HispanicBusiness

Note A: Acquisition-Related Charges. We exclude certain expense items resulting from acquisitions including the following, when applicable: (i) amortization of purchased intangible assets associated with our acquisitions; (ii) compensation related to acquisitions; and (iii) acquisition-related charges. The amortization of purchased intangible assets associated with our acquisitions results in our recording expenses in our GAAP financial statements that were already expensed by the acquired company before the acquisition and for which we have not expended cash. Moreover, had we internally developed the products acquired, the amortization of intangible assets, and the expenses of uncompleted research and development would have been expensed in prior periods. Accordingly, we analyze the performance of our operations in each period without regard to such expenses. In addition, acquisitions result in non-continuing operating expenses, which would not otherwise have been incurred by us in the normal course of our business operations. For example, we have incurred deferred compensation charges related to assumed options and transition and integration costs such as retention bonuses and acquisition-related milestone payments to acquired employees. We believe that providing non-GAAP information for acquisition-related expense items in addition to the corresponding GAAP information allows the users of our financial statements to better review and understand the historic and current results of our continuing operations, and also facilitates comparisons to less acquisitive peer companies.

Note B: Other Items. We exclude certain other items that are the result of either unique or unplanned events including the following, when applicable: (i) restructuring and related costs; (ii) impairment charges; (iii) gain or loss on legal settlement, net of related transaction costs; (iv) retroactive impacts of certain tax settlements; (v) significant effects of tax legislation and judicial or administrative interpretation of tax regulations; (vi) gain or loss on equity investments; and (vii) the income tax effect on our financial statements of excluding items related to our non-GAAP financial measures. It is difficult to estimate the amount or timing of these items in advance. Restructuring and impairment charges result from events, which arise from unforeseen circumstances, which often occur outside of the ordinary course of continuing operations. Although these events are reflected in our GAAP financials, these unique transactions may limit the comparability of our on-going operations with prior and future periods. In the case of legal settlements, these gains or losses are recorded in the period in which the matter is concluded or resolved even though the subject matter of the underlying dispute may relate to multiple or different periods. As such, we believe that these expenses do not accurately reflect the underlying performance of our continuing operations for the period in which they are incurred. Similarly, the retroactive impacts of certain tax settlements and significant effects of retroactive tax legislation are unique events that occur in periods that are generally unrelated to the level of business activity to which such settlement or legislation applies. We believe this limits comparability with prior periods and that these expenses do not accurately reflect the underlying performance of our continuing business operations for the period in which they are incurred. Whether we realize gains or losses on equity investments is based primarily on the performance and market value of those independent companies. Accordingly, we believe that these gains and losses do not reflect the underlying performance of our continuing operations. We also believe providing financial information with and without the income tax effect of excluding items related to our non-GAAP financial measures provide our management and users of the financial statements with better clarity regarding the on-going performance and future liquidity of our business. Because of these factors, we assess our operating performance both with these amounts included and excluded, and by providing this information, we believe the users of our financial statements are better able to understand the financial results of what we consider our continuing operations.