424B5 1 d138543d424b5.htm 424B5 424B5
Table of Contents

Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-249889

 

The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and we are not soliciting offers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Preliminary Prospectus Supplement

(To Prospectus dated May 29, 2019)

$1,000,000,000

 

LOGO

Twilio Inc.

Class A Common Stock

 

 

We are offering $1,000,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock.

We have two classes of common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are identical, except voting and conversion rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to 10 votes and is convertible at any time into one share of Class A common stock.

Our Class A common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TWLO”. On February 17, 2021, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange was $411.65 per share.

 

 

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-12 of this prospectus supplement for a discussion of certain risks that you should consider in connection with an investment in our Class A common stock.

The underwriters have agreed to purchase shares of our Class A common stock at a price of $                per share. We have granted the right to purchase, exercisable within a 30-day period, up to an additional $150,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock. We estimate that the net proceeds to us in this offering will be approximately $                , or approximately $                 if the underwriters exercise in full their right to purchase additional shares, in each case after deducting our estimated offering expenses related to this offering. The underwriters may offer the shares of Class A common stock for sale from time to time in one or more transactions on the New York Stock Exchange, in the over-the-counter market, through negotiated transactions or otherwise at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices, subject to receipt of acceptance by them and subject to their right to reject any order in whole or in part.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

We expect that delivery of the shares of Class A common stock will be made to investors in book-entry form through The Depository Trust Company on or about                 , 2021.

 

 

 

Morgan Stanley     J.P. Morgan
Academy Securities   Cabrera Capital Markets LLC   Siebert Williams Shank

                    , 2021


Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prospectus Supplement

 

     Page  

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

     S-ii  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     S-iii  

SUMMARY

     S-1  

THE OFFERING

     S-9  

RISK FACTORS

     S-12  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     S-54  

DIVIDEND POLICY

     S-55  

CAPITALIZATION

     S-56  

MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-U.S. HOLDERS

     S-58  

UNDERWRITING

     S-63  

LEGAL MATTERS

     S-71  

EXPERTS

     S-71  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

     S-71  

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

     S-72  

 

 

 

    

Page

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

     1  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     2  

THE COMPANY

     3  

RISK FACTORS

     4  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     5  

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     6  

DESCRIPTION OF SENIOR DEBT SECURITIES

     11  

DESCRIPTION OF OTHER SECURITIES

     18  

GLOBAL SECURITIES

     19  

SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS

     22  

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     23  

LEGAL MATTERS

     24  

EXPERTS

     24  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

     24  

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

     24  

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the specific terms of this offering and also adds to and updates information contained in the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The second part, the accompanying prospectus, gives more general information, some of which may not apply to this offering. You should read this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including the information incorporated by reference herein and therein and any free writing prospectus we have authorized for use in connection with this offering, in their entirety before making an investment decision.

If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. You should assume that the information in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, any document incorporated by reference herein or therein and any free writing prospectus we have authorized for use in connection with this offering are accurate or complete only as of their respective dates, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and any authorized free writing prospectus. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

In this prospectus supplement, as permitted by law, we “incorporate by reference” information from other documents that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and should be read with the same care. When we update the information contained in documents that have been incorporated by reference by making future filings with the SEC, the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement is considered to be automatically updated and superseded. In other words, in case of a conflict or inconsistency between information contained in this prospectus supplement and information in the accompanying prospectus or incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information contained in the document that was filed later. See “Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference” in this prospectus supplement.

We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell the securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted or in which the person making such offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation.

You should not consider any information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus to be investment, legal or tax advice. You should consult your own counsel, accountants and other advisers for legal, tax, business, financial and related advice regarding the purchase of the shares of Class A common stock offered by this prospectus supplement.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus supplement may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “can,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “forecasts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus supplement include, but are not limited to, statements about:

 

   

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, our customers, employees and business;

 

   

our future financial performance, including our revenue, cost of revenue, gross margin and operating expenses, ability to generate positive cash flow and ability to achieve and sustain profitability;

 

   

anticipated technology trends, such as the use of and demand for cloud communications;

 

   

our ability to continue to build and maintain credibility with the global software developer community;

 

   

our ability to attract and retain customers to use our products;

 

   

the evolution of technology affecting our products and markets;

 

   

our ability to introduce new products and enhance existing products;

 

   

our ability to comply with modified or new industry standards, laws and regulations applying to our business, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Schrems II decision invalidating the EU-US Privacy Shield, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and other privacy regulations that may be implemented in the future, and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (“SHAKEN”) and Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (“STIR”) standards (together, “SHAKEN/STIR”) and other robocalling prevention and anti-spam standards and increased costs associated with such compliance;

 

   

our ability to optimize our network service provider coverage and connectivity;

 

   

our ability to manage changes in network service provider fees that we pay in connection with the delivery of communications on our platform;

 

   

our ability to work closely with email inbox service providers to maintain deliverability rates;

 

   

our ability to pass on our savings associated with our platform optimization efforts to our customers;

 

   

the impact and expected results from changes in our relationship with our larger customers;

 

   

our ability to attract and retain enterprises and international organizations as customers for our products;

 

   

our ability to form and expand partnerships with technology partners and consulting partners;

 

   

our ability to successfully enter into new markets and manage our international expansion;

 

   

the attraction and retention of qualified employees and key personnel;

 

   

our ability to effectively manage our growth and future expenses and maintain our corporate culture;

 

   

our ability to compete effectively in an intensely competitive market;

 

   

the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity needs;

 

 

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our anticipated investments in sales and marketing, research and development and additional systems and processes to support our growth;

 

   

our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property;

 

   

our ability to successfully defend litigation brought against us;

 

   

our ability to service the interest on our convertible notes and repay such notes, to the extent required;

 

   

our customers’ and other platform users’ violation of our policies or other misuse of our platform;

 

   

our expectations about the impact of natural disasters and public health epidemics, such as COVID-19 on our business, results of operations and financial condition and on our customers, employees, vendors and partners;

 

   

our ability to successfully integrate and realize the benefits of our past or future strategic acquisitions or investments, including our acquisitions of SendGrid, Inc. (“SendGrid”) and Segment.io, Inc. (“Segment”); and

 

   

our anticipated use of the net proceeds of this offering.

We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus supplement.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus supplement primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus supplement. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus supplement. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus supplement relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this prospectus supplement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus supplement or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

 

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SUMMARY

This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein. This summary sets forth the material terms of this offering, but does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our Class A common stock. You should read carefully this entire prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, and any free writing prospectus we authorize for use in connection with this offering, before making an investment decision to purchase our Class A common stock, especially the risks of investing in our Class A common stock discussed in “Risk Factors” in this prospectus supplement, as well as the consolidated financial statements and notes to those consolidated financial statements incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This prospectus supplement may add to, update or change information in the accompanying prospectus. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Twilio,” “the company,” “we,” “us” and “our” in this prospectus refer to Twilio Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Overview

We are the leader in the Cloud Communications Platform category. We enable developers to build, scale and operate real-time customer engagement within their software applications via our simple-to-use Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”). The power, flexibility, and reliability offered by our software building blocks empowers companies of virtually every shape and size to build world-class engagement into their customer experience.

We offer a customer engagement platform with software designed to address specific use cases, like account security and contact centers and a set of APIs that handles the higher-level communication logic needed for nearly every type of customer engagement. These APIs are focused on the business challenges that a developer is looking to address, allowing our customers to more quickly and easily build better ways to engage with their customers throughout their journey. We also offer a set of APIs that enables developers to embed voice, messaging, video and email capabilities into their applications, and are designed to support almost all the fundamental ways humans communicate, unlocking innovators to address just about any communication market. The Super Network is our software layer that allows our customers’ software to communicate with connected devices globally. It interconnects with communications networks and inbox service providers around the world and continually analyzes data to optimize the quality and cost of communications that flow through our platform. The Super Network also contains a set of APIs that gives our customers access to more foundational components of our platform, like phone numbers.

Our customers’ applications are able to reach users via voice, messaging, video and email in nearly every country in the world by utilizing our platform. We support our global business through over 25 cloud data centers across more than seven regions around the world and have developed contractual relationships with network service providers globally.

Our business model is primarily focused on reaching and serving the needs of software developers, who we believe are becoming increasingly influential in technology decisions in a wide variety of companies. We call this approach our Business Model for Innovators, which empowers developers by reducing friction and upfront costs, encouraging experimentation, and enabling developers to grow as customers as their ideas succeed. We established and maintain our leadership position by engaging directly with, and cultivating, our developer community, which has led to the rapid adoption of our platform. We reach developers through community events and conferences, including our SIGNAL customer and developer conference, to demonstrate how every developer can create differentiated applications incorporating communications using our products.



 

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Once developers are introduced to our platform, we provide them with a low friction trial experience. By accessing our easy-to-adopt APIs, extensive self-service documentation and customer support team, developers build our products into their applications and then test such applications through free trial periods that we provide. Once they have decided to use our products beyond the initial free trial period, customers provide their credit card information and only pay for the actual usage of our products. Historically, we have acquired the substantial majority of our customers through this self-service model. As customers expand their usage of our platform, our relationships with them often evolve to include business leaders within their organizations. Once our customers reach a certain spending level with us, we support them with account executives or customer success advocates within our sales organization to ensure their satisfaction and expand their usage of our products.

We also supplement our self-service model with a sales effort aimed at engaging larger potential customers, strategic leads and existing customers through a direct sales approach. To help increase awareness of our products in the enterprise, we have expanded our marketing efforts through programs like our Twilio Engage roadshow where we seek to bring business leaders and developers together to discuss the future of customer engagement. We have developed products to support this effort as well, like the Twilio Enterprise Plan, which provides capabilities for advanced security, access management and granular administration. Our sales organization targets technical leaders and business leaders who are seeking to leverage software to drive competitive differentiation. As we educate these leaders on the benefits of developing applications incorporating our products to differentiate their business, they often consult with their developers regarding implementation. We believe that developers are often advocates for our products as a result of our developer-focused approach. Our sales organization includes sales development, inside sales, field sales and sales engineering personnel.

Recent Developments

Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results

On February 17, 2021, we reported our unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020. The tables below present highlights of our unaudited condensed consolidated financial results.



 

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Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

 

 

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

 

     Three Months Ended
December 31,
 
     2020     2019  

Revenue

   $ 548,090   $ 331,224

Cost of revenue

     265,969     156,534
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     282,121     174,690
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

    

Research and development

     158,856     110,236

Sales and marketing

     179,987     106,394

General and administrative

     128,569     51,859
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     467,412     268,489
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations

     (185,291     (93,799

Other (expense) income, net

     (9,426     4,708
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss before benefit (provision) for income taxes

     (194,717     (89,091

Income tax benefit (provision)

     15,366     (1,156
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss attributable to common stockholders

   $ (179,351   $ (90,247
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted

   $ (1.13   $ (0.66
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted

     158,382,667     137,728,578
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
     Year Ended
December 31,
 
     2020     2019  

Revenue

   $ 1,761,776   $ 1,134,468

Cost of revenue

     846,115     525,551
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     915,661     608,917
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

    

Research and development

     530,548     391,355

Sales and marketing

     567,407     369,079

General and administrative

     310,607     218,268
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     1,408,562     978,702
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations

     (492,901     (369,785

Other (expense) income, net

     (11,525     7,569
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss before benefit from income taxes

     (504,426     (362,216

Income tax benefit

     13,447     55,153
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss attributable to common stockholders

   $ (490,979   $ (307,063
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted

   $ (3.35   $ (2.36
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted

     146,708,663     130,083,046
  

 

 

   

 

 

 


 

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Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

 

 

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

     As of
December 31,
 
     2020     2019  

ASSETS

    

Current assets:

    

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 933,885   $ 253,660

Short-term marketable securities

     2,105,906     1,599,033

Accounts receivable, net

     251,167     154,067

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

     81,377     54,571
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total current assets

     3,372,335     2,061,331

Property and equipment, net

     183,239     141,256

Operating right-of-use asset

     258,610     156,741

Intangible assets, net

     966,573     460,849

Goodwill

     4,595,394     2,296,784

Other long-term assets

     111,282     33,555
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total assets

   $ 9,487,433   $ 5,150,516
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

    

Current liabilities:

    

Accounts payable

   $ 60,042   $ 39,099

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

     243,833     147,681

Deferred revenue and customer deposits

     87,031     26,362

Operating lease liability, current

     48,338     27,156

Finance lease liability, current

     9,062     6,924
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total current liabilities

     448,306     247,222

Operating lease liability, noncurrent

     229,905     139,200

Finance lease liability, noncurrent

     17,856     8,746

Convertible senior notes, net

     302,068     458,190

Other long-term liabilities

     36,633     17,747
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     1,034,768     871,105
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Commitments and contingencies

    

Stockholders’ equity:

    

Preferred stock

     —         —    

Common stock

     164     138

Additional paid-in capital

     9,613,246     4,952,999

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     9,046     5,086

Accumulated deficit

     (1,169,791     (678,812
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

     8,452,665     4,279,411
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

   $ 9,487,433   $ 5,150,516
  

 

 

   

 

 

 


 

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Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

 

 

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

    Year Ended
December 31,
 
    2020     2019  

CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:

   

Net loss

  $ (490,979   $ (307,063

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities:

   

Depreciation and amortization

    149,660     110,430

Non-cash reduction to the right-of-use asset

    38,395     23,193

Net amortization of investment premium and discount

    6,789     (4,501

Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs

    23,759     23,696

Stock-based compensation

    360,936     264,318

Amortization of deferred commissions

    13,322     4,511

Tax benefit related to release of valuation allowance

    (16,459     (55,745

Allowance for credit losses

    13,239     2,491

Value of donated common stock

    18,993     —    

Loss on extinguishment of debt

    12,863     —    

Other adjustments

    (477     674

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

   

Accounts receivable

    (81,303     (51,357

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

    (11,636     (20,316

Other long-term assets

    (81,908     (18,021

Accounts payable

    10,060     17,255

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    88,340     46,154

Deferred revenue and customer deposits

    13,824     2,968

Operating lease liabilities

    (33,938     (21,138

Other long-term liabilities

    (826     (3,501
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

    32,654     14,048
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:

   

Acquisitions, net of cash acquired and other related payments

    (333,591     122,749

Purchases of marketable securities and other investments

    (1,636,590     (2,038,422

Proceeds from sales and maturities of marketable securities

    1,183,459     697,171

Capitalized software development costs

    (33,328     (21,922

Purchases of long-lived and intangible assets

    (25,805     (45,368
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash used in investing activities

    (845,855     (1,285,792
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:

   

Proceeds from a public offering, net of underwriting discount and issuance costs

    1,408,113     979,123

Principal payments on debt and finance leases

    (10,784     (11,046

Proceeds from exercises of stock options and shares issued in ESPP

    104,760     57,480

Value of equity awards withheld for tax liabilities

    (8,778     (5,412
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

    1,493,311     1,020,145
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

    40     —    
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH

    680,150     (251,599

CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH—Beginning of year

    253,735     505,334
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH —End of year

  $ 933,885   $ 253,735
 

 

 

   

 

 

 


 

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We have not yet finalized our financial information as of or for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020. The preliminary financial data included in this prospectus supplement has been prepared by, and is the responsibility of, our management. KPMG LLP has not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the preliminary financial data. Accordingly, KPMG LLP does not express an opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 will include our audited financial statements for the full year ended December 31, 2020, as well as management’s report on our internal control over financial reporting and our auditors’ audit report thereon. You should note that additional information on a number of matters will be included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, such as footnote disclosures associated with our final year-end financial results. Our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, will not be available until after this offering is completed and, consequently, will not be available to you prior to investing in this offering.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

A novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, was declared a global pandemic during the first quarter of 2020 and has resulted in the imposition of numerous, unprecedented, national and international measures to try to contain the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, shutdowns, quarantines, shelter-in-place and social distancing orders. To prioritize the health and safety of our employees, customers and our community at large, we have either cancelled or shifted our planned events to virtual-only experiences and may determine to alter, postpone or cancel additional customer, employee or industry events in the future. Since mid-March 2020, we have also taken several precautionary measures to protect our employees and contingent workers and help minimize the spread of the virus, including temporarily closing our worldwide offices, requiring all employees and contingent workers to work from home and suspending business travel worldwide for our employees for the time being.

The broader implications of COVID-19 on our results of operations and overall financial performance remain uncertain. The COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse effects have become more prevalent in the locations where we, our customers, suppliers or third-party business partners conduct business. In the three months ended December 31, 2020, usage levels from customers in the travel, hospitality and ridesharing industries remained below their pre-COVID-19 levels with a slight rebound from the previous quarter. We also continued to experience increased usage in other areas, including healthcare, education, consumer on-demand, and retail. We acknowledge that there may be additional impacts to the economy and our business as a result of COVID-19. We expect that there may be some volatility in customer demand and buying habits as the pandemic continues, and we may experience constrained supply or curtailed customer demand that could materially and adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial performance in future periods. Specifically, we may experience impact from delayed sales cycles, including customers and prospective customers delaying contract signing or contract renewals, or reducing budgets or minimum commitments related to the products and services that we offer and changes to consumer behavior that may affect customers who use our products and service for confirmations, notifications, and other use cases. While we are continuing our recruiting efforts, it is possible that the pace of our hiring may slow during the COVID-19 pandemic. See the risk factor titled “The global COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial performance” in the section titled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus supplement for further discussion of the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Summary Risk Factors

Below is a summary of the material factors that make an investment in our Class A common stock speculative or risky. Importantly, this summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Our business involves significant risks that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, prospects and stock price. These risks are more fully described under “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-12 of this prospectus supplement and include, among others:

 

   

impact of global COVID-19 pandemic;



 

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new and unproven market for our products and platform;

 

   

our rapid growth and ability to effectively manage our growth;

 

   

fluctuations in our quarterly results and our ability to meet securities analysts’ and investors’ expectations;

 

   

our ability to maintain and enhance our brand and increase market awareness of our company and products;

 

   

limitations on the use and adoption of our solutions due to privacy laws, data collection and transfer restrictions and related domestic or foreign regulations;

 

   

any loss of customers or decline in their use of our products;

 

   

our ability to attract new customers in a cost-effective manner;

 

   

our ability to develop enhancements to our products and introduce new products that achieve market acceptance;

 

   

our ability to compete effectively in the market in which we participate;

 

   

our history of losses and uncertainty about our future profitability;

 

   

our ability to increase adoption of our products by enterprises;

 

   

our ability to expand our relationships with existing technology partner customers and add new technology partner customers;

 

   

significant risks associated with expansion of our international operations;

 

   

compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

 

   

telecommunications-related regulations and future legislative or regulatory actions;

 

   

our ability to obtain or retain geographical, mobile, regional, local or toll-free numbers and to effectively process requests to port such numbers in a timely manner due to industry regulations;

 

   

our ability to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, and changing customer needs, requirements or preferences;

 

   

our ability to provide monthly uptime service level commitments of up to 99.95% under our agreements with customers;

 

   

any breaches of our networks or systems, or those of AWS or our service providers;

 

   

defects or errors in our products;

 

   

any loss or decline in revenue from our largest customers;

 

   

litigation by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights;

 

   

exposure to substantial liability for intellectual property infringement and other losses from indemnity provisions in various agreements;

 

   

our ability to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions;

 

   

the loss of our senior management and other key employees;

 

   

our use of open source software;

 

   

our reliance on SaaS technologies from third parties;



 

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potentially adverse tax consequences on our global operations and structure;

 

   

excessive credit card or fraudulent activity;

 

   

unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy;

 

   

requirement of additional capital to support our business and its availability on acceptable terms, if at all;

 

   

exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;

 

   

our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income;

 

   

our failure to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting;

 

   

the risks of pandemics, earthquakes, fire, floods and other natural catastrophic events and to interruption by man-made problems such as power disruptions, computer viruses, data security breaches or terrorism;

 

   

volatility of the trading price of our Class A common stock;

 

   

potential decline in the market price of our Class A common stock due to substantial future sales of shares;

 

   

requirement of a significant amount of cash to service our future debt; and

 

   

our ability to raise the funds necessary for cash settlement upon conversion of our convertible notes or to repurchase such notes for cash.

Corporate History and Information

We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in March 2008. Our principal executive offices are located at 101 Spear Street, First Floor, San Francisco, California 94105, and our telephone number is (415) 390-2337. Our website address is www.twilio.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute part of this prospectus.

Twilio, the Twilio logo and other trademarks or service marks of Twilio Inc. appearing in this prospectus are the property of Twilio Inc. Other trademarks, service marks, or trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks, or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other companies.



 

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THE OFFERING

The following summary is provided solely for your convenience and is not intended to be complete. For a more detailed description of our common stock, see “Description of Capital Stock—Common Stock” in the accompanying prospectus.

 

Issuer

  Twilio Inc.

Class A common stock offered by us

  $1,000,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock

Class A common stock to be outstanding after this offering

               shares

Underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock from us

  $150,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock

Use of proceeds

  We anticipate that the net proceeds of this offering will be approximately $                 (or $                 if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full), after deducting our estimated offering expenses related to this offering.
  We intend to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include the acquisition of other companies or businesses, strategic investments, the refinancing or repayment of debt, capital expenditures, working capital and share repurchases. These expectations are subject to change. See “Use of Proceeds” for additional information.

Voting Rights

  Shares of Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share. Shares of Class B common stock are entitled to 10 votes per share.
  Holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock generally vote together as a single class, unless otherwise required by law or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Each share of our Class B common stock is convertible into one share of our Class A common stock at any time and will convert automatically upon certain transfers and upon the earlier of June 28, 2023 or the date the holders of two-thirds of our Class B common stock elect to convert the Class B common stock to Class A common stock.

Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences

  For a discussion of material U.S. federal income tax consequences relating to the ownership and disposition of the shares of our Class A common stock. See “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences for Non-U.S. Holders.”


 

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  You should consult your tax advisor with respect to the U.S. federal income tax consequences of owning and disposing of shares of our Class A common stock in light of your own particular situation and with respect to any tax consequences arising under the laws of any state, local, foreign or other taxing jurisdiction.

Risk Factors

  Investing in our Class A common stock involves risk. See “Risk Factors” and all other information included in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference for a discussion of factors that should be considered before investing in our Class A common stock.

New York Stock Exchange trading symbol

  “TWLO”

The number of shares of our Class A common stock that will be outstanding after this offering is based on 140,173,591 shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020 and excludes:

 

   

10,729,264 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020;

 

   

3,154,982 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $59.79 per share;

 

   

1,791,938 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $7.52 per share;

 

   

8,026,189 restricted stock units for shares of our Class A common stock that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions outstanding as of September 30, 2020;

 

   

698,185 restricted stock units for shares of our Class A common stock that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions that were granted after September 30, 2020;

 

   

1,123,526 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock, of which, 1,030,638 of such shares were assumed by us as a result of the Segment acquisition, that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions that were granted or assumed, as applicable, after September 30, 2020;

 

   

729,367 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance to fund and support the operations of Twilio.org;

 

   

9,756,346 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon conversion of our Convertible Senior Notes as of September 30, 2020; and

 

   

24,317,951 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans as of September 30, 2020, consisting of:

 

   

19,275,512 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2016 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (our “2016 Plan”); and

 

   

5,042,439 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2016 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (our “ESPP”).



 

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Except as otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus supplement assumes:

 

   

no exercise or settlement of outstanding stock options or restricted stock units; and

 

   

no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to an additional $150,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock from us.



