(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended February 2, 2018

OR

For the transition period            from            to

Commission File Number 001-33622

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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

_______________________________________________________

(650) 427-5000

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

_____________________________________________________

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

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:

None

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).   Yes   ☑     No   o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ☑

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes   o     No   ☑

At August 4, 2017 , the aggregate market value of the registrant's Class A common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant (based upon the closing sale price of such shares on the New York Stock Exchange on August 4, 2017 ) was approximately $7,052,590,001 . Shares of the registrant's Class A common stock and Class B common stock held by each executive officer and director and by each entity or person, other than investment companies, that, to the registrant's knowledge, owned 5% or more of the registrant's outstanding Class A common stock as of August 4, 2017 have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates of the registrant. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

As of March 20, 2018 , the number of shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of the registrant outstanding was 405,290,870 , of which 105,290,870 shares were Class A common stock and 300,000,000 were Class B common stock.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Information required in response to Part III of Form 10-K (Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14) is hereby incorporated by reference to portions of the registrant's Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held in 2018. The Proxy Statement will be filed by the registrant with the Securities and Exchange Commission no later than 120 days after the end of the registrant's fiscal year ended February 2, 2018 .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VMware, vSphere, vCloud, vCloud Suite, vSphere with Operations Management, VMware vSAN, vSAN, vCenter, vCenter Site Recovery Manager, NSX, AppDefense, VeloCloud, VMware Cloud Foundation, vRealize, vRealize Operations, vRealize Automation, vRealize Suite, vCloud NFV, Pulse, Pulse IoT Center, AirWatch, Photon, Photon OS, Horizon, Workspace ONE, VMware Partner Network, VMworld, vFabric, and VMware View are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking statements, and words such as "expect," "anticipate," "target," "goal," "project," "intent," "plan," "believe," "momentum," "seek," "estimate," "continue," "potential," "future," "endeavor," "will," "may", "should," "could," "depend," "predict," and variations or the negative expression of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this report include statements relating to expected industry trends and conditions; future financial performance, trends or plans; anticipated impacts of developments in accounting rules and tax laws and rates; VMware's expectations regarding the timing of tax payments; plans for and anticipated benefits of VMware products, services and solutions and partner and alliance relationships; plans for and anticipated benefits of corporate transaction, acquisitions, stock repurchases and investment activities; the outcome or impact of pending litigation, claims or disputes; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. These statements are based on current expectations about the industries in which VMware operates and the beliefs and assumptions of management. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and the cautionary statements set forth above and those contained in the section of this report entitled "Risk Factors" identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in any such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to us as of the date hereof. We assume no obligation to, and do not currently intend to, update these forward-looking statements.

PART I

Overview

VMware, Inc. ("VMware") pioneered the development and application of virtualization technologies with x86 server-based computing, separating application software from the underlying hardware. Information technology ("IT") driven innovation is disrupting markets and industries. Technologies emerge faster than organizations can absorb, creating increasingly complex environments. To take on this challenge, businesses need a flexible and secure digital foundation. We provide compute, cloud, mobility, networking and security infrastructure software to businesses that provides a flexible digital foundation for the applications that empower businesses to serve their customers globally.

We continue to broaden our product and solution offerings beyond compute virtualization to include offerings that allow organizations to manage IT resources across private clouds and complex multi-cloud, multi-device environments by leveraging synergies across three categories: Software-Defined Data Center ("SDDC"), Hybrid Cloud Computing and End-User Computing ("EUC"). Our portfolio supports and addresses the four key IT priorities of our customers: modernizing data centers, integrating public clouds, empowering digital workspaces and transforming security. We create solutions that enable the digital transformation our customers need as they ready their applications, infrastructure and devices for their future business needs.

We incorporated in Delaware in 1998, were acquired by EMC Corporation ("EMC") in 2004 and conducted our initial public offering of our Class A common stock in August 2007. Effective September 7, 2016, Dell Technologies Inc. ("Dell") acquired EMC. As a result, EMC became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell, and VMware became an indirectly-held, majority-owned subsidiary of Dell. We are considered a "controlled company" under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange. As of February 2, 2018 , Dell controlled approximately 81.9% of our outstanding common stock, including 31 million shares of our Class A common stock and all of our Class B common stock.

Effective January 1, 2017, our fiscal year changed from a fiscal year ending on December 31 of each calendar year to a fiscal year consisting of a 52- or 53-week period ending on the Friday nearest to January 31 of each year. The period that began on January 1, 2017 and ended on February 3, 2017 is reflected as a transition period (the "Transition Period"). Our first full fiscal year under the revised fiscal calendar began on February 4, 2017 and ended on February 2, 2018. We refer to our fiscal years ended February 1, 2019, February 2, 2018 and December 31, 2016 as "fiscal 2019," "fiscal 2018" and "fiscal 2016," respectively.

Total revenue in fiscal 2018 increased 12% to $7,922 million . Total revenue is comprised of license revenue of $3,195 million and services revenue of $4,727 million . While sales of our VMware vSphere ("vSphere") product have remained strong, the majority of our license sales originate from solutions across our broad portfolio beyond our compute products.

We operate in one reportable operating segment, thus all required financial segment information can be found in our consolidated financial statements. For financial information on our business, including by geography, refer to Note P to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our corporate headquarters are located at 3401 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California, and we have 117  offices worldwide.

Products and Technology Solutions

Software-Defined Data Center

We were the first company to articulate a vision for SDDC, whereby increasingly infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, enabling data center management to be entirely automated by software, from one unified platform. Traditional data centers are collections of technology silos where each application type has its own vertical stack consisting of a CPU and operating system, storage pool, networking and security, and management systems. Over time, costs to maintain the data center infrastructure have been increasing because the data center environment has become more heterogeneous, leading to higher complexity. The increasing complexity of the data center demands constantly increasing resources to manage and maintain the IT infrastructure. SDDC is designed to transform and modernize the data center into an on-demand service that addresses application requirements by abstracting, pooling and automating the services that are required from the underlying hardware. SDDC dramatically simplifies data center operations and lower costs.

Our SDDC architecture consists of four main product categories:

Compute

vSphere, our flagship data center platform, provides the fundamental compute layer for VMware environments. A "hypervisor" is a layer of software that resides between the operating system and system hardware to enable compute virtualization. Users deploy the vSphere hypervisor when they purchase vSphere, Cloud Foundation or suite versions that include vSphere, such as VMware vCloud Suite and vSphere with Operations Management ("vSOM").

We have continued to develop vSphere solutions to be compatible with new technologies and tools utilized by software developers and enterprises. During fiscal 2016, we introduced our VMware vSphere Integrated Containers solution that allows customers to deploy containerized and traditional applications side-by-side on a common platform, without re-architecting their existing infrastructure. During fiscal 2018, we expanded our container solutions by announcing Pivotal Container Services ("PKS"), a new jointly developed, marketed, sold and supported Kubernetes container solution with Pivotal Software, Inc. ("Pivotal"), an indirect majority-owned subsidiary of Dell, and in which VMware has an ownership interest.

Storage and Availability

We provide many storage and availability products to offer cost-effective, holistic data storage and protection options to all applications running on the vSphere platform. These products serve as hyper-converged infrastructure solutions designed to enable customers to deploy a broad range of hardware solutions. Key hyper-converged infrastructure solutions in this area include:

We experienced growth in both customer count and sales of our vSAN offerings during fiscal 2018.

Network and Security

Our network virtualization solution, VMware NSX ("NSX"), abstracts physical networks and greatly simplifies the provisioning and consumption of networking resources. In addition, our security services are built-in, do not require purpose-built hardware and can scale with the network. AppDefense and Network Insight further broaden our network and security portfolio. AppDefense is a data center endpoint security product that protects applications running in virtualized environments. Network Insight delivers intelligent operations for software defined networking and security across virtual, physical and multi-cloud environments.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, we acquired Velocloud Networks, Inc. ("Velocloud"), the market leader in cloud-delivered SD-WAN that enables enterprises and service providers to deploy flexible and secure WAN connectivity.

VMware networking and security services enable our customers to connect, secure and operate their network consistently from the data center to the cloud and to the edges of their network. This includes providing networking and security capabilities to virtual machines, containers and public cloud workloads. NSX integrates with many automation, security and container solutions and is an integral part of our key offerings including VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware Cloud on AWS and PKS.

Cloud Management and Automation

Our cloud management and automation products move beyond core compute infrastructure to manage and automate overarching IT processes involved in provisioning IT services and resources to users from initial infrastructure deployment to retirement. These IT processes manage virtualized and non-virtualized infrastructure resources and private and public cloud infrastructures, including hybrid cloud services. Examples of products in the cloud management and automation product portfolio include:

We acquired Wavefront, Inc. ("Wavefront") during fiscal 2018 to enhance our cloud management and Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") portfolio. Wavefront by VMware is a SaaS-based metrics monitoring and analytics platform for modern cloud-native applications.

Software-Defined Data Center Suites

Our SDDC products are available separately or our compute and management and automation products may be acquired as part of a broader offering. The VMware vCloud Suite, vSOM and VMware vRealize Suite are packaged solutions for building and managing a complete cloud infrastructure optimized for use with the vSphere platform:

Software-Defined Data Center Platform - On Premise

During fiscal 2016, we introduced VMware Cloud Foundation, a unified platform that brings together our compute, storage and networking technologies into a natively integrated stack that delivers enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. The combined offering includes lifecycle management capabilities to span the full stack. SDDC products can also be delivered through our VMware vCloud NFV, which is a fully integrated, modular, multi-tenant network functions virtualization ("NFV") platform. It provides the compute, storage, networking and operations management and service assurance capabilities to enable operators to provide virtualized network services and drive NFV deployments with an architecture that will support 5G and Internet of Things ("IoT") services in the future.

During fiscal 2018, we introduced VMware Pulse IoT Center, an IoT device management and monitoring solution that helps both IT and Operational Technology ("OT") organizations to onboard, manage, monitor and secure their IoT use cases from the edge to the cloud. This new solution has been built to meet the needs of IoT for both IT and OT teams, while supporting a broad range of edge systems and their connected devices. 

Hybrid Cloud Computing

Our cross-cloud architecture enables consistent deployment models, security policies, visibility and governance for all applications, running on-premises and off-premises, regardless of the underlying cloud, hardware platform or hypervisor. It builds on our private and hybrid cloud capabilities by offering customers the freedom to innovate in multiple clouds, and is delivered through Cloud Foundation, the VMware vRealize cloud management platform and a new set of VMware Cloud Services that we are developing. Our overarching cloud strategy contains three key components: (i) continue to expand beyond compute virtualization in the private cloud, (ii) extend the private cloud into the public cloud and (iii) connect and secure endpoints across a range of public clouds. Our cloud strategy is designed to provide organizations with solutions that work across all clouds and all devices.

VMware Cloud Provider Program Services

We currently enable our customers to utilize off-premises, vSphere-based hybrid cloud computing capacity through our VMware Cloud Provider Program ("VCPP") offering (previously referred to as VMware vCloud Air Network). Our VCPP offering, a key component of our strategic priority to integrate with public clouds, is a global ecosystem of over 4,000 cloud providers in more than 100 countries providing VMware-based cloud services. Our VCPP offering is directed at hosting and cloud computing vendors, enabling organizations to choose between running applications in virtual machines on their own private clouds inside their data center or on public clouds hosted by a service provider.

Hybrid VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation can be used for on-premises private clouds and also can be extended to hybrid cloud environments using VMware Cloud on AWS or VCPP. VMware Cloud on AWS, which became available in fiscal 2018, is an on-demand service that enables customers to run applications across vSphere-based cloud environments and provides access to a broad range of AWS services. This hybrid offering, a strategic alliance with AWS, integrates vSphere, vSAN and NSX along with VMware vCenter management and is optimized to run on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. VMware Cloud on AWS is currently available in certain geographies, and we expect to continue expanding into additional regions in fiscal 2019.

VMware Cloud Foundation is also offered as a service platform to a global ecosystem of service providers through a select number of our VCPP partners. For example, IBM, OVH and Rackspace are VCPP partners who leverage our SDDC

technologies to create cloud services addressing the needs of customers around the world. IBM was our first VCPP partner to offer VMware Cloud Foundation as a service, which enables their customers to leverage our SDDC technologies on IBM's Cloud in their worldwide cloud data centers.

VMware Cloud Services

VMware Cloud Services are new SaaS offerings that enable visibility into cloud usage and costs, enhance consistent networking and security policies and automate the deployment, management and migration of applications and data across vSphere and non-vSphere private and public clouds. VMware Cloud Services include discovery and analytics, compliance and security, networking and deployment and migration. VMware Cloud Services enable our customers to run, manage, connect and secure their applications across private and public clouds, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Cloud, as well as all devices in a common operating environment, regardless whether the underlying infrastructure is VMware-based.

End-User Computing

Our EUC portfolio offers a digital workspace to enable our customers to securely deliver access to applications and data for their end users from any device of the user's choice and from any location. Our EUC solutions are designed to optimize simplicity and choice for end users, while providing security and control to corporate IT organizations. IT organizations are able to enhance their enterprise security for corporate applications, data and endpoints utilizing our EUC solutions.

Our complete EUC solution consists of VMware Workspace ONE ("Workspace ONE"), our digital workspace platform. Workspace ONE is an integrated platform that securely delivers and manages any application, including legacy applications, on any device by integrating access control, application management and multi-platform endpoint management. Workspace ONE is powered by VMware AirWatch ("AirWatch"), which delivers unified endpoint management, and VMware Horizon ("Horizon") application and desktop virtualization, tied together with a common access control layer:

While AirWatch and Horizon are also offered separately, together this solution provides customers with a complete digital workspace solution that combines identity, mobile management, and application and desktop virtualization solutions. These technologies leverage our SDDC solutions, allowing customers to extend the value of virtualization and management from their data center to their devices. While many of these technologies are in use today, they are often deployed in silos across enterprise IT. Workspace ONE, which is offered as both an on-premises installed platform or as-a-service, integrates these silos to streamline the delivery of new applications and experiences. Workspace ONE continued to be our primary growth driver within EUC during fiscal 2018 .

As we continue to expand our virtual desktop offering, we plan to offer customers the opportunity to run virtual desktops as-a-service through multiple environments including the Azure platform.

Technology Alliances

We have more than 1,000 technology partners with whom we bring joint offerings to the marketplace and over 4,000 active service provider partners. We classify our partners as follows:

Independent Hardware Vendors ("IHVs") We have established relationships with large system vendors, including Cisco, Fujitsu, HPE, IBM, Lenovo and NEC for joint certification and co-development, and we continue to work closely with Dell. We also work closely with AMD, Intel and other IHVs to provide input on product development to enable them to deliver hardware advancements that benefit virtualization users. We coordinate with the leading storage and networking vendors to ensure joint interoperability and enable our software to access their differentiated functionality.

Independent Software Vendors ("ISVs") We partner with leading systems management, infrastructure software and application software vendors-including healthcare, telecom, finance and retail leaders to deliver value-added products that integrate with our products.

