HPQ, §1A diff (2016 → 2017)

ITEM 1A. Risk Factors. The following discussion of risk factors contains forward-looking statements. These risk factors may be important for understanding any statement in this Form 10-K or elsewhere. The following information should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” and the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K. Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our results of operations, 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. Risks related to our business If we are unsuccessful at addressing our business challenges, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected and our ability to invest in and grow our business could be limited. We are in the process of addressing many challenges facing our business. One set of challenges relates to dynamic and accelerating market trends, such as the declines in the PC market and home printing. A second set of challenges relates to changes in the competitive landscape. Our primary competitors are exerting increased competitive pressure in targeted areas and are entering new markets; our emerging competitors are introducing new technologies and business models; and our alliance partners in some businesses are increasingly becoming our competitors in others. A third set of challenges relates to business model changes and our go-to-market execution. For example, we may fail to develop innovative products and services, maintain the manufacturing quality of our products, manage our distribution network or successfully market new products and services, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial condition. In addition, we are facing a series of significant macroeconomic challenges, including weakness across many geographic regions, particularly in emerging markets and Europe, and certain countries and businesses in Asia. We may experience delays in the anticipated timing of activities related to our efforts to address these challenges and higher than expected or unanticipated execution costs. In addition, we are vulnerable to increased risks associated with our efforts to address these challenges given the markets in which we compete, the broad range of geographic regions in which we and our customers and partners operate, and the ongoing integration of acquired businesses. If we do not succeed in these efforts, or if these efforts are more costly or time-consuming than expected, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected, which could limit our ability to invest in and grow our business. We operate in an intensely competitive industry and competitive pressures could harm our business and financial performance. We encounter aggressive competition from numerous and varied competitors in all areas of our business, and our competitors have targeted and are expected to continue targeting our key market segments. We compete on the basis of our technology, innovation, performance, price, quality, reliability, brand, reputation, distribution, range of products and services, ease of use of our products, account relationships, customer training, service and support and security. If our products, services, support and cost structure do not enable us to compete successfully, our results of operations and business prospects could be harmed. We have a large portfolio of products and must allocate our financial, personnel and other resources across all of our products while competing with companies that have smaller portfolios or specialize in one or more of our product lines. As a result, we may invest less in certain areas of our business than our competitors do, and our competitors may have greater financial, technical and marketing resources available to them compared to the resources allocated to our products and services that compete against their products. Companies with whom we have alliances in certain areas may be or may become our competitors in other areas. In addition, companies with whom we have alliances also may acquire or form alliances with our competitors, which could reduce their business with us. If we are unable to effectively manage these complicated relationships with alliance partners, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. We face aggressive price competition and may have to continue lowering the prices of many of our products and services to stay competitive, while at the same time trying to maintain or improve our revenue and gross margin. In addition, competitors who have a greater presence in some of the lower-cost markets in which we compete, or who can obtain better pricing, more favorable contractual terms and conditions, or more favorable allocations of products and components during periods of limited supply, may be able to offer lower prices than we are able to offer. Our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by these and other industry-wide pricing pressures. Industry consolidation may also affect competition by creating larger, more homogeneous and potentially stronger competitors in the markets in which we operate. Additionally, our competitors may affect our business by entering into exclusive arrangements with our existing or potential customers or suppliers. Because our business model is based on providing innovative and high-quality products, we may spend a proportionately greater amount of our revenues on research and development than some of our competitors. If we cannot proportionately decrease our cost structure (apart from research and development expenses) on a timely basis in response to competitive price pressures, our gross margin and, therefore, our profitability could be adversely affected. In addition, if our pricing and other facets of our offerings are not sufficiently competitive, or if there is an adverse reaction to our product decisions, we may lose market share in certain areas, which could adversely affect our financial performance and business prospects. Even if we are able to maintain or increase market share for a particular product, its financial performance could decline because the product is in a maturing industry or market segment or contains technology that is becoming obsolete. Financial performance could decline due to increased competition from other types of products. For example, growing demand for an increasing array of mobile computing devices has reduced demand for some of our existing hardware products. In addition, refill and remanufactured alternatives for some of our LaserJet toner and inkjet cartridges compete with our printing supplies business. If we cannot successfully execute our go-to-market strategy and continue to develop, manufacture and market innovative products and services, our business and financial performance may suffer. Our strategy is focused on leveraging our existing portfolio of products and services to meet the demands of a continually changing technological landscape and to offset certain areas of industry decline. To successfully execute this strategy, we must emphasize the aspects of our core business where demand remains strong, identify and capitalize on natural areas of growth, and innovate and develop new products and services that will enable us to expand beyond our existing technology categories. Any failure to successfully execute this strategy, including any failure to invest sufficiently in strategic growth areas, could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The process of developing new high-technology products and services and enhancing existing products and services is complex, costly and uncertain, and any failure by us to anticipate customers’ changing needs and emerging technological trends accurately could significantly harm our market share, results of operations and financial condition. For example, to offset industry declines in some of our businesses, we must successfully grow in adjacencies such as copier printers, maintain our strong position in graphics, develop and introduce 3D printers and execute on our strategy to grow commercial mobility by providing specialized products and services to address the needs of our customers. We must make long-term investments, develop or acquire and protect appropriate intellectual property, and commit significant research and development and other resources before knowing whether our predictions will accurately reflect customer demand for our products and services. Any failure to accurately predict technological and business trends, control research and development costs or execute our innovation strategy could harm our business and financial performance. Our research and development initiatives may not be successful in whole or in part, including research and development projects which we have prioritized with respect to funding and/or personnel. Our industry is subject to rapid and substantial innovation and technological change. Even if we successfully develop new products and technologies, future products and technologies may eventually supplant ours if we are unable to keep pace with technological advances and end-user requirements and preferences and timely enhance our existing products and technologies or develop new ones. Our competitors may also create products that replace ours. As a result, any of our products and technologies may be rendered obsolete or uneconomical. After we develop a product, we must be able to manufacture appropriate volumes quickly while also managing costs and preserving margins. To accomplish this, we must accurately forecast volumes, mixes of products and configurations that meet customer requirements, and we may not succeed at doing so within a given product’s lifecycle or at all. Any delay in the development, production or marketing of a new product, service or solution could result in us not being among the first to market, which could further harm our competitive position. If we cannot continue to produce quality products and services, our reputation, business and financial performance may suffer. In the course of conducting our business, we must adequately address quality issues associated with our products and services, including defects in our engineering, design and manufacturing processes and unsatisfactory performance