EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 877890
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 877890_10-K_2021_0000877890-21-000051.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Business Overview
What We Do
Citrix is an enterprise software company focused on helping organizations deliver a consistent and secure work experience no matter where work needs to get done - in the office, at home, or in the field. We do this by delivering a digital workspace solution that gives each employee the resources and space they need to do their best work. Our Workspace solutions are complemented by our App Delivery and Security (formerly Networking) solutions, by delivering the applications and data employees need across any network with security, reliability and speed.
Citrix believes that work is not a place -work is about business outcomes. We have helped organizations with digital transformation for many years. The challenges and complexities created by the proliferation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based applications and the emergence of hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure environments are now combined with the realities brought upon by the global COVID-19 pandemic-realities such as long-term remote and flexible work models and an increased need for risk mitigation and business continuity.
As a result, we believe organizations are accelerating their cloud and digital transformation plans to better position themselves to address these new challenges and embrace the opportunity that may arise from flexible work models. To do this, organizations may rely on Citrix solutions for business agility, employee productivity, security and compliance, as well as cost and efficiency. Citrix solutions are focused on employee empowerment and are designed to provide end-users with the simplicity of a common user experience while ensuring information technology, or IT, administrators are able to deliver applications and data with the security and controls necessary to protect the enterprise and its customers.
Our Business Transformation
Citrix's business is evolving in three distinct and interrelated ways:
•Perpetual to Subscription: Our business model has shifted away from selling perpetual licenses towards subscription, or recurring contracts in the form of SaaS, on-premise term, and consumption-based agreements;
•On-Premise to Cloud: As the share of applications and data continues to move rapidly from on-premise data centers to the cloud, our product development and engineering resources have increasingly focused on delivering cloud-based solutions; and
•Point Products to Platform: Our offerings and our go-to-market activities are shifting away from selling individual point products towards our platform solution, in a tiered offering that provides us the ability to deliver a variety of value-enhancing modules to our customers in the future.
Citrix was incorporated in Delaware on April 17, 1989.
Proposed Acquisition of Wrike
On January 16, 2021, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike, Inc. (“Wrike”), a leader in the SaaS collaborative work management space, for $2.25 billion in cash. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Citrix and Wrike, is expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. We believe this acquisition will allow us to accelerate our strategy to build on and expand beyond the growing virtualization market by delivering a cloud-based digital workspace experience empowering all employees to securely access, collaborate, and execute work in the most effective way across any work channel, device or location.
Solutions and Services
We offer digital workspace solutions and services that enable companies to deliver a consistent work experience by providing secure and reliable access to the systems and information employees need to do their best work, no matter where work needs to get done - in the office, at home, or in the field. Our offerings empower organizations to accelerate business performance by harnessing technology to enhance employee engagement, boost productivity, and drive innovation.
Workspace
The Citrix Workspace platform encompasses a broad range of features and functionalities that tie together the myriad of applications that reside within enterprises. Citrix Workspace helps employees minimize distractions and focus, enabling them to do their best work, elevating employee productivity and employee engagement, and improving an enterprise’s security profile. Citrix Workspace delivers a unified, secure and intelligent workspace with single sign-on access to all the applications and content employees use in one unified platform. Citrix Workspace enables IT administrators to proactively manage security threats in complex, distributed, hybrid, multi-cloud and multi-device environments, and it empowers IT administrators to deliver applications to end users more securely than operating them natively. Intelligent analytics and user behavior insights are derived to enable enhanced security, management, orchestration, and automation of workspaces and application delivery.
Citrix Workspace comes with ready integrations with widely-used business applications, including Salesforce, Workday, SAP Ariba and SAP Concur, ServiceNow, Microsoft Outlook and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) and is compatible with identity and access management providers, including Okta, Ping, Radius, and GoogleID. Citrix Workspace can be delivered on-premise, running in a customers’ datacenter, or in the cloud. Pricing for the Citrix Workspace platform is tiered based on the level of functionalities provided. Capabilities offered as part of the platform include:
•Citrix Workspace - delivers an intelligent experience that customizes and streamlines user workflows by creating microapps through low-code tooling, enabling organizations to organize, guide and automate work, tasks and functions, and allows end users to perform actions across various applications directly within the Citrix Workspace.
•Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops - gives employees the freedom to work anywhere on any device while cutting IT costs and securely delivering Windows, Linux, Web and SaaS apps, and full virtual desktops. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops offers a choice of deployment options ranging from a turnkey desktop-as-a-service solution running on the Microsoft Azure cloud to a host of premium options running in the cloud, hybrid, or on-premises.
•Citrix Analytics for Security - continuously assesses the behavior of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops users and Citrix Workspace users and applies actions to protect sensitive corporate information. The aggregation and correlation of data across networks, virtualized applications and desktops, and content collaboration tools enables the generation of valuable insights and more focused actions to address user security threats.
•Citrix Analytics for Performance - uses machine learning to quantify user experience, providing end-to-end visibility and enabling capacity planning and proactive response to performance degradation.
•Citrix Content Collaboration - provides a secure, cloud-based file sharing, digital transaction and storage solution built to give users enterprise-class data services across all corporate and personal devices.
•Citrix Endpoint Management - provides unified endpoint management allowing IT administrators to adhere to security and compliance requirements for "bring your own device" programs and corporate devices while enabling user productivity. Centralizes the management of mobile devices, traditional desktops, laptops and Internet of Things, or IoT, through a single platform, directly integrating with Microsoft EMS/Intune to extend mobility and device management capabilities.
•Citrix Secure Workspace Access - provides an end-to-end solution to implement Zero Trust principles (i.e., required verification of all users whether inside or outside of a network), avoiding the gaps left from relying on assorted point solutions. It reduces the attack surface by protecting the user and the apps inside the workspace, where work actually gets done.
•Citrix Secure Internet Access - provides a solution that protects direct internet access for branch and remote workers using unsanctioned apps.
App Delivery and Security
Our App Delivery and Security solutions optimize the performance of Citrix Workspace. They enable organizations to deliver applications and data with security, reliability, and speed. Our App Delivery and Security products can be consumed via perpetual license or under pooled licensing agreements that give customers flexibility to consume in either a hardware form factor or as software, over the term of the agreement. Our App Delivery and Security capabilities include:
•Citrix ADC - an application delivery controller and load balancing solution for web, traditional and cloud-based applications regardless of where they are hosted.
•Citrix SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) - a next-generation WAN Edge solution that delivers flexible, automated, secure connectivity and performance for the workspace.
Customer Success
We offer support and services to help our customers and business partners get more value, achieve their business outcomes, minimize risk, and keep their solutions running at peak performance:
•Customer Success Management (CSM) - available to all customers with a valid SaaS or subscription entitlement. The CSM team, comprised of Customer Success Managers and Customer Success Engineers, guides business and technical outcomes. Through success planning, technical and onboarding guidance, and internal advocacy, the CSM team helps customers accelerate their implementation and maximize the value of their Citrix solutions.
•Customer Success Services - features a choice of tiered offerings combining technical support, product version upgrades, guidance, enablement, and proactive monitoring to help customers and partners fully realize their business goals and maximize their Citrix investments. Additionally, customers may upgrade to receive personalized support from a dedicated team led by an assigned account manager.
•Hardware Maintenance - features a choice of tiered offerings including technical support, software upgrades, and replacement of malfunctioning appliances to keep Citrix hardware running optimally. Premium support services are available as add-ons.
•Citrix Consulting - guides the successful design and implementation of Citrix solutions, removing the barriers to desired business outcomes. Our in-house consultants bring technical expertise with proven methodologies, tools and leading practices to improve adoption and enhance security.
•Product Training & Certification - enables customers and partners to attain self-sufficiency, increase productivity, maximize product capabilities, and advance their career with flexible training options to suit all learners and certifications to validate knowledge and skills.
Customers
Our customers are businesses of all sizes and include the largest enterprises and institutions in the world spanning every major industry vertical, including healthcare, financial services, technology, manufacturing, consumer, and government agencies. Our largest customers are often our longest tenured customers.
Technology Relationships
We have a number of technology relationships in place to accelerate the development of existing and future solutions and our go-to-market initiatives. These relationships include cross-licensing, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), resell, joint reference architectures, and other arrangements that result in better solutions for our customers.
Microsoft
For over 30 years, Citrix and Microsoft have maintained a strategic partnership spanning product development, go-to-market initiatives and partner development, enabling our mutual customers’ secure, high-performance delivery of applications, desktops and data to their employees. Together, Citrix and Microsoft offer solutions and services that aid and accelerate the transition from on-premises IT infrastructure and practices to emerging hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud delivery models for the full breadth of legacy and modern applications.
Citrix and Microsoft provide joint tools and services to simplify and speed the transition of on-premises Citrix customers to Microsoft Azure. The companies have a connected roadmap to enable a consistent and optimal flexible work experience that includes joint solutions sold through their direct sales forces via the Azure Marketplace and a robust community of channel partners.
Google
Citrix and Google Cloud have been strategic partners for over eight years. We offer end-to-end user experience solutions for Citrix Workspace with Google Cloud Platform, Chrome Enterprise, and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), as well as complementary App Delivery and Security. These solutions enable companies to deliver unified access to all of the apps employees need and prefer to use on Google devices and operating systems.
Global System Integrators
We continue to invest in partnerships with Global System Integrators who provide solutions and services that build on Citrix Workspace and Citrix App Delivery and Security solutions to improve employee experience and engagement, including Capgemini, Deloitte, DXC, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, IBM and Wipro. These partnerships help our customers develop effective digital workspace strategies that enable them to deliver a consistent work experience across work channels and locations.
Citrix Ready
We continue to provide an easy way for our customers to locate compatible solutions and our channel partners to evaluate and deploy joint offerings through our Citrix Ready program. The Citrix Ready Program is a technology partner program that helps software and hardware vendors of all types develop and integrate their products with Citrix technology. It includes partners like AWS, Cisco, Google, and Microsoft and hundreds of other technology companies. With work happening on a proliferation of devices, companies have a whole new set of security concerns they must address. To help them do it, we expanded the Citrix Ready Workspace Security Program to include Zero Trust solutions from trusted and verified partners. This expansion will allow companies to simplify the selection of vendors and leverage their existing investments to design a modern security framework that delivers Zero Trust outcomes.
Research and Development
Our research and development efforts focus on developing new functionalities across our solutions, while continuing to invest in purposeful improvements to our core technologies. We solicit extensive feedback concerning product development from customers and through our channel distributors and partners, as well as our alliance partners. We believe that our global software development teams and our core technologies represent a significant competitive advantage for us. As of December 31, 2020, we held a worldwide portfolio of approximately 3,500 patents and had approximately 1,800 additional patent applications pending. We incurred research and development expenses of $538.1 million in 2020, $518.9 million in 2019 and $440.0 million in 2018.
Sales, Marketing and Services
We market and license our solutions through multiple channels worldwide, including selling through resellers, direct and over the Web. Our partner community comprises thousands of value-added resellers, or VARs, known as Citrix Solution Advisors, value-added distributors, or VADs, system integrators, or SIs, independent software vendors, or ISVs, OEMs, and Citrix Service Providers, or CSPs. Distribution channels are managed by our worldwide sales and services organization. Partners receive training and certification opportunities to support our portfolio of solutions and services.
We reward our partners that identify new business, and provide sales expertise, services delivery, customer education, technical implementation and support of our portfolio of solutions through our incentive program. We continue to focus on increasing the productivity of our existing partners, while also adding new transacting partners, building capacity through
targeted recruitment, and introducing programs to increase partner mindshare, limit channel conflict, and increase partner loyalty to us.
As our customers shift workloads to the cloud, we have been cultivating a global base of technology partners within our CSP program. Our CSP program provides subscription-based services in which the CSP partners host software services to their end users. Our CSP partners, consisting of managed service providers, ISVs, Citrix Solution Advisors, hosting providers and telcos, among others, license certain of our offerings on a monthly consumption basis. With our software, these partners then create differentiated offerings of their own, consisting of cloud-hosted applications and cloud-hosted desktops, which they manage for various customers, ranging from SMBs to enterprise IT. Besides supplying technology, we are actively engaged in assisting these partners in developing their hosted businesses either within their respective data centers or leveraging public cloud infrastructure by supplying business and marketing assistance.
Online marketplaces, including Cloud Marketplaces and Cloud Service Brokers have become a strategic channel for customers to streamline the discovery, acquisition, deployment, and operations of services enabling them to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Growth in the use of online marketplaces has been driven by the increased focus on cloud services and the increase in demand for work-at-home, business continuity, and remote access to services and data.
We are present in three key cloud marketplaces, Amazon Web Services ("AWS"), Azure and Google, that enable customers to easily deploy licenses acquired through multiple channels, quickly acquire new services and software, and expand as their needs grow. We provide both public and private options to drive customer and partner success.
Engagement with SIs and ISVs continues to be a substantial part of our strategic roadmap within large enterprise and government markets. Our integrator partnerships include organizations such as DXC, Fujitsu, IBM, Wipro and others, who all deliver consultancy or global offerings powered by the Citrix Workspace. The ISV program maintains a strong representation across targeted industry verticals including healthcare, financial services and telecommunications. Members in the ISV program include Allscripts, Cerner Corporation and Epic Systems Corporation. For all of our channels, we regularly take actions to improve the effectiveness of our partner programs and further strengthen our channel relationships through management of non-performing partners, recruitment of partners with expertise in selling into new markets and forming additional strategic global and national partnerships.
Our corporate marketing organization provides an integrated global approach to sales and industry event support, digital and social marketing, sales enablement tools and collateral, advertising, direct mail, industry analyst relations and public relations coverage to market our solutions. Our efforts in marketing are focused on generating leads for our sales organization and our indirect channels to acquire net new accounts and expand our presence with existing customers, as well as building general brand awareness in the market. Our partner development organization actively supports our partners to improve their commitment and capabilities with Citrix solutions. Our customer sales organization consists of field-based sales engineers and corporate sales professionals who work directly with our largest customers, and coordinate integration services provided by our partners. Additional sales personnel, working in central locations and in the field, provide support including recruitment of prospective partners and technical training with respect to our solutions.
In fiscal year 2020, 2019 and 2018, one distributor accounted for 17%, 15% and 14% respectively, of our total net revenues. The Company's arrangements with the distributor consist of several non-exclusive, independently negotiated agreements with its respective subsidiaries, each of which covers different countries or regions. See “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” and Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for information regarding our revenue recognition policy.
International revenues (sales outside the United States) accounted for 50.5% of our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020, 48.2% of our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2019, and 47.0% of our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2018. For detailed information on our international revenues, please refer to Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Segment Revenue
We operate under one reportable segment. For additional information, see Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Operations
For our cloud-based solutions, we use a combination of co-located hosting facilities and increasingly use Microsoft Azure and AWS as well as other infrastructure-as-a-service providers. For our App Delivery and Security products, we use
independent contractors to provide a redundant source of manufacture and assembly capabilities. Independent contractors provide us with the flexibility needed to meet our product quality and delivery requirements. We have manufacturing relationships that we enter into in the ordinary course of business, primarily with Flextronics, under which we have subcontracted the majority of our hardware manufacturing activity, generally on a purchase order basis. These third-party contract manufacturers also provide final test, warehousing and shipping services. This subcontracting activity extends from prototypes to full production and includes activities such as material procurement, final assembly, test, control, shipment to our customers and repairs. Together with our contract manufacturers, we design, specify and monitor the tests that are required to meet internal and external quality standards. Our contract manufacturers produce our products based on forecasted demand for our solutions. Each of the contract manufacturers procures components necessary to assemble the products in our forecast and test the products according to our specifications. We dual-source our components; however, in some instances, those sources may be located in the same geographic area. Accordingly, if a natural disaster occurs in one of those areas, we may need to seek additional sources. Products are then shipped to our distributors, VARs or end-users. If the products go unsold for specified periods of time, we may incur carrying charges or obsolete material charges for products ordered to meet our forecast or customer orders. In 2020, we did not experience any material difficulties or significant delays in the manufacture and assembly of our products.
While it is generally our practice to promptly ship our products upon receipt of properly finalized orders, at any given time, we have confirmed product license orders that have not shipped and are unfulfilled. Backlog includes the aggregate amounts we expect to recognize as point-in-time revenue in the following quarter associated with contractually committed amounts for on-premise subscription software licenses, as well as confirmed product license orders that have not shipped and are unfulfilled. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the amount of backlog was not material. We do not believe that backlog, as of any particular date, is a reliable indicator of future performance.
We believe that our fourth quarter revenues and expenses are affected by a number of seasonal factors, including the lapse of many corporations' fiscal year budgets and an increase in amounts paid pursuant to our sales compensation plans due to compensation plan accelerators that are often triggered in the fourth quarter. We believe that these seasonal factors are common within our industry. Historically, our revenue for the fourth quarter of any year is typically higher than the revenue for the first quarter of the subsequent year. We expect this trend to continue through the first quarter of 2021. However, during the three months ended March 31, 2020, this trend was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and our revenues in the first quarter of 2020 were higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019 due to our decision to make limited use Workspace licenses of Citrix Workspace available in the form of shorter-duration, discounted on-premises term offerings to quickly help our customers with their immediate business needs. In addition, our European operations usually generate lower revenues in the summer months because of the generally reduced economic activity in Europe during the summer. This seasonal factor also typically results in higher fourth quarter revenues on a sequential basis.
Competition
We sell our solutions in intensely competitive markets. Some of our competitors and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, sales and marketing and other resources than we do. As the markets for our solutions and services continue to develop, additional companies, including those with significant market presence in the computer appliances, software, cloud services and App Delivery and Security industries, could enter the markets in which we compete and further intensify competition. In addition, we believe price competition could become a more significant competitive factor in the future. As a result, we may not be able to maintain our historic prices and margins, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. See our “Technology Relationships” discussion above and “Risk Factors” below.
Workspace
Our primary competitors for various components of and services delivered through our Workspace offering include VMware, Okta, Box, Dropbox, AWS, Nutanix, MobileIron and Microsoft. We believe Citrix Workspace and our services, including Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Citrix Endpoint Management and Citrix Content and Collaboration, are differentiated by the completeness of the offerings, and the advanced technology and end-user experience, as compared to competitive offerings by VMware, AWS, Microsoft, Nutanix, AirWatch by VMware, MobileIron, Blackberry, Dropbox, Box, and others.
App Delivery and Security
Our Citrix ADC hardware products compete in traditional data-center-deployed application environments against other established competitors, including Networks, Radware, A10 Networks and Cisco. In addition, for cloud-integrated and software-centric use cases, large cloud providers, such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, provide customers with competitive ADC
solutions built into their public cloud platforms. We continue to expand our open source integrations with leading companies to enhance feature capability and invest in go-to-market resources to market Citrix ADC to our existing customer base and new potential customers.
Technology and Intellectual Property
We believe that innovation is a core Citrix competency. Our success is dependent upon our solutions, which are based on intellectual property and core proprietary and open source technologies. These technologies include innovations that optimize the end-to-end user experience, through cloud-managed workspaces and analytics, in virtual desktop and virtual application environments, and enhance App Delivery and Security capabilities to deliver a holistic and secure content collaboration and mobile computing experience.
We have been awarded numerous domestic and foreign patents and have numerous pending patent applications in the United States and foreign countries. Certain of our technology is also protected under copyright laws. Additionally, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality and proprietary information agreements to protect our proprietary technology. We have established proprietary trademark rights in markets across the globe, and own hundreds of U.S. and foreign trademark registrations and pending registration applications for marks comprised of or incorporating the Citrix name. See our "Research and Development" discussion above and “Risk Factors” below.
