DoorDash (DASH) risk factors: FY2025 10-K
Item 1A of the 10-K for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-18. 69 risk factor headings as filed. Read Item 1A in full · The whole 10-K · What changed since FY2024
7new since FY2024
10reworded
7removed
52unchanged
Headings mentioning a theme: Tariffs 0 · AI 1 · Cybersecurity 1 · China 0 · Interest rates 0. Compare across the S&P 500.
Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
34- We expect our results of operations to fluctuate on a quarterly and annual basis due to a number of factors, which may make it difficult to predict our future performance.reworded
- We have a history of net losses, we anticipate increasing expenses in the future, and we may not be able to consistently maintain or increase profitability in the future.
- Our business may not continue to grow on pace with historical rates.
- We face intense competition and if we are unable to compete effectively, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- If we fail to retain our existing merchants and consumers or acquire new merchants and consumers in a cost-effective manner, our revenue, revenue growth, and margins may decrease and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- If we fail to cost-effectively attract and retain Dashers or to increase the use of our platform by existing Dashers, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- We rely on merchants on our platform for many aspects of our business, and to the extent they fail to adequately maintain their service levels or materially increase the prices they charge consumers on our platform, our business could be adversely affected.
- Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of our websites, mobile applications, technology infrastructure, or platform could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.reworded
- If we are unable to make acquisitions and investments, or successfully integrate acquisitions into our business, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Our international operations and any future international expansion will subject us to additional costs and risks and our plans may not be successful.
- Our pricing methodologies are impacted by a number of factors, and we may not ultimately be successful in attracting and retaining merchants, consumers, and Dashers.
- We face certain risks associated with our pay models for Dashers.
- If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Growth of our business will depend on a strong reputation and brand, and any failure to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand could hurt our ability to retain or expand our base of merchants, consumers, and Dashers and our ability to increase their level of engagement.
- We have been subject to cybersecurity incidents in the past and anticipate being the target of future attacks. Any actual or perceived cybersecurity incident or security or privacy breach, particularly those involving our key systems, data, or critical third-party providers, could interrupt our operations, subject us to claims, litigation, regulatory investigations and liability, and adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.rewordedCybersecurity
- If the on-demand local commerce category does not continue to grow, or grows slower than we expect, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- We are committed to the long-term success of our business, including by expanding our platform and enhancing the consumer experience, which may not maximize short-term financial results and may yield results that conflict with the market’s expectations, which could result in our stock price being adversely affected.
- Illegal, improper, or otherwise inappropriate activity of merchants, consumers, Dashers, or other third party service providers, whether or not occurring while using our platform, could expose us to liability and adversely affect our business, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.
- Our platform facilitates deliveries to consumers from non-partner merchants, and we face certain risks associated with these deliveries.
- If we do not continue to innovate and further develop our platform, our platform developments do not perform, we do not successfully manage our platform strategy, or we are not able to keep pace with technological developments, we may not remain competitive and our business and results of operations could suffer.
- We face certain risks in connection with our self-operated convenience, grocery, and other retail businesses.
- If we fail to maintain or improve the cost-effectiveness of our local commerce platform, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Any failure to offer high-quality support may harm our relationships with merchants, consumers, and Dashers and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- We experience significant seasonal fluctuations in our financial results, which could cause our Class A common stock price to fluctuate.
- The impact of adverse economic conditions and other trends, including the resulting effects on consumer spending and merchant operations, may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- We are subject to risks related to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
- We depend on our highly skilled employees to grow and operate our business, and if we are unable to hire, retain, manage, and motivate our employees, or if our new employees do not perform as we anticipate, we may not be able to grow effectively and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Our company culture has contributed to our success and if we cannot maintain and evolve our culture as we grow, our business could be adversely affected.
- If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
- We use artificial intelligence in our business, and challenges with properly managing its use could result in competitive harm, legal liability, and brand or reputational harm, and adversely affect our results of operations.rewordedAI
- Defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our applications, backend systems, or other technology systems and those of third-party technology providers could harm our reputation and brand and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- We have implemented “sell-to-cover” in which shares of our Class A common stock are sold into the market on behalf of RSU holders upon vesting or settlement of RSUs to cover tax withholding liabilities and such sales will result in dilution to our stockholders.
- We track certain operational metrics with internal systems and tools and do not independently verify such metrics. Certain of our operational metrics are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and any real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may adversely affect our business and reputation.
- Our actual losses may exceed our insurance reserves, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to our Legal and Regulatory Environment
9- If Dashers that utilize our platform as independent contractors are reclassified as employees under U.S. federal or state law, or the laws of other jurisdictions in which we operate, it could have an adverse effect that is material to our business, financial condition, and results of operations.reworded
- We are subject to various claims, lawsuits, investigations, and proceedings, and face potential liability, expenses, and harm to our business as a result.
- We have exposure to greater than anticipated income tax liabilities.
- We have exposure to changing tax legislation and administrative practices, and to tax authorities successfully imposing additional non-income tax obligations or liabilities on us.new
- Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes is subject to limitations.
