Item 1A. Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below when evaluating the company and when deciding whether to invest in the company. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we do not currently believe are important to an investor may also harm our business operations. If any of the events, contingencies, circumstances or conditions described below actually occurs, our business, financial condition or our results of operations could be seriously harmed. If that happens, the trading price of our common stock could decline.

Risks Related to Our Business

The markets in which we operate are highly competitive and rapidly changing and we may be unable to compete successfully.

There are a number of companies that develop or may develop products that compete in our targeted markets. The markets for our products and services are characterized by intense competition, evolving industry and regulatory standards, emerging business and distribution models, disruptive software and hardware technology developments, short product and service life cycles, price sensitivity on the part of customers, and frequent new product introductions, including alternatives for certain of our products that offer limited functionality at significantly lower costs or free of charge. Current and potential competitors have established, or may establish, cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties to increase the ability of their technologies to address the needs of our prospective customers. Furthermore, there has been a trend toward industry consolidation in our markets for several years. We expect this trend to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or hold their market positions.

The competition in our targeted markets could adversely affect our operating results by reducing the volume of the products and solutions we license or sell or the prices we can charge. Some of our current or potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. These competitors may be able to respond more rapidly than we can to new or emerging technologies or changes in customer requirements. They may also devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we do, and in certain cases may be able to include or combine their competitive products or technologies with other of their products or technologies in a manner whereby the competitive functionality is available at

lower cost or free of charge within the larger offering. To the extent they do so, market acceptance and penetration of our products, and therefore our revenue and bookings, may be adversely affected. Our success depends substantially upon our ability to enhance our products and technologies and to develop and introduce, on a timely and cost-effective basis, new products and features that meet changing customer requirements and incorporate technological enhancements. If we are unable to develop or acquire new products and enhance functionalities or technologies to adapt to these changes our business will suffer.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly from period to period, and this may cause our stock price to decline.

Our revenue, bookings and operating results have fluctuated materially in the past and we expect such fluctuations to continue in the future. These fluctuations may cause our results of operations to not meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors which would likely cause the price of our stock to decline. Factors that may contribute to fluctuations in operating results include:

Due to the foregoing factors, among others, our revenue, bookings and operating results are difficult to forecast. Our expense levels are based in significant part on our expectations of future revenue, and we may not be able to reduce our expenses quickly to respond to near-term shortfalls in projected revenue. Therefore, our failure to meet revenue expectations would seriously harm our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

A significant portion of our revenue and bookings are derived, and a significant portion of our research and development activities are based, outside the United States. Our results could be harmed by economic, political, regulatory, foreign currency fluctuations and other risks associated with these international regions.

Because we operate worldwide, our business is subject to risks associated with doing business internationally. We generate most of our international revenue and bookings in Europe and Asia, and we anticipate that revenue and bookings from international operations could increase in the future. In addition, some of our products are developed outside the United States and we have a large number of employees in India who provide transcription and development services, and we also have a large number of employees in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom who provide professional services. We conduct a significant portion of the development of our voice recognition and natural language understanding solutions in Canada and Germany, and a significant portion of our imaging research and development in Hungary and Canada. We also have significant research and development resources in Austria, Belgium, China, Italy, and the United Kingdom. We are exposed to fluctuating exchange rates of foreign currencies including the euro, British pound, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, Indian rupee and Hungarian forint. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors associated with international sales and operations, including:

We hired a new Chief Executive Officer in April 2018. If we encounter difficulties in the transition, our business could be negatively impacted.

Mark D. Benjamin became our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors in April 2018. Our future success will partly depend upon Mr. Benjamin’s ability, along with the ability of other senior management and key employees, to effectively implement our business strategies. In addition, Mr. Benjamin may pursue changes in our strategy or business focus. Mr. Benjamin may require transition time to fully understand all aspects of our business as would be typical with any executive transition. If we have failures in any aspects of this transition, or new strategies implemented by our management team are not successful, our business could be harmed.

If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel, our business could be harmed.

If any of our key employees were to leave, we could face substantial difficulty in hiring qualified successors and could experience a loss in productivity while any successor obtains the necessary training and experience. Although we have arrangements with some of our executive officers designed to promote retention, our employment relationships are generally at-will and we have had key employees leave in the past. We cannot assure you that one or more key employees will not leave in the future. We intend to continue to hire additional highly qualified personnel, including research and development and operational personnel, but may not be able to attract, assimilate or retain qualified personnel in the future. Any failure to attract, integrate, motivate and retain these employees could harm our business.

