Autodesk (ADSK) 424B2Prospectus for primary offering

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Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2)
Registration No. 333-218070

This preliminary prospectus supplement relates to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, but is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Issued                 , 2020 (Subject to Completion)

Preliminary Prospectus Supplement

(To Prospectus dated May 18, 2017)

$

    % Notes due 20    

Autodesk, Inc. is offering $            of its     % notes due                     , 20     (the “notes”). The notes will bear interest at a rate of     % per annum. We will pay interest semi-annually on the notes on                      and             of each year, beginning                     , 2020. The notes will mature on                     , 20    .

We may redeem some or all of the notes at any time at the redemption prices described under the heading “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption” in this prospectus supplement. Upon the occurrence of a “change of control repurchase event,” as defined under “Description of Notes — Purchase of Notes upon Change of Control Repurchase Event,” we will be required to make an offer to repurchase the notes at a price equal to 101% of their principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but not including, the date of repurchase.

The notes are our senior unsecured obligations and will rank equally with all of our other senior unsecured indebtedness from time to time outstanding. There is no sinking fund for the notes. The notes are not, and are not expected to be, listed on any securities exchange.

Investing in the notes involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on pageS-12 of this prospectus supplement.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus to which it relates is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the notes on or about                 , 2020, which is the fifth business day following the date of this prospectus supplement (such settlement cycle being referred to as “T+5”), only in book-entry form through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company for the accounts of its participants, including Euroclear Bank S.A./ N.V., as operator of the Euroclear System, and Clearstream Banking S.A.

Joint Book-Running Managers

The date of this Prospectus Supplement is                 , 2020.

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PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

PROSPECTUS

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

This document consists of two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the specific terms of this offering. The second part is the accompanying prospectus, which describes more general information, some of which may not apply to this offering. You should read both this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, together with the additional information described under the heading “Incorporation by Reference” on pageS-58 of this prospectus supplement and on page 20 of the accompanying prospectus.

In this prospectus supplement, except as otherwise indicated or unless the context otherwise requires, “Autodesk,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Autodesk, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. If the information set forth in this prospectus supplement differs in any way from the information set forth in the accompanying prospectus, you should rely on the information set forth in this prospectus supplement.

Currency amounts in this prospectus supplement are stated in U.S. dollars.

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may be used only for the purpose for which they have been prepared. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized any other person to provide you with information that is different from that contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you.

We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference is accurate only as of their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements are any statements that look to future events and consist of, among other things, our business strategies, including those discussed in “Strategy” and “Overview of the Nine Months Ended October 31, 2019 and 2018” in our Quarterly Report on Form10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2019 incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, future revenue, operating expenses, recurring revenue, annualized recurring revenue, cash flow, net revenue retention rate and other future financial results (by product type and geography); the effectiveness of our efforts to successfully manage transitions to new industries; our ability to increase our subscription base; expected market trends, including the growth of cloud and mobile computing; the availability of credit; the effect of unemployment; the effects of global economic conditions; the effects of revenue recognition; the effects of recently issued accounting standards; expected trends in certain financial metrics, including expenses; expectations regarding our cash needs; the effects of fluctuations in exchange rates and our hedging activities on our financial results; our ability to successfully expand adoption of our products; our ability to gain market acceptance of new business and sales initiatives; the impact of past acquisitions, including our integration efforts; the impact of economic volatility and geopolitical activities in certain countries, particularly emerging economy countries; the timing and amount of purchases under our stockbuy-back plan; and the effects of potentialnon-cash charges on our financial results and the resulting effect on our financial results. In addition, forward-looking statements also consist of statements involving expectations regarding product capability and acceptance, statements regarding our liquidity and short-term and long-term cash requirements, as well as statements involving trend analyses and statements including such words as “may,” “believe,” “could,” “anticipate,” “would,” “might,” “plan,” “expect,” and similar expressions or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference, as applicable, and are subject to business and economic risks. As such, our actual results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth below in the section entitled “Risk Factors,” and in our reports filed with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.

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RISK FACTORS

An investment in the notes involves certain risks. In addition to the other information contained in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, you should carefully consider the following discussion of risks before deciding whether an investment in the notes is suitable for you.

Risks Related to Our Business

Global economic and political conditions may impact our industries, business and financial results.

Our overall performance depends largely upon domestic and worldwide economic and political conditions. The United States and other international economies have experienced cyclical downturns from time to time in which economic activity was impacted by falling demand for a variety of goods and services, restricted credit, poor liquidity, decreased government spending, reduced corporate profitability, volatility in credit, equity and foreign exchange markets, bankruptcies and overall uncertainty with respect to the economy. These economic conditions can occur abruptly. If economic growth in countries where we do business slows or if such countries experience further economic recessions, customers may delay or reduce technology purchases. Our customers include government entities, including the U.S. federal government, and if spending cuts impede the ability of governments to purchase our products and services, our revenue could decline. In addition, a number of our customers rely, directly and indirectly, on government spending.

As described elsewhere in this section, we are dependent on international revenue and operations and are subject to related risks of conducting business globally. Geopolitical trends toward nationalism and protectionism and the weakening or dissolution of international trade pacts may increase the cost of, or otherwise interfere with, conducting business. These trends have increased levels of political and economic unpredictability globally, and may increase the volatility of global financial markets; the impact of such developments on the global economy remains uncertain. Political instability or adverse political developments in any of the countries in which we do business could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A financial sector credit crisis could impair credit availability and the financial stability of our customers, including our distribution partners and channels. A disruption in the financial markets may also have an effect on our derivative counter-parties and could also impair our banking partners, on which we rely for operating cash management. Any of these events could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our strategy to develop and introduce new products and services exposes us to risks such as limited customer acceptance, costs related to product defects, and large expenditures, each of which may not result in additional net revenue or could result in decreased net revenue.

Rapid technological changes, as well as changes in customer requirements and preferences, characterize the software industry. Just as the transition from mainframes to personal computers transformed the industry more than 30 years ago, the software industry has undergone a transition from developing and selling perpetual licenses andon-premises products to subscriptions and cloud-enabled technologies. Customers are also reconsidering the manner in which they purchase software products, which requires us to constantly evaluate our business model and strategy. In response, we are focused on providing solutions to enable our customers to be more agile and collaborative on their projects. We devote significant resources to the development of new technologies. In addition, we frequently introduce new business models or methods that require a considerable investment of technical and financial resources such as our introduction of flexible subscription and service offerings. It is uncertain whether these strategies will prove successful or whether we will be able to develop the necessary infrastructure and business models more quickly than our competitors. We are making such investments through further development and enhancement of our existing products and services, as well as through acquisitions. Such investments may not result in sufficient revenue generation to justify their costs and

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could result in decreased net revenue or profitability. If we are not able to meet customer requirements, either with respect to our software or the manner in which we provide such products, or if we are not able to adapt our business model to meet our customers’ requirements, our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.

In particular, a critical component of our growth strategy is to have customers of our AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT products expand their portfolios to include our other offerings and cloud-based functionality. We want customers using individual Autodesk products to expand their portfolio with our other offerings and cloud-based functionality, and we are taking steps to accelerate this migration. At times, sales of our AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT or individual Autodesk flagship products have decreased without a corresponding increase in Industry Collections or cloud-based functionality revenue or without purchases of customer seats to our Industry Collections. Should this continue, our results of operations will be adversely affected.

Our executive management team must act quickly, continuously, and with vision, given the rapidly changing customer expectations and technology advancements inherent in the software industry, the extensive and complex efforts required to create useful and widely accepted products and the rapid evolution of cloud computing, mobile devices, new computing platforms, and other technologies, such as consumer products. Although we have articulated a strategy that we believe will fulfill these challenges, if we fail to execute properly on that strategy or adapt that strategy as market conditions evolve, we may fail to meet our customers’ expectations, fail to compete with our competitors’ products and technology, and lose the confidence of our channel partners and employees. This in turn could adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Our business could suffer as a result of costs, charges and risks, including integration risks associated with strategic acquisitions and investments such as the fiscal 2019 acquisitions of Assemble Systems, PlanGrid and BuildingConnected.

We regularly acquire or invest in businesses, software solutions and technologies that are complementary to our business through acquisitions, strategic alliances or equity or debt investments. For example, in fiscal 2019, we acquired Assemble Systems, PlanGrid and BuildingConnected. The risks associated with such acquisitions include, among others, the difficulty of assimilating solutions, operations and personnel, inheriting liabilities such as intellectual property infringement claims, the failure to realize anticipated revenue and cost projections, the requirement to test and assimilate the internal control processes of the acquired business in accordance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the diversion of management’s time and attention.

In addition, such acquisitions and investments involve other risks such as:

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We may not be successful in overcoming such risks, and such acquisitions and investments may negatively impact our business. In addition, such acquisitions and investments have in the past and may in the future contribute to potential fluctuations in our quarterly financial results. These fluctuations could arise from transaction-related costs and charges associated with eliminating redundant expenses or write-offs of impaired assets recorded in connection with acquisitions and investments. These costs or charges could negatively impact our financial results for a given period, cause quarter to quarter variability in our financial results or negatively impact our financial results for several future periods.

We are dependent on international revenue and operations, exposing us to significant regulatory, global economic, intellectual property, collections, currency exchange rate, taxation, political instability and other risks, which could adversely impact our financial results.

We are dependent on our international operations for a significant portion of our revenue. International net revenue represented 66% of our net revenue for both the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2018. Our international revenue, including that from emerging economies, is subject to general economic and political conditions in foreign markets, including conditions in foreign markets resulting from economic and political conditions in the United States. Our revenue is also impacted by the relative geographical and country mix of our revenue over time. At times, these factors adversely impact our international revenue, and consequently our business as a whole. Our dependency on international revenue makes us much more exposed to global economic and political trends, which can negatively impact our financial results, even if our results in the United States are strong for a particular period.

We anticipate that our international operations will continue to account for a significant portion of our net revenue, and, as we expand our international development, sales and marketing expertise, will provide significant support to our overall efforts in countries outside of the United States.

Risks inherent in our international operations include:

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Some of our business partners also have international operations and are subject to the risks described above.

In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” which has exacerbated and may further exacerbate many of the risks and uncertainties described above. The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union could, among other potential outcomes, adversely affect the tax, currency, operational, legal and regulatory regimes to which our businesses in the region are subject. The withdrawal could also, among other potential outcomes, disrupt the free movement of goods, services and people between the United Kingdom and the European Union and significantly disrupt trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union and other parties. Although the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union was scheduled to take effect on March 29, 2019, the withdrawal agreement was subsequently extended until April 12, 2019, further extended until October 31, 2019, and then further extended until January 31, 2020. Given the history of extensions, it is unclear when and if such a withdrawal will take place, and there is significant risk that the United Kingdom will exit from the European Union without agreement between the European Union and United Kingdom on terms addressing customs and trade matters. Further, uncertainty around these and related issues could lead to adverse effects on the economy of the United Kingdom, European Union and the other economies in which we operate. The United Kingdom general election, on December 12, 2019, resulted in a win by the Conservative Party, which may increase the likelihood of a withdrawal.

In addition, the current U.S. administration has instituted or proposed changes to foreign trade policy, including the negotiation or termination of trade agreements, the imposition of tariffs on products imported from certain countries, economic sanctions on individuals, corporations or countries and other government regulations affecting trade between the United States and other countries in which we do business. New or increased tariffs and other changes in U.S. trade policy have triggered and could trigger additional retaliatory actions by affected countries, and certain foreign governments, including the Chinese government, have instituted or are considering imposing trade sanctions on certain U.S. manufactured goods. The escalation of protectionist or retaliatory trade measures in either the United States or any other countries in which we do business, such as a change in tariff structures, export compliance or other trade policies, may increase the cost of, or otherwise interfere with, conducting our business.

Even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of international operations, our business may be adversely affected if our business partners are not able to successfully manage these risks.

Security incidents may compromise the integrity of our or our customers’ offerings, services, data or intellectual property, harm our reputation, damage our competitiveness, create additional liability and adversely impact our financial results.

As we digitize Autodesk and use cloud andweb-based technologies to leverage customer data to deliver the total customer experience, we are exposed to increased security risks and the potential for unauthorized access to, or improper use of, our and our customers’ information. Like other software offerings and systems, ours are vulnerable to security incidents. We devote resources to maintain the security and integrity of our systems, offerings, services and applications (online, mobile and desktop). We accomplish this by enhancing security features, conducting penetration tests, code hardening, releasing security vulnerability updates and accelerating our incident response time. Despite these efforts, we may not prevent security incidents, and we may face delays or other difficulties in identifying or responding to security incidents.

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Hackers regularly have targeted our systems, offerings, services and applications, and we expect them to do so in the future. Security incidents could disrupt the proper functioning of our systems, solutions or services; cause errors in the output of our customers’ work; allow unauthorized access to sensitive data or intellectual property, including proprietary or confidential information of ours or our customers; or cause other destructive outcomes.

The risk of a security incident, particularly through cyber-attack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. These threats include, but are not limited to, identity theft, unauthorized access, DNS attacks, wireless network attacks, viruses and worms, advanced persistent threat (APT), application centric attacks,peer-to-peer attacks, phishing, malicious file uploads, backdoor trojans and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In addition, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce our employees, vendors, partners or users to disclose information to gain access to our data or our users’ data and there is the risk of employee, contractor or vendor error or malfeasance. Despite efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is virtually impossible for us to entirely eliminate these risks.

If any of the foregoing security incidents were to occur or to be perceived to have occurred, our reputation may suffer, our competitive position may be diminished, customers may stop paying for our solutions and services, we could be required to expend significant capital and other resources to evaluate and alleviate the security incident and in an effort to prevent further or additional incidents, and we could face regulatory inquiry, lawsuits and potential liability. We could incur significant costs and liabilities, including due to litigation, indemnity obligations, damages for contract breach, penalties for violation of applicable laws or regulations, and costs for remediation and other incentives offered to customers or other business partners in an effort to maintain business relationships after a breach, and our financial performance could be negatively impacted.

We cannot assure you that any limitations of liability provisions in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim relating to a security breach or other security incident. We also cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims related to a security breach, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible orco-insurance requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our financial condition, operating results, and reputation.

Increasing regulatory focus on privacy issues and expanding laws may impact our business or expose us to increased liability.

Our strategy to digitize Autodesk involves increasing our use of cloud andweb-based technologies and applications to leverage customer data to improve our offerings for the benefit of our customers. To accomplish this strategy, we must collect and otherwise process customer data, which may include personal data. Federal, state and foreign government privacy and data security laws apply to the treatment of personal data. Governments, regulators, the plaintiffs’ bar, privacy advocates and customers have increased their focus on how companies collect, process, use, store, share and transmit personal data.

The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) is applicable in all European Union member states and introduced new data protection requirements in the European Union and substantial fines fornon-compliance. We have modified our privacy practices to comply with GDPR. We have self-certified under theEU-U.S. Privacy Shield program and also make use of model contractual clauses approved by the European Commission in relation to the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States. The Privacy Shield and the European Commission’s model contractual clauses are currently the subject of legal challenges in the European Union, however, and it is unclear whether these will serve as appropriate means for us to transfer

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personal data from the European Union to the United States. We have also self-certified to theSwiss-U.S. Privacy Shield program in relation to the transfer of personal data from Switzerland to the United States. This Privacy Shield program also may no longer be valid due to possible legal challenges. Additionally, Brexit could also lead to further legislative and regulatory changes with regard to personal data. The United Kingdom Data Protection Act that substantially implements the GDPR became law in May 2018. It remains unclear, however, how United Kingdom data protection laws or regulations will develop in the medium to longer term and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated at the time, if any, that Brexit is effectuated.

