Datadog (DDOG) risk factors: FY2025 10-K
Item 1A of the 10-K for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-18. 59 risk factor headings as filed. Read Item 1A in full · The whole 10-K · What changed since FY2024
0new since FY2024
3reworded
0removed
56unchanged
Headings mentioning a theme: Tariffs 0 · AI 1 · Cybersecurity 1 · China 0 · Interest rates 0. Compare across the S&P 500.
Risks Associated with our Growth
5- Unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy, or reductions in information technology spending, could limit our ability to grow our business and negatively affect our results of operations.
- Our recent rapid growth may not be indicative of our future growth. Our rapid growth also makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
- We have a history of operating losses and may not sustain profitability in the future.
- We have a limited operating history at our current scale, which makes it difficult to forecast our future results of operations.
- We may require additional capital to support the growth of our business, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
Strategic and Operational Risks
18- Our business depends on our existing customers purchasing additional subscriptions and products from us and renewing their subscriptions. If our customers do not renew or expand their subscriptions with us, or decrease their spend on our products, our future operating results would be harmed.
- If we are unable to attract new customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
- Failure to effectively develop and expand our sales and marketing capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products.
- If we or the third-parties with whom we work experience, or are unable to protect against cyber-attacks, ransomware, security incidents, or security breaches, or if unauthorized parties otherwise obtain access to or otherwise compromise our customers’ data, our data, or our platform and information technology systems, then our solution may be perceived as not being secure, our reputation may be harmed, demand for our platform and products may be reduced, and we may incur significant liabilities or additional expenses.Cybersecurity
- Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our software could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects.
- Interruptions or performance problems associated with our products and platform capabilities may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
- We may not be able to successfully manage our growth, and if we are not able to grow efficiently, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
- We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our products. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
- We offer free trials and a free tier of our platform to drive developer awareness of our products, and encourage usage and adoption. If these marketing strategies fail to lead to customers purchasing paid subscriptions, our ability to grow our revenue will be adversely affected.
- We expect fluctuations in our financial results, making it difficult to project future results, and if we fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors with respect to our results of operations, our stock price could decline.
- Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our sales and results of operations.
- Downturns or upturns in our sales may not be immediately reflected in our financial position and results of operations.
- We target enterprise customers, and sales to these customers involve risks that may not be present or that are present to a lesser extent with sales to smaller entities.
- If we fail to retain and motivate members of our management team or other key employees, or fail to attract additional qualified personnel to support our operations, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed.
- If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.
- If we cannot maintain our company culture as we grow, our success and our business and competitive position may be harmed.
- If we fail to offer high-quality support, our reputation could suffer.
- Acquisitions, strategic investments, partnerships, or alliances could be difficult to identify, pose integration challenges, divert the attention of management, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Industry and Competitive Risks
4- If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, or to changing customer needs, requirements or preferences, our platform and products may become less competitive.
- The markets in which we participate are competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
- The market for our solutions may develop more slowly or differently than we expect.
- We use artificial intelligence in our products and services which may result in operational challenges, legal liability, reputational harm, competitive risks and regulatory concerns that could adversely affect our business and results of operations.AI
Legal and Regulatory Risks
13- We typically provide service-level commitments under our subscription agreements. If we fail to meet these contractual commitments, we could be obligated to provide credits for future service or face subscription termination with refunds of prepaid amounts, which would lower our revenue and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
- Indemnity provisions in various agreements to which we are party potentially expose us to substantial liability for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights, data protection and other losses.
- We and the third-parties with whom we work are subject to stringent and changing laws, regulations, standards, and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security. Actual or perceived failure by us or the third-parties with whom we work to comply with such laws, regulations, standards, or contractual obligations could harm our business.reworded
- We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
- Sales to government entities and highly regulated organizations are subject to a number of challenges and risks.
- We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate the controls.
- Any future litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend.
- We are subject to risks related to our environmental, social, and governance practices and disclosures.
- We could be required to collect additional sales taxes or be subject to other tax liabilities that may increase the costs our clients would have to pay for our products and adversely affect our results of operations.
- Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
- Changes in our effective tax rate or tax liability may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
- Our reported financial results may be adversely affected by changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
- If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
3- Any failure to obtain, maintain, protect or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights could impair our ability to protect our proprietary technology and our brand.
- We may become subject to intellectual property disputes, which are costly and may subject us to significant liability and increased costs of doing business.
- We use open source software in our products, which could negatively affect our ability to sell our services or subject us to litigation or other actions.
Risks Associated with our International Operations
3- Our current operations are international in scope, and we plan further geographic expansion, creating a variety of operational challenges.
- We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our results of operations.
- Our international operations may subject us to potential adverse tax consequences.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
9- Our stock price may be volatile, and the value of our Class A common stock may decline.
- The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with holders of our Class B common stock, including our executive officers, directors and their affiliates, which will limit the ability of holders of our Class A common stock to influence the outcome of important transactions.
- Future sales of our Class A common stock in the public market could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
- Our issuance of additional capital stock in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, our equity incentive plans or otherwise will dilute all other stockholders.
- If securities or industry analysts cease publishing research or publish unfavorable or inaccurate research about our business, or if we fail to meet or significantly exceed our publicly announced financial guidance or the expectations of analysts or public investors, the market price and trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
- We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
- We are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our Class A common stock.
- Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our Class A common stock.
- Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America as the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could restrict our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Risks Related to Our Outstanding Notes
4- We may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to make payments on our significant debt when due, and we may incur additional indebtedness in the future.
- The conditional conversion feature of the 2029 Notes may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.reworded
- The capped call transactions may affect the value of the 2029 Notes and the market price of our Class A common stock.reworded
- We are subject to counterparty risk with respect to the capped call transactions.
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.
Sponsor Sponsor this sector. One slot per industry, shown on every filing in it. Details