Akamai Technologies 10-K 2021-12-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

or

Commission file number: 0-27275

Akamai Technologies, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

145 Broadway

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

(Address of principle executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (617) 444-3000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of

the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C.

7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No þ

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $18,726.5 million based on the last reported sale price of the Common Stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 30, 2021.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, as of February 22, 2022: 160,346,656 shares.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission relative to the registrant’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of this annual report on Form 10-K.

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forward-Looking Statements

This annual report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding future events and the future results of Akamai Technologies, Inc., which we refer to as “we,” “us,” or the “Company.” All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management as of the date hereof based on information currently available to our management. Use of words such as “believes,” "could," “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” "projects," “estimates,” “should,” “forecasts,” “if,” “continues,” “goal,” “likely,” "may," variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify a forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make. Factors that may cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this annual report on Form 10-K under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and in other reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, including the potential impact of any mergers, acquisitions, divestitures or other events that may be announced after the date hereof.

PART I

Overview

Akamai provides solutions to power and protect digital experiences. For more than 20 years, Akamai has managed the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform to create a worldwide network of servers located at the “edge” of the internet. Our approach has provided us with unique visibility and insight into traffic volumes, congestion, attack patterns, vulnerabilities and other activities across the internet's complex cloud of networks and systems. Leveraging these insights and our position at the edge, we offer solutions designed to protect our customers from threats and attacks, while empowering them to securely deliver their business as they engage, entertain and interact with their customers; and extend their internal systems beyond their corporate perimeters to control access and better leverage the cloud.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which shifted how millions of people work and communicate globally, has reinforced our belief that the internet’s role in transforming the way we exchange ideas and information and conduct business is more vital than ever. Our strategy is to help continue to drive this transformation by using our technology and intelligence to offer solutions that empower our customers to compete and operate with the scale, resilience and efficiency that their businesses demand.

As we continue to pursue our strategy in the future and to expand the ways we can help our customers, we regularly evaluate our portfolio of solutions and potential strategic acquisitions. We plan to continue to pursue potential strategic acquisitions that complement our existing business, represent a strong strategic fit and are consistent with our overall growth strategy. We may also target future acquisitions to expand or add functionality and capabilities to our existing portfolio of solutions.

Our Solutions

Our business is organized into two groups, both of which utilize the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform and our global sales organization: the Security Technology Group and the Edge Technology Group. The Security Technology Group includes solutions that are designed to keep infrastructure, websites, applications and users safe, while the Edge Technology Group includes solutions that enable business online, including media delivery, web performance and edge computing solutions.

Security

Our cloud security solutions are designed to keep infrastructure, websites, applications, application programming interfaces, or APIs, and users safe from a multitude of cyberattacks and online threats while improving performance. Our solutions blend robust automation with customizable protections and managed security services to enable businesses to effectively manage risk and maximize the protections of their infrastructure, networks, applications, and APIs. Akamai’s cloud security solutions include web application and API protection, bot management and mitigation to protect against credential abuse and account takeover, customer identity and access management, distributed denial of service (DDoS) mitigation, protection from in-browser threats to protect against supply chain compromise and audience hijacking. We also offer a growing set of solutions designed to help businesses implement a “zero trust” approach to security. Based on the concept of least privilege, which dictates that users, applications and services utilize the bare minimum amount of access needed to perform their function, these tools are intended to shift protections from a legacy approach based on establishing a corporate perimeter, to a more modern, risk-based approach. Solutions in this category include Zero Trust Network Access, or ZTNA, and multi-factor authentication, or MFA, which replace legacy virtual private networks, or VPNs, micro-segmentation which replaces legacy network firewalls and helps protect businesses from the threat of ransomware and Secure Web Gateway, or SWG, that helps protect against the threat of malware and phishing attacks.

Content Delivery Solutions

Our web and mobile performance solutions are architected to enable dynamic websites and applications to have rapid response times, no matter where the user is, what device or browser they are using or how they are connected to the internet. These services leverage intelligent performance optimization and real-time monitoring, origin offload and network reliability, and insights that enable enterprises to identify and address performance issues. Akamai web and mobile performance capabilities also include global traffic management, site acceleration, application load balancing, automated image and video optimization, large-scale load testing and real-user monitoring.

Our media delivery solutions are designed to enable enterprises to execute their digital media distribution strategies by addressing volume and global reach requirements, improving the end-user experience, boosting reliability and reducing the cost of internet-related infrastructure. Underlying these solutions is technology to address variable connection speeds and device types, facilitate access to disparate locations around the world, accelerate large file downloads, reliably deliver high-quality live content across various devices and platforms, enable comprehensive insights and real-time online video monitoring, and offer globally-distributed cloud storage designed for resiliency, high-availability and real-time performance optimization. Akamai media delivery solutions include video streaming and video player services, game and software delivery, broadcast operations, authoritative domain name system, or DNS, resolution, and data and analytics.

