EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 880631
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 880631_10-K_2022_0001193125-22-053552.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1.
BUSINESS
Our Company
We are an asset management company in the business of offering transparent financial exposures to our clients and are a leading global exchange traded product, or ETP, sponsor based on assets under management, or AUM, with AUM of $77.5 billion as of December 31, 2021. More recently, we have been positioning ourselves to expand beyond our existing ETP business by leveraging blockchain technology, digital assets and principles of decentralized finance, or DeFi, to deliver transparency, choice and inclusivity to customers and consumers around the world.
Our family of ETPs includes products that provide exposure to equities, commodities, fixed income, leveraged and inverse, currency, cryptocurrency and alternative strategies. We have launched many first-to-market
products and pioneered alternative weighting we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Most of our equity-based funds employ a fundamentally weighted investment methodology, which weights securities based on factors such as dividends, earnings or investment factors, whereas most other industry indexes use a capitalization weighted methodology. These products are distributed through all major channels in the asset management industry, including banks, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, institutional investors, private wealth managers and online brokers primarily through our sales force.
We are at the forefront of innovation and have differentiated ourselves through continued investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions such as our Advisor Solutions program, which includes portfolio construction, asset allocation, practice management services and digital tools for financial advisors. We seek to usher in the next chapter of financial services by introducing new revenue streams and expanding our offerings to include a new financial services mobile application, branded WisdomTree Prime™, a digital wallet that is native to the blockchain and being developed for saving, spending and investing in both native crypto assets and tokenized versions of mainstream financial assets (e.g., blockchain enabled investment funds). We also are planning to launch asset- and fund-tokenization products beginning with a dollar token, gold token and digital short term treasury fund which will be available on multiple public and permissioned blockchains, leveraging federal and state regulated entities. As we pursue our digital assets strategy, we are embracing a concept we refer to as “responsible DeFi,” which we believe upholds the foundational principles of regulation in this innovative and quickly evolving space.
We were incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 19, 1985 as Financial Data Systems, Inc. and ultimately renamed WisdomTree Investments, Inc. on September 6, 2005.
Assets Under Management
WisdomTree ETPs
We offer ETPs covering equity, commodity, fixed income, leveraged-and-inverse,
currency, cryptocurrency and alternative strategies. The chart below sets forth the asset mix of our ETPs for the last three years:
Our Operating and Financial Results
We operate as an ETP sponsor and asset manager, providing investment advisory services globally through our subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe. Sale of our Former Canadian ETF Business
In February 2020, we completed the sale of all of the outstanding shares of our wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, WisdomTree Asset Management Canada, Inc., or the Canadian ETF business, to CI Financial Corp. We received CDN $3.7 million (USD $2.8 million) in cash at closing and were paid CDN $3.0 million (USD $2.4 million) of additional cash consideration during the year ended December 31, 2021 based on the achievement of certain AUM growth targets as determined on the 18-month
anniversary of the closing date. We may receive additional cash consideration of CDN $0 to $4.0 million, depending on the achievement of certain AUM growth targets as determined on the 36-month
anniversary of the closing date.
Our Canadian ETF business reported operating losses during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020 of $2.8 million and $0.4 million, respectively.
U.S. Listed ETFs
Our U.S. listed ETFs’ AUM increased from $38.5 billion at December 31, 2020 to $48.2 billion at December 31, 2021, primarily due to net inflows and market appreciation.
International Listed ETPs
Our international listed ETPs’ AUM increased from $28.9 billion at December 31, 2020 to $29.3 billion at December 31, 2021, due to market appreciation, partly offset by net outflows.
Consolidated Operating Results
The following table sets forth our revenues and net (loss)/income for the last three years.
•
Revenues
- We recorded operating revenues of $304.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, up 21.8% from the year ended December 31, 2020 due to higher average AUM and a slightly higher advisory fee.
•
Expenses
- Total operating expenses increased 10.5% from the year ended December 31, 2020 to $215.3 million due to higher incentive compensation accruals and headcount, marketing expenses, professional fees, fund management and administration costs, third-party distribution fees and contractual gold payments. These increases were partly offset by lower occupancy expenses, sales and business development expenses and acquisition-related costs.
•
Other Income/(Expenses)
- Other income/(expenses) includes interest income and interest expense, gains/(losses) on revaluation of deferred consideration - gold payments, impairments, loss on extinguishment of debt and other losses and gains. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the (loss)/gain on revaluation of deferred consideration - gold payments was ($11.3) million, ($56.8) million and $2.0 million, respectively.
•
Net income/(loss)
- We reported a net loss of ($35.7) million and net income of $49.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively. The change was impacted by the change in revenue and expenses described above, impairment charges recorded in each year, a favorable change in the revaluation of deferred consideration - gold payments of $58.8 million and changes in other income and expense items.
See “Non-GAAP
Financial Measures” included in Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information.
Seasonality
We believe seasonal fluctuations in the asset management industry are common, however such trends are generally masked by global market events and market volatility in general. Therefore, period to period comparisons of our or the industry’s flows and operating results may not be meaningful or indicative of results in future periods.
Our Industry
We believe ETPs have been one of the most innovative investment products to emerge in the last two decades in the asset management industry. As of December 31, 2021, aggregate AUM of ETPs globally was $8.9 trillion.
The chart below reflects the AUM of the global ETP industry since 2001:
Source: Morningstar
As of December 31, 2021, we were the fifteenth largest ETP sponsor globally based on AUM.
GLOBAL RANKING
Rank
ETP Sponsor
AUM
(in billions)
iShares
$ 3,307
Vanguard
$ 2,212
State Street
$ 1,195
Invesco
$
Charles Schwab
$
Nomura
$
Xtrackers
$
First Trust
$
Lyxor
$
Nikko AM
$
Daiwa
$
UBS
$
Amundi
$
JPMorgan
$
WisdomTree
$
Source: Morningstar
ETFs have become more popular among a broad range of investors as they come to understand the benefits of ETFs and use them for a variety of purposes and strategies, including low-cost
index investing and asset allocation, access to specific asset classes, protective hedging, income generation, arbitrage opportunities and diversification.
While ETFs are similar to mutual funds in many respects, they also have some important differences:
•
Transparency
. ETFs disclose the composition of their underlying portfolios on a daily basis, unlike mutual funds, which typically disclose their holdings every 90 days.
•
Intraday trading, hedging strategies and complex orders
. Like stocks, ETFs and other exchange-traded products can be bought and sold on exchanges throughout the trading day at market prices. ETFs update the indicative values of their underlying portfolios every 15 seconds. As publicly-traded securities, ETF shares can be purchased on margin and sold short, enabling the use of hedging strategies, and traded using limit orders, allowing investors to specify the price points at which they are willing to trade.
•
Tax efficiency
. In the U.S., whenever a mutual fund or ETF realizes a capital gain that is not balanced by a realized loss, it must distribute the capital gain to its shareholders. These gains are taxable to all shareholders, even those who reinvest the gain distributions in additional shares of the fund. However, most ETFs typically redeem their shares through “in-kind”
redemptions in which low-cost
securities are transferred out of the ETF in exchange for fund shares in a non-taxable
transaction. By using this process, ETFs can avoid the transaction fees and tax impact incurred by mutual funds that sell securities to generate cash to pay out redemptions. See “U.S. Regulation” for a discussion about draft tax legislation proposed in 2021 that would eliminate this chief tax advantage.
•
Uniform pricing
. From a cost perspective, ETFs are one of the most equitable investment products on the market. Investors in a U.S. listed ETF pay identical advisory fees regardless of the investors’ size, structure or sophistication. Unlike mutual funds, U.S. listed ETFs generally do not have different share classes or different expense structures for retail and institutional clients and ETFs typically are not sold with sales loads or 12b-1
fees. In many cases, ETFs offer lower expense ratios than comparable mutual funds.
ETFs are used in various ways by a range of investors, from conservative to speculative uses including:
•
Low-cost
index investing
.
ETFs provide exposure to a variety of broad-based indexes across equities, fixed income, commodities and other asset classes and strategies, and can be used as both long-term portfolio holdings or short-term trading tools. ETFs offer an efficient and less costly method by which to gain exposure to indexes as compared to individual stock ownership.
•
Improved access to specific asset classes
. Investors often use ETFs to gain access to specific market sectors or regions around the world or a particular asset, such as physical gold, by investing in an ETF that holds a portfolio of securities in that region or segment rather than gaining exposure by purchasing individual securities or physical commodities.
•
Asset allocation
. Investors seeking to invest in various asset classes to develop an asset allocation model in a cost-effective manner can do so easily with ETFs, which offer broad exposure to various asset classes in a single security.
•
Protective hedging
. Investors seeking to protect their portfolios may use ETFs as a hedge against unexpected declines in prices of securities arising from market movements and changes in currency and interest rates.
•
Income generation
. Investors seeking to obtain income from their portfolios may buy fixed income ETFs that typically distribute monthly income or dividend-paying ETFs that encompass a basket of dividend-paying stocks rather than buying individual stocks.
•
Speculative investing
. Investors with a specific directional opinion about a market sector may choose to buy or sell (long or short) an ETF covering or leveraging that market sector.
•
Arbitrage
. Sophisticated investors may use ETFs to exploit perceived value differences between the ETF and the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio of securities.
•
Diversification
. By definition, ETFs represent a basket of securities and each fund may contain hundreds or even thousands of different individual securities. The “instant diversification” of ETFs provides investors with broad exposure to an asset class, market sector or geography.
The ETF sector of the asset management industry continues to demonstrate that it is favored among investors. According to Morningstar Direct, from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2021, equity ETFs have generated positive inflows of approximately $1.5 trillion, while long-term equity mutual funds have generated positive inflows of approximately $89 billion. In addition, ETF fixed income flows are benefiting from a broader range of investors gravitating toward fixed income products in the ETF structure. We believe this trend is due to the inherent benefits of ETFs - transparency, liquidity and tax efficiency.
We believe our growth, and the growth of the industry in which we operate, will continue to be driven by the following factors:
•
Education and greater investor awareness
. Over the last several years, ETPs have been taking a greater share of inflows and AUM from mutual funds. We believe investors have become more aware of some of the deficiencies of mutual funds and other financial products and are increasing their focus on important characteristics of their traditional investments-namely transparency, tradability, liquidity, tax efficiency and fees. Their attention and education focused on these important investment characteristics may be one of the drivers of the shift in inflows from traditional mutual funds to ETPs. We believe these products will continue to take market share from traditional mutual funds and other financial products or structures such as hedge funds, separate accounts and individual stocks as investors continue to become more aware and educated about ETPs and their benefits.
•
Move to fee-based
models
. Financial advisors are shifting their business model from one that is “transaction-based,” that is, based on commissions for trades or receiving sales loads, to a “fee-based”
approach, where an overall fee is charged based on the value of AUM. This fee-based
approach lends itself to the advisor selecting lower-fee
financial products, and in our opinion, better aligns advisers with the interests of their clients. Since ETFs generally charge lower fees than mutual funds, we believe this model shift will benefit the ETF industry.
•
Innovative product offerings
. ETPs are now available for virtually every asset class including equities, fixed income, commodities, alternative strategies, leveraged-and-inverse,
currencies and cryptocurrencies (with greater access in markets outside the U.S.). However, we believe that there remain substantial areas for sponsors to continue to innovate, including cryptocurrency, liquid alternative, thematic and ESG strategies. We also believe the further expansion of ETPs will fuel additional growth and investments from investors who typically access these products through hedge funds, separate accounts, stock investments or the futures and commodity markets.
•
Changing demographics
. As the “baby boomer” generation continues to mature and retire, we expect that there will be a greater demand for a broad range of investment solutions, with an emphasis on income generation and principal protection, and that more of these investors will seek advice from professional financial advisors. We believe these financial advisors will migrate more of their clients’ portfolios to ETFs due to their lower fees, better fit within fee-based
models, and their ability to provide access to more diverse market sectors, improve multi-asset class allocation, and be used for different investment strategies, including income generation. Overall, we believe ETFs are well-suited to meet the needs of this large and important group of investors. In addition, since many younger investors and financial advisors have demonstrated a preference for the ETF structure over traditional product structures, we believe that wealth transfers from one generation to another will also have a positive effect on ETF industry growth.
•
International markets.
We believe the growth of ETPs is a global phenomenon. While the U.S. currently represents the vast majority of global ETP assets, many of the same growth drivers in the U.S. market are also taking hold in global markets.
Our Competitive Strengths
•
Well-positioned in large and growing markets
.
We believe that ETPs are well positioned to grow significantly faster than the asset management industry as a whole, making our focus on ETPs an advantage over traditional asset management firms. We are also expanding our offerings to include asset- and fund-tokenization products beginning with a dollar token, gold token and digital short term treasury fund which will be available on multiple public and permissioned blockchains, leveraging federal and state regulated entities. Being a first mover, or one of the first providers of products in a particular asset class, can be a significant advantage. We believe that our early leadership in a number of asset classes positions us well to maintain a leadership position.
•
Strong, seasoned and creative management team
. We have built a strong and dedicated senior leadership team. Most of our leadership team has significant ETP or financial services industry experience in fund operations, regulatory and compliance oversight, product development and management or marketing and communications. We also continue to expand our global digital assets team, which is focused on growing existing and developing new investment products, indexes and strategies that provide exposure to digital assets, along with new blockchain-enabled products and services across global markets. Whether through ETPs, digital assets or decentralized finance, we will continue to be a trusted provider of innovative products and services guided by proactive engagement and regulatory collaboration. We believe our team has demonstrated an ability to innovate as well as recognize and respond to market opportunities and effectively execute our strategy and has a proven track record including developing an ETP sponsor from the ground up despite significant competitive regulatory and operational barriers.
•
Strong performance
. We create our own indexes, most of which weight companies in our equity ETFs by a measure of fundamental value and are rebalanced annually. By contrast, traditional indexes are market capitalization weighted and tend to track the momentum of the market. We also offer actively managed ETFs, as well as ETFs based on third-party indexes. In evaluating the performance of our U.S. listed equity, fixed income and alternative ETFs against actively managed and index based mutual funds and ETFs, 87% of the $48 billion invested in our U.S. listed ETFs covered by Morningstar and 69% (43 of 62) of our U.S. listed ETFs covered by Morningstar as of December 31, 2021 outperformed their comparable Morningstar average since inception. In addition, 23 of our U.S. listed ETFs and UCITS products are rated 4-
or 5-star
by Morningstar.
•
Differentiated product set, powered by innovation and performance
. Our products span a variety of traditional and high growth asset classes covering equity, commodity, fixed income, leveraged and inverse, currency, cryptocurrency and alternative strategies, and include both passive and actively managed funds. Our innovations include launching the following industry firsts:
•
the first gold and oil ETPs via our acquisition of the European exchange-traded commodity, currency and leveraged-and-inverse
business of ETFS Capital Limited, or ETFS Capital. Throughout this Report, we refer to the acquired business as ETFS and the acquisition as the ETFS Acquisition;
•
the first ETF to add bitcoin futures exposure;
•
the first emerging markets small-cap
equity ETF;
•
the first actively managed currency ETF;
•
the first ETF to provide investors with access to the Additional Tier 1 Contingent Convertible, or CoCo, bond market;
•
one of the first international local currency denominated fixed income ETFs;
•
the first managed futures strategy ETF;
•
the first currency hedged international equity ETFs in the U.S.;
•
the first 90/60 balanced ETF;
•
the first multifactor ETFs incorporating dynamic currency hedging as a factor; and
•
the first smart beta corporate bond suite.
Our product development strategy utilizes our Modern Alpha approach, which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Self-indexing is a significant component of this approach. Many of our products are based on proprietary WisdomTree indexes which we believe gives us several advantages. First, it minimizes our third-party index licensing fees, which increases our profitability. Second, because we develop our own intellectual property, we are intimately familiar with our strategies and able to effectively communicate their value proposition in the market with research content and support. Third, it can enhance our speed to market and first mover advantage. Fourth, because these indexes are proprietary to WisdomTree, we may face similar competition, but we never face exact competition. Our expertise in product development combined with our self-indexing capabilities provides a strategic advantage, enabling us to launch innovative products.
•
Extensive marketing, research and sales efforts
. We have invested significant resources to establish the WisdomTree brand and to promote our products through online and television targeted advertising, social media, as well as through our public relations efforts. Close to half of our employees are dedicated to marketing, research and sales. Our sales professionals are the primary points of contact for financial advisors, independent advisory firms and institutional investors who invest in our ETPs. Their efforts are enhanced through value-added services provided by our research and marketing efforts. We have strong relationships with financial advisors and institutional investors and we believe that by strategically aligning these advisor relationships and marketing campaigns with targeted research and sales initiatives and products that align with market sentiment, we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.
•
Efficient business model with lower risk profile
. We have invested heavily in digital tools and data to market and sell our products and in the internal development of our core competencies with respect to product development, marketing, research and sales of our products. We outsource to third parties those services that are not our core competencies or may be resource or risk intensive, such as the portfolio management responsibilities and fund accounting operations of our products. In addition, our licensing costs are moderated since we create our own indexes for most of our ETFs.
Our Growth Strategies
We are a leading global ETP sponsor based on assets under management, with AUM of $77.5 billion as of December 31, 2021. More recently, we have been positioning ourselves to expand beyond our existing ETP business by leveraging blockchain technology, digital assets and principles of DeFi to deliver transparency, choice and inclusivity to customers and consumers around the world. DeFi generally refers to the shift or transition from a centralized financial infrastructure reliant or dependent on central authorities, institutions and intermediaries to a more decentralized financial infrastructure facilitating peer-to-peer
transactions that are less reliant or dependent on central authorities, institutions and intermediaries. We believe DeFi also encompasses characteristics including the use of blockchain technology, immutability, interoperability and/or programmability whether provided through assets or services. We are embracing a concept we refer to as “responsible DeFi,” which we believe upholds the foundational principles of regulation in this innovative and quickly evolving space by building DeFi principles into the existing financial ecosystem in a responsible way. We believe our expansion into digital assets will complement our existing core competencies in a holistic manner, diversify our revenue streams and contribute to our growth. Our strategy includes the following:
•
Establish ourselves as a leader in digital assets.
We continue to make progress and pursue our initiatives in connection with our digital assets business in order to establish ourselves as a leader in the digital assets industry. Developments related to our digital assets business include the following:
•
we are continuing to develop a new financial services mobile application, branded WisdomTree Prime™
, which provides access to a digital wallet that is native to the blockchain aimed at providing customers and consumers with the ability to save, spend and invest in a variety of digital assets, including native crypto assets, tokenized versions of mainstream financial assets and blockchain enabled funds;
•
we developed the RWM WisdomTree Crypto Index, which offers digital assets exposure to separately managed accounts through our collaboration with Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC, OnRamp Invest, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC;
•
we launched five crypto ETPs in Europe, including a bitcoin and ether ETP as well as three crypto asset basket ETPs;
•
the WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund (GCC) became the first U.S. listed ETF to add bitcoin futures exposure with inclusion of up to 5% bitcoin futures allocation, and the WisdomTree Managed Futures Fund (WTMF) subsequently added bitcoin futures exposure, also with inclusion of up to 5% bitcoin futures allocation;
•
we launched the WisdomTree +Crypto Model Portfolios to serve as an educational resource for advisors through our collaboration with Onramp Invest and Gemini, as well as supported a new digital asset variable annuity product by Federal Life through the development of our +Crypto model portfolio;
•
we completed investments in Securrency, Inc., a blockchain-based financial services infrastructure provider for regulated funds and tokenized assets, and Onramp Invest, a technology firm that provides access to digital assets for registered investment advisers;
•
we filed registration statements with the SEC for the WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust, the WisdomTree Ethereum Trust and the WisdomTree Digital Short-Term Treasury Fund;
•
we made various other digital asset and blockchain-related regulatory filings and have applications pending in the U.S. as we position ourselves to become a leader in asset tokenization and blockchain enabled funds, including through federal and state regulated entities; and
•
we hired a dedicated team across the U.S., U.K, and Ireland focused exclusively on technology, compliance, legal, product, marketing, research and education related to digital assets, DeFi and blockchain technology.
•
Launch innovative new ETPs that diversify our product offerings and revenues
. We have launched many first-to-market
ETFs in the U.S. and pioneered alternative weighting and performance methods we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Our growth plan includes the following:
•
target 20 to 30 new global product launches with a focus on core, crypto, tactical, thematic and ESG exposures; and
•
to be a leader in the ESG space. Our ESG offerings include our ex-state-owned
methodology which supports our conviction that government-owned companies, particularly in emerging markets, can often have a negative impact on long-term performance. We offer three distinct ex-state-owned
approaches in emerging markets. We also offer broad-based U.S. equity strategies through three products that combine the potential performance benefits of our multifactor methodology with ESG attributes to meet investors’ evolving needs. Our AUM in these products totaled $5.0 billion at December 31, 2021, ranking us sixth in the U.S. by ESG assets under management. In 2021, we also launched our ESG model portfolios, our first models with explicit and specific ESG objectives split roughly between the demographic and social shift and environmental pressures families.
•
Foster deeper relationships through technology-enabled and research-driven solutions
.
We believe that technology is altering the way financial advisors conduct business. Our award-winning Advisor Solutions platform and our Model Adoption Center, or the MAC, is focused on providing technology-enabled and research-driven solutions to help financial advisors address technology challenges and grow and scale their businesses.
The Advisor Solutions program includes:
•
access to over 30 model portfolios, which are currently available on a number of platforms, including TD Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Envestnet, 55ip and others. Our model portfolios are a natural extension of our research capabilities and provide advisors access to an open-architecture approach, a tenured team and a firm dedicated to innovation and value creation. As part of this initiative, we launched two of our model portfolios in collaboration with Professor Jeremy Siegel;
•
portfolio construction services such as our award-winning Digital Portfolio Developer, an enhanced portfolio construction tool that assists financial advisors in analyzing an existing investment portfolio by examining the data and providing alternative portfolio approaches to consider in seeking to improve outcomes based on different measures;
•
wealth investment research and ETF education; and
•
practice management resources, including access to thought leaders in behavioral finance, leadership, and transforming wealth management technology.
•
Deepen relationships with distribution platforms
.
We maintain relationships with certain distribution platforms that allow commission free trading of our ETFs. These relationships are beneficial to us as they provide greater marketing privileges and access to the platforms’ advisors. As financial advisors continue to migrate away from mutual funds, we use our expertise in ETFs to build new relationships and educate advisors about the benefits of ETFs. Some of these relationships that exist today are with LPL Financial, BNY Mellon/Pershing, Raymond James, Cetera, Swissquote and others.
•
Leverage data intelligence to serve and expand investor base and improve sales and marketing effectiveness
.
We utilize a cognitive customer-focused lead prioritization system which has enhanced our distribution efforts. The system evaluates data across structured and unstructured sources such as historical investment data, market data and investor activity history, extracting behavioral insights, and is designed to enable our sales and marketing teams to optimize outreach to our current and potential investor base.
•
Selectively pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions.
We may pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions that will enable us to strengthen our current business, expand and diversify our product offerings, complement our Advisor Solutions program, increase our AUM or enter into new markets. We believe pursuing acquisitions or other strategic transactions is a cost-effective means of growing our business and AUM.
Human Capital Resources
We compete in the highly competitive asset management industry. Attracting, retaining and motivating highly skilled, and sometimes highly specialized, employees in operations, product development, research, sales and marketing and other positions is crucial to our ability to compete effectively. Our ability to recruit and retain such employees depends on a number of factors, including our corporate culture and work environment, informed by our values and behaviors, talent development and career opportunities and compensation and benefits. We strive to differentiate ourselves in the asset management industry through our sense of community and purpose integrated into our culture, while encouraging a culture where every employee has a voice.
Employee Profile
At December 31, 2021, we had 241 full-time employees globally, consisting of 150 in the U.S. and 91 in Europe. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and we consider our relations with employees to be good.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We recognize that a diverse set of perspectives is critical to innovation and have built a diverse and inclusive workforce that includes all genders, races, and ages, as well as those in the disabled community. We actively seek candidates from different backgrounds and outside traditional fields and reinforce our commitment to diversity through organizational policies, such as mandating fairness and equality for all employees and creating performance appraisal systems that are non-discriminatory.