 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and in any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering. The risks described below are not the only ones we face, but those that we consider to be material. There may be other unknown or unpredictable economic, business, competitive, regulatory or other factors that could have material adverse effects on our future results. Past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flow could be seriously harmed. This could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline, resulting in a loss of all or part of your investment. Please also read carefully the section above titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock

The trading price of our Class A common stock has been volatile and may continue to be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Prior to our initial public offering in June 2016, there was no public market for shares of our Class A common stock. On June 23, 2016, we sold shares of our Class A common stock to the public at $15.00 per share. From June 23, 2016, the date that our Class A common stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange, through December 31, 2020, the trading price of our Class A common stock has ranged from $22.80 per share to $374.49 per share. The trading price of our Class A common stock may continue to fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

   

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

 

   

volatility in the trading prices and trading volumes of technology stocks;

 

   

changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;

 

   

sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders;

 

   

failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

 

   

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;

 

   

announcements by us or our competitors of new products or services;

 

   

the public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;

 

   

rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

 

   

changes in laws, industry standards, regulations or regulatory enforcement in the United States or internationally, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and other privacy regulations that may be implemented in the future, including the Schrems II decision invalidating the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, SHAKEN/STIR and other robocalling prevention and anti-spam standards and increased costs associated with such compliance, as well as enhanced Know-Your-Client processes that impact our ability to market, sell or deliver our products;

 

   

actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations;

 

   

actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;

 

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litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;

 

   

developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

 

   

announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, products, services or technologies by us or our competitors;

 

   

changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;

 

   

any significant change in our management; and

 

   

general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets.

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

Substantial future sales of shares of our Class A common stock could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.

The market price of our Class A common stock could decline as a result of substantial sales of our Class A common stock, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares.

Additionally, the shares of Class A common stock subject to outstanding options and restricted stock unit awards under our equity incentive plans and the shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans will become eligible for sale in the public market upon issuance, subject to applicable insider trading policies. Certain holders of our Class A common stock have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for our stockholders or ourselves.

The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our capital stock prior to the completion of our initial public offering, including our directors, executive officers and their respective affiliates. This limits or precludes your ability to influence corporate matters, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval.

Our Class B common stock has 10 votes per share, and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. As of December 31, 2020, our directors, executive officers and their respective affiliates, held in the aggregate 24.4% of the voting power of our capital stock. Because of the 10-to-one voting ratio between our Class B common stock and Class A common stock, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock and therefore be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval until the earlier of (i) June 28, 2023, or (ii) the date the holders of two-thirds of our Class B common stock elect to convert the Class B common stock to Class A common stock. This concentrated control limits or precludes your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval. In addition, this may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.

Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes. The

 

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conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term.

If securities or industry analysts cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our Class A common stock adversely, the trading price of our Class A common stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If any of the analysts who cover us change their recommendation regarding our Class A common stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the trading price of our Class A common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who covers us were to cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock or trading volume to decline.

Anti-takeover provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions which could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by our board of directors. Among other things, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions:

 

   

authorizing “blank check” preferred stock, which could be issued by our board of directors without stockholder approval and may contain voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our Class A and Class B common stock;

 

   

limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers;

 

   

limiting the ability of our stockholders to call and bring business before special meetings;

 

   

providing for a dual class common stock structure in which holders of our Class B common stock have the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class A and Class B common stock, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets;

 

   

providing that our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms;

 

   

prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;

 

   

requiring advance notice of stockholder proposals for business to be conducted at meetings of our stockholders and for nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors;

 

   

controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of board of directors and stockholder meetings; and

 

   

providing for advance notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a meeting of stockholders, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management.

 

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As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation law, which prevents certain stockholders holding more than 15% of our outstanding common stock from engaging in certain business combinations without approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our outstanding common stock not held by such 15% or greater stockholder.

Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:

 

   

any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;

 

   

any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty owed by our directors, officers, employees or our stockholders;

 

   

any action asserting a claim against us arising under the Delaware General Corporation Law; and

 

   

any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal-affairs doctrine.

This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the U.S. federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

This exclusive-forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. If a court were to find this exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.

We do not expect to declare any dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never paid dividends and we do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Consequently, investors may need to rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our Class A common stock.

We will have broad discretion in the use of proceeds from this offering and may invest or spend the proceeds in ways with which you do not agree and in ways that may not yield a return.

Our management will have broad discretion over the use of net proceeds from this offering, including for any of the purposes described in “Use of Proceeds,” and you will not have the opportunity as part of your investment decision to assess whether the net proceeds are being used appropriately. Investors may not agree with our decisions, and our use of the proceeds may not yield any return on your investment. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of the net proceeds from this offering, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. Our failure to apply the net proceeds of this offering effectively could impair our ability to pursue our growth strategy or could require us to raise additional capital.

 

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Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

The global COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial performance.

The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to control its spread have significantly curtailed the movement of people, goods and services worldwide, including in most or all of the regions in which we sell our products and services and conduct our business operations. While the duration and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and the degree and duration of its impact on our business continues to be uncertain and difficult to predict, compliance with social distancing and shelter-in-place measures have impacted our day-to-day operations. Like many other companies, including our customers and prospective customers, our employees continue to work from home and we have restricted business travel for the time being. Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we held SIGNAL, our annual developer and customer conference, on September 30, 2020 and October 1, 2020, as a virtual event. We have also cancelled, postponed, or shifted other planned events to virtual-only experiences and we may deem it advisable to similarly alter, postpone or cancel entirely additional customer, employee or industry events in the future.

The continued spread of COVID-19 has had an adverse impact on the business of some of our customers while other customers in certain industries have seen an increase in customer demand. COVID-19 could still have an adverse impact on our business partners and third-party business partners. The continuing crisis could also potentially lead to an ongoing global economic downturn, which could result in constrained supply or reduced customer demand and willingness to enter into or renew contracts with us, any of which could adversely impact our business, results of operations and overall financial performance in future periods. Specifically, we often enter into annual or multi-year, minimum commitment arrangements with our customers. If customers fail to pay us or reduce their spending with us, we may be adversely affected by an inability to collect amounts due, the cost of enforcing the terms of our contracts, including litigation, or a reduction in revenue. We may also experience impact from delayed sales cycles, including customers and prospective customers delaying contract signing or contract renewals, or reducing budgets or minimum commitments related to the product and services that we offer. In addition, as companies transition to supporting a fully remote workforce and as individuals increasingly utilize voice, video and messaging for their communication needs, there will be increased strain and demand for telecommunications infrastructure, including our voice, video and messaging products. Supporting increased demand will require us to make additional investments to increase network capacity, the availability of which may be limited. For example, if the data centers that we rely on for our cloud infrastructure and the network service providers that we interconnect with are unable to keep up with capacity needs or if governmental or regulatory authorities determine to limit our bandwidth, customers may experience delays, interruptions or outages in service. From time to time, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, our data center suppliers and our network service providers have had some outages which resulted in disruptions to service for some of our customers. In certain jurisdictions, governmental and regulatory authorities had announced that during the COVID-19 pandemic, telecommunications operators’ implementation of traffic management measures may be justified to avoid network congestion. Such traffic management measures could result in customers experiencing delays, interruptions or outages in services. Any of these events could harm our reputation, erode customer trust, cause customers to stop using our products, impair our ability to increase revenue from existing customers, impair our ability to grow our customer base, subject us to financial penalties and liabilities under our service level agreements and otherwise harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes to consumer behavior may also affect customers who use our products and services for confirmations, notifications, and related use cases. For example, in the three months ended December 31, 2020, we continued to experience increased usage of our platform in industries such as healthcare, education, consumer on-demand and retail. In addition, in the three months ended December 31, 2020, we experienced a modest rebound in usage levels from customers in the travel and hospitality industry, while the ridesharing industry remained below pre-COVID-19 levels. It has been and, until the COVID-19 pandemic is contained, will continue to be more difficult for us to forecast usage levels and predict revenue trends.

 

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Additionally the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected global economic and market conditions, which are likely to continue for an extended period, and which could result in decreased business spending by our customers and prospective customers, reduced demand for our solutions, longer sales cycles and lower renewal rates by our customers, all of which could have an adverse impact on our business operations and financial condition. While we have developed and continue to develop plans to help mitigate the potential negative impact of the outbreak on our business, these efforts may not be effective and a protracted economic downturn may limit the effectiveness of our mitigation efforts.

We have experienced rapid growth and expect our growth to continue, and if we fail to effectively manage our growth, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We have experienced substantial growth in our business since inception. For example, our headcount has grown from 2,905 employees on December 31, 2019 to 4,629 employees on December 31, 2020. We have moved to a virtual on-boarding process since the imposition of COVID-19 restrictions on certain business activities. In addition, we are rapidly expanding our international operations. Our international headcount grew from 720 employees as of December 31, 2019 to 1,369 employees as of December 31, 2020. We expect to continue to expand our international operations in the future. We have also experienced significant growth in the number of customers, usage and amount of data that our platform and associated infrastructure support. This growth has placed and may continue to place significant demands on our corporate culture, operational infrastructure and management, particularly in light of virtual on-boarding and limited connectivity.

We believe that our corporate culture has been a critical component of our success. We have invested substantial time and resources in building our team and nurturing our culture. As we expand our business in the U.S. and non-U.S. regions and mature as a public company, we may find it difficult to maintain our corporate culture while managing this growth. Any failure to manage our anticipated growth and organizational changes in a manner that preserves the key aspects of our culture could hurt our chance for future success, including our ability to recruit and retain employees, and effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives. This, in turn, could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, as we have rapidly grown, our organizational structure has become more complex. In order to manage these increasing complexities, we will need to continue to scale and adapt our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. The expansion of our systems and infrastructure will require us to commit substantial financial, operational and management resources before our revenue increases and without any assurances that our revenue will increase.

Finally, if this growth continues, it could strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our customers. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as we grow, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our quarterly results may fluctuate, and if we fail to meet securities analysts’ and investors’ expectations, then the trading price of our Class A common stock and the value of your investment could decline substantially.

Our results of operations, including the levels of our revenue, cost of revenue, gross margin and operating expenses, have fluctuated from quarter to quarter in the past and may continue to vary significantly in the future. These fluctuations are a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, and may be difficult to predict and may or may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. If our quarterly results of operations or forward-looking quarterly and annual financial guidance fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, then the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline substantially. Some of the important factors that may cause our results of operations to fluctuate from quarter to quarter include:

 

   

the impact of COVID-19 on our customers, our pace of hiring and the global economy in general;

 

   

our ability to retain and increase revenue from existing customers and attract new customers;

 

 

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fluctuations in the amount of revenue from our Active Customer Accounts;

 

   

our ability to attract and retain enterprises and international organizations as customers;

 

   

our ability to introduce new products and enhance existing products;

 

   

competition and the actions of our competitors, including pricing changes and the introduction of new products, services and geographies;

 

   

changes in laws, industry standards, regulations or regulatory enforcement in the United States or internationally, such as the invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the implementation and enforcement of new global privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais) (Law No. 13,709/2018), and the adoption of SHAKEN/STIR and other robocalling prevention and anti-spam standards, all of which increase compliance costs;

 

   

the number of new employee hires during a particular period;

 

   

changes in network service provider fees that we pay in connection with the delivery of communications on our platform;

 

   

changes in cloud infrastructure fees that we pay in connection with the operation of our platform;

 

   

changes in our pricing as a result of our optimization efforts or otherwise;

 

   

reductions in pricing as a result of negotiations with our larger customers;

 

   

the rate of expansion and productivity of our sales force, including our enterprise sales force, which has been a focus of our recent expansion efforts;

 

   

changes in the size and complexity of our customer relationships;

 

   

the length and complexity of the sales cycle for our services, especially for sales to larger enterprises, government and regulated organizations;

 

   

change in the mix of products that our customers use;

 

   

change in the revenue mix of U.S. and international products;

 

   

the amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures related to the operations and expansion of our business, including investments in our international expansion, additional systems and processes and research and development of new products and services;

 

   

significant security breaches of, technical difficulties with, or interruptions to, the delivery and use of our products on our platform;

 

   

expenses in connection with mergers, acquisitions or other strategic transactions and the follow-on costs of integration;

 

   

the timing of customer payments and any difficulty in collecting accounts receivable from customers;

 

   

general economic conditions that may adversely affect a prospective customer’s ability or willingness to adopt our products, delay a prospective customer’s adoption decision, reduce the revenue that we generate from the use of our products or affect customer retention;

 

   

changes in foreign currency exchange rates and our ability to effectively hedge our foreign currency exposure;

 

   

extraordinary expenses such as litigation or other dispute-related settlement payments;

 

   

sales tax and other tax determinations by authorities in the jurisdictions in which we conduct business;

 

   

the impact of new accounting pronouncements; and,

 

   

fluctuations in stock-based compensation expense.

 

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The occurrence of one or more of the foregoing and other factors may cause our results of operations to vary significantly. As such, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our results of operations may not be meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. In addition, a significant percentage of our operating expenses is fixed in nature and is based on forecasted revenue trends. Accordingly, in the event of a revenue shortfall, we may not be able to mitigate the negative impact on our income (loss) and margins in the short term. If we fail to meet or exceed the expectations of investors or securities analysts, then the trading price of our Class A common stock could fall substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.

Additionally, global pandemics such as COVID-19 as well as certain large scale events, such as major elections and sporting events, can significantly impact usage levels on our platform, which could cause fluctuations in our results of operations. We expect that significantly increased usage of all communications platforms, including ours, during certain seasonal and one-time events could impact delivery and quality of our products during those events. We also tend to experience increased expenses in connection with the hosting of SIGNAL, which we plan to continue to host annually. Such annual and one-time events may cause fluctuations in our results of operations and may impact both our revenue and operating expenses.

If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand and increase market awareness of our company and products, then our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing the “Twilio” brand identity and increasing market awareness of our company and products, particularly among developers, is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our platform, to strengthen our relationships with our existing customers and to our ability to attract new customers. The successful promotion of our brand will depend largely on our continued marketing efforts, our ability to continue to offer high quality products, our ability to be thought leaders in the cloud communications market and our ability to successfully differentiate our products and platform from competing products and services. Our brand promotion and thought leadership activities may not be successful or yield increased revenue. In addition, independent industry analysts often provide reviews of our products and competing products and services, which may significantly influence the perception of our products in the marketplace. If these reviews are negative or not as strong as reviews of our competitors’ products and services, then our brand may be harmed.

From time to time, our customers have complained about our products, such as complaints about our pricing and customer support. If we do not handle customer complaints effectively, then our brand and reputation may suffer, our customers may lose confidence in us and they may reduce or cease their use of our products. In addition, many of our customers post and discuss on social media about Internet-based products and services, including our products and platform. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to generate positive customer feedback and minimize negative feedback on social media channels where existing and potential customers seek and share information. If actions we take or changes we make to our products or platform upset these customers, then their online commentary could negatively affect our brand, reputation and customer trust. Complaints or negative publicity about us, our products or our platform could adversely impact our ability to attract and retain customers, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The promotion of our brand also requires us to make substantial expenditures, and we anticipate that these expenditures will increase as our market becomes more competitive and as we expand into new markets. To the extent that these activities increase revenue, this revenue still may not be enough to offset the increased expenses we incur. In addition, due to restrictions on travel and in-person meetings as a result of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, we postponed SIGNAL to September 30, 2020 and converted it to a virtual event. We have also cancelled or shifted other planned events to virtual-only experiences and may determine to alter, postpone or cancel additional customer, employee or industry events in the future. We have typically relied on marketing and promotional events such as SIGNAL and in-person meetings to facilitate customer sign-ups and generate leads for potential customers and we cannot predict whether virtual marketing events and phone or virtual sales interactions will be as successful as in-person events and meetings or, for how long, or the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to constrain our marketing, promotional and sales activities. If we do not

 

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successfully maintain and enhance our brand, then our business may not grow, we may see our pricing power reduced relative to competitors and we may lose customers, all of which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The market for our products and platform is still relatively new and evolving, may decline or experience limited growth and is dependent in part on developers continuing to adopt our platform and use our products.

We were founded in 2008, and we have been developing and providing a cloud-based platform that enables developers and organizations to integrate voice, messaging, video and email communications capabilities into their software applications. This market is relatively new and evolving and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We believe that our revenue currently constitutes a significant portion of the total revenue in this market, and therefore, we believe that our future success will depend in large part on the growth, if any, and evolution of this market. The utilization of APIs by developers and organizations to build communications functionality into their applications is still relatively new, and developers and organizations may not recognize the need for, or benefits of, our products and platform. Moreover, if they do not recognize the need for and benefits of our products and platform, they may decide to adopt alternative products and services to satisfy some portion of their business needs. In order to grow our business and extend our market position, we intend to focus on educating developers and other potential customers about the benefits of our products and platform, expanding the functionality of our products and bringing new technologies to market to increase market acceptance and use of our platform. Our ability to expand the market that our products and platform address depends upon a number of factors, including the cost, performance and perceived value associated with such products and platform. The market for our products and platform could fail to grow significantly or there could be a reduction in demand for our products as a result of a lack of developer acceptance, technological challenges, competing products and services, decreases in spending by current and prospective customers, weakening economic conditions and other causes. If our market does not experience significant growth or demand for our products decreases, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our actual or perceived failure to comply with increasingly stringent laws, regulations, and contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and data security could harm our reputation and subject us to significant fines and liability.

We and our customers are subject to numerous domestic and foreign privacy, data protection, and data security laws and regulations that restrict the collection, use, disclosure and processing of personal information, including financial and health data. These laws and regulations are evolving, are being tested in courts, may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny of our practices relating to personal information and may increase our exposure to regulatory enforcement action, sanctions, and litigation.

Further, the interpretation and application of new domestic and foreign laws and regulations in many cases is uncertain, and our legal and regulatory obligations in such jurisdictions are subject to frequent and unexpected changes, including the potential for various regulatory or other governmental bodies to enact new or additional laws or regulations, to issue rulings that invalidate prior laws or regulations, or to increase penalties significantly.

For example, the EU adopted the GDPR, which took effect on May 25, 2018, and imposes stringent penalties for noncompliance. Companies that violate the GDPR can face private litigation, restrictions or prohibitions on data processing, and fines of up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of global annual revenues. The GDPR imposes comprehensive privacy, data protection, and data security obligations on businesses and requires service providers (data processors) processing personal information on behalf of customers to, among other things, make contractual privacy, data protection, and data security commitments, cooperate with European data protection authorities, implement security measures, give data breach notifications, and keep records of personal information processing activities. EU member states also have national laws restricting direct marketing communications and the use of cookies and similar technologies. If our efforts to comply with GDPR or other applicable EU laws and regulations are not successful, we may be subject to significant fines and restrictions on

 

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our ability to process personal information as needed to provide our product and services, which could impede our ability to conduct business in the EU, reduce demand for our services and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

We have in the past relied on various transfer safeguards, including the EU-U.S. and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks, to legitimize data transfers from the European Economic Area (“EEA”). However, on July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and raised questions about whether one of the primary alternatives to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, can lawfully be used for personal information transfers from Europe to the United States or most other countries. At present, there are few viable alternatives to the Standard Contractual Clauses and there is uncertainty as to how personal information can be transferred from the EEA to the U.S. in compliance with the GDPR.

Subsequent interpretive guidance from the European Data Protection Board on July 24, 2020 extended the Court of Justice’s guidance regarding the use of Standard Contractual Clauses as a transfer safeguard to the use of Binding Corporate Rules, which serve as Twilio’s primary mechanism to legitimize data transfers from the EEA to other jurisdictions, including the U.S. Because our primary data processing facilities are in the U.S., we may experience hesitancy, reluctance, or refusal by European or multinational customers to continue to use our services due to the potential risk posed to such customers as a result of the Court of Justice ruling and subsequent interpretive guidance from the European Data Protection Board. We and our customers are at risk of enforcement actions taken by an EU data protection authority until such point in time that we are able to ensure that all data transfers to us from the EEA are legitimized. Similarly, the Swiss data protection authority determined the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield was no longer sufficient for the U.S. to be deemed adequate as a data transfer party and also raised questions about the viability of the Standard Contractual Clauses as a mechanism for transferring personal information out of Switzerland. Israel, which had allowed transfers of Israeli personal information to the U.S. based on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, has also declared that it is no longer a valid basis for transfer of personal information from Israel to the U.S. If we are unable to implement a valid solution for personal information transfers to the United States or other countries, we will face increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines, and injunctions against processing or transferring personal information from Europe, and we may be required to increase our data processing capabilities in Europe and other countries at significant expense. Inability to transfer personal information from Europe or other countries may decrease demand for our products and services if affected customers seek alternatives that do not involve such transfers.

In addition, it is unclear whether the transfer of personal information from the EU to the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) will continue to remain lawful under the GDPR in light of Brexit. Pursuant to a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the EU, transfers of personal information from the EEA to the U.K. are not considered restricted transfers under the GDPR for a period of up to six months from January 1, 2021. However, unless the E.U. Commission makes an adequacy finding with respect to the U.K. before the end of that period, the U.K. will be considered a “third country” under the GDPR and transfers of European personal information to the U.K. will require an adequacy mechanism to render such transfers lawful under the GDPR. Additionally, although U.K. privacy, data protection and data security law is designed to be consistent with the GDPR, uncertainty remains regarding how data transfers to and from the U.K. will be regulated notwithstanding Brexit.

Regulation of privacy, data protection and data security has also become more stringent in the United States. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect on January 1, 2020, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent state privacy, data protection, and data security legislation in the U.S., which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. The CCPA will be expanded substantially on January 1, 2023, when the California

 

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Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) becomes fully operative. The CPRA will, among other things, give California residents the ability to limit use of certain sensitive personal information, further restrict the use of cross-contextual advertising, establish restrictions on the retention of personal information, expand the types of data breaches subject to the CCPA’s private right of action, provide for increased penalties for CPRA violations concerning California residents under the age of 16, and establish a new California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the new law.

Further, if individual U.S. states pass privacy, data protection, and data security laws that place different obligations or limitations on the processing of personal information of individuals in those states, it will become more complex to comply with these laws and our compliance costs and potential liability may increase.

In addition, with our registration as an interconnected VoIP provider with the FCC, we also must comply with privacy laws associated with customer proprietary network information (“CPNI”) rules in the U.S. If we fail to maintain compliance with these requirements, we could be subject to regulatory audits, civil and criminal penalties, fines and breach of contract claims, as well as reputational damage, which could impact the willingness of customers to do business with us.

Jurisdictions outside of the United States and the EU are also passing more stringent privacy, data protection, and data security laws. For example, on July 8, 2019, Brazil enacted the General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais) (Law No. 13,709/2018) (“LGPD”), and on June 5, 2020, Japan passed amendments to its Act on the Protection of Personal Information (“APPI”). Both laws broadly regulate the processing of personal information in a manner comparable to the GDPR, and violators of the LGPD and APPI face substantial penalties.

We continue to see jurisdictions imposing data localization laws, which require personal information, or certain subcategories of personal information, to be stored in the jurisdiction of origin. These regulations may inhibit our ability to expand into those markets or prohibit us from continuing to offer services in those markets without significant additional costs.

In addition to our legal obligations, our contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection and data security have become increasingly stringent due to changes in privacy, data protection and data security and the expansion of our service offerings. Certain privacy, data protection and data security laws, such as the GDPR and the CCPA, require our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers. In addition, we have begun to support customer workloads that involve the processing of protected health information and are therefore required to sign business associate agreements (“BAAs”) with customers that subject us to the privacy and security requirements under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the U.S. Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act as well as state laws that govern the privacy and security of health information.

Our actual or perceived failure to comply with laws, regulations or contractual commitments regarding privacy, data protection and data security could lead to costly legal action, adverse publicity, significant liability, and decreased demand for our services, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, in February 2016, a putative class action complaint was filed in the Alameda County Superior Court in California and alleged that our products permitted the interception, recording and disclosure of communications at certain of our customers’ request in a manner that violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act. This litigation has now settled, but actions in the future could lead to similar claims and include damages and related penalties that could divert management’s attention and resources, and harm our business.

