Form 10-K

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

WISDOMTREE INVESTMENTS, INC.

Form

10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS


	Page

PART I		3

Item 1. Business		3

Item 1A. Risk Factors		22

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments		34

Item 2. Properties		34

Item 3. Legal Proceedings		34

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures		34

PART II		34

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities		34

Item 6. Selected Financial Data		36

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations		37

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk		64

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data		65

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure		65

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures		65

Item 9B. Other Information		66

PART III		66

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance		66

Item 11. Executive Compensation		66

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters		67

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence		67

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services		67

PART IV		67

Item 15. Exhibits; Financial Statement Schedules		67

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary		67

Unless otherwise indicated, references to “the Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “WisdomTree” mean WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

WisdomTree

and Modern Alpha

are registered trademarks of WisdomTree Investments, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form

10-K,

or Report, contains forward-looking statements that are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect our results. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those listed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Report. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. You should read this Report and the documents that we reference in this Report and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, as exhibits to this Report, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

In particular, forward-looking statements in this Report may include statements about:

•

the ultimate duration of the

COVID-19

pandemic and its short-term and long-term impact on our business and the global economy;

•

anticipated trends, conditions and investor sentiment in the global markets and exchange-traded products, or ETPs;

•

anticipated levels of inflows into and outflows out of our ETPs;

•

our ability to deliver favorable rates of return to investors;

•

competition in our business;

•

our ability to develop new products and services;

•

our ability to maintain current vendors or find new vendors to provide services to us at favorable costs;

•

our ability to successfully operate and expand our business in

non-U.S.

markets; and

•

the effect of laws and regulations that apply to our business.

The forward-looking statements in this Report represent our views as of the date of this Report. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. Therefore, these forward-looking statements do not represent our views as of any date other than the date of this Report.

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PART I

ITEM 1.

BUSINESS

Our Company

We are the only publicly-traded asset management company that focuses exclusively on exchange-traded products, or ETPs, and are a leading global ETP sponsor based on assets under management, or AUM, with AUM of $67.4 billion globally as of December 31, 2020. An ETP is a pooled investment vehicle that holds a basket of securities, financial instruments or other assets and generally seeks to track (index-based) or outperform (actively managed) the performance of a broad or specific equity, fixed income or alternatives market segment, commodity or currency (or an inverse or multiple thereof). ETPs are listed on an exchange with their shares traded in the secondary market at market prices, generally at approximately the same price as the net asset value of their underlying components. ETP is an umbrella term that includes exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, exchange-traded notes and exchange-traded commodities.

Our family of ETPs includes products that track our own indexes, third-party indexes and market prices of commodities. We also offer actively managed products. Most of our equity-based funds employ a fundamentally weighted investment methodology, which weights securities based on factors such as dividends, earnings or investment factors, whereas most other industry indexes use a capitalization weighted methodology. We distribute our products through all major channels within the asset management industry, including banks, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, institutional investors, private wealth managers and online brokers primarily through our sales force. Our sales efforts are not primarily directed towards the retail segment but rather are directed towards financial advisers that act as intermediaries between the

end-client

and us or institutional investors.

We focus on creating products for investors that offer thoughtful innovation, smart engineering and redefined investing. We have launched many

first-to-market

products and pioneered alternative weighting methods we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform.

We strive to deliver a better investing experience through innovative solutions. Continued investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions and our Advisor Solutions program, which includes portfolio construction, asset allocation, practice management services and digital tools for financial advisors, are meant to differentiate us in the market, expand our distribution and further enhance our relationships with financial advisors.

We were incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 19, 1985 as Financial Data Systems, Inc. and ultimately renamed WisdomTree Investments, Inc. on September 6, 2005.

COVID-19

Impact on our Business

The

COVID-19

pandemic introduced volatility and uncertainty in the global financial markets. However, economic stimulus packages and loose monetary policies have proven to counterbalance the adverse effect of the pandemic on the global economy. Accommodative policies have contributed toward financial markets performing favorably since the pandemic’s onset.

Our AUM experienced a significant decline at the onset of the pandemic and has since recovered, increasing 5.9% from the prior year. While our AUM has increased, our revenues declined 5.5% due to a 4 basis point decline in our average global advisory fee arising from AUM mix shift, notwithstanding the increase in our average AUM. Our operating expenses decreased 7.6% from the prior year as we tempered our discretionary spending due to the uncertain market conditions arising from the pandemic.

The pandemic has not adversely impacted our capital management strategy. During the year, we issued and sold $175.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023, repaid our debt previously outstanding and terminated our former credit facility. We also repurchased shares of our common stock totaling $31.2 million and maintained our $0.03 per share quarterly cash dividend. Additional share repurchases will depend upon our future operating results, available cash on hand and strategic priorities.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020, or the CARES Act, was enacted in March 2020 in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, which provided financial assistance under various programs to help companies cope with economic hardships. Additionally, on December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Business, Nonprofits, and Venues Act, or Economic Aid Act, was enacted, providing additional financial stimulus. We did not apply for any financial assistance afforded by the CARES Act or the Economic Aid Act.

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•

Tax efficiency

. In the U.S., whenever a mutual fund or ETF realizes a capital gain that is not balanced by a realized loss, it must distribute the capital gain to its shareholders. These gains are taxable to all shareholders, even those who reinvest the gain distributions in additional shares of the fund. However, most ETFs typically redeem their shares through

“in-kind”

redemptions in which

low-cost

securities are transferred out of the ETF in exchange for fund shares in a

non-taxable

transaction. By using this process, ETFs can avoid the transaction fees and tax impact incurred by mutual funds that sell securities to generate cash to pay out redemptions.

•

Uniform pricing

. From a cost perspective, ETFs are one of the most equitable investment products on the market. Investors in a U.S. listed ETF pay identical advisory fees regardless of the investors’ size, structure or sophistication. Unlike mutual funds, U.S. listed ETFs generally do not have different share classes or different expense structures for retail and institutional clients and ETFs typically are not sold with sales loads or

12b-1

fees. In many cases, ETFs offer lower expense ratios than comparable mutual funds.

ETFs are used in various ways by a range of investors, from conservative to speculative uses including:

•

Low cost index investing

ETFs provide exposure to a variety of broad-based indexes across equities, fixed income, commodities and other asset classes and strategies, and can be used as both long-term portfolio holdings or short-term trading tools. ETFs offer an efficient and less costly method by which to gain exposure to indexes as compared to individual stock ownership.

•

Improved access to specific asset classes

. Investors often use ETFs to gain access to specific market sectors or regions around the world or a particular asset, such as physical gold, by investing in an ETF that holds a portfolio of securities in that region or segment rather than gaining exposure by purchasing individual securities or physical commodities.

•

Asset allocation

. Investors seeking to invest in various asset classes to develop an asset allocation model in a cost-effective manner can do so easily with ETFs, which offer broad exposure to various asset classes in a single security.

•

Protective hedging

. Investors seeking to protect their portfolios may use ETFs as a hedge against unexpected declines in prices of securities arising from market movements and changes in currency and interest rates.

•

Income generation

. Investors seeking to obtain income from their portfolios may buy fixed income ETFs that typically distribute monthly income or dividend-paying ETFs that encompass a basket of dividend-paying stocks rather than buying individual stocks.

•

Speculative investing

. Investors with a specific directional opinion about a market sector may choose to buy or sell (long or short) an ETF covering or leveraging that market sector.

•

Arbitrage

. Sophisticated investors may use ETFs to exploit perceived value differences between the ETF and the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio of securities.

•

Diversification

. By definition, ETFs represent a basket of securities and each fund may contain hundreds or even thousands of different individual securities. The “instant diversification” of ETFs provides investors with broad exposure to an asset class, market sector or geography.

The ETF sector of the asset management industry continues to demonstrate that it is favored among investors. According to the Morningstar Direct, from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020, equity ETFs have generated positive inflows of approximately $986 billion, while long-term equity mutual funds have experienced outflows of approximately $254 billion. In addition, ETF fixed income flows are benefiting from a broader range of investors gravitating toward fixed income products in the ETF structure. We believe this trend is due to the inherent benefits of ETFs – transparency, liquidity and tax efficiency.

We believe our growth, and the growth of the industry in which we operate, will continue to be driven by the following factors:

•

Education and greater investor awareness

. Over the last several years, ETPs have been taking a greater share of inflows and AUM from mutual funds. We believe investors have become more aware of some of the deficiencies of mutual funds and other financial products and are increasing their focus on important characteristics of their traditional investments—namely transparency, tradability, liquidity, tax efficiency and fees. Their attention and education focused on these important investment characteristics may be one of the drivers of the shift in inflows from traditional mutual funds to ETPs. We believe these products will continue to take market share from traditional mutual funds and other financial products or structures such as hedge funds, separate accounts and individual stocks as investors continue to become more aware and educated about ETPs and their benefits.

•

Move to

fee-based

models

. Financial advisors are shifting their business model from one that is “transaction-based,” that is, based on commissions for trades or receiving sales loads, to a

“fee-based”

approach, where an overall fee is charged based on the value of AUM. This

fee-based

approach lends itself to the advisor selecting

lower-fee

financial products, and in our opinion, better aligns advisers with the interests of their clients. Since ETFs generally charge lower fees than mutual funds, we believe this model shift will benefit the ETF industry.

•

Innovative product offerings

. ETPs are now available for virtually every asset class including equities, fixed income, commodities, alternative strategies,

leveraged-and-inverse

and currencies. However, we believe that there remain substantial areas for sponsors to continue to innovate, including liquid alternative, thematic and ESG strategies. We also believe the further expansion of ETPs will fuel additional growth and investments from investors who typically access these products through hedge funds, separate accounts, stock investments or the futures and commodity markets.

•

Changing demographics

. As the “baby boomer” generation continues to mature and retire, we expect that there will be a greater demand for a broad range of investment solutions, with an emphasis on income generation and principal protection, and that more of these investors will seek advice from professional financial advisors. We believe these financial advisors will migrate more of their clients’ portfolios to ETFs due to their lower fees, better fit within

fee-based

models, and their ability to provide access to more diverse market sectors, improve multi-asset class allocation, and be used for different investment strategies, including income generation. Overall, we believe ETFs are well-suited to meet the needs of this large and important group of investors. In addition, since many younger investors and financial advisors have demonstrated a preference for the ETF structure over traditional product structures, we believe that wealth transfers from one generation to another will also have a positive effect on ETF industry growth.

•

International markets.

We believe the growth of ETPs is a global phenomenon. While the U.S. currently represents the vast majority of global ETP assets, many of the same growth drivers in the U.S. market are also taking hold in global markets.

Our Competitive Strengths

•

Well-positioned in large and growing markets

We believe that ETPs are well positioned to grow significantly faster than the asset management industry as a whole, making our focus on ETPs an advantage over traditional asset management firms. Being a first mover, or one of the first providers of products in a particular asset class, can be a significant advantage. We believe that our early leadership in a number of asset classes positions us well to maintain a leadership position.

•

Strong performance

. We create our own indexes, most of which weight companies in our equity ETFs by a measure of fundamental value and are rebalanced annually. By contrast, traditional indexes are market capitalization weighted and tend to track the momentum of the market. We also offer actively managed ETFs, as well as ETFs based on third-party indexes. In evaluating the performance of our U.S. listed equity, fixed income and alternative ETFs against actively managed and index based mutual funds and ETFs, 89.0% of the $38.3 billion invested in our U.S. listed ETFs covered by Morningstar and 70.3% (45 of 64) of our U.S. listed ETFs covered by Morningstar as of December 31, 2020 outperformed their comparable Morningstar average since inception. In addition, 23 of our U.S. listed ETFs and UCITS products are rated

5-star

by Morningstar.

•

Differentiated product set, powered by innovation and performance

. Our products span a variety of traditional and high growth asset classes, including equities, commodities, fixed income,

leveraged-and-inverse,

currencies and alternatives, and include both passive and actively managed funds. Our innovations include launching the following industry firsts:

•

the first gold and oil ETPs via our acquisition of ETFS;

•

the first emerging markets

small-cap

equity ETF;

•

the first actively managed currency ETF;

•

the first ETF to provide investors with access to the Additional Tier 1 Contingent Convertible, or CoCo, bond market;

•

one of the first international local currency denominated fixed income ETFs;

•

the first managed futures strategy ETF;

•

the first currency hedged international equity ETFs in the U.S.;

•

the first 90/60 balanced ETF;

•

the first multifactor ETFs incorporating dynamic currency hedging as a factor; and

•

the first smart beta corporate bond suite.

Our product development strategy utilizes our Modern Alpha approach, which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Self-indexing is a significant component of this approach. Many of our products are based on proprietary WisdomTree indexes which we believe gives us several advantages. First, it minimizes our third-party index licensing fees, which increases our profitability. Second, because we develop our own intellectual property, we are intimately familiar with our strategies and able to effectively communicate their value proposition in the market with research content and support. Third, it can enhance our speed to market and first mover advantage. Fourth, because these indexes are proprietary to WisdomTree, we may face similar competition, but we never face exact competition. Our expertise in product development combined with our self-indexing capabilities provides a strategic advantage, enabling us to launch innovative products.

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•

Extensive marketing, research and sales efforts

. We have invested significant resources to establish the WisdomTree brand through online and television targeted advertising, social media, as well as through our public relations efforts. Close to half of our employees are dedicated to marketing, research and sales. Our sales professionals are the primary points of contact for financial advisors, independent advisory firms and institutional investors who invest in our ETPs. Their efforts are enhanced through value-added services provided by our research and marketing efforts. We have strong relationships with financial advisors and institutional investors and we believe that by strategically aligning these adviser relationships and marketing campaigns with targeted research and sales initiatives and products that align with market sentiment, we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

•

Efficient business model with lower risk profile

. We have invested heavily in digital tools and data to market and sell our products and in the internal development of our core competencies with respect to product development, marketing, research and sales of our products. We outsource to third parties those services that are not our core competencies or may be resource or risk intensive, such as the portfolio management responsibilities and fund accounting operations of our products. In addition, our licensing costs are moderated since we create our own indexes for most of our ETFs.

•

Strong, seasoned and creative management team

. We have built a strong and dedicated senior leadership team. Most of our leadership team has significant ETP or financial services industry experience in fund operations, regulatory and compliance oversight, product development and management or marketing and communications. We believe our team, by developing an ETP sponsor from the ground up despite significant competitive, regulatory and operational barriers, has demonstrated an ability to innovate as well as recognize and respond to market opportunities and effectively execute our strategy.

Our Growth Strategies

We believe our continued execution will enable us to increase trading volumes and build longer performance track records, which should allow us to attract additional investors and, in turn, further grow our AUM. We will seek to increase our market share and build additional scale by continuing to implement the following growth strategies:

•

Launch innovative new products that diversify our product offerings and revenues

. We have launched many

first-to-market

ETFs in the U.S. and pioneered alternative weighting and performance methods we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform. Our growth plan includes the following:

•

target 20 new global product launches with a focus on core, tactical, thematic and ESG exposures in 2021 to complement our crypto ETP offering in Europe, our cloud, artificial intelligence, battery and recent global cybersecurity launch as well as our leading ESG offering;

•

to be a leader in the ESG space. We currently rank third in the U.S. in this category by ESG assets under management, and our multifactor and

ex-state-owned

suites, together comprising six funds and $5 billion in AUM in total, each represent differentiated performance-oriented investment strategies. Recently, we further enhanced our

ex-state-owned

suite by adding environmental and social screens ensuring they will appear in more third-party ESG classifications and be more visible to ESG oriented investors. In Europe, the same broad ESG screen has been applied to our core UCITS equity funds to meet increasing local demand for such considerations and traditional exposures;

•

to establish ourselves as a leader in digital assets. This includes leveraging our European experience to offer exchange-traded bitcoin exposures beyond Europe. We are also seeking to have a regulated gold token in the market as we are committed to competing for the future of gold, which we believe is both digital and global. We also plan to pursue “tokenized” or digital versions of certain WisdomTree strategies on the blockchain covering other core building block asset classes, including treasuries.

