Item 1A. Risk Factors.

RISK FACTORS

In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our Company and our business. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

An overall decline in economic activity could adversely affect the financial condition and results of operations of our business.

The results of our business are generally affected by the level of business activity of our clients, which in turn is affected by the level of economic activity in the industries, markets and regions these clients serve. The level of economic activity may be affected by unforeseen events, such as adverse weather conditions, natural disasters (including those as a result of climate change), catastrophic events, war (including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine), terrorism or public health conditions (including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). Additionally, substantial changes to trade, inflation rates, monetary and fiscal policies, political conditions, employment rates (including as a result of an increasingly competitive job market), and constriction and volatility in the credit markets, may occur and would affect our business. Economic downturns in some markets may cause reductions in technology and discretionary spending by our clients, which may result in reductions in the growth of new business as well as reductions in existing business. If our clients become financially less stable, enter bankruptcy, liquidate their operations or consolidate, our revenues and/or collectability of receivables could be adversely affected. Our contracts also depend upon the number of our clients’ employees or the number of participants in our clients’ employee benefit plans. If our clients become financially less stable, change their staffing models, enter bankruptcy, liquidate their operations or consolidate, that could result in layoffs or other reductions in the number of participants in our clients’ employee benefit plans. We may also experience decreased demand for our services as a result of postponed or terminated outsourcing of human resource (“HR”) functions. Reduced demand for our services could increase price competition and have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Our operations have been adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak has caused severe disruptions in the U.S. and global economy and financial markets and could potentially create widespread business continuity issues of an as yet unknown magnitude and duration. Any future outbreak of any other highly infectious or contagious disease could have a similar impact.

The global spread of COVID-19 has created significant volatility and uncertainty and economic disruption. The extent to which the coronavirus pandemic impacts our business, operations and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the impact of the pandemic on economic activity and actions taken in response; the effect on our clients and client demand for our services and solutions; our ability to sell and provide our services and solutions, including as a result of travel restrictions and people working from home; the ability of our clients to pay for our services and solutions; and any closures of our and our clients’ offices and facilities. For example, we have large concentrations of employees and third-party vendors performing critical operations in regions significantly impacted by COVID-19. Although there are effective vaccines that have been approved for use, distribution of the vaccines did not begin until late 2020 and remains ongoing. The ability of our employees to work may continue to be significantly impacted by individuals contracting or being exposed to COVID-19 and its resurgences and by the availability and efficacy of vaccinations, particularly against new variants of COVID-19. While we have successfully transitioned many of our employees to a work-from-home model, the closure of those facilities, or restrictions inhibiting our employees’ ability to access those facilities, has disrupted, and could in the future disrupt our ability to provide our services and solutions and result in, among other things, terminations of client contracts and losses of revenue. Clients may also slow down decision making, delay planned work or seek to terminate existing agreements. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and may continue to cause, companies to lay off or furlough employees and as a result our revenue may be adversely impacted if our clients have fewer employees. The pandemic may also cause increased cybersecurity risk, as cybercriminals attempt to capitalize from the disruption, including remote working arrangements. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt global supply chains, has caused labor shortages and has added broad inflationary pressures. While it is not possible at this time to estimate the full impact that COVID-19 could have on our business, the continued spread and resurgences of COVID-19 (including the introduction of new and more easily transmitted variants, such as the Delta and Omicron variants) and the measures taken by the governments of countries affected, including business shut-downs, quarantines, border closures, increased border controls, travel restrictions, shelter-in-place orders and shutdowns, reduced business operations and social distancing requirements, could dampen or delay any economic recovery and could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, financial conditions and results of operations, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.

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We face significant competition and our failure to compete successfully could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition and results of operations of our business.

Our competitors may have greater resources, larger customer bases, greater name recognition, stronger presence in certain geographies and more established relationships with their customers and suppliers than we have. In addition, new competitors, alliances among competitors or mergers of competitors could gain significant market share and some of our competitors may have or may develop a lower cost structure, adopt more aggressive pricing policies or provide services that gain greater market acceptance than the services that we offer or develop. Large and well-capitalized competitors may be able to respond to the need for technological changes and innovate faster, or price their services more aggressively. They may also compete for skilled professionals, finance acquisitions, fund internal growth and compete for market share more effectively than we do. If we are unable to compete successfully, we could lose market share and clients to competitors, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations. To respond to increased competition and pricing pressure, we may have to lower the cost of our solutions or decrease the level of service provided to clients, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

We rely on complex information technology systems and networks to operate our business. Any significant system or network disruption could expose us to legal liability, impair our reputation or have a negative impact on our operations, sales and operating results and could expose us to litigation and negatively impact our relationships with customers.

We rely on the efficient, uninterrupted and secure operation of complex information technology systems, and networks and data centers, some of which are within our business and some of which are outsourced to third-party providers, including cloud infrastructure service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure Cloud. We do not have control over the operations of such third parties. We also may decide to employ additional offsite data centers in the future to accommodate growth. Problems faced by our data center locations, with the telecommunications network providers with whom we or they contract, or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their clients, including us, could adversely affect the availability and processing of our solutions and related services and the experience of our clients. If our data centers are unable to keep up with our growing needs for capacity, this could have an adverse effect on our business and cause us to incur additional expense. In addition, any financial difficulties faced by our third-party data center’s operator or any of the service providers with whom we or they contract may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict. These facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks (including the recent use of "ransomware" and phishing attacks), terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events. The risk of cyber attacks could be exacerbated by geopolitical tensions, including hostile actions taken by nation-states and terrorist organizations. While we have adopted, and continue to enhance, business continuity and disaster recovery plans and strategies, there is no guarantee that such plans and strategies will be effective, which could interrupt the functionality of our information technology systems or those of third parties. The occurrence of a natural disaster (or other extreme weather as a result of climate change) or an act of terrorism, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in our services and solutions. The facilities also could be subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct. Any errors, failures, interruptions or delays experienced in connection with these third-party technologies and information services or our own systems could negatively impact our relationships with customers and adversely affect our business and could expose us to third-party liabilities. Any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our information technology systems including any changes in service levels at our third-party data center could adversely affect our reputation and may damage our clients’ stored files or result in lengthy interruptions in our services. Interruptions in our services might reduce our revenues, subject us to potential liability or other expenses or adversely affect our renewal rates.

In relation to our third-party data centers, while we own, control and have access to our servers and all of the components of our network that are located in these centers, we do not control the operation of these facilities. The operators of our third-party data center facilities have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew these agreements on commercially reasonable terms, or if the data center operators are acquired, we may be required to transfer our servers and other infrastructure to new data center facilities, and we may incur costs and experience service interruption in doing so.

Improper access to, misappropriation, destruction or disclosure of confidential, personal or proprietary data as a result of employee or vendor malfeasance or cyber-attacks could result in financial loss, regulatory scrutiny, legal liability or harm to our reputation.

One of our significant responsibilities is to maintain the security, including cybersecurity, and privacy of our employees’ and clients’ confidential and proprietary information and the confidential information about clients’ employees’ compensation, health and benefits information and other personally identifiable information. However, all information technology systems are potentially vulnerable to damage or interruption from a variety of sources, including but not limited to cyber-attacks, computer viruses, malware, hacking, fraudulent use attempts, phishing attacks and security breaches. Our systems are also subject to compromise from internal

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threats such as improper action by employees, vendors and other third parties with otherwise legitimate access to our systems. Despite our efforts, from time to time, we experience attacks and other cyber-threats to our systems and networks and have from time to time experienced cyber security incidents such as computer viruses, unauthorized parties gaining access to our information technology systems and similar matters, which to date have not had a material impact on our business. These attacks can seek to exploit, among other things, known or unknown vulnerabilities in technology included in our information systems or those of third-party providers. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access are constantly changing and becoming increasingly more sophisticated and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we or our third-party providers may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement sufficient preventative measures. If we are unable to efficiently manage the vulnerability of our systems and effectively maintain and upgrade our system safeguards, we may incur unexpected costs and certain of our systems may become more vulnerable to unauthorized access. For example, there has been a stark increase in new financial fraud schemes akin to ransomware attacks on large companies whereby a cybercriminal installs a type of malicious software, or malware, that prevents a user or enterprise from accessing computer files, systems, or networks and demands payment of a ransom for their return. Cyber criminals may also attempt to fraudulently induce employees, customers or other users of our systems to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our data or that of our customers. In addition, while we have certain standards for all vendors that provide us services, our vendors, and in turn, their own service providers, have experienced and in the future may continue to become subject to the same types of security breaches. In the future, these types of incidents could result in intellectual property or other confidential information being lost or stolen, including client, employee or business data. In addition, we may not be able to detect breaches in our information technology systems or assess the severity or impact of a breach in a timely manner.

We have implemented various measures to manage our risks related to system and network security and disruptions, but an actual or perceived security breach, a failure to make adequate disclosures to the public or law enforcement agencies following any such event or a significant and extended disruption in the functioning of our information technology systems could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients, adversely impact our operations, sales and operating results and require us to incur significant expense to address and remediate or otherwise resolve such issues.

We maintain policies, procedures and technological safeguards designed to protect the security and privacy of this information. These include, for example, the appropriate encryption of information, the use of anti-virus, anti-malware and other protections. Nonetheless, we cannot eliminate the risk of human error or inadequate safeguards against employee or vendor malfeasance or cyber-attacks that could result in improper access to, misappropriation, destruction or disclosure of confidential, personal or proprietary information and we may not become aware in a timely manner of any such security breach. Such unauthorized access, misappropriation, destruction or disclosure could result in the loss of revenue, reputational damage, indemnity obligations, damages for contract breach, civil and criminal penalties for violation of applicable laws, regulations or contractual obligations, and significant costs, fees and other monetary payments for remediation. Furthermore, our clients may not be receptive to services delivered through our information technology systems and networks following an actual or perceived security breach due to concerns regarding transaction security, user privacy, the reliability and quality of internet service and other reasons. The release of confidential information as a result of a security breach could also lead to litigation or other proceedings against us by affected individuals or business partners, or by regulators, and the outcome of such proceedings, which could include penalties or fines, could have a significant negative impact on our business. Additionally, in order to maintain the level of security, service and reliability that our clients require, we may be required to make significant additional investments in our methods of delivering services.

In many jurisdictions, including North America and the European Union, we are subject to laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, retention, security and transfer of this information including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (“HIPAA”) and the HIPAA regulations governing, among other things, the privacy, security and electronic transmission of individually identifiable protected health information, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). California also enacted legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and the related California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), that afford California residents expanded privacy protections and a private right of action for security breaches affecting their personal information. Virginia and Colorado have similarly enacted comprehensive privacy laws, the Consumer Data Protection Act and Colorado Privacy Act, respectively, both laws of which emulate the CCPA and CPRA in many respects. The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act takes effect on January 1, 2023, and the Colorado Privacy Act takes effect on July 1, 2023. In 2021, two bills were introduced (or reintroduced) in the United States Senate: the 2021 Data Privacy Act, which would create an agency to enforce data protection rules, ensure that data practices are fair and transparent, and promote data protection and privacy innovation, and the Setting an American Framework to Ensure Data Access, Transparency, and Accountability Act, which seeks to establish a comprehensive privacy regime including many of the concepts found in other state and federal privacy bills/laws, such as consent requirements for sensitive data, data subject rights, and privacy policy requirements. The Information Transparency & Personal Data Control Act was introduced in the United States House of Representatives, which would require the FTC to establish requirements for entities providing services to the public that collect, store, process, use, or otherwise control sensitive personal information. We anticipate federal and state regulators to continue to enact legislation related to privacy and cybersecurity. These and other similar laws and regulations are frequently changing and are becoming increasingly complex and sometimes conflict among the various jurisdictions and countries in which we provide services both in terms of substance and in terms of enforceability. This makes compliance challenging and expensive. Our failure to adhere to or successfully implement processes in response to changing regulatory requirements in this area

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could result in legal liability or impairment to our reputation in the marketplace. Further, regulatory initiatives in the area of data protection are more frequently including provisions allowing authorities to impose substantial fines and penalties, and therefore, failure to comply could also have a significant financial impact.

Changes in regulation, including changes in regulations related to health and welfare plans, fiduciary rules, pension reform, payroll and data privacy and data usage, their application and interpretation could have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition to the complexity of the laws and regulations themselves, the development of new laws and regulations, changes in application or interpretation of laws and regulations and our continued operational changes and development into new jurisdictions and new service offerings also increases our legal and regulatory compliance complexity as well as the type of governmental oversight to which we may be subject. These changes in laws and regulations could mandate significant and costly changes to the way we implement our services and solutions or could impose additional licensure requirements or costs to our operations and services. Furthermore, as we enter new jurisdictions or lines of businesses and other developments in our services, we may become subject to additional types of laws and policies and governmental oversight and supervision. In all jurisdictions, the applicable laws and regulations are subject to amendment or interpretation by regulatory authorities. In addition, new regulatory or industry developments could create an increase in competition that could adversely affect us. These potential developments include:

For example, there have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at addressing the availability of healthcare and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. Although we cannot predict the ultimate content or timing of any healthcare reform legislation, potential changes resulting from any amendment, repeal or replacement of these programs, including any reduction in the future availability of healthcare insurance benefits, could adversely affect our business and future results of operations. Further, the federal government from time to time considers pension reform legislation, which could negatively impact our sales of defined benefit or defined contribution plan products and services and cause sponsors to discontinue existing plans for which we provide administrative or other services. Certain tax-favored savings initiatives that have been proposed could hinder sales and persistency of our products and services that support employment-based retirement plans.

Our services are also the subject of ever-evolving government regulation, either because the services provided to or business conducted by our clients are regulated directly or because third parties upon whom we rely to provide services to our clients are regulated, thereby indirectly impacting the manner in which we provide services to those clients. Changes in laws, government regulations or the way those regulations are interpreted in the jurisdictions in which we operate could affect the viability, value, use or delivery of benefits and HR programs, including changes in regulations relating to health and welfare plans (such as medical), defined contribution plans (such as 401(k)), defined benefit plans (such as pension) or payroll delivery, may adversely affect the demand for, or profitability of, our services.

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Our business performance and growth plans could be negatively affected if we are not able to effectively apply technology in driving value for our clients or gaining internal efficiencies. Conversely, investments in innovative product offerings may fail to yield sufficient return to cover their costs.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and implement new or revised solutions that anticipate and keep pace with rapid and continuing changes in technology, industry standards and client preferences. We may not be successful in anticipating or responding to these developments on a timely and cost-effective basis, and our ideas may not be accepted in the marketplace. Additionally, the effort to gain technological expertise and develop new technologies requires us to incur significant expenses.

If we cannot offer new technologies as quickly as our competitors or if our competitors develop more cost-effective technologies, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to obtain and complete client engagements. Innovations in software, cloud computing or other technologies that alter how our services are delivered could significantly undermine our investments in our business if we are slow or unable to take advantage of these developments.

We are continually developing and investing in innovative and novel service offerings, including a recent transition to a business process as a service (“BPaaS”) offering, which we believe will address needs that we identify in the markets. In some cases, our BPaaS offerings may require new or unique pricing structures, which may include performance guarantees or fees at risk that differ significantly from our historical practices. These initiatives carry the risks associated with any new solution development effort, including cost overruns, delays in delivery and implementation and performance issues. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in developing, marketing and selling new solutions or enhancements that meet these changing demands, that we will not experience difficulties that could delay or prevent the successful development, implementation, introduction and marketing of these solutions or enhancements, or that our new solutions and enhancements will adequately meet the demands for the marketplace and achieve market acceptance. Any of these developments could have an adverse impact on our future revenue and/or business prospects. Nevertheless, for those efforts to produce meaningful value, we are reliant on a number of other factors, some of which are outside of our control, to deem them suitable, and whether those parties will find them suitable will be subject to their own particular circumstances.

