Halliburton · Risk factors

Demand for our services and products is particularly sensitive to the level of exploration, development, and production activity of, and the corresponding capital spending by, oil and natural gas companies. The level of exploration, development, and production activity is directly affected by trends in oil and natural gas prices, which historically have been volatile and are likely to continue to be volatile. Prices for oil and natural gas are subject to large fluctuations in response to relatively minor changes in the supply of and demand for oil and natural gas, market uncertainty, and a variety of other economic factors that are beyond our control. Given the long-term nature of many large-scale development projects, even the perception of longer-term lower oil and natural gas prices by oil and natural gas companies can cause them to reduce or defer major expenditures.

Any prolonged reductions of commodity prices or expectations of such reductions could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

Factors affecting the prices of oil and natural gas include:

- the level of supply and demand for oil and natural gas;

- the ability or willingness of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the expanded alliance collectively known as OPEC+ to set and maintain oil production levels;

- the level of oil production in the U.S. and by other non-OPEC+ countries;

- oil refining capacity and shifts in end-customer preferences toward fuel efficiency and the use of natural gas;

- the cost of, and constraints associated with, producing and delivering oil and natural gas;

- governmental regulations and other actions, including economic sanctions and policies of governments regarding the exploration for and production and development of their oil and natural gas reserves;

- weather conditions, natural disasters, and health or similar issues, such as COVID-19 and other pandemics or epidemics;

- worldwide political and military actions, and economic conditions, including potential recessions; and - increased demand for alternative energy and use of electric vehicles and increased emphasis on decarbonization, including government initiatives, such as the variety of tax credits contained in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, to promote the use of renewable energy sources and public sentiment around alternatives to oil and gas.

Our business is directly affected by changes in capital expenditures by our customers, and reductions in their capital spending could reduce demand for our services and products and have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition. Some of the items that may impact our customer's capital spending include:

- oil and natural gas prices, which are impacted by the factors described in the preceding risk factor;

- the inability of our customers to access capital on economically advantageous terms, which may be impacted by, among other things, a decrease of investors' interest in hydrocarbon producers because of environmental and sustainability initiatives;

- changes in customers' capital allocation, including an increased allocation to the production of renewable energy or other sustainability efforts, leading to less focus on oil and natural gas production growth;

- restrictions on our customers' ability to get their produced oil and natural gas to market due to infrastructure limitations;

- consolidation of our customers;

- customer personnel changes; and - adverse developments in the business or operations of our customers, including write-downs of oil and natural gas reserves and borrowing base reductions under customers' credit facilities.

Events can occur at sites where our products and equipment are produced, stored, transported, or installed, or where we conduct our operations or provide our services, or at chemical blending or manufacturing facilities, including well blowouts and equipment or materials failures, which could result in explosions, fires, personal injuries, property damage (including surface and subsurface damage), pollution, and potential legal responsibility. Generally, we rely on liability insurance coverage and on contractual indemnities, releases, and limitations of liability with our customers to protect us from potential liability related to such occurrences. However, we do not have these contractual provisions in all contracts, and even where we do, it is possible that the respective customer or insurer could seek to avoid or be financially unable to meet its obligations, or a court may decline to enforce such provisions.

Damages that are not indemnified or released could greatly exceed available insurance coverage and could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

Our business could be materially and adversely affected by severe weather, particularly in Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, and the North Sea. Many experts believe global climate change could increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather conditions. Repercussions of severe or unseasonable weather conditions may include:

- evacuation of personnel and inoperability of equipment resulting in curtailment of services;

- weather-related damage to offshore drilling rigs resulting in suspension of operations;

- weather-related damage to our facilities and project work sites;

- inability to deliver materials to job sites in accordance with contract schedules;

- fluctuations in demand for oil and natural gas, including possible decreases during unseasonably warm winters; and - loss of productivity.

