The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments based on the following items:
Customer licensing income. Customer licensing income includes the Company’s measure of the total cash royalties received from its customers under its licensing agreements with them and any product sales. In 2013, the Company bifurcated royalty payments that it received from SK Hynix and Micron Technology between revenue and gain from settlement, which was reflected as reducing operating expenses. The Company has combined revenue from its customers, including SK Hynix and Micron Technology, and the gain from the SK Hynix and Micron Technology settlement as customer licensing income to reflect the total amounts received from all of its customers for the periods presented. In addition, customer licensing income includes other patent royalties received but not recognized as revenue and proceeds from sale of intellectual property. In certain periods presented, certain patent royalties received from a customer were not recognized as revenue as not all revenue recognition criteria were met. In 2011, the Company received patent royalty payments from certain patent license agreements assumed in the acquisition of CRI which were treated as favorable contracts. Cash received from these acquired favorable contracts reduced the favorable contract intangible asset on the Company’s balance sheet. The Company has combined these cash royalty payments as customer licensing income to reflect the total amounts received from its customers.
Stock-based compensation expense. These expenses primarily relate to employee stock options, employee stock purchase plans, and employee non-vested equity stock and non-vested stock units. The Company excludes stock-based compensation expense from its non-GAAP measures primarily because they are non-cash expenses that the Company does not believe are reflective of ongoing operating results. Additionally, given the fact that other companies may grant different amounts and types of equity awards and may use different option valuation assumptions, excluding stock-based compensation expense permits more accurate comparisons of the Company’s results with peer companies.
Acquisition-related transaction costs and retention bonus expense. These expenses include all direct costs of certain acquisitions and the current periods’ portion of any retention bonus expense associated with the acquisitions. The Company excludes these expenses in order to provide better comparability between periods.
Restructuring charges. These charges may consist of severance, contractual retention payments, exit costs and other charges and are excluded because such charges are not directly related to ongoing business results and do not reflect expected future operating expenses.
Impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets. These charges consist of non-cash charges to goodwill and long-lived assets and are excluded because such charges are non-recurring and do not reduce the Company’s liquidity.
Amortization expense. The Company incurs expenses for the amortization of intangible assets acquired in acquisitions. The Company excludes these items because these expenses are not reflective of ongoing operating results in the period incurred. These amounts arise from the Company’s prior acquisitions and have no direct correlation to the core operation of the Company’s business.
Costs of restatement and related legal activities. These expenses consist primarily of investigation, audit, legal and other professional fees related to the 2006-2007 stock option investigation and related litigation, as well as recoveries received from third parties. The Company excludes these costs and recoveries from its non-GAAP measures primarily because the Company believes that these non-recurring costs and recoveries have no direct correlation to the core operation of the Company’s business.
Non-cash interest expense. The Company incurs non-cash interest expense related to its convertible notes. The Company excludes non-cash interest expense related to its convertible notes to provide more accurate comparisons of the Company’s results with other peer companies and to more accurately reflect the Company’s ongoing operations.
Reversal of one-time litigation costs. These adjustments are a one-time litigation cost reversal of prior litigation costs accrued related to previously awarded costs that the Company was required to pay in connection with the SK Hynix and Micron Technology litigation. The Company excludes these reversals from its non-GAAP measures because the Company believes that these reversals have no direct correlation to the core operations of the Company’s business and they are a one-time event.
Severance costs. These expenses relate to the separation payment to the Company’s former chief executive officer. The Company excludes these costs from its non-GAAP measures because the Company believes that these non-recurring costs have no direct correlation to the core operations of the Company’s business.
Income tax adjustments. For purposes of internal forecasting, planning and analyzing future periods that assumes net income from operations, the Company estimates a fixed, long-term projected tax rate of approximately 36 percent. Accordingly, the Company has applied the 36 percent tax rate to its non-GAAP financial results to assist the Company’s planning for future periods.
On occasion in the future, there may be other items, such as significant gains or losses from contingencies that the Company may exclude in deriving its non-GAAP financial measures if it believes that doing so is consistent with the goal of providing useful information to investors and management.
