Segment Information

During 2018, the Company divested all three of the non-core businesses that comprised its Other segment, each of which were acquired as part of the acquisition of CEB Inc. in April 2017. As a result of these divestitures, and the movement of a small residual product in the Other segment into the Research business, the Company is no longer recording any additional operating activity in the Other segment effective September 1, 2018. Additional information regarding the divestitures is included in Note 2 – Acquisitions and Divestitures.

Our products and services are currently delivered through three segments – Research, Events and Consulting, as follows:

•

Research provides trusted, objective insights and advice on the mission-critical priorities of leaders across all functional areas of the enterprise through research and other reports, briefings, proprietary tools, access to our analysts, peer networking services and membership programs that enable our clients to make better decisions. Gartner's traditional strengths in IT, marketing and supply chain research were enhanced in 2017 with Gartner's acquisition of CEB Inc., which added CEB's best practice and talent management research insights across a range of business functions, to include human resources, finance, sales and legal.


•	Events provides business professionals across the organization the opportunity to learn, share and network. From our flagship CIO event, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, to industry-leading conferences focused on specific business roles and topics, to member-driven sessions, our events enable attendees to experience the best of Gartner insight and advice live.


•	Consulting provides customized solutions to unique client needs through on-site, day-to-day support, as well as proprietary tools for measuring and improving IT performance with a focus on cost, performance, efficiency and quality.

The Company evaluates segment performance and allocates resources based on gross contribution margin. Gross contribution, as presented in the table below, is defined as operating income or loss excluding certain Cost of services and product development expenses, Selling, general and administrative expenses, Depreciation, Amortization of intangibles, and Acquisition and integration charges. Certain bonus and fringe benefit costs included in consolidated Cost of services and product development are not allocated to segment expense. The accounting policies used by the reportable segments are the same as those used by the Company. There are no intersegment revenues. The Company does not identify or allocate assets, including capital expenditures, by reportable segment. Accordingly, assets are not reported by segment because the information is not available by segment and is not reviewed in the evaluation of segment performance or in making decisions in the allocation of resources.

The following tables present information about the Company’s reportable segments, including its Other segment, for the periods indicated (in thousands):



Three Months Ended September 30, 2018	Research		Events		Consulting		Other		Consolidated
Revenues	$	774,188	$	57,141	$	78,752	$	11,593	$	921,674
Gross contribution	534,911		25,047		18,419		6,927		585,304
Corporate and other expenses									(532,580		)
Operating income									$	52,724



Three Months Ended September 30, 2017	Research		Events		Consulting		Other		Consolidated
Revenues	$	653,443	$	44,953	$	72,117	$	57,572	$	828,085
Gross contribution	436,222		16,011		16,188		31,215		499,636
Corporate and other expenses									(523,985		)
Operating loss									$	(24,349	)



Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018	Research		Events		Consulting		Other		Consolidated
Revenues	$	2,308,426	$	214,481	$	258,106	$	105,562	$	2,886,575
Gross contribution	1,599,277		104,698		76,236		65,075		1,845,286
Corporate and other expenses									(1,715,177		)
Operating income									$	130,109



Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017	Research		Events		Consulting		Other		Consolidated
Revenues	$	1,778,481	$	171,427	$	242,404	$	104,673	$	2,296,985
Gross contribution	1,187,906		79,313		71,558		48,512		1,387,289
Corporate and other expenses									(1,456,512		)
Operating loss									$	(69,223	)

The following table provides a reconciliation of total segment gross contribution to net income (loss) (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30,						September 30,
	2018			2017			2018		2017
Total segment gross contribution	$	585,304		$	499,636		$	1,845,286	$	1,387,289
Costs and expenses:
Cost of services and product development - unallocated (1)	(258		)	3,758			19,669		12,124
Selling, general and administrative	447,537			421,163			1,396,085		1,133,633
Depreciation and amortization	68,187			68,564			203,081		168,651
Acquisition and integration charges	17,114			30,500			96,342		142,104
Operating income (loss)	52,724			(24,349		)	130,109		(69,223		)
Interest expense and other, net	27,811			37,591			98,454		86,971
Gain from divested operations	13,040			—			38,500		—
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	26,200			(13,760		)	31,719		(52,166		)
Net income (loss)	$	11,753		$	(48,180	)	$	38,436	$	(104,028	)


(1)	The unallocated amounts consist of certain bonus and related fringe costs recorded in consolidated Cost of services and product development expense that are not allocated to segment expense. The Company's policy is to only allocate bonus and related fringe charges to segments for up to 100% of the segment employee's target bonus.