•

Foster deeper relationships through technology-enabled and research-driven solutions

We believe that the asset management industry is undergoing rapid change and technology is altering the way financial advisors conduct business. Our award-winning Advisor Solutions platform is focused on providing technology-enabled and research-driven solutions to help financial advisors address technology challenges and grow and scale their businesses.

The Advisor Solutions program includes:

•

access to over 30 model portfolios, which are currently available on a number of platforms, including TD Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch, Envestnet, 55ip and others. Our model portfolios are a natural extension of our research capabilities and provide advisors access to an open-architecture approach, a tenured team and a firm dedicated to innovation and value creation. As part of this initiative, we launched two of our model portfolios in collaboration with Professor Jeremy Siegel;

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•

portfolio construction services such as our award-winning Digital Portfolio Developer, an enhanced portfolio construction tool that assists financial advisors in analyzing an existing investment portfolio by examining the data and providing alternative portfolio approaches to consider in seeking to improve outcomes based on different measures;

•

wealth investment research and ETF education, such as a recent first of its kind study we conducted on the practice management and adoption of third-party model portfolios, the results of which revealed investors view model portfolios as a more sophisticated approach to asset allocation, yet adoption remains low; and

•

practice management resources, including access to thought leaders in retirement planning, leadership and behavioral finance.

•

Deepen relationships with distribution platforms

We maintain relationships with certain distribution platforms that allow commission free trading of our ETFs. These relationships are beneficial to us as it allows us greater access and marketing privileges with the platforms’ advisors. As financial advisors continue to migrate away from mutual funds, we use our expertise in ETFs to build new relationships and educate advisors on the benefits of ETFs. Some of these relationships that exist today include:

•

LPL Financial.

We are an inaugural partner on LPL Financial’s ETF network where advisors can trade many of our ETFs commission free.

•

BNY Mellon/Pershing.

Many of our U.S. listed ETFs are available on BNY Mellon’s Pershing Fundvest

ETF

no-transaction-fee

platform.

•

Swissquote

. Certain of our UCITS ETFs are available on the online platform of Swissquote, Switzerland’s largest execution-only broker.

•

Ally Invest.

Our full range of U.S. listed ETFs are available commission-free on Ally Invest’s online trading platform.

•

Cetera.

Our U.S. listed ETFs and our Advisor Solutions program are available on the

no-transaction

fee product platform of Cetera Financial Group, the second largest independent financial advisor network in the nation. This allows for Cetera’s network of independent broker-dealers to access our diverse

line-up

of ETF products with no transaction fees.

•

Leverage data intelligence to serve and expand investor base and improve sales and marketing effectiveness

We utilize a cognitive customer-focused lead prioritization system which has enhanced our distribution efforts. The system evaluates data across structured and unstructured sources such as historical investment data, market data and investor activity history, extracting behavioral insights, and is designed to enable our sales and marketing teams to optimize outreach to our current and potential investor base.

•

Selectively pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions.

We may pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions that will enable us to strengthen our current business, expand and diversify our product offerings, complement our Advisor Solutions program, increase our AUM or enter into new markets. We believe pursuing acquisitions or other strategic transactions is a cost-effective means of growing our business and AUM.

Human Capital Resources

We compete in the highly competitive asset management industry. Attracting, retaining and motivating highly skilled, and sometimes highly specialized, employees in operations, product development, research, sales and marketing and other positions is crucial to our ability to compete effectively. Our ability to recruit and retain such employees depends on a number of factors, including our corporate culture and work environment, informed by our values and behaviors, talent development and career opportunities and compensation and benefits. We strive to differentiate ourselves in the asset management industry through our sense of community and purpose integrated into our culture, while encouraging a culture where every employee has a voice.

Employee Profile

At December 31, 2020, we had 217 full-time employees globally, consisting of 140 in the U.S. and 77 in the U.K. and other European countries. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and we consider our relations with employees to be good.

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We recognize that a diverse set of perspectives is critical to innovation and have built a diverse and inclusive workforce that includes all genders, races, and ages, as well as those in the disabled community. We actively seek candidates from different backgrounds and outside traditional fields and reinforce our commitment to diversity through organizational policies, such as mandating fairness and equality for all employees and creating performance appraisal systems that are

non-discriminatory.

In 2019, we launched the Women’s Initiative Network, or WIN, an

employee-led

network designed to provide opportunities and support from all genders for women at WisdomTree; career development and professional training opportunities; and female empowerment and leadership within the organization. Since inception, WIN has held several successful global events including a panel discussion on women in the workforce featuring notable guest speakers; an interactive seminar on negotiation skills; workshops and coaching sessions to enhance confidence to speak up; and various roundtable forums, informal coffee

catch-ups

and virtual happy hours to promote connectivity while working remotely.

We pride ourselves on the ethnic diversity of our employee base globally and seek to continuously strengthen our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In 2020 we partnered with a third-party consulting firm to assist us in developing a DEI strategic plan. The objectives of this plan include driving clarity and accountability around our commitment to fostering an inclusive culture where employees feel empowered to do their best work; building trust across differences to ensure employees feel a sense of community and belonging; providing clear paths for growth and development opportunities; and encouraging diverse voices and perspectives. In addition, we are in the process of establishing a global DEI council of senior leaders and employees to provide oversight and guidance as we implement programs contemplated by our strategic plan to increase diversity and promote inclusion.

Employee Wellness, Health and Safety

The wellbeing of our employees is a primary focus. In response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, we established a committee that led a coordinated strategy and acted quickly, implementing significant changes across the organization to protect our people. Our entire global workforce transitioned seamlessly and has been working remotely and successfully throughout the

COVID-19

pandemic. We provided frequent communications to keep our employees informed about health, safety and remote working logistics and introduced expanded health, wellness and other benefits. For example, we support employees with their information technology needs, provide a monthly stipend to cover remote work-related business expenses and provide guidance for managers to ensure that employees remain connected and maintain physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. We also offer numerous wellness programs including meditation and yoga classes, health webinars, a weekly wellness newsletter and access to mental health professionals and other resources. We also transitioned to flexible paid

time-off

and sick leave policies to provide employees additional flexibility.

As the virtual work environment has led to efficiencies, increased transparency and further collaboration throughout our business, we have adopted a “remote first” philosophy with plans to significantly reduce our office footprints in New York and London. This means that when we are able to safely meet in person, time in the office will no longer be prescribed, and individuals and teams will be empowered to determine how they work best, based on their role, while remaining accountable for achieving individual and team outcomes. This decision was made after soliciting feedback from our employees, a significant number of which were highly supportive of these plans.

Compliance, Training and Development

We comply with all applicable government laws, rules and regulations and it is the responsibility of each employee to adhere to the standards and restrictions imposed by those laws, rules and regulations. Our employees are required to attend firmwide annual compliance training and to complete compliance certifications annually and in some instances, quarterly.

As we believe that our employees are our greatest asset, we recognize the importance of investing in their continued development. We provide a variety of opportunities for our employees to build new skills and further their career development. These include

job-specific

training courses, virtual executive lunches and webinars hosted by various departments to gain a holistic view of the company. We also support employees continuing education, including through our educational reimbursement program. In addition, we invest in our current and future leaders through leadership development courses and coaching. We also hold monthly town halls to inform our employees of business developments and job openings for those seeking career development opportunities.

Employee Engagement

We believe engaging our employees is key to fostering new ideas and driving commitment and productivity. We communicate frequently and transparently with our employees through a variety of communication methods, including monthly town halls, firmwide weekly emails championing the team’s work and global virtual lunches with firm leaders. We also seek feedback from our employees through annual engagement surveys and

follow-up

pulse surveys on various topics.

We also believe it is important to celebrate employee and company accomplishments. In November 2020, we launched our first annual “Team Alpha” Awards to celebrate significant events and successes and to recognize employees who led those successes while exhibiting extraordinary teamwork and demonstrating strong character. Over 90 nominations were submitted and narrowed down by a selection committee. The winners received a modest incentive compensation award, the opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice and to recognize other employees who assisted them.

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Leveraged & Inverse

We offer leveraged products which seek to achieve a return that is a multiple of the performance of the underlying index and inverse products that seek to deliver the opposite of the performance in the index or benchmark they track. Strategies span across equity, commodity, government bond and currency exposures. Total AUM of our Leveraged & Inverse products was $1.5 billion at December 31, 2020.

Alternatives

Our Alternative products include the industry’s first managed futures strategy ETF and a global real return ETF. We also offer a dynamic long/short U.S. equity ETF, a dynamic bearish U.S. equity ETF and a collateralized put write strategy ETF on the S&P 500 index. We also intend to explore additional alternative strategy products in the future. Total AUM of our Alternative products was $0.2 billion at December 31, 2020.

Our Sales, Marketing and Research Efforts

We distribute our products through all major channels within the asset management industry, including banks, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, institutional investors, private wealth managers and online brokers. Our primary sales efforts are not directed towards the retail segment but rather are directed towards the financial or investment adviser who acts as the intermediary between the

end-client

and us. We do not pay commissions, nor do we offer

12b-1

fees to financial advisors to use or recommend the use of our products.

We have developed an extensive network and relationships with financial advisors and we believe our products and related research are well structured to meet their needs and those of their clients. We have taken steps to enhance and form new relationships through our Advisor Solutions program which focuses on providing technology-enabled and research-driven solutions to help financial advisors grow and scale their businesses. In addition, senior advisors of ours participate as keynote speakers in various industry and WisdomTree hosted conferences and events. Our sales professionals act in a consultative role to provide financial advisors with value-added services. We seek to consistently grow our network of financial advisors and we opportunistically seek to introduce new products and services that best deliver our investment strategies to investors through these distribution channels. We have our own team of approximately 60 sales professionals globally as of December 31, 2020. We have restructured our U.S. sales force to enhance our interactions with financial advisors to further penetrate existing sales channels, and to better service new emerging distribution channels.

In addition, we have agreements with third parties to serve as the external marketing agents for our products in Latin America and Israel, as well as with select brokerage firms and independent broker-dealers to allow certain of our products to trade commission free on their platforms in exchange for a percentage of our advisory fee revenues from certain AUM. We believe these arrangements expand our distribution capabilities in a cost-effective manner and we may continue to enter into such arrangements in the future.

Our marketing efforts are focused on three objectives: Increase our global brand awareness, leverage a robust-data driven digital sales experience to generate new clients and drive inflows to our products and model portfolios and retain existing clients, with a focus on cross-selling additional WisdomTree ETPs. We pursue these objectives through an omni-channel marketing strategy targeting financial advisors. We utilize the following strategies:

•

Targeted advertising.

We create highly targeted multi-media advertising campaigns limited to established core financial media. For example, our television advertising runs exclusively on the cable networks CNBC and Fox Business. Also, our online advertising runs on investing or

ETF-specific

web sites, such as

www.seekingalpha.com

and

www.etfdatabase.com

using targeted dynamic and personalized ad messaging. We recently introduced Connected TV (CTV) advertising that leverages the same targeted segments of users who use CTV devices.

•

Media relations.

We have a full-time global corporate communications and public relations team who has established relationships with major financial media outlets. We utilize these relationships to help increase global awareness of the WisdomTree ETPs and the ETP industry in general in the United States and Europe. Several members of our management team and multiple members of our research team are frequent market commentators and conference panelists.

•

Database Messaging Strategy

. We have a database of financial advisors to which we regularly market through a series of messages across channels (email, display, site) that are triggered based on user interest and predictive analytics,

on-demand

research presentations,

ETP-specific

or educational events and presentations and market commentary from our senior investment strategy adviser, Professor Jeremy Siegel. Additionally, we communicate to our retail database about new product launches and provide ETF education.

•

Social media

. We have implemented a social media strategy that allows us to connect directly with financial advisors and investors by offering timely access to our research material and more general market commentary. Our social media strategy allows us to continually enhance our brand reputation of expertise and thought leadership in the ETP industry. For example, we have an established presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, and our blog content is syndicated across multiple business-oriented websites.

•

Sales support

. We create comprehensive materials to support our sales process including whitepapers, research reports, webinars, blogs, podcasts, videos and performance data for our products.

We will continue to evolve our marketing and communication efforts in response to changes in the ETP industry, market conditions and marketing trends.

Our research team has four core functions: product development and oversight, investment research, model portfolio management and sales support. In its index and active equity product development and oversight role, the research group is responsible for creating the investment methodologies and overseeing the maintenance of indexes and active strategies. The team also provides a variety of investment research around these indexes and markets and manages a series of model portfolios that incorporate WisdomTree and third party products for various investment platforms. Our research is typically academic-type research to support our products, including white papers on the strategies underlying our indexes and ETPs, investment insights on current market trends, and types of investment strategies that drive long-term performance. We distribute our research through our sales professionals, online through our website and blog, targeted emails to financial advisors, or through financial media or social media outlets. Finally, the research team supports our sales professionals in meetings as market experts and through custom analysis on client portfolio holdings. In addition, we consult with our senior advisers, including Professor Jeremy Siegel, on product development ideas, model collaboration, and market commentaries.

Product Development

We are focused on driving continued growth through innovative product development including through our Modern Alpha approach which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective products that are built to perform. Due to our proprietary index development capabilities and a strategic focus on product development, we have demonstrated an ability to launch innovative and differentiated ETPs. When developing new funds, we seek to introduce products that can be first to market, offer improvement in structure or strategy relative to an incumbent product or offer some other key distinction relative to an incumbent product. In short, we want to add choice in the market and seek to introduce thoughtful investment solutions. Lastly, when launching new products, we seek to expand and diversify our overall product line.

Competition

The asset management industry is highly competitive and we face substantial competition in virtually all aspects of our business. Factors affecting our business include fees for our products, investment performance, brand recognition, business reputation, quality of service and the continuity of our financial advisor and platform relationships. We compete directly with other ETP sponsors and mutual fund companies and indirectly against other investment management firms, insurance companies, banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions. Many of the firms we compete with are subsidiaries of large diversified financial companies and many others are much larger in terms of AUM, years in operations and revenues and, accordingly, have much larger sales organizations and budgets. In addition, these larger competitors may attract business through means that are not available to us, including retail bank offices, investment banking, insurance agencies and broker-dealers.

The ETP industry is becoming significantly more competitive. Existing players have broadened their suite of products offering strategies that are, in some cases, similar to ours and large traditional asset managers are also launching ETPs, some with similar strategies as well.

Price competition exists in not only commoditized product categories such as traditional, market capitalization weighted index exposures and commodities, but also in

non-market

capitalization weighted or factor-based exposures and commodities. Fee reductions by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend. Certain larger competitors are able to offer products at lower price points or otherwise as loss leaders due to other revenue sources available within such competitors that are currently unavailable to us. Newer players have also been entering the ETP industry and frequently seek to differentiate by offering ETPs at a lower price point. Funds are being offered with fees of 20 basis points or less, which have attracted approximately 84% of the net flows globally during the last three years. However, while these

low-cost

products have accumulated a significant amount of AUM recently, we estimate that these same funds represent only approximately 30% of global revenues.

