Item 1A. Risk Factors
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
There have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 except as supplemented and updated below:
COVID-19 pandemic has, and is expected to continue to, materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, and any future outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments could materially affect our business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a material impact on our business and results of operations. COVID-19 has resulted in significant governmental measures being implemented to control the spread of the virus, including quarantines, travel restrictions, business shutdowns and restrictions on the movement and gathering of people in the United States and abroad. Our business has been adversely affected in jurisdictions that have imposed mandatory closures of our merchants, sought voluntary closures or imposed restrictions on operations of our merchants and activities of consumers, and the continued implementation of such measures may further adversely affect our business. Even if such measures are not implemented, the perceived risk of infection or significant health risk may adversely affect our business. Further, the timing of global vaccination distribution and administration and the long-term effectiveness of any vaccines against COVID-19 and any variants is not certain. The outbreak and the preventive or protective actions that governments or our merchants and consumers have taken and may take in the future in response to COVID-19 has resulted, and may continue to result, in a period of business disruption, reduced voucher and travel sales and increased refunds. Further, any future outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments could materially affect our business.
Such risks could also adversely affect consumers’ financial condition, resulting in reduced spending on our offerings and increased refunds, even after restrictions to everyday activities are lifted. COVID-19 may also adversely affect our ability to implement our strategy to focus on growing our local marketplace.
The impact of COVID-19 as well as our cost-saving actions, remote working environment, and other actions we have taken to atte mpt to address and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on our business may lead to disruptions in our business or workforce, inability to grow and evolve our brand, reduced employee morale, engagement and productivity, increased attrition, problems retaining existing and recruiting future employees, limited resources to complete projects efficiently or on anticipated timelines , and increased workload for employees all of which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and create risks to the effectiveness of our internal controls. Such disruption also could negatively impact our ability to realize the full benefits of our strategy.
These and other potential impacts of COVID-19 have and are expected to continue to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The ultimate extent of the impact of COVID-19 (or any epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis) will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, includin g new information that may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19, emerging virus variants and the actions taken to contain COVID-19 and address its impact. Further, we may continue to experience different or more prolonged impacts in certain locations where we operate, particularly in our International segment where restrictions have been more prolonged and stricter than in North America, surges in virus cases continue to occur and the vaccination rollout has been slower.
The potential effects of COVID-19 also could intensify or otherwise affect many of our other risk factors that are included in our Annual Report and this Quarterly Report, including, but not limited to, risks related to the execution of our strategy, customer and merchant acquisition and retention, macroeconomic factors beyond our control, risks of doing business outside of th e United States, including risks relating to the staffing and effectiveness of our centralized shared service centers in locations such as India, a nd risks related to our indebtedness. Because the COVID-19 situation is unprecedented and continuously evolving, the other potential impacts to our risk factors that are further described in our Annual Report and this Quarterly Report are uncertain.
Furthermore, because the COVID-19 pandemic did not impact our results until late in the first quarter of 2020, such impact may not be directly comparable to any historical period and is not necessarily indicative of any future impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our results for subsequent periods.
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