Most of our search revenue is attributable to Google and Yahoo!, and the loss of, or a payment dispute with, either of these Search Customers (or any future significant Search Customer) would harm our business and financial results.

We rely on our ability to acquire rights to content from third-party content providers, who we refer to as Search Customers, and our future success in our search business is highly dependent upon our ability to maintain and renew relationships with these Search Customers. Google and Yahoo! jointly accounted for over 95% of our total revenues in 2011, 2010, and 2009, with revenue from Google constituting the dominant majority of that amount, and we expect that concentration will continue for our search business. Google and Yahoo! compete with each other, and the way we do business with one of them may not be acceptable to the other, or to any of their competitors with whom we may also do business. Google and Yahoo! are also our competitors in search, and they have had relationships with some of our current and potential search distribution partners, and may, in the future, contract directly with some of our distribution partners to provide search services.

If Google, Yahoo!, or any future significant Search Customer were to substantially reduce or eliminate the content it provides to us or to our distribution partners, our business results could materially suffer to the extent we are unable to establish and maintain new Search Customer relationships, or expand our remaining Search Customer relationships, to replace the lost or disputed revenue. We recently extended our agreements with Yahoo! and Google. Our agreement with Yahoo! runs through December 31, 2013 and our agreement with Google runs through March 31, 2013, and may be extended until March 31, 2014 in our sole discretion, provided that we have not assigned this agreement to another party. The long-term operational and financial impact of any new and changed provisions in the recently renewed and revised Yahoo! and Google agreements are currently unknown. If these new or changed provisions result in a loss or reduction of our, or our distribution partners’, ability to successfully attract Internet users or to display content or advertisements, our operations and financial performance could be materially impacted.

If a third-party content provider, including Yahoo! or Google, is unwilling to pay us amounts that it owes us, or if it disputes amounts it owes us or has previously paid to us for any reason (including for the reasons described in the risk factors below), our business and financial results could materially suffer to the extent we were unable to establish and maintain new Search Customer relationships, or expand our remaining Search Customer relationships, to replace the lost or disputed revenue. In addition, Yahoo! has entered into an agreement with Bing, under which Bing provides all of Yahoo!’s algorithmic search results and some of its paid search results. If Yahoo! cannot maintain an agreement with Bing on favorable terms, or if Bing is unable to adequately perform its obligations to Yahoo!, then Yahoo!’s ability to provide us with algorithmic and paid search results may be impaired, and our operations and financial performance may be materially impacted as a result.

Failure by us or our search distribution partners to comply with the guidelines promulgated by Google and Yahoo! relating to the use of content may cause that Search Customer to temporarily or permanently suspend the use of its content or terminate its agreement with us, or may require us to modify or terminate certain distribution relationships.

If we or our search distribution partners fail to meet the guidelines promulgated by Google or Yahoo! for the use of their content, we may not be able to continue to use their content or provide the content to such distribution partners. Our agreements with Google and Yahoo! give them the ability to suspend the use and the distribution of their content for non-compliance with their requirements and guidelines and, in the case of breaches of certain other provisions of their agreements, to terminate their agreements with us immediately, regardless of whether such breaches could be cured.

The terms of the Search Customer agreements with Google and Yahoo! and the related guidelines are subject to differing interpretations by the parties. Google and Yahoo! have in the past suspended, and may in the

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future, suspend their content provided to our websites or the websites of our distribution partners, without notice, when they believe that we or our distribution partners are not in compliance with their guidelines or are in breach of the terms of their agreements. During such suspension we will not receive any revenue from any property, ours or our distribution partners’, affected by the suspended content, and the loss of such revenue could harm our business and financial results.

Additionally, as our business evolves, we expect that the guidelines of Google and Yahoo!, as well as the parties’ interpretations of compliance, breach, and sufficient justification for suspension of use of content will change. Both Yahoo! and Google have recently changed their guidelines and requirements as part of our renegotiation of our agreements with them. These changes in the guidelines and any changes in the parties’ interpretations of those guidelines may result in restrictions on our use of the Google and Yahoo! search services, and may require us to terminate our agreement with distribution partners or forego entering into agreements with distribution partners. The loss or reduction of content that we can use or make available to our distribution partners as a result of suspension, termination, or modification of distribution or Search Customer agreements, particularly our Google and Yahoo! agreements, could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

A substantial portion of our search revenue is dependent on our relationships with a small number of distribution partners who distribute our search services, the loss of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

We rely on our relationships with search distribution partners, including Internet service providers, web portals, and software application providers, for distribution of our search services. In 2011, 79% of our total revenues came from searches conducted by end users on the web properties of our search distribution partners. We generated approximately 47%, 35%, and 42% of our total revenues through relationships with our top five distribution partners in 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. There can be no assurance that these relationships will continue or will result in benefits to us that outweigh their cost. Moreover, as the proportion of our revenue generated by distribution partners has increased in previous quarters, we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, less control and visibility over performance. One of our challenges is providing our distribution partners with relevant services at competitive prices in rapidly evolving markets. Distribution partners may create their own services or may seek to license services from our competitors or replace the services that we provide. Also, many of our distribution partners have limited operating histories and evolving business models that may prove unsuccessful even if our services are relevant and our prices competitive. If we are unable to maintain relationships with our distribution partners, our business and financial results could be materially adversely affected.

Our agreements with many of our distribution partners come up for renewal in 2012 and 2013. In addition, some of our distributors have the right to immediately terminate their agreements in the event of certain breaches. Such agreements may be terminated, may not be renewed, or may not be renewed on favorable terms, any of which could adversely impact our business and financial results. We anticipate that our distribution costs for our revenue sharing arrangements with our distribution partners will increase as revenue grows, and may increase as a percentage of revenues to the extent that there are changes to existing arrangements or we enter into new arrangements on less favorable terms.