We recently added a number of new directors to our Board of Directors and a number of long-serving directors retired from our Board of Directors. If the transition to these new directors is not effective, our business could be harmed.

In June 2018 three long-serving directors retired from our Board and seven of the nine members of our Board of Directors have joined since December 2017, including four in September 2018. We have also recently reconstituted the membership of Board Committees to take advantage of the experience the new members bring to our Board of Directors. There can be no assurances that the Board of Directors or its committees will function effectively and that there will not be any adverse effects on the business as a result of the significant changes on our Board of Directors.

We experienced a significant malware incident in the third quarter of fiscal 2017, the residual impact of which will continue to impact our future results of operation and financial condition.

On June 27, 2017, Nuance was a victim of the global NotPetya malware incident (the “2017 Malware Incident”). The NotPetya malware affected certain Nuance systems, including systems used by our healthcare customers, primarily for transcription services, as well as systems used by our imaging division to receive and process orders.  Our revenue and our operating results for fiscal year 2017 were negatively impacted by the 2017 Malware Incident. For fiscal year 2017, we estimate that we lost approximately $68.0 million in revenues, primarily in our Healthcare segment, due to the service disruption and the reserves we established for customer refund credits. Additionally, we incurred incremental costs of approximately $24.0 million for fiscal year 2017 as a result of our remediation and restoration efforts, as well as incremental amortization expenses.  Although the direct effects of the 2017 Malware Incident were remediated during fiscal year 2017, the 2017 Malware Incident had a continued effect on our results of operations in fiscal year 2018. Our outlook for fiscal year 2019 reflects both the residual effects of the incident and ongoing costs we will incur to continuously enhance information security.

Cybersecurity and data privacy incidents or breaches may damage client relations and inhibit our growth.

The confidentiality and security of our information, and that of third parties, is critical to our business. Our services involve the transmission, use, and storage of customers’ and their customer’s confidential information. We were the victim of a cybercrime in 2017, and future cybersecurity or data privacy incidents could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. While we maintain a broad array of information security and privacy measures, policies and practices, our networks may be breached through a variety of means, resulting in someone obtaining unauthorized access to our information, to information of our customers or their customers, or to our intellectual property; disabling or degrading service; or sabotaging systems or information. In addition, hardware, software, or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities, or those of third parties with whom we do business, through fraud or other forms of deceiving our employees, contractors, and vendors. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, or to sabotage systems, change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. We will continue to incur significant costs to continuously enhance our information security measures to defend against the threat of cybercrime. Any cybersecurity or data privacy incident or breach may result in:

Our business is subject to a variety of domestic and international laws, rules, policies and other obligations including data protection and anticorruption.

We are subject to US and international laws and regulations in multiple areas, including data protection, anticorruption, labor relations, tax, foreign currency, anti-competition, import, export and trade regulations, and we are subject to a complex array of federal, state and international laws relating to the collection, use, retention, disclosure, security and transfer of personally identifiable information and personal health information, with additional laws applicable in some jurisdictions where the information is collected from children. In many cases, these laws apply not only to transfers between unrelated third-parties but also to transfers between us and our subsidiaries. Many jurisdictions have passed laws in this area, and other jurisdictions are considering imposing additional restrictions. The European Commission adopted the European General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), which went into effect on May 25, 2018. China adopted a new cybersecurity law as of June 2017, and there is an increase in regulation of biometric data globally, which may include voiceprints. In addition, California adopted significant new consumer privacy laws in June 2018 that will be effective beginning in January 2020. Complying with the GDPR, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 ("HIPPA"), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH"), and other requirements may cause us to incur substantial costs and may require us to change our business practices.

Any failure by us, our customers, suppliers or other parties with whom we do business to comply with our privacy policy or with federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others. Any alleged or actual failure to comply with applicable privacy laws and regulations may:

We are also subject to a variety of anticorruption laws in respect of our international operations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, and regulations issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and various other foreign governmental agencies. We cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted. Actual or alleged violations of these laws and regulations could lead to enforcement actions and financial penalties that could result in substantial costs.