Being a first mover, or one of the first providers of ETPs in a particular asset class, can be a significant advantage, as the first ETP in a category to attract scale in AUM and trading liquidity is generally viewed as the most attractive product. We believe that our early launch of products in a number of asset classes or strategies, including fundamental weighting and currency hedging, along with commodities including gold, and certain fixed income, alternative and thematic categories, positions us well to maintain our standing as one of the leaders of the ETP industry. Additionally, we believe our affiliated indexing or “self-indexing” model, as well as our more recent active ETFs, enable us to launch proprietary products that do not have direct competition and are positioned to generate alpha

versus benchmarks. As investors increasingly become more comfortable with the product structure, we believe there will be a greater focus on

after-fee

performance, rather than using ETPs primarily as

low-cost

market access vehicles. While we have selectively lowered fee rates on certain products that have yet to attain scale, and there is no assurance that we will not lower fee rates on certain products in the future, our strategy continues to include launching new funds in the same category with a differentiated exposure at a lower fee rate, rather than reducing fees on existing products with a significant amount of AUM, long performance track records, and secondary market liquidity, which continue to remain competitively priced for the value provided, among other factors. We generally believe we are well positioned from a product pricing perspective.

While we are not immune to fee pressure and have selectively lowered prices on a limited number of products and launched recent products at lower fees, we believe our ability to successfully compete will depend largely on our competitive product offerings and our ability to offer exposure to compelling investment strategies with strong

after-fee

performance, develop distribution relationships, create new investment products, build trading volume, AUM and outperforming track records in existing funds, offer a diverse platform of investment choices, promote thought leadership and a differentiated solutions program, build upon our brand and attract and retain talented sales professionals and other employees.

Regulatory Framework of the ETF Industry

Not all ETPs are ETFs. ETFs are a distinct type of security with features that are different than other ETPs. ETFs are

open-end

investment companies or unit investment trusts regulated in the U.S. by the Investment Company Act of 1940, or the Investment Company Act. This regulatory structure is designed to provide investor protection within a pooled investment product. For example, the Investment Company Act requires that at least 40% of the Trustees for each ETF must not be affiliated persons of the fund’s investment manager, or Independent Trustees. If the ETF seeks to rely on certain rules under the Investment Company Act, a majority of the Trustees for that ETF must be Independent Trustees. ETFs generally operate under regulations that allow them to operate within the ETF structure, while ETFs also operate under regulations that prohibit affiliated transactions, are subject to standard pricing and valuation rules and have mandated compliance programs. ETPs can take a number of forms in addition to ETFs, including exchange-traded notes, grantor trusts or limited partnerships. In the U.S. market, a key factor differentiating ETFs, grantor trusts and limited partnerships from exchange-traded notes is that the former hold assets underlying the ETP. Exchange traded notes, on the other hand, are debt instruments issued by the exchange-traded note sponsor. Also, each of these structures has implications for taxes, liquidity, tracking error and credit risk.

U.S. Regulation

The investment management industry is subject to extensive regulation and virtually all aspects of our business are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are primarily intended to protect investment advisory clients and shareholders of registered investment companies. These laws generally grant supervisory agencies broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict the conduct of our business and to impose sanctions for failure to comply with these laws and regulations. Further, such laws and regulations provide the basis for examination, inquiry, investigation, enforcement action and/or litigation that may also result in significant costs to us.

We are primarily subject to the following laws and regulations, among others. The costs of complying with such laws and regulations have increased and will continue to contribute to the costs of doing business:

•

The Investment Advisers Act of 1940

(Investment Advisers Act)

. The SEC is the federal agency generally responsible for administering the U.S. federal securities laws. WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., or WTAM, one of our subsidiaries, is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act and, as such, is regulated by the SEC. The Investment Advisers Act requires registered investment advisers to comply with numerous and broad obligations, including, among others, recordkeeping requirements, operational procedures, and registration, reporting and disclosure obligations.

•

The Investment Company Act of 1940 (ICA)

. All of our WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are registered with the SEC pursuant to the Investment Company Act. These products must comply with the requirements of the Investment Company Act and other regulations related to publicly offering and listing shares, as well as requirements of Rule

6c-11,

or the ETF Rule, including, among others, requirements relating to operations, fees charged, sales, accounting, recordkeeping, disclosure, transparency and governance. In addition, the SEC has recently finalized new rules and/or rule amendments related to valuation, fund of fund investing, derivatives and marketing/advertising, which will be implemented in 2021-2022, and the SEC is expected to continue to propose, new and/or revised provisions under the ICA that will impact current and future ETF operations and/or investments.

•

Broker-Dealer Regulations

. Although we are not registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act, nor are we a member firm of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, many of our employees, including all of our salespersons, are licensed with FINRA and are registered as associated persons of the distributor of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs and, as such, are subject to the regulations of FINRA that relate to licensing, continuing education requirements and sales practices. FINRA also regulates the content of our marketing and sales material.

•

Internal Revenue Code

. The WisdomTree Trust generally has obligations with respect to the qualification of the registered investment company for pass-through tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code.

•

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and National Futures Association (NFA)

. Regulations adopted by the CFTC have required us to become a member of the NFA and register as a commodity pool operator for a select number of our ETFs.

•

Exchange Listing Requirements

Each WisdomTree U.S. listed ETF is listed on a secondary market (each, an Exchange), including NYSE Arca, the NASDAQ Market and the CBOE Exchange, and accordingly is subject to the listing requirements of these Exchanges. Any new WisdomTree U.S. listed ETF will seek listing on an Exchange and also will need to meet continued Exchange listing requirements, which generally align with requirements of the ETF Rule. However, the SEC or an Exchange may ultimately determine not to allow the issuance of potential new WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs or may require strategy modifications as part of the registration and/or listing process.

In addition, our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and we are therefore also subject to its rules including corporate governance listing standards, as well as federal and state securities laws.

•

FINRA Rules

FINRA rules and guidance may affect how WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are sold by member firms. Although we currently do not offer

so-called

leveraged ETFs in the U.S., which may include within their holdings derivative instruments such as options, futures or swaps to obtain leveraged exposures, FINRA guidance, the recently issued derivatives rules by the SEC and/or other future rules or regulations may influence how member firms effect sales of certain WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs, such as our currency ETFs, or how such ETFs operate, which also use some forms of derivatives, including forward currency contracts and swaps, our international hedged equity ETFs, which use currency forwards, and our rising rates bond ETFs and alternative strategy ETFs, which use futures or options.

International Regulation

Our operations outside the U.S. are subject to the laws and regulations of various

non-U.S.

jurisdictions and

non-U.S.

regulatory agencies and bodies. As we have expanded our international presence, a number of our subsidiaries and international operations have become subject to regulatory systems, in various jurisdictions, comparable to those covering our operations in the U.S. Regulators in these

non-U.S.

jurisdictions may have broad authority with respect to the regulation of financial services including, among other things, the authority to grant or cancel required licenses or registrations.

Jersey-Domiciled Issuers (Managed by WisdomTree Management Jersey Limited)

One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Management Jersey Limited, or ManJer, is a Jersey based management company providing investment and other management services to several Jersey-domiciled issuers, or ManJer Issuers, of exchange-traded commodities, or ETCs, each of which was established as a special purpose vehicle to issue exchange-traded securities. All ETCs (with the exception of those issued by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) are listed and marketed across the European Union, or EU, under Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (as amended), or the Prospectus Regulation. Since January 4, 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland, or CBI, approves all ETC Base Prospectuses as meeting the requirements imposed under U.K. and EU law pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation. Such approval relates only to those securities to be admitted to trading on a regulated market for the purpose of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) – Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and the Council, or MiFID II, and/or which are to be offered to the public in any European Economic Area, or EEA, Member State. All ETC prospectuses are also approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, as UK Listing Authority, as competent authority pursuant to the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 June 2017 on the form and content of such prospectuses and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, or the UK Prospectus Regulation. Each prospectus (apart from that of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) is prepared, and a copy of it is sent to the Jersey Financial Services Commission, or JFSC, in accordance with the Collective Investment Funds (Certified Funds – Prospectuses) (Jersey) Order 2012. Each ManJer Issuer (other than WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) has obtained a certificate under the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 (as amended), to enable it to undertake its functions in relation to its ETCs. The CBI has, at the request of the relevant ManJer Issuer, notified the approval of the Base Prospectus in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation to other EU listing authorities, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, by providing them with certificates of approval attesting that the Base Prospectus has been prepared in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation. Each issuer may request the CBI to provide competent authorities in other EEA Member States with such certificates for the purposes of making a public offer in such Member States and/or for admission to trading of all or any securities on a regulated market. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited’s program for the issuance of WisdomTree Bitcoin securities does not constitute a collective investment fund for the purpose of the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 (as amended) as it satisfies the requirements of Article 2 of the Collective Investments Funds (Restriction of Scope) (Jersey) Order 2000. A copy of the WisdomTree Issuer X Limited prospectus

has been delivered to the Registrar of Companies in Jersey in accordance with Article 5 of the Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002, and the Registrar has consented to its circulation. The JFSC has consented under Article 4 of the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 to the issue of the WisdomTree Bitcoin securities by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited. Currently, the prospectus of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is approved in Switzerland only and WisdomTree Bitcoin securities currently are only listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

The ManJer Issuers are primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:

•

The Companies (Jersey) Law 1991

Each ManJer Issuer is incorporated as a public limited liability company under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991. Therefore, the ManJer Issuers are required to comply with various obligations under the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 such as, but not limited to, convening general meetings, keeping proper books and records and filing financial statements.

•

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA

, which was passed as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, generally requires that foreign financial institutions and certain other

non-financial

foreign entities report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments. The HIRE Act also contained legislation requiring U.S. persons to report, depending on the value, their foreign financial accounts and foreign assets. ETCs benefit from the so called “listing exemption” and Jersey local authorities have determined that for companies which can benefit from such exemption the filing of a nil report is optional.

•

The Common Reporting Standards, or CRS

, were developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is a global reporting standard for the automatic exchange of information. The ManJer Issuers will need to conduct FATCA style due diligence and annual local reporting in relation to financial accounts held directly and indirectly by residents of those jurisdictions with which the Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) jurisdiction of residence has signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the CRS. Unlike FATCA, there is no clear listing exemption available under the CRS so the ManJer Issuers are required to conduct full due diligence to identify such accounts and report on them on an annual basis to their local tax authorities, at least in respect of the certificated interests and primary market issuances. However, Jersey tax authorities have applied less onerous reporting obligations to interests such as ETCs that are regularly traded on an established securities market and are held through CREST, the U.K. based central securities depository.

The ManJer Issuers (other than WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) are also primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:

•

The Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988

. Each ManJer Issuer (other than WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) is a collective investment fund and therefore required to comply with the obligations under the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 and the Code of Practice for Certified Funds.

•

The Prospectus Regulation

. The Base Prospectus of each ManJer Issuer has been drafted, and any offer of ETCs in any EEA Member State that has implemented the Prospectus Regulation is made in compliance with the Prospectus Regulation and any relevant implementing measure in such Member States.

•

Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4

July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories, known as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”)

. EMIR, which became effective on August 16, 2012, provides for certain

over-the-counter,

or OTC, derivative contracts to be submitted to central clearing and imposes margin posting and other risk mitigation techniques, reporting and record keeping requirements. The clearing obligations under EMIR are still under discussion, and currently there are no mandatory clearing obligations in relation to equity, FX or commodity derivatives. The clearing obligation only applies to

EU-based

financial counterparties (defined as those authorized under MiFID, CRR, AIFMD, UCITS or insurance regulations) or those

non-financial

entities that have a rolling three-month notional exposure above a certain amount (between €1 and €3 billion, depending on asset class), which means that the ManJer Issuers are not directly subject to these obligations, but could indirectly be subject to them by virtue of their interaction with

EU-based

financial counterparties. In terms of reporting obligations, being

non-EU

entities, the ManJer Issuers are only indirectly subject to such obligations when they interact with their

EU-based

financial counter-parties. Each ManJer Issuer has adhered to the 2013 EMIR Portfolio Reconciliation, Dispute Resolution and Disclosure Protocol published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.

•

Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on market abuse (the “Regulation”) and Directive 2014/57/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on criminal sanctions for market abuse (the “Directive” and, together with the Regulation, “MAD”)

. Obligations imposed on the relevant ManJer Issuer and distributor under MAD, which became effective on July 3, 2016, include the requirement to publish inside information in a public and timely manner, to prepare and maintain a list of insiders and to refrain from market manipulation.

•

Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8

June 2016 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2014/17/EU and Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (“BMR”)

. Supervised EU entities which issue financial instruments that reference a benchmark are required to comply with applicable obligations as set out under the BMR. The BMR was published on June 30, 2016 and the majority of the provisions became effective on January 1, 2018. The ManJer Issuers are

non-EU

entities and as a result, BMR application is very limited, although in some circumstances a few residual obligations could be deemed to be applicable because the ETCs are marketed across Europe.

•

Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26

November 2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (“PRIIPS”)

. PRIIPs became effective on January 1, 2018 and applies to investment product manufacturers and distributors. Under PRIIPs, manufacturers need to provide a key information document (KIDs) to investors. The intention of KIDs is to improve transparency for investors on the products and enhance investor protection. The product manufacturer is responsible for drafting the KID and for its content. All ETCs are currently subject to PRIIPs and KIDs have been produced since January 1, 2018.

•

MIFID II

. MIFID II covers a wide range of areas that affect the relevant issuer and distributor, such as product governance, a new definition of complex products (which captures all physical and synthetic ETCs) and the production of a new document called an EMT to facilitate the dissemination of relevant information to the markets and distributors in relation to each financial product.

•

Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25

November 2015 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012. (“SFTR”)

. Counterparties to securities financing transactions must report the transaction to trade repositories. The SFTR introduces a reporting requirement for transactions, and a disclosure requirement to investors with a requirement for prior consent. It also designates that financial instruments used for

re-hypothecation

are transferred to an account in the name of the other counterparty. Since the ManJer Issuers are based in

non-EU

jurisdictions, obligations are only indirectly applicable to them, but a certain level of interaction with EU counterparties is required to comply with some of these requirements.

WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is also primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:

•

The Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958

WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is required to comply with the obligations under the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 in respect of its issue of the WisdomTree Bitcoin securities.

•

The Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002

. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is required to comply with the obligations under the Companies (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2002 in respect of its circulation of the WisdomTree Bitcoin securities prospectus.

Irish-Domiciled Issuer of our UCITS ETFs (Managed by WisdomTree Management Limited)

The investment management industry in Ireland is subject to both Irish domestic law and EU law. The Central Bank of Ireland, or the Central Bank, is responsible for the authorization and supervision of collective investment schemes, or CIS, in Ireland. CIS’s are also commonly known as funds/schemes. There are two main categories of funds authorized by the Central Bank, Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and funds that are not UCITS known as alternative investment funds. ETFs form part of the Irish and European regulatory frameworks that govern UCITS, with ETFs having been the subject of specific consideration at the European level which is then repeated and/or interpreted by the Central Bank in regulations and related guidance issued by the Central Bank.

