four-20221231

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

_________________________________________________________________________

FORM 10-K

_________________________________________________________________________


x			ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022


o			TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Transition Period from _______ to _______

Commission file number 001-39313

_________________________________________________________________________

SHIFT4 PAYMENTS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

_________________________________________________________________________


Delaware			84-3676340
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)			(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
2202 N. Irving Street Allentown, Pennsylvania			18109
(Address of principal executive offices)			(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (888) 276-2108

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Class A Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share	FOUR	The New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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

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

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

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

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


Large accelerated filer	x	Accelerated filer	o
Non-accelerated filer	o	Smaller reporting company	o
Emerging growth company	o

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes o No x

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s Class A common stock held by non-affiliates, based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30, 2022, the last business day of the registrant’s most recent completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $1.6 billion. As of February 23, 2023, there were 54,983,288 shares of the registrant’s Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding, 25,829,016 shares of the registrant’s Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding and 2,090,706 shares of the registrant’s Class C common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

Specifically identified portions of the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, which will be filed no later than 120 days after the close of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

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SHIFT4 PAYMENTS, INC.

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	PART I
Item 1	Business	6
Item 1A	Risk Factors	17
Item 1B	Unresolved Staff Comments	48
Item 2	Properties	48
Item 3	Legal Proceedings	48
Item 4	Mine Safety Disclosures	48

	PART II
Item 5	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	49
Item 6	[Reserved]	50
Item 7	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	51
Item 7A	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	67
Item 8	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	68
Item 9	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	117
Item 9A	Controls and Procedures	117
Item 9B	Other Information	118
Item 9C	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	118

	PART III
Item 10	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	119
Item 11	Executive Compensation	119
Item 12	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	119
Item 13	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	119
Item 14	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	119

	PART IV
Item 15	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	120
Item 16	Form 10-K Summary	121
	Signatures	122

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“the Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“the Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this Annual Report, including, without limitation, statements relating to our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans, objectives of management for future operations, including, among others, statements regarding expected growth, future capital expenditures and debt service obligations, and the anticipated impact of COVID-19 on our business are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, though not all forward-looking statements can be identified by such terms or expressions. The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report and are subject to a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including the factors described under the sections in this Annual Report titled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties.

You should read this Annual Report and the documents that we reference in this Annual Report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in Part I Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report. You should carefully consider these risks and uncertainties when investing in our common stock. The principal risks and uncertainties affecting our business include the following:

•substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in the financial services, payments and payment technology industries may adversely affect our overall business and operations;

•potential changes in the competitive landscape, including disintermediation from other participants in the payments chain, could harm our business;

•global economic, political and other conditions may adversely affect trends in consumer, business and government spending, which may adversely impact the demand for our services and our revenue and profitability;

•we are exposed to inflation, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;

•the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and the emergence of variant strains, has had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our business and results of operations;

•our ability to anticipate and respond to changing industry trends and the needs and preferences of our merchants and consumers may adversely affect our competitiveness or the demand for our products and services;

•because we rely on third-party vendors to provide products and services, we could be adversely impacted if they fail to fulfill their obligations;

•acquisitions create certain risks and may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations;

•our inability to protect our systems and data from continually evolving cybersecurity risks, security breaches or other technological risks could affect our reputation among our merchants and consumers and may expose us to liability;

•we may not be able to continue to expand our share of the existing payment processing markets or expand into new markets which would inhibit our ability to grow and increase our profitability;

•our services and products must integrate with a variety of operating systems, software, devices, and web browsers, and our business may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to ensure that our services interoperate with such operating systems, software, devices, and web browsers;

•we depend, in part, on our merchant and software partner relationships and strategic partnerships with various institutions to operate and grow our business. If we are unable to maintain these relationships and partnerships, our business may be adversely affected; and

•our Founder (as defined herein) has significant influence over us, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders.

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BASIS OF PRESENTATION

As used in this Annual Report, unless the context otherwise requires, references to:

•“we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” “Shift4” and similar references refer: (1) following the consummation of the Reorganization Transactions, to Shift4 Payments, Inc., and, unless otherwise stated, all of its subsidiaries, including Shift4 Payments, LLC and, unless otherwise stated, all of its subsidiaries, and (2) prior to the completion of the Reorganization Transactions, to Shift4 Payments, LLC and, unless otherwise stated, all of its subsidiaries.

•“Blocker Companies” refers to certain direct and/or indirect owners of LLC Interests in Shift4 Payments, LLC, collectively, prior to the Reorganization Transactions that are taxable as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes and each of which is an affiliate of Searchlight (as defined below).

•“Blocker Shareholders” refers to the owners of Blocker Companies, collectively, prior to the Reorganization Transactions.

•“Continuing Equity Owners” refers collectively to our Founder and their respective permitted transferees who may redeem at each of their options, in whole or in part from time to time, their LLC Interests for, at our election, cash or newly-issued shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s Class A common stock. Searchlight was a Continuing Equity Owner prior to May 24, 2022.

•“December Follow-on Offering” refers to the sale by Searchlight of Class A common stock that closed on December 7, 2020.

•“Follow-on Offerings” refers to the December Follow-on Offering and the September Follow-on Offering.

•“Founder” refers to Jared Isaacman, our Chief Executive Officer and the sole stockholder of Rook Holdings Inc. Our Founder is a Continuing Equity Owner and an owner of Class C common stock.

•“Former Equity Owner” refers to FPOS Holding Co., Inc. who exchanged its LLC Interests for shares of our Class A common stock in connection with the consummation of the Reorganization Transactions.

•“IPO” refers to our initial public offering of 17,250,000 shares of Class A common stock, including 2,250,000 shares pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, completed on June 9, 2020.

•“LLC Interests” refers to the common units of Shift4 Payments, LLC.

•“Reorganization Transactions” refer to certain organizational transactions that we effected in connection with our IPO in June 2020. See Note 19 in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report for a description of the Reorganization Transactions.

•“Rook” refers to Rook Holdings Inc., a Delaware corporation wholly-owned by our Founder and for which our Founder is the sole stockholder.

•“Searchlight” refers to Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, and certain funds affiliated with Searchlight.

•“September Follow-on Offering” refers to the sale of Class A common stock by the Company, Searchlight, and the Former Equity Owner that closed on September 15, 2020.

•“Shift4 Payments, LLC Agreement” refers to Shift4 Payments, LLC’s amended and restated limited liability company agreement.

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Our Company

We are a leading independent provider of software and payment processing solutions in the United States (“U.S.”) based on total volume of payments processed. We have achieved our leadership position through decades of solving business and operational challenges facing our customers’ overall commerce needs. Our merchants range in size from small owner-operated local businesses to multinational enterprises conducting commerce throughout the world. We distribute our services through a scaled network of seasoned internal sales and support teams, as well as through our network of software partners. Our software partners are comprised of independent software vendors (“ISVs”) and value-added resellers (“VARs”). For our software partners, we offer a single integration to an international end-to-end payment offering, a proprietary gateway and a robust suite of technology solutions to enhance the value of their software and simplify payment acceptance. For our merchants, we provide a seamless, unified consumer experience and fulfill business needs that would otherwise require multiple software, hardware and payment vendors.

Merchants are increasingly adopting numerous software solutions and new digital tools to operate their business and remain competitive. The complexity of conducting commerce across multiple geographies and systems has created an enormous challenge for merchants. For example, a small business in the U.S. may use over a dozen disparate software systems to operate its business, manage interactions with its customers and accept payments. A large resort may operate an even greater number of software systems to enable online reservations, check-ins, restaurants, salon and spa, activities, parking and more. The scale and complexity of managing these software systems, often sourced from different providers, while seamlessly accepting payments is a growing challenge for merchants of any size.

Our software partners rely on us to provide a seamless commerce experience for their customers, enterprise grade security, analytics, and compatibility with a wide network of other point of sale (“POS”) solutions.

At the heart of our business is our payments platform. Our payments platform is a full suite of integrated payment products and services that can be used across multiple channels, geographies, and industry verticals, including:

•end-to-end payment processing for a broad range of payment types;

•merchant acquiring;

•proprietary omni-channel gateway capable of multiple methods of mobile, contactless and QR code-based payments;

•complementary software integrations;

•full eCommerce capabilities, including web-store design, hosting, shopping cart management and fulfillment integrations;

•integrated and mobile POS solutions;

•security and risk management solutions; and

•reporting and analytical tools.

We also offer innovative technology solutions that go beyond payment processing. Some of our solutions are developed in-house, such as business intelligence and POS software, while others are powered by our network of complementary third-party applications. Our focus on innovation, combined with our product-driven culture, enables us to create scalable technology solutions that benefit from an extensive library of intellectual property.

In addition, our merchant base is highly diversified with no single merchant representing more than 2% of end-to-end payment volume for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020.

We derive the majority of our revenue from fees paid by our merchants, which principally include a processing fee that is charged as a percentage of end-to-end payment volume or as a fee per transaction. We also generate subscription revenue from licensing subscriptions to our POS software, business intelligence tools, payment device management and other technology solutions, for which we typically charge flat subscription fees on a monthly basis. Our revenue is recurring in nature because of the embedded nature of the solutions we provide and the high switching costs associated with changing providers. We also benefit from a high degree of operating leverage given the combination of our highly scalable payments platform, strong customer unit economics, and low variable costs after network fees.

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Our total revenue was $1,993.6 million, $1,367.5 million and $766.9 million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We generated net income (losses) of $86.7 million, $(74.0) million and $(111.4) million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Our gross revenue less network fees was $727.5 million, $529.0 million and $323.0 million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively, representing year-over-year growth of 38% from 2021 to 2022 and 63.8% from 2020 to 2021. For the year ended December 31, 2021, gross revenue less network fees excludes the impact of the payments to merchants, included in “Gross revenue,” and payments to partners and associated expenses due to the TSYS outage, included in “Network fees” and “Other costs of sales” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. These are nonrecurring payments that occurred outside of our day-to-day operations, and we have excluded them in order to provide more useful information to investors in the evaluation of our performance period-over-period.

Our Adjusted EBITDA was $289.7 million, $167.2 million and $87.7 million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively, representing a year-over-year change of 73.3% from 2021 to 2022 and 90.6% from 2020 to 2021.

See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key performance indicators and non-GAAP measures” for a reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Our Shift4 Model

Our mission is to enable commerce. Solving the complexity inherent to a growing business requires a specialized approach that combines a seamless customer experience with a secure, reliable and robust suite of payments and technology offerings.

To achieve this mission, we strategically built our Shift4 Model on a three pillar foundation: (i) payments platform; (ii) technology solutions; and (iii) sales and distribution.

Payments Platform

Our payments platform provides omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions across multiple payment types, including credit, debit, contactless card, EMV, QR Pay, and mobile wallets as well as alternative payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay. We continue to innovate and evolve our payments offering as new technology and payment methods are adopted by consumers.

Through our proprietary gateway, our payments platform is integrated with over 500 software suites including some of the largest and most recognized software providers in the world. In addition, we enable connectivity with the largest payment processors, alternative payment rails and many different payment devices. Our payments platform includes market-leading security features that help prevent consumer card data from entering the merchant’s environment.

We have designed our payments platform to be:

•Integrated – fully integrated and seamlessly connected, facilitating easy data capture and compatibility across all solutions;

•Reliable – supports the most demanding payment environments in the U.S. 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; and

•Secure – Payment Card Industry (“PCI”)-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (“P2PE”) tokenization and Europay, MasterCard and Visa (“EMV”)-ready solutions.

Our merchants have the flexibility to utilize our payments platform in one of two ways: as a gateway or as an end-to-end payment solution. End-to-end payments merchants benefit from a single, unified vendor solution for payment acceptance, devices, POS software solutions and a full suite of business intelligence tools. By consolidating these functions through a single, unified vendor solution, these merchants are able to reduce total spend on payment acceptance solutions and access gateway and technology solutions as value-added features. Gateway merchants benefit from interoperability with third-party payment processors.

Technology Solutions

Our suite of technology solutions is designed to streamline our customers’ business operations, drive growth through strong consumer engagement and improve their business using rich transaction-level data.

•SkyTab POS – We provide purpose-built POS workstations pre-loaded with powerful, mission-critical software suites and integrated payment functionality for our restaurant and stadium clients. Our SkyTab POS offering helps our merchants scale their business and improve operational efficiency while reducing total cost of ownership.

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•VenueNext – Our mobile-first technology solution provides stadium, theme park and entertainment venues with a frictionless commerce experience. Our VenueNext solutions include mobile ordering, countertop POS, self-service kiosk, and digital wallet to facilitate food and beverage, merchandise, and loyalty all within a white-labeled technology application that is fully integrated with our secure end-to-end payment processing platform.

•Lighthouse – Our cloud-based suite of business intelligence tools includes customer engagement, social media management, online reputation management, scheduling and product pricing, as well as extensive reporting and analytics.

•SkyTab Mobile – Our mobile payments offering, SkyTab Mobile, provides a complete feature set, including pay-at-the-table, order-at-the-table, delivery, customer feedback and email marketing, all of which are integrated with our proprietary gateway and Lighthouse. This unique solution is relevant for merchants ranging from small and midsize businesses (“SMB”) to large enterprises and across numerous industry verticals.

•The Giving Block - Our cryptocurrency donation marketplace allows donors to easily gift a variety of cryptocurrencies to over 2,000 charities.

•Shift4Shop – Our turnkey eCommerce platform provides everything a merchant needs to build their business online. Merchants can create a webstore in minutes and choose from over one hundred design themes. Shift4Shop also provides merchants with tools to manage their product catalog, order fulfillment and inventory management, search-engine-optimization (“SEO”) and secure hosting.

•Marketplace – We enable seamless integrations into complementary third-party applications, which helps reduce the number of vendors on which our merchants rely. For example, a restaurant can enable DoorDash via Marketplace and accept orders from their existing POS, dramatically simplifying implementation and eliminating manual reconciliation of multiple systems. That same restaurant can also enable payroll, timekeeping and other human resource services, reducing the time spent on manual workflows and enhancing employee engagement. Marketplace also includes a variety of functional applications including loyalty and inventory management.

Sales and Distribution

Our payments platform and technology solutions are delivered to our merchants through our distribution network. Today, our network includes thousands of software partners and regional internal sales and support hubs, providing full coverage across the U.S. and allowing us to provide the localized support that many merchants demand. Our distribution approach and commitment to our internal sales team and software partners are part of our go-to-market strategy.

•Independent software vendors – Our solutions are connected into over 500 integrations with market-leading software providers, including some of the largest and most recognizable technology companies in the world. By integrating our payments platform into their software suites, our ISVs are able to sell a comprehensive solution to the merchant at an attractive price point.

•Internal sales and support network – We have approximately 2,300 employees based throughout the country, with significant focus on sales and customer support.

•Enterprise relationships - In addition to SMBs, we support our large enterprise relationships across thousands of locations. Our enterprise customers consist of stadiums, arenas, resorts, and airlines, among others.

•Value added resellers – We partner with VARs to sell our solutions to merchants. Our VARs include third-party resellers and organizations that provide distribution support for ISVs. VARs act as trusted and localized service providers to our merchants by providing them with software and services. This partnership enables us to expand our reach and scalability by allowing a VAR to bundle our full payments and technology product suite with other value-added services provided by the VAR.

We are selective in identifying and choosing our software partners, and we seek to align our business objectives with those that have strong networks, local expertise, high-quality merchant portfolios, and trusted relationships. Our network of software partners provides a consistent and extensive source of new merchant acquisition, with no single relationship accounting for more than 10% of our end-to-end volume for the year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, we leverage our Shift4 Model to create strategic and economic alignment with our partners to incentivize them to continue working with us.

Our compelling value proposition enables our software partners to extend attractive pricing arrangements to our merchants. For merchants that subscribe to our end-to-end payments offering, our software partners can offer gateway and technology solutions as value-added features included in the price of our payments offering. We believe that enabling our software partners to provide a cost-effective and comprehensive bundle of solutions best supports their ability to sell our solutions and grow their businesses.

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Our Solutions

Our solutions are designed to help our customers grow their businesses and include, but are not limited to:


Solution						Description

Merchant Acquiring						Omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions across multiple payment types, including credit, debit, contactless card, mobile wallets as well as alternative payment methods. We also provide localized settlement for international merchants.

Gateway						Seamlessly connects merchant’s software to the payment processor of their choice enabling a wide range of payment options including traditional and alternative payments methods and provides integrations to hundreds of software suites

Security						Security features including PCI-validated P2PE and EMV-compliance
						P2PE encrypts consumer card data from the moment a card is inserted, swiped, manually keyed or tapped, as with mobile wallets, at a secure payment device

Tokenization						Replaces cardholder data, which has universal value, with a random alphanumeric value (a token) that is only valuable within specific parameters and in a particular environment. Tokens enable a merchant to maintain transaction records without the risk of compromising consumer card data Traditional tokens preclude a merchant from identifying their consumers, which undermines the efficacy of business intelligence solutions. Our MetaTokens provide 16-digit numeric values that remain constant for a particular consumer’s card number. MetaTokens enable a merchant to identify their consumers across multiple transactions, numerous transaction types and different revenue centers within a merchant

Risk Management/Underwriting						Risk management teams and underwriting systems assess, plan, and implement strategies to minimize risk associated with chargebacks

Payment Device Management						Device provisioning encryption and ongoing maintenance and support

Chargeback Management						Chargeback system provides an efficient support structure in which we work directly with the merchant, payment card networks and card issuing brands to determine liability and resolve open dispute claims

Fraud Prevention						Our Fraud Sentry solution is an automated solution that monitors transaction activity to identify instances of employee fraud. Fraud Sentry will monitor purchase and refund activity on the POS and will notify the merchant in the event these amounts are not aligned

Loyalty and Gift Card						Flexible, feature-rich loyalty and gift card solution for card-present and card-not-present environments

Operations and Support Services

Our operations infrastructure is designed to deliver high-quality experiences to our customers and to drive efficiencies throughout the entire payment ecosystem. We leverage our over 30 years of operating history in the hospitality sector, as well as our enterprise domain expertise, to ensure our obligations to our customers are maintained and fulfilled effectively. Our operations and support services include:

Merchant Operations and Support

•Merchant underwriting – Our merchant underwriting team manages applications and risk evaluation of new merchants. The majority of our merchant base operates in end markets with high card-present volume and low levels of fraud and chargeback losses. In addition, our underwriting strategy offers merchants with a low risk profile expedited activation, which enhances their customer experience.

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•Merchant onboarding and activation – A business owner can enroll for a merchant account within minutes via our web based portal within Shift4Shop. For enterprises, our merchant onboarding and activation team works closely with our partners to ensure a high-touch transition from sales to implementation and activation. Our streamlined activation and automated approval process enables fast and frictionless merchant onboarding, providing us and our partners with enhanced speed-to-market. Our partners are typically able to board even the largest and most complex merchants within 24 hours of submitting an application.

•Merchant training – We provide a full curriculum of training materials to our merchants via a dedicated training department and content delivery platform.

•Merchant risk management – Our risk management operations are designed to monitor merchant accounts on an on-going basis. This includes dedicated security and regulatory support such as PCI compliance support, vulnerability scanning, system monitoring and breach assistance. Once a merchant is activated, our systems are configured to automatically monitor any activity that may require additional diligence, which in turn helps minimize losses associated with fraud and default.

•Merchant support – Our merchant support team responds to inquiries from merchants 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The team provides customer support for systems integrations and other technical solutions. In addition, we have a dedicated team of merchant account specialists that guide merchants through the payment acceptance process from onboarding to settlement and reporting. With strong emphasis on first-call resolution, we seek to provide exceptional payment expertise and support for our merchants. We train our customer support team to quickly identify and resolve each matter in an empathetic and professional manner which reduces repeat calls and improves our operational efficiency.

Software Partner Operations and Support

•Software integrations and compliance management – We have a team of engineers and technical support staff dedicated to support software integrations and ensure compliance with all card brand, security and regulatory requirements, including PCI and Payment Application Data Security Standard compliance support, system integration and configuration guidance.

•Partner support – We have dedicated support teams who work with our software providers to address any questions or issues that may pertain to the integration of our products and solutions into their software suites. We seek to deliver end-to-end issue resolution by bringing all appropriate disciplines together in an integrated manner, in order to optimize partner support. In addition, we help resolve issues that may pertain to our partners’ entire portfolio of merchants or incidents pertaining to a single merchant.

•Partner services – Through our partner-facing customer relationship management system, our partners are able to track each step of the activation process of their new merchant accounts in real-time. Through this system, our partners can track their merchant portfolio, including commissions, residual payments and even support calls/recordings, in an accurate and real-time manner. We have added substantial automation to these processes, which is essential to ensure optimal experience as well as financial efficiency.

Competition

We compete with a range of providers, each of whom may provide a component of our offering, but do not provide an integrated offering capable of solving complex business challenges for software partners and merchants. For certain services and solutions, including end-to-end payments, we compete with non-integrated payment processors (such as Chase Paymentech, Elavon, FIS, Fiserv and Global Payments) and integrated payment providers (such as Adyen, Lightspeed POS, Shopify, Square and Toast). For our hospitality gateway offering, we compete primarily with Elavon and FreedomPay.

