Advantage Solutions Inc. 10-K/A

10-K/A 1 d417543d10ka.htm 10-K/A 10-K/A Table of Contents UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K/A (Amendment No. 1) ☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 OR ☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to Commission File Number: 001-38990 Advantage Solutions Inc. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 83-4629508 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) 18100 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 1000 Irvine, CA 92612 (Address of principal executive offices) (949) 797-2900 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share ADV Nasdaq Global Select Market Warrants exercisable for one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 ADVWW Nasdaq Global Select Market Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ☐ NO ☒ Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. YES ☐ NO ☒ Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES ☒ NO ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). YES ☒ NO ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☒ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☐ If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES ☐ NO ☒ As of June 30, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates, computed by reference to the closing sales price of $12.00 reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, was approximately $520.9 million. As of March 15, 2021, there were 318,449,966 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, issued and outstanding. Table of Contents Explanatory Note Advantage Solutions Inc. (the “Company”) is filing this amended Form 10-K/A (“Form 10-K/A”) to amend our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 16, 2021 (“Original Report”), to revise our consolidated financial statements and related footnote disclosures and financial statement schedule as of December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020. This Form 10-K/A also amends certain other Items in the Original Report, as listed in “Items Amended in this Form 10-K/A” below. Revision Background On April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC issued a Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) (the “SEC Staff Statement”). The SEC Staff Statement addresses certain accounting and reporting considerations related to warrants of a kind similar to those issued by Conyers Park II Acquisition Corp. (“Conyers Park”) at the time of its initial public offering in July 2019. The SEC Staff Statement discussed “certain features of warrants issued in SPAC transactions” that “may be common across many entities” and indicated that when one or more such features is included in a warrant, the warrant “should be classified as a liability measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings.” Prior to the issuance of the SEC Statement, the Company classified the 7,333,333 private placement warrants originally issued by Conyers Park to Conyers Park II Sponsor LLC in a private placement in connection with its initial public offering and assumed by the Company in connection with the consummation of the Transactions (as defined at Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Recent Development s ) as equity. In light of the SEC Staff Statement, on May 6, 2021, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee”), after discussion with management determined that the private placement warrants should be classified as liabilities and subsequently measured at fair value through earnings pursuant to Accounting Standards Codification 815-40, Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity . As discussed in further detail below and in Part II, Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data —Note 1, Organization and Significant Acc o unting Policies – Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements to the accompanying consolidated financial statements, the revision is the result of the incorrect accounting for certain of our issued warrants. We evaluated the impact of this error on the previously issued financial statements included in the Original Report and concluded that the impact of this error was not material to those financial statements after considering both quantitative and qualitative factors, however, we have revised the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020 in this Form 10-K/A. All amounts in this Form 10-K/A affected by the error have been revised. As a result of the revision, the Company recorded $7.9 million as a warrant liability with a reduction to additional paid-in-capital on October 28, 2020 and a subsequent $13.4 million change in the estimated fair value recorded for the year ended December 31, 2020 recognized as a Change in fair value of the warrant liability on the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. This revision did not have an impact on the Company’s revenues, cash position, operating expenses or total operating, investing or financing cash flows as previously presented. Additionally, the revision had no impact on our non-GAAP operating metrics, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Net Debt. Internal Control Considerations In connection with the revision management has re-evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020. Management has concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2020, due to existing material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting previously disclosed by the Company, and a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the evaluation of settlement features used to determine the classification of certain warrant instruments. For a discussion of management’s consideration of our disclosure controls and procedures, our internal control over financial reporting, and the material weaknesses identified, see Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures” of this Form 10-K/A. Table of Contents Items Amended in this Form 10-K/A This Form 10-K/A presents the Original Report, amended and revised with modifications as necessary to reflect the revision and certain related changes. Where appropriate we have changed references from “this Annual Report on Form 10-K” to “this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A.” The following items have been amended: Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Part II, Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements Part II, Item 9A. Controls and Procedures Part III, Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance Part III, Item 11. Executive Compensation Part III, Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence Part IV, Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules This Form 10-K/A has been executed by the officers and directors on the signature page effective as of the date set forth thereon. In addition, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Principal Accounting Officer have provided new certifications dated as of the date of this filing in connection with this Form 10-K/A (Exhibits 31.1, 31.2, 32.1 and 32.2). This Form 10-K/A does not purport to reflect any information or events subsequent to the filing of the Original Report. As such, this Form 10-K/A speaks only as of the date the Original Report was filed, and we have not undertaken herein to amend, supplement or update any information contained in the Original Report to give effect to any subsequent events. Accordingly, this Form 10-K/A should be read in conjunction with our filings made with the SEC subsequent to the filing of the Original Report, including any amendment to those filings. Table of Contents Advantage Solutions Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I Item 1. Business 5 Item 1A. Risk Factors 12 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 39 Item 2. Properties 39 Item 3. Legal Proceedings 39 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 41 PART II Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 42 Item 6. Selected Financial Data 43 Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 43 Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 73 Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 75 Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 135 Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 135 Item 9B. Other Information 137 PART III Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 138 Item 11. Executive Compensation 147 Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 163 Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 168 Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 174 PART IV Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 175 Item 16. Form 10-K Summary 179 Signatures 180 Table of Contents Part I Forward-Looking Statements This Annual Report on Form 10-K/A (“Annual Report”) and other documents we file with the SEC contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about us, our future performance, our business, our beliefs and our management’s assumptions. In addition, we, or others on our behalf, may make forward-looking statements in press releases, written statements or our communications and discussions with investors and analysts in the normal course of business through meetings, webcasts, phone calls and conference calls. Such words as “expect,” “anticipate,” “outlook,” “could,” “target,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “should,” “may,” “assume” and “continue” as well as variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and they involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. We describe our respective risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect the outcome or results of operations in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors. We have based our forward-looking statements on our management’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available to our management at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted by our forward-looking statements. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we do not have any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements after the distribution of this report, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise. Item 1. Business Our Company We are a leading provider of outsourced solutions to consumer goods companies and retailers. We have a strong platform of competitively advantaged sales and marketing services built over multiple decades – essential, business critical services like headquarter sales, retail merchandising, in-store sampling, digital commerce and shopper marketing. For brands and retailers of all sizes, we help get the right products on the shelf (whether physical or digital) and into the hands of consumers (however they shop). We use a scaled platform to innovate as a trusted partner with our clients, solving problems to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. At the most fundamental level: • We sit at the nexus of consumer goods companies and retailers and serve as a trusted partner to both. • We help our clients sell more while spending less. We make them more effective and more efficient. • We win by providing best-in-class service every day and innovating on a nimble operating platform. • We drive productivity to provide fuel for reinvestment and growth. • Simply put, we are built to do it better, cheaper and faster. Within our sales segment, we are a critical link between consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. For example, through our headquarter sales services, we help consumer goods manufacturers increase distribution and optimize how products are displayed, priced and promoted both in-store and online. We also make in-store visits for both manufacturer and retailer clients to ensure the products we represent are adequately stocked and properly displayed. Through our marketing segment, we help brands and retailers reach consumers through two main platforms. The first is our retail experiential business where we manage highly customized large-scale sampling programs 5 Table of Contents (both in-store and online) within multi-decade relationships at leading retailers. These programs drive sales, promote loyalty and build trial. The second part of our marketing segment is our collection of specialized agency businesses, where we provide private label services to retailers and develop marketing programs for brands and retailers using proprietary insights on shopper behavior, analytics, brand knowledge, and understanding of manufacturer and retailer strategies. Our expertise and scale have compounded over decades, built on differentiated business systems, talent, relationships, and technology. We listen, learn and invest in capabilities that allow us to meet the evolving needs of brands and retailers – solving existing problems better and new problems quickly, to navigate change in an increasingly omni-channel world. This, in turn, helps us compound our relationships with clients. These relationships are enhanced by a suite of technology offerings which leverage data and analytics solutions to support our associates in creating, executing and measuring insight-based plans to grow our clients’ businesses. Our Solutions Our services are provided across two segments — sales and marketing. Sales Segment Through our sales segment, we provide our clients with a full suite of outsourced solutions to enhance sales in the traditional retail, foodservice and e-commerce channels. Within our sales segment, we typically generate revenues on a commission, fee-for-service or cost-plus basis. Our primary sales services include: Brand-Centric Services Our service offerings have been predominately centered around providing solutions to branded consumer goods manufacturers (i.e., non-private label manufacturers). These brand-centric services include: Headquarter Relationship Management We act as a representative of our consumer goods manufacturer clients and facilitate relationships with retailers across a range of matters, including business development and sales planning efforts. We prepare customized, data-driven business plans on behalf of our manufacturer clients and present a business case to increase distribution of their products, and optimize the shelf placement, pricing and promotion of their products, to our extensive network of industry contacts spanning retailer buying organizations and senior executive ranks. Our services are enhanced by our in-depth understanding of both the manufacturers’ and retailers’ strategic priorities, which is supported by our close physical proximity to our clients’ offices, as well as our proactive approach in identifying business-building opportunities. Our scale allows us to offer these services on a local, regional or national level, as well as for a client’s designated product, brand or entire portfolio. Analytics, Insights and Intelligence To support our sales efforts, we field a team of analytics professionals who provide category and space management services. These professionals analyze consumer purchase and retailer data to identify opportunities to increase the sales of our clients’ products and categories. We perform these analyses using our proprietary business intelligence technology platform, which aggregates data to guide sales strategies to expand product distribution and optimize other factors such as assortment, planograms, pricing and trade promotions. We also use post-promotion analytical tools to evaluate promotion effectiveness and work with clients and retailers to make the adjustments necessary to meet sales and profit objectives at the product and category level. Our teams of category managers are available in every market, including some who sit onsite with retailers and assist in developing analysis to support recommendations. We also conduct advanced analytical services for clients such as retailer point-of-sale and shopper card analytics and primary market and shopper research. 6 Table of Contents Administration Our associates utilize innovative technology and know-how to efficiently manage key back-office functions for clients such as receiving and processing purchase orders. Our team also manages trade promotion programs executed between manufacturers and retailers. Through our expanded “Order to Cash” service, we strive to deliver additional savings for clients by managing extra steps in the order process, including revenue reconciliation, cash application and collection management. Finally, we leverage this infrastructure to offer additional services that include call center support and vendor-managed inventory (i.e., building orders to ensure appropriate in-stock levels). Brand-Centric Merchandising We deploy teams in retail locations to support manufacturers’ in-store sales strategies. Our associates conduct both cyclical and ad hoc store visits to manage product availability and positioning, implement promotions, install point-of-purchase displays and perform other value-added merchandising services. Tablet technology and proprietary software are used extensively in the workflow. For example, routing software helps guide our associates from location to location in the most efficient and effective way based on factors such as store volume, sales velocity, store location and in-store conditions. In store, our associates use our merchandising application and scanners to efficiently and effectively execute a range of activities such as distribution tasks, validating promotional compliance or answering survey questions. Our software leverages daily point-of-sale store data, supply chain data and advanced algorithms to target and correct potential store-level merchandising issues in real time, such as SKUs that are void, out of stock or past expiration. We are able to leverage this intelligence to route our retail teams to stores where issues exist, or may soon exist, as well as prioritize our associates’ work to address the highest-value opportunities while conducting a store visit. Another application provides our associates with professional digital presentation materials enabling them to make quick and impactful recommendations to store managers for assortment changes, promotional events and display programs. We are also able to integrate point-of-sale data into these presentations to help store managers understand the potential store-level sales impact from such recommendations. We offer our clients a full spectrum of flexible service models for our retail services coverage. In our dedicated coverage model, our associates perform services exclusively for a particular client and have intimate knowledge of its categories and products. Our syndicated coverage model utilizes shared teams in particular channels to perform services for multiple clients while in a store. Finally, we offer hybrid coverage models whereby clients can choose to have dedicated teams covering designated channels or retailers and syndicated coverage for other channels. Our retail services teams focus either on manufacturers or particular retail channels, such as grocery, drug, mass, convenience, club and natural/specialty, which allows them to develop expertise in either manufacturer products or a particular class of trade. Retailer-Centric Services Over the past decade we have leveraged our strategic position with retailers to develop solutions that address their needs. Our retailer- centric services include: Retailer-Centric Merchandising We serve select retailers as their exclusive provider, and other retailers as an authorized provider, of in-store merchandising or reset services. For some of our retailer clients, we perform other in-store services, such as compliance audits, data collection and in-store product assembly, and certain advisory services, such as analytics and planogram services intended to increase sales and optimize inventory and space management, so that the retailer’s personnel can focus on interacting with and servicing its shoppers. 7 Table of Contents In-Store Media We manage a wide variety of media, merchandising and display platforms for retailers, including: multi- manufacturer circular programs; an in-store display platform for perishable brands with cooler units in high- traffic locations; and a network of advertisements on pedestals at the entrances and exits of major retailers. In addition to our brand-centric and retailer-centric sales services, we have a portfolio of other broadly applicable offerings that are designed to grow sales and reduce costs for clients. These services include: Digital Commerce We offer technology and e-commerce solutions to both manufacturers and retailers. Our business intelligence solutions drive efficiencies for consumer goods manufacturers in two ways: first, certain of our technology solutions automate critical reporting processes and provide insights that allow manufacturers to make revenue-optimizing decisions (e.g., software applications that synthesize large amounts of commercial data into intuitive reports that allow managers to make more informed decisions with respect to sales and inventory levels); and second, when combined with our merchandising services delivered through our retail services teams, our digital and technology solutions optimize in-store operations and workflows. Our e-commerce capabilities cover a comprehensive suite of services, including representation of consumer goods manufacturers to online retailers, trade marketing management, brand reputation management and content creation, management and syndication services. Our e-commerce services include facilitating the purchase of products directly by online retail partners, as well as, in some cases, purchasing and reselling clients’ products directly to the consumer, which affords us comprehensive coverage of manufacturers’ product portfolios. Our trade marketing management services also support effective merchandising of our clients’ products in the online channel through optimizing pricing, promotion and placement of those products. In addition, through our brand reputation management services we help manage brands’ online reputation to increase community engagement and conversations that promote purchasing decisions. Our content services help manufacturers and retailers create and syndicate product content that is designed to educate shoppers and increase online sales. These services include professional content production capabilities for product imaging and specifications and one of the world’s largest retailer content syndication networks. Our network allows us to distribute rich product content to over thousands e-commerce sites. These assets, leveraged from our own production work or retailers’ and manufacturers’ brand development efforts (e.g., consumer-facing websites), help manufacturers and online retailers sell more by providing comprehensive and compelling product information for a more engaging shopper experience. Marketing Segment We believe that our marketing segment is differentiated from our competition by our people, retail connectivity, entrepreneurial marketing mindset and scale. We launched our marketing business in 2000 in response to our observation of the challenges that our clients were experiencing by working with traditional marketing agencies that were not effectively connecting brand marketing strategies, sales planning efforts and retailer strategies to offer cohesive brand marketing. Our position as an intermediary in the market gives us deep insight and understanding into manufacturers’ needs from a sales perspective, their marketing and promotion strategies, as well as retailer strategies. We believe this position enables us to create more effective, shopper- focused marketing promotions by connecting client sales and marketing strategies with those of retailers. We believe that our marketing business is differentiated from traditional marketing agencies in that it is built upon our insights and understanding of manufacturer and retailer strategies, leverages our ability to design and execute coordinated, large-scale marketing platforms in retail and combines capabilities from across the various disciplines in our portfolio to influence consumers at critical points along the purchase journey through execution platforms that reach audiences in-store and out of store to deliver superior client results. 8 Table of Contents Since founding our marketing business, we have grown to become a national agency collective and are the agency of record for many of the most recognized brands across the retail, packaged goods, technology, apparel, automotive, travel, entertainment, education and healthcare industries. We were ranked by Ad Age as the largest U.S. promotions agency and the largest U.S. experiential and event marketing agency in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 based on prior year revenues. Furthermore, in 2021 we ranked 11th on Ad Age’s list of the largest U.S. marketing agencies from all disciplines and 18th on its list of the world’s largest agency companies based on prior year revenues. Within our marketing segment, we typically generate revenues on a fee-for-service, cost-plus, retainer or commission basis. Brand-Centric Services Shopper and Consumer Marketing For manufacturer clients, we analyze shopper behavior and apply our deep retailer knowledge and expertise to offer planning, execution and measurement of insight-based, retailer-specific promotions that target a retailer’s specific shopper base to drive product sales. We combine an understanding of how a brand’s consumers behave as shoppers in different channels, formats and retailers (mined from data resources) with an understanding of retailer objectives, strategies and preferred programming tactics (informed by our connectivity and resources in the field) to develop programs that successfully promote the sales of clients’ products at retail. Manufacturers also hire us for national consumer promotions, which are designed to stimulate demand for, and awareness of, their products more broadly. Brand Experiential We design and execute brand experiences in retail and non-retail settings in order to help brands engage, educate, acquire and retain consumers and impact purchase behavior. Our brand experiential solutions include large-scale festivals, lifestyle venues, pop-up-shops, mobile tours, as well as assisted sales programs whereby our associates act as extensions of client sales teams, educating consumers as well as store employees. Retailer-Centric Services Retail Experiential We design and execute one-to-one engagement strategies in order to drive product trial and sales and help retailers differentiate their in-store experience and generate more loyalty from shoppers. This includes in-store sampling and demo programs with fully-scaled operations including staffing, training, field management, assembly, fulfillment, technology and reporting. We deploy teams at each retailer that develop event concepts in conjunction with marketing, merchandising and store operations and then secure supplier support and funding for the programs. Our other retail experiential solutions include premium advisors who provide assistance in complex categories (such as beauty and adult beverages), virtual advisors who provide assistance via text messaging or web and curated sampling boxes for online grocery pick-up and delivery orders. Retail experiential constitutes the largest service in the marketing segment, representing more than half of our retailer-centric and marketing revenues. Private Label We help maximize the market potential of private label portfolios by providing comprehensive private label strategy, development and management services to retailers and private label manufacturers. By leveraging our analytical capabilities and expertise, we develop strategies and provide insights that help retailers establish and 9 Table of Contents grow productive and profitable private label programs across new and existing product categories. This process often begins with a thorough analysis of the marketplace to develop a private label portfolio strategy that aligns with a client’s priorities. We help identify the most compelling product categories to target and specific products to develop. We also provide packaging and design services to bring our clients’ brands to life through strong brand identities. Our retailer clients are supported by analytical teams and associates who execute strategies through assortment planning, product sourcing and marketing and ongoing program management. In addition to our brand-centric and retailer-centric marketing services, we have a portfolio of other broadly applicable offerings that are designed to engage consumers and enhance marketing efforts for clients. These services include: Digital Marketing Using advanced analytics, our digital marketing teams provide a wide range of services to clients, including: interactive design and development across mobile, tablet and desktop platforms; application development; content management solutions; paid media, including search engine marketing, and programmatic and direct media; and social media development and management. Digital Media and Advertising We offer targeted media and advertising solutions powered by our proprietary data that deliver to curated, custom audiences from first and third-party data sources. Our cross-screen advertising capabilities enable advertisers to target and engage with custom audience segments across devices via rich media, display, email and value exchange ads. Government Regulation In connection with the services we provide, we must comply with various laws and regulations from federal, state, local and foreign regulatory agencies. We believe that we are in material compliance with regulatory requirements applicable to our business. These regulatory requirements include, without limitation: • federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations involving minimum wage, health care, overtime, sick leave, lunch and rest breaks and other similar wage, benefits and hour requirements and other similar laws; • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and regulations of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the equivalent state agencies and other similar laws; • food and permitting matters ( e.g. , licensing under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture), food safety matters ( e.g. , federal, state and local certification and training and inspection and enforcement of standards for our associates, facilities, equipment and the products we promote), alcohol beverage marketing regulations, custom and import matters with respect to products imported to and exported from the United States; • the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and other similar anti-bribery and antikickback laws and regulations that generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business; and • federal, state and foreign anticorruption, data protection, privacy, consumer protection, content regulation and other laws and regulations, including without limitation, GDPR and the CCPA. 10 Table of Contents Human Capital Management Our associates represent the most important assets to our business. As of December 31, 2020, we employed more than 62,000 associates. Approximately 18,000 of these associates are full-time and approximately 44,000 are part-time. Approximately 52,000 of these associates are in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, none of our associates in the United States were represented by a trade union. We experience meaningful turnover among our entry level associates each year, and the turnover is most significant among our part-time associates. Our recruiting and retention practices are important to meeting the needs and expectations of our clients and customers. We experience less turnover among our mid-level and senior associates, and we believe our performance- based culture differentiates us from our competitors and other similar employers. Our culture is built on accountability for results. We set clear objectives with our associates, analyze performance and reward and recognize associates who outperform. We strive to encourage our associates to be proactive, creative and entrepreneurial in providing solutions for our clients and customers. We believe our encouragement has contributed to the service innovation that has fueled our growth, and that our commitment to results and continuous improvement has produced long-term relationships with our clients and customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our front-line associates performed incredible work for our clients, customers and communities. The health and welfare of our associates continues to be our primary concern, and we have implemented a number of programs to assist our associates, including providing personal protective equipment, establishing an associate-relief fund and providing additional sick pay. Notwithstanding the dedication of our associates, a number of our services were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we also had to implement layoffs, furloughs and pay reductions for associates that were in, or support, these services. Intellectual Property We own or have the rights to use certain trade names and trademarks that are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or other foreign trademark registration offices or exist under common law in the United States and other jurisdictions. Trade names that are important in identifying and distinguishing our business include, but are not limited to, Advantage Solutions, Advantage Sales & Marketing, Daymon, SAS, Club Demonstration Services, Advantage Marketing Partners and Waypoint. Our rights to some of these trade names and trademarks may be limited to select markets. We also own domain names, including advantagesolutions.net. We rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, and proprietary systems and information, to maintain and develop our technology-enabled services. We try to protect trade secrets and know-how by taking reasonable steps to keep them confidential, including entering into nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with our associates that contain confidentiality obligations and entering into invention assignment commitments that obligate them to assign to us any inventions developed in the course of their work for us. Available Information We maintain a link to investor relations information on our website, www.advantagesolutions.ne t , where we make available, free of charge, our Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. All SEC filings are also available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov . our website and the information contained on or connected to our website are not incorporated by reference herein, and our web address is included as an inactive textual reference only. 11 Table of Contents Item 1A. Risk Factors Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision regarding our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described in this Annual Report are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes to the financial statements included herein. Summary of Principal Risks Associated with Our Business Set forth below is a summary of some of the principal risks we face: • the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate its spread including its adverse effects on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity; • developments with respect to retailers that are out of our control; • changes to labor laws or wage or job classification regulations, including minimum wage, or other market-driven wage changes; • our ability to continue to generate significant operating cash flow; • consolidation within the industry of our clients creating pressure on the nature and pricing of our services; • our reliance on continued access to retailers’ platforms; • consumer goods manufacturers and retailers reviewing and changing their sales, retail, marketing, and technology programs and relationships; • our ability to successfully develop and maintain relevant omni-channel services for our clients in an evolving industry and to otherwise adapt to significant technological change; • client procurement strategies putting additional operational and financial pressure on our services; • our ability to effectively remediate material weaknesses and maintain proper and effective internal controls in the future; • potential and actual harms to our business arising from the matter related to the April 2018 acquisition of Take 5 Media Group (the “Take 5 Matter”); • our ability to identify attractive acquisition targets, acquire them at attractive prices, and successfully integrate the acquired businesses; • our ability to hire, timely train, and retain talented individuals for our workforce, and to maintain our corporate culture as we grow; • our ability to avoid or manage business conflicts among competing brands; • difficulties in integrating acquired businesses; • our substantial indebtedness and our ability to refinance at favorable rates; • limitations, restrictions, and business decisions involving our joint ventures and minority investments; • exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and risks related to our international operations; 12 Table of Contents • the ability to maintain applicable listing standards; • the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Transactions (as defined herein), which may be affected by, among other things, competition, our ability to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain our management and key employees; • changes in applicable laws or regulations; and • the possibility that we may be adversely affected by other political, economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Risks Related to the Company’s Business and Industry The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate its spread have had, and are likely to continue to have, an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. The COVID-19 pandemic, including the measures taken to mitigate its spread, have had, and are likely to continue to have, adverse effects on our business and operations. There are many uncertainties regarding the current COVID-19 pandemic, including the scope of potential public health issues, the anticipated duration of the pandemic and the extent of local and worldwide social, political and economic disruption it has caused and may cause in the future. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including restrictions on large gatherings, closures of face-to-face events and indoor dining facilities, “shelter in place” health orders and travel restrictions, have had far-reaching direct and indirect impacts on many aspects of our operations, including temporary termination of certain in-store demonstration services and other services, as well as on consumer behavior and purchasing patterns, in particular with respect to the foodservice industries, and declines in consumer demand for restaurant, school and hotel dining, where we promote our clients’ products. Since March 2020, our marketing segment has experienced a significant decline in revenues, primarily due to the temporary suspension or reduction of certain in-store demonstration services and decreased demand in our digital marketing services, both of which we believe were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the various governmental and private responses to the pandemic, and which may continue in the future. In our sales segment, we have experienced significant shifts in consumer spending preferences and habits. We can provide no assurances that the strength of that segment will continue or that we will be able to continue to evolve our business in the future as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our clients’ businesses. We have taken several actions in response to these business disruptions, including reducing certain of our discretionary expenditures, reducing our real estate foot print, through lease terminations and amendments (including abandoning several office leases prior to reaching termination agreements with its landlords), eliminating non-essential travel and terminating, furloughing or instituting pay reductions and deferrals for some of our associates. However, the pandemic has had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our results of operations, including our revenues, our financial condition and liquidity. The COVID-19 pandemic also may have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in these “ Risk Factors ”, including: • potential changes in the policies of retailers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including changes to or restrictions on their outsourcing of sales and marketing functions and restrictions on the performance of in-store demonstration services, if permitted at all; • potential changes in the demand for services by our clients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; • the need for us to adapt to technological change and otherwise develop and maintain omni-channel solutions; • our ability to generate sufficient cash to service our substantial indebtedness; • our ability to maintain our credit rating; 13 Table of Contents • our ability to offer high-quality customer support and maintain our reputation; • our ability to identify, perform adequate diligence on and consummate acquisitions of attractive business targets, and then subsequently integrate such acquired businesses; • our ability to hire, timely train and retain talented individuals for our workforce; • our ability to maintain our corporate culture; • severe disruption and instability in the U.S. and global financial markets or deteriorations in credit and financing conditions, which could make it difficult for us to access debt and equity capital on attractive terms, or at all; • our ability to effectively manage our operations while a significant amount of our associates continue to work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic; • deteriorating economic conditions, higher unemployment, public transportation disruptions or other disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which could result in lower-than-planned sales during key revenue-producing seasons, leading to lower revenues; • potential cost-saving strategies implemented by clients that reduce fees paid to third-party service providers such as ourselves; and • our ability to implement additional internal control measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting. We cannot predict the full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity as such effects will depend on how the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to develop. However, these effects may continue, evolve or increase in severity, each of which could further negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Our business and results of operations are affected by developments with and policies of retailers that are out of our control. A limited number of national retailers account for a large percentage of sales for our consumer goods manufacturer clients. We expect that a significant portion of these clients’ sales will continue to be made through a relatively small number of retailers and that this percentage may increase if the growth of mass retailers and the trend of retailer consolidation continues. As a result, changes in the strategies of large retailers, including a reduction in the number of brands that these retailers carry or an increase in shelf space that they dedicate to private label products, could materially reduce the value of our services to these clients or these clients’ use of our services and, in turn, our revenues and profitability. Many retailers have critically analyzed the number and variety of brands they sell, and have reduced or discontinued the sale of certain of our clients’ product lines at their stores, and more retailers may continue to do so. If this continues to occur and these clients are unable to improve distribution for their products at other retailers, our business or results of operations could be adversely affected. These trends may be accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, many retailers, including several of the largest retailers in North America, which own and operate a significant number of the locations at which we provide our services, have implemented or may implement in the future, policies that designate certain service providers to be the exclusive provider or one of their preferred providers for specified services, including many of the services that we provide to such retailers or our clients. 