Our Women’s Initiative Network, or WIN, is an employee-led
network designed to provide opportunities and support from all genders for women at WisdomTree; career development and professional training opportunities; and female empowerment and leadership within the organization. Since its inception in 2019, WIN has held several successful global events including a panel discussion on women in the workforce featuring notable guest speakers; an interactive seminar on negotiation skills; workshops and coaching sessions to enhance confidence to speak up; and various roundtable forums, informal coffee catch-ups,
weekly internal “spotlight” newsletters to increase visibility and raise the profile of our female employees and virtual social gatherings to promote connectivity and increase engagement while working remotely.
We pride ourselves on the diversity of our employee base globally, inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, and seek to continuously strengthen our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In 2020, we partnered with a third-party consulting firm to assist us in developing a DEI strategic plan. The objectives of this plan include driving clarity and accountability around our commitment to fostering an inclusive culture where employees feel empowered to do their best work; building trust across differences to ensure employees feel a sense of community and belonging; providing clear paths for growth and development opportunities; and encouraging diverse voices and perspectives. In addition, we have established a global DEI Council of senior leaders and employees to provide oversight and guidance as we implement programs contemplated by our strategic plan to increase diversity and promote inclusion. In 2021, the DEI Council assessed the current state of diversity across the firm, launched a monthly internal newsletter to promote discussions about topics that fall under the DEI umbrella, collaborated with WIN to host a roundtable about authenticity in the workplace, and worked to raise awareness about career advancement opportunities available to employees.
Employee Wellness, Health and Safety
The wellbeing of our employees is a primary focus. In response to the COVID-19
pandemic, we established a committee that led a coordinated strategy and acted quickly, implementing significant changes across the organization to protect our people. Our entire global workforce transitioned seamlessly and has been working remotely and successfully throughout the pandemic. We continue to provide frequent communications to keep our employees informed about health, safety and remote working logistics and offer expanded health, wellness and other benefits. For example, we support employees with their information technology needs, provide a monthly stipend to cover remote work-related business expenses and provide guidance for managers to ensure that employees remain connected and maintain physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. We also offer numerous wellness programs including meditation and yoga classes, health webinars, a weekly wellness newsletter and access to mental health professionals and other resources. We also offer flexible paid time-off
and sick leave policies to provide employees additional flexibility.
As the virtual work environment has led to efficiencies, increased transparency and further collaboration throughout our business, we have adopted a “remote first” philosophy. This means that time in the office will no longer be prescribed, and individuals and teams will be empowered to determine how they work best, based on their role, while remaining accountable for achieving individual and team outcomes. This decision was made after soliciting feedback from our employees, a significant number of which were highly supportive of these plans. In keeping with remote-first, we terminated the lease for our principal executive offices in New York and will maintain a smaller office footprint in New York and London to better align with the number of employees expected to collaborate in person on any given day, while providing a space for employees to work and socialize.
Compliance, Training and Development
We comply with all applicable government laws, rules and regulations and it is the responsibility of each employee to adhere to the standards and restrictions imposed by those laws, rules and regulations. Our employees are required to attend firmwide annual compliance training and to complete compliance certifications annually and in some instances, quarterly.
As we believe that our employees are our greatest asset, we recognize the importance of investing in their continued development. We provide a variety of opportunities for our employees to build new skills and further their career development. These include job-specific
training courses, virtual executive lunches and webinars hosted by various departments to gain a holistic view of the company. We also support employees continuing education, including through our educational reimbursement program. In addition, we invest in our current and future leaders through leadership development courses and coaching. We also hold monthly town halls to inform our employees of business developments and job openings for those seeking career development opportunities.
Employee Engagement
We believe engaging our employees is key to fostering new ideas and driving commitment and productivity. We communicate frequently and transparently with our employees through a variety of communication methods, including monthly town halls, firmwide weekly emails championing the team’s work and global virtual lunches with firm leaders. We also seek feedback from our employees through annual engagement surveys and follow-up
pulse surveys on various topics.
We also believe it is important to celebrate employee and company accomplishments. In 2021, we celebrated our second annual “Team Alpha” Awards to mark significant events and successes and to recognize employees who led those successes while exhibiting extraordinary teamwork and demonstrating strong character. Over 100 nominations were submitted and narrowed down by a selection committee. The winners received a modest incentive compensation award, the opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice and to recognize other employees who assisted them.
The success of our employee engagement efforts is demonstrated by our employee retention rate of approximately 90% in 2021. We also achieved overall positive results from our 2021 global employee engagement survey, with a 100% participation rate. Additionally, in the U.S., we were named a 2021 Best Places to Work in Money Management by Pension
& Investments
for the second consecutive year and five years total, and were one of the top five firms within the category for managers with 100-499
employees. We were also named Best WorkPlace for medium-sized
companies in the U.K. for a second consecutive year.
Compensation and Benefits
We are committed to rewarding and supporting our employees in order to continue to attract and retain top talent. Our incentive compensation program has been designed to reward our employees for their individual performance as well as the Company’s performance and includes various quantitative metrics and qualitative results that incentivize growth. We believe a key factor in our success has been and continues to be fostering an entrepreneurial culture where our employees act and think like our owners. As such, we believe that equity awards are an important part of our employees’ overall compensation package and that incentivizing our employees with equity aligns the interests of our employees with our stockholders. We also offer a wide array of benefits including generous healthcare coverage, paid vacation, parental, sabbatical and sick leave, life insurance, short- and long-term disability benefits and a 401(k) plan with a matching contribution of up to 50% of eligible employee contributions.
Our Product Categories
Commodity & Currency
We have an industry leading position in European listed gold and commodity products and also offer products with exposure to other precious metals and commodities such as silver and platinum, oil and energy, agriculture and broad basket commodities. Our currency products provide investors with exposure to developed and emerging markets currencies, as well as exposures to foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar. Total AUM of our Commodity & Currency products was $24.6 billion at December 31, 2021.
U.S. Equity
We offer equity products that provide access to the securities of large, mid and small-cap
companies located in the U.S., as well as particular market sectors and styles. Our U.S. Equity products track our own indexes, the majority of which are fundamentally weighted as opposed to market capitalization weighted indexes, which assign more weight to stocks with the highest market capitalizations. These fundamentally weighted indexes focus on securities of companies that pay regular cash dividends or on securities of companies that have generated positive cumulative earnings over a certain period. We believe weighting equity markets by dividends and income, rather than by market capitalization, can provide investors with better risk-adjusted returns over longer term periods in core equity exposures. Total AUM of our U.S. Equity products was $23.9 billion at December 31, 2021.
International Developed Market Equity
Our International Developed Market Equity products offer a variety of strategies including currency hedged and dynamic currency hedged products, exposures to large, mid and small-cap
companies in these markets and multifactor strategies. Total AUM of our International Developed Market Equity products was $11.9 billion at December 31, 2021.
Emerging Market Equity
Our Emerging Market Equity products provide access to exposure of large, mid and small-cap
companies located in Taiwan, China, India, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and other emerging markets regions. These products also track our own indexes, which are fundamentally weighted focusing on securities of companies that pay regular cash dividends or that have generated positive cumulative earnings over a certain period. Total AUM of our Emerging Market Equity products was $10.4 billion at December 31, 2021.
Fixed Income
Our Fixed Income products seek to enhance income potential within the fixed income universe. We offer a suite of rising rate bond products based on leading fixed income benchmarks we license from third parties. We also launched the industry’s first smart beta corporate bond suite. Other product offerings include those that seek to track a yield-enhanced index of U.S. investment grade bonds and international fixed income products which are denominated in either local or U.S. currencies. Total AUM of our Fixed Income products was $4.4 billion at December 31, 2021.
Leveraged & Inverse
We offer leveraged products which seek to achieve a return that is a multiple of the performance of the underlying index and inverse products that seek to deliver the opposite of the performance in the index or benchmark they track. Strategies span across equity, commodity, government bond and currency exposures. Total AUM of our Leveraged & Inverse products was $1.8 billion at December 31, 2021.
Cryptocurrency
Our cryptocurrency ETPs in Europe provide investors with a simple, secure and cost-efficient way to gain exposure to the price of cryptocurrencies, while utilizing the best of traditional financial infrastructure and product structuring. We offer exposures to bitcoin and ether as well as crypto asset baskets. Total AUM of our Cryptocurrency products was $0.4 billion at December 31, 2021.
Alternatives
Our Alternative products include the industry’s first managed futures strategy ETF and a global real return ETF. We also offer a dynamic long/short U.S. equity ETF, a dynamic bearish U.S. equity ETF and a collateralized put write strategy ETF on the S&P 500 index. We also intend to explore additional alternative strategy products in the future. Total AUM of our Alternative products was $0.3 billion at December 31, 2021.
Our Sales, Marketing and Research Efforts
Sales
We distribute our ETPs through all major channels within the asset management industry, including banks, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, institutional investors, private wealth managers and online brokers. Our primary sales efforts are not directed towards the retail segment but rather are directed towards the financial or investment adviser who acts as the intermediary between the end-client
and us. We do not pay commissions, nor do we offer 12b-1
fees to financial advisors to use or recommend the use of our products.
We have developed an extensive network and relationships with financial advisors and we believe our ETPs and related research are well structured to meet their needs and those of their clients. We have taken steps to enhance and form new relationships through our Advisor Solutions program which focuses on providing technology-enabled and research-driven solutions to help financial advisors grow and scale their businesses. In addition, senior advisors of ours participate as keynote speakers in various industry and WisdomTree hosted conferences and events. Our sales professionals act in a consultative role to provide financial advisors with value-added services. We seek to consistently grow our network of financial advisors and we opportunistically seek to introduce new products and services that best deliver our investment strategies to investors through these distribution channels. We have our own team of approximately 70 sales professionals globally as of December 31, 2021.
In addition, we have agreements with third parties to serve as the external marketing agents for our products in Latin America and Israel, as well as with select brokerage firms and independent broker-dealers to allow certain of our products to trade commission free on their platforms in exchange for a percentage of our advisory fee revenues from certain AUM. We believe these arrangements expand our distribution capabilities in a cost-effective manner and we may continue to enter into such arrangements in the future.
Marketing
Our marketing efforts are focused on the following objectives: Increase our global brand awareness, leverage a robust-data driven digital sales experience to generate new clients and drive inflows to our products and model portfolios and retain existing clients, with a focus on cross-selling additional WisdomTree ETPs. We also anticipate launching marketing campaigns to drive awareness and user adoption for WisdomTree Prime™
and to position ourselves to become a leader in asset tokenization and blockchain enabled funds. We pursue these objectives utilizing the following strategies:
•
Targeted advertising.
We create highly targeted multi-media advertising campaigns limited to established core financial media. For example, our television advertising to promote our ETPs runs exclusively on the cable networks CNBC and Fox Business. Television also may be utilized to promote future digital asset offerings. Also, our online advertising runs on investing or ETF-specific
web sites, such as www.seekingalpha.com
and www.etfdatabase.com
using targeted dynamic and personalized ad messaging. We recently introduced Connected TV (CTV) advertising that leverages the same targeted segments of users who use CTV devices. In Europe, we filter the targeting of promotions by both region and language, focusing heavily on professional investors.
•
Media relations.
We have a full-time global corporate communications and public relations team who has established relationships with major financial media outlets. We utilize these relationships to help increase global awareness of the WisdomTree ETPs, the ETP industry in general in the United States and Europe and our digital assets efforts. Several members of our management team and multiple members of our research team are frequent market commentators and conference panelists.
•
Database Messaging Strategy
. We have a database of financial advisors to which we regularly market through a series of messages across channels (email, display, site) that are triggered based on user interest and predictive analytics, on-demand
research presentations, ETP-specific
or educational events and presentations and market commentary from our senior investment strategy adviser, Professor Jeremy Siegel. Additionally, in the U.S., we communicate to our retail database about new product launches and provide ETF education.
•
Social media
. We have implemented a social media strategy that allows us to connect directly with financial advisors and investors by offering timely access to our research material and more general market commentary. Our social media strategy allows us to continually enhance our brand reputation of expertise and thought leadership in the ETP industry. For example, we have an established presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, and our blog content is syndicated across multiple business-oriented websites. We also plan to leverage the strength and reach of our existing brand, in addition to utilizing a highly focused “test, learn, iterate” paid and social media marketing strategy to drive awareness and user adoption for WisdomTree Prime™
.
•
Sales support
. We create comprehensive materials to support our sales process including whitepapers, research reports, webinars, blogs, podcasts, videos and performance data for our products.
We will continue to evolve our marketing and communication efforts in response to changes in the ETP industry, market conditions, marketing trends and our evolving strategy around digital assets.
Research and Chief Investment Office
Our research team and chief investment office, or CIO, has four core functions: product development and oversight, investment research, model portfolio management and sales support across equities, fixed income, alternatives and asset allocation portfolios. In its index and active product development and oversight role, the group is responsible for creating the investment methodologies and overseeing the maintenance of indexes and active strategies. The team also provides a variety of investment research around these indexes and markets and manages a series of model portfolios that incorporate WisdomTree and third-party products for various investment platforms. Our research is typically academic-type research to support our products, including white papers on the strategies underlying our indexes and ETPs, investment insights on current market trends, and types of investment strategies that drive long-term performance. We distribute our research and insights through our sales professionals, online through our website and blog, targeted emails to financial advisors, or through financial media or social media outlets. Finally, the team supports our sales professionals in meetings as market experts and through custom analysis on client portfolio holdings. In addition, we consult with our senior advisers, including Professor Jeremy Siegel, on product development ideas, model collaboration and market commentaries.
Product Development
We are focused on driving continued growth through innovative product development including through our Modern Alpha approach and our digital assets long-term strategy. Modern Alpha combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective products that are built to perform. Our digital asset products, whether live or in the development stage, provide exposure to crypto assets, along with new blockchain enabled products and services such as tokenized assets and a blockchain-native wallet.
Due to our proprietary index development capabilities and a strategic focus on product development, we have demonstrated an ability to launch innovative and differentiated ETPs. When developing new products, we seek to position ourselves as first to market, offering improvement in structure or strategy relative to an incumbent product or offering some other key distinction relative to an incumbent product. In short, we want to add choice in the market and seek to introduce thoughtful investment solutions. Lastly, when launching new products, we seek to expand and diversify our overall product line.
Competition
The asset management industry is highly competitive and we face substantial competition in virtually all aspects of our business. Factors affecting our business include fees for our products, our offerings and investment performance, brand recognition, business reputation, quality of service and the continuity of our financial advisor and platform relationships. We compete directly with other ETP sponsors and mutual fund companies and indirectly against other investment management firms, insurance companies, banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions. Many of the firms we compete with are subsidiaries of large diversified financial companies and many others are much larger in terms of AUM, years in operations and revenues and, accordingly, have much larger sales organizations and budgets. In addition, these larger competitors may attract business through means that are not available to us, including retail bank offices, investment banking, insurance agencies and broker-dealers.
The ETP industry is becoming significantly more competitive. ETPs are now available for virtually every asset class including equities, fixed income, commodities, alternative strategies, leveraged-and inverse, currencies and cryptocurrencies (with greater access to markets outside of the U.S.). Existing players have broadened their suite of products offering strategies that are, in some cases, similar to ours and large traditional asset managers are also launching ETPs, some with similar strategies as well. There remain substantial areas for sponsors to continue to innovate, including with respect to cryptocurrency, liquid alternative, thematic and ESG strategies.
Price competition exists in not only commoditized product categories such as traditional, market capitalization weighted index exposures and commodities, but also in non-market
capitalization weighted or factor-based exposures and commodities. Fee reductions by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend. Certain larger competitors are able to offer products at lower price points or otherwise as loss leaders due to other revenue sources available within such competitors that are currently unavailable to us. Newer players have also been entering the ETP industry and frequently seek to differentiate by offering ETPs at a lower price point. Funds are being offered with fees of 20 basis points or less, which have attracted approximately 72% of the net flows globally during the last three years. However, while these low-cost
products have accumulated a significant amount of AUM recently, we estimate that these same funds represent only approximately 31% of global revenues.
Being a first mover, or one of the first providers of ETPs in a particular asset class, can be a significant advantage, as the first ETP in a category to attract scale in AUM and trading liquidity is generally viewed as the most attractive product. We believe that our early launch of products in a number of asset classes or strategies, including fundamental weighting and currency hedging, along with commodities including gold, certain fixed income, alternative and thematic categories and our ESG offerings, positions us well to maintain our standing as one of the leaders of the ETP industry. Additionally, we believe our affiliated indexing or “self-indexing” model, as well as our more recent active ETFs, enable us to launch proprietary products that do not have direct competition and are positioned to generate alpha versus benchmarks. As investors increasingly become more comfortable with the product structure, we believe there will be a greater focus on after-fee
performance rather than using ETPs primarily as low-cost
market access vehicles. While we have selectively lowered fee rates on certain products that have yet to attain scale, and there is no assurance that we will not lower fee rates on certain products in the future, our strategy continues to include launching new funds in the same category with a differentiated exposure at a lower fee rate, rather than reducing fees on existing products with a significant amount of AUM, long performance track records, and secondary market liquidity, which continue to remain competitively priced for the value provided, among other factors. We generally believe we are well positioned from a product pricing perspective.
We also have been positioning ourselves to expand beyond our existing ETP business by leveraging blockchain technology, digital assets and principles of DeFi to deliver transparency, choice and inclusivity to customers and consumers around the world. Our products are expanding to include asset tokenization and blockchain enabled funds, leveraging federal and state regulated entities, and we are planning to launch a dollar token, gold token and digital short term treasury fund which we are developing with the ability to be recorded and/or transferred on multiple public and/or permissioned blockchains with interoperability between blockchains. We believe this expansion will complement our core competencies in a holistic manner, diversify our revenue streams and contribute to our growth. Competition in the digital assets industry on a global basis is increasing, ranging from large, established financial incumbents to smaller, early-stage financial technology providers and companies. There are jurisdictions with more stringent and robust regulatory and compliance requirements than others which could impact the ability of a company to compete in the digital assets industry. We are embracing a concept we refer to as “responsible DeFi” for our anticipated and expanded products and services which we believe upholds the foundational principles of regulation in this innovative and quickly evolving space. We remain committed to being a trusted provider of innovative products and services guided by proactive engagement and continued collaboration with current and new regulators.
Our ability to successfully compete will depend largely on offering innovative products through traditional ETPs and digital asset exposures, generating strong after-fee
performance and track records, embracing regulation, developing distribution relationships, promoting thought leadership and a differentiated solutions program, building upon our brand and attracting and retaining talented sales professionals and other employees.
Regulatory Framework of the ETF Industry
Not all ETPs are ETFs. ETFs are a distinct type of security with features that are different than other ETPs. ETFs are open-end
investment companies or unit investment trusts regulated in the U.S. by the Investment Company Act of 1940, or the Investment Company Act. This regulatory structure is designed to provide investor protection within a pooled investment product. For example, the Investment Company Act requires that at least 40% of the Trustees for each ETF must not be affiliated persons of the fund’s investment manager, or Independent Trustees. If the ETF seeks to rely on certain rules under the Investment Company Act, a majority of the Trustees for that ETF must be Independent Trustees. ETFs generally operate under regulations that allow them to operate within the ETF structure, while ETFs also operate under regulations that prohibit affiliated transactions, are subject to standard pricing and valuation rules and have mandated compliance programs. ETPs can take a number of forms in addition to ETFs, including exchange-traded notes, grantor trusts or limited partnerships. In the U.S. market, a key factor differentiating ETFs, grantor trusts and limited partnerships from exchange-traded notes is that the former hold assets underlying the ETP. Exchange traded notes, on the other hand, are debt instruments issued by the exchange-traded note sponsor. Also, each of these structures has implications for taxes, liquidity, tracking error and credit risk.
U.S. Regulation
The investment management industry is subject to extensive regulation and virtually all aspects of our business are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are primarily intended to protect investment advisory clients and shareholders of registered investment companies. These laws generally grant supervisory agencies broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict the conduct of our business and to impose sanctions for failure to comply with these laws and regulations. Further, such laws and regulations provide the basis for examination, inquiry, investigation, enforcement action and/or litigation that may also result in significant costs to us.
We are primarily subject to the following laws and regulations, among others. The costs of complying with such laws and regulations have increased and will continue to contribute to the costs of doing business:
•
The Investment Advisers Act of 1940
(Investment Advisers Act)
. The SEC is the federal agency generally responsible for administering the U.S. federal securities laws. WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., or WTAM, one of our subsidiaries, is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act and, as such, is regulated by the SEC. The Investment Advisers Act requires registered investment advisers to comply with numerous and broad obligations, including, among others, recordkeeping requirements, operational procedures, and registration, reporting and disclosure obligations.
•
The Investment Company Act of 1940 (Investment Company Act)
. All of our WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are registered with the SEC pursuant to the Investment Company Act. These products must comply with the requirements of the Investment Company Act and other regulations related to publicly offering and listing shares, as well as requirements of Rule 6c-11,
or the ETF Rule, including, among others, requirements relating to operations, fees charged, sales, accounting, recordkeeping, disclosure, transparency and governance. In addition, the SEC has recently finalized new rules and/or rule amendments related to valuation, fund of fund investing, derivatives and marketing/advertising, with compliance deadlines throughout 2022, and the SEC is expected to continue to propose, new and/or revised provisions under the Investment Company Act that will impact current and future ETF operations and/or investments.
•
Broker-Dealer Regulations
. Operating as an ETF sponsor in the U.S. does not require that we register with the SEC as a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act, nor are we a member firm of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. However, many of our employees, including all of our salespersons, are licensed with FINRA and are registered as associated persons of the distributor of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs and, as such, are subject to the regulations of FINRA that relate to licensing, continuing education requirements and sales practices. FINRA also regulates the content of our marketing and sales material.
•
Internal Revenue Code
. The WisdomTree Trust generally has obligations with respect to the qualification of the registered investment companies for pass-through tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code. In September 2021, draft tax legislation was released that would directly impact the tax treatment of ETFs. The proposed legislation would eliminate ETFs’ chief tax advantage by repealing Section 852(b)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, which allows ETFs to redeem shares in-kind
without exposing long-term investors to capital gains on any individual security in the underlying ETF structure. We believe that ETFs are an important tool used by retail investors striving to build financial security, as well as younger investors who are participating in the financial markets for the first time. The ETF creation and redemption process ensures accurate index tracking for the benefit of all shareholders and it is the most cost-effective and tax-efficient
way to achieve this, directly benefiting the end investor. We believe that ETFs have proven to be a successful investment structure that should be protected. If eliminated, ETFs would lose a valuable benefit associated with the structure; however, overall industry growth should not be materially affected due to the other inherent benefits of ETFs - transparency and liquidity.
•
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and National Futures Association (NFA)
. Regulations adopted by the CFTC have required us to become a member of the NFA and register as a commodity pool operator for a select number of our ETFs.
•
Exchange Listing Requirements
.
Each WisdomTree U.S. listed ETF is listed on a secondary market (each, an Exchange), including NYSE Arca, the NASDAQ Market and the CBOE Exchange, and accordingly is subject to the listing requirements of these Exchanges. Any new WisdomTree U.S. listed ETF will seek listing on an Exchange and also will need to meet continued Exchange listing requirements, which generally align with requirements of the ETF Rule. However, the SEC or an Exchange may ultimately determine not to allow the issuance of potential new WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs or may require strategy modifications as part of the registration and/or listing process.
In addition, our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and we are therefore also subject to its rules including corporate governance listing standards, as well as federal and state securities laws.
•
FINRA Rules
.
FINRA rules and guidance may affect how WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are sold by member firms. Although we currently do not offer so-called
leveraged ETFs in the U.S., which may include within their holdings derivative instruments such as options, futures or swaps to obtain leveraged exposures, FINRA guidance, the recently issued derivatives rules by the SEC and/or other future rules or regulations may influence how member firms effect sales of certain WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs, such as our currency ETFs, or how such ETFs operate, which also use some forms of derivatives, including forward currency contracts and swaps, our international hedged equity ETFs, which use currency forwards, and our rising rates bond ETFs and alternative strategy ETFs, which use futures or options.
