly look for new ways to receive and view digital content and our ability to retain and attract users would be harmed. Recent rapid transformation in licensing and distribution of digital content has made the industry less predictable and more volatile and if we are unable to adapt to developments in this space, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.
Our future success depends on our ability to establish and maintain licensing relationships with companies in related business fields, including:
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Pay-TV service providers;
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Operators of entertainment content distributors, including pay-per-view (“PPV”) and video-on-demand (“VOD”) networks;
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TV OEMs and ODMs, CE, digital set-top hardware manufacturers, and personal computer manufacturers; TV main board manufacturers, and chip manufacturers;
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motion-picture studios, networks streaming partners (including content aggregators and SVOD, FAST, and AVOD providers), and other content providers;
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semiconductor and equipment manufacturers;
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content rights holders;
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retailers and advertisers and advertising technology partners;
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digital rights management suppliers; and
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internet portals and other digital distribution companies.
Substantially all of our license agreements are non-exclusive, and therefore our licensees are free to enter into similar agreements with third parties, including our competitors. Our licensees may develop or pursue alternative technologies either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors.
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Some of our third-party license arrangements require that we license others’ technologies and/or integrate our solutions with others. In addition, we rely on third parties to report usage and volume information to us. Delays, errors or omissions in this information could harm our business. If these third parties choose not to support integration efforts or delay the integration of our solutions, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
Relationships have historically played an important role in the entertainment industries that we serve. If we fail to maintain and strengthen these relationships, these industry participants may not purchase and use our technologies or facilitate the adoption of our technologies, which will harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and may make it more difficult for us to enter into new markets. In addition, if major industry participants form strategic relationships that exclude us, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.
Our pursuit of acquisitions and divestitures may adversely affect our business operations or stock price if we cannot successfully execute our strategies.
We have made several acquisitions, domestically and internationally, and recently divested our imaging and in-car monitoring business. Our current plan is to continue to acquire or divest assets, technologies, or companies where we believe the transaction would be strategic to our future business or otherwise would be in the best interest of the Company and our stockholders. Acquisitions and divestitures involve challenges in terms of successful integration or separation, as applicable, of technologies, products, services, and employees. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions or divestitures we may complete in the future, and we may not be able to successfully incorporate or separate the applicable services, products, or technologies, or integrate or separate personnel from the applicable businesses, in which case our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
The changes resulting from acquisitions and divestitures may place a significant strain on our management team and on our operational and financial systems, procedures, and controls. Our future success will depend, in part, upon the ability of our management team to manage such changes effectively, requiring our management to:
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recruit, hire, and train additional personnel, or effectively manage the transition of exiting personnel;
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transition and improve our operational and financial systems, procedures, and controls;
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maintain our cost structure at an appropriate level based on the royalties, revenue and cash we forecast and generate;
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manage multiple concurrent development projects; and
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manage operations in multiple time zones with different cultures and languages.
Financing for future acquisitions may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. If we use our equity securities to fund the acquisition, it may result in significant dilution to our existing stockholders. If we identify an appropriate acquisition candidate for any of our businesses, we may not be able to negotiate the terms of the acquisition successfully, finance the acquisition or integrate the acquired business, products, service offerings, technologies or employees into our existing business and operations. Future acquisitions and divestitures may not be well-received by the investment community, which may cause the value of our stock to fall. We cannot ensure that we will be able to successfully complete any acquisition or divestiture in the future. Further, the terms of our indebtedness constrain our ability to make and finance additional acquisitions or divestitures.
We may not be able to maintain enough content released in the DTS audio format, which may reduce demand for our technologies, products, and services.
We expect to derive a significant percentage of our revenue from the technologies, products, and services that we offer to manufacturers of consumer electronics products. We believe that demand for our audio technologies in growing markets for multi-channel and/or high-resolution audio, including TVs, tablets, mobile phones, video game consoles, automobiles, and soundbars, will be based on the amount, quality, and popularity of content (such as movies, TV shows, music, and games) either released in the DTS audio format or capable of being coded and played in the DTS format.
In particular, our ability to penetrate the growing markets in the network-connected space depends on the presence of streaming and downloadable content released in the DTS audio format. We generally do not have contracts that require providers of streaming and downloadable content to develop and release such content in a DTS audio format. Accordingly, our revenue could decline if these providers elect not to incorporate DTS audio into their content or if they sell less content that incorporates DTS audio.
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In addition, we may not be successful in maintaining existing relationships or developing new relationships with partners or content providers. As a result, we cannot ensure that a sufficient amount of content will be released in a DTS audio format or that manufacturers will continue offering DTS decoders in the consumer electronics products that they sell. For example, an agreement between DTS, Inc. and IMAX Corporation (“IMAX”) expired on December 31, 2023, and the parties have been in active discussions for the possible renewal of the agreement. If the parties are not able to renew the agreement, DTS will not be able to sign new agreements with product manufacturers to support our business, or if the terms of the renewal are less favorable to us, our business, financial condition, and results of operations, including revenues from our DTS audio technologies, could be materially adversely affected.
Demand for our Connected Car technologies, including HD Radio and DTS AutoStage, may be insufficient to sustain projected growth.
Demand for and adoption of our Connected Car technologies, including HD Radio and DTS AutoStage, may not be sufficient for us to continue to increase the number of customers for these technologies, which include IC manufacturers, manufacturers of broadcast transmission equipment, consumer electronics product manufacturers, component manufacturers, data service providers, manufacturers of specialized and test equipment and radio broadcasters, automobile manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers to automobile manufacturers.
Demand for our automotive technologies also may be impacted by declines in the automotive industry, which historically has been cyclical and experienced downturns during declining economic conditions. The persistent downturn in the automotive markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and related events reduced demand for these technologies. There is no guarantee that growth trends will return to our pre-pandemic level, and a sustained reduction in our automotive-based royalties may cause us to fail to meet our previously projected growth rates. Furthermore, demand for and adoption of our HD Radio and DTS AutoStage technologies and services may not continue to increase and may face increased competition from existing suppliers or new entrants providing the same or similar services.
Among other things, continuing and increased consumer acceptance of HD Radio technology will depend upon:
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the number of radio stations broadcasting digitally using HD Radio technology;
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the willingness of automobile manufacturers to include HD Radio receivers in their vehicles;
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the willingness of Tier 1 suppliers to incorporate HD Radio technology into their products;
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the cost and availability of HD Radio enabled products; and
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the marketing and pricing strategies that we employ and that are employed by our customers and retailers.
Continuing and increased consumer acceptance of DTS AutoStage technology will depend upon, among other things:
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the willingness of automobile manufacturers to include DTS AutoStage technology in their vehicles;
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the willingness of Tier 1 suppliers to incorporate DTS AutoStage technology into their products;
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the deployment of broadband connectivity in vehicles, including through built-in modems or phone tethering;
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the demand by end users for the services provided by the DTS AutoStage technology in their vehicles;
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the ability to scale and provide the DTS AutoStage services without service interruptions;
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the ability to acquire content or licenses to content distributed by the DTS AutoStage services;
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the continued participation and support by broadcasters and content owners of the DTS AutoStage technology and services; and
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the marketing and pricing strategies that we employ and that are employed by our customers and retailers.
The DTS AutoStage technology is dependent on broadband connectivity within the vehicle. A slower deployment or adoption of broadband connectivity within automobiles could negatively impact the deployment of DTS AutoStage technology. The DTS AutoStage technology and services also rely upon content and metadata, which may have been licensed or acquired from third-party content owners or licensors, third-party service providers, and internet and intranet infrastructure outside of our control.
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If we are unable to further penetrate the streaming and downloadable content delivery markets and adapt our technologies for those markets, our royalties and ability to grow our business could be adversely impacted.
Prior to the advent of streaming and downloadable content services, video and audio content was purchased and consumed primarily via optical disc-based media. The growth of the internet and network-connected device usage, along with the rapid advancement of online and mobile content delivery, has resulted in download and streaming services becoming mainstream with consumers in various parts of the world. We expect the shift away from optical disc-based media to streaming and downloadable content consumption to continue. If we fail to continue to further penetrate the streaming and downloadable content delivery market, our business could suffer.
The services that provide content from the internet are not generally governed by international or national standards and are thus free to choose any media format(s) to deliver their products and services. This freedom of choice on the part of online content providers could limit our ability to grow if such content providers do not incorporate our technologies into their services, which could affect demand for our technologies.
Furthermore, our inclusion in mobile and other network-connected devices may be less profitable for us than optical disc players. The online and mobile markets are characterized by intense competition, evolving industry standards and business and distribution models, disruptive software and hardware technology developments, frequent new product and service introductions, short product and service life cycles, and price sensitivity on the part of consumers, all of which may result in downward pressure on pricing. If we are unable to adequately and timely respond to the foregoing, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The success of certain of our solutions depends on the interoperability of our technologies with consumer hardware devices.
To be successful, we design certain of our solutions to interoperate effectively with a variety of consumer hardware devices, including PCs, tablets, smartphones, TVs, set-top boxes, video game consoles, MP3 devices, multi-media storage devices, portable media players, DVD players and recorders, and Blu-ray players. Certain of our TiVo products rely on multiple systems operator support of CableCARD. We depend on significant cooperation with manufacturers of these devices and the components integrated into these devices, as well as software providers that create the operating systems for such devices, to incorporate certain of our technologies into their product offerings and ensure consistent playback of encoded files. Currently, a limited number of devices are designed to support certain of our technologies. If we are unsuccessful in causing component manufacturers, device manufacturers and software providers to integrate certain of our technologies into their product offerings, those technologies may become less accessible to consumers, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our failure to adequately manage our increasingly complex distribution agreements, including licensing, development and engineering services, may cause unexpected delays and loss of revenue in the deployment of advanced television solutions.
