Symantec 2011 Annual Report Download - page 86

past, and if our partners suffer financial difficulties in the future because of general economic conditions or for other
reasons, these partners may delay paying their obligations to us and we may have reduced sales or increased bad
debt expense that could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, reliance on multiple channels subjects us
to events that could cause unpredictability in demand, which could increase the risk that we may be unable to plan
effectively for the future, and could result in adverse operating results in future periods.
We have grown, and may continue to grow, through acquisitions, which gives rise to risks and challenges
that could adversely affect our future financial results.
We have in the past acquired, and we expect to acquire in the future, other businesses, business units, and
technologies. Acquisitions can involve a number of special risks and challenges, including:
• Complexity, time, and costs associated with the integration of acquired business operations, workforce,
products, and technologies
• Diversion of management time and attention
• Loss or termination of employees, including costs associated with the termination or replacement of those
employees
• Assumption of liabilities of the acquired business, including litigation related to the acquired business
• The addition of acquisition-related debt as well as increased expenses and working capital requirements
• Dilution of stock ownership of existing stockholders
• Substantial accounting charges for restructuring and related expenses, write-off of in-process research and
development, impairment of goodwill, amortization of intangible assets, and stock-based compensation
expense
If integration of our acquired businesses is not successful, we may not realize the potential benefits of an
acquisition or suffer other adverse effects. To integrate acquired businesses, we must implement our technology
systems in the acquired operations and integrate and manage the personnel of the acquired operations. We also must
effectively integrate the different cultures of acquired business organizations into our own in a way that aligns
various interests, and may need to enter new markets in which we have no or limited experience and where
competitors in such markets have stronger market positions.
Any of the foregoing, and other factors, could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability
from acquired businesses or to realize other anticipated benefits of acquisitions.
Risks related to the provision of our SaaS offerings could impair our ability to deliver our services and
could expose us to liability.
We currently serve our SaaS-based customers from hosting facilities located across the globe. Any damage to,
or failure of, any element of these hosting facilities could result in interruptions in our service, which could harm our
customers and expose us to liability. Interruptions or failures in our service delivery could cause customers to
terminate their subscriptions with us, could adversely affect our renewal rates, and could harm our ability to attract
new customers. Our business would also be harmed if our customers believe that our SaaS offerings are unreliable.
As we continue to offer more of our software products in a SaaS-based delivery model, all of these risks could be
exacerbated.
Our SaaS offerings also involve the storage and transmission of customers’ proprietary information, and
security breaches could expose us to a risk of loss of this information, which could lead to litigation and possible
liability. Despite our precautions to protect against such breaches, our security measures could be breached at any
time and could result in unauthorized third parties obtaining access to our, or our customers’ data. A security breach
could also result in a loss of confidence in the security of our SaaS offerings, which could negatively impact our
business.
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