VMware Service Providers We have established partnerships with over 4,000 active VCPP service providers including CenturyLink, Fujitsu, IBM, KPN, Macquarie, Navisite, NTT, OVH, Rackspace, Softbank, Telefonica, Tieto, T-Systems, UOL Diveo and Virtustream, to enable them to host and deliver enterprise-class hybrid clouds as a way for enterprises to extend their data centers to external clouds, while preserving security, compliance and quality of service.

In addition to our base of active service provider partnerships, our strategic alliance with AWS to build and deliver an integrated hybrid offering, VMware Cloud on AWS, enables customers to run applications across vSphere-based private, public and hybrid cloud environments. VMware Cloud on AWS became available in fiscal 2018.

Our Technology Alliance Partner program facilitates joint solution creation and coordinated go-to-market activities with our partners. Over 4,600 of the most widely used applications from ISVs support the vSphere platform. These applications include business solutions for enterprise resource planning, human resource management, electronic medical records management, financial processing and middleware, such as application servers and databases.

Our ISVs and other alliance partners, developers and additional VMware community members continue to distribute software applications as virtual appliances. We invest significant capital in testing and certification of infrastructure to rigorously ensure our software is compatible with major hardware and software products.

Research and Development

We have made, and expect to continue to make, significant investments in research and development ("R&D"). We have assembled an experienced group of developers with systems management, public and private cloud, desktop, digital mobility, security, applications, software-as-a-service, networking, storage and open source software expertise. We also have strong ties to leading academic institutions around the world, and we invest in joint research with academia.

We prioritize our product development efforts through a combination of engineering-driven innovation and customer- and market-driven feedback. Our R&D culture places a high value on innovation, quality and open collaboration with our partners. We currently participate in numerous standards groups, and VMware employees hold a variety of standards organization leadership positions.

Our R&D expenses totaled $1,755 million , $1,503 million , $1,300 million and $150 million during the years ended February 2, 2018 , December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 and the Transition Period , respectively. We continue to invest in our key growth products, including NSX and vSAN, while also investing in areas that we expect to be significant growth drivers in future periods.

Sales and Marketing

We have a highly leveraged go-to-market strategy that includes a direct sales force, including a specialist sales force for our key growth products, and our channel partners.

We have established ongoing business relationships with our distributors. Our distributors purchase software licenses and software support from us for resale to end-user customers via resellers. These resellers are part of our VMware Partner Network ("VPN"), which offers resellers pricing incentives, rebates, sales and product training through the VMware Partner Central Web portal, and access to the worldwide network of VMware distributors. In addition, our channel partner network includes certain systems integrators and resellers trained and certified to deliver consulting services and solutions leveraging our products.

We generally do not have long-term contracts or minimum purchase commitments with our distributors, resellers, system vendors and systems integrators, and our contracts with these channel partners do not prohibit them from offering products or services that compete with ours.

End users can obtain licenses to our products through discrete purchases to meet their immediate needs or through the adoption of enterprise agreements ("EAs"). EAs are comprehensive volume license offerings that provide for multi-year maintenance and support at negotiated prices. EAs enable us to build long-term relationships with our customers as they commit to our virtual infrastructure solutions in their data centers. Our sales cycle can vary greatly depending on numerous factors, including the size and complexity of the proposed offering and customer's infrastructure footprint.

In establishing list prices for our products, we take into account, among other numerous factors, the value our products and solutions deliver and the cost of alternative virtualization, end-user computing and hardware solutions.

Our marketing efforts focus on communicating the benefits of our solutions and educating our customers, distributors, resellers, system vendors, systems integrators, the media and analysts about the advantages of our innovative virtualization technology, cloud services and digital workspace solutions. We raise awareness of our company and brands, market our products and generate sales leads through VMware and industry events, public relations efforts, marketing materials, advertising, direct marketing, social media initiatives, free downloads and our website. We have invested in multiple online communities that enable customers and partners to share and discuss sales and development resources, best practices implementation and industry trends among other topics. Our annual user conference, VMworld, is held in both the United States ("U.S.") and Europe, while our vForum events are held in the Asia Pacific and Japan region. We also offer management presentations, seminars and webinars on our products of virtualization, end-user computing and cloud services. We believe the combination of these activities strengthens our brand and enhances our leading positions in our industry.

During fiscal 2018, we continued joint marketing, sales, branding and product development efforts with Dell and other Dell Technologies companies to enhance the collective value we deliver to our mutual customers. As a result of these joint efforts, we have experienced significant synergies with Dell benefiting our sales during fiscal 2018. We also have strategic partnerships with AWS and IBM to jointly provide the expertise, solutions and go-to-market capabilities to help our customers efficiently and securely extend their proven software-defined solutions into public clouds, utilizing the tools and processes with which our customers are already familiar.

Our business is subject to seasonality in the sale of our products and services. For example, our fourth quarter revenue is affected by a number of seasonal factors, including year-end spending trends which impact the timing of renewals of our EAs and support and maintenance contracts.

Backlog

Backlog is comprised of unfulfilled orders against purchase orders or executed agreements received at the end of the period and is presented net of related estimated rebates and marketing development funds. As of February 2, 2018 , our total backlog was approximately $285 million , generally consisting of licenses, maintenance and services. Our backlog related to licenses was approximately $99 million , which we expect to deliver and recognize as revenue during the first quarter or fiscal 2019. As of December 31, 2016 , total backlog was approximately $78 million and backlog related to licenses was approximately $27 million . We do not believe that the amount of backlog, as of any particular date, is indicative of future sales.

Customers

Our product offerings allow customers to manage IT resources across private clouds and complex multi-cloud, multi-device environments. Customer deployments range in size from a single virtualized server for small businesses to thousands of virtual machines and managed devices for our largest enterprise customers.

During fiscal 2018, three distributors, who purchased software licenses and software support from us for resale to end-user customers directly or via resellers, each accounted for over 10% of our consolidated revenue. Arrow Electronics, Inc., Tech Data Corporation and Ingram Micro, Inc. accounted for 15% , 11% and 10% , respectively, of our consolidated revenue in fiscal 2018. Our distribution agreements are typically terminable at will by either party upon 30 to 90 days' prior written notice to the other party, and neither party has any obligation to purchase or sell any products under the agreement.

During fiscal 2018, revenue from Dell, including purchases of products and services directly from us, as well as through our channel partners, accounted for 17% of our consolidated revenue.

Competition

We face intense competition across all markets for our products and services. We believe that the key factors in our ability to successfully compete include the level of reliability, interoperability and new functionality of our product and service offerings; the ability of our product offerings to support multiple hardware platforms, operating systems, applications frameworks and public cloud platforms; our ability to anticipate customer needs in rapidly evolving markets for IT resources; the pricing of our product and service offerings; the ability to integrate open source technologies that are critical in private and public cloud computing architectures; the ability to attract and retain key employees; and the ability to maintain and expand our ecosystem of technology partners, service providers and sales channel partners. While we believe that we are a technology leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions and have a strong, favorable image with our customers, many of our current or potential competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, sales, marketing and other resources than we do. Additionally, the adoption of public cloud, micro-services, containers and open source technologies has the potential to erode our profitability.

We face competition from, among others:

Providers of public cloud infrastructure and SaaS-based offerings.  As businesses increasingly utilize public cloud and SaaS-based offerings, they are building more of their new compute workloads off-premises and may also shift some of their existing workloads. As a result, the demand for on-premises IT resources is expected to slow, and our products and services will need to increasingly compete for customers' IT workloads with off-premises public cloud and SaaS-based offerings. If our private, hybrid and public cloud products and services fail to address evolving customer requirements, the demand for our virtualization products and services may decline, and we could experience lower growth. Additionally, VCPP offerings from our partners may compete directly with infrastructure-as-a-service ("IaaS") offerings from various public cloud providers such as AWS and Microsoft. In fiscal 2018, we made VMware Cloud on AWS, a strategic alliance with AWS to deliver a vSphere-based cloud service running in AWS data centers, available in certain geographies. Our strategic alliance with Amazon may also be seen as competitive with VCPP offerings and adversely affect our relationship with VCPP partners, while some VCPP partners may elect to include VMware Cloud on AWS as part of their managed services provider offerings.

Large, diversified enterprise software and hardware companies. These competitors supply a wide variety of products and services to, and have well-established relationships with, our current and prospective end users. For example, small- to

medium-sized businesses and companies in emerging markets that are evaluating the adoption of virtualization-based technologies and solutions may be inclined to consider Microsoft solutions because of their existing use of Windows and Office products. Some of these competitors have in the past and may in the future take advantage of their existing relationships to engage in business practices that make our products and services less attractive to our end users. Other competitors have limited or denied support for their applications running in VMware virtualization environments. In addition, these competitors could integrate competitive capabilities into their existing products and services and make them available without additional charge. For example, Oracle provides free server virtualization software intended to support Oracle and non-Oracle applications, Microsoft offers its own server, network, and storage virtualization software packaged with its Windows Server product, as well as built-in virtualization in the client version of Windows and Cisco includes network virtualization technology in many of their data center networking platforms. As a result, existing and prospective VMware customers may elect to use products that are perceived to be "free" or "very low cost" instead of purchasing VMware products and services for certain applications where they do not believe that more advanced and robust capabilities are required.

Companies offering competing platforms based on open source technologies. Open source technologies for virtualization, containerization and cloud platforms such as Xen, KVM, Docker, Rocket, OpenStack, Mesos, Kubernetes appear to provide pricing competition and enable competing vendors to leverage these open source technologies to compete directly with our SDDC initiative. Enterprises and service providers have shown interest in building their own clouds based on open source projects such as OpenStack, and other companies have indicated their intention to expand offerings of virtual management and cloud computing solutions as well. Additionally, a number of enterprise IT hardware vendors have released solutions based on OpenStack including IBM and Cisco. VMware is delivering container technologies such as PKS, which we co-developed and market in partnership with Pivotal, and vSphere Integrated Containers that are designed to help customers adopt micro-services architectures. The adoption of distributed micro-service application architectures, and their alignment with container technologies, represents an emerging area of competition.

Other industry alliances. Many of our competitors have entered into or extended partnerships or other strategic relationships to offer more comprehensive virtualization and cloud computing solutions than they individually had offered. We expect these trends to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or maintain their positions in the evolving virtualization infrastructure and enterprise IT solutions industry. These alliances may result in more compelling product and service offerings than we offer.

Our partners and members of our developer and technology partner ecosystem. We face competition from our partners. For example, third parties currently selling our products and services could build and market their own competing products and services or market competing products and services of other vendors. Additionally, as formerly distinct sectors of enterprise IT such as software-based virtualization and hardware-based server, networking and storage solutions converge, we also increasingly compete with companies who are members of our developer and technology partner ecosystem. Consequently, we may find it more difficult to continue to work together productively on other projects, and the advantages we derive from our ecosystem could diminish. This competition could result in increased pricing pressure and sales and marketing expenses, thereby materially reducing our operating margins, and could also prevent our new products and services from gaining market acceptance, thereby harming our ability to increase, or causing us to lose, market share.

Intellectual Property

As of February 2, 2018 , over 1,800 patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have been granted or assigned to us. We also have been granted or assigned patents from other countries. These patents cover various aspects of our server virtualization and other technologies. The granted U.S. patents expire beginning in 2018, with the last of the expiration dates being in 2036. We also have numerous pending U.S. provisional and non-provisional patent applications, and numerous pending foreign and international patent applications, that cover other aspects of our virtualization and other technologies.

We have federal trademark registrations in the U.S. for "VMWARE," "VMWORLD," "VSPHERE," "VMWARE VCLOUD," "VMWARE VIEW," "VMOTION," "HORIZON," "AIRWATCH," "VREALIZE," "VFABRIC," "VCLOUD," "VMWARE NSX" and numerous other trademarks. We have also registered trademarks in a number of foreign countries.

We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights and our brand.

We enforce our intellectual property rights in the U.S. and a number of foreign countries. Despite our efforts, the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to preclude misappropriation of our proprietary information or infringement of our intellectual property rights, and our ability to police such misappropriation or infringement is uncertain, particularly in countries outside of the United States. U.S. patent filings are intended to provide the holder with a right to exclude others from making, using, offering to sell, selling or importing into the U.S. products covered by the claims of granted patents.

Our granted U.S. patents, and any future patents (to the extent they are issued), may be contested, circumvented or invalidated in the future. Moreover, the rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with proprietary protection or competitive advantages, and we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing these patents. Therefore, the exact effect of our patents and the other steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property cannot be predicted with certainty.

Employees

As of February 2, 2018 , we had approximately 21,700  employees in 117 offices worldwide, less than 5% of which were contracted through Dell. None of our employees are represented by labor unions, and we consider current employee relations to be good.

We contract with Dell subsidiaries for support from Dell personnel who are managed by VMware on a full-time basis. These individuals are located in countries in which we do not currently have an operating subsidiary and are predominantly dedicated to our sales and marketing efforts. We use contractors from time to time for temporary assignments and in locations in which we do not currently have operating subsidiaries. In the event that these contractor resources were not available, we do not believe that this would have a material adverse effect on our operations.

Available Information

Our website is located at www.vmware.com, and our investor relations website is located at http://ir.vmware.com. Our goal is to maintain the Investor Relations website as a portal through which investors can easily find or navigate to pertinent information about us, all of which is made available free of charge, including:

The information found on our website is not part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT

The names of our executive officers and their ages as of March 20, 2018 , are as follows:

Patrick Gelsinger has served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of VMware since September 2012. Prior to joining VMware, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer, EMC Information Infrastructure Products at EMC from

September 2009 to August 2012. Mr. Gelsinger joined EMC from Intel Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and Co-General Manager of Intel Corporation's Digital Enterprise Group from 2005 to September 2009 and served as Intel's Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer from 2002 to 2005. Prior to this, Mr. Gelsinger led Intel's Desktop Products Group.

Zane Rowe has served as VMware's Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President since March 2016. Prior to joining VMware, he was EMC's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from October 2014 until February 2016. Prior to joining EMC, Mr. Rowe was Vice President of North American Sales of Apple Inc., a technology company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, online services, and personal computers, from May 2012 until May 2014. He was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of United Continental Holdings, Inc., an airline holdings company, from October 2010 until April 2012 and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Continental Airlines from August 2008 to September 2010. Mr. Rowe joined Continental in 1993. Mr. Rowe currently serves on the board of Sabre Corporation and Pivotal Software, Inc., an indirect majority-owned subsidiary of VMware's parent company, Dell Technologies, and in which VMware has an ownership interest.

Maurizio Carli has served as VMware's Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Services since February 2017. Mr. Carli previously served as VMware's Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales since April 2016, Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager, Americas from April 2015 to March 2016, and as Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA from December 2008 to April 2015. Before joining VMware, Mr. Carli held executive sales management positions at Google Inc., where he served as Managing Director, Enterprise Business, EMEA from June 2008 to November 2008; Business Objects S.A., where he served as Senior Vice President & General Manager, EMEA from December 2002 to December 2007; and at IBM Corporation, where he spent 19 years, from 1984 to 2002, serving in a variety of sales, marketing and leadership positions, including Vice President Software Group from 2000 to 2002 and General Manager and Vice President Tivoli EMEA from 1998 to 2000.

