The following table summarizes the carrying value of our outstanding debt (in millions, except percentages):
The indenture pursuant to which the senior notes were issued includes customary covenants that, among other things and subject to exceptions, limit our ability to incur, assume or guarantee debt secured by liens on specified assets or enter into sale and lease-back transactions with respect to specified properties, and also includes customary events of default.default with customary grace periods in certain circumstances, including payment defaults and bankruptcy-related defaults.
The effective interest rates for our senior notes include the interest payable, the amortization of debt issuance costs and the amortization of any original issue discount and premium on these senior notes. Interest on these senior notes is payable either quarterly or semiannually. Interest expense associated with these senior notes, including amortization of debt issuance costs, was approximately $83$67 million and $68$73 million during the three months ended September 30, 20172020 and 2016,2019, respectively, and $225$211 million and $186$232 million during the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 and 2016,2019, respectively.
We have a commercial paper program pursuant to which we may issue commercial paper notes in an aggregate principal amount at maturity of up to $1.5 billion outstanding at any time with maturities of up to 397 days from the date of issue. As of September 30, 2017,2020, there were no0 commercial paper notes outstanding.
We were in compliance with all covenants in our outstanding debt instruments during the nine months ended September 30, 2017.2020.
We have a cash pooling arrangement with a financial institution for cash management purposes. This arrangement allows for cash withdrawals from the financial institution based upon our aggregate operating cash balances held within the same financial institution (“Aggregate Cash Deposits”). This arrangement also allows us to withdraw amounts exceeding the Aggregate Cash Deposits up to an agreed-upon limit. The net balance of the withdrawals and the Aggregate Cash Deposits are used by the financial institution as a basis for calculating our net interest expense or income under the arrangement. As of September 30, 2017,2020, we had a total of $1.3$4.8 billion in aggregate cash deposits, partially offset by $4.7 billion in cash withdrawals, offsetting our $1.3 billion in Aggregate Cash Deposits held within the financial institution under the cash pooling arrangement.
We are involved in legal and regulatory proceedings on an ongoing basis. Many of these proceedings are in early stages and may seek an indeterminate amount of damages. If we believe that a loss arising from such matters is probable and can be reasonably estimated, we accrue the estimated liability in our financial statements. If only a range of estimated losses can be determined, we accrue an amount within the range that, in our judgment, reflects the most likely outcome; if none of the estimates within that range is a better estimate than any other amount, we accrue the low end of the range. For those proceedings in which an unfavorable outcome is reasonably possible but not probable, we have disclosed an estimate of the reasonably possible loss or range of losses or we have concluded that an estimate of the reasonably possible loss or range of losses arising directly from the proceeding (i.e., monetary damages or amounts paid in judgment or settlement) areis not material. If we cannot estimate the probable or reasonably possible loss or range of losses arising from a proceeding, we have disclosed that fact. In assessing the materiality of a proceeding, we evaluate, among other factors, the amount of monetary damages claimed, as well as the potential impact of non-monetary remedies sought by plaintiffs (e.g., injunctive relief) that may require us to change our business practices in a manner that could have a material adverse impact on our business. With respect to the matters disclosed in this Note 10,11, we are unable to estimate the possible loss or range of losses that could potentially result from the application of such non-monetary remedies.
Amounts accrued for legal and regulatory proceedings for which we believe a loss is probable were not material for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.2020. Except as otherwise noted for the proceedings described in this Note 10,11, we have concluded, based on currently available information, that reasonably possible losses arising directly from the proceedings (i.e., monetary damages or amounts paid in judgment or settlement) in excess of our recorded accruals are also not material. However, legal and regulatory proceedings are inherently unpredictable and subject to significant uncertainties. If one or more matters were resolved against us in a reporting period for amounts in excess of management’s expectations, the impact on our operating results or financial condition for that reporting period could be material. Legal fees are expensed as incurred.
are either unclear or less favorable. We believe that additional lawsuits alleging that we have violated patent, copyright or trademark laws will be filed against us. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and costly to defend and resolve, could require expensive changes in our methods of doing business or could require us to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements on unfavorable terms.
From time to time, we are involved in other disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business, including suits by our users (individually or as class actions) alleging, among other things, improper disclosure of our prices, rules or policies, that our practices, prices, rules, policies or customer/user agreements violate applicable law or that we have acted unfairly and/or not acted in conformity with such practices, prices, rules, policies or agreements. Further, the number and significance of these disputes and inquiries are increasing as the political and regulatory landscape changes;changes and, as we have grown larger, our businesses have expanded in scope (both in terms of the range of products and services that we offer and our geographical operations) and our products and services have increased in complexity. Any claims or regulatory actions against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage awards (including statutory damages for certain causes of action in certain jurisdictions), injunctive relief or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgment or settlement, require us to change our business practices in expensive ways, require significant amounts of management time, result in the diversion of significant operational resources or otherwise harm our business.
We entered into a separation and distribution agreement and various other agreements with PayPal to govern the separation and relationship of the two companies going forward.companies. These agreements provide for specific indemnity and liability obligations and could lead to disputes between us and PayPal, which may be significant. In addition, the indemnity rights we have against PayPal under the agreements may not be sufficient to protect us and our indemnity obligations to PayPal may be significant.
In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our directors, executive officers and certain other officers. These agreements require us to indemnify such individuals, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject as a result of their affiliation with us.
In the ordinary course of business, we have included limited indemnification provisions in certain of our agreements with parties with which we have commercial relations, including our standard marketing, promotions and application-programming-interfaceapplication programming interface license agreements. Under these contracts, we generally indemnify, hold harmless and agree to reimburse the indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party in connection with claims by a third party with respect to our domain names, trademarks, logos and other branding elements to the extent that such marks are applicable to our performance under the subject agreement. In certain cases, we have agreed to provide indemnification for intellectual property infringement. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential loss under these indemnification provisions due to our limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular provision. To date, losses recorded in our condensed consolidated statement of income in connection with our indemnification provisions have not been significant, either individually or collectively.
The stock repurchase activity under our stock repurchase programs during the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 is summarized as follows (in millions, except per share amounts):
The weighted average grant date fair value for RSUs awarded during the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 was $33.76$32.27 per share.
We are subject to both direct and indirect taxation in the U.S. and various states and foreign jurisdictions. We are under examination by certain tax authorities for the 20032010 to 20132018 tax years. We believe that adequate amounts have been reserved for any adjustments that may ultimately result from these or other examinations. The material jurisdictions where we are subject to potential examination by tax authorities for tax years after 20022009 include, among others, the U.S. (Federal and California), Germany, Korea, Israel, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and Canada.Kingdom.
Although the timing of the resolution and/or closure of audits is highly uncertain, it is reasonably possible that the balance of gross unrecognized tax benefits could significantly change in the next 12 months. However, givenGiven the number of years remaining subject to examination and the number of matters being examined, we are unable to estimate the full range of possible adjustments to the balance of gross unrecognized tax benefits.
The following tables summarize the changes in AOCI for the three and nine months ended September 30, 20172020 and 20162019 (in millions):
The following table presents operating expenses (in millions, except percentages):
Product development expenses primarily consist of employee compensation, contractor costs, facilities costs and depreciation on equipment. Product development expenses are net of required capitalization of major platform and other product development efforts, including the development and maintenance of our platform architecture, migration of certain platforms, and seller tools.technology platform. Our top technology priorities include structured data, multi-screenpayment intermediation capabilities and improved seller tools and buyer experiences.experiences built on a foundation of structured data.
The increase in product development expenses during the three and nine months ended September 30, 20172020 compared to the same periods in 20162019 was primarily due to an increase in employee-related costs.
General and administrative expenses primarily consist of employee compensation, contractor costs, facilities costs, depreciation of equipment, employer payroll taxes on stock-based compensation, legal expenses, restructuring, insurance premiums and professional fees. Our legal expenses, including those related to various ongoing legal proceedings, may fluctuate substantially from period to period.
The increase in general and administrative expenses during the three months ended September 30, 20172020 compared to the same period in 20162019 was primarily due to increased data, information securityemployee related costs and employee-related costs.charitable donations, partially offset by costs related to our CEO transition.
Provision for transaction losses primarily consists of transaction loss expense associated with our customerbuyer protection programs, losses from our managed payments services, fraud and bad debt expense associated with our accounts receivable balance. We expect our provision for transaction losses to fluctuate depending on many factors, including changes to our customer protection programs and the impact of regulatory changes.
Interest and other, net primarily consists of interest earned on cash, cash equivalents and investments, as well as foreign exchange transaction gains and losses, gains and losses due to changes in fair value of the warrant received from Adyen, our portion of operating results from investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting, investment gain/loss on acquisitions or disposals and interest expense, consisting of interest charges on any amounts borrowed and commitment fees on unborrowed amounts under our credit agreement and interest expense on our outstanding debt securities and commercial paper, if any. The following table presents interest and other, net (in millions, except percentages):
The increase in interest and other, net during the three months ended September 30, 20172020 compared to the same periodperiods in 20162019 was primarily dueattributable to the gain on salechange in the fair value of our eBay India business,the Adyen warrant and the
The increase in interest and other, net during the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 compared to the same periodperiods in 20162019 was primarily dueattributable to the change in the fair value of the Adyen warrant, a gain on salerecorded for the receipt of our eBay India businessproceeds that were held in escrow related to a long-term investment that was sold in 2018 and an increasethe absence of a loss recorded in interest income due to higher investment balances and yield.2019 for the divestiture of brands4friends. These increases were partially offset by lower interest income, an increase in interest expense attributable to our debt issuances.impairment recorded on an investment and foreign exchange losses.
The following table presents provision for income taxes (in millions, except percentages):
We are regularly under examination by tax authorities both domestically and internationally. We believe that adequate amounts have been reserved for any adjustments that may ultimately result from these examinations, although we cannot assure you that this will be the case given the inherent uncertainties in these examinations. Due to the ongoing tax examinations, we believe it is impractical to determine the amount and timing of these adjustments.
To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, we use FX-Neutral net revenues, which are non-GAAP financial measures. Management uses the foregoing non-GAAP measures in reviewing our financial results. We define FX-Neutral net revenues as net revenues minus the exchange rate effect. We define exchange rate effect as the year-over-year impact of foreign currency movements using prior period foreign currency rates applied to current year transactional currency amounts.amounts, excluding hedging activity.
These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. Non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. These measures should only be used to evaluate our results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.
These non-GAAP measures are provided to enhance investors’ overall understanding of our current financial performance and its prospects for the future. Specifically, we believe these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding the foreign currency exchange rate impact that may not be indicative of our core operating results and business outlook. In addition, because we have historically reported certain non-GAAP results to investors, we believe that the inclusion of these non-GAAP measures provide consistency in our financial reporting.
The following tables set forth a reconciliation of FX-Neutral GMV and FX-Neutral net revenues (each as defined below) to our reported GMV and net revenues for the periods presented (in millions, except percentages):
|
| | | | | | | |
| | Nine Months Ended
September 30, |
| | 2017 | | 2016 |
| | (In millions) |
| Net cash provided by (used in): | | | |
| Continuing operating activities | $ | 2,158 |
| | $ | 2,207 |
|
| Continuing investing activities | (1,510 | ) | | (2,568 | ) |
| Continuing financing activities | (888 | ) | | 182 |
|
| Effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents | 184 |
| | 101 |
|
| Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents - discontinued operations | — |
| | (1 | ) |
| Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | $ | (56 | ) |
| $ | (79 | ) |
Continuing Operating Activities
The net cashCash provided by continuing operating activities of $2.2$2.3 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 was primarily dueattributable to net income of $1.6$4.8 billion with adjustments for income from discontinued operations of $504$3.1 billion, $471 million in depreciation and amortization, $193$311 million in stock-based compensation, $245 million in provision for transaction losses, and $356 million in stock-based compensation, partially offset by adjustments of $38$169 million for deferred income taxes, and $167 million for the gain on disposal of eBay India, and a decrease of $275partially offset by $199 million in changes in assets and liabilities, and other, net of acquisition effects.effects and adjustments of $496 million for changes in the fair value of the Adyen warrant.
The net cash provided byContinuing Investing Activities
Cash used in continuing operatinginvesting activities of $2.2$444 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was primarily attributable to cash paid for investments of $28.9 billion, property and equipment of $326 million, partially offset by proceeds of $28.7 billion from the maturities and sales of investments.
Continuing Financing Activities
Cash used in continuing financing activities of $5.1 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 20162020 was primarily due to net income of $1.3 billion with adjustments of $506 million in depreciation and amortization,$172 million in provision for transaction losses and $306 million in stock-based compensation, and an increase of $9 million in changes in assets and liabilities, and other, net of acquisition effects, partially offset by an adjustment of $123 million for deferred income taxes.
Continuing Investing Activities
The net cash used in continuing investing activities of $1.5 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was primarily dueattributable to cash paid for purchases of investments of $11.3 billion, our equity investment in Flipkart of $514 million and property and equipment of $474 million, partially offset by proceeds of $10.8 billion from the maturities and sale of investments.
The net cash used in continuing investing activities of $2.6 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was primarily due to cash paid for purchases of investments of $7.8 billion, purchases of property and equipment of $490 million and net cash paid for business acquisitions of $201 million, partially offset by proceeds of $5.9 billion from the maturities and sale of investments.
Continuing Financing Activities
The net cash used in continuing financing activities of $888 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was primarily due to cash used to repay $1.5 billion of our outstanding senior notes and to repurchase $1.8$4.7 billion of common stock, of which $3.0 billion related to repurchases of common stock under an accelerated share repurchase program, repaid debt of $1.8 billion, which comprised of $500 million of our 2.150% senior fixed rate notes that matured, $500 million of our 3.250% senior fixed rate notes that were redeemed, $341 million paid to repurchase a portion of our outstanding 2.875% senior fixed rate notes maturing in 2021 pursuant to a tender offer and $430 million paid to redeem the remaining portion of our outstanding 2.875% senior fixed rate notes maturing in 2021 and paid $337 million of cash dividends, which was partially offset by cash$1.8 billion of proceeds of $2.5 billion from the issuance of senior notes.debt issuances.
The net cash provided by continuing financing activities of $182 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was primarily due to cash inflows of $2.2 billion from the issuance of senior notes partially offset by cash outflows of $2.0 billion to repurchase common stock.
The positive effect of exchange rate movements on cash, and cash equivalents and restricted cash was due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, primarily the euro and Korean won during the nine months ended September 30, 20172020 compared to 2016the 2019 year-end rate.
Stock Repurchases
In July 2016,January 2019, our Board authorized a $2.5$4.0 billion stock repurchase program and in July 2017,January 2020, our Board authorized an additional $3.0$5.0 billion stock repurchase program. These stock repurchase programs have no expiration from the date of authorization.
On February 13, 2020, we entered into accelerated share repurchase agreements (the “ASR Agreements”) with each three financial institutions (each, an “ASR Counterparty”), as part of our share repurchase program. Under the ASR Agreements, we paid an aggregate amount of $3.0 billion to the ASR Counterparties and received an initial delivery of approximately 69 million shares of our common stock, which shares were recorded as a $2.55 billion increase to treasury stock. The remaining $450 million was evaluated as an unsettled forward contract indexed to our own stock, classified within stockholders’ equity. In July 2020, the ASR Agreements settled and resulted in approximately 74 million shares repurchased at an average price per share of $40.77 and the forward contract was settled and recorded as an increase to treasury stock.
