What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2025-02-27 compared with 2024-02-29 · 66 added, 76 removed, 345 unchanged (29% of the section changed)

14 unchanged sentences

We have a strong relationship with our consumers, and our broadcast radio audience has the largest reach of any audio company in the U.S., with an audience that is over twice as large as that of the next largest commercial broadcast radio company, as measured by Nielsen.

Our iHeartRadio digital platform is the number one streaming broadcast radio platform, with five times the digital listening hours of the next largest commercial broadcast radio company, as measured by our subsidiary Triton.

Our iHeartRadio digital platform is the number one streaming broadcast radio platform, with nearly five times the digital listening hours of the next largest commercial broadcast radio company, as measured by our subsidiary Triton.

We are the number one podcast publisher in the U.S., according to Podtrac.

We are the only podcast publisher with podcasts ranked in all 19 of Podtrac's content categories and we have the most top 10 shows of any podcast publisher.

We are the only podcast publisher with podcasts ranked in all 19 of Podtrac's content categories and we have the most top 10 shows of any podcast publisher, as measured by Podtrac.

We are the only company able to provide a complete ad tech solution for all forms of audio:

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• Social media :

Our personalities, stations and brands have a social footprint that includes over 330 million fans and followers as measured by ListenFirst, which is thirteen times the size of the next largest commercial broadcast audio media company.

Our personalities, stations and brands have a social footprint that includes over 335 million fans and followers as measured by ListenFirst, which is twelve times the size of the next largest commercial broadcast audio media company.

This social footprint was at the heart of delivering 70 billion social media impressions for our 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival.

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The unification of our many brands across these diverse product offerings under the "iHeartRadio" masterbrand has allowed us to build out new platforms as well as extend into third-party platforms like social media, the metaverse, and television, as well as streaming services.

Our superior local, national, and online sales force combined with our leading digital, events, content, and representation business position us to cover a wide range of advertiser categories, including consumer services, retailers,

entertainment, health and beauty products, telecommunications, automotive, media and political.

Our superior local, national, and online sales force combined with our leading digital, events, content, and

representation business position us to cover a wide range of advertiser categories, including consumer services, retailers, entertainment, health and beauty products, telecommunications, automotive, media and political.

iHeartMedia, Inc.

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• Multiplatform Group , which includes the Company's Broadcast radio, Networks, Sponsorships and Events businesses;

• Digital Audio Group , which includes all of the Company's Digital businesses including podcasting, the iHeartRadio digital service, its digital advertising technology companies, its digital websites, newsletters and digital services and programs;

• Digital Audio Group , which includes all of the Company's Digital businesses including podcasting, the iHeartRadio digital service, its digital advertising technology companies, its websites, newsletters and digital services and programs;

and its audio industry-leading social media footprint;

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With our broadcast radio platform alone, we have over twice the broadcast radio audience of our next closest broadcast competitor.

We also have five times the digital listening hours of our next closest commercial radio broadcast competitor.

We also have nearly five times the digital listening hours of our next closest commercial radio broadcast competitor.

Our national scale and extensive local footprint allow us to offer marketing solutions at national, regional and local levels, or any combination thereof.

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Increasingly, across both national and local markets, our advertisers are demanding data-rich, analytics-driven advertising solutions.

iHeartMedia is the only audio broadcast media company that offers a comprehensive suite of tech-enabled advertising solutions, providing advanced attribution and analytics capabilities through our SmartAudio platform, which

iHeartMedia is the only audio broadcast media company that offers a comprehensive suite of tech-enabled

advertising solutions, providing advanced attribution and analytics capabilities through our SmartAudio platform, which includes:

• Our digital-like ad-buying solution that allows clients to view the available broadcast inventory across various cohorts to address their specific needs;

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10 Boston, MA 8

11 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 8

Lauderdale-Hollywood, FL 8

12 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 8

13 Phoenix, AZ 8

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Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 8

18 Denver-Boulder, CO 8

18 San Diego, CA 8

20 Nassau-Suffolk, NY 1

19 Denver-Boulder, CO 8

20 Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC 5

22 Portland, OR 7

21 Nassau-Suffolk, NY 1

22 Baltimore, MD 4

23 Portland, OR 7

25 San Antonio, TX 7

Total Top 25 Markets 159 (2)

Spring 2023 NielsenAudio Radio Market Rankings.

Spring 2024 Nielsen Audio Radio Market Rankings.