Our People
Citrix solutions enable a better way to work and embrace the power of human difference, and we are guided by our core values of Integrity, Respect, Curiosity, Courage and Unity. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 9,000 employees, of which approximately 46% were in the United States and 54% were in our international locations. We have a broad base of diverse talent in more than 40 countries and we believe that attracting, developing and retaining the best talent is critical to our success and achievement of our strategic objectives. Our voluntary attrition rate was approximately 8% during fiscal year 2020, which is lower than our historical attrition rate. This lower attrition rate is in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which we believe has led to fewer people leaving their jobs during 2020.
We encourage you to review our Sustainability Report under the headings “Talent” and “Social Equality” for more detailed information regarding our human capital programs and initiatives. Nothing in our Sustainability Report shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Leadership and Governance
Our Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer is responsible for developing and executing the company’s human capital strategy. This includes directing our global policies and programs for leadership and talent development, compensation, benefits, staffing and workforce planning, human resources systems, skills training and organizational development, workplace strategies, and global sourcing and indirect procurement, and ensuring effective and efficient internal company operations. Our Chief People Officer is responsible for developing and integrating our diversity, inclusion and belonging priorities and strategy, and we have a dedicated team of people with executive leadership participation to implement such strategies.
Our Compensation Committee oversees our company-wide compensation programs and practices, and our Chief Executive Officer and President and Chief People Officer regularly update our Board of Directors and the Compensation Committee on human capital matters.
Compensation and Benefits
Our team is global, and we offer competitive and meaningful compensation and benefits programs that meet the diverse needs of our employees, while also reflecting local market practices. In addition to competitive salaries and bonuses, we offer a robust employment total rewards package that promotes employee well-being and includes retirement planning, health care, extended parental leave, paid time off, and appreciation events for employees. For example, we offer paid leave of up to 18 weeks for all new parents (moms, dads and partners) to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. This paid leave is in addition to the nine paid holidays and other paid time-off from Citrix for family-focused time.
Equity-based compensation is also a key component in attracting, retaining and motivating our employees. We grant equity-based compensation to a significant portion of our employees. We also provide the opportunity for equity ownership through our employee stock purchase plan.
Additionally, we offer benefits to support our employees’ physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health and encourage healthy behaviors.
Growth, Development and Engagement
At Citrix, we have a strong focus on career development and building the capabilities of our team members. We invest in our employees by offering a wide range of development opportunities that promote learning and growth, including five highly interactive core leadership programs geared towards different career stages, various mentoring and coaching programs, a large library of on-demand, virtual and in-person courses that support professional and technical skills development and our tuition reimbursement program. We also believe in building organizational capability through practicing a growth mindset and continuously listening to our employees in order to create desirable employee experiences. We survey our employees frequently, providing managers and teams with highly actionable data that allows us to focus on making improvements in areas that have the largest impact on engagement and team success.
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
Diversity, inclusion and belonging have long been a part of our culture, and we work to continually expand our diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. We have an employee-run committee focused on diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives, and our diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives are supported by our executive leadership team. For example, we recently expanded global parental leave benefits, gender pay equity initiatives and diversity-focused scholarships and programs to support underrepresented minorities, veterans and disabled workers. In 2019, we launched “Cultivating a Culture of Belonging” for our employees, a learning series to explore our own identities, share best practices and offer support as we champion inclusiveness and belonging across the enterprise. The program helps employees encourage an inclusive work environment and learn which factors foster diversity in the workplace.
Our employee resource groups (ERGs) support underrepresented groups of employees and are an important component of our diversity, inclusion and belonging efforts, addressing topics like career development, mentoring, recruiting and interviewing candidates, advocacy and networking. As of December 31, 2020, we had ten ERGs with 29 chapters across nine offices in seven countries.
Also, in 2020, we launched a racial equity strategy with the objectives of supporting black students and businesses, modifying our people processes to promote racial equity, transparently sharing data as we progress on our journey, and personal learning about systemic racism. We are committed to listening, learning, and making sustainable change to stand against racism, bias and violence.
COVID-19 Response
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our primary focus has been on the safety and well-being of our employees and their families. A large majority of our workforce worked remotely and successfully throughout most of 2020. For offices that re-opened, we leveraged the advice and recommendations of medical experts to implement new protocols to ensure the safety of our employees, including face coverings, temperature checks, health certifications, social distancing and capacity limits. We supported our employees through programs and benefits provided throughout the year, pivoting all of our people programs and practices to enable business continuity in the current environment. For example, we provided a $1,000 stipend to all employees, globally, below the vice president level to support them as they transitioned to a work-from-home environment. We also extended paid time-off and sick leave benefits for employees directly impacted by COVID-19.
Importantly, our response to the COVID-19 pandemic reflects our belief that work is a measure of output and accomplishment-not a place-and flexible work means people are most productive when they match their work environment to the outcomes they are trying to deliver. Our success in implementing this work philosophy during the pandemic has driven an evolution in our flexible work approach. Starting in 2021, time in the office will no longer be prescribed, and individuals and teams are empowered to determine how they work best, based on their role, while being accountable for achieving individual and team outcomes.
Available Information
Our Internet address is http://www.citrix.com. We make available, free of charge, on or through our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY
The expansion of cloud-based solutions (as opposed to traditional on-premises delivery of our products) and our efforts to transition our customers from on-premise to the cloud, including the pace of that transition, has and will introduce a number of risks and uncertainties unique to such a shift in delivery, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Expansion of our cloud-based solutions has required, and may continue to require, a considerable investment in resources, including technical, financial, legal, sales, information technology and operational systems. Additionally, market acceptance of such offerings is affected by a variety of factors, including but not limited to: security, service availability, reliability, availability of tools to automate cloud migration, scalability, integration with public cloud platforms, customization, availability of qualified third-party service providers to assist customers in transitioning to our cloud-based solutions, performance, current license terms, customer preference, customer concerns with entrusting a third party to store and manage their data, public concerns regarding privacy and the enactment of restrictive laws or regulations.
We may not meet our financial and strategic objectives if the pace that our customers transition to cloud-based solutions is slower than predicted. For instance, the transition of customers from our on-premises subscriptions to cloud-based offerings did not progress during the first half of 2020 at the rate we had anticipated at the beginning of the year, as many of our customers chose our on-premises subscriptions rather than migrating their Citrix Workspace deployments to our cloud-based offerings. To address the challenges in transitioning our customers to the cloud, we continue to invest in innovation and feature development, simplified cloud migration, and performance and reliability, as well as other cloud customer success and sales initiatives. There can be no assurance, however, that these initiatives will result in an increase in the transition of our customers from on-premises to our cloud-based solutions. If we are unable to transition our customers to cloud-based solutions at the pace we expect, we may experience a negative impact on our overall financial performance.
In addition, our cloud-based solutions are primarily operated through third-party cloud service providers, which we do not control and which may be subject to actual or perceived damage, interruption, vulnerabilities and other cyber-related risks. Customers of our cloud-based solutions need to be able to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance, and we provide them with service level commitments with respect to uptime. Third-party cloud providers run their own platforms that we access, and therefore, we are, vulnerable to their service interruptions. We may experience interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability from time to time as a result of problems with our third-party cloud providers’ infrastructure. Lack of availability of this infrastructure could be due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, natural disasters, fraud or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent. Such outages could lead to the triggering of our service level agreements and the issuance of credits to our cloud offering customers, which may impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if our security, or that of any of these third-party cloud providers, is compromised, our software is unavailable or our customers are unable to use our software within a reasonable amount of time or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within a period of time acceptable to our customers. It is possible that our customers and potential customers would hold us accountable for any breach of security affecting a third-party cloud provider’s infrastructure and we may incur significant liability from those customers and from third parties with respect to any breach affecting these systems. We may not be able to recover a material portion of our liabilities to our customers and third parties from a third-party cloud provider. It may also become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our performance, especially during peak usage times, as our software becomes more complex and the usage of our software increases.
Our cloud-based solutions provide customers with increased visibility into the level of active use of such solutions by the customers’ employees or other end users. This enhanced visibility may adversely impact renewal rates, if enough users in a customer organization do not actively engage with our solutions.
In addition, the pace of adoption by our customers of cloud-based solutions as opposed to on-premises delivery of our products has and will introduce a number of risks unique to such a shift, including:
•we may not be able to meet customer demand or solution requirements for cloud-based solutions;
•we may incur costs at a higher than forecasted rate as we expand our cloud-based solutions thereby decreasing our gross margins;
•we may encounter customer concerns regarding changes to pricing, service availability, and security; and
•we may experience unpredictability in revenue as a result of usage fluctuations within our cloud service provider business.
Further, the success in transitioning our customers to our cloud-based solutions is dependent on our ability to effectively align, prioritize and allocate our engineering and other resources to balance the needs of maintaining our existing products, while also innovating in future products and features, and ensuring security and resiliency.
Any of the above circumstances or events may harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our multi-year transition from a perpetual licenses to a subscription-based business model is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We have been transitioning to a subscription-based business model over the past several years. We discontinued broad availability of perpetual licenses for Citrix Workspace in October 2020 and a large portion of our new business has transitioned to the subscription-based model. We offer our customers the option to acquire new Citrix Workspace licenses in the form of an on-premises subscription or cloud-based subscriptions. However, we will continue to support and renew existing maintenance contracts for the foreseeable future.
As we continue to transition our customers from perpetual licenses to subscriptions, we expect an impact on the timing of revenue recognition and potential reductions in operating margin and cash flows. Because subscription revenue related to our cloud-based solutions is typically recognized over time, we expect to continue to experience a near-term reduction in revenue and revenue growth as more customers move away from perpetual licenses to subscriptions. We also expect the mix shift within our App Delivery and Security business away from hardware towards software-based solutions will create pressure on reported App Delivery and Security revenue over time.
Further, while many of our subscription-based offerings involve multi-year commitments, ultimately our subscription customers may decide not to renew their subscriptions for our solutions after the expiration of the subscription term, or to renew only for a portion of our solutions or on pricing terms that are less favorable to us. Our customers’ renewal rates may decline, fluctuate, or not improve as a result of a number of factors, including their level of satisfaction with our solutions, their ability to continue their operations and spending levels, the pricing of our solutions and the availability of competing solutions. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions for our solutions, demand pricing or other concessions prior to renewal, or if our renewal rates fluctuate or decline, our total bookings and revenue will fluctuate or decline, and our business and financial results will be negatively affected.
In addition, the metrics we use to gauge the status of our business may evolve over the course of the transition as significant trends emerge. For example, we began reporting annualized recurring revenue in the second quarter of 2019 as a key performance indicator of the health and trajectory of our business. We believe that annualized recurring revenue represents the pace of our transition and serves as a leading indicator of revenue trends. Further, we continue to evaluate the metrics and key performance indicators that we use to measure our business internally and those that we provide as external disclosures, and there can be no guarantees that the metrics and key performance indicators that we use internally or disclose externally will prove successful in helping us manage our business or understand important trends. The transition to a subscription-based business model also means that our historical results, especially those achieved before we began the transition, may be difficult to compare to our future results. As a result, investors and financial analysts may have difficulty understanding the shift in our business model, resulting in changes in financial estimates or failure to meet investor expectations. Moreover, we forecast our future revenue and operating results and provide financial projections based on a number of assumptions, including a forecasted rate of subscription bookings, as well as the mix within subscription of on-premise versus cloud. If any of our assumptions about our business model transition or the estimated mix within subscription of on-premise versus cloud are incorrect, our revenue and operating results may be impacted and could vary materially from those we provide as guidance or from those anticipated by investors and analysts. If we are unable to navigate our transition in light of the foregoing risks and uncertainties, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
A significant portion of our revenues historically has come from our Application Virtualization and VDI solutions and our App Delivery and Security products, and decreases in sales for these solutions could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
A significant portion of our revenues has historically come from our Application Virtualization and VDI solutions and App Delivery and Security products. We continue to anticipate that sales of these solutions and products and related enhancements and upgrades will constitute a majority of our revenue for the near future. Declines and variability in sales of certain of these solutions and products could occur as a result of:
•new competitive product releases and updates to existing products delivered as on premises solutions, especially cloud-based products;
•industry trend to focus on the secure delivery of applications on mobile devices;
•introduction of new or alternative technologies, products or service offerings by third parties;
•termination or reduction of our product offerings and enhancements;
•potential market saturation;
•failure to enter new markets;
•price and product competition resulting from rapid and frequent technological changes and customer needs;
•general economic conditions;
•complexities and cost in implementation;
•failure to deliver satisfactory technical support;
•failure of our technology to advance our customers’ energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions goals;
•dissatisfied customers; or
•lack of commercial success of our technology relationships.
We have experienced increased competition in the Application Virtualization and VDI business from directly competing solutions, alternative products and products on new platforms. For example, AWS and VMware both provide offerings that compete with our solutions, among numerous other competitors. Also, there continues to be an increase in the number of alternatives to Windows operating system powered desktops, in particular mobile devices such as Chromebooks, smartphones and tablets. Users may increasingly turn to these devices to perform functions that would have been traditionally performed on desktops and laptops, which in turn may reduce the market for our Application Virtualization and VDI solutions. Further, increased use of certain SaaS applications may result in customers relying less on Windows applications. If sales of our Application Virtualization and VDI solutions decline as a result of these or other factors, our revenue would decrease and our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.
Similarly, we have experienced increased competition for our App Delivery and Security products, including our core Citrix ADC solution. For example, there are an increasing number of alternatives to traditional ADC hardware solutions, enabling our customers to build internal solutions, rely on open source technology or leverage software and cloud-based offerings. In addition, our App Delivery and Security business generates a substantial portion of its revenues from a limited number of customers with uneven and declining purchasing patterns. As a result, the potential for declining sales within our App Delivery and Security business may not be offset by gains in our other businesses, which could result in our operations and financial condition being adversely affected.
If our Workspace strategy is not successful in addressing our customers’ evolving needs beyond traditional Application Virtualization and VDI solutions or we face substantial technological or implementation challenges with our Workspace offerings, we may be unable to expand our user base and our financial performance could be adversely impacted.
Our success depends on customer and user adoption of our newer products and services. Increased adoption will depend on our ability to deliver a Workspace platform that provides value and use cases beyond traditional Application Virtualization and VDI solutions. The market for solutions that meet our customers’ needs in accessing and organizing their work in a secure way is evolving and dynamic.
Further, our growth strategy with respect to our Workspace offerings includes expanding the use of our platform through integrations with a variety of network, hardware and software systems, including human resource information and enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems, including through the interaction of application programming interfaces (APIs). While we have established relationships with providers of complementary technology offerings and software integrations, we may be unsuccessful in maintaining relationships with these providers or establishing relationships with new providers. Third-party providers of complementary technology offerings and software integrations may decline to enter into, or may later terminate, relationships with us; change their features or platforms; restrict our access to their applications and platforms; or alter the terms governing use of and access to their applications and APIs in an adverse manner. Such changes could functionally limit or terminate our ability to use these third-party technology offerings and software integrations with our platform, which could negatively impact our offerings and harm our business. Further, we recently have undertaken efforts to build a developer community around our Workspace platform. However, our developer community is new and it remains unclear if it will successfully generate third-party developer interest in creating new integrations or additional uses for our services.
Delivering our new solutions and our Workspace vision presents technological and implementation challenges, and may fail to meet our customers' needs. Significant investments continue to be required to develop or acquire solutions to address those challenges. To the extent that our newer products and services are adopted more slowly or are displaced by competitive solutions offered by other companies, our revenue growth rates may slow materially or our revenue may decline substantially, we may fail to realize returns on our investments in new initiatives and our operating results could be materially adversely affected.
We face intense competition, which could result in customer loss, fewer customer orders and reduced revenues and margins.
We sell our solutions and services in intensely competitive markets. Some of our competitors and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, sales and marketing and other resources than we do. We compete based on our ability to offer to our customers the most current and desired solution and services features. We expect that competition will continue to be intense, and there is a risk that our competitors’ products may be less costly, more heavily discounted or free, provide better performance or include additional features when compared to our solutions. Additionally, there is a risk that our solutions may become outdated or that our market share may erode. Further, the announcement of the release, and the actual release, of new solutions incorporating similar features to our solutions could cause our existing and potential customers to postpone or cancel plans to license certain of our existing and future solution and service offerings. Existing or new solutions and services that provide alternatives to our solutions and services could materially impact our ability to compete in these markets. As the markets for our solutions and services, especially those solutions in early stages of development, continue to develop, additional companies, including companies with significant market presence in the computer hardware, software, cloud, networking, mobile, data sharing and related industries, could enter, or increase their footprint in, the markets in which we compete and further intensify competition. In addition, we believe price competition will remain a significant competitive factor in the future. As a result, we may not be able to maintain our historic prices and margins, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We expect to continue to face additional competition as new participants enter our markets and as our current competitors seek to increase market share. Further, we may see new and increased competition in different geographic regions. The generally low barriers to entry in certain of our businesses increase the potential for challenges from new industry competitors, whether small and medium-sized businesses or larger, more established companies. Smaller companies new to our market may have more flexibility to develop on more agile platforms and have greater ability to adapt their strategies and cost structures, which may give them a competitive advantage with our current or prospective customers. We may also experience increased competition from new types of solutions as the options for Workspace and App Delivery and Security offerings increase. Further, as our industry evolves and if our company grows, companies with which we have strategic alliances may become competitors in other product areas, or our current competitors may enter into new strategic relationships with new or existing competitors, all of which may further increase the competitive pressures we face.
In addition, the industry has been volatile and there has been a trend toward industry consolidation in our markets for several years. We expect companies will attempt to strengthen or hold their market positions in an evolving and volatile industry. For example, some of our competitors have made acquisitions or entered into partnerships or other strategic relationships to offer a more comprehensive solution than they had previously offered. Additionally, as IT companies attempt to strengthen or maintain their market positions in the evolving digital workspace services, networking and data sharing markets, these companies continue to seek to deliver comprehensive IT solutions to end users and combine enterprise-level hardware and software solutions that may compete with our Workspace and App Delivery and Security solutions. These consolidators or potential consolidators may have significantly greater financial, technical and other resources and brand loyalty than we do, and may be better positioned to acquire and offer complementary solutions and services. The companies resulting from these possible combinations may create more compelling solution and service offerings and be able to offer greater pricing flexibility or sales and marketing support for such offerings than we can. These heightened competitive pressures could result in a loss of customers or a reduction in our revenues or revenue growth rates, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Refer to Part I, Item 1 “Business” included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for a description of our competition.
Actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products and services or cyberattacks on our services infrastructure or corporate networks could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Use of our products and services has and may involve the transmission and/or storage of data, including in certain instances our own and our customers' and other parties’ business, financial and personal data. As we continue to evolve our products and features, we expect to host, transmit or otherwise have access to increasing amounts of potentially sensitive data. For example, we have recently added, and expect to continue to add, intelligence features to our Workspace offering that involve connections into a customer’s systems and applications, including enterprise resource planning and human resource management tools. Maintaining the security of our products, computer networks and data storage resources is important and service vulnerabilities could result in loss of and/or unauthorized access to confidential information. We have in the past, and may in the future, discover vulnerabilities in our products or underlying technology, which could expose our reputation, our operations and our customers to risk. In addition, to the extent we are diverting our resources to address and mitigate these vulnerabilities, it may hinder our ability to deliver and support our products and customers in a timely manner. For example, in December 2019, we discovered a vulnerability in our Citrix Application Delivery Controller, Citrix Gateway and certain
deployments of Citrix SD-WAN that would have allowed an unauthenticated attacker to perform arbitrary code execution. In response, we published a security advisory with detailed mitigations designed to stop a potential attack across all known scenarios and also developed and made available fixes to address this vulnerability, and such efforts required significant investment of resources across the company.
