Chewy (CHWY) Risk Analysis

We are subject to a broad range of federal, state, local, and foreign laws and regulations including those intended to protect public and worker health and safety, natural resources and the environment. Our operations are subject to regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and other federal, state, local and foreign authorities regarding the processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling and export of our products, including food safety standards. In addition, we and our partners are subject to additional regulatory requirements, including environmental, health and safety laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety legislative and regulatory authorities, including the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, covering such areas as discharges and emissions to air and water, the use, management, disposal and remediation of, and human exposure to, hazardous materials and wastes, and public and worker health and safety. These laws and regulations also govern our relationships with employees, including minimum wage requirements, overtime, terms and conditions of employment, working conditions and citizenship requirements. Violations of or liability under any of these laws and regulations may result in administrative, civil or criminal fines, penalties or sanctions against us, revocation or modification of applicable permits, licenses or authorizations, environmental, health and safety investigations or remedial activities, voluntary or involuntary product recalls, warning or untitled letters or cease and desist orders against operations that are not in compliance, among other things. Such laws and regulations generally have become more stringent over time and may become more so in the future, and we may incur (directly or indirectly) material costs to comply with current or future laws and regulations or in any required product recalls. Liabilities or costs of compliance with any such laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, changes in these laws and regulations could impose significant limitations and require changes to our business, which may increase our compliance expenses, make our business more costly and less efficient to conduct, and compromise our growth strategy. Among other regulatory requirements, the FDA reviews the inclusion of certain claims in pet food labeling. For example, pet food products that are labeled or marketed with claims that may suggest that they are intended to treat or prevent disease in pets would potentially meet the statutory definitions of both a food and a drug. The FDA has issued guidance containing a list of specific factors it will consider in determining whether to initiate enforcement action against such products if they do not comply with the applicable regulatory requirements. These factors include, among other things, whether the product is only made available through or under the direction of a veterinarian and does not present a known safety risk when used as labeled. While we believe that we market our products in compliance with the FDA's guidance and regulations related to food and drugs, the FDA may disagree with our practices or classify some of our products differently than we do, and may impose additional regulatory requirements which could lead to alleged violations, enforcement actions, and product market withdrawals or recalls. In addition, we may produce new products that may be subject to FDA pre-market review before we can market and sell such products. From time to time the FDA, the Association of American Feed Control Officials, or state regulatory authorities may enact a regulation, requirement or other guidance that impacts pet food packaging, labeling, or marketing materials. As a result, we may need to incur material costs to change our packaging, labeling, or marketing to comply with such regulation or requirement and could be subject to liabilities if we fail to timely comply with such requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition to enforcement actions initiated by government agencies, there has been an increasing tendency in the U.S. among pharmaceutical companies to resort to the courts and industry and self-regulatory bodies to challenge comparative prescription drug advertising on the grounds that the advertising is false and deceptive. Through the years, there has been a continuing expansion of specific rules, prohibitions, media restrictions, labeling disclosures, and warning requirements with respect to the advertising for certain products. These developments and others related to government regulation could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes, Canadian federal and provincial income taxes, Chinese income taxes, and may be subject to additional income tax depending on our operations. Tax laws, regulations and administrative practices in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without advance notice, due to economic, political and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. Such changes may have a material impact on us. On August 16, 2022, legislation commonly known as the Inflation Reduction Act (the "IRA") was signed into law. Among other things, the IRA includes a 1% excise tax on corporate stock repurchases, applicable to repurchases after December 31, 2022, and also a new minimum tax based on book income. Any change in current federal, state, local or non-U.S. tax law, facts or any significant variance of our current interpretation of current legislation or future legislation from any future regulations or interpretive guidance could result in a change to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We entered into certain transactions (the "Transactions") with affiliates of BC Partners pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement"), which closed on October 30, 2023. The Transactions were entered into for valid business purposes and it is anticipated that the Transactions will not have a material impact on our financial condition. As a part of the Merger Agreement, we assumed certain filing responsibilities and tax obligations from the Transactions. We have been paid for the cost of the assumed filings and all taxes payable on those filings. We are also indemnified for any future tax exposure up to $196 million. Any tax exposure in excess of $196 million would be our responsibility. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, such as changes in tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles and interpretations, the mix and level of earnings in a given taxing jurisdiction or our ownership or capital structures.

We allow our customers to return products or offer refunds, subject to our return and refunds policy. If merchandise returns or refunds are significant or higher than anticipated and forecasted, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Further, we modify our policies relating to returns or refunds from time to time, and may do so in the future, which may result in customer dissatisfaction and harm to our reputation or brand, or an increase in the number of product returns or the amount of refunds we make.

