Wix.com - 20-F annual report 2021

In this annual report, the terms “Wix,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “the company” refer to Wix.com Ltd. and its subsidiaries.

This annual report includes other statistical, market and industry data and forecasts which we obtained from publicly available information and independent industry publications and reports that we believe to be reliable sources.  These publicly available industry publications and reports generally state that they obtain their information from sources that they believe to be reliable, but they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information.  Although we believe that these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified the information contained in such publications.  Certain estimates and forecasts involve uncertainties and risks and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the headings “—Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 3.D. Risk Factors” in this annual report.

Throughout this annual report, we refer to various trademarks, service marks and trade names that we use in our business.  The “Wix.com” design logo is the property of Wix.com Ltd.  Wix® is our registered trademark in the United States.  We have several other trademarks, service marks and pending applications relating to our solutions.  Other trademarks and service marks appearing in this annual report are the property of their respective holders.

We define certain terms used in this Annual Report as follows:

In addition to historical facts, this annual report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We make forward-looking statements in this annual report that are subject to risks and uncertainties.  These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, plans and objectives.  In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “expect,” “predict,” “potential,” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions.  The statements we make regarding the following matters are forward-looking by their nature:

The preceding list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of our forward-looking statements.  The forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of future performance, taking into account the information currently available to us.  These statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations and projections about future events.  There are important factors that could cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  In particular, you should consider the risks provided under “Item 3.D. Risk Factors” in this annual report.

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We primarily generate revenue through the sale of premium subscriptions and additional business solutions. The growth of our premium subscriptions base is mainly impacted by the rate at which our registered users upgrade the free web development, design and management software our platform offers them to premium subscriptions with their individual branding and purchase additional business solutions tailored for more specific business needs. In addition, the growth in the number of premium subscriptions is impacted by direct sales of premium subscriptions to partners that sell our solutions on a larger scale to their customers.

The renewal rate of premium subscriptions also significantly impacts the overall number of premium subscriptions and, as a result, our revenues. One of the key drivers of renewal rates is whether premium subscriptions are for longer or shorter periods than one year. Premium subscriptions renewing on a yearly or multi-year basis allow for fewer opportunities of failure to renew such subscription than monthly subscriptions, whether deliberately or through failure to update payment information upon expiration. As of December 31, 2021, yearly and multi-year premium subscription packages constituted approximately 85% of all active premium subscriptions. Substantially all of our premium subscriptions currently renew automatically at the end of each subscription period unless premium subscribers actively cancel the automatic renewal of their subscription in advance or if we are unable to renew their subscription. A number of factors could impact our ability to attract users in order to generate new premium subscriptions, to retain our existing premium subscriptions, and to increase revenue from such premium subscriptions including through the adoption of our business solutions. These factors include:

We acquire new registered users, who may purchase premium subscriptions and business solutions over time, through paid marketing channels, such as cost-per-click advertisements on search engines, social networking sites and through our affiliates program, targeted and generic banner advertisements on other sites, and social network influencers who promote our platform. We also acquire new registered users through free traffic sources that lead to our platform, including online searches for our “Wix” name or organic search results for other key words relating to our business, user referrals, and word-of-mouth. If we lose access to one or more of these channels because the costs of advertising become prohibitively expensive or for other reasons, we may not be able to promote our brand effectively, which could limit our ability to grow our business.

Other premium subscriptions are acquired through the selling and marketing activities of our sales and account management team that targets partners, who have direct relationships with potential users and may purchase a higher volume of premium subscriptions. Our selling and marketing activities also focus on increasing revenues from existing premium subscriptions by offering complementary business solutions such as additional features, products and applications, including those developed by third parties.

In order to maintain and grow our revenues, we need to continuously optimize and diversify our marketing campaigns and strategies, aimed at acquiring new registered users, in particular those who are more likely to purchase premium subscriptions, increase the revenue for each premium subscription acquired, including through adoption of business solutions, and in addition increase our sales efforts aimed at acquiring new partners. In the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, advertising expenses were $284.5 million, $282.8 million and $187.3 million, respectively, representing 22%, 29% and 25% of our revenues, respectively. To help optimize and diversify marketing campaigns online, we conduct search engine optimization and A/B testing, a marketing approach that aims to identify which changes to our website will increase or maximize user interest and the purchase of premium subscriptions and further adoption of our business solutions.  We also rely upon the assumption that historical user behavior can be extrapolated to predict future user behavior, and we structure our marketing activities in the manner that we believe is most likely to encourage the user behaviors that lead to desired future outcomes, such as purchasing premium subscriptions and adoption of business solutions to enhance such premium subscriptions. However, we may fail to accurately predict user acquisitions or interest or to fully understand or estimate the conditions and behaviors that drove historical user behavior, in particular during turbulent global economic times that lead to inflation or supply chain challenges, and, thus, fail to generate the return on marketing we expect.  Even if we understand historical patterns, our predictions could be inaccurate. For example, events outside our control, such as announcements by our competitors or other third parties of significant business developments or the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have in the past adversely affected the returns we had anticipated on our marketing expenses in the short-term. If any of our marketing campaigns prove less successful than anticipated in attracting registered users that purchase premium subscriptions and other business solutions, if the levels of organic or free traffic to our site decrease, if our brand perception is harmed, if our sales efforts to partners or new user demographics are unsuccessful, or if we experience an unexpected increase in the marginal acquisition cost of new registered users, we may not achieve our return on investment targets within the timeframe we expect for such return on marketing investments, and our rates of premium subscription acquisitions and revenue per subscription may fail to meet market expectations, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and share price.

We may also invest a significant portion of our marketing expenses on more traditional advertising and promotion of our brand, including through sponsorships with City Football Group Limited and others. The effectiveness of these sales and marketing measures is more difficult to track than online marketing.

Maintaining, promoting and enhancing the Wix brand is critical to expanding and retaining our base of users that may purchase premium subscriptions and business solutions over time. Our Wix brand is promoted through free sources, including customer referrals, word-of-mouth and direct searches for our “Wix” name, or web presence solutions, in search engines. The following factors and events may contribute to our inability to maintain and enhance our brand, or damage our reputation and brand:

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to corporate activities related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters including increasing attention on and demands for action related to climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion matters. If we do not adapt to or comply with expectations, standards, and regulations on ESG matters as they continue to evolve, or which are perceived to have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for ESG issues, regardless of whether there is a legal requirement to do so, we may suffer from reputational damage.

We could also become the target of organized activist groups seeking to bring attention to elements of our brand, products, business model, employment practices, advertising, spokespeople, locations, countries in which we operate, organizations or matters we support, or other matters of our business in order to gain support for their interests or deter us from continuing practices with which they disagree, such that our brand, company culture or results of operations could be harmed.

If our reputation is harmed, we may be unable to sell our products through partners who may be less inclined to offer our services to their customers. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain the Wix brand or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and our financial results may be adversely affected.

We believe our focus on customer care is critical to retaining, expanding and further penetrating our user base, as well as converting registered users into purchasing premium subscriptions and adopting our business solutions. As a result, we have invested in the quality, training and expansion of our Customer Care operations and call center personnel in many of our global locations.

In 2020, as part of our response to COVID-19 restrictions, we shifted our Customer Care workforce to work remotely or in a hybrid model, which may in the future result in negative impacts on the productivity of such workforce.

If we are unable to increase the scale and maintain a consistently high level of customer care we, may lose existing registered users, may be unable to increase conversion of registered users to premium subscribers or increase our sales of business solutions to our existing premium subscribers, and may not see a return on our investment in our Customer Care operations. If we fail to maintain adequate customer care and ease the use of our platform’s functionality in accordance with our users’ needs, our reputation, financial results and business prospects may be materially harmed.

In addition to Creative Subscriptions Revenue, we generate Business Solutions Revenue from additional products and services that are offered to all of our users to enhance their digital presence, including email services provided by Google Workspace, applications sold through our App Market or elsewhere on our platform or platforms operated by our subsidiaries, Ascend by Wix, Wix Answers, Wix Logo Maker, and from revenue sharing agreements we have for sale of payments services through Payments by Wix, paid ad campaigns and shipping services. We cannot offer any assurances that the Business Solutions Revenue will continue to grow at a similar pace as in prior years or that sales of applications or other value-added solutions and services we may offer in the future will be a significant part of our revenues.  Material changes in our agreements with certain providers may significantly affect our ability to generate revenues from sources associated with such providers.  If we do not succeed in selling these solutions, our future prospects may be adversely affected.

We currently have users worldwide, and we expect to continue to increase the volume of our operations worldwide in the future. However, our operations in various countries subject us to risks which may include:

These factors, or other factors, may cause our international costs of doing business to exceed our expectations and may also require significant management attention and financial resources. Any negative impact from our international business efforts could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are in the process of localizing our products in certain territories, including the languages and currencies we use, expanding our systems to accept payments in forms that are common in those targeted markets and tailoring our Customer Care, to provide our users with a local experience and cater to their specific needs. We intend to continue our international expansion efforts, including through partners who can assist us to penetrate new markets. To achieve our goals, we must continue to hire and train experienced personnel to staff and manage our international expansion. Our international expansion efforts may be slow or unsuccessful to the extent that we experience difficulties in recruiting, training, managing and retaining qualified personnel with international experience, language skills and cultural competencies in the geographic markets we target, or if we were to engage with a partner who is not appropriately qualified to operate in local markets. In addition, the expansion of our existing international operations and entry into additional international markets, in particular in emerging markets, has required, and will continue to require, significant management attention and financial resources. We may also face pressure to lower our prices to compete in emerging markets, which could adversely affect revenue derived from our international operations.

Our efforts to also expand our presence in certain emerging markets presents challenges that are different from those associated with more developed international markets. In particular, regulations limiting the use of local credit cards and foreign currency could constrain our growth in certain countries.  For example, regulations in certain countries do not permit recurring charges on credit cards. We have established subsidiaries in certain foreign jurisdictions and may continue to expand into new jurisdictions to facilitate local payments, and may be subject to local regulations in such respective jurisdictions. Countries or states may be subject to governmental sanctions, or sanctions established by payment processing or other companies, which could restrict our ability to charge users. Additionally, in emerging markets we may face the risk of rapidly changing government policies, including with respect to bank transfers and various payment methods, including offline methods, and we may encounter sudden currency devaluations. Currency controls in emerging countries may make it hard for us to repatriate bookings or profits that we generated in a particular country. 

These and other factors associated with our international operations could impair our growth prospects and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We have had operations in Ukraine since 2013. As of the year ended December 31, 2021, we engaged 871 contractors in Ukraine either directly or through a third-party service organization, as well as 11 employees. Our Ukraine team members are primarily focused on research and development activities and Customer Care, with approximately 56% of such team members in engineering roles and approximately 44% in Customer Care roles.  As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine team members have relocated to other countries and some have relocated within Ukraine, with many unable to fully perform all or some of their work duties.

Additionally, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has led to sanctions being levied by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries against Russia, Belarus, and certain regions in Ukraine, which could impact our business for an unknown period of time.

Although the severity, duration and geographic scope of the ongoing war are highly unpredictable, the war in Ukraine could materially disrupt our operations in and connected to Ukraine and other parts of the world affected by the war, divert management attention, increase our costs and may disrupt future planned development in Ukraine.

We accept payments from our users, primarily through credit and debit card transactions and alternative payment methods, and are subject to a number of risks related to our ability to receive payments from our users, including (i) interchange and other fees paid by us, which may increase over time and may require us to either increase the prices we charge for our products or experience an increase in our operating expenses; (ii) potential failures of our billing systems to automatically charge our premium subscribers’ credit cards on a timely basis or at all; and (iii) restrictions on our ability to collect payments from our users, such as under the second Payment Services Directive, or PSD2, which requires strong customer authentication for certain transactions imposing operational complexity which our users may want to avoid.

In addition, we facilitate payment collection by our users from their users through Payments by Wix, which enables our users to accept payments for goods and services sold online to their customers, from a variety of payment providers, on major credit and debit cards. This includes Wix Payments, our proprietary payment service, as well as third-party payment processors.

We are subject to a number of risks related to our ability to receive payments from our users, and our facilitation of payment processing of our users from their users, including:

Our efforts to comply with these laws, regulations, and standards could be costly and result in diversion of management time and effort and may still not guarantee compliance. In the event that we are found to be in violation of any such legal or regulatory requirements, we may be subject to monetary fines or other penalties such as a cease and desist order, or we may be required to make changes to our platform, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The payment card networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, have also adopted rules and regulations that apply to all merchants who process and accept credit cards for payment of goods and services, and have discretion to both set and interpret the rules and may do so with little or no prior notice.  We are obligated to comply with these rules and regulations as part of the contracts we enter into with payment processors and acquiring banks. The rules and regulations adopted by the payment card networks include the PCI Data Security Standards, or PCI DSS. Under the PCI DSS, we are required to adopt and implement internal controls over the use, storage and security of payment card data to help prevent fraud. If we fail to comply with the rules and regulations adopted by the payment card networks, including the PCI DSS, we would be in breach of our contractual obligations to payment processors and merchant banks, which may include indemnification clauses.  Such failure to comply may subject us and/or our users to fines, penalties, damages, higher transaction fees, and civil liability, and could eventually prevent us or our users from processing or accepting debit and credit cards, or could lead to a loss of payment processor partners. We also cannot guarantee that such compliance will prevent illegal or improper use of our payments systems or the theft, loss or misuse of the debit or credit card data of registered users or participants or regulatory or criminal investigations. Moreover, any such illegal or improper payments could harm our reputation and may result in a loss of service for our users, which would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

A regional or global health epidemic or pandemic, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its variants, as well as the duration and implementation of measures attempting to contain and mitigate the effects of the virus, including travel restrictions, quarantines, shutdowns and restrictions on trade, and residual impacts of a health crisis may continue to disrupt our operations and the operations and business results of our users and our users of users.

We modified our operational practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including shifting the majority of our employees to a primarily hybrid work model, limiting business travel and shifting many events to a virtual format, and we continue to adapt our operational practices in response to local conditions or as required by government authorities or as we determine is warranted. To date these modified operational practices have not materially impacted our productivity or efficiency, but our ability to continue product development, marketing efforts, sales efforts with our partners and other aspects of our business could be impacted in the future. In addition, our management team has spent, and may continue to spend, significant time, attention, and resources monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated impacts, including the economic impact on our business and on our workforce.

The impact on our business of existing and future variants of the COVID-19 virus, as well as residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and depends on potential future viral outbreaks, the effectiveness of government policies, vaccine administration rates and other factors that may not be foreseeable. In addition, the impact of the eventual recovery on our business is uncertain. For example, the potential shift of commerce away from online purchases as pandemic related restrictions are lifted, may cause certain of our users, particularly those using our online commerce solutions, to experience decreases in transaction volume. If this were to occur, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely impacted.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to heightened uncertainty in the global economy which may demotivate our users from further enhancing their business footprint. If economic growth slows or if a recession develops, prospective users may not start new businesses and consumers may not have the financial means to make purchases from our users and may delay or reduce discretionary purchases, negatively impacting our users and our results of operations.

As a result, it is not possible at this time to estimate the full and long-term impact of COVID-19 on our business, as the impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Our results of operations and cash flows are affected by fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates.  In 2021, approximately 68% of our revenues were denominated in U.S. dollars and approximately 32% in other currencies, primarily in Euros, British Pounds, Japanese Yen, Mexican Pesos, and the Brazilian Real. In 2021, approximately 69% of our cost of revenues and operating expenses were denominated in U.S. dollars and approximately 26% in New Israeli Shekels, or NIS.  Our NIS-denominated expenses consist primarily of personnel and overhead costs.  Since a significant portion of our expenses are denominated in NIS, the appreciation of the NIS relative to the U.S. dollar might adversely impact our net loss or net income (if any).  We estimate that a 10% appreciation in the value of the NIS against the U.S. dollar would have increased our net loss by approximately $41 million in 2021. We estimate that a 10% concurrent devaluation of foreign currencies including Euro, British Pound, Brazilian Real, Japanese Yen, Mexican Pesos and Russian Ruble against the U.S. dollar would have increased our net loss by approximately $37 million in 2021. These estimates of the impact of fluctuations in currency exchange rates on our historic results of operations may be different from the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on our future results of operations since the mix of currencies comprising our revenues and expenses may change. We evaluate periodically the various currencies to which we are exposed and take selective hedging measures to reduce the potential adverse impact from the appreciation or the devaluation of our non-U.S. dollar-denominated expenses and revenues, as appropriate and as reasonably available to us.  We cannot provide any assurances that our hedging activities will be successful in protecting us from adverse impacts from currency exchange rate fluctuations. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

We rely on collocated servers, cloud service providers and other third-party hardware, software and infrastructure to support our operations. Our primary data centers are located in two geographically separate locations in the United States, one located on the East coast and the other located on the West coast, and we have additional data centers in other locations to improve our performance. The vast majority of our data is located in our primary data centers in the United States hosted by Google, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc., as well as by additional providers that we may need for specific purposes, and we also use cloud storage from Google, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. Our network equipment is stored in servers leased from Equinix, Inc. If our server providers are unable or cease, for any reason, to make their data centers available to us without sufficient advance notice, we would likely experience delays in billing our users, until migration to an alternate data center provider is completed. Moreover, if for any reason our arrangement with one or more of the providers of the servers that we use is terminated, we could incur additional expenses in arranging for new facilities and support.

The owners and operators of the data centers and cloud services with which we are engaged, do not guarantee that our users’ access to our platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. We do not control the operation of these facilities and such facilities could be subject to break-ins, cyber-crimes, computer viruses, sabotage, industrial espionage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorist attacks, fraud and other misconduct. Problems faced by our third-party vendors and partners, including hosting providers, technological or business-related disruptions, as well as cybersecurity threats, could adversely impact our business and results of operations, as well as the experience of our users, which in turn could adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Our servers, data centers and other facilities are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, power loss, telecommunications failures or similar catastrophic events. Although we have multiple data centers, disruptions to any of these servers or facilities could interrupt our ability to provide our platform and solutions and materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Any disruption, disabling, or attack affecting our equipment and systems and the hardware, software and infrastructure on which we rely could result in a data security or privacy breach.  Whether such event is a result of physical human error or malfeasance (whether accidental, fraudulent or intentional) or electronic in nature (such as malware, virus, or other malicious code), such an event could disrupt or delay our ability to provide our platform and solutions to subscribers, result in the unauthorized access to and disclosure of personal or confidential data, result in loss or corruption of data we store, subject us to legal liability and regulatory inquiry, harm our reputation and materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We have experienced rapid growth in our business and operations, which places substantial demands on our operational infrastructure. The scalability and flexibility of our cloud-based infrastructure depends on the functionality of our third-party servers and their ability to handle increased traffic and demand for bandwidth. We may be unable to achieve or maintain data transmission capacity high enough to handle increased traffic or process transactions in a timely manner. Our failure to achieve or maintain high data transmission capacity could significantly reduce demand for our platform and solutions and could negatively impact our reputation. Further, as we continue to attract users who utilize our online commerce solutions, the volume of transactions processed on our platform will increase, especially if such users draw significant numbers of buyers over short periods of time. The significant growth in the number of registered users and transactions, and new developments and functionalities offered on our platform, has increased the amount of both our stored marketing and research data and the data of our users and their users.

In the future, we may be required to allocate resources and spend substantial amounts to build, purchase and lease data centers and equipment and upgrade our technology and network infrastructure, to handle increased customer traffic and transactions, or to comply with data protection regulations in jurisdictions in which we provide our services. Moreover, as our user base grows, and as users rely on our platform for more complicated activities, including through Editor X and Velo by Wix, we will need to devote additional resources to improving our infrastructure and continuing to enhance its scalability to maintain the performance of our platform and solutions. Our need to effectively manage our operations and growth will also require that we continue to assess and improve our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures. We may encounter difficulties obtaining the necessary personnel or expertise to improve those controls, systems and procedures on a timely basis relative to our growth. If we do not manage the growth of our business and operations effectively, the quality of our platform and efficiency of our operations could suffer, which could materially harm our results of operations and business.

As of December 31, 2021, we had 5,929 employees and contractors, which represents an approximately 28% net growth in headcount since December 31, 2020. We have personnel in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheba in Israel; San Francisco, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Denver, Cedar Rapids, Austin, and Los Angeles in the U.S.; Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada; Kyiv, Lvov, and Dnipro in Ukraine; Vilnius, Lithuania; Dublin, Ireland; New Delhi, India; Berlin and Karlsruhe, Germany; Tokyo, Japan; London, UK; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Krakow, Poland; Paris, France; and Sydney, Australia.  As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine team members have relocated to other countries or within Ukraine, and our sites in Ukraine are currently non-operational. We intend to further expand our overall business, including our headcount, and we may face challenges in certain locations finding suitable office spaces that can accommodate our growth and allow us to maintain our corporate culture. As we grow, we will be required to continue to improve our operational and financial controls and reporting procedures in particular as our work force continues to temporarily operate through a hybrid model, and we may not be able to do so effectively. Our growth has placed, and will likely continue to place, a significant strain on our managerial, administrative, operational, financial and other resources.

In addition, we believe that an important contributor to our success has been, and will continue to be, our corporate culture.  As we continue to grow and evolve both in Israel and internationally, we must effectively integrate, develop and motivate a growing number of new employees.  As a result of our rapid growth, we may find it difficult to build and maintain our strong corporate culture, in particular for newly hired employees who joined us immediately prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not been able to fully absorb our corporate culture, which could limit our ability to innovate and operate effectively.  Additionally, while most of our operations can be performed remotely, there is no guarantee that we will be as productive or efficient while working remotely or through a hybrid model, over the long term or that we will be able to fully scale our operations to support effective global remote work. In particular, the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war may require our Ukrainian team members to work remotely for a significant amount of time, and with uncertainty regarding their future work location. Any failure to preserve our culture could also negatively affect our ability to retain and recruit personnel, continue to perform at current levels or execute our business strategy.

We have incurred net losses in each fiscal year since our inception and, as of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $648 million. We expect that our operating expenses will continue to increase in the near term, primarily from increased selling and marketing expenses related to user acquisition activities and increased research and development expenses related to enhancing the functionality of our solutions and introducing new solutions and expenses related to the expansion of our Customer Care operations. We seek to leverage these expenses across a growing base of premium subscriptions, while maintaining and increasing the amount of revenues per premium subscription to achieve profitability. Nevertheless, if we are unable to grow our premium subscriptions at the required rate or maintain or increase revenues per premium subscription, if we incur expenses that we believe are necessary or desirable (such as to invest in businesses, research and development or technologies that we believe will be important for our business) or if we incur unexpected expenses, we may be unable to achieve profitability at the time expected by investors, or at all. Even if we achieve profitability, we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitable operations.

We rely on search engines and social networking sites to attract new users, and many of our registered users locate our website and solutions by clicking through on search results displayed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, and advertisements on social networking and other media sites such as Facebook and YouTube. Search engines typically provide two types of search results, organic (i.e., non-paid) and purchased listings. Search page ranking level based on natural search results is determined and organized solely by automated criteria set by the search engine and a ranking level cannot be purchased.  Advertisers can also pay search engines to place listings more prominently in search results and websites to attract users to their websites.  We rely on organic searches to attract free traffic to our website. We seek to increase the likelihood that our website is displayed prominently when a potential user searches for a way to build a website. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure that our efforts to optimize search engine results will succeed.  Search engines revise their algorithms from time to time in an attempt to optimize their search result listings. Additionally, if the costs of search engine marketing services increase, we may incur additional marketing expenses, we may be required to allocate a larger portion of our marketing spend to this channel, or we may be forced to attempt to replace it with another channel (which may not be available at reasonable prices, if at all), and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.  In addition, some of the social media data provided by these search engines or social networking sites that we analyze to improve our strategy for attracting users to our platform, are provided to us pursuant to third-party data sharing policies and terms of use or under data sharing agreements by third-party providers. If search engines or social networking sites on which we rely for algorithmic listings or for data collection, modify their algorithms or change their terms of use or policies, or become subject to restrictive regulatory initiatives such as the proposed Digital Markets Act in the European Union or other competition legislation, our websites may appear less prominently or not at all in search results, which could result in fewer potential users or potential partners clicking through to our website, and our ability to collect data may be impaired. Furthermore, competitors may bid on our name from search services in an attempt to capture potential traffic. Preventing such actions and recapturing potential traffic could increase our expenses.  Further, search engines or social networking sites may change their policies from time to time regarding pay-per-click or other means of advertising or could also interpret our data collection policies or practices as being inconsistent with their policies. If any change to these policies delays or prevents us from advertising through these channels, this could result in fewer users clicking through to our website and could harm our ability to generate revenue from these potential users and collect valuable data. Additionally, new search engines, social networking sites, video streaming services and other popular digital engagement platforms may develop in specific jurisdictions, or more broadly, that reduce traffic on existing search engines, social networking sites and video streaming services where we advertise. Moreover, the use of voice recognition technology such as Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, or Siri may drive traffic away from search engines, potentially resulting in reduced traffic to our website.

A significant portion of our premium subscriptions are from small businesses.  Small businesses frequently have limited budgets and may choose to allocate resources to items other than our solutions, especially in times of economic uncertainty or recessions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or supply chain challenges and inflationary trends which may have a long-term impact on the global economy. We believe that the small business market is underserved, and we intend to continue to devote substantial resources to it, including through our partners who sell directly to their customers, some of which are small businesses.  We aim to grow our revenues by adding new small business customers, selling additional business solutions to existing small business customers and encouraging existing small business customers to renew their subscriptions to our premium solutions. If the small business market fails to be as lucrative as we project or we are unable to market and sell our services to small businesses effectively, directly or through our partners, our ability to grow our revenues quickly and become profitable will be harmed.

We operate in a relatively new developing market, compared to older and more established industries, the development of which may be difficult to predict, and that may not develop as expected. In addition, we have recently increased our efforts to sell our services to new customer demographics including partners with whom we have less experience selling to, and we may overestimate the size of such markets. You should consider our future prospects in light of the challenges and uncertainties that we face, including the fact that our business has grown rapidly and it may not be possible to discern fully the trends that we are subject to that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions may mask such trends, that elements of our business strategy, including the increased focus on sales to and through partners and development of our  commerce solutions, remain subject to ongoing development, and that new competitors may enter our market and existing competitors are also growing their businesses, including through consolidation and mergers and extension of their marketing budgets.

A majority of our revenues are recognized over the term of our contracts.  As a result, much of the revenue we report each quarter is the recognition of deferred revenue from premium subscriptions entered into during previous quarters.  Consequently, a shortfall in demand for our solutions and services or a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any one quarter may not significantly reduce our revenues for that quarter but could negatively affect our revenues in future quarters.  Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in new or renewed sales of our solutions and service offerings are not fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods.

At December 31, 2021, we had liquid assets totaling $1,706.9 million, comprised of $863 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term deposits and $843.9 million in short-term and long-term marketable securities. Our investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, inflation, and interest rate risks. The performance of the capital markets affects the values of the funds that are held in marketable securities. These assets are subject to market fluctuations and various developments, including, without limitation, rating agency downgrades that may impair their value. We expect that market conditions will continue to fluctuate and that the fair value of our investments may be affected accordingly.

We generally buy and hold our portfolio positions, while minimizing credit risk by setting limits for minimum credit rating and maximum concentration per issuer. Our investments consist primarily of government and corporate debentures, and the continuing turmoil in the financial markets, especially due to the uncertainties related to COVID-19 and the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, may result in impairments of the carrying value of our investment assets. We classify our investments as available-for-sale. Changes in the fair value of investments classified as available-for-sale are not recognized as income during the period, but rather are generally recognized as other comprehensive income, or OCI, which is a separate component of equity until realized. Realized and credit losses related to our investments portfolio may adversely affect our financial position and results.

Any significant decline in the value of our investments as a result of the changes in interest rates and interest rate expectations of the financial markets, deterioration in the credit rating of the securities in which we have invested, or general market conditions, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

In June and July of 2018, we sold $442.75 million aggregate principal amount of 0.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (of which $362.7 million was outstanding as of December 31, 2021), and in August 2020 we sold $575 million aggregate principal amount of 0.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (all of which were outstanding as of December 31, 2021), or the “Convertible Notes.” The sale of the Convertible Notes may affect our earnings per share figures, as accounting procedures may require that we include in our calculation of earnings per share the number of ordinary shares into which the Convertible Notes are convertible. The Convertible Notes may be converted, under the conditions and at the premium specified in the Convertible Notes, into cash and our ordinary shares (subject to our right to pay cash in lieu of all or a portion of such shares). If our ordinary shares are issued to the holders of the Convertible Notes upon conversion, there will be dilution to our shareholders’ equity and the market price of our ordinary shares may decrease due to the additional selling pressure in the market. Any downward pressure on the price of our ordinary shares caused by the sale, or potential sale, of shares issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes could also encourage short sales by third parties, creating additional selling pressure on our share price.

Holders of the Convertible Notes will have the right under the indenture governing the Convertible Notes to require us to repurchase all or a portion of their Convertible Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change before the applicable maturity date at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of such Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the applicable fundamental change repurchase date. Moreover, we will be required to repay the Convertible Notes in cash at their maturity, unless earlier converted or repurchased. Although we entered into privately negotiated capped call transactions, or the “Capped Call Transactions” which are expected generally to offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, we may not ultimately receive such cash payments from the sellers of the Capped Call due to credit restrictions or due to other events beyond our control, or we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of such Convertible Notes surrendered or pay cash with respect to such Convertible Notes being converted.

In addition, our ability to repurchase or to pay cash upon conversion of Convertible Notes may be limited by law, regulatory authority, restrictions vested in the sellers of the Capped Call, or agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase the Convertible Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the applicable indenture or to pay cash upon conversion of such Convertible Notes as required by the applicable indenture would constitute a default under such indenture. A default under either of the indentures or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the payment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Convertible Notes or to pay cash upon conversion of the Convertible Notes.

From time to time we may seek additional equity or debt financing to fund our growth, develop new solutions and services or make acquisitions or other investments. Our business plans may change, general economic, financial or political conditions in our markets may change, or other circumstances may arise, that have a material adverse effect on our cash flow and the anticipated cash needs of our business. Any of these events or circumstances could result in significant additional funding needs, requiring us to raise additional capital. We cannot predict the timing or amount of any such capital requirements at this time.  If financing is not available on satisfactory terms, or at all, we may be unable to expand our business or to develop new business at the rate desired and our results of operations may suffer.

From time to time, we evaluate potential strategic acquisition or investment opportunities to support strategic business initiatives.  Any transactions that we enter into could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. We acquired U.S.-based SpeedETab, Inc. in February 2021, Israeli-based My Treat Ltd. in April 2021, and U.S.-based Modalyst, Inc., in June 2021. The process of integrating an acquired company, business or technology, could create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. We may not be able to successfully integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies or effectively manage the combined business following the completion of the acquisition or any other complementary businesses or technologies we acquire in the future. Acquisitions and investments we evaluate from time to time may carry with them a number of risks, including the following:

In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns or if the valuations supporting our acquisitions or investments change, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with acquisitions and investments we evaluate from time to time could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities and expenses and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The markets in which we compete are characterized by constant change and innovation, and we expect them to continue to evolve rapidly. Our success has been based on our ability to identify and anticipate the needs of our users and develop products that provide them with the tools they need to operate their businesses. Our future success in attracting new users, including new demographics of users, and increasing our premium subscriptions and the revenue we generate from each subscription will depend on our ability to improve the look, functionality, performance, security, design and reliability of our solutions and services, including our integrated third-party business solutions and suit them to the needs of our targeted users.

We invest significant time and effort in the research and development of new and upgraded solutions and service offerings to serve our users, including the development of vertical solutions for specific business segments, various design elements, such as customized colors, fonts, content and other features, including through Editor X, our new responsive editor geared towards design professionals, and our full-stack no-code/low-code development platform, Velo by Wix, intended to attract developers to our platform. Our product research and development efforts also extend to products, features, applications, and integrations required by our partners to be able to address their needs and the needs of their customers, including back-office and administrative capabilities. It can take our design team and developers months to update, code and test new and upgraded solutions and services and integrate them into our platform. Furthermore, the introduction of these new and upgraded design features, solutions and services also involves a significant amount of marketing spending.

We must also identify which user demographics require immediate solutions, such as users of our online commerce solutions for example, who needed to quickly enhance their online commerce offerings in the wake of COVID-19, while regularly managing our existing offerings, as we continually test, support, and market these solutions and applications. We also need to ensure the continued collaboration with certain third-party products and services that are included in our offering and are significant to our customers, such as Google Workspace, which allows our users to create a personalized Gmail email address using their domain name.

If we are unable to successfully enhance our existing products to meet evolving user and partner requirements and increase adoption and usage of our products and third-party products, if we are unable to maintain existing products provided to us by third parties that are significant to our  users, if our efforts to increase the usage of our products are more expensive than we expect, or if our solutions fail to achieve widespread acceptance, users and potential users may adopt the products and services of our competitors and our revenues and competitive position could be materially adversely affected.

Our future success and ability to maintain effective growth will depend upon our continued ability to hire, integrate and retain highly skilled personnel, including senior management, engineers, designers, developers, product managers, Customer Care representatives and finance and legal personnel. In addition to hiring and integrating new employees, we must continue to focus on retaining our best employees who foster and promote our innovative corporate culture, which has proved more challenging to promote with the majority of our workforce, including newly hired employees, having shifted to a hybrid workplace atmosphere as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

In order to remain competitive, we must continue to develop new solutions, applications and enhancements to our existing platform, which require us to compete with many other companies for software developers with high levels of experience in designing, developing and managing cloud-based software. Our principal research and development activities are conducted from our headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, and we face significant competition for suitably skilled developers in this region, in particular given the growing number of local companies that are expanding their development activities, and the growing number of multinational corporations establishing a presence in Israel. The Israeli high-tech industry experienced record growth and activity in 2021, both at the earlier stages of venture capital and growth equity financings, and at the exit stage of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. This flurry of growth and activity has caused a sharp increase in local job openings, and intensified competition between employers to attract qualified employees in Israel.

We also engage developers in Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany and Poland to benefit from the significant pool of talent that is more readily available in each of those markets. Currently, due to the impact of the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine, most of our Ukrainian team relocated to countries outside of Ukraine or to different locations within Ukraine and may not be able to fully perform their work duties. As a result, we may be required, in the long term, to make additional expenditures to retain our personnel in those areas and/or hire additional personnel in order to meet user demand.

Many larger companies expend considerably greater amounts on employee recruitment than we do, and may be able to offer more favorable compensation and incentive packages than we do.  If we cannot attract or retain sufficient skilled research and development, marketing, operations and Customer Care professionals in our existing locations or in new locations, our business, prospects and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. We have also experienced, and increasingly expect to experience, a competitive hiring environment in additional locations in which we operate.

Moreover, if we lose the services of any of our key personnel and fail to manage a smooth transition to new personnel, our business could suffer.  Key personnel may further solicit other team members to leave with them, and our business could suffer from an additional loss of talent. We do not carry key person insurance on any of our executive officers or other key personnel.  We have entered into employment and services agreements with our executive officers and key employees that contain non-compete covenants. Despite these agreements, we may not be able to retain these officers and employees. If we cannot enforce the non-compete covenants, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of our former employees or prevent our employees from establishing their own competing ventures, either of which could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. To the extent we hire personnel who were previously employed by our competitors, we may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or that they divulged proprietary or other confidential information. In addition, we have grown significantly in recent years and it may be harder to retain employees that seek to work in a smaller organization.

We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity to attract and retain employees, and we may never realize returns on those investments. While we intend to issue restricted stock units or other equity awards as key components of our overall compensation and employee attraction and retention efforts, we are required under U.S. GAAP to recognize compensation expense in our operating results for employee share-based compensation under our equity grant programs which may increase the pressure to limit share-based compensation, coupled with pressures to limit share-based compensation in order to decrease overall dilution overhang rates. Furthermore, many of our employees were granted equity awards when our share price was significantly higher than current prices, and a further drop in our share price due to market fluctuations or other factors may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us.

Our business has been focused in the past few years on serving users who are considering starting a business, as well as small or medium-sized businesses and ventures that are up and running but need help growing and expanding their digital capabilities. Recently, our business also began to focus on new user demographics, such as partners, which include mid-size, large and enterprise level companies, for which we are developing new features and applications, such as back office functionality required to serve their customers and manage a large volume of premium subscriptions and business solutions. Some of our newly developed products are suited for more technically skilled users or web developers, such as Velo by Wix, which enables our users to build advanced and content-rich websites and applications using their advanced development capabilities. In February 2020, we introduced Editor X, a website creation platform offering advanced design and layouting capabilities specifically targeted at design professionals. If we are unable to increase sales of our products to partners, mid-size, large and enterprise level companies, tech-savvy users, or other customer segments we may target, our estimated total addressable market may be overstated and our business, growth prospects and operating results may be adversely affected.

While there are other providers who offer features similar to those found in our solutions, we believe that we do not compete with traditional web development firms as we focus not only on web development but also on creativity, technology, design and complementary business solutions.  Nevertheless, we do compete with aspects of the services provided by web-based website design platforms and software programs, as well as some of the service offerings of a number of template-based web builder companies and designers and large service companies who offer online commerce capabilities, domain registration and hosting services, and provide the ability for businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals to build a website using their tools or to have one built by their workforce. Additionally, we may face competition from other companies that offer solutions that are competitive with the features offered within our business solutions, such as email service providers, payment facilitators, customer service platforms, and logo designers.  Furthermore, it is possible that other providers may in the future decide that offering a comprehensive platform similar to our platform represents an attractive business opportunity.  In particular, if a more established company were to target our market, we may face significant competition from a company that enjoys potential competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, a longer operating history, more extensive commercial relationships in certain jurisdictions, substantially greater market share, larger existing user bases and substantially greater financial, technical and other resources.  Such a competitor may use these advantages to offer solutions and services similar to ours at a lower price, develop different or niche solutions to compete with our current solutions and respond more quickly and effectively than we do to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or client requirements. We may also face competition from companies that offer their products and services to web design agencies and development professionals, like our partners, who create a web presence for their own customers. Increased competition could result in us failing to attract users and sell premium subscriptions or business solutions, including through our partners, at the rate we expect, or maintain or increase our revenues from such premium subscribers.  It could also cause us to have higher acquisition costs or force us to lower our prices or take other steps that may materially adversely impact our results of operations.

Consumers are continuously accessing the Internet through devices other than personal computers, such as mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. This trend has increased dramatically in the past few years and is projected to continue to increase.  The mobile device market is characterized by the frequent introduction of new products and solutions, short product life cycles, evolving industry standards, continuous improvement in performance characteristics and rapid adoption of technological and product advancements. We may incur additional costs to adapt our current functionalities to other operating systems and we may face technical challenges adapting our products to different versions of already supported operating systems, such as Android variants offered by different mobile phone manufacturers. Furthermore, use of native applications is also subject to applicable terms of use of third-party application stores. If we are unable to offer continual improvements to our mobile solutions or adapt their functionalities to new and different operating systems, our mobile solutions may fail to achieve widespread acceptance by our registered users. Additionally, the providers of certain platforms, such as Apple, may limit or restrict access entirely to their platforms. Therefore, our revenues may not increase even if we continue to penetrate the mobile device market. Furthermore, we are dependent on the interoperability of our products with third-party mobile devices and mobile operating systems, as well as web browsers that we do not control. Any changes in such devices, systems or web browsers that degrade the functionality of our products or give preferential treatment to competitive products could adversely affect usage of our products.

The attractiveness of our platform depends, in part, on our ability to integrate third-party applications and services which our users desire, into their websites, or develop and offer those applications independently. Third-party application providers may change the features of their applications and platforms or alter the terms governing the use of their applications and platforms in an adverse manner.  Further, third-party application providers may discontinue their engagement with us, or refuse to partner with us, or limit or restrict our access to their applications and platforms.  Such changes could functionally limit or terminate our ability to use these third-party applications and platforms with our platform, which could negatively impact our offerings and harm our business.  Additionally, competitors may offer functionality which our users desire, that is better than the functionality of third-party applications or integrated solutions in our platform.  If we fail to integrate our platform with new third-party applications that our users need for their websites or develop them independently, or adapt to the data transfer requirements of such third-party applications and platforms or any other requirements, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our users expect, which would negatively impact our offerings and, as a result, harm our business.

The user interface for our platform is currently simple and straightforward, which we believe has helped us to expand our user base even among users with little technical expertise.  In the future, providers of Internet browsers could introduce new features that would make it difficult to use our platform. Internet browsers for desktop or mobile devices could introduce new features, or change existing browser specifications or terms of use such that they would be incompatible with our products and solutions, or prevent end users from accessing our registered users’ sites.  For example, major Internet browsers, such as Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Safari, could become unstable or incompatible with HTML5-based products and solutions.  Similarly, any new features introduced by operating system providers, such as Google or Apple, could adversely impact the use of our platform via our mobile application. Any changes to technologies used in our solutions, including within operating systems or Internet browsers that make it difficult for registered users to access our mobile application or our platform as a whole, or their users to access our registered users’ sites, may slow the growth of our user base, and materially adversely impact our business and prospects.

Due to the nature of our business, our systems and the systems of our cloud providers with which we contract, store large amounts of data including our data, data of our prospective and registered users, as well as data relating to the visitors, customers and users of our users, which we refer to as our users of users. We also maintain certain personal data of our personnel and job candidates. Such data that we store may include email addresses, geo-location, usage data, business data, passwords and also billing information, such as encrypted credit card numbers, full names, billing addresses, phone numbers and additional information they may view as confidential. Third-party applications available on our platform may also collect such data and share it with us. Apart from our attempts to scan and remove content which may be deemed as child pornography, we do not regularly monitor or review the content that our users, and their users, upload and store, or information we receive from third-party applications and, therefore, we do not control the substance of the content on our servers, which may include personal information. Risks of external or internal unauthorized access or leaks exist.

Although we have implemented data security standards and controls, operating rules and certification requirements, including in accordance with Payment Card Industry, or PCI, Data Security Standards, pursuant to which we have maintained PCI compliance level 1 certification, deploy third-party opposing forces (Red Team) to test our vulnerabilities, and constantly monitor our environments via security operations centers, we cannot be sure that the steps that we have taken to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of the information we, or our users, collect, store, or transmit, will succeed in preventing inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure. Payments by Wix, for example, requires and is based on integrations with third-party vendors, service providers and payment gateways, and depends on the efficacy of secure transmission protocols and related technologies.  There can be no assurance that the data security standards we have implemented, including for the collection and transmission of credit card and other payment information, or those of our third-party service providers, will adequately comply with the security standards of any jurisdiction in which we seek to market our solution.

