Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Interest Rate Risk

We are exposed to interest rate risk relating to our investments and outstanding debt. In addition, adverse economic conditions and events (including volatility or distress in the equity and/or debt or credit markets) may impact regional and global financial markets. These events and conditions could cause us to write down our assets or investments. We seek to reduce earnings volatility that may result from adverse economic conditions and events or changes in interest rates.

The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time improving yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, we maintain our cash equivalents, customer accounts and short-term and long-term investments in a variety of asset types, including bank deposits, government bonds and corporate debt securities. As of September 30, 2024, approximately 25% of our total cash and investments was held in cash and cash equivalents and customer accounts. As such, changes in interest rates will impact interest income. As discussed below, the fair market values of our fixed-rate securities may be adversely affected due to a rise in interest rates, and we may suffer losses in principal if we are forced to sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates.

As of September 30, 2024, the balance of our corporate debt and government bond securities was $4.3 billion, which represented approximately 47% of our total cash and investments. Investments in both fixed-rate and floating-rate interest-earning instruments carry varying degrees of interest rate risk. The fair market value of our fixed-rate investment securities may be adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates. In general, fixed-rate securities with longer maturities are subject to greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. While floating rate securities generally are subject to less interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, floating-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates decrease and may also suffer a decline in market value if interest rates increase. Due in part to these factors, our investment income may fall short of expectations or we may suffer losses in principal if we sell securities that have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates. A hypothetical 1% (100 basis point) increase in interest rates would have resulted in a decrease in the fair value of our investments of $25 million and $20 million as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.

Further changes in interest rates will impact interest expense on any borrowings under our revolving credit facility, which bear interest at floating rates, and the interest rate on any commercial paper borrowings we make and any debt securities we may issue in the future and, accordingly, will impact interest expense. For additional details related to our debt, see “Note 8 — Debt” to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Equity Price Risk

Equity investments

Our equity investments are primarily investments in privately-held companies. Our consolidated results of operations include, as a component of gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net, our share of the net income or loss of the equity investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting, or the change in fair value of the equity method investments accounted for under the fair value option. Equity investments without readily determinable fair values are accounted for at cost, less impairment and adjusted for subsequent observable price changes obtained from orderly transactions for identical or similar investments issued by the same investee. Such changes in the basis of the equity investment are recognized in gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net. Equity investments under the fair value option are measured at fair value based on a quarterly valuation analysis and are classified within Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy as the valuation reflects management’s estimate of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the equity investment. Subsequent changes in fair value are recognized in gain (loss) on equity investments and warrant, net.

As of September 30, 2024, our equity investments totaled $2.5 billion, which represented approximately 27% of our total cash and investments.

For additional details related to these investments, please see “Note 5 — Investments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Warrant

We entered into a warrant agreement in conjunction with a commercial agreement with Adyen that, subject to meeting certain conditions, entitles us to acquire a fixed number of shares up to 5% of Adyen’s fully diluted issued and outstanding share capital at a specific date. As discussed in “Note 6 — Derivative Instruments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report, in 2021 we met the processing volume milestone target to vest the first tranche of the warrant, and we exercised the option to purchase shares of Adyen. The remaining tranches of the warrant are accounted for as a derivative instrument under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Changes in Adyen’s common stock price and equity volatility may have a significant impact on the value of the warrant. As of September 30, 2024, a hypothetical one dollar change in the fair value of one share of Adyen’s common stock, holding other factors constant, would have increased or decreased the fair value of the warrant by approximately $0.4 million. For additional details related to the warrant, please see “Note 6 — Derivative Instruments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.

On October 15, 2024, we met the processing volume milestone target to vest the second tranche of the Adyen warrant. Upon vesting of the second tranche, we exercised the option to purchase approximately 404 thousand shares of Adyen valued at $630 million on the settlement date of October 30, 2024 in exchange for $108 million in cash.

Foreign Currency Risk

Our commerce platforms operate globally, resulting in certain revenues and costs that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound and euro, subjecting us to foreign currency risk, which may adversely impact our financial results. We transact business in various foreign currencies and have significant international revenues as well as costs. In addition, we charge our international subsidiaries for their use of intellectual property and technology and for certain corporate services we provide. Our cash flow and results of operations that are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations may differ materially from expectations and we may record significant gains or losses due to foreign currency fluctuations and related hedging activities.

We have a foreign exchange exposure management program designed to identify material foreign currency exposures, manage these exposures and reduce the potential effects of currency fluctuations on our reported consolidated cash flows and results of operations through the purchase of foreign currency exchange contracts. The effectiveness of the program and resulting usage of foreign exchange derivative contracts is at times limited by our ability to achieve cash flow hedge accounting. For additional details related to our derivative instruments, please see “Note 6 — Derivative Instruments” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this report.

We use foreign exchange derivative contracts to help protect our forecasted U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These hedging contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of adverse currency exchange rate movements. Most of these contracts are designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. For qualifying cash flow hedges, the derivative’s gain or loss is initially reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income and subsequently reclassified into earnings in the same period the forecasted transaction affects earnings. For contracts not designated as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes, the derivative’s gain or loss is recognized immediately in earnings in our consolidated statement of income. However, only certain revenue and costs are eligible for cash flow hedge accounting.

The following table illustrates the fair values of outstanding foreign exchange contracts designated as cash flow hedges and foreign exchange contracts not designated for hedge accounting and the before-tax effect on fair values of a hypothetical adverse change in the foreign exchange rates that existed as of September 30, 2024. The sensitivity for foreign currency contracts is based on a 20% adverse change in foreign exchange rates, against relevant functional currencies.

Since our risk management programs are highly effective, the potential loss in value described above would be largely offset by changes in the value of the underlying exposure.

We also use foreign exchange contracts to offset the foreign exchange risk on our assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of our subsidiaries. These contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities. The foreign currency gains and losses on the assets and liabilities are recorded in interest income and other, net, which are offset by the gains and losses on the foreign exchange contracts.

We considered the historical trends in currency exchange rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that adverse changes in exchange rates of 20% for all currencies could be experienced in the near term. These changes would have resulted in an immaterial adverse impact on income before income taxes as of September 30, 2024 taking into consideration the offsetting effect of foreign exchange forwards in place as of September 30, 2024.