Yahoo 2013 Annual Report Download - page 19

• the incurrence of additional operating losses and operating expenses of the businesses we acquired or in which
we invested;
• the difficulty of integrating acquired technology and rights into our services and unanticipated expenses related
to such integration;
• the failure to successfully further develop an acquired business or technology and any resulting impairment of
amounts currently capitalized as intangible assets;
• the failure of strategic investments to perform as expected or to meet financial projections;
• the potential for patent and trademark infringement and data privacy and security claims against the acquired
companies, or companies in which we have invested;
• litigation or other claims in connection with acquisitions, acquired companies, or companies in which we have
invested;
• the impairment or loss of relationships with customers and partners of the companies we acquired or in which
we invested or with our customers and partners as a result of the integration of acquired operations;
• the impairment of relationships with, or failure to retain, employees of acquired companies or our existing
employees as a result of integration of new personnel;
• our lack of, or limitations on our, control over the operations of our joint venture companies;
• the difficulty of integrating operations, systems, and controls as a result of cultural, regulatory, systems, and
operational differences;
• in the case of foreign acquisitions and investments, the impact of particular economic, tax, currency, political,
legal and regulatory risks associated with specific countries; and
• the impact of known potential liabilities or liabilities that may be unknown, including as a result of inadequate
internal controls, associated with the companies we acquired or in which we invested.
We are likely to experience similar risks in connection with our future acquisitions and strategic investments.
Our failure to be successful in addressing these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past
or future acquisitions and strategic investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such
acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities, and harm our business generally.
We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings if our goodwill, amortizable intangible assets,
investments in equity interests, including investments held by our equity method investees, or other
investments become impaired.
We are required under generally accepted accounting principles to test goodwill for impairment at least annually
and to review our amortizable intangible assets and investments in equity interests, including investments held by
our equity method investees, for impairment when events or changes in circumstance indicate the carrying value
may not be recoverable. Factors that could lead to impairment of goodwill and amortizable intangible assets
(including goodwill or assets acquired via acquisitions) include significant adverse changes in the business
climate and actual or projected operating results (affecting our company as a whole or affecting any particular
reporting unit) and declines in the financial condition of our business. Factors that could lead to impairment of
investments in equity interests include a prolonged period of decline in the stock price or operating performance
of, or an announcement of adverse changes or events by, the companies in which we invested or the investments
held by those companies. Factors that could lead to an impairment of U.S. government securities, which
constitute a significant portion of our assets, include any downgrade of U.S. government debt or concern about
the creditworthiness of the U.S. government. We have recorded and may be required in the future to record
additional charges to earnings if our goodwill, amortizable intangible assets, investments in equity interests,
including investments held by our equity investees, or other investments become impaired. Any such charge
would adversely impact our financial results.
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