While competitive factors and their relative importance can vary based on size, industry and geographic reach of software partners and merchants, we believe we compete primarily on the basis of reputation, domain expertise, scale of distribution channels, breadth of offerings, simplicity and ease-of-use of solutions, pace of innovation, price, data security and customer service. We believe we compete favorably with respect to all of these factors.

For information on risks relating to increased competition in our industry, see “Risk Factors—Business risks—Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in the financial services, payments and payment technology industries may adversely affect our overall business and operations,” “Risk Factors—Business risks— Potential changes in competitive landscape, including disintermediation from other participants in the payments chain, could harm our business,” and “Risk Factors—Business risks— Our ability to anticipate and respond to changing industry trends and the needs and preferences of our merchants and consumers may adversely affect our competitiveness or the demand for our products and services.”

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Patents, Trademarks and Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and contractual rights to protect our proprietary software and our brands. We have registered or applied to register certain of our trademarks in the U.S. and several other countries. In addition, we have obtained or applied for patents in the U.S. and certain foreign countries on certain material aspects of our proprietary software applications. We also license intellectual property from third parties, including software that is incorporated in or bundled with our proprietary software applications. We generally control access to and use of our proprietary software and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with both our employees and third parties.

We hold 34 issued U.S. utility patents, three issued Canadian patents, one issued Mexican patent and one issued European patent related to our proprietary payments technologies. As of December 31, 2022, we also held six pending U.S. utility patent applications related to our payment technologies. If the U.S. and foreign patents currently issued to us are maintained until the end of their terms, they will expire between the year 2026 and the year 2040. The expiration of these patents is not reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, we own a portfolio of trademarks in multiple jurisdictions around the world and are in the process of registering for our primary trademark, Shift4 Payments.

Seasonality

Our operating results and operating metrics are subject to seasonality based on historic patterns of consumer and business traveler spending behaviors coupled with exposure to seasonality experienced by our mix of merchants. In the past, we have experienced seasonal fluctuations in our quarterly revenue with revenue typically strongest in our second and third quarters and weakest in our first quarter. As we expand into new verticals and geographies, we expect to continue to experience seasonal fluctuations. Other factors influencing our quarterly seasonality include the timing of specific holidays in a given fiscal year, the number of business days in a month or quarter, and the proportion of our volume derived from various merchant businesses.

Government Regulation

Various aspects of our business and service areas are subject to U.S. federal, state, and local regulation, as well as regulation outside the U.S. Certain of our services also are subject to rules promulgated by various card networks and other authorities, as more fully described below. These descriptions are not exhaustive, and these laws, regulations and rules frequently change and are increasing in number.

The Dodd-Frank Act

In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“the Dodd-Frank Act”) was signed into law in the U.S. The Dodd-Frank Act has resulted in significant structural and other changes to the regulation of the financial services industry. Among other things, Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) to regulate consumer financial products and services (including some offered by our partners). The CFPB may also have authority over us as a provider of services to regulated financial institutions in connection with consumer financial products.

Separately, the Dodd-Frank Act directed the Federal Reserve to regulate debit interchange transaction fees that a card issuer or payment network receives or charges for an electronic debit transaction. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, debit interchange transaction fees must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing, and settling the transaction. Pursuant to the regulations promulgated by the Federal Reserve implementing this “reasonable and proportional” requirement, debit interchange rates for card issuers operating in the U.S. with assets of $10 billion or more are capped at the sum of $0.21 per transaction and an ad valorem component of 5 basis points to reflect a portion of the issuer’s fraud losses plus, for qualifying issuers, an additional $0.01 per transaction in debit interchange for fraud prevention costs. In addition, the regulations contain non-exclusivity provisions that ban debit card networks from prohibiting an issuer from contracting with any other card network that may process an electronic debit transaction involving an issuer’s debit cards and prohibit card issuers and card networks from inhibiting the ability of merchants to direct the routing of debit card transactions over any network that can process the transaction.

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Further, the ability of payment networks to impose certain restrictions are limited because the Dodd-Frank Act allows merchants to set minimum dollar amounts (not to exceed $10) for the acceptance of a credit card (while federal governmental entities and institutions of higher education may set maximum amounts for the acceptance of credit cards). Depending on the card network rules, merchants are now also allowed to provide discounts or other incentives to entice consumers to pay with an alternative payment method, such as cash, checks, or debit cards. However, merchants cannot impose any additional charges for the use of credit cards.

Association and network rules

We are subject to the rules of American Express, Discover, Interlink, Maestro, Mastercard, Visa and other payment networks. In order to provide our services, we must be registered either indirectly or directly as service providers with the payment networks that we utilize. Because we are not a “member bank” as defined in certain of the payment networks’ rules, we are not eligible for primary membership in certain payment networks and are therefore unable to directly access them. Instead, those payment networks require us to be sponsored by a member bank as a service provider, which we have accomplished through a sponsorship agreement with our sponsor bank. We are registered with Visa, Mastercard and other networks as service providers for member institutions. As such, we are subject to applicable card association and payment network rules, which impose various requirements and could subject us to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by such associations and/or networks for certain acts or omissions. Our failure to comply with the networks’ requirements, or to pay the fees or fines they may impose, could result in the suspension or termination of our sponsorship by our sponsor bank or our registration with the relevant payment network(s), and therefore require us to limit or cease providing the relevant payment processing services.

Card associations and payment networks and their member financial institutions regularly update and generally expand security expectations and requirements related to the security of cardholder data and environments. We are also subject to network operating rules promulgated by the National Automated Clearing House Association relating to payment transactions processed by us using the Automated Clearing House Network and to various state, federal, and foreign laws regarding such operations, including laws pertaining to electronic benefits transactions.

Privacy and information security regulations

We provide services that may be subject to various state, federal, and foreign privacy laws and regulations, including, among others, the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which we refer to as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”), the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”), and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act in Canada. These laws and their implementing regulations restrict certain collection, processing, storage, use, and disclosure of personal information, require notice to individuals of privacy practices, and provide individuals with certain rights to prevent use and disclosure of protected information. These laws also impose requirements for the safeguarding and proper destruction of personal information through the issuance of data security standards or guidelines. Certain federal, state and foreign laws and regulations impose similar privacy obligations and, in certain circumstances, obligations to notify affected individuals, state officers or other governmental authorities, the media, and consumer reporting agencies, as well as businesses and governmental agencies, of security breaches affecting personal information. In addition, there are state and foreign laws restricting the ability to collect and utilize certain types of information such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

As a processor of personal data of EU data subjects, we are also subject to regulation and oversight in the applicable EU Member States with regard to data protection legislation. In May 2018, the GDPR, a new European wide Regulation on data privacy came into force. The GDPR contains additional obligations on data controllers and data processors that have an establishment in the EU or are offering goods or services to, or monitoring the behavior of, consumers within the EU. The GDPR includes significant enhancements with regard to the rights of data subjects (which include the right to be forgotten and the right of data portability), stricter regulation on obtaining consent to processing of personal data and sensitive personal data, stricter obligations with regard to the information to be included in privacy notices and significant enhanced requirements with regard to compliance, including a regime of “accountability” for processors and controllers and a requirement to embed compliance with GDPR into the fabric of an organization by developing appropriate policies and practices, to achieve a standard of data protection by “design and default.” The GDPR includes enhanced data security obligations, requiring data processors and controllers to take appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the data they process and their systems. Organizations that process significant amounts of data may be required to appoint a Data Protection Officer responsible for reporting to highest level of management within the business. There are greatly enhanced sanctions under GDPR for failing to comply with the core principles of the GDPR or failing to secure data.

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Unfair trade practice regulations

We, our partners and certain of our merchants are subject to various federal, state, and international laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices, such as Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the prohibition against unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (“UDAAPs”) under the Dodd-Frank Act. Various regulatory agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and state attorneys general, have authority to take action against parties that engage in unfair or deceptive trade practices or violate other laws, rules, and regulations, and to the extent we are processing payments for a client that may be in violation of laws, rules, and regulations, we may be subject to enforcement actions and incur losses and liabilities that may impact our business. For example, all persons offering or providing financial services or products to consumers, directly or indirectly, can be subject to the prohibition against UDAAPs. The CFPB has enforcement authority to prevent an entity that offers or provides consumer financial services or products or a service provider from committing or engaging in UDAAPs, including the ability to engage in joint investigations with other agencies, issue subpoenas and civil investigative demands, conduct hearings and adjudication proceedings, commence a civil action, grant relief (e.g., limit activities or functions; rescission of contracts), and refer matters for criminal proceedings.

Anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, sanctions, and counter-terrorist regulations

We are contractually required to comply with the anti-money laundering laws and regulations in certain countries. In the U.S., we comply with certain provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and its implementing regulations (collectively “the BSA”) which are enforced by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice. We are also subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and other laws, that prohibit the making or offering of improper payments to foreign government officials and political figures and includes anti-bribery provisions enforced by the Department of Justice and accounting provisions enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The FCPA has a broad reach and requires maintenance of appropriate records and adequate internal controls to prevent and detect possible FCPA violations. Many other jurisdictions where we conduct business also have similar anticorruption laws and regulations. We have policies, procedures, systems, and controls designed to identify and address potentially impermissible transactions under such laws and regulations.

We are also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), which prohibit or restrict transactions to or from, or dealings with, specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists or terrorist organizations. Other group entities may be subject to additional local sanctions requirements in other relevant jurisdictions. We have policies, procedures, systems, and controls designed to identify and address compliance with sanctions programs.

Similar anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and proceeds of crime laws apply to movements of currency and payments through electronic transactions. These laws also apply to dealings with persons specified in the lists of OFAC-like organizations of several other countries, and require specific data retention obligations to be observed by intermediaries in the payment process. Our businesses in those jurisdictions are subject to those data retention obligations.

Human Capital

In order to continue to innovate, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain top talent. To facilitate talent attraction and retention, we strive to make Shift4 a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers, supported by strong compensation, benefits and health and wellness programs, and with programs that build connections between our employees and their communities.

As of December 31, 2022, we employed approximately 2,300 full-time employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or are party to a collective bargaining agreement, and we have had no labor-related work stoppages. We believe that we have good relationships with our employees.

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Health, Safety and Wellness The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people. Accordingly, we are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees. We provide our employees and their families with access to a variety of innovative, flexible and convenient health and wellness programs, tools, and resources to support physical and mental health and encourage engagement in healthy behaviors. Our benefit programs are designed to offer choice, where possible, so our employees can customize their benefits to meet their and their families’ needs.

Return to Office Our return to office policy is aimed at helping us to continue to grow and thrive in an uncertain economic environment. Over the last three years, we, like other companies, have faced uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic that required flexibility and agility to meet the changing reality. Our employees’ hard work and dedication enabled Shift4 to excel despite the pandemic and the economic realities of 2022.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with employees’ health and well-being in mind, we successfully transitioned to a remote work environment. However, particularly as treatments improved and vaccinations became available, and as we and our employees become better equipped to navigate the impacts of COVID-19, we know we are better together where we can better capitalize on our collective strength. To that end, in 2023, we decided to return to our offices for the majority of the work week in order to better collaborate and connect with each other.

Compensation and Benefits We provide robust compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. Our equity incentive plans provide for grants of awards including restricted stock units (“RSUs”). We believe our equity incentive plans foster a stronger sense of ownership and align our employees’ interests with the interests and growth of the Company. In addition to base compensation and awards granted pursuant to equity incentive plans, we offer benefits including a 401(k) Plan and matching, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, and employee assistance programs. With respect to our 401(k) Plan and matching policy, we match 100% of employee contributions up to 3% of the employee’s base salary in the form of cash and we match 100% of employee contributions up to an additional 3% of the employee’s base salary in the form of RSUs, a third of which vest each subsequent year and which are subject to continued employment.

Building Connections — With Each Other and our Communities We believe that building connections between our employees, their families and our communities creates a more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable workplace. Through our engagement programs, our employees can pursue their interests and hobbies, connect to volunteer opportunities and enjoy unique recreational experiences with family members.

In addition, we have a Corporate Social Responsibility program, Shift4Cares, pursuant to which we have provided structure around our various volunteer and outreach programs across the country led by our Director of Corporate Citizenship. With the support of executive management, this program is driven by our employees and includes company-wide events that cover many aspects of community, environmental, and volunteer support.

Since our employees are passionate about many causes, our corporate giving and volunteering programs support and encourage employees by engaging with those causes. With offices around the world, each Shift4 location has a Shift4Cares Ambassador who donates their time to help lead our Shift4Cares program at the local level. Each employee receives 16 hours of paid volunteer time off (“VTO”). In 2022, participation in the VTO program was more than 40% higher than in 2021 based on hours volunteered and number of employees who got involved. In addition, in 2022, Shift4Cares made its largest monetary donation to date to various non-profits, totaling over $1.0 million. This was made possible through different Shift4Cares initiatives throughout the year.

Diversity & Inclusion Shift4 is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging. Our company culture is the result of our behaviors, our personal commitments, our curiosity, how we collaborate, and the ways that we courageously share our perspectives and encourage others to do the same.

Shift4 is dedicated to elevating the diverse and marginalized voices, perspectives, and experiences of our employees and others. We want everyone to be seen, heard, and advocated for. In 2022, we launched two Employee Inclusion Networks, through which we aim to empower and inspire our employees. The 2022 groups focused on those who identify as women and LGBTQIA+.

We believe that diversity & inclusion initiatives such as this expand our talent acquisition recruitment efforts, increase retention of our diverse workforce, and maintain a sense of belonging among employees. In July 2022, we administered our first-ever DE&I survey to analyze the state of inclusion at Shift4. Over 30% of the employee population at Shift4 identifies as a woman and over 40% identifies as a person of color.

Recruitment We work diligently to attract the best talent from a diverse range of sources in order to meet the current and future demands of our business. In addition to our in-house talent and recruitment department, we have established relationships with professional associations and industry groups to proactively attract talent.

We have a strong employee value proposition that leverages our unique culture, collaborative working environment, shared sense of purpose, and innovative work to attract talent to our Company. We empower our employees to find new and better ways of doing things and the scale of our business means that careers can develop in exciting and unexpected directions.

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Available Information

Our website address is www.shift4.com. In addition to the information about us and our subsidiaries contained in this Annual Report, information about us can be found on our website. Our website and information included in or linked to our website are not part of this Annual Report.

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge through our website at www.investors.shift4.com as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Additionally, the SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information. The address of the SEC’s website is www.sec.gov.

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

The following table provides information regarding our executive officers and members of our board of directors as of the date of this Annual Report:

Name

Age

Position(s)

Jared Isaacman

Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Nancy Disman

Chief Financial Officer

Jordan Frankel

Secretary, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal, Human Resources and Compliance

Taylor Lauber

President and Chief Strategy Officer

Donald Isaacman

Director

Christopher Cruz

Director

Karen Roter Davis

Director

Sarah Goldsmith-Grover

Director

Jonathan Halkyard

Director

Sam Bakhshandehpour

Director

Executive Officers and Directors

Jared Isaacman has served as Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the board of directors since its formation, and is the Founder of Shift4 Payments, LLC, as well as serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Shift4 Payments, LLC’s board of managers since its founding in 1999. Mr. J. Isaacman is also the founder of Draken International, a provider of contract air services. Mr. J. Isaacman was the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” for 2021. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. J. Isaacman was named as a finalist for the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, was the youngest person to ever be named to the list of “Industry Leaders” by The Green Sheet, a leading publication in the credit card industry and has been recognized as one of “America’s Best Entrepreneurs” by BusinessWeek magazine and “30 Entrepreneurs Under 30” by Inc. Magazine. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. We believe Mr. J. Isaacman is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in executive leadership positions in the payment processing industry and his knowledge of our business in particular, gained through his services as our Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Nancy Disman has served as Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s Chief Financial Officer since August 2022. Ms. Disman previously served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. from June 2020 to August 2022. From November 2017 to August 2022, Ms. Disman was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Intrado Corporation, a provider of cloud-based technology. From April 2016 to March 2017, Ms. Disman served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of the Merchant Acquiring Segment of Total System Services, Inc. (“TSYS”), a global provider of payment solutions, and from June 2014 to March 2016, Ms. Disman was the Chief Financial Officer of TransFirst, a merchant account provider in the credit card processing industry, prior to its acquisition by TSYS. Ms. Disman has also served as a member of the board of directors of each of Intrado Foundation since June 2019, various subsidiaries of Intrado Corporation since November 2017, and iCIMS, Inc. since March 2021, all of which are privately held. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accounting from the State University of New York at Albany and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

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Jordan Frankel has served as Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s Secretary and General Counsel since its formation, and as General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal, Risk and Compliance and a member of the board of managers of Shift4 Payments, LLC since 2014. From 2011 to 2019, Mr. Frankel also served as a member of the board of directors of Draken International, a provider of contract air services. He holds a Bachelor of Finance and Marketing from the Syracuse University Martin J Whitman School of Management and a Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration from the Quinnipiac University School of Law and Quinnipiac University Lender School of Business, respectively.

Taylor Lauber has served as Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s President since February 2022 and Chief Strategy Officer since its formation. He previously served as Senior Vice President., Strategic Projects of Shift4 Payments, LLC from 2018 to 2022. Prior to joining Shift4, from 2010 to 2018, he served as a Principal at The Blackstone Group, L.P. Mr. Lauber also spent from 2005 to 2010 at Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor, where he advised numerous Fortune 500 companies and their executives on capital markets transactions. Mr. Lauber has passed the Series 7 General Securities Representative Exam, Series 66 Uniform Combined State Law Exam and Series 27 Financial and Operations Principal Exam, all administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and Finance from Bentley College.

Donald Isaacman has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since its formation, and has served as the President and a member of the board of managers of Shift4 Payments, LLC since its founding in 1999. From February 1971 to September 2000, Mr. D. Isaacman also served as the Vice President of Supreme Security Systems, Inc., a home alarm and business security system company. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Sales from Monmouth University. We believe Mr. D. Isaacman is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his senior management experience and his knowledge of our business in particular, gained through his services as our President.

Christopher Cruz has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since its formation, and as a member of the board of managers of Shift4 Payments, LLC since May 2016. Mr. Cruz is a Partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global alternative investment management firm, which he joined in 2011. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Cruz served on the investment team at Oaktree Capital Management, a global alternative investment management firm. Prior to that, Mr. Cruz was in the leveraged finance and restructuring group at UBS Investment Bank, from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Cruz also serves on the boards of Neon NewCo Corp. (an entity funding the pending acquisition of Netspend Corp.) as of August 2022, Flowbird Group as of February 2022, and Sightline Payments as of December 2020. Mr. Cruz previously served on the board of M&M Food Market from July 2014 to February 2022. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Honors Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. We believe Mr. Cruz is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience in finance and capital markets and his knowledge of our business in particular, gained through his services as a member of our board of managers.

Karen Roter Davis has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since August 2021. Ms. Davis is a Managing Partner at Entrada Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in emerging, high growth enterprise and industrial technology companies. Ms. Davis spent over a decade in executive leadership at Alphabet, from pre-IPO to more recently. From 2017 until February 2022, Ms. Davis was Director of Early Stage Projects at X (formerly Google X) where she provided strategic direction and oversight for a portfolio of early-stage technology ventures. As Corporate Counsel and then Principal of New Business Development from 2003 to 2008, she oversaw internal operations for Google’s groundbreaking 2004 IPO and scaled some of the company’s innovative, early-stage businesses. In September 2016, Ms. Davis returned to Google as Director for mapping and local search strategy and business development by way of Alphabet’s acquisition of Urban Engines, a geospatial analytics platform. Ms. Davis was Urban Engines' first business hire and helped establish foundational business development, strategy, and operations functions in her role. She serves on the board of 360Learning S.A., where she is a member of the audit and M&A and finance committees, is a member of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Carbon Impact Initiative committee, and previously served on the board of lnnovyze, acquired by Autodesk, where she was chair of the audit committee and member of the compensation committee. Ms. Davis earned her MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and her B.A. from Princeton University’s School of Public & International Affairs. We believe Ms. Davis is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors due to her two decades of experience in the technology industry and her various senior leadership and advisory roles spanning startups to global corporations.

Sarah Goldsmith-Grover has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since June 2020 and from April 2021 to May 2021 served as our Chief Marketing Officer. Ms. Grover is Principal of Sarah Grover, Inc. where she leverages her 35 years of hospitality industry experience leading global brands. Ms. Grover is hired to assess, stabilize, and restructure global restaurant brands through data-driven and CPG growth strategies. For 25 years, Ms. Grover held a series of high impact-strategic roles for the global chain California Pizza Kitchen. Her leadership as EVP and Chief Brand & Concept Officer helped enable the company’s growth from a ten-unit restaurant chain to a $600 million global brand and through multiple private and public ownership transactions. As a respected marketing leader, Ms. Grover has been recognized as a Marketing 50 by Advertising Age, and in 2020 named one of the top 25 casual dining restaurant executives. Ms. Grover is on the board of ChowNow, the UCLA Annual Restaurant Conference and the non-profit, Support + Feed. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from DePauw University. We believe Ms. Grover is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her experience and insight acquired from leading companies in the restaurant and consumer industries.

