COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES |
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
The Company leases office space, certain equipment and many of its concert venues. Some of the lease agreements contain renewal options and annual rental escalation clauses (generally tied to the consumer price index), as well as provisions for the payment of utilities and maintenance by the Company. The Company also has non-cancelable contracts related to minimum performance payments with various artists, other event-related costs and nonrecoupable ticketing contract advances. In addition, the Company has commitments relating to additions to property, plant, and equipment under certain construction commitments for facilities and venues.
As of December 31, 2018, the Company’s future minimum rental commitments under non-cancelable operating lease agreements, minimum payments under non-cancelable contracts and capital expenditure commitments consist of the following:
Commitment amounts for non-cancelable operating leases and non-cancelable contracts which stipulate an increase in the commitment amount based on an inflationary index have been estimated using an inflation factor of 1.7% for North America, 2.8% for the United Kingdom, 1.6% for Denmark and 1.6% for the Netherlands.
Aggregate minimum rentals of $31.6 million to be paid to the Company in years 2019 through 2032 under non-cancelable subleases are excluded from the commitment amounts in the above table.
Total rent expense charged to operations for 2018, 2017 and 2016 was $245.2 million, $220.1 million and $196.0 million, respectively. In addition to the minimum rental commitments included in the table above, the Company has leases that contain contingent payment requirements for which payments vary depending on revenue, tickets sold or other variables. Contingent rent expense charged to operations for 2018, 2017 and 2016 was $55.7 million, $48.3 million and $49.0 million, respectively. The above table above does not include contingent rent or rent expense for events in third-party venues.
In connection with asset and business disposals, the Company generally provides indemnifications to the buyers including claims resulting from employment matters, commercial claims and governmental actions that may be taken against the assets or businesses sold. Settlement of these claims is subject to various statutory limitations that are dependent upon the nature of the claim.
Certain agreements relating to acquisitions provide for deferred purchase consideration payments at future dates. A liability is established at the time of the acquisition for these fixed payments. For obligations payable at a date greater than twelve months from the acquisition date, the Company applies a discount rate to calculate the present value of the obligations. As of December 31, 2018, the Company has accrued $5.5 million in other current liabilities and $7.3 million in other long-term liabilities and, as of December 31, 2017, the Company had accrued $109.6 million in other current liabilities and $6.1 million in other long-term liabilities, related to these deferred purchase consideration payments. The decrease in other current liabilities during 2018 is primarily due to the timing of a payment for the acquisition of the redeemable noncontrolling interest in a festival and concert promoter business located in the United States following the put redemption in December 2017.
The Company has contingent obligations related to acquisitions which are accounted for as business combinations. Contingent consideration associated with business combinations is recorded at fair value at the time of the acquisition and reflected at current fair value for each subsequent reporting period thereafter until settled. The Company records these fair value changes in its statements of operations as selling, general and administrative expenses. The contingent consideration is generally subject to payout following the achievement of future performance targets and a portion is expected to be payable in the next twelve months. As of December 31, 2018, the Company has accrued $39.5 million in other current liabilities and $23.0 million in other long-term liabilities and, as of December 31, 2017, the Company had accrued $34.2 million in other current liabilities and $35.8 million in other long-term liabilities, representing the fair value of these estimated payments. The last contingency period for which the Company has an outstanding contingent payment is for the period ending March 2026. See Note 5—Fair Value Measurements for further discussion related to the valuation of these contingent payments.
As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company guaranteed the debt of third parties of approximately $15.6 million and $18.3 million, respectively, primarily related to maximum credit limits on employee and tour-related credit cards, obligations of a nonconsolidated affiliate and obligations under a venue management agreement.
Litigation
Consumer Class Actions
The following class action lawsuits were filed against Live Nation and/or Ticketmaster LLC in the United States and Canada: Vaccaro v. Ticketmaster LLC (Northern District of Illinois, filed September 2018); Ameri v. Ticketmaster LLC (Northern District of California, filed September 2018); Lee v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Northern District of California, filed September 2018); Thompson-Marcial v. Ticketmaster Canada Holdings ULC (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, filed September 2018); McPhee v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Superior Court of Quebec, District of Montreal, filed September 2018); Crystal Watch v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan, by amendments filed September 2018); Gaetano v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc., et al. (Northern District of New York, filed October 2018); Dickey v. Ticketmaster, LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed October 2018); Gomel v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al (Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver Registry, filed October 2018); Smith v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, filed October 2018); Messing v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed November 2018); and Niedbalski v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed December 2018). These lawsuits make similar factual allegations that Live Nation and/or Ticketmaster LLC engage in conduct that is intended to encourage the resale of tickets on secondary ticket exchanges at elevated prices. Based on these allegations, each plaintiff asserts violations of different state/provincial and federal laws. Each plaintiff also seeks to represent a class of individuals who purchased tickets on a secondary ticket exchange, as defined in each plaintiff’s complaint. The complaints seek a variety of remedies, including unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages, restitution, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees and costs. Based on information presently known to management, the Company does not believe that a loss is probable of occurring at this time, and believes that the potential liability, if any, will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, cash flows or results of operations. Further, the Company does not currently believe that the claims asserted in these lawsuits have merit, and considerable uncertainty exists regarding any monetary damages that will be asserted against the Company. As a result, the Company is currently unable to estimate the possible loss or range of loss for these matters. The Company intends to vigorously defend these actions.
Other Litigation
From time to time, the Company is involved in other legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of its business, including proceedings and claims based upon purported violations of antitrust laws, intellectual property rights and tortious interference, which could cause the Company to incur significant expenses. The Company has also been the subject of personal injury and wrongful death claims relating to accidents at its venues in connection with its operations. As required, the Company has accrued its estimate of the probable settlement or other losses for the resolution of any outstanding claims. These estimates have been developed in consultation with counsel and are based upon an analysis of potential results, including, in some cases, estimated redemption rates for the settlement offered, assuming a combination of litigation and settlement strategies. It is possible, however, that future results of operations for any particular period could be materially affected by changes in the Company’s assumptions or the effectiveness of its strategies related to these proceedings.
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