American Well Corp
For the period ended Dec 31, 2025. Filed Feb 12, 2026.
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FY2025 · Filed Feb 12, 2026
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
There are several risks related to our business and our ability to leverage our strengths that are described in further detail below. Among these important risks are the following:
our history of losses and the risk we may not achieve profitability;
our limited number of significant clients (including our largest client by revenue, Elevance Health, which accounted for 24%, 27% and 31% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively) and the risk that we may lose their business;
weak growth and increased volatility in the digital care market;
inability to adapt to rapid technological changes;
increased competition from existing and potential new participants in the healthcare industry;
our clients’ acceptance of the Amwell Platform and our ability and the costs to further develop this platform;
changes in healthcare laws, regulations or trends as well as our ability to operate in the heavily regulated healthcare industry;
slower than expected growth in patient adoption of digital care and in the Amwell Platform usage by either clients or patients;
the impact of seasonal viruses on our business or on our ability to forecast our business’s financial outlook;
inability to grow our base of affiliated and non-affiliated providers utilizing the Amwell Platform to a number sufficient to serve patient demand;
our ability to comply with federal, state and foreign privacy regulations and the significant liability that could result from a cybersecurity breach or our failure to comply with such regulations; and
holders of our Class A common stock have limited or no ability to influence corporate matters due to the multiple class structure of our common stock and the ownership of Class B common stock by Ido Schoenberg and Roy Schoenberg (the “Founders”), which will have the effect of concentrating voting control with our founders for the foreseeable future.
The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we do not currently deem material may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the events contemplated by the following discussion of risks should occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could suffer significantly. The following is a summary of all the material risks known to us.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position
We have a history of losses, which we expect to continue, and we may never achieve or sustain profitability.
We have incurred significant losses and negative cash flows in each period since our inception. We incurred net losses of $95.0 million, $212.6 million and $679.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $2,061.6 million. These losses and accumulated deficit reflect the substantial investments we made to acquire new clients and develop the Amwell Platform and software as a service. We intend to continue scaling our business to increase our client, patient, member and provider bases, broaden the scope of services we offer, invest in research and development and expand the applications of our technology through which consumers can access our services. These efforts may prove more expensive than we currently anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our revenue sufficiently to offset these higher expenses. In addition, we have undertaken and intend to continue to undertake cost-reduction efforts, such as headcount reductions and footprint optimization. These efforts may not provide the benefits that we expect, and we may be unable to recover the upfront costs associated with such efforts. We cannot assure you that we will achieve profitability in the future or that, if we do become profitable, we will be able to sustain or increase profitability. Our prior losses, combined with our expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.
A significant portion of our revenue comes from a limited number of clients and we may be unable to retain our key clients.
We rely on a limited number of clients for a substantial portion of our total revenue. For the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, our largest client, Elevance, accounted for 31%, 27% and 24% of our revenue, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, our top ten clients by revenue accounted for 71%, 58% and 51% of our total revenue, respectively. The loss of any of our key clients, or a failure of some of them to renew or expand their subscriptions, could have a significant impact on our revenue. Our clients may choose to cancel, not renew or otherwise limit their use of our offerings for a variety of reasons described in this “Risk Factors” section, including mergers and acquisitions involving our clients. Further, as we rely on our reputation and recommendations from key clients in order to promote our solution to potential new clients, the loss of any of our key clients could adversely affect our reputation and our ability to obtain new clients.
We may need additional capital to support the growth of our business, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception, and we intend to continue scaling our business to increase our client, patient, member and provider bases, broaden the scope of services we offer, invest in research and development and expand the use of artificial intelligence in our technology. For the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, our net cash used in operating activities was $66.0 million, $127.3 million and $148.3 million respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had $182.3 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, which are held for working capital purposes.
Our future capital requirements may be significantly different from our current estimates and will depend on many factors, including our growth rate, subscription renewal activity, the timing and extent of spending to support development efforts, the expansion of sales and marketing activities, the introduction of new or enhanced services, the continuing market acceptance of digital care and the effectiveness of our cost-reduction efforts. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings or collaborative arrangements to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing 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 common stock. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could require us to dedicate a substantial amount of cash for interest payments and 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, operate our business and pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. In addition, during times of economic instability, it has been difficult for many companies to obtain financing in the public markets or to obtain debt financing, and we may not be able to obtain additional financing on commercially reasonable terms or at times that we require such financing, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have incurred and may in the future incur non-cash impairment charges.
In the past, we have incurred significant non-cash impairment charges as a result of sustained declines in our stock price. If in the future there is a sustained decline in our stock price, adverse changes in our projected cash flows, and/or changes in key assumptions, including but not limited to lower revenue growth, lower operating margin, and/or a lower terminal growth rate, we may be required conduct additional impairment testing of our other intangibles and/or long-lived assets and subsequently record additional non-cash impairment charge. Such a non-cash charge would likely have a material adverse effect on our consolidated statements of operations and balance sheets in the reporting period of the charge. For additional information, see Part II, Item 7: Management’s Discussion & Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations under the sub-heading “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates— Intangible Assets.”
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
The digital care market is still developing and volatile and may develop slower than we expect and be subject to negative publicity.
The digital care market is relatively new and unproven, and it is uncertain whether it will achieve and sustain high levels of demand, consumer acceptance and market adoption. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the willingness of our clients’ members or patients to use, and to increase the frequency and extent of their utilization of, our services, as well as on our ability to demonstrate the value of digital care to employers, health plans, government agencies and other purchasers of healthcare for beneficiaries. Negative publicity concerning our services or the digital care market as a whole could limit market acceptance of our services. For example, there has been and continue to be substantial media coverage in the U.S. surrounding mental health and virtual health services, including the virtual prescription of mental health prescription drugs. Such negative publicity could adversely affect the digital care market and our business. Similarly, individual and healthcare industry concerns or negative publicity regarding patient confidentiality and privacy in the context of digital care could limit market acceptance of our healthcare services. If our clients, or their members or patients, do not perceive the benefits of our services, or if our services are not competitive, then our market may not develop at all, or it may develop more slowly than we expect. If any of these events occurs, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Rapid technological change in our industry presents us with significant risks and challenges.
The digital care market is characterized by rapid technological change, changing consumer requirements, short product lifecycles and evolving industry standards. Our success will depend on our ability to enhance our solution with next-generation technologies and to develop or to acquire and market new services to access new consumer populations. There is no guarantee that we will possess the resources, either financial or personnel, for the research, design and development of new applications or services, or that we will be able to utilize these resources successfully and avoid technological or market obsolescence. Further, there can be no assurance that technological advances by one or more of our competitors or future competitors will not result in our present or future software-based products and services becoming uncompetitive or obsolete.
We operate in a competitive industry and may not able to compete effectively.
The digital care market is competitive and we expect it to attract increased competition, which could make it difficult for us to succeed. We currently face competition in the digital care delivery market from a range of companies, including specialized software and solution providers that offer similar solutions, often at substantially lower prices, and that are continuing to develop additional products and becoming more sophisticated and effective. Our competitors in the digital care delivery market range from traditional digital care players such as Teladoc, Included Health and MDLive; video communications players such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams; physician networks or tools such as Doximity and Caregility; technology companies such as Amazon; and EHR players (which are also partners) such as Epic, Cerner, Allscripts and athenahealth. Competition could result in continued pricing pressures, which is likely to lead to price declines in certain product segments, which could negatively impact our sales, profitability and market share.
Some of our competitors may have greater name recognition, longer operating histories and significantly greater resources than we do. Further, our current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties with greater available resources. 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 client requirements and may have the ability to initiate or withstand substantial price competition. In addition, current and potential competitors have established, and may in the future establish, cooperative relationships with vendors of complementary products, technologies or services to increase the availability of their solutions in the marketplace. Accordingly, new competitors or alliances may emerge that have greater market share, a larger client base, more widely adopted proprietary technologies, greater marketing expertise, greater financial resources and larger sales forces than we have, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage.
Our competitors could also be better positioned to serve certain segments of the digital care market, which could create additional price pressure. In addition, many healthcare provider organizations are consolidating to create integrated healthcare delivery systems with greater market power. As provider networks and managed care organizations consolidate, thus decreasing the number of market participants, competition to provide products and services like ours could become more intense, and the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships with key industry participants could increase. These industry participants may try to use their market power to negotiate price reductions for our products and services. In light of these factors, even if our solution is more effective than those of our competitors, current or potential clients may accept competitive solutions in lieu of purchasing our solution. If we are unable to successfully compete in the digital care market, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Healthcare reform legislation and other changes in the healthcare industry and in healthcare spending could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our revenue is dependent on the healthcare industry and could be affected by changes in healthcare spending, reimbursement and policy. The healthcare industry is subject to changing political, regulatory and other influences. There is significant interest in promoting healthcare reforms, and it is likely that federal and state legislatures within the United States and the governments of other countries will continue to consider changes to existing healthcare legislation. For example, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the United States federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs, including the Budget Control Act (which, subject to certain sequestration periods, imposed 2% reductions in Medicare payments to providers per fiscal year) and the American Taxpayer Relief Act (which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years). Further, healthcare reform legislation that affect Medicare spending and funding, such as Medicare payment for performance initiatives for physicians under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, could materially adversely affect client demand and affordability for our products and, accordingly, the results of our financial operations. In addition, payers such as government and private insurance providers are also increasingly seeking to reduce healthcare costs, as demonstrated by the trend toward managed healthcare in the United States, which could reduce demand and prices for our services.
We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments and other third party payers will pay for healthcare products and services, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If growth in the number of individuals covered by our health systems and health plans decreases, or the number of products or services that we are able to sell to our clients decreases due to legal, economic or business developments, our revenue will likely decrease.
We currently generate most of our revenues from clients who purchase access to the Amwell Platform. These contracts generally have stated initial terms of three years. Most of our clients have no obligation to renew their subscriptions for our solution after the initial term expires. In addition, our clients may negotiate terms less advantageous to us upon renewal, which may reduce our revenue from these clients. Our future results of operations depend, in part, on our ability to expand into new clinical specialties and across care settings and use cases. If our clients fail to renew their contracts, renew their contracts upon less favorable terms or at lower fee levels or fail to purchase new products and services from us, our revenue may decline, or our future revenue growth may be constrained.
Additional factors that could affect our ability to sell products and services include, but are not limited to:
failure of our clients to be successful offering our products;
changes in the nature or operations of our clients;
price, performance and functionality of our solution;
our development and introduction of additional or improved solutions and our clients’ acceptance of such solutions;
availability, price, performance and functionality of competing solutions;
our ability to develop and sell complementary products and services;
stability, performance and security of our hosting infrastructure and hosting services;
changes in healthcare laws, regulations or trends; and
the business environment of our clients and, in particular, headcount reductions by our clients.