We are subject to professional liability claims against us as well as other contingencies and legal proceedings relating to our delivery of services, some of which, if determined unfavorably to us, could have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

We assist our clients with outsourcing various HR functions. Third parties may allege that we are liable for damages arising from these services in professional liability claims against us. Such claims could include, for example, the failure of our employees or sub-agents, whether negligently or intentionally, to correctly execute transactions. It is not always possible to prevent and detect errors and omissions, and the precautions we take may not be effective in all cases. In addition, we are subject to other types of claims, litigation and proceedings in the ordinary course of business, which along with professional liability claims, may seek damages, including punitive damages, in amounts that could, if awarded, have a material adverse impact on our financial position, earnings and cash flows. In addition to potential liability for monetary damages, such claims or outcomes could harm our reputation or divert management resources away from operating our business. While we maintain insurance to cover various aspects of such professional liability and other claims, such coverage may not be adequate or applicable for certain claims or in the event of an adverse outcome related to such claims. In such circumstances, we would be responsible for payment of amounts that are not covered by insurance and that could have a material adverse impact on our business. In some cases, due to other business considerations, we may elect to pay or settle professional liability or other claims even where we may not be contractually or legally obligated to do so.

Accruals for exposures, and related insurance receivables, when applicable to us, have been provided to the extent that losses are deemed probable and are reasonably estimable. These accruals and receivables are adjusted from time to time as developments warrant and may also be adversely affected by disputes we may have with our insurers over coverage. Amounts related to our settlement provisions are recorded in other general expenses in our statements of income.

The ultimate outcome of these claims, lawsuits and proceedings cannot be ascertained, and liabilities in indeterminate amounts may be imposed on us. It is possible that our future results of operations or cash flows for any particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected by an unfavorable resolution of these matters.

We may become involved in claims, litigation or other proceedings that could harm the value of our business.

We are subject to, and may become a party to, various claims, lawsuits or other proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of our business. Our business is subject to the risk of litigation or other proceedings involving current and former employees, clients, partners, suppliers, shareholders or others. For example, participants in our clients’ benefit plans could claim that we did not adequately protect their data or secure access to their accounts. Regardless of the merits of the claims, the cost to defend litigation may be significant, and such matters can be time-consuming and divert management’s attention and resources. The outcomes of such matters in the ordinary course of our business are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments or settlements could have a material

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adverse impact on our financial position or results of operations. In addition, we may become subject to future lawsuits, claims, audits and investigations, or suits, any of which could result in substantial costs and divert our attention and resources. Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights, or allegations that we have infringed on the intellectual property rights of others, could harm our reputation, ability to compete effectively and financial condition.

To protect our intellectual property rights, we rely on a combination of trademark laws, copyright laws, patent laws, trade secret protection, confidentiality agreements and other contractual arrangements with our affiliates, employees, clients, strategic partners and others. However, the protective steps that we take may be inadequate to deter misappropriation of our proprietary information and technology. In addition, we may be unable to detect the unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. Further, effective trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which we offer our services or competitors may develop products similar to our products that do not conflict with our related intellectual property rights. Failure to protect our intellectual property adequately could harm our reputation and affect our ability to compete effectively.

In addition, to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, we may initiate litigation against third parties, such as infringement suits or interference proceedings. Third parties may assert intellectual property rights claims against us, which may be costly to defend, could require the payment of damages and could limit our ability to use or offer certain technologies, products or other intellectual property. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be expensive, take significant time and divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Successful challenges against us could require us to modify or discontinue our use of technology or business processes where such use is found to infringe or violate the rights of others, or require us to purchase licenses from third parties (which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all), any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses.

We may not successfully identify suitable investment opportunities. We expect to continue pursuing strategic and targeted acquisitions, investments and joint ventures to enhance or add to our skills and capabilities or offerings of services and solutions, or to enable us to expand in certain geographic and other markets. For example, we previously acquired Northgate Information Solutions Limited, a leading provider of global HR and Payroll services and more recently we acquired AON Retiree Health Exchange, Inc., an individual market solution that better supports employers and their retirees. We are still working towards fully integrating each of these acquisitions into our businesses.

Furthermore, we face risks in successfully integrating any businesses we might acquire or create through a joint venture or similar arrangement. Ongoing business may be disrupted, and our management’s attention may be diverted by acquisition, investment, transition or integration activities. In addition, we might need to dedicate additional management and other resources, and our organizational structure could make it difficult for us to efficiently integrate acquired businesses into our ongoing operations and assimilate and retain employees of those businesses into our culture and operations. The potential loss of key executives, employees, customers, suppliers and other business partners of businesses we acquire may adversely impact the value of the assets, operations or businesses. Furthermore, acquisitions or joint ventures may result in significant costs and expenses, including those related to retention payments, equity compensation, severance pay, early retirement costs, intangible asset amortization and asset impairment charges, assumed litigation and other liabilities, and legal, accounting and financial advisory fees, which could negatively affect our profitability. We may have difficulties as a result of entering into new markets where we have limited or no direct prior experience or where competitors may have stronger market positions.

We might fail to realize the expected benefits or strategic objectives of any acquisition, investment or joint venture we undertake. We might not achieve our expected return on investment or may lose money. We may be adversely impacted by liabilities that we assume from a company we acquire or in which we invest, including from that company’s known and unknown obligations, intellectual property or other assets, terminated employees, current or former clients or other third parties. In addition, we may fail to identify or adequately assess the magnitude of certain liabilities, shortcomings or other circumstances prior to acquiring, investing in or partnering with a company, including potential exposure to regulatory scrutiny and sanctions or liabilities resulting from an acquisition target’s previous activities, internal controls and security environment. If any of these circumstances occurs, they could result in unexpected legal or regulatory exposure, unfavorable accounting treatment, unexpected increases in taxes or other adverse effects on our business. Litigation, indemnification claims and other unforeseen claims and liabilities may arise from the acquisition or operation of acquired businesses. If we are unable to complete the number and kind of investments for which we plan, or if we are inefficient or unsuccessful at integrating any acquired businesses into our operations, we may not be able to achieve our planned rates of growth or improve our market share, profitability or competitive position in specific markets or services.

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We periodically evaluate, and have engaged in, the disposition of assets and businesses. Divestitures could involve difficulties in the separation of operations, services, products and personnel, the diversion of management’s attention, the disruption of our business and the potential loss of key employees. After reaching an agreement with a buyer for the disposition of a business, the transaction may be subject to the satisfaction of pre-closing conditions, including obtaining necessary regulatory and government approvals, which, if not satisfied or obtained, may prevent us from completing the transaction. Divestitures may also involve continued financial involvement in or liability with respect to the divested assets and businesses, such as indemnities or other financial obligations, in which the performance of the divested assets or businesses could impact our results of operations. Any divestiture we undertake could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic partnerships with third parties.

We enter into strategic partnerships with third parties to enhance and extend the capabilities of our solutions in the ordinary course of our business. In order to continue to grow our business and enhance and extend our capabilities, we anticipate that we will continue to depend on the continuation and expansion of our strategic partnerships with third parties. Identifying partners, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them, requires significant time and resources.

If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, if we fail to comply with material terms (such as maintaining any required certifications) or if our strategic partners fail to perform as expected, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenues could be impaired, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Even if we are successful, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer usage of our solutions or increased revenues.

Our business is dependent on continued interest in outsourcing.

Our business and growth depend in large part on continued interest in outsourced services. Outsourcing means that an entity contracts with a third party, such as us, to provide services rather than perform such services in-house. There can be no assurance that this interest will continue, as organizations may elect to perform such services themselves and/or the business process outsourcing industry could move to an as-a-service model, thereby eliminating traditional outsourcing tasks. A significant change in this interest in outsourcing could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Our success depends on our ability to retain and attract experienced and qualified personnel, including our senior management team and other professional personnel.