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Jonathan Halkyard has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since June 2020. Mr. Halkyard has served as the Chief Financial Officer of MGM Resorts International since January 2021. From September 2013 to November 2019, Mr. Halkyard held various senior management positions at Extended Stay America, Inc., an integrated hotel owner and operator, including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Halkyard has also served as a member of the board of directors of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc., a restaurant and entertainment business, since September 2011, including as the chair of its nominating and governance committee and member of its finance committee since June 2016, and as a member of its audit committee since September 2013. He previously served on the boards of directors of Extended Stay America, Inc., an operator of an economy apartment hotel chain, and ESH Hospitality, Inc., a real estate investment trust and the owner of the hotels, from January 2018 to November 2019. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colgate University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. We believe Mr. Halkyard is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his experience in leading companies in the finance and hospitality industries and his knowledge of the board and corporate governance practices of other organizations.

Sam Bakhshandehpour has served as a member of the board of directors of Shift4 Payments, Inc. since October 2022. Since 2020, Mr. Bakhshandehpour has served as the President of ThinkFoodGroup, and alongside José Andrés and Rob Wilder, serves in the Office of the CEO. Over the past decade, Mr. Bakhshandehpour has served ThinkFoodGroup as an operating partner, advisor and investor. In his current capacity, Mr. Bakhshandehpour leads the execution of company strategy globally, across the restaurant, brand, hotel, and media divisions. Since 2015, Mr. Bakhshandehpour has also been the CEO & Managing Partner of Silverstone, a vertically integrated hospitality and lifestyle investment firm. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Bakhshandehpour served as President, CEO and Board Member of SBE Entertainment, a Colony Capital portfolio company, where he was responsible for the Company’s global operations across the hotel, restaurant and entertainment divisions. From 2014 to September 2022, Mr. Bakhshandehpour served as a member of the board of directors of the New Home Company, a homebuilder focused on the design, construction and sale of homes in major metropolitan areas. Mr. Bakhshandehpour holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. We believe Mr. Bakhshandehpour is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his experience in leading companies in the finance and hospitality industries and his knowledge of the board and corporate governance practices of other organizations.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as all of the other information contained in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes as well as our other public filings with the SEC, before deciding to invest in our Class A common stock. The occurrence of any of the events described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or prospects. In such an event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business.

Business risks

Substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in the financial services, payments and payment technology industries may adversely affect our overall business and operations.

The financial services, payments and payment technology industries are highly competitive, and our payment services and solutions compete against all forms of financial services and payment systems, including cash, checks, and electronic, mobile, eCommerce and integrated payment platforms. Many of the areas in which we compete are evolving rapidly with shifting user needs and changing and disruptive technologies, products, and services. We compete against a wide range of businesses with varying roles within the payments value chain. If we are unable to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and drive value for our customers, we may not be able to compete effectively. Our competitors may introduce their own value-added or other innovative services or solutions more effectively than we do, which could adversely impact our current competitive position and prospects for growth. Our competitors also may be able to offer services that we do not offer. We also compete against new entrants that have developed alternative payment systems, eCommerce payment systems, payment systems for mobile devices and customized integrated software payment solutions. Failure to compete effectively against any of these competitive threats could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, some of our competitors are larger and/or have greater financial resources than us, enabling them to maintain a wider range of product offerings, mount extensive promotional campaigns and be more aggressive in offering products and services at lower rates, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Furthermore, any negative publicity or perceptions involving the Company or our employees, brands, products, vendors, spokespersons or marketing and other partners may negatively impact our reputation and adversely impact our ability to compete effectively and could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Potential changes in competitive landscape, including disintermediation from other participants in the payments chain, could harm our business.

We expect the competitive landscape will continue to change in a variety of ways, including:

•rapid and significant changes in technology, resulting in new and innovative payment methods and programs that could place us at a competitive disadvantage and reduce the use of our products and services;

•competitors, including non-integrated payment processors (such as Chase Paymentech, Elavon, FIS, Fiserv and Global Payments) and integrated payment providers (such as Adyen, Lightspeed POS, Shopify, Square and Toast), merchants, governments and/or other industry participants may develop products and services that compete with or replace our value-added products and services, including products and services that enable payment networks and banks to transact with consumers directly;

•participants in the financial services, payments and payment technology industries may merge, create joint ventures, or form other business combinations that may strengthen their existing business services or create new payment services that compete with our services; and

•new services and technologies that we develop may be impacted by industry-wide solutions and standards related to migration to EMV standards, including chip technology, tokenization and other safety and security technologies.

Certain competitors could use strong or dominant positions in one or more markets to gain a competitive advantage over us by integrating competing platforms or features into products that they control, including but not limited to search engines, web browsers, mobile device operating systems, and social networks, by making acquisitions, or by making access to our platform more difficult. Further, current and future competitors could choose to offer a different pricing model, or to undercut prices in the market or our prices, in an effort to increase their market share. Failure to compete effectively against any of these or other competitive threats could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Global economic, political and other conditions may adversely affect trends in consumer, business and government spending, which may adversely impact the demand for our services and our revenue and profitability.

The financial services, payments and payment technology industries in which we operate depend heavily upon the overall level of consumer, business and government spending. A sustained deterioration in general economic conditions (including distress in financial markets and turmoil in specific economies around the world), including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect our financial performance by reducing the number or average purchase amount of transactions we process, including as a result of business closures. A reduction in the amount of consumer spending or credit card transactions could result in a decrease in our revenue and profits.

Adverse economic trends may accelerate the timing, or increase the impact of, risks to our financial performance. These trends could include:

•declining economies and the pace of economic recovery can change consumer spending behaviors, on which the majority of our revenue is dependent;

•low levels of consumer and business confidence typically associated with recessionary environments, and those markets experiencing relatively high unemployment, may result in decreased spending by cardholders;

•budgetary concerns in the U.S. and other countries around the world could affect the U.S. and other sovereign credit ratings, which could impact consumer confidence and spending;

•financial institutions may restrict credit lines to cardholders or limit the issuance of new cards to mitigate cardholder credit concerns;

•uncertainty and volatility in the performance of our merchants’ businesses, particularly SMBs, may make estimates of our revenues and financial performance less predictable;

•cardholders or merchants may decrease spending for value-added services we market and sell;

•government intervention, including the effect of laws, regulations and government investments in our merchants, may have potential negative effects on our business and our relationships with our merchants or otherwise alter their strategic direction away from our products and services; and

•political tensions resulting in economic instability, such as due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and the related response, including sanctions or other restrictive actions, by the U.S. and/or other countries.

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In addition, the banking industry remains subject to consolidation, regardless of overall economic conditions. In times of economic distress, various financial institutions in the markets we serve have been acquired or merged with and into other financial institutions, including those with which we partner. If a current referral partner of ours is acquired by another bank, the acquiring bank may seek to terminate our agreement and impose its own merchant services program on the acquired bank. We may be unable to retain our banking relationships post-acquisition, or may have to offer financial concessions to do so, which could adversely affect our results of operations or growth.

A global deterioration in economic conditions, which may have an adverse impact on discretionary consumer spending, could also impact our business. For instance, consumer spending has been, and may continue to be, negatively impacted by general macroeconomic conditions, including due to decreased consumer confidence resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. If governments are not successful in addressing and rectifying market and economic conditions, adverse economic conditions may cause a material impact on our ability to raise capital, if needed, on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or at all.

We are exposed to fluctuations in inflation, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The U.S. has recently experienced historically high levels of inflation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the annual inflation rate for the U.S. was 6.5% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022. If the inflation rate remains elevated or continues to increase, it will likely affect our expenses, including, but not limited to, increased employee compensation expenses and costs for supplies. In the event inflation remains elevated or continues to increase, we may seek to increase the sales prices of our products and services in order to maintain satisfactory margins. Any attempts to offset cost increases with price increases may reduce sales, increase customer dissatisfaction, or otherwise harm our reputation. Moreover, to the extent inflation has other adverse effects on the market, it may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and the emergence of variant strains, has had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, with pockets of resurgence and the emergence of variant strains contributing to continued uncertainty about its scope, duration, severity, trajectory, and lasting impact. We and many of our merchants have been, and may in the future be, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including by related public health measures and travel restrictions that have adversely impacted merchant transaction levels and as a result, our payment volumes. We believe our results of operations and cash flows have been negatively impacted by, and may continue to be impacted by, the COVID-19 pandemic in the future.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, including due to resurgences and the emergence of variant strains, we are unable to accurately predict its ultimate impact on our operations. Uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on us are dictated by the length of time that related disruptions continue, which will, in turn, depend on the currently unknowable duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development, availability and uptake of effective treatments and vaccines, the impact of governmental regulations that might be imposed in response to the pandemic, the imposition of and compliance with protective public safety measures, the impact of remote operations, the related economic impact, and overall changes in consumer behavior. While we have not yet seen a meaningful degradation in new merchant sign-ups or an increase in existing merchant attrition as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that those business trends change if economic hardship across the country forces merchant closures. Any significant reduction in consumer visits to, or spending at, our merchants, would also result in a loss of revenue to us, and merchant closures could result in additional chargeback or merchant receivable losses.

To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.

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Our ability to anticipate and respond to changing industry trends and the needs and preferences of our merchants and consumers may adversely affect our competitiveness or the demand for our products and services.

The financial services, payments and payments technology industries are subject to rapid technological advancements, resulting in new products and services, including mobile payment applications and customized integrated software payment solutions, and an evolving competitive landscape, as well as changing industry trends and the needs and preferences of our merchants and consumers. We expect that new services and technologies applicable to the financial services, payments and payment technology industries will continue to emerge, and external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic may accelerate such emergence. These changes may limit the competitiveness of and demand for our services. Also, our merchants continue to adopt new technology for business. We must anticipate and respond to these changes in order to remain competitive within our relative markets. In addition, failure to develop value-added services that meet the needs and preferences of our merchants could adversely affect our ability to compete effectively in our industry. Any new solution we develop or acquire might not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner and might not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. In addition, these solutions could become subject to legal or regulatory requirements, which could prohibit or slow the development and provision of such new solutions and/or our adoption thereof. Furthermore, our merchants’ potential negative reaction to our products and services can spread quickly through social media and damage our reputation before we have the opportunity to respond. Improving and enhancing the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security and scalability of our platform is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and to the extent we are not able to do so in a manner that responds to our merchants’ evolving needs, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected. If we are unable to anticipate or respond to technological or industry standard changes on a timely basis, our ability to remain competitive could be adversely affected.

Because we rely on third-party vendors to provide products and services, we could be adversely impacted if they fail to fulfill their obligations.

We depend on third-party vendors for certain products and services, including components of our computer systems, software, data centers and telecommunications networks, to conduct our business. Any changes in these systems that degrade the functionality of our products and services, impose additional costs or requirements on it, or give preferential treatment to competitors’ services, including their own services, could materially and adversely affect usage of our products and services. For example, we are dependent on our relationship with a single third-party processor for services such as merchant authorization, processing, risk and chargeback monitoring accounting and clearing and settlement for the transactions we service. In the event our agreement with our third-party processor is terminated, or if upon its expiration we are unable to renew the contract on terms favorable to us, or at all, it may be difficult for us to replace these services, which may adversely affect our operations and profitability.

We also rely on third parties for specific software and devices used in providing our products and services. Some of these organizations and service providers provide similar services and technology to our competitors, and we do not have long-term or exclusive contracts with them.

Our systems and operations, or those of our merchants and software partners, could be exposed to damage or interruption from, among other things, fire, natural disasters, power loss, telecommunications failure, unauthorized entry, computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, acts of terrorism, human error, vandalism or sabotage, financial insolvency, bankruptcy and similar events. In addition, we may be unable to renew our existing contracts with our most significant merchants and software partners, or our merchants and software partners may stop providing or otherwise supporting the products and services we obtain from them, and we may not be able to obtain these or similar products or services on the same or similar terms as our existing agreements, if at all. The failure of our third-party vendors to perform their obligations and provide the products and services we obtain from them in a timely manner for any reason could adversely affect our operations and profitability due to, among other consequences:

•loss of revenues;

•loss of merchants and software partners;

•loss of merchant and cardholder data;

•fines imposed by payment networks;

•harm to our business or reputation resulting from negative publicity;

•exposure to fraud losses or other liabilities;

•additional operating and development costs; or

•diversion of management, technical, and other resources.

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Acquisitions create certain risks and may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We have acquired businesses and may continue to make acquisitions of businesses or assets in the future. The acquisition and integration of businesses or assets involve a number of risks. These risks include valuation (determining a fair price for the business or assets), integration (managing the process of integrating the acquired business’ people, products, technology and other assets to extract the value and synergies projected to be realized in connection with the acquisition), regulation (obtaining regulatory or other government approvals that may be necessary to complete the acquisition) and due diligence (including identifying risks to the prospects of the business, including undisclosed or unknown liabilities or restrictions to be assumed in the acquisition). Moreover, we may fail to successfully identify appropriate acquisition candidates, enter new markets or industries, or integrate any acquisitions consummated in a relatively short amount of time and, as a result, may fail to realize the synergies, cost savings and other benefits expected from such acquisitions. In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets. We are required to test goodwill and any other intangible assets with an indefinite life for possible impairment on an annual basis, or more frequently, when circumstances indicate that impairment may have occurred. We are also required to evaluate amortizable intangible assets and fixed assets for impairment if there are indicators of a possible impairment. 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. See “—Financial risks—Our balance sheet includes significant amounts of goodwill and intangible assets. The impairment of a significant portion of these assets would negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.”

In addition, to the extent we pursue acquisitions outside of the U.S., these potential acquisitions often involve additional or increased risks including:

•managing geographically separated organizations, systems and facilities;

•integrating personnel with diverse business backgrounds and organizational cultures;

•complying with non-U.S. regulatory and other legal requirements;

•addressing financial and other impacts to our business resulting from fluctuations in currency exchange rates and unit economics across multiple jurisdictions;

•enforcing intellectual property rights outside of the U.S.;

•difficulty entering new non-U.S. markets due to, among other things, consumer acceptance and business knowledge of these markets; and

•general economic and political conditions. See “—Business risks—Global economic, political and other conditions may adversely affect trends in consumer, business and government spending, which may adversely impact the demand for our services and our revenue and profitability.”

The process of integrating operations could cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, the activities of one or more of our combined businesses and the possible loss of key personnel. The diversion of management’s attention and any delays or difficulties encountered in connection with acquisitions and their integration could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our inability to protect our systems and data from continually evolving cybersecurity risks, security breaches or other technological risks could affect our reputation among our merchants and consumers and may expose us to liability.

We are subject to a number of legal requirements, contractual obligations and industry standards regarding security, data protection and privacy and any failure to comply with these requirements, obligations or standards could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

In conducting our business, we process, transmit and store sensitive business information and personal information about our merchants, consumers, sales and financial institution partners, vendors, and other parties. This information may include account access credentials, credit and debit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, names and addresses and other types of sensitive business or personal information. Some of this information is also processed and stored by our merchants, software and financial institution partners, third-party service providers to whom we outsource certain functions and other agents, which we refer to collectively as our associated third parties. We have certain responsibilities to payment networks and their member financial institutions for any failure, including the failure of our associated third parties, to protect this information.

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In addition, as a provider of security-related solutions to merchants and other business customers, our products and services may themselves be targets of cyber-attacks that attempt to sabotage or otherwise disable them, or the defensive and preventative measures we take ultimately may not be able to effectively detect, prevent, or protect against or otherwise mitigate losses from all cyber-attacks. Despite significant efforts to create security barriers against such threats, it is virtually impossible for us to eliminate these risks entirely. Any such breach could compromise our networks, creating system disruptions or slowdowns and exploiting security vulnerabilities of our products. Additionally, the information stored on our networks could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost, or stolen, which could subject us to liability and cause us financial harm. These breaches, or any perceived breach, may also result in damage to our reputation, negative publicity, loss of key partners, merchants and sales, increased costs to remedy any problem, and costly litigation, and may therefore adversely impact market acceptance of our products and seriously affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We have previously been the target of malicious third-party attempts to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities, and/or penetrate or bypass our security measures, in order to gain unauthorized access to our networks and systems or those of third parties associated with us, and we expect to be the target of such attempts in the future. For example, in 2022 we were the target of frequent phishing and distributed denial-of-service attempts. If these attempts are successful, it could lead to the compromise of sensitive, business, personal or confidential information. While we proactively employ multiple methods at different layers of our systems to defend against intrusion and attack and to protect our data, we cannot be certain that these measures will be sufficient to counter all current and emerging technology threats.

Our computer systems and the computer systems of our merchants and software partners have been, and could be in the future, subject to breaches, and our data protection measures may not prevent unauthorized access. While we believe the procedures and processes we have implemented to handle an attack are adequate, the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and are often difficult to detect. In addition, increased remote operations creates an additional risk of attack while decreasing our ability to monitor. Threats to our systems and associated third party systems can originate from human error, fraud or malice on the part of employees or third parties, or simply from accidental technological failure. Computer viruses and other malware can be distributed and could infiltrate our systems or those of associated third parties. Ransomware attacks, including those from organized criminal threat actors, nation-states, and nation-state supported actors, are becoming increasingly prevalent and severe, and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of data and income, reputational loss, diversion of funds, and may result in fines, litigation and unwanted media attention. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting payments. In addition, denial of service or other attacks could be launched against us for a variety of purposes, including to interfere with our services or create a diversion for other malicious activities. Our defensive measures may not prevent unplanned downtime, unauthorized access or unauthorized use of sensitive data. While we maintain cyber errors and omissions insurance coverage that covers certain aspects of cyber risks, our insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses. Further, while we select our associated third parties carefully, we do not control their actions. Any problems experienced by these third parties, including those resulting from breakdowns or other disruptions in the services provided by such parties or cyber-attacks and security breaches, could adversely affect our ability to service our merchants or otherwise conduct our business.

We could also be subject to liability for claims relating to misuse of personal information, such as unauthorized marketing purposes and violation of consumer protection or data privacy laws. We cannot provide assurance that the contractual requirements related to security and privacy that we impose on our service providers who have access to merchant and consumer data will be followed or will be adequate to prevent the unauthorized use or disclosure of data. In addition, we have agreed in certain agreements to take certain protective measures to ensure the confidentiality of merchant and consumer data. The costs of systems and procedures associated with such protective measures may increase and could adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. Any failure to adequately enforce or provide these protective measures could result in liability, protracted and costly litigation, governmental and card network intervention and fines and, with respect to misuse of personal information of our merchants and consumers, lost revenue and reputational harm.

Any type of security breach, attack or misuse of data, whether experienced by us or an associated third party, could harm our reputation or deter existing or prospective merchants from using our services, increase our operating expenses in order to contain and remediate the incident, expose us to unbudgeted or uninsured liability, disrupt our operations (including potential service interruptions), divert management focus away from other priorities, increase our risk of regulatory scrutiny, result in the imposition of penalties and fines under state, federal and foreign laws or by payment networks and adversely affect our continued payment network registration and financial institution sponsorship. As set out above, fines under the GDPR, including for inadequate security, can reach €20 million or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual group turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. Further, if we were to be removed from networks’ lists of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, compliant service providers, our existing merchants, sales and financial institution partners or other third parties may cease using or referring our services. Also, prospective merchants, sales partners, financial institution partners or other third parties may choose to terminate their relationship with us, or delay or choose not to consider us for their processing needs, and the payment networks on which we rely could refuse to allow us to continue processing through their networks.

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We may not be able to continue to expand our share of the existing payment processing markets or expand into new markets, which would inhibit our ability to grow and increase our profitability.

Our future growth and profitability depend upon the growth of the markets in which we currently operate and our ability to increase our penetration and service offerings within these markets, as well as the emergence of new markets for our services and our ability to successfully expand into these new markets. It is difficult to attract new merchants because of potential disadvantages associated with switching payment processing vendors, such as transition costs, business disruption and loss of accustomed functionality. There can be no assurance that our efforts to overcome these factors will be successful, and this resistance may adversely affect our growth. A merchant’s payment processing activity with us may also decrease for a variety of reasons, including the merchant’s level of satisfaction with our products and services, the effectiveness of our support services, pricing of our products and services, the pricing and quality of competing products or services, the effects of global economic conditions (including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), or reductions in consumer spending levels.

Our expansion into new markets is also dependent upon our ability to adapt our existing technology and offerings, or to develop new or innovative applications, to meet the particular service needs of merchants in each new market. In order to do so, we will need to anticipate and react to market changes and devote appropriate financial and technical resources to our development efforts, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in these efforts.

Furthermore, we may expand into new geographical markets, including foreign countries, in which we do not currently have operating experience. On February 28, 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Credorax, Inc. d/b/a Finaro (“Finaro”), a cross-border eCommerce platform and bank specializing in solving complex payment problems for multinational merchants that we believe will accelerate our growth in international markets. In addition, on September 29, 2022, we acquired Online Payments Group AG (“Online Payments Group”), a European payment service provider with a world-class developer portal and checkout experience that we believe will accelerate our global eCommerce growth. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully continue such expansion efforts due to our lack of experience in such markets and the multitude of risks associated with global operations, or that we will be able to obtain appropriate regulatory approval.

Our services and products must integrate with a variety of operating systems, software, devices and web browsers, and our business may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to ensure that our services interoperate with such operating systems, software, devices and web browsers.

