EQUITY-BASED COMPENSATION

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2023

Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Under the Equity Plan approved by the Board of Directors, the Company is authorized to issue up to 11.8 million shares of incentive and non-statutory stock options, restricted stock awards and restricted stock units, performance awards and stock appreciation rights to eligible employees. The Company has outstanding restricted stock units and performance-based restricted stock units under the Equity Plan. The Company also has immaterial amounts of restricted share awards and stock appreciation rights outstanding which were issued under plans assumed in connection with previously completed mergers. At June 30, 2023, approximately 5.1 million shares of common stock remain available for future grants under the Equity Plan. The Company classifies its restricted stock units and performance-based restricted stock units as equity-based awards and estimates the fair values of restricted stock awards and units as the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the grant date of the award, which is expensed over the applicable vesting period.

In addition to the Equity Plan, Viper maintains its own long-term incentive plan, which is not significant to the Company.

The following table presents the financial statement impacts of equity compensation plans and related costs on the Company’s financial statements:


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
	(In millions)
General and administrative expenses	$	16	$	13	$	27	$	28
Equity-based compensation capitalized pursuant to full cost method of accounting for oil and natural gas properties	$	6	$	6	$	11	$	10

Restricted Stock Units

The following table presents the Company’s restricted stock unit activity during the six months ended June 30, 2023 under the Equity Plan:


	Restricted Stock Units	Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Unvested at December 31, 2022	918,902	$	95.74
Granted	390,530	$	143.74
Vested	(154,606)	$	122.88
Forfeited	(52,986)	$	98.87
Unvested at June 30, 2023	1,101,840	$	108.62

The aggregate grant date fair value of restricted stock units that vested during the six months ended June 30, 2023 was $19 million. As of June 30, 2023, the Company’s unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested restricted stock units was $94 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.8 years.

Performance Based Restricted Stock Units

The following table presents the Company’s performance restricted stock units activity under the Equity Plan for the six months ended June 30, 2023:


	Performance Restricted Stock Units	Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Unvested at December 31, 2022	347,881	$	168.48
Granted	126,347	$	259.52

Forfeited	(27,168)	$	131.06
Unvested at June 30, 2023(1)	447,060	$	196.48

(1)A maximum of 1,068,213 units could be awarded based upon the Company’s final TSR ranking.

As of June 30, 2023, the Company’s unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested performance based restricted stock awards and units was $50 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.7 years.

In March 2023, eligible employees received performance restricted stock unit awards totaling 126,347 units from which a minimum of 0% and a maximum of 200% of the units could be awarded based upon the measurement of total stockholder return of the Company’s common stock as compared to a designated peer group during the 3-year performance period of January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025 and cliff vest at December 31, 2025 subject to continued employment. The initial payout of the March 2023 awards will be further adjusted by a TSR modifier that may reduce the payout or increase the payout up to a maximum of 250%.

The fair value of each performance restricted stock unit issuance is estimated at the date of grant using a Monte Carlo simulation, which results in an expected percentage of units to be earned during the performance period.

The following table presents a summary of the grant-date fair values of performance restricted stock units granted and the related assumptions for the awards granted during the period presented:


	2023
Grant-date fair value	$	259.52

Risk-free rate	4.64		%
Company volatility	46.90		%