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Fortinet Inc

For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 21, 2025.

View on SEC.gov

About this filing

A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2024 · Filed Feb 21, 2025

FTNT$122.47+3.1%Stored close · as of Nov 9, 2026

What changed in Risk Factors?

Read the current filing

Previous report: 10-K

Period ended 2023-12-31; filed 2024-02-26.

0001262039-24-000014

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Current report: 10-K

Period ended 2024-12-31; filed 2025-02-21.

0001262039-25-000011

Item 1A. Risk Factors

The baseline is this issuer’s latest earlier reporting period of the same form that was filed before the current report. A previous 10-Q is a different quarter, not a year-over-year comparison. Amendments are excluded.

Compared 359 previous paragraphs and 371 current paragraphs.

262 unchanged; 87 reworded; 12 added; 10 removed; 0 previous and 10 current paragraphs rearranged.

Tables are not compared: 0 previous and 0 current tables excluded. Dates, whitespace, punctuation and numbering changes are ignored; changes to financial figures remain significant.

A changed paragraph is not evidence that risk increased or decreased. An unchanged paragraph does not establish that risk stayed the same.

Added paragraphs (12)

Current report

•our backlog may fluctuate over quarters. If we experience supply chain shortages and cannot fulfill orders or if customers cancel or delay delivery of orders, our backlog may be affected, which will negatively impact our aggregate backlog to billings conversion and revenue in such quarter. A reduction to backlog increases our aggregate billings and revenue during the quarter when delivered;

Current report

•as the supply chain challenges normalize, our product revenue growth rate may be lower versus prior quarters where delivery from backlog contributed more to billings. For fiscal year 2024, the comparably lower backlog contribution to billings resulted in decreased year-over-year quarterly growth rates;

Current report

•defects or vulnerabilities, including critical vulnerabilities, in our products or services, as well as reputational harm from the failure or misuse of our products or services, and any actual or perceived defects or vulnerabilities, including critical vulnerabilities, in our products or services, failure of our products or services to detect or prevent a security incident or to cause a disruption to operations, failure of our customers to implement preventative actions such as updates to one of our deployed solutions or failure to help secure our customers;

Current report

•inconsistent and evolving data and other security requirements and enforcement across certain jurisdictions;

Current report

•unexpected lack of power access or unexpected increases in power needs;

Current report

•investor expectations regarding sustainability;

Current report

•greater expertise in certain single point solutions;

Current report

We periodically implement new sales compensation plans, which may change the method, amount and timing for sales-based compensation for our sales personnel. If we are not successful in implementing new sales compensation plans, or members of our sales team react negatively to such new plans, this may negatively impact our ability to execute and grow sales and we may be unable to hire, retain and motivate qualified sales personnel.

Current report

Risks Related to Our Products and Services, Industry and Customers

Current report

False positive detection of legitimate non-malicious files as viruses or malware or false identification of legitimate emails as spam, could adversely affect our business.

Current report

The use of AI technology in our IT infrastructure could improve internal process but poses security and privacy risks.

Current report

The adoption of AI in internal processes presents an opportunity to bolster decision making, productivity and customer satisfaction, but the new technology poses risks. AI can be exploited by hackers and malicious actors to develop advanced cyberattacks, bypass security measures, and exploit system vulnerabilities. The use of AI involves handling large amounts of data. If the security measures around the usage of AI are insufficient, there’s risk of data breaches, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information. Failure to comply with data protection regulations (such as GDPR or the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) and DORA) can result in legal consequences. The intellectual property risks associated with AI include uncertainties around the ownership of AI-generated works, potential infringement of existing patents and copyrights, unauthorized use of third-party data, and exposure of proprietary algorithms or trade secrets. Dependence on AI systems or AI vendors means that any downtime or outages can disrupt business operations. Usage of our confidential data to train the AI models by us or our vendors, could result in legal risk, especially if it involves customer data. Other risks that have been observed in AI models and documented, include risks related to bias, discrimination, job displacements, and violating human rights.
Removed paragraphs (10)

Previous report

•based on supply chain shortages, including component and other shortages, our backlog has fluctuated over past quarters and any decrease in growth or negative growth of in-quarter billings and revenue may not be reflected by our aggregate billings and revenue. As we have fulfilled, shipped and billed during a quarter to satisfy backlog, this has increased our aggregate billings and revenue during any particular quarter, and as the supply chain challenges normalize, the growth comparisons versus prior quarters where backlog contributed more to billings have become more challenging and may become increasingly challenging;

Previous report

•the effects of our reduction of operations in Russia;

Previous report

•any actual or perceived vulnerabilities in our products or services, and any actual or perceived breach of our network or our customers’ networks;

Previous report

•data security requirements that may be inconsistently enforced in certain jurisdictions;

Previous report

•unexpected lack of power access;

Previous report

•investor expectations regarding ESG;

Previous report

•instability in the global banking system;

Previous report

Risks Related to Our Industry, Customers, Products and Services

Previous report

False detection of vulnerabilities, viruses or security incidents or false identification of spam or spyware could adversely affect our business.

