Yahoo 2015 Annual Report Download - page 25

deliver such advertising, or shift the location in which advertising appears on pages so that our
advertisements do not show up in the most monetizable places on our pages or are obscured. Most
of our revenue is derived from fees paid by advertisers in connection with the display of graphical
and non-graphical advertisements or clicks on search advertisements on web pages. As a result, the
adoption of such technologies, tools, software, and applications could reduce the number of search
and display advertisements that we are able to deliver and/or our ability to deliver interest-based
advertising and this, in turn, could reduce our advertising revenue and operating results.
If we are unable to recruit, hire, motivate, and retain key personnel, we may not be able to execute
our business plan.
Our business is dependent on our ability to recruit, hire, motivate, and retain talented, highly skilled
personnel. Achieving this objective may be difficult due to many factors, including the intense
competition for such highly skilled personnel in the San Francisco Bay Area and other metropolitan
areas where our offices are located; uncertainty due to our exploration of strategic alternatives, our
new strategic plan and announced reduction in our workforce; competitors’ hiring practices; the
effectiveness of our compensation programs; and fluctuations in global economic and industry
conditions. If we do not succeed in retaining and motivating our existing key employees, and in
attracting new key personnel, we may be unable to meet our business plan and as a result, our
revenue and profitability may decline.
We are regularly involved in claims, suits, government investigations, and other proceedings that
may result in adverse outcomes.
We are regularly involved in claims, suits, government investigations, and proceedings arising from
the ordinary course of our business, including actions with respect to intellectual property claims,
privacy, consumer protection, information security, data protection or law enforcement matters, tax
matters, labor and employment claims, commercial claims, as well as actions involving content
generated by our users, stockholder derivative actions, purported class action and class action
lawsuits, and other matters. Such claims, suits, government investigations, and proceedings are
inherently uncertain and their results cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of the outcome,
such legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of
management and other personnel, and other factors. In addition, it is possible that a resolution of one
or more such proceedings could result in reputational harm, liability, penalties, or sanctions, as well as
judgments, consent decrees, or orders preventing us from offering certain features, functionalities,
products, or services, or requiring a change in our business practices, products or technologies,
which could in the future materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial
condition. See Note 12—“Commitments and Contingencies” in the Notes to our consolidated financial
statements.
Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any failure or inability to sufficiently protect them
could harm our business and our operating results.
We create, own, and maintain a wide array of copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade dress, trade
secrets, rights to domain names and other intellectual property assets which we believe are
collectively among our most valuable assets. We seek to protect our intellectual property assets
through patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark, and other laws of the U.S. and other countries of
the world, and through contractual provisions. However, the efforts we have taken to protect our
intellectual property and proprietary rights might not be sufficient or effective at stopping
unauthorized use of those rights. Protection of the distinctive elements of Yahoo might not always be
available under copyright law or trademark law, or we might not discover or determine the full extent
of any unauthorized use of our copyrights and trademarks in order to protect our rights. In addition,
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