As a more general matter, unauthorized parties may attempt to misappropriate, alter, disclose, delete or otherwise compromise our confidential information or that of our employees, partners, customers or their end users, create system disruptions, product or service vulnerabilities or cause shutdowns. These unauthorized parties are becoming increasingly sophisticated, particularly those funded by or acting as formal or informal representatives of, or acting in conjunction with, nation states. Perpetrators of cyberattacks also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, malware and other malicious software programs that directly or indirectly attack our products, services, infrastructure (including third-party cloud service providers - such as Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud Platform - upon which we rely), third-party software and applications that we deploy in our internal network. Because techniques used by these perpetrators to sabotage or obtain unauthorized access to our systems change frequently and sometimes are not recognized until long after being launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Despite our efforts to build secure services, we can make no assurance that we will be able to detect, prevent, timely and adequately address, or mitigate the negative effects of cyberattacks or other security compromises. Like many enterprises, we experience attempted attacks on our network and services, and certain of those attacks have resulted in successful unauthorized access to our networks and services, including a “password spraying” attack in 2019 and a “credential stuffing” attack in 2018.
These misappropriations, cyberattacks or any other compromises of our security measures (or those of one of our customers) as a result of third-party action, malware, employee error, vulnerabilities, theft, malfeasance or otherwise could result in (among other consequences):
•loss or destruction of customer, employee, partner and other Citrix intellectual property or business data;
•disruptions in the operation of our business, such as interruption in the delivery of our cloud and other services;
•costs associated with investigating, responding to and remediating the root cause, including additional monitoring of systems for unauthorized activity;
•negative publicity and harm to our reputation or brand, which could result in lost trust from our customers, partners and employees and could lead some customers to seek to cancel subscriptions, stop using certain of our products or services, reduce or delay future purchases of our products or services, or use competing products or services;
•individual and/or class action lawsuits, due to, among other things, the compromise of sensitive employee or customer information, which could result in financial judgments against us or the payment of settlement amounts and cause us to incur legal fees and costs;
•regulatory enforcement action in the United States at both the federal and state level (such as by the Federal Trade Commission and/or state attorneys general) or globally under the growing number of data protection legal regimes, including without limitation the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, or other similar federal, state or local laws, which could result in significant fines and/or penalties or other sanctions and which would cause us to incur legal fees and costs;
•costs associated with responding to those impacted by such issues, such as: costs of providing data owners, consumers or others with notice; legal fees; costs of any additional fraud detection activities required by such customers' credit card issuers; and costs incurred by credit card issuers associated with the compromise;
•disputes with our insurance carriers concerning coverage for the costs associated with responding to, and mitigating an incident; and/or
•longer-term remediation and security enhancement expenses.
Any of these actions could materially and adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, while we maintain multiple layers of oversight over enterprise cybersecurity and data protection risks associated with our products, services, information technology infrastructure and related operations - including our management-level cybersecurity risk oversight committee comprised of senior executives across core functions, as well as our Technology, Data and Information Security Committee of the Board - there is no guarantee that this oversight framework will be successful in providing the necessary governance to prevent or adequately respond to the actions described above.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are uncertain and could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and such effects will depend on future developments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant worldwide uncertainty, volatility and economic disruption. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows is dependent on future developments, including the duration of the pandemic, the severity of the disease and outbreak, the impact of new strains of the virus, effectiveness and availability of a vaccine, future and ongoing actions that may be taken by governmental
authorities, the impact on the businesses of our customers and partners, and the length of its impact on the global economy, which are uncertain and are difficult to predict at this time. The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, each of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, include:
• the rate of IT spending and the ability of our customers to purchase our offerings could be adversely impacted. Further, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could delay prospective customers’ purchasing decisions and cause them to become less inclined to trade-up from existing solutions, impact customers’ pricing expectations for our offerings, lengthen payment terms, reduce the value or duration of their subscription contracts, or adversely impact renewal rates;
• we could experience disruptions in our operations as a result of continued office closures, risks associated with our employees working remotely, a significant portion of our workforce suffering illness and travel restrictions. Starting in early 2020, we temporarily closed Citrix offices, instituted a global remote work mandate and instituted significant travel restrictions. While we have begun to re-open some of our offices, the vast majority of our employees continue to work remotely and for our offices that have begun to re-open, we have implemented significant new safety protocols, which may limit the effectiveness and productivity of our employees;
• we may be unable to collect amounts due on billed and unbilled revenue if our customers or partners delay payment or fail to pay us under the terms of our agreements as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses, including their seeking bankruptcy protection or other similar relief. As a result, our cash flows could be adversely impacted, which could affect our ability to fund future product development and acquisitions or return capital to shareholders. Further, our ability to obtain outside financing or raise additional capital may be limited as a result of volatility in the financial markets during and following the COVID-19 pandemic;
• if we do not generate sufficient cash flow or our financial condition deteriorates, we may be unable to service our debt arrangements or comply with the covenants set forth in our debt arrangements;
• we may experience disruptions or delays to our supply chain or fulfillment and delivery operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, we rely on a concentrated number of third-party suppliers and delivery vendors for our App Delivery and Security products, and may experience disruptions from the temporary closure of third-party supplier and manufacturer facilities, interruptions in product supply, restrictions on export or shipment or disruptions in product fulfillment due to closure or delays of our delivery vendors;
• our marketing effectiveness and demand generation efforts may be impacted due to the cancelling of customer events or shifting events to virtual-only experiences. For example, we made the decision to replace our largest annual customer and partner event, Synergy, with a series of virtual-only events. We may need to postpone or cancel other customer, employee or industry events or other marketing initiatives in the future;
• our business is dependent on attracting and retaining highly skilled employees, and our ability to attract and retain such employees may be adversely impacted by intensified restrictions on travel, immigration, or the availability of work visas during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• increased cyber incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic and our increased reliance on a remote workforce could increase our exposure to potential cybersecurity breaches and attacks; and/or
• our results of operations are subject to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which risks may be heightened due to increased volatility of foreign currency exchange rates as a result of COVID-19.
Further, our forecasted revenue, operating results and cash flows could vary materially from those we provide as guidance or from those anticipated by investors and analysts if the assumptions on which we base our financial projections are inaccurate as a result of the unpredictability of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our businesses, our customers’ and partners’ businesses and the global markets and economy or we make changes to our licensing programs or payment terms in connection with COVID-19. For example, we experienced increased demand for our solutions in the first half of 2020 primarily as a result of our decision to make limited use Workspace licenses of Citrix Workspace available in the form of shorter-duration, discounted on-premises term offerings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the transition of customers from on-premises subscriptions to cloud-based offerings did not progress during the first half of 2020 at the rate we had anticipated at the beginning of the year, as many of our customers chose on-premises subscriptions rather than migrating their Citrix Workspace deployments to cloud-based subscriptions, which we believe was primarily a consequence of our customers’ priorities in light of the early phases of the pandemic. While this global health crisis may cause companies and their employees to change the way they think about remote work over the longer-term, demand for our products may decrease as a vaccine becomes widely available and social distancing restrictions abate. As a result, the revenue growth of any prior quarterly or annual period is not an indication of our future performance.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, we are preparing for the likelihood that an increasing number of our employees may continue to work remotely, and may not require physical office space in order to perform their work. If so, we may reduce our physical office space requirements resulting in the possibility of additional near-term expense and accounting charges.
To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, it may also heighten many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factor” Section.
Our business could be adversely impacted by conditions affecting the information technology market in which we operate.
The markets for our solutions and services are characterized by:
•rapid technological change;
•evolving industry standards;
•fluctuations in customer demand;
•changing customer business models and increasingly sophisticated customer needs; and
•frequent new solution and service introductions and enhancements.
The demand for our solutions and services depends substantially upon the general demand for business-related computer appliances and software, which fluctuates based on numerous factors, including capital spending levels, the spending levels and growth of our current and prospective customers, and general economic conditions. As we continue to grow our subscription service offerings, we must continue to innovate and develop new solutions and features to meet changing customer needs. Our failure to respond quickly to technological developments or customers’ increasing technological requirements could lower the demand for any solutions and services and/or make our solutions uncompetitive and obsolete. Moreover, the purchase of our solutions and services is often discretionary and may involve a significant commitment of capital and other resources. We need to continue to develop our skills, tools and capabilities to capitalize on existing and emerging technologies, which will require us to devote significant resources.
U.S. economic forecasts for the IT sector are uncertain and continue to highlight an industry in transition from legacy platforms to mobile, cloud, data analytics and social solutions. If our current and prospective customers cut costs, they may significantly reduce their IT expenditures. Additionally, if our current and prospective customers shift their IT spending more rapidly towards newer technologies and solutions as mobile, cloud, data analytics and social platforms evolve, the demand for our solutions and services most aligned with legacy platforms (such as our desktop virtualization solutions) could decrease. Fluctuations in the demand for our solutions and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Regulation of privacy and data security may adversely affect sales of our products and services and result in increased compliance costs.
There has been, and we believe that there will continue to be, increased regulation with respect to the collection, use and handling of personal, financial, government and other information. An increasing number of regulatory authorities in the United States and around the world have recently passed or are currently considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals concerning data protection, privacy and data security. This includes the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which came into effect in January 2020, the GDPR, which is a European Union-wide legal framework to govern data collection, use and sharing and related consumer privacy rights that became effective in May 2018, and the U.S. Department of Defense Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. The GDPR provides significant penalties for non-compliance (up to 4% of global revenue). European data protection authorities have already imposed fines for GDPR violations up to, in some cases, hundreds of millions of Euros. Many states in the United States are also considering their own privacy laws that, in the absence of a preemptive Federal privacy law, could impose burdensome and conflicting requirements. The interpretation and application of consumer and data protection laws, as well as cybersecurity requirements, and industry standards in the United States, Europe and elsewhere can be uncertain and currently is in flux. Cloud-based solutions may be subject to further regulation, including data localization requirements and other restrictions concerning international transfer of data, the operational and cost impact of which cannot be fully known at this time. In addition to the possibility of fines, application of these existing laws in a manner inconsistent with our data and privacy practices could result in an order requiring that we change our data and privacy practices, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Complying with these various laws could cause us to incur substantial implementation and compliance costs and/or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business. Also, any new law or regulation, or interpretation of existing law or regulation, imposing greater fees or taxes or restriction on the collection, use or transfer of information or data internationally or over the Web, could result in a decline in the use and adversely affect sales of our solutions and our results of operations. Finally, as a technology vendor, our customers and regulators will expect that we can demonstrate compliance with current data privacy and security regulations as well as our privacy policies and the information we make available to our customers and the public about our data handling practices, and our inability to do so may adversely impact sales of our solutions and services to certain customers, particularly customers in highly-regulated industries, and could result in regulatory actions, fines, legal proceedings and negatively impact our brand, reputation and our business.
Our solutions could contain errors that could delay the release of new products or otherwise adversely impact our products and services.
Despite significant testing by us and by current and potential customers, our products and services, especially new products and services or releases or acquired products or services, do contain errors or "bugs". In some cases, these errors are not discovered until after commercial shipments or deployments have been made. Errors in our products or services could delay the development or release of new products or services and could adversely affect market acceptance of our products and services. Additionally, our products and services use, integrate with and otherwise depend on third-party products, which third-party products could contain defects and could reduce the performance of our products or render them useless. Because our products and services are often used in mission-critical applications, errors in our products or services or the products or services of third parties upon which our products or services rely could give rise to warranty or other claims by our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Certain of our offerings have sales cycles which are long and/or unpredictable which could cause significant variability and unpredictability in our revenue and operating results for any particular period.
Generally, a substantial portion of our large and medium-sized customers implement our solutions on a departmental or enterprise-wide basis. We have a long sales cycle for these departmental or enterprise-wide sales because:
•our sales force generally needs to explain and demonstrate the benefits of a large-scale deployment of our solution to potential and existing customers prior to sale;
•our service personnel typically spend a significant amount of time assisting potential customers in their testing and evaluation of our solutions and services;
•our customers are typically large and medium-sized organizations that carefully research their technology needs and the many potential projects prior to making capital expenditures for software infrastructure; and
•before making a purchase, our potential customers usually must get approvals from various levels of decision makers within their organizations, and this process can be lengthy.
Our long sales cycle for these solutions makes it difficult to predict when these sales will occur, and we may not be able to sustain these sales on a predictable basis. In addition, the long sales cycle for these solutions makes it difficult to predict the quarter in which sales will occur. Delays in sales could cause significant variability in our bookings, revenue and/or operating results for any particular period, and large projects with significant IT components may fail to meet our customers’ business requirements or be canceled before delivery, which likewise could adversely affect our revenue and operating results for any particular period.
Overall, the timing of our revenue is difficult to predict. Our quarterly sales have historically reflected an uneven pattern in which a disproportionate percentage of a quarter’s total sales occur in the last month, weeks and days of each quarter. In addition, our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations and such fluctuations are generally most significant in our fourth fiscal quarter, which we believe is due to the impact on revenue from the availability (or lack thereof) in our customers’ fiscal year budgets and an increase in expenses resulting from amounts paid pursuant to our sales compensation plans as performance milestones are often triggered in the fourth quarter. We believe that these seasonal factors are common within our industry. In addition, our European operations generally generate lower sales in the summer months because of the generally reduced economic activity in Europe during the summer.
Changes to our licensing or subscription renewal programs, or bundling of our solutions, could negatively impact the timing of our recognition of revenue.
We continually re-evaluate our licensing programs and subscription renewal programs, including specific license models, delivery methods, and terms and conditions, to market our current and future solutions and services. We could implement new licensing programs and subscription renewal programs, including promotional trade-up programs or offering specified enhancements to our current and future solution and service lines. Such changes could result in deferring revenue recognition until the specified enhancement is delivered or at the end of the contract term as opposed to upon the initial shipment or licensing of our software solution. We could implement different licensing models in certain circumstances, for which we would recognize licensing fees over a longer period, including offering additional solutions in a SaaS model. Changes to our licensing programs and subscription renewal programs, including the timing of the release of enhancements, upgrades, maintenance releases, the term of the contract, discounts, promotions, auto-renewals and other factors, could impact the timing of the recognition of revenue for our solutions, related enhancements and services and could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
Sales and renewals of our support solutions constitute a large portion of our deferred revenue.
We anticipate that sales and renewals of our support solutions will continue to constitute a substantial portion of our deferred revenue. Our ability to continue to generate both recognized and deferred revenue from our support solutions will depend on our customers continuing to perceive value in automatic delivery of our software upgrades and enhancements. The discontinued broad availability of perpetual licenses for Citrix Workspace in October 2020 resulted in the loss of future opportunities to sell support solutions. Additionally, a decrease in demand for our support solutions could occur as a result of a decrease in demand for our Workspace and App Delivery and Security solutions or transition to our subscription-based solutions. If our customers do not continue to purchase our support solutions, our deferred revenue would decrease significantly and our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.
We rely on indirect distribution channels and major distributors that we do not control.
We rely significantly on independent distributors and resellers to market and distribute our solutions and services. Our distributors generally sell through resellers. Our distributor and reseller base is relatively concentrated. We maintain and periodically revise our sales incentive programs for our independent distributors and resellers, and such program revisions may adversely impact our results of operations. Changes to our sales incentive programs can result from a number of factors, including our transition to a subscription-based business model. Our competitors may in some cases be effective in providing incentives to current or potential distributors and resellers to favor their products or to prevent or reduce sales of our solutions. The loss of or reduction in sales to our distributors or resellers could materially reduce our revenues. Further, we could maintain individually significant accounts receivable balances with certain distributors. The financial condition of our distributors could deteriorate and distributors could significantly delay or default on their payment obligations. Any significant delays, defaults or terminations could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are in the process of diversifying our base of channel relationships by adding and training more channel partners with abilities to reach larger enterprise customers and additional mid-market customers and to sell our newer solutions and services. We are also in the process of building relationships with new types of channel partners, such as systems integrators and service providers. In addition to this diversification of our partner base, we will need to maintain a healthy mix of channel members who service smaller customers. We may need to add and remove distribution partners to maintain customer satisfaction, support a steady adoption rate of our solutions, and align with our transition to a subscription-based business model, which could increase our operating expenses, credit risk, and adversely impact our go-to-market effectiveness. In addition, our newer Workspace offerings may require additional technical capabilities to efficiently implement our solutions, and there is no guarantee we will be able to find a sufficient number of capable partners who can support these efforts. We also bear the risk that our existing or newer channel partners will fail to comply with US or international anti-corruption or anti-competition laws, in which case we might be fined or otherwise penalized as a result of the agency relationship with such partners. We are currently investing, and intend to continue to invest, significant resources to develop these channel relationships, which could adversely impact our results of operations if such channels do not result in increased revenues.
Our App Delivery and Security business could suffer if there are any interruptions or delays in the supply of hardware or hardware components from our third-party sources.
We rely on a concentrated number of third-party suppliers, who provide hardware or hardware components for our App Delivery and Security products, and contract manufacturers. If we are required to change suppliers, there could be a delay in the supply of our hardware or hardware components and our ability to meet the demands of our customers could be adversely affected, which could cause the loss of App Delivery and Security sales and existing or potential customers and delayed revenue recognition all of which could adversely affect our results of operations. While we have not, to date, experienced any material difficulties or delays in the manufacture and assembly of our App Delivery and Security products, our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing due to a variety of reasons, including failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable regulations, or the need to implement costly or time-consuming protocols to comply with applicable regulations (including regulations related to conflict minerals), equipment malfunction, natural disasters and environmental factors, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our demand.
In order to be successful, we must attract, engage, retain and integrate key employees and have adequate succession plans in place, and failure to do so could have an adverse effect on our ability to manage our business.
Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to attract, engage, retain, and integrate qualified executives and other key employees throughout all areas of our business. Identifying, developing internally or hiring externally, training and retaining a diverse, global population of highly-skilled engineering, technical and security professionals, and managerial, sales and services, finance and marketing personnel are critical to our future, and global competition for experienced and diverse employees can be intense. In order to attract and retain executives and other key employees in a competitive marketplace, we
must provide a competitive compensation package, including cash and equity-based compensation. If we do not obtain the stockholder approval needed to continue granting equity compensation in a competitive manner, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate executives and key employees could be weakened or we would otherwise need to increase our use of cash-based compensation and awards to achieve the same attraction, retention and motivation benefits. In order to attract and retain executives and other key employees in a competitive marketplace, we must also provide a diverse and inclusive environment, and offer benefits to support our employees’ physical and mental health. Our inability to do so may limit our effectiveness in attracting, retaining and motivating our executives and key employees. Failure to successfully hire executives and key employees or the loss of any executives and key employees could have a significant impact on our operations. Competition for qualified personnel in our industry is intense because of the limited number of people available with the necessary technical skills and understanding of solutions in our industry. The loss of services of any key personnel, the inability to retain and attract qualified personnel in the future or delays in hiring may harm our business and results of operations.