In addition, competition continues for quality consumer traffic in the search market. Recently, we have experienced increased competition from our Search Customers as they seek to enter into content provider agreements directly with our existing or potential distribution partners, making it increasingly difficult for us to renew agreements with existing major distribution partners or to enter into distribution agreements with new partners on favorable terms. Any difficulties that we experience with maintaining or strengthening our business relationships with our major distribution partners could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.

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If advertisers perceive that they are not receiving quality traffic to their sites through their paid-per-click advertisements, they may reduce or eliminate their advertising through the Internet. Further, if Google, Yahoo!, or other Search Customers perceive that they are not receiving quality traffic from our own websites or the web property of a distribution partner, they may reduce the fees they pay to us. Either of these factors could have a negative material impact on our business and financial results.

Most of our revenue from our search business is based on the number of paid clicks on commercial search results served on our owned and operated web properties or our distribution partners’ web properties. Each time a user clicks on a commercial search result, the Search Customer that provided the commercial search result receives a fee from the advertiser who paid for the click and the Search Customer pays us a portion of that fee. If the click originated from one of our distribution partners’ web properties, we share a portion of the fee we receive with such partner. If an advertiser receives what it perceives to be poor quality traffic, meaning that the advertiser’s objectives are not met for a sufficient percentage of clicks for which it pays, the advertiser may reduce or eliminate its advertisements through the Search Customer that provided the commercial search result to us. This leads to a loss of revenue for our Search Customers and consequently fewer fees paid to us. Also, if a Search Customer perceives that the traffic originating from one of our web properties or the web property of a distribution partner is of poor quality, the Search Customer may discount the amount it charged all advertisers whose paid click advertisements appeared on such website or web property based on the amount of poor quality traffic the Search Customer deems to have been generated, and accordingly may reduce the fees it would have otherwise paid us. The Search Customer may also suspend or terminate our ability to provide its content through such websites or web properties if such activities are not modified to satisfy the Search Customer’s concerns. The payment of fewer fees to us or the inability to provide content through such websites or web properties, particularly the content of Google and Yahoo!, could have a material negative effect on our business and financial results.

Poor quality traffic may be a result of invalid click activity. Such invalid click activity occurs, for example, when a person or automated click generation program clicks on a commercial search result to generate fees for the web property displaying the commercial search result rather than to view the webpage underlying the commercial search result. Some of this invalid click activity is referred to as “click fraud.” When such invalid click activity is detected, the Search Customer may not charge the advertiser or may refund the fee paid by the advertiser for such invalid clicks. If the invalid click activity originated from one of our distribution partners’ web properties or our owned and operated properties, such non-charge or refund of the fees paid by the advertisers in turn reduces the amount of fees the Search Customer pays us. The resulting loss of revenue, particularly with respect to Google or Yahoo! content, could harm our business and financial results.

Initiatives we undertake to improve the quality of the traffic that we send to our Search Customers may not be successful and, even if successful, may result in loss of revenue in a given reporting period. For example, during the first half of 2010, we removed certain traffic from some distribution partners in an effort to improve traffic quality, and these actions, while successful in improving traffic quality, had a material negative impact on our revenues for the first and second quarters of 2010.

Our financial and operating results will suffer if we are unsuccessful in integrating the TaxACT business or any future acquisitions. If we are successful in acquiring new businesses or technologies, they may not be complementary to our current operations or leverage our current infrastructure and operational experience.

The successful integration of newly-acquired or developed businesses or technologies, including TaxACT and any future acquisitions, into InfoSpace is critical for our success. If we are successful in identifying and acquiring targets, those targets may not be complementary to our current operations and may not leverage our existing infrastructure or operational experience. In addition, any acquisitions or developments of businesses or technologies may not prove successful. In the past, our financial results have suffered significantly due to impairment charges of goodwill and other intangible assets related to prior acquisitions. For example, our May

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2010 purchase of the Mercantila business did not meet our expectations and, as a result, we sold that business for a loss in June 2011.

Acquisitions involve numerous other risks that could materially and adversely affect our results of operations or stock price, including:

Developing or acquiring a business or technology, and then integrating it into InfoSpace, will be complex, time consuming, and expensive. For example, the successful integration of an acquisition requires, among other things, that we: retain key personnel; maintain and support preexisting supplier, distribution, and customer relationships; and integrate accounting and support functions. The complexity of the technologies and operations being integrated and, in the case of an acquisition, the disparate corporate cultures and/or industries being combined, may increase the difficulties of integrating an acquired technology or business. If our integration of acquired or internally developed technologies or businesses is not successful, we may experience adverse financial or competitive effects. Moreover, there can be no assurance that the short- or long-term value of any business or technology that we develop or acquire will be equal to the value of the cash and other consideration that we paid or expenses we incurred.

Our website and transaction management software, data center systems, or the systems of the third-party co-location facilities in which they are located could fail or become unavailable, which could harm our reputation, result in a loss of revenues and current or potential customers, and cause us to breach agreements with our partners.

Any system interruptions that result in the unavailability or unreliability of our websites, transaction processing systems, or network infrastructure could reduce our sales and impair our ability to properly process transactions. We use internally developed and third-party systems for our websites and certain aspects of transaction processing. Some of our systems are relatively new and untested, and thus may be subject to failure or unreliability. Any system unavailability or unreliability may cause unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, degradation in customer satisfaction, additional expense, or delays in reporting accurate financial information.