We depend upon the members of our senior management team who possess extensive knowledge and a deep understanding of our business and our strategy. The unexpected loss of any of our senior management team could have a disruptive effect adversely impacting our ability to manage our business effectively and execute our business strategy. Competition for experienced professional personnel is intense, particularly for technology professionals in the areas in which we operate, and we are constantly working to retain and attract these professionals. If we cannot successfully do so, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. We must develop our personnel to provide succession plans capable of maintaining continuity in the midst of the inevitable unpredictability of personnel retention. While we have plans for key management succession and long-term compensation plans designed to retain the senior employees, and continue to review and update those plans, if our succession plans do not operate effectively, particularly in an increasingly competitive job market, our business could be adversely affected.

Our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem could cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

Our operations are dependent upon our ability to protect our personnel, offices and technology infrastructure against damage from business continuity events that could have a significant disruptive effect on our operations. Should we or a key vendor or other third party experience a local or regional disaster or other business continuity problem, such as an earthquake, hurricane, terrorist attack, pandemic, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, security breach, power loss, telecommunications failure or other natural or man-made disaster, our continued success will depend, in part, on the availability of our personnel, office facilities and the proper functioning of existing, new or upgraded computer systems, telecommunications and other related systems and operations. In events like these, while our operational size, the multiple locations from which we operate and our existing back-up systems provide us with some degree of flexibility, we still can experience near-term operational challenges with regard to particular areas of our operations. We could potentially lose access to key executives and personnel, client data or experience material adverse interruptions to our operations or delivery of services to our clients in a disaster recovery scenario.

We regularly assess and take steps to improve upon our existing business continuity plans and key management succession. However, a disaster on a significant scale or affecting certain of our key operating areas within or across regions, or our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem, could materially interrupt our business

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operations and cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm, damaged client relationships or legal liability.

If our clients are not satisfied with our services, we may face additional cost, loss of profit opportunities and damage to our reputation or legal liability.

We depend, to a large extent, on our relationships with our clients and our reputation to understand our clients’ needs and deliver solutions and services that are tailored to satisfy those needs. If a client is not satisfied with our services, it may be damaging to our business and could cause us to incur additional costs and impair profitability. Many of our clients are businesses that band together in industry groups and/or trade associations and actively share information among themselves about the quality of service they receive from their vendors. Accordingly, poor service to one client may negatively impact our relationships with multiple other clients. Moreover, if we fail to meet our contractual obligations, we could be subject to legal liability or loss of client relationships.

Damage to our reputation could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our reputation is a key asset of our business. Our ability to attract and retain clients is highly dependent upon the external perceptions of our level of service, trustworthiness, business practices, financial condition and other subjective qualities. Negative perceptions or publicity regarding these matters could erode trust and confidence and damage our reputation among existing and potential clients, which could make it difficult for us to attract new clients and maintain existing ones as mentioned above. Negative public opinion could also result from actual or alleged conduct by us or those currently or formerly associated with us in any number of activities or circumstances, including operations, regulatory compliance, and the use and protection of data and systems, satisfaction of client expectations, and from actions taken by regulators or others in response to such conduct. This damage to our reputation could further affect the confidence of our clients, rating agencies, regulators, stockholders and the other parties in a wide range of transactions that are important to our business having a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We depend on licenses of third-party software to provide our services. The inability to maintain these licenses or errors in the software we license could result in increased costs, or reduced service levels, which would adversely affect our business.

Our applications incorporate certain third-party software obtained under licenses from other companies. We anticipate that we will continue to rely on such third-party software and development tools from third parties in the future. Although we believe that there are commercially reasonable alternatives to the third-party software we currently license, this may not always be the case, or it may be difficult or costly to replace. In addition, integration of the software used in our applications with new third-party software may require significant work and require substantial investment of our time and resources. To the extent that our applications depend upon the successful operation of third-party software in conjunction with our software, any undetected errors or defects in this third-party software could prevent the deployment or impair the functionality of our own applications, delay new application introductions, result in a failure of our applications and injure our reputation. Our use of additional or alternative third-party software would require us to enter into license agreements with third parties.

We rely on third parties to perform key functions of our business operations and to provide services to our clients. These third parties may act in ways that could harm our business.

As we continue to focus on reducing the expense necessary to support our operations, we have increasingly used outsourcing strategies for a significant portion of our information technology and business functions. We rely on third parties, and in some cases subcontractors, to provide services, data and information such as technology, information security, funds transfers, data processing, and administration and support functions that are critical to the operations of our business. We expect to continue to assess and potentially expand such relationships in the future. As we do not fully control the actions of these third parties, we are subject to the risk that their decisions may adversely impact us and replacing these service providers could create significant delay and expense. A failure by the third parties to comply with service level agreements or regulatory or legal requirements, in a high quality and timely manner, particularly during periods of our peak demand for their services, could result in economic and reputational harm to us. In addition, these third parties face their own technology, operating, business and economic risks, and any significant failures by them, including the improper use or disclosure of our confidential client, employee, or business information, could cause harm to our reputation. An interruption in or the cessation of service by any service provider as a result of systems failures, capacity constraints, financial difficulties or for any other reason could disrupt our operations, impact our ability to offer certain products and services, and result in contractual or regulatory penalties, liability claims from clients and/or employees, damage to our reputation and harm to our business.

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Our business is exposed to risks associated with the handling of client funds.

Our business handles payroll processing, retirement and health plan administration and related services for certain clients. Consequently, at any given time, we may be holding or directing funds of our clients and their employees, while payroll or benefit plan payments are processed. This function creates a risk of loss arising from, among other things, fraud by employees or third parties, execution of unauthorized transactions or errors relating to transaction processing. We are also potentially at risk in the event the financial institution in which these funds are held suffers any kind of insolvency or liquidity event or fails, for any reason, to deliver their services in a timely manner. The occurrence of any of these types of events in connection with this function could cause us financial loss and reputational harm.

We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which could reduce our profitability, limit our growth, or increase competition.

Our business is subject to extensive legal and regulatory oversight throughout the world including a variety of laws, rules, and regulations addressing, among other things, licensing, data privacy and protection, wage and hour standards, employment and labor relations, occupational health and safety, environmental matters, anti-competition, anti-corruption, economic sanctions, currency, reserves and government contracting. This legal and regulatory oversight could reduce our profitability or limit our growth by increasing the costs of legal and regulatory compliance; by limiting or restricting the products or services we sell, the markets we enter, the methods by which we sell our services, the prices we can charge for our services, and the form of compensation we can accept from our clients and third parties; or by subjecting our business to the possibility of legal and regulatory actions or proceedings. For example, when federal, local, state or foreign minimum wage rates increase, we may have to increase the wages of both minimum wage employees and employees whose wages are above the minimum wage. We may also face increased operating costs resulting from changes in federal, state or local laws and regulations relating to employment matters, including those relating to the classification of employees, employee eligibility for overtime and secure scheduling requirements, which often incorporate a premium pay mandate for scheduling deviations.

The global nature of our operations increases the complexity and cost of compliance with laws and regulations, including training and employee expenses, adding to our cost of doing business. In addition, many of these laws and regulations may have differing or conflicting legal standards across jurisdictions, increasing further the complexity and cost of compliance. In emerging markets and other jurisdictions with less developed legal systems, local laws and regulations may not be established with sufficiently clear and reliable guidance to provide us adequate assurance that we are operating our business in a compliant manner with all required licenses or that our rights are otherwise protected. In addition, certain laws and regulations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States and similar laws in other jurisdictions in which we operate, could impact our operations outside of the legislating country by imposing requirements for the conduct of overseas operations, and in a number of cases, requiring compliance by foreign subsidiaries. We are also subject to economic and trade sanctions programs, including those administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which prohibit or restrict transactions or dealings with specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially designated, including narcotics traffickers and terrorists or terrorist organizations, among others.

