SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Description of Business

Immersion Corporation (the "Company", "Immersion", "we" or "us") was incorporated in 1993 in California and reincorporated in Delaware in 1999. We focus on the creation, design, development, and licensing of innovative haptic technologies that allow people to use their sense of touch more fully as they engage with products and experience the digital world around them. We have adopted a business model under which it provides advanced tactile software, related tools, technical assistance designed to help integrate our patented technology into our customers’ products or enhance the functionality of our patented technology to certain customers, and offers licenses to our patented technology to other customers.

Impact of COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented work-from-home and restricted travel policies in the first quarter of 2020, which are expected to remain in place for rest of 2021. We implemented a series of cost reduction initiatives in 2020 and 2021 to preserve financial flexibility. In 2020, these actions included: reductions of the base salaries and cash compensation of company executives and board members; cancellation and reduction of bonus amounts in executive and employee bonus plans; renegotiated professional services fees from third-party services providers; relocation of certain positions to lower-cost regions; the temporary suspension of employee retirement savings plan matched by Immersion and accessing broad-based employer relief provided by the governments. In 2021, additional actions included: cancellation of 2021 Executive Incentive Plan and elimination of certain positions.

In April 2020, the Government of Canada announced the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (“CEWS”) for Canadian employers whose businesses were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEWS provides a subsidy of up to 75% of eligible employees’ employment insurable remuneration, subject to certain criteria. We applied for the CEWS to the extent we met the requirements to receive the subsidy. During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recorded $0.3 million in government subsidies as a reduction in operating expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss). During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded $0.5 million in government subsidies as a reduction in operating expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss).

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Immersion and our wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts, transactions, and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP") for interim financial information and with the instructions for Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, these condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all information and footnotes necessary for a complete presentation of the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows, in conformity with U.S. GAAP and should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting of only normal and recurring items necessary for the fair presentation of the financial position and results of operations for the interim periods presented have been included.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of the condensed consolidated financial statements. Significant estimates include revenue recognition, useful lives of property and equipment, valuation of income taxes including uncertain tax provisions, stock-based compensation and income taxes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

Segment Information

We develop, license, and support a wide range of software and IP that more fully engage users’ senses of touch when operating digital devices. We focus on the following target application areas: mobile devices, wearables, consumer, mobile entertainment and other content; console gaming; automotive; medical; and commercial. We manage these application areas in one operating and reporting segment with only one set of management, development, and administrative personnel.

Our chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) is the Chief Executive Officer. The CODM approves budgets and allocates resources to and assesses the performance of our business using information about our revenue and operating loss. There is only one segment that is reported to management.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standard Board (the "FASB") issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (ASU 2019-12), which enhances and simplifies various aspects of the income tax accounting guidance, including requirements such as tax basis step-up in goodwill obtained in a transaction that is not a business combination, ownership changes in investments, and interim-period accounting for enacted changes in tax law. The amendment is effective for public companies with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020; early adoption is permitted. We adopted this new guidance in the first quarter of 2021. This adoption did not have material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements.