Compass S-1

Furthermore, if our competitors’ corporate responsibility performance is perceived to be greater than ours, potential or current investors may elect to invest with our competitors instead. In addition, in the event that we communicate certain initiatives and goals regarding environmental, social and governance matters, we could fail, or be perceived to fail, in our achievement of such initiatives or goals, or we could be criticized for the scope of such initiatives or goals. If we fail to satisfy the expectations of investors, employees and other stakeholders or our initiatives are not executed as planned, our reputation and financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

Catastrophic events may disrupt our business.

Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, real estate commerce, and the global economy, and thus could harm our business. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic and the reactions of governments, markets, and the general public to the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in and may continue to have a number of consequences for our business and results of operations, the ultimate magnitude of which is difficult to predict. Additionally, properties located in the markets in which we operate, including New York, Northern California, Southern California and South Florida, are more susceptible to certain natural hazards (such as fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, or hail) than properties in other parts of the country.

In the event of a major fire, hurricane, earthquake, windstorm, tornado, flood or catastrophic event such as pandemic, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, cyber-attack, war, or terrorist attack, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure reputational harm, delays in developing our platform and solutions, breaches of data security and loss of critical data, all of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Closures of local recording offices or other governmental offices in charge of real property records, including tax or lien-related records, would adversely affect our ability to conduct operations in the affected geographies. Any of these delays will likely result in extended hold times, increased costs, and value impairment. Also, the insurance we maintain would likely not be adequate to cover our losses resulting from disasters or other business interruptions.

As we grow our business, the need for business continuity planning and disaster recovery plans will increase in significance. If we are unable to develop adequate plans to ensure that our business functions continue to operate during and after a disaster, and successfully execute on those plans in the event of a disaster or emergency, our business and reputation would be harmed.

Risks Related to Our Legal and Regulatory Environment

We are periodically subject to claims, lawsuits, government investigations and other proceedings that may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations and other legal and regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of business, including those involving labor and employment, anti-discrimination, commercial disputes, competition, professional liability and consumer complaints, intellectual property disputes, compliance with regulatory requirements, securities laws and other matters, and we may become subject to additional types of claims, lawsuits, government investigations and legal or regulatory proceedings as our business grows and as we deploy new offerings, including proceedings related to our acquisitions, securities issuances or business practices.

The results of any such claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations or other legal or regulatory proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. Any claims against us or investigations involving us, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in significant defense and compliance costs, be harmful to our reputation, require significant management attention and divert significant resources. Determining reserves for our pending litigation is a complex and fact-intensive process that requires significant subjective

 

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