Acquisition

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Acquisition

Acquisition

Acquisitions are accounted for under ASC 805, Business Combinations.

On April 1, 2019, we acquired a 100% interest in Autonomous, an institutional research firm. On the acquisition date, we made a cash payment of $6.5 million and recorded a contingent consideration payable of $17.4 million based on projected fee revenues over a five year measurement period. The excess of the purchase price over the current fair value of identifiable net assets acquired of $5.6 million resulted in the recognition of $10.2 million of goodwill and $8.1 million of intangible assets relating to customer relationships and trademarks. Also, in accordance with GAAP, additional cash payments and contingent consideration payable to the owners of Autonomous on the acquisition date are considered compensation expense

to be amortized over two-year and five-year periods, respectively, not purchase price consideration, due to service conditions at the time of acquisition. The Autonomous acquisition did not have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations.