IT, §1A diff (2019 → 2020)

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS. We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment that involves numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. In addition, we and our clients are affected by global economic conditions and trends. The following sections address significant factors, events and uncertainties that make an investment in our securities risky. We urge you to consider carefully the factors described below and the risks that they present for our operations, as well as the risks addressed in other reports and materials that we file with the SEC and the other information, included or incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K. When the factors, events and contingencies described below or elsewhere in this Form 10-K materialize there could be a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows, and could therefore have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock. Additional risks not currently known to us or that we now deem immaterial may also harm us and negatively affect your investment. In addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global disruptions on our business and operations discussed in Item 7 of this Form 10-K and in the risk factors below, additional or unforeseen effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic climate may give rise to or amplify many of these risks discussed below. Risks Related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic is having a material adverse impact on our operations and financial performance, as well as on the operations and financial performance of many of our customers, and the duration and extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect our operations, financial performance, results of operations, achievement of strategic objectives, and/or stock price remains uncertain. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our operations, financial performance and demand for our products and services. It has also adversely affected the operations and financial performance of many of our clients. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and is expected to continue to result in, a substantial curtailment of business activities (including the decrease in demand for a broad variety of products and services both regionally and globally), weakened economic conditions, significant economic uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has subjected our operations and financial performance to a number of risks that may have a material adverse impact on our operations and financial condition, including, but not limited to those discussed below: •Cost-saving measures by our clients have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, their ability or willingness to attend our conferences, purchase our products or engage our consultants. Such measures also lengthened payment terms in some of our contracts and negatively impacted retention rates. Such measures could also reduce the duration of some of our subscription contracts and delay purchasing decisions of potential clients. •We have temporarily closed Gartner offices (including our corporate headquarters) in the United States, United Kingdom, India, and several other impacted locations around the world and implemented significant travel restrictions. Though many of our employees continue to work remotely, these changes impact the normal operation of our business. Although we have plans to reopen most offices in the fall of 2021, reopening is subject to many factors outside of our control. As a result, we cannot predict for certain when or how we will begin to lift the actions put in place as part of our business continuity plans, including work from home protocols and travel restrictions. •We have cancelled or postponed all in-person conferences through at least August 2021, pivoting to virtual conferences. We held 15 virtual conferences during the second half of 2020, and plan on holding approximately 20 virtual conferences from February 2021 through August 2021. These virtual conferences are expected to result in significantly less revenue and gross contribution, but we believe aid in client retention and engagement. For additional information about how COVID-19 affects our Conferences business, see the Risk Factor titled “The profitability and success of our conferences and other meetings are subject to external factors beyond our control.” •Our management is focused on mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on our business, which has required and will continue to require, a substantial investment of time and may delay other value-added services. Additionally, we face challenges from evolving factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control, remain uncertain and to which we may not effectively respond. For example, our operations span numerous locations around the world, and many local governments and countries have imposed or may impose various restrictions on our employees, partners and customers’ physical movement to limit the spread of COVID-19. These restrictions are constantly changing, and we cannot predict how long and to what extent they will continue. Moreover, COVID-19 has adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our subscription-based business model (which accounts for a significant portion of our revenue) by causing clients to decrease new and renewals of subscription-based services and to request to cancel or renegotiate current subscription-based services. The effect of COVID-19 on our subscription-based model may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. Further, the duration and extent of the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our operations and financial performance depend on future developments that cannot currently be accurately predicted, such as: •the severity and transmission rate of the virus; •the extent and effectiveness of containment actions; •the timing of the development and distribution of effective vaccines and/or treatments and their acceptance by the general public; •the health and well-being of our workforce; •the extent and duration of the effect on client spending and the impact of these and other factors on our employees, customers, partners and vendors; •the impact on our liquidity; •increased volatility and pricing in the capital markets; •the effect of the pandemic on the credit-worthiness of our customers; •global economic conditions and levels of economic growth; and •the pace of recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The occurrence or continuation of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial performance. The impact of COVID-19, and the volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from the pandemic, may also precipitate or exacerbate other risks discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could have a material effect on us. This situation is changing rapidly and additional effects may arise that we are not presently aware of or that we currently do not consider to present significant risks to our operations. If we are not able to respond to and manage the impact of such events effectively, our business and financial condition will be negatively impacted. Strategic and Operational Risks We may not be able to maintain the quality of our existing products and services. We operate in a rapidly evolving market, and our success depends on our ability to deliver high quality and timely research and analysis to our clients. Any failure to continue to provide credible and reliable information and advice that is useful to our clients could have a material adverse effect on future business and operating results. Further, if our published data, opinions or viewpoints prove to be wrong, lack independence, or are not substantiated by appropriate research, our reputation will suffer and demand for our products and services may decline. In addition, we must continue to improve our methods for delivering our products and services in a cost-effective manner via the internet and mobile applications. Failure to maintain state of the art electronic delivery capabilities could materially adversely affect our future business and operating results. We may not be able to enhance and develop our existing products and services or introduce the new products and services that are needed to remain competitive. The market for our products and services is characterized by rapidly changing needs for information and analysis. The development of new products is a complex and time-consuming process. Nonetheless, to maintain our competitive position, we must continue to anticipate the needs of our clients, develop, enhance and improve our existing products, as well as new products and services to address those needs, deliver all products and services in a timely, user-friendly and state of the art manner, and appropriately position and price new products and services relative to the marketplace and our costs of developing them. Any failure to achieve successful client acceptance of new products and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial position. Additionally, significant delays in new product or service releases or significant problems in creating new products or services could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial position. Technology is rapidly evolving, and if we do not continue to develop new product and service offerings in response to these changes, our business could suffer. Disruptive technologies are rapidly changing the environment in which we, our clients, and our competitors operate. We will need to continue to respond to these changes by enhancing our product and service offerings to maintain our competitive position. However, we may not be successful in responding to these forces and enhancing our products on a timely basis, and any enhancements we develop may not adequately address the changing needs of our clients. Our future success will depend upon our ability to develop and introduce in a timely manner new or enhanced existing offerings that address the changing needs of this constantly evolving marketplace. Failure to develop products that meet the needs of our clients in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial position. Our Research business depends on renewals of subscription-based services and sales of new subscription-based services for a significant portion of our revenue, and our failure to renew at historical rates or generate new sales of such services will lead to a decrease in our revenues. A large portion of our success depends on our ability to generate renewals of our subscription-based research products and services and new sales of such products and services, both to new clients and existing clients. These products and services constituted approximately 81% and 73% of total revenues from our on-going operations for 2020 and 2019, respectively. Generating new sales of our subscription-based products and services, both to new and existing clients, is a challenging, costly, and often time-consuming process. If we are unable to generate new sales, due to competition or other factors, our revenues will be adversely affected. Our research subscription contracts are typically for twelve months or longer. Our ability to maintain contract renewals is subject to numerous factors, including the following: •delivering high-quality and timely analysis and advice to our clients; •understanding and anticipating market trends and the changing needs of our clients; and •providing products and services of the quality and timeliness necessary to withstand competition. Additionally, as we continue to adjust our products and service offerings to meet our clients’ continuing needs, we may shift the type and pricing of our products which may impact client renewal rates. While our Research client retention rate was 83% and 82% at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to maintain this rate of client renewals. The profitability and success of our conferences and other meetings are subject to external factors beyond our control. Our Conferences business constituted approximately 3% and 11% of total revenues from our on-going operations in 2020 and 2019, respectively. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cancelled or postponed all in-person conferences in March 2020 through the end of the calendar year, which had a material adverse effect on our 2020 Conferences business. We have also cancelled or postponed all in-person conferences through at least August 2021. We held 15 virtual conferences during the second half of 2020, and plan on holding approximately 20 virtual conferences through August 2021. These virtual conferences are expected to result in significantly less revenue and gross contribution, but we believe aid in client retention and engagement. We expect our Conferences revenues will continue to be negatively impacted until in-person conferences can be held. Moreover, our clients that typically attend these conferences may have pandemic-related travel restrictions in place that could affect attendance once these conferences resume. At this time, we also cannot predict what additional measures will be required to hold in-person conferences safely, such as providing masks, social distancing and increased sanitation. These safety requirements would likely cause us to incur additional costs and may limit the number of participants at our in-person conferences. In addition, perceived or actual spread of coronavirus at one of our conferences could cause reputational damage. The safety of our associates and clients remain our top priority so future in-person conferences will be held only if we determine the relevant impacts of COVID-19 have sufficiently receded in the jurisdictions where our conferences are to be held. We also face risks related to insurance coverage for our cancelled conferences. Our event cancellation insurance provides up to $170 million in coverage for 2020 with the right to reinstate that amount one time if those limits are utilized. The insurer has contested our right to reinstate limits and to include in reinstated limits conferences cancelled due to COVID-19. We are in litigation with the insurer on these issues. It is unclear when we will receive the proceeds from these insurance claims and if we will have difficulty obtaining future event cancellation insurance at favorable rates, which could affect our financial results. The market for desirable dates and locations for our activities has historically been highly competitive. Once we decide to resume in-person conferences, if we cannot secure desirable dates and suitable venues for our conferences the profitability for these conferences will suffer, and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. In addition, because our conferences are scheduled in advance and held at specific locations, the success of these activities can be affected by circumstances outside of our control in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the occurrence of or concerns related to labor strikes, transportation shutdowns and travel restrictions, economic slowdowns, reductions in government spending, geopolitical crises, terrorist attacks, war, weather, natural disasters, communicable diseases, and other occurrences impacting the global, regional, or national economies, the occurrence of any of which could negatively impact the success of the conference or meeting. We also face the challenge of procuring venues that are sizeable enough at a reasonable cost to accommodate some of our major activities. Our Consulting business depends on non-recurring engagements and our failure to secure new engagements could lead to a decrease in our revenues. Consulting segment revenues constituted approximately 9% of total revenues from our on-going operations in both 2020 and 2019. Consulting engagements typically are project-based and non-recurring. In addition, revenue from our contract optimization business can fluctuate significantly from period to period and is not predictable. Our ability to replace consulting engagements is subject to numerous factors, including the following: •delivering consistent, high-quality consulting services to our clients; •tailoring our consulting services to the changing needs of our clients; and •our ability to match the skills and competencies of our consulting staff to the skills required for the fulfillment of existing or potential consulting engagements. A material decline in our ability to replace consulting engagements will have an adverse impact on our revenues and our financial condition. We may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel which could jeopardize the quality of our products and services and our future growth plans. Our success is based on attracting and retaining talented employees and we depend heavily upon the quality of our senior management, research analysts, consultants, sales and other key personnel. The market for highly skilled workers and leaders in our industry is extremely competitive. Maintaining our brand and reputation is important to our ability to recruit and retain employees. We face competition for qualified professionals from, among others, technology companies, market research firms, consulting firms, financial services companies and electronic and print media companies, some of which have a greater ability to attract and compensate these professionals. Additionally, some of the personnel that we attempt to hire are subject to non-compete agreements that could impede our short-term recruitment efforts. Our employee hiring and retention also depend on our ability to build and maintain a diverse and inclusive workplace culture that enables our employees to thrive. We may also be limited in our ability to recruit internationally by restrictive domestic immigration laws, and changes to policies that restrain the flow of technical and professional talent could inhibit our ability to adequately staff our research and development and other efforts. An inability to retain key personnel or to hire and train additional qualified personnel could materially adversely affect the quality of our products and services, as well as our future business and operating results. In addition, effective succession planning is important to our long-term success, and failure to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees could hinder our strategic planning and execution. If we are unable to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position may be harmed. We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, confidentiality, non-compete and other contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, unauthorized third parties may obtain and use technology or other information that we regard as proprietary. Our intellectual property rights may not survive a legal challenge to their validity or provide significant protection for us. The laws of certain countries, particularly in emerging markets, do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Accordingly, we may not be able to protect our intellectual property against unauthorized third-party copying or use, which could adversely affect our competitive position. Additionally, there can be no assurance that another party will not assert that we have infringed its intellectual property rights. Our employees are subject to restrictive covenant agreements (which include restrictions on employees’ ability to compete and solicit customers and employees) and assignment of invention