Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities and Interest Income Risk

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $67.3 billion and $66.1 billion as of May 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our bank deposits and time deposits are generally held with large, diverse financial institutions worldwide with high investment-grade credit ratings or financial institutions that meet investment-grade ratings criteria, which we believe mitigates credit risk and certain other risks. In addition, as of May 31, 2018, substantially all of our marketable securities were high quality with approximately 26% having maturity dates within one year and 74% having maturity dates within one to five years (a description of our marketable securities held is included in Notes 3 and 4 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” above). We held a mix of both fixed and floating-rate debt securities. Fixed rate securities may have their market value adversely impacted as interest rates increase,

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while floating rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates fall. Due in part to these factors, our future investment income may vary due to changes in interest rates or we may realize losses if we are forced to sell securities that decline in market value due to changes in interest rates. However because we classify our debt securities as “available for sale,” no gains or losses are recognized due to changes in interest rates unless such securities are sold prior to maturity or declines in fair value are determined to be other-than-temporary. The fair values of our fixed-rate debt securities are impacted by interest rate movements and if interest rates would have been higher by 50 basis points as of May 31, 2018 and 2017 we estimate the change would have decreased the fair values of our marketable securities holdings by $308 million and $348 million, respectively. Substantially all of our marketable securities are designated as available-for-sale. We generally do not use our investments for trading purposes.

Changes in the overall level of interest rates affect the interest income that is generated from our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. For fiscal 2018 and 2017, total interest income was $1.2 billion and $802 million, respectively, with our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities investments yielding an average 1.73% and 1.47%, respectively, on a worldwide basis.

Interest Expense Risk

Interest Expense Risk—Interest Rate Swap Agreements and Cross-Currency Interest Rate Swap Agreements

Our total borrowings were $60.9 billion as of May 31, 2018, consisting of $56.9 billion of fixed-rate borrowings, $1.2 billion of floating-rate borrowings (Floating-Rate Notes) and $2.8 billion of other borrowings, primarily under the 2018 Credit Agreements. We have entered into certain interest rate swap agreements that have the economic effect of modifying the fixed-interest obligations associated with our $1.5 billion of 2.375% senior notes due January 2019 (January 2019 Notes), our $2.0 billion of 2.25% senior notes due October 2019 (October 2019 Notes), our $1.5 billion of 2.80% senior notes due July 2021 (July 2021 Notes), and our April 2038 Notes, so that the interest payable on these senior notes effectively became variable based on LIBOR. We have also entered into cross-currency interest rate swap agreements to manage the foreign currency exchange rate risk associated with our July 2025 Notes by effectively converting the fixed-rate, Euro denominated debt, including the annual interest payments and the payment of principal at maturity, to variable-rate, U.S. Dollar denominated debt based on LIBOR. The critical terms of the swap agreements match the critical terms of the January 2019 Notes, October 2019 Notes, July 2021 Notes, April 2038 Notes and July 2025 Notes that the swap agreements pertain to, including the notional amounts and maturity dates. We do not use these swap arrangements for trading purposes. We are accounting for these swap agreements as fair value hedges pursuant to ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (ASC 815). The fair values of these fixed to variable interest rate swap agreements as of May 31, 2018 and 2017 were a $26 million net loss and a $40 million gain, respectively. We estimate that the changes in the fair values of these swap agreements during fiscal 2018 and 2017 were primarily attributable to an increase in forward interest rate prices. If LIBOR-based interest rates would have been higher by 100 basis points as of May 31, 2018 and 2017, the change would have decreased the fair values of the fixed to variable swap agreements by $315 million and $153 million, respectively.

