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Employee Benefit Plans
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Employee Benefit Plans
Note 10: Employee Benefit Plans
Pension and Postretirement Plans. We sponsor both funded and unfunded domestic and foreign defined benefit pension and postretirement benefit (PRB) plans and defined contribution plans.
Contributions to our plans were as follows:
 Quarter Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
(dollars in millions)2024202320242023
U.S. qualified defined benefit plans$— $9 $— $9 
International defined benefit plans6 13 18 42 
PRB plans6 8 19 20 
Defined contribution plans (1)
308 296 1,042 985 
(1)    Our domestic defined contribution plan uses an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for certain employer matching contributions, which historically held stock that was purchased using external borrowings. During the third quarter of 2024, the remaining unallocated common shares of the ESOP trust were depleted, and we began funding the ESOP on a non-leveraged basis utilizing treasury shares.
The amounts recognized in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet consist of:
(dollars in millions)September 30, 2024December 31, 2023
Noncurrent pension assets (included in Other assets)$2,217 $1,296 
Current pension and PRB liabilities (included in Accrued employee compensation)270 270 
Future pension and postretirement benefit obligations2,230 2,385 
The amounts recognized in Future pension and postretirement benefit obligations consist of:
(dollars in millions)September 30, 2024December 31, 2023
Noncurrent pension liabilities$1,613 $1,737 
Noncurrent PRB liabilities553 582 
Other pension and PRB related items
64 66 
Future pension and postretirement benefit obligations$2,230 $2,385 
The components of net periodic (income) expense for our defined pension and PRB plans were as follows:
 
Pension Benefits
Quarter Ended September 30,
PRB
Quarter Ended September 30,
(dollars in millions)2024202320242023
Operating expense
Service cost$47 $56 $1 $1 
Non-operating expense
Interest cost597 627 11 12 
Expected return on plan assets(937)(940)(5)(5)
Amortization of prior service credit(42)(39)(1)— 
Recognized actuarial net (gain) loss5 (94)(6)(8)
 Net settlement, curtailment, and special termination benefit (gain) loss4 4 — — 
Non-service pension income(373)(442)(1)(1)
Total net periodic (income) expense$(326)$(386)$— $— 
 
Pension Benefits
Nine Months Ended September 30,
PRB
Nine Months Ended September 30,
(dollars in millions)2024202320242023
Operating expense
Service cost
$141 $167 $3 $3 
Non-operating expense
Interest cost1,789 1,880 33 36 
Expected return on plan assets(2,810)(2,815)(15)(15)
Amortization of prior service credit(127)(118)(1)— 
Recognized actuarial net (gain) loss15 (284)(18)(24)
Net settlement, curtailment and special termination benefit (gain) loss— 6 — — 
Non-service pension income(1,133)(1,331)(1)(3)
Total net periodic (income) expense$(992)$(1,164)$2 $— 
We have set aside assets in separate trusts, which we expect to be used to pay for certain nonqualified defined benefit and defined contribution plan obligations in excess of qualified plan limits. These assets are included in Other assets in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. The fair value of marketable securities held in trusts was as follows:
(dollars in millions)September 30, 2024December 31, 2023
Marketable securities held in trusts$746 $745