Bebe Stores (BEBE) Risk Factors

Although we and the Joint Venture take actions to protect our trademarks and other proprietary rights, we cannot assure you that we will be successful or that others will not imitate our products or infringe upon our intellectual property rights. In addition, we cannot assure that others will not resist or seek to block the sale of our products as infringements of their trademark and proprietary rights. Historically, we have sought to register our trademarks domestically and internationally and the Joint Venture will continue to do so in the future. Obstacles may exist that may prevent the Joint Venture from obtaining a trademark for the bebe and BEBE SPORT brand names or related names. The Joint Venture may not be able to register certain trademarks, purchase the right or obtain a license to use these names or related names on commercially reasonable terms. If the Joint Venture fails to obtain trademarks of, or ownership or license of the requisite rights, it would limit the ability to expand the business under the bebe brand. In some jurisdictions, despite successful registration of bebe's trademarks, third parties may allege infringement and bring actions against us and or the Joint Venture. In addition, if our licensees fail to use the bebe intellectual property correctly, the reputation and value associated with the trademarks may be diluted. Furthermore, if we or the Joint Venture do not demonstrate use of our trademarks, our trademark rights may lapse over time. In addition, we face the potential of receiving claims that the technology we use or license infringes on another's proprietary rights. In certain circumstances, we may be subject to having to defend ourselves from such claims and/or be subject to unanticipated license fees or the necessity to transition away from technology we are using or abandon such use altogether.

We currently support the business of the Joint Venture via a transition services agreement, which involves the storage and transmission of customers' personal information, consumer preferences and credit card information. We also facilitate the Joint Venture's use mobile devices, social networking and other on-line activities to connect with our customers. If we experience a significant data security breach or fail to detect and appropriately respond to a significant data security breach, we or the Joint Venture could be exposed to government enforcement actions and private litigation, and our business could be adversely affected. For example, in November 2014, we detected suspicious activity on computers that operate the payment processing system for our stores, which appeared to be limited to data from payment cards swiped in the United States and its territories between November 8, 2014 and November 26, 2014. The data may have included cardholder name, account number, expiration date and verification codes, although we have no indication of fraudulent charges to date. We cannot assure you that we will not suffer future breaches of the portion of our network that handles payment card data, with further payment card and client information being stolen. These sorts of breaches might cause bebe customers to lose confidence in our or the Joint Venture's ability to protect their personal information, which could cause them to stop shopping with bebe altogether. The loss of confidence from a significant data security breach involving our employees could also hurt our reputation and adversely affect our business and financial results.

We currently assist the Joint Venture with various information systems, which it relies on to help manage its operations and regularly assess the cost-benefit analysis associated with making additional investments to upgrade, enhance or replace such systems. If at any time we experience any disruptions that impact the Joint Venture's information systems we could experience a material adverse impact on our business.

As a public company, we are subject to numerous regulatory requirements, including those imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the SEC. In addition, we are subject to numerous domestic and foreign laws and regulations affecting our business, including those related to labor, employment, worker health and safety, competition, privacy, consumer protection, credit cards, import/export and anti-corruption, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Our employees, subcontractors, vendors and suppliers could take actions that violate these requirements and/or our compliance policies and procedures, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition and on the market price of our common stock. Regulatory developments regarding the use of "conflict minerals," certain minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries, could affect the sourcing and availability of raw materials used by suppliers and subject us to costs associated with the relevant regulations, including for diligence pertaining to the presence of any conflict minerals used in our products, possible changes to products, processes or sources of our inputs and reporting requirements.

We are involved from time to time with litigation and other claims against us. Often these cases can raise complex factual and legal issues, which are subject to risks and uncertainties and which could require significant management time. Although we do not currently believe that the outcome of any current litigation or claim against us will have a material adverse effect on our overall financial condition, we have, in the past, incurred unexpected expense in connection with litigation matters. In the future, adverse settlements, judgments or resolutions may negatively impact our business. Injunctions against us could have an adverse effect on our business by requiring us to do, or prohibiting us from engaging in, certain activities. We may in the future be the target of material litigation, which could result in substantial costs and divert our management's attention and resources.

Through our sale transactions, loyalty programs and other methods, we obtained personally identifiable information about our customers which is subject to federal, state and international privacy laws. These laws are constantly changing. If we fail to comply with these laws, we may be subject to fines, penalties or other adverse actions. We are highly dependent on the use of credit cards to complete sale transactions through our websites, and if we fail to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, we may become subject to limitations on our ability to accept credit cards. Moreover, third parties may seek to access this information through improper means such as computer hacking, malware and viruses. Any incidents involving unauthorized access or improper use of our customers' personally identifiable information could damage our reputation and brand and result in legal or regulatory action against us.