Furthermore, like many online and other companies, we have experienced attempts by third parties to circumvent the security of our systems.  We have and are experiencing attempts by hackers to penetrate our internal network and hosted servers using various techniques, including sophisticated tailored phishing attacks, denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, a technique used by hackers to take an internet service offline by overloading its servers, and other exploitation of known and unknown vulnerabilities. The scale of some of these attacks against us in the past has caused us and some of our registered user websites to experience intermittent downtime. Although to date none of these incidents has been material, there can be no assurance that any future attempts may not be material. In addition, risks of internal leaks from our employees or other insiders, whether due to human error or malice, exist and we may not have adequate internal controls to properly monitor and prevent such leaks, in particular when a significant portion of our workforce is working in a hybrid model due to COVID-19 restrictions. This risk is exacerbated due to the continuous growth in our headcount and the additional locations we operate in worldwide. We may not be successful in identifying, blocking or otherwise preventing access to our systems, despite our security measures. Since techniques used to obtain unauthorized access change frequently, including newer strains of malware, and ransomware, as well as attacks generated by bad actors supported by foreign governments, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Furthermore, we may be unable to promptly detect an attack, for example, in the case of an advanced persistent threat where unauthorized system access was obtained in advance and without our knowledge in preparation for a future attack.  We rely on outside parties to provide physical security for our facilities, including data centers, and any physical breach of security could result in unauthorized access or damage to our systems.

If our security measures are breached, whether because of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, or if design flaws in our software are exposed, exploited or abused in any way, including through our Velo by Wix solution, and, as a result, an unauthorized party accesses any of our users’ data or the data of their users, or otherwise gains control of our platform, or if it is perceived that any unauthorized access has occurred (such as when users utilize weak passwords or their credentials are disclosed, stolen or lost), our brand may be negatively impacted, we may be unable to acquire new users, our relationships with our users may be damaged, our registered users may choose to cancel their premium subscriptions, and we could incur liability and be subject to regulatory investigations and fines, negatively impacting our financial performance, all of which may result in a decline of our share price. Even if such a data breach affects a competitor and does not arise out of our actions or inactions, the resulting concern about using our platform could negatively affect our business.

We are also subject to federal, state, provincial and foreign laws regarding cybersecurity and the protection of data including personal information. Many jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals (and regulators) of data breaches or security incidents involving certain types of personal information, and, in addition, our agreements with certain of our providers require us to notify them in the event of a security incident. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security incident sometimes lead to negative publicity and may cause our registered users or providers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. We could be required to devote significant resources to investigate and address a security incident. Additionally, some jurisdictions, as well as our contracts with certain providers, require us to use industry-standard or reasonable measures to safeguard personal information or confidential information. Following the introduction of Wix Payments, our integrated payment processing solution, and the increased storage of personal and financial information of our users and their users, a violation of data privacy or security laws or contractual clauses, many of which focus on personal financial and payment information, could lead to reputational harm, loss of business, legal action and/or regulatory inquiries, resulting in monetary liability, other penalties or other consequences that could negatively impact our reputation and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

If our data security measures fail to protect the encrypted credit card details, passwords or personal information adequately, we could be liable to both our users and their users for any related losses (such as fraudulent credit card transactions), as well as certain of our providers under our contractual agreements, including fines and higher transaction fees. Additionally, we could face regulatory action, and our users and providers could terminate or materially change their relationships with us, any of which could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.  There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any particular data related claim. Our existing general liability insurance coverage and coverage for errors and omissions may not continue to be available on acceptable terms in the future or may not be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large data related claims. The insurer may also deny coverage for any future data related claim. The successful assertion of one or more large data related claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to data privacy and security laws and regulations adopted in Israel, Europe, the U.S., Russia, Brazil, and other jurisdictions. In recent years, there has been an increase in attention to, and regulation of, data privacy across the globe, including in the U.S.

The European Union has traditionally taken a broad view as to what is considered personal information and has imposed comprehensive obligations under its privacy and data protection laws. For example, we are subject to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, and to the UK General Data Protection Regulation, or UK GDPR, which include stringent obligations 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 UK GDPR also include significant penalties for failure to comply; among others, a fine up to €20 million / £17 million or up to 4% of the annual worldwide turnover, whichever is greater, can be imposed under each regime. Such penalties are in addition to any civil litigation claims (including class actions) for compensation or damages, and any orders to cease / change our processing of personal data or other enforcement orders, and reputational damage.

The GDPR and UK GDPR also regulate cross-border transfers of personal data out of the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) and the UK, respectively. Recent legal developments in the EU have created complexity and uncertainty regarding such transfers. The Court of Justice of the European Union, or CJEU, in the “Schrems II” decision invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield in July 2020 and indicated that reliance on 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, on which we rely for certain of our data transfers) may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances and that data transfers must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  European courts and regulators have started to enforce the Schrems II decision, and have taken a restrictive approach to international data transfers. There may be circumstances where the standard contractual clauses cannot be used, where relevant revised standard contractual clauses must be implemented, and/or where regulators take further enforcement action, and 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 it could otherwise affect the manner in which we provide our solutions.

Additionally, other countries outside of the EEA have enacted or are considering enacting similar cross-border data transfer restrictions and laws requiring local data residency, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our solutions and operating our business.

In addition, we are subject to evolving European Union and UK privacy laws on cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, and e-marketing. Recent European court and regulatory decisions are driving increased attention to cookies and tracking technologies. If the trend of increasing enforcement by regulators of the strict approach to opt-in consent for all but essential use cases in recent guidance and decisions continues, this could lead to substantial costs, require significant systems changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, increase costs and subject us to additional liabilities. In light of the complex and evolving nature of European Union, Member State and UK privacy laws on cookies and tracking technologies, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in our efforts to comply with such laws; violations of such laws could result in regulatory investigations, fines, orders to cease/change our use of such technologies, as well as civil claims including class action type litigation, and reputational damage.

In the United States, there are a number of federal laws that impose limits on or requirements regarding the collection, distribution, use, security and storage of personal data of individuals. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act grants the FTC authority to enforce against unfair or deceptive practices, which the FTC has interpreted to require companies’ practices with respect to personal data comply with the commitments posted in their privacy policies. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and numerous state attorneys general also are applying federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards on the online collection, use and dissemination of personal data, and to the security measures applied to such data.

In addition, in the United States at the state level, we are subject to a number of laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which took effect in 2020 and allows for fines of up to $7,500 “per violation,” potentially meaning per affected individual or even per affected piece of personal information (resulting in a potential for extremely large fines). In addition, the CCPA introduces a private right of action in relation to certain data security breaches. In addition, starting in January 2023, we will be subject to new state laws in California (the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”)), which takes effect on January 1, 2023, Virginia (the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”)), which takes effect on January 1, 2023, and Colorado (the Colorado Privacy Act (“CPA”)), which takes effect in July 2023, all of which will impose additional obligations and create new data privacy rights. All of these laws may require us to modify our data practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in order to comply. In addition, the enactment of these laws could have potentially conflicting requirements that could make compliance challenging and costly.

Complex laws relating to data privacy and security are often inconsistent and may be subject to amendment or re-interpretation and may be implemented in a non-uniform way in many jurisdictions around the world, and we may not be aware of every development that impacts our business. For instance, different data protection authorities in the EU have published guidelines regarding the correct usage of cookies; such guidelines are not always consistent in their interpretation and application of relevant laws. These different national guidelines relating to data privacy and security issues often contradict each other and are subject to change in the future. This may cause us to incur significant costs and expend significant effort to ensure compliance. Due to the accessibility of our services worldwide, certain foreign jurisdictions may claim that we are required to comply with their privacy or data protection laws even in jurisdictions where we have no local entity, employees or infrastructure. Where the local data privacy laws of a jurisdiction apply, we may be required to register our operations in that jurisdiction or make changes to our business so that registered users’ data or the data of their users that we collect, process and/or store is only collected, processed and/or stored in accordance with applicable local law. Some of these laws include strict localization provisions that require certain data to be stored within a particular region or jurisdiction. For example, effective as of September 1, 2015, the Russian parliament adopted a set of amendments to the Russian Federal Law on Personal Data, stating that personal information pertaining to Russian citizens must be stored in databases located in Russia. Furthermore, new privacy regulations implemented in Turkey, regulate among others, the cross-border transfer of personal information, and apply different requirements that may impact the way we process Turkish users’ data. We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and legal obligations, as well as with certain industry standards relating to data privacy and security. We have certain data privacy and security-related obligations to our registered users based on our privacy policy and terms of use, and we may be contractually liable to third parties in the event we are deemed to have wrongfully processed personal information. A failure by us or a third-party contractor providing services to us to comply with applicable data privacy and security laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements or industry guidelines, or our terms of use with our users, may result in sanctions, statutory or contractual damages or litigation and may subject us to reputational harm.

These proceedings or violations could force us to spend money in defense or settlement costs, result in the imposition of monetary liability, restrict or block access to our services from a certain territory, incur additional management resources, increase our costs of doing business, and adversely affect our reputation and the demand for our solutions. Government agencies and regulators have reviewed, are reviewing and will continue to review, the data privacy and data security practices of online media companies, including their data privacy and data security policies and processes. The FTC in particular has approved consent decrees resolving complaints and their resulting investigations into the data privacy and security practices of a number of online social media companies. The possible outcome of such reviews may result in changes to our products and policies. If we are unable to comply with any such reviews or decrees that result in recommendations or binding changes, or if the recommended changes result in the degradation of our products, our business could be harmed. Governmental agencies may also request or take registered user data for national security or informational purposes, and can also make data requests in connection with criminal or civil investigations or other matters, which could harm our reputation and our business.

In general, data privacy concerns are becoming more widely acknowledged and data privacy laws are being enacted and enforced by a growing number of states and countries as time passes. Such data privacy laws restrict our storage, use, processing, disclosure, and transfer of personal information, including credit card data obtained in relation to our users, and their users. Many of these laws require us to maintain an online privacy policy and terms of use that disclose our practices regarding the collection, processing, and disclosure of personal information. This may cause our users to resist providing the personal information necessary to allow them to use our platform effectively and their users may also resist providing personal information to our users due to data privacy and security concerns and could lead to the loss of current or prospective users or other business relationships. Additionally, the GDPR, the CCPA, new and expanding ‘Do Not Track’ regulations and other legal and regulatory changes are making it easier for individuals to opt-out of having their personal data collected through an opt-out button, and to choose whether or not to be tracked online, which could result in higher rates of opting out or prevention of our online tracking which can impact our operation and decrease the demand for our products and services.

We expect that third-party intermediaries will emerge that offer services involving individuals opting out of their personal data being collected at scale (i.e., from all platforms, including ours). Such actions may further impair our ability to grow our business and to continue to process and store the information we need for our marketing analysis, and our results of operations and financial condition could suffer.

We have implemented certain measures to protect personal information, including personal information of our users of users, but as described above, these measures may not adequately address all potential data privacy concerns and security threats and may fail to meet the expectations of our users, and their users, or other stakeholders, which could thereby reduce the demand for our services. Furthermore, our users or service providers may respond to this data protection and privacy regulatory framework by requesting that we undertake certain privacy or data related contractual commitments that we are unable or unwilling to make, all of which can harm our business and our financial results.

Certain regulatory regimes, such as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, or the CAN-SPAM Act, establish specific requirements for commercial email messages and specific penalties for the transmission of commercial email messages that are intended to deceive the recipient as to source or content, and obligates, among other things, the sender of commercial emails to provide recipients with the ability to opt out of receiving future commercial emails from the sender. In addition, certain states and foreign jurisdictions prohibit sending unsolicited emails unless the recipient has provided the sender with advance consent to receive such email. We may be found liable in the event we are deemed to have been non-compliant with any such requirements. Furthermore, the ability of our users to opt out from receiving commercial emails from us, may decrease the effectiveness of our email marketing strategy and may subject us to legal exposure if we do not adequately honor the user’s opt out request.

Various private organizations also attempt to regulate commercial solicitation via email. These organizations often advocate standards of conduct or practice that significantly exceed current legal requirements and classify certain email solicitations that comply with current legal requirements as SPAM, which could lead the sender to be “blacklisted” by such private organizations. If we are blacklisted by any such private entity, we may not be able to reach out to our users, which could materially harm our business and brand.

In addition, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, imposes significant restrictions on the ability to make certain telephone calls or send text messages to mobile telephone numbers without the prior consent of the person being contacted. The actual or perceived improper making of telephone calls or sending of text messages may subject us to potential risks, including liabilities or claims that we have violated the TCPA. Such claims could be costly and time consuming to defend, and if successful, expose us to substantial statutory damages. We could be required to change some portions of our marketing model, could face negative publicity and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Even an unsuccessful challenge of our telephone call or text messaging practices could result in negative publicity and could require a costly response from and defense by us.

Compliance with other consumer protection laws and regulations such as the Federal Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act of 2010, or ROSCA, addressing disclosure requirements for subscription auto-renewals, refund policies and our terms of use, could increase our costs of doing business or subject our business to increased liability for non-compliance, and could materially harm our business and results of operations. We may also potentially be subject to further legal exposure in the event our users are non-compliant with any of the above laws, regulations and any regulatory and industry standards with respect to their users.

We have experienced, and may continue to experience, third-party assertions that our solutions, services and intellectual property infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Such claims may be made directly against us, or against our users or other business partners using our technology. Additionally, in recent years, non-practicing entities, or NPEs, have begun purchasing intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement and attempting to extract settlements from companies like ours. We entered into settlement agreements in the past with NPEs with respect to patent infringement claims. We have also licensed patents from third parties in areas that are related to our technology. In addition, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE) Act was recently enacted in order to offer copyright owners a more cost-effective alternative to litigation in federal court, which is often costly and time-consuming and may result in increased copyright infringement claims against us.

Any such intellectual property claims, regardless of merit, whether resulting in litigation or not, could result in substantial expense and time spent, divert the attention of management, cause significant delays in introducing new solutions or services, materially disrupt the conduct of our business and have a material and adverse effect on our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.  As a consequence of such claims, we could be required to pay substantial damages, develop non-infringing technology, enter into royalty-bearing licensing agreements to obtain the right to use a third party’s intellectual property, stop selling or marketing some or all of our solutions or services or re-brand our solutions or services.  Any licensing agreements, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If it appears necessary, we may seek to license intellectual property that we are alleged to infringe, potentially even if we believe such claims to be without merit. If required licenses cannot be obtained, or if existing licenses are not renewed, litigation could result.

Litigation is inherently uncertain and any adverse decision could result in a loss of our proprietary rights, the incurrence of significant expenses, subject us to significant liabilities, require us to seek licenses for alternative technologies from third parties and otherwise negatively affect our business.

In addition, third parties may assert infringement claims against our users relating to our products and solutions.  These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our users, regardless of the merits of these claims. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of our users or may be required to obtain licenses for the products they use. If we cannot obtain all necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our users may be forced to stop using our products.

Our intellectual property rights are important to our business. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, industrial designs and trade-secret laws, as well as licensing agreements and third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements to protect our intellectual property and know-how.  However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate. We will not be able to protect our intellectual property if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property.  Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our products and use information that we regard as proprietary to create solutions and services that compete with ours. Because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other laws concerning proprietary rights, our intellectual property rights may not receive the same degree of protection in foreign countries as they would in the United States and Israel. Some license provisions protecting against unauthorized use, copying, transfer and disclosure of our solutions may be unenforceable under the laws of certain jurisdictions and foreign countries.

To protect our trade-secrets, know-how and other proprietary information, we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and enter into confidentiality agreements with parties with whom we have strategic relationships and business alliances and other third parties to whom we may disclose confidential information. No assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to our trade-secrets, know-how, or proprietary information, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in Israel and the United States.  Further, these agreements do not prevent others from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our solutions.  It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology.

We have filed a number of applications for patents to protect our technologies. While we generally apply for patents in those countries where we intend to make, have made, use, or sell our products, we may not accurately predict all of the countries where patent protection will ultimately be desirable. If we fail to timely file a patent application in any such country, we may be precluded from doing so at a later date.  We cannot assure you that our patent applications will be approved or that patents will be granted. We also cannot assure you that the patents issued as a result of our foreign patent applications will have the same scope of coverage as our United States patents.

Many patent applications in the U.S. are maintained in secrecy for a period of time after they are filed, and since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature tends to lag behind actual discoveries by several months, we cannot be certain that we will be the first creator of inventions covered by any patent application we make or that we will be the first to file patent applications on such inventions. There is also a risk that we could adopt a technology without knowledge of a pending patent application, which technology would infringe a third-party patent once that patent is issued.

We rely on our brand and trademarks to identify our solutions to our users and to potential users, and to differentiate our solutions from those of our competitors. While we aim to acquire adequate protection for our brand through trademark registrations in key markets, occasionally third parties may have already registered or otherwise acquired rights to identical or similar marks for solutions that also address the software market, which could also impede the success of our or our partners’ efforts to market our brand in such markets. If we are unable to adequately protect our trademarks, third parties may use brand names or trademarks identical or similar to ours in a manner that may cause confusion to our users or confusion in the market, or dilute our brand names or trademarks, which could decrease the value of our brand. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources for the advertising and marketing of new brands.

We rely on copyright laws to protect the works of authorship (including software) created by us. We have filed a number of applications to register our copyrights, however, we do not register the copyrights in all of our copyrightable works.  Copyrights of U.S. origin must be registered before the copyright owner may bring an infringement suit in the United States. Furthermore, if a copyright of U.S. origin is not registered within three months of publication of the underlying work, the copyright owner is precluded from seeking statutory damages or attorney’s fees in any United States enforcement action, and is limited to seeking actual damages and lost profits.  Accordingly, if one of our unregistered copyrights of U.S. origin is infringed by a third party, we will need to register the copyright before we can file an infringement suit in the United States, and our remedies in any such infringement suit may be limited.

Any of our pending or future patent, copyright or trademark applications, whether or not challenged, may not be issued with the scope of the claims we seek, if at all. We are unable to guarantee that additional patents, copyright registrations or trademark registrations will issue from pending or future applications or that, if patents, copyrights or trademarks issue, they will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or that the rights granted under the patents, registered copyrights or registered trademarks will provide us with meaningful protection or any commercial advantage.

From time to time, we may discover that third parties are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our intellectual property rights. However, policing unauthorized use of our intellectual property and misappropriation of our technology is difficult and expensive and we may therefore not always be aware of such unauthorized use or misappropriation, or have adequate resources to enforce our intellectual property rights. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, unauthorized third parties may attempt to use, copy or otherwise obtain and market or distribute our intellectual property rights or technology or otherwise develop solutions with the same or similar functionality as our solutions.  If competitors infringe, misappropriate or otherwise misuse our intellectual property rights and we are not adequately protected, or if such competitors are able to develop solutions with the same or similar functionality as ours without infringing our intellectual property, our competitive position and results of operations could be harmed and our legal costs could increase.

We enter into assignment of invention agreements with our employees pursuant to which such individuals agree to assign to us all rights to any inventions created in the scope of their employment or engagement with us. Under the Israeli Patent Law, 1967, or the Patents Law, inventions conceived by an employee or a person deemed to be an employee during the scope of their employment with a company are regarded as “service inventions,” which are owned by the employer, absent a specific agreement between employee and employer giving the employee service invention rights. The Patents Law also provides that in the absence of an agreement between the employer and employee (or a person deemed to be an employee) that prescribes whether, to what extent, and on what conditions the employee is entitled to remuneration for his or her service inventions, the employee is entitled to refer the matter to the Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee, a body constituted under the Patents Law, which will determine whether the employee is entitled to such remuneration. The Patents Law provides general guidelines for determining this Committee-enforced remuneration, which have not yet been applied by the Committee in its rulings. Although our contractors or employees, in Israel and in the other jurisdictions in which we operate, have agreed to assign to us service invention rights, we may face claims challenging such agreements and demanding remuneration in consideration for assigned inventions.  As a consequence of such claims, we could be required to pay additional remuneration or royalties to our current or former contractors or employees, or be forced to litigate such claims, which could negatively affect our business.

To date, government regulations have not materially restricted the use of the Internet in most parts of the world. The legal and regulatory environment pertaining to the Internet, however, is uncertain and will likely change. New laws may be passed, courts may issue decisions affecting the Internet, existing but previously inapplicable or unenforced laws may be deemed to apply to the Internet or regulatory agencies may begin to rigorously enforce such formerly unenforced laws, or existing legal safe harbors may be narrowed, both by U.S. federal or state governments and by governments of foreign jurisdictions. These changes could affect:

We may also become subject to claims, lawsuits (including class action or individual lawsuits), government or regulatory investigations, inquiries or audits, and other proceedings. The number and significance of legal disputes have increased as we have grown larger, as our business has expanded in scope and geographic reach, and as our platform and solutions have increased in complexity, and we expect we will continue to face additional legal disputes. We also receive media attention, which could result in increased litigation or other legal or regulatory reviews and proceedings.

The adoption of any new laws or regulations, or the application or interpretation of existing laws or regulations to the Internet, could hinder growth in the use of the Internet and online services generally, and decrease acceptance of the Internet and online services as a means of communications, e-commerce and advertising. In addition, such changes in laws could increase our costs of doing business, subject our business to increased liability for non-compliance, subject us to class action lawsuits, or prevent us from delivering our services over the Internet or in specific jurisdictions, thereby materially harming our business and results of operations.