Effective succession planning is also important to our long-term success. We have experienced significant changes in our senior management team over the past several years, including the appointments of Mark Schmitz as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2019, Arlen R. Shenkman as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 2019, Sridhar Mullapudi as our Executive Vice President, Product Management in 2020, Hector Lima as our Executive Vice President, Customer Experience in 2020, and Woong Joseph Kim as our Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in 2020. Failure to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees could hinder our strategic planning and execution. Further, changes in our management team may be disruptive to our business, and any failure to successfully integrate key new hires or promoted employees could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our international presence subjects us to additional risks that could harm our business.
We conduct significant sales and customer support, development and engineering operations in countries outside of the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we derived 50.5% of our net revenues from sales outside the United States. Potential growth and profitability could require us to further expand our international operations. To successfully maintain and expand international sales, we may need to establish additional foreign operations, hire additional personnel and recruit additional international resellers. Our international operations are subject to a variety of risks, which could adversely affect the results of our international operations. These risks include:
•compliance with foreign regulatory and market requirements, including the requirement to submit additional technical information for product registration in order to sell in certain countries;
•variability of foreign economic, political, labor conditions and global policy uncertainty, including re-locating operations internationally;
•changing restrictions imposed by regulatory requirements, tariffs or other trade barriers or by U.S. export laws;
•regional data privacy, security, secrecy and related laws that apply to the transmission of and protection of our and our customers’ data across international borders;
•health or similar issues such as pandemic or epidemic;
•difficulties in staffing and managing international operations;
•longer accounts receivable payment cycles;
•potentially adverse tax consequences;
•difficulties in enforcing and protecting intellectual property rights, including increased difficulty as a foreign entity in those international locations;
•providing technical information in order to obtain foreign filing licenses for filing our patent applications in certain countries;
•increased risk of non-compliance by foreign employees, partners, distributors, resellers and agents or other intermediaries with both U.S. and foreign laws, including antitrust regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, U.S. or foreign sanctions regimes and export or import control laws and any trade regulations ensuring fair trade practices;
•burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws;
•the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic internationally and related legal restrictions imposed in foreign nations;
•expansion of cloud-based products and services may increase risk in countries where cloud computing infrastructures are more susceptible to data intrusions or may be controlled directly or indirectly by foreign governments;
•our software and data of our customers being stored in foreign jurisdictions, which could lead to us being required to disclose or provide access to data or intellectual property to a foreign government pursuant to national security or other laws of such foreign jurisdiction; and
•as we generate cash flow in non-U.S. jurisdictions, if required, we may experience difficulty transferring such funds to the U.S. in a tax efficient manner.
Additionally, an increasing number of jurisdictions are imposing data localization laws, which require personal information, or certain subcategories of personal information, to be stored in the jurisdiction of origin. These regulations may deter customers from using cloud-based services such as ours, and may inhibit our ability to expand into those markets or prohibit us from continuing to offer services in those markets without significant additional costs. Specifically, we operate in Russia where there is a local residency requirement for personal data. We do not own or operate servers in Russia. As such, to-date, we have not offered our cloud-based offerings in Russia. Further, if we complete our acquisition of Wrike, our employee presence in Russia will increase, thereby adding to our exposure to certain of the risks identified herein, including risks related to the political, security and policy uncertainty between the United States and Russia.
We operate and do business in China. Under the China Cyber Security Law, or CSL, network operators are required to provide technical support and assistance to public and state security authorities in national security and criminal investigations. The law does not provide details on the extent of technical support and assistance that may be required. There is the possibility that network operators may be required to disclose or provide access to information or data communicated or transmitted through the network owned, utilized or managed by the network operator to comply with the support and assistance requirement of the CSL. While we do not consider Citrix to be a network operator, there is the possibility that China could decide to treat Citrix as a network operator, and we would need to comply with this law.
We have had and may, from time to time, enter into strategic partnerships, joint ventures, OEM or similar business relationships with entities in foreign jurisdictions, including governmental or quasi-governmental entities, pursuant to which we may be required to license or transfer certain of our intellectual property rights to such entities. Such relationships could expose us to increased risks inherent in such activities, such as protection of our intellectual property, economic and political risks, and contractual enforcement issues.
We are also monitoring developments related to the decision by the British government to leave the European Union (EU) following a referendum in June 2016 in which voters in the United Kingdom approved an exit from the EU (often referred to as “Brexit”), which could have implications for our business. The United Kingdom ceased to be a member state of the EU on January 31, 2020, and the transition period provided for in the withdrawal agreement entered into by the United Kingdom and the EU ended on December 31, 2020. Brexit could lead to economic and legal uncertainty, including volatility in global stock markets and currency exchange rates, and increasingly divergent laws, regulations and licensing requirements. Any of these effects of Brexit, among others, could adversely affect our operations and financial results.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to anticipate and address these risks. We cannot guarantee that these or other factors will not adversely affect our business or results of operations.
Adverse changes in global economic conditions could adversely affect our operating results.
As a globally operated company, we are subject to the risks arising from adverse changes in global economic and market conditions. Economic uncertainty and volatility in our significant geographic locations, including the potential impact resulting from "Brexit", a US-China trade war or other international trade disputes, or military conflict may adversely affect sales of our solutions and services and may result in longer sales cycles, slower adoption of technologies and increased price competition. For example, if the U.S. or the European Union countries were to experience an economic downturn, these adverse economic conditions could contribute to a decline in our customers’ spending on our solutions and services. Additionally, in response to economic uncertainty, we expect that many governmental organizations that are current or prospective customers for our solutions and services would cutback spending significantly, which would reduce the amount of government spending on IT and demand for our solutions and services from government organizations. Adverse economic conditions also may negatively impact our ability to obtain payment for outstanding debts owed to us by our customers or other parties with whom we do business.
RISKS RELATED TO ACQUISITIONS, STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS AND DIVESTITURES
Acquisitions and divestitures present many risks, and we may not realize the financial and strategic goals we anticipate.
We have in the past addressed, and may continue to address, the development of new solutions and services and enhancements to existing solutions and services through acquisitions of other companies, product lines and/or technologies. For example, on January 16, 2021, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike, a SaaS collaborative work management solution company. Completion of the acquisition of Wrike is subject to various regulatory approvals and closing conditions. No assurance can be given that the required approvals will be obtained or that the required conditions to closing will be satisfied. Any delay in completing the merger could cause the combined company not to realize, or to be delayed in realizing, some or all of the benefits of the merger. Refer to Part I, Item 1 “Business” and Note 19 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for a description of our pending acquisition of Wrike.
Acquisitions, including those of high-technology companies, such as Wrike, are inherently risky. We cannot provide any assurance that any of our acquisitions or future acquisitions will be successful in helping us reach our financial and strategic goals. The risks we commonly encounter in undertaking, managing and integrating acquisitions, including Wrike, are:
•an uncertain revenue and earnings stream from the acquired company, which could dilute our earnings;
•difficulties and delays integrating the personnel, operations, technologies, solutions and systems of the acquired companies;
•difficulties operating acquired companies as a stand-alone business, if desired, to further our objectives and strategy;
•undetected errors or unauthorized use of a third-party’s code in solutions of the acquired companies;
•our ongoing business may be disrupted and our management’s attention may be diverted by acquisition, transition or integration activities;
•challenges with implementing adequate and appropriate controls, procedures and policies in the acquired business;
•difficulties managing or integrating an acquired company’s technologies or lines of business;
•potential difficulties in completing projects associated with purchased in-process research and development;
•entry into markets in which we have no or limited direct prior experience and where competitors have stronger market positions and which are highly competitive;
•the potential loss of key employees of the acquired company;
•potential difficulties integrating the acquired solutions and services into our sales channel or challenges selling acquired products;
•assuming pre-existing contractual relationships of an acquired company that we would not have otherwise entered into, the termination or modification of which may be costly or disruptive to our business;
•being subject to unfavorable revenue recognition or other accounting treatment as a result of an acquired company’s practices;
•potential difficulties securing financing necessary to consummate substantial acquisitions;
•incurring a significant amount of debt to finance an acquisition, which would increase our debt service requirements, expense and leverage;
•issuing shares of our stock, which may be dilutive to our stockholders;
•issuing equity awards to, or assuming existing equity awards of, acquired employees, which may more rapidly deplete share reserves available under our shareholder-approved equity incentive plans;
•intellectual property claims or disputes; and
•litigation arising from the transaction.
Our failure to successfully integrate acquired companies due to these or other factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if we fail to identify and successfully complete and integrate transactions, or successfully operate acquired companies on a stand-alone basis, that further our strategic objectives, we may be required to expend resources to develop products, services and technology internally, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage. For example, with respect to the pending acquisition of Wrike, we may not be able to accelerate our strategy and cloud transition, enhance our growth or accelerate Wrike’s growth expectations, provide complementary solutions that are purchased by our or Wrike’s customers, reach new users and expand our customer base, compete effectively in Wrike's markets, or realize other expected benefits of the merger if we are unable to successfully integrate and operate Wrike if the acquisition is completed.
Any future divestitures we make may also involve risks and uncertainties. Any such divestitures could result in disruption to other parts of our business, potential loss of employees or customers, exposure to unanticipated liabilities or result in ongoing obligations and liabilities to us following any such divestiture. For example, in connection with a divestiture, we may enter into transition services agreements or other strategic relationships, including long-term services arrangements, or agree to provide certain indemnities to the purchaser in any such transaction, which may result in additional expense. Further, if we do not realize the expected benefits or synergies of such transactions, our operating results and financial conditions could be adversely affected.
If we determine that any of our goodwill or intangible assets, including technology purchased in acquisitions, are impaired, we would be required to take a charge to earnings, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
We have a significant amount of goodwill and other intangible assets, such as product related intangible assets, from our acquisitions. We do not amortize goodwill and intangible assets that are deemed to have indefinite lives. However, we do amortize certain product related technologies, trademarks, patents and other intangibles and we periodically evaluate them for impairment. We review goodwill for impairment annually, or sooner if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount could exceed fair value, at the reporting unit level, which for us also represents our operating segments. Significant judgments are required to estimate the fair value of our goodwill and intangible assets, including estimating future
cash flows, determining appropriate discount rates, estimating the applicable tax rates, foreign exchange rates and interest rates, projecting the future industry trends and market conditions, and making other assumptions. Although we believe the assumptions, judgments and estimates we have made have been reasonable and appropriate, different assumptions, judgments and estimates, materially affect our results of operations. Changes in these estimates and assumptions, including changes in our reporting structure, could materially affect our determinations of fair value. In addition, due to uncertain market conditions and potential changes in our strategy and product portfolio, it is possible that the forecasts we use to support our goodwill and other intangible assets could change in the future, which could result in non-cash charges that would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Also, we may make divestitures of businesses in the future. If we determine that any of the intangible assets associated with our acquisitions is impaired or goodwill is impaired, then we would be required to reduce the value of those assets or to write them off completely by taking a charge to current earnings. If we are required to write down or write off all or a portion of those assets, or if financial analysts or investors believe we may need to take such action in the future, our stock price and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
Our inability to maintain or develop our strategic and technology relationships could adversely affect our business.
We have several strategic and technology relationships with large and complex organizations, such as Microsoft, Google and other companies with which we work to offer complementary solutions and services. We depend on the companies with which we have strategic relationships to successfully test our solutions, to incorporate our technology into their products and to market and sell those solutions. There can be no assurance we will realize the expected benefits from these strategic relationships or that they will continue in the future. If successful, these relationships may be mutually beneficial and result in industry growth. However, such relationships carry an element of risk because, in most cases, we must compete in some business areas with a company with which we have a strategic relationship and, at the same time, cooperate with that company in other business areas. Also, if these companies fail to perform or if these relationships fail to materialize as expected, we could suffer delays in product development, reduced sales or other operational difficulties and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND BRAND RECOGNITION
Our efforts to protect our intellectual property may not be successful, which could materially and adversely affect our business.
We rely primarily on a combination of copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our source code, innovations and other intellectual property, all of which offer only limited protection. The loss of any material trade secret, trademark, tradename, patent or copyright could have a material adverse effect on our business. Despite our precautions, it could be possible for unauthorized third parties to infringe our intellectual property rights or steal, or misappropriate, copy, disclose or reverse engineer our proprietary information, including certain portions of our solutions or to otherwise obtain and use our proprietary source code. We have sought to protect our intellectual property through offensive litigation and may seek other avenues for enforcement or for return on our investment in our patent portfolio, which may be costly and unsuccessful and/or subject us to successful counterclaims or challenges to our intellectual property rights. In addition, our ability to monitor and control theft, misappropriation or infringement is uncertain, particularly in countries outside of the United States. If we cannot protect our intellectual property from infringement and our proprietary source code against unauthorized theft, copying, disclosure or use, we could lose market share, including as a result of unauthorized third parties’ development of solutions and technologies similar to or better than ours.
The scope of our patent protection may be affected by changes in legal precedent and patent office interpretation of these precedents. Software-based patents are difficult to obtain and enforce in many jurisdictions and there may also be limits on recovery for damages in those jurisdictions. Further, any patents owned by us could be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. Any of our pending or future patent applications, whether or not being currently challenged, may not be issued with the scope of protection we seek, if at all; and if issued, may not provide any meaningful protection or competitive advantage.
Our ability to protect our proprietary rights could be affected by differences in international law and the enforceability of licenses. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property to the same extent as do the laws of the United States and Canada. For example, we derive a significant portion of our sales from licensing our solutions under “click-to-accept” license agreements that are not signed by licensees and through electronic enterprise customer licensing arrangements that are delivered electronically, all of which could be unenforceable under the laws of many foreign jurisdictions in which we license our solutions. Moreover, with respect to the various confidentiality, license or other agreements we utilize with third parties related to their use of our solutions and technologies, there is no guarantee that such parties will abide by the terms of such agreements.
Our solutions and services, including solutions obtained through acquisitions, could infringe third-party intellectual property rights, which could result in material litigation costs.
We are routinely subject to patent infringement claims and may in the future be subject to an increased number of claims, including claims alleging the unauthorized use of a third-party’s code in our solutions. This may occur for a variety of reasons, including:
•the expansion of our product lines through product development and acquisitions;
•the volume of patent infringement litigation commenced by non-practicing entities;
•an increase in the number of competitors in our industry segments and the resulting increase in the number of related solutions and services and the overlap in the functionality of those solutions and services;
•an increase in the number of our competitors and third parties that use their own intellectual property rights to limit our freedom to operate and exploit our solutions, or to otherwise block us from taking full advantage of our markets;
•our reliance on the technology of others and, therefore, the requirement to obtain intellectual property licenses from third parties in order for us to commercialize our solutions or services, which licenses we may not be able to obtain or continue to obtain from these third parties on reasonable terms; and
•the unauthorized or improperly licensed use of third-party code in our solutions.
Further, responding to any infringement claim, regardless of its validity or merit, could result in costly litigation. Intellectual property litigation could compel us to do one or more of the following:
•pay damages (including the potential for treble damages), license fees or royalties (including royalties for past periods) to the party claiming infringement;
•cease selling solutions or services that use the challenged intellectual property;
•obtain a license from the owner of the asserted intellectual property to sell or use the relevant technology, which license may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all; or
•redesign the challenged technology, which could be time consuming and costly, or not be accomplished.
If we were compelled to take any of these actions, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be adversely impacted.
Our use of “open source” software could negatively impact our ability to sell our solutions and subject us to possible litigation.
The solutions or technologies acquired, licensed or developed by us may incorporate so-called “open source” software, and we may incorporate open source software into other solutions in the future. Such open source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses, including, for example, the GNU General Public License, the GNU Lesser General Public License, the Apache license (version 2), “BSD-style” licenses, "MIT-style" licenses and other open source licenses. Even though we attempt to monitor our use of open source software in an effort to avoid subjecting our solutions to conditions we do not intend, it is possible that not all instances of our open source code usage are properly reviewed. Additionally, software purchased through the supply chain may contain open source software of which we are unaware that could present license rights and/or security risk. Further, although we believe that we have complied with our obligations under the various applicable licenses for open source software that we use such that we have not triggered any of these conditions, there is little or no legal precedent governing the interpretation or enforcement of many of the terms of these types of licenses. If an author or other third party that distributes open source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations. If our defenses were not successful, we could be subject to significant damages, enjoined from the distribution of our solutions that contained open source software, and required to comply with the terms of the applicable license, which could disrupt the distribution and sale of some of our solutions. In addition, if we combine our proprietary software with open source software in an unintended manner, under some open source licenses we could be required to publicly release the source code of our proprietary software, offer our solutions that use the open source software for no cost, make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon incorporating or using the open source software, and/or license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of the particular open source license.
In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide technology support, maintenance, warranties or assurance of title or controls on the origin of the software. Open source software may also present risks of unforeseen or unmanaged security vulnerabilities that could potentially unintentionally be introduced into our solutions.
If we lose access to third-party licenses, releases of our solutions could be delayed.
We believe that we will continue to rely, in part, on third-party licenses to enhance and differentiate our solutions. Third-party licensing arrangements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including:
•undetected errors or unauthorized use of another person’s code in the third party’s software;
•disagreement over the scope of the license and other key terms, such as royalties payable and indemnification protection;
•infringement actions brought by third-parties;
•the creation of solutions by third parties that directly compete with our solutions; and
•termination or expiration of the license.
If we lose or are unable to maintain any of these third-party licenses or are required to modify software obtained under third-party licenses, it could delay the release of our solutions. Any delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our business depends on maintaining and protecting the strength of our collection of brands.
The Citrix solution and service brands that we have developed have significantly contributed to the success of our business. Maintaining and enhancing the Citrix solution and service brands is critical to expanding our base of customers and partners. We may be subject to reputational risks and our brand loyalty may decline if others adopt the same or confusingly similar marks in an effort to misappropriate and profit on our brand name and do not provide the same level of quality as is delivered by our solutions and services. Also, others may rely on false comparative advertising and customers or potential customers could be influenced by false advertising. Additionally, we may be unable to use some of our brands in certain countries or unable to secure trademark rights in certain jurisdictions where we do business. In order to police, maintain, enhance and protect our brands, we may be required to make substantial investments that may not be successful. If we fail to police, maintain, enhance and protect the Citrix brands, if we incur excessive expenses in this effort or if customers or potential customers are confused by others’ trademarks, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.
RISKS RELATED TO OUR LIQUIDITY, TAXATION AND CAPITAL RETURN
Servicing our debt will require a significant amount of cash, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to make payments on our debt or repurchase our 2027 Notes or 2030 Notes upon certain events.
As of December 31, 2020, we had aggregate indebtedness of $1.73 billion that we have incurred in connection with the issuance of our unsecured senior notes due December 1, 2027 (the “2027 Notes”), the issuance of our unsecured senior notes due March 1, 2030 (the “2030 Notes”), under the credit agreement for our unsecured revolving credit facility entered into in November 2019 (the “Credit Agreement”), and under the credit agreement for our term loan credit facility entered into in February 2020 (the “Term Loan Credit Agreement”).
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, depends on our future performance, which is subject to general economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and to make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, reducing capital expenditures, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity or debt financing on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness, as applicable, will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to sell assets, restructure our indebtedness or obtain additional equity or debt financing on terms that are acceptable to us or at all, which could result in a default on our debt obligations. See “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for information regarding our 2030 Notes, 2027 Notes, our Credit Agreement and our Term Loan Credit Agreement.
