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RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
On December 29, 2021, Vector Group completed the Distribution and the Company and Vector Group entered into a distribution agreement (the “Distribution Agreement”) and several ancillary agreements for the purpose of accomplishing the Distribution. The Distribution Agreement includes an agreement that the Company and Vector Group will provide each other with appropriate indemnities with respect to liabilities arising out of the business retained by Vector Group and the business transferred to Douglas Elliman by Vector Group. These agreements also govern the Company’s relationship with Vector Group after the Distribution and provide for the allocation of employee benefit, tax and some other liabilities and obligations attributable to periods prior to, at and after the Distribution. These agreements also include arrangements with respect to transition services (the “Transition Services Agreement”). The Company and Vector Group entered into a Transition Services Agreement with respect to transition services and other ongoing commercial relationships. Under the agreement, which expired on December 20, 2024, the Company paid Vector Group $4,084 in 2024, $4,200 in 2023, and $4,200 in 2022. The Company and Vector Group also entered into Aircraft Lease Agreements for the right to lease on a flight-by-flight basis certain aircraft owned by Vector Group. Under the agreements, which were cancelled on October 17, 2024, the Company paid Vector Group $1,830 in 2024, $2,124 in 2023, and $2,418 in 2022. Vector Group has agreed to indemnify the Company for certain tax matters under the Tax Disaffiliation Agreement. The Company received $589 in 2022 and recorded the amount in Investment and other income in its consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 related to the tax indemnifications.
Following the Distribution and until October 7, 2024, there was an overlap between certain officers of the Company and Vector Group. The President and Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, and the General Counsel and Secretary of Douglas Elliman all served in the same role at Vector Group. Furthermore, three of the members of Douglas Elliman’s Board of Directors also served as directors of Vector Group until October 7, 2024.
The Company has been engaged by certain developers as the sole broker or the co-broker for several of the real estate development projects that New Valley owns an interest in through its real estate venture investments. The Company had gross commissions of approximately $17,068, $1,766 and $1,709 from these projects for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The Company and a member of its Board of Directors, who became the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer on October 22, 2024 each owned a 50% interest in an entity the assets and business of which were sold in 2019. The Company received $654 in May 2022 as a final distribution of an earn-out payment based on the performance of the entity in 2020 and 2021. The Company recorded equity in earnings from this equity-method investment of $654 for the year ended December 31, 2022.
A son of the Company’s former President and Chief Executive Officer, who resigned on October 21, 2024, is an associate broker with the Company and he received commissions and other payments of $767, $1,570 and $1,490, respectively, in accordance with brokerage activities in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The spouse of the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC, who was terminated on October 25, 2024, is a real estate agent whose license is held at a subsidiary of the Company, and who received commissions and other payments of $147, $329 and $230 in accordance with brokerage activities in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The son-in-law of the Company’s former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, serves as Vice President, Enterprise Innovation and Managing Director of New Valley Ventures LLC, and received total compensation, which included salary, bonus and 401(k) matching awards of approximately $303, $369 and $352 in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors is the Co-Founder, Co-Portfolio Manager and Co-Managing Partner of Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, which is the lender on the Company’s Convertible Notes. As of December 31, 2024, there were an aggregate of $50,000 of the Convertible Notes, which bear interest at 7% per annum in cash and 8% per annum paid in kind. The holders of the Convertible Notes have the right to elect at any time to convert the Convertible Notes into shares of the Company’s common stock at an initial conversion price of $1.50 per share of common stock, subject to the Beneficial Ownership Limitation. See Note 10 – Notes Payable.
Other. On December 20, 2024, the Company entered an office lease with an entity affiliated with Dr. Phillip Frost, who beneficially owns more than 5% of the Company’s common stock. The lease is for space in an office building in Miami, Florida and will expire on April 30, 2028. The amended lease provides for payments of $43 per month increasing to $48 per month.