Certain jurisdictions, including the United States and certain European countries, among others, have adopted laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third parties, including with respect to defamation, threats or incitement to violence, sale or purchase of illegal goods, exploitation of minors and others, terrorist activities, invasion of privacy and other torts, copyright and trademark infringement such as the recent directive of the European Union which may impose liability for copyright infringement on certain online platforms, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content provided by users.

Certain actions of registered users that are deemed to be hostile, offensive or inappropriate to other users or to the public, or registered users acting under false or inauthentic identities or using our product to conduct illegal activities could negatively affect our reputation and brand and impose liability on us. This particularly applies to our registered users who do not have premium subscriptions and who, therefore, maintain the “Wix” logo on their websites. Apart from monitoring activities of our users who elect to utilize our Wix Payments processing service, we do not proactively monitor or review the appropriateness of the domain names our users register or the content of our registered users’ websites, and we do not have control over the activities in which our registered users engage. While we have adopted policies regarding illegal or offensive use of our services by our registered users and retain authority to terminate domain name registrations and to take down websites that violate these policies, users could nonetheless engage in these activities without our knowledge. The safeguards we have in place may not be sufficient to avoid liability on our part or avoid harm to our reputation and brand, especially if such hostile, offensive or inappropriate use was high profile, which could adversely affect our ability to expand our registered user base, our business, and financial results.

Furthermore, in the framework of Payments by Wix, when users elect to utilize our proprietary payment processing service Wix Payments, we may act as a payment facilitator for our users, pursuant to which we are required to monitor our users’ activity to ensure their compliance with certain standards applied by our payment networks. We may fail to appropriately monitor our users’ activity and be subject to liability.

At present, we do not require that our registered users post on their websites, or require their users to agree to, any terms of service, privacy policy, disclaimer or any other contractual documentation or policy.  If our users do not post the appropriate documentation and policies on their websites and require their users’ consent to be bound by the terms of such documentation and policies, or should our users fail to take steps necessary to enjoy the benefits of certain statutory safe harbors, such as those set forth in Section 512 of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act (“CDA”), then they may expose themselves to civil and criminal liability under applicable law, for example, where their users post information which is libelous, defamatory, in breach of regulation concerning unacceptable content or publications, or in breach of any third-party intellectual property rights or, for example, where they or their suppliers fail to process personal information in accordance with applicable law.  It is possible that we could also be subject to liability.

Although these statutes and case law in the U.S. have generally shielded us from liability for user activities to date, court rulings in pending or future litigation or future regulatory or legislative amendments may narrow the scope of protection afforded to us under these laws. For example, there have been, and continue to be, various Congressional and executive efforts to remove or restrict the scope of the protections available under Section 230 of the CDA. If those efforts are successful, our current protections from liability for third-party content in the United States could decrease or change, potentially resulting in increased liability for third-party content and higher litigation costs. Such amendments to Section 230 of the CDA could require significant changes to our products, business practices or operations. Any court ruling or other governmental action that imposes liability on providers of online services for the activities of their users and other third parties could harm our business. In such circumstances, we may also be subject to liability under applicable law in a way which may not be fully mitigated by the user terms of service we require our users to agree to. Any liability attributed to us could adversely affect our brand, reputation, our ability to expand our user base and our financial position. Further, our indemnity from our registered users may also not be fully effective as a matter of practice if any user does not have sufficient assets, insurance or other means to back that indemnity.  In addition, rising concern about the use of the Internet for illegal conduct, such as the unauthorized dissemination of national security information, money laundering or supporting terrorist activities may in the future produce legislation or other governmental action that could require changes to our products, solutions or services, restrict or impose additional costs upon the conduct of our business or cause our registered users to abandon material aspects of our service.  Any such adverse legal or regulatory developments could substantially harm our operating results and business.

In July 2018, we became accredited by ICANN as a domain name registrar. ICANN oversees a number of Internet related tasks, including managing the Domain Name System (DNS) the allocation of IP addresses, the accreditation of domain name registrars and registries and the definition and coordination of policy development for all of these functions.

Our ability to offer domain name registration is subject to our ongoing relationship with, and continued accreditation by, ICANN. Additionally, we continue to face the risks that:

Additionally, as a domain name registrar, we may become aware of disputes over ownership or control of user accounts, websites or domain names, and we could face potential liability for our role in the wrongful transfer of control or ownership of accounts, websites or domain names. We could also face potential liability for our failure to renew a user’s domain. The safeguards and procedures we have adopted may not be successful in protecting us against liability from such claims in the future.

We are subject to U.S. and other export control and trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations, or EAR, administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, or “BIS”, and the various sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, or collectively, U.S. Trade Controls.  U.S. Trade Controls may prohibit or restrict our ability to, directly or indirectly, conduct activities or dealings in countries or territories that are the target of comprehensive U.S. sanctions, or collectively, U.S. Sanctioned Countries, and with persons that are the target of U.S. Trade Controls-related prohibitions and restrictions. We endeavor to conduct our business in compliance with applicable U.S. Trade Controls, and have developed, implemented, and maintain policies and procedures designed to prevent unauthorized activities. However, we cannot guarantee that such protocols will be fully protective, and our failure to comply could result in adverse legal and business consequences, including civil or criminal penalties, government investigations, and reputational harm.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea, recognition of two separatist republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and subsequent military action against Ukraine have led to sanctions being levied by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and other countries against Russia, Belarus, the Crimea Region of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, including, among others, the agreement to remove certain Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT payment system, which can significantly hinder the ability to transfer funds in and out of Russia. The situation is rapidly evolving as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, and the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries may implement additional sanctions, export-controls or other economic and other measures against Russia or other countries, regions, officials, individuals or industries in the respective territories. Such sanctions and other measures, as well as any potential responses from Russia or other countries to such sanctions, tensions and military actions, could adversely affect the global economy and financial markets, including heightened inflation, cyber disruptions or attacks, higher energy costs and higher supply chain costs, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are actively monitoring the situation in Ukraine and assessing its impact on our business, including our business partners and users. In response to these events, we decided to suspend our commercial activities in Russia until further notice. We have no way to predict the progress or outcome of the conflict in Ukraine or its impacts in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus or other countries as the conflict, and any resulting government reactions, are rapidly developing 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 impacts on the global economy and/or our business for an unknown period of time. Any of the abovementioned factors could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any such disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described on this Form 20-F.

The Israeli Trading with the Enemy Ordinance — 1939, or the Ordinance, prohibits any Israeli person from trading goods with enemy countries or with the residents of enemy countries.  The Israeli Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for implementing the Ordinance, has currently determined enemy countries to be Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, or Israeli Sanctioned Countries.  The Ordinance was enacted in 1939 and does not expressly address online services.  We therefore cannot state with certainty how the provisions of the Ordinance apply to the type of services that we provide.

Although the Ordinance allows Israeli persons to apply for a permit to trade with Israeli Sanctioned Countries or their residents, we are not aware of a permit being granted or denied in the past to a person providing the type of services that we provide.

We have ceased providing services to users with a GEOIP address in, or a top level domain of, a U.S. Sanctioned Country.  Lebanon is the only Israeli Sanctioned Country that is not also a U.S. Sanctioned Country.  The number of registered users and premium subscriptions that we had in Lebanon was never material to our business, and since December 2018, the Lebanese government blocked access to our platform in Lebanon, and we are uncertain whether or not this block will be lifted in the near future.  Nevertheless, if we initiate any block of our services in Lebanon, it may decrease the number of our current and future users from other countries, particularly in the Middle East, who may cease using our services in protest to our blocking accounts in Israeli Sanctioned Countries.

In addition, if it is determined by a competent court that sanctions under the Ordinance cover the type of services that we provide, then we, our officers and employees may be subject to criminal and/or civil actions.

The U.S. presidential administration and members of the U.S. Congress have proposed significant changes in U.S. federal income tax law, regulations and government policy within the United States, which could affect us and our business. For example, these proposals include significant changes to the U.S. federal income taxation of business entities including, among others, an increase in the corporate income tax rate and the imposition of minimum taxes or surtaxes on certain types of income. These proposals are being considered by the U.S. Congress, but the likelihood of these or other changes being enacted or implemented is unclear. We are currently unable to predict whether these or other changes will occur and, if so, the ultimate impact on our business. To the extent that such changes or the related uncertainty have a negative impact on us, our suppliers or our consumers, these changes may materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

Furthermore, the base erosion and profit shifting, or BEPS, initiative undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, which contemplates changes to numerous international tax principles, as well as national tax incentives, may have adverse consequences on our tax liabilities, including the country-by-country reporting, permanent establishment rules, transfer pricing rules, tax treaties and taxation of the digital economy. In May 2019, the OECD published a “Programme of Work,” which was divided into two pillars. Pillar One focused on the allocation of group profits among taxing jurisdictions based on a market-based concept rather than the historical “permanent establishment” concept. Pillar Two, among other things, introduced a global minimum tax. With respect to the digital economy, in October 2020, the OECD published the Report on Pillar One Blueprint which focuses on new nexus and profit allocation rules to ensure that the allocation of taxing rights with respect to business profits is no longer exclusively limited to physical presence. Some countries, in the European Union and beyond have unilaterally either announced, proposed, or implemented digital services tax (“DST”), to capture tax revenue on digital services. Such laws may adversely affect our effective tax rate or result in higher cash tax liabilities. Subsequently, in October 2021, 137 member jurisdictions of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on BEPS (including Israel) joined the “Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy” which sets forth the key terms of the two-pillar solution, including a reallocation of taxing rights among market jurisdictions under Pillar One and a global minimum tax rate of 15% under Pillar Two. As this framework is subject to further negotiation, final approval by the G20, and implementation by each member country, the timing and ultimate impact of any such changes on our tax obligations are uncertain.  Therefore, although the foregoing tax changes may have an adverse impact on us, we cannot predict at this stage the magnitude of the effect of such rules on our financial results.

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. Notwithstanding Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, we are a research and development company and comply with the safe harbor requirements of Rule 3a-8 of the 1940 Act. We do not believe that we are an “investment company,” as such term is defined in the 1940 Act. We intend to conduct our operations so that we will not be deemed an investment company. However, if we were to be deemed 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, financial condition and results of operations.

Due to our global business, we are subject to various anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or FCPA, the UK Bribery Act 2010, or UK Bribery Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Chapter 9 (sub-chapter 5) of the Israeli Penal Law, 1977, the Israeli Prohibition on Money Laundering Law—2000 and similar anti money laundering and anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials and other persons for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business.  In addition, companies are required to maintain records that accurately and fairly represent their transactions and have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. We operate in areas of the world that experience corruption, and, in certain circumstances, compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. We operate in several countries and sell our products to customers around the world, which geographically stretches our compliance obligations.  In addition, changes in laws could result in increased regulatory requirements and compliance costs which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure that our employees, including those engaged in sales activities, agents, partners, or third-party representatives will not engage in prohibited conduct and render us responsible under the FCPA, the UK Bribery Act or any similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions. If we are found to be in violation of the FCPA, the UK Bribery Act or other anti-bribery laws (either due to acts or inadvertence of our employees, agents, partners, or third-party representatives or due to the acts or inadvertence of others), we could suffer criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows, financial condition, reputation and ability to win future business or maintain existing contracts.

Our ordinary shares were first offered publicly in our initial public offering, or IPO, in November 2013, at a price of $16.50 per share, and our ordinary shares have subsequently traded as high as $362.07 per share and as low as $14.28 per share through March 29, 2022.  From January 1, 2021 through March 29, 2022, our ordinary shares traded as high as $362.07 per share and as low as $70.69 per share. In addition, the market price of our ordinary shares could be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially as a result of many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:

The price of our ordinary shares could also be affected by possible sales of our ordinary shares by investors who view our Convertible Notes as a more attractive means of equity participation in us and by hedging or arbitrage trading activity that may develop involving our ordinary shares and Convertible Notes.

In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations.  Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our ordinary shares, regardless of our operating performance.  In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against that company.  If we were involved in any similar litigation we could incur substantial costs and our management’s attention and resources could be diverted.

We may release guidance in our quarterly earnings conference calls, quarterly earnings releases, or otherwise, based on predictions by management, which are necessarily speculative in nature. Our guidance may vary materially from actual results for a variety of reasons, including that our cash generation may be uneven across quarters. In particular, with respect to our partners business, a failure to close a large transaction in a particular quarter may adversely impact our bookings in that quarter. Closing of an exceptionally large transaction in a certain quarter may disproportionately increase our bookings in that quarter, which may make it more difficult for us to meet growth rate expectations of our investors in subsequent quarters. Furthermore, even if we close a sale during a given quarter, we may be unable to recognize the revenues derived from such sale during the same period due to our revenue recognition policy. As a result of the foregoing factors, the timing of closing sales cycles and the resulting recognition of revenue from such sales can be difficult to predict. In some cases, sales have occurred in a quarter that was either earlier than, or subsequent to, the anticipated quarter, and in some cases, sale opportunities expected to close did not close at all.

If our revenue, bookings or other operating results, or the rate of growth of our revenue, bookings or other operating results, fall below the expectations of our investors, or below any forecasts or guidance we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our ordinary shares could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met our own or other publicly stated revenue, bookings or earnings forecasts. Our failure to meet our own or other publicly stated revenue, bookings or cash flow forecasts, or even when we meet our own forecasts but fall short of securities analyst or investor expectations, could cause our stock price to decline and expose us to lawsuits, including securities class action suits. Such litigation could impose substantial costs and divert management's attention and resources.

On March 21, 2022, our board of directors authorized our repurchase program under which up to $500 million is available to purchase our ordinary shares and/or Convertible Notes, which program is expected to be submitted for court approval in accordance with Israeli law. The repurchase program, as authorized by our board of directors, and if approved by the court, would provide the Company with the authority to make repurchases through December 31, 2022, or an earlier date approved by the court. If approved by the court, the specific timing and amount of repurchases under the repurchase program, if any, will depend upon several factors, including market and business conditions, the trading price of our ordinary shares, and the nature of other investment opportunities. In addition, our ability to repurchase may be limited by law, regulatory authority or agreements with third parties.

Repurchases of our ordinary shares and/or Convertible Notes pursuant to our repurchase program could affect the market price of our ordinary shares or increase its volatility. Additionally, our repurchase program could diminish our cash reserves, which may impact our ability to finance future growth and to pursue possible future strategic opportunities and acquisitions. There is no assurance that our repurchase program will enhance long-term shareholder value, and short-term share price fluctuations could reduce the repurchase program’s effectiveness.

This concentration of ownership of our ordinary shares could delay or prevent proxy contests, mergers, tender offers, open-market purchase programs or other purchases of our ordinary shares that might otherwise give you the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price of our ordinary shares.  This concentration of ownership may also adversely affect our share price.

If our existing shareholders, particularly our largest shareholders, our directors, their affiliates, or our executive officers, sell a substantial number of our ordinary shares in the public market, the market price of our ordinary shares could decrease significantly. This includes sales by our four largest shareholders who, as of February 28, 2022, beneficially owned approximately 28.1% of our ordinary shares. We cannot predict what effect, if any, future sales of our ordinary shares, or the availability of our ordinary shares for future sale, will have on the market price of our ordinary shares.  Sales of substantial amounts of our ordinary shares in the public marketplace by us or these shareholders, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares, may make it more difficult for investors to sell ordinary shares at a time and price which such investors deem appropriate, and could impair our future ability to obtain capital, especially through an offering of equity securities.

As of February 28, 2022, 7,814,453 ordinary shares are subject to outstanding option and restricted share unit, or RSU, awards granted to employees and office holders under our share incentive plans, of which 3,441,416 ordinary shares issuable under currently exercisable share options. Upon issuance, such shares may be freely sold in the public market, except for shares held by affiliates who have certain restrictions on their ability to sell.

In recent years, U.S. and non-U.S. companies listed on securities exchanges in the United States have been faced with governance-related demands from activist shareholders, unsolicited tender offers and proxy contests, as well as more recent requests with respect to ESG matters. Although as a foreign private issuer we are not subject to U.S. proxy rules, responding to any action of this type by activist shareholders could be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Such activities could interfere with our ability to execute our long-term and short-term strategic plans. In addition, a proxy contest for the election of directors at our annual meeting would require us to incur significant legal fees and proxy solicitation expenses and require significant time and attention by management and our board of directors. The perceived uncertainties arising from such actions of activist shareholders also could affect the price of our securities.

As a foreign private issuer whose shares are listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market, or NASDAQ, we are permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of certain requirements of the rules of NASDAQ. As permitted under the Israeli Companies Law, 5759-1999, or the Companies Law, our articles of association provide that the quorum for any meeting of shareholders shall be the presence of at least two shareholders present in person, by proxy or by a voting instrument, who hold at least 25% of the voting power of our shares instead of 33¹/₃% of our issued share capital as per NASDAQ rules.  We may in the future elect to follow home country practice in Israel with regard to matters such as the NASDAQ requirement to have separate executive sessions of independent directors without management present and the requirement to obtain shareholder approval for certain dilutive events (such as for the establishment or amendment of certain equity-based compensation plans, issuances that will result in a change of control of the company, certain transactions other than a public offering involving issuances of a 20% or more interest in the company and certain acquisitions of the stock or assets of another company).  Accordingly, our shareholders may not be afforded the same protection as provided under NASDAQ corporate governance rules. Following our home country governance practices as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to a United States company listed on NASDAQ may provide less protection than is accorded to investors of domestic issuers. See “Item 16.G. Corporate Governance.”

As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules and regulations under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, related to the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and our officers, directors, and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. We are also exempt from Regulation FD, which prohibits issuers from making selective disclosures of material non-public information. In addition, we are not required under the Exchange Act to file annual, quarterly and current reports and financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, as frequently or as promptly as domestic companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act.

In order to maintain our current status as a foreign private issuer, more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities must not be directly or indirectly owned by residents of the U.S., or we must not have any of the following: (i) a majority of our executive officers or directors being U.S. citizens or residents, (ii) more than 50% of our assets being located in the U.S., or (iii) our business being principally administered in the U.S. Although we have elected to comply with certain U.S. regulatory provisions, our loss of foreign private issuer status would make such provisions mandatory. In addition, if we were to no longer qualify as a foreign private issuer, the regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws as a U.S. domestic issuer may be significantly higher. If we did not qualify as a foreign private issuer, we would be required to file periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms with the SEC, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer, and we also could be required to modify certain of our policies to comply with good governance practices associated with U.S. domestic issuers, which would involve additional costs. The loss of foreign private issuer status could eliminate our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain NASDAQ corporate governance requirements that are available to foreign private issuers.

If a United States person is treated as owning (directly, indirectly or constructively through the ownership of our Convertible Notes) at least 10% of the value or voting power of our shares, such person may be treated as a “United States shareholder” with respect to each “controlled foreign corporation” in our group (if any).  Because our group includes one or more U.S. subsidiaries, certain of our non-U.S. subsidiaries could be treated as controlled foreign corporations regardless of whether we are treated as a controlled foreign corporation. A United States shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation may be required to report annually and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of the controlled foreign corporation’s “Subpart F income,” “global intangible low-taxed income” and investments in U.S. property, regardless of whether the controlled foreign corporation makes any distributions. An individual that is a United States shareholder with respect to a controlled foreign corporation generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a United States shareholder that is a U.S. corporation. Failure to comply with these reporting obligations may subject you to significant monetary penalties and may prevent the statute of limitations with respect to your U.S. federal income tax return for the year for which reporting was due from starting. We cannot provide any assurances that we will assist investors in determining whether any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries are treated as a controlled foreign corporation or whether such investor is treated as a United States shareholder with respect to any of such controlled foreign corporations or furnish to any United States shareholders information that may be necessary to comply with the aforementioned reporting and tax paying obligations. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has provided limited guidance on situations in which investors may rely on publicly available information to comply with their reporting and tax paying obligations with respect to foreign-controlled controlled foreign corporations. A United States investor should consult its advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to an investment in our ordinary shares.

We would be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for any taxable year if, after the application of certain look-through rules, either: (i) 75% or more of our gross income for such year is “passive income” (as defined in the relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, or (ii) 50% or more of the value of our assets (determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. Based on the trading price of our ordinary shares and the composition of our income, assets, and operations, we do not expect to be treated as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes for the taxable year that ended on December 31, 2021, and we do not expect to be treated as a PFIC for our current taxable year. However, this is a factual determination that must be made annually after the close of each taxable year. Moreover, the value of our assets for purposes of the PFIC determination generally will be determined by reference to the trading price of our ordinary shares, which could fluctuate significantly. Therefore, there can be no assurance that we will not be classified as a PFIC in any taxable year. Certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to a U.S. Holder (as defined below) if we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which such U.S. Holder holds our ordinary shares. Accordingly, each U.S. Holder of our ordinary shares should consult its own tax advisor as to the potential effects of the PFIC rules. See “Item 10.E. Additional Information—Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations.”

Provisions of Israeli law and our articles of association could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us or our shareholders to elect different individuals to our board of directors, even if doing so would be considered to be beneficial by some of our shareholders, and may limit the price that investors may be willing to pay in the future for our ordinary shares.  Among other things:

Further, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions undesirable to us or to some of our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel granting tax relief to such shareholders from Israeli tax.  With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of numerous conditions, including a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which certain sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are restricted.  Moreover, with respect to certain share swap transactions, the tax deferral is limited in time, and when such time expires, the tax becomes payable even if no actual disposition of the shares has occurred.  See “Item 10.B. Additional Information—Articles of Association.”

