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General Information
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
General Information
1. General Information
Sabre Corporation is a Delaware corporation formed in December 2006. On March 30, 2007, Sabre Corporation acquired Sabre Holdings Corporation (“Sabre Holdings”). Sabre Holdings is the sole subsidiary of Sabre Corporation. Sabre GLBL Inc. ("Sabre GLBL") is the principal operating subsidiary and sole direct subsidiary of Sabre Holdings. Sabre GLBL or its direct or indirect subsidiaries conduct all of our businesses. In these consolidated financial statements, references to “Sabre,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “ours” and “us” refer to Sabre Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires.
We connect people and places with technology that reimagines the business of travel. We operate our business and present our results through three business segments: (i) Travel Network, our global travel marketplace for travel suppliers and travel buyers, (ii) Airline Solutions, a broad portfolio of software technology products and solutions primarily for airlines, and (iii) Hospitality Solutions, an extensive suite of leading software solutions for hoteliers.
Basis of Presentation—The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, these financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring accruals, necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods indicated. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any other interim period or for the year ending December 31, 2019. The accompanying interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 15, 2019.
We consolidate all majority-owned subsidiaries and companies over which we exercise control through majority voting rights. No entities are consolidated due to control through operating agreements, financing agreements or as the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity.
The consolidated financial statements include our accounts after elimination of all significant intercompany balances and transactions. All dollar amounts in the financial statements and the tables in the notes, except per share amounts, are stated in thousands of U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. All amounts in the notes reference results from continuing operations unless otherwise indicated.
Use of Estimates—The preparation of these interim financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires that certain amounts be recorded based on estimates and assumptions made by management. Actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions. Our accounting policies that utilize significant estimates and assumptions include: (i) estimation for revenue recognition and multiple performance obligation arrangements, (ii) determination of the fair value of assets and liabilities acquired in a business combination, (iii) the evaluation of the recoverability of the carrying value of long-lived assets and goodwill, (iv) assumptions utilized to test recoverability of capitalized implementation costs, (v) judgments in capitalization of software developed for internal use and (vi) the evaluation of uncertainties surrounding the calculation of our tax assets and liabilities. Our use of estimates and the related accounting policies are discussed in the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 15, 2019. Additionally, see Note 2. Revenue from Contracts with Customers for additional information on the use of significant estimates and assumptions in recognizing revenue.
Share Repurchase Program—In February 2017, we announced the approval of a multi-year share repurchase program (the "Share Repurchase Program") to purchase up to $500 million of Sabre's common stock outstanding. Repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program may take place in the open market or privately negotiated transactions. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we repurchased 3,673,768 shares totaling $78 million pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program. Approximately $287 million remains authorized for repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program as of September 30, 2019.
Adoption of New Accounting Standards
In July 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued updated guidance that clarifies or improves the disclosure and presentation requirements of a variety of codification topics by aligning them with the SEC’s regulations, thereby eliminating certain redundancies and allowing for easier application of the codification. This standard is effective upon issuance and did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In October 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance that permits use of the Overnight Index Swap ("OIS") rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") as a U.S. benchmark interest rate for hedge accounting purposes under Topic 815 in addition to the Direct Treasury obligations of the U.S. government, the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") swap rate, the OIS rate based on the Fed Funds Effective Rate, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Municipal Swap Rate. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2019, which did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In February 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance requiring organizations that lease assets—referred to as "lessees"—to recognize on the balance sheet the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by those leases, when the lease has a term of more than 12 months. The updated standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, we adopted the new standard using the modified retrospective approach and elected the package of practical expedients and the hindsight practical expedient. See Note 9. Leases for more information on the impacts from adoption and ongoing considerations.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In October 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance that eliminates the requirement that entities consider indirect interests held through related parties under common control in their entirety when assessing whether a decision-making fee is a variable interest and instead requires entities to consider these indirect interests on a proportional basis. The updated standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. We do not expect the adoption of this standard will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.
In August 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance on customer's accounting for implementation costs incurred in a cloud computing arrangement that is a service contract. Under this updated standard, a customer in a cloud-computing arrangement that is a service contract is required to follow guidance on software developed for internal use to determine which implementation costs to capitalize as assets or expense as incurred. This standard aligns the accounting for implementation costs for hosting arrangements, regardless of whether they convey a license to the hosted software. The standard requires that capitalized implementation costs related to a hosting arrangement that is a service contract be amortized over the term of the hosting arrangement, beginning when the component of the hosting arrangement is ready for its intended use, similar to requirements in guidance on software developed for internal use. In addition, costs incurred during the preliminary project and post-implementation phases are expensed as they are incurred. The updated standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. We do not expect the adoption of this standard will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.
In June 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance for the measurement of credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. Under this updated standard, the current "incurred loss" approach is replaced with an "expected loss" model for instruments measured at amortized cost. For available-for-sale debt securities, allowances for losses will now be required rather than reducing the instruments carrying value. This standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of this standard on our consolidated financial statements.