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You May Receive Only the Face Amount of Your Notes at Maturity |
If the underlier return is zero or negative, the return on your notes will be limited to the face amount. |
Even if the amount paid on your notes at maturity exceeds the face amount of your notes, the overall return you earn on your notes may be less than you would have earned by investing in a note with the same stated maturity that bears interest at the prevailing market rate. |
Also, the market price of your notes prior to the stated maturity date may be significantly lower than the purchase price you pay for your notes. Consequently, if you sell your notes before the stated maturity date, you may receive far less than the amount of your investment in the notes. |
Your Notes Do Not Bear Interest |
You will not receive any interest payments on your notes. The overall return you earn on your notes may be less than you would have earned by investing in a non-indexed debt security of comparable maturity that bears interest at a prevailing market rate. |
The Potential for the Value of Your Notes to Increase Will Be Limited |
The maximum settlement amount will limit the cash settlement amount you may receive for each of your notes at maturity, no matter how much the level of the underlier may rise beyond the initial underlier level over the life of your notes. |
You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlier or Any Underlier Stock |
Investing in your notes will not make you a holder of any shares of the underlier or any underlier stocks. Neither you nor any other holder or owner of your notes will have any rights with respect to the underlier or the underlier stocks, including any voting rights, any rights to receive dividends or other distributions, any rights to make a claim against the underlier or the underlier stocks or any other rights of a holder of any shares of the underlier or the underlier stocks. Your notes will be paid in cash and you will have no right to receive delivery of any shares of the underlier or any underlier stocks. |
The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors |
When we refer to the market value of your notes, we mean the value that you could receive for your notes if you chose to sell them in the open market before the stated maturity date. A number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, will influence the market value of your notes, including: |
•the level of the underlier; |
•the volatility — i.e., the frequency and magnitude of changes — in the closing level of the underlier; |
•the dividend rates of the underlier stocks; |
•economic, financial, regulatory, political, military, public health and other events that affect stock markets generally and the underlier stocks, and which may affect the closing level of the underlier; |
•interest rates and yield rates in the market; |
•the time remaining until your notes mature; and |
•our creditworthiness and the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., whether actual or perceived, and including actual or anticipated upgrades or downgrades in our credit ratings or the credit ratings of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. or changes in other credit measures. |
Without limiting the foregoing, the market value of your notes may be negatively impacted by increasing interest rates. Such adverse impact of increasing interest rates could be significantly enhanced in notes with longer-dated maturities, the market values of which are generally more sensitive to increasing interest rates. |
These factors may influence the market value of your notes if you sell your notes before maturity, including the price you may receive for your notes in any market making transaction. If you sell your notes prior to maturity, you may receive less than the face amount of your notes. You cannot predict the future performance of the underlier based on its historical performance. |
Additional Risks Related to the Underlier |
The Policies of the Underlier’s Investment Advisor and the Sponsor of the Underlier’s Underlying Index Could Affect the Amount Payable on Your Notes and Their Market Value |
The underlier’s investment advisor may from time to time make policy decisions, judgments and changes regarding the underlier, including with respect to the calculation of the underlier, securities in the underlier and the manner in which changes affecting its underlying index are reflected in the underlier. These changes could affect the market price of the shares of the underlier and, therefore, the amount payable on your notes and their market value. In certain cases, the calculation agent — initially, GS&Co. — may determine the closing level of the underlier on a relevant date (and thus the amount payable on your notes, if any) in a manner, in its sole discretion, it considers appropriate. |
In addition, the sponsor of the underlier’s underlying index owns the underlying index and is responsible for the design and maintenance of the underlying index. Similar actions by the sponsor of the underlier’s underlying index could affect the level of the underlying index and, consequently, the market price of the shares of the underlier and, therefore, the amount payable on your notes and their market value. |