Nine months net revenues increased $454 million, primarily due to an additional five and a half months of revenue contribution from Avast, up $419 million as compared to the corresponding period, and higher sales in both consumer security and identity and information protection products.

Operating income decreased $148 million, primarily due to an increase in legal accrual related to ongoing litigation and an increase in amortization of intangible assets recognized as a result of our merger with Avast. This is partially offset by the increase in net revenues and cost synergies post-acquisition.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2024, as part of the Avast integration plan, which geographically realigned and simplified our business, we undertook a legal entity and operational restructuring.

In connection with our acquisition of Avast, our Board of Directors approved a restructuring plan (the September 2022 Plan) to realize cost savings and operational synergies, which became effective upon the close of acquisition on September 12, 2022.

Operating income decreased $33 million, primarily due to an increase of a legal accrual related to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) litigation.

Our effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended December 29, 2023, differs from the federal statutory income tax rate primarily due to tax benefits related to the set up and write-off of deferred tax items resulting from an internal restructuring.

We operate in intensely competitive and dynamic markets that experience frequent and rapid technological developments, changes in industry and regulatory standards, evolving market trends, changes in customer requirements and preferences, and frequent new product introductions and improvements.

As part of our business strategy, we may acquire or divest businesses or assets. These activities have and may continue to involve a number of risks and challenges, including complexity, time and costs associated with managing these transactions.

Despite our precautions and significant ongoing investments to protect against security risks, data protection breaches, cyber-attacks, and other intentional disruptions of our solutions, we expect to continue to be a target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance and availability of our offerings and harm our reputation as a leading cyber security company.

To compete successfully, we must maintain an innovative research and development effort to develop new solutions and enhance our existing solutions, effectively adapt to changes in the technology, privacy and data protection standards or trends.

Our competitors could gain market share from us if any of these strategic partners replace our solutions with those of our competitors or with their own solutions. Similarly, they could gain market share from us if these partners promote our competitors' solutions or their own solutions more than our solutions.

The intense competition we face, in addition to general and economic business conditions, may put pressure on us to change our pricing practices. If our competitors offer deep discounts on certain solutions or provide offerings, or offer free introductory products that compete with ours, we may need to lower prices or offer similar free introductory products to compete successfully.

In connection with our acquisition of Avast, our Board of Directors approved a restructuring plan (the September 2022 Plan) to realize cost savings and operational synergies, which became effective upon the close of acquisition on September 12, 2022.

Conversely, we have seen and may continue to see cost savings from the shift to remote and distributed work for certain of our employees in areas including real estate, events, travel, utilities and other benefits.

General and administrative expense increased $99 million, primarily due to a $41 million reversal in legal accrual related to the GSA litigation and $8 million in legal settlement proceeds, both of which occurred during the third quarter of fiscal 2023, and a $52 million legal accrual in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 related to the GSA litigation.

We have incurred, and will continue to incur, significant research and development expenses as we focus on organic growth through internal innovation. We believe that we must dedicate significant resources to our research and development efforts to deliver innovative market competitive products and avoid being reliant on third-party technology and products.

In addition, third parties, including operating systems and internet browser companies, may limit the interoperability of our solutions with their own products and services, in some cases to promote their own offerings.

We operate in intensely competitive and dynamic markets that experience frequent and rapid technological developments, changes in industry and regulatory standards, evolving market trends, changes in customer requirements and preferences, and frequent new product introductions and improvements.

Cash and cash equivalents decreased by $260 million compared to March 31, 2023, primarily due to cash interest paid, cash tax paid, dividends paid to shareholders, voluntary prepayments of our Term B facility, a mandatory principal amortization payment of our Term A facility, and repurchases of our common stock.

Under our stock repurchase program, we may purchase shares of our outstanding common stock on the open market and through accelerated stock repurchase transactions. As of December 29, 2023, the remaining balance of our stock repurchase authorization was $729 million and does not have an expiration date.

On February 1, 2024, we announced a cash dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock to be paid in March 2024. Any future dividends and dividend equivalents will be subject to the approval of our Board of Directors.

The focus from regulators, customers, certain investors, employees, and other stakeholders concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters and related disclosures, both in the United States and internationally, have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and increased management time and attention spent complying with or meeting ESG-related requirements and expectations.

These initiatives, goals, or commitments could be difficult to achieve and costly to implement, the technologies needed to implement them may not be cost effective and may not advance at a sufficient pace, and we could be criticized for the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the disclosure.

Further, statements about our ESG-related initiatives, goals or commitments and progress with respect to such initiatives, goals or commitments may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future.

Our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to inflation, changes in foreign currency exchange rates relative to U.S. dollars, our reporting currency, changes in interest rates, as well as recession risks, which may persist for an extended period.

Volatile market conditions related to military conflicts such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and retaliatory sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus, and other macroeconomic events have, at times, and may in the future negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows.

Fluctuations in inflation, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates are uncertain and could result in further adverse impacts to our reported results.