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Organization and Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Organization and Basis of Presentation

1. Organization and Basis of Presentation

Nature of Operations

NOW Inc. (“NOW” or the “Company”) is a holding company headquartered in Houston, Texas that was incorporated in Delaware on November 22, 2013. NOW operates primarily under the DistributionNOW and Wilson Export brands. NOW is a global distributor of energy products as well as products for industrial applications through its locations in the U.S., Canada and internationally which are geographically positioned to serve the energy and industrial markets in over 100 countries. NOW’s energy product offerings are used in the energy industry including upstream drilling and completion, exploration and production, midstream infrastructure development and downstream petroleum refining – as well as in other industries, such as chemical processing, power generation and industrial manufacturing operations. The industrial distribution portion of NOW’s business targets a diverse range of manufacturing and facilities across numerous industries and end markets. NOW also provides supply chain management to drilling contractors, E&P operators, midstream operators, downstream energy and industrial manufacturing companies. NOW’s supplier network consists of thousands of vendors in approximately 40 countries.

The Separation

On May 1, 2014, the National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (“NOV”) Board of Directors approved the Spin-Off (the “Spin-Off” or “Separation”) of its distribution business into an independent, publicly traded company named NOW Inc. In accordance with a separation and distribution agreement, the two companies were separated by NOV distributing to its stockholders 107,053,031 shares of common stock of the Company after the market closed on May 30, 2014. Each NOV stockholder received one share of NOW common stock for every four shares of NOV common stock held at the close of business on the record date of May 22, 2014 and not sold prior to close of business on May 30, 2014. Fractional shares of NOW common stock were not distributed and any fractional shares of NOW common stock otherwise issuable to a NOV stockholder were sold in the open market on such stockholder’s behalf, and such stockholder received a cash payment with respect to that fractional share. In conjunction with the Spin-Off, NOV received an opinion from its legal counsel to the effect that, based on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the distribution of NOW common stock and certain related transactions generally was not taxable to NOV or U.S. holders of NOV common stock, except in respect to cash received in lieu of fractional shares, which generally will be taxable to such holders as a capital gain. Following the Spin-Off, NOW became an independent, publicly traded company as NOV had no ownership interest in NOW. Each company has separate public ownership, boards of directors and management. A Registration Statement on Form 10, as amended, relating to the Spin-Off was filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and was declared effective on May 13, 2014. On June 2, 2014, NOW stock began trading the “regular-way” on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DNOW”.

Basis of Presentation

All financial information presented before the Spin-Off represents the combined results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the Company and all financial information presented after the Spin-Off represents the consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the Company. Accordingly:

 

    The Company’s consolidated statement of income for the year ended December 31, 2014 consists of the consolidated results of NOW for the period from May 31 through December 31 and the combined results of NOW for the period from January 1, 2014 through May 30, 2014.

 

    The Company’s consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2014 is presented on a consolidated basis, whereas the Company’s consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2013 was prepared on a combined basis.

 

    The Company’s consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2014 consist of the consolidated results of NOW for the period from May 31 through December 31 and the combined results of NOW for the period from January 1, 2014 through May 30, 2014.

The Company’s historical financial statements prior to May 31, 2014 were derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of NOV and include assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses directly attributable to the Company’s operations. The assets and liabilities in the consolidated financial statements have been reflected on a historical cost basis, as immediately prior to the separation all of the assets and liabilities presented were wholly owned by NOV and were transferred within NOV. For the periods prior to the Spin-Off, the consolidated financial statements include expense allocations for certain functions provided by NOV as well as other NOV employees not solely dedicated to NOW, including, but not limited to, general corporate expenses related to finance, legal, information technology, human resources, communications, ethics and compliance, shared services, employee benefits and incentives and stock-based compensation. These expenses were allocated to NOW on the basis of direct usage when identifiable, with the remainder allocated on the basis of operating profit, headcount or other measures.

Actual costs that would have been incurred if NOW had been a stand-alone public company would depend on multiple factors, including organizational structure and strategic decisions made in various areas, including information technology and infrastructure. The Company’s historical financial statements prior to May 31, 2014 do not reflect the debt or interest costs it might have incurred if it had been a stand-alone entity. In addition, the Company expects to incur other costs, not reflected in its historical financial statements prior to May 31, 2014, as a result of being a separate publicly traded company. As a result, the Company’s historical financial statements prior to May 31, 2014 do not necessarily reflect what its financial position or results of operations would have been if it had been operated as a stand-alone public entity during the periods covered prior to May 31, 2014, and may not be indicative of the Company’s future results of operations and financial position.

The consolidated financial statements include certain assets and liabilities that have historically been held by NOV but which are specifically identifiable or otherwise allocable to the Company. The cash and cash equivalents held by NOV are not specifically identifiable to NOW and therefore were not allocated to it for any of the periods presented prior to the Spin-Off. Cash and equivalents in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets primarily represent cash held locally by entities included in its consolidated financial statements. Transfers of cash prior to the Spin-Off to and from NOV’s cash management system are reflected as a component of NOV net investment on the consolidated balance sheets.

Prior to the Spin-Off, all significant intercompany transactions between NOW and NOV were considered to be effectively settled for cash at the time the transaction was recorded. The total net effect of the settlement of these intercompany transactions is reflected in the consolidated statements of cash flow as a financing activity and in the consolidated balance sheet as NOV net investment.

 

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-08 Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity, which is an update for Accounting Standards Codification Topic No. 205 “Presentation of Financial Statements” and Topic No. 360 “Property, Plant and Equipment’. This update changes the requirements of reporting discontinued operations. Under the amended guidance, a disposal of a component of an entity or a group of components of an entity is required to be reported in discontinued operations if the disposal represents a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on an entity’s operations and financial results. The amendments in this update are effective for all disposals (or classifications as held for sale) of components of an entity that occur within annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2014, and interim periods within those years, with early adoption permitted. The adoption of this update concerns presentation and disclosure only as it relates to the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU No. 2014-08 on its financial position and results of operations. No material changes are expected upon adoption of this ASU.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Topic 606. ASU 2014-09 affects any entity using GAAP that either enters into contracts with customers to transfer goods or services or enters into contracts for the transfer of nonfinancial assets unless those contracts are within the scope of other standards (e.g., insurance contracts or lease contracts). This ASU will supersede the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific guidance. In addition, the existing requirements for the recognition of a gain or loss on the transfer of nonfinancial assets that are not in a contract with a customer (e.g., assets within the scope of Topic 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment, and intangible assets within the scope of Topic 350, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other) are amended to be consistent with the guidance on recognition and measurement (including the constraint on revenue) in this ASU. The amendments in this ASU are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within that reporting period. Early application is not permitted. The ASU provides two transition methods:

(i) retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented (ii) retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying this ASU recognized at the date of initial application. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU No. 2014-09 on its financial position and results of operations.