Note 9: Pension and Other Retirement Plans

Defined Benefit Plans. The Company sponsors the A. H. Belo Pension Plans (the “Pension Plans”), which provide benefits to approximately 1,400 current and former employees of the Company. A. H. Belo Pension Plan I provides benefits to certain current and former employees primarily employed with The Dallas Morning News or the A. H. Belo corporate offices. A. H. Belo Pension Plan II provides benefits to certain former employees of The Providence Journal Company. This obligation was retained by the Company upon the sale of the newspaper operations of The Providence Journal. No additional benefits are accruing under the A. H. Belo Pension Plans, as future benefits were frozen.

No contributions are required to the A. H. Belo Pension Plans in 2019 under the applicable tax and labor laws governing pension plan funding.

Net Periodic Pension Benefit

The Company’s estimates of net periodic pension expense or benefit are based on the expected return on plan assets, interest on the projected benefit obligations and the amortization of actuarial gains and losses that are deferred in accumulated other comprehensive loss. The table below sets forth components of net periodic pension benefit, which are included in other income, net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
Interest cost	$	1,973	$	1,796	$	5,922	$	5,389
Expected return on plans' assets		(2,866)		(2,894)		(8,599)		(8,681)
Amortization of actuarial loss		70		168		209		503
Net periodic pension benefit	$	(823)	$	(930)	$	(2,468)	$	(2,789)

Defined Contribution Plans. The A. H. Belo Savings Plan (the “Savings Plan”), a defined contribution 401(k) plan, covers substantially all employees of A. H. Belo. Participants may elect to contribute a portion of their pretax compensation as provided by the Savings Plan and the Internal Revenue Code. Employees can contribute up to 100 percent of their annual eligible compensation less required withholdings and deductions up to statutory limits. The Company provides an ongoing dollar-for-dollar match of eligible employee contributions, up to 1.5 percent of the employees’ compensation. During the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded expense of $178 and $199, respectively, and during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded expense of $503 and $653, respectively, for matching contributions to the Savings Plan.