- Our business is subject to a variety of laws and regulations globally, many of which are unsettled and still developing, and any of which could subject us to legal claims, increased costs, operational burdens, or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.reworded
- We are subject to various U.S. and non-U.S. anti-corruption laws and other anti-bribery and anti-kickback laws and regulations.
- We may be subject to various regulations relating to payment processing.
- Changes in laws or regulations relating to privacy or the protection, transfer of data, or other processing of data relating to individuals, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws and regulations or any other obligations relating to privacy or the protection, transfer of data, or other processing of data relating to individuals, could adversely affect our business.reworded
Risks Related to our Dependence on Third Parties
6- We rely primarily on third-party insurance policies from a limited number of insurance providers to insure our operations-related risks. If our insurance coverage is insufficient for the needs of our business or our insurance providers are unable to meet their obligations, we may not be able to mitigate the risks facing our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- We primarily rely on third-party payment processors to process payments made to merchants and Dashers and to process payments made by consumers, and if we cannot manage our relationships with such third parties and other related risks, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.reworded
- We rely on third-party background check providers to screen potential Dashers, and if such providers fail to provide accurate information or we are not able to maintain business relationships with them, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Our platform, services, and operations depend on a wide variety of third-party software and services and any interruption in services provided by these third parties could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
- We rely on mobile operating systems and application marketplaces to make our applications available to merchants, consumers, and Dashers. If our applications do not effectively operate with or receive favorable placements within such application marketplaces or if the mobile operating system providers make changes to their platforms that reduce the functionality of our platform or effectiveness of our advertising, our usage or brand recognition could decline and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
- Internet search engines drive traffic to our platform and our new user growth could decline if we fail to appear prominently in search results.
Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
3- Failure to adequately protect our intellectual property could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- Intellectual property infringement assertions by third parties could result in significant costs and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and reputation.
- Our platform contains third-party open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to provide our platform.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness and Liquidity
7- Our indebtedness and liabilities could limit the cash flow available for our operations, expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and impair our ability to satisfy our obligations under our debt agreements.new
- We may be unable to raise the funds necessary to repurchase the 2030 Notes for cash following a fundamental change, or to pay any cash amounts due upon conversion, and our other indebtedness limits our ability to repurchase the 2030 Notes or pay cash upon their conversion.new
- The accounting method for the 2030 Notes could adversely affect our reported financial condition and results.new
- The convertible note hedge and warrant transactions may affect the value of the 2030 Notes and our Class A common stock.new
- We are subject to counterparty risk with respect to the convertible note hedge transactions, and the convertible note hedge transactions may not operate as planned.new
- We may require additional capital to support business growth, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
- Our revolving credit facility contains financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions that may limit our operational flexibility or otherwise adversely affect our results of operations.
Risks Related to Ownership of our Class A Common Stock
10- The multi-class structure of our common stock and the Voting Agreement between our Co-Founders has the effect of concentrating voting power with Tony Xu, our co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of our board of directors, which will limit your ability to influence the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval.
- Although we do not expect to rely on the “controlled company” exemption under the listing standards of Nasdaq, we expect to have the right to use such exemption and therefore we could in the future avail ourselves of certain reduced corporate governance requirements.
- The trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
- The trading volume of the 2030 Notes and the conversion features of the 2030 Notes, if triggered, may impact the trading price of our Class A common stock.new
- Sale of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our Class A common stock.
- We may not realize the anticipated long-term stockholder value of our share repurchase programs, and any failure to repurchase our Class A common stock after we have announced our intention to do so may negatively impact our stock price.
- Delaware law and provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation, amended and restated bylaws ("Bylaws"), and the Indenture could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the market price of our Class A common stock.reworded
- Our Bylaws designate a U.S. state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.reworded
- If securities or industry analysts publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their analysis regarding our Class A common stock adversely, the market price and trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
- We do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future.
No longer in Item 1A
7Headings in the FY2024 10-K with no match this year.
- We have a limited operating history in an evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
- Our marketing efforts to help grow our business may not be effective.
- We may not timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and network infrastructure to ensure that our platform is accessible, which would adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations.
- Our business could be adversely impacted by changes in the Internet and mobile device accessibility of users.
- We have exposure to taxing authorities successfully asserting that we have not properly collected or remitted, or in the future should collect or remit, sales and use, gross receipts, value added, similar taxes or withholding taxes, and successfully imposing additional obligations or liabilities on us, and any such assessments, obligations, or liabilities could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
- Legislative changes or administrative practices may increase our tax obligations and exposures and could adversely affect our business results and operations.
- Government regulation of the Internet, mobile devices, and e-commerce is evolving, and unfavorable changes could substantially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Headings are the lines of Item 1A set wholly in bold or italics, as the parser reads them, without the introductory paragraph that opens the section. A heading is new when no heading in the prior 10-K matches it after ignoring case and punctuation, and reworded when it shares at least 60 percent of its words with one that went away. Source: the filing on sec.gov.
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