under service contracts, as well as defects in third-party components included in our products and unsatisfactory performance or even malicious acts by third-party contractors or subcontractors or their employees. In order to address quality issues, we work extensively with our customers and suppliers and engage in product testing to determine the causes of problems and to develop and implement appropriate solutions. However, the products and services that we offer are complex, and our regular testing and quality control efforts may not be effective in controlling or detecting all quality issues or errors, particularly with respect to faulty components manufactured by third-parties. If we are unable to determine the cause or find an appropriate solution to address quality issues with our products, we may delay shipment to customers, which would delay revenue recognition and receipt of customer payments and could adversely affect our net revenue, cash flows and profitability. In addition, after products are delivered, quality issues may require us to repair or replace such products. Addressing quality issues can be expensive and may result in additional warranty, repair, replacement and other costs, adversely affecting our financial performance. If new or existing customers have difficulty operating our products or are dissatisfied with our services, our results of operations could be adversely affected, and we could face possible claims if we fail to meet our customers’ expectations. In addition, quality issues can impair our relationships with new or existing customers and adversely affect our brand and reputation, which could, in turn, adversely affect our results of operations. We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could adversely impact our results. Currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the euro, the British pound, Chinese yuan (renminbi) and the Japanese yen, can have an impact on our results as expressed in U.S. dollars. In particular, the economic uncertainties relating to European sovereign and other debt obligations and the related European financial restructuring efforts may cause the value of the euro to fluctuate. In addition, the United Kingdom’s June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (commonly known as “Brexit”) caused significant volatility in currency exchange rates, especially between the U.S. dollar and the British pound. Global economic events and uncertainty may cause currencies to fluctuate and currency volatility contributes to variations in our sales of products and services in impacted jurisdictions. For example, in the event that one or more European countries were to replace the euro with another currency, our sales into such countries, or into Europe generally, would likely be adversely affected until stable exchange rates are established. Accordingly, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, such as the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the euro or the British pound or the weakness of the Japanese yen, could adversely affect our net revenue growth in future periods. In addition, currency variations can adversely affect margins on sales of our products in countries outside of the United States and margins on sales of products that include components obtained from suppliers located outside of the United States. From time to time, we may use forward contracts and options designated as cash flow hedges to protect against foreign currency exchange rate risks. The effectiveness of our hedges depends on our ability to accurately forecast future cash flows, which is particularly difficult during periods of uncertain demand for our products and services and highly volatile exchange rates. We may incur significant losses from our hedging activities due to factors such as demand volatility and currency variations. In addition, certain or all of our hedging activities may be ineffective, may expire and not be renewed or may not offset any or more than a portion of the adverse financial impact resulting from currency variations. Losses associated with hedging activities also may impact our revenue, financial condition and, to a lesser extent, our cost of sales. Recent global, regional and local economic weakness and uncertainty could adversely affect our business and financial performance. Our business and financial performance depend significantly on worldwide economic conditions and the demand for technology products and services in the markets in which we compete. Recent economic weakness and uncertainty in various markets throughout the world have resulted, and may result in the future, in decreased net revenue, gross margin, earnings or growth rates and in increased expenses and difficulty in managing inventory levels. For example, we are continuing to experience macroeconomic weakness across many geographic regions, particularly in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, China and certain other high-growth markets. Ongoing U.S. federal government spending limits may continue to reduce demand for our products and services from organizations that receive funding from the U.S. government, and could negatively affect macroeconomic conditions in the United States, which could further reduce demand for our products and services. Brexit and the uncertainty surrounding the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has also begun to negatively impact markets and cause weaker macroeconomic conditions that could continue for the foreseeable future. Economic weakness and uncertainty may adversely affect demand for our products and services, may result in increased expenses due to higher allowances for doubtful accounts and potential goodwill and asset impairment charges, and may make it more difficult for us to make accurate forecasts of revenue, gross margin, cash flows and expenses. We also have experienced, and may experience in the future, gross margin declines in certain businesses, reflecting the effect of items such as competitive pricing pressures and increases in component and manufacturing costs resulting from higher labor and material costs borne by our manufacturers and suppliers that, as a result of competitive pricing pressures or other factors, we are unable to pass on to our customers. In addition, our business may be disrupted if we are unable to obtain equipment, parts or components from our suppliers-and our suppliers from their suppliers-due to the insolvency of key suppliers or the inability of key suppliers to obtain credit. Economic weakness and uncertainty could cause our expenses to vary materially from our expectations. Any financial turmoil affecting the banking system and financial markets or any significant financial services institution failures could negatively impact our treasury operations, as the financial condition of such parties may deteriorate rapidly and without notice in times of market volatility and disruption. Poor financial performance of asset markets combined with lower interest rates and the adverse effects of fluctuating currency exchange rates could lead to higher pension and post-retirement benefit expenses. Interest and other expenses could vary materially from expectations depending on changes in interest rates, borrowing costs, currency exchange rates, costs of hedging activities and the fair value of derivative instruments. Economic downturns also may lead to future restructuring actions and associated expenses. The net revenue and profitability of our operations have historically varied, which makes our future financial results less predictable. Our net revenue, gross margin and profit vary among our diverse products and services, customer groups and geographic markets and therefore will likely be different in future periods than our current results. Our net revenue depends on the overall demand for our products and services. Delays or reductions in hardware and related services spending by our customers or potential customers could have a material adverse effect on demand for our products and services, which could result in a significant decline in net revenue. In addition, net revenue declines in some of our businesses may affect net revenue in our other businesses as we may lose cross-selling opportunities. Overall gross margins and profitability in any given period are dependent partially on the product, service, customer and geographic mix reflected in that period’s net revenue. Competition, lawsuits, investigations, increases in component and manufacturing costs that we are unable to pass on to our customers, component supply disruptions and other risks affecting those businesses therefore may have a significant impact on our overall gross margin and profitability. In addition, newer geographic markets may be relatively less profitable due to our investments associated with entering those markets and local pricing pressures, and we may have difficulty establishing and maintaining the operating infrastructure necessary to support the high growth rate associated with some of those markets. Market trends, industry shifts, competitive pressures, commoditization of products, increased component or shipping costs, regulatory impacts and other factors may result in reductions in revenue or pressure on gross margins in a given period, which may lead to adjustments to our operations. Moreover, our efforts to address the challenges facing our business could increase the level of variability in our financial results because the rate at which we are able to realize the benefits from those efforts may vary from period to period. If we fail to manage the distribution of our products and services properly, our business and financial performance could suffer. We use a variety of distribution methods to sell our products and services around the world, including third-party resellers and distributors and both direct and indirect sales to enterprise accounts and consumers. Successfully managing the interaction of our direct and indirect channel efforts to reach various potential customer segments for our products and services is a complex process. Moreover, since each distribution method has distinct risks and gross margins, our failure to implement the