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Commitments and Contingencies | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Beginning on August 9, 2011, two purported class action lawsuits were commenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. On January 6, 2012, a Consolidated and Amended Class Action Complaint was filed. The complaint asserts claims under Section 10(b) and 20(a) pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) alleging that between March 16, 2011 and July 21, 2011, the Company and/or the individual defendants purportedly issued materially false and misleading statements. In particular, the complaint asserts, among other things, allegations challenging certain statements relating to the Company’s growth. The complaint also makes allegations regarding the Company’s Getaways business and asserts that certain officers and directors sold stock while in possession of materially adverse non-public information. The action seeks unspecified damages and the Company is not able to estimate the possible loss or range of losses that could potentially result from the action. On March 29, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision and order, granting defendants' motions to dismiss and dismissing the securities action. The plaintiffs have filed a notice of appeal. The Company continues to believe that the action is without merit and intends to defend the suits vigorously. In addition, five shareholder derivative lawsuits, Wang v. Bartel, et al., Wirth v. Bartel, et al., Kitt v. Bartel, et al., Blatt v. Bartel, et al., and Turansky v. Bartel, et al., were filed in the Southern District of New York based on similar allegations that seek to assert claims under state law derivatively on behalf of Travelzoo against certain officers and directors of the Company. These derivative actions were consolidated and on January 6, 2012, a Verified Consolidated Shareholder Derivative Complaint was filed purportedly on behalf of nominal defendant Travelzoo. The complaint asserts claims for breaches of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, abuse of control and gross mismanagement against current and former directors and officers of the Company. The complaint also asserts a breach of fiduciary duty claim for insider trading against certain officers and directors, as well as Azzurro Capital, Inc. The derivative action makes allegations regarding the Company’s Getaways business and asserts that certain officers and directors sold stock while in possession of materially adverse non-public information. On March 29, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order providing the plaintiffs with thirty days to decide whether they will file an amended Verified Consolidated Shareholder Derivative Complaint substituting or adding a shareholder plaintiff in the action. On May 6, 2013, the parties entered into a stipulation to dismiss the action and on May 7, 2013, the Court dismissed the action without prejudice. Since derivative claims are an attempt by a plaintiff shareholder to assert claims on behalf of the Company, we do not anticipate any potential loss to the Company from these actions. On January 27, 2012, a purported shareholder of Travelzoo commenced a suit in the Supreme Court of New York that asserts claims derivatively on behalf of Travelzoo Inc. for breaches of fiduciary duty against Travelzoo’s board of directors. The complaint also asserts claims for breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment against Ralph Bartel and Azzurro Capital Inc. The complaint challenges Travelzoo’s sale of its Asia Pacific division for $3.6 million to Azzurro and alleges that the transaction was not entirely fair to the Company. Since derivative claims are an attempt by a plaintiff shareholder to assert claims on behalf of the Company, we do not anticipate any potential loss to the Company from these actions. On September 28, 2012, Metasearch Systems, LLC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Delaware against Travelzoo Inc. d/b/a Fly.com alleging infringement of several U.S. patents. Metasearch Systems alleges that the trip-planning metasearch service available on Fly.com infringes one or more claims of the asserted patents. During September 2012, Metasearch Systems filed similar lawsuits against several of Travelzoo's competitors including Expedia, Inc., Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., Travelocity.com, LP, Priceline.com, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., American Express Company, KAYAK Software Corp., and BookIt.com. The action seeks unspecified damages and we are unable to estimate the possible loss or range of losses that could potentially result from the action. The Company believes that the action is without merit and intends to defend the suit vigorously. On April 21, 2011, the Company entered into an agreement with the State of Delaware resolving all claims relating to an unclaimed property review which began in 2010. The primary issue raised in the preliminary findings from the review, received by the Company on April 12, 2011, concerned the shares of Travelzoo which have not been claimed by former Netsurfer stockholders of Travelzoo.com (unexchanged promotional merger shares) as discussed further in Note 1. In the preliminary findings under the unclaimed property review, up to 3.0 million shares were identified as “demandable” under Delaware escheat laws. While the Company continues to take the position that such shares were a promotional incentive and were issuable only to persons who established their eligibility as stockholders, the Company determined that it was in its best interest to promptly resolve all claims relating to the unclaimed property review. The Company made a $20.0 million cash payment to the State of Delaware on April 27, 2011 and received a complete release of those claims. As discussed in Note 1 above, since March 2012, the Company has become subject to unclaimed property reviews by most of the other states in the U.S. that relate primarily to the unexchanged promotional merger shares, which were not covered by the settlement and release by the State of Delaware. During the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Company recorded a $3.0 million charge related to this unexchanged promotional merger shares contingency. While the Company believes it has meritorious defenses regarding the applicability of escheat rights related to this unexchanged promotional merger shares contingency, the ultimate resolution of this matter may take longer than one year. If the claims for all of the additional shares referred to in the preliminary findings were upheld in full, based on the closing price of the Company’s shares at the end of June, 2013, the cost to the Company would be approximately $27.2 million in excess of the amount accrued, plus any interest or penalties which might be applicable. In addition, the total amount of exposure of this contingency is dependent upon the manner in which each state applies its unclaimed property laws. The Company is not able to predict the ultimate amount or outcome of any current or future claims which have been or might be asserted relating to the unissued shares. The Company is continuing its program under which it makes cash payments to people who establish that they satisfied the conditions to receive shares of Travelzoo.com Corporation, and who failed to submit requests to convert their shares into shares of Travelzoo Inc. within the required time period. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include a charge in general and administrative expenses of $8,000 and $14,000 for these cash payments for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, respectively. The total cost of this program is not reliably estimable because it is based on the ultimate number of valid requests received and future levels of the Company’s common stock price, and would be affected by any settlement of the pending unclaimed property reviews referred to above. The Company’s common stock price affects the liability because the amount of cash payments under the program is based in part on the recent level of the stock price at the date valid requests are received. The Company leases office space in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. under operating leases which expire between July 31, 2013 and January 1, 2024. The future minimum lease payments under these operating leases as of June 30, 2013 total $19.5 million. The future lease payments consist of $2,748,000 due in 2013, $3,407,000 due in 2014, $3,004,000 due in 2015, $2,547,000 due in 2016, $2,175,000 due in 2017, and $5,662,000 thereafter. Local Deals and Getaways merchant payable included in accounts payable was $22.4 million and $23.4 million, as of June 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively.

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