INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND GOODWILL

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

The Company's intangible assets at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014 consisted of the following (in thousands):



	September 30, 2015							December 31, 2014
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Carrying Amount		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Carrying Amount		Amortization Period	Weighted Average Useful Life
Supply and distribution agreements	$	826,860	$	(218,654	)	$	608,206	$	842,642	$	(188,441	)	$	654,201	10 - 20 years	16 years

Technology	111,483		(56,813		)	54,670		108,987		(43,746		)	65,241		1 - 5 years	5 years

Patents	1,623		(1,553		)	70		1,623		(1,524		)	99		15 years	15 years

Internet domain names	38,764		(19,910		)	18,854		41,652		(16,895		)	24,757		2 - 20 years	8 years

Trade names	1,672,122		(163,262		)	1,508,860		1,674,218		(100,850		)	1,573,368		5 - 20 years	20 years

Non-compete agreements	21,900		(9,290		)	12,610		21,000		(3,908		)	17,092		3 - 4 years	3 years

Other	135		(135		)	—		141		(138		)	3
Total intangible assets	$	2,672,887	$	(469,617	)	$	2,203,270	$	2,690,263	$	(355,502	)	$	2,334,761

Intangible assets with determinable lives are amortized on a straight-line basis. Intangible asset amortization expense was approximately $42.2 million and $128.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively, and $35.8 million and $81.6 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively.

The amortization expense for intangible assets for the remainder of 2015, the annual expense for the next five years, and the expense thereafter is expected to be as follows (in thousands):



2015	$	42,107
2016	167,413
2017	160,088
2018	141,499
2019	131,380
2020	124,089
Thereafter	1,436,694
	$	2,203,270

The change in goodwill for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 consists of the following (in thousands):



Balance at December 31, 2014	$	3,326,474
Acquisitions	77,720
Currency translation adjustments	(17,675		)
Balance at September 30, 2015	$	3,386,519

A substantial portion of the intangibles and goodwill relates to the acquisition of OpenTable in July 2014 and KAYAK in May 2013.

As of September 30, 2015, the Company performed its annual goodwill impairment testing and concluded that there was no impairment of goodwill. Other than OpenTable, the fair values of the Company's reporting units substantially exceeded their respective carrying values as of September 30, 2015.

As of September 30, 2015, OpenTable’s carrying value was $2.5 billion, of which $1.5 billion relates to goodwill. The fair value of OpenTable slightly exceeded its carrying value as of September 30, 2015. OpenTable’s fair value was estimated using a combination of standard valuation techniques, including an income approach (discounted cash flows) and market approaches (EBITDA multiples of comparable publicly-traded companies and for precedent transactions).

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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