Interruptions or delays in our services could impair the delivery of our services and harm our business

Because our services are complex and incorporate a variety of third-party hardware and software, our services may have errors or defects that could result in unanticipated downtime for our customers and harm to our reputation and our business. We have from time to time, found defects in our services, and new errors in our services may be detected in the future. Any damage to, or failure of, the systems that serve our customers in whole or in part could result in interruptions in our service. Interruptions in our service may reduce our revenue, cause us to issue credits or pay service-level agreement penalties, cause customers to terminate their on-demand services, and adversely affect our renewal rates and our ability to attract new customers.

Interruptions or delays in service from data center hosting facilities could impair the delivery of our services and harm our business.

We currently serve our customers from data center hosting facilities we directly manage and from third-party public cloud facilities. Any damage to, or failure of, the systems that serve our customers could result in interruptions in our service. Interruptions in our service may reduce our revenue, cause us to issue credits or pay service level agreement penalties, cause customers to terminate their on-demand services and adversely affect our renewal rates and our ability to attract new customers.

We may be unable to fully capture the expected value from strategic transactions.

As part of our business strategy, we have in the past acquired, and expect to continue to acquire, other businesses and technologies. We also expect to from time to time pursue other strategic transactions including divestitures, joint ventures, minority stakes and strategic alliances. Our acquisitions have required substantial integration and management efforts, and we expect future acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions to require similar efforts. Successfully realizing the benefits of acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions involves a number of risks, including:

As a result of these and other risks, we may not realize the anticipated benefits from our acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic transactions. Any failure to achieve these benefits or failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies or disaggregate divested businesses and technologies could seriously harm our business.

Our plans to wind down or divest certain businesses are subject to various risks and uncertainties and may not be completed in accordance with the expected plans or anticipated timeline, or at all, and will involve significant time and expense, which could disrupt or adversely affect our business.

In connection with our comprehensive business review, we have announced our intent to wind down or divest, including spin-out, certain of our businesses, including our Imaging, Automotive, Devices and Mobile Operating Services businesses.

Winding down or divesting businesses involve risks and uncertainties, such as difficulty separating assets related to such businesses from the businesses we retain, distracting employees, the need to obtain regulatory approvals and other third party consents, potentially disrupting customer and vendor relationships, and we may be subject to additional tax obligations or loss of certain tax benefits. Such actions also involve significant costs and require time and attention of our management, which may divert attention from other business operations. As a result of these challenges, as well as market conditions or other factors, the anticipated wind downs and divestitures may take longer or be more costly than expected, and may not be completed at all. If we are unable to complete the wind downs or divestitures or to successfully transition divested businesses, our business and financial results could be negatively impacted.

After we dispose of a business, we may retain exposure on financial guarantee leases, real estate and other contractual, employment, pension and severance obligations, and potential liabilities that may arise under law as a result of the disposition or the subsequent failure of an acquirer. As a result, performance by the divested businesses or other conditions outside of our control could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

In addition, the wind down or divestiture of any business could negatively impact our profitability as a result of losses that may result from such a sale, the loss of sales and operating income, or a decrease in cash flows as a result of such actions and we may also experience greater dissynergies than expected.

Charges to earnings as a result of our acquisitions may adversely affect our operating results in the foreseeable future, which could have a material and adverse effect on the market value of our common stock.

Under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, we record the market value of our common stock and other forms of consideration issued in connection with an acquisition as the cost of acquiring the company or business. We allocate that cost to the individual assets acquired and liabilities assumed, including various identifiable intangible assets such as acquired technology, acquired trade names and acquired customer relationships, based on their respective fair values. We base our estimates of fair value upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain. After we complete an acquisition, the following factors could result in material charges and may adversely affect our operating results and cash flows:

Intangible assets are generally amortized over three to ten years. Goodwill is not subject to amortization but is subject to an impairment analysis, at least annually, which may result in an impairment charge if the carrying value exceeds its implied fair value. As of September 30, 2018 , we had recorded goodwill of $3,504.5 million and intangible assets of $549.5 million , net of accumulated amortization and impairment charges. In addition, purchase accounting limits our ability to recognize certain revenue that otherwise would have been recognized by the acquired company as an independent business. As a result, the combined company may delay revenue recognition or recognize less revenue than we and the acquired company would have recognized as independent companies.

Impairment of our intangible assets could result in significant charges that would adversely impact our future operating results.

