Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related Party Transactions

v2.4.1.9
Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
Related Party Transactions

In the normal course of business, we enter into transactions with related parties. We had the following related party balances at December 31, 2014 and 2013:
 
Related party current assets
 
Related party long-term assets
 
Related party current liabilities
 
Related party current debt
 
Related party long-term liabilities
 
2014
 
2013
 
2014
 
2013
 
2014
 
2013
 
2014
 
2013
 
2014
 
2013
Liberty Media
$

 
$
278

 
$

 
$

 
$

 
$
15,766

 
$

 
$
10,959

 
$

 
$

Sirius XM Canada
4,344

 
8,867

 
3,000

 
27,619

 
4,340

 
4,554

 

 

 
13,635

 
16,337

M-Way

 

 

 
2,545

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total
$
4,344

 
$
9,145

 
$
3,000

 
$
30,164

 
$
4,340

 
$
20,320

 
$

 
$
10,959

 
$
13,635

 
$
16,337



Liberty Media
Liberty Media has beneficially owned over 50% of our outstanding common stock since January 2013 and has two executives and one director on our board of directors. Gregory B. Maffei, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Media, is the Chairman of our board of directors.
    
On October 9, 2013, we entered into an agreement with Liberty Media to repurchase $500,000 of our common stock from Liberty Media. Pursuant to that agreement, we repurchased $160,000 of our common stock from Liberty Media in 2013. As of December 31, 2013, $15,702 was recorded to Related party current liabilities for the fair value of the derivative associated with the share repurchase agreement with Liberty Media as there were certain terms in the forward purchase contract that could cause the obligation to not be fulfilled. As a result, the instrument was a liability and was marked to fair value with any gain or loss recorded to our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. On April 25, 2014, we completed the final purchase installment under this share repurchase agreement and repurchased $340,000 of our shares of common stock from Liberty Media at a price of $3.66 per share. We recognized $34,485 and $20,393 to Loss on change in value of derivatives in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income related to this agreement during the years ended December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively.
    
We understand that Liberty Media held $11,000 in principal amount of our 7% Exchangeable Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014 at December 31, 2013, which were converted upon maturity in December 2014 into 5,974,510 shares of our common stock.

Sirius XM Canada
We hold an equity method investment in Sirius XM Canada. We own approximately 47,300,000 shares of Sirius XM Canada, representing a 37.0% equity interest and a 25.0% voting interest. We primarily provide programming and content services to Sirius XM Canada.

Investments in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence but not control are accounted for pursuant to the equity method of accounting. We recognize our proportionate share of earnings or losses of Sirius XM Canada as they occur as a component of Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income on a one month lag.
The difference between our investment and our share of the fair value of the underlying net assets of Sirius XM Canada is first allocated to either finite-lived intangibles or indefinite-lived intangibles and the balance is attributed to goodwill. We follow ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other, which requires that equity method finite-lived intangibles be amortized over their estimated useful life while indefinite-lived intangibles and goodwill are not amortized. The amortization of equity method finite-lived intangible assets is recorded in Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. We periodically evaluate our equity method investments to determine if there has been an other-than-temporary decline below carrying value. Equity method finite-lived intangibles, indefinite-lived intangibles and goodwill are included in the carrying amount of the investment.

Our related party current asset balances primarily consist of programming and chipset costs that we are reimbursed for. Our related party long-term asset balances primarily include our investment balance in Sirius XM Canada. As of December 31, 2014, $2,654 of our investment balance in Sirius XM Canada related to equity method goodwill and as of December 31, 2013, $26,161 of our investment balance related to equity method goodwill and intangible assets. Our related party liabilities as of December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013 included $2,776 for the current portion of deferred revenue and $13,415 and $16,190, respectively, for the long-term portion of deferred revenue recorded as of the Merger date related to agreements with XM Canada, now Sirius XM Canada. The estimated fair value of deferred revenue from XM Canada as of the Merger date was approximately $34,000, which is amortized on a straight-line basis through 2020, the end of the expected term of the current existing agreements.

We recorded the following revenue and expenses associated with Sirius XM Canada and Liberty Media which were recorded in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income:
 
For the Years Ended December 31,
 
2014
 
2013
 
2012
Sirius XM Canada:
 
 
 
 
 
Revenue (a)
$
49,691

 
$
48,935

 
$
39,477

Share of net earnings (losses) (b)
$
15,517

 
$
5,865

 
$
(420
)
Liberty Media:
 
 
 
 
 
Expenses (c)
$
(1,025
)
 
$
(13,514
)
 
$
(30,931
)
(a)
Under our agreements with Sirius XM Canada, we receive a percentage-based royalty for certain types of subscription revenue earned by Sirius XM Canada for the distribution of Sirius and XM channels, royalties for activation fees and reimbursements for other charges. We record revenue from Sirius XM Canada as Other revenue in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income.
(b)
During the year ended December 31, 2014, our share of Sirius XM Canada’s net earnings included a gain of $1,251 related to the fair value received in excess of the carrying value associated with the redemption of our investment in Sirius XM Canada’s 8% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures in February 2014. Sirius XM Canada declared dividends to us of $43,492, $16,796 and $7,749 during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. These dividends are first recorded as a reduction to our investment balance in Sirius XM Canada to the extent a balance exists and then as Interest and investment income for the remaining portion. This amount includes amortization related to the equity method intangible assets of $363, $1,454 and $974 for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.
(c)
We recognized Interest expense associated with the portion of the 7% Exchangeable Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014, the portion of the 7.625% Senior Notes due 2018, and the portion of the 8.75% Senior Notes due 2015 held by Liberty Media through December 2014, October 2013 and August 2013, respectively.

M-Way
During the year ended December 31, 2014, we evaluated our investment in M-Way Solutions GmbH ("M-Way") and determined that there was an other than temporary decline in its fair value. As a result, we reduced our investment balance to zero and recognized a loss of $2,342 in Other (loss) income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income during the year ended December 31, 2014. In November 2014, we sold our investment in M-Way and recognized a loss of $353 in Engineering, design and development in connection with this transaction in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income during the year ended December 31, 2014.