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Our data centers could be susceptible to damage or disruption, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We provide our own data center services for our search business from two geographically diverse third-party co-location facilities. Although the two data centers provide some redundancy, not all of our systems and operations have backup redundancy. Our TaxACT business currently has one data center location and while there is redundancy and disaster recovery within that data center, there are no second-site redundancy or disaster recovery options. We are in the process of evaluating a second site and additional disaster recovery capability, and if the current data center suffers an interruption before such additional capabilities come on line, our TaxACT business will suffer, particularly if such interruption occurs during the “tax season” of January to April. Our systems and operations could be damaged or interrupted by fire, flood, earthquakes, or other natural disasters, power loss, telecommunications failure, Internet breakdown, break-in, or other events beyond our control. We could face significant damage as a result of these events, and our business interruption insurance may not be adequate to compensate us for all the losses that may occur. In addition, such third-party co-location facilities and data center systems use sophisticated equipment, infrastructure, and software that may contain bugs or suffer outages that could interrupt service. During the period in which service is unavailable, we will be unable or severely limited in our ability to generate revenues, and we may also be exposed to liability from those third parties to whom we provide services through our data centers. For these reasons, our business and financial results could be materially harmed if our systems and operations are damaged or interrupted, including if we are unable to develop, or if we or our third-party co-location facility providers are unable to successfully manage, the infrastructure necessary to meet current or future demands for reliability and scalability of our systems.

If the volume of traffic to our infrastructure increases substantially, we must respond in a timely fashion by expanding our systems, which may entail upgrading our technology, transaction processing systems, and network infrastructure. Our ability to support our expansion and upgrade requirements may be constrained due to our business demands or constraints of our third-party co-location facility providers. Due to the number of our customers and the services that we offer, we could experience periodic capacity constraints which may cause temporary unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times and lower levels of customer service, and limit our ability to develop, offer, or release new or enhanced products and services. Our business could be harmed if we are unable to accurately project the rate or timing of increases, if any, in the use of our services or we fail to expand and upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate these increases in a timely manner.

The security measures we have implemented to secure information we collect and store may be breached. Security breaches may pose risks to the uninterrupted operation of our systems and could cause us to breach agreements with our customers and distribution partners, expose us to mitigation costs, litigation, potential investigation and penalties by authorities, potential claims by persons whose information was disclosed, and damage our reputation.

Our networks or those from third parties that we use may be vulnerable to unauthorized access by hackers, rogue employees or contractors, or other persons, computer viruses, and other disruptive problems. Someone who is able to circumvent security measures could misappropriate our proprietary information or cause interruptions in our operations. Unauthorized access to, and abuse of, this information could result in significant harm to our business.

We collect and retain certain sensitive personal data. Our TaxACT business collects, uses, and retains large amounts of customer personal and financial information, including information regarding income, family members, credit cards, tax returns, bank accounts, social security numbers, and healthcare. As part of our search services, we receive, retain, and transmit certain personal information about our website visitors, using technology and networks provided by third parties to provide the security and authentication used to transmit confidential information, including payment information. Subscribers to some of our search services are required to provide information that may be considered to be personally identifiable or private information.

We are subject to laws, regulations, and industry rules, relating to the collection, use, and security of user data. We expect regulation in this area to increase. As a result of such new regulation, our current data protection

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policies and practices may not be sufficient and may require modification. The ability to execute transactions and the possession and use of personal information and data in conducting our business subjects us to legislative and regulatory burdens that may require notification to customers or employees of a security breach, restrict our use of personal information and hinder our ability to acquire new customers or market to existing customers. As our business continues to expand to new industry segments that may be more highly regulated for privacy and data security, our compliance requirements and costs may increase. We have incurred—and may continue to incur—significant expenses to comply with mandatory privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations.

A major breach of our security measures or those of third parties that execute transactions or hold and manage personal information may have serious negative consequences for our businesses, including possible fines, penalties and damages, reduced customer demand for our services, harm to our reputation and brands, further regulation and oversight by federal or state agencies, and loss of our ability to provide financial transaction services or accept and process customer credit card orders or tax returns. From time to time, we detect, or receive notices from customers or public or private agencies that they have detected, vulnerabilities in our servers, our software or third-party software components that are distributed with our products. The existence of vulnerabilities, even if they do not result in a security breach, may harm customer confidence and require substantial resources to address, and we may not be able to discover or remediate such security vulnerabilities before they are exploited. In addition, hackers develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that may attack our offerings. Although this is an industry-wide problem that affects software across platforms, it is increasingly affecting our offerings because hackers tend to focus their efforts on the more popular programs and offerings and we expect them to continue to do so. If hackers were able to circumvent our security measures, or if we were unable to detect an intrusion into our systems and contain such intrusion in a reasonable amount of time, we may lose personal information. Although we have commercially available network and application security, internal control measures, and physical security procedures to safeguard our systems, there can be no assurance that a security breach, intrusion, loss or theft of personal information will not occur, which may harm our business, customer reputation and future financial results and may require us to expend significant resources to address these problems, including notification under data privacy regulations.

We may be subject to liability for our use or distribution of information that we gather or receive from third parties and indemnity protections or insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover such liability.

We obtain content and commerce information from third parties. When we distribute this information, we may be liable for the data that is contained in that content. This could subject us to legal liability for such things as defamation, negligence, intellectual property infringement, violation of privacy or publicity rights, and product or service liability, among others. Laws or regulations of certain jurisdictions may also deem some content illegal, which may expose us to legal liability as well. We also gather personal information from users in order to provide personalized services. Gathering and processing this personal information may subject us to legal liability for, among other things, negligence, defamation, invasion of privacy, or product or service liability. We are also subject to laws and regulations, both in the United States and abroad, regarding the collection and use of end user information and search related data. If we do not comply with these laws and regulations, we may be exposed to legal liability.

Although the agreements by which we obtain content contain indemnity provisions, these provisions may not cover a particular claim or type of claim or the party giving the indemnity may not have the financial resources to cover the claim. Our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover fully the amounts or types of claims that might be made against us. Any liability that we incur as a result of content we receive from third parties could harm our financial results.

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The value of equity-based awards, including stock options, restricted stock units, and market stock units granted to employees may cease to provide sufficient incentive to retain our employees and to attract new talent.