most advantageous balance in the delivery model for our products and services could adversely affect our net revenue and gross margins and therefore our profitability. Our financial results could be materially adversely affected due to distribution channel conflicts or if the financial conditions of our channel partners were to weaken. Our results of operations may be adversely affected by any conflicts that might arise between our various distribution channels or the loss or deterioration of any alliance or distribution arrangement or the loss of retail shelf space. Moreover, some of our wholesale and retail distributors may have insufficient financial resources and may not be able to withstand changes in business conditions, including economic weakness, industry consolidation and market trends. Many of our significant distributors operate on narrow margins and have been negatively affected by business pressures in the past. Considerable trade receivables that are not covered by collateral or credit insurance are outstanding with our distribution and retail channel partners. Net revenue from indirect sales could suffer, and we could experience disruptions in distribution, if our distributors’ financial conditions, abilities to borrow funds in the credit markets or operations weaken. Our inventory management is complex, as we continue to sell a significant mix of products through distributors. We must manage both owned and channel inventory effectively, particularly with respect to sales to distributors, which involves forecasting demand and pricing challenges. Distributors may increase orders during periods of product shortages, cancel orders if their inventory is too high or delay orders in anticipation of new products. Distributors also may adjust their orders in response to the supply of our products and the products of our competitors and seasonal fluctuations in end-user demand. Our reliance upon indirect distribution methods may reduce our visibility into demand and pricing trends and issues, and therefore make forecasting more difficult. If we have excess or obsolete inventory, we may have to reduce our prices and write down inventory. Moreover, our use of indirect distribution channels may limit our willingness or ability to adjust prices quickly and otherwise to respond to pricing changes by competitors. We depend on third-party suppliers, and our financial results could suffer if we fail to manage our suppliers effectively. Our operations depend on our ability to anticipate our needs for components, products and services, as well as our suppliers’ ability to deliver sufficient quantities of quality components, products and services at reasonable prices and in time for us to meet critical schedules for the delivery of our own products and services. Given the wide variety of systems, products and services that we offer, the large number of our suppliers and contract manufacturers that are located around the world, and the long lead times required to manufacture, assemble and deliver certain components and products, problems could arise in production, planning and inventory management that could seriously harm our business. In addition, our ongoing efforts to optimize the efficiency of our supply chain could cause supply disruptions and be more expensive, time-consuming and resource intensive than expected. Furthermore, certain of our suppliers may decide to discontinue conducting business with us. Other supplier problems that we could face include component shortages, excess supply, risks related to the terms of our contracts with suppliers, risks associated with contingent workers and risks related to our relationships with single source suppliers, each of which is described below. • Component shortages. We may experience a shortage of, or a delay in receiving, certain components as a result of strong demand, capacity constraints, supplier financial weaknesses, the inability of suppliers to borrow funds in the credit markets, disputes with suppliers (some of whom are also our customers), disruptions in the operations of component suppliers, other problems experienced by suppliers or problems faced during the transition to new suppliers. For example, our PC business relies heavily upon OMs to manufacture its products and is therefore dependent upon the continuing operations of those OMs to fulfill demand for our PC products. We represent a substantial portion of the business of some of these OMs, and any changes to the nature or volume of our business transactions with a particular OM could adversely affect the operations and financial condition of the OM and lead to shortages or delays in receiving products from that OM. If shortages or delays persist, the price of certain components may increase, we may be exposed to quality issues or the components may not be available at all. We may not be able to secure enough components at reasonable prices or of acceptable quality to build products or provide services in a timely manner in the quantities needed or according to our specifications. Accordingly, our business and financial performance could suffer if we lose time-sensitive sales, incur additional freight costs or are unable to pass on price increases to our customers. If we cannot adequately address supply issues, we might have to reengineer some product or service offerings, which could result in further costs and delays. • Excess supply. In order to secure components for our products or services, at times we may make advance payments to suppliers or enter into non-cancelable commitments with vendors. In addition, we may purchase components strategically in advance of demand to take advantage of favorable pricing or to address concerns about the availability of future components. If we fail to anticipate customer demand properly, a temporary oversupply could result in excess or obsolete components, which could adversely affect our business and financial performance. • Contractual terms. As a result of binding long-term price or purchase commitments with vendors, we may be obligated to purchase components or services at prices that are higher than those available in the current market and be limited in our ability to respond to changing market conditions. If we commit to purchasing components or services for prices in excess of the then-current market price, we may be at a disadvantage to competitors who have access to components or services at lower prices, our gross margin could suffer, and we could incur additional charges relating to inventory obsolescence. In addition, many of our competitors obtain products or components from the same OMs and suppliers that we utilize. Our competitors may obtain better pricing, more favorable contractual terms and conditions, and more favorable allocations of products and components during periods of limited supply, and our ability to engage in relationships with certain OMs and suppliers could be limited. The practice employed by our PC business of purchasing product components and transferring those components to its OMs may create large supplier receivables with the OMs that, depending on the financial condition of the OMs, may create collectability risks. In addition, certain of our OMs and suppliers may decide to discontinue conducting business with us. Any of these developments could adversely affect our future results of operations and financial condition. • Contingent workers. We also rely on third-party suppliers for the provision of contingent workers, and our failure to manage our use of such workers effectively could adversely affect our results of operations. We have been exposed to various legal claims relating to the status of contingent workers in the past and could face similar claims in the future. We may be subject to shortages, oversupply or fixed contractual terms relating to contingent workers. Our ability to manage the size of, and costs associated with, the contingent workforce may be subject to additional constraints imposed by local laws. • Single-source suppliers. We obtain a significant number of components from single sources due to technology, availability, price, quality or other considerations. For example, we rely on Canon for certain laser printer engines and laser toner cartridges. We also rely on Intel to provide us with a sufficient supply of processors for many of our PCs and workstations, and we rely on AMD to provide us with a sufficient supply of processors for other products. Some of those processors are customized for our products. New products that we introduce may utilize custom components obtained from only one source initially until we have evaluated whether there is a need for additional suppliers. Replacing a single-source supplier could delay production of some products as replacement suppliers may be subject to capacity constraints or other output limitations. For some components, such as customized components and some of the processors that we obtain from Intel, or the laser printer engines and toner cartridges that we obtain from Canon, alternative sources either may not exist or may be unable to produce the quantities of those components necessary to satisfy our production requirements. In addition, we sometimes purchase components from single-source suppliers under short-term agreements that contain favorable pricing and other terms but that may be unilaterally modified or terminated by the supplier with limited notice and with little or no penalty. The performance of such single-source suppliers under those agreements (and the renewal or extension of those agreements upon similar terms) may affect the quality, quantity and price of our components. The loss of a single-source supplier, the deterioration of our relationship with a single-source supplier, or any unilateral modification to the contractual terms under which we are supplied components by a single source supplier could adversely affect our business and financial performance. Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. Our worldwide operations could be disrupted by earthquakes, telecommunications failures, power or water shortages, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics or pandemics and other natural or manmade disasters or catastrophic events, for which we are predominantly self-insured. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could result in significant losses, seriously harm our revenue, profitability and financial condition, adversely affect our competitive position, increase our costs and expenses, and require substantial expenditures and recovery time in order to fully resume operations. Our corporate headquarters and a portion of our research and development activities are located in California, and other critical business operations and some of our suppliers are located in California and Asia, near major earthquake faults known for seismic activity. The manufacture of product components, the final assembly of our products and other critical operations are concentrated in certain geographic locations. We also rely on major logistics hubs primarily in Asia to manufacture and distribute our products, and primarily in the southwestern United States to import products into the Americas region. Our operations could be adversely affected if manufacturing, logistics or other operations in these locations are disrupted for any reason, including natural disasters, IT system failures, military actions or economic, business, labor, environmental, public health, regulatory or political issues. The ultimate impact on us, our significant suppliers and our general infrastructure of being located near locations more vulnerable to the occurrence of the aforementioned business disruptions, such as near major earthquake faults, and being consolidated in certain geographical areas is unknown and remains uncertain. Our uneven sales cycle makes planning and inventory management difficult and future financial results less predictable. Our quarterly sales often have reflected a pattern in which a disproportionate percentage of each quarter’s total sales occurs towards the end of the quarter. This uneven sales pattern makes predicting net revenue, earnings, cash flow from operations and working capital for each financial period difficult, increases the risk of unanticipated variations in our quarterly results and financial condition and places pressure on our inventory management and logistics systems. If predicted demand is substantially greater than orders, there may be excess inventory. Alternatively, if orders substantially exceed predicted demand, we may not be able to fulfill all of the orders received in each quarter and such orders may be cancelled. Depending on when they occur in a quarter, developments such as a systems failure, component pricing movements, component shortages or global logistics disruptions could adversely impact our inventory levels and results of operations in a manner that is disproportionate to the number of days in the quarter affected. We experience some seasonal trends in the sale of our products that also may produce variations in our quarterly results and financial condition. For example, sales to governments (particularly sales to the U.S. government) are often stronger in the third calendar quarter, and many customers whose fiscal year is the calendar year spend their remaining capital budget authorizations in the fourth calendar quarter prior to new budget constraints in the first calendar quarter of the following year. Consumer sales are often higher in the fourth calendar quarter compared to other quarters due in part to seasonal holiday demand. European sales are often weaker during the summer months. Demand during the spring and early summer also may be adversely impacted by market anticipation of seasonal trends. Moreover, to the extent that we introduce new products in anticipation of seasonal demand trends, our discounting of existing products may adversely affect our gross margin prior to or shortly after such product launches. Typically, our third fiscal quarter is our weakest and our fourth fiscal quarter is our strongest. Many of the factors that create and affect seasonal trends are beyond our control. Due to the international nature of our business, political or economic changes or other factors could harm our business and financial performance. Sales outside the United States made up approximately 63% of our net revenue for fiscal year 2016. In addition, a portion of our business activity is being conducted in emerging markets. Our future business and financial performance could suffer due to a variety of international factors, including: • ongoing instability or changes in a country’s or region’s economic, regulatory or political conditions, including inflation, recession, interest rate fluctuations and actual or anticipated military or political conflicts or any other change resulting from Brexit; • longer collection cycles and financial instability among customers, the imposition by governments of additional taxes, tariffs or other restrictions on foreign trade or changes in restrictions on trade between the United States and other countries; • trade regulations and procedures and actions affecting production, shipping, pricing and marketing of products, including policies adopted by the United States or other countries that may champion or otherwise favor domestic companies and technologies over foreign competitors; • local labor conditions and regulations, including local labor issues faced by specific suppliers and OEMs; • managing a geographically dispersed workforce; • changes or uncertainty in the international, national or local regulatory and legal environments; • differing technology standards or customer requirements; • import, export or other business licensing requirements or requirements relating to making foreign direct investments, which could increase our cost of doing business in certain jurisdictions, prevent us from shipping products to particular countries or markets, affect our ability to obtain favorable terms for components, increase our operating costs or lead to penalties or restrictions; • stringent privacy and data protection policies in some foreign countries; • difficulties associated with repatriating earnings generated or held abroad in a tax-efficient manner and changes in tax laws; and • fluctuations in freight costs, limitations on shipping and receiving capacity, and other disruptions in the transportation and shipping infrastructure at important geographic points of exit and entry for our products and shipments. The factors described above also could disrupt our product and component manufacturing and key suppliers located outside of the United States. For example, we rely on manufacturers in Taiwan for the production of notebook computers and other suppliers in Asia for product assembly and manufacture. In many foreign countries, particularly in those with developing economies, there are companies that engage in business practices prohibited by laws and regulations applicable to us, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”). Although we implement policies, procedures and training designed to facilitate compliance with these laws, our employees, contractors and agents, as well as those of the companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, may take actions in violation of our policies. Any such violation, even if prohibited by our policies, could have an adverse effect on our business and reputation. Any failure by us to identify, manage and complete acquisitions, divestitures and other significant transactions successfully could harm our financial results, business and prospects. As part of our business strategy, we may acquire companies or businesses, divest businesses or assets, enter into strategic alliances and joint ventures and make investments to further our business (collectively, “business combination and investment transactions”). Risks associated with business combination and investment transactions include the following, any of which could adversely affect our revenue, gross margin, profitability and financial results: • Managing business combination and investment transactions requires varying levels of management resources, which may divert our attention from other business operations. • We may not fully realize all of the anticipated benefits of any particular business combination and investment transaction, and the timeframe for realizing the benefits of a particular business combination and investment transaction may depend partially upon the actions of employees, advisors, suppliers, other third-parties or market trends. • Certain prior business combination and investment transactions entered into by Hewlett-Packard Company resulted, and in the future any such transactions by us may result, in significant costs and expenses, including those related to severance pay, early retirement costs, employee benefit costs, goodwill and asset impairment charges, charges from the elimination of duplicative facilities and contracts, asset impairment charges, inventory adjustments, assumed litigation and other liabilities, legal, accounting and financial advisory fees, and required payments to executive officers and key employees under retention plans. • Any increased or unexpected costs, unanticipated delays or failure to meet contractual obligations could make business combination and investment transactions less profitable or unprofitable. • Our ability to conduct due diligence with respect to business combination and investment transactions, and our ability to evaluate the results of such due diligence, is dependent upon the veracity and completeness of statements and disclosures made or actions taken by third-parties or their representatives. • The pricing and other terms of our contracts for business combination and investment transactions require us to make estimates and assumptions at the time we enter into these contracts, and, during the course of our due diligence, we may not identify all of the factors necessary to estimate accurately our costs, timing and other matters or we may incur costs if a business combination is not consummated. • In order to complete a business combination and investment transaction, we may issue common stock, potentially creating dilution for our existing stockholders. • We may borrow to finance business combination and investment transactions, and the amount