Postretirement, Pension and Other Employee Benefit Plans |
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| Postretirement, Pension and Other Employee Benefit Plans |
Postretirement Benefit Plans
We sponsor various benefit plans that provide postretirement benefits to eligible employees based on years of service. The Comcast Postretirement Healthcare Stipend Program (the “stipend plan”) provides an annual stipend for reimbursement of healthcare costs to each eligible employee based on years of service. Under the stipend plan, we are not exposed to the increasing costs of healthcare because the benefits are fixed at a predetermined amount. In December 2016, the stipend plan was amended primarily to reduce the benefits of active employees who retire after December 31, 2017. The plan amendments reduced our benefit obligation in 2016 by $361 million. NBCUniversal’s postretirement medical and life insurance plans provide continuous coverage to employees eligible to receive such benefits. A small number of eligible employees also participate in legacy plans of acquired companies. All of our postretirement benefit plans are unfunded and substantially all of our postretirement benefit obligations are recorded to noncurrent liabilities. The expense we recognize for our postretirement benefit plans is determined using certain assumptions, including the discount rate. Pension Plans NBCUniversal sponsors various qualified and nonqualified defined benefit pension plans for domestic employees. Since the future benefits have been frozen since the beginning of 2013, we did not recognize service costs related to the pension plans for all periods presented. The benefits expense we recognized for our defined benefit plans was not material for all periods presented. In addition to the defined benefit plans it sponsors, NBCUniversal is also obligated to reimburse General Electric (“GE”) for future benefit payments to those participants who were vested in the supplemental pension plan sponsored by GE at the time of the NBCUniversal transaction in 2011. These pension plans are currently unfunded and we recorded a benefit obligation of $314 million and $309 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which consists primarily of our obligations to reimburse GE. Other Employee Benefits Deferred Compensation Plans We maintain unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plans for certain members of management and nonemployee directors (each, a “participant”). The amount of compensation deferred by each participant is based on participant elections. Participant accounts, except for those in the NBCUniversal plan, are credited with income primarily based on a fixed annual rate. Participants in the NBCUniversal plan designate one or more valuation funds, independently established funds or indices that are used to determine the amount of investment gain or loss in the participant’s account. Participants are eligible to receive distributions from their account based on elected deferral periods that are consistent with the plans and applicable tax law. The table below presents the benefit obligation and interest expense for our deferred compensation plans.
We have purchased life insurance policies to recover a portion of the future payments related to our deferred compensation plans. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the cash surrender value of these policies, which is recorded to other noncurrent assets, was $709 million and $658 million, respectively. Retirement Investment Plans We sponsor several 401(k) defined contribution retirement plans that allow eligible employees to contribute a portion of their compensation through payroll deductions in accordance with specified plan guidelines. We make contributions to the plans that include matching a percentage of the employees’ contributions up to certain limits. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, expenses related to these plans totaled $446 million, $416 million and $379 million, respectively. Multiemployer Benefit Plans We participate in various multiemployer benefit plans, including pension and postretirement benefit plans, that cover some of our employees and temporary employees who are represented by labor unions. We also participate in other multiemployer benefit plans that provide health and welfare and retirement savings benefits to active and retired participants. We make periodic contributions to these plans in accordance with the terms of applicable collective bargaining agreements and laws but do not sponsor or administer these plans. We do not participate in any multiemployer benefit plans for which we consider our contributions to be individually significant, and the largest plans in which we participate are funded at a level of 80% or greater. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, the total contributions we made to multiemployer pension plans were $84 million, $77 million and $58 million, respectively. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, the total contributions we made to multiemployer postretirement and other benefit plans were $136 million, $119 million and $125 million, respectively. If we cease to be obligated to make contributions or were to otherwise withdraw from participation in any of these plans, applicable law would require us to fund our allocable share of the unfunded vested benefits, which is known as a withdrawal liability. In addition, actions taken by other participating employers may lead to adverse changes in the financial condition of one of these plans, which could result in an increase in our withdrawal liability. Severance Benefits We provide severance benefits to certain former employees. A liability is recorded when payment is probable, the amount is reasonably estimable, and the obligation relates to rights that have vested or accumulated. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, we recorded severance costs of $315 million, $181 million and $152 million, respectively. Severance costs in 2016 included $61 million of severance costs associated with the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. |