Our stock repurchase programs are intended to programmatically offset the impact of dilution from our equity compensation programs and, subject to market conditions and other factors, to make opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock to reduce our outstanding share count. Any share repurchases under our stock repurchase programs may be made through open market transactions, block trades, privately negotiated transactions (including accelerated share repurchase transactions) or other means at times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate and will be funded from our working capital or other financing alternatives.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2017,2020, we repurchased approximately $1.8$4.7 billion of our common stock under our stock repurchase program.programs. As of September 30, 2017,2020, a total of approximately $2.6$2.5 billion remained available for future repurchases of our common stock under our stock repurchase program.programs.
We expect, subject to market conditions and other uncertainties, to continue making opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock. However, our stock repurchase programprograms may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including corporate and regulatory requirements, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, price and other market conditions and management’s determination as to the appropriate use of our cash.
Dividends
The Company paid a total of $111 million and $337 million in cash dividends during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively, and $115 million and $360 million in cash dividends during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively. In October 2020, our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.16 per share of common stock to be paid on December 18, 2020 to stockholders of record as of December 1, 2020.
Shelf Registration Statement and Debt
Shelf Registration
As of September 30, 2017,2020, we had an effective shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission that allows us to issue various types of debt securities, as well as common stock, preferred stock, warrants, depositary shares representing fractional interest in shares of preferred stock, purchase contracts and units from time to time in one or more offerings. Each issuance under the shelf registration statement will require the filing of a prospectus supplement identifying the amount and terms of the securities to be issued. The registration statement does not limit the amount of securities that may be issued thereunder. Our ability to issue securities is subject to market conditions and other factors including, in the case of our debt securities, our credit ratings and compliance with the covenants in our credit agreement.
Senior Notes
As of September 30, 2017,2020, we had floating- and fixed-rate senior notes outstanding for an aggregate principal amount of $10.1$7.8 billion. The net proceeds from the issuances of these senior notes are used for general corporate purposes, including, among other things, capital expenditures, share repurchases, repayment of indebtedness and possible acquisitions. The floating rate notes are not redeemable prior to maturity. On and after March 1, 2021, we may redeem some or all of the 6.000% fixed rate notes due 2056 at any time and from time to time prior to their maturity, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest. We may redeem some or all of the other fixed rate notes of each series at any time and from time to time prior to their maturity, generally at a make-whole redemption price plus accrued and unpaid interest. If a change of control triggering event (as defined in the applicable senior notes) occurs with respect to the 2.500% fixed rate notes due 2018, the 2.150% fixed rate notes due 2020, the 3.800% fixed rate notes due 2022, the floating rate notes due 2023, the 2.750% fixed rate notes due 2023, the 1.900% fixed rate notes due 2025, the 3.600% fixed rate notes due 2027, the 2.700% fixed rate notes due 2030 or the 6.000% fixed rate notes due 2056, we must, subject to certain exceptions, offer to repurchase all of the notes of the applicable series at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest. For additional details related to our senior notes, please see “Note 9 – Debt” to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.
To help achieve our interest rate risk management objectives, in connection with the previous issuance of certain senior notes, we entered into interest rate swap agreements that effectively converted $2.4 billion of the fixed rate notes to floating rate debt based on the London InterBankInterbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) plus a spread. These swaps were designated as fair value hedges against changes in the fair value of certain fixed rate senior notes resulting from changes in interest rates. As of September 30, 2020, we had no interest rate swaps designated as fair value hedges outstanding as $1.15 billion related to our 2.200% senior notes of the $2.4 billion aggregate notional amount matured in 2019 and in 2019 we terminated the interest rate swaps related to $750 million of our 2.875% senior notes due July 2021 and $500 million of our 3.450% senior notes due July 2024. As a result of the early termination, hedge accounting was discontinued prospectively and the gain on termination was recorded as an increase to the long-term debt balance and is being recognized over the remaining life of the underlying debt as a reduction to interest expense. The gain recognized during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020
was immaterial. For additional details related to the interest rate swap termination, please see, “Note 9 – Debt” to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.
During the second quarter of 2020, we began to hedge the variability of the cash flows in interest payments associated with our floating-rate debt using interest rate swaps. These interest rate swap agreements effectively convert our LIBOR-based floating-rate debt to a fixed-rate basis, reducing the impact of interest-rate changes on future interest expense. The total notional amount of these interest swaps was $400 million as of September 30, 2020 with terms calling for us to receive interest at a variable rate and to pay interest at a fixed rate. Our interest rate swap contracts have maturity dates in 2023.
The indenture pursuant to which the senior notes were issued includes customary covenants that, among other things and subject to exceptions, limit our ability to incur, assume or guarantee debt secured by liens on specified
assets or enter into sale and lease-back transactions with respect to specified properties, and also includes customary events of default.default with customary grace periods in certain circumstances, including payment defaults and bankruptcy-related defaults.
Commercial Paper
We have a commercial paper program pursuant to which we may issue commercial paper notes in an aggregate principal amount at maturity of up to $1.5 billion outstanding at any time with maturities of up to 397 days from the date of issue. As of September 30, 2017,2020, there were no commercial paper notes outstanding.
Credit Agreement
In March 2020, we entered into a credit agreement that provides for an unsecured $2 billion five-year credit facility. We may also, subject to the agreement of the applicable lenders, increase commitments under the revolving credit facility by up to $1 billion. Funds borrowed under the credit agreement may be used for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes. The credit agreement replaced our prior $2 billion unsecured revolving credit agreement dated November 2015, which was terminated effective March 2020.
As of September 30, 2017,2020, no borrowings were outstanding under our $2 billion credit agreement. However, as described above, we have an up to $1.5 billion commercial paper program and thereforeare required to maintain $1.5 billion of available borrowing capacity under our credit agreement in order to repay commercial paper borrowings in the event we are unable to repay those borrowings from other sources when they become due. As a result, $500 milliondue, in an aggregate amount of $1.5 billion. However, as of September 30, 2020, no borrowings were outstanding under our commercial paper program; therefore, $2 billion of borrowing capacity was available as of September 30, 2017 for other purposes permitted by the credit agreement. The credit agreement includes a covenant limiting our consolidated leverage ratio to no more than 4.0:1.0, subject to, upon the occurrence of a qualified material acquisition, if so elected by us, a step-up to 4.5:1.0 for the four fiscal quarters completed following such qualified material acquisition. The credit agreement includes customary representations, warranties,events of default, with corresponding grace periods in certain circumstances, including payment defaults, cross-defaults and bankruptcy-related defaults.In addition, the credit agreement contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including financial covenants, events of default and indemnification provisions in favor of the banks. The negative covenants include restrictions regarding the incurrence of liens and subsidiary indebtedness, in each case, subject to certaincustomary exceptions. The financial covenants require us to meet a quarterly financial test with respect to a minimum consolidated interest coverage ratiocredit agreement also contains customary representations and a maximum consolidated leverage ratio. The events of default include the occurrence of a change of control (as defined in the credit agreement) with respect to us.warranties.
We were in compliance with all covenants in our outstanding debt instruments for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.2020.
Credit Ratings
As of September 30, 2017,2020, we were rated investment grade by Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, LLC (long-term rated BBB+, short-term rated A-2, with a stable outlook), Moody’s Investor Service (long-term rated Baa1, short-term rated P-2, with a stable outlook), and Fitch Ratings, Inc. (long-term rated BBB, short-term rated F-2, with a stable outlook). We disclose these ratings to enhance the understanding of our sources of liquidity and the effects of our ratings on our costs of funds. Our borrowing costs depend, in part, on our credit ratings and any further actions taken by these credit rating agencies to lower our credit ratings, as described above, will likely increase our borrowing costs.
Liquidity and Capital Resource Requirements
As of September 30, 20172020 and December 31, 2016,2019, we had assets classified as cash and cash equivalents, as well as short-term and long-term non-equity investments from continuing operations, in an aggregate amount of $11.4$4.1 billion and $11.0$3.7 billion, respectively. As of September 30, 2017,2020, this amount included assets held in certain of our foreign operations totaling approximately $8.7$3.2 billion. Of the $8.7 billion held by our non-U.S. subsidiaries, approximately $5.3 billion was available for use in the U.S. without incurring additional U.S. income taxes in excess of the amounts already accrued in our condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2017. As of September 30, 2017, we had not repatriated any of these funds to the U.S. and, as a result, we have not yet paid U.S. tax on any portion of these funds. However, to the extent we repatriate these funds to the U.S., we will be required to pay income taxes in certain U.S. incomestates and applicable foreign withholding taxes on those amounts during the period when such repatriation occurs. The remaining amount of non-U.S. cash and cash equivalents, as well as short-term and long-term non-equity investments,We have been indefinitely reinvested and, therefore, no U.S. current oraccrued deferred taxes have been accrued as this amount is necessary to support our planned ongoing investments in our foreign operations. We believe our U.S. sourcesfor the tax effect of cash and liquidity are sufficient to meet our business needs in the U.S., and we do not expect that we will need to repatriaterepatriating the funds we have designated as indefinitely reinvested outsideto the U.S. Under current tax laws, should our plans change and we were to choose to repatriate some or all of the funds we have designated as indefinitely reinvested outside the U.S., such amounts would be subject to U.S. income taxes and applicable non-U.S. income and withholding taxes.
We actively monitor all counterparties that hold our cash and cash equivalents and non-equity investments, focusing primarily on the safety of principal and secondarily on improving yield on these assets. We diversify our cash and cash equivalents and investments among various counterparties in order to reduce our exposure should any one of these counterparties fail or encounter difficulties. To date, we have not experienced any material loss or lack of
access to our invested cash, cash equivalents or short-term investments; however, we can provide no assurances that access to our invested cash, cash equivalents or short-term investments will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets.markets, including, without limitation, as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. At any point in time we have funds in our operating accounts and customer accounts that are deposited and invested with third party financial institutions.
We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments, together with cash expected to be generated from operations, borrowings available under our credit agreement and commercial paper program, and our access to capital markets, will be sufficient to fund our operating activities, anticipated capital expenditures, repayment of debt and stock repurchases for the foreseeable future. However, COVID-19 and related measures to contain its impact have caused material disruptions in both national and global financial markets and economies. The future impact of COVID-19 and these containment measures cannot be predicted with certainty and may increase our borrowing costs and other costs of capital and otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and we cannot assure that we will have access to external financing at times and on terms we consider acceptable, or at all, or that we will not experience other liquidity issues going forward.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of September 30, 2017,2020, we had no off-balance sheet arrangements that have, or are reasonably likely to have, a current or future material effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.
We have a cash pooling arrangement with a financial institution for cash management purposes. This arrangement allows for cash withdrawals from the financial institution based upon our aggregate operating cash balances held within the same financial institution (“Aggregate Cash Deposits”). This arrangement also allows us to withdraw amounts exceeding the Aggregate Cash Deposits up to an agreed-upon limit. The net balance of the withdrawals and the Aggregate Cash Deposits are used by the financial institution as a basis for calculating our net interest expense or income under the arrangement. As of September 30, 2017,2020, we had a total of $1.3$4.8 billion in aggregate cash deposits, partially offset by $4.7 billion in cash withdrawals, offsetting our $1.3 billion in Aggregate Cash Deposits held within the financial institution under the cash pooling arrangement.
Indemnification Provisions
We entered into a separation and distribution agreement and various other agreements with PayPal to govern the separation and relationship of the two companies going forward.companies. These agreements provide for specific indemnity and liability obligations and could lead to disputes between us and PayPal, which may be significant. In addition, the indemnity rights we have against PayPal under the agreements may not be sufficient to protect us and our indemnity obligations to PayPal may be significant.
In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our directors, executive officers and certain other officers. These agreements require us to indemnify such individuals, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject as a result of their affiliation with us.
In the ordinary course of business, we have included limited indemnification provisions in certain of our agreements with parties with which we have commercial relations, including our standard marketing, promotions and application-programming-interfaceapplication programming interface license agreements. Under these contracts, we generally indemnify, hold harmless and agree to reimburse the indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party in connection with claims by a third party with respect to our domain names, trademarks, logos and other branding elements to the extent that such marks are applicable to our performance under the subject agreement. In certain cases, we have agreed to provide indemnification for intellectual property infringement. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential loss under these indemnification provisions due to our limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular provision. To date, losses recorded in our condensed consolidated statement of income in connection with our indemnification provisions have not been significant, either individually or collectively.
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Item 3: | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk |
Item 3: Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Interest Rate Risk
We are exposed to interest rate risk relating to our investments and outstanding debt. In addition, adverse economic conditions and events (including volatility or distress in the equity and/or debt or credit markets) may impact regional and global financial markets. We seek to reduce earnings volatility that may result from adverse economic conditions and events or changes in interest rates.
The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time improving yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, we maintain our cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments in a variety of asset types, including bank deposits, government bonds and corporate debt securities. As of September 30, 2017,2020, approximately 14%22% of our total cash and investments was held in cash and cash equivalents. As such, changes in interest rates will impact interest income. As discussed below, the fair market values of our fixed rate securities may have their fair market valuebe adversely affected due to a rise in interest rates, and we may suffer losses in principal if we are forced to sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates.
As of September 30, 2017,2020, the balance of our corporate debt and government bond and corporate debt securities was $9.7$3.0 billion, which represented approximately 78%69% of our total cash and investments. Investments in both fixed-rate and floating-rate interest-earning instruments carry varying degrees of interest rate risk. The fair market value of our fixed-rate investment securities may be adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates. In general, fixed-rate securities with longer maturities are subject to greater interest-rateinterest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. While floating rate securities generally are subject to less interest-rateinterest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, floating-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates decrease and may also suffer a decline in market value if interest rates increase. Due in part to these factors, our investment income may fall short of expectations or we may suffer losses in principal if we sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates. A hypothetical 100 basis point increase or decrease in interest rates would not have resulted in a material impact ondecrease in the fair value of our financial assets or liabilitiesinvestments of $6 million and $8 million as of September 30, 2017.2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.
As of September 30, 2017,2020, we havehad an aggregate principal amount of $10.1$7.8 billion of outstanding senior notes, of which 92%95% bore interest at fixed rates. WeIn 2014, we entered into $2.4 billion of interest rate swap agreements that have thehad an economic effect of modifying the fixed interest obligations associated with $1.15 billion of our 2.200% senior notes due July 2019, $750 million of our 2.875% senior notes due July 2021, and $500 million of our 3.450% senior notes due July 2024 so that the interest payable on those notes effectively became variable based on LIBOR plus a spread. In July 2019, $1.15 billion of the $2.4 billion aggregate notional amount matured and we terminated the interest rate swaps related to $750 million of our 2.875% senior notes due July 2021 and $500 million of our 3.450% senior notes due July 2024, which were designated as fair value hedges. As a result of the early termination hedge, accounting was discontinued prospectively and the gain on termination was recorded as an increase to the long-term debt balance and is being recognized over the remaining life of the underlying debt as a reduction to interest expense. The gain recognized during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 was immaterial.