agreements, to the extent permitted under applicable law. When the period expires relating to their particular restrictions, former employees may compete against us. If a former employee violates the provisions of the restrictive covenant agreement, we seek to enforce the restrictions but there is no assurance that we will be successful in our efforts. Privacy concerns could damage our reputation and deter current and potential clients from using our products and services or attending our conferences. Concerns relating to global data privacy have the potential to damage our reputation and deter current and prospective clients from using our products and services or attending our conferences. In the ordinary course of our business and in accordance with applicable laws, we collect personal information (i) from our employees, (ii) from the users of our products and services, including conference attendees, and (iii) from prospective clients. We collect only basic personal information from our clients and prospects. While we believe our overall data privacy procedures are adequate, the theft or loss of such data, or concerns about our practices, even if unfounded, with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of this personal information or other data protection related matters could damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our operating results. Any systems failure or compromise of our security that results in the disclosure of our users’ personal data could seriously limit the consumption of our products and services and the attendance at our conferences, as well as harm our reputation and brand and, therefore, our business. We are exposed to risks related to cybersecurity. A significant portion of our business is conducted over the internet and we rely on the secure processing, storage and transmission of confidential, sensitive, proprietary and other types of information relating to our business operations and confidential and sensitive information about its customers and employees in our computer systems and networks, and in those of our third-party vendors. Individuals, groups, and state-sponsored organizations may take steps that pose threats to our operations, our computer systems, our employees, and our customers. The cybersecurity risks we face range from cyber attacks common to most industries, such as the development and deployment of malicious software to gain access to our networks and attempt to steal confidential information, launch distributed denial of service attacks, or attempt other coordinated disruptions, to more advanced threats that target us because of our prominence in the global research and advisory field. Like many multinational corporations, we, and some third parties upon which we rely, have experienced cyber attacks on our computer systems and networks in the past and may experience them in the future, likely with more frequency and sophistication, and involving a broader range of devices and modes of attack, all of which will increase the difficulty of detecting and successfully defending against them. To date, none have resulted in any material adverse impact to our business, operations, products, services or customers. We have implemented various security controls to both meet our security compliance obligations, while also defending against constantly evolving security threats. Our security controls help to secure our information systems, including our computer systems, intranet, proprietary websites, email and other telecommunications and data networks, and we scrutinize the security of outsourced website and service providers prior to retaining their services. However, the security measures implemented by us or by our outside service providers may not be effective and our systems (and those of our outside service providers) are vulnerable to theft, loss, damage and interruption from a number of potential sources and events, including unauthorized access or security breaches, cyber attacks, computer viruses, power loss, or other disruptive events. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, most of our employees in affected areas are working remotely, which magnifies the importance of the integrity of our remote access security measures. Additionally, the security compliance landscape continues to evolve, requiring us to stay apprised of changes in cybersecurity laws, regulations, and security requirements required by our clients, such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), the Chinese Cybersecurity and draft Data Security laws, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Recent well-publicized security breaches at other companies have led to enhanced government and regulatory scrutiny of the measures taken by companies to protect against cyber attacks, and may in the future result in heightened cybersecurity requirements, including additional regulatory expectations for oversight of vendors and service providers. A cyber attack, widespread internet failure or internet access limitations, or disruption of our critical information technology systems through denial of service, viruses, or other events could cause delays in initiating or completing sales, impede delivery of our products and services to our clients, disrupt other critical client-facing or business processes or dislocate our critical internal functions. Additionally, any material breaches of cybersecurity or other technology-related catastrophe, or media reports of perceived security vulnerabilities to our systems or those of our third parties, even if no breach has been attempted or occurred, could cause us to experience reputational harm, loss of customers and revenue, fines, regulatory actions and scrutiny, sanctions or other statutory penalties, litigation, liability for failure to safeguard our customers’ information, or financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. Any of the foregoing may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. We may experience outages and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure. Our increasing user traffic and complexity of our products and services demand more computing power. We have spent and expect to continue to spend substantial amounts for access to data centers and equipment and to move more of our workload into cloud services, to upgrade our technology and network infrastructure to handle increased traffic on our websites, and to deliver our products and services through emerging channels, such as mobile applications. However, any