Our business depends on customers increasing their use of our products, and any loss of customers or decline in their use of our products could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our ability to grow and generate incremental revenue depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and grow our relationships with existing customers (including any customers acquired in connection with our acquisitions)

 

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and to have them increase their usage of our platform. If our customers do not increase their use of our products, then our revenue may decline, and our results of operations may be harmed. Customers are charged based on the usage of our products. Most of our customers do not have long-term contractual financial commitments to us and, therefore, most of our customers may reduce or cease their use of our products at any time without penalty or termination charges. Customers may terminate or reduce their use of our products for any number of reasons, including if they are not satisfied with our products, introduction of new competing products by competitors, the value proposition of our products or our ability to meet their needs and expectations. We cannot accurately predict customers’ usage levels and the loss of customers or reductions in their usage levels of our products may each have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition and may cause our Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate to decline in the future if customers are not satisfied with our products, the value proposition of our products or our ability to meet their needs and expectations. If a significant number of customers cease using, or reduce their usage of our products, then we may be required to spend significantly more on sales and marketing than we currently plan to spend in order to maintain or increase revenue from customers. Such additional sales and marketing expenditures could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we are unable to attract new customers in a cost-effective manner, then our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

In order to grow our business, we must continue to attract new customers in a cost-effective manner. We use a variety of marketing channels to promote our products and platform, such as developer events and developer evangelism, as well as search engine marketing and optimization. We periodically adjust the mix of our other marketing programs such as regional customer events, email campaigns, billboard advertising and public relations initiatives. If the costs of the marketing channels we use increase dramatically, then we may choose to use alternative and less expensive channels, which may not be as effective as the channels we currently use. As we add to or change the mix of our marketing strategies, we may need to expand into more expensive channels than those we are currently in, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We will incur marketing expenses before we are able to recognize any revenue that the marketing initiatives may generate, and these expenses may not result in increased revenue or brand awareness. We have made in the past, and may make in the future, significant expenditures and investments in new marketing campaigns, and we cannot guarantee that any such investments will lead to the cost-effective acquisition of additional customers. If we are unable to maintain effective marketing programs, then our ability to attract new customers could be adversely affected, our advertising and marketing expenses could increase substantially, and our results of operations may suffer.

If we do not develop enhancements to our products and introduce new products that achieve market acceptance, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends in part on our ability to enhance and improve our existing products, increase adoption and usage of our products and introduce new products. The success of any enhancements or new products depends on several factors, including timely completion, adequate quality testing, actual performance quality, market-accepted pricing levels and overall market acceptance. Enhancements and new products that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain errors or defects, may have interoperability difficulties with our platform or other products or may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. Furthermore, our ability to increase the usage of our products depends, in part, on the development of new use cases for our products, which is typically driven by our developer community and may be outside of our control. We also have invested, and may continue to invest, in the acquisition of complementary businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets that expand the products that we can offer our customers. We may make these investments without being certain that they will result in products or enhancements that will be accepted by existing or prospective customers. Our ability to generate usage of additional products by our customers may also require increasingly sophisticated and more costly sales efforts and result in a longer sales cycle. In addition, adoption of new products or enhancements may put additional strain on our customer support team, which could require us to make additional expenditures related to further hiring and training. If we are unable to successfully

 

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enhance our existing products to meet evolving customer requirements, increase adoption and usage of our products, develop new products, or if our efforts to increase the usage of our products are more expensive than we expect, then our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

The market for cloud communications is rapidly evolving, significantly fragmented and highly competitive, with relatively low barriers to entry in some segments. The principal competitive factors in our market include completeness of offering, credibility with developers, global reach, ease of integration and programmability, product features, platform scalability, reliability, deliverability, security and performance, brand awareness and reputation, the strength of sales and marketing efforts, customer support, as well as the cost of deploying and using our products. Our competitors fall into four primary categories:

 

   

legacy on-premises vendors;

 

   

regional network service providers that offer limited developer functionality on top of their own physical infrastructure;

 

   

smaller software companies that compete with portions of our product line; and

 

   

software-as a-service (“SaaS”) companies and cloud platform vendors that offer prepackaged applications and platforms.

Some of our competitors and potential competitors are larger and have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, more established customer relationships, larger budgets and significantly greater resources than we do. In addition, they have the operating flexibility to bundle competing products and services at little or no perceived incremental cost, including offering them at a lower price as part of a larger sales transaction. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. In addition, some competitors may offer products or services that address one or a limited number of functions at lower prices, with greater depth than our products or in different geographies. Our current and potential competitors may develop and market new products and services with comparable functionality to our products, and this could lead to us having to decrease prices in order to remain competitive. Customers utilize our products in many ways and use varying levels of functionality that our products offer or are capable of supporting or enabling within their applications. Customers that use many of the features of our products or use our products to support or enable core functionality for their applications may have difficulty or find it impractical to replace our products with a competitor’s products or services, while customers that use only limited functionality may be able to more easily replace our products with competitive offerings. Our customers also may choose to build some of the functionality our products provide, which may limit or eliminate their demand for our products.

With the introduction of new products and services and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. In addition, some of our customers may choose to use our products and our competitors’ products at the same time. Further, customers and consumers may choose to adopt other forms of electronic communications or alternative communication platforms.

Moreover, as we expand the scope of our products, we may face additional competition. If one or more of our competitors were to merge or partner with another of our competitors, the change in the competitive landscape could also adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. In addition, some of our competitors have lower list prices than us, which may be attractive to certain customers even if those products have different or lesser functionality. If we are unable to maintain our current pricing due to competitive pressures, our margins will be reduced and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected. In addition, pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced revenue, reduced margins, increased losses or the failure of our products to achieve or maintain widespread market acceptance, any of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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We have a history of losses and we are uncertain about our future profitability.

We have incurred net losses in each year since our inception, including net losses of $116.9 million and $311.6 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively, compared to net losses of $87.7 million and $216.8 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019. We had an accumulated deficit of $990.4 million as of September 30, 2020. We expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on, among other things:

 

   

investments in our engineering team, improvements in security and data protection, the development of new products, features and functionality and enhancements to our platform;

 

   

sales and marketing, including the continued expansion of our direct sales organization and marketing programs, especially for enterprises and for organizations outside of the United States, and expanding our programs directed at increasing our brand awareness among current and new developers;

 

   

expansion of our operations and infrastructure, both domestically and internationally; and,

 

   

general administration, including legal, accounting and other expenses related to being a public company.

These investments may not result in increased revenue or growth of our business. We also expect that our revenue growth rate will decline over time. Accordingly, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to offset our expected cost increases and achieve and sustain profitability. If we fail to achieve and sustain profitability, then our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

If we are unable to increase adoption of our products by enterprises, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Historically, we have relied on the adoption of our products by software developers through our self-service model for a significant majority of our revenue, and we currently generate only a small portion of our revenue from enterprise customers. Our ability to increase our customer base, especially among enterprises, and achieve broader market acceptance of our products will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively organize, focus and train our sales and marketing employees. We have limited experience selling to enterprises and only recently established an enterprise-focused sales force.

Our ability to convince enterprises to adopt our products will depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain sales employees with experience selling to enterprises. We believe that there is significant competition for experienced sales professionals with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve significant revenue growth in the future will depend, in part, on our ability to recruit, train and retain a sufficient number of experienced sales professionals, particularly those with experience selling to enterprises. In addition, even if we are successful in hiring qualified sales employees, new hires require significant training and experience before they achieve full productivity, particularly for sales efforts targeted at enterprises and new territories. Our recent hires and planned hires may not become as productive as quickly as we expect, and we may be unable to hire or retain sufficient numbers of qualified individuals in the future in the markets where we do business. Because we do not have a long history of targeting our sales efforts at enterprises, we cannot predict whether, or to what extent, our sales will increase as we organize and train our sales force or how long it will take for sales employees to become productive.

As we seek to increase the adoption of our products by enterprises, including products like Flex, which is primarily aimed at complex contact center implementations at larger companies, we expect to incur higher costs and longer sales cycles. In the enterprise market segment, the decision to adopt our products may require the approval of multiple technical and business decision makers, including legal, security, compliance, procurement, operations and IT. In addition, while enterprise customers may quickly deploy our products on a limited basis, before they will commit to deploying our products at scale, they often require extensive education about our products and significant customer support time, engage in protracted pricing negotiations and seek to secure readily available development resources. In addition, sales cycles for enterprises are inherently more complex

 

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and less predictable than the sales through our self-service model, and some enterprise customers may not use our products enough to generate revenue that justifies the cost to obtain such customers. In addition, these complex and resource intensive sales efforts could place additional strain on our product and engineering resources. Further, enterprises, including some of our customers, may choose to develop their own solutions that do not include our products. They also may demand reductions in pricing as their usage of our products increases, which could have an adverse impact on our gross margin. As a result of our limited experience selling and marketing to enterprises, our efforts to sell to these potential customers may not be successful. If we are unable to increase the revenue that we derive from enterprises, then our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

If we are unable to expand our relationships with existing technology partner customers and add new technology partner customers, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We believe that the continued growth of our business depends in part upon developing and expanding strategic relationships with technology partner customers. Technology partner customers embed our software products in their solutions, such as software applications for contact centers and sales force and marketing automation, and then sell such solutions to other businesses. When potential customers do not have the available developer resources to build their own applications, we refer them to either our technology partners who embed our products in the solutions that they sell to other businesses or our consulting partners who provide consulting and development services for organizations that have limited software development expertise to build our platform into their software applications.

As part of our growth strategy, we intend to expand our relationships with existing technology partner customers and add new technology partner customers. If we fail to expand our relationships with existing technology partner customers or establish relationships with new technology partner customers in a timely and cost-effective manner, or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Additionally, even if we are successful at building these relationships but there are problems or issues with integrating our products into the solutions of these customers, our reputation and ability to grow our business may be harmed.

To deliver our products, we rely on network service providers and internet service providers for our network service and connectivity and disruption or deterioration in the quality of these services could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We currently interconnect with network service providers around the world to enable the use by our customers of our products over their networks. Although we are in the process of acquiring authorization in many countries for direct access to phone numbers and for the provision of voice services on the networks of network service providers, we expect that we will continue to rely on network service providers for these services. Where we don’t have direct access to phone numbers, our reliance on network service providers has reduced our operating flexibility, ability to make timely service changes and control quality of service. In addition, the fees that we are charged by network service providers may change daily or weekly, while we do not typically change our customers’ pricing as rapidly.

At times, network service providers have instituted additional fees due to regulatory, competitive or other industry related changes that increase our network costs. For example, in early 2020, a major U.S. mobile carrier introduced a new Application to Person (A2P) SMS service offering that adds a new fee for A2P SMS messages delivered to its subscribers, and other U.S. mobile carriers are in the process of adding similar fees. While we have historically responded to these types of fee increases through a combination of further negotiating efforts with our network service providers, absorbing the increased costs or changing our prices to customers, there is no guarantee that we will continue to be able to do so in the future without a material negative impact to our business. In the case of this new A2P SMS fee, we are passing these fees on to our customers who are sending SMS messages to this carrier’s subscribers. This is expected to increase our revenue and cost of revenue, but it is

 

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not expected to impact the gross profit dollars received for sending these messages. However, mathematically this would still have a negative impact on our gross margins. Additionally, our ability to respond to any new fees may be constrained if all network service providers in a particular market impose equivalent fee structures, if the magnitude of the fees is disproportionately large when compared to the underlying prices paid by our customers, or if the market conditions limit our ability to increase the price we charge our customers.

Furthermore, many of these network service providers do not have long-term committed contracts with us and may interrupt services or terminate their agreements with us without notice. If a significant portion of our network service providers stop providing us with access to their infrastructure, fail to provide these services to us on a cost-effective basis, cease operations, or otherwise terminate these services, the delay caused by qualifying and switching to other network service providers could be time consuming and costly and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, if problems occur with our network service providers, it may cause errors or poor quality communications with our products, and we could encounter difficulty identifying the source of the problem. The occurrence of errors or poor quality communications on our products, whether caused by our platform or a network service provider, may result in the loss of our existing customers or the delay of adoption of our products by potential customers and may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Further, we sometimes access network services through intermediaries who have direct access to network service providers. Although we are in the process of acquiring direct connectivity with network service providers in many areas, we expect that we will continue to rely on intermediaries for these services. These intermediaries sometimes have products that directly compete with our products and may stop providing services to us on a cost-effective basis. If a significant portion of these intermediaries stop providing services or stop providing services on a cost-effective basis, our business could be adversely affected.

We also interconnect with internet service providers around the world to enable the use of our email products by our customers, and we expect that we will continue to rely on internet service providers for network connectivity going forward. Our reliance on internet service providers reduces our control over quality of service and exposes us to potential service outages and rate fluctuations. If a significant portion of our internet service providers stop providing us with access to their network infrastructure, fail to provide access on a cost-effective basis, cease operations, or otherwise terminate access, the delay caused by qualifying and switching to other internet service providers could be time consuming and costly and could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to drive the adoption of our products by international customers.

In the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, we derived 27%, 29% and 25% of our revenue, respectively, from customer accounts located outside the United States. The future success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to expand our customer base worldwide. While we have been rapidly expanding our sales efforts internationally, our experience in selling our products outside of the United States is limited. Furthermore, our developer-first business model may not be successful or have the same traction outside the United States. As a result, our investment in marketing our products to these potential customers may not be successful. If we are unable to increase the revenue that we derive from international customers, then our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We are continuing to expand our international operations, which exposes us to significant risks.

We are continuing to expand our international operations to increase our revenue from customers outside of the United States as part of our growth strategy. Between December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2020, our international headcount grew from 720 employees to 1,369 employees. We expect to open additional international offices and hire employees to work at these offices in order to reach new customers and gain access to additional technical talent. Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management

 

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attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic and political risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. Because of our limited experience with international operations or with developing and managing sales in international markets, our international expansion efforts may not be successful.

In addition, we will face risks in doing business internationally that could adversely affect our business, including:

 

   

exposure to political developments in the U.K., including the departure of the U.K. from the European Union (“EU”) (“Brexit”), which has created an uncertain political and economic environment, instability for businesses, volatility in global financial markets and the value of foreign currencies, all of which could disrupt trade, the sale of our services and the mobility of our employees and contractors between the U.K., EU and other jurisdictions. Any long–term impact from Brexit on our business and operations will depend, in part, on the outcome of the U.K.’s negotiations on tariffs, tax treaties, trade, regulatory, and other matters and may require us to expend significant time and expense to make adjustments to our business and operations;

 

   

the difficulty of managing and staffing international operations and the increased operations, travel, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with servicing international customers and operating numerous international locations;

 

   

our ability to effectively price our products in competitive international markets;

 

   

new and different sources of competition or other changes to our current competitive landscape;

 

   

understanding and reconciling different technical standards, data privacy and telecommunications regulations, registration and certification requirements outside the United States, which could prevent customers from deploying our products or limit their usage;

 

   

our ability to comply with the GDPR and Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais) (Law No. 13,709/2018), which went into effect September 18, 2020, and laws, regulations and industry standards relating to data privacy, data protection, data localization and data security enacted in countries and other regions in which we operate or do business;

 

   

potentially greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles;

 

   

higher or more variable network service provider fees outside of the United States;

 

   

the need to adapt and localize our products for specific countries;

 

   

the need to offer customer support in various languages;

 

   

difficulties in understanding and complying with local laws, regulations and customs in non-U.S. jurisdictions;

 

   

export controls and economic sanctions administered by the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control;

 

   

compliance with various anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010;

 

   

changes in international trade policies, tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, such as quotas and local content rules;

 

   

more limited protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;

 

   

adverse tax consequences;

 

   

fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could increase the price of our products outside of the United States, increase the expenses of our international operations and expose us to foreign currency exchange rate risk;

 

   

currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit our conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars;

 

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restrictions on the transfer of funds;

 

   

deterioration of political relations between the United States and other countries;

 

   

the impact of natural disasters and public health epidemics or pandemics such as COVID-19 on employees, contingent workers, partners, travel and the global economy and the ability to operate freely and effectively in a region that may be fully or partially on lockdown; and,

 

   

political or social unrest or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate, which could have an adverse impact on our operations in that location.

Also, due to costs from our international expansion efforts and network service provider fees outside of the United States, which generally are higher than domestic rates, our gross margin for international customers is typically lower than our gross margin for domestic customers. As a result, our gross margin may be impacted and fluctuate as we expand our operations and customer base worldwide.

Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations, and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Certain of our products are subject to telecommunications-related regulations, and future legislative or regulatory actions could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

As a provider of communications products, we are subject to existing or potential Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) regulations relating to privacy, telecommunications, consumer protection and other requirements. In addition, the extension of telecommunications regulations to our non-interconnected VoIP services could result in additional federal and state regulatory obligations and taxes. We are also in discussions with certain jurisdictions regarding potential sales and other taxes for prior periods that we may owe. In the event any of these jurisdictions disagree with management’s assumptions and analysis, the assessment of our tax exposure could differ materially from management’s current estimates, which may increase our costs of doing business and negatively affect the prices our customers pay for our services. If we do not comply with FCC rules and regulations, we could be subject to FCC enforcement actions, fines, loss of licenses and possibly restrictions on our ability to operate or offer certain of our products. Any enforcement action by the FCC, which may be a public process, would hurt our reputation in the industry, could erode customer trust, possibly impair our ability to sell our VoIP products to customers and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Certain of our products are subject to a number of FCC regulations and laws that are administered by the FCC. Among others, we must comply (in whole or in part) with:

 

   

the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, which regulates communications services and the provision of such services;

 

   

the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which limits the use of automatic dialing systems for calls and texts, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, and fax machines;

 

   

the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which requires covered entities to assist law enforcement in undertaking electronic surveillance;

 

   

requirements to safeguard the privacy of certain customer information;

 

   

payment of annual FCC regulatory fees and taxes based on our interstate and international revenues;

 

   

rules pertaining to access to our services by people with disabilities and contributions to the Telecommunications Relay Services fund; and,

 

   

FCC rules regarding the use of customer proprietary network information.

In addition, Congress and the FCC are attempting to mitigate the scourge of robocalls by requiring participation in a technical standard called SHAKEN/STIR, which allows voice carriers to authenticate caller ID, prohibiting malicious spoofing.

 

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If we do not comply with any current or future rules or regulations that apply to our business, we could be subject to substantial fines and penalties, and we may have to restructure our offerings, exit certain markets or raise the price of our products. In addition, any uncertainty regarding whether particular regulations apply to our business, and how they apply, could increase our costs or limit our ability to grow.

As we continue to expand internationally, we have become subject to telecommunications laws and regulations in the foreign countries where we offer our products. Internationally, we currently offer our products in over 180 countries.

Our international operations are subject to country-specific governmental regulation and related actions that have increased and will continue to increase our costs or impact our products and platform or prevent us from offering or providing our products in certain countries. Moreover, the regulation of communications platform-as-a-service (“CPaaS”) companies like us is continuing to evolve internationally and many existing regulations may not fully contemplate the CPaaS business model or how they fit into the communications regulatory framework. As a result, interpretation and enforcement of regulations often involve significant uncertainties. In many countries, including those in the European Union, a number of our products or services are subject to licensing and communications regulatory requirements which increases the level of scrutiny and enforcement by regulators. Future legislative, regulatory or judicial actions impacting CPaaS services could also increase the cost and complexity of compliance and expose us to liability. For example, in some countries, some or all of the services we offer are not considered regulated telecommunications services, while in other countries they are subject to telecommunications regulations, including but not limited to payment into universal service funds, licensing fees, provision of emergency services, provision of information to support emergency services and number portability. Specifically, the Australian Communications and Media Authority recently issued a formal finding against several companies, including our Company, for failure to upload data into a centralized database for emergency services and, in the future, regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions in which we operate may also determine that we are a telecommunications company subject to similar regulations. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in our Company being issued remedial directions to undertake independent audits and implement effective systems, processes and practices to ensure compliance, significant fines or being prohibited from providing telecommunications services in a jurisdiction.

Moreover, certain of our products may be used by customers located in countries where voice and other forms of IP communications may be illegal or require special licensing or in countries on a U.S. embargo list. Even where our products are reportedly illegal or become illegal or where users are located in an embargoed country, users in those countries may be able to continue to use our products in those countries notwithstanding the illegality or embargo. We may be subject to penalties or governmental action if consumers continue to use our products in countries where it is illegal to do so or if we use a local partner to provide services in a country and the local partner does not comply with applicable governmental regulations. Any such penalties or governmental action may be costly and may harm our business and damage our brand and reputation. We may be required to incur additional expenses to meet applicable international regulatory requirements or be required to raise the prices of services, or restructure or discontinue those services if required by law or if we cannot or will not meet those requirements. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we are unable to obtain or retain geographical, mobile, regional, local or toll-free numbers, or to effectively process requests to port such numbers in a timely manner due to industry regulations, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to obtain allocations of geographical, mobile, regional, local and toll-free direct inward dialing numbers or phone numbers as well as short codes and alphanumeric sender IDs (collectively “Numbering Resources”) in the United States and foreign countries at a reasonable cost and without overly burdensome restrictions. Our ability to obtain allocations of, assign and retain Numbering Resources depends on factors outside of our control, such as applicable regulations, the practices of authorities that administer national numbering plans or of network service providers from whom we can provision

 

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Numbering Resources, such as offering these Numbering Resources with conditional minimum volume call level requirements, the cost of these Numbering Resources and the level of overall competitive demand for new Numbering Resources.

In addition, in order to obtain allocations of, assign and retain Numbering Resources in the EU or certain other regions, we are often required to be licensed by local telecommunications regulatory authorities, some of which have been increasingly monitoring and regulating the categories of Numbering Resources that are eligible for provisioning to our customers. We have obtained licenses, and are in the process of obtaining licenses in various countries in which we do business, but in some countries, the regulatory regime around provisioning of Numbering Resources is unclear, subject to change over time, and sometimes may conflict from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Furthermore, these regulations and governments’ approach to their enforcement, as well as our products and services, are still evolving and we may be unable to maintain compliance with applicable regulations, or enforce compliance by our customers, on a timely basis or without significant cost. Also, compliance with these types of regulation may require changes in products or business practices that result in reduced revenue. Due to our or our customers’ assignment and/or use of Numbering Resources in certain countries in a manner that violates applicable rules and regulations, we have been subjected to government inquiries and audits, and may in the future be subject to significant penalties or further governmental action, and in extreme cases, may be precluded from doing business in that particular country. We have also been forced to reclaim Numbering Resources from our customers as a result of certain events of non-compliance. These reclamations result in loss of customers, loss of revenue, reputational harm, erosion of customer trust, and may also result in breach of contract claims, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Due to their limited availability, there are certain popular area code prefixes that we generally cannot obtain. Our inability to acquire or retain Numbering Resources for our operations may make our voice and messaging products less attractive to potential customers in the affected local geographic areas. In addition, future growth in our customer base, together with growth in the customer bases of other providers of cloud communications, has increased, which increases our dependence on needing sufficiently large quantities of Numbering Resources. It may become increasingly difficult to source larger quantities of Numbering Resources as we scale and we may need to pay higher costs for Numbering Resources, and Numbering Resources may become subject to more stringent regulation or conditions of usage such as the registration and on-going compliance requirements discussed above.

Additionally, in some geographies, we support number portability, which allows our customers to transfer their existing phone numbers to us and thereby retain their existing phone numbers when subscribing to our voice and messaging products. Transferring existing numbers is a manual process that can take up to 15 business days or longer to complete. Any delay that we experience in transferring these numbers typically results from the fact that we depend on network service providers to transfer these numbers, a process that we do not control, and these network service providers may refuse or substantially delay the transfer of these numbers to us. Number portability is considered an important feature by many potential customers, and if we fail to reduce any related delays, then we may experience increased difficulty in acquiring new customers.

Any of the foregoing factors could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, and changing customer needs, requirements or preferences, our products may become less competitive.

The market for communications in general, and cloud communications in particular, is subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, as well as changing customer needs, requirements and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. If we are unable to develop new products that satisfy our

 

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customers and provide enhancements and new features for our existing products that keep pace with rapid technological and industry change, including but not limited to SHAKEN/STIR and applicable industry standards, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver competitive products and services at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently or more securely, such technologies could adversely impact our ability to compete effectively.