Amy Fliegelman Olli joined VMware as Senior Vice President and General Counsel in August 2017, and was appointed as Secretary in October 2017. Prior to joining VMware, Ms. Fliegelman Olli served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Avaya, Inc., a provider of contact center, unified communications and networking products, from June 2014 through August 2017. Previously, she was the General Counsel of CA, Inc., from September 2006 to June 2014 where her responsibilities covered all legal, governance, compliance, internal audit, security, risk management and controls matters. Ms. Fliegelman Olli also spent 18 years with IBM Corporation, ultimately serving as Vice President and General Counsel for the Americas and Europe.

Sanjay Poonen has served as VMware's Chief Operating Officer, Customer Operations since October 2016. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager, End-User Computing, Head of Global Marketing from April 2016 to October 2016. He joined VMware as Executive Vice President and General Manager, End-User Computing in August 2013. Prior to joining VMware, he spent more than seven years at SAP AG, an enterprise application software and services company, serving as President and Corporate Officer of Platform Solutions and the Mobile Division from April 2012 to July 2013, prior to that as President of Global Solutions from November 2010 to March 2012, as Executive Vice President of Performance Optimization Apps from June 2008 to September 2009 and Senior Vice President of Analytics from April 2006 to May 2008. Mr. Poonen's over 20 years of technology industry experience also included executive-level positions with Symantec and Veritas, and product management and engineering positions with Alphablox Corporation, Apple, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.

Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram has served as VMware's Chief Operating Officer, Products and Cloud Services since October 2016. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President, Software-Defined Data Center Division from April 2012 to October 2016. Mr. Raghuram joined VMware in 2003 and has held multiple product management and marketing roles. Mr. Raghuram served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Infrastructure and Management, Virtualization and Cloud Platforms, and Enterprise Products, from December 2009 through March 2012. Mr. Raghuram previously served as Vice President of VMware's Server Business Unit and of Product and Solutions Marketing from September 2003 through December 2009. Prior to VMware, Mr. Raghuram held product management and marketing roles at Netscape Communications Corporation and Bang Networks, Inc.

Rajiv Ramaswami has served as VMware's Chief Operating Officer, Products and Cloud Services since October 2016. Mr. Ramaswami joined VMware in April 2016 and served as VMware's Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Networking and Security business. Prior to joining VMware, he was Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Infrastructure & Networking Group of Broadcom Corporation, a semiconductor company, from 2010. Prior to that he was Vice President and General Manager of the Cloud Services and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems, Inc., where he also served as Vice President and General Manager for a variety of business units in Optical, Switching and Storage Networking. Prior to joining Cisco, he served in various technical and leadership positions at Xros, Tellabs Inc. and IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Mr. Ramaswami is a member of the board of directors of NeoPhotonics Corporation.

The risk factors that appear below could materially affect our business, financial condition and operating results. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only risks and uncertainties facing us. Our business is also subject to general risks and uncertainties that affect many other companies. Specific risk factors related to our status as a controlled subsidiary of Dell following Dell's acquisition of our former majority stockholder EMC on September 7, 2016 (the "Dell Acquisition"), including, among other things, the uncertainty arising from Dell's Schedule 13D/A filing of February 2, 2018, overlapping business opportunities, Dell's ability to control certain transactions and resource allocations and related persons transactions with Dell and its other affiliated companies are set forth below under the heading "Risks Related to Our Relationship with Dell."

Risks Related to Our Business

Our success depends increasingly on customer acceptance of our newer products and services.

Our products and services are primarily based on server virtualization and related compute technologies used for virtualizing on-premises data center servers, which form the foundation for private cloud computing. As the market for server virtualization continues to mature, the rate of growth in license sales of our vSphere hypervisor product has declined. We are increasingly directing our product development and marketing efforts toward products and services that enable businesses to utilize virtualization as the foundation for private, public and hybrid cloud-based computing and mobile computing, including our vSphere-based SDDC products such as our vRealize management and automation offerings, vSAN storage virtualization offerings, and NSX offerings, as well as our Horizon client virtualization offerings, AirWatch mobile device management offerings and our VMware Cloud on AWS offering, which became available in certain geographies in fiscal 2018. We have also been introducing SaaS versions of our on-premises products, including VMware Horizon Suite and certain AirWatch offerings, and are working to extend our SDDC and NSX offerings and management software into the public cloud and to introduce cloud products and services by investing in cloud and SaaS initiatives and partnering with public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services ("AWS") and IBM. These initiatives present new and difficult technological and compliance challenges, and significant investments will be required to develop or acquire solutions to address those challenges. Our success depends on our current and future customers perceiving technological and operational benefits and cost savings associated with adopting our private and hybrid cloud solutions and our client virtualization and mobile device management solutions. As the market for our server virtualization products continues to mature, and the scale of our business has increased, our rate of revenue growth increasingly depends upon the success of our newer product and service offerings. To the extent that our newer products and services are adopted more slowly than revenue growth in our established server virtualization offerings declines, our revenue growth rates may slow materially or our revenue may decline substantially, we may fail to realize returns on our investments in new initiatives and our operating results could be materially adversely affected.

A significant decrease in demand for our server virtualization products would adversely affect our operating results.

A significant portion of our revenue is derived, and will for the foreseeable future continue to be derived, from our server virtualization products. As more businesses achieve high levels of virtualization in their data centers, the market for our VMware vSphere product continues to mature. Additionally, as businesses increasingly utilize public cloud and SaaS-based offerings, they are building more of their new compute workloads off-premises and are increasingly shifting some of their existing and many of their new workloads to public cloud providers, thereby limiting growth, and potentially reducing, the market for on-premises deployments of VMware vSphere. Although sales of VMware vSphere have declined as a portion of our overall business, and we expect this trend to continue, VMware vSphere remains key to our future growth, as it serves as the foundation for our newer SDDC, network virtualization and our newer cloud and SaaS offerings. Although we have launched, and are continuing to develop products to extend our vSphere-based SDDC offerings to the public cloud, due to our product concentration a significant decrease in demand for our server virtualization products would adversely affect our operating results.

We face intense competition that could adversely affect our operating results.

The virtualization, cloud computing, end-user computing and software-defined data center industries are interrelated and rapidly evolving, and we face intense competition across all the markets for our products and services. Many of our current or potential competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, sales, marketing and other resources than we do. Additionally, the adoption of public cloud, micro-services, containers, and open source technologies has the potential to erode our profitability.

We face competition from, among others:

Providers of public cloud infrastructure and SaaS-based offerings.  As businesses increasingly utilize public cloud and SaaS-based offerings, they are building more of their new compute workloads off-premises and may also shift some of their existing workloads. As a result, the demand for on-premises IT resources is expected to slow, and our products and services will need to increasingly compete for customers' IT workloads with off-premises public cloud and SaaS-based offerings. If our private, hybrid and public cloud products and services fail to address evolving customer requirements, the demand for

VMware's virtualization products and services may decline, and we could experience lower growth. Additionally, VCPP offerings from our partners may compete directly with IaaS offerings from various public cloud providers such as AWS and Microsoft. In fiscal 2018, we made VMware Cloud on AWS, a strategic alliance with AWS to deliver a vSphere-based cloud service running in AWS data centers, available in certain geographies. Our strategic alliance with Amazon may also be seen as competitive with VCPP offerings and adversely affect our relationship with VCPP partners, while some VCPP partners may elect to include VMware Cloud on AWS as part of their managed services provider offerings.

Large, diversified enterprise software and hardware companies . These competitors supply a wide variety of products and services to, and have well-established relationships with, our current and prospective end users. For example, small- to medium-sized businesses and companies in emerging markets that are evaluating the adoption of virtualization-based technologies and solutions may be inclined to consider Microsoft solutions because of their existing use of Windows and Office products. Some of these competitors have in the past and may in the future take advantage of their existing relationships to engage in business practices that make our products and services less attractive to our end users. Other competitors have limited or denied support for their applications running in VMware virtualization environments. In addition, these competitors could integrate competitive capabilities into their existing products and services and make them available without additional charge. For example, Oracle provides free server virtualization software intended to support Oracle and non-Oracle applications, Microsoft offers its own server, network, and storage virtualization software packaged with its Windows Server product as well as built-in virtualization in the client version of Windows and Cisco includes network virtualization technology in many of their data center networking platforms. As a result, existing and prospective VMware customers may elect to use products that are perceived to be "free" or "very low cost" instead of purchasing VMware products and services for certain applications where they do not believe that more advanced and robust capabilities are required.

Companies offering competing platforms based on open source technologies . Open source technologies for virtualization, containerization and cloud platforms such as Xen, KVM, Docker, Rocket, OpenShift, Mesos, Kubernetes and OpenStack appear to provide pricing competition and enable competing vendors to leverage these open source technologies to compete directly with our SDDC initiative. Enterprises and service providers have shown interest in building their own clouds based on open source projects such as OpenStack, and other companies have indicated their intention to expand offerings of virtual management and cloud computing solutions as well. Additionally, a number of enterprise IT hardware vendors have released solutions based on OpenStack, including IBM and Cisco. VMware is delivering container technologies such as Pivotal Container Services, which we co-developed and market in partnership with Pivotal, and vSphere Integrated Containers that are designed to help customers adopt micro-services architectures. The adoption of distributed micro-service application architectures, and their alignment with container technologies, represents an emerging area of competition.

Other industry alliances . Many of our competitors have entered into or extended partnerships or other strategic relationships to offer more comprehensive virtualization and cloud computing solutions than they individually had offered. We expect these trends to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or maintain their positions in the evolving virtualization infrastructure and enterprise IT solutions industry. These alliances may result in more compelling product and service offerings than we offer.

Our partners and members of our developer and technology partner ecosystem . We face competition from our partners. For example, third parties currently selling our products and services could build and market their own competing products and services or market competing products and services of other vendors. Additionally, as formerly distinct sectors of enterprise IT such as software-based virtualization and hardware-based server, networking and storage solutions converge, we also increasingly compete with companies who are members of our developer and technology partner ecosystem. Consequently, we may find it more difficult to continue to work together productively on other projects, and the advantages we derive from our ecosystem could diminish.

This competition could result in increased pricing pressure and sales and marketing expenses, thereby materially reducing our operating margins, and could also prevent our new products and services from gaining market acceptance, thereby harming our ability to increase, or causing us to lose, market share.

The loss of key management personnel could harm our business.

We depend on the continued services of key management personnel. We generally do not have employment or non-compete agreements with our employees, and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time without penalty and could pursue employment opportunities with any of our competitors. In addition, we do not maintain any key-person life insurance policies. The loss of key management personnel could harm our business.

Competition for our target employees is intense and costly, and we may not be able to attract and retain highly skilled employees.

To execute on our strategy, we must continue to attract and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for these personnel is intense, especially for senior sales executives and engineers with significant experience designing and developing

software and cloud offerings. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining qualified personnel. We have in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to experience in the future, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have. Research and development personnel are also aggressively recruited by startup and emerging growth companies, which are especially active in many of the technical areas and geographic regions in which we conduct product and service development. Competition for our key personnel results in increased costs in the form of cash and stock-based compensation and can have a dilutive impact on our stock. Additionally, changes in immigration and work permit laws and regulations or the administration or interpretation of such laws or regulations could impair our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects could suffer.

The final impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on our tax liabilities is highly uncertain, may differ substantially from our provisional estimates and may adversely impact our operating results.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "2017 Tax Act"), enacted on December 22, 2017, significantly affects U.S. tax law by changing how the U.S. imposes income tax on multinational corporations. The U.S. Department of Treasury has broad authority to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that may significantly impact how we will apply the law and impact our results of operations.

The 2017 Tax Act requires complex computations to be performed that were not previously required in U.S. tax law, significant judgments to be made in interpretation of the provisions of the 2017 Tax Act, significant estimates in calculations, and the preparation and analysis of information not previously relevant or regularly produced. The 2017 Tax Act also imposes additional changes in the taxation of consolidated tax groups, such as the consolidated tax group of which Dell is the parent and of which VMware is a member, which we must then interpret in the context of our tax sharing agreement with Dell to determine our actual tax liability. Furthermore, the IRS has yet to issue guidance on certain issues that could be material to us.

As such, the application of accounting guidance for significant items under the 2017 Tax Act is highly uncertain. Further, the U.S. Treasury Department and other standard-setting bodies will continue to issue guidance and interpret how provisions of the Tax Act will be administered and applied to specific situations important to us that is different from our interpretations and expectations.

Based upon the guidance issued thus far by U.S. tax and accounting authorities, we have provided a provisional estimate of the effect of the 2017 Tax Act in our consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2018. Our final analysis, which will be recorded in the period completed, may differ significantly from our current provisional estimates. Accordingly, our final analysis may show that our tax obligations and our effective tax rate are higher than our provisional estimates, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and our operating results.

Adverse economic conditions may harm our business.

Our business depends on the overall demand for IT and on the economic health of our current and prospective customers. The purchase of our products and services is often discretionary and may involve a significant commitment of capital and other resources. Weak economic conditions or significant uncertainty regarding the stability of financial markets could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results in a number of ways, including by lengthening sales cycles, affecting the size of EAs that customers will commit to, reducing the level of our non-EA transactional sales, lowering prices for our products and services, reducing unit sales and reducing the rate of adoption of our products and services by new customers and the willingness of current customers to purchase upgrades to our existing products and services. For example, a recurrence of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, repercussions from the United Kingdom's planned exit from the European Union or that region's failure to sustain its recovery from recession would threaten to suppress demand and our customers' access to credit in that region which is an important market for our products and services. In response to sustained economic uncertainty, many national and local governments that are current or prospective customers for our products and services, including the U.S. federal government, have made, or threatened to make, significant spending cutbacks which could reduce the amount of government spending on IT and the potential demand for our products and services from the government sector.

Regional economic uncertainty can also result in general and ongoing tightening in the credit markets, lower levels of liquidity, increases in the rates of default and bankruptcy and significant volatility in the credit, equity and fixed income markets. Changes in governmental fiscal, monetary and tax policies may also impact interest rates on credit and debt, which have been at relatively low levels for several years. As a result, current or potential customers may be unable to fund software purchases, which could cause them to delay, decrease or cancel purchases of our products and services. Increases in our cost of borrowing could also impact our ability to access capital markets should we wish to raise additional funding for business investments, which could adversely affect our ability to repay or refinance our outstanding indebtedness, fund future product development and acquisitions or conduct stock buybacks.

We may not be able to respond to rapid technological changes with new solutions and services offerings.

The virtualization, cloud computing, end-user computing and SDDC industries are characterized by rapid technological change, changing customer needs, frequent new software product introductions and evolving industry standards. The introduction of third-party solutions embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards could make our existing and future software solutions obsolete and unmarketable. Cloud computing has proven to be a disruptive technology that is altering the way that businesses consume, manage and provide physical IT resources, applications, data and IT services. We may not be able to establish or sustain our thought leadership in the cloud computing and enterprise software fields, and our customers may not view our products and services as cost effective, innovative and best-of-breed, which could result in a reduction in market share and our inability to command a pricing premium over competitor products and services. We may not be able to develop updated products and services that keep pace with technological developments and emerging industry standards, that address the increasingly sophisticated needs of our customers or that interoperate with new or updated operating systems and hardware devices. We may also fail to adequately anticipate and prepare for the commercialization of emerging technologies such as blockchain and the IoT and thereby fail to take advantage of new market opportunities or fall behind early movers in those markets.