International Regulation
Our operations outside the U.S. are subject to the laws and regulations of various non-U.S.
jurisdictions and non-U.S.
regulatory agencies and bodies. As we have expanded our international presence, a number of our subsidiaries and international operations have become subject to regulatory systems, in various jurisdictions, comparable to those covering our operations in the U.S. Regulators in these non-U.S.
jurisdictions may have broad authority with respect to the regulation of financial services including, among other things, the authority to grant or cancel required licenses or registrations.
Jersey-Domiciled Issuers (Managed by WisdomTree Management Jersey Limited)
One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Management Jersey Limited, or ManJer, is a Jersey based management company providing investment and other management services to several Jersey-domiciled issuers, or ManJer Issuers, of exchange-traded commodities, or ETCs, each of which was established as a special purpose vehicle to issue exchange-traded securities. All ETCs are listed and marketed across the European Union, or EU, under Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (as amended), or the Prospectus Regulation. Since January 4, 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland, or Central Bank, approves all ETC Base Prospectuses (with the exception of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s prospectus which is approved by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) as meeting the requirements imposed under EU law pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation. Such approval relates only to those securities to be admitted to trading on a regulated market for the purpose of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) - Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and the Council, or MiFID II, and/or which are to be offered to the public in any European Economic Area, or EEA, Member State. All ETC prospectuses (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s prospectus) are also approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, as U.K. Listing Authority, as competent authority pursuant to the U.K. version of Regulation (EU) No 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 June 2017 on the form and content of such prospectuses and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC which is part of U.K. law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, or the U.K. Prospectus Regulation. Each prospectus (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s prospectus) is prepared, and a copy is sent to the Jersey Financial Services Commission, or JFSC, in accordance with the Collective Investment Funds (Certified Funds - Prospectuses) (Jersey) Order 2012. Each ManJer Issuer (other than WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) has obtained a certificate under the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 (as amended), to enable it to undertake its functions in relation to its ETCs. At the request of the relevant ManJer Issuer, the Central Bank has notified the approval of the Base Prospectus in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation to other EU listing authorities, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, by providing them with certificates of approval attesting that the Base Prospectus has been prepared in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation. Each issuer may request the Central Bank to provide competent authorities in other EEA Member States with such certificates for the purposes of making a public offer in such Member States and/or for admission to trading of all or any securities on a regulated market. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s program for the issuance of WisdomTree digital securities does not constitute a collective investment fund for the purpose of the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 (as amended) as it satisfies the requirements of Article 2 of the Collective Investments Funds (Restriction of Scope) (Jersey) Order 2000. A copy of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s prospectus has been delivered to the Registrar of Companies in Jersey in accordance with Article 5 of the Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002, and the Registrar has consented to its circulation. The JFSC has consented under Article 4 of the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 to the issue of the WisdomTree digital securities by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited. The prospectus of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is also recognized by the Swiss Prospectus Office.
The ManJer Issuers are primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:
•
The Companies (Jersey) Law 1991
.
Each ManJer Issuer is incorporated as a public limited liability company under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991. Therefore, the ManJer Issuers are required to comply with various obligations under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 such as, but not limited to, convening general meetings, keeping proper books and records and filing financial statements.
•
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA
, which was passed as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, generally requires that foreign financial institutions and certain other non-financial
foreign entities report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments. The HIRE Act also contained legislation requiring U.S. persons to report, depending on the value, their foreign financial accounts and foreign assets. ETCs benefit from the so called “listing exemption” and Jersey local authorities have determined that for companies which can benefit from such exemption the filing of a nil report is optional.
•
The Common Reporting Standards, or CRS
, were developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is a global reporting standard for the automatic exchange of information. The ManJer Issuers will need to conduct FATCA style due diligence and annual local reporting in relation to financial accounts held directly and indirectly by residents of those jurisdictions with which the Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) jurisdiction of residence has signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the CRS. Unlike FATCA, there is no clear listing exemption available under the CRS so the ManJer Issuers are required to conduct full due diligence to identify such accounts and report on them on an annual basis to their local tax authorities, at least in respect of the certificated interests and primary market issuances. However, Jersey tax authorities have applied less onerous reporting obligations to interests such as ETCs that are regularly traded on an established securities market and are held through CREST, the U.K. based central securities depository.
The ManJer Issuers are also primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:
•
The Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988
. Each ManJer Issuer (other than WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) is a collective investment fund and therefore required to comply with the obligations under the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 and the Code of Practice for Certified Funds.
•
The Prospectus Regulation
. The Base Prospectus of each ManJer Issuer has been drafted, and any offer of ETCs in any EEA Member State that has implemented the Prospectus Regulation is made in compliance with the Prospectus Regulation and any relevant implementing measure in such Member States.
•
Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4
July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories, known as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”)
. EMIR, which became effective on August 16, 2012, provides for certain over-the-counter,
or OTC, derivative contracts to be submitted to central clearing and imposes margin posting and other risk mitigation techniques, reporting and record keeping requirements. The clearing obligations under EMIR are still under discussion, and currently there are no mandatory clearing obligations in relation to equity, FX or commodity derivatives. The clearing obligation only applies to EU-based
financial counterparties (defined as those authorized under MiFID, CRR, AIFMD, UCITS or insurance regulations) or those non-financial
entities that have a rolling three-month notional exposure above a certain amount (between €1 and €3 billion, depending on asset class), which means that the ManJer Issuers are not directly subject to these obligations, but could indirectly be subject to them by virtue of their interaction with EU-based
financial counterparties. In terms of reporting obligations, being non-EU
entities, the ManJer Issuers are only indirectly subject to such obligations when they interact with their EU-based
financial counter-parties. Each ManJer Issuer has adhered to the 2013 EMIR Portfolio Reconciliation, Dispute Resolution and Disclosure Protocol published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
•
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on market abuse (the “Regulation”) and Directive 2014/57/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on criminal sanctions for market abuse (the “Directive” and, together with the Regulation, “MAD”)
. Obligations imposed on the relevant ManJer Issuer and distributor under MAD, which became effective on July 3, 2016, include the requirement to publish inside information in a public and timely manner, to prepare and maintain a list of insiders and to refrain from market manipulation.
•
Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8
June 2016 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2014/17/EU and Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (“BMR”)
. Supervised EU entities which issue financial instruments that reference a benchmark are required to comply with applicable obligations as set out under the BMR. The BMR was published on June 30, 2016 and the majority of the provisions became effective on January 1, 2018. The ManJer Issuers are non-EU
entities and as a result, BMR application is very limited, although in some circumstances a few residual obligations could be deemed to be applicable because the ETCs are marketed across Europe.
•
Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26
November 2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (“PRIIPS”)
. PRIIPs became effective on January 1, 2018 and applies to investment product manufacturers and distributors. Under PRIIPs, manufacturers need to provide a key information document (KIDs) to investors. The intention of KIDs is to improve transparency for investors on the products and enhance investor protection. The product manufacturer is responsible for drafting the KID and for its content. All ETCs are currently subject to PRIIPs and KIDs have been produced since January 1, 2018.
•
MIFID II
. MIFID II covers a wide range of areas that affect the relevant issuer and distributor, such as product governance, a definition of complex products which captures all physical and synthetic ETCs and the production of a document called an EMT to facilitate the dissemination of relevant information to the markets and distributors in relation to each financial product.
•
Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25
November 2015 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012. (“SFTR”)
. Counterparties to securities financing transactions must report the transaction to trade repositories. The SFTR introduces a reporting requirement for transactions, and a disclosure requirement to investors with a requirement for prior consent. It also designates that financial instruments used for re-hypothecation
are transferred to an account in the name of the other counterparty. Since the ManJer Issuers are based in non-EU
jurisdictions, obligations are only indirectly applicable to them, but a certain level of interaction with EU counterparties is required to comply with some of these requirements.
WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is also primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:
•
The Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958
.
WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is required to comply with the obligations under the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 in respect of its issue of the WisdomTree digital securities.
•
The Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002
. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is required to comply with the obligations under the Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002 in respect of its circulation of the WisdomTree digital securities prospectus.
Irish-Domiciled Issuer of our UCITS ETFs (Managed by WisdomTree Management Limited)
The investment management industry in Ireland is subject to both Irish domestic law and EU law. The Central Bank of Ireland, or the Central Bank, is responsible for the authorization and supervision of collective investment schemes, or CIS, in Ireland. CIS’s are also commonly known as funds/schemes. There are two main categories of funds authorized by the Central Bank, Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and funds that are not UCITS known as alternative investment funds. ETFs form part of the Irish and European regulatory frameworks that govern UCITS, with ETFs having been the subject of specific consideration at the European level which is then repeated and/or interpreted by the Central Bank in regulations and related guidance issued by the Central Bank.
One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Management Limited, is an Ireland based management company authorized in Ireland providing collective portfolio management services to WisdomTree Issuer ICAV, or WTI, and WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs are issued by WTI. WTI, a non-consolidated
third party, is an Irish-collective-asset-management vehicle, or ICAV, organized in Ireland and is authorized as a UCITS by the Central Bank. All UCITS have their basis in EU legislation and once authorized in one EEA Member State, may be marketed throughout the EU, without further authorization. This is described as an EU passport. The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs have been registered with the FCA under the Temporary Permissions Regime and thus continue to be available to U.K. investors.
WTI is established and operated as an ICAV with segregated liability between its sub-funds.
The sub-funds
are segregated portfolios, each with their own investment objective and policies and assets. Each sub-fund
has a separate approval from the Central Bank, and each is structured as an ETF. Each sub-fund
tracks a different index. The index must comply with regulatory criteria that govern, among others, the eligibility and diversification of its constituents, and the availability of information on the index such as the frequency of calculation of the index, the index’s transparency, its methodology and frequency of calculation. Each sub-fund
is listed on Euronext Dublin and has shares admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange and, typically, on various European stock exchanges and, accordingly, is subject to the listing requirements of those exchanges.
WTI is primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:
•
European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2011 (as amended) (“UCITS Regulations”).
The UCITS Regulations, which transpose Council Directive 2009/65/EC, Commission Directive 2010/43/EC and Commission Directive 2010/44/EC into Irish law, became effective on July 1, 2011. UCITS established in Ireland are authorized under the UCITS Regulations.
•
Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48(1)) (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2019 (“Central Bank UCITS Regulations”).
The Central Bank UCITS Regulations were adopted in May 2019 and, together with the UCITS Regulations, any guidance produced by the Central Bank, and the Central Bank forms, form the basis for all the requirements that the Central Bank imposes on UCITS, UCITS management companies and depositaries of UCITS.
•
Central Bank Guidance.
The Central Bank also has produced guidance that provides direction on issues relating to the funds industry, certain of which set forth conditions not contained in the UCITS Regulations or the Central Bank Regulations with which UCITS must conform.
•
The Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicle Act 2015 (“ICAV Act”).
WTI is registered as an ICAV under the ICAV Act. Therefore, WTI is required to comply with various obligations under the ICAV Act such as, but not limited to, keeping proper books and records. The segregation of liability between sub-funds
means there cannot be, as a matter of Irish law, cross-contamination of liability between sub-funds.
Therefore, the insolvency of one sub-fund
cannot affect another sub-fund.
•
EMIR
. EMIR provides for OTC derivative contracts to be submitted to central clearing and imposes, inter alia
, margin posting and other risk mitigation techniques, reporting and record keeping requirements. WTI uses OTC derivatives instruments to hedge the currency risk of some of its sub-funds,
which are subject to EMIR. WTI has adhered to the 2013 EMIR Portfolio Reconciliation, Dispute Resolution and Disclosure Protocol published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. The Central Bank has been designated as the competent authority for EMIR.
•
BMR
. The BMR is directly applicable law across the EU and applies to certain “administrators,” “contributors” and “users” of benchmarks with the aim of reducing the risk of benchmark manipulation and promoting confidence in their integrity and that of the financial markets which they support. Since WTI issues financial instruments that reference a benchmark, it will be required to comply with applicable obligations as set out under the BMR. In addition, non-EU
administrators of benchmarks are required to satisfy a number of requirements to enable the benchmarks they provide to be used in the EU. To ensure investor protection, the BMR provides equivalence, recognition and endorsement conditions under which third country benchmarks may be used by supervised entities in the EU. Since we control the provision of benchmarks, we are required to comply with applicable obligations within the timeframes set out under the BMR.
Irish-Domiciled Issuer (Managed by WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited)
One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited, is a Jersey based management company providing investment and other management services to WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer PLC, or WMAI, in respect of the ETPs issued by WMAI. WMAI, a non-consolidated
third party, is a public limited company incorporated in the laws of Ireland. It was established as a special purpose vehicle for the purposes of issuing collateralized exchange-traded securities, or ETP Securities, under the Collateralized ETP Securities Programme described in its Base Prospectus. WMAI is a ‘qualifying company
’ within the meaning of section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended), of Ireland. WMAI is not authorized or regulated by the Central Bank by virtue of issuing ETPs.
The Central Bank, as competent authority under the Prospectus Regulation, has approved the Base Prospectus as meeting the requirements imposed under Irish and EU law pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation. Such approval relates only to ETP Securities which are to be admitted to trading on a regulated market for the purpose of MiFID II and/or which are to be offered to the public in any EEA Member State. The Base Prospectus also has been approved by the FCA as competent authority pursuant to the U.K. version of Regulation (EU) No 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 June 2017 on the form and content of such prospectuses and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC which is part of U.K. law by virtue of the U.K. Prospectus Regulation.
At the request of WMAI, the Central Bank has notified the approval of the Base Prospectus in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation to the Commissione Nazionale per la Societá e la Borsa (the Italian financial supervisory authority), the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (the German Federal financial supervisory authority) and the Financial Market Authority of Austria, by providing them, inter alia
, with certificates of approval attesting that the Base Prospectus has been prepared in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation. WMAI may request the Central Bank to provide competent authorities in other EEA Member States with such certificates whether for the purposes of making a public offer in such Member States or for admission to trading of all or any ETP Securities on a regulated market therein or both.
WMAI is primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:
•
The Companies Act
. WMAI is incorporated as a public limited liability company under the Companies Act. Therefore, WMAI is required to comply with various obligations under the Companies Act such as, but not limited to, convening general meetings, keeping proper books and records and filing financial statements.
•
The Prospectus Regulation
. The Base Prospectus has been drafted, and any offer of ETP Securities in any EEA Member State that has implemented the Prospectus Regulation is made in compliance with the Prospectus Regulation and any relevant implementing measure in such Member States.
•
EMIR
. WMAI hedges its payment obligations in respect of the ETP Securities by entering into swap transactions with swap providers, which are subject to EMIR. The Central Bank has been designated as the competent authority for EMIR and, to assess compliance with EMIR, requests that WMAI submits annually an EMIR Regulatory Return.
•
BMR
. Since WMAI issues financial instruments that reference a benchmark, it also will be required to comply with applicable obligations under the BMR.
•
MAD
. MAD has a direct effect in Ireland and strengthens the legal framework underpinning the function of detecting, sanctioning and deterring market abuse. Broadly, MAD applies to any financial instrument admitted to, or for which a request for admission has been made to, trading on a regulated market in at least one member state of the EU or in an EEA Member State. Obligations imposed on WMAI under MAD include the requirement to publish inside information in a public and timely manner, to draw up and maintain a list of insiders and to refrain from market manipulation.
Regulatory Framework of the Digital Assets Business
As we continue to make progress and pursue various initiatives in connection with our digital assets business, we believe it is necessary and important to do so in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. As a result, we are actively engaged or plan to be engaged with a variety of U.S. federal and state regulators (e.g., the SEC, FINRA, New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and other state regulators) to secure, as necessary, the appropriate regulatory, registration and/or licensing approvals for various business initiatives, including but not limited to: a New York state-chartered limited purpose trust company; money services and money transmitter business; broker-dealer; investment adviser; and investment funds. As we seek to expand globally, similar approvals and/or reliance on exemptions will be required in applicable foreign markets, which may also involve approvals specific to a digital asset or related business. If we are successful in securing the appropriate regulatory, registration and/or licensing approvals, or otherwise relying on, seeking or confirming exemptions therefrom, for these different initiatives in connection with our digital assets business, we will be subject to a myriad of complex and evolving global policy frameworks and associated regulatory requirements that we would need to comply, or otherwise be exempt from, in seeking to ensure our digital asset products and services are successfully brought to different markets in a compliant manner. We remain committed to being a trusted provider of innovative products and services guided by proactive engagement and regulatory collaboration.
Intellectual Property
We regard our name, WisdomTree, as material to our business and have registered WisdomTree as a service mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in various foreign jurisdictions. We also have registered Modern Alpha as a service mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in various foreign jurisdictions.
Our index-based equity ETFs are based on our own indexes and we do not license them from, nor do we pay licensing fees to, third parties for these indexes. We do, however, license third-party indexes for certain of our fixed income, currency and alternative ETFs.
On March 6, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued to us our patent on Financial Instrument Selection and Weighting System and Method, which is embodied in our dividend weighted equity indexes. We currently do not rely upon our patent for a competitive advantage.
Available Information
Company Website and Public Filings
Our website is located at www.wisdomtree.com
, and our investor relations website is located at http://ir.wisdomtree.com
. We make available, free of charge through our investor relations website, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K,
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
and Current Reports on Form 8-K,
and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding the Company at www.sec.gov
.
We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings releases as part of our investor relations website. Further corporate governance information, including board committee charters and code of conduct, is also available on our investor relations website under the heading “Corporate Governance.” The contents of our websites are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K
or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Any investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the specific risk factors described below in addition to the other information contained in this Report before making a decision to invest in our common stock. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be harmed. This could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline and a loss of all or part of your investment. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Market Risks
Declining prices of securities, gold and other precious metals and other commodities can adversely affect our business by reducing the market value of the assets we manage or causing WisdomTree ETP investors to sell their fund shares and trigger redemptions.
We are subject to risks arising from declining prices of securities, gold and other precious metals and other commodities, which may result in a decrease in demand for investment products, a higher redemption rate and/or a decline in AUM. The financial markets are highly volatile and prices for financial assets may increase or decrease for many reasons, including general economic conditions, trade uncertainties, rising or falling interest rates, the strengthening or weakening of the U.S. dollar, events such as the COVID-19
pandemic, political events, acts of terrorism and other matters beyond our control. Substantially all our revenues are derived from advisory fees earned on our AUM, in both the international and U.S. markets. As a result, our business can be expected to generate lower revenues in declining market environments or general economic downturns. Such adverse conditions would likely cause the value of our AUM to decrease, which would result in lower advisory fees, or cause investors in the WisdomTree ETPs to sell their shares in favor of investments they perceive to offer greater opportunity or lower risk, thus triggering redemptions that would also result in decreased AUM and lower fees.
Fluctuations in the amount and mix of our AUM may negatively impact revenues and operating margins.
The level of our revenues depends on the amount and mix of our AUM. Our revenues are derived primarily from advisory fees based on a percentage of the value of our AUM and vary with the nature of the ETPs, which have different fee levels. Fluctuations in the amount and mix of our AUM may be attributable in part to market conditions outside of our control that have had, and in the future could have, a negative impact on our revenues and operating margins.
Abnormally wide bid/ask spreads and market disruptions that halt or disrupt trading or create extreme volatility could undermine investor confidence in the ETP investment structure and limit investor acceptance of ETPs.
ETPs trade on exchanges in market transactions that generally approximate the value of the referenced assets or underlying portfolio of securities held by the particular ETP. Trading involves risks including the potential lack of an active market for fund shares, abnormally wide bid/ask spreads (the difference between the prices at which shares of an ETP can be bought and sold) that can exist for a variety of reasons and losses from trading. These risks can be exacerbated during periods when there is low demand for an ETP, when the markets in the underlying investments are closed, when markets conditions are extremely volatile or when trading is disrupted. This could result in limited growth or a reduction in the overall ETP market and result in our revenues not growing as rapidly as it has in the recent past or even in a reduction of revenues.
Adverse market developments arising from the COVID-19
pandemic could negatively impact our AUM, resulting in a decline in our revenues and other potential operational challenges.
Global financial markets experienced a significant decline at the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic. While the markets have since recovered, the ultimate duration of the pandemic and its short-term and long-term impact on the global economy is unknown. Mutations in the virus and negative global economic consequences arising from the pandemic, among other factors, could have a future adverse impact on the global financial markets. Negative market reactions could negatively impact our AUM and our revenues.
In addition, key service providers of ours may be working remotely. If they were to experience material disruptions in the ability for their employees to work remotely, such as disruptions in internet-based communications systems and networks or the availability of essential goods and services such as food or power, our ability to operate our business normally could be materially adversely disrupted. Similarly, to date our own employees and, we believe, the employees of our key service providers, have not experienced a material degree of illness due to COVID-19.
If our or their workforces, or key components thereof, were to experience significant illness, our ability to operate our business normally could be materially adversely disrupted. Any such material adverse disruptions to our business operations could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition.
Concentration Risks
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from a limited number of products and, as a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to investor sentiment toward investing in the products’ strategies and our ability to maintain the AUM of these products, as well as the performance of these products.
At December 31, 2021, approximately 48% of our AUM was concentrated in ten of our WisdomTree ETPs with approximately 19% in four of our precious metal products, 18% in three of our domestic equity ETFs, 8% in two of our emerging markets ETFs and 3% in HEDJ. As a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to the performance of these funds and our ability to maintain the AUM of these funds, as well as investor sentiment toward investing in the funds’ strategies. If the AUM in these funds were to decline, either because of declining market values or net outflows from these funds, our revenues would be adversely affected.
Declining commodity prices, and gold prices in particular, including as a result of changes in demand for commodities and gold as an investment, could materially and adversely affect our business.
At December 31, 2021, approximately 20% of our AUM were in ETPs backed by gold and approximately 12% were in ETPs backed by other commodities. Precious metals such as gold are often viewed as “safe haven” assets as they tend to attract demand during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Accommodative monetary policies are also favorable as the opportunity cost of forgoing investment in interest-bearing assets is low. Market conditions that are not conducive to investment in precious metals may lead to declining prices that are linked to our ETPs and thereby adversely affect our AUM and revenues. We cannot provide any assurance that our products backed by precious metals will benefit from favorable market conditions. In addition, changes in long-term demand cycles for commodities generally and cyclicality in demand for commodities as an investment asset, could reduce demand for certain of our products, limit our ability to successfully launch new products and also may lead to redemptions by existing investors.
Also, a portion of the advisory fee revenues we receive on our ETPs backed by gold are paid in gold ounces. In addition, we pay gold ounces to satisfy our deferred consideration obligation (See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements). While we may readily sell the gold that we earn under these advisory contracts, we still may maintain a position. We currently do not enter into arrangements to hedge against fluctuations in the price of gold and any hedging we may undertake in the future may not be cost-effective or sufficient to hedge against this gold exposure.
A significant portion of our AUM is held in products with exposure to U.S. and international developed markets, and we therefore have exposure to domestic and foreign market conditions and are subject to currency exchange rate risks.
At December 31, 2021, approximately 31% and 15% of our AUM was held in products with exposure to the U.S. and international developed markets, respectively. Therefore, the success of our business is closely tied to various conditions in these markets which may be affected by domestic and foreign political, social and economic uncertainties, monetary policies conducted in these regions and other factors.
In addition, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could reduce the revenues we earn from certain foreign invested products. This occurs because an increase in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to non-U.S.
currencies may result in a decrease in the dollar value of the AUM in these products, which, in turn, would result in lower revenues. Furthermore, investors may perceive certain foreign invested products, as well as certain of our currency and fixed income products to be a less attractive investment opportunity when the value of the U.S. dollar rises relative to non-U.S.
currencies, which could have the effect of reducing investments in these products, thus reducing revenues. Our products exposed to the U.S. market may benefit from a rising U.S. dollar, but we can provide no assurance that this will be the case. Also, a weakening U.S. dollar relative to the euro or yen may make less attractive our international hedged equity products, as unhedged alternatives would benefit from the appreciation of the foreign currency or currencies while our products would not, which could result in redemptions in our funds.
Withdrawals or broad changes in investments in our ETPs by investors with significant positions may negatively impact revenues and operating margins.
We have had in the past, and may have in the future, investors who maintain significant positions in one or more of our ETPs. If such an investor were to broadly change or withdraw its investments in our ETPs because of a change to its investment strategy, market conditions or any other reason, it may significantly change the amount and mix of our AUM, which may negatively affect our revenues and operating margins.
