(6) Leases

In February 2016 and subsequently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued new guidance which revises the accounting for leases (“ASC 842”). Under the new guidance, entities that lease assets are required to recognize assets and liabilities on the balance sheet related to the rights and obligations created by those leases regardless of whether they are classified as finance or operating leases. In addition, new disclosures are required to meet the objective of enabling users of the financial statements to better understand the amount, timing, and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. We adopted this guidance on January 1, 2019 and elected the optional transition method that allowed for a cumulative-effect adjustment in the period of adoption.  Results for reporting periods beginning after January 1, 2019 are presented under the new guidance, while prior period amounts were not adjusted and continue to be reported under the accounting standards in effect for those periods.

We elected the following practical expedients that are available in transition upon the adoption of ASC 842 and for ongoing accounting policy: 1) the “practical expedients package of three”, which allows us to not reassess the following: a) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain a  lease as of the adoption date, b) the lease classification of any expired or existing leases as of the adoption date; and c) the accounting treatment for initial direct costs for existing leases as of the adoption date; 2) the “short-term lease recognition exemption”, which allows entities to forego recognition of right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and lease liabilities for leases with a lease term of twelve months or less and which also do not include an option to renew the lease term that the entity is reasonably certain to exercise; 3) elect by asset class as an accounting policy, to combine  lease and non-lease components as a single component and subsequently account for the combined single component as the lease component; and 4) apply the portfolio approach to similar types of leases where the Company does not reasonably expect the outcome to differ materially from applying the new guidance to individual leases.

TripAdvisor’s lease contracts contain both lease and non-lease components. TripAdvisor accounts separately for the lease and non-lease components of office space leases and certain other leases, such as data center leases. However, for certain categories of equipment leases, such as network equipment and others, TripAdvisor accounts for the lease and non-lease components as a single lease component. Additionally, for certain equipment leases that have similar characteristics, TripAdvisor applies a portfolio approach to effectively account for operating lease ROU assets and lease liabilities, hence TripAdvisor does not expect the outcome to differ materially from applying the new guidance to individual leases.

The adoption of ASC 842 did not have a material impact to our consolidated statement of operations and statement of cash flows during the three months ended March 31, 2019. The effect of the adoption on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as of January 1, 2019 for the adoption of ASC 842 is as follows:

Operating Leases

TripAdvisor leases office space in a number of countries around the world under non-cancelable lease agreements. TripAdvisor’s office space leases, exclusive of its Corporate Headquarters Lease, are operating leases. Operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date, or the date the lessor makes the leased asset available for use, based on the present value of the lease payments over the lease term using TripAdvisor’s estimated incremental borrowing rate.

TripAdvisor’s office space operating leases expire at various dates with the latest maturity in June 2027. Certain leases include options to extend the lease term for up to 5 years and/or terminate the leases within 1 year, which TripAdvisor includes in the lease terms if it is reasonably certain to exercise these options. 

Finance Lease

In June 2013, TripAdvisor entered into its Corporate Headquarters Lease and pursuant to that lease, the landlord built an approximately 280,000 square foot rental building in Needham, Massachusetts (the “Premises”) and leased the Premises to TripAdvisor as its new corporate headquarters for an initial term of 15 years and 7 months or through December 2030. TripAdvisor also has an option to extend the term of the Corporate Headquarters Lease for two consecutive terms of five years each. As required under the transition guidance in ASC 842, TripAdvisor assessed the lease classification for its Corporate Headquarters Lease and concluded it should be classified and accounted for as a finance lease upon adoption on January 1, 2019. Accordingly, on January 1, 2019, TripAdvisor derecognized the previous assets and liabilities associated with the Corporate Headquarters Lease’s previous build-to-suit designation, with the exception of prepaid rent, as discussed below, and recognized an ROU asset and a finance lease liability of $114 million and $88 million, respectively, on its condensed consolidated balance sheet. The difference between the ROU asset and lease liability consists of net assets and liabilities of $26 million, primarily related to structural improvements paid by TripAdvisor, net of tenant incentives and accumulated amortization, which is classified as net prepaid rent under the new guidance.

Finance lease ROU assets and finance lease liabilities commencing after January 1, 2019 are recognized similar to an operating lease, at the lease commencement date or the date the lessor makes the leased asset available for use. Finance lease ROU assets are generally amortized on a straight-line basis over the lease term, and the carrying amount of the finance lease liabilities are (1) accreted to reflect interest using the incremental borrowing rate if the rate implicit in the lease is not readily determinable, and (2) reduced to reflect lease payments made during the period. Amortization expense for finance lease ROU assets and interest accretion on finance lease liabilities are recorded to depreciation and interest expense, respectively, in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

The components of lease expense during the three months ended March 31, 2019 were as follows:

 

 

 

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases is as follows:

 

 

 

Additional information related to leases during the three months ended March 31, 2019 is as follows:

 

 

 

Future lease payments under non-cancellable leases as of March 31, 2019 were as follows:

 

 

As of March 31, 2019, we did not have any additional operating or finance leases that have not yet commenced but that create significant rights and obligations for us.