Our products are sold in approximately 160more than 170 countries; accordingly, we are subject to risks associated with doing business globally, including commercial, political, and financial risks. In the long term, we continue to expect our growth rates in non-U.S.emerging markets, to surpass our growth rates in the United States. Emerging regions, such as eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia,States and Africa, as well as more developed markets. However, we still expect our international developed markets such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia,to provide growth opportunities for us. If shipments of our products – particularly Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey – to our global markets were to experience significant disruption due to these risks or for other reasons, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

In addition, we are subject to potential business disruption caused by military conflicts; potentially unstable governments or legal systems; civil or political upheaval or unrest; local labor policies and conditions; possible expropriation, nationalization, or confiscation of assets; problems with repatriation of foreign earnings; economic or trade sanctions; closure of markets to imports; anti-American sentiment; terrorism or other types of violence in or outside the United States; and health pandemics; and a significant reduction in global travel.pandemics. For example, Europe islast year, the United States imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. In response, a key commercialnumber of countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, including on our American whiskey products. Such retaliatory tariffs continue to remain in place, and production region for someany further deterioration of economic relations between the United States and other countries or any increase in tariffs could result in an increase in the price of our products and further outbreakscould prompt consumers to seek alternative products. Furthermore, uncertainty related to the future of violence there could disruptthe European Union may affect our operations.business and financial performance in Europe. For instance, in June 2016, the United Kingdom voted by referendum to leave the European Union (Brexit), and, until the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union is finalized, we face economic and political uncertainty related to the negotiation of any successor trading arrangement with other countries as well as volatility in exchange rates, risk to supply chains across the European Union, restrictions on the mobility of employees and consumers, or changes to customs duties, tariffs, or industry specific requirements and regulations. In addition, our abilityany new trade barriers, sanctions, tariffs, or any retaliatory measures in response to sell into Russia depends on our products being imported, and any economic or trade sanctionsthe foregoing could materially and adversely affect our operations there.operations. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to overcome the challenges we encounter with respect to these risks and other factors affecting U.S. companies with global operations.

Some countries where we do business have a higher risk of corruption than others. While we are committed to doing business in accordance with applicable anti-corruption and other laws, our Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers, and our other Company policies, we remain subject to the risk that an employee will violate our policies, or that any of our many affiliates or agents, such as importers, wholesalers, distributors, or other business partners, may take action determined to be in violation of international trade, money laundering, anti-corruption, or other laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or equivalent local laws. Any determination that our operations or activities are not, or were not, in compliance with U.S. or foreign laws or regulations could result in investigations, interruption of business, loss of business partner relationships, suspension or termination of licenses and permits (our own or those of our partners), imposition of fines, legal or equitable sanctions, negative publicity, and management distraction. Further, our continued compliance with applicable anti-corruption or other laws, our Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers, and our other policies could result in higher operating costs.

Additional regulation in the United States and other countries addressing climate change, use of water, and other environmental issues could increase our operating costs. Increasing regulation of fuel emissions could increase the cost of energy, including fuel, required to operate our facilities or transport and distribute our products, thereby substantially increasing the production, distribution, and supply chain costs associated with our products.

Our business is sensitive to changes in both direct and indirect taxes. As a multinational company based in the United States, we are more exposed to the impact of U.S. tax changes than most of our major competitors, especially those that affect the effective corporate income tax rate. Certain

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act). The Tax Act significantly revised the U.S. corporate income tax by, among other things, lowering U.S. corporate income tax rates and implementing a territorial tax system. Shortly after the Tax Act was enacted, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, Income Tax Accounting Implications of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (SAB 118) to address the application of GAAP. SAB 118 directs taxpayers to consider the impact of the Tax Act as provisional when a company does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for the change in tax law. In accordance with SAB 118, we recorded an original provisional estimate of the effect of the Tax Act in our 2018 consolidated financial statements and have subsequently finalized our accounting analysis based on the guidance, interpretations, and data available as of December 22, 2018. However, many aspects of the Tax Act are still unclear and may not be clarified for some time. For additional detail regarding the Tax Act and the final tax amounts recorded in our consolidated financial statements, see Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