The retail and apparel industries are highly competitive and are characterized by low barriers to entry. We expect competition in these markets to increase. The primary competitive factors in our markets are: brand name recognition and appeal, sourcing, product styling, quality, presentation and pricing, timeliness of product development and delivery, store ambiance, customer service and convenience. The Joint Venture competes with traditional department stores, specialty store retailers, lower price point retailers, business-to-consumer websites, off-price retailers and direct marketers for, among other things, raw materials, market share, retail space, finished goods, sourcing and personnel. Because many of these competitors are larger and have substantially greater financial, distribution and marketing resources than the Joint Venture or maintain comparatively lower cost of operations, it may lack the resources to effectively compete with them. If the Joint Venture fails to remain competitive in any way, it could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our future success depends, in part, upon the ability of the Joint Venture's licensees to anticipate, identify and respond effectively to changing customer demands and fashion trends in a timely manner. The specialty retail apparel business fluctuates according to changes in customer preferences directed by trends and fashions. If they miscalculate customers' product preferences or the demand for their products, they may be faced with excess inventory, which historically has resulted in markdowns and/or write-offs of raw materials as well as finished goods, which could impair their profitability, and may do so in the future. Similarly, any failure on their part to anticipate, identify and respond effectively to changing customer demands and fashion trends will adversely affect our business. Starting in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 and expanding in fiscal 2017, the Company entered into the Joint Venture and shifted its strategy, such that we have closed all of our retail stores, sold our merchandise, inventory, furnishings, trade fixtures, equipment, improvements in real property, purchase orders related to our website and international wholesale business and are committed to selling our Los Angeles Design Studio. Further, bebe has contributed all of its trademarks, trademark license arrangements and related intellectual property to the Joint Venture, including domain names, social media accounts and agreements with certain of its international distributors to the Joint Venture. Our strategic focus for fiscal 2018 and the years to come is to continue to focus on discretionary spending, restructure our operations and based on the success of initiatives in the Joint Venture, collect revenue from its licensing arrangements. The inability to generate positive cash flow from such operations could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial conditions. In addition, if additional financing is needed, we may not be able to secure such financing on favorable terms, or at all.

Our ability to maintain our brand image and reputation is integral to our business via the licensing arrangement with the Joint Venture as well as the implementation of strategies to expand such efforts. Maintaining, promoting and growing our brand will depend largely on the success of the Joint Venture's design, merchandising and marketing efforts and its ability to provide a consistent, high-quality client experience. In addition, while our brand is mature, the success depends on our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers to shop our brand. Our business would be adversely affected if we fail to achieve these objectives for our brand. In addition, failure to achieve consistent, positive performance or the receipt of any negative publicity could adversely impact our brand and the brand loyalty of our customers, which would adversely impact our business via the Joint Venture.

We operate a corporate office in Brisbane, California, a design studio in Los Angeles, California and a distribution facility in Hong Kong. Any serious disruption at these facilities whether due to construction, relocation, fire, flood, earthquake, terrorist acts or otherwise could harm our business. Natural disasters, extreme weather and public health concerns, including severe infectious diseases, could impact our ability to open and run our corporate offices, distribution center, stores and other operations in affected areas and/or negatively impact our foreign sourcing offices and the operations of our vendors. In addition, our ability to continue to operate our business without significant interruption in the event of a disaster or other disruption depends, in part, on the ability of our information systems to operate in accordance with our disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Lower client traffic due to the effect of natural disasters or extreme weather, security concerns, war or the threat of war and public health concerns could result in decreased sales that could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, threat of terrorist attacks or actual terrorist events in the United States and world-wide could cause damage or disruption to international commerce and the global economy, disrupt the production, shipment or receipt of our merchandise or lead to lower client traffic. Our ability to mitigate the adverse impact of these events depends, in part, upon the effectiveness of our disaster preparedness and response planning as well as business continuity planning. However, we cannot be certain that our plans will be adequate or implemented properly in the event of an actual disaster or other catastrophic situation. In addition, although we maintain business interruption and property insurance, we cannot assure you that our insurance coverage will be sufficient or that insurance proceeds will be timely paid to us.