EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1050446
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1050446_10-K_2022_0001564590-22-005287.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.
Business
Overview
MicroStrategy® pursues two corporate strategies in the operation of its business. One strategy is to acquire and hold bitcoin and the other strategy is to grow our enterprise analytics software business. We believe that undertaking these two, interdependent corporate strategies serves as a key differentiator for our business, as our bitcoin acquisition strategy has raised our profile with potential software customers while our enterprise analytics software business has provided stable cash flows that allow us to acquire and hold bitcoin for the long-term.
We pursue, as part of our overall corporate strategy, a strategy of acquiring bitcoin with our liquid assets that exceed working capital requirements, and from time to time, subject to market conditions, issuing debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase bitcoin. We view our bitcoin holdings as long-term holdings, and we do not plan to engage in regular trading of bitcoin and have not hedged or otherwise entered into derivative contracts with respect to our bitcoin holdings, though we may sell bitcoin in future periods as needed to generate cash for treasury management and other general corporate purposes. We have not set any specific target for the amount of bitcoin we seek to hold, and we will continue to monitor market conditions in determining whether to conduct debt or equity financings to purchase additional bitcoin.
We believe that bitcoin is attractive because it can serve as a store of value, supported by a robust and public open source architecture, that is untethered to sovereign monetary policy and can therefore serve as a hedge against inflation. We also believe that bitcoin offers additional opportunity for appreciation in value with increasing adoption due to its limited supply. In addition, we believe that our bitcoin acquisition strategy is complementary to our enterprise analytics software and services business, as we believe that our bitcoin and related activities in support of the bitcoin network enhance awareness of our brand and can provide opportunities to secure new customers for our analytics offerings. We are also exploring opportunities to apply bitcoin related technologies such as blockchain analytics into our software offerings.
MicroStrategy is also a global leader in enterprise analytics software and services. Since our founding in 1989, MicroStrategy has focused on empowering organizations to leverage the immense value of their data. Our vision is to enable Intelligence Everywhere™ by delivering world-class software and services that empower enterprise users with actionable intelligence.
Our core offering is the MicroStrategy platform, which delivers 1) pervasive, modern analytics experiences designed for everyone-not just the data-literate, 2) open architecture for developers to embed, extend, and inject data visualizations and direct insights into third-party websites and applications, 3) a governed, object-oriented semantic layer with our Enterprise Semantic Graph, and 4) enterprise-grade performance and security. Enterprise customers use MicroStrategy’s innovative technology to make information and actions flow faster and to more users-so their people can make smarter, data-driven decisions. We also offer MicroStrategy Consulting™ and MicroStrategy Education™ to help customers deploy, optimize, and manage their analytics initiatives-minimizing their total cost of ownership while maximizing results and business impact.
Bitcoin Acquisition Strategy
In September 2020, our Board of Directors adopted a Treasury Reserve Policy (as amended to date, the “Treasury Reserve Policy”) that updated our treasury management and capital allocation strategies, under which our treasury reserve assets will consist of:
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cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments (“Cash Assets”) held by us that exceed working capital requirements; and
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bitcoin held by us, with bitcoin serving as the primary treasury reserve asset on an ongoing basis, subject to market conditions and anticipated needs of the business for Cash Assets.
In the first quarter of 2021, we adopted, in addition to and in conjunction with our Treasury Reserve Policy, a corporate strategy of acquiring and holding bitcoin, and from time to time, subject to market conditions, issuing debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase bitcoin. Under this corporate strategy, we also periodically engage in activities to educate the market regarding bitcoin and the bitcoin network.
We view our bitcoin holdings as long-term holdings and we do not plan to engage in regular trading of bitcoin, though we may sell bitcoins in future periods as needed to generate Cash Assets for treasury management and other general corporate purposes. In addition, to date we have not hedged or otherwise entered into derivative contracts with respect to our bitcoin holdings, though we may consider issuing debt or other financial instruments that may be collateralized by our bitcoin holdings and may consider strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate funds using our bitcoin holdings, including lending bitcoin to counterparties. We have not targeted
any specific amount of bitcoin holdings, and we will continue to monitor market conditions in determining whether to conduct debt or equity financings to purchase additional bitcoin.
Our Bitcoin Holdings
We purchased a total of approximately 53,922 bitcoin at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.627 billion in 2021 for an average purchase price of approximately $48,710 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. We purchased a total of approximately 70,469 bitcoin at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1.125 billion in 2020 for an average purchase price of approximately $15,964 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. During the period between January 1, 2022 and February 14, 2022, we purchased a total of approximately 660 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $25.0 million for an average purchase price of approximately $37,865 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. Refer to the “Our Bitcoin Acquisition Strategy” section under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for further information regarding our bitcoin purchases, including the source of capital used to purchase bitcoin.
At December 31, 2021, we carried $2.850 billion of digital assets on our balance sheet, consisting of approximately 124,391 bitcoins and reflecting $901.3 million in cumulative impairment losses attributable to bitcoin trading price fluctuations, and held $63.4 million in cash and cash equivalents. At December 31, 2020, we carried $1.054 billion of digital assets on our balance sheet, consisting of approximately 70,469 bitcoins and reflecting $70.7 million in cumulative impairment losses attributable to bitcoin trading price fluctuations, and held $59.7 million in cash and cash equivalents.
As of February 14, 2022, we held approximately 125,051 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.777 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $30,200 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of February 14, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the market price of one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) was $42,202.99. We expect to purchase additional bitcoin in future periods, though we may also sell bitcoin in future periods as needed to generate Cash Assets for treasury management purposes.
Overview of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a digital asset that is issued by and transmitted through an open source protocol collectively maintained by a peer-to-peer network of decentralized user nodes. This network hosts a public transaction ledger, known as the bitcoin blockchain, on which bitcoin holdings and transactions in bitcoin are recorded. Balances of bitcoin are stored in individual “wallet” functions, which associate network public addresses with a “private key” that controls the transfer of bitcoin. The bitcoin blockchain can be updated without any single entity owning or operating the network. New bitcoin is created and allocated by the protocol that governs bitcoin through a “mining” process that rewards users that verify transactions in the bitcoin blockchain. The bitcoin protocol limits the total issuance of bitcoin over time to 21 million.
Bitcoin can be converted to fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, at rates of exchange determined by market forces on bitcoin trading platforms, which operate 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week and are not regulated in as comprehensive a manner as traditional securities exchanges. As a result, trading on these markets is likely more subject to manipulation than on securities markets regulated by the SEC, and pricing on these markets is likely affected by such manipulative activity. In addition to these platforms, over-the-counter markets and derivatives markets for bitcoin also exist; however, these markets are still maturing and many are unregulated.
Potential Advantages and Disadvantages of Holding Bitcoin
We believe that bitcoin is attractive because it can serve as a store of value, supported by a robust and public open source architecture, that is untethered to sovereign monetary policy and can therefore serve as a hedge against inflation. Bitcoin exists entirely in electronic form, as virtually irreversible public transaction ledger entries on the blockchain, and transactions in bitcoin are recorded and authenticated not by a central repository, but by a decentralized peer-to-peer network. This decentralization limits certain threats common to centralized computer networks, such as denial of service attacks, and reduces the dependency of the bitcoin network on any single system. While the bitcoin network as a whole is decentralized, the private keys used to access bitcoin balances are not widely distributed and are held on hardware (which can be physically controlled by the holder or by a third party such as a custodian) or via software programs on third-party servers and loss of such private keys results in an inability to access, and effective loss of, the corresponding bitcoin. Consequently, bitcoin holdings are susceptible to all of the risks inherent in holding any electronic data, such as power failure, data corruption, security breach, communication failure and user error, among others. These risks, in turn, make bitcoin subject to theft, destruction, or loss of value from hackers, corruption, or technology-specific factors such as viruses that do not affect conventional fiat currency. In addition, the bitcoin network relies on open source developers to maintain and improve the bitcoin protocol. Accordingly, bitcoin may be subject to protocol design changes, governance disputes such as “forked” protocols, competing protocols, and other open source-specific risks that do not affect conventional proprietary software.
We believe that in the context of the economic and public health crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented government financial stimulus measures adopted around the world, decreasing interest rates, increasing inflation, as well as the breakdown of trust in and between political institutions and political parties in the United States and globally, bitcoin represents a more attractive store of value than fiat currency, and further that opportunity for appreciation in the value of bitcoin exists in the event that
such factors lead to even more widespread adoption of the use and acceptance of bitcoin and the adoption of bitcoin as a treasury reserve alternative.
Government Regulation
Activities involving bitcoin and other digital assets may fall within the jurisdiction of more than one financial regulator and are subject to U.S. federal, state and local laws, as well as laws of foreign jurisdictions where applicable. Businesses that are engaged in the transmission and custody of bitcoin and other digital assets, including brokers and custodians, can be subject to U.S. Treasury Department regulations as money services businesses as well as state money transmitter licensing requirements. Bitcoin and other digital assets are subject to anti-fraud regulations under federal and state commodity laws, and digital asset derivative instruments are substantively regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Certain jurisdictions, including, among others, New York and a number of countries outside the United States, have developed regulatory requirements that specifically address digital assets and companies that transact in them. To the extent that we enter into bitcoin-related transactions beyond simply acquiring and holding bitcoin, such transactions may subject us to additional regulatory compliance requirements.
In addition, since transactions in bitcoin provide a reasonable degree of pseudo anonymity, they are susceptible to misuse for criminal activities, such as money laundering. This misuse, or the perception of such misuse (even if untrue), could lead to greater regulatory oversight of bitcoin and bitcoin platforms, and there is the possibility that law enforcement agencies could close bitcoin platforms or other bitcoin-related infrastructure with little or no notice and prevent users from accessing or retrieving bitcoin held via such platforms or infrastructure. For example, in her January 2021 nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted that cryptocurrencies have the potential to improve the efficiency of the financial system but that they can be used to finance terrorism, facilitate money laundering, and support malign activities that threaten U.S. national security interests and the integrity of the U.S. and international financial systems. Accordingly, Secretary Yellen expressed her view that federal regulators needed to look closely at how to encourage the use of cryptocurrencies for legitimate activities while curtailing their use for malign and illegal activities. Furthermore, in December 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), a unit of the Treasury Department focused on money laundering, proposed a new set of rules for cryptocurrency-based exchanges aimed at reducing the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering. These proposed rules would require banks, credit unions and money services businesses, among others, to file reports with FinCEN regarding cryptocurrency transactions in excess of $10,000 and also impose record-keeping requirements for cryptocurrency transactions in excess of $3,000 involving users who manage their own private keys. It remains unclear whether these proposed rules will take effect.
The MicroStrategy Platform
Our core product offering is our software platform. In December 2021, we released the latest version of our flagship enterprise analytics platform. MicroStrategy allows our customers to build high-performance, governed, and secure business and productivity applications that scale across the enterprise. Our platform is designed to empower the entire workforce-from executives to developers to frontline service representatives-with actionable intelligence through the following differentiated features:
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Pervasive, Modern Analytics: MicroStrategy delivers insights across multiple clients and devices to users via our HyperIntelligence products, visualization and reporting capabilities, mobility features, and custom applications developed on our platform.
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Data Visualization and Reporting - Dossier®, our dashboarding and data-visualization tool, provides users with the formatting, layout, and input controls needed to quickly build low-code/no-code analytics applications, from infographic-style reports to high-impact productivity applications.
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Transformational Mobility - Our platform empowers the mobile workforce to make decisions and take action from any location. It delivers more ways to quickly deploy mobile productivity apps for a variety of business functions and roles on any standard smartphone or tablet.
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HyperIntelligence - Our platform offers the potential to radically improve business processes by enhancing the websites, applications, and mobile devices people use every day with contextual intelligence, next-action suggestions, and workflows.
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Custom Applications - Our platform enables users to create highly customized web and mobile applications that leverage the full breadth of the MicroStrategy platform to deliver intuitive BI apps for teams, departments, and organizations.
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Open, Federated Architecture: MicroStrategy embraces an agile approach to development and innovation, offering the most open analytics platform on the market.
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Federated Analytics - Our platform provides analysts and data scientists with seamless access to trusted, governed data directly within their favorite tools. The MicroStrategy platform integrates with popular business apps including Microsoft Excel, Power BI, and Tableau to provide users with the flexibility to leverage trusted data from MicroStrategy directly within the client applications they are accustomed to. The MicroStrategy platform also provides out-of-the-box integrations to popular data-science tools like Jupyter and RStudio, allowing users to develop predictive, machine learning-enhanced data models on top of the secure and trusted foundation offered by the MicroStrategy platform.
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APIs and Gateways - Our gateways, APIs, and connectors enable the MicroStrategy platform to integrate with the most popular enterprise platforms and tools. We certify more than 200 connectors to popular data sources both locally stored and in the cloud, and we offer a comprehensive set of Representational State Transfer (“REST”) APIs that makes it easy to embed the platform in packaged and custom applications, workflows, and devices. In 2021, we also introduced a new library of administrative Python modules to support advanced automation for deployment, scaling, and upgrading the platform by enterprise systems owners.
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Multiple Deployment Options - We also believe that customers should have the choice of where to deploy their analytics platform without compromising functionality. Our fully featured platform can be deployed in three ways: on premises, the customer’s cloud environment, or the MicroStrategy Cloud™ Environment (“MCE”). MCE is a cloud subscription service that allows customers to deploy the platform on Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) or Microsoft Azure environments, fully managed and hosted by us.
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Enterprise Platform: Our platform is designed to securely scale analytics at high data volumes. The MicroStrategy platform has the tools and functionality that enable organizations to deliver secure, high-performance applications at scale.
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Enterprise Semantic Graph™ - The engine of our platform is our proprietary Enterprise Semantic Graph, which provides a structured view of a company’s data assets by organizing them into understandable business terms. Our Enterprise Semantic Graph also enriches metadata content with real-time location intelligence and content and system usage telemetry. This allows users to have a consistent and secure view of data across the enterprise-effectively delivering what we refer to as a single version of the truth.
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Scalability - Our platform powers some of the largest business intelligence deployments in the world. The platform is designed to scale efficiently to hundreds of thousands of users, with millions of personalized queries, across hundreds of applications, built on top of the largest datasets.
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Security - Our platform includes a comprehensive set of features that provides superior administration, security, and architecture, including role-based access to both row and column data. This level of data security gives our customers that are subject to the most stringent data security requirements, including financial institutions, healthcare providers, and government agencies, the confidence they need to deploy our platform across their enterprise.
MicroStrategy Services™
Through our MicroStrategy Support, MicroStrategy Consulting, and MicroStrategy Education services, we help customers better leverage our platform by offering a comprehensive set of innovative services to deploy, optimize, and maintain their business intelligence platform and applications.
MicroStrategy Support
Our global network of MicroStrategy-certified support experts brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to help customers achieve their system availability and uptime goals and to improve the overall customer experience through highly responsive troubleshooting and proactive technical product support. Standard Support is included in each customer’s maintenance plan. For additional services, customers can choose one of our three premium support options: Extended Support, Premier Support, or Elite Support. With these premium support options, customers can receive extended coverage and enhanced service at each touchpoint.
MicroStrategy Consulting
Our consulting services materially complement our software by increasing analytics adoption and helping our customers achieve returns on investment derived from better understanding their data. Many companies lack the internal expertise to define requirements and deliver solutions in a timely and high-quality manner. MicroStrategy Consulting provides customers with architecture and implementation services to help them quickly realize results. Our consultants serve as critical resources for operations, maintenance, and end-to-end lifecycle projects that develop and deploy customers’ business intelligence environments. With thousands of successful projects delivered to customers worldwide spanning all major industries, our consultants apply industry best practices to guide our customers in defining, developing, and delivering business analytics solutions. MicroStrategy Consulting operates across North America, Latin America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region, with consultants from our local offices and our Global Delivery Center™ in Warsaw, Poland.
MicroStrategy Education
We believe the path to the Intelligent Enterprise™ involves skill-specific paths of learning. To help organizations maximize the utility, adoption, and performance of their MicroStrategy deployments, MicroStrategy Education offers free and paid learning options. MicroStrategy Education is available worldwide in multiple languages and a variety of formats-both live and on-demand.
Analytics Software and Services Strategy
Sales and Services
MicroStrategy sells its platform in two ways. The first is to sell product licenses to customers for them to deploy the platform on their infrastructure either on premises or in the customer’s cloud environment. The second is through MCE, a fully managed and hosted cloud subscription service that allows customers to access our software in a cloud environment designed to deliver a myriad of business benefits. Although sales through MCE have increased as a percentage of our overall sales, the majority of our sales are product licenses sold to customers for them to deploy the platform on their infrastructure either on premises or in the customer’s cloud environment. Revenues from product license sales comprise product licenses revenues, and revenues from cloud subscriptions comprise subscription services revenues.
MicroStrategy sells through our dedicated enterprise sales force and channel partners to increase market coverage in both domestic and international markets. We provide financial incentives for our channel partners to market and distribute our offerings. In addition, we offer a wide range of services that provide support in the discovery, planning, development, and deployment stages of a MicroStrategy offering.
Dedicated Sales Force
We market our offerings chiefly through our direct sales force. We have sales offices in locations throughout the world and use channel partners in several countries where we do not have sales offices.
Channel Partners
We have established strategic alliances with third-party vendors to help ensure the success of our customers’ enterprise intelligence initiatives. Our channel partners are system integrators, consulting firms, resellers, solution providers, managed service providers, original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), and technology companies. These firms utilize the MicroStrategy platform for a variety of commercial purposes, and our agreements with them generally provide non-exclusive rights to market our offerings and allow access to our marketing materials, product training, and direct sales force for field-level assistance.
We make significant commitments to our channel partners, including technical training, certifications, pre-sales and sales enablement, and marketing programs. Through our joint efforts, we believe customers are able to minimize their risk and maximize the return on their business intelligence projects. Our channel partners allow us to leverage sales and service resources and marketing and industry-specific expertise to expand our user base and increase our market coverage.
Marketing
Our marketing programs target the following principal constituencies:
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our historical base of enterprise-wide operational and technology executives and departmental buyers across large global enterprises;
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corporate and departmental technology buyers in mid-sized enterprises;
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government technology buyers and the vendors to the government community;
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independent software vendors that want to embed our technology tools in their solutions; and
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system integrators that have technology relationships with large enterprises, governments, and information-intensive businesses.
As MicroStrategy continues to gain visibility due to our corporate strategy of acquiring and holding bitcoin, we continually seek to increase brand market awareness by focusing messaging on the possibilities for value creation, the benefits of using our platform, and competitive differentiators. The channels we use to communicate with prospective constituencies include digital and social media, advertising, free and evaluation software, events, media coverage, channel partners, and word-of-mouth and peer references.
Customers
Our customers include leading companies from a wide range of industries, including retail, consulting, technology, manufacturing, banking, insurance, finance, healthcare, telecommunications, as well as the public sector.
Competition
The analytics market is highly competitive and subject to rapidly changing technology. Within the analytics space, we compete with multiple software vendors, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Qlik, Salesforce, and SAP. Our future success depends on the ability to differentiate our offerings and successfully compete across analytics implementation projects of varying sizes. Our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors, both within and outside of our control, including software deployment options; analytical, mobility, data discovery, and visualization capabilities; performance and scalability; the quality and reliability of our customer service and support; and brand recognition. Failure to compete successfully in any one of these or other areas may reduce the demand for our offerings and materially adversely affect our revenue from both existing and prospective customers.
Key Differentiators
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A comprehensive, modern, and open enterprise analytics platform uniquely featuring HyperIntelligence, embedded analytics, transformational mobility, and federated analytics.
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Our exclusive and patented HyperIntelligence capabilities that inject contextual analytics into existing tools, websites, and online workflows.
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Our proprietary Enterprise Semantic Graph.
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Over 200 connectors to popular drivers and gateways to enterprise data sources on premise and in the cloud.
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A comprehensive set of REST APIs that makes it easy to embed the platform in packaged and custom applications, workflows, and devices.
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Flexible deployment methods that allow our customers to deploy our platform efficiently and securely using their own hardware or in a cloud environment they manage or via the MCE, our fully managed and hosted cloud subscription service.
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Comprehensive platform administration, security, and architecture, including role-based access to both row and column data.
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A platform that is designed to scale with large datasets and deliver rapid response times.
Government Regulation
Aspects of our business involve collecting, processing, disclosing, storing, and transmitting personal data, which are subject to certain privacy policies, contractual obligations, and U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and directives relating to privacy and data protection. We store a substantial amount of customer and employee data, including personal data, on our networks and other systems and the cloud
environments we manage. In addition, the types of data subject to protection as personal data in the European Union, the United States, and elsewhere have been expanding. In recent years, the collection and use of personal data by companies have come under increased regulatory and public scrutiny, especially in relation to the collection and processing of sensitive data, such as healthcare, biometric, genetic, financial services, and children’s data, precise location data, and data regarding a person’s race or ethnic origins, political opinions, or religious beliefs. For example, in the United States, protected health information is subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), which can provide for civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance. Entities (such as us) that engage in creating, receiving, maintaining, or transmitting protected health information provided by covered entities and other business associates are subject to enforcement under HIPAA. Our access to protected health information triggers obligations to comply with certain privacy rules and data security requirements under HIPAA.
There are a broad variety of other data protection laws in the United States that are applicable to our activities, and a wide range of enforcement agencies at both the state and federal levels that can review companies for privacy and data security concerns based on general consumer protection laws. The Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General all are aggressive in reviewing privacy and data security protections for consumers. New laws also are being considered at both the state and federal levels. A broad range of legislative measures also have been introduced at the federal level. Accordingly, failure to comply with federal and state laws (both those currently in effect and future legislation) regarding privacy and security of personal information could expose us to fines and penalties under such laws. In the event of a security breach, we also may have obligations to notify our customers or other parties or individuals about this breach, and this can lead to significant costs and the risk of potential enforcement and/or litigation. There is also a threat of consumer class actions related to these laws and the overall protection of personal data. Even if we are not determined to have violated these laws, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could harm our reputation and our business.
In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) imposes requirements regarding the handling and security of personal data, requires disclosure of data breaches to individuals, customers, and data protection authorities in certain circumstances, requires companies to honor data subjects’ requests relating to their personal data, permits regulators to impose fines of up to €20,000,000 or 4% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher, and establishes a private right of action. Furthermore, a new ePrivacy Regulation, regulating electronic communications, was proposed in 2017 and is under consideration by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council. More recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) invalidated the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield in July 2020. The U.S.-EU Privacy Shield provided a mechanism to lawfully transfer personal data from the European Union to the United States and certain other countries. In the wake of the invalidation of the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield, we have transitioned to reliance on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) to lawfully transfer certain personal data from the European Union to the United States. The rules involving this alternative data transfer option are also undergoing revision and this transfer mechanism may also be declared invalid (or require us to change our business practices) in the future, requiring us to provide an alternative means of data transfer.