In addition, our marketing efforts depend significantly on our ability to call upon our current clients to provide positive references to new, potential clients. Given our limited number of long-term clients, the loss or dissatisfaction of any client could substantially harm our brand and reputation, inhibit widespread adoption of our solution and impair our ability to attract new clients and maintain existing clients. Any of these consequences could lower retention rate and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A decline in the prevalence of employer-sponsored healthcare or the emergence of new technologies may render our digital care solution obsolete or require us to expend significant resources in order to remain competitive.
The U.S. healthcare industry is massive, with a number of large market participants with conflicting agendas, and it is subject to significant government regulation and is currently undergoing significant change. Changes in our industry, for example, such as the emergence of new technologies as more competitors enter our market, could result in our digital care solution being less desirable or relevant.
Some experts have predicted that future healthcare reform will encourage employer-sponsored health insurance to become significantly less prevalent as employees migrate to obtaining their own insurance over the state-sponsored insurance marketplaces. Were this to occur, there is no guarantee that we would be able to compensate for the loss in revenue from employers by increasing sales of our solution to health insurance companies or to individuals or government agencies. In such a case, our results of operations would be adversely affected.
If healthcare benefits trends shift or entirely new technologies are developed that replace existing solutions, our existing or future solutions could be rendered obsolete and our business could be adversely affected. In addition, we may experience difficulties with industry standards, design or marketing that could delay or prevent our development, introduction or implementation of new applications and enhancements.
Our new digital care offerings may not be adopted by our clients and we may fail to innovate and develop new software offerings that are adopted by our clients.
To date, we have historically derived a substantial majority of our revenue from clients who pay for access to the Amwell Platform. Our long-term results of operations and continued growth will depend on our ability to successfully develop and market new digital care products and services that our clients want and are willing to purchase. In addition, we have invested significant resources in research and development to enhance our existing solution and introduce new high-quality digital care products and services, and intend to continue to invest resources to enhance our existing solution and introduce new products and services. If existing clients are not willing to make additional payments for such new applications, or if new clients and their members and patients do not value such new applications, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to predict user preferences or if our industry changes, or if we are unable to modify our solution and services on a timely basis, we may lose clients. Our results of operations would also suffer if our innovations are not responsive to the needs of our clients, appropriately timed with market opportunity or effectively brought to market.
If we fail to develop widespread brand awareness cost-effectively, our business may suffer.
We believe that developing and maintaining widespread awareness of our brand in a cost-effective manner is critical to achieving widespread adoption of our solution and attracting new clients. Our brand promotion activities may not generate client awareness or increase revenue, and even if they do, any increase in revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, or incur substantial expenses in doing so, we may fail to attract or retain clients necessary to realize a sufficient return on our brand-building efforts or to achieve the widespread brand awareness that is critical for broad client adoption of our solution.
If AMG providers or experts or American Well Corporation experts are characterized as employees, AMG and American Well Corporation, as applicable, would be subject to employment and withholding liabilities.
AMG and American Well Corporation structure their relationships with the majority of their respective providers and experts in a manner that we believe results in an independent contractor relationship, not an employee relationship. An independent contractor is generally distinguished from an employee by his or her degree of autonomy and independence in providing services. A high degree of autonomy and independence is generally indicative of a contractor relationship, while a high degree of control is generally indicative of an employment relationship. Although we believe that AMG providers and experts and American Well Corporation experts are properly characterized as independent contractors, tax or other regulatory authorities may in the future challenge our characterization of these relationships. If such regulatory authorities or state, federal or foreign courts were to determine that AMG providers or experts or American Well Corporation experts are employees, and not independent contractors, AMG or American Well Corporation, as applicable, would be required to withhold income taxes, to withhold and pay social security, Medicare and similar taxes and to pay unemployment and other related payroll taxes. AMG or American Well Corporation, as applicable, would also be liable for unpaid past taxes and subject to penalties. As a result, any determination that AMG providers or experts and/or American Well experts are employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business could be adversely affected by health epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies.
Health epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies could cause disruptions and severely impact our business, including, but not limited to: negatively impacting our clients’ business, as well as loss of employment, resulting in difficulty collecting accounts receivable and/or fewer fees generated; negatively impacting our ability to facilitate the provision of our services to health system, health plan or innovator clients due to unpredictable demand; creating regulatory uncertainty if certain restrictions on reimbursement or the practice of medicine across state lines are reintroduced in the future; and harming our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, any such health epidemics, pandemics and other public health emergencies could heighten many of the other risks identified elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section.
Our senior management team and skilled workforce are crucial for executing our business strategy.
Our success and execution of our business strategy depends heavily upon our ability to attract and retain key members of senior management and a skilled workforce generally. The members of senior management are at-will employees and therefore they may terminate employment with us at any time with no advance notice. Changes in our management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives could disrupt our business and involve significant time and costs and may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. Our business would also be adversely affected if we fail to adequately plan for succession of our executives and senior management. While we have succession plans in place and we have employment arrangements with a limited number of key executives, these do not guarantee that the services of these or suitable successor executives will continue to be available to us. In addition to our management team, our products and services and our operations require a large number of highly skilled employees who we must successfully engage and inspire to be open to change, to innovate and to maintain member- and client-focus when delivering our services. In addition, as we expand internationally, we face the challenge of recruiting, integrating, educating, managing, retaining and developing a more culturally varied workforce.
Competition is intense for qualified professionals. We may not be successful in continuing to attract and retain qualified personnel. We have from time to time in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to experience in the future, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled personnel with appropriate qualifications. The pool of qualified personnel with experience working in the healthcare market is limited overall. In addition, many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have.
In making employment decisions, particularly in high-technology industries, qualified personnel often consider the value of the stock options or other equity instruments they are to receive in connection with their employment. Volatility in the price of our stock may, therefore, adversely affect our ability to attract or retain highly skilled personnel. Further, the requirement to expense stock options and other equity instruments may discourage us from granting the size or type of stock option or equity awards that qualified personnel require to join or stay with our company. Failure to attract new personnel or failure to retain and motivate our current personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In order to grow our business, we anticipate that we will continue to depend on our relationships with third parties, including our partner organizations and technology and content providers. Identifying partners, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them, requires significant time and resources. Our competitors may be effective in providing incentives to third parties to favor their products or services or to prevent or reduce subscriptions to, or utilization of, our products and services. In addition, acquisitions of our partners by our competitors could result in a decrease in the number of our current and potential clients, as our partners may no longer facilitate the adoption of our applications by potential clients. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased client use of our applications or increased revenue.
Our digital care strategy depends on the ability of our affiliated medical group to maintain and expand its network of skilled qualified providers. If it is unable to do so, our future growth would be limited and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be harmed.
Our success is dependent upon our affiliated medical group, AMG, and its continued ability to maintain a network of highly trained and qualified digital care providers. If AMG is unable to recruit and retain board-certified physicians and other healthcare professionals, it would have a material adverse effect on our business and ability to grow and would adversely affect our results of operations. In any particular market, providers could demand higher payments or take other actions that could result in higher medical costs, less attractive service for our clients or difficulty meeting regulatory or accreditation requirements. The ability to develop and maintain satisfactory relationships with providers also may be negatively impacted by other factors not associated with us, such as changes in Medicare and/or Medicaid reimbursement levels, state physician licensing laws and standard of care requirements, and other pressures on healthcare providers and consolidation activity among hospitals, physician groups and healthcare providers. The failure of AMG to maintain or to secure new cost-effective provider contracts may result in a loss of or inability to grow our consumer base, higher costs, healthcare provider network disruptions, less attractive clinical services for our clients and/or difficulty in meeting regulatory or accreditation requirements, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not grow at the rates we historically have achieved or at all, even if our key metrics may indicate growth.
Our future growth will depend, in part, on our ability to grow our revenue from existing clients, to complete sales to potential future clients, to expand our client, patient and member bases, to develop new products and services and to expand internationally. We can provide no assurances that we will be successful in executing on these growth strategies or that, even if our key metrics would indicate future growth, we will continue to grow our revenue or to generate net income. Our ability to execute on our existing sales pipeline, create additional sales pipelines, and expand our client base depends on, among other things, the attractiveness of our services relative to those offered by our competitors, our ability to demonstrate the value of our existing and future services, and our ability to attract and retain a sufficient number of qualified sales and marketing leadership and support personnel. In addition, our existing clients may be slower to adopt our services than we currently anticipate, which could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.
We are continually executing a number of growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans designed to enhance our business. The anticipated benefits from these efforts are based on several assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate. Moreover, we may not be able to successfully complete these growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans and realize all of the benefits, including growth targets and cost savings, that we expect to achieve or it may be more costly to do so than we anticipate. A variety of risks could cause us not to realize some or all of the expected benefits. These risks include, among others, delays in the anticipated timing of activities related to such growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans, increased difficulty and cost in implementing these efforts, including difficulties in complying with new regulatory requirements and the incurrence of other unexpected costs associated with operating the business. Moreover, our continued implementation of these programs may disrupt our operations and performance. As a result, we cannot assure you that we will realize these benefits. If, for any reason, the benefits we realize are less than our estimates or the implementation of these growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans adversely affect our operations or cost more or take longer to effectuate than we expect, or if our assumptions prove inaccurate, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
We may not be able to quickly scale our capabilities when needed.
At times, we may be required to quickly scale our capabilities, such as in response to unexpected shifts in demand for digital care, to implement our solution satisfactorily with respect to both large and demanding clients, who currently constitute the substantial majority of our client base. Large clients often require specific features or functions unique to their consumer base, which, at a time of significant growth or during periods of high demand, may strain our implementation capacity and hinder our ability to successfully implement our solution to our clients in a timely manner. If we are unable to address the needs of our clients or consumers, or our clients or consumers are unsatisfied with the quality of our solution or services, they may not renew their contracts, seek to cancel or terminate their relationship with us or renew on less favorable terms, any of which could cause our annual net dollar retention rate to decrease.
The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this Annual Report may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The estimates and forecasts in this Annual Report relating to the size and expected growth of the digital care market may prove to be inaccurate. Even if the market in which we compete meets our size estimates and forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly.
Our quarterly results of operations, including our revenue, net loss and cash flows, has varied and may vary significantly in the future, and period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations may not be meaningful. Accordingly, our quarterly results should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly financial results may fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, without limitation, the following:
the addition or loss of large clients, including through acquisitions or consolidations of such clients;
seasonal and other variations in the timing of the sales of our services;
historically, a significantly higher proportion of our clients’ members and patients use our services during peak cold and flu season months, the future impact of seasonal viruses is unknown as there could be additional surges and demand on digital care visits;
the timing of recognition of revenue, including possible delays in the recognition of revenue due to sometimes unpredictable implementation timelines;
our ability to effectively manage the size and composition of our proprietary network of healthcare professionals relative to the level of demand for services from our clients’ members and patients;
the timing and success of introductions of new products and services by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors, clients or strategic partners;
client renewal rates and the timing and terms of client renewals;
the mix of products and services sold during a period; and
the timing of expenses related to the development or acquisition of technologies or businesses and potential future charges for impairment of intangible assets from acquired companies.
