Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-252035
The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement is not complete and may be changed. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is effective. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and we are not soliciting offers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
Subject to completion, dated January 12, 2021
Preliminary Prospectus Supplement
(To Prospectus Dated January 12, 2021)
$1,500,000,000
Class A common stock
We are offering $1.5 billion of shares of our Class A common stock.
We have two classes of authorized common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are identical, except with respect to voting and conversion. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to 10 votes per share and is convertible into one share of Class A common stock. Outstanding shares of Class B common stock will represent approximately 81.2% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock immediately following this offering.
Our Class A common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ZM. On January 11, 2021, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market was $337.71 per share. Based on an assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, we expect to offer 4,441,680 shares hereby.
We are an emerging growth company as defined under the federal securities laws. Investing in our Class A common stock involves risks. See Risk Factors beginning on page S-13.
Per Share | Total | |||||||
Price to Public |
$ | $ | ||||||
Underwriting Discounts and Commissions(1) |
$ | $ | ||||||
Proceeds to Zoom, Before Expenses |
$ | $ |
(1) | See Underwriting for a description of the compensation payable to the underwriter. |
We have granted the underwriter an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to a number of additional shares of our Class A common stock equal to 15% of the number of shares offered hereby at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities, or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The underwriter expects to deliver the shares to purchasers on , 2021.
J.P. Morgan
, 2021
Prospectus supplement
Prospectus
Neither we nor the underwriter have authorized anyone to provide you with any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectuses we have prepared. Neither we nor the underwriter take any responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our Class A common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects may have changed since that date.
For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor the underwriter have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of our Class A common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.
About this prospectus supplement
This document consists of two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the terms of this offering of our Class A common stock and also adds to and updates information contained in the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement. The second part is the accompanying prospectus dated January 12, 2021, which includes the documents incorporated by reference therein and provides more general information. To the extent the information
i
contained in this prospectus supplement differs or varies from the information contained in the accompanying prospectus or the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement. Generally, when we refer to the prospectus, we are referring to this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus combined. You should read both this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, together with the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein and any additional information described under the heading Where You Can Find Additional Information.
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This summary highlights certain information about us, this offering and selected information contained elsewhere in or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This summary provides an overview of selected information and does not contain all of the information you should consider before deciding whether to invest in our securities. Therefore, you should read the entire prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus carefully (including the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein), especially the Risk Factors section beginning on page S-13 of this prospectus supplement and page 6 of the accompanying prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference and our consolidated financial statements (which we refer to as our Financial Statements) and the related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, before deciding to invest in our securities. Unless the content otherwise requires, the terms Zoom, company, our, us, and we in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus refer to Zoom Video Communications, Inc. and where appropriate our consolidated subsidiaries.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
Our mission is to make video communications frictionless and secure.
We provide a video-first unified communications platform that delivers happiness and fundamentally changes how people interact. We connect people through frictionless and secure video, voice, chat, and content sharing and enable face-to-face video experiences for thousands of people in a single meeting across disparate devices and locations. Our cloud-native platform delivers reliable, high-quality video that is easy to use, manage, and deploy, provides an attractive return on investment, is scalable, and easily integrates with applications and physical spaces. We believe that rich and reliable communications lead to interactions that build greater empathy and trust. We strive to live up to the trust our customers place in us by delivering a communications solution that just works while prioritizing their privacy and security. Our goal is to make Zoom Meetings better than in-person meetings. Our 21 co-located data centers located worldwide and the public cloud enable us to provide both high-quality and high-definition, real-time video to our customers even in low-bandwidth environments.
The cornerstone of our platform is Zoom Meetings, around which we provide a full suite of products and features designed to give users an easy, reliable, and innovative video-first communications experience. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced unprecedented usage from free users and new and existing customers. In April 2020, our platform surpassed more than 300 million daily meeting participants, up from approximately 10 million as of December 31, 2019, and as of October 31, 2020, our annualized meeting minutes run rate was more than 3.5 trillion. Annualized meeting minute run-rate is calculated by multiplying the quarter ending months exit meeting minutes by 12. In 2019, we launched Zoom Phone, a cloud-based PBX system that has already sold one million seats, creating a unique video-first unified communications platform. Many customers also choose to implement Zoom Rooms, our software-based conference room system, which enables users to easily experience Zoom Meetings in their physical meeting spaces. Based on International Data Corporations Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration Forecast, 2018-2024, we estimate that the total market opportunity for our platform could exceed $47 billion by 2024, and that the market opportunity for Zoom Phone specifically could exceed $23 billion by 2024. Our partner ecosystem, App Marketplace, and developer platform help enterprises create elevated experiences with third-party applications to create customized workflows.
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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
In December 2019, an outbreak of the COVID-19 disease was first identified and began to spread across the globe. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, impacting many countries around the world. Governments have instituted lockdown or other similar measures to slow infection rates. Many organizations have resorted to mandating employees to work from home, which has resulted in these organizations seeking out video communication solutions like ours to keep employees as productive as possible, even while working from home. Schools, colleges, and universities globally have also closed as a result of this pandemic. Many of these institutions are utilizing our platform to provide remote instruction to their students. To help teachers and students navigate this unprecedented situation, we have temporarily removed the 40-minute time limit for meetings with more than two endpoints from our free Basic accounts for more than 125,000 K-12 school domains worldwide.
While we have experienced a significant increase in paid hosts and revenue due to the pandemic, the aforementioned factors have also driven increased usage of our services and have required us to expand our network and data storage and processing capacity, both in our own co-located data centers as well as through third-party cloud hosting, which has resulted, and is continuing to result, in an increase in our operating costs. Furthermore, a significant portion of the increase in usage of our platform is attributable to free Basic accounts and our removal of the time limit for school domains, which do not generate any revenue but still require us to incur these additional operating costs to expand our capacity. Therefore, the recent increase in usage of our platform has adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our gross margin.
In addition, there is no assurance that we will experience an increase in paid hosts or that new or existing users will continue to utilize our service after the COVID-19 pandemic has tapered. Moreover, the tapering of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as vaccinations become widely available, may result in a decline in paid hosts and users once individuals are no longer working or attending school from home.
Selected risks affecting our business
Investing in our Class A common stock involves risk. You should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference prior to investing in our Class A common stock. These risks are discussed more fully in the section titled Risk Factors beginning on page S-13 immediately following this prospectus summary. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:
| Our business depends on our ability to attract new customers and hosts, retain and upsell additional products to existing customers, and upgrade free hosts to our paid offerings. Any decline in new customers and hosts, renewals, or upgrades would harm our business; |
| Beginning in the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2020, we faced unprecedented usage of our video-first communications platform largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect our user growth rate to slow or decline once the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic tapers, particularly as a vaccine becomes widely available, and users return to work or school or are otherwise no longer subject to shelter-in-place mandates; |
| We have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our prospects and future results of operations; |
| Interruptions, delays, or outages in service from our co-located data centers and a variety of other factors, including increased usage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, would impair the delivery of our services, require us to issue credits or pay penalties, and harm our business; |
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| We operate in competitive markets, and we must continue to compete effectively; |
| We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate in the future, and we expect our revenue growth rate to generally decline in future periods; |
| Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business; |
| Failures in internet infrastructure or interference with broadband access could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems are unreliable, possibly leading our customers and hosts to switch to our competitors, or to cancel their subscriptions to our platform; |
| As we increase sales to large organizations, our sales cycles could lengthen, and we could experience greater deployment challenges; |
| We generate revenue from sales of subscriptions to our platform, and any decline in demand for our platform or for communications and collaboration technologies in general would harm our business; |
| We have experienced net losses in the past, and we expect to increase our expenses in the future, which could prevent us from maintaining profitability; |
| We may not be able to respond to rapid technological changes, extend our platform or develop new features; |
| Our security measures have been compromised in the past and may be compromised in the future. If our security measures are compromised in the future or if our information technology fails, this could harm our reputation, expose us to significant fines and liability, impair our sales, and harm our business. In addition, our products and services may be perceived as not being secure. This perception may result in customers and hosts curtailing or ceasing their use of our products, our incurring significant liabilities, and our business being harmed; |
| The actual or perceived failure by us, our customers, partners, or vendors to comply with stringent and evolving privacy, data protection, and information security laws, regulations, standards, policies, and contractual obligations could harm our reputation and business or subject us to significant fines and liability; |
| We have significant and expanding operations outside the United States, which may subject us to increased business, regulatory and economic risks that could harm our business; |
| We may be subject to, or assist law enforcement with enforcement of, a variety of U.S. and international laws that could result in claims, increase the cost of operations, or otherwise harm our business due to changes in the laws, changes in the interpretations of the laws, greater enforcement of the laws, or investigations into compliance with the laws; |
| Zoom Phone is subject to U.S. federal and international regulation, and other products we may introduce in the future may also be subject to U.S. federal, state, or international laws, rules, and regulations. Any failure to comply with such laws, rules, and regulations could harm our business and expose us to liability; |
| The dual class structure of our common stock as contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our stock prior to this offering, including our executive officers, employees, and directors and their affiliates, limiting your ability to influence corporate matters; and |
S-3
| We have experienced net losses in the past, and we expect to increase our expenses in the future, which could prevent us from maintaining profitability. |
Corporate information
We were incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware in April 2011 under the name Saasbee, Inc., and in February 2012, we changed our name to Zoom Communications, Inc. In May 2012, we changed our name to Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 55 Almaden Boulevard, 6th Floor, San Jose, California 95113. Our telephone number is (888) 799-9666. Our website address is https://zoom.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus. The Zoom design logo, Zoom, Zoom Video Communications, and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks or trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.
Implications of being an emerging growth company
As a company with less than $1.07 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) enacted in April 2012. An emerging growth company may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements that are otherwise applicable to public companies. These provisions include, but are not limited to:
| not being required to comply for a certain period of time with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended; |
| reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, proxy statements and registration statements; and |
| exemptions from the requirements of holding a stockholder advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved. |
We may take advantage of these provisions until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of our Class A common stock in our initial public offering. However, if certain events occur prior to the end of such five-year period, including if (i) we become a large accelerated filer, with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (ii) our annual gross revenue exceeds $1.07 billion; or (iii) we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period, we will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such five-year period. We currently anticipate that we will lose our emerging growth company status as of the end of the fiscal year ending January 31, 2021.
We have elected to take advantage of certain of the reduced disclosure obligations in the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part and may elect to take advantage of other reduced reporting requirements in future filings. As a result, the information that we provide to our stockholders may be different than you might receive from other public reporting companies in which you hold equity interests.
In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of some accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption, and, therefore, we will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
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Class A common stock offered |
$1.5 billion of shares of Class A common stock |
Option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock from us |
$225 million of shares of Class A common stock |
Class A common stock to be |
202,621,489 shares (or 203,287,741 shares if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full).(1)(2) |
Class B common stock |
87,765,770 shares |
Total Class A and Class B |
290,387,259 shares (or 291,053,511 shares if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full)(1)(2) |
Use of proceeds |
We estimate that our net proceeds from the sale of our Class A common stock that we are offering will be approximately $1.5 billion (or approximately $1.7 billion if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full) after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering. |
We currently intend to use the net proceeds we receive from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds for acquisitions or strategic investments in complementary businesses, products, services or technologies, although we do not currently have any plans or commitments for any such acquisitions or investments. See the section titled Use of Proceeds for additional information. |
Concentration of Ownership |
Our officers, directors and their affiliated funds and each of our stockholders who own greater than 5% of our outstanding Class A common stock or Class B common stock and their affiliates, in the aggregate, will beneficially own an aggregate of approximately 27.5% of our outstanding capital stock immediately following this offering, representing approximately 73.4% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock immediately following this offering, assuming no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional shares. As a result, if some of these persons or entities act together, they will have significant influence over the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. |
Nasdaq Global Select Market Symbol |
ZM |
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(1) | The number of shares of our Class A common stock offered by us in this offering and outstanding after the offering is based on an aggregate offering of $1.5 billion at an assumed price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021. |
(2) | Based on an option to be granted to the underwriter to purchase up to 15% of the Class A common stock offered by us in this offering. |
The number of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock that will be outstanding after this offering is based on 198,179,809 shares of our Class A common stock and 87,765,770 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020 and excludes:
| 313,772 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $65.66 per share; |
| 10,164,397 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $5.45 per share; |
| 4,458,602 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units (RSUs) outstanding as of October 31, 2020; |
| 44,801,908 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the 2019 Plan) as of October 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the 2019 Plan; |
| 10,691,086 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the ESPP), as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP; and |
| the conversion of 10,335,132 shares of our Class B common stock to Class A common stock after October 31, 2020. |
Except as otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus assumes:
| no exercise of outstanding stock options and no settlement of outstanding RSUs after October 31, 2020; and |
| no exercise by the underwriter of its option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock. |
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Summary consolidated financial data
The following tables summarize our historical consolidated financial data. We have derived the historical consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended January 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 from our audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2020 (2020 Annual Report), which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. We have derived the consolidated statement of operations data for the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2020, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of October 31, 2020, from our unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2020 (Q3 Quarterly Report), which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Our unaudited consolidated interim financial statements were prepared on the same basis as our audited consolidated financial statements and include, in our opinion, all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information set forth in those financial statements. The following summary consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the section titled Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our 2020 Annual Report and in our Q3 Quarterly Report, which are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, and our consolidated financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future.
Year ended January 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except share and per share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue |
$ | 622,658 | $ | 330,517 | $ | 151,478 | $ | 1,768,883 | $ | 434,407 | ||||||||||
Cost of revenue(1) |
115,396 | 61,001 | 30,780 | 554,705 | 82,849 | |||||||||||||||
Gross profit |
507,262 | 269,516 | 120,698 | 1,214,178 | 351,558 | |||||||||||||||
Operating expenses: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Research and development(1) |
67,079 | 33,014 | 15,733 | 111,705 | 46,410 | |||||||||||||||
Sales and marketing(1) |
340,646 | 185,821 | 82,707 | 470,886 | 239,741 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative(1) |
86,841 | 44,514 | 27,091 | 227,856 | 63,264 | |||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses |
494,566 | 263,349 | 125,531 | 810,447 | 349,415 | |||||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
12,696 | 6,167 | (4,833 | ) | 403,731 | 2,143 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income and other, net |
13,666 | 2,182 | 1,315 | 9,650 | 9,674 | |||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) before provision for income taxes |
26,362 | 8,349 | (3,518 | ) | 413,381 | 11,817 | ||||||||||||||
Provision for income taxes |
1,057 | 765 | 304 | 1,675 | 1,851 | |||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 25,305 | $ | 7,584 | $ | (3,822 | ) | $ | 411,706 | $ | 9,966 | |||||||||
Distributed earnings attributable to participating securities(2) |
| | (4,405 | ) | | | ||||||||||||||
|
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Year ended January 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except share and per share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Undistributed earnings attributable to participating securities |
(3,555 | ) | (7,584 | ) | | (531 | ) | (2,493 | ) | |||||||||||
Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders(2) |
$ | 21,750 | $ | | $ | (8,227 | ) | $ | 411,175 | $ | 7,473 | |||||||||
Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
$ | 0.09 | $ | 0.00 | $ | (0.11 | ) | $ | 1.46 | $ | 0.03 | |||||||||
Diluted |
$ | 0.09 | $ | 0.00 | $ | (0.11 | ) | $ | 1.38 | $ | 0.03 | |||||||||
Weighted-average shares used in computing net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
223,641,336 | 84,483,094 | 78,119,865 | 282,564,481 | 219,295,445 | |||||||||||||||
Diluted |
254,298,014 | 116,005,681 | 78,119,865 | 297,605,941 | 241,512,569 | |||||||||||||||
|
(1) | Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows: |
Year ended January 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Cost of revenue |
$ | 7,860 | $ | 1,119 | $ | 204 | $ | 22,263 | $ | 5,101 | ||||||||||
Research and development |
11,645 | 1,369 | 360 | 31,269 | 7,316 | |||||||||||||||
Sales and marketing |
41,465 | 3,540 | 812 | 96,237 | 25,554 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative |
12,139 | 2,913 | 8,953 | 29,788 | 8,561 | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Total stock-based compensation expense |
$ | 73,109 | $ | 8,941 | $ | 10,329 | $ | 179,557 | $ | 46,532 | ||||||||||
|
(2) | In the year ended January 31, 2018, we repurchased 1,365,800 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock from certain existing investors. The amount paid in excess of the carrying value of the Series A convertible preferred stock is considered a deemed dividend and is reflected as distributed earnings attributable to participating securities in the calculation of net loss attributable to common stockholders. See Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements included in our 2020 Annual Report for more information. |
As of October 31, 2020 | ||||||||
Actual | As adjusted(1)(2) | |||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 730,506 | $ | 2,214,006 | ||||
Marketable securities |
1,141,425 | 1,141,425 | ||||||
Working capital |
1,210,328 | 2,693,828 | ||||||
Total assets |
3,050,311 | 4,533,811 | ||||||
Deferred revenue, current and noncurrent |
854,697 | 854,697 | ||||||
Retained earnings |
411,858 | 411,858 | ||||||
Total stockholders equity |
1,499,918 | 2,983,418 | ||||||
|
(1) | The as adjusted column in the consolidated balance sheet data table above reflects the receipt of (i) $1.5 billion in net proceeds from our sale of 4,441,680 shares of our Class A common stock in this offering at an assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale |
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price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering. |
(2) | Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, would increase (decrease) our cash and cash equivalents, working capital, total assets and total stockholders equity by approximately $4.4 million. |
Non-GAAP financial information
To supplement our consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we provide investors with certain non-GAAP financial information. We use these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing our financial results and believe that use of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial results with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures.
Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read only in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP, which are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus.
Non-GAAP gross profit and Non-Gaap gross margin. We define non-GAAP gross profit as gross profit excluding stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes and acquisition-related expenses. We exclude stock-based compensation expense because it is non-cash in nature and excluding this expense provides meaningful supplemental information regarding our operational performance and allows investors the ability to make more meaningful comparisons between our operating results and those of other companies. We exclude the amount of employer payroll taxes related to employee stock plans, which is a cash expense, in order for investors to see the full effect that excluding stock-based compensation expense had on our operating results. In particular, this expense is dependent on the price of our common stock and other factors that are beyond our control and does not correlate to the operation of the business. We view acquisition-related expenses when applicable, such as amortization of acquired intangible assets, transaction costs, and acquisition-related retention payments that are directly related to business combinations, as events that are not necessarily reflective of operational performance during a period. In particular, we believe the consideration of measures that exclude such expenses can assist in the comparison of operational performance in different periods which may or may not include such expenses and assist in the comparison with the results of other companies in the industry.
Non-GAAP operating expenses (research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative). We define non-GAAP operating expenses (research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative) as the respective GAAP expenses less stock-based compensation and related payroll taxes, charitable donation of common stock and acquisition-related expenses, as applicable. We exclude stock-based compensation and related payroll taxes and acquisition-related expenses for the reasons described above. We exclude expenses related to charitable donation of common stock because it is non-cash in nature and excluding this expense provides meaningful supplemental information regarding our operational performance and allows investors the ability to make more meaningful comparisons between our operating results and those of other companies.
Non-GAAP income from operations and Non-GAAP operating margin. We define non-GAAP income from operations as income from operations excluding stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes, expenses related to charitable donation of common stock and acquisition-related expenses. We exclude these expenses for the reasons described above.
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Non-GAAP net income and Non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted. We define non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, as GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders and GAAP net income per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, respectively, adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes, expenses related to charitable donation of common stock, acquisition-related expenses, and undistributed earnings attributable to participating securities. We exclude undistributed earnings attributable to participating securities because they are considered by management to be outside of our core operating results, and excluding them provides investors and management with greater visibility to the underlying performance of our business operations, facilitates comparison of our results with other periods and may also facilitate comparison with the results of other companies in the industry.
In order to calculate non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, we use a non-GAAP weighted-average share count. We define non-GAAP weighted-average shares used to compute non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, as GAAP weighted average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, adjusted to reflect the common stock issued in connection with our initial public offering, including the concurrent private placement, that are outstanding as of the end of the period as if they were outstanding as of the beginning of the period for comparability.
Free cash flow. We define free cash flow as GAAP net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment. We consider free cash flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors regarding net cash provided by operating activities and cash used for investments in property and equipment required to maintain and grow the business.
The following table presents our Non-GAAP gross profit and Non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses (research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative), non-GAAP income from operations and non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, and free cash flow for the three and nine months ended October 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):
Three months ended October 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||||||
GAAP revenue |
$ | 777,196 | $ | 166,593 | $ | 1,768,883 | $ | 434,407 | ||||||||
GAAP gross profit |
$ | 518,469 | $ | 135,748 | $ | 1,214,178 | $ | 351,558 | ||||||||
Add: |
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Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
11,620 | 2,374 | 23,061 | 5,126 | ||||||||||||
Acquisition-related expenses |
168 | | 322 | | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP gross profit |
$ | 530,257 | $ | 138,122 | $ | 1,237,561 | $ | 356,684 | ||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP gross margin |
68.2% | 82.9% | 70.0% | 82.1% | ||||||||||||
GAAP operating expenses: |
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Research and development |
$ | 42,582 | $ | 17,573 | $ | 111,705 | $ | 46,410 | ||||||||
Subtract: |
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Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
16,191 | 3,642 | 31,760 | $ | 7,316 | |||||||||||
Acquisition-related expenses |
1,268 | | $ | 5,274 | | |||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP research and development |
$ | 25,123 | $ | 13,931 | $ | 74,671 | $ | $39,094 | ||||||||
|
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Three months ended October 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||||||
Sales and marketing |
$ | 190,157 | $ | 96,048 | $ | 470,886 | $ | 239,741 | ||||||||
Subtract: |
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Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
49,065 | 13,636 | 103,519 | 27,076 | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP sales and marketing |
$ | 141,092 | $ | 82,412 | $ | 367,367 | $ | 212,665 | ||||||||
|
|
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General and administrative |
$ | 93,488 | $ | 23,806 | $ | 227,856 | $ | 63,264 | ||||||||
Subtract: |
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Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
20,255 | 3,296 | 30,639 | 8,561 | ||||||||||||
Charitable donation of common stock |
| | 23,312 | | ||||||||||||
Acquisition-related expenses |
(38 | ) | | 744 | | |||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP general and administrative |
$ | 73,271 | $ | 20,510 | $ | 173,161 | $ | 54,703 | ||||||||
|
|
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GAAP income (loss) from operations |
$ | 192,242 | $ | (1,679 | ) | $ | 403,731 | $ | 2,143 | |||||||
Add: |
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Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
97,131 | 22,948 | 188,979 | 48,079 | ||||||||||||
Charitable donation of common stock |
| | 23,312 | | ||||||||||||
Acquisition-related expenses |
1,398 | | 6,340 | | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP income from operations |
$ | 290,771 | $ | 21,269 | $ | 622,362 | $ | 50,222 | ||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP operating margin |
37.4% | 12.8% | 35.2% | 11.6% | ||||||||||||
GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders |
$ | 198,440 | $ | 2,207 | $ | 411,175 | $ | 7,473 | ||||||||
Add: |
||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes |
97,131 | 22,948 | 188,979 | 48,079 | ||||||||||||
Charitable donation of common stock |
| | 23,312 | | ||||||||||||
Acquisition-related expenses |
1,398 | | 6,340 | | ||||||||||||
Undistributed earnings attributable to participating securities |
202 | 4 | 531 | 2,493 | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP net income |
$ | 297,171 | $ | 25,159 | $ | 630,337 | $ | 58,045 | ||||||||
|
|
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Net income per sharebasic and diluted: |
||||||||||||||||
GAAP net income per sharebasic |
$ | 0.70 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 1.46 | $ | 0.03 | ||||||||
|
|
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GAAP net income per sharediluted |
$ | 0.66 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 1.38 | $ | 0.03 | ||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP net income per sharebasic |
$ | 1.04 | $ | 0.09 | $ | 2.23 | $ | 0.22 | ||||||||
|
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Three months ended October 31, | Nine months ended October 31, | |||||||||||||||
2020 | 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||||||
Non-GAAP net income per sharediluted |
$ | 0.99 | $ | 0.09 | $ | 2.12 | $ | 0.20 | ||||||||
|
|
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GAAP weighted-average shares used to compute net income per sharebasic |
284,783,006 | 273,316,850 | 282,564,481 | 219,295,445 | ||||||||||||
Add: |
||||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP unweighted adjustment for common stock issued in connection with IPO |
| | | 50,116,650 | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Non-GAAP weighted-average shares used to compute net income per sharebasic |
284,783,006 | 273,316,850 | 282,564,481 | 269,412,095 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
GAAP weighted-average shares used to compute net income per sharediluted |
299,258,765 | 292,771,122 | 297,605,941 | 241,512,569 | ||||||||||||
Add: |
||||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP unweighted adjustment for common stock issued in connection with IPO |
| | | 50,116,650 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP weighted-average shares used to compute net income per sharediluted |
299,258,765 | 292,771,122 | 297,605,941 | 291,629,219 | ||||||||||||
|
|
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Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 411,470 | $ | 61,930 | $ | 1,071,781 | $ | 115,338 | ||||||||
Less: |
||||||||||||||||
Purchases of property and equipment |
(23,264 | ) | (7,195 | ) | (58,517 | ) | (28,132 | ) | ||||||||
|
|
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Free cash flow (non-GAAP) |
$ | 388,206 | $ | 54,735 | $ | 1,013,264 | $ | 87,206 | ||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
$ | (437,816 | ) | $ | (47,615 | ) | $ | (673,377 | ) | $ | (496,099 | ) | ||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
$ | 23,600 | $ | 51,485 | $ | 296,242 | $ | 596,623 | ||||||||
|
S-12
An investment in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, and in any free writing prospectus that we may have authorized for use in connection with this offering before acquiring shares of our Class A common stock. Our business, operating results, financial condition or prospects could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks and uncertainties. In that case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline and you might lose all or part of your investment. In addition, the risks and uncertainties discussed below are not the only ones we face. Our business, operating results, financial condition or prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material, and these risks and uncertainties could result in a complete loss of your investment. In assessing the risks and uncertainties described below, you should also refer to the other information contained in this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto, before making a decision to invest in our Class A common stock.
Risks related to this offering
We will have broad discretion in the use of net proceeds from this offering and may invest or spend the proceeds in ways with which you do not agree and in ways that may not yield a return.
Our management will have broad discretion over the use of net proceeds from this offering, including for any of the purposes described in Use of Proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity as part of your investment decision to assess whether the net proceeds are being used appropriately. Investors may not agree with our decisions, and our use of the proceeds may not yield any return on your investment. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of the net proceeds from this offering, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. Our failure to apply the net proceeds of this offering effectively could impair our ability to pursue our growth strategy or could require us to raise additional capital.
Purchasers in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of their investment.
The public offering price of our Class A common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock before giving effect to this offering. Accordingly, if you purchase our Class A common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution of approximately $327.47 per share, based on our net tangible book value as of October 31, 2020 and the sale of $1.5 billion of shares of Class A common stock in this offering at an assumed price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021. Furthermore, if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock, or outstanding options are exercised or outstanding RSUs vest, you could experience further dilution. For a further description of the dilution that you will experience immediately after this offering, see the section titled Dilution.
Risks related to our business and our industry
Our business depends on our ability to attract new customers and hosts, retain and upsell additional products to existing customers, and upgrade free hosts to our paid offerings. Any decline in new customers and hosts, renewals, or upgrades would harm our business.
Our business depends upon our ability to attract new customers and hosts, and maintain and expand our relationships with our customers and hosts, including upselling additional products to our existing customers
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and upgrading hosts to a paid Zoom Meeting plan. A host is any user of our video-first communications platform who initiates a Zoom Meeting and invites one or more participants to join that meeting. We refer to hosts who subscribe to a paid Zoom Meeting plan as paid hosts.
Our business is subscription based, and customers are not obligated to, and may choose not to, renew their subscriptions after their existing subscriptions expire. As a result, we cannot provide assurance that customers will renew their subscriptions utilizing the same tier of their Zoom Meeting plan, upgrade to a higher-priced tier, or purchase additional products, if they renew at all. Renewals of subscriptions to our platform may decline or fluctuate because of several factors, such as dissatisfaction with our products and support, a customer or host no longer having a need for our products, including any new customers or hosts that have subscribed to our services during the COVID-19 pandemic that may subsequently reduce or discontinue their use after the impact of the pandemic has tapered, or the perception that competitive products provide better, more secure, or less expensive options. In addition, some customers downgrade their Zoom Meeting plan or do not renew their subscriptions. Furthermore, as a result of the increased usage of our platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, our customer base has shifted from largely businesses and enterprises to a mix of businesses, enterprises, and consumers. This shift in mix could result in higher non-renewal rates than we have experienced in the past. We must continually add new customers and hosts to grow our business beyond our current user base and to replace customers and hosts who choose not to continue to use our platform. Finally, any decrease in user satisfaction with our products or support would harm our brand, word-of-mouth referrals, and ability to grow.