(2) Our station in the Nassau-Suffolk, NY market is also represented in the New York, NY Nielsen market.

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Premiere Networks and Total Traffic & Weather generated revenue of $437.2 million in 2024, $466.4 million in 2023 and $503.2 million in 2022.

• Premiere Networks is a national radio network that produces, distributes or represents approximately 120 syndicated radio programs and services for more than 6,400 radio station affiliates.

• Premiere Networks is a national radio network that produces, distributes or represents more than 150 syndicated radio programs and services for more than 6,700 radio station affiliates.

Our broad distribution capabilities enable us to attract and retain top programming talent.

Some of our more popular syndicated programs featured top talent including Ryan Seacrest, Sean Hannity, Bobby Bones, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, Glenn Beck, Steve Harvey, Elvis Duran, Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, and the Breakfast Club.

We believe recruiting and retaining top talent is an important

component of the success of our radio networks.

Some of our more popular syndicated programs featured top talent including Ryan Seacrest, Sean Hannity, Bobby Bones, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, Glenn Beck, Steve Harvey, Elvis Duran,

Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, and the Breakfast Club.

We believe recruiting and retaining top talent is an important component of the success of our radio networks.

• Total Traffic & Weather Network delivers real-time local traffic flow and incident information along with weather updates, sports and news to more than 2,000 radio stations and approximately 70 television affiliates, as well as through Internet and mobile partnerships, reaching approximately 209 million consumers each month.

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the iHeart Podcast Awards and iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina.

In 2023, our events resulted in revenue of $191.4 million in 2023, $189.0 million in 2022 and $160.3 million in 2021 from sponsorship, endorsement and other advertising revenue, as well as ticket sales and licensing.

Our events resulted in revenue of $187.3 million in 2024, $191.4 million in 2023 and $189.0 million in 2022 from sponsorship, endorsement and other advertising revenue, as well as ticket sales and licensing.

Digital Audio Group

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• Podcasting :

Our multi-platform strategy, and the flywheel benefits it accrues, has enabled us to extend our leadership in the rapidly growing podcasting sector.

Our multi-platform strategy has enabled us to extend our leadership in the growing podcasting sector.

As measured by Podtrac, iHeartMedia is the number one podcast publisher with 175 million global monthly downloads and streams and 31 million U.S.

unique monthly users in December 2023 and has the most shows featured in the Top 10 across all categories including Stuff You Should Know, The Breakfast Club, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and many more.

We also have the first podcast to surpass 1 billion downloads with Stuff You Should Know.

unique monthly users in 2024 and has the most shows featured in the Top 10 across all categories, with titles including Stuff You Should Know, The Breakfast Club, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and many more.

Podcasting generated revenue of $448.8 million in 2024, $407.8 million in 2023 and $358.4 million in 2022.

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Our reach extends across more than 500 platforms and thousands of different connected devices.

Our digital business is comprised of free ad-supported streaming offerings, subscription streaming services, display advertisements, and other content that is disseminated over digital platforms, as well as social media, a capability enabled by the purchase of Unified.

Our leading streaming product, iHeartRadio, is a free downloadable mobile app and web‑based service that allows users to listen to their favorite radio stations, as well as digital‑only stations, custom artist stations, and podcasts.

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Digital excluding podcast generated revenue of $715.7 million in 2024, $661.3 million in 2023 and $663.4 million in 2022.

In 2021, we acquired Triton Digital, the global technology and services leader to the digital audio and podcast industry, giving us the only unified ad tech stack for all forms of audio media.

Audio & Media Services Group:

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Providing this kind of at-scale companionship creates high-value advertising inventory and delivers superior returns.

Moreover, we believe that we can leverage our investments in technology and data-informed decision making to better monetize our assets and to capture increasing market share across the broader advertising ecosystem.

Moreover, we believe that we can leverage our investments in technology and data-informed decision making to better monetize our assets

and to capture increasing market share across the broader advertising ecosystem.

The key elements of this growth strategy are:

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Increasing share of national advertising market

Broadcast radio is the number one consumer reach medium, and advertisers have a renewed appreciation for its scale, diverse demographic access and impact.

Broadcast radio is the number one consumer reach medium, and advertisers have an appreciation for its scale, diverse demographic access and impact.

We intend to complement our current local advertising presence in approximately 160 U.S.

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We continue to expand the spectrum of choices for our listeners-both in terms of compelling content and the array of ways in which it can be consumed.

