INCENTIVE PLANS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

INCENTIVE PLANSInternational Paper had an Incentive Compensation Plan (“ICP”) prior to the spin-off. The ICP authorizes grants of restricted stock, restricted or deferred stock units, performance awards payable in cash or stock upon the attainment of specified

performance goals, dividend equivalents, stock options, stock appreciation rights, other stock-based awards and cash-based awards at the discretion of the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of International Paper (the “Committee”) that administers the ICP. Stock-based compensation expense includes expense attributable to us based on the awards and terms previously granted to our employees and an allocation of International Paper’s corporate and shared functional expenses. Additionally, subsequent to September 30, 2021, Sylvamo granted 664,569 restricted stock units to our employees, some of who previously participated in incentive compensation plans sponsored by International Paper. The restricted stock units were awarded on October 15, 2021 and vest over time with a weighted average vesting period of 1.4 years.

Certain Company employees participated in International Paper’s ICP. The following disclosures of stock-based compensation expense recognized by the Company were based on grants related directly to Company employees, and an allocation of International Paper’s corporate and shared employee compensation expenses.

Total stock-based compensation cost and the associated income tax benefits recognized by the Company in the condensed combined statements of operations were as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
In millions	2021		2020		2021		2020
Total stock-based compensation expense (included in selling and administrative expense)	$	3	$	4	$	10	$	11
Income tax benefit (expense) related to stock-based compensation	$	1	$	1	$	3	$	2

Of the total stock-based compensation cost recognized by the Company, $3 million and $3 million in the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and $8 million and $9 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, is related to allocations of International Paper’s corporate and shared employee stock-based compensation expenses.