In June 2021, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued formal recommendations on measures to ensure compliance with the EU data protection requirements when transferring personal data outside of the European Economic Area (the “EDPB Recommendations”). In summary, if “problematic legislation” or practices are identified in the destination country which impinge on the effectiveness of the appropriate safeguards of the transfer tool(s), the EDPB now recommends the data exporter to consider whether the laws/practices will be applied in practice to the relevant data, taking into account the importer’s experience and sector.
In addition, the EDPB issued a new set of SCCs in June 2021, which were required to be adopted for new transfers of personal data from September 2021 and replace those used for existing transfers of personal data by December 2022. The new SCCs place obligations on us as a data importer in relation to government authorities’ access requests in respect of personal data transferred under the SCCs. The EDPB Recommendations are designed to be read in tandem with the new SCCs and set out requirements for organizations to assess third countries and identify appropriate data protection supplementary measures to be implemented on a case-by-case basis where needed.
The rules involving this alternative SCC data transfer option are continually undergoing revision and this transfer mechanism may also be declared invalid (or require us to change our business practices) in the future, requiring us to provide an alternative means of data transfer or implement significant changes in our data security and protection practices.
As with other issues related to Brexit, there are open questions about how personal data will be protected in the UK and whether personal information can transfer from the EU to the UK. Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, the UK Data Protection Act of 2018 applies to the processing of personal data that takes place in the UK and includes parallel obligations to those set forth by GDPR. While the Data Protection Act of 2018 in the United Kingdom that “implements” and complements GDPR achieved Royal Assent on May 23, 2018, and is now effective in the United Kingdom, it is still unclear whether transfer of data from the European Economic Area, or EEA, to the United Kingdom will remain lawful under GDPR. The United Kingdom government has already determined that it considers all European Union and EEA member states to be adequate for the purposes of data protection, ensuring that data flows from the United Kingdom to the European Union/EEA remain unaffected. In addition, a recent decision from the European Commission appears to deem the UK as being “essentially adequate” for purposes of data transfer from the EU to the UK, although this decision may be reevaluated in the future.
Brazil also enacted the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (the Brazilian General Data Protection Law), which became effective in August 2020 and imposes requirements largely similar to GDPR on products and services offered to users in Brazil. We may also be subject in China to the Cybersecurity Law that went into effect in June 2017 and a revision of the Personal Information Security Specification that went into effect in October 2020, which have uncertain but broad application and impose a number of new privacy and data security obligations. In the summer of 2021, China passed the Data Security Law of the P.R.C (“DSL”), which came into effect on September 1, 2021. China also passed the Personal Information Protection Law of the P.R.C. (“PIPL”), which came into effect on November 1, 2021. The PIPL resembles GDPR in many aspects but will create new and challenging obligations for companies doing business in China. Under these new regulations, if an entity operating in China violates the law, regulators may order it to take corrective actions, issue warnings, confiscate illegal income, suspend services, revoke operating permits or business licenses, or issue a fine. The fine can be up to ¥50 million or 5 percent of an organization’s annual revenue for the prior financial year. A broad range of other countries continue to explore either new privacy and data security laws or changes to existing laws. These laws may impact our ongoing business activities and our relationships with our business partners, customers and service providers.
In addition to these specific laws, we also are subject to other privacy, security, and data protection laws around the world. In addition, other countries are also considering new or expanded laws governing privacy and data security that may impact our business practices.
The state of California also adopted a comprehensive privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020 and became enforceable in July 2020. We may be required to devote substantial resources to implement and maintain compliance with the CCPA, and noncompliance could result in regulatory investigations and fines or private litigation. Moreover, in November 2020, California voters approved a privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which amends the CCPA to create privacy rights and obligations in California. In addition, other states, including Virginia and Colorado, already have passed state privacy laws. Additional states will be considering these laws in the future which may impact our business activities and our relationships with business partners, customers and service providers.
Furthermore, the U.S. Congress is considering comprehensive privacy legislation. At this time, it is unclear whether Congress will pass such a law and if so, when and what it will require and prohibit. Moreover, it is not clear whether any such legislation would give the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) any new authority to impose civil penalties for violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act in the first instance, whether Congress will grant the FTC rulemaking authority over privacy and information security, or whether Congress will vest some or all privacy and data security regulatory authority and enforcement power in a new agency, akin to EU data protection authorities.
Employees
As of December 31, 2021, we had a total of 2,121 employees, of whom 796 were based in the United States and 1,325 were based internationally. None of our employees in the United States is represented by a labor union; however, employees of certain of our foreign subsidiaries are members of trade or local unions. For example, in France, our employees are represented by a works council as required by local law. We have not experienced any work stoppages and generally consider our relations with our employees to be good.
The following table summarizes employee headcount as of the dates indicated:
December 31,
December 31,
December 31,
Subscription services
Product support
Consulting
Education
Sales and marketing
Research and development
General and administrative
Total headcount
2,121
1,997
2,396
We recognize and value the contribution of all our employees. Due to their dedication, hard work, loyalty, and commitment, we have had continued success as a company. Our philosophy is to create an agile, evolving environment that allows all of our employees to grow and thrive, with initiatives and platforms that reward and recognize employees for their hard work and commitment to delivering personal excellence and creativity at MicroStrategy.
Our human capital management objectives are to attract, retain, and develop leading talent to deliver on our business strategies. To accomplish these objectives, we constantly strive to understand the drivers of talent attraction, retention, and sustainable engagement with our employees in each of the geographies in which we operate. As part of this process, we regularly benchmark the benefits we offer our employees against those offered within our industry generally and the local markets in which we operate. During 2021, we continued to expand our equity compensation programs worldwide to provide our employees with greater opportunities to share in any appreciation of our class A common stock. In addition, we pride ourselves on preparing a highly skilled workforce through technical boot camps, regular training workshops, and a variety of other learning experiences. Our initiative-driven teams work with a modern technology stack, and they meet and learn from some of the most experienced innovators in their field. Through these efforts we seek to create an environment in which our employees can flourish, respond quickly to client demand and enhance their connections with colleagues and towards the communities they are a part of globally.
Available Information
Our website is located at www.microstrategy.com. We make available free of charge, on or through the Investor Relations section of our website (http://ir.microstrategy.com), 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 Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Information found on our website is not part of this Annual Report or any other report filed with the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including us, that file or furnish electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.
If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the market price of our class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business in General
Our quarterly operating results, revenues, and expenses may fluctuate significantly, which could have an adverse effect on the market price of our stock
For many reasons, including those described below, our operating results, revenues, and expenses have varied in the past and may vary significantly in the future from quarter to quarter. These fluctuations could have an adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock.
Fluctuations in Quarterly Operating Results. Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate, in part, as a result of:
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fluctuations in the price of bitcoin, of which we have significant holdings and with respect to which we expect to continue to make significant future purchases, and potential material impairment charges that may be associated therewith;
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any sales by us of our bitcoin at prices above their then current carrying costs, which would result in our recording gains upon sale of our digital assets;
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regulatory, commercial, and technical developments related to bitcoin or the bitcoin blockchain;
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the size, timing, volume, and execution of significant orders and shipments;
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the mix of our offerings ordered by customers, including product licenses and cloud subscriptions, which can affect the extent to which revenue is recognized immediately or over future quarterly periods;
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the timing of the release or delivery of new or enhanced offerings and market acceptance of new and enhanced offerings;
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the timing of announcements of new offerings by us or our competitors;
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changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors;
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the length of our sales cycles;
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seasonal or other buying patterns of our customers;
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changes in our operating expenses;
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the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or other future infectious disease pandemics, on the global economy and on our customers, suppliers, employees, and business;
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the timing of research and development projects;
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utilization of our consulting and education services, which can be affected by delays or deferrals of customer implementation of our software;
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
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bilateral or multilateral trade tensions, which could affect our offerings in particular foreign markets;
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our profitability and expectations for future profitability and their effect on our deferred tax assets and net income for the period in which any adjustment to our net deferred tax asset valuation allowance may be made;
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increases or decreases in our liability for unrecognized tax benefits; and
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changes in customer decision-making processes or customer budgets.
Limited Ability to Adjust Expenses. We base our operating expense budgets on expected revenue trends and strategic objectives. Many of our expenses, such as interest expense on our long-term debt, office leases and certain personnel costs, are relatively fixed. We may be unable to adjust spending quickly enough to offset any unexpected revenue shortfall or impairment losses related to our digital assets. Accordingly, any shortfall in revenue from our enterprise analytics software business or impairment losses related to our digital assets may cause significant variation in operating results in any quarter.
Based on the above factors, we believe quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results are not a good indication of our future performance. It is possible that in one or more future quarters, our operating results may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors. In that event, the market price of our class A common stock may fall.
We may not be able to regain or increase profitability in the future
We generated a net loss for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and we may not be able to regain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future. If our revenues are not sufficient to offset our operating expenses, or we are unable to adjust our operating expenses in a timely manner in response to any shortfall in anticipated revenue, we may incur operating losses in future periods, our profitability may decrease, or we may cease to be profitable. As a result, our business, results of operations, and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.
As of December 31, 2021, we had $319.8 million of deferred tax assets, which reflects a $1.0 million valuation allowance. The largest deferred tax asset relates to the impairment on our bitcoin holdings. If the market value of bitcoin declines, we may be required to increase the valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset. Additionally, if we are unable to regain or increase profitability in the future, we may also be required to increase the valuation allowance against the remaining deferred tax assets. A significant increase in the valuation allowance could result in a charge that would materially adversely affect net income in the period in which the charge is incurred.
We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities
We are subject to income taxes and non-income taxes in a variety of domestic and foreign jurisdictions. Our future income tax liability could be materially adversely affected by earnings that are lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates, earnings that are higher than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in the amount of unrecognized tax benefits, or changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, or interpretations thereof (including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic). In addition, if we sold any of our bitcoin at prices greater than the cost basis of the bitcoin sold, we would incur a tax liability with respect to any gain recognized, and such tax liability could be material.
Changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise, including as a result of the project undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) to combat base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, has issued recommendations that, in some cases, make substantial changes to numerous long-standing tax positions and principles. These changes, many of which have been adopted or are under active consideration by OECD members and/or other countries, could increase tax uncertainty and may adversely affect our provision for income taxes.
In addition, in response to significant market volatility and disruptions to business operations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, legislatures and taxing authorities in many jurisdictions in which we operate have implemented, and in the future may implement additional, changes to their tax rules. As part of the U.S. Congress’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCR Act”) and the CARES Act were enacted in March 2020. Both contain numerous tax provisions. Regulatory guidance under the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), FFCR Act, and CARES Act is and continues to be forthcoming, and such guidance could ultimately increase or lessen the impact of these laws on our business and financial condition. Additional legislation may be enacted in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which could have tax provisions that impact us. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act, FFCR Act, or CARES Act. These changes in law could include modifications that have temporary effect or more permanent changes. The impact of these changes on us, our long-term tax planning, and our effective tax rate could be material.
Our determination of our tax liability is subject to review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities. Any adverse outcome of such reviews could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires significant judgment and, in the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Moreover, as a multinational business, we have subsidiaries that engage in many intercompany transactions in a variety of tax jurisdictions where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain.
We also have contingent tax liabilities that, in management’s judgment, are not probable of assertion. If such unasserted contingent liabilities were to be asserted, or become probable of assertion, we may be required to record significant expenses and liabilities in the period in which these liabilities are asserted or become probable of assertion.
As a result of these and other factors, the ultimate amount of tax obligations owed may differ from the amounts recorded in our financial statements and any such difference may materially affect our financial results in future periods in which we change our estimates of our tax obligations or in which the ultimate tax outcome is determined.
Risks Related to Our Bitcoin Acquisition Strategy and Holdings
Our bitcoin acquisition strategy exposes us to various risks associated with bitcoin
In September 2020, our Board of Directors adopted our Treasury Reserve Policy, under which our treasury reserve assets will consist of (i) Cash Assets held by us that exceed working capital requirements and (ii) bitcoin held by us, with bitcoin serving as the primary treasury reserve asset on an ongoing basis, subject to market conditions and anticipated needs of the business for Cash Assets.
In the first quarter of 2021, we determined to adopt, in addition to and in conjunction with our Treasury Reserve Policy, a corporate strategy of acquiring and holding bitcoin, and from time to time, subject to market conditions, issuing debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase additional bitcoin.
We are continually examining the risks and rewards of our bitcoin acquisition strategy. This strategy has not been tested over time or under various market conditions. Some investors and other market participants may disagree with this strategy or actions we undertake to implement it. If bitcoin prices fall or our bitcoin acquisition strategy otherwise proves unsuccessful, it would adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations, and the market price of our class A common stock.
As of February 14, 2022, we held approximately 125,051 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.777 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $30,200 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. These purchases included purchases of bitcoin using the net proceeds from our issuance of $650.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2025 Convertible Notes in the fourth quarter of 2020, our issuance of $1.050 billion aggregate principal amount of our 2027 Convertible Notes in the first quarter of 2021, our issuance of $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2028 Secured Notes in the second quarter of 2021, and our issuance and sale of 1,413,767 shares of our class A common stock pursuant to an Open Market Sale Agreement (the “Open Market Sale Agreement”) with Jefferies LLC, as agent (“Jefferies”), pursuant to which we issued and sold shares of our class A common stock having an aggregate offering price of approximately $1.0 billion from time to time through Jefferies (the “Open Market Offering”) in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. As part of our overall corporate strategy, we expect to purchase additional bitcoin in future periods, though we may also sell bitcoin in future periods as needed to generate Cash Assets for treasury management purposes.
While our bitcoin is currently owned directly by us or our wholly owned subsidiaries, we may investigate other potential approaches to holding our bitcoin assets. If we change the means by which we hold our bitcoin assets, the accounting treatment for our bitcoin may correspondingly change. A change in the accounting treatment of our bitcoin holdings could have a material impact on our results of operations in future periods and could increase the volatility of our reported results of operations as well as affect the carrying value of our bitcoin on our balance sheet, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and the market price of our class A common stock.
Bitcoin is a highly volatile asset that has traded below $30,000 per bitcoin and above $65,000 per bitcoin on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) in the 12 months preceding the date of this Annual Report. Bitcoin does not pay interest or other returns and so our ability to generate cash from our bitcoin holdings depends on sales or implementing strategies that we may consider to create income streams or otherwise generate funds using our bitcoin holdings, including lending bitcoin to counterparties. The impact of our bitcoin holdings on our financial results and the market price of our class A common stock will increase as we increase our overall holdings of bitcoin in the future. See “Risks Related to Our Bitcoin Acquisition Strategy and Holdings - Our historical financial statements do not reflect the potential variability in earnings that we may experience in the future relating to our bitcoin holdings.”
The price of bitcoin may be influenced by regulatory, commercial, and technical factors that are highly uncertain, and fluctuations in the price of bitcoin are likely to influence our financial results and the market price of our class A common stock
Fluctuations in the price of bitcoin are likely to influence our financial results and the market price of our class A common stock. Our financial results and the market price of our class A common stock would be adversely affected and our business and financial condition could be negatively impacted if the price of bitcoin decreased substantially, including as a result of:
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decreased user and investor confidence in bitcoin;
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investment and trading activities of highly active retail and institutional users, speculators, miners and investors;
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negative publicity or events relating to bitcoin;
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negative or unpredictable media or social media coverage on bitcoin;
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public sentiment related to the actual or perceived environmental impact of bitcoin and related activities, including environmental concerns raised by private individuals and governmental actors related to the energy resources consumed in the bitcoin mining process;
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changes in consumer preferences and the perceived value of bitcoin;
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competition from other crypto assets that exhibit better speed, security, scalability, or other characteristics, or that are backed by governments, including the U.S. government;
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the correlation between the prices of digital assets, including the potential that a crash in one digital asset or widespread defaults on one digital asset exchange or trading venue may cause a crash in the price of bitcoin, or a series of defaults by counterparties on bitcoin asset exchanges or trading venues;
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the identification of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, or the transfer of Satoshi’s bitcoin;
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interruptions in service or failures of the principal markets for bitcoin;
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further reductions in mining rewards of bitcoin, including block reward halving events, which are events that occur after a specific period of time that reduce the block reward earned by “miners” who validate bitcoin transactions;
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transaction congestion and fees associated with processing transactions on the bitcoin network;
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changes in the level of interest rates and inflation, monetary policies of governments, trade restrictions, and fiat currency devaluations;
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developments in mathematics or technology, including in digital computing, algebraic geometry and quantum computing, that could result in the cryptography being used by bitcoin becoming insecure or ineffective; and
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national and international economic and political conditions.
In addition, bitcoin and other digital assets are relatively novel and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may adversely impact their price. The application of securities laws and other regulations to such assets is unclear in certain respects, and it is possible that regulators in the United States or foreign countries may create new regulations or interpret laws in a manner that adversely affects the price of bitcoin. For example, foreign government authorities have recently expanded their efforts to restrict certain activities related to bitcoin and other digital assets. In China, the People’s Bank of China and the National Development and Reform Commission have outlawed cryptocurrency mining and declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal within the country. In India, it has been reported that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has circulated draft legislation that would prohibit mining, holding, selling, trading, or using cryptocurrencies in the country. Similarly, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued a report in January 2022 advocating for a wide-ranging ban on crypto-related activities including the issuance, exchange, and mining of cryptocurrencies in Russian territory, citing threats to financial stability, citizens’ wellbeing and its monetary policy sovereignty. Moreover, the risks of engaging in a bitcoin-focused business strategy are relatively novel and have created, and may create further, complications due to the lack of experience that third parties have with companies engaging in such a business, such as the unavailability of director and officer liability insurance on acceptable terms.
The growth of the digital assets industry in general, and the use and acceptance of bitcoin in particular, may also impact the price of bitcoin and is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The pace of worldwide growth in the adoption and use of bitcoin may depend, for instance, on public familiarity with digital assets, ease of buying and accessing bitcoin, institutional demand for bitcoin as an investment asset, consumer demand for bitcoin as a means of payment, and the availability and popularity of alternatives to bitcoin. Even if growth in bitcoin adoption occurs in the near or medium-term, there is no assurance that bitcoin usage will continue to grow over the long-term.
Because bitcoin has no physical existence beyond the record of transactions on the bitcoin blockchain, a variety of technical factors related to the bitcoin blockchain could also impact the price of bitcoin. For example, malicious attacks by miners, inadequate mining fees to incentivize validating of bitcoin transactions, hard “forks” of the bitcoin blockchain into multiple blockchains, and advances in digital computing, algebraic geometry, and quantum computing could undercut the integrity of the bitcoin blockchain and negatively affect the price of bitcoin. The liquidity of bitcoin may also be reduced and damage to the public perception of bitcoin may occur, if financial institutions were to deny banking services to businesses that hold bitcoin, provide bitcoin-related services or accept bitcoin as payment, which could also decrease the price of bitcoin.
Our historical financial statements do not reflect the potential variability in earnings that we may experience in the future relating to our bitcoin holdings
Our historical financial statements do not fully reflect the potential variability in earnings that we may experience in the future from holding or selling significant amounts of bitcoin.
The price of bitcoin has historically been subject to dramatic price fluctuations and is highly volatile. As explained more fully in Note 2(g) to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in this annual report, we determine the fair value of our bitcoin based on quoted (unadjusted) prices on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market). We perform an analysis each
quarter to identify whether events or changes in circumstances, principally decreases in the quoted (unadjusted) prices on the active exchange, indicate that it is more likely than not that any of our bitcoin assets are impaired. In determining if an impairment has occurred, we consider the lowest price of one bitcoin quoted on the active exchange at any time since acquiring the specific bitcoin held. If the carrying value of a bitcoin exceeds that lowest price at any time during the quarter, an impairment loss is deemed to have occurred with respect to that bitcoin in the amount equal to the difference between its carrying value and such lowest price, and subsequent increases in the price of bitcoin will not affect the carrying value of our bitcoin. Gains (if any) are not recorded until realized upon sale, at which point they would be presented net of any impairment losses. In determining the gain to be recognized upon sale, we calculate the difference between the sale price and carrying value of the specific bitcoin sold immediately prior to sale.
As a result, any decrease in the fair value of bitcoin below our carrying value for such assets at any time since their acquisition requires us to incur an impairment charge, and such charge could be material to our financial results for the applicable reporting period, which may create significant volatility in our reported earnings and decrease the carrying value of our digital assets, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock.
At December 31, 2021, we carried $2.850 billion of digital assets on our balance sheet, consisting of approximately 124,391 bitcoins and reflecting $901.3 million in cumulative impairment losses attributable to bitcoin trading price fluctuations, and held $63.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to a carrying value of $1.054 million of digital assets, consisting of approximately 70,469 bitcoins, and $59.7 million in cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2020. Digital asset impairment losses of $830.6 million incurred during the year ended December 31, 2021 represented 69.0% of our operating expenses, compared to $70.7 million in digital asset impairment losses representing 17.5% of our operating expenses in the year ended December 31, 2020, contributing to our net loss of $535.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to net loss of $7.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Because we intend to purchase additional bitcoin in future periods and increase our overall holdings of bitcoin, we expect that the proportion of our total assets represented by our bitcoin holdings will increase in the future. As a result, volatility in our earnings in future periods may be significantly more than what we experienced in prior periods.
