E2open Parent Holdings (ETWO) Risk Factors

Due to the size and complexity of most of our software implementations, our implementation cycle can be lengthy and may result in delays. Our products may require modification or customization and must integrate with our customers' existing systems. This can be time-consuming and expensive for customers and can result in implementation and deployment delays of our products. Additional delays could result if we fail to attract, train and retain services personnel. These delays and resulting customer dissatisfaction could limit our future sales opportunities, harm our reputation and adversely impact results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

As a supplier of supply chain solutions, we rely on and use software and data that we create as well as those from third-party sources. Often, our clients are processing data through our solutions that we do not review. While we generally attempt to protect against such risks with contractual obligations and indemnities, despite our efforts, we may receive claims that we have infringed a third party's intellectual property rights or breached a contract. As a result of claims against us regarding suspected infringement, our technologies may be subject to injunction, we may be required to pay damages or we may have to seek a license to continue certain practices (which may not be available on reasonable terms, if at all), all of which may significantly increase our operating expenses or may require us to restrict our business activities and limit our ability to deliver our products and services and/or certain features, integrations and capabilities of our platform. As a result, we may also be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense and/or cause us to alter our products or services, potentially negatively affecting our business. Further, many of our subscription agreements require us to indemnify our clients for third-party intellectual property infringement claims, so any alleged infringement by us resulting in claims against such clients would increase our liability. Additionally, our exposure to risks associated with various claims, including the use of intellectual property, may be increased as a result of acquisitions of other companies.

Some of our products incorporate open source software, and we intend to continue to use open source software in the future. Some open source licenses are unclear and there is a risk that open source software licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our solutions. Such a situation could result in infringement claims and the need to reengineer our solutions, both of which could be costly depending on the specific circumstances. In addition to license risk, use of open source software may increase security vulnerabilities or infringing or broken code if not properly supported and managed.

We are subject to requirements under the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), anti-corruption, anti-bribery and similar laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (FCPA), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 and other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies, their employees and agents from promising, authorizing, making, offering or providing anything of value to a "foreign official" for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business, or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase. In addition, we may use third parties to sell access to our platform and conduct business on our behalf abroad. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of such future third-party intermediaries, and our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. Any violation of economic and trade sanction laws, export and import laws, the FCPA or other applicable anti-corruption laws or anti-money laundering laws could also result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, loss of export privileges or our license issued by OFAC, severe criminal or civil sanctions, and, in the case of the FCPA, suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracts, any of which could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and prospects.

The sellers sold E2open Holdings units for the consideration paid pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement and certain sellers may, in the future, exchange their Common Units for shares of our Class A Common Stock (or cash) pursuant to the Third Company Agreement. These sales, purchases, redemptions and exchanges are expected to result in increases in our allocable share of the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of E2open Holdings, which may increase (for income tax purposes) depreciation and amortization deductions to which we are entitled. In addition, as a result of certain mergers within the transaction, we may inherit certain pre-existing tax attributes. The Tax Receivable Agreement provides for the payment by us of 85% of certain tax benefits that we realize or are deemed realized as a result of the increases in tax basis described above, utilization of pre-existing tax attributes of certain sellers and realization of additional tax benefits attributable to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. These payments are our obligations and not E2open Holdings. The actual increase in our allocable share of E2open Holdings' tax basis in their assets, the availability of pre-existing tax attributes of certain sellers, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges, the market price of the Class A Common Stock at the time of the exchange, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable and the amount and timing of the recognition of our income. While many of the factors that will determine the amount of payments that we will make under the Tax Receivable Agreement are outside of our control, we expect that the payments we will make under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Any payments we make under the Tax Receivable Agreement will generally reduce the amount of overall cash flow that might have otherwise been available to us. To the extent that we are unable to make timely payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement for any reason, the unpaid amounts will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid; however, nonpayment for a specified period may constitute a material breach under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and therefore accelerate payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement as further described below. Furthermore, our future obligation to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement could make us a less attractive target for an acquisition, particularly in the case of an acquirer that cannot use some or all of the tax benefits that may be deemed realized under the Tax Receivable Agreement. Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be based on our tax reporting positions, and the IRS or another taxing authority may challenge all or any part of the tax basis increases, the amount or availability of pre-existing tax attributes of certain sellers and other tax positions that we take, and a court may sustain such a challenge. In the event that any tax benefits we initially claimed are disallowed as a result of such a challenge, the Sellers and the exchanging holders will not be required to reimburse us for any excess payments that may have been previously made under the Tax Receivable Agreement. Rather, excess payments made to such holders will be netted against future cash payments we are required to make, if any, after the determination of such excess. A challenge to any tax benefits claimed by us may not arise for a number of years following the time payments begin to be made with respect to such benefits or, even if challenged soon thereafter, the excess cash payment may be greater than the amount of future cash payments that we might otherwise be required to make under the terms of the Tax Receivable Agreement and, as a result, there might not be sufficient future cash payments to net such excess. As a result, in certain circumstances we could make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement in excess of our actual income or franchise tax savings, which could materially impair our financial condition. Moreover, the Tax Receivable Agreement provides that, in the event that we exercise our early termination rights, fail to make timely payment or materially breach the Tax Receivable Agreement or if there is a change of control, our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement will accelerate and we will be required to make a lump-sum cash payment to the sellers and/or other applicable parties equal to the present value of all forecasted future payments that would have otherwise been made under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The lump-sum payment could be substantial and could exceed the actual tax benefits that we realize subsequent to such payment, which may cause a material negative effect on our liquidity. Furthermore, our obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement could also have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control.