Previous report

Linksys sells predominantly into the consumer Wi-Fi market, and its sales have declined since our investment. Because we are accounting for our Linksys investment using the equity method of accounting, we are required to assess the investment for other-than-temporary impairment (“OTTI”) when events or circumstances suggest that the carrying amount of the investment may be impaired. We have analyzed whether there should be an OTTI of the value of our investment in Linksys and during the three months ended December 31, 2022 we recorded an OTTI charge of $22.2 million. In evaluating OTTI, we considered factors such as Linksys’ financial results and operating history, our ability and intent to hold the investment until its fair value recovers, the implied revenue valuation multiples compared to guideline public companies, Linksys’ ability to achieve milestones and any notable operational and strategic changes. We intend to continue to analyze our investment in Linksys to determine whether any further impairment is appropriate. If any further decline in fair value is determined to be other-than-temporary, we will adjust the carrying value of the investment to its fair value and record the impairment expense in our consolidated statements of income. The cost basis of the investment is not adjusted for subsequent recoveries in fair value. We may experience additional volatility to our statements of operations due to the underlying operating results of Linksys or impairments of our Linksys investment. This volatility could be material to our results in any given quarter and may cause our stock price to decline.
Reworded paragraphs (87)

Previous wording

•economic conditions, including macroeconomic and regional economic challenges resulting, for example, from a recession or other economic downturn, increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, tensions between China and Taiwan, or other factors;

Current wording

•economic conditions, including macroeconomic and regional economic challenges resulting, for example, from a recession, tariffs or other economic downturn, increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, changing interest rates, the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and Taiwan, or other factors;

Previous wording

•sales strategy, productivity and execution, and our ability to attract and retain new end-customers or sell additional products and services to our existing end-customers, including customer demand for platform solutions like ours versus point solutions;

Current wording

•sales strategy, productivity, retention and execution, and our ability to attract and retain new end-customers or sell additional products and services to our existing end-customers, including customer demand for platform solutions like ours versus point solutions;

Previous wording

•component shortages, including chips and other components, and product inventory shortages, including those caused by factors outside of our control, such as epidemics and pandemics, supply chain disruptions, inflation and other cost increases, international trade disputes or tariffs, natural disasters, health emergencies, power outages, civil unrest, labor disruption, international conflicts, terrorism, wars, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, and critical infrastructure attacks;

Current wording

•component shortages, including chips and other components, and product inventory shortages, including those caused by factors outside of our control, such as epidemics and pandemics, supply chain disruptions, inflation and other cost increases, international trade disputes or tariffs, natural disasters, health emergencies, power outages, civil unrest, labor disruption, international conflicts, terrorism, wars, such as the war in Ukraine and critical infrastructure attacks;

Previous wording

•inventory management, including future inventory purchase order commitments;

Current wording

•inventory management, including future inventory purchase commitments;

Previous wording

•the level of demand for our products and services, which may render forecasts inaccurate, increase backlog or future inventory purchase order commitments and lead to price decreases;

Current wording

•the level of demand for our products and services, which may render forecasts inaccurate, increase backlog or future inventory purchase commitments and lead to price decreases;

Previous wording

•the timing of channel partner and end-customer orders and our reliance on a concentration of shipments at the end of each quarter;

Current wording

•the timing of channel partner and end-customer orders and our reliance on a concentration of shipments at the end of each quarter or changes in shipping terms;

Previous wording

•the impact to our business, the global economy, disruption of global supply chains and creation of significant volatility and disruption of the financial markets due to factors such as increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, increasing or decreasing interest rates, the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war and other factors;

Current wording

•the impact to our business, the global economy, disruption of global supply chains and creation of significant volatility and disruption of the financial markets due to factors such as increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, changing interest rates, the war in Ukraine and other factors;

Previous wording

•increased expenses, unforeseen liabilities or write-downs and any negative impact on results of operations from any acquisition or equity investment consummated, as well as accounting risks, integration risks related to product plans and products and risks of negative impact by such acquisitions and equity investments on our financial results;

Current wording

•increased expenses, unforeseen liabilities or write-downs and any negative impact on results of operations from any acquisition or equity investment, as well as accounting risks, integration risks related to product plans and products and risks of negative impact by such acquisitions and equity investments on our financial results;

