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Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
Registration No. 333-120224
4,144,216 Shares
EQUINIX, INC.
Common Stock
INVESTING IN OUR COMMON STOCK INVOLVES CERTAIN RISKS. SEE “ RISK FACTORS” STARTING ON PAGE 1.
The selling stockholder listed on page 12 is offering and selling 4,144,216 shares of our common stock under this prospectus. On December 31, 2002, Equinix sold a Series A-1 convertible secured note to the selling stockholder. The shares being offered by the selling stockholder is the common stock issued by Equinix to the selling stockholder upon conversion of 95% of the Series A-1 convertible secured note, including 95% of the corresponding PIK notes issued as interest paid in kind.
The selling stockholder may offer their Equinix stock through public or private transactions, on or off the Nasdaq National Market, at prevailing market prices, or at privately negotiated prices.
Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “EQIX.” On March 28, 2005, the closing bid price of the common stock on The Nasdaq National Market was $41.30 per share.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this Prospectus is March 29, 2005
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In addition to the other information in this report, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our business and us:
Risks Related to Our Business
We have incurred substantial losses in the past and may continue to incur additional losses in the future.
Although Equinix has generated cash from operations since the quarter ended September 30, 2003, for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, the company incurred net losses of $68.6 million and $84.2 million, respectively. In light of new rules regarding the expensing of stock-based compensation, we do not expect to become net income positive for at least one to two more years. In addition, if we acquire or build-out additional IBX centers, we will have additional depreciation and amortization expenses that will negatively impact our ability to achieve and sustain positive net income. There can be no guarantee that we will become profitable and the company may continue to incur additional losses. Even if we achieve profitability, given the competitive and evolving nature of the industry in which we operate, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
We expect our operating results to fluctuate.
We have experienced fluctuations in our results of operations on a quarterly and annual basis. The fluctuation in our operating results may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. We expect to experience significant fluctuations in our operating results in the foreseeable future due to a variety of factors, including:
| • | acquisition of additional IBX centers; |
| • | demand for space and services at our IBX centers; |
| • | changes in general economic conditions and specific market conditions in the telecommunications and Internet industries; |
| • | the provision of customer discounts and credits; |
| • | the mix of current and proposed products and services and the gross margins associated with our products and services; |
| • | competition in the markets; |
| • | conditions related to international operations; |
| • | the timing and magnitude of operating expenses, including taxes, capital expenditures and expenses related to the expansion of sales, marketing, operations and acquisitions, if any, of complementary businesses and assets; and |
| • | the cost and availability of adequate public utilities, including power. |
Any of the foregoing factors, or other factors discussed elsewhere in this report, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Although the company has experienced growth in revenues in recent quarters, this growth rate is not necessarily indicative of future operating results. It is possible that the company may never generate net income on a quarterly or annual basis. In addition, a relatively large portion of our expenses are fixed in the short-term, particularly with respect to lease and personnel expenses, depreciation and amortization, and interest expenses. Therefore, our results of operations are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in revenues. As such, comparisons to prior reporting periods should not be relied upon as indications of the company’s future performance. In addition, our operating results in one or more future quarters may fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If this occurs, we could experience an immediate and significant decline in the trading price of our stock.
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If the market price of our stock continues to be highly volatile, the value of an investment in our common stock may decline.
Within the last 12 months, our common stock has traded between $26.50 and $46.39 per share. The market price of the shares of our common stock has been and may continue to be highly volatile. In January 2005, 95% of STT Communications’ outstanding convertible secured notes and associated interest were converted into shares of our non-voting Series A-1 preferred stock. In February 2005, STT Communications elected to convert all of the shares of Series A-1 preferred stock into 4.1 million shares of our common stock. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock within a narrow period of time could cause our stock price to fall. Announcements may also have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock. These announcements may include:
| • | our operating results; |
| • | new issuances of equity, debt or convertible debt; |
| • | developments in our relationships with corporate customers; |
| • | changes in regulatory policy or interpretation; |
| • | changes in the ratings of our stock by securities analysts; |
| • | market conditions for telecommunications stocks in general; and |
| • | general economic and market conditions. |
The stock market has from time to time experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations, which have particularly affected the market prices for emerging telecommunications companies, and which have often been unrelated to their operating performance. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In addition, sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market could lower the market price of our common stock.