Edge Compute

Our edge compute capabilities are designed to enable developers to deploy and distribute code at the edge. This approach brings data and decision-making closer to the users and systems that act upon them so teams can rapidly iterate on existing capabilities to meet changing customer needs and build low latency solutions that provide fast, responsive and personalized experiences. With access to the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, enterprises and developers gain rapid deployment and global scale without managing any additional internal infrastructure.

Carrier

Our carrier offerings are designed to help customers operate a cost-efficient network that capitalizes on traffic growth and new subscriber services for security, traffic management and content delivery. Our solutions help carriers sell easy-to-deploy cybersecurity protection offerings to their subscriber base; offerings include protection from phishing, viruses, malware and ransomware. Additionally, our carrier security solutions include parental controls to tailor internet access. We also offer DNS infrastructure and content delivery solutions for carriers through our intelligent recursive DNS offering and managed content delivery network, which has dedicated servers for the carriers’ own services with Akamai providing content provisioning, delivery and reporting.

Services and Support

We provide an array of service and support offerings designed to assist customers with integrating, configuring, optimizing and managing our core offerings. Once customers are deployed on the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, they can rely on our professional services and security experts for customized solutions, problem resolution and 24/7 customer support. Additional features are available to enterprises that purchase our premium and managed security solutions including a dedicated technical account team, proactive service monitoring, custom technical support handling, security traffic monitoring, technical security reviews, threat advisories and emergency support for security events.

Our Technology and Network

The Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform provides the technological underpinnings for all of our solutions. It leverages more than 350,000 servers deployed in nearly 1,400 networks ranging from large, backbone network providers to medium and small internet service providers, or ISPs, to cable modem and satellite providers to universities and other networks. By deploying servers within a wide variety of networks across more than 130 countries, we are better able to manage and control routing and delivery quality to geographically diverse users. We also have thousands of peering relationships that provide us with direct paths to end-user networks, which reduce data loss, while also potentially giving us more options for delivery at reduced cost.

We use data generated in connection with each of our solutions to improve and augment the functionality of our overlay network and, in turn, to improve the effectiveness of our other solutions. In this approach, insights and learnings are integrated across the broader platform in support of our entire solution portfolio to enable us to:

• identify, absorb and manage security threats;

• help our customers implement a zero trust security model;

• detect what devices individuals are using and optimize content delivery to them;

• efficiently route traffic away from internet trouble spots;

• understand different types of traffic visiting websites so that customers can respond to it; and

• provide our customer with business, technical and analytical insights into their online operations.

Our platform leverages specialized technologies, such as advanced routing, load balancing, data collection and monitoring. Our intelligent routing software is designed to ensure that website visitors experience fast page loading, access to applications and content assembly wherever they are on the internet and regardless of global or local traffic conditions. Dedicated professionals staff our network operations command center 24 hours a day, seven days a week to monitor and react to internet traffic patterns and trends. We frequently deploy enhancements to our software globally to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of our network.

Our platform offers flexibility too. Customers can control the extent of their use of Akamai's technology to scale on demand, using as much or as little capacity of the global platform as they require, to support widely varying traffic and rapid growth without the need for expensive and complex internal infrastructure.

Human Capital

Our employees – our human capital – are our most valuable assets as they are fundamental to our innovation, the operation and ongoing enhancement of the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, the fostering and maintenance of relationships with our customers and the management of our operations. The importance of our workforce to our success is underscored by the inclusion of corporate mission critical goals centered on our employees – in 2021 we focused on further developing a diverse, productive and flexible work environment supported by the tenets of inclusion, technology, collaboration, a growth mindset and our One Akamai culture. Different aspects of our human capital management are overseen by our board of directors as well as its Talent, Leadership & Compensation and Environmental, Social & Governance Committees.

As of December 31, 2021, we had over 8,700 employees located in more than 30 countries (with approximately 60% of those employees located outside of the U.S.) and representing over 90 nationalities, which we believe helps bring a global perspective to our operations. Our employees are grouped across the following roles, with the approximate percentage of the overall population noted: engineering and research and development (32%), services and support (28%), sales and marketing (20%) and administrative functions (20%).

Engagement

It is our belief that an engaged employee base is key to having the productive, ethical and inclusive workplace needed to successfully compete in today’s marketplace. We regularly conduct surveys of our employees to assess engagement and job satisfaction. Results from these surveys have consistently shown a strong sense of engagement and confidence in Akamai's future; as Akamai, in 2021, outperformed the high performing benchmark comparative index used by our third-party survey provider, an internationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in corporate culture. We have been acknowledged in respected publications across the U.S., India and Poland as a great place to work. Continuing into 2021, all employees were invited to participate in a company-wide program, developed by a behavioral research organization, that was intended to help us increase inclusivity, become more open to change and accelerate our innovation. In addition, we also work closely with the Akamai Foundation to provide community service and charitable matching fund opportunities for Akamai employees, endeavors that have been shown to increase employee engagement.