Previous wording

•the purchasing practices and budgeting cycles of our channel partners and end-customers, including the effect of the end of product lifecycles or refresh cycles;

Current wording

•the purchasing practices and budgeting cycles of our channel partners and end-customers, including the effect of the end of product lifecycles, refresh cycles or price decreases;

Previous wording

•any decreases in demand by channel partners or end-customers, including any such decreases caused by factors outside of our control such as natural disasters and health emergencies, including earthquakes, droughts, fires, power outages, typhoons, floods, pandemics or epidemics and manmade events such as civil unrest, labor disruption, international trade disputes, international conflicts, terrorism, wars, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, and critical infrastructure attacks;

Current wording

•any decreases in demand by channel partners or end-customers, including any such decreases caused by factors outside of our control such as natural disasters and health emergencies, including earthquakes, droughts, fires, power outages, typhoons, floods, pandemics or epidemics and manmade events such as civil unrest, labor disruption, international trade disputes, international conflicts, terrorism, wars, such as the war in Ukraine and critical infrastructure attacks;

Previous wording

•the effectiveness of our sales organization, generally or in a particular geographic region, including the time it takes to hire sales personnel, the timing of hiring and our ability to hire and retain effective sales personnel, as well as our efforts to align our sales capacity and market demand;

Current wording

•the effectiveness of our sales organization, generally or in a particular geographic region, including the time it takes to hire sales personnel, the timing of hiring and our ability to hire and retain effective sales personnel, our efforts to align our sales capacity and productivity with market demand and any negative impact to our sales and the effectiveness of our sales team based on changes to sales compensation or to our sales compensation plan;

Previous wording

•execution risk associated with our efforts to capture the opportunities related to our identified growth drivers, such as risk associated with our ability to capitalize on the convergence of networking and security, vendor consolidation of various cyber security solutions, SD-WAN, infrastructure security, security operations, SASE and other cloud security solutions, endpoint protection, and IoT and OT security opportunities;

Current wording

•execution risk associated with our efforts to capture the opportunities related to our identified growth drivers, such as risk associated with our ability to capitalize on the convergence of networking and security, vendor consolidation of various cyber security solutions, SD-WAN, infrastructure security, security operations,

Previous wording

•the timing of revenue recognition for our sales, including any impacts resulting from extension of payment terms to distributors and fluctuations in backlog levels, which could result in more variability and less predictability in our quarter-to-quarter revenue and operating results;

Current wording

•the timing of revenue recognition for our sales, including any impacts resulting from extension of payment terms and fluctuations in backlog levels, which could result in more variability and less predictability in our quarter-to-quarter revenue and operating results;

Previous wording

•the impact of cloud-based security solutions on our billings, revenue, operating margins and free cash flow;

Current wording

•the impact of cloud-based and hosted security solutions on our billings, revenue, operating margins and free cash flow;

Previous wording

•price competition and increased competitiveness in our market, including the competitive pressure caused by product refresh cycles;

Current wording

•price competition and increased competitiveness in our market, including the competitive pressure caused by product refresh cycles and inventory levels;

Previous wording

•increased demand for cloud-based services and the uncertainty associated with transitioning to providing such services;

Current wording

•increased demand for cloud-based and hosted services and the uncertainty associated with transitioning to providing such services;

Previous wording

•political, economic and social instability, including geo-political instability and uncertainty, such as that caused by the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, tensions between China and Taiwan, and any disruption or negative impact on our ability to sell to, ship product to and support customers in certain regions based on trade restrictions, embargoes and export control law restrictions;

Current wording

•political, economic and social instability, including geo-political instability and uncertainty, such as that caused by the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and Taiwan, and any disruption or negative impact on our ability to sell to, ship product to and support customers in certain regions based on trade restrictions, embargoes and export control law restrictions;

Previous wording

Adverse economic conditions, such as a possible recession and possible impacts of inflation or stagflation, increasing or decreasing interest rates, reduced information technology spending, including firewall and other security spending, or any economic downturn or recession, may adversely impact our business.

Current wording

Adverse economic conditions, such as a possible recession and possible impacts of inflation or stagflation, tariffs or other trade disruptions, changing interest rates, reduced information technology spending, including firewall and other security spending, or any economic downturn or recession, may adversely impact our business.