We have implemented policies and procedures to monitor and address compliance with applicable anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions and anti-money laundering laws and regulations, and we are continuously in the process of reviewing, upgrading and enhancing certain of our policies and procedures. However, our employees, consultants or agents may still take actions in violation of our policies for which we may be ultimately responsible, or our policies and procedures may be inadequate or may be determined to be inadequate by regulators. Any violations of applicable anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions or anti-money laundering laws or regulations could limit certain of our business activities until they are satisfactorily remediated and could result in civil and criminal penalties, including fines that could damage our reputation and have a materially adverse effect on our results of operation or financial condition.

Our global operations and growth strategy expose us to various international risks that could adversely affect our business.

Our operations are conducted globally. Additionally, one aspect of our growth strategy is to expand in key markets around the world. Accordingly, we are subject to legal, economic and market risks associated with operating in, and sourcing from, foreign countries, including:

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If we are unable to manage the risks of our global operations and geographic expansion strategy, our results of operations and ability to grow could be materially adversely affected.

Our global delivery capability is concentrated in certain key operational centers, which may expose us to operational risks.

Our business model is dependent on our global delivery capability, which includes employees and third-party personnel based at various delivery centers around the world. While these delivery centers are located throughout the world, we have based large portions of our delivery capability in Spain, India and the Philippines. Concentrating our global delivery capability in these locations presents operational risks, many of which are beyond our control. For example, natural disasters (including those as a result of climate change) and public health threats, particularly the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and potential resurgences of the pandemic, could impair the ability of our people to safely travel to and work in our facilities and disrupt our ability to perform work through those delivery centers. As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of our employees have transitioned to “work-from-home” arrangements. The significant increase in remote working and potential reduction in real estate footprint as a result could exacerbate certain risks to our business, including after the COVID-19 pandemic recedes in the future. Additionally, other countries may experience political instability, worker strikes, civil unrest and hostilities with neighboring countries. If any of these circumstances occurs, we have a greater risk that interruptions in communications with our clients and other locations and personnel, and any down-time in important processes we operate for clients, could result in a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our reputation in the marketplace.

The profitability of our engagements with clients may not meet our expectations due to unexpected costs, cost overruns, early contract terminations, unrealized assumptions used in our contract bidding process or the inability to maintain our prices in light of any inflationary circumstances.

Our profitability is highly dependent upon our ability to control our costs and improve our efficiency. As we adapt to change in our business, adapt to the regulatory environment, enter into new engagements, acquire additional businesses and take on new employees in new locations, we may not be able to manage our large, diverse and changing workforce, control our costs or improve our efficiency. In addition, certain client contracts may include unique or heavily customized requirements that limit our ability to fully recognize economies of scale across our business units.

Most new outsourcing arrangements undergo an implementation process whereby our systems and processes are customized to match a client’s plans and programs. The cost of this process is estimated by us and often only partially funded (if at all) by our clients. If the actual implementation expense exceeds our estimate or if the ongoing service cost is greater than anticipated, the client contract may be less profitable than expected. Even though outsourcing clients typically sign long-term contracts, many of these contracts may be terminated at any time, with or without cause, by the client upon written notice, typically between 90 to 360 days before expiration.

In such cases, our clients are generally required to pay a termination fee; however, this amount may not be sufficient to offset the costs we incurred in connection with the implementation and system set-up or fully compensate us for the profit we would have received if the contract had not been cancelled. A client may choose to delay or terminate a current or anticipated project as a result of factors unrelated to our work product or progress, such as the business or financial condition of the client or general economic conditions. When any of our engagements are terminated, we may not be able to eliminate associated ongoing costs or redeploy the affected employees in a timely manner to minimize the impact on profitability. Any increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays in connection with the performance of these engagements, including delays caused by factors outside our control, including the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, could have an adverse effect on our profit margin.

Our profit margin, and therefore our profitability, is largely a function of the rates we are able to charge for our services and the staffing costs for our personnel. Accordingly, if we are not able to maintain the rates we charge for our services or appropriately manage the staffing costs of our personnel, we may not be able to sustain our profit margin and our profitability will suffer. The prices we are able to charge for our services are affected by a number of factors, including competitive factors, cost of living adjustment provisions, the extent of ongoing clients’ perception of our ability to add value through our services and general economic conditions

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such as inflation (including wage inflation). Our profitability is largely based on our ability to drive cost efficiencies during the term of our contracts for our services provided to customers. If we cannot drive suitable cost efficiencies, our profit margins will suffer.

We might not be able to achieve the cost savings required to sustain and increase our profit margins.

We provide our outsourcing services over long-term periods for variable or fixed fees that generally are less than our clients’ historical costs to provide for themselves the services we contract to deliver. Clients’ demand for cost reductions may increase over the term of the agreement. As a result, we bear the risk of increases in the cost of delivering services to our clients, and our margins associated with particular contracts will depend on our ability to control our costs of performance under those contracts and meet our service commitments cost-effectively. Over time, some of our operating expenses will increase as we invest in additional infrastructure and implement new technologies to maintain our competitive position and meet our client service commitments. We must anticipate and respond to the dynamics of our industry and business by using quality systems, process management, improved asset utilization and effective supplier management tools. We must do this while continuing to grow our business so that our fixed costs are spread over an increasing revenue base. If we are not able to achieve this, our ability to sustain and increase profitability may be reduced.

Changes in accounting principles or in our accounting estimates and assumptions could negatively affect our financial position and results of operations.

Our financial statements are prepared in conformity with GAAP which requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our financial statements. We are also required to make certain judgments that affect the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during each reporting period. We periodically evaluate our estimates and assumptions including, but not limited to, those relating to revenue recognition, recoverability of assets including customer receivables, contingencies, income taxes, share-based payments and estimates and assumptions used for our long-term contracts. We base our estimates on historical experience and various assumptions that we believe to be reasonable based on specific circumstances. These assumptions and estimates involve the exercise of judgment and discretion, which may evolve over time in light of operational experience, regulatory direction, developments in accounting principles and other factors. Actual results could differ from these estimates, or changes in assumptions, estimates or policies or the developments in the business or the application of accounting principles related to these areas may change our results from operations.

We may be required to record goodwill or other long-lived asset impairment charges, which could result in a significant charge to earnings.

We have a substantial amount of goodwill and purchased intangible assets on our consolidated balance sheet as a result of the recent Business Combination and other acquisitions. Under GAAP, we review our long-lived assets, such as goodwill, intangible assets and fixed assets, for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is assessed for impairment at least annually. Factors that may be considered in assessing whether goodwill or other long-lived assets may not be recoverable include reduced estimates of future cash flows and slower growth rates in our industry. We may experience unforeseen circumstances that adversely affect the value of our goodwill or other long-lived assets and trigger an evaluation of the recoverability of the recorded goodwill and other long-lived assets. Future goodwill or other long-lived asset impairment charges could materially impact our financial statements.

Our work with government clients exposes us to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment.

A portion of our revenues is derived from contracts with or on behalf of national, state and local governments and their agencies. In some cases, our services to public sector clients are provided though or dependent upon relationships with third parties. Government contracts are subject to heightened contractual risks compared to contracts with non-governmental commercial clients. For example, government contracts often contain high or unlimited liability for breaches. Additionally, government contracts are generally subject to audits and investigations by government agencies. If the government discovers improper or illegal activities or contractual non-compliance (including improper billing), we may be subject to various civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, which may include termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspensions or debarment from doing business with the government. Also, the qui tam provisions of the federal and various state civil False Claims Acts authorize a private person to file civil actions under these statutes on behalf of the federal and state governments. Further, the negative publicity that could arise from any such penalties, sanctions or findings could have an adverse effect on our reputation and reduce our ability to compete for new contracts with both government and commercial clients. Moreover, government entities typically finance projects through appropriated funds. While these projects are often planned and executed as multi-year projects, government entities usually reserve the right to change the scope of or terminate these projects for lack of approved funding or at their convenience. Changes in government or political developments, including budget deficits, shortfalls or uncertainties, government spending reductions or other debt or funding constraints, could result in lower governmental sales and our projects being reduced in

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price or scope or terminated altogether, which also could limit our recovery of incurred costs, reimbursable expenses and profits on work completed prior to the termination. Any of the occurrences and conditions described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We could be adversely affected by changes in applicable tax laws, regulations, or administrative interpretations thereof.