We are dependent on the ability of our products and services to integrate with a variety of operating systems, software and devices, such as the POS terminals we provide to merchants, as well as web browsers that we do not control. Any changes in these systems that degrade the functionality of our products and services, impose additional costs or requirements on us, or give preferential treatment to competitive services, could materially and adversely affect usage of our products and services. In addition, system integrators may show insufficient appetite to enable our products and services to integrate with a variety of operating systems, software and devices. In the event that it is difficult for our merchants to access and use our products and services, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We depend, in part, on our merchant and software partner relationships and strategic partnerships with various institutions to operate and grow our business. If we are unable to maintain these relationships and partnerships, our business may be adversely affected.

We depend, in part, on our merchant and software partner relationships and partnerships with various institutions to operate and grow our business. We rely on the growth of our merchant and other strategic relationships, and our ability to maintain these relationships and other distribution channels, to support and grow our business. For example, we maintain proprietary and exclusive integrations with certain software partners. If we fail to maintain these relationships, or if our software partners or other strategic partners fail to maintain their brands or decrease the size of their branded networks, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, our contractual agreements with our merchants and other strategic partners vary in length and may also allow for early termination upon the occurrence of certain events. There can be no assurance that we will be able to renew these contractual agreements on similar terms or at all. The loss of merchant or software partner relationships could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We rely on our sponsor bank to provide sponsorship to card and other payment networks and treasury services. If our sponsor bank stops providing sponsorship and treasury services, we would need to find one or more other financial institutions to provide those services. If we are unable to find a replacement institution, we may no longer be able to provide processing services to certain merchants, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In the event of a chargeback, merchant bankruptcy or other failure to fund, or other intervening failure in the payment network system, we may be unable to recoup certain payments, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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A significant number of our merchants are small- and medium-sized businesses and small affiliates of large companies, which can be more difficult and costly to retain than larger enterprises and may increase the impact of economic fluctuations on us.

We market and sell our products and services to, among others, SMBs. To continue to grow our revenue, we must add merchants, sell additional services to existing merchants and encourage existing merchants to continue doing business with us. However, retaining SMBs can be more difficult than retaining large enterprises, as SMB merchants:

•often have higher rates of business failure and more limited resources;

•may have decisions related to the choice of payment processor dictated by their affiliated parent entity; and

•are more able to change their payment processors than larger organizations dependent on our services.

SMBs are typically more susceptible to the adverse effects of economic fluctuations, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adverse changes in the economic environment or business failures of our SMB merchants may have a greater impact on us than on our competitors who do not focus on SMBs to the extent that we do. As a result, we may need to attract and retain new merchants at an accelerated rate or decrease our expenses to reduce negative impacts on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to risks associated with operations in international markets, including changes in foreign governmental policies.

We have begun offering merchant acquiring and processing services in geographies outside of the U.S., including the European Union and United Kingdom. On September 29, 2022, we acquired Online Payments Group, a European payment service provider with a world-class developer portal and checkout experience that we believe will accelerate our global eCommerce growth. In addition, on February 28, 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Finaro, a cross-border eCommerce platform and bank specializing in solving complex payment problems for multi-national merchants that we believe will accelerate our growth in international markets. We may become subject to additional European Union and United Kingdom financial regulatory requirements and we could become subject to risks associated with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union (including any resulting economic downturn) following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (“Brexit”). We are subject to risks associated with operations in international markets, including changes in foreign governmental policies and requirements applicable to our business, including the presence of more established competitors and our lack of experience in such non-U.S. markets. In addition, any current or future partners in non-U.S. jurisdictions, may also be acquired, reorganized or otherwise disposed of in the event of further market turmoil or losses in their loan portfolio that result in such financial institutions becoming less than adequately capitalized. Our revenue derived from these and other non-U.S. operations is, and will be, subject to additional risks, including those resulting from social and geopolitical instability and unfavorable political or diplomatic developments, all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Upon international expansion, we may face challenges due to the presence of more established competitors and our lack of experience in such non-U.S. markets. If we are unable to successfully manage these risks relating to the international expansion of our business, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may experience failures in our processing systems due to software defects, computer viruses and development delays, which could damage customer relations and expose us to liability.

Our core business depends heavily on the reliability of our processing systems, including the security of the applications and systems we develop and license to our customers, in addition to the security of the processing system of our sponsor bank. Software defects or vulnerabilities, a system outage, or other failures could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations, including by damaging our reputation or exposing us to third-party liability. Payment network rules and certain governmental regulations allow for possible penalties if our products and services do not meet certain operating standards. To successfully operate our business, we must be able to protect our systems from interruption, including from events that may be beyond our control. Events that could cause system interruptions, system failures, or data loss include, but are not limited to, fire, natural disasters, unauthorized entry, power loss, telecommunications failure, computer viruses, terrorist acts and war. To help protect against these events, we perform a portion of disaster recovery operations ourselves, as well as utilize select third parties for certain operations. To the extent we outsource any disaster recovery functions, we are at risk of the merchant’s unresponsiveness or other failures in the event of breakdowns in our systems. In addition, our property and business interruption insurance may not be adequate to compensate us for all losses or failures that may occur.

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Our products and services are based on sophisticated software and computing systems that are constantly evolving. We often encounter delays and cost overruns in developing changes implemented to our systems. In addition, the underlying software may contain undetected errors, viruses or defects. Defects in our software products and errors or delays in our processing of electronic transactions could result in additional development costs, diversion of technical and other resources from our other development efforts, loss of credibility with current or potential merchants, harm to our reputation or exposure to liability claims. In addition, we rely on technologies supplied to us by third parties that may also contain undetected errors, viruses or defects that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Although we attempt to limit our potential liability for warranty claims through disclaimers in our software documentation and limitation of liability provisions in our licenses and other agreements with our merchants and software partners, we cannot assure that these measures will be successful in limiting our liability. Additionally, we and our merchants and software partners are subject to payment network rules. If we do not comply with payment network requirements or standards, we may be subject to fines or sanctions, including suspension or termination of our registrations and licenses necessary to conduct business. We have experienced high growth rates in payment transaction volumes over the past years and expect growth to continue for the coming years; however, despite the implementation of architectural changes to safeguard sufficient future processing capacity on our payments platform, in the future the payments platform could potentially reach the limits of the number of transactions it is able to process, resulting in longer processing time or even downtime. Our efforts to safeguard sufficient future processing capacity are time-consuming, involve significant technical risk and may divert our resources from new features and products, and there can be no guarantee that these efforts will succeed. Furthermore, any efforts to further scale the platform or increase its complexity to handle a larger number or more complicated transactions could result in performance issues, including downtime. A failure to adequately scale our payments platform could therefore materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Degradation of the quality of the products and services we offer, including support services, could adversely impact our ability to attract and retain merchants and software partners.

Our merchants and software partners expect a consistent level of quality in the provision of our products and services. The support services we provide are a key element of the value proposition to our merchants and software partners. If the reliability or functionality of our products and services is compromised or the quality of those products or services is otherwise degraded, or if we fail to continue to provide a high level of support, we could lose existing merchants and software partners and find it harder to attract new merchants and software partners. If we are unable to scale our support functions to address the growth of our merchant and partner network, or our employees in alternative work locations are unable to adequately support customers, the quality of our support may decrease, which could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain merchants and software partners. This could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our business is subject to the risk of natural disasters, adverse weather events and other catastrophic events, and to interruption by manmade problems such as terrorism.

A significant natural disaster could have a material and adverse effect on our business. Our business is vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, power losses, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, acts of war, global pandemics, human errors and similar events. The third-party systems and operations on which we and our merchants rely are subject to similar risks. A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood or hurricane could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur. Global climate change is resulting in certain types of natural disasters occurring more frequently or with more intense effects. Acts of terrorism could also cause disruptions in our businesses or those of our merchants, consumer demand or the economy as a whole. We may not have sufficient protection or recovery plans in some circumstances. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems at our headquarters or data centers could result in lengthy interruptions in access to or functionality of our platform or could result in related liabilities, and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.

Health concerns arising from the outbreak of an epidemic or pandemic may have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, our business could be adversely affected by the outbreak of any other widespread health epidemic or pandemic, including arising from RSV or various strains of avian flu or swine flu, such as H1N1, particularly if located in the U.S. The occurrence of such an outbreak, a combination of outbreaks at the same time, or other adverse public health developments could materially disrupt our business and operations. For example, in 2022, public health officials in the U.S. warned of a triple epidemic of flu, RSV, and COVID-19. Such events could also significantly impact our industry and cause a temporary closure of our merchants’ businesses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Furthermore, other viruses may be transmitted through human contact, and the risk of contracting viruses could cause consumers to avoid gathering in public places or patronizing certain businesses, or otherwise impact consumer behavior, which could adversely affect payment volumes. We could also be adversely affected if government authorities impose mandatory closures, seek voluntary closures, discourage public gathering, impose restrictions on operations of our merchants’ businesses, or restrict the import or export of hardware and equipment. Even if such measures are not implemented and a virus or other disease does not spread significantly, the perceived risk of infection or health risk may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Increased customer attrition could cause our financial results to decline.

We experience attrition in customer credit and debit card processing volume resulting from several factors, including transfers of merchants’ accounts to our competitors, unsuccessful contract renewal negotiations and account closures that we initiate for various reasons, such as heightened credit risks, unacceptable card types or businesses, or contract breaches by customers. In addition, if a software partner switches to another payment processor, terminates our services, internalizes payment processing functions that we perform, merges with or is acquired by one of our competitors, or shuts down or becomes insolvent, we may no longer receive new merchant referrals from the software partner, and we risk losing existing merchants that were originally enrolled by the software partner. We cannot predict the level of attrition in the future and it could increase. Our software partners, most of which are not exclusive, are an important source of new business. Higher than expected attrition could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to renew our customer contracts on favorable terms, or at all, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.

Fraud by merchants or others could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Under certain circumstances, we may be liable for certain fraudulent transactions and/or credits initiated by merchants or others. Examples of merchant fraud include merchants or other parties knowingly using a stolen or counterfeit credit, debit or prepaid card, card number, or other credentials to record a false sales or credit transaction, processing an invalid card or intentionally failing to deliver the merchandise or services sold in an otherwise valid transaction. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities such as counterfeiting and fraud. A single significant incident of fraud, or increases in the overall level of fraud, involving our services, could result in reputational damage to us, which could reduce the use and acceptance of our solutions and services or lead to greater regulation that would increase our compliance costs. Failure to effectively manage risk and prevent fraud could increase our chargeback liability or cause us to incur other liabilities, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient or inadequate to compensate us. It is possible that incidents of fraud could increase in the future. Increases in chargebacks or other liabilities could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our ability to recruit, retain and develop qualified personnel is critical to our success and growth.

All of our businesses function at the intersection of rapidly changing technological, social, economic and regulatory environments that require a wide range of expertise and intellectual capital. For us to successfully compete and grow, we must recruit, retain and develop personnel who can provide the necessary expertise across a broad spectrum of intellectual capital needs. The market for qualified personnel is competitive and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors. Our effort to retain and develop personnel may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability. The change by companies to offer a remote or hybrid work environment may increase the competition for such employees from employers outside of our traditional office locations. In January 2023, we announced our return to office plan that still encompasses a hybrid approach, but requires greater in-office attendance. While we intend to continue offering flexible work arrangements based on the different needs of teams across our company on a case-by-case basis, we may face difficulty in hiring and retaining our workforce as a result of this shift to greater in-office attendance. Further, labor is subject to external factors that are beyond our control, including our industry’s highly competitive market for skilled workers and leaders, inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and other macroeconomic uncertainties, and workforce participation rates.

In addition, we must develop, maintain and, as necessary, implement appropriate succession plans to assure we have the necessary human resources, including senior leadership, capable of maintaining continuity in our business. For instance, we are highly dependent on the expertise of our Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jared Isaacman. In addition, from time to time, there may be changes in our management team that may be disruptive to our business. If our senior leadership and management team, including any new hires that we make, fails to work together effectively and to execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis, our business could be harmed. We cannot assure that key personnel, including our members of our senior leadership, will continue to be employed or that we will be able to attract and retain qualified personnel in the future. Failure to recruit, retain or develop members of our senior leadership and other qualified personnel could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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We incur chargeback liability when our merchants refuse to or cannot reimburse chargebacks resolved in favor of their customers. Any increase in chargebacks not paid by our merchants may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

In the event a dispute between a cardholder and a merchant is not resolved in favor of the merchant, the transaction is normally charged back to the merchant and the purchase price is credited or otherwise refunded to the cardholder. If we are unable to collect such amounts from the merchant’s account or reserve account, if applicable, or if the merchant refuses or is unable, due to closure, bankruptcy or other reasons, to reimburse us for a chargeback, we are responsible for the amount of the refund paid to the cardholder. The risk of chargebacks is typically greater with those merchants that promise future delivery of goods and services rather than delivering goods or rendering services at the time of payment (for example, in the hospitality and auto rental industries, both of which we support), as well as “card not present” transactions in which consumers do not physically present cards to merchants in connection with the purchase of goods and services, such as eCommerce, telephonic and mobile transactions. We may experience significant losses from chargebacks in the future. Any increase in chargebacks not paid by our merchants could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We have policies and procedures to monitor and manage merchant-related credit risks and often mitigate such risks by requiring collateral, such as cash reserves, and monitoring transaction activity. Notwithstanding our policies and procedures for managing credit risk, it is possible that a default on such obligations by one or more of our merchants could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We expend significant resources pursuing sales opportunities, and if we fail to close sales after expending significant time and resources to do so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The initial installation and set-up of many of our services often involve significant resource commitments by our merchants, particularly those with larger operational scale. Potential merchants generally commit significant resources to an evaluation of available services and may require us to expend substantial time, effort and money educating them as to the value of our services. We incur substantial costs in order to obtain each new customer. We may expend significant funds and management resources during a sales cycle and ultimately fail to close the sale. Our sales cycle may be extended due to our merchants’ budgetary constraints or for other reasons. If we are unsuccessful in closing sales after expending significant funds and management resources or we experience delays or experience greater than anticipated costs, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

There may be a decline in the use of cards as a payment mechanism for consumers or adverse developments with respect to the card industry in general.

If consumers do not continue to use credit or debit cards as a payment mechanism for their transactions, if there continues to be a reduction in “card present” transactions, or if there is a change in the mix of payments between cash, credit cards and debit cards and other emerging means of payment, our business could be adversely affected. Consumer credit risk may make it more difficult or expensive for consumers to gain access to credit facilities such as credit cards. Regulatory changes may result in financial institutions seeking to charge their customers additional fees for use of credit or debit cards. Such fees may result in decreased use of credit or debit cards by cardholders. In order to consistently increase and maintain our profitability, consumers and businesses must continue to use electronic payment methods that we process, including credit and debit cards. If consumers and businesses do not continue to use credit, debit or prepaid cards as a payment mechanism for their transactions or if there is a change in the mix of payments between cash, alternative currencies and technologies, credit, debit and prepaid cards, or the corresponding methodologies used for each, which is adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Increases in card network fees and other changes to fee arrangements may result in the loss of merchants or a reduction in our earnings.

From time to time, card networks, including Visa and Mastercard, increase the fees that they charge processors. We could attempt to pass these increases along to our merchants, but this strategy might result in the loss of merchants to our competitors who do not pass along the increases. If competitive practices prevent us from passing along the higher fees to our merchants in the future, we may have to absorb all or a portion of such increases, which may increase our operating costs and reduce our earnings. In addition, regulators are subjecting interchange and other fees to increased scrutiny, and new regulations could require greater pricing transparency of the breakdown in fees or fee limitations, which could lead to increased price-based competition, lower margins and higher rates of merchant attrition and affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

In addition, in certain of our markets, card issuers pay merchant acquirers, such as us, fees based on debit card usage in an effort to encourage debit card use. If these card issuers discontinue this practice, our revenue and margins in these jurisdictions could be adversely affected.

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If we fail to comply with the applicable requirements of payment networks, they could seek to fine us, suspend us or terminate our registrations. If our merchants or sales partners incur fines or penalties that we cannot collect from them, we may have to bear the cost of such fines or penalties.

In order to provide our transaction processing services, several of our subsidiaries are registered with Visa and Mastercard and other payment networks as members or as service providers for members. Visa, Mastercard, and other payment networks, set the rules and standards with which we must comply. The termination of our member registration or our status as a certified service provider, or any changes in network rules or standards, including interpretation and implementation of the rules or standards, that increase the cost of doing business or limit our ability to provide transaction processing services to or through our merchants or partners, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

As such, we and our merchants are subject to payment network rules that could subject us or our merchants to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by such networks for certain acts or omissions by us or our merchants. The rules of card networks are set by their boards, which may be influenced by card issuers, and some of those issuers are our competitors with respect to these processing services. Many banks directly or indirectly sell processing services to merchants in direct competition with us. These banks could attempt, by virtue of their influence on the networks, to alter the networks’ rules or policies to the detriment of non-members including certain of our businesses. The termination of our registrations or our status as a service provider or a merchant processor, or any changes in network rules or standards, including interpretation and implementation of the rules or standards, that increase the cost of doing business or limit our ability to provide transaction processing services to our merchants, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. If a merchant fails to comply with the applicable requirements of card networks, it could be subject to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by card networks. If we cannot collect the amounts from the applicable merchant, we may have to bear the cost of the fines or penalties, resulting in lower earnings for us. The termination of our registration, or any changes in card network rules that would impair our registration, could require us to stop providing payment processing services relating to the affected card network, which would adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

Certain key components are procured from a limited number of suppliers. Thus, we are at risk of shortage, price increases, tariffs, changes, delay, or discontinuation of key components, which could disrupt and materially and adversely affect our business.

Many of the key components used to manufacture our products, such as our POS systems, come from limited sources of supply. In addition, in some cases, we rely only on one manufacturer to fabricate, test, and assemble our products. In general, our contract manufacturers fabricate or procure components on our behalf, subject to certain approved procedures or supplier lists, and we do not have firm commitments from all of these manufacturers to provide all components, or to provide them in quantities and on timelines that we may require.

Due to our reliance on the components and products produced by suppliers such as these, we are subject to the risk of shortages and long lead times in the supply of certain components or products. In the case of off-the-shelf components, we are subject to the risk that our suppliers may discontinue or modify them, or that the components may cease to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, component shortages or delays or other problems in product assembly, and the availability of these components or products may be difficult to predict. For example, our manufacturers may experience temporary or permanent disruptions in their manufacturing operations due to equipment breakdowns, labor strikes or shortages, natural disasters, component or material shortages, cost increases, acquisitions, insolvency, changes in legal or regulatory requirements, or other similar problems.

Additionally, various sources of supply-chain risk, including strikes or shutdowns at delivery ports or loss of or damage to our products while they are in transit or storage, intellectual property theft, losses due to tampering, issues with quality or sourcing control, failure by our suppliers to comply with applicable laws and regulation, potential tariffs or other trade restrictions, or other similar problems could limit or delay the supply of our products or harm our reputation. In the event of a shortage or supply interruption from suppliers of these components, we may not be able to develop alternate sources quickly, cost-effectively, or at all. Any interruption or delay in manufacturing or component supply, any increases in component costs, or the inability to obtain these parts or components from alternate sources at acceptable prices and within a reasonable amount of time, would harm our ability to provide our products to sellers on a timely basis. This could harm our relationships with our sellers, prevent us from acquiring new sellers, and materially and adversely affect our business.

Cost savings initiatives may not produce the savings expected and may negatively impact our other initiatives and efforts to grow our business.

We are consistently exploring measures aimed at improving our profitability and maintaining flexibility in our capital resources, including the use of cost savings initiatives in the past. We expect to continue to take measures to improve our profitability and cash flows from operating activities. However, there can be no assurance that any cost control measures will be successful. In addition, these and any future spending reductions, if any, may negatively impact our other initiatives or our efforts to grow our business, which may negatively impact our future results of operations and increase the burden on existing management, systems, and resources.

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Our results of operations and operating metrics are subject to seasonality and volatility, which could result in fluctuations in our quarterly revenues and results of operations or in perceptions of our business prospects.

We have experienced in the past, and expect to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in our revenue, which can vary by region. For instance, our revenue has historically been strongest in our second and third quarters and weakest in our first quarter. While we continue to diversify into new verticals and geographies, we expect to continue to experience similar seasonality. Some variability results from seasonal retail events, the timing of holidays, and the number of business days in a month or quarter. We also experience volatility in certain other metrics, such as number of transactions processed and payment processing volumes. Volatility in our key operating metrics or their rates of growth could result in fluctuations in financial condition or results of operations and may lead to adverse inferences about our prospects, which could result in declines in our stock price.

We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations, particularly related to privacy, data protection and information security, cryptocurrency, and consumer protection laws across different markets where we conduct our business. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.

In the U.S. and other jurisdictions in which our services are used, we are subject to various privacy, data protection and information security, and consumer protection laws (including laws on disputed transactions) and related regulations. If we are found to have breached such laws or regulations in any such market, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our revenue, as well as expose ourselves to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our customers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that harms our financial position.