Our platform must integrate with a variety of network, hardware, mobile and software platforms and technologies, and we need to continuously modify and enhance our products and platform to adapt to changes and innovation in these technologies. For example, Apple, Google and other cell-phone operating system providers or inbox service providers have developed and, may in the future develop, new applications or functions intended to filter spam and unwanted phone calls, messages or emails. Similarly, our network service providers may adopt new filtering technologies in an effort to combat spam or robocalling. Such technologies may inadvertently filter desired messages or calls to or from our customers. If cell-phone operating system providers, network service providers, our customers or their end users adopt new software platforms or infrastructure, we may be required to develop new versions of our products to work with those new platforms or infrastructure. This development effort may require significant resources, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any failure of our products and platform to operate effectively with evolving or new platforms and technologies could reduce the demand for our products. If we are unable to respond to these changes in a cost-effective manner, our products may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We substantially rely upon Amazon Web Services to operate our platform, and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We outsource a substantial majority of our cloud infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), which hosts our products and platform. Our customers need to be able to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance. AWS runs its own platform that we access, and we are, therefore, vulnerable to service interruptions at AWS. We have experienced, and expect that in the future we may experience interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website hosting disruptions and capacity constraints. Capacity constraints could be due to a number of potential causes, including technical failures, natural disasters, pandemics such as COVID-19, fraud or security attacks. For instance, in September 2015, AWS suffered a significant outage that had a widespread impact on the ability of our customers to use several of our products and from time to time since then, we have experienced some outages which resulted in disruptions to service for some of our customers. In addition, if our security, or that of AWS, is compromised, or our products or platform are unavailable or our users are unable to use our products within a reasonable amount of time or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within a period of time acceptable to our customers. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our platform performance, especially during peak usage times, as our products become more complex and the usage of our products increases. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, either through AWS or alternative providers of cloud infrastructure, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. In addition, any changes in service levels from AWS may adversely affect our ability to meet our customers’ requirements, result in negative publicity which could harm our reputation and brand and may adversely affect the usage of our platform.

The substantial majority of the services we use from AWS are for cloud-based server capacity and, to a lesser extent, storage and other optimization offerings. AWS enables us to order and reserve server capacity in varying amounts and sizes distributed across multiple regions. We access AWS infrastructure through standard IP connectivity. AWS provides us with computing and storage capacity pursuant to an agreement that continues until terminated by either party. AWS may terminate the agreement for cause upon notice and upon our failure to

 

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cure a breach within 30 days from the date of such notification and may, in some cases, suspend the agreement immediately for cause upon notice. Although we expect that we could receive similar services from other third parties, if any of our arrangements with AWS are terminated, we could experience interruptions on our platform and in our ability to make our products available to customers, as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging alternative cloud infrastructure services.

Any of the above circumstances or events may harm our reputation, erode customer trust, cause customers to stop using our products, impair our ability to increase revenue from existing customers, impair our ability to grow our customer base, subject us to financial penalties and liabilities under our service level agreements and otherwise harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We typically provide monthly uptime service level commitments of up to 99.95% under our agreements with customers. If we fail to meet these contractual commitments, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our agreements with customers typically provide for service level commitments. If we suffer extended periods of downtime for our products or platform and we are unable to meet these commitments, then we are contractually obligated to provide a service credit, which is typically 10% of the customer’s amounts due for the month in question. In addition, the performance and availability of AWS or other service providers, which provides our cloud infrastructures is outside of our control and, therefore, we are not in full control of whether we meet our service level commitments. As a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected if we suffer unscheduled downtime that exceeds the service level commitments we have made to our customers. Any extended service outages could adversely affect our business and reputation and erode customer trust.

Breaches of our networks or systems, or those of AWS or our service providers, could degrade our ability to conduct our business, compromise the integrity of our products, platform and data, result in significant data losses and the theft of our intellectual property, damage our reputation, expose us to liability to third parties and require us to incur significant additional costs to maintain the security of our networks and data.

We depend upon our IT systems to conduct virtually all of our business operations, ranging from our internal operations and research and development activities to our marketing and sales efforts and communications with our customers and business partners. Individuals or entities may attempt to penetrate our network security, or that of our platform, and to cause harm to our business operations, including by misappropriating our proprietary information or that of our customers, employees and business partners or to cause interruptions of our products and platform. In particular, cyberattacks and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase in frequency and in magnitude generally, and cloud-based companies have been targeted in the past. In addition to threats from traditional computer hackers, malicious code (such as malware, viruses, worms, and ransomware), employees theft or misuse, password spraying, phishing, credential stuffing, and denial-of-service attacks, we also face threats from sophisticated organized crime, nation-state, and nation-state supported actors who engage in attacks (including advanced persistent threat intrusions) that add to the risk to our systems (including those hosted on AWS or other cloud services), internal networks, our customers’ systems and the information that they store and process. While we devote significant financial and employees resources to implement and maintain security measures, because the techniques used by such individuals or entities to access, disrupt or sabotage devices, systems and networks change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be required to make further investments over time to protect data and infrastructure as cybersecurity threats develop, evolve and grow more complex over time. We may also be unable to anticipate these techniques, and we may not become aware in a timely manner of such a security breach, which could exacerbate any damage we experience. Additionally, we depend upon our employees and contractors to appropriately handle confidential and sensitive data, including customer data, and to deploy our IT resources in a safe and secure manner that does not expose our network systems to security breaches or the loss of data. We have been and expect to be subject to cybersecurity threats and incidents, including denial-of-service

 

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attacks, employee errors or individual attempts to gain unauthorized access to information systems. Any data security incidents, including internal malfeasance or inadvertent disclosures by our employees or a third party’s fraudulent inducement of our employees to disclose information, unauthorized access or usage, virus or similar breach or disruption of us or our service providers, such as AWS, could result in loss of confidential information, damage to our reputation, erosion of customer trust, loss of customers, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties and other liabilities. Furthermore, we are required to comply with laws and regulations that require us to maintain the security of personal information and we may have contractual and other legal obligations to notify customers or other relevant stakeholders of security breaches. Such disclosures could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or mitigate the security breach. Accordingly, if our cybersecurity measures or those of AWS or our service providers, fail to protect against unauthorized access, attacks (which may include sophisticated cyberattacks), compromise or the mishandling of data by our employees and contractors, then our reputation, customer trust, business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

While we maintain errors, omissions, and cyber liability insurance policies covering certain security and privacy damages, we cannot be certain that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available, and in sufficient amounts, to cover the potentially significant losses that may result from a security incident or breach or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim.

Defects or errors in our products could diminish demand for our products, harm our business and results of operations and subject us to liability.

Our customers use our products for important aspects of their businesses, and any errors, defects or disruptions to our products and any other performance problems with our products could damage our customers’ businesses and, in turn, hurt our brand and reputation and erode customer trust. We provide regular updates to our products, which have in the past contained, and may in the future contain, undetected errors, failures, vulnerabilities and bugs when first introduced or released. Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our products could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our platform, loss of competitive position, lower customer retention or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem. In addition, we may not carry insurance sufficient to compensate us for any losses that may result from claims arising from defects or disruptions in our products. As a result, our reputation and our brand could be harmed, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We currently generate significant revenue from our largest customers, and the loss or decline in revenue from any of these customers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, our 10 largest Active Customer Accounts generated an aggregate of 15%, 13% and 18% of our revenue, respectively. A significant portion of our revenue comes from WhatsApp. In the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, WhatsApp accounted for 6%, 5% and 7% of our revenue, respectively. WhatsApp does not have a long-term contract with us and may reduce or fully terminate their usage of our products at any time without notice, penalty or termination charges. In addition, the usage of our products by WhatsApp and other customers that do not have long-term contracts with us may change significantly between periods.

In the event that any of our large customers do not continue to use our products, use fewer of our products, or use our products in a more limited capacity, or not at all, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

 

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If we are unable to develop and maintain successful relationships with consulting partners, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We believe that continued growth of our business depends in part upon identifying, developing and maintaining strategic relationships with consulting partners. As part of our growth strategy, we intend to further develop partnerships and specific solution areas with consulting partners. If we fail to establish these relationships in a timely and cost-effective manner, or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Additionally, even if we are successful at developing these relationships but there are problems or issues with the integrations or enterprises are not willing to purchase through consulting partners, our reputation and ability to grow our business may be adversely affected.

Any failure to offer high quality customer support may adversely affect our relationships with our customers and prospective customers, and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Many of our customers depend on our customer support team to assist them in deploying our products effectively to help them to resolve post-deployment issues quickly and to provide ongoing support. If we do not devote sufficient resources or are otherwise unsuccessful in assisting our customers effectively, it could adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers and could prevent prospective customers from adopting our products. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in demand for customer support. We also may be unable to modify the nature, scope and delivery of our customer support to compete with changes in the support services provided by our competitors. Increased demand for customer support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our sales are highly dependent on our business reputation and on positive recommendations from developers. Any failure to maintain high quality customer support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high quality customer support, could erode customer trust and adversely affect our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to set optimal prices for our products could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We charge our customers based on their use of our products. We expect that we may need to change our pricing from time to time. In the past, we have sometimes reduced our prices either for individual customers in connection with long-term agreements or for a particular product. One of the challenges to our pricing is that the fees that we pay to network service providers over whose networks we transmit communications can vary daily or weekly and are affected by volume and other factors that may be outside of our control and difficult to predict. This can result in us incurring increased costs that we may be unable or unwilling to pass through to our customers, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Further, as competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours or reduce their prices, we may be unable to attract new customers or retain existing customers based on our historical pricing. As we expand internationally, we also must determine the appropriate price to enable us to compete effectively internationally. Moreover, enterprises, which are a primary focus for our direct sales efforts, may demand substantial price concessions. In addition, if the mix of products sold changes, including for a shift to IP-based products, then we may need to, or choose to, revise our pricing. As a result, in the future we may be required or choose to reduce our prices or change our pricing model, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have been sued, and may, in the future, be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

There is considerable patent and other intellectual property development activity in our industry. Our future success depends, in part, on not infringing the intellectual property rights of others and we may be unaware of the intellectual property rights of others that may cover some or all of our technology. Our competitors or other third

 

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parties have claimed and may, in the future, claim that our products or platform and underlying technology are infringing upon their intellectual property rights, and we may be found to be infringing upon such rights. For example, Telesign Corporation (“Telesign”) sued us in 2015 and 2016 alleging that we infringed four U.S. patents. The patent infringement allegations in the lawsuits related to our two-factor authentication use case, Authy, and an API tool to find information about a phone number. On October 19, 2018, a United States District Court in the Northern District of California entered judgment in our favor on all asserted claims, which was affirmed on appeal. The deadline for further appeals has passed and the matter is finally resolved in our favor. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against such lawsuits. During the course of these lawsuits, there may be announcements of the results of hearings and motions and other interim developments related to the litigation. If securities analysts or investors regard these announcements as negative, the trading price of our Class A common stock may decline.

In the future, we may also introduce or acquire new products or technologies, including in areas where we historically have not participated in, which could increase our exposure to intellectual property claims. Any claims or litigation could cause us to incur significant expenses and, if successfully asserted against us, could require that we pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty payments, prevent us from offering our products, or require that we comply with other unfavorable terms. We may also be obligated to indemnify our customers or business partners in connection with any such litigation and to obtain licenses or modify our products or platform, which could further exhaust our resources. Litigation is inherently uncertain and even if we were to prevail in the event of claims or litigation against us, any claim or litigation regarding intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and other employees from our business. Patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property claims and proceedings brought against us, whether successful or not, could harm our brand, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Indemnity provisions in various agreements potentially expose us to substantial liability for intellectual property infringement and other losses.

Our agreements with customers and other third parties typically include indemnification or other provisions under which we agree to indemnify or otherwise be liable to them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of claims of intellectual property infringement, loss or exposure of confidential or sensitive data, damages caused by us to property or persons or other liabilities relating to or arising from our products or platform or other acts or omissions. The term of these contractual provisions often survives termination or expiration of the applicable agreement. Large indemnity payments or damage claims from contractual breach could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Although typically we contractually limit our liability with respect to such obligations, we may still incur substantial liability related to them. Any dispute with a customer with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with that customer and other current and prospective customers, demand for our products and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We could incur substantial costs in protecting or defending our intellectual property rights, and any failure to protect our intellectual property could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect our brand and the proprietary methods and technologies that we develop under patent and other intellectual property laws in the U.S. and in non-U.S. jurisdictions so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information. As of December 31, 2020, in the United States, we had been issued 157 patents, which expire between 2029 and 2039. As of such date, we also had 33 issued patents in non-U.S. jurisdictions, all of which are related to U.S. patents and patent applications. We have also filed various applications for protection of certain aspects of our intellectual property in the United States and internationally. There can be no assurance that additional patents will be issued or that any patents that have been issued or that may be issued in the future will provide significant

 

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protection for our intellectual property. As of December 31, 2020, we had 41 registered trademarks in the United States and 257 registered trademarks in non-U.S. jurisdictions. If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our competitors might gain access to our technology and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

There can be no assurance that the particular forms of intellectual property protection that we seek, including business decisions about when to file patent applications and trademark applications, will be adequate to protect our business. We could be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, determine the validity and scope of our proprietary rights or those of others, or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management, result in a diversion of significant resources, the narrowing or invalidation of portions of our intellectual property and have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights or alleging that we infringe the counterclaimant’s own intellectual property. Any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights could be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation.

We also rely, in part, on confidentiality agreements with our business partners, employees, consultants, advisors, customers and others in our efforts to protect our proprietary technology, processes and methods. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our confidential information, and it may be possible for unauthorized parties to copy our software or other proprietary technology or information, or to develop similar software independently without our having an adequate remedy for unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information, and in these cases, we would not be able to assert any trade secret rights against those parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

In addition, the laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property and other proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying, transfer and use of our proprietary technology or information may increase.

We cannot be certain that our means of protecting our intellectual property and proprietary rights will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology. If we fail to meaningfully protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We may acquire or invest in companies, which may divert our management’s attention and result in debt or dilution to our stockholders. We may be unable to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions.

We actively evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions of, or investments in, businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets in the future. For example, in November 2020, we acquired Segment for a total purchase price of $3.0 billion, of which $2.5 billion represented the value of our Class A common stock issued at closing. Accordingly, at closing, our stockholders incurred substantial dilution; any future acquisitions or strategic transactions may result in additional dilution or require us to take on debt in order to finance any such transactions. For further risks related to the acquisition of Segment, please see below under “Risks Related to the Acquisition of Segment.” We also may enter into relationships with other businesses to expand our products and platform, which could involve preferred or exclusive licenses, additional channels of distribution, discount pricing or investments in other companies.

Any acquisition, investment or business relationship may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. In particular, we may encounter difficulties or delays in assimilating or integrating the businesses,

 

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technologies, products, employees or operations of the acquired companies, particularly if the key employees of the acquired company choose not to work for us, their products or services are not easily adapted to work with our platform, or we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management or otherwise. In addition, we may discover liabilities or deficiencies associated with the assets or companies we acquire or ineffective or inadequate controls, procedures or policies at an acquired business that were not identified in advance, any of which could result in significant unanticipated costs. Acquisitions also may disrupt our business, divert our resources or require significant management attention that would otherwise be available for development of our existing business. Moreover, the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, investment or business relationship may not be realized or we may be exposed to unknown risks or liabilities.

Negotiating these transactions can be time consuming, difficult and expensive, and our ability to complete these transactions may often be subject to approvals that are beyond our control. Consequently, these transactions, even if announced, may not be completed. For one or more of those transactions, we may:

 

   

issue additional equity securities that would dilute our existing stockholders;

 

   

use cash that we may need in the future to operate our business;

 

   

incur large charges or substantial liabilities;

 

   

incur debt on terms unfavorable to us or that we are unable to repay;

 

   

encounter difficulties retaining key employees of the acquired company or integrating diverse software codes or business cultures;

 

   

encounter difficulties retaining the acquired company’s customers; or

 

   

become subject to adverse tax consequences, substantial depreciation, or deferred compensation charges.

The occurrence of any of these foregoing could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We depend largely on the continued services of our senior management and other key employees, the loss of any of whom could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our future performance depends on the continued services and contributions of our senior management and other key employees to execute on our business plan, to develop our products and platform, to deliver our products to customers, to attract and retain customers and to identify and pursue opportunities. The loss of services of senior management or other key employees could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our development and strategic objectives. In particular, we depend to a considerable degree on the vision, skills, experience and effort of our co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Lawson. None of our executive officers or other senior management are bound by a written employment agreement and any of them may terminate employment with us at any time with no advance notice. The replacement of any of our senior management would likely involve significant time and costs, and such loss could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. The loss of the services of any of our senior management or other key employees for any reason could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we are unable to hire, retain and motivate qualified employees, our business will suffer.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled employees. We believe that there is, and will continue to be, intense competition for highly skilled management, technical, sales and other employees with experience in our industry in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters are located, and in other locations where we maintain offices. We must provide competitive compensation packages and a high quality work environment to hire, retain and motivate employees. If we are unable to retain and motivate our existing employees and attract qualified employees to fill key positions, we

 

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may be unable to manage our business effectively, including the development, marketing and sale of our products, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. To the extent we hire employees from competitors, we also may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or divulged proprietary or other confidential information.

Volatility in, or lack of performance of, our stock price may also affect our ability to attract and retain key employees. Many of our key employees are, or will soon be, vested in a substantial number of shares of Class A common stock or stock options. Employees may be more likely to terminate their employment with us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares or the exercise prices of the options, or, conversely, if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly above the trading price of our Class A common stock. If we are unable to retain our employees, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

United States federal legislation and international laws impose certain obligations on the senders of commercial emails, which could minimize the effectiveness of our platform, and establish financial penalties for non-compliance, which could increase the costs of our business.

The Federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, or the CAN-SPAM Act, establishes certain requirements for commercial email messages and transactional email messages and specifies penalties for the transmission of email messages that are intended to deceive the recipient as to source or content. Among other things, the CAN-SPAM Act, obligates the sender of commercial emails to provide recipients with the ability to “opt-out” of receiving future commercial emails from the sender. In addition, some states have passed laws regulating commercial email practices that are significantly more restrictive and difficult to comply with than the CAN-SPAM Act. For example, Utah and Michigan prohibit the sending of email messages that advertise products or services that minors are prohibited by law from purchasing (e.g., alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, illegal drugs) or that contain content harmful to minors (e.g., pornography) to email addresses listed on specified child protection registries. Some portions of these state laws may not be preempted by the CAN-SPAM Act. In addition, certain non-U.S. jurisdictions in which we operate have enacted laws regulating the sending of email that are more restrictive than U.S. laws. For example, some foreign laws prohibit sending broad categories of email unless the recipient has provided the sender advance consent to receipt of such email, or in other words has “opted-in” to receiving such email. If we were found to be in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, applicable state laws governing email not preempted by the CAN-SPAM Act or foreign laws regulating the distribution of email, whether as a result of violations by our customers or our own acts or omissions, we could be required to pay large penalties, which would adversely affect our financial condition, significantly harm our business, injure our reputation and erode customer trust. The terms of any injunctions, judgments, consent decrees or settlement agreements entered into in connection with enforcement actions or investigations against our company in connection with any of the foregoing laws may also require us to change one or more aspects of the way we operate our business, which could impair our ability to attract and retain customers or could increase our operating costs.

Our customers’ and other users’ violation of our policies or other misuse of our platform to transmit unauthorized, offensive or illegal messages, spam, phishing scams, and website links to harmful applications or for other fraudulent or illegal activity could damage our reputation, and we may face a risk of litigation and liability for illegal activities on our platform and unauthorized, inaccurate, or fraudulent information distributed via our platform.

The actual or perceived improper sending of text messages or voice calls may subject us to potential risks, including liabilities or claims relating to consumer protection laws and regulatory enforcement, including fines. For example, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 restricts telemarketing and the use of automatic SMS text messages without explicit customer consent. This has resulted in civil claims against our company and requests for information through third-party subpoenas. The scope and interpretation of the laws that are or may be applicable to the delivery of text messages or voice calls are continuously evolving and developing. If we do

 

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not comply with these laws or regulations or if we become liable under these laws or regulations due to the failure of our customers to comply with these laws by obtaining proper consent, we could face direct liability.

Moreover, despite our ongoing and substantial efforts to limit such use, certain customers may use our platform to transmit unauthorized, offensive or illegal messages, calls, spam, phishing scams, and website links to harmful applications, reproduce and distribute copyrighted material or the trademarks of others without permission, and report inaccurate or fraudulent data or information. These issues also arise with respect to a portion of those users who use our platform on a free trial basis or upon initial use. These actions are in violation of our policies, in particular, our Acceptable Use Policy. However, our efforts to defeat spamming attacks, illegal robocalls and other fraudulent activity will not prevent all such attacks and activity. Such use of our platform could damage our reputation and we could face claims for damages, regulatory enforcement, copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, negligence, or fraud. Moreover, our customers’ and other users’ promotion of their products and services through our platform might not comply with federal, state, and foreign laws. We rely on contractual representations made to us by our customers that their use of our platform will comply with our policies and applicable law, including, without limitation, our email and messaging policies. Although we retain the right to verify that customers and other users are abiding by certain contractual terms, our Acceptable Use Policy and our email and messaging policies and, in certain circumstances, to review their email and distribution lists, our customers and other users are ultimately responsible for compliance with our policies, and we do not systematically audit our customers or other users to confirm compliance with our policies. We cannot predict whether our role in facilitating our customers’ or other users’ activities would expose us to liability under applicable law, or whether that possibility could become more likely if changes to current laws regulating content moderation, such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act are enacted. There have been various Congressional and executive efforts to eliminate or modify Section 230, which limits the liability of internet platforms for third-party content that is transmitted via those platforms and for good-faith moderation of offensive content. President Biden and many Members of Congress from both parties support reform or repeal of Section 230, so the possibility of Congressional action remains. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is considering a petition, filed by the Trump administration, to adopt rules interpreting Section 230. If the FCC adopts rules, the scope of the protection offered by Section 230 could be narrowed considerably. The FCC has not released any document describing the rules that would be proposed and no date has been set for a vote on any such proposal. The Democratic Commissioners of the FCC have indicated that they are opposed to the petition and now control the agenda of the FCC. Even if claims asserted against us do not result in liability, we may incur substantial costs in investigating and defending such claims. If we are found liable for our customers’ or other users’ activities, we could be required to pay fines or penalties, redesign business methods or otherwise expend resources to remedy any damages caused by such actions and to avoid future liability.

Our use of open source software could negatively affect our ability to sell our products and subject us to possible litigation.

Our products and platform incorporate open source software, and we expect to continue to incorporate open source software in our products and platform in the future. Few of the licenses applicable to open source software have been interpreted by courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products and platform. Moreover, although we have implemented policies to regulate the use and incorporation of open source software into our products and platform, we cannot be certain that we have not incorporated open source software in our products or platform in a manner that is inconsistent with such policies. If we fail to comply with open source licenses, we may be subject to certain requirements, including requirements that we offer our products that incorporate the open source software for no cost, that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon, incorporating or using the open source software and that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of applicable open source licenses. If an author or other third party that distributes such open source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations and could be subject to significant damages, enjoined from generating revenue from customers using

 

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products that contained the open source software and required to comply with onerous conditions or restrictions on these products. In any of these events, we and our customers could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our products and platform and to re-engineer our products or platform or discontinue offering our products to customers in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis. Any of the foregoing could require us to devote additional research and development resources to re-engineer our products or platform, could result in customer dissatisfaction and may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in laws and regulations related to the Internet or changes in the Internet infrastructure itself may diminish the demand for our products, and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The future success of our business depends upon the continued use of the Internet as a primary medium for commerce, communications and business applications. Federal, state or foreign government bodies or agencies have in the past adopted, and may in the future adopt, laws or regulations affecting the use of the Internet as a commercial medium. Changes in these laws or regulations could require us to modify our products and platform in order to comply with these changes. In addition, government agencies or private organizations have imposed and may impose additional taxes, fees or other charges for accessing the Internet or commerce conducted via the Internet. These laws or charges could limit the growth of Internet-related commerce or communications generally or result in reductions in the demand for Internet-based products and services such as our products and platform. In particular, the re-adoption of “network neutrality” rules in the United States, which President Biden supported during his campaign, could affect the services used by us and our customers. In addition, the use of the Internet as a business tool could be adversely affected due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased demands of Internet activity, security, reliability, cost, ease-of-use, accessibility and quality of service. The performance of the Internet and its acceptance as a business tool has been adversely affected by “viruses,” “worms,” and similar malicious programs. If the use of the Internet is reduced as a result of these or other issues, then demand for our products could decline, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The technology industry is subject to increasing scrutiny that could result in government actions that would negatively affect our business.