Most of our revenue in any given quarter is derived from contracts entered into with our clients during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed contracts in any one quarter may not be fully reflected in our revenue for that quarter. Such declines, however, would negatively affect our revenue in future periods and the effect of significant downturns in sales of and market demand for our solution, and potential changes in our rate of renewals or renewal terms, may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. Our subscription model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our total revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new clients must be recognized over the applicable term of the contract. Accordingly, the effect of changes in the industry impacting our business or changes we experience in our new sales may not be reflected in our short-term results of operations. Any fluctuation in our quarterly results may not accurately reflect the underlying performance of our business and could cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.
We incur significant upfront costs in our client relationships, and if we are unable to maintain and grow these client relationships over time, we are likely to fail to recover these costs.
Our business model depends heavily on achieving economies of scale because our initial upfront investment is costly and the associated revenue is recognized on a ratable basis. We devote significant resources to establish relationships with our clients and implement our solution and related services. This is particularly so in the case of large enterprises that, to date, have comprised a substantial majority of our client base. Accordingly, our results of operations will depend in substantial part on our ability to deliver a successful experience for clients, as well as their members and patients, and persuade our clients to maintain and grow their relationship with us over time. Additionally, as our business is growing significantly, our client acquisition costs could outpace our build-up of recurring revenue, and we may be unable to reduce our total operating costs enough to achieve profitability, or if achieved, to maintain it. If we fail to achieve appropriate economies of scale or if we fail to manage or anticipate the evolution and in future periods, demand, of the access fee model, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Our sales cycle can be long and unpredictable and requires considerable time and expense, which may cause our results of operations to fluctuate.
The sales cycle for our solution from initial contact with a potential lead to contract execution and completion, varies widely by client, ranging from a few months to a year. Some of our clients undertake a significant and prolonged evaluation process, including to determine whether our services meet their unique healthcare needs, which frequently involves evaluation of not only our solution but also an evaluation of those of our competitors, which has in the past resulted in extended sales cycles. Our sales efforts involve educating our clients about the use, technical capabilities and potential benefits of our solution. Moreover, our large enterprise clients often begin to deploy our solution on a limited basis, which increases our upfront investment in the sales effort with no guarantee that these clients will deploy our solution widely enough across their organization to justify our substantial upfront investment. The implementation of large and complex contracts requires us to devote a sufficient amount of personnel, systems, equipment, technology and other resources as are necessary to ensure a timely and successful implementation. It is possible that in the future we may experience even longer sales cycles, more complex client needs, higher upfront sales costs and less predictability in completing some of our sales as we continue to expand our direct sales force, expand into new territories and market additional software-based products and services. If our sales cycle lengthens or our substantial upfront sales and implementation investments do not result in sufficient sales to justify our investments, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Economic uncertainties or downturns in the general economy or the industries in which our clients operate could disproportionately affect the demand for our solution and negatively impact our results of operations.
General worldwide economic conditions have experienced significant downturns during the last ten years, and market volatility and uncertainty remain widespread, making it potentially very difficult for our clients and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. During challenging economic times, our clients may have difficulty gaining timely access to sufficient credit or obtaining credit on reasonable terms, which could impair their ability to make timely payments to us and adversely affect our revenue. If that were to occur, our financial results could be harmed. Further, challenging economic conditions may impair the ability of our clients to pay for the software-based products and services they already have purchased from us and, as a result, our write-offs of accounts receivable could increase. We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown or recovery. If the condition of the general economy or markets in which we operate worsens, our business could be harmed.
With respect to our international operations, we face political, legal and compliance, operational, regulatory, economic and other risks that we do not face or that are more significant than in our domestic operations.
With respect to our international operations, we face political, legal and compliance, operational, regulatory, economic and other risks that we do not face or that are more significant than in our domestic operations. These risks vary widely by country and include varying regional and geopolitical business conditions and demands, government intervention and censorship, discriminatory regulation, nationalization or expropriation of assets and pricing constraints. Our international products need to meet country-specific client and member preferences as well as country-specific legal requirements, including those related to licensing, privacy, data storage, location, protection and security. We have offices in the United States, Ireland, Colombia and Israel and clients in Israel and throughout Europe and Australia.
Additionally, certain international geopolitical conflicts, such as between Russia and Ukraine and Israel-Hamas, may create additional risks for our business. For example, we have certain employees, including our CEO, as well as engineering contractors who are located in these regions. The conflicts in those regions and our exposure to it may heighten many other risks disclosed in this “Risk Factors” section, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to, adverse macroeconomic conditions; increased exposure to cyber-attacks; risks to the contractors that we use in the region; constraints or disruption in the capital markets and our sources of liquidity; and a potential inability to service certain contractual obligations if our contractors in the region are otherwise unable to perform.
Our international operations require us to overcome logistical and other challenges based on differing languages, cultures, legal and regulatory schemes and time zones. Our international operations encounter labor laws, customs and employee relationships that can be difficult, less flexible than in our domestic operations and expensive to modify or terminate. In some countries we are required to, or choose to, operate with local business partners, which requires us to manage our partner relationships and may reduce our operational flexibility and ability to quickly respond to business challenges.
Our international operations are subject to particular risks in addition to those faced by our domestic operations, including:
the need to localize and adapt our solution for specific countries, including translation into foreign languages and associated expenses;
potential loss of proprietary information due to misappropriation or laws that may be less protective of our intellectual property rights than U.S. laws or that may not be adequately enforced;
requirements of foreign laws and other governmental controls, including cross-border compliance challenges related to the complexity of multiple, conflicting and changing governmental laws and regulations, including employment, healthcare, tax, privacy and data protection laws and regulations;
data privacy laws that require that client data be stored and processed in a designated territory;
new and different sources of competition and laws and business practices favoring local competitors;
local business and cultural factors that differ from our normal standards and practices, including business practices that we are prohibited from engaging in by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (“FCPA”) and other anti-corruption laws and regulations;
changes to economic sanctions laws and regulations;
central bank and other restrictions on our ability to repatriate cash from international subsidiaries;
adverse tax consequences;
fluctuations in currency exchange rates, economic instability and inflationary conditions, which could make our solution more expensive or increase our costs of doing business in certain countries;
limitations on future growth or inability to maintain current levels of revenues from international sales if we do not invest sufficiently in our international operations;
difficulties in staffing, managing and operating our international operations, including difficulties related to administering our stock plans in some foreign countries and increased financial accounting and reporting requirements and complexities;
difficulties in coordinating the activities of our geographically dispersed operations; and
political unrest, war, terrorism or regional natural disasters, particularly in areas in which we have facilities.
Our overall success in international markets depends, in part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these risks and there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so without incurring unexpected costs. If we are not able to manage the risks related to our international operations, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Information Technology
We rely on data center providers, Internet infrastructure, bandwidth providers, third-party computer hardware and software, other third parties and our own systems for providing services to our clients and consumers, and any failure or interruption in the services provided by these third parties or our own systems could expose us to litigation and negatively impact our relationships with clients, adversely affecting our brand and our business.
We serve all of our U.S. based clients and consumers from two geographically dispersed data centers. While we control and have access to our servers, we do not control the operation of these facilities. The owners of our data center facilities have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew these agreements on commercially reasonable terms, or if one of our data center operators is acquired, we may be required to transfer our servers and other infrastructure to new data center facilities, and we may incur significant costs and possible service interruption in connection with doing so. Problems faced by our third-party data center locations with the telecommunications network providers with whom we or they contract, or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their clients, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our clients and consumers. Our third-party data center operators could decide to close their facilities without adequate notice. In addition, any financial difficulties, such as bankruptcy faced by our third-party data centers operators or any of the service providers with whom we or they contract may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict.
Additionally, if our data centers are unable to keep up with our growing needs for capacity, this could have an adverse effect on our business. For example, a rapid expansion of our business could affect the service levels at our data centers or cause such data centers and systems to fail. Any changes in third-party service levels at our data centers or any disruptions or other performance problems with our solution could adversely affect our reputation and may damage our clients and consumers’ stored files or result in lengthy interruptions in our services. Interruptions in our services may reduce our revenue, cause us to issue refunds to clients for prepaid and unused subscriptions, as well as penalties related to service level credits and uptime, subject us to potential liability or adversely affect client renewal rates.
In addition, our ability to deliver our Internet-based services depends on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet by third parties. This includes maintenance of a reliable network backbone with the necessary speed, data capacity, bandwidth capacity and security. Our services are designed to operate without interruption in accordance with our service level commitments. However, we have experienced, including during the period immediately following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and expect that we may experience in the future, interruptions and delays in services and availability from time to time. In the event of a catastrophic event with respect to one or more of our systems, we may experience an extended period of system unavailability, which could negatively impact our relationship with clients and consumers. To operate without interruption, both we and our service providers must guard against:
damage from fire, power loss, natural disasters and other force majeure events outside our control;
communications failures;
software and hardware errors, failures and crashes;
other potential interruptions.
We also rely on computer hardware purchased and software licensed from third parties in order to offer our services. These licenses are generally commercially available on varying terms. However, it is possible that this hardware and software may not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Any loss of the right to use any of this hardware or software could result in delays in the provisioning of our services until equivalent technology is either developed by us, or, if available from third parties, is identified, obtained and integrated.
We exercise limited control over third-party vendors, which increases our vulnerability to problems with technology and information services they provide. Interruptions in our network access and services may in connection with third-party technology and information services reduce our revenue, cause us to issue refunds to clients, subject us to potential liability or adversely affect client renewal rates. Although we maintain a security and privacy damages insurance policy, the coverage under our policies may not be adequate to compensate us for all losses that may occur related to the services provided by our third-party vendors. In addition, we may not be able to continue to obtain adequate insurance coverage at an acceptable cost, if at all.
Our ability to rely on these services of third-party vendors could be impaired as a result of the failure of such providers to comply with applicable laws, regulations and contractual covenants, or as a result of events affecting such providers, such as power loss, telecommunication failures, software or hardware errors, computer viruses, cyber incidents and similar disruptive problems, fire, flood and natural disasters. Any such failure or event could adversely affect our relationships with our clients and damage our reputation. This could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.
If our or our vendors’ security measures fail or are breached and unauthorized access to a client’s data or information systems is obtained, our services may be perceived as insecure, we may incur significant liabilities, our reputation may be harmed, and we could lose sales and clients.