As part of our business, we collect personal information, also referred to as personal data, and other potentially sensitive and/or regulated data from our consumers and the merchants we work with. Laws and regulations in the U.S. restrict how personal information is collected, processed, stored, transferred. used and disclosed, as well as set standards for its security, implement notice requirements regarding privacy practices, and provide individuals with certain rights regarding the use, disclosure and sale of their protected personal information. For example, the FTC and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. Such standards require us to publish statements that describe how we handle personal data and choices individuals may have about the way we handle their personal data. If such information that we publish is considered untrue or inaccurate, we may be subject to government claims of unfair or deceptive trade practices, which could lead to significant liabilities and consequences. Moreover, according to the FTC, violating consumers’ privacy rights or failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal data secure may constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. State consumer protection laws provide similar causes of action for unfair or deceptive practices. Some states, such as California and Massachusetts, have passed specific laws mandating reasonable security measures for the handling of consumer data. Further, privacy advocates and industry groups have regularly proposed and sometimes approved, and may propose and approve in the future, self-regulatory standards with which we must legally comply or that contractually apply to us.

The GLBA regulates, among other things, the use of non-public personal information of consumers that is held by financial institutions. We are subject to various GLBA provisions, including rules relating to the use or disclosure of the underlying data and rules relating to the physical, administrative and technological protection of non-public personal financial information. Breach of the GLBA can result in civil and/or criminal liability and sanctions by regulatory authorities.

Several foreign jurisdictions, including the EU and the United Kingdom, have laws and regulations which are more restrictive in certain respects than those in the U.S. We are also subject to data privacy and security laws in foreign jurisdictions which have laws and regulations which are more restrictive in certain respects than the U.S. For example, in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), we are subject to the GDPR and in the United Kingdom, we are subject to the United Kingdom data protection regime consisting primarily of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018, in each case in relation to our collection, control, processing, sharing, disclosure and other use of data relating to an identifiable living individual (personal data). The GDPR, and national implementing legislation in EEA member states, and the United Kingdom regime, impose a strict data protection compliance regime including: providing detailed disclosures about how personal data is collected and processed (in a concise, intelligible and easily accessible form); demonstrating that an appropriate legal basis is in place or otherwise exists to justify data processing activities; granting rights for data subjects in regard to their personal data (including data access rights, the right to be “forgotten” and the right to data portability); introducing the obligation to notify data protection regulators or supervisory authorities (and in certain cases, affected individuals) of significant data breaches; defining pseudonymized (i.e., key-coded) data; imposing limitations on retention of personal data; maintaining a record of data processing; and complying with the principal of accountability and the obligation to demonstrate compliance through policies, procedures, training and audit.

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We are also subject to European Union and United Kingdom rules with respect to cross-border transfers of personal data out of the EEA and the United Kingdom, respectively. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA and the United Kingdom to the U.S. On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework (“Privacy Shield”) under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to US entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme.

While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contract approved by the European Commission as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism, and potential alternative to the Privacy Shield), it made clear that reliance on them alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the standard contractual clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular applicable surveillance laws and rights of individuals and additional measures and/or contractual provisions may need to be put in place.

We have previously relied on our own Privacy Shield certification and our relevant customers’ and partners’ Privacy Shield certifications for the purposes of transferring personal data from the EEA to the U.S. in compliance with the GDPR’s data export conditions. These recent developments will require us to review and amend the legal mechanisms by which we make and/ or receive personal data transfers to/ in the U.S., including updating agreements to put in place standard contractual clauses. The developments also create uncertainty and increase the risk around our international operations. European court and regulatory decisions subsequent to the CJEU decision of July 16, 2020 have taken a restrictive approach to international data transfers. For example, the Austrian and the French data protection supervisory authorities, as well as the European Data Protection Supervisor, have ruled that use of Google Analytics by European website operators involves the unlawful transfer of personal data to the U.S.; a number of other EU supervisory authorities are expected to take a similar approach which may impact other business tools that we use. As the enforcement landscape further develops, and supervisory authorities issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, including circumstances where the standard contractual clauses cannot be used, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines, have to stop using certain tools and vendors and make other operational changes, and/or if we are otherwise unable to transfer personal data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, it could affect the manner in which we provide our services, the geographical location or segregation of our relevant systems and operations, and could adversely affect our financial results.

We are also subject to evolving EU and UK privacy laws on cookies, tracking technologies and e-marketing. In the EU and the UK under national laws derived from the ePrivacy Directive, informed consent is required for the placement of a cookie or similar technologies on a user’s device and for direct electronic marketing. The GDPR also imposes conditions on obtaining valid consent for cookies, such as a prohibition on pre-checked consents and a requirement to ensure separate consents are sought for each type of cookie or similar technology. The current national laws that implement the ePrivacy Directive are highly likely to be replaced across the EU (but not directly in the UK) by an EU regulation known as the ePrivacy Regulation which will significantly increase fines for non-compliance.

In the U.S., both the federal and various state governments have adopted or are considering, laws, guidelines or rules for the collection, distribution, use and storage of information collected from or about consumers or their devices. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became enforceable by the California Attorney General on July 1, 2020, and requires new disclosures to California consumers, imposes new rules for collecting or using information about minors, and affords consumers new abilities to opt out of certain disclosures of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The effects of the CCPA, its implementing regulations, and uncertainties about the scope and applicability of exemptions that may apply to our business, are potentially significant and may require us to modify our data collection or processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Additionally, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) passed in California. The CPRA significantly amends the CCPA, and imposes additional data protection obligations on covered companies doing business in California, including additional consumer rights processes and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It also creates a new California data protection agency specifically tasked to enforce the law, which would likely result in increased regulatory scrutiny of California businesses in the areas of data protection and security. The substantive requirements for businesses subject to the CPRA will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and become enforceable on July 1, 2023. In addition, Virginia and Colorado have enacted the Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) and the Colorado Data privacy Act (“CDPA”), respectively, which will go into effect in 2023 and will impose obligations similar to or more stringent than those we may face under other data protection laws.

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Restrictions on the collection, use, sharing or disclosure of personal information or additional requirements and liability for security and data integrity could require us to modify our solutions and features, possibly in a material manner, could limit our ability to develop new services and features and could subject us to increased compliance obligations and regulatory scrutiny. Non-compliance with data protection and privacy requirements may result in regulatory fines (which for certain breaches of the GDPR (“UK GDPR”) are up to the greater of €20/£17.5 or 4% of total global annual turnover), regulatory investigations, reputational damage, orders to cease/change our processing of our data, enforcement notices, and/ or assessment notices (for a compulsory audit). We may also face civil claims including representative actions and other class action type litigation (where individuals have suffered harm), potentially amounting to significant compensation or damages liabilities, as well as associated costs, diversion of internal resources, and reputational harm.

Furthermore, our current and planned cryptocurrency offerings could subject us to additional regulations, licensing requirements, or other obligations. Compliance with any such regulations may be complex and costly. Cryptocurrencies are not considered legal tender or backed by most governments, and have experienced technological flaws and various law enforcement and regulatory interventions. The use of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, has been prohibited or effectively prohibited in some countries. In addition, in the U.S. and certain other jurisdictions, certain cryptocurrencies may be securities and subject to the securities laws of the relevant jurisdictions. If we fail to comply with any relevant laws, regulations or prohibitions that may be applicable to us, we could face regulatory or other enforcement actions and potential fines or other consequences. The rapidly evolving regulatory landscape with respect to cryptocurrency may subject us to inquiries or investigations from regulators and governmental authorities, require us to make product changes, restrict or discontinue product offerings, and implement additional and potentially costly controls. If we fail to comply with regulations, requirements, prohibitions or other obligations applicable to us, we could face regulatory or other enforcement actions and potential fines and other consequences.

Cryptocurrencies have in the past and may in the future experience periods of extreme price volatility. Fluctuations in the value of any cryptocurrencies or other digital assets that we might hold could also lead to volatility in our financial results and could have an adverse impact on our business. For example, currently there are no specific standards under IFRS regarding the accounting for cryptocurrencies, NFTs and similar instruments. In the event that the IASB issues new standards or amendments to existing standards in respect of these instruments, the accounting treatment may differ from the market practice applied by companies under existing accounting standards and guidance. In addition, governments could choose to curtail or outlaw the acquisition, use or redemption of cryptocurrency. In such a case, ownership of, holding or trading in cryptocurrency would be considered illegal and subject to sanction. These uncertainties, as well as future accounting and tax developments, or other requirements relating to cryptocurrency could expose us to litigation, regulatory action or possible liability, and have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition, financial and third party risks related to our cryptocurrency offerings, such as inappropriate access to or theft or destruction of cryptocurrency assets held by our custodian, insufficient insurance coverage by the custodian to reimburse us for all such losses, the custodian’s failure to maintain effective controls over the custody and settlement services provided to us, the custodian’s inability to purchase or liquidate cryptocurrency holdings, and defaults on financial or performance obligations by counterparty financial institutions, could materially and adversely affect our financial performance and significantly harm our business.

Financial risks

Our balance sheet includes significant amounts of goodwill and intangible assets. The impairment of a significant portion of these assets would negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

As a result of our prior acquisitions, a significant portion of our total assets consists of intangible assets (including goodwill). Goodwill and intangible assets, net of amortization, together accounted for approximately 53% and 31% of the total assets on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. To the extent we engage in additional acquisitions we may recognize additional intangible assets and goodwill. We evaluate goodwill for impairment annually at October 1 and whenever events or circumstances make it more likely than not that impairment may have occurred. Under current accounting rules, any determination that impairment has occurred would require us to record an impairment charge, which would adversely affect our earnings. An impairment of a significant portion of goodwill or intangible assets could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our debt obligations.

We have substantial indebtedness. As of December 31, 2022, we had $1,772.5 million total principal amount of debt outstanding, including $690.0 million of 0.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (“2025 Convertible Notes”), $632.5 million of 0.50% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 (“2027 Convertible Notes”) and $450.0 million of 4.625% Senior Notes due 2026 (“2026 Senior Notes” and together with the 2025 Convertible Notes and 2027 Convertible Notes, the “Notes”). Our substantial indebtedness could have adverse consequences, including:

•increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, industry or competitive developments;

•requiring a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payments on our indebtedness, reducing our ability to use cash flow to fund our operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities;

•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness, including restrictive covenants and borrowing conditions, which could result in an event of default under the agreements governing such indebtedness;

•restricting us from making strategic acquisitions or causing us to make nonstrategic divestitures;

•making it more difficult for us to obtain network sponsorship and clearing services from financial institutions or to obtain or retain other business with financial institutions;

•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, product development, debt service requirements, acquisitions, and general corporate or other purposes; and

•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business or market conditions and placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors who are less highly leveraged and who, therefore, may be able to take advantage of opportunities that our leverage prevents us from exploiting.

Successful execution of our business strategy is dependent in part upon our ability to manage our capital structure to reduce or maintain low interest expense and enhance free cash flow generation. The Revolving Credit Facility had remaining capacity of $100.0 million as of December 31, 2022.

Our Revolving Credit Facility provides the ability to borrow at rates based on the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR, and in 2021, it announced that all LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by any administrator or no longer be representative immediately after December 31, 2021, in the case of 1 week and 2 month USD settings, and immediately after June 30, 2023, in the case of the remaining USD settings. The U.S. Federal Reserve (the “Federal Reserve”) has also advised banks to cease entering into new contracts that use USD LIBOR as a reference rate. The Alternative Reference Rate Committee, a committee convened by the Federal Reserve that includes major market participants, has identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), a new index calculated by short-term repurchase agreements, backed by U.S. Treasury securities, as its preferred alternative rate for LIBOR in the U.S. Working groups formed by financial regulators in other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan and Switzerland, have also recommended alternatives to LIBOR denominated in their local currencies. Although SOFR appears to be the preferred replacement rate for USD LIBOR, it is unclear if other benchmarks may emerge or if other rates will be adopted outside of the U.S. At this time, it is not possible to predict how markets will respond to SOFR or other alternative reference rates as the transition away from the LIBOR benchmarks is anticipated in coming years. Accordingly, the outcome of these reforms is uncertain and any changes in the methods by which LIBOR is determined or regulatory activity related to LIBOR’s phase-out could cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past or cease to exist. The consequences of these developments cannot be entirely predicted, but could have an uncertain impact on our cost of funds, our receipts or payments under agreements that rely on LIBOR, and the valuation of derivative or other contracts to which we are a party, any of which could impact our results of operations and cash flows. We cannot predict whether or when LIBOR will actually cease to be available, whether SOFR will become the market benchmark in its place, or what, if any, such a transition may have on our business, financial condition and results of operations should we have any borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility at that time.

Our $1,772.5 million of principal debt outstanding at December 31, 2022 is at a fixed rate of interest and is not subject to interest rate hedges. Developments in our business and operations could lead to a ratings downgrade for us or our subsidiaries. Any such fluctuation in the financial and credit markets, or in the rating of us or our subsidiaries, may impact our ability to access debt markets in the future or increase our cost of current or future debt, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Restrictions imposed by our Credit Facilities and our other outstanding indebtedness may materially limit our ability to operate our business and finance our future operations or capital needs.

The terms of the indentures governing our Notes and the agreement governing our Revolving Credit Facility restrict Shift4 Payments, LLC, Shift4 Payments Finance Sub, Inc. and their restricted subsidiaries, which currently includes all of our domestic subsidiaries, from engaging in specified types of transactions. These covenants restrict their ability, and that of their restricted subsidiaries, to, among other things:

•incur additional debt and provide additional guarantees;

•create liens;

•engage in mergers or consolidations;

•make investments, loans and advances;

•pay dividends and make other restricted payments, including certain investments;

•create or permit certain liens;

•make certain asset sales;

•use the proceeds from the sales of assets and subsidiary stock;

•create or permit restrictions on the ability of the restricted subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other inter-company distributions to Shift4 Payments, LLC;

•engage in certain transactions with affiliates;

•designate subsidiaries as unrestricted subsidiaries;

•enter into sale and leaseback transactions; and

•consolidate, merge or transfer substantially all assets.

However, while the indentures governing the Notes and the agreement governing our Revolving Credit Facility will place limitations on our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make other distributions, repurchase or redeem capital stock, and make loans and investments, these limitations are subject to significant qualifications and exceptions. The aggregate amount of payments made in compliance with these limitations could be substantial.

A breach of the covenants or restrictions under the indentures could result in an event of default under the Notes. Such a default may allow the holders to accelerate the debt and may result in the acceleration of any other future debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In the event our noteholders accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we and our subsidiaries may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness. As a result of these restrictions, we may be:

•limited in how we conduct our business;

•unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; or

•unable to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities.

These restrictions may affect our ability to grow in accordance with our strategy. In addition, our financial results, our level of indebtedness and our credit ratings could adversely affect the availability and terms of our financing.

In addition, a payment default, including an acceleration following an event of default, under the Indenture, could trigger an event of default under another future debt instrument, which could result in the principal of and the accrued and unpaid interest on such debt becoming due and payable.

The terms of any future indebtedness we may incur could include more restrictive covenants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain compliance with these covenants in the future and, if we fail to do so, that we will be able to obtain waivers from the lenders and/or amend the covenants.

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Accelerated funding programs increase our working capital requirements and expose us to incremental credit risk, and if we are unable to access or raise sufficient liquidity to address these funding programs we may be exposed to additional competitive risk.

In response to demand from our merchants and competitive offerings, we offer certain of our merchants various accelerated funding programs, which are designed to enable qualified participating merchants to receive their deposits from credit card transactions in an expedited manner. These programs increase our working capital requirements and expose us to incremental credit risk related to our merchants, which could constrain our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations and adversely affect our growth, financial condition and results of operations. Our inability to access or raise sufficient liquidity to address our needs in connection with the anticipated expansion of such advance funding programs could put us at a competitive disadvantage by restricting our ability to offer programs to all of our merchants similar to those made available by various of our competitors.

Our results of operations may be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Revenue and profit generated by our non-U.S. operations will increase or decrease compared to prior periods as a result of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. In addition, we could become subject to exchange control regulations that restrict or prohibit the conversion of our other revenue currencies into U.S. dollars. Any of these factors could decrease the value of revenues and earnings we derive from our non-U.S. operations and adversely affect our business.

While our foreign exchange and international operating risks have historically been negligible, we have recently begun offering merchant acquiring and processing services in geographies outside of the U.S., including the European Union and United Kingdom, and we may increasingly be subject to said risks as we continue to pursue our international expansion efforts. We may seek to reduce our exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates through the use of hedging agreements. We do not currently enter into such hedging agreements, which means our business, financial condition, and operating results may be impacted by fluctuations in the exchange rates of the currencies in which we do business. In the future, as our international operations increase, or more of our revenue agreements or operating expenses are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, these impacts may become material. To the extent that we hedge our foreign currency exchange rate exposure, we forgo the benefits we would otherwise experience if foreign currency exchange rates changed in our favor. No strategy can completely insulate us from risks associated with such fluctuations and our currency exchange rate risk management activities could expose us to substantial losses if such rates move materially differently from our expectations.

New or revised tax regulations or their interpretations, or becoming subject to additional foreign or U.S. federal, state or local taxes that cannot be passed through to our merchants or partners, could reduce our net income.

We are subject to tax laws in each jurisdiction where we do business. Changes in tax laws or their interpretations could decrease the amount of revenues we receive, the value of any tax loss carry-forwards and deferred tax balances recorded on our balance sheet, and the amount of our cash flow, and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Additionally, companies in the electronic payments industry, including us, may become subject to incremental taxation in various tax jurisdictions. Taxing jurisdictions have not yet adopted uniform positions on this topic. If we are required to pay additional taxes and are unable to pass the tax expense through to our merchants, our costs would increase and our net income would be reduced.

If we cannot pass along increases in interchange and other fees from payment networks to our merchants, our operating margins would be reduced.

We pay interchange, assessment, transaction and other fees set by the payment networks to such networks and, in some cases, to the card issuing financial institutions for each transaction we process. From time to time, the payment networks increase the interchange fees and other fees that they charge payment processors and the financial institution sponsors. At their sole discretion, our financial institution sponsors have the right to pass any increases in interchange and other fees on to us and they have consistently done so in the past. We are generally permitted under the contracts into which we enter, and in the past we have been able to, pass these fee increases along to our merchants through corresponding increases in our processing fees. However, if we are unable to pass through these and other fees in the future, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The conditional conversion feature of the 2025 Convertible Notes or 2027 Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of either of the 2025 Convertible Notes or 2027 Convertible Notes (collectively, the “Convertible Notes”) is triggered, noteholders will be entitled to convert their respective notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, all conversions of the Convertible Notes will be settled in cash up to at least the principal amount being converted, which could adversely affect our liquidity.

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Legal and regulatory risks

Failure to comply with the FCPA anti-money laundering, economic and trade sanctions regulations, and similar laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.

We operate our business in foreign countries where companies often engage in business practices that are prohibited by U.S. and other regulations applicable to us. We are subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA and other laws that prohibit the making or offering of improper payments to foreign government officials and political figures, including anti-bribery provisions enforced by the Department of Justice and accounting provisions enforced by the SEC. These laws prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by the U.S. and other business entities for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We have implemented policies, procedures, systems, and controls designed to identify and address potentially impermissible transactions under such laws and regulations; however, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, consultants and agents, including those that may be based in or from countries where practices that violate U.S. or other laws may be customary, will not take actions in violation of our policies, for which we may be ultimately responsible.

In addition, we are contractually required to comply with anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the BSA. Among other things, the BSA requires subject entities to develop and implement risk-based anti-money laundering programs, report large cash transactions and suspicious activity, and maintain transaction records.

We are also subject to certain economic and trade sanctions programs that are administered by OFAC, which prohibit or restrict transactions to or from, or dealings with, specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, and terrorists or terrorist organizations. Other group entities may be subject to additional local sanctions requirements in other relevant jurisdictions.

Failure to comply with any of these laws and regulations or changes in this regulatory environment, including changing interpretations and the implementation of new or varying regulatory requirements by the government, may result in significant financial penalties, reputational harm or change the manner in which we currently conduct some aspects of our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Failure to protect, enforce and defend our intellectual property rights may diminish our competitive advantages or interfere with our ability to market and promote our products and services.

Our trademarks, trade names, trade secrets, patents, know-how, proprietary technology and other intellectual property are important to our future success. We believe our trademarks and trade names are widely recognized and associated with quality and reliable service. While it is our policy to protect and defend our intellectual property rights vigorously, we cannot predict whether the steps we take to protect our intellectual property will be adequate to prevent infringement, misappropriation, dilution or other potential violations of our intellectual property rights. We also cannot guarantee that others will not independently develop technology with the same or similar functions to any proprietary technology we rely on to conduct our business and differentiate ourselves from our competitors. 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. Furthermore, we may face claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights that could interfere with our ability to market and promote our brands, products and services. Any litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights or defend ourselves against claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights could be costly, divert attention of management and may not ultimately be resolved in our favor. Moreover, if we are unable to successfully defend against claims that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of others, we may be prevented from using certain intellectual property or may be liable for damages, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

While software and other of our proprietary works may be protected under copyright law, we have chosen not to register any copyrights in these works, and instead, primarily rely on protecting our software as a trade secret. In order to bring a copyright infringement lawsuit in the U.S., the copyright must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Accordingly, the remedies and damages available to us for unauthorized use of our software may be limited.

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We attempt to protect our intellectual property and proprietary information by requiring all of our employees, consultants and certain of our contractors to execute confidentiality and invention assignment 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.

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.

Our existing patents may not be valid, and 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.

