Basis of presentation and summary of significant accounting policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Basis of presentation and summary of significant accounting policies

NOTE 1 — Basis of presentation and summary of significant accounting policies

Description of business: Gannett Co., Inc. ("Gannett", "we", "us", "our", or the "Company") is an innovative, digitally focused media and marketing solutions company committed to fostering the communities in our network and helping them build relationships with their local businesses. On November 19, 2019, New Media Investment Group Inc. ("Legacy New Media") completed its acquisition of Gannett Co., Inc. (which was renamed Gannett Media Corp. and is referred herein as "Legacy Gannett"), which retained the name Gannett Co., Inc. and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GCI".

Our current portfolio of media assets includes USA TODAY, local media organizations in 46 states in the U.S. and Guam, and Newsquest (a wholly owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom (the "U.K.") with more than 140 local media brands). Gannett also owns the digital marketing services companies ReachLocal, Inc. ("ReachLocal"), UpCurve, Inc. ("UpCurve"), and WordStream, Inc. ("WordStream") and runs the largest media-owned events business in the U.S., GateHouse Live.

Through USA TODAY, our local property network, and Newsquest, Gannett delivers high-quality, trusted content where and when consumers want to engage on virtually any device or platform. Additionally, the Company has strong relationships with hundreds of thousands of local and national businesses in both our U.S. and U.K. markets due to our large local and national sales forces and a robust advertising and marketing solutions product suite. The Company reports in two segments: Publishing and Marketing Solutions. A full description of our segments is included in Note 14 — Segment reporting of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

COVID-19 Pandemic: The newspaper industry and the Company have experienced declining same-store revenue and profitability over the past several years, and these industry trends are expected to continue in the future. Additionally, during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company experienced additional revenue and profitability declines in connection with the COVID-19 global pandemic. More specifically, during March 2020, the Company began to experience decreased demand for its advertising and digital marketing services, commercial print and distribution services, as well as reductions in the single copy and commercial distribution of its newspapers. At this point, the Company’s newspaper production operations have not been significantly impacted and the vast majority of the Company’s non-production employees are currently working remotely. However, the COVID-19 global pandemic had a significant negative impact on the Company’s business and results of operations during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, and we expect it to continue to have an impact in future periods. Longer-term, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business and results of operations will depend on the severity and length of the pandemic, the duration and extent of the mitigation measures and governmental actions designed to combat the pandemic, as well as the changes in customer behavior as a result of the pandemic, all of which are highly uncertain. As a result, the Company has implemented, and continues to implement, measures to reduce costs and preserve cash flow. These measures include suspension of the quarterly dividend, employee furloughs and decreases in employee compensation through the third quarter, as well as reductions in discretionary spending. In addition, the Company has deferred certain payroll tax remittance as permitted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") and negotiated the deferral of pension contributions, as well as continuing with its previously disclosed plan to monetize non-core assets. The Company believes these initiatives, along with cash on hand and cash provided by operating activities, will provide sufficient cash flow to enable the Company to meet its commitments. However, these measures are not expected to fully offset the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's business and results of operations.

Basis of presentation: Our condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited; however, in the opinion of management, they contain all of the adjustments (consisting of those of a normal, recurring nature) considered necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP") applicable to interim periods. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company consolidates entities that it controls due to ownership of a majority voting interest. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Use of estimates: The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused increased uncertainty in estimates and assumptions affecting the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as of the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements.

Examples of significant estimates include pension and postretirement benefit obligation assumptions, income taxes, leases, self-insurance liabilities, impairment analysis, stock-based compensation, business combinations and valuation of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Fiscal period: Starting in 2019 and subsequent to our acquisition of Legacy Gannett, our fiscal period end coincides with the Gregorian calendar. In periods prior to the acquisition, our fiscal periods ended on the last Sunday of the calendar month. Our fiscal period end for the third quarter of 2019 was September 29, 2019.

Advertising and marketing services revenues: Pursuant to our acquisition of Legacy Gannett, we realigned the presentation of marketing services revenues generated by our UpCurve subsidiary from other revenues to advertising and marketing services revenue on the Condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). As a result of this updated presentation, Advertising and marketing services revenues increased and Other revenues decreased $16.6 million and $51.4 million for the three and nine months ended September 29, 2019, respectively. Operating revenues, Net income (loss), Retained earnings, and Earnings per share remained unchanged.

Segment presentation: In connection with our Legacy Gannett acquisition and as noted above, we reorganized our reportable segments to include (1) Publishing, which consists of our portfolio of regional, national, and international newspaper publishers and (2) Marketing Solutions, which is comprised of our marketing solutions subsidiaries ReachLocal, UpCurve and WordStream. In addition to these operating segments, we have a Corporate and other category that includes activities not directly attributable to a specific segment. This category primarily consists of broad corporate functions and includes legal, human resources, accounting, analytics, finance, and marketing as well as activities and costs not directly attributable to a particular segment and other general business costs.

Cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash: Cash equivalents represent highly liquid certificates of deposit which have original maturities of three months or less. Restricted cash is held as cash collateral for certain business operations. Restricted cash primarily consists of funding for letters of credit and cash held in an irrevocable grantor trust for our deferred compensation plans. The restrictions will lapse when benefits are paid to plan participants and their beneficiaries as specified in the plans.

The following table presents a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash:



In thousands	September 30, 2020		September 29, 2019
Cash and cash equivalents	$	188,960	$	28,641
Restricted cash included in other current assets	10,796		3,128
Restricted cash included in investments and other assets	24,177		—
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	$	223,933	$	31,769

New accounting pronouncements adopted: The following are new accounting pronouncements that we adopted in the first nine months of 2020:

Financial Instruments—Credit Losses: In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued new guidance which amends the principles around the recognition of credit losses by mandating entities incorporate an estimate of current expected credit losses when determining the value of certain assets. The guidance also amends reporting around allowances for credit losses on available-for-sale marketable securities. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Adopting this guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements, refer to Note 4 — Accounts receivable, net for further details.

Intangibles—Internal Use Software: In August 2018, the FASB issued new guidance which aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software and hosting arrangements that include an internal-use software license. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in any interim period. The guidance can be applied either retrospectively or prospectively to all implementation costs incurred after the date of adoption. This guidance was adopted prospectively and did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Capitalized costs are recognized within prepaid expenses and other current assets or other assets within the consolidated balance sheet.

Fair Value Measurement—Disclosure Framework: In August 2018, the FASB issued new guidance that changes disclosure requirements related to fair value measurements as part of the disclosure framework project. The disclosure framework project aims to improve the effectiveness of disclosures in the notes to the financial statements by focusing on requirements that clearly communicate the most important information to users of the financial statements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Adopting this guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

New accounting pronouncements not yet adopted: The following are new accounting pronouncements that we are evaluating for future impacts on our financial statements:

Compensation—Retirement Plans: In August 2018, the FASB issued new guidance that changes disclosures related to defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans as part of the disclosure framework project. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes: In December 2019, the FASB issued new guidance that simplifies the accounting for income taxes. The guidance amends the rules for recognizing deferred taxes for investments, performing intraperiod tax allocations and calculating income taxes in interim periods. It also reduces complexity in certain areas, including accounting for transactions that result in a step-up in the tax basis of goodwill and allocating taxes to members of a consolidated group. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on our consolidated financial statements.