Our leadership believes that one of the keys to fostering employee inclusion and engagement is through communication. This approach was amplified because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Chief Executive Officer has conducted over 80 employee town halls and all hands meetings (most of which were virtual) in 2020 and 2021, and our Chief Human Resources Officer has provided regular updates on pandemic-related developments and available resources to assist employees.

Diversity

Akamai is an equal opportunity employer that values the strength that diversity brings to the workplace. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, protected veteran status, disability or other protected group status. Akamai supports varied programs and practices designed to promote a diverse and inclusive working environment. We have eleven employee resource groups, or ERGs, that offer opportunities for employees to come together for mutual support, education and development. ERGs encompass different racial and ethnic groups, persons with different physical or cognitive abilities, parents, military veterans, those supporting the LGBTQ community and women. We track the diversity of our workforce and report quarterly to the board of directors on our progress to improve our diverse representation. At December 31, 2021, global female representation was 27.3%, up from 26.2% at the end of 2020, and racial and ethnic minority representation in the U.S. was 41.4%, up from 40.6% at the end of 2020. To help us improve the diversity of our workforce, we participate in or sponsor professional development and recruiting forums. We also offer the Akamai Technical Academy, a global technical training program for diverse individuals (gender, ethnicity, experiential, generational, veterans) who are interested in pursuing a technical career path, but may not be formally educated in science, mathematics or engineering. The program consists of Akamai-specific training, after which participants are placed in a variety of contract roles across our organization with the potential to become full-time employees. We also train hiring managers to draft inclusive job descriptions intended to broaden the pool of eligible applicants.

Retention

We have a demonstrated history of investing in our workforce by offering competitive salaries, wages and benefits. Our compensation and benefits philosophy is to maximize the effectiveness of pay and benefits programs to attract and retain the high caliber individuals needed to drive the success of our business, while balancing cost-effectiveness and competitive factors. Our benefits programs (which vary by country and region) include healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules and locations, adoption and fertility assistance, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance and holistic wellness programs. Our wellness programs include educational offerings on healthy lifestyles, access to mental health experts and access to ergonomic advice and equipment. To foster a stronger sense of ownership and align the interests of employees with shareholders, restricted stock units are provided to eligible employees under our broad-based stock incentive programs, and most employees are eligible to participate in our employee stock purchase plan. We monitor voluntary attrition in assessing our overall human capital. While attrition was higher in 2021 as compared to 2020, we believe our attrition rate is lower than the global average for technology companies.

As a signatory to the White House Equal Pay Pledge, we are committed to monitoring our pay practices regularly and making adjustments, as necessary, to deliver on this pledge. We periodically conduct internal pay equity analyses (with the assistance of a nationally-recognized outside consultant), covering gender globally and race and gender in the U.S. We take action to remedy identified discrepancies as appropriate. To date, no widespread patterns of disparity have been identified.

In addition, succession planning is an ongoing priority for our leadership. We conduct annual succession planning for senior leadership, which is overseen by our board of directors, including development plans for the next level of our senior

leaders. Annual talent reviews focus on both high performers as well as those with high potential to keep our pipeline of tomorrow’s leaders full.

Development

We invest significant resources in professional development, career advancement and training for our global workforce. All employees participate in our Akamai Elevation performance review program. For select employees, we offer leadership training workshops, 360-degree feedback and succession planning exercises to encourage and enable internal promotion and advancement. All employees are required to complete annual ethics and compliance and data security training. In addition to these required trainings, nearly all of our employees and contractors completed at least one training in our Akamai University program during 2021.

COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we instituted protocols and policies focused on prioritizing the health and safety of our employees while maintaining business continuity and minimizing disruptions to customer support and service delivery. In mid-March 2020, we shifted to a remote working posture and closed all offices to staff other than employees in key functions, such as monitoring and managing our network. We have begun to selectively and safely reopen offices in a limited capacity for employees who would prefer to work from one of our offices. Safety protocols include, but are not limited to, mandatory training, personal protective equipment, reduced capacity, social distancing, an increased cleaning schedule and, in certain jurisdictions, vaccination requirements and/or testing protocols. We have a rigorous process for assessing whether any office can reopen (and remain open) based on local government regulations, local health trends and business needs. Except for employees whose job responsibilities require in-office work, none of our employees are required to fully return to the office, even those that are currently open.

In 2021, we continued many of the programs we instituted in 2020 to support our employees and contractors, including our productivity reimbursement program to assist all employees with purchasing equipment to better enable remote work; our expanded wellness program offerings to offer courses on pandemic related topics; providing employees with licenses to a digital health platform; and developing manager guidance on enabling flexible work arrangements. We also provided seven paid wellness days in 2021 to allow additional paid time off for employees, specifically to encourage mental and physical health. In addition to support for full- and part-time employees, we guaranteed sick pay for contractors.