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| Postretirement, Pension and Other Employee Benefit Plans |
Postretirement Benefit Plans
We have postretirement medical and life insurance plans that provide continuous coverage to employees eligible to receive such benefits and give credit for length of service provided before Comcast’s acquisition of a controlling interest in NBCUniversal Holdings in 2011 (the “joint venture transaction”). Substantially all of the employees that were contributed by Comcast as part of the joint venture transaction participate in a postretirement healthcare stipend program (the “stipend plan”). The stipend plan provides an annual stipend for reimbursement of healthcare costs to each eligible employee based on years of service. Under the stipend plan, we are not exposed to the increasing costs of healthcare because the benefits are fixed at a predetermined amount. All of our postretirement benefit plans are unfunded and substantially all of our postretirement benefit obligations are recorded to noncurrent liabilities. The expense we recognize for our postretirement benefit plans is determined using certain assumptions, including the discount rate. Pension Plans We sponsor various qualified and nonqualified defined benefit pension plans for domestic employees. Since the future benefits have been frozen since the beginning of 2013, we did not recognize service costs related to our pension plans for all periods presented. The benefits expense we recognized for our defined benefit plans was not material for all periods presented. In addition to the defined benefit plans we sponsor, we are also obligated to reimburse General Electric (“GE”) for future benefit payments to those participants who were vested in the supplemental pension plan sponsored by GE at the time of the joint venture transaction. These pension plans are currently unfunded and we recorded a benefit obligation of $314 million and $309 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which consists primarily of our obligations to reimburse GE. Our consolidated balance sheet also includes the assets and liabilities of certain legacy pension plans, as well as the assets and liabilities for pension plans of certain foreign subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the benefit obligations associated with these plans exceeded the fair value of the plan assets by $62 million and $67 million, respectively. Other Employee Benefits Deferred Compensation Plans We maintain unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plans for certain members of management (each, a “participant”). The amount of compensation deferred by each participant is based on participant elections. Participants in the plan designate one or more valuation funds, independently established funds or indices that are used to determine the amount of investment gain or loss in the participant’s account. Additionally, certain members of management participate in Comcast’s unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plan. The amount of compensation deferred by each participant is based on participant elections. Participant accounts are credited with income primarily based on a fixed annual rate. In the case of both deferred compensation plans, participants are eligible to receive distributions from their account based on elected deferral periods that are consistent with the plans and applicable tax law. The table below presents the benefit obligation and interest expense for our deferred compensation plans.
Retirement Investment Plans We sponsor several 401(k) defined contribution retirement plans that allow eligible employees to contribute a portion of their compensation through payroll deductions in accordance with specified plan guidelines. We make contributions to the plans that include matching a percentage of the employees’ contributions up to certain limits. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, expenses related to these plans totaled $185 million, $174 million and $165 million, respectively. Multiemployer Benefit Plans We participate in various multiemployer benefit plans, including pension and postretirement benefit plans, that cover some of our employees and temporary employees who are represented by labor unions. We also participate in other multiemployer benefit plans that provide health and welfare and retirement savings benefits to active and retired participants. We make periodic contributions to these plans in accordance with the terms of applicable collective bargaining agreements and laws but do not sponsor or administer these plans. We do not participate in any multiemployer benefit plans for which we consider our contributions to be individually significant, and the largest plans in which we participate are funded at a level of 80% or greater. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, the total contributions we made to multiemployer pension plans were $84 million, $77 million and $58 million, respectively. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, the total contributions we made to multiemployer postretirement and other benefit plans were $136 million, $119 million and $125 million, respectively. If we cease to be obligated to make contributions or were to otherwise withdraw from participation in any of these plans, applicable law would require us to fund our allocable share of the unfunded vested benefits, which is known as a withdrawal liability. In addition, actions taken by other participating employers may lead to adverse changes in the financial condition of one of these plans, which could result in an increase in our withdrawal liability. Severance Benefits We provide severance benefits to certain former employees. A liability is recorded when payment is probable, the amount is reasonably estimable, and the obligation relates to rights that have vested or accumulated. In 2016, 2015 and 2014, we recorded severance costs of $165 million, $113 million and $113 million, respectively. Severance costs in 2016 included $61 million of severance costs associated with the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. |
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