We have significant intangible assets, including goodwill and other intangible assets, which are susceptible to valuation adjustments as a result of changes in various factors or conditions. The most significant intangible assets are customer relationships, patents and core technologies, technologies and trademarks. Customer relationships are amortized on an accelerated basis based upon the pattern in which the economic benefits of customer relationships are being utilized. Other identifiable intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives. We assess the potential impairment of intangible assets on an annual basis, as well as whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Factors that could trigger an impairment of such assets include the following:

For example, as more fully described in Note 4 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements, during the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, we reorganized our former Mobile business into three discrete lines of business - Automotive, Dragon TV, and Devices. In connection with this reorganization, and the review of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment that was triggered by recent financial results and rapidly changing business conditions for our Subscriber Revenue Services (“SRS”), we recorded a total of $137.9 million of goodwill impairment charge related to Devices and SRS for the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Additionally, in connection with our comprehensive portfolio and business review efforts, management decided to commence a wind-down of our Mobile Operator Services and Devices businesses during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018. As a result, we recorded additional impairment charges of goodwill and other intangible assets of approximately $33.0 million. For more information, please see Note 4 of the accompanying consolidated financial statements. Future adverse changes in these or other unforeseeable factors could result in an impairment charge that would impact our results of operations and financial position in the reporting period identified.

We have grown, and may continue to grow, through acquisitions, which could dilute our existing stockholders and/or increase our debt levels.

In connection with past acquisitions, we have in the past issued a substantial number of shares of our common stock as transaction consideration, including contingent consideration, and also incurred significant debt to finance the cash consideration used for our acquisitions. We may continue to issue equity securities for future acquisitions, which would dilute existing stockholders, perhaps significantly, depending on the terms of such acquisitions. We may also incur additional debt in connection with future acquisitions, which, if available at all, may place additional restrictions on our ability to operate our business.

Our strategy to increase cloud services, term licensing and transaction-based recurring revenue may adversely affect our near-term revenue growth and results of operations.

We expect our ongoing shift from a perpetual software license model to cloud services, term licensing and transaction-based recurring revenue models to create a recurring revenue stream that is more predictable. The transition, however, creates risks related to the timing of revenue recognition. We also incur certain expenses associated with the infrastructures and selling efforts of our hosting offerings in advance of our ability to recognize the revenues associated with these offerings, which may adversely affect our near-term reported revenues, results of operations and cash flows. A decline in renewals of recurring revenue offerings in any period may not be immediately reflected in our results for that period but may result in a decline in our revenue and results of operations in future quarters.

We have a history of operating losses, and may incur losses in the future, which may require us to raise additional capital on unfavorable terms.

We reported net losses of $159.9 million , $151.0 million and $12.5 million in fiscal years 2018 , 2017 and 2016 , respectively, and have a total accumulated deficit of $740.8 million as of September 30, 2018 . If we are unable to return to profitability, the market price for our stock may decline, perhaps substantially. We cannot assure you that our revenue or bookings will grow or that we will return to profitability in the future. If we do not achieve profitability, we may be required to raise additional capital to maintain or grow our operations. Additional capital, if available at all, may be highly dilutive to existing investors or contain other unfavorable terms, such as a high interest rate and restrictive covenants.

If our efforts to execute our formal transformation program are not successful, our business could be harmed.

We have been executing a formal transformation program to focus our product investments on our growth opportunities, increase our operating efficiencies, reduce costs, and further enhance stockholder value through share buybacks. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in executing this transformation program or be able to fully realize the anticipated benefits of this program, within the expected time frames, or at all. Additionally, if we are not successful in strategically aligning our product portfolio, we may not be able to achieve the anticipated benefits of this program. A failure to successfully reduce and re-align our costs could have an adverse effect on our revenue and on our expenses and profitability. As a result, our financial results may not meet our or the expectations of securities analysts or investors in the future and our business could be harmed.

Tax matters may cause significant variability in our financial results.

Our businesses are subject to income taxation in the United States, as well as in many tax jurisdictions throughout the world. Tax rates in these jurisdictions may be subject to significant change. If our effective tax rate increases, our operating results and cash flow could be adversely affected. Our effective income tax rate can vary significantly between periods due to a number of complex factors including:

During 2014, Ireland enacted changes to the taxation of certain Irish incorporated companies effective as of January 2021. On October 5, 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released the Final Reports for its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. The implementation of one or more of these reports in jurisdictions in which we operate, together with the 2014 enactment by Ireland, could result in an increase to our effective tax rate. In addition, in December 2017, the United States enacted the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. We expect this to continue having a material impact on our GAAP tax financial results. Future changes in U.S. and non-U.S. tax laws and regulations could have a material effect on our results of operations in the periods in which such laws and regulations become effective as well as in future periods.