inefficiencies or operational failures could diminish the quality of our products, services, and user experience, resulting in damage to our reputation and loss of current and potential users, subscribers, and advertisers, potentially harming our financial condition and operating results. We have grown, and may continue to grow, through acquisitions and strategic investments, which could involve substantial risks. We have made and may continue to make acquisitions of, or significant investments in, businesses that offer complementary products and services or otherwise support our growth objectives. The risks involved in each acquisition or investment include the possibility of paying more than the value we derive from the acquisition, dilution of the interests of our current stockholders should we issue stock in the acquisition, decreased working capital, increased indebtedness, the assumption of undisclosed liabilities and unknown and unforeseen risks, the ability to retain key personnel of the acquired company, the inability to integrate the business of the acquired company, increase revenue or fully realize anticipated synergies, the time to train the sales force to market and sell the products of the acquired business, the potential disruption of our ongoing business and the distraction of management from our day to day business. The realization of any of these risks could adversely affect our business. Additionally, we face competition in identifying acquisition targets and consummating acquisitions. We face risks related to leased office space. We assumed a significant amount of leased office space, in particular in Arlington, Virginia, in connection with the acquisition of CEB Inc. in 2017. In Arlington, we have consolidated all our businesses into a single building and have sublet substantially all of the excess space in our other properties. Through our real estate consolidations and other related activities, we have tried to secure quality sub-tenants with appropriate sub-lease terms. However, if subtenants default on their sublease obligations with us or otherwise terminate their subleases with us, we may experience a loss of planned sublease rental income, which could result in a material charge against our operating results. Additionally, the long-term impact of COVID-19 on leased office space availability and rental costs of leased office space is not yet known. To accommodate our growth going forward, we have moved to a global hoteling option to better manage our footprint and operating expenses, and will secure new space when the opportunities and need arise. If the new spaces are not completed on schedule, or if the landlord defaults on its commitments and obligations pursuant to the new leases, we may incur additional expenses. In addition, unanticipated difficulties in initiating operations in a new space, including construction delays, IT system interruptions, or other infrastructure support problems, could result in a delay in moving into the new space, resulting in a loss of employee and operational productivity and a loss of revenue and/or additional expenses, which could also have an adverse, material impact on our operating results. Our sales to governments are subject to appropriations and some may be terminated early. We derive significant revenues from research and consulting contracts with the United States government and its respective agencies, numerous state and local governments and their respective agencies, and foreign governments and their agencies. At December 31, 2020 and 2019, approximately $689 million and $639 million, respectively, of our outstanding revenue contracts were attributable to government entities. Our U.S. government contracts are subject to the approval of appropriations by the U.S. Congress to fund the agencies contracting for our services. Additionally, our contracts at the state and local levels, as well as foreign government contracts, are subject to various governmental authorizations and funding approvals and mechanisms. Certain of these contracts may be terminated at any time by the government entity without cause or penalty (“termination for convenience”). In addition, contracts with U.S. federal, state and local, and foreign governments and their respective agencies are subject to increasingly complex bidding procedures and compliance requirements, as well as intense competition. While terminations by governments have not been significant historically, should appropriations for the various governments and agencies that contract with us be curtailed, or should our government contracts be terminated for convenience, we may experience a significant loss of revenues. We may not be able to maintain the equity in our brand name. We believe that our “Gartner” brand, in particular our independence, is critical to our efforts to attract and retain clients and top talent, and that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition increases. We may also discover that our brand, though recognized, is not perceived to be relevant by new market segments we have targeted. We may expand our marketing activities to promote and strengthen the Gartner brand and may need to increase our marketing budget, hire additional marketing and public relations personnel, and expend additional sums to protect our brand and otherwise increase expenditures to create and maintain client brand loyalty. If we fail to effectively promote, maintain, and protect the Gartner brand, or incur excessive expenses in doing so, our future business and operating results could be materially adversely impacted. Our outstanding debt obligations could negatively impact our financial condition and future operating results. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had outstanding debt of $400 million under its 2020 term loan and revolving credit facility (the “2020 Credit Agreement”), $800 million of Senior Notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes”) and $800 million of Senior Notes due 2030 (the “2030 Notes”). Additional information regarding the 2020 Credit Agreement, the 2028 Notes and the 2030 Notes is included in Note 6 - Debt in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. The debt service requirements of these borrowings could impair our future financial condition and operating results. In addition, the affirmative, negative and financial covenants of the 2020 Credit Agreement, as well as the covenants related to the Senior Notes, could limit our future financial flexibility. A failure to comply with these covenants could result in acceleration of all amounts outstanding, which could materially impact our financial condition unless accommodations could be negotiated with our lenders and noteholders. No assurance can be given that we would be successful in doing so, or that any accommodations that we were able to negotiate would be on terms as favorable as those currently in place. The outstanding debt may limit the amount of cash or additional credit available to us, which could restrain our ability to expand or enhance products and services, respond to competitive pressures or pursue future business opportunities requiring substantial investments of additional capital. In addition, variable-rate borrowings under our 2020 Credit Agreement typically use LIBOR as a benchmark based on market participant judgments for establishing the rate of interest. LIBOR is the subject of recent national and international regulatory scrutiny, which may result in changes that cause LIBOR to disappear entirely after June 2023 for rates applicable to the 2020 Credit Agreement and our existing derivatives contracts, and December 2021 for any new debt and derivatives contracts that we may enter into. The changes may also cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), which was convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Fed, has identified the Secured Oversight Financing Rate (SOFR) as the recommended risk-free alternative rate for USD LIBOR. The future consequences of these LIBOR developments on our variable-rate borrowings, including the possible transition to rates based on observable transactions, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), cannot be predicted at this time, but could include an increase in the cost of our variable-rate indebtedness and volatility in our earnings. We may require additional cash resources which may not be available on favorable terms or at all. We may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions, implementation of our strategy and stock repurchase program, to repay indebtedness or to pursue future business opportunities requiring substantial investments of additional capital, including acquisitions. If our existing financial resources are insufficient to satisfy our requirements, we may seek additional borrowings or issue debt. Prevailing credit and debt market conditions may negatively affect debt availability and cost, and, as a result, financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. In addition, the incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financial covenants that would further restrict our operations. Natural disasters, pandemics, terrorist acts, war, actions by governments, and other geopolitical activities could disrupt our operations. We operate in numerous U.S. and international locations, and we have offices in a number of major cities across the globe. The occurrence of, or concerns related to, a major weather event, earthquake, flood, drought, volcanic activity, disease or pandemic, or other natural disaster could significantly disrupt our operations. In addition, acts of civil unrest, failure of critical infrastructure, terrorism, armed conflict, war, and abrupt political change, as well as responses by various governments and the international community to such acts, can have a negative effect on our business. Such events could cause delays in initiating or completing sales, impede delivery of our products and services to our clients, disrupt or shut down the internet or other critical client-facing and business processes, impede the travel of our personnel and clients, dislocate our critical internal functions and personnel, and in general harm our ability to conduct normal business operations, any of which can negatively impact our financial condition and operating results. Such events could also impact the timing and budget decisions of our clients, which could materially adversely affect our business. Macroeconomic and Industry Risks We are subject to risks from operating globally. We have clients in more than 100 countries and a substantial amount of our revenue is earned outside of the United States. Our operating results are subject to all of the risks typically inherent in international business activities, including general political and economic conditions in each country, challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations, changes in regulatory requirements, compliance with numerous and complex foreign laws and regulations, currency restrictions and fluctuations, the difficulty of enforcing client agreements, collecting accounts receivable and protecting intellectual property rights including against economic espionage in international jurisdictions. Further, we rely on local distributors or sales agents in some international locations. If any of these arrangements are terminated by our agent or us, we may not be able to replace the arrangement on beneficial terms or on a timely basis, or clients of the local distributor or sales agent may not want to continue to do business with us or our new agent. Additionally, tariffs, trade barriers and restrictions, and other acts by governments to protect domestic markets or to retaliate against the trade tariffs and restrictions of other nations could negatively affect our business operations. In addition, the withdrawal of nations from existing common markets or trading blocs, such as the exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (the EU), commonly referred to as Brexit, could be disruptive and negatively impact our business and the business of our clients. We continue to monitor Brexit and its potential impacts on our results of operations and financial condition. In connection with Brexit, on December 24, 2020, the EU and the United Kingdom reached an agreement on a new trade arrangement that became effective on January 1, 2021. Once the new rules are formalized, there could be near or long-term negative impacts on our UK business. If this agreement and the new rules, once formalized, lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations in the United Kingdom and EU, then we, as well as our clients who have significant operations in the United Kingdom, may incur additional costs and expenses as we adapt to the new trade agreements. For example, we may face additional administrative procedures when purchasing tangible goods and equipment from the EU. Additionally, volatility in foreign currencies and other markets may also arise as the UK and EU work though the new trade