and terms of any potential future acquisition-related or other borrowings, as well as other factors, could affect our liquidity and financial condition. • Our effective tax rate on an ongoing basis is uncertain, and business combination and investment transactions could adversely impact our effective tax rate. • Any announced business combination and investment transaction may not close on the expected timeframe or at all, which may cause our financial results to differ from expectations in a given quarter. • Business combination and investment transactions may lead to litigation, which could impact our financial condition and results of operations. • If we fail to identify and successfully complete and integrate business combination and investment transactions that further our strategic objectives, we may be required to expend resources to develop products, services and technology internally, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage. We have incurred and will incur additional depreciation and amortization expense over the useful lives of certain assets acquired in connection with business combination and investment transactions, and, to the extent that the value of goodwill or intangible assets acquired in connection with a business combination and investment transaction becomes impaired, we may be required to incur additional material charges relating to the impairment of those assets. If there are future decreases in our stock price or significant changes in the business climate or results of operations of our reporting units, we may incur additional charges, which may include goodwill impairment or intangible asset charges. As part of our business strategy, we regularly evaluate the potential disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our objectives. When we decide to sell assets or a business, we may encounter difficulty in finding buyers or alternative exit strategies on acceptable terms in a timely manner, which could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives. We may also dispose of a business at a price or on terms that are less desirable than we had anticipated. In addition, we may experience greater dis-synergies than expected, and the impact of the divestiture on our revenue growth may be larger than projected. After reaching an agreement with a buyer or seller for the acquisition or disposition of a business, we are subject to satisfaction of pre-closing conditions as well as necessary regulatory and governmental approvals on acceptable terms, which, if not satisfied or obtained, may prevent us from completing the transaction. Such regulatory and governmental approvals may be required in diverse jurisdictions around the world, including jurisdictions with opaque regulatory frameworks, and any delays in the timing of such approvals could materially delay the transaction or prevent it from closing. For example, our acquisition of Samsung’s printer business is subject to regulatory review in numerous jurisdictions, including South Korea and the European Union, as well as customary closing conditions. Dispositions may also involve continued financial involvement in the divested business, such as through continuing equity ownership, guarantees, indemnities or other financial obligations. Under these arrangements, performance by the divested businesses or other conditions outside of our control could affect our future financial results. Integrating acquisitions may be difficult and time-consuming. Any failure by us to integrate acquired companies, products or services into our overall business in a timely manner could harm our financial results, business and prospects. In order to pursue our strategy successfully, we must identify candidates for and successfully complete business combination and investment transactions, some of which may be large or complex, and manage post-closing issues such as the integration of acquired businesses, products, services or employees. Integration issues are often time-consuming and expensive and, without proper planning and implementation, could significantly disrupt our business and the acquired business. The challenges involved in integration include: • successfully combining product and service offerings and entering or expanding into markets in which we are not experienced or are developing expertise; • convincing both our customers and distributors and those of the acquired business that the transaction will not diminish client service standards or business focus; • persuading both our customers and distributors and those of the acquired business not to defer purchasing decisions or switch to other suppliers (which could result in our incurring additional obligations in order to address customer uncertainty), minimizing sales force attrition and expanding and coordinating sales, marketing and distribution efforts; • consolidating and rationalizing corporate IT infrastructure, which may include multiple legacy systems from various acquisitions and integrating software code and business processes; • minimizing the diversion of management attention from ongoing business concerns; • persuading employees that business cultures are compatible, maintaining employee morale and retaining key employees, engaging with employee works councils representing an acquired company’s non-U.S. employees, integrating employees, correctly estimating employee benefit costs and implementing restructuring programs; • coordinating and combining administrative, manufacturing, research and development and other operations, subsidiaries, facilities and relationships with third-parties in accordance with local laws and other obligations while maintaining adequate standards, controls and procedures; • achieving savings from supply chain integration; and • managing integration issues shortly after or pending the completion of other independent transactions. We may not achieve some or all of the expected benefits of our restructuring plan and our restructuring may adversely affect our business. We announced a restructuring plan in October 2016 to realign our cost structure due to the changing nature of our business and to achieve operating efficiencies that we expect to reduce costs. Implementation of the restructuring plan may be costly and disruptive to our business, and we may not be able to obtain the cost savings and benefits that were initially anticipated in connection with our restructuring. Additionally, as a result of our restructuring, we may experience a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge and/or inefficiency during transitional periods. Reorganization and restructuring can require a significant amount of management and other employees’ time and focus, which may divert attention from operating and growing our business. If we fail to achieve some or all of the expected benefits of restructuring, it could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For more information about our October 2016 restructuring plan, see Note 4 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. Our financial performance may suffer if we cannot continue to develop, license or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our businesses depend. We rely upon patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws in the United States, similar laws in other countries, and agreements with our employees, customers, suppliers and other parties, to establish and maintain intellectual property (“IP”) rights in the products and services we sell, provide or otherwise use in our operations. However, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, infringed or circumvented, or such intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to permit us to take advantage of current market trends or to otherwise provide competitive advantages, either of which could result in costly product redesign efforts, discontinuance of certain product offerings or other harm to our competitive position. For example, our enforcement of inkjet printer supplies IP against infringers may be successfully challenged or our IP may be successfully circumvented. Further, the laws of certain countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Therefore, in certain jurisdictions we may be unable to protect our proprietary technology adequately against unauthorized third-party copying or use; this, too, could adversely affect our ability to sell products or services and our competitive position. Our products and services depend in part on intellectual property and technology licensed from third parties. Some of our business and some of our products rely on key technologies developed or licensed by third parties. We may not be able to obtain or continue to obtain licenses and technologies from these third parties at all or on reasonable terms, or such third parties may demand cross-licenses to our intellectual property. Third-party components may become obsolete, defective or incompatible with future versions of our products, or our relationship with the third party may deteriorate, or our agreements with the third party may expire or be terminated. We may face legal or business disputes with licensors that may threaten or lead to the disruption of inbound licensing relationships. In order to remain in compliance with the terms of our licenses, we must carefully monitor and manage our use of third-party components, including both proprietary and open source license terms that may require the licensing or public disclosure of our intellectual property without compensation or on undesirable terms. Additionally, some of these licenses may not be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable or that allow our product offerings to remain competitive. Our inability to obtain licenses or rights on favorable terms could have a material effect on our business, including our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, it is possible that as a consequence of a merger or acquisition, third parties may obtain licenses to some of our intellectual property rights or our business may be subject to certain restrictions that were not in place prior to such transaction. Because the availability and cost of licenses from third parties depends upon the willingness of third parties to deal with us on the terms we request, there is a risk that third parties who license to our competitors will either refuse to license to us at all, or refuse to license to us on terms equally favorable to those granted to our competitors. Consequently, we may lose a competitive advantage with respect to these intellectual property rights or we may be required to enter into costly arrangements in order to terminate or limit these rights. Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement are commonplace in our industry and successful third-party claims may limit or disrupt our ability to sell our products and services. Third parties also may claim that we or customers indemnified by us are infringing upon their intellectual property rights. For example, patent assertion entities may purchase intellectual property assets for the purpose of asserting claims of infringement and attempting to extract settlements from companies such as us and our customers. If we cannot or do not license allegedly infringed intellectual property at all or on reasonable terms, or if we are required to substitute similar technology from another source, our operations could be adversely affected. Even if we believe that intellectual property claims are without merit, they can be time-consuming and costly to defend against and may divert management’s attention and resources away from our business. Claims of intellectual property infringement also might require us to redesign affected products, enter into costly settlement or license agreements, pay costly damage awards, or face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from importing, marketing or selling certain of our products. Even if we have an agreement to indemnify us against such costs, the indemnifying party may be unable or unwilling to uphold its contractual obligations to us. Further, our results of operations and cash flows have been and could continue to be affected in certain periods and on an ongoing basis by the imposition, accrual and payment of copyright levies or similar fees. In certain countries (primarily in Europe), proceedings are ongoing or have been concluded in which groups representing copyright owners have sought or are seeking to impose upon and collect from us levies upon equipment (such as PCs, MFDs and printers) alleged to be copying devices under applicable laws. Other such groups have also sought to modify existing levy schemes to increase the amount of the levies that can be collected from us. Other countries that have not imposed levies on these types of devices are expected to extend existing levy schemes, and countries that do not currently have levy schemes may decide to impose copyright levies on these types of devices. The total amount of the copyright levies will depend on the types of products determined to be subject to the levy, the number of units of those products sold during the period covered by the levy, and the per unit fee for each type of product, all of which are affected by several factors, including the outcome of ongoing litigation involving us and other industry participants and possible action by the legislative bodies in the applicable countries, and could be substantial. Consequently, the ultimate impact of these copyright levies or similar fees, and our ability to recover such amounts through increased prices, remains uncertain. The allocation of intellectual property rights between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP as part of the Separation, and the shared use of certain intellectual property rights following the Separation, could adversely impact our reputation, our ability to enforce certain intellectual property rights that are important to us and our competitive position. In connection with the Separation, Hewlett-Packard Company allocated to each of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP the intellectual property assets relevant to their respective businesses. The terms of the Separation include cross-licenses and other arrangements to provide for certain ongoing use of intellectual property in the existing operations of both businesses. For example, through a joint brand holding structure, both Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP will retain the ability to make ongoing use of certain variations of the legacy Hewlett-Packard and HP branding, respectively. There is a risk that the joint brand holding structure may impair the enforcement of HP’s trademark rights against third parties that infringe them. Furthermore, as a result of this shared use of the legacy branding there is a risk that conduct or events adversely affecting the reputation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise could also adversely affect the reputation of HP. In addition, as a result of the allocation of intellectual property as part of the Separation, we no longer own intellectual property allocated to Hewlett Packard Enterprise and our resulting intellectual property ownership position could adversely affect our position and options relating to patent enforcement, patent licensing and cross-licensing, our ability to sell our products or services, our competitive position in the industry and our ability to enter new product markets. Our business and financial performance could suffer if we do not manage the risks associated with our services business properly. The risks that accompany our services business differ from those of our other businesses and include the following: • The success of our services business is to a significant degree dependent on our ability to retain our significant services clients and maintain or increase the level of revenues from these clients. We may lose clients due to their merger or acquisition, business failure, contract expiration or their selection of a competing service provider or decision to in-source services. In addition, we may not be able to retain or renew relationships with our significant clients. As a result of business downturns or for other business reasons, we are also vulnerable to reduced business from our clients, which can reduce the scope of services provided and the prices for those services. We may not be able to replace the revenue and earnings from any such lost clients or reductions in services. In addition, our contracts may allow a client to terminate the contract for convenience, and we may not be able to fully recover our investments in such circumstances. • The pricing and other terms of some of our service agreements require us to make estimates and assumptions at the time we enter into these contracts that could differ from actual results. Any increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays in connection with the performance of these engagements, including delays caused by factors outside our control, could make these agreements less profitable or unprofitable, which could have an adverse effect on the profit margin of our services business. • Some of our service agreements require significant investment in the early stages that is expected to be recovered through billings over the life of the agreement. These agreements may involve the development and deployment of new technologies. Varying degrees of performance risk exist in each agreement with these characteristics, and some or all elements of service delivery under these agreements are dependent upon successful completion of the development and deployment phases. Any failure to perform satisfactorily under these agreements may expose us to legal liability, result in the loss of customers and harm our reputation, which could harm the financial performance of our services business. • If we do not hire, train, motivate and effectively utilize employees with the right mix of skills and experience in the right geographic regions to meet the needs of our services clients, our financial performance could suffer. For example, if our employee utilization rate is too low, our profitability and the level of engagement of our employees could suffer. If that utilization rate is too high, it could have an adverse effect on employee engagement and attrition and the quality of the work performed, as well as our ability to staff projects. If we are unable to hire and retain a sufficient number of employees with the skills or backgrounds to meet current demand, we might need to redeploy existing personnel, increase our reliance on subcontractors or increase employee compensation levels, all of which could also negatively affect our profitability. In addition, if we have more employees than we need with certain skill sets or in certain geographies, we may incur increased costs as we work to rebalance our supply of skills and resources with client demand in those geographies. Failure to comply with our customer contracts or government contracting regulations could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Our contracts with our customers may include unique and specialized performance requirements. In particular, our contracts with federal, state, provincial and local governmental customers are subject to various procurement regulations, contract provisions and other requirements relating to their formation, administration and performance. Any failure by us to comply with the specific provisions in our customer contracts or any violation of government contracting regulations could result in the imposition of various civil and criminal penalties, which may include termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments and, in the case of our government contracts, fines and suspension from future government contracting. Such failures could also cause reputational damage to our business. In addition, Hewlett-Packard Company has in the past been, and we may in the future be, subject to qui tam litigation brought by private individuals on behalf of the government relating to our government contracts, which could include claims for treble damages. Further, any negative publicity related to our customer contracts or any proceedings surrounding them, regardless of its accuracy, may damage our business by affecting our ability to compete for new contracts. If our customer contracts are terminated, if we are suspended