In addition, in June 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020. The CCPA, among other things, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA was amended in September 2018 and November 2019, and further modifications may be made to this law. Additionally, in October 2019, the California Department of Justice published a notice of proposed rulemaking action with respect to draft regulations to implement the CCPA. We cannot yet predict the impact of the CCPA on our business or operations, but it may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply.

The GDPR, CCPA and other state and global laws and regulations increased our responsibility and potential liability in relation to personal data, and we have and will continue to put in place additional processes and programs to demonstrate compliance. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with the GDPR, other data privacy laws or regulations, or related contractual or other obligations, or any perceived privacy rights violation, could lead to investigations, claims, and proceedings by governmental entities and private parties, damages for contract breach, and other significant costs, penalties, and other liabilities, as well as harm to our reputation and market position.

Additionally, we store customer information and content and if our customers fail to comply with contractual obligations or applicable laws, it could result in litigation or reputational harm to us. The GDPR, CCPA and other laws and self-regulatory codes may affect our ability to reach current and prospective customers, to understand how our offerings and services are being used, to respond to customer requests allowed under the laws and to implement our new business models effectively. These new laws and regulations would similarly affect our competitors as well as our customers and may cause some customers to stop using, or not to use, our offerings and services. These requirements could impact demand for our offerings and services and result in more onerous contract obligations.

We rely on third parties to provide us with a number of operational and technical services; third-party security incidents could expose us to liability, harm our reputation, damage our competitiveness and adversely impact our financial performance.

We rely on third parties to provide us with operational and technical services. These third parties may have access to our systems, provide hosting services or otherwise process data about us or our customers, employees, or partners. Any third-party security incident could compromise the integrity of, or availability or result in the theft of, data. In addition, our operations, or the operations of our customers or partners, could be negatively affected in the event of a security breach, and could be subject to the loss or theft of confidential or proprietary information, including source code. Unauthorized access to data and other confidential or proprietary information may be obtained throughbreak-ins, network breaches by unauthorized parties, employee theft or misuse or other misconduct. If any of the foregoing were to occur or to be perceived to occur, our reputation may suffer, our competitive position may be diminished, customers may buy fewer of our offerings and services, we could face lawsuits and potential liability, and our financial performance could be negatively impacted.

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We rely on software from third parties, and a failure to properly manage our use of third-party software could result in increased costs or loss of revenue.

Many of our products are designed to include software licensed from third parties. Such third-party software includes software licensed from commercial suppliers and software licensed under public open source licenses. We have internal processes to manage our use of such third-party software. However, if we fail to adequately manage our use of third-party software, then we may be subject to copyright infringement or other third-party claims. If we are non-compliant with a license for commercial software, then we may be required to pay penalties or undergo costly audits pursuant to the license agreement. In the case of open-source software licensed under certain “copyleft” licenses, the license itself may require, or a court-imposed remedy for non-compliant use of the open source software may require, that proprietary portions of our own software be publicly disclosed or licensed. This could result in a loss of intellectual property rights, increased costs, damage to our reputation and/or a loss of revenue.

Delays in service from third-party service providers could expose us to liability, harm our reputation, damage our competitiveness and adversely impact our financial performance.

From time to time, we may rely on a single or limited number of suppliers, or upon suppliers in a single country, for the provision of various services and materials that we use in the operation of our business and production of our solutions. The inability of such third parties to satisfy our requirements could disrupt our business operations or make it more difficult for us to implement our business strategy. If any of these situations were to occur, our reputation could be harmed, we could be subject to third-party liability, including under data protection and privacy laws in certain jurisdictions, and our financial performance could be negatively impacted.

We may not be able to predict subscription renewal rates and their impact on our future revenue and operating results.

Our customers are not obligated to renew their subscriptions for our offerings, and they may elect not to renew. We cannot assure renewal rates, or the mix of subscriptions renewals. Customer renewal rates may decline or fluctuate due to a number of factors, including offering pricing, competitive offerings, customer satisfaction, and reductions in customer spending levels or customer activity due to economic downturns or financial markets uncertainty. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions or if they renew on less favorable terms, our revenues may decline.

We are investing in resources to update and improve our information technology systems to digitize Autodesk and support our customers. Should our investments not succeed, or if delays or other issues with new or existing information technology systems disrupt our operations, our business could be harmed.

We rely on our network and data center infrastructure, technology systems and our websites for our development, marketing, operational, support, sales, accounting and financial reporting activities. We continually invest resources to update and improve these systems in order to meet the evolving requirements of our business and customers. In particular, our transition to cloud-based products and a subscription-only business model involves considerable investment in the development of technologies, as well as back-office systems for technical, financial, compliance and sales resources.

For example, we are undergoing a multi-phase project to upgrade our enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) management system to enhance operating efficiencies and provide more effective management of our business operations. We are investing significant capital and human resources into this project. However, there is no assurance that the system upgrade will meet our current or future business needs or that it will operate as designed. The transition to the new ERP system will affect numerous systems necessary for our operation. If we fail to correctly implement one or more components of the ERP system, we may experience significant disruption to our operations including, among other things, temporary loss of data, errors in data, inability to accurately process or record transactions, security issues, failure of systems to communicate with each other and the inability to track or reconcile key data.

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Information technology system improvements are often complex, costly and time consuming. In addition, such improvements can be challenging to integrate with our existing technology systems, or may uncover problems with our existing technology systems. Unsuccessful implementation of hardware or software updates and improvements could result in disruption to our business operations, additional expense, loss of customers, loss of revenue, errors in our accounting and financial reporting or damage to our reputation, each of which could harm our business.

Our software is highly complex and may contain undetected errors, defects or vulnerabilities, each of which could harm our business and financial performance.

The software solutions that we offer are complex and, despite extensive testing and quality control, may contain errors, defects or vulnerabilities. Some errors, defects and vulnerabilities in our software solutions may only be discovered after they have been released. Any errors, defects or vulnerabilities could result in the need for corrective releases to our software solutions, damage to our reputation, loss of revenue, an increase in subscription cancellations or lack of market acceptance of our offerings, any of which would likely harm our business and financial performance.

Existing and increased competition and rapidly evolving technological changes may reduce our revenue and profits.

The software industry has limited barriers to entry, and the availability of computing devices with continually expanding performance at progressively lower prices contributes to the ease of market entry. The software industry has undergone a transition from developing and selling perpetual licenses andon-premises products to subscriptions and cloud-enabled technologies. This shift further lowers barriers to entry and poses a disruptive challenge to established software companies. The markets in which we compete are characterized by vigorous competition, both by entry of competitors with innovative technologies and by consolidation of companies with complementary offerings and technologies. In addition, some of our competitors in certain markets have greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, and other resources. Furthermore, a reduction in the number and availability of compatible third-party applications, or our inability to rapidly adapt to technological and customer preference changes, including those related to cloud computing, mobile devices, and new computing platforms, may adversely affect the sale of our solutions. Because of these and other factors, competitive conditions in the industry are likely to intensify in the future. Increased competition could result in price reductions, reduced net revenue and profit margins and loss of market share, any of which would likely harm our business.

We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate the controls.

Our offerings are subject to U.S. export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations that prohibit the delivery of certain solutions and services without the required export authorizations or export to locations, governments, and persons targeted by U.S. sanctions. While we have processes in place to prevent our offerings from being exported in violation of these laws, including obtaining authorizations as appropriate and screening against U.S. government and international lists of restricted and prohibited persons, we cannot guarantee that these processes will prevent all violations of export control and sanctions laws.

If our channel partners fail to obtain appropriate import, export orre-export licenses or permits, we may also be adversely affected, through reputational harm as well as other negative consequences including government investigations and penalties. We presently incorporate export control and sanctions compliance requirements in our channel partner agreements. Complying with export control and sanctions regulations for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can result in fines or penalties.

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We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates that could negatively impact our financial results and cash flows.

Because we conduct a substantial portion of our business outside the United States, we face exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates. These exposures may change over time as business practices evolve and economic conditions change. Our exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates could have a material adverse impact on our financial results and cash flows.

We use derivative instruments to manage a portion of our cash flow exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. As part of our risk management strategy, we use foreign currency contracts to manage a portion of our exposures of underlying assets, liabilities, and other obligations, which exist as part of our ongoing business operations. These foreign currency instruments have maturities that extend for one to twelve months in the future and provide us with some protection against currency exposures. However, our attempts to hedge against these risks may not be completely successful, resulting in an adverse impact on our financial results.

The fluctuations of currencies in which we conduct business can both increase and decrease our overall revenue and expenses for any given fiscal period. Although our foreign currency cash flow hedge program extends beyond the current quarter in order to reduce our exposure to foreign currency volatility, we do not attempt to completely mitigate this risk, and in any case, will incur transaction fees in adopting such hedging programs. Such volatility, even when it increases our revenues or decreases our expenses, impacts our ability to accurately predict our future results and earnings.

In addition, Brexit may contribute to volatility in foreign exchange markets with respect to the British Pound and Euro, which we may not be able to effectively manage, and our financial results could be adversely impacted. Additionally, countries in which we operate may be classified as highly inflationary economies, requiring special accounting and financial reporting treatment for such operations, or such countries’ currencies may be devalued, or both, which may adversely impact our business operations and financial results.

If we do not maintain good relationships with the members of our distribution channel, our ability to generate revenue will be adversely affected. If our distribution channel suffers financial losses, becomes financially unstable or insolvent, or is not provided the right mix of incentives to sell our subscriptions, our ability to generate revenue will be adversely affected.

We sell our software products both directly to end users and through a network of distributors and resellers. For the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2018, approximately 70% and 72%, respectively, of our revenue was derived from indirect channel sales through distributors and resellers, and we expect that the majority of our revenue will continue to be derived from indirect channel sales in the near future. Our ability to effectively distribute our solutions depends in part upon the financial and business condition of our distributor and reseller network. Computer software distributors and resellers typically are not highly capitalized, have previously experienced difficulties during times of economic contraction and experienced difficulties during the past several years. We have processes to ensure that we assess the creditworthiness of distributors and resellers prior to our sales to them. In the past we have taken steps to support them, and may take additional steps in the future, such as extending credit terms and providing temporary discounts. These steps, if taken, could harm our financial results. If our distributors and resellers were to become insolvent, they would not be able to maintain their business and sales, or provide customer support services, which would negatively impact our business and revenue.

We rely significantly upon major distributors and resellers in both the United States and international regions, including the distributors Tech Data and Ingram Micro. Tech Data accounted for 35% of our total net revenue for both the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2018, and Ingram Micro accounted for 10% and 11% of our total net revenue for the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Should any of our agreements with Tech Data and Ingram Micro be terminated for any reason, we believe the resellers and end

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users who currently purchase our products through Tech Data and Ingram Micro would be able to continue to do so under substantially the same terms from one of our many other distributors without substantial disruption to our revenue. Consequently, we believe our business is not substantially dependent on Tech Data and Ingram Micro. However, if either distributor were to experience a significant disruption with its business, or if our relationship with either of them were to significantly deteriorate, it is possible that our ability to sell to resellers and end users would be, at least temporarily, negatively impacted. This could in turn negatively impact our financial results. For example, on November 13, 2019, Tech Data announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, a global alternative investment manager. The transaction is not subject to a financing condition and is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. If there is any uncertainty resulting from the transaction between Tech Data and Apollo with the resellers and end users who currently purchase our products through Tech Data, our ability to sell to these resellers and end users could be, at least temporarily, negatively impacted.

Over time, we have modified and will continue to modify aspects of our relationship with our distributors and resellers, such as their incentive programs, pricing to them and our distribution model to motivate and reward them for aligning their businesses with our strategy and business objectives. Changes in these relationships and underlying programs could negatively impact their business and harm our business. Further, our distributors and resellers may lose confidence in our business, move to competitive products, or may not have the skills or ability to support customers. The loss of or a significant reduction in business with those distributors or resellers could harm our business. In particular, if one or more of such distributors or resellers were unable to meet their obligations with respect to accounts payable to us, we could be forced to write off such accounts and may be required to delay the recognition of revenue on future sales to these customers. These events could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Our financial results, key metrics and other operating metrics fluctuate within each quarter and from quarter to quarter, making our future revenue and financial results difficult to predict.

Our quarterly financial results, key metrics and other operating metrics have fluctuated in the past and will continue to do so in the future. These fluctuations could cause our stock price to change significantly or experience declines. We also provide investors with quarterly and annual financial forward-looking guidance that could prove to be inaccurate as a result of these fluctuations. In addition to the other factors described in this section, some of the factors that could cause our financial results, key metrics and other operating metrics to fluctuate include:

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We have also experienced fluctuations in financial results in interim periods in certain geographic regions due to seasonality or regional economic or political conditions. In particular, our financial results in Europe during our third quarter are usually affected by a slower summer period, and our APAC operations typically experience seasonal slowing in our third and fourth quarters.

Our operating expenses are based in part on our expectations for future revenue and are relatively fixed in the short term. Accordingly, any revenue shortfall below expectations has had, and in the future could have, an immediate and significant adverse effect on our profitability. Greater than anticipated expenses or a failure to maintain rigorous cost controls would also negatively affect profitability.

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Because we derive a substantial portion of our net revenue from a small number of solutions, including our AutoCAD-based software products and collections, if these offerings are not successful, our revenue will be adversely affected.

We derive a substantial portion of our net revenue from sales of subscriptions to a limited number of our offerings, including AutoCAD software, solutions based on AutoCAD, which include our collections that serve specific markets and products that are interoperable with AutoCAD. Any factor adversely affecting sales of these subscriptions, including the product release cycle, market acceptance, product competition, performance and reliability, reputation, price competition, economic and market conditions and the availability of third-party applications, would likely harm our financial results. During both the nine months ended October 31, 2019 and 2018, combined revenue from our AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT products, not including collections having AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT as a component, represented 29% of our total net revenue.

If we are not able to adequately protect our proprietary rights, our business could be harmed.

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright and trademark laws, trade secret protections, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary rights. Despite such efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties from time to time have copied aspects of our software or have obtained and used information that we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our software is time-consuming and costly. We are unable to measure the extent to which piracy of our software exists, and we expect that software piracy will remain a persistent problem, particularly in emerging economies. Furthermore, our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not be adequate.

Additionally, we actively protect the secrecy of our confidential information and trade secrets, including our source code. If unauthorized disclosure of our source code occurs, we could potentially lose future trade secret protection for that source code. The loss of future trade secret protection could make it easier for third parties to compete with our offerings by copying functionality, which could adversely affect our financial performance and our reputation. We also seek to protect our confidential information and trade secrets through the use ofnon-disclosure agreements with our customers, contractors, vendors and partners. However, it is possible that our confidential information and trade secrets may be disclosed or published without our authorization. If this were to occur, it may be difficult and/or costly for us to enforce our rights, and our financial performance and reputation could be negatively impacted.

We may face intellectual property infringement claims that could be costly to defend and result in the loss of significant rights.

As more software patents are granted worldwide, the number of offerings and competitors in our industries grows. As the functionality of products in different industries overlaps, we expect that software developers will be increasingly subject to infringement claims. Infringement or misappropriation claims have in the past been, and may in the future be, asserted against us, and any such assertions could harm our business. Additionally, certain patent holders without products have become more aggressive in threatening and pursuing litigation in attempts to obtain fees for licensing the right to use patents. Any such claims or threats, whether with or without merit, have been and could in the future be time-consuming to defend, result in costly litigation and diversion of resources, cause product delays or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. In addition, such royalty or license agreements, if required, may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all, which would likely harm our business.