Our business involves risks of personal injury, workers' compensation, product liability, labor and employment, and other claims in the ordinary course of business. Product liability claims from customers and product recalls for merchandise alleged to be defective or harmful could lead to the disposal or write-off of merchandise inventories, the incurrence of fines or penalties, the provision of customer credits, increased labor costs, and damage to our reputation. We maintain general liability insurance with a self-insured retention and workers' compensation insurance with a deductible for each occurrence. We also maintain umbrella insurance above the primary general liability and product liability coverage. In many cases, we have indemnification rights against the manufacturers of our products and are entitled to coverage under their products liability and product recall insurance. Our ability to recover costs and damages under such insurance or indemnification arrangements is subject to the financial viability of the insurers and manufacturers, the terms of the policy, and the specific allegations of a claim. No assurance can be given that any insurance coverage or the manufacturers' indemnity will be available or sufficient in any claims brought against or losses incurred by us. Additionally, we are subject to federal, state, and local employment laws that expose us to potential liability if we are determined to have violated such employment laws. This includes, but is not limited to, laws related to wages, hours worked and other terms and conditions of employment; unlawful discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or failure to accommodate; and wrongful termination. Compliance with these laws, including the remediation of any alleged violation, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We depend on a number of suppliers and outsourcing partners to provide our customers with a wide range of products in a timely and efficient manner. A significant portion of our suppliers for our private brand business and our non-consumable business are located in China, and if we are unable to maintain our relationships with our existing outsourcing partners or cannot enter into relationships with new outsourcing partners to meet the manufacturing and assembly needs of our private brand business, our private brand business may be disrupted and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, political and economic instability, the financial stability of our suppliers and outsourcing partners and their ability to meet our standards, conflict and hostilities, labor problems, the availability and prices of raw materials, merchandise quality issues, currency exchange rates, transport availability and cost, transport security, inflation, natural disasters and epidemics, tariffs, taxes, export controls, trade restrictions and sanctions, among other factors, are beyond our control and may materially and adversely affect our suppliers and outsourcing partners and, in turn, our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our business has been affected by, and may continue to be affected by, disruptions or restrictions on our employees' and other service providers' ability to travel, temporary closures of our facilities, including one or more of our fulfillment centers or customer service centers, or the facilities of our suppliers and other vendors in our supply chain. In addition to the potential direct effects on us of any events beyond our control such as a public health crisis, we could be materially adversely impacted, including from any disruption to critical vendor services or losses of business, if any of our suppliers face significant business disruptions. In addition, continued and ongoing international conflict has led to disruption, instability and volatility in the global markets and industries that could negatively impact our operations. For example, while we do not have direct operations within Russia or Ukraine, the conflict involving these nations could adversely affect our business, supply chain and partners. Similarly, while we also do not have direct operations in the Middle East, the escalating tensions in the region may disrupt global markets and impact our business, supply chain and customers. The impact of these global events on our longer-term operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, our response and governmental response to inflation and the duration and severity of such conflicts. Moreover, there is uncertainty regarding the future of international trade agreements and the U.S.' position on international trade. For example, the current U.S. administration has announced, and may in the future announce, plans to implement or increase tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, Canada, and other countries. The U.S. federal government may also withdraw from or materially modify international trade agreements. While we are unable to predict the extent of changes the current administration may bring to the U.S. government's trade policy, such changes may cause us to amend our supply chain strategies or adversely impact our own costs. Additional trade restrictions, including tariffs, quotas, embargoes, safeguards and customs restrictions, could increase the cost or reduce the supply of products available to us and to our suppliers and may require us to modify our supply chain organization or other current business practices, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

An element of our strategy is to generate a high volume of traffic on, and use of, our websites and mobile applications. Our reputation and ability to acquire, retain and serve our customers are dependent upon the reliable performance of our websites, mobile applications, on-premises systems and the underlying network infrastructure. As our customer base and the amount of information shared on our websites and mobile applications continue to grow, we are likely to need an increasing amount of network capacity and computing power. We have spent, and expect to continue to spend, substantial amounts on data centers, including cloud providers, and equipment and related network infrastructure to handle the traffic on our websites and mobile applications. The operation of these systems is complex and we have experienced, and could in the future experience, minor interruptions, which could increase in severity and result in operational failures. In some cases, we access platforms run by third-party cloud providers, which makes us vulnerable to their service interruptions. In the event that the volume of traffic of our customers exceeds the capacity of our current network infrastructure or in the event that our customer base or the amount of traffic on our websites and mobile applications grows more quickly than anticipated, we may be required to incur significant additional costs to enhance