14 Table of Contents Some of these designations apply across all of such retailers’ stores, while other designations are limited to specific regions. If we are unable to respond effectively to the expectations and demands of such retailers or if retailers do not designate us as their exclusive provider or one of their preferred providers for any reason, they could reduce or restrict the services that we are permitted to perform for our clients at their facilities or require our clients to purchase services from other designated services providers, which include our competitors, either of which could adversely affect our business or results of operations. Changes to wage or job classification regulations, including minimum wages and market-driven wage increases, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Changes in labor laws related to employee hours, wages, job classification and benefits, including health care benefits, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have significantly reduced our workforce. As of December 31, 2020, we employed approximately 62,000 associates, many of whom are paid above, but near, applicable minimum wages. Additionally, many of our salaried associates are paid at rates that could be impacted by changes to minimum pay levels for exempt roles. Certain state or municipal jurisdictions in which we operate have recently increased their minimum wage by a significant amount, and other jurisdictions are considering or plan to implement similar actions, which may increase our labor costs. Any increases at the federal, state or municipal level to the minimum pay rate required to remain exempt from overtime pay may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Furthermore, market competition may create further pressure for us to increase the wages paid to our associates or the benefits packages that they receive. If we experience market-driven increases in wage rates or benefits or if we fail to increase our wages or benefits packages competitively, the quality of our workforce could decline, causing our client service to suffer. Consistently low unemployment rates may increase the likelihood or impact of such market pressures. Any of these changes affecting wages or benefits for our associates could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Consolidation in the industries we serve could put pressure on the pricing of our services, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Consolidation in the consumer goods and retail industries we serve could reduce aggregate demand for our services in the future and could adversely affect our business or our results of operations. When companies merge, the services they previously purchased separately are often purchased by the combined entity, leading to the termination of relationships with certain service providers or demands for reduced fees and commissions. The combined company may also choose to insource certain functions that were historically outsourced, resulting in the termination of existing relationships with third-party service providers. While we attempt to mitigate the revenue impact of any consolidation by maintaining existing or winning new service arrangements with the combined companies, there can be no assurance as to the degree to which we will be able to do so as consolidation continues in the industries we serve, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely affected. Consumer goods manufacturers and retailers may periodically review and change their sales, retail, marketing and technology programs and relationships to our detriment. The consumer goods manufacturers and retailers to whom we provide our business solutions operate in highly competitive and rapidly changing environments. From time to time these parties may put their sales, retail, marketing and technology programs and relationships up for competitive review, which may increase in frequency as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the consumer goods manufacturers and retailer industries. We have occasionally lost accounts with significant clients as a result of these reviews in the 15 Table of Contents past, and our clients are typically able to reduce or cancel current or future spending on our services on short notice for any reason. We believe that key competitive considerations for retaining existing and winning new accounts include our ability to develop solutions that meet the needs of these manufacturers and retailers in this environment, the quality and effectiveness of our services and our ability to operate efficiently. To the extent that we are not able to develop these solutions, maintain the quality and effectiveness of our services or operate efficiently, we may not be able to retain key clients, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely affected. Our largest clients generate a significant portion of our revenues. Our three largest clients generated approximately 12% of our revenues in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. These clients are generally able to reduce or cancel spending on our services on short notice for any reason. A significant reduction in spending on our services by our largest clients, or the loss of one or more of our largest clients, if not replaced by new clients or an increase in business from existing clients, would adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, when large retailers suspend or reduce in-store demonstration services, such as in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our business and results of operations can be adversely affected. We are reliant on continued access to retailer platforms on commercially reasonable terms for the provision of certain of our e-commerce services in which our clients’ products are resold by us, as the vendor of record, directly to the consumer. A growing portion of the e-commerce services we provide involve the purchase and resale by us, as the vendor of record, of our clients’ products through retailer platforms. The control that retailers such as Amazon have over the access and fee structures and/or pricing for products on their platforms could impact the volume of purchases of these products made on their platform and our revenues from the provision of such e-commerce services. If such retailers establish terms that restrict the offering of these products on their platform, significantly impact the financial terms on which such products are offered, or do not approve the inclusion of such products on their platform, our business could be negatively impacted. Additionally, we also generally rely on the retailer’s payment processing services for purchases made on its platform by consumers. To the extent such payment processing services are offered to us on less favorable terms, or become unavailable to us for any reason, our costs of revenue with respect to this aspect of our business could increase, and our margins could be materially adversely impacted. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in maintaining access to these retailer platforms on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. The retail industry is evolving, and if we do not successfully develop and maintain relevant omni-channel services for our clients, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely impacted. Historically, substantially all of our sales segment revenues were generated by sales and services that ultimately occurred in traditional retail stores. The retail industry is evolving, as demonstrated by the number of retailers that offer both traditional retail stores and e-commerce platforms or exclusively e-commerce platforms. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed pressure on the traditional retail store model, including store closures, changes in consumer spending, and extensive health and safety risks and compliance requirements, If consumers continue to shift to purchase more products online and e-commerce continues to displace brick-and-mortar retail sales, there may be a decrease in the demand for certain of our services. Consumers are increasingly using computers, tablets, mobile phones and other devices to comparison shop, determine product availability and complete purchases online, a trend that has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and which may continue thereafter. Omni-channel retailing is rapidly evolving and we believe we will need to keep pace with the changing consumer expectations and new developments by our competitors. While we continue to seek to develop effective omni-channel solutions for our clients that support both their e-commerce and traditional retail needs, there can be no assurances that these efforts will result in revenue gains 16 Table of Contents sufficient to offset potential decreases associated with a decline in traditional retail sales or that we will be able to maintain our position as a leader in our industry. If we are unable to provide, improve or develop innovative digital services and solutions in a timely manner or at all, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely impacted. We may be unable to adapt to significant technological change, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. We operate businesses that require sophisticated data collection, processing and software for analysis and insights. Some of the technologies supporting the industries we serve are changing rapidly, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be required to continue to adapt to changing technologies, either by developing and marketing new services or by enhancing our existing services, to meet client demand. Moreover, the introduction of new services embodying new technologies, including automation of certain of our in-store services, and the emergence of new industry standards could render existing services obsolete. Our continued success will depend on our ability to adapt to changing technologies, manage and process increasing amounts of data and information and improve the performance, features and reliability of our existing services in response to changing client and industry demands. We may experience difficulties that could delay or prevent the successful design, development, testing, introduction or marketing of our services. New services or enhancements to existing services may not adequately meet the requirements of current and prospective clients or achieve market acceptance. Our ability to maintain our competitive position depends on our ability to attract and retain talented executives. We believe that our continued success depends to a significant extent upon the efforts, abilities and relationships of our senior executives and the strength of our middle management team. Although we have entered into employment agreements with certain of our senior executives, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. The replacement of any of our senior executives likely would involve significant time and costs and may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives and could therefore have an adverse impact on our business. In addition, we do not carry any “key person” insurance policies that could offset potential loss of service under applicable circumstances. Furthermore, if we are unable to attract and retain a talented team of middle management executives, it may be difficult to maintain the expertise and industry relationships that our clients value, and they may terminate or reduce their relationship with us. Client procurement and fee reduction strategies could put additional operational and financial pressure on our services or negatively impact our relationships, business, financial condition or results of operations. Many of our clients seek opportunities to reduce their costs through procurement strategies that reduce fees paid to third-party service providers. As a result, certain of our clients have sought, and may continue to seek, more aggressive terms from us, including with respect to pricing and payment terms. Such activities put operational and financial pressure on our business, which could limit the amounts we earn or delay the timing of our cash receipts. Such activities may also cause disputes with our clients or negatively impact our relationships or financial results. While we attempt to mitigate negative implications to client relationships and the revenue impact of any pricing pressure by aligning our revenues opportunity with satisfactory client outcomes, there can be no assurance as to the degree to which we will be able to do so successfully. Additionally, price concessions can lead to margin compression, which in turn could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. If we fail to offer high-quality customer support, our business and reputation may suffer. High-quality education, training and customer support are important for successful marketing and sales and for the renewal of existing customers. Providing this education, training and support requires that our personnel 17 Table of Contents who manage our online training resource or provide customer support have specific inbound experience domain knowledge and expertise, making it more difficult for us to hire qualified personnel and to scale up our support operations. The importance of high-quality customer support will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. If we do not help our customers use multiple applications and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell additional functionality and services to, or to retain, existing customers may suffer and our reputation with existing or potential customers may be harmed. We may be adversely affected if clients reduce their outsourcing of sales and marketing functions. Our business and growth strategies depend in large part on companies continuing to elect to outsource sales and marketing functions. Our clients and potential clients will outsource if they perceive that outsourcing may provide quality services at a lower overall cost and permit them to focus on their core business activities and have done so in the past. We cannot be certain that the industry trend to outsource will continue or not be reversed or that clients that have historically outsourced functions will not decide to perform these functions themselves. Unfavorable developments with respect to outsourcing could adversely affect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations. We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to effectively remediate any of these material weaknesses or if we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls in the future, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, investors’ views of us could be harmed, and we could be subject to enforcement actions by the SEC. As further detailed in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures of this Report, on August 15, 2019, we concluded that our previously-issued audited consolidated financial statements and related notes as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018, should be restated to reflect the corrections of misstatements as a result of the Take 5 Matter. Specifically, we determined that revenues during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 attributable to the Take 5 business had been recognized for services for which performance obligations were not performed on behalf of clients of Take 5 and that inaccurate reports were made to Take 5 clients about those services. As a result of the inappropriate business and revenue recognition practices at Take 5, we also determined that the acquired assets and liabilities of Take 5 were not properly stated at fair value at the acquisition date. In addition, and unrelated to the Take 5 Matter, we corrected an error to the benefit from income taxes for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2018. The net impact of the errors in the provision for income taxes did not change the amount of the benefit from income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2018. In connection with our investigation into the Take 5 Matter, the reclassification of the private placement warrants as liabilities and the other error corrections, we have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, we identified material weaknesses in the design and operating effectiveness of our risk assessment and information and communication processes which contributed to the following material weaknesses: • We determined that we did not design and maintain effective controls related to our due diligence procedures for potential acquisitions with respect to databases and information technology systems used to recognize revenue and determine the satisfaction of performance obligations. Specifically, internal controls were not designed and maintained to assess the risks associated with potential 18 Table of Contents acquisitions and the need to perform due diligence as part of purchase accounting with respect to databases and information technology systems utilized to determine the satisfaction of performance obligations, and to communicate and evaluate the results of due diligence. • We determined that we did not design and maintain effective controls to establish an appropriate basis for reliance on data and information in our information technology systems used for revenue recognition in certain of our newly acquired businesses. Specifically, internal controls were not designed and maintained to ensure the completeness and accuracy of system generated reports used to verify the satisfaction of performance obligations. • We determined that we did not design and maintain effective controls related to information and communication specifically with respect to our whistleblower complaint process to properly investigate, communicate and resolve whistleblower complaints and allegations related to accounting or other misconduct in a timely manner, and with respect to communication with appropriate parties. Specifically, internal controls were not designed and maintained to ensure that individuals conducting investigations into allegations of accounting or other misconduct had the appropriate expertise and supervision, and that the results of the investigations have been communicated to the appropriate parties or that other transactions are communicated to the appropriate parties. The Company re-evaluated its historical accounting for its warrants and concluded it must amend the accounting treatment of the private placement warrants (collectively, the “Warrants”) issued in connection with the initial public offering of Conyers Park II Acquisition Corp., (“Conyers Park”) and recorded to the Company’s consolidated financial statements as a result of the Company’s merger with Conyers Park (the “Merger”) and the reverse recapitalization that occurred on October 28, 2020. At that time, the Warrants were presented within equity and did not impact any reporting periods prior to the Merger. As such, we concluded that the Company’s previously issued consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K originally filed on March 16, 2021 should be revised. In connection with our re-evaluation of this matter, we identified an additional material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, as we did not design and maintain effective controls related to the evaluation of settlement features used to determine the classification of certain warrant instruments. All of the material weaknesses described above could result in a misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected. We are in the process of designing and implementing measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting and remediate the material weaknesses. Our efforts include the following actions: • In order to validate more fully an acquisition target with databases and information technology systems used to recognize revenue and determine the satisfaction of performance obligations, we are designing and implementing policies and procedures to perform more robust risk assessment and due diligence procedures in connection with such potential acquisitions, including engaging third-party experts to evaluate such target companies’ databases or information technology, and enhancing the communication and evaluation of due diligence results, as appropriate. • We are enhancing our procedures related to the risk assessment, evaluation of the completeness and accuracy of our internal reporting processes with respect to newly acquired businesses, including with respect to the completeness and accuracy of reports used to verify the satisfaction of performance obligations under client contracts and the accuracy of recognized revenues. • We are designing, enhancing and implementing procedures and policies to promote timely and proper risk assessment, investigation, resolution, communication and disclosure of any whistleblower complaints or reported allegations of accounting or other misconduct. • In addition, we are designing and implementing various controls, including additional policies, procedures and training, to enhance our disclosure committee process and communication of pertinent information to the appropriate parties in connection with the issuance or reissuance of our consolidated financial statements. • We plan to design and implement a control activity to evaluate the settlement features used to determine the classification of certain warrant instruments. Specifically, this will include the evaluation and research of the complex accounting standards that apply to these instruments. While we are designing and implementing measures to remediate our existing material weaknesses, we cannot predict the success of such measures or the outcome of our assessment of these measures at this time. We can give no assurance that these measures will remediate any of the deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting or that additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. 19 Table of Contents As a public company, we are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for each Annual Report on Form 10-K to be filed with the SEC. As further detailed in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures, this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”), or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm, as allowed by the SEC for reverse acquisitions between an issuer and a private operating company when it is not possible to conduct an assessment of the private operating company’s ICFR in the period between the consummation date of the reverse acquisition and the date of management’s assessment of ICFR (pursuant to Section 215.02 of the SEC Division of Corporation Finance’s Regulation S-K Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations). Starting with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2021, this assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting and our independent registered public accounting firm will also be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC, the NASDAQ or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources. If we are unable to identify attractive acquisition targets, acquire them at attractive prices or successfully integrate the acquired businesses, we may be unsuccessful in growing our business. A significant portion of our growth has been as a result of our acquisition of complementary businesses that grow our service offerings, expand our geographic reach and strengthen valuable relationships with clients. However, there can be no assurance that we will find attractive acquisition targets, that we will acquire them at attractive prices, that we will succeed at effectively managing the integration of acquired businesses into our existing operations or that such acquired businesses or technologies will be well received by our clients, potential clients or our investors. We could also encounter higher-than-expected earn-out payments, unforeseen transaction- and integration-related costs or delays or other circumstances such as disputes with or the loss of key or other personnel from acquired businesses, challenges or delays in integrating systems or technology of acquired businesses, a deterioration in our associate and client relationships, harm to our reputation with clients, interruptions in our business activities or unforeseen or higher-than-expected inherited liabilities. Many of these potential circumstances are outside of our control and any of them could result in increased costs, decreased revenue, decreased synergies or the diversion of management time and attention. In order for us to continue to grow our business through acquisitions we will need to identify appropriate acquisition opportunities and acquire them at attractive prices. We may choose to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could also include covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to manage our operations. The sale of equity to finance any such acquisition could result in dilution to our stockholders. We may encounter significant difficulties integrating acquired businesses. The combination of any businesses is a complex, costly and time-consuming process. As a result, we have devoted, and will continue to devote, significant management attention and resources to integrating acquired businesses. The failure to meet the challenges involved in integrating businesses and to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition could cause an interruption of, or a loss of momentum in, the activities of our combined business and could adversely affect our results of operations. The difficulties of combining acquired businesses with our own include, among others: • the diversion of management attention to integration matters; • difficulties in integrating functional roles, processes and systems, including accounting systems; • challenges in conforming standards, controls, procedures and accounting and other policies, business cultures and compensation structures between the two companies; 20 Table of Contents • difficulties in assimilating, attracting and retaining key personnel; • challenges in keeping existing clients and obtaining new clients; • difficulties in achieving anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities and growth prospects from the Transactions; • difficulties in managing the expanded operations of a significantly larger and more complex business; • contingent liabilities, including contingent tax liabilities or litigation, that may be larger than expected; and • potential unknown liabilities, adverse consequences or unforeseen increased expenses associated with an acquisition, including possible adverse tax consequences to the combined business pursuant to changes in applicable tax laws or regulations. 21 Table of Contents Many of these factors are outside of our control, and any one of them could result in increased costs, decreased expected revenues and diversion of management time and energy, all of which could adversely impact our business and results of operations. These difficulties have been enhanced further during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of our office closures and work-from home policies, which may hinder assimilation of key personnel. If we are not able to successfully integrate an acquisition, if we incur significantly greater costs to achieve the expected synergies than we anticipate or if activities related to the expected synergies have unintended consequences, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. An inability to hire, timely train and retain talented individuals for our workforce could slow our growth and adversely impact our ability to operate our business. Our ability to meet our workforce needs, while controlling wage- and associate-related costs, is subject to numerous external factors, including the availability of talented persons in the workforce in the local markets in which we operate, prevailing unemployment rates and competitive wage rates in such markets. We may find that there is an insufficient number of qualified individuals to fill our associate positions with the qualifications we seek. Competition in these communities for qualified staff could require us to pay higher wages and provide greater benefits, especially if there is significant improvement in regional or national economic conditions. We must also train and, in some circumstances, certify these associates under our policies and practices and any applicable legal requirements. Any inability to hire, timely train or retain talented individuals may result in higher turnover and increased labor costs, and could compromise the quality of our service, all of which could adversely affect our business. Our corporate culture has contributed to our success and, if we are unable to maintain it as we evolve, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. We believe our corporate culture has been a significant factor in our success. However, as our company evolves, including through acquisitions and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as working remotely and reductions in workforce, it may be difficult to maintain our culture, which could reduce our ability to innovate and operate effectively. The failure to maintain the key aspects of our culture as our organization evolves could result in decreased employee satisfaction, increased difficulty in attracting top talent, increased turnover and compromised the quality of our client service, all of which are important to our success and to the effective execution of our business strategy. If we are unable to maintain our corporate culture as we evolve and execute our growth strategies, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. Acquiring new clients and retaining existing clients depends on our ability to avoid or manage business conflicts among competing brands. Our ability to acquire new clients and to retain existing clients, whether by expansion of our own operations or through an acquired business may in some cases be limited by the other parties’ perceptions of, or policies concerning, perceived competitive conflicts arising from our other relationships. Some of our contracts expressly restrict our ability to represent competitors of the counterparty. These perceived competitive conflicts may also become more challenging to avoid or manage as a result of continued consolidation in the consumer goods and retail industries and our own acquisitions. If we are unable to avoid or manage business conflicts among competing manufacturers and retailers, we may be unable to acquire new clients or be forced to terminate existing client relationships, and in either case, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Limitations, restrictions and business decisions involving our joint ventures and minority investments may adversely affect our growth and results of operations. We have made substantial investments in joint ventures and minority investments and may use these and other similar methods to expand our service offerings and geographical coverage in the future. These arrangements typically involve other business services companies as partners that may be competitors of ours 22 Table of Contents in certain markets. Joint venture agreements may place limitations or restrictions on our services. As part of our joint venture with, and investments in Smollan, we are restricted under certain circumstances from making direct acquisitions and otherwise expanding our service offerings into markets outside of North America and Europe. As a result of our acquisition of Daymon Worldwide Inc., or the Daymon Acquisition, pursuant to the terms of our arrangements with Smollan and our joint venture, Smollan and our joint venture may elect to purchase from us, and have purchased, certain Daymon business units that operate outside of North America. If Smollan or our joint venture do not elect to purchase those business units, we may, under certain circumstances, elect to retain, sell or discontinue those business units. The limitations and restrictions tied to our joint venture and minority investments limit our potential business opportunities and reduce the economic opportunity for certain prospective international investments and operations. Additionally, though we control our joint ventures, we may rely upon our equity partners or local management for operational and compliance matters associated with our joint ventures or minority investments. Moreover, our other equity partners and minority investments may have business interests, strategies or goals that are inconsistent with ours. Business decisions, including actions or omissions, of a joint venture or other equity partner or management for a business unit may adversely affect the value of our investment, result in litigation or regulatory action against us or adversely affect our growth and results of operations. Our international operations expose us to risks that could impede growth in the future, and our attempts to grow our business internationally may not be successful. We continue to explore opportunities in major international markets. International operations expose us to various additional risks that could adversely affect our business, including: • costs of customizing services for clients outside of the United States; • the burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws; • potential difficulty in enforcing contracts; • being subject to U.S. laws and regulations governing international operations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and sanctions regimes; • being subject to foreign anti-bribery laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, such as the UK Bribery Act; • reduced protection for intellectual property rights; • increased financial accounting and reporting complexity; • exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; • exposure to local economic conditions; • limitations on the repatriation of funds or profits from foreign operations; • exposure to local political conditions, including adverse tax policies and civil unrest; • the risks of a natural disaster, public health crisis (including the occurrence of a contagious disease or illness, such as the coronavirus), an outbreak of war, the escalation of hostilities and acts of terrorism in the jurisdictions in which we operate; and • the disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the measures taken to mitigate its spread, across various jurisdictions. Additionally, in many countries outside of the United States, there has not been a historical practice of using third parties to provide sales and marketing services. Accordingly, while it is part of our strategy to expand into international markets, it may be difficult for us to grow our international business units on a timely basis, or at all. 23 Table of Contents The economic effects of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, or “Brexit,” may affect relationships with existing and future customers and could have an adverse impact on our business and operating results. Effective December 31, 2020, the United Kingdom officially withdrew its membership from the European Union (“Brexit”). The consequences of Brexit and the terms of the future trade agreements and other relationships with the European Union continue to be highly uncertain. Brexit could potentially disrupt the free movement of goods, services and people between the United Kingdom and the European Union, undermine bilateral cooperation in key geographic areas and significantly disrupt trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union or other nations as the United Kingdom pursues independent trade relations. Because this is an unprecedented event, it remains unclear what long-term economic, financial, trade and legal implications Brexit will have and how it will affect the regulation applicable to our business globally and in the region. The impact on us will depend, in part, on the outcome of tariff, trade, regulatory and other negotiations. Any of these developments, along with any political, economic and regulatory changes that may occur, could cause political and economic uncertainty in Europe and internationally and could adversely affect our sales in Europe. Brexit’s impact on us will depend, in part, on the outcome of tariff, trade, regulatory and other negotiations. Furthermore, declines of local currencies of our international customers relative to the U.S. dollar as a result of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise may impair the purchasing power of our international customers and could cause international buyers to decrease their participation in our marketplaces, and our reported international sales and earnings could be reduced. Finally, Brexit could lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations as the United Kingdom determines which European Union laws to replace or replicate, and those laws and regulations may be cumbersome, difficult or costly in terms of compliance. In addition, Brexit may lead other European Union member countries to consider referendums regarding their European Union membership. Any of these effects of Brexit, among others, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. We may be subject to unionization, work stoppages, slowdowns or increased labor costs. Currently, none of our associates in the United States are represented by a union. However, our associates have the right under the National Labor Relations Act to choose union representation. If all or a significant number of our associates become unionized and the terms of any collective bargaining agreement were significantly different from our current compensation arrangements, it could increase our costs and adversely impact our profitability. Moreover, if a significant number of our associates participate in labor unions, it could put us at increased risk of labor strikes and disruption of our operations or adversely affect our growth and results of operations. In December 2019, a union which commonly represents employees in the supermarket industry filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent approximately 120 of our employees who work in and around Boston. An election was held, and based on certified results of the election we prevailed in this election. Notwithstanding this successful election, we could face future union organization efforts or elections, which could lead to additional costs, distract management or otherwise harm our business. If goodwill or other intangible assets in connection with our acquisitions become impaired, we could take significant non-cash charges against earnings. We have made acquisitions to complement and expand the services we offer and intend to continue to do so when attractive acquisition opportunities exist in the market. As a result of prior acquisitions, including the acquisition of our business in 2014 by our current parent entity, Karman Topco L.P. (“Topco”), and the Daymon Acquisition, we have goodwill and intangible assets recorded on our balance sheet of $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2020, as further described in Note 3 to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. 24 Table of Contents Under accounting guidelines, we must assess, at least annually, whether the value of goodwill and other intangible assets has been impaired. For example, during the year ended December 31, 2018 and in connection with our annual impairment assessment of goodwill and intangible assets, we recognized non-cash goodwill and non-cash intangible asset impairment charges of $652.0 million and $580.0 million, respectively, in our sales reporting unit due to our revised future year earnings expectations, primarily related to a reduction in revenues in several of our in-store reset and merchandising programs in 2018. We can make no assurances that we will not record any additional impairment charges in the future. Any future reduction or impairment of the value of goodwill or other intangible assets will similarly result in charges against earnings, which could adversely affect our reported financial results in future periods. Failures in, or incidents involving, our technology infrastructure could damage our business, reputation and brand and substantially harm our business and results of operations. Our business is highly dependent on our ability to manage operations and process a large number of transactions on a daily basis. We rely heavily on our operating, payroll, financial, accounting and other data processing systems which require substantial support, maintenance and cost to maintain, and may be subject to disabilities, errors, or other harms. If our data and network infrastructure were to fail, or if we were to suffer a data security breach, or an interruption or degradation of services in our data center, third-party cloud, and other infrastructure environments, we could lose important data, which could harm our business and reputation, and cause us to incur significant liabilities. Our facilities, as well as the facilities of third-parties that provide or maintain, or have access to our data or network infrastructure, are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events. In the event that our or any third-party provider’s systems or service abilities are hindered by any of the events discussed above, our ability to operate may be impaired. A third party’s decision to close facilities or terminate services without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems, could adversely impact our operations. Any of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if our or any third-party provider’s business continuity and disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate in preventing the loss of data, service interruptions, disruptions to our operations or damages to important systems or facilities. Our data center, third- party cloud, and managed service provider infrastructure also could be subject to break-ins, cyber-attacks, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct, from a spectrum of actors ranging in sophistication from threats common to most industries to more advanced and persistent, highly organized adversaries. Any security breach, including personal data breaches, or incident, including cybersecurity incidents, that we experience could result in unauthorized access to, or misuse, modification, destruction or unauthorized acquisition of, our internal sensitive corporate data, such as personal data, financial data, trade secrets, intellectual property, or other competitively sensitive or confidential data. Such unauthorized access, misuse, acquisition, or modification of sensitive data may result in data loss, corruption or alteration, interruptions in our operations or damage to our computer hardware or systems or those of our employees, or customers. Our systems have been the target of cyber-attacks. Although we have taken and continue to take steps to enhance our cybersecurity posture, we cannot assure that future cyber incidents will not occur or that our systems will not be targeted or breached in the future. If any such incident results in litigation, we may be required to make significant expenditures in the course of such litigation and may be required to pay significant amounts in damages. Moreover, negative publicity arising from these types of disruptions could damage our reputation. We may not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur as a result of any events that cause interruptions in our service. Significant unavailability of our services due to attacks could cause us to incur significant liability, could cause users to cease using our services and materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. We use complex software in our technology infrastructure, which we seek to continually update and improve. Replacing such systems is often time-consuming and expensive and can also be intrusive to daily business operations. Further, we may not always be successful in executing these upgrades and improvements, which may result in a failure of our systems. We may experience periodic system interruptions from time to time. Any slowdown or failure of our underlying technology infrastructure could harm our business and reputation, 25 Table of Contents which could materially adversely affect our results of operations. Our disaster recovery plan or those of our third-party providers may be inadequate, and our business interruption insurance may not be sufficient to compensate us for the losses that could occur. Failure to comply with federal, state and foreign laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, or the expansion of current or the enactment of new laws or regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, could adversely affect our business and our financial condition. A variety of federal, state and foreign laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of personal information. The information, security and privacy requirements imposed by such governmental laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection are increasingly demanding, quickly evolving and may be subject to differing interpretations. These requirements may not be harmonized, may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may conflict with other rules or our practices. As a result, our practices may not have complied or may not comply in the future with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. We are subject to the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which became effective in 2020 and regulates the collection, use and processing of personal information relating to California residents, and which grants certain privacy rights to California residents, including rights to request access to and to request deletion of personal information relating to such individuals, under certain circumstances. Compliance with the new obligations imposed by the CCPA depends in part on how its requirements are interpreted and applied by the California attorney general and courts. Alleged violations of the CCPA may result in substantial civil penalties or statutory damages when applied at scale, up to $2,500 per violation or $7,500 per intentional violation of any CCPA requirement, which may be applied on a per-person or per-record basis. The CCPA also establishes a private right of action if certain personal information of individuals is subject to an unauthorized access and exfiltration, theft, or disclosure as a result of a business’s violation of the duty to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices, which authorizes statutory damages $100 to $750 per person per incident even if there is no actual harm or damage to plaintiffs. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. Further, in November 2020, the State of California adopted the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 which goes into effect January 1, 2023 and provides for expansion and amendment to the CCPA, including additional and strengthened privacy rights for California residents, new requirements regarding sensitive data and data sharing for digital advertising, and tripled damages for violations involving children’s data. The CPRA establishes a dedicated privacy regulator under California law, with rulemaking and enforcement responsibilities. We are also subject to international privacy rules, many of which, such as the General Data Privacy Regulation (“GDPR”), and national laws implementing or supplementing the GDPR, such as the United Kingdom Data Protection Law 2018 (which retains key features of GDPR post-Brexit), are significantly more stringent than those currently enforced in the United States. The GDPR requires companies to meet requirements regarding the handling of personal data of individuals located in the European Economic Area (the “EEA”). The GDPR imposes mandatory data breach notification requirements subject to a 72-hour notification deadline. The GDPR also includes significant penalties for noncompliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to the higher of €20.0 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations. The GDPR and other similar regulations require companies to give specific types of notice and informed consent is required for the placement of a cookie or similar technologies on a user’s device for online tracking for behavioral advertising and other purposes and for direct electronic marketing, and the GDPR also imposes additional conditions in order to satisfy such consent, such as a prohibition on pre-checked tick boxes and bundled consents. 26 Table of Contents In addition, under GDPR, transfers of personal data are prohibited to countries outside of the EEA that have not been determined by the European Commission to provide adequate protections for personal data, including the United States. Switzerland has similar restrictions. There are mechanisms to permit the transfer of personal data from the EEA and Switzerland to the United States, but there is also uncertainty as to the future of such mechanisms, which have been under consistent scrutiny and challenge. In July 2020, decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, a means that previously permitted transfers of personal data from the EEA to companies in the United States that certified adherence to the Privacy Shield Framework. It is currently unclear what, if any, arrangement may replace the Privacy Shield Framework. Standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission to permit transfers from the EU to third countries currently remain as a basis on which to transfer personal data from the EEA to other countries. However, the standard contractual clauses are also subject to legal challenge, and in November 2020, the European Commission published a draft of updated standard contractual clauses. We presently rely on standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data from EEA member countries, and we may be impacted by changes in law as a result of future review or invalidation of, or changes to, this mechanism by European courts or regulators. While we will continue to undertake efforts to conform to current regulatory obligations and evolving best practices, we may be unsuccessful in conforming to permitted means of transferring personal data from the European Economic Area. We may also experience hesitancy, reluctance, or refusal by European or multi- national customers to continue to use some of our services due to the potential risk exposure of personal data transfers and the current data protection obligations imposed on them by certain data protection authorities. Such customers may also view any alternative approaches to the transfer of any personal data as being too costly, too burdensome, or otherwise objectionable, and therefore may decide not to do business with us if the transfer of personal data is a necessary requirement. Although we take reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations and have invested and continue to invest human and technology resources into data privacy compliance efforts, there can be no assurance that we will not be subject to regulatory action, including fines, in the event of an incident or other claim. Data protection laws and requirements may also be enacted, interpreted or applied in a manner that creates inconsistent or contradictory requirements on companies that operate across jurisdictions. We or our third-party service providers could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in our or our third-party service providers’ business practices or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively affect our or our third-party service providers’ business, results of operations or financial condition. For example, we may find it necessary to establish alternative systems to maintain personal data in the EEA, which may involve substantial expense and may cause us to divert resources from other aspects of our business, all of which may adversely affect our results from operations. Further, any inability to adequately address privacy concerns in connection with our solutions, or comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws, regulations and policies, could result in additional cost and liability to us, and adversely affect our ability to offer our solutions. GDPR, CCPA, CPRA and other similar laws and regulations, as well as any associated inquiries or investigations or any other government actions, may be costly to comply with, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require significant management time and attention and subject us to remedies that may harm our business, including fines or demands or orders that we modify or cease existing business practices. Our systems may not be able to satisfy these changing requirements and manufacturer, retailer and associate expectations, or may require significant additional investments or time in order to do so. We expect that new industry standards, laws and regulations will continue to be proposed regarding privacy, data protection and information security in many jurisdictions, including the European e-Privacy Regulation, which is currently in draft form, as well as proposed privacy legislation at the U.S. federal and state levels. In addition, new data processes and datasets associated with emerging technologies are coming under increased regulatory scrutiny, such as biometrics and automated decision-making. We cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Complying with these evolving obligations is challenging, time consuming and expensive, and federal regulators, state attorneys general and plaintiff’s attorneys have been and will likely continue to be active in this space. For instance, expanding definitions and interpretations of what constitutes “personal data” (or the equivalent) within the United 27 Table of Contents States, the EEA and elsewhere may increase our compliance costs and legal liability. As another example, various state privacy proposals have included a private right of action for basic privacy violations which, if passed, would dramatically increase both the legal costs of defending frivolous lawsuits and the penalties and costs associated with alleged violations. A significant data breach or any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any federal, state or foreign privacy or consumer protection-related laws, regulations or other principles or orders to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, and may result in claims, investigations, proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others or other penalties or liabilities or require us to change our operations and/or cease using certain data sets. Moreover, the proliferation of supply chain-based cyberattacks and vendor security incidents increases these potential legal risks and costs even where the attack did not target us, occur on our systems, result from any action or inaction by us. Depending on the nature of the information compromised, we may also have obligations to notify users, law enforcement, regulators, business partners or payment companies about the incident and may need to provide some form of remedy, such as refunds or identity theft monitoring services, for the individuals affected by the incident. The Take 5 Matter may lead to additional harms, risks and uncertainties for us, including litigation and governmental investigations, a reduction in revenue, a potential deterioration in our relationships or reputation and a loss in investor confidence. As further described elsewhere in this Annual Report, we restated our previously issued audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 based on our determination that revenue during those periods attributable to the Take 5 business had been recognized for services for which performance obligations were not performed on behalf of clients of Take 5 and that inaccurate reports were made to Take 5 clients about those services. See “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Take 5 Matter ” and “ Business — Legal Proceedings .” As a result of these matters, we may be subject to a number of additional harms, risks and uncertainties, including substantial costs for accounting and legal fees in connection with or related to the restatement, potential lawsuits by clients or other interested parties who claim to have been harmed by the misconduct at Take 5, other costs and fees related to the Take 5 Matter (in excess of the amounts already being offered as refunds), potential governmental investigations arising from the Take 5 Matter, a reduction in our current and anticipated revenue and a potential deterioration in our associate and client relationships or our reputation. In addition, if we do not prevail in any litigation or governmental investigation related to these matters, we could be subject to costs related to such litigation or governmental investigation, including equitable relief, civil monetary damages, treble damages, repayment or criminal penalties, which may not be covered by insurance or may materially increase our insurance costs. We have incurred and will continue to incur additional substantial defense and investigation costs regardless of the outcome of any such litigation or governmental investigation. In addition, there can be no assurance to what degree, if any, we will be able to recover any such costs or damages from the former owners of Take 5 or whether such former owners of Take 5 engaged in further unknown improper activities that may subject us to further costs or damages, including potential reputational harm. Likewise, such events have caused and may cause further diversion of our management’s time and attention. Any adverse outcome related to these matters cannot be predicted at this time, and may materially harm our business, reputation, financial condition and/or results of operations, or the trading price of our securities. Our business is seasonal in nature and quarterly operating results can fluctuate. Our services are seasonal in nature, with the fourth fiscal quarter typically generating a higher proportion of our revenues than other fiscal quarters. Adverse events, such as deteriorating economic conditions, higher unemployment, higher gas prices, public transportation disruptions, public health crises (including the COVID-19 pandemic) or unanticipated adverse weather, could result in lower-than-planned sales during key revenue-producing seasons. For example, frequent or unusually heavy snowfall, ice storms, rainstorms, windstorms or 28 Table of Contents other extreme weather conditions over a prolonged period could make it difficult for consumers to travel to retail stores or foodservice locations. Such events could lead to lower revenues, negatively impacting our financial condition and results of operations. Our business is competitive, and increased competition could adversely affect our business and results of operations. The sales, marketing and merchandising services industry is competitive. We face competition from a few other large, national or super-regional agencies as well as many niche and regional agencies. Remaining competitive in this industry requires that we closely monitor and respond to trends in all industry sectors. We cannot assure you that we will be able to anticipate and respond successfully to such trends in a timely manner. Moreover, some of our competitors may choose to sell services competitive to ours at lower prices by accepting lower margins and profitability or may be able to sell services competitive to ours at lower prices due to proprietary ownership of data or technical superiority, which could negatively impact the rates that we can charge. If we are unable to compete successfully, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and our results of operations. If certain competitors were to combine into integrated sales, marketing and merchandising services companies, additional sales, marketing and merchandising service companies were to enter the market or existing participants in this industry were to become more competitive, including through technological innovation such as social media and crowdsourcing, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Damage to our reputation could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our reputation and the quality of our brand are critical to our business and success in existing markets and will be critical to our success as we enter new markets. We believe that we have built our reputation on the high quality of our sales and marketing services, our commitment to our clients and our performance-based culture, and we must protect and grow the value of our brand in order for us to continue to be successful. Any incident that erodes client loyalty to our brand could significantly reduce its value and damage our business. Also, there has been a marked increase in the use of social media platforms and similar devices, including blogs, social media websites, Twitter and other forms of internet-based communications that provide individuals with access to a broad audience of consumers and other interested persons. Many social media platforms immediately publish the content their subscribers and participants post, often without filters or checks on accuracy of the content posted. Information concerning us may be posted on such platforms at any time. Information posted may be adverse to our interests or may be inaccurate, each of which may harm our performance, prospects or business. The harm may be immediate without affording us an opportunity for redress or correction. We rely on third parties to provide certain data and services in connection with the provision of our services. We rely on third parties to provide certain data and services for use in connection with the provision of our services. For example, we contract with third parties to obtain the raw data on retail product sales and inventories. These suppliers of data may impose restrictions on our use of such data, fail to adhere to our quality control standards, increase the price they charge us for this data or refuse altogether to license the data to us. If we are unable to use such third-party data and services or if we are unable to contract with third parties, when necessary, our business, financial condition or our results of operations could be adversely affected. In the event that such data and services are unavailable for our use or the cost of acquiring such data and services increases, our business could be adversely affected. 29 Table of Contents We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which, in turn, could harm the value of our brands and adversely affect our business. Our ability to implement our business plan successfully depends in part on our ability to further build brand recognition using our trade names, service marks, trademarks, proprietary products and other intellectual property, including our name and logos. We rely on U.S. and foreign trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as license agreements, nondisclosure agreements and confidentiality and other contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. Nevertheless, our competitors may develop similar business solutions and concepts, and adequate remedies may not be available in the event of an unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and other intellectual property. The success of our business depends on our continued ability to use our existing trademarks and service marks to increase brand awareness and further develop our brand in both domestic and international markets. We have registered and applied to register our trade names, service marks and trademarks in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. However, the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property in the United States and in foreign countries may not be adequate, and third parties may misappropriate, dilute, infringe upon or otherwise harm the value of our intellectual property. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Third parties may also assert that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property, particularly with respect to our digital solutions, and may sue us for intellectual property infringement. Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs, and the time and attention of our management and other personnel may be diverted in pursuing these proceedings. If a court finds that we infringe a third party’s intellectual property, we may be required to pay damages or be subject to an injunction. With respect to any third-party intellectual property that we use or wish to use in our business (whether or not asserted against us in litigation), we may not be able to enter into licensing or other arrangements with the owner of such intellectual property at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms. Consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, including some of our clients, are subject to extensive governmental regulation and we and they may be subject to enforcement in the event of noncompliance with applicable requirements. Consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, including some of our clients, are subject to a broad range of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations governing, among other things, the research, development, manufacture, distribution, marketing and post-market reporting of consumer products. These include laws administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal, state, local and international regulatory authorities. For example, certain of our clients market and sell products containing cannabidiol (“CBD”). CBD products are subject to a number of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations restricting their use in certain categories of products and in certain jurisdictions. In particular, the FDA currently prohibits marketing of food, beverages or dietary supplements that contain CBD. These laws are broad in scope and subject to evolving interpretations, which could require us to incur costs associated with new or modified compliance requirements or require us or our clients to alter or limit our activities, including marketing and promotion, of such products, or to remove them from the market altogether. If a regulatory authority determines that we or our current or future clients have not complied with the applicable regulatory requirements, our business may be materially impacted and we or our clients could be subject to enforcement actions or loss of business. We cannot predict the nature of any future laws, regulations, interpretations or applications of the laws, nor can we determine what effect additional laws, regulations or administrative policies and procedures, if and when enacted, promulgated and implemented, could have on our business. 30 Table of Contents We may be subject to claims for products for which we are the vendor of record or may otherwise be in the chain of title. For certain of our clients’ products, we become the vendor of record to the retailer or otherwise may be in the chain of title. For these products, we could be subject to potential claims for misbranded, adulterated, contaminated, damaged or spoiled products, or could be subject to liability in connection with claims related to infringement of intellectual property, product liability, product recalls or other liabilities arising in connection with the sale or marketing of these products. As a result, we could be subject to claims or lawsuits (including potential class action lawsuits), and we could incur liabilities that are not insured or exceed our insurance coverage or for which the manufacturer of the product does not indemnify us. Even if product claims against us are not successful or fully pursued, these claims could be costly and time consuming and may require our management to spend time defending the claims rather than operating our business. A product that has been actually or allegedly misbranded, adulterated or damaged or is actually or allegedly defective could result in product withdrawals or recalls, destruction of product inventory, negative publicity and substantial costs of compliance or remediation. Any of these events, including a significant product liability judgment against us, could result in monetary damages and/or a loss of demand for our products, both of which could have an adverse effect on our business or results of operations. We generate revenues and incur expenses throughout the world that are subject to exchange rate fluctuations, and our results of operations may suffer due to currency translations. Our U.S. operations earn revenues and incur expenses primarily in U.S. dollars, while our international operations earn revenues and incur expenses primarily in Canadian dollars, British pounds or euros. Because of currency exchange rate fluctuations, including possible devaluations, we are subject to currency translation exposure on the results of our operations, in addition to economic exposure. There has been, and may continue to be, volatility in currency exchange rates as a result of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, especially between the U.S. dollar and the British pound. These risks could adversely impact our business or results of operations. We are subject to risks related to recent proposals for reform regarding LIBOR. Certain of our financial arrangements, including the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities are made at, or will be made at, variable rates that use the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR (or metrics derived from or related to LIBOR), as a benchmark for establishing the interest rate. LIBOR is the subject of recent proposals for reform. On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR rates after 2021. These reforms may cause LIBOR to cease to exist, new methods of calculating LIBOR to be established or the establishment of an alternative reference rate(s). These consequences cannot be entirely predicted and could have an adverse impact on the market value for or value of LIBOR-linked securities, loans and other financial obligations or extensions of credit held by or due to us. Changes in market interest rates may influence our financing costs, returns on financial investments and the valuation of derivative contracts and could reduce our earnings and cash flows. Fluctuations in our tax obligations and effective tax rate and realization of our deferred tax assets may result in volatility of our operating results. We are subject to taxes by the U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax authorities, and our tax liabilities will be affected by the allocation of expenses to differing jurisdictions. We record tax expense based on our estimates of future payments, which may include reserves for uncertain tax positions in multiple tax jurisdictions, and valuation allowances related to certain net deferred tax assets. At any one time, many tax years may be subject to audit by various taxing jurisdictions. The results of these audits and negotiations with taxing authorities may affect the ultimate settlement of these matters. We expect that throughout the year there could be ongoing variability in our quarterly tax rates as events occur and exposures are evaluated. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including: • changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities; 31 Table of Contents • expected timing and amount of the release of any tax valuation allowance; • tax effects of equity-based compensation; • changes in tax laws, regulations or interpretations thereof; or • future earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated earnings in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory tax rates. In addition, our effective tax rate in a given financial statement period may be materially impacted by a variety of factors including but not limited to changes in the mix and level of earnings, varying tax rates in the different jurisdictions in which we operate, fluctuations in the valuation allowance, deductibility of certain items or changes to existing accounting rules or regulations. Further, tax legislation may be enacted in the future which could negatively impact our current or future tax structure and effective tax rates. We may be subject to audits of our income, sales and other transaction taxes by U.S. federal, state, local and foreign taxing authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock We are controlled by Topco, the Advantage Sponsors, and the CP Sponsor, whose economic and other interests in our business may be different from yours. Our authorized capital stock consists of 3,290,000,000 shares of common stock and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, and as of March 16, 2021, the Advantage Sponsors (as defined herein), Topco and Conyers Park II Sponsor LLC, an affiliate of Centerview Capital Management, LLC, which was Conyers Park’s sponsor prior to the Merger (the “CP Sponsor”) collectively own 254,310,000 shares, or 79.86% (including 65.56% held by Topco), of our outstanding common stock. Subject to applicable law, the Advantage Sponsors, through their direct ownership of our common stock and their ownership of equity interests of Topco, and the CP Sponsor are able to exert significant influence in the election of our directors and control actions to be taken by our stockholders, including amendments to our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of mergers, sales of substantially all of our assets, and other significant corporate transactions. It is possible that the interests of Topco, the Advantage Sponsors and the CP Sponsor may in some circumstances conflict with our interests and the interests of our other stockholders, including you. We are a controlled company within the meaning of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC listing requirements and as a result, may rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. To the extent we rely on such exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such corporate governance requirements. Because of the voting power over our company held by Topco, the Advantage Sponsors, and the CP Sponsor and the voting arrangement between such parties, we are considered a controlled company for the purposes of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”) listing requirements. As such, we are exempt from the corporate governance requirements that our board of directors, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee meet the standard of independence established by those corporate governance requirements. The independence standards are intended to ensure that directors who meet the independence standards are free of any conflicting interest that could influence their actions as directors. We do not currently utilize the exemptions afforded to a controlled company, though we are entitled to do so. To the extent we utilize these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of NASDAQ. 32 Table of Contents The anti-takeover provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could prevent or delay a change in control of us, even if such change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could discourage, delay, or prevent a merger, acquisition, or other change in control of us, even if such change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. These include: • authorizing the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to increase the number of outstanding shares and thwart a takeover attempt; • provision for a classified board of directors so that not all members of our board of directors are elected at one time; • not permitting the use of cumulative voting for the election of directors; • permitting the removal of directors only for cause; • limiting the ability of stockholders to call special meetings; • requiring all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders; • requiring approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of the shares entitled to vote at an election of directors to adopt, amend, or repeal the proposed bylaws or repeal the provisions of the second amended and restated certificate of incorporation regarding the election and removal of directors; and • establishing advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings. In addition, although we have opted out of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), our certificate of incorporation contain similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, subject to certain exceptions. Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset, or stock sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock. Under certain circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with us for a three-year period. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions which stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests. Moreover, our certificate of incorporation provides that Topco and its affiliates do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision, and thus any business combination transaction between us and Topco and its affiliates would not be subject to the protections otherwise provided by this provision. Topco and its affiliates are not prohibited from selling a controlling interest in us to a third party and may do so without your approval and without providing for a purchase of your shares of common stock, subject to the lock-up restrictions applicable to Topco. Accordingly, your shares of common stock may be worth less than they would be if Topco and its affiliates did not maintain voting control over us. For additional information about our relationship with Topco and its affiliates, please see “ Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence ” elsewhere in this Annual Report. 33 Table of Contents The provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws requiring exclusive venue in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware or the federal district courts of the United States of America for certain types of lawsuits may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws require, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine will have to be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or the federal district court for the District of Delaware or other state courts of the State of Delaware if the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware does not have jurisdiction). Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws also require that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act; however, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision, and investors cannot waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of applicable law in the types of lawsuits to which they apply, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. These provisions do not apply to any suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction. Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your Class A common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it. We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on our Class A common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. The payment of cash dividends is also restricted under the terms of the agreements governing our debt and our ability to pay dividend may also be restricted by the terms of any future credit agreement or any securities we or our subsidiaries may issue. The trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance. The market prices for our Class A common stock are likely to be volatile and may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, most of which we cannot control, including: • quarterly variations in our operating results compared to market expectations; • changes in preferences of our clients; • announcements of new products or services or significant price reductions; • the size of our public float; • fluctuations in stock market prices and volumes; • defaults on our indebtedness; • changes in senior management or key personnel; • the granting, vesting, or exercise of employee stock options, restricted stock, or other equity rights; • the payment of any dividends thereon in shares of our common stock; • changes in financial estimates or recommendations by securities analysts; 34 Table of Contents • negative earnings or other announcements by us; • downgrades in our credit ratings; • material litigation or governmental investigations; • issuances of capital stock; • global economic, legal, and regulatory factors unrelated to our performance, including the COVID-19 pandemic; or • the realization of any risks described in this Annual Report under “ Risk Factors .” In addition, in the past, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation against companies following periods of market volatility. If we were involved in securities litigation, we could incur substantial costs and our resources and the attention of management could be diverted from our business. The valuation of our private placement warrants could increase the volatility in our net income (loss) in our consolidated statements of earnings (loss). The change in fair value of our private placement warrants is determined using a Black-Scholes option pricing model. The change in fair value of warrant liability represents the mark-to-market fair value adjustments to the outstanding private placement warrants issued in connection with the initial public offering of Conyers Park. Significant changes in the input assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model including our stock price at the end of the reporting period, the implied volatility or other inputs to the model and the number of private placement warrants outstanding may adversely affect the volatility in our net income (loss) in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Risks Related to Indebtedness We need to continue to generate significant operating cash flow in order to fund acquisitions and to service our debt. Our business currently generates operating cash flow, which we use to fund acquisitions to grow our business and to service our substantial indebtedness. If, because of loss of revenue, pressure on pricing from customers, increases in our costs (including increases in costs related to servicing our indebtedness or labor costs), general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory conditions or other factors, including any acceleration of the foregoing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of which are outside of our control our business generates less operating cash flow, we may not have sufficient funds to grow our business or to service our indebtedness. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow or are otherwise unable to obtain funds necessary to meet required payments of principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness, or if we otherwise fail to comply with the various covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness, we could be in default under the terms of the agreements governing such indebtedness. In the event of such default, the lenders under our credit facilities could elect to terminate their commitments thereunder, cease making further loans and institute foreclosure proceedings against our assets, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. If our operating performance declines, we may in the future need to obtain waivers from the required lenders under our credit agreements to avoid being in default. If we or any of our subsidiaries breach the covenants under our credit agreements and seek a waiver, we may not be able to obtain a waiver from the required lenders. If this occurs, we would be in default under our credit agreements, the lenders could exercise their rights as described above, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. 35 Table of Contents Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health, restrict our activities, and affect our ability to meet our obligations. We have a significant amount of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2020, we had total indebtedness of $2.2 billion, excluding debt issuance costs, with an additional $60.7 million of letters of credit outstanding under our New Revolving Credit Facility. The terms of our New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and our Notes contain customary covenants that restrict us from taking certain actions, such as incurring additional debt, permitting liens on pledged assets, making investments, making distributions to equity holders, prepaying junior debt, engaging in mergers or restructurings, and selling assets, among other things, which may restrict our ability to successfully execute on our business plan. For a more complete description of the covenants and material terms of the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and our Notes, please see “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources” in this Annual Report. Despite current indebtedness levels, we and our subsidiaries may still be able to incur additional indebtedness, which could increase the risks associated with our indebtedness. We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional indebtedness in the future because the terms of our indebtedness do not fully prohibit us or our subsidiaries from doing so. Subject to covenant compliance and certain conditions, as of December 31, 2020, the New Revolving Credit Facility would have permitted additional borrowings of up to $289.3 million, which also would have been permitted pursuant to the Notes. In addition, we and our subsidiaries have, and will have, the ability to incur additional indebtedness as incremental facilities under our New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and we or our subsidiaries may issue additional notes in the future. If additional debt is added to our current debt levels and our subsidiaries’ current debt levels, the related risks that we and they now face could increase. Failure to maintain our credit ratings could adversely affect our liquidity, capital position, ability to hedge certain financial risks, borrowing costs, and access to capital markets. Our credit risk is evaluated by the major independent rating agencies, and such agencies have in the past downgraded, and could in the future downgrade, our ratings. Our credit rating may impact the interest rates on any future indebtedness as well as the applicability of certain covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our current credit ratings, and any additional, actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under further review for a downgrade, may have a negative impact on our liquidity, capital position, ability to hedge certain financial risks, and access to capital markets. Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly. Borrowings under our New Revolving Credit Facility and New Term Loan Facility are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates were to increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease. On a pro forma basis, assuming no other prepayments of the New Term Loan Facility and that our New Revolving Credit Facility is fully drawn (and to the extent that LIBOR is in excess of the 0.50% and 0.75% floors applicable to our New Revolving Credit Facility and New Term Loan Facility, respectively), each one-eighth percentage point change in interest rates would result in an approximately $1.3 million change in annual interest expense on the indebtedness under our New Senior Secured Credit Facilities. In the future, we may enter into interest rate swaps that involve the exchange of floating- for fixed-rate interest payments in order to reduce interest rate volatility or risk. However, we may not maintain interest rate swaps with respect to any of our variable rate indebtedness, and any swaps we enter into may not fully or effectively mitigate our interest rate risk. 36 Table of Contents General Risk Factors Our business and financial results may be affected by various litigation and regulatory proceedings. We are subject to litigation and regulatory proceedings in the normal course of business and could become subject to additional claims in the future. These proceedings have included, and in the future may include, matters involving personnel and employment issues, workers’ compensation, personal and property injury, disputes relating to acquisitions (including contingent consideration), governmental investigations and other proceedings. Some historical and current legal proceedings and future legal proceedings may purport to be brought as class actions or representative basis on behalf of similarly situated parties including with respect to employment-related matters. We cannot be certain of the ultimate outcomes of any such claims, and resolution of these types of matters against us may result in significant fines, judgments or settlements, which, if uninsured, or if the fines, judgments and settlements exceed insured levels, could adversely affect our business or financial results. See “ Legal Proceedings .” We are subject to many federal, state, local and international laws with which compliance is both costly and complex. Our business is subject to various, and sometimes complex, laws and regulations, including those that have been or may be implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to conduct our operations in compliance with these laws and regulations, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits, approvals and certificates from various federal, state, local and international governmental authorities. We may incur substantial costs in order to maintain compliance with these existing laws and regulations. In addition, our costs of compliance may increase if existing laws and regulations are revised or reinterpreted or if new laws and regulations become applicable to our operations. These costs could have an adverse impact on our business or results of operations. Moreover, our failure to comply with these laws and regulations, as interpreted and enforced, could lead to fines, penalties or management distraction or otherwise harm our business. Our insurance may not provide adequate levels of coverage against claims. We believe that we maintain insurance customary for businesses of our size and type. However, there are types of losses we may incur that cannot be insured against or that we believe are not economically reasonable to insure. Further, insurance may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all, and, if available, coverage may not be adequate. If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms, we could be exposed to significant losses. We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs as a public company. As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting, insurance, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. We also have incurred and will incur costs associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related rules implemented by the SEC. The expenses incurred by public companies for reporting and corporate governance purposes generally have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, although we are currently unable to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty. In estimating these costs, we took into account expenses related to insurance, legal, accounting, and compliance activities, as well as other expenses not currently incurred. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, on our board committees, or as our executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our Class A common stock, fines, sanctions, and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation. 37 Table of Contents Our management has limited experience in operating a public company. Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage our transition to a public company that will be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of the Company. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience, and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal controls over financial reporting required of public companies in the United States. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for the Company to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the United States may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that we will be required to expand our employee base and hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company which will increase our operating costs in future periods. An active, liquid trading market for our Class A common stock may not be available. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in our company will lead to availability of a trading market on NASDAQ or otherwise in the future or how active and liquid that market may be for our Class A common stock. If an active and liquid trading market is not available, you may have difficulty selling any of our Class A common stock. Among other things, in the absence of a liquid public trading market: • you may not be able to liquidate your investment in shares of Class A common stock; • you may not be able to resell your shares of Class A common stock at or above the price attributed to them in the Transactions; • the market price of shares of Class A common stock may experience significant price volatility; and • there may be less efficiency in carrying out your purchase and sale orders. If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. The trading market for our Class A common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. If few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our stock could be negatively affected. Even with analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our common stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our Class A common stock, which in turn could cause our Class A common stock price to decline. Substantial future sales of our Class A common stock, or the perception in the public markets that these sales may occur, may depress our stock price. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional shares. Certain shares of our common stock are freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act, except for any shares of our common stock that may be held or acquired by our directors, executive officers, and other affiliates, as that term is defined in the Securities Act, which are to be restricted securities under the Securities Act. Restricted securities may not be sold in the public market unless the sale is registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from registration is available. Topco, the Advantage Sponsors, the CP Sponsor and members of our management have rights, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering Topco’s shares of our common stock or to include shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. Following the expiration of the period covered by, or the waiver of the, lock-up agreement between Topco, the Advantage Sponsors and the CP Sponsor entered into in connection with the Transactions, those parties will have the right to sell or distribute the shares of our common stock they hold. Those shares may be sold in the public market subject to applicable restrictions under the federal securities laws, including the limitations under 38 Table of Contents Rule 144 of the Securities Act (particularly those applicable to our directors, officers, and affiliates, which restrict the manner and volume of shares that may be sold). Those shares may also be sold in registered offerings pursuant to the registration rights described elsewhere in this Annual Report. Any such sales, including sales of a substantial number of shares or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock. We may also issue shares of our common stock or securities convertible into our common stock from time to time in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in ownership dilution to you as a stockholder and cause the trading price of our common stock to decline. Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments. None Item 2. Properties Our corporate headquarters are located in Irvine, California, where we rent approximately 48,000 square feet pursuant to a lease agreement that is scheduled to expire in May 2021. We have entered into a new lease agreement with a five-year term for a different facility in Irvine with approximately 22,000 square feet to serve as our corporate headquarters beginning in the second quarter of 2021. As of December 31, 2020, we operated more than 80 offices, primarily in the United States and Canada. We lease all of our properties, except for a property in Connecticut and another in Kansas that we own. Leases on these offices expire at various dates from 2021 to 2030, excluding any options for renewal. We typically seek office space in proximity to retailers’ headquarters or buying offices, to aid our associates in acting as sales representatives for our manufacturer clients. Item 3. Legal Proceedings We are involved in various legal matters that arise in the ordinary course of our business. Some of these legal matters purport or may be determined to be class and/or representative actions, or seek substantial damages or penalties. Some of these legal matters relate to disputes regarding acquisitions. In connection with certain of the below matters and other legal matters, we have accrued amounts that we believe are appropriate. There can be no assurance, however, that the above matters and other legal matters will not result in us having to make payments in excess of such accruals or that the above matters or other legal matters will not materially or adversely affect our business, financial position or results of operations. Employment-Related Matters We have also been involved in various litigation, including purported class or representative actions with respect to matters arising under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, California Labor Code and Private Attorneys General Act. Many involve allegations for allegedly failing to pay wages and/or overtime, failing to provide meal and rest breaks and failing to pay reporting time pay, waiting time penalties and other penalties. A former employee filed a complaint in California Superior Court, Santa Clara County in July 2017, which seeks civil damages and penalties on behalf of the plaintiff and similarly situated persons for various alleged wage and hour violations under the California Labor Code, including failure to pay wages and/or overtime, failure to provide meal and rest breaks, failure to pay reporting time pay, waiting time penalties and penalties pursuant to California’s Private Attorneys General Act. We filed a motion for summary judgment. The court granted our motion for summary judgment in March 2020, and plaintiff filed an appeal of the court’s ruling in May 2020. We have retained outside counsel to represent us and intend to vigorously defend our interests in this matter. 39 Table of Contents A former employee filed a complaint in California Superior Court, Orange County in September 2019, which seeks damages, penalties and injunctive relief on behalf of the plaintiff and similarly situated persons for various alleged wage and hour violations under the California Labor Code, including failure to pay wages and/or overtime, failure to provide meal and rest breaks, failure to reimburse employee expenses, failure to pay reporting time pay, failure to comply with wage statement requirements, waiting time penalties, violations of California law regarding post-employment nonsolicitation agreements and violations of California’s unfair competition law. In November 2019, the former employee filed a first amended complaint adding a claim for civil penalties on behalf of the plaintiff and similarly situated persons pursuant to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) based on the preceding allegations. Plaintiff’s counsel requested dismissal of the class and individual claims so that only the PAGA claim will remain, and the court granted such action. The parties have previously pursued mediation, and in the future the parties may pursue further mediation, other dispute resolutions approaches, or continue with the discovery or motion process on this litigation. We have retained outside counsel to represent us and intend to vigorously defend our interests in this matter. Proceedings Relating to Take 5 The following proceedings relate to the Take 5 Matter, which is discussed in greater detail in “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Take 5 Matter ” and “ Risk Factors — Risks Related to the Company’s Business and Industry ” in this Annual Report. USAO and FBI Voluntary Disclosure and Investigation Related to Take 5 In connection with the Take 5 Matter, we voluntarily disclosed to the United States Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation certain misconduct occurring at Take 5. We intend to cooperate in this and any other governmental investigation that may arise in connection with the Take 5 Matter. At this time, we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of any investigation related to the Take 5 Matter and are unable to estimate the potential impact such an investigation may have on us. Arbitration Proceedings Related to Take 5 In August 2019, as a result of the Take 5 Matter, we provided a written indemnification claim notice to the sellers of Take 5, or the Take 5 Sellers, seeking monetary damages (including interest, fees and costs) based on allegations of breach of the asset purchase agreement, or Take 5 APA, as well as fraud. In September 2019, the Take 5 Sellers initiated arbitration proceedings in the state of Delaware against us, alleging breach of the Take 5 APA as a result of our decision to terminate the operations of the Take 5 business and seeking monetary damages equal to all unpaid earn-out payments under the Take 5 APA (plus interest fees and costs). In 2020, the Take 5 Sellers amended their statement of claim to allege defamation, relating to statements we made to customers in connection with terminating the operations of the Take 5 business, and seeking monetary damages for the alleged injury to their reputation. We have filed our response to the Take 5 Sellers’ claims and asserted indemnification, fraud and other claims against the Take 5 Sellers as counterclaims and cross-claims in the arbitration proceedings. We are currently unable to estimate the potential impact related to these arbitration proceedings, but we have retained outside counsel to represent us in these matters and are vigorously pursuing our interests. The arbitration hearing for this matter is currently scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021. Other Legal Matters Related to Take 5 The Take 5 Matter may result in additional litigation against us, including lawsuits from clients, or governmental investigations, which may expose us to potential liability in excess of the amounts being offered by us as refunds to Take 5 clients. We are currently unable to determine the amount of any potential liability, costs or expenses (above the amounts already being offered as refunds) that may result from any lawsuits or investigations associated with the Take 5 Matter or determine whether any such issues will have any future material adverse 40 Table of Contents effect on our financial position, liquidity or results of operations. Although we have insurance covering certain liabilities, we cannot assure that the insurance will be sufficient to cover any potential liability or expenses associated with the Take 5 Matter. Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures. None. 41 Table of Contents Part II Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. Market Information Our Class A common stock and Warrants are currently listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbols “ADV” and “ADVWW,” respectively. Prior to the consummation of the Transactions (as herein defined), our Class A common stock and our Warrants were listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “CPAA” and “CPAAW,” respectively. As of December 31, 2020, there were 51 holders of record of our Class A common stock and 2 holders of record of our Warrants. Dividend Policy We have not paid any cash dividends on the Class A common stock to date. We may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and has no current plans to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of the Board and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that the Board may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur. We do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of the Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans Information about securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans is incorporated by reference from Item 12—Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters—Equity Compensation Plan Information . Stock Price Performance 42 Table of Contents The graph above compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common stock with the cumulative total return on the Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) 500 Stock Index and the S&P Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. The graph assumes an initial investment of $100 in our common stock at the market close on July 18, 2019, which was our initial trading day. Data for the S&P 500 Stock Index and S&P Consumer Staples Select Sector Index assume reinvestment of dividends. Total return equals stock price appreciation plus reinvestment of dividends. Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities None. Item 6. Selected Financial Data. Not applicable. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. Executive Overview We are a leading business solutions provider to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. We have a strong platform of competitively advantaged sales and marketing services built over multiple decades – essential, business critical services like headquarter sales, retail merchandising, in-store sampling, digital commerce and shopper marketing. For brands and retailers of all sizes, we help get the right products on the shelf (whether physical or digital) and into the hands of consumers (however they shop). We use a scaled platform to innovate as a trusted partner with our clients, solving problems to increase their efficiency and effectiveness across a broad range of channels. We have two reportable segments: sales and marketing. Through our sales segment, which generated approximately 65.3% of our total revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020, we offer headquarter sales representation services to consumer goods manufacturers, for whom we prepare and present to retailers a business case to increase distribution of manufacturers’ products and optimize how they are displayed, priced and promoted. We also make in-store merchandising visits for both manufacturer and retailer clients to ensure the products we represent are adequately stocked and properly displayed. Through our marketing segment, which generated approximately 34.7% of our total revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020, we help brands and retailers reach consumers through two main categories within the marketing segment. The first and largest is our retail experiential business, also known as in-store sampling or demonstrations, where we create and manage highly customized large scale sampling programs (both in-store and online) for leading retailers. The second business is our collection of specialized agency businesses, in which we provide private label services to retailers and develop granular marketing programs for brands and retailers through our shopper, consumer and digital marketing agencies. Revision of Previously Issued Consolidated Financial Statements As discussed in the Explanatory Note and in Part II, Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data —Note 1, Organization and Significant Accounting Policies — Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements , this Form 10-K/A revises our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2020, and for the year then ended, to reflect the correction of certain errors. Accordingly, this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations reflects the effects of the revision. 43 Table of Contents Recent Developments Business Combination with Conyers Park On September 7, 2020, Advantage Solutions Inc., now known as ASI Intermediate Corp. (“ASI”), entered into an agreement and plan of merger (as amended, modified, supplemented or waived, the “Merger Agreement”), with Conyers Park II Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation now known as Advantage Solutions Inc. (“Conyers Park”), CP II Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Conyers Park (“Merger Sub”), and Topco. In September 2020 and in connection with its entry into the Merger Agreement, Conyers Park entered into subscription agreements (collectively, the “Subscription Agreements”) pursuant to which certain investors, including participating equityholders of Topco (the “Advantage Sponsors”), agreed to purchase Class A Common Stock of Conyers Park (“Common Stock”) at a purchase price of $10.00 per share (the “PIPE Investment”). On October 27, 2020, Conyers Park held a special meeting of stockholders (the “Special Meeting”), at which the Conyers Park stockholders considered and adopted, among other matters, a proposal to approve the business combination, including (a) adopting the Merger Agreement and (b) approving the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement and related agreements. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, following the Special Meeting, on October 28, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), Merger Sub was merged with and into ASI with ASI being the surviving company in the merger (the “Merger” and, together with the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Transactions”). On the Closing Date, the PIPE Investment was consummated, and 85,540,000 shares of Common Stock were sold for aggregate gross proceeds of $855.4 million. Of the 85,540,000 shares of Common Stock, the Advantage Sponsors acquired 34,410,000 shares of Common Stock, and other purchasers acquired 51,130,000 shares of Common Stock. Holders of 32,114,818 shares of Common Stock sold in its initial public offering properly exercised their right to have such shares redeemed for a full pro rata portion of the trust account holding the proceeds from Conyers Park’s initial public offering, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the business combination, $10.06 per share, or $323.1 million in the aggregate (collectively, the “Redemptions”). As a result of the Merger, among other things, pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Conyers Park issued to Topco, as sole stockholder of ASI prior to the Merger, aggregate consideration equal to (a) 203,750,000 shares of Common Stock, and (b) 5,000,000 shares of Common Stock that vested upon achievement of a market performance condition on January 15, 2021. After giving effect to the Transactions, the Redemptions, and the consummation of the PIPE Investment, there were 313,425,182 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding as of the Closing Date, excluding the 5,000,000 shares of Common Stock subject to the market performance condition. The Common Stock and outstanding warrants of Conyers Park (renamed “Advantage Solutions Inc.” following the Transactions) commenced trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbols “ADV” and “ADVWW”, respectively, on October 29, 2020. As noted above, an aggregate of $323.1 million was paid from the Conyers Park’s trust account to holders in connection with the Redemption, and the remaining balance immediately prior to the closing of the Transactions of approximately $131.2 million remained in the trust account. The remaining amount in the trust account was used to fund the Transactions, including the entry into the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities (as defined below). In connection with the Merger, ASI repaid and terminated $3.3 billion of debt arrangements under its First Lien Credit Agreement, Second Lien Credit Agreement, and accounts receivable securitization facility (the “AR Facility”) that existed in 2020 (collectively, the “Credit Facilities”) with incremental costs of $86.8 million. This amount was repaid by ASI through a combination of (i) cash on hand, (ii) proceeds from certain private 44 Table of Contents investments in Common Stock, (iii) the entry by Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ASI, into (a) a new senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility, which permits borrowing in an aggregate principal amount of up to $400.0 million, subject to borrowing base capacity (the “New Revolving Credit Facility”), of which $100.0 million of principal amount was borrowed as of October 28, 2020, and (b) a new secured first lien term loan credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.325 billion (the “New Term Loan Facility” and, together with the New Revolving Credit Facility, the “New Senior Secured Credit Facilities”), and (iv) the issuance by Advantage Solutions FinCo LLC, a direct subsidiary of Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc., of $775.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.50% Senior Secured Notes due 2028 (the “Notes”). The Merger was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with GAAP. Under this method of accounting, Conyers Park was treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. This determination was primarily based on Topco having a relative majority of the voting power of the combined entity, the operations of ASI prior to the Merger comprising the only ongoing operations of the combined entity, and senior management of ASI comprising the senior management of the combined entity. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the financial statements of the combined entity represent a continuation of the financial statements of ASI with the acquisition being treated as the equivalent of ASI issuing stock for the net assets of Conyers Park, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of Conyers Park was stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded. Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is likely to continue to have, a severe and unprecedented impact on the world. Measures to prevent its spread, including government-imposed restrictions on large gatherings, closures of face-to-face events, “shelter in place” health orders and travel restrictions have had a significant effect on certain of our business operations. In response to these business disruptions, we have taken several actions including reducing certain of our discretionary expenditures, eliminating non-essential travel, terminating or amending certain office leases, furloughing, instituting pay reductions and deferrals and terminating some of our employees, particularly with respect to COVID-19 impacted operations. These measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have adversely impacted certain areas of our business operations, including our in-store sampling, foodservice and European businesses. Most notably, we temporarily suspended all in-store sampling in all U.S. locations starting in March and April of 2020 as well as in certain international locations. More recently, we have started to re-open in-store sampling activities in certain retailers in certain geographies on a prudent, phased basis. While the restrictions relating to in-store sampling services have materially and adversely affected our results of operations during the year ended December 31, 2020, we have been successful in growing other adjacent services in our experiential marketing business such as online grocery pick-up sampling and virtual product demonstrations, both of which have seen increased adoption and demand. Our foodservice business continues to be negatively impacted by lower away-from-home demand resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various channels, including restaurants, education and travel and lodging. Our European business continues to be negatively impacted by activity restrictions implemented in the various European geographies in which we operate. We have also experienced a positive impact in our headquarter sales and private label services where, due to the large increase in consumer purchases at retail to support incremental at-home consumption, our operations have experienced a favorable increase in volume and demand. Additionally, our e-commerce services have benefited due to the increase in consumer purchasing with online retailers. These differing impacts are reflected in our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020. Compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, our sales segment revenues increased 5.4% and its operating income and Adjusted EBITDA decreased 50.5% and increased 16.3% in the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively, while revenues, operating income and Adjusted EBITDA for our marketing segment decreased 40.2%, 95.7% and 34.6% in the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively. As a result, our sales segment revenues increased to almost two-thirds of our revenues in 2020, while in 2019, our revenues were split approximately 51.6% to 48.4% between our sales and marketing segments, respectively. 45 Table of Contents We also took various measures during the year ended December 31, 2020 to strengthen liquidity. For example, in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), signed into law on March 27, 2020, we have deferred the deposit and payment of our portion of Social Security taxes. We have also received government aid from various countries in support of our local operations, including a government loan in Japan. Also, we consummated the Merger and the related Transactions, including the refinancing of our existing indebtedness and the incurrence of new indebtedness with the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and the Notes. As of December 31, 2020, we had $204.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. See “ —Liquidity and Capital Resources .” We expect the ultimate significance of the impact of the pandemic on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows will be dictated by the length of time that such circumstances continue, which will depend on the currently unknowable extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nature and effectiveness of governmental, commercial and personal actions taken in response. We expect the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact our various businesses through at least the first half of 2021 based on the belief that certain restrictions on mobility and activities are likely to remain in place until such time a vaccine can be broadly distributed and administered. Summary Our financial performance for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 includes: • Revenues decreased by $629.4 million, or 16.6%, to $3,155.7 million; • Operating income decreased by $146.7 million, or 68.6%, to $67.0 million; • Net loss increased by $155.3 million, or 786.2%, to $175.1 million; • Adjusted Net Income increased by $13.9 million, or 8.2%, to $182.9 million; and • Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $16.9 million, or 3.3%, to $487.2 million. We completed five business acquisitions during the year ended December 31, 2020, consisting of three sales agencies, which have been incorporated into our sales segment and two marketing agencies, which have been incorporated into our marketing segment. The aggregate purchase price for these acquisitions was $88.1 million, of which $68.0 million was paid in cash, $14.8 million in contingent consideration, and $5.3 million in holdbacks. Factors Affecting Our Business and Financial Reporting There are a number of factors, in addition to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that affect the performance of our business and the comparability of our results from period to period including: • Organic Growth. Part of our strategy is to generate organic growth by expanding our existing client relationships, continuing to win new clients, pursuing channel expansion and new industry opportunities, enhancing our digital technology solutions, developing our international platform, delivering operational efficiencies and expanding into logical adjacencies. We believe that by pursuing these organic growth opportunities we will be able to continue to enhance our value proposition to our clients and thereby grow our business. • Acquisitions. We have grown and expect to continue to grow our business in part by acquiring quality businesses, both domestic and international. In December 2017, we completed the Daymon Acquisition, a leading provider of retailer-centric services, including private label development and 46 Table of Contents management, merchandising and experiential marketing services. In addition to the Daymon Acquisition, we have completed 65 acquisitions from January 2014 to March 1, 2021, ranging in purchase prices from approximately $0.3 million to $98.5 million. Many of our acquisition agreements include contingent consideration arrangements, which are described below. We have completed acquisitions at what we believe are attractive purchase prices and have regularly structured our agreements to result in the generation of long-lived tax assets, which have in turn reduced our effective purchase prices when incorporating the value of those tax assets. We continue to look for strategic and tuck-in acquisitions that can be completed at attractive purchase prices. • Contingent Consideration. Many of our acquisition agreements include contingent consideration arrangements, which are generally based on the achievement of financial performance thresholds by the operations attributable to the acquired businesses. The contingent consideration arrangements are based upon our valuations of the acquired businesses and are intended to share the investment risk with the sellers of such businesses if projected financial results are not achieved. The fair values of these contingent consideration arrangements are included as part of the purchase price of the acquired companies on their respective acquisition dates. For each transaction, we estimate the fair value of contingent consideration payments as part of the initial purchase price. We review and assess the estimated fair value of contingent consideration on a quarterly basis, and the updated fair value could differ materially from our initial estimates. Changes in the estimated fair value of contingent consideration liabilities related to the time component of the present value calculation are reported in “Interest expense, net.” Adjustments to the estimated fair value related to changes in all other unobservable inputs are reported in “Selling, general and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. • Depreciation and Amortization. As a result of the acquisition of our business by Topco on July 25, 2014 (the “2014 Topco Acquisition”), we acquired significant intangible assets, the value of which is amortized, on a straight-line basis, over 15 years from the date of the 2014 Topco Acquisition, unless determined to be indefinite-lived. The amortization of such intangible assets recorded in our consolidated financial statements has a significant impact on our operating income (loss) and net loss. Our historical acquisitions have increased, and future acquisitions likely will increase, our intangible assets. We do not believe the amortization expense associated with the intangibles created from our purchase accounting adjustments reflect a material economic cost to our business. Unlike depreciation expense which has an economic cost reflected by the fact that we must re-invest in property and equipment to maintain the asset base delivering our results of operations, we do not have any capital re-investment requirements associated with the acquired intangibles, such as client relationships and trade names, that comprise the majority of the finite-lived intangibles that create our amortization expense. • Foreign Exchange Fluctuations. Our financial results are affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and other currencies, primarily the Canadian dollars, British pounds and euros, due to our operations in such foreign jurisdictions. See also “ —Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure of Market Risk—Foreign Currency Risk. ” • Seasonality. Our quarterly results are seasonal in nature, with the fourth fiscal quarter typically generating a higher proportion of our revenues than other fiscal quarters, as a result of higher consumer spending. We generally record slightly lower revenues in the first fiscal quarter of each year, as our clients begin to roll out new programs for the year, and consumer spending generally is less in the first fiscal quarter than other quarters. Timing of our clients’ marketing expenses, associated with marketing campaigns and new product launches, can also result in fluctuations from one quarter to another. 47 Table of Contents How We Assess the Performance of Our Business Revenues Revenues related to our sales segment are primarily comprised of commissions, fee-for-service and cost- plus fees for providing retail services, category and space management, headquarter relationship management, technology solutions and administrative services. A small portion of our arrangements include performance incentive provisions, which allow us to earn additional revenues on our performance relative to specified quantitative or qualitative goals. We recognize the incentive portion of revenues under these arrangements when the related services are transferred to the customer. Marketing segment revenues are primarily recognized in the form of a fee-for-service (including retainer fees, fees charged to clients based on hours incurred, project-based fees or fees for executing in-person consumer engagements or experiences, which engagements or experiences we refer to as events), commissions or on a cost- plus basis, in each case, related to services including experiential marketing, shopper and consumer marketing services, private label development or our digital, social and media services. Given our acquisition strategy, we analyze our financial performance, in part, by measuring revenue growth in two ways—revenue growth attributable to organic activities and revenue growth attributable to acquisitions, which we refer to as organic revenues and acquired revenues, respectively. We define organic revenues as any revenues that are not acquired revenues. Our organic revenues exclude the impacts of acquisitions and divestitures, when applicable, which improves comparability of our results from period to period. In general, when we acquire a business, the acquisition includes a contingent consideration arrangement ( e.g ., an earn-out provision) and, accordingly, we separately track the financial performance of the acquired business. In such cases, we consider revenues generated by such a business during the 12 months following its acquisition to be acquired revenues. For example, if we completed an acquisition on July 1, 2019 for a business that included a contingent consideration arrangement, we would consider revenues from the acquired business from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 to be acquired revenues. We generally consider growth attributable to the financial performance of an acquired business after the 12-month anniversary of the date of acquisition to be organic. In limited cases, including the Daymon Acquisition, when the acquisition of an acquired business does not include a contingent consideration arrangement, or we otherwise do not separately track the financial performance of the acquired business due to operational integration, we consider the revenues that the business generated in the 12 months prior to its acquisition to be our acquired revenues for the 12 months following its acquisition, and any differences in revenues actually generated during the 12 months after its acquisition to be organic. For example, if we completed an acquisition on July 1, 2019 for a business that did not include a contingent consideration arrangement, we would consider the amount of revenues from the acquired business from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 to be acquired revenues during the period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, with any differences from that amount actually generated during the latter period to be organic revenues. All revenues generated by our acquired businesses are considered to be organic revenues after the 12-month anniversary of the date of acquisition. When we divest a business, we consider the revenues that the divested business generated in the 12 months prior to its divestiture to be subtracted from acquired revenues for the 12 months following its divestiture. For example, if we completed a divestiture on July 1, 2019 for a business, we would consider the amount of revenues from the divested business from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 to be subtracted from acquired revenues during the period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. We measure organic revenue growth and acquired revenue growth by comparing the organic revenues or acquired revenues, respectively, period over period, net of any divestitures. 48 Table of Contents Cost of Revenues Our cost of revenues consists of both fixed and variable expenses primarily attributable to the hiring, training, compensation and benefits provided to both full-time and part-time associates, as well as other project- related expenses. A number of costs associated with our associates are subject to external factors, including inflation, increases in market specific wages and minimum wage rates at federal, state and municipal levels and minimum pay levels for exempt roles. Additionally, when we enter into certain new client relationships, we may experience an initial increase in expenses associated with hiring, training and other items needed to launch the new relationship. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, payroll taxes and benefits for corporate personnel. Other overhead costs include information technology, occupancy costs for corporate personnel, professional services fees, including accounting and legal services, and other general corporate expenses. Additionally, included in selling, general and administrative expenses are costs associated with the changes in fair value of the contingent consideration of acquisitions and other acquisition-related costs. Acquisition-related costs are comprised of fees related to change of equity ownership, transaction costs, professional fees, due diligence and integration activities. We also expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including expenses necessary to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange and related to compliance and reporting obligations pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC, as well as higher expenses for general and director and officer insurance, investor relations, and professional services. Other Expenses Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liability Change in fair value of warrant liability represents a non-cash (income) expense resulting from a fair value adjustment to warrant liability from the private placement warrants that is based on the input assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model including our Class A common stock price at the end of the reporting period, the implied volatility or other inputs to the model and the number of private placement warrants outstanding which may vary from period to period. We believe these amounts are not correlated to future business operations. Interest Expense Interest expense relates primarily to borrowings under our First Lien Credit Agreement (including the Revolving Credit Facility), Second Lien Credit Agreement and New Senior Secured Credit Facilities as described below. See “ —Liquidity and Capital Resources. ” Depreciation and Amortization Amortization Expense Included in our depreciation and amortization expense is amortization of acquired intangible assets. We have ascribed value to identifiable intangible assets other than goodwill in our purchase price allocations for companies we have acquired. These assets include, but are not limited to, client relationships and trade names. To the extent we ascribe value to identifiable intangible assets that have finite lives, we amortize those values over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Such amortization expense, although non-cash in the period expensed, directly impacts our results of operations. It is difficult to predict with any precision the amount of expense we may record relating to future acquired intangible assets. As a result of the 2014 Topco Acquisition, we acquired significant intangible assets, the value of which is amortized, on a straight-line basis, over 15 years from the date of the 2014 Topco Acquisition, unless determined 49 Table of Contents to be indefinite-lived. We recognized a non-cash intangible asset impairment charge of $580.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2018, related to our sales trade name resulting from the 2014 Topco Acquisition considered to be indefinite lived. The impairment charge has been reflected in “Impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss, in addition to a $652.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the sales reporting unit. Depreciation Expense Depreciation expense relates to the property and equipment that we own, which represented less than 1% of our total assets at December 31, 2020. Income Taxes Income tax (benefit) expense and our effective tax rates can be affected by many factors, including state apportionment factors, our acquisition strategy, tax incentives and credits available to us, changes in judgment regarding our ability to realize our deferred tax assets, changes in our worldwide mix of pre-tax losses or earnings, changes in existing tax laws and our assessment of uncertain tax positions. Cash Flows We have positive cash flow characteristics, as described below, due to the limited required capital investment in the fixed assets and working capital needs to operate our business in the normal course. See “ —Liquidity and Capital Resources. ” Prior to the consummation of the Transactions (including our entry into the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities), our principal sources of liquidity have been cash flows from operations, borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility (as herein defined) and other debt. Following the Transactions, our principal sources of liquidity are cash flows from operations, borrowings under the New Revolving Credit Facility, and other debt. Our principal uses of cash are operating expenses, working capital requirements, acquisitions and repayment of debt. Adjusted Net Income Adjusted Net Income is a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted Net Income means net loss before (i) impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets, (ii) amortization of intangible assets, (iii) equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee, (iv) changes in fair value of warrant liability, (v) fair value adjustments of contingent consideration related to acquisitions, (vi) acquisition-related expenses, (vii) costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received, (viii) EBITDA for economic interests in investments, (ix) restructuring expenses, (x) litigation expenses, (xi) (Recovery from) loss on Take 5, (xii) deferred financing fees, (xiii) costs associated with the Take 5 Matter, (xiv) other adjustments that management believes are helpful in evaluating our operating performance, and (xv) related tax adjustments. We present Adjusted Net Income because we use it as a supplemental measure to evaluate the performance of our business in a way that also considers our ability to generate profit without the impact of items that we do not believe are indicative of our operating performance or are unusual or infrequent in nature and aid in the comparability of our performance from period to period. Adjusted Net Income should not be considered as an alternative for net loss, our most directly comparable measure presented on a GAAP basis. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by Segment Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by segment are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures of our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA means net loss before (i) interest expense, net, (ii) (benefit from) provision for income taxes, (iii) depreciation, (iv) impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets, (v) amortization of intangible assets, (vi) equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage 50 Table of Contents Sponsors’ management fee, (vii) changes in fair value of warrant liability, (viii) fair value adjustments of contingent consideration related to acquisitions, (ix) acquisition-related expenses, (x) costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received, (xi) EBITDA for economic interests in investments, (xii) restructuring expenses, (xiii) litigation expenses, (xiv) (Recovery from) loss on Take 5, (xv) costs associated with the Take 5 Matter and (xvi) other adjustments that management believes are helpful in evaluating our operating performance. We present Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by segment because they are key operating measures used by us to assess our financial performance. These measures adjust for items that we believe do not reflect the ongoing operating performance of our business, such as certain noncash items, unusual or infrequent items or items that change from period to period without any material relevance to our operating performance. We evaluate these measures in conjunction with our results according to GAAP because we believe they provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business than GAAP measures alone. Furthermore, the agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants and other tests based on measures substantially similar to Adjusted EBITDA. Neither Adjusted EBITDA nor Adjusted EBITDA by segment should be considered as an alternative for net loss, for our most directly comparable measure presented on a GAAP basis. For a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net loss and Adjusted EBITDA by segment to operating income (loss), see “ —Non-GAAP Financial Measures. ” Take 5 Matter On April 1, 2018, we acquired certain assets and liabilities of Take 5 for total consideration of $81.6 million, including the fair value of contingent consideration of $4.6 million and holdback liabilities of $0.8 million. As a result of a review of internal allegations related to inconsistency of data provided by Take 5 to its clients, we commenced an investigation into Take 5’s operations. In July 2019, as a result of our investigation, we determined that revenues during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 attributable to the Take 5 business had been recognized for services that were not performed on behalf of clients of Take 5 and that inaccurate reports were made to Take 5 clients about those services. As a result of our investigation into Take 5, in July 2019, we terminated all operations of Take 5, including the use of its associated trade names and the offering of its services to its clients and have offered refunds to Take 5 clients of collected revenues attributable to Take 5 since our acquisition of Take 5. As a result of the Take 5 Matter, we determined that Take 5’s reported revenues were improperly recognized during the year ended December 31, 2018. We also determined that the amounts previously assigned to the assets of Take 5 acquired on the acquisition date had been improperly established based on inaccurate assumptions as to the fair value of the assets acquired. We also voluntarily disclosed information about the misconduct at Take 5 to the United States Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and committed to cooperate in any governmental investigation. We are currently in arbitration proceedings with the sellers of Take 5, in which both us and the sellers of Take 5 have brought claims against each other. As a result of the Take 5 Matter, we may be subject to a number of harms, risks and uncertainties, including substantial unanticipated costs for potential lawsuits by clients or other interested parties who claim to have been harmed by the misconduct at Take 5, other related costs and fees (in excess of the amounts already being offered as refunds), potential resulting governmental investigations and a reduction in our current and anticipated revenues. In addition, if we do not prevail in any litigation or governmental investigation related to these matters, we could be subject to costs related to such litigation or governmental investigation, including equitable relief, civil monetary damages, treble damages, repayment or criminal penalties, which may not be covered by insurance or may materially increase our insurance costs. We have incurred and will continue to incur additional substantial defense and investigation costs regardless of the outcome of any such litigation or governmental investigation. In addition, there can be no assurance to what degree, if any, we will be able to recover any such 51 Table of Contents costs or damages from the former owners of Take 5, or whether such former owners of Take 5 engaged in further unknown improper activities that may subject us to further costs or damages, including potential reputational harm. The Take 5 Matter may lead to additional harms, risks and uncertainties for us, including litigation and governmental investigations, a reduction in our current or anticipated revenues, a potential deterioration in our relationships or reputation and a loss in investor confidence. In connection with the Take 5 Matter, we have removed previously recognized revenues of $18.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, attributable to the Take 5 business. Additionally, we recognized a $79.2 million loss on Take 5 in our Statement of Comprehensive Loss during the year ended December 31, 2018, representing the $76.2 million in cash we paid for Take 5, together with restated acquired liabilities of $3.0 million. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we incurred $3.6 million and $7.7 million, respectively, of costs associated with the investigation and remediation activities in connection with the Take 5 Matter, primarily professional fees and other related costs. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the cost associated with the Take 5 Matter recognized as a component of Selling, general and administrative expenses was as follows; For the Year Ended (in thousands) December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Historical operating costs of Take 5 $ — $ 8,648 Investigation related costs 3,353 4,225 Remediation actions and other related cost 275 3,495 Total cost associated with Take 5 Matter $ 3,628 $ 16,348 On May 15, 2020, we received $7.7 million from our representation and warranty insurance policy related to the acquisition of Take 5 for claims related to the Take 5 Matter, the maximum aggregate recovery under the policy. Restructuring Charges Restructuring charges include severance plans designed to integrate and reduce costs intended to further improve efficiencies in operational activities and align cost structures consistent with revenue levels associated with business changes. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we commenced a plan involving terminating certain employees, particularly with respect to COVID-19 impacted operations. In addition, we established a global work from home policy. A significant portion of our office-based workforce temporarily transitioned to working from home and we commenced a plan to strategically exit certain offices during the year ended December 31, 2020. Refer to Note 8— Leases , for additional information. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, in connection with the Daymon Acquisition, we commenced restructuring programs designed to achieve cost savings through transaction synergies. We recorded severance expenses of $4.6 million, $2.3 million, and $7.9 million included in “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. 52 Table of Contents Results of Operations Our results of operations provide details of our financial results for 2020 and 2019 and year-to-year comparisons between 2020 and 2019. Discussion of 2018 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2019 and 2018 that are not included in this Annual Report can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part I, Item 7 of our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on December 4, 2020. Results of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 Year Ended December 31, (amounts in thousands) 2020 2019 Revenues $ 3,155,671 100.0 % $ 3,785,063 100.0 % Cost of revenues 2,551,485 80.9 % 3,163,443 83.6 % Selling, general, and administrative expenses 306,282 9.7 % 175,373 4.6 % Recovery from Take 5 (7,700 ) (0.2 )% — 0.0 % Depreciation and amortization 238,598 7.6 % 232,573 6.1 % Total expenses 3,088,665 97.9 % 3,571,389 94.4 % Operating income 67,006 2.1 % 213,674 5.6 % Other expenses: Change in fair value of warrant liability 13,363 0.4 % — 0.0 % Interest expense, net 234,044 7.4 % 232,077 6.1 % Total other expenses 247,407 7.8 % 232,077 6.1 % Loss before income taxes (180,401 ) (5.7 )% (18,403 ) (0.5 )% (Benefit from) provision for income taxes (5,331 ) (0.2 )% 1,353 0.0 % Net loss $ (175,070 ) (5.5 )% $ (19,756 ) (0.5 )% Other Financial Data Adjusted Net Income (1) $ 182,969 5.8 % $ 169,109 4.5 % Adjusted EBITDA (1) $ 487,175 15.4 % $ 504,031 13.3 % (1) Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA are financial measures that are not calculated in accordance with GAAP. For a discussion of our presentation of Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA and reconciliations of net loss to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA, see “— Non-GAAP Financial Measures .” Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 Revenues Year Ended December 31, Change (amounts in thousands) 2020 2019 $ % Sales $ 2,060,593 $ 1,954,705 $ 105,888 5.4 % Marketing 1,095,078 1,830,358 (735,280 ) (40.2 )% Total revenues $ 3,155,671 $ 3,785,063 $ (629,392 ) (16.6 )% Total revenues decreased by $629.4 million, or 16.6%, during the year ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. 53 Table of Contents The sales segment revenues increased $105.9 million, of which $61.3 million were revenues from acquired businesses during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. Excluding revenues from acquired businesses, the segment experienced an increase of $44.6 million in organic revenues primarily due to growth in our headquarter sales and retail services where we benefited from several new clients and an increase in commission revenues as a result of significant increases in purchases of consumer goods in the retail channel with an increase in eat-at-home consumption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as expansion in our e-commerce services. These were partially offset by weakness in both our foodservice and our European businesses due to the temporary closures affecting those industries and locations and other adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has had on these services. The marketing segment revenues declined $735.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, which includes revenues of $9.4 million from acquired businesses. Excluding revenues from acquired businesses, the segment experienced a decline of $744.7 million in organic revenues. The decrease in revenues were primarily due to temporary suspensions or reductions of certain in-store sampling services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cost of Revenues Cost of revenues as a percentage of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 was 80.9%, as compared to 83.6% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease as a percentage of revenues was largely attributable to the change in the revenue mix of our services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an increase in commission-based revenues as a result of increased purchases of consumer goods within the retail channel, the temporary suspension or reduction of certain in-store sampling services and reduced travel related expenses. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 was 9.7%, as compared to 4.6% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase as a percentage of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily attributable to an increase in equity-based compensation expense related to equity units of Topco as a result of the consummation of the Transactions. The Company recognized non-cash compensation expenses of $62.7 million in connection with the Common Series C Units and $13.3 million in connection with the Common Series C-2 Units for the year ended December 31, 2020. For additional information, refer to Note 11— Equity-Based Compensation of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. The activity and expense associated with the units at Topco had no impact on the outstanding Common Stock of Advantage Solutions Inc. Further contributing to the increase in Selling, general and administrative expenses was an increase in $34.3 million of restructuring charges primarily associated with terminating certain office leases, $39.8 million of transaction bonuses and certain retention and anniversary payments paid shortly following the completion of the Transactions, offset by $12.7 million reduction of expenses related to the Take 5 Matter. Depreciation and Amortization Expense Depreciation and amortization expense increased $6.0 million, or 2.6%, to $238.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $232.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily attributable to the amortization of additional intangibles from recently acquired businesses. 54 Table of Contents Operating Income Year Ended December 31, Change (amounts in thousands) 2020 2019 $ % Sales $ 63,305 $ 127,961 $ (64,656 ) (50.5 )% Marketing 3,701 85,713 (82,012 ) (95.7 )% Total operating income $ 67,006 $ 213,674 $ (146,668 ) (68.6 )% In the sales segment, the decrease in operating income during the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily attributable to an increase in equity-based compensation expense related to Topco units as a result of the consummation of the Transactions, acquisition-related expenses, and one-time restructuring charges associated with terminating certain office leases, offset by the growth in revenues in the sales segment as described above. In the marketing segment, the decrease in operating income during the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily attributable to the decrease in revenues as described above coupled with an increase in equity-based compensation expense related to the equity units of Topco as a result of the consummation of the Transactions and one-time restructuring charges associated with terminating certain office leases offset by reduction of expenses related to the Take 5 Matter including the insurance recovery and government grants received as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liability Change in fair value of warrant liability represents $13.4 million of non-cash expense resulting from a fair value adjustment to warrant liability from the private placement warrants for the year ended December 31, 2020. Fair value adjustments are based on the input assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model including our Class A common stock price at the end of the reporting period, the implied volatility or other inputs to the model and the number of private placement warrants outstanding which may vary from period to period. Interest Expense, Net Interest expense, net increased $1.9 million, or 0.8%, to $234.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $232.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in interest expense, net was primarily due to an increase of $41.4 million of fees associated with the issuance of the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and the Notes offset by the decrease in interest rates applicable to certain indebtedness for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. (Benefit from) Provision for Income Taxes Benefit from income taxes was $5.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to a provision for income taxes of $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The fluctuation was primarily attributable to the greater pre-tax loss and lower tax adjustments associated with Global Intangible Low Tax Income (“GILTI”), meals and entertainment, foreign taxes for the year ended December 31, 2020. Net Loss Net loss was $175.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to net loss of $19.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in net loss was primarily driven by the decrease in operating income, and the increase in interest expense which were impacted by non-recurring expenses primarily as a result of the consummation of the Transactions, as well as the increase in the fair value adjustment to warrant liability, partially offset by favorability associated with the benefit from income taxes as described above. 55 Table of Contents Adjusted Net Income The increase in Adjusted Net Income for the year ended December 31, 2020 was attributable to the decrease in interest expense after adjusting for non-recurring costs incurred as part of the Transactions offset by the decline in the marketing segment related to the temporary suspension or reductions of in-store sampling programs during the pandemic and increase in provision for income taxes after adjusting for non-recurring costs incurred as a result of the consummation of the Transactions. For a reconciliation of Adjusted Net Income to Net loss, see “ —Non-GAAP Financial Measures ”. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by Segment Year Ended December 31, Change (amounts in thousands) 2020 2019 $ % Sales $ 360,017 $ 309,531 $ 50,486 16.3 % Marketing 127,158 194,500 (67,342 ) (34.6 )% Total Adjusted EBITDA $ 487,175 $ 504,031 $ (16,856 ) (3.3 )% Adjusted EBITDA decreased $16.9 million, or 3.3%, to $487.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $504.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily attributable to the decline in revenues in the marketing segment, primarily due to the temporary suspension of certain in-store sampling services, offset by the growth in revenues in the sales segment with favorable margin contributions from our headquarter sales services as described above. For a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net loss, see “—Non-GAAP Financial Measures .” Non-GAAP Financial Measures Adjusted Net Income is a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted Net Income means net loss before (i) impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets, (ii) amortization of intangible assets, (iii) equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee, (iv) changes in fair value of warrant liability, (v) fair value adjustments of contingent consideration related to acquisitions, (vi) acquisition-related expenses, (vii) costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received, (viii) EBITDA for economic interests in investments, (ix) restructuring expenses, (x) litigation expenses, (xi) (Recovery from) loss on Take 5, (xii) deferred financing fees, (xiii) costs associated with the Take 5 Matter, (xiv) other adjustments that management believes are helpful in evaluating our operating performance, and (xv) related tax adjustments. We present Adjusted Net Income because we use it as a supplemental measure to evaluate the performance of our business in a way that also considers our ability to generate profit without the impact of items that we do not believe are indicative of our operating performance or are unusual or infrequent in nature and aid in the comparability of our performance from period to period. Adjusted Net Income should not be considered as an alternative for our Net loss, our most directly comparable measure presented on a GAAP basis. 56 Table of Contents A reconciliation of Adjusted Net Income to Net loss is provided in the following table: Year Ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Net loss $ (175,070 ) $ (19,756 ) $ (1,151,223 ) Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 736 1,416 6,109 Add: Impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets — — 1,232,000 Equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee (a) 98,119 7,960 (2,432 ) Changes in fair value of warrant liability 13,363 — — Fair value adjustments related to contingent consideration related to acquisitions (b) 13,367 1,516 (54,464 ) Acquisition-related expenses (c) 50,823 31,476 61,155 Restructuring expenses (d) 39,770 5,385 12,465 Litigation expenses (e) 1,980 3,500 1,200 Amortization of intangible assets (f) 193,543 189,881 188,831 Costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received (g) (11,954 ) — — Deferred financing fees (h) 41,428 — — (Recovery from) loss on Take 5 (7,700 ) — 79,165 Costs associated with the Take 5 Matter (i) 3,628 16,368 14,178 Tax adjustments related to non-GAAP adjustments (j) (77,592 ) (65,805 ) (238,615 ) Adjusted Net Income $ 182,969 $ 169,109 $ 136,151 Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by segment are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures of our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA means net loss before (i) interest expense, net, (ii) (benefit from) provision for income taxes, (iii) depreciation, (iv) impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets, (v) amortization of intangible assets, (vi) equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee, (vii) changes in fair value of warrant liability, (viii) fair value adjustments of contingent consideration related to acquisitions, (ix) acquisition-related expenses, (x) costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received, (xi) EBITDA for economic interests in investments, (xii) restructuring expenses, (xiii) litigation expenses, (xiv) (Recovery from) loss on Take 5, (xv) costs associated with the Take 5 Matter and (xvi) other adjustments that management believes are helpful in evaluating our operating performance. We present Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by segment because they are key operating measures used by us to assess our financial performance. These measures adjust for items that we believe do not reflect the ongoing operating performance of our business, such as certain noncash items, unusual or infrequent items or items that change from period to period without any material relevance to our operating performance. We evaluate these measures in conjunction with our results according to GAAP because we believe they provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business than GAAP measures alone. Furthermore, the agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants and other tests based on measures substantially similar to Adjusted EBITDA. Neither Adjusted EBITDA nor Adjusted EBITDA by segment should be considered as an alternative for our Net loss, our most directly comparable measure presented on a GAAP basis 57 Table of Contents A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net loss is provided in the following table: Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Net loss $ (175,070 ) $ (19,756 ) $ (1,151,223 ) Add: Interest expense, net 234,044 232,077 229,643 (Benefit from) provision for income taxes (5,331 ) 1,353 (168,334 ) Depreciation and amortization 238,598 232,573 225,233 Impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets — — 1,232,000 Equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee (a) 98,119 7,960 (2,432 ) Changes in fair value of warrant liability 13,363 — — Fair value adjustments related to contingent consideration related to acquisitions (b) 13,367 1,516 (54,464 ) Acquisition-related expenses (c) 50,823 31,476 61,155 EBITDA for economic interests in investments (k) (6,462 ) (8,421 ) (7,212 ) Restructuring expenses (d) 39,770 5,385 12,465 Litigation expenses (e) 1,980 3,500 1,200 Costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received (g) (11,954 ) — — (Recovery from) loss on Take 5 (7,700 ) — 79,165 Costs associated with the Take 5 Matter (i) 3,628 16,368 14,178 Adjusted EBITDA $ 487,175 $ 504,031 $ 471,374 Financial information by segment, including a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA by segment to operating income (loss), the closest GAAP financial measure, is provided in the following table: Sales Segment Year Ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Operating income (loss) $ 63,305 $ 127,961 $ (1,072,702 ) Add: Depreciation and amortization 171,569 161,563 157,098 Impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets — — 1,232,000 Equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee (a) 71,124 6,418 1,020 Fair value adjustments related to contingent consideration related to acquisitions (b) 8,371 (2,720 ) (54,628 ) Acquisition-related expenses (c) 36,722 18,276 31,699 EBITDA for economic interests in investments (k) (7,565 ) (8,395 ) (7,155 ) Restructuring expenses (d) 20,295 2,928 6,663 Litigation expenses (e) 1,658 3,500 1,200 Costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received (g) (5,462 ) — — Sales Segment Adjusted EBITDA $ 360,017 $ 309,531 $ 295,195 58 Table of Contents Marketing Segment Year Ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Operating income (loss) $ 3,701 $ 85,713 $ (17,212 ) Add: Depreciation and amortization 67,029 71,010 68,135 Equity based compensation of Topco and Advantage Sponsors’ management fee (a) 26,995 1,542 (3,452 ) Fair value adjustments related to contingent consideration related to acquisitions (b) 4,996 4,236 164 Acquisition-related expenses (c) 14,101 13,200 29,456 EBITDA for economic interests in investments (k) 1,103 (26 ) (57 ) Restructuring expenses (d) 19,475 2,457 5,802 Litigation expenses (e) 322 — — Costs associated with COVID-19, net of benefits received (g) (6,492 ) — — (Recovery from) loss on Take 5 (7,700 ) — 79,165 Costs associated with the Take 5 Matter (i) 3,628 16,368 14,178 Marketing Segment Adjusted EBITDA $ 127,158 $ 194,500 $ 176,179 (a) Represents the management fees and reimbursements for expenses paid to certain of the Advantage Sponsors (or certain of the management companies associated with it or its advisors) pursuant to a management services agreement in years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Also represents expenses related to (i) equity-based compensation expense associated with grants of Common Series D Units of Topco made to one of the Advantage Sponsors, (ii) equity-based compensation expense associated with the Common Series C Units of Topco as a result of the Transactions, (iii) compensation amounts associated with the Company’s Management Incentive Plan originally scheduled for potential payment March 2022 that were accelerated and terminated as part of the Transactions, and (iv) compensation amounts associated with the anniversary payments to Tanya Domier. Certain of Ms. Domier’s anniversary payments were accelerated as part of the Transactions. (b) Represents adjustments to the estimated fair value of our contingent consideration liabilities related to our acquisitions, excluding the present value accretion recorded in interest expense, net, for the applicable periods. See Note 6— Other Liabilities to our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. (c) Represents fees and costs associated with activities related to our acquisitions and restructuring activities related to our equity ownership, including transaction bonuses paid in connection with the Transactions, professional fees, due diligence and integration activities. (d) Represents fees and costs associated with various internal reorganization activities among our consolidated entities. The increase during the year ended December 31, 2020 relates primarily to costs related to the abandonment of certain office leases offset by the decrease relates primarily to the non-cash settlement of lease liabilities. For additional information, refer to Note 8— Leases of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. (e) Represents legal settlements that are unusual or infrequent costs associated with our operating activities. (f) Represents the amortization of intangible assets recorded in connection with the 2014 Topco Acquisition and our other acquisitions. (g) Represents (i) costs related to implementation of strategies for workplace safety in response to COVID-19, including employee-relief fund, additional sick pay for front-line associates, medical benefit payments for furloughed associates, and personal protective equipment; and (ii) benefits received from government grants for COVID-19 relief. (h) Represents fees associated with the issuance of the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities and the Notes. For additional information, refer to Note 7 – Debt of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. (i) Represents $3.6 million and $7.7 million of costs associated with investigation and remediation activities related to the Take 5 Matter, primarily, professional fees and other related costs, respectively for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Represents $8.6 million and $14.2 million of operating expenses associated with the Take 5 business, which we believe do not reflect the ongoing operating performance of our business for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. 59 Table of Contents (j) Represents the tax provision or benefit associated with the adjustments above, taking into account the Company’s applicable tax rates, after excluding adjustments related to items that do not have a related tax impact. (k) Represents additions to reflect our proportional share of Adjusted EBITDA related to our equity method investments and reductions to remove the Adjusted EBITDA related to the minority ownership percentage of the entities that we fully consolidate in our financial statements. Liquidity and Capital Resources Prior to the Transactions, our principal sources of liquidity were cash flows from operations, borrowings under the Credit Facilities, including $2.5 billion under the First Lien Credit Agreement and $760 million under the Second Lien Credit Agreement which were scheduled to mature in July 2021 and July 2022, respectively. On October 28, 2020, in connection with the Transactions, we (i) repaid the outstanding debt under the First and Second Lien Credit Agreements and a separate accounts receivable securitization facility, (ii) entered into the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities consisting of the $1.325 billion New Term Loan Facility and the $400.0 million New Revolving Credit Facility, (iii) borrowed $100.0 million under the New Revolving Credit Facility and (iv) issued $775.0 million of Notes. Following the Transactions, our principal sources of liquidity have been cash flows from operations, borrowings under the New Revolving Credit Facility, and other debt. Our principal uses of cash are operating expenses, working capital requirements, acquisitions, and repayment of debt. Cash Flows A summary of our cash provided by or used in our operating, investing and financing activities are shown in the following table: Year Ended December 31, (in thousands) 2020 2019 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 345,730 $ 151,343 Net cash used in investing activities (99,003 ) (61,808 ) Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities (230,152 ) (38,208 ) Net effect of foreign currency fluctuations on cash 4,366 3,179 Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 20,941 $ 54,506 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities Net cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2020, consisted of net loss of $175.1 million adjusted for certain non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization of $238.6 million and effects of changes in working capital. Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 consisted of net loss of $19.8 million adjusted for certain non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization of $232.6 million and effects of changes in working capital. The increase in cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 relative to the same period in 2019 was primarily due to the reduced working capital need as a result of the temporary suspension and reduction of certain in-store sampling services during the year ended December 31, 2020. To a lesser extent, the reduction of income taxes and the deferral of payment of our portion of Social Security taxes of $48.0 million have also contributed to the increase in cash provided by operating activities. Net Cash Used in Investing Activities For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, our net cash used in investing activities primarily consisted of acquisitions. Additionally, we invest cash for the purchase of property and equipment to support our increased employee headcount and overall growth in our business. We expect that we will make additional capital expenditures and investments in the future to support the future growth of our business. 60 Table of Contents Net Cash Used in Financing Activities We primarily finance our growth through cash flows from operations, however, we also incur long-term debt or borrow under lines of credit when necessary to execute acquisitions. Cash flows from financing activities consisted of borrowings related to these lines of credit and subsequent payments of principal and financing fees. Additionally, many of our acquisition agreements include contingent consideration arrangements, which are generally based on the achievement of future financial performance by the operations attributable to the acquired companies. The portion of the cash payment up to the acquisition date fair value of the contingent consideration liability are classified as financing outflows, and amounts paid in excess of the acquisition date fair value of that liability are classified as operating outflows. Cash flows related to financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020, were primarily related to the proceeds from new borrowings under the New Term Loan Facility and issuance of the Notes of $2.1 billion, the repayment of our First and Second Lien Credit Agreements and principal payments on our long- term debt of $3.2 billion, and the proceeds from issuance of our common stock of $929.2 million, net of fees, as a result of the consummation of the Transactions. In connection with the Transactions, our debt arrangements that existed in 2020 were repaid and terminated. At the closing of the Transactions, we also had $100.0 million of borrowing under the New Revolving Credit Facility, of which, $50.0 million was paid off in 2020 due to the reduced working capital need. On May 25, 2020, one of our majority owned subsidiaries operating in Japan entered into two loan agreements and had aggregate principal amount of $2.8 million borrowings from a bank lender pursuant to a local government loan program. Subsequently, one of the loans was refinanced on October 26, 2020 for reduction of the interest payments. The loans, which includes the refinanced loan, bear interest rates of 1.82% and 1.83% per annum with maturity dates of May 27, 2029, and October 27, 2029, respectively, and amounts under the loans will be repayable to the lender in monthly installments. Cash flows related to financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2019 were primarily related to $25.8 million in principal payments on our long-term debt and $21.2 million related to payments of contingent consideration. Description of Credit Facilities New Senior Secured Credit Facilities In connection with the consummation of the Transaction, Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Borrower”) entered into the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities consisting of (i) the New Revolving Credit Facility, which is a senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $400.0 million, subject to borrowing base capacity and (ii) the New Term Loan Facility, which is a secured first lien term loan credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.325 billion. New Revolving Credit Facility Our New Revolving Credit Facility provides for revolving loans and letters of credit in an aggregate amount of up to $400.0 million, subject to borrowing base capacity. Letters of credit are limited to the lesser of (a) $150.0 million and (b) the aggregate unused amount of commitments under our New Revolving Credit Facility then in effect. Loans under the New Revolving Credit Facility may be denominated in either U.S. dollars or Canadian dollars. Bank of America, N.A., will act as administrative agent and ABL Collateral Agent. The New Revolving Credit Facility matures five years after the date we enter into the New Revolving Credit Facility. We may use borrowings under the New Revolving Credit Facility to fund working capital and for other general corporate purposes, including permitted acquisitions and other investments. 