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Acquisitions
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
Business Combination and Asset Acquisition [Abstract]  
Acquisitions Acquisitions
Stock Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) between Travelzoo and Azzurro Capital Inc., a Related-Party
In connection with the development of Travelzoo META, the Company acquired MTE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Azzurro, and also completed a private placement of newly issued shares. Ralph Bartel, who founded the Company, is the sole beneficiary of the Ralph Bartel 2005 Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of Azzurro. Azzurro was the Company’s largest shareholder as of the time of this transaction, and Azzurro and Ralph Bartel owned as of December 31, 2022 approximately 50.3% the Company's outstanding shares. On December 28, 2022, the stockholders of Travelzoo approved the issuance and sale of 3.4 million Shares of Travelzoo to Azzurro, in exchange for certain consideration, and on the Closing Date, the transaction was consummated. The closing price of Travelzoo’s common stock on December 30, 2022 was $4.45 per share, resulting in an aggregate fair value $15.2 million. The purchase price was paid as follows: (a) $1.0 million in cash paid on the Closing Date; (b) $4.8 million paid in the form of a promissory note issued on the Closing Date and payable by June 30, 2023 with accrued interest of 12%; and (c) the transfer to the Company of all outstanding capital stock of MTE, which transfer was effected pursuant to a merger of MTE with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company on the Closing Date. The Company records the $4.8 million promissory note as Note receivable from shareholder in the stockholders' equity section on the condensed consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
Travelzoo acquired the entire business of MTE. The acquisition was accounted for as an asset acquisition in accordance with ASC Topic 805 – Business Combinations. The fair value of the consideration paid by Travelzoo and allocation of that amount to the underlying assets, on a relative fair value basis, was recorded by the Company as of the Closing Date. Additionally, costs directly related to the MTE acquisition of $184,000 were capitalized as a component of the purchase price.
As a result of the MTE acquisition, the Company also assumed MTE’s historical net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $64.7 million. While these net operating losses (NOLs) may be used to offset future taxable income, the Company determined it is appropriate to record an uncertain tax benefit liability in accordance with ASC Topic 740—Income Taxes. Subject to the provisions of the SPA, Azzurro agreed to indemnify Travelzoo for tax related liabilities in the event of the inability of the Company to utilize any NOLs of MTE as a result of any breach of or inaccuracy in any representation or warranty made by Azzurro, which included the representation that NOLs will be available for use by the Company after the closing for federal and analogous state income tax purposes, including pursuant to section 381(a) of the U.S. tax code, and that, as of the date of the SPA, no NOLs of MTE are subject to any limitation, restriction or impairment on its use. Based on the terms of the agreement, the Company believes that with the uncertain tax position recognized related to the acquired NOLs, that the Company has the right to claim losses against Azzurro if NOLs are not able to be utilized. Therefore, the Company recorded an indemnification asset of $9.5 million for the relative fair value of this indemnification. Any losses indemnified by Azzurro related to the inability to utilize MTE’s net operating loss carry forwards shall be satisfied by Azzurro returning to the Company the number of shares of common stock of Travelzoo corresponding to the value of the loss. Accordingly, the Company has classified this tax indemnification asset as contra-equity in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.
The following table represents the allocation of the total cost of the MTE acquisition to the assets acquired (in thousands):
Fair Value
Consideration for MTE assets
Fair value of Travelzoo common stock issued$15,175 
Direct transaction costs184 
Less:
Cash received from Azzurro Capital Inc.(1,000)
Notes receivable from Azzurro Capital Inc.(4,753)
Total consideration for MTE assets$9,606 
Relative fair value of the assets acquired
Cash and cash equivalents$6 
Prepaid expenses and other45 
Property and equipment18 
Tax indemnification asset9,537 
Total assets acquired$9,606 
Travelzoo (Europe) Ltd, Sucursal en España Acquired Secret Escapes Limited’s Spanish Business Unit
On March 3, 2022, Travelzoo (Europe) Ltd, Sucursal en Espana, the Spanish branch of Travelzoo (Europe) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Travelzoo Spain”), entered into a Business Unit Purchase Agreement (“BUPA”) with Secret Escapes Limited (“Secret Escapes”) for the purchase of its Spanish business unit, which included, among other things, a database of approximately 940,000 members. The purchase price was 400,000 Euros, with an earn-out opportunity of an additional 100,000 Euros payable by the Company upon the achievement of certain metrics by the business unit in six months (September 2022). The metrics were not achieved and thus no payments were made on the earn-out. Travelzoo was granted the right to use the Secret Escapes name exclusively in Spain for a continuity period of six (6) months. The BUPA contained typical representations and warranties and indemnification protections, as well as a restrictive covenant, whereby Secret Escapes agreed to leave the Spanish market for at least three (3) years, subject to a right to purchase a waiver.
Asset Purchase Agreement between Metaverse Travel Experiences, Inc. f/k/a Azzurro Brands Inc. and Travelzoo
On March 17, 2022, the Company, as Buyer, entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “APA”) with Metaverse Travel Experiences, Inc. f/k/a Azzurro Brands Inc., a New York corporation (the “Seller”) and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Azzurro, the Company’s largest shareholder. Pursuant to the APA, the Company acquired certain assets, primarily comprised of all U.S. members of Secret Escapes Limited, which Seller acquired in March 2021 and licensed exclusively to Travelzoo pursuant to the previously disclosed License Agreement, dated as of March 12, 2021 (the “License Agreement”), in accordance with data privacy and other applicable laws. The License Agreement allowed the Company to exclusively utilize the assets in exchange for a license fee of $412,500 per quarter with a one-year term that automatically renewed. The License Agreement was reviewed and unanimously approved by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which consists solely of independent directors. The purchase price for the transaction was $1.75 million, with $600,000 paid in cash upon closing in
March 2022 and the remaining $1.15 million payable in the form of a credit with Seller relating to prepaid license fees, under the License Agreement. The remaining commitment of the Company under the License Agreement for the then-current remaining term (equal to $825,000) was eliminated.
