Symantec 2009 Annual Report Download - page 72

Employees
As of April 3, 2009, we employed more than 17,400 people worldwide, approximately 48 percent of whom
reside in the U.S. Approximately 6,300 employees work in sales and marketing; 5,600 in research and development;
4,000 in support and services; and 1,500 in management, manufacturing, and administration.
Other Information
Our Internet address is www.symantec.com. We make available free of charge on our website our annual
reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those
reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable
after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Other than the information expressly set forth in this annual report, the information contained, or referred to, on our
website is not part of this annual report.
The public may also read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at
100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the
Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains a website at www.sec.gov
that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, such as us, that file
electronically with the SEC.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
A description of the risk factors associated with our business is set forth below. The list is not exhaustive and
you should carefully consider these risks and uncertainties before investing in our common stock.
The recent global economic crisis may harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
The recent global economic crisis has caused a tightening in the credit markets, increases in the rates of default
and bankruptcy, and extreme volatility in credit, equity and fixed income markets. These macroeconomic
developments could negatively affect our business, operating results or financial condition under a number of
different scenarios. For example, current or potential customers may delay or forgo decisions to license new
products or additional instances of existing products, upgrade their existing hardware or operating environments
(which upgrades are often a catalyst for new purchases of our software), or purchase services. Customers may also
have difficulties in obtaining the requisite third-party financing to complete the purchase of our products and
services. The current economic environment could also subject us to increased credit risk should customers be
unable to pay us, or delay paying us, for previously purchased products and services. Accordingly, reserves for
doubtful accounts and write-offs of accounts receivable may increase. In addition, weakness in the market for end
users of our products could harm the cash flow of our distributors and resellers who could then delay paying their
obligations to us or experience other financial difficulties. This would further increase our credit risk exposure and,
potentially, cause delays in our recognition of revenue on sales to these customers.
In addition, financial institution difficulties and/or failures may make it more difficult either to utilize our
existing debt capacity or otherwise obtain financing for our operations, investing activities (including potential
acquisitions) or financing activities. Specific economic trends, such as declines in the demand for PCs, servers, and
other computing devices, or softness in corporate information technology spending, could have an even more direct,
and harmful, impact on our business. Finally, our cash and our investment portfolio, which includes short-term debt
securities, is subject to general credit, liquidity, counterparty, market and interest rate risks that may be exacerbated
by the recent global financial crisis. Our investment in our joint venture with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. could
also become impaired. If the banking system or the fixed income, credit or equity markets continue to deteriorate or
remain volatile, our cash and our investment portfolio may be impacted and the values and liquidity of our
investments could be harmed.
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