Like many technology companies, we use stock options, restricted stock units, and other equity-based awards (such as market stock units, which are a form of share price performance-based restricted stock units granted under our 2011 long-term executive compensation plan) to recruit and retain senior level employees. With respect to those employees to whom we issue such equity-based awards, we face a significant challenge in retaining them if the value of equity-based awards in aggregate or individually is either not deemed by the employee to be substantial enough or deemed so substantial that the employee leaves after their equity-based awards vest. If our stock price does not increase significantly above the exercise prices of our options or does not increase significantly above the comparative index price for our market stock units, we may need to issue new equity-based awards in order to motivate and retain our executives. We may undertake or seek stockholder approval to undertake other equity-based programs to retain our employees, which may be viewed as dilutive to our stockholders or may increase our compensation costs. Additionally, there can be no assurance that any such programs, or any other incentive programs, we undertake will be successful in motivating and retaining our employees.

If we are unable to hire, retain, and motivate highly qualified employees, including our key employees, we may not be able to successfully manage our business.

Our future success depends on our ability to identify, attract, hire, retain, and motivate highly skilled management, technical, sales and marketing, and corporate development personnel. Qualified personnel with experience relevant to our businesses are scarce and competition to recruit them is intense. If we fail to successfully hire and retain a sufficient number of highly qualified employees, we may have difficulties in supporting or expanding our businesses. Realignments of resources, reductions in workforce, or other operational decisions have created and could continue to create an unstable work environment and may have a negative effect on our ability to hire, retain, and motivate employees.

Our business and operations are substantially dependent on the performance of our key employees, all of whom are employed on an at-will basis. We have experienced significant changes at our executive management level and we may experience more changes in the future. Changes of management or key employees may cause disruption to our operations, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial results or delay achievement of our business objectives. In addition, if we lose the services of one or more key employees and are unable to recruit and retain a suitable successor(s), we may not be able to successfully and timely manage our business or achieve our business objectives. For example, the success of our search business is partially dependent on key personnel who have long-term relationships with our Search Customers and distribution partners. There can be no assurance that any retention program we initiate will be successful at retaining employees, including key employees.

Our stock price has been and is likely to continue to be highly volatile.

The trading price of our common stock has been highly volatile. Between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011, our stock price ranged from $6.69 to $11.82. On March 5, 2012, the closing price of our common stock was $12.03. Our stock price could decline or fluctuate wildly in response to many factors, including the other risks discussed in this Item 1A and the following, among others:

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In addition, the stock market in general, and the NASDAQ Global Select Market and the market for Internet and technology company securities in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. These broad market and industry factors and general economic conditions may materially and adversely affect our stock price. Our stock has been subject to such price and volume fluctuations in the recent past. Often, class action litigation has been instituted against companies after periods of volatility in the overall market and in the price of such companies’ stock. If such litigation were to be instituted against us, even if we were to prevail, it could result in substantial cost and diversion of management’s attention and resources.

Existing cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and cash generated from operations may not be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures.

Although we believe that existing cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and cash generated from operations will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months, the underlying levels of revenues and expenses that we project may not prove to be accurate. In addition, we evaluate acquisitions of businesses, products, or technologies from time to time. Any such transactions, if completed, may use a significant portion of our cash balances and marketable investments. If we are unable to liquidate our investments when we need liquidity for acquisitions or business purposes, we may need to change or postpone such acquisitions or business purposes or find alternative financing for such acquisitions or business purposes, if available. We may seek additional funding through public or private financings or other arrangements prior to such time. Our ability to raise funds may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including factors beyond our control, such as economic conditions in markets in which we operate and from which we generate revenues, and increased uncertainty in the financial, capital, and credit markets. Adequate funds may not be available when needed or may not be available on favorable terms. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to existing stockholders may result. If funding is insufficient at any time in the future, we may be unable, or delayed in our ability, to develop or enhance our products or services, take advantage of business opportunities, or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could harm our business.

Our financial results are likely to continue to fluctuate, which could cause our stock price to continue to be volatile or decline.

Our financial results have varied on a quarterly basis and are likely to continue to fluctuate in the future. These fluctuations could cause our stock price to be volatile or decline. Many factors could cause our quarterly results to fluctuate materially, including but not limited to:

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For these reasons, among others, you should not rely on period-to-period comparisons of our financial results to forecast our future performance. Furthermore, our fluctuating operating results may fall below the expectations of securities analysts or investors and financial results volatility could make us less attractive to investors, either of which could cause the trading price of our stock to decline.

If others claim that our services infringe their intellectual property rights, we may be forced to seek expensive licenses, reengineer our services, engage in expensive and time-consuming litigation, or stop marketing and licensing our services.

Companies and individuals with rights relating to the Internet, software, and application services industries have frequently resorted to litigation regarding intellectual property rights. In some cases, the ownership or scope

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of an entity’s or person’s rights is unclear and may also change over time, including through changes in U.S. or international intellectual property laws or regulations or through court decisions or decisions by agencies or regulatory boards that manage such rights.

Third parties have in the past and may in the future make claims against us alleging infringement of copyrights, trademarks, trade secret rights, intellectual property or other proprietary rights, or alleging unfair competition or violations of privacy or publicity rights. Responding to any such claims could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, divert management’s attention, cause product or service release delays, require us to redesign our services, or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. Our technology and intellectual property may not be able to withstand any third-party claims or rights against their use. If a successful claim of infringement were made against us and we could not develop non-infringing technology or license the infringed or similar technology on a timely and cost-effective basis, our business could suffer.

We do not regularly conduct patent searches to determine whether the technology used in our services infringes patents held by third parties. Patent searches may not return every issued patent that may be deemed relevant to a particular product or service. It is therefore difficult to determine, with any level of certainty, whether a particular product or service may be construed as infringing a U.S. or foreign patent. Because patent applications in the United States are not immediately publicly disclosed, applications may have been filed by third parties that relate to our services that may not be discovered in a patent search. In addition, other companies, as well as research and academic institutions, have conducted research for many years in the search technology field, and this research could lead to the filing of further patent applications or affect filed applications.