Changes in securities regulation may adversely impact the market price of our class A common stock
Although bitcoin and other digital assets have experienced a surge of investor attention since bitcoin was invented in 2008, investors in the United States currently have limited means to gain exposure to bitcoin through traditional investment channels such as 401(k) retirement accounts, and instead generally must hold bitcoin through “hosted” wallets provided by digital asset service providers or through “unhosted” wallets that expose the investor to risks associated with loss or hacking of their private keys. Given the relative novelty of digital assets, general lack of familiarity with the processes needed to hold bitcoin directly, as well as the potential reluctance of financial planners and advisers to recommend direct bitcoin holdings to their retail customers because of the manner in which such holdings are custodied, some investors have sought exposure to bitcoin through investment vehicles that hold bitcoin and issue shares representing fractional undivided interests in their underlying bitcoin holdings. Although a number of investment vehicles currently offer this exposure to bitcoin, none of these investment vehicles currently offers its shares directly to the public in the United States, and such shares are offered only to “accredited investors” on a private placement basis. Investors who are not eligible to participate in these private placements may nevertheless purchase shares of these investment vehicles in the over-the-counter market, where such shares have historically traded at a premium to the net asset value (“NAV”) of the underlying bitcoin. These premiums have at times been substantial.
One reason for the substantial premium to NAV exhibited by the trading prices of shares of some bitcoin investment vehicles may be because of the relative scarcity of traditional investment vehicles providing investment exposure to bitcoin. To the extent investors view the value of our class A common stock as providing such exposure, it is possible that the value of our class A common stock also includes a premium over the value of our bitcoin.
Another reason for the substantial premium to NAV exhibited by the trading prices of shares of some bitcoin investment vehicles is that such vehicles operate in a manner similar to closed-end investment funds as opposed to exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and therefore do not continuously offer to create and redeem their shares at NAV in exchange for bitcoin. Although several bitcoin investment vehicles have attempted to list their shares on a U.S. national securities exchange to permit them to function in the manner of an ETF with continuous share creation and redemption at NAV, the SEC has generally declined to approve any such listing, citing concerns over the surveillance of trading in markets for the underlying bitcoin as well as concerns about fraud and manipulation in bitcoin trading markets. However, in October 2021, the SEC permitted the listing of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (the “ProShares ETF”), an ETF that invests primarily in bitcoin futures contracts. Although this ETF allows investors to obtain managed exposure to bitcoin futures contracts, it does not invest directly in bitcoin. As a result, it is unclear as to whether or to what extent the existence of this ETF or other ETFs that invest in bitcoin futures contracts that may be listed in the future will have on any premium over the value of our bitcoin holdings that may be included in the value of our class A common stock. Shortly after the listing of the ProShares ETF, the SEC permitted the listing of the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (the “Valkyrie ETF”), another ETF that invests primarily in bitcoin futures contracts.
If the SEC were to further resolve its concerns regarding surveillance of and the existence of fraud and manipulation in the bitcoin trading markets, it is possible that the SEC would permit the listing of ETFs specializing in the direct acquisition and holding of bitcoin, allowing these funds to offer their shares directly to the public. In addition to greatly simplifying the task of gaining investment exposure to bitcoin, the listing of a bitcoin ETF with continuous share creation and redemption at NAV would be expected to eliminate the NAV premiums currently exhibited by shares of investment vehicles that trade in the over-the-counter market. To the extent that our class A common stock is viewed as an alternative-to-bitcoin investment vehicle and trades at a premium to the value of our bitcoin holdings, that premium may also be eliminated, causing the price of our class A common stock to decline.
In addition, the introduction of the ProShares ETF, the Valkyrie ETF, and any additional bitcoin ETFs on U.S. national securities exchanges may be viewed by investors as offering “pure play” exposure to bitcoin that would generally not be subject to federal income tax at the entity level as we are.
As a result of the foregoing factors, to the extent investors view our class A common stock as linked to the value of our bitcoin holdings, the introduction of bitcoin ETFs on U.S. national securities exchanges could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock.
Our bitcoin holdings could subject us to regulatory scrutiny
As noted above, several bitcoin investment vehicles have attempted to list their shares on a U.S. national securities exchange to permit them to function in the manner of an ETF with continuous share creation and redemption at NAV. To date the SEC has declined to approve any such listing, citing concerns over the surveillance of trading in markets for the underlying bitcoin as well as concerns about fraud and manipulation in bitcoin trading markets. Even though we do not function in the manner of an ETF and do not offer continuous share creation and redemption at NAV, it is possible that we nevertheless could face regulatory scrutiny from the SEC, as a company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act and traded on The Nasdaq Global Select Market.
In addition, as digital assets, including bitcoin, have grown in popularity and market size, there has been increasing focus on the extent to which digital assets can be used to launder the proceeds of illegal activities or fund criminal or terrorist activities, or entities subject to sanctions regimes. While we have implemented and maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to promote compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and regulations and take care to only acquire our bitcoin through entities subject to anti-money laundering regulation and related compliance rules in the United States, if we are found to have purchased any of our bitcoin from bad actors that have used bitcoin to launder money or persons subject to sanctions, we may be subject to regulatory proceedings and any further transactions or dealings in bitcoin by us may be restricted or prohibited.
We may consider issuing debt or other financial instruments that may be collateralized by our bitcoin holdings and may consider strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate funds using our bitcoin holdings, including lending bitcoin to counterparties. To the extent that we enter into bitcoin-related transactions beyond simply acquiring and holding bitcoin, such transactions subject us to additional regulatory compliance requirements, including federal and state money services regulations, money transmitter licensing requirements and various commodity laws and regulations.
In addition, private actors that are wary of bitcoin or the regulatory concerns associated with bitcoin may take actions that may have an adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock. For example, an affiliate of HSBC Holdings has prohibited customers of its HSBC InvestDirect retail investment platform from buying shares of our class A common stock after determining that the value of our stock is related to the performance of bitcoin, indicating that it did not want to facilitate exposure to virtual currencies.
Due to the unregulated nature and lack of transparency surrounding the operations of many bitcoin trading venues, they may experience fraud, security failures or operational problems, which may adversely affect the value of our bitcoin
Bitcoin trading venues are relatively new and, in some cases, unregulated. Furthermore, there are many bitcoin trading venues which do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices and regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in bitcoin trading venues, including prominent exchanges that handle a significant volume of bitcoin trading, in the event one or more bitcoin trading venues experience fraud, security failures or operational problems.
For example, in 2019 there were reports claiming that 80-95% of bitcoin trading volume on trading venues was false or non-economic in nature, with specific focus on unregulated exchanges located outside of the United States. Such reports may indicate that the bitcoin market is significantly smaller than expected and that the United States makes up a significantly larger percentage of the bitcoin market than is commonly understood. Any actual or perceived false trading in the bitcoin market, and any other fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices, could adversely affect the value of our bitcoin.
Negative perception, a lack of stability in the broader bitcoin markets and the closure or temporary shutdown of bitcoin trading venues due to fraud, business failure, hackers or malware, or government-mandated regulation may reduce confidence in bitcoin and result in greater volatility in the prices of bitcoin. To the extent investors view our class A common stock as linked to the value of our bitcoin holdings, these potential consequences of a bitcoin trading venue’s failure could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock.
The concentration of our bitcoin holdings enhances the risks inherent in our bitcoin acquisition strategy
As of February 14, 2022, we held approximately 125,051 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.777 billion and we intend to purchase additional bitcoin and increase our overall holdings of bitcoin in the future. The concentration of our bitcoin holdings limits the risk mitigation that we could take advantage of by purchasing a more diversified portfolio of treasury assets, and the absence of diversification enhances the risks inherent in our bitcoin acquisition strategy. If there is a significant decrease in the price of bitcoin, we will experience a more pronounced impact on our financial condition than if we used our cash to purchase a more diverse portfolio of assets.
Our bitcoin holdings are less liquid than our existing cash and cash equivalents and may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents
In September 2020, we adopted bitcoin as our primary treasury reserve asset. Historically, the bitcoin markets have been characterized by more price volatility, less liquidity, and lower trading volumes compared to sovereign currencies markets, as well as relative anonymity, a developing regulatory landscape, susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, and various other risks inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network. During times of market instability, we may not be able to sell our bitcoin at reasonable prices or at all. As a result, our bitcoin holdings may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents. If we are unable to sell our bitcoin, or if we are forced to sell our bitcoin at a significant loss, in order to meet our working capital requirements, our business and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
If we or our third-party service providers experience a security breach or cyberattack and unauthorized parties obtain access to our bitcoin, we may lose some or all of our bitcoin and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected
Security breaches and cyberattacks are of particular concern with respect to our bitcoin. Bitcoin and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have been, and may in the future be, subject to security breaches, cyberattacks, or other malicious activities. For example, in October 2021 it was reported that hackers exploited a flaw in the account recovery process and stole from the accounts of at least 6,000 customers of the Coinbase exchange (our principal market), although the flaw was subsequently fixed and Coinbase reimbursed affected customers. Nonetheless, a successful security breach or cyberattack could result in:
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a partial or total loss of our bitcoin in a manner that may not be covered by insurance or indemnity provisions of the custody agreement with a custodian who holds our bitcoin;
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harm to our reputation and brand;
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improper disclosure of data and violations of applicable data privacy and other laws; or
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significant regulatory scrutiny, investigations, fines, penalties, and other legal, regulatory, contractual and financial exposure.
Further, any actual or perceived data security breach or cybersecurity attack directed at other companies with digital assets or companies that operate digital asset networks, whether or not we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of confidence in the broader bitcoin blockchain ecosystem or in the use of bitcoin networks to conduct financial transactions, which could negatively impact us.
Attacks upon systems across a variety of industries, including industries related to bitcoin, are increasing in frequency, persistence, and sophistication, and, in many cases, are being conducted by sophisticated, well-funded and organized groups and individuals, including state actors. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper or illegal access to systems and information (including personal data and digital assets), disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly, and often are not recognized or detected until after they have been launched against a target. These attacks may occur on our systems or those of our third-party service providers or partners. We may experience breaches of our security measures due to human error, malfeasance, insider threats, system errors or vulnerabilities or other irregularities. In particular, unauthorized parties have attempted, and we expect that they will continue to attempt, to gain access to our systems and facilities, as well as those of our partners and third-party service providers, through various means, such as hacking, social engineering, phishing and fraud. In the past, hackers have successfully employed a social engineering attack against one of our service providers and misappropriated our digital assets, although, to date, such events have not been material to our financial condition or operating results. Threats can come from a variety of sources, including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, and insiders. In addition, certain types of attacks could harm us even if our systems are left undisturbed. For example, certain threats are designed to remain dormant or undetectable, sometimes for extended periods of time, or until launched against a target and we may not be able to implement adequate preventative measures.
Further, there has been an increase in such activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Any future breach of our operations or those of others in the bitcoin industry, including third-party services on which we rely, could materially and adversely affect our business.
The loss or destruction of a private key required to access our bitcoin may be irreversible. If we are unable to access our private keys or if we experience a cyberattack or other data loss relating to our bitcoin, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected
Bitcoin is controllable only by the possessor of both the unique public key and private key relating to the local or online digital wallet in which the bitcoin is held. While the bitcoin blockchain ledger requires a public key relating to a digital wallet to be published when used in a transaction, private keys must be safeguarded and kept private in order to prevent a third party from accessing the bitcoin held in such wallet. To the extent our private key is lost, destroyed, or otherwise compromised and no backup of the private key is accessible, we will be unable to access the bitcoin held in the related digital wallet. Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that our digital wallets will not be compromised as a result of a cyberattack. The bitcoin and blockchain ledger, as well as other cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, have been, and may in the future be, subject to security breaches, cyberattacks, or other malicious activities.
In light of the significant amount of bitcoin we hold, we are continuing to seek a greater degree of diversification in the use of custodial services as the extent of potential risk of loss is dependent, in part, on the degree of diversification. As of December 31, 2021, the insurance that covers losses of our bitcoin holdings covers only a small fraction of the value of the entirety of our bitcoin holdings, and there can be no guarantee that such insurance will be maintained as part of the custodial services we have or that such coverage will cover losses with respect to our bitcoin.
Regulatory change reclassifying bitcoin as a security could lead to our classification as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin and the market price of our class A common stock
While senior SEC officials have stated their view that bitcoin is not a “security” for purposes of the federal securities laws, the SEC has so far refused to permit the listing of any bitcoin-based ETFs, citing, among other things, concerns regarding bitcoin market integrity and custodial protections. It is possible that the SEC could take a contrary position to the one taken by its senior officials or a federal court could conclude that bitcoin is a security. Such a determination could lead to our classification as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which would subject us to significant additional regulatory controls that could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations and also may require us to substantially change the manner in which we conduct our business.
In addition, if bitcoin is determined to constitute a security for purposes of the federal securities laws, the additional regulatory restrictions imposed by such a determination could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin and in turn adversely affect the market price of our class A common stock.
A significant decrease in the market value of our bitcoin holdings could adversely affect our ability to service our indebtedness
As a result of our bitcoin acquisition strategy and our Treasury Reserve Policy, the majority of our assets are concentrated in our bitcoin holdings. The concentration of our assets in bitcoin limits our ability to mitigate risk that could otherwise be achieved by purchasing a more diversified portfolio of treasury assets. Accordingly, if there is a significant decrease in the market price of bitcoin, the market value of our bitcoin holdings will experience a significant decline, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Any material adverse effect on our financial condition caused by a significant decline in the market value of our bitcoin holdings may create liquidity and credit risks for our business operations, as we would have limited means to obtain cash beyond the revenues generated by our enterprise analytics software business. To the extent that the cash generated by our enterprise analytics software business is insufficient to satisfy our debt service obligations, and to the extent that the liquidation of our bitcoin holdings would be insufficient to satisfy our debt service obligations, we may be unable to make scheduled payments on our current or future indebtedness, which could cause us to default on our debt obligations. Any default on our current or future indebtedness may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. See “Risks Related to Our Outstanding and Potential Future Indebtedness” for additional details about the risks which may impact us if we are unable to service our indebtedness.
Risks Related to Our Enterprise Analytics Software Business Strategy
We depend on revenue from a single software platform and related services as well as revenue from our installed customer base
Our revenue is derived from sales of our analytics software platform and related services. Although demand for analytics software has continued to grow, the market for analytics offerings continues to evolve. Resistance from consumer and privacy groups to commercial collection, use, and sharing of personal data has grown in recent years and our customers, potential customers, or the general public may perceive that use of our analytics software could violate individual privacy rights. In addition, increasing government restrictions on
the collection, use, and transfer of personal data could impair the further growth of the market for analytics software, especially in foreign markets. Because we depend on revenue from a single software platform and related services, our business could be harmed by a decline in demand for, or in the adoption or prices of, our platform and related services as a result of, among other factors, any change in our pricing or packaging model, increased competition, maturation in the markets for our platform, or other risks described in this Annual Report. We also depend on our installed customer base for a substantial portion of our revenue. If our existing customers cancel or fail to renew their service contracts or fail to make additional purchases from us, our revenue could decrease and our operating results could be materially adversely affected.
A substantial customer shift in the deployment of the MicroStrategy platform from a product license model to a cloud subscription model could result in higher future rates of attrition of customers from the MicroStrategy platform and could affect the timing of revenue recognition, reduce product licenses and product support revenues, and materially adversely affect our operating results, and our ability to accelerate our cloud strategy could be negatively impacted by any inability to provide necessary sales and engineering support
We offer our analytics platform in the form of a product license or a cloud subscription. Given that it is relatively easy for customers to migrate on and off our cloud subscription platform, a substantial shift among our customers toward our cloud platform could result in higher future rates of attrition among our customers. In addition, the payment streams and revenue recognition timing for our product licenses are different from those for our cloud subscriptions. For product licenses, customers typically pay us a lump sum soon after entering into a license agreement, and we typically recognize product licenses revenue when control of the license is transferred to the customer. For cloud subscriptions, customers typically make periodic payments over the subscription period and we recognize subscription services revenues ratably over the subscription period. As a result, if a substantial number of current customers shift to, or new customers purchase, cloud subscriptions instead of product licenses, the resulting change in payment terms and revenue recognition may result in our recognizing less revenue in the reporting period in which the sale transactions are consummated than has been the case in prior periods, with more revenue being recognized in future periods. This change in the timing of revenue recognition could materially adversely affect our operating results and cash flows for the periods during which such a shift or change in purchasing occurs. Accordingly, in any particular reporting period, cloud subscription sales could negatively impact product license sales to our existing and prospective customers, which could reduce product licenses and product support revenues. Finally, our ability to accelerate our cloud strategy could be negatively impacted by any inability to provide necessary sales and sales engineering support, including the support of channel partners, our internal sales team, and digital marketing.
We use channel partners and if we are unable to maintain successful relationships with them, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected
In addition to our direct sales force, we use channel partners, such as system integrators, consulting firms, resellers, solution providers, managed service providers, OEMs, and technology companies, to license and support our offerings. For the year ended December 31, 2021, transactions by channel partners for which we recognized revenue accounted for 32.0% of our total product licenses revenues, and our ability to achieve revenue growth in the future will depend in part on our ability to maintain these relationships. Our channel partners may offer customers the products and services of several different companies, including competing offerings, and we cannot be certain that they will prioritize or devote adequate resources to selling our offerings. If we are unable to maintain our relationships with our channel partners, or if we experience a reduction in sales by our channel partners, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
In addition, we rely on our channel partners to operate in accordance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements. If they fail to do so, we may need to incur significant costs in responding to investigations or enforcement actions or paying penalties assessed by the applicable authorities. We also rely on our channel partners to operate in accordance with the terms of their contractual agreements with us. For example, some of our agreements with our channel partners prescribe the terms and conditions pursuant to which they are authorized to resell or distribute our software and offer technical support and related services. If our channel partners do not comply with their contractual obligations to us, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.
Our recognition of deferred revenue and advance payments is subject to future performance obligations and may not be representative of revenues for succeeding periods
Our deferred revenue and advance payments totaled $217.9 million as of December 31, 2021. The timing and ultimate recognition of our deferred revenue and advance payments depend on various factors, including our performance of various service obligations.
Because of the possibility of customer changes or delays in customer development or implementation schedules or budgets, and the need for us to satisfactorily perform product support and other services, deferred revenue and advance payments at any particular date may not be representative of actual revenue for any succeeding period.
In addition, we had $49.7 million of other remaining performance obligations as of December 31, 2021, consisting of the portions of multi-year contracts that will be invoiced in the future that are not reflected on our balance sheet. As with deferred revenue and advanced payments, these other remaining performance obligations at any particular date may not be representative of actual revenue for any succeeding period.
We may lose sales, or sales may be delayed, due to the long sales and implementation cycles of certain of our offerings, which could materially adversely affect our revenues and operating results
The decision to purchase our offerings typically requires our customers to invest substantial time, money, personnel, and other resources, which can result in long sales cycles that can exceed nine months. These long sales cycles increase the risk that intervening events, such as the introduction of new offerings and changes in customer budgets and purchasing priorities, will affect the size, timing, and completion of an order. Even if an order is completed, the time and resources required to implement and integrate our offerings vary widely depending on customer needs and the complexity of deployment. If we lose sales or sales are delayed due to these long sales and implementation cycles, our revenues and operating results for that period may be materially adversely affected.
Our results in any particular period may depend on the number and volume of large transactions in that period and these transactions may involve lengthier, more complex, and more unpredictable sales cycles than other transactions
Larger, enterprise-level transactions often require considerably more resources, are often more complex to implement, and typically require additional management approval, which may result in a lengthier, more complex, and less predictable sales cycle and may increase the risk that an order is delayed or not brought to completion. We may also encounter greater competition and pricing pressure on these larger transactions, and our sales and delivery efforts may be more costly. The presence or absence of one or more large transactions in a particular period may have a material effect on our revenues and operating results for that period and may result in lower estimated revenues and earnings in future periods. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our top three product licenses transactions with recognized revenue totaled $12.6 million, or 12.4% of total product licenses revenues, compared to $15.3 million, or 17.6% of total product licenses revenues, for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Our offerings face intense competition, which may lead to lower prices for our offerings, reduced gross margins, loss of market share, and reduced revenue
The analytics market is highly competitive and subject to rapidly changing technology. Within the analytics space, we compete with many different software vendors, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Qlik, Salesforce, and SAP. Our future success depends on our ability to differentiate our offerings and successfully compete across analytics implementation projects of varying sizes. Our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors, both within and outside of our control. Some of these factors include software deployment options; analytical, mobility, data discovery, and visualization capabilities; performance and scalability; the quality and reliability of our customer service and support; and brand recognition. Failure to compete successfully in any one of these or other areas may reduce the demand for our offerings and materially adversely affect our revenue from both existing and prospective customers.
Some of our competitors have longer operating histories, more focused business strategies and significantly greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do. As a result, they may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale, and marketing of their offerings than we can, such as offering certain analytics products free of charge when bundled with other products. In addition, many of our competitors have strong relationships with current and potential customers, extensive industry and specialized business knowledge, and corresponding proprietary technologies that they can leverage. As a result, they may be able to prevent us from penetrating new accounts or expanding existing accounts.
Increased competition may lead to price cuts, reduced gross margins, and loss of market share. The failure to compete successfully and meet the competitive pressures we face may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Current and future competitors may also make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with others. By doing so, these competitors may increase their ability to meet the needs of our potential customers by their expanded offerings and rapidly gain significant market share, which could limit our ability to obtain revenues from new customers and to sustain software maintenance revenues from our installed customer base. In addition, basic office productivity software suites, such as Microsoft Office, could evolve to offer advanced analysis and reporting capabilities that may reduce the demand for our analytics offerings.
Risks Related to Our Technology and Intellectual Property
If we are unable to develop and release new offerings and software enhancements to respond to rapid technological change, new customer requirements, or evolving industry standards in a timely and cost-effective manner, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected
The market for our offerings is characterized by frequent new offerings and software enhancements in response to rapid technological change, new customer requirements, and evolving industry standards. The introduction of new or enhanced offerings can quickly make existing ones obsolete. We believe our future success depends largely on our ability to continue to support popular operating systems and databases, maintain and improve our current offerings, rapidly develop new offerings and software enhancements that achieve market acceptance, maintain technological competitiveness, and meet an expanding range of customer requirements.