We are incorporated under Israeli law and our principal executive offices are located in Israel.  Accordingly, political, economic and military conditions in Israel directly affect our business.  Since the State of Israel was established, a number of armed conflicts have occurred between Israel and its Arab neighbors.  In recent years, these have included sporadic hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza strip, both of which resulted in rockets being fired into Israel, causing casualties and disruption of economic activities. Israeli civilians continue to be the target of terrorist threats. In addition, Israel faces threats from more distant neighbors, in particular, Iran which has threatened to attack Israel, may be developing nuclear weapons and has targeted cyber-attacks against Israeli entities. Our commercial insurance does not cover direct losses that may occur as a result of events associated with the security situation in the Middle East, such as damages to our facilities resulting in disruption of our operations.  Although the Israeli government currently covers the reinstatement value of direct damages that are caused by terrorist attacks or acts of war, we cannot assure you that this government coverage will be maintained or will be adequate in the event we submit a claim.

A number of countries, principally in the Middle East, still restrict doing business with Israel and Israeli companies, and additional countries may impose restrictions on doing business with Israel and Israeli companies if hostilities in Israel or political instability in the region continue or increase. For example, since December 2018, the Lebanese government has blocked access to our platform in Lebanon.  These restrictions may significantly limit our ability to distribute our products to users in these countries or establish distributor relationships with companies operating in these regions.  In addition, there have been increased efforts by activists to cause companies and consumers to boycott Israeli goods based on Israeli government policies.  Such actions, particularly if they become more widespread, may adversely impact our ability to sell our products.  Any hostilities involving Israel or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its present trading partners, or significant downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel, could adversely affect our operations, cause our revenues to decrease and adversely affect the share price of publicly traded companies having operations in Israel, such as us.  Moreover, individuals in certain geographical regions may refrain from doing business with Israel and Israeli companies as a result of their objection to Israeli foreign or domestic policies. We may also continue to be targeted by cyber-terrorists because of being an Israeli company.

As of December 31, 2021, we had 2,986 employees based in Israel. Our employees in Israel, including executive officers, may be called upon to perform up to 56 days per each three-year period, (in some cases more, e.g. officers may be called to serve up to 84 days per each three-year period) of military reserve duty until they reach the age of 40 (and in some cases, depending on their certain military profession up to the age of 45 or even 49) and, in emergency circumstances, could be called to immediate and unlimited active duty (however, this would need to be approved by the Israeli government).  In response to increased tension and hostilities, there have since been occasional call-ups of military reservists, and it is possible that there will be additional call-ups in the future.  Our operations could be disrupted by the absence of a significant number of employees related to military service or the absence for extended periods of one or more of our key employees for military service.  Such disruptions in the future could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations, especially if we are unable to replace these key employees with other personnel qualified in information technology and data optimization.

Until December 31, 2021, we were eligible for certain tax benefits provided to “Beneficiary Enterprises” under the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959, referred to as the Investment Law. Most recently, the Investment Law was amended as part of the Economic Efficiency Law that became effective on January 1, 2017, or Amendment 73, under which a new incentive regime would apply to “Preferred Technological Enterprises” and “Special Preferred Technological Enterprises” that meet certain conditions stipulated under Amendment 73.  In January 2022, we notified the Israeli Tax Authority that we waived our Beneficiary Enterprise status starting from the 2022 tax year and thereafter. Starting in 2022 we are expected to be eligible for benefits as a “Preferred Technological Enterprise”. In order to be eligible for the tax benefits for “Preferred Technological Enterprises”, we must continue to meet certain conditions stipulated in the Investment Law and its regulations, as amended.  Further, in the future these tax benefits may be reduced or discontinued.  If these tax benefits are reduced, cancelled or discontinued, our Israeli taxable income would be subject to regular Israeli corporate tax rates.  The standard corporate tax rate for Israeli companies is 23%.  Additionally, if we increase our activities outside of Israel through acquisitions, for example, our expanded activities might not be eligible for inclusion in future Israeli tax benefit programs.  See “Item 10.E. Additional Information—Taxation—Israeli Tax Considerations and Government Programs.”

We are incorporated in Israel. Only some of our directors and none of our executive officers are resident in the United States. Our independent registered public accounting firm is not a resident of the United States. Most of our assets and the assets of these persons are located outside the United States.  Therefore, it may be difficult for an investor, or any other person or entity, to enforce a U.S. court judgment based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws against us or any of these persons in a U.S. or Israeli court, or to effect service of process upon these persons in the United States. Additionally, it may be difficult for an investor, or any other person or entity, to assert a claim based on U.S. securities laws in original actions instituted in Israel.  Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on an alleged violation of U.S. securities laws on the grounds that Israel is not the most appropriate forum in which to bring such a claim.  Even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim.  If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact which can be a time-consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel addressing the matters described above.

Since we are incorporated under Israeli law, the rights and responsibilities of our shareholders are governed by our articles of association and Israeli law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. corporations. In particular, a shareholder of an Israeli company has a duty to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards the company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing its power in the company, including, among other things, in voting at the general meeting of shareholders on certain matters, such as an amendment to the company’s articles of association, an increase of the company’s authorized share capital, a merger of the company and approval of related party transactions that require shareholder approval.  A shareholder also has a general duty to refrain from discriminating against other shareholders. In addition, a controlling shareholder or a shareholder who knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholders’ vote or to appoint or prevent the appointment of an office holder in the company or has another power with respect to the company, has a duty to act in fairness towards the company.  However, Israeli law does not define the substance of this duty of fairness.  See “Item 6.C. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Board Practices.” Some of the parameters and implications of the provisions that govern shareholder behavior have not been clearly determined.  These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations and liabilities on our shareholders that are not typically imposed on shareholders of United States corporations.

Additionally, the quorum requirements for meetings of our shareholders are lower than is customary for domestic issuers. As permitted under the Companies Law, pursuant to our articles of association, the quorum required for an ordinary meeting of shareholders will consist of at least two shareholders present in person, by proxy or by other voting instrument in accordance with the Companies Law, who hold at least 25% of our outstanding ordinary shares (and in an adjourned meeting, with some exceptions, any number of shareholders). For an adjourned meeting at which a quorum is not present, the meeting may generally proceed irrespective of the number of shareholders present at the end of half an hour following the time fixed for the meeting (unless the meeting was called pursuant to a request by our shareholders, in which case the quorum required is the number of shareholders required to call the meeting according to the Companies Law).

Wix was founded in late 2006 on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. We are a leading, global, web development platform for millions of creators, delivering our solutions through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.  Since our founding, we have developed and launched multiple innovative products, services, and business solutions that empower any business, organization or brand worldwide to create, manage and grow a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence.

In November 2013, we listed our shares on the NASDAQ Global Market. We are a company limited by shares organized under the laws of the State of Israel. We are registered with the Israeli Registrar of Companies. Our registration number is 51-388117-7. Our principal executive offices are located at 40 Namal Tel Aviv St., Tel Aviv 6350671, Israel, and our telephone number is +972 (3) 545-4900. Our website address is www.wix.com. We use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information. Such disclosures will be included on our website in the “Investor Relations” sections. Accordingly, investors should monitor such sections of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute a part of this annual report and is not incorporated by reference herein. We have included our website address in this annual report solely for informational purposes. Our SEC filings are available to you on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. This site contains reports and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The information on that website is not part of this annual report and is not incorporated by reference herein. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Wix.com, Inc., located at 500 Terry A Francois, 6^th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94158-2230, telephone number (415) 639-9034.

For a description of our principal capital expenditures and divestitures for the three years ended December 31, 2021 and for those currently in progress, see Item 5. “liquidity and Capital Resources.”

We are a leading global cloud-based web development platform for millions of registered users and creators worldwide. We were founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone and to enable businesses and organizations to take their businesses, brands and workflow online to create and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence. As of December 31, 2021, we empower approximately 222 million registered users worldwide who began the website building process with us. We are pioneering a new approach to web development and management that provides a complete and powerful cloud-based platform of products and services. We offer our solutions through a freemium SaaS business model (free and premium services), and as of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 6 million premium subscriptions. We also promote our services and solutions through our partners.

Our platform consists of three web creation products, each with a different purpose or primary audience: Wix ADI, intended for fast website creation, the Wix Editor, intended for full website creation targeted at users with basic, average or above average technological skills, and Editor X, intended for advanced users such as design professionals.

With Wix ADI, users can create a complete and personalized website tailored for their specific needs in minutes. The Wix ADI technology combines relevant design and content with some basic input provided by a user about his or her business name and type and uses artificial intelligence and a human design sensibility to generate algorithms that ensure every website designed using Wix ADI will be stunning and complete. If desired, users can further modify the website created with Wix ADI using the Wix Editor.

The Wix Editor is a drag-and-drop visual development and website editing environment complete with high quality templates, graphics, image galleries and fonts. With our platform, Wix registered users can create and manage a professional quality digital presence tailored to their business and brand’s specific look and feel and that is accessible across all major browsers and the most widely used desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

Through Editor X, which offers advanced design and layouting capabilities, we allow users and design professionals, through its wide, fully responsive, flexible canvas, to use modern Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”) technologies to control the exact position and styling of elements at every viewpoint.

Our platform also includes a full-stack, no-code/low-code development environment called Velo by Wix, through which users can combine the products and solutions our platform offers with advanced developer capabilities to create content-rich websites and web applications. Velo by Wix provides the ability to use databases to manage content, application programming interfaces, or APIs, to connect with external services and the ability to expose the web application as an API, and custom code to create custom interactions. This may significantly reduce the need for developers and designers to juggle updating themes, hosts, content management systems (“CMSs”), plugins, content delivery networks (“CDNs”) and other third-party products.

We also offer a variety of additional products and services to further complement and enhance our users’ business or branding needs, most notably Payments by Wix, a payment platform that helps our users receive payments from their customers through their Wix website, and Ascend by Wix, which was launched in 2018 and offers our users access to a suite of approximately 20 products or features enabling them to easily connect with their customers, generate more traffic, automate their work, and grow their business, including capabilities to manage all of their customer interactions, capture leads, build relationships, take payments, and run email, social, and video campaigns to promote their business, all in one place. Additional services also include Wix Logo Maker, which allows users to generate and print a customizable, high-resolution logo in minutes using artificial intelligence and Wix Answers, a support infrastructure enabling our users to help their customers across multiple channels.

We also offer several vertical-specific applications that business owners can use to operate mission critical aspects of their business online, such as selling goods, taking reservations and scheduling and confirming appointments. These applications provide our users with a custom front-end for users of their website, as well as a robust back-end management dashboard. We have developed these software applications for businesses in specific verticals, including retail and online stores, services, event planners and management, hotel and property management, fitness, music, photography and restaurants, among other verticals. These vertical applications are integrated into our website templates or can be installed on any existing website and set up with minimal effort by the user and without the need to write code.

In addition, we provide a range of complementary services to address the needs of our users, including our App Market, which was launched in 2012 and offers our registered users the ability to easily install and uninstall a variety of free and paid web applications that we developed ourselves or identified and selected through third-party developers for inclusion in our App Market, based on user needs and demands. These web applications add functionality and are easily integrated into registered users’ websites with one click, without the need for any coding, and include social plug-ins, online marketing and customer relationship management tools, contact forms and transactional and payment processing capabilities. Additional complementary services include, among others, the Wix Marketplace, an online marketplace which brings users seeking help with creating and managing a website together with talented web experts, the Wix Owner App, a native mobile application enabling users to manage their websites and Wix operating systems on the go and Branded App, which gives users the ability to create a fully branded native mobile application for their business.

Our cloud-based platform is accessed through a hosted environment, allowing our registered users to update their site and manage their business or organization at any time from anywhere with an internet connection. We provide our users with flexibility and scalability, allowing them to expand their digital presence as their business, organizational, professional or individual needs change and grow.

Our scale and reach makes us an attractive partner for companies interested in distributing their own solutions to our audience. As we expand our platform through partnerships we are able to increase our value proposition for existing users and more easily attract new users.

We are removing not only technological, but also geographic and linguistic barriers to web development, to empower almost anyone to create and manage a digital presence in their own language.  We currently enable our users to create their online presence in any language and offer our platform in 22 languages — English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian, and we plan to add more languages in the future.

As consumers have moved almost all forms of commerce online and onto mobile devices, businesses, organizations and professionals need not only a website, but also a dynamic digital presence with tools to manage interactions with customers, suppliers, partners and employees online and in real time. These interactions include back-end activities like invoicing, customer relationship management and payment processing, as well as front-end activities such as communications, online marketing, reservations and scheduling, and social media integration.

Use of dynamic web content and services for high-level customer engagement is becoming increasingly prolific. However, building this presence is becoming more challenging for businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals due to costs, time constraints, lack of skills and language barriers. The complexities of web creation and focus on design needs also create challenges for professionals who build web content, such as our partners. We believe there is a significant opportunity to provide an elegant cost-effective solution that caters to the accelerating demands of anyone who needs to create a dynamic, professional digital presence or application. Further, we also believe that there is a significant opportunity to provide solutions that help bring efficiencies to web development and further help businesses manage operations and grow online through vertical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), marketing, mobile, customer management and communication products and tools.

Wix is a cloud-based web development platform for millions of registered users and creators worldwide which was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions (freemium model), Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, professionals, and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. Wix also empowers its partners who utilize its services and products to serve their own customers.

Our web development technology is built based on HTML5 and offers HTML5 compatible capabilities, web design and layouting tools, domain hosting, and other marketing and work flow management applications and services. Our hosting ensures sites are up and running and requires no installation. We consider website security as one of our highest priorities and strive to offer multi-layered security processes and practices to keep websites safe and secure.

Our registered users receive access to hundreds of free design templates for personal and business use, free web hosting through a Wix domain, free access to our App Market, which offers a variety of free and paid applications, and blog and social network page support. The websites developed using our free product contain Wix advertisements in the footer and/or header, and tags, or metadata, which contain our name. Our name is also contained in the URL of the user’s website.

Our free product and service offerings include the following features and capabilities:

By registering with our service, our users gain free access to three different web creation products: Wix ADI, intended for fast website creation, the Wix Editor, intended for users with basic or above technological capabilities, and Editor X, intended for professional level users. These three creation products enable our users to design and manage as many websites as they choose, to establish or enhance their digital presence. No installation of software is necessary to use these web editors, as our advanced editing and design platform is accessible through the cloud directly from our website. All of our web editors allow registered users to optimize their existing Wix sites for viewing on mobile devices.  Our mobile site technology is also based on HTML5 and allows registered users to customize their sites for different mobile devices, yet share design elements and all site data between the different variants. We do not currently charge for having a mobile presence through our platform.

Velo by Wix is a powerful no code / low code development platform that allows users to extend the functionality of their online presence. With Velo, creators, designers and developers can take advantage of a server-less development environment that features an array of advanced functions to create content-rich, custom websites and web applications. This innovative product combines our creation products—Wix ADI, Wix Editor and Editor X —with a powerful set of development capabilities. Starting with our creation products, users can design a front end (client-side), then employ Velo developer tools to add advanced functionality and capabilities to the back end. Velo includes features that are built into the platform and do not require code to implement. Velo enables easier web application creation, providing the ability to use databases to manage content, APIs to connect with external services and the ability to expose the web application as an API. This significantly reduces the need for website managers to coordinate between updating themes, hosts, CMSs, plugins, CDNs and other third-party products. Velo provides an all-in-one platform, hosted on the Wix cloud, that allows users to spend their time on creation, rather than on complicated setup and maintenance. These capabilities are coupled with the Wix OS backend to manage all operational aspects of a website or application.

In addition to our creation products and development environment, multiple complementary products and services are available for users to create and manage their digital presence on Wix.

The Wix App Market is a marketplace that offers our registered users a large variety of free and paid web applications for building, growing, and managing their businesses.  The web applications available in the App Market, which are developed by us, or by third-party developers, meet our users’ business needs inmarketing, support, bookings, accounting, design, social and media apps, and more.

Wix Marketplace brings together our users, who are seeking help in creating and managing a website, and our users who are talented web designers or agencies and who can help the former to build and operate a website that fits their needs and brings their vision to life.  Users can search through hundreds of talented professionals filtered by different criteria such as price, required professional service, and location, and explore their portfolios to find the pro who best meets their needs.

Our native mobile applications are available in iOS and Android. The Wix Owner mobile app allows users to fully manage their websites and Wix operating systems on the go and run their businesses, wherever they are, in real time. It is an interface that streamlines the day-to-day mobile management that businesses need to operate e-commerce, marketing, customer service, bookings and communications with customers and site visitors. We also offer Spaces by Wix, a dedicated mobile app that serves as an interface between the site owner and their customers. Space by Wix serves as a mobile native business front for buying products, ordering services, registering to attend events and more. Customers use Space by Wix to communicate with the business owner or between themselves as a community. Both apps are available for download for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Our users have access to a set of tools to manage their site and business directly from a back-office dashboard that displays helpful information regarding the user’s site and business and data insights through Wix Analytics.

Wix Customer Care provides support and guidance to our users throughout the Wix platform. Users can find answers through our self-service offerings (our help center and chatbot) or engage with our Customer Care experts across multiple channels (calls, chat, or email).

We have a global department of Customer Care teams that are located across the United States (San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Cedar Rapids, and Austin) and EMEA (Kyiv, Tel Aviv, and Dublin). As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine Customer Care team members have relocated to other countries and some have relocated within Ukraine, and our site in Kyiv is currently non-operational. In addition, we partner with two offshore BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) teams in order to provide 24/7 coverage and guarantee ongoing support for all of our markets. We provide customized care in 18 languages.

Our experts use the Wix Answers platform to support our users. Our advanced customer care solution enables our experts to retrieve user details, see all previous interactions with Customer Care, and access useful information that can help resolve our users’ issues and assist them in achieving their online business goals.

Our experts are expected to resolve users’ issues and also encouraged to provide next-level service by using their vast knowledge and experience to provide meaningful suggestions that help steer our users to success. This approach is applied to all interactions with our users, both free and premium.

We also use data models developed by our team, to identify and proactively contact new users so that we can help them set up and launch their online presence.

Our premium subscriptions are purchased primarily by businesses, organizations and professionals in a variety of fields, such as art, finance, entertainment, music, photography, tourism, beauty, sports, food services, property management or publishing. Premium subscriptions may also be purchased by creators such as our partners that, in some cases, are engaged by their customers to build web content. The customers of our premium subscriptions are not concentrated in any particular field.

We offer two tiers of premium subscription plans: (i) Website and (ii) Business & e-Commerce (which includes the ability to accept online payments). We also offer additional tiers of paid subscription plans for Editor X.

Our premium subscriptions offer all of the features of our creation products, Velo and our other complementary products and services. Premium subscriptions also include the ability to connect a custom domain name, which can be purchased and managed directly through the Wix platform or a third party, the removal of Wix branded ads on the site and some subscription levels provide the option to obtain custom reports generated through Wix Analytics. Our VIP premium subscriptions also offer premium technical support services. We also offer ad vouchers with certain of our premium subscriptions, which allow registered users to expand their digital presence by, for example, advertising their pages on third-party sites, such as Bing and Google.

In addition, users can purchase or use products and services to further manage and grow their online business on Wix:

Payments by Wix enables our users to accept payments for goods and services both online and offline (through point of sale, (“POS”)) from their customers, either from third-party payment processors or from Wix Payments, our proprietary fully integrated payments service. Users can select one or more payment methods available to appear on their checkout page, depending on their geographic location and type of goods and services they offer.  Users must purchase a Premium Subscription to accept online payments.

In 2018, we introduced Wix Payments which allows users to set up and accept payments, in an automated and instant onboarding process made entirely within the Wix platform. Wix Payments also includes a dashboard to view history of online transactions, from sales to payouts, in a single place, solving a significant challenge with doing business online. Many types of businesses, including e-commerce retailers, service providers, musicians, photographers, hotels, restaurants, and many more are able to take advantage of the efficiency provided by Wix Payments. Wix Payments is currently active in Brazil, the U.S. and several European countries and is intended to be expanded to additional countries.

Ascend by Wix is a suite of approximately 20 products and features, based on a freemium subscription model, which enable users to easily connect with their customers, automate their work, and grow their business. Ascend by Wix is an inbox and chat-centric product that allows users to discover tools that they might not be aware of or know they need to be successful online including chat, contact manager, automations, email marketing, Wix SEO Wiz, social posts and many more.

Users can purchase Ascend by Wix on a monthly, yearly, or multi-year subscription basis, and can choose between various price points based on the number of contributors, lead-capture forms, customizable forms, and email–campaigns-per-month required.

Wix Logo Maker generates a customizable, high-resolution logo in minutes using artificial intelligence, providing users with a critical piece for building an online brand. Through Wix Logo Maker, users can design a stunning logo, get downloadable professional vector files in a variety of sizes and color formats, custom design and order business cards with their customized business logo, and build a website based on the styles and colors of their customized business logo.