The technology industry is subject to intense media, political and regulatory scrutiny, including on issues related to antitrust, privacy, and artificial intelligence, which exposes us to government investigations, legal actions and penalties. For instance, various regulatory agencies, including competition and consumer protection authorities, have active proceedings and investigations concerning multiple technology companies on antitrust and other issues. If we become subject to such investigations, we could be liable for substantial fines and penalties, be required to change our products and services or alter our business operations, receive negative publicity, or be subject to civil litigation, all of which could harm our business. Lawmakers also have proposed new laws and regulations, and modifications to existing laws and regulations, that affect the activities of technology companies such as the recent efforts to eliminate or modify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. If such laws and regulations are enacted or modified, they could impact us, even if they are not intended to affect our company. In addition, the introduction of new products and services, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, and other scrutiny. The increased scrutiny of certain acquisitions in the technology industry also could affect our ability to enter into strategic transactions or to acquire other businesses.

Compliance with new or modified laws and regulations could increase the cost of conducting our business, limit the opportunities to increase our revenues, or prevent us from offering products or services. While we have adopted policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors or agents will not violate such laws and regulations. If we are found to have violated laws and regulations, it could materially adversely affect our reputation, financial condition and operating results.

 

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We also could be harmed by government investigations, litigation, or changes in laws and regulations directed at our customers, business partners, or suppliers in the technology industry that have the effect of limiting our ability to do business with those entities. For example, the U.S. government recently has taken action against companies operating in China intended to limit their ability to do business in the U.S. or with U.S. companies. There can be no assurance that our business will not be materially adversely affected, individually or in the aggregate, by the outcomes of such investigations, litigation or changes to laws and regulations in the future.

The standards that private entities and inbox service providers use to regulate the use and delivery of email have in the past interfered with, and may in the future interfere with, the effectiveness of our platform and our ability to conduct business.

Some of our customers rely on email for commercial solicitation. Other private entities often advocate standards of conduct or practice that significantly exceed current legal requirements and classify certain solicitations that comply with current legal requirements as spam. Some of these entities maintain “blacklists” of companies and individuals, and the websites, inbox service providers and IP addresses associated with those entities or individuals that do not adhere to those standards of conduct or practices for commercial solicitations that the blacklisting entity believes are appropriate. If a company’s IP addresses are listed by a blacklisting entity, emails sent from those addresses may be blocked if they are sent to any internet domain or internet address that subscribes to the blacklisting entity’s service or uses its blacklist.

From time to time, some of our IP addresses have become, and we expect will continue to be, listed with one or more blacklisting entities due to the messaging practices of our customers and other users. We may be at an increased risk of having our IP addresses blacklisted due to our scale and volume of email processed, compared to our smaller competitors. While the overall percentage of such email solicitations that our individual customers send may be at or below reasonable standards, the total aggregate number of all emails that we process on behalf of our customers may trigger increased scrutiny from these blacklisting entities. There can be no guarantee that we will be able to successfully remove ourselves from those lists. Because we fulfill email delivery on behalf of our customers, blacklisting of this type could undermine the effectiveness of our customers’ transactional email, email marketing programs and other email communications, all of which could have a material negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, inbox service providers can block emails from reaching their users. While we continually improve our own technology and work closely with inbox service providers to maintain our deliverability rates, the implementation of new or more restrictive policies by inbox service providers may make it more difficult to deliver our customers’ emails, particularly if we are not given adequate notice of a change in policy or struggle to update our platform or services to comply with the changed policy in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, some inbox service providers categorize as “promotional” emails that originate from email service providers and, as a result, direct them to an alternate or “tabbed” section of the recipient’s inbox. If inbox service providers materially limit or halt the delivery of our customers’ emails, or if we fail to deliver our customers’ emails in a manner compatible with inbox service providers’ email handling or authentication technologies or other policies, or if the open rates of our customers’ emails are negatively impacted by the actions of inbox service providers to categorize emails, then customers may question the effectiveness of our platform and cancel their accounts. This, in turn, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to governmental export controls and economic sanctions regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and could subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws.

Certain of our products and services may be subject to export control and economic sanctions regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. Exports of our products and the provision of our services must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations.

 

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Although we take precautions to prevent our products from being provided in violation of such laws, we are aware of previous exports of certain of our products to a small number of persons and organizations that are the subject of U.S. sanctions or located in countries or regions subject to U.S. sanctions. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including: the possible loss of export privileges; fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers; and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular deployment may be time-consuming, is not guaranteed and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. In addition, changes in our products or services, or changes in applicable export or economic sanctions regulations may create delays in the introduction and deployment of our products and services in international markets, or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products or provision of our services to certain countries or end users. Any change in export or economic sanctions regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could also result in decreased use of our products and services, or in our decreased ability to export our products or provide our services to existing or prospective customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our products and services or limitation on our ability to export our products and provide our services could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Further, we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our products. Various countries regulate the import of certain encryption technology, including through import permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our customers’ ability to import our products into those countries. Encryption products and the underlying technology may also be subject to export control restrictions. Governmental regulation of encryption technology and regulation of exports of encryption products, or our failure to obtain required approval for our products, when applicable, could harm our international sales and adversely affect our revenue. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products and provision of our services, including with respect to new releases of our products and services, may create delays in the introduction of our products and services in international markets, prevent our customers with international operations from deploying our products and using our services throughout their globally-distributed systems or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products or provision of our services to some countries altogether.

Our reliance on SaaS technologies from third parties may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We rely on hosted SaaS technologies from third parties in order to operate critical internal functions of our business, including enterprise resource planning, customer support and customer relations management services. If these services become unavailable due to extended outages or interruptions, or because they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms or prices, our expenses could increase. As a result, our ability to manage our operations could be interrupted and our processes for managing our sales process and supporting our customers could be impaired until equivalent services, if available, are identified, obtained and implemented, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may have additional tax liabilities, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Significant judgments and estimates are required in determining our provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. Our tax expense may be impacted, for example, if tax laws change or are clarified to our detriment or if tax authorities successfully challenge the tax positions that we take, such as, for example, positions relating to the arms-length pricing standards for our intercompany transactions and our indirect tax positions. In determining the adequacy of income taxes, we assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes that could result if our tax positions were challenged by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and other tax authorities. Should the IRS or other tax authorities assess additional taxes as a result of examinations, we may be required to record charges to operations that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. We are currently in

 

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discussions with certain jurisdictions regarding potential sales taxes for prior periods that we may owe. We reserved $25.3 million on our September 30, 2020 balance sheet for these tax payments. The actual exposure could differ materially from our current estimates, and if the actual payments we make to any jurisdiction exceed the accrual in our balance sheet, our results of operations would be harmed. For example, one jurisdiction has assessed us $38.8 million in taxes, including interest and penalties, which exceeded the $11.5 million we had accrued for that assessment. We believe this assessment is incorrect and have disputed it, paid the full amount as required by law, and are seeking a refund or settlement. The payment made in excess of the accrued amount will be reflected as a deposit on our balance sheet in future periods. If a reasonable settlement cannot be reached in the near future, we will challenge the jurisdiction’s assessment in court. However, litigation is uncertain and a ruling against us may adversely affect our financial position and results of operation. Many states are also pursuing legislative expansion of the scope of goods and services that are subject to sales and similar taxes as well as the circumstances in which a vendor of goods and services must collect such taxes. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., states are now free to levy taxes on sales of goods and services based on an “economic nexus,” regardless of whether the seller has a physical presence in the state.

We could be subject to liability for historical and future indirect and similar taxes, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We conduct operations in many tax jurisdictions throughout the United States and internationally. In many of these jurisdictions, non-income-based taxes, such as sales, VAT, GST, and telecommunications taxes, are assessed on our operations or our sales to customers. We are subject to indirect taxes, and may be subject to certain other taxes, in some of these jurisdictions. Historically, we have not billed or collected taxes in certain jurisdictions and, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”), we have recorded a provision for our tax exposure in these jurisdictions when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the exposure can be reasonably estimated. These estimates include several key assumptions, including, but not limited to, the taxability of our products, the jurisdictions in which we believe we have nexus or a permanent establishment, and the sourcing of revenues to those jurisdictions. In the event these jurisdictions challenge our assumptions and analysis, our actual exposure could differ materially from our current estimates.

We have been and may continue to be subject to scrutiny from tax authorities in various jurisdictions and may have additional exposure related to our historical operations. Furthermore, certain jurisdictions in which we do not collect such taxes have in the past and may in the future assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties and interest or future requirements may adversely affect our business, the prices at which we are able to offer our services, our results of operations and financial condition.

Effective March 2017, we began collecting certain telecommunications-based taxes from our customers in certain jurisdictions. Since then, we have added more jurisdictions where we collect these taxes and we expect to continue expanding the number of jurisdictions in which we will collect these taxes in the future. We are also in discussions with certain jurisdictions regarding our potential sales and other taxes for prior periods that we may owe.

In the event any of these jurisdictions disagree with management’s assumptions and analysis, the assessment of our tax exposure could differ materially from management’s current estimates. Some customers may question the incremental tax charges and some may seek to negotiate lower pricing from us, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our global operations and structure subject us to potentially adverse tax consequences.

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relationships are subject to complex transfer pricing regulations administered by taxing authorities in various jurisdictions. Also, our tax expense could be affected depending on the applicability of withholding and other taxes (including withholding and indirect taxes on software licenses and related intercompany transactions) under the tax laws of certain jurisdictions in which we have business operations. The relevant revenue and taxing authorities may disagree with positions we have taken generally, or our determinations as to the value of assets sold or acquired or income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a disagreement were to occur, and our position were not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations.

Certain government agencies in jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business have had an extended focus on issues related to the taxation of multinational companies. In addition, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is conducting a project focused on base erosion and profit shifting in international structures, which seeks to establish certain international standards for taxing the worldwide income of multinational companies. Further, several countries have proposed or enacted taxes applicable to digital services, which could apply to our business. As a result of these developments, the tax laws of certain countries in which we and our affiliates do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could increase our liabilities for taxes, interest and penalties, and therefore could harm our business, cash flows, results of operations and financial position.

Changes in the U.S. taxation of international business activities or the adoption of other tax reform policies could materially impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes to U.S. tax laws that may be enacted in the future could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings. Due to the expansion of our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we experience excessive credit card or fraudulent activity, we could incur substantial costs.

Most of our customers authorize us to bill their credit card accounts directly for service fees that we charge. If people pay for our services with stolen credit cards, we could incur substantial third-party vendor costs for which we may not be reimbursed. Further, our customers provide us with credit card billing information online, and we do not review the physical credit cards used in these transactions, which increases our risk of exposure to fraudulent activity. We also incur charges, which we refer to as chargebacks, from the credit card companies from claims that the customer did not authorize the credit card transaction to purchase our services. If the number of unauthorized credit card transactions becomes excessive, we could be assessed substantial fines for excess chargebacks, and we could lose the right to accept credit cards for payment.

Our products may also be subject to fraudulent usage, including but not limited to revenue share fraud, domestic traffic pumping, subscription fraud, premium text message scams and other fraudulent schemes. Although our customers are required to set passwords or personal identification numbers to protect their accounts, third parties have in the past been, and may in the future be, able to access and use their accounts through fraudulent means. Furthermore, spammers attempt to use our products to send targeted and untargeted spam messages. We cannot be certain that our efforts to defeat spamming attacks will be successful in eliminating all spam messages from being sent using our platform. In addition, a cybersecurity breach of our customers’ systems could result in exposure of their authentication credentials, unauthorized access to their accounts or fraudulent calls on their accounts, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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We may require additional capital to support our business, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

We intend to continue to make investments to support our business and may require additional funds. In particular, we may seek additional funds to develop new products and enhance our platform and existing products, expand our operations, including our sales and marketing organizations and our presence outside of the United States, improve our infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets. In addition, we may use a portion of our cash to satisfy tax withholding and remittance obligations related to outstanding restricted stock units. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A and Class B common stock. Subject to obtaining an acceptable credit rating, and other conditions, we may opportunistically pursue debt financing in the first half of 2021. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth, scale our infrastructure, develop product enhancements and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We face exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, and such fluctuations could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

As our international operations expand, our exposure to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates grows. For example, global political events, including Brexit, trade tariff developments and other geopolitical events have caused global economic uncertainty and variability in foreign currency exchange rates. While we have primarily transacted with customers and business partners in U.S. dollars, we have transacted with customers in Australian dollar, Brazilian real, British pounds, euro, Japanese yen, and Swedish krona. We expect to significantly expand the number of transactions with customers that are denominated in foreign currencies in the future as we continue to expand our business internationally. We also incur expenses for some of our network service provider costs outside of the United States in local currencies and for employee compensation and other operating expenses at our non-U.S. locations in the local currency for such locations. Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and other currencies could result in an increase to the U.S. dollar equivalent of such expenses.

In addition, our international subsidiaries maintain net assets that are denominated in currencies other than the functional operating currencies of these entities. As we continue to expand our international operations, we become more exposed to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Accordingly, changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar can affect our results of operations due to transactional and translational remeasurements. As a result of such foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, it could be more difficult to detect underlying trends in our business and results of operations. In addition, to the extent that fluctuations in currency exchange rates cause our results of operations to differ from our expectations or the expectations of our investors and securities analysts who follow our stock, the trading price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

We do not currently maintain a program to hedge transactional exposures in foreign currencies. However, in the future, we may use derivative instruments, such as foreign currency forward and option contracts, to hedge certain exposures to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The use of such hedging activities may not offset any or more than a portion of the adverse financial effects of unfavorable movements in foreign exchange rates over the limited time the hedges are in place. Moreover, the use of hedging instruments may introduce additional risks if we are unable to structure effective hedges with such instruments.

 

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Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

As of December 31, 2019, we had federal, state and foreign net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”), of $1.2 billion, $630.2 million and $13.8 million, respectively. In the year ended December 31, 2019, as a result of our SendGrid acquisition, we assumed a $56.2 million deferred tax liability, as described in Notes 6 and 16 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 (the “Annual Report”). In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50-percentage-point cumulative change (by value) in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period) is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs to offset post-change taxable income. Our existing NOLs may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo an ownership change in the future, our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act makes broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code including changes to the uses and limitations of net operating losses. For example, while the Tax Act allows for U.S. federal net operating losses incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 to be carried forward indefinitely, the Tax Act also imposes an 80% limitation on the use of net operating losses that are generated in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. Net operating losses generated in tax years beginning prior to December 31, 2017 still have a 20-year carryforward period and are not subject to 80% limitation. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) enacted on March 27, 2020 permits a full five-year carryback of net operating losses arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021. In addition, at the state level, there may be periods during which the use of net operating loss carryforwards is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. For example, California imposed limits on the usability of California state net operating losses to offset taxable income in tax years beginning after 2019 and before 2023. These provisions do not impact us since we have net operating losses in the applicable tax years. Our ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards depends on existence of sufficient taxable income of the appropriate character within the carryforward period. Based on all available evidence, other than future taxable income from reversing taxable temporary differences, we have no other sources of taxable income that are objectively verifiable. As such, net operating loss carryforwards generated in tax years beginning before December 31, 2017, could expire unused and net operating losses arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, while able to be carried forward indefinitely, are also not more likely than not to be realized due to lack of taxable income.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include those related to revenue recognition and business combinations. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.

 

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Changes in financial accounting standards or practices may cause adverse, unexpected financial reporting fluctuations and affect our results of operations.

A change in accounting standards or practices may have a significant effect on our results of operations and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. New accounting pronouncements and varying interpretations of accounting pronouncements have occurred and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules or the questioning of current practices may adversely affect our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business.

For example, a new accounting guidance, Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842, “Leases”, became effective January 1, 2019. The adoption of this new guidance had a significant impact on our balance sheet as described in detail in Notes 2 and 5 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report. Adoption of these types of accounting standards and any difficulties in implementation of changes in accounting principles, including the ability to modify our accounting systems, could cause us to fail to meet our financial reporting obligations, which result in regulatory discipline and harm investors’ confidence in us.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.

As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal control. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and provide a management report on internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we are required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, and could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and could cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

If our goodwill or intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

We review our intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is required to be tested for impairment at least annually. As of September 30, 2020, we carried a net $2.7 billion of goodwill and intangible assets. An adverse change in market conditions, particularly if such change has the effect of changing one of our critical assumptions or estimates, could result in a change to the estimation of fair value that could result in an impairment charge to our goodwill or intangible assets. Any such charges may adversely affect our results of operations.

 

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Risks Related to the Outstanding Notes

Servicing our future debt may require a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our indebtedness.

Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, including our 0.25% convertible senior notes due 2023 (the “Notes”), depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional debt financing or equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance any future indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations. In addition, any of our future debt agreements may contain restrictive covenants that may prohibit us from adopting any of these alternatives. Our failure to comply with these covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of our debt.

We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary for cash settlement upon conversion of the Notes or to repurchase the Notes for cash upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion of the Notes or to repurchase the Notes.

Subject to limited exceptions, holders of the Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date. In addition, upon conversion of the Notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our Class A common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Notes being converted. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Notes surrendered therefor or pay any cash amounts due upon conversion. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture governing the Notes (the “indenture”) or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture. A default under the indenture or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.

The triggering of the conditional conversion feature of the Notes could adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of the Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. This conditional conversion feature was triggered during the three months ended December 31, 2020, as the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock was more than or equal to 130% of the conversion price for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on December 31, 2020 (the last trading day of the calendar quarter), and therefore the Notes are currently convertible, in whole or in part, at the option of the holders between January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2021. Whether the Notes will be convertible following such period will depend on the continued satisfaction of this condition or another conversion condition in the future. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes during a period in which the Notes are convertible, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our Class A common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our

 

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conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Notes, under certain circumstances, such as a fundamental change or default, as described in the indenture, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.

The accounting method for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as the Notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.

Under Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options, which we refer to as ASC 470-20, an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer’s economic interest cost. ASC 470-20 requires the value of the conversion option of the Notes, representing the equity component, to be recorded as additional paid-in capital within stockholders’ equity in our consolidated balance sheet and as a discount to the debt component of the Notes, which reduces their initial debt carrying value reflected as a liability on our balance sheets. The carrying value of the debt component of the Notes, net of the discount recorded, will be accreted up to the principal amount of the Notes from the issuance date until maturity, which will result in non-cash charges to interest expense in our consolidated statement of operations. Accordingly, we will report lower net income or higher net loss in our financial results because ASC 470-20 requires interest to include both the current period’s accretion of the debt discount and the instrument’s coupon interest, which could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our Class A common stock and the trading price of the Notes.

In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash are currently accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of the Notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of Class A common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued.

However, in August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board published accounting standards update (“ASU”) 2020-06,Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity”, which we refer to as ASU 2020-06, which amends these accounting standards by reducing the number of accounting models for convertible instruments and limiting instances of separate accounting for the debt and equity or a derivative component of the convertible debt instruments. ASU 2020-06 will no longer allow the use of the treasury stock method for convertible instruments for purposes of calculating diluted earnings per share and instead require application of the “if-converted” method. Under that method, diluted earnings per share will generally be calculated assuming that all the Notes were converted solely into shares of Class A common stock at the beginning of the reporting period, unless the result would be anti-dilutive, which could adversely affect our diluted earnings per share. However, if the principal amount of the convertible debt instrument being converted is required to be paid in cash and only the excess is permitted to be settled in shares, the if-converted method will produce a similar result as the treasury stock method prior to the adoption of ASU 2020-06 for such convertible debt instrument. These amendments will be effective for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, with early adoption permitted, but no earlier than fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020.

The capped call transactions may affect the value of the Notes and our Class A common stock.

In connection with the pricing of the Notes, we entered into privately negotiated capped call transactions with the option counterparties. The capped call transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential

 

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dilution to our Class A common stock upon any conversion of the Notes and/or offset any potential cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted Notes, as the case may be, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap.

In connection with establishing their initial hedges of the capped call transactions, the option counterparties or their respective affiliates entered into various derivative transactions with respect to our Class A common stock and/or purchased shares of our Class A common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the Notes.

In addition, the option counterparties and/or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to our Class A common stock and/or purchasing or selling our Class A common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions at any time prior to the maturity of the Notes (and are likely to do so during any observation period related to a conversion of Notes). This activity could cause or avoid an increase or a decrease in the market price of our Class A common stock.

We do not make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any potential effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of the Notes or our Class A common stock. In addition, we do not make any representation that the option counterparties will engage in these transactions or that these transactions, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.

We are subject to counterparty risk with respect to the capped call transactions.

The option counterparties are financial institutions, and we will be subject to the risk that any or all of them might default under the capped call transactions. Our exposure to the credit risk of the option counterparties will not be secured by any collateral. Past global economic conditions have resulted in the actual or perceived failure or financial difficulties of many financial institutions. If an option counterparty becomes subject to insolvency proceedings, we will become an unsecured creditor in those proceedings with a claim equal to our exposure at that time under the capped call transactions with such option counterparty. Our exposure will depend on many factors but, generally, an increase in our exposure will be correlated to an increase in the market price and in the volatility of our Class A common stock. In addition, upon a default by an option counterparty, we may suffer adverse tax consequences and more dilution than we currently anticipate with respect to our Class A common stock. We can provide no assurances as to the financial stability or viability of the option counterparties.

Risks Related to the Acquisition of Segment

We may not realize potential benefits from the acquisition of Segment (the “Acquisition”) because of difficulties related to integration, the achievement of synergies, and other challenges.

We acquired Segment on November 2, 2020. Prior to the completion of the Acquisition, we and Segment operated independently, and there can be no assurances that our businesses can be combined in a manner that allows for the achievement of substantial benefits. Any integration process may require significant time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully as our ability to acquire and integrate larger or more complex companies, products, or technology in a successful manner is unproven. If we are not able to successfully integrate Segment’s business with ours or pursue our customer and product strategy successfully, the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition may not be realized fully or may take longer than expected to be realized. Further, it is possible that there could be a loss of our and/or Segment’s key employees and customers, disruption of either company’s or both companies’ ongoing businesses or unexpected issues, higher than expected costs and an overall post-completion process that takes longer than originally anticipated. Specifically, the following issues, among others, must be addressed in combining Segment’s operations with ours in order to realize the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition so the combined company performs as the parties anticipate:

 

   

combining the companies’ corporate functions;

 

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combining Segment’s business with our business in a manner that permits us to achieve the synergies anticipated to result from the Acquisition, the failure of which would result in the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition not being realized in the time frame currently anticipated or at all;

 

   

maintaining existing agreements with customers, distributors, providers, talent and vendors and avoiding delays in entering into new agreements with prospective customers, distributors, providers, talent and vendors;

 

   

determining whether and how to address possible differences in corporate cultures and management philosophies;

 

   

integrating the companies’ administrative and information technology infrastructure;

 

   

developing products and technology that allow value to be unlocked in the future;

 

   

evaluating and forecasting the financial impact of the Acquisition transaction, including accounting charges; and

 

   

effecting potential actions that may be required in connection with obtaining regulatory approvals.

In addition, at times the attention of certain members of our management and resources may be focused on integration of the businesses of the two companies and diverted from day-to-day business operations, which may disrupt our ongoing business and the business of the combined company.

We have incurred, and may continue to incur, significant, non-recurring costs in connection with the Acquisition and integrating the operations of Twilio and Segment, including costs to maintain employee morale and to retain key employees. Management cannot ensure that the elimination of duplicative costs or the realization of other efficiencies will offset the transaction and integration costs in the near term or at all.

Purchase price accounting in connection with our Acquisition requires estimates that may be subject to change and could impact our consolidated financial statements and future results of operations and financial position.