Competition and Distribution Risks
The asset management business is intensely competitive, and we may experience pressures on our pricing and market share which could reduce revenues and profit margins.
Our business operates in a highly competitive industry. We compete directly with other ETP sponsors and mutual fund companies and indirectly against other investment management firms, insurance companies, banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions that offer products that have similar features and investment objectives to those offered by us. This includes fundamentally weighted or factor-based indexes or currency hedged products with fees that are generally equivalent to, and in some instances lower than, our products. We compete based on a number of factors, including name recognition, service, investment performance, product features, breadth of product choices and fees.
In addition, the adoption of the ETF Rule removed the need to file for exemptive relief in order to issue ETFs, thereby creating fewer barriers to entry for competitors. We expect that additional companies, both new and traditional asset managers, will continue to enter the ETP space.
Also, the SEC has approved multiple proposals for non-transparent
active ETFs, which are products that are not required to disclose their holdings daily, as most ETFs currently are required to do. The launch of such products may allow traditional actively managed mutual fund sponsors to compete more effectively against ETFs.
Several ETP sponsors with whom we directly compete continue to migrate toward offering low and no fee products targeting gains in market share. Price competition exists in not only commoditized product categories such as traditional, market capitalization weighted index exposures and commodities, but also in non-market
capitalization weighted or factor-based exposures and commodities. Fee reductions by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend. Certain larger competitors are able to offer products at lower price points or otherwise as loss leaders due to other revenue sources available within such competitor that are unavailable to us. Newer players have also been entering the ETP industry and frequently seek to differentiate by offering ETPs at a lower price point. Funds are being offered with fees of 20 basis points or less, which have attracted approximately 72% of the net flows globally during the last three years. Fee reduction by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend.
Our competition may have greater market share, offer a broader range of products and platforms and have greater financial resources than we do. Some financial institutions operate in a more favorable regulatory environment and/or have proprietary products, sources of revenue and distribution channels, which may provide them and their investment products with certain competitive advantages, including in pricing ETPs as loss leaders. Further consolidation within the industry may also put us at a competitive disadvantage.
We believe that due to the continuing evolution of the competitive landscape described above, we may experience pressures on our pricing and market share which could reduce our revenues and profit margins.
We rely on third-party distribution channels to sell our products and increased competition, a failure to maintain business relationships and other factors could adversely impact our business
.
We rely on various third-party distribution channels, including registered investment advisors, wirehouse and institutional channels to sell our products. Increasing competition, a failure to maintain business relationships and other factors could impair our distribution capabilities and increase the cost of conducting business. In addition, several of the largest custodial platforms and online brokerage firms eliminated trading commissions for ETFs. Our arrangements with these platforms had offered us preferred or exclusive access for our products, enabling investors to purchase our products without paying commissions. Exclusivity is no longer available, and we can provide no assurance that access to new opportunities will arise. Any inability to access and successfully sell our products through our distribution channels could have a negative effect on our AUM levels and adversely impact our business.
Performance and Investment Risks
Many of our ETPs have a limited track record and poor investment performance could cause our revenues to decline.
Many of our ETPs have a limited track record upon which an evaluation of their investment performance can be made. Certain investors limit their investments to ETPs with track records of ten years or more. Furthermore, as part of our strategy, we continuously evaluate our product offerings to ensure that all our funds are useful, compelling and differentiated investment offerings, to align our overall product line more competitively in the current ETP landscape and to reallocate our resources to areas of greater client interest. As a result, we may further adjust our product offerings, which may result in the closing of some of our ETPs, changing their investment objective or offering of new funds. The investment performance of our products is important to our success. While strong investment performance could stimulate sales of our ETPs, poor investment performance, on an absolute basis or as compared to third-party benchmarks or competitive products, could lead to a decrease in sales or stimulate redemptions, thereby lowering the AUM and reducing our revenues. Our fundamentally-weighted equity products are designed to provide the potential for better risk-adjusted investment returns over full market cycles and are best suited for investors with a longer-term investment horizon. However, the investment approach of our equity products may not perform well during certain shorter periods of time during different points in the economic cycle.
Operational Risks
Our international business subjects us to increased operational, regulatory, financial and other risks.
We face increased operational, regulatory, financial, compliance, reputational and foreign exchange rate risks as a result of conducting our business internationally. The failure of our compliance and internal control systems to properly mitigate such additional risks, or of our infrastructure to support our international business, could result in operational failures and regulatory fines or sanctions. If our international products and operations experience any negative consequences or are perceived negatively in non-U.S.
markets, it may also harm our reputation in other markets, including the U.S. market.
We have and may continue to pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions. Any strategic transactions that we are a party to will result in increased demands on our management and other resources, may be significant in size relative to our assets and operations, result in significant changes in our business and materially and adversely affect our stock price. If we were unable to manage our strategic initiatives, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We have and may continue to pursue acquisitions or strategic transactions. These initiatives have placed increased demands on our management and other resources and may continue to do so in the future. We may not be able to manage our operations effectively or achieve our desired objectives on a timely or profitable basis. To do so may require, among other things:
•
continuing to retain, motivate and manage our existing employees and/or attract and integrate new employees;
•
developing, implementing and improving our operational, financial, accounting, reporting and other internal systems and controls on a timely basis; and
•
maintaining and developing our various support functions including human resources, information technology, legal and corporate communications.
If we are unable to manage these initiatives effectively, there could be a material adverse effect on our ability to maintain or increase revenues and profitability.
Managing strategic initiatives may require continued investment in personnel, information technology infrastructure and marketing activities, as well as further development and implementation of financial, operational and compliance systems and controls. We may not be successful in implementing all of the processes that are necessary. Unless such initiatives result in an increase in our revenues that is at least proportionate to the increase in the costs associated with implementing them, our future profitability will be adversely affected.
In addition, any future strategic transactions may result in the issuance of a significant amount of our common stock or other securities that could be dilutive to our stockholders, require substantial borrowings, result in changes in our board composition and/or management team, that constitute a change of control of our Company, lead to significant changes in our product offering, business operations and earning and risk profiles, and/or result in a decline in the price of our common stock.
Our ability to complete future strategic transactions depends upon a number of factors that are not entirely within our control, including our ability to identify suitable merger or acquisition candidates, negotiate acceptable terms, conclude satisfactory agreements and secure financing. Our failure to complete strategic transactions or to integrate and manage acquired or combined businesses successfully could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial conditions.
We instruct trades and perform other operational processes in respect of crypto basket ETPs that we have launched in Europe. Operational failures could materially affect our business and harm investors in these products.
We have launched products indexed to baskets of cryptocurrencies in Europe. We have outsourced the administrator, transfer agent and custodial functions for these products. While we typically outsource portfolio management services to third-party sub-advisers
for our products, in this case, we instead act as determination agent and place buy and sell orders directly with a broker to rebalance these crypto basket ETPs in line with the indices. These rebalances will occur either quarterly or annually depending on the product. Expanding trading volumes may increase the risk of trading errors. The failure of any of our vendors to provide us and our products with the outsourced services and our failure to correctly place trade orders could lead to operational issues and result in financial loss to us and/or investors in our products.
The uncertainty regarding the U.K.’s exit from the EU could adversely affect our business.
The U.K. left the EU on January 31, 2020, referred to as Brexit, subject to transitional arrangements which ended on December 31, 2020. On December 30, 2020, the U.K. and the EU entered into a Trade and Cooperation Agreement to regulate certain aspects of their relationship following the end of the transition period. The enactment of the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 brought into effect in the U.K. certain provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement contemplate further agreements and amendments to be negotiated and agreed. There are legal and regulatory aspects of EU membership, such as certain financial services arrangements, which are not maintained by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and where “equivalence” decisions have not been made and/or may be withdrawn unilaterally. While the medium to long-term consequences of the decision to leave the EU and application of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement remain uncertain, there could be short-term volatility, which could have a negative impact on general economic conditions and business and consumer confidence in the U.K., which may in turn have a negative impact elsewhere in the EU and more widely. Among other things, the U.K.’s departure from the EU and agreement of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement could lead to instability, including volatility, in the foreign exchange markets, including volatility in the value of the pound sterling or the euro. Deteriorating business, consumer or investor confidence could lead to (i) reduced levels of business activity, (ii) higher levels of default rates and impairment and (iii) mark to market losses in trading portfolios resulting from changes in credit ratings, share prices and solvency of counterparties. These changes may impact how we conduct our business across Europe. This uncertainty also could impact the broader global economy, including by reducing investor confidence and driving volatility. Such uncertainty could lead to scenarios that adversely affect our business, including our revenues, from either a decrease in the value of our AUM or from outflows from our funds due to a perceived higher exposure of our company to Brexit risk.
Catastrophic and unpredictable events could have a material adverse effect on our business.
A terrorist attack, war, power failure, cyber-attack, natural disaster, pandemic event or other catastrophic or unpredictable event could adversely affect our revenues, expenses and operating results by: interrupting our normal business operations; inflicting employee casualties, including loss of our key employees; requiring substantial expenditures and expenses to repair, replace and restore normal business operations; and reducing investor confidence. We have a disaster recovery plan to address certain contingencies, but this plan may not be sufficient in responding or ameliorating the effects of all disaster scenarios. Similarly, these types of events could also affect the ability of the third-party vendors that we rely upon to conduct our business, including parties that provide us with sub-advisory
portfolio management services, custodial, fund accounting and administration services or index calculation services, to continue to provide these necessary services to us, even though they may also have disaster recovery plans to address these contingencies. In addition, a failure of the stock exchanges on which our products trade to function properly could cause a material disruption to our business. If we or our third-party vendors are unable to respond adequately or in a timely manner, these failures may result in a loss of revenues and/or increased expenses, either of which would have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
Third-Party Provider Risks
We currently depend on State Street Bank and Trust Company to provide us with critical administrative services to operate our business and our U.S. listed ETFs. The failure of State Street to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in our products.
We currently depend upon State Street Bank and Trust Company, or State Street, to provide custody services, fund accounting, administration, transfer agency and securities lending services. The failure of State Street to successfully provide us and our products with these services could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products. In addition, because State Street provides a multitude of important services to us, changing this vendor relationship would be challenging. It might require us to devote a significant portion of management’s time to negotiate a similar relationship with another vendor or have these services provided by multiple vendors, which would require us to coordinate the transfer of these functions to another vendor or vendors.
We currently primarily depend on Mellon Investments Corporation, Newton Investment Management North America, LLC and Voya Investment Management Co., LLC to provide portfolio management services and other third parties to provide many critical services to operate our business and our U.S. listed ETFs. The failure of key vendors to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in our products.
We depend on third-party vendors to provide us with many services that are critical to operating our business, including Mellon Investments Corporation, Newton Investment Management North America, LLC and Voya Investment Management Co., LLC as sub-advisers
providing portfolio management services; third-party providers of index calculation services for our indexes; and a distributor of our products. The failure of any of these key vendors to provide us and our products with these services could lead to operational issues and result in financial loss to us and investors in our products.
We currently depend on HSBC and JP Morgan to provide us with critical physical custody services for precious metals that back our ETCs. The failure of HSBC and JP Morgan to adequately safeguard the physical assets could materially adversely affect our business and harm investors in our products.
Certain products are backed by physical metal and are subject to risks associated with the custody of physical assets, including the risk that access to the metal held in the secure facilities managed by HSBC and JP Morgan could be restricted by a pandemic (such as the COVID-19
pandemic), natural events (such as an earthquake) or human actions (such as a terrorist attack). In addition, there is a risk that the physical metal could be lost, stolen, damaged or restricted. The failure of HSBC and JP Morgan to successfully provide us with these services could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products and our recovery of any losses from a custodian, sub-custodian
or insurer may be inadequate.
We currently depend on Swissquote Bank Ltd and Coinbase Custody Trust LLC to provide us with critical custody services for digital currencies that back WisdomTree digital securities. The failure of Swissquote and/or Coinbase to adequately safeguard these digital assets could materially adversely affect our business and harm investors in this product.
Products that are backed by digital currencies are subject to the risks associated with the custody of digital assets, including the risk that the digital currencies or the blockchain infrastructure could be impacted by hacks or other malicious actions. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is reliant on the security procedures and infrastructure of the custodian to safeguard the underlying digital currency cryptographic keys. There is no guarantee that the arrangements of the custodian will fully protect from loss of assets. Damage to the infrastructure or loss of these assets may render the digital currency inaccessible and adversely impact the value of an investment in digital securities. The digital currencies may also be exposed to the Internet briefly before reaching the secure accounts of the custodian. There are additional risks involved with an investment backed by digital currencies such as changes to the protocol (such as forks) which could damage the reputation of digital assets or result in losses for investors. The risks associated with digital currencies and the failure of the custodian to safeguard the underlying assets could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products and our recovery of any losses from a custodian may be inadequate.
We currently depend on R&H Fund Services (Jersey) Limited in respect of the products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited), JTC Trust Company Jersey in respect of products issued by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited, APEX IFS Limited in respect of the products issued by WMAI and State Street Fund Services (Ireland) Limited in respect of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs to provide us with critical administrative services to those products. The failure of any of those providers to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in those products.
We currently depend upon R&H Fund Services (Jersey) Limited in respect of the products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited), JTC Trust Company Jersey in respect of products issued by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited, APEX IFS Limited in respect of the products issued by WMAI and State Street Fund Services (Ireland) Limited in respect of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs, to provide fund accounting, administration and, transfer agency services, as well as custody services in the case of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The failure of any service provider to successfully provide these services could result in financial loss to the products, us and investors in those products. In addition, because each of the service providers provides a multitude of important services, changing these vendor relationships would be challenging. It might require us to devote a significant portion of management’s time to negotiate a similar relationship with other vendors or have these services provided by multiple vendors, which would require us to coordinate the transfer of these functions to another vendor or vendors.
The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs primarily depend on either of Assenagon Asset Management S.A. or Irish Life Investment Managers Limited to provide portfolio management services and other third parties to provide many critical services to operate the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The failure of key vendors to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs.
The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs depend on third-party vendors to provide many services that are critical to operating our business, including Assenagon Asset Management S.A. and Irish Life Investment Managers Limited as investment managers that provide us with portfolio management services and third-party providers of index calculation services. The failure of any of these key vendors to provide the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs with these services could lead to operational issues and result in financial loss to us and investors in the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs.
The products issued by our European business are subject to counterparty risks. Any actual or perceived weakness of those counterparties could negatively impact the European business’ AUM and therefore the Company’s AUM, the relevant product and secondary pricing of the products on exchange, which could materially adversely affect our business.
The products issued by our European business depend on the services of counterparties, custodians and other agents and are thus subject to a variety of counterparty risks, including the following:
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Products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) are backed by physical metal and are subject to risks associated with the custody of metal, including the risk that access to the physically backed metal held in the vaults or secure warehouses of a custodian or sub-custodian
could be restricted by natural events, such as an earthquake, or human actions, such as a terrorist attack, the risk that such physically backed metal in its custody could be lost, stolen or damaged, and the risk that our recovery of any losses from a custodian, sub-custodian
or insurer may be inadequate.
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Products issued by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited are backed by digital currencies and are subject to risks associated with the custody of digital assets, including the risk that the digital currency itself or the relevant blockchain infrastructure could be threatened by hacks, other malicious actions, breakdown or disturbance of the infrastructure and loss of the digital keys.
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Products issued by WMAI, certain WisdomTree UCITS ETFs and certain products issued by the ManJer Issuers are backed by swap, derivative or similar arrangements are subject to risks associated with the creditworthiness of their counterparties, including the risk that a counterparty will not settle a transaction in accordance with its terms and conditions because of a dispute over the terms of the relevant arrangement (whether or not bona fide) or because of a credit, liquidity, regulatory, tax or operational problem. Any deterioration of the credit or downgrade in the credit rating of a counterparty, or the custodian holding the collateral, could cause the associated products to trade at a discount to the value of the underlying assets.
The terms of contracts with counterparties are generally complex, often customized and often not subject to regulatory oversight. A voluntary or involuntary default by a counterparty may occur at any time without notice. In the event of any default by, or the insolvency of, any counterparty, the relevant products may be exposed to the under-segregation of assets, fraud or other factors that may result in the recovery of less than all of the property of our issuers that was held in custody or safekeeping in the case of physically backed products or the recovery of property that is insufficient in value to cover all amounts payable to holders of the applicable products upon their redemption.
The impact of market stress or counterparty financial condition may not be accurately foreseen or evaluated and, as a result, we may not take sufficient action to reduce counterparty risks effectively. Any losses due to a counterparty’s failure to perform its contractual obligations will be borne by the relevant product issuer and there could be a substantial delay in recovering assets due from counterparties or it may not be possible to do so at all. Defaults by, or even rumors or questions about, the solvency of counterparties may increase operational risks or transaction costs, which may negatively affect the investment performance of the relevant products and have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.
Our risk management policies and procedures, and those of our third-party vendors upon which we rely, may not be fully effective in identifying or mitigating risk exposure, including employee misconduct. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure to these risks, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition, reputation and market share.
We have developed risk management policies and procedures and we continue to refine them as we conduct our business. Many of our procedures involve oversight of third-party vendors that provide us with critical services such as portfolio management, custody, fund accounting and administration, and index calculation. However, our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage risks may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure. Moreover, we are subject to the risks of errors and misconduct by our employees, including fraud and non-compliance
with policies. These risks are difficult to detect in advance and deter, and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. Although we maintain insurance and use other traditional risk-shifting tools, such as third-party indemnification, to manage certain exposures, they are subject to terms such as deductibles, coinsurance, limits and policy exclusions, as well as risk of counterparty denial of coverage, default or insolvency. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure and our exposure is not adequately covered by insurance or other risk-shifting tools, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition and could cause a reduction in our revenues as investors in our products shift their investments to the products of our competitors.
Technology Risks
Any significant limitation or failure of our technology systems, or of our third-party vendors’ technology systems, or any security breach of our information and cyber security infrastructure, software applications, technology or other systems that are critical to our operations could interrupt or damage our operations and result in material financial loss, regulatory violations, reputational harm or legal liability.
We are dependent upon the effectiveness of our own, and our vendors’, information security policies, procedures and capabilities to protect the technology systems used to operate our business and to protect the data that reside on or are transmitted through them. Although we and our third-party vendors take protective measures to secure information, our and our vendors’ technology systems have experienced cybersecurity threats and may still be vulnerable to unauthorized access, computer viruses or other events that could result in inaccuracies in our information or system disruptions or failures, which could materially interrupt or damage our operations. These risks may increase in the future as the Company develops and launches its mobile application. In addition, technology is subject to rapid change and we cannot guarantee that our competitors may not implement more advanced technology platforms for their products, which could affect our business. Any inaccuracies, delays, system failures or breaches, or advancements in technology, and the cost necessary to address them, could subject us to client dissatisfaction and losses or result in material financial loss, regulatory violations, reputational harm or legal liability, which, in turn, could cause a decline in our earnings or stock price.
Human Capital Risks
Our ability to operate effectively could be impaired if we fail to retain or recruit key personnel.
The success of our business is highly dependent on our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled, and sometimes highly specialized, employees, including in particular, operations, product development, research and sales and marketing personnel. Our U.S. employees generally may voluntarily terminate their employment at any time. The market for these individuals is extremely competitive and is likely to become more so as additional investment management firms enter the ETF industry and as the digital assets market continues to develop. Our compensation methods may not enable us to recruit and retain required personnel. For example, price volatility in our common stock may impact our ability to effectively use equity grants as an employee compensation incentive. Also, we may need to increase compensation levels, which would decrease our net income or increase our losses. If we are unable to retain and attract key personnel, it could have an adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and financial condition.
Expense and Cash Management Risks
Our expenses are subject to fluctuations that could materially affect our operating results.
Our results of operations are dependent in part on the level of our expenses and may fluctuate as a result of discretionary spending, including additional headcount, accruals for incentive compensation, marketing, advertising, sales and other expenses we incur in connection with our operations. We are also pursuing our digital assets initiative and incurred expenses of approximately $4.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. We are currently projecting additional spending on our digital assets initiative during 2022 ranging from $9.0 million to $14.0 million, however, actual expenses incurred and expenses in future years may ultimately exceed this estimate. Accordingly, fluctuations in our expenses could materially affect our operating results and may vary from quarter to quarter.
Legal and Regulatory Risks
Compliance with extensive, complex and changing regulation imposes significant financial and strategic costs on our business, and non-compliance
could result in fines and penalties.
Our business is subject to extensive regulation of our business and operations. One of our U.S. subsidiaries, WTAM, is a registered investment adviser and is subject to oversight by the SEC pursuant to its regulatory authority under the Investment Advisers Act. We also must comply with certain requirements under the Investment Company Act, with respect to the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs for which WTAM acts as investment adviser. WTAM is also a member of the NFA and registered as a commodity pool operator for certain of our ETFs. As a commodity pool operator, we are subject to oversight by the NFA and the CFTC pursuant to regulatory authority under the Commodity Exchange Act. In addition, the content and use of our marketing and sales materials and of our sales force in the U.S. regarding our U.S. listed ETFs is subject to the regulatory authority of FINRA, and the SEC recently adopted rule amendments in seeking to modernize sales and marketing materials, which will impact such materials. We are also subject to foreign laws and regulatory authorities with respect to operational aspects of our products that invest in securities of issuers in foreign countries, in the marketing, offer and/or sales of our products in foreign jurisdictions and in our offering of investment products domiciled outside of the U.S., such as our ETPs issued by the ManJer Issuers, UCITS ETFs and ETPs issued by WMAI. Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of our business, including the authority to grant, and, in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular businesses. Our or our ETPs’ failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations could result in fines, censure, suspensions of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of our registration as an investment adviser. Even if a sanction imposed against us, our personnel or our ETPs is small in monetary amount, the adverse publicity arising from the imposition of sanctions against us or our ETPs by regulators could harm our reputation and thus result in redemptions from our products and impede our ability to retain and attract investors in WisdomTree ETPs, all of which may reduce our revenues.
We face the risk of significant intervention by regulatory authorities, including extended investigation activity, adoption of costly or restrictive new regulations and judicial or administrative proceedings that may result in substantial penalties. Among other things, we could be fined or be prohibited from engaging in some of our business activities. The requirements imposed by our regulators are designed to ensure the integrity of the financial markets and to protect investors in WisdomTree ETPs and our advisory clients and are not designed to protect our stockholders. Consequently, these regulations often serve to limit our activities, including through WisdomTree ETP investor protection and market conduct requirements.
The regulatory environment in which we operate also is subject to modifications and further regulation. Concerns have been raised at various times about ETFs’ possible contribution to market volatility as well as the disclosure requirements applicable to certain types of more complex ETFs. In addition, the SEC approved a broad set of reforms regarding data reporting and fund liquidity, fund valuation and funds’ use of derivatives, which are imposing, or are expected to impose, additional expense and require additional administrative services and requirements, among other matters, in seeking to comply with the new rules. New laws or regulations, or changes in the enforcement of existing laws or regulations, applicable to us or investors in our products also may adversely affect our business, and our ability to function in this environment will depend on our ability to constantly monitor and react to these changes. Compliance with new laws and regulations may result in increased compliance costs and expenses.
Specific regulatory changes also may have a direct impact on our revenues. In addition to regulatory scrutiny and potential fines and sanctions, regulators continue to examine different aspects of the asset management industry. New regulation, revised regulatory or judicial interpretations, revised viewpoints, outcomes of lawsuits against other fund complexes or growth in our ETP assets and/or profitability related to the annual approval process for investment advisory agreements may result in the reduction of fees under these agreements, which would mean a reduction in our revenues or otherwise may lead to an increase in costs or expenses.
Our operations outside the U.S. are subject to the laws and regulations of various non-U.S.
jurisdictions and non-U.S.
regulatory agencies and bodies. As we have expanded our international presence, a number of our subsidiaries and international operations have become subject to regulatory systems in various jurisdictions, comparable to those covering our operations in the U.S. Regulators in these non-U.S.
jurisdictions may have broad authority with respect to the regulation of financial services including, among other things, the authority to grant or cancel required licenses or registrations.