Previous wording

Our business depends on the overall demand for information technology and on the economic health of our current and prospective customers. In addition, the purchase of our products is often discretionary and may involve a significant commitment of capital and other resources. Weak global and regional economic conditions and spending environments, based on a downturn in the economy, a possible recession and the effects of ongoing or increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, increasing or decreasing interest rates, geopolitical instability and uncertainty, a reduction in information technology spending regardless of macroeconomic conditions, the effects of epidemics and pandemics and the impact of the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war each could have a material adverse impacts on our financial condition and results of operations and our business, including resulting in longer sales cycles, lower prices for our products and services, increased component costs, higher default rates among our channel partners, reduced unit sales, lower prices and slower or declining growth. These can negatively impact our business by putting downward pressure on growth if we are unable to achieve the increases in product prices necessary to appropriately offset the additional costs in a manner sufficient to maintain margins. Any of these impacts may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

Current wording

Our business depends on the overall demand for information technology and on the economic health of our current and prospective customers. In addition, the purchase of our products is often discretionary and may involve a significant commitment of capital and other resources. Weak global and regional economic conditions and spending environments, based on a downturn in the economy, a possible recession and the effects of ongoing or increased inflation or possible stagflation in certain geographies, tariffs or other trade disruptions, changing interest rates, geopolitical instability and uncertainty, a reduction in information technology spending regardless of macroeconomic conditions, the effects of epidemics and pandemics and the impact of the war in Ukraine could have a material adverse impacts on our financial condition and results of operations and our business, including resulting in longer sales cycles, lower prices for our products and services, increased component costs, higher default rates among our channel partners, reduced unit sales, lower prices and slower or declining growth. These can negatively impact our business by putting downward pressure on growth if we are unable to achieve the increases in product prices necessary to appropriately offset the additional costs in a manner sufficient to maintain margins. Any of these impacts may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

Previous wording

The existence of inflation in certain economies has resulted in, and may continue to result in, increasing or decreasing interest rates and capital costs, increased component or shipping costs, increased costs of labor, weakening exchange rates and other similar effects. Although we take measures to mitigate risks such as those associated with inflation, the mitigating measures may not be effective or their impact may not offset the increased cost of inflation in a timely manner. Inflation, an economic downturn, a recession and any other economic challenges may also adversely impact spending patterns by our distributors, resellers and end-customers.

Current wording

The existence of inflation in certain economies has resulted in, and may continue to result in, changing interest rates and capital costs, increased component or shipping costs, increased costs of labor, weakening exchange rates and other similar effects. Although we take measures to mitigate risks such as those associated with inflation, the mitigating measures may not be effective or their impact may not offset the increased cost of inflation in a timely manner. Inflation, an economic downturn, a recession and any other economic challenges may also adversely impact spending patterns by our distributors, resellers and end-customers.

Previous wording

Efforts to withdraw from or materially modify international trade agreements, to change tax provisions related to global manufacturing and sales or to impose new tariffs, economic sanctions or related legislation, any of which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Current wording

Any efforts to withdraw from or materially modify international trade agreements, change tax provisions related to global manufacturing and sales or impose new tariffs, economic sanctions or related legislation, could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Previous wording

Moreover, efforts to implement changes related to export or import regulations (including the imposition of new border taxes or tariffs on foreign imports), trade barriers, economic sanctions and other related policies could harm our results of operations. For example, in recent years, the United States has imposed additional import tariffs on certain goods from different countries and on most goods imported from China. As a result, China and other countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on goods exported from the United States and both the United States and foreign countries have threatened to alter or leave current trade agreements. While we do not currently expect these tariffs to have a significant effect on our raw material and product import costs, if the United States expands increased tariffs, or retaliatory trade measures are taken by other countries in response to the tariffs, the cost of our products could increase, our operations could be disrupted or we could be required to raise our prices, which may result in the loss of customers and harm to our reputation and operating performance.

Current wording

Moreover, efforts to implement changes related to export or import regulations (including the imposition of new border taxes or tariffs on foreign imports), trade barriers, economic sanctions and other related policies could harm our results of operations. For example, in recent years, the United States has imposed additional import tariffs on certain goods from different countries. As a result, other countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on goods exported from the United States and both the United States and foreign countries have threatened to alter or leave current trade agreements. While we do not currently expect these tariffs to have a significant effect on our raw material and product import costs, if the United States expands increased tariffs, or retaliatory trade measures are taken by other countries in response to the tariffs, the cost of our products could increase, our operations could be disrupted or we could be required to raise our prices, which may result in the loss of customers and harm to our reputation and operating performance.