The failure to successfully maintain the adequacy of our system of internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse impact on our ability to report our financial results in an accurate and timely manner.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we were required to develop and are required to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements. In addition, our management is required to assess and certify the adequacy of our controls on a quarterly basis, and our independent auditors must attest and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis. Any failure in the effectiveness of our system of internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse impact on our ability to report our financial statements in an accurate and timely manner. Inaccurate and/or untimely financial statements could subject us to regulatory actions, civil or criminal penalties, stockholder litigation, or loss of customer confidence, which could result in an adverse reaction in the financial marketplace and ultimately could negatively impact our stock price due to a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

Our sales to government clients subject us to risks, including early termination, audits, investigations, sanctions and penalties.

We derive a portion of our revenues and bookings from arrangements with governmental users in the U.S. and U.K., and contracts with the government in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as various state and local governments, and their respective agencies. Government contracts are generally subject to oversight, including audits and investigations which could identify violations of these agreements. Government contract violations could result in a range of consequences including, but not limited to, contract price adjustments, civil and criminal penalties, contract termination, forfeiture of profit and/or suspension of payment, and suspension or debarment from future government contracts. We could also suffer serious harm to our reputation if we were found to have violated the terms of our government contracts.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Technology

Third parties have claimed and may claim in the future that we are infringing their intellectual property, and we could be exposed to significant litigation or licensing expenses or be prevented from selling our products if such claims are successful.

From time to time, we are subject to claims and law actions alleging that we or our customers may be infringing or contributing to the infringement of the intellectual property rights of others. We may be unaware of intellectual property rights of others that may cover some of our technologies and products. If it appears necessary or desirable, we may seek licenses for these intellectual property rights. However, we may not be able to obtain licenses from some or all claimants, the terms of any offered licenses may not be acceptable to us, and we may not be able to resolve disputes without litigation. Any litigation regarding intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and could divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations. Intellectual property disputes could subject us to significant liabilities, require us to enter into royalty and licensing arrangements on unfavorable terms, prevent us from manufacturing or licensing certain of our products, cause severe disruptions to our operations or the markets in which we compete, or require us to satisfy indemnification commitments with our customers including contractual provisions under various arrangements. Any of these could seriously harm our business.

Unauthorized use of our proprietary technology and intellectual property could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our success and competitive position depend in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property rights protecting our products and services. We rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, confidentiality provisions and licensing arrangements to establish and protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights. Unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or discover aspects of our products or to obtain, license, sell or otherwise use information that we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our products is difficult and we may not be able to protect our technology from unauthorized use. Additionally, our competitors may independently develop technologies that are substantially the same or superior to our technologies and that do not infringe our rights. In these cases, we would be unable to prevent our competitors from selling or licensing these similar or superior technologies. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Although the source code for our proprietary software is protected both as a trade secret and as a copyrighted work, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Litigation, regardless of the outcome, can be very expensive and can divert management efforts.

Our software products may have bugs, which could result in delayed or lost revenue and bookings, expensive correction, liability to our customers and claims against us.

Complex software products such as ours may contain errors, defects or bugs. Defects in the solutions or products that we develop and sell to our customers could require expensive corrections and result in delayed or lost revenue and bookings, adverse customer reaction and negative publicity about us or our products and services. Customers who are not satisfied with any of our products may also bring claims against us for damages, which, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming to defend, and could result in costly litigation and payment of damages. Such claims could harm our reputation, financial results and competitive position.

Risks Related to our Corporate Structure, Organization and Common Stock

Our debt agreements contain covenant restrictions that may limit our ability to operate our business.

Our debt agreements contain, and any of our other future debt agreements or arrangements may contain, covenant restrictions that limit our ability to operate our business, including restrictions on our ability to:

Our ability to comply with these limitations is dependent on our future performance, which will be subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including prevailing economic conditions. As a result of these limitations, our ability to respond to changes in business and economic conditions and to obtain additional financing, if needed, may be significantly restricted, and we may be prevented from engaging in transactions that might otherwise be beneficial to us. In addition, our failure to comply with our debt covenants could result in a default under our debt agreements, which could permit the holders to accelerate our obligation to repay the debt. If any of our debt is accelerated, we may not have sufficient funds available to repay the accelerated debt.