We have launched (i) BIN:

In 2024, we launched the iHeart Women's Sports Audio Network, the first-ever audio platform dedicated to women's sports across our broadcast, digital and podcast platforms and we served as the exclusive audio partner for the 2024 Olympic Games, providing 24/7 audio coverage of the games and producing original Olympic podcasts.

Prior to 2024, we launched (i) BIN:

Black Information Network, the first and only 24/7 national and local all news audio service dedicated to providing an objective, accurate and trusted source of continual news coverage with a Black voice and perspective;

(ii) The Black Effect Podcast Network, a joint venture with Charlamagne Tha God developed to amplify Black voices, celebrate Black creators and invest in the Black community, with culturally relevant content across a variety of genres;

(iii) My Cultura, a podcast venture dedicated to elevating Latinx voices and creators and to sharing the Latinx experience with millions of listeners;

(iv) Outspoken Podcast Network, a new podcast network designed to elevate the impactful culture of the LGBTQ+ community;

(v) iHeartLand, a Metaverse experience that includes a variety of games and events;

(ii) The Black Effect Podcast Network, a joint venture with Charlamagne Tha God;

(iii) My Cultura, a podcast network showcasing Latinx voices, creators, and the Latinx experience with millions of listeners;

(iv) Outspoken Podcast Network, a new podcast network geared towards the LGBTQ+ community;

(v) Metaverse concerts and experiences;

and (vi) our broad range of sports programming.

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We also have sports podcasts led by marquee talent like Colin Cowherd and Dan Patrick as well as the iHeart Sports Network, which reaches approximately 75 million Americans per month according to Nielsen, and includes our sports talk and sports betting stations along with our ongoing live coverage of professional teams on select stations across the country.

In addition, the proliferation of connected TVs, voice assistants, smart auto and other connected devices greatly increases the range of options for accessing and interacting with our content, with significant increases to listenership across these devices occurring in 2023.

Notably, iHeartRadio, our all-in-one digital music, podcast and live streaming digital radio service, is available on an

expansive range of platforms and devices including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, televisions and gaming consoles.

In addition, connected TVs, voice assistants, smart auto and other connected devices increases the range of options for accessing and interacting with our content, which has been an audience growth vehicle.

Notably, iHeartRadio, our all-in-one digital music, podcast and live streaming digital radio service, is available on an expansive range of platforms and devices including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, televisions and gaming consoles.

We are also very focused on rapidly growing content categories, such as our leadership position in podcasting.

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We have continued to extend our leadership position in podcasting, and we are the largest podcast publisher in the U.S.

We believe that podcasting is to talk what streaming is to music and is the next strategic audio platform.

as measured by Podtrac.

Our podcasting platform allows us to capture incremental revenue as well as extend station brands, personalities and events onto a new platform-ultimately growing and deepening our consumer relationships and our opportunities for additional advertising revenue.

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We previously acquired the following companies to further expand our advertising technology capabilities:

• Unified Enterprises Corp.

is a software company that provides customers with a complete advertising solution across all forms of digital media, including the information and intelligence data that they need to make informed decisions about their advertising investments.

• Voxnest, Inc.

is a podcast programmatic technology solutions business that allows for the consolidation of the fragmented podcast marketplace and the best-in-class provider of podcast analytics, enterprise publishing tools, programmatic integration and targeted ad serving.

• Unified Enterprises is a software company that provides customers with a complete advertising solution across all forms of digital media, including the information and intelligence data that they need to make informed decisions about their advertising investments.

• Voxnest is a podcast programmatic technology solutions business that allows for the consolidation of the fragmented podcast marketplace and the best-in-class provider of podcast analytics, enterprise publishing tools, programmatic integration and targeted ad serving.

Voxnest enables us to provide podcast advertisers with additional targetable inventory at scale by allowing the effective and efficient monetization across an entire range of podcast inventory on this one-of-a-kind programmatic platform.

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We compete for share of our listeners’ time and engagement, a challenging task in today’s fragmented and multi-tasking world.

We believe our national reach, the strength of our brand and assets, the quality of our programming and personalities, and the companionship nature of our content allows us to compete effectively against other radio businesses, as well as with other media, entertainment and digital platforms, such as streaming audio services, satellite radio, podcasts, other Internet-based streaming music services, ad tech, television, live entertainment, large scale online advertising platforms, and social media.

Internet-based streaming music services, ad tech, television, live entertainment, large scale online advertising platforms, and social media.

Similarly, we compete for advertising and marketing dollars in the U.S.

advertising market against an increasingly diverse set of competitors.

