“
Company
Material Adverse Effect
” means any change, event, effect or occurrence that, individually or in the aggregate with any other change, event, effect or occurrence, has had or would reasonably be expected to (a) have a material adverse effect on the business, operations, results of operations or financial condition of the Group Companies, taken as a whole, or (b) prevent, materially delay or materially impede the ability of the Company to consummate the Merger;
provided
,
however
, that, in the case of
clause (a)
, none of the following shall be taken into account in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur: any adverse change, event, effect or occurrence arising after the date of this Agreement resulting from or related to (i) general business or economic conditions in or affecting the United States, or the global economy generally, (ii) any national or international political or social conditions in the United States or any other country, including the engagement by the United States or any other country in hostilities, whether or not pursuant to the declaration of a national emergency or war, or the occurrence in any place of any military or terrorist attack, sabotage or cyberterrorism, (iii) changes in conditions of the financial, banking, capital or securities markets generally in the United States or any other country or region in the world, including changes in interest rates in the United States or any other country and changes in exchange rates for the currencies of any countries, (iv) changes in any applicable Laws, (v) any change, event, effect or occurrence that is generally applicable to the industries or markets in which any Group Company operates, (vi) the execution or public announcement of this Agreement or the pendency or consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, including the impact thereof on the relationships, contractual or otherwise, of any Group Company with employees, customers, investors, contractors, lenders, suppliers, vendors, partners, licensors, licensees, payors or other third parties related thereto (
provided
that the exception in this
clause
(vi)
shall not apply to the representations and warranties set forth in
Section
4.5(b)
to the extent that its purpose is to address the consequences resulting from the public announcement or pendency or consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the condition set forth in
Section
7.2(a)
to the extent it relates to such representations and warranties), (vii) the involuntary termination of any current employee or Contingent Worker of any Group Company or group of current employees or Contingent Worker of any Group Company, regardless of whether any such termination is for “cause” as may be used or defined in any applicable employment agreement, or if no such agreement exists, by applicable Law (except in cases where the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Company are both involuntarily terminated), (viii) any failure by any Group Company to meet, or changes to, any internal or published budgets, projections, forecasts, estimates or predictions (although the underlying facts and circumstances resulting in such failure may be taken into account to the extent not otherwise excluded from this definition pursuant to
clauses (i)
through
(vi)
or
(ix)
), or (ix) any hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, tsunami, natural disaster, mudslides, wild fires, epidemics, pandemics (including
COVID-19)
or quarantines, acts of God or other natural disasters, calamities or comparable events in the United States or any other country or region in the world, or any escalation of the foregoing;
provided
,
however
, that any change, event, effect or occurrence resulting from a matter described in any of the foregoing
clauses
(i)
through
(v)
or
(ix)
may be taken into account in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur to the extent such change, event, effect or occurrence has a disproportionate adverse effect on the Group Companies, taken as a whole, relative to other participants operating in the industries or markets in which the Group Companies operate.