The Company recorded the transactions with both Secret Escape Limited and Metaverse Travel Experiences, Inc. as asset acquisitions as the assets acquired and liabilities assumed do not meet the definition of a business in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805-10. Cost accumulation model was used to account for the cost of the acquisition and the 100,000 Euros earn-out was considered as contingent consideration based on ASC 805-50. Travelzoo acquired the database of members and recorded $2.2 million intangible assets from both agreements.
Acquisition of Jack's Flight Club
Travelzoo acquired 60% of Jack’s Flight Club for an aggregate purchase price of $12.0 million in January 2020. The strategic rationale for the Jack’s Flight Club acquisition was to expand Jack’s Flight Club’s membership to Travelzoo members worldwide, so the members from Travelzoo could also sign up to receive offers from Jack’s Flight Club. The Company renegotiated with Jack’s Flight Club in June 2020 and reached a negotiated settlement which resulted a gain in “General and administrative expenses” for the partial forgiveness for the promissory note issued for the acquisition.
The acquisition has been accounted for using the acquisition method in accordance with ASC 805, Business Combinations. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase consideration of the acquisition is allocated to the tangible assets and identifiable intangible assets and liabilities assumed based on their relative fair values. The excess of the purchase consideration over the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets is recorded as goodwill. Accordingly, the Company allocated $3.5 million to customer relationships, $2.5 million to trade name and $660,000 to non-compete agreements and the remaining $13.1 million to goodwill. The acquisition related costs were not significant and were expensed as incurred. Jack’s Flight Club's result have been included in the accompanying financial statements from their the dates of acquisition. The Company performed an annual impairment test in October did not identify any further indicators of impairment as of December 31, 2022. The Company also did not identify any indicators of impairment during the three months ended March 31, 2023.
Intangible Assets
The following table represents the fair value and estimated useful lives of intangible assets from the above acquisitions (in thousands):
Fair ValueEstimated Life (Years)
Customer relationships (Jack's Flight Club)$3,500 5.0
Trade name (Jack's Flight Club)2,460 indefinite
Non-compete agreements (Jack's Flight Club)660 4.0
Intangible assets (Secret Escape Spain member database)445 3.0
Intangible assets (Secret Escape U.S. member database)1,751 2.3

Assets Measured at Fair Value on a Non-recurring Basis
The Company’s non-financial assets, such as goodwill, intangible assets and property and equipment, are adjusted to fair value if an impairment is recognized during the period. The fair value measurements are based on Level 3 inputs. Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs based on our own assumptions used to measure assets at fair value.
The goodwill assessment was performed by comparing the fair value of the reporting units to its carrying value. The fair value estimates for the reporting units, were based on a blended analysis of the present value of future discounted cash flows and market value approach, using Level 3 inputs. The indefinite-lived intangible assets assessment was valued using the relief-from-royalty method, which includes unobservable inputs, classified as Level 3, including projected revenues and approximately 5% royalty rate.
The Company recorded a goodwill impairment of $2.1 million and a Trade name impairment of $810,000 for Jack's Flight Club due to the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020. No impairment charge was identified and recorded for 2021. The Company performed its annual test as of October 31, 2022 and a Trade name impairment charge of $200,000 was recorded as “General and administrative expenses” for Jack's flight club in the fourth quarter of 2022. The revenue for Jack's Flight Club was negatively impacted by the pandemic and did not meet the forecasted growth expectation. No impairment charge was identified and recorded for goodwill in 2022.
The following table represents the activities of intangible assets for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
Jack's Flight ClubSecret Escape SpainSecret Escape U.S.
Intangible assets—January 1, 20223,426 
Acquisitions—March 2022— 445 1,751 
Amortization of intangible assets with definite lives(226)(12)(195)
Intangible assets—March 31, 20223,200 433 1,556 
Amortization of intangible assets with definite lives(217)(34)(194)
Intangible assets—June 30, 20222,983 399 1,362 
Amortization of intangible assets with definite lives(216)(30)(194)
Intangible assets—September 30, 20222,767 369 1,168 
Amortization of intangible assets with definite lives(216)(42)(195)
Impairment of trade name—December 31, 2022(200)— — 
Intangible assets—December 31, 20222,351 327 973 
Amortization of intangible assets with definite lives(168)(39)(195)
Intangible assets—March 31, 2023$2,183 $288 $778 

Amortization expense for acquired intangibles was $402,000 and $433,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Expected future amortization expense of acquired intangible assets as of March 31, 2023 is as follows (in thousands):
Years ending December 31,
2023 (excluding the three months ended March 31, 2023)1,159 
2024587 
202553 
$1,799 
The Company performed its annual impairment testing of Trade name as of October 31, 2022 using a relief from royalty method. As previously discussed, the Company's impairment test indicated that Jack’s Flight Club’s indefinite lived intangible assets (“Trade name”) was impaired for $200,000 in 2022. No impairment was identified in the three months ended March 31, 2023. As of March 31, 2023, the carrying value of the Trade name was $1.5 million.