In addition, if a change in control repurchase event occurs with respect to the 2027 Notes or the 2030 Notes, we will be required, subject to certain exceptions, to offer to repurchase the 2027 Notes or 2030 Notes, as applicable at a repurchase price equal to 101% of the principal amount of the 2027 Notes or 2030 Notes, as applicable, repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. In such event, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing to fund the required repurchase of the 2027 Notes or 2030 Notes, as applicable, or making such payments could adversely affect our liquidity. Our
ability to repurchase the 2027 Notes or 2030 Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our other indebtedness.
Further, we are required to comply with the covenants set forth in the indentures governing the 2027 Notes and 2030 Notes, the Credit Agreement and the Term Loan Credit Agreement. In particular, each of the Credit Agreement and Term Loan Credit Agreement requires us to maintain certain leverage and interest ratios and contains various affirmative and negative covenants, including covenants that limit or restrict our ability to grant liens, merge or consolidate, dispose of all or substantially all of our assets, change our business or incur subsidiary indebtedness. The indenture governing our 2027 Notes and 2030 Notes contains covenants limiting our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to create certain liens, enter into certain sale and leaseback transactions, and consolidate or merge with, or sell, assign, convey, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets, taken as a whole, to, another person. If we fail to comply with these covenants or any other provision of the agreements governing our indebtedness and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders or noteholders, then, subject to applicable cure periods, our outstanding indebtedness may be declared immediately due and payable. Additionally, a default under an indenture, the Credit Agreement or Term Loan Credit Agreement could lead to a default under the other agreements governing our current and any future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing to repay the indebtedness.
Our indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, could have other important consequences. For example, it could:
•make us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general U.S. and worldwide economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry;
•place us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors who have less debt; and
•limit our ability to borrow additional amounts to fund acquisitions, for working capital and for other general corporate purposes.
Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we incur additional indebtedness, the risks related to our business and our ability to service or repay our indebtedness would increase. Also, changes by any rating agency to our credit rating may negatively impact the value and liquidity of both our debt and equity securities, as well as the potential costs associated with any potential refinancing of our indebtedness. Downgrades in our credit rating could also restrict our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and could affect the terms of any such financing.
On January 16, 2021, we obtained a commitment for a senior unsecured 364-day term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.45 billion to finance the cash consideration for the acquisition of Wrike in the event that the permanent debt financing is not available on or prior to the closing of the acquisition of Wrike (the “Bridge Facility”), which Bridge Facility is subject to customary conditions in connection with the pending acquisition of Wrike. We expect to replace the Bridge Facility prior to the closing of the acquisition of Wrike with permanent financing, which may include the issuance of debt securities and/or one or more senior term loan facilities, including the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement, as defined below; however such permanent financing may not be available in the timeframe expected or on favorable terms.
On February 5, 2021, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (the “2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement”), which provides us with a facility to borrow a term loan on an unsecured basis in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.00 billion (the “2021 Term Loan”). The proceeds of borrowings under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement will be used to finance a portion of the purchase price to be paid in connection with the acquisition of Wrike.
Taking on additional indebtedness in connection with the Wrike acquisition, as a result of the Bridge Facility, the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement and/or other permanent financing, will increase the risks we now face with our current indebtedness. For example, in January 2021, we committed to a goal of maintaining our investment grade credit rating and indicated that we plan to return to historical leverage levels within 24 months. If we are unable to achieve these commitments as a result of the additional indebtedness we are expecting to incur in connection with the Wrike acquisition or otherwise, our ability to obtain additional financing or to re-finance our existing indebtedness in the future, and the terms of any such financing, could be adversely affected.
To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows as described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section, it may also heighten these risks related to servicing our debt.
Our portfolios of liquid securities and other investments may lose value or become impaired.
Our investment portfolio consists of agency securities, corporate securities, money market funds, government securities and commercial paper. Although we follow an established investment policy and seek to minimize the credit risk associated with investments by investing primarily in investment grade, highly liquid securities and by limiting exposure to any one issuer depending on credit quality, we cannot give assurances that the assets in our investment portfolio will not lose value, become impaired, or suffer from illiquidity.
Changes in our tax rates or our exposure to additional income tax liabilities could affect our operating results and financial condition.
Our future effective tax rates could be favorably or unfavorably affected by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, the geographic mix of our revenue, or by changes in tax laws, including changes proposed by the new Presidential administration, or their interpretation. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. In addition, we are subject to the continuous examination of our income tax returns by tax authorities, including the IRS. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. There can be no assurance, however, that the outcomes from these continuous examinations will not have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Evolving or revised tax laws and regulations globally, including the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “2017 Tax Act”) and the 2019 Swiss Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (“TRAF”), as well as any changes in the application or interpretation by the U.S. Treasury Department, the Swiss federal and cantonal authorities, and other U.S. federal and legislative bodies of these regulations may have an adverse effect on our business or on our results of operations.
There can be no assurance that we will continue to return capital to our stockholders through the payment of cash dividends and/or the repurchase of our stock.
From time to time, our Board of Directors authorizes the payment of cash dividends or additional share repurchase authority under our ongoing stock repurchase program as part of our capital return to stockholders. The amount and timing of cash dividends and stock repurchases are subject to capital availability and our determination that such cash dividends or stock repurchases are in the best interest of our stockholders and are in compliance with all respective laws and our applicable agreements. Our ability to pay cash dividends or repurchase stock will depend upon, among other factors, our cash balances and potential future capital requirements for strategic transactions, debt service, capital expenditures, working capital and other general corporate purposes, as well as our results of operations, financial condition and other factors that we may deem relevant. Moreover, a reduction in, or the completion of, our stock repurchase program could have a negative effect on our stock price. We can provide no assurance that we will continue to pay cash dividends or repurchase stock at favorable prices, if at all.
GENERAL RISKS
We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could adversely affect our future operating results.
Our results of operations are subject to fluctuations in exchange rates, which could adversely affect our future revenue and overall operating results. In order to minimize volatility in earnings associated with fluctuations in the value of foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar, we use financial instruments to hedge our exposure to foreign currencies as we deem appropriate for a portion of our expenses, which are denominated in the local currency of our foreign subsidiaries. We generally initiate our hedging of currency exchange risks one year in advance of anticipated foreign currency expenses for those currencies to which we have the greatest exposure. When the dollar is weak, foreign currency denominated expenses will be higher, and these higher expenses will be partially offset by the gains realized from our hedging contracts. If the dollar is strong, foreign currency denominated expenses will be lower. These lower expenses will in turn be partially offset by the losses incurred from our hedging contracts. There is a risk that there will be fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates beyond the one year timeframe for which we hedge our risk and there is no guarantee that we will accurately forecast the expenses we are hedging. Further, a substantial portion of our overseas assets and liabilities are denominated in local currencies. To protect against fluctuations in earnings caused by changes in currency exchange rates when remeasuring our balance sheet, we utilize foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge our exposure to this potential volatility. There is no assurance that our hedging strategies will be effective. In addition, as a result of entering into these contracts with counterparties who are unrelated to us, the risk of a counterparty default exists in fulfilling the hedge contract. Should there be a counterparty default, we could be unable to recover anticipated net gains from the transactions.
We are involved in litigation, investigations and regulatory inquiries and proceedings that could negatively affect us.
From time to time, we are involved in various legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings, claims, demands and investigations relating to our business, which may include claims with respect to commercial, product liability, intellectual property, cybersecurity, privacy, data protection, antitrust, breach of contract, employment, class action, whistleblower, mergers and acquisitions and other matters. In the ordinary course of business, we also receive inquiries from and have discussions with government entities regarding the compliance of our contracting and sales practices with laws and regulations. These matters can be time-consuming, divert management’s attention and resources and cause us to incur significant expenses. Allegations made in the course of regulatory or legal proceedings may also harm our reputation, regardless of whether there is merit to such claims. Furthermore, because litigation and the outcome of regulatory proceedings are inherently unpredictable, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially affected by an unfavorable resolution of one or more of these proceedings, claims, demands or investigations.
Refer to Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for a description of our legal proceedings and contingencies.
Our stock price could be volatile, particularly during times of economic uncertainty and volatility in domestic and international stock markets, and you could lose the value of your investment.
Our stock price has been volatile and has fluctuated significantly in the past. The trading price of our stock is likely to continue to be volatile and subject to fluctuations in the future. Your investment in our stock could lose some or all of its value. Some of the factors that could significantly affect the market price of our stock include:
•actual or anticipated variations in operating and financial results, including the failure to meet key operational metrics;
•analyst reports or recommendations;
•rumors, announcements, or press articles regarding our or our competitors’ operations, management, organization, financial condition, or financial statements; and
•other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control.
The stock market in general, The Nasdaq Global Select Market, and the market for software companies and technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. We believe that these fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to operating performance. These fluctuations may continue in the future and could materially and adversely affect the market price of our stock, regardless of operating performance.
Changes or modifications in financial accounting standards may have a material adverse impact on our reported results of operations or financial condition.
A change or modification in accounting policies can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. New pronouncements and varying interpretations of existing pronouncements have occurred with frequency and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules, or changes to the interpretations of existing rules, could lead to changes in our accounting practices, and such changes could materially adversely affect our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business.
Natural disasters, climate-related impacts, or other unanticipated catastrophes that result in a disruption of our operations could negatively impact our results of operations.
Our worldwide operations are dependent on our network infrastructure, internal technology systems and website. Significant portions of our computer equipment, intellectual property resources and personnel, including critical resources dedicated to research and development and administrative support functions are presently located at our corporate headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, an area of the country that is particularly prone to hurricanes, and at our various locations in California, an area of the country that is particularly prone to earthquakes and wildfires. We also have operations in various domestic and international locations that expose us to additional diverse risks. The occurrence of natural disasters, such as extreme weather, hurricanes, floods or earthquakes; pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; or other unanticipated catastrophes, such as telecommunications failures, cyberattacks, fires or terrorist attacks, at any of the locations in which we or our key partners, suppliers and customers do business, could cause interruptions in our operations. For example, hurricanes have passed through southern Florida causing extensive damage to the region. In addition, even in the absence of direct damage to our operations, large disasters, terrorist attacks, pandemics or other casualty events could have a significant impact on our partners’, suppliers’ and customers’ businesses, which in turn could result in a negative impact on our results of operations. Extensive or multiple disruptions in our operations, or our partners’, suppliers’ or customers’ businesses, due to natural
disasters, pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or other unanticipated catastrophes could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
We have received no written comments regarding our periodic or current reports from the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission that were issued 180 days or more preceding the end of our 2020 fiscal year that remain unresolved.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
We lease and sublease office space in the Americas, which is comprised of the United States, Canada and Latin America, EMEA, which is comprised of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and APJ, which is comprised of Asia-Pacific and Japan. The following table presents the location and square footage of our leased office space as of December 31, 2020:
Square footage
Americas 777,064
EMEA 265,696
APJ 599,620
Total 1,642,380
In addition, we own land and buildings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with approximately 317,000 square feet of office space used for our corporate headquarters and approximately 41,000 square feet of office space in Chalfont St. Peter, United Kingdom.
We believe that our existing facilities are adequate for our current needs. As additional space is needed in the future, we believe that suitable space will be available in the required locations on commercially reasonable terms.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Information with respect to this item may be found in Note 10, "Commitments and Contingencies-Legal Matters", to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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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 for Common Stock and Dividend Policy
Our common stock is currently traded on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTXS. As of February 1, 2021, there were 477 holders of record of our common stock.
We currently intend to retain any earnings for use in our business, for investment in acquisitions to repurchase shares of our common stock, and to pay future dividends. On October 22, 2020, we announced that our Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.35 per share which was paid on December 22, 2020 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 8, 2020. Additionally, on January 19, 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.37 per share. This dividend is payable on March 26, 2021 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 12, 2021. Our Board of Directors will continue to review our capital allocation strategy and will determine whether to repurchase shares of our common stock and/or declare future dividends on a quarterly basis based on our financial performance, business outlook and other considerations.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our Board of Directors has authorized an ongoing stock repurchase program, of which $1.00 billion was approved in January 2020. We may use the approved dollar authority to repurchase stock at any time until the approved amount is exhausted. The objective of our stock repurchase program is to improve stockholders’ returns and mitigate earnings per share dilution posed by the issuance of shares related to employee equity compensation awards. At December 31, 2020, $625.6 million was available to repurchase common stock pursuant to the stock repurchase program. All shares repurchased are recorded as treasury stock. We are authorized to make purchases of our common stock using general corporate funds through open market purchases, pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or in privately negotiated transactions.
The following table shows the monthly activity related to our repurchases of common stock for the quarter ended December 31, 2020.
Total Number
of Shares
Purchased (1)
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
(in thousands)(2)
October 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020 310,561 $ 122.65 227,526 $ 687,140
November 1, 2020 through November 30, 2020 508,194 $ 118.40 507,425 $ 627,061
December 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 56,241 $ 126.68 11,992 $ 625,561
Total 874,996 $ 120.44 746,943 $ 625,561
(1)Includes 128,053 shares withheld from restricted stock units that vested in the fourth quarter of 2020 to satisfy minimum tax withholding obligations that arose on the vesting of restricted stock units.
(2)Shares withheld from restricted stock units that vested to satisfy minimum tax withholding obligations that arose on the vesting of such awards do not deplete the dollar amount available for purchases under the repurchase program.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Information about our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Item 12 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
The following selected consolidated financial data is derived from our consolidated financial statements. This data should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and with Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Year Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017(a)(b) 2016(a)(b)
(In thousands, except per share data)
Consolidated Statements of Income Data:
Net revenues $ 3,236,700 $ 3,010,564 $ 2,973,903 $ 2,824,686 $ 2,736,080
Cost of net revenues(c)
498,546 464,047 433,803 439,646 404,889
Gross margin 2,738,154 2,546,517 2,540,100 2,385,040 2,331,191
Operating expenses(d)
2,129,346 2,010,399 1,862,140 1,814,043 1,771,027
Income from operations 608,808 536,118 677,960 570,997 560,164
Interest income 3,108 18,280 40,030 27,808 16,686
Interest expense (64,687) (45,974) (80,162) (51,609) (44,949)
Other income (expense), net 7,651 1,076 (8,373) 3,150 (4,131)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes 554,880 509,500 629,455 550,346 527,770
Income tax expense (benefit) 50,434 (172,313) 53,788 528,361 57,915
Income from continuing operations 504,446 681,813 575,667 21,985 469,855
(Loss) income from discontinued operations, net of income tax expense - - - (42,704) 66,257
Net income (loss) $ 504,446 $ 681,813 $ 575,667 $ (20,719) $ 536,112
Diluted earnings (loss) per share:
Income from continuing operations 4.00 5.03 3.94 0.14 2.99
(Loss) income from discontinued operations - - - (0.27) 0.42
Diluted net earnings (loss) per share $ 4.00 $ 5.03 $ 3.94 $ (0.13) $ 3.41
Weighted average shares outstanding - diluted 126,152 135,495 145,934 155,503 157,084
December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
(In thousands)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data(e)(f):
Total assets $ 4,890,347 $ 4,388,926 $ 5,136,049 $ 5,820,176 $ 6,390,227
Total equity 112,143 837,656 551,519 992,461 2,608,727
(a)The selected financial data for fiscal years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 has been adjusted to be presented on a continuing operations basis.
(b)The selected financial data for fiscal years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 has not been adjusted under the modified retrospective method of adoption of the revenue recognition standard.
(c)Cost of net revenues includes amortization and impairment of product related intangible assets of $32.8 million, $51.3 million, $47.1 million, $65.7 million, and $55.4 million in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.
(d)Operating expenses includes amortization and impairment of other intangible assets of $2.8 million, $15.9 million, $15.9 million, $17.2 million, and $15.1 million in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Operating expenses also include restructuring charges of $12.0 million, $22.2 million, $16.7 million, $72.4 million and $67.4 million in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.
(e)Balance Sheet amounts prior to 2017 include amounts for the GoTo Business.
(f)Balance Sheet amounts prior to 2019 have not been adjusted under the modified retrospective method of adoption of the lease accounting standard.

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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
Our operating results and financial condition have varied in the past and could in the future vary significantly depending on a number of factors. 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. See "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of certain risks and uncertainties that may cause these differences.
Overview
Citrix is an enterprise software company focused on helping organizations deliver a consistent and secure work experience no matter where work needs to get done - in the office, at home, or in the field. We do this by delivering a digital workspace solution that gives each employee the resources and space they need to do their best work. Our App Delivery and Security (formerly Networking) solutions, which can be consumed via hardware or software, complement our Workspace solutions by delivering the applications and data employees need across any network with security, reliability and speed.
Executive Summary
Our 2020 results reflect continued execution against our strategy - including strong demand for the Citrix Workspace and an acceleration of our customers adopting our cloud offerings to manage their workspace environments. We believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trends driving distributed teams and hybrid-work, emphasizing the importance of an organization’s ability to securely deliver all of the work resources employees need in one unified experience.
As we previously announced, we discontinued broad availability of perpetual licenses for Citrix Workspace beginning on October 1, 2020. Going forward, customers will have the option of acquiring new Citrix Workspace seats in the form of SaaS or on-premises subscription offerings. However, we will continue to support and renew existing maintenance contracts for the foreseeable future.
Through the first half of 2020, many customers focused on near-term business critical needs as their workforces adapted to remote work precipitated by the pandemic. As such, these customers have often chosen on-premises subscriptions rather than immediately migrating their Citrix Workspace deployments directly to the cloud. Primarily as a result of this near-term focus of customers on business critical needs and other cloud migration challenges, the transition of customers from on-premise to our cloud offerings did not progress during the first half of 2020 at the rate we had anticipated at the beginning of the year. To address the challenges in transitioning our customers to the cloud, we continue to invest in innovation and feature development, simplified cloud migration, and performance and reliability, as well as other cloud customer success initiatives. As we exited 2020, the transition of our customers to our cloud offerings had regained momentum.
Longer term, our subscription transition is expected to result in more sustainable, recurring revenue growth over time as less revenue comes from one-time product and licensing streams and more revenue comes from predictable, recurring streams that will be recognized in future periods. We believe that this dynamic is best captured in our Subscription and SaaS Annualized Recurring Revenue, or ARR.
This operating metric represents the contracted recurring value of all termed subscriptions normalized to a one-year period. It is calculated at the end of a reporting period by taking each contract’s recurring total contract value and dividing by the length of the contract. ARR includes only active contractually committed, fixed subscription fees. Our definition of ARR includes contracts expected to recur and therefore excludes contracts with durations of 12 months or less where licenses were issued to address extraordinary business continuity events for our customers. All contracts are annualized, including 30 day offerings where we take monthly recurring revenue multiplied by 12 to annualize. ARR may be influenced by seasonality within the year. ARR should be viewed independently of U.S. GAAP revenue, deferred revenue and unbilled revenue and is not intended to be combined with or to replace those items. ARR is not a forecast of future revenue. As we continue through this business model transition, we believe ARR is a key indicator of the overall health and trajectory of our business. Management uses ARR to monitor the growth of our subscription business.
On February 25, 2020, we issued $750.0 million of unsecured senior notes due March 1, 2030 (the “2030 Notes”). The net proceeds from this offering were approximately $738.1 million, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Net proceeds from this offering were primarily used to repay amounts outstanding under our $1.00 billion term loan credit facility (the “Term Loan Credit Agreement”).