FlexBase

Given our ability to deliver results while working virtually, we have designated over 90% of roles as flexible and able to successfully work remotely. We believe flexible workforce positions will make us a more attractive employer, increase productivity, enable us to recruit from a more diverse pool of applicants and present additional growth and development opportunities for our employees. To support this workforce of the future, we plan to roll out our FlexBase program in May 2022, which will allow the more than 90% of our workforce designated as flexible to choose whether they want to work from an Akamai office or their home office. In order to roll out the FlexBase program, we are designing and developing a number of tools and resources to support this program.

Customers

Our customers include many of the world's leading corporations, such as Adobe, Airbnb, Alibaba, Autodesk, Capital Group, Carnival Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company, Comcast, Concur, Crate & Barrel, eBay, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, FedEx, Fidelity Investments, General Electric, Honda, IKEA, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Maersk Transportation & Logistics, Marriott, NBCUniversal, Panasonic, Panera Bread, PayPal, Philips, Qualcomm, Rabobank, Riot Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Spotify, Telefonica, Toshiba, Ubisoft, Viacom, WarnerMedia and The Washington Post. We also actively sell to government agencies. As of December 31, 2021, our public-sector customers included the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

No customer accounted for 10% or more of total revenue for any of the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Less than 10% of our total revenue in each of the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 was derived from contracts or subcontracts terminable at the election of the federal government, and we do not expect such contracts to account for more than 10% of our total revenue in 2022.

Sales, Services and Marketing

We market and sell our solutions globally through our direct sales and services organization and through many channel partners, including AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, IBM, Microsoft, Orange Business Services and Telefonica Group. In addition to entering into agreements with resellers, we have several other types of sales and marketing focused alliances with entities such as system integrators, application service providers, referral partners and sales agents. By aligning with these partners, we believe we are better able to market our solutions and encourage increased adoption of our technology throughout the industry. Our sales, services and marketing professionals are based in locations across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific and focus on direct and channel sales, sales operations, professional services, account management and technical consulting.

To support our sales efforts and promote the Akamai brand, we conduct comprehensive marketing programs. Our marketing strategies include an active public relations campaign, print advertisements, online advertisements, participation at trade shows (virtually or in person), strategic alliances, ongoing customer communication programs, training and sales support.

Competition

The market for our solutions is intensely competitive and characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and frequent new product and service innovations. We expect competition for our offerings to increase both from existing competitors and new market entrants. We compete primarily on the basis of:

• the performance and reliability of our solutions;

• return on investment in terms of cost savings and new revenue opportunities for our customers;

• reduced infrastructure complexity;

• sophistication and functionality of our offerings;

• scalability;

• security;

• ease of implementation and use of service;

• customer support; and

• price.

We compete with companies offering products and services that address internet performance problems, including companies that provide internet content delivery and hosting services, security solutions, technologies used by carriers to improve the efficiency of their systems, streaming content delivery services and equipment-based solutions for internet performance problems, such as load balancers and server switches. Other companies offer online distribution of digital media assets through advertising-based billing or revenue-sharing models that may represent an alternative method for charging for the delivery of content and applications over the internet. In addition, existing and potential customers may decide to purchase or develop their own hardware, software or other technology solutions rather than rely on a third-party provider like us. Our security solutions compete with those offered by both hardware and software providers, many of which are more established security vendors than we are.

We believe that we compete favorably with other companies in our industry through the global scale of the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, which we believe provides the most effective means of meeting the needs of enterprise customers and is unique to us. In our view, we also benefit from the high quality of our offerings, our customer service and the information we can provide to our customers about their online operations and value.

Government Regulation

As a global technology company, Akamai is subject to complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations in areas such as data privacy and localization, liability for content delivered over our network, bribery, export controls, competition, tax and foreign exchange controls.

Privacy laws, such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, impact how we use data generated from our network as well as our ability to reach current and prospective customers, understand how our solutions are being used, transfer data about our employees and respond to customer requests allowed under the laws. Other laws and regulations that apply to the internet related to, among other things, content liability, security requirements, critical infrastructure designations, internet resiliency, law enforcement access to information, net neutrality, data localization requirements, industry regulations applicable to key suppliers to some of our customers and restrictions on social media or other content can have an impact on our business. For instance, regulations have been enacted or proposed in a number of countries that limit the delivery of certain types of content into those countries. As an example, restrictions were

adopted in India in 2020 prohibiting access to identified Chinese applications. Enactment and expansion of such laws and regulations would negatively impact our revenues or cause us to incur costs to redesign our systems to ensure compliance.

We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar anti-bribery laws, which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. To the extent we export technical services, data and products outside of the U.S., we are subject to U.S. and international laws and regulations governing international trade and exports, including, but not limited to, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations, and trade sanctions against embargoed countries.

Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and could be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from country to country and inconsistent with our current policies and practices and in ways that could harm our business. For example, while we are generally not subject to regulations applicable to telecommunications companies, new or different interpretations of laws or regulations could subject us to regulatory supervision. In general, the nature and breadth of laws and regulations governing the internet may increase in the future; accordingly, we are unable to assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements or whether our compliance with such regulations will materially impact our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

For further discussion of how government regulations may affect our business, see the related discussion below in Item 1A. Risk Factors – We face risks associated with global operations that could harm our business; – Evolving privacy regulations could negatively impact our profitability and business operations; and – Other regulatory developments could negatively impact our business.

Intellectual Property

Our success and ability to compete are dependent on developing and maintaining the proprietary aspects of our technology and operating without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright laws and contractual restrictions to protect the proprietary aspects of our technology. As of December 31, 2021, we owned, or had exclusive rights to, over 520 U.S. patents covering our technology as well as patents issued by other countries. Our U.S.-issued patents have terms extendable to various dates between 2022 and 2040. We do not believe that the expiration of any particular patent in the near future would be materially detrimental to our business. We seek to limit disclosure of our intellectual property by requiring employees and consultants with access to our proprietary information to execute confidentiality agreements with us and by restricting access to our source code.

Additional Information

Our internet website address is www.akamai.com. We make available, free of charge, on or through our internet website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments thereto that we have filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Commission, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with the Commission. We are not, however, including the information contained on our website, or information that may be accessed through links on our website, as part of, or incorporating such information by reference into, this annual report on Form 10-K.

The following are important factors that could cause our actual operating results to differ materially from those indicated or suggested by forward-looking statements made in this annual report on Form 10-K or presented elsewhere by management from time to time.

Financial and Operational Risks

We may face slowing revenue growth which could negatively impact our profitability and stock price.

The revenue growth rate we have enjoyed in recent years may not continue in future periods and could decline, which could negatively impact our profitability and stock price. Our revenue depends on the amount of traffic we deliver, continued growth in demand for our performance and security solutions and our ability to maintain the prices we charge for them.

We experienced a significant increase in revenue from our media solutions in 2020 due in large part to greater consumption of online media and games during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders across the globe. In 2021, our revenue growth from media solutions declined as stay-at-home orders were lifted. Numerous other factors impact our revenue and traffic growth including:

• the pace of introduction of over-the-top video delivery initiatives by our customers;

• the popularity of our customers’ streaming offerings as compared to those offered by companies that do not use our solutions;

• variation in the popularity of online gaming;

• media and other customers utilizing their own data centers and implementing delivery approaches that limit or eliminate reliance on third-party providers like us;

• the adoption of permanent hybrid or work from home policies by employees; and

• general macro-economic and geopolitical conditions and industry pressures.

We have experienced significant growth in revenue from our security solutions in recent years. To maintain or accelerate growth in security revenue, we must increase our industry recognition as a security solutions provider and develop or acquire new solutions in a rapidly-changing environment where security threats are constantly evolving. We must also ensure that our solutions operate effectively and are competitive with products offered by others.

We are dependent upon the overall economic health of our current and prospective customers and the continued growth and evolution of information technology. We have experienced revenue declines in recent quarters from our web performance solutions and expect this trend to continue because of increasing pricing pressure due to competition and business conditions affecting many of our customers. In addition, in 2021, some of our customers continued to experience disruptions to their businesses following the emergence of COVID-19 variants. These disruptions or changes in international, national, regional and local economic conditions, such as inflation, increasing energy prices, recessionary economic cycles, protracted economic slowdowns or any deterioration in the economy could adversely affect our business. Any of these circumstances would negatively impact our revenues.

Our ability to increase our overall revenue also depends on many other factors including how well we can:

• retain existing customers, including by maintaining the levels of existing services they buy and by delivering consistent and quality performance levels;

• upsell new solutions to existing customers;

• expand our customer base;

• develop and sell innovative and appealing new solutions;

• successfully integrate our recent acquisitions into our business;

• address potential commoditization of our delivery-based solutions, which can lead to lower prices and loss of customers to competitors;

• counteract multi-vendor policies that could cause customers to reduce their reliance on us;

• handle other competitive threats to our business;

• adapt to changes in our customer contracting models from a committed revenue structure to a "pay-as-you-go" approach, which would make it easier for customers to stop doing business with us, or from traditional overage billing models to ones that do not incorporate surcharges for usage above committed levels; and

• manage the impact of changes in general economic conditions, public health issues, natural disasters and public unrest on our ability to sell, market and provide our solutions.

If we are unable to increase revenues, our profitability and stock price could suffer.

Failure to control expenses could reduce our profitability, which would negatively impact our stock price.

Maintaining or improving our profitability depends both on our ability to increase our revenue, even with the potential challenges discussed above, and limit our expenses. We base our decisions about expense levels and investments on estimates of our future revenue and future anticipated rates of growth; however, many of our expenses are fixed costs for a certain amount of time so it may not be possible to reduce costs in a timely manner or without incurring fees to exit certain obligations early. If we are unable to increase revenue through traffic growth or otherwise and limit expenses, our results of operations will suffer. If we are required to significantly reduce expenses to maintain or improve profitability, such actions may negatively affect our ability to invest in our business for innovation, systems improvements and other initiatives.