We have applied for, and intend to continue to apply for, patents relating to our proprietary 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, it is possible that patents issued or licensed to us may be challenged successfully and found to be invalid or unenforceable. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. can be less extensive than those in the U.S.

Failure to comply with, or changes in, laws, regulations and enforcement activities may adversely affect the products, services and markets in which we operate.

From time to time, we are subject to claims, individual and class action lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government and regulatory investigations, inquiries, actions or requests, and other proceedings alleging violations of laws, rules, and regulations with respect to intellectual property, privacy, data protection, information security, consumer protection, fraud, accessibility, securities, tax, labor and employment, commercial disputes, services, charitable fundraising, contract disputes, escheatment of unclaimed or abandoned property, product liability and other matters. Moreover, we, our merchants and certain third party partners are subject to laws, regulations and industry standards that affect the electronic payments industry in the many countries in which our services are used. In particular, certain merchants and software partners and our sponsor bank are subject to numerous laws and regulations applicable to banks, financial institutions, and card issuers in the U.S. and abroad, and, consequently, we are at times affected by these foreign, federal, state, and local laws and regulations. There may be changes to the laws, regulation and standards that affect our operations in substantial and unpredictable ways at the federal and state level in the U.S. and in other countries in which our services are used. Changes to laws, regulations and standards, including interpretation and enforcement of such laws, regulations and standards could increase the cost of doing business or otherwise change how or where we want to do business. In addition, changes to laws, regulations and standards could affect our merchants and software partners and could result in material effects on the way we operate or the cost to operate our business.

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In addition, the U.S. government has increased its scrutiny of a number of credit card practices, from which some of our merchants derive significant revenue. Regulation of the payments industry, including regulations applicable to us, our merchants and software partners, has increased significantly in recent years. Failure to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our business may result in the suspension or revocation of licenses or registrations, the limitation, suspension or termination of services or the imposition of consent orders or civil and criminal penalties, including fines which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are also subject to U.S. financial services regulations, a myriad of consumer protection laws, economic sanctions, laws and regulations, anticorruption laws, escheat regulations and privacy and information security regulations. Changes to legal rules and regulations, or interpretation or enforcement of them, could have a negative financial effect on us. Any lack of legal certainty exposes our operations to increased risks, including increased difficulty in enforcing our agreements in those jurisdictions and increased risks of adverse actions by local government authorities, such as expropriations. In addition, certain of our alliance partners are subject to regulation by federal and state authorities and, as a result, could pass through some of those compliance obligations to us, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

In particular, the Dodd-Frank Act significantly changed the U.S. financial regulatory system. Among other things, Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act established the CFPB, which regulates consumer financial products and services, including some offered by certain of our merchants. Regulation, examination and enforcement actions from the CFPB may require us to adjust our activities and may increase our compliance costs.

Separately, under the Dodd-Frank Act, debit interchange fees that a card issuer receives and which are established by a payment network for an electronic debit transaction are regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve”), and must be “reasonable and proportional” to the cost incurred by the card issuer in authorizing, clearing, and settling the transaction. The Federal Reserve has capped debit interchange rates for card issuers operating in the U.S. with assets of $10 billion or more at the sum of $0.21 per transaction and an ad valorem component of 5 basis points to reflect a portion of the card issuer’s fraud losses plus, for qualifying card issuers, an additional $0.01 per transaction in debit interchange for fraud prevention costs. Regulations such as these could result in the need for us to make capital investments to modify our services to facilitate our existing merchants’ and potential merchants’ compliance and reduce the fees we are able to charge our merchants. These regulations also could result in greater pricing transparency and increased price-based competition leading to lower margins and higher rates of merchant attrition. Furthermore, the requirements of the regulations could result in changes in our merchants’ business practices, which could change the demand for our services and alter the type or volume of transactions that we process on behalf of our merchants.

From time to time we are subject to various legal proceedings which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are involved in various litigation matters from time to time. Such matters can be time-consuming, divert management’s attention and resources and cause us to incur significant expenses. Our insurance or indemnities may not cover all claims that may be asserted against us, and any claims asserted against us, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, may harm our reputation. If we are unsuccessful in our defense in these litigation matters, or any other legal proceeding, we may be forced to pay damages or fines, enter into consent decrees or change our business practices, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Risks related to our organizational structure

Our principal asset is our interest in Shift4 Payments, LLC, and, as a result, we depend on distributions from Shift4 Payments, LLC to pay our taxes and expenses, including payments under the TRA. Shift4 Payments, LLC’s ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions.

We are a holding company and at December 31, 2022 have no material assets other than our ownership of LLC Interests, cash of $9.8 million and the aggregate principal amount of $690.0 million of 2025 Convertible Notes and $632.5 million of 2027 Convertible Notes that are held by Shift4 Payments, Inc. directly. As of December 31, 2022, we owned 68.9% of the economic interest in Shift4 Payments, LLC. As such, we have no independent means of generating revenue or cash flow, and our ability to pay our taxes and operating expenses or declare and pay dividends in the future, if any, are dependent upon the financial results and cash flows of Shift4 Payments, LLC and distributions we receive from Shift4 Payments, LLC. There can be no assurance that our subsidiaries will generate sufficient cash flow to distribute funds to us or that applicable state law and contractual restrictions, including negative covenants in our debt instruments, will permit such distributions. Although Shift4 Payments, LLC is not currently subject to any debt instruments or other agreements that would restrict its ability to make distributions to Shift4 Payments, Inc., the terms of our Credit Facilities and other outstanding indebtedness restrict the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to Shift4 Payments, LLC.

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Shift4 Payments, LLC reports as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, generally is not subject to any entity-level U.S. federal income tax. Instead, any taxable income of Shift4 Payments, LLC is allocated to holders of LLC Interests, including us. Accordingly, we incur income taxes on our allocable share of any net taxable income of Shift4 Payments, LLC. Under the terms of the Shift4 Payments, LLC Agreement, Shift4 Payments, LLC is obligated to make tax distributions to holders of LLC Interests, including us. In addition to tax expenses, we also incur expenses related to our operations, including payments under the TRA, which we expect could be significant. We intend, as its managing member, to cause Shift4 Payments, LLC to make cash distributions to the owners of LLC Interests in an amount sufficient to (1) fund all or part of their tax obligations in respect of taxable income allocated to them and (2) cover our operating expenses, including payments under the TRA. However, Shift4 Payments, LLC’s ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions, such as restrictions on distributions that would either violate any contract or agreement to which Shift4 Payments, LLC is then a party, including debt agreements, or any applicable law, or that would have the effect of rendering Shift4 Payments, LLC insolvent. If we do not have sufficient funds to pay tax or other liabilities or to fund our operations (including as a result of an acceleration of our obligations under the TRA), we may have to borrow funds, which could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition and subject us to various restrictions imposed by any such lenders. To the extent that we are unable to make timely payments under the TRA for any reason, such payments generally will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid; provided, however, that nonpayment for a specified period may constitute a material breach of a material obligation under the TRA and therefore accelerate payments due under the TRA. In addition, if Shift4 Payments, LLC does not have sufficient funds to make distributions, our ability to declare and pay cash dividends will also be restricted or impaired. See “—Risks related to the ownership of our Class A common stock.”

Under the Shift4 Payments, LLC Agreement, we expect Shift4 Payments, LLC, from time to time, to make distributions in cash to its equityholders, in amounts sufficient to cover the taxes on their allocable share of taxable income of Shift4 Payments, LLC. As a result of (i) potential differences in the amount of net taxable income indirectly allocable to us and to Shift4 Payments, LLC’s other equityholders, (ii) the lower tax rate applicable to corporations as opposed to individuals and (iii) the favorable tax benefits that we anticipate from (a) future purchases or redemptions of LLC Interests from the Continuing Equity Owners, (b) payments under the TRA and (c) the acquisition of interests in Shift4 Payments, LLC from its equityholders, we expect that these tax distributions may be in amounts that exceed our tax liabilities. Our board of directors will determine the appropriate uses for any excess cash so accumulated, which may include, among other uses, the payment of obligations under the TRA and the payment of other expenses. We have no obligation to distribute such cash (or other available cash) to our stockholders. No adjustments to the exchange ratio for LLC Interests and corresponding shares of Class A common stock will be made as a result of any cash distribution by us or any retention of cash by us. To the extent we do not distribute such excess cash as dividends on our Class A common stock or otherwise take ameliorative actions between LLC Interests and shares of Class A common stock and instead, for example, hold such cash balances, or lend them to Shift4 Payments, LLC, this may result in shares of our Class A common stock increasing in value relative to the value of LLC Interests. The holders of LLC Interests may benefit from any value attributable to such cash balances if they acquire shares of Class A common stock in exchange for their LLC Interests, notwithstanding that such holders may previously have participated as holders of LLC Interests in distributions that resulted in such excess cash balances.

The TRA with the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders requires us to make cash payments to them in respect of certain tax benefits to which we may become entitled, and we expect that the payments we are required to make will be substantial.

Under the TRA, we are required to make cash payments to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders equal to 85% of the tax benefits, if any, that we actually realize, or in certain circumstances are deemed to realize, as a result of (1) the increases in our share of the tax basis of assets of Shift4 Payments, LLC resulting from any redemptions of LLC Interests from the Continuing Equity Owners, (2) our utilization of certain tax attributes of the Blocker Companies and (3) certain other tax benefits related to our making payments under the TRA. The payment obligations under the TRA are obligations of Shift4 Payments, Inc. and we expect that the amount of the cash payments that we are required to make under the TRA will be significant. Any payments made by us to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders under the TRA will not be available for reinvestment in our business and will generally reduce the amount of overall cash flow that might have otherwise been available to us. The payments under the TRA are not conditioned upon continued ownership of us by the exchanging Continuing Equity Owners. Furthermore, our future obligation to make payments under the TRA could make us a less attractive target for an acquisition, particularly in the case of an acquirer that cannot use some or all of the tax benefits that are the subject of the TRA. The actual increase in tax basis, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the TRA, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of redemptions by the Continuing Equity Owners, the price of shares of our Class A common stock at the time of the exchange, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable, the amount of gain recognized by such holders of LLC Interests, the amount and timing of the taxable income allocated to us or otherwise generated by us in the future, the portion of our payments under the TRA constituting imputed interest and the federal and state tax rates then applicable.

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Our organizational structure, including the TRA, confers certain benefits upon the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders that will not benefit holders of our Class A common stock to the same extent that it will benefit the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders.

Our organizational structure, including the TRA, confers certain benefits upon the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders that will not benefit the holders of our Class A common stock to the same extent that it will benefit the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders. We entered into the TRA with Shift4 Payments, LLC, the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders in connection with the completion of the IPO, which provides for the payment by Shift4 Payments, Inc. to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders of 85% of the amount of tax benefits, if any, that Shift4 Payments, Inc. actually realizes, or in some circumstances is deemed to realize, as a result of (1) the increases in the tax basis of assets of Shift4 Payments, LLC resulting from any redemptions of LLC Interests from the Continuing Equity Owners, (2) our utilization of certain tax attributes of the Blocker Companies and (3) certain other tax benefits related to our making payments under the TRA. Although Shift4 Payments, Inc. retains 15% of the amount of such tax benefits, this and other aspects of our organizational structure may adversely impact the future trading market for the Class A common stock.

In certain cases, payments under the TRA to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders may be accelerated or significantly exceed any actual benefits we realize in respect of the tax attributes subject to the TRA.

The TRA provides that upon certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control or if, at any time, we elect an early termination of the TRA, then our obligations, or our successor’s obligations, under the TRA to make payments would be based on certain assumptions, including an assumption that we would have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize all potential future tax benefits that are subject to the TRA.

As a result of the foregoing, (1) we could be required to make payments under the TRA that are greater than the specified percentage of any actual benefits we ultimately realize in respect of the tax benefits that are subject to the TRA and (2) if we elect to terminate the TRA early, we would be required to make an immediate cash payment equal to the present value of the anticipated future tax benefits that are the subject of the TRA. In these situations, our obligations under the TRA could have a substantial negative impact on our liquidity and could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control. There can be no assurance that we will be able to fund or finance our obligations under the TRA.

We will not be reimbursed for any payments made to the Continuing Equity Owners or the Blocker Shareholders under the TRA in the event that any tax benefits are disallowed.

Payments under the TRA will be based on the tax reporting positions that we determine, and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“the IRS”), or another tax authority may challenge all or part of the tax basis increases or other tax benefits we claim, as well as other related tax positions we take, and a court could sustain such challenge. If the outcome of any such challenge would reasonably be expected to materially affect a recipient’s payments under the TRA, then we will not be permitted to settle such challenge without the consent (not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed) of Searchlight and Rook. The interests of the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders in any such challenge may differ from or conflict with our interests and your interests, and Searchlight and Rook may exercise their consent rights relating to any such challenge in a manner adverse to our interests and your interests. We will not be reimbursed for any cash payments previously made to the Continuing Equity Owners or the Blocker Shareholder under the TRA in the event that any tax benefits initially claimed by us and for which payment has been made to a Continuing Equity Owner or the Blocker Shareholder are subsequently challenged by a taxing authority and are ultimately disallowed. Instead, any excess cash payments made by us to a Continuing Equity Owner or the Blocker Shareholder will be netted against any future cash payments that we might otherwise be required to make to such Continuing Equity Owner or such Blocker Shareholder, as applicable, under the terms of the TRA. However, we might not determine that we have effectively made an excess cash payment to a Continuing Equity Owner or the Blocker Shareholder for a number of years following the initial time of such payment and, if any of our tax reporting positions are challenged by a taxing authority, we will not be permitted to reduce any future cash payments under the TRA until any such challenge is finally settled or determined. Moreover, the excess cash payments we previously made under the TRA could be greater than the amount of future cash payments against which we would otherwise be permitted to net such excess. As a result, payments could be made under the TRA significantly in excess of any tax savings that we realize in respect of the tax attributes with respect to a Continuing Equity Owner or the Blocker Shareholder that are the subject of the TRA.

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Unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income or other tax returns could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to taxes by the U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax authorities. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including:

•allocation of expenses to and among different jurisdictions;

•changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;

•expected timing and amount of the release of any tax valuation allowances;

•tax effects of equity-based compensation;

•costs related to intercompany restructurings;

•changes in tax laws, tax treaties, regulations or interpretations thereof; or

•lower than anticipated future earnings in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated future earnings in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory tax rates.

In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income, sales and other taxes by U.S. federal, state, and local and foreign taxing authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our ability to use our net operating losses (“NOLs”) to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-ownership change NOLs to offset future taxable income. For these purposes, an ownership change generally occurs where the aggregate stock ownership of one or more stockholders (or groups of stockholders) who own at least 5% of a corporation's stock increases by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a specified testing period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. Our existing NOLs may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if there is a future change in our stock ownership (which may be outside of our control) that results in an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code. U.S. federal NOLs generated in taxable years beginning on or before December 31, 2017, or pre-2017 NOLs, are subject to expiration while U.S. federal and certain state NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, or post- 2017 NOLs, are not subject to expiration. Additionally, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of federal post-2017 NOLs is limited to 80% of our taxable income in such year, where taxable income is determined without regard to the NOL for such post-2017 NOLs. For these and other reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs.

If we were deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“the 1940 Act”), including as a result of our ownership of Shift4 Payments, LLC, applicable restrictions could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Under Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, a company generally will be deemed to be an “investment company” for purposes of the 1940 Act if (1) it is, or holds itself out as being, engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities or (2) it engages, or proposes to engage, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. We do not believe that we are an “investment company,” as such term is defined in either of those sections of the 1940 Act.

We and Shift4 Payments, LLC conduct our operations so that we will not be deemed an investment company. As the sole managing member of Shift4 Payments, LLC, we control and operate Shift4 Payments, LLC. On that basis, we believe that our interest in Shift4 Payments, LLC is not an “investment security” as that term is used in the 1940 Act. However, if we were to cease participation in the management of Shift4 Payments, LLC, or if Shift4 Payments, LLC itself becomes an investment company, our interest in Shift4 Payments, LLC could be deemed an “investment security” for purposes of the 1940 Act.

If it were established that we were an unregistered investment company, there would be a risk that we would be subject to monetary penalties and injunctive relief in an action brought by the SEC, that we would be unable to enforce contracts with third parties and that third parties could seek to obtain rescission of transactions undertaken during the period it was established that we were an unregistered investment company. If we were required to register as an investment company, restrictions imposed by the 1940 Act, including limitations on our capital structure and our ability to transact with affiliates, could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

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Risks related to the ownership of our Class A common stock

Our Founder has significant influence over us, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders.

As of December 31, 2022, our Founder, who is our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors, controls, in the aggregate, approximately 84.2% of the voting power represented by all our outstanding classes of stock. Our Founder and an affiliate of our Founder are members of our board of directors. These board members are designees of our Founder and can take actions that have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us or discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares, which could prevent stockholders from receiving a premium for their shares. These actions may be taken even if other stockholders oppose them. The concentration of voting power with our Founder may have an adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock. The interests of our Founder may not be consistent with your interests as a stockholder.

As a result, our Founder continues to exercise significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of directors and the size of our board, any amendment of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws and any approval of significant corporate transactions (including a sale of substantially all of our assets), and continue to have significant control over our management and policies.

The multiple class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting power with our Founder, which will limit your ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.

Our Class B common stock and Class C common stock each have ten votes per share, and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. As of December 31, 2022, Jared Isaacman, our Founder, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors controls approximately 84.2% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. Our Founder holds all of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock and Class C common stock and therefore is able to significantly influence matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transactions. Our Founder may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of our company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of our company and might ultimately affect the market price of our Class A common stock. Future transfers by the holders of Class B common stock and Class C common stock will generally result in those shares converting into shares of Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions.

We cannot predict the effect our multiple class structure may have on the market price of our Class A common stock.

We cannot predict whether our multiple class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock, in adverse publicity, or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indices. In July 2017, FTSE Russell announced that it plans to require new constituents of its indices to have greater than 5% of the company’s voting rights in the hands of public stockholders, and S&P Dow Jones announced that it will no longer admit companies with multiple-class share structures to certain of its indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Also in 2017, MSCI, a leading stock index provider, opened public consultations on their treatment of no-vote and multi-class structures and temporarily barred new multi-class listings from certain of its indices and in October 2018, MSCI announced its decision to include equity securities “with unequal voting structures” in its indices and to launch a new index that specifically includes voting rights in its eligibility criteria. Under such announced policies, the multiple class structure of our common stock would make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices and, as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to track those indices would not invest in our Class A common stock. These policies are relatively new and it is unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly-traded companies excluded from such indices, but it is possible that they may depress valuations, as compared to similar companies that are included. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indices, exclusion from certain stock indices would likely preclude investment by many of these funds and could make our Class A common stock less attractive to other investors. As a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

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We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and may identify material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price.

We are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Additionally, we are required to have our independent registered public accounting firm provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm needs to issue an adverse report if there is a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. When evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate prior to the date of our annual management report.

As described in Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,” we concluded that there was a material weakness in the design of a control activity with respect to the classification of customer acquisition costs within our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows in our (1) previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 and (ii) previously filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for each of the quarterly periods ended September 30, 2021, March 31, 2022 and June 30, 2022. We determined that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective for the previously filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as described in (ii) above and our internal control over financial reporting was not effective for the previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K as described in (i) above.

In order to remediate the material weakness, our management took corrective steps in 2022, completed documentation, and enhanced the design of its control activity over the classification of customer acquisition costs within our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. A material weakness cannot be considered remediated until the newly designed control activity operates for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that the control is operating effectively. After completing testing of the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, we have concluded that the above identified material weakness has been fully remediated as of December 31, 2022.

We can give no assurance that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our internal control over financial reporting, in the future those controls may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our consolidated financial statements.

Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results of operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are inaccurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our Class A common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could be an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, will qualify for, and intend to rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such corporate governance requirements.

Our Founder has more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors, and, as a result, we are considered a “controlled company” for the purposes of the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”). As such, we qualify for, and intend to rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements to have a majority of independent directors on our board of directors, an entirely independent nominating and corporate governance committee, an entirely independent compensation committee or to perform annual performance evaluations of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees.

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The corporate governance requirements and specifically the independence standards are intended to ensure that directors who are considered independent are free of any conflicting interest that could influence their actions as directors. We currently utilize certain exemptions afforded to a “controlled company.” As a result, we are not subject to certain corporate governance requirements, including that a majority of our board of directors consists of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the NYSE. In addition, we are not required to have a nominating and corporate governance committee or compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities or to conduct annual performance evaluations of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees.

Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE. Our status as a controlled company could make our Class A common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our stock price.

Certain provisions of Delaware law and antitakeover provisions in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have an antitakeover effect and may delay, defer, or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders. These provisions provide for, among other things:

•a multi-class common stock structure;

•a classified board of directors with staggered three-year terms;

•the ability of our board of directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock;

•advance notice for nominations of directors by stockholders and for stockholders to include matters to be considered at our annual meetings;

•certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings;

•prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors; and

•the removal of directors only for cause and only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power represented by our then-outstanding common stock.

These antitakeover provisions could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if the third party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares.