We encourage customers to purchase additional products and encourage hosts to upgrade to our paid offerings by recommending additional features and through in-product prompts and notifications. Additionally, we seek to expand within organizations by adding new hosts, having workplaces purchase additional products, or expanding the use of Zoom into other teams and departments within an organization. At the same time, we strive to demonstrate the value of our platform and various product offerings to those hosts that subscribe to our free Zoom Meeting plan, thereby encouraging them to upgrade to a paid Zoom Meeting plan. However, a majority of these hosts, including those that recently subscribed to our free plan during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of shelter-in-place and work-from-home mandates, may never upgrade to a paid Zoom Meeting plan. If we fail to upsell our customers or upgrade hosts of our free Zoom Meeting plan to paid subscriptions or expand the number of paid hosts within organizations, our business would be harmed.
In addition, our user growth rate may slow or decline in the future as our market penetration rates increase and we turn our focus to upgrading our free hosts to a paid Zoom Meeting plan rather than growing the total number of users. If we are not able to continue to expand our user base, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline. Similar to the uncertainty of customers renewing their subscriptions or hosts upgrading to a paid Zoom Meeting plan, we expect our user growth rate to slow or decline once the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic tapers, particularly as a vaccine becomes widely available, and users return to work or school or are otherwise no longer subject to shelter-in-place mandates.
We have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our prospects and future results of operations.
We were incorporated in 2011. As a result of our limited operating history, our ability to forecast our future results of operations is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model future growth and expenses. Our historical revenue growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Further, in future periods, our revenue growth could slow or our revenue could decline for a number of reasons, including any reduction in demand for our platform; increased competition; contraction of our overall market; our inability to accurately forecast demand for our platform and plan for capacity constraints; or our failure, for any reason, to capitalize on growth opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has
S-14
also made it difficult to forecast revenue, costs, and expenses, as our platform has recently faced unprecedented usage from free users and new and existing customers, requiring us to devote significant resources to bolster our capacity and infrastructure. We have encountered and will encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, such as the risks and uncertainties described herein. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our business would be harmed.
Interruptions, delays, or outages in service from our co-located data centers and a variety of other factors, including increased usage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, would impair the delivery of our services, require us to issue credits or pay penalties, and harm our business.
We currently serve our users from various co-located data centers located throughout the world. We also utilize Amazon Web Services and Oracle Cloud for the hosting of certain critical aspects of our business, as well as Microsoft Azure for limited customer-specified managed services. As part of our distributed meeting architecture, we establish private links between data centers that automatically transfer data between various data centers in order to optimize performance on our platform. Damage to, or failure of, these data centers has in the past resulted in and could in the future result in interruptions or delays in our services. In addition, we have experienced, and may in the future experience, other interruptions and delays in our services caused by a variety of other factors, including, but not limited to, infrastructure changes, vendor issues, human or software errors, viruses, security attacks, ransomware or cyber extortion, fraud, general internet availability issues, spikes in usage, and denial of service issues. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these problems within an acceptable period of time. For example, we have experienced partial outages in our services that impacted a subset of our users for a limited number of hours. Additionally, in connection with the addition of new data centers or expansion or consolidation of our existing data center facilities or other reasons, we may move or transfer our data and our users metadata to other data centers, not including our China data center. Despite precautions that we take during this process, any unsuccessful data transfers may impair or cause disruptions in the delivery of our service, and we may incur significant costs in connection with any such move or transfer. Interruptions, delays, or outages in our services would reduce our revenue; may require us to issue credits or pay penalties; may subject us to claims and litigation; and may cause customers and hosts to terminate their subscriptions and adversely affect our ability to attract new customers and hosts. Our ability to attract and retain customers and hosts depends on our ability to provide customers and hosts with a highly reliable platform and even minor interruptions or delays in our services could harm our business.
Additionally, if our data centers are unable to keep up with our increasing needs for capacity, including increased usage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, customers may experience delays or interruptions in service as we seek to obtain additional capacity, which could result in the loss of customers who use our video-first communications platform because of its reliability and performance. We plan to continue our practice of opening new data centers to meet increased demand, but we may be unable to bring additional data centers online in a timely manner, including as a result of current shortages for certain parts, such as servers. In addition, to meet short-term capacity needs, we may need to rely increasingly on public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services and Oracle Cloud, which may result in higher variable costs and harm our business, financial condition, and operating results.
We do not control, or in some cases have limited control over, the operation of the co-located data center facilities we use, and they are vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error; intentional bad acts; earthquakes; floods; fires; hurricanes; war; terrorist attacks; power losses; hardware failures; systems failures; telecommunications failures; disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; and similar events, any of which could disrupt our service. In the event of significant physical damage to one of these data centers, it may take a
S-15
significant period of time to achieve full resumption of our services and our disaster recovery planning may not account for all eventualities. Despite precautions taken at these facilities, the occurrence of a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, or other act of malfeasance, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems at the facilities would harm our business.
We operate in competitive markets, and we must continue to compete effectively.
The market for communication and collaboration technologies platforms is competitive and rapidly changing. Certain features of our current platform compete in the communication and collaboration technologies market with products offered by:
| legacy web-based meeting providers, including Cisco Webex and LogMeIn GoToMeeting; |
| bundled productivity solutions providers with video functionality, including Microsoft Teams and Google G Suite and Meet products; |
| UCaaS and legacy PBX providers, including Avaya, RingCentral, and 8x8; and |
| consumer-facing platforms that can support small- or medium-sized businesses, including Amazon, Apple and Facebook. |
Other large established companies may also make investments in video communications tools. In addition, as we introduce new products and services, and with the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. For example, we recently introduced Zoom Phone, a cloud phone system that allows customers to replace their existing PBX solution, which will result in increased competition against companies that offer similar services and new competitors that may enter that market in the future. Also, in connection with the travel restrictions and stay-in-place policies resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in usage and subscriptions from smaller customers, many of whom are consumers or small and medium sized businesses. With respect to these smaller customers, we face competition from more consumer-oriented platforms, most of which have more experience with the consumer market than we do. Further, many of our actual and potential competitors benefit from competitive advantages over us, such as greater name recognition; longer operating histories; more varied products and services; larger marketing budgets; more established marketing relationships; third-party integration; greater accessibility across devices or applications; access to larger user bases; major distribution agreements with hardware manufacturers and resellers; and greater financial, technical, and other resources. Some of our competitors may make acquisitions or enter into strategic relationships to offer a broader range of products and services than we do. These combinations may make it more difficult for us to compete effectively. We expect these trends to continue as competitors attempt to strengthen or maintain their market positions.
Demand for our platform is also price sensitive. Many factors, including our marketing, user acquisition, and technology costs, and our current and future competitors pricing and marketing strategies, can significantly affect our pricing strategies. Certain competitors offer, or may in the future offer, lower-priced or free products, or services that compete with our platform, or may bundle and offer a broader range of products and services than we do. Similarly, certain competitors may use marketing strategies that enable them to acquire customers at a lower cost than we can. Furthermore, third parties could build products similar to ours that rely on open source software. Even if such products do not include all the features and functionality that our platform provides, we could face pricing pressure from these third parties to the extent that users find such alternative products to be sufficient to meet their video communications needs. There can be no assurance that we will not be forced to engage in price-cutting initiatives or other discounts or to increase our marketing and other expenses to attract and retain customers in response to competitive pressures, either of which would harm our business. We, on occasion, offer new customers a free period of time at the beginning of the subscription term
S-16
that can result in deferred billings or long-term accounts receivable and increase the risk of loss on uncollected accounts receivable.
We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate in the future.
We have experienced significant revenue growth in prior periods. You should not rely on the revenue growth of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance. We expect our revenue growth rate to generally decline in future periods. Many factors may contribute to declines in our growth rate, including higher market penetration, increased competition, slowing demand for our platform, especially once the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic tapers, particularly as a vaccine becomes widely available, and users return to work or school or are otherwise no longer subject to shelter-in-place mandates, a failure by us to continue capitalizing on growth opportunities, and the maturation of our business, among others. If our growth rate declines, investors perceptions of our business and the trading price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.
Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Our quarterly results of operations may vary significantly in the future, and period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations may not be meaningful. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly results of operations may fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, and as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. For example, beginning in the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2020, we faced unprecedented usage of our video-first communications platform largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant portion of which is attributable to free Basic accounts, which do not generate any revenue. To meet this increased demand, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs associated with upgrading our infrastructure and expanding our capacity, including higher variable costs to the extent we have had to rely on public cloud providers rather than our own data centers. Fluctuation in quarterly results may negatively impact the value of our securities. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations include, without limitation, those listed below:
| our ability to retain and upgrade customers to higher-priced tiers of Zoom Meeting plans; |
| our ability to attract new hosts and upgrade hosts that subscribe to our free Zoom Meeting plan to one of our paid Zoom Meeting plans; |
| our ability to hire and retain employees, in particular those responsible for the selling or marketing of our platform; |
| our ability to hire, develop, and retain talented sales personnel who are able to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time and provide sales leadership in areas in which we are expanding our sales and marketing efforts; |
| changes in the way we organize and compensate our sales teams; |
| the timing of expenses and recognition of revenue; |
| our ability to increase sales to large organizations; |
| the length of our sales cycles, especially with respect to sales to large enterprises and highly-regulated industries, including financial services and U.S. federal and state and foreign governmental agencies; |
| the amount and timing of operating expenses related to the maintenance and expansion of our business, operations, and infrastructure, as well as international expansion and entry into operating leases; and the |
S-17
hiring and retention of personnel who can build, manage, and maintain our expanded business operations and infrastructure; |
| timing and effectiveness of new sales and marketing initiatives; |
| changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors; |
| our ability to hire and retain experienced research and development personnel to design new products, features, and functionality that meet our privacy and security standards; |
| the timing and success of new products, features, and functionality by us or our competitors; |
| interruptions or delays in our service; network outages; or actual, alleged, or perceived privacy violations or issues or security vulnerabilities, incidents, or breaches; |
| lawsuits; regulatory actions or investigations; legislator scrutiny; or negative publicity arising from actual, alleged, or perceived privacy violations or issues or security vulnerabilities, incidents, or breaches; |
| changes in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors; |
| changes in laws and regulations that impact our business; |
| any large indemnification payments to our users or other third parties; |
| the timing of expenses related to any future acquisitions; and |
| general economic and market conditions. |
Failures in internet infrastructure or interference with broadband access could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems are unreliable, possibly leading our customers and hosts to switch to our competitors, or to cancel their subscriptions to our platform.
Unlike traditional communications and collaborations technologies, our services depend on our users high-speed broadband access to the internet, usually provided through a cable or digital subscriber line connection. Increasing numbers of users and increasing bandwidth requirements may degrade the performance of our platform due to capacity constraints and other internet infrastructure limitations. As our number of users grow and their usage of communications capacity increases, including increased usage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be required to make additional investments in network capacity to maintain adequate data transmission speeds, the availability of which may be limited, or the cost of which may be on terms unacceptable to us. If adequate capacity is not available to us as our user base grows, our network may be unable to achieve or maintain sufficiently high data transmission capacity, reliability, or performance. In addition, if internet service providers and other third parties providing internet services have outages or deteriorations in their quality of service, our users will not have access to our platform or may experience a decrease in the quality of our platform. Furthermore, as the rate of adoption of new technologies increases, the networks our platform relies on may not be able to sufficiently adapt to the increased demand for these services, including ours. Frequent or persistent interruptions could cause current or potential users to believe that our systems or platform are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid our platform, which could permanently harm our business.
In addition, users who access our platform through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, must have a high-speed connection, such as 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, satellite, or Wi-Fi, to use our services and applications. Currently, this access is provided by companies that have significant and increasing market power in the broadband and internet access marketplace, including incumbent phone companies, cable companies, satellite
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companies, and wireless companies. Some of these providers offer products and subscriptions that directly compete with our own offerings, which can potentially give them a competitive advantage. Also, these providers could take measures that degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of user access to third-party services, including our platform, by restricting or prohibiting the use of their infrastructure to support or facilitate third-party services or by charging increased fees to third parties or the users of third-party services, any of which would make our platform less attractive to users and reduce our revenue.
On January 4, 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an order reclassifying broadband internet access as an information service, subject to certain provisions of Title I of the Communications Act. The order requires broadband providers to publicly disclose accurate information regarding network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms of their broadband internet access services sufficient to enable consumers to make informed choices regarding the purchase and use of such services, and entrepreneurs and other small businesses to develop, market, and maintain internet offerings. The new rules went into effect on June 11, 2018. Numerous parties filed judicial challenges to the order, and on October 1, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released a decision that rejected nearly all of the challenges to the new rules, but reversed the FCCs decision to prohibit all state and local regulation targeted at broadband internet service, requiring case-by-case determinations as to whether state and local regulation conflicts with the FCCs rules. The court also required the FCC to reexamine three issues from the order but allowed the order to remain in effect, while the FCC conducts that review. On February 6, 2020, the court denied requests for rehearing of the original decision, and the deadline for petitions requesting the Supreme Court to review the decision has passed without the filing of any such petitions. On February 19, 2020, the FCC released a public notice asking for comment on the three issues the court required it to reexamine. On October 27, 2020, the FCC adopted an order concluding that the three issues remanded by the court did not provide a basis to alter its conclusions in the 2018 order. This order could be subject to petitions for reconsideration or court appeals. Democratic control of the Executive Branch, Congress, and the FCC following the 2020 elections increases the likelihood of legislative or FCC action to reverse the 2018 decision or adopt new network neutrality rules. In addition, a number of states are adopting or considering legislation or executive actions that would regulate the conduct of broadband providers. As a result, we cannot predict whether the FCC order or state initiatives will be modified, overturned, or vacated by legal action of the court, federal legislation, or the FCC. Under the new rules, broadband internet access providers may be able to charge web-based services such as ours for priority access or favor services offered by our competitors or by the internet access providers themselves, which could result in increased costs and a loss of existing customers and hosts, impair our ability to attract new customers and hosts, and harm our business.
If there are changes to the regulatory structures in the United States or elsewhere that reduce investment in infrastructure by internet service providers, including a return of the network neutrality regulations that were repealed, any impacts of reduced investment that reduce network capacity or speed could have a negative effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
As we increase sales to large organizations, our sales cycles could lengthen, and we could experience greater deployment challenges.
As we continue to grow, we have begun investing more resources into sales to large organizations. Large organizations typically undertake a significant evaluation and negotiation process due to their leverage, size, organizational structure, and approval requirements, all of which can lengthen our sales cycle. We may also face unexpected deployment challenges with large organizations or more complicated deployment of our platform. Large organizations may demand additional features, support services and pricing concessions, or require additional security management or control features. We may spend substantial time, effort, and money on sales efforts to large organizations without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales or that these customers will deploy our platform widely enough across their organization to justify our substantial
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up-front investment. As a result, we anticipate increased sales to large organizations will lead to higher up-front sales costs and greater unpredictability in our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We generate revenue from sales of subscriptions to our platform, and any decline in demand for our platform or for communications and collaboration technologies in general would harm our business.
We generate, and expect to continue to generate, revenue from the sale of subscriptions to our platform. As a result, widespread acceptance and use of communications and collaboration technologies in general, and our platform in particular, is critical to our future growth and success. If the communications and collaboration technologies market fails to grow, or grows more slowly than we currently anticipate, or if any new customers or hosts that have subscribed to our services during the COVID-19 pandemic subsequently reduce or discontinue their use after the impact of the pandemic has tapered, demand for our platform could be negatively affected.
Changes in user preferences for communications and collaboration technologies may have a disproportionately greater impact on us than if we offered multiple platforms or disparate products. Demand for communications and collaboration technologies in general, and our platform in particular, is affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Some of these potential factors include:
| general awareness of the communications and collaboration technologies category; |
| availability of products and services that compete with ours; |
| security and privacy; |
| new modes of communications and collaboration that may be developed in the future; |
| ease of adoption and use; |
| features and platform experience; |
| reliability of our platform, including frequency of outages; |
| performance; |
| brand; |
| user support; and |
| pricing. |
| The communications and collaboration technologies market is subject to rapidly changing user demand and trends in preferences. If we fail to successfully predict and address these changes and trends, meet user demands, or achieve more widespread market acceptance of our platform, our business would be harmed. |
We have experienced net losses in the past, and we expect to increase our expenses in the future, which could prevent us from maintaining profitability.
Although we generated net income of $198.6 million and $411.7 million for the three and nine months ended October 31, 2020, respectively, we have incurred net losses in the past and could incur net losses in the future. We intend to continue to expend significant funds to expand our direct sales force and marketing efforts to attract new customers and hosts and to develop and enhance our products and for general corporate purposes, including operations, hiring additional personnel, including through acquisitions of other businesses, upgrading our infrastructure, and addressing security and privacy issues, including those stemming from the unprecedented numbers of first-time users during the COVID-19 pandemic who may not have full IT support or
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established protocols like our enterprise customers, and expanding into new geographical markets. To the extent we are successful in increasing our user base, we may also incur increased losses because, other than sales commissions, the costs associated with acquiring customers and hosts are generally incurred up front, while the subscription revenue is generally recognized ratably over the subscription term, which can be monthly, annual, or on a multiyear basis. Our efforts to grow our business may be costlier than we expect, and we may not be able to increase our revenue enough to offset our higher operating expenses. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including as a result of the other risks described herein, and unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown events. For example, we have faced unprecedented usage during the COVID-19 pandemic and, to meet this increased demand, have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs associated with upgrading our infrastructure and expanding our capacity, including higher variable costs to the extent we have to rely on public cloud providers rather than our own data centers. Despite these significant investments, a majority of these new hosts using our platform on a free Basic account may never upgrade to a paid Zoom Meeting plan. If we are unable to sustain profitability, the value of our business and Class A common stock may significantly decrease. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict the size and growth rate of our market, customer demand for our platform, user adoption and renewal of our platform, the entry of competitive products and services, or the success of existing competitive products and services. As a result, we may not maintain profitability in future periods. If we fail to grow our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses, our business would be harmed.
The experience of our users depends upon the interoperability of our platform across devices, operating systems, and third-party applications that we do not control, and if we are not able to maintain and expand our relationships with third parties to integrate our platform with their solutions, our business may be harmed.
One of the most important features of our platform is its broad interoperability with a range of diverse devices, operating systems, and third-party applications. Our platform is accessible from the web and from devices running Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, and Linux. We also have integrations with Atlassian, Dropbox, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, and a variety of other productivity, collaboration, data management, and security vendors. We are dependent on the accessibility of our platform across these and other third-party operating systems and applications that we do not control. For example, given the broad adoption of Microsoft Office and other productivity software, it is important that we are able to integrate with this software. Several of our competitors own, develop, operate, or distribute operating systems, app stores, co-located data center services, and other software, and also have material business relationships with companies that own, develop, operate, or distribute operating systems, applications markets, co-located data center services, and other software that our platform requires in order to operate. Moreover, some of these competitors have inherent advantages developing products and services that more tightly integrate with their software and hardware platforms or those of their business partners.
Third-party services and products are constantly evolving, and we may not be able to modify our platform to assure its compatibility with that of other third parties following development changes. In addition, some of our competitors may be able to disrupt the operations or compatibility of our platform with their products or services, or exert strong business influence on our ability to, and terms on which we, operate and distribute our platform. For example, we currently offer products that directly compete with several large technology companies that we rely on to ensure the interoperability of our platform with their products or services. As our respective products evolve, we expect this level of competition to increase. Should any of our competitors modify their products or standards in a manner that degrades the functionality of our platform or gives preferential treatment to competitive products or services, whether to enhance their competitive position or for any other reason, the interoperability of our platform with these products could decrease and our business could be harmed.
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In addition, we provide, develop, and create applications for our platform partners that integrate our platform with our partners various offerings. For example, our Zoom Meetings product integrates with tools offered by companies, such as Atlassian and Dropbox, to help teams get more done together. If we are not able to continue and expand on existing and new relationships to integrate our platform with our partners solutions, or there are quality issues with our products or service interruptions of our products that integrate with our partners solutions, our business will be harmed.
We are subject to requirements imposed by app stores such as those operated by Apple and Google, who may change their technical requirements or policies in a manner that adversely impacts the way in which we or our partners collect, use and share data from users. If we do not comply with these requirements, we could lose access to the app store and users, and our business would be harmed.
We may not be able to respond to rapid technological changes, extend our platform, or develop new features.
The communications and collaboration technologies market is characterized by rapid technological change and frequent new product and service introductions. Our ability to grow our user base and increase revenue from customers will depend heavily on our ability to enhance and improve our platform; introduce new features and products; and interoperate across an increasing range of devices, operating systems, and third-party applications. Our customers may require features and capabilities that our current platform does not have. We invest significantly in research and development, and our goal is to focus our spending on measures that improve quality and ease of adoption, enhance privacy and security, and create organic user demand for our platform. For example, in October 2020 we introduced two new additions to our Zoom platform, OnZoom and Zoom Apps. There is no assurance that these new additions or other future enhancements to our platform or new product experiences, features, or capabilities will be compelling to our users or gain market acceptance, or that they will perform as expected. If our research and development investments do not accurately anticipate user demand or if we fail to develop our platform in a manner that satisfies user preferences and requirements in a timely and cost-effective manner, we may fail to retain our existing users or increase demand for our platform.
The introduction of new products and services by competitors or the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings could make our platform obsolete or adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We may experience difficulties with software development, design, or marketing that could delay or prevent our development, introduction, or implementation of new product experiences, features, or capabilities. We have in the past experienced delays in our internally planned release dates of new features and capabilities and there can be no assurance that new product experiences, features, or capabilities will be released according to schedule. Any delays could result in adverse publicity, loss of revenue or market acceptance, or claims by users brought against us, all of which could harm our business. Moreover, new productivity features to our platform may require substantial investment, and we have no assurance that such investments will be successful. If customers and hosts do not widely adopt our new product experiences, features, and capabilities, or they do not perform as expected, we may not be able to realize a return on our investment. If we are unable to develop, license, or acquire new features and capabilities to our platform on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if such enhancements do not achieve market acceptance, our business would be harmed.
The failure to effectively develop and expand our marketing and sales capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform.
Our ability to increase our customer and host base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products and services will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our marketing and sales operations. We plan to continue expanding our sales force and strategic partners, both domestically and internationally. If we are
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unable to hire a sufficient number of qualified sales personnel in the near term, our future revenue growth and business could be adversely impacted.
Identifying and recruiting qualified sales representatives and training them is time consuming and resource intensive, and they may not be fully trained and productive for a significant amount of time. We also plan to dedicate significant resources to sales and marketing programs, including internet and other online advertising. All of these efforts will require us to invest significant financial and other resources. In addition, the cost to acquire customers and hosts is high due to these marketing and sales efforts. Our business will be harmed if our efforts do not generate a correspondingly significant increase in revenue. We will not achieve anticipated revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop, and retain talented sales personnel, our new sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective.
Our security measures have been compromised in the past and may be compromised in the future. If our security measures are compromised in the future or if our information technology fails, this could harm our reputation, expose us to significant fines and liability, impair our sales, and harm our business. In addition, our products and services may be perceived as not being secure. This perception may result in customers and hosts curtailing or ceasing their use of our products, our incurring significant liabilities, and our business being harmed.
Our operations involve the storage and transmission of customer and user data or information, and security incidents have occurred in the past, and may occur in the future, resulting in unauthorized access to, loss or unauthorized disclosure of, or inadvertent disclosure of, this information, regulatory investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, indemnity obligations, and other possible liabilities, as well as negative publicity, which could damage our reputation, impair our sales, and harm our business. Cyberattacks and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase, and cloud-based platform providers of products and services have been and are expected to continue to be targeted. In addition to traditional computer hackers, we face security risks from malicious code (such as viruses and worms), phishing incidents, credential stuffing attacks, employee theft, misuse of information or systems, sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors, and advanced persistent threat intrusions. Moreover, security incidents can result in interruptions, delays, or outages in our operations and services, including due to ransomware or denial-of-service attacks. Despite significant efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is impossible for us to entirely mitigate these risks. If our security measures are compromised as a result of third-party action, employee, customer, host or user error, malfeasance, stolen or fraudulently obtained log-in credentials, or otherwise, our reputation could be damaged; our data, information or intellectual property, or that of our customers, may be destroyed, stolen, or otherwise compromised; our business may be harmed; and we could incur significant liability. We have not always been able in the past and may be unable in the future to anticipate or prevent threats or techniques used to detect or exploit vulnerabilities in our services or software or third-party software, or obtain unauthorized access to or compromise our systems, because such threats and techniques change frequently and are generally not detected until after an incident has occurred. In addition, security researchers and other individuals have in the past and will continue in the future to actively search for and exploit actual and potential vulnerabilities in our software or services. This activity may increase because of increased demand for our services and increased media scrutiny of our video-first communications platform, and can lead to additional adverse publicity, reputational harm, extortion threats, business and operational interruptions, security incidents, additional expenses, litigation, regulatory investigations and actions, and substantial harm to our business, some of which we have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in July 2019, a security researcher published a blog highlighting concerns with the Zoom Meeting platform, including certain video-on features. We were able to release updates to the software addressing these vulnerabilities, and we are not aware of any customers being affected or meetings compromised by these
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vulnerabilities. In most cases customers are responsible for installing this update to the software, and their software is subject to these vulnerabilities until they do so. Additionally, in March 2020, a security researcher reported certain vulnerabilities related to our macOS version that could have allowed an unauthorized person to gain root access to a users system. We cannot be certain that we will be able to address any vulnerabilities in our software that we may become aware of in the future, or there may be delays in developing patches that can be effectively deployed to address vulnerabilities. We expect similar issues to arise in the future as our products and services are more widely adopted, and as we continue to expand the features and functionality of existing products and introduce new products. We expect to expend significant resources in an effort to protect against security incidents and to mitigate, detect, and remediate actual and potential vulnerabilities. Security incidents and vulnerabilities, and concerns regarding privacy, data protection, and information security may cause some of our customers and hosts to stop using our solutions and fail to upgrade or renew their subscriptions. This discontinuance in use or failure to upgrade or renew could substantially harm our business. Further, as we rely on third-party and public-cloud infrastructure, we depend in part on third-party security measures to protect against unauthorized access, cyberattacks, and the mishandling of data and information. In addition, failures to meet customers and hosts expectations with respect to security and confidentiality of their data and information could damage our reputation and affect our ability to retain customers and hosts, attract new customers and hosts, and grow our business. In addition, cybersecurity events or security vulnerabilities could result in breaches of our agreements with customers, lawsuits against us (including class action litigation), regulatory investigations or actions, and significant increases in costs, including costs for remediating the effects of such an event or vulnerability, lost revenue due to network downtime, and a decrease in customer, host, and user trust, increases in insurance premiums due to cybersecurity incidents, increased costs to address cybersecurity issues, and attempts to prevent future incidents, fines, penalties, judgments and settlements, and attorney fees, and harm to our business and our reputation because of any such incident.
Many governments have enacted laws requiring companies to provide notice of data security incidents involving certain types of personal data. Such laws are inconsistent, and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach is costly. In addition, some of our customers require us to notify them of data security breaches. Security compromises experienced by our competitors, our customers, or us may lead to public disclosures, which may lead to widespread negative publicity. In addition, while more than half of our employees are based in the United States, like many similarly situated technology companies, we have a sizable number of research and development personnel in China, which has exposed and could continue to expose us to governmental and regulatory as well as market and media scrutiny regarding the actual or perceived integrity of our platform or data security and privacy features. Any security compromise in our industry, whether actual or perceived, could harm our reputation, erode confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures; negatively affect our ability to attract new customers and hosts; cause existing customers to elect not to renew their subscriptions; or subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory investigations, proceedings, and fines, or other action or liability, which could harm our business and reputation. Increased usage of our services, novel uses of our services, and additional awareness of Zoom and our brand could lead to greater public scrutiny of, press related to, or a negative perception of our information security and potential vulnerabilities associated with, our platform. For example, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, we opened our platform to unprecedented numbers of first-time users, leading to challenges for users who did not have full IT support or established protocols for security and privacy like our enterprise customers. As a result, we have experienced negative publicity related to meeting disruptions and security and privacy issues, including on encryption. Such unfavorable publicity and scrutiny could result in material reputational harm, a loss of customer and user confidence, increased regulatory or litigation exposure, additional expenses, and other harm to our business.