If we do not develop or acquire new solutions that are attractive to enterprises, our revenue and operating results could be adversely affected.

Innovation is important to our future success. In particular, as security solutions have become, and are expected to continue to be, an increasingly important part of our business, we must be particularly adept at developing new security services that

meet the constantly-changing threat landscape. The process of developing new solutions is complex, lengthy and uncertain; we must commit significant resources to developing new services or features without knowing whether our investments will result in solutions the market will accept, and we may choose to invest in business areas for which a viable market for our products does not ultimately develop. We have also experienced, and may in the future experience, delays in developing and releasing new products and product enhancements. This could cause our expenses to grow more rapidly than our revenue.

Trying to innovate through acquisition can be costly and with uncertain prospects for success; we may find that attractive acquisition targets are too expensive for us to pursue which could cause us to pursue more time-consuming internal development.

Failure to develop, on a cost-effective basis, innovative new or enhanced solutions that are attractive to customers and profitable to us could have a material detrimental effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

If we are unable to compete effectively and adapt to changing market conditions, our business will be adversely affected.

We compete in markets that are intensely competitive and rapidly changing. Our current and potential competitors vary by size, product offerings and geographic region, and range from start-ups that offer solutions competing with a discrete part of our business to large technology or telecommunications companies that offer, or may be planning to introduce, products and services that are broadly competitive with what we do. The primary competitive factors in our market are differentiation of technology, global presence, quality of solutions, customer service, technical expertise, security, ease-of-use, breadth of services offered, price and financial strength.

Many of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources, larger customer bases, broader product portfolios, longer operating histories, greater brand recognition and more established relationships in

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None.

Our headquarters is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts where we lease approximately 659,000 square feet. We also have offices in other locations in the United States and other countries, the largest of which are in Santa Clara, California; Bangalore, India; and Krakow, Poland. All of our facilities are leased. We believe our facilities are sufficient to meet our needs for the foreseeable future and, if needed, additional space will be available at a reasonable cost.

We are party to various litigation matters, governmental proceedings, investigations, claims and disputes that we consider routine and incidental to our business. We do not currently expect the results of any of these matters to have a material effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Not applicable.

PART II

Our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, trades under the symbol “AKAM” on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

As of February 22, 2022, there were 174 holders of record of our common stock.

We have never paid or declared any cash dividends on shares of our common stock or other securities and do not anticipate paying or declaring any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all future earnings, if any, for use in the operation of our business.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following is a summary of our repurchases of our common stock in the fourth quarter of 2021 (in thousands, except share and per share data):

(1)Information is based on settlement dates of repurchase transactions.

(2)Consists of shares of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share.

(3)Includes commissions paid.

(4)Effective November 1, 2018, the Board authorized a $1.1 billion repurchase program through December 31, 2021. In October 2021, our board of directors authorized a new $1.8 billion share repurchase program, effective January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2024. Beginning January 1, 2022, we have $1.8 billion available for future repurchases of shares.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we repurchased 4.7 million shares of our common stock for an aggregate of $522.3 million.

Not applicable.

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, or MD&A, should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto that appear elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K. See “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K for a discussion of certain risks associated with our business. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements do not include the potential impact of any mergers, acquisitions, divestitures or other events that may be announced after the date hereof.

Overview

We provide solutions to power and protect digital experiences. The key factors that influence our financial success are our ability to build on recurring revenue commitments for our security and performance offerings, increase media traffic on our network, effectively manage the prices we charge for our solutions, develop new products and carefully manage our capital spending and other expenses. The purpose of this discussion and analysis section is to provide material information relevant to an assessment of our financial condition and results of operations from management’s perspective, including to describe and explain key trends, events and other factors that impacted our reported results and that are reasonably likely to impact our future performance.

Revenue

For most of our solutions, our customers commit to contracts having terms of a year or longer, which allows us to have a consistent and predictable base level of revenue. In addition to a base level of revenue, we are also dependent on media customers where usage of our solutions is more variable. As a result, our revenue is impacted by the amount of media and software download traffic we serve on our network, the rate of adoption of gaming, social media and video platform offerings, the timing and variability of customer-specific one-time events and geopolitical, economic and other developments that impact our customers' businesses. Seasonal variations that impact traffic on our network, such as holiday-related activities, can cause revenue fluctuations from quarter to quarter. Over the longer term, our ability to expand our product portfolio and to effectively manage the prices we charge for our solutions are key factors impacting our revenue growth.

We have observed the following trends related to our revenue in recent years:

• Increased sales of our security solutions have made a significant contribution to revenue growth. We plan to continue to invest in this area with a focus on further enhancing our product portfolio and extending our go-to-market capabilities, particularly in certain markets and through our channel partners.