In connection with our deployment arrangements for TiVo Pay-TV products, we engage in complex licensing, development and engineering services arrangements with our marketing partners and distributors. These deployment agreements with television service providers usually provide for some or all of the following deliverables: software engineering services, solution integration services, hosting the TiVo service, maintenance and support. In general, these contracts are long-term and complex and often rely on the timely performance of such television service provider’s third-party vendors that are outside of our control. The engineering services and technology we agree to provide and/or develop may be essential to the functionality of the licensed software and delivered product or such software may involve significant customization and modification for each customer. We have experienced in the past, and may in the future experience, delays in delivery with television service providers as well as significant increases in expected costs of development and performance in certain instances. Additional delays could lead to additional costs and adverse accounting treatments, potentially resulting in us recognizing costs earlier than expected. If we are unable to deliver the contracted-for technology, including specified customizations and modifications and services in a timely manner or at all, then we could face penalties in the form of unreimbursed engineering development work, loss of subscriber or minimum financial commitments on the part of our partners or in extreme cases, the early termination of such distribution agreements. In any such case, our business, financial condition, and results of operation may be harmed.
We make significant investments in new products and services that may not achieve technological feasibility or profitability or that may limit our growth.
We have made and will continue to make significant investments in research, development, and marketing of new technologies, products and services, including audio and media, as well as through our Perceive subsidiary and its hardware and software solutions for high-performance inference at the edge. Investments in new technologies are speculative and technological
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feasibility may not be achieved. Commercial success depends on many factors including demand for innovative technology, availability of materials and equipment, selling price the market is willing to bear, competition and effective licensing or product sales. We may not achieve significant revenue from new product and service investments for a number of years, if at all. Moreover, new technologies, products and services may not be profitable, and even if they are profitable, operating margins for new products and businesses may not be as high as the margins we have experienced historically or originally anticipated.
For example, we have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, substantial research and development expenses through our Perceive subsidiary focused on delivering edge inference solutions. We do not have prior experience as a company in the development or marketing of similar hardware or software. We will need to continue to find and hire qualified and experienced personnel to advance this business. In addition, technologies such as those we are developing are subject to supply chain disruptions, cost pressures, extensive competition, and a relentless pace of innovation. These products could be copied or functionally surpassed by other designers, manufacturers, or innovators, some of whom may have far greater financial resources than us, and who may be able to develop products with greater capabilities or lower cost. Potential customers may also be hesitant in adopting new technologies and may instead turn to competitors who offer competing products in different deployment models. Our technologies may also require potential customers to adapt their existing software to fully realize their advantages. Delays or reluctance by customers to adapt their software could affect the success of these technologies in the marketplace, which may adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operation.
Our products and services could be susceptible to errors, defects, or unintended performance problems that could result in lost revenue, liability or delayed or limited market acceptance.
We develop and offer complex solutions, which we license and otherwise provide to customers. The performance of these solutions typically involves working with sophisticated software, computing, and communications systems.
Due to the complexity of these products and services, and despite our quality assurance testing, the products may contain undetected defects or errors that may affect the proper use or application of such products or services by the customer. Because certain of our products and services are embedded in hardware, digital content, and other software, or rely on stable transmissions, our solutions’ performance could unintentionally jeopardize our customers’ product performance. Because customers rely on our products and services as used in their hardware, software and applications, defects or errors in our products or services may discourage customers from purchasing our products or services.
These defects or errors could also result in product liability, service level agreement claims or warranty claims. Although we attempt to reduce the risk of losses resulting from these claims through warranty disclaimers and limitation of liability clauses in our agreements, these contractual provisions may not be enforceable in every instance. Any such defects, errors, or unintended performance problems in existing or new products or services, and any inability to meet customer expectations in a timely manner, could result in loss of revenue or market share, failure to achieve market acceptance, diversion of development resources, injury to our reputation, increased insurance costs and increased service costs, any of which could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Dependence on the cooperation of third parties for the provision and delivery of our metadata may adversely affect our revenue.
We use metadata in certain of our products and services, including Pay-TV and Connected Car, and we distribute metadata as a revenue generating activity. We rely on third-party providers to deliver our metadata to our customers, including automobiles and some of the CE devices that include our user experience (UX) and interactive program guides. Further, our national data network provides customized and localized listings for Pay-TV and licensees of our data used in third-party products, including third-party interactive program guides. In addition, we purchase certain metadata from commercial vendors that we redistribute. The quality, accuracy and timeliness of that metadata may not continue to meet our standards or be acceptable to consumers. There can be no assurance that commercial vendors, including metadata providers, will distribute data to us without error, or at all, or that the agreements that govern some of these relationships can be maintained on favorable economic terms.
Technological changes may also impede the ability to distribute metadata. Our inability to renew existing arrangements on terms that are favorable to us, or enter into alternative arrangements that allow us to effectively provide and transmit our metadata to customers, could have a material adverse effect on our businesses that leverage metadata, including our interactive program guide business, and could damage the attractiveness of our metadata offerings to our customers or could increase the costs associated with providing our metadata offerings, and cause our revenue or margins to decline, which would adversely impact business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We depend on a limited number of third parties to design, manufacture, distribute and supply hardware devices upon which our TiVo software and services operate.
Our TiVo software and services operate on a number of hardware products, including DVR and non-DVR set-top-boxes and TVs with TiVo OS that are produced by third-party hardware companies. If one or more of these third parties is unable or unwilling to produce or distribute such hardware products, our business could be harmed. Further, if we fail to effectively manage the integration of our software and services with our hardware partners’ devices, we or our manufacturing partners could suffer from product recalls, poorly performing products and higher than anticipated warranty costs.
For TiVo OS, we are relying on third-party hardware companies to assist in the development, distribution and launch of a new market entry product. If one or more of these third parties is unable or unwilling to meet its obligations regarding such entry, the success of TiVo OS could be harmed.
In addition, our third-party partners may depend on suppliers for key components and services in order to manufacture hardware products that run our software, and they may be subject to risks of supply shortages and unexpected cost increases.
Additionally, certain features and functionalities of our TiVo OS, TiVo service, and DVRs and non-DVR set-top-boxes that incorporate our software depend on third-party components and technologies. If we or our third-party partners are unable to purchase or license such third-party components or technologies, we may not be able to offer certain related features and functionalities to our customers. In such a case, the desirability of our products to our customers could be reduced, thus harming our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We also rely on third parties to whom we outsource supply chain activities related to inventory warehousing, order fulfillment, distribution, and other direct sales logistics to provide cost-effective and efficient supply chain services. We cannot be sure that these parties will perform their obligations as expected or that any revenue, cost savings or other benefits will be derived from the efforts of these parties. If one or several of our third-party supply chain partners were to discontinue service to us, our ability to fulfill sales orders through the TiVo website and distribute inventory timely, cost effectively, or at all, may be delayed or prevented, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operation. Any of these events could require us to undertake unforeseen additional responsibilities or devote additional resources to commercialize our TiVo service. Any of these outcomes could harm our ability to compete effectively and achieve increased market acceptance and brand recognition.
We maintain inventories of TiVo-branded products based on our demand forecast, which may be incorrect and lead to excess or insufficient inventory.
In connection with our sales of TiVo-branded products through the TiVo website, we maintain an inventory of certain DVR and non-DVR products based on our demand forecast. Due to the seasonality in our business and the nature of these mature product lines, we make inventory decisions for these products well in advance of our peak selling periods. As such, we are subject to risks in managing the inventory needs of our business during the year and over the lifecycle of the product lines, including estimating the appropriate quantity and mix of demand across our older and newer DVR and non-DVR products. Should actual market conditions differ from our estimates, our future results of operations could be materially affected. Excess purchase commitments as a result of unforeseen changes in our sales forecast, pricing terms or cost structures may require us to record a loss that may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Qualifying, certifying and supporting our technologies, products and services is time-consuming and expensive.
We devote significant time and resources to qualify and support our software products on various automotive, personal computer, CE and mobile platforms, including operating systems from Apple, Google and Microsoft. In addition, we maintain high-quality standards for products that incorporate our technologies, products, and services through a quality control certification process. To the extent that any previously qualified, certified and/or supported platform, product or service is modified or upgraded, or our business expands into new regions that may have different or additional requirements, or we need to qualify, certify or support a new platform, product or service, we could be required to expend additional engineering time and resources, which could delay the launch of such technologies, products or services and add significantly to our development expenses, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are exposed to the risks related to international sales and operations.
We derive a large portion of our total revenue from operations outside of the United States. Therefore, we face exposure to risks of operating in many foreign countries, including:
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difficulties and costs associated with complying with a wide variety of complex laws, treaties, regulations and compliance requirements;
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
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restrictions on, or difficulties and costs associated with, the repatriation of cash from foreign countries to the United States;
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earnings and cash flows that may be subject to tax withholding requirements or the imposition of tariffs;
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political and economic instability, trade conflict and international hostilities;
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unexpected changes in political or regulatory environments;
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differing employment practices, labor compliance and costs associated with a global workforce;
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exchange controls or other restrictions;
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import and export restrictions and other trade barriers;
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difficulties in maintaining overseas subsidiaries and international operations; and
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difficulties in obtaining approval for significant transactions.