61 Table of Contents Borrowings under the New Revolving Credit Facility are limited by borrowing base calculations based on the sum of specified percentages of eligible accounts receivable plus specified percentages of qualified cash, minus the amount of any applicable reserves. Borrowings will bear interest at a floating rate, which can be either an adjusted Eurodollar rate plus an applicable margin or, at the Borrower’s option, a base rate plus an applicable margin. The applicable margins for the New Revolving Credit Facility are 2.00%, 2.25% or 2.50%, with respect to Eurodollar rate borrowings and 1.00%, 1.25% or 1.50%, with respect to base rate borrowings, in each case depending on average excess availability under the New Revolving Credit Facility. The Borrower’s ability to draw under the New Revolving Credit Facility or issue letters of credit thereunder will be conditioned upon, among other things, the Borrower’s delivery of prior written notice of a borrowing or issuance, as applicable, the Borrower’s ability to reaffirm the representations and warranties contained in the credit agreement governing the New Revolving Credit Facility and the absence of any default or event of default thereunder. The Borrower’s obligations under the New Revolving Credit Facility are guaranteed by Karman Intermediate Corp. (“Holdings”) and all of the Borrower’s direct and indirect wholly owned material U.S. subsidiaries (subject to certain permitted exceptions) and Canadian subsidiaries (subject to certain permitted exceptions, including exceptions based on immateriality thresholders of aggregate assets and revenues of Canadian subsidiaries) (the “Guarantors”). The New Revolving Credit Facility is secured by a lien on substantially all of Holdings’, the Borrower’s and the Guarantors’ assets (subject to certain permitted exceptions). The Borrower’s New Revolving Credit Facility has a first-priority lien on the current asset collateral and a second-priority lien on security interests in the fixed asset collateral (second in priority to the liens securing the Notes and the New Term Loan Facility discussed below), in each case, subject to other permitted liens. The New Revolving Credit Facility has the following fees: (i) an unused line fee of 0.375% or 0.250% per annum of the unused portion of the New Revolving Credit Facility, depending on average excess availability under the New Revolving Credit Facility; (ii) a letter of credit participation fee on the aggregate stated amount of each letter of credit equal to the applicable margin for adjusted Eurodollar rate loans, as applicable; and (iii) certain other customary fees and expenses of the lenders and agents thereunder. The New Revolving Credit Facility contains customary covenants, including, but not limited to, restrictions on the Borrower’s ability and that of our subsidiaries to merge and consolidate with other companies, incur indebtedness, grant liens or security interests on assets, make acquisitions, loans, advances or investments, pay dividends, sell or otherwise transfer assets, optionally prepay or modify terms of any junior indebtedness, enter into transactions with affiliates or change our line of business. The New Revolving Credit Facility will require the maintenance of a fixed charge coverage ratio (as set forth in the credit agreement governing the New Revolving Credit Facility) of 1.00 to 1.00 at the end of each fiscal quarter when excess availability is less than the greater of $25 million and 10% of the lesser of the borrowing base and maximum borrowing capacity. Such fixed charge coverage ratio will be tested at the end of each quarter until such time as excess availability exceeds the level set forth above. The New Revolving Credit Facility provides that, upon the occurrence of certain events of default, the Borrower’s obligations thereunder may be accelerated and the lending commitments terminated. Such events of default include payment defaults to the lenders thereunder, material inaccuracies of representations and warranties, covenant defaults, cross-defaults to other material indebtedness, voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy, insolvency, corporate arrangement, winding-up, liquidation or similar proceedings, material money judgments, material pension-plan events, certain change of control events and other customary events of default. New Term Loan Facility The New Term Loan Facility consists of a term loan facility denominated in US dollars in an aggregate principal amount of $1.325 billion. Borrowings under the New Term Loan Facility amortize in equal quarterly installments in an amount equal to 1.00% per annum of the principal amount. Borrowings will bear interest at a floating rate, which can be either an adjusted Eurodollar rate plus an applicable margin or, at the Borrower’s option, a base rate plus an applicable margin. The applicable margins for the New Term Loan Facility are 5.25% with respect to Eurodollar rate borrowings and 4.25% with respect to base rate borrowings. 62 Table of Contents The Borrower may voluntarily prepay loans or reduce commitments under the New Term Loan Facility, in whole or in part, subject to minimum amounts, with prior notice but without premium or penalty (other than a 1.00% premium on any prepayment in connection with a repricing transaction prior to the date that is twelve months after the date we entered into the New Term Loan Facility). The Borrower will be required to prepay the New Term Loan Facility with 100% of the net cash proceeds of certain asset sales (such percentage subject to reduction based on the achievement of specific first lien net leverage ratios) and subject to certain reinvestment rights, 100% of the net cash proceeds of certain debt issuances and 50% of excess cash flow (such percentage subject to reduction based on the achievement of specific first lien net leverage ratios). The Borrower’s obligations under the New Term Loan Facility are guaranteed by Holdings and the Guarantors. Our New Term Loan Facility is secured by a lien on substantially all of Holdings’, the Borrower’s and the Guarantors’ assets (subject to certain permitted exceptions). The New Term Loan Facility has a first- priority lien on the fixed asset collateral (equal in priority with the liens securing the Notes) and a second-priority lien on security interests in the current asset collateral (second in priority to the liens securing the New Revolving Credit Facility), in each case, subject to other permitted liens. The New Term Loan Facility contains certain customary negative covenants, including, but not limited to, restrictions on the Borrower’s ability and that of our restricted subsidiaries to merge and consolidate with other companies, incur indebtedness, grant liens or security interests on assets, pay dividends or make other restricted payments, sell or otherwise transfer assets or enter into transactions with affiliates. The New Term Loan Facility provides that, upon the occurrence of certain events of default, the Borrower’s obligations thereunder may be accelerated. Such events of default will include payment defaults to the lenders thereunder, material inaccuracies of representations and warranties, covenant defaults, cross-defaults to other material indebtedness, voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy, insolvency, corporate arrangement, winding-up, liquidation or similar proceedings, material money judgments, change of control and other customary events of default. Senior Secured Notes In connection with the Transactions, Advantage Solutions FinCo LLC (“Finco”) issued $775.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.50% Senior Secured Notes due 2028 (the “Notes”). Substantially concurrently with the Transactions, Finco merged with and into Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc. (the “Issuer”), with the Issuer continuing as the surviving entity and assuming the obligations of Finco. The Notes were sold to BofA Securities, Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Apollo Global Securities, LLC. The Notes were resold to certain non-U.S. persons pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act at a purchase price equal to 100% of their principal amount. The terms of the Notes are governed by an Indenture, dated as of October 28, 2020 (the “Indenture”), among Finco, the Issuer, the guarantors named therein (the “Notes Guarantors”) and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee and collateral agent. Interest and maturity Interest on the Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on May 15 and November 15 at a rate of 6.50% per annum, commencing on May 15, 2021. The Notes will mature on November 15, 2028. Guarantees The Notes are guaranteed by Holdings and each of the Issuer’s direct and indirect wholly owned material U.S. subsidiaries (subject to certain permitted exceptions) and Canadian subsidiaries (subject to certain permitted exceptions, including exceptions based on immateriality thresholders of aggregate assets and revenues of Canadian subsidiaries) that is a borrower or guarantor under the New Term Loan Facility. 63 Table of Contents Security and Ranking The Notes and the related guarantees are the general, senior secured obligations of the Issuer and the Notes Guarantors, are secured on a first-priority pari passu basis by security interests on the fixed asset collateral (equal in priority with liens securing the New Term Loan Facility), and are secured on a second-priority basis by security interests on the current asset collateral (second in priority to the liens securing the New Revolving Credit Facility and equal in priority with liens securing the New Term Loan Facility), in each case, subject to certain limitations and exceptions and permitted liens. The Notes and related guarantees rank (i) equally in right of payment with all of the Issuer’s and the Guarantors’ senior indebtedness, without giving effect to collateral arrangements (including the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities) and effectively equal to all of the Issuer’s and the Guarantors’ senior indebtedness secured on the same priority basis as the Notes, including the New Term Loan Facility, (ii) effectively subordinated to any of the Issuer’s and the Guarantors’ indebtedness that is secured by assets that do not constitute collateral for the Notes to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness and to indebtedness that is secured by a senior-priority lien, including the New Revolving Credit Facility to the extent of the value of the current asset collateral and (iii) structurally subordinated to the liabilities of the Issuer’s non-Guarantor subsidiaries. Optional redemption for the Notes The Notes are redeemable on or after November 15, 2023 at the applicable redemption prices specified in the Indenture plus accrued and unpaid interest. The Notes may also be redeemed at any time prior to November 15, 2023 at a redemption price equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of such Notes to be redeemed plus a “make-whole” premium, plus accrued and unpaid interest. In addition, the Issuer may redeem up to 40% of the original aggregate principal amount of Notes before November 15, 2023 with the net cash proceeds of certain equity offerings at a redemption price equal to 106.5% of the aggregate principal amount of such Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest. Furthermore, prior to November 15, 2023 the Issuer may redeem during each calendar year up to 10% of the original aggregate principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 103% of the aggregate principal amount of such Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest. If the Issuer or its restricted subsidiaries sell certain of their respective assets or experience specific kinds of changes of control, subject to certain exceptions, the Issuer must offer to purchase the Notes at par. In connection with any offer to purchase all Notes, if holders of no less than 90% of the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tender their Notes, the Issuer is entitled to redeem any remaining Notes at the price offered to each holder. Restrictive covenants The Notes are subject to covenants that, among other things limit the Issuer’s ability and its restricted subsidiaries’ ability to: incur additional indebtedness or guarantee indebtedness; pay dividends or make other distributions in respect of, or repurchase or redeem, the Issuer’s or a parent entity’s capital stock; prepay, redeem or repurchase certain indebtedness; issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; make loans and investments; sell or otherwise dispose of assets; incur liens; enter into transactions with affiliates; enter into agreements restricting the Issuer’s subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends; and consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Issuer’s assets. Most of these covenants will be suspended on the Notes so long as they have investment grade ratings from both Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and S&P Global Ratings and so long as no default or event of default under the Indenture has occurred and is continuing. Events of default The following constitute events of default under the Notes, among others: default in the payment of interest; default in the payment of principal; failure to comply with covenants; failure to pay other indebtedness after final maturity or acceleration of other indebtedness exceeding a specified amount; certain events of bankruptcy; failure 64 Table of Contents to pay a judgment for payment of money exceeding a specified aggregate amount; voidance of subsidiary guarantees; failure of any material provision of any security document or intercreditor agreement to be in full force and effect; and lack of perfection of liens on a material portion of the collateral, in each case subject to applicable grace periods. First Lien Credit Agreement and Second Lien Credit Agreement In connection with the Transactions, our debt arrangements under the First Lien Credit Agreement and Second Lien Credit Agreement as well as the AR Facility that existed as of September 30, 2020 were repaid and terminated with incremental costs of $86.8 million. For a description of the First Lien Credit Agreement and Second Lien Credit Agreement that have been refinanced in connection with the consummation of the Transactions on October 28, 2020, please see the additional information set forth in Note 7— Debt , to our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. Future Cash Requirements The following table summarizes certain estimated future cash requirements under the Company’s various contractual obligations at December 31, 2020, in total and disaggregated into current and long-term obligations: Total Current Long-Term (in thousands) Operating lease liabilities (1) $ 65,631 $ 20,894 $ 44,737 Client deposits (2) 10,706 10,706 — Total debt excluding deferred issuance costs (3) 2,153,618 63,745 2,089,873 Other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet Contingent consideration (4) 45,901 10,733 35,168 Unpaid claims (5) 64,953 34,401 30,552 Holdbacks (6) 6,268 5,764 504 Total contractual obligations $ 2,347,077 $ 146,243 $ 2,200,834 (1) Refer to Note 8 — Leases of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional information regarding the maturity of operating lease liabilities. (2) Represents payments collected from our clients, primarily, associated with market development funds that arise out of our business. (3) We have an aggregate principal amount of $1.325 billion borrowing on the New Term Loan Facility, which bears interest at a floating rate, which can be either an adjusted Eurodollar rate plus an applicable margin or, at the Borrower’s option, a base rate plus an applicable margin, and $775.0 million in Senior Secured Notes, which is subject to a fixed interest rate of 6.5%. Refer to Note 7 — Debt of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional information regarding the maturities of debt principal. Total debt excluding deferred issuance costs does not include the obligation of future interest payments. (4) Refer to Note 6 — Other Liabilities of our audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional information regarding the contingent consideration liabilities. (5) Represents $56.2 million of an estimated liability under our workers’ compensation programs for claims incurred but unpaid and $8.8 million of employee insurance reserves as of December 31, 2020. (6) Represents $6.2 million of holdback amounts which are used to withhold a portion of the initial purchase price payment until certain post-closing conditions are satisfied and are typically settled within 24 months of the acquisition. 65 Table of Contents Cash and Cash Equivalents Held Outside the United States As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, $87.7 million and $59.3 million, respectively, of our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were held by foreign subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, $28.9 million and $31.8 million, respectively, of our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were held by foreign branches. We assessed our determination as to our indefinite reinvestment intent for certain of our foreign subsidiaries and recorded a deferred tax liability of approximately $2.1 million of withholding tax as of December 31, 2020 for unremitted earnings in Canada with respect to which the Company does not have an indefinite reinvestment assertion. We will continue to evaluate our cash needs, however we currently do not intend, nor do we foresee a need, to repatriate funds from the foreign subsidiaries except for Canada. We have continued to assert indefinite reinvestment on all other earnings as it is necessary for continuing operations and to grow the business. If at a point in the future our assertion changes, we will evaluate tax-efficient means to repatriate the income. In addition, we expect existing domestic cash and cash flows from operations to continue to be sufficient to fund our domestic operating activities and cash commitments for investing and financing activities, such as debt repayment and capital expenditures, for at least the next 12 months and thereafter for the foreseeable future. If we should require more capital in the United States than is generated by our domestic operations, for example, to fund significant discretionary activities such as business acquisitions, we could elect to repatriate future earnings from foreign jurisdictions. These alternatives could result in higher tax expense or increased interest expense. We consider the majority of the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries, as of December 31, 2020, to be indefinitely reinvested and, accordingly, no provision has been made for taxes in excess of the $2.1 million noted above. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements We do not have any off-balance sheet financing arrangements or liabilities, guarantee contracts, retained or contingent interests in transferred assets or any obligation arising out of a material variable interest in an unconsolidated entity. We do not have any majority-owned subsidiaries that are not included in our consolidated financial statements. Additionally, we do not have an interest in, or relationships with, any special-purpose entities. Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and related notes, as well as the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. We evaluate our accounting policies, estimates and judgments on an on-going basis. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions. We evaluated the development and selection of our critical accounting policies and estimates and believe that the following involve a higher degree of judgment or complexity and are most significant to reporting our results of operations and financial position, and are therefore discussed as critical. The following critical accounting policies reflect the significant estimates and judgments used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. With respect to critical accounting policies, even a relatively minor variance between actual and expected experience can potentially have a materially favorable or unfavorable impact on subsequent results of operations. More information on all of our significant accounting policies can be found in the footnotes to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Revenue Recognition We recognize revenues when control of promised goods or services are transferred to the client in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for such goods or services. Substantially all of our contracts with clients involve the transfer of a service to the client, which represents the 66 Table of Contents performance obligation that is satisfied over time because the client simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits of the services provided. In most cases, the contracts include a performance obligation that is comprised of a series of distinct services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer (i.e., distinct days of service). We allocate variable consideration to each period of service to which it relates. Revenues related to the sales segment are primarily recognized in the form of commissions, fee-for-service or on a cost-plus basis for providing headquarter relationship management, analytics, insights and intelligence services, administrative services, retail services, retailer client relationships and in-store media programs and digital technology solutions (which include our business intelligence solutions, e-commerce services and content services). Marketing segment revenues are primarily recognized in the form of a fee-for-service (including retainer fees, fees charged to clients based on hours incurred, project-based fees or fees for executing in-person consumer engagements or experiences, which engagements or experiences we refer to as events), commissions or on a cost- plus basis for providing experiential marketing, shopper and consumer marketing services, private label development and our digital, social and media services. Our revenue recognition policies generally result in recognition of revenues at the time services are performed. Our accounting policy for revenue recognition has an impact on our reported results and relies on certain estimates that require judgments on the part of management. We record an allowance as a reduction to revenue for differences between estimated revenues and the amounts ultimately invoiced to our clients based on our historical experience and current trends. Cash collected in advance of services being performed is recorded as deferred revenues. We have contracts that include variable consideration whereby the ultimate consideration is contingent on future events such as the client’s sales to retailers, hours worked, event count, costs incurred and performance incentive bonuses. Commission revenues are generally earned upon performance of headquarter relationship management, analytics, insights and intelligence, e-commerce, administration and retail services arrangements. As part of these arrangements, we provide a variety of services to consumer goods manufacturers in order to improve the manufacturer’s sales to retailers. This includes primarily outsourced sales, business development, category and space management, relationship management and in-store sales strategy services. In exchange for these services, we earn an agreed upon percentage of our client’s sales to retailers, which is agreed upon on a manufacturer-by-manufacturer basis. We may be entitled to additional fees upon meeting specific performance goals or thresholds, which we refer to as bonus revenue. The variability of the consideration for the services transferred during a reporting period is typically resolved by the end of the reporting period. However, for certain client contracts, we estimate the variable consideration for the services that have been transferred to the client during the reporting period. We typically estimate the variable consideration based on the expected value method. Estimates are based on historical experience and current facts known during the reporting period. We recognize revenue related to variable consideration if it is probable that a significant reversal of revenue recognized will not occur. When such probable threshold is not satisfied, we will constrain some or all of the variable consideration, and such constrained amount will not be recognized as revenue until the probable threshold is met or the uncertainty is resolved and the final amount is known. We record an adjustment to revenue for differences between estimated revenues and the amounts ultimately invoiced to the client. Adjustments to revenue during the current period related to services transferred during prior periods were not significant for the year ended December 31, 2020. We have contracts that include fixed consideration such as a fee per project or a fixed monthly fee. For contracts with a fee per project, revenue is recognized over time using an input method such as hours worked that reasonably depicts our performance in transferring control of the services to the client. We determined that the input method represents a reasonable method to measure the satisfaction of the performance obligation to the client. For contracts with a fixed monthly fee, revenue is recognized using a time-based measure resulting in a straight-line revenue recognition. A time-based measure was determined to represent a reasonable method to measure the satisfaction of the performance obligation to the client because we have a stand ready obligation to make itself available to provide services upon the client’s request or the client receives the benefit from our services evenly over the contract period. 67 Table of Contents We evaluate each client contract individually in accordance with the applicable accounting guidance to determine whether we act as a principal (whereby we would present revenue on a gross basis) or as an agent (whereby we would present revenue on a net basis). While we primarily act as a principal in our arrangements and report revenues on a gross basis, given the varying terms of our client contracts, we will occasionally act as an agent and in such instances present revenues on a net basis. For example, for certain advertising arrangements, our clients purchase media content in advance, and we do not take on any risk of recovering the cost to acquire the media. As a result, we determined we act as the agent in these arrangements and record revenues and their related costs on a net basis as its agency services are performed. However, in cases where media is not purchased in advance by our clients, we record such revenues and the related costs on a gross basis, as we bear the risk of recovering the costs to acquire the media and are responsible for fulfillment of the services. We record revenues from sales of services and the related direct costs in accordance with the accounting guidance on reporting revenue gross as a principal versus net as an agent. In situations where we act as a principal in the transaction, we report gross revenues and cost of revenues. When we act as an agent, we report the revenues and their related costs on a net basis. Cost of revenues does not include depreciation charges for fixed assets. Goodwill Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired in an acquisition. We test for impairment of goodwill at the reporting unit level. We generally combine reporting units, which are a component of an operating segment when they have similar economic characteristics, nature of services, types of client, distribution methods and regulatory environment. We have two reporting units, sales and marketing, which are also our operating segments. We test our goodwill for impairment at the beginning of the fourth quarter of a given fiscal year, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of a reporting unit may exceed its fair value. We have the option to perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying value before performing a quantitative impairment test. If the qualitative assessment indicates it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit, as determined applying the quantitative impairment test described below, is less than the carrying amount, then there is no need to perform the quantitative impairment test. Upon performing the quantitative impairment test, if the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, goodwill is impaired and the excess of the reporting unit’s carrying value over the fair value is recognized as an impairment loss; however, the loss recognized would not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. Our annual goodwill impairment assessment for the year ended December 31, 2020 was performed as of October 1, 2020. We utilize a combination of income and market approaches to estimate the fair value of our reporting units. The income approach utilizes estimates of discounted cash flows of the reporting units, which requires assumptions for, the reporting units’ revenue growth rates, operating margins terminal growth rates, and discount rates, all of which require significant management judgment. These assumptions are based on significant inputs not observable in the market and thus represent Level 3 measurements within the fair value hierarchy (described in “ Fair Value Measurements in Note 1, Organization and Significant Accounting Policies,”). The market approach applies market multiples derived from the historical earnings data of selected guideline publicly-traded companies to our reporting units’ businesses to yield a second assumed value of each reporting unit, which requires significant management judgement. The guideline companies are first screened by industry group and then further narrowed based on the reporting units’ business descriptions, markets served, competitors, operating margins and revenue size. Market multiples are then selected from within the range of these guideline companies multiples based on the subject reporting unit. We based our fair value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable but which are unpredictable and inherently uncertain. A change in these underlying assumptions would cause a change in the results of the tests and, as such, could cause fair value to be 68 Table of Contents less than the carrying amounts and result in an impairment of goodwill in the future. Additionally, if actual results are not consistent with the estimates and assumptions or if there are significant changes to our planned strategy, it may cause fair value to be less than the carrying amounts and result in an impairment of goodwill in the future. We compare a weighted average of the output from the income and market approaches to the carrying value of each reporting unit. We also compare the aggregate estimated fair value of our reporting units to the estimated value of our total invested capital on a marketable basis. Based on the results of our quantitative impairment test performed for our reporting units, we determined that our goodwill was not impaired for the year ended December 31, 2020. The fair value of the sales reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 8.3%. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value, which we define as greater than 20%. Management determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required us to perform an interim goodwill impairment test as of December 31, 2020. In performing the quantitative impairment test for the year ended December 31, 2019, we had also determined that our goodwill was not impaired. The fair value of the sales reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 3.5%. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value. Management determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required us to perform an interim goodwill impairment test as of December 31, 2019. During the year ended December 31, 2018, based on the results of our quantitative impairment test performed for the sales reporting unit, we recognized a $652.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the sales reporting unit for the year ended December 31, 2018. While there was no single determinative event or factor, the consideration of the weight of evidence of several factors that led us to conclude that it was more likely than not that the fair value of the sales reporting unit was below its carrying value. These factors included: (i) the decrease of revenues and profitability due to a large retailer revising its in-store retail merchandising program to restrict manufacturers’ ability to select any third-party outsource provider to perform unrestricted and unmonitored retail merchandising, (ii) the unrelated decrease of revenues and profitability related to reduced services from several clients in the grocery channel and foodservice channel, (iii) the combination of our completed third quarter and preliminary fourth quarter results being below management’s expectations and (iv) the development and approval of our 2019 annual operating plan in the fourth quarter of 2018, which provided additional insights into expectations such as lower long-term revenue growth and profitability expectations. We are not aware of other larger retailers that intend to adopt a similar model and we have not identified any anticipated limitations on the services we provide to clients that would have a material and adverse impact on our future cash flows. We do not believe the circumstances described above are representative of a broader trend. However, uncertainty in the way retailers conduct business could have an impact on our future growth and could result in future impairment charges. We recorded the non-cash goodwill impairment charge in 2018, which has been reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Based on the results of our quantitative impairment test performed for the sales reporting unit for the year ended December 31, 2018, our sales reporting unit was written down to its respective fair value, resulting in zero excess fair value over its carrying value. Based on the results of our quantitative impairment test performed for the marketing reporting unit for the year ended December 31, 2018, we determined that goodwill was not impaired. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value, which we define as being greater than 20%. Indefinite-Lived Assets Our indefinite-lived intangible assets are comprised of our sales and marketing trade names. Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are not amortized but tested annually, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, for impairment or more often if events occur or circumstances change that would create a triggering event. We have 69 Table of Contents the option to perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived intangible asset’s fair value is less than its carrying value before performing a quantitative impairment test. We test our indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment using a relief from royalty method by comparing the estimated fair values of the indefinite-lived intangible assets with the carrying values. The estimates used in the determination of fair value are subjective in nature and involve the use of significant assumptions. These estimates and assumptions include revenue growth rates, terminal growth rates, discount rates and royalty rates. which requires significant management judgement. The assumptions are based on significant inputs not observable in the market and thus represent Level 3 measurements within the fair value hierarchy. We base our fair value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable, but which are unpredictable and inherently uncertain. Actual future results may differ from the estimates. In connection with our annual quantitative impairment test as of October 1, 2020 and 2019, we concluded that our indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. The fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets related to sales trade names exceeded its carrying value by 13.3% and 8.3% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The fair value of the indefinite- lived intangible assets related to marketing trade names exceeded its carrying value by 8.4% and 10.0% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Management determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required us to perform an interim impairment test of indefinite-lived intangible assets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we concluded the carrying value of the indefinite-lived trade name in the sales reporting unit exceeded its estimated fair value. While there was no single determinative event or factor, the factors that led to the impairment were the same circumstances outlined in the goodwill impairment discussion above. As a result, we recognized a non-cash intangible asset impairment charge of $580.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2018, which has been reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Based on the quantitative test performed for the indefinite-lived marketing trade name, we determined that the indefinite-lived marketing trade name was not impaired for the year ended December 31, 2018. Equity-Based Compensation In January 2021 and February 2021, we granted performance restricted stock units with respect to our Class A common stock (“PSUs”) under the Advantage Solutions Inc. 2020 Incentive Award Plan (the “2020 Plan”). The grants provided for a target of 2,557,188 shares to be issued pursuant to the PSUs under the 2020 Plan. The PSUs are subject to the achievement of certain performance conditions based on the Company’s Adjusted EBITDA and revenues and the recipient’s continued service to the Company, the PSUs are scheduled to vest over a three-year period from the date of grant and may vest from 0% to 150% of the targeted number of shares set forth in the immediately preceding sentence (any shares that may be earned above the target number are scheduled to vest on the third anniversary of the grant date). In January 2021 and February 2021, we granted restricted stock units with respect to our Class A common stock (“RSUs”) of 1,703,663 shares. RSUs for 125,000 shares of our Class A common stock are scheduled to vest in two equal tranches on the first and second anniversaries of the grant date. The remaining RSUs are scheduled to vest in three equal tranches, and a tranche shall vest on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of the grant date. In January 2021, we also granted RSUs to certain of our directors (Ronald E. Blaylock, Beverly Chase, Virginie Costa and Elizabeth Muñoz-Guzman) with respect to 10,356 shares each. The grants were made in accordance with the Company’s Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy. The RSUs granted to these directors are scheduled to vest on the earlier of the one-year anniversary of the date of grant or the day immediately preceding the date of the first annual meeting of the Company’s stockholders occurring after the date of grant. 70 Table of Contents Topco, the parent company of the Company, has a long-term equity incentive plan that allows for the grant of time- and performance-based profit interests, or Common Series C Units, in Topco to certain of its and its subsidiaries’ directors and employees in exchange for services provided to us. Since we receive the benefit associated with such services the related expense is recorded within our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. These profit interests are subject to certain vesting requirements including time and performance requirements based on specified annual targets substantially similar to Adjusted EBITDA thresholds. These awards are subject to forfeiture unless the following performance conditions are met: (i) 75% of the awards will vest when certain of the Advantage Sponsors as of the date of the 2014 Topco Acquisition, or the Common Series A Limited Partners of Topco, realize a pre-tax internal rate of return of 8% compounded annually and (ii) the remaining 25% of the awards vest when the Common Series A Limited Partners of Topco realize a pre-tax internal rate of return of 20% compounded annually. On March 15, 2018, Topco modified the vesting requirements. In accordance with the performance conditions, generally 75% of the awards will vest over a four-year term, subject to the employee’s continued employment. The remaining 25% of the equity awards vest when the Advantage Sponsors as of the date of the 2014 Topco Acquisition realize a pre-tax internal rate of return of 20% compounded annually. Once the equity awards vest, forfeiture may still occur as a result of termination of employment of the equity award holders or if an exit event occurs which is not a vesting exit event. Notwithstanding prior vesting, certain awards are subject to a requirement that the Advantage Sponsors receive a specific return on their equity investment, prior to the awards participating in any distribution whether in cash, property or securities of Topco. Certain awards vest over the remaining initial four-year terms, subject to the employee’s continued employment. The limited partnership agreement also authorizes Topco to issue up to 35,000 Common Series C-2 Units to members of our management, which Common Series C-2 Units are subject to substantially similar vesting and forfeiture provisions as the Common Series C Units, including forfeiture upon certain terminations of employment of the applicable holders or a non-qualifying exit event. As a result of the Transactions, the Company recognized non-cash compensation expenses of $62.7 million in connection with the Common Series C Units and $13.3 million in connection with the Common Series C-2 Units for the year ended December 31, 2020. Additional expenses of $5.7 million and $0.4 million are anticipated to occur, when the time-based options further vest in 2021 and 2022, respectively. If the vesting exit event of the remaining 25% of the equity awards is deemed probable to occur, the Company would have recognized a compensation expense of $8.2 million and $0.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively. No expense was recorded in the years ended December 31, 2019, or 2018 since a vesting exit event was not yet deemed probable of occurring. Topco also issued time-vesting profit interests to entities affiliated with one of the Advantage Sponsors, from whom we received services. These time-vesting profit interests vested on a monthly basis beginning on October 1, 2014 through September 1, 2019. We record the compensation expense associated with the issuance of such awards for non-employees as we receive the benefit of the services being provided by the non-employees. Topco is a private company with no active market for its equity securities. In determining the fair value of Topco’s equity, we utilize three widely recognized valuation models: • Discounted Cash Flow Analysis (Income Model)— The discounted cash flow analysis is dependent on a number of significant management assumptions regarding the expected future financial results of us and Topco as well as upon estimates of an appropriate cost of capital; • Guideline Public Companies (Market Model)— Multiples of historical and projected EBITDA from guideline public companies are applied to estimate the fair value for the equity of Topco; and • Mergers and Acquisition (Market Model)— Multiples of historical enterprise value divided by last twelve months revenues, and enterprise value divided by last twelve months EBITDA for mergers and acquisitions of comparable companies. After considering the results of each of these valuation models, we then use the Backsolve Option Pricing Method, or OPM, to determine the fair value of the profit interest awards and resulting equity-based compensation expense. 