the underlying network infrastructure. Significant interruptions or delays in these systems, whether due to system failures, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, undetected errors, design faults or other unexpected events or causes, could affect the security or availability of our websites and mobile applications and prevent our customers from accessing our websites and mobile applications. If sustained or repeated, these performance issues could reduce the attractiveness of our products and services. In addition, the costs and complexities involved in expanding and upgrading our systems may prevent us from doing so in a timely manner and may prevent us from adequately meeting the demand placed on our systems. Any web or mobile platform interruption or inadequacy that causes performance issues or interruptions in the availability of our websites or mobile applications could reduce consumer satisfaction and result in a reduction in the number of consumers using our products and services. We depend on the development and maintenance of the Internet and mobile infrastructure. This includes maintenance of reliable Internet and mobile infrastructure with the necessary speed, data capacity and security, as well as timely development of complementary products, for providing reliable Internet and mobile access. We also use and rely on services from other third parties, such as our telecommunications services and payment processors, and those services may be subject to outages and interruptions that are not within our control. We have experienced telecommunication issues and increased failures by our telecommunications providers may interrupt our ability to provide phone support to our customers and distributed denial-of-service ("DDoS") attacks directed at our telecommunication service providers could prevent customers from accessing our websites. In addition, we have and may continue to experience down periods where our third-party payment processors are unable to process the online payments of our customers and our ability to receive customer orders is disrupted. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if, for any reason, the reliability of our Internet, telecommunications, payment systems and mobile infrastructure is compromised. We currently rely upon third-party service providers, including cloud service providers, such as Amazon Web Services ("AWS"). Nearly all of our data storage and analytics are conducted on, and the data and content we create associated with sales on our websites and mobile applications are processed through servers hosted by these providers. We also rely on e-mail service providers, bandwidth providers, Internet service providers and mobile networks to deliver e-mail and "push" communications to customers and to allow customers to access our websites. We have experienced, and may again experience, cybersecurity incidents due to disruptions to systems maintained by third-party service providers. Any significant damage to, or failure of, our systems or the systems of our third-party data centers, or our other service providers could result in prolonged interruptions to the availability or functionality of our websites and mobile applications. As a result, we could lose customer data and miss order fulfillment deadlines, which could result in decreased sales, increased overhead costs, excess inventory and product shortages. If, for any reason, our arrangements with our data centers, cloud service providers or other third-party providers are terminated or interrupted, such termination or interruption could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We exercise little control over these providers, which increases our vulnerability to problems with the services they provide. We have designed certain of our software and computer systems to also utilize data processing, storage capabilities and other services provided by AWS. Given this, along with the fact that we cannot rapidly switch our AWS operations to another cloud provider, any disruption of or interference with our use of AWS would impact our operations and our business would be adversely impacted. We could experience additional expense in arranging for new facilities, technology, services and support. In addition, the failure of our third-party data centers, including cloud service providers, or any other third-party providers to meet our capacity requirements could result in interruption in the availability or functionality of our websites and mobile applications. The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our websites, mobile applications, transaction processing systems and technology infrastructure are critical to our reputation and our ability to acquire and retain customers, as well as to maintain adequate customer service levels. We have experienced, and may again experience, unavailability of our websites and mobile applications, primarily due to DDoS events, and increased unavailability of our websites or of our mobile applications or reduced order fulfillment performance would reduce the volume of goods sold and could also materially and adversely affect consumer perception of our brand. Any slowdown or failure of our websites, mobile applications or the underlying technology infrastructure could harm our business, reputation and our ability to acquire, retain and serve our customers. The occurrence of a natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure, data loss, computer virus, ransomware attack, an act of terrorism, cyberattack, vandalism or sabotage, act of war or any similar event, or a decision to close our third-party data centers on which we normally operate or the facilities of any other third-party provider without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems at these facilities could result in lengthy interruptions in the availability of our websites and mobile applications. Cloud computing, in particular, is dependent upon having access to an Internet connection in order to retrieve data. If a natural disaster, pandemic, blackout or other unforeseen event were to occur that disrupted the ability to obtain an Internet connection, we may experience a slowdown or delay in our operations. While we have some limited business continuity arrangements in place, our preparations may not be adequate to account for disasters or similar events that may occur in the future and may not effectively permit us to continue operating in the event of any problems with respect to our systems or those of our third-party data centers or any other third-party facilities. Our business continuity and data redundancy plans may be inadequate, and our business interruption insurance may not be sufficient to compensate us for the losses that could occur. If any such event were to occur to our business, our operations could be impaired and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.