Company: LAZ
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-007441
Chunk: 111

Company: Lazard, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 111
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 and we may face damage to our professional reputation and legal liability if our services are not regarded as satisfactory or if conflicts of interest should arise.

•Expectations and regulations relating to ESG considerations expose us to potential liabilities, increased costs, reputational harm, and other adverse effects on our business. 

•Employee misconduct, which is difficult to detect and deter, could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain clients and subjecting us to significant legal liability and reputational harm.

•A failure in or breach of our information systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties with which we do business, including as a result of cybersecurity incidents or threats, could disrupt our businesses, lead to reputational harm and legal liability or otherwise impact our ability to operate our business.

•Failure to maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could materially adversely affect our business.

•Changes in relevant tax laws or rates, changes in regulations, treaties or the interpretation of these items, or changes in the jurisdictional mix of our earnings could negatively impact our effective tax rate.

•Tax authorities may challenge our tax computations and transfer pricing methods and our application of related policies and methods.

•Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law could delay or prevent a change in control.

•Our subsidiaries may be required to make payments under the Amended and Restated Tax Receivable Agreement. The IRS may challenge the tax basis increases upon which payments are based and, under certain circumstances, our subsidiaries may have made or could make payments under the Amended and Restated Tax Receivable Agreement in excess of our subsidiaries’ cash tax savings.

•Lazard, Inc. is a holding company and, accordingly, depends upon distributions from Lazard Group to pay dividends and taxes and other expenses.

•Lazard Group is a holding company and, accordingly, depends on its subsidiaries to make distributions to Lazard Group to enable it to service its obligations under its indebtedness. 

15

Risks Related to Economic and Current Conditions Impacting Us and our Business

Difficult market conditions can adversely affect our business in many ways, including by reducing the volume or value of transactions involving our Financial Advisory business and reducing the value or performance of the assets we manage in our Asset Management business, which, in each case, could materially reduce our revenue or income and adversely affect our financial position.

As a financial services firm, our businesses are materially affected by conditions in the global financial markets and economic conditions throughout the world. Unfavorable economic