Symantec 2016 Annual Report Download - page 105

or otherwise delay our ability to complete sales and provide the highest level of service to our customers. In
addition, we could have difficulty producing accurate financial statements on a timely basis, which could
adversely affect the trading value of our stock. Although we endeavor to ensure there is redundancy in these
systems and that they are regularly backed-up, there are no assurances that data recovery in the event of a disaster
would be effective or occur in an efficient manner.
Any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our products and services could harm our
reputation and may damage our customers’ businesses. For example, we may experience disruptions, outages and
other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software
errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing our website simultaneously, fraud
or security attacks. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance
problems within an acceptable period of time. Interruptions in our products and services could impact our
revenues or cause customers to cease doing business with us. In addition, our business would be harmed if any of
events of this nature caused our customers and potential customers to believe our services are unreliable. Our
operations are dependent upon our ability to protect our technology infrastructure against damage from business
continuity events that could have a significant disruptive effect on our operations. We could potentially lose
customer data or experience material adverse interruptions to our operations or delivery of services to our clients
in a disaster recovery scenario.
We have grown, and may continue to grow, through acquisitions, which gives rise to risks and challenges that
could adversely affect our future financial results.
We have in the past acquired, and we expect to acquire in the future, other businesses, business units, and
technologies. Acquisitions can involve a number of special risks and challenges, including:
• Complexity, time, and costs associated with the integration of acquired business operations, workforce,
products, and technologies;
• Diversion of management time and attention;
• Loss or termination of employees, including costs associated with the termination or replacement of
those employees;
• Assumption of liabilities of the acquired business, including litigation related to the acquired business;
• The addition of acquisition-related debt as well as increased expenses and working capital
requirements;
• Dilution of stock ownership of existing stockholders; and
• Substantial accounting charges for restructuring and related expenses, write-off of in-process research
and development, impairment of goodwill, amortization of intangible assets, and stock-based
compensation expense.
If integration of our acquired businesses is not successful, we may not realize the potential benefits of an
acquisition or suffer other adverse effects. To integrate acquired businesses, we must implement our technology
systems in the acquired operations and integrate and manage the personnel of the acquired operations. We also
must effectively integrate the different cultures of acquired business organizations into our own in a way that
aligns various interests, and may need to enter new markets in which we have no or limited experience and where
competitors in such markets have stronger market positions.
Any of the foregoing, and other factors, could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability from
our acquired businesses or to realize other anticipated benefits of acquisitions.
Our international operations involve risks that could increase our expenses, adversely affect our operating
results, and require increased time and attention of our management.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from customers located outside of the U.S. and we have
significant operations outside of the U.S., including engineering, sales, customer support, and production. We
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