The spacetime AdS 2 × S 2 is well known to arise as the 'near horizon' geometry of the extremal Reissner-Nordstrom solution, and for that reason it has been studied in connection with the AdS/CFT correspondence. Here we consider asymptotically AdS 2 × S 2 spacetimes that obey the null energy condition (or a certain averaged version thereof). Supporting a conjectural viewpoint of Juan Maldacena, we show that any such spacetime must have a special geometry similar in various respects to AdS 2 × S 2 , and under certain circumstances must be isometric to AdS 2 × S 2 .