SNAP Snap Inc.

Risks

• Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
• We rely on Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, or AWS, for the vast majority of our computing, storage, bandwidth, and other services. Any disruption of or interference with our use of either platform would negatively affect our operations and seriously harm our business.
• We generate substantially all of our revenue from advertising. The failure to attract new advertisers, the loss of advertisers, or a reduction in how much they spend could seriously harm our business.
• If we do not develop successful new products or improve existing ones, our business will suffer. We may also invest in new lines of business that could fail to attract or retain users or generate revenue.
• Our business is highly competitive. We face significant competition that we anticipate will continue to intensify. If we are not able to maintain or improve our market share, our business could suffer.
• We have incurred operating losses in the past, and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
• The loss of one or more of our key personnel, or our failure to attract and retain other highly qualified personnel in the future, could seriously harm our business.
• We have a short operating history and a continually evolving business model, which makes it difficult to evaluate our prospects and future financial results and increases the risk that we will not be successful.
• If our security is compromised or if our platform is subjected to attacks that frustrate or thwart our users’ ability to access our products and services, our users, advertisers, and partners may cut back on or stop using our products and services altogether, which could seriously harm our business.
• Our user metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and real or perceived inaccuracies in those metrics may seriously harm and negatively affect our reputation and our business.
• Mobile malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks, spamming, and improper or illegal use of Snapchat could seriously harm our business and reputation.
• Because we store, process, and use data, some of which contains personal information, we are subject to complex and evolving federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, content, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in investigations, claims, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations, and declines in user growth, retention, or engagement, any of which could seriously harm our business.
• Our financial condition and results of operations will fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which makes them difficult to predict.
• If we are unable to successfully grow our user base and further monetize our products, our business will suffer.
• We cannot assure you that we will effectively manage our growth.
• Our business depends on our ability to maintain and scale our technology infrastructure. Any significant disruption to our service could damage our reputation, result in a potential loss of users and decrease in user engagement, and seriously harm our business.
• Our business emphasizes rapid innovation and prioritizes long-term user engagement over short-term financial condition or results of operations. That strategy may yield results that sometimes don’t align with the market’s expectations. If that happens, our stock price may be negatively affected.
• If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished, and our business may be seriously harmed. If we need to license or acquire new intellectual property, we may incur substantial costs.
• If our users do not continue to contribute content or their contributions are not perceived as valuable to other users, we may experience a decline in user growth, retention, and engagement on Snapchat, which could result in the loss of advertisers and revenue.
• Foreign government initiatives and restrictions could seriously harm our business.
• If events occur that damage our brand or reputation, our business may be seriously harmed.
• Expanding and operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention. If we are not successful in expanding and operating our business in international markets, we may incur significant costs, damage our brand, or need to lay off employees in those markets, any of which may seriously harm our business.
• Operating our business requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our Convertible Notes, and any other debt when due, which may seriously harm our business.
• We have spent and may continue to spend substantial funds in connection with the tax liabilities on the settlement of equity awards. The manner in which we fund these tax liabilities may cause us to spend substantial funds or dilute stockholders, either of which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition.
• Our products are highly technical and may contain undetected software bugs or hardware errors, which could manifest in ways that could seriously harm our reputation and our business.
• We are currently, and expect to be in the future, party to patent lawsuits and other intellectual property claims that are expensive and time-consuming. If resolved adversely, these lawsuits and claims could seriously harm our business.
• From time to time, we are involved in class-action lawsuits and other litigation matters that are expensive and time-consuming and could seriously harm our business.
• We plan to continue expanding our international operations where we have limited operating experience and may be subject to increased business and economic risks that could seriously harm our business.
• New legislation that would change U.S. or foreign taxation of business activities, including the imposition of tax based on gross revenue, could seriously harm our business.
• Exposure to United Kingdom political developments, including the effect of its withdrawal from the European Union, could be costly and difficult to comply with and could seriously harm our business.
• We plan to continue to make acquisitions and investments in other companies, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, dilute our stockholders, and seriously harm our business.
• As our business expands, we have offered and may continue to offer credit to our partners to stay competitive, and as a result we may be exposed to credit risk of some of our partners, which may seriously harm our business.
• If we default on our credit obligations, our operations may be interrupted and our business could be seriously harmed.
• We may have exposure to greater-than-anticipated tax liabilities, which could seriously harm our business.
• If our goodwill or intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings, which could seriously harm our business.
• We cannot be certain that additional financing will be available on reasonable terms when needed, or at all, which could seriously harm our business.
• Components used in our products may fail as a result of a manufacturing, design, or other defect over which we have no control, and render our devices inoperable.
• We have faced inventory risk with respect to our Spectacles products.
• We cannot predict the impact our capital structure and the concentrated control by our founders may have on our stock price or our business.
• Because our Class A common stock is non-voting, we and our stockholders are exempt from certain provisions of U.S. securities laws. This may limit the information available to holders of our Class A common stock.
• The trading price of our Class A common stock has been and will likely continue to be volatile.
• Conversion of the Convertible Notes may dilute the ownership interest of our stockholders or may otherwise depress the market price of our Class A common stock.
• We may still incur substantially more debt or take other actions that would diminish our ability to make payments on the Convertible Notes when due. Our ability to repay our debt depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, and other factors beyond our control.
• The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
• Delaware law and provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as our Indentures, could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult or more expensive, thereby depressing the trading price of our Class A common stock.
• If securities or industry analysts either do not publish research about us, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our common stock adversely, the trading price or trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
• We do not intend to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future.
• If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, and the market price of our Class A common stock may be seriously harmed.
• Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.