Approximately 80% of our revenue is recurring and consists of subscriptions revenue. Our subscription products generally have recurring annual subscription periods. While many of our subscriptions provide for automatic renewal, our clients may opt-out of automatic renewals and clients have no obligation to renew a subscription after the expiration of the term. Our clients may or may not renew their subscriptions as a result of a number of factors, including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our products and services, our pricing or pricing structure, the pricing or capabilities of the products and services offered by our competitors, the effects of economic conditions or reductions in our clients' spending levels or ability to pay for our offerings and services. In addition, our clients may renew for fewer subscriptions, renew for shorter contract lengths if they were previously on multi-year contracts or switch to lower cost offerings of our products and services. If our clients do not renew their subscription arrangements, maintenance or other services agreements or if they renew them on less favorable terms, our revenue may decline. A substantial portion of our quarterly subscription revenue is attributable to agreements entered into during previous quarters. As a result, if there is a decline in renewed subscription agreements in any one quarter, only a small portion of the decline will be reflected in our revenue recognized in that quarter and the rest will be reflected in our revenue recognized in the following four quarters or more.

We derive, and expect to continue to derive, substantially all of our revenue from providing a cloud-based SCM platform, solutions and related services. The market for cloud-based SCM solutions is still evolving and it is uncertain whether this platform and solutions will sustain high levels of demand and market acceptance. Our success will depend on the willingness of companies to accept our cloud-based SCM platform and solutions as an alternative to manual processes, traditional enterprise resource planning software and internally-developed SCM solutions. Some clients may be reluctant or unwilling to use our cloud-based SCM platform or solutions for a number of reasons, including data privacy concerns, data and network security concerns and existing investments in SCM technology. Traditional approaches to SCM have required, among other things, purchasing hardware and licensing software. Because these traditional approaches often require significant initial investments to purchase the necessary technology and establish systems that comply with clients' unique requirements, companies may be unwilling to abandon their current solutions for our cloud-based SCM platform and solutions. Other factors that may limit market acceptance of our platform and solutions include: - our ability to maintain high levels of client satisfaction;- our ability to maintain continuity of service for all users of our solutions;- the price, performance and availability of competing solutions; and - our ability to address companies' confidentiality concerns about information stored outside of their premises. If companies do not perceive the benefits of our cloud-based SCM platform or solutions or if companies are unwilling to accept our platform and solutions as an alternative to traditional approaches, the market for our platform and solutions might not continue to develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which could significantly adversely affect our revenues and growth prospects.

Continuing concerns over economic and business prospects in the United States and throughout the world, including impacts related to inflationary pressures and geopolitical disruptions have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the global economy. As a global company, we are subject to the risks arising from adverse changes in the domestic and global economies. In addition, uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and associated global economic conditions have resulted in volatility in credit, equity and foreign currency markets. In fiscal 2024 and 2023, our revenues were subject to increased foreign currency exchange volatility, resulting in a positive impact of approximately $2.2 million and a negative impact of approximately $11.2 million from foreign currency exchange rates year-over-year, respectively. These macroeconomic conditions have and are likely to continue to affect the buying patterns of our customers and prospective customers, including the length of sales cycles, our overall pipeline and pipeline conversion rates and our revenue growth expectations. In addition, we have experienced, and could experience in the future, delays in payments from our customers experiencing weakness in their business as a result of the macroeconomic environment and associated global economic conditions, which could increase our credit risk exposure or adversely impact our cash flows and harm our financial condition. For example, in fiscal 2024, we experienced lengthening sales cycles, a decrease in pipeline conversion rates and slower revenue growth. If macroeconomic or geopolitical conditions continue to deteriorate or if the recovery is delayed, slows or is uneven, our overall results of operations could be adversely affected; we may not be able to grow at the rates we have experienced in the past and we could fail to meet the expectations of investors. The full extent of the impact of current macroeconomic factors, including those related to inflationary pressures, foreign exchange rates and geopolitical disruptions, on our operational and financial performance remains uncertain and will depend on many factors outside our control. To the extent these factors adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, this may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this section.

As a public company, we are required to comply with corporate governance and financial reporting practices and policies. As a publicly traded company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we were not required to incur in the past. In addition, new and changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, as well as under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Jobs Act and the rules and regulations of the SEC and national securities exchanges have increased the costs and the time that the board of directors and management must devote to complying with these rules and regulations. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and lead to a diversion of management's time and attention from revenue generating activities. Furthermore, the need to maintain the corporate infrastructure demanded of a public company may divert management's attention from implementing our growth strategy, which could prevent us from improving our business, results of operations and financial condition. We have made, and will continue to make, changes to our internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and accounting systems to meet our reporting obligations as a publicly traded company. However, the measures we take may not be sufficient to satisfy our obligations as a publicly traded company.