On January 16, 2021, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike, a leader in the SaaS collaborative work management space, for $2.25 billion in cash. We expect to fund the transaction with a combination of new debt and existing
cash and investments and have obtained a commitment from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. for a $1.45 billion senior unsecured 364-day bridge loan facility (the “Bridge Facility”). We expect to replace the Bridge Facility prior to the closing of the acquisition of Wrike with permanent financing, which may include the issuance of debt securities and/or one or more senior term loan facilities, including the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement as described below. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Citrix and Wrike, is expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon closing of the transaction, we expect a favorable impact to fiscal year 2021 SaaS revenues and SaaS ARR, as well as increases in cost of net revenues and operating expenses.
On February 5, 2021, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (the “2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement”), which provides us with a facility to borrow a term loan on an unsecured basis in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.00 billion (the “2021 Term Loan”). The proceeds of borrowings under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement will be used to finance a portion of the purchase price to be paid in connection with the acquisition of Wrike.
On January 19, 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.37 per share, an increase of $0.02, payable March 26, 2021 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 12, 2021.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a pandemic, which continues to spread throughout the U.S. and the world. The impact from the rapidly changing market and economic conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain. It has disrupted the business of our customers and partners, has and will likely continue to impact our business and consolidated results of operations and could impact our financial condition in the future. While we have not incurred significant disruptions thus far from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to accurately predict the full impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have due to numerous uncertainties, including the potential emergence of new variants of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, actions that may be taken by governmental authorities, the impact to the business of our customers and partners and other factors identified in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We also believe that our financial resources will allow us to manage the anticipated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations for the foreseeable future, which could include reductions in revenue and delays in payments from customers and partners. However, we are continuing to monitor the situation and are reviewing our preparedness plans should we begin to experience material impacts.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on our Results
To provide a flexible solution to help our customers manage through this period, in the first quarter of 2020, we created a short-term on-premises term subscription license at discounted prices. This limited-use license program was intended to help our customers manage through the shock to the system created by the pandemic. We phased out this short-term license program at the end of April 2020. The contribution from this limited-use license program was not material for the remaining three quarters of 2020.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on our Outlook and Liquidity
With respect to 2021, the broader toll the COVID-19 pandemic may take on the global economy and the slope of the economic recovery is unknown. We believe that our solutions and our business model are resilient. Longer term, we believe this global health crisis will cause companies and their employees to change the way they think about remote work. We expect business continuity and risk mitigation to rise as areas of importance in boardroom discussions and on IT priority lists. We believe a greater number of employees will expect to continue to be able to work remotely, at least some of the time, even as social distancing restrictions abate.
Cash from operations, accounts receivable and revenues could also be affected by various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other risks detailed in Part I, Item 1A titled “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. However, based on our current revenue outlook, we believe that existing cash balances, together with funds generated from operations and amounts available under our revolving credit facility, will be sufficient to finance our operations and meet our foreseeable cash requirements through at least the next twelve months. We have availed ourselves of certain tax deferrals allowed pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security ("CARES") Act in the United States and certain tax deferrals in Switzerland, and may continue to do so in the future. We are evaluating the impact of global COVID-19-related laws and proposed laws, and while there is an impact on the timing of cash flow, no material impact to our financial results is expected as a result of legislation enacted to date. In addition, while the pandemic has not materially impacted our liquidity and capital resources to date, it has led to increased disruption and volatility in capital markets and credit markets which could adversely affect our liquidity and capital resources in the future.
Other Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
In March 2020, we directed our global workforce to work from home and severely limited all international and domestic travel. We have extended our paid time-off and sick leave benefits for employees directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or caring for children or a member of their household impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We provided $1,000 per employee below the Vice President level to cover expenses related to transitioning to a work from home environment, helping support local restaurants and small businesses or charities, or lessening any other potential hardship. We also offer local employee assistance program resources if needed. Certain of our offices have re-opened and we continue to monitor developments at the local level and follow mandates as required by law. For offices that have re-opened, we have implemented new protocols to ensure the safety of our employees, including face coverings, temperature checks, social distancing and capacity limits.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we held our largest customer and partner event, Synergy, as a series of virtual events, and we may deem it advisable to similarly alter, postpone or cancel additional customer, employee or industry events in the future.
We have also increased funding for corporate citizenship directed donations and created a relief recovery fund for the COVID-19 pandemic, doubled our charitable match for employee donations, continued to pay vendors no longer providing on-site services, and set up virtual volunteering opportunities.
Summary of Results
For the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, we delivered the following financial performance:
•Subscription revenue increased 71.3% to $1.11 billion;
•SaaS revenue increased 38.4% to $540.8 million;
•Product and license revenue decreased 23.8% to $444.4 million;
•Support and services revenue decreased 5.6% to $1.68 billion;
•Gross margin as a percentage of revenue remained consistent at 84.6%;
•Operating income increased 13.6% to $608.8 million;
•Diluted net income per share decreased from $5.03 to $4.00;
•Deferred and unbilled revenue increased $438.0 million to $2.94 billion;
•Subscription ARR increased $461.6 million to $1.20 billion;
•SaaS ARR increased $204.9 million to $724.6 million; and
•Operating cash flows increased $152.7 million to $935.8 million.
Our Subscription revenue increased primarily due to an increase in on-premise license demand from our Workspace offerings and our App Delivery and Security offerings, mostly from pooled capacity. Also contributing to the increase is continued customer adoption of our solutions delivered via the cloud, mostly from our Workspace offerings. Our Product and license revenue decreased primarily due to lower sales of our perpetual App Delivery and Security products and Workspace solutions as customers continue to shift to our subscription offerings. The decrease in Support and services revenue was primarily due to decreased sales of maintenance services across our perpetual App Delivery and Security and Workspace offerings, as more of the revenue is reported in the Subscription revenue line commensurate with our subscription model transition. We currently expect total revenue to decrease when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020, as the first quarter of 2020 included revenue directly attributable to business continuity needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When comparing the 2021 fiscal year to the 2020 fiscal year, we currently expect total revenue to increase. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue remained consistent. The increase in operating income was primarily due to an increase in gross margin, partially offset by higher operating expenses. The decrease in diluted net income per share was primarily due to an increase in income tax expense as a result of a benefit related to Swiss tax reform in 2019, partially offset by a decrease in the number of weighted average shares outstanding due to share repurchases and an increase in operating income. Both Subscription and SaaS ARR increased due to an increase in subscription sales.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent liabilities. We base these estimates on our historical
experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, and these estimates form the basis for our judgments concerning the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We periodically evaluate these estimates and judgments based on available information and experience. Actual results could differ from our estimates under different assumptions and conditions. If actual results significantly differ from our estimates, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially impacted.
We believe that the accounting policies described below are critical to understanding our business, results of operations and financial condition because they involve more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. An accounting policy is deemed to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and if different estimates that could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact our consolidated financial statements. We have discussed the development, selection and application of our critical accounting policies with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors and our independent auditors, and our Audit Committee has reviewed our disclosure relating to our critical accounting policies and estimates in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 describes the significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
We generate all of our revenues from contracts with customers. At contract inception, we assess the solutions or services, or bundles of solutions and services, obligated in the contract with a customer to identify each performance obligation within the contract, and then evaluate whether the performance obligations are capable of being distinct and distinct within the context of the contract. Solutions and services that are not both capable of being distinct and distinct within the context of the contract are combined and treated as a single performance obligation in determining the allocation and recognition of revenue.
The standalone selling price is the price at which we would sell a promised product or service separately to the customer. For the majority of our software licenses and hardware, CSP and on-premise subscription software licenses, we use the observable price in transactions with multiple performance obligations. For the majority of our support and services, and cloud-hosted subscription offerings, we use the observable price when we sell that support and service and cloud-hosted subscription separately to similar customers. If the standalone selling price for a performance obligation is not directly observable, we estimate it. We estimate the standalone selling price by taking into consideration market conditions, economics of the offering and customers’ behavior. We maximize the use of observable inputs and apply estimation methods consistently in similar circumstances. We allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis.
Revenues are recognized when control of the promised products or services are transferred to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for those products or services. See Note 2 and Note 3 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information on our revenue recognition.
Valuation and Classification of Investments
The authoritative guidance defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (an exit price). Our available-for-sale debt investments are measured to fair value on a recurring basis. In addition, we hold direct investments in privately-held companies which are accounted for at cost, less impairment plus or minus adjustments resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. These investments are periodically reviewed for impairment and when indicators of impairment exist, are measured to fair value as appropriate on a non-recurring basis. We also hold equity interests in certain private equity funds which are accounted for under the net asset value practical expedient. The net asset value of these investments is determined using quarterly capital statements from the funds which are based on our contributions to the funds, allocation of profit and loss and changes in fair value of the underlying fund investments. In determining the fair value of our investments, we are sometimes required to use various alternative valuation techniques. The authoritative guidance establishes a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that the most observable inputs be used when available.
The authoritative guidance establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value as follows: Level 1, observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities, Level 2,
inputs, other than quoted prices in active markets, that are observable either directly or indirectly, and Level 3, unobservable inputs in which there is little or no market data, which requires us to develop our own assumptions. Observable inputs are those that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability that are based on market data obtained from independent sources, such as market quoted prices. When Level 1 observable inputs for our investments are not available to determine their fair value, we must then use other inputs which may include indicative pricing for securities from the same issuer with similar terms, yield curve information, benchmark data, prepayment speeds and credit quality or unobservable inputs that reflect our estimates of the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the investments based on the best information available in the circumstances. When valuation techniques, other than those described as Level 1 are utilized, management must make estimations and judgments in determining the fair value for its investments. The degree to which management’s estimation and judgment is required is generally dependent upon the market pricing available for the investments, the availability of observable inputs, the frequency of trading in the investments and the investment’s complexity. If we make different judgments regarding unobservable inputs, we could potentially reach different conclusions regarding the fair value of our investments.
Effective January 1, 2020, we adopted the new credit losses standard which changed the impairment model for available-for-sale debt securities, eliminating the concept of other than temporary impairment and requiring credit losses to be recorded through an allowance for credit losses. The allowance for credit losses on our investments in available-for-sale debt securities is determined using a quantitative discounted cash flow analysis if impairment triggers exist after a qualitative screen is completed. Impairment on available-for-sale debt securities is determined on an individual security basis and the security is subject to impairment when its fair value declines below its amortized cost basis. If the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis, management must then determine whether it intends to sell the security or whether it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell the security before it recovers its value. If we intend to sell the security or will more-likely-than-not be required to sell the impaired security before it recovers its value, a credit loss is recorded to Other income (expense), net in the accompanying consolidated statements of income. If we do not intend to sell the security, nor will we more-likely-than-not be required to sell the security before the security recovers its value, we must then determine whether the loss is due to credit loss or other factors. For impairment indicators due to credit loss factors, we establish an allowance for credit losses with a charge to Other income (expense), net. For impairment indicators due to other factors, we record the loss with a charge to Other comprehensive income in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. See Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional information on the new credit losses standard.
For our investments in privately-held companies accounted for at cost, less impairment plus or minus adjustments resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or a similar investment of the same issuer, we periodically review for impairment and observable price changes on a quarterly basis, and adjust the carrying value accordingly. See Notes 4, 5 and 6 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for more information on our investments.
Intangible Assets
We have product related technology assets and other intangible assets from acquisitions and other third party agreements. We allocate the purchase price of intangible assets acquired through third party agreements based on their estimated relative fair values. We allocate a portion of the purchase price of acquired companies to the product related technology assets and other intangible assets acquired based on their estimated fair values. We typically engage third party appraisal firms to assist us in determining the fair values and useful lives of product related technology assets and other intangible assets acquired. Such valuations and useful life determinations require us to make significant estimates and assumptions. These estimates are based on historical experience and information obtained from the management of the acquired companies and are inherently uncertain. Critical estimates in determining the fair value and useful lives of the product related technology assets include, but are not limited to, future expected cash flows earned from the product related technology and discount rates applied in determining the present value of those cash flows. Critical estimates in valuing certain other intangible assets include, but are not limited to, future expected cash flows from customer contracts, customer retention rates, customer lists, distribution agreements, patents, brand awareness and market position, as well as discount rates.
Management's estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable. Unanticipated events and circumstances may occur which may affect the accuracy or validity of such assumptions, estimates or actual results.
We monitor acquired intangible assets for impairment on a periodic basis by reviewing for indicators of impairment. If an indicator exists, we compare the estimated net realizable value to the carrying value of the intangible asset as of the reporting period. The recoverability of the intangible assets is primarily dependent upon our ability to commercialize solutions utilizing the acquired technologies, retain existing customers and customer contracts, and maintain brand awareness. The estimated net realizable value of the acquired intangible assets is based on the estimated undiscounted future cash flows derived from such intangible assets. Our assumptions about future revenues and expenses require significant judgment associated with the forecast
of the performance of our solutions, customer retention rates and ability to secure and maintain our market position. Actual revenues and costs could vary significantly from these forecasted amounts. If these solutions are not ultimately accepted by our customers and distributors, and there is no alternative future use for the technology; or if we fail to retain acquired customers or successfully market acquired brands, we could determine that some or all of the remaining $81.5 million carrying value of our acquired intangible assets is impaired. In the event of impairment, we would record an impairment charge to earnings that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
Goodwill
The excess of the fair value of the purchase price over the fair values of the identifiable assets and liabilities from our acquisitions is recorded as goodwill. At December 31, 2020, we had $1.80 billion in goodwill related to our acquisitions under one reportable unit. Our revenues are derived from sales of our Workspace solutions and App Delivery and Security products, and related support. See Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional information regarding our reportable segment.
We account for goodwill in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board's authoritative guidance, which requires that goodwill and certain intangible assets are not amortized, but are subject to an annual impairment test. We complete our goodwill and certain intangible assets impairment tests on an annual basis, during the fourth quarter of our fiscal year, or more frequently, if changes in facts and circumstances indicate that an impairment in the value of goodwill and certain intangible assets recorded on our balance sheet may exist.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, we performed a qualitative assessment to determine whether further quantitative impairment testing for goodwill and certain intangible assets is necessary, and we refer to this assessment as the Qualitative Screen. In performing the Qualitative Screen, we are required to make assumptions and judgments including but not limited to the following: the evaluation of macroeconomic conditions as related to our business, industry and market trends, and the overall future financial performance of our reporting unit and future opportunities in the markets in which it operates. If after performing the Qualitative Screen impairment indicators are present, we would perform a quantitative impairment test to estimate the fair value of goodwill and certain intangible assets. In doing so, we would estimate future revenue, consider market factors and estimate our future cash flows. Based on these key assumptions, judgments and estimates, we determine whether we need to record an impairment charge to reduce the value of the goodwill and certain intangible assets carried on our balance sheet to their estimated fair value. Assumptions, judgments and estimates about future values are complex and often subjective and can be affected by a variety of factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy or our internal forecasts. Although we believe the assumptions, judgments and estimates we have made have been reasonable and appropriate, different assumptions, judgments and estimates could materially affect our results of operations. As a result of the Qualitative Screen, no further quantitative impairment test was deemed necessary. There was no impairment of goodwill as a result of the annual impairment tests completed during the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2019.
Income Taxes
We are required to estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate as part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements. At December 31, 2020, we had $383.3 million in net deferred tax assets. The authoritative guidance requires a valuation allowance to reduce the deferred tax assets reported if, based on the weight of the evidence, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. We review deferred tax assets periodically for recoverability and make estimates and judgments regarding the expected geographic sources of taxable income and gains from investments, as well as tax planning strategies in assessing the need for a valuation allowance. At December 31, 2020, we determined that a $151.8 million valuation allowance relating to deferred tax assets for net operating losses and tax credits was necessary. If the estimates and assumptions used in our determination change in the future, we could be required to revise our estimates of the valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets and adjust our provisions for additional income taxes.
In the ordinary course of global business, there are transactions for which the ultimate tax outcome is uncertain; thus judgment is required in determining the worldwide provision for income taxes. We provide for income taxes on transactions based on our estimate of the probable liability. We adjust our provision as appropriate for changes that impact our underlying judgments. Changes that impact provision estimates include such items as jurisdictional interpretations on tax filing positions based on the results of tax audits and general tax authority rulings. Due to the evolving nature of tax rules combined with the large number of jurisdictions in which we operate, it is possible that our estimates of our tax liability and the realizability of our deferred tax assets could change in the future, which may result in additional tax liabilities and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
Results of Operations
In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to the year ended December 31, 2018, please refer to Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 which was filed with the SEC on February 14, 2020.
The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of income data and presentation of that data as a percentage of change from year-to-year (in thousands other than percentages):
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
Revenues:
Subscription $ 1,114,798 $ 650,810 $ 455,276 71.3 % 42.9 %
Product and license 444,437 583,474 734,495 (23.8) (20.6)
Support and services 1,677,465 1,776,280 1,784,132 (5.6) (0.4)
Total net revenues 3,236,700 3,010,564 2,973,903 7.5 1.2
Cost of net revenues:
Cost of subscription, support and services 389,612 310,255 266,495 25.6 16.4
Cost of product and license revenues 76,152 102,452 120,249 (25.7) (14.8)
Amortization and impairment of product related intangible assets 32,782 51,340 47,059 (36.1) 9.1
Total cost of net revenues 498,546 464,047 433,803 7.4 7.0
Gross margin 2,738,154 2,546,517 2,540,100 7.5 0.3
Operating expenses:
Research and development 538,080 518,877 439,984 3.7 17.9
Sales, marketing and services 1,224,377 1,132,956 1,074,234 8.1 5.5
General and administrative 352,109 320,429 315,343 9.9 1.6
Amortization of other intangible assets 2,799 15,890 15,854 (82.4) 0.2
Restructuring 11,981 22,247 16,725 (46.1) 33.0
Total operating expenses 2,129,346 2,010,399 1,862,140 5.9 8.0
Income from operations 608,808 536,118 677,960 13.6 (20.9)
Interest income 3,108 18,280 40,030 (83.0) (54.3)
Interest expense (64,687) (45,974) (80,162) 40.7 (42.6)
Other income (expense), net 7,651 1,076 (8,373) * *
Income before income taxes 554,880 509,500 629,455 8.9 (19.1)
Income tax (benefit) expense 50,434 (172,313) 53,788 * *
Net income $ 504,446 $ 681,813 $ 575,667 (26.0) % 18.4 %
* Not meaningful
Revenues
Net revenues include Subscription, Product and license and Support and services revenues.
Subscription revenue relates to fees for SaaS, which are generally recognized ratably over the contractual term, and non-SaaS, which are generally recognized at a point in time. SaaS primarily consists of subscriptions delivered via a cloud-hosted service whereby the customer does not take possession of the software, hybrid subscription offerings and the related support. Non-SaaS consists primarily of on-premise licensing, hybrid subscription offerings, CSP services and the related support. Our hybrid subscription offerings are allocated between SaaS and non-SaaS. In addition, our CSP program provides subscription-based services in which the CSP partners host software services to their end users. The fees from the CSP program are recognized based on usage and as the CSP services are provided to their end users.
Product and license revenue primarily represents fees related to the perpetual licensing of the following major solutions:
•Workspace is primarily comprised of our Application Virtualization solutions, which include Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, our unified endpoint management solutions, which include Citrix Endpoint Management, Citrix Content Collaboration, and Citrix Workspace; and
•App Delivery and Security products, which primarily include Citrix ADC and Citrix SD-WAN.
We offer incentive programs to our VADs and VARs to stimulate demand for our solutions. Product and license and Subscription revenues associated with these programs are partially offset by these incentives to our VADs and VARs.