From time to time, we realign or introduce new business and sales initiatives; if we fail to successfully execute and manage these initiatives, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.

As part of our effort to accommodate our customers’ needs and demands and the rapid evolution of technology, we from time to time evolve our business and sales initiatives such as realigning our development

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and marketing organizations, offering software as a service, and realigning our internal resources in an effort to improve efficiency. We may take such actions without clear indications that they will prove successful, and at times, we have been met with short-term challenges in the execution of such initiatives. Market acceptance of any new business or sales initiative is dependent on our ability to match our customers’ needs at the right time and price. Often we have limited prior experience and operating history in these new areas of emphasis. If any of our assumptions about expenses, revenue or revenue recognition principles from these initiatives proves incorrect, or our attempts to improve efficiency are not successful, our actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, and our financial results will be negatively impacted.

Net revenue, ARR, billings, earnings, cash flow, net revenue retention rate, or subscriptions shortfalls or the volatility of the market generally may cause the market price of our stock to decline.

The market price for our common stock has experienced significant fluctuations and may continue to fluctuate significantly. The market price for our common stock may be affected by a number of factors, including the other factors described in this section and the following:

Significant changes in the price of our common stock could expose us to costly and time-consuming litigation. Historically, after periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, a company becomes more susceptible to securities class action litigation. This type of litigation is often expensive and diverts management’s attention and resources.

Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to attract and retain key personnel.

Our success and ability to invest and grow depend largely on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled technical, professional, managerial, sales, and marketing personnel. Historically, competition for these key personnel has been intense. The loss of services of any of our key personnel (including key personnel joining our company through acquisitions), the inability to retain and attract qualified personnel in the future, or delays in hiring required personnel, particularly engineering and sales personnel, could make it difficult to meet key objectives, such as timely and effective product introductions and financial goals.

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Our investment portfolio consists of a variety of investment vehicles in a number of countries that are subject to interest rate trends, market volatility, and other economic factors. If general economic conditions decline, this could cause the credit ratings of our investments to deteriorate, illiquidity in the financial marketplace, and we may experience a decline in interest income and an inability to sell our investments, leading to impairment in the value of our investments.

It is our policy to invest our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities in highly liquid instruments with, and in the custody of, financial institutions with high credit ratings and to limit the amounts invested with any one institution, type of security and issuer. However, we are subject to general economic conditions, interest rate trends and volatility in the financial marketplace that can affect the income that we receive from our investments, the net realizable value of our investments (including our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities) and our ability to sell them. Any one of these factors could reduce our investment income, or result in material charges, which in turn could impact our overall net income (loss) and earnings (loss) per share.

From time to time, we make direct investments in privately held companies. Privately held company investments are considered inherently risky. The technologies and products these companies have under development are typically in the early stages and may never materialize, which could result in a loss of all or a substantial part of our initial investment in these companies. The evaluation of privately held companies is based on information that we request from these companies, which is not subject to the same disclosure regulations as U.S. publicly traded companies, and as such, the basis for these evaluations is subject to the timing and accuracy of the data received from these companies.

A loss on any of our investments may cause us to record an other-than-temporary impairment charge. The effect of this charge could impact our overall net income (loss) and earnings (loss) per share. In any of these scenarios, our liquidity may be negatively impacted, which in turn may prohibit us from making investments in our business, taking advantage of opportunities and potentially meeting our financial obligations as they come due.

We are subject to legal proceedings and regulatory inquiries and we may be named in additional legal proceedings or become involved in regulatory inquiries in the future, all of which are costly, distracting to our core business and could result in an unfavorable outcome, or a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or the trading prices for our securities.

We are involved in legal proceedings and receive inquiries from regulatory agencies. As the global economy has changed and our business has evolved, we have seen an increase in litigation activity and regulatory inquiries. Like many other high technology companies, the number and frequency of inquiries from U.S. and foreign regulatory agencies we have received regarding our business and our business practices, and the business practices of others in our industry, have increased in recent years. In the event that we are involved in significant disputes or are the subject of a formal action by a regulatory agency, we could be exposed to costly and time-consuming legal proceedings that could result in any number of outcomes. Any claims or regulatory actions initiated by or against us, whether successful or not, could result in expensive costs of defense, costly damage awards, injunctive relief, increased costs of business, fines or orders to change certain business practices, significant dedication of management time, diversion of significant operational resources, or otherwise harm our business. In any of these cases, our financial results, results of operations, cash flows or the trading prices for our securities could be negatively impacted.

We are subject to risks related to taxation in multiple jurisdictions.

We are a U.S.-based multinational company subject to tax in multiple U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate is primarily based on our expected geographic mix of earnings, statutory rates, inter-company arrangements, including the manner in which we develop, value and license our intellectual property, and enacted tax rules. Significant judgment is required in determining our effective tax rate and in evaluating our tax

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positions on a worldwide basis. While we believe our tax positions, including inter-company transfer pricing policies, are consistent with the tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, it is possible that these positions may be overturned by jurisdictional tax authorities and may have a significant impact on our effective tax rate.

Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. For example, the U.S. government enacted significant tax law changes in December 2017, the Tax Act, which impacted our tax obligations and effective tax rate beginning in our fiscal 2018 tax year. Increasingly, governmental tax authorities are scrutinizing corporate tax strategies. Many countries in the European Union, as well as other countries and organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are actively considering changes to existing tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws that, if adopted, could increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business. If the U.S. or foreign tax authorities change applicable tax laws or successfully challenge the manner in which our profits are currently recognized, our overall taxes could increase, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and application of the Tax Act could materially affect our tax obligations and effective tax rate.

The Tax Act was enacted on December 22, 2017, and provided broad and significant changes to the U.S. tax code and how the United States imposes income tax on multinational corporations. Due to the complexity and varying interpretations of the Tax Act, the U.S. Department of Treasury has issued and will continue to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that could significantly impact how we will apply the law and the ultimate impact to our results of operations from the Tax Act.

The Tax Act requires complex computations to be performed that were not previously provided for in the U.S. tax law. These computations require significant judgments to be made regarding the interpretation of the provisions within the Tax Act and treasury regulations issued thereunder, along with preparation and analysis of information not previously required. As additional regulatory guidance is issued, we may make amendments to prior year tax returns.

Changes in existing financial accounting standards or practices, or taxation rules or practices, may adversely affect our results of operations.

Changes in existing accounting or taxation rules or practices, new accounting pronouncements or taxation rules, or varying interpretations of current accounting pronouncements or taxation practice could have a significant adverse effect on our results of operations or the manner in which we conduct our business. Further, such changes could potentially affect our reporting of transactions completed before such changes are effective.

We are required to evaluate our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and any adverse results from such evaluation could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. The report contains, among other matters, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting identified by management.

If our management or independent registered public accounting firm identifies one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we would be unable to assert that such internal

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control over financial reporting is effective. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective (or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion that our internal controls are effective), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on our business and stock price.

In preparing our financial statements, we make certain assumptions, judgments and estimates that affect amounts reported in our condensed consolidated financial statements, which, if not accurate, may significantly impact our financial results.

We make assumptions, judgments and estimates for a number of items, including revenue recognition for our hybrid desktop software and cloud service subscriptions, the fair value of financial instruments, goodwill, long-lived assets and other intangible assets, the realizability of deferred tax assets and the fair value of stock awards. We also make assumptions, judgments and estimates in determining the accruals for employee related liabilities including commissions, bonuses, and sabbaticals; and in determining the accruals for uncertain tax positions, partner incentive programs, product returns reserves, allowances for doubtful accounts, asset retirement obligations and legal contingencies. These assumptions, judgments and estimates are drawn from historical experience and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances as of the date of the consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ materially from our estimates, and such differences could significantly impact our financial results.

We rely on third-party technologies and if we are unable to use or integrate these technologies, our solutions and service development may be delayed and our financial results negatively impacted.

We rely on certain software that we license from third parties, including software that is integrated with internally developed software and used in our offerings to perform key functions. These third-party software licenses may not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, and the software may not be appropriately supported, maintained or enhanced by the licensors. The loss of licenses to, or inability to support, maintain and enhance any such software could result in increased costs or delays until equivalent software can be developed, identified, licensed and integrated, which would likely harm our business.

Disruptions with licensing relationships and third-party developers could adversely impact our business.

We license certain key technologies from third parties. Licenses may be restricted in the term or the use of such technology in ways that negatively affect our business. Similarly, we may not be able to obtain or renew license agreements for key technology on favorable terms, if at all, and any failure to do so could harm our business.

Our business strategy has historically depended in part on our relationships with third-party developers who provide products that expand the functionality of our design software. Some developers may elect to support other products or may experience disruption in product development and delivery cycles or financial pressure during periods of economic downturn. In particular markets, such disruptions have in the past, and would likely in the future, negatively impact these third-party developers and end users, which could harm our business.

Additionally, technology created by outsourced product development, whether outsourced to third parties or developed externally and transferred to us through business or technology acquisitions, has certain additional risks such as effective integration into existing products, adequate transfer of technologyknow-how and ownership and protection of transferred intellectual property.

As a result of our strategy of partnering with other companies for product development, our product delivery schedules could be adversely affected if we experience difficulties with our product development partners.

We partner with certain independent firms and contractors to perform some of our product development activities. We believe our partnering strategy allows us to, among other things, achieve efficiencies in developing

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new products and maintaining and enhancing existing product offerings. Our partnering strategy creates a dependency on such independent developers. Independent developers, including those who currently develop solutions for us in the United States and throughout the world, may not be able or willing to provide development support to us in the future. In addition, use of development resources through consulting relationships, particularly innon-U.S. jurisdictions with developing legal systems, may be adversely impacted by, and expose us to risks relating to, evolving employment, export and intellectual property laws. These risks could, among other things, expose our intellectual property to misappropriation and result in disruptions to product delivery schedules.

Our business may be significantly disrupted upon the occurrence of a catastrophic event.

Our business is highly automated and relies extensively on the availability of our network and data center infrastructure, our internal technology systems and our websites. We also rely on hosted computer services from third parties for services that we provide to our customers and computer operations for our internal use. The failure of our systems or hosted computer services due to a catastrophic event, such as an earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, weather event, telecommunications failure, power failure, cyber-attack, terrorism, or war, could adversely impact our business, financial results and financial condition. We have developed disaster recovery plans and maintain backup systems in order to reduce the potential impact of a catastrophic event, however there can be no assurance that these plans and systems would enable us to return to normal business operations. In addition, any such event could negatively impact a country or region in which we sell our products. This could in turn decrease that country’s or region’s demand for our products, thereby negatively impacting our financial results.

If we were required to record an impairment charge related to the value of our long-lived assets, or an additional valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets, our results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our long-lived assets are tested for impairment if indicators of impairment exist. If impairment testing shows that the carrying value of our long-lived assets exceeds their estimated fair values, we would be required to record anon-cash impairment charge, which would decrease the carrying value of our long-lived assets, as the case may be, and our results of operations would be adversely affected. Our deferred tax assets include net operating loss, amortizable tax assets and tax credit carryforwards that can be used to offset taxable income and reduce income taxes payable in future periods. Each quarter, we assess the need for a valuation allowance, considering both positive and negative evidence to determine whether all or a portion of the deferred tax assets are more likely than not to be realized. In fiscal 2016 and in fiscal 2018, we determined that it was more likely than not that we would not realize our U.S. and Singapore deferred tax assets and established a valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets in each respective jurisdiction. We continued to have a full valuation allowance against our U.S. and Singapore deferred tax assets in fiscal 2019. Changes in the amount of the valuation allowance could result in a materialnon-cash expense or benefit in the period in which the valuation allowance is adjusted and our results of operations could be materially affected. We will continue to perform these tests and any future adjustments may have a material effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to the Offering

The notes will be structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.

The notes will be obligations exclusively of Autodesk, Inc. and not of any of our subsidiaries. A portion of our operations is conducted through our subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate legal entities that have no obligation to pay any amounts due under the notes or to make any funds available therefor, whether by dividends, loans or other payments. Except to the extent we are a creditor with recognized claims against our subsidiaries, all claims of creditors (including trade creditors) of our subsidiaries will have priority with respect to the assets

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of such subsidiaries over our claims (and therefore the claims of our creditors, including holders of the notes). Consequently, the notes will be effectively subordinated to all liabilities of our subsidiaries and any subsidiaries that we may in the future acquire or establish. As of October 31, 2019, our subsidiaries had approximately $1,914.1 million of outstanding liabilities, including trade payables but excluding inter-company liabilities and liabilities of a type not required to be reflected on a balance sheet in accordance with GAAP (as defined below).

The notes will be subject to prior claims of any secured creditors, and if a default occurs, we may not have sufficient funds to fulfill our obligations under the notes.

The notes will be our unsecured general obligations, ranking equally with other outstanding senior unsecured indebtedness, including our outstanding senior notes. The indenture governing the notes permits us and our subsidiaries to incur additional indebtedness, including secured debt. If we incur any secured debt, our assets will be subject to prior claims by our secured creditors to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness. In the event of our bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization or other winding up, assets that secure debt will be available to pay obligations on the notes only after all debt secured by those assets has been repaid in full. Holders of the notes will participate in our remaining assets ratably with all of our unsecured and unsubordinated creditors, including our trade creditors. If we incur any additional obligations that rank equally with the notes, including trade payables, the holders of those obligations will be entitled to share ratably with the holders of the notes and the previously issued notes in any proceeds distributed upon our insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up. This may have the effect of reducing the amount of proceeds paid to you. If there are not sufficient assets remaining to pay all these creditors, all or a portion of the notes then outstanding would remain unpaid.

Our debt service obligations, including the notes being offered pursuant to this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, may adversely affect our financial condition and cash flows from operations.

We have $1.6 billion of senior notes outstanding prior to the issuance of the notes being offered pursuant to this prospectus supplement. As each series of senior notes matures and the notes offered hereby mature, we will have to expend significant resources to either repay or refinance these notes. If we decide to refinance the notes, we may be required to do so on different or less favorable terms or we may be unable to refinance the notes at all, both of which may adversely affect our financial condition.

We also entered into a credit agreement that provides for an unsecured revolving loan facility (the “credit facility”) in the aggregate principal amount of $650.0 million, with an option to be increased up to $1.0 billion. As of October 31, 2019, we had no outstanding borrowings under the credit facility. We may use the proceeds of any future borrowing under the credit facility for general corporate purposes, or for future acquisitions or expansion of our business. We also have a $500.0 million delayed draw term loan facility (the “term loan facility”), which will mature in December 2020. As of December 5, 2019, $100.0 million principal amount remained outstanding under the term loan facility. See “Summary — Recent Developments.” Maintenance of our indebtedness, contractual restrictions, and additional issuances of indebtedness could:

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We are required to comply with the covenants set forth in our indenture, credit agreement and term loan agreement. Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by events beyond our control. If we breach any of the covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the note holders or lenders, then, subject to applicable cure periods, any outstanding indebtedness may be declared immediately due and payable. In addition, changes by any rating agency to our credit rating may negatively impact the value and liquidity of our securities. Under certain circumstances, if our credit ratings are downgraded or other negative action is taken, the interest rate payable by us under our revolving credit facility could increase. Downgrades in our credit ratings could also restrict our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and could affect the terms of any such financing.

We may be able to incur substantially more indebtedness.

The terms of the indenture governing the notes will not prohibit us from incurring indebtedness in the future. We may also incur additional indebtedness under the terms, and subject to the covenants, of our credit agreement and term loan agreement. If we incur any additional indebtedness that ranks equally with the notes or amounts due under our credit facility and term loan facility, the holders of that indebtedness will be entitled to share ratably with the holders of the notes, and the outstanding senior notes in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of our company.