Pursuant to the acquisition method of accounting, the purchase price we paid for Segment will be allocated to the underlying Segment tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their respective fair market values with any excess purchase price allocated to goodwill. The acquisition method of accounting is dependent upon certain valuations and other studies that are preliminary. Accordingly, the purchase price allocation as of the Acquisition date will be preliminary. We currently anticipate that all the information needed to identify and measure values assigned to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed will be obtained and finalized during the one year measurement period following the date of completion of the Acquisition. Differences between these preliminary estimates and the final acquisition accounting may occur, and these differences could have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements and the combined company’s future results of operations and financial position.

General Risks

Any legal proceedings or claims against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend and could harm our reputation regardless of the outcome.

We are and may in the future become subject to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, such as disputes or employment claims made by our current or former employees. Any litigation, whether meritorious or not, could harm our reputation, will increase our costs and may divert management’s attention, time and resources, which may in turn seriously harm our business. Insurance might not cover such claims, might not provide sufficient payments to cover all the costs to resolve one or more such claims, and might not continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. A claim brought against us that is uninsured or underinsured could result in unanticipated costs and could seriously harm our business.

 

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Unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy or reductions in spending on information technology and communications could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of changes in our industry or the global economy on our customers. Our results of operations depend in part on demand for information technology and cloud communications. In addition, our revenue is dependent on the usage of our products, which in turn is influenced by the scale of business that our customers are conducting. To the extent that weak economic conditions, geopolitical developments, such as existing and potential trade wars, and other events outside of our control such as the COVID-19 pandemic, result in a reduced volume of business for, and communications by, our customers and prospective customers, demand for, and use of, our products may decline. Furthermore, weak economic conditions may make it more difficult to collect on outstanding accounts receivable. Additionally, historically, we have generated the substantial majority of our revenue from small and medium-sized businesses, and we expect this to continue for the foreseeable future. Small and medium-sized business may be affected by economic downturns to a greater extent than enterprises, and typically have more limited financial resources, including capital borrowing capacity, than enterprises. If our customers reduce their use of our products, or prospective customers delay adoption or elect not to adopt our products, as a result of a weak economy, this could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is subject to the risks of pandemics, earthquakes, fire, floods and other natural catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made problems such as power disruptions, computer viruses, data security breaches or terrorism.

Our corporate headquarters are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire or flood, occurring at our headquarters, at one of our other facilities or where a business partner is located could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, if a natural disaster or man-made problem were to affect our service providers, this could adversely affect the ability of our customers to use our products and platform. In addition, natural disasters, pandemics and acts of terrorism could cause disruptions in our or our customers’ businesses, national economies or the world economy as a whole. For example, the rapid spread of COVID-19 globally has resulted in increased travel restrictions and disruption and shutdown of businesses. Health concerns or political or governmental developments in countries in which we or our customers, partners and service providers operate could result in economic, social or labor instability and could have an adverse effect on our business and our results of operations and financial condition. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and will include emerging information concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions taken by governments and private businesses to attempt to contain COVID-19. Any prolonged contractions in the travel and hospitality industries, along with any effects on supply chain or on other industries in which our customers operate, could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We also rely on our network and third-party infrastructure and enterprise applications and internal technology systems for our engineering, sales and marketing, and operations activities. Although we maintain incident management and disaster response plans, in the event of a major disruption caused by a natural disaster or man-made problem, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in our development activities, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security and loss of critical data, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, computer malware, viruses and computer hacking, fraudulent use attempts and phishing attacks have become more prevalent in our industry, have occurred on our platform in the past and may occur on our platform in the future. Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security, integrity and availability of our products and technical infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from this offering of our Class A common stock will be approximately $                 million, after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us. If the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering is exercised in full, we estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $                 million, after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We intend to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include the acquisition of other companies or businesses, strategic investments, the refinancing or repayment of debt, capital expenditures, working capital and share repurchases. The amount and timing of these expenditures will vary depending on a number of factors, including competitive and technological developments and the rate of growth, if any, of our business. As an acquisitive and growing company, we are actively engaged in negotiations regarding opportunistic strategic investments and acquisitions, including a potential private strategic investment which would require a significant cash commitment. However, we do not expect this investment to have a material impact on our business, and we would pursue this investment irrespective of this offering.

Pending their use, we plan to invest the net proceeds from this offering in cash, money market funds, commercial paper, corporate bonds, U.S. agency debt securities and U.S. government securities.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on a number of factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, as well as our capitalization, as of September 30, 2020:

 

   

On an actual basis; and

 

   

on an as adjusted basis to give effect to the issuance and sale of $1,000,000,000 of shares of our Class A common stock offered hereby.

You should read this table in conjunction with “Use of Proceeds” as well as our “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, including the related notes, included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein.

 

     As of September 30, 2020  
     Actual      As Adjusted  
     (Unaudited, in thousands
except share and per share information)
 

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities

   $ 3,298,704      $            
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Debt:

     

0.25% convertible senior notes due 2023 (the “Notes”), net(1)(2)

   $ 432,697      $    
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity:

     

Preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share: 100,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted

     —       

Class A common stock, $0.001 par value per share: 1,000,000,000 shares authorized, 140,173,591 shares issued and outstanding, actual; 1,000,000,000 shares authorized,         shares issued and outstanding, as adjusted

     138     

Class B common stock, $0.001 par value per share: 100,000,000 shares authorized, 10,729,264 shares issued and outstanding, actual; 100,000,000 shares authorized, 10,729,264 shares issued and outstanding, as adjusted

     12     

Additional paid-in capital

     6,741,973     

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     10,585     

Accumulated deficit

     (990,440   
  

 

 

    

Total stockholders’ equity

     5,762,268     
  

 

 

    
     As of September 30, 2020  
     Actual      As Adjusted  

Total capitalization

   $ 6,194,965      $    
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1) 

In accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options, (“ASC 470-20”), convertible debt that may be entirely or partially

 

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  settled in cash is required to be separated into a liability and an equity component, such that interest expense reflects the issuer’s non-convertible debt interest cost. On the issuance date, the value of the conversion option of the Notes, representing the equity component, is recorded as additional paid-in capital within stockholders’ equity and as an original issue discount to the Notes, which reduces their initial carrying value. The carrying value of the Notes, net of the discount recorded, will be accreted up to the principal amount of the Notes from the issuance date until maturity. ASC 470-20 does not affect the actual amount that we are required to repay. Notwithstanding the net presentation required by ASC 470-20, we are required to repay the $550.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes.

 

(2) 

During the three months ended December 31, 2020, the conditional conversion feature of the Notes was triggered as the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock was more than or equal to 130% of the conversion price for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) in the period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on December 31, 2020 (the last trading day of the calendar quarter), and therefore the Notes are currently convertible, in whole or in part, at the option of the holders through March 31, 2021. Whether the Notes will be convertible following such period will depend on the continued satisfaction of this condition or another conversion condition in the future. The company may redeem the Notes, in whole or in part, at its option, on or after June 1, 2021 but before the 35th scheduled trading day before the maturity date, at a cash redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, if the last reported sale price of the Class A Common Stock has been at least 130% of the conversion price then in effect for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during any 30 consecutive trading days ending on, and including, the trading day immediately before the date the redemption notices were sent; and the trading day immediately before such notices were sent.

The as adjusted columns in the table above are based on 140,173,591 shares of our Class A common stock and 10,729,264 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020 and excludes:

 

   

3,154,982 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $59.79 per share;

 

   

1,791,938 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $7.52 per share;

 

   

8,026,189 restricted stock units for shares of our Class A common stock that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions outstanding as of September 30, 2020;

 

   

698,185 restricted stock units for shares of our Class A common stock that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions that were granted after September 30, 2020;

 

   

1,123,526 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock, of which, 1,030,638 of such shares were assumed by us as a result of the Segment acquisition, that are releasable upon satisfaction of service conditions that were granted or assumed, as applicable, after September 30, 2020;

 

   

729,367 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance to fund and support the operations of Twilio.org;

 

   

9,756,346 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon conversion of our Convertible Senior Notes as of September 30, 2020; and

 

   

24,317,951 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans as of September 30, 2020, consisting of:

 

   

19,275,512 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2016 Plan; and

 

   

5,042,439 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our ESPP.

 

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MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-U.S. HOLDERS

The following is a discussion of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences relating to the ownership and disposition of our Class A common stock by a non-U.S. holder. For purposes of this discussion, the term “non-U.S. holder” means a beneficial owner of our Class A common stock other than a partnership that is not, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

 

   

an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

 

   

a corporation, or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia;

 

   

an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or

 

   

a trust, if a U.S. court is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more “United States persons” (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended the “Code”) have authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or if the trust has a valid election in effect to be treated as a United States person under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations.

This discussion is based on current provisions of the Code, existing and proposed U.S. Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, current administrative rulings and judicial decisions, all as in effect as of the date of this prospectus supplement and all of which are subject to change or to differing interpretation, possibly with retroactive effect. Any change could alter the tax consequences to non-U.S. holders described in this prospectus supplement. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), could challenge one or more of the tax consequences described in this prospectus supplement.

We assume in this discussion that each non-U.S. holder holds shares of our Class A common stock as a capital asset (generally, property held for investment) within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code. This discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be relevant to a particular non-U.S. holder in light of that non-U.S. holder’s individual circumstances nor does it address any aspects of state, local or non-U.S. taxes, or the application of the alternative minimum tax, the Medicare contribution tax on net investment income or the special tax accounting rules under Section 451(b) of the Code, any U.S. federal non-income taxes such as estate or gift tax, the rules regarding qualified small business stock within the meaning of Section 1202 of the Code, any election to apply Section 1400Z-2 of the Code to gains recognized with respect to shares of our Class A common stock or any other U.S. federal taxes other than income taxes. This discussion also does not consider any specific facts or circumstances that may apply to a non-U.S. holder and does not address the special tax rules applicable to particular non-U.S. holders, such as:

 

   

insurance companies;

 

   

tax-exempt organizations;

 

   

financial institutions;

 

   

brokers or dealers in securities;

 

   

pension plans;

 

   

controlled foreign corporations;

 

   

passive foreign investment companies;

 

   

persons that hold our Class A common stock as part of a straddle, hedge, conversion transaction, synthetic security or other integrated investment;

 

   

tax exempt organizations or governmental organizations;

 

   

persons deemed to sell our common stock under the constructive sale provisions of the Code;

 

   

certain U.S. expatriates, former citizens or long-term residents of the United States;

 

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partnerships or other entities or arrangements treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes (and investors therein);

 

   

persons that own, or are deemed to own, during the applicable testing period, more than 5% of our outstanding capital stock (except to the extent specifically set forth below);

 

   

“qualified foreign pension funds” as defined in Section 897(l)(2) of the Code and entities all of the interests of which are held by qualified foreign pension funds;

 

   

persons who have elected to mark securities to market; or

 

   

persons that acquire our Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of employee stock options or otherwise as compensation for services.

In addition, this discussion does not address the tax treatment of partnerships (including any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) or other entities that are transparent for U.S. federal income tax purposes or persons who hold their Class A common stock through partnerships or other entities that are transparent for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In the case of a holder that is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the tax treatment of a person treated as a partner in such partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes generally will depend on the status of the partner, the activities of the partner and the partnership and certain determinations made at the partner level. A person treated as a partner in a partnership or who holds their stock through another transparent entity should consult his, her or its own tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our Class A common stock through a partnership or other transparent entity, as applicable.

THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TAX ADVICE. INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS WITH RESPECT TO THE APPLICATION OF THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS TO THEIR PARTICULAR SITUATIONS AS WELL AS ANY TAX CONSEQUENCES OF THE PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR CLASS A COMMON STOCK ARISING UNDER U.S. FEDERAL NON-INCOME TAX LAWS, INCLUDING ESTATE OR GIFT TAX LAWS, OR UNDER THE LAWS OF ANY STATE, LOCAL OR NON-U.S. TAXING JURISDICTION OR UNDER ANY APPLICABLE INCOME TAX TREATY.

Distributions on Our Class A Common Stock

We do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. See “Dividend Policy” above in this prospectus supplement. However, in the event that we do pay distributions of cash or property on our Class A common stock, those distributions will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. If a distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will be treated as a tax-free return of the non-U.S. holder’s investment, up to such holder’s tax basis in the Class A common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as capital gain from the sale of such stock, subject to the tax treatment described below under the heading “Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock.”

Subject to the discussions below under the headings “Information Reporting and Backup Withholding” and “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” and the discussion in the following paragraph regarding income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, dividends paid to a non-U.S. holder generally will be subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder’s country of residence.

Dividends that are treated as effectively connected with a trade or business conducted by a non-U.S. holder within the United States, and, if an applicable income tax treaty so provides, that are attributable to a permanent

 

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establishment maintained by the non-U.S. holder within the United States, are generally exempt from the 30% withholding tax described above if the non-U.S. holder satisfies applicable certification and disclosure requirements. To obtain this exemption, a non-U.S. holder must generally provide us or the applicable withholding agent with a properly executed IRS Form W-8ECI (or applicable successor form) properly certifying such exemption. However, such U.S. effectively connected income, net of specified deductions and credits, is taxed at the regular U.S. federal income tax rates applicable to United States persons (as defined in the Code). Any U.S. effectively connected income received by a non-U.S. holder that is a corporation may also, under certain circumstances, be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder’s country of residence.

A non-U.S. holder of our Class A common stock who claims the benefit of an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and such holder’s country of residence generally will be required to provide a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or applicable successor form) certifying qualification for the lower treaty rate and satisfy applicable certification and other requirements. Non-U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding their entitlement to benefits under a relevant income tax treaty.

A non-U.S. holder that is eligible for a reduced rate of U.S. withholding tax under an income tax treaty may obtain a refund or credit of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim with the IRS.

Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock

Subject to the discussions below under the headings “Information Reporting and Backup Withholding” and “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on gain recognized on a sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of our Class A common stock unless:

 

   

the gain is effectively connected with the non-U.S. holder’s conduct of a trade or business in the United States, and, if an applicable income tax treaty so provides, the gain is attributable to a permanent establishment maintained by the non-U.S. holder in the United States; in these cases, the non-U.S. holder will be taxed on a net income basis at the regular rates and in the manner applicable to United States persons (as defined in the Code), and, if the non-U.S. holder is a foreign corporation, an additional branch profits tax at a rate of 30%, or a lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty, may also apply;

 

   

the non-U.S. holder is an non-resident alien individual present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of the disposition and certain other conditions are met, in which case the non-U.S. holder will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on the amount of net gain derived from the disposition, which may be offset by certain capital losses allocable to U.S. sources, provided the non-U.S. holder has timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses; or

 

   

we are or were a “U.S. real property holding corporation” during the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of the disposition or the period that the non-U.S. holder held our Class A common stock, unless our Class A common stock is regularly traded on an established securities market and the non-U.S. holder held no more than five percent of our outstanding common stock, directly or indirectly, actually or constructively, during such period. Generally, a corporation is a “U.S. real property holding corporation” if the fair market value of its “U.S. real property interests” equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the fair market value of its worldwide real property interests plus its other assets used or held for use in a trade or business. Although there can be no assurance in this regard, we believe that we have not been and are not currently, and we do not anticipate becoming, a “U.S. real property holding corporation” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. No assurance can be provided that our Class A common stock will be regularly traded on an established securities market for purposes of the rules described above.

 

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Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

We (or the applicable paying agent) must report annually to the IRS and to each non-U.S. holder the gross amount of the distributions on our Class A common stock paid to such holder and the tax withheld, if any, with respect to such distributions. Non-U.S. holders may have to comply with specific certification procedures to establish that the holder is not a United States person (as defined in the Code) in order to avoid backup withholding at the applicable rate (currently 24%) with respect to dividends on our Class A common stock. Generally, a holder will comply with such procedures if it provides a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, or W-8ECI or otherwise establishes an exemption.

Information reporting and backup withholding generally will apply to the proceeds of a disposition of our Class A common stock by a non-U.S. holder effected by or through the U.S. office of any broker, U.S. or foreign, unless the holder certifies its status as a non-U.S. holder and satisfies certain other requirements, or otherwise establishes an exemption. Generally, information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to a payment of disposition proceeds to a non-U.S. holder where the transaction is effected outside the United States through a foreign broker. However, for information reporting purposes, dispositions effected through a non-U.S. office of a broker that is a United States person (within the meaning of the Code) or that has substantial U.S. ownership or operations generally will be treated in a manner similar to dispositions effected through a U.S. office of a broker. Non-U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the information reporting and backup withholding rules to them.

Pursuant to the provisions of a specific treaty or agreement, copies of information returns may be made available to the tax authorities of the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides or is incorporated. Any documentation provided to an applicable withholding agent may need to be updated in certain circumstances.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules from a payment to a non-U.S. holder may be refunded or credited against the non-U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, if any, provided that an appropriate claim is timely filed with the IRS.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

Sections 1471 to 1474 of the Code (commonly referred to as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or “FATCA”) generally impose a 30% withholding tax on any “withholdable payment” to a “foreign financial institution” (both as defined in the Code), unless such institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. government to deduct and withhold a 30% tax on certain payments made by such foreign financial institution and to collect and provide to the U.S. tax authorities substantial information regarding U.S. account holders of such institution (which would include certain equity and debt holders of such institution, as well as certain account holders that are foreign entities with United States owners) or another applicable exception applies or such institution is compliant with applicable foreign law enacted in connection with an applicable intergovernmental agreement between the United States and a foreign jurisdiction. FATCA will also generally impose a 30% withholding tax on any “withholdable payment” (as defined in the Code) to a foreign entity that is not a financial institution, unless such entity provides the withholding agent with a certification identifying the substantial U.S. owners of the entity (which generally includes any United States person who directly or indirectly owns more than 10% of the entity), if any, or another applicable exception applies or such entity is compliant with applicable foreign law enacted in connection with an applicable intergovernmental agreement between the United States and a foreign jurisdiction. Under certain circumstances, a non-U.S. holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes.

Under final regulations and other current guidance, the withholding provisions described above apply currently to dividends on our Class A common stock. Proposed regulations provide that FATCA withholding does not apply to gross proceeds from the disposition of property of a type that can produce U.S. source dividends or interest; however, prior versions of the rules would have made such gross proceeds subject to

 

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FATCA withholding. Taxpayers (including withholding agents) can rely on the proposed regulations until final regulations are issued. The FATCA withholding tax will apply regardless of whether a payment would otherwise be exempt from or not subject to U.S. nonresident withholding tax (e.g., as capital gain).

The preceding discussion of material U.S. federal tax consequences is for general information only. It is not tax advice. Prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the particular U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of acquiring, holding and disposing of our Class A common stock, including the consequences of any proposed changes in applicable laws or any applicable income tax treaty.

 

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UNDERWRITING

We are offering the shares of Class A common stock described in this prospectus supplement through Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, as underwriters. We have entered into an underwriting agreement with the underwriters. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter has severally agreed to purchase the number of shares of Class A common stock listed next to its name in the following table:

 

Name    Number of

Shares

 

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC

  

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

  

Academy Securities, Inc.

  

Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

  

Cabrera Capital Markets LLC

                       
  

 

 

 

Total

  
  

 

 

 

The underwriters are committed to purchase all the shares of Class A common stock offered by us if they purchase any shares. The underwriting agreement also provides that if an underwriter defaults, the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may also be increased or the offering may be terminated.

The underwriters are purchasing the shares of Class A common stock at a price of $        per share. The underwriters propose to offer the shares of Class A common stock for sale from time to time in one or more transactions on the New York Stock Exchange, in the over-the-counter market, through negotiated transactions or otherwise at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices, subject to receipt of acceptance by them and subject to their right to reject any order in whole or in part. The underwriters may effect such transactions by selling the shares of Class A common stock to or through dealers, and such dealers may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from the underwriters and/or purchasers of the shares of Class A common stock for whom they may act as agents or to whom they may sell as principal. The difference between the price at which the underwriters purchase our shares of Class A common stock and the price at which the underwriters resell such shares of Class A common stock may be deemed underwriting compensation.

The underwriters have an option to buy up to      additional shares of Class A common stock from us. The underwriters have 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement to exercise this option to purchase additional shares. If any shares are purchased with this option to purchase additional shares, the underwriters will purchase shares in approximately the same proportion as shown in the table above. If any additional shares of Class A common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.

We estimate that the total expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses will be approximately $        million. We have also agreed to reimburse the underwriters for certain of their expenses in an amount up to $25,000.

A prospectus supplement in electronic format may be made available on the web sites maintained by one or more underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the representatives to underwriters and selling group members that may make Internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.

We have agreed that we will not (i) offer, issue, sell, contract to sell, pledge, grant any option to purchase, make any short sale or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, or file with the SEC a registration

 

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statement under the Securities Act relating to any shares of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for any shares of our Class A common stock, including but not limited to any options or warrants to purchase shares of stock or any securities that are convertible into or exchangeable for, or that represent the right to receive, our Class A common stock or any such substantially similar securities, or publicly disclose the intention to make any offer, sale, pledge, disposition or filing, or (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences associated with the ownership of any shares of Class A common stock or any such other securities (regardless of whether any of these transactions are to be settled by the delivery of shares of Class A common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise), in each case without the prior written consent of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC for a period of 60 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, other than (a) the shares of our Class A common stock to be sold pursuant to this prospectus supplement, (b) any shares of our common stock issued upon the exercise or settlement of options or restricted stock units or the conversion or exchange of convertible or exchangeable securities, (c) any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into, exchangeable for or that represent the right to receive such shares under the 2016 Plan or the ESPP, (d) the entry into an agreement providing for the issuance of any shares of Class A common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable for shares of Class A common stock in connection with our acquisition of the securities, businesses, property or other assets of another person or entity or pursuant to an employee benefit plan assumed by us in connection with such acquisition, or the issuance of any such securities pursuant to any such agreement, (e) the entry into any agreement providing for the issuance of shares of Class A common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable for shares of Class A common stock in connection with joint ventures, commercial relationships or other strategic transactions, and the issuance of any such securities pursuant to any such agreement, (f) the shares of Class A common stock currently reserved for issuance to or for the benefit of our charitable organization, Twilio.org, or (g) the filing by us of a registration statement on Form S-8 or a successor form relating to securities granted or to be granted pursuant to our 2016 Plan or our ESPP; provided that in the case of clauses (d) and (e), the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock that we may sell or issue or agree to sell or issue pursuant to clauses (d) and (e) shall not exceed 15% of the total number of shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding immediately following the closing of this offering; and provided further that in the case of clauses (b) through (e), we shall cause each director and executive officer who is a recipient of such securities to execute and deliver a lock-up agreement.

Our directors and executive officers have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters prior to the commencement of this offering pursuant to which each of these persons, with limited exceptions, for a period of 60 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, may not, without the prior written consent of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge, grant any option to purchase, make any short sale or otherwise dispose of, any shares of our common stock or any options or warrants to purchase our common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock (including, without limitation, common stock or such other securities which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by such directors and executive officers in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC).

We have agreed to indemnify the several underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock while this offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of the common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of shares of common stock than they are required to purchase in this offering, and purchasing shares of common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be “covered” shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares referred to above, or may be “naked” shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriters may close out any covered short position either by exercising their option to purchase additional shares, in whole or

 

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in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriters may purchase shares through the option to purchase additional shares. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering. To the extent that the underwriters create a naked short position, they will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.

The underwriters have advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M of the Securities Act, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representatives of the underwriters purchase common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representatives can require the underwriters that sold those shares as part of this offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.

These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriters commence these activities, they may discontinue them at any time. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the New York Stock Exchange, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

The underwriters and their respective affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include sales and trading, commercial and investment banking, advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, market making, brokerage and other financial and non-financial activities and services. Certain of the underwriters and their respective affiliates have provided, and may in the future provide, a variety of these services to us and to persons and entities with relationships with us, for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses.

