“Material Adverse Effect” means any event, change, circumstance, occurrence or effect that has had or would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, liabilities, financial condition or results of operations of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, other than any event, change, occurrence or effect arising out of, attributable to or resulting from, alone or in combination, (1) changes in general economic or business conditions or in the financial, debt, banking, capital, credit or securities markets, or in interest or exchange rates, in each case, in the United States or elsewhere in the world; (2) general changes or developments in any of the primary industries in which the Company or its Subsidiaries operate; (3) actions required under this Agreement in accordance with Section 5.7 to obtain any approval or authorization under applicable antitrust or competition Laws for the consummation of the Merger or any other transaction contemplated hereby; (4) (x) changes after the date of this Agreement in any applicable Laws (other than any COVID-19 Measures, which shall be subject to clause (9) below) or (y) changes after the date of this Agreement in GAAP or in applicable accounting regulations or principles or interpretations thereof; (5) any change in the price or trading volume of the Company’s stock, in and of itself (provided, that the facts or occurrences giving rise to or contributing to such change in price or trading volume that are not otherwise excluded from the definition of “Material Adverse Effect” may be taken into account in determining whether there has been a Material Adverse Effect); (6) any failure by the Company to meet internal or published projections, forecasts or revenue or earnings predictions, in and of 9
 
 
 itself (provided, that the facts or occurrences giving rise to or contributing to such failure that are not otherwise excluded from the definition of “Material Adverse Effect” may be taken into account in determining whether there has been a Material Adverse Effect); (7) geopolitical conditions or any outbreak, continuation or escalation of any military conflict, declared or undeclared war, armed hostilities, or acts of foreign or domestic terrorism (including cyber-terrorism); (8) natural or manmade disasters, hurricanes, floods, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes or other weather conditions or other acts of God; (9) any epidemic, pandemic or disease outbreak (including COVID-19), or any Law issued by a Governmental Entity (as defined below), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization or industry group providing for COVID-19 Measures, quarantines, “shelter-in-place” or “stay at home” orders, workforce reductions, social distancing, shut downs, closures, sequesters or other restrictions that relate to, or arise out of, an epidemic, pandemic or disease outbreak (including COVID-19) or any change in such Law or interpretation thereof following the date of this Agreement or any worsening of such conditions threatened or existing as of the date of this Agreement; (10) any national or international political or social conditions, including the engagement in, or escalation, outbreak or worsening of, hostilities in or by any country or the occurrence of any act of war or any similar act of terrorism, civil unrest, protests, public demonstrations or the response of any Governmental Entity thereto; (11) the announcement of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby, including the initiation of litigation by any stockholder of the Company with respect to this Agreement, and including any termination of, reduction in or similar negative impact on relationships, contractual or otherwise, with any customers, suppliers, distributors, partners or employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries due to the announcement of this Agreement or the identity of the parties to this Agreement, or the performance of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby, including compliance with the covenants set forth herein; provided, that in no event shall this clause (11) impact the Company’s representations in Section 3.4; (12) any actions, determinations, terms or conditions taken, not taken, made, set or imposed by any lessor in accordance with the terms of the Sale Leaseback Agreements in response to any actions taken by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries solely to comply with the Company’s obligations under Section 5.7 and to the extent such actions are expressly required by Section 5.7; or (13) any actions taken (or omitted to be taken) at the express written direction of Parent (except to the extent the Company was prohibited from taking such action pursuant to Section 5.1 and requested the consent of Parent to take such action); except, in the case of clauses (1), (2), (4), (7), (8) and (10), to the extent that the impact of such event, change, occurrence or effect is disproportionately adverse to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, relative to other companies operating in the industries in which the Company and its Subsidiaries operate; provided, that in such event, only the incremental disproportionate impact shall be taken into account when determining whether there has been a “Material Adverse Effect”. (Pages 16-17)

Question: MAE Definition
Category: Material Adverse Effect
Answer: Applies to Target and subsidiaries "taken as a whole"