arrangements. The impact of any of these effects of Brexit, among others, could materially harm our business and financial results. Our operating results could be negatively impacted by global economic conditions. Our business is impacted by general economic conditions and trends in the United States and abroad. In its recent report, Global Economics Prospects, January 2021, the World Bank reported that following a collapse in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic output is expected to expand 4 percent in 2021 but still remain more than 5 percent below pre-pandemic projections. The report also indicated that global growth is projected to moderate to 3.8 percent in 2022, weighed down by the pandemic’s lasting damage to potential growth. The report noted that the global recovery, which has been dampened in the near term by a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, is expected to strengthen over the forecast horizon as confidence, consumption, and trade gradually improve, supported by ongoing vaccination. A downturn in growth could negatively and materially affect future demand for our products and services in general, in certain geographic regions, in particular countries, or industry sectors. In addition, U.S. federal, state and local government spending limits may reduce demand for our products and services from those governmental agencies as well as organizations that receive funding from those agencies, and could negatively affect macroeconomic conditions in the United States, which could further reduce demand for our products and services. Such difficulties could negatively impact our ability to maintain or improve the various business measurements we utilize (which are defined in this Annual Report), such as contract value and consulting backlog growth, client retention, wallet retention, consulting utilization rates, and the number of attendees and exhibitors at our conferences and other meetings. Failure to achieve acceptable levels of these measurements or improve them will negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. We face significant competition and our failure to compete successfully could materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. The markets for our products and services are characterized by intense competition and we face direct competition from a significant number of independent providers of information products and services, including information available on the internet free of charge. We also compete indirectly against consulting firms and other information providers, including electronic and print media companies, some of which have greater financial, information gathering and marketing resources than we do. These indirect competitors could also choose to compete directly with us in the future. In addition, low barriers to entry exist in the markets in which we do business. As a result, new competitors may emerge, and existing competitors may start to provide additional or complementary services. Additionally, technological advances may provide increased competition from a variety of sources. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully compete against current and future competitors and our failure to do so will result in loss of market share, diminished value in our products and services, reduced pricing and increased marketing expenditures. Furthermore, we will not be successful if we cannot compete effectively on quality of research and analysis, timely delivery of information, customer service, the ability to offer products to meet changing market needs for information and analysis, or price. We are exposed to volatility in foreign currency exchange rates from our international operations. A significant portion of our revenues are typically derived from sales outside of the United States. Revenues earned outside the United States are typically transacted in local currencies, which may fluctuate significantly against the U.S. dollar. While we use forward exchange contracts to a limited extent to seek to mitigate foreign currency risk, our revenues and results of operations could be adversely affected by unfavorable foreign currency fluctuations. Legal and Regulatory Risks Our failure to comply with complex U.S. and foreign laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial condition. Our business and operations may be conducted in countries where corruption has historically penetrated the economy. It is our policy to comply, and to require our local partners, distributors, agents, and those with whom we do business to comply, with all applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, regulations established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and with applicable local laws of the foreign countries in which we operate. There can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors and agents will comply with the Company’s policies that mandate compliance with these laws. Any determination that we have violated or are responsible for violations of these laws, even if inadvertent, could be costly and disrupt our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows, as well as on our reputation. For example, during the second half of 2018 we cooperated fully with a South African government commission established to review a wide range of issues related to the country’s revenue service, including the procurement and fulfillment of consulting agreements we entered into with the revenue service through a sales agent from late 2014 through early 2017. We fully cooperated with the commission and in parallel, we commenced an internal investigation regarding this matter. We voluntarily disclosed the matter to the SEC and Department of Justice (DOJ) in November 2018 and are cooperating fully with their review, including executing tolling agreements. At this time, we do not believe the ultimate outcome of these matters will have a material effect on our financial results, however, an unexpected adverse resolution of these matters could negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity. In addition, continuously evolving data protection laws and regulations, such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the recent decision in the Schrems II case, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), and the Chinese Cybersecurity and draft Data Security laws pose increasingly complex compliance challenges. We have implemented GDPR, CCPA and LGPD compliance programs. In the meantime, Gartner will continue to maintain and rely