Wix Answers is the platform that serves as the support infrastructure for our Customer Care team. We began offering this platform as a standalone product to Wix users and other businesses, enabling them to help their users across multiple channels. Wix Answers can be customized to various types of businesses with an intuitive set-up and offers a customer support infrastructure which includes a knowledge base, ticketing system, chat, and call center, each of which can be purchased separately or as a bundle. It also offers integration with other platforms, actionable insights, and an embeddable widget that can be used with any website.

We offer our users the ability to choose and connect their own domain name to their website to better enhance their brand, through third parties that offer domain names, or through our offering as an ICANN accredited domain name registrar. Domain names are offered as a stand-alone product, and also are included as part of our premium subscription offerings. Registered users without a premium subscription are assigned a domain name which includes the Wix site address.

We sell Google’s Google Workspace application as an integrated solution, which allows our users to create a personalized Gmail email address using their domain name, to enable them to send professional emails from their business address, create group mailing lists for sales, support, email marketing and more.

As part of our extended commerce offering, in 2021, we introduced Wix POS, an end-to-end omnichannel solution unifying online and offline sales directly from the Wix platform. With Wix POS, customers who have an online store and a physical shop are able to manage their business easily while having a single product catalog, one inventory channel and a unified sales history.

We began providing our Stores and some Bookings users a fully native solution to manage gift cards and customer re-engagement activities, following the acquisition of My Treat Ltd. (a.k.a Rise.ai.). Gift cards can be used by brands and businesses to attract new customers, increase purchase frequency and retain existing customers.

We offer a robust and comprehensive commerce platform for all types of business owners. As each business segment faces a unique set of challenges, we developed a commerce platform on top of which we offer tailored products and solutions to address specific business needs. This strategy allows us to build on this solid foundation by adding more layers and enhancements that cater to the specific needs of each industry and provides an easy and affordable way for these businesses to bring mission critical workflow online. Current vertical solutions are Wix Stores, Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants, Wix Events, Wix Fitness, Wix Hotels, Wix Music, Wix Photography, Wix Video, Wix Blog, and Wix Forum. We intend to continue introducing additional solutions, once we are able to identify a need for such solutions, that are tailored to specific businesses.

Wix Stores is our e-commerce solution that allows our users to create, design and manage an online store to sell their physical or digital products online and accept payments using an integrated shopping cart application, which is already included in the subscription. Wix Stores users can tailor the style of the online store to their business, and can accept payment from their users for products or services they offer through a variety of integrated payment solutions we offer, such as wallets, credit cards, and through other types of offline payments such as cash on delivery. We also provide users with the ability to manage inventory, provide coupons, set shipping and tax rules, sell through multiple channels including social media and marketplaces, and utilize dropshipping. Additionally, users can manage their online store on the go by using the Wix Owner App on a mobile device. Wix Bookings

Wix Bookings is an end-to-end online booking solution, giving businesses an easy and effective way to showcase their services and allow online scheduling of appointments, classes and courses, as well as manage their own schedule by synchronizing with their primary Google Calendar, reducing no-shows by sending auto-reminder emails to customers, selling membership and packages, and customizing products.

Wix Restaurants provides various solutions for restauranteurs, including Wix Restaurants Menus, Wix Restaurants Orders and Wix Restaurants Reservations. Wix Restaurants Menus enables restauranteurs to easily create a menu on their Wix website, using professionally created layouts offered on our site. Wix Restaurants Orders is an online ordering solution for restauranteurs enabling them to receive takeout and delivery orders through their desktop and mobile Wix websites and to consequently grow their business and maintain a direct relationship with their customers. Wix Restaurants Reservations allows restaurant owners to take online table reservations from their restaurant site and confirm and manage reservations via their Wix dashboard. Restaurant owners can also use the Dine by Wix mobile app to allow customers to easily interact with the restaurant and order food directly from a mobile device.

Wix Events is an application which enables users to create and manage their events on both desktop and mobile, send invites, collect RSVPs, sell tickets and manage a guest list. Wix Events can be used for conferences, meetups, concerts, shows, weddings, parties, and more, and in 2020 we introduced a third-party integration for virtual events. Users can use Wix Events to promote their events on social media. We charge a commission from our Wix Events users on a portion of online sales of tickets sold through Wix Events.

Wix Fitness enables fitness instructors and studio owners to manage each aspect of their businesses from their website and the Fit by Wix App. Fitness professionals can create a website using newly designed templates and customize the Fit by Wix App, manage their calendars and classes, connect with their community, stream and sell videos, take payments and develop reports and analytics to help grow their business. Wix Fitness offers bookings, subscriptions, e-commerce including coupons, SEO and email marketing, as well as a chat-centric interface that allows for real-time interactions with customers.

Wix Hotels offers a complete booking engine that is fully integrated into a Wix website for hotels, B&Bs and vacation rentals, making it simple to build and maintain the room inventory complete with pricing, booking, reservation and payment management capabilities. Through their dashboards, hotel owners can easily add reservations made elsewhere and manage their entire room inventory in one place and accept and manage bookings that come through many online travel agencies and marketplaces.

Wix Music is a complete solution for musicians and entertainers that includes an advanced music player, an easy-to-use digital asset management system, concert promotion and ticketing, fan management and communication tools and a range of specifically designed music website templates.

Wix Photography is a comprehensive solution for photographers looking to create their portfolio and manage their business online, from both desktop and mobile. Our dedicated solution includes multiple templates custom designed for photographers and dozens of gallery layout options, including specific features relevant for professional photographers and other visual artists, such as the ability to determine image resolution, load videos, share their portfolio on social media, sell digital or printed artwork and more. In addition to a dedicated portfolio site to showcase their art, Wix offers photographers and other visual artists relevant and widely used tools, such as the Wix Photo Albums app that enables event photographers to easily create an album site for their clients and enhance their exposure to potential clients, and Wix Art Store that allows artists to sell their art online to their customers.

Wix Blog enables users to easily create a blog and grow an online community. Users can choose from several beautiful layouts with built-in social features. Readers can join the blog, create member profiles, follow posts, and comment with images and videos. In addition, users have the option to set up a paywall and charge for access to select content.

Our selling and marketing efforts focus primarily on online and offline advertising, and on sales and account management teams focused on meeting the needs of our partners that may utilize our products and services to serve their own customers.

We market our solutions and applications to businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals, including entrepreneurs and freelancers, as well as through partners.  We are able to attract a high volume of registered users, including premium subscribers, by offering free solutions and services, as well as upgrades and additional features and solutions to our premium subscribers.

We engage in online and offline advertising, with a focus on acquiring new users to our platform, converting these users into purchasing premium subscriptions, and increasing our revenue from them by selling them our business solutions. A majority of our premium subscriptions are generated from free traffic to our website, primarily through search engine optimization or direct traffic, meaning visitor traffic that reached our website, Wix.com, via unpaid search results or by typing the URL of our website in their browser. We also acquire a small amount of free traffic through our participation on social networking sites and the banner advertisements we place on our non-paying registered users’ websites. In order to increase our exposure and optimize organic, or free, search engine results, we constantly test our search engine optimization strategy to ensure that our website is relevant to those potential customers seeking web development and design products. Furthermore, we continually evaluate our marketing spending and its effectiveness and invest in those activities that are most likely to maximize our return by generating premium subscriptions which will drive high revenues.

In addition to our online and offline marketing activities to acquire new users, we also acquire new users by engaging with partners that use our platform for their own work and as resellers for their clients. We accomplish this outreach with our sales and account management teams as well as through marketing content, online communities and organized events and conferences.

We believe our user acquisition strategy further benefits from the brand we have built as a leading web development and design platform for businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals.  We are also growing our brand among professional creators. We believe that our branding efforts have accounted for a significant portion of users who come directly to our website, through typing our URL directly into their browsers, or through searching for “Wix” or a term related to the establishment of a digital presence.  We believe that these users are also attracted due to referrals from other users, and via word-of-mouth regarding our products and services.  Our acquisition strategy also benefits from our use of A/B testing on our website, a marketing approach that aims to identify changes to our website which may increase or maximize user interest and acquisition.  Our Design Studio team changes the layout of our website from time to time, and engages in A/B testing to determine which layouts and graphics are the most successful in maximizing user acquisition.

Our marketing expenditures directed to advertising were $284.5 million in 2021, $282.8 million in 2020 and $187.3 million in 2019. Our marketing expenditures are primarily directed toward search engine advertising, advertising on social networks, video advertising and traditional media advertising.

We also maintain the Wix Affiliate Program, a program where our affiliates receive a commission for directing visitors to our website, by placing Wix ads on their personal websites.  From time to time we also hold webinars, promotional contests, user meet-ups and public relations events.

We also maintain an active online presence using social networking sites and web design influencers for our Editor X brand.

We have enhanced our sales efforts to attract partners, including those who sell premium subscriptions and additional business solutions to their customers at scale. We have established dedicated sales, marketing, and customer success teams to facilitate the use of our services by these customer segments. In addition, we work to develop back-office functionality required by our partners.

We further expect to retain premium subscriptions and maximize our revenue from partners by providing improved support to them, as well as account management and additional business solutions.

Once we attract visitors to our website, our preliminary goal is to register them as registered users.  Once they are registered, we distribute marketing and promotional emails and support tools to help our registered users build their site. These materials are created by our Wix content team, which complements our marketing efforts by focusing on the consistency of our branding message online, in our offline merchandise and at our community events. We constantly seek to convert our registered users to purchase premium subscriptions and to maximize our revenue from such subscriptions by offering them enhanced functionalities through business solutions. Registered users who convert to a premium subscription gain access to additional features based on the subscription they choose, which may include Wix ad removal, access to additional features in Wix Analytics, domain connectivity, e-commerce and payment solutions. We offer a 14-day refund to introduce registered users to these additional products and solutions.  Registered users can choose between monthly, yearly or multi-year premium subscriptions, and, as of December 31, 2021, 85% of our active premium subscriptions were for a one-year period or more and 15% were monthly. We seek to increase the number of premium yearly and multi-year subscriptions by offering seasonal promotions and discounts on these subscriptions. We also send emails to our yearly and multi-year premium subscribers, reminding them that their subscriptions are about to renew or that they need to renew them before expiration, as well as coupons and other discounts on products and services to maximize our revenue from such premium subscriptions. We seek to retain premium subscriptions by offering upgrades for our premium products and free and premium applications in our App Market.

We further retain premium subscriptions by developing relationships with subscribing users through our Customer Care team, with which we address our registered users’ technological needs and concerns. Through our Customer Care operations, we also help free registered users transition to premium subscriptions by providing guidance on integration of premium subscription features into existing websites created with our web editors, and we further help our users with premium subscription to discover additional business solutions to enhance their subscription and, as a result, their engagement in our platform. We seek to maintain goodwill with all of our registered users, and retain them as registered users, even if they do not choose to subscribe to, renew or enhance their premium subscriptions.

Our cloud-based platform provides our registered users with a suite of web design, development and workflow management products and applications, as well as hosting for our registered users’ sites.  All of these tools are accessible directly through our platform.  In order to enhance our suite of products, we also conduct product and quality assurance testing on all new and existing technology integrated into our platform.

We use a flexible hybrid cloud, comprised of both cloud-based storage and data centers, to host our products and our applications, and the websites that our registered users create.  We rely on collocated servers, cloud service providers and other third-party hardware and infrastructure to support our operations.  Our primary data centers are located in two geographically separate locations in the United States, one located on the East coast and the other located on the West coast, as well as in Europe and Japan.  The vast majority of our data is located in our primary data centers in the United States hosted by Google, Inc. and Amazon Web Services by Amazon.com, Inc. as well as by additional providers as required or for specific purposes, and we also use cloud storage from Google, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. Our network equipment is stored in servers leased from Equinix, Inc. To date, we have not experienced any material outages or service interruptions. This highly scalable multi-tenant technology infrastructure enables us to serve all of our users simultaneously and consistently, and scales based on overall traffic and capacity. As a result, our platform is not affected or slowed down by growth in the number of users whose data is stored in our cloud. Our cloud technology is also capable of full resource sharing, meaning that our registered users can access information via their individual website database easily over the Internet without the need for manual download, with content delivery provided by international cloud delivery network vendors. To further reduce the possibility that data of our registered users will be lost, and that our platform will not experience material downtime, we also use Google and Amazon cloud services as well as additional providers, to back up our users’ data.  We apply industry standard data security measures to protect against potential vulnerabilities in our technology.

HTML5 is the latest and most advanced markup language available for structuring and presenting dynamic content on the Internet. Websites using HTML5 can seamlessly incorporate video, audio, fonts, graphics and animations. Because of these advanced capabilities, we use HTML5 as the basis for our products.  We developed our HTML5-based technology by leveraging our many years of experience in developing web development and design tools.

Our style engine technology provides registered users with advanced customization capabilities, making all aspects of a registered user’s website customizable. Our technology, which uses dropdown lists and customized color palettes, allows the user to quickly brand or re-brand their website with just a few clicks in our editor.  In one click, users can customize backgrounds, banners, buttons, fonts and font sizes using a dropdown list.  Registered users can customize colors using a color palette.  One click also allows a user to simultaneously apply all color and style changes to all elements on the user’s website. This type of customization is generally time-consuming and requires knowledge of advanced HTML5 and CSS3 coding skills.  However, with our style engine technology, our registered users can change their websites’ style and branding in moments.

Our editors include the Wix Editor’s Smart Layout technology that offers both functionality and customization.  Our technology provides for dynamic layout and content, meaning that no one component box on a registered user’s website is static or incapable of being moved to other areas of the user’s page.  Component boxes added to our registered users’ websites identify the user’s site structure and automatically adapt to the size and style of other component boxes within the site. These capabilities allow the registered user full control over the layout of their website, allowing the user to create a design-rich, professional website. Through Editor X, which offers advanced design and layouting capabilities, we allow users and design professionals, through its wide, flexible canvas, to use modern CSS technologies to control the exact position and styling of elements at every viewpoint.

We use a powerful software development kit, or SDK, with an application programming interface, or API, which allows web solutions, applications and widgets to be seamlessly embedded into the websites designed by our registered users.  Web solutions and applications are configured by third-party developers using a self-service system called Wix Developer Center. This technology allows the user to embed third-party applications or widgets, such as ratings, news and books into the user’s website by linking the application or widget’s URL to the user’s website.  It also allows third-party service integrations that need to receive website events, such as order management and financial services. All integrations are done using the Wix App Market, where the user can choose which web solutions or applications they would like to add to their website. The added application or widget may then be opened as a pop-up on the user’s website, which further adds to our editor’s dynamic layout capabilities.  Furthermore, SEO used in connection with the user’s website will also attach to the embedded widget or application data, increasing the overall visibility of the user’s digital presence.

Our application development and data technology, Wix Databases, is a platform that allows our registered users and developers to create their own applications and work management tools, such as contact forms and FAQ lists. This platform uses our drag-and-drop, style engine and smart layout technology, so that the user or developer may create professional-looking applications and tools with customized styles, colors and layouts.  The applications and tools created through Wix Databases can be fully integrated into our registered users’ websites through publishing on the Wix Editor platform.

Our operations, including marketing and delivery, are efficient since the vast majority of them are online-based and, as such, provide us with flexibility and scalability. Our hybrid cloud and content delivery network enables our registered users to purchase and use our products and services online, through our website. As a result of these efficiencies, we have built a large registered user base, while limiting the number of physical offices required for conducting our business. Our marketing and customer support operations are supported by online marketing tools such as CPC advertising, SEO and email distributions, and by customer support tools such as online forums and an advanced user self-service support system using online ticketing and a database of questions and answers.

We currently process all of the payments using a billing system that enables our registered users to submit information of credit, debit card and other alternative payment methods for payment processing. This system interfaces with a number of different payment gateway providers who then link to payment card processors and/or acquiring banks, based on the registered user’s jurisdiction. With this system, we are not dependent on any single gateway provider or payment card processor in any of our main markets.

Our infrastructure includes servers and bandwidth capacity collocated from third parties located in the United States, as well as in Europe, Japan, and any other locations as required, including cloud storage from Google and Amazon as well as additional providers as required or for specific purposes.  We mostly use third-party cloud services to run our research and development activities (such as Amazon, Google, GitHub and BuildKite) and to operate our office applications.  Our use of servers in different locations to back up our registered users’ data and to serve our registered users, protects against accidental data loss and reduces disruption to our operations from server outages or physical damage to a server.  We aim to maintain industry standard server operations, which will provide our growing registered user base with industry standard reliability to access to our products and consistent service provisions.

As of December 31, 2021, we had 2,349 employees and contractors focused on research and development.  Our research and development team, which also includes our design team and our quality assurance team, is comprised of individuals with experience in web development, design, data management and data analysis. Our principal research and development activities are conducted from our headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel.  We also engage teams of developers in Beer-Sheva and Haifa, Israel, Lithuania, Germany, U.S., UK and Ukraine to benefit from the significant pool of talent that is more readily available in those markets.  As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine developers have relocated to other countries and some have relocated within Ukraine and, as a result, our sites in Ukraine are currently non-operational. Our research and development personnel focus primarily on enhancing our technology, improving our products, and developing new products and solutions.

Our research and development spending was $424.9 million in 2021, $320.3 million in 2020 and $250.8 million in 2019. We invest in research and development to enhance and expand our product and service offerings, tailor our marketing efforts, and expand our registered user base.  Our development strategy is focused on identifying updates and enhanced features for our existing offerings, developing new offerings that are tailored to our registered users’ and our partners’ needs and often arise out of their suggestions, and improving the performance, resilience, and scalability of our platform. For this, we rely heavily on sophisticated tools, such as automated process systems which, for example, enable our registered users to request new product features and upgrades, which then enables us to quickly react to our registered users’ requests. We also engage in A/B testing to measure the effectiveness of our upgrades and new product features.

We aim to recruit talented individuals for our research and development team through a variety of techniques, including cooperation with local universities and recruiting events.  We are a member of key industry organizations and regularly attend and participate in industry events, where our employees frequently speak. We also engage with potential talents by publishing professional blog posts, videos and research articles as well as hosting technology meet-ups in our headquarters and regional offices.

Our success depends, among other things, upon our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property.  We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, industrial design and trade secret laws, as well as licensing agreements and third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements to protect our intellectual property and know-how.  We have filed a number of patent applications and continue to file for patents to protect our inventions. We have pending patent applications in the United States as well as in several additional jurisdictions worldwide. We also have pending Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT, applications that may lead to additional patent applications. Certain of our applications have been accepted and patents were granted. However, we cannot be certain that all our applications will issue as patents or of the scope of protection any issued patent would provide.  We actively monitor innovation within our company so as to properly consider whether to file additional patent applications. In addition, we have filed a number of applications to register our copyrights, however, we do not register the copyrights in all of our copyrightable works. We enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements with our employees, consultants, business partners and other third parties to whom we may disclose confidential information, and we control access to and distribution of our proprietary information.

The Wix brand is central to our business strategy, and we believe that maintaining, protecting and enhancing the Wix brand is important to expanding our business.  We have obtained trademark registrations in certain jurisdictions for trademarks that we consider material to the marketing of our products, including the WIX® mark and the Wix logo, as well as EDITOR X®, ADI® and DEVIANTART® marks. We also have trademark applications pending for additional marks that we use to identify certain product collections used for certain of our products.  While we expect to submit additional trademark applications and expect our pending applications to mature into registrations, we cannot be certain that we will obtain such registrations.

In 2020, we also began registering rights to our typeface font, MADEFOR, available in 10 weights and all the Latin languages in the U.S. EU, UK, and Brazil.

Our in-house know-how is an important element of our intellectual property.  The development of our web development and design software and management of our data analysis and marketing programs, requires sophisticated coordination among many specialized employees.  We believe that duplication of this coordination by competitors or individuals seeking to copy our software offering would be difficult. This risk is further mitigated by the fact that our product and service offerings are cloud-based such that most of the core technology operating on our systems is never exposed to our users or to our competitors.

We enable our registered users to create a customizable, fully integrated and professional digital presence through an attractive web-based software platform with various marketing and workflow management capabilities.  We believe that the key competitive factors in our market include, simplicity and ease of use, product breadth, integration of multiple solutions, price, design quality, global scope, security and reliability and brand recognition and reputation.

We believe that we compete favorably on these factors because of the unique combination of our comprehensive suite of design and digital presence software, advanced technology and product integration, efficiencies in operations, brand recognition and marketing expertise, longstanding customer, designer and developer relationships, large user base, and track record of successfully attracting new users to our website and products.

The market for providing web-based website design and management software is evolving and highly fragmented today. We believe no provider currently offers a comprehensive, customizable, fully integrated workflow solution to create and manage a professional digital presence comparable to ours.  However, some providers currently offer separate products or technologies that overlap with parts of our solution and could try to integrate these with other products to offer a more comprehensive solution in the future. Providers of these point products vary and include:

Additionally, several large service companies that primarily offer domain registration and hosting services, such as GoDaddy, provide the ability for a business owner to build a website using their tools or have one built by their workforce.

We believe personal and professional growth is imperative to the well-being of our employees.  Such growth requires us to provide opportunities to acquire new skills and to develop through exploration, experience and learning. We provide learning and development programs and have multiple specialized teams focused on developing great learning and growth platforms for our people worldwide.

As part of our continued emphasis on employee satisfaction and retention, we have teams dedicated to supporting our employees’ physical and mental health. We offer well-being benefits (that may vary by location) like health insurance, fitness sessions and subsidized psychology sessions.