We could be adversely affected by changes in applicable tax laws, regulations, or administrative interpretations thereof in each country in which we do business. For example, the U.S. federal tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”), enacted in December 2017, resulted in fundamental changes to the Code, including, among many other things, a reduction to the federal corporate income tax rate, a partial limitation on the deductibility of business interest expense, a limitation on the deductibility of certain director and officer compensation expense, limitations on net operating loss carrybacks and carryovers and changes relating to the scope and timing of U.S. taxation on earnings from international business operations. Subsequent legislation, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) enacted on March 27, 2020, relaxed certain of the limitations imposed by the Tax Act for certain taxable years, including the limitation on the use and carryback of net operating losses and the limitation on the deductibility of business interest expense. The exact impact of the Tax Act and the CARES Act for future years is difficult to quantify, but these changes could materially affect our investors, the companies in which our funds invest, or us. In addition, other changes could be enacted in the future to increase the corporate tax rate, limit further the deductibility of interest, subject carried interests to more onerous taxation or effect other changes that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Such changes could also include increases in state taxes and other changes to state tax laws.

In addition, our effective tax rate and tax liability are based on the application of current income tax laws, regulations, and treaties. These laws, regulations and treaties are complex, and the manner which they apply to us and diverse set of business arrangements is often open to interpretation. Significant management judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against our net deferred tax assets. The tax authorities could challenge our interpretation of laws, regulations and treaties, resulting in additional tax liability or adjustment to our income tax provision that could increase our effective tax rate. Changes to tax laws may also adversely affect our ability to attract and retain key personnel.

A third party attempting to acquire us or a substantial position in our Class A Common Stock may be limited by the operation of FINRA Rule 1017.

One of our subsidiaries, Alight Financial Solutions, LLC (“AFS”), is a member in good standing with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), and is subject to change in ownership or control regulations as a result. FINRA’s Rule 1017 requires that any member of FINRA file an application for approval of any change in ownership that would result in one person or entity directly or indirectly owning or controlling 25% or more of member firm’s equity capital. A “substantially complete” application must be filed at least 30 days prior to effecting a change. The approval process under Rule 1017 can take six months or more to complete. The required FINRA process under Rule 1017, including the required 30-day notice period before effecting a change in ownership, could hinder or delay a third party in any effort to acquire us or a substantial position in our Class A Common Stock following the business combination, where such acquisition would result in the applicable person or persons, directly or indirectly, owning or controlling 25% or more of AFS. A denial of FINRA approval could prevent or delay any transaction resulting from a change of control or AFS withdrawing its broker-dealer registration, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or future prospects. A denial of any other application AFS has made under Rule 1017 could also have a material adverse effect on us.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Securities

The Sponsor Investors and Existing Investors have significant influence over the Company and their interests may conflict with the Company’s or its stockholders in the future.

The Existing Investors (comprised of the Blackstone Investors, the New Mountain Investors, the GIC Investors and the PF Investors) beneficially own approximately a 39.5% voting interest in the Company based on their ownership of Class A Common Stock and Class V Common Stock (in respect of Existing Investors who hold Class A Units). In addition, the Sponsor Investors (by virtue of the ownership of the Founders, Cannae and THL) beneficially own approximately 16.6% of the Company’s Class A Common Stock. As a result, for so long as they retain a significant ownership interest in the Company and/or Alight Holding Company LLC (f/k/a Tempo Holding Company, LLC) ("Alight Holdings"), the Sponsor Investors and Existing Investors will have significant influence on the approval of actions requiring stockholder approval through the exercise of their voting power.

Moreover, under the Company Charter and the Investor Rights Agreement that the Company entered into with the Sponsor Investors and the Existing Investors as part of the Business Combination, the Company has agreed to nominate to the Company Board

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certain individuals designated by the Sponsor Investors and the Blackstone Investors, respectively, for so long as such investors retain a certain ownership interest in the Company and/or Alight Holdings. These designation rights may be disproportionate to the ownership interests of such investors in the Company. As a result, the Sponsor Investors and the Blackstone Investors will have significant influence with respect to the Company’s management, business plans and policies, including the appointment and removal of the Company’s officers. In particular, for so long as such investors continue to own a significant percentage of the Class A Common Stock, such investors may be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our board of directors and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of our company. The concentration of ownership could deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your Class A Common Stock as part of a sale of our company and ultimately might affect the market price of our Class A Common Stock.

The Company’s directors may allocate some of their time to other businesses, which may cause conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to the Company’s affairs and materially adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.

The Company’s directors may engage in other business activities, including serving as directors or executive officers of other businesses. The Company’s directors will need to determine how to allocate their time to the Company in addition to any such other activities. This may result in a conflict of interest in the determination as to how our directors allocate their time between their oversight of the management and operations of the Company and the operations of (or their engagement in) such other businesses. Any such conflicts may not always be resolved in the Company’s favor and may materially adversely affect the Company’s results of operations.

The Company Charter provides that none of the Sponsor Investors or the Existing Investors or any director of the Company who is not employed by the Company or any of its affiliates will have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or lines of business in which the Company operates or from otherwise competing with the Company, and contains a waiver of any interest or expectancy in certain opportunities by the Company, which may prevent the Company from receiving the benefit of certain corporate opportunities that would otherwise have been available to it.

The Sponsor Investors, the Existing Investors, the Company’s non-employee directors and/or their respective affiliates are, and/or in the future may be, engaged in (or affiliated with entities that are engaged in) similar activities or related lines of business to the Company or activities that may otherwise overlap or compete with the Company’s business. Under the Company Charter, the Sponsor Investors, the Existing Investors, the non-employee directors and their respective affiliates are permitted to engage in the same or similar business activities or lines of business to the Company or its affiliates and to otherwise compete with the Company. In addition, the Sponsor Investors, the Existing Investors, the non-employee directors and their respective affiliates are not required to disclose or offer to the Company any corporate opportunities that such persons learn of which may be a corporate opportunity for both themselves and the Company and the Company will renounce any interest or expectancy in (or right to be offered or to participate in) any such opportunities so long as the opportunity is not presented to a person in their capacity as a director or officer of the Company. The Sponsor Investors, the Existing Investors, the non-employee directors and their respective affiliates will not (to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law) have any liability to the Company for any breach of fiduciary duty for engaging in any such activities or from not disclosing any corporate opportunities to the Company or from pursuing or acquiring such opportunities themselves or offering or directing such opportunities to any other person. As a result of these provisions, the Company may be not be offered certain corporate opportunities which could be beneficial to the Company and its stockholders, or the Existing Investors, the Sponsor Investors, the non-employee directors or their respective affiliates may direct such opportunities to certain other businesses in which they are engaged (or such other businesses may otherwise pursue such opportunities) causing them to compete with us, which may cause such opportunities not to be available to the Company or to become more expensive or difficult for the Company to pursue, which could adversely impact the Company’s business or prospects.

The NYSE may not continue to list the Company’s securities on its exchange, which could limit the ability of investors to make transactions in the Company’s securities and subject the Company to additional trading restrictions.

The Company was required to meet the NYSE’s initial listing requirements in order for its securities to be listed on its exchange. Among the conditions requested by the NYSE are requirements of an expected at least $4.00 per share trading price and a minimum “public float” (based on all outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock except shares held by directors, executive officers and stockholders owning 10% or more of the outstanding shares) of at least $100.0 million. If the Company fails to continue to meet the listing requirements of the NYSE, the Class A Common Stock may be delisted, and the Company could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

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The Company Charter, Bylaws and Delaware law, as well as the Investor Rights Agreement, contain provisions that could discourage acquisition bids or merger proposals, which may adversely affect the market price of our Class A Common Stock.