• We have experienced increases in the amount of traffic delivered for customers that use our solutions for video, gaming downloads and social media. During 2020, we saw a dramatic increase in traffic growth on our network related to the shutdowns and restrictions from the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. Primarily as a result of the rollback of many pandemic-related restrictions, we have seen the rate of traffic growth moderate during 2021. We do not expect the events of 2020, and its impact to our revenue growth rates, to repeat in the foreseeable future.

• The prices paid by some of our customers have declined due to competition and contract renewals. During 2021 as compared to 2020, we experienced a decline in revenue from website and application delivery solutions due to the above factors, particularly in the U.S. commerce vertical. While we have increased committed recurring revenue from our solutions by upselling incremental solutions to our existing customers and adding new customers to offset the negative trends, we expect revenue challenges from our website and application performance solutions to continue in 2022.

• Revenue from our international operations has been growing at a faster pace than from our U.S. operations, particularly in terms of traffic, new customer acquisition and cross-selling of incremental solutions. Because we publicly report in U.S. dollars, if the dollar strengthens, our reported revenue results will be negatively impacted. Conversely, a weaker dollar would benefit our reported results.

• We have experienced variations in certain types of revenue from quarter to quarter. In particular, we typically experience higher revenue in the fourth quarter of each year for some of our solutions as a result of holiday season activity. In addition, we experience quarterly variations in revenue attributable to, among other things, the nature and timing of software and gaming releases by our customers; whether there are large live sporting or other events or situations that impact the amount of media traffic on our network; and the frequency and timing of purchases of custom solutions or licensed software.

Expenses

Our level of profitability is also impacted by our expenses, including direct costs to support our revenue such as bandwidth and co-location costs. We have observed the following trends related to our profitability in recent years:

• Our profitability improved in 2021 and 2020 as compared to prior periods due to higher overall revenue as well as the effects of cost savings and efficiency initiatives we have undertaken. We have also benefited from lower travel expenses because of pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions. We will need to continue to undertake efforts intended to improve the efficiency of operations to manage our expense growth and profitability.

• Network bandwidth costs represent a significant portion of our cost of revenue. Historically, we have been able to mitigate increases in these costs by reducing our network bandwidth costs per unit and investing in internal-use software development to improve the performance and efficiency of our network. Our total bandwidth costs may increase in the future as a result of expected higher traffic levels and serving more traffic from higher cost regions. We will need to continue to effectively manage our bandwidth costs to maintain current levels of profitability.

• Co-location costs are also a significant portion of our cost of revenue. By improving our internal-use software and managing our hardware deployments to enable us to use servers more efficiently, we have been able to manage the growth of co-location costs. We expect to continue to scale our network in the future and will need to continue to effectively manage our co-location costs to maintain current levels of profitability.

• Network build-out and supporting service costs represent another significant portion of our cost of revenue. These costs include maintenance and supporting services incurred as we continue to build-out our global network. We have seen these costs increase in 2021 and 2020, as a result of our network expansion and pricing pressure from vendors. As we continue to invest in our network, we will need to effectively manage our network build-out and supporting costs.

• Our employees are core to the operations of our business, and payroll and related costs, including stock-based compensation, is one of our largest expenses. It is important to the success of operations that we offer competitive compensation packages. However, we need to ensure we continue to focus on the right investments and maintain operational efficiencies to mitigate the cost of talent. We plan to continue to hire employees in support of our strategic initiatives, including through our anticipated acquisition, but do not expect overall headcount to increase significantly in 2022.

• Depreciation expense related to our network equipment also contributes to our overall expense levels. During 2021, as compared to 2020, we saw higher depreciation expense due to accelerated deployment of equipment in 2020 to help meet the increased traffic demands arising during the ongoing COVID-19 p

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Interest Rate Risk

Our portfolio of cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments is maintained in a variety of securities, including U.S. government agency obligations, high-quality corporate debt securities, commercial paper, mutual funds and money market funds. The majority of our investments are classified as available-for-sale securities and carried at fair market value with cumulative unrealized gains or losses recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders' equity. A sharp rise in interest rates could have an adverse impact on the fair market value of certain securities in our portfolio. We do not currently hedge our interest rate exposure and do not enter into financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. If market interest rates were to increase by 100 basis points from December 31, 2021 levels, the fair value of our available-for-sale portfolio would decline by approximately $17.7 million.

In August 2019, we issued $1,150.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.375% convertible senior notes due 2027. In May 2018, we issued $1,150.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.125% convertible senior notes due 2025. As these notes have a fixed annual interest rate, we have no financial or economic interest exposure associated with changes in interest rates. However, the fair value of fixed rate debt instruments fluctuates when interest rates change. Additionally, the fair value can be affected when the market price of our common stock fluctuates. We carry the notes at face value less an unamortized discount on our consolidated balance sheet, and we present the fair value for required disclosure purposes only.