One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Management Limited, is an Ireland based management company authorized in Ireland providing collective portfolio management services to WisdomTree Issuer ICAV, or WTI, and WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs are issued by WTI. WTI, a

non-consolidated

third party, is an Irish-collective-asset-management vehicle, or ICAV, organized in Ireland and is authorized as a UCITS by the Central Bank. All UCITS have their basis in EU legislation and once authorized in one EEA Member State, may be marketed throughout the EU, without further authorization. This is described as an EU passport. The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs have been registered with the FCA under the Temporary Permissions Regime and thus continue to be available to U.K. investors.

WTI is established and operated as an ICAV with segregated liability between its

sub-funds.

The

sub-funds

are segregated portfolios, each with their own investment objective and policies and assets. Each

sub-fund

has a separate approval from the Central Bank, and each is structured as an ETF. Each

sub-fund

tracks a different index. The index must comply with regulatory criteria that govern, among others, the eligibility and diversification of its constituents, and the availability of information on the index such as the frequency of calculation of the index, the index’s transparency, its methodology and frequency of calculation. Each

sub-fund

is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and has shares admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange and, typically, on various European stock exchanges and, accordingly, is subject to the listing requirements of those exchanges.

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WTI is primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:

•

European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2011 (as amended) (“UCITS Regulations”).

The UCITS Regulations, which transpose Council Directive 2009/65/EC, Commission Directive 2010/43/EC and Commission Directive 2010/44/EC into Irish law, became effective on July 1, 2011. UCITS established in Ireland are authorized under the UCITS Regulations.

•

Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48(1)) (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2019 (“Central Bank UCITS Regulations”).

The Central Bank UCITS Regulations were adopted in May 2019 and, together with the UCITS Regulations, any guidance produced by the Central Bank, and the Central Bank forms, form the basis for all the requirements that the Central Bank imposes on UCITS, UCITS management companies and depositaries of UCITS.

•

Central Bank Guidance.

The Central Bank also has produced guidance that provides direction on issues relating to the funds industry, certain of which set forth conditions not contained in the UCITS Regulations or the Central Bank Regulations with which UCITS must conform.

•

The Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicle Act 2015 (“ICAV Act”).

WTI is registered as an ICAV under the ICAV Act. Therefore, WTI is required to comply with various obligations under the ICAV Act such as, but not limited to, keeping proper books and records. The segregation of liability between

sub-funds

means there cannot be, as a matter of Irish law, cross-contamination of liability as between

sub-funds

so that the insolvency of one

sub-fund

affects another

sub-fund.

•

EMIR

. EMIR provides for OTC derivative contracts to be submitted to central clearing and imposes,

inter alia

, margin posting and other risk mitigation techniques, reporting and record keeping requirements. WTI uses OTC derivatives instruments to hedge the currency risk of some of its

sub-funds,

which are subject to EMIR. WTI has adhered to the 2013 EMIR Portfolio Reconciliation, Dispute Resolution and Disclosure Protocol published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. The Central Bank has been designated as the competent authority for EMIR.

•

BMR

. The BMR is directly applicable law across the EU and applies to certain “administrators,” “contributors” and “users” of benchmarks with the aim of reducing the risk of benchmark manipulation and promoting confidence in their integrity and that of the financial markets which they support. Since WTI issues financial instruments that reference a benchmark, it will be required to comply with applicable obligations as set out under the BMR. In addition,

non-EU

administrators of benchmarks are required to satisfy a number of requirements to enable the benchmarks they provide to be used in the EU. To ensure investor protection, the BMR provides equivalence, recognition and endorsement conditions under which third country benchmarks may be used by supervised entities in the EU. Since we control the provision of benchmarks, we are required to comply with applicable obligations within the timeframes set out under the BMR.

Irish-Domiciled Issuer (Managed by WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited)

One of our subsidiaries, WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited, is a Jersey based management company providing investment and other management services to WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer PLC, or WMAI, in respect of the ETPs issued by WMAI. WMAI, a

non-consolidated

third party, is a public limited company incorporated in the laws of Ireland. It was established as a special purpose vehicle for the purposes of issuing collateralized exchange-traded securities, or ETP Securities, under the Collateralized ETP Securities Programme described in its Base Prospectus. WMAI is a ‘

qualifying company

’ within the meaning of section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended), of Ireland. WMAI is not authorized or regulated by the Central Bank by virtue of issuing ETPs.

The Central Bank, as competent authority under the Prospectus Regulation, has approved the Base Prospectus as meeting the requirements imposed under Irish and EU law pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation. Such approval relates only to ETP Securities which are to be admitted to trading on a regulated market for the purpose of MiFID II and/or which are to be offered to the public in any EEA Member State. We are in discussions with the FCA in respect of the ETPs issued by WMAI such that, if necessary, the Base Prospectus for those products could be approved by the FCA in addition to the existing Central Bank approval to ensure continuous offering in the U.K. following the expiry of the current transitional arrangements.

The Central Bank has, at the request of WMAI, notified the approval of the Base Prospectus in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation to the UKLA (the United Kingdom financial supervisory authority), the Commissione Nazionale per la Societá e la Borsa (the Italian financial supervisory authority), the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (the German Federal financial supervisory authority) and the Financial Market Authority of Austria, by providing them,

inter alia

, with certificates of approval attesting that the Base Prospectus has been prepared in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation. WMAI may request the Central Bank to provide competent authorities in other EEA Member States with such certificates whether for the purposes of making a public offer in such Member States or for admission to trading of all or any ETP Securities on a regulated market therein or both.

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WMAI is primarily subject to the following legislation and regulatory requirements:

•

The Companies Act

. WMAI is incorporated as a public limited liability company under the Companies Act. Therefore, WMAI is required to comply with various obligations under the Companies Act such as, but not limited to, convening general meetings, keeping proper books and records and filing financial statements.

•

The Prospectus Regulation

. The Base Prospectus has been drafted, and any offer of ETP Securities in any EEA Member State that has implemented the Prospectus Regulation is made in compliance with the Prospectus Regulation and any relevant implementing measure in such Member States.

•

EMIR

. WMAI hedges its payment obligations in respect of the ETP Securities by entering into swap transactions with swap providers, which are subject to EMIR. The Central Bank has been designated as the competent authority for EMIR and, to assess compliance with EMIR, requests that WMAI submits annually an EMIR Regulatory Return.

•

BMR

. Since WMAI issues financial instruments that reference a benchmark, it also will be required to comply with applicable obligations under the BMR.

•

MAD

. MAD has a direct effect in Ireland and strengthens the legal framework underpinning the function of detecting, sanctioning and deterring market abuse. Broadly, MAD applies to any financial instrument admitted to, or for which a request for admission has been made to, trading on a regulated market in at least one member state of the EU or in an EEA Member State. Obligations imposed on WMAI under MAD include the requirement to publish inside information in a public and timely manner, to draw up and maintain a list of insiders and to refrain from market manipulation.

Intellectual Property

We regard our name, WisdomTree, as material to our business and have registered WisdomTree as a service mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in various foreign jurisdictions. We also have registered Modern Alpha as a service mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in various foreign jurisdictions.

Our index-based equity ETFs are based on our own indexes and we do not license them from, nor do we pay licensing fees to, third parties for these indexes. We do, however, license third-party indexes for certain of our fixed income, currency and alternative ETFs.

On March 6, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued to us our patent on Financial Instrument Selection and Weighting System and Method, which is embodied in our dividend weighted equity indexes. We currently do not rely upon our patent for a competitive advantage.

Available Information

Company Website and Public Filings

Our website is located at

www.wisdomtree.com

, and our investor relations website is located at

http://ir.wisdomtree.com

. We make available, free of charge through our investor relations website, our Annual Reports on

Form 10-K,

Quarterly Reports on

Form 10-Q

and Current Reports on

Form 8-K,

and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding the Company at

www.sec.gov

We webcast our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with members of the investment community on our investor relations website. Additionally, we provide notifications of news or announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings releases as part of our investor relations website. Further corporate governance information, including board committee charters and code of conduct, is also available on our investor relations website under the heading “Corporate Governance.” The contents of our websites are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form

10-K

or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.

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ITEM 1A.

RISK FACTORS

Any investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the specific risk factors described below in addition to the other information contained in this Report before making a decision to invest in our common stock. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be harmed. This could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline and a loss of all or part of your investment. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Market Risks

Adverse market developments arising from the

COVID-19

pandemic could negatively impact our assets under management, or AUM, resulting in a decline in our revenues and other potential operational challenges.

Global financial markets experienced a significant decline at the onset of the

COVID-19

pandemic. While the markets have since recovered, the ultimate duration of the pandemic and its short-term and long-term impact on the global economy is unknown. Mutations in the virus, a setback in vaccine distribution and negative global economic consequences arising from the pandemic, amongst other factors, could have a future adverse impact on the global financial markets. Negative market reactions could negatively impact our AUM and our revenues.

In addition, many of the key service providers we rely on are working remotely. If they were to experience material disruptions in the ability for their employees to work remotely, such as disruptions in internet-based communications systems and networks or the availability of essential goods and services such as food or power, our ability to operate our business normally could be materially adversely disrupted. Similarly, to date our own employees and, we believe, the employees of our key service providers, have not experienced a material degree of illness due to

COVID-19.

If our or their workforces, or key components thereof, were to experience significant illness, our ability to operate our business normally could be materially adversely disrupted. Any such material adverse disruptions to our business operations could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

Declining prices of securities, gold and other precious metals and other commodities can adversely affect our business by reducing the market value of the assets we manage or causing WisdomTree ETP investors to sell their fund shares and trigger redemptions.

We are subject to risks arising from declining prices of securities, gold and other precious metals and other commodities, which may result in a decrease in demand for investment products, a higher redemption rate and/or a decline in AUM. The financial markets are highly volatile and prices for financial assets may increase or decrease for many reasons, including general economic conditions, trade uncertainties, rising or falling interest rates, the strengthening or weakening of the U.S. dollar, events such as the

COVID-19

pandemic, political events, acts of terrorism and other matters beyond our control. Substantially all our revenues are derived from advisory fees earned on our AUM, in both the international and U.S. markets. As a result, our business can be expected to generate lower revenues in declining market environments or general economic downturns. Such adverse conditions would likely cause the value of our AUM to decrease, which would result in lower advisory fees, or cause investors in the WisdomTree ETPs to sell their shares in favor of investments they perceive to offer greater opportunity or lower risk, thus triggering redemptions that would also result in decreased AUM and lower fees.

Fluctuations in the amount and mix of our AUM may negatively impact revenues and operating margins.

The level of our revenues depends on the amount and mix of our AUM. Our revenues are derived primarily from advisory fees based on a percentage of the value of our AUM and vary with the nature of the ETPs, which have different fee levels. Fluctuations in the amount and mix of our AUM may be attributable in part to market conditions outside of our control that have had, and in the future could have, a negative impact on our revenues and operating margins.

Abnormally wide bid/ask spreads and market disruptions that halt or disrupt trading or create extreme volatility could undermine investor confidence in the ETP investment structure and limit investor acceptance of ETPs.

ETPs trade on exchanges in market transactions that generally approximate the value of the referenced assets or underlying portfolio of securities held by the particular ETP. Trading involves risks including the potential lack of an active market for fund shares, abnormally wide bid/ask spreads (the difference between the prices at which shares of an ETP can be bought and sold) that can exist for a variety of reasons and losses from trading. These risks can be exacerbated during periods when there is low demand for an ETP, when the markets in the underlying investments are closed, when markets conditions are extremely volatile or when trading is disrupted. This could result in limited growth or a reduction in the overall ETP market and result in our revenues not growing as rapidly as it has in the recent past or even in a reduction of revenues.

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Concentration Risks

We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from a limited number of products and, as a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to investor sentiment toward investing in the products’ strategies and our ability to maintain the AUM of these products, as well as the performance of these products.

At December 31, 2020, approximately 53% of our global AUM was concentrated in ten of our WisdomTree ETPs with approximately 27% in four of our precious metal products, 15% in three of our domestic equity ETFs, 8% in two of our emerging markets ETFs and 3% in HEDJ. As a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to the performance of these funds and our ability to maintain the AUM of these funds, as well as investor sentiment toward investing in the funds’ strategies. If the AUM in these funds were to decline, either because of declining market values or net outflows from these funds, our revenues would be adversely affected.

Declining commodity prices, and gold prices in particular, including as a result of changes in demand for commodities and gold as an investment, could materially and adversely affect our business.

At December 31, 2020, approximately 26% of our global AUM were in ETPs backed by gold and approximately 12% were in ETPs backed by other commodities. Precious metals such as gold are often viewed as “safe haven” assets as they tend to attract demand during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Accommodative monetary policies are also favorable as the opportunity cost of forgoing investment in interest-bearing assets is low. Market conditions that are not conducive to investment in precious metals may lead to declining prices that are linked to our ETPs and thereby adversely affect our AUM and revenues. We cannot provide any assurance that our products backed by precious metals will benefit from favorable market conditions. In addition, changes in long-term demand cycles for commodities generally and cyclicality in demand for commodities as an investment asset, could reduce demand for certain of our products, limit our ability to successfully launch new products and also may lead to redemptions by existing investors.

Also, a portion of the advisory fee revenues we receive on our ETPs backed by gold are paid in gold ounces. In addition, we pay gold ounces to satisfy our deferred consideration obligation (See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements). While we may readily sell the gold that we earn under these advisory contracts, we still may maintain a position. We currently do not enter into arrangements to hedge against fluctuations in the price of gold and any hedging we may undertake in the future may not be cost-effective or sufficient to hedge against this gold exposure.

A significant portion of our AUM is held in products with exposure to U.S. and international developed markets, and we therefore have exposure to domestic and foreign market conditions and are subject to currency exchange rate risks.

At December 31, 2020, approximately 27% and 14% of our AUM was held in products with exposure to the U.S. and international developed markets, respectively. Therefore, the success of our business is closely tied to various conditions in these markets which may be affected by domestic and foreign political, social and economic uncertainties, monetary policies conducted in these regions and other factors.

In addition, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could reduce the revenues we earn from certain foreign invested products. This occurs because an increase in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to

non-U.S.

currencies may result in a decrease in the dollar value of the AUM in these products, which, in turn, would result in lower revenues. Furthermore, investors may perceive certain foreign invested products, as well as certain of our currency and fixed income products to be a less attractive investment opportunity when the value of the U.S. dollar rises relative to

non-U.S.

currencies, which could have the effect of reducing investments in these products, thus reducing revenues. Our products exposed to the U.S. market may benefit from a rising U.S. dollar, but we can provide no assurance that this will be the case. Also, a weakening U.S. dollar relative to the euro or yen may make less attractive our international hedged equity products, as unhedged alternatives would benefit from the appreciation of the foreign currency or currencies while our products would not, which could result in redemptions in our funds.

Withdrawals or broad changes in investments in our ETPs by investors with significant positions may negatively impact revenues and operating margins.

We have had in the past, and may have in the future, investors who maintain significant positions in one or more of our ETPs. If such an investor were to broadly change or withdraw its investments in our ETPs because of a change to its investment strategy, market conditions or any other reason, it may significantly change the amount and mix of our AUM, which may negatively affect our revenues and operating margins.

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Competition and Distribution Risks

The asset management business is intensely competitive, and we may experience pressures on our pricing and market share which could reduce revenues and profit margins.