Any one or more of the above factors may adversely affect our international operations and could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The results of our operations will be dependent to a large extent upon the global economy. Geopolitical factors such as terrorist activities, wars, foreign invasion or armed conflict (such as the current Russia/Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Hamas war), tariffs, trade disputes, local or global recessions, diplomatic or economic tensions (such as the tension between China and Taiwan), long-term environmental risks, climate change, or global health conditions that adversely affect the global economy may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, our business could be materially adversely affected if foreign markets do not continue to develop, if we do not receive additional orders to supply our technologies, products or services for use by international Pay-TV service providers, TV OEMs, automobile, CE and set-top-box manufacturers, PPV/VOD providers and others, or if regulations governing our international business change. Changes to the statutes or regulations with respect to export of encryption technologies could require us to redesign our products or technologies or prevent us from selling our products and licensing our technologies internationally.
We may need to raise additional debt or equity capital in order to pursue our business objectives or respond to opportunities, challenges, or unforeseen circumstances. If such capital is not available to us on viable terms or at all, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be harmed.
We may require additional capital to pursue our business objectives and respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances, including to develop new products or services, further improve existing products and services, or acquire complementary businesses and technologies. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional capital. However, additional capital may not be available when we need it, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. In addition, any debt financing that we secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities.
As of December 31, 2023, we had $50.0 million in principal balance outstanding under the Promissory Note issued in connection with the Vewd Acquisition, which matures on July 1, 2025. Our indebtedness may limit our ability to borrow additional funds, limit our ability to use our cash flow or obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general business purposes, require us to use a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to repay our debt obligations, limit our flexibility to plan for, or react to, changes in our business and industry, place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our less leveraged competitors and increase our vulnerability to the impact of adverse economic and industry conditions.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Significant disruptions of our information technology systems or data security incidents could harm our reputation, cause us to modify our business practices, and otherwise adversely affect our business and subject us to liability.
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We are dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store, process, and transmit large amounts of sensitive corporate, personal, and other information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information, user payment card information, other user information, employee information, and other confidential information. It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of such information. Our obligations under applicable laws, regulations, contracts, industry standards, self-certifications, and other documentation may include maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal information in our possession or control, maintaining reasonable and appropriate security safeguards as part of an information security program, and complying with requirements regarding the use or cross-border transfer of such personal information. These obligations create potential legal liability to regulators, our business partners, our users, and other relevant stakeholders and impact the attractiveness of our services to existing and potential users.
Despite our provisions for system redundancy and the implementation of security measures within our internal and external information technology and networking systems, our information technology systems and those of third parties that we utilize in our operations may be subject to security breaches, unauthorized access (malicious or accidental), misuse of information by authorized users, data leaks or unintentional exposure of information, failed processes or other bugs, loss of data, damages from computer viruses or malware, natural disasters, terrorism, telecommunication failures or disruption of service. In addition, our online business activities depend on the ability to store and transmit confidential information and licensed intellectual property securely on our systems and third-party systems, and over private, hybrid and public networks. Any compromise of our ability to store or transmit such information and data securely or reliably, and any costs associated with preventing or eliminating such problems, could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Our storage and online transmissions and business activities are subject to a number of security and stability risks, including:
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our own or licensed encryption and authentication technology, or access or security procedures, may be compromised, breached or otherwise be insufficient to ensure the security of customer or user information or intellectual property;
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we could experience unauthorized access, computer viruses, ransomware, system interference or destruction, “denial of service” attacks and other disruptive problems, whether intentional or accidental, that may inhibit or prevent access to our websites and infrastructure or use of our products and services, or cause customer or user information or other sensitive information to be disclosed to a perpetrator, others or the general public;
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someone could circumvent our security measures and misappropriate our information or our customers’ or users’ proprietary information or content or interrupt operations, or jeopardize our licensing arrangements, many of which are contingent on our sustaining appropriate security protections;
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our computer systems could fail and lead to service interruptions or downtime for television, other media services, or websites, which may include e-commerce websites;
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we could inadvertently disclose customer or user information; or
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we may need to grow, upgrade, resize, reconfigure or relocate our data centers, or migrate to third-party cloud storage services, in response to changing business needs, which may be costly and lead to unplanned disruptions of service.
Each of the foregoing risks also applies to the computer systems of third parties that we rely upon in our operations, including our suppliers and vendors, including providers of cloud storage and services. We do not have control over the security protocols of third-party cloud service providers, and if such providers experience cyber-attacks and information system breaches, it can harm our business operations and undercut our ability to serve our customers, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
The occurrence of any of these or similar events could damage our business, hurt our ability to distribute products and services and collect revenue, threaten the proprietary or confidential nature of our technology, harm our reputation, increase the costs of our ongoing cybersecurity protections and enhancements or to remedy damages caused by breaches or disruptions, and expose us to litigation, government investigations, and other liabilities. Because some of our technologies are intended to inhibit use of or restrict access to our customers’ intellectual property, we may become the target of hackers or other persons whose use of or access to our customers’ intellectual property is affected by our technologies. Also, hackers may, for financial gain or other motives, seek to infiltrate or damage our systems, or obtain sensitive business information or customer or user information. We also may be exposed to customer or user claims, or other liability, in connection with any security breach or inadvertent disclosure. We may be required to expend significant capital or other resources to protect against the threat of security breaches, hacker attacks or system malfunctions or to alleviate problems caused by such breaches, attacks or failures.
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Our product and service offerings rely on a variety of systems, networks and databases, many of which are maintained by us at our data centers or third-party data centers (e.g., cloud services). We do not have complete redundancy for all of our systems, and we do not maintain real-time back-up of all of our data, so in the event of significant system disruption, particularly during peak periods, we could experience loss of data processing capabilities, which could prevent us from providing our products and services to our customers for an uncertain amount of time. Notwithstanding our efforts to protect against “down time” for products and services, we do occasionally experience unplanned outages or technical difficulties, which could harm our business operations.
Additionally, from time to time, we may determine to update or upgrade our information systems or conduct system migrations. These changes may be costly and disruptive to our operations, could impose substantial demands on management time, and could harm our business operations if not implemented properly or promptly.
We and our service providers and partners collect, process, transmit, and store personal and confidential information, which creates legal obligations and exposes us to potential liability.
We collect, process, transmit, and store personal or confidential information about consumers and their devices, employees, job applicants and partners, and we rely on third-party service providers to collect, process, transmit, and store personal or confidential information (including our users’ payment card data and video and audio recordings). We collect such information from individuals located both in the United States and abroad and may store or process such information outside the country in which it was collected. Further, we, our service providers and our business partners use tracking technologies, including cookies, device identifiers, and related technologies, to help us manage and track our users’ interactions with our products and services, devices, website, and partners’ content and deliver relevant advertising and personalized content for ourselves and on behalf of our partners on our products.
We collect information about the interaction of users with our products or services, devices, website, advertisements, and content partners’ streaming apps. To deliver relevant advertisements effectively, we must successfully leverage this data, as well as data provided by third parties. Our ability to collect and use such data could be restricted by a number of factors, including users having the ability to refuse consent to or opt out from our, our service providers’, or our advertising partners’ collection and use of this data, restrictions imposed by advertisers, content partners, licensors, and service providers, changes in technology, and developments in laws, regulations, and industry standards. For example, certain European Union (“EU”) laws and regulations prohibit access to or storage of information on a user’s device (such as cookies and similar technologies that we use for advertising) that is not “strictly necessary” to provide a user-requested service or used for the “sole purpose” of a transmission unless the user has provided consent, and users may choose not to provide this consent to collection of information which is used for advertising purposes.
Additionally, certain device manufacturers or operating system providers may restrict the deployment of cookies and similar technologies, or otherwise restrict the collection of personal information through these or other tools, via our applications. Any restrictions on our ability to collect or use data could harm our ability to grow our revenue, particularly our Media Platform revenue which depends on engaging the relevant recipients of advertising campaigns.
Various federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations as well as industry standards and contractual obligations govern the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, cross-border transfer, localization, sharing, and security of the data we receive from and about our users, employees, and other individuals. The regulatory environment for the collection and use of personal information by device manufacturers, online service providers, content distributors, advertisers, and publishers is evolving in the United States and internationally.
Privacy and consumer rights groups and government bodies (including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), state attorneys general, the European Commission, European and UK data protection authorities), have increasingly scrutinized privacy issues with respect to devices that identify or are identifiable to a person (or household or device) and personal information collected through the internet, and we expect such scrutiny to continue to increase. The U.S. federal government, U.S. states, and foreign governments have enacted (or are considering) laws and regulations that could significantly restrict industry participants’ ability to collect, use, and share personal information, such as by regulating the level of consumer notice and consent required before a company can place cookies or other tracking technologies or collect categories of personal information deemed sensitive. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) imposes detailed requirements related to the collection, storage, and use of personal information related to people located in the EU (or which is processed in the context of EU operations) and places data protection obligations and restrictions on organizations, and may require us to make further changes to our policies and procedures in the future beyond what we have already done. In addition, in the wake of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU (“Brexit”), the United Kingdom has adopted a framework similar to the GDPR. The EU has recently confirmed that the UK data protection framework as being “adequate” to receive EU
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personal data. We are monitoring recent developments regarding amendments to the UK data protection framework and the impact this may have on our business.
We will continue to monitor the implementation and evolution of data protection regulations, but if we are not compliant with data protection laws or regulations if and when implemented, we may be subject to significant fines and penalties (such as restrictions on personal information processing) and our business may be harmed. For example, under the GDPR, fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of the annual global revenue of a noncompliant company, whichever is higher, as well as data processing restrictions, could be imposed for violation of certain of the GDPR’s requirements.