Our inability to use our tax net operating losses will cause us to pay taxes at an earlier date and in greater amounts which may harm our operating results.
We believe that our ability to use our pre-2003 tax net operating losses, or NOLs, in any taxable year is subject to limitation under Section 382 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, (the “Code”) as a result of the significant change in the ownership of our stock that resulted from the combination. We expect that a significant portion of our NOLs accrued prior to December 31, 2002 will expire unused as a result of this limitation. In addition to the limitations on NOL carryforward utilization described above, we believe that Section 382 of the Code will also significantly limit our ability to use the depreciation and amortization on our assets, as well as certain losses on the sale of our assets, to the extent that such depreciation, amortization and losses reflect unrealized depreciation that was inherent in such assets as of the date of the combination. These limitations will cause us to pay taxes at an earlier date and in greater amounts than would occur absent such limitations.
While we believe that we currently have adequate internal control procedures in place, we are still exposed to potential risks from recent legislation requiring companies to evaluate controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
In the course of our ongoing evaluation of our internal controls over financing reporting, we have identified areas requiring improvement and are in the process of designing enhanced processes and controls to address the issues identified during our evaluation. We cannot be certain that our efforts will be effective or sufficient for us, or our auditors, to issue unqualified reports in the future.
It may be difficult to design and implement effective financial controls for combined operations and differences in existing controls of any acquired businesses may result in weaknesses that require remediation when the financial controls and reporting are combined.
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Our ability to manage our operations and growth will require us to improve our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our internal reporting systems and controls. We may not be able to implement improvements to our internal reporting systems and controls in an efficient and timely manner and may discover deficiencies in existing systems and controls.
If we cannot effectively manage international operations, our revenues may not increase and our business and results of operations would be harmed.
In 2002, our sales outside North America represented less than 1% of our revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2003, the combined company recognized 15% of its revenues outside North America. For the year ended December 31, 2004, the combined company recognized 13% of its revenues outside North America. We anticipate that, for the foreseeable future, approximately 15% of the combined company’s revenues will be derived from sources outside North America.
To date, the neutrality of the Equinix IBX centers and the variety of networks available to our customers has often been a competitive advantage for us. In certain of our acquired IBX centers, in Singapore in particular, the limited number of carriers available diminishes that advantage. As a result, we may need to adapt our key revenue-generating services and pricing to be competitive in that market.
We may experience gains and losses resulting from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. To date, the majority of Equinix’s revenues and costs have been denominated in U.S. dollars; however, the majority of revenues and costs in our international operations are denominated in Singapore dollars, Japanese yen and Australia and Hong Kong dollars. Although the combined company may undertake foreign exchange hedging transactions to reduce foreign currency transaction exposure, it does not currently intend to eliminate all foreign currency transaction exposure. Where our prices are denominated in U.S. dollars, our sales could be adversely affected by declines in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, thereby making our products more expensive in local currencies. Our international operations are generally subject to a number of additional risks, including:
| • | costs of customizing IBX centers for foreign countries; |
| • | protectionist laws and business practices favoring local competition; |
| • | greater difficulty or delay in accounts receivable collection; |
| • | difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations; |
| • | political and economic instability; |
| • | ability to obtain, transfer, or maintain licenses required by governmental entities with respect to the combined business; and |
| • | compliance with governmental regulation with which we have little experience. |
We may make acquisitions, which pose integration and other risks that could harm our business.