Our business operates in a highly competitive industry. We compete directly with other ETP sponsors and mutual fund companies and indirectly against other investment management firms, insurance companies, banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions that offer products that have similar features and investment objectives to those offered by us. This includes fundamentally weighted or factor-based indexes or currency hedged products with fees that are generally equivalent to, and in some instances lower than, our products. We compete based on a number of factors, including name recognition, service, investment performance, product features, breadth of product choices and fees.

In addition, the adoption of the ETF Rule removed the need to file for exemptive relief in order to issue ETFs, thereby creating fewer barriers to entry for competitors. We expect that additional companies, both new and traditional asset managers, will continue to enter the ETP space.

Also, the SEC has approved multiple proposals for

non-transparent

active ETFs, which are products that are not required to disclose their holdings daily, as most ETFs currently are required to do. The launch of such products may allow traditional actively managed mutual fund sponsors to compete more effectively against ETFs.

Several ETP sponsors with whom we directly compete continue to migrate toward offering low and no fee products targeting gains in market share. Price competition exists in not only commoditized product categories such as traditional, market capitalization weighted index exposures and commodities, but also in

non-market

capitalization weighted or factor-based exposures and commodities. Fee reductions by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend. Certain larger competitors are able to offer products at lower price points or otherwise as loss leaders due to other revenue sources available within such competitor that are unavailable to us. Newer players have also been entering the ETP industry and frequently seek to differentiate by offering ETPs at a lower price point. Funds are being offered with fees of 20 basis points or less, which have attracted approximately 84% of the net flows globally during the last three years. Fee reduction by certain of our competitors has been a trend over the last few years and continues to persist and many of our competitors are well positioned to benefit from this trend.

Our competition may have greater market share, offer a broader range of products and have greater financial resources than we do. Some financial institutions operate in a more favorable regulatory environment and/or have proprietary products, sources of revenue and distribution channels, which may provide them and their investment products with certain competitive advantages, including in pricing ETPs as loss leaders. Further consolidation within the industry may also put us at a competitive disadvantage.

We believe that due to the continuing evolution of the competitive landscape described above, we may experience pressures on our pricing and market share which could reduce our revenues and profit margins.

We rely on third-party distribution channels to sell our products and increased competition, a failure to maintain business relationships and other factors could adversely impact our business

We rely on various third-party distribution channels, including registered investment advisors, wirehouse and institutional channels to sell our products. Increasing competition, a failure to maintain business relationships and other factors could impair our distribution capabilities and increase the cost of conducting business. In addition, several of the largest custodial platforms and online brokerage firms recently announced their decision to eliminate trading commissions for ETFs. Our arrangements with these platforms had offered us preferred or exclusive access for our products, enabling investors to purchase our products without paying commissions. Exclusivity is no longer available, and we can provide no assurance that access to new opportunities will arise. Any inability to access and successfully sell our products through our distribution channels could have a negative effect on our AUM levels and adversely impact our business.

Performance and Investment Risks

Many of our WisdomTree ETPs have a limited track record and poor investment performance could cause our revenues to decline.

Many of our ETPs have a limited track record upon which an evaluation of their investment performance can be made. Certain investors limit their investments to ETPs with track records of ten years or more. Furthermore, as part of our strategy, we continuously evaluate our product offerings to ensure that all our funds are useful, compelling and differentiated investment offerings, to more competitively align our overall product line in the current ETP landscape and to reallocate our resources to areas of greater client interest. As a result, we may further adjust our product offerings, which may result in the closing of some of our ETPs, changing their investment objective or offering of new funds. The investment performance of our products is important to our success. While strong investment performance could stimulate sales of our ETPs, poor investment performance, on an absolute basis or as compared to third-party benchmarks or competitive products, could lead to a decrease in sales or stimulate redemptions, thereby lowering the

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AUM and reducing our revenues. Our fundamentally-weighted equity products are designed to provide the potential for better risk-adjusted investment returns over full market cycles and are best suited for investors with a longer-term investment horizon. However, the investment approach of our equity products may not perform well during certain shorter periods of time during different points in the economic cycle.

Operational Risks

Over the last few years, we have expanded our business internationally. This expansion subjects us to increased operational, regulatory, financial and other risks.

We face increased operational, regulatory, financial, compliance, reputational and foreign exchange rate risks as a result of our international expansion. The failure of our compliance and internal control systems to properly mitigate such additional risks, or of our operating infrastructure to support such expansion, could result in operational failures and regulatory fines or sanctions. If our international products and operations experience any negative consequences or are perceived negatively in

non-U.S.

markets, it may also harm our reputation in other markets, including the U.S. market.

We have and may continue to pursue acquisitions or other strategic transactions. Any strategic transactions that we are a party to will result in increased demands on our management and other resources, may be significant in size relative to our assets and operations, result in significant changes in our business and materially and adversely affect our stock price. If we were unable to manage our strategic initiatives, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We have and may continue to pursue acquisitions or strategic transactions. These initiatives have placed increased demands on our management and other resources and may continue to do so in the future. We may not be able to manage our operations effectively or achieve our desired objectives on a timely or profitable basis. To do so may require, among other things:

•

continuing to retain, motivate and manage our existing employees and/or attract and integrate new employees;

•

developing, implementing and improving our operational, financial, accounting, reporting and other internal systems and controls on a timely basis; and

•

maintaining and developing our various support functions including human resources, information technology, legal and corporate communications.

If we are unable to manage these initiatives effectively, there could be a material adverse effect on our ability to maintain or increase revenues and profitability.

Managing strategic initiatives may require continued investment in personnel, information technology infrastructure and marketing activities, as well as further development and implementation of financial, operational and compliance systems and controls. We may not be successful in implementing all of the processes that are necessary. Unless such initiatives result in an increase in our revenues that is at least proportionate to the increase in the costs associated with implementing them, our future profitability will be adversely affected.

In addition, any future strategic transactions may result in the issuance of a significant amount of our common stock or other securities that could be dilutive to our stockholders, require substantial borrowings, result in changes in our board composition and/or management team that constitute a change of control of our Company, lead to significant changes in our product offering, business operations and earning and risk profiles, and/or result in a decline in the price of our common stock.

Our ability to complete future strategic transactions depends upon a number of factors that are not entirely within our control, including our ability to identify suitable merger or acquisition candidates, negotiate acceptable terms, conclude satisfactory agreements and secure financing. Our failure to complete strategic transactions or to integrate and manage acquired or combined businesses successfully could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial conditions.

The uncertainty regarding the U.K.’s exit from the EU could adversely affect our business.

The U.K. left the EU on January 31, 2020, referred to as Brexit, subject to transitional arrangements which ended on December 31, 2020. The transition period ended with arrangements in place between the U.K. and the Member States of the EU. Such an exit from the EU is unprecedented and the medium to long-term consequences for our business remain uncertain. Among other things, the U.K.’s departure from the EU could lead to instability, including volatility, in the foreign exchange markets. Deteriorating business, consumer or investor confidence could lead to (i) reduced levels of business activity, (ii) higher levels of default rates and impairment and (iii) mark to market losses in trading portfolios resulting from changes in credit ratings, share prices and solvency of counterparties. These changes may impact how we conduct our business across Europe. This uncertainty also could impact the broader global economy, including by reducing investor confidence and driving volatility. Such uncertainty could lead to scenarios that adversely affect our business, including our revenues, from either a decrease in the value of our AUM or from outflows from our funds due to a perceived higher exposure of our company to Brexit risk.

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Catastrophic and unpredictable events could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A terrorist attack, war, power failure, cyber-attack, natural disaster, pandemic event or other catastrophic or unpredictable event could adversely affect our revenues, expenses and operating results by: interrupting our normal business operations; inflicting employee casualties, including loss of our key employees; requiring substantial expenditures and expenses to repair, replace and restore normal business operations; and reducing investor confidence. We have a disaster recovery plan to address certain contingencies, but this plan may not be sufficient in responding or ameliorating the effects of all disaster scenarios. Similarly, these types of events could also affect the ability of the third-party vendors that we rely upon to conduct our business, including parties that provide us with

sub-advisory

portfolio management services, custodial, fund accounting and administration services or index calculation services, to continue to provide these necessary services to us, even though they may also have disaster recovery plans to address these contingencies. In addition, a failure of the stock exchanges on which our products trade to function properly could cause a material disruption to our business. If we or our third-party vendors are unable to respond adequately or in a timely manner, these failures may result in a loss of revenues and/or increased expenses, either of which would have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Third Party Risks

We currently depend on State Street Bank and Trust Company to provide us with critical administrative services to operate our business and our products. The failure of State Street to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in our products.

We currently depend upon State Street Bank and Trust Company, or State Street, to provide custody services, fund accounting, administration, transfer agency and securities lending services. The failure of State Street to successfully provide us and our products with these services could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products. In addition, because State Street provides a multitude of important services to us, changing this vendor relationship would be challenging. It might require us to devote a significant portion of management’s time to negotiate a similar relationship with another vendor or have these services provided by multiple vendors, which would require us to coordinate the transfer of these functions to another vendor or vendors.

We currently primarily depend on BNY Mellon and Voya Investment Management to provide portfolio management services and other third parties to provide many critical services to operate our business and our products. The failure of key vendors to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in our products.

We depend on third-party vendors to provide us with many services that are critical to operating our business, including BNY Mellon and Voya Investment Management as

sub-advisers

that provide us with portfolio management services, third-party providers of index calculation services for our indexes, a distributor of our products and a third-party provider of indicative values of the portfolios of our products. The failure of any of these key vendors to provide us and our products with these services could lead to operational issues and result in financial loss to us and investors in our products.

We currently depend on HSBC and JP Morgan to provide us with critical physical custody services for precious metals that back our ETCs. The failure of HSBC and JP Morgan to adequately safeguard the physical assets could materially adversely affect our business and harm investors in our products.

Certain products are backed by physical metal and are subject to risks associated with the custody of physical assets, including the risk that access to the metal held in the secure facilities managed by HSBC and JP Morgan could be restricted by a pandemic (such as the

COVID-19

pandemic), natural events (such as an earthquake) or human actions (such as a terrorist attack). In addition, there is a risk that the physical metal could be lost, stolen, damaged or restricted. The failure of HSBC and JP Morgan to successfully provide us with these services could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products and our recovery of any losses from a custodian,

sub-custodian

or insurer may be inadequate.

We currently depend on Swissquote Bank Ltd to provide us with critical custody services for digital currencies that back WisdomTree Bitcoin securities and recently entered into a custody agreement with Coinbase Custody Trust LLC to also provide such services. The failure of Swissquote and, when effective, Coinbase, to adequately safeguard these digital assets could materially adversely affect our business and harm investors in this product.

Products that are backed by digital currencies such as WisdomTree Bitcoin securities are subject to the risks associated with the custody of digital assets, including the risk that the digital currencies or the blockchain infrastructure could be impacted by hacks or other malicious actions. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited is reliant on the security procedures and infrastructure of the custodian to safeguard the underlying digital currency cryptographic keys. There is no guarantee that the arrangements of the custodian will fully protect from loss of assets. Damage to the infrastructure or loss of these assets may render the digital currency inaccessible and adversely impact the value of an investment in digital securities. The digital currencies may also be exposed to the Internet briefly before reaching the secure accounts of the custodian. There are additional risks involved with an investment backed by digital currencies such as changes to the protocol (such as forks) which could damage the reputation of digital assets or result in losses for investors. The risks associated with digital currencies and the failure of the custodian to safeguard the underlying assets could result in financial loss to us and investors in our products and our recovery of any losses from a custodian may be inadequate.

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WisdomTree Issuer X Limited also has entered into a custody agreement with Coinbase Custody Trust LLC. WisdomTree Issuer X Limited will make a regulatory announcement to confirm an effective date when it will start to use Coinbase. Following the effective date, WisdomTree Issuer X Limited also will become reliant on the procedures and infrastructure of Coinbase for critical custody services for digital currencies. There is no guarantee that the arrangements with Coinbase will fully protect from the loss of assets. The failure of Coinbase to safeguard the underlying assets could result in financial loss to us and investors and recovery of any losses may be inadequate.

We currently depend on R&H Fund Services (Jersey) Limited in respect of the products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited), JTC Trust Company Jersey in respect of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited, APEX IFS Limited in respect of the products issued by WMAI and State Street Fund Services (Ireland) Limited in respect of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs to provide us with critical administrative services to those products. The failure of any of those providers to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in those products.

We currently depend upon R&H Fund Services (Jersey) Limited in respect of the products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited), JTC Trust Company Jersey in respect of WisdomTree Issuer X Limited, APEX IFS Limited in respect of the products issued by WMAI and State Street Fund Services (Ireland) Limited in respect of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs, to provide fund accounting, administration and, transfer agency services, as well as custody services in the case of the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The failure of any service provider to successfully provide these services could result in financial loss to the products, us and investors in those products. In addition, because each of the service providers provides a multitude of important services, changing these vendor relationships would be challenging. It might require us to devote a significant portion of management’s time to negotiate a similar relationship with other vendors or have these services provided by multiple vendors, which would require us to coordinate the transfer of these functions to another vendor or vendors.

The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs primarily depend on either of Assenagon Asset Management S.A. or Irish Life Investment Managers Limited to provide portfolio management services and other third parties to provide many critical services to operate the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs. The failure of key vendors to adequately provide such services could materially affect our operating business and harm investors in the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs.

The WisdomTree UCITS ETFs depend on third-party vendors to provide many services that are critical to operating our business, including Assenagon Asset Management S.A. and Irish Life Investment Managers Limited as investment managers that provide us with portfolio management services and third-party providers of index calculation services. The failure of any of these key vendors to provide the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs with these services could lead to operational issues and result in financial loss to us and investors in the WisdomTree UCITS ETFs.

The products issued by our European business are subject to counterparty risks. Any actual or perceived weakness of those counterparties could negatively impact the European business’ AUM and therefore the Company’s AUM, the relevant product and secondary pricing of the products on exchange, which could materially adversely affect our business.

The products issued by our European business depend on the services of counterparties, custodians and other agents and are thus subject to a variety of counterparty risks, including the following:

•

Products issued by the ManJer Issuers (except WisdomTree Issuer X Limited) are backed by physical metal and are subject to risks associated with the custody of metal, including the risk that access to the physically backed metal held in the vaults or secure warehouses of a custodian or

sub-custodian

could be restricted by natural events, such as an earthquake, or human actions, such as a terrorist attack, the risk that such physically backed metal in its custody could be lost, stolen or damaged, and the risk that our recovery of any losses from a custodian,

sub-custodian

or insurer may be inadequate.

•

Products issued by WisdomTree Issuer X Limited are backed by digital currencies and are subject to risks associated with the custody of digital assets, including the risk that the digital currency itself or the relevant blockchain infrastructure could be threatened by hacks, other malicious actions, breakdown or disturbance of the infrastructure and loss of the digital keys.

•

Products issued by WMAI, certain WisdomTree UCITS ETFs and certain products issued by the ManJer Issuers are backed by swap, derivative or similar arrangements are subject to risks associated with the creditworthiness of their counterparties, including the risk that a counterparty will not settle a transaction in accordance with its terms and conditions because of a dispute over the terms of the relevant arrangement (whether or not bona fide) or because of a credit, liquidity, regulatory, tax or operational problem. Any deterioration of the credit or downgrade in the credit rating of a counterparty, or the custodian holding the collateral, could cause the associated products to trade at a discount to the value of the underlying assets.

