Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Basis of Presentation

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Basis of Presentation
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Basis of Presentation  
Basis of Presentation

(1) Basis of Presentation

During May 2014, the board of Liberty Media Corporation and its subsidiaries (“Liberty,” formerly named Liberty Spinco, Inc.) authorized management to pursue a plan to spin-off to its stockholders common stock of a newly formed company to be called Liberty Broadband Corporation (“Liberty Broadband” or the “Company”), and to distribute subscription rights to acquire shares of Series C Liberty Broadband common stock (the “Broadband Spin-Off”). Liberty Broadband is comprised of, among other things, (i) Liberty’s former interest in Charter Communications (“Charter”), (ii) Liberty’s former wholly-owned subsidiary TruePosition, Inc. (“TruePosition”), (iii) Liberty’s former minority equity investment in Time Warner Cable, Inc. (“Time Warner”), (iv) certain deferred tax liabilities, as well as liabilities related to the Time Warner written call option and (v) initial indebtedness, pursuant to margin loans entered into prior to the completion of the Broadband Spin-Off.

At 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 4, 2014 the Broadband Spin-Off was completed and shares of Liberty Broadband common stock were distributed to the shareholders of Liberty as of a record date of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 29, 2014. The Broadband Spin-Off is intended to be tax-free to stockholders of Liberty. In the Broadband Spin-Off, record holders of Liberty Series A, Series B and Series C common stock received one-fourth of a share of the corresponding series of Liberty Broadband common stock for each share of Liberty common stock held by them as of the record date for the Broadband Spin-Off, with cash in lieu of fractional shares.

In addition, it is expected that on December 10, 2014, Liberty Broadband will distribute to its stockholders subscription rights to acquire one share of Series C Liberty Broadband common stock for every five shares of Liberty Broadband common stock held as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 4, 2014, the record date for the distribution of these subscription rights (irrespective of the series of common stock held). The subscription rights are being issued to raise capital for general corporate purposes of Liberty Broadband and will enable the holders to acquire shares of Series C Liberty Broadband common stock at a 20% discount to the 20-trading day volume weighted average trading price of the Series C Liberty Broadband common stock following the completion of the Broadband Spin-Off. The subscription rights will become publicly traded following establishment of the exercise price and the commencement of the rights offering, and the rights offering will expire on the 20th trading day following its commencement. The rights offering is intended to be tax-free to stockholders of Liberty Broadband and the distribution of the subscription rights is subject to various conditions, including the receipt of an opinion of tax counsel.

The accompanying (a) condensed combined balance sheet as of December 31, 2013, which has been derived from audited financial statements, and (b) interim unaudited condensed combined financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and represent a combination of the historical financial information of TruePosition, Liberty’s interest in Charter, Liberty’s minority equity investment in Time Warner and certain deferred tax liabilities, as well as liabilities related to the Time Warner call option. These financial statements refer to the combination of the aforementioned subsidiary, investments, and financial instruments, as “Liberty Broadband,” “the Company,” “us,” “we” and “our” in the notes to the combined financial statements. The Broadband Spin-Off will be accounted for at historical cost due to the pro rata nature of the distribution to holders of Liberty common stock. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the condensed combined financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued new accounting guidance on revenue from contracts with customers. The new guidance requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. The updated guidance will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in GAAP when it becomes effective and permits the use of either a retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2016. The Company has not yet selected a transition method and is currently evaluating the effect that the updated standard will have its financial statements and related disclosures.

 

Spin-Off of Liberty Broadband from Liberty Media Corporation

Following the Broadband Spin-Off, Liberty and Liberty Broadband operate as separate, publicly traded companies, and neither has any stock ownership, beneficial or otherwise, in the other. In connection with the Broadband Spin-Off, Liberty and Liberty Broadband entered into certain agreements in order to govern certain of the ongoing relationships between the two companies after the Broadband Spin-Off and to provide for an orderly transition. These agreements include a reorganization agreement, a services agreement, a facilities sharing agreement and a tax sharing agreement.

