DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

The revenue and net loss reported as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income are as follows (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
Revenue	$	1		$	2

Loss before income taxes	$	(238	)	$	(571	)
Income tax benefit (expense)	12			(3		)
Net loss	$	(226	)	$	(574	)

LendingTree Loans

On June 6, 2012, the Company sold substantially all of the operating assets of its LendingTree Loans business for $55.9 million in cash. The buyer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Discover Financial Services ("Discover"), generally did not assume liabilities of the LendingTree Loans business that arose before the closing date, except for certain liabilities directly related to assets Discover acquired. Of the purchase price paid, as of March 31, 2015, $16.1 million is being held in escrow in accordance with the agreement with Discover for certain loan loss obligations that remain with the Company following the sale. As a result of a settlement agreement in 2014 with a secondary market purchaser of loans, $12.1 million of such amount is expected to be released from escrow in December 2015. The escrowed amount is recorded as restricted cash at March 31, 2015.

Discover has participated as a marketplace lender since closing of the transaction.

An evaluation of the facts and circumstances of the transaction and the applicable accounting guidance for discontinued operations indicates that the LendingTree Loans business should be reflected as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for all periods presented. The continuing cash flows related to this transaction are not significant and, accordingly, are not deemed to be direct cash flows of the divested business.

Significant Assets and Liabilities of LendingTree Loans

Upon closing of the sale of substantially all of the operating assets of the LendingTree Loans business on June 6, 2012, LendingTree Loans ceased to originate consumer loans. The remaining operations are being wound down. These wind-down activities have included, among other things, selling the balance of loans held for sale to investors, paying off and then terminating the warehouse lines of credit and settling derivative obligations, all of which have been completed. Liability for losses on previously sold loans will remain with LendingTree Loans and are discussed below.

Loan Loss Obligations

LendingTree Loans sold loans it originated to investors on a servicing-released basis, so the risk of loss or default by the borrower was generally transferred to the investor. However, LendingTree Loans was required by these investors to make certain representations and warranties relating to credit information, loan documentation and collateral. These representations and warranties may extend through the contractual life of the loan. Subsequent to the loan sale, if underwriting deficiencies, borrower fraud or documentation defects are discovered in individual loans, LendingTree Loans may be obligated to repurchase the respective loan or indemnify the investors for any losses from borrower defaults if such deficiency or defect cannot be cured within the specified period following discovery. In the case of early loan payoffs and early defaults on certain loans, LendingTree Loans may be required to repay all or a portion of the premium initially paid by the investor.

HLC, a subsidiary of the Company, continues to be liable for these indemnification obligations, repurchase obligations and premium repayment obligations following the sale of substantially all of the operating assets of its LendingTree Loans business in the second quarter of 2012. As of March 31, 2015, approximately $16.1 million is being held in escrow pending resolution of certain of these contingent liabilities. As a result of a settlement agreement in 2014 with a secondary market purchaser of loans, $12.1 million of such amount is expected to be released from escrow in December 2015.

Prior to the sale of substantially all of the operating assets of LendingTree Loans in June 2012, it originated approximately 234,000 loans with an original issue balance of $38.9 billion.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, LendingTree Loans completed a settlement agreement for $5.4 million with the largest investor to which it had sold loans. This investor accounted for approximately 40% of both the total number of loans sold and the original issue balance. This settlement related to all existing and future losses on loans sold to this investor. The settlement was paid in the fourth quarter of 2014 with restricted cash of $3.1 million and cash on hand of $2.3 million. The settlement with this investor in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the impact this settlement had on the estimate of the remaining loan loss obligations resulted in income of $14.1 million, which was included in income from discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income during the fourth quarter of 2014. The adjustment to the loan loss reserve did not result in tax expense recognition, due to the Company's full valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets.

In the second quarter of 2014, LendingTree Loans completed settlements with two buyers of previously purchased loans.

The Company has been negotiating with certain of the remaining secondary market purchasers to settle any existing and future contingent liabilities, but it may not be able to complete such negotiations on acceptable terms, or at all. Because LendingTree Loans does not service the loans it sold, it does not maintain nor generally have access to the current balances and loan performance data with respect to the individual loans previously sold to investors. Accordingly, LendingTree Loans is unable to determine, with precision, its maximum exposure for breaches of the representations and warranties it made to the investors that purchased such loans.

The Company uses a settlement discount framework for evaluating the adequacy of the reserve for loan losses. This model estimates lifetime losses on the population of remaining loans originated and sold by LendingTree Loans using actual defaults for loans with similar characteristics and projected future defaults. It also considers the likelihood of claims expected due to alleged breaches of representations and warranties made by LendingTree Loans and the percentage of those claims investors estimate LendingTree Loans may agree to repurchase. A settlement discount factor is then applied to the result of the foregoing to reflect publicly-announced bulk settlements for similar loan types and vintages, as well as LendingTree Loans' non-operating status, in order to estimate a range of potential obligation.

The estimated range of remaining loan losses using this settlement discount framework was determined to be $6.5 million to $11.6 million at March 31, 2015. The reserve balance recorded as of March 31, 2015 was $8.8 million. Management has considered both objective and subjective factors in the estimation process, but given current general industry trends in mortgage loans as well as housing prices and market expectations, actual losses related to LendingTree Loans' obligations could vary significantly from the obligation recorded as of the balance sheet date or the range estimated above.

Additionally, LendingTree has guaranteed certain loans sold to two investors in the event that LendingTree Loans is unable to satisfy its repurchase and warranty obligations related to such loans.

Based on historical experience, it is anticipated that LendingTree Loans will continue to receive repurchase requests and incur losses on loans sold in prior years.

The activity related to loss reserves on previously sold loans is as follows (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015		2014
Loan loss reserve, beginning of period	$	8,750	$	28,543
Provisions	—		—
Charge-offs to reserves	—		—
Loan loss reserve, end of period	$	8,750	$	28,543

The liability for losses on previously sold loans is presented as current liabilities of discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014.