We actively encourage our people to support their local communities, and we recognize and respect our employees’ passion for engaging with their communities by creating initiatives like the “Wix Playground Academy” (a program hosted by Wix employees that helps young creatives looking to enrich their professional skill sets, interact with industry leaders and network with other designers), “A Site a Year” (an annual initiative where designers across Wix build a website from scratch for a small business or NGO), “Wix Karma” (a global initiative that gives our employees the opportunity to help others in any way they can), and “Wix Education” (a program that provides teachers with the curriculum and resources to teach web creation in the classroom).

We recognize the importance of fighting climate change and our responsibility to make sustainable choices. While our environmental efforts are relatively new, we’re developing a long-term plan, and we’re starting with the way we build our new headquarters.

Our first ESG report that details our philosophy and the various initiatives under each of the pillars above is available on our investor relations website at https://investors.wix.com/esg and is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report. We believe that transparent and regular reporting is another measure to hold ourselves accountable. We expect to continue to evolve our ESG strategy in the future as our ESG program matures.

In many jurisdictions, including the United States and countries in Europe, laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third parties are evolving and are currently being tested by a number of claims, including actions based on defamation, breach of data protection and data privacy rights and other torts, unfair competition, copyright and trademark infringement, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content uploaded by users.

We hold certain personal information of our registered users, primarily, username, email address and billing details that are provided by our registered users and by our users who have purchased premium subscriptions, and may store certain personal information of the users of our registered users’ websites. We are subject to the data protection and storage laws of the State of Israel, as well as certain industry standards. In addition, we are subject to local data privacy legislation in the areas where we operate, including the U.S. We operate in accordance with the terms of our privacy policy and terms of use, which describe our practices concerning the use, transmission and disclosure of user data and personal information.

A number of legislative proposals pending before the U.S. Congress and various state legislative bodies, concerning data privacy and data protection, including changing regulatory guidelines and interpretations, could affect us and our business, our products and our services. For example, the FTC instituted guidelines relating to children’s online privacy that were issued under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Additionally, some states have passed proactive, as well as reactive, data privacy and information security legislation such as the CCPA, CPRA, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) and the Colorado Privacy Act (“CPA”). More generally, some observers have noted the CCPA, CPRA, VCDPA, and CPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent United States federal privacy legislation, which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. Regulatory enforcement actions and trends in consumer class actions against other online companies suggest a trend that regulators and judges may require such companies to adopt certain minimum data privacy protections and data security measures to protect personal information. The Company has a dedicated team that implements relevant measures in relation to applicable data privacy and information security laws, and to assess the impact of other such laws that may apply to us in the future. The costs of compliance with these laws, best practices and regulatory guidance may increase in the future as a result of changes in regulatory guidelines and interpretation.

We are subject to theGDPR and to the UK GDPR, which impose a comprehensive and strict data protection compliance regime in relation to our collection, control, processing, sharing, disclosure and other use of data relating to an identifiable living individual (personal data), including obligations in relation to data breaches, extensive data subject / individual rights, and restrictions on international transfers of personal data, as well as introducing significant fines and other penalties for breach. Additionally, the GDPR and UK GDPR have an extra-territorial effect and regulate the covered data processing activities of businesses regardless of their location or the locations of their servers. We are subject to the GDPR and the UK GDPR as a “controller” of certain information (primarily in relation to our users and our employees) and as a “processor” of certain other information (primarily personal data collected by our registered users themselves through the websites that we host for them).  The GDPR imposes obligations on both controllers and, to a lesser extent, processors. The company has a dedicated team that seeks to take the necessary measures in order to maintain compliance with the GDPR, UK GDPR and other applicable data protection regulations.

We are also subject to European Union and UK privacy laws on cookies, web beacons and similar tracking technologies, and e-marketing, including obligations to, among other things, obtain consent to store information or access information already stored on an individual’s terminal equipment (e.g., computer or mobile device).  Prior to providing such consent, individuals must receive clear and comprehensive information, in accordance with applicable laws.

Our principal facilities are located in Tel Aviv, Israel and consist of approximately 23,492 square meters (approximately 252,866 square feet) of leased office space. We also lease additional office space in Beer-Sheva, Israel totaling approximately 2,541 square meters (approximately 27,351 square feet) and in Haifa Israel totaling approximately 317 square meters (approximately 3,412 square feet). These facilities accommodate our principal executive, research and development, marketing, design, business development, human resources, finance, legal information technology, customer support and administrative activities. The leases for our Tel Aviv offices expire on various dates between April 14, 2022, and December 31, 2026. In addition, as announced in April 2019, we have committed to lease approximately 55,000 square meters (approximately 592,014 square feet) for our new corporate headquarters in Tel Aviv for an initial period of 10 years commencing on the transfer of possession, and we have the option to extend the lease period for additional periods of up to 15 years, subject to the conditions of the lease agreement. On September 30, 2021, we committed to leasing an additional 23,000 square meters in our new corporate headquarters. These new offices are currently under construction, and we plan to begin occupying them in the second half of 2022 and to fully occupy them in the second half of 2023.

In the United States, we maintain offices in New York City, San Francisco, Denver and Miami as well as in Los Angeles. In New York, we lease approximately 26,650 square feet under a lease that will expire in August 2029, and we have an option to terminate it early in March 2024. In San Francisco, we lease 34,459 square feet until February 28, 2031.  In Miami, we are expanding our office in a phased manner and will ultimately occupy a total of 48,148 square feet by December 2023 with a lease that expires in April 2031 with an option to terminate early, in May  2028. In Los Angeles, we currently lease approximately 15,500 square feet under a lease that expires on November 30, 2026, with an option to extend the lease. In Denver, we occupy 37,406 square feet of office space under a sub-lease that expires in August 2023. In Lithuania, we maintain offices in Vilnius, in Germany, we maintain an office in Berlin, in Ireland, we maintain an office in Dublin, in Brazil, we maintain an office in Santana de Parnaiba near the city of Sao Paulo, in Japan, we maintain an office in Tokyo, in Poland we maintain an office in Krakow. In Ukraine, we maintain offices in Kyiv, Lvov and in Dnipro. As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine team members have relocated to other countries and some have relocated within Ukraine, and our sites in Ukraine are currently non-operational.

See “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

The legal name of our company is Wix.com Ltd. and we are organized under the laws of the State of Israel.  We have 23 wholly owned subsidiaries: Wix.com Brasil Serviços De Internet Ltda. (Brazil), Wix.com, Inc. (Delaware, United States), Wix.com Luxemburg S.a.r.l (Luxemburg), Wix.com UAB (Lithuania), Wix Online Platform Limited (Ireland), Wix.com Services Mexico S de RL de C.V. (Mexico), Wix.com Internet Services Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (Mexico), Wix.Com Germany GmbH (Germany), Wix Com India Private Limited (India), Wix.com Colombia S.A.S. (Colombia), Wix.com Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), Wix.com Japan K.K. (Japan), WixWhat Ltd. (Israel), Wix Procurement Ltd. (Israel), Rise AI e-Commerce Solutions Ltd. (Israel), Done.cx Ltd. (Israel), Wix.com Ukraine Limited Liability Company (Ukraine), Wix.com (UK) Limited (United Kingdom), Wix.com Poland SP. Z O.O. (Poland), Wix.com France SAS (France), Wix.com Australia Pty Ltd. (Australia), Wix.com Netherlands B.V. (Netherlands), and Loyalblocks Ltd. (Israel).

Our subsidiary Wix.com Inc. wholly owns InkFrog, Inc. (Arizona), SpeedeTab, Inc. (Delaware), Modalyst, Inc. (Delaware) and DeviantArt, Inc. (Delaware), which wholly owns Wix Payments Canada Inc. (Canada), DeviantArt Music, Inc. (Delaware) and Dadotart Inc. (Delaware).

Our subsidiary Loyalblocks Ltd. (Israel) wholly owns Loyalblocks Ltd. (Delaware).

Our subsidiary Done.cx Ltd. (Israel) wholly owns Done.cx, Inc. (Delaware).

Our subsidiary Wix.com Netherlands B.V. is a general partner in Netherlandix C.V., a limited partnership organized in the Netherlands.

For a discussion of property, plants and equipment, see “Item 4.B. Business Overview—Facilities.”

Not applicable.

We are a leading, global web development platform for millions of creators, delivering our solutions through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Our platform empowers users worldwide to create, manage, and grow a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence.  We are pioneering a new approach to web development and management by providing a complete and powerful, cloud-based platform of products and services on which any business, organization or brand can be built and managed online.

In 2021, we continued to benefit from the expansion of our product and service offerings as well as the expansion of our addressable market. Our total revenue in 2021 was $1,269.7 million, an increase of 29% over 2020. Our Creative Subscriptions Revenue was $950.3 million, which represented an increase of 21% from 2020. Our Business Solutions Revenue was $319.4 million in 2021, which represented an increase of 59% from 2020. See “How We Generate Revenues” below. Our Creative Subscriptions Revenue represented 75% of our total revenue in 2021, and our Business Solutions Revenue represented 25% of our total revenue in 2021. Our future growth will depend, in part, on our ability to generate new premium subscriptions and retain existing premium subscriptions, increase the adoption of our business solutions and increase the revenue we generate from existing and new premium subscriptions.  It will also depend, in part, on our ability to manage the growth of our infrastructure effectively and adapt to changes to technologies used in our solutions.

In 2022, we expect to continue driving long-term growth by continued investment in our research and development efforts to expand our offering and enhance the user experience.  In addition, we expect to continue to expand our marketing activities both in the United States and internationally.

Our total revenues are comprised of Creative Subscriptions Revenue and Business Solutions Revenue.

We generate Creative Subscriptions Revenue from the sale of monthly, yearly and multi-year premium subscriptions for our website solutions, including vertical solutions when purchased in a bundled subscription, as well as from the sale of domain name registrations.

Our website solutions are offered through a freemium model in which users can register with an e-mail address and build, launch and manage a digital presence for free, for an unlimited amount of time. Our variety of premium subscriptions is currently offered in two tiers of premium subscription plans: (i) Website and (ii) Business & e-Commerce. The plans within each tier are offered at various price points depending on functionality and capabilities. All premium subscription plans offer our registered users the ability to brand their website with their own domain name. Premium subscriptions can be purchased at any time and include additional solutions such as Wix ad removal, access to Google Analytics and payments solutions for Business and online commerce sites.

Users can also purchase a domain name registration from us, as an ICANN accredited domain registrar, through a third party to which we connect our users, or independently, and for those users who purchase a premium package, we typically offer a domain which is provided for free for the first year of subscription.  For those users who purchase a domain from us, or from a third party through us, we typically offer yearly and multi-year packages, with the first year given for free.

Yearly and multi-year subscriptions provide benefits to our operating model because we are able to collect cash up front, increase overall retention rates and have greater visibility into revenues. We provide incentives to drive yearly and multi-year subscriptions, including a lower average monthly price relative to a monthly subscription. As of December 31, 2021, 85% of our overall active premium subscriptions were yearly or multi-year subscriptions and 15% were monthly subscriptions.

To increase Creative Subscriptions Revenue, we focus on growing our registered user base by providing our registered users with a high-quality user experience and more products and solutions so that they become more engaged in our platform, can create and complete the project they desire and are therefore more inclined to purchase a subscription. We provide different pricing plans based on the needs of our users who are looking to purchase a subscription. In addition, we also focus on attracting new partners and maintaining our current partners, who use our platform to service their customers, by providing them with products and solutions suitable for their needs, including high quality products and personal account management services.

We further focus on increasing the amount of bookings and revenue per subscription by adding features and functionality to our offerings, for which we can charge higher prices when we choose to do so, and by optimizing packaging and pricing by geographic region.

We generate Business Solutions Revenue from the sale of various products and services that we offer to help users manage and grow their business online, in addition to Creative Subscriptions. These products and services include, among others, applications that are developed by us and by third parties, and sold both through our App Market or elsewhere on our platform. Applications include Google Workspace (formerly known as G-Suite), which is our most frequently sold application, as well as Ascend by Wix. Other components of Business Solutions Revenue include the sale of payments services through Payments by Wix, Paid Ad Campaigns, shipping labels, Wix Answers, Wix POS, Wix Logo Maker, DeviantArt, and recent acquisitions.

We increase Business Solutions Revenue by offering additional business solutions to our users to manage and grow their business online and be more successful. We believe the more products and services we can provide our users, the more successful they can be online, driving higher retention and loyalty.

The combination of growing our registered user base, growing and retaining our premium subscription user base and increasing the bookings and revenue we generate per premium subscription are all key factors to our success.

Our user acquisition strategy is based on the significant amounts of data that we have accumulated regarding the behavior of users that we acquire from different sources and the amount of bookings and revenue we generate through the sale of premium subscriptions and business solutions. We extrapolate from this historical user behavior data to predict future user behavior and make investment decisions regarding our marketing expenditures. In order to grow our registered user base and, in turn, our premium subscriptions and increase our revenue and bookings per premium subscription, we consider the time period over which we seek to return an amount of bookings equal to the marketing expenditures used to attract a specific group of registered users, which we refer to as a cohort, during a particular period. In order to achieve the targeted time for return on those marketing investments, we adjust the paid marketing channels that we use and the amounts that we pay to acquire new registered users in addition to considering those registered users that come from organic and direct sources. For example, we could pay a substantially identical amount to acquire fewer registered users that generate premium subscriptions at a higher rate, or that generate premium subscriptions at a lower rate but with a higher revenue or bookings per subscription, versus acquiring more registered users that generate premium subscriptions at a lower rate or with lower revenue or bookings per subscription.

In addition to our online and offline marketing activities to acquire new users, we also acquire new users by engaging with partners that use our platform for their own work and as resellers for their clients. We accomplish this outreach with our sales and account management teams, as well as through marketing content, online communities and organized events and conferences.

To track our growth, progress and execution of marketing efforts, including achievement of our targeted time for return on marketing investment, we regularly review the relationship between origination of our registered users, origination of our premium subscriptions and the amount of revenue and bookings we generate from these premium subscriptions.

Sources of Revenues and Revenue Recognition

Our total revenues are comprised of revenues we generate from Creative Subscriptions and revenues we generate from Business Solutions.

We generate Creative Subscriptions Revenue from the sale of monthly, yearly and multi-year premium subscriptions for our website solutions.

Revenues from premium subscriptions are recognized ratably over the term of the service period. We offer new premium subscription packages for a 14-day refund period during which the registered user can cancel the subscription at any time and receive a full refund. We classify such amounts collected from new subscriptions as customer deposits until the end of the 14-day refund period. After the 14-day refund period has ended, we recognize premium subscription revenues ratably over the term of the service period, either monthly, annually or longer.

We also derive our Creative Subscriptions Revenue from selling domain name registrations. Revenues from domain name registrations accounted for approximately 6% of revenues in 2021 and 7% in 2020. We recognize revenues from domain registration sales at a point of time upon collection. We do not offer trial periods for domain name registrations, unless required by applicable laws.

We generate Business Solutions Revenue from the sale of various products and services that we offer to help users manage and grow their business online. These products and services include, among others, applications, both sold through our App Market or elsewhere on our platform, Ascend by Wix, Payments by Wix, Wix Answers, and Wix Logo Maker.

Slightly more than half of Business Solutions Revenue in 2021 was generated through the sale of applications. Google Workspace (formerly known as G-Suite), which we sell as an integrated solution and which allows our users to create a personalized Gmail email address using their domain name, comprised the majority of application sales in 2021. Google Workspace subscriptions are sold on a monthly or yearly basis, and we recognize revenue ratably over the subscription period. In 2021, we recorded a correction of immaterial prior-period errors related to the timing of revenue recognition from the sale of Google Workspace. See Note 2.af to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 18 of this annual report for additional details.

Applications revenue is also generated by applications sold through our App Market by third-party developers for which we receive a portion of the sales price paid by our registered users. For applications developed by third-party application developers, other than Google, we account for revenues on a net basis by recognizing only the commission we retain from each sale. We do not reflect in our financial statements the portion of the gross amount billed to registered users with applications that we remit to third-party application developers.

We also generate applications revenue from the sale of self-developed applications, such as Ascend by Wix, Wix Answers and Wix Logo Maker, and this revenue is generally recognized ratably over the service term. Revenue generated from Wix Logo Maker is recognized at a point in time upon collection.

Our Business Solutions Revenue in 2021 also includes revenue that was generated by Payments by Wix. Revenue from processing payments is recognized at the time of the transaction and fees are determined based in part on a percentage of the gross dollar amount of the transaction processed plus a fixed per transaction fee, where applicable. In cases in which Wix Payments is used as the payment method, we generate revenue through transaction fees that we charge based in part on a percentage of Gross Payment Volume ("GPV"). In cases where a third-party provider is used as a payment method, we may generate revenues from revenue share arrangements which we have in place with such providers based on the GPV. We recognize transaction fees and revenue share as revenue upon collection, the majority of which we recognize on a gross basis.

The following table sets forth the geographic breakdown of revenues for the periods indicated:

The percentage of revenues that is derived from each geographic region is partly based on the amount of marketing investment we choose to make in specific countries. Revenues generated by geographic region are also influenced by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Adoption of our solutions and services in geographic regions outside of North America is driven by our ability to offer our platform in local languages and offer local billing solutions.  When introducing our products to new markets, we first focus on establishing an operational online billing system, if needed, prior to launching and investing in local marketing activities.  We currently offer our platform in 22 languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Ukrainian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian, and we plan to add more languages in the future. In an effort to localize our platforms, we have identified the need for local support.

Cost of Creative Subscriptions Revenue consists primarily of the allocation of costs associated with the provision of website creation and services, namely, bandwidth and hosting costs for our platform, and related customer care and call center costs along with domain name registration costs. Cost of Creative Subscriptions Revenue also consists of personnel and the related overhead costs, including share-based compensation. Our cost of revenue increased during 2021 due to an increase in the number of registered users and premium subscriptions, which requires additional hosting and bandwidth, increased sales of domain registrations and the increased headcount of our Customer Care organization. We expect our cost of Creative Subscriptions Revenue to increase - though at slower rates than in the last two years - due to the increase in the number of registered users and premium subscriptions as well as increased sales of domain registrations.

Cost of Business Solutions Revenue consists primarily of the allocation of bandwidth, hosting and support costs associated with the provision of the components that comprise the Business Solutions Revenue stream. Cost of Business Solutions Revenue also consists of revenue share payments according to our agreements with third-party providers, including Google for the Google Workspace application. It also includes costs that we incur when transactions are processed through Payments by Wix, such as credit card interchange and network fees (charged by credit card providers such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express) as well as third-party processing fees and additional services. We expect our cost of Business Solutions Revenue to increase as more users purchase these products and services and as a larger volume of payments are transacted through Payments by Wix.

Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and the related overhead costs, including share-based compensation, related to our solutions and service development activities including new initiatives, quality assurance and other related development activities.  We expect research and development costs and expenses to continue to increase on an absolute basis as we develop new solutions and add functionalities to our existing solutions and services and expand our offerings including mobile and other solutions. We expect research and development costs and expenses to decrease as a percentage of revenues.

Our primary operating expense is selling and marketing. A significant component of our selling and marketing expenses are user acquisition costs, which consist primarily of fees paid to third parties for our cost-per-click advertising, social networking and marketing campaigns and other media advertisements.  We intend to continue expanding our user acquisition efforts to drive revenue growth while focusing on our return-on-investment targets. In addition, we direct a significant portion of our marketing expenses towards branding activities and more traditional advertising, including television commercials. Selling and marketing expenses also include personnel who engage with our partners. Other selling and marketing expenses also consist primarily of other marketing personnel and the related overhead costs, including share-based compensation for personnel engaged in sales, marketing, advertising and promotional activities.  Our marketing expenses also include billing costs in connection with the processing fee of our bookings.  We expect our selling and marketing expenses to increase on an absolute basis as we penetrate our existing markets and expand to new markets, hire additional personnel and increase our bookings.

General and administrative expenses primarily consist of personnel and overhead related costs, including share-based compensation, for our executive, finance, human resources and administrative personnel. General and administrative expenses also include legal, accounting and other professional service fees and other corporate expenses, as well as chargeback expenses related to Payments by Wix. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase on an absolute basis as we penetrate our existing markets and expand to new markets, hire additional personnel and incur additional costs related to the growth of our business. We also incur costs associated with being a public company in the United States, including compliance under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and rules promulgated by the SEC and NASDAQ, and director and officer liability insurance.

Financial income (expenses), net consists primarily of increases in the valuation of our holdings in public and private companies. Financial income (expenses) also includes costs related to derivative instruments we enter into for foreign exchange transactions to hedge a portion of our payments in NIS and revenue transactions denominated in euros, British pounds and other currencies, as well as income and expenses related to the change in the fair value of such derivative instruments. In addition, financial income (expenses), net includes the fluctuation in value due to foreign exchange differences between our monetary assets and liabilities denominated in NIS.

Taxes on income consist mainly of deferred tax liability relating to appreciation of valuation related to our holdings in public and private companies. Taxes on income also includes taxes we pay or accrue due to our international activity. At the end of 2021, our net operating loss carry forwards for Israeli tax purposes amounted to approximately $63.9 million. After we utilize our net operating loss carry forwards, we are eligible for certain tax benefits in Israel under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959, or the Investment Law.  Accordingly, if we generate taxable income in Israel, we expect our effective tax rate will be lower than the standard corporate tax rate for Israeli companies, which has been 23% since 2018. Through 2021, the Company was entitled to tax benefits pursuant to the current Beneficiary Enterprise program. In January 2022, we notified the Israeli Tax Authority that we waived our Beneficiary Enterprise status starting from the 2022 tax year and thereafter. We are eligible for tax benefits as a Preferred Technological Enterprise. For more information regarding the tax benefits available to us, see “Item 10.E. Taxation.” Our taxable income generated outside of Israel or derived from other sources in Israel which is not eligible for tax benefits will be subject to the regular corporate tax rate.