New tax rules, accounting standards, or pronouncements, and changes thatin interpretation of existing rules, standards, or pronouncements could also have beena significant adverse effect on our business and financial results. This includes potential

Our business operations are also subject to numerous duties or taxes that are not based on income, sometimes referred to as “indirect taxes,taxes.” whichThese indirect taxes include excise taxes, sales or value-added taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, import and payroll taxes.export duties, and tariffs. Increases in or the imposition of new indirect taxes on our operations or products would increase the cost of our products or, to the extent levied directly on consumers, make our products less affordable, which could negatively affect our financial results by reducing purchases of our products and encouraging consumers to switch to lower-priced or lower-taxed product categories. For example, certain jurisdictions, such as Brazil, have increased and may continue to increase excise taxes on beverage alcohol products, which could

The Jack Daniel’s family of brands is the primary driver of our revenue and growth. Jack Daniel’s is an iconic global trademark with a loyal consumer fan base, and we invest much effort and many resources to protect and preserve the brand’s reputation for quality,authenticity, craftsmanship, and authenticity.quality. A brand’s reputational value is based in large part on consumer perceptions, and even an isolated incident that causes harm – particularly one resulting in widespread negative publicity – could adversely influence these perceptions and erode consumer trust and confidence in the brand. Significant damage to the brand equity of Jack Daniel’s would adversely affect our business. Given the importance of Jack Daniel’s to our overall success, a significant or sustained decline in volume or selling price of our Jack Daniel’s products would have a negative effect on our growth and our stock price.financial results. Additionally, should we not be successful in our efforts to maintain or increase the relevance of the Jack Daniel’s brand in the minds ofto current and future consumers, our business and operating results could suffer. For details on the importance of the Jack Daniel’s family of brands to our business, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Results of Operations – Fiscal 20162019 Brand Highlights.”

We are a branded consumer products company in a highly competitive market, and our success depends substantially on our continued ability to offer consumers appealing, high-quality products. Consumer preferences and purchases may shift, often in unpredictable ways, due to a host ofseveral factors, many of which are difficult to predict, including health and wellness trends; changes in economic conditions, demographic, and social trends,trends; public health policies and initiatives,initiatives; changes in government regulation of beverage alcohol products, the potentialproducts; concerns or regulations related to product safety; legalization of marijuana use on a more widespread basis within the United States, Canada, or elsewhere,elsewhere; and changes in trends related to travel, leisure, dining, gifting, entertaining, and beverage consumption trends. Consumers may begin to shift their consumption and purchases of our premium and super-premium products, more commonly found in on-premise establishments, in favor of off-premise purchases or away from alcoholic beverages entirely. This includes consumption at home as a result of various factors, including shifts in social trends, proliferation of smoking bans, and stricter laws relating to driving while under the influence of alcohol, as well as shifts to purchases of our products to e-commerce retailers. Shifts in consumption and purchasing channels such as these could adversely impact our profitability. Consumers also may begin to prefer the products of competitors or may generally reduce their demand for brands produced by larger companies. For example, smallerOver the past several years, the number of small, local distilleries are experiencing accelerated growth asin the United States has grown significantly. This is being driven by a resulttrend of shifting consumer preferences toward locally-produced, regionally-sourcedconsumers showing increasing interest in locally produced, regionally sourced products. As more brands enter the market, increased competition could negatively affect demand for our premium and super-premium American whiskey brands, including Jack Daniel’s. In addition, we could experience unfavorable business results if we fail to attract consumers from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities in the United States and inall markets where we sell our other non-U.S. markets. Forecastsproducts. Demographic forecasts in the United States for severalthe next couple of years after 20162018 indicate a slight decrease in the population segment aged 21 to 24; fewer potential consumers in this age bracket could have a negative effect on industry growth rates and on our business. To continue to succeed, we must anticipate or react effectively to shifts in demographics, consumer behavior, consumer preferences, drinking tastes, and drinking occasions.