The reorganization agreement provides for, among other things, the principal corporate transactions (including the internal restructuring) required to effect the Broadband Spin-Off, certain conditions to the Broadband Spin-Off and provisions governing the relationship between Liberty Broadband and Liberty with respect to and resulting from the Broadband Spin-Off. The tax sharing agreement provides for the allocation and indemnification of tax liabilities and benefits between Liberty and Liberty Broadband and other agreements related to tax matters. Among other things, pursuant to the tax sharing agreement, Liberty Broadband has agreed to indemnify Liberty, subject to certain limited exceptions, for losses and taxes resulting from the Broadband Spin-Off to the extent such losses or taxes result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the breach of certain restrictive covenants made by Liberty Broadband (applicable to actions or failures to act by Liberty Broadband and its subsidiaries following the completion of the Broadband Spin-Off). Pursuant to the services agreement, Liberty provides Liberty Broadband with general and administrative services including legal, tax, accounting, treasury and investor relations support. Under the facilities sharing agreement, Liberty Broadband shares office space with Liberty and related amenities at Liberty’s corporate headquarters. Liberty Broadband will reimburse Liberty for direct, out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Liberty in providing these services and for costs that will be negotiated semi-annually.

 

Acquisition of Skyhook Wireless, Inc.

On February 14, 2014, TruePosition acquired 100% of the outstanding common shares of Skyhook Wireless, Inc. (“Skyhook”), a Delaware corporation, for approximately $57.5 million in cash. Skyhook is a provider of hybrid wireless positioning technology and contextual location intelligence. Acquisition related costs of $958 thousand are included in selling, general and administrative expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2014. TruePosition used its cash plus a capital contribution of $49.4 million from Liberty during 2014 to fund the acquisition. TruePosition has placed $6.0 million of the cash consideration into an escrow account for use to settle any indemnification claims made by TruePosition during the 12 months subsequent to closing the acquisition. After 12 months, any remaining funds will be paid to the selling parties.

The initial purchase price allocation for Skyhook is as follows (amounts in thousands):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

    

$

9,442 

 

Tradename

 

 

4,500 

 

Goodwill

 

 

24,931 

 

Amortizable intangible assets

 

 

31,098 

 

Other assets

 

 

1,353 

 

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

 

 

(6,905)

 

Deferred revenue

 

 

(5,000)

 

Deferred taxes

 

 

(1,889)

 

 

 

$

57,530 

 

 

Amortizable intangible assets acquired include tradenames, customer relationships, and software. The fair value of these assets was determined using projected cash flows based on Level 3 inputs, and the remaining useful life of these assets was determined to be 5 years. Accordingly, the amortizable intangible assets acquired will be amortized straight-line over this period. Goodwill is calculated as the excess of the consideration transferred over the identifiable net assets acquired and represents the future economic benefits expected to arise from other intangible assets acquired that do not qualify for separate recognition, including assembled workforce and non-contractual relationships. The initial purchase price allocation is subject to change upon receipt of the final valuation analysis for Skyhook.

Assuming the Skyhook transaction took place on January 1, 2013, the statement of operations data for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 would have been as follows on a pro forma basis:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three months ended 

 

 

Nine months ended

 

 

 

September 30,

 

 

September 30,

 

 

 

2013

 

 

2013

 

 

 

(amounts in thousands)

 

Revenue

 

$

19,833 

 

 

66,408 

 

Operating income (loss)

 

$

(5,230)

 

 

(10,319)

 

Other income (expense), net

 

$

(82,783)

 

 

(47,891)

 

Income tax benefit (expense)

 

$

31,207 

 

 

16,655 

 

Net income (loss) attributable to Liberty Broadband stockholders

 

$

(56,806)

 

 

(41,555)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proforma basic net earnings (loss) per share attributable to Liberty Broadband stockholders

 

$

(0.66)

 

 

(0.48)

 

 

The previous amounts were determined using historical results of Liberty Broadband and Skyhook, including purchase accounting amortization. Such amounts are not indicative of what actual amounts might have been had the transaction occurred as of that date.

In mid November 2014, Skyhook was notified that one of its significant customers is not expected to renew its contract for 2015.  Negotiations are still ongoing but approximately 30-40% of Skyhook’s revenue may not be recurring for 2015.  Management is working to understand the ultimate impact of the decrease in Skyhook revenue but a decline in Skyhook’s future operating results is expected unless further discussions with the customer are successful.  Since the impact of the nonrenewal of the contract could be significant to Skyhook projected cash flows, an impairment of intangibles at TruePosition may be possible in the fourth quarter of 2014 based on further analysis.