Share Repurchase Program

On October 21, 2021, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program of $300.0 million (the "Share Repurchase Program"). In addition, our Board of Directors authorized increases to the Share Repurchase Program of $500.0 million on June 1, 2022, and $500.0 million on May 4, 2023. As of March 31, 2024, $220.8 million remains available under the Share Repurchase Program. Under the Share Repurchase Program, the Company may repurchase shares of its common stock from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Repurchases of common stock may also be made under Rule 10b5- 1 plans, which would permit common stock to be repurchased when the Company might otherwise be precluded from doing so under insider trading laws. We are not obligated to repurchase any shares under this program. The timing, volume and nature of share repurchases will be at the sole discretion of management, dependent on market conditions, applicable securities laws and other factors, and may be suspended or discontinued at any time.

The following table provides information regarding share repurchases during the referenced periods ⁽¹⁾.

	*Three Months Ended*
	*March 31,*
*(In thousands, except per share data)*	*2024*		*2023*
Shares repurchased (2)		1,658		1,726
Total cost, including brokerage fees (3)	$	105,500	$	106,327
Average repurchase price per share (4)	$	63.62	$	61.59

⁽¹⁾Shares repurchased reflect repurchases settled during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. These amounts exclude repurchases, if any, traded but not yet settled on or before March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

⁽²⁾All shares repurchased have been retired and constitute authorized but unissued shares.

⁽³⁾ Costs exclude 1% excise tax on corporate stock buybacks.

⁽⁴⁾ Amounts in the table may not recalculate exactly due to rounding. Average repurchase price per share is calculated based on unrounded numbers and excludes the 1% excise tax.

The dividends declared by the Board of Directors and reflected in the periods presented are:

We account for share-based awards exchanged for employee services in accordance with the authoritative accounting guidance for share-based payments. Under the guidance, share-based compensation expense is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as expense, net of estimated forfeitures, over the employee's requisite service period.

The following table provides classification detail of the total costs related to our share-based employee compensation plans reported in our condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Our stock incentive plan provides for the issuance of Performance Share Units ("PSU") grants which may be earned, in whole or in part, upon passage of time and the attainment of performance criteria. We periodically review our estimates of performance against the defined criteria to assess the expected payout of each outstanding PSU grant and adjust our stock compensation expense accordingly.

The PSU grants awarded in third quarter 2021 and fourth quarter 2019 fully vested during the first quarter of 2024 and 2023, respectively. Common shares under the 2021 grant were issued based on the determination by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors ("Compensation Committee") of our actual achievement of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization and Rent under master leases ("EBITDAR") and return on invested capital for the two-year performance period from July 2021 to June 2023. Common shares under the 2019 grant were issued based on the determination by the Compensation Committee of net revenue growth and EBITDAR growth for the three-year performance period of the grant. As provided under the provisions of our stock incentive plan, certain of the participants elected to surrender a portion of the shares to be received to pay the withholding and other payroll taxes payable on the compensation resulting from the vesting of the PSUs.

The PSU grant awarded in July 2021 resulted in a total of 241,277 shares being issued during the first quarter of 2024, representing approximately 1.94 shares per PSU. Of the 241,277 shares issued, a total of 94,862 were surrendered by the participants for payroll taxes, resulting in a net issuance of 146,415 shares due to the vesting of the 2021 grant. The actual achievement level under the award metrics approximated the estimated performance as of the year-end 2023; therefore, the vesting of the PSUs had minimal impact to compensation costs of $0.8 million in our 2024 condensed consolidated statement of operations.

The PSU grant awarded in December 2019 resulted in a total of 519,782 shares being issued during the first quarter of 2023, representing approximately 2.00 shares per PSU. Of the 519,782 shares issued, a total of 200,904 were surrendered by the participants for payroll taxes, resulting in a net issuance of 318,878 shares due to the vesting of the 2019 grant. The actual achievement level under the award metrics equaled the estimated performance as of the year-end 2022; therefore, the vesting of the PSUs did not impact compensation costs in our 2023 condensed consolidated statement of operations.

As of March 31, 2024, there was approximately $21.3 million, $9.3 million and $1.8 million of total unrecognized share-based compensation costs related to unvested restricted stock units ("RSUs"), PSUs and career shares, respectively. As of March 31, 2024, the unrecognized share-based compensation costs related to our RSUs, PSUs and career shares are expected to be recognized over approximately 2.5 years, 2.6 years and 3.5 years, respectively.