Our ability to react quickly to new technology trends and customer requirements is negatively impacted by the length of our development cycle for new products and services and product and service enhancements, which has frequently been longer than we originally anticipated. This is due in part to the increasing complexity of our product offerings as we increase their interoperability, and enable and maintain their compatibility with multiple IT resources such as public clouds utilized by our customers, which can significantly increase the development time and effort necessary to achieve the interoperability of our offerings while maintaining product quality. When we release significant new versions of our existing offerings, the complexity of our products may require existing customers to remove and replace prior versions in order to take full advantage of substantial new features and capabilities, which may subdue initial demand for the new versions or, conversely, depress demand for existing versions until the customer is ready to purchase and install the newest release. If we are unable to evolve our solutions and offerings in time to respond to and remain ahead of new technological developments, our ability to retain or increase market share and revenue in the virtualization, cloud computing, end-user computing and SDDC industries could be materially adversely affected. With respect to our SDDC products, if we fail to introduce compelling new features in future upgrades to our VMware vSphere product line, manage the transition to hybrid cloud platforms, develop new or tightly integrate existing applications for our virtualization technology that address customer requirements for integration, automation and management of their IT systems with public cloud resources, overall demand for products and services based on VMware vSphere may decline. Additionally, if we fail to realize returns on investments in our newer SaaS and cloud initiatives, our operating margins and results of operations will be adversely impacted.

Breaches of our cybersecurity systems or the systems of our vendors, partners and suppliers could seriously harm our business.

We increasingly depend upon our IT systems and the IT systems of key SaaS providers to conduct virtually all of our business operations, ranging from our internal operations and product development activities to our marketing and sales efforts and communications with our customers and business partners. Unauthorized parties (which may have included nation states and individuals sponsored by them) have penetrated our network security and our website in the past and such unauthorized parties may do so in the future. Employees or contractors have introduced vulnerabilities in, and enabled the exploitation of, our IT environments in the past and may do so in the future. These cyber-attacks threaten to misappropriate our proprietary information, cause interruptions of our IT services and commit fraud. Because the techniques used by unauthorized persons to access or sabotage networks change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these tactics. Further, if unauthorized access or sabotage remains undetected for an extended period of time, the effects of such breach could be exacerbated. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture, including "bugs" and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of our systems and processes. Our exposure to cybersecurity threats and negative consequences of cybersecurity breaches will likely increase as our customers conduct more purchase and service transactions online, and as we store increasing amounts of customer data and host or manage parts of customers' businesses in cloud-based IT environments. Additionally, as we increasingly market the security features in our products, our products may be targeted by computer hackers seeking to compromise product security.

We have also outsourced a number of our business functions to third parties, and we rely upon distributors, resellers, system vendors and systems integrators to sell our products and services. Accordingly, if our cybersecurity systems and those of our contractors, partners and vendors fail to protect against breaches, our ability to conduct our business could be damaged in a number of ways, including:

Should any of the above events occur, or are perceived to have occurred, we could be subject to significant claims for liability from our customers, we could face regulatory actions and sanctions from governmental agencies, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights could be compromised, our reputation and competitive position could be materially harmed and we could incur significant costs in order to upgrade our cybersecurity systems and remediate damages. Consequently, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly.

Our operating results may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful, and our past results should not be relied upon as an indication of our future performance. In addition, a significant portion of our quarterly sales typically occurs during the last two weeks of the quarter, which generally reflects customer buying patterns for enterprise technology. As a result, our quarterly operating results are difficult to predict even in the near term. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts or below any guidance we may provide to the market, the price of our Class A common stock would likely decline substantially.

Factors that may cause fluctuations in our operating results include, among others, the factors described elsewhere in this risk factors section and the following:

We are exposed to foreign exchange risks.

Because we conduct business in currencies other than the U.S. dollar but report our operating results in U.S. dollars, we face exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. During fiscal 2018, approximately 30% of our sales were invoiced and

collected in non-U.S. dollar denominated currencies. The realized gain or loss on foreign currency transactions is dependent upon the types of foreign currency transactions that we enter into, the exchange rates associated with these transactions and changes in those rates, the net realized gain or loss on our foreign currency forward contracts, and other factors. Although we hedge a portion of our foreign currency exposure, a significant fluctuation in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may adversely affect our operating results. For example, we experienced a measurable negative impact to our revenue in 2015 due to exchange rate fluctuations. Any future weakening of foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar would likely result in additional adverse impact on our revenue.

We operate a global business that exposes us to additional risks.

Our international activities account for a substantial portion of our revenue and profits, and we plan to further expand internationally. In addition, our investment portfolio includes investments in non-U.S. financial instruments and holdings in non-U.S. financial institutions, including European institutions. In addition to the risks described elsewhere in these risk factors, our international operations subject us to a variety of risks, including:

An example is the ongoing efforts of the Chinese government to more closely regulate network security. In that respect, the Chinese government enacted a new Cyber Security Law in November 2016 that came into effect on June 1, 2017. The new Cyber Security Law promotes utilization of "secure and reliable" network products and services, requires the sale of certain key network equipment and network security products to be subject to security certification, and imposes data localization measures and various network security measures relevant to a vaguely defined scope of "critical information infrastructure." Among those network security measures is a requirement that certain network products and services procured by operators of "critical information infrastructure" undergo a formal security assessment in order to evaluate their "security" and "controllability." The specific technical requirements of the security assessment have not yet been clarified.

Also, in December 2015, China enacted an Anti-Terrorism Law that gives local public security and state security authorities the broad discretionary authority to require companies to provide access to their equipment and decryption support in particular cases. Failure to comply with such requests can result in fines and imprisonment. In addition, a broad range of businesses will be required to verify the identities of customers and are prohibited from providing services to customers whose identities are unclear or who refuse to cooperate in the verification process. If we are not able to, or choose not to, comply with these and other information and network security standards that the Chinese government might implement in the future, our business in China may suffer.

Furthermore, if we fail to comply with legal and regulatory requirements covering the foreign activities of U.S. corporations, such as export control requirements and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as with local regulatory requirements in non-U.S. jurisdictions, we may be exposed to significant fines and penalties and reputational harm. These risks will increase as we expand our operations in locations with a higher incidence of corruption and fraudulent business practices.

In addition, potential fallout from past disclosures related to the U.S. Internet and communications surveillance and possible efforts to enable increased surveillance could make foreign customers reluctant to purchase products and services from U.S.-based technology companies and impair our growth rate in foreign markets.

Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could negatively affect our reputation and adversely affect our operating results.

We have outstanding indebtedness in the form of unsecured notes and may incur other debt in the future, which may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results.

During fiscal 2018, we issued $4,000 million  in unsecured notes through a debt offering and repaid $1,230 million of the notes payable to Dell, utilizing a portion of the proceeds from the offering. An additional unsecured promissory note with an outstanding principal amount of $270 million owed to Dell remains outstanding. We also entered into a $1,000 million unsecured credit agreement establishing a revolving credit facility ("Credit Facility") that is currently undrawn. Our current and any future debt may adversely affect our financial condition and future financial results by, among other things:

The terms of our unsecured notes and Credit Facility impose restrictions on us and require us to maintain compliance with specified and customary covenants. Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial, and industry conditions. If we breach any of the covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders or note holders, then, subject to applicable cure periods, any outstanding indebtedness may be declared immediately due and payable.

In addition, any actual or anticipated changes to our credit ratings, including any announcement that our credit ratings are under review, by any rating agency may negatively impact the value and liquidity of both our debt and equity securities. Under certain circumstances, if our credit ratings are downgraded or other negative action is taken, the interest rate payable by us and the cost of borrowing under our Credit Facility could increase. Downgrades in our credit ratings could also affect the terms of and restrict our ability to obtain additional financing in the future. In addition, upon the occurrence of certain downgrades of the ratings of our unsecured notes, we may be required to repurchase our unsecured notes at a repurchase price equal to 101% of the aggregate principal plus any accrued and unpaid interest on the date of purchase.

Additionally, our parent company, Dell, currently has a significant level of debt financing. Accordingly, negative changes to Dell's credit rating could also negatively impact our credit rating and the value and liquidity of any future debt we might raise. Refer to "Liquidity and Capital Resources" in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information on our outstanding indebtedness.

Our current research and development efforts may not produce significant revenue for several years, if at all.

Developing our products and services is expensive. In particular, developing and launching disruptive technologies in new areas, as we are continuing to do with our VMware NSX virtual networking, vSAN virtual storage, cloud and SaaS initiatives, requires significant investments of resources and often entails greater risk than incremental investments in existing products and services. Our investment in research and development may not result in marketable products or services or may result in products and services that generate less revenue than we anticipate. Our research and development expenses were approximately 22% of our total revenue during fiscal 2018. Our future plans include significant investments in software research and development and related product opportunities. We believe that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our research and development efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, we may not receive significant revenue from these investments for several years, if at all.

We are involved in litigation, investigations and regulatory inquiries and proceedings that could negatively affect us.

From time to time, we are involved in various legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings, claims, demands and investigations relating to our business, which may include claims with respect to commercial, product liability, intellectual property, breach of contract, employment, class action, whistleblower and other matters. In the ordinary course of business, we also receive inquiries from and have discussions with government entities regarding the compliance of our contracting and sales practices with laws and regulations.

We have been, and expect to continue to be, subject to intellectual property infringement claims, including claims by entities that do not have operating businesses of their own and therefore may limit our ability to seek counterclaims for damages and injunctive relief. In addition to monetary judgments, a judgment could also include an injunction or other court order that could prevent us from offering our products. In addition, we might be required to seek a license for the use of such intellectual property, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Alternatively, we may be required to develop non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense and may ultimately not be successful. Third parties may also assert infringement claims against our customers and channel partners, which could require us to initiate or defend potentially protracted and costly litigation on their behalf, regardless of the merits of these claims, because we generally indemnify our customers and channel partners from claims of infringement of proprietary rights of third parties in

connection with the use of our products. These matters can be time-consuming, divert management's attention and resources and cause us to incur significant expenses. Allegations made in the course of regulatory or legal proceedings may also harm our reputation, regardless of whether there is merit to such claims. Furthermore, because litigation and the outcome of regulatory proceedings are inherently unpredictable, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially affected by an unfavorable resolution of one or more of these proceedings, claims, demands or investigations.

Refer to Note K to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of certain claims and litigation.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.

We depend on our ability to protect our proprietary technology. We rely on trade secret, patent, copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties, all of which offer only limited protection. As such, despite our efforts, the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our proprietary information or infringement of our intellectual property rights, and our ability to police such misappropriation or infringement is uncertain, particularly in countries outside of the U.S. In addition, we rely on confidentiality or license agreements with third parties in connection with their use of our products and technology. There is no guarantee that such parties will abide by the terms of such agreements or that we will be able to adequately enforce our rights, in part because we rely on "click-wrap" and "shrink-wrap" licenses in some instances.

Detecting and protecting against the unauthorized use of our products, technology proprietary rights and intellectual property rights is expensive, difficult and, in some cases, impossible. Litigation is necessary from time to time to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property, which could result in a substantial loss of our market share.

Our use of "open source" software in our products could negatively affect our ability to sell our products and subject us to litigation.

Many of our products and services incorporate so-called "open source" software, and we may incorporate open source software into other products and services in the future. Open source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses. Open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or assurance of title or controls on origin of the software, which exposes us to potential liability if the software fails to work or infringes the intellectual property of a third party.

We monitor our use of open source software in an effort to avoid subjecting our products to conditions we do not intend and avoid exposing us to unacceptable financial risk. However, the processes we follow to monitor our use of open source software could fail to achieve their intended result. In addition, although we believe that we have complied with our obligations under the various applicable licenses for open source software that we use, there is little or no legal precedent governing the interpretation of terms in most of these licenses, which increases the risk that a court could interpret the license differently than we do.

From time to time, we receive inquiries or claims from authors or distributors of open source software included in our products regarding our compliance with the conditions of one or more open source licenses. An adverse outcome to a claim could require us to:

In March 2015, a software developer who alleges that software code he wrote is used in a component of our vSphere product filed a lawsuit against us in Germany alleging copyright infringement for failing to comply with the terms of the open source General Public License v.2 ("GPL v.2") and seeking an order requiring us to comply with the GPL v.2 or cease distribution of any affected code within Germany. On July 8, 2016, the German court issued a written decision dismissing the lawsuit. On August 9, 2016, a Notice of Appeal was filed. We have filed our responsive appellate brief. An adverse outcome to this claim on appeal or to other claims could have a material adverse impact on our intellectual property rights, our operating results and financial condition.

The evolution of our business requires more complex go-to-market strategies, which involve significant risk.

Our increasing focus on developing and marketing IT management and automation and IaaS (including software-defined networking, VCPP-integrated virtual desktop and mobile device, cloud and SaaS) offerings that enable customers to transform their IT systems requires a greater focus on marketing and selling product suites and more holistic solutions, rather than selling on a product-by-product basis. Consequently, we have developed, and must continue to develop, new strategies for marketing and selling our offerings. In addition, marketing and selling new technologies to enterprises requires significant investment of time and resources in order to educate customers on the benefits of our new product offerings. These investments can be costly and the additional effort required to educate both customers and our own sales force can distract from their efforts to sell existing products and services.

Our success depends upon our ability to develop appropriate business and pricing models.

If we cannot adapt our business models to keep pace with industry trends, including the industry-wide transition to cloud-based computing, our revenue could be negatively impacted. Certain of our product initiatives, such as our VCPP and SaaS offerings, have a subscription model. As we increase our adoption of subscription-based pricing models for our products, we may fail to set pricing at levels appropriate to maintain our revenue streams or our customers may choose to deploy products from our competitors that they believe are priced more favorably. In addition, we may fail to accurately predict subscription renewal rates or their impact on operating results, and because revenue from subscriptions is recognized for our services over the term of the subscription, downturns or upturns in sales may not be immediately reflected in our results. Additionally, as customers transition to our hybrid cloud and SaaS products and services, our revenue growth rate may be adversely impacted during the period of transition as we will recognize less revenue up front than we would otherwise recognize as part of the multi-year license arrangements through which we typically sell our established offerings. Finally, as we offer more services that depend on converting users of free services to users of premium services and converting purchasers of our on-premises products to our SaaS offerings, and as such services grow in size, our ability to maintain or improve and to predict conversion rates will become more important.

Our products and services are highly technical and may contain errors, defects or security vulnerabilities.

Our products and services are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, have contained and may contain errors, defects or security vulnerabilities. Some errors in our products or services may only be discovered after a product or service has been installed and used by customers. Undiscovered vulnerabilities in our products or services could expose our customers to hackers or other unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that could attack our products or services. In the past, VMware has been made aware of public postings by hackers of portions of our source code. It is possible that the released source code could expose unknown security vulnerabilities in our products and services that could be exploited by hackers or others. We may also inherit unknown security vulnerabilities when we integrate the products or services of other companies into VMware products or services. Actual or perceived errors, defects or security vulnerabilities in our products or services could harm our reputation and lead some customers to return products or services, reduce or delay future purchases or use competitive products or services.