We rely on a variety of intellectual property rights that we use in our services and products. We may not be able to successfully preserve these intellectual property rights in the future, and these rights could be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries in which our services and products may be sold do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Courts could find that others infringe our patent or other intellectual property rights or that our products and services may infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Our failure to protect our proprietary information and any successful intellectual property challenges or infringement proceedings against us could materially and adversely affect us.

The market for our services and products is characterized by continual technological developments to provide better and more reliable performance and services. If we are not able to design, develop, and produce commercially competitive products and to implement commercially competitive services in a timely manner in response to changes in the market, customer requirements, competitive pressures, developments associated with climate change concerns and energy mix transition, and technology trends, our business and consolidated results of operations could be materially and adversely affected, and the value of our intellectual property may be reduced. Likewise, if our proprietary technologies, equipment, facilities, or work processes become obsolete, we may no longer be competitive, and our business and consolidated results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We sometimes provide integrated project management services outside our normal discrete business in the form of long-term, fixed price contracts. Some of these contracts are required by our customers, primarily national oil companies. These services include acting as project managers as well as service providers and may require us to assume additional risks associated with cost over-runs. These customers may provide us with inaccurate information in relation to their reserves, which is a subjective process that involves location and volume estimation, that may result in cost over-runs, delays, and project losses. In addition, our customers often operate in countries with unsettled political conditions, war, civil unrest, or other types of community issues. These issues may also result in cost over-runs, delays, and project losses.

Providing services on an integrated basis may also require us to assume additional risks associated with operating cost inflation, labor availability and productivity, supplier pricing and performance, and potential claims for liquidated damages. We rely on third-party subcontractors and equipment providers to assist us with the completion of these types of contracts. To the extent that we cannot engage subcontractors or acquire equipment or materials in a timely manner and on reasonable terms, our ability to complete a project in accordance with stated deadlines or at a profit may be impaired. If the amount we are required to pay for these goods and services exceeds the amount we have estimated in bidding for fixed-price work, we could experience losses in the performance of these contracts. These delays and additional costs may be substantial, and we may be required to compensate our customers for these delays. This may reduce the profit to be realized or result in a loss on a project.

Raw materials essential to our operations and manufacturing, such as proppants (primarily sand), chemicals, metals, and gels, are normally readily available. Shortage of raw materials as a result of high levels of demand or loss of suppliers during market challenges can trigger constraints in the supply chain of those raw materials, particularly where we have a relationship with a single supplier for a particular resource. Many of the raw materials essential to our business require the use of rail, storage, and trucking services to transport the materials to our job sites. These services, particularly during times of high demand, may cause delays in the arrival of or otherwise constrain our supply of raw materials.

These constraints could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated results of operations. In addition, price increases imposed by our vendors for raw materials and transportation providers used in our business, and the inability to pass these increases through to our customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated results of operations.

Many of the services that we provide and the products that we sell are complex and highly engineered and often must perform or be performed in harsh conditions. We believe that our success depends upon our ability to attract, employ, and retain technical personnel with the ability to design, utilize, and enhance these services and products. A significant increase in the wages paid by competing employers could result in a reduction of our skilled labor force, increases in the wage rates that we must pay, or both. If either of these events were to occur, our cost structure could increase, our margins could decrease, and any growth potential could be impaired.

Our operations outside the United States require us to comply with a number of United States and international regulations. For example, our operations in countries outside the United States are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits United States companies and their agents and employees from providing anything of value to a foreign official for the purposes of influencing any act or decision of these individuals in their official capacity to help obtain or retain business, direct business to any person or corporate entity, or obtain any unfair advantage. Our activities create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by our employees, agents, or joint venture partners that could be in violation of anti-corruption laws, even though some of these parties are not subject to our control.

We have internal control policies and procedures and have implemented training and compliance programs for our employees and agents with respect to the FCPA. However, we cannot assure that our policies, procedures, and programs will always protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. We are also subject to the risks that our employees, joint venture partners, and agents outside of the United States may fail to comply with other applicable laws. Allegations of violations of applicable anti-corruption laws have resulted and may in the future result in internal, independent, or government investigations. Violations of anti-corruption laws may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.