Support and services revenue consists of maintenance and support fees primarily related to our perpetual offerings and include the following:
•Customer Success Services, which gives customers a choice of tiered support offerings that combine the elements of technical support, product version upgrades, guidance, enablement and proactive monitoring to help our customers and our partners fully realize their business goals. Fees associated with this offering are recognized ratably over the term of the contract; and
•Hardware Maintenance fees for our perpetual App Delivery and Security products, which include technical support and hardware and software maintenance, are recognized ratably over the contract term; and
•Fees from consulting services related to the implementation of our solutions, which are recognized as the services are provided; and
•Fees from product training and certification, which are recognized as the services are provided.
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Revenues:
Subscription $ 1,114,798 $ 650,810 $ 455,276 $ 463,988 $ 195,534
Product and license 444,437 583,474 734,495 (139,037) (151,021)
Support and services 1,677,465 1,776,280 1,784,132 (98,815) (7,852)
Total net revenues $ 3,236,700 $ 3,010,564 $ 2,973,903 $ 226,136 $ 36,661
Subscription
Subscription revenue increased during 2020 compared to 2019 primarily due to an increase in on-premise license demand of $314.0 million, mostly from Workspace offerings of $191.7 million and our App Delivery and Security offerings of $122.3 million, mainly from pooled capacity. Also contributing to the increase is continued customer cloud adoption of our solutions delivered via the cloud of $150.0 million, primarily from Workspace offerings. We currently expect our Subscription revenue to increase when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020 due to our continued transition to a subscription-based business model.
Product and license
Product and license revenue decreased during 2020 when compared to 2019 primarily due to a decrease in sales of our perpetual App Delivery and Security products of $110.5 million and a decrease in sales of our perpetual Workspace solutions of $28.5 million as customers continue to shift to our subscription offerings. We currently expect Product and license revenue to decrease when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020 as customers continue to shift to our subscription offerings and away from our App Delivery and Security hardware products, as well as our decision to discontinue offering new perpetual licenses for Citrix Workspace beginning on October 1, 2020.
Support and services
Support and services revenue decreased when comparing 2020 to 2019 primarily due to a decrease in sales of maintenance services across our App Delivery and Security perpetual offerings of $40.2 million and Workspace perpetual offerings of $39.1 million, as more of the revenue is reported in the Subscription revenue line commensurate with our subscription model transition. We currently expect Support and services revenue to decrease when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020 as customers continue to shift to our subscription offerings.
Deferred Revenue, Unbilled Revenue and Backlog
Deferred revenue is primarily comprised of Support and services revenue from maintenance fees, which include software and hardware maintenance, technical support related to our perpetual offerings and services revenue related to our consulting contracts. Deferred revenue also includes Subscription revenue from our Content Collaboration and cloud-based subscription offerings, as well as on-premise subscription offerings.
Deferred revenue consists of billings or payments received in advance of revenue recognition and is recognized in our consolidated balance sheets and statements of income as the revenue recognition criteria are met. Unbilled revenue primarily represents future billings under our subscription agreements that have not been invoiced and, accordingly, are not recorded in accounts receivable or deferred revenue within our consolidated financial statements. Deferred revenue and unbilled revenue are influenced by several factors, including new business seasonality within the year, the specific timing, size and duration of customer subscription agreements, annual billing cycles of subscription agreements, and invoice timing. Fluctuations in unbilled revenue may not be a reliable indicator of future performance and the related revenue associated with these contractual commitments.
The following table presents the amounts of deferred and unbilled revenue (in thousands):
December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 2020 vs. 2019
Deferred revenue $ 1,902,576 $ 1,795,791 $ 106,785
Unbilled revenue 1,036,072 704,829 331,243
Deferred revenues increased approximately $106.8 million as of December 31, 2020 compared to December 31, 2019 primarily due to an increase from subscription of $223.5 million, mostly from our cloud-based subscription offerings of $127.6 million and on-premise subscription license updates and maintenance of $125.3 million. These increases are partially offset by a decrease in maintenance and support of $117.6 million, mostly from Workspace perpetual software maintenance of $63.1 million and App Delivery and Security perpetual hardware maintenance of $49.7 million. Unbilled revenue as of December 31, 2020 increased $331.2 million from December 31, 2019 primarily due to increased customer adoption of multi-year subscription agreements.
While it is generally our practice to promptly ship our products upon receipt of properly finalized orders, at any given time, we have confirmed product license orders that have not shipped and are wholly unfulfilled. Backlog includes the aggregate amounts we expect to recognize as point in time revenue in the following quarter associated with contractually committed amounts for on-premise subscription software licenses, as well as confirmed product license orders that have not shipped and are wholly unfulfilled. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the amount of backlog was not material. We do not believe that backlog, as of any particular date, is a reliable indicator of future performance.
International Revenues
International revenues (sales outside the United States) accounted for 50.5% and 48.2% of our net revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The change in our international revenues as a percentage of our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily due to higher revenues in our EMEA region, mainly from Subscription. For detailed information on international revenues, please refer to Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Cost of Net Revenues
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Cost of subscription, support and services $ 389,612 $ 310,255 $ 266,495 $ 79,357 $ 43,760
Cost of product and license revenues 76,152 102,452 120,249 (26,300) (17,797)
Amortization and impairment of product related intangible assets 32,782 51,340 47,059 (18,558) 4,281
Total cost of net revenues $ 498,546 $ 464,047 $ 433,803 $ 34,499 $ 30,244
Cost of subscription, support and services revenues consists primarily of compensation and other personnel-related costs of providing technical support, consulting and cloud capacity costs, as well as the costs related to providing our offerings delivered via the cloud and hardware costs related to certain on-premise subscription offerings. Cost of product and license revenues consists primarily of hardware, shipping expense, royalties, product media and duplication, manuals and packaging materials. Also included in cost of net revenues is amortization and impairment of product related intangible assets.
Cost of subscription, support and services revenues increased during 2020 when compared to 2019 primarily due to an increase in costs related to providing our subscription offerings. We currently expect cost of subscription, support and services revenues to increase when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020, consistent with the expected increases in Subscription revenue as discussed above.
Cost of product and license revenues decreased during 2020 when compared to 2019 primarily due to lower overall sales of our perpetual App Delivery and Security products, which contain hardware components that have a higher cost than our software products. We currently expect cost of product and license revenues to decrease when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020, consistent with the expected decrease in product and license revenue.
Amortization and impairment of product related intangible assets decreased during 2020 as compared to 2019 primarily due to the impairments of certain acquired intangible assets, primarily developed technology, in 2019.
Gross Margin
Gross margin as a percent of revenue was 84.6% for 2020 and 2019. Gross margin as a percent of revenue remained consistent during 2020 as compared to 2019.
Operating Expenses
Foreign Currency Impact on Operating Expenses
The functional currency for all of our wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries is the U.S. dollar. A substantial majority of our overseas operating expenses and capital purchasing activities are transacted in local currencies and are therefore subject to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. In order to minimize the impact on our operating results, we generally initiate our hedging of currency exchange risks up to 12 months in advance of anticipated foreign currency expenses. Generally, when the dollar is weak, foreign currency denominated expenses will be higher, and these higher expenses will be partially offset by the gains realized from our hedging contracts. Conversely, if the dollar is strong, foreign currency denominated expenses will be lower. These lower expenses will in turn be partially offset by the losses incurred from our hedging contracts. There is a risk that there will be fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates beyond the time frame for which we hedge our risk.
Research and Development Expenses
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Research and development $ 538,080 $ 518,877 $ 439,984 $ 19,203 $ 78,893
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel related costs and facility and equipment costs directly related to our research and development activities. We expensed substantially all development costs included in the research and development of our products.
Research and development expenses increased during 2020 as compared to 2019 primarily due to compensation and other employee-related costs of $12.2 million due to a net increase in headcount, and an increase in professional fees of $4.5 million.
Sales, Marketing and Services Expenses
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Sales, marketing and services $ 1,224,377 $ 1,132,956 $ 1,074,234 $ 91,421 $ 58,722
Sales, marketing and services expenses consist primarily of personnel related costs, including sales commissions, pre-sales support, the costs of marketing programs aimed at increasing revenue, such as brand development, advertising, trade shows, public relations and other market development programs and costs related to our facilities, equipment, information systems and pre-sale demonstration related cloud capacity costs that are directly related to our sales, marketing and services activities.
Sales, marketing and services expenses increased during 2020 compared to 2019 primarily due to the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, which included an increase in variable compensation of $80.0 million driven by an increase in demand of limited use licenses and ongoing business continuity sales, and an increase in marketing programs of $23.1 million due to our new brand launch. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in costs of $12.6 million related to the cancellation of in-person events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including our largest customer and partner event, Synergy, and replacing them with virtual events or postponing to future periods.
General and Administrative Expenses
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
General and administrative $ 352,109 $ 320,429 $ 315,343 $ 31,680 $ 5,086
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel related costs and expenses related to outside consultants assisting with information systems, as well as accounting and legal fees.
General and administrative expenses increased during 2020 compared to 2019 primarily due to increases in compensation and other employee-related costs of $18.2 million related to a net increase in headcount, stock-based compensation of $15.8 million, and credit loss expense of $8.5 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in professional fees of $7.2 million.
Amortization of Other Intangible Assets
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Amortization of other intangible assets $ 2,799 $ 15,890 $ 15,854 $ (13,091) $ 36
Amortization of other intangible assets consists of amortization of customer relationships, trade names and covenants not to compete primarily related to our acquisitions.
The decrease in Amortization of other intangible assets when comparing 2020 to 2019 was primarily due to certain intangible assets becoming fully amortized in 2019.
For more information regarding our intangible assets, see Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Restructuring Expenses
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Restructuring $ 11,981 $ 22,247 $ 16,725 $ (10,266) $ 5,522
Restructuring expenses decreased during 2020 compared to 2019, primarily due to a net decrease in employee severance and related costs of $16.5 million, as well as the consolidation of certain leased facilities of $2.7 million during 2019, partially offset by the impairment of a right-of-use asset related to a restructuring facility of $8.9 million as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic during the year ended December 31, 2020.
For more information regarding our restructuring, see Note 17 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
2021 Operating Expense Outlook
When comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020, we currently expect operating expenses to slightly increase.
Interest income
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Interest income $ 3,108 $ 18,280 $ 40,030 $ (15,172) $ (21,750)
Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on our cash, cash equivalents and investment balances. Interest income decreased during 2020 compared to 2019 primarily due to lower average balances of cash, cash equivalents and investments as a result of the repayment of the outstanding principal balance of our 0.500% Convertible Notes due 2019 (the “Convertible Notes”) on April 15, 2019, as well as lower yields on investments, due to lower interest rates. For more information regarding our investments, see Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Interest Expense
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Interest expense $ (64,687) $ (45,974) $ (80,162) $ (18,713) $ 34,188
Interest expense primarily consists of interest paid on our 2027 and 2030 Notes, Term Loan Credit Agreement and our credit facility. When comparing 2020 and 2019, the increase is primarily due to interest expense from our outstanding 2030 Notes and Term Loan Credit Agreement of $29.5 million, partially offset by a decrease in interest expense from our Convertible Notes of $10.8 million due to the repayment of the outstanding principal balance on April 15, 2019. We currently expect interest expense to increase when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2020 and the fiscal year 2021 to the fiscal year 2020, in anticipation of financing related to the proposed acquisition of Wrike.
For more information regarding our debt and proposed acquisition, see Note 13 and Note 19, respectively, to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Other income (expense), net
Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 2019 vs. 2018
2020 2019 2018
(In thousands)
Other income (expense), net $ 7,651 $ 1,076 $ (8,373) $ 6,575 $ 9,449
Other income (expense), net is primarily comprised of gains (losses) from remeasurement of foreign currency transactions, sublease income, realized losses related to changes in the fair value of our investments that have a decline in fair value and recognized gains (losses) related to our investments, which was not material for all periods presented.
The change in Other income (expense), net when comparing 2020 to 2019 is primarily driven by the remeasurement and settlement of foreign currency transactions.
Income Taxes
We are required to estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate as part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements. We maintain certain strategic management and operational activities in overseas subsidiaries and our foreign earnings are taxed at rates that are generally lower than in the United States.
Our effective tax rate generally differs from the U.S. federal statutory rate primarily due to tax credits and lower tax rates on earnings generated by our foreign operations that are taxed primarily in Switzerland.
Our effective tax rate was approximately 9.1% for the year ended December 31, 2020 and (33.8)% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in the effective tax rate when comparing the year ended December 31, 2020 to the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily due to tax items unique to the year ended December 31, 2019. The 2019 unique tax items include tax benefits of $112.1 million and $99.9 million attributable to the cantonal and federal impact of the Swiss Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing ("TRAF"), respectively.
We are subject to tax in the U.S. and in multiple foreign tax jurisdictions. Our U.S. liquidity needs are currently satisfied using cash flows generated from our U.S. operations, borrowings, or both. We also utilize a variety of tax planning strategies in an effort to ensure that our worldwide cash is available in locations in which it is needed. We expect to repatriate a substantial portion of our foreign earnings over time, to the extent that the foreign earnings are not restricted by local laws or result in significant incremental costs associated with repatriating the foreign earnings. See Note 11 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for income tax information.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
During 2020, we generated operating cash flows of $935.8 million. These operating cash flows related primarily to net income of $504.4 million, adjusted for, among other things, non-cash charges, including stock-based compensation expense of $307.7 million and depreciation and amortization expenses of $207.9 million. Partially offsetting these changes was a change in operating assets and liabilities of $88.7 million, net of effects of acquisitions. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily a result of an outflow in accounts receivable of $151.8 million mostly due to an increase in sales, an outflow in other assets of $119.8 million mostly due to an increase in capitalized commissions from higher subscription sales and an outflow in income taxes, net of $51.5 million. These outflows were partially offset by an inflow in accrued expenses of $161.5 million, primarily due to increases in employee-related accruals and an inflow in deferred revenue of $106.8 million. Our investing activities used $138.3 million of cash consisting primarily of net purchases of investments of $88.3 million and cash paid for the purchase of property and equipment of $41.4 million. Our financing activities used cash of $595.2 million, primarily for stock repurchases of $1.29 billion, cash dividends paid on common stock of $172.0 million and cash paid for tax withholding on vested stock awards of $121.7 million. These outflows are partially offset by net proceeds from the issuance of our 2030 Notes of $738.1 million and net borrowings from our Term Loan Credit Agreement of $248.8 million.
During 2019, we generated operating cash flows of $783.1 million. These operating cash flows related primarily to net income of $681.8 million, adjusted for, among other things, non-cash charges, including stock-based compensation expense of $278.9 million, depreciation and amortization expenses of $139.3 million and amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets of $50.2 million. Partially offsetting these changes was a deferred income tax benefit of $244.9 million and a change in operating assets and liabilities of $190.5 million, net of effects of acquisitions. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily a result of an outflow in other assets of $74.2 million mostly due to an increase in capitalized commissions from higher subscription sales, an outflow in accounts receivable of $39.0 million mostly due to an increase in sales and changes in deferred revenue of $38.8 million. Our investing activities provided $1.04 billion of cash consisting primarily of net proceeds from investments of $1.10 billion, partially offset by cash paid for the purchase of property and equipment of $63.5 million. Our financing activities used cash of $1.89 billion, primarily for the cash repayment of the outstanding principal balance of our Convertible Notes of $1.16 billion, stock repurchases of $453.9 million, repayment of borrowings under our credit facility of $200.0 million, cash dividends paid on common stock of $182.9 million and cash paid for tax withholding on vested stock awards of $89.2 million. These outflows are partially offset by borrowings from our credit facility of $200.0 million.
Term Loan Credit Agreement
On January 21, 2020, we entered into a $1.00 billion Term Loan Credit Agreement, consisting of a $500.0 million 364-day term loan facility (the “364-day Term Loan”), and a $500.0 million 3-year term loan facility (the “3-year Term Loan”). During the year ended December 31, 2020, we used borrowings from the Term Loan Credit Agreement to enter into an aggregate $1.00 billion accelerated share repurchase transaction.
Senior Notes
On February 25, 2020, we issued $750.0 million of unsecured senior notes due March 1, 2030, or the 2030 Notes. The 2030 Notes accrue interest at a rate of 3.300% per annum, which is due semi-annually on March 1 and September 1 of each year, beginning on September 1, 2020. The net proceeds from this offering were $738.1 million.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we used the net proceeds from the 2030 Notes and cash to repay $500.0 million under the 364-day Term Loan and $250.0 million under the 3-year Term Loan. As of December 31, 2020, $250.0 million was outstanding under the 3-year Term Loan.
On November 15, 2017, we issued $750.0 million of unsecured senior notes due December 1, 2027, or the 2027 Notes. The 2027 Notes accrue interest at a rate of 4.500% per annum, which is due semi-annually on June 1 and December 1 of each year.
Credit Facility
On November 26, 2019, we entered into a $250.0 million five-year unsecured revolving credit facility under an amended and restated credit agreement, or the Credit Agreement. We may elect to increase the revolving credit facility by up to $250.0 million if existing or new lenders provide additional revolving commitments in accordance with the terms of the Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2020, no amounts were outstanding under the credit facility.
Bridge Facility, Take-Out Facility Commitment Letter and 2021 Credit Facility
On January 16, 2021, we entered into a bridge facility and take-out facility commitment letter (the “Commitment Letter”) pursuant to which JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., has (1) committed to provide a senior unsecured 364-day term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.45 billion to finance the cash consideration for our pending acquisition of Wrike in the event that permanent debt financing is not available on or prior to the closing and (2) agreed to use commercially reasonably efforts to assemble a syndicate of lenders to provide the necessary commitments for the senior term loan facility. We currently expect to replace the bridge facility prior to the closing of the acquisition with permanent financing, which may include the issuance of debt securities and/or one or more senior term loan facilities, including the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement as described below; however, such permanent financing may not be available in the timeframe expected or on favorable terms. The commitment is subject to customary terms and conditions precedent for such borrowing as set forth in the Commitment Letter, including, among others, the execution and delivery of definitive documentation consistent with the Commitment Letter.
On February 5, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), we entered into the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and the other lenders party thereto from time to time (collectively, the “2021 Lenders”). The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement provides us with a facility to borrow a term loan on an unsecured basis in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.00 billion. The 2021 Term Loan is available to be made by the 2021 Lenders from the Closing Date through July 8, 2021, in a single borrowing, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement. The 2021 Term Loan matures on the date that is three years after the 2021 Term Loan is drawn. The proceeds of borrowings under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement will be used to finance a portion of the purchase price to be paid in connection with the acquisition of Wrike.
See Notes 9, 13 and 19 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional details on the accelerated share repurchase, debt agreements, the Commitment Letter and the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement, respectively.