There can be no assurance that any limitations of liability provisions in our subscription agreements, terms of use or other agreements would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim. We also cannot be sure that our existing general
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liability insurance coverage and coverage for cyber liability or errors or omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that are not covered or exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could harm our business.
Our business depends on a strong brand, and if we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand our base of users will be impaired and our business will be harmed.
We believe that our brand identity and awareness have contributed to our success and have helped fuel our efficient go-to-market strategy. We connect people through frictionless and secure video, voice, chat, and content sharing. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing the Zoom brand is critical to expanding our base of customers, hosts, and users and, in particular, conveying to users and the public that the Zoom brand consists of a broad communications platform, rather than just one distinct product. For example, if users incorrectly view the Zoom brand primarily as a video conferencing point solution or utility rather than as a platform with multiple communications solutions, or have a negative perception of our privacy and security, then our market position may be detrimentally impacted at such time as a competitor introduces a new or better product. We anticipate that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brand may become increasingly difficult and expensive. Any unfavorable publicity or perception of our platform, including any delays or interruptions in service due to capacity constraints stemming from increased usage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or of our privacy or security features, or of the providers of communication and collaboration technologies generally, could adversely affect our reputation and our ability to attract and retain hosts. Similarly, any unfavorable perception of our company, including due to any actual or perceived violation by our employees of our policies, such as our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, could cause us reputational harm and customer loss, impact our financial performance, expose us to litigation, and harm our business, among other things. If we fail to promote and maintain the Zoom brand, including consumer and public perception of our platform or our company, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business will be harmed.
We may not successfully manage our growth or plan for future growth.
Since our founding in 2011, we have experienced rapid growth. For example, our headcount has grown from 2,409 full-time employees as of October 31, 2019, to 3,871 full-time employees as of October 31, 2020, with employees located both in the United States and internationally. The growth and expansion of our business places a continuous, significant strain on our management, operational, and financial resources. Further growth of our operations to support our user base, our expanding third-party relationships, our information technology systems, and our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations. In addition, as we continue to grow, we face challenges integrating, developing, and motivating a rapidly growing employee base in various countries around the world. For example, a significant number of our employees were hired in recent months and have never been to one of our office locations. Certain members of our management have not previously worked together for an extended period of time, and some do not have prior experience managing a public company, which may affect how they manage our growth. Managing our growth will also require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources.
In addition, our rapid growth may make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. Our ability to forecast our future results of operations is subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to effectively plan for and model future growth. We have encountered in the past, and may encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries. If we fail to achieve
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the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, or if we are not able to accurately forecast future growth, our business would be harmed.
Our business may be significantly affected by a change in the economy, including any resulting effect on consumer or business spending.
Our business may be affected by changes in the economy generally, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and any resulting effect on spending by our customers. While some of our customers may consider our platform to be a cost-saving purchase, decreasing the need for business travel, others may view a subscription to our platform as a discretionary purchase, and our customers may reduce their discretionary spending on our platform during an economic downturn. Given current economic conditions, we could experience a reduction in demand and loss of customers, especially if the effects of the current economic environment have a prolonged impact on various industries that our video-first communications platform addresses. We would lose customers as a result of customers ceasing to do business, and we could experience a material increase in longer payment cycles and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable from certain customers. While we have seen increased usage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant portion of the increase in usage of our platform is attributable to free Basic accounts, which do not generate any revenue. Moreover, there is no assurance that we will experience an increase in paid hosts once the pandemic tapers, particularly in light of the economic downturn. Similarly, given the shift in our customer base from largely businesses and enterprises to a mix of businesses, enterprises, and consumers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect that we will see higher rates of non-renewals than we have experienced historically.
Our ability to sell subscriptions to our platform could be harmed by real or perceived material defects or errors in our platform.
The software technology underlying our platform is inherently complex and may contain material defects or errors, particularly when new products are first introduced or when new features or capabilities are released. We have from time to time found defects or errors in our platform, and new defects or errors in our existing platform or new products may be detected in the future by us or our users. There can be no assurance that our existing platform and new products will not contain defects. Any real or perceived errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs in our platform have in the past resulted and could in the future result in negative publicity or lead to data security, access, retention, or other performance issues, all of which could harm our business. The costs incurred in correcting such defects or errors may be substantial and could harm our business. Moreover, the harm to our reputation and legal liability related to such defects or errors may be substantial and would harm our business.
We also utilize hardware purchased or leased and software and services licensed from third parties to offer our platform. Any defects in, or unavailability of, our or third-party hardware, software, or services that cause interruptions to the availability of our services, loss of data, or performance issues could, among other things:
| cause a reduction in revenue or delay in market acceptance of our platform; |
| require us to issue refunds to our customers or expose us to claims for damages; |
| cause us to lose existing hosts and make it more difficult to attract new customers and hosts; |
| divert our development resources or require us to make extensive changes to our platform, which would increase our expenses; |
| increase our technical support costs; and |
| harm our reputation and brand. |
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If we were to lose the services of our Chief Executive Officer or other members of our senior management team, we may not be able to execute our business strategy.
Our success depends in a large part upon the continued service of key members of our senior management team. In particular, our founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Eric S. Yuan, is critical to our overall management, as well as the continued development of our products, services, the Zoom platform, our culture, our strategic direction, engineering, and our global operations, including regions such as the United States, EMEA and APAC. All of our executive officers are at-will employees, and we do not maintain any key person life insurance policies. Any changes in our senior management team in particular, even in the ordinary course of business, may be disruptive to our business. While we seek to prepare for such transitions, including by establishing strong processes and procedures and succession planning, such changes may result in a loss of institutional knowledge and cause disruptions to our business. If our senior management team fails to work together effectively or execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis as a result of management turnover or otherwise, our business could be harmed.
The failure to attract and retain additional qualified personnel or to maintain our happiness-centric company culture could harm our business and culture and prevent us from executing our business strategy.
To execute our business strategy, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for executives, software developers, sales personnel, and other key employees in our industry is intense. In particular, we compete with many other companies for software developers with high levels of experience in designing, developing, and managing software for communication and collaboration technologies, as well as for skilled sales and operations professionals. At times, we have experienced, and we may continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications, and we may not be able to fill positions in a timely manner or at all. We completed our initial public offering in April 2019 and potential candidates may not perceive our compensation package, including our equity awards, as favorably as employees hired prior to our initial public offering. In addition, our recruiting personnel, methodology, and approach may need to be altered to address a changing candidate pool and profile. We may not be able to identify or implement such changes in a timely manner. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business could be harmed.
Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have, and some of these companies may offer more attractive compensation packages. Particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, job candidates and existing employees carefully consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived value of our equity awards declines, or if the mix of equity and cash compensation that we offer is unattractive, it may adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. Job candidates may also be threatened with legal action under agreements with their existing employers if we attempt to hire them, which could impact hiring and result in a diversion of our time and resources. Additionally, laws and regulations, such as restrictive immigration laws, may limit our ability to recruit internationally. We must also continue to retain and motivate existing employees through our compensation practices, company culture, and career development opportunities. If we fail to attract new personnel or to retain our current personnel, our business would be harmed.
We believe that a critical component to our success and our ability to retain our best people is our culture. As we continue to grow and develop a public company infrastructure, we may find it difficult to maintain our happiness-centric company culture. Transparency is also an important part of our culture, and one that we practice every day. As we continue to grow, maintaining this culture of transparency will present its own challenges that we will need to address, including the type of information and level of detail that we share with our employees.
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In addition, following our initial public offering, many of our employees are now able to receive significant proceeds from sales of our equity in the public markets, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us. Moreover, this liquidity could create disparities in wealth among our employees, which may harm our culture and relations among employees and our business.
We have significant and expanding operations outside the United States, which may subject us to increased business, regulatory and economic risks that could harm our business.
Our platform addresses the communications needs of users worldwide, and we see international expansion as a major opportunity. Our revenue from APAC and EMEA collectively represented 31% and 19% of our total revenue for the three months ended October 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and 30% and 19% of our revenue for the nine months ended October 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We plan to add local sales support in further select international markets over time. Our customers include multinational corporations with global users, and we expect to continue to expand our international operations, which may include opening offices in new jurisdictions and providing our platform in additional languages to support the needs of these multinational corporations. Any new markets or countries into which we attempt to allow users to access our services or sell subscriptions to our platform may not be receptive. For example, if we are not able to satisfy certain government- and industry-specific requirements, we may experience service outages or other adverse consequences which would impair our ability to expand further into certain markets. In addition, our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally in the future may require considerable management attention and resources and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal and regulatory systems, alternative dispute systems, and commercial markets. Future international expansion will require investment of significant funds and other resources. We also face risks related to recruiting and retaining talented and capable employees outside the United States, including complying with complex employment- and compensation-related laws, regulations and practices in these international jurisdictions, and maintaining our company culture across all of our offices. We may also be unable to grant equity compensation to employees in certain countries outside of the United States due to the complexities of local laws and regulations. This may require us to offer equally compelling alternatives to supplement our compensation, such as long-term cash compensation plans or increased short-term cash compensation, in order to continue to attract and retain employees in these jurisdictions.
Operating internationally subjects us to new risks and may increase risks that we currently face, including risks associated with:
| providing our platform and operating our business across a significant distance, in different languages and among different cultures, including the potential need to modify our platform and features to ensure that they are culturally appropriate and relevant in different countries; |
| compliance with applicable international laws and regulations, including laws and regulations with respect to privacy, information security, telecommunications requirements, data protection, consumer protection and unsolicited email, and the risk of penalties to us and individual members of management or employees if our practices are deemed to be out of compliance; |
| operating in foreign jurisdictions where the government may impede or interrupt our ability to provide our services; |
| management of an employee base in jurisdictions that may not give us the same employment and retention flexibility as does the United States; |
| operating in jurisdictions that do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as does the United States and the practical enforcement of such intellectual property rights outside of the United States; |
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| foreign government interference with our non-core intellectual property that resides outside of the United States, such as the risk of changes in foreign laws that could restrict our ability to use our intellectual property outside of the foreign jurisdiction in which we developed it; |
| integration with partners outside of the United States; |
| compliance by us and our business partners with anti-corruption laws, import and export control laws, tariffs, trade barriers, economic sanctions, and other regulatory limitations on our ability to provide our platform in certain international markets; |
| foreign exchange controls that might require significant lead time in setting up operations in certain geographic territories and might prevent us from repatriating cash earned outside the United States; |
| political and economic instability, including as a result of the United Kingdoms (U.K.) withdrawal from the European Union (EU), and other political tensions between countries in which we do business; |
| changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including the imposition of new trade restrictions, trade protection measures, import or export requirements, trade embargoes, and other trade barriers; |
| generally longer payment cycles and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable, a risk that may increase as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers ability to pay for our service on a timely basis; |
| double taxation of our international earnings and potentially adverse tax consequences due to changes in the income and other tax laws of the United States or the international jurisdictions in which we operate, including the imposition of digital services taxes; and |
| higher costs of doing business internationally, including increased accounting, travel, infrastructure, and legal compliance costs. |
Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to our global operations substantially increases our cost of doing business in international jurisdictions. We may be unable to keep current with changes in laws and regulations as they occur. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to support compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we will always maintain compliance or that all of our employees, contractors, partners, and agents will comply. Any violations could result in enforcement actions, fines, civil and criminal penalties, damages, injunctions, or reputational harm. If we are unable to comply with these laws and regulations or manage the complexity of our global operations successfully, we may need to relocate or cease operations in certain foreign jurisdictions. Additionally, while our engineering team is headquartered in the United States, we employ a product development team that has a relatively significant footprint in China today, where personnel costs are less expensive than in many other geographies. This product development team carries out the design and architecture decisions made by our U.S. engineering team. In May 2020, we announced the opening of two new research and development centers in Phoenix, Arizona and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a result of this expansion, we could experience, among other things, higher operating expenses, which would adversely impact our operating margins and harm our business.
At the same time, our operations in China have caused and may in the future cause us to be subject to regulatory scrutiny both in China and in the United States. For example, in September 2019, the Chinese government turned off our service in China without warning and requested that we take certain steps prior to restoring our service, including designating an in-house contact for law enforcement requests and transferring China-based user data housed in the United States to a data center in China. Also, in June and July 2020, we received subpoenas from the Department of Justices U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York
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(EDNY) and the Department of Justices U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of California (NDCA). The EDNY and NDCA subpoenas requested information about (among other things) our interactions with foreign governments and/or foreign political parties, including the Chinese government, as well as about storage of and access to user data, including the use of servers based overseas. In addition, the EDNY subpoena requested information about the actions we took relating to the Tiananmen commemorations on Zoom. The NDCA subpoena also requested documents and information about (among other things) contacts between our employees and representatives of the Chinese government, and any attempted or successful influence by any foreign government in our policies, procedures, practices, and actions as they relate to users in the United States. We are fully cooperating with all of these investigations and have been conducting our own thorough internal investigation. These investigations are ongoing, and we do not know when they will be completed, which facts we will ultimately discover as a result of the investigations, or what actions the government may or may not take. We cannot predict the outcome of these investigations, and a negative outcome in any or all of these matters could cause us to incur substantial fines, penalties, or other financial exposure, as well as material reputational harm, a loss of customer and user confidence and business, additional expenses, and other harm to our business.
We recognize revenue from subscriptions to our platform over the terms of these subscriptions. Consequently, increases or decreases in new sales may not be immediately reflected in our results of operations and may be difficult to discern.
We recognize revenue from subscriptions to our platform over the terms of these subscriptions. As a result, a portion of the revenue we report in each quarter is derived from the recognition of deferred revenue relating to subscriptions entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any single quarter may have an immaterial impact on the revenue that we recognize for that quarter. However, such a decline will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales and potential changes in our pricing policies or rate of customer expansion or retention may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. In addition, a significant portion of our costs is expensed as incurred, while revenue is recognized over the term of the subscription. As a result, growth in the number of new customers and hosts could continue to result in our recognition of higher costs and lower revenue in the earlier periods of our subscriptions. Finally, our subscription-based revenue model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new customers or from existing customers that increase their use of our platform or upgrade to a higher-priced tier of Zoom Meeting plan must be recognized over the applicable subscription term.
Any failure to offer high-quality support for our customers and hosts may harm our relationships with our customers and hosts and, consequently, our business.
We have designed our platform to be easy to adopt and use with minimal to no support necessary. However, if we experience increased user demand for support, we may face increased costs that may harm our results of operations. Surging demand during the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to allocate additional resources to support our expanded user base, including many hosts and customers who are using our platform for the first time. In addition, as we continue to grow our operations and support our global user base, we need to be able to continue to provide efficient support that meets our customers and hosts needs globally at scale. Customers and hosts receive additional support features, and the number of our hosts has grown significantly, which will put additional pressure on our support organization. If we are unable to provide efficient user support globally at scale or if we need to hire additional support personnel, including as a result of increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, our business may be harmed. Our new customer and host signups are highly dependent on our business reputation and on positive recommendations from our existing customers and hosts. Any failure to maintain high-quality support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support for our customers and hosts, would harm our business.
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We utilize our network of resellers to sell our products and services, and our failure to effectively develop, manage, and maintain our indirect sales channels would harm our business.
Our future success depends on our continued ability to establish and maintain a network of channel relationships, and we expect that we will need to maintain and expand our network as we expand into international markets. A small portion of our revenue is derived from our network of sales agents and resellers, which we refer to collectively as resellers, many of which sell or may in the future decide to sell their own products and services or services from other communications solutions providers. Loss of or reduction in sales through these third parties could reduce our revenue. Our competitors may in some cases be effective in causing our reseller or potential reseller to favor their products and services or prevent or reduce sales of our products and services. Recruiting and retaining qualified resellers in our network and training them in our technology and product offerings requires significant time and resources. If we decide to further develop and expand our indirect sales channels, we must continue to scale and improve our processes and procedures to support these channels, including investment in systems and training. Many resellers may not be willing to invest the time and resources required to train their staff to effectively sell our platform. If we fail to maintain relationships with our resellers, fail to develop relationships with new resellers in new markets, or expand the number of resellers in existing markets or fail to manage, train, or provide appropriate incentives to our existing resellers, our ability to increase the number of new customers and hosts and increase sales to existing customers could be adversely impacted, which would harm our business.
Our results of operations, which are reported in U.S. dollars, could be adversely affected if currency exchange rates fluctuate substantially in the future.
We sell to customers globally and have international operations primarily in Australia, China, and the U.K. As we continue to expand our international operations, we will become more exposed to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Although the majority of our cash generated from revenue is denominated in U.S. dollars, a small amount is denominated in foreign currencies, and our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies of the jurisdictions in which we conduct our operations. For the nine months ended October 31, 2020 and 2019, 19.3% and 9.1% of our revenue, respectively, and 12.0% and 15.9% of our expenses, respectively, were denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Because we conduct business in currencies other than U.S. dollars but report our results of operations in U.S. dollars, we also face remeasurement exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could hinder our ability to predict our future results and earnings and could materially impact our results of operations. We do not currently maintain a program to hedge exposures to non-U.S. dollar currencies.
Our sales to government entities are subject to a number of additional challenges and risks.
We expect to increase our sales to U.S. federal and state and foreign governmental agency customers. For example, we announced in May 2019 that we received authorization under the U.S. Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) that allows U.S. federal government agencies and contractors to securely use our Zoom for Government offering. The additional risks and challenges associated with doing business with governmental entities include, but are not limited to, the following:
| selling to governmental entities can be more competitive, expensive, and time-consuming than selling to private entities, often requiring significant up-front time and expense without any assurance that these efforts will generate a sale; |
| government certification requirements, including information security requirements, may change, or we may be unable to achieve or sustain one or more government certifications, including FedRAMP, and in doing so restrict our ability to sell into the government sector until we have attained such certificates; |
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| governmental entities may have significant leverage in negotiations, thereby enabling such entities to demand contract terms that differ from what we generally agree to in our standard agreements, including, for example, most-favored-nation clauses; and |
| government demand and payment for our products may be influenced by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations, with funding reductions or delays having an adverse impact on public sector demand for our products. |
To the extent that we become more reliant on contracts with government entities in the future, our exposure to such risks and challenges could increase, which in turn could adversely impact our business.
Our current products, as well as products, features, and functionality that we may introduce in the future, may not be widely accepted by our customers and hosts or may receive negative attention or may require us to compensate or reimburse third parties, any of which may lower our margins and harm our business.
Our ability to engage, retain, and increase our base of customers and hosts and to increase our revenue will depend on our ability to successfully create new products, features, and functionality, both independently and together with third parties. We may introduce significant changes to our existing products or develop and introduce new and unproven products, including technologies with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. These new products and updates may not perform as expected, may fail to engage, retain, and increase our base of customers and hosts or may create lag in adoption of such new products. New products may initially suffer from performance and quality issues that may negatively impact our ability to market and sell such products to new and existing customers and hosts. The short- and long-term impact of any major change to our products, or the introduction of new products, is particularly difficult to predict. If new or enhanced products fail to engage, retain, and increase our base of customers and hosts, or do not perform as expected, we may fail to generate sufficient revenue, operating margin, or other value to justify our investments in such products, any of which may harm our business in the short term, long term, or both. In addition, our current products, as well as products, features, and functionality that we may introduce in the future, may require us to compensate or reimburse third parties. For example, our cloud phone system, Zoom Phone, is a PBX phone solution that requires us to compensate carriers that operate the PSTN. As a result, a portion of the payments that we will receive from customers that will use our Zoom Phone product will be allocated towards compensating these telephone carriers, which lowers our margins for Zoom Phone as compared to our other products. In addition, new products that we introduce in the future may similarly require us to compensate or reimburse third parties, all of which would lower our profit margins for any such new products. If this trend continues with our new and existing products, including Zoom Phone, it could harm our business.
If we experience excessive fraudulent activity or cannot meet evolving credit card association merchant standards, we could incur substantial costs and lose the right to accept credit cards for payment, which could cause our customer and paid host base to decline significantly.
A large portion of our customers authorize us to bill their credit card accounts directly for our products. If customers pay for their subscriptions with stolen credit cards, we could incur substantial third-party vendor costs for which we may not be reimbursed. Further, our customers provide us with credit card billing information online or over the phone, and we do not review the physical credit cards used in these transactions, which increases our risk of exposure to fraudulent activity. We also incur charges, which we refer to as chargebacks, from the credit card companies for claims that the customer did not authorize the credit card transaction for our products, something that we have experienced in the past. If the number of claims of unauthorized credit card transactions becomes excessive, we could be assessed substantial fines for excess chargebacks, and we could lose the right to accept credit cards for payment. In addition, credit card issuers may
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change merchant standards, including data protection and documentation standards, required to utilize their services from time to time. If we fail to maintain compliance with current merchant standards or fail to meet new standards, the credit card associations could fine us or terminate their agreements with us, and we would be unable to accept credit cards as payment for our products. Our products may also be subject to fraudulent usage and schemes, including third parties accessing customer accounts or viewing and recording data from our communications solutions. These fraudulent activities can result in unauthorized access to customer accounts and data, unauthorized use of our products, and charges and expenses to customers for fraudulent usage. We may be required to pay for these charges and expenses with no reimbursement from the customer, and our reputation may be harmed if our products are subject to fraudulent usage. Although we implement multiple fraud prevention and detection controls, we cannot assure you that these controls will be adequate to protect against fraud. Substantial losses due to fraud or our inability to accept credit card payments would cause our customer base to significantly decrease and would harm our business.
We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities, which could harm our business.
While to date we have not incurred significant income taxes in operating our business, we are subject to income taxes in the United States and various jurisdictions outside of the United States. Our effective tax rate could fluctuate due to changes in the proportion of our earnings and losses in countries with differing statutory tax rates. Our tax expense could also be impacted by changes in non-deductible expenses; changes in excess tax benefits of stock-based compensation expense; changes in the valuation of, or our ability to use, deferred tax assets and liabilities; the applicability of withholding taxes and effects from acquisitions.
The provision for taxes on our condensed consolidated financial statements could also be impacted by changes in accounting principles; changes in U.S. federal, state, or international tax laws applicable to corporate multinationals, such as the recent legislation enacted in the United States, other fundamental changes in law currently being considered by many countries; and changes in taxing jurisdictions administrative interpretations, decisions, policies, and positions. Further, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Inclusive Framework of G20 and other countries have issued proposals related to the taxation of the digital economy. In addition, several countries have proposed or enacted Digital Services Taxes (DST), many of which would apply to revenues derived from digital services. Future developments related to such proposals, in particular any unilateral actions outside of the OECDs Inclusive Framework such as the imposition of DST rules, could have an adverse impact on our effective tax rate and/or harm our business by increasing our future tax obligations.
We are subject to review and audit by U.S. federal, state, local, and foreign tax authorities. Such tax authorities may disagree with tax positions we take, and if any such tax authority were to successfully challenge any such position, our business could be harmed. We may also be subject to additional tax liabilities due to changes in non-income-based taxes resulting from changes in federal, state, or international tax laws; changes in taxing jurisdictions administrative interpretations, decisions, policies, and positions; results of tax examinations, settlements, or judicial decisions; changes in accounting principles, changes to our business operations, including acquisitions; as well as the evaluation of new information that results in a change to a tax position taken in a prior period.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of January 31, 2020, we had $148.0 million of U.S. federal and $88.2 million of state net operating loss carryforwards available to reduce future taxable income, which will begin to expire in 2032 for federal and 2027 for state tax purposes. It is possible that we will not generate taxable income in time to use these net operating loss carryforwards before their expiration or at all. Under legislative changes made in December 2017, as modified by the federal tax law changes enacted in March 2020, U.S. federal net operating losses incurred in tax
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years beginning after December 31, 2017 and in future years may be carried forward indefinitely, but, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of such net operating losses is limited. In addition, the federal and state net operating loss carryforwards and certain tax credits may be subject to significant limitations under Section 382 and Section 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), respectively, and similar provisions of state law. Under those sections of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an ownership change, the corporations ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income or tax may be limited. In general, an ownership change will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by 5-percent shareholders that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have completed a Section 382 review and have determined that none of the operating losses will expire solely due to Section 382 limitation(s). However, we may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of future shifts in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside of our control. If an ownership change occurs and our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits is materially limited, it would harm our business by effectively increasing our future tax obligations.
In addition, for state income tax purposes, there may be periods during which the use of net operating losses is suspended or otherwise limited, including a recent California franchise tax law change limiting the usability of California state net operating losses to offset California taxable income in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020 and before January 1, 2023, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed.
We recorded a valuation allowance against all of our DTAs for the U.S. and U.K. as of both October 31, 2020 and January 31, 2020. We intend to continue maintaining a full valuation allowance on our DTAs until there is sufficient evidence to support the reversal of all or some portion of these allowances. However, given our current earnings and anticipated future earnings, we believe that there is a reasonable possibility that in the foreseeable future, sufficient positive evidence may become available to reach a conclusion that a portion of the valuation allowance will no longer be needed. Release of the valuation allowance would result in the recognition of certain DTAs and a decrease to income tax expense for the period the release is recorded. However, the exact timing and amount of the valuation allowance release are subject to change on the basis of the level of profitability that we are able to actually achieve.
We have acquired and may continue to acquire other businesses or receive offers to be acquired, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, or dilute stockholder value.
We have made and may continue in the future to make acquisitions of other companies, products, and technologies. For example, we announced our acquisition of Keybase Inc in May 2020. We have limited experience in acquisitions. We may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. If we do complete acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve our goals, and any acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by users, developers, or investors. In addition, we may not be able to integrate acquired businesses successfully or effectively manage the combined company following an acquisition. If we fail to successfully integrate our acquisitions, or the people or technologies associated with those acquisitions, into our company, the results of operations of the combined company could be adversely affected. Any integration process will require significant time and resources, require significant attention from management and disrupt the ordinary functioning of our business, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully, which could harm our business. In addition, we may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology and accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction, including accounting charges.
We may have to pay cash, incur debt, or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock. The sale of equity to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur more debt, it would result in increased fixed
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obligations and could also subject us to covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to flexibly operate our business.
Risks related to laws and regulations
The actual or perceived failure by us, our customers, partners or vendors to comply with stringent and evolving privacy, data protection, and information security laws, regulations, standards, policies, and contractual obligations could harm our reputation and business or subject us to significant fines and liability.
We receive, store, process, generate, use, and share personal information and other customer and user content necessary to provide our service and ensure it is delivered effectively, to operate our business, for legal and marketing purposes, and for other business-related purposes. There are numerous federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, information security and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure, and protection of personal information and other content, the scope of which is changing, subject to differing applications and interpretations and may be inconsistent among countries, or conflict with other rules. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and contractual obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection, and information security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, certifications, documentation, publications, regulations, standards, policies and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security to the extent possible. Although we endeavor to comply with applicable laws and our policies, publications, certifications, documentation, and other obligations, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees, vendors or business partners do not comply with our policies, certifications, and documentation. Such actual or perceived failures in certain cases have subjected, and can subject, us to potential international, local, state and federal legal or regulatory action, including in the event that our policies, certifications, and documentation are found or alleged to be inaccurate, incomplete, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices. The regulatory framework for privacy and data protection worldwide is, and is likely to remain, uncertain for the foreseeable future, which we expect will increase our compliance costs and exposure to liability, and it is possible that these or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. Increased usage of our services, novel uses of our services, and additional awareness of Zoom and our brand stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic could make it more difficult for us to comply with our contractual obligations, our policies, our publications, our certifications, our documentation, standards, regulations, and applicable laws related to privacy, data protection, and information security, and has and could result in greater public scrutiny of, press related to, or a negative perception of our privacy, data protection, and information security practices. Any compliance failure, as well as greater public scrutiny of our privacy, data protection, and information security practices, could result in increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny and litigation exposure, as well as material reputational harm, a loss of customer and user confidence and business, additional expenses, and other harm to our business.
For example, in June 2020 we received a grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justices U.S. Attorneys Office for EDNY, which requested information regarding our interactions with foreign governments and foreign political parties, including the Chinese government, as well as information regarding storage of and access to user data, the development and implementation of Zooms privacy policies, and the actions we took relating to the Tiananmen commemorations on Zoom. We have since received additional subpoenas from EDNY seeking related information. In July 2020, we received subpoenas from the Department of Justices U.S. Attorneys Office for the NDCA and the SEC. Both subpoenas seek documents and information relating to various security, data protection and privacy matters, including our encryption, and our statements relating thereto, as well as calculation of usage metrics and related public statements. In addition, the NDCA subpoena seeks information
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relating to any contacts between our employees and representatives of the Chinese government, and any attempted or successful influence by any foreign government in our policies, procedures, practices, and actions as they relate to users in the United States. We are fully cooperating with all of these investigations and have been conducting our own thorough internal investigation. These investigations are ongoing, and we do not know when they will be completed, which facts we will ultimately discover as a result of the investigations, or what actions the government may or may not take. We cannot predict the outcome of these investigations, and a negative outcome in any or all of these matters could cause us to incur substantial fines, penalties, or other financial exposure, as well as material reputational harm, a loss of customer and user confidence and business, additional expenses, and other harm to our business.