During the second quarter of 2020, we began to hedge the variability of the cash flows in interest payments associated with our floating-rate debt using interest rate swaps. These interest rate swap agreements effectively convert our LIBOR-based floating-rate debt to a fixed-rate basis, reducing the impact of interest-rate changes on
future interest expense. The total notional amount of these interest swaps was $400 million as of September 30, 2020 with terms calling for us to receive interest at a variable rate and to pay interest at a fixed rate. Our interest rate swap contracts have maturity dates in 2023. At September 30, 2020, we did not have an unhedged balance on our floating-rate debt.
During the first quarter of 2020, we began to hedge the variability of forecasted interest payments using forward-starting interest rate swaps. The notional amount of these swaps was $700 million as of September 30, 2020, with terms calling for us to receive interest at a variable rate and to pay interest at a fixed rate. These interest rate swaps effectively fix the benchmark interest rate on anticipated debt issuance in 2022, and they will be terminated upon issuance of the debt. When entering into forward-starting interest rate swaps, we are subject to market risk with respect to changes in the underlying benchmark interest rate that impacts the fair value of the forward-starting interest rate swaps. We manage market risk by matching the terms of the swaps with the terms of the expected debt issuance. We considered the historical volatility of short-term interest rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that an adverse change of 100 basis points could be experienced in the near term. A hypothetical 1% (100 basis points) decrease in interest rates would have resulted in a decrease in the fair values of our forward-starting and floating to fixed rate interest swaps of approximately $63 million at September 30, 2020.
Further changes in interest rates will impact interest expense on any borrowings under our revolving credit facility, which bear interest at floating rates, and the interest rate on any commercial paper borrowings we make and any debt securities we may issue in the future and, accordingly, will impact interest expense. For additional details related to our debt, please see “Note 9 – Debt” to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.
InvestmentEquity Price Risk
The primary objectiveEquity Investments
Our equity investments are primarily investments in privately-held companies. Our consolidated results of operations include, as a component of interest and other, net, our investment activities is to preserve principal whileshare of the net income or loss of the equity investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting. Equity investments without readily determinable fair values are accounted for at cost, less impairment and adjusted for subsequent observable price changes obtained from orderly transactions for identical or similar investments issued by the same time improving yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, we maintain our cash equivalentsinvestee. Such changes in the basis of the equity investment are recognized in interest and short-term and long-term investments in a variety of asset types, including bank deposits, government bonds and corporate debt securities.
other, net. As of September 30, 2017,2020, our cost and equity method investments totaled $885$272 million, which represented approximately 7%6% of our total cash and investments, and were primarily related to equity method investments without readily determinable fair values.
Warrant
We entered into a warrant agreement in privately held companies. We review our investmentsconjunction with a commercial agreement with Adyen that, subject to meeting certain conditions, entitles us to acquire a fixed number of shares up to 5% of Adyen’s fully diluted issued and outstanding share capital at a specific date. The warrant is accounted for impairment when eventsas a derivative instrument under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and circumstances indicateHedging. Changes in Adyen’s common stock price and equity volatility may have a declinesignificant impact on the value of the warrant. As of September 30, 2020, a one dollar change in Adyen’s common stock, holding other factors constant, would increase or decrease the fair value of such assets below carrying value is other-than-temporary. Our analysis includes a review of recent operating results and trends, recent sales/acquisitions of the securitieswarrant by approximately $1 million. For additional details related to the warrant, please see “Note 7 – Derivative Instruments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in which we have invested and other publicly available data.this report.
Foreign Currency Risk
Our commerce platforms operate globally, resulting in certain revenues and costs that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the Korean won, euro, British pound, Korean won and Australian dollar, subjecting us to foreign currency risk, which may adversely impact our financial results. We transact business in various foreign currencies and have significant international revenues as well as costs. In addition, we charge our international subsidiaries for their use of intellectual property and technology and for certain corporate services we provide. Our cash flow, results of operations and certain of our intercompany balances that are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations may differ materially from expectations and we may record significant gains or losses due to foreign currency fluctuations and related hedging activities.
We have a foreign exchange exposure management program designed to identify material foreign currency exposures, manage these exposures and reduce the potential effects of currency fluctuations on our reported condensed consolidated cash flows and results of operations through the purchase of foreign currency exchange contracts. The effectiveness of the program and resulting usage of foreign exchange derivative contracts is at times limited by our ability to achieve cash flow hedge accounting. For additional details related to our derivative instruments, please see “Note 87 – Derivative Instruments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.
We use foreign exchange derivative contracts to help protect our forecasted U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These hedging contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of adverse currency exchange rate movements. Most of these contracts are designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. For qualifying cash flow hedges, the effective portion of the derivative’s gain or loss is initially reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) and subsequently reclassified into earnings in the same period the forecasted transaction affects earnings. The ineffective portion of the unrealized gains and losses on these contracts, if any, is recorded immediately in earnings. For contracts not designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes, the derivative’s gain or loss is recognized immediately in earnings in our condensed consolidated statement of income. However, only certain revenue and costs are eligible for cash flow hedge accounting.
The following table illustrates the fair values of outstanding foreign exchange contracts designated as cash flow hedges and net investment hedges, and the before-tax effect on fair values of a hypothetical adverse change in the foreign exchange rates that existed as of September 30, 2017.2020. The sensitivity for foreign currency contracts is based on a 20% adverse change in foreign exchange rates, against relevant functional currencies.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Fair Value Asset/(Liability) | | Fair Value Sensitivity |
| (In millions) |
| Foreign exchange contracts - Cash flow hedges | $ | 33 | | | $ | (93) | |
| Foreign exchange contracts - Net investment hedges | $ | (1) | | | $ | (25) | |
|
| | | | | | | |
| | Fair Value Asset/(Liability) | | Fair Value Sensitivity |
| | (In millions) |
| Foreign exchange contracts - Cash flow hedges | $ | (14 | ) | | $ | (287 | ) |
Since our risk management programs are highly effective, the potential loss in value described above would be largely offset by changes in the value of the underlying exposure.
Subsequent to the distribution of 100% of the outstanding common stock of PayPal to our stockholders (the “Distribution”), fewer of our currency flows met the U.S. GAAP criteria for cash flow hedge accounting, thus requiring us to use a combination of foreign exchange derivative contracts and investing non-U.S. cash in U.S. denominated investments to help protect our forecasted U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The recent realignment of our legal structure has resulted in an increase in currency flows that meet the U.S. GAAP criteria for cash flow hedge accounting, thus minimizing the need to invest non-U.S. cash in U.S. denominated investments to protect both our forecasted revenue flows and U.S. dollar equivalent earnings from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates.
In addition, weWe also use foreign exchange contracts to offset the foreign exchange risk on our assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of our subsidiaries. These contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities. The foreign currency gains and losses on the assets and liabilities are recorded in interest and other, net, which are offset by the gains and losses on the foreign exchange contracts.
We considered the historical trends in currency exchange rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that adverse changes in exchange rates of 20% for all currencies could be experienced in the near term. These changes would have resulted in an adverse impact on income before income taxes of approximately $18$37 million as of September 30, 20172020 taking into consideration the offsetting effect of foreign exchange forwards in place as of September 30, 2017.2020.
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Item 4: | Item 4: Controls and Procedures |
(a) Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) required by Rules 13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act) required by Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b), our Chief Executive Officerprincipal executive officer and our Chief Financial Officerprincipal financial officer have concluded that due to a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting described in Part II, Item 9A of our 2016 Form 10-K, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of September 30, 2017.2020.
(b) Changes in internal controls. There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) that occurred during the thirdour most recently completed fiscal quarter of 2017 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting, other than as described below under the caption “Remediation Plan.”reporting.
(c) Remediation Plan. As previously described in Part II, Item 9A of our 2016 Form 10-K, we began implementing a remediation plan to address the control deficiency that led to the material weakness mentioned above. The remediation plan includes the following:
Implementing specific review procedures, including the added involvement of our chief tax officer in the review of tax accounting, designed to enhance our income tax control; and51
Strengthening our income tax control with improved documentation standards, technical oversight and training
Our enhanced review procedures and documentation standards were in place and operating during the first nine months of 2017. We are in the process of testing the newly implemented internal controls and related procedures. The material weakness cannot be considered remediated until the control has operated for a sufficient period of time and until management has concluded, through testing, that the control is operating effectively. Our goal is to remediate this material weakness by the end of 2017.
PART II: OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1: Legal Proceedings
The information set forth under “Note 10 —11 – Commitments and Contingencies —– Litigation and Other Legal Matters” to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 1A:Risk Factors
You should carefully review the following discussion of the risks that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and the other information appearing in this report, for important information regarding risks that affect us. Current global economic events and conditions may amplify many of these risks. These risks are not the only risks that may affect us. Additional risks that we are not aware of or do not believe are material at the time of this filing may also become important factors that adversely affect our business.
Risk Factors That May Affect our Business, Results of Operations and Financial Condition
Our operating and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our common stock and debt securities.
Our operating and financial results have varied on a quarterly basis during our operating history and may continue to fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, including as a result of the risks set forth in this “Risk Factors” section. It is difficult for us to forecast the level or source of our revenues or earnings (loss) accurately. In view of the rapidly evolving nature of our business, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful, and you should not rely upon them as an indication of future performance. We do not have backlog, and substantially all of our net revenues each quarter come from transactions involving sales during that quarter. Due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting revenues, it is also difficult to forecast expenses as a percentage of net revenues. Quarterly and annual expenses as a percentage of net revenues reflected in our condensed consolidated financial statements may be significantly different from historical or projected rates.percentages. Our operating results in one or more future quarters may fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. The trading price of our common stock and debt securities could decline, perhaps substantially, as a result of the factors described in this paragraph.paragraph and the other risks set forth in this “Risk Factors” section.
Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in ecommerce may harm our business.
The businesses and markets in which we operate are intensely competitive. We currently and potentially compete with a wide variety of online and offline companies providing goods and services to consumers and merchants. The Internet and mobile networks provide new, rapidly evolving and intensely competitive channels for the sale of all types of goods and services. We compete in two-sided markets, and must attract both buyers and sellers to use our platforms. Consumers who purchase or sell goods and services through us have more and more alternatives, and merchants have more channels to reach consumers. We expect competition to continue to intensify. Online and offline businesses increasingly are competing with each other and our competitors include a number of online and offline retailers with significant resources, large user communities and well-established brands. Moreover, the barriers to entry into these channels can be low, and businesses easily can launch online sites or mobile platforms and applications at nominal cost by using commercially available software or partnering with any of a number of successful ecommerce companies. As we respond to changes in the competitive environment, we may, from time to time, make pricing, service or marketing decisions or acquisitions that may be controversial with and lead to dissatisfaction among sellers, which could reduce activity on our platform and harm our profitability.
We face increased competitive pressure online and offline. In particular, the competitive norm for, and the expected level of service from, ecommerce and mobile commerce has significantly increased due to, among other factors, improved user experience, greater ease of buying goods, lower (or no) shipping costs, faster shipping times and more favorable return policies. Also,In addition, certain platform businesses, such as Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, GoogleFacebook and Facebook,Google, many of whom are larger than us or have greater capitalization, have a dominant and secure position in other industries or certain significant markets, and offer other goods and services to consumers and merchants that we do not offer. If we are unable to change our products, offerings and services in ways that reflect the changing demands of ecommerce and mobile commerce marketplaces, particularly the higher growth of sales of fixed-price items and higher expected
service levels (some of which depend on services provided by sellers on our platforms), or compete effectively with and adapt to changes in larger platform businesses, our business will suffer.
Competitors with other revenue sources may also be able to devote more resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote more resources to website, mobile platforms and applications and systems development than we can. Other competitors may offer or continue to offer faster and/or free shipping, delivery on Sunday, same-day delivery, favorable return policies or other transaction-related services which improve the user experience on their sites and which could be impractical or inefficient for our sellers to match. Competitors may be able to innovate faster and more efficiently, and new technologies may increase the competitive pressures by enabling competitors to offer more efficient or lower-cost services.
Some of our competitors control other products and services that are important to our success, including credit card interchange, Internet search, and mobile operating systems. Such competitors could manipulate pricing, availability, terms or operation of service related to their products and services in a manner that impacts our competitive offerings. For example, Google, which operates a shopping platform service, has from time to time made changes to its search algorithms that reduced the amount of search traffic directed to us from searches on Google. If we are unable to use or adapt to operational changes in such services, we may face higher costs for such services, face integration or technological barriers or lose customers, which could cause our business to suffer.
Consumers who might use our sites to buy goods have a wide variety of alternatives, including traditional department, warehouse, boutique, discount and general merchandise stores (as well as the online and mobile operations of these traditional retailers), online retailers and their related mobile offerings, online and offline classified services and other shopping channels, such as offline and online home shopping networks. In the United States, these include, Amazon.com,but are not limited to, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Wal-Mart,Walmart, Target, Macy’s, JC Penney, Costco, Office Depot, Staples, OfficeMax, Sam’s Club,Etsy, StockX, Shopify, Wayfair, TheRealReal, Overstock.com and Rakuten, Yahoo! Shopping, MSN, QVC and Home Shopping Network, among others. In addition, consumers have a large number of online and offline channels focused on one or more of the categories of products offered on our site.
Consumers also can turn to many companies that offer a variety of services that provide other channels for buyers to find and buy items from sellers of all sizes, including social media, online aggregation and classifieds platforms, such as websites operated by Adevinta ASA or Naspers Limited and others such as craigslist, Oodle.com and a number of international websites operated by Schibsted ASA or Naspers Limited.Facebook. Consumers also can turn to shopping-comparison sites, such as Google Shopping. In certain markets, our fixed-price listing and traditional auction-style listing formats increasingly are being challenged by other formats, such as classifieds.
Our Classifieds platforms offer classifieds listings in the United States and a variety of international markets. In many markets in which they operate, our Classifieds platforms compete for customers and for advertisers against more established online and offline classifieds platforms or other competing websites.
Our online shopping comparison websites (Shopping.com) compete with sites such as Google Shopping, Rakuten, Nextag.com, Pricegrabber.com, Shopzilla, Buscapé in Latin America (owned by Naspers) and Yahoo! Product Search, which offer shopping search engines that allow consumers to search the Internet for specified products. In addition, sellers are increasingly utilizing multiple sales channels, including the acquisition of new customers by paying for search-related advertisements on horizontal search engine sites, such as Google, Yahoo!, Naver and Baidu. We use product search engines and paid search advertising to help users find our sites, but these services also have the potential to divert users to other online shopping destinations. Consumers may choose to search for products and services with a horizontal search engine or shopping comparison website, and such sites may also send users to other shopping destinations. In addition, sellers are increasingly utilizing multiple sales channels, including the acquisition of new customers by paying for search-related advertisements on horizontal search engine sites, such as Google, Naver and Baidu.
Consumers and merchants who might use our sites to sell goods also have many alternatives, including general ecommerce sites, such as Amazon, Alibaba, Zalando and Alibaba,Coupang, and more specialized sites, such as Etsy. Our international sites also compete for sellers with general and specialized ecommerce sites. Sellers may also choose to sell their goods through other channels, such as classifieds platforms. Consumers and merchants also can create and sell through their own sites, and may choose to purchase online advertising instead of using our services. In some countries, there are online sites that have larger customer bases and greater brand recognition, as well as competitors that may have a better understanding of local culture and commerce. We may increasingly may compete with local competitors in developing countries that have unique advantages, such as a greater ability to operate under local regulatory authorities.