If we were to discover that our services violated or potentially violated third-party proprietary rights, we might be required to obtain licenses that are costly or contain terms unfavorable to us, or expend substantial resources to reengineer those services so that they would not violate such third-party rights. Any reengineering effort may not be successful, and any such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Any third-party infringement claims against us could result in costly litigation or liability and be time consuming to defend, divert management’s attention and resources, cause product and service delays, or require us to enter into royalty and licensing agreements.

We rely heavily on our technology and intellectual property, but we may be unable to adequately or cost-effectively protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, thus weakening our competitive position and negatively impacting our business and financial results. We may have to litigate to enforce our intellectual property rights, which can be time consuming, expensive, and difficult to predict.

To protect our rights in our services and technology, we rely on a combination of copyright and trademark laws, patents, trade secrets, confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties, and protective contractual provisions. We also rely on laws pertaining to trademarks and domain names to protect the value of our corporate brands and reputation. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may copy aspects of our services or technology, or obtain and use information, marks, or technology that we regard as proprietary, or otherwise violate or infringe our intellectual property rights. In addition, it is possible that others could independently develop substantially equivalent intellectual property. If we do not effectively protect our intellectual property, or if others independently develop substantially equivalent intellectual property, our competitive position could be weakened.

Effectively policing the unauthorized use of our services and technology is time-consuming and costly, and the steps taken by us may not prevent misappropriation of our technology or other proprietary assets. The efforts we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be sufficient or effective, and unauthorized parties may obtain and use information, marks, or technology that we regard as proprietary, copy aspects of our services, or use similar marks or domain names. In some cases, the ownership or scope of an entity’s or person’s rights is unclear and may also change over time, including through changes in U.S. or international intellectual property laws or regulations or through court decisions or decisions by agencies or regulatory boards that manage such rights. Our intellectual

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property may be subject to even greater risk in foreign jurisdictions, as protection is not sought or obtained in every country in which our services and technology are available and it is often more difficult and costly to enforce our rights in foreign jurisdictions. Moreover, the laws of many countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and intellectual property developed for us by our employees or contractors in foreign jurisdictions may not be as protected as if created in the United States.

We may have to litigate to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, or to determine the validity and scope of others’ proprietary rights, which are sometimes not clear or may change. Litigation can be time consuming, expensive, and difficult to predict.

Delaware law and our charter documents may impede or discourage a takeover, which could cause the market price of our shares to decline.

We are a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law impose various impediments to the ability of a third party to acquire us, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. For example, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder. In addition, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may discourage, delay, or prevent a third party from acquiring us without the consent of our board of directors, even if doing so would be beneficial to our stockholders. Provisions of our charter documents that could have an anti-takeover effect include:

On July 19, 2002, our board of directors adopted a stockholder rights plan, pursuant to which we declared and paid a dividend of one right for each share of common stock held by stockholders of record as of August 9, 2002. Unless redeemed by us prior to the time the rights are exercised, upon the occurrence of certain events, the rights will entitle the holders of common stock (except the acquiring person, together with its affiliates and associates and certain transferees thereof, that becomes the beneficial owner of 15% or more of the common stock, whose rights will be null and void following a trigger event), to receive shares of our preferred stock, or shares of an acquiring entity. The security issuable upon exercise of one right approximates the value and voting rights of one share of common stock.

In addition, at our 2009 annual meeting, our stockholders approved an amendment to our certificate of incorporation that restricts any person or entity from attempting to transfer our stock, without prior permission from the Board of Directors, to the extent that such transfer would (i) create or result in an individual or entity becoming a five-percent stockholder of our stock, or (ii) increase the stock ownership percentage of any existing five-percent stockholder. This amendment provides that any transfer that violates its provisions shall be null and void and would require the purported transferee to, upon demand by the Company, transfer the shares that exceed

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the five percent limit to an agent designated by the Company for the purpose of conducting a sale of such excess shares. The stockholder rights plan and the amendment to the certificate of incorporation would make the acquisition of the Company more expensive to the acquirer and could significantly delay, discourage, or prevent third parties from acquiring the Company without the approval of our board of directors.

If there is a change in our ownership within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code, our ability to use our NOLs may be severely limited or potentially eliminated.

As of December 31, 2011, we had NOLs of approximately $785.1 million that will expire over a ten to fifteen year period. If we were to have a change of ownership within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (defined as a cumulative change of 50 percentage points or more in the ownership positions of certain stockholders owning five percent or more of a company’s common stock over a three-year rolling period), then under certain conditions, the amount of NOLs we could use in any one year could be limited to an amount equal to our market capitalization, net of substantial non-business assets, at the time of the ownership change multiplied by the federal long-term tax exempt rate. Our certificate of incorporation imposes certain limited transfer restrictions on our common stock that we expect will assist us in preventing a change of ownership and preserving our NOLs, but there can be no assurance that these restrictions will be sufficient. In addition, other restrictions on our ability to use the NOLs may be triggered by a merger or acquisition, depending on the structure of such a transaction. It is our intention to limit the potential impact of these restrictions, but there can be no guarantee that such efforts will be successful. If we are unable to use our NOLs before they expire, or if the use of this tax benefit is severely limited or eliminated, there could be a material reduction in the amount of after-tax income and cash flow from operations, and it could have an effect on our ability to engage in certain transactions.

Restructuring and streamlining our business, including implementing reductions in workforce, discretionary spending, and other expense reductions, may harm our business.

We have in the past and may in the future find it advisable to take measures to streamline operations and reduce expenses, including, without limitation, reducing our workforce or discontinuing products or businesses. Such measures may place significant strains on our management and employees, and could impair our development, marketing, sales, and customer support efforts. We may also incur liabilities from these measures, including liabilities from early termination or assignment of contracts, potential failure to meet obligations due to loss of employees or resources, and resulting litigation. Such effects from restructuring and streamlining could have a negative impact on our business and financial results.