We also expect that there will continue to be new or amended laws, regulations, industry standards, guidance and contractual obligations concerning privacy, data protection, and information security proposed and enacted in various jurisdictions. For example, in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in the EU. The GDPR imposes more stringent data protection requirements and requires us and our customers to give more detailed disclosures about how we collect, use and share personal information; contractually commit to data protection measures in our contracts with clients; maintain adequate data security measures; notify regulators and affected individuals of certain data breaches; meet extensive privacy governance and documentation requirements; and honor individuals data protection rights, including their rights to access, correct and delete their personal information. The GDPR provides greater penalties for noncompliance than previous data protection laws. Companies that violate the GDPR can face private litigation, restrictions on data processing, and fines of up to the greater of 20 million Euros or 4% of their worldwide annual revenue. Our or our customers, partners, or vendors failure to comply with the GDPR could lead to significant fines imposed by regulators or restrictions on our ability to process personal information as needed to provide our product and services. We may also be obligated to assist our customers, partners, and vendors with their own compliance obligations under the GDPR, which could require expenditure of significant resources. Assisting our customers, partners, and vendors in complying with the GDPR, or complying with the GDPR ourselves, may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to change our business practices.
Further, the U.K.s decision to leave the EU, often referred to as Brexit, has created uncertainty in data protection issues involving the U.K. For example, pursuant to a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the EU, transfers of personal information from the European Economic Area to the U.K. are not considered restricted transfers under the GDPR for a period of up to six months from January 1, 2021. However, unless the EU Commission makes an adequacy finding with respect to the U.K. before the end of that period, the U.K. will be considered a third country under the GDPR and transfers of European personal information to the U.K. will require an adequacy mechanism to render such transfers lawful under the GDPR. Additionally, although the U.K. enacted a Data Protection Act in May 2018 that is designed to be consistent with the GDPR, uncertainty remains regarding how data transfers to and from the U.K. will be regulated notwithstanding Brexit. The effects of Brexit have been and are expected to continue to be far-reaching. Brexit and the perceptions as to its impact may adversely affect business activity and economic conditions globally, and could continue to contribute to instability in global financial markets. Brexit could also have the effect of disrupting the free movement of goods, services, and people between the U.K. and the EU. In addition, Brexit could lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations as the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. The full effects of Brexit are uncertain and will remain so until the U.K. and EU reach a definitive resolution with regards to outstanding trade and legal matters. Given these possibilities and others we may not anticipate, as well as the lack of comparable precedent, the full extent to which our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected by Brexit is uncertain. .
European data protection laws, including the GDPR, generally restrict the transfer of personal information from Europe, including the European Economic Area, U.K. and Switzerland, to the United States and most other
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countries unless the parties to the transfer have implemented specific safeguards to protect the transferred personal information. One of the primary safeguards allowing U.S. companies to import personal information from Europe has been certification to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, in July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision invalidating the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. The same decision also raised questions about whether one of the primary alternatives to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, namely, the European Commissions Standard Contractual Clauses, can lawfully be used for personal information transfers from Europe to the United States or most other countries. Similarly, on September 8, 2020, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner announced that the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework is inadequate for personal information transfers from Switzerland to the United States, and also raised questions about the viability of the Standard Contractual Clauses. At present, there are few, if any, viable alternatives to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, and the Standard Contractual Clauses, all of which are mechanisms on which we have relied for personal information transfers from Europe to the United States and other countries. Authorities in the U.K. may similarly invalidate use of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and raise questions on the viability of the Standard Contractual Clauses, as mechanisms for lawful personal information transfers to the United States and other countries. In November 2020, EU regulators proposed a new set of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). The new SCCs impose additional obligations and requirements with respect to the transfer of EU personal data to other jurisdictions, which may increase the legal risks and liabilities under the GDPR and local EU laws associated with cross-border data transfers, and result in material increased compliance and operational costs. If we are unable to implement a valid solution for personal information transfers from Europe, we will face increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines, and injunctions against processing or transferring personal information from Europe, and we may be required to increase our data processing capabilities in Europe at significant expense. Inability to import personal information from Europe to the United States or other countries may decrease demand for our products and services as our customers that are subject to the GDPR may seek alternatives that do not involve personal information transfers out of Europe. Our inability to import personal information to the United States and other countries may decrease the functionality or effectiveness of our products and services and adversely impact our marketing efforts, plans and activities. We expect EU regulators to aggressively enforce EU laws prohibiting data transfers to the U.S. and other countries without a legally sound transfer mechanism, and it possible that EU regulators could prevent Zoom from transferring any personal data out of the EU to certain countries like the U.S.
Additionally, other countries outside of Europe have enacted or are considering enacting similar cross-border data transfer restrictions and laws requiring local data residency and restricting cross-border data transfer, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services and operating our business. For example, Brazil recently enacted the General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais or LGPD) (Law No. 13,709/2018), which broadly regulates the processing of personal information and imposes compliance obligations and penalties comparable to those of the GDPR.
States have also begun to introduce more comprehensive privacy legislation. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), which went into effect on January 1, 2020, affords consumers expanded privacy protections. The CCPA gives California residents, among other things, expanded rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. The CCPA will be expanded substantially on January 1, 2023 when the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (the CPRA), which was approved by California voters in November 2020, becomes fully operative. The CPRA will, among other things, give consumers the ability to limit use of information deemed to be sensitive, increase the maximum penalties for violations concerning consumers under age 16, establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the new law, and impose administrative fines. Aspects of the CCPA
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and CPRA and their interpretation and enforcement remain uncertain. The potential effects of the CCPA and CPRA are far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply.
The CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, as other states may follow Californias lead and increase protections for their residents. The CCPA has already prompted a number of proposals for new federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed, could increase our potential liability, increase our compliance costs and adversely affect our business. In addition, effective October 1, 2019, Nevada amended its existing Security of Personal Information Law (SPI Law) to now require, among other things, that businesses provide an online mechanism or toll-free phone number to intake requests from consumers to opt out of the sale of their personal data.
The Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a U.S. Federal law that applies to operators of commercial websites and online services directed to U.S. children under the age of 13 that collect personal information from children, and to operators of general audience websites with actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from U.S. children under the age of 13. We provide video communications services to schools, school districts, and school systems to support traditional, virtual, and hybrid classrooms, distance learning, educational office hours, guest lectures, and other services. As part of these services, Zoom may be used by students, including students under the age of 13, and we collect personal information from such students on behalf of our school subscribers. School subscribers must contractually consent to Zooms information practices on behalf of students, prior to students using the services. In addition, the GDPR prohibits certain processing of the personal information of children under the age of 13-16 (depending on the country) without parental consent. The CCPA requires companies to obtain the consent of children in California under 16 (or parental consent for children under 13) before selling their personal information. COPPA is subject to interpretation by courts and other governmental authorities, including the FTC, and the FTC is authorized to promulgate, and has promulgated, revisions to regulations implementing provisions of COPPA. Although we strive to ensure that our platform and applications are compliant with applicable provisions of COPPA, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, these provisions may be modified, interpreted, or applied in new manners that we may be unable to anticipate or prepare for appropriately, and we may incur substantial costs or expenses in attempting to modify our systems, platform, applications, or other technology to address changes in COPPA, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, or interpretations thereof. If we fail to accurately anticipate the application, interpretation, or legislative expansion of COPPA, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, we could be subject to governmental enforcement actions, data processing restrictions, litigation, fines and penalties, adverse publicity or loss of customers. Moreover, as a result of any such failures, we could be in breach of our K-12 school customer contracts, and our customers could lose trust in us, which could harm our reputation and business.
With laws and regulations, such as the GDPR in the EU as well as the CCPA, SPI Law, HIPAA, and COPPA in the United States imposing relatively burdensome obligations, and with substantial uncertainty over the interpretation and application of these and other laws and regulations, we have faced and may face additional challenges in addressing their requirements and making necessary changes to our policies and practices, and may incur significant costs and expenses in an effort to do so, any of which could materially adversely affect our business and operating results. Additional uses of our services arising out of increased demand associated with the COVID-19 pandemic may require us to address additional privacy, data protection, and information security laws, regulations, standards, policies, and contractual obligations. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws, regulations, standards, policies, and contractual obligations, or our privacy policies, publications, certifications, or documentation have led and could lead to governmental investigations or enforcement actions (including investigations or actions by state attorneys general, federal regulators, and international regulators), litigation (including class action litigation), claims, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others, and could result in significant liability, fines or penalties, or cause our users to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business.
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We have in the past and may in the future receive inquiries or be subject to investigations by domestic and international government entities regarding, among other things, our privacy, data protection, and information security practices. The result of these proceedings could impact our brand reputation, subject us to monetary remedies and costs, interrupt or require us to change our business practices, divert resources and the attention of management from our business, or subject us to other remedies that adversely affect our business. We also face litigation regarding our privacy and security practices, including alleged data sharing with third parties, in various jurisdictions. See Part II, Item 1 Legal Proceedings of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2020, which is incorporated into this prospectus supplement by reference, for additional information.
We also have been the subject of an investigation by the FTC relating to our privacy and security representations and practices. We have reached a proposed settlement agreement with the FTC staff, which remains subject to a final vote by the FTC. See Part II, Item 1 Legal Proceedings of our Quarterly Report on Form-10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2020, which is incorporated into this prospectus supplement by reference, for additional information. We could fail or be perceived to fail to comply with the terms of the proposed settlement with the FTC or any other orders or settlements relating to litigation or governmental investigations with respect to our privacy and security practices. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with such orders or settlements may increase the possibility of additional adverse consequences, including litigation, additional regulatory actions, injunctions, or monetary penalties, or require further changes to our business practices, significant management time, or the diversion of significant operational resources. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, policies, and other obligations that are applicable to the businesses of our users may limit the adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, our platform and services, which could have an adverse impact on our business.
Additionally, we rely on the administrators of our customers in the healthcare and education industries to obtain the necessary consents from users of our products and services and to ensure their account settings are configured correctly for their compliance under applicable laws and regulations, including HIPAA. Furthermore, if third parties we work with, such as vendors or developers, make misrepresentations, violate applicable laws and regulations, or our policies, such misrepresentations and violations may also put our users content at risk and could in turn have an adverse effect on our business. Any significant change to applicable laws, regulations, or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security, or disclosure of our users content, or regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of users for the collection, use, retention, or disclosure of such content is obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete and may limit our ability to store and process user data or provide or develop new services and features.
Increased usage of our services and additional awareness of Zoom and our brand stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater public scrutiny of, press related to, or a negative perception of our collection, use, storage, disclosure, and processing of personal information, and our privacy policies and practices. For example, users and customers, particularly those that are new to Zoom, may not have significant IT or security knowledge or have their own IT controls like those of a larger organization to configure our service in a manner that provides them with control over user settings. This has resulted in reports of users and customers experiencing meeting disruptions by malicious actors. Additional unfavorable publicity and scrutiny has led to increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny and litigation exposure, and could result in material reputational harm, a loss of customer and user confidence, additional expenses and other harm to our business.
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Changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and export restrictions, could limit our ability to sell our products to certain customers, which may materially adversely affect our sales and results of operations.
The U.S. or foreign governments may take administrative, legislative, or regulatory action that could materially interfere with our ability to sell products in certain countries. For example, while we stopped selling our products directly in China during the six months ended July 31, 2020, the current U.S. Administration has threatened tougher trade terms with China and other countries, leading to the imposition, or announcement of future imposition, of substantially higher U.S. Section 301 tariffs on roughly $500 billion of imports from China. In response, China imposed and proposed new or higher tariffs on U.S. products. The direct and indirect effects of tariffs and other restrictive trade policies are difficult to measure and are only one part of a larger U.S./China economic and trade policy disagreement. The effects of the recently imposed and proposed tariffs are uncertain because of the dynamic nature of governmental action and responses. Sustained uncertainty about, or worsening of, current global economic conditions and further escalation of trade tensions between the United States and its trading partners, especially China, could result in a global economic slowdown and long-term changes to global trade, including retaliatory trade restrictions that restrict our ability to operate in China. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations between the United States and China or other countries, what products may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by the other countries in retaliation. Any further deterioration in the relations between the United States and China could exacerbate these actions and other governmental intervention. For example, the implementation of Chinas national-security law in Hong Kong has created additional U.S.-China tensions and could potentially increase the risks associated with the business and operations of U.S.-based technology companies in China. Any alterations to our business strategy or operations made in order to adapt to or comply with any such changes would be time-consuming and expensive, and certain of our competitors may be better suited to withstand or react to these changes.
Further, in May 2019, President Trump issued an executive order that invoked national emergency economic powers to implement a framework to regulate the acquisition or transfer of information communications technology in transactions that imposed undue national security risks. The executive order is subject to implementation by the Secretary of Commerce and applies to contracts entered into prior to the effective date of the order. In addition, the U.S. Commerce Department has implemented additional restrictions and may implement further restrictions that would affect conducting business with certain Chinese companies. Due to the uncertainty regarding the timing, content, and extent of any such changes in policy, we cannot assure you that we will successfully mitigate any negative impact. Depending upon their duration and implementation, these tariffs, the executive order and its implementation, and other regulatory actions could materially affect our business, including in the form of increased cost of revenue, decreased margins, increased pricing for customers, and reduced sales.
Our results of operations may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for our subscription services in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.
We collect sales tax in a number of jurisdictions. One or more states or countries may seek to impose incremental or new sales, use, or other tax collection obligations on us. A successful assertion by a state, country, or other jurisdiction that we should have been or should be collecting additional sales, use, or other taxes could, among other things, result in substantial tax payments, create significant administrative burdens for us, discourage potential customers from subscribing to our platform due to the incremental cost of any such sales or other related taxes, or otherwise harm our business.
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We may be subject to liabilities on past sales for taxes, surcharges, and fees.
We currently collect and remit applicable sales tax in jurisdictions where we, through our employees, have a presence and where we have determined, based on legal precedents in the jurisdiction, that sales of our platform are classified as taxable. We do not currently collect and remit other state and local excise, utility user and ad valorem taxes, fees, or surcharges that may apply to our customers and hosts. We believe that we are not otherwise subject to, or required to collect, any additional taxes, fees, or surcharges imposed by state and local jurisdictions because we do not have a sufficient physical presence or nexus in the relevant taxing jurisdiction or such taxes, fees, or surcharges do not apply to sales of our platform in the relevant taxing jurisdiction. However, there is uncertainty as to what constitutes sufficient physical presence or nexus for a state or local jurisdiction to levy taxes, fees, and surcharges for sales made over the internet, and there is also uncertainty as to whether our characterization of our platform as not taxable in certain jurisdictions will be accepted by state and local taxing authorities. Additionally, we have not historically collected value-added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST) on sales of our platform because we make all of our sales through our office in the United States, and we believe, based on information provided to us by our customers, that most of our sales are made to business customers.
Taxing authorities may challenge our position that we do not have sufficient nexus in a taxing jurisdiction or that our platform is not taxable in the jurisdiction and may decide to audit our business and operations with respect to sales, use, telecommunications, VAT, GST, and other taxes, which could result in increased tax liabilities for us or our customers and hosts, which could harm our business.
The application of indirect taxes (such as sales and use tax, VAT, GST, business tax, and gross receipts tax) to businesses that transact online, such as ours, is a complex and evolving area. Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., states are now free to levy taxes on sales of goods and services based on an economic nexus, regardless of whether the seller has a physical presence in the state. As a result, it may be necessary to reevaluate whether our activities give rise to sales, use, and other indirect taxes as a result of any nexus in those states in which we are not currently registered to collect and remit taxes. Additionally, we may need to assess our potential tax collection and remittance liabilities based on existing economic nexus laws dollar and transaction thresholds. We continue to analyze our exposure for such taxes and liabilities and have accrued $53.8 million and $34.0 million as of October 31, 2020, and January 31, 2020, respectively, for loss contingencies resulting from these potential taxes and liabilities. The application of existing, new, or future laws, whether in the United States or internationally, could harm our business. There have been, and will continue to be, substantial ongoing costs associated with complying with the various indirect tax requirements in the numerous markets in which we conduct or will conduct business.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws.
Our platform and associated products are subject to various restrictions under U.S. export control and sanctions laws and regulations, including the U.S. Department of Commerces Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The U.S. export control laws and U.S. economic sanctions laws include restrictions or prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain products and services to U.S.-embargoed or U.S.-sanctioned countries, governments, persons, and entities, and also require authorization for the export of certain encryption items. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain encryption technology, including through import permitting and licensing requirements and have enacted or could enact laws that could limit our ability to distribute our platform or could limit our hosts ability to implement our platform in those countries.
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Although we have taken precautions to prevent our platform and associated products from being accessed or used in violation of such laws, we have inadvertently allowed our platform and associated products to be accessed or used by some customers in apparent violation of U.S. economic sanction laws. In addition, we may have inadvertently made our software products available to some customers, including users in embargoed or sanctioned countries, in apparent violation of the EAR. As a result, we submitted initial and final voluntary self-disclosures concerning potential violations of U.S. sanctions and export control laws and regulations to OFAC and the U.S. Department of Commerces Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
In June 2019, OFAC and BIS issued us warning letters as their final enforcement responses to these potential violations, but no fines or penalties were assessed. If we are found to be in violation of U.S. economic sanctions or export control laws in the future, it could result in fines and penalties. We may also be adversely affected through other penalties, reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets, or otherwise. While we are working to implement additional controls designed to prevent similar activity from occurring in the future, these controls may not be fully effective.
Changes in our platform, or changes in export, sanctions, and import laws, may delay the introduction and sale of subscriptions to our platform in international markets; prevent our customers with international operations from using our platform; or, in some cases, prevent the access or use of our platform to and from certain countries, governments, persons, or entities altogether. Further, any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related laws, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations or change in the countries, governments, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations could result in decreased use of our platform or in our decreased ability to export or sell our platform to existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to export or sell our platform would likely harm our business.
We may be subject to, or assist law enforcement with enforcement of, a variety of U.S. and international laws that could result in claims, increase the cost of operations or otherwise harm our business due to changes in the laws, changes in the interpretations of the laws, greater enforcement of the laws, or investigations into compliance with the laws.
We may be subject to, or assist law enforcement with enforcement of, various laws, including those covering copyright, indecent content, child protection, consumer protection, telecommunications services, taxation, and similar matters. It may be difficult, expensive and disruptive for us to address law enforcement requests, subpoenas and other legal process, and laws in various jurisdictions may conflict and hamper our ability to satisfy or comply with such requests, subpoenas and other legal process. There have been instances where improper or illegal content has been shared on our platform without our knowledge. As a service provider and as a matter of policy, we do not monitor user meetings. However, to ensure user safety and prevent conduct that is illegal, violent or harmful to others, we enforce our terms of service through use of a mix of tools that suggest when such activity may be occurring on our platform. We also recently created an in-product security feature that allows the host or co-host of a meeting to easily select a meeting participant that may be engaging in illegal or harmful behavior and send a report about that behavior to our trust and safety team for evaluation. Our trust and safety team may take further action as appropriate, including suspension or termination of the participants account or referral to law enforcement. While to date we have not been subject to material legal or administrative actions as a result of improper or illegal content, the laws in this area are currently in a state of flux and vary widely between jurisdictions. Accordingly, it may be possible that in the future we and our competitors may be subject to legal actions along with the users who shared such content. In addition, regardless of any legal liability we may face, our reputation could be harmed should there be an incident generating extensive negative publicity about the content shared on our platform. Such publicity would harm our business.
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We are also subject to consumer protection laws that may affect our sales and marketing efforts, including laws related to subscriptions, billing, and auto-renewal. These laws, as well as any changes in these laws, could adversely affect our self-serve model and make it more difficult for us to retain and upgrade customers and attract new customers and hosts. Additionally, we have in the past, are currently, and may from time to time in the future become the subject of inquiries and other actions by regulatory authorities as a result of our business practices, including our subscription, billing, and auto-renewal policies. Consumer protection laws may be interpreted or applied by regulatory authorities in a manner that could require us to make changes to our operations or incur fines, penalties, or settlement expenses, which may result in harm to our business.
Our platform depends on the ability of our customers, hosts, and users to access the internet, and our platform has been blocked or restricted in some countries for various reasons. If we fail to anticipate developments in the law, or fail for any reason to comply with relevant law, our platform could be further blocked or restricted, and we could be exposed to significant liability that could harm our business.
We are also subject to various U.S. and international anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, amended, and the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, as well as other similar anti-bribery and anti-kickback laws and regulations. These laws and regulations generally prohibit companies and their employees and intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing improper payments or benefits to government officials and other recipients for improper purposes. Although we take precautions to prevent violations of these laws, our exposure for violating these laws increases as we continue to expand our international presence, and any failure to comply with such laws could harm our business.
Zoom Phone is subject to U.S. federal and international regulation, and other products we may introduce in the future may also be subject to U.S. federal, state, or international laws, rules, and regulations. Any failure to comply with such laws, rules, and regulations could harm our business and expose us to liability.
Federal regulation
Zoom Phone is provided through our wholly owned subsidiary, Zoom Voice Communications, Inc., which is regulated by the FCC as an interconnected voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service provider. As a result, Zoom Phone is subject to existing or potential FCC regulations, including, but not limited to, regulations relating to privacy, disability access, porting of numbers, federal Universal Service Fund (USF), contributions and other regulatory assessments, emergency calling/Enhanced 911 (E-911), access charges for long distance services, and law enforcement access. Congress or the FCC may expand the scope of Zoom Phones regulatory obligations at any time. In addition, FCC classification of Zoom Phone as a common carrier or telecommunications service could result in additional federal and state regulatory obligations. If we do not comply with any current or future state regulations that apply to our business, we could be subject to substantial fines and penalties, we may have to restructure our product offerings, exit certain markets, or raise the price of our products, any of which could ultimately harm our business and results of operations. Any enforcement action by the FCC, which may be a public process, would hurt our reputation in the industry, possibly impair our ability to sell Zoom Phone to our customers and harm our business.
Changes in FCC regulation of the internet and internet-based services also could impose new regulatory obligations on our other services. On October 27, 2020, the FCC adopted an order concluding that three issues remanded by the U.S. Court of Appeals following the appeal of its 2018 decision to eliminate its network neutrality rules did not provide a basis to alter its conclusions in that order. This new order could be subject to petitions for reconsideration or court appeals. Democratic control of the Executive Branch, Congress, and the FCC following the 2020 elections increases the likelihood of legislative or FCC action to reverse the 2018 decision or adopt new network neutrality rules. Such action could result in extension of common carrier regulation to internet-based communications services like the ones we offer. The imposition of common carrier
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regulation would increase our costs, and we could be required to modify our service offerings to comply with regulatory requirements. The failure to comply with such regulation could result in substantial fines and penalties and other sanctions.
The FCC is considering a petition, filed by the Trump Administration, to adopt rules interpreting Section 230 of the federal Communications Act, which limits the liability of internet platforms for third-party content that is transmitted via those platforms and for good-faith moderation of offensive content. No date has been set for a vote on that proposal and the FCC has not released any document describing the rules that would be proposed. The Democratic members of the FCC have indicated that they are opposed to the petition and after the Presidential inauguration will control the agenda of the FCC. If the FCC adopts rules, the scope of the protection offered by Section 230 could be narrowed considerably. This would increase the risks faced by internet-based businesses, like Zoom, that rely on third-party content. There is no schedule for action by the FCC on the petition.
State regulation
State telecommunications regulation of Zoom Phone is generally preempted by the FCC. However, states are allowed to assess state USF contributions, E-911 fees, and other surcharges. A number of states require us to contribute to state USF and pay E-911 and other assessments and surcharges, while others are actively considering extending their programs to include the products we offer. We generally pass USF, E-911 fees, and other surcharges through to our customers where we are permitted to do so, which may result in our products becoming more expensive. We expect that state public utility commissions will continue their attempts to apply state telecommunications regulations to services like Zoom Phone. If we do not comply with any current or future state regulations that apply to our business, we could be subject to substantial fines and penalties, we may have to restructure our product offerings, exit certain markets, or raise the price of our products, any of which could harm our business.
International regulation
As we expand internationally, we may be subject to telecommunications, consumer protection, privacy, data protection, and other laws and regulations in the foreign countries where we offer our products. If we do not comply with any current or future international regulations that apply to our business, we could be subject to substantial fines and penalties, we may have to restructure our product offerings, exit certain markets, or raise the price of our products, any of which could harm our business.
Risks related to our intellectual property
We are currently, and may be in the future, party to intellectual property rights claims and other litigation matters, which, if resolved adversely, could harm our business.
We protect our intellectual property through patents, copyrights, trademarks, domain names, and trade secrets and, from time to time, are subject to litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of intellectual property or other rights. Some companies, including some of our competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, and trademarks, which they may use to assert claims against us. As we face increasing competition and gain an increasingly high profile, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims, commercial claims, and other assertions against us grows. We have in the past been, are currently, and may from time to time in the future become, a party to litigation and disputes related to our intellectual property, our business practices, and our platform. While we intend to defend these lawsuits vigorously and believe that we have valid defenses to these claims, litigation can be costly and time consuming, divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations and dissuade potential customers from subscribing to our services, which would harm our business. Furthermore, with respect to these
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lawsuits, there can be no assurances that favorable outcomes will be obtained. We may need to settle litigation and disputes on terms that are unfavorable to us, or we may be subject to an unfavorable judgment that may not be reversible upon appeal. The terms of any settlement or judgment may require us to cease some or all of our operations or pay substantial amounts to the other party. In addition, our agreements with certain larger customers include certain provisions for indemnifying them against liabilities if our services infringe a third partys intellectual property rights, which could require us to make payments to our customers. During the course of any litigation or dispute, we may make announcements regarding the results of hearings and motions and other interim developments. If securities analysts and investors regard these announcements as negative, the market price of our Class A common stock may decline. With respect to any intellectual property rights claim, we may have to seek a license to continue practices found to be in violation of third-party rights, which may not be available on reasonable terms and may significantly increase our operating expenses. A license to continue such practices may not be available to us at all, and we may be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology or practices or discontinue the practices. The development of alternative, non-infringing technology or practices could require significant effort and expense. Our business could be harmed as a result.
Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information could diminish our brand and other intangible assets.
We primarily rely and expect to continue to rely on a combination of patent, patent licenses, trade secret and domain name protection, trademark and copyright laws, as well as confidentiality and license agreements with our employees, consultants, and third parties, to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights. We make business decisions about when to seek patent protection for a particular technology and when to rely upon copyright or trade secret protection, and the approach we select may ultimately prove to be inadequate. Even in cases where we seek patent protection, there is no assurance that the resulting patents will effectively protect every significant feature of our products. In addition, we believe that the protection of our trademark rights is an important factor in product recognition, protecting our brand and maintaining goodwill. If we do not adequately protect our rights in our trademarks from infringement and unauthorized use, any goodwill that we have developed in those trademarks could be lost or impaired, which could harm our brand and our business. Third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our proprietary rights; third parties may challenge our proprietary right; pending and future patent, trademark, and copyright applications may not be approved; and we may not be able to prevent infringement without incurring substantial expense. We have also devoted substantial resources to the development of our proprietary technologies and related processes. In order to protect our proprietary technologies and processes, we rely in part on trade secret laws and confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, and third parties. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets, in which case we would not be able to assert trade secret rights, or develop similar technologies and processes. Further, the laws of certain foreign countries do not provide the same level of protection of corporate proprietary information and assets such as intellectual property, trademarks, trade secrets, know-how, and records, as the laws of the United States. For instance, the legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property or proprietary rights abroad. Additionally, we may also be exposed to material risks of theft or unauthorized reverse engineering of our proprietary information and other intellectual property, including technical data, manufacturing processes, data sets, or other sensitive information. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights in such foreign countries may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary
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to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights. If the protection of our proprietary rights is inadequate to prevent use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our platform, brand, and other intangible assets may be diminished, and competitors may be able to more effectively replicate our platform and its features. Any of these events would harm our business.
Our use of third-party open source software could negatively affect our ability to offer and sell subscriptions to our platform and subject us to possible litigation.