In addition, certain manufacturers may limit or cease distribution of their products through online channels, such as our sites. Manufacturers may attempt to use contractual obligations or existing or future government regulation to prohibit or limit ecommerce in certain categories of goods or services. Manufacturers may also attempt to enforce minimum resale price maintenance or minimum advertised price arrangements to prevent distributors from selling on our platforms or on the Internet generally, or drive distributors to sell at prices that would make us less attractive relative to other alternatives. The adoption by manufacturers of policies, or their use of laws or regulations, in each case discouraging or restricting the sales of goods or services over the Internet, could force our users to stop selling certain products on our platforms, which could adversely affect our results of operations and result in reduced operating margins, loss of market share and diminished value of our brands.
The principal competitive factors for us include the following:
•ability to attract, retain and engage buyers and sellers;
•volume of transactions and price and selection of goods;
•trust in the seller and the transaction;
•customer service;
•brand recognition;
•community cohesion, interaction and size;
•website, mobile platform and application ease-of-use and accessibility;
•system reliability and security;
•reliability of delivery and payment, including customer preference for fast delivery and free shipping and returns;
•level of service fees; and
•quality of search tools.
We may be unable to compete successfully against current and future competitors. Some current and potential competitors have longer operating histories, larger customer bases and greater brand recognition in other business and Internet sectors than we do.
Global and regional economic conditions could harm our business.
Our operations and performance depend significantly on global and regional economic conditions. AdverseEconomic conditions, including inflation, recession, or other adverse economic conditionsevents or changes, could have a negative and events (including volatility or distressadverse impact on companies and customers with which we do business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, including a reduction in the equity and/or debt or credit markets) have in the past negatively impacted regionalvolume and global financial markets and will likely continue to do so from time to time in the future.prices of transactions on our commerce platforms. These events and conditions, including uncertainties and instability in economic and market conditions caused by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the United Kingdom’s vote to exitdeparture from the European Union or geopolitical uncertainty on January 31, 2020 (known as “Brexit”), which is subject to a transitional period during which the Korean peninsula,United Kingdom remains bound to the EU’s rules, set to end on December 31, 2020, and any outcomes resulting from Brexit, could have a negative and adverse impact on companies and customers with which we do business or cause us to write down our assets or investments. In addition, financial turmoil affecting the banking system or financial markets could cause additional consolidation of the financial services industry, or significant financial service institution failures, new or incremental tighteningBecause we have global operations, including in the credit markets, low liquidity,United Kingdom and extreme volatility in fixed income, credit, currency, and equity markets. Adverse impactsthe European Union, we face risks due to the companiesuncertainty and customers with which we dothe potential disruptions surrounding Brexit, including potential financial, legal, tax and trade implications.
The global COVID-19 pandemic could harm our business and results of operations.
The global spread of COVID-19 and related measures to contain its spread (such as government mandated business closures and shelter in-place guidelines) have created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption. Although the banking system, or financial markets couldCOVID-19 pandemic and the related measures to contain its spread have a material adverse effect onnot adversely affected our consolidated results of operations to date, they have adversely affected certain components of our business, including a reductionrevenues from our Classifieds platform and certain of our expenses. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity in the volumefuture will depend on numerous evolving factors that we cannot predict, including the duration and pricesscope of transactionsthe pandemic; any resurgence or “second waves” of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the impact of the pandemic on national and global economic activity, unemployment levels and financial markets, including the possibility of a national or global recession; the potential for shipping difficulties, including slowed deliveries from sellers to their customers; and the ability of consumers to pay for products. The COVID-19 pandemic has generally resulted in a decrease in consumer spending, which could have an adverse impact on our commercesellers through reduced consumer demand for their products and availability of inventory, which could in turn negatively impact the demand for use of our platforms. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to require employees to work remotely for an indefinite period of time, which could negatively impact our business and harm productivity and collaboration. If there is a prolonged impact of COVID-19, it could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, perhaps materially. The future impact of COVID-19 and these containment measures cannot be predicted with certainty and may increase our borrowing costs and other costs of capital and otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and we cannot assure that we will have access to external financing at times and on terms we consider acceptable, or at all, or that we will not experience other liquidity issues going forward.
Additionally, to date, our Marketplace platforms experienced improved traffic and buyer acquisition due to the ongoing impact of mobility restrictions taken globally to contain the spread of COVID-19 and changes in consumer behaviors that have resulted in more online retail experiences. The impacts seen may continue to create volatility in our results and a wider range of outcomes as consumer behaviors and mobility restrictions continue to evolve.
To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those relating to our substantial indebtedness, our need to generate sufficient cash flows to service our indebtedness, our ability to comply with the covenants contained in the agreements that govern our indebtedness and our international operations.
We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.rates, which could negatively impact our financial results.
Because we generate the majority of our revenues outside the United States but report our financial results in U.S. dollars, our financial results are impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, or foreign exchange rates. The results of operations of many of our internationally focused platforms are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of the applicable subsidiaries are translated from the local currency into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. If the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency denominated revenues or expenses will result in increased U.S. dollar denominated revenues and expenses. Similarly, if the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies, particularly the euro, British pound, Korean won or Australian dollar, our translation of foreign currency denominated revenues or expenses will result in lower U.S. dollar denominated net revenues and expenses. In addition to this translation effect, a strengthening U.S. dollar will typically adversely affect the volume of goods being sold by U.S. sellers to Europe and Australia more than it positively affects the volume of goods being sold by sellers in those geographies to buyers in the United States, thereby further negatively impacting our financial results.
While from time to time we enter into transactions to hedge portions of our foreign currency translation exposure, it is impossible to predict or eliminate the effects of this exposure. Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could significantly impact our financial results, which may have a significant impact on the trading price of our common stock and debt securities.
Our international operations are subject to increased risks, which could harm our business.
Our international businesses, especially in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and South Korea, and cross-border business from greater China, have generated a majority of our net revenues in recent years. In addition to uncertainty about our ability to generate revenues from our foreign operations and expand into international markets, there are risks inherent in doing business internationally, including:
•uncertainties and instability in economic and market conditions caused by the United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union;Union and any outcomes resulting from that vote;
•uncertainty regarding how the United Kingdom’s access to the European Union Single Market and the wider trading, legal, regulatory and labor environments, especially in the United Kingdom and European Union, will be impacted by the United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union and any outcomes resulting from that vote, including the resulting impact on our business and that of our clients;
•expenses associated with localizing our products and services and customer data, including offering customers the ability to transact business in the local currency and adapting our products and services to local preferences (e.g., payment methods) with which we may have limited or no experience;
•trade barriers and changes in trade regulations;
•difficulties in developing, staffing, and simultaneously managing a large number of varying foreign operations as a result of distance, language, and cultural differences;
•stringent local labor laws and regulations;
•credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud;
•profit repatriation restrictions, foreign currency exchange restrictions or extreme fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates for a particular currency;
•political or social unrest, economic instability, repression, or human rights issues;
•geopolitical events, including natural disasters, public health issues (such as the coronavirus), acts of war, and terrorism;
•import or export regulations;
•compliance with U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, as well as U.S. and foreign laws designed to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities;
•antitrust and competition regulations;
•potentially adverse tax developments and consequences;
•economic uncertainties relating to sovereign and other debt;
•different, uncertain, or more stringent user protection, data protection, privacy, and other laws;
•risks related to other government regulation or required compliance with local laws;
•national or regional differences in macroeconomic growth rates;
•payment intermediation regulations;
•local licensing and reporting obligations; and
•increased difficulties in collecting accounts receivable.
Violations of the complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations may result in fines, criminal actions, or sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees; prohibitions on the conduct of our business; and damage to our reputation. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to promote compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate our policies. These risks inherent in our international operations and expansion increase our costs of doing business internationally and could harm our business.
Any factors that reduce cross-border trade or make such trade more difficult could harm our business.
Cross-border trade is an important source of both revenue and profits for us. Cross-border trade also represents our primary (or in some cases, only) presence in certain important markets, such as Brazil/Latin America, China, and various other countries. In addition, our cross-border trade is also subject to, and may be impacted by, foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
The interpretation and application of specific national or regional laws, such as those related to intellectual property rights of authentic products, selective distribution networks, and sellers in other countries listing items on the Internet, and the potential interpretation and application of laws of multiple jurisdictions (e.g., the jurisdiction of the buyer, the seller, and/or the location of the item being sold) are often extremely complicated in the context of cross-border trade. The interpretation and/or application of such laws could impose restrictions on, or increase the costs of, purchasing, selling, shipping, or returning goods across national borders.
The shipping of goods across national borders is often more expensive and complicated than domestic shipping. Customs and duty procedures and reviews, including duty-free thresholds in various key markets, the interaction of national postal systems, and security related governmental processes at international borders, may increase costs, discourage cross-border purchases, delay transit and create shipping uncertainties. Any factors that increase the costs of cross-border trade or restrict, delay, or make cross-border trade more difficult or impractical would lower our revenues and profits and could harm our business.
Our business may be adversely affected by geopolitical events, natural disasters, seasonal factors and other factors that cause our users to spend less time on our websites or mobile platforms and applications, including increased usage of other websites.
Our users may spend less time on our websites and our applications for mobile devices as a result of a variety of diversions, including: geopolitical events, such as war, the threat of war, or terrorist activity; natural disasters;disasters or the effects of climate change (such as drought, flooding, wildfires, increased storm severity, and sea level rise); power shortages or outages, major public health issues, including pandemics;pandemics (such as COVID-19); social networking or other entertainment websites or mobile applications; significant local, national or global events capturing the attention of a large part of the population; and seasonal fluctuations due to a variety of factors. If any of these, or any other factors, divert our users from using of our websites or mobile applications, our business could be materially adversely affected.
Our success depends to a large degree on our ability to successfully address the rapidly evolving market for transactions on mobile devices.
Mobile devices are increasingly used for ecommerce transactions. A significant and growing portion of our users access our platforms through mobile devices. We may lose users if we are not able to continue to meet our users’ mobile and multi-screen experience expectations. The variety of technical and other configurations across different mobile devices and platforms increases the challenges associated with this environment. In addition, a number of other companies with significant resources and a number of innovative startups have introduced products and services focusing on mobile markets.
Our ability to successfully address the challenges posed by the rapidly evolving market for mobile transactions is crucial to our continued success, and any failure to continuously increase the volume of mobile transactions effected through our platforms could harm our business.
If we cannot keep pace with rapid technological developments or continue to innovate and create new initiatives to provide new and innovative programs, products and services, the use of our products and our revenues could decline.
Rapid, significant technological changes continue to confront the industries in which we operate. Weoperate and we cannot predict the effect of technological changes on our business. We also continuously strive to create new initiatives and innovations that offer growth opportunities, such as our new payments and advertising offerings. In addition to our own initiatives and innovations, we rely in part on third parties, including some of our competitors, for the development of and access to new technologies. We expect that new services and technologies applicable to the industries in which we operate will continue to emerge. These new services and technologies may be superior to, or render obsolete, the technologies we currently use in our products and services. Incorporating new technologies into our products and services may require substantial expenditures and take considerable time, and ultimately may not be successful. In addition, our ability to adopt new services and develop new technologies may be inhibited by industry-wide standards, new laws and regulations, resistance to change from our users, clients or merchants, or third parties’ intellectual property rights. Our success will depend on our ability to develop new technologies and adapt to technological changes and evolving industry standards.
Our business is subject to extensive government regulation and oversight.
We are subject to laws and regulations affecting our domestic and international operations in a number of areas, including consumer protection, data privacy requirements, intellectual property ownership and infringement, prohibited
items and stolen goods, resale of event tickets, tax, antitrust and anti-competition, export requirements, anti-corruption, labor, advertising, digital content, real estate, billing, ecommerce, promotions, quality of services, telecommunications, mobile communications and media, environmental, and health and safety regulations, as well as laws and regulations intended to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. In addition, we are, or may become, subject to further regulation in some of the above-mentioned areas or new areas as a result of the continued development and expansion of our payments capabilities.
Compliance with these laws, regulations, and similar requirements may be onerous and expensive, and variances and inconsistencies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction may further increase the cost of compliance and doing business. Any such costs, which may rise in the future as a result of changes in these laws and regulations or in their interpretation, could individually or in the aggregate make our products and services less attractive to our customers, delay the introduction of new products or services in one or more regions, or cause us to change or limit our business practices. We have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate such laws and regulations or our policies and procedures.
Regulation in the areas of privacy and protection of user data could harm our business.
We are subject to laws relating to the collection, use, retention, security, and transfer of personally identifiable information about our users around the world. Much of the personal information that we collect, especially financial information, is regulated by multiple laws. User data protection laws may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between or among ourselves, our subsidiaries, and other parties with which we have commercial relations. These laws continue to develop in ways we cannot predict and that may harm our business.
Regulatory scrutiny of privacy, user data protection, use of data and data collection is increasing on a global basis. We are subject to a number of privacy and similar laws and regulations in the countries in which we operate and these laws and regulations will likely continue to evolve over time, both through regulatory and legislative action and judicial decisions. Some ofIn addition, compliance with these laws impose requirementsmay restrict our ability to provide services to our customers that they may find to be valuable. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective in May 2018. The GDPR, which applies to all of our activities conducted from an establishment in the European Union or related to products and services offered in the European Union, imposes a range of new compliance obligations regarding the handling of personal data. The GDPR imposes significant new obligations and compliance with these obligations depends in part on how particular regulators interpret and apply them. If we fail to comply with the GDPR, or if regulators assert we have failed to comply with the GDPR, it may lead to regulatory enforcement actions, which can result in monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenue, private lawsuits, or reputational damage. In the U.S., California has adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which became effective January 1, 2020 and which provides a new private right of action for data breaches and requires companies that process information on California residents to make new disclosures to consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices and allow consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties. In addition to the CCPA, several other U.S. states have adopted or are inconsistentconsidering adopting laws and regulations imposing obligations regarding the handling of personal data. Compliance with one another, yet regulators may claim that both apply.the GDPR, the CCPA, and other current and future applicable international and U.S. privacy, cybersecurity and related laws can be costly and time-consuming. Complying with these varying national and international requirements could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business and violations of privacy-related laws can result in significant penalties. In addition, compliance with these laws may restrict our ability to provide services to our customers that they may find to be valuable.
A determination that there have been violations of laws relating to our practices under communications-based laws could also expose us to significant damage awards, fines and other penalties that could, individually or in the aggregate, materially harm our business. In particular, because of the enormous number of texts, emails and other communications we send to our users, communications laws that provide a specified monetary damage award or fine for each violation (such as those described below) could result in particularly large awards or fines.
For example, the Federal Communications Commission amended certain of its regulations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, (“TCPA”),or TCPA, in 2012 and 2013 in a manner that could increase our exposure to liability for certain types of telephonic communication with customers, including but not limited to text messages to mobile phones. Under the TCPA, plaintiffs may seek actual monetary loss or statutory damages of $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and courts may treble the damage award for willful or knowing violations. We are regularly subject to class-action lawsuits, as well as individual lawsuits, containing allegations that our businesses violated the TCPA. These lawsuits, and other private lawsuits not currently alleged as class actions, seek damages (including statutory damages) and injunctive relief, among other remedies. Given the enormous number of communications we send to our users, a determination that there have been violations of the TCPA or other communications-based statutes could expose us to significant damage awards that could, individually or in the aggregate, materially harm our business.