Data protection laws continue to proliferate throughout the world and such laws likely apply to our business. The U.S. data protection legal landscape also continues to evolve, with various states having enacted broad-based data privacy and protection legislation and with states and the federal government continuing to consider additional data privacy and protection legislation. The potential effects of this legislation are far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. The California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which amended the CCPA and became effective on January 1, 2023 (with a “look-back” to January 1, 2022), requires, among other things, the establishment of a dedicated agency to regulate and enforce the CCPA.
We are continuing to assess the impact of new and proposed data privacy and protection laws and proposed amendments to existing laws on our business. Among other things, such restrictions are likely to increase the number of users to whom we cannot serve targeted advertising and are likely to restrict our ability to collect and process certain types of information deemed sensitive under these new laws.
In addition, each U.S. state and most U.S. territories, each EU member state, and the United Kingdom, as well as many other foreign nations, have passed laws requiring notification to regulatory authorities, affected users, or others within a specific timeframe when there has been a security breach involving, or other unauthorized access to or acquisition or disclosure of, certain personal information and impose additional obligations on companies. Additionally, our agreements with certain users or partners may require us to notify them in the event of a security breach. Such statutory and contractual disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our users to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, and may require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach. Compliance with these obligations could delay or impede the development of new products and may cause reputational harm.
As part of our data protection compliance program, we have implemented data transfer mechanisms to provide for the transfer of personal information from the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) or the United Kingdom to the United States. After a period of uncertainty concerning certain mechanisms for data transfers to the United States, on July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision concerning a new framework for data transfers from the EEA to the United States, known as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“EU-U.S. DPF”).
That decision recognizes that the United States ensures an adequate level of protection for personal information transferred from the EEA to organizations participating in the EU-U.S. DPF. The United Kingdom has made a similar determination, providing a means by which data transfers may take place between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. That framework is known as the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and it went into effect on October 12, 2023.
In addition, cloud service providers upon which our services depend are experiencing heightened scrutiny from EU regulators, which may lead to significant shifts or unavailability of cloud services to transfer personal information outside the EU, which may significantly impact our costs or ability to operate.
We continue to assess the available regulatory guidance, determinations, and enforcement actions from EU Data Protection Authorities and the U.S. Department of Commerce on international data transfer compliance for companies, including guidance on specific supplementary measures in addition to the model clauses as well as specific data sharing that may be deemed a cross-border transfer for which appropriate safeguards must be implemented. Our ability to continue to transfer personal information outside of the EU may become significantly more costly and may subject us to increased scrutiny and liability under the GDPR or other legal frameworks, and we may experience operating disruptions if we are unable to conduct these transfers in the future.
We will continue to review our business practices and may find it necessary or desirable to make changes to our personal information processing to cause our transfer and receipt of EEA residents’ personal information to conform to applicable
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European law. The regulation of data privacy in the EU continues to evolve, and it is not possible to predict the ultimate effect of evolving data protection regulation and implementation over time. Member states also have some flexibility to supplement the GDPR with their own laws and regulations and may apply stricter requirements for certain data processing activities.
In addition, some countries are considering or have enacted “data localization” laws requiring that user data regarding users in their respective countries be maintained, stored, or processed in their respective countries. Maintaining local data centers in individual countries could increase our operating costs significantly. We expect that, in addition to the “business as usual” costs of compliance, the evolving regulatory interpretation and enforcement of laws such as the GDPR and CPRA, as well as other domestic and foreign data protection laws, will lead to increased operational and compliance costs and will require us to continually monitor and, where necessary, make changes to our operations, policies, and procedures. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with privacy-related legal obligations, or any compromise of security of user data, may result in governmental enforcement actions, litigation, contractual indemnities, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others. In addition to potential liability, these events could harm our business.
We publish privacy policies, notices, and other documentation regarding our collection, processing, use, and disclosure of personal information, credit card information, and other confidential information. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies, certifications, and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so.
Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees, representatives, agents, vendors, or other third parties fail to comply with our published policies, certifications, and documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential international, local, state, and federal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices.
We have incurred, and will continue to incur, expenses to comply with privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards, and contractual obligations. Increased regulation of data collection, use, and security practices, including self-regulation and industry standards, changes in existing laws, enactment of new laws, increased enforcement activity, and changes in interpretation of laws, could increase our cost of compliance and operation, limit our ability to grow our business, or otherwise harm our business.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
Litigation and claims regarding intellectual property rights could result in the loss of rights important to our products and services, cause us to incur significant legal costs, or otherwise harm our business.
Some internet, technology, and media companies, including some of our competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, and trademarks, which they may use to assert claims against us. Third parties have asserted, and may in the future assert, that we or our customers have infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated their intellectual property rights. As we grow and face increasing competition, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims against us will grow. Plaintiffs who have no relevant product revenue may not be deterred by our own issued patents and pending patent applications in bringing intellectual property rights claims against us and may seek to challenge the validity or enforceability of our own patents and patents applications. The cost of patent litigation or other proceedings, even if resolved in our favor, has been and is expected to be substantial. Some of our competitors may be better able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings because of their substantially greater financial resources. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also require significant management time and divert management’s attention from our other business concerns or otherwise adversely affect our business and operating results. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could impair our ability to compete in the marketplace. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could harm our business.
As a result of intellectual property infringement claims, or to avoid potential claims, we may choose or be required to seek licenses from third parties. These licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, thereby hindering our ability to sell or use the relevant technology, or requiring redesign of the allegedly infringing solutions to avoid infringement, which could be costly, time-consuming, or impossible. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license would likely obligate us to pay license fees or royalties or both, and the rights granted to us might be nonexclusive, with the potential for our competitors to gain access to the same intellectual property. In addition, the rights that we secure under intellectual property licenses may not include rights to all of the intellectual property owned or controlled by the licensor, and the scope of the licenses granted to us may not include rights covering all of the products and services provided by us and our licensees. Furthermore, an adverse outcome of a dispute may require us to: pay damages, potentially including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a party’s intellectual property; cease making, licensing, or using technologies that are alleged to infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property of others; expend additional development
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resources to redesign our products; enter into potentially unfavorable royalty or license agreements in order to obtain the right to use necessary technologies, content, or materials; and indemnify our partners and other third parties.
Any lawsuits regarding intellectual property rights, regardless of their success, could be expensive to resolve and would divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel.
If we fail to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights, contract rights, or our confidential information, our business may suffer.
We rely primarily on a combination of license, development and nondisclosure agreements and other contractual provisions, as well as patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright laws, to protect our technology and intellectual property. If we fail to protect our technology, intellectual property, or contract rights, our customers and others may seek to use our technology and intellectual property without the payment of license fees and royalties, which could weaken our competitive position, reduce our operating results and increase the likelihood of costly litigation. Others may also develop technologies that are similar or superior to our technologies, or duplicate our technologies.
We also rely on trade secret laws rather than patent laws to protect other portions of our proprietary technology. Trade secrets can be difficult to protect. The misappropriation of our trade secrets or other proprietary information could seriously harm our business. We protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, through confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, suppliers and customers. We cannot be certain that these contracts have not been and will not be breached, that we will be able to timely detect unauthorized use or transfer of our technology and intellectual property, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. If we fail to use adequate mechanisms to protect our technology and intellectual property, or if a court fails to enforce our intellectual property rights, our business will suffer. We cannot be certain that these protection mechanisms can be successfully asserted in the future or will not be invalidated or challenged.
Further, the laws and enforcement regimes of certain countries may not protect our technology and intellectual property to the same extent as do the laws and enforcement regimes of the United States. In certain jurisdictions, we may be unable to protect our technology and intellectual property adequately against unauthorized use, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be able to protect our brand from third-party infringement or increase our brand awareness.
Maintaining and strengthening our brands is important to maintaining and expanding our business, as well as to our ability to enter into new markets for our technologies, products and services. If we fail to promote and maintain these brands successfully, our ability to sustain and expand our business and enter into new markets may suffer. Much of the promotion of our brand depends, among other things, on OEMs, hardware device manufacturing companies and service providers displaying our trademarks on their products. If these companies choose, for any reason, not to display our trademarks on their products, or if these companies use our trademarks incorrectly or in an unauthorized manner, the strength of our brand may be diluted or our ability to maintain or increase our brand awareness may be harmed. We generally rely on enforcing our trademark rights to prevent unauthorized use of our brand and technologies. Our ability to prevent unauthorized uses of our brand and technologies would be negatively impacted if our trademark registrations were overturned in the jurisdictions where we do business. We also have trademark applications pending in a number of jurisdictions that may not ultimately be granted, or if granted, may be challenged or invalidated, in which case we would be unable to prevent unauthorized use of our brand and logo in such jurisdictions. We have not filed trademark registrations in all jurisdictions where our brands and logos may be used.
Some software we provide may be subject to “open source” licenses, which may restrict how we use or distribute our software or require that we release the source code of certain products subject to those licenses.