Failure to effectively manage our product and service lifecycles could harm our business.

As part of the natural lifecycle of our products and services, we periodically inform customers that products or services will be reaching their end of life or end of availability and will no longer be supported or receive updates and security patches. To the extent these products or services remain subject to a service contract with the customer, we offer to transition the customer to alternative products or services. Failure to effectively manage our product and service lifecycles could lead to customer dissatisfaction and contractual liabilities, which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our success depends on the interoperability of our products and services with those of other companies.

The success of our products depends upon the cooperation of hardware and software vendors to ensure interoperability with our products and offer compatible products and services to end users. In addition, we have begun to extend the functionality of various products to work with native public cloud applications, which may require the cooperation of public cloud vendors. To the extent that hardware, software and public cloud vendors perceive that their products and services compete with ours or those of our controlling stockholder, Dell, they may have an incentive to withhold their cooperation, decline to share access or sell to us their proprietary APIs, protocols or formats, or engage in practices to actively limit the functionality, compatibility and certification of our products. In addition, vendors may fail to certify or support or continue to certify or support our products for their systems. If any of the foregoing occurs, our product development efforts may be delayed or foreclosed and it may be difficult and more costly for us to achieve functionality and service levels that would make our services attractive to end users, any of which could negatively impact our business and operating results.

Disruptions to our distribution channels could harm our business.

Our future success is highly dependent on our relationships with distributors, resellers, system vendors and systems integrators, which account for a significant portion of our revenue. Recruiting and retaining qualified channel partners and training them in the use of our technology and product offerings requires significant time and resources. Our failure to maintain good relationships with channel partners would likely lead to a loss of end users of our products and services, which would adversely affect our revenue. We generally do not have long-term contracts or minimum purchase commitments with our distributors, resellers, system vendors and systems integrators, and our contracts with these channel partners do not prohibit them from offering products or services that compete with ours.

Three of our distributors each accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated revenue during fiscal 2018. Although we believe that we have in place, or would have in place by the date of any such termination, agreements with replacement distributors sufficient to maintain our revenue from distribution, if we were to lose the distribution services of a significant distributor, such loss could have a negative impact on our operating results until such time as we arrange to replace these distribution services with the services of existing or new distributors.

Our SaaS offerings rely on third-party providers for data center space and colocation services.

Our SaaS offerings rely upon third-party providers to supply data center space, equipment maintenance and other colocation services. Although we have entered into various agreements for the lease of data center space, equipment maintenance and other services, third parties could fail to live up to the contractual obligations under those agreements. The failure of a third-party provider to prevent service disruptions, data losses or security breaches may require us to issue credits or refunds or indemnify or otherwise be liable to customers or third parties for damages that may occur. Additionally, if these third-party providers fail to deliver on their obligations, our reputation could be damaged, our customers could lose confidence in us and our ability to maintain and expand our SaaS offerings would be impaired.

Joint ventures may not yield expected benefits and outcomes.

As we expand our offerings into new technologies such as the public cloud and seek more efficient methods of marketing our products and services in regions where local partners can operate more easily, we sometimes rely upon joint ventures with established providers of IT products and services in particular regions, for example as go-to-market and channel partners. Joint ventures are inherently risky and the requirements for close ongoing cooperation and commitments from the joint venture partners to devote adequate resources often present significant challenges. Joint ventures can also be difficult to manage, given the potentially different interests of joint venture partners. Accordingly, there can be no guarantee that our joint ventures will achieve their intended objectives. If we are unable to continue our strategic alignment with joint venture partners or obtain the cooperation and commitments we are relying upon, our ability to successfully expand our offerings globally and in certain regions may diminish.

SaaS offerings, which involve various risks, constitute an important part of our business.

As we continue to develop and offer SaaS versions of our products, we will need to continue to evolve our processes to meet a number of regulatory, intellectual property, contractual and service compliance challenges. These challenges include compliance with licenses for open source and third-party software embedded in our SaaS offerings, maintaining compliance with export control and privacy regulations, including HIPAA, protecting our services from external threats, maintaining the continuous service levels and data security expected by our customers, preventing the inappropriate use of our services and adapting our go-to-market efforts. The expansion of our SaaS and related cloud offerings also requires significant investments, and our operating margins, results of operations and operating cash flows may be adversely affected if our new offerings are not widely adopted by customers.

Improper disclosure and use of personal data could result in liability and impact our business.

Our business is subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations regarding privacy and protection of personal data. Federal, state and foreign governments and agencies have adopted or are considering adopting laws and regulations regarding the collection, storage, use, processing and disclosure of this information. We collect contact and other personal or identifying information from our customers, and our customers increasingly use our services to store and process personal information and other regulated data, including protected health information subject to stringent data privacy laws. As an employer, we also maintain personal data of our employees and share that information with third party service providers, such as payroll and benefits providers. Our cloud computing service offerings, pursuant to which we offer cloud services and enable third-party service providers to offer cloud services built on our technology, expose us to particularly significant risks. We rely on the contractual representations of these third parties that they do not violate any applicable privacy laws and regulations or their own privacy policies and in some cases covenants requiring them to maintain certain security measures and protections.

Any failure or perceived failure by us or our business partners to comply with posted privacy policies, other federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations, or the privacy commitments contained in contracts

could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others and significant fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results and harm our reputation. Further, any systems failure, unauthorized access or other compromise of our security that results in the release of our customers' or employees' data could (i) subject us to substantial damage claims, (ii) expose us to significant fines and costly regulatory remediation, (iii) harm our reputation and brand, and (iv) disrupt our business activities. The application of U.S. and international data privacy laws and regulations to cloud computing vendors is evolving and uncertain, and our existing contractual provisions may prove to be inadequate to protect us from claims for data loss or regulatory noncompliance made against cloud computing providers with whom we may partner. Additionally, privacy laws and regulations could negatively affect demand for our services, thereby reducing our revenue.

Our ability to collect and use data could be restricted by laws and regulations as well as by consumers' rights to opt out. Restrictions on our ability to collect data or the ability of our customers to collect data utilizing our products and services could negatively impact our business.

The European Union ("EU") data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which will become effective in May 2018, is wide-ranging in scope. In order to adapt to these new requirements, we are investing resources necessary to enhance our policies and controls across our business units and services relating to how we collect and use personal data relating to customers, employees and vendors. Additionally, we expect that the international transfer of personal data will present ongoing compliance challenges and complicate our business transactions as we negotiate and implement suitable arrangements with international customers and international and domestic vendors. As a result, our data transfers could require us to implement additional costly measures and require similar adjustments by our customers in order to continue utilizing our products and services. Failure to comply may lead to fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of the annual global revenues of the infringer, whichever is greater. EU data protection laws and their interpretations continue to develop, and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, which may further impact our information processing activities.

Further, laws such as the EU's proposed e-Privacy Regulation are increasingly aimed at the use of personal information for marketing purposes, and the tracking of individuals' online activities. The currently proposed e-Privacy Regulation may change significantly before it is adopted, making its future scope and impact uncertain, and therefore require us to alter our current preparations for the GDPR. Once finalized, revised e-Privacy Regulation may impact our use of cookies and tracking technologies inside products and online, which could hamper our ability to collect and use data to monitor and improve the performance of our products and services. The final regulation may also change the rules around e-marketing and online tracking which could harm our ability to run promotions and effectively market our offerings. In addition, countries outside the EU are considering or have passed legislation that requires local storage and processing of data, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. Our current arrangements for the transfer of personal data will need to continue to adapt to future judicial decisions and regulatory activity as laws on privacy and the protection of personal data continue to evolve in the countries in which we do business.

If we fail to comply with our customer contracts or government contracting regulations, our business could be adversely affected.

Contracts with many of our customers include unique and specialized performance requirements. In particular, our contracts with federal, state, local and non-U.S. governmental customers and our arrangements with distributors and resellers who may sell directly to governmental customers are subject to various procurement regulations, contract provisions and other requirements relating to their formation, administration and performance. Any failure by us to comply with provisions in our customer contracts or any violation of government contracting regulations could result in the imposition of various civil and criminal penalties, which may include termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments and, in the case of our government contracts, fines and suspension from future government contracting. Further, any negative publicity related to our customer contracts or any proceedings surrounding them, regardless of its accuracy, may damage our business and affect our ability to compete for new contracts. In the ordinary course of business, we also receive inquiries from and have ongoing discussions with government entities regarding the compliance of our contracting and sales practices with laws and regulations. A failure in the future to comply with federal and state governmental contracting requirements could result in the termination of customer contracts, our suspension from government work, the imposition of fines or other government sanctions or an inability to compete for new contracts, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition.

Acquisitions and divestitures could harm our business and operating results.

We have acquired in the past, and plan to acquire in the future, other businesses, products or technologies. We also from time to time sell or divest businesses, products and technologies. For instance, in May 2017, we sold the VMware vCloud Air business ("vCloud Air") to OVH US LLC. Acquisitions and divestitures involve significant risks and uncertainties, which include:

If our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

We may not realize all the economic benefit from our business acquisitions, which could result in an impairment of goodwill or intangibles. As of February 2, 2018 , goodwill and amortizable intangible assets were $4,597 million and $548 million , respectively. We review our goodwill and amortizable intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually. Factors that may lead to impairment include a substantial decline in stock price and market capitalization or cash flows, reduced future cash flow estimates related to the assets and slower growth rates in our industry. We may be required to record a significant charge in our financial statements during the period in which any impairment of our goodwill or amortizable intangible assets is determined, which would negatively impact our operating results.

Problems with our information systems could interfere with our business and could adversely impact our operations.

We rely on our information systems and those of third parties for processing customer orders, delivering products, providing services and support to our customers, billing and tracking our customer orders, fulfilling contractual obligations, performing accounting operations and otherwise running our business. If our systems fail, our disaster and data recovery planning and capacity may prove insufficient to enable timely recovery of important functions and business records. Any disruption in our information systems and those of the third parties upon whom we rely could have a significant impact on our business.

In addition, we continuously work to enhance our information systems, such as our enterprise resource planning software. The implementation of these types of enhancements is frequently disruptive to the underlying business of an enterprise, which may especially be the case for us due to the size and complexity of our business. Implementation may disrupt internal controls and business processes and could introduce unintended vulnerability to error.

Additionally, our information systems may not support new business models and initiatives and significant investments could be required in order to upgrade them. For example, in February 2017 we implemented a change in our fiscal calendar, which required us to make adjustments to our critical business processes and data systems, and in February 2018 we implemented new revenue accounting software.

We may have exposure to additional tax liabilities, and our operating results may be adversely impacted by higher than expected tax rates.

As a multinational corporation, we are subject to income taxes as well as non-income based taxes, such as payroll, sales, use, value-added, net worth, property and goods and services taxes, in both the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions. Our domestic and international tax liabilities are subject to the allocation of revenue and expenses in different jurisdictions and the timing of recognizing revenue and expenses. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. We are subject to income and indirect tax examinations. The Dell-owned EMC consolidated group is routinely under audit by the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS"). All U.S. federal income tax matters have been concluded for years through 2011, except for any matters under appeal. In addition, we are under corporate income tax audits in various states and non-U.S. jurisdictions. While we believe we have complied with all applicable income tax laws, a governing tax authority could have a different interpretation of the law and assess us with additional taxes. Any assessment of additional taxes could materially affect our financial condition and operating results.

Our future effective tax rate may be affected by such factors as changes in tax laws, changes in our business or statutory rates, changing interpretation of existing laws or regulations, the impact of accounting for stock-based compensation and the recognition of excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies within the income tax provision in the period in which they occur, the impact of accounting for business combinations, shifts in the amount of earnings in the U.S. compared with other regions in the world and overall levels of income before tax, changes in our international organization, as well as the expiration of statute of limitations and settlements of audits.

In addition, in the ordinary course of our global business, there are many intercompany transactions, including the transfer of intellectual property, where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Although we believe that our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes may differ from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals.

Our rate of taxation in foreign jurisdictions is lower than our U.S. tax rate. Our international income is primarily earned by our subsidiaries organized in Ireland, and, as such, our effective tax rate can be impacted by the composition of our earnings in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. During October 2014, Ireland announced revisions to its tax regulations that will require foreign earnings of our subsidiaries organized in Ireland to be taxed at higher rates. We will be impacted by the changes in tax laws in Ireland beginning in 2021. Prior to this date, we may proactively make structural changes in Ireland that may reduce the impact to our future tax rates. Currently, there are certain structural changes in Ireland that may be available to multi-national companies. However, due to the Dell Acquisition, we could be subject to higher tax obligations in the event we executed similar structural changes.

Any other significant changes to U.S. or international tax laws could have a material impact on our effective tax rate, financial condition, operating results and timing and amount of tax payments.

In addition, numerous other countries have recently enacted or are considering enacting changes to tax laws, administrative interpretations, decisions, policies and positions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued guidelines and proposals during October 2015 that may change how our tax obligations are determined in many of the countries in which we do business. These changes could adversely affect our effective tax rate or result in higher cash tax liabilities.

Catastrophic events or geo-political conditions could disrupt our business.

Our corporate headquarters are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood or other act of God, could have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results. Abrupt political change, terrorist activity and armed conflict pose a risk of general economic disruption in affected countries, and disease pandemics could temporarily sideline a substantial part of our or our customers' workforce at any particular time, any of which could disrupt our business. Furthermore, some of our new product initiatives and business functions are hosted and carried out by third parties that may be vulnerable to disruptions of these sorts, many of which may be beyond our control. Unanticipated disruptions in services provided through localized physical infrastructure, such as utility or telecommunication outages, can curtail the functioning of local offices as well as critical components of our information systems, and adversely affect our ability to process orders, provide services, respond to customer requests and maintain local and global business continuity. To the extent that such disruptions result in delays or cancellations of customer orders, or the deployment or availability of our products and services, our revenue would be adversely affected. Additionally, any such catastrophic event could cause us to incur significant costs to repair damages to our facilities, equipment and infrastructure.

Changes in accounting principles and guidance could result in unfavorable accounting charges or effects.

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. These principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC and various bodies formed to create and interpret appropriate accounting principles and guidance. A change in these principles or guidance, or in their interpretations, may have a material effect on our reported results, as well as our processes and related controls, and may retroactively affect previously reported results. For example, during May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). We will adopt Topic 606 using the full retrospective transition method, effective the first quarter of fiscal 2019. Prior to adoption, we deferred all license revenue related to the sale of perpetual licenses in the event certain revenue recognition criteria were not met. However, under Topic 606, substantially all license revenue related to sale of perpetual licenses is generally expected to be recognized upon delivery. Topic 606 is also expected to impact the timing and recognition of costs to obtain contracts with customers, such as commissions. Under the updated standard, incremental costs to obtain contracts with customers are deferred and recognized over the expected period of benefit. As a result, additional commission costs will be deferred and amortized over a longer duration. We are continuing to evaluate the effect that Topic 606 will have on our financial statements and related disclosures, and preliminary assessments are subject to change.