We post on our websites our privacy policies and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of user data. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our posted privacy policies or with any regulatory requirements or orders or other federal, state or international privacy or consumer protection-related laws and regulations, including the GDPR and the CCPA, could result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others (e.g., class action privacy litigation), subject us to significant penalties and negative publicity, require us to change our business practices, increase our costs and adversely affect our business. Data collection, privacy and security have become the subject of increasing public concern. If Internet and mobile users were to reduce their use of our websites, mobile platforms, products, and services as a result of these concerns, our business could be harmed. As noted above, we are also subject to the possibility of security breaches, which themselves may result in a violation of these laws.
Other laws and regulations could harm our business.
It is not always clear how laws and regulations governing matters relevant to our business, such as property ownership, copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property issues, parallel imports and distribution controls, taxation, libel and defamation, and obscenity apply to our businesses. Many of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet, mobile, and related technologies and, as a result, do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the Internet and related technologies. Many of these laws, including some of those that do reference the Internet are subject to interpretation by the courts on an ongoing basis and the resulting uncertainty in the scope and application of these laws and regulations increases the risk that we will be subject to private claims and governmental actions alleging violations of those laws and regulations.
As our activities, the products and services we offer, and our geographical scope continue to expand, regulatory agencies or courts may claim or hold that we or our users are subject to additional requirements (including licensure) or prohibited from conducting our business in their jurisdiction, either generally or with respect to certain actions. Financial and political events have increased the level of regulatory scrutiny on large companies, and regulatory agencies may view matters or interpret laws and regulations differently than they have in the past and in a manner adverse to our businesses. Our success and increased visibility have driven some existing businesses that perceive us to be a threat to their businesses to raise concerns about our business models to policymakers and regulators. These businesses and their trade association groups employ significant resources in their efforts to shape the legal and regulatory regimes in countries where we have significant operations. They may employ these resources in an effort to change the legal and regulatory regimes in ways intended to reduce the effectiveness of our businesses and the ability of users to use our products and services. These established businesses have raised concerns relating to pricing, parallel imports, professional seller obligations, selective distribution networks, stolen goods, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights and the liability of the provider of an Internet marketplace for the conduct of its users related to those and other issues. Any changes to the legal or regulatory regimes in a manner that would increase our liability for third-party listings could negatively impact our business.
Numerous U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions, including the State of California, have regulations regarding “auctions” and the handling of property by “secondhand dealers” or “pawnbrokers.” Several states and some foreign jurisdictions have attempted to impose such regulations upon us or our users, and others may attempt to do so in the future. Attempted enforcement of these laws against some of our users appears to be increasing and we could be required to change the way we or our users do business in ways that increase costs or reduce revenues, such
as forcing us to prohibit listings of certain items or restrict certain listing formats in some locations. We could also be subject to fines or other penalties, and any of these outcomes could harm our business.
A number of the lawsuits against us relating to trademark issues seek to have our platforms subject to unfavorable local laws. For example, “trademark exhaustion” principles provide trademark owners with certain rights to control the sale of a branded authentic product until it has been placed on the market by the trademark holder or with the holder’s consent. The application of “trademark exhaustion” principles is largely unsettled in the context of the Internet, and if trademark owners are able to force us to prohibit listings of certain items in one or more locations, our business could be harmed.
As we expand and localize our international activities, we are increasingly becoming obligated to comply with the laws of the countries or markets in which we operate. In addition, because our services are accessible worldwide and we facilitate sales of goods and provide services to users worldwide, one or more jurisdictions may claim that we or our users are required to comply with their laws based on the location of our servers or one or more of our users, or the location of the product or service being sold or provided in an ecommerce transaction. For example, we were found liable in France, under French law, for transactions on some of our websites worldwide that did not involve French buyers or sellers. Laws regulating Internet, mobile and ecommerce technologies outside of the United States are generally less favorable to us than those in the United States. Compliance may be more costly or may require us to change our business practices or restrict our service offerings, and the imposition of any regulations on us or our users may harm our business. In addition, we may be subject to multiple overlapping legal or regulatory regimes that impose conflicting requirements on us (e.g., in cross-border trade). Our alleged failure to comply with foreign laws could subject us to penalties ranging from criminal prosecution to significant fines to bans on our services, in addition to the significant costs we may incur in defending against such actions.
We are regularly subject to general litigation, regulatory disputes, and government inquiries.
We are regularly subject to claims, lawsuits (including class actions and individual lawsuits), government investigations, and other proceedings involving competition and antitrust, intellectual property, privacy, consumer protection, accessibility claims, securities, tax, labor and employment, commercial disputes, content generated by our users, services and other matters. The number and significance of these disputes and inquiries have increased as the political and regulatory landscape changes; and as our companyCompany has grown larger, our businesses have expanded in scope and geographic reach, and our products and services have increased in complexity.
The outcome and impact of such claims, lawsuits, government investigations, and other proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of the outcome, such investigations and proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors. Determining reserves for our pending litigation and other proceedings is a complex, fact-intensive process that is subject to judgment calls. It is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments, fines or penalties or to settle claims or proceedings, any of which could harm our business. These proceedings could also result in reputational harm, criminal sanctions, consent decrees, or orders preventing us from offering certain products, or services, or requiring a change in our business practices in costly ways, or requiring development of non-infringing or otherwise altered products or technologies. Any of these consequences could harm our business.
We are subject to regulatory activity and antitrust litigation under competition laws.laws that could adversely impact our business.
We are subject to scrutiny by various government agencies under U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including antitrust and competition laws. Some jurisdictions also provide private rights of action for competitors or consumers to assert claims of anti-competitive conduct. Other companies and government agencies have in the past and may in the future allege that our actions violate the antitrust or competition laws of the United States, individual states, the European CommissionUnion or other countries, or otherwise constitute unfair competition. An increasing number of governments are regulating competition law activities, including increased scrutiny in large markets such as China. Our business partnerships or agreements or arrangements with customers or other companies could give rise to regulatory action or antitrust litigation. Some regulators, particularly those outside of the United States, may perceive our business to be used so broadly that otherwise uncontroversial business practices could be deemed anticompetitive. Certain competition authorities have conducted market studies of our industries. Such claims and
investigations, even if without foundation, may be very expensive to defend, involve negative publicity and substantial diversion of management time and effort and could result in significant judgments against us or require us to change our business practices.
We are subject to patent litigation.
We have repeatedly been sued for allegedly infringing other parties’ patents. We are a defendantFluctuations in a number of patent suitsinterest rates, and have been notified of several other potential patent disputes. We expect that we will increasingly be subject to patent infringement claims because, among other reasons:
our products and services continue to expand in scope and complexity;
we continue to expand into new businesses, including through acquisitions; and
the universe of patent owners who may claim that we, any of the companies that we have acquired, or our customers infringe their patents, and the aggregate number of patents controlled by such patent owners, continues to increase.
Such claims may be brought directly against us and/or against our customers whom we may indemnify either because we are contractually obligated to do so or we choose to do so as a business matter. We believe that an increasing number of these claims against us and other technology companies have been, and continue to be, initiated by third parties whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims. In addition, we have seen significant patent disputes between operating companies in some technology industries. Patent claims, whether meritorious or not, are time-consuming and costly to defend and resolve, and could require us to make expensive changes in our methods of doing business, enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements, make substantial paymentsregulatory guidance related to satisfy adverse judgments or settle claims or proceedings, or cease conducting certain operations, which would harm our business.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting which, if not remediated,such interest rates, could adversely affectimpact our reputation, business or stock price.financial results.
In reviewing the accounting for certain transactions we completed in December 2016, as part of the realignment of our legal structure, as described above under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Provision for Income Taxes,” our management identified a deficiency in the effectiveness of a control intended to properly document and review relevant facts and apply the appropriate tax accounting under standards generally accepted in the United States of America, which impacted the Deferred tax asset and Income tax benefit accounts and related disclosures. As described under “Part 1, Item 4 - Controls and Procedures,” our management has concluded that the deficiency constitutes a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and, as a result, internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of September 30, 2017.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Although we have developed and are implementing a plan to remediate this material weakness and believe, based on our evaluation to date, that this material weakness will be remediated during 2017, we cannot assure you that this will occur within the contemplated timeframe. Moreover, we cannot assure you that we will not identify additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. If we are unable to remediate the material weakness, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within the time periods specified by the rules and forms of the Securities and Exchange Commission, could be adversely affected. The occurrence of, or failure to remediate the material weakness may adversely affect our reputation and business and the market price of our common stock and any other securities we may issue.
We are exposed to fluctuations in interest rates.
Some of our borrowings bear interest at floating rates and we have entered into agreements intended to convert the interest rate on some of our fixed rate debt instruments to floating rates. To the extent that prevailing rates increase, our interest expense under these debt instruments will increase.
Investments in both fixed-rate and floating-rate interest-earning instruments carry varying degrees of interest rate risk. The fair market value of our fixed-rate investment securities may be adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates. In general, fixed-rate securities with longer maturities are subject to greater interest-rate risk than those with shorter maturities. While floating rate securities generally are subject to less interest-rate risk than fixed-rate securities, floating-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates decrease and may also suffer a decline in market value if interest rates increase. Due in part to these factors, our investment income may decline or we may suffer losses in principal if securities are sold that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates. In addition, relatively low interest rates limit our investment income. Fluctuations in interest rates that increase the cost of our current or future indebtedness, cause the market value of our assets to decline or reduce our investment income could adversely affect our financial results.
Our tickets business is subject to regulatory, competitive and other risks that could harm this business.
Our tickets business, which includes StubHub, is subject to numerous risks, including:
Some jurisdictions, in particular jurisdictions outside the United States, prohibit the resale of event tickets (anti-scalping laws) at prices above the face value of the tickets or at all, or highly regulate the resale of tickets, and new laws and regulations or changes to existing laws and regulations imposing these or other restrictions could limit or inhibit our ability to operate, or our users’ ability to continue to use, our tickets business.
Regulatory agencies or courts may claim or hold that we are responsible for ensuring that our users comply with these laws and regulations.
In many jurisdictions, our tickets business depends on commercial partnerships with event organizers or licensed ticket vendors, which we must develop and maintain on acceptable terms for our tickets business to be successful.
Our tickets business is subject to seasonal fluctuations and the general economic and business conditions that impact the sporting events and live entertainment industries.
A portion of the tickets inventory sold by sellers on the StubHub platform is processed by StubHub in digital form. Systems failures, security breaches, theft or other disruptions that result in the loss of such sellers’ tickets inventory, could result in significant costs and a loss of consumer confidence in our tickets business.
Lawsuits alleging a variety of causes of actions have in the past, and may in the future, be filed against StubHub and eBay by venue owners, competitors, ticket buyers, and unsuccessful ticket buyers. Such lawsuits could result in significant costs and require us to change our business practices in ways that negatively affect our tickets business.
Our tickets business also faces significant competition from a number of sources, including ticketing service companies, event organizers, ticket brokers, and online and offline ticket resellers. Some ticketing service companies, event organizers, and professional sports teams have begun to issue event tickets through various forms of electronic ticketing systems that are designed to restrict or prohibit the transferability (and by extension, the resale) of such event tickets either to favor their own resale affiliates or to discourage resale or restrict resale of season tickets to a preferred, designated website. Ticketing service companies have also begun to use market-based pricing strategies or dynamic pricing to charge much higher prices, and impose additional restrictions on transferability, for premium tickets.
Some sports teams have threatened to revoke the privileges of season ticket owners if they resell their tickets through a platform that is not affiliated with, or approved by, such sports teams.
The listing or sale by our users of items that allegedly infringe the intellectual property rights of rights owners, including pirated or counterfeit items, may harm our business.
The listing or sale by our users of unlawful, counterfeit or stolen goods or unlawful services, or sale of goods or services in an unlawful manner, has resulted and may continue to result in allegations of civil or criminal liability for unlawful activities against us (including the employees and directors of our various entities) involving activities carried out by users through our services. In a number of circumstances, third parties, including government regulators and law enforcement officials, have alleged that our services aid and abet violations of certain laws, including laws regarding the sale of counterfeit items, laws restricting or prohibiting the transferability (and by extension, the resale) of digital goods (e.g., event tickets, books, music and software), the fencing of stolen goods, selective distribution channel laws, customs laws, distance selling laws, anti-scalping laws with respect to the resale of tickets, and the sale of items outside of the United States that are regulated by U.S. export controls. For example:
In Turkey, local prosecutors and courts are investigating our liability for allegedly illegal actions by users of our Turkish Marketplace business (GittiGidiyor). In accordance with local law and custom, they have indicted one or more members of the board of directors of our local Turkish subsidiary. We intend to defend vigorously against any such actions and a growing number of these cases have been dismissed by the relevant courts.
In August 2012, we were informed that U.S. listings of footwear with religious imagery were visible on our local Indian site and we immediately removed these listings. In September 2012, a criminal case was registered against us in India in regard to these listings, and we are challenging the prosecution of this case.
In addition, allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, including but not limited to counterfeit items, have resulted in threatened and actual litigation from time to time by rights owners, including the following luxury brand owners: Tiffany & Co. in the United States; Rolex S.A. and Coty Prestige Lancaster Group GmbH in Germany; Louis Vuitton Malletier and Christian Dior Couture in France; and L’Oréal SA, Lancôme Parfums et Beauté & Cie, and Laboratoire Garnier & Cie in several European countries. Plaintiffs in these and similar suits seek, among other remedies, injunctive relief and damages. Statutory damages for copyright or trademark violations could range up to $150,000 per copyright violation and $2,000,000 per trademark violation in the United States, and may be even higher in other jurisdictions. In the past, we have paid substantial amounts in connection with resolving certain trademark and copyright suits. These and similar suits may also force us to modify our business practices in a manner that increases costs, lowers revenue, makes our websites and mobile platforms less convenient to customers, and requires us to spend substantial resources to take additional protective measures or discontinue certain service offerings in order to combat these practices. In addition, we have received significant media attention relating to the listing or sale of illegal or counterfeit goods, which could damage our reputation, diminish the value of our brand names, and make users reluctant to use our products and services.
We are subject to risks associated with information disseminated through our services.
Online services companies may be subject to claims relating to information disseminated through their services, including claims alleging defamation, libel, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright or trademark infringement, among other things. The laws relating to the liability of online services companies for information disseminated through their services are subject to frequent challenges both in the United States and
foreign jurisdictions. Any liabilities incurred as a result of these matters could require us to incur additional costs and harm our reputation and our business.
Our potential liability to third parties for the user-provided content on our sites, particularly in jurisdictions outside the United States where laws governing Internet transactions are unsettled, may increase. If we become liable for information provided by our users and carried on our service in any jurisdiction in which we operate, we could be directly harmed and we may be forced to implement new measures to reduce our exposure to this liability, including expending substantial resources or discontinuing certain service offerings, which could harm our business.
Changes to our programs to protect buyers and sellers could increase our costs and loss rate.
Our eBay Money Back Guarantee program represents the means by which we compensate users who believe that they have been defrauded, have not received the item that they purchased or have received an item different from what was described. We expect to continue to receive communications from users requesting reimbursement or threatening or commencing legal action against us if no reimbursement is made. Our liability for these sortsorts of claims is slowly beginning to be clarified in some jurisdictions and may be higher in some non-U.S. jurisdictions than it is in the United States. Litigation involving liability for any such third-party actions could be costly and time consuming for us, divert management attention, result in increased costs of doing business, lead to adverse judgments or settlements or otherwise harm our business. In addition, affected users will likely complain to regulatory agencies that could take action against us, including imposing fines or seeking injunctions.