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The terms of contracts with counterparties are generally complex, often customized and often not subject to regulatory oversight. A voluntary or involuntary default by a counterparty may occur at any time without notice. In the event of any default by, or the insolvency of, any counterparty, the relevant products may be exposed to the under-segregation of assets, fraud or other factors that may result in the recovery of less than all of the property of our issuers that was held in custody or safekeeping in the case of physically backed products or the recovery of property that is insufficient in value to cover all amounts payable to holders of the applicable products upon their redemption. The impact of market stress or counterparty financial condition may not be accurately foreseen or evaluated and, as a result, we may not take sufficient action to reduce counterparty risks effectively. Any losses due to a counterparty’s failure to perform its contractual obligations will be borne by the relevant product issuer and there could be a substantial delay in recovering assets due from counterparties or it may not be possible to do so at all. Defaults by, or even rumors or questions about, the solvency of counterparties may increase operational risks or transaction costs, which may negatively affect the investment performance of the relevant products and have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

Certain of our European listed products are subject to counterparty risks. Failure of the counterparties to fulfill their obligations could negatively impact our products and AUM, which could adversely affect our business.

Certain of our European listed products depend on the services of counterparties. The terms of contracts with counterparties are generally complex, frequently customized and often not subject to regulatory oversight, and are thus subject to a variety of risks, including the following:

•

Counterparty risk

– certain products are backed by swap, derivative or similar arrangements and are subject to risks associated with the creditworthiness of their counterparties;

•

Default

– a counterparty may not settle a transaction in accordance with its terms and conditions because of a dispute over the terms of the relevant arrangement (whether or not bona fide), a default (whether or not bona fide), or because of a credit, liquidity, regulatory, tax or operational problem; and

These products are dependent on receipt of payments from such counterparties in order to satisfy payment obligations to investors. Any shortfall in the amounts received from counterparties, a voluntary or involuntary default by a counterparty, failure of the counterparty to perform its contractual obligations due to market stress or otherwise, or deterioration of the credit rating of a counterparty could result in:

•

losses for investors and the potentially limited ability to recover losses;

•

a compulsory redemption or other termination of the relevant products which may be earlier and at a different price to that which investors may receive had their investment not been redeemed or otherwise terminated;

•

the associated products trading at a discount to the value of the underlying assets;

•

the imposition of temporary restrictions on creation and redemption activity in the primary market in accordance with applicable product documentation. Such actions may impact the operation and liquidity of these products in the secondary market on exchange and the products may trade at a discount or premium; and/or

•

increased operational risks or transaction costs, which may negatively affect the investment performance of the relevant products and have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

Our risk management policies and procedures, and those of our third-party vendors upon which we rely, may not be fully effective in identifying or mitigating risk exposure, including employee misconduct. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure to these risks, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition, reputation and market share.

We have developed risk management policies and procedures and we continue to refine them as we conduct our business. Many of our procedures involve oversight of third-party vendors that provide us with critical services such as portfolio management, custody and fund accounting and administration, and index calculation services. Our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage risks may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure. Moreover, we are subject to the risks of errors and misconduct by our employees, including fraud and

non-compliance

with policies. These risks are difficult to detect in advance and deter, and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. Although we maintain insurance and use other traditional risk-shifting tools, such as third-party indemnification, to manage certain exposures, they are subject to terms such as deductibles, coinsurance, limits and policy exclusions, as well as risk of counterparty denial of coverage, default or insolvency. If our policies and procedures do not adequately protect us from exposure and our exposure is not adequately covered by insurance or other risk-shifting tools, we may incur losses that would adversely affect our financial condition and could cause a reduction in our revenues as investors in our products shift their investments to the products of our competitors.

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Technology Risks

Any significant limitation or failure of our technology systems, or of our third-party vendors’ technology systems, or any security breach of our information and cyber security infrastructure, software applications, technology or other systems that are critical to our operations could interrupt or damage our operations and result in material financial loss, regulatory violations, reputational harm or legal liability.

We are dependent upon the effectiveness of our own, and our vendors’, information security policies, procedures and capabilities to protect the technology systems used to operate our business and to protect the data that reside on or are transmitted through them. Although we and our third-party vendors take protective measures to secure information, our and our vendors’ technology systems may still be vulnerable to unauthorized access, computer viruses or other events that could result in inaccuracies in our information or system disruptions or failures, which could materially interrupt or damage our operations. In addition, technology is subject to rapid change and we cannot guarantee that our competitors may not implement more advanced technology platforms for their products, which could affect our business. Any inaccuracies, delays, system failures or breaches, or advancements in technology, and the cost necessary to address them, could subject us to client dissatisfaction and losses or result in material financial loss, regulatory violations, reputational harm or legal liability, which, in turn, could cause a decline in our earnings or stock price.

Human Capital Risks

Our ability to operate effectively could be impaired if we fail to retain or recruit key personnel.

The success of our business is highly dependent on our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled, and sometimes highly specialized, employees, including in particular, operations, product development, research and sales and marketing personnel. Our U.S. employees generally may voluntarily terminate their employment at any time. The market for these individuals is extremely competitive and is likely to become more so as additional investment management firms enter the ETF industry. Our compensation methods may not enable us to recruit and retain required personnel. For example, price volatility in our common stock may impact our ability to effectively use equity grants as an employee compensation incentive. Also, we may need to increase compensation levels, which would decrease our net income or increase our losses. If we are unable to retain and attract key personnel, it could have an adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and financial condition.

Expense and Cash Management Risks

Our expenses are subject to fluctuations that could materially affect our operating results.

Our results of operations are dependent in part on the level of our expenses, which can vary from quarter to quarter. Our expenses may fluctuate primarily as a result of discretionary spending, including additional headcount, accruals for incentive compensation, marketing, advertising, sales and other expenses we incur in connection with our

day-to-day

operations. Accordingly, our results of operations may vary from quarter to quarter.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Compliance with extensive, complex and changing regulation imposes significant financial and strategic costs on our business, and

non-compliance

could result in fines and penalties.

Our business is subject to extensive regulation of our business and operations. One of our U.S. subsidiaries, WTAM, is a registered investment adviser and is subject to oversight by the SEC pursuant to its regulatory authority under the Investment Advisers Act. We also must comply with certain requirements under the Investment Company Act, with respect to the WisdomTree ETFs for which WTAM acts as investment adviser. WTAM is also a member of the NFA and registered as a commodity pool operator for certain of our ETFs. As a commodity pool operator, we are subject to oversight by the NFA and the CFTC pursuant to regulatory authority under the Commodity Exchange Act. In addition, the content and use of our marketing and sales materials and of our sales force in the U.S. regarding our U.S. listed ETFs is subject to the regulatory authority of FINRA, and the SEC recently adopted rule amendments in seeking to modernize sales and marketing materials, which will impact such materials. We are also subject to foreign laws and regulatory authorities with respect to operational aspects of our products that invest in securities of issuers in foreign countries, in the marketing, offer and/or sales of our products in foreign jurisdictions and in our offering of investment products domiciled outside of the U.S., such as our ETPs issued by the ManJer Issuers, UCITS ETFs and ETPs issued by WMAI. Each of the regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over us has regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of our business, including the authority to grant, and, in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular businesses. Our or our ETPs’ failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations could result in fines, censure, suspensions of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of our registration as an investment adviser. Even if a sanction imposed against us, our personnel or our ETPs is small in monetary amount, the adverse publicity arising from the imposition of sanctions against us or our ETPs by regulators could harm our reputation and thus result in redemptions from our products and impede our ability to retain and attract investors in WisdomTree ETPs, all of which may reduce our revenues.

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We face the risk of significant intervention by regulatory authorities, including extended investigation activity, adoption of costly or restrictive new regulations and judicial or administrative proceedings that may result in substantial penalties. Among other things, we could be fined or be prohibited from engaging in some of our business activities. The requirements imposed by our regulators are designed to ensure the integrity of the financial markets and to protect investors in WisdomTree ETPs and our advisory clients and are not designed to protect our stockholders. Consequently, these regulations often serve to limit our activities, including through WisdomTree ETP investor protection and market conduct requirements.

The regulatory environment in which we operate also is subject to modifications and further regulation. Concerns have been raised at various times about ETFs’ possible contribution to market volatility as well as the disclosure requirements applicable to certain types of more complex ETFs. In addition, the SEC approved a broad set of reforms regarding data reporting and fund liquidity, fund valuation and funds’ use of derivatives, which are imposing, or are expected to impose, additional expense and require additional administrative services and requirements, among other matters, in seeking to comply with the new rules. New laws or regulations, or changes in the enforcement of existing laws or regulations, applicable to us or investors in our products also may adversely affect our business, and our ability to function in this environment will depend on our ability to constantly monitor and react to these changes. Compliance with new laws and regulations may result in increased compliance costs and expenses.

Specific regulatory changes also may have a direct impact on our revenues. In addition to regulatory scrutiny and potential fines and sanctions, regulators continue to examine different aspects of the asset management industry. New regulation, revised regulatory or judicial interpretations, revised viewpoints, outcomes of lawsuits against other fund complexes or growth in our ETP assets and/or profitability related to the annual approval process for investment advisory agreements may result in the reduction of fees under these agreements, which would mean a reduction in our revenues or otherwise may lead to an increase in costs or expenses.

Our operations outside the U.S. are subject to the laws and regulations of various

non-U.S.

jurisdictions and

non-U.S.

regulatory agencies and bodies. As we have expanded our international presence, a number of our subsidiaries and international operations have become subject to regulatory systems in various jurisdictions, comparable to those covering our operations in the U.S. Regulators in these

non-U.S.

jurisdictions may have broad authority with respect to the regulation of financial services including, among other things, the authority to grant or cancel required licenses or registrations.

From time to time, we may be involved in legal proceedings that could require significant management time and attention, possibly resulting in significant expense or in an unfavorable outcome, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

From time to time, we may be subject to litigation. In any litigation in which we are involved, we may be forced to incur costs and expenses to defend ourselves or to pay a settlement or judgment or comply with any injunctions in connection therewith if there is an unfavorable outcome. The expense of defending litigation may be significant. The amount of time to resolve lawsuits is unpredictable and defending ourselves may divert management’s attention from the

day-to-day

operations of our business, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, an unfavorable outcome in any such litigation, including claims brought by investors in our WisdomTree WTI Crude Oil 3x Daily Leveraged ETP totaling approximately €9.0 million ($11.1 million), could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. See Note 17 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

We may from time to time be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, which could harm our business.

Third parties may assert against us alleged patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights to intellectual property that is important to our business. Any claims that our products or processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others, regardless of the merit or resolution of such claims, could cause us to incur significant costs in responding to, defending and resolving such claims, and may divert the efforts and attention of our management from our business. As a result of such intellectual property infringement claims, we could be required or otherwise decide that it is appropriate to:

•

pay third-party infringement claims;

•

discontinue selling the particular funds subject to infringement claims;

•

discontinue using the processes subject to infringement claims;

•

develop other intellectual property or products not subject to infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly or may not be possible; or

•

license the intellectual property from the third party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

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The occurrence of any of the foregoing could result in unexpected expenses, reduce our revenues and adversely affect our business and financial results.

We have been issued a patent, but may not be able to enforce or protect our patent and other intellectual property rights, which may harm our ability to compete and harm our business.

Although we have a patent relating to our index methodology and the operation of our ETFs, our ability to enforce our patent and other intellectual property rights is subject to general litigation risks. If we cannot successfully enforce our patent, we may lose the benefit of a future competitive advantage that it would otherwise provide to us. If we seek to enforce our rights, we could be subject to claims that the intellectual property right is invalid or is otherwise not enforceable. Furthermore, our assertion of intellectual property rights could result in the other party seeking to assert alleged intellectual property rights of its own or assert other claims against us, which could harm our business. If we are not ultimately successful in defending ourselves against these claims in litigation, we may be subject to the risks described in the immediately preceding risk factor entitled “We may from time to time be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, which could harm our business.”

Other Company Risks

A change of control of our company would automatically terminate our investment management agreements relating to the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs unless the Board of Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust and shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs voted to continue the agreements. A change in control could occur if a third party were to acquire a controlling interest in our Company.

Under the Investment Company Act, an investment management agreement with a fund must provide for its automatic termination in the event of its assignment. The fund’s board must vote to continue such an agreement following any such assignment and the shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs must approve the assignment. The cost of obtaining such shareholder approval can be significant and ordinarily would be borne by us. Similarly, under the Investment Advisers Act, a client’s investment management agreement may not be “assigned” by the investment adviser without the client’s consent.

An investment management agreement is considered under both acts to be assigned to another party when a controlling block of the adviser’s securities is transferred. Under both acts, there is a presumption that a stockholder beneficially owning 25% or more of an adviser’s voting stock controls the adviser and conversely a stockholder beneficially owning less than 25% is presumed not to control the adviser. In our case, an assignment of our investment management agreements may occur if a third party were to acquire a controlling interest in our Company. We cannot be certain that the Trustees of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs would consent to assignments of our investment management agreements or approve new agreements with us if a change of control occurs. And even if such approval were obtained, approval from the shareholders of the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs would be required to be obtained; such approval could not be guaranteed and even if obtained, likely would result in significant expense. This restriction may discourage potential purchasers from acquiring a controlling interest in our Company.

Our revenues could be adversely affected if the Independent Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust do not approve the continuation of our advisory agreements or determines that the advisory fees we receive from the WisdomTree ETFs should be reduced.

Our revenues are derived primarily from investment advisory agreements with related parties. Our advisory agreements with the WisdomTree Trust and the fees we collect from the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs are subject to review and approval by the Independent Trustees of the WisdomTree Trust. The advisory agreements are subject to initial review and approval. After the initial

two-year

term of the agreement for each ETF, the continuation of such agreement must be reviewed and approved at least annually by a majority of the Independent Trustees. In determining whether to approve the agreements, the Independent Trustees consider factors such as the nature and quality of the services provided by us, the fees charged by us and the costs and profits realized by us in connection with such services, as well as any ancillary or

“fall-out”

benefits from such services, the extent to which economies of scale are shared with the WisdomTree U.S. listed ETFs, and the level of fees paid by other similar funds. Our revenues would be adversely affected if the Independent Trustees do not approve the continuation of our advisory agreements or determines that the advisory fees we charge to any particular fund are too high, resulting in a reduction of our fees.

Damage to our reputation could adversely affect our business.

We believe we have developed a strong brand and a reputation for innovative, thoughtful products, favorable long-term investment performance and excellent client services. The WisdomTree name and brand is a valuable asset and any damage to it could hamper our ability to maintain and grow our AUM and attract and retain employees, thereby having a material adverse effect on our revenues. Risks to our reputation may range from regulatory issues to unsubstantiated accusations. Managing such matters may be expensive, time-consuming and difficult.

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Risks Relating to our Common and Preferred Stock and Convertible Notes

The market price of our common stock has been fluctuating significantly and may continue to do so, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

The market price of our common stock has been fluctuating significantly and may continue to do so, depending upon many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:

•

the ultimate duration of the

COVID-19

pandemic and its short-term and long-term impact on our business and the global economy;

•

decreases in our AUM;

•

variations in our quarterly operating results;

•

differences between our actual financial operating results and those expected by investors and analysts;

•

publication of research reports about us or the investment management industry;

•

changes in expectations concerning our future financial performance and the future performance of the ETP industry and the asset management industry in general, including financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts;

•

our strategic moves and those of our competitors, such as acquisitions or consolidations;

•

changes in the regulatory framework of the ETP industry and the asset management industry in general and regulatory action, including action by the SEC to lessen the regulatory requirements or shorten the process under the Investment Company Act to become an ETP sponsor;

•

the level of demand for our stock, including the amount of short interest in our stock;

•

changes in general economic or market conditions; and

•

realization of any other of the risks described elsewhere in this section.

