Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans

Defined Contribution Plans

The Company maintains defined contribution benefit plans covering virtually all of the Company’s U.S. employees and defined contribution pension plans for international employees primarily in the United Kingdom and Australia. The plans provide tax-deferred amounts for each participant, consisting of employee elective contributions, Company matching and discretionary Company contributions. Effective January 1, 2014, the Company suspended matching contributions for all U.S. participants. As a result, the U.S. Plan is no longer a safe harbor plan.

The following table presents the aggregate amounts charged to expense in connection with these plans:

Year ended December 31, (in millions)	Amount
2016	$	11
2015	12
2014	15

Defined Benefit Plans

The Company has defined benefit pension plans which are frozen and covers certain full-time employees in the United Kingdom and the U.S. The Company also has separate plans covering certain employees located primarily in Germany, Greece, and Austria.

The Company contributed cash in the amount of $19 million, $12 million, and $15 million to defined benefit plans for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

The Company recognizes the funded status of its defined benefit pension plans, measured as the difference between the fair value of the plan assets and the projected benefit obligation, in the consolidated balance sheets, as follows:

	As of December 31,
(in millions)	2016			2015
U.K. plan:
Plan benefit obligations	$	(713	)	$	(715	)
Fair value of plan assets	808			783
Net pension assets (a)	95			68
U.S. and other foreign plans:
Plan benefit obligations (b)	(222		)	(252		)
Fair value of plan assets	137			154
Net pension liabilities (c)	(85		)	(98		)
Funded status of the plans	$	10		$	(30	)

(a) Pension assets are included in “Other long-term assets” of the consolidated balance sheets.

(b) Reflects a $30 million reduction in plan benefit obligations resulting from the cash settlement of certain employee pension fund obligations, which resulted in a settlement loss of $10 million .

(c) Pension liabilities are included in “Other long-term liabilities” of the consolidated balance sheets.

The accumulated benefit obligation for all defined benefit pension plans was $934 million and $966 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

As of December 31, 2016, Plan assets are comprised of approximately 20% of Level 1 securities, 80% of Level 2 securities, and an immaterial amount of Level 3 securities which comprise approximately 1% of total plan assets.

The Plan paid benefits in the amount of $39 million, $41 million, and $33 million to defined benefit plans for the periods ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. The estimated future benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, are expected to be as follows:

Year ended December 31, (in millions)	Amount
2017	$	35
2018	37
2019	39
2020	39
2021	40
2022-2026	217

The Company's post-retirement health care and other insurance benefits for retired employees are limited and immaterial.