Our services involve the storage and transmission of clients’ and our consumers’ proprietary information, sensitive or confidential data, including valuable intellectual property and personal information of employees, clients, consumers and others, as well as the protected health information (“PHI”), of our consumers. We are subject to laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, retention, security and transfer of this information. Because of the extreme sensitivity of the information we store and transmit, the security features of our and our third-party vendors’ computer, network, and communications systems infrastructure are critical to the success of our business. A breach or failure of our or our third-party vendors’ network, hosted service providers or vendor systems could result from a variety of circumstances and events, including third-party action, employee negligence or error, malfeasance, computer viruses, ransomware, cyber-attacks by computer hackers such as denial-of-service and phishing attacks, failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software and databases, power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors, or catastrophic events. Information security risks have generally increased in recent years because of the proliferation of new technologies and the increased sophistication and activities of perpetrators of cyber-attacks. Hackers and data thieves are increasingly sophisticated and operating large-scale and complex automated attacks, including on companies within the healthcare industry. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to further enhance our information security measures and/or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. If our or our third-party vendors’ security measures fail or are breached, it could result in unauthorized persons accessing sensitive patient or member data (including PHI), a loss of or damage to our data, an inability to access data sources, or process data or provide our services to our clients. Such failures or breaches of our or our third-party vendors’ security measures, or our or our third-party vendors’ inability to effectively resolve such failures or breaches in a timely manner, could severely damage our reputation, adversely affect client, patient, member or investor confidence in us, and reduce the demand for our services from existing and potential clients. In addition, we could face litigation, damages for contract breach, monetary penalties, or regulatory actions for violation of applicable laws or regulations, and incur significant costs for remedial measures to prevent future occurrences and mitigate past violations. Although we maintain insurance covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses, we may not carry insurance or maintain coverage sufficient to compensate for all liability and in any event, insurance coverage would not address the reputational damage that could result from a security incident. Additionally, we cannot be certain that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim.
Data privacy is also subject to frequently changing laws, rules, regulations and standards in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. Such initiatives around the country could increase the cost of developing, implementing or securing our servers and require us to allocate more resources to improved technologies, adding to our IT and compliance costs. Our Board is briefed periodically on cybersecurity and risk management issues by our Chief Information Officer and Head of Legal and we have implemented a number of processes to avoid cyber threats and to protect privacy. However, the processes we have implemented in connection with such initiatives may be insufficient to prevent or detect improper access to confidential, proprietary or sensitive data, including personal data. In addition, the competition for talent in the data privacy and cybersecurity space is intense, and we may be unable to hire, develop or retain suitable talent capable of adequately detecting, mitigating or remediating these risks. Our failure to adhere to, or successfully implement processes in response to, changing legal or regulatory requirements in this area could result in legal liability or damage to our reputation in the marketplace.
Should an attacker gain access to our network, including by way of example, using compromised credentials of an authorized user, we are at risk that the attacker might successfully leverage that access to compromise additional systems and data. Certain measures that could increase the security of our systems, such as data encryption (including data at rest encryption), heightened monitoring and logging, scanning for source code errors or deployment of multi-factor authentication, take significant time and resources to deploy broadly, and such measures may not be deployed in a timely manner or be effective against an attack. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. The inability to implement, maintain and upgrade adequate safeguards could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our information systems must be continually updated, patched and upgraded to protect against known vulnerabilities. The volume of new vulnerabilities has increased markedly, as has the criticality of patches and other remedial measures. The ongoing conflict in Russia and the Ukraine may also result in heightened cybersecurity risk across our networks and platforms. In addition to remediating newly identified vulnerabilities, previously identified vulnerabilities must also be continuously addressed. Accordingly, we are at risk that cyber-attackers exploit these known vulnerabilities before they have been addressed. Due to the large number of systems and platforms that we operate, the increased frequency at which vendors are issuing security patches to their products, the need to test patches and, in some cases coordinate with clients and vendors, before they can be deployed, we continuously face the substantial risk that we cannot deploy patches in a timely manner. We are also dependent on third-party vendors to keep their systems patched and secure in order to protect our information systems and data. Any failure related to these activities and any breach of our information systems could result in significant liability and/or have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and financial condition.
Our proprietary software may not operate properly, which could damage our reputation, give rise to claims against us or divert application of our resources from other purposes.
The Amwell Platform provides our consumers and providers with the ability to, among other things, register for our services; complete, view and edit medical history; request a visit (either scheduled or on demand); and conduct a visit (via video or phone). Proprietary software development is time-consuming, expensive and complex, and may involve unforeseen difficulties. We encounter technical obstacles from time to time, and it is possible that we may discover additional problems that prevent our proprietary applications from operating properly. If our solution does not function reliably or fails to achieve client expectations in terms of performance, clients could assert liability claims against us or attempt to cancel their contracts with us. This could damage our reputation and impair our ability to attract or maintain clients.
Moreover, data services are complex and those we offer have in the past contained, and may in the future develop or contain, undetected defects or errors. Material performance problems, defects or errors in our existing or new software-based products and services may arise in the future and may result from interface of our solution with systems and data that we did not develop and the function of which is outside of our control or undetected in our testing. These defects and errors, and any failure by us to identify and address them, could result in loss of revenue or market share, diversion of development resources, harm to our reputation and increased service and maintenance costs. Defects or errors may discourage existing or potential clients from purchasing our solution from us. Correction of defects or errors could prove to be impossible or impracticable. The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors may be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we cannot implement our solution for clients or resolve any technical issues in a timely manner, we may lose clients and our reputation may be harmed.
Our clients utilize a variety of data formats, applications and information systems and our solution must support our clients’ data formats and integrate with complex enterprise applications and information systems. If the Amwell Platform does not currently support a client’s required data format or appropriately integrate with a client’s applications and information systems, then we must configure the Amwell Platform to do so, which increases our expenses. Additionally, we do not control our clients’ implementation schedules. As a result, if our clients do not allocate the internal resources necessary to meet their implementation responsibilities or if we face unanticipated implementation difficulties, the implementation may be delayed. If the client implementation process is not executed successfully or if execution is delayed, we could incur significant costs, clients could become dissatisfied and decide not to increase utilization of our solution or not to implement our solution beyond an initial term commitment or, in some cases, revenue recognition could be delayed. In addition, competitors with more efficient operating models with lower implementation costs could jeopardize our client relationships.
Our clients depend on our support services to resolve any technical issues relating to our solution and services, and we may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in member demand for support services, particularly as we increase the size of our client, member and patient bases. We also may be unable to modify the format of our support services to compete with changes in support services provided by competitors. It is difficult to predict member demand for technical support services, and if member demand increases significantly, we may be unable to provide satisfactory support services to our consumers. Further, if we are unable to address consumers’ needs in a timely fashion or further develop and enhance our solution, or if a client or member is not satisfied with the quality of work performed by us or with the technical support services rendered, then we could incur additional costs to address the situation or be required to issue credits or refunds for amounts related to unused services, and our profitability may be impaired and clients’ dissatisfaction with our solution could damage our ability to expand the number of software-based products and services purchased by such clients. These clients may not renew their contracts, seek to terminate their relationship with us or renew on less favorable terms. Moreover, negative publicity related to our client relationships, regardless of its accuracy, may further damage our business by affecting our reputation or ability to compete for new business with current and prospective clients. If any of these were to occur, our revenue may decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We may be subject to claims for technology integration problems and warranties.
Our proprietary third party technology solutions, including integration with EHR providers, like Cerner and Epic, or mobile applications utilizing our SDK, are very complex and may contain design, coding or other errors, especially when first introduced. It is possible that providers may discover errors in our software after their introduction to the market. Our software is used not just for telehealth itself but also handling insurance eligibility, medical record access, payment. claims submission, artificial intelligence based chat with patients and training patients on coping with behavioral health issues.
Therefore, users of our software are less tolerant of errors than the market for other types of technologies generally. Our client agreements typically include warranties by the Company confirming the operation of our solution in accordance with specifications. If a software solution fails to meet these warranties or leads to faulty clinical decisions or injury to patients, it could constitute a material breach under the client agreement, allowing the client to terminate the agreement and possibly obtain a refund or damages or both; require us to incur additional expense in order to make the solution meet these criteria; or subject us to claims or litigation by our clients or clinicians or directly by the patient. Additionally, such failures could damage our reputation and could negatively affect future sales. Although we maintain liability insurance coverage, there can be no assurance that such coverage will cover any particular claim that has been brought or that may be brought in the future, that such coverage will prove to be adequate or that such coverage will continue to remain available on acceptable terms, if at all. A successful material claim or series of claims brought against us, if uninsured or under-insured, could materially harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
Any failure to protect, enforce or defend our intellectual property rights could impair our ability to protect our technology and our brand.
Our success depends in part on our ability to maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely upon a combination of patent, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as license and access agreements and other contractual provisions, to protect our patent portfolio as well as other intellectual property rights. These laws, procedures and agreements provide only limited protection and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed, diluted or misappropriated.
We attempt to protect our intellectual property and proprietary information by requiring our employees, consultants and certain of our contractors to execute confidentiality and assignment of inventions agreements. However, we may not obtain these agreements in all circumstances, and individuals with whom we have these agreements may not comply with their terms. The assignment of intellectual property rights under these agreements may not be self-executing or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. In addition, we may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical know-how or other trade secrets by the parties to these agreements despite the existence generally of confidentiality agreements and other contractual restrictions. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. Additionally, if a competitor lawfully obtains or independently develops the technology we maintain as a trade secret, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position.
Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets and proprietary technologies, third parties may gain access to our proprietary information. They may also develop and market solutions similar to ours or use trademarks similar to ours, each of which could materially harm our business. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to copy or obtain and use our technology to develop applications with the same functionality as our solutions, and policing unauthorized use of our technology and intellectual property rights is difficult and may not be effective. The failure to adequately protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we use open-source software in connection with our proprietary software and expect to continue to use open-source software in the future. Some open-source licenses require licensors to provide source code to licensees upon request, or prohibit licensors from charging a fee to licensees. While we try to insulate our proprietary code from the effects of such open-source license provisions, we cannot guarantee we will be successful. Accordingly, we may face claims from others claiming ownership of, or seeking to enforce the license terms applicable to such open-source software, including by demanding release of the open-source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed or distributed with such software. These claims could also result in litigation, require us to purchase a costly license or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our software, any of which would have a negative effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, if the license terms for the open-source code change, we may be forced to re-engineer our software or incur additional costs. We cannot assure you that we have not incorporated open-source software into our proprietary software in a manner that may subject our proprietary software to an open-source license that requires disclosure, to clients or the public, of the source code to such proprietary software. Any such disclosure would have a negative effect on our business and the value of our proprietary software.
Third parties may challenge the validity of our patents and trademarks, or oppose our patent and trademark applications. We may not be able to obtain and enforce additional patents to protect our proprietary rights from use by potential competitors. Companies with other patents could require us to stop using or pay to use required technology.
Our commercial success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection through patents, trademarks, trade secrets and contracts in the United States and other countries with respect to our software and technology. If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property rights, competitors may be able to erode, negate or preempt any competitive advantage we may have, which could harm our business.
