Employee Benefit Plans (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

The Company sponsors three qualified defined benefit pension plans that provide pension benefits to a majority of employees who were employed by TWC before the acquisition of TWC. The Company also provides a nonqualified defined benefit pension plan.

Pension benefits are based on formulas that reflect the employees’ years of service and compensation during their employment period. Actuarial gains or losses are changes in the amount of either the benefit obligation or the fair value of plan assets resulting from experience different from that assumed or from changes in assumptions. The Company has elected to follow a mark-to-market pension accounting policy for recording the actuarial gains or losses annually during the fourth quarter, or earlier if a remeasurement event occurs during an interim period. No future compensation increases or future service will be credited to participants of the pension plans given the frozen nature of the plans.

The components of net periodic pension benefit (costs) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 are recorded in other pension benefits, net in the consolidated statements of operations and consisted of the following:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019			2018			2019			2018
Interest cost	$	(32	)	$	(32	)	$	(96	)	$	(96	)
Expected return on plan assets	41			52			123			156
Remeasurement gain, net	—			187			—			187
Net periodic pension benefits	$	9		$	207		$	27		$	247

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, settlements for lump-sum distributions to qualified and nonqualified pension plan participants exceeded the estimated annual interest cost of the plans. As a result, the pension liability and pension asset values were reassessed as of September 30, 2018 utilizing remeasurement date assumptions in accordance with the Company's mark-to-market pension accounting policy to record gains and losses in the period in which a remeasurement event occurs. The $187 million remeasurement gain recorded during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 was primarily driven by the effects of an increase of the discount rate from 3.68% at December 31, 2017 to 4.24% at September 30, 2018. This was partially offset by a loss to record pension assets to fair value at September 30, 2018.

The Company made no cash contributions to the qualified pension plans during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018; however, the Company may make discretionary cash contributions to the qualified pension plans in the future. Such contributions will be dependent on a variety of factors, including current and expected interest rates, asset performance, the funded status of the qualified pension plans and management’s judgment. For the nonqualified unfunded pension plan, the Company will continue to make contributions during 2019 to the extent benefits are paid.