We have incorporated, and may in the future incorporate, third-party open source software in our technologies. Open source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses. From time to time, companies that use third-party open source software have faced claims challenging the use of such open source software and requesting compliance with the open source software license terms. Accordingly, we may be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open source licensing terms. Some open source software licenses require end-users who use, distribute or make available across a network software and services that include open source software to offer aspects of the technology that incorporates the open source software for no cost. We may also be required to make publicly available source code (which in some circumstances could include valuable proprietary code) for modifications or derivative works we create based upon incorporating or using the open source software and/or to license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of the particular open source license. Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated open source software into software that we license from such provider, we could be required to disclose any of our source code that incorporates or is a modification of our licensed software. While we use tools designed to help us monitor and comply with the licenses of third-party open source software and protect our valuable proprietary source code, we may inadvertently use third-party open source software in a manner that exposes us to claims of non-compliance with the terms of their licenses, including claims of intellectual property rights infringement or for breach of contract. Furthermore, there exists today an increasing number of types of open source software licenses, almost none of which have been tested in courts of law to provide guidance of their proper legal interpretations. If we were to receive a claim of non-compliance with the terms of any of these open source licenses, we may be required to publicly release certain portions of our proprietary source code. We could also be required to expend substantial time and resources to re-engineer some of our software. Any of the foregoing could disrupt and harm our business.
In addition, the use of third-party open source software typically exposes us to greater risks than the use of third-party commercial software because open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on the functionality or origin of the software. Use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the public availability of such software may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to compromise our platform. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and could help our competitors develop products and services that are similar to or better than ours.
Risks related to ownership of our Class A common stock
The trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The trading price of our Class A common stock has been and will likely continue to be volatile and could be subject to fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced an increase in the usage of our video-first communications platform, and as a result, the trading price of our Class A common stock has significantly increased, while at the same time, the broader market has experienced significant declines and volatility. There are no assurances that the trading price of our Class A common stock will continue at this level for any period of
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time. Moreover, the trading price of our Class A common stock could experience a significant decrease once the scope and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is better understood. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our Class A common stock include the following:
| price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time; |
| volatility in the trading prices and trading volumes of technology stocks; |
| changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular; |
| sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders; |
| failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors; |
| the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections, or our failure to meet those projections; |
| announcements by us or our competitors of new products, features, or services; |
| the publics reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC; |
| rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry; |
| actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations; |
| actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors businesses, or the competitive landscape generally; |
| litigation involving us, our industry, or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors; |
| developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights; |
| announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, products, services, or technologies by us or our competitors; |
| new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business; |
| changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles; |
| any significant change in our management; and |
| general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets. |
In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and in the market price of a particular companys securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. For example, in April and June 2020, we and certain of our officers and directors were sued in putative class action lawsuits and purported shareholder derivative lawsuits alleging violations of the federal securities laws for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements about our data privacy and security measures. We may be the target of additional litigation of this type in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our managements time and attention from other business concerns, which could harm our business. We may be the target of additional litigation of this type in the future as well. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managements attention and resources.
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The dual class structure of our common stock as contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our stock prior to our initial public offering, including our executive officers, employees, and directors and their affiliates, limiting your ability to influence corporate matters.
Our Class B common stock has 10 votes per share and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. As of October 31, 2020, the holders of our outstanding Class B common stock held 81.6% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock, with our directors, executive officers and 5% stockholders and their respective affiliates holding 73.7% of such voting power in the aggregate. As of October 31, 2020, our founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Eric S. Yuan, together with his affiliates, held approximately 15.1% of our outstanding capital stock but controlled approximately 40.2% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. Therefore, these holders have significant influence over our management and affairs and over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of Zoom or our assets, for the foreseeable future. Each share of Class B common stock will be automatically converted into one share of Class A common stock upon the earliest of (i) the date that is six months following the death or incapacity of Mr. Yuan, (ii) the date that is six months following the date that Mr. Yuan is no longer providing services to us or his employment is terminated for cause, (iii) the date specified by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding shares of Class B common stock, voting as a separate class, and (iv) the 15-year anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering.
In addition, the holders of Class B common stock collectively will continue to be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval even if their stock holdings represent less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, and, as a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.
Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, which will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If, for example, Mr. Yuan retains a significant portion of his holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, he could, in the future, control a majority of the combined voting power of our Class A and Class B common stock. As a board member, Mr. Yuan owes a fiduciary duty to our stockholders and must act in good faith in a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of our stockholders. As a stockholder, even a controlling stockholder, Mr. Yuan is entitled to vote his shares in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.
In addition, in July 2017, FTSE Russell and Standard & Poors announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual- or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Under the announced policies, our dual-class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in any of these indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track these indices will not be investing in our stock. These policies are new, and it is as of yet unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations or depress our trading volume compared to those of other similar companies that are included.
Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase capital stock could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to decline.
Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase our capital stock could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders. We may sell Class A common stock, convertible securities, and other
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equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner as we may determine from time to time. If we sell any such securities in subsequent transactions, investors may be materially diluted. New investors in such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences, and privileges senior to those of holders of our Class A common stock.
Substantial future sales of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock (after automatically converting to Class A common stock) in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our Class A common stock.
In addition, certain of our stockholders have registration rights that would require us to register shares owned by them for public sale in the United States. We have also filed a registration statement to register shares reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans. As a result, subject to the satisfaction of applicable exercise periods and applicable volume and restrictions that apply to affiliates, the shares issued upon exercise of outstanding stock options or upon settlement of outstanding RSU awards are available for immediate resale in the United States in the open market.
Sales of our shares could also impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities in the future and at a price we deem appropriate. These sales could also cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to fall and make it more difficult for you to sell shares of our Class A common stock.
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law may prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to change our management or hinder efforts to acquire a controlling interest in us, and the market price of our Class A common stock may be lower as a result.
There are provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws that may make it difficult for a third party to acquire, or attempt to acquire, control of Zoom, even if a change in control was considered favorable by our stockholders.
Our charter documents also contain other provisions that could have an anti-takeover effect, such as:
| establishing a classified board of directors so that not all members of our board of directors are elected at one time; |
| permitting the board of directors to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships; |
| providing that directors may only be removed for cause; |
| prohibiting cumulative voting for directors; |
| requiring super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws; |
| authorizing the issuance of blank check preferred stock that our board of directors could use to implement a stockholder rights plan; |
| eliminating the ability of stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders; |
| prohibiting stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders; and |
| our dual-class common stock structure as described above. |
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Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibit a person who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Any provision in our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our Class A common stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America as the exclusive forums for certain disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the certificate of incorporation or the amended and restated bylaws; or (iv) any other action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware), in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over indispensable parties named as defendants. This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholders ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, all of which could harm our results of operations.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
We have never declared nor paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not expect to declare or pay any
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dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, stockholders must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.
General risk factors
Estimates of our market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts for the markets in which we compete, including those we have generated ourselves, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. Not every organization covered by our market opportunity estimates will necessarily buy video communications platforms, and some or many of those organizations may choose to continue using legacy communication methods or point solutions offered by our competitors. It is impossible to build every product feature that every customer or host wants, and our competitors may develop and offer features that our platform does not provide. The variables that go into the calculation of our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of the organizations covered by our market opportunity estimates will purchase our solutions at all or generate any particular level of revenue for us. Even if the markets in which we compete meet the size estimates and growth forecasts, our business could fail to grow for a variety of reasons outside of our control, including competition in our industry. If any of these risks materializes, it could harm our business and prospects.
Our business could be disrupted by catastrophic events.
Occurrence of any catastrophic event, including earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami or other weather event, power loss, telecommunications failure, software or hardware malfunctions, cyber-attack, war, terrorist attack, disease, or health epidemics, could result in lengthy interruptions in our service. In particular, our U.S. headquarters and some of the data centers we utilize are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity, and our insurance coverage may not compensate us for losses that may occur in the event of an earthquake or other significant natural disaster. In addition, acts of terrorism could cause disruptions to the internet or the economy as a whole. Even with our disaster recovery arrangements, our service could be interrupted. Moreover, if our systems were to fail or be negatively impacted as a result of a natural disaster or other event, our ability to deliver products to our users would be impaired, or we could lose critical data. If we are unable to develop adequate plans to ensure that our business functions continue to operate during and after a disaster and to execute successfully on those plans in the event of a disaster or emergency, our business would be harmed.
We also face risks related to health epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted virtually every country in the world. An outbreak of a contagious disease, and other adverse health developments could have an adverse effect on global economic conditions and on our business. The effects could include business and service disruptions, such as the temporary closure of our facilities, restrictions on our employees ability to travel to support our facilities and services, and difficulties in hiring new employees. We have removed the 40-minute time limit from our free Basic accounts for customers in K-12 schools in certain countries. While we have seen increased usage of our service globally, a significant portion of such increase is attributable to free Basic accounts, which do not generate any revenue. We cannot make any assurances that we will experience an increase in paid hosts or that new or existing users will continue to utilize our services at the same levels after the COVID-19 pandemic has tapered. Furthermore, such increased usage by free Basic account users during this time has required and will continue to require us to expand our network capacity which will increase our operating costs.
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Our reported results of operations may be adversely affected by changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States are subject to interpretation by the FASB, the SEC, and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles or interpretations could have a significant effect on our reported results of operations and may even affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement or effectiveness of a change. It is also difficult to predict the impact of future changes to accounting principles or our accounting policies, any of which could harm our business.
We may need additional capital, and we cannot be certain that additional financing will be available on favorable terms, or at all.
Historically, we have funded our operations and capital expenditures primarily through equity issuances and cash generated from our operations. Although we currently anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash flow from operations will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for the foreseeable future, we may require additional financing. We evaluate financing opportunities from time to time, and our ability to obtain financing will depend, among other things, on our development efforts, business plans, operating performance, and condition of the capital markets at the time we seek financing. We cannot assure you that additional financing will be available to us on favorable terms when required, or at all. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked or debt securities, those securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to the rights of our Class A common stock, and our stockholders may experience dilution.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate condensed consolidated financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs; make some activities more difficult, time-consuming, and costly; and place significant strain on our personnel, systems, and resources.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we will file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. We are also continuing to improve our internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. In addition, changes in accounting principles or interpretations could also challenge our internal controls and require that we establish new business processes, systems, and controls to accommodate such changes. We have limited experience with implementing the systems and controls that will be necessary to operate as a public company, as well as adopting changes in accounting principles or interpretations mandated by the relevant regulatory bodies. Additionally, if these new systems, controls, or
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standards and the associated process changes do not give rise to the benefits that we expect or do not operate as intended, it could adversely affect our financial reporting systems and processes, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial reports, or the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Moreover, our business may be harmed if we experience problems with any new systems and controls that result in delays in their implementation or increased costs to correct any post-implementation issues that may arise.
Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our business or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our condensed consolidated financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to remain listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market. We will be required to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with our next Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until our first Annual Report filed with the SEC where we are an accelerated filer or a large accelerated filer. We will be required to provide our public accounting firms attestation to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting with our next Annual Report on Form 10-K. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed, or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could harm our business and could cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our Class A common stock market price and trading volume could decline if securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business.
The trading market for our Class A common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. The analysts estimates are based upon their own opinions and are often different from our estimates or expectations. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our Class A common stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our securities would likely decline. If one or more securities analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our securities could decrease, which might cause the price and trading volume of our Class A common stock to decline.
We incur costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies in the United States, which may harm our business.
As a public company listed in the United States, we incur significant additional legal, accounting, and other expenses. In addition, changing laws, regulations, and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including regulations implemented by the SEC and The Nasdaq Stock Market, may increase legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations, and
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standards are subject to varying interpretations, and as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of managements time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If, notwithstanding our efforts, we fail to comply with new laws, regulations, and standards, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
Failure to comply with these rules might also make it more difficult for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we might be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events would also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, on committees of our board of directors, or as members of senior management.
We are an emerging growth company, and we intend to comply only with reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies. As a result, our Class A common stock could be less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, and for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies but not to emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our IPO; (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of more than $1.07 billion; or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior July 31 and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. We cannot predict if investors will find our Class A common stock less attractive if we choose to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Class A common stock less attractive as a result of any choices to reduce future disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock, and our stock price may be more volatile. We currently anticipate that we will lose our emerging growth company status as of the end of the fiscal year ending January 31, 2021.
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Special note regarding forward-looking statements
This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our managements current beliefs, expectations and assumptions about future events, conditions and results and on information currently available to us. Discussions containing these forward-looking statements may be found, among other places, in the sections titled Business, Risk Factors, and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations incorporated by reference from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as any amendments thereto, filed with the SEC.
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as aim, anticipate, assume, believe, contemplate, continue, could, design, due, estimate, expect, goal, intend, may, objective, plan, predict, project, positioned, potential, seek, should, target, will, would, or the negative or plural of those terms, and similar expressions intended to identify statements about the future, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these statements.
These statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this prospectus, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain.
Forward-looking statements in this prospectus or incorporated herein by reference include, but are not limited to, statements about our future financial performance, including our revenue, cost of revenue, gross profit, margins, and operating expenses; market trends; trends in our key business metrics; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents, investments, and cash provided by sales of our products and services to meet our efforts to enhance the security and privacy of our platform; our efforts to enhance the security and privacy of our platform; the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on our business, the business of our customers, suppliers, and channel partners, and the economy; our liquidity needs; our ability to become the ubiquitous platform for communications; our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers; our ability to successfully expand in our existing markets and into new markets; our ability to effectively manage our growth and future expenses; and the impact of recent accounting pronouncements on our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
You should refer to the Risk Factors section of this prospectus supplement, in the documents incorporated by reference herein, elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, and in any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you, as well as our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as updated by our subsequent filings, for a discussion of other important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this prospectus will prove to be accurate. In addition, statements that we believe and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus, and although we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted a thorough inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant
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information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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We estimate that our net proceeds from the sale of our Class A common stock that we are offering will be approximately $1.5 billion (or approximately $1.7 billion if the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full), based on the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share of Class A common stock, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering.
A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share of Class A common stock would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $4.4 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth in the section titled The Offering, remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $334.3 million, assuming the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share of Class A common stock remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering.
The principal purposes of this offering are to increase our capitalization and financial flexibility. We currently intend to use the net proceeds we receive from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures. We cannot specify with certainty all of the particular uses for the remaining net proceeds to us from this offering or the amounts we will actually spend on the uses set forth above. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds for acquisitions or strategic investments in complementary businesses, products, services, or technologies. However, we do not have agreements or commitments to enter into any such acquisitions or investments at this time. The expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions. We will have broad discretion over how to use the net proceeds to us from this offering. We intend to invest the net proceeds to us from the offering that are not used as described above in investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments.
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We have never declared or paid dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to support operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. We do not intend to declare or pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends on our capital stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, and other factors that our board of directors considers relevant.
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If you invest in our Class A common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be immediately diluted to the extent of the difference between the public offering price per share and the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering.
As of October 31, 2020, we had a net tangible book value of $1,490.4 million, or $5.21 per share. Net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, divided by the number of shares of our Class A and Class B common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020.
After giving further effect to the receipt of the net proceeds from our sale of $1.5 billion of shares of our Class A common stock in this offering at an assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of October 31, 2020, would have been $2,973.9 million, or $10.24 per share. This represents an immediate increase in the net tangible book value of $5.03 per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $327.47 per share to new investors in our Class A common stock.
The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis (without giving effect to any exercise by the underwriter of its option to purchase additional shares):
Assumed public offering price per share |
$ | 337.71 | ||||||
Net tangible book value per share as of October 31, 2020 |
$ | 5.21 | ||||||
Increase in net tangible book value per share as of October 31, 2020 |
5.03 | |||||||
As adjusted net tangible book value per share immediately after this offering |
10.24 | |||||||
Dilution per share to investors in this offering |
$ | 327.47 | ||||||
|
Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share of Class A common stock, which was the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021, would increase (decrease) our as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by approximately $0.02, and increase (decrease) dilution to investors by approximately $0.98 per share, assuming that the assumed number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us would increase (decrease) the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by approximately $1.11 and decrease (increase) the dilution to investors by $1.11 per share, assuming the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share of Class A common stock remains the same, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses related to the offering.
If the underwriter exercises its option to purchase additional shares in full, the as adjusted net tangible book value after the offering would be $10.98 per share, the increase in net tangible book value per share to existing stockholders would be $5.77 per share and the dilution per share to new investors would be $326.73 per share, in each case based on the assumed public offering price of $337.71 per share, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 11, 2021.
The foregoing table does not take into effect further dilution to new investors that could occur upon the exercise of outstanding options having a per share exercise price less than the public offering price per share in this offering or the vesting of outstanding RSUs.
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The outstanding share information in the table above is based on 198,179,809 shares of our Class A common stock and 87,765,770 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020 and excludes:
| 313,772 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $65.66 per share; |
| 10,164,397 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $5.45 per share; |
| 4,458,602 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the settlement of RSUs outstanding as of October 31, 2020; |
| 44,801,908 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under the 2019 Plan as of October 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the 2019 Plan; |
| 10,691,086 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under the ESPP, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP; and |
| the conversion of 10,335,132 shares of our Class B common stock to Class A common stock after October 31, 2020. |
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Material U.S. federal income tax considerations for certain non-U.S. holders
The following discussion is a summary of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences to non-U.S. holders (as defined below) of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our Class A common stock issued pursuant to this offering. This discussion is not a complete analysis of all potential U.S. federal income tax consequences relating thereto, does not address the potential application of the Medicare contribution tax on net investment income, the special tax accounting rules under Section 451(b) of the Code or the alternative minimum tax, and does not address any estate or gift tax consequences or any tax consequences arising under any state, local or foreign tax laws, or any other U.S. federal tax laws. This discussion is based on the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, judicial decisions and published rulings and administrative pronouncements of the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS), all as in effect as of the date of this prospectus. These authorities are subject to differing interpretations and may change, possibly retroactively, resulting in U.S. federal income tax consequences different from those discussed below. We have not requested a ruling from the IRS with respect to the statements made and the conclusions reached in the following summary, and there can be no assurance that the IRS or a court will agree with such statements and conclusions.
This discussion is limited to non-U.S. holders who purchase our Class A common stock pursuant to this offering and who hold our Class A common stock as a capital asset within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code (generally, property held for investment). This discussion does not address all of the U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be relevant to a particular holder in light of such holders particular circumstances. This discussion also does not consider any specific facts or circumstances that may be relevant to holders subject to special rules under the U.S. federal income tax laws, including:
| certain former citizens or long-term residents of the United States; |
| partnerships or other pass-through entities (and investors therein); |
| controlled foreign corporations; |
| passive foreign investment companies; |
| corporations that accumulate earnings to avoid U.S. federal income tax; |
| banks, financial institutions, investment funds, insurance companies, brokers, dealers or traders in securities; |
| tax-exempt organizations and governmental organizations; |
| tax-qualified retirement plans; |
| persons who hold or receive our Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of any employee stock option or otherwise as compensation; |
| qualified foreign pension funds as defined in Section 897(l)(2) of the Code and entities all of the interests of which are held by qualified foreign pension funds; |
| persons that own, or have owned, actually or constructively, more than 5% of our Class A common stock; |
| persons who have elected to mark securities to market; and |
| persons holding our Class A common stock as part of a hedging or conversion transaction or straddle, or a constructive sale, or other risk reduction strategy or integrated investment. |
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If an entity or arrangement that is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds our Class A common stock, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Partnerships holding our Class A common stock and the partners in such partnerships are urged to consult their tax advisors about the particular U.S. federal income tax consequences to them of holding and disposing of our Class A common stock.
THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TAX ADVICE. PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE PARTICULAR U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF ACQUIRING, OWNING AND DISPOSING OF OUR CLASS A COMMON STOCK, AS WELL AS ANY TAX CONSEQUENCES ARISING UNDER ANY STATE, LOCAL OR FOREIGN TAX LAWS AND ANY OTHER U.S. FEDERAL TAX LAWS.
Definition of Non-U.S. Holder
For purposes of this discussion, a non-U.S. holder is any beneficial owner of our Class A common stock that is not a U.S. person or a partnership (including any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A U.S. person is any person that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is or is treated as any of the following:
| an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States; |
| a corporation (or any entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) created or organized under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; |
| an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or |
| a trust (i) whose administration is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court and which has one or more U.S. persons who have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (ii) that has a valid election in effect under applicable Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person. |
Distributions on our Class A common stock
As described under the section titled Dividend Policy, we have not paid and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. However, if we make cash or other property distributions on our Class A common stock, such distributions will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Amounts that exceed such current and accumulated earnings and profits and, therefore, are not treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes, will constitute a return of capital and will first be applied against and reduce a holders tax basis in our Class A common stock, but not below zero. Any excess amount distributed will be treated as gain realized on the sale or other disposition of our Class A common stock and will be treated as described under the section titled Gain on Disposition of Our Class A Common Stock below.
Subject to the discussion below regarding effectively connected income, backup withholding and FATCA (as defined below), dividends paid to a non-U.S. holder of our Class A common stock generally will be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax at a rate of 30% of the gross amount of the dividends or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty. To receive the benefit of a reduced treaty rate, a non-U.S. holder must furnish us or the applicable withholding agent a valid IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E (or applicable successor form) certifying such holders qualification for the reduced rate. This certification must be provided to us or the withholding agent before the payment of dividends and must be updated periodically. If the non-U.S. holder holds the stock through a financial institution or other agent acting on the non-U.S. holders behalf, the
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non-U.S. holder will be required to provide appropriate documentation to the agent, which then will be required to provide certification to us or the withholding agent, either directly or through other intermediaries.
If a non-U.S. holder holds our Class A common stock in connection with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States, and dividends paid on our Class A common stock are effectively connected with such holders U.S. trade or business (and are attributable to such holders permanent establishment or fixed base in the United States if required by an applicable tax treaty), the non-U.S. holder will be exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax. To claim the exemption, the non-U.S. holder must generally furnish a valid IRS Form W-8ECI (or applicable successor form) to the applicable withholding agent.
However, any such effectively connected dividends paid on our Class A common stock generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis at the regular U.S. federal income tax rates in the same manner as if such holder were a resident of the United States. A non-U.S. holder that is a foreign corporation also may be subject to an additional branch profits tax equal to 30% (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty) of its effectively connected earnings and profits for the taxable year, as adjusted for certain items.
Non-U.S. holders that do not provide the required certification on a timely basis, but that qualify for a reduced treaty rate, may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for refund with the IRS.
Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding any applicable income tax treaties that may provide for different rules.
Gain on disposition of our Class A Common stock
Subject to the discussion below regarding backup withholding and FATCA, a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain realized on the sale or other disposition of our Class A common stock, unless:
| the gain is effectively connected with the non-U.S. holders conduct of a trade or business in the United States and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by the non-U.S. holder in the United States; |
| the non-U.S. holder is a nonresident alien individual present in the United States for 183 days or more during the taxable year of the disposition and certain other requirements are met; or |
| our Class A common stock constitutes a United States real property interest by reason of our status as a United States real property holding corporation (USRPHC) for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding the disposition or the non-U.S. holders holding period for our Class A common stock, and our Class A common stock is not regularly traded on an established securities market during the calendar year in which the sale or other disposition occurs. |
Determining whether we are a USRPHC depends on the fair market value of our U.S. real property interests relative to the fair market value of our worldwide real property interests and our other assets held for use in a trade or business. We believe that we are not currently and do not anticipate becoming a USRPHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, although there can be no assurance we will not in the future become a USRPHC.
Gain described in the first bullet point above generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis at the regular U.S. federal income tax rates in the same manner as if such holder were a resident of the United States. A non-U.S. holder that is a foreign corporation also may be subject to an additional branch profits tax equal to 30% (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty) of its effectively
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connected earnings and profits for the taxable year, as adjusted for certain items. Gain described in the second bullet point above will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a flat 30% rate (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty), but may be offset by certain U.S.-source capital losses (even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States), provided that the non-U.S. holder has timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses. Gain described in the third bullet point above will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax in the same manner as gain that is effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business (subject to any provisions under an applicable income tax treaty), except that the branch profits tax generally will not apply. Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding any applicable income tax treaties that may provide for different rules.
Information reporting and backup withholding
Annual reports are required to be filed with the IRS and provided to each non-U.S. holder indicating the amount of distributions on our Class A common stock paid to such holder and the amount of any tax withheld with respect to those distributions. These information reporting requirements apply even if no withholding was required because the distributions were dividends effectively connected with the holders conduct of a U.S. trade or business, or withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable income tax treaty. This information also may be made available under a specific treaty or agreement with the tax authorities in the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides or is established. Backup withholding, currently at a 24% rate, generally will not apply to payments to a non-U.S. holder of dividends on or the gross proceeds of a disposition of our Class A common stock provided the non-U.S. holder furnishes the required certification for its non-U.S. status, such as by providing a valid IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or IRS Form W-8ECI (or applicable successor form), or certain other requirements are met. Backup withholding may apply if the payor has actual knowledge, or reason to know, that the holder is a U.S. person who is not an exempt recipient.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. If any amount is withheld under the backup withholding rules, the non-U.S. holder should consult with a U.S. tax advisor regarding the possibility of and procedure for obtaining a refund or a credit against the non-U.S. holders U.S. federal income tax liability, if any.
Withholding on foreign entities
Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code (commonly referred to as FATCA) impose a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% on certain payments made to a foreign financial institution (as specially defined under these rules) unless such institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. government to withhold on certain payments and to collect and provide to the U.S. tax authorities substantial information regarding certain U.S. account holders of such institution (which includes certain equity and debt holders of such institution, as well as certain account holders that are foreign entities with U.S. owners) or an exemption applies. FATCA also generally will impose a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% on certain payments made to a non-financial foreign entity unless such entity either certifies that it does not have any substantial United States owners as defined in the Code or provides the withholding agent a certification identifying certain direct and indirect U.S. owners of the entity or an exemption applies. An intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country may modify these requirements. Under certain circumstances, a non-U.S. holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes. Under the applicable Treasury Regulations and administrative guidance, withholding under FATCA generally applies to payments of dividends on our common stock, and will apply to payments of gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of such stock, although under proposed regulations (the preamble to which specifies that taxpayers are permitted to rely on such proposed regulations pending finalization), no withholding would apply with respect to payments of gross proceeds.
Prospective investors are encouraged to consult with their own tax advisors regarding the possible implications of FATCA on their investment in our Class A common stock.
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We are offering the shares of Class A common stock described in this prospectus supplement through an underwriter. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as book-running manager of the offering. We have entered into an underwriting agreement with the underwriter. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we have agreed to sell to the underwriter, at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, the number of shares of Class A common stock listed next to its name in the following table:
Name | Number of shares |
|||
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC |
||||
|
|
|||
Total |
||||
|
The underwriter is committed to purchase all the shares of Class A common stock offered by us if they purchase any shares.
The underwriter proposes to offer the shares of Class A common stock directly to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement and to certain dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $ per share. After the initial offering of the shares to the public, the underwriter may change the offering price and the other selling terms. Sales of any shares made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriter.
The underwriter has an option to buy up to additional shares of Class A common stock from us. The underwriter has 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement to exercise this option to purchase additional shares. If any additional shares of Class A common stock are purchased, the underwriter will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.
The underwriting fee is equal to the public offering price per share of Class A common stock less the amount paid by the underwriter to us per share of Class A common stock. The underwriting fee is $ per share. The following table shows the per share and total underwriting discounts and commissions to be paid to the underwriter assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional shares.
No exercise |
Full exercise |
|||||||
Per Share |
$ | $ | ||||||
Total |
$ | $ | ||||||
|
We estimate that our share of the total expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, but excluding the underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $1.5 million. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriter for expenses relating to clearance of this offering with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) up to $35,000.
The prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the web sites maintained by the underwriter, or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The underwriter may agree to allocate a number of shares to selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the underwriter and selling group members that may make Internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.
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We and all directors and executive officers have agreed that, without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, we and they will not, during the period ending 45 days after the date of this prospectus or the restricted period:
| offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, lend or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of common stock or publicly announce the intention to enter into any such transaction; |
| file any registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the offering of any shares of common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock; or |
| enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the common stock. |
Whether any such transaction described above is to be settled by delivery of common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise. In addition, we and each such person agrees that, without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, we or such other person will not, during the restricted period, make any demand for, or exercise any right with respect to, the registration of any shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock.