In addition, the shipment of goods, services, and technology across international borders subjects us to extensive trade laws and regulations. Our import activities are governed by the unique customs laws and regulations in each of the countries where we operate. Moreover, many countries, including the United States, control the export, re-export, and in-country transfer of certain goods, services, and technology and impose related export recordkeeping and reporting obligations. Governments may also impose economic sanctions against certain countries, persons, and entities that may restrict or prohibit transactions involving such countries, persons, and entities, which may limit or prevent our conduct of business in certain jurisdictions. The imposition of such sanctions on Russia in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to our decision to dispose of our Russian operations during the third quarter of 2022.

The laws and regulations concerning import activity, export recordkeeping and reporting, export control and economic sanctions are complex and constantly changing. These laws and regulations can cause delays in shipments and unscheduled operational downtime. Moreover, any failure to comply with applicable legal and regulatory trading obligations could result in government investigations of our activities, as well as criminal and civil penalties and sanctions, such as fines, imprisonment, debarment from governmental contracts, seizure of shipments, and loss of import and export privileges.

Our activities outside of the United States expose us to various legal, social, economic, and political issues which could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.

In the countries in which we conduct business, we are subject to multiple and, at times, inconsistent regulatory regimes, including those that govern our use of radioactive materials, explosives, and chemicals in the course of our operations. Various national and international regulatory regimes govern the shipment of these items. Many countries, but not all, impose special controls upon the export and import of radioactive materials, explosives, and chemicals. Our ability to do business is subject to maintaining required licenses and complying with these multiple regulatory requirements applicable to these special products. In addition, the various laws governing import and export of both products and technology apply to a wide range of services and products we offer.

In turn, this can affect our employment practices of hiring people of different nationalities because these laws may prohibit or limit access to some products or technology by employees of various nationalities. Changes in, compliance with, or our failure to comply with these laws may negatively impact our ability to provide services in, make sales of equipment to, and transfer personnel or equipment among some of the countries in which we operate and could have a material adverse effect on our business and consolidated results of operations.

Various federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives, as well as actions in other countries, have been or could be undertaken that could result in additional requirements or restrictions being imposed on hydraulic fracturing operations. For example, the United States may seek to adopt federal regulations or enact federal laws that would impose additional regulatory requirements on or even prohibit hydraulic fracturing in some areas. Legislation and/or regulations have been adopted in many U.S. states that require additional disclosure regarding chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process but that generally include protections for proprietary information. Legislation, regulations, and/or policies have also been adopted at the state level that impose other types of requirements on hydraulic fracturing operations (such as limits on operations in the event of certain levels of seismic activity).

Additional legislation and/or regulations have been adopted or are being considered at the state and local level that could impose further chemical disclosure or other regulatory requirements (such as prohibitions on hydraulic fracturing operations in certain areas) that could affect our operations. Four states (New York, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington) have banned the use of high volume hydraulic fracturing, Oregon has adopted a five-year moratorium, and Colorado has enacted legislation providing local governments with regulatory authority over hydraulic fracturing operations. Local jurisdictions in some states have adopted ordinances that restrict or in certain cases prohibit the use of hydraulic fracturing, although many of these ordinances have been challenged and some have been overturned.

In addition, governmental authorities in various foreign countries where we have provided or may provide hydraulic fracturing services have imposed or are considering imposing various restrictions or conditions that may affect hydraulic fracturing operations. The adoption of any future federal, state, local, or foreign laws or regulations imposing reporting obligations on, or limiting or banning, the hydraulic fracturing process could make it more difficult to complete natural gas and oil wells and could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

We are subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations in the United States and the other countries where we do business. We evaluate and address the environmental impact of our operations by assessing and remediating contaminated properties to avoid future liabilities and comply with legal and regulatory requirements. From time to time, claims have been made against us under environmental laws and regulations. In the United States, environmental laws and regulations typically impose strict liability. Strict liability means that in some situations we could be exposed to liability for cleanup costs, natural resource damages, and other damages as a result of our conduct that was lawful at the time it occurred or the conduct of prior operators or other third parties.

