Symantec 2014 Annual Report Download - page 101

• Disruptions in our business operations or target markets caused by, among other things, earthquakes,
floods, or other natural disasters affecting our headquarters located in Silicon Valley, California, an
area known for seismic activity, or our other locations worldwide
• Acts of war or terrorism
• Intentional disruptions by third parties
• Health or similar issues, such as a pandemic
Any of the foregoing factors could cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.
Adverse global economic events may harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Adverse macroeconomic conditions could negatively affect our business, operating results or financial condition
under a number of different scenarios. During challenging economic times and periods of high unemployment,
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. An adverse
macroeconomic 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, the onset or continuation of adverse economic conditions may make it more difficult to 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.
Our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected if we do not effectively manage
our liabilities.
As a result of the sale of our 2.75% senior notes (“2.75% notes due 2015”) and 4.20% senior notes (“4.20%
notes”) in September 2010, and 2.75% senior notes (“2.75 notes due 2017”) and 3.95% senior notes (“3.95%
notes”) in June 2012, we have notes outstanding in an aggregate principal amount of $2.1 billion that mature at
specific dates in calendar years 2015, 2017, 2020, and 2022. In addition, we have entered into a credit facility
with a borrowing capacity of $1 billion. From time to time in the future, we may also incur indebtedness in
addition to the amount available under our credit facility. The maintenance of our debt levels could adversely
affect our flexibility to take advantage of certain corporate opportunities and could adversely affect our financial
condition and results of operations. We may be required to use all or a substantial portion of our cash balance to
repay these notes on maturity unless we can obtain new financing.
Our software products, SaaS Offerings and website may be subject to intentional disruption that could
adversely impact our reputation and future sales.
Despite our precautions and significant ongoing investments to protect against security risks, data protection
breaches, cyber-attacks and other intentional disruptions of our products and offerings, we expect to be an
ongoing target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance of our products and offerings and harm
our reputation as a company. Similarly, experienced computer programmers may attempt to penetrate our
network security or the security of our website and misappropriate proprietary information or cause interruptions
of our services. Because the techniques used by such computer programmers to access or sabotage networks
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