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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Our contractual obligations and commitments as of March 31, 2025 and through the date of this report, did not materially change from the amounts set forth in our 2024 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. On October 31, 2024, we learned the highest-level court declined to hear our appeal related to a Portugal VAT assessment for the periods from 2013 to 2015 of approximately $4.2 million, inclusive of penalties and interest through March 31, 2025. This assessment became final and due during the fourth quarter of 2024 and is expected to be paid in 2025. The related obligation for this assessment is presented in Accrued expenses and other current liabilities in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2025. We currently have a bank guarantee of $3.8 million in place relating to this assessment that is classified as restricted cash in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2025. 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 $4.6 million, inclusive of penalties and interest through March 31, 2025. During 2024, we received a negative ruling at the lowest level court and subsequently lodged an appeal to the second-level court to assert factual and legal challenges to this assessment. Also in 2024, we recorded a contingent liability of $4.6 million in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets after concluding that an adverse outcome was probable. During the current quarter, there have been no updates related to the appeal and a contingent liability of $4.6 million is recorded as of March 31, 2025. We currently have a bank guarantee of $4.0 million in place relating to this assessment that is classified as restricted cash in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2025. A Groupon subsidiary in Italy, Groupon S.r.l., is presently litigating a tax dispute with the Italian tax authorities relating to a $123.5 million Assessment, inclusive of taxes, penalties and interest through March 31, 2025. Refer to Note 10, Income Taxes for additional information. 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. In 2020 and 2019, we decreased our indemnification liabilities due to the expiration of certain indemnification obligations. Our remaining indemnification liabilities were $2.8 million as of March 31, 2025. After negative rulings at the first and second tier courts in March 2024 and April 2025 for the majority of the assessed amounts, the Company filed a special appeal to the second-level court requesting the court to revisit certain aspects of its decision. If this special appeal is unsuccessful, Groupon will appeal to the third tier court. For one of the matters for which the special appeal was filed, the Company concluded an adverse outcome is probable based on the second tier court findings specific to that case. The Company therefore determined it is probable a loss has been incurred for this individual matter and recorded additional liability of $0.5 million, including interest and penalties, which is presented within Income (loss) from discontinued operations on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2025. We estimate that the total amount of obligations that are reasonably possible to arise under the indemnifications, inclusive of the contingent liability of $0.5 million recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2025, should not exceed our bank guarantee of $10.2 million for these assessments. Our bank guarantee is classified as restricted cash in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2025. 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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