Our plans call for the continued growth of the Jack Daniel’s family of brands. In particular, we plan to continue to grow Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey sales globally and plan to launch Jack Daniel’s Tennessee FireApple in select international marketsthe United States in fiscal 2017.2020. If these plans are unsuccessful,do not succeed, or if we otherwise fail to develop or implement effective business, portfolio, and brand strategies, our growth, stock price, or financial results could suffer. More broadly, if consumers shift away from spirits (particularly brown spirits such as American whiskey and bourbon), our premium-priced brands, or our RTD products, our financial results could be adversely affected.

We believe that new products, line extensions, label and bottle changes, product reformulations, and similar product innovations by both our competitors and us will compete increasingly for consumer drinking occasions. Product innovation, particularly for our core brands, such as our launch of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple, is a significant element of our growth strategy; however, there can be no assurance that we will continue to develop and implement successful line extensions, packaging, formulation or flavor changes, or new products. Unsuccessful implementation or short-lived popularity of our product innovations could result in inventory write-offs and other costs, reduction in profits from one year to the next, and also could damage consumers’ perception of the brand family. Our inability to attract consumers to our product innovations relative to our competitors’ products – especially over time – could negatively affect our growth, business, and financial results.

Our ability to market and sell our products depends heavily on societal attitudes toward drinking and governmental policies that both flow from and affect those attitudes. In recent years, increased social and political attention has been directed at the beverage alcohol industry. For example, there remains continued attention focused largely on public health concerns related to alcohol abuse, including drunk driving, underage drinking, and the negative health impacts of the abuse and misuse of beverage alcohol. While most people who drink enjoy alcoholic beverages in moderation, it is commonly known and well reported that excessive levels or inappropriate patterns of drinking can lead to increased risk of a range of health conditions and, for certain people, can result in alcohol dependence. Some academics, public health officials, and critics of the alcohol industry in the United States, Europe, and other countriesparts of the world continue to seek governmental measures to make beverage alcohol more expensive, less available, or more difficult to advertise and promote. If future scientific research indicatedindicate more widespread serious health risks associated with alcohol consumption – particularly with moderate consumption – or if for any reason the social acceptability of beverage alcohol were to declinedeclines significantly, sales of our products could decrease.

Various jurisdictions have adopted or may seek to adopt significant additional product labeling or warning requirements or limitations on the availability of our products relating to the content or perceived adverse health consequences of some of our products. Several such labeling regulations or laws require warnings on any product with substances that the state lists as potentially causingassociated with cancer or birth defects. Our products already raise health and safety concerns for some regulators, and heightened requirements could be imposed. If additional or more severe requirements of this type become applicable toare imposed on one or more of our major products under current or future health, environmental, or other laws or regulations, they could inhibit sales of such products. Further, we cannot predict whether our products will become subject to increased rules and regulations which, if enacted, could increase our costs or adversely impact sales. For example, advocacy groups in Australia and the United Kingdom have called for the consideration of requiring the sale of alcohol in plain packaging with more comprehensive health warnings in an effort to change drinking habits in those countries. These studies could result in additional governmental regulations concerning the production, marketing, labeling, or availability of our products, any of which could damage our reputation, make our premium brands unrecognizable, or reduce demand of our products, which could adversely affect our profitability.  

