NOTE 5: CHANGES IN OPERATIONS AND NON-OPERATING ITEMS

Employee Reductions—The Company recorded pretax charges, mainly consisting of employee severance costs, associated termination benefits and related expenses totaling $5 million, $10 million and $5 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. These charges are included in direct operating expenses or SG&A in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations.

The following table summarizes these severance and related charges included in income (loss) from continuing operations by business segment for 2017, 2016 and 2015 (in thousands):



	2017		2016		2015
Television and Entertainment	$	4,367	$	9,228	$	2,317
Corporate and Other	372		1,178		2,959
Total	$	4,739	$	10,406	$	5,276

Severance and related expenses included in income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes totaled $0.5 million and $1 million in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The accrued liability for severance and related expenses is reflected in employee compensation and benefits in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets and was $5 million and $9 million at December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.

Changes to the accrued liability for severance and related expenses were as follows (in thousands):



Balance at December 31, 2015	$	3,595
Additions	10,406
Payments	(5,020		)
Balance at December 31, 2016	$	8,981
Additions	4,739
Payments	(9,144		)
Balance at December 31, 2017	$	4,576

Non-Operating Items—Non-operating items for 2017, 2016 and 2015 are summarized as follows (in thousands):



	2017			2016		2015
Loss on extinguishments and modification of debt	$	(20,487	)	$	—	$	(37,040	)
Gain on investment transactions, net	8,131			—		12,173
Write-downs of investments	(193,494		)	—		—
Other non-operating gain, net	71			5,427		7,228
Total non-operating (loss) gain, net	$	(205,779	)	$	5,427	$	(17,639	)

Non-operating items for 2017 included a $20 million pretax loss on the extinguishments and modification of debt. The loss included a write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs of $7 million and an unamortized discount of $2 million as a portion of the Term Loan Facility was considered extinguished for accounting purposes as well as an expense of $12 million of third party fees as a portion of the Term Loan Facility was considered a modification transaction under ASC 470, “Debt.” Gain on investment transactions, net included a pretax gain of $5 million from the sale of the Company’s tronc, Inc. (“tronc”) shares and a pretax gain of $4 million from the partial sale of CareerBuilder LLC (“CareerBuilder”). Write-downs of investments included non-cash pretax impairment charges of $193 million to write down the Company’s investments in CareerBuilder, Dose Media, LLC (“Dose Media”) and a cost method investment, as further described in Note 8.

Non-operating items in 2016 included a $5 million non-cash favorable workers’ compensation reserve adjustment related to businesses divested by the Company in prior years.

Non-operating items in 2015 included a $37 million pretax loss on the extinguishment of the Former Term Loan Facility (as defined and described in Note 9), which includes the write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs and discounts. See Note 9 for further information on the extinguishment of the Former Term Loan Facility. Gain on investment transactions, net in 2015 included a pretax gain of $8 million for an additional cash distribution from Classified Ventures, LLC (“CV”) pursuant to the collection of a contingent receivable subsequent to the Company’s sale of its interest in CV in 2014 and a pretax gain of $3 million on the sale of the Company’s 3% interest in NHLLC on September 2, 2015, as further described in Note 8. Other non-operating items in 2015 included a $9 million non-cash favorable workers’ compensation reserve adjustment related to businesses divested by the Company in prior years and a $2 million non-cash pretax charge to write off a convertible note receivable resulting from a decline in the fair value of the convertible note receivable that the Company determined to be other than temporary. The convertible note receivable constitutes a nonfinancial asset measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet and is classified as Level 3 assets in the fair value hierarchy’s established under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures.” See Note 10 for a description of the hierarchy’s three levels.