In the ordinary course of their various business activities, the underwriters and their respective affiliates, officers, directors and employees may purchase, sell or hold a broad array of investments and actively traded securities, derivatives, loans, commodities, currencies, credit default swaps and other financial instruments for their own account and for the accounts of their customers, and such investment and trading activities may involve or relate to assets, securities and/or instruments of ours (directly, as collateral securing other obligations or otherwise) and/or persons and entities with relationships with us. The underwriters and their respective affiliates may also communicate independent investment recommendations, market color or trading ideas and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such assets, securities or instruments and may at any time hold, or recommend to clients that they should acquire, long and/or short positions in such assets, securities and instruments.

Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or the underwriters that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus supplement in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The securities offered by this prospectus supplement may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus supplement or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus supplement comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus supplement. This prospectus supplement does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus supplement in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the European Economic Area

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area (each an “EEA State”), no shares of Class A common stock have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in that EEA

 

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State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the shares which has been approved by the competent authority in that EEA State or, where appropriate, approved in another EEA State and notified to the competent authority in that EEA State, all in accordance with the EU Prospectus Regulation, except that it may make an offer to the public in that EEA State of any shares at any time under the following exemptions under the EU Prospectus Regulation:

 

  (a)

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the EU Prospectus Regulation;

 

  (b)

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the EU Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of underwriter for any such offer; or

 

  (c)

in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the EU Prospectus Regulation, provided that no such offer of the shares shall require the Issuer or any Manager to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the EU Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the EU Prospectus Regulation.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to the shares in any EEA State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any shares, and the expression “EU Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

In relation to the United Kingdom, no shares of Class A common stock have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in the United Kingdom prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the shares which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority in accordance with the UK Prospectus Regulation, except that it may make an offer to the public in the United Kingdom of any shares at any time under the following exemptions under the UK Prospectus Regulation:

 

  (a)

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the UK Prospectus Regulation;

 

  (b)

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the UK Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of underwriter for any such offer; or

 

  (c)

in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the UK Prospectus Regulation,

provided that no such offer of the shares shall require the Issuer or any Manager to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the UK Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the UK Prospectus Regulation.

In the United Kingdom, the offering is only addressed to, and is directed only at, “qualified investors” within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the UK Prospectus Regulation, who are also (i) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of “investment professionals” in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”); (ii) high net worth bodies corporate, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) of the Order; or (iii) persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons being referred to as “relevant persons”). This document must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to the shares in the United Kingdom means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offering and any shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any shares, and the expression “UK Prospectus Regulation” means the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 2017/1129 as amended by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

 

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Notice to Prospective Investors in Switzerland

The shares may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (“SIX”) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of, and has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company, the shares have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of shares has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (“CISA”). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”)

This document relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Markets Rules 2012 of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”). This document is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Markets Rules 2012 of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus supplement nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for this document. The securities to which this document relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the securities offered should conduct their own due diligence on the securities. If you do not understand the contents of this document you should consult an authorized financial advisor.

In relation to its use in the DIFC, this document is strictly private and confidential and is being distributed to a limited number of investors and must not be provided to any person other than the original recipient, and may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose. The interests in the securities may not be offered or sold directly or indirectly to the public in the DIFC.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Australia

This document:

 

   

does not constitute a disclosure document or a prospectus under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the “Corporations Act”);

 

   

has not been, and will not be, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), as a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act and does not purport to include the information required of a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act; and

 

   

may only be provided in Australia to select investors who are able to demonstrate that they fall within one or more of the categories of investors available under section 708 of the Corporations Act (“Exempt Investors”).

The shares may not be directly or indirectly offered for subscription or purchased or sold, and no invitations to subscribe for or buy the shares may be issued, and no draft or definitive offering memorandum, advertisement or other offering material relating to any shares may be distributed in Australia, except where disclosure to

 

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investors is not required under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act or is otherwise in compliance with all applicable Australian laws and regulations. By submitting an application for the shares, you represent and warrant to us that you are an Exempt Investor.

As any offer of shares under this document will be made without disclosure in Australia under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act, the offer of those securities for resale in Australia within 12 months may, under section 707 of the Corporations Act, require disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D.2 if none of the exemptions in section 708 applies to that resale. By applying for the shares you undertake to us that you will not, for a period of 12 months from the date of issue of the shares, offer, transfer, assign or otherwise alienate those shares to investors in Australia except in circumstances where disclosure to investors is not required under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act or where a compliant disclosure document is prepared and lodged with ASIC.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Hong Kong

The shares have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong) (the “SFO”) of Hong Kong and any rules made thereunder; or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32) of Hong Kong (the “CO”) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the CO. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the shares has been or may be issued or has been or may be in the possession of any person for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to shares which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the SFO and any rules made thereunder.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Singapore

The underwriter has acknowledged that this prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, the underwriter has represented and agreed that it has not offered or sold any shares or caused the shares to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase and will not offer or sell any shares or cause the share to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, and has not circulated or distributed, nor will it circulate or distribute, this prospectus or any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares, whether directly or indirectly, to any person in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore, as modified or amended from time to time (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA, or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

Where the shares are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

 

  A.

a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

 

  B.

a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor, securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

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  A.

to an institutional investor or to a relevant person, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA;

 

  B.

where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer;

 

  C.

where the transfer is by operation of law;

 

  D.

as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA; or

 

  E.

as specified in Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Japan

The shares have not been and will not be registered pursuant to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Accordingly, none of the shares nor any interest therein may be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any “resident” of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the benefit of a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan in effect at the relevant time.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Canada

The shares may be sold in Canada only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the shares must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriter is not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Arab Emirates

The shares have not been, and are not being, publicly offered, sold, promoted or advertised in the United Arab Emirates (including the Dubai International Financial Centre) other than in compliance with the laws of the United Arab Emirates (and the Dubai International Financial Centre) governing the issue, offering and sale of securities. Further, this prospectus does not constitute a public offer of securities in the United Arab Emirates (including the Dubai International Financial Centre) and is not intended to be a public offer. This prospectus has not been approved by or filed with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Securities and Commodities Authority or the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

 

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Notice to Prospective Investors in Bermuda

The shares are not being, and may not be offered to the public or to any person in the British Virgin Islands for purchase or subscription by or on behalf of the Company. The shares may be offered to companies incorporated under the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 (British Virgin Islands) (each a “BVI Company”), but only where the offer will be made to, and received by, the relevant BVI Company entirely outside of the British Virgin Islands.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Saudi Arabia

This document may not be distributed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia except to such persons as are permitted under the Offers of Securities Regulations as issued by the board of the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (“CMA”) pursuant to resolution number 2-11-2004 dated 4 October 2004 as amended by resolution number 1-28-2008, as amended (the “CMA Regulations”). The CMA does not make any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this document and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss arising from, or incurred in reliance upon, any part of this document. Prospective purchasers of the securities offered hereby should conduct their own due diligence on the accuracy of the information relating to the securities. If you do not understand the contents of this document, you should consult an authorised financial adviser.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the British Virgin Islands

The shares may be offered to persons located in the British Virgin Islands who are “qualified investors” for the purposes of Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 (“SIBA”). Qualified investors include (i) certain entities which are regulated by the Financial Services Commission in the British Virgin Islands, including banks, insurance companies, licensees under SIBA and public, professional and private mutual funds; (ii) a company, any securities of which are listed on a recognised exchange; and (iii) persons defined as “professional investors” under SIBA, which is any person (a) whose ordinary business involves, whether for that person’s own account or the account of others, the acquisition or disposal of property of the same kind as the property, or a substantial part of the property of the Company; or (b) who has signed a declaration that he, whether individually or jointly with his spouse, has net worth in excess of US$1,000,000 and that he consents to being treated as a professional investor

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Cooley LLP is serving as our counsel in this offering. The underwriters have been represented by Latham & Watkins LLP, Menlo Park, California. As of the date of this prospectus supplement, GC&H Investments, an entity comprised of partners and associates of Cooley LLP, beneficially owns 944 shares of our Class A common stock.

EXPERTS

The consolidated financial statements of Twilio Inc. as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2019, and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 have been incorporated by reference herein in reliance on the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

The audit report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, contains an explanatory paragraph that states the Company acquired SendGrid, Inc. (SendGrid) during fiscal 2019, and management excluded from its assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, SendGrid’s internal control over financial reporting associated with $271.4 million, or 5%, of the Company’s total assets and $177.1 million, or 16%, of total revenues included in the consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019. The audit of internal control over financial reporting of the Company also excluded an evaluation of internal control over financial reporting of SendGrid.

The report on the consolidated financial statements refers to the change in the method of accounting for leases on the adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, Leases, as of January  1, 2019.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-3 under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A common stock offered by this prospectus supplement. This prospectus supplement, filed as part of the registration statement, does not contain all the information set forth in the registration statement and its exhibits and schedules, portions of which have been omitted as permitted by the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information about us, we refer you to the registration statement and to its exhibits and schedules.

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC under the Exchange Act. Our SEC filings, including the complete registration statement of which this prospectus supplement is a part, are available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and also available at the Internet website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

These documents are also available, free of charge, through the Investors section of our website, which is located at investors.twilio.com/home. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus and you should not consider such information to be part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.

 

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INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus supplement the information we file with them, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus supplement, and information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and all documents we file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this prospectus supplement and prior to the termination of the offering of our Class A common stock (other than, in each case, documents or information deemed to have been furnished and not filed in accordance with SEC rules):

 

   

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on March 2, 2020;

 

   

Our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on May 7, 2020, for the quarter ended June  30, 2020, filed with the SEC on August 4, 2020, and for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, filed with the SEC on October 29, 2020;

 

   

Our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on June 5, 2020, August  5, 2020, August  7, 2020, October  13, 2020, November  2, 2020 and January 14, 2021;

 

   

Our definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on April 22, 2020 (solely with respect to those portions incorporated by reference into our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019); and

 

   

The description of our Class  A common stock set forth in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed with the SEC on June  17, 2016, including any amendments thereto or reports filed for the purposes of updating this description, including the description of our common stock and preferred stock as set forth in Exhibit 4.5 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on March 2, 2020.

We are not incorporating by reference any information furnished under items 2.02 or 7.01 (or corresponding information furnished under item 9.01 or included as an exhibit) in any past or future current report on Form 8-K that we may file or furnish with the SEC, unless otherwise specified in such current report or in such form or in a particular prospectus supplement. The documents listed above or subsequently filed by us pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act in each year during which the offering made pursuant to this prospectus supplement is in effect prior to the filing with the SEC of our Annual Report on Form 10-K covering such year shall cease to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement from and after the filing of such Annual Reports.

Any statement contained herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus supplement to the extent that a statement contained in any subsequently filed incorporated document modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement contained in an incorporated document shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus supplement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed incorporated document modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus supplement.

This prospectus supplement is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 filed with the SEC under the Securities Act. This prospectus supplement does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement. You should read the registration statement for further information about us.

 

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Documents incorporated by reference herein are available from us, without charge, excluding all exhibits unless specifically incorporated by reference in the documents. You may obtain documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement by writing to us at the following address or by calling us at the telephone number listed below:

Twilio Inc.

101 Spear Street, First Floor

San Francisco, California 94105

Attn: General Counsel

(415) 390-2337

You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front page hereof.

 

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PROSPECTUS

 

LOGO

Class A Common Stock

Preferred Stock

Senior Debt Securities

Warrants

Units

 

 

We may from time to time issue, in one or more series or classes, Class A common stock, preferred stock, senior debt securities, warrants and/or units. We may offer these securities separately or together in units. We will specify in the accompanying prospectus supplement the terms of the securities being offered. We may sell these securities to or through underwriters and also to other purchasers or through agents. We will set forth the names of any underwriters or agents, and any fees, conversions or discount arrangements, in the accompanying prospectus supplement. We may not sell any securities under this prospectus without delivery of the applicable prospectus supplement.

In addition, certain selling securityholders to be identified in a prospectus supplement may use this prospectus from time to time to offer shares of Class A common stock. Specific terms of these securities will be provided in supplements to this prospectus.

You should read this document and any prospectus supplement or amendment carefully before you invest in our securities.

Our Class A common stock is listed on The New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “TWLO.”

 

 

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should review carefully the risks and uncertainties referenced under the heading “Risk Factors” contained in this prospectus beginning on page 4 and any applicable prospectus supplement, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

    

Page

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

     1  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     2  

THE COMPANY

     3  

RISK FACTORS

     4  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     5  

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     6  

DESCRIPTION OF SENIOR DEBT SECURITIES

     11  

DESCRIPTION OF OTHER SECURITIES

     18  

GLOBAL SECURITIES

     19  

SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS

     22  

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     23  

LEGAL MATTERS

     24  

EXPERTS

     24  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

     24  

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

     24  

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the SEC using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may from time to time sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell securities, we will provide one or more prospectus supplements that will contain specific information about the terms of the offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement together with the additional information described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference”.

You should rely only on the information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, and any free writing prospectus we authorize for use in connection with the applicable offering. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. You should assume that the information in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein and any free writing prospectus we have authorized for use in connection with the applicable offering is accurate or complete only as of their respective dates, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus, the accompanying prospectus supplement and any authorized free writing prospectus. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

In this prospectus, as permitted by law, we “incorporate by reference” information from other documents that we file with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus and should be read with the same care. When we update the information contained in documents that have been incorporated by reference by making future filings with the SEC, the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus is considered to be automatically updated and superseded. In other words, in case of a conflict or inconsistency between information contained in this prospectus and information in any accompanying prospectus supplement or incorporated by reference into this prospectus, you should rely on the information contained in the document that was filed later. See “Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference” in this prospectus.

This prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the securities described in the accompanying prospectus supplement or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such securities in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Twilio,” “the company,” “we,” “us” and “our” in this prospectus refer to Twilio Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, including the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, and any free writing prospectus we authorize for use in connection with the applicable offering may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any applicable free writing prospectus primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described in “Risk Factors” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any applicable free writing prospectus. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any applicable free writing prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any applicable free writing prospectus or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

 

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THE COMPANY

We are the leader in the Cloud Communications Platform category. We enable developers to build, scale and operate real time communications within their software applications via our simple to use Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”). The power, flexibility, and reliability offered by our software building blocks empowers companies of virtually every shape and size to build world class engagement into their customer experience.

Our platform consists of three layers: our Engagement Cloud, Programmable Communications Cloud and Super Network. Our Engagement Cloud software is designed to address specific use cases like account security and contact centers and is a set of APIs that handles the higher level communication logic needed for nearly every type of customer engagement. These APIs are focused on the business challenges that a developer is looking to address, allowing our customers to more quickly and easily build better ways to engage with their customers throughout their journey. Our Programmable Communications Cloud software is a set of APIs that enables developers to embed voice, messaging, video and email capabilities into their applications. The Programmable Communications Cloud is designed to support almost all the fundamental ways humans communicate, unlocking innovators to address just about any communication market. The Super Network is our software layer that allows our customers’ software to communicate with connected devices globally. It interconnects with communications networks and inbox service providers around the world and continually analyzes data to optimize the quality and cost of communications that flow through our platform. The Super Network also contains a set of APIs that gives our customers access to more foundational components of our platform, like phone numbers.

Twilio Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in March 2008. Our principal executive offices are located at 375 Beale Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, and our telephone number is (415) 390-2337. Our website address is www.twilio.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute part of this prospectus.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described in the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement, as well as other information we include or incorporate by reference into this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, before making an investment decision. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by the materialization of any of these risks. The trading price of our securities could decline due to the materialization of any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This prospectus and the documents incorporated herein by reference also contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks described in any prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated herein by reference, including (i) our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2019, (ii) our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2019 and (iii) other documents we file with the SEC that are deemed incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. We will not receive any proceeds from sales of securities offered by any selling securityholders under this prospectus.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

General

The following description summarizes certain important terms of our capital stock, as they are currently in effect. Because it is only a summary, it does not contain all the information that may be important to you. For a complete description of the matters set forth in this “Description of Capital Stock,” you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and amended and restated investors’ rights agreement and to the applicable provisions of Delaware law. Our authorized capital stock consists of 1,200,000,000 shares of capital stock, $0.001 par value per share, of which:

 

   

1,000,000,000 shares are designated as Class A common stock;

 

   

100,000,000 shares are designated as Class B common stock; and

 

   

100,000,000 shares are designated as preferred stock.

As of April 30, 2019, we had 110,265,143 shares of Class A common stock outstanding held by 95 stockholders of record, 16,001,547 shares of class B common stock outstanding held by 41 stockholders of record, and no shares of preferred stock outstanding. Our board of directors (the “board of directors”) is authorized, without stockholder approval except as required by the listing standards of the NYSE, to issue additional shares of capital stock.

Common Stock

Dividend Rights

Subject to preferences that may apply to any shares of preferred stock outstanding at the time, the holders of Class A and Class B common stock are entitled to receive dividends out of funds legally available if the board of directors, in its discretion, determines to issue dividends and then only at the times and in the amounts that the board of directors may determine.

Voting Rights

Holders of our Class A common stock are entitled to one vote for each share of Class A common stock held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders and holders of our Class B common stock are entitled to 10 votes for each share of Class B common stock held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock vote together as a single class on all matters (including the election of directors) submitted to a vote of stockholders, unless otherwise required by law. We have not provided for cumulative voting for the election of directors in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide for a classified board of directors consisting of three classes of approximately equal size, each serving staggered three-year terms.

No Preemptive or Similar Rights

Our Class A and Class B common stock are not entitled to preemptive rights, and are not subject to conversion, redemption or sinking fund provisions, except for the conversion provisions with respect to the Class B common stock described below.

Right to Receive Liquidation Distributions

If we become subject to a liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the assets legally available for distribution to our stockholders would be distributable ratably among the holders of our Class A and Class B common stock and

 

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any participating preferred stock outstanding at that time, subject to prior satisfaction of all outstanding debt and liabilities and the preferential rights of and the payment of liquidation preferences, if any, on any outstanding shares of preferred stock.

Conversion

Each outstanding share of Class B common stock is convertible at any time at the option of the holder into one share of Class A common stock. In addition, each share of Class B common stock will convert automatically into one share of Class A common stock upon any transfer, whether or not for value, except for certain permitted transfers described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, including transfers to family members, trusts solely for the benefit of the stockholder or their family members, and partnerships, corporations, and other entities exclusively owned by the stockholder or their family members. Once converted or transferred and converted into Class A common stock, the Class B common stock will not be reissued.

All the outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock will convert automatically into shares of a single class of common stock on the earlier of June 28, 2023 or the date the holders of two-thirds of our Class B common stock elect to convert the Class B common stock to Class A common stock. Following such conversion, each share of common stock will have one vote per share and the rights of the holders of all outstanding common stock will be identical. Once converted into a single class of common stock, the Class A and Class B common stock may not be reissued.

Preferred Stock

The board of directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by Delaware law, to issue preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series and any of its qualifications, limitations or restrictions, in each case without further vote or action by our stockholders. The board of directors can also increase or decrease the number of shares of any series of preferred stock, but not below the number of shares of that series then outstanding, without any further vote or action by our stockholders. The board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our Class A or Class B common stock. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of Twilio and might adversely affect the market price of Class A common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our Class A and Class B common stock. We have no current plan to issue any shares of preferred stock.

Registration Rights

Certain holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to rights with respect to the registration of their shares under the Securities Act. These registration rights are contained in our Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement (“IRA”), dated as of December 18, 2009, as most recently amended on April 24, 2015. The registration rights set forth in the IRA will expire on June 28, 2021, or, with respect to any particular stockholder, when such stockholder is able to sell all of its shares pursuant to Rule 144(b)(1)(i) of the Securities Act or holds one percent or less of our common stock and is able to sell all of its Registrable Securities, as defined in the IRA, pursuant to Rule 144 of the Securities Act during any 90-day period. We will pay the registration expenses (other than underwriting discounts, selling commissions and stock transfer taxes) of the holders of the shares registered pursuant to the registrations described below. In an underwritten offering, the managing underwriter, if any, has the right, subject to specified conditions, to limit the number of shares such holders may include.

Demand Registration Rights

Certain holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to certain demand registration rights. We are obligated to effect only two such registrations. Such request for registration must cover securities

 

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with anticipated aggregate proceeds to Twilio of at least $15,000,000. If we determine that it would be seriously detrimental to our stockholders to effect such a demand registration, we have the right to defer such registration, not more than once in any 12-month period, for a period of up to 90 days.

Piggyback Registration Rights

Certain holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to certain “piggyback” registration rights allowing the holders to include their shares in such registration, subject to certain marketing and other limitations. As a result, whenever we propose to file a registration statement under the Securities Act, other than with respect to (1) a demand registration, (2) a Form S-3 registration, (3) a registration related to a company stock plan or a corporate reorganization or other transaction covered by Rule 145 promulgated under the Securities Act or (4) a registration on any registration form which does not include substantially the same information as would be required to be included in a registration statement covering the public offering of our common stock or in which the only common stock being registered is common stock issuable upon conversion of debt securities that are also being registered, the holders of these shares are entitled to notice of the registration and have the right, subject to certain limitations, to include their shares in the registration.

S-3 Registration Rights

Certain holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to certain Form S-3 registration rights and may make a written request that we register the offer and sale of their shares on a registration statement on Form S-3 if we are eligible to file a registration statement on Form S-3 so long as the request covers securities the anticipated aggregate public offering price of which, before payment of underwriting discounts and commissions, is at least $2,000,000. These stockholders may make an unlimited number of requests for registration on Form S-3; however, we will not be required to effect a registration on Form S-3 if we have effected two such registrations within the 12-month period preceding the date of the request. Additionally, if we determine that it would be seriously detrimental to our stockholders to effect such a registration, we have the right to defer such registration, not more than once in any 12-month period, for a period of up to 90 days.

Anti-Takeover Provisions

The provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, which are summarized below, may have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another person from acquiring control of the company. They are also designed, in part, to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of Twilio to negotiate first with the board of directors. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of its potential ability to negotiate with an unfriendly or unsolicited acquiror outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging a proposal to acquire it because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

Delaware Law

We are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. In general, Section 203 prohibits a public Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

   

the transaction was approved by the board of directors prior to the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon consummation of the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding shares owned by directors who are also officers of the corporation and shares owned by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

 

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at or subsequent to the time the stockholder became an interested stockholder, the business combination was approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.

In general, Section 203 defines a “business combination” to include mergers, asset sales and other transactions resulting in financial benefit to a stockholder and an “interested stockholder” as a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years did own, 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock. These provisions may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing changes in control of Twilio.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaw Provisions

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include a number of provisions that could deter hostile takeovers or delay or prevent changes in control of the company, as well as changes in the board of directors or management team, including the following:

Board of Directors Vacancies. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws authorize only the board of directors to fill vacant directorships, including newly created seats. In addition, the number of directors constituting the board of directors is permitted to be set only by a resolution adopted by a majority vote of the entire board of directors. These provisions prevent a stockholder from increasing the size of the board of directors and then gaining control of the board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees. This makes it more difficult to change the composition of the board of directors and will promote continuity of management.

Dual Class Common Stock. As described above in “—Common Stock—Voting Rights,” our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for a dual class common stock structure pursuant to which holders of our Class B common stock have the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of the outstanding Class A and Class B common stock, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of the company or its assets. Current investors, executives and employees have the ability to exercise significant influence over those matters.

Classified Board.    Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that the board of directors be classified into three classes of directors, each of which hold office for a three-year term. In addition, directors may only be removed from the board of directors for cause. The existence of a classified board could delay a potential acquiror from obtaining majority control of the board of directors, and the prospect of that delay might deter a potential acquiror.

Stockholder Action; Special Meeting of Stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our stockholders may not take action by written consent, but may only take action at annual or special meetings of stockholders. As a result, a holder controlling a majority of our capital stock would not be able to amend our amended and restated bylaws or remove directors without holding a meeting of stockholders called in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws. Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that special meetings of stockholders may be called only by a majority of the board of directors, the chairman of the board of directors, our Chief Executive Officer or our President, thus prohibiting a stockholder from calling a special meeting. These provisions might delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders controlling a majority of our capital stock to take any action, including the removal of directors.