We use different business models to market and distribute our products in different countries around the world. In the United States, we sell our products either to distributors for resale to retail outlets or e-commerce retailers, in those states that control alcohol sales, to state governments who then sell them to retail customers and consumers. In our non-U.S. markets, we use a variety of route-to-consumer models – including, in many markets, reliance on others to market and sell our products. Consolidation among spirits producers, distributors, wholesalers, suppliers, or retailers and the increased growth and popularity of the e-commerce retail environment across the consumer product goods market could create a more challenging competitive landscape for our products. Consolidation at any level could hinder the distribution and sale of our products as a result of reduced attention and resources allocated to our brands both during and after transition periods, because our brands might represent a smaller portion of the new business portfolio. Furthermore, consolidation of distributors may lead to the erosion of margins as newly consolidated distributors take down prices. Changes in distributors’ strategies, including a reduction in the number of brands they carry, the allocation of shelf space for our competitors’ brands, or private label products, may adversely affect our sales, margin, outlook, and market share. Expansion into new product categories by other suppliers, or innovation by new entrants into the market, could increase competition in our product categories.

Changes to our route-to-consumer models or partners in important markets could result in temporary or longer-term sales disruption, could result in higher costs, and could negatively affect other business relationships we might have with that partner. Disruption of our distribution network or fluctuations in our product inventory levels at distributors, wholesalers, or retailers could negatively affect our results for a particular period. Further, while we believe we have sufficient scale to succeed relative to our major competitors, we nevertheless face a risk that continuing consolidation of large beverage alcohol companies could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

Our competitors may respond to industry and economic conditions more rapidly or effectively than we do. For example, we are facing an increasingly competitive pricing environment, and our competitors may have more flexibility to adjust to such challenges. Other suppliers, as well as wholesalers and retailers of our brands, offer products that compete directly with ours for shelf space, promotional displays, and consumer purchases. Pricing (including price promotions, discounting, couponing, and free goods), marketing, new product introductions, entry into our distribution networks, and other competitive behavior by other suppliers, and by wholesalers and traditional and e-commerce retailers, could adversely affect our sales, margins, and profitability.business and financial results. While we seek to take advantage of the efficiencies and opportunities that large retail customers can offer, they often seek lower pricing and purchase volume flexibility, offer competing own-labelprivate label products, and represent a large number of other competing products. If the buying power of these large retail customers continues to increase, it could negatively affect our financial results.

From time to time, we acquire or invest in additional brands or businesses. We expect to continue to seek acquisition and investment opportunities that we believe will increase long-term shareholder value, but we may not be able to find and purchase brands or businesses at acceptable prices and terms. Acquisitions involve risks and uncertainties, including potential difficulties integrating acquired brands and personnel; the possible loss of key customers or employees most knowledgeable about the acquired business; implementing and maintaining consistent U.S. public company standards, controls, procedures, policies, and information systems; exposure to unknown liabilities; business disruption; and management distraction. Acquisitions, investments, or joint ventures could also lead us to incur additional debt and related interest expenses, issue additional shares, become exposed to contingent liabilities, and lead to dilutionresult in a reduction in our earnings per share and reduction ina decrease on our return on average invested capital. Wecapital.We could incur future restructuring charges or record impairment losses on the value of goodwill or other intangible assets resulting from previous acquisitions, which may also negatively affect our financial results.

We also evaluate from time to time the potential disposition of assets or businesses that may no longer meet our growth, return,financial or strategic objectives. In selling assets or businesses, we may not get prices or terms as favorable as we anticipated. We could also encounter difficulty in finding buyers on acceptable terms in a timely manner, which could delay our accomplishment of strategic objectives. Expected cost savings from reduced overhead relating to the sold assets may not materialize, and the overhead reductions could temporarily disrupt our other business operations. Any of these outcomes could negatively affect our financial performance.results.