Historically, significant portions of our cash inflows were generated by our operations. We currently expect this trend to continue in 2021. We believe that our existing cash and investments together with cash flows expected from operations will be sufficient to meet expected operating and capital expenditure requirements and service our debt obligations for the next 12 months. For additional information, see section titled Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic above. We continue to search for suitable acquisition candidates and could acquire or make investments in companies we believe are related to our strategic objectives. We could from time to time continue to seek to raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity securities for larger acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments
December 31, 2020 vs. 2019
2020 2019
(In thousands)
Cash, cash equivalents and investments $ 891,373 $ 605,456 $ 285,917
The increase in cash, cash equivalents and investments at December 31, 2020 as compared to December 31, 2019, is primarily due to cash received from debt offerings, net of repayments of $987.0 million and cash provided from operating activities of $935.8 million, partially offset by the cash paid for stock repurchases of $1.29 billion, cash dividends paid on common stock of $172.0 million, cash paid for tax withholding on vested stock awards of $121.7 million and purchases of property and equipment of $41.4 million. As of December 31, 2020, $350.7 million of the $891.4 million of cash, cash equivalents and investments was held by our foreign subsidiaries. Under current U.S. federal tax law, the cash, cash equivalents and investments held by our foreign subsidiaries can be repatriated without incurring any additional U.S. federal tax. Upon repatriation of these funds, we could be subject to foreign and U.S. state income taxes, as well as additional foreign withholding taxes. The amount of taxes due is dependent on the amount and manner of the repatriation, as well as the locations from which the funds are repatriated and received. We generally invest our cash and cash equivalents in investment grade, highly liquid securities to allow for flexibility in the event of immediate cash needs. Our short-term and long-term investments primarily consist of interest-bearing securities.
Stock Repurchase Program
Our Board of Directors authorized an ongoing stock repurchase program, of which $1.00 billion was approved in January 2020. We may use the approved dollar authority to repurchase stock at any time until the approved amounts are exhausted. The objective of the stock repurchase program is to improve stockholders’ returns and mitigate earnings per share dilution posed by the issuance of shares related to employee equity compensation awards. At December 31, 2020, $625.6 million was available to repurchase common stock pursuant to the stock repurchase program. All shares repurchased are recorded as treasury stock.
On January 30, 2020, we used the proceeds from the Term Loan Credit Agreement and entered into accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) transactions with a group of dealers for an aggregate amount of $1.00 billion. Under the ASR transactions, we received an initial share delivery of 6.5 million shares of its common stock in January 2020 and received delivery of an additional 0.8 million shares of its common stock in August 2020 in final settlement of the ASR Agreement.
In addition to the ASR transactions, during the year ended December 31, 2020, we expended $288.5 million on open market purchases under the stock repurchase program, repurchasing 2.5 million shares of outstanding common stock at an average price of $116.40. We also withheld 893,479 shares from equity awards that vested to satisfy tax withholding obligations that arose on the vesting of equity awards of $121.7 million. These shares are reflected as treasury stock in our consolidated balance sheets included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
See Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for additional details on the ASR and treasury stock.
Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Contractual Obligations
The following table summarizes our significant contractual obligations at December 31, 2020 and the future periods in which such obligations are expected to be settled in cash. Additional details regarding these obligations are provided in the notes to our consolidated financial statements (in thousands):
Payments due by period
Total Less than 1 Year 1-3 Years 3-5 Years More than 5 Years
Operating lease obligations $ 276,283 $ 57,981 $ 98,210 $ 82,657 $ 37,435
Total long-term debt(1)
1,750,000 - 250,000 - 1,500,000
Purchase obligations(2)
978,695 47,943 - - 930,752
Transition tax payable(3)
259,391 27,304 78,500 153,587 -
Total contractual obligations(4)
$ 3,264,369 $ 133,228 $ 426,710 $ 236,244 $ 2,468,187
(1)The amount above represents the balances to be repaid under our 2027 Notes, 2030 Notes, and Term Loan Credit Agreement. See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information.
(2)Purchase obligations represent non-cancelable commitments to purchase inventory ordered before year-end 2021 of approximately $8.8 million and a contingent obligation to purchase inventory of approximately $19.9 million. It also includes a remaining purchase obligation for our use of certain cloud services with one third-party provider of $950.0 million, of which $19.3 million is due in less than one year. See Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information.
(3)Represents transition tax payable on deemed repatriation of deferred foreign income incurred as a result of the 2017 Tax Act. See Note 11 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information.
(4)Total contractual obligations do not include agreements where our commitment is variable in nature or where cancellations without payment provisions exist and excludes $74.7 million of liabilities related to uncertain tax positions recorded in accordance with authoritative guidance, because we could not make reasonably reliable estimates of the period or amount of cash settlement with the respective taxing authorities. See Note 11 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information.
As of December 31, 2020, we did not have any individually material finance lease obligations or other material long-term commitments reflected on our consolidated balance sheets.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any special purpose entities or off-balance sheet financing arrangements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
The following discussion about our market risk includes “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The analysis methods we used to assess and mitigate risk discussed below should not be considered projections of future events, gains or losses.
We are exposed to financial market risks, including changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates that could adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. To mitigate foreign currency risk, we utilize derivative financial instruments. The counterparties to our derivative instruments are major financial institutions. All of the potential changes noted below are based on sensitivity analyses performed on our financial position as of December 31, 2020. Actual results could differ materially.
Discussions of our accounting policies for derivatives and hedging activities are included in Notes 2 and 14 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Exposure to Exchange Rates
A substantial majority of our overseas expense and capital purchasing activities are transacted in local currencies, including Euros, British pounds sterling, Japanese yen, Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Indian rupees, Hong Kong dollars, Canadian dollars, Singapore dollars and Chinese yuan renminbi. To reduce the volatility of future cash flows caused by changes in currency exchange rates, we have established a hedging program. We use foreign currency forward contracts to hedge certain forecasted foreign currency expenditures. Our hedging program significantly reduces, but does not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements.
At December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had in place foreign currency forward sale contracts with a notional amount of $317.9 million and $285.9 million, respectively, and foreign currency forward purchase contracts with a notional amount of $149.7 million and $154.8 million, respectively. At December 31, 2020, these contracts had an aggregate fair value asset of $2.6 million and at December 31, 2019, these contracts had an aggregate fair value liability of $0.4 million. Based on a hypothetical 10% appreciation of the U.S. dollar from December 31, 2020 market rates, the fair value of our foreign currency forward contracts would increase by $14.0 million. Conversely, a hypothetical 10% depreciation of the U.S. dollar from December 31, 2020 market rates would decrease the fair value of our foreign currency forward contracts by $14.0 million. In these hypothetical movements, foreign operating costs would move in the opposite direction. This calculation assumes that each exchange rate would change in the same direction relative to the U.S. dollar. In addition to the direct effects of changes in exchange rates quantified above, changes in exchange rates could also change the dollar value of sales and affect the volume of sales as the prices of our competitors’ products become more or less attractive. We do not anticipate any material adverse impact to our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows as a result of these foreign exchange forward contracts.
Exposure to Interest Rates
We have interest rate exposures resulting from our interest-based available-for-sale investments. We maintain available-for-sale investments in debt securities and we limit the amount of credit exposure to any one issuer or type of instrument. The securities in our investment portfolio are not leveraged. The securities classified as available-for-sale are subject to interest rate risk. The modeling technique used measures the change in fair values arising from an immediate hypothetical shift in market interest rates and assumes that ending fair values include principal plus accrued interest and reinvestment income. If market interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from December 31, 2020 and 2019 levels, the fair value of the available-for-sale portfolio would decline by approximately $0.6 million and $0.4 million, respectively. If market interest rates were to decrease by 100 basis points from December 31, 2020 and 2019 levels, the fair value of the available-for-sale portfolio would increase by approximately $0.2 million and $0.4 million, respectively. These amounts are determined by considering the impact of the hypothetical interest rate movements on our available-for-sale investment portfolios. This analysis does not consider the effect of credit risk as a result of the changes in overall economic activity that could exist in such an environment.
We are also exposed to the impact of changes in interest rates as they affect our Term Loan Credit Agreement, which bears interest at a rate equal to either a customary base rate formula plus an applicable margin or LIBOR plus an applicable margin. As of December 31, 2020, we had $250.0 million outstanding under the Term Loan Credit Agreement. Because interest rates applicable to the Term Loan Credit Agreement are variable, we are exposed to market risk from changes in the underlying index rates, which affects our interest expense. A hypothetical increase of 100 basis points in interest rates would result in an increase in interest expense of $2.5 million.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Our consolidated financial statements, together with the report of independent registered public accounting firm, appear at pages through of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

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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, 2020, our management, with the participation of our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of December 31, 2020, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective in ensuring that material information required to be disclosed 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 Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, including ensuring that such material information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our President and Chief Executive Officer and our 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, 2020, 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.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Our internal control system was designed to provide reasonable assurance to our management and the Board of Directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in 2013, or the COSO criteria. Based on our assessment we believe that, as of December 31, 2020, our internal control over financial reporting was effective based on those criteria. The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears below.
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and Board of Directors of Citrix Systems, Inc.
Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited Citrix Systems, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Citrix Systems, Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020 based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a) and our report dated February 8, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process 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. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) 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 (3) 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.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Boca Raton, Florida
February 8, 2021

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans
The Company's policy governing transactions in Citrix securities by the Company's directors, officers and employees permits its officers, directors and certain other persons to enter into trading plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act. The Company has been advised that Tim Minahan, its Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer and Hector Lima, its Executive Vice President of Customer Experience, each entered into a new trading plan in the fourth quarter of 2020 in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 and the Company's policy governing transactions in its securities. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information provided herein, including for revision or termination of an established trading plan.
2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement
On February 5, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), the Company entered into the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and the other lenders party thereto from time to time, or the 2021 Lenders. The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement provides the Company with a facility to borrow a term loan on an unsecured basis in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.00 billion, or the 2021 Term Loan. The 2021 Term Loan is available to be made by the 2021 Lenders from the Closing Date through July 8, 2021, in a single borrowing, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions set forth in the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement. The 2021 Term Loan matures on the date that is three years after the 2021 Term Loan is drawn. The proceeds of borrowings under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement will be used to finance a portion of the purchase price to be paid in connection with the acquisition of Wrike.
Borrowings under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement will bear interest at a rate equal to (a) either (i) a customary LIBOR formula or, upon a phase-out of LIBOR, an alternative benchmark rate as provided in the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement, or (ii) a customary base rate formula, plus (b) the applicable margin with respect thereto, which initially will be determined based on the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio but may, if so elected by the Company, be based on the Company’s non-credit enhanced, senior unsecured long-term debt rating as determined by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC and Fitch Ratings Inc., in each case as set forth in the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement.
The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement includes a covenant limiting the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio to not more than 4.0:1.0, subject to a mandatory step-down after the fifth fiscal quarter ending after the date of the initial borrowing of the 2021 Term Loan to 3.75:1.0, and further subject to, upon the occurrence of a qualified acquisition in any quarter on or after the fifth fiscal quarter ending after the Closing Date, if so elected by the Company, a step-up to 4.25:1.0 for the four fiscal quarters following such qualified acquisition. The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement also includes a covenant limiting the Company’s consolidated interest coverage ratio to not less than 3.0:1.0. The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement includes customary events of default, with corresponding grace periods in certain circumstances, including, without limitation, payment defaults, cross-defaults, the occurrence of a change of control of the Company and bankruptcy-related defaults. The 2021 Lenders are entitled to accelerate repayment of the loans under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement upon the occurrence of any of the events of default. In addition, the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including covenants that limit or restrict the ability of the Company to grant liens, merge or consolidate, dispose of all or substantially all of its assets, change its business and incur subsidiary indebtedness, in each case subject to customary exceptions. The 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement also contains representations and warranties customary for an unsecured financing of this type.
Certain 2021 Lenders and/or their affiliates have provided and may continue to provide commercial banking, investment management and other services to the Company, its affiliates and employees, for which they receive customary fees and commissions.
The foregoing description of the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.34 and is incorporated herein by reference.
Amendments to Credit Agreement and Term Loan Credit Agreement
On February 5, 2021 (the “Amendment Date”), the Company entered into (i) a first amendment to term loan credit agreement (the “Term Loan Amendment”), which amends the Company’s Term Loan Credit Agreement and (ii) a first amendment to credit agreement (the “Revolver Amendment” and together with the Term Loan Amendment, the “Credit Agreement Amendments”), which amends the Company’s Credit Agreement. Each of the Credit Agreement Amendments amends, among other things, the covenant limiting the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio. After giving effect to the Credit
Agreement Amendments, the covenant limiting the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio in each of the Term Loan Credit Agreement and the Credit Agreement will be consistent with the covenant limiting the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio contained in the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement, and will be limited to not more than 4.0:1.0, subject to a mandatory step-down after the fifth fiscal quarter ending after the initial borrowing of the 2021 Term Loan under the 2021 Term Loan Credit Agreement (or such earlier date as the Company may elect by written notice to Bank of America, N.A., in its capacity as administrative agent under each of the Term Loan Credit Agreement and Credit Agreement) (the “Leverage Ratio Step-Down”) to 3.75:1.0, and further subject to, upon the occurrence of a qualified acquisition in any quarter on or after the fifth fiscal quarter ending after the Leverage Ratio Step-Down, if so elected by the Company, a step-up to 4.25:1.0 for the four fiscal quarters following such qualified acquisition.
The foregoing description of the Credit Agreement Amendments does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the Term Loan Amendment and the Revolver Amendment, which are attached hereto as Exhibit 10.35 and Exhibit 10.36, respectively, and which are incorporated herein by reference.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required under this item is incorporated herein by reference to the Company’s definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A, which proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the close of the Company’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required under this item is incorporated herein by reference to the Company’s definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A, which proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the close of the Company’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

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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 under this item is incorporated herein by reference to the Company’s definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A, which proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the close of the Company’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required under this item is incorporated herein by reference to the Company’s definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A, which proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the close of the Company’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The information required under this item is incorporated herein by reference to the Company’s definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A, which proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the close of the Company’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a)1. Consolidated Financial Statements.
For a list of the consolidated financial information included herein, see page.
2. Financial Statement Schedules.
All other schedules have been omitted as the required information is not applicable or the information is presented in the Consolidated Financial Statements or notes thereto under Item 8. The following consolidated financial statement schedule is included herein:
Valuation and Qualifying Accounts
3. List of Exhibits.
Exhibit No. Description
2.1 Separation and Distribution Agreement, dated as of July 26, 2016, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., GetGo, Inc. and LogMeIn, Inc. (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 2.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 28, 2016)**
2.2 Amended and Restated Tax Matters Agreement, dated as of September 13, 2016, by and among LogMeIn, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc. and GetGo, Inc. (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 2.3 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 16, 2017)**
2.3 Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of January 16, 2021, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., Wallaby Merger Sub, LLC, Wrangler Topco, LLC and Vista Equity Partners Management, LLC, as the representative (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 19, 2021)**
3.1 Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 29, 2013)
3.2 Amended and Restated By-laws of the Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on March 12, 2018)
4.1 Specimen certificate representing Common Stock (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 33-98542), as amended) (P)
4.2 Indenture, dated as of November 15, 2017, between Citrix Systems, Inc. and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 15, 2017)
4.3 Supplemental Indenture, dated as of November 15, 2017, between the Company and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 15, 2017)
4.4 Form of 4.500% Senior Notes due 2027 (included in Exhibit 4.3)
4.5 Second Supplemental Indenture dated as of February 25, 2020 between Citrix Systems, Inc. and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 25, 2020)
4.6 Form of 3.300% Senior Note due 2030 (included in Exhibit 4.5)
4.7 Description of Securities (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.5 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 14, 2020)
10.1* Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 5, 2010)
10.2* First Amendment to Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 28, 2010)
10.3* Second Amendment to the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 2, 2011)
10.4* Third Amendment to the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 2, 2011)
10.5* Fourth Amendment to the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 31, 2012)
10.6* Fifth Amendment to the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 6, 2013)
10.7* Sixth Amendment to the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 29, 2013)
10.8* Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement For Non-Employee Directors under the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 9, 2011)
10.9* Form of Long Term Incentive Agreement under the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.13 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 19, 2015)
10.10* Citrix Systems, Inc. Executive Bonus Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 20, 2014)
10.11* Citrix Systems, Inc. Second Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 5, 2020)
10.12* 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 7, 2015)
10.13* Amendment to 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, dated October 27, 2016 (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.39 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 16, 2017)
10.14* Amendment to Citrix Systems, Inc. 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, dated December 10, 2018 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.63 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 15, 2019)
10.15* Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 27, 2017)
10.16* Amendment to Citrix Systems, Inc. 2014 Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 4, 2018)
10.17* Second Amendment to Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 6, 2019)
10.18* Form of Indemnification Agreement by and between the Company and each of its Directors and executive officers (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 8, 2011)
10.19* Form of Executive Agreement of Citrix Systems, Inc. by and between the Company and each of its executive officers (other than CEO) (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 20, 2017)
10.20* Benefits Continuation Agreement, dated as of April 30, 2019, between the Company and Robert M. Calderoni (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 6, 2019)
10.21* Employment Agreement, dated July 10, 2017, by and between Citrix Systems, Inc. and David J. Henshall (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 10, 2017)
10.22* Form of Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the Citrix Systems, Inc. 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (Time Based Awards - 2018 Annual Awards) (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 4, 2018)
10.23* Form of Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the Citrix Systems, Inc. 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (Performance Based Awards - 2018 Annual Awards) (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 4, 2018)
10.24* Form of Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement (Long Term Incentive) under the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (Interim Performance Period) (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 31, 2020)
10.25* Form of Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement (Long Term Incentive) under the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 31, 2020)
10.26* Form of Global Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the Citrix Systems, Inc. Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 31, 2020)
10.27* Contract of Employment, dated as of May 1, 2020, between Citrix Systems Netherlands B.V. and Jeroen Van Rotterdam (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 31, 2020)
10.28* Form of Forfeiture Agreement between Citrix Systems, Inc. and each of David Henshall, Antonio Gomes, P.J. Hough, Jeroen van Rotterdam and Timothy Minahan (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 5, 2020)
10.29 Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of November 26, 2019, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., the initial lenders named therein, and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent. (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 27, 2019)
10.30 Term Loan Credit Agreement, dated as of January 21, 2020, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., the initial lenders named therein, and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 22, 2020)
10.31 Master Confirmation between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Citrix Systems, Inc., dated January 30, 2020 (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 31, 2020)
10.32 Master Confirmation between Wells Fargo Bank, National Association and Citrix Systems, Inc., dated January 30, 2020 (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 31, 2020)
10.33 Bridge and Take-Out Facility Commitment Letter, dated January 16, 2021, between JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Citrix Systems, Inc. (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 19, 2021)
10.34† Term Loan Credit Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2021, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., the initial lenders named therein, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as Administrative Agent **
10.35† First Amendment to Term Loan Credit Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2021, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., the lenders named therein, and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent
10.36† First Amendment to Credit Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2021, by and among Citrix Systems, Inc., the lenders named therein, and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent
21.1† List of Subsidiaries
23.1† Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
24.1 Power of Attorney (included in signature page)
31.1† Rule 13a-14(a) / 15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Executive Officer
31.2† Rule 13a-14(a) / 15d-14(a) Certification of Principal Financial Officer
32.1†† Section 1350 Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer
101.SCH† Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL† Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF† Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB† Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE† Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
104† Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL with applicable taxonomy extension information contained in Exhibits 101.*)
* Indicates a management contract or a compensatory plan, contract or arrangement.
** Schedules (or similar attachments) have been omitted pursuant to Item 601 of Regulation S-K. The registrant hereby undertakes to furnish supplemental copies of any of the omitted schedules (or similar attachments) upon request by the SEC.
† Filed herewith.
†† Furnished herewith.
(P) This exhibit has been paper filed and is not subject to the hyperlinking requirements of Item 601 of Regulation S-K.
(b) Exhibits.
The Company hereby files as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, the exhibits listed in Item 15(a)(3) above. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be accessed free of charge through the EDGAR database at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
(c) Financial Statement Schedule.
The Company hereby files as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 the consolidated financial statement schedule listed in Item 15(a) above, which is attached hereto.