The restrictions described in the immediately preceding paragraph are subject to specified exceptions, including, without limitation, the following:
| transfers of shares of common stock acquired in open market transactions after the completion of this offering provided that no filing under Section 16 of the Exchange Act would be required or voluntarily made; |
| transfers of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock (1) as bona fide gifts, charitable contributions or for bona fide estate planning purposes; (2) upon death, by will or intestate succession; (3) to an immediate family member or a trust for the direct or indirect benefit of the lock-up party or the immediate family of the lock-up party; or (4) by a lock-up party that is a trust to a trustor or beneficiary of the trust or to the estate of a beneficiary of such trust; |
| transfers or distributions of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock by a lock-up party that is a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust or other business entity (1) to limited partners, members, stockholders or holders of similar equity interests in the undersigned (or in each case its nominee or custodian) or (2) to another corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust or other business entity that is an affiliate of the lock-up party, or to any investment fund or other entity controlled or managed by the lock-up party or affiliates of the lock-up party; |
| transfers of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock that occurs by operation of law pursuant to a qualified domestic order or in connection with a divorce settlement; provided that any filing required by Section 16 of the Exchange Act shall clearly indicate in the footnotes thereto the nature and conditions of such transfer and that such transfer occurred by operation of law, court order, or in connection with a divorce settlement, as the case may be; provided further that no other public announcement or filing shall be required or shall be voluntarily made during the restricted period; |
| (1) the receipt by the lock-up party of shares of common stock upon the exercise, vesting or settlement of options, restricted stock units or other equity awards granted under a stock incentive plan or other equity |
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award plan, which plan is described in this prospectus, or (2) the transfer of shares of common stock or any securities convertible into common stock to us upon a vesting or settlement event of our restricted stock units or other securities or upon the exercise of options to purchase our securities on a cashless or net exercise basis to the extent permitted by the instruments representing such options (and any transfer to us necessary in respect of such amount needed for the payment of taxes, including estimated taxes and withholding tax and remittance obligations, due as a result of such vesting, settlement or exercise whether by means of a net settlement or otherwise) so long as such vesting, settlement, cashless exercise or net exercise is effected solely by the surrender of outstanding options (or the common stock issuable upon the exercise thereof) or shares of common stock to us and our cancellation of all or a portion thereof to pay the exercise price and/or withholding tax and remittance obligations in connection with the vesting, settlement or exercise of the restricted stock unit, option or other equity award; provided that the shares received upon vesting, settlement or exercise of the restricted stock unit, option or other equity award are subject to a lock-up agreement with the underwriter, and that in the case of (1) or (2), any filing required under Section 16 of the Exchange Act to be made during the restricted period shall include a statement to the effect that (A) such transaction reflects the circumstances described in (1) or (2), as the case may be, (B) such transaction was only with the Company and (C) in the case of (1) the shares of common stock received upon exercise or settlement of the option, restricted stock units or other equity awards are subject to the lock-up agreement with the underwriter; |
| transfers to us of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock in connection with the repurchase by us from the lock-up party of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock pursuant to a repurchase right arising upon the termination of the lock-up partys employment with us; provided that such repurchase right is pursuant to contractual agreements with us; provided further that any filing required by Section 16 of the Exchange Act shall clearly indicate in the footnotes thereto that the such transfer is being made pursuant to the circumstances described in this bullet point and that no shares or securities were sold by the reporting person; provided further that no other public announcement or filing shall be required or shall be voluntarily made during the restricted period; |
| transfers of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock pursuant to a bona fide third-party tender offer, merger, consolidation or other similar transaction that is approved by our board of directors, made to all holders of common stock involving a change of control of the Company which occurs after the consummation of this offering, is open to all holders of our capital stock and has been approved by our board of directors; provided that in the event that such tender offer, merger, consolidation or other such transaction is not completed, the securities held by the lock-up party shall remain subject to the provisions of the lock-up agreement; |
| the establishment of a trading plan pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act (such plan, a 10b5-1 Plan) for the transfer of shares of common stock; provided that (1) such plan does not provide for the transfer of common stock during the restricted period and (2) to the extent a public announcement or filing under the Exchange Act, if any, is required of or voluntarily made by or on behalf of the lock-up party or us regarding the establishment of such plan, such announcement or filing shall include a statement to the effect that no transfer of common stock may be made under such plan during the restricted period |
| transfers of shares of common stock under a 10b5-1 Plan that is existing as of the date of this prospectus, provided that to the extent a public announcement or filing under the Exchange Act is required of the lock-up party or us regarding the sale such announcement of filing shall include a statement to the effect that the sale occurred pursuant to such 10b5-1 Plan; or |
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| the conversion of outstanding Class B common stock into Class A common stock, provided that such shares of Class A common stock received upon conversion remain subject to the terms of the lock-up agreement; provided further that any filing required by Section 16 of the Exchange Act shall clearly indicate in the footnotes thereto the nature and conditions of such transfer. |
provided that:
| in the case of any transfer or distribution pursuant to the second through fourth bullets above, each donee, trustee, distributee or transferee shall sign and deliver a lock-up letter agreement; and |
| in the case of any transfer or distribution pursuant to the second and third bullets above, (1) no public announcement or filing under Section 16 of the Exchange Act, or any other public filing or disclosure shall be required or shall be voluntarily made during the restricted period, and (2) such transfer or distribution shall not involve a disposition for value. |
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, in its sole discretion, may release the securities subject to any of the lock-up agreements described above, in whole or in part at any time with or without notice.
Record holders of our securities are typically the parties to the lock-up agreements with the underwriter with us referred to above, while holders of beneficial interests in our shares who are not also record holders in respect of such shares are not typically subject to any such agreements or other similar restrictions. Accordingly, we believe that certain holders of beneficial interests who are not record holders and are not bound by lock-up agreements could enter into transactions with respect to those beneficial interests that negatively impact our stock price. In addition, a shareholder who is not subject to a lock-up agreement with the underwriter may be able to sell, short sell, transfer, hedge, pledge, lend or otherwise dispose of or attempt to sell short sell, transfer, hedge, pledge, lend or otherwise dispose of, their equity interests at any time after the closing of this offering.
We have agreed to indemnify the underwriter against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933.
Our Class A common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ZM.
In connection with this offering, the underwriter may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of Class A common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the Class A common stock while this offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of Class A common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriter of a greater number of shares of Class A common stock than they are required to purchase in this offering, and purchasing shares of Class A common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be covered shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters option to purchase additional shares referred to above, or may be naked shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriter may close out any covered short position either by exercising their option to purchase additional shares, in whole or in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriter will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriter may purchase shares through the option to purchase additional shares. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriter is concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the Class A common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering. To the extent that the underwriter creates a naked short position, it will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.
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The underwriter has advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M of the Securities Act of 1933, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the Class A common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representatives of the underwriter purchase Class A common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representatives can require the underwriter that sold those shares as part of this offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.
These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the Class A common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the Class A common stock, and, as a result, the price of the Class A common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriter commences these activities, it may discontinue them at any time. The underwriter may carry out these transactions on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.
In addition, in connection with this offering the underwriter (and selling group members) may engage in passive market making transactions in our common stock on The Nasdaq Stock Market prior to the pricing and completion of this offering. Passive market making consists of displaying bids on The Nasdaq Stock Market no higher than the bid prices of independent market makers and making purchases at prices no higher than these independent bids and effected in response to order flow. Net purchases by a passive market maker on each day are generally limited to a specified percentage of the passive market makers average daily trading volume in the common stock during a specified period and must be discontinued when such limit is reached. Passive market making may cause the price of our common stock to be higher than the price that otherwise would exist in the open market in the absence of these transactions. If passive market making is commenced, it may be discontinued at any time.
Selling restrictions
Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or the underwriter that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.
The underwriter and its affiliates have provided in the past to us and our affiliates and may provide from time to time in the future certain commercial banking, financial advisory, investment banking and other services for us and such affiliates in the ordinary course of their business, for which they have received and may continue to receive customary fees and commissions. In addition, from time to time, the underwriter and its affiliates may effect transactions for their own account or the account of customers, and hold on behalf of themselves or their customers, long or short positions in our debt or equity securities or loans, and may do so in the future.
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Notice to prospective investors in Canada
The shares of Class A common stock may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the shares of Class A common stock must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.
Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchasers province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchasers province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.
Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriter is not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.
Notice to prospective investors in the European Economic Area and the UK
In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (each a Relevant State), no shares of Class A common stock have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in that Relevant State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the shares of Class A common stock which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, except that offers of shares of Class A common stock may be made to the public in that Relevant State at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:
(a) | to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the Prospectus Regulation; |
(b) | to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the underwriter; or |
(c) | in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation, |
provided that no such offer of shares of Class A common stock shall require us or the underwriter to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the Prospectus Regulation and each person who initially acquires any shares of Class A common stock or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed to and with each of the underwriter and the Company that it is a qualified investor within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation. In the case of any shares of Class A common stock being offered to a financial intermediary as that term is used in the Prospectus Regulation, each such financial intermediary will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that the shares of Class A common stock acquired by it in the offer have not been acquired on a non-discretionary basis on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in circumstances which may give rise to an offer of any shares of Class A common stock to the public other than their offer or resale in a Relevant State to qualified investors as so defined or in circumstances in which the prior consent of the underwriter has been obtained to each such proposed offer or resale.
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For the purposes of this provision, the expression an offer to the public in relation to shares of Class A common stock in any Relevant State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any shares of Class A common stock to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any shares of Class A common stock, and the expression Prospectus Regulation means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.
Notice to prospective investors in the United Kingdom
In addition, in the United Kingdom, this document is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, and any offer subsequently made may only be directed at persons who are qualified investors (as defined in the Prospectus Regulation) (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order) and/or (ii) who are high net worth companies (or persons to whom it may otherwise be lawfully communicated) falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as relevant persons) or otherwise in circumstances which have not resulted and will not result in an offer to the public of the shares of Class A common stock in the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant person should not act or rely on the information included in this document or use it as basis for taking any action. In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity that this document relates to may be made or taken exclusively by relevant persons.
Notice to prospective investors in Switzerland
The shares of Class A common stock may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of, and has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares of Class A common stock or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.
Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company, the shares of Class A common stock have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares of Class A common stock will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of shares of Class A common stock has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (CISA). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares of Class A common stock.
Notice to prospective investors in Australia
This prospectus:
| does not constitute a disclosure document or a prospectus under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Corporations Act); |
| has not been, and will not be, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act and does not purport to include the information required of a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act; and |
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| may only be provided in Australia to select investors who are able to demonstrate that they fall within one or more of the categories of investors, available under section 708 of the Corporations Act (Exempt Investors). |
The shares of Class A common stock may not be directly or indirectly offered for subscription or purchased or sold, and no invitations to subscribe for or buy the shares of Class A common stock may be issued, and no draft or definitive offering memorandum, advertisement or other offering material relating to any shares of Class A common stock may be distributed in Australia, except where disclosure to investors is not required under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act or is otherwise in compliance with all applicable Australian laws and regulations. By submitting an application for the shares of Class A common stock, you represent and warrant to us that you are an Exempt Investor.
As any offer of shares of Class A common stock under this document will be made without disclosure in Australia under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act, the offer of those securities for resale in Australia within 12 months may, under section 707 of the Corporations Act, require disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D.2 if none of the exemptions in section 708 applies to that resale. By applying for the shares of Class A common stock you undertake to us that you will not, for a period of 12 months from the date of sale of the shares of Class A common stock, offer, transfer, assign or otherwise alienate those shares of Class A common stock to investors in Australia except in circumstances where disclosure to investors is not required under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act or where a compliant disclosure document is prepared and lodged with ASIC.
Notice to prospective investors in Japan
The shares of Class A common stock have not been and will not be registered pursuant to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Accordingly, none of the shares of Class A common stock nor any interest therein may be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the benefit of a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan in effect at the relevant time.
Notice to prospective investors in Hong Kong
The shares of Class A common stock have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (a) to professional investors as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong) (the SFO) of Hong Kong and any rules made thereunder; or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a prospectus as defined in the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32) of Hong Kong) (the CO) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the CO. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the shares of Class A common stock has been or may be issued or has been or may be in the possession of any person for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to shares of the Class A common stock which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to professional investors as defined in the SFO and any rules made thereunder.
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Notice to prospective investors in Singapore
Each underwriter has acknowledged that this prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, each underwriter has represented and agreed that it has not offered or sold any shares of Class A common stock or caused the shares of Class A common stock to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase and will not offer or sell any shares of Class A common stock or cause the shares of Class A common stock to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, and has not circulated or distributed, nor will it circulate or distribute, this prospectus or any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares of Class A common stock, whether directly or indirectly, to any person in Singapore other than:
(a) | to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore, as modified or amended from time to time (the SFA)) pursuant to Section 274 of the SFA; |
(b) | to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA; or |
(c) | otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA. |
Where the shares of Class A common stock are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:
(a) | a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or |
(b) | a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor, |
securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares of Class A common stock pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:
(i) | to an institutional investor or to a relevant person, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA; |
(ii) | where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer; |
(iii) | where the transfer is by operation of law; |
(iv) | as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA; or |
(v) | as specified in Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018. |
Singapore SFA Product ClassificationIn connection with Section 309B of the SFA and the CMP Regulations 2018, unless otherwise specified before an offer of Notes, the Issuer has determined, and hereby notifies all relevant persons (as defined in Section 309A(1) of the SFA), that the Notes are prescribed capital markets products (as defined in the CMP Regulations 2018) and Excluded Investment Products (as defined in MAS Notice SFA 04-N12: Notice on the Sale of Investment Products and MAS Notice FAA-N16: Notice on Recommendations on Investment Products).
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Notice to prospective investors in China
This prospectus will not be circulated or distributed in the PRC and the shares of Class A common stock will not be offered or sold, and will not be offered or sold to any person for re-offering or resale directly or indirectly to any residents of the PRC except pursuant to any applicable laws and regulations of the PRC. Neither this prospectus nor any advertisement or other offering material may be distributed or published in the PRC, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Notice to prospective investors in Korea
The shares of Class A common stock have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Investments Services and Capital Markets Act of Korea and the decrees and regulations thereunder (the FSCMA), and the shares of Class A common stock have been and will be offered in Korea as a private placement under the FSCMA. None of the shares of Class A common stock may be offered, sold or delivered directly or indirectly, or offered or sold to any person for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Korea or to any resident of Korea except pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations of Korea, including the FSCMA and the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law of Korea and the decrees and regulations thereunder (the FETL). Furthermore, the purchaser of the shares of Class A common stock shall comply with all applicable regulatory requirements (including but not limited to requirements under the FETL) in connection with the purchase of the shares of Class A common stock. By the purchase of the shares of Class A common stock, the relevant holder thereof will be deemed to represent and warrant that if it is in Korea or is a resident of Korea, it purchased the shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations of Korea.
Notice to prospective investors in Malaysia
No prospectus or other offering material or document in connection with the offer and sale of the shares of Class A common stock has been or will be registered with the Securities Commission of Malaysia (Commission) for the Commissions approval pursuant to the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares of Class A common stock may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the shares of Class A common stock be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Malaysia other than (i) a closed end fund approved by the Commission; (ii) a holder of a Capital Markets Services Licence; (iii) a person who acquires the shares of Class A common stock, as principal, if the offer is on terms that the shares of Class A common stock may only be acquired at a consideration of not less than RM250,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currencies) for each transaction; (iv) an individual whose total net personal assets or total net joint assets with his or her spouse exceeds RM3 million (or its equivalent in foreign currencies), excluding the value of the primary residence of the individual; (v) an individual who has a gross annual income exceeding RM300,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currencies) per annum in the preceding twelve months; (vi) an individual who, jointly with his or her spouse, has a gross annual income of RM400,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currencies), per annum in the preceding twelve months; (vii) a corporation with total net assets exceeding RM10 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currencies) based on the last audited accounts; (viii) a partnership with total net assets exceeding RM10 million (or its equivalent in foreign currencies); (ix) a bank licensee or insurance licensee as defined in the Labuan Financial Services and Securities Act 2010; (x) an Islamic bank licensee or takaful licensee as defined in the Labuan Financial Services and Securities Act 2010; and (xi) any other person as may be specified by the Commission; provided that, in the each of the preceding categories (i) to (xi), the distribution of the shares of Class A common stock is made by a holder of a Capital Markets Services Licence who carries on the business of dealing in securities. The distribution in Malaysia of this prospectus is subject to Malaysian laws. This prospectus does not constitute and may not be used for the purpose of public offering or an issue, offer for
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subscription or purchase, invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities requiring the registration of a prospectus with the Commission under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
Notice to prospective investors in Taiwan
The shares of Class A common stock have not been and will not be registered with the Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan pursuant to relevant securities laws and regulations and may not be sold, issued or offered within Taiwan through a public offering or in circumstances which constitutes an offer within the meaning of the Securities and Exchange Act of Taiwan that requires a registration or approval of the Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan. No person or entity in Taiwan has been authorised to offer, sell, give advice regarding or otherwise intermediate the offering and sale of the shares of Class A common stock in Taiwan.
Notice to prospective investors in Saudi Arabia
This document may not be distributed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia except to such persons as are permitted under the Offers of Securities Regulations as issued by the board of the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA) pursuant to resolution number 2-11-2004 dated 4 October 2004 as amended by resolution number 1-28-2008, as amended (the CMA Regulations). The CMA does not make any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this document and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss arising from, or incurred in reliance upon, any part of this document. Prospective purchasers of the securities offered hereby should conduct their own due diligence on the accuracy of the information relating to the securities. If you do not understand the contents of this document, you should consult an authorised financial adviser.
Notice to prospective investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)
This document relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Markets Rules 2012 of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). This document is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Markets Rules 2012 of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus supplement nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for this document. The securities to which this document relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the securities offered should conduct their own due diligence on the securities. If you do not understand the contents of this document you should consult an authorized financial advisor.
In relation to its use in the DIFC, this document is strictly private and confidential and is being distributed to a limited number of investors and must not be provided to any person other than the original recipient, and may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose. The interests in the securities may not be offered or sold directly or indirectly to the public in the DIFC.
Notice to prospective investors in the United Arab Emirates
The shares of Class A common stock have not been, and are not being, publicly offered, sold, promoted or advertised in the United Arab Emirates (including the Dubai International Financial Centre) other than in compliance with the laws of the United Arab Emirates (and the Dubai International Financial Centre) governing the issue, offering and sale of securities. Further, this prospectus does not constitute a public offer of securities in the United Arab Emirates (including the Dubai International Financial Centre) and is not intended to be a public offer. This prospectus has not been approved by or filed with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Securities and Commodities Authority or the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
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Notice to prospective investors in Bermuda
Shares of Class A common stock may be offered or sold in Bermuda only in compliance with the provisions of the Investment Business Act of 2003 of Bermuda which regulates the sale of securities in Bermuda. Additionally, non-Bermudian persons (including companies) may not carry on or engage in any trade or business in Bermuda unless such persons are permitted to do so under applicable Bermuda legislation.
Notice to prospective investors in the British Virgin Islands
The shares of Class A common stock are not being, and may not be offered to the public or to any person in the British Virgin Islands for purchase or subscription by or on behalf of the company. The shares of Class A common stock may be offered to companies incorporated under the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 (British Virgin Islands),BVI Companies), but only where the offer will be made to, and received by, the relevant BVI Company entirely outside of the British Virgin Islands.
Notice to prospective investors in South Africa
Due to restrictions under the securities laws of South Africa, no offer to the public (as such term is defined in the South African Companies Act, No. 71 of 2008 (as amended or re-enacted) (the South African Companies Act))is being made in connection with the issue of the shares of Class A common stock in South Africa. Accordingly, this document does not, nor is it intended to, constitute a registered prospectus (as that term is defined in the South African Companies Act) prepared and registered under the South African Companies Act and has not been approved by, and/or filed with, the South African Companies and Intellectual Property Commission or any other regulatory authority in South Africa. The shares of Class A common stock are not offered, and the offer shall not be transferred, sold, renounced or delivered, in South Africa or to a person with an address in South Africa, unless one or other of the following exemptions stipulated in section 96 (1) applies:
(1) | the offer, transfer, sale, renunciation or delivery is to: |
(i) | persons whose ordinary business, or part of whose ordinary business, is to deal in securities, as principal or agent; |
(ii) | the South African Public Investment Corporation; |
(iii) | persons or entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of South Africa; |
(iv) | authorised financial service providers under South African law; |
(v) | financial institutions recognised as such under South African law; |
(vi) | a wholly-owned subsidiary of any person or entity contemplated in (c), (d) or (e), acting as agent in the capacity of an authorised portfolio manager for a pension fund, or as manager for a collective investment scheme (in each case duly registered as such under South African law); or |
(vii) | any combination of the person in (i) to (vi); or |
(2) | the total contemplated acquisition cost of the securities, for any single addressee acting as principal is equal to or greater than ZAR1,000,000 or such higher amount as may be promulgated by notice in the Government Gazette of South Africa pursuant to section 96(2)(a) of the South African Companies Act. |
Information made available in this prospectus should not be considered as advice as defined in the South African Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002.
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Notice to prospective investors in Chile
THESE SECURITIES ARE PRIVATELY OFFERED IN CHILE PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF LAW 18,045, THE SECURITIES MARKET LAW OF CHILE, AND NORMA DE CARÁCTER GENERAL NO. 336 (RULE 336), DATED JUNE 27, 2012, ISSUED BY THE SUPERINTENDENCIA DE VALORES Y SEGUROS DE CHILE (SVS), THE SECURITIES REGULATOR OF CHILE, TO RESIDENT QUALIFIED INVESTORS THAT ARE LISTED IN RULE 336 AND FURTHER DEFINED IN RULE 216 OF JUNE 12, 2008 ISSUED BY THE SVS.
PURSUANT TO RULE 336 THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED IN CHILE TO PROSPECTIVE RESIDENT INVESTORS IN THE OFFERED SECURITIES:
1. | THE INITIATION OF THE OFFER IN CHILE IS JANUARY 12, 2021. |
2. | THE OFFER IS SUBJECT TO NCG 336 OF JUNE 27, 2012 ISSUED BY THE SUPERINTENDENCIA DE VALORES Y SEGUROS DE CHILE (SUPERINTENDENCY OF SECURITIES AND INSURANCE OF CHILE). |
3. | THE OFFER REFERS TO SECURITIES THAT ARE NOT REGISTERED IN THE REGISTRO DE VALORES (SECURITIES REGISTRY) OR THE REGISTRO DE VALORES EXTRANJEROS (FOREIGN SECURITIES REGISTRY) OF THE SVS AND THEREFORE: |
a. | THE SECURITIES ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THE OVERSIGHT OF THE SVS; AND |
b. | THERE ISSUER THEREOF IS NOT SUBJECT TO REPORTING OBLIGATION WITH RESPECT TO ITSELF OR THE OFFERED SECURITIES. |
4. | THE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE PUBLICLY OFFERED IN CHILE UNLESS AND UNTIL THEY ARE REGISTERED IN THE SECURITIES REGISTRY OF THE SVS. |
INFORMACIÓN A LOS INVERSIONISTAS RESIDENTES EN CHILE
LOS VALORES OBJETO DE ESTA OFERTA SE OFRECEN PRIVADAMENTE EN CHILE DE CONFORMIDAD CON LAS DISPOSICIONES DE LA LEY N° 18.045 DE MERCADO DE VALORES, Y LA NORMA DE CARÁCTER GENERAL N° 336 DE 27 DE JUNIO DE 2012 (NCG 336) EMITIDA POR LA SUPERINTENDENCIA DE VALORES Y SEGUROS DE CHILE, A LOS INVERSIONISTAS CALIFICADOS QUE ENUMERA LA NCG 336 Y QUE SE DEFINEN EN LA NORMA DE CARÁCTER GENERAL N° 216 DE 12 DE JUNIO DE 2008 EMITIDA POR LA MISMA SUPERINTENDENCIA.
EN CUMPLIMIENTO DE LA NCG 336, LA SIGUIENTE INFORMACIÓN SE PROPORCIONA A LOS POTENCIALES INVERSIONISTAS RESIDENTES EN CHILE:
1. | LA OFERTA DE ESTOS VALORES EN CHILE COMIENZA EL DÍA 12 DE ENERO DE 2021. |
2. | LA OFERTA SE ENCUENTRA ACOGIDA A LA NCG 336 DE FECHA ECHA 27 DE JUNIO DE 2012 EMITIDA POR LA SUPERINTENDENCIA DE VALORES Y SEGUROS. |
3. | LA OFERTA VERSA SOBRE VALORES QUE NO SE ENCUENTRAN INSCRITOS EN EL REGISTRO DE VALORES NI EN EL REGISTRO DE VALORES EXTRANJEROS QUE LLEVA LA SUPERINTENDENCIA DE VALORES Y SEGUROS, POR LO QUE: |
a) | LOS VALORES NO ESTÁN SUJETOS A LA FISCALIZACIÓN DE ESA SUPERINTENDENCIA; Y |
b) | EL EMISOR DE LOS VALORES NO ESTÁ SUJETO A LA OBLIGACIÓN DE ENTREGAR INFORMACIÓN PÚBLICA SOBRE LOS VALORES OFRECIDOS NI SU EMISOR. |
4. | LOS VALORES PRIVADAMENTE OFRECIDOS NO PODRÁN SER OBJETO DE OFERTA PÚBLICA EN CHILE MIENTRAS NO SEAN INSCRITOS EN EL REGISTRO DE VALORES CORRESPONDIENTE. |
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Notice to Prospective Investors in Brazil
The shares have not been, and will not be, registered with the Brazilian Securities Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários), or the CVM. The shares may not be offered or sold in Brazil, except in circumstances that do not constitute a public offering or unauthorized distribution under Brazilian laws and regulations. The shares are not being offered into Brazil. Documents relating to the offering of the shares, as well as information contained therein, may not be supplied to the public in Brazil, nor be used in connection with any public offer for subscription or sale of the shares to the public in Brazil.
Notice to Prospective Investors in France
Neither this document nor any other offering material relating to the shares described in this document has been submitted to the clearance procedures of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers or of the competent authority of another member state of the European Economic Area and notified to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The shares have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France. Neither this document nor any other offering material relating to the shares has been or will be:
| released, issued, distributed or caused to be released, issued or distributed to the public in France; or |
| used in connection with any offer for subscription or sale of the shares to the public in France. |
Such offers, sales and distributions will be made in France only:
| to qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) or to a restricted circle of investors (cercle restreint dinvestisseurs), in each case investing for their own account, all as defined in, and in accordance with articles L.411-2, D.411-1, D.411-2, D.734-1, D.744-1, D.754-1 and D.764-1 of the French Code monétaire et financier; |
| to investment services providers authorized to engage in portfolio management on behalf of third parties; or |
| in a transaction that, in accordance with article L.411-2-II-1° -or-2° -or 3° of the French Code monétaire et financier and article 211-2 of the General Regulations (Règlement Général) of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, does not constitute a public offer (appel public à lépargne). |
The shares may be resold directly or indirectly, only in compliance with articles L.411-1, L.411-2, L.412-1 and L.621-8 through L.621-8-3 of the French Code monétaire et financier and the applicable regulations thereunder.
Notice to Prospective Investors in Kuwait
Unless all necessary approvals from the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry required by Law No. 31/1990 Regulating the Negotiation of Securities and Establishment of Investment Funds, its Executive Regulations and the various Ministerial Orders issued pursuant thereto or in connection therewith, have been given in relation to the marketing and sale of the ordinary shares, these may not be marketed, offered for sale, nor sold in the State of Kuwait. Neither this document (including any related document), nor any of the information contained therein is intended to lead to the conclusion of any contract of whatsoever nature within Kuwait.
Notice to Prospective Investors in Qatar
The shares described in this document have not been, and will not be, offered, sold or delivered, at any time, directly or indirectly in the State of Qatar in a manner that would constitute a public offering. This document has not been, and will not be, registered with or approved by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority or Qatar Central Bank and may not be publicly distributed. This document is intended for the original recipient only and must not be provided to any other person. It is not for general circulation in the State of Qatar and may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose.
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The validity of the shares of Class A common stock being offered by this prospectus will be passed upon for us by Cooley LLP, Palo Alto, California. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., Palo Alto, California, is acting as counsel to the underwriter in connection with this offering.
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The consolidated financial statements of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. as of January 31, 2019 and 2020, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended January 31, 2020, have been incorporated by reference in this prospectus by reference to our 2020 Annual Report in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
The report on the consolidated financial statements refers to the change in accounting for leases as of February 1, 2019.
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Where you can find additional information
We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a registration statement on Form S-3, including exhibits and schedules, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), with respect to the shares of Class A common stock being offered by this prospectus supplement. This prospectus supplement, which constitutes part of the registration statement, does not contain all of the information in the registration statement and its exhibits. For further information with respect to us and the Class A common stock offered by this prospectus supplement, we refer you to the registration statement and its exhibits. Statements contained in this prospectus supplement as to the contents of any contract or any other document referred to are not necessarily complete, and in each instance, we refer you to the copy of the contract or other document filed as an exhibit to the registration statement. Each of these statements is qualified in all respects by this reference.
You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SECs website at www.sec.gov.