In addition, stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Furthermore, in the past, market fluctuations and price declines in a company’s stock have led to securities class action litigations or other derivative stockholder lawsuits. If such a suit were to arise, it could cause substantial costs to us and divert our resources regardless of the outcome.

If equity research analysts issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the price of our common stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control the opinions of these analysts. The price and trading volume of our common stock could decline if one or more equity analysts issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock or cease publishing reports about us or our business.

We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the Convertible Notes or to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change.

We have issued $175.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2023, or the Convertible Notes. Holders of the Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, as described in an indenture, or the Indenture, dated June 16, 2020, between us and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee. In addition, upon conversion of the notes, we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the notes being converted as described in the Indenture. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of notes surrendered therefor or notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Further, if the fundamental change also constitutes a change of control under the Certificate of Designations for our Series A Preferred Stock and we are required to make other redemption payments as a result of the change of control, we would be required to satisfy that obligation before making any payments on the notes. Our failure to repurchase notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the Indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the notes as required by the Indenture would constitute a default under the Indenture.

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The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and liquidity.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of notes will be entitled to convert the notes at any time during specified periods at their option, as described in the Indenture. If one or more holders elect to convert their notes, we would be required to settle any converted principal through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity.

Preferred Shares issued in connection with the ETFS Acquisition contain redemption rights, which, if triggered, could materially impact our financial position.

In connection with the ETFS Acquisition, we issued 14,750 shares of preferred stock, or Preferred Shares, to ETFS Capital Limited, or ETFS Capital, which are convertible into 14,750,000 shares of our common stock, subject to certain restrictions. ETFS Capital also has redemption rights for the Preferred Shares to protect against corporate events such as our having an insufficient number of shares of authorized common stock to permit full conversion and if, upon a change of control of us, ETFS Capital does not receive the same amount per Preferred Share that it would have received had the Preferred Shares been converted prior to a change of control. Any such redemption will be at a price per Preferred Share equal to the dollar volume-weighted average price for a share of common stock for the

30-trading

day period ending on the date of such attempted conversion or change of control, as applicable, multiplied by 1,000. The redemption value of the Preferred Shares was $72.7 million at December 31, 2020.

Future issuances of our common stock could lower our stock price and dilute the interests of existing stockholders.

We may issue additional shares of our common stock in the future, either in connection with an acquisition or for other business reasons. The issuance of a substantial amount of common stock could have the effect of substantially diluting the interests of our current stockholders. In addition, the sale of a substantial amount of common stock in the public market, either in the initial issuance or in a subsequent resale by the target company in an acquisition which received such common stock as consideration or by investors who acquired such common stock in a private placement, could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and

by-laws

may prevent or delay an acquisition of our company, which could decrease the market value of our common stock.

Provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and our

by-laws

may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable. These provisions may also prevent or delay attempts by stockholders to replace or remove our current management or members of our Board of Directors. These provisions include:

•

a classified Board of Directors;

•

limitations on the removal of directors;

•

advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and nominations;

•

the inability of stockholders to act by written consent or to call special meetings;

•

the ability of our Board of Directors to make, alter or repeal our

by-laws;

and

•

the authority of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock with such terms as our Board of Directors may determine.

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits business combination transactions with stockholders of 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock that our Board of Directors has not approved. These provisions and other similar provisions make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to acquire us without negotiation. These provisions may apply even if some stockholders may consider the transaction beneficial to them.

As a result, these provisions could limit the price that investors are willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. These provisions might also discourage a potential acquisition proposal or tender offer, even if the acquisition proposal or tender offer is at a premium over the then current market price for our common stock.

The payment of dividends to our stockholders and our ability to repurchase our common stock is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be limited by our financial condition and any applicable laws.

In November 2014, we commenced a quarterly cash dividend and intend to continue to pay regular dividends to our stockholders. In April 2019, our Board of Directors extended the term of our share repurchase program for three years through April 27, 2022, under which $52.2 million remained available for repurchases as of December 31, 2020. Any determination as to the payment of dividends or stock repurchases, as well as the level of such dividends or repurchases, will depend on, among other things, general economic and business conditions, our level of AUM, our strategic plans, our financial results and condition, limitations

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associated with new credit facilities or other agreements that could limit the amount of dividends we are permitted to pay or the stock we may repurchase, and any applicable laws. If, as a consequence of these various limitations and restrictions, we are unable to generate sufficient income from our business, we may need to reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends on our common stock or cease repurchasing our common stock. Any change in our stock repurchases or the level of our dividends or the suspension of the payment thereof could adversely affect our stock price.

In addition, our Board of Directors is authorized, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with such terms as our Board of Directors may, in its discretion, determine. Our Board of Directors could, therefore, issue preferred stock with dividend rights superior to that of the common stock, which could also limit the payment of dividends on the common stock.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

We have no unresolved comments from the SEC staff relating to our periodic or current reports filed with the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our principal executive office is currently located at 245 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10167. We lease approximately 38,000 square feet of office space under a lease that expires in July 2029, which includes a cancellation option that is effective on August 21, 2024. While we believe that this space is sufficient to meet our needs until the expiration of the lease, we have adopted a “remote first” philosophy in which employees will primarily work remotely on a permanent basis and are planning to significantly reduce our office footprint.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We may be subject to reviews, inspections and investigations by the SEC, CFTC, NFA, state and foreign regulators, as well as legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. See Note 17 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding claims brought by investors in our WisdomTree WTI Crude Oil 3x Daily Leveraged ETP totaling approximately €9.0 million ($11.1 million).

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “WETF.” As of December 31, 2020, there were 232 holders of record of shares of our common stock and we believe there were approximately 21,000 beneficial owners of our common stock.

In November 2014, we commenced a quarterly cash dividend and intend to continue to pay regular dividends to our stockholders. Any determination as to the payment of dividends, as well as the level of such dividends, will depend on, among other things, general economic and business conditions, our level of AUM, our strategic plans, our financial results and condition, limitations associated with new credit facilities or other agreements that could limit the amount of dividends we are permitted to pay, and any applicable laws.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table provides information with respect to purchases made by or on behalf of the Company or any “affiliated purchaser” of shares of our common stock.

On April 24, 2019, our Board of Directors extended the term of our share repurchase program for three years through April 27, 2022. During the three months ended December 31, 2020, we repurchased 44,351 shares of our common stock under this program for an aggregate cost of approximately $0.2 million. As of December 31, 2020, $52.2 million remained under this program for future purchases.

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	Total Number of Shares Purchased		Average Price Paid Per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs		Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
Period							(in thousands)
October 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020		—	$	—		—
November 1, 2020 to November 30, 2020		—	$	—		—
December 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020		44,351	$	4.93		44,351

Total		44,351	$	4.93		44,351	$	52,191

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

You should read the selected consolidated financial data presented below in conjunction with the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Report and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Report. The selected consolidated statements of operations data presented below under the heading “Consolidated Statements of Operations Data” for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data presented below under the heading “Consolidated Balance Sheet Data” as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Report. The selected consolidated financial data presented below under the headings “Consolidated Statements of Operations Data” for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 and under “Consolidated Balance Sheet Data” as of December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 have been derived from our consolidated financial statements not included in this Report. The historical results presented below are not necessarily indicative of the financial results to be expected for future periods.


	2020			2019			2018			2017			2016
	(in thousands, except per share data)
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
Operating Revenues:
Advisory fees	$	250,182		$	265,652		$	271,104		$	226,692		$	218,217
Other income		3,517			2,751			3,012			1,603			703

Total revenues		253,699			268,403			274,116			228,295			218,920

Operating Expenses:
Compensation and benefits		74,675			80,761			74,515			81,493			63,263
Fund management and administration		60,515			61,502			56,686			42,144			41,083
Marketing and advertising		11,128			12,163			13,884			14,402			15,643
Sales and business development		10,579			18,276			17,153			13,811			12,537
Contractual gold payments		16,811			13,226			8,512			—			—
Professional and consulting fees		4,902			5,641			7,984			5,254			6,692
Occupancy, communications and equipment		6,427			6,302			6,203			5,415			5,211
Depreciation and amortization		1,021			1,045			1,301			1,395			1,305
Third-party distribution fees		5,219			6,968			6,611			3,393			2,827
Acquisition and disposition-related costs		416			902			11,454			4,832			—
Other		6,924			8,083			8,534			7,068			6,909

Total operating expenses		198,617			214,869			212,837			179,207			155,470

Operating income		55,082			53,534			61,279			49,088			63,450
Other Income/(Expenses)
Interest expense		(9,668	)		(11,240	)		(7,962	)		—			—
(Loss)/gain on revaluation of deferred consideration – gold payments		(56,821	)		(11,293	)		12,220			—			—
Interest income		744			3,332			3,093			2,861			1,111
Settlement gain		—			—			—			6,909			—
Impairments		(22,752	)		(30,710	)		(17,386	)		—			(1,676	)
Loss on extinguishment of debt		(2,387	)		—			—			—			—
Acquisition payment		—			—			—			—			(6,738	)
Other gains and losses, net		580			(3,502	)		(205	)		(666	)		(585	)

(Loss)/income before taxes		(35,222	)		121			51,039			58,192			55,562
Income tax expense		433			10,546			14,406			30,993			29,407

Net (loss)/income	$	(35,655	)	$	(10,425	)	$	36,633		$	27,199		$	26,155

(Loss)/earnings per share—diluted(1)	$	(0.25	)	$	(0.08	)	$	0.23		$	0.20		$	0.19
Weighted average common shares—diluted(1)		148,682			151,823			158,415			136,003			135,539
Cash dividends declared per common share	$	0.12		$	0.12		$	0.12		$	0.32		$	0.32

(1)	See Note 23 to our Consolidated Financial Statements


	2020		2019		2018		2017		2016
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	73,425	$	74,972	$	77,784	$	54,193	$	92,722
Total assets	$	896,692	$	935,207	$	937,518	$	254,985	$	249,767
Convertible Notes and Debt	$	166,646	$	175,956	$	194,592	$	—	$	—
Deferred consideration – gold payments (total)	$	230,137	$	173,024	$	161,540	$	—	$	—
Total liabilities	$	497,858	$	465,226	$	446,614	$	62,034	$	48,423
Preferred stock – Series A Non-Voting Convertible	$	132,569	$	132,569	$	132,569	$	—	$	—
Stockholders’ equity	$	266,265	$	337,412	$	358,335	$	192,951	$	201,344

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the other financial information included elsewhere in this Report. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below. For a more complete description of the risks noted above and other risks that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our current expectations, please see Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Report. We assume no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.

Introduction

end-client

and us or institutional investors.

We focus on creating products for investors that offer thoughtful innovation, smart engineering and redefined investing. We have launched many

first-to-market

products and pioneered alternative weighting we call “Modern Alpha,” which combines the outperformance potential of active management with the benefits of passive management to offer investors cost-effective funds that are built to perform.

Through our operating subsidiaries, we provide investment advisory and other management services to our ETPs collectively offering products covering equity, commodity, fixed income,

leveraged-and-inverse,

currency and alternative strategies. In exchange for providing these services, we receive advisory fee revenues based on a percentage of the ETPs’ average daily AUM. Our expenses are predominantly related to selling, operating and marketing our products. We have contracted with third parties to provide certain operational services for the ETPs.

Executive Summary

Our mission is to be a profitable, growing and enduring financial services company with diversified revenue streams and global coverage as well as to deliver a smarter investment and financial experience through the quality of our exposures, products, solutions and the way we engage with our clients. We have prioritized several important strategic initiatives, resulting in diversification of our AUM and compelling organic growth. We have benefited from the expansion and diversification of our product

line-up,

investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions and our award-winning Advisor Solutions program, the transformation of our distribution reach and approach through an industry leading data intelligence function, prioritization of the development and distribution of our fully open architecture model portfolios and the full integration of our European business. We are also aggressively pursuing our digital assets initiatives and have been designing workflows and engaging productively with regulators with a goal of launching products later this year.

The ETFS Acquisition, which we completed in April 2018, provided us with immediate scale in Europe, an industry leading position in European listed gold and commodity products and greater AUM diversification globally. Our European business has contributed $2.9 billion of net inflows and has experienced AUM growth of 49% since the completion of the acquisition.

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Our diverse product lineup has us well positioned globally for growth and our focus and execution of our strategic priorities have us better situated to capitalize on significant opportunities in the growing global ETP market.

Business highlights include the following:

•

With the integration of ESG criteria in our

ex-state-owned

family of products, we are now the third largest ESG U.S. listed ETF issuer.

•

In December 2020, we announced the reorganization of the WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund – previously the WisdomTree Continuing Commodity Index Fund (GCC) – with an updated approach to broad-based commodity investing.

•

In October 2020, we were named “Best International Equity ETF Issuer ($1BN+)” by the ETF Express U.S. Awards 2020, which recognizes excellence among ETF issuers and service providers across a wide range of categories.

•

In October 2020, we announced a collaboration with 55ip, a financial technology company, to deliver WisdomTree model portfolios utilizing 55ip’s automated

tax-smart

technology.

•

In September 2020, we won two awards at the AJ Bell Fund & Investment Trust Awards 2020 for WisdomTree Physical Gold (PHAU) and WisdomTree Cloud Computing UCITS ETF (WCLD).

•

In July 2020, we secured additional third-party relationships for our model portfolios, including Carson Group, Riskalzye, Kwanti, ETF Logic and Orion.

•

In June 2020, we entered into a new distribution agreement in Italy for our model portfolios with The Intermonte Eye, a digital service providing products to its network of private banks.

•

In March 2020, we were awarded “Best European Commodity ETF Provider” at the ETF Express 2020 European Awards.

•

In February 2020, we completed sale of our Canadian ETF business to CI Financial Corp.

•

In February 2020, in collaboration with Professor Jeremy Siegel, we launched two Siegel-WisdomTree model portfolios – The Siegel-WisdomTree Global Equity Model and the Siegel-WisdomTree Longevity Model.

•

We launched 4 new International listed ETPs.

•

In connection with our capital management strategy, we issued $175.0 million of convertible senior notes due 2023, repaid our debt previously outstanding and returned approximately $51.3 million to our stockholders through stock repurchases and our ongoing quarterly cash dividend.

Planned Reduction in Office Footprint

Throughout the

COVID-19

pandemic, we have been operating our business remotely without disruption. The virtual work environment has led to new operating and cost efficiencies throughout our business. We have therefore decided to adopt a “remote first” philosophy with plans to significantly reduce our office footprints in New York and London.

We are marketing our New York office space for sublease and have allowed our London office lease to expire. In connection with these actions, we anticipate recording an impairment charge of $9.0 million to $12.0 million when our New York office space is

sub-leased.

We anticipate that our reduced office footprint will achieve $3.0 million to $4.0 million of annual cost savings.

The timing of the impairment charge and realization of cost savings is highly dependent on our ability to secure a subtenant, which we are estimating may occur by late 2021 or early 2022. The ultimate magnitude of these estimates is subject to market rent received and the duration of the sublease, market rents paid for new space, the actual amount of direct costs incurred and the discount rate used remeasure the carrying value of assets associated with our current office space, among other factors.

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Market Environment

The following chart reflects the annual returns of the broad-based equity indexes and gold prices over the last three years.