The limited covenants in the indenture governing the notes and the terms of the notes do not provide protection against some types of important corporate events and may not protect your investment.

The indenture governing the notes does not:

In addition, the limitation on liens and limitation on sale and lease-back transactions covenants with respect to principal property contain exceptions that will allow us to create, grant or incur liens or security interests with respect to our facilities in a number of circumstances. As of the date of this prospectus supplement, neither we nor any of our restricted subsidiaries own any Principal Property (as defined in the indenture governing the notes).

As a result of the foregoing, when evaluating the terms of the notes, you should be aware that the terms of the indenture and the notes do not restrict our ability to engage in, or to otherwise be a party to, a variety of corporate transactions, circumstances and events, such as certain acquisitions, refinancings or recapitalizations that could substantially and adversely affect our capital structure and the value of the notes. For these reasons, you should not consider the covenants in the indenture as a significant factor in evaluating whether to invest in the notes.

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Changes in our credit ratings may adversely affect your investment in the notes.

The major debt rating agencies routinely evaluate our debt. These ratings are not recommendations to purchase, hold or sell the notes, inasmuch as the ratings do not comment as to market price or suitability for a particular investor, are limited in scope, and do not address all material risks relating to an investment in the notes, but rather reflect only the view of each rating agency at the time the rating is issued. The ratings are based on current information furnished to the ratings agencies by us and information obtained by the ratings agencies from other sources. An explanation of the significance of such rating may be obtained from such rating agency. There can be no assurance that such credit ratings will remain in effect for any given period of time or that such ratings will not be lowered, suspended or withdrawn entirely by the rating agencies, if, in each rating agency’s judgment, circumstances so warrant. Actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under further review for a downgrade, could affect the market value and liquidity of the notes and increase our corporate borrowing costs.

There may not be an active trading market for the notes.

We cannot assure you that an active trading market for the notes will ever develop or be maintained. Further, there can be no assurance as to the liquidity of any market that may develop for the notes, your ability to sell your notes or the price at which you will be able to sell your notes. The future trading price of the notes will depend on many factors, including prevailing interest rates, our financial condition and results of operations, the then-current ratings assigned to the notes and the market for similar securities. Any trading market that develops would be affected by many factors independent of and in addition to the foregoing, including the:

Redemption may adversely affect your return on the notes.

We have the right to redeem some or all of the notes prior to maturity. We may redeem the notes at times when prevailing interest rates may be relatively low. Accordingly, you may not be able to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable security at an effective interest rate as high as that of the notes.

The provisions in the indenture governing the notes relating to change of control transactions will not necessarily protect you in the event of a highly leveraged transaction.

The provisions in the indenture will not necessarily afford you protection in the event of a highly leveraged transaction that may adversely affect you, including a reorganization, restructuring, merger or other similar transaction involving us. These transactions may not involve a change in voting power or beneficial ownership or, even if they do, may not involve a change of the magnitude required under the definition of change of control repurchase event in the indenture to trigger these provisions, notably that the transactions are accompanied or followed within 60 days by a downgrade in the rating of the notes, following which the notes are no longer rated “investment grade.” Except as described under “Description of Notes — Purchase of Notes upon Change of Control Repurchase Event,” the indenture does not contain provisions that permit the holders of the notes to require us to repurchase the notes in the event of a takeover, recapitalization or similar transaction.

We may not be able to repurchase all of the notes upon a change of control repurchase event, which would result in a default under the notes.

We will be required to repurchase the notes at the option of each holder upon the occurrence of a change of control repurchase event as provided in the indenture governing the notes. However, we may not have sufficient

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funds to repurchase the notes in cash at the time of any change of control repurchase event. In addition, our ability to repurchase the notes for cash may be limited by law or the terms or other agreements relating to our indebtedness outstanding at the time. Accordingly, we may not be able to satisfy our obligations to repurchase your notes unless we are able to refinance or obtain consents from the holders of such indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase your notes upon a change of control repurchase event would be an event of default under the indenture and could cause a cross-default or acceleration under certain agreements governing our other indebtedness, if any, including our credit agreement and our term loan agreement.

You may not be able to determine when a change of control repurchase event has occurred.

The definition of change of control, which is a condition precedent to a change of control repurchase event, includes a phrase relating to the sale, lease or transfer of “all or substantially all” of our assets. There is no precisely established definition of the phrase “substantially all” under applicable law. Accordingly, your ability to require us to repurchase your notes as a result of a sale, lease or transfer of less than all of our assets to another individual, group or entity may be uncertain.

The negative covenants in the indenture governing the notes may have a limited effect.

The indenture governing the notes contains covenants limiting our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to create certain liens on principal property or the capital stock of restricted subsidiaries, enter into certain sale and leaseback transactions with respect to principal property, and consolidate or merge with, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all our assets, taken as a whole, to, another person. The covenants limiting liens and sale and leaseback transactions contain exceptions that will allow us and our restricted subsidiaries to incur liens with respect to material assets. See “Description of Notes — Certain Covenants” in this prospectus supplement and “Description of Senior Debt Securities — Certain Covenants” in the accompanying prospectus. In light of these exceptions and other factors described above, holders of the notes may be structurally or contractually subordinated to new lenders. As of the date of this prospectus supplement, neither we nor any of our restricted subsidiaries own any principal property.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from the sale of the notes will be approximately $         million after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, which, among other things, will include repaying $450.0 million in aggregate principal amount of our 3.125% notes due 2020, plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon, upon their maturity. The interest rate for the 3.125% notes is 3.125% per annum and the 3.125% notes mature on June 15, 2020. Pending these uses, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering primarily in cash, cash equivalents, investment grade securities or other short-term marketable securities. As of the date of this prospectus supplement, we cannot specify with certainty all of the particular uses of the net proceeds we will have upon completion of the offering, and our management will retain broad discretion over the use of proceeds.

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table presents our unaudited cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, short-term debt, long-term debt and capitalization as of October 31, 2019:

You should read this table in conjunction with the information contained in our “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes in our Quarterly Report on Form10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2019, which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.

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DESCRIPTION OF NOTES

The following description of the particular terms of the notes offered by this prospectus supplement should be read in conjunction with the description of the general terms and provisions of the debt securities under the caption “Description of Senior Debt Securities” beginning on page 6 of the accompanying prospectus.

The notes will be issued as a separate series of debt securities under an indenture, dated December 13, 2012, between Autodesk and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (the “trustee”), as supplemented by the fourth supplemental indenture to be entered into concurrently with the delivery of the notes (as so supplemented, the “indenture”). The following summary of provisions of the indenture and the notes does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, all of the provisions of the indenture, including definitions therein of certain terms and provisions made a part of the indenture by reference to the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended (the “Trust Indenture Act”). This summary may not contain all information that you may find useful. You should read the indenture and the notes, copies of which are available from Autodesk upon request. Capitalized terms used and not defined in this summary have the meanings specified in the indenture. References to “Autodesk” in this section of this prospectus supplement are only to Autodesk, Inc. and not to any of its subsidiaries.

General

The notes will have the following basic terms:

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Interest on the notes will be paid to the person in whose name that note is registered at the close of business on                 or                 , as the case may be, immediately preceding the relevant interest payment date. Interest on the notes will be computed on the basis of a360-day year comprised of twelve30-day months.

If any interest or other payment date of a note falls on a day that is not a business day, the required payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest will be due on the next succeeding business day as if made on the date that the payment was due, and no interest will accrue on that payment for the period from and after that interest or other payment date, as the case may be, to the date of that payment on the next succeeding business day. The term “business day” when used with respect to any note, means each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which is not a day on which banking institutions in New York, New York (or such other place of payment as may be subsequently specified by Autodesk) are authorized or obligated by law or executive order to close.

Autodesk does not intend to list the notes on any securities exchange or include the notes in any automated quotation system.

The notes will not be subject to any sinking fund.

Autodesk may, subject to compliance with applicable law, at any time purchase notes in the open market or otherwise.

The indenture does not contain any provisions that would limit Autodesk’s ability to incur additional unsecured indebtedness or require the maintenance of financial ratios or specified levels of net worth or liquidity.

Payment and Transfer or Exchange

Principal of and premium, if any, and interest on the notes will be payable, and the notes may be exchanged or transferred, at the office or agency maintained by Autodesk for such purpose (which initially will be the corporate trust office of the trustee). Payment of principal of and premium, if any, and interest on a global note registered in the name of or held by DTC or its nominee will be made in immediately available funds to DTC or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered holder of such global note. If the notes are no longer represented by a global note, payment of interest on certificated notes in definitive form may, at the option of Autodesk, be made by (i) check mailed directly to holders at their registered addresses or (ii) upon request of any holder of at least $5,000,000 principal amount of notes, wire transfer to an account located in the United States maintained by the payee. See “— Book-Entry; Delivery and Form; Global Notes” below.

A holder may transfer or exchange any certificated notes in definitive form at the same location set forth in the preceding paragraph. No service charge will be made for any registration of transfer or exchange of notes, but Autodesk may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any transfer tax or other similar governmental charge payable in connection therewith. Autodesk is not required to transfer or exchange any note selected for redemption during a period of 15 days before mailing of a notice of redemption of notes to be redeemed.

The registered holder of a note will be treated as the owner of that note for all purposes.

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All amounts of principal of and premium, if any, and interest on the notes paid by Autodesk that remain unclaimed two years after such payment was due and payable will be repaid to Autodesk, and the holders of such notes will thereafter look solely to Autodesk for payment.

Ranking

The notes will be senior unsecured obligations of Autodesk and will rank equally in right of payment with all existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Autodesk, including debt outstanding under its term loan facility and any indebtedness Autodesk may incur from time to time under the credit facility.

The notes will effectively rank junior to all existing and future secured indebtedness of Autodesk to the extent of the assets securing such indebtedness, and to all liabilities of its subsidiaries. As of October 31, 2019, Autodesk did not have any outstanding secured indebtedness. Autodesk derives a portion of its operating income and cash flow from its subsidiaries. Therefore, Autodesk’s ability to make payments when due to the holders of the notes is, in large part, dependent upon the receipt of sufficient funds from its subsidiaries. As of October 31, 2019, Autodesk’s subsidiaries had approximately $1,914.1 million of outstanding liabilities, including trade payables but excluding inter-company liabilities and liabilities of a type not required to be reflected on a balance sheet in accordance with GAAP.

Claims of creditors of Autodesk’s subsidiaries generally will have priority with respect to the assets and earnings of such subsidiaries over the claims of Autodesk’s creditors, including holders of the notes. Accordingly, the notes will be effectively subordinated to creditors, including trade creditors and preferred stockholders, if any, of Autodesk’s subsidiaries.

Optional Redemption

The notes may be redeemed by Autodesk at its option at any time or from time to time prior to                 , 20     (         months prior to maturity), either in whole or in part, at a redemption price equal to the greater of (i) 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes to be redeemed and (ii) the sum of the present values of the Remaining Scheduled Payments, plus in each case, accrued and unpaid interest thereon to, but excluding, the redemption date, subject to the rights of holders of the notes on the relevant record date to receive interest due on the relevant interest payment date. If the notes are redeemed on or after                 , 20     (         months prior to maturity), the redemption price will equal 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes being redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon to, but excluding, the redemption date.

In determining the present values of the Remaining Scheduled Payments, Autodesk will discount such payments to the redemption date on a semi-annual basis (assuming a360-day year consisting of twelve30-day months) using a discount rate equal to the Treasury Rate plus              basis points.

The following terms are relevant to the determination of the redemption price.

“Comparable Treasury Issue” means the United States Treasury security selected by an Independent Investment Banker as having an actual or interpolated maturity comparable to the remaining term of the notes to be redeemed that would be utilized, at the time of selection and in accordance with customary financial practice, in pricing new issues of corporate debt securities of comparable maturity to the remaining term of such notes.

“Comparable Treasury Price” means, with respect to any redemption date, (1) the arithmetic average of the applicable Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations for such redemption date after excluding the highest and lowest Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, (2) if Autodesk obtains fewer than four applicable Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, the arithmetic average of all applicable Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations for such redemption date or (3) if only one Reference Treasury Dealer Quotation is received, such quotation.

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“Independent Investment Banker” means one of the Reference Treasury Dealers, or their respective successors, as may be appointed from time to time by Autodesk; provided, however, that if the foregoing ceases to be a primary U.S. Government securities dealer in the United States (a “primary treasury dealer”), Autodesk will substitute another primary treasury dealer.

“Reference Treasury Dealer” means each of BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, and each of their respective successors and any other primary treasury dealers selected by Autodesk.

“Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations” means, with respect to each Reference Treasury Dealer and any redemption date, the arithmetic average, as determined by Autodesk, of the bid and asked prices for the applicable Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed in each case as a percentage of its principal amount) quoted in writing to Autodesk by such Reference Treasury Dealer as of 3:30 p.m., New York City time, on the third business day preceding such redemption date.

“Remaining Scheduled Payments” means, with respect to any note to be redeemed, the remaining scheduled payments of the principal thereof and interest thereon that would be due after the related redemption date but for such redemption; provided, however, that, if such redemption date is not an interest payment date with respect to such note, the amount of the next scheduled interest payment thereon will be reduced by the amount of interest accrued thereon to such redemption date.

“Treasury Rate” means, with respect to any redemption date, the rate per annum equal to the semi-annual equivalent yield to maturity (computed as of the third business day immediately preceding that redemption date) of the applicable Comparable Treasury Issue. In determining this rate, Autodesk will assume a price for the applicable Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed as a percentage of its principal amount) equal to the applicable Comparable Treasury Price for such redemption date.

A partial redemption of the notes may be effected pro rata or by lot and may provide for the selection for redemption of portions (equal to the minimum authorized denomination for the notes or any integral multiple thereof) of the principal amount of notes of a denomination larger than the minimum authorized denomination for the notes.

Notice of any redemption will be delivered at least 15 days but not more than 60 days before the redemption date to each holder of the notes to be redeemed. At Autodesk’s request, the trustee shall give the notice of redemption on behalf of Autodesk.

Unless Autodesk defaults in payment of the redemption price, on and after the redemption date interest will cease to accrue on the notes, or portions thereof, called for redemption.

Purchase of Notes upon Change of Control Repurchase Event

If a change of control repurchase event occurs, unless Autodesk has exercised its right to redeem the notes as described above, each holder of the notes will have the right to require Autodesk to repurchase all or any part (in excess of $2,000 and in integral multiples of $1,000) of that holder’s notes at a repurchase price in cash equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes repurchased plus any accrued and unpaid interest on the notes repurchased to, but excluding, the date of repurchase. Within 30 days following any change of control repurchase event or, at the option of Autodesk, prior to any change of control, but after the public announcement of the change of control or event that may constitute the change of control, Autodesk will deliver a notice to each holder, with a copy to the trustee, describing the transaction or transactions that constitute or may constitute the change of control repurchase event and Autodesk’s obligation to repurchase the notes on the payment date specified in the notice, which date will be no earlier than 30 days and no later than 60 days from the date such notice is delivered (a “change of control notice”). The notice shall, if delivered prior to the date of consummation

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of the change of control, state that Autodesk’s obligation to repurchase the notes is conditioned on a change of control repurchase event occurring on or prior to the payment date specified in the notice. Autodesk will comply with the requirements of Rule14e-1 under the Exchange Act and any other securities laws and regulations thereunder to the extent those laws and regulations are applicable in connection with the repurchase of the notes as a result of a change of control repurchase event. To the extent that the provisions of any securities laws or regulations conflict with the change of control repurchase event provisions of the notes, Autodesk will comply with the applicable securities laws and regulations and will not be deemed to have breached its obligations under the change of control repurchase event provisions of the notes by virtue of such conflict.