Additionally, during October 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-16, Income Taxes: Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory (Topic 740), which requires entities to recognize at the transaction date the income tax consequences of intra-entity asset transfers. The updated standard is effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017 and could have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements due to the changed treatment of the income tax consequences of business combinations and asset transfers with the Company's international entities.

SEC rules require that when we release our quarterly financial results, we must provide year-over-year comparisons to results for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. Accordingly, following each quarter of fiscal 2019, we will present quarterly results for the corresponding period of fiscal 2018 that retrospectively apply Topic 606 to our fiscal 2018 results which were originally prepared utilizing the prior accounting guidance. Additionally, we have provided financial guidance for fiscal 2019 and plan to continue to provide guidance for each quarter of fiscal 2019 utilizing comparisons against preliminary retrospective presentations of fiscal 2018 results. These retrospective fiscal 2018 presentations are considered to be preliminary, and are subject to the final retrospective presentations of fiscal 2018 results that we will provide with our annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2019. If the final retrospective presentation of our financial statements for fiscal 2018 is perceived by investors to differ significantly from our previously provided preliminary presentations, it may result in fluctuations in our stock price.

Risks Related to Our Relationship with Dell

Our stock price has fluctuated significantly following the announcement of the Dell Acquisition, and our relationship with Dell may adversely impact our business and stock price in the future.

Our stock price has fluctuated significantly following the announcement of Dell's acquisition of EMC Corporation, our parent company, in September 2016. Our stock price has been particularly volatile following press reports, subsequently confirmed by Dell in a Schedule 13D/A filing on February 2, 2018, that Dell is evaluating potential business opportunities, including a public offering of Dell, a potential business combination between Dell and VMware, or maintaining the status quo. Speculation regarding the outcome of Dell's evaluation creates uncertainty for our customers, partners and employees, which could negatively impact sales, make it difficult to attract and retain employees and distract management's focus from executing on other strategic initiatives.

A number of other factors relating to our future relationship with Dell could adversely affect our business or our stock price in the future, including:

Holders of our Class A common stock have limited ability to influence matters requiring stockholder approval.

As of February 2, 2018 , Dell controlled 30,679,000 shares of our Class A common stock and all 300,000,000 shares of our Class B common stock, representing 81.9% of the total outstanding shares of common stock or 97.6% of the voting power of outstanding common stock held by EMC. Through its control of the Class B common stock, which is generally entitled to 10 votes per share, Dell controls the vote to elect all of our directors and to approve or disapprove all other matters submitted to a stockholder vote.

Prior to a distribution by Dell to its stockholders under Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (a "355 Distribution"), shares of Class B common stock transferred to any party other than a successor-in-interest or a subsidiary of EMC automatically convert into Class A common stock. Dell's voting control over VMware will continue so long as the shares of Class B common stock it controls continue to represent at least 20% of our outstanding stock. If its ownership falls below 20% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, all outstanding shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert to Class A common stock. If Dell effects a 355 Distribution at a time when it holds shares of Class B common stock, its stockholders will receive Class B common stock. These shares will remain entitled to 10 votes per share, holders of these shares will remain entitled to elect 80% of the total number of directors on our board of directors and the holders of our Class A common stock will continue to have limited ability to influence matters requiring stockholder approval and have limited ability to elect members of our board of directors. Following a 355 Distribution, shares of Class B common stock may convert to Class A common stock if such conversion is approved by VMware stockholders after the 355 Distribution and we have obtained a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service. In January 2014, the IRS announced in Revenue Procedure 2014-3 that, generally, it would no longer issue private letter rulings on 355 Distributions.

Dell has the ability to prevent us from taking actions that might be in our best interest.

Under our certificate of incorporation and the master transaction agreement we entered into with EMC, we must (subject to certain exceptions) obtain the consent of EMC (which is controlled by Dell) or its successor-in-interest, as the holder of our Class B common stock, prior to taking specified actions, such as acquiring other companies for consideration in excess of $100 million, issuing stock or other VMware securities, except pursuant to employee benefit plans (provided that we obtain Class B common stockholder approval of the aggregate annual number of shares to be granted under such plans), paying dividends, entering into any exclusive or exclusionary arrangement with a third party involving, in whole or in part, products or services that are similar to EMC's or amending certain provisions of our charter documents. In addition, we have agreed that for so long as EMC or its successor-in-interest continues to own greater than 50% of the voting control of our outstanding common stock, we will not knowingly take or fail to take any action that could reasonably be expected to preclude the ability of EMC or its successor-in-interest (including Dell) to undertake a tax-free spin-off. Dell is entitled to exercise the voting control and contractual rights of EMC, and may do so in a manner that could vary significantly from EMC's historic practice. If Dell does not provide any requisite consent allowing us to conduct such activities when requested, we will not be able to conduct such activities. As a result, we may have to forgo capital raising or acquisition opportunities that would otherwise be available to us, and we may be precluded from pursuing certain growth initiatives.

By becoming a stockholder in our company, holders of our Class A common stock are deemed to have notice of and have consented to the provisions of our certificate of incorporation and the master transaction agreement with respect to the limitations that are described above.

Dell has the ability to prevent a change-in-control transaction and may sell control of VMware without benefiting other stockholders.

Dell's voting control and its additional rights described above give Dell the ability to prevent transactions that would result in a change of control of VMware, including transactions in which holders of our Class A common stock might otherwise receive a premium for their shares over the then-current market price. In addition, Dell is not prohibited from selling a controlling interest in us to a third party and may do so without the approval of the holders of our Class A common stock and without providing for a purchase of any shares of Class A common stock held by persons other than Dell. Accordingly, shares of Class A common stock may be worth less than they would be if Dell did not maintain voting control over us or if Dell did not have the additional rights described above.

If Dell's level of ownership significantly increases, Dell could unilaterally effect a merger of VMware into Dell without a vote of VMware stockholders or the VMware Board of Directors at a price per share that might not reflect a premium to then-current market prices.

As of February 2, 2018 , Dell controlled 81.9% of VMware's outstanding common stock, and Dell's percentage ownership of VMware common stock could increase as a result of repurchases by VMware of its Class A common stock or purchases by Dell. Section 253 of the Delaware General Corporation Law permits a parent company, when it owns 90% or more of each class of a subsidiary's stock that generally would be entitled to vote on a merger of that subsidiary with the parent, to unilaterally effect a merger of the subsidiary into the parent without a vote of the subsidiary's board or stockholders. Accordingly, if Dell becomes the holder of at least 90% of VMware's outstanding stock, neither VMware's board of directors nor VMware's stockholders would be entitled to vote on a merger of VMware into Dell (the "short-form merger"). Moreover, a short-form merger is not subject to the stringent "entire fairness" standard and the parent company is not required to negotiate with a special committee of disinterested directors that would serve to approximate arm's length negotiations designed to ensure that a fair price is paid. Rather, a minority stockholder's sole remedy in the context of a short-form merger is to exercise appraisal rights under Delaware law. In such a proceeding, petitioning stockholders may be awarded more or less than the merger price or the amount they would have received in a merger negotiated between the parent and a disinterested special committee advised by independent financial and legal advisors. Dell is prohibited through September 7, 2018 under its charter from purchasing or otherwise acquiring any shares of common stock of VMware if such acquisition would cause the common stock of VMware to no longer be publicly traded on a U.S. securities exchange or VMware to no longer be required to file reports under Sections 13 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, in each case, unless such acquisition of VMware common stock is required in order for VMware to continue to be a member of the affiliated group of corporations filing a consolidated tax return with Dell.

We engage in related persons transactions with Dell that may divert our resources, create opportunity costs and prove to be unsuccessful.

We currently engage in a number of related persons transactions with Dell that include joint product development, go-to-market, branding, sales, customer service activities, real estate and various support services, and we expect to engage in additional related persons transactions with Dell to leverage the benefits of our strategic alignment. Additionally, in 2013 we contributed technology and transferred employees to Pivotal. We continue to hold a significant ownership interest in Pivotal after contributing $20 million in cash to Pivotal during 2016, in exchange for additional preferred equity interests in Pivotal.

We believe that these related persons transactions provide us a unique opportunity to leverage the respective technical expertise, product strengths and market presence of Dell and its subsidiaries for the benefit of our customers and stockholders while enabling us to compete more effectively with competitors who are much larger than us. However, these transactions may prove not to be successful and may divert our resources or the attention of our management from other opportunities. Negotiating and implementing these arrangements can be time consuming and cause delays in the introduction of joint product and service offerings and disruptions to VMware's business. We cannot predict whether our stockholders and industry or securities analysts who cover us will react positively to announcements of new related persons transactions with Dell, and such announcements could have a negative impact on our stock price. Our participation in these transactions may also cause certain of our other vendors and ecosystem partners who compete with Dell and its subsidiaries to also view us as their competitors. Additionally, if Pivotal requires additional funding, we may be asked to contribute capital resources to Pivotal or accept dilution in our ownership interest, and we may be unable to realize any value from the technology and resources that we contributed to Pivotal.

Our business and Dell's businesses overlap, and Dell may compete with us, which could reduce our market share.

We and Dell are IT infrastructure companies providing products and services that overlap in various areas, including software-based storage, management, hyper-converged infrastructure and cloud computing. Dell competes with us in these areas now and may engage in increased competition with us in the future. In addition, the intellectual property agreement that we have entered into with EMC (which is controlled by Dell) provides EMC the ability to use our source code and intellectual property, which, subject to limitations, it may use to produce certain products that compete with ours. EMC's rights in this

regard extend to its majority-owned subsidiaries, which could include joint ventures where EMC holds a majority position and one or more of our competitors hold minority positions.

Dell could assert control over us in a manner that could impede our growth or our ability to enter new markets or otherwise adversely affect our business. Further, Dell could utilize its control over us to cause us to take or refrain from taking certain actions, including entering into relationships with channel, technology and other marketing partners, enforcing our intellectual property rights or pursuing business combinations, other corporate opportunities (which EMC is expressly permitted to pursue under the circumstances set forth in our certificate of incorporation) or product development initiatives that could adversely affect our competitive position, including our competitive position relative to that of Dell in markets where we compete with Dell. In addition, Dell maintains significant partnerships with certain of our competitors, including Microsoft.

Dell's competition in certain markets may affect our ability to build and maintain partnerships.

Our existing and potential partner relationships may be negatively affected by our relationship with Dell. We partner with a number of companies that compete with Dell in certain markets in which Dell participates. Dell's control of EMC's majority ownership in us may affect our ability to effectively partner with these companies. These companies may favor our competitors because of our relationship with Dell.

Dell competes with certain of our significant channel, technology and other marketing partners, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Pursuant to our certificate of incorporation and other agreements that we have with EMC, EMC and Dell may have the ability to impact our relationship with those of our partners that compete with EMC or Dell, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and our ability to pursue opportunities which may otherwise be available to us.

We could be held liable for the tax liabilities of other members of Dell's consolidated tax group, and compared to our historical results as a member of the EMC consolidated tax group, our tax liabilities may increase, fluctuate more widely and be less predictable.

We have historically been included in EMC's consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as well as in certain consolidated, combined or unitary groups that include EMC Corporation or certain of its subsidiaries for state and local income tax purposes, and since the Dell Acquisition, we have been included in Dell's consolidated tax group. Effective as of the close of the Dell Acquisition, we amended our tax sharing agreement with EMC to include Dell. Although our tax sharing agreement provides that our tax liability is calculated primarily as though VMware were a separate taxpayer, certain tax attributes and transactions are assessed using consolidated tax return rules as applied to the Dell consolidated tax group and are subject to other specialized terms under the tax sharing agreement. Pursuant to our agreement, we and Dell generally will make payments to each other such that, with respect to tax returns for any taxable period in which we or any of our subsidiaries are included in Dell's consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax purposes or any other consolidated, combined or unitary group of Dell or its subsidiaries, the amount of taxes to be paid by us will be determined, subject to certain consolidated return adjustments, as if we and each of our subsidiaries included in such consolidated, combined or unitary group filed our own consolidated, combined or unitary tax return. Consequently, compared to our historical results as a member of the EMC consolidated tax group, the amount of our tax sharing payment compared to our separate return basis liability may increase, vary more widely from period to period and be less predictable. Additionally, the impact of the 2017 Tax Act upon consolidated groups is highly complex and uncertain and its impact must be further interpreted in the context of the tax sharing agreement to determine VMware's tax sharing payment. VMware and Dell are reviewing the tax sharing agreement in connection with the enactment of the 2017 Tax Act.

When we become subject to federal income tax audits as a member of Dell's consolidated group, the tax sharing agreement provides that Dell has authority to control the audit and represent Dell and our interests to the IRS. Accordingly, if we and Dell or its successor-in-interest differ on appropriate responses and positions to take with respect to tax questions that may arise in the course of an audit, our ability to affect the outcome of such audits may be impaired. In addition, if Dell effects a 355 Distribution or other transaction that is subsequently determined to be taxable, we could be liable for all or a portion of the tax liability, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We have been included in the EMC consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax purposes since our acquisition by EMC in 2004, and will continue to be included in Dell's consolidated group for periods in which Dell or its successor-in-interest beneficially owns at least 80% of the total voting power and value of our outstanding stock. Each member of a consolidated group during any part of a consolidated return year is jointly and severally liable for tax on the consolidated return of such year and for any subsequently determined deficiency thereon. Similarly, in some jurisdictions, each member of a consolidated, combined or unitary group for state, local or foreign income tax purposes is jointly and severally liable for the state, local or foreign income tax liability of each other member of the consolidated, combined or unitary group. Accordingly, for any period in which we are included in the Dell consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax purposes or any other consolidated, combined or unitary group of Dell and its subsidiaries, we could be liable in the event that any income tax liability was incurred, but not discharged, by any other member of any such group.

Also, under the tax sharing agreement, if it is subsequently determined that the tracking stock issued in connection with the Dell Acquisition constitutes a taxable distribution, we could be liable for all or a portion of the tax liability, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We have limited ability to resolve favorably any disputes that arise between us and Dell.

Disputes may arise between Dell and us in a number of areas relating to our ongoing relationships, including our reseller, technology and other business agreements with Dell, areas of competitive overlap, strategic initiatives, requests for consent to activities specified in our certificate of incorporation and the terms of our intercompany agreements. We may not be able to resolve any potential conflicts with Dell, and even if we do, the resolution may be less favorable than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated party.

While we are controlled by Dell, we may not have the leverage to negotiate renewals or amendments to these agreements, if required, on terms as favorable to us as those we would negotiate with an unaffiliated third party, if at all.

Our CEO, our CFO and some of our directors have potential conflicts of interest with Dell.

Our CEO, our CFO and some of our directors received shares of Dell Class V common stock in partial consideration for their EMC common stock when the Dell Acquisition closed. In addition, some of our directors are executive officers or directors of Dell, and Dell, through its control of EMC, which is the sole holder of our Class B common stock, is entitled to elect 7 of our 8 directors and possesses sufficient voting control to elect the remaining director. Ownership of Dell Class V common stock by our directors and the presence of executive officers or directors of Dell on our board of directors could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving both us and Dell that could have different implications for Dell than they do for us. Our Board has approved resolutions that address corporate opportunities that are presented to our directors or officers that are also directors or officers of Dell. These provisions may not adequately address potential conflicts of interest or ensure that potential conflicts of interest will be resolved in our favor. As a result, we may not be able to take advantage of corporate opportunities presented to individuals who are officers or directors of both us and Dell and we may be precluded from pursuing certain growth initiatives.