Source: FactSet

U.S. listed ETF Industry Flows

U.S. listed ETF net flows for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $506 billion. Fixed income and U.S. equity gathered the majority of those flows.

Sources: Morningstar

European ETP Industry Flows

European ETP net flows were $121 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020. Equities and fixed income gathered the majority of those flows.

Source: Morningstar

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Industry Developments

Asset Management – Consolidation

Over the last several months, a number of acquisitions in the asset management industry have either been announced or completed, including the acquisitions of Legg Mason, Eaton Vance and Waddell & Reed, among others. It has also become public that a well-known activist investor has taken stakes in Invesco and Janus Henderson with an eye toward creating a large-scale firm to compete with the largest asset management players. These trends have accelerated, as fee compression, cost pressures and increased regulations have weighed on the industry, highlighting the importance of scale and operating efficiency to compete in today’s market.

Our growth strategies, which include launching innovative new products, investments in technology-enabled and research-driven solutions and our Advisor Solutions program, increasing penetration in existing distribution channels, leveraging data intelligence and our Modern Alpha investment approach, have been effective in creating momentum in our core business. We believe these strategies, differentiated and innovative product set and performance track records position us well for success to grow in this competitive landscape.

Competition and Fee Pressures

Price competition exists in not only commoditized product categories such as traditional, market capitalization weighted index exposures and commodities, but also in

non-market

low-cost

products have accumulated a significant amount of AUM recently, we estimate that these same funds represent only approximately 30% of global revenues.

Being a first mover, or one of the first providers of ETPs in a particular asset class, can be a significant advantage, as the first ETP in a category to attract scale in AUM and trading liquidity is generally viewed as the most attractive product. We believe that our early launch of products in a number of asset classes or strategies, including fundamental weighting and currency hedging along with commodities including gold, certain fixed income, alternative and thematic categories, positions us well to maintain our standing as one of the leaders of the ETP industry. Additionally, we believe our affiliated indexing or “self-indexing” model, as well as our more recent active ETFs, enable us to launch proprietary products that do not have direct competition and are positioned to generate alpha versus benchmarks. As investors increasingly become more comfortable with the product structure, we believe there will be a greater focus on

after-fee

performance rather than using ETPs primarily as

low-cost

after-fee

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Components of Operating Revenue

Advisory fees

Substantially all of our revenues are comprised of advisory fees we earn from our ETPs. These advisory fees are calculated based on a percentage of the ETPs’ average daily net assets. Our weighted average fee rates by product category are as follows:


Commodity & Currency:	38bps	Leveraged & Inverse:	89bps
International Equity:	53bps	Fixed Income:	19bps
U.S. Equity:	33bps	Alternatives:	55bps
Emerging Market Equity:	49bps

We determine the appropriate advisory fee to charge for our ETPs based on the cost of operating each ETP considering the types of securities the ETPs will hold, fees third-party service providers will charge us for operating the ETPs and our competitors’ fees for similar ETPs. From time to time, we implement voluntary waivers of a portion of our advisory fee. In addition, we earn a fee based on daily aggregate AUM of our ETPs in exchange for bearing certain fund expenses.

Our advisory fee revenues may fluctuate based on general stock market trends, which include market value appreciation or depreciation, currency fluctuations against the U.S. dollar, increased competition and level of inflows or outflows from our ETPs.

Other income

Other income includes creation/redemption fees earned on our European

non-UCITS

products and fees from licensing our indexes to third parties.

Components of Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses consist primarily of costs related to selling, operating and marketing our ETPs as well as the infrastructure needed to run our business.

Compensation and benefits

Employee compensation and benefits expenses are expensed when incurred and include salaries, incentive compensation, and related benefit costs. Virtually all of our employees receive incentive compensation that is based on our operating results as well as their individual performance. Therefore, a portion of this expense will fluctuate with our business results. To attract and retain qualified personnel, we must maintain competitive employee compensation and benefit plans. We would expect changes in employee compensation and benefits expense to be correlated with changes in our revenues and net inflows.

Also included in compensation and benefits are costs related to equity awards granted to our employees. Our executive management and Board of Directors strongly believe that equity awards are an important part of our employees’ overall compensation package and that incentivizing our employees with equity in the Company aligns the interests of our employees with that of our stockholders. We use the fair value method in recording compensation expense for equity-based awards. Under the fair value method, compensation expense is measured at the grant date based on the estimated fair value of the award and is recognized as an expense over the vesting period.

For the year ending December 31, 2021, we estimate that our compensation and benefits expense will be $75 million to $85 million.

Fund management and administration

Fund management and administration expenses are expensed when incurred and are comprised of the following costs we pay third-party service providers to operate our ETPs:

•

portfolio management of our ETPs

(sub-advisory);

•

fund accounting and administration;

•

custodial and storage services;

•

market making;

•

transfer agency;

•

accounting and tax services;

•

printing and mailing of stockholder materials;

•

index calculation;

•

indicative values;

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•

distribution fees;

•

legal and compliance services;

•

exchange listing fees;

•

trustee fees and expenses;

•

preparation of regulatory reports and filings;

•

insurance;

•

certain local income taxes; and

•

other administrative services.

We are not responsible for extraordinary expenses, taxes and certain other expenses.

We depend on a number of parties to provide critical portfolio management services to our ETPs. The fees we pay our

sub-advisers

generally are the higher of the fixed minimums per fund, which range from $25,000 to $614,000 per year, or the percentage fee, which ranges between 0.015% and 0.20% per annum of average daily AUM at various breakpoint levels depending on the nature of the ETP. In addition, we pay certain costs based on transactions in our ETPs or based on inflow levels.

The fees we pay for accounting, tax, transfer agency, index calculation, indicative values and exchange listing are based on the number of ETFs we have. The remaining fees are based on a combination of both AUM and number of funds, or as incurred.

For the year ending December 31, 2021, we estimate that our gross margin percentage will be 77% to 78% at current AUM/revenue levels. We define gross margin as total operating revenues less fund management and administration expenses. Gross margin percentage is calculated as gross margin divided by total operating revenues.

Marketing and advertising

Marketing and advertising expenses are recorded when incurred and include the following:

•

advertising and product promotion campaigns that are initiated to promote our existing and new ETPs as well as brand awareness;

•

development and maintenance of our website; and

•

creation and preparation of marketing materials.

Our discretionary advertising comprises the largest portion of this expense. In addition, we may incur expenditures in certain periods to attract inflows, the benefit of which may or may not be recognized from increases to our AUM in future periods. However, due to the discretionary nature of some of these costs, they can generally be reduced if there were a decline in the markets.

Sales and business development

Sales and business development expenses are recorded when incurred and include the following:

•

travel and entertainment or conference related expenses for our sales force;

•

market data services for our research team;

•

sales related software tools;

•

voluntary payment of certain costs associated with the creation or redemption of ETF shares, as we may elect from time to time; and

•

legal and other advisory fees associated with the development of new funds or business initiatives.

Contractual gold payments

Contractual gold payments expense represents an ongoing obligation requiring us to pay 9,500 ounces of gold annually from the advisory fee income we earn for managing physically backed gold ETPs. See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Professional and consulting fees

Professional fees are expensed when incurred and consist of fees we pay to corporate advisers including accountants, tax advisers, legal counsel, investment bankers, human resources or other consultants. These expenses fluctuate based on our needs or requirements at the time. Certain of these costs are at our discretion and can fluctuate year to year.

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Occupancy, communications and equipment

Occupancy, communications and equipment expense includes costs for our corporate headquarters in New York City as well as office related costs in our other locations.

Depreciation and amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense results primarily from amortization of leasehold improvements to our office space as well as depreciation on fixed assets we purchase, which is depreciated over five to fifteen years.

Third-party distribution fees

Third-party distribution fees, which are expensed as incurred, include payments made to enable our products to be included on certain third-party platforms in exchange for commission-free trading or other preferential access. These expenses also include payments to our third-party marketing agents in Latin America and Israel. For the year ending December 31, 2021, we estimate that third-party distribution fees will be approximately $6.0 million.

Acquisition and disposition-related costs

Acquisition and disposition-related costs are principally associated with costs incurred in connection with the ETFS Acquisition, which was completed in April 2018. Also included are costs associated with the sale of our Canadian ETF business, which was completed in February 2020.

Other

Other expenses consist primarily of insurance premiums, general office related expenses, securities license fees for our sales force, public company related expenses, corporate related travel and entertainment and board of director fees, including stock-based compensation related to equity awards we granted to our directors.

Components of Other Income/(Expenses) of a Recurring Nature

Interest expense

Interest expense is associated with our convertible notes and former credit facility. We recognize interest expense using the effective interest method which includes the amortization of discounts, premiums and issuance costs.

Revaluation of deferred consideration – gold payments

Deferred consideration arose in connection with the ETFS Acquisition and is remeasured each reporting period using forward-looking gold prices observed on the CMX exchange, a selected discount rate and perpetual growth rate. See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Interest income

Interest income, which is recognized on an accrual basis, arises from investing our corporate cash and on notes receivable previously outstanding.

Other gains and losses, net

Included herein are gains and losses arising from foreign exchange, the sale of gold earned from advisory fees paid by physically-backed gold ETPs, and other miscellaneous items. Also included are losses arising from the release of

tax-related

indemnification assets upon the expiration of the statute of limitations, for which an equal and offsetting benefit is recognized in income tax expense.

Income Taxes

Our income tax expense consists of taxes due to federal, various state and local and certain foreign authorities. We currently anticipate that our consolidated normalized effective tax rate will be approximately 19% to 20% for the year ending December 31, 2021. This estimated rate may change and is dependent upon our actual taxable income earned in relation to our forecasts as well as any other items which may arise that are not currently forecasted. Such items may include, but are not limited to, any revaluation on deferred consideration – gold payments, reductions in unrecognized tax benefits and any stock-based compensation windfalls or shortfalls. Corporate tax legislation could also impact our normalized effective tax rate.

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Factors that May Impact our Future Financial Results

Our global AUM is well diversified across the commodity, U.S. equity, international developed markets and emerging markets sectors. As a result, our operating results are particularly exposed to investor sentiment toward investing in these products’ strategies and our ability to maintain AUM of these products, as well as the performance of these products.

Our revenues are also highly correlated to the level and relative mix of our AUM, as well as the fee rate associated with our ETPs. Changes in product mix have led to a decline in our average global advisory fee, which, for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 were 0.48%, 0.45% and 0.41%, respectively.

The chart below sets forth the asset mix of our ETPs for the last three years:

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Key Operating Statistics

The following table presents key operating statistics that serve as indicators for the performance of our business:


	Years Ended December 31,
	2020			2019			2018
GLOBAL ETPs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets	$	63,615		$	54,094		$	48,936
Assets acquired/(sold)		(778	)		—			17,641
Inflows/(outflows)		(6	)		596			(4,432	)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		5,020			9,196			(8,006	)
Fund closures		(459	)		(271	)		(45	)

End of period assets	$	67,392		$	63,615		$	54,094

Average assets during the period	$	61,158		$	59,712		$	56,397
Average advisory fee during the period		0.41	%		0.45	%		0.48	%
Number of ETPs – end of the period		309			367			537
U.S. LISTED ETFs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets	$	40,600		$	35,486		$	46,827
Inflows/(outflows)		(1,253	)		(654	)		(5,169	)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		(609	)		5,858			(6,127	)
Fund closures		(221	)		(90	)		(45	)

End of period assets	$	38,517		$	40,600		$	35,486

Average assets during the period	$	34,304		$	38,577		$	42,241
Average advisory fee during the period		0.41	%		0.44	%		0.48	%
Number of ETPs—end of period		67			80			85
INTERNATIONAL LISTED ETPs (in millions)
Beginning of period assets	$	23,015		$	18,608		$	2,109
Assets acquired/(sold)		(778	)		—			17,641
Inflows/(outflows)		1,247			1,250			737
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		5,629			3,338			(1,879	)
Fund closures		(238	)		(181	)		—

End of period assets	$	28,875		$	23,015		$	18,608

Average assets during the period	$	26,854		$	21,135		$	14,156
Average advisory fee during the period		0.40	%		0.45	%		0.48	%
Number of ETPs—end of period		242			287			452
PRODUCT CATEGORIES (in millions)
Commodity & Currency
Beginning of period assets	$	19,947		$	15,830		$	278
Assets acquired		—			—			16,778
Inflows/(outflows)		587			1,147			484
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		5,513			2,970			(1,710	)

End of period assets	$	26,047		$	19,947		$	15,830

Average assets during the period	$	23,807		$	18,085		$	11,334
U.S. Equity
Beginning of period assets	$	17,732		$	13,211		$	14,135
Inflows/(outflows)		766			1,445			859
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		(131	)		3,076			(1,783	)

End of period assets	$	18,367		$	17,732		$	13,211

Average assets during the period	$	15,380		$	15,846		$	14,223
International Developed Equity
Beginning of period assets	$	13,011		$	14,232		$	25,495
Inflows/(outflows)		(2,840	)		(3,452	)		(7,903	)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		(757	)		2,231			(3,360	)

End of period assets	$	9,414		$	13,011		$	14,232

Average assets during the period	$	9,499		$	13,187		$	20,352

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	Years Ended December 31,
	2020			2019			2018
Emerging Market Equity
Beginning of period assets	$	6,400		$	5,202		$	5,798
Inflows/(outflows)		1,700			618			311
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		439			580			(907	)

End of period assets	$	8,539		$	6,400		$	5,202

Average assets during the period	$	6,056		$	5,703		$	5,673
Fixed Income
Beginning of period assets	$	3,585		$	2,245		$	703
Inflows/(outflows)		(286	)		1,280			1,607
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		25			60			(65	)

End of period assets	$	3,324		$	3,585		$	2,245

Average assets during the period	$	3,563		$	3,572		$	1,267
Leveraged & Inverse
Beginning of period assets	$	1,138		$	1,059		$	897
Assets acquired		—			—			863
Inflows/(outflows)		197			55			(214	)
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		152			24			(487	)

End of period assets	$	1,487		$	1,138		$	1,059

Average assets during the period	$	1,361		$	1,174		$	1,164
Alternatives
Beginning of period assets	$	358		$	508		$	473
Inflows/(outflows)		(125	)		(162	)		76
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		(19	)		12			(41	)

End of period assets	$	214		$	358		$	508

Average assets during the period	$	251		$	440		$	408
Closed ETPs
Beginning of period assets	$	1,444		$	1,807		$	1,157
Assets sold		(778	)		—			—
Inflows/(outflows)		(5	)		(335	)		348
Market appreciation/(depreciation)		(202	)		243			347
Fund closures		(459	)		(271	)		(45	)


Delaware		13-3487784
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(IRS Employer Identification No.)

245 Park Avenue, 35 th Floor New York, New York		10167
(Address of principal executive offices )		(Zip Code)


Title of each class:	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered:
Common Stock, $0.01 par value	WETF	The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC


GLOBAL RANKING
Rank	ETP Sponsor	AUM (in billions)
1	iShares	$	2,703
2	Vanguard	$	1,621
3	State Street	$	919
4	Invesco	$	349
5	Nomura Group	$	237
6	Charles Schwab	$	199
7	Xtrackers	$	161
8	First Trust	$	112
9	Nikko	$	109
10	Daiwa	$	105
11	Lyxor	$	95
12	UBS	$	83
13	Amundi	$	78
14	WisdomTree	$	67