Previous wording

We may experience slowing growth or a decrease in billings, revenue, operating margin and free cash flow for a number of reasons, including a slowdown in demand for our products or services, a shift in demand from products to services, decrease in services revenue growth, increased competition, execution challenges including sales execution challenges and lack of optimal sales productivity, worldwide or regional economic challenges based on inflation or possible stagflation, a regional recession or a recession in the global economy, rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, a decrease in the growth of our overall market or softness in demand in certain geographies or industry verticals, such as the service provider industry, changes in our strategic opportunities, execution risks, lower sales productivity and our failure for any reason to continue to capitalize on sales and growth opportunities due to other risks identified in the risk factors described in this periodic report. Our expenses as a percentage of total revenue may be higher than expected if our revenue is lower than expected. If our investments in sales and marketing and other functional areas do not result in expected billings and revenue growth, we may experience margin declines. In addition, we may not be able to sustain our historical profitability levels in future periods if we fail to increase billings, revenue or deferred revenue, and do not appropriately manage our cost structure, free cash flow, or encounter unanticipated liabilities. As a result, any failure by us to maintain profitability and margins and continue our billings, revenue and free cash flow growth could cause the price of our common stock to materially decline.

Current wording

We may experience slowing growth or a decrease in billings, revenue, operating margin and free cash flow for a number of reasons, including a slowdown in pipeline growth or for demand for our products or services generally, a shift in demand from products to services, decrease in services revenue growth, increased competition, execution challenges including sales execution challenges and lack of optimal sales productivity, worldwide or regional economic challenges based on inflation or possible stagflation, a regional recession or a recession in the global economy, changing interest rates, the war in Ukraine, a decrease in the growth of our overall market or softness in demand in certain geographies or industry verticals, such as the service provider industry, changes in our strategic opportunities, execution risks, lower sales productivity and our failure for any reason to continue to capitalize on sales and growth opportunities due to other risks identified in the risk factors described in this periodic report. Our expenses as a percentage of total revenue may be higher than expected if our revenue is lower than expected. If our investments in sales and marketing and other functional areas do not result in expected billings and revenue growth, we may experience margin declines. In addition, we may not be able to sustain our historical profitability levels in future periods if we fail to increase billings, revenue or deferred revenue, and do not appropriately manage our cost structure, free cash flow, or encounter unanticipated liabilities. As a result, any failure by us to maintain profitability and margins and continue our billings, revenue and free cash flow growth could cause the price of our common stock to materially decline.

Previous wording

Our real estate investments, including construction or acquisition of new data centers, data center expansions or office buildings, could involve significant risks to our business.

Current wording

Our real estate investments, including construction, acquisition or leasing of new data centers, data center expansions or office buildings, could involve significant risks to our business.

Previous wording

In order to sustain our growth in certain of our existing and new markets, we may expand existing data centers, lease new facilities or acquire suitable land, with or without structures, to build new data centers or office buildings. These projects expose us to risks which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. The current global supply chain and inflation issues have exacerbated many of these construction risks and created additional risks for our business. Some of the risks associated with construction projects include:

Current wording

In order to sustain our growth in certain of our existing and new markets, we may acquire or expand existing data centers, lease new facilities or acquire suitable land, with or without structures, to build new data centers or office buildings. These projects expose us to risks which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. The current global supply chain and inflation issues have exacerbated many of these construction risks and created additional risks for our business. Some of the risks associated with construction projects include:

Previous wording

•unanticipated environmental issues and geological problems;

Current wording

•unanticipated environmental or regulatory issues and geological problems;

Previous wording

•failure or inability for any reason to meet customer requirements;

Current wording

•failure or inability for any reason to meet customer requirements and service level agreements, and any resulting penalties or liabilities related thereto;

Previous wording

We rely on third-party channel partners for substantially all of our revenue. If our partners fail to perform, our ability to sell our products and services will be limited, and if we fail to optimize our channel partner model going forward, our operating results may be harmed. Additionally, a small number of distributors represents a large percentage of our revenue and accounts receivable, and one distributor accounted for 33% of our total net accounts receivable as of December 31, 2023.

Current wording

We rely on third-party channel partners for substantially all of our revenue. If our partners fail to perform, our ability to sell our products and services will be limited, and if we fail to optimize our channel partner model going forward, our operating results may be harmed. Additionally, a small number of distributors represents a large percentage of our revenue and accounts receivable, and one distributor accounted for 31% of our total net accounts receivable as of December 31, 2024.

Previous wording

Six distributor customers accounted for 70% and 69% of our total net accounts receivable in the aggregate as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. See Note 16. Segment Information in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for distributor customers that accounted for 10% or more of our revenue or net accounts receivable. Our largest distributors may experience financial difficulties, face liquidity risk or other financial challenges, which may harm our ability to collect on our accounts receivable.

Current wording

Six distributor customers who purchase directly from us accounted for 69% and 70% of our total net accounts receivable in the aggregate as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. See Note 16. Segment Information in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for distributor customers accounted for 10% or more of our revenue or net accounts receivable. Our largest distributors may experience financial difficulties, face liquidity risk or other financial challenges, which may harm our ability to collect on our accounts receivable.

