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CONTINGENCIES | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
CONTINGENCIES | NOTE 9—CONTINGENCIES In the ordinary course of business, the Company is a party to various lawsuits. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when it determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. Management has also identified certain other legal matters where we believe an unfavorable outcome is not probable and, therefore, no reserve is established. Although management currently believes that resolving claims against us, including claims where an unfavorable outcome is reasonably possible, will not have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management’s view of these matters may change in the future. The Company also evaluates other contingent matters, including income and non-income tax contingencies, to assess the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimated extent of potential loss. It is possible that an unfavorable outcome of one or more of these lawsuits or other contingencies could have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company. See “Note 2—Income Taxes” for additional information related to income tax contingencies. Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, we have agreed to indemnify IAC for matters relating to any business of Former Match Group, including indemnifying IAC for costs related to the matters described below. Note that the official names of legal proceedings in the descriptions below (shown in italics) reflect the original names of the parties when the proceedings were filed as opposed to the current names of the parties post the separation of Match Group and IAC. Tinder Optionholder Litigation against Former Match Group and Match Group On August 14, 2018, ten then-current and former employees of Match Group, LLC or Tinder, Inc. (“Tinder”), an operating business of Former Match Group, filed a lawsuit in New York state court against Former Match Group and Match Group. See Sean Rad et al. v. IAC/InterActiveCorp and Match Group, Inc., No. 654038/2018 (Supreme Court, New York County). The complaint alleges that in 2017, the defendants: (i) wrongfully interfered with a contractually established process for the independent valuation of Tinder by certain investment banks, resulting in a substantial undervaluation of Tinder and a consequent underpayment to the plaintiffs upon exercise of their Tinder stock options, and (ii) then wrongfully merged Tinder into Former Match Group, thereby depriving certain of the plaintiffs of their contractual right to later valuations of Tinder on a stand-alone basis. The complaint asserts claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, interference with contractual relations (as against Former Match Group only), and interference with prospective economic advantage, and seeks compensatory damages in the amount of at least $2 billion, as well as punitive damages. On August 31, 2018, four plaintiffs who were still employed by Former Match Group filed a notice of discontinuance of their claims without prejudice, leaving the six former employees as the remaining plaintiffs. On July 13, 2020, the four former plaintiffs filed arbitration demands asserting the same valuation claims and on September 3, 2020, the four arbitrations were consolidated. On August 14, 2020, the defendants filed a motion to stay the trial in the New York case until the related arbitrations have been decided, which motion has been fully briefed. On October 9, 2018, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on various grounds, including that the 2017 valuation of Tinder by the investment banks was an expert determination any challenge to which is both time-barred under applicable law and available only on narrow substantive grounds that the plaintiffs have not pleaded in their complaint; the plaintiffs opposed the motion. On June 13, 2019, the court issued a decision and order (i) granting the motion to dismiss the claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and for unjust enrichment, (ii) granting the motion to dismiss the merger-related claim for breach of contract as to two of the remaining six plaintiffs, and (iii) otherwise denying the motion to dismiss. On June 21, 2019, the defendants filed a notice of appeal from the trial court’s partial denial of their motion to dismiss, and the parties thereafter briefed the appeal. On October 29, 2019, the Appellate Division, First Department, issued an order affirming the lower court’s decision. On November 22, 2019, the defendants filed a motion for reargument or, in the alternative, leave to appeal the Appellate Division’s order to the New York Court of Appeals; the plaintiffs opposed the motion. On May 21, 2020, the Appellate Division, First Department, granted the motion for reargument, and upon reargument, substituted a new order which also affirmed the lower court’s decision. On June 5, 2020, the defendants filed a motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals. On July 24, 2020, the Appellate Division, First Department, denied the motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals. On June 3, 2019, the defendants filed a second motion to dismiss based upon certain provisions of the plaintiffs’ agreement with a litigation funding firm; the plaintiffs opposed the motion, which remains pending. Document discovery in the case is substantially complete; deposition discovery has resumed after a temporary pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 30, 2020, the parties participated in a mediation that did not result in resolution of the matter. We believe that the allegations against Former Match Group and Match Group in this lawsuit are without merit and will continue to defend vigorously against it. On September 20, 2020, Justice Joel M. Cohen was appointed to the New York case to fill the vacancy created when Justice Saliann Scarpula was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department. FTC Lawsuit Against Former Match Group In March 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) requested information and documents in connection with a civil investigation regarding certain business practices of Match.com. The FTC raised potential claims relating to Match.com’s marketing, chargeback, and online cancellation practices. In November 2018, the FTC proposed to resolve its potential claims via a consent judgment requiring certain changes in those practices, as well as a $60 million payment. Ensuing discussions between the Company and the FTC ended without resolution. On August 7, 2019, the FTC voted to assert claims against the Company and referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). The DOJ subsequently declined to pursue a civil case against the Company and referred the matter back to the FTC. On September 25, 2019, the FTC filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against Former Match Group. See FTC v. Match Group, Inc., No. 3:19-cv-02281-K (N.D. Tex.). The complaint alleges that, prior to mid-2018, for marketing purposes Match.com told non-paying users that other users were trying to communicate with them, even though Match.com had identified those subscriber accounts as potentially fraudulent, thereby inducing non-paying users to subscribe and exposing them to the risk of fraud should they subscribe. The complaint also challenges the adequacy of Match.com’s disclosure of the terms of its former six-month guarantee, the efficacy of its cancellation process, and its handling of chargeback disputes. The complaint seeks among other things permanent injunctive relief, civil penalties, restitution, disgorgement, and costs of suit. On October 17, 2019, the Company filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. The FTC opposed the motion. On April 22, 2020, the court stayed the case pending a ruling on the motion to dismiss, which remains pending. On July 17, 2020, the Company filed a motion for leave to request a stay until the United States Supreme Court issues a decision in Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Credit Bureau Ctr., in which it granted certiorari on July 9, 2020. The Company filed a motion to stay, which was fully briefed on September 29, 2020. The court granted the motion on October 9, 2020. On September 26, 2019, the Company received a grand-jury subpoena from the DOJ for documents relating to certain of the marketing-related claims in the FTC’s complaint. The Company has cooperated with the DOJ in responding to its subpoena. On September 2, 2020, the DOJ informed the Company that it was releasing it from the subpoena and that it was no longer conducting an investigation into any areas or practices covered by the subpoena. We believe that the FTC’s claims regarding Match.com’s practices, policies, and procedures are without merit and will defend vigorously against them.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for loss and gain contingencies. Describes any existing condition, situation, or set of circumstances involving uncertainty as of the balance sheet date (or prior to issuance of the financial statements) as to a probable or reasonably possible loss incurred by an entity that will ultimately be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur, and typically discloses the amount of loss recorded or a range of possible loss, or an assertion that no reasonable estimate can be made. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127197 Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 20 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/subtopic&trid=2127163 + Details
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