Development of our payments system requires ongoing investment, is subject to evolving laws, regulations, rules, and standards, and involves risk, including risks related to our dependence on third-party providers.
We have invested and plan to continue to invest internal resources into our payments tools in order to maintain existing availability, expand into additional markets and offer new payment methods and tools to our buyers and sellers. If we fail to invest adequate resources into payments on our platform, or if our investment efforts are unsuccessful or unreliable, our payments services may not function properly or keep pace with competitive offerings, which could negatively impact their usage and our marketplaces. Further, our ability to expand our payments services into additional countries is dependent upon the third-party providers we use to support this service. As we expand the availability of our payments services to additional markets or offer new payment methods to our sellers and buyers in the future, we may become subject to additional regulations and compliance requirements, and exposed to heightened fraud risk, which could lead to an increase in our operating expenses.
We rely on third-party service providers to perform services related to compliance, credit card processing, payment disbursements, currency exchange, identity verification, sanctions screening, and fraud analysis and detection. As a result, we are subject to a number of risks related to our dependence on third-party service providers. If any or some of these service providers fail to perform adequately or if any such service provider were to terminate or modify its relationship with us unexpectedly, our sellers’ ability to use our platform to receive orders or payments could be adversely affected, which would increase costs, drive sellers away from our marketplaces, result in potential legal liability, and harm our business. In addition, we and our third-party service providers may experience service outages from time to time that could adversely impact payments made on our platform. Additionally, any unexpected termination or modification of those third-party services could lead to a lapse in the effectiveness of certain fraud prevention and detection tools.
Our third-party service providers may increase the fees they charge us in the future, which would increase our operating expenses. This could, in turn, require us to increase the fees we charge to sellers and cause some sellers to reduce listings on our marketplaces or to leave our platform altogether by closing their accounts.
Payments are governed by complex and continuously evolving laws and regulations that are subject to change and vary across different jurisdictions in the United States and globally. As a result, we are required to spend significant time and effort to determine whether various licensing and registration laws relating to payments apply to us and to comply with applicable laws and licensing and registration regulations. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain or retain any necessary licenses or registrations. Any failure or claim of failure on the part of the Company or its third-party service providers to comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to payments could require us to expend significant resources, result in liabilities, limit or preclude our ability to enter certain markets and harm our reputation. In addition, changes in payment regulations, including changes to
the credit or debit card interchange rates in the United States or other markets, could adversely affect payments on our platform and make our payments systems less profitable.
Further, we are indirectly subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements pursuant to agreements with our third-party payment processors. These rules and requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and rules governing electronic funds transfers, are subject to change or reinterpretation, making it difficult for us to comply. Any failure to comply with these rules and certification requirements could impact our ability to meet our contractual obligations to our third-party payment processors and could result in potential fines. In addition, changes in these rules and requirements, including any change in our designation by major payment card providers, could require a change in our business operations and could result in limitations on or loss of our ability to accept payment cards, any of which could negatively impact our business. Such changes could also increase our costs of compliance, which could lead to increased fees for us or our sellers and adversely affect payments on our platform or usage of our payments services and marketplaces.
We may be unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights orand face ongoing risks from patent litigation and allegations by third parties may allege that we are infringing their intellectual property rights.
We believe the protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks, patents, copyrights, domain names, trade dress, and trade secrets, is critical to our success. We seek to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on applicable laws and regulations in the United States and internationally, as well as a variety of administrative procedures. We also rely on contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights when offering or procuring products and services, including confidentiality and invention assignment agreements entered into with our employees and contractors and confidentiality agreements with parties with whom we conduct business.
However, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services are made available, and contractual arrangements and other steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our intellectual property or deter independent development of equivalent or superior intellectual property rights by others. Trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress and trade secret protection is very expensive to maintain and may require litigation. We must protect our intellectual property rights and other proprietary rights in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time consuming and may not be successful in every jurisdiction. Also, we may not be able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our proprietary rights. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to others. These licensees may take actions that diminish the value of our proprietary rights or harm our reputation. Any failure to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, or significant costs incurred in doing so, could materially harm our business.
Additionally, we have repeatedly been sued for allegedly infringing other parties’ patents. We are a defendant in a number of patent suits and have been notified of several other potential patent disputes. We expect that we will increasingly be subject to patent infringement claims because, among other reasons:
•our products and services continue to expand in scope and complexity;
•we continue to expand into new businesses, including through acquisitions and licenses; and
•the universe of patent owners who may claim that we, any of the companies that we have acquired, or our customers infringe their patents, and the aggregate number of patents controlled by such patent owners, continues to increase.
As the number of patent owners and products in the software industry increases and the functionality of these products further overlap, and as we acquire technology through acquisitions or licenses, we may become increasingly subject to infringement claims, including patent, copyright, and trademark infringement claims. Litigationlitigation may be necessary to determine the validity and scope of the patent and other intellectual property rights of others. others and we may become increasingly subject to patent suits and other infringement claims, including copyright, and trademark infringement claims. Such claims may be brought directly against us and/or against our customers whom we may indemnify either because we are contractually obligated to do so or we choose to do so as a business matter. We believe that an increasing number of these claims against us and other technology companies have been, and continue to be, initiated by third parties whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims. In addition, we have seen significant patent disputes between operating companies in some technology industries. Patent claims, whether meritorious or not, are time-consuming and costly to defend and resolve, and could require us to make expensive changes in our methods of doing business, enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements, make substantial payments to satisfy
adverse judgments or settle claims or proceedings, or cease conducting certain operations, which would harm our business.
The ultimate outcome of any allegation or litigation is uncertain and, regardless of the outcome, any such claim,of the claims described above, with or without merit, may be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, divert management’s time and attention from our business, require us to stop selling, delay roll-out, or redesign our products, or require us to pay substantial amounts to satisfy judgments or settle claims or lawsuits or to
pay substantial royalty or licensing fees, or to satisfy indemnification obligations that we have with some of our customers. Our failure to obtain necessary license or other rights, or litigation or claims arising out of intellectual property matters, may harm our business.
Failure to deal effectively with fraudulent activities on our platforms would increase our loss rate and harm our business, and could severely diminish merchant and consumer confidence in and use of our services.
We face risks with respect to fraudulent activities on our platforms and periodically receive complaints from buyers and sellers who may not have received the goods that they had contracted to purchase or payment for the goods that a buyer had contracted to purchase. In some European and Asian jurisdictions, buyers may also have the right to withdraw from a sale made by a professional seller within a specified time period. While we can, in some cases, suspend the accounts of users who fail to fulfill their payment or delivery obligations to other users, we do not have the ability to require users to make payment or deliver goods, or otherwise make users whole other than through itsour buyer protection program, which in the United States we refer to as the eBay Money Back Guarantee.Guarantee, or as we roll out our new payments capabilities, by compensating our sellers for fraudulent payments. Although we have implemented measures to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities, combat bad buyer experiences and increase buyer satisfaction, including evaluating sellers on the basis of their transaction history and restricting or suspending their activity, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective in combating fraudulent transactions or improving overall satisfaction among sellers, buyers, and other participants. Additional measures to address fraud could negatively affect the attractiveness of our services to buyers or sellers, resulting in a reduction in the ability to attract new users or retain current users, damage to our reputation, or a diminution in the value of our brand names.
We have substantial indebtedness, and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, and we may not generate sufficient cash flow from our business to service our indebtedness. Failure to comply with the terms of our indebtedness could result in the acceleration of our indebtedness, which could have an adverse effect on our cash flow and liquidity.
We have a substantial amount of outstanding indebtedness and we may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, including under our commercial paper program and revolving credit facility or through public or private offerings of debt securities. Our outstanding indebtedness and any additional indebtedness we incur may have significant consequences, including, without limitation, any of the following:
•requiring us to use a significant portion of our cash flow from operations and other available cash to service our indebtedness, thereby reducing the amount of cash available for other purposes, including capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases, and acquisitions;
•our indebtedness and leverage may increase our vulnerability to downturns in our business, to competitive pressures, and to adverse changes in general economic and industry conditions;
•adverse changes in the ratings assigned to our debt securities by credit rating agencies will likely increase our borrowing costs;
•our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, share repurchases, dividends or other general corporate and other purposes may be limited; and
•our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry may be limited.
These risks increase as the level of our debt increases. Our ability to make payments of principal and of and interest on our indebtedness depends upon our future performance, which will be subject to general economic conditions, industry cycles and financial, business and other factors affecting our consolidated results of operations and financial condition, many of which are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations in the future to service our debt, we may be required to, among other things:
repatriate•incur the tax cost of repatriating funds to the United States at substantial tax cost;States;
•seek additional financing in the debt or equity markets;
•refinance or restructure all or a portion of our indebtedness;
•sell selected assets; or
•reduce or delay planned capital or operating expenditures.
Such measures might not be sufficient to enable us to service our debt. In addition, any such financing, refinancing or sale of assets might not be available on economically favorable terms or at all.
Our revolving credit facility and the indenture pursuant to which certain of our outstanding debt securities were issued contain, and any debt instruments we enter into in the future may contain, financial and other covenants that restrict or could restrict, among other things, our business and operations. If we fail to pay amounts due under, or breach any of the covenants in, a debt instrument, then the lenders would typically have the right to demand immediate repayment of all borrowings thereunder (subject in certain cases to grace or cure period). Moreover, any such acceleration and required repayment of or default in respect of any of our indebtedness could, in turn, constitute an event of default under other debt instruments, thereby resulting in the acceleration and required repayment of that other indebtedness. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition.
A downgrade in our credit ratings could materially adversely affect our business.
Some of our outstanding indebtedness has received credit ratings from certain rating agencies. Such ratings are limited in scope and do not purport to address all risks relating to an investment in those debt securities, but rather reflect only the view of each rating agency at the time the rating was issued.
The credit ratings assigned to our debt securities could change based upon, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition or dispositions and financial condition.acquisitions. These ratings are subject to ongoing evaluation by credit rating agencies, and there can be no assurance that such ratings will not be lowered, suspended or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency or placed on a so-called “watch list” for a possible downgrade or assigned a negative ratings outlook if, in any rating agency’s judgment, circumstances so warrant. Moreover, these credit ratings are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold any of our debt securities. Actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under review for a downgrade or have been assigned a negative outlook, would likely increase our borrowing costs, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and could harm our business.
Our credit ratings were downgraded as a result of the distribution of 100% of the outstanding common stock of PayPal to our stockholders (the “Distribution”), pursuant to which PayPal became an independent company. As of January 1, 2014, our long-term debt and short-term funding were rated investment grade by Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, LLC (long-term rated A, short-term rated A-1, with a stable outlook), Moody’s Investor Service (long-term rated A2, short-term rated P-1, with a stable outlook), and Fitch Ratings, Inc. (long-term rated A, short-term rated F-1, with a stable outlook). All of these credit rating agencies lowered their ratings in connection with the Distribution, which occurred on July 17, 2015. Since July 20, 2015, we have been rated investment grade by Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, LLC (long-term rated BBB+, short-term rated A-2, with a stable outlook), Moody’s Investor Service (long-term rated Baa1, short-term rated P-2, with a stable outlook), and Fitch Ratings, Inc. (long-term rated BBB, short-term rated F-2, with a stable outlook). We disclose these ratings to enhance the understanding of our sources of liquidity and the effects of these ratings on our costs of funds. Our borrowing costs depend, in part, on our credit ratings and any further actions taken by these credit rating agencies to lower our credit ratings, as described above, will likely increase our borrowing costs.
Our business and users may be subject to sales tax and other taxes.
The application of indirect taxes (suchsuch as sales and use tax, value-added tax (“VAT”), goods and services tax (including the “digital services tax”), business tax and gross receipt tax)tax to ecommerce businesses and to our users is a complex and evolving issue. Many of the fundamental statutes and regulations that impose these taxes were established before the adoption and growth of the Internet and ecommerce. In many cases, it is not clear how existing statutes apply to the Internet or ecommerce.ecommerce services. In addition, many state and foreign governments are increasingly looking for ways to increase revenues, which has resulted in discussions about tax reform and other legislative action, to increase taxincluding new taxes on services and gross revenues includingand through other indirect taxes. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain.
We do not collect taxes on the goods or services sold by users of our services. However, some jurisdictions have implemented, or may implement, laws that require remote sellers of goods and services to collect and remit taxes on sales to customers located within the jurisdiction. In particular, the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (an ongoing, multi-year effort by U.S. state and local governments to pursue federal legislation that would require collection and remittance of sales tax by out-of-state sellers) could allow states that meet certain simplification and other criteria to require out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales taxes on goods purchased by in-state residents. The adoption of such legislation could result in a use tax collection responsibility for certain of our sellers. This collection responsibility and the additional costs associated with complex use tax collection, remittance and audit requirements would make selling on our websites
and mobile platforms less attractive for small business retailers and would harm our business, and the proliferation of state legislation to expand sales and use tax collection on Internet sales could adversely affect some of our sellers and indirectly harm our business.
Several proposals have been made at the U.S. state and local levels that would impose additional taxes on the sale of goods and services over the Internet. These proposals, if adopted, could substantially impair the growth of ecommerce and our brands, and could diminish our opportunity to derive financial benefit from our activities. While the U.S. federal government’s moratorium on state and local taxation of Internet access or multiple or discriminatory taxes on ecommerce has been temporarily extended, this moratorium does not prohibit federal, state or local authorities from collecting taxes on our income or from collecting certain taxes that were in effect prior to the enactment of the moratorium and/or one of its extensions.
From time to time, some taxing authorities in the United States have notified us that they believe we owe them certain taxes imposed on our services. These notifications have not resulted in any significant tax liabilities to date, but there is a risk that some jurisdiction may be successful in the future, which would harm our business.
Similar issues exist outside of the United States, where the application of VAT or other indirect taxes on ecommerce providers is complex and evolving. While we attempt to comply in those jurisdictions where it is clear that a tax is due, some of our subsidiaries have, from time to time, received claims relating to the applicability of indirect taxes to our fees. We have been paying VAT on fees charged to certain of our users in the European Union based on the service provider’s location. On January 1, 2015, changes to the rules determining the place of supply (and thus the country of taxation) for all European Union based providers of electronically supplied services were implemented that require that we pay VAT based on the residence or normal place of business of our customers. These changes may result in our paying a higher rate of VAT on such fees. Additionally, we pay input VAT on applicable taxable purchases within the various countries in which we operate. In most cases, we are entitled to reclaim this input VAT from the various countries. However, because of our unique business model, the application of the laws and rules that allow such reclamation is sometimes uncertain. A successful assertion by one or more countries that we are not entitled to reclaim VAT could harm our business.
In certain jurisdictions, we collect and remit indirect taxes on our fees and pay taxes on our purchases of goods and services. However, tax authorities may raise questions about our calculation, reporting and collection of these
taxes and may ask us to remit additional taxes, as well as the proper calculation of such taxes. Should any new taxes become applicable to our services or if the taxes we pay are found to be deficient, our business could be harmed.