Our legacy competition for the radio, podcast and digital advertising market includes legacy broadcast radio operators, as well as satellite radio companies, podcasters and streaming music companies with ad supported components of their business.

Our competition for the radio, podcast and digital advertising market includes legacy broadcast radio operators, as well as satellite radio companies, podcasters and streaming music companies with ad supported components of their business.

We compete in the larger U.S.

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The duration of our intellectual property rights vary from country to country, but our U.S.

patents expire 20 years from the patent filing date.

patents expire 20 years from the earliest priority patent filing date.

We have filed and acquired dozens of issued patents and active patent applications in the U.S.

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Our workforce is comprised of approximately 80% full time and 20% part time employees.

We are a party to numerous collective bargaining agreements and/or union-represented bargaining units, none of which represent a significant number of employees, with approximately 6.5% of our workforce subject to collective bargaining agreements.

We believe we maintain positive relationships with our union and non-union employees as evidenced by our 2023 retention rate of 86%.

We are a party to numerous collective bargaining

agreements and/or union-represented bargaining units, none of which represent a significant number of employees, with approximately 6.8% of our workforce subject to collective bargaining agreements.

Total Rewards

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• Employer sponsored health insurance, including 100% Company-paid programs for assistance in managing ongoing or chronic health conditions;

• Company provided contributions to health savings accounts for qualifying accounts;

• Company provided life insurance;

• Voluntary life insurance with long-term care;

• Paid sick and vacation days;

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• 401(k) plan;

• An upgraded Employee Assistance Program, which is available to employees and their household members at no cost and provides services such as in person and telephonic counseling sessions, consultation on legal and financial matters and referrals for services such as child-care and relocation;

• An Employee Assistance Program, which is available to employees and their household members at no cost and provides services such as in person and telephonic counseling sessions, consultation on legal and financial matters and referrals for services such as child-care and relocation;

• Various voluntary benefits including hospital indemnity, accident insurance, identity theft, pet health and legal insurance.

Talent Development & Training

Talent Development & Education

We are committed to supporting and developing our employees through global learning and development programs.

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iHeartMedia employees engage in a variety of extensive training throughout the year.

In 2023, we also launched a new live sales training curriculum for our newly hired Sales Account Executives.

As a company, we strive to value diversity and respect all voices, from both inside and outside our Company.

Our Company reaches 90% of all Americans every month, so listening to, understanding and integrating input from diverse voices and views is critical to our success.

One of our top priorities at iHeartMedia is to create an inclusive organizational culture to attract and develop a dynamic workforce that is as diverse as the audiences and communities we serve, which includes and supports gender identity, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic background, age, disability, national origin and more.

We have continued to make important progress and are making investments across the Company, including forming key partnerships internally and externally, engaging in research and discussion, and closely collaborating with our leadership

The Company’s engagement and investment in its workforce, communities and equity and inclusivity efforts are vital to our strategic plans and business purpose, especially with employees, advertisers and listeners.

Our inclusivity goals focus on four key areas of strategic priority and focus that align with business results.

• Building an inclusive culture;

• Advancing inclusive content with diverse perspectives;

• Expanding outreach and efforts to strengthen community ties;

• Facilitating an environment for growth, development, and advancement.

Inclusivity efforts are led by our Chief Human Resources Officer/Chief Diversity Officer, who reports directly to our Chief Executive Officer and our President.

In addition, our Board is committed to seeking director candidates who can best contribute to the future success of the Company and represent stockholder interests through the exercise of sound judgment and leveraging of the group’s skills and experience, resulting in board members with diverse backgrounds, including, among other attributes, gender, ethnicity, background, and professional experience.

Workplace Safety

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The FCC grants broadcast licenses for a term of up to eight years.

The FCC will renew a license for an additional eight‑year term if, after consideration of the renewal application and any objections thereto, it finds that the station has served the public interest, convenience and necessity and that, with respect to the station seeking renewal, there have been no serious violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules and pattern of abuse of the Communications Act or FCC rules.

The FCC may grant the license renewal application with or without conditions, including renewal for a term less than eight years, although renewal for less than the full eight‑year term is rare.

The FCC will renew a license for an additional eight‑year term if, after consideration of the renewal application and any objections thereto, it finds that the station has served the public interest, convenience and necessity and that, with respect to the station seeking renewal, there have been no serious violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules and no pattern of abuse of the Communications Act or FCC rules.