Some of the products we support and some of our proprietary technologies incorporate open source software such as open source code that may be subject to the Lesser GNU Public License or other open source licenses. The Lesser GNU Public License and other open source licenses may require that source code subject to the license be released or made available to the public. Such open source licenses may mandate that software developed based on source code that is subject to the open source license, or combined in specific ways with such open source software, become subject to the open source license. We take steps to ensure that proprietary software we do not wish to disclose is not combined with, or does not incorporate, open source software in ways that would require such proprietary software to be subject to an open source license. However, few courts have interpreted the Lesser GNU Public License or other open source licenses, and the manner in which these licenses may be interpreted and enforced is therefore subject to some uncertainty. We often take steps to disclose source code for which disclosure is required under an open source license, but it is possible that we have or will make mistakes in doing so, which
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could negatively impact our brand or our adoption in the community, or could expose us to additional liability. In addition, we rely on multiple software programmers to design our proprietary products and technologies. Although we take steps to ensure that our programmers (both internal and outsourced) do not include open source software in products and technologies we intend to keep proprietary, we cannot be certain that open source software is not incorporated into products and technologies we intend to keep proprietary. In the event that portions of our proprietary technology are determined to be subject to an open source license, or are intentionally released under an open source license, we could be required to publicly release the relevant portions of our source code, which could reduce or eliminate our ability to commercialize our products and technologies. Also, in relying on multiple software programmers to design products and technologies that we ultimately end up releasing in the open source community, we may discover that one or multiple such programmers have included code or language that would be embarrassing to us, which could negatively impact our brand or our adoption in the community, or could expose us to additional liability. Such additional liability could include claims that result in litigation, require us to seek licenses from third-parties in order to keep offering our software, require us to re-engineer our software, require us to release proprietary source code, require us to provide indemnification or otherwise subject us to liability to a customer or supplier, or require us to discontinue the sale of a product in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished in a timely manner, any of which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Under our agreements with many of our customers and partners, we are required to provide indemnification in the event our technology is alleged to infringe upon the intellectual property rights of third parties.
In certain of our agreements, we have agreed to indemnify our customers and partners under certain circumstances. We may incur significant expenses responding to indemnification demands or defending these partners if they are accused of patent or other intellectual property infringement based on allegations related to our technology. If a partner were to be accused of infringement or lose a lawsuit and in turn seek indemnification from us, we could be subject to significant expense responding to the indemnification claim and/or monetary liabilities relating to a judgment or settlement. Liability under our indemnification commitments may not be contractually limited.
Current and future governmental and industry standards may significantly limit our business opportunities.
Technology standards are important in the audio and video industry as they help to assure compatibility across a system or series of products. Generally, standards adoption occurs on either a mandatory basis, requiring a particular technology to be available in a particular product or medium, or an optional basis, meaning that a particular technology may be, but is not required to be, utilized. If standards are re-examined or a new standard is developed in which we are not included, our growth in that area of our business could be significantly lower than expected.
As new technologies and entertainment media emerge, new standards relating to these technologies or media may develop. New standards may also emerge in existing markets that are currently characterized by competing formats, such as the automotive market or the market for TVs or PCs. We may not be successful in our efforts to include our technology in any such standards.
Standards sometimes require implementers or contributors to offer to license their relevant intellectual property on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (RAND) or on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), but if standards that may apply to our technologies start requiring implementers or contributors to license their relevant intellectual property on a reasonable and non-discriminatory, zero royalty (RAND-Z) or reasonable and non-discriminatory, royalty free (RAND-RF) basis, it may affect our ability to be compensated for our technologies that may be included in such standards.
Risks Related to Macroeconomic Conditions
Macroeconomic uncertainties have in the past and may continue to adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Macroeconomic uncertainties, including increased inflation and interest rates, recessionary fears, financial and credit market fluctuations, changes in economic policy, bank failures, labor disputes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and global supply chain constraints have in the past, and may continue to, adversely impact many aspects of our business. For example, our success depends, in part, on the level of discretionary consumer and corporate spending. Discretionary consumer and corporate spending is affected by many factors, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income and corporate spending, such as the rate of inflation, risk of recession, employment status, labor disputes, and interest and tax rates. The economy has been experiencing unusually high inflation, increased perceived risk of recession, and higher interest rates, which may negatively impact consumer and corporate spending. A decrease in discretionary consumer and corporate spending could result, in particular, in reduction in purchases of TVs, automobiles and consumer electronic devices, and reduction in
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monetization revenue. During past economic slowdowns and recessions, many consumers reduced their discretionary spending and advertisers reduced their advertising expenditures. Any such conditions, including entertainment promotional spending by media and content providers, could significantly impact our ability to generate revenue, and thus impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, a significant reduction in the supply of original entertainment content, including as a result of macroeconomic factors or labor disputes (such as the 2023 strikes called by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA), could in turn reduce the demand for advertising and media and entertainment promotional spending campaigns on our Media Platform solutions, and have a material adverse effect on our growth or negatively impact our results of operations.
The extent to which macroeconomic uncertainties may continue to impact our operational and financial performance remains uncertain and will depend on many factors outside our control. These direct and indirect impacts may negatively affect our business and operating results.
Natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, or other natural or man-made catastrophic events could disrupt and impact our business.
Occurrence of any catastrophic event, including an earthquake, flood, tsunami, or other weather event, power loss, internet failure, software or hardware malfunctions, cyber attack, war or foreign invasion (such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war), terrorist attack and other geopolitical conflicts (such as Yemen’s Houthi attacks in the Red Sea), medical epidemic or pandemic (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), government shutdown orders, other man-made disasters, or other catastrophic events could disrupt our, our business partners’ and customers’ business operations or result in disruptions in the broader global economic environment. Any of these business disruptions could require substantial expenditures and recovery time in order to fully resume operations.
In particular, our principal offices are located in California, and our contract manufacturers and some of our suppliers are located in Asia, both of which are regions known for seismic activity, making our operations in these areas vulnerable to natural disasters or other business disruptions in these areas. Our insurance coverage may not compensate us for losses that may occur in the event of an earthquake or other significant natural disaster.
In addition, our offices and facilities, and those of our contract manufacturers, suppliers, and partners, could be vulnerable to the effects of climate change (such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm severity) that could disrupt our business operations. For example, in California, increasing intensity of drought and annual periods of wildfire danger increase the probability of planned power outages. Further, acts of terrorism could cause disruptions to the internet or the economy as a whole.
If our Pay-TV or Media Platform services were to fail or be negatively impacted as a result of a natural disaster or other event, our ability to deliver content, including advertising, would be impaired. Disruptions in the operations of our contract manufacturers, suppliers, or partners as a result of a disaster or other catastrophic event could delay the manufacture and shipment of our or our partners’ products and services, which could impact our business. If we are unable to develop adequate plans to ensure that our business functions continue to operate during and after a natural disaster or other catastrophic event and to execute successfully on those plans in the event of a disaster or catastrophic event, our business would be harmed.
Risks Related to Financial Matters
If our goodwill and other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.
In addition to internal development, we have acquired and intend to continue to acquire additional businesses, technology and intellectual property through strategic relationships and transactions. We believe these strategic relationships and transactions will enhance the competitiveness and size of our current business and provide diversification into markets and technologies that complement our current business. Future transactions could be in the form of asset purchases, equity investments, or business combinations. As a result, we may have significant goodwill from such transactions and other intangible assets which are amortized over their estimated useful lives. We have in the past and may in the future incur significant charges as a result of impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets. For example, we incurred $604.6 million of goodwill impairment charges in the second half of 2022. These goodwill impairment charges triggered an evaluation of potential impairment of other intangible assets in both the third and fourth quarters of 2022, however these evaluations did not result in additional impairment charges. We review our amortizable intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable or the useful life is shorter than originally estimated. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our amortizable or other intangible assets may not be recoverable
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include a decline in future cash flows, fluctuations in market capitalization, slower growth rates in our industry or slower than anticipated adoption of our products by our customers. As we continue to review for factors that may affect our business which may not be in our control, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements during the period in which any impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets or equity investments is determined, resulting in an adverse impact on our business, financial position and results of operations.
Changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional tax assessments may adversely affect our effective tax rates and negatively affect our business and financial condition.
We are subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes, as well as taxes in various international jurisdictions. As a result, our effective tax rate is derived from a combination of applicable tax rates in the various jurisdictions where we operate. Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by numerous factors, including the passage of new tax laws, changes in the interpretation of tax laws, changes in the mix of our profitability from state to state and from country to country, changes to our operating structure, changes in the amount of payments from our U.S. entities to related foreign entities, our inability to secure or sustain acceptable agreements with tax authorities and changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities, including changes in our ability to realize our deferred tax assets.
In addition, U.S. federal, U.S. state, and foreign tax jurisdictions may examine our income tax returns, including income tax returns of acquired companies and acquired tax attributes included therein. We regularly assess the likelihood of outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. In making such assessments, we exercise judgment in estimating our provision for income taxes. While we believe our estimates are reasonable, we cannot ensure that the final determination from these examinations will not be materially different from that reflected in our income tax provisions and accruals. Any adverse outcome from these examinations may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Regulatory and Legal Matters
If government regulations or laws relating to the internet, video, advertising, or other areas of our business change, we may need to alter the manner in which we conduct our business, or our business could be harmed.
We are subject to or affected by general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specific to the internet and online services, including laws and regulations related to data privacy and security, consumer protection, data localization, law enforcement access to data, encryption, telecommunications, social media, payment processing, taxation, trade, intellectual property, competition, electronic contracts, internet access, net neutrality, advertising, content restrictions, protection of children, and accessibility, among others. We cannot guarantee that we have been or will be fully compliant in every jurisdiction. Litigation and regulatory proceedings are inherently uncertain, and the federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations governing issues such as data privacy and security, payment processing, taxation, net neutrality, liability of providers of online services, video, telecommunications, e-commerce tariffs, and consumer protection related to the internet continue to develop. Moreover, as internet commerce and advertising continue to evolve, increasing regulation by federal, state, and foreign regulatory authorities becomes more likely.