The following table sets forth our results of operations in dollars and as a percentage of revenues for the periods indicated:

Revenues increased by $285.3 million, or 29%, from $984.4 million in 2020 to $1,269.7 million in 2021. The substantial majority of this increase was driven by the growth in Creative Subscriptions ARR, which was driven by the growth in the number of premium subscriptions from 5,493,772 as of December 31, 2020 to 5,971,621 as of December 31, 2021 as well as the amount of revenue we generated per premium subscription. The number of premium subscriptions continued to be favorably impacted by increasing availability of our new products and solutions as well as the increase in marketing expenses. Our Creative Subscriptions Revenue was $950.3 million in 2021, which represented an increase of 21.3% from 2020. Our Business Solutions Revenue was $319.4 million in 2021, which represented an increase of 59% from 2020.

Bookings increased by $316.8 million, from $1,102 million in 2020 to $1,418.8 million in 2021. The substantial majority of this increase was driven by the growth in the number of premium subscriptions as well as the amount of bookings we generated per premium subscription. Our Creative Subscriptions Bookings were $1,087.9 million in 2021, which represented a 22.1% increase from 2020. Our Business Solutions Bookings were $330.9 million in 2021, which represented 57% growth over 2020.

Cost of Creative Subscriptions Revenue increased by $65.1 million, or 38.8%, from $167.5million in 2020 to $232.6 million in 2021. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase of $39.0 million in payroll expenses, consisting of $34.6million due to the expansion of our Customer Care organization from a headcount of 1,368 to 1,732and $4.3 million in increased share-based compensation expense. This increase was also attributable to an increase of $12.9 million in bandwidth and hosting costs, an increase of $5.5 million in domain name costs, and an increase of $7.7 million related to allocated overhead expenses and other costs due to expanded activities.

Cost of Business Solutions Revenue increased by $110.5 million, or 75.9%, from $145.5 million in 2020 to $256.0 million in 2021. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase of $81.0 million in direct product related costs, an increase of $16.2million in payroll expenses, consisting of $14.2 million due to the expansion of our Customer Care organization and $2.0 million in increased share-based compensation expense, an increase of $8.5 million in bandwidth and hosting costs, an increase of $3.4 million related to allocated overhead expenses and other costs due to expanded activities, and an increase of $1.4million in expenses related to the amortization of intangible assets.

Research and development expenses increased by $104.7 million, or 32.7%, from $320.3 million in 2020 to $424.9 million in 2021. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase of $86.9 million in payroll, subcontractors and consultant fees, consisting of $61.7million due to increased headcount from 1,923 to 2,349 to support our development plans and $25.2 million in increased share-based compensation expense. Research and development expenses were also affected by an increase of $3.1 million related to acquisition related expenses and an increase of $14.7 million related to allocated overhead expenses and other development costs due to expanded activities.

Selling and marketing expenses increased by $73.8 million, or 16.8%, from $438.2 million in 2020 to $512.0 million in 2021. The increase was partially attributable to an increase of $60.3 million in payroll expenses, consisting of an increase of $49.3million due to increased headcount from 907 to 1,310 and an increase of $11.0million in share-based compensation expense. Selling and marketing expenses also increased due to an increase of $3.8million in processing costs paid to our processors. User acquisition costs and other marketing activities increased by $1.7million from $282.8 million in 2020 to $284.5 million in 2021, due to the expansion of advertising activities for our products and services, primarily through increased online advertising and branding activities. Selling and marketing expenses also increased due to an increase of $7.8 million related to allocated overhead expenses, and an increase of $0.2 million related to amortization and acquisition related expenses.

General and administrative expenses increased by $57.7 million, or 51.6%, from $111.9 million in 2020 to $169.6 million in 2021. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase of $48.7 million in payroll expenses, consisting of $17.1million due to increased headcount from 430 to 538 and $31.6million in increased share-based compensation expenses. The increase was also due to an increase of $11.6million related to allocated overhead expenses and acquisition related expenses, partially offset by a decrease of $2.6million of other G&A expenses.

Financial income, net in 2021 increased by $224.9 million from financial income, net of $47.1 million in 2020 to financial income, net of $271.9 million in 2021. Financial income in 2021 primarily related to a $265.0million appreciation of valuation related to our holdings in a public company, partially offset by financing expenses of $5.3million of convertible loan amortization and $7.5million due to exchange rate differences and bank charges. In addition, we recorded financial income of $10.5million from deposit interest and $9.2 million related to hedging activity and appreciation of valuation of other investments.

Taxes on income increased by $49.2million from $15.0 million in 2020 to $64.2 million in 2021. The increase in taxes on income in 2021 compared to 2020 is primarily attributable to the $265.0million appreciation of a valuation related to our holdings in a public company, that resulted in additional income taxes of $42.0million, in addition an increase in taxes payable in Brazil in the amount of $5.7 million due to the change in 2021 of the tax structure of our local subsidiary, partially offset by a decrease in taxes payable related to deferred tax assets in the amount of $3.4 million. In addition, we recorded an increase of $4.9million related to income tax expenses in other regions.

We monitor the following key operating and financial metrics to evaluate the growth of our business, measure the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

Bookings is calculated by adding the change in deferred revenues and the change in unbilled contractual obligations we secure from partners for a particular period to revenues for the same period. Bookings include cash receipts for premium subscriptions purchased by registered users as well as cash we collect for Payments by Wix and additional products and services.  Committed payments are recognized as revenue as we fulfill our obligation under the terms of the contractual agreement. We believe that bookings is a leading indicator of our revenue growth and the growth of our overall business. Bookings is a non-GAAP financial measure. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we renamed our prior “collections” measure as “bookings”. This name change did not change the calculation or the components previously comprising this measure. Collections results reported in prior periods are directly comparable to bookings.

The following tables reconcile revenue, the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure, to bookings for the periods presented:

Creative Subscriptions Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) is calculated as Creative Subscriptions Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) multiplied by 12. Creative Subscriptions MRR is calculated as the total of (i) all active Creative Subscriptions in effect on the last day of the period, multiplied by the monthly revenue of such Creative Subscriptions, other than domain registrations (ii) the average revenue per month from domain registrations in effect on the last day of the period; and (iii) monthly revenue from other partnership agreements. We believe that ARR is a leading indicator of our anticipated Creative Subscription revenues as it captures both the growth we generate from the number of premium subscriptions as well as the amount of revenue we generate per premium subscription. Our Creative Subscriptions ARR increased to $1,010 million in 2021 compared to $878.0 million in 2020, an increase of 15%, driven by an increase in premium subscriptions and an increase in the revenue per premium subscription. 

We define free cash flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures. We believe that free cash flow is useful in evaluating our business because free cash flow reflects the cash surplus available or used to fund the expansion of our business after the payment of capital expenditures relating to the necessary components of ongoing operations. Capital expenditures consist primarily of investments in leasehold improvements for our office space and the purchase of computers and related equipment. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure.

The following tables reconcile net cash provided by operating activities, the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure, to free cash flow for the periods presented:

We define this metric as the total number of users, who are registered with Wix.com with a unique e-mail address and begin the process of building a website on Wix.com at the end of the period.  The length of time that users take following registration to design and publish a website varies significantly from hours to years, and many registered users never publish a website.  We view the number of registered users at the end of a given period as the strength of our pipeline that can generate premium subscriptions over time and enable us to increase our revenues. Total registered users were 221.8 million at the end of 2021 compared to 196.7 million at the end of 2020, an increase of 13%. These numbers exclude users who use and/or purchase stand-alone products such as Wix Logo Maker, Wix Answers, users of DeviantArt or other subsidiaries, until they begin the process of building a website.

We define this metric as the total monthly, yearly and multi-year premium subscriptions as of the end of the period. A premium subscription can be purchased by a user or by one of our partners for their own use or on behalf of a user. A single registered user can purchase multiple premium subscriptions.  Because we derive the majority of our revenues and bookings from premium subscriptions, we believe that this is a key metric in understanding our growth. The total number of premium subscriptions is also impacted by the renewal rates of our existing premium subscriptions.  Premium subscriptions terminate due to an active decision by a user not to renew their subscription, due to the failure of a user to update his or her credit card information upon expiration or termination, or any other failure to renew the subscription.  Our renewal rates demonstrate our strong value proposition to our premium subscriptions.  We observe the average renewal rates of the cohorts of our users with premium subscriptions to measure the effectiveness of our platform and satisfaction of our registered users.  We believe that the performance of our Creative Subscriptions segment, which is mostly comprised of revenues generated from the sale of premium subscriptions, is best reflected using the ARR metric that combines both the effect of our premium subscription growth and the growth of our revenues per subscription. Total premium subscriptions were 5,972,000 as of December 31, 2021 compared to 5,494,000 as of December 31, 2020, an increase of 9%.

We have financed our operations primarily through the proceeds from the issuance of our securities and cash flows from operations.  In November 2013, we closed our IPO, resulting in net proceeds to us of approximately $93.6 million, and in June and July of 2018, we sold $442.75 million aggregate principal amount of our Convertible Notes due 2023, and in August of 2020 we sold $575.0 million aggregate principal amount of our Convertible Notes due 2025.

As of December 31, 2021, we had $451.4 million of cash and cash equivalents and $411.7 million in short-term deposits with a maturity date of less than one year. In addition, we had $7.0 million as restricted deposits that consisted of restricted bank deposits for our leases and also deposits to secure our online merchant activity with one of our billing processors, and we had $843.9 million in short- and long-term investments in marketable securities.

A substantial source of our cash provided by operating activities is our cash collections from our premium subscriptions, a portion of which is reflected in our deferred revenues, which is included on our consolidated balance sheet as a liability. Deferred revenues consist primarily of the unrecognized portion of upfront payments from our premium subscriptions as well as domain name registration sales, as well as business solutions.  We assess our liquidity, in part, through an analysis of the anticipated recognition of deferred revenues into revenues, together with our other sources of liquidity.  As of December 31, 2021, we had working capital of $615.5 million, which included $484.4 million of short-term deferred revenues, recorded as a current liability, and we also had $60.0 million of long-term deferred revenues. These deferred revenues remain unrecognized generally for 1 to 36 months for premium subscriptions and 1 to 12 months for Wix applications sales, and will be recognized as revenues ratably over the term of the service period when all of the revenue recognition criteria are met in accordance with our revenue recognition policy.

Our capital expenditures for fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019 amounted to $37.7 million, $18.9 million and $22.1 million, respectively. We expect to spend approximately $100 to $110 million in 2022 for capital expenditures, primarily related to leasehold improvements as we expand our office space. The capital expenditures include $80 to $85 million for the construction of our new headquarters office space. We also expect to spend approximately $29 million in 2022 for operating lease agreements worldwide. In 2023 and 2025, respectively, our Convertible Notes will mature, and, depending on the price of our ordinary shares, we may need to pay the principal amount in cash.  As of December 31, 2021, we had $362.7 million in principal amount of our 2023 Convertible Notes outstanding and $575 million aggregate principal amount of our 2025 Convertible Notes outstanding. As of December 31, 2021 our future capital and working capital requirements will depend on many factors, including our rate of revenue growth, the expansion of our selling and marketing activities, the timing and extent of our spending on research and development efforts, and international expansion. We may also be required to pay taxes for capital gains from our investment in a public company. We may also seek to invest in or acquire complementary businesses or technologies.  To the extent that existing cash and cash equivalents, short-term deposits and marketable securities, and cash from operations and net proceeds from the IPO or the Convertible Notes are insufficient to fund our future activities, we may need to raise additional funding through debt and equity financing.  Additional funds may not be available on favorable terms or at all.

As of December 31, 2021, we had a lease commitment of approximately $506 million related to our new headquarters offices in Tel Aviv, which has not yet commenced. We expect to occupy the premises in two phases -- phase one in the second half of 2022 and phase two in the second half of 2023. The initial term of the lease agreement is 10 years commencing on the transfer of possession, with an option to extend the lease for additional periods of up to 15 years, subject to the conditions of the lease agreement. See the description of the lease agreement in Note 11 of the audited financial statements included in Item 18 of this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

We believe our levels of working capital are sufficient for our present requirements.

The following table presents the major components of net cash flows for the periods presented:

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $82.4 million in 2021 compared to 2020, primarily resulting from increases in our operating expenses.  Our primary source of cash from operating activities has been cash collections from our premium subscriptions.  Our primary uses of cash from operating activities have been selling and marketing expenses, personnel and related overhead costs and other costs related to the provision of our services.  We expect cash inflows from operating activities to be affected by increases in sales and the timing of bookings. We expect cash outflows from operating activities to be affected by increases in marketing and increases in personnel costs as we grow our business.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, operating activities provided $65.7 million in cash, primarily resulting from increases of $82.4 million in short-and long-term deferred revenue balances due to an increase in bookings from our premium subscriptions and $245.5 million as an adjustment of non-cash charges related primarily to share-based compensation expenses, depreciation and amortization, partially offset by non-cash appreciation of our investments in public and privately held companies of $166.3 million, our net loss of $117.2 million and an increase of $21.3 million in accrued expenses, prepaid expenses and other current liabilities, including the adjustment to our new implementation of ASC 842.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, operating activities provided $148.0 million in cash, primarily resulting from increases of $113.3 million in short-and long-term deferred revenue balances due to an increase in bookings from our premium subscriptions and $194.4 million as an adjustment of non-cash charges related primarily to share-based compensation expenses, depreciation and amortization. These were offset primarily by our net loss of $165.2 million and an increase of $5.5 million in accrued expenses, prepaid expenses and other current liabilities, including the adjustment to our new implementation of ASC 842.

Cash provided by (used in) investing activities was $376.9 million, $(800.2) million and $(244.0) million in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Investing activities have consisted primarily of investment in deposits, investment and proceeds of restricted deposits, purchase of property and equipment and payments for investment in privately held companies. In addition, during 2021, the company invested in marketable securities and acquired certain businesses.

Cash provided by (used in) financing activities was $(160.1) million, $552.9 million and $31.5 million in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Financing activities in 2021 consisted primarily of the purchase of treasury stock of $200 million, partially offset by proceeds from the exercise of share options and ESPP shares of $39.9 million.

We do not believe there are any legal or economic restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer funds to Wix.com Ltd. in the form of cash dividends, payments from customers, loans or advances.

Our research and development activities are primarily located in Israel, with additional employees engaged in research and development activities in Lithuania, the United States, Poland and Germany and contractors engaged in research and development activities for us in Ukraine. As a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces that began on February 24, 2022, some of our Ukraine team members have relocated to other countries and some have relocated within Ukraine and our sites in Ukraine are currently non-operational. Our research and development department is comprised of 2,355 employees and contractors. In 2021, research and development costs accounted for approximately 33% of our total revenues.

We employ a strategy of seeking patent protection for some of our technologies. We have filed a number of patent applications and continue to file for patents in the United States as well as in several additional jurisdictions worldwide to protect our inventions as well as PCT applications that may result in additional national applications. As of December 31, 2021, we have (together with our subsidiaries) a total of 158 issued patents (57 in the United States and 101 in other jurisdictions) and 198 pending patent applications (40 in the United States and 158 filed under PCT or in additional regions). We also have one U.S. design patent application. No patent or patent application is material to the overall conduct of our business. For a description of our research and development policies, see “Item 4.B. Business Overview—Research and Development.”

The government of Israel encourages research and development projects in Israel through the Israel Innovation Authority, or IIA, pursuant to and subject to the provisions of the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development Law, 1984 and the regulations promulgated thereunder (“R&D Law”). One of the IIA’s incentive programs is the Generic R&D Incentive Program for Large Companies, which allows large companies, such as us, to focus on long-term creation of new knowledge and technological infrastructure, used for the development or production of future innovative products. The incentive program is granted to large Israeli companies that employ at least 200 employees in R&D or with a R&D budget in Israel of at least $20 million. In addition, the company’s average yearly sales (including subsidiaries) must exceed $70 million in the year preceding the application date; or its parent company’s total revenue (with a direct or indirect holding of at least 80%) must exceed $2.5 billion  in the year preceding the application dates. The grants under this incentive program are generally 20%-50% of the approved R&D expenditures for long-term R&D plans or for an R&D project executed in cooperation with another Israeli company. Companies operating in certain development areas will be eligible for additional support of 10%. A company receiving the support will not be required to pay royalties to the IIA.

We did not receive grants from the IIA under the Generic R&D Incentive Program for Large Companies for the year 2021.

The Investment and Development Authority for Economic and Industrial Development, or the Investment Authority, works to help and encourage employers to absorb new employees through different employment incentive programs. One of these programs is intended to incentivize employers in national priority areas to create high wage manufacturing and computing jobs. The grants are subject to meeting certain conditions, among others, that: (1) the company must be engaged in a certain economic sectors; (2) the company's overall sales turnover in the two years preceding the application date must exceed NIS 15 million, which is approximately $4.6 million; (3) the company must hire at least 15 new employees; (4) the average monthly wage must be between one to one and a half times the median market wage to be paid during the periods as provided in each high wage employment program; and (5) 60% of the new employees engaged under the program must reside in Jerusalem and/or in national priority areas. We are not required to pay royalties to the Investment Authority.

We applied for grants from the Investment Authority in three high wage employment programs and may apply for additional grants in the future. 

As of December 31, 2021, we received grants from the Investment Authority for one program in the total amount of $0.5 million. 

Other than as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we are not aware of any trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for the period from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our total revenues, income, profitability, liquidity or capital resources, or that caused the disclosed financial information to be not necessarily indicative of future operating results or financial condition.

Our accounting policies and their effect on our financial condition and results of operations are more fully described in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. We have prepared our financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires management to make estimates and assumptions that in certain circumstances affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. These estimates are prepared using our best judgment, after considering past and current events and economic conditions. While management believes the factors evaluated provide a meaningful basis for establishing and applying sound accounting policies, management cannot guarantee that the estimates will always be consistent with actual results. In addition, certain information relied upon by us in preparing such estimates includes internally generated financial and operating information, external market information, when available, and when necessary, information obtained from consultations with third parties. Actual results could differ from these estimates and could have a material adverse effect on our reported results.

Our total revenues are comprised of revenues we generate from Creative Subscriptions and revenues we generate from Business Solutions.

We recognize revenue in accordance with ASC Topic 606, Revenues from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”), when a customer obtains control of promised services. The amount of revenue recognized reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to receive in exchange for these services. Revenue is recognized net of allowances for refunds and any taxes collected from customers, which are subsequently remitted to governmental authorities. Refunds are estimated at contract inception and updated at the end of each reporting period if additional information becomes available.

Arrangements with our customers do not provide the customers with the right to take possession of the software supporting our platform at any time and are therefore accounted for as service contracts.

In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of payment, we have determined that our contracts do not include a significant financing component. We apply the practical expedient in ASC 606 and do not assess the existence of a significant financing component when the difference between payment and revenue recognition is a year or less.

Payments received in advance of our performance are recorded as deferred revenues, which represent a contract liability.

Our arrangements with customers may include multiple performance obligations. When contracts involve multiple performance obligations, we evaluate whether each performance obligation is distinct and should be accounted for as a separate unit of accounting under ASC 606. Each of our products and services is sold separately, therefore standalone selling prices (SSP) for each of them is observed, and allocation of the transaction price between the performance obligations in the contract is made relatively on that basis.

Revenues from premium subscriptions are recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract period. We offer a 14-day money back guaranty ("Guaranty Period") on new premium subscription. We consider such amount collected from new premium subscriptions as customer deposits until the end of the 14-day trial period. Revenues are recognized once the Guaranty Period has expired.

Revenues related to the purchase and registration of domain names are recognized at a point in time upon the purchase and registration of the domain name, since that is when we transfer control and satisfy the performance obligation.

Revenues related to subscriptions and software applications developed by us, including Ascend by Wix, are primarily recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract period.

Revenues related to Wix Payments earned from processing payments are recognized at the time of the transaction, and fees are determined based in part on a percentage of the Gross Payment Volume (“GPV”) processed plus a per transaction fee, where applicable.

Revenues related to Google Workspace subscriptions, which are sold on a monthly or yearly basis, are recognized on a ratable basis over the subscription period. In 2021, we recorded a correction of immaterial prior-period errors related to the timing of revenue recognition from the sale of Google Workspace. See Note 2.af to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 18 of this annual report for additional details.

Revenues related to third-party software applications and solutions are generally recognized on a net basis at a point in time upon purchase of the application, since that is when we complete our obligation to facilitate the transfer between the customer and the third party.

We account for business combinations in accordance with ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations (“ASC 805”). ASC 805 requires recognition of assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and any non-controlling interest at the acquisition date, measured at their fair values as of that date. Any excess of the fair value of net assets acquired over purchase price is allocated to goodwill. Upon the end of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever occurs earlier, any subsequent adjustments would be recorded in the statement of comprehensive loss. Acquisition-related costs are recognized separately from the business combination and are expensed as incurred. We account for a transaction that does not meet the definition of a business as an asset acquisition.