We rely on our trademarks, trade name and brand names to distinguish our products and services from the products and services of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand products or services, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands.
We have applied for, and intend to continue to apply for, patents relating to our software and technology. Such applications may not result in the issuance of any patents, and any patents now held or that may be issued may not provide adequate protection from competition. Furthermore, because the issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, patents issued to us have been found to be invalid in the past, and it is possible that patents issued or licensed to us may be challenged successfully and found to be invalid or unenforceable in the future. In that event, any competitive advantage that such patents might provide would be lost. If we are unable to secure or to continue to maintain patent coverage, our technology could become subject to competition from the sale of similar competing products.
Competitors may also be able to design around our patents. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. If these developments were to occur, we could face increased competition. In addition, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patents on our software and technology in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States.
From time to time, patents issued or licensed to us relating to our software and technology may be infringed by the products or processes of others. For example, we are aware of third parties that we believe are infringing certain of our owned patents related to our software and technology. The cost of enforcing patent rights against infringers, if such enforcement is required, could be significant and the time demands could interfere with our normal operations. Efforts to defend our intellectual property rights could incur significant costs and may or may not be resolved in our favor. If we fail to successfully enforce our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could suffer, which could harm our operating results. Regardless of the outcome, the cost and distraction associated with any such enforcement efforts could harm our business.
We could incur substantial costs as a result of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights.
In the future, we could become a party to additional, patent litigation and other infringement proceedings. The cost to us of any patent litigation or other infringement proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our would-be competitors may sustain the costs of such litigation more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources.
In recent years, there has been significant litigation in the United States involving patents and other intellectual property rights. Companies in the Internet and technology industries are increasingly bringing and becoming subject to suits alleging infringement of proprietary rights, particularly patent rights, and our competitors and other third parties may hold patents or have pending patent applications, which could be related to our business. These risks have been amplified by the increase in third parties, which we refer to as non-practicing entities, whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims. Regardless of the merits of any intellectual property litigation, we may be required to expend significant management time and financial resources on the defense of such claims, and any adverse outcome of any such claim or the above referenced review could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We expect that we may receive in the future notices that claim we or our clients using our solution have misappropriated, misused or otherwise infringed other parties’ intellectual property rights, particularly as the number of competitors in our market grows and the functionality of applications amongst competitors overlaps. Any future, litigation, whether or not successful, could be extremely costly to defend, divert our management’s time, attention and resources, damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm our business.
In addition, in most instances, we have agreed to indemnify our clients against certain third-party claims, which may include claims that our solution infringes the intellectual property rights of such third parties. Our business could be adversely affected by any significant disputes between us and our clients as to the applicability or scope of our indemnification obligations to them. The results of any intellectual property litigation to which we may become a party, or for which we are required to provide indemnification, may require us to do one or more of the following:
cease offering or using technologies that incorporate the challenged intellectual property;
obtain a license, which may not be available on reasonable terms, to sell or use the relevant technology; or
redesign technology to avoid infringement.
If we are required to make substantial payments or undertake any of the other actions noted above as a result of any intellectual property infringement claims against us or any obligation to indemnify our clients for such claims, such payments or costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Litigation and Liability
We may become subject to medical liability claims, which could cause us to incur significant expenses and may require us to pay significant damages if not covered by insurance.
Our business entails the risk of medical liability claims against AMG providers and us. Although we and AMG carry insurance covering medical malpractice claims in amounts that we believe are appropriate in light of the risks attendant to our business, successful medical liability claims could result in substantial damage awards that exceed the limits of our and AMG’s insurance coverage. Recently, the provision of mental health services virtually has attracted widespread attention, and several other providers have received regulatory and litigation focus for inappropriate prescriptions of psychiatric medication. While we have not received such focus, any future focus on us could increase claims against us. AMG carries professional liability insurance for itself and each of its healthcare professionals, and we separately carry a professional liability insurance policy, which covers medical malpractice claims and covers our existing subsidiaries. In addition, professional liability insurance is expensive and insurance premiums may increase significantly in the future, particularly as we expand our services. As a result, adequate professional liability insurance may not be available to AMG providers or to us in the future at acceptable costs or at all.
Any claims made against us that are not fully covered by insurance could be costly to defend against, result in substantial damage awards against us and divert the attention of our management and our affiliated medical group from our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any claims may adversely affect our business or reputation.
We could experience losses or liability not covered by insurance.
Our business exposes us to risks that are inherent in the provision of digital care and access to remote, virtual healthcare. If clients or individuals assert liability claims against us, any ensuing litigation, regardless of outcome, could result in a substantial cost to us, divert management’s attention from operations, and decrease market acceptance of our solution. We attempt to limit our liability to clients by contract; however, the limitations of liability set forth in the contracts may not be enforceable or may not otherwise protect us from liability for damages. Additionally, we may be subject to claims that are not explicitly covered by contract. We also maintain general liability coverage; however, this coverage may not continue to be available on acceptable terms, may not be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims against us, and may include larger self-insured retentions or exclusions for certain products. In addition, the insurer might disclaim coverage as to any future claim. A successful claim not fully covered by our insurance could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may become subject, from time to time, to legal proceedings, payer audits, investigations, and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business such as claims brought by our clients in connection with commercial disputes or employment claims made by our current or former associates. Litigation and audits may result in substantial costs and may divert management’s attention and resources, which may substantially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Insurance may not cover such claims, may not provide sufficient payments to cover all of the costs to resolve one or more such claims and may 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, thereby reducing our earnings and leading analysts or potential investors to reduce their expectations of our performance, which could reduce the market price of our stock.
Risks Related to Taxation
Recent changes in U.S. tax laws could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”) was signed into law, which includes implementation of a new corporate alternative minimum tax (the “CAMT”), among other provisions. The CAMT imposes a minimum tax on the adjusted financial statement income (“AFSI”) for “applicable corporations” with average annual AFSI over a three-year period in excess of $1 billion. Although we currently do not believe that we are or are likely to be in the near future subject to the CAMT and thus do not believe that the CAMT will impact our tax results in the near future, there are a number of uncertainties and ambiguities as to the interpretation and application of the CAMT, and it is possible that future growth in our business and AFSI and/or any future guidance with respect to the interpretation and application of the CAMT could result in the CAMT having a material effect on our liability for corporate taxes and our consolidated effective tax rate.
We may not be permitted to file as a consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax and certain state tax purposes.
Under Section 1504(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), we are generally permitted to elect to file a consolidated tax return for U.S. federal income tax purposes with any corporations in which we own at least 80%, by vote and value, of the corporation’s outstanding stock (other than preferred stock meeting certain requirements). Filing a consolidated tax return with our subsidiaries as a consolidated group has certain U.S. federal income tax advantages, including permitting the consolidated group to share certain tax attributes such as net operating losses realized by one or more members of the group, the nonrecognition of income on inter-group dividends, and the ability to defer the recognition of gains on certain intercompany transactions. In addition, similar rules apply in certain states, which permit a corporate groups which meet certain requirements to file state income tax returns on a unitary or similar basis. The ownership of a corporation’s stock for U.S. federal income tax purposes is generally based on the substance of a transaction, rather than the ownership of legal title, based on a determination as to which entity has the benefits and burdens of the ownership of a corporation’s stock.
Because we retain the economic ownership in and control over shares of the PCs, even though we have transferred legal title to the shares of the PCs to Dr. Cynthia Horner, with respect to AMG entities, in order to comply with the laws of the various states in which the PCs were formed and operate, we believe that we are the beneficial owners of the stock of the PCs for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes and thus are entitled to include the PCs in our U.S. federal consolidated income tax return and file a unitary or similar basis in certain states. For further discussion of this structure, see “Item 1. Business—Physicians and Healthcare Professionals.” However, there is no case law or other binding administrative guidance that directly addresses our facts, and it is possible that the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) or a state taxing authority could take the position that we are not the beneficial owner of the stock of the PCs and thus are not entitled to include the PCs in our U.S. federal consolidated income tax return or state unitary or similar tax return, as applicable. There can be no assurance that the IRS or a state taxing authority will not take this position, or that such position would not be sustained if we were to challenge any such position in an administrative appeal or in a court.
If we were not treated as the beneficial owner of the stock of the PCs, and were not entitled to include the PCs in our U.S. federal consolidated income tax return or a state unitary or similar tax return, this could have a material adverse effect on our cash position, tax liabilities, results of operations and financial condition.
Certain U.S. state and local tax authorities may assert that we have a nexus with such states or localities and may seek to impose state and local income taxes on our income allocated to such state and localities.
We file state and local income tax returns in jurisdictions in which we believe we are required to do so. There is a risk that certain state tax authorities where we do not currently file a state income tax return could assert that we are liable for state and local income taxes based upon income or gross receipts allocable to such states or localities. States and localities are becoming increasingly aggressive in asserting nexus for state and local income tax purposes. We could be subject to additional state and local income taxation, including penalties and interest attributable to prior periods, if a state or local tax authority in a state or locality where we do not currently file an income tax return successfully asserts that our activities give rise to nexus for state income tax purposes. Such tax assessments, penalties and interest may adversely affect our cash tax liabilities, results of operations and financial condition.
Taxing authorities may successfully assert that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use or similar taxes for digital care services which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Sales and use and similar tax laws and rates vary greatly from state to state. For 2025, we filed sales and use tax in 48 states. With respect to the remaining states in which we do not collect sales and use or similar taxes, although some of these states consider software-as-a-service to be exempt from sales and use tax or the state does not charge sales and use tax, one or more of the remaining states may assert that we had economic nexus with such state and were required to collect such taxes with respect to past or future services, which could result in tax assessments and penalties and interest. The assertion of such taxes against us for past services, or any requirement that we collect sales taxes on its provision of future services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash tax liabilities, results of operations, and financial condition.
In general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs and certain credit and capital loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income. A Section 382 ownership change generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of our stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately $1,187.0 million of federal NOL carryforwards, $52.9 million of tax effected state NOL carryforwards, $12.9 million and $3.1 of federal and state research and development credit carryforwards, respectively. The federal NOL carryforwards for years before 2018 begin to expire in 2026, the state NOL carryforwards began to expire in 2022 and federal research and development credit carryforwards begin to expire in 2027. Federal NOL carryforwards totaling $958.4 million generated in 2018 and after do not expire and can be carried forward indefinitely. Based on our analysis of changes in the ownership of our stock through December 31, 2025, we do not believe that any such changes prior to such date resulted in significant limitations under Section 382 of the Code on our ability to utilize NOL and credit carryforwards generated prior to that date. However, changes in the ownership of our stock after December 31, 2025, some of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code after such date, which could significantly limit our ability to utilize our existing and future NOL and credit carryforwards arising at any time prior to such ownership change. In addition, certain of our NOLs for years before 2019 may be subject to a separate set of limitations applicable to losses from “separate return years,” which may limit our ability to use such losses against the income of our consolidated group. We have recorded a full valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets attributable to our NOL and our research and development credit carryforwards.