Foreign Currency Risk

Growth in our international operations will incrementally increase our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations as well as other risks typical of international operations that could impact our business, including, but not limited to, differing economic conditions, changes in political climate, differing tax structures and other regulations and restrictions. A hypothetical 10% strengthening or weakening in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the foreign currencies in which our revenues and expenses are denominated would not result in a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

Transaction Exposure

Foreign exchange rate fluctuations may adversely impact our consolidated results of operations as exchange rate fluctuations on transactions denominated in currencies other than functional currencies result in gains and losses that are reflected in our consolidated statements of income. We enter into short-term foreign currency forward contracts to offset foreign exchange gains and losses generated by the re-measurement of certain assets and liabilities recorded in non-functional currencies. Changes in the fair value of these derivatives, as well as re-measurement gains and losses, are recognized in our consolidated statements of income within other income (expense), net. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses from these forward contracts were determined to be immaterial during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. We do not enter into derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Translation Exposure

To the extent the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, the translation of these foreign currency-denominated transactions will result in increased revenue and operating expenses. Conversely, our revenue and operating expenses will decrease when the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies.

Foreign exchange rate fluctuations may also adversely impact our consolidated financial condition as the assets and liabilities of our foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars in preparing our consolidated balance sheet. These gains or losses are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders' equity.

Credit Risk

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to accounts receivable are limited to certain customers to which we make substantial sales. Our customer base consists of a large number of geographically dispersed customers diversified across numerous industries. We believe that our accounts receivable credit risk exposure is limited. As of December 31, 2021, there was one customer with an accounts receivable balance greater than 10% of our accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2020, no customer had an accounts receivable balance of 10% or more of our accounts receivable. We believe that at December 31, 2021, the concentration of credit risk related to accounts receivable was insignificant.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Akamai Technologies, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Akamai Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related consolidated statements of income, of comprehensive income, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (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 audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

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 (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Valuation of Completed Technologies – Acquisition of Guardicore Ltd.

As described in Notes 2 and 8 to the consolidated financial statements, in October 2021, the Company acquired Guardicore Ltd. (“Guardicore”) for $610.4 million in cash, which resulted in completed technologies of $79.0 million being recorded. Management applied (i) the relief-from-royalty method to estimate the fair value of the completed technologies acquired and (ii) significant judgment in estimating the fair value of acquired intangible assets, which involved significant estimates and assumptions with respect to forecasted revenue growth rates and the discount rate.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the valuation of completed technologies acquired in connection with the Guardicore acquisition is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining the fair value of the completed technologies intangible assets acquired; (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions related to forecasted revenue growth rates and the discount rate; and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the acquisition accounting, including controls over management’s valuation of the completed technologies intangible assets and controls over the development of significant assumptions related to forecasted revenu

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None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, respectively), evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits 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. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company's principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by the company’s board of directors, management and other personnel, 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 and includes those policies and procedures that:

• pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;

• 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

• 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.

To assist management, we have established an internal audit function to verify and monitor our internal controls and procedures. Because of its inherent limitations, however, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. 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.

Our management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control — Integrated Framework 2013.

Based on our assessment, management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, concluded that, as of December 31, 2021, our internal control over financial reporting was effective based on those criteria at the reasonable assurance level.

The effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in its report, which is included in Item 8 of this annual report on Form 10-K.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

No change in our internal control over financial reporting occurred during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

None.

Not applicable.

PART III

The complete response to this Item regarding the backgrounds of our executive officers and directors and other information required by Items 401, 405 and 407 of Regulation S-K will be contained in our definitive proxy statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders under the sections captioned “Executive Compensation Matters,” “Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports” and “Corporate Governance Highlights” and is incorporated by reference herein.

Our executive officers and directors and their positions as of February 28, 2022, are as follows:

We have adopted a written code of business ethics, as amended, that applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer or persons serving similar functions and all of our other employees and members of our board of directors. The text of our amended code of ethics is available on our website at www.akamai.com. If we amend, or grant a waiver under, our code of business ethics that applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, or persons performing similar functions, we intend to post information about such amendment or waiver on our website at www.akamai.com.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference herein to our definitive proxy statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders under the sections captioned “Executive Compensation Matters,” “Corporate Governance Highlights,” “Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation” and “Director Compensation.”

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference herein to our definitive proxy statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders under the sections captioned “Executive Compensation Matters,” “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” and “Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans.”

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference herein to our definitive proxy statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders under the sections captioned “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions; Code of Ethics; Interest in Annual Meeting Matters,” “Corporate Governance Highlights” and “Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation.”

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference herein to our definitive proxy statement for our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders under the section captioned “Ratification of Selection of Independent Auditors.”

PART IV

(a)Documents Filed as Part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K

1.Financial Statements (included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K):

• Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

• Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020

• Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019

• Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019

• Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019

• Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019

• Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

2.Financial Statement Schedules

Financial statements schedules are omitted as they are either not required or the information is otherwise included in the consolidated financial statements.

(b)Exhibits

EXHIBIT INDEX

None.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.