We are subject to the information reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and we file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. These reports, proxy statements and other information are available for inspection and copying at the website of the SEC referred to above. We also maintain a website at https://zoom.com, at which you may access these materials free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of, and is not incorporated into, this prospectus. The inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
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Incorporation of certain information by reference
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allows us to incorporate by reference information from other documents that we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus. Information in this prospectus supersedes information incorporated by reference that we filed with the SEC prior to the date of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference into this prospectus and the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the information or documents listed below that we have filed with the SEC (File No. 001-38865) and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (in each case, other than those documents or the portions of those documents not deemed to be filed) until the offering of the securities offered hereby is terminated or completed:
| our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 20, 2020; |
| our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on May 7, 2020 (excluding those portions that are not incorporated by reference into our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020); |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2020, filed with the SEC on June 5, 2020; |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on September 3, 2020; |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on December 4, 2020; |
| our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on May 6, 2020, June 4, 2020 (as amended on July 24, 2020), June 24, 2020, September 1, 2020, November 2, 2020, and December 18, 2020; and |
| the description of our Class A common stock set forth in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed with the SEC on April 8, 2019, including any amendments thereto or reports filed for the purposes of updating this description. |
Notwithstanding the statements in the preceding paragraphs, no document, report or exhibit (or portion of any of the foregoing) or any other information that we have furnished to the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act shall be incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.
Copies of our reports on Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K, and amendments to those reports may also be obtained, free of charge, electronically through our investor relations website located at investors.zoom.us as soon as reasonably practical after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.
You may also request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address or telephone number:
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
55 Almaden Boulevard, 6th Floor
San Jose, California 95113
(888) 799-9666
The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of, and is not incorporated into, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The inclusion of our website address in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
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Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus will be deemed modified, superseded or replaced for purposes of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus modifies, supersedes or replaces such statement.
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Prospectus
Class A Common Stock
Preferred Stock
Debt Securities
Warrants
From time to time, we or selling securityholders may offer and sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus, either individually or in combination with other securities in one or more offerings. We or selling securityholders may also offer securities as may be issuable upon conversion, redemption, repurchase, exchange or exercise of any securities registered hereunder, including any applicable antidilution provisions.
This prospectus provides a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we or selling securityholders offer securities pursuant to this prospectus, we will provide specific terms of these offerings and the securities offered in a supplement to this prospectus. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you in connection with these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as any documents incorporated by reference, before you invest in any of the securities being offered.
Our Class A common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol ZM. On January 11, 2021, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock was $337.71 per share. The applicable prospectus supplement will contain information, where applicable, as to any other listing on Nasdaq or any securities market or other exchange of the securities, if any, covered by the prospectus supplement.
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should review carefully the risks and uncertainties described under the heading Risk Factors contained in the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.
This prospectus may not be used to consummate a sale of any securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.
We may sell these securities directly to investors, through agents designated from time to time or to or through underwriters or dealers, on a continuous or delayed basis. For additional information on the methods of sale, you should refer to the section titled Plan of Distribution in this prospectus. If any agents or underwriters are involved in the sale of any securities with respect to which this prospectus is being delivered, the names of such agents or underwriters and any applicable fees, commissions, discounts or options to purchase additional shares will be set forth in a prospectus supplement. The price to the public of such securities and the net proceeds we expect to receive from such sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of securities by selling securityholders.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
We are an emerging growth company under the federal securities laws and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.
The date of this prospectus is January 12, 2021
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This prospectus is part of an automatic registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, utilizing a shelf registration process as a well-known seasoned issuer as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under this shelf registration process, we or selling securityholders may offer and sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus, either individually or in combination with other securities, in one or more offerings. There is no limit on the aggregate amount of the securities that we or selling securityholders may offer pursuant to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we or selling securityholders may offer.
Each time we or selling securityholders sell securities under this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus or in any documents that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, you should rely on the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, as applicable. You should read this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, together with the information incorporated herein by reference as described under the heading Incorporation of Certain Information by Reference, before investing in any of the securities offered.
THIS PROSPECTUS MAY NOT BE USED TO CONSUMMATE A SALE OF SECURITIES UNLESS IT IS ACCOMPANIED BY A PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT.
Neither we, nor any agent, underwriter or dealer has authorized any person to give any information or to make any representation other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. This prospectus, any applicable supplement to this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor does this prospectus, any applicable supplement to this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction.
You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus is accurate on any date subsequent to the date set forth on the front of the document or that any information we have incorporated by reference is correct on any date subsequent to the date of the document incorporated by reference, even though this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus is delivered, or securities are sold, on a later date.
This prospectus and the information incorporated herein by reference contain summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under the heading Where You Can Find Additional Information.
Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms Zoom, company, our, us, and we in this prospectus refer to Zoom Video Communications, Inc. and where appropriate our consolidated subsidiaries. The Zoom design logo, Zoom, Zoom Video Communications and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks or trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Other trade names, trademarks and service marks used in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.
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This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. This summary does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our securities. Before you decide to invest in our securities, you should carefully read the entire prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, including the section titled Risk Factors contained in the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus. You should also carefully read the information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements, and the exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.
ZOOM VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Our mission is to make video communications frictionless and secure.
We provide a video-first unified communications platform that delivers happiness and fundamentally changes how people interact. We connect people through frictionless and secure video, voice, chat, and content sharing and enable face-to-face video experiences for thousands of people in a single meeting across disparate devices and locations. Our cloud-native platform delivers reliable, high-quality video that is easy to use, manage, and deploy, provides an attractive return on investment, is scalable, and easily integrates with applications and physical spaces. We believe that rich and reliable communications lead to interactions that build greater empathy and trust. We strive to live up to the trust our customers place in us by delivering a communications solution that just works while prioritizing their privacy and security. Our goal is to make Zoom Meetings better than in-person meetings. Our 21 co-located data centers located worldwide and the public cloud enable us to provide both high-quality and high-definition, real-time video to our customers even in low-bandwidth environments.
Selected Risks Affecting Our Business
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described under the heading Risk Factors contained in the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, and discussed under the sections titled Risk Factors, Selected Risks Affecting Our Business, Risk Factor Summary, or similar title contained in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as may be updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings we make with the SEC, which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus in their entirety, together with other information in this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with a specific offering.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware in April 2011 under the name Saasbee, Inc., and in February 2012, we changed our name to Zoom Communications, Inc. In May 2012, we changed our name to Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 55 Almaden Boulevard, 6th Floor, San Jose, California 95113. Our telephone number is (888) 799-9666. Our website address is https://zoom.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus. The Zoom design logo, Zoom, Zoom Video Communications, and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks or trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.
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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
As a company with less than $1.07 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) enacted in April 2012. An emerging growth company may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements that are otherwise applicable to public companies. These provisions include, but are not limited to:
| not being required to comply for a certain period of time with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended; |
| reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, proxy statements and registration statements; and |
| exemptions from the requirements of holding a stockholder advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved. |
We may take advantage of these provisions until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of our Class A common stock in our initial public offering. However, if certain events occur prior to the end of such five-year period, including if (i) we become a large accelerated filer, with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (ii) our annual gross revenue exceeds $1.07 billion; or (iii) we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period, we will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such five-year period. We currently anticipate that we will lose our emerging growth company status as of the end of the fiscal year ending January 31, 2021.
We have elected to take advantage of certain of the reduced disclosure obligations in the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part and may elect to take advantage of other reduced reporting requirements in future filings. As a result, the information that we provide to our stockholders may be different than you might receive from other public reporting companies in which you hold equity interests.
In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of some accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption, and, therefore, we will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
Description of Securities
We or selling securityholders may offer shares of our Class A common stock and preferred stock, various series of debt securities and/or warrants to purchase any of such securities, either individually or in combination with other securities, from time to time under this prospectus, together with the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, at prices and on terms to be determined at the time of any offering. We may also offer Class A common stock, preferred stock and/or debt securities upon the exercise of warrants. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we or selling securityholders may offer. Each time we or selling securityholders offer a type or series of securities under this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will describe the specific amounts, prices and other important terms of the securities, including, to the extent applicable:
| designation or classification; |
| aggregate principal amount or aggregate offering price; |
| maturity date, if applicable; |
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| original issue discount, if any; |
| rates and times of payment of interest or dividends, if any; |
| redemption, conversion, exercise, exchange or sinking fund terms, if any; |
| ranking; |
| restrictive covenants, if any; |
| voting or other rights, if any; |
| conversion or exchange prices or rates, if any, and, if applicable, any provisions for changes to or adjustments in the conversion or exchange prices or rates and in the securities or other property receivable upon conversion or exchange; and |
| important U.S. federal income tax considerations. |
The applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change any of the information contained in this prospectus or in the documents we have incorporated by reference.
We or selling securityholders may sell the securities directly to investors or to or through underwriters, dealers or agents. We, and our underwriters or agents, reserve the right to accept or reject all or part of any proposed purchase of securities. If we or selling securityholders do offer securities to or through agents or underwriters, we will include in the applicable prospectus supplement:
| the names of those agents or underwriters; |
| applicable fees, discounts and commissions to be paid to them; |
| details regarding the option to purchase additional shares or other options, if any; and |
| the estimated net proceeds to us. |
This prospectus may not be used to consummate a sale of securities unless it is accompanied by a prospectus supplement.
Class A Common Stock
We may issue shares of our Class A common stock from time to time. The holders of Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share on all matters to be voted on by the stockholders. Subject to the preferences that may be applicable to any outstanding shares of preferred stock, the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to receive ratably any dividends our board of directors declares out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends. If we are liquidated, dissolved or wound up, the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to share pro rata all assets remaining after payment of liabilities and liquidation preferences of any outstanding shares of preferred stock. Holders of Class A common stock have no preemptive rights or rights to convert their Class A common stock into any other securities. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the Class A common stock. In this prospectus, we have summarized certain general features of the Class A common stock and Class B common stock under the heading Description of Capital StockClass A and Class B Common Stock. We urge you, however, to read the applicable prospectus supplement (and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you) related to any Class A common stock being offered.
Preferred Stock
We may issue shares of our preferred stock from time to time, in one or more series. Our board of directors will determine the designations, voting powers, preferences and rights of the preferred stock, as well as the
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qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, conversion rights, preemptive rights, terms of redemption or repurchase, liquidation preferences, sinking fund terms and the number of shares constituting any series or the designation of any series, or the designation of such series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock. Convertible preferred stock will be convertible into our Class A common stock or exchangeable for other securities. Conversion may be mandatory or at your option and would be at prescribed conversion rates.
If we sell any series of preferred stock under this prospectus, we will fix the designations, voting powers, preferences and rights of the preferred stock of each series we issue under this prospectus, as well as the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, in the certificate of designation relating to that series. We will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from reports that we file with the SEC, the form of any certificate of designation that contains the terms of the series of preferred stock we are offering. In this prospectus, we have summarized certain general features of the preferred stock under Description of Capital StockPreferred Stock. We urge you, however, to read the applicable prospectus supplement (and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you) related to the series of preferred stock being offered, as well as the complete certificate of designation that contains the terms of the applicable series of preferred stock.
Debt Securities
From time to time, we may issue debt securities in one or more series, as either senior or subordinated debt or as senior or subordinated convertible debt. The senior debt securities will rank equally with any other unsecured and unsubordinated debt. The subordinated debt securities will be subordinate and junior in right of payment, to the extent and in the manner described in the instrument governing the debt, to all of our senior indebtedness. Convertible or exchangeable debt securities will be convertible into or exchangeable for our Class A common stock or our other securities. Conversion or exchange may be mandatory or optional (at our option or the holders option) and would be at prescribed conversion or exchange rates.
Any debt securities issued under this prospectus will be issued under one or more documents called indentures, which are contracts between us and a national banking association or other eligible party, as trustee. In this prospectus, we have summarized certain general features of the debt securities under the heading Description of Debt Securities. We urge you, however, to read the applicable prospectus supplement (and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you) related to any series of debt securities being offered, as well as the complete indenture(s) and any supplemental indentures that contain the terms of the debt securities. We have filed a form of indenture as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from reports that we file with the SEC, supplemental indentures and forms of debt securities containing the terms of the debt securities being offered.
Warrants
We may issue warrants for the purchase of Class A common stock, preferred stock and/or debt securities, in one or more series, from time to time. We may issue warrants independently or in combination with Class A common stock, preferred stock and/or debt securities. In this prospectus, we have summarized certain general features of the warrants under the heading Description of Warrants. We urge you, however, to read the applicable prospectus supplement (and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you) related to any particular series of warrants being offered, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants. We have filed forms of the warrant agreements and forms of warrant certificates containing the terms of the warrants that we may offer as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this
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prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from reports that we file with the SEC, the form of warrant and/or the warrant agreement and warrant certificate, as applicable, that contain the terms of the particular series of warrants we are offering, and any supplemental agreements, before the issuance of such warrants.
Any warrants issued under this prospectus may be evidenced by warrant certificates. Warrants may be issued under a warrant agreement that we enter into with a warrant agent. We will indicate the name and address of the warrant agent, if applicable, in the prospectus supplement relating to the particular series of warrants being offered.
Selling Securityholders
Selling securityholders are persons or entities that, directly or indirectly, have acquired or will from time to time acquire from us, our securities. Information about selling securityholders, if any, will be set forth in a prospectus supplement. See Selling Securityholders in this prospectus.
Use of Proceeds
Except as described in any applicable prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectuses we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, we intend to use the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes, including sales and marketing activities, research and development activities, general and administrative matters, repayment of debt, other business opportunities and capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in businesses, products and technologies that are complementary to our own, although we have no current commitments or agreements with respect to any acquisitions or investments. See Use of Proceeds in this prospectus. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, we will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of our securities by selling securityholders.
The Nasdaq Global Select Market Listing
Our Class A common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ZM. The applicable prospectus supplement will contain information, where applicable, as to other listings, if any, on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or any other securities market or other exchange of the securities covered by the applicable prospectus supplement.
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Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described under the heading Risk Factors contained in the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, and discussed under the section titled Risk Factors contained in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as may be updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings we make with the SEC, which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus in their entirety, together with other information in this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with a specific offering. See Where You Can Find Additional Information and Incorporation of Certain Information by Reference. The risks described in these documents are not the only ones we face, but those that we consider to be material. There may be other unknown or unpredictable economic, business, competitive, regulatory or other factors that could have material adverse effects on our future results. Past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flow could be seriously harmed. This could cause the trading price of our securities to decline, resulting in a loss of all or part of your investment. Please also read carefully the section below titled Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus, and the documents incorporated in this prospectus by reference, contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our managements current beliefs, expectations and assumptions about future events, conditions and results and on information currently available to us. Discussions containing these forward-looking statements may be found, among other places, in the sections titled Business, Risk Factors and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations incorporated by reference from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as any amendments thereto, filed with the SEC.
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as aim, anticipate, assume, believe, contemplate, continue, could, design, due, estimate, expect, goal, intend, may, objective, plan, predict, project, positioned, potential, seek, should, target, will, would or the negative or plural of those terms, and similar expressions intended to identify statements about the future, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these statements.
These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this prospectus, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain.
Forward-looking statements in this prospectus or incorporated herein by reference include, but are not limited to, statements about our future financial performance, including our revenue, cost of revenue, gross profit, margins, and operating expenses; market trends; trends in our key business metrics; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents, investments, and cash provided by sales of our products and services to meet our efforts to enhance the security and privacy of our platform; our efforts to enhance the security and privacy of our platform; the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on our business, the business of our customers, suppliers and channel partners, and the economy; our liquidity needs; our ability to become the ubiquitous platform for communications; our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers; our ability to successfully expand in our existing markets and into new markets; our ability to effectively manage our growth and future expenses; and the impact of recent accounting pronouncements on our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
You should refer to the Risk Factors section of this prospectus, applicable prospectus supplements, any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you, our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as updated by our subsequent filings, for a discussion of other important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this prospectus will prove to be accurate. In addition, statements that we believe and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus, and although we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted a thorough inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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Except as described in any applicable prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectuses we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities offered hereby, if any, for working capital and general corporate purposes, including sales and marketing activities, research and development activities, general and administrative matters, repayment of debt, other business opportunities and capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in businesses, products and technologies that are complementary to our own, although we have no current commitments or agreements with respect to any acquisitions or investments. We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus our intended use for the net proceeds received from the sale of any securities sold pursuant to the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus.
Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, we will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of our securities by selling securityholders.
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General
The following is a summary of the rights of our common and preferred stock and some of the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws, and relevant provisions of Delaware General Corporation Law. The descriptions herein are qualified in their entirety by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as the relevant provisions of Delaware General Corporation Law.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for two classes of common stock: Class A common stock and Class B common stock, and it authorizes shares of undesignated preferred stock, the rights, preferences and privileges of which may be designated from time to time by our board of directors.
Our authorized capital stock consists of the following shares, all with a par value of $0.001 per share, of which:
| 2,000,000,000 shares are designated as Class A common stock; |
| 300,000,000 shares are designated as Class B common stock; and |
| 200,000,000 shares are designated as preferred stock. |
Class A and Class B Common Stock
All issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock are duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. All authorized but unissued shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock are available for issuance by our board of directors without any further stockholder action, except as required by the listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, except with respect to voting rights and conversion rights, the Class A common stock and Class B common stock are treated equally and identically.
Voting Rights
Holders of Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share on all matters to be voted upon by the stockholders, and holders of Class B common stock are entitled to 10 votes per share on all matters to be voted upon by the stockholders. The holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock generally vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, unless otherwise required by Delaware law or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Delaware law would permit holders of Class A common stock to vote separately, as a single class, if we were to change the par value of the Class A common stock or amend our certificate of incorporation to alter the powers, preferences or special rights of the common stock as a whole in a way that would adversely affect the holders of our Class A common stock.
In addition, Delaware law would permit holders of Class A common stock to vote separately, as a single class, if an amendment of our certificate of incorporation would adversely affect them by altering the powers, preferences, or special rights of the Class A common stock, but not the Class B common stock. As a result, in these limited instances, the holders of a majority of the Class A common stock could defeat any amendment to our certificate of incorporation. For example, if a proposed amendment of our certificate of incorporation provided for the Class A common stock to rank junior to the Class B common stock with respect to (i) any dividend or distribution, (ii) the distribution of proceeds were we to be acquired or (iii) any other right, Delaware law would require the vote of the Class A common stock. In this instance, the holders of a majority of Class A common stock could defeat that amendment to our certificate of incorporation.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the number of authorized shares of preferred stock, Class A common stock or Class B common stock may be increased or decreased (but not below the
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number of shares of preferred stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock then outstanding) by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting power of all of our outstanding capital stock, voting together as a single class (i.e., without a separate class vote of the holders of either the Class A common stock or the Class B common stock). As a result, the holders of a majority of the outstanding Class B common stock, which is entitled to 10 votes per share, can approve an increase or decrease in the number of authorized shares of Class A common stock without a separate vote of the holders of Class A common stock. This could allow us to increase and issue additional shares of Class A common stock beyond what is currently authorized in our certificate of incorporation without the consent of the holders of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting for the election of directors.
Dividend Rights
Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to ratably receive dividends if, as and when declared from time to time by our board of directors at its own discretion out of funds legally available for that purpose, after payment of dividends required to be paid on outstanding preferred stock, if any. Under Delaware law, we can only pay dividends either out of surplus or out of the current or the immediately preceding years net profits. Surplus is defined as the excess, if any, at any given time, of the total assets of a corporation over its total liabilities and statutory capital. The value of a corporations assets can be measured in a number of ways and may not necessarily equal their book value. In addition, holders of our Class A common stock would be entitled to vote separately as a class on dividends and distributions if the holders of Class A common stock were treated adversely. As a result, if the holders of Class A common stock were treated adversely in any dividend or distribution, the holders of a majority of Class A common stock could defeat that dividend or distribution.
Right to Receive Liquidation Distributions
Upon our dissolution, liquidation or winding-up or a deemed liquidation, the assets legally available for distribution to our stockholders are distributable ratably among the holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, subject to prior satisfaction of all outstanding debt and liabilities and the preferential rights and payment of liquidation preferences, if any, on any outstanding shares of preferred stock, unless a different treatment is approved by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of each class of common stock, including the Class A common stock, voting separately as a class. As a result, the holders of a majority of each class of common stock, including the Class A common stock, could defeat a proposed distribution of any assets on our liquidation, dissolution, or winding-up or deemed liquidation if that distribution were not to be shared equally, identically, and ratably. If a change of control transaction is not considered a deemed liquidation, such transaction shall require the approval of the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of each class of common stock, including the Class A common stock, voting separately as a class.
Subdivisions and Combinations
If we subdivide or combine in any manner outstanding shares of Class A common stock or Class B common stock, the outstanding shares of the other class will be subdivided or combined in the same manner, unless different treatment of the shares of each such class is approved by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock and by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock, each voting separately as a class.
Conversion
Each share of our Class B common stock is convertible at any time at the option of the holder into one share of our Class A common stock. In addition, each share of our Class B common stock will convert automatically into
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one share of our Class A common stock upon any transfer, whether or not for value, except certain transfers to entities, to the extent the transferor retains sole dispositive power and exclusive voting control with respect to the shares of Class B common stock, and certain other transfers described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. All outstanding shares of our Class B common stock will convert into shares of our Class A common stock upon the earliest of (i) the date that is six months following the death or incapacity of Eric S. Yuan, (ii) the date that is six months following the date that Mr. Yuan ceases providing services to us or his employment is terminated by us for cause, (iii) the date specified by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding shares of Class B common stock, voting separately as a class and (iv) the 15-year anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering.
Other Matters
The Class A common stock and Class B common stock have no preemptive rights pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the Class A common stock and Class B common stock. All outstanding shares of our Class A common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
Preferred Stock
Our board of directors may, without further action by our stockholders, fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of up to an aggregate of 200,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and authorize their issuance. These rights, preferences and privileges could include dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, liquidation preferences, sinking fund terms and the number of shares constituting any series or the designation of such series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of our common stock. The issuance of our preferred stock could adversely affect the voting power of holders of our common stock and the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control or other corporate action. No shares of preferred stock are outstanding.
Anti-Takeover Effects of Delaware Law and Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws
Some provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could make the following transactions more difficult: an acquisition of us by means of a tender offer; an acquisition of us by means of a proxy contest or otherwise; or the removal of our incumbent officers and directors. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish or could deter transactions that stockholders may otherwise consider to be in their best interest or in our best interests, including transactions which provide for payment of a premium over the market price for our shares.
These provisions, summarized below, are intended to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits of the increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure us outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging these proposals because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.
Dual Class Stock
As described above, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for a dual class common stock structure, which provides our founders, current investors, executives and employees with significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or our assets.
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Stockholder Meetings
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by our chairperson of the board, chief executive officer, or by a resolution adopted by a majority of our board of directors.
Requirements for Advance Notification of Stockholder Nominations and Proposals
Our amended and restated bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals to be brought before a stockholder meeting and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of the board of directors or a committee of the board of directors.
Elimination of Stockholder Action by Written Consent
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws eliminate the right of stockholders to act by written consent without a meeting.
Staggered Board
Our board of directors is divided into three classes. The directors in each class serve for a three-year term, one class being elected each year by our stockholders. This system of electing and removing directors may tend to discourage a third party from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us because it generally makes it more difficult for stockholders to replace a majority of the directors.
Removal of Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that no member of our board of directors may be removed from office by our stockholders except for cause and, in addition to any other vote required by law, upon the approval of not less than two-thirds of the total voting power of all of our outstanding voting stock then entitled to vote in the election of directors.
Stockholders Not Entitled to Cumulative Voting
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not permit stockholders to cumulate their votes in the election of directors. Accordingly, the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors can elect all of the directors standing for election, if they choose, other than any directors that holders of our preferred stock may be entitled to elect.
Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute
We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits persons deemed to be interested stockholders from engaging in a business combination with a publicly held Delaware corporation for three years following the date these persons become interested stockholders unless the business combination is, or the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder was, approved in a prescribed manner or another prescribed exception applies. Generally, an interested stockholder is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status did own, 15% or more of a corporations voting stock. Generally, a business combination includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. The existence of this provision may have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions not approved in advance by the board of directors.
Choice of Forum
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative form, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for
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the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty or other wrongdoing by any of our directors, officers or employees to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors or officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; (iv) any action or proceeding to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; (v) any action or proceeding as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (vi) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these choice of forum provisions. It is possible that a court of law could rule that either choice of forum provision to be contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation is inapplicable or unenforceable if it is challenged in a proceeding or otherwise.
Amendment of Charter Provisions
The amendment of any of the above provisions, except for the provision making it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock, would require approval by holders of at least two-thirds of the total voting power of all of our outstanding voting stock.
The provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws could have the effect of discouraging others from attempting hostile takeovers, and as a consequence, they may also inhibit temporary fluctuations in the market price of our Class A common stock that often result from actual or rumored hostile takeover attempts. These provisions may also have the effect of preventing changes in the composition of our board and management. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our Class A common stock and Class B common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The transfer agent and registrars address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, Massachusetts 02021.
Exchange Listing
Our Class A common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ZM.
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DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES
We may issue debt securities from time to time, in one or more series, as either senior or subordinated debt or as senior or subordinated convertible debt. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any debt securities that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of any debt securities offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. Unless the context requires otherwise, whenever we refer to the indenture, we also are referring to any supplemental indentures that specify the terms of a particular series of debt securities.
We will issue the debt securities under the indenture that we will enter into with the trustee named in the indenture. The indenture will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended, or the Trust Indenture Act. We have filed the form of indenture as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and supplemental indentures and forms of debt securities containing the terms of the debt securities being offered will be filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or will be incorporated by reference from reports that we file with the SEC.
The following summary of material provisions of the debt securities and the indenture is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, all of the provisions of the indenture applicable to a particular series of debt securities. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplements and any related free writing prospectuses related to the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus, as well as the complete indenture that contains the terms of the debt securities.
General
The indenture does not limit the amount of debt securities that we may issue. It provides that we may issue debt securities up to the principal amount that we may authorize and may be in any currency or currency unit that we may designate. Except for the limitations on consolidation, merger and sale of all or substantially all of our assets contained in the indenture, the terms of the indenture do not contain any covenants or other provisions designed to give holders of any debt securities protection against changes in our operations, financial condition or transactions involving us.
We may issue the debt securities issued under the indenture as discount securities, which means they may be sold at a discount below their stated principal amount. These debt securities, as well as other debt securities that are not issued at a discount, may be issued with original issue discount, or OID, for U.S. federal income tax purposes because of interest payment and other characteristics or terms of the debt securities. Material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to debt securities issued with OID will be described in more detail in any applicable prospectus supplement.
We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms of the series of debt securities being offered, including:
| the title of the series of debt securities; |
| any limit upon the aggregate principal amount that may be issued; |
| the maturity date or dates; |
| the form of the debt securities of the series; |
| the applicability of any guarantees; |
| whether or not the debt securities will be secured or unsecured, and the terms of any secured debt; |
| whether the debt securities rank as senior debt, senior subordinated debt, subordinated debt or any combination thereof, and the terms of any subordination; |
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| if the price (expressed as a percentage of the aggregate principal amount thereof) at which such debt securities will be issued is a price other than the principal amount thereof, the portion of the principal amount thereof payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity thereof, or if applicable, the portion of the principal amount of such debt securities that is convertible into another security or the method by which any such portion shall be determined; |
| the interest rate or rates, which may be fixed or variable, or the method for determining the rate and the date interest will begin to accrue, the dates interest will be payable and the regular record dates for interest payment dates or the method for determining such dates; |
| our right, if any, to defer payment of interest and the maximum length of any such deferral period; |
| if applicable, the date or dates after which, or the period or periods during which, and the price or prices at which, we may, at our option, redeem the series of debt securities pursuant to any optional or provisional redemption provisions and the terms of those redemption provisions; |
| the date or dates, if any, on which, and the price or prices at which we are obligated, pursuant to any mandatory sinking fund or analogous fund provisions or otherwise, to redeem, or at the holders option to purchase, the series of debt securities and the currency or currency unit in which the debt securities are payable; |
| the denominations in which we will issue the series of debt securities, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof; |
| any and all terms, if applicable, relating to any auction or remarketing of the debt securities of that series and any security for our obligations with respect to such debt securities and any other terms which may be advisable in connection with the marketing of debt securities of that series; |
| whether the debt securities of the series shall be issued in whole or in part in the form of a global security or securities; the terms and conditions, if any, upon which such global security or securities may be exchanged in whole or in part for other individual securities; and the depositary for such global security or securities; |
| if applicable, the provisions relating to conversion or exchange of any debt securities of the series and the terms and conditions upon which such debt securities will be so convertible or exchangeable, including the conversion or exchange price, as applicable, or how it will be calculated and may be adjusted, any mandatory or optional (at our option or the holders option) conversion or exchange features, the applicable conversion or exchange period and the manner of settlement for any conversion or exchange; |
| if other than the full principal amount thereof, the portion of the principal amount of debt securities of the series which shall be payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity thereof; |
| additions to or changes in the covenants applicable to the particular debt securities being issued, including, among others, the consolidation, merger or sale covenant; |
| additions to or changes in the events of default with respect to the securities and any change in the right of the trustee or the holders to declare the principal, premium, if any, and interest, if any, with respect to such securities to be due and payable; |
| additions to or changes in or deletions of the provisions relating to covenant defeasance and legal defeasance; |
| additions to or changes in the provisions relating to satisfaction and discharge of the indenture; |
| additions to or changes in the provisions relating to the modification of the indenture both with and without the consent of holders of debt securities issued under the indenture; |
| the currency of payment of debt securities if other than U.S. dollars and the manner of determining the equivalent amount in U.S. dollars; |
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| whether interest will be payable in cash or additional debt securities at our or the holders option and the terms and conditions upon which the election may be made; |
| the terms and conditions, if any, upon which we will pay amounts in addition to the stated interest, premium, if any, and principal amounts of the debt securities of the series to any holder that is not a United States person for federal tax purposes; |
| any restrictions on transfer, sale or assignment of the debt securities of the series; and |
| any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the debt securities, any other additions or changes in the provisions of the indenture, and any terms that may be required by us or advisable under applicable laws or regulations. |
Conversion or Exchange Rights
We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms on which a series of debt securities may be convertible into or exchangeable for our Class A common stock or our other securities. We will include provisions as to settlement upon conversion or exchange and whether conversion or exchange is mandatory, at the option of the holder or at our option. We may include provisions pursuant to which the number of shares of our Class A common stock or our other securities that the holders of the series of debt securities receive would be subject to adjustment.