The FCC may grant the license renewal application with or without conditions, including renewal for a term less than eight years, although renewal for less than the full eight‑year term is uncommon.

While we cannot guarantee the unconditional grant of any future renewal application, our stations’ licenses historically have been renewed for the full eight‑year term.

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To apply these ownership tiers, the FCC relies on Nielsen Metro Survey Areas, where they exist, and a signal contour‑overlap methodology elsewhere.

The Communications Act requires the FCC to periodically review its media ownership rules, and those reviews have been and continue to be the subject of regulatory proceedings and litigation.

In December 2018, the FCC commenced its 2018 quadrennial review of its media ownership regulations.

In June 2021, following a Supreme Court decision, the FCC sought comment to refresh the record in its 2018 quadrennial review.

In response to a petition for writ of mandamus filed by the National Association of Broadcasters and a resulting order of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Circuit, on December 26, 2023 the FCC issued an order resolving the 2018 quadrennial review.

The Communications Act requires the FCC to review its media ownership rules every four years, and those reviews

have been and continue to be the subject of regulatory proceedings and litigation.

On December 26, 2023 the FCC issued an order resolving the 2018 quadrennial review.

In that order, the FCC decided to retain the numerical limits on local radio ownership intact and to make permanent the signal contour‑overlap methodology that had applied on an interim basis in markets outside of Nielsen Metro Survey Areas.

The order is the subject of various pending appeals.

In addition, in December 2022, the FCC commenced the 2022 quadrennial review of its broadcast ownership rules.

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The FCC generally will not make such a determination absent favorable executive branch review.

To the extent that our aggregate foreign ownership or voting percentages exceeds 25 percent, any foreign holder or “group” of holders, defined pursuant to FCC regulations, of our common stock whose ownership or voting percentage would exceed 5 percent or 10 percent (with the applicable percentage determined pursuant to FCC rules) must also obtain the FCC’s specific approval.

To the extent that our aggregate foreign ownership or voting percentage exceeds 25 percent, any foreign holder or “group” of holders, defined pursuant to FCC regulations, of our common stock whose ownership or voting percentage would exceed 5 percent or 10 percent (with the applicable percentage determined pursuant to FCC rules) must also obtain the FCC’s specific approval.

Programming and Content Regulation

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(“BMI”), SESAC LLC ("SESAC") and Global Music Rights LLC (“GMR”).

These licenses periodically come up for renewal, and as a result one or more of our PRO licenses currently are the subject of renewal negotiations and/or rate-setting proceedings pertaining to certain historical and future periods.

The outcome of these renewal negotiations and/or proceedings could impact, and potentially increase, our music license fees.

These licenses periodically come up for renewal, and as a result one or more of our PRO licenses currently are the subject of renewal negotiations.

The outcome of these renewal negotiations could impact, and potentially increase, our music license fees.

In addition, there is no guarantee that additional PROs will not emerge, which could impact, and in some circumstances increase, our royalty rates and negotiation costs.

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Under Federal statutory licenses, we are permitted to stream any lawfully released sound recordings and to make ephemeral reproductions of these recordings on our computer servers without having to separately negotiate and obtain direct licenses with each individual copyright owner as long as we operate in compliance with the rules of those statutory licenses and pay the applicable royalty rates to SoundExchange, the organization designated by the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”) to collect and distribute royalties under these statutory licenses.

The rates for the royalties that we pay to SoundExchange under these statutory licenses are the subject of a pending rate-setting proceeding before the CRB, and this proceeding will determine the applicable royalty rates for the period from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2030.

The outcome of this proceeding may result in an increase to our licensing costs.

For music streams that do not qualify for statutory licenses, we must license performance rights directly from sound recording companies.

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In addition, we have business arrangements directly with some copyright owners to receive deliveries of and, in some cases, to directly license their sound recordings for use in our Internet operations.

There is no guarantee that the licenses and associated royalty rates that currently are available to us will be available to us in the future nor is there any guarantee that we will be able to profitably operate our digital on-demand music service profitably.

There is no guarantee that the licenses and associated royalty rates that currently are available to us will be available to us in the future nor is there any guarantee that we will be able to operate our digital on-demand music service profitably.

In addition, Congress may consider and adopt legislation that would require us to pay royalties to sound recording copyright owners for broadcasting those recordings on our terrestrial radio stations.