71 Table of Contents Assumptions used in the OPM include the expected life, volatility, risk-free rate and dividend yield. We utilize the observable data for a group of peer companies that grant options with substantially similar terms to assist in developing our volatility assumption. The risk-free rate is based on U.S. Treasury yields in effect at the time of grant over the expected term. We assume a dividend yield of 0% as we have not historically paid distributions. The assumptions used in estimating the fair value of equity-based payment awards represent management’s best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management judgment. As a result, if factors change and we use different assumptions, equity-based compensation expense could be different in the future. As a result of the publicly traded price of our common stock, certain key valuation inputs to the option pricing method will be based on publicly available information. These key valuation inputs include the fair value of our common stock, and once there is a sufficient trading history, the volatility would be derived from the historical trading activity of our common stock. Refer to Note 11— Equity-Based Compensation and 18— Subsequent Events , to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report for details regarding Topco’s and our equity-based compensation plans. Warrant Liability We account for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 480, and ASC 815. The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to our common stock and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of our control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as liabilities at their initial fair value on the date of issuance and remeasured to fair value at each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants are recognized in “Changes in fair value of warrant liability” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. The fair value of the private placement warrants on the date of issuance and on each measurement date is estimated using a Black-Scholes option pricing model which includes inputs such as our stock price, exercise price per share, and the number of private placement warrants outstanding. Assumptions used in the model are subjective and require significant judgment, and include implied volatility and the risk-free interest rate. As of December 31, 2020, 7,333,333 private placement warrants remained outstanding at a fair value of $21.2 million. The initial fair value of the private placement warrants on the Closing date was $7.9 million with $13.4 million of changes in the estimated fair value recorded for the year ended December 31, 2020. Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Refer to Note 1, Organization and Significant Accounting Policies – Recent Accounting Pronouncements , to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. 72 Table of Contents Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk. Foreign Currency Risk Our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations is primarily the result of foreign subsidiaries and foreign branches primarily domiciled in Europe and Canada. We use financial derivative instruments to hedge foreign currency exchange rate risks associated with our Canadian subsidiary. The assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries and foreign branches, whose functional currencies are primarily the Canadian dollars, British pounds and euros, respectively, are translated into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date. Income and expense items are translated at the average exchange rates prevailing during the period. The cumulative translation effects for subsidiaries using a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar are included in accumulated other comprehensive loss as a separate component of stockholders’ equity. We estimate that had the exchange rate in each country unfavorably changed by ten percent relative to the U.S. dollar, our consolidated income before taxes would have decreased by approximately $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Equity Price Risk As of December 31, 2020, 7,333,333 private placement warrants remained outstanding at a fair value of $21.2 million. The warrant liability is stated at fair value at each reporting period with the change in fair value recorded on the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss until the warrants are exercised, expire or other facts and circumstances lead the warrant liability to be reclassified as an equity instrument. Based on the fair value of the private placement warrants oustanding as of December 31, 2020, a hypothetical decrease of 10% in the share price of the Company’s common stock would reduce the fair value of the warrant liability and result in an unrealized gain recognized in Change in fair value of warrant liability on the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss of $6.5 million. Similarly, based on the fair value of the private placement warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2020, a hypothetical increase of 10% in the share price of the Company’s common stock would increase the fair value of the warrant liability and result in an unrealized loss recognized in Change in fair value of warrant liability on the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss of $7.4 million. Interest Rate Risk Prior to the Transaction, interest rate exposure related primarily to the effect of interest rate changes on borrowings outstanding under our AR Facility, Revolving Credit Facility, First Lien Term Loans, and Second Lien Term Loans. Subsequent to the Transactions, interest rate exposure relates primarily to the effect of interest rate changes on borrowings outstanding under the New Term Loan Facility, New Revolving Credit Facility and Notes. As of the closing of the Transactions, we drew $100.0 million on the New Revolving Credit Facility, which was subject to an assumed interest rate of 2.75%. Additionally, we borrowed an aggregate principal amount of $1.325 billion on the New Term Loan Facility, which are subject to an assumed interest rate of 6.0% and $775.0 million in Notes, which is subject to a fixed interest rate of 6.5%. We manage our interest rate risk through the use of derivative financial instruments. Specifically, we have entered into interest rate cap agreements to manage our exposure to potential interest rate increases that may result from fluctuations in LIBOR. We do not designate these derivatives as hedges for accounting purposes, and as a result, all changes in the fair value of derivatives, used to hedge interest rates, are recorded in “Interest expense, net” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. As of December 31, 2020, we had interest rate cap contracts on $1.5 billion of notional value of principal from various financial institutions, with a maturity dates of January 24, 2022 to manage our exposure to interest rate movements on variable rate credit facilities when three-months LIBOR on term loans exceeds caps ranging from 3.25% to 3.50%. The aggregate fair value of our interest rate caps represented an outstanding net liability of $1.9 million as of December 31, 2020. 73 Table of Contents In addition, we had interest rate cap contracts on an additional $650.0 million of notional value of principal from other financial institutions, with a maturity date of December 16, 2024 to manage our exposure to interest rate movements on variable rate credit facilities when one-month LIBOR on term loans exceeding a cap of 0.75%. The aggregate fair value of our interest rate caps represented an outstanding net asset of $1.8 million as of December 31, 2020. Holding other variables constant, a change of one-eighth percentage point in the weighted average interest rate on the New Term Loan Facility and New Revolving Credit Facility would have resulted in an increase of $1.3 million in interest expense, net of gains from interest rate caps, for the year ended December 31, 2020. In the future, in order to manage our interest rate risk, we may refinance our existing debt, enter into additional interest rate cap agreements or modify our existing interest rate cap agreement. However, we do not intend or expect to enter into derivative or interest rate cap transactions for speculative purposes. 74 Table of Contents Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Page Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 76 Consolidated Balance Sheets 79 Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss 80 Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity 81 Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 82 Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 83 Schedule I—Condensed Parent Only Financial Information of Advantage Solutions Inc. as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 131 75 Table of Contents REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. Opinion on the Financial Statements We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Advantage Solutions Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, of stockholders’ equity, and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the accompanying index (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Change in Accounting Principle As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for leases in 2019. Basis for Opinion These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB. We conducted our audits of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. Critical Audit Matters The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate. Goodwill Impairment Assessment As described in Notes 1 and 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s consolidated goodwill balance was $2.2 billion as of December 31, 2020. Management tests goodwill for impairment at the beginning 76 Table of Contents of the fourth quarter of a given fiscal year, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of a reporting unit may exceed its fair value. Upon performing the quantitative impairment test, if the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, goodwill is impaired and the excess of the reporting unit’s carrying value over the fair value is recognized as an impairment loss. Management performed a quantitative impairment test as of October 1, 2020 for its reporting units, and determined that its goodwill is not impaired. Management utilizes a combination of income and market approaches to estimate the fair value of its reporting units. The income approach utilizes estimates of discounted cash flows of the reporting units, which requires assumptions for the reporting units’ revenue growth rates, operating margins, terminal growth rates, and discount rates, all of which require significant management judgment. The market approach applies market multiples derived from the historical earnings data of selected guideline publicly-traded companies to the reporting units’ businesses to yield a value of each reporting unit, which requires significant management judgment. The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the goodwill impairment assessment is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining the fair value estimates of the reporting units; (ii) the high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions related to revenue growth rates, operating margins, terminal growth rates, discount rates, and market multiples; and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge. Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others, (i) testing management’s process for determining the fair value estimates of the reporting units; (ii) evaluating the appropriateness of the income and market approaches, and the combination of the approaches; (iii) testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used in the fair value estimates; and (iv) evaluating the reasonableness of the significant assumptions used by management related to revenue growth rates, operating margins, terminal growth rates, discount rates, and market multiples. Evaluating management’s assumptions related to revenue growth rates and operating margins involved evaluating whether the assumptions were reasonable considering (i) the current and past performance of the reporting units; (ii) the consistency with external market and industry data; and (iii) whether these assumptions were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in evaluating (i) the appropriateness of the income and market approaches, and the combination of the approaches and (ii) the reasonableness of the significant assumptions related to the terminal growth rates, discount rates, and market multiples. Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets Impairment Assessment As described in Notes 1 and 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s consolidated indefinite- lived intangible assets net carrying value was $900 million as of December 31, 2020. Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are not amortized but tested annually, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, for impairment or more often if events occur or circumstances change that would create a triggering event. Management performed a quantitative impairment test as of October 1, 2020, and determined that its indefinite- lived intangible assets are not impaired. Management tests its indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment using a relief from royalty method by comparing the estimated fair values of the indefinite-lived intangible assets with the carrying values. The estimates used in the determination of fair value are subjective in nature and involve the use of significant assumptions. These estimates and assumptions include revenue growth rates, terminal growth rates, discount rates, and royalty rates, all of which require significant management judgment. The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment assessment is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining the fair value estimates of the indefinite-lived intangible assets; (ii) the high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions related to revenue growth rates, terminal growth rates, discount rates, and royalty rates; and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge. 77 Table of Contents Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others, (i) testing management’s process for determining the fair value estimates; (ii) evaluating the appropriateness of the relief from royalty method; (iii) testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used in the fair value estimates; and (iv) evaluating the reasonableness of the significant assumptions used by management related to revenue growth rates, terminal growth rates, discount rates, and royalty rates. Evaluating management’s assumption related to revenue growth rates involved evaluating whether the assumption was reasonable considering (i) the current and past performance of the underlying assets; (ii) the consistency with external market and industry data; and (iii) whether this assumption was consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in evaluating (i) the appropriateness of the relief from royalty method and (ii) the reasonableness of the significant assumptions related to the terminal growth rates, discount rates, and royalty rates. Accounting for and Valuation of Private Placement Warrants As described in Notes 1 and 9 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company accounts for its private placement warrants based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and the applicable accounting standards. The warrant liability is stated at fair value at each reporting period with the change in fair value recorded on the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss. The fair value of the warrants on the date of issuance and on each remeasurement date is estimated using a Black-Scholes option pricing model which includes inputs such as the Company’s stock price, exercise price per share, and the number of private placement warrants outstanding. Assumptions used in the model are subjective and require significant judgment, and include implied volatility and the risk-free interest rate. As of December 31, 2020, 7,333,333 private placement warrants remained outstanding at a fair value of $21.2 million resulting in $13.4 million of expense related to the change in fair value of the warrant liability for the year ended December 31, 2020. As disclosed by management, the Company has revised the consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020 to account for the private placement warrants as liabilities on its consolidated balance sheets. The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the accounting for and valuation of the private placement warrants is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining the accounting for and valuation of the private placement warrants; (ii) the high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence related to the accounting for the private placement warrants and management’s significant assumption related to implied volatility; (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge; and (iv) as disclosed by management, a material weakness related to the evaluation of settlement features used to determine the classification of certain warrant instruments existed as of December 31, 2020. Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others, reading the agreements, evaluating the accounting for the private placement warrants, and testing management’s process for determining the fair value estimates. Testing management’s process included (i) evaluating the methodology used by management to determine the fair value of the private placement warrants; (ii) testing the mathematical accuracy of management’s model; (iii) evaluating the reasonableness of management’s significant assumption related to implied volatility; and (iv) testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in (i) evaluating management’s accounting for the private placement warrants; (ii) evaluating the methodology to determine the fair value of the private placement warrants; (iii) testing the mathematical accuracy of the model; and (iv) evaluating the reasonableness of the significant assumption related to implied volatility by considering consistency with external market data. /s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Irvine, California March 16, 2021, except for the effects of the revision discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements and Note 1 to the financial statement schedule, the disclosures related to warrant liabilities as discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, and the critical audit matter related to the accounting for and valuation of private placement warrants, as to which the date is May 17, 2021 We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2003. 78 Table of Contents ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS December 31, December 31, (in thousands, except per share data) 2020 2019 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 204,301 $ 184,224 Restricted cash 15,665 14,801 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for expected credit losses of $16,377 and $15,107, respectively 574,142 684,046 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 105,643 69,420 Total current assets 899,751 952,491 Property and equipment, net 80,016 114,690 Goodwill 2,163,339 2,116,696 Other intangible assets, net 2,452,796 2,600,596 Investments in unconsolidated affiliates 115,624 111,663 Other assets 65,966 116,547 Total assets $ 5,777,492 $ 6,012,683 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY Current liabilities Current portion of long-term debt $ 63,745 $ 27,655 Accounts payable 195,452 179,415 Accrued compensation and benefits 142,136 136,645 Other accrued expenses 121,758 128,835 Deferred revenues 51,898 45,581 Total current liabilities 574,989 518,131 Long-term debt, net of current portion 2,029,328 3,172,087 Deferred income tax liabilities, net 491,242 506,362 Warrant liability 21,234 — Other long-term liabilities 141,910 146,297 Total liabilities 3,258,703 4,342,877 Commitments and contingencies (Note 17) Equity attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. Preferred stock, no par value, 10,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively — — Common stock, $0.0001 par value, 3,290,000,000 shares authorized; 318,425,182 and 203,750,000 shares issued; 313,425,182 shares and 203,750,000 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively 32 20 Additional paid in capital 3,348,546 2,337,471 Accumulated deficit (921,101 ) (745,295 ) Loans to Karman Topco L.P. (6,316 ) (6,244 ) Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) 674 (8,153 ) Total equity attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. 2,421,835 1,577,799 Nonredeemable noncontrolling interest 96,954 92,007 Total stockholders’ equity 2,518,789 1,669,806 Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 5,777,492 $ 6,012,683 See Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. 79 Table of Contents ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS Years Ended December 31, (in thousands, except share and per share data) 2020 2019 2018 Revenues $ 3,155,671 $ 3,785,063 $ 3,707,628 Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below) 2,551,485 3,163,443 3,108,651 Selling, general, and administrative expenses 306,282 175,373 152,493 Impairment of goodwill and indefinite-lived assets — — 1,232,000 (Recovery from) loss on Take 5 (7,700 ) — 79,165 Depreciation and amortization 238,598 232,573 225,233 Total expenses 3,088,665 3,571,389 4,797,542 Operating income (loss) 67,006 213,674 (1,089,914 ) Other expenses: Change in fair value of warrant liability 13,363 — — Interest expense, net 234,044 232,077 229,643 Total other expenses 247,407 232,077 229,643 Loss before income taxes (180,401 ) (18,403 ) (1,319,557 ) (Benefit from) provision for income taxes (5,331 ) 1,353 (168,334 ) Net loss (175,070 ) (19,756 ) (1,151,223 ) Less: net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 736 1,416 6,109 Net loss attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. (175,806 ) (21,172 ) (1,157,332 ) Other comprehensive income (loss), net tax: Foreign currency translation adjustments 8,827 5,497 (8,961 ) Total comprehensive loss attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. $ (166,979 ) $ (15,675 ) $ (1,166,293 ) Net loss per common share: Basic and diluted $ (0.79 ) $ (0.10 ) $ (5.68 ) Weighted-average number of common shares: Basic and diluted 223,227,833 203,750,000 203,750,000 See Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. 80 Table of Contents ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) Advantage Solutions Inc. Stockholders’ Equity Nonredeemable noncontrolling Interests Total Stockholders’ Equity Additional Paid-in Capital Retained Earnings (Deficit) Loans to Topco Common Stock Shares Amount (in thousands, except share data) Balance at January 1, 2018, as originally reported 125 $ — $ 2,345,360 $ 433,209 $ (248 ) $ (4,689 ) $ 2,773,632 $ 73,734 $ 2,847,366 Retroactive application of recapitalization 203,749,875 20 (20 ) — — — — — — Balance at January 1, 2018, as adjusted 203,750,000 20 2,345,340 433,209 (248 ) (4,689 ) 2,773,632 73,734 2,847,366 Comprehensive loss Net (loss) income — — — (1,157,332 ) — — (1,157,332 ) 6,109 (1,151,223 ) Foreign currency translation adjustments — — — — — (8,961 ) (8,961 ) (3,384 ) (12,345 ) Total comprehensive (loss) income (1,166,293 ) 2,725 (1,163,568 ) Increase in noncontrolling interest — — — — — — — 588 588 Redemption of noncontrolling interest — — (1,196 ) — — — (1,196 ) (197 ) (1,393 ) Loans to Karman Topco L.P. — — — — (5,802 ) — (5,802 ) — (5,802 ) Equity-based compensation — — (7,877 ) — — — (7,877 ) — (7,877 ) Balance at December 31, 2018 203,750,000 20 2,336,267 (724,123 ) (6,050 ) (13,650 ) 1,592,464 76,850 1,669,314 Comprehensive loss Net (loss) income — — — (21,172 ) — — (21,172 ) 1,416 (19,756 ) Foreign currency translation adjustments — — — — — 5,497 5,497 1,515 7,012 Total comprehensive (loss) income (15,675 ) 2,931 (12,744 ) Increase in noncontrolling interest — — — — — — — 12,749 12,749 Redemption of noncontrolling interest — — (109 ) — — — (109 ) (523 ) (632 ) Loans to Karman Topco L.P. — — — — (194 ) — (194 ) — (194 ) Equity-based compensation — — 1,313 — — — 1,313 — 1,313 Balance at December 31, 2019 203,750,000 20 2,337,471 (745,295 ) (6,244 ) (8,153 ) 1,577,799 92,007 1,669,806 Comprehensive loss Net (loss) income — — — (175,806 ) — — (175,806 ) 736 (175,070 ) Foreign currency translation adjustments — — — — — 8,827 8,827 4,211 13,038 Total comprehensive (loss) income (166,979 ) 4,947 (162,032 ) Recapitalization transaction, net of fees and deferred taxes 109,675,182 11 921,302 — — — 921,302 — 921,302 Issuance of performance shares 5,000,000 1 (1 ) — — — — — — Loans to Karman Topco L.P. — — — — (72 ) — (72 ) — (72 ) Equity-based compensation — — 89,774 — — — 89,774 — 89,774 Balance at December 31, 2020 318,425,182 $ 32 $ 3,348,546 $ (921,101 ) $ (6,316 ) $ 674 $ 2,421,835 $ 96,954 $ 2,518,789 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 81 Table of Contents ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS Year Ended December 31, (in thousands) 2020 2019 2018 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net loss $ (175,070 ) $ (19,756 ) $ (1,151,223 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities Noncash interest expense 15,550 18,980 19,120 Extinguishment costs related to repayment of First and Second Lien Credit Agreements 11,275 — — Impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets — — 1,232,000 Loss on Take 5 — — 79,165 Depreciation and amortization 238,598 232,573 225,233 Changes in fair value of warrant liability 13,363 — — Fair value adjustments related to contingent consideration 16,091 6,064 (45,662 ) Deferred income taxes (14,357 ) (68,063 ) (213,615 ) Equity-based compensation 89,774 1,313 (7,877 ) Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates (5,138 ) (4,850 ) (4,784 ) Distribution received from unconsolidated affiliates 968 707 2,058 Loss on disposal of property and equipment 21,091 — — Loss on divestiture — 1,033 — Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects from purchases of businesses: Accounts receivable 116,105 (33,290 ) 73,693 Prepaid expense and other assets 24,687 19,114 (2,101 ) Accounts payable 10,880 21,635 (14,364 ) Accrued compensation and benefits 4,514 19,417 (2,930 ) Deferred revenues 4,535 2,207 12,688 Other accrued expenses and other liabilities (27,136 ) (45,741 ) (75,053 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 345,730 151,343 126,348 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Purchase of businesses, net of cash acquired (68,057 ) (10,582 ) (186,014 ) Purchase of investment in unconsolidated affiliates — (1,881 ) (269 ) Purchase of property and equipment (30,946 ) (52,419 ) (47,162 ) Proceeds from divestiture — 1,750 2,000 Return on investments from unconsolidated affiliates — 1,324 — Net cash used in investing activities (99,003 ) (61,808 ) (231,445 ) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Borrowings under lines of credit 213,927 20,070 30,000 Payments on lines of credit (164,828 ) (19,697 ) (30,000 ) Proceeds from accounts receivable securitization facility 120,000 — — Payment under accounts receivable securitization facility (120,000 ) — — Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt — — 350,368 Proceeds from government loans for COVID-19 relief 4,822 — — Proceeds from new borrowings under the New Senior Secured Credit Facilities 2,100,000 — — Principal payments on long-term debt (3,229,848 ) (25,810 ) (27,070 ) Proceeds from recapitalization, net of fees 925,216 — — Settlement of Daymon credit agreement — — (205,128 ) Contingent consideration payments (18,314 ) (21,172 ) (26,811 ) Financing fees paid (58,391 ) — (17,071 ) Holdback payments (2,736 ) (1,224 ) (845 ) Contribution from noncontrolling interest — 10,257 — Redemption of noncontrolling interest — (632 ) (3,303 ) Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities (230,152 ) (38,208 ) 70,140 Net effect of foreign currency fluctuations on cash 4,366 3,179 (9,146 ) Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 20,941 54,506 (44,103 ) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 199,025 144,519 188,622 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 219,966 $ 199,025 $ 144,519 SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION Cash payments for interest $ 151,030 $ 210,209 $ 228,230 Cash payments for income taxes $ 18,263 $ 59,465 $ 70,248 Non-cash proceeds from divestitures $ — $ — $ 6,750 Purchase of property and equipment recorded in accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 508 $ 250 $ 2,690 Deferred taxes related to transaction costs in connection with recapitalization $ 3,968 $ — $ — Fair value of liability for private placement warrants acquired at Closing $ 7,871 $ — $ — Note payable related to settlement of contingent consideration $ 4,048 $ — $ — See Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. 82 Table of Contents ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC. NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 1. Organization and Significant Accounting Policies On July 25, 2014, Advantage Solutions Inc. (“ASI Intermediate”) acquired Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc. (the “2014 Topco Acquisition”) from AGS Topco Holdings, L.P. and its private equity sponsor, Apax Partners. As a result of the 2014 Topco Acquisition, Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc. became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of ASI Intermediate, of which Karman Topco L.P. (“Topco”) is the parent. The units of Topco are held by equity funds affiliated with or advised by CVC Capital Partners, Leonard Green & Partners, Juggernaut Capital Partners, Centerview Capital, L.P., Bain Capital and Yonghui Investment Limited, as well as by current and former members of the Company’s management. On September 7, 2020, ASI Intermediate entered into an agreement and plan of merger (as amended, modified, supplemented or waived, the “Merger Agreement”), with Conyers Park II Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation, now known as Advantage Solutions Inc. (“Conyers Park”), CP II Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Conyers Park (“Merger Sub”), and Topco. Conyers Park neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue. Based on Conyers Park’s business activities, it was a “shell company” as defined under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) On October 28, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), Conyers Park consummated the merger pursuant to the Merger Agreement, by and among Merger Sub, ASI Intermediate (“Legacy Advantage”), and Topco. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub was merged with and into Legacy Advantage with Legacy Advantage being the surviving company in the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Conyers Park (the “Merger” and, together with the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Transactions”). On the Closing Date, and in connection with the closing of the Transactions (the “Closing”), Conyers Park changed its name to Advantage Solutions Inc. (the “Company” or “Advantage”) and ASI Intermediate changed its name to ASI Intermediate, Corp. As of the Closing, Topco received 203,750,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”). Additionally, 5,000,000 shares of Class A common stock (“Performance Shares”) were issued to Topco at Closing, which were subject to vesting upon satisfaction of a market performance condition for any period of 20 trading days out of 30 consecutive trading days during the five-year period after the Closing, and Topco was not able to vote or sell such shares until vesting. Such Performance Shares vested on January 15, 2021 when the market performance condition was satisfied. In connection with the entry into the Merger Agreement, Conyers Park also entered into the Subscription Agreements with certain investors (the “PIPE Investors”), pursuant to which, among other things, Conyers Park agreed to issue and sell in a private placement shares of Conyers Park Class A common stock for a purchase price of $10.00 per share. The PIPE Investors, other than the Advantage Sponsors and their affiliates, have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 51,130,000 shares of Conyers Park Class A common stock. Certain of the Advantage Sponsors or their affiliates agreed to purchase an aggregate of 34,410,000 shares of Conyers Park Class A common stock, and, at their sole discretion. The shares of Conyers Park Class A common stock purchased by the PIPE Investors in the private placement are referred to as the “PIPE Shares” and the aggregate purchase price paid for the PIPE Shares is referred to as the “PIPE Investment Amount.” At the Closing, the PIPE Investment was consummated, and 85,540,000 shares of Class A common stock were issued for aggregate gross proceeds of $855.4 million. Further, as part of the Closing, Conyers Park’s public shareholders redeemed 32,114,818 shares of Class A common stock at a redemption price of $10.06 per share, resulting in a $323.1 million payment from Conyers Park’s trust account proceeds and 12,885,182 shares of Class A common stock of Conyers Park existing public 83 Table of Contents stockholders remain outstanding. Additionally, 11,250,000 shares of Conyers Park Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, held by CP Sponsor and its directors, automatically converted into shares of the Company’s Park Class A common stock. As of the Closing, the PIPE Investors, Conyers Park existing public stockholders, and CP Sponsor collectively held 109,675,182 shares of Class A common stock. The Merger was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with GAAP. Under this method of accounting, Conyers Park is treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. This determination was primarily based on the current stockholder of Legacy Advantage, Topco, having a relative majority of the voting power of the combined entity, the operations of Legacy Advantage prior to the Merger comprising the only ongoing operations of the combined entity, and senior management of Legacy Advantage comprising the senior management of the combined entity. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the financial statements of the combined entity represent a continuation of the financial statements of Legacy Advantage with the acquisition being treated as the equivalent of Legacy Advantage issuing stock for the net assets of Conyers Park, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of Conyers Park are stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded. The shares and net (loss) income per share available to holders of the Legacy Advantage’s common stock, prior to the Merger, have been retroactively restated as shares reflecting the exchange ratio established in the Merger Agreement. In connection with the Merger, ASI Intermediate received $93.9 million from Conyers Park’s trust account balance after the payments of $323.1 million redemptions by Conyers Park public stockholders and of $37.3 million transaction expenses incurred by Conyers Park, net of deferred taxes of $3.9 million. ASI Intermediate incurred direct and incremental costs of approximately $24.0 million related to the equity issuance, consisting primarily of investment banking, legal, accounting and other professional fees, which were recorded to additional paid-in capital as a reduction of proceeds. In addition, the Company incurred $39.8 million in transaction bonuses and $76.0 million in non-cash share-based compensation expense due to the accelerated vesting of Topco’s legacy share-based compensation plan. The transaction bonuses and share-based compensation are included in “Selling, general and administrative expenses” on our Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the year ended December 31, 2020. As further described below (—“ Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements ”), the Company also classified the 7,333,333 private placement warrants originally issued by Conyers Park to Conyers Park II Sponsor LLC in a private placement in connection with its initial public offering and assumed by the Company as a warrant liability with an initial fair value of the private placement warrants of $7.9 million with a decrease to additional paid-in capital in connection with the consummation of the Transactions on the Closing Date. The Company is headquartered in Irvine, California and is a leading business solutions provider to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. The Company is a provider of outsourced solutions to consumer goods companies and retailers. The Company’s common stock and warrants are now listed on the Nasdaq Global Select market under the symbol “ADV” and warrants to purchase the Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select market under the symbol “ADVWW”. Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its controlled subsidiaries and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). The financial information set forth herein reflects: (a) the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018 and (b) the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. The consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018 reflect Topco’s basis in the assets and liabilities of the Company, as a result of the 2014 Topco Acquisition. The Company’s share in the earnings or losses for its joint ventures is reflected in “Investments in unconsolidated affiliates” and “Cost of revenues” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets and Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss, respectively. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated upon consolidation. 84 Table of Contents Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements Based on the review of our historical accounting pursuant to Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 815, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) , the Company determined that its historical accounting for the private placement warrants that were previously issued by Conyers Park and recorded as equity in connection with the consummation of the Transactions on October 28, 2020 (the “Closing Date”) was incorrect and the private placement warrants should be classified as liabilities and marked to fair value through earnings each reporting period. We evaluated the impact of this error on the previously issued financial statements and concluded that the impact of this error was not material to the previously issued financial statements after considering both quantitative and qualitative factors; the Company has revised its consolidated annual financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020 to correct for this error. The Company recorded $7.9 million in warrant liability as a reduction to additional paid-in-capital on the Closing Date. Subsequent changes in fair value of the warrant liability were recorded as a change in fair value of warrant liability of $13.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 within the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. This revision did not have an impact on the Company’s revenues, cash position, operating expenses or total operating, investing or financing cash flows as previously presented. The following presents a reconciliation of the Consolidated Balance Sheet, Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss and Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows from the previous amounts reported to the revised amounts as of December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020. The Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity for the year ended December 31, 2020 has been revised for the revision impact to net loss. See the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss reconciliation tables below for additional information on the revision and impact to net loss. Consolidated Balance Sheet (in thousands) December 31, 2020 Adjustments December 31, 2020 (As Previously Reported) (As Revised) Warrant liability $ — $ 21,234 (a ) $ 21,234 Total liabilities $ 3,237,469 $ 21,234 $ 3,258,703 Additional paid in capital $ 3,356,417 $ (7,871 ) (a ) $ 3,348,546 Accumulated deficit $ (907,738 ) $ (13,363 ) (a ) $ (921,101 ) Total equity attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. $ 2,443,069 $ (21,234 ) $ 2,421,835 Total stockholders’ equity $ 2,540,023 $ (21,234 ) $ 2,518,789 85 Table of Contents Consolidated Statement of Operations (in thousands, except per share data) For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 Adjustments For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 (As Previously Reported) (As Revised) Change in fair value of warrant liability $ — $ 13,363 (a ) $ 13,363 Total other expenses $ 234,044 $ 13,363 $ 247,407 Loss before income taxes $ (167,038 ) $ (13,363 ) $ (180,401 ) Net loss $ (161,707 ) $ (13,363 ) $ (175,070 ) Net loss attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. $ (162,443 ) $ (13,363 ) $ (175,806 ) Total comprehensive loss attributable to stockholders of Advantage Solutions Inc. $ (153,616 ) $ (13,363 ) $ (166,979 ) Net loss per common share: Basic and diluted $ (0.73 ) $ (0.06 ) $ (0.79 ) Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows (in thousands) For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 Adjustments For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (As Previously Reported) (As Revised) Net loss $ (161,707 ) $ (13,363 ) $ (175,070 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities Changes in fair value of warrant liability — 13,363 (a ) 13,363 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 345,730 — $ 345,730 SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION Fair value of liability for private placement warrants acquired at Closing $ — $ 7,871 (a ) $ 7,871 Description of revision adjustment (a) The adjustments reflect the revision to record the initial warrant liability of the private placement warrants and to remeasure the warrant liability to the fair value as of December 31, 2020. The initial fair value of the private placement warrants of $7.9 million was recorded on the Closing date as a warrant liability with a decrease to additional paid-in capital. Subsequently, the warrant liability was adjusted to fair value of $21.2 million and the difference of $13.4 million was reflected in “Change in fair value of warrant liability” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss and Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. The applicable notes to the accompanying consolidated financial statements have also been revised to correct for the revision. Take 5 Matter On April 1, 2018, the Company acquired certain assets and assumed liabilities of Take 5 Media Group (“Take 5”) for total consideration of $81.6 million, including the fair value of contingent consideration of $4.6 million and holdback liabilities of $0.8 million. In June 2019, as a result of a review of internal allegations related to inconsistency of data provided by Take 5 to its clients, the Company commenced an investigation into Take 5’s operations. In July 2019, as a result of the Company’s investigation, the Company determined that revenue during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 attributable to the Take 5 business had been recognized for services that were not performed on behalf of clients of Take 5 and that inaccurate reports were made to Take 5 clients about those services (referred to as the “Take 5 Matter”). As a result of these findings, in July 2019, the Company terminated all operations of Take 5, including the use of its associated trade names and the offering of its services to its clients and offered refunds to Take 5 clients of collected revenues attributable to 86 Table of Contents Take 5 since the Company’s acquisition of Take 5. The Company also determined that the amounts assigned to the assets of Take 5 acquired on the acquisition date had been improperly established based on inaccurate assumptions as to the fair value of the assets acquired and recorded a loss on Take 5 charge of $79.2 million in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the year ended December 31, 2018. In May 2020, the Company received $7.7 million from its representation warranty and indemnity policy related to the Take 5 acquisition for claims related to the Take 5 Matter, the maximum aggregate recovery under the policy. Use of Estimates The preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from such estimates. The most significant estimates include revenues, workers’ compensation and employee medical claim reserves, fair value of contingent consideration, leases, income taxes, equity-based compensation, derivative instruments and fair value considerations in applying purchase accounting and assessing goodwill and other asset impairments. Foreign Currency The Company’s reporting currency is U.S. dollars as that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the Company operates. The Company translates the assets and liabilities of its non-U.S. dollar functional currency subsidiaries into U.S. dollars using exchange rates in effect at the end of each period. Revenues and expenses for these subsidiaries are translated using rates that approximate those in effect during the period. Gains and losses from these translations are included in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” in the Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity. Transactions in foreign currencies other than the entities’ functional currency are converted using the rate of exchange at the date of transaction. The gains or losses arising from the revaluation of foreign currency transactions to functional currency are included in “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Unrealized foreign currency exchange gains and losses on certain intercompany transactions that are of a long-term investment nature (i.e., settlement is not planned or anticipated in the foreseeable future) are also recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) in stockholders’ equity. The Company reports gains and losses from foreign exchange rate changes related to intercompany receivables and payables that are of a long-term investment nature, in “Other comprehensive income (loss)” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. These items represented net losses of $2.1 million, $2.9 million, and $4.4 million during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents include cash on hand and highly liquid investments having an original maturity of three months or less. The Company’s investments consist primarily of institutional money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities. The Company’s investments are carried at cost, which approximates fair value. The Company has restricted cash related to funds received from clients that will be disbursed at the direction of those clients. Corresponding liabilities have been recorded in “Other accrued expenses” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. 