or disbarred from government work, or if our ability to compete for new contracts is adversely affected, our financial performance could suffer. Our stock price has historically fluctuated and may continue to fluctuate, which may make future prices of our stock difficult to predict. Our stock price, like that of other technology companies, can be volatile. Some of the factors that could affect our stock price are: • speculation, coverage or sentiment in the media or the investment community about, or actual changes in, our business, strategic position, market share, organizational structure, operations, financial condition, financial reporting and results, effectiveness of cost-cutting efforts, value or liquidity of our investments, exposure to market volatility, prospects, business combination or investment transactions, future stock price performance, board of directors, executive team, our competitors or our industry in general; • the announcement of new, planned or contemplated products, services, technological innovations, acquisitions, divestitures or other significant transactions by us or our competitors; • quarterly increases or decreases in net revenue, gross margin, earnings or cash flows, changes in estimates by the investment community or our financial outlook and variations between actual and estimated financial results; • announcements of actual and anticipated financial results by our competitors and other companies in the IT industry; • developments relating to pending investigations, claims and disputes; and • the timing and amount of our share repurchases. General or industry specific market conditions or stock market performance or domestic or international macroeconomic and geopolitical factors unrelated to our performance also may affect the price of our stock. For these reasons, investors should not rely on recent or historical trends to predict future stock prices, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Additional volatility in the price of our securities could result in the filing of securities class action litigation matters, which could result in substantial costs and the diversion of management time and resources. Failure to maintain our credit ratings could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, borrowing costs and access to capital markets. Our credit risk is evaluated by the major independent rating agencies. Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investor Service and Standard & Poor’s Rating Services downgraded Hewlett-Packard Company’s ratings in the past. Past downgrades have increased the cost of borrowing under our credit facilities, have reduced market capacity for our commercial paper, and may require the posting of additional collateral under some of our derivative contracts. We cannot be assured that we will be able to maintain our current credit ratings, and any additional actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under further review for a downgrade, may further impact us in a similar manner and may have a negative impact on our liquidity, capital position and access to capital markets. We make estimates and assumptions in connection with the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements, and any changes to those estimates and assumptions could adversely affect our results of operations. In connection with the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements, we use certain estimates and assumptions based on historical experience and other factors. Our most critical accounting estimates are described in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of this report. In addition, as discussed in Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, we make certain estimates, including decisions related to provisions for legal proceedings and other contingencies. While we believe that these estimates and assumptions are reasonable under the circumstances, they are subject to significant uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Should any of these estimates and assumptions change or prove to have been incorrect, it could adversely affect our results of operations. Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities could affect our financial performance. We are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. Our tax liabilities are affected by the amounts we charge in intercompany transactions for inventory, services, licenses, funding and other items. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with these intercompany transactions or other matters, and may assess additional taxes or adjust taxable income on our tax returns as a result. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, we cannot assure you that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these audits, and the amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of audits could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax expense and therefore could have a material impact on our tax provision, net income and cash flows. In addition, our effective tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by changes to our operating structure, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities or changes in tax laws. In particular, if circumstances change such that we are unable to indefinitely reinvest our foreign earnings outside the United States, future income tax expense may differ significantly from historical amounts and could materially adversely affect our results. In addition, various tax legislation has been introduced or is being considered that could significantly impact our tax rate, the carrying value of deferred tax assets, or our deferred tax liabilities. Any of these changes could affect our financial performance. In order to be successful, we must attract, retain, train, motivate, develop and transition key employees, and failure to do so could seriously harm us. In order to be successful, we must attract, retain, train, motivate, develop and transition qualified executives and other key employees, including those in managerial, technical, development, sales, marketing and IT support positions. Identifying, developing internally or hiring externally, training and retaining qualified executives, engineers and qualified sales representatives are critical to our future, and competition for experienced employees in the IT industry can be intense. In order to attract and retain executives and other key employees in a competitive marketplace, we must provide a competitive compensation package, including cash- and equity-based compensation. Our equity-based incentive awards may contain conditions relating to our stock price performance and our long-term financial performance that make the future value of those awards uncertain. If the anticipated value of such equity-based incentive awards does not materialize, if our equity-based compensation otherwise ceases to be viewed as a valuable benefit, if our total compensation package is not viewed as being competitive, or if we do not obtain the stockholder approval needed to continue granting equity-based incentive awards in the amounts we believe are necessary, our ability to attract, retain and motivate executives and key employees could be weakened. Our failure to successfully hire executives and key employees or the loss of any executives and key employees could have a significant impact on our operations. Further, changes in our management team may be disruptive to our business, and any failure to successfully transition and assimilate key new hires or promoted employees could adversely affect our business and results of operations. System security risks, data protection breaches, cyberattacks and systems integration issues could disrupt our internal operations or services provided to customers, and any such disruption could reduce our revenue, increase our expenses, damage our reputation and adversely affect our stock price. Experienced computer programmers and hackers may be able to penetrate our network security and misappropriate or compromise our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns. Computer programmers and hackers also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, and other malicious software programs that attack our products or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our products. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third-parties may contain defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of the system. The costs to us to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, including bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and other security vulnerabilities, could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful and could result in interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential customers that may impede our sales, manufacturing, distribution or other critical functions. We manage and store various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our business and our customers. Breaches of our security measures or the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data about us, our clients or our customers, including the potential loss or disclosure of such information or data as a result of fraud, trickery or other forms of deception, could expose us, our customers or the individuals affected to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, result in litigation and potential liability for us, damage our brand and reputation or otherwise harm our business. We also could lose existing or potential customers or incur significant expenses in connection with our customers’ system failures or any actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products and services. In addition, the cost and operational consequences of implementing further data protection measures could be significant. Portions of our IT infrastructure also may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with systems integration or migration work that takes place from time to time. We may not be successful in implementing new systems and transitioning data, which could cause business disruptions and be more expensive, time-consuming, disruptive and resource intensive. Such disruptions could adversely