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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
From time to time, the Company is subject to various claims and legal proceedings, either asserted or unasserted, that arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company accrues for legal contingencies if management can estimate the potential liability and believes it is probable that the matter will be ruled on adversely. Accruals for legal contingencies were not material as of December 31, 2023 or 2022. If a legal claim for which the Company did not accrue is resolved against it, the Company would record the expense in the period in which the ruling was made. The Company believes that the likelihood of an ultimate amount of liability, if any, for any pending claims of any type (alone or combined) that will materially affect the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows is remote. The ultimate outcome of any litigation is uncertain, however, and unfavorable outcomes could have a material negative impact on the Company’s financial condition and operating results. Regardless of outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on the Company because of defense costs, negative publicity, diversion of management resources and other factors.
The Company was formed as a result of a combination and merger of entities founded by Ralph Bartel. Azzurro, of which the Ralph Bartel 2005 Trust (of which he is the sole beneficiary) is the controlling shareholder, holds approximately 40.2% of the Company’s outstanding shares as of December 31, 2023. In 2002, Travelzoo.com Corporation was merged into Travelzoo. Under and subject to the terms of the merger agreement, holders of promotional shares of Travelzoo.com Corporation (“Netsurfers”) who established that they had satisfied certain prerequisite qualifications were allowed a period of 2 years following the effective date of the merger to receive one share of Travelzoo in exchange for each share of common stock of Netsurfers. In 2004, two years following the effective date of the merger, certain promotional shares remained unexchanged. As the right to exchange these promotional shares expired, no additional shares were reserved for issuance. Thereafter, the Company began to offer a voluntary cash program for those who established that they had satisfied certain prerequisite qualifications for Netsurfers promotional shares as further described below.
From 2010 through 2014, the Company became subject to unclaimed property audits of various states in the United States related to the above unexchanged promotional shares and completed settlements with all such states. Although the Company has settled the unclaimed property claims with all such states, the Company may still receive inquiries from certain potential Netsurfers promotional stockholders that had not provided their state of residence to the Company by April 25, 2004.
Therefore, the Company is continuing its voluntary program under which it makes cash payments to individuals related to promotional shares for individuals whose residence was unknown by the Company and who establish that they satisfy the original conditions required for them to receive shares of Netsurfers, and who failed to submit requests to convert their shares into shares of Travelzoo within the required time period. This voluntary program is not available for individuals whose promotional shares have been escheated to a state by the Company, except those individuals for whom their residence was unknown to the Company. The Company did not make any such payments in 2023 or 2022.
The total cost of this program cannot be reliably estimated because it is based on the ultimate number of valid requests received and future levels of the Company’s common stock price. 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 does not know how many of the requests for shares originally received by Netsurfers in 1998 were valid, but the Company believes that only a portion of such requests were valid. In order to receive payment under this voluntary program, a person is required to establish that such person validly held shares in Netsurfers.
The Company leases office space in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. under operating leases. Our leases have remaining terms ranging from less than one year to up to seven years. The Company maintains standby letters of credit (“LOC”) to serve as collateral issued to the landlords. The LOCs are collateralized with cash which is included in the line item “Restricted cash” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Rent expense was $2.8 million and $2.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The Company’s rental income from sublease was approximately $271,000 and $353,000 for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. See Note 14–Leases for more information.
The Company has purchase commitments aggregating approximately $535,000 as of December 31, 2023, which represent the minimum obligations the Company has under agreements with certain third-party service providers. These minimum obligations are less than the Company's projected use for those periods. Payments may be more than the minimum obligations based on actual use.