We have acquired several new IBX centers recently, and we may seek to acquire additional IBX centers, complementary businesses, products, services and technologies. As a result of these acquisitions, we may be required to incur additional debt and expenditures and issue additional shares of our stock to pay for the acquired business, product, service or technology, which will dilute our existing stockholders’ ownership interest and may delay, or prevent, our profitability. These acquisitions may also expose us to risks such as:
| • | the possibility that we may not be able to successfully integrate acquired businesses or achieve the level of quality in such businesses to which our customers are accustomed; |
| • | the possibility that additional capital expenditures may be required; |
| • | the possibility that senior management may be required to spend considerable time negotiating agreements and integrating acquired businesses; |
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| • | the possible loss or reduction in value of acquired businesses; |
| • | the possibility that our customers may not accept either the existing equipment infrastructure or the “look-and-feel” of a new or different IBX center; |
| • | the possibility that carriers may find it cost-prohibitive or impractical to bring fiber and networks into a new IBX center; and |
| • | the possibility of preexisting undisclosed liabilities regarding the property or IBX center, including but not limited to environmental or asbestos liability, of which our insurance may be insufficient or for which we may be unable to secure insurance coverage. |
We cannot assure you that we would successfully overcome these risks or any other problems encountered with these acquisitions.
STT Communications holds a substantial portion of our stock and has significant influence over matters requiring stockholder consent.
As of December 31, 2004, STT Communications owned approximately 23% of our outstanding voting stock. In addition, STT Communications is not prohibited from buying shares of our stock in public or private transactions. Because of the diffuse ownership of our stock, STT Communications has significant influence over matters requiring our stockholder approval. In January 2005, 95% of STT Communications’ outstanding convertible secured notes and associated interest were converted into shares of our non-voting Series A-1 preferred stock. In February 2005, STT Communications elected to convert all of the shares of Series A-1 preferred stock into 4.1 million shares of our common stock, which caused STT Communications to own approximately 36% of our outstanding voting stock. As a result, STT Communications is able to exercise significant control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, which could prevent or delay a third party from acquiring or merging with us. STT also has a right of first offer, which entitles them to participate in an offering of our equity securities, or securities convertible into our equity securities, to maintain their ownership percentage prior to such offering.
Our business could be harmed by prolonged electrical power outages or shortages, increased costs of energy or general availability of electrical resources.
Our IBX centers are susceptible to regional costs of power, electrical power shortages, planned or unplanned power outages caused by these shortages such as those that occurred in California during 2001 and in the Northeast in 2003 or natural disasters such as the hurricanes in the Southeast in 2004, and limitations, especially internationally, of adequate power resources. The overall power shortage in California has increased the cost of energy, which we may not be able to pass on to our customers. We attempt to limit exposure to system downtime by using backup generators and power supplies. Power outages, which last beyond our backup and alternative power arrangements, could harm our customers and our business.
In addition, power and cooling requirements are growing on a per server basis. As a result, customers are consuming an increasing amount of power per cabinet. This, combined with the fact that we generally do not control the amount of draw our customers take from installed circuits, means that we could face power limitations in our centers. This could have a negative impact on the available utilization capacity of a given center, which could have a negative impact on our financial performance, operating results and cash flows.
Increases in property taxes could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our IBX centers are subject to state and local real property taxes. The state and local real property taxes on our IBX centers may increase as property tax rates change and as the value of the properties are assessed or
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reassessed by taxing authorities. Many state and local governments are facing budget deficits, which may cause them to increase assessments or taxes. If property taxes increase, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
We may be forced to take steps, and may be prevented from pursuing certain business opportunities, to ensure compliance with certain tax-related covenants agreed to by us in the combination agreement.
We agreed to a covenant in the combination agreement (which we refer to as the FIRPTA covenant) that we would use all commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that at all times from and after the closing of the combination until such time as neither STT Communications nor its affiliates hold our capital stock or debt securities (or the capital stock received upon conversion of the debt securities) received by STT Communications in connection with the consummation of the transactions contemplated in the combination agreement, none of our capital stock issued to STT Communications would constitute “United States real property interests” within the meaning of Section 897(c) of the Code. Under Section 897(c) of the Code, our capital stock issued to STT Communications would generally constitute “United States real property interests” at such point in time that the fair market value of the “United States real property interests” owned by us equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the aggregate fair market values of (a) our “United States real property interests,” (b) our interests in real property located outside the U.S., and (c) any other assets held by us which are used or held for use in our trade or business. Currently, the fair market value of our “United States real property interests” is significantly below the 50% threshold. However, in order to assure compliance with the FIRPTA covenant, we may be limited with respect to the business opportunities we may pursue, particularly if the business opportunities would increase the amounts of “United States real property interests” owned by us or decrease the amount of other assets owned by us. In addition, we may take proactive steps to avoid our capital stock being deemed “United States real property interest”, including, but not limited to, (a) a sale-leaseback transaction with respect to some or all of our real property interests, or (b) the formation of a holding company organized under the laws of the Republic of Singapore which would issue shares of its capital stock in exchange for all of our outstanding stock (this reorganization would require the submission of that transaction to our stockholders for their approval and the consummation of that exchange). We will take these actions only if such actions are commercially reasonable for Equinix and our stockholders.