In addition, we have opted out of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”), but our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder (any stockholder with 15% or more of our voting stock) for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder is prohibited, subject to certain exceptions.

Because we have no current plans to pay regular cash dividends on our Class A common stock, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your Class A common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We do not anticipate paying any regular cash dividends on our Class A common stock. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, general and economic conditions, our results of operations and financial condition, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and such other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is, and may be, limited by covenants of existing and any future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur, including under our 2025 Convertible Notes, 2026 Senior Notes, 2027 Convertible Notes and Revolving Credit Facility. Therefore, any return on investment in our Class A common stock is solely dependent upon the appreciation of the price of our Class A common stock on the open market, which may not occur.

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (1) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our Company, (2) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, or other employee or stockholder of our Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, creditors or other constituents, (3) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (4) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that the exclusive forum provisions will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, or to any claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. For instance, the provision would not apply to actions arising under federal securities laws, including suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, Exchange Act, or the rules and regulations thereunder. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the doctrine of “corporate opportunity” will not apply against Searchlight, any of our directors who are employees of or affiliated with Searchlight, Rook, any of our directors who are employees of or affiliated with Rook, or any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our subsidiaries.

The doctrine of corporate opportunity generally provides that a corporate fiduciary may not develop an opportunity using corporate resources, acquire an interest adverse to that of the corporation or acquire property that is reasonably incident to the present or prospective business of the corporation or in which the corporation has a present or expectancy interest, unless that opportunity is first presented to the corporation and the corporation chooses not to pursue that opportunity. The doctrine of corporate opportunity is intended to preclude officers or directors or other fiduciaries from personally benefiting from opportunities that belong to the corporation. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the doctrine of “corporate opportunity” does not apply against Searchlight, Rook, or any of our directors who are employees of or affiliated with Searchlight, or Rook or any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our subsidiaries. Searchlight, any of our directors who are employees of or affiliated with Searchlight, Rook, any of our directors who are employees of or affiliated with Rook, or any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our subsidiaries will therefore have no duty to communicate or present corporate opportunities to us, and have the right to either hold any corporate opportunity for their (and their affiliates’) own account and benefit or to recommend, assign or otherwise transfer such corporate opportunity to persons other than us, including to any director or stockholder who is not employed by us or our subsidiaries. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not renounce our interest in any business opportunity that is expressly offered to an employee director or employee in his or her capacity as a director or employee of Shift4 Payments, Inc.

As a result, certain of our stockholders, directors and their respective affiliates are not prohibited from operating or investing in competing businesses. We therefore may find ourselves in competition with certain of our stockholders, directors or their respective affiliates, and we may not have knowledge of, or be able to pursue, transactions that could potentially be beneficial to us. Accordingly, we may lose a corporate opportunity or suffer competitive harm, which could negatively impact our business or prospects.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for our Class A common stock to decline.

The sale of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our Class A common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

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In addition, concurrently with the December Follow-on Offering, we offered, by means of separate offering memorandums, $690.0 million and $632.5 million aggregate principal amount of 2025 Convertible Notes and 2027 Convertible Notes, respectively. Upon conversion of the 2025 Convertible Notes and 2027 Convertible Notes, we will pay in cash the principal amount of the respective Notes with any excess to be paid or delivered, as the case may be, in cash or shares of our Class A common stock or a combination of both at our election. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of Class A common stock or other securities.

Furthermore, Rook has entered into margin loan agreements to repay and replace an existing margin loan for a lower amount pursuant to which, in addition to other collateral, it has pledged LLC Interests and shares of the Company’s Class A and Class B common stock (collectively, “Rook Units”) to secure a margin loan. If Rook were to default on its obligations under the margin loan and fail to cure such default, the lender would have the right to exchange and sell up to 15,000,000 Rook Units to satisfy Rook’s obligation. While the number of units are currently valued in excess of the margin loan, such an event could cause our stock price to decline.

Any Class A common stock that we issue under the 2020 Incentive Award Plan, or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future, would dilute the percentage ownership held by the investors who purchase our Class A common stock. In the future, we may also issue securities in connection with investments, acquisitions or capital raising activities. In particular, the number of shares of our Class A common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition, or to raise additional equity capital, could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our Class A common stock. Any such issuance of additional securities in the future may result in additional dilution to you or may adversely impact the price of our Class A common stock.

General Risk Factors

Our risk management policies and procedures may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk.

We operate in a rapidly changing industry. Accordingly, our risk management policies and procedures may not be fully effective to identify, monitor and manage all risks our business encounters. In addition, when we introduce new services, focus on new business types, or begin to operate in markets where we have a limited history of fraud loss, we may be less able to forecast and reserve accurately for those losses. If our policies and procedures are not fully effective or we are not successful in identifying and mitigating all risks to which we are or may be exposed, we may suffer uninsured liability, harm to our reputation or be subject to litigation or regulatory actions that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. For example, if our security measures do not succeed, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, bad actors around the world use increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities involving personal data, such as unauthorized use of another’s identity or payment information, unauthorized acquisition or use of credit or debit card details and other fraudulent use of another’s identity or information.

The increasing focus on environmental, social and governance practices (“ESG”) could increase our costs, harm our reputation and adversely impact our financial results.

There has been increasing public focus by investors, customers environmental activists, the media and governmental and nongovernmental organizations on a variety of environmental, social and other sustainability matters. We experience pressure to make commitments relating to ESG matters that affect us, including the design and implementation of specific risk mitigation strategic initiatives relating to ESG. If we are not effective in addressing environmental, social and other sustainability matters affecting our business, or setting and meeting relevant sustainability goals, our reputation and financial results may suffer. We may experience increased costs in order to execute upon our sustainability goals and measure achievement of those goals, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

In addition, this emphasis on environmental, social and other sustainability matters has resulted and may result in the adoption of new laws and regulations, including new reporting requirements. If we fail to comply with new laws, regulations or reporting requirements, our reputation and business could be adversely impacted.

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An active, liquid trading market for our Class A common stock may not be sustained, which may cause our Class A common stock to trade at a discount from the price which you paid for it and make it difficult for you to sell the Class A common stock you purchase.

We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in us will sustain a trading market or how active and liquid that market may remain. If an active and liquid trading market is not sustained, you may have difficulty selling any of our Class A common stock that you purchase at a price above the price you purchase it or at all. The failure of an active and liquid trading market to continue would likely have a material adverse effect on the value of our Class A common stock. The market price of our Class A common stock may decline below the price which you paid for it, and you may not be able to sell your shares of our Class A common stock at or above the price you paid or at all. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock or our sector, or if there is any fluctuation in our credit rating, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. Securities and industry analysts may not publish research on our Company. If securities or industry analysts do not continue coverage of our Company, the trading price of our shares would likely be negatively impacted. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts stops covering us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Additionally, any fluctuation in the credit rating of us or our subsidiaries may impact our ability to access debt markets in the future or increase our cost of future debt which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition, which in return may adversely affect the trading price of shares of our Class A common stock.

We incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities laws and regulations. The expenses incurred by public companies generally for reporting and corporate governance purposes have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs, including as a result of us no longer qualifying as an EGC as defined in the JOBS Act, and to make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly. Being a public company and being subject to such rules and regulations also makes it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as our executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our Class A common stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation. These factors may therefore strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members.

Our stock price may change significantly, and you may not be able to resell shares of our Class A common stock at or above the price you paid or at all, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the price which you paid for them due to a number of factors included herein, including the following:

•results of operations that vary from the expectations of securities analysts and investors;

•results of operations that vary from those of our competitors;

•changes in expectations as to our future financial performance, including financial estimates and investment recommendations by securities analysts and investors;

•technology changes, changes in consumer behavior or changes in merchant relationships in our industry;

•security breaches related to our systems or those of our merchants, affiliates or strategic partners;

•changes in economic conditions for companies in our industry;

•changes in market valuations of, or earnings and other announcements by, companies in our industry;

•declines in the market prices of stocks generally, particularly those of global payment companies;

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•strategic actions by us or our competitors;

•announcements by us, our competitors or our strategic partners of significant contracts, new products, acquisitions, joint marketing relationships, joint ventures, other strategic relationships, or capital commitments;

•changes in general economic or market conditions or trends in our industry or the economy as a whole and, in particular, in the consumer spending environment;

•changes in business or regulatory conditions;

•future sales of our Class A common stock or other securities;

•investor perceptions of the investment opportunity associated with our Class A common stock relative to other investment alternatives;

•the public’s response to press releases or other public announcements by us or third parties, including our filings with the SEC;

•announcements relating to litigation or governmental investigations;

•guidance, if any, that we provide to the public, any changes in this guidance, or our failure to meet this guidance;

•the sustainability of an active trading market for our stock;

•the impact of any stock repurchase programs;

•deficiencies and/or material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting;

•changes in accounting principles; and

•other events or factors, including those resulting from system failures and disruptions, natural disasters, war, acts of terrorism or responses to these events.

Furthermore, the stock market may experience extreme volatility that, in some cases, may be unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our Class A common stock is low.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

Short sellers of our stock may be manipulative and may drive down the market price of our common stock.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own, but rather has borrowed or intends to borrow from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities at a later date to return to the lender. A short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. It is therefore in the short seller’s interest for the price of the stock to decline, and some short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, opinions or characterizations regarding the relevant issuer, often involving misrepresentations of the issuer’s business prospects and similar matters calculated to create negative market momentum, which may permit them to obtain profits for themselves as a result of selling the stock short.

As a public entity, we may be the subject of concerted efforts by short sellers to spread negative information in order to gain a market advantage. In addition, the publication of misinformation may also result in lawsuits, the uncertainty and expense of which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and reputation. There are no assurances that we will not face short sellers’ efforts or similar tactics in the future, and the market price of our common stock may decline as a result of their actions.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and the financial and economic sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and other countries in response, are having pervasive direct and indirect effects on the global economy, and may adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. Specifically, the war between Russia and Ukraine could lead to significant market and other disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices and supply of energy resources, instability in financial markets, supply chain interruptions, political and social instability, changes in consumer or purchaser preferences as well as increase in cyberattacks and espionage.

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In retaliation against new international sanctions and as part of measures to stabilize and support the volatile Russian financial and currency markets, the Russian authorities have also imposed significant currency control measures aimed at restricting the outflow of foreign currency and capital from Russia, imposed various restrictions on transacting with non-Russian parties, banned exports of various products and other economic and financial restrictions. The situation is continuously evolving, and the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries may implement additional sanctions, export controls or other measures against Russia, Belarus and other countries, regions, officials, individuals or industries in the respective territories. Such sanctions and other measures, as well as the existing and potential further responses from Russia or other countries to such sanctions, tensions and military actions, could adversely affect the global economy and financial markets and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Such developments may negatively impact us directly or indirectly as well as the parties with which we conduct business. We are actively monitoring the situation and assessing its impact on our business, including our business partners and customers. To date we have not experienced any material interruptions in our infrastructure, supplies, technology systems or networks needed to support our operations. We have no way to predict the progress or outcome of the war in Ukraine or its impacts in Ukraine, Russia or Belarus as the war, and any resulting government reactions, are evolving and beyond our control. The extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions could be significant and could potentially have substantial impact on the global economy and our business for an unknown period of time. Any of the above mentioned factors could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any such disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described in this Annual Report, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

We are headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Our other principal physical property is located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The table below sets forth certain information regarding these properties, all of which are leased.

Property

Location

Lease Expiration Date

Corporate Headquarters

Allentown, Pennsylvania

August 31, 2025

Las Vegas Office

Las Vegas, Nevada

December 31, 2027

For leases that are scheduled to expire during the next 12 months, we may negotiate new lease agreements, renew existing lease agreements or use alternate facilities. We believe that our facilities are adequate for our needs and believe that we should be able to renew any of the above leases or secure similar property without an adverse impact on our operations.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Our material legal proceedings are described in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Note 18, “Commitments and Contingencies.”

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

Shift4 Payments, Inc. Class A common stock is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FOUR.” There is no established trading market for our Class B common stock or Class C common stock.

Holders

As of February 23, 2023, there were 309 holders of record of our Class A common stock, 4 holders of record of our Class B common stock and 3 holders of record of our Class C common stock. Because many of our shares of Class A common stock are held by brokers and institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of beneficial owners of our Class A common stock represented by these record holders.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

There were no unregistered equity securities sold from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, other than as previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

None.

Dividend Policy

Since the IPO, we have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and we do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Holders of our Class B common stock are not entitled to participate in any dividends declared by our board of directors. Furthermore, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock depends on our receipt of cash distributions from Shift4 Payments, LLC and, through Shift4 Payments, LLC, cash distributions and dividends from our other direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Our ability to pay dividends may be restricted by the terms of any future credit agreement or any future debt or preferred equity securities of us or our subsidiaries. Any future determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to compliance with contractual restrictions and covenants in the agreements governing our current and future indebtedness. Any such determination will also depend upon our business prospects, results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements and availability and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph and table compare the total shareholder return from June 5, 2020, the date on which our Class A common shares commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, through December 31, 2022 of (i) our Class A common shares, (ii) the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index (“S&P 500 Index”), and (iii) the Standard and Poor’s 500 Information Technology Index (“S&P Information Technology”). The stock performance graph and table assume an initial investment of $100 on June 5, 2020.

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The performance graph and table are not intended to be indicative of future performance. The performance graph and table shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of the Company’s filings under the Securities Act.


	June 4, 2020		June 30, 2020		December 31, 2020		June 30, 2021		December 31, 2021		June 30, 2022		December 31, 2022
Shift4 Payments, Inc.	$	100.00	$	154.35	$	327.83	$	407.48	$	251.87	$	143.74	$	243.17
S&P 500 Index	$	100.00	$	99.61	$	120.68	$	138.08	$	153.14	$	121.62	$	123.36
S&P Information Technology	$	100.00	$	106.08	$	132.09	$	149.57	$	176.15	$	128.16	$	125.23

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is intended to provide a reader of our consolidated financial statements with a narrative from the perspective of our management on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and certain other factors that may affect our future results. You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and the related notes and other financial data included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review Item 1A of this Annual Report for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operation for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 is presented below. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 is included under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on November 8, 2022.

Overview

We are a leading independent provider of software and payment processing solutions in the United States (“U.S.”) based on total volume of payments processed. We have also begun executing on our international expansion strategy, and we expect our international presence to continue to grow in the future. We have achieved our leadership position through decades of solving business and operational challenges facing our customers’ overall commerce needs. We distribute our services through a scaled network of seasoned internal sales and support teams, as well as through our network of software partners. Our software partners are comprised of independent software vendors (“ISVs”) and value-added resellers (“VARs”). For our software partners, we offer a single integration to an international end-to-end payment offering, a proprietary gateway and a robust suite of technology solutions to enhance the value of their software and simplify payment acceptance. For our merchants, we provide a seamless, unified consumer experience and fulfill business needs that would otherwise require multiple software, hardware and payment vendors.

At the heart of our business is our payments platform. Our payments platform is a full suite of integrated payment products and services that can be used across multiple channels (in-store, online, mobile and tablet-based) and industry verticals, including:

•end-to-end payment processing for a broad range of payment types;

•merchant acquiring;

•proprietary omni-channel gateway capable of multiple methods of mobile, contactless and QR code-based payments;

•complementary software integrations;

•full eCommerce capabilities, including web-store design, hosting, shopping cart management and fulfillment integrations;

•integrated and mobile point of sale (“POS”) solutions;

•security and risk management solutions; and

•reporting and analytical tools.

In addition to our scaled network of seasoned internal sales and support teams, we market and sell our solutions through a diversified network of thousands of software partners, which consists of ISVs and VARs. ISVs are technology providers that develop commerce-enabling software suites with which they can bundle our payments platform. VARs are organizations that provide distribution support for ISVs and act as trusted and localized service providers to merchants by providing them with software and services. Together, our ISVs and VARs provide us immense distribution scale and provide our merchants with front-line service and support.

Our end-to-end payments offering combines our payments platform, including our proprietary gateway and breadth of software integrations, and our suite of technology solutions to create a compelling value proposition for our merchants. Our end-to-end payment volume was $71.6 billion, $46.7 billion, and $24.3 billion for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively.

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Our merchants range in size from small owner-operated local businesses to multinational enterprises conducting commerce throughout the world. We operate across numerous verticals including food and beverage, hospitality, stadiums and arenas, gaming, specialty retail, non-profits, eCommerce, and exciting technology companies. We expect our newest verticals, including stadiums and arenas, gaming, non-profits, and exciting technology companies, to contribute to our end-to-end payment volume significantly more in future periods than they have to date.

Recent Developments

Launch of SkyTab POS

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we launched SkyTab POS, our next-generation restaurant POS system. SkyTab POS includes sleek, cutting-edge hardware and powerful performance; robust functionality, including integrated online ordering and payment, contactless/QR code ordering and payment, and built-in marketing tools and loyalty programs; powerful management tools such as advanced reporting and analytics, remote menu management, and labor scheduling; and various mobile solutions.

Distribution Insourcing and Residual Commission Buyouts

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we completed $318.9 million of residual commission buyouts with certain third-party distribution partners, pursuant to which we acquired their ongoing merchant relationships that subscribe to our end-to-end payments platform. These amounts include $305.4 million in residual commission buyouts executed under our strategic buyout program in support of our strategic initiative to insource our sales distribution network. Total consideration for the residual commission buyouts was comprised of a combination of cash, shares of our Class A common stock, and contingent liability earnouts.

Stock Repurchases

On December 16, 2021, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) authorized a stock repurchase program (the “December 2021 Program”), pursuant to which we were authorized to repurchase up to $100.0 million of shares of our Class A common stock through December 31, 2022. On May 11, 2022, the Board authorized a stock repurchase program (the “May 2022 Program”), pursuant to which we were authorized to repurchase up to an additional $100.0 million of shares of our Class A common stock through December 31, 2022, and on June 15, 2022, the Board authorized a stock repurchase program (the “June 2022 Program” and, together with the December 2021 Program and the May 2022 Program, the “Programs”), pursuant to which we were authorized to repurchase up to an additional $50.0 million of shares of our Class A common stock through December 31, 2022.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we repurchased 3,887,191 shares of our Class A common stock for $184.4 million, including commissions paid, at an average price paid of $47.40 per share. During the three months ended December 31, 2022, we did not repurchase any shares of our Class A common stock. The June 2022 Program expired on December 31, 2022. See Note 19 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information.

Recent Acquisitions

Online Payments Group

On September 29, 2022, we acquired Online Payments Group for $125.9 million of total purchase consideration, net of cash acquired. Online Payments Group is European payment service provider with a world-class developer portal and checkout experience that we believe will accelerate our global eCommerce growth.

Restaurant Technology Partners

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we acquired Pinnacle Hospitality Systems LLC (“Pinnacle”), FPOS Group, Inc. (“FPOS”), Retail Control Solutions, Inc. (“RCS”), and three other restaurant technology partners in separate transactions for $80.3 million of total purchase consideration, net of cash acquired.

These acquisitions enable the boarding of the restaurant technology partners’ customers on our end-to-end acquiring solution and empower our distribution partners to sign the restaurant technology partners’ customer accounts and leverage the combined expertise to handle all aspects of installation, service, and support.

The Giving Block

On February 28, 2022, we acquired The Giving Block, Inc. (“The Giving Block”) for $106.9 million of total purchase consideration, net of cash acquired. The Giving Block is a cryptocurrency donation marketplace that we expect to accelerate our growth in the non-profit sector with significant cross-sell potential.

See Note 3 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information.

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Pending Acquisition

Finaro

On March 1, 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Credorax, Inc. d/b/a Finaro (“Finaro”) for $200.0 million in cash, 6,439,316 shares of our Class A common stock with a value of approximately $325.0 million as of March 1, 2022, determined by the volume weighted average price for the thirty trading days preceding the date of the agreement, and a performance-based earnout of up to $50.0 million in shares of our Class A common stock. Consummation of the merger is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2023 and is subject to regulatory approvals, which we expect to receive in March 2023. Finaro is a cross-border eCommerce platform and bank specializing in solving complex payment problems for multi-national merchants that we believe will accelerate our growth in international markets.

Factors Impacting Our Business and Results of Operations

In general, our results of operations are impacted by factors such as the adoption of software solutions that are integrated with our payment solutions, continued investment in our core capabilities, ongoing pursuit of strategic acquisitions, and macro-level economic trends.

Increased adoption of software-integrated payments. We primarily generate revenue through fees assessed on end-to-end payment volume initiated through our internal sales team and our integrated software partners. These fees include volume-based payments, transaction fees and subscription fees for software and technology solutions. We expect to continue to grow through both our internal sales team and integrated software partners, who have proven to be an effective and efficient way of acquiring new merchants and servicing these relationships.

Continued focus on converting our gateway-only customers to our end-to-end payments offering. Currently, a large percentage of our merchant base relies only on our proprietary gateway technology solution to process card-based payments. However, as more of these gateway-only merchants choose to also adopt our end-to-end payment solutions, our revenue per merchant and merchant retention are expected to increase given the fees we generate on end-to-end payment processing services are significantly higher than the per transaction fees we earn on gateway-only services. We have also implemented price increases for those merchants who have chosen to not adopt our end-to-end payment solutions.