Risks Related to Strategic Initiatives
We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and we may have difficulty integrating any such acquisitions successfully or realizing the anticipated benefits therefrom.
We intend to seek to acquire or invest in businesses, software-based products and services or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our solution, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. We may be unable to identify attractive acquisition or investment opportunities due to, among other things, the intense competition for these transactions. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions or investments, whether or not they are consummated. Even if we are successful in identifying suitable acquisitions or investments, we may be unable to complete them due to, among other things, an inability to obtain in the anticipated timeframe, or at all, any regulatory approvals required to complete proposed acquisitions and other strategic transactions.
If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully, or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
difficulty converting the clients of the acquired business onto the Amwell Platform and our contract terms, including disparities in the revenue, licensing, support or professional services model of the acquired company;
adverse effects to our existing business relationships with business partners and clients as a result of the acquisition;
the potential loss of key employees;
In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which generally must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our results of operations based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
New acquisitions, joint ventures and other transactions may require the commitment of significant capital that would otherwise be directed to investments in our existing business. To pursue acquisitions and other strategic transactions, we may need to raise additional capital in the future, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. In addition to committing capital to complete the acquisitions, substantial capital may be required to operate the acquired businesses following their acquisition. These acquisitions may result in significant financial losses if the intended objectives of the transactions are not achieved.
We may enter into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships with third-parties that may not result in the development of commercially viable solutions or the generation of significant future revenues.
In the ordinary course of our business, we may enter into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances, partnerships or other arrangements to develop products and to pursue new markets. Proposing, negotiating and implementing collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships may be a lengthy and complex process. Other companies, including those with substantially greater financial, marketing, sales, technology or other business resources, may compete with us for these opportunities or arrangements. We may not identify, secure, or complete any such transactions or arrangements in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, on acceptable terms or at all. We have limited institutional knowledge and experience with respect to these business development activities, and we may also not realize the anticipated benefits of any such transaction or arrangement. In particular, these collaborations may not result in the development of products that achieve commercial success or result in significant revenues and could be terminated prior to developing any products. Additionally, we may not own, or may jointly own with a third party, the intellectual property rights in products and other works developed under our collaborations, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships.
Additionally, we may not be in a position to exercise sole decision making authority regarding the transaction or arrangement, which could create the potential risk of creating impasses on decisions, and our future collaborators may have economic or business interests or goals that are, or that may become, inconsistent with our business interests or goals. It is possible that conflicts may arise with our collaborators, such as conflicts concerning the achievement of performance milestones, or the interpretation of significant terms under any agreement, such as those related to financial obligations or the ownership or control of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. If any conflicts arise with any future collaborators, they may act in their self-interest, which may be adverse to our best interest, and they may breach their obligations to us. In addition, we may have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that any future collaborators devote to our or their future products. Disputes between us and our collaborators may result in litigation or arbitration which would increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management. Further, these transactions and arrangements will be contractual in nature and will generally be terminable under the terms of the applicable agreements and, in such event, we may not continue to have rights to the products relating to such transaction or arrangement or may need to purchase such rights at a premium.
We are currently party to, and may enter into future, in-bound intellectual property license agreements. We may not be able to fully protect the intellectual property rights licensed to us or maintain those licenses. Our licensors may retain the right to prosecute and defend the intellectual property rights licensed to us, in which case we would depend on the ability of our licensors to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property protection for the licensed intellectual property. These licensors may determine not to pursue litigation against other companies or may pursue such litigation less aggressively than we would. In addition, such licenses may only provide us with non-exclusive rights, which could allow other third parties, including our competitors, to utilize the licensed intellectual property rights. Further, our in-bound license agreements may impose various diligence, commercialization, royalty or other obligations on us. Our licensors may allege that we have breached our license agreement with them, and accordingly seek to terminate our license, which could adversely affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects.
Risks Related to Government Regulation
Our failure to comply with the anti-corruption, trade compliance and economic sanctions laws and regulations of the United States and applicable international jurisdictions could materially adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.
We must comply with anti-corruption laws and regulations imposed by governments around the world with jurisdiction over our operations, which may include the FCPA in the United States, as well as the laws of the countries where we do business. These laws and regulations apply to companies, individual directors, officers, employees and agents, and may restrict our operations, trade practices, investment decisions and partnering activities. Where they apply, the FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 (the “UK Bribery Act”) prohibit us and our officers, directors, employees and business partners acting on our behalf, including joint venture partners and agents, from corruptly offering, promising, authorizing or providing anything of value to public officials for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. As part of our business, we may deal with governments and state-owned business enterprises, the employees and representatives of which may be considered public officials for purposes of the FCPA.
We also are subject to the jurisdiction of various governments and regulatory agencies around the world, which may bring our personnel and agents into contact with public officials responsible for issuing or renewing permits, licenses or approvals or for enforcing other governmental regulations. In addition, some of the international locations in which we may operate lack a developed legal system and have elevated levels of corruption. Our business also must be conducted in compliance with applicable export controls and trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including those of the U.S. government, the governments of other countries in which we will operate or conduct business and various multilateral organizations. Such laws and regulations include, without limitation, those administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the United Nations Security Council and other relevant sanctions authorities. Our provision of services to persons located outside the United States may be subject to certain regulatory prohibitions, restrictions or other requirements, including certain licensing or reporting requirements. Our provision of services outside of the United States exposes us to the risk of violating, or being accused of violating, anti-corruption, exports controls and trade compliance and economic sanctions laws and regulations. Our failure to successfully comply with these laws and regulations may expose us to reputational harm as well as significant sanctions, including criminal fines, imprisonment, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, injunctions and suspension or debarment from government contracts, as well as other remedial measures. Investigations of alleged violations can be expensive and disruptive. Though we have implemented an anti-corruption policy as well as formal training and monitoring programs, we cannot assure compliance by our employees or representatives for which we may be held responsible, and any such violation could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to conduct digital care services in a particular jurisdiction is directly dependent upon the applicable laws governing remote care, the practice of medicine and healthcare delivery in general in such location, which are subject to changing political, regulatory and other influences. With respect to digital care services, in the past, state medical boards have established new rules or interpreted existing rules in a manner that has limited or restricted our ability to conduct our business as it was conducted in other states. Some of these actions have resulted in the suspension or modification of our digital care operations in certain states. However, the extent to which a jurisdiction considers particular actions or relationships to comply with the applicable standard of care is subject to change and to evolving interpretations by (in the case of U.S. states) medical boards and state attorneys general, among others, each with broad discretion. Accordingly, we must monitor our compliance with law in every jurisdiction in which we operate, on an ongoing basis, and we cannot provide assurance that our activities and arrangements, if challenged, will be found to be in compliance with the law. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the relaxation of certain Medicare, Medicaid and state licensure restrictions on the delivery of digital care services, it is uncertain how long the relaxed policies will remain in effect. However, although many of the executive orders have expired, several states have made permanent changes to their telehealth requirements, which in most cases will result in increased access to telehealth services. Most of the federal waivers have been extended through December 31, 2027.
Additionally, it is possible that the laws and rules governing the practice of medicine and the practice of pharmacy, including remote care, in one or more jurisdictions may change in a manner deleterious to our business. For instance, a few states have imposed different, and, in some cases, additional, standards regarding the provision of services via digital care. Some states impose strict standards on using digital care to prescribe certain classes of controlled substances that can be commonly used to treat behavioral health disorders. The unpredictability of this regulatory landscape means that sudden changes in policy regarding standards of care and reimbursement are possible. If a successful legal challenge or an adverse change in the relevant laws were to occur, and we or our affiliated medical group were unable to adapt our business model accordingly, our operations in the affected jurisdictions would be disrupted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are dependent on our relationships with affiliated professional entities, which we do not own, to provide physician services, and our business would be adversely affected if those relationships were disrupted.
There is a risk that authorities in some jurisdictions may find that our contractual relationships with AMG and AMG’s physicians providing digital care violate laws prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine or fee-splitting. These laws generally prohibit the practice of medicine by or sharing of professional fees with lay persons or entities and are intended to prevent unlicensed persons or entities from interfering with or inappropriately influencing the physician’s professional judgment. Generally, we are prohibited from exercising control over the medical judgments or decisions of physicians or engaging in certain financial arrangements, such as splitting professional fees with physicians. The extent to which each state considers particular actions or contractual relationships to constitute improper influence of professional judgment varies across the states and is subject to change and to evolving interpretations by state boards of medicine and state attorneys general, among others. As such, we must monitor our compliance with laws in every jurisdiction in which we operate on an ongoing basis and we cannot guarantee that subsequent interpretation of the corporate practice of medicine laws will not circumscribe our business operations. The enforcement of state corporate practice of medicine doctrines may result in the imposition of penalties on physicians themselves for aiding the corporate practice of medicine, which could discourage physicians from participating in our network of providers.
The corporate practice of medicine prohibition exists in some form, by statute, regulation, board of medicine or attorney general guidance, or case law, in more than 40 states, all of which we operate in, though the broad variation between state application and enforcement of the doctrine makes an exact count difficult. Due to the prevalence of the corporate practice of medicine doctrine, including in the states where we predominantly conduct our business, we provide administrative and management services to entities associated with AMG pursuant to which those entities reserve exclusive control and responsibility for all aspects of the practice of medicine and the delivery of medical services. We do not own our AMG-affiliated entities. For example, AMG affiliated entities are owned by Dr. Cynthia Horner, our Chief Medical Officer. We in turn contract with these entities through business support agreements and direct transfer agreements for the provision of health care services and the receipt of fees. For further discussion of this structure, see “Item 1. Business—Physicians and Healthcare Professionals.” While we expect that these relationships will continue, we cannot guarantee that they will. A material change in our relationship with AMG, whether resulting from a dispute among the entities, a change in government regulation, or the loss of these affiliations, could impair our ability to provide services to our consumers and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, the arrangement in which we have entered to comply with state corporate practice of medicine doctrines could subject us to additional scrutiny by federal and state regulatory bodies regarding federal and state fraud and abuse laws. Any scrutiny, investigation, or litigation with regard to our arrangement with AMG could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, particularly if we are unable to restructure our operations and arrangements to comply with applicable laws or we are required to restructure at a significant cost, or if we were subject to penalties or other adverse action.
Evolving government regulations may result in increased costs or adversely affect our results of operations.