By issuing the Floating-Rate Notes and by entering into the aforementioned swap arrangements, we have assumed risks associated with variable interest rates based upon LIBOR. Changes in the overall level of interest rates affect the interest expense that we recognize in our consolidated statements of operations. An interest rate risk sensitivity analysis is used to measure interest rate risk by computing estimated changes in cash flows as a result of assumed changes in market interest rates. As of May 31, 2018 and 2017, if LIBOR-based interest rates would have been higher by 100 basis points, the change would have increased our interest expense annually by approximately $86 million and $73 million, respectively, as it relates to our fixed to variable interest rate swap agreements and floating-rate borrowings. Additional details regarding our senior notes and related swap agreements are included in Notes 7 and 10 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

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Currency Risk

Foreign Currency Transaction Risk—Foreign Currency Forward Contracts

We transact business in various foreign currencies and have established a program that primarily utilizes foreign currency forward contracts to offset the risks associated with the effects of certain foreign currency exposures. Under this program, our strategy is to enter into foreign currency forward contracts so that increases or decreases in our foreign currency exposures are offset by gains or losses on the foreign currency forward contracts in order to mitigate the risks and volatility associated with our foreign currency transactions. We may suspend this program from time to time. Our foreign currency exposures typically arise from intercompany sublicense fees, intercompany loans and other intercompany transactions. Our foreign currency forward contracts are generally short-term in duration.

Neither do we use these foreign currency forward contracts for trading purposes nor do we designate these forward contracts as hedging instruments pursuant to ASC 815. Accordingly, we record the fair values of these contracts as of the end of our reporting period to our consolidated balance sheet with changes in fair values recorded to our consolidated statement of operations. Given the short duration of the forward contracts, amounts recorded generally are not significant. The balance sheet classification for the fair values of these forward contracts is prepaid expenses and other current assets for forward contracts in an unrealized gain position and other current liabilities for forward contracts in an unrealized loss position. The statement of operations classification for changes in fair values of these forward contracts is non-operating income, net for both realized and unrealized gains and losses.

We expect that we will continue to realize gains or losses with respect to our foreign currency exposures, net of gains or losses from our foreign currency forward contracts. Our ultimate realized gain or loss with respect to foreign currency exposures will generally depend on the size and type of cross-currency transactions that we enter into, the currency exchange rates associated with these exposures and changes in those rates, the net realized gain or loss on our foreign currency forward contracts and other factors. The notional amounts of the forward contracts we held to purchase U.S. Dollars in exchange for other major international currencies were $3.4 billion as of each of May 31, 2018 and 2017 and the notional amounts of forward contracts we held to sell U.S. Dollars in exchange for other major international currencies were $1.4 billion as of each of May 31, 2018 and 2017. The fair values of our outstanding foreign currency forward contracts were nominal at May 31, 2018 and 2017. Net foreign exchange transaction losses included in non-operating income, net in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations were $74 million, $152 million and $110 million in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. As a large portion of our consolidated operations are international, we could experience additional foreign currency volatility in the future, the amounts and timing of which are unknown.

Foreign Currency Translation Risk—Impact on Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities

Fluctuations in foreign currencies impact the amount of total assets and liabilities that we report for our foreign subsidiaries upon the translation of these amounts into U.S. Dollars. In particular, the amount of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities that we report in U.S. Dollars for a significant portion of the cash held by these subsidiaries is subject to translation variance caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates as of the end of each respective reporting period (the offset to which is substantially recorded to accumulated other comprehensive loss on our consolidated balance sheets and is also presented as a line item in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income included elsewhere in this Annual Report).

As the U.S. Dollar fluctuated against certain international currencies as of the end of fiscal 2018, the amount of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities that we reported in U.S. Dollars for foreign subsidiaries that hold international currencies as of May 31, 2018 increased relative to what we would have reported using a constant currency rate from May 31, 2017. As reported in our consolidated statements of cash flows, the estimated effects of exchange rate changes on our reported cash and cash equivalents balances in U.S. Dollars was an increase of $57 million for fiscal 2018, and decreases of $86 million and $115 million in fiscal 2017 and 2016, respectively. If overall foreign currency exchange rates in comparison to the U.S. Dollar uniformly would have been weaker by 10% as of May 31, 2018 and May 31, 2017 the amount of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities we would report in U.S. Dollars would have decreased by approximately $555 million and $518 million, respectively, assuming constant foreign currency cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances.

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