87 Table of Contents The following table provides a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash reported within the Company’s consolidated balance sheets that sum to the total of the same such amounts shown in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows: December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Cash and cash equivalents $ 204,301 $ 184,224 $ 141,590 Restricted cash 15,665 14,801 2,929 Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 219,966 $ 199,025 $ 144,519 Accounts Receivable and Expected Credit Losses Accounts receivable consist of amounts due from clients for services provided in normal business activities and are recorded at invoiced amounts. The Company measures expected credit losses against certain billed receivables based upon the latest information regarding whether invoices are ultimately collectible. Assessing the collectability of client receivables requires management judgment. The Company determines its expected credit losses by specifically analyzing individual accounts receivable, historical bad debts, client credit-worthiness, current economic conditions, and accounts receivable aging trends. Valuation reserves are periodically re-evaluated and adjusted as more information about the ultimate collectability of accounts receivable becomes available. Upon determination that a receivable is uncollectible, the receivable balance and any associated reserve is written off. Concentration of Credit Risk Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist principally of accounts receivable and cash balances at various financial institutions. The Company maintains cash balances in accounts at various financial institutions. At times such cash balances may exceed federally insured limits. The Company has not experienced any losses in such accounts. Derivatives The Company uses derivative financial instruments to hedge interest rate and foreign exchange risk. Derivative instruments, used to hedge interest rates, consist of interest rate swaps and interest rate caps. Interest rate swap contracts involve the exchange of floating rate interest payment obligations for fixed interest rate payments without the exchange of the underlying principal amounts. Interest rate cap contracts limit the floating interest rate exposure to the indicative rate in the agreement. Derivatives are initially recognized at fair value on the date a contract is entered into and are subsequently re-measured at fair value. The fair values of derivatives are measured using observable market prices or, where market prices are not available, by using discounted expected future cash flows at prevailing interest and exchange rates. The Company does not designate these derivatives as hedges for accounting purposes, and as a result, all changes in the fair value of derivatives, used to hedge interest rates and foreign exchange risk, are recorded in “Interest expense” and in “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss, respectively. These arrangements contain an element of risk in that the counterparties may be unable to meet the terms of such arrangements. In the event the counterparties are unable to fulfill their related obligations, the Company could potentially incur significant additional costs by replacing the positions at then current market rates. The Company manages its risk of exposure by limiting counterparties to those banks and institutions deemed appropriate by management. Property and Equipment Property and equipment are stated at cost, and the balances are presented net of accumulated depreciation. Depreciation expense is calculated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets. The following table provides the range of estimated useful lives used for each asset type: Leasehold improvements 3—10 years Furniture and fixtures 3—7 years Computer hardware and other equipment 3—5 years Software 3—5 years 88 Table of Contents The Company capitalizes certain direct costs associated with the development and purchase of internal-use software within property and equipment. Capitalized costs are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the software, generally not exceeding five years. Leasehold improvements are amortized on a straight-line basis over the shorter of their respective lease terms or their respective estimated useful lives. The cost and accumulated depreciation of assets sold or otherwise disposed of are removed from the Consolidated Balance Sheets and the resulting gain or loss is reflected in the “Cost of revenues” and “Selling, general, administrative expenses” within the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss, depending on the nature of the assets. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred, whereas expenditures for improvements and replacements are capitalized. Equity Method Investments Investments in companies in which the Company exercises significant influence over the operating and financial policies of the investee and are not required to be consolidated are accounted for using the equity method. The Company’s proportionate share of the net income or loss of equity method investments is included in results of operations and any dividends received reduce the carrying value of the investment. The excess of the cost of the Company’s investment over its proportionate share of the fair value of the net assets of the investee at the acquisition date is recognized as goodwill and included in the carrying amount of the investment. Goodwill in the equity method investments is not amortized. Gains and losses from changes in the Company’s ownership interests are recorded in results of operations until control is achieved. In instances in which a change in the Company’s ownership interest results in obtaining control, the existing carrying value of the investment is remeasured to the acquisition date fair value and any gain or loss is recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Distributions received from unconsolidated entities that represent returns on the investor’s investment are reported as cash flows from operating activities in the Company’s statement of cash flows. Cash distributions from unconsolidated entities that represent returns of the Company’s investment are reported as cash flows from investing activities. Business Combinations The Company accounts for business combinations using the acquisition method. Under this method, the purchase price of an acquisition is allocated to the underlying assets acquired and liabilities assumed based upon their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition. To the extent the purchase price exceeds the fair value of the net identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed, such excess is allocated to goodwill. Factors giving rise to goodwill generally include assembled workforce, geographic presence, expertise, and synergies that are anticipated as a result of the business combination, including enhanced product and service offerings. The Company determines the estimated fair values after review and consideration of relevant information, including discounted cash flows, quoted market prices and estimates made by management. The Company adjusts the preliminary purchase price allocation, as necessary, during the measurement period of up to one year after the acquisition closing date as the Company obtains more information as to facts and circumstances existing at the acquisition date impacting asset valuations and liabilities assumed. Goodwill acquired in business combinations is assigned to the reporting unit expected to benefit from the combination as of the acquisition date. Acquisition-related costs are recognized separately from the acquisition and are expensed as incurred. 89 Table of Contents Goodwill and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired in an acquisition. The Company tests for impairment of goodwill at the reporting unit level. The Company generally combines reporting units, which are a component of an operating segment when they have similar economic characteristics, nature of services, types of client, distribution methods and regulatory environment. The Company has two reporting units, sales and marketing, which are also the Company’s operating segments. The Company tests its goodwill for impairment at the beginning of the fourth quarter of a given fiscal year and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of a reporting unit may exceed its fair value. The Company has the option to perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying value before performing a quantitative impairment test. If the qualitative assessment indicates it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit, as determined applying the quantitative impairment test described below, is less than the carrying amount, then there is no need to perform the quantitative impairment test. Upon performing the quantitative impairment test, if the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, goodwill is impaired and the excess of the reporting unit’s carrying value over the fair value is recognized as an impairment loss; however, the loss recognized would not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. The Company’s annual goodwill impairment assessment for the year ended December 31, 2020 was performed as of October 1, 2020. The Company utilizes a combination of income and market approaches to estimate the fair value of its reporting units. The income approach utilizes estimates of discounted cash flows of the reporting units, which requires assumptions for the reporting units’ revenue growth rates, operating margins, terminal growth rates, and discount rates all of which require significant management judgment. The market approach applies market multiples derived from the historical earnings data of selected guideline publicly-traded companies to the Company’s reporting units’ businesses to yield a second assumed value of each reporting unit, which requires significant management judgment. The guideline companies are first screened by industry group and then further narrowed based on the reporting units’ business descriptions, markets served, competitors, operating margins, and revenue size. Market multiples are then selected from within the range of these guideline companies multiples based on the subject reporting unit. These assumptions are based on significant inputs not observable in the market and thus represent Level 3 measurements within the fair value hierarchy (described in “Fair Value Measurements,” below). The Company based its fair value estimates on assumptions it believes to be reasonable but which are unpredictable and inherently uncertain. A change in these underlying assumptions would cause a change in the results of the tests and, as such, could cause fair value to be less than the carrying amounts and result in an impairment of goodwill in the future. Additionally, if actual results are not consistent with the estimates and assumptions or if there are significant changes to the Company’s planned strategy, it may cause fair value to be less than the carrying amounts and result in an impairment of goodwill in the future. The Company compares a weighted average of the output from the income and market approaches to the carrying value of each reporting unit. The Company also compares the aggregate estimated fair value of its reporting units to the estimated value of its total invested capital on a marketable basis. Based on the results of the Company’s quantitative impairment test performed for its reporting units, the Company determined that its goodwill is not impaired for the year ended December 31, 2020. The fair value of the sales reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 8.3%. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value, which the Company defines as greater than 20%. The Company determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required the Company to perform an interim goodwill impairment test as of December 31, 2020. In performing the quantitative impairment test for the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company had also determined that its goodwill was not impaired. The fair value of the sales reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 3.5%. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value. The Company determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required the Company to perform an interim goodwill impairment test as of December 31, 2019. Accordingly, no impairment related to the Company’s goodwill was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2019. 90 Table of Contents During the year ended December 31, 2018, based on the results of the Company’s quantitative impairment test performed for the sales reporting unit, the Company recognized a $652.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge. While there was no single determinative event or factor, the consideration of the weight of evidence of several factors that developed during 2018 led the Company to conclude that it was more likely than not that the fair value of the sales reporting unit was below its carrying value. These factors included: (i) the decrease of revenues and profitability due to a large retailer revising its in-store retail merchandising program to restrict manufacturers’ ability to select any third-party outsource provider to perform unrestricted and unmonitored retail merchandising, (ii) the unrelated decrease of revenues and profitability related to reduced services from several clients in the grocery channel and foodservice channel, (iii) the combination of the Company’s completed third quarter and preliminary fourth quarter results being below management’s expectations, and (iv) the development and approval of the Company’s 2019 annual operating plan in the fourth quarter of 2018, which provided additional insights into expectations such as lower long-term revenue growth and profitability expectations. Based on these factors, the Company recorded the non-cash goodwill impairment charge in 2018, which has been reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the year ended December 31, 2018. As the sales reporting unit was written down to its respective fair value, there was zero excess fair value over its carrying amount as of December 31, 2018. Based on the results of the quantitative impairment test performed for the marketing reporting unit for 2018, the Company determined that the Company’s goodwill was not impaired for the marketing reporting unit for the year ended December 31, 2018. The fair value of the marketing reporting unit significantly exceeded its carrying value. The Company’s indefinite-lived intangible assets are its sales and marketing trade names. Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are not amortized but tested annually, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, for impairment or more often if events occur or circumstances change that would create a triggering event. The Company has the option to perform a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived intangible asset’s fair value is less than its carrying value before performing a quantitative impairment test. The Company tests its indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment using a relief from royalty method by comparing the estimated fair values of the indefinite-lived intangible assets with the carrying values. The estimates used in the determination of fair value are subjective in nature and involve the use of significant assumptions. These estimates and assumptions include revenue growth rates, terminal growth rates, discount rates and royalty rates, all of which require significant management judgment. The assumptions are based on significant inputs not observable in the market and thus represent Level 3 measurements within the fair value hierarchy. The Company based its fair value estimates on assumptions it believes to be reasonable, but which are unpredictable and inherently uncertain. Actual future results may differ from the estimates. In connection with the Company’s annual quantitative impairment test as of October 1, 2020 and 2019, the Company concluded that its indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. The fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets related to sales trade names exceeded its carrying value by 13.3% and 8.3% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets related to marketing trade names exceeded its carrying value by 8.4% and 10.0% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Company determined that no additional triggering events occurred that required the Company to perform an interim impairment test of indefinite-lived intangible assets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. Accordingly, no impairment related to the Company’s intangible assets was recorded for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company concluded the carrying value of the indefinite- lived trade name in the sales reporting unit exceeded its estimated fair value. While there was no single determinative event or factor, the factors that led to the impairment were the same circumstances outlined in the goodwill impairment discussion above. As a result, the Company recognized a non-cash intangible asset impairment charge of $580.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2018, which was reflected in its Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Based on the quantitative test performed for the indefinite-lived marketing trade name, the Company determined that the indefinite-lived trade name in the marketing reporting unit was not impaired for the year ended December 31, 2018. 91 Table of Contents Long-Lived Assets Long-lived assets to be held and used, including finite-lived intangible assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be fully recoverable. These events or changes in circumstances may include a significant deterioration of operating results, changes in business plans, or changes in anticipated future cash flows. If an impairment indicator is present, the Company evaluates recoverability by a comparison of the carrying amount of the assets to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by the assets. If the assets are impaired, the impairment recognized is measured as the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the fair value of the assets. Fair value is generally determined by estimates of discounted cash flows. The discount rate used in any estimate of discounted cash flows would be the rate required for a similar investment of like risk. No impairment related to the Company’s long-lived assets was recorded during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018. As the Company assesses impairment of long-lived assets at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities, the Company has determined that the asset group for impairment testing is comprised of the assets and liabilities of the Company’s operating segments. The Company has identified client relationships as the primary asset because it is the principal asset from which the components derive their cash flow generating capacity. Contingent Consideration Certain of the Company’s acquisition and sale agreements include contingent consideration arrangements, which are generally based on the achievement of future financial performance. If it is determined the contingent consideration arrangements are not compensatory, the fair values of these contingent consideration arrangements are included as part of the purchase price of the acquisitions or divestitures on their respective transaction dates. For each transaction, the Company estimates the fair value of contingent consideration payments as part of the initial purchase price and records the estimated fair value of contingent consideration related to proceeds from divestitures as an asset in “Other Assets” or related to purchases of businesses as a liability in “Other accrued expenses” or “Other long-term liabilities” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company reviews and assesses the estimated fair value of contingent consideration on a quarterly basis, and the updated fair value could differ materially from the initial estimates. Changes in the estimated fair value of contingent consideration liabilities related to the time component of the present value calculation are reported in “Interest expense” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Adjustments to the estimated fair value related to changes in all other unobservable inputs are reported in “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. The portion of the cash settlement up to the acquisition date fair value of the contingent consideration are classified as “Contingent consideration payments” in cash flows from financing activities, and amounts paid in excess of the acquisition date fair value are classified as “Other accrued expenses and other liabilities” in cash flows from operating activities in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Leases In the first quarter of 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842, Leases , using the modified retrospective transition method. The Company has obligations under various real estate leases, equipment leases, and software license agreements. The Company assesses whether these arrangements are or contain leases at lease inception. Classification of the leases between financing and operating leases is determined by assessing whether the lease transfers ownership of the asset to the Company, the lease grants an option for the Company to purchase the underlying asset, the lease term is for the majority of the remaining asset’s economic life, or if the 92 Table of Contents minimum lease payments equals or substantially exceed all of the leased asset’s fair market value. As of December 31, 2020, the Company did not have any finance leases. See Note 8, Leases , for further information regarding the Company’s operating leases. Self-Insurance Liability The Company maintains a high deductible program for workers’ compensation claims. Losses and liabilities relating to workers’ compensation claims are fully insured beyond the Company’s deductible limits. The Company’s estimated liabilities are not discounted and are based on information provided by third party administrators, combined with management’s judgment regarding a number of assumptions and factors, including the frequency and severity of claims, claims development history, case jurisdiction, applicable legislation and claims settlement practices. Revenue Recognition The Company recognizes revenue when control of promised goods or services are transferred to the client in an amount that reflects the consideration that the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for such goods or services. Substantially all of the Company’s contracts with clients involve the transfer of a service to the client, which represents a performance obligation that is satisfied over time because the client simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits of the services provided. In most cases, the contracts consist of a performance obligation that is comprised of a series of distinct services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer (i.e., distinct days of service). For these contracts, the Company allocates the ratable portion of the consideration based on the services provided in each period of service to such period. Revenues related to the sales segment are primarily recognized in the form of commissions, fee-for-service, or on a cost-plus basis for providing headquarter relationship management, analytics, insights and intelligence services, administrative services, retail services, retailer client relationships and in-store media programs, and digital technology solutions (which include business intelligence solutions, e-commerce services, and content services). Marketing segment revenues are primarily recognized in the form of fee-for-service (including retainer fees, fees charged to clients based on hours incurred, project-based fees, or fees for executing in-person consumer engagements or experiences, which engagements or experiences the Company refers to as “events”), commissions, or on a cost-plus basis for providing experiential marketing, shopper and consumer marketing services, private label development and digital, social, and media services. 93 Table of Contents The Company disaggregates revenues from contracts with clients by reportable segment. Revenues within each segment are further disaggregated between brand-centric services and retail-centric services. Brand-centric services are centered on providing solutions to support manufacturers’ sales and marketing strategies. Retail- centric services are centered on providing solutions to retailers. Disaggregated revenues were as follows: Year Ended December 31, 2020 2019 2018 (in thousands) Sales brand-centric services $ 1,204,240 $ 1,209,480 $ 1,177,989 Sales retail-centric services 856,353 745,225 679,015 Total sales revenues 2,060,593 1,954,705 1,857,004 Marketing brand-centric services 429,200 474,928 424,373 Marketing retail-centric services 665,878 1,355,430 1,426,251 Total marketing revenues 1,095,078 1,830,358 1,850,624 Total revenues $ 3,155,671 $ 3,785,063 $ 3,707,628 The Company is party to certain client contracts that include variable consideration, whereby the ultimate consideration is contingent on future events such as the client’s sales to retailers, hours worked, event count, costs incurred, and performance incentive bonuses. For commission based service contracts, the consideration received from the client is variable because the Company earns an agreed upon percentage of the client’s sales to retailers, which is agreed upon on a manufacturer-by-manufacturer basis. Revenues are recognized for the commission earned during the applicable reporting period. The Company generally earns commission revenues from headquarter relationship management, analytics, insights and intelligence, e-commerce, administration, private label development and retail services arrangements. As part of these arrangements, the Company provides a variety of services to consumer goods manufacturers in order to improve the manufacturer’s sales at retailers. This includes primarily outsourced sales, business development, category and space management, relationship management, and sales strategy services. In exchange for these services, the Company earns an agreed upon percentage of its client’s sales to retailers, which is agreed upon on a manufacturer-by-manufacturer basis. For service contracts whereby the client is charged a fee per hour incurred or fee per event completed, revenues are recognized over time as actual hours are incurred or as events are completed, respectively. For service contracts with a cost-plus arrangement, revenues are recognized on a gross basis over time for a given period based on the actual costs incurred plus a fixed mark-up fee that is negotiated on a client-by-client basis. For certain contracts with clients, the Company is entitled to additional fees upon meeting specific performance goals or thresholds, which are referred to as bonus revenues. Bonus revenues are estimated and are recognized as revenues as the related services are performed for the client. The variability of the consideration for the services transferred during a reporting period is typically resolved by the end of the reporting period. However, for certain client contracts, the Company is required to estimate the variable consideration for the services that have been transferred to the client during the reporting period. The Company typically estimates the variable consideration based on the expected value method. Estimates are based on historical experience and current facts known during the reporting period. The Company only recognizes revenues related to variable consideration if it is probable that a significant reversal of revenues recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved. When such probable threshold is not satisfied, the Company will constrain some or all of the variable consideration and the constrained variable consideration will not be recognized as revenues. The Company records an adjustment to revenue for differences between estimated revenues and the amounts ultimately invoiced to the client. Adjustments to revenue during the current period related to services transferred during prior periods were not material during the year ended December 31, 2020. The Company has contracts that include fixed consideration such as a fee per project or a fixed monthly fee. For contracts with a fee per project, revenues are recognized over time using an input method such as hours worked that reasonably depicts the Company’s performance in transferring control of the services to the client. 94 Table of Contents The Company determined that the input method represents a reasonable method to measure the satisfaction of the performance obligation to the client. For contracts with a fixed monthly fee, revenues are recognized using a time-based measure resulting in a straight-line revenue recognition. A time-based measure was determined to represent a reasonable method to measure the satisfaction of the performance obligation to the client because the Company has a stand ready obligation to make itself available to provide services upon the client’s request or the client receives the benefit from the Company’s services evenly over the contract period. The Company evaluates each client contract individually in accordance with the applicable accounting guidance to determine whether the Company acts as a principal (whereby the Company would present revenues on a gross basis), or as an agent (whereby the Company would present revenues on a net basis). While the Company primarily acts as a principal in its arrangements and reports revenues on a gross basis, the Company will occasionally act as an agent and accordingly presents revenues on a net basis. For example, for certain advertising arrangements, the Company’s clients purchase media content in advance, and the Company does not take on any risk of recovering its cost to acquire the media content. As a result, the Company determined it acts as the agent in these arrangements and records revenues and their related costs on a net basis. However, in cases where media content is not purchased in advance by its clients, the Company records such revenues and its related costs on a gross basis, as it bears the risk of recovering the costs to acquire the revenues related to such media content and it is responsible for fulfillment of the services thereunder. Substantially all of the Company’s contracts with its clients either have a contract term that is less than one year with options for renewal and/or can be cancelled by either party upon 30 to 120 days’ notice. For the purpose of disclosing the transaction price allocated to remaining unsatisfied performance obligations or partially satisfied performance obligations, the Company elected policies to: (1) exclude contracts with a contract term of one year or less and (2) exclude contracts with variable consideration that is allocated entirely to a wholly unsatisfied performance obligation or to a wholly unsatisfied promise to transfer a distinct service that forms part of a single performance obligation when that performance obligation qualifies as a series of remaining performance obligations. After applying these policy elections, the Company determined that it does not have a significant amount of fixed considerations allocated to remaining performance obligations for contracts with a contract term that exceeds one year. When the Company satisfies its performance obligation and recognizes revenues accordingly, the Company has a present and unconditional right to payment and records the receivable from clients in “Accounts receivable” in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The Company’s general payment terms are short-term in duration and the Company does not adjust the promised amount of consideration for the effects of a significant financing component. Contract liabilities represent deferred revenues which are cash payments that are received in advance of the Company’s satisfaction of the applicable obligation(s) and are included in “Deferred revenues” in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Deferred revenues are recognized as revenues when the related services are performed for the client. Revenues recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020 included $33.2 million of Deferred revenues as of December 31, 2019. Income Taxes The Company accounts for income taxes using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and for operating losses and tax credit carry- forwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using the currently enacted tax rates that apply to taxable income in effect for the years in which those tax assets are expected to be realized or settled. The income tax provision (benefit) is computed on the pre-tax income (loss) of the entities located within each taxing jurisdiction based on current tax law. A valuation allowance for deferred tax assets is recorded to the extent that the ultimate realization of the deferred tax assets is not considered more likely than not. The Company believes its deferred tax assets are more likely than not to be realized based on historical and projected future results, or a valuation allowance is established. 95 Table of Contents Realization of the Company’s deferred tax assets is principally dependent upon its achievement of future taxable income, the estimation of which requires significant management judgment. These judgments regarding future profitability may change due to many factors, including future market conditions and the Company’s ability to successfully execute its business plans. These changes, if any, may require adjustments to deferred tax asset balances and deferred income tax expense. Uncertain Tax Positions The Company accounts for uncertain tax positions when it is more likely than not that the tax position will not be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. As of December 31, 2020, and 2019, the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits were $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively. All the unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2020 would be included in the effective tax rate if recognized in future periods. The Company is unaware of any positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly increase within the next twelve months. The Company files tax returns in the United States, various states and foreign jurisdictions. With few exceptions, as of December 31, 2020, the Company is no longer subject to federal, state, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for years prior to 2016. The Company has elected to classify interest and penalties as components of tax expense. These amounts were immaterial for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Equity-based Compensation The Company measures the cost of non-employee services received in exchange for an award of equity instruments based on the measurement date fair value consistent with the vesting of the awards and measuring the fair value of these units at the end of each measurement period. The cost is recognized over the requisite service period. The Company’s equity-based compensation is based on grant date fair value determined utilizing Backsolve Option Pricing Method (“OPM”) for its Common Series C Units and a combination of the OPM and Monte Carlo valuation model for its Common Series C-2 Units. Warrant Liability The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 480, and ASC 815. The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common stock and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as liabilities at their initial fair value on the date of issuance and remeasured to fair value at each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants are recognized in “Changes in fair value of warrant liability” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. The fair value of the private placement warrants on the date of issuance and on each measurement date is estimated using a Black-Scholes option pricing model which includes inputs such as the Company’s stock price, exercise price per share, and the number of private placement warrants outstanding. Assumptions used in the model are subjective and require significant judgment, and include implied volatility and the risk-free interest rate. 96 Table of Contents Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) The Company’s comprehensive loss includes net loss as well as foreign currency translation adjustments, net of tax. Unrealized foreign currency exchange gains and losses on certain intercompany transactions that are of a long-term investment nature (i.e., settlement is not planned or anticipated in the foreseeable future) are also recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss in stockholders’ equity. Earnings Per Share The Company calculates earnings per share (“EPS”) using a dual presentation of basic and diluted earnings per share. Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing net income by the weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding without the consideration for potential dilutive shares of common stock. Diluted earnings per share represents basic earnings per share adjusted to include the potentially dilutive effect of outstanding share option awards, non-vested share awards, common stock warrants, and Performance Shares. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing the net income by the weighted-average number of common share equivalents outstanding for the period determined using the treasury stock method and if-converted method, as applicable. During periods of net loss, diluted loss per share is equal to basic loss per share because the antidilutive effect of potential common shares is disregarded. As a result of the Transactions, the Company has retrospectively adjusted the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding prior to October 28, 2020 by multiplying them by the exchange ratio used to determine the number of common shares into which they converted. The following is a reconciliation of basic and diluted net loss per common share: Year Ended December 31, (in thousands, except share and earnings per share data) 2020 2019 2018 Basic and diluted: Net loss attributable to stockholders $ (175,806 ) $ (21,172 ) $ (1,157,332 ) Weighted average common shares outstanding 223,227,833 203,750,000 203,750,000 Basic and diluted loss per common share $ (0.79 ) $ (0.10 ) $ (5.68 ) As part of the Transactions, 5,000,000 Performance Shares were issued to Topco at Closing, which were subject to vesting upon satisfaction of a market performance condition for any period of 20 trading days out of 30 consecutive trading days during the five-year period after the Closing, and Topco was not able to vote or sell such shares until vesting. These Performance Shares were considered contingently issuable shares and remained unvested as of December 31, 2020. Therefore, these Performance Shares are excluded from shares outstanding for basic and diluted EPS until the contingency is resolved. The 5,000,000 Performance Shares vested on January 15, 2021, when the closing price for the Class A common stock exceeded $12.00 per share for 20 trading days out of 30 consecutive trading days. The Company had 18,583,333 warrants, including 7,333,333 private placement warrants held by the CP Sponsor, to purchase Class A common stock at $11.50 per share at the Closing, and no such warrants were exercised during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, the Company has excluded the potential effect of warrants to purchase shares of Class A common stock and Performance Shares in the calculation of diluted net loss per common share, as the effect would be anti-dilutive due to losses incurred. 97 Table of Contents See Note 9 — Fair Value of Financial Instruments and Note 11 — Equity Based Compensation and Equity for additional information regarding the terms of public and private placement warrants. Fair Value Measurements The Company defines fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities, which are required to be recorded at fair value, the Company considers the principal or most advantageous market in which the Company would transact and the market-based risk measurements or assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, such as risks inherent in valuation techniques, transfer restrictions and credit risk. Fair value is estimated by applying the following hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value into three levels and bases the categorization within the hierarchy upon the lowest level of input that is available and significant to the fair value measurement: Level 1 — Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 — Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in inactive markets, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. Level 3 — Inputs that are generally unobservable and t