In a regulatory climate that is uncertain, our operations may be subject to direct and indirect adoption, expansion or reinterpretation of various laws and regulations. Compliance with these future laws and regulations may require us to change our practices at an undeterminable and possibly significant initial monetary and recurring expense. These additional monetary expenditures may increase future overhead, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
We have identified what we believe are the areas of government regulation that, if changed, would be costly to us. These include: rules governing the practice of medicine by physicians; laws relating to licensure requirements for physicians and other licensed health professionals; laws limiting the corporate practice of medicine and professional fee-splitting; laws governing the issuances of prescriptions in an online setting; cybersecurity and privacy laws; and laws and rules relating to the distinction between independent contractors and employees. There could be laws and regulations applicable to our business that we have not identified or that, if changed, may be costly to us, and we cannot predict all the ways in which implementation of such laws and regulations may affect us.
In the jurisdictions in which we operate, even where we believe we are in compliance with all applicable laws, due to the uncertain regulatory environment, certain jurisdictions may determine that we are in violation of their laws. In the event that we must remedy such violations, we may be required to modify our services and products in a manner that undermines our solution’s attractiveness to our clients, consumers or providers or experts, we may become subject to fines or other penalties or, if we determine that the requirements to operate in compliance in such jurisdictions are overly burdensome, we may elect to terminate our operations in such places. In each case, our revenue may decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Additionally, the introduction of new services may require us to comply with additional, yet undetermined, laws and regulations. Compliance may require obtaining appropriate licenses or certificates, increasing our security measures and expending additional resources to monitor developments in applicable rules and ensure compliance. The failure to adequately comply with these future laws and regulations may delay or possibly prevent some of our products or services from being offered to clients, or their members and patients, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We conduct business in a heavily regulated industry and if we fail to comply with these laws and government regulations, we could incur penalties or be required to make significant changes to our operations or experience adverse publicity, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The U.S. healthcare industry is heavily regulated and closely scrutinized by federal and state governments. Comprehensive statutes and regulations govern the manner in which we provide and bill for services and collect reimbursement from governmental programs and private payers, our contractual relationships with AMG and its corresponding relationship with its providers, vendors and clients, our marketing activities and other aspects of our operations. Of particular importance are:
the federal physician self-referral law, commonly referred to as the Stark Law, that, unless one of the statutory or regulatory exceptions apply, prohibits physicians from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients to an entity for the provision of certain “designated health services” if the physician or a member of such physician’s immediate family has a direct or indirect financial relationship (including an ownership interest or a compensation arrangement) with the entity, and prohibit the entity from billing Medicare or Medicaid for such designated health services;
the federal Anti-Kickback Statute that prohibits the knowing and willful offer, payment, solicitation or receipt of any bribe, kickback, rebate or other remuneration for referring an individual, in return for ordering, leasing, purchasing or recommending or arranging for or to induce the referral of an individual or the ordering, purchasing or leasing of items or services covered, in whole or in part, by any federal healthcare program, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Remuneration has been interpreted broadly to be anything of value, and could include compensation, discounts, or free marketing services. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act;
the criminal healthcare fraud provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), and their implementing regulations, which we collectively refer to as HIPAA, and related rules that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing a scheme or artifice to defraud any healthcare benefit program or falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any material false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation;
HIPAA, which also imposes certain regulatory and contractual requirements regarding the privacy, security and transmission of PHI;
the federal False Claims Act that imposes civil and criminal liability on individuals or entities that knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims for payment to the government or knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false statement in order to have a false claim paid, including qui tam or whistleblower suits;
the federal Civil Monetary Law prohibits, among other things, the offering or transfer of remuneration to a Medicare or state healthcare program beneficiary if the person knows or should know it is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner, or supplier of services reimbursable by Medicare or a state healthcare program, unless an exception applies;
similar state law provisions pertaining to Anti-Kickback, self-referral and false claims issues, some of which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third party payer, including commercial insurers or services paid out-of-pocket by patients;
state laws that prohibit general business corporations, such as us, from practicing medicine, controlling physicians’ medical decisions or engaging in some practices such as splitting fees with physicians;
the Federal Trade Commission Act and federal and state consumer protection, advertisement and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that could potentially harm consumers;
federal and state laws and policies that require healthcare providers to maintain licensure, certification or accreditation to provide physician and other professional services, to enroll and participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to report certain changes in their operations to the agencies that administer these programs, as well as state insurance laws.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the need to fit certain activities within one of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Achieving and sustaining compliance with these laws may prove costly. Failure to comply with these laws and other laws can result in civil and criminal penalties such as fines, damages, overpayment recoupment, loss of enrollment status and exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The risk of our being found in violation of these laws and regulations is increased by the fact that many of them have not been fully interpreted by the regulatory authorities or the courts, and their provisions are sometimes open to a variety of interpretations. Our failure to accurately anticipate the application of these laws and regulations to our business or any other failure to comply with regulatory requirements could create liability for us and negatively affect our business. Any action against us for violation of these laws or regulations, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses, divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business and result in adverse publicity.
To enforce compliance with the federal laws, the U.S. Department of Justice and the OIG, have continued their scrutiny of healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Dealing with investigations can be time- and resource-consuming and can divert management’s attention from the business. Any such investigation or settlement could increase our costs or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, because of the potential for large monetary exposure under the federal False Claims Act, healthcare providers often resolve allegations without admissions of liability for significant and material amounts to avoid the uncertainty of treble damages that may be awarded in litigation proceedings. Such settlements often contain additional compliance and reporting requirements as part of a consent decree, settlement agreement or corporate integrity agreement. Given the significant size of actual and potential settlements, it is expected that the government will continue to devote substantial resources to investigating healthcare providers’ compliance with the healthcare reimbursement rules and fraud and abuse laws.
Our ability to conduct digital care services internationally is subject to the applicable laws governing remote care and the practice of medicine in such location, and the interpretation of these laws is evolving and varies significantly from country to county and are enforced by governmental, judicial and regulatory authorities with broad discretion. We cannot be certain that our interpretation of such laws and regulations are correct in how we structure our operations, our arrangements with physicians, services agreements and client arrangements.
The laws, regulations and standards governing the provision of healthcare services may change significantly in the future. We cannot assure you that any new or changed healthcare laws, regulations or standards will not materially adversely affect our business. We cannot assure you that a review of our business by judicial, law enforcement, regulatory or accreditation authorities will not result in a determination that could adversely affect our operations.
Our use and disclosure of personally identifiable information, including PHI, personal data, and other health information, is subject to state, federal and foreign privacy and security regulations, and our failure to comply with those regulations or to adequately secure the information we hold could result in significant liability or reputational harm and, in turn, a material adverse effect on our client base, member and patient bases and revenue.
The privacy and security of personally identifiable information (“PII”) stored, maintained, received or transmitted electronically is a major issue in the United States and abroad. While we strive to comply with all applicable privacy and security laws and regulations, as well as our own posted privacy policies, legal standards for privacy, including but not limited to “unfairness” and “deception,” as enforced by the FTC and state attorneys general, continue to evolve and any failure or perceived failure to comply may result in proceedings or actions against us by government entities or others, or could cause us to lose clients, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Recently, there has been an increase in public awareness of privacy issues in the wake of revelations about the activities of various government agencies and in the number of private privacy-related lawsuits filed against companies. Any allegations about our practices with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of personally identifiable information or other privacy-related matters, even if unfounded and even if we are in compliance with applicable laws, could damage our reputation and harm our business.
For example, we send short message service, or SMS, text messages to potential end users who are eligible to use our service through certain clients and partners. While we obtain consent from or on behalf of these individuals to send text messages, federal or state regulatory authorities or private litigants may claim that the notices and disclosures we provide, form of consents we obtain or our SMS texting practices, are not adequate. These SMS texting campaigns are potential sources of risk for class action lawsuits and liability for our company. Numerous class-actions suits under federal and state laws have been filed in the past year against companies who conduct SMS texting programs, with many resulting in multi-million-dollar settlements to the plaintiffs. Any future such litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend.
We also publish statements to our clients and clients that describe how we handle and protect personal information. If federal or state regulatory authorities or private litigants consider any portion of these statements to be untrue, we may be subject to claims of deceptive practices, which could lead to significant liabilities and consequences, including, without limitation, costs of responding to investigations, defending against litigation, settling claims and complying with regulatory or court orders. FTC and HHS enforcement actions and class-actions suits under federal and state laws have been filed in the past year against healthcare companies alleged to have failed to protect personal information. Any such litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend.
Numerous foreign, federal and state laws and regulations govern collection, dissemination, use and confidentiality of personally identifiable health information, including (i) state privacy and confidentiality laws (including state laws requiring disclosure of breaches); (ii) HIPAA; and (iii) European and other foreign data protection laws.
HIPAA establishes a set of basic national privacy and security standards for the protection of PHI, by health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers, referred to as covered entities, and the business associates with whom such covered entities contract for services, which includes us. We are considered a business associate under HIPAA; AMG is considered a covered entity.
HIPAA requires healthcare entities like us to develop and maintain policies and procedures with respect to PHI that is used or disclosed, including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information. HIPAA also implemented the use of standard transaction code sets and standard identifiers that covered entities must use when submitting or receiving certain electronic healthcare transactions, including activities associated with the billing and collection of healthcare claims.
Violations of HIPAA may result in significant civil and criminal penalties. HIPAA also authorizes state attorneys general to file suit on behalf of their residents. While HIPAA does not create a private right of action allowing individuals to sue us in civil court for violations of HIPAA, its standards have been used as the basis for duty of care in state civil suits such as those for negligence or recklessness in the misuse or breach of PHI. Any such penalties or lawsuits could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In addition, HIPAA mandates that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) conduct periodic compliance audits of HIPAA covered entities or business associates for compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards. It also tasks HHS with establishing a methodology whereby harmed individuals who were the victims of breaches of unsecured PHI may receive a percentage of the Civil Monetary Penalty fine paid by the violator.
Further, the U.S. federal government and various states and governmental agencies have adopted or are considering adopting various laws, regulations, rules and standards regarding the collection, use, retention, security, disclosure, transfer and other processing of sensitive and personal information. For example, the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act imposes restrictive requirements regulating the use and disclosure of health information and other personally identifiable information, and the California Privacy Rights Act increases privacy rights for California residents and imposes obligations on companies that process their personal information. Where state laws are more protective than HIPAA, we have to comply with the stricter provisions. Violations of these laws could result in significant fines and penalties, and, if these laws afford private rights of action to individuals, data breach litigation.
There are numerous foreign laws, regulations, rules, standards and directives regarding privacy and the collection, storage, transmission, use, processing, disclosure and protection of PII and other personal or client data, the scope of which is continually evolving and subject to differing interpretations. If we provide digital care services outside the United States, we must comply with such laws, regulations and directives and we may be subject to significant consequences, including penalties and fines, for our failure to comply. For example, we must comply with GDPR and the applicable national data protection laws in the European Union and the UK GDPR in the United Kingdom. The GDPR and the UK GDPR may increasingly diverge from each other, exposing us to additional compliance obligations. Further, European data protection law also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the EEA to the United States, which could affect our ability to efficiently process personal data from the EEA. These obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other requirements or our practices.