Analytics applications are inherently complex, and research and development can be costly and time consuming. In addition, customers may delay their purchasing decisions because they anticipate that new or enhanced versions of our offerings will soon become available or because of concerns regarding the complexity of migration or performance issues related to new offerings. We cannot be sure that we will succeed in developing, marketing, and delivering, on a timely and cost-effective basis, new or enhanced offerings that will achieve market acceptance. Moreover, even if our new offerings achieve market acceptance, we may experience a decline in revenues of our existing offerings that is not fully matched by the new offering’s revenue. This could result in a temporary or permanent revenue shortfall and materially adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We depend on technology licensed to us by third parties, and changes in or discontinuances of such licenses could impair our software, delay implementation of our offerings, or force us to pay higher license fees
We license third-party technologies that are incorporated into or utilized by our existing offerings. These licenses may be terminated, or we may be unable to license third-party technologies for future offerings. In addition, we may be unable to renegotiate acceptable third-party license terms, or we may be subject to infringement liability if third-party technologies that we license are found to infringe intellectual property rights of others. Changes in or discontinuance of third-party licenses could lead to a material increase in our costs or to our offerings becoming inoperable or their performance being materially reduced. As a result, we may need to incur additional development costs to help ensure continued performance of our offerings, and we may experience a decreased demand for our offerings.
Changes in third-party software or systems or the emergence of new industry standards could materially adversely affect the operation of and demand for our existing software
The functionalities of our software depend in part on the ability of our software to interface with our customers’ information technology (“IT”) infrastructure and cloud environments, including software applications, network infrastructure, and end user devices, which are supplied to our customers by various other vendors. When new or updated versions of these third-party software or systems are introduced, or new industry standards in related fields emerge, we may be required to develop updated versions of or enhancements to our software to help ensure that it continues to effectively interoperate with our customers’ IT infrastructure and cloud environments. If new or modified operating systems are introduced or new web standards and technologies or new standards in the field of database access technology emerge that are incompatible with our software, development efforts to maintain the interoperability of our software with our customers’ IT infrastructure and cloud environments could require substantial capital investment and employee resources. If we are unable to update our software in a timely manner, cost-effectively, or at all, the ability of our software to perform key functions could be impaired, which may impact our customers’ satisfaction with our software, potentially result in breach of warranty or other claims, and materially adversely affect demand for our software.
The nature of our software makes it particularly susceptible to undetected errors, bugs, or security vulnerabilities, which could cause problems with how the software performs and, in turn, reduce demand for our software, reduce our revenue, and lead to litigation claims against us
Despite extensive testing by us and our current and potential customers, we have in the past discovered software errors, bugs, or security vulnerabilities (including the log4j vulnerability which surfaced in December 2021 and affected companies worldwide) in our offerings after commercial shipments began and they may be found in future offerings or releases. This could result in lost revenue, damage to our reputation, or delays in market acceptance, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. We may also need to expend resources and capital to correct these defects if they occur.
Our customer agreements typically contain provisions designed to limit our exposure to product liability, warranty, and other claims. It is possible these provisions are unenforceable in certain domestic or international jurisdictions, and we may be exposed to such claims. A successful claim against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our intellectual property is valuable, and any inability to protect it could reduce the value of our offerings and brand
Unauthorized third parties may try to copy or reverse engineer portions of our software or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property. Copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures, and contractual commitments can only provide limited protection. Any intellectual property owned by us may be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged. Any of our pending or future intellectual property applications, whether or not currently being challenged, may not be issued with the scope we seek, if at all. Moreover, amendments to and developing jurisprudence regarding U.S. and international law may affect our ability to protect our intellectual property and defend against claims of infringement. In addition, although we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and contractors, the confidential nature of our intellectual property may not be maintained. Furthermore, the laws of some countries do not provide the same level of protection of our intellectual property as do the laws of the United States. If we cannot protect our intellectual property against unauthorized copying or use, we may not remain competitive.
Third parties may claim we infringe their intellectual property rights
We periodically receive notices from third parties claiming we are infringing their intellectual property rights. The number of such claims may increase as we expand our offerings and branding, the number of offerings and level of competition in our industry grow, the functionality of offerings overlaps, and the volume of issued patents, patent applications, and copyright and trademark registrations continues to increase. Responding to any infringement claim, regardless of its validity, could:
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be time-consuming, costly, and/or result in litigation;
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divert management’s time and attention from developing our business;
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require us to pay monetary damages or enter into royalty or licensing agreements that we would normally find unacceptable;
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require us to stop selling certain of our offerings;
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require us to redesign certain of our offerings using alternative non-infringing technology or practices, which could require significant effort and expense;
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require us to rename certain of our offerings or entities; or
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require us to satisfy indemnification obligations to our customers or channel partners.
Additionally, while we monitor our use of third-party software, including open source software, our processes for controlling such use in our offerings may not be effective. If we fail to comply with the terms or conditions associated with third-party software that we use, if we inadvertently embed certain types of third-party software into one or more of our offerings, or if third-party software that we license is found to infringe the intellectual property rights of others, we could subject ourselves to infringement liability and be required to re-engineer our offerings, discontinue the sale of our offerings, or make available to certain third parties or generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
If a successful infringement claim is made against us and we fail to develop or license a substitute technology or brand name, as applicable, our business, results of operations, financial condition, or cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our Operations
We face risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic that could significantly disrupt or materially adversely affect our business and operating results
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant adverse impact on global commercial activity and has created significant volatility in financial markets. Many governmental authorities have instituted quarantines, work-from-home directives, social distancing mandates, travel restrictions, border closures, limitations on public gatherings, and closures of or operational limitations on non-essential businesses, which are adversely impacting a number of industries such as travel, leisure, hospitality, and retail. Government recommendations and requirements are continuing to change, and we may not be able to immediately respond to, meet or enforce all required health and safety measures in all of our locations. There is significant uncertainty around the breadth and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19, as well as its impact on the global economy and consumer confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic could have a sustained adverse impact on economic and market conditions and trigger a period of prolonged global economic slowdown, which could decrease technology spending, adversely affect demand for our offerings, and harm our business and operating results.
Although our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021 were not materially impacted by COVID-19, we believe our revenues may be negatively impacted in future periods until the effects of the pandemic have fully subsided and the current macroeconomic
environment has substantially recovered. The uncertainty related to COVID-19 may also result in increased volatility in the financial projections we use as the basis for estimates and assumptions used in our financial statements.
In light of the uncertain and rapidly evolving situation relating to COVID-19, we have taken precautionary measures intended to reduce the risk of the virus to our employees, customers, and communities in which we operate. We have established remote working arrangements for our employees, limited non-essential business travel, and cancelled or shifted our customer, employee, and industry events to a virtual-only format for the foreseeable future. As a result of these precautionary measures, there could be a negative impact on our sales, marketing, and customer success efforts, continued delays in our sales cycles, delays in the release or delivery of new or enhanced offerings or unexpected changes to such offerings, or operational or other challenges, any of which could significantly disrupt our business and operating results. For example, our shift to creating virtual customer and industry events may not be successful, and we may not be able to showcase our products as effectively or generate the same customer interest, opportunities, and leads through virtual events as we have historically done through in-person events. Additionally, while we have not experienced any material disruptions to date, our technological systems or infrastructure may not be equipped to facilitate effective remote working arrangements or operate in compliance with all laws and regulations for our employees in the short or long term.
Considerable uncertainty still surrounds COVID-19, the evolution of its variants, its potential long-term economic effects, as well as the effectiveness of any responses taken by government authorities and businesses and of various efforts to inoculate the global population. Although we continue to actively monitor the situation and may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or as more information and public health guidance become available, we may not be able to immediately respond to, meet or enforce all required health and safety measures in all of our locations, and the full extent to which COVID-19 impacts our business and operating results will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread, severity, and potential recurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, impact on our customers and our sales cycles, our ability to generate new business leads, impact on our customer, employee, and industry events, and effect on our vendors, all of which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.
In addition, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may heighten many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.
Business disruptions, including interruptions, delays, or failures of our systems, third-party data center hosting facility, or other third-party services, could materially adversely affect our operating results or result in a material weakness in our internal controls that could adversely affect the market price of our stock
A significant portion of our research and development activities or certain other critical business operations are concentrated in facilities in Northern Virginia, China, and Poland. In addition, we serve our customers and manage certain critical internal processes using a third-party data center hosting facility located in the United States and other third-party services, including AWS, Azure, and other cloud services. Any disruptions or failures of our systems or the third-party hosting facility or other services that we use, including as a result of a natural disaster, fire, cyberattack, act of terrorism, geopolitical conflict, pandemic (including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), the effects of climate change, or other catastrophic event, as well as power outages, telecommunications infrastructure outages, a decision by one of our third-party service providers to close facilities that we use without adequate notice or to materially change the pricing or terms of their services, host country restrictions on the conduct of our business operations or the availability of our offerings, or other unanticipated problems with the third-party services that we use, such as a failure to meet service standards, could severely impact our ability to conduct our business operations or to attract new customers or maintain existing customers, or result in a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, any of which could materially adversely affect our future operating results.
Our international operations are complex and expose us to risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition
We receive a significant portion of our total revenues from international sales and conduct our business activities in various foreign countries, including some emerging markets where we have limited experience, where the challenges of conducting our business can be significantly different from those we have faced in more developed markets, and where business practices may create internal control risks. International revenues accounted for 44.0%, 41.9%, and 43.7% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Our international operations require significant management attention and financial resources and expose us to additional risks, including:
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
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new, or changes in, regulatory requirements;
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tariffs, export and import restrictions, restrictions on foreign investments, tax laws, sanctions, laws and policies that favor local competitors (such as mandatory technology transfers), and other trade barriers or protection measures;
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compliance with a wide variety of laws, including those relating to labor matters, antitrust, procurement and contracting, consumer and data protection, privacy, data localization, governmental access to data, network security, and encryption;
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costs of localizing offerings and lack of acceptance of localized offerings;
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difficulties in and costs of staffing, managing, and operating our international operations;
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economic weakness or currency-related crises;
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generally longer payment cycles and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable;
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weaker intellectual property protection;
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increased risk of corporate espionage or misappropriation, theft, or misuse of intellectual property, particularly in foreign countries where we have significant software development operations that have access to product source code, such as China;
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our ability to adapt to sales practices and customer requirements in different cultures;
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natural disasters, acts of war, terrorism, or pandemics (including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic); and
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political instability and security risks in the countries where we are doing business.
Disruptions to trade, weakening of economic conditions, economic and legal uncertainties, or changes in currency rates may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, and cash flows. For example, we may face heightened risks in connection with our international operations as a result of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit.” The future effects of Brexit are uncertain and will depend on the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union and any other future agreements the United Kingdom may make to retain access to European Union markets. Brexit could, among other outcomes, disrupt the free movement of goods, services, and people between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Brexit could also lead to legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations as the United Kingdom determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Recently, the United States has put in place higher tariffs and other trade restrictions and signaled that it may additionally alter trade agreements and terms between the United States and China, the European Union, Canada, and Mexico, among others, including limiting trade and/or imposing tariffs on imports from such countries. In addition, China, the European Union, Canada, and Mexico, among others, have either threatened or put into place retaliatory tariffs of their own. These tariffs and any further escalation of protectionist trade measures could adversely affect the markets in which we sell our offerings and, in turn, our business, financial condition, operating results, and cash flows and it is unclear to what extent the Biden administration will work to reverse such measures in the future or pursue similar policy initiatives imposed by the prior administration or make additional changes to U.S. trade policy that may result in further impacts on our business.
Changes to the U.S. taxation of our international income, or changes in foreign tax laws, could have a material effect on our future operating results. For example, the Tax Act led to corporate income tax rate changes, the modification or elimination of certain tax incentives, changes to the existing regime for taxing overseas earnings, and measures to prevent BEPS, and the United Kingdom adopted legislation imposing a tax related to offshore receipts in respect of intangible property held in low tax jurisdictions.
Moreover, compliance with foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that are applicable to our international operations is complex and may increase our cost of doing business in international jurisdictions. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations has exposed, and may in the future expose, us to fines and penalties. These laws and regulations include anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, and local laws relating to procurement, contracting, and antitrust. These laws and regulations also include import and export requirements and economic and trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Department of Commerce based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign states, organizations, and individuals. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to help ensure compliance with these laws, our employees, channel partners, and other persons with whom we do business may take actions in violation of our policies or these laws. For example, following an internal review initiated in 2018, we believe our Brazilian subsidiary failed or likely failed to comply with local procurement regulations in conducting business with certain Brazilian government entities. Any violation of these laws could subject us to civil or criminal penalties, including substantial fines or prohibitions on our ability to sell our offerings to one or more countries, and could also materially damage our reputation and our brand.
These factors may have a material adverse effect on our future sales, business, operating results, and financial condition.
We face a variety of risks in doing business with U.S. and foreign federal, state, and local governments and government agencies, including risks related to the procurement process, budget constraints and cycles, termination of contracts, and compliance with government contracting requirements
Our customers include the U.S. government and a number of state and local governments and government agencies. There are a variety of risks in doing business with government entities, including:
Procurement. Contracting with public sector customers is highly competitive and can be time-consuming and expensive, requiring us to incur significant up-front time and expense without any assurance that we will win a contract.
Budgetary Constraints and Cycles. Public sector funding reductions or delays adversely impact demand and payment for our offerings.
Termination of Contracts. Public sector customers often have contractual or other legal rights to terminate contracts for convenience or due to a default. If a contract is terminated for convenience, we may only be able to collect fees for software or services delivered prior to termination and settlement expenses. If a contract is terminated due to a default, we may not recover even those amounts, and we may be liable for excess costs incurred by the customer for procuring alternative software or services.
Compliance with Government Contracting Requirements. Government contractors are required to comply with a variety of complex laws, regulations, and contractual provisions relating to the formation, administration, or performance of government contracts that give public sector customers substantial rights and remedies, many of which are not typical for commercial contracts. These may include rights regarding price protection, the accuracy of information provided to the government, contractor compliance with socio-economic policies, and other terms unique to government contracts. Governments and government agencies routinely investigate and audit contractors for compliance with these requirements. If, as a result of an audit or review, it is determined that we have failed to comply with these requirements, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties or administrative sanctions, including contract termination, forfeiture of profits, fines, and suspensions or debarment from future government business and we may suffer harm to our reputation.
Our customers also include a number of foreign governments and government agencies. Similar procurement, budgetary, contract, and audit risks also apply to these entities. In addition, compliance with complex regulations and contracting provisions in a variety of jurisdictions can be expensive and consume significant management resources. In certain jurisdictions, our ability to win business may be constrained by political and other factors unrelated to our competitive position in the market. Each of these difficulties could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.
If we are unable to recruit or retain skilled personnel, or if we lose the services of our Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected
Our future success depends on our continuing ability to attract, train, assimilate, and retain highly skilled personnel. Competition for qualified employees in the technology industry has historically been high, and may be further amplified by evolving restrictions on immigration, travel, or availability of visas for skilled technology workers, including restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We may not be able to retain our current key employees or attract, train, assimilate, and retain other highly skilled personnel in the future. Our future success also depends in large part on the continued service of Michael J. Saylor, our Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer. If we lose the services of Mr. Saylor, or if we are unable to attract, train, assimilate, and retain the highly skilled personnel we need, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Changes in laws or regulations relating to privacy or the collection, processing, disclosure, storage, localization, or transmission of personal data, or any actual or perceived failure by us or our third-party service providers to comply with such laws and regulations, contractual obligations, or applicable privacy policies, could materially adversely affect our business
Aspects of our business involve collecting, processing, disclosing, storing, and transmitting personal data, which are subject to certain privacy policies, contractual obligations, and U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and directives relating to privacy and data protection. We store a substantial amount of customer and employee data, including personal data, on our networks and other systems and the cloud environments we manage. In addition, the types of data subject to protection as personal data in the European Union, China, the United States, and elsewhere have been expanding. In recent years, the collection and use of personal data by companies have come under increased regulatory and public scrutiny, especially in relation to the collection and processing of sensitive data, such as healthcare, biometric, genetic, financial services, and children’s data, precise location data, and data regarding a person’s race or ethnic origins, political opinions, or religious beliefs. For example, in the United States, protected health information is subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), which can provide for civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance. Entities (such as us) that engage in creating, receiving, maintaining, or transmitting protected health information provided by covered entities and other business associates are subject to enforcement under HIPAA. Our access to protected health information triggers obligations to comply with certain privacy rules and data security requirements under HIPAA.
Any systems failure or security breach that results in the release of, or unauthorized access to, personal data, or any failure or perceived failure by us or our third-party service providers to comply with applicable privacy policies, contractual obligations, or any applicable laws or regulations relating to privacy or data protection, could result in proceedings against us by domestic or foreign government entities or others, including private plaintiffs in litigation. Such proceedings could result in the imposition of sanctions, fines, penalties, liabilities, government orders, and/or orders requiring that we change our data practices, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, reputation, and financial condition.
Various U.S. and foreign government bodies may enact new or additional laws or regulations, or issue rulings that invalidate prior laws or regulations, concerning privacy, data storage, data protection, and cross-border transfer of data that could materially adversely impact our business. In the European Union, GDPR took effect in May 2018. GDPR establishes requirements regarding the handling and security of personal data, requires disclosure of data breaches to individuals, customers, and data protection authorities in certain circumstances, requires companies to honor data subjects’ requests relating to their personal data, permits regulators to impose fines of up to €20,000,000 or 4% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher, and establishes a private right of action. Furthermore, a new ePrivacy Regulation, regulating electronic communications, was proposed in 2017 and is under consideration by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council. More recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) invalidated the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield in July 2020. The U.S.-EU Privacy Shield provided a mechanism to lawfully transfer personal data from the European Union to the United States and certain other countries. In the wake of the invalidation of the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield, we have transitioned to reliance on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) to lawfully transfer certain personal data from the European Union to the United States. The rules involving this alternative data transfer option are also undergoing revision and this transfer mechanism may also be declared invalid (or require us to change our business practices) in the future, requiring us to provide an alternative means of data transfer. In addition, the required terms for contracts containing SCCs along with recommended supplemental provisions are changing and may require us to assume additional obligations, otherwise inhibit or restrict our ability to undertake certain activities, or incur additional costs related to data protection.
In addition, in June 2021, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) issued a new set of SCCs and formal recommendations on measures to ensure compliance with the EU data protection requirements when transferring personal data outside of the European Economic Area (the “EDPB Recommendations”). The new SCCs place obligations on us in relation to government authorities’ access requests in respect of personal data transferred under the SCCs. The EDPB Recommendations are designed to be read in tandem with the new SCCs and set out new requirements for organizations to assess third countries and identify appropriate supplementary data protection and security measures to be implemented on a case-by-case basis where needed.
The rules involving this alternative SCC data transfer option are continually undergoing revision and this transfer mechanism may also be declared invalid (or require us to change our business practices) in the future, requiring us to provide an alternative means of data transfer or implement significant changes in our data security and protection practices. In addition, the required terms for contracts containing SCCs along with recommended supplemental provisions are changing and may require us to assume additional obligations, otherwise inhibit or restrict our ability to undertake certain activities, or incur additional costs related to data protection.
Similar requirements are also coming into force in other countries. Brazil enacted the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (the “Brazilian General Data Protection Law”), which became effective in August 2020 and imposes requirements largely similar to GDPR on products and services offered to users in Brazil. In China, we may also be subject to the Cybersecurity Law that went into effect in June 2017 and the revision of the Personal Information Security Specification that went into effect in October 2020, which have broad but uncertain application and impose a number of new privacy and data security obligations. China also adopted new legislation on the protection of privacy and personal data in November 2021, including the Personal Information Protection Law and Data Security Law that impose new data processing obligations on us. Under these new regulations, if an entity operating in China violates the law, regulators may order it to take corrective actions, issue warnings, confiscate illegal income, suspend services, revoke operating permits or business licenses, or issue a fine. The fine can be up to ¥50 million or 5 percent of an organization’s annual revenue for the prior financial year. Other countries are considering new or expanded laws governing privacy and data security that may impact our business practices. These developments, including in China, may impact our activities with our customers, other MicroStrategy entities and vendors, and require us to take appropriate steps in light of data transfers between the U.S. and the EU (and the UK), as well as transfers and onward transfers of personal data from the EU to other non-EU countries.
The state of California has also adopted a comprehensive privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020 and became enforceable in July 2020. We may be required to devote substantial resources to implement and maintain compliance with the CCPA, and noncompliance could result in regulatory investigations and fines or private litigation. Moreover, in November 2020, California voters approved a privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which amends the CCPA to create privacy rights and obligations in California. Virginia and Colorado have passed laws similar to the CCPA and several other states are considering bills similar to the CCPA or other generally applicable privacy laws that may impose additional costs and obligations on us.
