CW 2020 Annual Report

(“RSUs”). On August 6, 2018, the Company closed the IPO of its ordinary shares. Cushman & Wakefield plc, the parent company, does not conduct any operations other than with respect to its direct and indirect ownership of its subsidiaries, and its business operations are conducted primarily out of its indirect operating subsidiary, DTZ Worldwide Limited and its subsidiaries. Our corporate headquarters are located at 225 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois. Our website address is www.cushmanwakefield.com. The information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not part of or incorporated into this Form 10-K. Our History In 2014, our Principal Shareholders started our company in its current form, with the purchase of DTZ from UGL Limited. At the end of 2014, the Principal Shareholders acquired and combined Cassidy Turley with DTZ. In 2015, we completed our transformative growth with the acquisition of Cushman & Wakefield. The company was combined under the name Cushman & Wakefield in September 2015. References in this Form 10-K to “DTZ” are to the DTZ Group legacy property services business of UGL Limited, acquired by our Principal Shareholders on November 5, 2014, references to “Cassidy Turley” are to the legacy Cassidy Turley companies, acquired by our Principal Shareholders and combined with us on December 31, 2014 and references to the “C&W Group” (or to “Cushman & Wakefield” where historical context requires) are to C&W Group, Inc., the legacy Cushman & Wakefield business, acquired by our Principal Shareholders and combined with us on September 1, 2015. As part of the IPO we underwent a restructuring from our former holding company, a Jersey limited company, DTZ Jersey Holdings Limited, to a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales named Cushman & Wakefield plc. Our Owner and Occupier Clients Our clients include a full range of real estate owners and occupiers, including tenants, investors and multi-national corporations in numerous markets, including office, retail, industrial, multifamily, student housing, hotels, data center, healthcare, self-storage, land, condominium conversions, subdivisions and special use. Our clients vary greatly in size and complexity, and include for-profit and non-profit entities, governmental entities and public and private companies. Seasonality The market for some of our products and services is seasonal, especially in the Leasing and Capital markets service lines. Generally, our industry is focused on completing transactions by calendar year-end, with a significant concentration in the last quarter of the calendar year while certain expenses are recognized more evenly throughout the calendar year. Historically, our revenue and operating income tend to be lowest in the first quarter, and highest in the fourth quarter of each year. The Property, facilities and project management service line partially mitigates this intra-year seasonality, due to the recurring nature of this service line, which generates more stable revenues throughout the year. The seasonality of service line fee revenue flows through to net income and cash flow from operations. Intellectual Property We hold various trademarks and trade names worldwide, which include the “Cushman & Wakefield,” and “DTZ” names. Although we believe our intellectual property plays a role in maintaining our competitive position in a number of the markets that we serve, we do not believe we would be materially adversely affected by expiration or termination of our trademarks or trade names or the loss of any of our other intellectual property rights other than the “Cushman & Wakefield” name. We primarily operate under the “Cushman & Wakefield” name and have generally adopted a strategy of having our acquisitions transition to the “Cushman & Wakefield” name. We own numerous domain names and have registered numerous trademarks and/or service marks globally. With respect to the Cushman & Wakefield name, we have processed and continuously maintain trademark registration for this trade name in most jurisdictions where we conduct business. We obtained our most recent U.S. trademark registrations for the Cushman & Wakefield name and logo in 2017, and these registrations would expire in 2027 if we failed to renew them. Executive Officers of the Registrant See "Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance" in Part III.

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