Previous wording

We provide channel partners with specific programs to assist them with selling our products and incentivize them to sell our products, but there can be no assurance that these programs will be effective. In addition, our channel partners may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling and supporting our products and services and may purchase more inventory than they can sell. Our channel partners generally do not have minimum purchase requirements. Some of our channel partners may have insufficient financial resources to withstand changes and challenges in business conditions. Moreover, many of our channel partners are privately held, including some of our largest partners, and we may not have sufficient information to assess their financial condition. If our channel partners’ financial condition or operations weaken, their ability to sell our products and services could be negatively impacted. Our channel partners may also market, sell and support products and services that are competitive with ours, and may devote more resources to the marketing, sales and support of such products, or may decide to cease selling our products and services altogether in favor of a competitor’s products and services. They may also have incentives to promote our competitors’ products to the detriment of our own, or they may cease selling our products altogether. We cannot ensure that we will retain these channel partners or that we will be able to secure additional or replacement partners or that existing channel partners will continue to perform. The loss of one or more of our significant channel partners or the failure to obtain and ship a number of large orders each quarter through them could harm our operating results.

Current wording

We provide channel partners with specific programs to assist them with selling our products but there can be no assurance that these programs will be effective. In addition, our channel partners may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling and supporting our products and services and may purchase more inventory than they can sell. Our channel partners generally do not have minimum purchase requirements. Some of our channel partners may have insufficient financial resources to withstand changes and challenges in business conditions. Moreover, many of our channel partners are privately held, including some of our largest partners, and we may not have sufficient information to assess their financial condition. If our channel partners’ financial condition or operations weaken, their ability to sell our products and services could be negatively impacted. Our channel partners may also market, sell and support products and services that are competitive with ours, and may devote more resources to the marketing, sales and support of such products, or may decide to cease selling our products and services altogether in favor of a competitor’s products and services. They may also have incentives to promote our competitors’ products to the detriment of our own, or they may cease selling our products altogether. We cannot ensure that we will retain these channel partners or that we will be able to secure additional or replacement partners or that existing channel partners will continue to perform. The loss of one or more of our significant channel partners or the failure to obtain and ship a number of large orders each quarter through them could harm our operating results.

Previous wording

Reliance on a concentration of shipments at the end of the quarter could cause our billings and revenue to fall below expected levels.

Current wording

Reliance on a concentration of shipments at the end of the quarter or changes in shipping terms could cause our billings and revenue to fall below expected levels.

Previous wording

•disruption in manufacturing or shipping based on power outages, system failures, labor disputes or constraints, excessive demand, natural disasters or widespread public health problems including pandemics and epidemics;

Current wording

•disruption in manufacturing or shipping based on power outages, system failures, labor disputes or constraints, excessive demand, natural disasters, geopolitical matters or widespread public health problems including pandemics and epidemics;

Previous wording

We rely significantly on revenue from FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services, and revenue from these services may decline or fluctuate. Because we recognize revenue from these services over the term of the relevant service period, downturns or upturns in sales of FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.

Current wording

We rely significantly on revenue from FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services, and revenue from these services may decline or fluctuate. Because we recognize revenue from these services over the term of the relevant service period, downturns or upturns in sales of FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.

Previous wording

Our FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services revenue has historically accounted for a significant percentage of our total revenue. Revenue from the sale of new, or from the renewal of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support service contracts may decline and fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including fluctuations in purchases of secure networking, unified SASE and security operations, changes in the sales mix between products and services, end-customers’ level of satisfaction with our products and services, the prices of our products and services, the prices of products and services offered by our competitors, reductions in our customers’ spending levels and the timing of revenue recognition with respect to these arrangements. If our sales of new, or renewals of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support service contracts decline, our revenue and revenue growth may decline and our business could suffer. In addition, in the event significant customers require payment terms for FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services in arrears or for shorter periods of time than annually, such as monthly or quarterly, this may negatively impact our billings and revenue. Furthermore, we recognize FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services revenue ratably over the term of the service period, which is typically from one to five years. As a result, much of the FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services revenue we report each quarter is the recognition of deferred revenue from FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services contracts entered into during previous quarters or years. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services contracts in any one quarter will not be fully reflected in revenue in that quarter but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales of new, or renewals of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services is not reflected in full in our statements of income until future periods. Our FortiGuard and other security subscription and FortiCare technical support services revenue also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional service sales in any period, as revenue from new and renewal support services contracts must be recognized over the applicable service term.

