Commitments and Contingencies (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

NOTE 10 — COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Guarantees

The Company has arrangements with certain finance companies that provide inventory financing facilities to the Company’s customers. In conjunction with certain of these arrangements, the Company would be required to purchase certain inventory in the event the inventory is repossessed from the customers by the finance companies. As the Company does not have access to information regarding the amount of inventory purchased from the Company still on hand with the customer at any point in time, the Company’s repurchase obligations relating to inventory cannot be reasonably estimated. Repurchases of inventory by the Company under these arrangements have been insignificant to date. The Company believes that, based on historical experience, the likelihood of a material loss pursuant to these inventory repurchase obligations is remote.

Contingencies

In December 2010, in a non-unanimous decision, a Brazilian appellate court overturned a 2003 trial court which had previously ruled in favor of the Company’s Brazilian subsidiary related to the imposition of certain taxes on payments abroad related to the licensing of commercial software products, commonly referred to as “CIDE tax.” The Company estimates the total exposure related to the CIDE tax, including interest, was approximately $14.3 million at April 30, 2020. The Brazilian subsidiary has appealed the unfavorable ruling to the Supreme Court and Superior Court, Brazil's two highest appellate courts. Based on the legal opinion of outside counsel, the Company believes that the chances of success on appeal of this matter are favorable and the Brazilian subsidiary intends to vigorously defend its position that the CIDE tax is not due. Accordingly, the Company has not recorded an accrual for the total estimated CIDE tax exposure. However, due to the lack of predictability of the Brazilian court system, the Company has concluded that it is reasonably possible that the Brazilian subsidiary may incur a loss up to the total exposure described above. The Company believes the resolution of this litigation will not be material to the Company’s consolidated net assets or liquidity. 

The French Autorité de la Concurrence (“Competition Authority”) began in 2013 an investigation into the French market for certain products of Apple, Inc., for which the Company is a distributor. In March 2020, the Competition Authority imposed fines on the Company, on another distributor, and on Apple, finding that the Company entered into an anticompetitive agreement with Apple regarding volume allocations of Apple products. The fine imposed on the Company was €76 million. The Company has vigorously contested the arguments of the Competition Authority, and the Company intends to appeal its determination to the French courts, seeking to set aside or reduce the fine. The Company believes it has strong arguments on appeal, but the Company is unable to predict the outcome, among other reasons because of the novelty of the case and the unprecedented size of the fines imposed for this kind of practice, or how long it will take to achieve a final resolution. Under French law, however, the pendency of the Company’s appeal does not suspend the obligation to pay the fine, and the Company expects that it will be required to pay the full fine assessed by the Competition Authority before the Company’s appeal is finally determined. At this time, the Company cannot reasonably estimate the amount of loss in these proceedings and therefore has not accrued for any loss.

The Company is subject to various other legal proceedings and claims arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company’s management does not expect that the outcome in any of these other legal proceedings, individually or collectively, will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.