Cover and table of contents

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(D) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of Common Shares (the only common equity of the registrant) held by non-affiliates (for this purpose, executive officers and directors of the registrant are considered affiliates) as of June 30, 2024 (the last business day of the most recently completed second quarter) was approximately $30,843,122,938

As of February 10, 2025, there were 380,775,581 shares of our Class A common stock, par value $0.0001, issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for use in connection with its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is to be filed no later than 120 days after December 31, 2024, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Unless the context otherwise indicates or requires, references to “the Company,” “Vertiv,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Vertiv Holdings Co, a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”), and other statements that Vertiv may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and as such are not historical facts. Such statements may include, without limitation, those regarding our future financial performance or position, capital structure, indebtedness, business performance, strategy and plans, and expectations and objectives of Vertiv management for future operations and financial performance. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of results or performance. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Vertiv will be those that Vertiv has anticipated. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this Annual Report, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “strive,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. When Vertiv discusses its strategies or plans, it is making projections, forecasts or forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the beliefs of, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to, Vertiv’s management.

Forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report speak only as of the date of this Annual Report or any earlier date specified for such statements. Vertiv undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Vertiv or persons acting on Vertiv’s behalf are qualified in their entirety by this Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.

These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond Vertiv’s control) or other assumptions, which may change over time, and that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance include, but are not limited to: risks relating to the continued growth of our customers’ markets; long sales cycles for certain Vertiv products and solutions as well as unpredictable placing or cancelling of customer orders; failure to realize sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts, disruption of our customer’s orders or the markets; less favorable contractual terms with large customers; risks associated with governmental contracts; failure to mitigate risks associated with long-term fixed price contracts; competition in the industry in which we operate; failure to obtain performance and other guarantees from financial institutions; failure to properly manage supply chain, difficulties with third-party manufacturers and increases in costs of material, freight and/or labor, and changes in the costs of production; competition in the infrastructure technologies; risks associated with information technology disruption or cyber-security incidents; risks associated with the implementation and enhancement of information systems; failure to realize the expected benefit from any rationalization, restructuring and improvement efforts; disruption of, or changes in, Vertiv’s independent sales representatives, distributors and original equipment manufacturers; increase of variability in our effective tax rate costs or liabilities associated with product liability due to global operations subjecting us to income and other taxes in the United States ("U.S.") and numerous foreign entities; the global scope of Vertiv’s operations, especially in emerging markets; failure to benefit from future significant corporate transactions; risks associated with Vertiv’s sales and operations in emerging markets including economic, political and production level risk; risks associated with future legislation and regulation of Vertiv’s customers’ markets both in the United States and abroad; our ability to comply with various laws and regulations including but not limited to, laws and regulations relating to data protection and data privacy; failure to properly address legal compliance issues, particularly those related to imports/exports, anti-corruption laws, and foreign operations; risks associated with foreign trade policy, including tariffs and global trade conflict; risks associated with litigation or claims against the Company, including the risk of adverse outcomes to any legal claims and proceedings; our ability to protect or enforce our proprietary rights on which our business depends; third party intellectual property infringement claims; liabilities associated with environmental, health and safety matters; failure to achieve environmental, social and governance goals; failure to realize the value of goodwill and intangible assets; exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; failure to remediate material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting; our level of indebtedness and the ability to incur additional indebtedness; our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements, including restrictive covenants that restrict operational flexibility; our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements is not fully within our control; our ability to access funding through capital markets; resales of Vertiv securities may cause volatility in the market price of our securities; our organizational documents contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals; our certificate of incorporation includes a forum selection clause, which could discourage or limit stockholders’ ability to make a claim against it; the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends; factors relating to the business, operations and financial

performance of Vertiv and its subsidiaries, including: global economic weakness and uncertainty; our ability to attract, train and retain key members of our leadership team and other qualified personnel; the adequacy of our insurance coverage; fluctuations in interest rates materially affecting our financial results and increasing the risk our counterparties default in our interest rate hedges; our incurrence of significant costs and devotion of substantial management time as a result of operating as a public company; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in this Annual Report including those under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