From time to time, we may be involved in legal proceedings that could require significant management time and attention, possibly resulting in significant expense or in an unfavorable outcome, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
From time to time, we may be subject to litigation. In any litigation in which we are involved, we may be forced to incur costs and expenses to defend ourselves or to pay a settlement or judgment or comply with any injunctions in connection therewith if there is an unfavorable outcome. The expense of defending litigation may be significant. The amount of time to resolve lawsuits is unpredictable and defending ourselves may divert management’s attention from the day-to-day
operations of our business, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, an unfavorable outcome in any such litigation, including claims brought by investors in our WisdomTree WTI Crude Oil 3x Daily Leveraged ETP totaling approximately €9.0 million ($10.2 million), could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. See Note 15 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
We may from time to time be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, which could harm our business.
Third parties may assert against us alleged patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights to intellectual property that is important to our business. Any claims that our products or processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others, regardless of the merit or resolution of such claims, could cause us to incur significant costs in responding to, defending and resolving such claims, and may divert the efforts and attention of our management from our business. As a result of such intellectual property infringement claims, we could be required or otherwise decide that it is appropriate to:
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pay third-party infringement claims;
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discontinue selling the particular funds subject to infringement claims;
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discontinue using the processes subject to infringement claims;
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develop other intellectual property or products not subject to infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly or may not be possible; or
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license the intellectual property from the third party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
The occurrence of any of the foregoing could result in unexpected expenses, reduce our revenues and adversely affect our business and financial results.
We have been issued a patent, but may not be able to enforce or protect our patent and other intellectual property rights, which may harm our ability to compete and harm our business.
Although we have a patent relating to our index methodology and the operation of our ETFs, our ability to enforce our patent and other intellectual property rights is subject to general litigation risks. If we cannot successfully enforce our patent, we may lose the benefit of a future competitive advantage that it would otherwise provide to us. If we seek to enforce our rights, we could be subject to claims that the intellectual property right is invalid or is otherwise not enforceable. Furthermore, our assertion of intellectual property rights could result in the other party seeking to assert alleged intellectual property rights of its own or assert other claims against us, which could harm our business. If we are not ultimately successful in defending ourselves against these claims in litigation, we may be subject to the risks described in the immediately preceding risk factor entitled “We may from time to time be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, which could harm our business.”
Digital Assets Risks
As we endeavor to expand our digital asset product offerings and services beyond our existing ETP business, we believe the risks associated with our digital assets business include, but are not limited to, the following risks:
Outsourced service provider risks
We rely on third-party service providers in connection with different facets of our digital assets business, including but not limited to custodial arrangements, blockchain and wallet infrastructure, banking relationships, cloud computing, payment processors, data infrastructure, compliance support and product development, including mobile application development, all of which are critical to the success of our digital assets business. If any third-party service providers fail to adequately or appropriately render services to satisfy their obligations to us, or our customers or consumers on our behalf, such failure could negatively impact the success of our digital assets business. In addition, such third-party service providers may be subject to financial, legal, regulatory and labor issues, data security and cybersecurity incidents, denial-of-service
attacks, sabotage, privacy breaches or violations, fraud and other misconduct which could directly or indirectly have an impact on our digital asset products and services.
Cybersecurity risks
The use of various technologies is vital to our digital assets business and will become more prevalent which will make us more susceptible to operational and data security risks resulting from a breach in cybersecurity, including cyberattacks. A breach in cybersecurity, intentional or unintentional, may have an adverse impact on our digital assets business in many ways, including but not limited to, the loss of proprietary information, theft or corruption of data, denial-of-service
attacks on websites or network resources, and the unauthorized release or misuse of confidential information.
Regulatory risks
The digital assets industry is rapidly evolving at an unprecedented rate. There is a high degree of regulatory uncertainty associated with the digital assets industry, which means that the products and services our digital assets business provides or may provide in the future could subject us to enhanced regulatory scrutiny or otherwise materially impact the quality or nature of such products or services. The effect of any future legal or regulatory change or interpretation both domestically and internationally is unknown and such change could be substantial and adverse to our digital assets business.
In addition, we are actively engaged or plan to be engaged with a variety of U.S. federal and state regulators (e.g., the SEC, FINRA, New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and other state regulators) to secure, as necessary, the appropriate regulatory, registration and/or licensing approvals for various business initiatives, including but not limited to: a New York state-chartered limited purpose trust company; money services and money transmitter business; broker-dealer; investment adviser; and investment funds. As we seek to expand globally, similar approvals and/or reliance on exemptions will be required in applicable foreign markets, which may also involve approvals specific to a digital asset or related business. If we are successful in securing the appropriate regulatory, registration and/or licensing approvals, or otherwise relying on, seeking or confirming exemptions therefrom, for these different initiatives in connection with our digital assets business, we will be subject to a myriad of complex and evolving global policy frameworks and associated regulatory requirements that we would need to comply with, or otherwise be exempt from, in seeking to ensure our digital asset products and services are successfully brought to different markets in a compliant manner. Failure to secure and/or comply with any such approvals and exemptions could have an adverse effect on our digital assets business.
Blockchain infrastructure risks
The consensus or governance mechanisms of blockchain networks are subject to change, malfunctions and may not receive sufficient support from users and miners, which could negatively impact the blockchain network’s ability to grow and respond to challenges. In addition, blockchain networks face significant challenges in connection with the volume, speed and security of transactions, the efforts of which to increase or enhance such characteristics of the blockchain network may not be successful. If the digital asset awards for verifying and confirming transactions on a blockchain network are not sufficiently high to incentivize miners, miners may cease to verify and confirm such transactions or otherwise demand higher fees, which could negatively affect the value of a digital asset.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) risks
The decentralized infrastructure and anonymous or pseudonymous nature of digital assets could facilitate and create the opportunity for money laundering and terrorist financing activities, thereby circumventing certain anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing laws and regulations designed to prevent financial crimes both domestically and internationally which could negatively impact our digital assets business. In addition, certain aspects of our digital assets business will have significantly greater anti-money laundering risk, including risk of fines or sanctions, than our historical ETF business due to the greater number of potential customers, which may also include customers in foreign markets considered to be higher risk and/or customer types considered to be higher risk, for which anti-money laundering and related obligations will apply.
Data privacy risks
In connection with the products or services offered by our digital assets business, we may collect, store, process, or transmit personal data of a customer or consumer to a significantly greater extent than in our historical ETF business. Any change or failure to comply with data privacy laws or regulations related to the collection, processing, use and storage of personal data could materially affect our digital assets business and overall financial health.
Other risks
The risk of loss in purchasing, selling, trading, using or holding digital assets can be substantial. The price and liquidity of digital assets may be subject to high degrees of volatility resulting in large deviations or fluctuations from normalized levels. There is also heightened custodial risks due to the unique safekeeping attributes associated with public and private keys of digital assets.
Other Company Risks
Actions of activist stockholders against us are disruptive and costly and the possibility that activist stockholders may wage proxy contests or seek representation on our board of directors could cause uncertainty about the strategic direction of our business.
On January 24, 2022, ETFS Capital and Graham Tuckwell (collectively, the “Tuckwell 13D Group”) jointly filed a statement on Schedule 13D to report that the Tuckwell 13D Group beneficially owns 15,250,000 shares of our common stock, representing approximately 10.5% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Activist stockholders such as the Tuckwell 13D Group may from time to time attempt to effect changes in our strategic direction, and in furtherance thereof, may seek changes in how our company is governed.
Our board of directors and management strive to maintain constructive, ongoing communications with our stockholders, including the Tuckwell 13D Group, and welcome their views and opinions with the goal of enhancing value for all stockholders. However, an activist campaign that seeks to replace members of our board of directors or changes in our strategic direction could have an adverse effect on us because:
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responding to actions by activist stockholders are disruptive to our operations, are costly and time-consuming, and divert the attention of our board of directors and senior management from the pursuit of business strategies, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition;
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perceived uncertainties about our future direction as a result of changes to the composition of our board of directors or changes to our stockholder base may lead to the perception of a change in the direction of the business, instability or lack of continuity which may be exploited by our competitors, may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners;
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these types of actions could cause significant fluctuations in our stock price based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business; and
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if individuals are elected to our board of directors with a specific agenda, it may adversely affect our ability to effectively implement our business strategy and to create additional value for our stockholders.
A change of control of our company would automatically terminate our investment management agreements relating to the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs unless the Board of Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust and shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs voted to continue the agreements. A change in control could occur if a third party were to acquire a controlling interest in our Company.
Under the Investment Company Act, an investment management agreement with a fund must provide for its automatic termination in the event of its assignment. The fund’s board must vote to continue such an agreement following any such assignment and the shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs must approve the assignment. The cost of obtaining such shareholder approval can be significant and ordinarily would be borne by us. Similarly, under the Investment Advisers Act, a client’s investment management agreement may not be “assigned” by the investment adviser without the client’s consent.
An investment management agreement is considered under both acts to be assigned to another party when a controlling block of the adviser’s securities is transferred. Under both acts, there is a presumption that a stockholder beneficially owning 25% or more of an adviser’s voting stock controls the adviser and conversely a stockholder beneficially owning less than 25% is presumed not to control the adviser. In our case, an assignment of our investment management agreements may occur if a third party were to acquire a controlling interest in our Company. We cannot be certain that the Trustees of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs would consent to assignments of our investment management agreements or approve new agreements with us if a change of control occurs. And even if such approval were obtained, approval from the shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs would be required to be obtained; such approval could not be guaranteed and even if obtained, likely would result in significant expense. This restriction may discourage potential purchasers from acquiring a controlling interest in our Company.
Our revenues could be adversely affected if the Independent Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust do not approve the continuation of our advisory agreements or determines that the advisory fees we receive from the WisdomTree ETFs should be reduced.
Our revenues are derived primarily from investment advisory agreements with related parties. Our advisory agreements with the WisdomTree Trust and the fees we collect from the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are subject to review and approval by the Independent Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust. The advisory agreements are subject to initial review and approval. After the initial two-year
term of the agreement for each ETF, the continuation of such agreement must be reviewed and approved at least annually by a majority of the Independent Trustees. In determining whether to approve the agreements, the Independent Trustees consider factors such as the nature and quality of the services provided by us, the fees charged by us and the costs and profits realized by us in connection with such services, as well as any ancillary or “fall-out”
benefits from such services, the extent to which economies of scale are shared with the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs, and the level of fees paid by other similar funds. Our revenues would be adversely affected if the Independent Trustees do not approve the continuation of our advisory agreements or determines that the advisory fees we charge to any particular fund are too high, resulting in a reduction of our fees.
Damage to our reputation could adversely affect our business.
We believe we have developed a strong brand and a reputation for innovative, thoughtful products, favorable long-term investment performance and excellent client services. The WisdomTree name and brand is a valuable asset and any damage to it could hamper our ability to maintain and grow our AUM and attract and retain employees, thereby having a material adverse effect on our revenues. Risks to our reputation may range from regulatory issues to unsubstantiated accusations. Managing such matters may be expensive, time-consuming and difficult.
Risks Relating to our Common and Preferred Stock and Convertible Notes
The market price of our common stock has been fluctuating significantly and may continue to do so, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The market price of our common stock has been fluctuating significantly and may continue to do so, depending upon many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:
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the ultimate duration of the COVID-19
pandemic and its short-term and long-term impact on our business and the global economy;
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actions of activist stockholders taken against us which could be disruptive and costly and may cause uncertainty about the strategic direction of our business;
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decreases in our AUM;
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variations in our quarterly operating results;
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differences between our actual financial operating results and those expected by investors and analysts;
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publication of research reports about us or the investment management industry;
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changes in expectations concerning our future financial performance and the future performance of the ETP industry and the asset management industry in general, including financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts;
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our strategic moves and those of our competitors, such as acquisitions or consolidations;
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changes in the regulatory framework of the ETP industry and the asset management industry in general and regulatory action, including action by the SEC to lessen the regulatory requirements or shorten the process under the Investment Company Act to become an ETP sponsor;
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the level of demand for our stock, including the amount of short interest in our stock;
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changes in general economic or market conditions; and
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realization of any other of the risks described elsewhere in this section.
In addition, stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Furthermore, in the past, market fluctuations and price declines in a company’s stock have led to securities class action litigations or other derivative stockholder lawsuits. If such a suit were to arise, it could cause substantial costs to us and divert our resources regardless of the outcome.
If equity research analysts issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the price of our common stock could decline.
The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control the opinions of these analysts. The price and trading volume of our common stock could decline if one or more equity analysts issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock or cease publishing reports about us or our business.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the Convertible Notes or to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change.
We have issued $175.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2023, and $150.0 million of 3.25% convertible senior notes due 2026, which we collectively refer to as the Convertible Notes. Holders of the Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of certain change of control transactions or liquidation, dissolution or common stock delisting events (each, a “fundamental change”), at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, as described in the respective indentures between us and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee. In addition, upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the notes being converted as described in the indentures. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of notes surrendered therefor or notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the notes may be limited by law, regulatory authority or agreements governing our future indebtedness. Further, if the fundamental change also constitutes a change of control under the Certificate of Designations for our Series A Preferred Stock and we are required to make other redemption payments as a result of the change of control, we would be required to satisfy that obligation before making any payments on the notes. Our failure to repurchase notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the applicable indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture.
The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and liquidity.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of notes will be entitled to convert the notes at any time during specified periods at their option, as described in the indentures. If one or more holders elect to convert their notes, we would be required to settle any converted principal through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity.
Preferred Shares issued in connection with the ETFS Acquisition contain redemption rights, which, if triggered, could materially impact our financial position.
In connection with the ETFS Acquisition, we issued 14,750 shares of preferred stock, or Preferred Shares, to ETFS Capital, which are convertible into 14,750,000 shares of our common stock, subject to certain restrictions. ETFS Capital also has redemption rights for the Preferred Shares to protect against corporate events such as our having an insufficient number of shares of authorized common stock to permit full conversion and if, upon a change of control of us, ETFS Capital does not receive the same amount per Preferred Share that it would have received had the Preferred Shares been converted prior to a change of control. Any such redemption will be at a price per Preferred Share equal to the dollar volume-weighted average price for a share of common stock for the 30-trading
day period ending on the date of such attempted conversion or change of control, as applicable, multiplied by 1,000. The redemption value of the Preferred Shares was $90.7 million at December 31, 2021.
Future issuances of our common stock could lower our stock price and dilute the interests of existing stockholders.
We may issue additional shares of our common stock in the future, either in connection with an acquisition or for other business reasons. The issuance of a substantial amount of common stock could have the effect of substantially diluting the interests of our current stockholders. In addition, the sale of a substantial amount of common stock in the public market, either in the initial issuance or in a subsequent resale by the target company in an acquisition which received such common stock as consideration or by investors who acquired such common stock in a private placement, could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws
may prevent or delay an acquisition of our company, which could decrease the market value of our common stock.
Provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws
may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable. These provisions may also prevent or delay attempts by stockholders to replace or remove our current management or members of our board of directors. These provisions include:
•
a classified board of directors;
•
limitations on the removal of directors;
•
advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and nominations;
•
the inability of stockholders to act by written consent or to call special meetings;
•
the ability of our board of directors to make, alter or repeal our by-laws;
and
•
the authority of our board of directors to issue preferred stock with such terms as our board of directors may determine.
In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits business combination transactions with stockholders of 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock that our board of directors has not approved. These provisions and other similar provisions make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to acquire us without negotiation. These provisions may apply even if some stockholders may consider the transaction beneficial to them.
As a result, these provisions could limit the price that investors are willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. These provisions might also discourage a potential acquisition proposal or tender offer, even if the acquisition proposal or tender offer is at a premium over the then current market price for our common stock.
The payment of dividends to our stockholders and our ability to repurchase our common stock is subject to the discretion of our board of directors and may be limited by our financial condition and any applicable laws.
Any determination as to the payment of dividends or stock repurchases, as well as the level of such dividends or repurchases, will depend on, among other things, general economic and business conditions, our level of AUM, our strategic plans, our financial results and condition, limitations associated with new credit facilities or other agreements that could limit the amount of dividends we are permitted to pay or the stock we may repurchase, and any applicable laws. If, as a consequence of these various limitations and restrictions, we are unable to generate sufficient income from our business, we may need to reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends on our common stock or cease repurchasing our common stock. Any change in our stock repurchases or the level of our dividends or the suspension of the payment thereof could adversely affect our stock price.
In addition, our board of directors is authorized, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with such terms as our Board of Directors may, in its discretion, determine. Our board of directors could, therefore, issue preferred stock with dividend rights superior to that of the common stock, which could also limit the payment of dividends on the common stock.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
We have no unresolved comments from the SEC staff relating to our periodic or current reports filed with the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
On September 9, 2021, we terminated the lease for our then principal executive office at 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York. Prior to terminating the lease, we had adopted a “remote first” philosophy in which employees primarily work remotely on a permanent basis. While we are in the process of searching for a new principal executive office with a reduced footprint, our virtual office is currently located at 230 Park Avenue, 3rd
Floor West, New York, New York.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We may be subject to reviews, inspections and investigations by the SEC, CFTC, NFA, state and foreign regulators, as well as legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. See Note 15 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding claims brought by investors in our WisdomTree WTI Crude Oil 3x Daily Leveraged ETP totaling approximately €9.0 million ($10.2 million).

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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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
Market Information
Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “WETF.” As of December 31, 2021, there were 233 holders of record of shares of our common stock and we believe there were approximately 14,000 beneficial owners of our common stock.
In November 2014, we commenced a quarterly cash dividend and intend to continue to pay regular dividends to our stockholders. Any determination as to the payment of dividends, as well as the level of such dividends, will depend on, among other things, general economic and business conditions, our level of AUM, our strategic plans, our financial results and condition, limitations associated with new credit facilities or other agreements that could limit the amount of dividends we are permitted to pay, and any applicable laws.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table provides information with respect to purchases made by or on behalf of the Company or any “affiliated purchaser” of shares of our common stock.
There were no shares repurchased during the three months ended December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, $17.7 million remained under this program for future purchases.
Total Number
of Shares
Purchased
Average Price
Paid Per Share
Total Number of
Shares Purchased
as
Part of Publicly
Announced Plans
or Programs
Approximate
Dollar Value
of Shares that
May Yet Be
Purchased
Under the
Plans or
Programs
Period
(in thousands)
October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021
-
$ -
-
-
November 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021
-
$ -
-
-
December 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
-
$ -
-
-
Total
-
$ -
-
$ 17,685
On February 22, 2022, our board of directors approved an increase of $85.7 million to our share repurchase program and extended the term for three years through April 27, 2025.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]
Not applicable.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the other financial information included elsewhere in this Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below. For a more complete description of the risks noted above and other risks that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our current expectations, please see Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Report. We assume no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.
Introduction
We are an asset management company in the business of offering transparent financial exposures to our clients and are a leading global ETP sponsor based on assets under management, or AUM, with AUM of $77.5 billion as of December 31, 2021. More recently, we have been positioning ourselves to expand beyond our existing ETP business by leveraging blockchain technology, digital assets and principles of DeFi to deliver transparency, choice and inclusivity to customers and consumers around the world.
Our family of ETPs includes providing exposure to equities, commodities, fixed income, leveraged and inverse, currency, cryptocurrency and alternative strategies. We have launched many first-to-market
products and pioneered alternative weighting we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Most of our equity-based funds employ a fundamentally weighted investment methodology, which weights securities based on factors such as dividends, earnings or investment factors, whereas most other industry indexes use a capitalization weighted methodology. These products are distributed through all major channels in the asset management industry, including banks, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, institutional investors, private wealth managers and online brokers primarily through our sales force.
We are at the forefront of innovation and have differentiated ourselves through continued investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions such as our Advisor Solutions program, which includes portfolio construction, asset allocation, practice management services and digital tools for financial advisors. We seek to usher in the next chapter of financial services by introducing new revenue streams and expanding our offerings to include a new financial services mobile application, branded WisdomTree Prime™
, a digital wallet that is native to the blockchain and being developed for saving, spending and investing in both native crypto assets and tokenized versions of mainstream financial assets (e.g., blockchain enabled investment funds). We also are planning to launch asset- and fund-tokenization products beginning with a dollar token, gold token and digital short term treasury fund which will be available on multiple public and permissioned blockchains, leveraging federal and state regulated entities. As we pursue our digital assets strategy, we are embracing a concept we refer to as “responsible DeFi,” which we believe upholds the foundational principles of regulation in this innovative and quickly evolving space.
Executive Summary
Our business has generated significant positive momentum while executing against our long-term strategic initiatives. We have benefited from the expansion and diversification of our product line-up,
our Advisor Solutions program, investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions, the transformation of our distribution reach and investments in our managed models business. Our AUM as of December 31, 2021 was $77.5 billion, an all-time
high. The breadth and depth of our flows and products is increasing and we generated $4.7 billion of net inflows in 2021, representing an annualized organic growth rate of 7%. Our U.S. products have generated positive net inflows for the last six consecutive quarters. In Europe, our UCITS business has grown at an annualized organic growth rate of 105%, has generated positive net inflows for the last seven consecutive quarters and had AUM of $3.7 billion as of December 31, 2021. Revenues and operating income have increased 22% and 62%, respectively, as compared to the prior year.
We continue to pursue our digital assets initiative and believe we have made meaningful advancements. This includes: expanding our dedicated team focused on developing new investment products, indexes and strategies that provide exposure to digital assets, along with new blockchain-enabled products and services globally; the development of a new financial services mobile application, branded WisdomTree Prime™
, a digital wallet that is native to the blockchain; launching a crypto index offering digital assets exposure to separately managed accounts in collaboration with Ritholtz Wealth Management, OnRamp Invest and Gemini; our collaboration with OnRamp Invest and Gemini to support a new digital asset variable annuity product by Federal Life through the development of our +Crypto model portfolio; the WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund (GCC) becoming the first U.S. listed ETF to provide exposure to crypto assets through bitcoin futures; launching five crypto ETPs in Europe; our investments in Securrency and Onramp Invest; and various digital asset and blockchain-related regulatory filings and applications pending in the U.S. We believe our expansion into digital assets will complement our core competencies, diversify our revenue streams and contribute to our growth.
Additional business highlights include the following:
•
We were named a 2021 Best Places to Work in Money Management by Pension
& Investments
, for the second year in a row and 5 years total. We were one of the top five within the category for managers with 100-499
employees. We were also named Best WorkPlace for medium-sized
companies in the U.K. for a second consecutive year.
•
We won Best Mixed-Allocation ETF Issuer ($100M+) at the ETF Express US Awards 2021 and we collected three wins at the Mutual Fund Industry and ETF Awards 2021, including Newcomer Smart-beta ETF of the Year - WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund (WCBR), Newcomer Thematic ETF of the Year - WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund (WCBR) and Asset Manager Website of the Year.
•
We cross-listed our European-domiciled WisdomTree Bitcoin ETP, or BTCW, in Germany, appointed Coinbase Custody as a custodian and received approval to passport BTCW in the European Union, allowing for a wider audience to access and invest in the product.
•
We launched 9 new U.S. listed ETPs and 14 new European listed ETPs.
•
We issued $150 million of convertible senior notes due 2026 and returned approximately $54.0 million to our stockholders through stock repurchases and our ongoing quarterly cash dividend.
Reduction in Office Footprint
On September 9, 2021, we terminated the lease for our principal executive office at 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York. In consideration for the landlord’s agreement to accelerate the expiration date of the term of the lease from August 31, 2029, we paid a termination fee of $12.7 million. As a result, we recognized a loss on the termination of a lease of $15.9 million which is included in impairments and was inclusive of the right-of-use
asset, leasehold improvements and fixed assets broker fees and a reduction in operating lease liabilities.
Cost savings for the year ending December 31, 2022 resulting from the reduction in the New York and London office footprints are estimated to be approximately $3.5 million when compared to actual occupancy and depreciation expense recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020. Anticipated rent for new office space in New York and London with a smaller footprint is included in these estimates.
Market Environment
The following chart reflects the annual returns of the broad-based equity indexes and gold prices over the last three years.
Source: FactSet
U.S. listed ETF Industry Flows
U.S. listed ETF net flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $908 billion. U.S. equity and fixed income and gathered the majority of those flows.