Furthermore, the U.S. Congress is considering comprehensive privacy legislation. At this time, it is unclear whether Congress will pass such a law and if so, when and what it will require and prohibit. Moreover, it is not clear whether any such legislation would give the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) any new authority to impose civil penalties for violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act in the first instance, whether Congress will grant the FTC rulemaking authority over privacy and information security, or whether Congress will vest some or all privacy and data security regulatory authority and enforcement power in a new agency, akin to EU data protection authorities.
Complying with these and other changing requirements could cause us or our customers to incur substantial costs or pay substantial fines or penalties, require us to change our business practices, require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, or limit our ability to provide certain offerings in certain jurisdictions, any of which could materially adversely affect our business and operating results. New laws or regulations restricting or limiting the collection or use of mobile data could also reduce demand for certain of our offerings or require changes to our business practices, which could materially adversely affect our business and operating results.
If we or our third-party service providers experience a disruption due to a cybersecurity attack or security breach and unauthorized parties obtain access to our customers’, prospects’, vendors’, or channel partners’ data, our data, our networks or other systems, or the cloud environments we manage, our offerings may be perceived as not being secure, our reputation may be harmed, demand for our offerings may be reduced, our operations may be disrupted, we may incur significant legal and financial liabilities, and our business could be materially adversely affected
As part of our business, we process, store, and transmit our customers’, prospects’, vendors’, and channel partners’ data as well as our own, including in our networks and other systems and the cloud environments we manage. Security breaches may occur due to technological error, computer viruses, or third-party action, including intentional misconduct by computer hackers or state actors, physical break-ins, industrial espionage, fraudulent inducement of employees, customers, or channel partners to disclose sensitive information such as user names or passwords, and employee, customer, or channel partner error or malfeasance. A security breach could result in unauthorized access to or disclosure, modification, misuse, loss, or destruction of our customers’, prospects’, vendors’, or channel partners’ data, our data (including our proprietary information, intellectual property, or trade secrets), our networks or other systems, or the cloud environments we manage. Third parties may also conduct attacks designed to prevent access to critical data or systems through ransomware or temporarily deny customers access to our cloud environments.
We, and our service providers, may experience and have experienced attempts by third parties to identify and exploit software and service vulnerabilities, penetrate or bypass our security measures, and gain unauthorized access to our or our customers’ or service providers’ cloud environments, networks, and other systems. Security measures that we or our third-party service providers have implemented may not be effective against all current or future security threats, including any potential threats from the exploitation of the log4j vulnerability. Because there are many different security breach techniques and such techniques continue to evolve, we may be unable to anticipate, detect, or mitigate attempted security breaches and implement adequate preventative measures.
Any security breach, ransomware attack, or successful denial of service attack could result in a loss of customer confidence in the security of our offerings and damage to our brand, reduce the demand for our offerings, disrupt our normal business operations, require us to spend material resources to investigate or correct the breach, require us to notify affected customers or individuals and/or applicable regulators and others, provide identity theft protection services to individuals, expose us to legal liabilities, including litigation, regulatory enforcement, and indemnity obligations, and materially adversely affect our revenues and operating results. Our software operates in conjunction with and is dependent on third-party products and components across a broad ecosystem. If there is a security vulnerability in one of these products or components, and if there is a security exploit targeting it, we could face increased costs, liability claims, customer dissatisfaction, reduced revenue, or harm to our reputation or competitive position.
These risks will increase as we continue to grow the number and scale of our cloud subscriptions and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of our customers’, prospects’, vendors’, channel partners’, and our own data. In particular, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in cyberattacks and other malicious activities as shelter-in-place orders and remote working conditions have led businesses to increasingly rely on virtual environments and communication systems.
Our having entered into an indemnification agreement with Michael J. Saylor, our Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer, in lieu of procuring conventional director and officer liability insurance offered by a third-party insurance carrier could negatively affect our business and the market price of our class A common stock
Due to market trends toward higher premiums and the novelty of our bitcoin acquisition strategy, we have been unable to obtain director and officer liability insurance on acceptable terms, and in lieu of such insurance, we have entered into an indemnification agreement with Michael J. Saylor, our Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to which Mr. Saylor has agreed to personally indemnify our directors and officers with respect to claims and expenses substantially similar to those typically covered under conventional director and officer insurance policies, for which we agreed to pay Mr. Saylor a fee. Our having entered into such an
indemnification agreement with Mr. Saylor in lieu of procuring director and officer insurance offered by a third-party insurance carrier could have adverse effects on our business, including making it more difficult to attract and retain qualified directors and officers due to the unconventional nature of the arrangement and potential concerns that the indemnification arrangement might not provide the same level of protection that might otherwise be provided by conventional director and officer insurance. In addition, the arrangement may result in some investors perceiving that our independent directors are not sufficiently independent from Mr. Saylor due to their entitlement to personal indemnification from him, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our class A common stock.
Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock
The market price of our class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile
The market price of our class A common stock has historically been volatile and this volatility has been significant in recent periods. Since August 11, 2020, the date on which we announced our initial purchase of bitcoin, the closing price of our class A common stock has increased from $123.62 as of August 10, 2020, the last trading day before our announcement, to $409.49 as of February 14, 2022. The market price of our class A common stock may fluctuate widely in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to:
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fluctuations in the price of bitcoin, of which we have significant holdings, and in which we expect we will continue to make significant purchases and announcements about our transactions in bitcoin;
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regulatory, commercial and technical developments related to bitcoin or the bitcoin blockchain;
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quarterly variations in our results of operations or those of our competitors;
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announcements about our earnings that are not in line with analyst expectations, the likelihood of which may be enhanced because it is our policy not to give guidance relating to our anticipated financial performance in future periods;
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announcements by us or our competitors of acquisitions, dispositions, new offerings, significant contracts, commercial relationships, or capital commitments;
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our ability to develop, market, and deliver new and enhanced offerings on a timely basis;
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commencement of, or our involvement in, litigation;
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recommendations by securities analysts or changes in earnings estimates and our ability to meet those estimates;
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investor perception of our Company;
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announcements by our competitors of their earnings that are not in line with analyst expectations;
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the volume of shares of our class A common stock available for public sale;
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sales or purchases of stock by us or by our stockholders and issuances of awards under our stock incentive plan; and
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general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of related markets, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the stock market and the markets for both bitcoin-influenced and technology companies have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of companies in those markets. These market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.
Because of the rights of our two classes of common stock and because we are controlled by Michael J. Saylor, who beneficially owns the majority of our class B common stock, Mr. Saylor could transfer control of MicroStrategy to a third party without the approval of our Board of Directors or our other stockholders, prevent a third party from acquiring us, or limit the ability of our other stockholders to influence corporate matters
We have two classes of common stock: class A common stock and class B common stock. Holders of our class A common stock generally have the same rights as holders of our class B common stock, except that holders of class A common stock have one vote per share while holders of class B common stock have ten votes per share. As of February 1, 2022, holders of our class B common stock owned 1,964,025 shares of class B common stock, or 67.8% of the total voting power. As of February 1, 2022, Mr. Saylor, our Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owned 1,961,668 shares of class B common stock, or 67.7% of the total voting power. Accordingly, Mr. Saylor can control MicroStrategy through his ability to determine the outcome of elections of our directors, amend our certificate of incorporation and by-laws, and take other actions requiring the vote or consent of stockholders, including mergers, going-private transactions, and other extraordinary transactions and their terms.
Our certificate of incorporation allows holders of class B common stock to transfer shares of class B common stock, subject to the approval of stockholders holding a majority of the outstanding class B common stock. Mr. Saylor could, without the approval of our Board of Directors or our other stockholders, transfer voting control of MicroStrategy to a third party. Such a transfer of control could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Mr. Saylor could also prevent a change of control of MicroStrategy, regardless of whether holders of class A common stock might otherwise receive a premium for their shares over the then current market price. In addition, this concentrated control limits stockholders’ ability to influence corporate matters and, as a result, we may take actions that our non-controlling stockholders do not view as beneficial or that conflict with their interests. As a result, the market price of our class A common stock could be materially adversely affected.
Our status as a “controlled company” could make our class A common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise materially adversely affect our stock price
Because we qualify as a “controlled company” under Nasdaq corporate governance rules, we are not required to have independent directors comprise a majority of our Board of Directors. Additionally, our Board of Directors is not required to have an independent compensation or nominating committee or to have the independent directors exercise the nominating function. We are also not required to have the compensation of our executive officers be determined by a compensation committee of independent directors. In addition, we are not required to empower our Compensation Committee with the authority to engage the services of any compensation consultants, legal counsel, or other advisors, or to have the Compensation Committee assess the independence of compensation consultants, legal counsel, and other advisors that it engages.
In light of our status as a controlled company, our Board of Directors has determined not to establish an independent nominating committee or have its independent directors exercise the nominating function and has elected instead to have the Board of Directors be directly responsible for nominating members of the Board. A majority of our Board of Directors is currently comprised of independent directors, and our Board of Directors has established a Compensation Committee comprised entirely of independent directors. The Compensation Committee determines the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer. However, our Board of Directors has authorized our Chief Executive Officer to determine the compensation of executive officers other than himself, rather than having such compensation determined by the Compensation Committee, except that certain performance-based executive officer compensation is determined by the Compensation Committee. Awards made to directors and officers subject to Section 16 of the Exchange Act under our 2013 Stock Incentive Plan (as amended, the “2013 Equity Plan”) are also approved by the Compensation Committee. Additionally, while our Compensation Committee is empowered with the authority to retain and terminate outside counsel, compensation consultants, and other experts or consultants, it is not required to assess their independence.
Although currently a majority of our Board of Directors is comprised of independent directors and the Compensation Committee is comprised entirely of independent directors, we may elect in the future not to have independent directors constitute a majority of the Board of Directors or the Compensation Committee, our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation determined by a compensation committee of independent directors, or a compensation committee of the Board of Directors at all.
Accordingly, should the interests of our controlling stockholder differ from those of other stockholders, the other stockholders may not have the same protections that are afforded to stockholders of companies that are required to follow all of the Nasdaq corporate governance rules. Our status as a controlled company could make our class A common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise materially adversely affect our stock price.
Future sales, or the perception of future sales, of our class A common stock, convertible debt instruments or other convertible securities could depress the price of our class A common stock
We may issue and sell additional shares of class A common stock, convertible notes, or other securities in subsequent offerings to raise capital or issue shares for other purposes, including in connection with the acquisition of additional bitcoin. We cannot predict:
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the size of future issuances of equity securities;
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the size and terms of future issuances of convertible debt instruments or other convertible securities; or
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the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of our securities will have on the market price of our class A common stock.
Transactions involving newly issued class A common stock, convertible debt instruments, or other convertible securities could result in possibly substantial dilution to holders of our class A common stock.
Our amended and restated by-laws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware does not have jurisdiction, then any other state court located in the State of Delaware, or if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) is the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for such disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees
Our amended and restated by-laws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware does not have jurisdiction, then any other state court located in the State of Delaware, or if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, other employee or stockholder of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware or the Company’s certificate of incorporation or by-laws (in each case, as they may be amended from time to time), or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, which provides for exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts. It could apply, however, to a suit that falls within one or more of the categories enumerated in the choice of forum provision and asserts claims under the Securities Act, inasmuch as Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision with respect to claims under the Securities Act, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated by-laws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.
Risks Related to Our Outstanding and Potential Future Indebtedness
Our level and terms of indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to further execute on our bitcoin acquisition strategy, fund our enterprise analytics software operations, and take advantage of new business opportunities
As of December 31, 2021, we had $1.7 billion aggregate principal amount of indebtedness under the Convertible Notes and $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of indebtedness under the 2028 Secured Notes.
Our substantial indebtedness and interest expense could have important consequences to us, including:
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limiting our ability to use a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations in other areas of our business, including for acquisition of additional bitcoin, working capital, research and development, expanding our infrastructure, capital expenditures, and other general business activities and investment opportunities in our company, because we must dedicate a substantial portion of these funds to pay interest on and/or service our debt;
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limiting our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for acquisition of additional bitcoin, working capital, capital expenditures, debt service, acquisitions, execution of our strategy, and other expenses or investments planned by us;
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limiting our flexibility and our ability to capitalize on business opportunities and to react to competitive pressures and adverse changes in government regulation, our business, and our industry;
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increasing our vulnerability to a downturn in our business and to adverse economic and industry conditions generally;
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placing us at a competitive disadvantage as compared to our competitors that are less leveraged; and
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limiting our ability, or increasing the costs, to refinance indebtedness.
We may be unable to service our indebtedness, which could cause us to default on our debt obligations and could force us into bankruptcy or liquidation
Our ability to make scheduled payments on and to refinance our indebtedness depends on and is subject to our financial and operating performance, which is influenced, in part, by general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, counterparty business, and other risks that are beyond our control, including the availability of financing in the U.S. banking and capital markets. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets, seek additional capital, or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We cannot assure you that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to service our indebtedness, to refinance our indebtedness, or to fund our other
liquidity needs. Even if refinancing indebtedness is available, any refinancing of our indebtedness could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants that could further restrict our business operations. In addition, our bitcoin acquisition strategy anticipates that we may issue additional debt in future periods to finance additional purchases of bitcoin, but if we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures, we may be required to sell bitcoin. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations or our financial covenants, which could cause us to default on our debt obligations. In addition, any failure to make payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness on a timely basis would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness.
In the event of an event of default under any of our indebtedness, the holders of the defaulted indebtedness could elect to declare all the funds borrowed to be due and payable, together with accrued and unpaid interest and, in the case of our 2028 Secured Notes, enforce their security interests on substantially all of our assets and the assets of our subsidiary guarantors, including any bitcoins or other digital assets acquired on or after the closing of our sale of the 2028 Secured Notes, but excluding our bitcoin acquired prior to that date (“Prior Bitcoins”), as well as bitcoins and digital assets acquired with the proceeds from the sale of Prior Bitcoins and bitcoins acquired from proceeds of debt secured by Prior Bitcoins. Any of these events could in turn result in cross-defaults under our other indebtedness. We may not have sufficient funds available to pay the amounts due upon any such default, particularly in the event that there has been a decrease in the market value of our bitcoin holdings, and we may not be able to raise additional funds to pay such amounts on a timely basis, on terms we find acceptable, or at all. Any financing that we may undertake under such circumstances could result in substantial dilution of our existing stockholders, and in the absence of being able to obtain such financing, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation.
The indenture governing our 2028 Secured Notes imposes significant operating and financial restrictions on us and certain restricted subsidiaries of ours, which may prevent us from capitalizing on business opportunities
The indenture governing our 2028 Secured Notes imposes significant operating and financial restrictions on us and certain designated restricted subsidiaries of ours. These restrictions limit our ability, and the ability of such restricted subsidiaries, to, among other things:
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incur or guarantee additional debt or issue disqualified stock or certain preferred stock;
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create or incur liens;
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pay dividends, redeem stock, or make certain other distributions;
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make certain investments;
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create restrictions on the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to pay dividends to us or make other intercompany transfers;
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transfer or sell assets;
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merge or consolidate; and
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enter into certain transactions with affiliates.
As a result of these restrictions, we are limited as to how we conduct our business and we may be unable to raise additional indebtedness or conduct equity financing to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities. The terms of any future indebtedness we may incur could include more restrictive covenants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain compliance with these covenants in the future and, if we fail to do so, that we will be able to obtain waivers from the lenders or amend the covenants.
Our failure to comply with the restrictive covenants described above, as well as other terms of our indebtedness or the terms of any future indebtedness from time to time could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could result in our being required to repay these borrowings before their due date and/or face insolvency proceedings. If we are forced to refinance these borrowings on less favorable terms or cannot refinance these borrowings, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
We may be required to repay the 2028 Secured Notes prior to their stated maturity date, if the springing maturity feature is triggered
The 2028 Secured Notes have a stated maturity date of June 15, 2028, but include a springing maturity feature that will cause the stated maturity date to spring ahead to the date that is 91 days prior to the existing maturity date of the 2025 Convertible Notes (which is September 15, 2025), the 2027 Convertible Notes (which is November 16, 2026), or the maturity date of any future convertible debt that we may issue that is then outstanding, unless on such dates we meet specified liquidity requirements or less than $100,000,000 of aggregate principal amount of the 2025 Convertible Notes, the 2027 Convertible Notes, or such future convertible debt, as applicable, remains outstanding. If such springing maturity feature is triggered, we will be required to pay all amounts outstanding under the 2028 Secured Notes sooner than they would otherwise be due, we may not have sufficient funds available to pay such amounts at that time, and we may not be able to raise additional funds to pay such amounts on a timely basis, on terms we find acceptable, or at all.
We may not be able to finance required repurchases of the 2028 Secured Notes or the Convertible Notes upon a change of control or a fundamental change
Upon a change of control or a fundamental change as defined in the indentures governing the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes, the holders of such notes will have the right to require us to offer to purchase all of the applicable notes then outstanding at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount of the 2028 Secured Notes and 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes, respectively, plus, in each case, accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the repurchase date. In order to obtain sufficient funds to pay the purchase price of such notes, we expect that we would have to refinance the notes and we may not be able to refinance the notes on reasonable terms, if at all. Our failure to offer to purchase all applicable notes or to purchase all validly tendered notes would be an event of default under the indentures governing the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes.
If a change of control or a fundamental change occurs, we may not have enough assets to satisfy all obligations under the indentures governing the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes. Upon the occurrence of a change of control or a fundamental change we could seek to refinance the indebtedness under the 2028 Secured Notes or the Convertible Notes or obtain a waiver from the applicable note holders. However, we may not be able to obtain a waiver or refinance the applicable notes on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Moreover, the exercise by holders of the 2028 Secured Notes or the Convertible Notes of their right to require us to repurchase such notes could cause a default under future debt agreements, even if the change of control or fundamental change itself does not, due to the financial effect of such repurchase on us.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle for cash conversions of the Convertible Notes
Upon conversion of the 2025 Convertible Notes or the 2027 Convertible Notes, unless we elect (or have previously irrevocably elected) to deliver solely shares of our class A common stock to settle such conversion of such Convertible Notes (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the applicable Convertible Notes being converted as described in the applicable indenture. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to pay cash with respect such notes being converted. In addition, our ability to pay cash upon conversions of the Convertible Notes may be limited by law, regulatory authority, the covenants contained in the indenture governing the 2028 Secured Notes, or agreements governing any future indebtedness. Our failure to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Convertible Notes as required by the respective indentures would constitute a default under the indenture for that series of Convertible Notes and could also lead to a default under the indenture for the other series of Convertible Notes or the 2028 Secured Notes. A default under any indenture could also lead to a default under agreements governing any future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness.
The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results
In the event the conditional conversion feature of either the 2025 Convertible Notes or the 2027 Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of the applicable Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert such notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our class A common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Convertible Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the applicable Convertible Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
We rely on the receipt of funds from our subsidiaries in order to meet our cash needs and service our indebtedness, including the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes, and certain of our subsidiaries holding digital assets may not provide any dividends, distributions, or other payments to us to fund our obligations and meet our cash needs
We depend on dividends, distributions, and other payments from our subsidiaries to fund our obligations, including those arising under the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes, and meet our cash needs. The operating results of our subsidiaries at any given time may not be sufficient to make dividends, distributions, or other payments to us in order to allow us to make payments on the 2028 Secured Notes and the Convertible Notes. Our MacroStrategy LLC subsidiary that holds the bitcoin that we owned prior to the issuance of the 2028 Secured Notes and the bitcoin that we acquired from the proceeds of the Open Market Offering is not obligated to provide and may in the future be prohibited from providing any dividends, distributions, or other payments to us to fund our obligations and meet our cash needs. MacroStrategy LLC holds digital assets that as of December 31, 2021 had a carrying value of $2.458 billion on our Consolidated Balance Sheet, representing 69.1% of our consolidated total assets at such date. In addition, dividends, distributions, or other payments, as well as other transfers of assets, between our subsidiaries and from our subsidiaries to us may be subject to legal,
regulatory, or contractual restrictions, which may materially adversely affect our ability to transfer cash within our consolidated companies and our ability to meet our cash needs and service our indebtedness.
Despite our current level of indebtedness, we may be able to incur substantially more indebtedness and enter into other transactions in the future which could further exacerbate the risks related to our indebtedness
Although the indenture governing our 2028 Secured Notes contains, and future debt instruments may contain, restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness and entering into certain types of other transactions, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions and we may be able to incur significant additional indebtedness in the future. For example, these restrictions do not prevent us from incurring obligations, such as certain trade payables and operating leases, that do not constitute indebtedness as defined under our debt instruments. To the extent we incur additional indebtedness or other obligations, the risks described herein with respect to our indebtedness may increase significantly.