Our non-U.S. customers include numerous related parties of i-STT.
In the past, a substantial portion of i-STT’s financing, as well as its revenues, has been derived from its affiliates, including STT Communications. We continue to have contractual and other business relationships and may engage in material transactions with affiliates of STT Communications. Circumstances may arise in which the interests of STT Communications’ affiliates may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders. In addition, entities affiliated with STT Communications make investments in various companies; they have invested in the past, and may invest in the future, in entities that compete with us. In the context of negotiating commercial arrangements with affiliates, conflicts of interest have arisen in the past and may arise, in this or other contexts, in the future. We cannot assure you that any conflicts of interest will be resolved in our favor.
A significant number of shares of our capital stock have been issued during 2002, 2003 and 2004 and may be sold in the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
We issued a large number of shares of our capital stock to the former Pihana stockholders, STT Communications, and holders of our senior notes in connection with the combination, financing and senior note exchange, to Crosslink Capital, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “Crosslink”) in connection with Crosslink’s purchase of our Series A-2 Convertible Secured Notes, and to the public and STT Communications in connection with our follow-on equity offering in late 2003. The shares of common stock issued in the senior note exchange are currently freely tradeable. The shares of common stock issued in connection with the combination have been registered for resale as of June 30, 2003, the shares of common stock issued upon exercise of the warrants issued
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in connection with the Crosslink financing have been registered for resale as of September 22, 2003 and the shares of common stock issued upon conversion of the convertible secured notes issued in the Crosslink financing have been registered for resale as of July 30, 2004. The shares sold to the public and STT Communications in connection with our follow-on equity offering in November 2003 are freely tradeable by the public, subject, in the case of STT Communications, to compliance with Rule 144 resale restrictions applicable to affiliates. In February 2004, we issued $86,250,000 of 2.5% Convertible Subordinated Debentures due 2024. These debentures are convertible into 2,183,548 shares of our common stock. Holders of these debentures may convert their debentures into shares of our common stock during any calendar quarter if the sale price of our common stock is greater than or equal to 120% of the conversion price per share of our common stock for 20 out of any 30 consecutive trading days or if the trading price of our debentures falls below specified prices. All of these shares are eligible for resale pursuant to a registration statement that became effective on July 30, 2004. In January 2005, 95% of STT Communications’ outstanding convertible secured notes and associated interest were converted into shares of our non-voting Series A-1 preferred stock. In February 2005, STT Communications elected to convert all of the shares of Series A-1 preferred stock into 4.1 million shares of our common stock. The shares of common stock are eligible for resale pursuant to a registration statement that became effective on December 22, 2004. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by these parties within any narrow period of time could cause our stock price to fall. In addition, the issuance of the additional shares of our common stock as a result of these transactions will reduce our earnings per share, if any. This dilution could reduce the market price of our common stock unless and until we achieve revenue growth or cost savings and other business economies sufficient to offset the effect of this issuance. We cannot assure you that we will achieve revenue growth, cost savings or other business economies.
A significant number of our shares may be sold into the public market if STT Communications defaults on its credit facility, which could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly.
As of December 31, 2004, STT Communications held 2,970,414 shares of our common stock and held securities convertible into 7,025,534 additional shares of our common stock. STT Communications has pledged to its lenders its ownership interest in the majority of its secured notes and warrants purchased in the financing and its common and preferred stock issued in the combination as collateral for its secured credit facility. If STT Communications defaults on its credit facility, the stock, warrants and secured notes owned by STT Communications could be transferred to its lenders or sold to third parties. In the event of default, the new owner of the secured notes, stock and warrants could convert them into our common stock and sell them, along with the common stock, into the public market. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by these parties within any narrow period of time could cause our stock price to fall. In addition, the issuance of the additional shares of our common stock as a result of these transactions will reduce our earnings per share, if any.
We depend on a number of third parties to provide Internet connectivity to our IBX centers; if connectivity is interrupted or terminated, our operating results and cash flow could be materially adversely affected.
The presence of diverse telecommunications carriers’ fiber networks in our IBX centers is critical to our ability to attract new customers. We believe that the availability of carrier capacity will directly affect our ability to achieve our projected results.
We are not a telecommunications carrier, and as such we rely on third parties to provide our customers with carrier services. We rely primarily on revenue opportunities from the telecommunications carriers’ customers to encourage them to invest the capital and operating resources required to build facilities from their locations to our IBX centers. Carriers will likely evaluate the revenue opportunity of an IBX center based on the assumption that the environment will be highly competitive. We cannot assure you that any carrier will elect to offer its services within our IBX centers or that once a carrier has decided to provide Internet connectivity to our IBX centers that it will continue to do so for any period of time.
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The construction required to connect multiple carrier facilities to our IBX centers is complex and involves factors outside of our control, including regulatory processes and the availability of construction resources. If the establishment of highly diverse Internet connectivity to our IBX centers does not occur or is materially delayed or is discontinued, our operating results and cash flow will be adversely affected. Further, many carriers are experiencing business difficulties or announcing consolidations. As a result, some carriers may be forced to downsize or terminate connectivity within our IBX centers.
Any failure of our physical infrastructure or services could lead to significant costs and disruptions that could reduce our revenue and harm our business reputation and financial results.
Our business depends on providing customers with highly reliable service. We must protect customers’ IBX infrastructure and customers’ equipment located in our IBX centers. We have recently acquired long-term leases to three IBX centers not built by us. If these recently leased IBX centers and their infrastructure assets are not in the condition we believe them to be in, we may be required to incur substantial additional costs to repair or upgrade the facilities. The services we provide in each of our IBX centers, whether recently acquired or not, are subject to failure resulting from numerous factors, including:
| • | human error; |
| • | physical or electronic security breaches; |
| • | fire, earthquake, flood and other natural disasters; |
| • | water damage; |
| • | power loss; |
| • | sabotage and vandalism; and |
| • | failure of business partners who provide the combined company’s resale products. |
Problems at one or more of our IBX centers, whether or not within our control, could result in service interruptions or significant equipment damage. We have service level commitment obligations to certain of our customers. As a result, service interruptions or significant equipment damage in our IBX centers could result in difficulty maintaining service level commitments to these customers. In the past, a limited number of our customers have experienced temporary losses of power and failure of our services levels on products such as bandwidth connectivity. If we incur significant financial commitments to our customers in connection with a loss of power, or our failure to meet other service level commitment obligations, our liability insurance may not be adequate to cover those expenses. In addition, any loss of services, equipment damage or inability to meet our service level commitment obligations, particularly in the early stage of our development, could reduce the confidence of our customers and could consequently impair our ability to obtain and retain customers, which would adversely affect both our ability to generate revenues and our operating results.
Furthermore, we are dependent upon Internet service providers, telecommunications carriers and other website operators in the U.S., Asia and elsewhere, some of which may have experienced significant system failures and electrical outages in the past. Users of our services may in the future experience difficulties due to system failures unrelated to our systems and services. If for any reason, these providers fail to provide the required services, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely impacted.
A portion of the managed services business we acquired in the combination involves the processing and storage of confidential customer information. Inappropriate use of those services could jeopardize the security of customers’ confidential information causing losses of data or financially impacting us or our customers. Efforts to alleviate problems caused by computer viruses or other inappropriate uses or security breaches may lead to interruptions, delays or cessation of our managed services.
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There is no known prevention or defense against denial of service attacks. During a prolonged denial of service attack, Internet service may not be available for several hours, thus impacting hosted customers’ on-line business transactions. Affected customers might file claims against us under such circumstances. Our property and liability insurance may not be adequate to cover these customer claims.
