Real Estate Charges

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

5.	Real Estate Charges

During 2010, we performed a comprehensive review of our real estate requirements in New York in connection with our workforce reductions commencing in 2008. As a result, during 2010 we decided to sub-lease over 380,000 square feet in New York (all of this space has been sublet) and consolidate our New York-based employees into two office locations from three. During the third quarter of 2012, in an effort to further reduce our global real estate footprint, we completed a comprehensive review of our worldwide office locations and began implementing a global space consolidation plan. As a result, our intention is to sub-lease approximately 510,000 square feet of office space (approximately 90% of this space has been sublet), more than 70% of which is New York office space (in addition to the 380,000 square foot space reduction in 2010), with the remainder consisting of office space in England, Australia and various U.S. locations.

During the first quarter of 2015, we recorded pre-tax real estate credits of $0.4 million, resulting from a change in estimates related to previously recorded real estate charges.

The activity in the liability account relating to our 2010 and 2012 office space consolidation initiatives for the following periods is as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2015			Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2014
	(in thousands)

Balance as of beginning of period	$	148,429		$	199,527
Expense (credit) incurred		139			(4,755	)
Deferred rent		—			—
Payments made		(11,562	)		(50,893	)
Interest accretion		1,082			4,550
Balance as of end of period	$	138,088		$	148,429

- Definition

The entire disclosure for restructuring and related activities. Description of restructuring activities such as exit and disposal activities, include facts and circumstances leading to the plan, the expected plan completion date, the major types of costs associated with the plan activities, total expected costs, the accrual balance at the end of the period, and the periods over which the remaining accrual will be settled.

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