A taxing authority may seek to impose a tax collection, reporting or record-keeping obligation on companies that engage in or facilitate ecommerce. For example, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) now requires that certain payments to sellers be reported to the sellers and the IRS on an annual basis. Any failure by us to meet these requirements could result in substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions and could harm our business. Taxing authorities may also seek to impose tax collection or reporting obligations based on the location of the product or service being sold or provided in an ecommerce transaction, regardless of where the respective users are located. Some jurisdictions could assert that we are responsible for tax on the underlying goods or services sold on our sites. Imposition of a record keeping or tax collecting requirement could decrease seller activity on our sites and would harm our business. Tax authorities may also require us to help ensure compliance by our users by promulgating legislation regulating professional sellers, including tax reporting and collection requirements. In addition, we have periodically received requests from tax authorities in many jurisdictions for information regarding the transactions of large classes of sellers on our sites, and in some cases we have been legally obligated to provide this data. The imposition of any requirements on us to disclose transaction records for all or a class of sellers to tax or other regulatory authorities or to file tax forms on behalf of any sellers, especially requirements that are imposed on us but not on alternative means of ecommerce, and any use of those records to investigate, collect taxes from or prosecute sellers, could decrease seller activity on our sites and harm our business.
We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.
The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires estimation and significant judgment, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Like many other multinational corporations, we are subject to tax in multiple U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions and have structured our operations to reduce our effective tax rate. Our determination of our tax liability is always subject to audit and review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities, and we are currently undergoing a number of investigations, audits and reviews by taxing authorities throughout the world, including with respect to our business structure. Any adverse outcome of any such audit or review could harm our business, and the ultimate tax outcome may differ from the amounts recorded in our financial statements and may materially affect our financial results in the period or periods for which such determination is made. While we have established reserves based on assumptions and estimates that we believe are reasonable to cover such eventualities, these reserves may prove to be insufficient.
In addition, our future income taxes could be adversely affected by a shift in our jurisdictional earning mix, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, as a result of gains on our foreign exchange risk management program, or changes in tax laws, regulations, or accounting principles, as well as certain discrete items.
In light of continuing fiscal challenges in certain U.S. states and in many countries in Europe, various levels of government are increasingly focused on tax reform and other legislative action to increase tax revenue, including corporate income taxes. For example, the economic downturn reduced tax revenues for United States federal and state governments, and a number of proposals to increase taxes from corporate entities have been implemented or are being considered at various levels of government. These include a number of proposals to modify the U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to companies, like ours, operating in multiple U.S. and foreign jurisdictions which, if enacted, could materially increase our effective tax rate. A number of U.S. states have attempted to increase corporate tax revenues by taking an expansive view of corporate presence to attempt to impose corporate income taxes and other direct business taxes on companies that have no physical presence in their state, and taxing authorities in foreign jurisdictions may take similar actions. Many U.S. states are also altering their apportionment formulas to increase the amount of taxable income or loss attributable to their state from certain out-of-state businesses. Similarly, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, there are various tax reform efforts underway designed to ensure that corporate entities are taxed on a larger percentage of their earnings. Companies that operate over the Internet, such as eBay, are a target of some of these efforts. If more taxing authorities are successful in applying direct taxes to Internet companies that do not have a physical presence in their respective jurisdictions, this could increase our effective tax rate.
We may beOur business and its users are subject to Internet sales tax and sales reporting and record-keeping obligations.
The application of sales tax and other indirect taxes on cross border sales by remote sellers is continuing to change and evolve. On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. et al., a case challenging the current law under which online retailers are not required to collect sales and use tax unless they have a physical presence in the buyer’s state. This decision allows states to adopt new or enforce existing laws requiring sellers to collect and remit sales and use tax, even in states in which the seller has no presence. The adoption or enforcement of any such legislation could result in a sales and use tax collection responsibility for certain of our sellers. This collection responsibility and the additional costs associated with complex sales and use tax collection, remittance and audit requirements could create additional burdens for buyers and sellers on our websites and mobile platforms and could harm our business. Moreover, the application of such taxes on our commerce platforms could cause a marketplace to be less attractive to current and prospective buyers, which could adversely impact our business, financial performance, and growth. The majority of U.S. states have enacted laws or have pending legislation that require marketplace facilitators to collect and remit sales tax for some or all sellers using these marketplaces.
Similar laws imposing tax collection responsibility on foreign sellers are being considered in other countries as well. We are now jointly liable for U.K. VAT and German VAT for certain sellers who fail to fulfill their VAT obligations unless we suspend their eBay activity until the seller resolves the matter with the corresponding VAT authority. Other jurisdictions are considering similar legislation.
Multiple jurisdictions have enacted laws which require marketplaces to report user activity or collect and remit taxes on certain items sold on the marketplace. For example, we are collecting Australian GST on certain imports
into Australia and remitting the GST to the Australian Tax Office. The European Union has also adopted a VAT reform package which starting in 2021 requires marketplaces such as eBay to collect and remit VAT on most imports from outside the European Union.
One or more states, the U.S. federal government or foreign countries may seek to impose reporting or record-keeping obligations on companies that engage in or facilitate ecommerce. Such an obligation could be imposed by legislation intended to improve tax compliance (and legislation to such effect has been contemplated by several states and a number of foreign jurisdictions) or if one of our companies was ever deemed to be the legal agent of the users of our services by a jurisdiction in which it operates. Certain of our companies are required to report to the IRSInternal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and most states on customers subject to U.S. income tax who receive more than $20,000 in payments and more than 200 payments in a calendar year.if they reach certain payment thresholds. As a result, we are required to request tax identification numbers from certain payees, track payments by tax identification number and, under certain conditions, withhold a portion of payments and forward such withholding to the IRS. We have modified our systems to meet these requirements and expect increasedThese obligations can increase operational costs and changes tochange our user experience in connection with complying with these reporting obligations.experience. Any failure by us to meet these requirements could result in substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions and could harm our business. Imposition of an information reporting requirement could decrease seller or buyer activity on our sites and would harm our business.
We have periodically received requests from tax authorities for information regarding the transactions of large classes of sellers on our sites, and in some cases we have been legally obligated to provide this data. The imposition of any requirements on us to disclose transaction records for all or a class of sellers to tax or other regulatory authorities or to file tax forms on behalf of any sellers, especially requirements that are imposed on us but not on alternative means of ecommerce, and any use of those records to investigate, collect taxes from or prosecute sellers or buyers, could decrease activity on our sites and harm our business.
Our business is subject to online security risks, including security breaches and cyberattacks.
Our businesses involve the storage and transmission of users’ personal financial information. In addition, a significant number of our users authorize us to bill their payment card accounts directly for all transaction and other fees charged by us.us or, in certain cases, third-party service providers utilized in our payment services. An increasing number of websites, including those owned by several other large Internet and offline companies, have disclosed breaches of their security, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks on portions of their websites or infrastructure. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable, or degrade service, or sabotage systems, change frequently, may be difficult to detect for a long time, and often are not recognized until launched against a target. Certain efforts may be state sponsored and supported by significant financial and technological resources and therefore may be even more difficult to detect. As a result, we
may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities through various means, including hacking into our systems or facilities, fraud, trickery or other means of deceiving our employees, contractors and temporary staff. A party that is able to circumvent our security measures, or those of our third-party service providers, could misappropriate our or our users’ personal information, cause interruption or degradations in our operations, damage our computers or those of our users, or otherwise damage our reputation. In addition, our users have been and likely will continue to be targeted by parties using fraudulent “spoof” and “phishing” emails to misappropriate user names, passwords, payment card numbers, or other personal information or to introduce viruses or other malware through “trojan horse” programs to our users’ computers. Our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to cyberattacks or security incidents and third parties may be able to access our users’ proprietary information and payment card data that are stored on or accessible through our systems. Any security breach at a company providing services to us or our users could have similar effects.
In May 2014, we publicly announced that criminals were able to penetrate and steal certain data, including user names,usernames, encrypted user passwords and other non-financial user data. Upon making this announcement, we required all buyers and sellers on our platform to reset their passwords in order to log into their account. The breach and subsequent password reset have negatively impacted the business. In July 2014, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against us for alleged violations and harm resulting from the breach. The lawsuit was recently dismissed with leave to amend. In addition, we have received requests for information and arebecame subject to investigations regarding this incident from numerous regulatory and other government agencies across the world.
We may also need to expend significant additional resources to protect against security breaches or to redress problems caused by breaches. These issues are likely to become more difficult and costly as we expand the
number of markets where we operate. Additionally, our insurance policies carry low coverage limits, which may not be adequate to reimburse us for losses caused by security breaches and we may not be able to fully collect, if at all, under these insurance policies.
Systems failures or cyberattacks and resulting interruptions in the availability of or degradation in the performance of our websites, applications, products or services could harm our business.
Our systems may experience service interruptions or degradation due to of hardware and software defects or malfunctions, computer denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, or other events. Our systems are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities.
We have experienced and will likely continue to experience system failures, denial of servicedenial-of-service attacks and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce the speed or functionality of our websites and mobile applications.applications, including our payments services. These events have resulted and likely will result in loss of revenue. A prolonged interruption in the availability or reduction in the speed or other functionality of our websites and mobile applications or payments services could materially harm our business. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our services could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid our sites, and could permanently harm our reputation and brands. Moreover, to the extent that any system failure or similar event results in damages to our customers or their businesses, these customers could seek significant compensation from us for their losses and those claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly for us to address. We also rely on facilities, components and services supplied by third parties and our business may be materially adversely affected to the extent these components or services do not meet our expectations or these third parties cease to provide the services or facilities. In particular, a decision by any of our third party hosting providers to close a facility that we use could cause system interruptions and delays, result in loss of critical data and cause lengthy interruptions in our services. We do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for losses that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of systems failures and similar events.
The closing of the proposed transfer of our Classifieds business is subject to various risks and uncertainties, may not be completed in accordance with expected plans or on the currently contemplated terms or timeline, or at all, and may not generate the anticipated returns to eBay, and the pending sale may be disruptive to our Classifieds business.
On July 20, 2020, we entered into a transaction agreement to transfer our Classifieds business to Adevinta ASA, a public company with limited liability organized under the laws of Norway (“Adevinta”), for total consideration valued at approximately $9.2 billion, based on the closing trading price of Adevinta shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange on July 17, 2020. The consideration will consist of $2.5 billion in cash, subject to certain adjustments specified in the transaction agreement for indebtedness and cash, and approximately 540 million Adevinta shares.
The sale is expected to close by the first quarter of 2021. However, the completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, customary closing conditions, including approval of the transaction by the holders of at least two-thirds of (x) the votes cast and (y) the share capital of Adevinta ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy at an extraordinary general meeting of Adevinta’s shareholders, and the consultation procedures with competent works council, other employee representation bodies or employees where and to the extent required by applicable law. We cannot assure you that the conditions to the closing of the sale will be satisfied and, if those conditions are neither satisfied nor, where permissible, waived on a timely basis or at all, we may be unable to complete the transfer of the Classifieds business, or such completion may be delayed or completed on terms that are less favorable, perhaps materially, to us than the terms currently contemplated.
The transaction agreement provides that we will receive approximately 540 million Adevinta shares at the closing of the transaction, and this amount will not be adjusted if the stock price or value of Adevinta shares fluctuates prior to closing. This means that the aggregate consideration we ultimately receive from the sale will depend on the future trading price of Adevinta shares, which will in turn depend on Adevinta’s future results of operations, financial condition and prospects, economic conditions and a broad range of other factors. We are
unable to predict the future trading price of Adevinta shares and it is possible that the aggregate value of the consideration we receive for the sale may be less, perhaps substantially, than the amount set forth in the first paragraph of this risk factor. After closing of the transaction, we will continue to be subject to this risk of future fluctuations in the stock price of Adevinta shares so long as we continue to hold any Adevinta shares we receive in this transaction.
The transaction agreement currently provides for us to receive both voting and non-voting Adevinta shares. Based on the number of Adevinta shares outstanding as of June 30, 2020, the shares we will receive pursuant to the transaction agreement would represent approximately 44% of Adevinta’s total outstanding shares and approximately 33.3% of Adevinta’s outstanding voting shares. However, Schibsted ASA (“Schibsted”) is currently the majority owner of Adevinta and will remain a significant holder of Adevinta shares following the transaction, which means that Schibsted currently has the power to decide, and is expected to continue after closing to have a substantial influence in determining, the outcome of matters subject to the approval of Adevinta’s shareholders, other than pursuant to the voting agreement Schibsted has entered into with eBay, under which it agreed, among other things, to vote its shares in favor of the transaction. This may result in shareholder approval of matters or transactions with which we do not agree or that we believe may adversely affect the value or trading price of Adevinta’s shares.
Whether or not the proposed transfer of our Classifieds business is completed, the announcement and pendency of the sale may be disruptive to our businesses (including the Classifieds business) and may adversely affect our existing relationships with current and prospective employees and business partners, as well as with buyers and sellers on its platform. Uncertainties related to the pending sale may also impair our ability to attract, retain and motivate key personnel and could divert the attention of our management and other employees from its day-to-day business and operations in preparation for and during the sale. If we are unable to effectively manage these risks, the business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects of our businesses would be adversely affected. This may in turn adversely affect the value and trading price of the Adevinta shares we receive if the sale is completed, or could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and the trading price of our common stock if the sale is not completed.
If the proposed transfer of the Classifieds business is delayed or not completed for any reason, including due to our or Adevinta’s inability to satisfy the closing conditions set forth in the transaction agreement or industry or economic conditions outside of our control, including those related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, investor confidence could decline and we could face negative publicity and possible litigation. In addition, in the event of a failed transaction, we will have expended significant management resources in an effort to complete the sale and, although in some circumstances Adevinta may be obligated to pay us a termination fee of $92 million, we will have incurred significant transaction costs. Accordingly, if the proposed sale of the Classifieds business is not completed on the timeline or terms currently contemplated, or at all, our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and stock price may be adversely affected.
Acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and strategic investments could result in operating difficulties and could harm our business.business or impact our financial results.
We have acquired a significant number of businesses of varying size and scope, technologies, services, and productsproducts. We have also disposed of significant businesses (including PayPal and have in July 2015 distributed 100% of the outstanding common stock of PayPal to our stockholders, pursuant to which PayPal became an independent company, and sold our Enterprise business in November 2015.2015), and in February 2020 we sold our StubHub business to viagogo. In July 2020 we announced a transaction to transfer our Classifieds business to Adevinta. We also expect to continue to evaluate and consider a wide array of potential strategic transactions as part of our overall business strategy, including business combinations, acquisitions, and dispositions of businesses, technologies, services, products, and other assets, as well as strategic investments and joint ventures.