Our brand names, trademarks, and related intellectual property rights are critical assets, and our business depends on our protecting them online and in the countries where we do business. We may be unsuccessfulnot succeed in protecting our intellectual property rights in a given market or in challenging those who infringe our rights or imitate or counterfeit our products. Although we believe that our intellectual property rights are legally protected in the markets in whichwhere we do business, the ability to register and enforce intellectual property rights varies from country to country. In some developing countries, for example, it may be more difficult to usesuccessfully stop counterfeiting or look-alike products, either because the law is inadequate or, even though satisfactory legal processoptions may exist, it may be difficult to stop counterfeiting.obtain and enforce sanctions against counterfeiters. We may not be able to register our trademarks in every country where we want to sell a particular product, and we may not obtain favorable decisions by courts or trademark offices.

Many global spirits brands, including some of our brands, experience problems with product counterfeiting and other forms of trademark infringement. We work cooperativelycombat counterfeiting by working with other companies in the spirits industry companies through our membership in the International Federation of Spirits Producers (IFSP) to combat spirits counterfeiting.and with brand owners in other industries via our membership in React, an anti-counterfeiting network organization. While we believe IFSP is anand React are effective organization, it isorganizations, they are not active in every market, and itstheir efforts are subject to obtaining the cooperation withof local authorities and courts in the markets where it isthey are active. Despite the efforts of IFSP, React, and our and IFSP’s efforts, confusingly similar,own teams, lower-quality or evenand counterfeit products that could be harmful to consumers could reach the market and adversely affect our intellectual property rights, brand equity, corporate reputation, and financial results. In addition, the industry as a whole could suffer negative effects related to the manufacture, sale, and consumption of illegally produced beverage alcohol.

The success of our brands depends upon the positive image that consumers have of those brands.them. We could decide to or be required to recall products due to suspected or confirmed product contamination, product tampering, spoilage, or other quality issues. Any of these events could adversely affect our sales.financial results. Actual contamination, whether deliberate or accidental, could lead to inferior product quality and even illness, injury, or death to consumers, potential liability claims, and material loss. Should a product recall become necessary, or we voluntarily recall a product in the event of contamination, damage, or other quality issue, sales of the affected product or our broader portfolio of brands could be adversely affected. A significant product liability judgment or widespread product recall may negatively impact the sales and profitability of the affected brand or brands.our business and financial results. Even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, resulting negative publicity could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and our corporate and brand image.

Major private or governmental litigation challenging the production, marketing, promotion, distribution, or sale of beverage alcohol or specific brands could affect our ability to sell our products. Because litigation and other legal proceedings can be costly to defend, even actions that are ultimately decided in our favor could have a negative impact on our business reputation or financial results. Lawsuits have been brought against beverage alcohol companies alleging problems related to alcohol abuse, negative health consequences from drinking, problems from alleged marketing or sales practices, orand underage drinking. While these lawsuits have been largely unsuccessful in the past, others may succeed in the future. We could also experience employment-related class actions, environmental claims, commercial disputes, product liability actions stemming from a beverage or container production defect, a whistleblower suit, or other major litigation that could adversely affect our business results, particularly if there is negative publicity or to the extent the losses or expenses were not covered by insurance.

We rely on information technology (IT) systems, networks, and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools, hardware (including laptops and mobile devices), software, and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided, or used by third parties or their vendors, to help us manage our business. The various uses of these IT systems, networks, and services include, but are not limited to: hosting our internal network and communication systems; ordering and managing materials from suppliers; supply/demand planning; production;

Increased IT security threats and more sophisticated cyber crimecybercrimes and cyberattacks pose a potential risk to the security and availability of our IT systems, networks, and services, including those that are managed, hosted, provided, or used by third parties, as well as the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data.data and the data of our customers, consumers, employees, and others. If the IT systems, networks, or service providers we rely upon fail to function properly, or if we suffer a loss or disclosure of our business strategy or other sensitive information, due to any number of causes, ranging from catastrophic events to power outages to security breaches to usage errors by employees and our business continuity plans do not effectively and timely address these failures,other security issues, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage operations and reputational, competitive, or business harm, which may adversely affect our business operations or financial condition.results. In addition, such events could result in unauthorized disclosure of material confidential information, and we may suffer financial and reputational damage because of lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us or to our partners, our employees, customers, suppliers, or consumers. In any of these events, we could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to remedy the damage caused by a security breach or to repair or replace networks and IT systems, which in any case, could require a significant amount of time.