The Company Charter, Bylaws and Investor Rights Agreement contain provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, consolidation, acquisition, or other change in control transaction that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which the Company’s stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their Class A Common Stock. These provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by stockholders to replace or remove Company management. The Company’s corporate governance documents include provisions:

The existence of the foregoing provisions and anti-takeover measures could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for the Company’s shares. They could also deter potential acquirers of the Company, thereby reducing the likelihood that stockholders could receive a premium for their shares in an acquisition. See “Description of Securities” for a more detailed discussion of these provisions.

The Company Charter provides that, unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Delaware Court of Chancery will be the sole and exclusive forum for most legal actions between the Company and our stockholders, which could limit the ability of the Company’s stockholders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company or our directors, officers, employees or agents.

The Company Charter specifies that, unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum and subject to certain limited exceptions, the Delaware Court of Chancery will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer, other employee, agent or stockholder of the Company to the Company or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding and abetting any such alleged breach, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Company or any current or former director, officer, other employee, agent or stockholder of the Company (a) arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, the Company Charter (as it may be amended or restated) or the Company Bylaws or (b) as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Delaware Court of Chancery or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Company or any current or former director, officer, other employee, agent or stockholder of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the law of the State of Delaware. The Company Charter also specifies that the federal district courts of the United States of America will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable

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law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any claims arising under federal securities laws, including the Securities Act. In addition, these choice of forum provisions will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of the Company’s capital stock will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these provisions of the Company Charter.

The Company believes this provision benefits the Company by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law by chancellors particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against the Company directors, officers, employees and agents as it may limit any stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholder finds favorable for disputes with us or the Company directors, officers, employees or agents. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ bylaws or certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought against the Company, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in the Company Charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the Company Charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Company may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.

The Company incurs increased costs and is subject to additional regulations and requirements as a public company, which could lower our profits or make it more difficult to run our business.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that Alight had not previously incurred as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. We also incur costs associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE. The expenses incurred by public companies generally for reporting and corporate governance purposes (including due to increased focus on environmental, social and governance (commonly referred to as ESG) matters by certain investors and regulators) have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, although we are currently unable to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty. These laws and regulations also could make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as our executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our Class A Common Stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.

Compliance with any of the foregoing or future laws and regulators may result in enhanced disclosure obligations, which could negatively affect us or materially increase our regulatory burden. Increased regulations generally increase our costs, and we could continue to experience higher costs if new laws require us to spend more time, hire additional personnel or purchase new technology to comply effectively.

If securities or industry analysts cease to publish research or reports about our business, or if they downgrade their recommendations regarding our Class A Common Stock, the price of our Class A Common Stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A Common Stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If analysts who cover us downgrade our Class A Common Stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our Class A Common Stock may decline. If analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price of our Class A Common Stock or trading volume to decline and our Class A Common Stock to be less liquid.

We may issue additional shares of Class A Common Stock or other securities without stockholder approval, which would dilute existing ownership interests and may depress the market price of the Class A Common Stock.

The Company may issue additional shares of Class A Common Stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future without stockholder approval, including in connection with, among other things, the repayment of outstanding indebtedness, grants under the Company’s equity incentive plan, or future strategic acquisitions or similar transactions.

The Company’s issuance of additional Class A Common Stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank would have the following effects:

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Future issuances of shares of Class A Common Stock by us, and the availability for resale of shares held by our Existing Investors and other significant stockholders (including any shares of Class A Common Stock issued upon exchange of such investors’ Class A Units) may cause the market price of our Class A Common Stock to decline.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could substantially decrease the market price of our Class A Common Stock. Under the Business Combination Agreement, the Existing Investors received, among other things, a significant amount of Class A Common Stock and Class A Units (which are exchangeable for shares of Class A Common Stock). In addition, the Existing Investors received shares of our Class B Common Stock or Class B Units which will automatically convert into Class A Common Stock or Class A Units upon the occurrence of certain events (including events tied to the trading price of our Class A Common Stock).

The Existing Investors and certain other significant stockholders may sell large amounts of the Class A Common Stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, which could have the effect of increasing the volatility in our stock price or putting significant downward pressure on the price of our Class A Common Stock.

In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our Class A Common Stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock. The market price of our Class A Common Stock could drop significantly if we or our Existing Investors and other significant stockholders sell shares or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them.

Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Class A Common Stock, you may not receive any return on your investment unless you sell your Class A Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We have no current plans to pay cash dividends. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on our Class A Common Stock will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors. Our board of directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our shareholders or by our subsidiaries to us and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by our credit facilities and may be limited by covenants of other indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur in the future. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our Class A Common Stock unless you sell your Class A Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for such stock (or the shares of FTAC Common Stock).

The market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock has been, and may continue to be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

The market price of our Class A Common Stock has fluctuated in response to numerous factors and continue to be subject to wide fluctuations. Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock regardless of our operating performance. In addition, our operating results may fail to match our past performance and could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including variations in our quarterly operating results or dividends, if any, to shareholders, additions or departures of key management personnel, failure to meet analysts’ earnings estimates, publication of research reports about our industry, the performance of direct and indirect competitors, litigation and government investigations, changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or differing interpretations or enforcement thereof affecting our business, adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future, changes in market valuations of similar companies, announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments, adverse publicity about the industries we participate in or individual scandals. In addition, the market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock could be subject to additional volatility or decrease significantly, as a result of speculation in the press or the investment community about our industry or our company, including, as a result of short sellers who publish, or arrange for the publication of, opinions or characterizations of our business prospects or similar matters calculated to create negative market momentum in order to profit from a decline in the market price of our Class A Common Stock. Stock markets and the price of our Class A Common Stock have, and may in the future, experience extreme price and volume fluctuations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, including as a result of reports published by short sellers, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This

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litigation, if instituted against us, as well as responding to reports published by short sellers or other speculation in the press or investment community, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

The Company is a holding company and our only material asset is our direct and indirect interests in Alight Holdings, and we are accordingly dependent upon distributions from Alight Holdings to pay dividends, taxes and other expenses, including payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement.

The Company is a holding company with no material assets other than its direct and indirect ownership of equity interests in Alight Holdings, of which the Company serves as the managing member. As a result, the Company has no independent means of generating revenue or cash flow and the Company is dependent on the financial results and cash flows of Alight Holdings and its subsidiaries and the distributions that we receive from Alight Holdings in order to pay taxes, make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, pay dividends (including any dividends or amounts payable in connection with the conversion or exchange of Class B Common Stock and Class B Units) and pay other costs and expenses of the Company. While we intend to cause Alight Holdings to make distributions to its members, including us, in an amount at least sufficient to allow us to pay all applicable taxes, to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and to pay our corporate and other overhead expenses, deterioration in the financial condition, earnings or cash flow of Alight Holdings for any reason could limit or impair Alight Holdings’ ability to pay such distributions. Additionally, to the extent that the Company needs funds and Alight Holdings is restricted from making such distributions under applicable laws or regulations or under the terms of any financing arrangements, or Alight Holdings is otherwise unable to provide such funds, it could materially adversely affect the Company’s liquidity and financial condition. Such restrictions include Alight Holdings’ financing facilities to which Alight Holdings’ subsidiaries are borrowers or guarantors. Alight Holdings’ distributions, as a result of such financing facilities, are limited based on the achievement of certain financial ratios and fixed dollar baskets, availability under which will vary depending on the Company’s financial performance. We currently anticipate that Alight Holdings will have sufficient capacity to make the dividends and other distributions described above. Distributions may also be restricted pursuant to the Alight Holdings Operating Agreement and applicable Delaware law. Under the Alight Holdings Operating Agreement, the Company (as managing member) is prohibited from making distributions if they would violate Section 18-607 of the DLLCA or another applicable law. Under the DLLCA, limited liability companies are generally restricted from making distributions to their members to the extent that, after giving effect to any such distribution, the company’s liabilities (subject to certain limited exclusions) exceed the fair value of the company’s assets.

