Item 1A. Risk Factors
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
See Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, for a detailed discussion of risk factors affecting the Company. There have been no material changes in the risk factors described therein except for an update to the risk factor included below to reflect the merchant point-of-sale device matter discussed in Business Trends and Conditions within Item 2 of this Quarterly Report.
Our business and operating results could be adversely affected if we experience business interruptions, errors or failure in connection with our or third-party information technology and communication systems and other software and hardware used in connection with our business, if we experience defects or design errors in the software solutions we offer, or more generally, if the third-party vendors we rely upon are unwilling or unable to provide the services we need to effectively operate our business.
Many of our services are based on sophisticated software and computing systems, and we may encounter delays when developing new technology solutions and services. Further, the technology solutions underlying our services have occasionally contained, and may in the future contain, undetected errors or defects when first introduced or when new versions are released. In addition, we may experience difficulties in installing or integrating our technologies on platforms used by our clients, or our
clients may cancel a project after we have expended significant effort and resources to complete an installation. Finally, our systems and operations could be exposed to damage or interruption from fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure, unauthorized entry and computer viruses. Defects in our technology solutions, errors or delays in the processing of electronic transactions, or other difficulties could result in (i) interruption of business operations; (ii) delay in market acceptance; (iii) additional development and remediation costs; (iv) diversion of technical and other resources; (v) loss of clients; (vi) negative publicity; or (vii) exposure to liability claims. Any one or more of the foregoing could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we attempt to limit our potential liability through controls, including system redundancies, security controls, application development and testing controls, and disclaimers and limitation-of-liability provisions in our license and client agreements, we cannot be certain that these measures will always be successful in preventing disruption or limiting our liability.
Further, most of the solutions we offer are very complex software systems that are regularly updated. No matter how careful the design and development, complex software often contains errors and defects when first introduced and when major new updates or enhancements are released. If errors or defects are discovered in current or future solutions, then we may not be able to correct them in a timely manner, if at all. In our development of updates and enhancements to our software solutions, we may make a major design error that makes the solution operate incorrectly or less efficiently. The failure of software to properly perform could result in the Company and its clients being subjected to losses or liability, including censures, fines, or other sanctions by the applicable regulatory authorities, and we could be liable to parties who are financially harmed by those errors. In addition, such errors could cause the Company to lose revenue, lose clients or damage its reputation.
Our Merchant business has made progress toward implementation of a new proprietary global acquiring platform project begun by Worldpay. As we continue to implement this project, through the migration of existing merchant customers and onboarding of new merchant customers to the platform, the scale and complexity associated with this project presents the increased potential for service level delays or disruptions in the processing of transactions, telecommunications failures or other difficulties. Such delays or disruptions could result in reputational harm, loss of business and increased operational or technological costs.
In addition, we generally depend on a number of third parties, both in the United States and internationally, to supply elements of our systems, computers, research and market data, connectivity, communication network infrastructure, other equipment and related support and maintenance. We cannot be certain that any of these third parties will be able to continue providing these services to effectively meet our evolving needs. As described elsewhere in this report, we are currently working to assist our customers in replacing merchant point-of-sale terminals made by a specific vendor. There is currently a shortage of supply for these devices, which may delay or otherwise adversely affect this replacement. If our vendors, or in certain cases vendors of our customers, fail to meet their obligations, provide poor or untimely service, or we are unable to make alternative arrangements for the provision of these services, then we may in turn fail to provide our services or to meet our obligations to our customers, and our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
The following table summarizes purchases of equity securities by the issuer during the three-month period ended September 30, 2021:
| Maximum number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| of shares that | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total cost of shares | may yet be | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| purchased as part of | purchased under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total number of | publicly announced | the plans or | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| shares purchased (1) | Average price | plans or programs (1) | programs (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Period | (in millions) | paid per share | (in millions) | (in millions) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 1-31, 2021 | — | $ | — | $ | — | 94.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| August 1-31, 2021 | 7.8 | $ | 133.53 | $ | 1,045.8 | 86.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| September 1-30, 2021 | 1.2 | $ | 124.60 | $ | 150.0 | 85.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 9.0 | $ | 1,195.8 |
(1)In January 2021, our Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program under which it authorized the Company to repurchase up to 100 million shares of our common stock at management's discretion from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and through Rule 10b5-1 plans. The new share repurchase program has no expiration date and may be suspended for periods, amended or discontinued at any time. Under the new share repurchase program, approximately 85.5 million shares remain available for repurchases as of September 30, 2021.
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