impact our ability to fulfill orders and respond to customer requests and interrupt other processes. Delayed sales, lower margins or lost customers resulting from these disruptions could reduce our revenue, increase our expenses, damage our reputation and adversely affect our stock price. Terrorist acts, conflicts, wars and geopolitical uncertainties may seriously harm our business and revenue, costs and expenses and financial condition and stock price. Terrorist acts, conflicts or wars (wherever located around the world) may cause damage or disruption to our business, our employees, facilities, partners, suppliers, distributors, resellers or customers or adversely affect our ability to manage logistics, operate our transportation and communication systems or conduct certain other critical business operations. The potential for future attacks, the national and international responses to attacks or perceived threats to national security, and other actual or potential conflicts or wars have created many economic and political uncertainties. In addition, as a major multinational company with headquarters and significant operations located in the United States, actions against or by the United States may impact our business or employees. Although it is impossible to predict the occurrences or consequences of any such events, if they occur, they could result in a decrease in demand for our products, make it difficult or impossible to provide services or deliver products to our customers or to receive components from our suppliers, create delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain and result in the need to impose employee travel restrictions. We are predominantly uninsured for losses and interruptions caused by terrorist acts, conflicts and wars. Our business is subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations that could result in costs or other sanctions that adversely affect our business and results of operations. We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations. For example, we are subject to laws and regulations concerning environmental protection, including laws addressing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the clean-up of contaminated sites, the content of our products and the recycling, treatment and disposal of our products, including batteries. In particular, we face increasing complexity in our product design and procurement operations as we adjust to new and future requirements relating to the chemical and materials composition of our products, their safe use, the energy consumption associated with those products, climate change laws and regulations, and product take-back legislation. If we were to violate or become liable under environmental laws or if our products become non-compliant with environmental laws, we could incur substantial costs or face other sanctions, which may include restrictions on our products entering certain jurisdictions. Our potential exposure includes fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage, personal injury claims and clean-up costs. Further, liability under some environmental laws relating to contaminated sites can be imposed retroactively, on a joint and several basis, and without any finding of noncompliance or fault. The amount and timing of costs to comply with environmental laws are difficult to predict. Some anti-takeover provisions contained in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt. We have provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws each of which could have the effect of rendering more difficult or discouraging an acquisition of HP deemed undesirable by our Board of Directors. These include provisions: • authorizing blank check preferred stock, which we could issue with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our common stock; • limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers; • specifying that our stockholders may take action only at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and otherwise in accordance with our bylaws and limiting the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings; • requiring advance notice of proposals by our stockholders for business to be conducted at stockholder meetings and for nominations of candidates for election to our Board of Directors; and • controlling the procedures for conduct of our Board of Directors and stockholder meetings and election, appointment and removal of our directors. These provisions, alone or together, could deter or delay hostile takeovers, proxy contests and changes in control or our management. As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prevents some stockholders from engaging in certain business combinations without approval of the holders of substantially all of our outstanding common stock. Any provision of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control of HP could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our stock and also could affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our stock. Risks Related to the Separation The separation of Hewlett-Packard Company into two independent publicly traded companies is subject to various risks and uncertainties and may not achieve some or all of the anticipated benefits. On November 1, 2015, we completed the Separation of our enterprise technology infrastructure, software, services and financing businesses from our personal systems and printing businesses. The process of completing the Separation involved significant costs and expenses. Uncertainty related to the Separation may lead customers and other parties with which we currently do business or may do business in the future to terminate or attempt to negotiate changes in our existing business relationships, or cause them to consider entering into business relationships with parties other than us. These disruptions could have a material and adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We may not realize some or all of the anticipated strategic, financial, operational, marketing or other benefits from the Separation. As an independent publicly traded company we are a smaller, less diversified company with a narrower business focus and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We continue to review our acquisitions, dispositions, and other transactions, including those related to the Separation, in light of the economic and legislative environment. The Separation could result in substantial tax liability. We obtained an opinion of outside counsel that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the Separation qualified, for both the company and our stockholders, as a tax-free reorganization within the meaning of Sections 368(d)(1)(D) and 355 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. In addition, we obtained a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and opinions of outside counsel regarding certain matters impacting the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the Separation for the company and certain related transactions as transactions that are generally tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The opinions of outside counsel and the IRS private letter ruling were based, among other things, on various factual assumptions we have authorized and representations we have made to outside counsel and the IRS. If any of these assumptions or representations are, or become, inaccurate or incomplete, reliance on the opinions and IRS private letter ruling may be affected. An opinion of outside counsel represents their legal judgment but is not binding on the IRS or any court. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not challenge the conclusions reflected in the opinions or that a court would not sustain such a challenge. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we incurred certain tax costs in connection with the Separation, including non-U.S. tax expenses resulting from the Separation in multiple non-U.S. jurisdictions that do not legally provide for tax-free Separation, which may be material. If the Separation or certain internal transactions undertaken in anticipation of the Separation are determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we and/or our stockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities. We or Hewlett Packard Enterprise may fail to perform under the transaction agreements executed as part of the Separation. In connection with the Separation, we and Hewlett Packard Enterprise entered into several agreements, including among others a transition services agreement, a separation and distribution agreement, a tax matters agreement, an employee matters agreement, a real estate matters agreement, a commercial agreement and an IT service agreement. The transition services agreement provides for the performance of certain services by each company for the benefit of the other for a transition period after the Separation. The separation and distribution agreement, tax matters agreement, employee matters agreement and real estate matters agreement determine the allocation of assets and liabilities between the companies following the Separation for those respective areas and include any necessary indemnifications related to liabilities and obligations. The commercial agreement establishes a bilateral relationship between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and us for the purchase and sale of commercially available products and services for internal use, incorporation and bundling in OEM products and services, resale to customers and use in the provision of managed services to customers, as well as joint customer pursuits and joint development activities. The IT service agreement provides for the performance by one of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s subsidiaries of certain application development and maintenance and IT infrastructure services for us. We will rely on Hewlett Packard Enterprise to satisfy its performance and payment obligations under these agreements. If Hewlett Packard Enterprise is unable to satisfy its obligations under these agreements, we could incur operational difficulties or losses that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. ITEM 1B.