Related Party Transactions

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

11. Related Party Transactions

In connection with the Spin-Off, the Company and NOV entered into a Separation and Distribution Agreement, Tax Matters Agreement, Employee Matters Agreement, and Transition Service Agreement each dated May 29, 2014.

The Separation and Distribution Agreement contains the key provisions related to the separation from NOV and the distribution of the Company’s common stock to NOV shareholders. The Separation and Distribution Agreement separated the assets related to the Company’s business from NOV, along with liabilities related to such assets, which now reside with the Company. In general, the Company agrees to indemnify NOV from liabilities arising from the Company’s business and assets, and NOV agrees to indemnify the Company from liabilities arising from NOV’s business and assets (that remained with NOV), except as otherwise provided in such agreement.

The Tax Matters Agreement governs the respective rights, responsibilities and obligations of each party with respect to taxes and tax benefits, the filing of tax returns, the control of audits, restrictions to preserve the tax-free status of the Spin-Off and other tax matters.

The Employee Matters Agreement governs the Company and NOV’s compensation and employee benefit obligations with respect to current and former employees of each company, and generally allocates liabilities and responsibilities relating to employee compensation and benefit plans and programs. Such agreement also provides the adjustment mechanisms to be applied as a result of the Spin-Off to convert outstanding NOV equity awards held by Company employees to Company awards.

The Transition Service Agreement provides for transitional services in the areas of information technology, tax, accounting, finance and employee benefits and are initially short-term in nature. The charges under these transition service agreements will be at cost-based rates.

Allocation of General Corporate Expenses

For the periods prior to the Separation, the consolidated financial statements include expense allocations for certain functions provided by NOV as well as other NOV employees not solely dedicated to NOW, including, but not limited to, general corporate expenses related to finance, legal, information technology, human resources, communications, ethics and compliance, shared services, employee benefits and incentives, and stock-based compensation. These expenses were allocated to NOW on the basis of direct usage when identifiable, with the remainder allocated on the basis of operating profit, headcount or other measures. Actual costs that may have been incurred if the Company had been a stand-alone public company would depend on a number of factors, including the chosen organizational structure, what functions were outsourced or performed by employees and strategic decisions made in areas such as information technology and infrastructure.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, NOW was allocated $0 million and $6 million, respectively, which was included within warehousing, selling and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Allocations from NOV discontinued as of May 30, 2014.