On the repurchase date following a change of control repurchase event, Autodesk will, to the extent lawful:

The paying agent will promptly deliver to each holder of notes properly tendered the repurchase price for the notes, and the trustee will promptly authenticate and mail (or cause to be transferred by book-entry) to each holder a new note equal in principal amount to any unpurchased portion of any notes surrendered.

Autodesk will not be required to repurchase the notes upon a change of control repurchase event if a third party agrees to repurchase the notes in the manner, at the times and otherwise in compliance with the requirements for Autodesk under the indenture for the notes and such third party repurchases all notes properly tendered and not withdrawn by the holders.

The change of control repurchase event feature of the notes may in certain circumstances make more difficult or discourage a sale or takeover of Autodesk and, thus, the removal of incumbent management. The change of control repurchase event feature is a result of negotiations between Autodesk and the underwriters. Autodesk has no present intention to engage in a transaction involving a change of control, although it is possible that Autodesk could decide to do so in the future. Subject to the limitations discussed below, Autodesk could, in the future, enter into certain transactions, including acquisitions, refinancings or other recapitalizations, that would not constitute a change of control under the indenture, but that could increase the amount of indebtedness outstanding at such time or otherwise affect the capital structure of Autodesk or credit ratings of the notes. Restrictions on the ability of Autodesk to incur liens and enter into sale and leaseback transactions are contained in the covenants as described under “— Certain Covenants — Limitation on Liens” and “— Certain Covenants — Limitation on Sale and Leaseback Transactions.” Except for the limitations contained in such covenants and the covenant relating to repurchases upon the occurrence of a change of control repurchase event, however, the indenture will not contain any covenants or provisions that may afford holders of the notes protection in the event of a highly leveraged transaction.

The phrase “all or substantially all,” as used with respect to the assets of Autodesk and its subsidiaries in the definition of “change of control,” is subject to interpretation under applicable state law, and its applicability in a given instance would depend upon the facts and circumstances. As a result, there may be a degree of uncertainty in ascertaining whether a sale or transfer of “all or substantially all” the assets of Autodesk and its subsidiaries has occurred in a particular instance, in which case a holder’s ability to obtain the benefit of these provisions could be unclear.

Autodesk may not have sufficient funds to repurchase all the notes upon a change of control repurchase event. In addition, even if it has sufficient funds, Autodesk may be prohibited from repurchasing the notes under

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the terms of its future debt instruments. Furthermore, a change of control could constitute an event of default under its credit facility and term loan facility. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to the Notes — We may not be able to repurchase all of the notes upon a change of control repurchase event.”

For purposes of the foregoing discussion of a repurchase at the option of holders, the following definitions are applicable:

“change of control” means the occurrence of any of the following: (1) the direct or indirect sale, transfer, conveyance or other disposition (other than by way of merger or consolidation), in one or a series of related transactions, of all or substantially all of the properties or assets of Autodesk and its subsidiaries taken as a whole to any “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act) other than Autodesk or one of its subsidiaries; (2) the adoption of a plan by Autodesk’s board of directors relating to Autodesk’s liquidation or dissolution; (3) the consummation of any transaction (including, without limitation, any merger or consolidation) the result of which is that any “person” (as defined above) becomes the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of more than 50% of the aggregate of the total voting power of the voting stock of Autodesk or other voting stock into which Autodesk’s voting stock is reclassified, consolidated, exchanged or changed, measured by voting power rather than number of shares; provided, however, that a person shall not be deemed beneficial owner of, or to own beneficially, (A) any securities tendered pursuant to a tender or exchange offer made by or on behalf of such person or any of such person’s affiliates until such tendered securities are accepted for purchase or exchange thereunder, or (B) any securities if such beneficial ownership (i) arises solely as a result of a revocable proxy delivered in response to a proxy or consent solicitation made pursuant to the applicable rules and regulations under the Exchange Act, and (ii) is not also then reportable on Schedule 13D (or any successor schedule) under the Exchange Act; or (4) Autodesk consolidates with, or merges with or into, any person, or any person consolidates with, or merges with or into, Autodesk, in any such event pursuant to a transaction in which any of the outstanding voting stock of Autodesk or the outstanding voting stock of such other person is converted into or exchanged for cash, securities or other property, other than any such transaction where the shares of Autodesk’s voting stock outstanding immediately prior to such transaction constitute, or are converted into or exchanged for, a majority of the voting stock of the surviving person or any direct or indirect parent company of any surviving person immediately after giving effect to such transaction.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, a transaction will not be deemed to involve a change of control if (a) Autodesk becomes a direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiary of a holding company and (b)(i) the holders of the voting stock of such holding company immediately following that transaction are substantially the same as the holders of Autodesk’s voting stock immediately prior to that transaction or (ii) no “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act) (other than a holding company satisfying the requirements of this sentence) becomes the “beneficial owner” (as defined in Rules13d-3 and13d-5 under the Exchange Act), directly or indirectly, of more than 50% of the voting power of the voting stock of such holding company immediately following such transaction.

“change of control repurchase event” means the occurrence of both a change of control and a ratings event.

“investment grade” means a rating of Baa3 or better by Moody’s (or its equivalent under any successor rating categories of Moody’s); a rating ofBBB- or better by S&P (or its equivalent under any successor rating categories of S&P); or, if applicable, the equivalent investment grade credit rating from any substitute rating agency.

“Moody’s” means Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.

“rating agency” means (1) each of Moody’s and S&P; and (2) if either of Moody’s or S&P ceases to rate the notes or fails to make a rating of the notes publicly available for reasons outside of the control of Autodesk, a substitute rating agency.

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“rating category” means (i) with respect to S&P, any of the following categories: BBB, BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D (or equivalent successor categories); (ii) with respect to Moody’s, any of the following categories: Baa, Ba, B, Caa, Ca, C and D (or equivalent successor categories); and (iii) the equivalent of any such category of S&P or Moody’s used by another rating agency. In determining whether the rating of the notes has decreased by one or more gradations, gradations within rating categories (+ and – for S&P; 1, 2 and 3 for Moody’s; or the equivalent gradations for another rating agency) shall be taken into account (e.g., with respect to S&P, a decline in a rating from BB+ to BB, as well as from BB– to B+, will constitute a decrease of one gradation).

“ratings event” means, that the notes cease to be rated investment grade by both rating agencies on any day during the period (the “trigger period”) commencing on the earlier of (a) the first public notice of the occurrence of a change of control or (b) the public announcement by Autodesk of its intention to effect a change of control, and ending 60 days following consummation of such change of control (which period shall be extended so long as the rating of the notes is under publicly announced consideration for a possible rating downgrade by either of the rating agencies on such 60th day, such extension to last with respect to each such rating agency until the date on which such rating agency considering such possible downgrade either (x) rates the notes below investment grade or (y) publicly announces that it is no longer considering the notes for possible downgrade, provided that no such extension will occur if on such 60th day the notes are rated investment grade by at least one of such rating agencies in question and are not subject to review for possible downgrade by such rating agency). If either rating agency is not providing a rating of the notes on any day during the trigger period for any reason, the rating of such rating agency shall be deemed to have ceased to be rated investment grade during the trigger period.

“S&P” means Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

“substitute rating agency” means a “nationally recognized statistical rating organization” within the meaning of Section 3(a)(62) of the Exchange Act, selected by us (as certified by a resolution of Autodesk’s board of directors or a committee thereof) as a replacement agency for Moody’s or S&P, or both of them, as the case may be.

“voting stock” of any specified “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act) as of any date means the capital stock of such person that is at the time entitled to vote generally in the election of the board of directors of such person.

Further Issuances

Autodesk may from time to time, without notice to or the consent of the holders of the notes, create and issue additional notes having the same terms as, and ranking equally and ratably with, the notes in all respects (except for the issue date and, if applicable, the payment of interest accruing prior to the issue date of such additional notes and the first payment of interest following the issue date of such additional notes). Such additional notes may be consolidated and form a single series with, and will have the same terms as to ranking, redemption, waivers, amendments or otherwise, as the notes and will vote together as one class on all matters with respect to the notes, as the case may be; provided that if the additional notes are not fungible with the outstanding notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the additional notes will have a separate CUSIP number.

Certain Covenants

Except as set forth below, neither Autodesk nor any of its subsidiaries will be restricted by the indenture from:

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In addition, Autodesk will not be required to maintain any financial ratios or specified levels of net worth or liquidity or to repurchase or redeem or otherwise modify the terms of the notes upon a change of control or other events involving Autodesk or any of its subsidiaries which may adversely affect the creditworthiness of the notes, except to the limited extent provided under “— Purchase of Notes upon Change of Control Repurchase Event.” Among other things, the indenture will not contain covenants designed to afford holders of the notes any protections in the event of a highly leveraged or other transaction involving Autodesk that may adversely affect holders of the notes, except to the limited extent provided under “— Purchase of Notes upon Change of Control Repurchase Event.”

The indenture will contain the following principal covenants:

Limitation on Liens

Autodesk will not incur, and will not permit any of its restricted subsidiaries to incur, any indebtedness secured by a mortgage, security interest, pledge, lien, charge or other similar encumbrance (collectively, “Liens”) upon (a) any Principal Property of Autodesk or any of its restricted subsidiaries or (b) any shares of stock or indebtedness of any of its restricted subsidiaries (whether such Principal Property or shares or indebtedness of any restricted subsidiary are now existing or owned or hereafter created or acquired), in each case, unless prior to or at the same time, the notes (together with, at the option of Autodesk, any other indebtedness or guarantees of Autodesk or any of its subsidiaries ranking equally in right of payment with the notes or such guarantee) are equally and ratably secured with or, at the option of Autodesk, prior to, such secured indebtedness.

The foregoing restriction does not apply to:

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Notwithstanding the restrictions set forth in the preceding paragraph, Autodesk and its restricted subsidiaries will be permitted to incur indebtedness secured by Liens which would otherwise be subject to the foregoing restrictions without equally and ratably securing the notes, provided that, after giving effect to such indebtedness, the aggregate amount of all indebtedness secured by Liens (not including Liens permitted under clauses (1) through (14) above), together with all attributable debt outstanding pursuant to the second paragraph of the “— Limitation on Sale and Leaseback Transactions” covenant described below, does not exceed 15% of the Consolidated Net Tangible Assets of Autodesk. Autodesk and its restricted subsidiaries also may, without equally and ratably securing the notes, create or incur Liens that extend, renew, substitute or replace (including successive extensions, renewals, substitutions or replacements), in whole or in part, any Lien permitted pursuant to the preceding sentence.

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Limitation on Sale and Leaseback Transactions

Autodesk will not, and will not permit any of its restricted subsidiaries to, enter into any sale and leaseback transaction for the sale and leasing back of any Principal Property, whether now owned or hereafter acquired, unless:

Notwithstanding the restrictions set forth in the preceding paragraph, Autodesk and its restricted subsidiaries may enter into any sale and leaseback transaction which would otherwise be subject to the foregoing restrictions, if after giving effect thereto the aggregate amount of all attributable debt with respect to such transactions, together with all indebtedness outstanding pursuant to the third paragraph of the “— Limitation on Liens” covenant described above, does not exceed 15% of the Consolidated Net Tangible Assets of Autodesk. As of the date of this prospectus, neither we nor any of our restricted subsidiaries own any Principal Property.

Definitions

The indenture contains the following defined terms:

“attributable debt” means, with respect to any sale and leaseback transaction, at the time of determination, the lesser of (1) the fair market value of such Principal Property as determined in good faith by Autodesk’s board of directors, and (2) the total obligation (discounted to the present value at the implicit interest factor, determined in accordance with GAAP, included in the rental payments) of the lessee for rental payments (other than amounts required to be paid on account of property taxes as well as maintenance, repairs, insurance, water rates and other items which do not constitute payments for property rights) during the remaining portion of the base term of the lease included in such transaction.

“Consolidated Net Tangible Assets” means, as of the time of determination, the aggregate amount of the assets of Autodesk and the assets of its consolidated subsidiaries after deducting (1) all goodwill, trade names, trademarks, service marks, patents, unamortized debt discount and expense and other intangible assets and (2) all current liabilities, as reflected on the most recent consolidated balance sheet prepared by Autodesk in accordance with GAAP contained in an annual report on Form10-K or a quarterly report on Form10-Q filed or any amendment thereto (and not subsequently disclaimed as not being reliable by Autodesk) pursuant to the Exchange Act by Autodesk prior to the time as of which “Consolidated Net Tangible Assets” is being determined or, if Autodesk is not required to so file, as reflected on its most recent consolidated balance sheet prepared by Autodesk in accordance with GAAP.

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“GAAP” means generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America in effect from time to time.

“guarantee” means any obligation, contingent or otherwise, of any person directly or indirectly guaranteeing any indebtedness of any other person and any obligation, direct or indirect, contingent or otherwise, of such person (1) to purchase or pay (or advance or supply funds for the purchase or payment of) such indebtedness of such other person (whether arising by virtue of partnership arrangements, or by agreement to keep well, to purchase assets, goods, securities or services, to take or pay or to maintain financial statement conditions or otherwise) or (2) entered into for purposes of assuring in any other manner the obligee of such indebtedness of the payment thereof or to protect such obligee against loss in respect thereof (in whole or in part); provided, however, that the term “guarantee” will not include endorsements for collection or deposit in the ordinary course of business. The term “guarantee,” when used as a verb, has a correlative meaning.

“incur” means issue, assume, guarantee or otherwise become liable for.

“indebtedness” means, with respect to any person, indebtedness of such person for borrowed money (including, without limitation, indebtedness for borrowed money evidenced by notes, bonds, debentures or similar instruments).

“Non-recourse Obligation” means indebtedness or other obligations substantially related to (1) the acquisition of assets not previously owned by Autodesk or any direct or indirect subsidiaries of Autodesk or (2) the financing of a project involving the development or expansion of properties of Autodesk or any direct or indirect subsidiaries of Autodesk, as to which the obligee with respect to such indebtedness or obligation has no recourse to Autodesk or any direct or indirect subsidiary of Autodesk or such subsidiary’s assets other than the assets which were acquired with the proceeds of such transaction or the project financed with the proceeds of such transaction (and the proceeds thereof).

“person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, association, joint-stock company, trust, unincorporated organization or government or political subdivision thereof.

“Principal Property” means the land, improvements, buildings and fixtures owned by Autodesk or any of its wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries that constitutes Autodesk’s principal offices in San Rafael, California, any research and development facility and any service and support facility (in each case including associated office facilities) located within the territorial limits of the States of the United States of America, except such as Autodesk’s board of directors (or authorized committee thereof) by resolution determines in good faith (taking into account, among other things, the importance of such property to the business, financial condition and earnings of Autodesk and its subsidiaries taken as a whole) not to be of material importance to Autodesk’s and its subsidiaries’ business, taken as a whole.

“restricted subsidiary” means any domestic subsidiary that owns any Principal Property other than:

“subsidiary” means, with respect to any person (the “parent”) at any date, any corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association or other entity the accounts of which would be consolidated with those of the parent in the parent’s consolidated financial statements if such financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP as of that date, as well as any other corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association or other entity of which securities or other ownership interests representing more than 50% of the equity or more

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than 50% of the ordinary voting power or, in the case of a partnership, more than 50% of the general partnership interests are, as of that date, owned, controlled or held by the parent or one or more subsidiaries of the parent or by the parent and one or more subsidiaries of the parent.