Source: Morningstar
International listed ETP Industry Flows
International listed ETP net flows were $190 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021. Equities and fixed income gathered the majority of those flows.
Source: Morningstar
Industry Developments
Asset Management - Consolidation
In the recent past, a number of acquisitions in the asset management industry have either been announced or completed, such as OppenheimerFunds, Wells Fargo Asset Management and Voya Financial Advisors, among others. These trends have accelerated, as fee compression, cost pressures and increased regulations have weighed on the industry, highlighting the importance of scale and operating efficiency to compete in today’s market.
Our growth strategies, including the expansion and diversification of our product line-up,
our Advisor Solutions program, investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions, the transformation of our distribution reach and investments in our managed models business, have been effective in creating momentum in our core business. In addition, our advancements in digital assets and our efforts to expand beyond our existing ETP business by leveraging blockchain technology, digital assets and principles of DeFi to deliver transparency, choice and inclusivity to customers and consumers around the world positions us well for success to grow in this competitive landscape.
Components of Operating Revenue
Advisory fees
Substantially all of our revenues are comprised of advisory fees we earn from our ETPs. These advisory fees are calculated based on a percentage of the ETPs’ average daily net assets. Our weighted average fee rates by product category are as follows:
Commodity & Currency:
37bps
Leveraged & Inverse:
87bps
International Developed Market Equity:
51bps
Fixed Income:
20bps
U.S. Equity:
32bps
Alternatives:
58bps
Emerging Market Equity:
49bps
Cryptocurrency:
96bps
We determine the appropriate advisory fee to charge for our ETPs based on the cost of operating each ETP considering the types of securities the ETPs will hold, fees third-party service providers will charge us for operating the ETPs and our competitors’ fees for similar ETPs. From time to time, we implement voluntary waivers of a portion of our advisory fee. In addition, we earn a fee based on daily aggregate AUM of our ETPs in exchange for bearing certain fund expenses.
Our advisory fee revenues may fluctuate based on general stock market trends, which include market value appreciation or depreciation, currency fluctuations against the U.S. dollar, increased competition and level of inflows or outflows from our ETPs.
Other income
Other income includes rebates from swap providers to our European ETPs, creation/redemption fees earned on our European non-UCITS
products and fees from licensing our indexes to third parties.
Components of Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist primarily of costs related to selling, operating and marketing our ETPs as well as the infrastructure needed to run our business.
Compensation and benefits
Employee compensation and benefits expenses are expensed when incurred and include salaries, incentive compensation, and related benefit costs. Virtually all of our employees receive incentive compensation that is based on our operating results as well as their individual performance. Therefore, a portion of this expense will fluctuate with our business results. To attract and retain qualified personnel, we must maintain competitive employee compensation and benefit plans. We would expect changes in employee compensation and benefits expense to be correlated with changes in our revenues and net inflows. Our compensation costs are also affected by inflationary pressures.
Also included in compensation and benefits are costs related to equity awards granted to our employees. Our executive management and board of directors strongly believe that equity awards are an important part of our employees’ overall compensation package and that incentivizing our employees with equity in the Company aligns the interests of our employees with that of our stockholders. We use the fair value method in recording compensation expense for equity-based awards. Under the fair value method, compensation expense is measured at the grant date based on the estimated fair value of the award and is recognized as an expense over the vesting period.
Fund management and administration
Fund management and administration expenses are expensed when incurred and are comprised of the following costs we pay third-party service providers to operate our ETPs:
•
portfolio management of our ETPs (sub-advisory);
•
fund accounting and administration;
•
custodial and storage services;
•
market making;
•
transfer agency;
•
accounting and tax services;
•
printing and mailing of stockholder materials;
•
index calculation;
•
indicative values;
•
distribution fees;
•
legal and compliance services;
•
exchange listing fees;
•
trustee fees and expenses;
•
preparation of regulatory reports and filings;
•
insurance;
•
certain local income taxes; and
•
other administrative services.
We are not responsible for extraordinary expenses, taxes and certain other expenses related to the funds.
We depend on a number of parties to provide critical portfolio management services to our ETPs. The fees we pay our sub-advisers
generally are the higher of the fixed minimums per fund, which range from $25,000 to $737,040 per year, or the percentage fee, which ranges between 0.015% and 0.200% per annum of average daily AUM at various breakpoint levels depending on the nature of the ETP. In addition, we pay certain costs based on transactions in our ETPs or based on inflow levels.
The fees we pay for accounting, tax, transfer agency, index calculation, indicative values and exchange listing are based on the number of ETFs we have. The remaining fees are based on a combination of both AUM and number of funds, or as incurred.
Marketing and advertising
Marketing and advertising expenses are recorded when incurred and include the following:
•
advertising and product promotion campaigns that are initiated to promote our existing and new ETPs as well as brand awareness;
•
development and maintenance of our website; and
•
creation and preparation of marketing materials.
Our discretionary advertising comprises the largest portion of this expense. In addition, we may incur expenditures in certain periods to attract inflows, the benefit of which may or may not be recognized from increases to our AUM in future periods. However, due to the discretionary nature of some of these costs, they can generally be reduced if there were a decline in the markets.
Sales and business development
Sales and business development expenses are recorded when incurred and include the following:
•
travel and entertainment or conference related expenses for our sales force;
•
market data services for our research team;
•
sales related software tools;
•
voluntary payment of certain costs associated with the creation or redemption of ETF shares, as we may elect from time to time; and
•
legal and other advisory fees associated with the development of new funds or business initiatives.
Contractual gold payments
Contractual gold payments expense represents an ongoing obligation requiring us to pay 9,500 ounces of gold annually from the advisory fee income we earn for managing physically backed gold ETPs. See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Professional and consulting fees
Professional fees are expensed when incurred and consist of fees we pay to corporate advisers including accountants, tax advisers, legal counsel, investment bankers, human resources or other consultants. These expenses fluctuate based on our needs or requirements at the time. Certain of these costs are at our discretion and can fluctuate year to year.
Occupancy, communications and equipment
Occupancy, communications and equipment expense includes costs for our corporate headquarters in New York City as well as office related costs in our other locations.
Depreciation and amortization
Depreciation and amortization expense results from amortization of leasehold improvements to our office space as well as depreciation on fixed assets we purchase, which is depreciated over five to fifteen years.
Third-party distribution fees
Third-party distribution fees, which are expensed as incurred, include payments made to enable our products and models to be included on certain third-party platforms in exchange for commission-free trading or other preferential access. These expenses also include payments to our third-party marketing agents in Latin America and Israel.
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
Acquisition and disposition-related costs are principally associated with the sale of our Canadian ETF business, which was completed in February 2020.
Other
Other expenses consist primarily of insurance premiums, general office related expenses, securities license fees for our sales force, public company related expenses, corporate related travel and entertainment and board of director fees, including stock-based compensation related to equity awards we granted to our directors.
Components of Other Income/(Expenses) of a Recurring Nature
Interest expense
We recognize interest expense using the effective interest method which includes the amortization of discounts, premiums and issuance costs.
Revaluation of deferred consideration - gold payments
Deferred consideration arose in connection with the ETFS Acquisition and is remeasured each reporting period using forward-looking gold prices observed on the CMX exchange, a selected discount rate and perpetual growth rate. See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Interest income
Interest income, which is recognized on an accrual basis, arises from investing our corporate cash and on notes receivable previously outstanding.
Other losses and gains, net
Included herein are gains and losses arising from our securities owned, the sale of gold earned from advisory fees paid by physically-backed gold ETPs, foreign exchange and other miscellaneous items. Also included are losses arising from the release of tax-related
indemnification assets upon the expiration of the statute of limitations, for which an equal and offsetting benefit is recognized in income tax expense.
Income Taxes
Our income tax expense consists of taxes due to federal, various state and local and certain foreign authorities.
Expense Guidance for the Year Ending December 31, 2022
Compensation Expense
Our compensation expense for the year ending December 31, 2022 is currently estimated to range from $92.0 million to $102.0 million and takes into consideration the competitive landscape, inflationary pressures and hiring both in our core business and digital assets.
Discretionary Spending
Discretionary spending includes marketing, sales, professional fees, occupancy and equipment, depreciation and amortization and other expenses. We currently estimate our discretionary spending for the year ending December 31, 2022 to range from $49.0 million to $57.0 million, which presumes the pandemic dissipates and spending migrates toward pre-pandemic
levels. This range also includes spending on our digital assets initiative and is dependent on the rollout of WisdomTree Prime™
and the launch of additional products and services.
Not included in the guidance above are any potential non-recurring expenses we may incur in response to the Schedule 13D filed with the SEC on January 24, 2022 by ETFS Capital Limited. Such expenses could be material to our results of operations for the year ending December 31, 2022.
Gross Margin
We define gross margin as total operating revenues less fund management and administration expenses. Gross margin percentage is calculated as gross margin divided by total operating revenues. For the year ending December 31, 2022, we currently estimate that our gross margin percentage will be 81% to 82% at current AUM and revenue levels.
Contractual Gold Payments
We currently estimate our contractual gold payments expense for the year ending December 31, 2022 to be approximately $17.0 million based upon current gold prices. This expense is measured based upon actual monthly average gold prices.
Third-Party Distribution Expense
We currently estimate third-party distribution expense to be approximately $9.5 million for the year ending December 31, 2022, which assumes continued growth in Latin America and the introduction of new platforms in Europe.
Income Tax Expense
We currently estimate that our consolidated normalized effective tax rate will be approximately 21% to 22% for the year ending December 31, 2022. This estimated rate may change and is dependent upon our actual taxable income earned in relation to our forecasts as well as any other items which may arise that are not currently forecasted. Such items may include, but are not limited to, any revaluation on deferred consideration - gold payments, reductions in unrecognized tax benefits and any stock-based compensation windfalls or shortfalls. Corporate tax legislation could also impact our normalized effective tax rate.
Factors that May Impact our Future Financial Results
Our AUM is well diversified across the commodity, U.S. equity, international developed markets and emerging markets sectors. As a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to investor sentiment toward investing in these products’ strategies and our ability to maintain AUM of these products, as well as the performance of these products.
Our revenues are also highly correlated to the level and relative mix of our AUM, as well as the fee rate associated with our ETPs. Changes in product mix have led to a decline in our average advisory fee, which, for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 0.44%, 0.40% and 0.41%, respectively.
The chart below sets forth the asset mix of our ETPs for the last three years:
Key Operating Statistics
The following table presents key operating statistics that serve as indicators for the performance of our business:
Years Ended December 31,
GLOBAL ETPs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 67,383
$ 63,532
$ 53,940
Assets acquired/(sold)
-
(778 )
-
Inflows/(outflows)
4,660
(22 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
5,454
5,013
9,272
Fund closures
(19 )
(362 )
(271 )
End of period assets
$ 77,478
$ 67,383
$ 63,532
Average assets during the period
$ 73,436
$ 60,266
$ 59,667
Average advisory fee during the period
0.41 %
0.40 %
0.44 %
Number of ETPs - end of the period
U.S. LISTED ETFs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 38,517
$ 40,600
$ 35,486
Inflows/(outflows)
4,950
(1,253 )
(654 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
4,758
(706 )
5,858
Fund closures
(15 )
(124 )
(90 )
End of period assets
$ 48,210
$ 38,517
$ 40,600
Average assets during the period
$ 44,335
$ 34,133
$ 38,579
Number of ETPs-end of period
INTERNATIONAL LISTED ETPs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 28,866
$ 22,932
$ 18,454
Assets acquired/(sold)
-
(778 )
-
Inflows/(outflows)
(290 )
1,231
1,245
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
5,719
3,414
Fund closures
(4 )
(238 )
(181 )
End of period assets
$ 29,268
$ 28,866
$ 22,932
Average assets during the period
$ 29,100
$ 26,133
$ 21,088
Number of ETPs-end of period
PRODUCT CATEGORIES (in millions)
Commodity & Currency
Beginning of period assets
$ 25,880
$ 20,073
$ 15,976
Inflows/(outflows)
(1,478 )
1,118
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
5,336
2,979
End of period assets
$ 24,598
$ 25,880
$ 20,073
Average assets during the period
$ 25,028
$ 23,737
$ 18,214
U.S. Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 18,367
$ 17,732
$ 13,211
Inflows/(outflows)
1,542
1,446
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
3,951
(130 )
3,075
End of period assets
$ 23,860
$ 18,367
$ 17,732
Average assets during the period
$ 21,265
$ 15,393
$ 15,847
International Developed Market Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 9,406
$ 13,018
$ 14,231
Inflows/(outflows)
1,260
(2,843 )
(3,452 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
1,228
(769 )
2,239
End of period assets
$ 11,894
$ 9,406
$ 13,018
Average assets during the period
$ 10,745
$ 9,500
$ 13,190
Years Ended December 31,
Emerging Market Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 8,539
$ 6,400
$ 5,202
Inflows/(outflows)
2,041
1,700
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(205 )
End of period assets
$ 10,375
$ 8,539
$ 6,400
Average assets during the period
$ 10,619
$ 6,054
$ 5,704
Fixed Income
Beginning of period assets
$ 3,308
$ 3,565
$ 2,230
Inflows/(outflows)
1,131
(281 )
1,276
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(83 )
End of period assets
$ 4,356
$ 3,308
$ 3,565
Average assets during the period
$ 3,548
$ 3,540
$ 3,555
Leveraged & Inverse
Beginning of period assets
$ 1,477
$ 1,133
$ 1,054
Inflows/(outflows)
(3 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
End of period assets
$ 1,777
$ 1,477
$ 1,133
Average assets during the period
$ 1,676
$ 1,302
$ 1,167
Cryptocurrency
Beginning of period assets
$
$
$ -
Inflows/(outflows)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
-
End of period assets
$
$
$
Average assets during the period
$
$
$
Alternatives
Beginning of period assets
$
$
$
Inflows/(outflows)
(125 )
(162 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(18 )
End of period assets
$
$
$
Average assets during the period
$
$
$
Closed ETPs
Beginning of period assets
$
$ 1,252
$ 1,528
Assets sold
-
(778 )
-
Inflows/(outflows)
(5 )
(34 )
(251 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
-
(54 )
Fund closures
(19 )
(362 )
(271 )
End of period assets
$ -
$
$ 1,252
Average assets during the period
$
$
$ 1,549
Headcount
Note: Previously issued statistics may be restated due to fund closures and trade adjustments
Source: WisdomTree
Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2020
Selected Operating and Financial Information
Year Ended
December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
AUM (in millions)
Average AUM
$ 73,436
$ 60,266
$ 13,170
21.9 %
Operating Revenues (in thousands)
Advisory fees(1)
$ 298,052
$ 246,395
$ 51,657
21.0 %
Other income
6,266
3,517
2,749
78.2 %
Total revenues
$ 304,318
$ 249,912
$ 54,406
21.8 %
(1) Advisory fees previously reported have been revised due to an immaterial error correction. These revisions had no effect on previously reported net income. See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Average AUM
Our average AUM increased 21.9 % from $60.3 billion at December 31, 2020 to $73.4 billion at December 31, 2021 arising from market appreciation and net inflows.
Operating Revenues
Advisory fees
Advisory fee revenues increased 21.0% from $246.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $298.1 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to higher average AUM. Our average advisory fee increased from 0.40% during the year ended December 31, 2020 to 0.41% during the year ended December 31, 2021 due to AUM mix shift.
Other income
Other income increased 78.2% from $3.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $6.3 million in the comparable period in 2021 primarily due to higher fees associated with our European listed products.
Operating Expenses
(
in thousands
)
Year Ended
December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
Compensation and benefits
$ 88,163
$ 74,675
$ 13,488
18.1 %
Fund management and administration(1)
58,912
56,728
2,184
3.8 %
Marketing and advertising
14,090
11,128
2,962
26.6 %
Sales and business development
9,907
10,579
(672 )
(6.4 %)
Contractual gold payments
17,096
16,811
1.7 %
Professional and consulting fees
7,616
4,902
2,714
55.4 %
Occupancy, communications and equipment
4,629
6,427
(1,798 )
(28.0 %)
Depreciation and amortization
1,021
(283 )
(27.7 %)
Third-party distribution fees
7,176
5,219
1,957
37.5 %
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
-
(416 )
n/a
Other
6,933
6,924
0.1 %
Total operating expenses
$ 215,260
$ 194,830
$ 20,430
10.5 %
As a Percent of Revenues:
Year Ended
December 31,
Compensation and benefits
28.9 %
29.8 %
Fund management and administration(1)
19.4 %
22.7 %
Marketing and advertising
4.6 %
4.5 %
Sales and business development
3.3 %
4.2 %
Contractual gold payments
5.6 %
6.7 %
Professional and consulting fees
2.5 %
2.0 %
Occupancy, communications and equipment
1.5 %
2.6 %
Depreciation and amortization
0.2 %
0.4 %
Third-party distribution fees
2.4 %
2.1 %
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
n/a
0.2 %
Other
2.3 %
2.8 %
Total operating expenses
70.7 %
78.0 %
(1) Fund management and administration expenses previously reported have been revised due to an immaterial error correction. These revisions had no effect on previously reported net income. See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Compensation and benefits
Compensation and benefits expense increased 18.1% from $74.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $88.2 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to higher incentive compensation and headcount. Headcount was 217 and 241 at December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Fund management and administration
Fund management and administration expense increased 3.8% from $56.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $58.9 million in the comparable period in 2021 primarily due to higher average AUM. We had 67 U.S. listed ETFs and 242 International listed ETPs at December 31, 2020 compared to 75 U.S. listed ETFs and 254 International listed ETPs at December 31, 2021.
Marketing and advertising
Marketing and advertising expense increased 26.6% from $11.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $14.1 million in the comparable period in 2021 as our spending in the prior year was reduced at the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Sales and business development
Sales and business development expense decreased 6.4% from $10.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $9.9 million in the comparable period in 2021 primarily due to lower travel and discretionary spending resulting from the persistence of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Contractual gold payments
Contractual gold payments expense increased 1.7% from $16.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $17.1 million in the comparable period in 2021. This expense was associated with the payment of 9,500 ounces of gold and was calculated using the average daily spot price of $1,770 and $1,800 per ounce during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Professional and consulting fees
Professional and consulting fees increased 55.4% from $4.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $7.6 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to spending related to our digital assets initiative.
Occupancy, communications and equipment
Occupancy, communications and equipment expense decreased 28.0% from $6.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $4.6 million in the comparable period in 2021 as we exited our New York office and reduced our office footprint in Europe.
Depreciation and amortization
Depreciation and amortization expense decreased 27.7% from $1.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $0.7 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to the write-off
of fixed assets related to the exit of our New York office.
Third-party distribution fees
Third-party distribution fees increased 37.5% from $5.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $7.2 million in the comparable period in 2021 primarily due to higher AUM in Latin America resulting in higher fees paid to our third-party marketing agent, as well as additional platform relationships.
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
Acquisition and disposition-related costs of $0.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 arose in connection with the sale of our Canadian ETF business which was completed in February 2020.
Other
Other expenses were essentially unchanged from the year ended December 31, 2021.
Other Income/(Expenses)
Year Ended
December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
(
in thousands
)
Interest expense
$ (12,332 )
$ (9,668 )
$ (2,664 )
27.6 %
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of deferred consideration
2,018
(56,821 )
58,839
n/a
Interest income
2,009
1,265
170.0 %
Impairments
(16,156 )
(22,752 )
6,596
(29.0 %)
Loss on extinguishment of debt
-
(2,387 )
2,387
n/a
Other losses and gains, net
(7,926 )
(8,506 )
n/a
Total other expenses, net
$ (32,387 )
$ (90,304 )
$ 57,917
(64.1 %)
Year Ended
December 31,
As a Percent of Revenues:
Interest expense
(4.1 %)
(3.9 %)
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of deferred consideration
0.7 %
(22.7 %)
Interest income
0.7 %
0.3 %
Impairments
(5.3 %)
(9.1 %)
Loss on extinguishment of debt
-
(1.0 %)
Other losses and gains, net
(2.6 %)
0.2 %
Total other expenses, net
(10.6 %)
(36.1 %)
Interest expense
Interest expense increased 27.6% from $9.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $12.3 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to a higher level of debt outstanding in the current period. Our effective interest rate during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021 was 5.5% and 4.9%, respectively.
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of deferred consideration
We recognized a gain on revaluation of deferred consideration of $2.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to a loss of $56.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. The gain in the current period was due to a decline in spot prices, partly offset by a steepening of the forward-looking gold curve. The magnitude of any gain or loss is highly correlated to the magnitude of the change in the forward-looking price of gold.
Interest income
Interest income increased 170.0% from $0.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $2.0 million in the comparable period in 2021 due to an increase in securities owned.
Impairments
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized impairment charges totaling $16.2 million, including a loss of $9.3 million upon the termination of the lease of our former principal executive office at 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York, $6.6 million related to the write-off
of leasehold improvements and fixed assets associated with our former New York office and $0.3 million upon exiting our London office (See Notes 9, 14 and 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements).
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized non-cash
impairment charges totaling $22.8 million, including $19.7 million related to our former investment in AdvisorEngine Inc., or AdvisorEngine, and $3.1 million related to our investment in Thesys Group, Inc., or Thesys.
Loss on extinguishment of debt
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized a non-cash
loss on extinguishment of debt of $2.4 million arising from the acceleration of debt issuance cost amortization in connection with the termination of our former credit facility.
Other losses and gains, net
Other losses and gains, net were $0.6 million and ($7.9) million during the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively. This includes a charge of $6.0 million and $5.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively, arising from the release of a tax-related
indemnification asset upon the expiration of the statute of limitations. An equal and offsetting benefit has been recognized in income tax expense. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we also recognized losses on our securities owned of $3.8 million, a gain of $0.8 million related to the remeasurement of contingent consideration payable to us from the sale of our former Canadian ETF business and an unrealized gain of $0.4 million on our investment in Securrency. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized a gain of $2.9 million associated with the sale of our Canadian ETF business and a gain of $1.1 million arising from an adjustment to the estimated fair value of consideration received from the exit of our investment in AdvisorEngine.
Gains and losses also generally arise from the sale of gold earned from advisory fees paid by our physically-backed gold ETPs, foreign exchange fluctuations and other miscellaneous items.
Income Taxes
Our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 of 12.1% resulted in income tax expense of $6.9 million. Our effective income tax rate differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to a $5.2 million reduction in unrecognized tax benefits and a lower tax rate on foreign earnings. These items were partly offset by tax shortfalls associated with the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation and non-deductible
executive compensation.
Our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2020 of negative 1.2% resulted in income tax expense of $0.4 million. Our effective income tax rate differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to a non-deductible
loss on revaluation of deferred consideration, a valuation allowance on capital losses and tax shortfalls associated with the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards. These items were partly offset by a tax benefit of $6.0 million recognized in connection with the release of the tax-related
indemnification asset described above, a $2.9 million non-taxable
gain recognized upon sale of our Canadian ETF business in the first quarter, a tax benefit of $2.6 million recognized in connection with the release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance on interest carryforwards arising from our debt previously held in the U.K. and a lower tax rate on foreign earnings.
Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2019
Selected Operating and Financial Information
Year Ended
December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
AUM (in millions)
Average AUM
$ 60,266
$ 59,667
$
1.0 %
Operating Revenues (in thousands)
Advisory fees(1)
$ 246,395
$ 263,777
$ (17,382 )
(6.6 %)
Other income
3,517
2,751
27.8 %
Total revenues
$ 249,912
$ 266,528
$ (16,616 )
(6.2 %)
(1) Advisory fees previously reported have been revised due to an immaterial error correction. These revisions had no effect on previously reported net income. See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Average AUM
Our average AUM increased 1.0% from $59.7 billion at December 31, 2019 to $60.3 billion at December 31, 2020 arising from market appreciation.
Operating Revenues
Advisory fees
Advisory fee revenues decreased 6.6% from $263.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $246.4 million in the comparable period in 2020 due to increase in our average AUM, notwithstanding a 4 basis point decline in our average advisory fee arising from AUM mix shift. Our average advisory fee declined from 0.44% during the year ended December 31, 2019 to 0.40% during the year ended December 31, 2020.
Other income
Other income increased 27.8% from $2.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $3.5 million in the comparable period in 2020 primarily due to higher creation/redemption fees associated with our international listed products.