Under the terms of the Alight Holdings Operating Agreement, Alight Holdings is obligated to make tax distributions to holders of Alight Holdings Units (including us) at an assumed tax rate, subject to there being available cash. The amount of these tax distributions may in certain periods exceed our tax liabilities and obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The Company Board, in its sole discretion, will determine from time to time how to use any cash that accumulates at the Company as a result, which may include, among other potential uses, repurchases of our Class A Common Stock or the payment of dividends thereon. However, we will have no obligation to distribute such cash (or other available cash other than as a result of any declared dividend) to our stockholders. To the extent that the Company does not use any such accumulated cash, following the exchange or redemption of Class A Units for Class A Common Stock, Continuing Tempo Unitholders may benefit from value attributable to such cash balances as a result of their ownership of Class A Common Stock, notwithstanding that such Continuing Tempo Unitholders may previously have participated or received distributions as holders of Alight Holdings Units that resulted in the excess cash balances at the Company.

The Company will be required to pay certain parties for most of the benefits relating to any additional tax depreciation or amortization deductions that we may claim as a result of the Company’s direct and indirect allocable share of existing tax basis acquired in the Business Combination, the Company’s increase in its allocable share of existing tax basis and anticipated tax basis adjustments we receive in connection with sales or exchanges of Alight Holdings Units after the Business Combination and our utilization of certain tax attributes of the Tempo Blockers.

In connection with the Business Combination, we entered into a tax receivable agreement (the "Tax Receivable Agreement" or the "TRA") with certain of our pre-Business Combination owners (the "TRA Parties") that provides for the payment by the Company to such TRA Parties of 85% of the benefits, if any, that the Company is deemed to realize (calculated using certain assumptions) as a result of (i) the Company’s direct and indirect allocable share of existing tax basis acquired in the Business Combination, (ii) increases in the Company’s allocable share of existing tax basis and tax basis adjustments that will increase the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Alight Holdings as a result of the Business Combination and as a result of sales or exchanges of Alight Holdings Units for shares of Class A Common Stock after the Business Combination and (iii) the Company’s utilization of certain tax attributes of the Tempo Blockers (including the Tempo Blockers allocable share of existing tax basis), and of certain other tax benefits related to entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. These increases in existing tax basis and tax basis adjustments generated over time may increase (for tax purposes) depreciation and amortization deductions and, therefore, may reduce the amount of tax that the Company would otherwise be required to pay in the future, although the IRS may challenge all or part of the validity of that tax basis, and a court could sustain such a challenge. Actual

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tax benefits realized by the Company may differ from tax benefits calculated under the Tax Receivable Agreement as a result of the use of certain assumptions in the Tax Receivable Agreement, including the use of an assumed weighted-average state and local income tax rate to calculate tax benefits. The payment obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreement is an obligation of the Company and not of Alight Holdings. While the amount of existing tax basis, the anticipated tax basis adjustments and the actual amount and utilization of tax attributes, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges of Alight Holdings Units for shares of Company Common Stock, the applicable tax rate, the price of shares of our Class A Common Stock at the time of exchanges, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable and the amount and timing of our income, we expect that as a result of the size of the transfers and increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Alight Holdings and our possible utilization of tax attributes, including existing tax basis acquired at the time of the Business Combination, the payments that the Company may make under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be substantial. The payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are not conditioned on the exchanging holders of Alight Holdings Units or other TRA Parties continuing to hold ownership interests in us. To the extent payments are due to the TRA Parties under the Tax Receivable Agreement, the payments are generally required to be made within ten business days after the tax benefit schedule (which sets forth the Company’s realized tax benefits covered by the Tax Receivable Agreement for the relevant taxable year) is finalized. The Company is required to deliver such a tax benefit schedule to the TRA Parties’ representative, for its review, within ninety calendar days after the due date (including extensions) of the Company’s federal corporate income tax return for the relevant taxable year.

In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual benefits the Company realizes in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement.

The Company’s payment obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be accelerated in the event of certain changes of control or its election to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreement early. The accelerated payments will relate to all relevant tax attributes then allocable to the Company in the case of an acceleration upon a change of control and to all relevant tax attributes allocable or that would be allocable to the Company (in the case of an election by the Company to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreement early, assuming all Alight Holdings Units were then exchanged). The accelerated payments required in such circumstances will be calculated by reference to the present value (at a specified discount rate determined by reference to LIBOR) of all future payments that holders of Alight Holdings Units or other recipients would have been entitled to receive under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and such accelerated payments and any other future payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will utilize certain valuation assumptions, including that the Company will have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize the deductions arising from the increased tax deductions and tax basis and other benefits related to entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement and sufficient taxable income to fully utilize any remaining net operating losses subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement on a straight line basis over the shorter of the statutory expiration period for such net operating losses or the five-year period after the early termination or change of control. In addition, recipients of payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will not reimburse us for any payments previously made under the Tax Receivable Agreement if such tax basis and the Company’s utilization of certain tax attributes is successfully challenged by the IRS (although any such detriment would be taken into account in future payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement). The Company’s ability to achieve benefits from any existing tax basis, tax basis adjustments or other tax attributes, and the payments to be made under the Tax Receivable Agreement, will depend upon a number of factors, including the timing and amount of our future income. As a result, even in the absence of a change of control or an election to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreement, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement could be in excess of 85% of the Company’s actual cash tax benefits.

Accordingly, it is possible that the actual cash tax benefits realized by the Company may be significantly less than the corresponding Tax Receivable Agreement payments or that payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may be made years in advance of the actual realization, if any, of the anticipated future tax benefits. There may be a material negative effect on our liquidity if the payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement exceed the actual cash tax benefits that the Company realizes in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement and/or distributions to the Company by Alight Holdings are not sufficient to permit the Company to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement after it has paid taxes and other expenses. Based upon certain assumptions, we estimate that if Alight, Inc. were to exercise its termination right as of December 31, 2021, the aggregate amount of these termination payments would be significantly in excess of the Tax Receivable Agreement liability recorded in the Consolidated Financial Statements within this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We may need to incur additional indebtedness to finance payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement to the extent our cash resources are insufficient to meet our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement as a result of timing discrepancies or otherwise, and these obligations could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control.

The acceleration of payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement in the case of certain changes of control may impair our ability to consummate change of control transactions or negatively impact the value of our Company Common Stock.

In the case of a “Change of Control” under the Tax Receivable Agreement (which is defined to include, among other things, a 50% change in control of the Company, the approval of a complete plan of liquidation or dissolution of the Company, or the

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disposition of all or substantially all of the Company’s direct or indirect assets), payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be accelerated and may significantly exceed the actual benefits the Company realizes in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement. We expect that the payments that we may make under the Tax Receivable Agreement (the calculation of which is described in the immediately preceding risk factor) in the event of a change of control will be substantial. As a result, our accelerated payment obligations and/or the assumptions adopted under the Tax Receivable Agreement in the case of a change of control may impair our ability to consummate change of control transactions or negatively impact the value received by owners of our Company Common Stock in a change of control transaction.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our indebtedness service obligations to increase significantly.

Interest rates may increase in the future. As a result, interest rates on our term loan facility, secured senior notes and revolving credit facility, or any other variable rate debt offerings that we may engage in, could be higher or lower than current levels. Although we use derivative financial instruments to some extent to manage a portion of our exposure to interest rate risks, we do not attempt to manage our entire expected exposure. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $2.6 billion of outstanding debt at variable interest rates. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on our variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, would correspondingly decrease.

Changes in our credit ratings could adversely impact our operations and lower our profitability.

Credit rating agencies continually revise their ratings for the companies that they follow, including us. Credit rating agencies also evaluate our industry as a whole and may change their credit ratings for us based on their overall view of our industry. Failure to maintain our credit ratings on long-term and short-term debt, or a lowered outlook for us or for our industry, could increase our cost of borrowing, reduce our ability to obtain intra-day borrowing, which we may need to operate our business, and adversely impact our results of operations.