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations. Our amended and restated bylaws provide advance notice procedures for stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting

 

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of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws also specify certain requirements regarding the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. These provisions might preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders if the proper procedures are not followed. These provisions may also discourage or deter a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquiror’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of Twilio.

No Cumulative Voting. The Delaware General Corporation Law provides that stockholders are not entitled to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting.

Directors Removed Only for Cause. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders may remove directors only for cause.

Amendment of Charter Provisions. Any amendment of the above provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires approval by holders of at least two-thirds of the then-outstanding capital stock.

Issuance of Undesignated Preferred Stock. The board of directors has the authority, without further action by our stockholders, to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock with rights and preferences, including voting rights, designated from time to time by the board of directors. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock would enable the board of directors to render more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of Twilio by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or other means.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The transfer agent and registrar’s address is c/o: Shareholder Services, 462 South 4th Street, Suite 1600, Louisville KY 40202.

Listing

Our Class A common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “TWLO”.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF SENIOR DEBT SECURITIES

We may issue senior debt securities, including senior convertible debt, in one or more series. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future senior debt securities we may offer under this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus will describe the specific terms of any senior debt securities offered through that prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. The terms of any senior debt securities we offer under a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus may differ from the terms we describe below.

We will evidence each series of senior debt securities we will issue by a senior indenture that we enter into with a trustee. We will indicate the name and address of the trustee in the prospectus supplement relating to the particular series of senior debt securities being offered. We have filed a form of senior indenture as an exhibit to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, and supplemental indentures and forms of senior debt securities containing the terms of the senior debt securities being offered will be filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or will be incorporated by reference from reports that we file with the SEC. Unless the context requires otherwise, whenever we refer to the “indenture,” we also are referring to any supplemental indentures that specify the terms of a particular series of senior debt securities.

The senior indenture will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended (the “Trust Indenture Act”). We use the term “trustee” to refer to the trustee under the senior indenture.

The following summaries of material provisions of the senior debt securities and the senior indenture are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all of the provisions of the indenture applicable to a particular series of senior debt securities. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus and any related free writing prospectuses related to the senior debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus, as well as the complete applicable indenture that contains the terms of the senior debt securities.

General

We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus the terms of the series of senior debt securities being offered, including:

 

   

the title;

 

   

the principal amount being offered, and if a series, the total amount authorized and the total amount outstanding;

 

   

any limit on the amount that may be issued;

 

   

whether or not we will issue the series of senior debt securities in global form, and, if so, the terms and who the depository will be;

 

   

the maturity date;

 

   

whether and under what circumstances, if any, we will pay additional amounts on any senior debt securities held by a person who is not a United States person for tax purposes, and whether we can redeem the senior debt securities if we have to pay such additional amounts;

 

   

the annual interest rate, which may be fixed or variable, or the method for determining the rate and the date interest will begin to accrue, the dates interest will be payable and the regular record dates for interest payment dates or the method for determining such dates;

 

   

whether or not the debt securities will be secured or unsecured, and the terms of any secured debt;

 

   

the place where payments will be payable;

 

   

restrictions on transfer, sale or other assignment, if any;

 

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our right, if any, to defer payment of interest and the maximum length of any such deferral period;

 

   

the date, if any, after which, the conditions upon which, and the price at which, we may, at our option, redeem the series of senior debt securities pursuant to any optional or provisional redemption provisions and the terms of those redemption provisions;

 

   

the date, if any, on which, and the price at which we are obligated, pursuant to any mandatory sinking fund or analogous fund provisions or otherwise, to redeem, or at the holder’s option, to purchase, the series of senior debt securities and the currency or currency unit in which the senior debt securities are payable;

 

   

whether the senior indenture will require us to maintain any interest coverage, fixed charge, cash flow-based, asset-based or other financial ratios;

 

   

a discussion of certain material or special United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the senior debt securities;

 

   

information describing any book-entry features;

 

   

provisions for a sinking fund purchase or other analogous fund, if any;

 

   

the applicability of the provisions in the indenture on discharge;

 

   

whether the senior debt securities are to be offered at a price such that they will be deemed to be offered at an “original issue discount” as defined in paragraph (a) of Section 1273 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

 

   

the denominations in which we will issue the series of senior debt securities, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof;

 

   

the currency of payment of senior debt securities if other than U.S. dollars and the manner of determining the equivalent amount in U.S. dollars; and

 

   

any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the senior debt securities, including any additional events of default or covenants provided with respect to the senior debt securities, and any terms that may be required by us or advisable under applicable laws or regulations or advisable in connection with the marketing of the senior debt securities.

Conversion or Exchange Rights

We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus the terms on which a series of senior debt securities may be convertible into or exchangeable for our Class A common stock, our preferred stock or other securities (including securities of a third-party). We will include provisions as to whether conversion or exchange is mandatory, at the option of the holder or at our option. We may include provisions pursuant to which the number of shares of our Class A common stock, our preferred stock or other securities (including securities of a third-party) that the holders of the series of senior debt securities receive would be subject to adjustment.

Consolidation, Merger or Sale

Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus applicable to a particular series of senior debt securities, the senior indenture will not contain any covenant that restricts our ability to merge or consolidate, or sell, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. However, any successor to or acquirer of such assets must assume all of our obligations under the senior indenture or the senior debt securities, as appropriate. If the senior debt securities are convertible into or exchangeable for other securities of ours or securities of other entities, the person with whom we consolidate or merge or to whom we sell all of our property must make provisions for the conversion of the senior debt securities into securities that the holders of the senior debt securities would have received if they had converted the senior debt securities before the consolidation, merger or sale.

 

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Events of Default Under the Indenture

Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus applicable to a particular series of senior debt securities, the following are events of default under the senior indenture with respect to any series of senior debt securities that we may issue:

 

   

if we fail to pay interest when due and payable and our failure continues for 90 days and the time for payment has not been extended;

 

   

if we fail to pay the principal, premium or sinking fund payment, if any, when due and payable at maturity, upon redemption or repurchase or otherwise, and the time for payment has not been extended;

 

   

if we fail to observe or perform any other covenant contained in the senior debt securities or the senior indenture, other than a covenant specifically relating to another series of senior debt securities, and our failure continues for 90 days after we receive notice from the trustee or holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of the applicable series; and

 

   

if specified events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization occur.

We will describe in each applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus any additional events of default relating to the relevant series of senior debt securities.

If an event of default with respect to senior debt securities of any series occurs and is continuing, other than an event of default specified in the last bullet point above, the trustee or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of that series, by notice to us in writing, and to the trustee if notice is given by such holders, may declare the unpaid principal, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, due and payable immediately. If an event of default specified in the last bullet point above occurs with respect to us, the unpaid principal, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, of each issue of senior debt securities then outstanding shall be due and payable without any notice or other action on the part of the trustee or any holder.

The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of an affected series may waive any default or event of default with respect to the series and its consequences, except defaults or events of default regarding payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, unless we have cured the default or event of default in accordance with the indenture. Any waiver shall cure the default or event of default.

Subject to the terms of the senior indenture, if an event of default under the senior indenture shall occur and be continuing, the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the senior indenture at the request or direction of any of the holders of the applicable series of senior debt securities, unless such holders have offered the trustee indemnity or security satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense. The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee, with respect to the senior debt securities of that series, provided that:

 

   

the direction so given by the holder is not in conflict with any law or the senior indenture; and

 

   

the trustee need not take any action that might involve it in personal liability or might be unduly prejudicial to the holders not involved in the proceeding.

A holder of the senior debt securities of any series will have the right to institute a proceeding under the senior indenture or to appoint a receiver or trustee, or to seek other remedies if:

 

   

the holder has given written notice to the trustee of a continuing event of default with respect to that series;

 

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the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of that series have made written request, and such holders have offered indemnity to the trustee or security reasonably satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense or to be incurred in compliance with instituting the proceeding as trustee; and

 

   

the trustee does not institute the proceeding, and does not receive from the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of that series other conflicting directions within 90 days after the notice, request and offer.

These limitations do not apply to a suit instituted by a holder of senior debt securities if we default in the payment of the principal, premium, if any, or interest on, the senior debt securities, or other defaults that may be specified in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus.

We will periodically file statements with the trustee regarding our compliance with specified covenants in the senior indenture.

Modification of Indenture; Waiver

Subject to the terms of the indenture for any series of senior debt securities that we may issue, we and the trustee may change an indenture without the consent of any holders with respect to the following specific matters:

 

   

to fix any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency in the indenture;

 

   

to comply with the provisions described above under “Description of Senior Debt Securities—Consolidation, Merger or Sale;”

 

   

to comply with any requirements of the SEC in connection with the qualification of any indenture under the Trust Indenture Act;

 

   

to add to, delete from or revise the conditions, limitations, and restrictions on the authorized amount, terms, or purposes of issue, authentication and delivery of senior debt securities, as set forth in the indenture;

 

   

to provide for the issuance of and establish the form and terms and conditions of the senior debt securities of any series as provided under “Description of Senior Debt Securities—General,” to establish the form of any certifications required to be furnished pursuant to the terms of the indenture or any series of senior debt securities, or to add to the rights of the holders of any series of senior debt securities;

 

   

to evidence and provide for the acceptance of appointment hereunder by a successor trustee;

 

   

to provide for uncertificated senior debt securities and to make all appropriate changes for such purpose;

 

   

to add to our covenants such new covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions for the benefit of the holders, to make the occurrence, or the occurrence and the continuance, of a default in any such additional covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions an event of default or to surrender any right or power conferred to us in the indenture; or

 

   

to change anything that does not materially adversely affect the interests of any holder of senior debt securities of any series.

In addition, under the senior indenture, the rights of holders of a series of senior debt securities may be changed by us and the trustee with the written consent of the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding senior debt securities of each series that is affected. However, subject to the terms of the indenture for any series of senior debt securities that we may issue or as otherwise provided in the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus applicable to a particular series of senior debt securities, we and the trustee

 

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may make the following changes only with the consent of each holder of any outstanding senior debt securities affected:

 

   

extending the stated maturity of the series of senior debt securities;

 

   

reducing the principal amount, reducing the rate of or extending the time of payment of interest, or reducing any premium payable upon the redemption or repurchase of any senior debt securities; or

 

   

reducing the percentage of senior debt securities, the holders of which are required to consent to any amendment, supplement, modification or waiver.

Discharge

Each indenture provides that, subject to the terms of the indenture and any limitation otherwise provided in the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus applicable to a particular series of senior debt securities, we can elect to be discharged from our obligations with respect to one or more series of senior debt securities, except for specified obligations, including obligations to:

 

   

register the transfer or exchange of senior debt securities of the series;

 

   

replace stolen, lost or mutilated senior debt securities of the series;

 

   

maintain paying agencies;

 

   

hold monies for payment in trust;

 

   

recover excess money held by the trustee;

 

   

compensate and indemnify the trustee; and

 

   

appoint any successor trustee.

In order to exercise our rights to be discharged, we must deposit with the trustee money or government obligations sufficient to pay all the principal of, any premium and interest on, the senior debt securities of the series on the dates payments are due.

Form, Exchange and Transfer

We will issue the senior debt securities of each series only in fully registered form without coupons and, unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, in denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof. The senior indenture will provide that we may issue senior debt securities of a series in temporary or permanent global form and as book-entry securities that will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company or another depository named by us and identified in a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus with respect to that series.

At the option of the holder, subject to the terms of the senior indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities described in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, the holder of the senior debt securities of any series can exchange the senior debt securities for other senior debt securities of the same series, in any authorized denomination and of like tenor and aggregate principal amount.

Subject to the terms of the senior indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, holders of the senior debt securities may present the senior debt securities for exchange or for registration of transfer, duly endorsed or with the form of transfer endorsed thereon duly executed if so required by us or the security registrar, at the office of the security registrar or at the office of any transfer agent designated by us for this purpose. Unless otherwise provided in the senior debt securities that the holder presents for transfer or exchange, we will make no service charge for any registration of transfer or exchange, but we may require payment of any taxes or other governmental charges.

 

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We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus the security registrar, and any transfer agent in addition to the security registrar, that we initially designate for any senior debt securities. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents or rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts, except that we will be required to maintain a transfer agent in each place of payment for the senior debt securities of each series.

If we elect to redeem the senior debt securities of any series, we will not be required to:

 

   

issue, register the transfer of, or exchange any senior debt securities of that series during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of mailing of a notice of redemption of any senior debt securities that may be selected for redemption and ending at the close of business on the day of the mailing; or

 

   

register the transfer of or exchange any senior debt securities so selected for redemption, in whole or in part, except the unredeemed portion of any senior debt securities we are redeeming in part.

Information Concerning the Trustee

The trustee, other than during the occurrence and continuance of an event of default under an indenture, undertakes to perform only those duties as are specifically set forth in the applicable indenture. Upon an event of default under an indenture, the trustee must use the same degree of care as a prudent person would exercise or use in the conduct of his or her own affairs.

Subject to this provision, the trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers given it by the senior indenture at the request of any holder of senior debt securities unless it is offered security and indemnity satisfactory to it against the costs, expenses and liabilities that it might incur.

Payment and Paying Agents

Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we will make payment of the interest on any senior debt securities on any interest payment date to the person in whose name the senior debt securities, or one or more predecessor securities, are registered at the close of business on the regular record date for the interest.

We will pay principal of and any premium and interest on the senior debt securities of a particular series at the office of the paying agents designated by us, except that unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we will make interest payments by check that we will mail to the holder or by wire transfer to certain holders. Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we will designate the corporate trust office of the trustee as our sole paying agent for payments with respect to senior debt securities of each series. We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus any other paying agents that we initially designate for the senior debt securities of a particular series. We will maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the senior debt securities of a particular series.

All money we pay to a paying agent or the trustee for the payment of the principal of or any premium or interest on any senior debt securities that remains unclaimed at the end of two years after such principal, premium or interest has become due and payable will be repaid to us, and the holder of the debt security thereafter may look only to us for payment thereof.

Governing Law

The senior indenture and the senior debt securities will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, except to the extent that the Trust Indenture Act is applicable.

 

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Ranking of Senior Debt Securities

The senior debt securities will rank equally in right of payment to all our other senior debt. The senior indenture does not limit the amount of senior debt securities that we may issue. It also does not limit us from issuing any other secured or unsecured debt.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF OTHER SECURITIES

We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement a description of any warrants or units issued by us that may be offered and sold pursuant to this prospectus.

 

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GLOBAL SECURITIES

Book-Entry, Delivery and Form

Unless we indicate differently in a prospectus supplement, the securities initially will be issued in book-entry form and represented by one or more global securities. The global securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company, New York, New York, as depositary (“DTC”), and registered in the name of Cede & Co., the nominee of DTC. Unless and until it is exchanged for individual certificates evidencing securities under the limited circumstances described below, a global security may not be transferred except as a whole by the depositary to its nominee or by the nominee to the depositary, or by the depositary or its nominee to a successor depositary or to a nominee of the successor depositary.

DTC has advised us that it is:

 

   

a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law;

 

   

a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law;

 

   

a member of the Federal Reserve System;

 

   

a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code; and

 

   

a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act.

DTC holds securities that its participants deposit with DTC. DTC also facilitates the settlement among its participants of securities transactions, such as transfers and pledges, in deposited securities through electronic computerized book-entry changes in participants’ accounts, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. “Direct participants” in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, including underwriters, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other organizations. DTC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (“DTCC”). DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others, which we sometimes refer to as indirect participants, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a direct participant, either directly or indirectly. The rules applicable to DTC and its participants are on file with the SEC.

Purchases of securities under the DTC system must be made by or through direct participants, which will receive a credit for the securities on DTC’s records. The ownership interest of the actual purchaser of a security, which we sometimes refer to as a beneficial owner, is in turn recorded on the direct and indirect participants’ records. Beneficial owners of securities will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchases. However, beneficial owners are expected to receive written confirmations providing details of their transactions, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the direct or indirect participants through which they purchased securities. Transfers of ownership interests in global securities are to be accomplished by entries made on the books of participants acting on behalf of beneficial owners. Beneficial owners will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in the global securities, except under the limited circumstances described below.

To facilitate subsequent transfers, all global securities deposited by direct participants with DTC will be registered in the name of DTC’s partnership nominee, Cede & Co., or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. The deposit of securities with DTC and their registration in the name of Cede & Co. or such other nominee will not change the beneficial ownership of the securities. DTC has no knowledge of the actual beneficial owners of the securities. DTC’s records reflect only the identity of the direct participants to whose accounts the securities are credited, which may or may not be the beneficial owners. The participants are responsible for keeping account of their holdings on behalf of their customers.

 

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So long as the securities are in book-entry form, you will receive payments and may transfer securities only through the facilities of the depositary and its direct and indirect participants. We will maintain an office or agency in the location specified in the prospectus supplement for the applicable securities, where notices and demands in respect of the securities and the indenture may be delivered to us and where certificated securities may be surrendered for payment, registration of transfer or exchange.

Conveyance of notices and other communications by DTC to direct participants, by direct participants to indirect participants and by direct participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners will be governed by arrangements among them, subject to any legal requirements in effect from time to time.

Redemption notices will be sent to DTC. If less than all of the securities of a particular series are being redeemed, DTC’s practice is to determine by lot the amount of the interest of each direct participant in the securities of such series to be redeemed.

Neither DTC nor Cede & Co. (or such other DTC nominee) will consent or vote with respect to the securities. Under its usual procedures, DTC will mail an omnibus proxy to us as soon as possible after the record date. The omnibus proxy assigns the consenting or voting rights of Cede & Co. to those direct participants to whose accounts the securities of such series are credited on the record date, identified in a listing attached to the omnibus proxy.

So long as securities are in book-entry form, we will make payments on those securities to the depositary or its nominee, as the registered owner of such securities, by wire transfer of immediately available funds. If securities are issued in definitive certificated form under the limited circumstances described below, we will have the option of making payments by check mailed to the addresses of the persons entitled to payment or by wire transfer to bank accounts in the United States designated in writing to the applicable trustee or other designated party at least 15 days before the applicable payment date by the persons entitled to payment, unless a shorter period is satisfactory to the applicable trustee or other designated party.

Redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments on the securities will be made to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. DTC’s practice is to credit direct participants’ accounts upon DTC’s receipt of funds and corresponding detail information from us on the payment date in accordance with their respective holdings shown on DTC records. Payments by participants to beneficial owners will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is the case with securities held for the account of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name.” Those payments will be the responsibility of participants and not of DTC or us, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements in effect from time to time. Payment of redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC, is our responsibility, disbursement of payments to direct participants is the responsibility of DTC, and disbursement of payments to the beneficial owners is the responsibility of direct and indirect participants.

Except under the limited circumstances described below, purchasers of securities will not be entitled to have securities registered in their names and will not receive physical delivery of securities. Accordingly, each beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants to exercise any rights under the securities and the indenture.

The laws of some jurisdictions may require that some purchasers of securities take physical delivery of securities in definitive form. Those laws may impair the ability to transfer or pledge beneficial interests in securities.

DTC may discontinue providing its services as securities depositary with respect to the securities at any time by giving reasonable notice to us. Under such circumstances, in the event that a successor depositary is not obtained, securities certificates are required to be printed and delivered.

 

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As noted above, beneficial owners of a particular series of securities generally will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in those securities. However, if:

 

   

DTC notifies us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as a depositary for the global security or securities representing such series of securities or if DTC ceases to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act at a time when it is required to be registered and a successor depositary is not appointed within 90 days of the notification to us or of our becoming aware of DTC’s ceasing to be so registered, as the case may be;

 

   

we determine, in our sole discretion, not to have such securities represented by one or more global securities; or

 

   

an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing with respect to such series of securities,

 

   

we will prepare and deliver certificates for such securities in exchange for beneficial interests in the global securities. Any beneficial interest in a global security that is exchangeable under the circumstances described in the preceding sentence will be exchangeable for securities in definitive certificated form registered in the names that the depositary directs. It is expected that these directions will be based upon directions received by the depositary from its participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the global securities.

We have obtained the information in this section and elsewhere in this prospectus concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system from sources that are believed to be reliable, but we take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.

 

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SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS

Information about selling securityholders, where applicable, will be set forth in a prospectus supplement, in a post-effective amendment or in filings we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference.

 

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We or any selling securityholders may offer and sell the securities being offered hereby in one or more of the following ways from time to time:

 

   

to or through underwriters;

 

   

on any national securities exchange or quotation service on which the securities may be listed or quoted at the time of sale;

 

   

in the over-the-counter market;

 

   

in transactions otherwise than on these exchanges or systems or in the over-the-counter market;

 

   

through the writing or settlement of options or other hedging transactions, whether through an options exchange or otherwise;

 

   

ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer solicits purchasers;

 

   

block trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the shares as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction;

 

   

purchases by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for its account;

 

   

an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the applicable exchange;

 

   

privately negotiated transactions;

 

   

broker-dealers may agree with a selling securityholder to sell a specified number of securities at a stipulated price per security;

 

   

a combination of any such methods of sale; and

 

   

any other method permitted pursuant to applicable law.

We will identify the specific plan of distribution, including any underwriters, dealers, agents, or other purchasers, persons, or entities and any applicable compensation, in a prospectus supplement, in an amendment to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or in other filings we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act, which are incorporated by reference.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Goodwin Procter LLP, Redwood City, California, will pass upon certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities offered hereby on behalf of Twilio Inc. Additional legal matters may be passed upon for us, the selling securityholders or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.

EXPERTS

The consolidated financial statements of Twilio Inc. as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018 have been incorporated by reference herein in reliance on the reports of KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

The consolidated financial statements of SendGrid, Inc. as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, have been incorporated by reference herein in reliance on the reports of KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

The audit report covering SendGrid Inc.’s December 31, 2018 consolidated financial statements refers to a change to the method for accounting for costs associated with customer contracts in 2018 due to the adoption of ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC under the Exchange Act. Our SEC filings, including the complete registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, are available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and also available at the Internet website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

Our website address is www.twilio.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute part of this prospectus.

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus the information we file with them, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus, and information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and all documents we file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this prospectus and prior to the termination of the applicable offering under this prospectus (other than, in each case, documents or information deemed to have been furnished and not filed in accordance with SEC rules):

 

  1.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2019;

 

  2.

Our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2019;

 

  3.

Our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on January 30, 2019, February 4, 2019 and May 29, 2019;

 

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  4.

Our definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on April 26, 2019 (solely with respect to those portions incorporated by reference into our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018);

 

  5.

Our joint Proxy Statement/prospectus, filed with the SEC on December 18, 2018 and part of the registration statement on Form S-4 originally filed with the SEC on November 21, 2018 (solely with respect to the consolidated financial statements of SendGrid, Inc. as of and for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016); and

 

  6.

The description of our Class A common stock contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on June 17, 2016, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

We are not incorporating by reference any information furnished under items 2.02 or 7.01 (or corresponding information furnished under item 9.01 or included as an exhibit) in any past or future current report on Form 8-K that we may file or furnish with the SEC, unless otherwise specified in such current report or in such form or in a particular prospectus supplement. The documents listed above or subsequently filed by us pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act in each year during which the offering made pursuant to this prospectus is in effect prior to the filing with the SEC of our Annual Report on Form 10-K covering such year shall cease to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus from and after the filing of such Annual Reports.

Any statement contained herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in any subsequently filed incorporated document modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement contained in an incorporated document shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed incorporated document modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.

This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 filed with the SEC under the Securities Act. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement. You should read the registration statement for further information about us.

Documents incorporated by reference herein are available from us, without charge, excluding all exhibits unless specifically incorporated by reference in the documents. You may obtain documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus by writing to us at the following address or by calling us at the telephone number listed below:

Twilio Inc.

375 Beale Street, Suite 300

San Francisco, California 94105

Attn: General Counsel

(415) 390-2337

You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front page of those documents.

 

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$1,000,000,000

Class A Common Stock

 

LOGO

Twilio Inc.

 

 

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

 

 

 

Morgan Stanley     J.P. Morgan
Academy Securities   Cabrera Capital Markets LLC   Siebert Williams Shank