We are periodically notified of potential liabilities at federal and state superfund sites. These potential liabilities may arise from both historical Halliburton operations and the historical operations of companies that we have acquired. Our exposure at these sites may be materially impacted by unforeseen adverse developments both in the final remediation costs and with respect to the final allocation among the various parties involved at the sites. The relevant regulatory agency may bring suit against us for amounts in excess of what we have accrued and what we believe is our proportionate share of remediation costs at any superfund site. We also could be subject to third-party claims, including punitive damages, with respect to environmental matters for which we have been named as a potentially responsible party.

Liability for damages arising as a result of environmental laws or related third-party claims could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

In addition to the numerous environmental laws and regulations that apply to our operations, we are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and other countries relating to health and safety. Among those laws and regulations are those covering hazardous materials and requiring emission performance standards for facilities. For example, our well service operations routinely involve the handling of significant amounts of waste materials, some of which are classified as hazardous substances. We also store, transport, and use radioactive and explosive materials in certain of our operations. Applicable regulatory requirements include those concerning:

- the containment and disposal of hazardous substances, oilfield waste, and other waste materials;

- the production, storage, transportation and use of explosive materials;

- the importation and use of radioactive materials;

- the use of underground storage tanks;

- the use of underground injection wells; and - the protection of worker safety both onshore and offshore.

These and other requirements generally are becoming increasingly strict. The failure to comply with the requirements, many of which may be applied retroactively, may result in:

- administrative, civil, and criminal penalties;

- revocation of permits to conduct business; and - corrective action orders, including orders to investigate and/or clean up contamination.

Failure on our part to comply with applicable health, safety, and environmental laws and regulations or costs arising from regulatory compliance, including compliance with changes in or expansion of applicable regulatory requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

Changes in or the adoption or enactment of laws, regulations, treaties or international agreements related to greenhouse gases, climate change, or alternative energy sources, including changes that may make it more expensive to explore for and produce oil and natural gas, may negatively impact demand for our services and products. For example, oil and natural gas exploration and production may decline as a result of environmental requirements, including land use policies responsive to environmental concerns. State, national, and international governments and agencies in areas in which we conduct business continue to evaluate, and in some instances adopt, climate-related legislation and other regulatory initiatives that would restrict emissions of greenhouse gases.

The President of the United States has issued Executive Orders seeking to adopt new regulations and policies to address climate change and to suspend, revise, or rescind prior agency actions that the administration identified as conflicting with its climate policies. These include Executive Orders requiring a review of current U.S. federal lands leasing and permitting practices, as well as a temporary halt of new leasing of U.S. federal lands and offshore waters available for oil and gas exploration. The Executive Orders halting the leasing of U.S. federal lands were challenged in court and, in August 2022, a federal judge in Louisiana issued a permanent injunction against the temporary halt to the leasing of federal lands for oil and gas drilling.

As a result of the review of leasing and permitting practices, the U.S. Department of the Interior recommended increasing the royalty rate payable to the U.S. government by operators, as well as bonding requirements and emissions requirements for operators. The Biden Administration resumed selling leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands in April 2022, but with an 80% reduction in the number of acres offered and an increase in the royalties companies must pay to drill. All of these changes could have a negative effect on exploration and production of oil and natural gas and, consequently, negatively impact the demand for our products and services.

In February 2021, the United States formally re-joined the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement requires countries to review and “represent a progression” in their intended nationally determined contributions, which set greenhouse gases emission reduction goals, every five years. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has proposed strict new methane emission regulations for certain oil and gas facilities. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 establishes a charge on methane emissions above certain limits from the same facilities. Though we are closely following developments in this area and changes in the regulatory landscape in the United States, we cannot predict how or when those changes may ultimately impact our business. Because our business depends on the level of activity in the oil and natural gas industry, existing or future laws, regulations, treaties, or international agreements related to greenhouse gases or climate change, including incentives to conserve energy or use alternative energy sources, may reduce demand for oil and natural gas and could have a negative impact on our business.