Consolidation, Merger or Sale
Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, the indenture will not contain any covenant that restricts our ability to merge or consolidate, or sell, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of our assets as an entirety or substantially as an entirety. However, any successor to or acquirer of such assets (other than a subsidiary of ours) must assume all of our obligations under the indenture or the debt securities, as appropriate.
Events of Default under the Indenture
Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, the following are events of default under the indenture with respect to any series of debt securities that we may issue:
| if we fail to pay any installment of interest on any series of debt securities, as and when the same shall become due and payable, and such default continues for a period of 90 days; provided, however, that a valid extension of an interest payment period by us in accordance with the terms of any indenture supplemental thereto shall not constitute a default in the payment of interest for this purpose; |
| if we fail to pay the principal of, or premium, if any, on any series of debt securities as and when the same shall become due and payable whether at maturity, upon redemption, by declaration or otherwise, or in any payment required by any sinking or analogous fund established with respect to such series; provided, however, that a valid extension of the maturity of such debt securities in accordance with the terms of any indenture supplemental thereto shall not constitute a default in the payment of principal or premium, if any; |
| if we fail to observe or perform any other covenant or agreement contained in the debt securities or the indenture, other than a covenant specifically relating to another series of debt securities, and our failure continues for 90 days after we receive written notice of such failure, requiring the same to be remedied and stating that such is a notice of default thereunder, from the trustee or holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of the applicable series; and |
| if specified events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization occur. |
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If an event of default with respect to debt securities of any series occurs and is continuing, other than an event of default specified in the last bullet point above, the trustee or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series, by notice to us in writing, and to the trustee if notice is given by such holders, may declare the unpaid principal of, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, due and payable immediately. If an event of default specified in the last bullet point above occurs with respect to us, the principal amount of and accrued interest, if any, of each issue of debt securities then outstanding shall be due and payable without any notice or other action on the part of the trustee or any holder.
The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of an affected series may waive any default or event of default with respect to the series and its consequences, except defaults or events of default regarding payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, unless we have cured the default or event of default in accordance with the indenture. Any waiver shall cure the default or event of default.
Subject to the terms of the indenture, if an event of default under an indenture shall occur and be continuing, the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under such indenture at the request or direction of any of the holders of the applicable series of debt securities, unless such holders have offered the trustee reasonable indemnity. The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee, with respect to the debt securities of that series, provided that:
| the direction so given by the holder is not in conflict with any law or the applicable indenture; and |
| subject to its duties under the Trust Indenture Act, the trustee need not take any action that might involve it in personal liability or might be unduly prejudicial to the holders not involved in the proceeding. |
A holder of the debt securities of any series will have the right to institute a proceeding under the indenture or to appoint a receiver or trustee, or to seek other remedies only if:
| the holder has given written notice to the trustee of a continuing event of default with respect to that series; |
| the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, |
| such holders have offered to the trustee indemnity satisfactory to it against the costs, expenses and liabilities to be incurred by the trustee in compliance with the request; and |
| the trustee does not institute the proceeding and does not receive from the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series other conflicting directions within 90 days after the notice, request and offer. |
These limitations do not apply to a suit instituted by a holder of debt securities if we default in the payment of the principal, premium, if any, or interest on, the debt securities.
We will periodically file statements with the trustee regarding our compliance with specified covenants in the indenture.
Modification of Indenture; Waiver
We and the trustee may change an indenture without the consent of any holders with respect to specific matters:
| to cure any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency in the indenture or in the debt securities of any series; |
| to comply with the provisions described above under Description of Debt SecuritiesConsolidation, Merger or Sale; |
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| to provide for uncertificated debt securities in addition to or in place of certificated debt securities; |
| to add to our covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions such new covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions for the benefit of the holders of all or any series of debt securities, to make the occurrence, or the occurrence and the continuance, of a default in any such additional covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions an event of default or to surrender any right or power conferred upon us in the indenture; |
| to add to, delete from or revise the conditions, limitations, and restrictions on the authorized amount, terms, or purposes of issue, authentication and delivery of debt securities, as set forth in the indenture; |
| to make any change that does not adversely affect the interests of any holder of debt securities of any series in any material respect; |
| to provide for the issuance of and establish the form and terms and conditions of the debt securities of any series as provided above under Description of Debt SecuritiesGeneral to establish the form of any certifications required to be furnished pursuant to the terms of the indenture or any series of debt securities, or to add to the rights of the holders of any series of debt securities; |
| to evidence and provide for the acceptance of appointment under any indenture by a successor trustee; or |
| to comply with any requirements of the SEC in connection with the qualification of any indenture under the Trust Indenture Act. |
In addition, under the indenture, the rights of holders of a series of debt securities may be changed by us and the trustee with the written consent of the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series that is affected. However, unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, we and the trustee may make the following changes only with the consent of each holder of any outstanding debt securities affected:
| extending the fixed maturity of any debt securities of any series; |
| reducing the principal amount, reducing the rate of or extending the time of payment of interest, or reducing any premium payable upon the redemption of any series of any debt securities; or |
| reducing the percentage of debt securities, the holders of which are required to consent to any amendment, supplement, modification or waiver. |
Discharge
Each indenture provides that we can elect to be discharged from our obligations with respect to one or more series of debt securities, except for specified obligations, including obligations to:
| provide for payment; |
| register the transfer or exchange of debt securities of the series; |
| replace stolen, lost or mutilated debt securities of the series; |
| pay principal of and premium and interest on any debt securities of the series; |
| maintain paying agencies; |
| hold monies for payment in trust; |
| recover excess money held by the trustee; |
| compensate and indemnify the trustee; and |
| appoint any successor trustee. |
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In order to exercise our rights to be discharged, we must deposit with the trustee money or government obligations sufficient to pay all the principal of, any premium, if any, and interest on, the debt securities of the series on the dates payments are due.
Form, Exchange and Transfer
We will issue the debt securities of each series only in fully registered form without coupons and, unless we provide otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, in denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof. The indenture provides that we may issue debt securities of a series in temporary or permanent global form and as book-entry securities that will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, or another depositary named by us and identified in the applicable prospectus supplement with respect to that series. To the extent the debt securities of a series are issued in global form and as book-entry, a description of terms relating to any book-entry securities will be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement.
At the option of the holder, subject to the terms of the indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities described in the applicable prospectus supplement, the holder of the debt securities of any series can exchange the debt securities for other debt securities of the same series, in any authorized denomination and of like tenor and aggregate principal amount.
Subject to the terms of the indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the debt securities may present the debt securities for exchange or for registration of transfer, duly endorsed or with the form of transfer endorsed thereon duly executed if so required by us or the security registrar, at the office of the security registrar or at the office of any transfer agent designated by us for this purpose. Unless otherwise provided in the debt securities that the holder presents for transfer or exchange, we will impose no service charge for any registration of transfer or exchange, but we may require payment of any taxes or other governmental charges.
We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement the security registrar, and any transfer agent in addition to the security registrar, that we initially designate for any debt securities. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents or rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts, except that we will be required to maintain a transfer agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of each series.
If we elect to redeem the debt securities of any series, we will not be required to:
| issue, register the transfer of, or exchange any debt securities of that series during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of mailing of a notice of redemption of any debt securities that may be selected for redemption and ending at the close of business on the day of the mailing; or |
| register the transfer of or exchange any debt securities so selected for redemption, in whole or in part, except the unredeemed portion of any debt securities we are redeeming in part. |
Information Concerning the Trustee
The trustee, other than during the occurrence and continuance of an event of default under an indenture, undertakes to perform only those duties as are specifically set forth in the applicable indenture. Upon an event of default under an indenture, the trustee must use the same degree of care as a prudent person would exercise or use in the conduct of his or her own affairs. Subject to this provision, the trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers given it by the indenture at the request of any holder of debt securities unless it is offered reasonable security and indemnity against the costs, expenses and liabilities that it might incur.
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Payment and Paying Agents
Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make payment of the interest on any debt securities on any interest payment date to the person in whose name the debt securities, or one or more predecessor securities, are registered at the close of business on the regular record date for the interest.
We will pay principal of and any premium and interest on the debt securities of a particular series at the office of the paying agents designated by us, except that, unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make interest payments by check that we will mail to the holder or by wire transfer to certain holders. Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will designate the corporate trust office of the trustee as our sole paying agent for payments with respect to debt securities of each series. We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement any other paying agents that we initially designate for the debt securities of a particular series. We will maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of a particular series.
All money we pay to a paying agent or the trustee for the payment of the principal of or any premium or interest on any debt securities that remains unclaimed at the end of two years after such principal, premium or interest has become due and payable will be repaid to us, and the holder of the debt security thereafter may look only to us for payment thereof.
Governing Law
The indenture and the debt securities will be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, except to the extent that the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended, is applicable.
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The following description, together with the additional information we may include in any applicable prospectus supplement and free writing prospectus, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, which may consist of warrants to purchase Class A common stock, preferred stock or debt securities and may be issued in one or more series. Warrants may be offered independently or in combination with Class A common stock, preferred stock or debt securities offered by any prospectus supplement. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any series of warrants in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The following description of warrants will apply to the warrants offered by this prospectus unless we provide otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement. The applicable prospectus supplement for a particular series of warrants may specify different or additional terms.
We have filed forms of the warrant agreements and forms of warrant certificates containing the terms of the warrants that may be offered as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from reports that we file with the SEC, the form of warrant and/or the warrant agreement and warrant certificate, as applicable, that contain the terms of the particular series of warrants we are offering, and any supplemental agreements, before the issuance of such warrants. The following summaries of material terms and provisions of the warrants are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the form of warrant and/or the warrant agreement and warrant certificate, as applicable, and any supplemental agreements applicable to a particular series of warrants that we may offer under this prospectus. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement related to the particular series of warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, as well as any related free writing prospectus, and the complete form of warrant and/or the warrant agreement and warrant certificate, as applicable, and any supplemental agreements, that contain the terms of the warrants.
General
We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms of the series of warrants being offered, including:
| the offering price and aggregate number of warrants offered; |
| the currency for which the warrants may be purchased; |
| if applicable, the designation and terms of the securities with which the warrants are issued and the number of warrants issued with each such security or each principal amount of such security; |
| in the case of warrants to purchase debt securities, the principal amount of debt securities purchasable upon exercise of one warrant and the price at, and currency in which, this principal amount of debt securities may be purchased upon such exercise; |
| in the case of warrants to purchase Class A common stock or preferred stock, the number of shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock, as the case may be, purchasable upon the exercise of one warrant and the price at which these shares may be purchased upon such exercise; |
| the effect of any merger, consolidation, sale or other disposition of our business on the warrant agreements and the warrants; |
| the terms of any rights to redeem or call the warrants; |
| any provisions for changes to or adjustments in the exercise price or number of securities issuable upon exercise of the warrants; |
| the dates on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence and expire; |
| the manner in which the warrant agreements and warrants may be modified; |
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| a discussion of any material or special U.S. federal income tax considerations of holding or exercising the warrants; |
| the terms of the securities issuable upon exercise of the warrants; and |
| any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of or restrictions on the warrants. |
Before exercising their warrants, holders of warrants will not have any of the rights of holders of the securities purchasable upon such exercise, including:
| in the case of warrants to purchase debt securities, the right to receive payments of principal of, or premium, if any, or interest on, the debt securities purchasable upon exercise or to enforce covenants in the applicable indenture; or |
| in the case of warrants to purchase Class A common stock or preferred stock, the right to receive dividends, if any, or, payments upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up or to exercise voting rights, if any. |
Exercise of Warrants
Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase the securities that we specify in the applicable prospectus supplement at the exercise price that we describe in the applicable prospectus supplement. The warrants may be exercised as set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to the warrants offered. Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, warrants may be exercised at any time up to the close of business on the expiration date set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to the warrants offered thereby. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void.
Upon receipt of payment and the warrant or warrant certificate, as applicable, properly completed and duly executed at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent, if any, or any other office, including ours, indicated in the prospectus supplement, we will, as soon as practicable, issue and deliver the securities purchasable upon such exercise. If less than all of the warrants (or the warrants represented by such warrant certificate) are exercised, a new warrant or a new warrant certificate, as applicable, will be issued for the remaining warrants.
Governing Law
Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, the warrants and any warrant agreements will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
Enforceability of Rights by Holders of Warrants
Each warrant agent, if any, will act solely as our agent under the applicable warrant agreement and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust with any holder of any warrant. A single bank or trust company may act as warrant agent for more than one issue of warrants. A warrant agent will have no duty or responsibility in case of any default by us under the applicable warrant agreement or warrant, including any duty or responsibility to initiate any proceedings at law or otherwise, or to make any demand upon us. Any holder of a warrant may, without the consent of the related warrant agent or the holder of any other warrant, enforce by appropriate legal action its right to exercise, and receive the securities purchasable upon exercise of, its warrants.
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We may issue securities in registered form or in the form of one or more global securities. We describe global securities in greater detail below. We refer to those persons who have securities registered in their own names on the books that we or any applicable trustee, depositary or warrant agent maintain for this purpose as the holders of those securities. These persons are the legal holders of the securities. We refer to those persons who, indirectly through others, own beneficial interests in securities that are not registered in their own names, as indirect holders of those securities. As we discuss below, indirect holders are not legal holders, and investors in securities issued in book-entry form or in street name will be indirect holders.
Book-Entry Holders
We may issue securities in book-entry form only, as we will specify in the applicable prospectus supplement. This means securities may be represented by one or more global securities registered in the name of a financial institution that holds them as depositary on behalf of other financial institutions that participate in the depositarys book-entry system. These participating institutions, which are referred to as participants, in turn, hold beneficial interests in the securities on behalf of themselves or their customers.
Only the person in whose name a security is registered is recognized as the holder of that security. Securities issued in global form will be registered in the name of the depositary or its participants. Consequently, for securities issued in global form, we will recognize only the depositary as the holder of the securities, and we will make all payments on the securities to the depositary. The depositary passes along the payments it receives to its participants, which in turn pass the payments along to their customers who are the beneficial owners. The depositary and its participants do so under agreements they have made with one another or with their customers; they are not obligated to do so under the terms of the securities.
As a result, investors in a book-entry security will not own securities directly. Instead, they will own beneficial interests in a global security, through a bank, broker or other financial institution that participates in the depositarys book-entry system or holds an interest through a participant. As long as the securities are issued in global form, investors will be indirect holders, and not holders, of the securities.
Street Name Holders
We may terminate a global security or issue securities in non-global form. In these cases, investors may choose to hold their securities in their own names or in street name. Securities held by an investor in street name would be registered in the name of a bank, broker or other financial institution that the investor chooses, and the investor would hold only a beneficial interest in those securities through an account he or she maintains at that institution.
For securities held in street name, we will recognize only the intermediary banks, brokers and other financial institutions in whose names the securities are registered as the holders of those securities, and we will make all payments on those securities to them. These institutions pass along the payments they receive to their customers who are the beneficial owners, but only because they agree to do so in their customer agreements or because they are legally required to do so. Investors who hold securities in street name will be indirect holders, not holders, of those securities.
Legal Holders
Our obligations, as well as the obligations of any applicable trustee and of any third parties employed by us or a trustee, run only to the legal holders of the securities. We do not have obligations to investors who hold beneficial interests in global securities, in street name or by any other indirect means. This will be the case whether an investor chooses to be an indirect holder of a security or has no choice because we are issuing the securities only in global form.
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For example, once we make a payment or give a notice to the holder, we have no further responsibility for the payment or notice even if that holder is required, under agreements with depositary participants or customers or by law, to pass it along to the indirect holders but does not do so. Similarly, we may want to obtain the approval of the holders to amend an indenture, to relieve us of the consequences of a default or of our obligation to comply with a particular provision of the indenture or for other purposes. In such an event, we would seek approval only from the holders, and not the indirect holders, of the securities. Whether and how the holders contact the indirect holders is up to the holders.
Special Considerations For Indirect Holders
If you hold securities through a bank, broker or other financial institution, either in book-entry form or in street name, you should check with your own institution to find out:
| the performance of third-party service providers; |
| how it handles securities payments and notices; |
| whether it imposes fees or charges; |
| how it would handle a request for the holders consent, if ever required; |
| whether and how you can instruct it to send you securities registered in your own name so you can be a holder, if that is permitted in the future; |
| how it would exercise rights under the securities if there were a default or other event triggering the need for holders to act to protect their interests; and |
| if the securities are in book-entry form, how the depositarys rules and procedures will affect these matters. |
Global Securities
A global security is a security that represents one or any other number of individual securities held by a depositary. Generally, all securities represented by the same global securities will have the same terms.
Each security issued in book-entry form will be represented by a global security that we deposit with and register in the name of a financial institution or its nominee that we select. The financial institution that we select for this purpose is called the depositary. Unless we specify otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, DTC will be the depositary for all securities issued in book-entry form.
A global security may not be transferred to or registered in the name of anyone other than the depositary, its nominee or a successor depositary, unless special termination situations arise. We describe those situations below under the section titled Special Situations When a Global Security Will Be Terminated in this prospectus. As a result of these arrangements, the depositary, or its nominee, will be the sole registered owner and holder of all securities represented by a global security, and investors will be permitted to own only beneficial interests in a global security. Beneficial interests must be held by means of an account with a broker, bank or other financial institution that in turn has an account with the depositary or with another institution that does. Thus, an investor whose security is represented by a global security will not be a holder of the security, but only an indirect holder of a beneficial interest in the global security.
If the prospectus supplement for a particular security indicates that the security will be issued in global form only, then the security will be represented by a global security at all times unless and until the global security is terminated. If termination occurs, we may issue the securities through another book-entry clearing system or decide that the securities may no longer be held through any book-entry clearing system.
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Special Considerations For Global Securities
The rights of an indirect holder relating to a global security will be governed by the account rules of the investors financial institution and of the depositary, as well as general laws relating to securities transfers. We do not recognize an indirect holder as a holder of securities and instead deal only with the depositary that holds the global security.
If securities are issued only in the form of a global security, an investor should be aware of the following:
| an investor cannot cause the securities to be registered in his or her name, and cannot obtain non-global certificates for his or her interest in the securities, except in the special situations we describe below; |
| an investor will be an indirect holder and must look to his or her own bank or broker for payments on the securities and protection of his or her legal rights relating to the securities, as we describe above; |
| an investor may not be able to sell interests in the securities to some insurance companies and to other institutions that are required by law to own their securities in non-book-entry form; |
| an investor may not be able to pledge his or her interest in a global security in circumstances where certificates representing the securities must be delivered to the lender or other beneficiary of the pledge in order for the pledge to be effective; |
| the depositarys policies, which may change from time to time, will govern payments, transfers, exchanges and other matters relating to an investors interest in a global security; |
| we and any applicable trustee have no responsibility for any aspect of the depositarys actions or for its records of ownership interests in a global security, nor do we or any applicable trustee supervise the depositary in any way; |
| the depositary may, and we understand that DTC will, require that those who purchase and sell interests in a global security within its book-entry system use immediately available funds, and your broker or bank may require you to do so as well; and |
| financial institutions that participate in the depositarys book-entry system, and through which an investor holds its interest in a global security, may also have their own policies affecting payments, notices and other matters relating to the securities. |
There may be more than one financial intermediary in the chain of ownership for an investor. We do not monitor and are not responsible for the actions of any of those intermediaries.
Special Situations When a Global Security Will Be Terminated
In a few special situations described below, the global security will terminate and interests in it will be exchanged for physical certificates representing those interests. After that exchange, the choice of whether to hold securities directly or in street name will be up to the investor. Investors must consult their own banks or brokers to find out how to have their interests in securities transferred to their own name, so that they will be direct holders. We have described the rights of holders and street name investors above.
Unless we provide otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the global security will terminate when the following special situations occur:
| if the depositary notifies us that it is unwilling, unable or no longer qualified to continue as depositary for that global security and we do not appoint another institution to act as depositary within 90 days; |
| if we notify any applicable trustee that we wish to terminate that global security; or |
| if an event of default has occurred with regard to securities represented by that global security and has not been cured or waived. |
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The applicable prospectus supplement may also list additional situations for terminating a global security that would apply only to the particular series of securities covered by the applicable prospectus supplement. When a global security terminates, the depositary, and not we or any applicable trustee, is responsible for deciding the names of the institutions that will be the initial direct holders.
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We or selling securityholders may sell the securities from time to time pursuant to underwritten public offerings, direct sales to the public, at the market offerings, negotiated transactions, block trades or a combination of these methods. We or selling securityholders may sell the securities to or through one or more underwriters or dealers (acting as principal or agent), through agents, or directly to one or more purchasers. We or selling securityholders may distribute securities from time to time in one or more transactions:
| at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed; |
| at market prices prevailing at the time of sale; |
| at prices related to such prevailing market prices; or |
| at negotiated prices. |
We will describe the terms of the offering of the securities and the specific plan of distribution in a prospectus supplement or supplements to this prospectus, any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you, an amendment to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or other filings we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference. Such description may include, to the extent applicable:
| the name or names of any underwriters, dealers, agents or other purchasers; |
| the name or names of the selling securityholders, if any; |
| the purchase price of the securities or other consideration therefor, and the proceeds, if any, we will receive from the sale; |
| any options to purchase additional shares or other options under which underwriters, dealers, agents or other purchasers may purchase additional securities from us or any selling securityholders; |
| any agency fees or underwriting discounts and other items constituting agents or underwriters compensation; |
| any public offering price; |
| any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers; and |
| any securities exchange or market on which the securities may be listed. |
Only underwriters named in the prospectus supplement will be underwriters of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement. Dealers and agents participating in the distribution of the securities may be deemed to be underwriters, and compensation received by them on resale of the securities may be deemed to be underwriting discounts. If such dealers or agents were deemed to be underwriters, they may be subject to statutory liabilities under the Securities Act.
If underwriters are used in the sale, they will acquire the securities for their own account and may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. The obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to the conditions set forth in the applicable underwriting agreement. We or selling securityholders may offer the securities to the public through underwriting syndicates represented by managing underwriters or by underwriters without a syndicate. Subject to certain conditions, the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement, other than securities covered by any option to purchase additional shares or other option. If a dealer is used in the sale of securities, we, a selling securityholder, or an underwriter, will sell the securities to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell the securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by the dealer at the time of resale. To the extent required, we will set forth in the prospectus supplement the name of the dealer and the terms of the transaction. Any public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers may change from time to time.
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We or selling securityholders may use underwriters, dealers or agents with whom we have a material relationship. We will describe in the prospectus supplement, naming the underwriter, dealer or agent, the nature of any such relationship.
We or selling securityholders may sell securities directly or through agents we designate from time to time. We will name any agent involved in the offering and sale of securities, and we will describe any commissions payable to the agent in the prospectus supplement. Unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, the agent will act on a best-efforts basis for the period of its appointment.
We may provide agents, dealers and underwriters with indemnification against civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribution with respect to payments that the agents or dealers or underwriters may make with respect to these liabilities. Agents, dealers and underwriters or their affiliates may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business.
Selling securityholders may be deemed to be underwriters under the Securities Act in connection with the securities they resell and any profits on the sales may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act.
All securities we may offer, other than Class A common stock, will be new issues of securities with no established trading market. Any underwriters may make a market in these securities but will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. We cannot guarantee the liquidity of the trading markets for any securities.
Any underwriter may be granted an option to purchase additional shares and engage in stabilizing transactions, short-covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. An underwriters option to purchase additional shares involves sales in excess of the offering size, which create a short position. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum price. Syndicate-covering or other short-covering transactions involve purchases of the securities, either through exercise of the option to purchase additional shares or in the open market after the distribution is completed, to cover short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer are purchased in a stabilizing or covering transaction to cover short positions. Those activities may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would otherwise be. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue any of the activities at any time.
Any underwriters or dealers or agents that are qualified market makers on the Nasdaq Global Select Market may engage in passive market making transactions in the Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act, during the business day prior to the pricing of the offering, before the commencement of offers or sales of the Class A common stock. Passive market makers must comply with applicable volume and price limitations and must be identified as passive market makers. In general, a passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid for such security; if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market makers bid, however, the passive market makers bid must then be lowered when certain purchase limits are exceeded. Passive market making may stabilize the market price of the securities at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.
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Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the validity of the securities offered by this prospectus, and any supplement thereto, will be passed upon for us by Cooley LLP. Additional legal matters may be passed upon for us or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The consolidated financial statements of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. as of January 31, 2019 and 2020, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended January 31, 2020, have been incorporated by reference in this prospectus by reference to our 2020 Annual Report in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
The report on the consolidated financial statements refers to the change in accounting for leases as of February 1, 2019.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This prospectus and any prospectus supplement are part of the registration statement on Form S-3 we filed with the SEC under the Securities Act and do not contain all the information set forth or incorporated by reference in the registration statement. Whenever a reference is made in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement to any of our contracts, agreements or other documents, the reference may not be complete and you should refer to the exhibits that are a part of the registration statement or the exhibits to the reports or other documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus or prospectus supplement for a copy of such contract, agreement or other document. Because we are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, we file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments to those reports, and other information that we file with or furnish to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act can also be accessed free of charge on the Investor section of our website, which is located at investors.zoom.us. These filings will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Our website address is https://zoom.com. Information contained on or accessible through our website is not a part of this prospectus and is not incorporated by reference herein, and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
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INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allows us to incorporate by reference information from other documents that we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus. Information in this prospectus supersedes information incorporated by reference that we filed with the SEC prior to the date of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference into this prospectus and the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the information or documents listed below that we have filed with the SEC (File No. 001-38865) and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (in each case, other than those documents or the portions of those documents not deemed to be filed) until the offering of the securities offered hereby is terminated or completed:
| our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 20, 2020; |
| our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on May 7, 2020 (excluding those portions that are not incorporated by reference into our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020); |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2020, filed with the SEC on June 5, 2020; |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on September 3, 2020; |
| our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on December 4, 2020; |
| our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on May 6, 2020, June 4, 2020 (as amended on July 24, 2020), June 24, 2020, September 1, 2020, November 2, 2020, and December 18, 2020; and |
| the description of our Class A common stock set forth in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed with the SEC on April 8, 2019, including any amendments thereto or reports filed for the purposes of updating this description. |
Notwithstanding the statements in the preceding paragraphs, no document, report or exhibit (or portion of any of the foregoing) or any other information that we have furnished to the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act shall be incorporated by reference into this prospectus.
Copies of our reports on Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K, and amendments to those reports may also be obtained, free of charge, electronically through our investor relations website located at investors.zoom.us as soon as reasonably practical after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.
You may also request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address or telephone number:
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
55 Almaden Boulevard, 6th Floor
San Jose, California 95113
(888) 799-9666
The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of, and is not incorporated into, this prospectus. The inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus will be deemed modified, superseded or replaced for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus modifies, supersedes or replaces such statement.
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$1,500,000,000
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
Preliminary prospectus supplement
J.P. Morgan
, 2021