We resell products and services of third parties that may require us to pay for such services even if our customers fail to pay us for the services, which may have a negative impact on our operating results.
In order to provide resale services such as bandwidth, managed services and other network management services, we will contract with third party service providers. These services require us to enter into fixed term contracts for services with third party suppliers of products and services. If we experience the loss of a customer who has purchased a resale product, we will remain obligated to continue to pay our suppliers for the term of the underlying contracts. The payment of these obligations without a corresponding payment from customers will reduce our financial resources and may have a material adverse affect on our financial performance and operating results.
IBM accounts for a significant portion of our revenues, and the loss of IBM as a customer could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
For the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, IBM accounted for 13%, 15% and 20%, respectively, of our revenue. We expect that IBM will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future, although we expect revenues received from IBM to decline as a percentage of our total revenues as we add new customers in our IBX centers. Although the term of our IBM contract runs through 2009, IBM currently has the right to reduce its commitment to us pursuant to the terms and requirements of its customer agreement. If we lose IBM as a customer, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors.
Our IBX centers and other products and services must be able to differentiate themselves from existing providers of space and services for telecommunications companies, web hosting companies and other colocation providers. In addition to competing with neutral colocation providers, we must compete with traditional colocation providers, including local phone companies, long distance phone companies, Internet service providers and web hosting facilities. Likewise, with respect to our other products and services, including managed services, bandwidth services and security services, we must compete with more established providers of similar services. Most of these companies have longer operating histories and significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than us.
Because of their greater financial resources, some of our competitors have the ability to adopt aggressive pricing policies, especially if they have been able to restructure their debt or other obligations. As a result, in the future, we may suffer from pricing pressure that would adversely affect our ability to generate revenues and adversely affect our operating results. In addition, these competitors could offer colocation on neutral terms, and may start doing so in the same metropolitan areas where we have IBX centers. Some of these competitors may also provide our target customers with additional benefits, including bundled communication services, and may do so in a manner that is more attractive to our potential customers than obtaining space in our IBX centers. We believe our neutrality provides us with an advantage over these competitors. However, if these competitors were able to adopt aggressive pricing policies together with offering colocation space, our ability to generate revenues would be materially adversely affected.
We may also face competition from persons seeking to replicate our IBX concept by building new centers or converting existing centers that some of our competitors are in the process of divesting. We may experience competition from our landlords in this regard. Rather than leasing available space in our buildings to large single
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tenants, they may decide to convert the space instead to smaller square foot units designed for multi-tenant colocation use. Landlords may enjoy a cost effective advantage in providing similar services as our IBXs, and this could also reduce the amount of space available to us for expansion in the future. Competitors may operate more successfully or form alliances to acquire significant market share. Furthermore, enterprises that have already invested substantial resources in outsourcing arrangements may be reluctant or slow to adopt our approach that may replace, limit or compete with their existing systems. In addition, other companies may be able to attract the same potential customers that we are targeting. Once customers are located in competitors’ facilities, it may be extremely difficult to convince them to relocate to our IBX centers.
Our success in retaining key employees and discouraging them from moving to a competitor is an important factor in our ability to remain competitive. As is common in our industry, our employees are typically compensated through grants of stock options in addition to their regular salaries. We occasionally grant new stock options to employees as an incentive to remain with the company. To the extent we are unable to adequately maintain these stock option incentives and should employees decide to leave the company, this may be disruptive to our business and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Because we depend on the development and growth of a balanced customer base, failure to attract and retain this base of customers could harm our business and operating results.
Our ability to maximize revenues depends on our ability to develop and grow a balanced customer base, consisting of a variety of companies, including network service providers, site and performance management companies, and enterprise and content companies. The more balanced the customer base within each IBX hub, the better we will be able to generate significant interconnection revenues, which in turn increases our overall revenues. Our ability to attract customers to our IBX centers will depend on a variety of factors, including the presence of multiple carriers, the mix of products and services offered by us, the overall mix of customers, the IBX hub’s operating reliability and security and our ability to effectively market our services. In addition, some of our customers are and will continue to be Internet companies that face many competitive pressures and that may not ultimately be successful. If these customers do not succeed, they will not continue to use the IBX centers. This may be disruptive to our business and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our products and services have a long sales cycle that may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A customer’s decision to license cabinet space in one of our IBX centers and to purchase additional services typically involves a significant commitment of resources. In addition, some customers will be reluctant to commit to locating in our IBX centers until they are confident that the IBX center has adequate carrier connections. As a result, we have a long sales cycle. Delays due to the length our sales cycle may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to securities class action litigation, which may harm our business and results of operations.