Events of Default

Each of the following, in addition to the events of default described in the accompanying prospectus, is an “event of default” under the indenture with respect to the notes:

Same-Day Settlement and Payment

The notes will trade in thesame-day funds settlement system of DTC until maturity or until Autodesk issues the notes in certificated form. DTC will therefore require secondary market trading activity in the notes to settle in immediately available funds. Autodesk can give no assurance as to the effect, if any, of settlement in immediately available funds on trading activity in the notes.

Book-Entry; Delivery and Form; Global Notes

The notes will be represented by one or more global notes in definitive, fully registered form without interest coupons. Each global note will be deposited with the trustee as custodian for DTC and registered in the name of a nominee of DTC in New York, New York for the accounts of participants in DTC.

Investors may hold their interests in a global note directly through DTC if they are DTC participants, or indirectly through organizations that are DTC participants. Except in the limited circumstances described below, holders of notes represented by interests in a global note will not be entitled to receive their notes in fully registered certificated form.

DTC has advised as follows: DTC is a limited-purpose trust company organized under New York Banking Law, a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. DTC was created to hold securities of institutions that have accounts with DTC (“participants”) and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of securities transactions among its participants in such securities through electronic book-entry changes in accounts of the participants, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities

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certificates. DTC’s participants include securities brokers and dealers (which may include the initial purchasers), banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations. Access to DTC’s book-entry system is also available to others such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a participant, whether directly or indirectly.

Ownership of Beneficial Interests

Upon the issuance of each global note, DTC will credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the respective principal amount of the individual beneficial interests represented by the global note to the accounts of participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in each global note will be limited to participants or persons that may hold interests through participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in each global note will be shown on, and the transfer of those ownership interests will be effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to participants’ interests) and such participants (with respect to the owners of beneficial interests in the global note other than participants).

So long as DTC or its nominee is the registered holder and owner of a global note, DTC or such nominee, as the case may be, will be considered the sole legal owner of the notes represented by the global note for all purposes under the indenture, the notes and applicable law. Except as set forth below, owners of beneficial interests in a global note will not be entitled to receive certificated notes and will not be considered to be the owners or holders of any notes under the global note. Autodesk understands that under existing industry practice, in the event an owner of a beneficial interest in a global note desires to take any actions that DTC, as the holder of the global note, is entitled to take, DTC would authorize the participants to take such action, and that participants would authorize beneficial owners owning through such participants to take such action or would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners owning through them. No beneficial owner of an interest in a global note will be able to transfer the interest except in accordance with DTC’s applicable procedures, in addition to those provided for under the indenture. Because DTC can only act on behalf of participants, who in turn act on behalf of others, the ability of a person having a beneficial interest in a global note to pledge that interest to persons that do not participate in the DTC system, or otherwise to take actions in respect of that interest, may be impaired by the lack of physical certificate of that interest.

All payments on the notes represented by a global note registered in the name of and held by DTC or its nominee will be made to DTC or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered owner and holder of the global note.

Autodesk expects that DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest in respect of a global note, will credit participants’ accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in the principal amount of the global note as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Autodesk also expects that payments by participants to owners of beneficial interests in the global note held through such participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices as is now the case with securities held for accounts for customers registered in the names of nominees for such customers. These payments, however, will be the responsibility of such participants and indirect participants, and neither Autodesk, the underwriters, the trustee nor any paying agent will have any responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in any global note or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and its participants or the relationship between such participants and the owners of beneficial interests in the global note.

Unless and until it is exchanged in whole or in part for certificated notes, each global note may not be transferred except as a whole by DTC to a nominee of DTC or by a nominee of DTC to DTC or another nominee of DTC. Transfers between participants in DTC will be effected in the ordinary way in accordance with DTC rules and will be settled insame-day funds.

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Autodesk expects that DTC will take any action permitted to be taken by a holder of notes (including the presentation of notes for exchange as described below) only at the direction of one or more participants to whose account the DTC interests in a global note are credited and only in respect of such portion of the aggregate principal amount of the notes as to which such participant or participants has or have given such direction.

Although Autodesk expects that DTC will agree to the foregoing procedures in order to facilitate transfers of interests in each global note among participants of DTC, DTC is under no obligation to perform or continue to perform such procedures, and such procedures may be discontinued at any time. Neither Autodesk, the underwriters, nor the trustee will have any responsibility for the performance or nonperformance by DTC or their participants or indirect participants of their respective obligations under the rules and procedures governing their operations.

Under certain circumstances described in the accompanying prospectus, DTC may exchange the global notes for notes in certificated form of like tenor and of an equal principal amount, in authorized denominations. These certificated notes will be registered in such name or names as DTC shall instruct the trustee. It is expected that such instructions may be based upon directions received by DTC from participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in global securities.

The information in this section concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system has been obtained from sources that Autodesk believes to be reliable, but Autodesk does not take responsibility for its accuracy.

Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg

If the depositary for a global security is DTC, you may hold interests in the global notes through Clearstream Banking, SA., which is referred to as “Clearstream, Luxembourg,” or Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V., as operator of the Euroclear System, which is referred to as “Euroclear,” in each case, as a participant in DTC. Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg will hold interests, in each case, on behalf of their participants through customers’ securities accounts in the names of Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg on the books of their respective depositaries, which in turn will hold such interests in customers’ securities in the depositaries’ names on DTC’s books.

Payments, deliveries, transfers, exchanges, notices and other matters relating to the notes made through Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg must comply with the rules and procedures of those systems. Those systems could change their rules and procedures at any time. Autodesk has no control over those systems or their participants, and it takes no responsibility for their activities. Transactions between participants in Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg, on the one hand, and other participants in DTC, on the other hand, would also be subject to DTC’s rules and procedures.

Investors will be able to make and receive through Euroclear and Clearstream, Luxembourg payments, deliveries, transfers, exchanges, notices and other transactions involving any securities held through those systems only on days when those systems are open for business. Those systems may not be open for business on days when banks, brokers and other institutions are open for business in the United States.

In addition, because of time-zone differences, U.S. investors who hold their interests in the notes through these systems and wish, on a particular day, to transfer their interests, or to receive or make a payment or delivery or exercise any other right with respect to their interests, may find that the transaction will not be effected until the next business day in Luxembourg or Brussels, as applicable. Thus, investors who wish to exercise rights that expire on a particular day may need to act before the expiration date. In addition, investors who hold their interests through both DTC and Euroclear or Clearstream, Luxembourg may need to make special arrangements to finance any purchase or sales of their interests between the U.S. and European clearing systems, and those transactions may settle later than transactions within one clearing system.

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Governing Law

The indenture and the notes will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

Regarding the Trustee

U.S. Bank National Association is the trustee under the indenture and has also been appointed by Autodesk to act as registrar, transfer agent and paying agent for the notes. Autodesk and its affiliates maintain various commercial and service relationships with the trustee and its affiliates in the ordinary course of business, including asset and investment management and insurance services.

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U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following discussion is a summary of U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable tonon-U.S holders (as defined below) that acquire notes for cash at their original issue price pursuant to this offering. The information provided below is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, and Treasury regulations, rulings and judicial decisions as of the date hereof, all of which are subject to change or differing interpretations, possibly with retroactive effect. There can be no assurances that the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, will not challenge one or more of the tax consequences described herein. No ruling from the IRS has been or will be sought on any of the issues discussed herein, and there can be no assurance that the IRS or a court will concur with the conclusions reached below.

This discussion does not discuss all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be relevant to a particular person or persons subject to special treatment under the U.S. federal income tax laws (such as financial institutions, broker-dealers, traders in securities that elect to use amark-to-market method of tax accounting, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, insurance companies, cooperatives, controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies, persons required for U.S. federal income tax purposes to conform the timing of income accruals with respect to the notes to their financial statements under Section 451 of the Code,tax-exempt entities,tax-deferred or other retirement accounts, former citizens or long-term residents of the United States, or persons who are, or hold their notes through, partnerships or other pass-through entities), or to persons holding the notes as part of a hedging, conversion or integrated transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes, or persons deemed to sell the notes under the constructive sale provisions of the Code, all of whom may be subject to tax rules that would differ from those summarized below. In addition, this discussion does not describe the effects of any other U.S. federal tax laws such as the alternative minimum tax, the Medicare contribution tax on net investment income, or estate and gift tax, nor the effects of any applicablenon-U.S., state or local laws.

Each prospective investor of the notes should consult their tax advisors as to the particular U.S. federal income tax considerations to them of owning and disposing of the notes as well as the effects of other U.S. federal tax laws or state, local andnon-U.S. tax laws.

For purposes of this summary,“non-U.S. holder” means a beneficial owner of a note that is not an entity or arrangement classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and that is not a U.S. holder. “U.S. holder” means a beneficial owner of a note that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes (1) an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, (2) a corporation (or an entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia, (3) an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source, or (4) a trust if (x) the trust is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court and the control of one or more U.S. persons or (y) the trust has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

If a partnership (including any entity or arrangement (domestic or foreign) that is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) is a beneficial owner of a note, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. A beneficial owner of a note that is a partnership, and partners in such partnership, should consult their own tax advisors about the U.S. federal income tax consequences of purchasing, owning and disposing of the notes.

Interest

Anon-U.S. holder will generally not be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax on interest received in respect of the notes, provided that such non-U.S. holder (i) does not own, actually or constructively, 10% or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of our stock entitled to vote; (ii) is not a “controlled foreign corporation” within the meaning of Section 957(a) of the Code that is related, directly or indirectly, to us through

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sufficient stock ownership; and (iii) certifies under penalties of perjury to the applicable withholding agent on IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or appropriate substitute form) that it is not a U.S. Person or certain other certification requirements are satisfied. Anon-U.S. holder that does not meet the above criteria will be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax at a rate of 30% unless the withholding tax rate is reduced or eliminated by an applicable income tax treaty and suchnon-U.S. holder is a qualified resident of the treaty country and complies with certain certification requirements.

If interest on the offered notes is not effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States by a non-U.S. holder but such non-U.S. holder cannot satisfy the other requirements outlined in the preceding paragraph, interest on the offered notes will generally be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax (currently imposed at a 30% rate), unless the withholding tax rate is reduced or eliminated by an applicable income tax treaty, and such non-U.S. holder is a qualified resident of the treaty country and complies with certain certification requirements.

If interest on the offered notes is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States by a Non-U.S. Holder and, if certain tax treaties apply, such interest is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base within the United States, then the Non-U.S. Holder will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the receipt or accrual of such interest on a net income basis in the same manner as if such holder were a U.S. person and, in the case of a Non-U.S. Holder that is a foreign corporation, may also be subject to an additional branch profits tax (currently imposed at a rate of 30%, or a lower applicable treaty rate) on its effectively connected earnings and profits for the taxable year, subject to adjustments. Any such interest will not also be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax, however, if the Non-U.S. Holder delivers to the applicable withholding agent a properly executed IRS Form W-8ECI in order to claim an exemption from U.S. federal withholding tax.

Sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of the notes

Non-U.S. holders will not generally be subject to U.S. federal income taxation with respect to gain realized on the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of the notes, unless:

FATCA withholding requirements

Withholding at a rate of 30% will generally be required in certain circumstances on interest in respect of notes held by or through certain financial institutions (including investment funds), unless such institution (i) enters into, and complies with, an agreement with the IRS to report, on an annual basis, information with respect to interests in, and accounts maintained by, the institution that are owned by U.S. Persons and to withhold on certain payments, or (ii) if required under an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country, reports such information to its local tax authority, which will exchange such information with the U.S. authorities. An intergovernmental agreement between the United States and applicable foreign country may modify these requirements. Accordingly, the entity through which the notes are held will affect the determination of whether such withholding is required. Similarly, interest from the disposition of notes

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that can produce interest in respect of notes held by an investor that is a nonfinancialnon-U.S. entity that does not qualify under certain exemptions will generally be subject to withholding at a rate of 30%, unless such entity either (i) certifies to us that such entity does not have any “substantial U.S. owners,” or (ii) provides certain information regarding the entity’s “substantial U.S. owners,” which we, in turn, will provide to the U.S. Treasury.

Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of these rules on an investment in the notes.

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UNDERWRITING

Under the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an underwriting agreement dated the date of this prospectus supplement, the underwriters named below, for whom BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are acting as representatives, have severally agreed to purchase, and we have agreed to sell to them, severally, the principal amount of notes set forth opposite their names below:

The underwriters are offering the notes subject to their acceptance of the notes from us and subject to prior sale. The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the several underwriters to pay for and accept delivery of the notes offered by this prospectus supplement are subject to the approval of certain legal matters by their counsel and to certain other conditions. The underwriters are obligated to take and pay for all of the notes offered by this prospectus supplement if any such notes are taken.

The underwriters initially propose to offer part of the notes directly to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement and part to certain dealers at a price that represents a concession not in excess of     % of the principal amount of the notes. Any such dealers may resell any notes purchased from the underwriters to certain other brokers or dealers at a discount not to exceed     % of the principal amount of the notes. After the initial offering of the notes, the offering prices and other selling terms may from time to time be varied by the representatives. The underwriters may offer and sell notes through certain of their affiliates.

The following table shows the underwriting discount that we will pay to the underwriters in connection with this offering:

Expenses associated with this offering to be paid by us, other than the underwriting discount, are estimated to be approximately $800,000.

In connection with the offering of the notes, the underwriters may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the prices of the notes. Specifically, the underwriters may overallot in connection with the offering of the notes, creating a syndicate short position. In addition, the underwriters may bid for, and purchase, notes in the open market to cover syndicate short positions or to stabilize the prices of the notes. The underwriters may also impose a penalty bid. This occurs when a certain underwriter repays to the underwriters a portion of the underwriting discount received by it because the representatives have repurchased notes sold by or for the account of such underwriter in stabilizing or short covering transactions. Finally, the underwriting syndicate may reclaim selling concessions allowed for distributing the notes in the offering of the notes, if the syndicate repurchases previously distributed notes in syndicate covering transactions, stabilization transactions or otherwise. Any of these activities may stabilize or maintain the market prices of the notes above independent market levels. The underwriters are not required to engage in any of these activities, and may end any of them at any time.

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We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or to contribute to payments which the underwriters may be required to make in respect of any such liabilities.

The notes are a new issue of securities with no established trading market. We do not intend to apply for listing of the notes on any securities exchange or for quotation of the notes on any automated dealer quotation system. We have been advised by the underwriters that they presently intend to make a market in the notes after completion of the offering. However, they are under no obligation to do so and may discontinue any market- making activities at any time without any notice. We cannot assure the liquidity of the trading market for the notes or that an active public market for the notes will develop. If an active public trading market for the notes does not develop, the market price and liquidity of the notes may be adversely affected.

The underwriters and their respective affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include sales and trading, commercial and investment banking, advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, market making, brokerage and other financial andnon-financial activities and services. Certain of the underwriters and their respective affiliates have provided, and may in the future provide, a variety of these services to us and to persons and entities with relationships with us. For example, Citibank, N.A., which is an affiliate of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., is acting as one of the joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners under the Company’s existing credit facility and term loan facility and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is serving as an underwriter in this transaction. Additionally, Citibank, N.A., which is an affiliate of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., is acting as the administrative agent under the Company’s existing credit facility and term loan facility. Bank of America, N.A., an affiliate of BofA Securities, Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are lenders under the Company’s existing credit facility and term loan facility. Finally, BofA Securities, Inc. is an active participant under the Company’s existing share repurchase program. Such underwriters and their affiliates have received, and may receive in the future, customary fees, expenses and commissions for these activities and services.