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We obtain information from users of our technology platforms, including, without limitation, our websites, web pages, interactive features, digital survey panels, applications, social media pages, and mobile application (“Platforms”), in accordance with the privacy policies and terms of use posted on the applicable Platform.

We collect personal information automatically from a Platform users' device, as well as directly from Platform users in several ways, including when a user uses or purchases our products or services, registers to use our services, fills out a listener profile, posts comments, uses our social networking features, participates in polls and contests and signs up to receive email newsletters.

We collect personal information automatically from a Platform users' device, as well as directly from Platform users in several ways, including when a user uses or purchases our products or services, registers to use our services, fills out a listener profile, posts comments, participates in polls and contests and signs up to receive email newsletters.

We also may obtain information about our listeners from other listeners and third parties.

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We are subject to a number of federal, state and foreign laws and regulations relating to consumer protection, direct marketing, information security, data protection and privacy, including children's privacy.

While some of these laws and

regulations are still evolving, they have impacted, and will continue to impact our business by restricting our marketing activities and collection, use, retention, sharing and other processing of data, including both personal information and technical information related to users and devices, which also reduces our ability to effectively deliver relevant ads to our users, and by increasing compliance cost and risks.

While some of these laws and regulations are still evolving, they have impacted, and will continue to impact our business by restricting our marketing activities and collection, use, retention, sharing and other processing of data, including both personal information and technical information related to users and devices, which also reduces our ability to effectively deliver relevant ads to our users, and by increasing compliance cost and risks.

For example, the Federal Trade Commission and state regulators enforce a variety of data privacy issues, such as promises made in privacy policies or failures to appropriately protect information about individuals, as unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act or similar state laws.

Comprehensive state privacy laws are now in effect in several states, and additional states have passed laws that will take effect throughout the coming years.

These new privacy laws establish data privacy rights for consumers residing in the respective states (such as rights to request deletion or correction of their personal information, or access to a copy of their personal information), impose new assessment requirements prior to undertaking higher risk data processing, grant opt-out rights (or require opt-in consent) for the collection and use of sensitive data, impose special rules on the collection of personal information from minors, create notice obligations and new limits on the “sale” of personal information or the “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and create a statutory damages framework that allows for state regulators to impose fines and penalties for violations.

Comprehensive state privacy laws are now in effect in multiple states, and additional states have passed laws that will take effect throughout the coming years.

These new privacy laws establish data privacy rights for consumers residing in the respective states (such as rights to request deletion or correction of their personal information, or access to a copy of their personal information), impose new assessment requirements prior to undertaking higher risk data processing, grant opt-out rights (or require opt-in consent) for the collection and use of sensitive data, impose special rules on the collection of personal information from minors, create notice obligations and new limits on targeted advertising and the “sale” of personal information or the “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and create a statutory damages framework that allows for state regulators to impose fines and penalties for violations.

Several states have laws making it easier for consumers to opt-out of targeted advertising and sales or sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising by requiring use of the "global privacy control." If the global privacy control were to be widely adopted, it could materially impact our ability to deliver targeted advertising and generate advertising revenue therefrom.

Compliance with these new laws entails substantial expenses, diverts resources from other initiatives and projects, and could limit the services we are able to offer.

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For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") provides a private right of action and minimum statutory damages for certain types of data breaches, with possible damage awards of $100 to $750 per consumer per incident, or actual damages, whichever is greater.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation ("EU GDPR") and UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") provide potential fines up to EUR €20 million or (EU GDPR) or £17.5 million (UK GDPR) or 4% of worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is greater for adequately notify relevant stakeholders and regulators of a personal data breach.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation ("EU GDPR") and UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") provide potential fines up to EUR €20 million or (EU GDPR) or £17.5 million (UK GDPR) or 4% of worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is greater, for inadequately notifying relevant stakeholders and regulators of a personal data breach.

In the area of direct marketing, in the United States we are subject to laws, rules and regulations governing our marketing activities conducted by or through telephone, email, SMS/text messaging and the Internet, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), the CAN-SPAM Act and similar state laws, rules and regulations.

Collectively, these laws control how we use personal information to market products and services to consumers.

Notably, the TCPA provides a private right of action, for which individual plaintiffs or classes of plaintiff may bring suit seeking damages up to $500 per violation.

Notably, the TCPA provides a private right of action, for which individual plaintiffs or classes of plaintiff may

bring suit seeking damages up to $500 per violation.

TCPA settlements and verdicts can be significant, depending on the size of the class and the number of alleged violative marketing calls or text messages.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business