We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange rules and, as a result, are relying on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to stockholders of companies that are not "controlled companies."

Dell owns more than 50% of the total voting power of our common stock and, as a result, we are a "controlled company" under the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards. As a controlled company, we are exempt under the New York Stock Exchange standards from the obligation to comply with certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements, including the requirements:

While we have voluntarily caused our Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee to currently be composed entirely of independent directors, reflecting the requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, we are not required to maintain the independent composition of the committee. As a result of our use of the "controlled company" exemptions, holders of our Class A common stock will not have the same protection afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

Dell's ability to control our board of directors may make it difficult for us to recruit independent directors.

So long as Dell beneficially owns shares of our common stock representing at least a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by the holders of outstanding voting stock, Dell can effectively control and direct our board of directors. Further, the interests of Dell and our other stockholders may diverge. Under these circumstances, it may become difficult for us to recruit independent directors.

Our historical financial information as a majority-owned subsidiary may not be representative of the results of a completely independent public company.

The financial information covering the periods included in this report does not necessarily reflect what our financial condition, operating results or cash flows would have been had we been a completely independent entity during those periods. In certain geographic regions where we do not have an established legal entity, we contract with Dell subsidiaries for support

services and Dell personnel who are managed by us. The costs incurred by Dell on our behalf related to these employees are passed on to us and we are charged a mark-up intended to approximate costs that would have been charged had we contracted for such services with an unrelated third party. These costs are included as expenses on our consolidated statements of income (loss). Additionally, we engage with Dell in intercompany transactions, including agreements regarding the use of Dell's and our intellectual property and real estate, agreements regarding the sale of goods and services to one another and to Pivotal, and agreements for Dell to resell our products and services to third party customers. If Dell were to distribute its shares of our common stock to its stockholders or otherwise divest itself of all or a significant portion of its VMware shares, there would be numerous implications to us, including the fact that we could lose the benefit of these arrangements with Dell. There can be no assurance that we would be able to renegotiate these arrangements with Dell or replace them on the same or similar terms. Additionally, our business could face significant disruption and uncertainty as we transition from these arrangements with Dell. Moreover, our historical financial information is not necessarily indicative of what our financial condition, operating results or cash flows would be in the future if and when we contract at arm's length with independent third parties for the services we have received and currently receive from Dell. During fiscal 2018, we recognized revenue of $1,367 million and as of February 2, 2018 , $1,258 million of sales were included in unearned revenue from such transactions with Dell. For additional information, refer to "Our Relationship with Dell" in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 and Note B to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The realignment of our fiscal calendar to coincide with Dell's and Dell's reporting on our financial results may make it more difficult to compare our year-over-year performance and identify changes in business trends and conditions.

Dell provides segment reporting on VMware in its public reports on financial results. However, prior to February 2017, the fiscal calendars for Dell and VMware did not align. VMware reported on a calendar year basis through December 31, 2016 , whereas Dell reports on a 52- or 53-week fiscal year basis ending on the Friday nearest to January 31 of each year. Effective January 1, 2017 , our fiscal calendar changed to align with Dell's.

The period beginning on January 1, 2017 and ending on February 3, 2017 is being reported as a transition period. Accordingly, our first full fiscal year under our revised fiscal calendar began on February 4, 2017 and ended February 2, 2018 .

We have included audited financial statements for the Transition Period in this Form 10-K for fiscal 2018. Following the change in our fiscal calendar and for the first fiscal year, we will compare results from each fiscal period under our new fiscal calendar to the corresponding period under our prior calendar. For example, this Form 10-K compares the results of the first, second, third and fourth quarter of our 2018 fiscal year running from February 4, 2017 through February 2, 2018 to the results of the first, second, third and fourth quarter of our 2016 fiscal year which ran from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 , and in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices, we will not denote any full fiscal quarters or a fiscal year as a "2017" fiscal period.

Our fiscal year transition may also distort the impact of seasonal factors that we have observed in our business, such as the end of fiscal period budget expenditures by our customers and the timing of holiday and vacation periods on our quarterly results. Consequently, it may be difficult to accurately determine the extent to which year-over-year changes in our financial results represent actual changes to business conditions and trends or are instead artifacts of our fiscal period transition.

Further, the process of implementing a fiscal calendar transition required us to make adjustments to many of the critical business processes and data systems that our management and personnel rely upon to conduct our business operations and coordinate our worldwide activities. Although we believe that we have successfully managed the transition of our processes and systems to the new fiscal calendar, there can be no assurance that errors and failures will not occur that could impact comparisons of our year-over-year results.

Risks Related to Owning Our Class A Common Stock

The price of our Class A common stock has fluctuated significantly in recent years and may fluctuate significantly in the future.

The trading price of our Class A common stock has fluctuated significantly in the past and could fluctuate substantially in the future due to the factors discussed in this Risk Factors section and elsewhere in this report. The trading market for Dell Class V common stock that was issued upon the closing of the Dell Acquisition that is expected to track the performance of VMware, as well as continuing volatility in technology company share prices, could also lead to volatility in our stock price.

Dell, which beneficially owned 81.9% of our outstanding stock as of February 2, 2018 , is not restricted from selling its shares and is entitled to certain registration rights. If a significant number of shares enters the public trading markets in a short period of time, the market price of our Class A common stock may decline. In addition, if our Class B common stock is distributed to Dell stockholders and remains outstanding, it would trade separately from and potentially at a premium to our Class A common stock, and could thereby contribute additional volatility to the price of our Class A common stock.

Broad market and industry factors may also decrease the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The stock market in general and technology companies in particular have often experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Our public float is also relatively small due to Dell's holdings, which can result in greater volatility in our stock compared to that of other companies with a market capitalization similar to ours. It is also uncertain what impact the trading of Dell Class V common stock, which represents approximately 50% of the economic interest in us, will have on the volatility and the liquidity of our Class A common stock and how the Dell Class V common stock will trade in relation to our Class A common stock over time. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company's securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted, including against us, and, if not resolved swiftly, can result in substantial costs and a diversion of management's attention and resources.

If securities or industry analysts change their recommendations regarding our stock adversely, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If any of the analysts who cover us or who cover the Dell Class V common stock change their recommendation regarding our stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, our stock price would likely decline.

Anti-takeover provisions in Delaware law and our charter documents could discourage takeover attempts.

As our controlling stockholder, Dell has the ability to prevent a change in control of VMware. Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. These provisions include the following:

In addition, we have elected to apply the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us. These provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts and could reduce the price that investors might be willing to pay for shares of our common stock.

None.

As of February 2, 2018 , we owned or leased the facilities described below: 

____________________________

We believe that our current facilities are suitable for our current employee headcount and will sustain us through fiscal 2019, but we intend to add new facilities or expand existing facilities as needed as we add employees and expand our operations. We believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate expansion of our operations.

Refer to Note K to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of legal proceedings. See also the risk factor entitled "We are involved in litigation, investigations and regulatory inquiries and proceedings that could negatively affect us" in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of potential risks to our results of operations and financial condition that may arise from legal proceedings.

Not applicable.

PART II

Market Information

Our Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VMW.

The following table sets forth the range of high and low sales prices of our Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange during the fiscal periods shown. Our Class B common stock is not publicly traded.

Holders

We had 28 holders of record of our Class A common stock, and one holder of record, EMC Corporation, of our Class B common stock as of March 20, 2018 .

Dividends

Subsequent to our initial public offering in August 2007, we have not declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to the consent of the holders of our Class B common stock pursuant to our certificate of incorporation. Holders of our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock will share equally on a per share basis in any dividend declared on our common stock by our board of directors.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Issuer purchases of Class A common stock during the quarter ended February 2, 2018 :

(2) Represents the amounts remaining from VMware's $1,000 million stock repurchase authorization announced on August 14, 2017 that expires on August 31, 2018.

Stock Performance Graph

The graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common stock with the cumulative total return on the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Systems Software index for the period beginning on December 31, 2012 through February 2, 2018 , assuming an initial investment of $100. Historically, we have not declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock, while the data for the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Systems Software Index assume reinvestment of dividends.

Note: The stock price performance shown on the graph above is not necessarily indicative of future price performance. This graph shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.

FIVE-YEAR SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

(amounts in millions, except per share amounts, and shares in thousands)

____________________________

The following management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") is provided in addition to the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes to assist in understanding our results of operations and financial condition.

Period-over-period changes are calculated based upon the respective underlying, non-rounded data. We refer to our fiscal years ended February 1, 2019, February 2, 2018, December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 as "fiscal 2019," "fiscal 2018," "fiscal 2016" and "fiscal 2015," respectively. Unless the context requires otherwise, we are referring to VMware, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries when we use the terms "VMware," the "Company," "we," "our" or "us."

Overview

We pioneered the development and application of virtualization technologies with x86 server-based computing, separating application software from the underlying hardware. Information technology ("IT") driven innovation is disrupting markets and industries. Technologies emerge faster than organizations can absorb, creating increasingly complex environments. To take on this challenge, businesses need a flexible and secure digital foundation. We provide compute, cloud, mobility, networking and security infrastructure software to businesses that provides a flexible digital foundation for the applications that empower businesses to serve their customers globally.

Over the years, we have increased our product and solution offerings beyond compute virtualization to include offerings that allow organizations to manage information technology resources across private clouds and complex multi-cloud, multi-device environments by leveraging synergies across three product categories: Software-Defined Data Center ("SDDC"), Hybrid Cloud Computing and End-User Computing ("EUC'). Our portfolio supports and addresses the four key IT priorities of our customers: modernizing data centers, integrating public clouds, empowering digital workspaces and transforming security.

We sell our solutions using enterprise agreements ("EAs") or as part of our non-EA, or transactional, business. EAs are comprehensive volume license offerings, offered both directly by us and through certain channel partners that also provide for multi-year maintenance and support. We continue to experience strong renewals, including renewals of our EAs, resulting in additional license sales of both our existing and newer products and solutions.

SDDC or Software-Defined Data Center

Our SDDC technologies form the foundation of our customers' private cloud environments and provide the capabilities for our customers to extend their private cloud to the public cloud and to help them run, manage, secure and connect all their applications across all clouds and devices. During fiscal 2018, we continued to see broad-based strength of our SDDC solutions. While our compute license sales remained stable, sales of our VMware NSX ("NSX") and VMware vSAN ("vSAN"), including VxRail offerings, continued to grow during fiscal 2018. While sales from our management products increased during fiscal 2018, the sales growth rate fluctuated period to period, depending largely upon the extent to which management products were included in our particular larger EAs. Future growth rates for our management products may be subject to similar variability.

Hybrid Cloud Computing

Our overarching cloud strategy contains three key components: (i) continue to expand beyond compute virtualization in the private cloud, (ii) extend the private cloud into the public cloud and (iii) connect and secure endpoints across a range of public clouds. During fiscal 2018, Hybrid Cloud Computing was comprised of VMware Cloud Provider Program ("VCPP") (previously referred to as VMware vCloud Air Network) and VMware Cloud Services, which enable customers to run, manage, connect and secure their applications across private and public clouds, including Amazon Web Services ("AWS"), Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Cloud. During fiscal 2018, revenue growth in our Hybrid Cloud Computing offerings was primarily driven by our VCPP offerings. VMware Cloud on AWS is currently available in certain geographies, and we expect to continue expanding into additional regions in fiscal 2019.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2018, we completed the sale of our vCloud Air business ("vCloud Air") to OVH US LLC ("OVH").

End-User Computing

Our EUC solution consists of VMware Workspace ONE ("Workspace ONE"), our digital workspace platform, which includes VMware AirWatch ("AirWatch") and VMware Horizon. Our AirWatch business model includes an on-premises solution that we offer through the sale of perpetual licenses and an off-premises solution that we offer as software-as-a-service ("SaaS"). Workspace ONE continued to be our primary growth driver within our EUC product group during fiscal 2018.

Dell Synergies

During fiscal 2018, we continued joint marketing, sales, branding and product development efforts with Dell Technologies Inc. ("Dell") and other Dell Technologies companies to enhance the collective value we deliver to our mutual customers. As a result of our collective business built with Dell, we have experienced significant synergies benefiting our sales during fiscal 2018.

Change in Fiscal Year End

As a result of the change to our fiscal year from a fiscal year ending on December 31 of each calendar year to a fiscal year ending on the Friday nearest to January 31 of each year, the period that began on January 1, 2017 and ended on February 3, 2017 was a transition period (the "Transition Period"). Our first full fiscal year 2018 is a 52-week year that began on February 4, 2017 and ended on February 2, 2018. Prior-period financial statements have not been recast as we believe (i) the year ended December 31, 2016 is comparable to the year ended February 2, 2018 and (ii) recasting prior-period results was not practicable or cost justified. We have included audited consolidated financial statements for the Transition Period in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Results of Operations

Approximately 70% of our sales are denominated in the United States ("U.S.") dollar, however, in certain countries we also invoice and collect in the following currencies: euro; British pound; Japanese yen; Australian dollar; and Chinese renminbi. In addition, we incur and pay operating expenses in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. As a result, our financial statements, including our revenue, operating expenses, unearned revenue and the resulting cash flows derived from the U.S. dollar equivalent of foreign currency transactions, are affected by foreign exchange fluctuations.

Revenue

Our revenue during the periods presented was as follows (dollars in millions):

Revenue from our Hybrid Cloud Computing offerings consisted primarily of VCPP, and revenue from our SaaS offerings consisted primarily of our AirWatch mobile solution within Workspace ONE. VCPP revenue is included in license revenue and SaaS revenue is included in both license and services revenue. Hybrid Cloud Computing, together with our SaaS offerings, accounted for approximately 8% of our total revenue during fiscal years 2018 and 2016.

License revenue relating to the sale of perpetual licenses that are part of a multi-year arrangement is generally recognized upon delivery of the underlying license, whereas revenue derived from our Hybrid Cloud Computing and SaaS offerings is recognized on a consumption basis or over a period of time.

License Revenue

During fiscal  2018 , license revenue benefited from broad-based growth across our diverse portfolio and solid performance in all geographies. Drivers of license revenue growth during fiscal  2018 compared to fiscal  2016 included continued scale and

growth of our NSX and vSAN offerings. EUC growth driven in part by sales of Workspace ONE and continued strength of our VCPP offerings were also key factors contributing to license growth. Strength in our renewal business, including EAs, also contributed to license revenue growth during fiscal  2018 compared to fiscal  2016 .

License revenue growth in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015 was largely driven by license sales of NSX, vSAN and AirWatch mobile solutions, as well as growth in our VCPP offering. We experienced stronger than expected sales of our compute products, in part due to strong renewals of our EAs, which also contributed to the license revenue growth in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015 .