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities. During the quarter ended September 30, 2001, putative shareholder class action lawsuits were filed against us, a number of our officers and directors, and several investment banks that were underwriters of our initial public offering. The suits allege that the underwriter defendants agreed to allocate stock in our initial public offering to certain investors in exchange for excessive and undisclosed commissions and agreements by those investors to make additional purchases in the aftermarket at pre-determined prices. Plaintiffs allege that the prospectus for our initial public offering was false and misleading and in violation of the securities laws because it did not disclose these arrangements. In July 2003, a special litigation committee of our board of directors agreed to participate in a settlement with the plaintiffs. The settlement agreement is subject to court approval and sufficient participation by defendants in similar actions. If the
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proposed settlement is not approved by the court or a sufficient number of defendants do not participate in the settlement, the defense of this litigation may continue and therefore increase our expenses and divert management’s attention and resources. An adverse outcome in this litigation could seriously harm our business and results of operations. In addition, we may, in the future, be subject to other securities class action or similar litigation.
Risks Related to Our Industry
If the use of the Internet and electronic business does not grow, our revenues may not grow.
Acceptance and use of the Internet may not continue to develop at historical rates and a sufficiently broad base of consumers may not adopt or continue to use the Internet and other online services as a medium of commerce. Demand for Internet services and products are subject to a high level of uncertainty and are subject to significant pricing pressure, especially in Asia-Pacific. As a result, we cannot be certain that a viable market for our IBX centers will materialize. If the market for our IBX centers grows more slowly than we currently anticipate, our revenues may not grow and our operating results could suffer.
Government regulation may adversely affect the use of the Internet and our business.
Various laws and governmental regulations governing Internet related services, related communications services and information technologies, and electronic commerce remain largely unsettled, even in areas where there has been some legislative action. This is true both in the U.S. and the various foreign countries in which we operate. It may take years to determine whether and how existing laws, such as those governing intellectual property, privacy, libel, telecommunications services, and taxation, apply to the Internet and to related services such as ours. We have limited experience with such international regulatory issues and substantial resources may be required to comply with regulations or bring any non-compliant business practices into compliance with such regulations. In addition, the development of the market for online commerce and the displacement of traditional telephony service by the Internet and related communications services may prompt an increased call for more stringent consumer protection laws or other regulation both in the U.S. and abroad that may impose additional burdens on companies conducting business online and their service providers. The compliance with, adoption or modification of, laws or regulations relating to the Internet, or interpretations of existing laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.
Industry consolidation may have a negative impact on our business model.
The telecommunications industry is currently undergoing a consolidation. As customers combine businesses, they may require less colocation space, and there may be fewer networks available to choose from. Given the competitive and evolving nature of this industry, further consolidation of our customers and/or our competitors may present a risk to our network neutral business model and have a negative impact on our revenues.
Terrorist activity throughout the world and military action to counter terrorism could adversely impact our business.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the ensuing declaration of war on terrorism and the continued threat of terrorist activity and other acts of war or hostility appear to be having an adverse effect on business, financial and general economic conditions internationally. These effects may, in turn, increase our costs due to the need to provide enhanced security, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. These circumstances may also adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers, our ability to raise capital and the operation and maintenance of our IBX centers. We may not have adequate property and liability insurance to cover such catastrophic events or attacks.
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This prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference herein, contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Statements contained in this Prospectus or incorporated by reference herein that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the 1934 Act, including statements regarding Equinix’s financial outlook, competitive position, business strategies, expectations, beliefs, intentions or other strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to Equinix on the date hereof, and Equinix assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Equinix’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited to, those set forth in this prospectus under “Risk Factors.” You should carefully consider the risks described in the “Risk Factors” section, in addition to the other information set forth in this prospectus and incorporated by reference herein, before making an investment decision.