Our significant debt could adversely affect our financial health and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our credit facility and our convertible debentures.

We have a significant amount of debt. As of September 30, 2018 , we had $2,437.0 million outstanding principal of debt, including $300.0 million of senior note due in 2020, $300.0 million of senior note due in 2024, and $500.0 million of senior note due in 2026, $46.6 million of 2.75% 2031 Debentures redeemable in November 2021, $263.9 million of 1.5% 2035 Debentures redeemable in November 2021, $676.5 million of 1.0% 2035 Debentures redeemable in December 2022, and $350.0 million of 1.25% 2025 Debentures redeemable in April 2025. Investors may require us to redeem these debentures earlier than the dates indicated if the closing sale price of our common stock is more than 130% of the then current conversion price of the respective debentures for certain specified periods. If a holder elects to convert, we will be required to pay the principal amount in cash and any amounts payable in excess of the principal amount in cash or shares of our common stock, at our election. For example, on November 1, 2017, holders of $331.2 million of our 2.75% 2031 Debentures exercised their rights to require us to repurchase such debentures. We also have a $242.5 million Revolving Credit Facility under which $6.9 million was committed to backing outstanding letters of credit issued and $235.6 million was available for borrowing at September 30, 2018 . Our debt level could have important consequences, for example it could:

Our ability to meet our payment and other obligations under our debt instruments depends on our ability to generate significant cash flow in the future. This, to some extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative and regulatory factors as well as other factors that are beyond our control. We cannot assure you that our business will generate cash flow from operations, or that additional capital will be available to us, in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet our payment obligations under the convertible debentures and our other debt and to fund other liquidity needs. If we are not able to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt obligations, we may need to refinance or restructure our debt, including the convertible debentures, sell assets, reduce or delay capital investments, or seek to raise additional capital. If we are unable to implement one or more of these alternatives, we may not be able to meet our payment obligations under the convertible debentures and our other debt.

The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations, and this may make it difficult for you to resell the common stock when you want or at prices you find attractive.

Our stock price historically has been, and may continue to be, volatile. Various factors contribute to the volatility of our stock price, including, for example, quarterly variations in our financial results, new product introductions by us or our competitors and general economic and market conditions. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by our largest stockholders, or the perception that such sales could occur, could also contribute to the volatility or our stock price. While we cannot predict the individual effect that any of these factors may have on the market price of our common stock, these factors, either individually or in the aggregate, could result in significant volatility in our stock price. Moreover, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock may be

subject to securities class action litigation. Any such litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management's attention and resources.

Current uncertainty in the global financial markets and the global economy may negatively affect the value of our investment portfolio.

Our investment portfolios, which include investments in money market funds, bank deposits and separately managed investment portfolios, are generally subject to credit, liquidity, counterparty, market and interest rate risks that may be exacerbated by a global financial crisis or by uncertainty surrounding the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union or recent changes in tariffs and trade agreements. If the banking system or the fixed income, credit or equity markets deteriorate or remain volatile, our investment portfolio may be impacted, and the values and liquidity of our investments could be adversely affected

Future issuances of our common stock could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock and our ability to raise funds in new stock offerings.

Future issuances of substantial amounts of our common stock, whether in the public market or through private placements, including issuances in connection with acquisition activities, or the perception that such issuances could occur, could adversely affect prevailing trading prices of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through future offerings of equity or equity-related securities. In connection with past acquisitions, we issued a substantial number of shares of our common stock as transaction consideration or contingent consideration. We may continue to issue equity securities for future acquisitions, which would dilute existing stockholders, perhaps significantly depending on the terms of such acquisitions. No prediction can be made as to the effect, if any, that future sales of shares of common stock, or the availability of shares of common stock for future sale, will have on the trading price of our common stock.

Our business could be negatively affected by the actions of activist stockholders.

In the past, certain stockholders have publicly and privately expressed concerns with our performance and with certain governance matters. Responding to actions by activist stockholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Furthermore, any perceived uncertainties as to our future direction could result in the loss of potential business opportunities, and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners. In addition, we have enacted certain changes to our bylaws in the past year that may weaken our ability to prevent an unsolicited takeover.