Our TaxACT business incurred $100 million in debt as part of our acquisition of that business, and we may incur other debt in the future, which may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results.

Our subsidiary, 2nd Story Software, Inc., operator of the TaxACT business, incurred $100 million in debt as part of our acquisition of that business. This debt is non-recourse debt that is guaranteed by InfoSpace’s subsidiary, and 2nd Story’s direct parent, TaxACT Holdings, and is not guaranteed by InfoSpace, Inc. This debt may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results by, among other things:

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This credit facility imposes restrictions on TaxACT, including restrictions on TaxACT’s ability to create liens on its assets and on our ability to incur indebtedness, and require TaxACT to maintain compliance with specified financial ratios. TaxACT’s ability to comply with these ratios may be affected by events beyond its control. In addition, this credit facility includes covenants, the breach of which may cause the outstanding indebtedness to be declared immediately due and payable. In addition, this debt, and our ability to repay it, may negatively impact our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and may affect the terms of any such financing.

We may be unable to compete successfully in the search market.

We face intense competition in the search market, which is extremely competitive and rapidly changing. Many of our competitors or potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, and marketing resources, larger customer bases, longer operating histories, more developed infrastructures, greater brand recognition, better access to vendors, or more established relationships in the industry than we have. Our competitors may be able to adopt more aggressive pricing policies, develop and expand their product and service offerings more rapidly, adapt to new or emerging technologies and changes in Search Customer and distribution partner requirements more quickly, take advantage of acquisitions and other opportunities more readily, achieve greater economies of scale, and devote greater resources to the marketing and sale of their products and services than we can. Some of the companies we compete with in search are currently Search Customers of ours, the loss of any of which could harm our business. In addition, we may face increasing competition for search market share from new search startups, mobile search providers, and social media sites and applications. If we are unable to match or exceed our competitors’ marketing reach and customer service experience, our business may not be successful. Because of these competitive factors and due to our relatively small size and financial resources, we may be unable to compete successfully in the search market and, to the extent that these competitive factors apply to other markets that we pursue, in such other markets.

Additionally, our business and financial results could be adversely affected if our search distribution partners create their own services that compete or replace the services we provide or they acquire such services from other sources. We continue to experience increased competition from Search Customers seeking to enter into agreements directly with our existing or potential distribution partners, making it increasingly difficult for us to renew agreements with existing major distribution partners or to enter into distribution agreements with new partners on favorable terms.

Consolidation in the industries in which we operate could lead to increased competition and loss of customers.

The Internet search industry has experienced substantial consolidation. This consolidation may continue. These acquisitions could adversely affect our business and results of operations in a number of ways, including the following:

Consolidation in the Internet industry could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

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Governmental regulation and the application of existing laws may slow business growth, increase our costs of doing business, and create potential liability.

The growth and development of the Internet has led to new laws and regulations, as well as the application of existing laws to the Internet, in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Application of these laws can be unclear. For example, it is unclear how many existing laws regulating or requiring licenses for certain businesses (such as gambling, online auctions, distribution of pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, insurance, securities brokerage, or legal services) apply to search services, online advertising, and our business. The costs of complying or failure to comply with these laws and regulations could limit our ability to operate in our market (including limiting our ability to distribute our services; conduct targeted advertising; collect, use, or transfer user information; or comply with new data security requirements), expose us to compliance costs and substantial liability, and result in costly and time-consuming litigation. It is impossible to predict whether or when any new legislation may be adopted or existing legislation or regulatory requirements will be deemed applicable to us, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business.

Any failure by us to comply with our posted privacy policies, Federal Trade Commission (“ FTC ”) requirements, or other privacy-related laws and regulations could result in proceedings by the FTC or others, including potential class action litigation, which could potentially have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. For example, there are a large number of legislative proposals before the U.S. Congress and various state legislative bodies regarding privacy and data protection issues related to our businesses. It is not possible to predict whether or when such legislation may be adopted and certain proposals, if adopted, could materially and adversely affect our business through a decrease in user registrations and revenues. This could be caused by, among other possible provisions, the required use of disclaimers or other requirements before users can utilize our services.

The FTC has recommended that search engine providers delineate paid-ranking search results from non-paid results. To the extent that we are required to modify presentation of search results as a result of specific regulations or requirements that may be issued in the future by the FTC or other state or federal agencies or legislative bodies with respect to the nature of such delineation or other aspects of advertising in connection with search services, revenue from the affected search engines could be negatively impacted. Addressing these regulations may require us to develop additional technology or otherwise expend significant time and expense.

Due to the nature of the Internet, it is possible that the governments of states and foreign countries might attempt to regulate Internet transmissions, through data protection laws amongst others, or institute proceedings for violations of their laws. We might unintentionally violate such laws, such laws may be modified, and new laws may be enacted in the future. Any such developments (or developments stemming from enactment or modification of other laws) could increase the costs of regulatory compliance for us or force us to change our business practices.

Our search services may expose us to claims relating to how the content was obtained, distributed, or displayed.

Our search services link users, either directly through our own websites or indirectly through the web properties of our distribution partners, to third-party webpages and content in response to search queries and other requests. These services could expose us to legal liability from claims relating to such third-party content and sites, the manner in which these services are distributed and displayed by us or our distribution partners, or how the content provided by our Search Customers was obtained or provided by our Search Customers. Such claims could include the following: infringement of patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights; violation of privacy and publicity rights; unfair competition; defamation; providing false or misleading information; obscenity; pornography; and illegal gambling. Regardless of the legal merits of any such claims, they could result in costly litigation, be time consuming to defend, and divert management’s attention and resources. If there was a determination that we had violated third-party rights

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or applicable law, we could incur substantial monetary liability, be required to enter into costly royalty or licensing arrangements (if available), or be required to change our business practices. We may also have an obligation to indemnify and hold harmless certain of our Search Customers or distribution partners from damages they suffer for such violations under our contracts with them. Implementing measures to reduce our exposure to such claims could require us to expend substantial resources and limit the attractiveness of our services. As a result, these claims could result in material harm to our business.