As we develop new products and services and improve our products and services, we may also be subject to new laws and regulations specific to such technologies. For example, in developing our TiVo OS and DTS AutoStage solutions, we were required to understand, address, and comply with an evolving regulatory framework for developing, marketing, and selling operating systems for Smart TVs and automotive applications in many different international jurisdictions. If we fail to adequately address or comply with such regulations, we may be subject to fines or sanctions, and we or our partners may be unable to sell Smart TVs or other devices that incorporate our technologies, which could harm our business and our ability to grow our user base.
Laws relating to data privacy and security, data localization, law enforcement access to data, encryption, consumer protection, protection of children, and similar activities continue to proliferate, often with little harmonization between jurisdictions and limited guidance. A number of bills are pending in the U.S. Congress and other government bodies that contain provisions that would regulate, for example, how companies can use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect, use, and share user information. Certain state laws, such as the CCPA, the CPRA, and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, also impose requirements on certain tracking activity. The EU has laws requiring advertisers or companies like ours to, for example, obtain unambiguous, affirmative consent from users for the placement of cookies or other tracking technologies and the delivery of relevant advertisements. In addition, the EU has adopted the Digital Services Act, which is legislation that updates the liability and safety rules for digital platforms, products, and services. The EU also recently adopted the Data Act, which seeks to enhance interoperability and facilitate data sharing and reuse across products and services.
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Regulatory investigations and enforcement actions could also impact our business operations. For example, companies in the media, entertainment, and advertising technology industries have been subject to government investigation by regulatory bodies with regard to compliance with data privacy and security laws. Advocacy organizations have also filed complaints with data protection authorities against businesses with streaming apps and advertising technology, arguing that certain of these companies’ practices do not comply with the CCPA or other regulations. Such investigations or enforcement actions may require us to alter our practices. Further, if we or the third parties that we work with, such as contract payment processing services, content partners, vendors, or developers, violate or are alleged to violate applicable privacy or security laws, laws concerning access to data, industry standards, our contractual obligations, or our policies, such violations and alleged violations may also put users’ information at risk and could in turn harm our business and reputation and subject us to potential liability. Any of these consequences could cause users, advertisers, or content partners to lose trust in us, which could harm our business. Furthermore, any failure on our part to comply with these laws may subject us to liability and reputational harm.
Our use of data to deliver relevant advertising and other services on our platform places us and our content partners at risk for claims under various unsettled laws, including the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”).
In addition, in 2019, the FTC initiated a review of its rules implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), which limits the collection by operators of online services of personal information from children under the age of 13. Following this review, in December 2023, the FTC issued a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes specific revisions to the COPPA rule and seeks additional public input. Among other topics, the FTC has proposed rule changes that would prohibit targeted advertising to children absent express opt-in consent from parents, strengthen data security requirements for children’s personal information, and limit the period during which children’s personal information can be retained. The review has not been concluded and could result in broadening the applicability of COPPA and other changes.
There have also been proposals in the U.S. Congress to amend and expand COPPA. Changes to the COPPA legislation or rules could limit the information that we or our content partners and advertisers may collect and use and the content of advertisements in relation to certain app partner content.
The CPRA and certain other state privacy laws also impose certain opt in and opt out requirements before certain information about minors can be collected. California also has adopted a new law known as the Age Appropriate Design Code Act, which has a stated purpose of protecting “the well being, data, and privacy of children using online platforms.” A federal district court in California granted a preliminary injunction preventing that law from going into effect during the pendency of litigation challenging it on constitutional grounds, and the California Attorney General has since asked a federal appeals court to lift that injunction. At the same time, since adoption of the California law, similar legislation has been introduced for consideration in other U.S. states.
The EU and many of its member states, among other jurisdictions, also have rules that limit processing of personal information, including children’s data, and that impose specific requirements intended to protect children online. For example, Germany has enacted the German Youth Protection Act and the German Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media, which govern and restrict content that may be distributed to minors. We and our content partners and advertisers could be at risk for violation or alleged violation of these and other privacy, advertising, children’s online protection, or similar laws.
Rules governing new technological developments, such as developments in generative AI, remain unsettled. We leverage machine learning and AI technologies in developing and providing our products and services. The legal and regulatory landscape surrounding these technologies is rapidly evolving and uncertain, including in the areas of intellectual property, cybersecurity, and privacy and data protection. Compliance with new or changing laws, regulations or industry standards relating to these technologies may impose significant operational costs and may limit our ability to develop, deploy or use these technologies.
U.S. or international rules (or the absence of rules) that permit internet access network operators to degrade users’ internet speeds or limit internet data consumption by users, including unreasonable discrimination in the provision of broadband internet access services, could harm our business.
Our products and services depend on the ability of users of our technologies to access the internet. We believe that the continued growth of streaming as an entertainment alternative will depend on the availability and growth of cost-effective broadband internet access (including mobile broadband internet access), the quality and reliability of broadband content delivery, and broadband service providers’ ability to control the delivery speed of different content traveling on their networks. Laws, regulations, or court rulings that adversely affect the popularity or growth in use of the internet, including decisions that undermine open and neutrally administered internet access, or that disincentivize internet access network operators’ willingness to invest in upgrades and maintenance of their equipment, could decrease customer demand for our service offerings, may
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impose additional burdens on us, or could cause us to incur additional expenses or alter our business model. Some jurisdictions have adopted regulations governing the provision of internet access service. Substantial uncertainty exists in the United States and elsewhere regarding such provisions.
For example, in 2015, the FCC adopted open internet rules to prevent internet access network operators from unreasonably restricting, blocking, degrading, or charging for access to certain products and services offered by us and our content partners. In 2018, the FCC repealed most of those rules. In September 2023, the FCC formally proposed to restore the 2015 open internet rules and re-establish the FCC’s role in overseeing broadband providers, although some representatives of broadband providers have already stated that they may challenge such a decision in court.
If network operators were to engage in restricting, blocking, degrading, or charging for access, it could impede our growth, result in a decline in our quality of service, cause us to incur additional expense, or otherwise impair our ability to attract and retain users, any of which could harm our business. Several states and foreign countries in which we operate also have adopted or are considering rules governing the provision of internet access. In addition, in some jurisdictions (including the United States), network operators are pursuing proposals that would require or enable them to impose fees on content providers related to delivery of network traffic.
As we expand internationally, government regulation protecting the non-discriminatory provision of internet access may be nascent or non-existent. In those markets where regulatory safeguards against unreasonable discrimination are nascent or non-existent and where local network operators possess substantial market power, we could experience anti-competitive practices that could impede our growth, cause us to incur additional expenses, or otherwise harm our business. Future regulations or changes in laws and regulations (or their existing interpretations or applications) could also hinder our operational flexibility, raise compliance costs, and result in additional liabilities for us, which may harm our business.
If we are found liable for content that is distributed through or advertising that is served through our platform, our business could be harmed.
As a distributor of content, we face potential liability for negligence, copyright, patent, or trademark infringement, public performance royalties or other claims based on the nature and content of materials that we distribute. We rely on the statutory safe harbors, as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “DMCA”), Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“Section 230”) in the United States, and the E-Commerce Directive in Europe, for protection against liability for various caching, hosting, and linking activities. The DMCA, Section 230, and similar statutes and doctrines on which we rely or may rely in the future are subject to uncertain judicial interpretation and regulatory and legislative amendments. Any legislation or court rulings that limit the applicability of these safe harbors could require us to take a different approach toward content moderation, which could diminish the depth, breadth, and variety of content that we offer, inhibit our ability to generate advertising, or otherwise adversely affect our business.
Moreover, if the rules around these statutes and doctrines change, if international jurisdictions refuse to apply similar protections, or if a court were to disagree with our application of those rules to our business, we could incur liabilities and our business could be harmed. If we become liable for these types of claims as a result of the content that is streamed over or the advertisements that are served through our products or services, then our business may suffer. Litigation to defend these claims could be costly and the expenses and damages arising from any liability could harm our business. Our insurance may not be adequate to cover these types of claims or any liability that may be imposed on us.
In addition, regardless of any legal protections that may limit our liability for the actions of third parties, we may be adversely impacted if copyright holders assert claims, or commence litigation, alleging copyright infringement against the developers of apps that are distributed on our products or services.
Our products and services may be misused by unaffiliated third parties to unlawfully distribute copyrighted content. If content owners or distributors are deterred from working with us as a consequence, it could impair our ability to maintain or expand our business, including through international expansion plans.
We are subject to broadcast laws and regulations, and failure to comply with such laws and regulations could harm our business.
The TV, automotive, cable, and telecommunications industries are subject to pervasive regulation, both in the United States and in other countries. For example, the FCC in the United States has licensing and other requirements, in addition to extensive regulation by local and state authorities.
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The FCC or regulators in other countries could promulgate new regulations or interpret existing regulations in a manner that would cause us to incur significant compliance costs or force us to alter or eliminate certain features or functionality of our products or services, which may adversely affect our business. For example, regulators could determine that certain of our products or services fail to comply with regulations concerning matters such as electrical interference, copy protection, digital tuners, accessibility for blind and deaf users, emergency alerts, broadcast regulations, online marketplace regulations, operations regulations, or display of television programming based on content rating systems.
