Segment Information

The Company determines an operating segment if a component (i) engages in business activities from which it earns revenues and incurs expenses, (ii) has discrete financial information, and is (iii) regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) to make decisions regarding resource allocation for the segment and assess its performance. Once operating segments are identified, the Company performs an analysis to determine if aggregation of operating segments is applicable. This determination is based upon a quantitative analysis of the expected and historic average long-term profitability for each operating segment, together with a qualitative assessment to determine if operating segments have similar operating characteristics.

Due to changes in the Company’s internal management and reporting structure during 2018, reportable segment results for the 2017 periods presented have been recast to reflect the reclassification of certain businesses between segments. The changes were as follows:


•	Source Marketing, previously within the All Other category, was included within the Doner operating segment, which is aggregated into the Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment


•	Yamamoto, previously within the All Other category, was operationally merged with Civilian and is now included within the Domestic Creative Agencies reportable segment


•	Bruce Mau Design, Hello Design and Northstar Research Partners, previously within the All Other category, and Varick Media Management, previously within the Media Services reportable segment, were included into a newly-formed operating segment, Yes & Company, which is aggregated within the Media Services reportable segment

In the third quarter of 2018, Forsman & Bodenfors and kbs+, both within the Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment, merged under the Forsman & Bodenfors name.

The four reportable segments that result from applying the aggregation criteria are as follows: “Global Integrated Agencies”; “Domestic Creative Agencies”; “Specialist Communications”; and “Media Services.” In addition, the Company combines and discloses those operating segments that do not meet the aggregation criteria as “All Other.” The Company also reports corporate expenses, as further detailed below, as “Corporate.” All segments follow the same basis of presentation and accounting policies as those described throughout the Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included herein, and Note 2 of the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.

•

The Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment is comprised of the Company’s five global, integrated operating segments (72andSunny, Anomaly, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Doner and Forsman & Bodenfors) serving multinational clients around the world. These operating segments share similar characteristics related to (i) the nature of their services; (ii) the type of global clients and the methods used to provide services; and (iii) the extent to which they may be impacted by global economic and geopolitical risks. In addition, these operating segments compete with each other for new business and from time to time have business move between them. The Company believes the historic and expected average long-term profitability is similar among the operating segments aggregated in the Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment.

The operating segments within the Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment provides a range of different services for its clients, including strategy, creative and production for advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms (print, digital, social media, television broadcast).

•

The Domestic Creative Agencies reportable segment is comprised of five operating segments that are national advertising agencies (Colle + McVoy, Laird + Partners, Mono Advertising, Union and Yamamoto) leveraging creative capabilities at their core. These operating segments share similar characteristics related to (i) the nature of their services; (ii) the type of domestic client accounts and the methods used to provide services; and (iii) the extent to which they may be impacted by domestic economic and policy factors within North America. In addition, these operating segments compete with each other for new business and from time to time have business move between them. The Company believes the historic and expected average long- term profitability is similar among the operating segments aggregated in the Domestic Creative Agencies reportable segment.

The operating segments within the Domestic Creative Agencies reportable segment provide similar services as the Global Integrated Agencies.

•

The Specialist Communications reportable segment is comprised of five operating segments that are each communications agencies (Allison & Partners, HL Group Partners, Hunter PR, KWT Global (formerly Kwittken), and Veritas) with core service offerings in public relations and related communications services. These operating segments share similar characteristics related to (i) the nature of their services; (ii) the type of client accounts and the methods used to provide services; (iii) the extent to which they may be impacted by domestic economic and policy factors within North America; and (iv) the regulatory environment regarding public relations and social media. In addition, these operating segments compete with each other for new business and from time to time have business move between them. The Company believes the historic and expected average long-term profitability is similar among the operating segments aggregated in the Specialist Communications reportable segment.

The operating segments within the Specialist Communications reportable segment provide public relations and communications services including strategy, editorial, crisis support or issues management, media training, influencer engagement, and events management.


•	The Media Services reportable segment is comprised of two operating segments (MDC Media Partners and Yes & Company). These operating segments perform media buying and planning as their core competency across a range of platforms (out-of-home, paid search, social media, lead generation, programmatic, television broadcast).