---

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B.
Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

---

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2.
Properties
As of December 31, 2021, we leased approximately 214,000 square feet of office space at a location in Northern Virginia that serves as our corporate headquarters. This lease provides for certain tenant allowances and incentives and will expire in December 2030. In December 2020, we exercised an option to early terminate approximately 24,000 square feet of space at our corporate headquarters at the beginning of January 2022.
In addition, we lease offices in U.S. and foreign locations for our services and support, sales and marketing, research and development, and administrative personnel. As of December 31, 2021, we leased approximately 26,000 square feet of office and other space in the United States, in addition to our corporate headquarters, and approximately 105,000 square feet of office space in various foreign locations.

---

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings
We are involved in various legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business. Although the outcomes of these legal proceedings are inherently difficult to predict, we do not expect the resolution of these legal proceedings to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

---

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II

---

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5.
Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our class A common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “MSTR.” There is no established public trading market for our class B common stock. As of February 1, 2022, there were approximately 1,028 stockholders of record of our class A common stock and two stockholders of record of our class B common stock.
Holders of our class A common stock generally have the same rights as holders of our class B common stock, except that holders of class A common stock have one vote per share while holders of class B common stock have ten votes per share.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on either our class A or class B common stock and have no current plans to declare or pay any such dividends.
Information regarding our equity compensation plans and the securities authorized for issuance thereunder is incorporated herein by reference to “Part III. Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.”
The following table provides information about our repurchases of equity securities that are registered by us pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act during the periods indicated:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Period
Total
Number of
Shares (or
Units) Purchased
Average
Price Paid
per Share
(or Unit) (1)
Total Number of
Shares (or Units)
Purchased as Part of
Publicly Announced
Plans or Programs (1)
Maximum Number (or
Approximate Dollar
Value) of Shares (or
Units) that May Yet Be
Purchased Under the
Plans or Programs (1)
October 1, 2021 - October 31, 2021
N/A
$
209,137,964
November 1, 2021 - November 30, 2021
N/A
$
209,137,964
December 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021
N/A
$
209,137,964
Total:
N/A
$
209,137,964
(1)
On July 28, 2005, we announced that the Board of Directors authorized us to repurchase up to an aggregate of $300.0 million of our class A common stock from time to time on the open market (the “Share Repurchase Program”). The Share Repurchase Program was subsequently amended to authorize us to repurchase up to an aggregate of $800.0 million of our class A common stock through April 29, 2023, although the program may be suspended or discontinued by us at any time. The timing and amount of any shares repurchased will be determined by management based on its evaluation of market conditions and other factors. The Share Repurchase Program may be funded using our working capital, as well as proceeds from any other funding arrangements that we may enter into in the future. As of December 31, 2021, pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program, we had repurchased an aggregate of 5,674,226 shares of our class A common stock at an average price per share of $104.13 and an aggregate cost of $590.9 million. As of December 31, 2021, $209.1 million of our class A common stock remained available for repurchase pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program. The average price per share and aggregate cost amounts disclosed above include broker commissions.
Performance Graph
The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our class A common stock from December 30, 2016 (the last trading day before the beginning of our fifth preceding fiscal year) to December 31, 2021 (the last trading day of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021) with the cumulative total return of (i) the Total Return Index for The Nasdaq Stock Market (U.S. Companies) (the “Nasdaq Composite Index”) and (ii) the Nasdaq Computer Index. The graph assumes the investment of $100.00 on December 30, 2016 in our class A common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index, and the Nasdaq Computer Index, and assumes that any dividends are reinvested. Measurement points are December 30, 2016, December 29, 2017, December 31, 2018, December 31, 2019, December 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021.
12/30/16
12/29/17
12/31/18
12/31/19
12/31/20
12/31/21
MicroStrategy Incorporated
$
100.00
$
66.51
$
64.72
$
72.25
$
196.83
$
275.82
Nasdaq Composite Index
$
100.00
$
129.64
$
125.96
$
172.17
$
249.51
$
304.85
Nasdaq Computer Index
$
100.00
$
140.38
$
136.70
$
207.72
$
311.54
$
429.48
NOTE: Prepared by Zacks Investment Research, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright 1980-2022.
NOTE: Index Data: Copyright NASDAQ OMX, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

---

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6.
[Reserved]