In the United States, the FCC regulates the broadcast radio industry, interprets laws enacted by Congress and establishes and enforces regulations governing radio broadcasting. It is unclear what laws, rules and regulations may be adopted regarding digital audio broadcasting and what effect, if any, such laws, rules and regulations will have on our business, the operations of stations using our HD Radio technology, or consumer electronics manufacturers. Any additional laws, rules and regulations imposed on digital audio broadcasting may adversely impact the attractiveness of HD Radio technology and negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, non-compliance by us, or by radio stations offering HD Radio broadcasts, with any FCC requirements or conditions could result in fines, additional license conditions, license revocation or other detrimental FCC actions.
If we fail to comply with anti-corruption or bribery laws, our business could be harmed.
As we expand our international operations, we are subject to increased corruption risk and compliance with laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption laws. Such laws generally prohibit companies and their employees and intermediaries from making payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining an advantage or benefits and require public companies to maintain accurate books and records and a system of internal accounting controls. Under these laws, companies may be held liable for actions taken by directors, officers, employees, agents, or other partners or representatives. If we or our intermediaries fail to comply with the requirements of the FCPA or similar laws, governmental authorities could commence an investigation or seek to impose civil and criminal fines and penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate financial statements could be impaired, which could increase our operating costs and affect our ability to operate our business.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and are required to comply with the applicable requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations has increased our legal and financial compliance costs, made some activities more time-consuming or costly and increased demand on our systems and resources. Among other things, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly, and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting.
Significant resources and management oversight are required to maintain our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
There is no guarantee that in the future we will be able to remediate any identified material weakness timely or at all, or in a cost-effective manner. If the remediation of any identified material weakness is not completed in a timely fashion, or at all, or if the plan is inadequate, there will be an increased risk that we may be unable to timely file future periodic reports with the SEC and that future financial statements could contain errors that will be undetected. The existence of any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could also affect our ability to obtain financing or could increase the cost of any such financing. Any such material weakness could also cause investors to lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and could result in a decline in the value of our common stock.
If we fail to comply with the laws and regulations relating to the payment of income taxes and the collection of indirect taxes, we could be exposed to unexpected costs, expenses, penalties, and fees as a result of our noncompliance, which could harm our business.
We are subject to requirements to deduct or withhold income taxes on revenue sourced in various jurisdictions, pay income taxes on profits earned by any permanent establishment (or similar enterprise) of ours that carries on business in various jurisdictions, and collect indirect taxes from our sales in various jurisdictions. The laws and regulations governing the withholding and payment of income taxes and the collection of indirect taxes are numerous, complex, and vary by jurisdiction. A successful assertion by one or more jurisdictions that we were required to withhold or pay income taxes or collect indirect
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taxes where we did not could result in substantial tax liabilities, fees, and expenses, including substantial interest and penalty charges, which could harm our business.
New legislation that would change U.S. or foreign taxation of international business activities or other tax-reform policies could harm our business.
We earn a portion of our income in foreign countries and, as such, we are subject to tax laws in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Current economic and political conditions make tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, in any jurisdiction subject to significant change.
Proposals to reform U.S. and foreign tax laws could significantly impact how U.S. multinational corporations are taxed on foreign earnings and could increase the U.S. corporate tax rate. Although we cannot predict whether or in what form these proposals will pass, several of the proposals under consideration, if enacted into law, could have an adverse impact on our effective tax rate, income tax expense, and cash flows.
We have been, are currently, and may in the future be subject to litigation, claims, regulatory inquiries, investigations, and other legal proceedings, which could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a way that could seriously harm our business.
We have been, are currently, and may in the future be subject to various legal proceedings, claims, arbitration proceedings, and investigations and inquiries from government entities, including with regard to intellectual property, employment, consumer and data privacy, corporate governance, and commercial disputes, among other matters. These matters are inherently uncertain. Any proceedings, claims, or inquiries initiated by or against us, whether successful or not, may be time-consuming, subject us to damage awards, regulatory orders, consent decrees, injunctive relief, fines, or other penalties or sanctions, require us to change our policies or practices, result in increased operating costs, divert management’s attention, harm our reputation, and require us to incur significant legal and other expenses. In addition, our insurance may not be adequate to protect us from all material expenses related to pending and future claims. Any of these factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our activities to advertise, market and sell our services directly to consumers are highly regulated by constantly evolving state and federal laws and regulations.
We engage in various advertising, marketing and other promotional activities. For instance, in the past, we have offered sweepstakes, gift subscriptions and mail-in-rebates to consumers, which are subject to state and federal laws and regulations. A constantly evolving network of state and federal laws is increasingly regulating these promotional activities. Additionally, we enter into subscription service contracts directly with consumers which govern both our provision of and the consumers' payment for the TiVo Pay-TV service. For example, consumers who activate new monthly subscriptions to the TiVo Pay-TV service may be required to commit to pay for the service for a minimum of one year or be subject to an early termination fee if they terminate prior to the expiration of their commitment period. If the terms of our subscription service contracts with consumers, such as auto-renewals or our imposition of an early termination fee, or sweepstakes, rebate or gift subscription programs were to violate state or federal laws or regulations, we could be subject to lawsuits, penalties, enforcement actions, and/or negative publicity in which case our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
The absence of regulations relating to the compatibility between cable systems and CE equipment could harm our business.
Beginning in 2003, the FCC adopted regulations implementing an agreement between cable television system operators and CE manufacturers to facilitate the retail availability of so-called “plug and play” devices that use unidirectional CableCARDs, including digital televisions and other digital devices that enable subscribers to access cable television programming without the need for a set-top-box (STB) (but without the ability for consumers to use interactive content). In September 2020, the FCC eliminated rules requiring cable providers to support CableCARD. While the cable industry has continued to provide CableCARDs for third-party devices like ours, we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any new technical equipment regulations on our business and operations. Current FCC regulations no longer prohibit multi-channel video service providers from deploying navigation devices with combined security and non-security functions, and further developments with respect to these issues could impact the availability and/or demand for “plug and play” devices, particularly bi-directional devices and STBs, all of which could affect demand for UXs incorporated in STBs or CE devices. If the cable industry decided to cease providing CableCARD support for TiVo retail customers, recurring monthly retail service fees would be affected as customers would likely cancel the TiVo service on their devices.
Risks Relating to the Separation
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We may be unable to achieve some or all of the benefits that we expected to achieve from our Separation.
We may not be able to achieve the full strategic, financial, operational, or other benefits expected to result from the Separation, or such benefits may be delayed or not occur at all. The Separation and Distribution were expected to provide the following benefits, among others:
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eliminating competing priorities for capital allocation between the Former Parent’s product and IP licensing businesses;
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enabling our management team to better focus on strengthening our core businesses and operations;
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enhancing operational flexibility for our businesses, particularly in dealing with suppliers and customers;
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streamlining the investment profiles of our business and may enhance their marketability; and
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improving access to talent by allowing us to capitalize on our distinct cultures and recruitment strategies.
However, we may be unable to achieve some or all of these benefits. As an independent public company, we may be more susceptible to market fluctuations and other adverse events and our business is less diversified than when we were part of our Former Parent. If we fail to achieve some or all of the benefits that we expected to achieve as an independent company, or do not achieve them in the time we expect, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
If the Distribution, together with certain related transactions, were to fail to qualify for non-recognition treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes, then we and our stockholders could be subject to significant tax and liability.
Our Former Parent received a Tax Opinion from the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (“Skadden”), our external legal advisors in connection with the Separation, in form and substance acceptable to Xperi, substantially to the effect that, among other things, the Distribution and certain related transactions would qualify as a tax-free transaction under sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). Additionally, our Former Parent received an IRS Ruling, substantially to the effect that, among other things, the Distribution would qualify as a tax-free transaction under sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code. The IRS Ruling and the Tax Opinion relied on certain facts, assumptions, and undertakings, and certain representations from our Former Parent and us, regarding the past and future conduct of both respective businesses and other matters, including those discussed in the risk factor immediately below. The Tax Opinion also relied on the continued validity of the IRS Ruling (as described below). Notwithstanding the Tax Opinion and the IRS Ruling, the IRS could determine on audit that the Distribution or certain related transactions should be treated as a taxable transaction if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated, or that the Distribution should be taxable for other reasons, including if the IRS were to disagree with the conclusions of the Tax Opinion that are not covered by the IRS Ruling.
If certain related transactions, including certain transactions undertaken pursuant to the Internal Reorganization and Business Realignment that were intended to qualify for tax-free treatment, fail to qualify for tax-free treatment under U.S. federal, state, local tax and/or foreign tax law, we and our Former Parent could incur significant tax liabilities and/or lose significant tax attributes under U.S. federal, state, local and/or foreign tax law.
Generally, taxes resulting from the failure of the Distribution to qualify for non-recognition treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes would be imposed on us and our stockholders. Under the Tax Matters Agreement that we entered into with our Former Parent, we are generally responsible for any taxes that arise from the failure of the Distribution to qualify as tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes within the meaning of section 355 of the Code or from the failure of certain related transactions to qualify for tax-free treatment to the extent such failure to qualify is attributable to actions, events or transactions relating to our or our affiliates’ stock, assets or business, or any breach of our representations, covenants or obligations under the Tax Matters Agreement (or any other agreement we enter into in connection with the Separation and Distribution), the materials submitted to the IRS in connection with the IRS ruling, or our representations made in any representation letter provided to Skadden in connection with the Tax Opinion. Our Former Parent is separately responsible for any taxes that arise from the failure of the Distribution to qualify as tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes within the meaning of section 355 of the Code or the failure of certain related transactions to qualify for tax-free treatment, to the extent such failure to qualify is attributable to actions, events or transactions relating to our Former Parent’s or its affiliates’ stock, assets or business, or any breach of its representations, covenants or obligations under the Tax Matters Agreement (or any other agreement entered into in connection with the Separation and Distribution), the materials submitted to the IRS in connection with the IRS Ruling or the representations made in the representation letter provided to counsel in connection with the Tax Opinion.