Likewise, such restrictions may result in additional compliance obligations with respect to the release, capture, sequestration, and use of carbon dioxide. The efforts we have taken, and may undertake in the future, to respond to these evolving or new regulations and to environmental initiatives of customers, investors, and others may increase our costs. These and other environmental requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

We are subject to taxes in the U.S. and numerous jurisdictions where we operate and our subsidiaries are organized. Due to economic and political conditions, tax rates in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may be subject to significant change. In addition, our tax returns are subject to examination by the U.S. and other tax authorities and governmental bodies. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of the examinations. An increase in tax rates, particularly in the U.S., changes in our ability to realize our deferred tax assets, or adverse outcomes resulting from examinations of our tax returns could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

We are exposed to risks inherent in doing business in each of the countries in which we operate. Our operations are subject to various risks unique to each country that could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition. With respect to any particular country, these risks may include:

- political and economic instability, including:

•civil unrest, acts of terrorism, war, and other armed conflict;

•inflation; and •currency fluctuations, devaluations, and conversion restrictions; and - governmental actions that may:

•result in expropriation and nationalization of our assets in that country;

•result in confiscatory taxation or other adverse tax policies;

•limit or disrupt markets or our customers and our operations, restrict payments, or limit the movement of funds;

•impose sanctions on our ability to conduct business with certain customers or persons;

•result in the deprivation of contract rights; and •result in the inability to obtain or retain licenses required for operation.

For example, due to the unsettled political conditions in many oil-producing countries, our operations, revenue, and profits are subject to the adverse consequences of war, terrorism, civil unrest, strikes, currency controls, and governmental actions. These, and other risks described above, could result in the loss of our personnel or assets, cause us to evacuate our personnel from certain countries, cause us to increase spending on security worldwide, cause us to cease operating in certain countries, disrupt financial and commercial markets, including the supply of and pricing for oil and natural gas, and generate greater political and economic instability in some of the geographic areas in which we operate. Areas where we operate that have significant risk include, but are not limited to: the Middle East, North Africa, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Ukraine.

In addition, any possible reprisals as a consequence of military or other action, such as acts of terrorism in the United States or elsewhere, could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

We are increasingly dependent on digital technologies and services to conduct our business. We use these technologies for internal and operational purposes, including data storage, processing, and transmissions, as well as in our interactions with our business associates, such as customers and suppliers. Examples of these digital technologies include analytics, automation, and cloud services. Our digital technologies and services, and those of our business associates, are subject to the risk of cyberattacks and, given the nature of such attacks, some incidents can remain undetected for a period of time despite efforts to detect and respond to them in a timely manner. We routinely monitor our systems for cyber threats and have processes in place to detect and remediate vulnerabilities.

Nevertheless, we have experienced occasional cyberattacks and attempted breaches over the past year, including attacks resulting from phishing emails and malware infections. We responded to and mitigated the impact of these incidents. Even if we successfully defend our own digital technologies and services, we also rely on our business associates, with whom we may share data and services, to defend their digital technologies and services against attack. No known leakage of material financial, technical, or customer data occurred as a result of cyberattacks against us and none of the incidents mentioned above had a material adverse effect on our business, operations, reputation, or consolidated results of operations or consolidated financial condition.

If our systems, or our business associates' systems, for protecting against cybersecurity risks prove not to be sufficient, we could be adversely affected by, among other things: loss of or damage to intellectual property, proprietary or confidential information, or customer, supplier, or employee data; interruption of our business operations; and increased costs required to prevent, respond to, or mitigate cybersecurity attacks. These risks could harm our reputation and our relationships with our business associates, customers, employees, and other third parties, and may result in claims against us. In addition, laws and regulations governing cybersecurity, data privacy, and the unauthorized disclosure of confidential or protected information pose increasingly complex compliance challenges, and failure to comply with these laws could result in penalties and legal liability. These risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.