---

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Forward-Looking Information
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact, including without limitation, certain statements regarding industry prospects and our results of operations or financial position, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The important factors discussed under “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors,” among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements made herein and presented elsewhere by management from time to time. Such forward-looking statements represent management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Investors are warned that actual results may differ from management’s expectations.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the Year Ended December 31, 2019
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, including comparison of our results for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, is included in Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Business Overview
MicroStrategy pursues two corporate strategies in the operation of its business. One strategy is to acquire and hold bitcoin and the other strategy is to grow our enterprise analytics software business. We believe that undertaking these two, interdependent corporate strategies serves as a key differentiator for our business, as our bitcoin acquisition strategy has raised our profile with potential software customers while our enterprise analytics software business has provided stable cash flows that allow us to acquire and hold bitcoin for the long-term.
We pursue, as part of our overall corporate strategy, a strategy of acquiring bitcoin with our liquid assets that exceed working capital requirements, and from time to time, subject to market conditions, issuing debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase bitcoin. We view our bitcoin holdings as long-term holdings, and we do not plan to engage in regular trading of bitcoin and have not hedged or otherwise entered into derivative contracts with respect to our bitcoin holdings, though we may sell bitcoin in future periods as needed to generate cash for treasury management and other general corporate purposes. We have not set any specific target for the amount of bitcoin we seek to hold, and we will continue to monitor market conditions in determining whether to conduct debt or equity financings to purchase additional bitcoin.
We believe that bitcoin is attractive because it can serve as a store of value, supported by a robust and public open source architecture, that is untethered to sovereign monetary policy and can therefore serve as a hedge against inflation. We also believe that bitcoin offers additional opportunity for appreciation in value with increasing adoption due to its limited supply. In addition, we believe that our bitcoin acquisition strategy is complementary to our enterprise analytics software and services business, as we believe that our bitcoin and related activities in support of the bitcoin network enhance awareness of our brand and can provide opportunities to secure new customers for our analytics offerings. We are also exploring opportunities to apply bitcoin related technologies such as blockchain analytics into our software offerings.
As of February 14, 2022, we hold approximately 125,051 bitcoin that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.777 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $30,200 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.
We are also a global leader in enterprise analytics software and services. Our vision is to enable Intelligence Everywhere. The MicroStrategy platform brings together data from our customers’ enterprise applications, such as their financial systems, human resources systems, and supply chain and customer relationship management tools, to provide analytics for actionable insights. Customers can also use our consulting and education offerings to harness MicroStrategy’s innovative technology and empower their people to make better, faster decisions.
Our customers include leading companies from a wide range of industries, including retail, consulting, technology, manufacturing, banking, insurance, finance, healthcare, telecommunications, as well as the public sector.
The analytics market is highly competitive. Our future success depends on the effectiveness with which we can differentiate our offerings from those offered by large software vendors that provide products across multiple lines of business, including one or more products that directly compete with our offerings, and other potential competitors across analytics implementation projects of varying sizes. We
believe a key differentiator of MicroStrategy is our modern, open, comprehensive enterprise platform that can be extended to other tools and systems, can scale across the enterprise, is optimized for cloud or on-premises deployments, and can be combined with unique packages of our expert services and education offerings.
Our Bitcoin Acquisition Strategy
In September 2020, our Board of Directors adopted a Treasury Reserve Policy (as amended to date, the “Treasury Reserve Policy”) that updated our treasury management and capital allocation strategies, under which our treasury reserve assets will consist of:
•
cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments (“Cash Assets”) held by us that exceed working capital requirements; and
•
bitcoin held by us, with bitcoin serving as the primary treasury reserve asset on an ongoing basis, subject to market conditions and anticipated needs of the business for Cash Assets.
In the first quarter of 2021, we adopted, in addition to and in conjunction with our Treasury Reserve Policy, a corporate strategy of acquiring and holding bitcoin, and from time to time, subject to market conditions, issuing debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase bitcoin.
During 2020 and 2021, we issued the following debt and equity securities to raise capital to purchase bitcoin, which issuances are further described in the “Convertible Senior Notes and 2028 Senior Secured Notes” and “Open Market Sale Agreement” sections under this “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”:
•
$650.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.750% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (the “2025 Convertible Notes”) issued in December 2020;
•
$1.050 billion aggregate principal amount of 0% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 (the “2027 Convertible Notes” and, together with the 2025 Convertible Notes, the “Convertible Notes”) issued in February 2021;
•
$500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.125% Senior Secured Notes due 2028 (the “2028 Secured Notes”) issued in June 2021; and
•
1,413,767 shares of class A common stock issued during 2021, for aggregate gross proceeds of $1.0 billion pursuant to our Open Market Sale Agreement with Jefferies LLC, as agent (“Jefferies”).
The following table presents a rollforward of our bitcoin holdings, including additional information related to our bitcoin purchases and digital asset impairment losses within the respective periods. We have not sold any of our bitcoin as of the date of this Annual Report.
Source of Capital Used to Purchase Bitcoin
Digital Asset Original Cost Basis
(in thousands)
Digital Asset Impairment Losses
(in thousands)
Digital Asset Carrying Value
(in thousands)
Approximate Number of
Bitcoins Held
Approximate Average Purchase Price Per Bitcoin
Balance at December 31, 2019
$
$
$
n/a
Digital asset purchases
(a)
1,125,000
1,125,000
70,469
15,964
Digital asset impairment losses
(70,698
)
(70,698
)
Balance at December 31, 2020
$
1,125,000
$
(70,698
)
$
1,054,302
70,469
$
15,964
Digital asset purchases
(b)
2,626,529
2,626,529
53,922
48,710
Digital asset impairment losses
(830,621
)
(830,621
)
Balance at December 31, 2021
$
3,751,529
$
(901,319
)
$
2,850,210
124,391
$
30,159
(a)
During 2020, we purchased bitcoin using $634.7 million in net proceeds from our issuance of the 2025 Convertible Notes and excess cash, including cash from the liquidation of short-term investments.
(b)
During 2021, we purchased bitcoin using $1.026 billion in net proceeds from our issuance of the 2027 Convertible Notes, $990.5 million in net proceeds from our sale of 1,413,767 shares of class A common stock offered under the Open Market Sale Agreement, $487.2 million in net proceeds from our issuance of the 2028 Secured Notes, and excess cash.
The following table shows the approximate number of bitcoins held at the end of each respective period, as well as market value calculations of our bitcoin holdings based on the lowest, highest, and ending market prices of one bitcoin on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) for each respective year, as further defined below:
Approximate Number of Bitcoins Held at End of Year
Lowest Market Price Per Bitcoin During Year (a)
Market Value of Bitcoin Held at End of Year Using Lowest Market Price (in thousands) (b)
Highest Market Price Per Bitcoin During Year (c)
Market Value of Bitcoin Held at End of Year Using Highest Market Price (in thousands) (d)
Market Price Per Bitcoin at End of Year (e)
Market Value of Bitcoin Held at End of Year Using Ending Market Price (in thousands) (f)
December 31, 2019
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
December 31, 2020
70,469
$
8,905.84
$
627,586
$
29,321.90
$
2,066,285
$
29,181.00
$
2,056,356
December 31, 2021
124,391
$
27,678.00
$
3,442,894
$
69,000.00
$
8,582,979
$
45,879.97
$
5,707,055
(a)
The "Lowest Market Price Per Bitcoin During Year" represents the lowest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the respective year, without regard to when we purchased any of our bitcoin. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the lowest market price reported in the above table reflects the lowest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the period July 1, 2020 (the beginning of the first quarterly period that we purchased and held bitcoin) to December 31, 2020.
(b)
The "Market Value of Bitcoin Held Using Lowest Market Price" represents a mathematical calculation consisting of the lowest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the respective year (or for 2020, during the period July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020) multiplied by the number of bitcoins held by us at the end of the applicable year.
(c)
The "Highest Market Price Per Bitcoin During Year" represents the highest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the respective year, without regard to when we purchased any of our bitcoin. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the highest market price reported in the above table reflects the highest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the period July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
(d)
The "Market Value of Bitcoin Held Using Highest Market Price" represents a mathematical calculation consisting of the highest market price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange during the respective year (or for 2020, during the period July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020) multiplied by the number of bitcoins held by us at the end of the applicable year.
(e)
The "Market Price Per Bitcoin at End of Year" represents the market price of one bitcoin on the Coinbase exchange at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the last day of the respective year.
(f)
The "Market Value of Bitcoin Held at End of Year Using Ending Market Price" represents a mathematical calculation consisting of the market price of one bitcoin on the Coinbase exchange at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the last day of the respective year multiplied by the number of bitcoins held by us at the end of the applicable year.
The amounts reported as “Market Value” in the above table represent only a mathematical calculation consisting of the price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) in each scenario defined above multiplied by the number of bitcoins held by us at the end of the applicable year. The Securities and Exchange Commission has previously stated that there has not been a demonstration that (i) bitcoin and bitcoin markets are inherently resistant to manipulation or that the spot price of bitcoin may not be subject to fraud and manipulation; and (ii) adequate surveillance-sharing agreements with bitcoin-related markets are in place, as bitcoin-related markets are either not significant, not regulated, or both. Accordingly, the Market Value amounts reported above may not accurately represent fair market value, and the actual fair market value of our bitcoin may be different from such amounts and such deviation may be material. Moreover, (i) the bitcoin market historically has been characterized by significant volatility in price, limited liquidity and trading volumes compared to sovereign currencies markets, relative anonymity, a developing regulatory landscape, potential susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, and various other risks that are, or may be, inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network and (ii) we may not be able to sell our bitcoins at the Market Value amounts indicated above, at the market price as reported on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) on the date of sale, or at all.
Our digital asset impairment losses have significantly contributed to our operating expenses and net loss. During 2021, digital asset impairment losses of $830.6 million represented 69.0% of our operating expenses, contributing to our net loss of $535.5 million for 2021, compared to digital asset impairment losses of $70.7 million during 2020, representing 17.5% of our operating expenses and contributing to our net loss of $7.5 million for 2020.
As of February 14, 2022, we held approximately 125,051 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.777 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $30,200 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of February 14, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the market price of one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange was $42,202.99.
Impact of COVID-19 on Our Software Strategy
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted, and may continue to result, in significant economic disruption despite progress made in the development and distribution of vaccines. It has continued to disrupt global travel and supply chains and adversely impacted global commercial activity. Considerable uncertainty still surrounds COVID-19, the evolution of its variants, its potential long-term economic effects, as well as the effectiveness of any responses taken by government authorities and businesses and of various efforts to inoculate the global population. The travel restrictions, limits on hours of operations and/or closures of non-essential businesses, and other efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 have significantly disrupted business activity globally and there is uncertainty as to when these disruptions will fully subside.
Significant uncertainty continues to exist concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers’ and prospects’ business and operations in future periods. Although our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were not materially impacted by COVID-19, we believe our revenues may be negatively impacted in future periods until the effects of the pandemic have fully subsided and the current macroeconomic environment has substantially recovered. The uncertainty related to COVID-19 may also result in increased volatility in the financial projections we use as the basis for estimates and assumptions used in our financial statements.
We have adapted our operations to meet the challenges of this uncertain and rapidly evolving situation, including establishing remote working arrangements for our employees, limiting non-essential business travel, and cancelling or shifting our customer, employee, and industry events to a virtual-only format for the foreseeable future. Our sales and marketing expenses decreased significantly since December 31, 2019, as we adapted to the challenges of selling in the current depressed macroeconomic environment, adopted virtual sales and marketing practices, and streamlined our team to sell in this new environment.
We have received, and may continue to receive, government assistance from various relief packages available in countries where we operate. For example, in the United States, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was enacted on March 27, 2020 to provide broad-based economic relief to various sectors of the U.S. economy through a variety of means, including payroll and income tax deferrals and employee retention credits. In the Asia Pacific region, government assistance provided to us during 2020 was primarily in the form of employer payroll tax exemptions. We deferred payment of $4.6 million of our employer portion of U.S. social security taxes accrued through December 31, 2020, half of which we paid as of December 31, 2021 and the remainder of which we expect to pay by December 31, 2022. Where taxes payable to government entities have been deferred to a later date, no reduction of expenses has been recorded.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that may negatively impact our business in future periods include, but are not limited to: limitations on the ability of our customers to conduct their business, purchase our products and services, and make timely payments; curtailed consumer spending; deferred purchasing decisions; delayed consulting services implementations; and decreases in product licenses revenues driven by channel partners. We will continue to actively monitor the nature and extent of the impact to our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Operating Highlights
The following table sets forth certain operating highlights (in thousands) for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:
Years Ended December 31,
Revenues
Product licenses
$
101,804
$
86,743
Subscription services
43,069
33,082
Total product licenses and subscription services
144,873
119,825
Product support
281,209
284,434
Other services
84,680
76,476
Total revenues
510,762
480,735
Cost of revenues
Product licenses
1,721
2,293
Subscription services
16,901
14,833
Total product licenses and subscription services
18,622
17,126
Product support
19,254
23,977
Other services
54,033
49,952
Total cost of revenues
91,909
91,055
Gross profit
418,853
389,680
Operating expenses
Sales and marketing
160,141
148,910
Research and development
117,117
103,561
General and administrative
95,501
80,136
Digital asset impairment losses
830,621
70,698
Total operating expenses
1,203,380
403,305
Loss from operations
$
(784,527
)
$
(13,625
)
We have incurred and may continue to incur significant impairment losses on our digital assets and we may recognize gains upon sale of our digital assets in the future, which would be presented net of any impairment losses within operating expenses. In addition, we base our internal operating expense forecasts on expected revenue trends and strategic objectives in our enterprise analytics software business. Many of our expenses, such as office leases and certain personnel costs, are relatively fixed. Accordingly, any decrease in the price of bitcoin during any quarter, any sales by us of our bitcoin at prices above their then current carrying costs or any shortfall in revenue in our software business may cause significant variation in our operating results. We therefore believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results may not be a good indication of our future performance.
Share-based Compensation Expense
As discussed in Note 11, Share-based Compensation, to the Consolidated Financial Statements, we have outstanding stock options to purchase shares of our class A common stock, restricted stock units, and certain other stock-based awards under our 2013 Equity Plan, as well as opportunities for eligible employees to purchase shares of our class A common stock under our 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2021 ESPP”). Share-based compensation expense (in thousands) from these awards was recognized in the following cost of revenues and operating expense line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
Cost of subscription services revenues
$
$
Cost of product support revenues
1,176
Cost of consulting revenues
Cost of education revenues
Sales and marketing
12,875
1,609
Research and development
10,757
2,740
General and administrative
18,125
6,349
Total share-based compensation expense
$
44,126
$
11,153
The $33.0 million increase in share-based compensation expense during 2021, as compared to the prior year, is primarily due to the continued expansion of our equity award programs worldwide and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021, driven primarily by the increase in the market value of our class A common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we estimated that an aggregate of approximately $143.8 million of additional share-based compensation expense associated with the 2013 Equity Plan and the 2021 ESPP will be recognized over a remaining weighted average period of 3.1 years.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We are providing supplemental financial measures for (i) non-GAAP loss from operations that excludes the impact of our share-based compensation expense, (ii) non-GAAP net loss and non-GAAP diluted loss per share that exclude the impact of our share-based compensation expense, interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs and (in 2020, before the adoption of Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-06, Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”)) the debt discount on our long-term debt, and related income tax effects, and (iii) certain non-GAAP constant currency revenues, cost of revenues, and operating expenses that exclude foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. These supplemental financial measures are not measurements of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and, as a result, these supplemental financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally to help understand, manage, and evaluate our business performance and to help make operating decisions.
We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are also useful to investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis. The first supplemental financial measure excludes a significant non-cash expense that we believe is not reflective of our general business performance, and for which the accounting requires management judgment and the resulting share-based compensation expense could vary significantly in comparison to other companies. The second set of supplemental financial measures excludes the impact of (i) share-based compensation expense, (ii) non-cash interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs and (in 2020, before the adoption of ASU 2020-06) the debt discount related to our long-term debt, and (iii) related income tax effects. The third set of supplemental financial measures excludes changes resulting from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates so that results may be compared to the same period in the prior year on a non-GAAP constant currency basis. We believe the use of these non-GAAP financial measures can also facilitate comparison of our operating results to those of our competitors.
Non-GAAP financial measures are subject to material limitations as they are not in accordance with, or a substitute for, measurements prepared in accordance with GAAP. For example, we expect that share-based compensation expense, which is excluded from the first two non-GAAP financial measures, will continue to be a significant recurring expense over the coming years and is an important part of the compensation provided to certain employees, officers, and directors. Similarly, we expect that interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs will continue to be a recurring expense over the term of the long-term debt. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation and should be read only in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. We rely primarily on such Consolidated Financial Statements to understand, manage, and evaluate our business performance and use the non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally.
The following is a reconciliation of our non-GAAP loss from operations, which excludes the impact of share-based compensation expense, to its most directly comparable GAAP measures (in thousands) for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
Reconciliation of non-GAAP loss from operations:
Loss from operations
$
(784,527
)
$
(13,625
)
Share-based compensation expense
44,126
11,153
Non-GAAP loss from operations
$
(740,401
)
$
(2,472
)
The following are reconciliations of our non-GAAP net loss and non-GAAP diluted loss per share, in each case excluding the impact of (i) share-based compensation expense, (ii) interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs and (in 2020, before the
adoption of ASU 2020-06) the debt discount on our long-term debt, and (iii) related income tax effects to their most directly comparable GAAP measures (in thousands, except per share data) for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
Reconciliation of non-GAAP net loss:
Net loss
$
(535,480
)
$
(7,524
)
Share-based compensation expense
44,126
11,153
Interest expense arising from amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount
7,201
1,543
Income tax effects (1)
(47,976
)
(5,656
)
Non-GAAP net loss
$
(532,129
)
$
(484
)
Reconciliation of non-GAAP diluted loss per share (2):
Diluted loss per share
$
(53.44
)
$
(0.78
)
Share-based compensation expense (per diluted share)
4.40
1.15
Interest expense arising from amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount (per diluted share)
0.72
0.16
Income tax effects (per diluted share)
(4.79
)
(0.58
)
Non-GAAP diluted loss per share
$
(53.11
)
$
(0.05
)
(1)
Income tax effects reflect the net tax effects of share-based compensation expense, which includes tax benefits on exercises of stock options and vesting of share-settled restricted stock units, and interest expense for amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount.
(2)
For reconciliation purposes, the non-GAAP diluted earnings (loss) per share calculations use the same weighted average shares outstanding as that used in the GAAP diluted earnings (loss) per share calculations for the same period. For example, in periods of GAAP net loss, otherwise dilutive potential shares of common stock from our share-based compensation arrangements and Convertible Notes are excluded from the GAAP diluted loss per share calculation as they would be antidilutive, and therefore are also excluded from the non-GAAP diluted earnings or loss per share calculation.
The following are reconciliations of certain non-GAAP constant currency revenues, cost of revenues, and operating expenses to their most directly comparable GAAP measures (in thousands) for the periods indicated.
Years Ended
December 31,
GAAP
Foreign Currency
Exchange Rate
Impact (1)
Non-GAAP
Constant
Currency (2)
GAAP
GAAP %
Change
Non-GAAP
Constant
Currency %
Change (3)
Product licenses revenues
$
101,804
$
(858
)
$
102,662
$
86,743
17.4
%
18.4
%
Subscription services revenues
43,069
42,550
33,082
30.2
%
28.6
%
Product support revenues
281,209
3,816
277,393
284,434
-1.1
%
-2.5
%
Other services revenues
84,680
1,118
83,562
76,476
10.7
%
9.3
%
Cost of product support revenues
19,254
19,221
23,977
-19.7
%
-19.8
%
Cost of other services revenues
54,033
53,692
49,952
8.2
%
7.5
%
Sales and marketing expenses
160,141
159,818
148,910
7.5
%
7.3
%
Research and development expenses
117,117
1,586
115,531
103,561
13.1
%
11.6
%
General and administrative expenses
95,501
95,225
80,136
19.2
%
18.8
%
GAAP
Foreign Currency
Exchange Rate
Impact (1)
Non-GAAP
Constant
Currency (2)
GAAP
GAAP %
Change
Non-GAAP
Constant
Currency %
Change (3)
Product licenses revenues
$
86,743
$
(1,227
)
$
87,970
$
87,471
-0.8
%
0.6
%
Subscription services revenues
33,082
32,961
29,394
12.5
%
12.1
%
Product support revenues
284,434
(358
)
284,792
292,035
-2.6
%
-2.5
%
Other services revenues
76,476
76,172
77,427
-1.2
%
-1.6
%
Cost of product support revenues
23,977
(142
)
24,119
28,317
-15.3
%
-14.8
%
Cost of other services revenues
49,952
(347
)
50,299
54,365
-8.1
%
-7.5
%
Sales and marketing expenses
148,910
(2,184
)
151,094
191,235
-22.1
%
-21.0
%
Research and development expenses
103,561
103,519
109,423
-5.4
%
-5.4
%
General and administrative expenses
80,136
(444
)
80,580
86,697
-7.6
%
-7.1
%
(1)
The “Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Impact” reflects the estimated impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates on international components of our Consolidated Statements of Operations. It shows the increase (decrease) in material international revenues or expenses, as applicable, from the same period in the prior year, based on comparisons to the prior year quarterly average foreign currency exchange rates. The term “international” refers to operations outside of the United States and Canada.
(2)
The “Non-GAAP Constant Currency” reflects the current period GAAP amount, less the Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Impact.
(3)
The “Non-GAAP Constant Currency % Change” reflects the percentage change between the current period Non-GAAP Constant Currency amount and the GAAP amount for the same period in the prior year.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. See Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of our significant accounting policies. As described in Note 2, the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, and equity, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results and outcomes could differ from these estimates and assumptions.
Critical accounting estimates involve a significant level of estimation uncertainty and are estimates that have had or are reasonably likely to have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. We consider certain estimates and judgments related to revenue recognition to be critical accounting estimates for us, as discussed further below.
Revenue Recognition
See Note 2(n), Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Revenue Recognition, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding our significant accounting policies over revenue recognition.
Many of our contracts with customers include multiple performance obligations, and we make estimates and judgments to allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on an observable or estimated standalone selling price (“SSP”). The SSP is the price, or estimated price, of the software or service when sold on a standalone basis at contract inception. We consider our evaluation of SSP to be a critical accounting estimate.
An observable price of a good or service sold separately provides the best evidence of SSP. However, in many situations, SSP will not be readily observable, but must still be estimated using reasonably available information. We have observable standalone selling prices of our product support, consulting services, and education services, and therefore use historical transaction data on a standalone basis, along with our judgment, to establish SSP ranges for each of these services, as described in Note 2(n). However, SSP is not directly observable for product licenses (product licenses are not sold on a standalone basis and pricing is highly variable) and subscription services (the selling price of subscription services is highly variable), and we use a residual approach to establish SSP for these revenue streams. As such, the establishment of SSP of our product support, consulting services, and education services directly impacts the amount of product licenses and subscription services revenues recognized, and therefore also impacts the overall timing of revenue recognition.
We review and analyze the SSP ranges we have established for product support, consulting services, and education services semi-annually, and these SSP ranges have not changed significantly since adopting Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) and its subsequent amendments (“ASU 2014-09”) effective January 1, 2018. We also perform analyses on a semi-annual basis using historical pricing data for both product license and subscription services transactions to assess whether the selling price is highly variable in order to support our conclusion that the residual method to estimate SSP of our product licenses and subscription services is a fair allocation of the transaction price. We have maintained our conclusion that the residual method is appropriate for our product licenses and subscription services since adopting ASU 2014-09.
In the future, SSP for our software and services could be impacted by various factors, including potential changes in our pricing practices, customer demand for our products and services, and various market or economic conditions. However, we consider the risk of significant volatility in our established SSP to be small given our historical transaction experience and internal processes to monitor SSP ranges on an ongoing basis and work with management in the event a trend that could impact the future ranges is detected.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Revenues
Except as otherwise indicated herein, the term “domestic” refers to operations in the United States and Canada and the term “international” refers to operations outside of the United States and Canada.
Product licenses and subscription services revenues. The following table sets forth product licenses and subscription services revenues (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Product Licenses and Subscription Services Revenues:
Product Licenses
Domestic
$
54,107
$
51,504
5.1
%
International
47,697
35,239
35.4
%
Total product licenses revenues
101,804
86,743
17.4
%
Subscription Services
Domestic
31,306
24,684
26.8
%
International
11,763
8,398
40.1
%
Total subscription services revenues
43,069
33,082
30.2
%
Total product licenses and subscription services revenues
$
144,873
$
119,825
20.9
%
The following table sets forth a summary, grouped by size, of the number of recognized product licenses transactions for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
Product Licenses Transactions with Recognized Licenses Revenue in the Applicable Period:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Total
Domestic:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Total
International:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
Total
The following table sets forth the recognized revenue (in thousands) attributable to product licenses transactions, grouped by size, and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Product Licenses Revenue Recognized in the Applicable Period:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
$
26,838
$
25,599
4.8
%
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
12,809
12,096
5.9
%
Less than $0.5 million in licenses revenue recognized
62,157
49,048
26.7
%
Total
101,804
86,743
17.4
%
Domestic:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
18,391
20,108
-8.5
%
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
7,364
6,568
12.1
%
Less than $0.5 million in licenses revenue recognized
28,352
24,828
14.2
%
Total
54,107
51,504
5.1
%
International:
More than $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
8,447
5,491
53.8
%
Between $0.5 million and $1.0 million in licenses revenue recognized
5,445
5,528
-1.5
%
Less than $0.5 million in licenses revenue recognized
33,805
24,220
39.6
%
Total
$
47,697
$
35,239
35.4
%
Product licenses revenues increased $15.1 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, product licenses transactions with more than $0.5 million in recognized revenue represented 38.9% and 43.5%, respectively, of our product licenses revenues. During 2021, our top three product licenses transactions totaled $12.6 million in recognized revenue, or 12.4% of total product licenses revenues, compared to $15.3 million, or 17.6% of total product licenses revenues, during 2020.
Domestic product licenses revenues. Domestic product licenses revenues increased $2.6 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an increase in the average deal size of transactions with less than $0.5 million in recognized revenue and an increase in the number of transactions with recognized revenue between $0.5 million and $1.0 million, partially offset by a decrease in the average deal size of transactions with more than $1.0 million in recognized revenue.
International product licenses revenues. International product licenses revenues increased $12.5 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an increase in the number of transactions with less than $0.5 million in recognized revenue and an increase in the number of transactions with more than $1.0 million in recognized revenue, partially offset by $0.9 million unfavorable foreign currency exchange impact.
Subscription services revenues. Subscription services revenues are derived from MCE, a cloud subscription service, that are recognized ratably over the service period in the contract. Subscription services revenues increased $10.0 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to conversions to cloud-based subscriptions from existing on-premises customers, an increase in the use of subscription services by existing customers, sales contracts with new customers, and a $0.5 million favorable foreign currency exchange impact. We expect our subscription services revenues to continue to grow in future periods as we continue to promote our cloud offering to new and existing customers.
Product support revenues. The following table sets forth product support revenues (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Product Support Revenues:
Domestic
$
161,288
$
167,266
-3.6
%
International
119,921
117,168
2.3
%
Total product support revenues
$
281,209
$
284,434
-1.1
%
Product support revenues are derived from providing technical software support and software updates and upgrades to customers. Product support revenues are recognized ratably over the term of the contract, which is generally one year. Product support revenues decreased $3.2 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to certain existing customers converting from perpetual product licenses with separate support contracts to our subscription services or term product licenses offerings, partially offset by a $3.8 million favorable foreign currency exchange impact.
Other services revenues. The following table sets forth other services revenues (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Other Services Revenues:
Consulting
Domestic
$
36,814
$
33,021
11.5
%
International
42,918
38,324
12.0
%
Total consulting revenues
79,732
71,345
11.8
%
Education
4,948
5,131
-3.6
%
Total other services revenues
$
84,680
$
76,476
10.7
%
Consulting revenues. Consulting revenues are derived from helping customers plan and execute the deployment of our software. Consulting revenues increased $8.4 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an increase in billable hours worldwide and a $1.0 million favorable foreign currency exchange impact, partially offset by a decrease in average bill rates and a decrease in billable travel and entertainment expenditures.
Education revenues. Education revenues are derived from the education and training that we provide to our customers to enhance their ability to fully utilize the features and functionality of our software. These offerings include self-tutorials, custom course development, joint training with customers’ internal staff, and standard course offerings, with pricing dependent on the specific offering delivered. Education revenues did not materially change during 2021, as compared to the prior year.
Costs and Expenses
Cost of revenues. The following table sets forth cost of revenues (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Cost of Revenues:
Product licenses and subscription services:
Product licenses
$
1,721
$
2,293
-24.9
%
Subscription services
16,901
14,833
13.9
%
Total product licenses and subscription services
18,622
17,126