Current wording

FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services in arrears or for shorter periods of time than annually, such as monthly or quarterly, this may negatively impact our billings and revenue. Furthermore, we recognize FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services revenue ratably over the term of the service period, which is typically from one to five years. As a result, much of the FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services revenue we report each quarter is the recognition of deferred revenue from FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support service contracts entered into during previous quarters or years. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support service contracts in any one quarter will not be fully reflected in revenue in that quarter but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales of new, or renewals of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services is not reflected in full in our statements of income until future periods. Our FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services revenue also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional service sales in any period, as revenue from new and renewal support services contracts must be recognized over the applicable service term.

Previous wording

The market for network security products is intensely competitive and dynamic, and we expect competition to continue to intensify. We face many competitors across the different cybersecurity markets. Our competitors include companies such as Aruba, Check Point, Cisco, CrowdStrike, F5 Networks, Huawei, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, SonicWALL, Sophos, VMware and Zscaler.

Current wording

The market for network security products is intensely competitive and dynamic, and we expect competition to continue to intensify. We face many competitors across the different cybersecurity markets. Our competitors include companies such as Check Point, Cisco, CrowdStrike, F5 Networks, HPE, Huawei, Juniper, Microsoft, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, SonicWALL, Sophos, and Zscaler.

Previous wording

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key personnel, the inability to attract or retain qualified personnel, any failure to have in place and execute an effective succession plan for key executives or delays in hiring required personnel, particularly in engineering, sales and marketing, may seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. From time to time, we experience turnover in our management-level personnel. For example, in December 2023, our Chief Revenue Officer announced his upcoming retirement after 19 years at Fortinet. None of our key employees has an employment agreement for a specific term, and any of our employees may terminate their employment at any time. Our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel will be critical to our future success.

Current wording

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key personnel, the inability to attract or retain qualified personnel, any failure to have in place and execute an effective succession plan for key executives or delays in hiring required personnel, particularly in engineering, sales and marketing, may seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. From time to time, we experience turnover in our management-level personnel. For example, in February 2025, our Chief Financial Officer, Keith Jensen, announced his upcoming retirement after 11 years at Fortinet. None of our key employees has an employment agreement for a specific term, and any of our employees may terminate their employment at any time. Our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel will be critical to our future success.

Previous wording

As of December 31, 2023, we had an aggregate of $992.3 million of indebtedness outstanding under our Senior Notes. Under the agreements governing our indebtedness, we are permitted to incur additional debt. This debt, and any debt that we may incur in the future, may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results by, among other things:

Current wording

As of December 31, 2024, we had an aggregate of $994.3 million of indebtedness outstanding under our Senior Notes. Under the agreements governing our indebtedness, we are permitted to incur additional debt. This debt, and any debt that we may incur in the future, may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results by, among other things:

Previous wording

•disruption in the supply chain or in manufacturing or shipping, or decreases in demand by channel partners or end-customers, including any such disruption or decreases caused by factors outside of our control such as natural disasters and health emergencies, including earthquakes, droughts, fires, power outages, typhoons, floods, pandemics or epidemics and manmade events such as civil unrest, labor disruption, international trade disputes, international conflicts, terrorism, wars or other foreign conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war or tensions between China and Taiwan, and critical infrastructure attacks;

Current wording

•disruption in the supply chain or in manufacturing or shipping, or decreases in demand by channel partners or end-customers, including any such disruption or decreases caused by factors outside of our control such as natural disasters and health emergencies, including earthquakes, droughts, fires, power outages, typhoons, floods, pandemics or epidemics and manmade events such as civil unrest, labor disruption, international trade disputes, international conflicts, terrorism, wars or other foreign conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine or tensions between China and Taiwan, and critical infrastructure attacks;

Previous wording

•economic or political instability in foreign markets, such as any economic or political instability caused by economic downturns and wars or other foreign conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, tensions between China and Taiwan and any expansions thereof;

Current wording

•economic instability in foreign markets, such as any economic instability caused by economic downturns or recessions, could adversely affect our business and financial performance;

Previous wording

•the uncertainty of protection for Intellectual Property (“IP”) rights in some countries;

Current wording

•the uncertainty of protection for IP rights in some countries;

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Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

•compromising of our internal enterprise IT networks, our operational networks, our research and development networks, our back-end labs and cloud stacks hosted in our data centers or PoPs, colocation vendors or public cloud providers, and resulting harm to public perception of our products and services;

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

SASE and other cloud security solutions, endpoint protection, IoT and OT security opportunities and product refresh cycles;