All net proceeds from the sale of Equinix common stock will go to the stockholder that offers and sells its shares. Accordingly, Equinix will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares by the selling stockholder.
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The following table sets forth certain information, as of February 1, 2005, with respect to the number of shares of common stock owned by the selling stockholder named below and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of the shares offered hereby. The shares are being registered to permit public secondary trading of the shares, and the selling stockholder may offer the shares for resale from time to time. See “Plan of Distribution.”
The shares being offered by the selling stockholder is the common stock issued by Equinix to the selling stockholder upon conversion of 95% of the Series A-1 convertible secured note, including 95% of the corresponding PIK notes issued as interest paid in kind. The Series A-1 convertible note and the PIK notes were issued pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
Equinix has filed with the SEC, under the Securities Act, a registration statement on Form S-3, of which this prospectus forms a part, with respect to the resale of the shares from time to time on The Nasdaq National Market or in privately-negotiated transactions. Equinix has agreed to use its best efforts to keep such registration statement effective until the earlier of such time as (i) 180 days have elapsed since this registration statement was declared effective or (ii) all of the registered shares have been sold.
The Shares offered by this prospectus may be offered from time to time by the selling stockholder named below:
| Shares Beneficially Owned Prior to Offering |
Number of Shares Being Offered |
Shares Beneficially Owned After the Offering* |
||||||||||
| Name and Address of Selling Stockholder |
Number of Shares |
Percent |
Number of Shares |
Percent |
||||||||
| i-STT Investments Pte Ltd(1) 51 Cuppage Road, #10-11/17 Starhub Centre Singapore 229469 |
10,167,088 | 38.61 | % | 4,144,216 | 6,022,872 | 22.87 | % | |||||
| TOTAL |
10,167,088 | — | 4,144,216 | 6,022,872 | — | |||||||
| * | Assumes sale of all the shares offered; however, the selling stockholder may or may not sell all or any of the offered shares. |
| (1) | Includes 7,114,630 shares of common stock, 1,868,667 shares of common stock that may be acquired upon conversion of Series A convertible preferred stock, 218,117 shares of common stock that may be acquired upon conversion of the Series A-1 convertible secured note, and 965,674 shares of common stock that may be acquired upon the exercise of a Series A-1 preferred stock warrant. |
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The term “selling stockholder,” as used in this prospectus, includes limited partners, donees and pledgees selling shares that are received from the selling stockholder.
The shares covered by this prospectus may be sold by the selling stockholder or its transferees, distributes, pledges, donees or other successors in interest at various times in one or more of the following transactions:
| • | In the over-the-counter market; |
| • | On the Nasdaq National Market; |
| • | In privately negotiated transactions; or |
| • | In a combination of any of the above transactions. |
The selling stockholder may sell its shares at market prices prevailing at the time of the sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices, at negotiated prices or at fixed prices.
The selling stockholder may use broker-dealers to sell its shares. If this happens, broker-dealers will either receive discounts or commissions from the selling stockholder, or they will receive commissions from purchasers of shares for whom they acted as agents.
The legality of the securities offered hereby will be passed upon for Equinix by Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP, Menlo Park, California.
The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We file annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any document we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the Public Reference Rooms. Our SEC filings are also available to the public from the SEC’s website at “http://www.sec.gov.”
The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” the information we file with them, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus, and information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and any future filings we will make with the SEC under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:
| 1. | Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, filed on March 10, 2005. |
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| 2. | A description of Equinix common stock is contained in Equinix’s registration statement prospectus, filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) on August 11, 2000. |
You may request, and we will provide you with, a copy of these filings, at no cost, by calling us at (650) 513-7000 or by writing to us at the following address:
Equinix, Inc.
301 Velocity Way, Fifth Floor
Foster City, CA 94404
Attn: Investor Relations
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. You should rely only on the information or representations provided in this prospectus. We have authorized no one to provide you with different information. We are not making an offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of the document.
4,144,216 Shares
EQUINIX, INC.
Common Stock
March 29, 2005