In the ordinary course of their various business activities, the underwriters and their respective affiliates, officers, directors and employees may purchase, sell or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade securities, derivatives, loans, commodities, currencies, credit default swaps and other financial instruments for their own account and for the accounts of their customers, and such investment and trading activities may involve or relate to assets, securities and/or instruments of ours (directly, as collateral securing other obligations or otherwise) and/or persons and entities with relationships with us. If any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates have a lending relationship with us, certain of those underwriters or their respective affiliates routinely hedge, and certain other of those underwriters may hedge, their credit exposure to us consistent with their customary risk management policies. Typically, these underwriters and their respective affiliates would hedge such exposure by entering into transactions which consist of either the purchase of credit default swaps or the creation of short positions in our securities, including potentially the notes offered hereby. Any such credit default swaps or short positions could adversely affect future trading prices of the notes offered hereby. The underwriters and their respective affiliates may also communicate independent investment recommendations, market color or trading ideas and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such assets, securities or instruments and may at any time hold, or recommend to clients that they should acquire, long and/or short positions in such assets, securities and instruments.

It is expected that delivery of the notes will be made against payment therefor on or about                 , 2020, which is the fifth business day following the date hereof (such settlement cycle being referred to as “T+5”). Under Rule 15c6-1 under the Exchange Act, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in two business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. Accordingly, purchasers who wish to trade the notes on the date of pricing or the next two succeeding business days will be required, by virtue of the fact that the notes initially will settle in T+5, to specify an alternative settlement cycle at the time of any such trade to prevent failed settlement. Purchasers of the notes who wish to trade the notes on the date of pricing or the next two succeeding business days should consult their own advisors.

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Selling Restrictions

Canada

The notes may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the notes must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contain a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (“NI33-105”), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

European Economic Area

The notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area (“EEA”). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, “MiFID II”); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive 2002/92/EC (as amended, the “Insurance Mediation Directive”), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (as amended, the “Prospectus Regulation”). Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the “PRIIPs Regulation”) for offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. This prospectus supplement has been prepared on the basis that any offer of notes in any Member State of the EEA will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Regulation from the requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of notes. This prospectus supplement is not a prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Regulation.

United Kingdom

In addition, in the United Kingdom, this document is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, and any offer subsequently made may only be directed at persons who are “qualified investors” (as defined in the Prospectus Regulation) (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19 (5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the “Order”) and/or (ii) who are high net worth companies (or persons to whom it may otherwise be lawfully communicated) falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This document must not be acted on or relied on in the United Kingdom by persons who are not relevant persons. In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is only available to, and will be engaged in with, relevant persons.

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Hong Kong

The notes may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the notes may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to notes which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

Japan

The notes have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law) and each underwriter has agreed that it will not offer or sell any notes, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others forre-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan.

Singapore

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus have not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the notes may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the notes be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA, in each case subject to compliance with conditions set forth in the SFA.

Where the notes are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

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Singapore Securities and Futures Act Product Classification — Solely for the purposes of its obligations pursuant to sections 309B(1)(a) and 309B(1)(c) of the SFA, the issuer of the notes offered hereby has determined, and hereby notifies all relevant persons (as defined in Section 309A of the SFA) that the notes are “prescribed capital markets products” (as defined in the Securities and Futures (Capital Markets Products) Regulations 2018) and Excluded Investment Products (as defined in MAS Notice SFA04-N12: Notice on the Sale of Investment Products and MAS NoticeFAA-N16: Notice on Recommendations on Investment Products).

Switzerland

The notes may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (the “SIX”) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of, and has been prepared without regard to, the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under, art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the notes or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, FIS or the notes has been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of notes will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of notes has not been, and will not be, authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (the “CISA”). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of notes.

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LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters in connection with the offering of the notes will be passed upon for Autodesk, Inc. by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Palo Alto, California, and for the underwriters by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Menlo Park, California.

EXPERTS

Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, has audited our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form10-K for the year ended January 31, 2019, and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2019, as set forth in their reports, which are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and elsewhere in the registration statement. Our financial statements are incorporated by reference in reliance on Ernst & Young LLP’s reports, given on their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

The audited historical financial statements of PlanGrid, Inc. included in Exhibit 99.1 of Autodesk, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K/A filed on February 28, 2019 (which amended the Current Report on Form 8-K filed December 20, 2018) have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, independent accountants, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of certain information filed by us with the SEC are also available on our website at www.autodesk.com. Information accessible on or through our website is not a part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.

This prospectus supplement is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. This prospectus supplement omits some information contained in the registration statement in accordance with SEC rules and regulations. You should review the information and exhibits in the registration statement for further information on us and our consolidated subsidiaries and the notes we are offering. Statements in this prospectus supplement concerning any document we filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or that we otherwise filed with the SEC are not intended to be comprehensive and are qualified by reference to these filings. You should review the complete document to evaluate these statements.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference much of the information we file with the SEC, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is considered to be part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus, as applicable. Because we are incorporating by reference future filings with the SEC, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are continually updated and those future filings may modify or supersede some of the information included or incorporated by reference herein and therein. This means that you must look at all of the SEC filings that we incorporate by reference to determine if any of the statements in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus or in any document previously incorporated by reference have been modified or superseded. This prospectus supplement incorporates by reference the documents listed below and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (in each case, other

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than those documents or the portions of those documents furnished pursuant to Items 2.02 or 7.01 of any Current Report on Form8-K), until the offering of the notes under the registration statement is terminated or completed:

You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address:

Autodesk, Inc.

111 McInnis Parkway

San Rafael, California 94903

Attn: Investor Relations

(415)507-5000

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Prospectus

Senior Debt Securities

We may issue senior debt securities from time to time in one or more offerings. This prospectus describes the general terms of these senior debt securities and the general manner in which these senior debt securities will be offered. We will provide the specific terms of these senior debt securities in supplements to this prospectus. The prospectus supplements will also describe the specific manner in which these senior debt securities will be offered and may also supplement, update or amend information contained in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, including the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, before you invest.

We may offer these senior debt securities in amounts, at prices and on terms determined at the time of offering. The senior debt securities may be sold directly to you, through agents, or through underwriters and dealers. If agents, underwriters or dealers are used to sell the senior debt securities, we will name them and describe their compensation in a prospectus supplement.

Our Common Stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ADSK.

Investing in these senior debt securities involves certain risks. See “Risk Factors” included in or incorporated by reference into any accompanying prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus for a discussion of the factors you should carefully consider before deciding to purchase these senior debt securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these senior debt securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is May 18, 2017

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we refer to as the SEC, utilizing a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may from time to time sell the senior debt securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings.

This prospectus provides you with a general description of the senior debt securities we may offer. Each time we sell senior debt securities, we will provide one or more prospectus supplements that will contain specific information about the terms of the offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement together with the additional information described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation by Reference” in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement.

We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information that is different from that contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus filed by us with the SEC. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any senior debt securities other than the senior debt securities described in the accompanying prospectus supplement or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such senior debt securities in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, the documents incorporated by reference and any related free writing prospectus is accurate only as of their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed materially since those dates.

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references in this prospectus to “Autodesk”, “we”, “our” and “us” refer, collectively, to Autodesk, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus, any prospectus supplement, and the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement include or may include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements are generally written in the future tense and/or are preceded by words such as “will,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “suggest,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” or other similar words.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, and the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus are based on information currently available to us and expectations and assumptions that we deem reasonable at the time the statements were made. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, and the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus or in any of our other communications, except as required by law. All such forward-looking statements should be read as of the time the statements were made and with the recognition that these forward-looking statements may not be complete or accurate at a later date.

Many factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, and the information incorporated by reference herein and therein, including those detailed in the Risk Factors section of any Annual Report on Form 10-K and any Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q incorporated by reference in this prospectus and in the section of any related prospectus supplement entitled “Risk Factors.”

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of any senior debt securities offered under this prospectus for general corporate purposes unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. General corporate purposes may include the repayment and refinancing of debt, working capital, capital expenditures, stock repurchases, acquisition of companies or businesses, and the payment of dividends. We have not determined the amount of net proceeds to be used specifically for such purposes. As a result, management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds.

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DESCRIPTION OF SENIOR DEBT SECURITIES

We may offer senior debt securities under this prospectus. The following description summarizes the general terms and provisions of the senior debt securities. We will describe the specific terms of the senior debt securities and the extent, if any, to which the general provisions summarized below apply to any series of senior debt securities in the prospectus supplement relating to the series and any applicable free writing prospectus that we authorize to be delivered. When we refer to “the Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us” in this section, we mean Autodesk, Inc. excluding, unless the context otherwise requires or as otherwise expressly stated, our subsidiaries.

We may issue senior debt securities from time to time, in one or more series under an indenture, dated December 13, 2012, between us and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (the “trustee”). The form of the indenture is incorporated by reference to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. This prospectus briefly outlines some of the provisions of the indenture. The following summary of the material provisions of the indenture is qualified in its entirety by the provisions of the indenture, including definitions of certain terms used in the indenture. Wherever we refer to particular sections or defined terms of the indenture, those sections or defined terms are incorporated by reference in this prospectus or the applicable prospectus supplement. You should review the indenture that is incorporated by reference to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part for additional information.

The indenture does not limit the amount of senior debt securities that we may issue. The indenture does provide that senior debt securities may be issued up to an aggregate principal amount authorized from time to time by us and may be payable in any currency or currency unit designated by us in the indenture or in amounts determined by reference to an index.

General

The senior debt securities will constitute our unsecured and unsubordinated general obligations and will rank pari passu with our other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations. Any secured debt or other secured obligations will be effectively senior to the senior debt securities to the extent of the value of the assets securing such debt or other obligations.

The applicable prospectus supplement and/or free writing prospectus will include any additional or different terms of the senior debt securities being offered, including the following terms, as applicable:

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We may from time to time, without notice to or the consent of the holders of any series of senior debt securities, create and issue further senior debt securities of any such series ranking equally with the senior debt securities of such series in all respects (or in all respects other than (1) the payment of interest accruing prior to the issue date of such further senior debt securities or (2) the first payment of interest following the issue date of such further senior debt securities). Such further senior debt securities may be consolidated and form a single series with the senior debt securities of such series and have the same terms as to status, redemption or otherwise as the senior debt securities of such series, provided that if such additional debt securities are not fungible with the initial debt securities of such series for U.S. federal income tax purposes, such additional debt securities will have a separate CUSIP number.

You may present senior debt securities for exchange or transfer in the manner, at the places and subject to the restrictions set forth in the senior debt securities and the applicable prospectus supplement. We will provide you those services without charge, although you may have to pay any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with any exchange or transfer, as set forth in the indenture.

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Senior debt securities will bear interest at a fixed rate or a floating rate. Senior debt securities bearing no interest or interest at a rate that at the time of issuance is below the prevailing market rate (called original issue discount securities) may be sold at a discount below their stated principal amount. Material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to any such discounted senior debt securities or to certain senior debt securities issued at par which are treated as having been issued at a discount for U.S. federal income tax purposes will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

We may issue senior debt securities with the principal amount payable on any principal payment date, or the amount of interest payable on any interest payment date, to be determined by reference to one or more currency exchange rates, securities or baskets of securities, commodity prices or indices. You may receive a payment of principal on any principal payment date, or a payment of interest on any interest payment date, that is greater than or less than the amount of principal or interest otherwise payable on such dates, depending on the value on such dates of the applicable currency, security or basket of securities, commodity or index. Information as to the methods for determining the amount of principal or interest payable on any date, the currencies, securities or baskets of securities, commodities or indices to which the amount payable on such date is linked and certain related tax considerations will be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement.

Certain Covenants

Certain Covenants.The indenture contains certain covenants regarding, among other matters, corporate existence and reports to holders of senior debt securities. Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement, the senior debt securities will not contain any additional financial or restrictive covenants, including covenants relating to total indebtedness, interest coverage, stock repurchases, recapitalizations, dividends and distributions to shareholders or current ratios. The provisions of the indenture will not afford holders of senior debt securities issued thereunder protection in the event of a sudden or significant decline in our credit quality or in the event of a takeover, recapitalization or highly leveraged or similar transaction involving us or any of our affiliates that may adversely affect such holders except to the extent set forth therein.

Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets.Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement, we will not consolidate with, merge with or into, or sell, convey, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our and our subsidiaries’ property and assets taken as a whole to another Person (as defined in the indenture) unless:

The restrictions in the second and third bullets shall not be applicable to:

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The Surviving Person will succeed to, and be substituted for, us under the indenture and the senior debt securities and, except in the case of a lease, we shall be released of all obligations under the indenture and the senior debt securities.

No Protection in the Event of a Change of Control.Unless we indicate otherwise in a prospectus supplement with respect to a particular series of senior debt securities, the senior debt securities will not contain any provisions that may afford holders of the senior debt securities protection in the event we have a change of control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change of control).

Events of Default

The indenture defines an Event of Default with respect to any series of senior debt securities issued pursuant to the indenture. Events of Default on the senior debt securities are any of the following:

An Event of Default under one series of senior debt securities issued pursuant to the indenture does not necessarily constitute an Event of Default under any other series of senior debt securities. The indenture provides that the trustee may withhold notice to the holders of any series of senior debt securities issued thereunder of any default (other than payment defaults of which it has knowledge) if the trustee’s board of directors, executive committee, or a trust committee of directors or trustees and/or certain officers of the trustee in good faith determine it is in the interest of such holders to do so.

Remedies If an Event of Default Occurs.The indenture provides that if an Event of Default has occurred with respect to a series of senior debt securities and has not been cured, the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the senior debt securities of that series may declare the entire principal amount of all the senior debt securities of that series to be due and immediately payable. This is called a declaration of acceleration of maturity. If an Event of Default occurs because of certain events in bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization with respect to us, the principal amount of all the senior debt securities will be automatically accelerated, without any action by the trustee or any holder. At any time after the principal of a series of senior debt securities shall have been declared due and payable, and before any judgment or decree for the payment of the amount due shall have been obtained or entered for such series of senior debt securities as provided in the indenture, the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the senior debt securities of the affected series may by written notice to us and the trustee may, on behalf of the holders of the senior debt securities of the affected series, rescind and annul such acceleration and its consequences if:

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The indenture provides that, except during the continuance of an Event of Default, the trustee will perform only such duties as are specifically set forth in the indenture. During the existence of an Event of Default, the trustee must exercise such rights and powers vested in it as a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances in the conduct of such person’s own affairs. Subject to such provisions, the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture at the request of any holder of the notes, unless such holder shall have offered to the trustee security and indemnity satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense.

Before you bypass the trustee and bring your own lawsuit or other formal legal action or take other steps to enforce your rights or protect your interests relating to the senior debt securities, the following must occur:

However, you are entitled at any time to bring a lawsuit for the payment of money due on your senior debt securities on or after the due date of that payment.

We will furnish to the trustee every year a written statement of two of our officers certifying that to their knowledge we are in compliance with the indenture and the senior debt securities, or else specifying any default. Additionally, upon becoming aware of any default, we will deliver a statement specifying such default to the trustee within thirty (30) days.

Satisfaction and Discharge

The indenture will cease to be of further effect as to any series of senior debt securities and the trustee, upon our demand and at our expense, will execute appropriate instruments acknowledging the satisfaction and discharge of the indenture with respect to such series upon compliance with certain conditions, including:

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Defeasance

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, the following discussion of legal defeasance and discharge and covenant defeasance will apply to any series of senior debt securities issued under the indenture.

Full Defeasance.We can legally release ourselves from any payment or other obligations on the senior debt securities of any series (called “full defeasance”) if the following conditions are met:

If we ever accomplished full defeasance, as described above, you would have to rely solely on the trust deposit for repayment of the senior debt securities. You could not look to us for repayment in the event of any shortfall.