Services Revenue

During fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2016 , software maintenance revenue benefited from strong renewals of our EAs, maintenance contracts sold in previous periods and additional maintenance contracts sold in conjunction with new software license sales. In each period presented, customers purchased, on a weighted-average basis, more than two and a half years of support and maintenance with each new license purchased.

Professional services revenue increased 14% in fiscal 2018 and 7% in fiscal 2016 . We have continued our focus on solution deployments, including our products such as NSX and vSAN, which attributed to the increase in professional services revenue. Our professional services revenue will vary based on the delivery channels used in any given period as well as the timing of service engagements.

GSA Settlement 

During fiscal 2015, we reached an agreement with the Department of Justice and the General Services Administration ("GSA") to pay $76 million to resolve allegations that our government sales practices between 2006 and 2013 had violated the federal False Claims Act. The settlement was paid and recorded as a reduction of our total revenue during fiscal 2015.

Unearned Revenue

Unearned revenue as of the periods presented consisted of the following (table in millions):

Unearned license revenue is generally recognized upon delivery of existing or future products or services, or is otherwise recognized ratably over the term of the arrangement. Future products include, in some cases, emerging products that are offered as part of product promotions where the purchaser of an existing product is entitled to receive the future product at no additional charge. To the extent the future product has not been delivered and vendor-specific objective evidence ("VSOE") of fair value cannot be established, revenue for the entire order is deferred until all product delivery obligations have been fulfilled. In the event the arrangement does not include professional services and if the customer is granted the right to receive unspecified future products or VSOE of fair value on the software maintenance element of the arrangement does not exist, then unearned license revenue may also be recognized ratably. Unearned license revenue derived from commitments to future products that have not been delivered represents a significant portion of total unearned license revenue as of February 2, 2018 and February 3, 2017 . Upon adoption of Topic 606, unearned license revenue is expected to substantially decline primarily due to the acceleration of revenue recognition for on-premise license sales that were deferred under current accounting guidance and due to customer prepayments on contracts with various cancellation rights.

Unearned software maintenance revenue is attributable to our maintenance contracts and is generally recognized ratably over the contract period. The weighted-average remaining term as of February 2, 2018 was approximately two years . Unearned professional services revenue results primarily from prepaid professional services, including training, and is generally recognized as the services are delivered. The amount of unearned revenue derived from transactions denominated in a foreign currency is affected by fluctuations in the foreign currencies in which we invoice.

In connection with the disposition of vCloud Air, $35 million of total unearned revenue, which included $18 million of unearned license revenue, was transferred to OVH during the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Refer to Note D to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion.

Cost of License Revenue, Cost of Services Revenue and Operating Expenses

Our cost of services revenue and operating expenses primarily reflected increasing cash-based employee-related expenses, driven by incremental growth in headcount and increasing compensation across most of our income statement expense categories during fiscal 2018. We expect increases in cash-based employee-related expenses to continue.

Cost of License Revenue

Cost of license revenue primarily consists of the cost of fulfillment of our software, royalty costs in connection with technology licensed from third-party providers and amortization of intangible assets. The cost of fulfillment of our software includes personnel costs and related overhead associated with the physical and electronic delivery of our software products.

Cost of license revenue during the periods presented was as follows (dollars in millions):

Cost of license revenue decreased in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015 primarily due to a decrease in royalty costs of $16 million and amortization of intangible assets of $7 million.

Cost of Services Revenue

Cost of services revenue primarily includes the costs of personnel and related overhead to physically and electronically deliver technical support for our products and to provide professional services. Additionally, cost of services revenue includes depreciation on equipment supporting our service offerings.

Cost of services revenue during the periods presented was as follows (dollars in millions):

Cost of services revenue increased in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 , but remained consistent as a percentage of revenue. The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $81 million during fiscal 2018, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries, as well as increased IT development costs of $24 million. These increased costs were offset in part by a decrease in equipment, depreciation and facilities-related costs of $33 million.

Cost of services revenue increased in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015. The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $69 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries. In addition, stock-based compensation increased by $8 million, primarily driven by an increase in restricted stock unit awards granted.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses include the personnel and related overhead associated with the development of our product software and service offerings. We continue to invest in our key growth areas, including NSX and vSAN, while also investing in areas that we expect to be significant growth drivers in future periods.

Research and development expenses during the periods presented were as follows (dollars in millions):

Research and development expenses increased in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 . The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $194 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries. In addition, stock-based compensation increased by $49 million, primarily driven by an increase in restricted stock unit awards and performance stock unit awards granted after the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. Research and development expenses also increased due to higher equipment, depreciation and facilities-related costs of $34 million. These increases were offset in part by an increase in capitalized internal-use software development costs of $55 million.

Research and development expenses increased in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015. The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $120 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries. In addition, stock-based compensation increased by $80 million, primarily driven by an increase in restricted stock unit awards granted.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expenses include personnel costs, sales commissions and related overhead associated with the sale and marketing of our license and services offerings, as well as the cost of product launches and marketing initiatives. Sales commissions for our license offerings are generally earned and expensed when a firm order is received from the customer. In the event of an EA with multi-year support and maintenance or our SaaS offerings, sales commissions are generally expensed over the term of the arrangement.

The adoption of Topic 606 is expected to impact the timing and recognition of costs to obtain contracts with customers, such as commissions. Incremental costs to obtain contracts with customers are deferred and recognized over the expected period of benefit. As a result, additional commission costs will be deferred and amortized over a longer duration.

Sales and marketing expenses during the periods presented were as follows (dollars in millions):

Sales and marketing expenses increased in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 . The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $233 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries, as well as higher commission costs, resulting from increased sales volume.

Sales and marketing expenses increased in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015. The increase was primarily due to growth in cash-based employee-related expenses of $134 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries, as well as higher sales commission expense resulting from increased sales volume. In addition, stock-based compensation increased by $28 million, primarily driven by an increase in restricted stock unit awards granted. These increases were partially offset by decreases in costs incurred for marketing programs and related initiatives of $45 million. In addition, sales and marketing expenses decreased by $28 million due to fluctuations in the exchange rates for foreign currencies in which we incur expenses.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses include personnel and related overhead costs to support the business. These expenses include the costs associated with finance, human resources, IT infrastructure and legal, as well as expenses related to corporate costs and initiatives, including certain charitable donations to the VMware Foundation.

General and administrative expenses during the periods presented were as follows (dollars in millions):

General and administrative expenses decreased in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 . The decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in IT-related costs, including telecommunication, equipment and depreciation, of $73 million, offset in part by decreased capitalization of internal-use software development costs of $27 million, as well as increased cash-based employee-related expenses of $33 million, resulting primarily from incremental growth in headcount and salaries.

General and administrative expenses decreased in fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015. The decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in installment payments to certain key employees of AirWatch that were subject to the achievement of specified employment conditions, with the final installment payment occurring during the first quarter of 2016. As a result, compensation expense relating to these installment payments decreased by $132 million in 2016. These decreases in general and administrative expenses were partially offset by an increase in equipment, depreciation and facilities-related costs of $36 million. In addition, cash-based employee-related expenses increased by $32 million, driven by incremental growth in headcount and salaries, and stock-based compensation increased by $17 million, primarily due to an increase in restricted stock unit awards granted.

Realignment and Loss on Disposition

Realignment expenses and loss on disposition during the periods presented were as follows (dollars in millions):

During the second quarter of fiscal 2018, we completed the sale of vCloud Air to OVH. Losses recognized in connection with this transaction were $90 million during fiscal 2018. Losses recognized on the disposition of vCloud Air include the impairment of fixed assets identified as part of the sale, as well as the costs associated with certain transition services, which primarily include employee-related expenses and costs associated with data-center colocation services. Transition services are to be provided over a period of 18 months, starting from the date of the sale.

On January 22, 2016, we approved a plan to streamline our operations, with plans to reinvest the associated savings in field, technical and support resources associated with growth products. As a result of these actions, approximately 800  positions were eliminated during fiscal 2016. We recognized $50 million of severance-related realignment expenses during fiscal 2016 on the consolidated statements of income (loss). Additionally, we consolidated certain facilities as part of this plan, which resulted in the recognition of $2 million of related expenses during fiscal 2016. Actions associated with this plan were substantially completed by December 31, 2016.

During fiscal 2015, we eliminated approximately 380 positions across all major functional groups and geographies to streamline our operations. As a result of these actions, $23 million of realignment expenses were recognized during fiscal 2015.

Investment Income

Investment income during the periods presented was as follows (dollars in millions):

Investment income increased in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015, primarily as a result of increased interest income earned on our short-term investments resulting from both higher yields and higher invested balances.

Interest expense

Interest expense during the periods presented was as follows (dollars in millions):

On August 21, 2017, we issued three series of unsecured senior notes ("Senior Notes") pursuant to a public debt offering in the aggregate amount of $4,000 million . Upon closing, a portion of the net proceeds from the offering was used to repay two of the notes payable to Dell in the aggregate principal amount of $1,230 million . Interest expense increased by $48 million in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2016 , due to the issuance of the Senior Notes, offset in part by a reduction in interest expense on the notes payable to Dell. We expect interest expense for fiscal 2019 to be approximately $130 million.

Other Income (Expense), net

During fiscal 2018, we completed two step acquisitions, Wavefront, Inc. ("Wavefront") and Velocloud Networks, Inc., which resulted in an aggregate gain of $42 million reported in other income (expense), net for the remeasurement of our respective ownership interest in each company.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2018, we repaid two of the notes payable to Dell in the aggregate principal amount of $1,230 million , representing repayment of the note due May 1, 2018 at par value and repayment of the note due May 1, 2020 at a discount. During fiscal 2018, we recognized a gain on extinguishment of debt of $6 million , which was recorded in other income (expense), net.

The increase in other income (expense), net during fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2016 was also driven by gains and losses on foreign currency exchange.

Transition Period

In conjunction with our change in fiscal year end, we had a Transition Period of 34 days  that began on January 1, 2017 and ended on February 3, 2017. The most comparable prior-year period, the one month ended January 31, 2016, had a duration of 31 days .

The following table presents certain financial information during the periods presented (table in millions):

During the Transition Period, total revenue increased and license sales declined when compared to the one-month period ended January 31, 2016. Operating loss during the Transition Period reflected costs related to our global sales event, as well as increases in employee-related expenses compared to the one month ended January 31, 2016. Factors contributing to the increase in employee-related expenses include both incremental headcount and costs associated with three additional days of expense included in the Transition Period.

The income tax benefit recognized during the Transition Period was driven by the pre-tax loss incurred during the period and our Internal Revenue Code Section 199 deduction ("Deduction"), which reflected the impact of claiming a higher Deduction for two of our U.S. tax return periods compared to the Deduction for fiscal 2016, which was calculated on a separate return basis. Two tax returns were required, with the first covering the period prior to the Dell acquisition from January 1, 2016 to September 7, 2016 and the second covering the period following the Dell Acquisition through Dell's fiscal 2017 which ended on February 3, 2017. The Deduction was greater during the two U.S tax return periods due to higher taxable income resulting from the acceleration of income recognized from unearned revenue for tax purposes.

Income Tax Provision

Our annual effective income tax rate was 68.4% , 19.5% , and 17.8% during fiscal 2018, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our effective income tax rate in fiscal 2018 was substantially higher primarily due to approximately $970 million relating to the estimated effects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted on December 22, 2017 (the "2017 Tax Act").

Key components of the tax expense relating to the 2017 Tax Act included provisional estimates for the mandatory one-time transition tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries of approximately $800 million , and the remeasurement of our deferred tax assets and liabilities of approximately $170 million resulting from the reduction in the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, effective January 1, 2018. The reduction in the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate resulted in a blended U.S. statutory corporate tax rate of 34% during fiscal 2018.

Our tax expense in fiscal 2018 benefited from the recognition of excess tax benefits of $106 million , in connection with our adoption of Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718) during the first quarter of fiscal 2018. Previously, the excess tax benefits were recognized in additional paid-in capital on the consolidated balance sheets.

Our effective income tax rate in fiscal 2016 was higher than in fiscal 2015 primarily as a result of a shift in mix of earnings from our lower tax non-U.S. jurisdictions to the U.S. This impact from the shift in mix of earnings was partially offset by the favorable impact of lower unrecognized tax benefit additions recorded in fiscal 2016 as compared to fiscal 2015.

For the periods presented, our rate of taxation in non-U.S. jurisdictions was lower than our U.S. tax rate. Our non-U.S. earnings are primarily earned by our subsidiaries organized in Ireland, and as such, our annual effective tax rate can be significantly affected by the composition of our earnings in the U.S. and non-U.S. jurisdictions.

We are included in Dell's consolidated tax group for U.S. federal income tax purposes and will continue to be included in Dell's consolidated group for periods in which Dell beneficially owns at least 80% of the total voting power and value of our combined outstanding Class A and Class B common stock as calculated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The percentage of voting power and value calculated for U.S. federal income tax purposes may differ from the percentage of outstanding shares beneficially owned by Dell due to the greater voting power of our Class B common stock as compared to our Class A common stock and other factors. Each member of a consolidated group during any part of a consolidated return year is jointly and severally liable for tax on the consolidated return of such year and for any subsequently determined deficiency thereon. Should Dell's ownership fall below 80% of the total voting power or value of our outstanding stock in any period, then we would no longer be included in the Dell consolidated group for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and our U.S. federal income tax would be reported separately from that of the Dell consolidated group.

Although our results are included in the Dell consolidated return for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our income tax provision, including provisional estimates of taxes relating to the 2017 Tax Act, is calculated primarily as though we were a separate taxpayer. However, under certain circumstances, transactions between us and Dell are assessed using consolidated tax return rules.

Our future effective tax rate will benefit significantly from certain provisions of the 2017 Tax Act, including the reduction in the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate. However, the effect of the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income tax and the base erosion tax, as well as changes to our provisional accounting for the effects of the 2017 Tax Act during the measurement period, on our future effective tax rate is uncertain. Our future effective tax rate may also be affected by such factors as changes in tax laws, changes in our business or statutory rates, changing interpretation of existing laws or regulations, the impact of accounting for stock-based compensation and the recognition of excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies within the income tax provision in the period in which they occur, the impact of accounting for business combinations, changes in the composition of earnings in the U.S. compared with other regions in the world and overall levels of income before tax, changes in our international organization, as well as the expiration of statute of limitations and settlements of audits.

Our Relationship with Dell

As of February 2, 2018 , Dell controlled 31 million shares of Class A common stock and all 300 million shares of Class B common stock, representing 81.9% of our total outstanding shares of common stock and 97.6% of the combined voting power of our outstanding common stock. For a description of related risks, refer to "Risks Related to Our Relationship with Dell" in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The information provided below includes a summary of the transactions entered into with Dell and Dell's consolidated subsidiaries, including EMC (collectively, "Dell") from the effective date of the Dell Acquisition through February 2, 2018 . Transactions prior to the effective date of the Dell Acquisition reflect transactions only with EMC and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Transactions with Dell

We engaged with Dell in the following ongoing intercompany transactions, which resulted in revenue and receipts and unearned revenue for us:

Dell purchases our products and services directly from us, as well as through our channel partners. Information about our revenue and receipts, and unearned revenue from such arrangements, for the periods presented consisted of the following (table in millions):