Electronic Arts 2006 Annual Report Download - page 98

‚ Retaining key employees from the businesses we acquire,
‚ The need to integrate an acquired company's accounting, management information, human resource
and other administrative systems to permit eÅective management, and
‚ To the extent that we engage in strategic transactions outside of the United States, we face
additional risks, including risks related to integration of operations across diÅerent cultures and
languages, currency risks and the particular economic, political and regulatory risks associated with
speciÑc countries.
Future acquisitions and investments could involve the issuance of our equity securities, potentially diluting
our existing stockholders, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, write-oÅs
of goodwill, intangibles, or acquired in-process technology, or other increased expenses, any of which could
harm our Ñnancial condition. Our stockholders may not have the opportunity to review, vote on or evaluate
future acquisitions or investments.
Our products are subject to the threat of piracy by a variety of organizations and individuals. If we are
not successful in combating and preventing piracy, our sales and proÑtability could be harmed
signiÑcantly.
In many countries around the world, more pirated copies of our products are sold than legitimate copies.
Though we believe piracy has not had a material impact on our operating results to date, highly organized
pirate operations have been expanding globally. In addition, the proliferation of technology designed to
circumvent the protection measures we use in our products, the availability of broadband access to the
Internet, the ability to download pirated copies of our games from various Internet sites, and the
widespread proliferation of Internet cafes using pirated copies of our products, all have contributed to
ongoing and expanding piracy. Though we take steps to make the unauthorized copying and distribution of
our products more diÇcult, as do the manufacturers of consoles on which our games are played, neither
our eÅorts nor those of the console manufacturers may be successful in controlling the piracy of our
products. This could have a negative eÅect on our growth and proÑtability in the future.
Our stock price has been volatile and may continue to Öuctuate signiÑcantly.
The market price of our common stock historically has been, and we expect will continue to be, subject to
signiÑcant Öuctuations. These Öuctuations may be due to factors speciÑc to us (including those discussed
in the risk factors above as well as others not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are
material), to changes in securities analysts' earnings estimates or ratings, to our results or future Ñnancial
guidance falling below the expectations of analysts and investors, to factors aÅecting the computer,
software, Internet, entertainment, media or electronics industries, or to national or international economic
conditions.
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