However, even if we make the deposit in trust and deliver an opinion as discussed above, a number of our obligations relating to the senior debt securities will remain. These include, among others, our obligation:

Purchasers of the senior debt securities should consult their own advisers with respect to the tax consequences to them of any deposit and discharge, including the applicability and effect of tax laws other than the U.S. federal income tax law.

Covenant Defeasance.Without any change in current U.S. federal income tax law, we can make the same type of deposit described above and be released from some of the covenants on the senior debt securities of any series. This is called “covenant defeasance.” In that event, you would lose the protection of those covenants but

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would gain the protection of having money and securities set aside in trust to repay the senior debt securities. In order to achieve covenant defeasance, the following conditions must be met:

If we accomplish covenant defeasance, you can still look to us for repayment of the senior debt securities if there were a shortfall in the trust deposit. In fact, if one of the Events of Default occurred (such as our bankruptcy) and the senior debt securities become immediately due and payable, there may be such a shortfall. Depending on the event causing the default, you may not be able to obtain payment of the shortfall.

Modification and Waiver

There are three types of changes we can make to the indenture.

Changes Requiring Approval of the Holder.First, there are changes that cannot be made to the senior debt securities without specific approval of the holder. The following is a list of those types of changes:

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Changes Not Requiring Approval.The second type of change does not require any approval of or vote by holders of the senior debt securities. This type is limited to the following types of changes:

We may also make changes that affect only senior debt securities to be issued under the indenture at any time after the changes take effect without the approval of holders of senior debt securities previously issued under the indenture. We may make changes or obtain waivers that affect only certain series of senior debt securities without the approval of holder of unaffected senior debt securities under the indenture.

Changes Requiring a Majority Vote.Any other change to the indenture and the senior debt securities would require the following approval:

The same vote would be required for us to obtain a waiver of a past default. However, we cannot obtain a waiver of a payment default or a waiver with respect to any other aspect of the indenture and the senior debt securities listed in the first category described previously under “Changes Requiring Approval of the Holder” unless we obtain your individual consent to the waiver.

Further Details Concerning Voting

The senior debt securities will not be considered outstanding, and therefore will not be eligible to vote, if we have deposited or set aside in trust for you money for their payment or redemption. The senior debt securities will also not be eligible to vote if they have been fully defeased as described above under “—Defeasance—Full Defeasance.”

We will generally be entitled to set any day as a record date for the purpose of determining the holders of outstanding senior debt securities that are entitled to vote or take other action under the indenture. In certain

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limited circumstances, the trustee will be entitled to set a record date for action by holders. If we or the trustee sets a record date for a vote or other action to be taken by holders of senior debt securities, that vote or action may be taken only by persons who are holders of outstanding senior debt securities on the record date and must be taken within 180 days following the record date or another period that we may specify (or as the trustee may specify, if it set the record date). We may shorten this period from time to time.

No Personal Liability of Incorporators, Stockholders, Officers, Directors

The indenture provides that no recourse shall be had under any obligation, covenant or agreement of ours in the indenture or in any of the senior debt securities or because of the creation of any indebtedness represented thereby, against any of our incorporators, stockholders, officers or directors, past, present or future, or any predecessor or successor entity thereof under any law, statute or constitutional provision or by the enforcement of any assessment or by any legal or equitable proceeding or otherwise. Each holder, by accepting the senior debt securities, waives and releases all such liability.

Concerning the Trustee

The trustee will be appointed by us as paying agent, registrar and custodian with regard to the senior debt securities. The trustee or its affiliates may from time to time in the future provide banking and other services to us in exchange for a fee.

The indenture provides that, prior to the occurrence of an Event of Default with respect to the senior debt securities of a series and after the curing or waiving of all such Events of Default with respect to that series, the trustee will not be liable except for the performance of such duties as are specifically set forth in the indenture. If an Event of Default has occurred and has not been cured or waived, the trustee will exercise such rights and powers vested in it under the indenture and will use the same degree of care and skill in its exercise as a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances in the conduct of such person’s own affairs.

The indenture and the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act incorporated by reference therein contain limitations on the rights of the trustee thereunder, should it become a creditor of ours or any of our subsidiaries, to obtain payment of claims in certain cases or to realize on certain property received by it in respect of any such claims, as security or otherwise. The trustee is permitted to engage in other transactions, provided that if it acquires any conflicting interest (as defined in the Trust Indenture Act), it must eliminate such conflict or resign.

Unclaimed Funds

All funds deposited with the trustee or any paying agent for the payment of principal, interest, premium or additional amounts in respect of the senior debt securities that remain unclaimed for a period ending on the earlier of 10 business days prior to the date the money would be turned over to the applicable state and two years after the date upon which the principal of, or premium, if any, or interest on such senior debt securities shall have become due and payable will be repaid to us. Thereafter, any right of any holder of senior debt securities to such funds shall be enforceable only against us, and the trustee and paying agents will have no liability therefor.

Governing Law

The indenture and the senior debt securities will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

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FORMS OF SENIOR DEBT SECURITIES

Each senior debt security will be represented either by a certificate issued in definitive form to a particular investor or by one or more global securities representing the entire issuance of senior debt securities. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement provides otherwise, certificated senior debt securities will be issued in definitive form and global securities will be issued in registered form. Definitive senior debt securities name you or your nominee as the owner of the senior debt security, and in order to transfer or exchange these senior debt securities or to receive payments other than interest or other interim payments, you or your nominee must physically deliver the senior debt securities to the trustee, registrar, paying agent or other agent, as applicable. Global senior debt securities name a depositary or its nominee as the owner of the senior debt securities represented by these global senior debt securities. The depositary maintains a computerized system that will reflect each investor’s beneficial ownership of the senior debt securities through an account maintained by the investor with its broker/dealer, bank, trust company or other representative, as we explain more fully below.

Registered Global Securities

We may issue the registered senior debt securities in the form of one or more fully registered global senior debt securities that will be deposited with a depositary or its nominee identified in the applicable prospectus supplement and registered in the name of that depositary or nominee. In those cases, one or more registered global senior debt securities will be issued in a denomination or aggregate denominations equal to the portion of the aggregate principal or face amount of the senior debt securities to be represented by registered global securities. Unless and until it is exchanged in whole for senior debt securities in definitive registered form, a registered global security may not be transferred except as a whole by and among the depositary for the registered global security, the nominees of the depositary or any successors to the depositary or those nominees.

Any specific terms of the depositary arrangement with respect to any senior debt securities to be represented by a registered global security will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to those senior debt securities. We anticipate that the following provisions will apply to all depositary arrangements.

Ownership of beneficial interests in a registered global security will be limited to persons, called participants, that have accounts with the depositary or persons that may hold interests through participants. Upon the issuance of a registered global security, the depositary will credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the participants’ accounts with the respective principal or face amounts of the senior debt securities beneficially owned by the participants. Any dealers, underwriters or agents participating in the distribution of the senior debt securities will designate the accounts to be credited. Ownership of beneficial interests in a registered global security will be shown on, and the transfer of ownership interests will be effected only through, records maintained by the depositary, with respect to interests of participants, and on the records of participants, with respect to interests of persons holding through participants. The laws of some states may require that some purchasers of senior debt securities take physical delivery of these senior debt securities in definitive form. These laws may impair your ability to own, transfer or pledge beneficial interests in registered global securities.

So long as the depositary, or its nominee, is the registered owner of a registered global security, that depositary or its nominee, as the case may be, will be considered the sole owner or holder of the senior debt securities represented by the registered global security for all purposes under the indenture. Except as described below, owners of beneficial interests in a registered global security will not be entitled to have the senior debt securities represented by the registered global security registered in their names, will not receive or be entitled to receive physical delivery of the senior debt securities in definitive form and will not be considered the owners or holders of the senior debt securities under the indenture. Accordingly, each person owning a beneficial interest in a registered global security must rely on the procedures of the depositary for that registered global security and, if that person is not a participant, on the procedures of the participant through which the person owns its interest, to exercise any rights of a holder under the indenture. We understand that under existing industry practices, if we request any action of holders or if an owner of a beneficial interest in a registered global security desires to give

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or take any action that a holder is entitled to give or take under the indenture, the depositary for the registered global security would authorize the participants holding the relevant beneficial interests to give or take that action, and the participants would authorize beneficial owners owning through them to give or take that action or would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners holding through them.

Principal, premium, if any, and interest payments on senior debt securities represented by a registered global security registered in the name of a depositary or its nominee will be made to the depositary or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered owner of the registered global security. None of us, the trustees, or any agent of ours or agent of the trustees will have any responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in the registered global security or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to those beneficial ownership interests.

We expect that the depositary for any of the senior debt securities represented by a registered global security, upon receipt of any payment of principal, premium, interest or other distribution of underlying senior debt securities or other property to holders on that registered global security, will immediately credit participants’ accounts in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in that registered global security as shown on the records of the depositary. We also expect that payments by participants to owners of beneficial interests in a registered global security held through participants will be governed by standing customer instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with the senior debt securities held for the accounts of customers or registered in “street name,” and will be the responsibility of those participants.

If the depositary for any of the senior debt securities represented by a registered global security is at any time unwilling or unable to continue as depositary or ceases to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act, and a successor depositary registered as a clearing agency under the Exchange Act is not appointed by us within 90 days, we will issue senior debt securities in definitive form in exchange for the registered global security that had been held by the depositary. Any senior debt securities issued in definitive form in exchange for a registered global security will be registered in the name or names that the depositary gives to the relevant trustee or other relevant agent of ours or theirs. It is expected that the depositary’s instructions will be based upon directions received by the depositary from participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the registered global security that had been held by the depositary.

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We may sell senior debt securities:

In addition, we may issue the senior debt securities as a dividend or distribution or in a subscription rights offering to our existing security holders.

We may directly solicit offers to purchase senior debt securities or agents may be designated to solicit such offers. We will, in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering, name any agent that could be viewed as an underwriter under the Securities Act and describe any commissions that we must pay. Any such agent will be acting on a best efforts basis for the period of its appointment or, if indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, on a firm commitment basis. This prospectus may be used in connection with any offering of our senior debt securities through any of these methods or other methods described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

The distribution of the senior debt securities may be effected from time to time in one or more transactions:

Each prospectus supplement will describe the method of distribution of the senior debt securities and any applicable restrictions.

The prospectus supplement with respect to the senior debt securities of a particular series will describe the terms of the offering of the senior debt securities, including the following:

If any underwriters or agents are utilized in the sale of the senior debt securities in respect of which this prospectus is delivered, we will enter into an underwriting agreement or other agreement with them at the time of sale to them, and we will set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering the names of the underwriters or agents and the terms of the related agreement with them.

If a dealer is utilized in the sale of the senior debt securities in respect of which the prospectus is delivered, we will sell such senior debt securities to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell such senior debt securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by such dealer at the time of resale.

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If we offer senior debt securities in a subscription rights offering to our existing security holders, we may enter into a standby underwriting agreement with dealers, acting as standby underwriters. We may pay the standby underwriters a commitment fee for the senior debt securities they commit to purchase on a standby basis. If we do not enter into a standby underwriting arrangement, we may retain a dealer-manager to manage a subscription rights offering for us.

Agents, underwriters, dealers and other persons may be entitled under agreements which they may enter into with us to indemnification by us against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

If so indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will authorize underwriters or other persons acting as our agents to solicit offers by certain institutions to purchase senior debt securities from us pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on the date stated in the prospectus supplement. Each contract will be for an amount not less than, and the aggregate amount of senior debt securities sold pursuant to such contracts shall not be less nor more than, the respective amounts stated in the prospectus supplement. Institutions with whom the contracts, when authorized, may be made include commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions and other institutions, but shall in all cases be subject to our approval. Delayed delivery contracts will not be subject to any conditions except that:

Certain agents, underwriters and dealers, and their associates and affiliates may be customers of, engage in other transactions with, and/or perform services, including investment banking services, for us or one or more of our respective affiliates in the ordinary course of business.

In order to facilitate the offering of the senior debt securities, any underwriters may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the senior debt securities or any other senior debt securities the prices of which may be used to determine payments on such senior debt securities. Specifically, any underwriters may overallot in connection with the offering, creating a short position for their own accounts. In addition, to cover overallotments or to stabilize the price of the senior debt securities or of any such other senior debt securities, the underwriters may bid for, and purchase, the senior debt securities or any such other senior debt securities in the open market. Finally, in any offering of the senior debt securities through a syndicate of underwriters, the underwriting syndicate may reclaim selling concessions allowed to an underwriter or a dealer for distributing the senior debt securities in the offering if the syndicate repurchases previously distributed senior debt securities in transactions to cover syndicate short positions, in stabilization transactions or otherwise. Any of these activities may stabilize or maintain the market price of the senior debt securities above independent market levels. Any such underwriters are not required to engage in these activities and may end any of these activities at any time.

Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Exchange Act, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in three business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. The applicable prospectus supplement may provide that the original issue date for your senior debt securities may be more than three scheduled business days after the trade date for your senior debt securities. Accordingly, in such a case, if you wish to trade senior debt securities on any date prior to the third business day before the original issue date for your senior debt securities, you will be required, by virtue of the fact that your senior debt securities initially are expected to settle in more than three scheduled business days after the trade date for your senior debt securities, to make alternative settlement arrangements to prevent a failed settlement.

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The senior debt securities may be new issues of senior debt securities and may have no established trading market. The senior debt securities may or may not be listed on a national senior debt securities exchange. We can make no assurance as to the liquidity of or the existence of trading markets for any of the senior debt securities.

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LEGAL MATTERS

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement indicates otherwise, the validity of the senior debt securities in respect of which this prospectus is being delivered will be passed upon by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation, Palo Alto, California.

EXPERTS

The consolidated financial statements of Autodesk, Inc. appearing in Autodesk, Inc.’s Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended January 31, 2017 (including the schedule appearing therein), and the effectiveness of Autodesk, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2017, have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in its reports thereon, which conclude, among other things, that Autodesk, Inc. did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2017, based on Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), because of the effects of the material weakness described therein, included therein, and incorporated herein by reference. Such financial statements have been incorporated herein by reference in reliance upon such reports given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of certain information filed by us with the SEC are also available on our website at www.autodesk.com. Information accessible on or through our website is not a part of this prospectus. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference room.

This prospectus is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. This prospectus omits some information contained in the registration statement in accordance with SEC rules and regulations. You should review the information and exhibits in the registration statement for further information on us and our consolidated subsidiaries and the senior debt securities we are offering. Statements in this prospectus concerning any document we filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or that we otherwise filed with the SEC are not intended to be comprehensive and are qualified by reference to these filings. You should review the complete document to evaluate these statements.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference much of the information we file with the SEC, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference in this prospectus is considered to be part of this prospectus. Because we are incorporating by reference future filings with the SEC, this prospectus is continually updated and those future filings may modify or supersede some of the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. This means that you must look at all of the SEC filings that we incorporate by reference to determine if any of the statements in this prospectus or in any document previously incorporated by reference have been modified or superseded. This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents listed below and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (in each case,

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other than those documents or the portions of those documents furnished pursuant to Items 2.02 or 7.01 of any Current Report on Form 8-K), until the offering of the senior debt securities under the registration statement is terminated or completed:

You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at the following address:

Autodesk, Inc.

111 McInnis Parkway,

San Rafael, California 94903

Attn: Investor Relations

(415) 507-5000

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$

        % Notes due 20    

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

Joint Book-Running Managers

                    , 2020