•

All Other consists of the Company’s remaining operating segments that provide a range of diverse marketing communication services, but generally do not have similar services offerings or financial characteristics as those aggregated in the reportable segments. The All Other category includes 6Degrees Communications, Concentric Partners, Gale Partners, Kenna, Kingsdale, Instrument, Redscout, Relevent, Team, Vitro, and Y Media Labs. The nature of the specialist services provided by these operating segments vary among each other and from those operating segments aggregated into the reportable segments. This results in these operating segments having current and long-term performance expectations inconsistent with those operating segments aggregated in the reportable segments.The operating segments within All Other provide a range of diverse marketing communication services, including application and website design and development, data and analytics, experiential marketing, customer research management, creative services, and branding.

•

Corporate consists of corporate office expenses incurred in connection with the strategic resources provided to the operating segments, as well as certain other centrally managed expenses that are not fully allocated to the operating segments. These office and general expenses include (i) salaries and related expenses for corporate office employees, including employees dedicated to supporting the operating segments, (ii) occupancy expenses relating to properties occupied by all corporate office employees, (iii) other office and general expenses including professional fees for the financial statement audits and other public company costs, and (iv) certain other professional fees managed by the corporate office. Additional expenses managed by the corporate office that are directly related to the operating segments are allocated to the appropriate reportable segment and the All Other category.



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
Revenue:
Global Integrated Agencies	$	177,398		$	196,974		$	510,360		$	585,290
Domestic Creative Agencies	24,798			28,096			75,503			77,325
Specialist Communications	42,636			40,670			129,724			125,470
Media Services	35,022			38,315			104,460			122,207
All Other	95,976			71,745			262,494			200,740
Total	$	375,830		$	375,800		$	1,082,541		$	1,111,032

Operating profit (loss):
Global Integrated Agencies*	$	2,633		$	20,069		$	6,099		$	33,240
Domestic Creative Agencies	5,532			6,627			14,451			15,411
Specialist Communications	4,677			4,775			14,471			13,423
Media Services	1,387			2,555			407			9,169
All Other	6,413			13,920			28,565			29,740
Corporate	(18,024		)	(10,726		)	(45,236		)	(28,983		)
Total	$	2,618		$	37,220		$	18,757		$	72,000

Other income (expense):
Interest expense and finance charges, net	(17,063		)	(16,258		)	(50,005		)	(48,309		)
Foreign exchange transaction gain (loss)	3,275			9,913			(9,934		)	18,798
Other, net	189			(1,264		)	1,222			(986		)
Income (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings (losses) of non-consolidated affiliates	(10,981		)	29,611			(39,960		)	41,503
Income tax expense (benefit)	2,986			9,049			(3,367		)	17,659
Income (loss) before equity in earnings (losses) of non-consolidated affiliates	(13,967		)	20,562			(36,593		)	23,844
Equity in earnings of non-consolidated affiliates	300			1,422			358			1,924
Net income (loss)	(13,667		)	21,984			(36,235		)	25,768
Net income attributable to the noncontrolling interest	(2,458		)	(3,491		)	(5,900		)	(6,588		)
Net income (loss) attributable to MDC Partners Inc.	$	(16,125	)	$	18,493		$	(42,135	)	$	19,180

* A goodwill and other asset impairment charge of $21,008 was recognized within the Global Integrated Agencies reportable segment in the three and nine months ended of 2018. See Note 11 of the Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for information related to the impairment.



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Depreciation and amortization:
Global Integrated Agencies	$	5,154	$	6,365	$	18,499	$	17,913
Domestic Creative Agencies	396		375		1,185		1,172
Specialist Communications	1,134		1,220		3,163		3,657
Media Services	781		1,011		2,315		3,232
All Other	3,470		2,026		9,467		6,078
Corporate	199		255		583		864
Total	$	11,134	$	11,252	$	35,212	$	32,916



Stock-based compensation:
Global Integrated Agencies	$	3,360	$	3,840	$	8,492	$	9,912
Domestic Creative Agencies	175		187		945		534
Specialist Communications	43		659		542		2,264
Media Services	112		161		282		495
All Other	932		1,056		2,532		2,066
Corporate	1,620		477		4,089		1,599
Total	$	6,242	$	6,380	$	16,882	$	16,870

Capital expenditures:
Global Integrated Agencies	$	2,418	$	1,950	$	7,875	$	17,645
Domestic Creative Agencies	371		367		860		980
Specialist Communications	743		206		3,207		673
Media Services	428		2,308		845		4,107
All Other	1,551		2,317		2,380		4,896
Corporate	32		1		65		4
Total	$	5,543	$	7,149	$	15,232	$	28,305

The Company’s CODM does not use segment assets to allocate resources or to assess performance of the segments and therefore, total segment assets have not been disclosed.

See Note 2 of the Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included herein for a summary of the Company’s revenue by geographic region for three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.