Mix of our merchant base. We continue to experience a shift to higher average revenue and higher average volume per merchant. The revenue and volume contribution of each merchant within our portfolio is affected by several factors, including the amount of payment volume processed per merchant, the industry vertical in which the merchant operates, and the number of solutions implemented by the merchant. The size and sophistication of our average merchant continues to increase, and we may experience shifts in the average revenue per merchant and the weighted average pricing of the portfolio.

Ability to attract and retain internal sales team and software partners. Our ability to attract and retain our internal sales team and software partners impacts our future growth and our ability to service our existing base of merchants. To facilitate internal talent attraction and retention, we strive to make Shift4 a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers, supported by strong compensation, benefits and health and wellness programs. It is also critical we maintain our product leadership through continued investment in innovative technology solutions as a means to ensure we retain our current software partners while attracting new software partners.

Investment in product, distribution and operations. We make significant investments in both new product development and existing product enhancements, such as mobile POS, cloud enablement for our software partners’ existing systems, and contactless payments, including QR code based mobile payment technologies. New product features and functionality are brought to market through varied distribution and promotional activities, including collaborative efforts with industry leading software providers, tradeshows, and customer conferences. Further, we will continue to invest in operational support in order to maintain service levels expected by our merchant customers. We believe these investments in product development and software integrations will lead to long-term growth and profitability.

Pursuit of strategic acquisitions. From time to time, we may pursue acquisitions as part of our ongoing growth strategy that includes adding complementary technology capabilities to service our base of customers and adding critical sales and support capabilities within a specific industry vertical or geography. While these acquisitions are intended to add long-term value, in the short term they may add redundant operating expenses or additional carrying costs until the underlying value is unlocked.

Impact of international operations. We are subject to foreign exchange risk due to fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the foreign currencies of countries in which we operate. Additionally, international operations expose us to additional risks and subject us to international laws and regulations. While our foreign exchange and international operating risks have historically been negligible, we may increasingly be subject to said risks as we continue our international expansion efforts.

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Economic conditions and resulting consumer spending trends. Changes in macro-level consumer spending trends, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and consumer confidence, could affect the amount of volume processed on our platform, thus resulting in fluctuations in our quarterly reported revenue. Our quarterly revenue is also impacted by seasonal, consumer spending habit patterns, which historically have resulted in higher volumes and revenue being reported in our second and third fiscal quarters.

TSYS outage. In August 2021, TSYS, a Global Payments Company and an important vendor to the Company, experienced a significant platform outage that resulted in the disruption of payment processing for our merchants (“TSYS outage”). TSYS is utilized by many major credit card issuers and payment processors, which meant the impact of the outage was felt by many card accepting merchants and cardholders across the nation. In response to the TSYS outage, we distributed payments to both merchants and partners in order to alleviate the impact of the outage on their businesses. The following paragraphs describe how these payments are reflected in our accompanying consolidated financial statements and disclosures.

In the third and fourth quarters of 2021, we distributed $22.4 million and $0.7 million, respectively, in payments to our merchants to approximate the lost revenues they experienced as a result of the TSYS outage. Under ASC 606: Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”), these payments were recorded as contra revenue, which is reflected as a reduction of “Gross revenue” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021. These payments are considered nonrecurring and are therefore reflected as an adjustment when calculating Adjusted EBITDA and Gross Revenue Less Network Fees. In addition, for the year ended December 31, 2021, gross revenue less network fees excludes the impact of the TSYS outage.

In the third and fourth quarters of 2021, we also distributed $2.3 million and $0.5 million, respectively, in payments to our partners to approximate their lost revenues and compensate them for the additional support required from them to manage the outage. Consistent with the treatment of our payments to our partners in the normal course of business, these payments are reflected as an increase to “Cost of sales” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021. These payments are considered nonrecurring and are therefore reflected as an adjustment when calculating Adjusted EBITDA.

See Note 4 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information about the TSYS outage and Key performance indicators and non-GAAP measures for more information about Adjusted EBITDA and gross revenue less network fees.

Key Financial Definitions

The following briefly describes the components of revenue and expenses as presented in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.

Gross revenue consists primarily of payments-based revenue and subscription and other revenues:

Payments-based revenue includes fees for payment processing services and gateway services. Payment processing fees are primarily driven as a percentage of end-to-end payment volume. They may also have a fixed fee, a minimum monthly usage fee and a fee based on transactions. Gateway services, data encryption and tokenization fees are primarily driven by per transaction fees as well as monthly usage fees.

Subscription and other revenues include software as a service (“SaaS”) fees for POS systems and terminals provided to merchants. POS and terminal SaaS fees are assessed based on the type and quantity of equipment deployed to the merchant. SaaS fees also include statement fees, fees for our proprietary business intelligence software, annual fees, regulatory compliance fees and other miscellaneous services such as help desk support and warranties on equipment. Subscription and other revenues also includes revenue derived from software license sales, hardware sales, third-party residuals and fees charged for technology support.

Cost of sales consists of interchange and processing fees, residual commissions, equipment and other costs of sales:

Interchange and processing fees represent payments to card issuing banks and assessments paid to card associations based on transaction processing volume. These also include fees incurred by third-parties for data transmission and settlement of funds, such as processors and sponsor banks.

Residual commissions represent monthly payments to third-party distribution partners. These costs are typically based on a percentage of payment-based revenue.

Equipment represents our costs of devices that are purchased by the merchant.

Other costs of sales includes amortization of capitalized software development costs, capitalized software, acquired technology and capitalized customer acquisition costs. It also includes incentives and shipping and handling costs related to the delivery of devices. Capitalized software development costs are amortized using the straight-line method on a product-by-product basis over the estimated useful life of the software. Capitalized software, acquired technology and capitalized customer acquisition costs are amortized on a straight-line basis in accordance with our accounting policies.

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General and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation, benefits and other expenses associated with corporate management, finance, human resources, shared services, information technology and other activities.

Revaluation of contingent liabilities represents adjustments to the fair value of contingent liabilities associated with acquisitions and residual commission buyouts.

Depreciation and amortization expense consists of depreciation and amortization expenses related to merchant relationships, trademarks and trade names, residual commission buyouts, equipment, leasehold improvements, other intangible assets, and property, plant and equipment. We depreciate and amortize our assets on a straight-line basis in accordance with our accounting policies. Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the lesser of the estimated life of the leasehold improvement or the remaining lease term. Maintenance and repairs, which do not extend the useful life of the respective assets, are charged to expense as incurred. Intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives which range from two years to twenty years.

Professional fees consists of costs incurred for accounting, tax, legal, and consulting services.

Advertising and marketing expenses relate to costs incurred to participate in industry tradeshows and dealer conferences, advertising initiatives to build brand awareness, and expenses to fulfill loyalty program rewards earned by software partners.

Loss on extinguishment of debt represents losses recorded for unamortized capitalized financing costs associated with debt prepayments.

Interest income primarily consists of interest income earned on our cash and cash equivalents.

Other income, net primarily consists of other non-operating items.

Unrealized gain on investments in securities represents adjustments to the fair value of our investments in non-marketable securities.

Change in TRA liability represents adjustments to the Tax Receivable Agreement (“TRA”) liability.

Interest expense consists of interest costs incurred on our borrowings and amortization of capitalized financing costs.

Income tax (provision) benefit represents federal, state and local taxes based on income in multiple jurisdictions.

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests arises from net income (loss) from the non-owned portion of businesses where we have a controlling interest but less than 100% ownership. This represents the noncontrolling interests in Shift4 Payments, LLC and its consolidated subsidiaries, which is comprised of the income (loss) allocated to Continuing Equity Owners as a result of their proportional ownership of LLC Interests.

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Comparison of Results for the Year Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

The following table sets forth the consolidated statements of operations for the periods presented.


	Year Ended December 31,				$ change		% change
(in millions)	2022		2021
Payments-based revenue	$	1,857.1	$	1,258.0	$	599.1	47.6	%
Subscription and other revenues	136.5		109.5		27.0		24.7	%
Gross revenue	1,993.6		1,367.5		626.1		45.8	%
Network fees	(1,266.1)		(861.8)		(404.3)		46.9	%
Other costs of sales (exclusive of certain depreciation and amortization expense shown separately below)	(257.3)		(227.3)		(30.0)		13.2	%
General and administrative expenses	(267.4)		(219.5)		(47.9)		21.8	%
Revaluation of contingent liabilities	36.6		(0.2)		36.8		NM
Depreciation and amortization expense (a)	(96.5)		(62.2)		(34.3)		55.1	%
Professional fees	(33.3)		(16.8)		(16.5)		98.2	%
Advertising and marketing expenses	(14.9)		(28.9)		14.0		(48.4	%)
Income (loss) from operations	94.7		(49.2)		143.9		NM
Loss on extinguishment of debt	—		(0.2)		0.2		NM
Interest income	10.8		—		10.8		NM
Other income, net	0.5		0.3		0.2		66.7	%
Unrealized gain on investments in securities	15.1		—		15.1		NM
Change in TRA liability	(1.7)		—		(1.7)		NM
Interest expense	(32.5)		(28.0)		(4.5)		16.1	%
Income (loss) before income taxes	86.9		(77.1)		164.0		NM
Income tax (provision) benefit	(0.2)		3.1		(3.3)		(106.5	%)
Net income (loss)	86.7		(74.0)		160.7		NM
Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	11.6		(25.8)		37.4		NM
Net income (loss) attributable to Shift4 Payments, Inc.	$	75.1	$	(48.2)	$	123.3	NM

(a)Depreciation and amortization expense includes depreciation of equipment under lease of $28.4 million and $21.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Results for the year ended December 31, 2021 include $23.1 million of nonrecurring payments we made to our merchants and $2.8 million of non-recurring payments we made to our partners due to the TSYS outage. An additional $0.4 million of associated costs were incurred as a result of the outage. The TSYS outage payments and associated costs had the following impact on our results in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021:

•$23.1 million decrease to Payments-based revenue and Gross revenue;

•$2.8 million increase to Other costs of sales; and

•$26.3 million decrease to Loss from operations and Net loss.

See Factors Impacting Our Business and Results of Operations above and Note 4 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information about the TSYS outage.

Gross revenue

Gross revenue was $1,993.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $1,367.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $626.1 million or 45.8%. Gross revenue is comprised of payments-based revenue and subscription and other revenues. Gross revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 includes $23.1 million in payments we made to merchants as a result of the TSYS outage, which were recorded as contra revenue.

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Payments-based revenue was $1,857.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $1,258.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $599.1 million or 47.6%. The increase in payments-based revenue was primarily driven by the increase in end-to-end payment volume of $24.9 billion or 53.4%, for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, in addition to $23.1 million in payments we made to merchants in 2021 as a result of the TSYS outage, which were recorded as contra revenue.

Subscription and other revenues were $136.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $109.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $27.0 million or 24.7%. The increase in subscription and other revenues was driven primarily by our 2022 and 2021 acquisitions, which collectively contributed $20.9 million more to subscription and other revenues in the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, in addition to higher annual fee revenue of $6.2 million.

Network fees

Network fees were $1,266.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $861.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $404.3 million or 46.9%. This increase is correlated with the increase in end-to-end payment volume as described above.

Gross revenue less network fees was $727.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $529.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $198.5 million or 37.5%. For the year ended December 31, 2021, gross revenue less network fees excludes the $23.1 million impact of the TSYS outage to gross revenue. The increase in gross revenue less network fees was largely correlated with the increase in end-to-end payment volume. See “Key Performance Indicators and Non-GAAP Measures” below for a reconciliation of gross profit to gross revenue less network fees.

Other costs of sales

Other costs of sales was $257.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $227.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $30.0 million or 13.2%. This increase was primarily driven by:

•higher residual commissions, which increased other costs of sales $10.3 million, were driven by the growth in gross revenue less network fees, partially offset by the impact of residual commission buyouts;

•our 2022 and 2021 acquisitions, which collectively increased other costs of sales $8.1 million;

•higher capitalized software development and capitalized acquisition cost amortization, which together increased other costs of sales $8.6 million, net of the $1.6 million impact of changing the useful life of capitalized acquisition costs from three years to four years, effective October 1, 2022; and

•higher variable costs associated with processing fees of $5.7 million;

partially offset by:

•higher than normal chargeback losses during the year ended December 31, 2021 driven by the business failure of one merchant causing $5.5 million in estimated unrecoverable chargeback transactions in 2021; and

•payments to partners of $2.8 million due to the TSYS outage, which increased other costs of sales in the year ended December 31, 2021 and were nonrecurring in nature.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses were $267.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $219.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $47.9 million or 21.8%. The increase was primarily driven by our 2022 and 2021 acquisitions, which collectively increased general and administrative expenses $21.8 million in the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. In addition, compensation and other employee-related expenses increased by $14.2 million and insurance expenses increased by $4.3 million as a result of our continued growth and expansion.

Revaluation of contingent liabilities

Revaluation of contingent liabilities of ($36.6) million for the year ended December 31, 2022 is primarily driven by fair value adjustments to contingent liabilities arising from our acquisitions in the year ended December 31, 2022.

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Depreciation and amortization expense

Depreciation and amortization expense was $96.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $62.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $34.3 million or 55.1%. The increase was primarily driven by higher residual commission buyout amortization of $36.9 million due to the significant amount of residual commission buyouts completed in 2022, net of the change in useful life from three years to four years of $6.9 million. In addition, equipment under lease increased $6.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, net of the change in useful life from three years to four years of $3.5 million. This is offset by a decline in other intangible asset amortization of $9.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, driven by intangibles that reached the end of their useful life, offset by new intangible assets as a result of the acquisitions in 2022.

Professional fees

Professional fees were $33.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $16.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $16.5 million or 98.2%. The increase was primarily due to higher acquisition-related costs.

Advertising and marketing expenses

Advertising and marketing expenses were $14.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $28.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $14.0 million or 48.4%. The decrease was primarily driven by expenses in the year ended December 31, 2021 related to the integration of 3dcart and its rebranding as Shift4Shop as well as the costs associated with the Inspiration4 seat that were nonrecurring in nature. This was partially offset by our 2022 and 2021 acquisitions, which collectively increased advertising and marketing expenses $4.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2022 and higher sponsorship expenses.

Interest income

Interest income was $10.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, consisting primarily of interest income earned on our cash and cash equivalents. We had immaterial interest income for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Unrealized gain on investments in securities

The unrealized gain on investments in securities resulted in $15.1 million of non-cash income for the year ended December 31, 2022. There was no corresponding income for the year ended December 31, 2021. See Note 14 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information on our investments in securities.

Change in TRA liability

The change in TRA liability resulted in $1.7 million of non-cash expense for the year ended December 31, 2022. There was no corresponding expense for the year ended December 31, 2021. See Note 15 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information on the TRA.

Interest expense

Interest expense was $32.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $28.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $4.5 million or 16.1%. The increase in interest expense was primarily driven by the issuance of the Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 (“2027 Convertible Notes”) in July 2021, as well as higher amortization of capitalized financing fees during the year ended December 31, 2022.

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Income tax (provision) benefit

The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was (0.2%), compared to the effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 of 4.0%.

The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was different than the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 21% primarily due to the income allocated to the noncontrolling interest, the full valuation allowances on Shift4 Payments, Inc. and certain corporate subsidiaries in the U.S., the nontaxable adjustment related to the revaluation of contingent liabilities, and a $6.4 million income tax benefit related to the valuation allowance release due to acquired deferred tax liabilities from The Giving Block acquisition. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 was different than the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 21% primarily due to the loss allocated to the noncontrolling interest, the full valuation allowances on Shift4 Payments, Inc. and certain corporate subsidiaries in the U.S., and the tax windfall related to vested equity-based compensation awards.

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests

Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests of Shift4 Payments, LLC was $11.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to net loss of $25.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Key performance indicators and non-GAAP measures

The following table sets forth our key performance indicators and non-GAAP measures for the periods presented.


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2022		2021		2020
End-to-end payment volume	$	71,587.7	$	46,663.3	$	24,284.4
Gross revenue less network fees	727.5		529.0		323.0
EBITDA	257.7		55.3		10.6
Adjusted EBITDA	289.7		167.2		87.7

End-to-end payment volume

End-to-end payment volume is defined as the total dollar amount of payments that we deliver for settlement on behalf of our merchants. Included in end-to-end volume are dollars routed via our international payments platform and alternative payment methods, including cryptocurrency donations, plus volume we route to one or more third party merchant acquirers on behalf of strategic enterprise merchant relationships. This volume does not include volume processed through our legacy gateway-only offering.

Gross revenue less network fees, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

We use supplemental measures of our performance which are derived from our consolidated financial information but which are not presented in our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures include: gross revenue less network fees, which includes interchange and assessment fees; earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization (“EBITDA”); and Adjusted EBITDA.

Gross revenue less network fees represents a key performance metric that management uses to measure changes in the mix and value derived from our customer base as we continue to execute our strategy to expand our reach to serve larger, complex merchants. For the year ended December 31, 2021, gross revenue less network fees excludes the impact of the payments to merchants, included in “Gross revenue,” and payments to partners and associated expenses due to the TSYS outage, included in “Cost of sales” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. These are nonrecurring payments that occurred outside of our day-to-day operations, and we have excluded them in order to provide more useful information to investors in the evaluation of our performance period-over-period.

Adjusted EBITDA is the primary financial performance measure used by management to evaluate its business and monitor results of operations. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA further adjusted for certain non-cash and other nonrecurring items that management believes are not indicative of ongoing operations. These adjustments include the TSYS outage and associated costs, acquisition, restructuring and integration costs, revaluation of contingent liabilities, unrealized gain (loss) on investments in securities, change in TRA liability, equity-based compensation expense, and other nonrecurring items. The financial impact of certain elements of these activities is often largely relative to the Company’s overall financial performance and can adversely affect the comparability of our operating results and investors’ ability to analyze the business from period to period.

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We use non-GAAP financial measures to supplement financial information presented on a GAAP basis. We believe that excluding certain items from our GAAP results allows management to better understand our consolidated financial performance from period to period and better project our future consolidated financial performance as forecasts are developed at a level of detail different from that used to prepare GAAP-based financial measures. Moreover, we believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide our stakeholders with useful information to help them evaluate our operating results by facilitating an enhanced understanding of our operating performance and enabling them to make more meaningful period to period comparisons. There are limitations to the use of the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this Annual Report. Our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered as indicators of performance in isolation from, or as a substitute for, net income (loss) prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should be read only in conjunction with financial information presented on a GAAP basis. Reconciliations of gross revenue less network fees, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are presented below. We encourage you to review the reconciliations in conjunction with the presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures for each of the periods presented. In future fiscal periods, we may exclude such items and may incur income and expenses similar to these excluded items.

Reconciliations of gross revenue less network fees, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

The tables below provide reconciliations of gross profit to gross revenue less network fees and net income (loss) on a consolidated basis for the periods presented to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA.

Gross revenue less network fees:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2022		2021		2020
(in millions)
Gross revenue	$	1,993.6	$	1,367.5	$	766.9
Less: Network fees	(1,266.1)		(861.8)		(443.9)
Less: Other costs of sales (exclusive of depreciation of equipment under lease)	(257.3)		(227.3)		(145.2)
	470.2		278.4		177.8
Less: Depreciation of equipment under lease	(28.4)		(21.8)		(9.8)
Gross profit (a) (b) (c)	$	441.8	$	256.6	$	168.0

Gross profit (a) (b) (c)	$	441.8	$	256.6	$	168.0
Add back: Other costs of sales (b)	257.3		227.3		145.2
Add back: Depreciation of equipment under lease	28.4		21.8		9.8
Add back: TSYS outage payments and associated costs (c)	—		23.3		—
Gross revenue less network fees	$	727.5	$	529.0	$	323.0

(a)The determination of gross profit is inclusive of depreciation of equipment under lease that is included within Depreciation and amortization expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The table reflects the determination of gross profit for all periods presented. Although gross profit is not presented on the Consolidated Statements of Operations, it represents the most comparable metric calculated under U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP gross revenues less network fees.

(b)The year ended December 31, 2021 includes $2.8 million of nonrecurring payments to partners associated with the TSYS outage. See Factors Impacting Our Business and Results of Operations above and Note 4 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information about the TSYS outage.

(c)The year ended December 31, 2021 includes $23.1 million of nonrecurring payments to merchants associated with the TSYS outage and associated expenses of $0.2 million. See Factors Impacting Our Business and Results of Operations above and Note 4 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for more information about the TSYS outage.

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EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2022		2021		2020
Net income (loss)	$	86.7	$	(74.0)	$	(111.4)
Interest expense	32.5		28.0		40.2
Interest income	(10.8)		—		—
Income tax provision (benefit)	0.2		(3.1)		(2.4)
Depreciation and amortization expense	149.1		104.4		84.2
EBITDA	257.7		55.3		10.6
Acquisition, restructuring and integration costs (a)	28.2		36.7		8.3
Revaluation of contingent liabilities (b)	(36.6)		0.2		(6.1)
Unrealized gain on investments in securities (c)	(15.1)		—		—
Change in TRA liability (d)	1.7		—		—
Equity-based compensation (e)	50.4		47.3		66.9
TSYS outage payments and associated costs (f)	—		26.3		—
Impact of lease modifications (g)	—		—		(12.4)
Other nonrecurring items (h)	3.4		1.4		20.4
Adjusted EBITDA	$	289.7