Operating Expenses
(in thousands)
Year Ended
December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
Compensation and benefits
$ 74,675
$ 80,761
$ (6,086 )
(7.5 %)
Fund management and administration(1)
56,728
59,627
(2,899 )
(4.9 %)
Marketing and advertising
11,128
12,163
(1,035 )
(8.5 %)
Sales and business development
10,579
18,276
(7,697 )
(42.1 %)
Contractual gold payments
16,811
13,226
3,585
27.1 %
Professional and consulting fees
4,902
5,641
(739 )
(13.1 %)
Occupancy, communications and equipment
6,427
6,302
2.0 %
Depreciation and amortization
1,021
1,045
(24 )
(2.3 %)
Third-party distribution fees
5,219
6,968
(1,749 )
(25.1 %)
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
(486 )
(53.9 %)
Other
6,924
8,083
(1,159 )
(14.3 %)
Total operating expenses
$ 194,830
$ 212,994
$ (18,164 )
(8.5 %)
As a Percent of Revenues:
Year Ended
December 31,
Compensation and benefits
29.8 %
30.2 %
Fund management and administration(1)
22.7 %
22.4 %
Marketing and advertising
4.5 %
4.6 %
Sales and business development
4.2 %
6.9 %
Contractual gold payments
6.7 %
5.0 %
Professional and consulting fees
2.0 %
2.1 %
Occupancy, communications and equipment
2.6 %
2.4 %
Depreciation and amortization
0.4 %
0.4 %
Third-party distribution fees
2.1 %
2.6 %
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
0.2 %
0.3 %
Other
2.8 %
3.0 %
Total operating expenses
78.0 %
79.9 %
(1) Fund management and administration expenses previously reported have been revised due to an immaterial error correction. These revisions had no effect on previously reported net income. See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Compensation and benefits
Compensation and benefits expense decreased 7.5% from $80.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $74.7 million in the comparable period in 2020 due to lower incentive compensation accruals as well as $3.5 million of severance expense included in the prior year period. Headcount was 208 and 217 at December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Fund management and administration
Fund management and administration expense decreased 4.9% from $59.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $56.7 million in the comparable period in 2020 due to the sale of our Canadian ETF business in February 2020, partly offset by higher average AUM. We had 80 U.S. listed ETFs and 269 International listed ETPs at December 31, 2019 compared to 67 U.S. listed ETFs and 242 International listed ETPs at December 31, 2020.
Marketing and advertising
Marketing and advertising expense decreased 8.5% from $12.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $11.1 million in the comparable period in 2020 primarily due to lower discretionary spending resulting from the COVID-19
pandemic.
Sales and business development
Sales and business development expense decreased 42.1% from $18.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $10.6 million in the comparable period in 2020 primarily due to lower discretionary spending resulting from the COVID-19
pandemic.
Contractual gold payments
Contractual gold payments expense increased 27.1% from $13.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $16.8 million in the comparable period in 2020. This expense was associated with the payment of 9,500 ounces of gold and was calculated using the average daily spot price of $1,393 and $1,770 per ounce during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Professional and consulting fees
Professional and consulting fees decreased 13.1% from $5.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $4.9 million in the comparable period in 2020 due to lower corporate consulting-related expenses.
Occupancy, communications and equipment
Occupancy, communications and equipment expense was essentially unchanged from the year ended December 31, 2019.
Depreciation and amortization
Depreciation and amortization expense was essentially unchanged from the year ended December 31, 2019.
Third-party distribution fees
Third-party distribution fees decreased 25.1% from $7.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $5.2 million in the comparable period in 2020 primarily due to lower fees for platform relationships.
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
Acquisition and disposition-related costs were $0.9 million and $0.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2020. These were incurred in connection with the integration of ETFS during the year ended December 31, 2019 and costs associated with the sale of our Canadian ETF business, which was completed in February 2020.
Other
Other expenses decreased 14.3% from $8.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $6.9 million in the comparable period in 2020 primarily due to lower office-related and travel expenses as a result of our employees working remotely.
Other Income/(Expenses)
Year Ended December 31,
Change
Percent
Change
(in thousands)
Interest expense
$ (9,668 )
$ (11,240 )
$ 1,572
(14.0 %)
Loss on revaluation of deferred consideration
(56,821 )
(11,293 )
(45,528 )
403.2 %
Interest income
3,332
(2,588 )
(77.7 %)
Impairments
(22,752 )
(30,710 )
7,958
(25.9 %)
Loss on extinguishment of debt
(2,387 )
-
(2,387 )
n/a
Other gains and losses, net
(3,502 )
4,082
n/a
Total other expenses, net
$ (90,304 )
$ (53,413 )
$ (36,891 )
69.1 %
Year Ended December 31,
As a Percent of Revenues:
Interest expense
(3.9 %)
(4.2 %)
Loss on revaluation of deferred consideration
(22.6 %)
(4.2 %)
Interest income
0.3 %
1.3 %
Impairments
(9.1 %)
(11.6 %)
Loss on extinguishment of debt
(1.0 %)
-
Other gains and losses, net
0.2 %
(1.3 %)
Total other expenses, net
(36.1 %)
(20.0 %)
Interest expense
Interest expense decreased 14.0% from $11.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $9.7 million in the comparable period in 2020 due to a lower level of debt outstanding. Our effective interest rate during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020 were 5.3% and 5.5%, respectively.
Loss on revaluation of deferred consideration
We recognized a loss on revaluation of deferred consideration of $11.3 million and $56.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The loss in each period was due to an increase in the forward-looking price of gold when compared to the forward-looking gold curve at the beginning of each respective year. The magnitude of any gain or loss is highly correlated to the magnitude of the change in the forward-looking price of gold. In addition, the loss in the current year also resulted from a reduction in the discount rate used to compute the present value of the annual payment obligations.
Interest income
Interest income decreased 77.7% from $3.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 to $0.7 million in the comparable period in 2020 as paid-in-kind
interest income was accrued in the prior period on our former AdvisorEngine notes receivable.
Impairments
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized non-cash
impairment charges totaling $22.8 million, including $19.7 million related to our former investment in AdvisorEngine, and $3.1 million related to our investment in Thesys (See Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements).
During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recognized non-cash
impairment charges totaling $30.7 million, including $30.1 million to our former investment in AdvisorEngine and $0.6 million in connection with the termination of our Japan office lease.
Loss on extinguishment of debt
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized a non-cash
loss on extinguishment of debt of $2.4 million arising from the acceleration of debt issuance cost amortization in connection with the termination of our former credit facility.
Other gains and losses, net
Other gains and losses, net were ($3.5) million and $0.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively. This includes a charge of $4.3 million and $6.0 million during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively, arising from the release of a tax-related
indemnification asset upon the expiration of the statute of limitations. An equal and offsetting benefit has been recognized in income tax expense. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized a gain of $2.9 million associated with the sale of our Canadian ETF business and a gain of $1.1 million arising from an adjustment to the estimated fair value of consideration received from the exit of our investment in AdvisorEngine. The year ended December 31, 2019 also includes a gain of $0.4 million from the recognition of the foreign currency translation adjustment upon the liquidation of our Japan business.
Gains and losses also generally arise from the sale of gold earned from advisory fees paid by our physically-backed gold ETPs, foreign exchange fluctuations, securities owned and other miscellaneous items.
Income Taxes
Our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2020 of negative 1.2% resulted in income tax expense of $0.4 million. Our effective income tax rate differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to a non-deductible
loss on revaluation of deferred consideration, a valuation allowance on capital losses and tax shortfalls associated with the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards. These items were partly offset by a tax benefit of $6.0 million recognized in connection with the release of the tax-related
indemnification asset described above, a $2.9 million non-taxable
gain recognized upon sale of our Canadian ETF business in the first quarter, a tax benefit of $2.6 million recognized in connection with the release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance on interest carryforwards arising from our debt previously held in the U.K. and a lower tax rate on foreign earnings.
Our effective income tax rate during the year ended December 31, 2019 was not meaningful as our income before income taxes was $0.1 million. Our effective income tax rate differs from the federal statutory tax rate of 21% primarily due to a valuation allowance on capital losses and foreign net operating losses, a non-deductible
loss on revaluation of deferred consideration, non-deductible
executive compensation, state and local income taxes and tax shortfalls associated with the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards, partly offset by a $4.3 million reduction in unrecognized tax benefits and a lower tax rate on foreign earnings.
Quarterly Results
The following tables set forth our unaudited consolidated quarterly statement of operations data, both in dollar amounts and as a percentage of total revenues, and our unaudited consolidated quarterly operating data for the quarters in 2021 and 2020. In our opinion, this unaudited information has been prepared on substantially the same basis as the consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Report and includes all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair statement of the unaudited consolidated quarterly data. The unaudited consolidated quarterly data should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Report. The results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of results for any future period, and you should not rely on them as such.
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Q4/21
Q3/21
Q2/21
Q1/21
Q4/20
Q3/20
Q2/20
Q1/20
Operating Revenues:
Advisory fees(1)
$ 77,441
$ 76,400
$ 74,169
$ 70,042
$ 64,697
$ 63,028
$ 56,394
$ 62,276
Other income
1,734
1,712
1,606
1,214
Total revenues
79,175
78,112
75,775
71,256
65,651
63,749
57,312
63,200
Operating Expenses:
Compensation and benefits
23,178
22,027
20,331
22,627
20,827
19,098
17,455
17,295
Fund management and administration(1)
15,417
15,181
14,367
13,947
14,942
14,328
13,647
13,810
Marketing and advertising
4,565
2,925
3,594
3,006
3,715
2,996
1,949
2,468
Sales and business development
2,668
2,935
2,159
2,145
2,595
2,386
2,181
3,417
Contractual gold payments
4,262
4,250
4,314
4,270
4,449
4,539
4,063
3,760
Professional and consulting fees
2,099
1,583
1,921
2,013
1,322
1,357
1,273
Occupancy, communications and equipment
1,163
1,266
1,475
1,622
1,611
1,643
1,551
Depreciation and amortization
Third-party distribution fees
1,830
1,873
2,130
1,343
1,291
1,233
1,340
1,355
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
-
-
-
-
-
-
Other
1,823
1,787
1,752
1,571
1,720
1,611
1,596
1,997
Total operating expenses
56,612
53,909
52,090
52,649
52,744
49,005
45,515
47,565
Operating income
22,563
24,203
23,685
18,607
12,907
14,744
11,797
15,634
Other Income/(Expenses):
Interest expense
(3,740 )
(3,729 )
(2,567 )
(2,296 )
(2,694 )
(2,511 )
(2,044 )
(2,419 )
(Loss)/gain on revaluation of deferred consideration
(3,048 )
1,737
2,832
(22,385 )
(8,870 )
(23,358 )
(2,208 )
Interest income
Impairments
-
(15,853 )
-
(303 )
-
(3,080 )
-
(19,672 )
Loss on extinguishment of debt
-
-
-
-
-
-
(2,387 )
-
Other losses and gains, net
(1,368 )
(714 )
(5,893 )
1,819
(2,507 )
Income/(loss) before income taxes
15,271
6,333
21,889
13,178
(11,297 )
1,138
(14,054 )
(11,009 )
Income tax expense/(benefit)
4,084
4,259
(1,969 )
2,200
1,408
(804 )
(2,371 )
Net income/(loss)
$ 11,187
$ 5,833
$ 17,630
$ 15,147
($ 13,497 )
($ )
($ 13,250 )
($ 8,638 )
Earnings/(loss) per share - basic
$ 0.07
$ 0.04
$ 0.11
$ 0.09
($0.10 )
($0.01 )
($0.09 )
($0.06 )
Earnings/(loss) per share - diluted
$ 0.07
$ 0.04
$ 0.11
$ 0.09
($0.10 )
($0.01 )
($0.09 )
($0.06 )
Dividends per common share
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
$ 0.03
(1) Advisory fees and fund management and administration expenses previously reported have been revised due to an immaterial error correction. These revisions had no effect on previously reported net income. See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Q4/21
Q3/21
Q2/21
Q1/21
Q4/20
Q3/20
Q2/20
Q1/20
Percent of Revenues
Operating Revenues
Advisory fees
97.8 %
97.8 %
97.9 %
98.3 %
98.5 %
98.9 %
98.4 %
98.5 %
Other income
2.2 %
2.2 %
2.1 %
1.7 %
1.5 %
1.1 %
1.6 %
1.5 %
Total revenues
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
100.0 %
Operating Expenses
Compensation and benefits
29.2 %
28.2 %
26.9 %
31.7 %
31.6 %
30.0 %
30.4 %
27.4 %
Fund management and administration
19.4 %
19.5 %
19.0 %
19.6 %
22.7 %
22.6 %
23.8 %
21.9 %
Marketing and advertising
5.8 %
3.7 %
4.7 %
4.2 %
5.7 %
4.7 %
3.4 %
3.9 %
Sales and business development
3.4 %
3.8 %
2.8 %
3.0 %
4.0 %
3.7 %
3.8 %
5.4 %
Contractual gold payments
5.4 %
5.4 %
5.7 %
6.0 %
6.8 %
7.1 %
7.1 %
5.9 %
Professional and consulting fees
2.7 %
2.0 %
2.5 %
2.8 %
2.0 %
1.5 %
2.4 %
2.0 %
Occupancy, communications and equipment
0.9 %
1.5 %
1.7 %
2.1 %
2.5 %
2.5 %
2.9 %
2.5 %
Depreciation and amortization
0.1 %
0.2 %
0.3 %
0.4 %
0.4 %
0.4 %
0.4 %
0.4 %
Third-party distribution fees
2.3 %
2.4 %
2.8 %
1.9 %
2.0 %
1.9 %
2.3 %
2.1 %
Acquisition and disposition-related costs
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
0.1 %
0.6 %
Other
2.3 %
2.3 %
2.3 %
2.2 %
2.6 %
2.5 %
2.8 %
3.2 %
Total operating expenses
71.5 %
69.0 %
68.7 %
73.9 %
80.3 %
76.9 %
79.4 %
75.3 %
Operating income
28.5 %
31.0 %
31.3 %
26.1 %
19.7 %
23.1 %
20.6 %
24.7 %
Other Income/(Expenses)
Interest expense
(4.8 %)
(4.8 %)
(3.5 %)
(3.2 %)
(4.1 %)
(3.9 %)
(3.6 %)
(3.8 %)
(Loss)/gain on revaluation of deferred consideration
(3.8 %)
2.2 %
0.7 %
4.0 %
(34.1 %)
(14.0 %)
(40.7 %)
(3.5 %)
Interest income
1.1 %
0.9 %
0.3 %
0.3 %
0.5 %
0.2 %
0.2 %
0.3 %
Impairments
n/a
(20.3 %)
n/a
(0.4 %)
n/a
(4.8 %)
n/a
(31.1 %)
Loss on extinguishment of debt
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
(4.2 %)
n/a
Other losses and gains, net
(1.7 %)
(0.9 %)
0.1 %
(8.3 %)
0.8 %
1.2 %
3.2 %
(4.0 %)
Income/(loss) before income taxes
19.3 %
8.1 %
28.9 %
18.5 %
(17.2 %)
1.8 %
(24.5 %)
(17.4 %)
Income tax expense/(benefit)
5.2 %
0.6 %
5.6 %
(2.8 %)
3.4 %
2.2 %
(1.4 %)
(3.7 %)
Net income/(loss)
14.1 %
7.5 %
23.3
21.3 %
(20.6 %)
(0.4 %)
(23.1 %)
(13.7 %)
Q4/21
Q3/21
Q2/21
Q1/21
Q4/20
Q3/20
Q2/20
Q1/20
Operating Statistics
GLOBAL ETPs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 72,780
$ 73,941
$ 69,532
$ 67,383
$ 60,707
$ 57,616
$ 50,302
$ 63,532
Assets sold
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(778 )
Inflows/(outflows)
1,902
1,279
(485 )
(547 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
2,811
(1,709 )
3,482
5,795
3,622
7,481
(11,885 )
Fund closures
(15 )
-
(4 )
-
-
(46 )
(296 )
(20 )
End of period assets
$ 77,478
$ 72,780
$ 73,941
$ 69,532
$ 67,383
$ 60,707
$ 57,616
$ 50,302
Average assets during the period
$ 75,990
$ 74,556
$ 73,621
$ 69,575
$ 64,053
$ 61,188
$ 55,705
$ 60,117
Average advisory fee during the period
0.40 %
0.41 %
0.40 %
0.41 %
0.40 %
0.41 %
0.41 %
0.42 %
Number of ETPs - end of the period
U.S. LISTED ETFs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 44,742
$ 45,129
$ 42,163
$ 38,517
$ 33,310
$ 31,362
$ 28,920
$ 40,600
Inflows/(outflows)
1,865
1,130
1,343
(1,474 )
(1,273 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
1,618
(999 )
1,836
2,303
4,288
1,373
4,030
(10,397 )
Fund closures
(15 )
-
-
-
-
-
(114 )
(10 )
End of period assets
$ 48,210
$ 44,742
$ 45,129
$ 42,163
$ 38,517
$ 33,310
$ 31,362
$ 28,920
Average assets during the period
$ 46,943
$ 45,509
$ 44,183
$ 40,706
$ 35,926
$ 33,003
$ 30,652
$ 36,950
Number of ETFs - end of the period
INTERNATIONAL LISTED ETPs
(in millions)
Beginning of period assets
$ 28,038
$ 28,812
$ 27,369
$ 28,866
$ 27,397
$ 26,254
$ 21,382
$ 22,932
Assets sold
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(778 )
Inflows/(outflows)
(64 )
(199 )
(64 )
(38 )
(1,060 )
1,603
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
1,193
(710 )
1,646
(1,433 )
1,507
2,249
3,451
(1,488 )
Fund closures
-
-
(4 )
-
-
(46 )
(182 )
(10 )
End of period assets
$ 29,268
$ 28,038
$ 28,812
$ 27,369
$ 28,866
$ 27,397
$ 26,254
$ 21,382
Average assets during the period
$ 29,047
$ 29,047
$ 29,438
$ 28,869
$ 28,127
$ 28,185
$ 25,053
$ 23,167
Number of ETPs - end of the period
PRODUCT CATEGORIES
Commodity & Currency
Beginning of period assets
$ 23,826
$ 24,772
$ 23,657
$ 25,880
$ 25,177
$ 24,246
$ 19,819
$ 20,073
Inflows/(outflows)
(251 )
(249 )
(318 )
(660 )
(296 )
(1,112 )
1,302
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
1,023
(697 )
1,433
(1,563 )
2,043
3,125
(831 )
End of period assets
$ 24,598
$ 23,826
$ 24,772
$ 23,657
$ 25,880
$ 25,177
$ 24,246
$ 19,819
Average assets during the period
$ 24,422
$ 24,853
$ 25,549
$ 25,289
$ 25,596
$ 25,938
$ 23,016
$ 20,399
U.S. Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 21,383
$ 21,285
$ 20,018
$ 18,367
$ 15,612
$ 13,997
$ 12,151
$ 17,732
Inflows/(outflows)
(242 )
(285 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
1,694
(253 )
1,077
1,433
2,360
2,088
(5,296 )
End of period assets
$ 23,860
$ 21,383
$ 21,285
$ 20,018
$ 18,367
$ 15,612
$ 13,997
$ 12,151
Average assets during the period
$ 22,963
$ 21,794
$ 20,982
$ 19,320
$ 17,070
$ 15,160
$ 13,325
$ 16,018
International Developed Market Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 11,178
$ 10,790
$ 9,988
$ 9,406
$ 8,618
$ 8,841
$ 8,663
$ 13,018
Inflows/(outflows)
(191 )
(586 )
(965 )
(1,101 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(16 )
1,143
(3,254 )
End of period assets
$ 11,894
$ 11,178
$ 10,790
$ 9,988
$ 9,406
$ 8,618
$ 8,841
$ 8,663
Average assets during the period
$ 11,523
$ 11,144
$ 10,524
$ 9,790
$ 8,927
$ 8,833
$ 8,784
$ 11,457
Emerging Market Equity
Beginning of period assets
$ 10,666
$ 11,519
$ 10,477
$ 8,539
$ 5,979
$ 5,413
$ 4,600
$ 6,400
Inflows/(outflows)
(3 )
(149 )
1,662
1,399
(25 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(288 )
(704 )
1,161
(1,869 )
End of period assets
$ 10,375
$ 10,666
$ 11,519
$ 10,477
$ 8,539
$ 5,979
$ 5,413
$ 4,600
Average assets during the period
$ 10,550
$ 11,038
$ 11,012
$ 9,875
$ 7,250
$ 5,917
$ 5,131
$ 5,919
Q4/21
Q3/21
Q2/21
Q1/21
Q4/20
Q3/20
Q2/20
Q1/20
Fixed Income
Beginning of period assets
$ 3,529
$ 3,440
$ 3,245
$ 3,308
$ 3,605
$ 3,507
$ 3,505
$ 3,565
Inflows/(outflows)
(320 )
(53 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(11 )
(26 )
(73 )
(76 )
End of period assets
$ 4,356
$ 3,529
$ 3,440
$ 3,245
$ 3,308
$ 3,605
$ 3,507
$ 3,505
Average assets during the period
$ 4,118
$ 3,502
$ 3,337
$ 3,236
$ 3,449
$ 3,581
$ 3,500
$ 3,630
Leveraged & Inverse
Beginning of period assets
$ 1,666
$ 1,693
$ 1,521
$ 1,477
$ 1,423
$ 1,344
$
$ 1,133
Inflows/(outflows)
(2 )
(5 )
(125 )
(10 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(69 )
(325 )
End of period assets
$ 1,777
$ 1,666
$ 1,693
$ 1,521
$ 1,477
$ 1,423
$ 1,344
$
Average assets during the period
$ 1,764
$ 1,717
$ 1,666
$ 1,556
$ 1,429
$ 1,476
$ 1,161
$ 1,140
Cryptocurrency
Beginning of period assets
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Inflows/(outflows)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(156 )
(1 )
End of period assets
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Average assets during the period
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Alternatives
Beginning of period assets
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Inflows/(outflows)
(39 )
-
(26 )
(4 )
(29 )
(66 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
(17 )
(48 )
End of period assets
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Average assets during the period
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Closed ETPs
Beginning of period assets
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$ 1,252
Assets sold
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(778 )
Inflows/(outflows)
-
-
(6 )
(3 )
(18 )
(169 )
Market appreciation/(depreciation)
-
-
(3 )
(4 )
(185 )
Fund closures
(15 )
-
(4 )
-
-
(46 )
(296 )
(20 )
End of period assets
$ -
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Average assets during the period
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$ 1,224
Headcount
Note: Previously issued statistics may be restated due to fund closures and trade adjustments
Source: WisdomTree
Non-GAAP
Financial Measurements
In an effort to provide additional information regarding our results as determined by GAAP, we also disclose certain non-GAAP
information which we believe provides useful and meaningful information. Our management reviews these non-GAAP
financial measurements when evaluating our financial performance and results of operations; therefore, we believe it is useful to provide information with respect to these non-GAAP
measurements so as to share this perspective of management. Non-GAAP
measurements do not have any standardized meaning, do not replace nor are superior to GAAP financial measurements and are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. These non-GAAP
financial measurements should be considered in the context with our GAAP results. The non-GAAP
financial measurements contained in this Report include:
•
Adjusted
net income and diluted earnings per share.
We disclose adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share as non-GAAP
financial measurements in order to report our results exclusive of items that are non-recurring
or not core to our operating business. We believe presenting these non-GAAP
financial measures provides investors with a consistent way to analyze our performance. These non-GAAP
financial measures exclude the following:
•
Unrealized gains or losses on the revaluation of deferred consideration
: Deferred consideration is an obligation we assumed in connection with the ETFS Acquisition that is carried at fair value. This item represents the present value of an obligation to pay fixed ounces of gold into perpetuity and is measured using forward-looking gold prices. Changes in the forward-looking price of gold and changes in the discount rate used to compute the present value of the annual payment obligations may have
a material impact on the carrying value of the deferred consideration and our reported financial results. We exclude this item when arriving at adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share as it is not core to our operating business. The item is not adjusted for income taxes as the obligation was assumed by a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours that is based in Jersey, a jurisdiction where we are subject to a zero percent tax rate.