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If the Distribution fails to qualify for non-recognition treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes for certain reasons relating to the overall structure of the Mergers and the Distribution, then under the Tax Matters Agreement, we and our Former Parent could share the tax liability resulting from such failure in accordance with our relative market capitalizations as of the Distribution Date (determined based on the average trading prices of each company’s stock during the ten trading days beginning on the Distribution Date). Events triggering an indemnification obligation under the Tax Matters Agreement include events occurring after the Distribution that cause our Former Parent to recognize a gain under section 355I of the Code, as discussed further below. Such tax amounts could be significant. To the extent that we are responsible for any liability under the Tax Matters Agreement, there could be a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows in future reporting periods.
The IRS may assert that the Mergers cause the Distribution and other related transactions to be taxable to our Former Parent, in which case we could be subject to significant indemnification liability.
Even if the Distribution otherwise constitutes a tax-free transaction to stockholders under section 355 of the Code, our Former Parent may be required to recognize corporate level tax on the Distribution and certain related transactions under section 355(e) of the Code if, as a result of the Mergers or other transactions considered part of a plan with the Distribution, there is a 50 percent or greater change of ownership in our Former Parent or us. Following the Mergers, and in anticipation of the Distribution, our Former Parent sought and received the IRS Ruling, which included a ruling from the IRS regarding the proper manner and methodology for measuring the common ownership in the stock of our Former Parent, Pre-Merger Xperi and Pre-Merger TiVo for purposes of determining whether there has been a 50 percent or greater change of ownership under section 355(e) of the Code. The Tax Opinion relies on the continued validity of the IRS Ruling, as well as certain factual representations from Xperi as to the extent of common ownership in the stock of Pre-Merger Xperi and Pre-Merger TiVo immediately prior to the Mergers. Based on the representations made by our Former Parent as to the common ownership in the stock of Pre-Merger Xperi and Pre-Merger TiVo immediately prior to the Mergers and assuming the continued validity of the IRS Ruling, the Tax Opinion concludes that there was not a 50 percent or greater change of ownership in our Former Parent, Pre-Merger Xperi or Pre-Merger TiVo for purposes of section 355(e) as a result of the Mergers. Notwithstanding the Tax Opinion and the IRS Ruling, the IRS could determine that the Distribution or a related transaction should nevertheless be treated as a taxable transaction to our Former Parent if it determines that any of the facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings of our Former Parent is not correct or that the Distribution should be taxable for other reasons, including if the IRS were to disagree with the conclusions in the Tax Opinion that are not covered by the IRS Ruling. If our Former Parent is required to recognize corporate level tax on the Distribution and certain related transactions under section 355(e) of the Code, then under the Tax Matters Agreement, we may be required to indemnify our Former Parent for all or a portion of such taxes, which could be a significant amount, if such taxes were the result of either direct or indirect transfers of our stock or certain reasons relating to the overall structure of the Mergers and the Distribution. For a more detailed description, see the section entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions —Tax Matters Agreement.”
We are subject to continuing contingent tax-related liabilities of our Former Parent following the Distribution.
There are several significant areas where the liabilities of our Former Parent may become our obligations either in whole or in part. For example, under the Code and the related rules and regulations, each corporation that was a member of our Former Parent’s consolidated tax reporting group during any taxable period or portion of any taxable period ending on or before the effective time of the Distribution is jointly and severally liable for the U.S. federal income tax liability of the entire consolidated tax reporting group for such taxable period.
Additionally, to the extent that any subsidiary of ours was included in the consolidated tax reporting group of either Pre-Merger Xperi or Pre-Merger TiVo for any taxable period or portion of any taxable period ending on or before the effective date of the Mergers, such subsidiary is jointly and severally liable for the U.S. federal income tax liability of the entire consolidated tax reporting group of Pre-Merger Xperi or Pre-Merger TiVo, as applicable, for such taxable period. In connection with the Distribution, we entered into a Tax Matters Agreement with our Former Parent that allocates the responsibility for prior period consolidated taxes between Xperi Inc. and our Former Parent. If our Former Parent were unable to pay any prior period taxes for which it is responsible, however, we could be required to pay the entire amount of such taxes, and such amounts could be significant. Other provisions of U.S. federal, state, local, or foreign law may establish similar liability for other matters, including laws governing tax-qualified pension plans, as well as other contingent liabilities.
We may be required to adjust our tax accounts if our Former Parent utilizes certain pre-Separation tax attributes.
In the future, under the Tax Matters Agreement, our Former Parent may utilize certain of our tax attributes generated during pre-Separation periods in order to reduce its tax liability for tax years ended December 31, 2022 and earlier. If our Former
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Parent should utilize such attributes, we may be required to adjust our tax accounts which may negatively impact our financial results.
We agreed to numerous restrictions to preserve the tax-free treatment of the Distribution and certain related transactions in the United States, which may reduce our strategic and operating flexibility.
Our ability to engage in certain transactions could be limited or restricted to preserve, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the tax-free nature of the Distribution by our Former Parent, and certain aspects of the Internal Reorganization and Business Realignment. As discussed above, even if the Distribution otherwise qualifies for tax-free treatment under section 355 of the Code, the Distribution may result in corporate-level taxable gain to our Former Parent under section 355(e) of the Code if a transaction results in a change of ownership of 50 percent or greater in us as part of a plan or series of related transactions that includes the Distribution. The process for determining whether an acquisition or issuance triggering these provisions has occurred, the extent to which any such acquisition or issuance results in a change of ownership and the cumulative effect of any such acquisition or issuance together with any prior acquisitions or issuances (including the Mergers) is complex, inherently factual and subject to interpretation of the facts and circumstances of a particular case. Any acquisitions or issuances of Xperi Inc. common stock within a two-year period after the Distribution generally are presumed to be part of such a plan that includes the Distribution, although such presumption may be rebutted. As a result of these limitations, and certain other requirements under section 355 of the Code, under the Tax Matters Agreement that we entered into with our Former Parent, for the two-year period following the Distribution, we are prohibited, except in certain circumstances, from, among other things:
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entering into any transaction resulting in acquisitions of a certain percentage of our assets, whether by merger or otherwise;
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dissolving, merging, consolidating or liquidating;
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undertaking or permitting any transaction relating to our stock, including issuances, redemptions or repurchases other than certain, limited, permitted issuances and repurchases;
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affecting the relative voting rights of our stock, whether by amending our certificate of incorporation or otherwise; or
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ceasing to actively conduct our business.
These restrictions may significantly limit our ability to pursue certain strategic transactions or other transactions that we may believe to otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders or that might increase the value of our business.
Our historical financial information may not be fully representative of the results we would have achieved as an independent, publicly-traded company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.
The historical financial information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not reflect what our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows would have been had we been an independent, publicly-traded company during the periods presented and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results. This is primarily because:
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Our historical financial information prior to the Separation includes the allocation of corporate expenses of our Former Parent, and these allocations are not necessarily representative of the costs we have incurred for similar services as an independent company following the Separation and Distribution.
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Prior to the Separation, our business had historically principally satisfied our working capital requirements and obtained capital for our general corporate purposes, including acquisitions and capital expenditures, as part of our Former Parent’s company-wide cash management practices. Although these practices have historically generated sufficient cash to finance the working capital and other cash requirements of our business, following the Separation and Distribution, we no longer have access to cash generated by our Former Parent after the Separation nor do our cash generating revenue streams mirror those of our Former Parent. We may therefore need to obtain additional financing from banks, through public offerings or private placements of debt or equity securities or other arrangements.
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Prior to the Separation, our business was operated under the umbrella of our Former Parent’s corporate organization. This integration permitted our business (or portions thereof) to enjoy economies of scope and scale in costs, employees, vendor relationships and customer relationships, as part of the Former Parent organization. The loss of these economies of scope and scale could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Other significant changes have occurred in our cost structure, management, financing and business operations as a result of the Separation and Distribution and our operating as a company separate from our Former Parent.
As a result, the financial information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is not necessarily indicative of what our financial position, results of operations and cash flow may be in the future.
We may not enjoy the same benefits of diversity, leverage and market reputation as a standalone company that we enjoyed as a part of our Former Parent.
Prior to the Separation, our business (or portions thereof) historically benefited from our Former Parent’s operating diversity and purchasing power as well as opportunities to pursue integrated strategies with our Former Parent’s other businesses, including those businesses that formed part of our Former Parent’s IP licensing business that were allocated to our Former Parent in connection with the Separation. Following the Separation and Distribution, we will not have similar diversity or integration opportunities and may not have similar purchasing power or access to the capital markets.
Additionally, following the Separation and Distribution, we are more susceptible to market fluctuations and other adverse events than if we had remained part of the previous organizational structure. As part of our Former Parent, our business had been able to leverage the historical market reputation and performance of our Former Parent and its businesses’ brand identities, which allowed us to, among other things, recruit and retain key personnel to run our business. As a standalone company, our market reputation, performance, or brand identity may be not as strong as that of our Former Parent, which may make it more difficult for us to recruit or retain such key personnel.