When acquiring less than 100% ownership of an entity, the Company may enter into agreements that give the Company an option to purchase, or require the Company to purchase, the incremental ownership interests under certain circumstances. Where the option to purchase the incremental ownership is within the Company’s control, the amounts are recorded as noncontrolling interests in the equity section of the Company’s balance sheet. Where the incremental purchase may be required of the Company, the amounts are recorded as redeemable noncontrolling interests in mezzanine equity at their estimated acquisition date redemption value and adjusted at each reporting period for changes to their estimated redemption value through additional paid-in capital (but not less than their initial redemption value), except for foreign currency translation adjustments. On occasion, the Company may initiate a renegotiation to acquire an incremental ownership interest and the amount of consideration paid may differ materially from the balance sheet amounts.

Noncontrolling Interests

Changes in amounts due to noncontrolling interest holders included in accrued and other liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2017 and nine months ended September 30, 2018 were as follows:



	Noncontrolling Interests
Balance, December 31, 2016	$	4,154
Income attributable to noncontrolling interests	15,375
Distributions made	(8,865		)
Other ⁽¹⁾	366
Balance, December 31, 2017	$	11,030
Income attributable to noncontrolling interests	5,900
Distributions made	(10,410		)
Other⁽¹⁾	196
Balance, September 30, 2018	$	6,716


(1)	Other consists primarily of business acquisitions, sale of a business, step-up transactions, and cumulative translation adjustments.

Changes in the Company’s ownership interests in our less than 100% owned subsidiaries during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 were as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30, 2018						Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018
	2018			2017			2018			2017
Net income (loss) attributable to MDC Partners Inc.	$	(16,125	)	$	18,493		$	(42,135	)	$	19,180
Transfers from the noncontrolling interest:
Increase (Decrease) in MDC Partners Inc. paid-in capital for purchase of equity interests in excess of Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests and Noncontrolling Interests	4,975			(337		)	3,809			2,315
Net transfers from noncontrolling interests	$	4,975		$	(337	)	$	3,809		$	2,315
Change from net income (loss) attributable to MDC Partners Inc. and transfers to noncontrolling interests	$	(11,150	)	$	18,156		$	(38,326	)	$	21,495

Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests

The following table presents changes in redeemable noncontrolling interests:



	Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018			Year Ended December 31, 2017
Beginning Balance	$	62,886		$	60,180
Redemptions	(9,791		)	(910		)
Granted	—			1,666
Changes in redemption value	4,409			1,498
Currency translation adjustments	(311		)	452
Ending Balance	$	57,193		$	62,886

The noncontrolling shareholders’ ability to exercise any such option right is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including conditions requiring notice in advance of exercise and specific employment termination conditions. In addition, these rights cannot be exercised prior to specified staggered exercise dates. The exercise of these rights at their earliest contractual date would result in obligations of the Company to fund the related amounts during 2018 to 2023. It is not determinable, at this time, if or when the owners of these rights will exercise all or a portion of these rights.

The amount payable by the Company to purchase the noncontrolling shareholders’ incremental ownership interests if exercised is dependent on various valuation formulas and on future events, such as the average earnings of the relevant subsidiary through the date of exercise, the growth rate of the earnings of the relevant subsidiary during that period and, in some cases, the currency exchange rate at the date of payment. The ultimate amount payable relating to these transactions will vary because it is dependent on the future results of operations of the subject businesses and the timing of when these rights are exercised.

The redeemable noncontrolling interest of $57,193 as of September 30, 2018, consists of $14,320 assuming that the subsidiaries perform over the relevant future periods at their discounted cash flows earnings level and such rights are exercised, $38,540 upon termination of such owner’s employment with the applicable subsidiary or death and $4,333 representing the initial redemption value (required floor) recorded for certain acquisitions in excess of the amount the Company would have to pay should the Company acquire the remaining ownership interests for such subsidiaries.

These adjustments will not impact the calculation of earnings (loss) per share if the redemption values are less than the estimated fair values. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, there was no related impact on the Company’s loss per share calculation.