These transactions may involve significant challenges and risks, including:
•the potential loss of key customers, merchants, vendors and other key business partners of the companies we acquire, or dispose of, following and continuing after announcement of our transaction plans;
•declining employee morale and retention issues affecting employees of companies that we acquire or dispose of, which may result from changes in compensation, or changes in management, reporting relationships, future prospects or the direction of the acquired or disposed business;
•difficulty making new and strategic hires of new employees;
•diversion of management time and a shift of focus from operating the businesses to the transaction, and in the case of an acquisition, integration and administration;
•the need to provide transition services to a disposed of company, which may result in the diversion of resources and focus;
•the need to integrate the operations, systems (including accounting, management, information, human resource and other administrative systems), technologies, products and personnel of each acquired company, which is an inherently risky and potentially lengthy and costly process;
•the inefficiencies and lack of control that may result if such integration is delayed or not implemented, and unforeseen difficulties and expenditures that may arise as a result;
•the need to implement or improve controls, procedures and policies appropriate for a larger public company at companies that prior to acquisition may have lacked such controls, procedures and policies or whose controls, procedures and policies did not meet applicable legal and other standards;
•risks associated with our expansion into new international markets;
•derivative lawsuits resulting from the acquisition or disposition;
•liability for activities of the acquired or disposed of company before the transaction, including intellectual property and other litigation claims or disputes, violations of laws, rules and regulations, commercial disputes, tax liabilities and other known and unknown liabilities and, in the case of dispositions, liabilities to the acquirors of those businesses under contractual provisions such as representations, warranties and indemnities;
•the potential loss of key employees following the transaction;
•the acquisition of new customer and employee personal information by us or a third party acquiring assets or businesses from us, which in and of itself may require regulatory approval and or additional controls, policies and procedures and subject us to additional exposure; and
•our dependence on the acquired business’ accounting, financial reporting, operating metrics and similar systems, controls and processes and the risk that errors or irregularities in those systems, controls and processes will lead to errors in our condensed consolidated financial statements or make it more difficult to manage the acquired business.
At any given time, we may be engaged in discussions or negotiations with respect to one or more of these types of transactions and any of these transactions could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, it may take us longer than expected to fully realize the anticipated benefits of these transactions, and those benefits may ultimately be smaller than anticipated or may not be realized at all, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. Any acquisitions or dispositions may also require us to issue additional equity securities, spend our cash, or incur debt (and increased interest expense), liabilities, and amortization expenses related to intangible assets or write-offs of goodwill, which could adversely affect our results of operations and dilute the economic and voting rights of our stockholders.
We have made certain investments, including through joint ventures, in which we have a minority equity interest and/or lack management and operational control. The controlling joint venture partner in a joint venture may have business interests, strategies, or goals that are inconsistent with ours, and business decisions or other actions or
omissions of the controlling joint venture partner or the joint venture company may result in harm to our reputation or adversely affect the value of our investment in the joint venture. Our strategic investments may also expose us to additional risks. Any circumstances, which may be out of our control, that adversely affect the value of our investments, or cost resulting from regulatory action or lawsuits in connection with our investments, could harm our business or negatively impact our financial results.
We entered into a warrant agreement in conjunction with a commercial agreement with Adyen that entitles us to acquire a fixed number of shares of Adyen’s common stock subject to certain milestones being met. This warrant is accounted for as a derivative instrument under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Changes in Adyen’s common stock price and equity volatility may have a significant impact on the value of this warrant. We report this warrant on a quarterly basis at fair value in our condensed consolidated balance sheets, and changes in the fair value of this warrant are recognized in our condensed consolidated statement of income. Fluctuations in Adyen’s common stock or other changes in assumptions could result in material changes in the fair value that we report in our condensed consolidated balance sheets and our condensed consolidated statement of income, which could have a material impact on our financial results.
We are subject to risks and uncertainties related to the strategic review of our asset portfolio, as well as the execution of our plan for operating efficiency.
In March 2019, we announced that we initiated, with the assistance of external financial advisors, a strategic review of our asset portfolio, including but not limited to StubHub and eBay Classifieds Group. In November 2019, as an outcome of our strategic review, we entered into an agreement to sell our StubHub business to viagogo, which closed in February 2020, and in July 2020 we entered into an agreement to transfer our Classifieds business to Adevinta, which is expected to close by the first quarter of 2021. There can be no assurance that the strategic review will result in any further sale, spin-off or other business combination involving our assets. We will incur expenses in connection with the review and our future results may be affected by the pursuit or consummation of any specific transaction or other strategic alternative resulting from the strategic review. While these processes are ongoing, we are exposed to certain risks and uncertainties, including retaining and attracting employees during the review process; the diversion of management’s time to the review; and exposure to potential litigation in connection with the review process or any specific transaction or other strategic alternative resulting therefrom, all of which could disrupt and negatively affect our business. Speculation regarding any developments related to the review of strategic alternatives and perceived uncertainties related to the future of the Company could cause our stock price to fluctuate significantly. We can provide no assurance that any transaction or other strategic alternative we pursue will have a positive impact on our results of operations or financial condition.
In addition, in October 2019 we announced that our operating review has resulted in a three-year plan for operating efficiency, which is expected to enhance our operating margins and create capacity for reinvestment initiatives. The execution of this plan is subject to various risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve the anticipated results of this plan.
Our success largely depends on key personnel. Because competition for our key employees is intense, we may not be able to attract, retain, and develop the highly skilled employees we need to support our business. The loss of senior management or other key personnel could harm our business.
Our future performance depends substantially on the continued services of our senior management and other key personnel, including key engineering and product development personnel, and our ability to attract, retain, and motivate key personnel. Competition for key personnel is intense, especially in the Silicon Valley where our corporate headquarters are located, and we may be unable to successfully attract, integrate, or retain sufficiently qualified key personnel. In making employment decisions, particularly in the Internet and high-technology industries, job candidates often consider the value of the equity awards they would receive in connection with their employment and fluctuations in our stock price may make it more difficult to attract, retain, and motivate employees. In addition, we do not have long-term employment agreements with any of our key personnel and do not maintain any “key person” life insurance policies. The loss of the services of any of our senior management or other key personnel, or our inability to attract highly qualified senior management and other key personnel, could harm our business.
Problems with or price increases by third parties who provide services to us or to our sellers could harm our business.
A number of third parties provide services to us or to our sellers. Such services include seller tools that automate and manage listings, merchant tools that manage listings and interface with inventory management software, storefronts that help our sellers list items and shipping providers that deliver goods sold on our platform, among others. Financial or regulatory issues, labor issues (e.g., strikes, lockouts, or work stoppages), or other problems that prevent these companies from providing services to us or our sellers could harm our business.
Price increases by, or service terminations, disruptions or interruptions at, companies that provide services to us and our sellers and clients could also reduce the number of listings on our platforms or make it more difficult for our sellers to complete transactions, thereby harming our business. Some third parties who provide services to us or our sellers may have or gain market power and be able to increase their prices to us without competitive constraint. In addition, the U.S. Postal Service, which is facing ongoing fiscal challenges, has instituted postal rate increases and announced that it is considering closing thousands of local post offices and ending Saturday mail delivery. While we continue to work with global carriers to offer our sellers a variety of shipping options and to enhance their shipping experience, postal rate increases may reduce the competitiveness of certain sellers’ offerings, and postal service changes could require certain sellers to utilize alternatives which could be more expensive or inconvenient, which could in turn decrease the number of transactions on our sites, thereby harming our business.
We have outsourced certain functions to third-party providers, including some customer support and product development functions, which are critical to our operations. If our service providers do not perform satisfactorily, our operations could be disrupted, which could result in user dissatisfaction and could harm our business.
There can be no assurance that third parties who provide services directly to us or our sellers will continue to do so on acceptable terms, or at all. If any third parties were to stop providing services to us or our sellers on acceptable terms, including as a result of bankruptcy, we may be unable to procure alternatives from other third parties in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all.
Our developer platforms, which are open to merchants and third-party developers, subject us to additional risks.
We provide third-party developers with access to application programming interfaces, software development kits and other tools designed to allow them to produce applications for use, with a particular focus on mobile applications. There can be no assurance that merchants or third-party developers will develop and maintain applications and services on our open platforms on a timely basis or at all, and a number of factors could cause such third-party developers to curtail or stop development for our platforms. In addition, our business is subject to many regulatory restrictions. It is possible that merchants and third-party developers who utilize our development platforms or tools could violate these regulatory restrictions and we may be held responsible for such violations, which could harm our business.
We cannot provide assurance that we will continue to pay dividends on our common stock.
In January 2019, we initiated a quarterly cash dividend on our common stock. The Distributiontiming, declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends fall within the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on many factors, including our available cash, working capital, financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, covenants in our debt instruments, applicable law and other considerations that our Board of Directors considers relevant. A reduction in the amount of cash dividends on our common stock, the suspension of those dividends or a failure to meet market expectations regarding potential dividend increases could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. If we do not pay cash dividends on our common stock in the future, realization of a gain on an investment in our common stock will depend entirely on the appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may not achieve some or all of the anticipated benefits and may adversely affect our business.occur.
We may not realize some or all of the anticipated benefits from the Distribution and the Distribution may in fact adversely affect our business. As an independent, publicly traded company, we will be a smaller, less diversified company with a narrower business focus and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Separating the businesses may also eliminate or reduce synergies or economies of scale that existed prior to the Distribution, which could harm our business.
We could incur significant liability if the Distribution is determined to be a taxable transaction.
We have received an opinion from outside tax counsel to the effect that our distribution of 100% of the Distributionoutstanding common stock of PayPal to our stockholders on July 17, 2015 (the “Distribution”) qualifies as a transaction that is described in Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code. The opinion relies on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from PayPal and us regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters. If any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are incorrect or not satisfied, our shareholdersstockholders and we may not be able to rely on the opinion of tax counsel and could be subject to significant tax liabilities. Notwithstanding the opinion of tax counsel we have received, the IRS could determine on audit that the Distribution is taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated or if it disagrees with the conclusions in the opinion. If the Distribution is determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our shareholdersstockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax and we could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities.
We may be exposed to claims and liabilities as a result of the Distribution.
We entered into a separation and distribution agreement and various other agreements with PayPal to govern the Distribution and the relationship of the two companies going forward.companies. These agreements provide for specific indemnity and liability obligations and could lead to disputes between us and PayPal. The indemnity rights we have against PayPal under the agreements may not be sufficient to protect us. In addition, our indemnity obligations to PayPal may be significant and these risks could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.
| |
Item 2: | Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds |
Item 2:Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Stock repurchase activity during the three months ended September 30, 20172020 was as follows:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Period Ended | | Total Number of Shares Purchased | | Average Price Paid per Share (3) | | | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Programs | | Maximum Dollar Value that May Yet be Purchased Under the Programs (2) |
| July 30, 2020 | | | | | | | | | |
| Accelerated share repurchase | | 5,012,309 | | (1) | $ | — | | (1) | | 5,012,309 | | | $ | 3,152,500,605 | |
| Open Market purchases | | 760,000 | | | $ | 54.68 | | | | 760,000 | | | $ | 3,110,943,045 | |
| August 31, 2020 | | | | | | | | | |
| Open Market purchases | | 8,119,269 | | | $ | 56.46 | | | | 8,119,269 | | | $ | 2,652,509,177 | |
| September 30, 2020 | | | | | | | | | |
| Open Market purchases | | 3,848,055 | | | $ | 51.97 | | | | 3,848,055 | | | $ | 2,452,509,222 | |
| | 17,739,633 | | | | | | 17,739,633 | | | |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Period Ended | | Total Number of
Shares
Purchased | | Average Price Paid
per Share (2) | | Total Number of
Shares Purchased
as Part of Publicly
Announced
Programs | | Maximum Dollar
Value that May Yet
be Purchased Under
the Programs (1) |
| July 31, 2017 | | 4,325,864 |
| | $ | 35.67 |
| | 4,325,864 |
| |
|
| August 31, 2017 | | 12,945,100 |
| | $ | 35.29 |
| | 12,945,100 |
| |
|
| September 30, 2017 | | 7,816,358 |
| | $ | 37.80 |
| | 7,816,358 |
| | $ | 2,572,407,007 |
|
| | | 25,087,322 |
| | | | 25,087,322 |
| | |
| |
(1) | In July 2016, our Board authorized a $2.5 billion stock repurchase program and in July 2017, our Board authorized an additional $3.0 billion stock repurchase program. These stock repurchase programs have no expiration from the date of authorization. |
(1)In February 2020, we entered into accelerated share repurchase agreements (the “ASR Agreements”) with each of three financial institutions (each, an “ASR Counterparty”), as part of our share repurchase program. Under the ASR agreements we paid an aggregate amount of $3.0 billion to the ASR Counterparties and received an initial delivery of approximately 69 million shares of our common stock in the first quarter of 2020. The ASR Agreements settled in the third quarter of 2020 and approximately 5 million additional shares were delivered to us, comprising of the final delivery of shares under the ASR agreements. In total, approximately 74 million shares were delivered under the ASR Agreements at an average price per share of $40.77.
(2)In January 2019 our Board authorized a $4.0 billion stock repurchase program and in January 2020 our Board authorized an additional $5.0 billion stock repurchase program. These stock repurchase programs have no expiration from the date of authorization.
Our stock repurchase program isprograms are intended to programmatically offset the impact of dilution from our equity compensation programs and, subject to market conditions and other factors, to make opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock to reduce our outstanding share count. Any share repurchases under our stock repurchase programprograms may be made through open market transactions, block trades, privately negotiated transactions (including accelerated share repurchase transactions) or other means at times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate and will be funded from our working capital or other financing alternatives.
During the three months ended September 30, 2017,2020, we repurchased approximately $907$700 million of our common stock under our stock repurchase program. As of September 30, 2017,2020, a total of approximately $2.6$2.5 billion remained available for future repurchases of our common stock under our stock repurchase program.
We expect, subject to market conditions and other uncertainties, to continue making opportunistic and programmatic repurchases of our common stock. However, our stock repurchase programprograms may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including corporate and regulatory requirements, price and other market conditions and management’s determination as to the appropriate use of our cash.
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(2) | Excludes broker commissions. |
(3)Excludes broker commissions.
| |
Item 3: | Defaults Upon Senior Securities |
Item 3:Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Not applicable.
| |
Item 4: | Mine Safety Disclosures |
Item 4:Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
Item 5:Other Information
Not applicable.
Item 6:Exhibits
The information required by this Item is set forth in the Index ofto Exhibits of this Quarterly Report.
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
|
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Exhibit Number | | Filed or furnished with this 10-Q | Description |
| 2.01 | | | |
| 10.01+ | | X | |
| 31.01 | | X | |
| | X | |
| | X | |
| | X | |
| 101.INS | | X | Inline XBRL Instance Document (the Instance Document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document) |
| 101.SCH | | X | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document |
| 101.CAL | | X | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document |
| 101.DEF | | X | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document |
| 101.LAB | | X | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document |
| 101.PRE | | X | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document |
| 104 | | X | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |
+ Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.
(1) Filed as an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 6, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference.July 22, 2020.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | eBay Inc. |
| | Principal Executive Officer: |
| | | |
| | eBay Inc.By: | /s/ Jamie Iannone |
| | Principal Executive Officer: | Jamie Iannone |
| | | Chief Executive Officer |
| Date: | October 29, 2020 | |
| | Principal Financial Officer: |
| | | |
| | By: | /s/ Devin N. WenigAndy Cring |
| | | Devin N. WenigAndy Cring |
| | | President and Chief Executive Officer |
Date: | October 20, 2017 | |
| | Principal Financial Officer: |
| | | |
| | By: | /s/ Scott F. Schenkel |
| | | Scott F. Schenkel |
| | | Senior Vice President,Interim Chief Financial Officer |
| Date: | October 20, 201729, 2020 | |
| | Principal Accounting Officer: |
| | | |
| | By: | /s/ Brian J. Doerger |
| | | Brian J. Doerger |
| | | Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer |
| Date: | October 20, 201729, 2020 | | |