In the ordinary course of our stock pricebusiness, we receive, process, transmit, and business performance.

Our success depends upon the efforts and abilities of our senior management team, other key employees, and aour high-quality employee base, as well as our ability to attract, motivate, reward, and retain them. Difficulties in hiring or retaining key executive or other employee talent, or the unexpected loss of experienced employees resulting in the depletion of our institutional knowledge base, could have an adverse impact on our business performance.performance, reputation, financial condition, or results of operations. Given the changing demographics, changes in immigration laws and policies, and increased demand for talent globally, we, as an American multinational company, may not be able to find the right people with the right skills, at the right time, and in the right location, to achieve our business objectives. Additionally, companies like ours may face increased labor costs as a result of aggressive hiring and/or inflated levels of compensation offered by other employers, especially in emerging markets – notably, India and other parts of Asia.

We are considered a “controlled company” under New York Stock Exchange rules. Controlled companies are exempt from New York Stock Exchange listing standards that require a board composed of a majority of independent directors, a fully independent nominating/corporate governance committee, and a fully independent compensation committee. We avail ourselves of the exemptions from having a board composed of a majority of independent directors and a fully independent nominating/corporate governance committee. Notwithstanding the available exemption, our Compensation Committee is composed exclusively of independent directors. As a result of our use of some “controlled company” exemptions, our corporate governance practices differ from those of non-controlled companies, which are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

We have two classes of common stock.  Our Class A substantialcommon stock is entitled to full voting powers, including in the elections of directors, while our Class B common stock may not vote except as provided by the laws of Delaware. We have had

A majority of our voting stock is controlled by members of the Brown family, and, collectively, they have the ability to control the outcome of stockholder votes, including the election of all of our directors and the approval or rejection of any merger, change of control, or other significant corporate transaction.transactions. We believe that having a long-term-focused, committed, and engaged shareholder base provides us with an important strategic advantage, particularly in a business with aged products and multi-generational brands. This advantage could be eroded or lost, however, should Brown family members cease, collectively, to be controlling stockholders of the Company.

We desire tobelieve that it is in the interests of all shareholders that we remain independent and family-controlled, and we believe the Brown family stockholders share these interests. Thus, our common stock dual class share structure, as it has existed since 1959, is perpetual, and we do not have a sunset provision in our Restated Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws that provides for the eventual reclassification of the non-voting common stock to voting common stock. However, the Brown family’s interests may not always be aligned with other stockholders’ interests. By exercising their control, the Brown family could cause the Company to take actions that are at odds with the investment goals or interests of institutional, short-term, non-voting, or other non-controlling investors, or that have a negative effect on our stock price. Further, because the Brown family controls the majority of our voting stock, Brown-Forman might be a less attractive takeover target, which could adversely affect the market price of both our voting and our non-voting common stock. And the difference in voting rights for our common stock could also adversely and disproportionately affect the value of our Class B non-voting common stock to the extent that investors view, or any potential future purchaser of our Company views, the superior voting rights and control represented by the Class A common stock to have value.

“Sale of Southern Comfort and Tuaca.” On January 14, 2016, we reached an agreement to sell our Southern Comfort and Tuaca brands and related assets to Sazerac Company, Inc. The transaction closed March 1, 2016, for $543 million in cash (subject to a post-closing inventory adjustment), which resulted in a one-time gain of $485 million inWe use the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. This adjustment removesnon-GAAP measures “underlying change” to: (a) the gain on sale, (b) those transaction-related costs not included in the gain on sale, and (c) operating activity for the non-comparable period, March and April in fiscal 2015 and 2016. We believe that these adjustments allow us to understand better our underlying results on a comparable basis.