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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Our contractual obligations and commitments as of June 30, 2024 and through the date of this report, did not materially change from the amounts set forth in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Legal Matters and Other Contingencies From time to time, we are party to various legal proceedings incident to the operation of our business. For example, we currently are involved in proceedings brought by merchants, employment and related matters, intellectual property infringement suits, customer lawsuits, stockholder claims relating to U.S. securities law, consumer class actions and suits alleging, among other things, violations of state consumer protection or privacy laws. We currently have an appeal lodged in the Portuguese courts relating to a Portugal VAT assessment for the periods from 2013 to 2015 of approximately $4.1 million, inclusive of penalties and interest through June 30, 2024. After negative rulings at lower level courts in November 2023 and May 2024, we lodged a final appeal to the highest-level court. It is uncertain whether the court will agree to hear the appeal and if the Court chooses to hear the appeal, it will be confined to considering issues of law. If the court declines to hear the appeal, the assessment will become final and payable. Given the uncertainty of whether our final appeal for the assessment will be heard, we concluded that a loss was probable and recorded a contingent liability of $4.1 million in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2024 and recognized expenses in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for $3.3 million of taxes and penalties within Selling, general and administrative and $0.8 million of interest expense within Other income (expense), net. We currently have a bank guarantee of $3.7 million in place relating to the assessment that is classified as restricted cash in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2024. A Groupon subsidiary in Italy is presently litigating a tax dispute with the Italian tax authorities relating to a $120.4 million assessment, inclusive of taxes, penalties and interest through June 30, 2024. The subsidiary has lodged a second-level appeal and also has the ability to challenge the assessment in an international Mutual Agreement Proceeding if it does not prevail in the Italian courts. A hearing on the second-level appeal was originally scheduled for July 9, 2024 and has been rescheduled by the court until September 24, 2024. The Company continues to believe that the assessment, which primarily relates to transfer pricing on transactions occurring in 2011, is without merit. The subsidiary continues to vigorously defend itself in this matter and believes it will prevail on the merits of the case. Refer to Note 10, Income Taxes for additional information. In 2015 we lodged an appeal in the Portuguese courts relating to a Portugal VAT assessment for the periods from 2011 to 2012 of up to $4.4 million, inclusive of penalties and interest through June 30, 2024. The case is currently pending at the lowest level court awaiting a final decision. If there is a negative outcome, at this lowest level, Groupon could still pursue two rounds of appeals in which it can still assert factual and legal challenges to the assessment. Groupon also maintains the opportunity to petition subsequent courts to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. We have not recorded a contingent liability for this amount as, for the reasons stated above, we concluded it is not probable a loss has been incurred as of June 30, 2024. This case is separate and not dependent on the outcome of the Portugal matter discussed above, wherein the ability to appeal further is not certain and factual issues can no longer be challenged. We currently have a bank guarantee of $4.0 million in place relating to the assessment that is classified as restricted cash in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2024. In June 2023, Groupon was granted final approval of a settlement that resolved four shareholder derivative lawsuits in relation to a previously settled lawsuit that alleged that Groupon and certain of its officers made materially false and/or misleading statements or omissions regarding its business, operations and prospects, specifically as it relates to reiterating its full year guidance on November 4, 2019 and the Groupon Select program. Under the settlement, Groupon agreed to undertake certain corporate reforms. The Court awarded attorneys' fees in the amount of $950,000 to Plaintiffs' counsel. That amount was covered under Groupon's insurance policies and was paid directly by Groupon's insurance carriers in July 2023. In addition, third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that we have infringed their intellectual property rights. We are subject to intellectual property disputes, including patent infringement claims, and expect that we will continue to be subject to intellectual property infringement claims as our services expand in scope and complexity. In the past and/or at present, we have litigated patent infringement and other intellectual property-related claims, including pending litigation or trademark disputes relating to, for example, our Goods category, some of which involved or could have involved potentially substantial claims for damages or injunctive relief. We may also become more vulnerable to third-party claims as laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act are interpreted by the courts, and we become subject to laws in jurisdictions where the underlying laws with respect to the potential liability of online intermediaries are either unclear or less favorable. We believe that additional lawsuits alleging that we have violated patent, copyright or trademark laws may be filed against us. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and often costly to resolve, could require expensive changes in our methods of doing business or the goods we sell, or could require us to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements. We also are subject to consumer claims or lawsuits relating to alleged violations of consumer protection or privacy rights and statutes, some of which could involve potentially substantial claims for damages, including statutory or punitive damages. Consumer and privacy-related claims or lawsuits, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage awards, fines and penalties, injunctive relief or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgment or settlement, or require us to change our business practices, sometimes in expensive ways. We are also subject to, or in the future may become subject to, a variety of regulatory inquiries, audits, and investigations across the jurisdictions where we conduct our business, including, for example, inquiries related to consumer protection, employment matters and/or hiring practices, marketing practices, tax, unclaimed property and privacy rules and regulations. Any regulatory actions against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage awards, fines and penalties, injunctive relief or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgment or settlement, require us to change our business practices in expensive ways, require significant amounts of management time, result in the diversion of significant operational resources, materially damage our brand or reputation, or otherwise harm our business. We establish an accrued liability for loss contingencies related to legal, regulatory and indirect tax matters when the loss is both probable and reasonably estimable. Those accruals represent management's best estimate of probable losses and, in such cases, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amounts accrued. For certain of the matters described above, there are inherent and significant uncertainties based on, among other factors, the stage of the proceedings, developments in the applicable facts of law, or the lack of a specific damage claim. However, we believe that the amount of reasonably possible losses in excess of the amounts accrued for those matters would not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Our accrued liabilities for loss contingencies related to legal, regulatory and indirect tax matters may change in the future as a result of new developments, including, but not limited to, the occurrence of new legal matters, changes in the law or regulatory environment, adverse or favorable rulings, newly discovered facts relevant to the matter, or changes in the strategy for the matter. Regardless of the outcome, litigation and other regulatory matters can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors. Indemnifications In connection with the disposition of our operations in Latin America in 2017, we recorded $5.4 million in indemnification liabilities for certain tax and other matters upon the closing of the transactions as an adjustment to the net loss on the dispositions within discontinued operations at their fair value. We estimated the indemnification liabilities using a probability-weighted expected cash flow approach. Our remaining indemnification liabilities were $2.8 million as of June 30, 2024. We estimate that the total amount of obligations that are reasonably possible to arise under the indemnifications in excess of amounts accrued as of June 30, 2024 were approximately $11.7 million. In the normal course of business to facilitate transactions related to our operations, we indemnify certain parties, including employees, lessors, service providers, merchants and counterparties to investment agreements and asset and stock purchase agreements with respect to various matters. We have agreed to hold certain parties harmless against losses arising from a breach of representations or covenants, or other claims made against those parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. We are also subject to increased exposure to various claims as a result of our divestitures and acquisitions. We may also become more vulnerable to claims as we expand the range and scope of our services and are subject to laws in jurisdictions where the underlying laws with respect to potential liability are either unclear or less favorable. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our officers, directors and underwriters, and our bylaws contain similar indemnification obligations that cover officers, directors, employees and other agents. Except as noted above, it is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Historically, any payments that we have made under these agreements have not had a material impact on our operating results, financial position or cash flows.

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