Risk Factor Summary

Investing in Vertiv’s common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider all information in this Annual Report prior to investing in Vertiv common stock. These risks are discussed more fully in the section titled “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Risks relating to the continued growth of our customers’ markets;

• The long sales cycles for certain Vertiv products and solutions offerings, as well as unpredictable placing or canceling of customer orders;

• Failure to realize sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts;

• Disruption of our customers’ orders or the markets;

• Less favorable contractual terms with large customers;

• The risks associated with governmental contracts;

• Any failure to mitigate risks associated with long-term fixed price contracts;

• We operate in a highly competitive environment;

• Any failure to obtain performance and other guarantees from financial institutions;

• Failure to properly manage our supply chain difficulties with third-party manufacturers and increases in costs of materials, labor, freight and changes in costs of production;

• Competition in the infrastructure technologies;

• Risks associated with information technology disruption or cyber-security incidents;

• Risks associated with the implementation and enhancement of information systems;

• Failure to realize the expected benefit from any rationalization, restructuring, and improvement efforts;

• Disruption of, or changes in, our independent sales representatives, distributors and original equipment manufacturers;

• Increase of variability in our effective tax rate due to global operations subjecting us to income and other taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign entities;

• Costs or liabilities associated with product liability and damage to our reputation and brands;

• The global scope of our operations, especially in emerging markets;

• Any failure to benefit from future significant corporate transactions;

• Risks associated with our operations in emerging markets including economic, political, and production level risk;

• Risks associated with wars, conflicts, and other types of geopolitical tensions;

• Risks associated with future legislation and regulation of our customers’ markets both in the United States and abroad;

• Our ability to comply with various laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, laws and regulations relating to data protection and data privacy;

• Failure to properly address legal compliance issues, particularly those related to imports/exports, anti-corruption laws, and foreign operations;

• Risks associated with foreign trade policies, including tariffs or global trade conflicts;

• Risks associated with litigation or claims against the Company, including the risk of adverse outcomes in any such legal claims or proceedings;

• Our ability to protect or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights on which our business depends and risk of third-party intellectual property infringement claims;

• Liabilities associated with environmental, health and safety matters;

• Risks related to various environmental, social, and governance ("ESG")- related matters, metrics and goals which may impact our business and reputation;

• Failure to realize the value of goodwill and intangible assets;

• Exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;

• Any failure to remediate material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting*;*

• Our level of indebtedness;

• Incurrence of additional indebtedness;

• Our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements, including restrictive covenants that restrict operational flexibility;

• Our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreements are not fully within our control;

• Our ability to access funds through capital markets;

• Resales of our securities may cause volatility in the market price of our securities;

• Provisions contained in our organizational documents that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals;

• A forum selection clause included in our Certificate of Incorporation, which could discourage or limit stockholders’ ability to make a claim against us;

• The ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends;

• Risks associated with global macroeconomics conditions in the areas in which we operate;

• Our ability to attract, train and retain key members of its leadership team and other qualified personnel;

• The adequacy of our insurance coverage;

• Fluctuations in interest rates materially affecting our financial results and increasing the risk our counterparties default on our interest rate hedges; and

• Our incurrence of significant costs and devotion of substantial management time as a result of operating as a public company.

The discussion of risk factors contained in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” herein includes forward-looking statements. These risks, which may be affected by a number of factors, whether currently known or unknown, including but not limited to those described herein, may impact our actual financial condition, operating results and prospects, and are important to understanding other statements included in this Annual Report. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we presently deem less significant may also impact our business operations. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risk factors occur, in whole or in part, our business, operating results, financial condition, cash flows, and prospects could be materially and adversely affected and vary materially from past, or anticipated future, results. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Because of the risk factors included herein, as well as other factors affecting our financial condition and operating results, past financial performance should not be considered a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

PART I.

(Dollars in millions except for per share data and as otherwise noted)