Blackberry 2013 Annual Report Download - page 79

Company participates. Because all components of the Company’s budgeting and forecasting are dependent upon estimates of
economic activity in the markets that the Company serves and demand for its products and services, economic uncertainties make it
difficult to estimate future income and expenditures.
Economic or geopolitical uncertainties may cause end users to reduce their IT budgets or reduce or cancel orders for the Company’s
products and services. For example, many end users of the BlackBerry wireless solution may not upgrade their devices or may
postpone the replacement of their devices or the purchase of their first device, or may purchase less costly products and services
offered by the Company’s competitors due to more limited financial resources or out of concern for economic uncertainty. Network
carriers may further reduce device subsidies that they offer to end users or attempt to extend the periods of contracts that obligate end
users to use a certain device. Any such developments could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, results of
operations and financial condition.
In addition, acts of terrorism and the outbreak of hostilities and armed conflicts within or between countries have created and may
continue to create uncertainties that may affect the global economy and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s
business, results of operations and financial condition.
Acquisitions, divestitures, investments and other business initiatives may negatively affect the Company’s results of
operations.
The Company has acquired, and continues to seek out opportunities to acquire or invest in, businesses, assets, products, services and
technologies that expand, complement or are otherwise related to the Company’s business or provide opportunities for growth. These
activities create risks such as the need to integrate and manage the businesses, personnel, and products acquired with the business,
personnel and products of the Company, the challenges in achieving strategic objectives, cost savings and other benefits from
acquisitions, the potential loss of key employees of the acquired business at the time of the acquisition or upon the termination of their
non-compete covenants or obligations, additional demands on the Company’s management, resources, systems, procedures and
controls, disruption of the Company’s ongoing business, and diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns. Such
acquisitions, investments or other business collaborations may involve significant commitments of financial and other resources of
the Company. An acquisition may have an adverse effect on the Company’s cash position if all or a portion of the purchase price is
paid in cash, and common shares issuable in an acquisition would dilute the percentage ownership of the Company’s existing
shareholders. Any such activity may not be successful in generating revenue, income or other returns to the Company, and the
financial or other resources committed to such activities will not be available to the Company for other purposes. In addition, the
acquisitions may involve unanticipated costs and liabilities, including possible litigation and new or increased regulatory exposure,
that are not covered by the indemnity or escrow provisions, if any, of the acquisition agreement.
As business circumstances dictate, the Company may also decide to divest itself of assets or businesses. For example, in fiscal 2013,
the Company divested NewBay Software Limited, an entity that the Company had acquired in November 2011. The Company has
only limited
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