upon our comprehensive global data protection compliance program, which includes administrative, technical, and physical controls to safeguard our associates’ and clients’ personal data. The interpretation and application of these laws in the United States, the EU and elsewhere are often uncertain, inconsistent and ever changing. Complying with these various laws could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business. We face risks related to litigation. We are, and in the future may be, subject to a variety of legal actions, such as employment, breach of contract, intellectual property-related, and business torts, including claims of unfair trade practices and misappropriation of trade secrets. Given the nature of our business, we are also subject to defamation (including libel and slander), negligence, or other claims relating to the information we publish. Regardless of the merits of any claim and despite vigorous efforts to defend any such claim, claims can affect our reputation, and responding to any such claim could be time consuming, result in costly litigation and require us to enter into settlements, royalty and licensing agreements which may not be offered or available on reasonable terms. If a claim is made against us that we cannot defend or resolve on reasonable terms, our business, brand, and financial results could be materially adversely affected. We face risks related to taxation. We are a global company and a substantial amount of our earnings is generated outside of the United States and taxed at rates less than the U.S. statutory federal income tax rate. Our effective tax rate, financial position and results of operations could be adversely affected by earnings being higher than anticipated in jurisdictions with higher statutory tax rates and, conversely, lower than anticipated in jurisdictions that have lower statutory tax rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and/or by changes in tax laws or accounting principles and their interpretation by relevant authorities. Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts and tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many countries. Tax reform legislation is being proposed or enacted in a number of jurisdictions where we do business. During 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released final reports on various action items associated with its initiative to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). In 2020, the OECD further proposed a two-pillar approach to global taxation (BEPS 2.0), focusing on global profit allocation and a global minimum tax rate. While consensus has yet to be reached on BEPS 2.0, numerous countries have and continue to propose tax law changes intended to address BEPS. The future enactment by various governments of these and other proposals could significantly increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business. These actual, potential, and other changes, both individually and collectively, could materially increase our effective tax rate and negatively impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. We will continue to monitor and reflect the impact of such legislative changes in future financial statements as appropriate. In addition, our tax filings for various years are subject to examination by domestic and international taxing authorities and, during the ordinary course of business, we are under audit by various tax authorities. Recent and future actions on the part of the OECD and various governments have increased scrutiny of our tax filings. Although we believe that our tax filings and related accruals are reasonable, the final resolution of tax audits may be materially different from what is reflected in our historical tax provisions and accruals and could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $119.5 million of accumulated undistributed earnings in our non-U.S. subsidiaries. Our cash and cash equivalents are held in numerous locations throughout the world. At December 31, 2020, 56% of our cash and cash equivalents was held overseas, with a substantial portion representing accumulated undistributed earnings of our non-U.S. subsidiaries. Under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, no provision for income taxes that may result from the remittance of accumulated undistributed foreign earnings is required if the Company intends to reinvest such earnings overseas indefinitely. The Company intends to continue to reinvest its accumulated undistributed foreign earnings, except in instances where the repatriation of those earnings would result in minimal additional tax. As a result, we have not recognized income tax expense on the amounts deemed permanently reinvested. Our corporate compliance program cannot guarantee that we are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. We operate in a number of countries, including emerging markets, and as a result we are required to comply with numerous, and in many cases, changing international and U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulations. Accordingly, we have a corporate compliance program that includes the creation of appropriate policies defining employee behavior that mandate adherence to laws, employee training, annual affirmations, monitoring and enforcement. However, failure of any employee to comply with any of these laws, regulations or our policies, could result in a range of liabilities for the employee and for the Company, including, but not limited to, significant penalties and fines, sanctions and/or litigation, and the expenses associated with defending and resolving any of the foregoing, any of which could have a negative impact on our reputation and business. Risks Related to Our Common Stock Our anti-takeover protections may discourage or prevent a change of control, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. Provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law may make it difficult for any party to acquire control of us in a transaction not approved by our Board of Directors. These provisions include: (i) the ability of our Board of Directors to issue and determine the terms of preferred stock; (ii) advance notice requirements for inclusion of stockholder proposals at stockholder meetings; and (iii) the anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law. These provisions could discourage or prevent a change of control or change in management that might provide stockholders with a premium to the market price of their common stock. ITEM 1B.