•
Gains or losses on securities owned
: We account for our securities owned as trading securities, which requires these instruments to be measured at fair value with gains and losses reported in net income. In the third quarter of 2021, we began excluding these items when calculating our non-GAAP
financial measurements as these securities have become a more meaningful percentage of total assets and the gains and losses introduce volatility in earnings and are not core to our operating business.
•
Tax shortfalls and windfalls upon vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards
: GAAP requires the recognition of tax windfalls and shortfalls within income tax expense. These items arise upon the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards and the magnitude is directly correlated to the number of awards vesting/exercised as well as the difference between the price of our stock on the date the award was granted and the date the award vested or was exercised. We exclude these items when determining adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share as they introduce volatility in earnings and are not core to our operating business.
•
Other items
: Unrealized gains recognized on our investment in Securrency, impairment charges, interest expense from the amortization of discount arising from the bifurcation of the conversion option embedded in the Convertible Notes (prior to January 1, 2021, the effective date of Accounting Standards Update 2020-06,
Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options, Cash Conversion)
, a loss on extinguishment of debt, the release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance recognized on interest carryforwards arising from our debt previously outstanding in the U.K., a gain arising from an adjustment to the estimated fair value of consideration received from the exit of our investment in AdvisorEngine, a gain recognized upon the sale of our Canadian ETF business (including the remeasurement of contingent consideration), acquisition and disposition-related costs and severance expenses are excluded when calculating our non-GAAP
financial measurements.
Years Ended
Dec. 31,
Dec. 31,
Dec. 31,
Adjusted Net Income and Diluted Earnings per Share
:
Net income/(loss), as reported
$ 49,797
$ (35,655 )
$ (10,425 )
(Deduct)/add back: (Gain)/loss on revaluation of deferred consideration
(2,018 )
56,821
11,293
Add back: Impairments, net of income taxes
12,247
21,998
30,710
Deduct: Gain recognized from the sale of Canadian ETF business, including remeasurement of contingent consideration
(787 )
(2,877 )
-
Add back: Unrealized loss on securities owned, at fair value, net of income taxes
2,507
-
-
Deduct: Unrealized gain recognized on investment in Securrency, net of income taxes
(284 )
-
-
Add back/(deduct): Tax (windfalls)/shortfalls upon vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards
(110 )
1,219
Deduct: Release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance recognized on interest carryforwards arising from debt previously outstanding in the U.K.
-
(2,615 )
-
Add back: Loss on extinguishment of debt, net of income taxes
-
1,910
Deduct: Gain arising from an adjustment to the estimated fair value of consideration received from the exit of investment in AdvisorEngine
-
(1,093 )
-
Add back: Interest expense from the amortization of discount arising from the bifurcation of the conversion option embedded in the Convertible Notes, net of income taxes
-
-
Add back: Acquisition and disposition-related costs, net of income taxes
-
Add back: Severance expense, net of income taxes
-
-
2,715
Adjusted net income
$ 61,352
$ 40,205
$ 36,299
Deduct: Income distributed to participating securities
(2,168 )
(2,216 )
(2,163 )
Deduct: Undistributed income allocable to participating securities
(4,630 )
(2,214 )
(1,679 )
Adjusted net income available to common stockholders
$ 54,554
$ 35,775
$ 32,457
Weighted average diluted shares, excluding participating securities (See Note 21 to our Consolidated Financial Statements)
145,055
148,688
151,975
Adjusted earnings per share - diluted
$ 0.38
$ 0.24
$ 0.21
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The following table summarizes key data regarding our liquidity, capital resources and use of capital to fund our operations:
December 31,
December 31,
Balance Sheet Data (in thousands)
:
Cash and cash equivalents
$ 140,709
$ 73,425
Securities owned, at fair value
127,166
34,895
Accounts receivable
31,864
29,455
Securities held-to-maturity
Total: Liquid assets
300,047
138,226
Less: Total current liabilities
(83,667 )
(73,999 )
Less: Regulatory capital requirement - certain international subsidiaries
(12,320 )
(10,745 )
Total: Available liquidity
$ 204,060
$ 53,482
Year Ended December 31,
Cash Flow Data (in thousands)
:
Operating cash flows
$ 75,318
$ 47,136
$ 57,488
Investing cash flows
(99,632 )
10,641
(17,661 )
Financing cash flows
92,553
(60,179 )
(43,566 )
Foreign exchange rate effect
(955 )
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
$ 67,284
$ (1,547 )
$ (2,812 )
Liquidity
We consider our available liquidity to be our liquid assets, less our current liabilities and regulatory capital requirements of certain international subsidiaries. Liquid assets consist of cash and cash equivalents, securities owned, at fair value, accounts receivable and securities held-to-maturity.
Our securities owned, at fair value are highly liquid investments. Accounts receivable are current assets and primarily represent receivables from advisory fees we earn from our ETPs. Our current liabilities consist primarily of payments owed to vendors and third parties in the normal course of business, deferred consideration and accrued incentive compensation for employees.
Cash and cash equivalents increased $67.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 due to $150.0 million of proceeds from the issuance of Convertible Notes, $75.3 million of net cash provided by operating activities, $19.4 million of proceeds from the sale of securities owned, at fair value and $2.4 million of proceeds from the receipt of contingent consideration from the sale of our Canadian ETF business. These increases were partly offset by $115.5 million used to purchase securities owned, at fair value, $34.5 million used to repurchase our common stock, $19.5 million used to pay dividends on our common stock, $5.8 million used to purchase investments, $4.3 million used to pay Convertible Notes issuance costs and $0.2 million from other activities.
Cash and cash equivalents decreased $1.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 due to $179.0 million used to repay our debt, $36.4 million used to purchase securities owned, at fair value, $31.2 million used to repurchase our common stock, $20.1 million used to pay dividends on our common stock and $5.4 million used to pay Convertible Notes issuance costs. These decreases were partly offset by $175.3 million of proceeds from the issuance of Convertible Notes, $47.1 million of net cash provided by operating activities, $18.7 million of proceeds from the sale of securities owned, at fair value, $16.5 million of proceeds from held-to-maturity
securities maturing or called prior to maturity, $9.6 million of proceeds from the sale of our financial interests in AdvisorEngine, $2.8 million of net proceeds from the sale of our Canadian ETF business and $0.6 million from other activities.
Cash and cash equivalents decreased $2.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2019 due to $22.5 million used to purchase securities owned, at fair value, $21.0 million used to partially repay our debt, $20.4 million used to pay dividends on our common stock, $8.1 million used to purchase investments, $2.3 million used to repurchase our common stock and $2.1 million used to fund notes receivable. These decreases were partly offset by net cash provided by operating activities of $57.5 million, $11.9 million of proceeds from the sale of securities owned, at fair value, $3.2 million from held-to-maturity
securities called or maturing during the period and $1.0 million from other activities.
Issuance of Convertible Notes
On June 14, 2021, we issued and sold $150.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 3.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 (the “2021 Notes”) pursuant to an indenture dated June 14, 2021, between us and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Rule 144A”).
On June 16, 2020, we issued and sold $150.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the “June 2020 Notes”) pursuant to an indenture dated June 16, 2020, between us and the trustee, in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A. On August 13, 2020, we issued and sold $25.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus interest deemed to have accrued since June 16, 2020, which constitute a further issuance of, and form a single series with, our June 2020 Notes (the “August 2020 Notes” and together with the June 2020 Notes, the “2020 Notes”).
After the issuance of the 2021 Notes (and together with the 2020 Notes, the “Convertible Notes”), we had $325.0 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes outstanding.
Key terms of the Convertible Notes are as follows:
2021 Notes
2020 Notes
Maturity date (unless earlier converted, repurchased or redeemed)
June 15, 2026
June 15, 2023
Interest rate
3.25%
4.25%
Conversion price
$11.04
$5.92
Conversion rate
90.5797
168.9189
Redemption price
$14.35
$7.70
•
Interest rate
: Payable semiannually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year.
•
Conversion price
: Convertible at an initial conversion rate of our common stock, per $1,000 principal amount of notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price set forth in the table above).
•
Conversion
:
Holders may convert at their option at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding March 15, 2026 and March 15, 2023 in respect of the 2021 Notes and 2020 Notes, respectively, only under the following circumstances: (i) if the last reported sale price of our common stock for at least 20 trading days during a period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the immediately preceding calendar quarter is greater than or equal to 130% of the conversion price on each applicable trading day; (ii) during the five business day period after any ten consecutive trading day period (the “measurement period”) in which the trading price per $1,000 principal amount of the Convertible Notes for each trading day of the measurement period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sales price of our common stock and the conversion rate on each such trading day; (iii) upon a notice of redemption delivered by us in accordance with the terms of the indentures but only with respect to the Convertible Notes called (or deemed called) for redemption; or (iv) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events. On or after March 15, 2026 and March 15, 2023 in respect of the 2021 Notes and 2020 Notes, respectively, until the close of business on the second scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date, holders may convert their Convertible Notes at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances.
•
Cash settlement of principal amount
: Upon conversion, we will pay cash up to the aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be converted. At our election, we will also settle our conversion obligation in excess of the aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes being converted in either cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock.
•
Redemption price
: We may redeem for cash all or any portion of the notes, at our option, on or after June 20, 2026 and June 20, 2023 in respect of the 2021 Notes and 2020 Notes, respectively, and on or prior to the 55th
scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date, if the last reported sale price of our common stock has been at least 130% of the conversion price then in effect for at least 20 trading days, including the trading day immediately preceding the date on which we provide notice of redemption, during any 30 consecutive trading day period ending on, and including, the trading day immediately preceding the date on which we provide notice of redemption, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding the redemption date. No sinking fund is provided for the Convertible Notes.
•
Limited investor put rights
: Holders of the Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase for cash all or a portion of their notes at 100% of their principal amount, plus any accrued and unpaid interest, upon the occurrence of certain change of control transactions or liquidation, dissolution or common stock delisting events.
•
Conversion rate increase in certain customary circumstances
: In certain circumstances, conversions in connection with a “make-whole fundamental change” (as defined in the indentures) or conversions of Convertible Notes called (or deemed called) for redemption may result in an increase to the conversion rate, provided that the conversion rate will not exceed 144.9275 shares and 270.2702 shares of our common stock per $1,000 principal amount of the 2021 Notes and 2020 Notes, respectively (the equivalent of 69,036,410 shares of our common stock), subject to adjustment.
•
Seniority and Security
: The 2021 Notes and 2020 Notes rank equal in right of payment, and are our senior unsecured obligations, but are subordinated in right of payment to our obligations to make certain redemption payments (if and when due) in respect of its Series A Non-Voting
Convertible Preferred Stock (See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements).
The indentures contain customary terms and covenants, including that upon certain events of default occurring and continuing, either the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Notes outstanding may declare the entire principal amount of all the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus any accrued special interest, if any, to be immediately due and payable.
Capital Resources
Our principal source of financing is our operating cash flow. We believe that current cash flows generated by our operating activities and existing cash balances should be sufficient for us to fund our operations for the foreseeable future.
Our ability to satisfy our contractual obligations as they arise are discussed in the section titled “Contractual Obligations” below.
Use of Capital
Our business does not require us to maintain a significant cash position. However, certain of our international subsidiaries are required to maintain a minimum level of regulatory capital, which at December 31, 2021 was approximately $12.3 million in the aggregate. Notwithstanding these regulatory capital requirements, we expect that our main uses of cash will be to fund the ongoing operations of our business. We also maintain a capital return program which includes a $0.03 per share quarterly cash dividend and authority to purchase our common stock through April 27, 2025, including purchases to offset future equity grants made under our equity plans.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we repurchased 5,120,496 shares of our common stock under the repurchase program for an aggregate cost of 34.5 million. Currently, $17.7 million remains under this program for future purchases.
Contractual Obligations
Convertible Notes
At December 31, 2021, we had $325.0 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes outstanding, of which $175.0 million are scheduled to mature on June 15, 2023 and $150.0 million are scheduled to mature on June 15, 2026, unless earlier converted, repurchased or redeemed. Conditional conversions or a requirement to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change may accelerate payment.
The Convertible Notes require cash settlement of the principal amount, while settlement of the conversion obligation in excess of the aggregate principal amount may be satisfied in either cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock. We currently anticipate refinancing these obligations when due.
See the section titled “Issuance of Convertible Notes” above for additional information.
Deferred Consideration - Gold Payments
Deferred consideration represents an obligation we assumed in April 2018 in connection with our acquisition of the European exchange-traded commodity, currency and leveraged and inverse business of ETFS Capital. The obligation is for fixed payments to ETFS Capital of physical gold bullion equating to 9,500 ounces of gold per year through March 31, 2058 and then subsequently reduced to 6,333 ounces of gold continuing into perpetuity (“Contractual Gold Payments”). The present value of the deferred consideration was $228.0 million at December 31, 2021.
The Contractual Gold Payments are paid from advisory fee income generated by any of our sponsored financial products backed by physical gold with no recourse back to us for any unpaid amounts that exceed advisory fees earned.
See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Operating Leases
Total future minimum lease payments with respect to our operating lease liabilities were $0.6 million at December 31, 2021.
Cash flows generated by our operating activities and existing cash balances should be sufficient to satisfy the future minimum lease payments.
See Note 14 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Off-Balance
Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any off-balance
sheet financing or other arrangements and have neither created nor are party to any special-purpose or off-balance
sheet entities for the purpose of raising capital, incurring debt or operating our business.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
Goodwill is the excess of the purchase price over the fair values of the identifiable net assets at the acquisition date. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually and at the time of a triggering event requiring re-evaluation,
if one were to occur. Goodwill is considered impaired when the estimated fair value of the reporting unit that was allocated the goodwill is less than its carrying value. If the estimated fair value of such reporting unit is less than its carrying value, goodwill impairment is recognized based on that difference, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. A reporting unit is an operating segment or a component of an operating segment provided that the component constitutes a business for which discrete financial information is available and management regularly reviews the operating results of that component.
Goodwill is allocated to our U.S. Business and European Business components. For impairment testing purposes, these components are aggregated as a single reporting unit as they fall under the same operating segment and have similar economic characteristics
Goodwill is assessed for impairment annually on November 30th
. When performing our goodwill impairment test, we consider a qualitative assessment, when appropriate, and the market approach and its market capitalization when determining the fair value of the reporting unit. The results of our analysis indicated no impairment based upon a quantitative assessment.
Indefinite-lived intangible assets are tested for impairment at least annually and are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are impaired if their estimated fair value is less than their carrying value. We may rely on a qualitative assessment when performing our intangible asset impairment test. Otherwise, the impairment evaluation is performed at the lowest level of reasonably identifiable cash flows independent of other assets. The annual impairment testing date for our intangible assets is November 30th
. The results of our analysis identified no indicators of impairment to be recognized based upon a quantitative assessment (discounted cash flow analysis) which relied upon significant unobservable inputs including projected revenue growth rates ranging from 3% to 4% (3% weighted average) and a weighted average cost of capital of 9.0%.
Investments
We account for equity investments that do not have a readily determinable fair value under the measurement alternative prescribed within ASU 2016-01,
Financial Instruments - Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities
, to the extent such investments are not subject to consolidation or the equity method. Under the measurement alternative, these financial instruments are carried at cost, less any impairment (assessed quarterly), plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or similar investment of the same issuer. In addition, income is recognized when dividends are received only to the extent they are distributed from net accumulated earnings of the investee. Otherwise, such distributions are considered returns of investment and are recorded as a reduction of the cost of the investment. See Note 8 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding a gain of $0.4 million recognized on our investment in Securrency during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Deferred Consideration - Gold Payments
Deferred consideration represents the present value of an obligation to pay gold to a third party into perpetuity and is measured using forward-looking gold prices observed on the CMX exchange, a selected discount rate and perpetual growth rate. The weighted average forward-looking gold price per ounce, discount rate and perpetual growth rate were $2,106, 9.0% and 1.0%, respectively, at December 31, 2021. Changes in the fair value of this obligation are reported as gain/(loss) on revaluation of deferred consideration - gold payments on our Consolidated Statements of Operations.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we reported a gain on deferred consideration - gold payments of $2.0 million. A 1.0% increase in the weighted average forward-looking gold price per ounce would have reduced this reported gain by $1.8 million, a 1 percentage point increase in the discount rate would have increased this reported gain by $23.1 million and a 1 percentage point increase in the perpetual growth rate would have reduced this reported gain by $20.1 million. See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Revenue Recognition
We earn substantially all of our revenue in the form of advisory fees from our ETPs and recognize this revenue over time, as the performance obligation is satisfied. Advisory fees are based on a percentage of the ETPs’ average daily net assets. Progress is measured using the practical expedient under the output method resulting in the recognition of revenue in the amount for which we have a right to invoice.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
On January 1, 2021, we early adopted ASU 2020-06,
Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options
(ASU 2020-06)
under the modified retrospective approach. Under the ASU, the accounting for convertible instruments was simplified by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. Accordingly, more convertible instruments are reported as a single liability or equity with no separate accounting for embedded conversion features. Certain settlement conditions that are required for equity contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception are removed and, as a result, more equity contracts will qualify for the scope exception. The ASU also simplifies the diluted earnings-per-share
calculation in certain areas. Upon the adoption of this ASU, we reclassified the equity component related to the Convertible Notes, net of deferred taxes, reducing accumulated deficit by $0.6 million, increasing the carrying value of the Convertible Notes by $4.1 million, reducing additional paid-in
capital by $3.7 million and reducing deferred tax liabilities by $1.0 million. These updates also reduced interest expense recognized on our Convertible Notes by approximately $0.4 million per quarter. See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
On January 1, 2021, we adopted ASU 2019-12,
Income Taxes (Topic 740) - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes
(ASU 2019-12).
The main objective of the standard is to reduce complexity in the accounting for income taxes by removing the following exceptions: (1) exception to the incremental approach for intraperiod tax allocation when there is a loss from continuing operations and income or a gain from other items (for example, discontinued operations or other comprehensive income); (2) exception to the requirement to recognize a deferred tax liability for equity method investments when a foreign subsidiary becomes an equity method investment; (3) exception to the ability not to recognize a deferred tax liability for a foreign subsidiary when a foreign equity method investment becomes a subsidiary; and (4) exception to the general methodology for calculating income taxes in an interim period when a year-to-date
loss exceeds the anticipated loss for the year. The standard also simplifies the accounting for income taxes by enacting the following: (a) requiring that an entity recognize a franchise tax (or similar tax) that is partially based on income as an income-based tax and account for any incremental amount as a non-income-based
tax; (b) requiring that an entity evaluate when a step up in the tax basis of goodwill should be considered part of the business combination in which the book goodwill was originally recognized and when it should be considered as a separate transaction; (c) specifying that an entity is not required to allocate the consolidated amount of current and deferred tax expense to a legal entity that is not subject to tax in its separate financial statements; and (d) requiring that an entity reflect the enacted change in tax laws or rates in the annual effective tax rate computation in the interim period that includes the enactment date. We have determined that the adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
The following information, together with information included in other parts of this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, describes key aspects of our market risk.
Market Risk
Market risk to us generally represents the risk of changes in the value of our ETPs that results from fluctuations in securities or commodity prices, foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar, and interest rates. Nearly all our revenues are derived from advisory agreements for the WisdomTree ETPs. Under these agreements, the advisory fee we receive is based on the average market value of the assets in the WisdomTree ETP portfolios we manage.
Fluctuations in the value of the ETPs are common and are generated by numerous factors such as market volatility, the global economy, inflation, changes in investor strategies and sentiment, availability of alternative investment vehicles, domestic and foreign government regulations, emerging markets developments and others. Accordingly, changes in any one or a combination of these factors may reduce the value of investment securities and, in turn, the underlying AUM on which our revenues are earned. These declines may cause investors to withdraw funds from our ETPs in favor of investments that they perceive as offering greater opportunity or lower risk, thereby compounding the impact on our revenues. We believe challenging and volatile market conditions will continue to be present in the foreseeable future.
Interest Rate Risk
We invest our corporate cash in short-term interest earning assets, primarily in WisdomTree fixed income ETFs, federal agency debt instruments, corporate bonds, money market instruments at a commercial bank and other securities which totaled $36.0 million and $138.3 million as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021, respectively. We do not anticipate that changes in interest rates will have a material impact on our financial condition, operating results or cash flows.
In addition, our Convertible Notes bear interest at a fixed rate of 3.25% to 4.25%. Therefore, we have no direct financial statement risk associated with changes in interest rates. However, the fair value of the Convertible Notes changes primarily when the market price of our common stock fluctuates or interest rates change.
Exchange Rate Risk
We are subject to currency translation exposure on the results of our non-U.S.
operations, primarily in the U.K. and Europe. Foreign currency translation risk is the risk that exchange rate gains or losses arise from translating foreign entities’ statements of earnings and balance sheets from functional currency to our reporting currency (the U.S. dollar) for consolidation purposes. The advisory fees earned on our international listed ETPs are predominantly in U.S. dollars (and also paid in gold ounces, as described below); however, expenses for corporate overhead are generally incurred in British pounds. Currently, we do not enter into derivative financial instruments aimed at offsetting certain exposures in the statement of operations or the balance sheet but may seek to do so in the future.
Exchange rate risk associated with the euro is not considered to be significant.
Commodity and Cryptocurrency Price Risk
Fluctuations in the prices of commodities and cryptocurrencies that are linked to certain of our ETPs could have a material adverse effect on our AUM and revenues. In addition, a portion of the advisory fee revenues we receive on our ETPs backed by gold, other precious metals and cryptocurrencies are paid in the underlying metal or cryptocurrency. In addition, we pay gold ounces to satisfy our deferred consideration obligation (See Note 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements). While we readily sell the gold, precious metals and cryptocurrencies that we earn under these advisory contracts, we still may maintain a position. We currently do not enter into arrangements to hedge against fluctuations in the price of these commodities and cryptocurrencies and any hedging we may undertake in the future may not be cost-effective or sufficient to hedge against this exposure.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The report of the independent registered public accounting firm and financial statements listed in the accompanying index are included in Item 15 of this Report. See Index to our Consolidated Financial Statements on page
of this Report.

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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
As of December 31, 2021, our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b)
promulgated under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of December 31, 2021, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level in ensuring that material information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules, regulations and forms of the SEC, including ensuring that such material information is accumulated by and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
During the quarter ended December 31, 2021, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f)
and 15d-15(f)
under the Exchange Act. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, management has conducted an assessment, including testing, using the criteria in Internal Control-Integrated Framework
issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework) (the COSO criteria). Our system of internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Our internal control over financial reporting 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 Company’s assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, 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. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Based on the assessment, management has concluded that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on the COSO criteria.
The effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report, which is included herein.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required by Item 401 of Regulation S-K
regarding directors and officers will be contained in our definitive proxy statement to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end, or in an amendment to this Form 10-K,
and is incorporated herein by reference.
The information required by Item 405 of Regulation S-K
will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.
We have adopted a Code of Conduct that applies to all of our directors, officers and employees, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer. The Code of Conduct is posted on our website at http://ir.wisdomtree.com/corporate-governance
.
We will post any amendments to, or waivers from, a provision of this Code of Conduct by posting such information on our website, at the address and location specified above.
The information required by Item 407(c)(3), (d)(4) and (d)(5) of Regulation S-K
will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by Item 402 and Item 407(e)(4) and (e)(5) of Regulation S-K
will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.

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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 Item 201(d) and Item 403 of Regulation S-K
will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.

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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 Item 404 and Item 407(a) of Regulation S-K
will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
Our independent public accounting firm is Ernst & Young LLP, NewYork, New York, PCAOB Auditor ID 42.
The information required by Item 9(e) of Schedule 14A will be contained in our definitive proxy statement or in an amendment to this Form 10-K
and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS; FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a). The following are filed as part of this Report:
1. Consolidated Financial Statements
: The consolidated financial statements and reports of independent registered public accounting firm required by this item are included beginning on page.
2. Financial Statement Schedules
: None.
All other schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or not required, or because the required information is shown either in the consolidated financial statements or in the notes thereto.
(b). Exhibits: The list of exhibits in the Exhibit Index immediately preceding the exhibits to this Report is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.