In addition, there are a growing number of state, federal and foreign laws and regulations regarding the development and use of artificial intelligence that may apply to health and digital care services. For example, cross-sectoral laws such as the Colorado AI Act and EU AI Act regulate “high-risk” AI systems, including systems which make significant decisions related to healthcare and insurance. Healthcare-specific AI laws regulate use of AI in delivery of healthcare services, including requirements for transparency and consent. Where applicable to our business practices we must comply with such laws, regulations and directives and we may be subject to significant consequences, including penalties and fines, for our failure to comply.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of their exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that our business activities can be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform. For example, because of increasing concerns about health information privacy, through guidance documents, some government agencies are taking a newly expansive view of the scope of information subject to the laws and regulations that they enforce. Federal, state and foreign enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Any such investigations, prosecutions, convictions or settlements could result in significant financial penalties, damage to our brand and reputation, and a loss of clients, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business.
State, federal and foreign privacy and security laws and regulations are constantly evolving and our failure to comply with such changes could result in significant liability or reputational harm and, in turn, a material adverse effect on our client base, patient and members bases and revenue.
Various federal, state and foreign legislative or regulatory bodies may enact new or additional laws and regulations concerning privacy, data-retention and data-protection issues, including laws or regulations mandating disclosure to domestic or international law enforcement bodies, which could adversely impact our business, our brand or our reputation with clients. For example, some countries have adopted laws mandating that PII regarding clients in their country be maintained solely in their country. Having to maintain local data centers and redesign product, service and business operations to limit PII processing to within individual countries could increase our operating costs significantly.
In addition, any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security or disclosure of our users’ content, or regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of users for the collection, use, retention or disclosure of such content is obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete and may limit our ability to store and process user data or develop new services and features. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Because of the extreme sensitivity of the PII and PHI we store and transmit, the security features of the Amwell Platform and software as a service are very important. If our security measures, some of which are managed by third parties, are breached or fail, unauthorized persons may be able to obtain access to sensitive client and member data, including PHI. As a result, our reputation could be severely damaged, adversely affecting client and member confidence. Consumers may curtail their use of or stop using our services or our client base could decrease, which would cause our business to suffer. In addition, we could face litigation, damages for contract breach, penalties and regulatory actions for violation of HIPAA and other applicable laws or regulations and significant costs for remediation, notification to individuals and for measures to prevent future occurrences. Any potential security breach could also result in increased costs associated with liability for stolen assets or information, repairing system damage that may have been caused by such breaches, incentives offered to clients or other business partners in an effort to maintain our business relationships after a breach and implementing measures to prevent future occurrences, including organizational changes, deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, training employees and engaging third-party experts and consultants. While we maintain insurance covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses, we may not carry insurance or maintain coverage sufficient to compensate for all liability and in any event, insurance coverage would not address the reputational damage that could result from a security incident.
We outsource important aspects of the storage and transmission of client and member information, and thus rely on third parties to manage functions that have material cyber-security risks. We attempt to address these risks by requiring outsourcing subcontractors who handle client and member information to sign agreements contractually requiring those subcontractors to adequately safeguard PII and PHI to the same extent that applies to us and in some cases by requiring such outsourcing subcontractors to undergo third-party security examinations. In addition, we periodically hire third-party security experts to assess and test our security posture. However, we cannot assure you that these contractual measures and other safeguards will adequately protect us from the risks associated with the storage and transmission of client and consumers’ proprietary and protected health information.
Due to applicable laws and regulations or contractual obligations, we may be held responsible for any information security failure or cyber-attack attributed to our vendors as they relate to the information we share with them. In addition, because we do not control our vendors and our ability to monitor their data security is limited, we cannot ensure the security measures they take will be sufficient to protect confidential, proprietary, or sensitive data, including personal data. We are at risk of a cyber-attack involving a vendor or other third party, which could result in a breakdown of such third party’s data protection processes or the cyber-attackers gaining access to our information systems or data through the third party. Regardless of whether an actual or perceived cyber-attack is attributable to us or our vendors, such an incident could, among other things, result in improper disclosure of information, harm our reputation and brand, reduce the demand for our products and services, lead to loss of client confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, disrupt normal business operations or result in our systems or products and services being unavailable. In addition, it may require us to spend material resources to investigate or correct the breach and to prevent future security breaches and incidents, expose us to uninsured liability, increase our risk of regulatory scrutiny, expose us to legal liabilities, including litigation, regulatory enforcement, indemnity obligations or damages for contract breach, divert the attention of management from the operation of our business and cause us to incur significant costs, any of which could affect our financial condition, operating results and our reputation. Moreover, there could be public announcements regarding any such incidents and any steps we take to respond to or remediate such incidents, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these announcements to be negative, it could, among other things, have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock. In addition, our remediation efforts may not be successful and any failure related to these activities could result in significant liability and/or have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and financial condition.
The multiple class structure of our common stock and the ownership of Class B common stock by our Founders will have the effect of concentrating voting control with our Founders for the foreseeable future, which will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters.
For so long as any shares of our Class B common stock remain outstanding, our Founders will at all times hold at least 51% of the voting power of the voting stock of the Company. As a result, our Founders, as the holders of Class B common stock, collectively will continue to control a majority of the total combined voting power of our outstanding common stock and therefore be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including elections for directors, mergers or acquisitions, asset sales and other significant transactions, so long as the Class B common stock remain outstanding. Even in the event that one of our Founders converts all or a portion of his shares of Class B common stock into shares of Class A common stock, the Class B common stock held by one or both or our Founders outstanding after such conversion would still be entitled to 51% of the voting power of the voting stock of the Company for so long as any Class B shares remain outstanding, subject to the conditions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, while the Founder who converted his shares into shares of Class A common stock, together with the Class C shares in the case of votes other than for directors, would dilute the relative voting power of existing holders of Class A common stock as his Class A common stock would be entitled to a pro rata portion of the 49% vote to which the Class A common shares, together with the Class C shares in the case of votes other than for directors, are entitled. In this circumstance, the Founders would be entitled to more than 51% of the voting power of our common stock. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future. For example, our Founders will be able to control the amendments of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or by-laws, increases to the number of shares available for issuance under our equity incentive plans or adoption of new equity incentive plans and approval of any merger or sale of assets for the foreseeable future. This control may materially adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Additionally, the Founders, the holders of our Class B common stock may cause us to make strategic decisions or pursue acquisitions that could involve risks to you or which may not be aligned with your interests. The holders of our Class B common stock will also be entitled to a separate vote in the event we seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation in a manner that adversely affects the holders of our Class B common stock.
Finally, as noted above, any conversion of existing shares of Class B or Class C common stock would dilute the relative voting power of all holders of shares of Class A common stock. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had 1,647,295 shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon conversion of Class B and Class C common stock. To the extent that the holders of Class B or Class C common stock convert their shares, your proportional vote out of the 49% vote to which the Class A shares (together with the Class C shares, in the case of votes other than for directors) are entitled while shares of Class B common stock remain outstanding will be diluted.
Our multiple class structure may depress the trading price or liquidity of our Class A common stock.
Our multiple class structure may result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers restrict companies with multiple class share structures in certain of their indexes. In addition, several stockholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of dual or multiple class structures. As a result, the multiple class structure of our common stock may prevent the inclusion of our Class A common stock in these indices and may cause stockholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. The difference in the voting rights of our Class A, Class B and Class C common stock could harm the value of our Class A common stock to the extent that any investor or potential future purchaser of our Class A common stock ascribes value to the right of holders of our Class B common stock to hold at all times 51% of our voting power. The existence of multiple classes of common stock could also result in less liquidity for our Class A common stock than if there were only one class of our common stock.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws and Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company and may affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated by-laws include a number of provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us that stockholders may consider favorable. For example, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws collectively:
authorize three classes of common stock with disparate voting power, the Class A common stock that is listed on the NYSE, the Class B common stock that provide the holders thereof with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even though such holders own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding Class A, Class B and Class C common stock, and the Class C common stock that do not have a vote on director elections;
authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to prevent a takeover attempt;
authorize the classification of our Board of Directors into separate classes of directors to be elected on a staggered basis;
prohibit stockholder action by written consent, thereby requiring all actions to be taken at a duly called meeting of the stockholders;
require the approval of holders of at least 75% of the total combined voting power of the outstanding shares of our common stock to amend our amended and restated by-laws and certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation; and
provide for 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 stockholders’ meeting, 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 may prevent our stockholders from receiving the benefit from any premium to the market price of our Class A common stock offered by a bidder in a takeover context. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock if the provisions are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts in the future.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws may also make it difficult for stockholders to replace or remove our management. Furthermore, the existence of the foregoing provisions, as well as the significant voting power that our Founders hold, could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock. These provisions may facilitate management and board entrenchment that may delay, deter, render more difficult or prevent a change in our control, which may not be in the best interests of our stockholders.
We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE rules and, as a result, we qualify for, and may in the future rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Our Founders hold 51% of the total combined voting power of our outstanding common stock. Accordingly, we qualify as a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE corporate governance standards. Under NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain NYSE corporate governance standards, including:
the requirement that a majority of the members of our board of directors be independent directors; and
the requirement that our compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee be composed entirely of independent directors.
We do not currently rely on these exemptions. However, we could elect to rely on them in the future. Consequently, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of NYSE corporate governance rules and requirements. Our status as a controlled company could make our Class A common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our stock price.
The provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requiring exclusive forum in certain courts in the State of Delaware or the federal district courts of the United States for certain types of lawsuits may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or stockholders to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine will have to be brought in a state court located within the state of Delaware (or if no state court of the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware), in all cases subject to the court’s having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants. The foregoing provision does not apply to claims arising under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or other federal securities laws for which there is exclusive federal or concurrent federal and state jurisdiction
Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.
Although we believe these exclusive forum provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws in the types of lawsuits to which each applies, the exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Further, in the event a court finds either exclusive forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be unenforceable or inapplicable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
The price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and fluctuate substantially.
Our stock price has been volatile in the past and may continue to be volatile in the future. The stock market has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price for our Class A common stock may be influenced by many factors, including, but not limited to:
the success of competitive products or technologies;
developments related to our existing or any future collaborations;
the recruitment or departure of key personnel;
general economic, industry and market conditions; and
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock. As of January 30, 2026, we had outstanding 14,904,513 shares of Class A common stock, 1,369,518 shares of Class B common stock and 277,777 shares of Class C common stock. Moreover, certain stockholders have rights, subject to specified conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. We have also registered all shares of Class A common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans, which can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates.
The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If analysts who cover us issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding us, our business model, our intellectual property or our stock performance, or if our results of operations fail to meet the expectations of analysts, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation will be your sole source of gain, if any.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our Class A common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.