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

Our FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services revenue has historically accounted for a significant percentage of our total revenue. Revenue from the sale of new, or from the renewal of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support service contracts may decline and fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including fluctuations and changes in the mix of our sales from secure networking, unified SASE and security operations between products and services, end-customers’ level of satisfaction with our products and services, the prices of our products and services, the prices of products and services offered by our competitors, reductions in our customers’ spending levels and the timing of revenue recognition with respect to such sales. If our sales of new, or renewals of existing, FortiGuard and other security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support service contracts decline, our revenue and revenue growth may decrease and our business could suffer. In addition, in the event significant customers require payment terms for

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

•political instability, changes in trade agreements and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and Taiwan and any expansions thereof, could adversely affect our business and financial performance;

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

Following a review in accordance with our publicly available Product Security Incident Response Team policy, our Product Security Incident Response Team publicly posts on our FortiGuard Labs website known product vulnerabilities, including critical vulnerabilities, and methods for customers to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities. For example, we recently discovered, and subsequently released to customers an advisory update and patch for, a critical vulnerability in our FortiManager product. We are subject to various risks due to the FortiManager vulnerability, including reputational harm, adverse impacts to customer relationships, potential litigation, and additional regulatory scrutiny, which could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition. There can be no assurance that posts on our FortiGuard Labs website, including with respect to the recently announced FortiManager vulnerability, will be sufficiently timely, accurate or complete or that those customers will see such posts or take steps to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities, and certain customers may be negatively impacted.

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

Our products are also susceptible to errors, defects, logic flaws, vulnerabilities and inserted vulnerabilities that may arise in, or be included in our products in, different stages of our supply chain, manufacturing and shipment processes, and a threat actor’s exploitation of these weaknesses may be difficult to anticipate, prevent, and detect. If we are unable to maintain an effective supply chain security risk management and products security program or we inadvertently release a product or an update to a product with a defect in it, then the security and integrity of our products and the updates to those products that our customers receive could be exploited by third parties or insiders, or our solutions or updates thereto could cause an unintended disruption to our customers’ operations. Different customers deploy and use our products in different ways, and certain deployments and usages may subject our products to adverse conditions that may negatively impact the effectiveness and useful lifetime of our products. Further, customers may choose not to apply patches in a timely manner for business or operational reasons, or may neglect to upgrade at all and may run unpatched or unsupported devices against our guidance and industry best practice. Such lack of action to remediate known product vulnerabilities in the customer environment could negatively impact their own security posture, increasing the likelihood of exploitation and negatively impacting our reputation. Our networks and products, including cloud-based technology, could be targeted by attacks specifically designed to disrupt our business and harm our operational results and reputation.

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

We cannot ensure that our products will prevent all adverse security events or not cause disruptions to our customers’ operations. Because the techniques used by malicious adversaries to access or sabotage networks change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques. In addition, defects or errors in our FortiGuard and other security subscriptions or FortiCare updates or our Fortinet appliances and operating systems could result in a failure of our FortiGuard and other security subscription services to effectively or correctly update end-customers’ Fortinet appliances and cloud-based products and thereby leave customers vulnerable to attacks or to disruptions in operations. Furthermore, our solutions may also fail to detect or prevent viruses, worms, ransomware attacks or similar threats due to a number of reasons such as the evolving nature of such threats and the continual emergence of new threats that we may fail to anticipate or add to our FortiGuard databases in time to protect our end-customers’ networks.

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

Our data centers and networks and those of our hosting vendors and cloud service providers may also experience technical failures and downtime, and may fail to distribute appropriate updates, or fail to meet the increased requirements of our customer base. Any such technical failure, downtime or failures in general may temporarily or permanently expose our end-customers’ networks, leaving their networks unprotected against the latest security threats.

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

In order to remain competitive, we may seek to acquire additional businesses, products, technologies or IP, such as patents, and to make equity investments in businesses coupled with strategic alliances. For any possible future acquisitions or investments, we may not be successful in negotiating the terms of the acquisition or investment or financing the acquisition or investment. For both our prior and future acquisitions, we may not be successful in effectively integrating the acquired business, product, technology, IP or sales force into our existing business and operations, and the acquisitions may negatively impact our financial results. We may have difficulty incorporating acquired technologies, IP or products with our existing product lines, integrating reporting systems and procedures, and maintaining uniform standards, controls, development practices, procedures and policies. For example, we may experience difficulties integrating an acquired company’s ERP or CRM systems, SaaS delivery systems, sales support, cyber risk management and compliance and other processes and systems, with our current systems and processes. We may also find that the personnel of the companies we acquire do not adequately adhere to our corporate policies and it may take time to bring them in line with our policies and standards. If we are unable to do so efficiently or effectively, our reputation and business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

Current report — wording carried from elsewhere

Political instability, changes in trade agreements and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine could adversely affect our business and financial performance.