In the past, there have been legal actions brought or threatened against distributors of downloadable applications deemed to be “adware” or “spyware.” Additionally, certain bills are pending and some laws have been passed in certain jurisdictions setting forth requirements that must be met before a downloadable application is downloaded to an end user’s computer. We provide downloadable applications to promote use of our search services for our owned and operated search services. Such applications may be considered adware. We also partner with some distribution partners that provide adware to their users if the partners adhere to our strict guidelines requiring them, among other things, to disclose to the user what the adware does and to obtain the consent of the user before the application is downloaded. The adware must also be easy to uninstall. We also review the downloadable application the partner proposes to use before we distribute our results to them. We also have the right to audit our partners and, if we find that they are not following our guidelines, we can terminate our agreement with them or cease providing content to that downloadable application. Some partners have not been able to meet the new guidelines imposed by us or some of our Search Customers, and we no longer provide the applicable content or any content, as the case may be, to such partners or certain of their downloadable applications. We work closely with some of our major Search Customers to try to identify potential distribution partners that do not meet our guidelines or are in breach of our distribution agreements and we work with our distribution partners to ensure they deliver quality traffic. However, there can be no assurance that the measures we implement to reduce our exposure to claims that certain ways in which the content is distributed violate legal requirements will be successful. Any claims against us as a result of violations of legal requirements or contractual obligations could result in material harm to our business.

We rely on the infrastructure of the Internet networks, over which we have no control and the failure of which could substantially undermine our operations.

Our success depends, in large part, on other companies maintaining the Internet system infrastructure. In particular, we rely on other companies to maintain a reliable network backbone that provides adequate speed, data capacity, and security and to develop services that enable reliable Internet access and services. As the Internet continues to experience growth in the number of users, frequency of use, and amount of data transmitted, the Internet system infrastructure may be unable to support the demands placed on it, and the Internet’s performance or reliability may suffer as a result of this continued growth. Some of the companies that we rely upon to maintain network infrastructure may lack sufficient capital to take the necessary steps to support such demands or their long-term operations. The failure of the Internet infrastructure would substantially undermine our operations and may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

The tax preparation market is very competitive, and failure to effectively compete will adversely affect our financial results.

Our TaxACT business operates in a very competitive marketplace. There are many competing software products and online services, including two competitors who have a significant percentage of the software and online service market: Intuit’s TurboTax and H&R Block’s product and service. TaxACT must also compete with alternate methods of tax preparation, including “pencil and paper” do-it-yourself return preparation by individual filers and storefront tax preparation services, including both local tax preparers and large chains such as Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block. Finally, TaxACT faces the risk that state or federal taxing agencies will offer software or systems to provide direct access for individual filers that will reduce the need for TaxACT’s software and services. Our financial results will suffer if we cannot continue to offer software and services that have quality and

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ease-of-use that are compelling to consumers; market the software and services in a cost effective way; offer ancillary services that are attractive to users; and develop the software and services at a low enough cost to be able to offer them at a competitive price point.

Future revenue growth depends upon our ability to adapt to technological change and successfully introduce new and enhanced products and services.

The online service and software industries are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, and frequent new product introductions. Our competitors offer new and enhanced products and services every year, and customer expectations change as a result. We must successfully innovate and develop new products and features to meet changing customer needs and expectations. We need to continue to develop our skills, tools, and capabilities to capitalize on existing and emerging technologies, which require us to devote significant resources.

The number of people who access products and services through devices other than personal computers, including mobile phones, smartphones, and handheld computers such as tablets, has increased dramatically in the past few years. We have limited experience to date in developing products and services for users of these alternative devices, and the versions of our products and services developed for these devices may not be compelling to users. As new devices and new platforms are continually being released, it is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in developing versions of our products and services for use on these alternative devices and we may need to devote significant resources to the creation, support, and maintenance of such offerings. If we are slow to develop products and technologies that are compatible with these alternative devices, of if our competitors are able to achieve those results more quickly than us, we will fail to capture a significant share of an increasingly important portion of the market for online services, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, such new products and services may not succeed in the marketplace, resulting in lost market share, wasted development costs, and damage to our brand.

The seasonality of our tax preparation business requires a precise development and release schedule and any delays or issues with accuracy or quality may damage our reputation and harm our future financial results.

Our tax preparation software and online service must be ready to launch in final form near the beginning of each calendar year to take advantage of the full tax season. We must update the code for our software and service each year to account for annual changes in tax laws and regulations. Delayed and unpredictable changes to federal and state tax laws and regulations can cause an already tight development cycle to become even more challenging. We must develop our code on a precise schedule that both incorporates all such changes and ensures that the software and service are accurate. If we are unable to meet this precise schedule and we launch our software and service late, we risk losing customers to our competitors. If we cannot develop our software with a high degree of accuracy and quality, we risk errors in the tax returns that are generated. Such errors could result in loss of reputation, lower customer retention, or legal fees and payouts related to the warranty on our software and service.

Business interruption or failure of our information technology and communication systems may impair the availability of our products and services, which may damage our reputation and harm our future financial results.

We are dependent on the continuing operation and availability of our information technology and communication systems and those of our external service providers. We do not have redundancy for our systems, many of our critical applications reside only in our sole internal data center, and our disaster recovery planning may not account for all eventualities. We are in the process of updating our data center capabilities and the supporting information technology infrastructure to meet our customers’ expectations for continuous service availability. Any difficulties in upgrading these applications or infrastructure or failure of our systems or those of

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our service providers may result in interruptions in our service, which may reduce our revenues and profits, cause us to lose customers and damage our reputation. Any prolonged interruptions at any time may result in lost customers, additional refunds of customer charges, negative publicity and increased operating costs, any of which may significantly harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. If we do not execute the transition to the new data centers in an effective manner, we may experience unplanned service disruptions or unforeseen increases in costs which may harm our operating results and our business. We do not maintain real-time back-up of all our data, and in the event of significant system disruption we may experience loss of data or processing capabilities, which may cause us to lose customers and may materially harm our reputation and our operating results.