8.7
%
Product support
19,254
23,977
-19.7
%
Other services:
Consulting
48,773
42,923
13.6
%
Education
5,260
7,029
-25.2
%
Total other services
54,033
49,952
8.2
%
Total cost of revenues
$
91,909
$
91,055
0.9
%
Cost of product licenses revenues. Cost of product licenses revenues consists of referral fees paid to channel partners, the costs of product manuals and media, and royalties paid to third-party software vendors. Cost of product licenses revenues did not materially change during 2021, as compared to the prior year.
Cost of subscription services revenues. Cost of subscription services revenues consists of equipment, facility and other related support costs, and personnel and related overhead costs. Subscription services headcount increased 46.9% to 72 at December 31, 2021 from 49 at December 31, 2020; however, average headcount for the respective periods did not materially change. Cost of subscription services revenues increased $2.1 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to a $2.8 million increase in cloud hosting infrastructure costs, which is a result of the increased usage by new and existing cloud subscription services customers, partially offset by a $0.6 million decrease in salaries.
Cost of product support revenues. Cost of product support revenues consists of personnel and related overhead costs, including those under our Enterprise Support program. Our Enterprise Support program utilizes primarily consulting personnel to provide product support to our customers at our discretion. Compensation related to personnel providing Enterprise Support services is reported as cost of product support revenues. Product support headcount increased 13.0% to 174 at December 31, 2021 from 154 at December 31, 2020. Cost of product support revenues decreased $4.7 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to a $2.8 million decrease in compensation and related costs due to a decrease in product support average staffing levels and a shift in staffing levels to lower cost regions, a $2.4 million decrease in compensation and related costs attributable to non-product support personnel providing a decreased level of Enterprise Support services, and a $0.6 million decrease in facility and other related support costs, partially offset by a $1.0 million net increase in share-based compensation expense. The $1.0 million net increase in share-based compensation expense is primarily due to the grant of additional awards under the 2013 Equity Plan and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021.
Cost of consulting revenues. Cost of consulting revenues consists of personnel and related overhead costs, excluding those under our Enterprise Support program which are allocated to cost of product support revenues. Consulting headcount increased 5.1% to 413 at December 31, 2021 from 393 at December 31, 2020. Cost of consulting revenues increased $5.9 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to a $4.1 million increase in subcontractor costs, a $2.1 million increase in compensation and related costs attributable to consulting personnel providing a decreased level of Enterprise Support services, and a $0.8 million net increase in share-based compensation expense, partially offset by a $1.0 million decrease in travel and entertainment expenditures primarily attributable to higher expenses during the first quarter of 2020 which was not materially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The $0.8 million net increase in share-based compensation expense is primarily due to the grant of additional awards under the 2013 Equity Plan and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021.
Cost of education revenues. Cost of education revenues consists of personnel and related overhead costs. Education headcount decreased 2.7% to 36 at December 31, 2021 from 37 at December 31, 2020. Cost of education revenues decreased $1.8 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to a $0.8 million decrease in cloud hosting infrastructure costs associated with education offerings that we made available at no charge for a limited time period during the first half of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a $0.6 million decrease in compensation and related costs due to a decrease in average staffing levels.
Sales and marketing expenses. Sales and marketing expenses consist of personnel costs, commissions, office facilities, travel, advertising, public relations programs, and promotional events, such as trade shows, seminars, and technical conferences. Sales and marketing headcount decreased 1.9% to 470 at December 31, 2021 from 479 at December 31, 2020. The following table sets forth sales and marketing expenses (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Sales and marketing expenses
$
160,141
$
148,910
7.5
%
Sales and marketing expenses increased $11.2 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an $11.3 million net increase in share-based compensation expense, a $10.3 million increase in variable compensation (of which $2.1 million was due to the cancellation of a sales employee awards event in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), and a $0.5 million increase in recruiting costs, partially offset by a $5.5 million decrease in employee salaries due to a decrease in average staffing levels, a $2.9 million decrease in travel and entertainment expenditures primarily attributable to higher expenses during the first quarter of 2020 which was not materially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, a $1.4 million decrease in facility and other related support costs, and a $0.5 million decrease in subcontractor costs. The $11.3 million net increase in share-based compensation expense is primarily due to the grant of additional awards under the 2013 Equity Plan and the 2021 ESPP and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021.
Research and development expenses. Research and development expenses consist of the personnel costs for our software engineering personnel, depreciation of equipment, and other related costs. Research and development headcount increased 8.9% to 699 at December 31, 2021 from 642 at December 31, 2020. The following table summarizes research and development expenses (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Research and development expenses
$
117,117
$
103,561
13.1
%
Research and development expenses increased $13.6 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an $8.0 million net increase in share-based compensation expense, a $3.1 million increase in variable compensation (of which $0.5 million was due to certain COVID-19-related employer payroll tax exemptions in the Asia Pacific region in 2020), a $1.7 million increase in employee salaries primarily due to periodic wage increases partially offset by a decrease in average staffing levels and a shift in staffing levels to lower cost regions, a $1.4 million gain on partial lease termination of our corporate headquarters lease recorded during the fourth quarter of 2020 and allocated to research and development expenses, and a $0.7 million increase in recruiting costs, partially offset by a $0.9 million decrease in facility and other related support costs. The $8.0 million net increase in share-based compensation expense is primarily due to the grant of additional awards under the 2013 Equity Plan and the 2021 ESPP and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021. Included in research and development expenses for 2021 is an aggregate $1.6 million unfavorable foreign currency exchange impact.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses consist of personnel and related overhead costs, and other costs of our executive, finance, human resources, information systems, and administrative departments, as well as third-party consulting, legal, and other professional fees. General and administrative headcount increased 5.8% to 257 at December 31, 2021 from 243 at December 31, 2020. The following table sets forth general and administrative expenses (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
General and administrative expenses
$
95,501
$
80,136
19.2
%
General and administrative expenses increased $15.4 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to an $11.8 million net increase in share-based compensation expense, a $3.5 million increase in legal, consulting, and other advisory costs which includes costs from executing our new bitcoin acquisition strategy in 2021, a $3.1 million increase in custodial fees incurred on our bitcoin holdings, a $0.6 million gain on partial lease termination of our corporate headquarters lease recorded during the fourth quarter of 2020 and allocated to general and administrative expenses, and a $0.5 million increase in cloud hosting infrastructure costs, partially offset by a $3.2 million decrease in compensation and related costs due to a decrease in average staffing levels and a $1.2 million decrease in bad debt expense. The $11.8 million net increase in share-based compensation expense is primarily due to the grant of additional awards under the 2013 Equity Plan and an overall increase in the fair value of new awards during 2021, partially offset by certain awards becoming fully vested.
Digital asset impairment losses. Digital asset impairment losses are recognized when the carrying value of our digital assets exceeds their lowest fair value at any time since their acquisition. Impaired digital assets are written down to fair value at the time of impairment, and such impairment loss cannot be recovered for any subsequent increases in fair value. The following table sets forth digital asset impairment losses (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Digital asset impairment losses
$
830,621
$
70,698
1,074.9
%
We did not sell any of our digital assets during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. We may continue to incur significant digital asset impairment losses in the future. For example, we have incurred at least $163.3 million in digital asset impairment losses during the first quarter of 2022 on bitcoin we held as of December 31, 2021.
Interest (Expense) Income, Net
During 2021, interest expense, net, of $29.1 million was primarily related to the contractual interest expense related to our 2028 Secured Notes and 2025 Convertible Notes, the amortization of issuance costs related to our long-term debt arrangements, and contractual interest expense incurred on trade credits with Coinbase Credit, Inc. Refer to Note 8, Long-term Debt, and Note 4, Digital Assets, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information. During 2020, interest income, net, of $0.7 million was primarily related to interest earned on cash and cash equivalents balances and the amortization of the discount on our short-term investments, partially offset by the amortization of the debt discount, the contractual interest expense, and the amortization of issuance costs related to our 2025 Convertible Notes.
Other Income (Expense), Net
During 2021, other income, net, of $2.3 million was comprised primarily of foreign currency transaction net gains. During 2020, other expense, net, of $7.0 million was comprised primarily of foreign currency transaction net losses.
Benefit from Income Taxes
During 2021, we recorded a benefit from income taxes of $275.9 million on pre-tax losses of $811.4 million that resulted in an effective tax rate of 34.0%, as compared to a benefit from income taxes of $12.4 million on pre-tax losses of $20.0 million that resulted in an effective tax rate of 62.3% during 2020. The change in our effective tax rate in 2021, as compared to the prior year, was primarily due to certain discrete items, overall loss level, and the change in the proportion of U.S. versus foreign (loss) income.
The Tax Act imposed a mandatory deemed repatriation transition tax (“Transition Tax”) on previously untaxed accumulated and current earnings and profits of certain of our foreign subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2021, $25.1 million of the Transition Tax was unpaid, of which $22.1 million is included in “Other long-term liabilities” and $3.0 million is included in “Accounts payable, accrued expenses, and operating lease liabilities” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
As of December 31, 2021, we had no U.S. federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards and $4.1 million of foreign NOL carryforwards. As of December 31, 2021, digital asset impairment losses, other temporary differences and carryforwards, and credits resulted in deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowances and deferred tax liabilities, of $319.7 million.
As of December 31, 2021, we had a valuation allowance of $1.0 million primarily related to certain foreign tax credit carryforward tax assets that, in our present estimation, more likely than not will not be realized. If the market value of bitcoin declines or we are unable to regain profitability in future periods, we may be required to increase the valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets, which could result in a charge that would materially adversely affect net (loss) income in the period in which the charge is incurred. We will continue to regularly assess the realizability of deferred tax assets.
Beginning in the third quarter of 2020, we determined to no longer permanently reinvest our foreign earnings and profits. As of December 31, 2021, we recorded a deferred tax liability of $1.7 million on undistributed foreign earnings of $117.0 million related to foreign withholding tax and U.S. state income taxes.
Deferred Revenue and Advance Payments
Deferred revenue and advance payments represent amounts received or due from our customers in advance of our transferring our software or services to the customer. In the case of multi-year service contract arrangements, the Company generally does not invoice more than one year in advance of services and does not record deferred revenue for amounts that have not been invoiced. Revenue is subsequently recognized in the period(s) in which control of the software or services is transferred to the customer.
The following table summarizes deferred revenue and advance payments (in thousands), as of:
December 31,
Current:
Deferred product licenses revenue
$
$
1,495
Deferred subscription services revenue
35,589
26,258
Deferred product support revenue
166,477
156,216
Deferred other services revenue
6,801
7,281
Total current deferred revenue and advance payments
$
209,860
$
191,250
Non-current:
Deferred product licenses revenue
$
$
Deferred subscription services revenue
1,064
8,758
Deferred product support revenue
6,203
5,055
Deferred other services revenue
Total non-current deferred revenue and advance payments
$
8,089
$
14,662
Total current and non-current:
Deferred product licenses revenue
$
1,061
$
1,634
Deferred subscription services revenue
36,653
35,016
Deferred product support revenue
172,680
161,271
Deferred other services revenue
7,555
7,991
Total current and non-current deferred revenue and advance payments
$
217,949
$
205,912
Total deferred revenue and advance payments increased $12.0 million in 2021, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to the timing of product support, an increase in deferred revenue from new subscription services contracts, and an increase in conversions from on-premises to subscription services, partially offset by the presentation of multi-year contracts. The portions of such multi-year contracts that will be invoiced in the future are not presented on the balance sheet in “Accounts receivable, net” and “Deferred revenue and advance payments” and instead are included in the remaining performance obligation disclosure below. Included in our international deferred revenue balances at December 31, 2021 is a $5.9 million unfavorable foreign currency impact from the general strengthening of the U.S. dollar compared to the same period in the prior year.
Our remaining performance obligation represents all future revenue under contract and includes deferred revenue and advance payments and billable non-cancelable amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods. The remaining performance obligation excludes contracts that are billed in arrears, such as certain time and materials contracts. As of December 31, 2021, we had an aggregate transaction price of $267.6 million allocated to the remaining performance obligation related primarily to subscription services, product support, and product licenses. We expect to recognize approximately $219.2 million of the remaining performance obligation over the next 12 months and the remainder thereafter. However, the timing and ultimate recognition of our deferred revenue and advance payments and other remaining performance obligations depend on our satisfaction of various performance obligations, and the amount of deferred revenue and advance payments and remaining performance obligations at any date should not be considered indicative of revenues for any succeeding period.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity. Our principal sources of liquidity are cash and cash equivalents and on-going collection of our accounts receivable. Cash and cash equivalents may include holdings in bank demand deposits, money market instruments, certificates of deposit, and U.S. Treasury securities. Under our Treasury Reserve Policy and bitcoin acquisition strategy, we use a significant portion of our cash, including cash generated from capital raising activities, to acquire bitcoins. As discussed in Note 2(g) Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Digital Assets, to our Consolidated Financial Statements, our bitcoin are classified as indefinite-lived intangible assets.
As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the amount of cash and cash equivalents held by our U.S. entities was $13.1 million and $13.7 million, respectively, and by our non-U.S. entities was $50.3 million and $46.0 million, respectively. We earn a significant amount of
our revenues outside the United States and our accumulated undistributed foreign earnings and profits as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 were $117.0 million and $136.3 million, respectively. We repatriated foreign earnings and profits of $57.5 million during 2021 and $186.6 million during 2020.
Our material contractual obligations (explained in further detail in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, as referenced below) and cash requirements consist of:
•
principal and interest payments related to our long-term debt (Note 8, Long-term Debt);
•
rent payments under noncancellable operating leases (Note 7, Leases);
•
payments related to the Transition Tax (Note 9, Commitments and Contingencies);
•
payments under various purchase agreements, primarily related to third-party software supporting our products, marketing, and operations (Note 9, Commitments and Contingencies); and
•
ongoing personnel-related expenditures and vendor payments.
We believe that existing cash and cash equivalents held by us and cash and cash equivalents anticipated to be generated by us are sufficient to meet working capital requirements, anticipated capital expenditures, and contractual obligations for at least the next 12 months. Beyond the next 12 months, our long-term cash requirements are primarily for obligations related to our long-term debt (principal due upon maturity of each debt instrument ($650 million in the case of the 2025 Convertible Notes, $1.050 billion in the case of the 2027 Convertible Notes and $500 million in the case of the 2028 Secured Notes), $2.4 million in coupon interest due each semi-annual period for the 2025 Convertible Notes, and $15.3 million in coupon interest due each semi-annual period for the 2028 Secured Notes). We also have long-term cash requirements for obligations related to our operating leases, the Transition Tax, and our various purchase agreements. If cash and cash equivalents generated by future operating activities are not sufficient to enable us to satisfy these obligations, we may seek to generate cash and cash equivalents from other sources. The sources could include the sale of bitcoins, as well as the issuance and sale of shares of our class A common stock (as we have done through the Open Market Sale Agreement). Furthermore, if certain conditions are met, we may have the right to elect to settle the Convertible Notes upon a conversion of such Convertible Notes in shares of our class A common stock, or a combination of cash and shares of class A common stock, which may enable us to reduce the amount of our cash obligations under the Convertible Notes.
As of December 31, 2021, we held approximately 124,391 bitcoins. We do not believe we will need to sell any of our bitcoins within the next twelve months to meet our working capital requirements, although we may from time to time sell bitcoins as part of treasury management operations, as noted above. The bitcoin market historically has been characterized by significant volatility in its price, limited liquidity and trading volumes compared to sovereign currencies markets, relative anonymity, a developing regulatory landscape, susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, and various other risks inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network. During times of instability in the bitcoin market, we may not be able to sell our bitcoins at reasonable prices or at all. As a result, our bitcoins are less liquid than our existing cash and cash equivalents and may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents. In addition, upon sale of our bitcoin, we may incur additional taxes related to any realized gains or we may incur capital losses as to which the tax deduction may be limited.
The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows (in thousands) and related percentage changes for the periods indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
% Change
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
93,833
$
53,619
75.0
%
Net cash used in investing activities
$
(2,629,235
)
$
(1,018,693
)
158.1
%
Net cash provided by financing activities
$
2,541,685
$
563,233
351.3
%
Net cash provided by operating activities. The primary source of our cash provided by operating activities is cash collections of our accounts receivable from customers following the sales and renewals of our product licenses and product support, as well as consulting, education, and subscription services. Our primary uses of cash in operating activities are for personnel-related expenditures for software development, personnel-related expenditures for providing consulting, education, and subscription services, and for sales and marketing costs, general and administrative costs, and income taxes. Non-cash items to further reconcile net (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities consist primarily of depreciation and amortization, reduction in the carrying amount of operating lease ROU assets, credit losses and sales allowances, deferred taxes, release of liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits, share-based compensation expense, digital asset impairment losses, amortization of the issuance costs and debt discount on our long-term debt, and gain on partial lease termination.
Net cash provided by operating activities increased $40.2 million during 2021, as compared to the prior year, due to a $534.3 million increase from changes in non-cash items (principally related to digital asset impairment losses offset by deferred taxes) and a $33.9 million increase from changes in operating assets and liabilities, partially offset by a $528.0 million increase in net loss.
Net cash used in investing activities. The changes in net cash (used in) provided by investing activities primarily relate to purchases of digital assets, purchases and redemptions of short-term investments, and expenditures on property and equipment. Net cash used in investing activities increased $1.611 billion during 2021, as compared to the prior year, due to a $1.502 billion increase in purchases of bitcoins and a $119.9 million decrease in proceeds from the redemption of short-term investments, partially offset by a $9.9 million decrease in purchases of short-term investments and a $0.9 million decrease in purchases of property and equipment. During 2021, we purchased bitcoin using the net proceeds from the issuance of our 2027 Convertible Notes and 2028 Secured Notes, the issuance and sale of class A common stock under the Open Market Sale Agreement, and excess cash. During 2020, we purchased bitcoin using the net proceeds from the issuance of our 2025 Convertible Notes and excess cash, including cash from the liquidation of short-term investments.
Net cash provided by financing activities. The changes in net cash provided by (used in) financing activities primarily relate to the issuance of our long-term debt, the sale of class A common stock offered under the Open Market Sale Agreement, the purchase of treasury stock, the exercise of stock options under the 2013 Equity Plan, the issuance of class A common stock under the 2021 ESPP, and the payment of withholding tax on vesting of restricted stock units. Net cash provided by financing activities increased $1.978 billion during 2021, as compared to the prior year, due to $1.050 billion in gross proceeds from our 2027 Convertible Notes, $1.000 billion in gross proceeds from the sale of class A common stock offered under the Open Market Sale Agreement, $500.0 million in gross proceeds from our 2028 Secured Notes, a $123.2 million decrease in purchases of treasury stock, and $2.9 million in proceeds from the issuance of class A common stock under the 2021 ESPP, partially offset by $650.0 million in gross proceeds in 2020 from our 2025 Convertible Notes, $12.8 million of issuance costs paid for our 2028 Secured Notes, a $10.4 million decrease in proceeds from the exercise of stock options under the 2013 Equity Plan, a $10.2 million increase in issuance costs paid for our Convertible Notes, $9.5 million of issuance costs paid related to the Open Market Sale Agreement, and $4.7 million of withholding tax paid on vesting of restricted stock units.
Convertible Senior Notes and 2028 Senior Secured Notes
In December 2020, we issued $650.0 million aggregate principal amount of the 2025 Convertible Notes and in February 2021, we issued $1.050 billion aggregate principal amount of the 2027 Convertible Notes. We used the net proceeds from the issuance of the Convertible Notes to acquire bitcoin. The terms of the Convertible Notes are discussed more fully in Note 8, Long-term Debt, to the Consolidated Financial Statements. During 2021, we paid $4.9 million in interest to holders of the 2025 Convertible Notes. The 2027 Convertible Notes do not bear regular interest and we have not paid any special interest to holders of the 2027 Convertible Notes to date.
In June 2021, we issued $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of the 2028 Secured Notes. We used the net proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Secured Notes to acquire bitcoin. The terms of the 2028 Secured Notes are discussed more fully in Note 8, Long-term Debt, to the Consolidated Financial Statements. During 2021, we paid $15.4 million in interest to holders of the 2028 Secured Notes.
Open Market Sale Agreement
On June 14, 2021, we entered into the Open Market Sale Agreement with Jefferies, pursuant to which we issued and sold shares of our class A common stock having an aggregate offering price of approximately $1.0 billion from time to time through Jefferies. The terms of the Open Market Sale Agreement are discussed more fully in Note 13, Open Market Sale Agreement, to the Consolidated Financial Statements. During 2021, we sold 1,413,767 shares of our class A common stock under the Open Market Sale Agreement, at an average gross price per share of approximately $707.33, for aggregate net proceeds (less $9.5 million in sales commissions and expenses) of approximately $990.5 million. As of December 31, 2021, the cumulative aggregate offering price of the shares of class A common stock sold under the Open Market Sale Agreement was approximately $1.0 billion, inclusive of sales commissions, constituting the maximum program amount under the Open Market Sale Agreement.
Share repurchases. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we did not repurchase any shares of our class A common stock. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we repurchased an aggregate of 444,769 shares of our class A common stock at an average price per share of $139.12 and an aggregate cost of $61.9 million pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we also repurchased an aggregate of 432,313 shares of our class A common stock through a modified Dutch Auction tender offer at a price of $140.00 per share for an aggregate cost of $61.3 million, inclusive of $0.8 million in certain fees and expenses related to such tender offer. See “Part II. Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities” of this Annual Report and Note 14, Treasury Stock, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Unrecognized tax benefits. As of December 31, 2021, we had $6.2 million of total gross unrecognized tax benefits, including accrued interest, of which $2.1 million was recorded in “Other long-term liabilities” and $4.1 million was recorded in “Deferred tax assets, net.” The timing of any payments that could result from these unrecognized tax benefits will depend on a number of factors, and accordingly the amount and period of any future payments cannot be estimated. We do not expect any significant tax payments related to these obligations during 2022.
Recent Accounting Standards
See Note 3, Recent Accounting Standards, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
The following discussion about our market risk exposures involves forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
We are exposed to the impact of both market price changes in bitcoin and foreign currency fluctuations.
Market Price Risk of Bitcoin. We have used a significant portion of our cash, including proceeds from our issuance of long-term debt and proceeds from the sale of our class A common stock, to acquire bitcoin and, as of December 31, 2021, we held approximately 124,391 bitcoins. The carrying value of our bitcoins as of December 31, 2021 was $2.850 billion, which reflects cumulative impairments of $901.3 million, on our Consolidated Balance Sheet. As discussed in Note 2(g), Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements, we account for our bitcoin as indefinite-lived intangible assets, which are subject to impairment losses if the fair value of our bitcoin decreases below their carrying value at any time since their acquisition. Impairment losses cannot be recovered for any subsequent increase in fair value. For example, the market price of one bitcoin in our principal market ranged from $27,678.00 - $69,000.00 during the year ended December 31, 2021, but the carrying value of each bitcoin we held at the end of the reporting period reflects the lowest price of one bitcoin quoted on the Coinbase exchange (our principal market) at any time since its acquisition. Therefore, negative swings in the market price of bitcoin could have a material impact on our earnings and on the carrying value of our digital assets. Positive swings in the market price of bitcoin are not reflected in the carrying value of our digital assets and impact earnings only when the bitcoin is sold at a gain. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred impairment losses of $830.6 million on our bitcoin.
Foreign Currency Risk. We conduct a significant portion of our business in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the currency in which we report our Consolidated Financial Statements. International revenues accounted for 44.0%, 41.9%, and 43.7% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. We anticipate that international revenues will continue to account for a significant portion of our total revenues. The functional currency of each of our foreign subsidiaries is generally the local currency.
Assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect as of the applicable Balance Sheet date and any resulting translation adjustments are included as an adjustment to stockholders’ equity. Revenues and expenses generated from these subsidiaries are translated at average monthly exchange rates during the quarter in which the transactions occur. Gains and losses from transactions in local currencies are included in net income (loss).
As a result of transacting in multiple currencies and reporting our Consolidated Financial Statements in U.S. dollars, our operating results may be adversely impacted by currency exchange rate fluctuations in the future. The impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations on current and comparable periods is described in the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
We cannot predict the effect of exchange rate fluctuations upon our future results. We attempt to minimize our foreign currency risk by converting our excess foreign currency held in foreign jurisdictions to U.S. dollar-denominated cash accounts.
As of December 31, 2021, a 10% adverse change in foreign currency exchange rates versus the U.S. dollar would have decreased our aggregate reported cash and cash equivalents by 4.0%. If average exchange rates during the year ended December 31, 2021 had changed unfavorably by 10%, our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021 would have decreased by 4.0%. During the year ended December 31, 2021, our revenues were higher by 0.9% as a result of a 3.0% favorable change in weighted average exchange rates, as compared to the prior year.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Our Consolidated Financial Statements, together with the related notes and the associated Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, are set forth on the pages indicated in Item 15.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9.
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A.
Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the Company’s principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by the Company’s Board of Directors, management, and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Such internal control includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company, (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company, and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that the control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Under the oversight of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, our management conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021 based on the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on its assessment, management has determined that, as of December 31, 2021, our internal control over financial reporting is effective based on those criteria.
Our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG LLP, which audited the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report, has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting. This report is included in the Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm in “Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.”
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
No change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) occurred during the three months ended December 31, 2021 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. We are continually monitoring and assessing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our internal control over financial reporting to minimize the impact on the design and operating effectiveness of such internal control. We have not experienced any material impact on our internal control over financial reporting despite the fact that many of our employees are working remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B.
Other Information
2021 Cash Bonus Determinations for Certain Executive Officers
On February 11, 2022, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer determined cash bonus awards for the following executive officers of the Company in the amounts set forth opposite their respective names, in each case with respect to the executive’s performance in 2021:
Timothy E. Lang
$
575,000
Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer
Phong Q. Le
$
1,000,000
President & Chief Financial Officer
W. Ming Shao
$
650,000
Senior Executive Vice President & General Counsel
The Chief Executive Officer determined the foregoing awards based on his subjective evaluation of the applicable executive’s performance in the context of general economic and industry conditions and Company performance during 2021.
Salary Determinations for Certain Executive Officers
On February 11, 2022, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer approved increases to the annual salaries of the following executive officers of the Company, resulting in the amounts set forth opposite their respective names, effective January 1, 2022:
Timothy E. Lang
$
640,000
W. Ming Shao
$
640,000
Annual Discretionary Cash Bonus Targets for Certain Executive Officers
On February 11, 2022, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer established annual discretionary cash bonus targets for 2022 for the following executive officers of the Company in the amounts set forth opposite their respective names:
Timothy E. Lang
$
500,000
Phong Q. Le
$
750,000
W. Ming Shao
$
500,000
Awards pursuant to the foregoing discretionary cash bonus targets will be determined by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer based on his subjective evaluation of the applicable executive’s performance in the context of general economic and industry conditions and Company performance during the year.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10.
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information provided under the headings “Executive Officers of the Company,” “Election of Directors - Nominees,” and “Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors and its Committees” in our definitive proxy statement to be filed with the SEC not later than 120 days after the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 (the “2022 Proxy Statement”).

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11.
Executive Compensation
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information provided under the headings “Executive and Director Compensation,” “Compensation Committee Report,” and “Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors and its Committees - Compensation Committee” in the 2022 Proxy Statement.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12.
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information provided under the headings “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” and “Executive and Director Compensation” in the 2022 Proxy Statement.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13.
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information provided under the heading “Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors and its Committees” in the 2022 Proxy Statement.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information provided under the heading “Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm Fees and Services” in the 2022 Proxy Statement.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15.
Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a)
The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report:
1.
Consolidated Financial Statements
Page
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Financial Statements:
Balance Sheets
Statements of Operations
Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income
Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
2.
Exhibits
3.
Consolidated Financial Statement Schedule
Schedule II - Valuation and Qualifying Accounts
(b)
Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this Annual Report the exhibits listed in the Index to Exhibits.
(c)
Financial Statement Schedule
The following financial statement schedule is filed herewith:
Schedule II-Valuation and Qualifying Accounts
All other items included in an Annual Report on Form 10-K are omitted because they are not applicable or the answers thereto are none.