Our capital return framework includes a goal of returning at least 50% of annual free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures plus proceeds from sales of property, plant, and equipment) to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Dividends and share repurchases are authorized and determined by our Board of Directors at its sole discretion and depend upon a number of factors, including our financial results, cash requirements, and future prospects, as well as such other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We can provide no assurance that we will pay dividends or make share repurchases in accordance with our capital return framework goal or at all. Any elimination of, or downward revision in, our dividend payout or share repurchase program could have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

Meeting our capital return framework goal requires us to generate consistent free cash flow and have available capital in the years ahead in an amount sufficient to enable us to continue investing in organic and inorganic growth as well as to return a significant portion of the cash generated to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Also, our cash flow fluctuates over the course of the year, so, although our goal is to return at least 50% of annual free cash flow to shareholders, that is an average over a year and the dividends paid, the number of shares repurchased, and the amount of free cash flow returned in any quarter during the year will vary and may be more or less than 50%.

We may not meet this goal if we use our available cash to satisfy other priorities, if we have insufficient funds available to pay dividends and to repurchase shares, or if our Board of Directors determines to change or discontinue dividend payments or share repurchases.

A sizable portion of our consolidated revenue and consolidated operating expenses is in foreign currencies. As a result, we are subject to significant risks, including:

- foreign currency exchange risks resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates and the implementation of exchange controls; and - limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the capital needs of our operations in other countries.

As an example, we conduct business in countries that have restricted or limited trading markets for their local currencies and restrict or limit cash repatriation. We may accumulate cash in those geographies, but we may be limited in our ability to convert our profits into United States dollars or to repatriate the profits from those countries.

We have a number of significant customers. While no single customer represented more than 10% of consolidated revenue in any period presented, the loss of one or more significant customers could have a material adverse effect on our business and our consolidated results of operations.

In most cases, we bill our customers for our services in arrears and are, therefore, subject to our customers delaying or failing to pay our invoices. We may experience increased delays and failures due to, among other reasons, a reduction in our customers’ cash flow from operations and their access to the credit markets, particularly in weak economic or commodity price environments. If our customers delay paying or fail to pay us a significant amount of our outstanding receivables, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.

We continually seek opportunities to maximize efficiency and value through various transactions, including purchases or sales of assets, businesses, investments, or joint venture interests. These transactions are intended to (but may not) result in the realization of savings, the creation of efficiencies, the offering of new products or services, the generation of cash or income, or the reduction of risk. Acquisition transactions may use cash on hand or be financed by additional borrowings or by the issuance of our common stock. These transactions may also affect our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.

These transactions also involve risks, and we cannot ensure that:

- any acquisitions we attempt will be completed on the terms announced, or at all;

- any acquisitions would result in an increase in income or provide an adequate return of capital or other anticipated benefits;

- any acquisitions would be successfully integrated into our operations and internal controls;

- the due diligence conducted prior to an acquisition would uncover situations that could result in financial or legal exposure, including under the FCPA, or that we will appropriately quantify the exposure from known risks;

- any disposition would not result in decreased earnings, revenue, or cash flow;

- use of cash for acquisitions would not adversely affect our cash available for capital expenditures and other uses; or - any dispositions, investments, or acquisitions, including integration efforts, would not divert management resources.

We conduct some operations through joint ventures in which unaffiliated third parties may control the operations of the joint venture or we may share control. As with any joint venture arrangement, differences in views among the joint venture participants may result in delayed decisions, the joint venture operating in a manner that is contrary to our preference, or in failures to agree on major issues. We also cannot control the actions of our joint venture partners, including any violation of law, nonperformance, or default by, or bankruptcy of our joint venture partners. These factors could have a material adverse effect on the business and results of operations of our joint ventures and, in turn, our business and consolidated results of operations.

We depend greatly on the efforts of our executive officers and other key employees to manage our operations. The loss or unavailability of any of our executive officers or other key employees could have a material adverse effect on our business.