Our business operations, data center, information technology, and communications systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, human error, malicious attacks, fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, computer denial of service attacks, terrorist attacks and other events beyond our control. The majority of our research and development activities, our corporate headquarters, our principal information technology systems, and other critical business operations are located near major seismic faults. Our future financial results may be materially harmed in the event of a major natural or man-made disaster.

We rely on internal systems and external systems maintained by manufacturers, distributors and other service providers to take and fulfill customer orders, handle customer service requests and host certain online activities. Any interruption or failure of our internal or external systems may prevent us or our service providers from accepting and fulfilling customer orders or cause company and customer data to be unintentionally disclosed. Our continuing efforts to upgrade and expand our network security and other information systems as well as our high-availability capabilities may be costly, and problems with the design or implementation of system enhancements may harm our business and our results of operations.

Our hosting, collection, use, and retention of personal customer information and data create risk that may harm our business.

Our TaxACT business collects, uses, and retains large amounts of customer personal and financial information, including information regarding income, family members, credit cards, tax returns, bank accounts, social security numbers, and healthcare. Some of this personal customer information is held by third parties vendors that process certain transactions. In addition, as many of our products and services are Web-based, the amount of data we store for our users on our servers (including personal information) has been increasing and will continue to increase as we further evolve our businesses. We and our vendors use commercially available security technologies to protect transactions and personal information. We use security and business controls to limit access and use of personal information. However, individuals or third parties, including employees, contractors, temporary workers, vendors, business partners, or hackers, may be able to circumvent these security and business measures.

If we are unable to develop, manage and maintain critical third party business relationships, our business may be adversely affected.

Our growth is dependent on the strength of our business relationships and our ability to continue to develop, maintain, and leverage new and existing relationships. We rely on various third party partners, including software and service providers, suppliers, vendors, distributors, contractors, financial institutions, licensing partners, among others, in many areas of our business in order to deliver our offerings and operate our business. We also rely on third parties to support the operation of our business by maintaining our physical facilities, equipment, power systems, and infrastructure. In certain instances, these third party relationships are sole source or limited source relationships and can be difficult to replace or substitute depending on the level of integration of the third party’s products or services into, or with, our offerings and/or the general availability of such third party’s products and services. In addition, there may be few or no alternative third party providers or vendors in the

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market. The failure of third parties to provide acceptable and high quality products, services, and technologies or to update their products, services, and technologies may result in a disruption to our business operations and our customers, which may reduce our revenues and profits, cause us to lose customers and damage our reputation. Alternative arrangements and services may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or we may experience business interruptions upon a transition to an alternative partner.

In particular, we have relationships with banks, credit unions or other financial institutions, both as customers and as suppliers of certain critical services we offer to our other customers. If any of these institutions fail, consolidate, stop providing certain services, or institute cost-cutting efforts, our results may suffer and we may be unable to offer those services to our customers.

We may be unable to effectively adapt to changing government regulations, which may harm our operating results.

The tax preparation business is heavily regulated and is subject to significant new and revised regulations. The application of these laws and regulations to our businesses is often unclear and compliance with these regulations may involve significant costs or require changes to our business practices that result in reduced revenue. Any changes that we may incur as a result of any such regulations may not be sustained over time depending on a number of factors, including market and industry reactions to such regulations. We are also required to comply with a variety of state revenue agency standards in order to successfully operate our tax preparation and electronic filing services. Changes in state-imposed requirements by one or more of the states, including the required use of specific technologies or technology standards, may significantly increase the costs of providing those services to our customers and may prevent us from delivering a quality product to our customers in a timely manner.

In order to meet regulatory standards, we may be required to increase investment in compliance and auditing functions or new technologies. In addition, government authorities may enact other laws, rules or regulations that place new burdens or restrictions on our business or determine that our operations are directly subject to existing rules or regulations, such as requirements related to data collection, use, transmission, retention, processing and security, which may make our business more costly, less efficient or impossible to conduct, and may require us to modify our current or future products or services, which may harm our future financial results.

If we fail to process transactions effectively or fail to adequately protect against disputed or potential fraudulent activities, our revenue and earnings may be harmed.

Our TaxACT business processes a significant volume and dollar value of transactions on a daily basis. Due to the size and volume of transactions that we handle, effective processing systems and controls are essential to ensure that transactions are handled appropriately. Despite our efforts, it is possible that we may make errors or that fraudulent activity may affect our services. In addition to any direct damages and fines that any such problems may create, which may be substantial, a loss of confidence in our controls may seriously harm our business and damage our brand. The systems supporting our business are comprised of multiple technology platforms that are difficult to scale. If we are unable to effectively manage our systems and processes we may be unable to process customer data in an accurate, reliable, and timely manner, which may harm our business.

Unanticipated changes in income tax rates, deduction types, or the taxation structure may affect our future financial results.

Changes in the way that the state and federal governments structure their taxation regimes may affect our results. The introduction of a simplified or flattened taxation structure may make our services less necessary or attractive to individual filers. We also face risk from the possibility of increased complexity in taxation structures, which may encourage some of our customers to seek professional tax advice instead of using our software or services. In the event that such changes to tax structures causes us to lose market share, our results may suffer.

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Our business depends on our strong reputation and the value of our brands.

Developing and maintaining awareness of our TaxACT and related brands is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our existing and future products and services and is an important element in attracting new customers. Adverse publicity (whether or not justified) relating to events or activities attributed to our TaxACT business, our employees, our vendors, or our partners may tarnish our reputation and reduce the value of our brands. Damage to our reputation and loss of brand equity may reduce demand for our products and services and thus have an adverse effect on our future financial results, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation and restore the value of the brands.