Equity Method Investments (Note)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 11 EQUITY METHOD INVESTMENTS

The Company accounts for the following investments under the equity method of accounting.

ILIM S.A. ("Ilim")

On September 18, 2023, pursuant to a previously announced agreement, the Company completed the sale of its 50% equity interest in Ilim, which was a joint venture that operated a pulp and paper business in Russia and has subsidiaries including Ilim Group, to its joint venture partners for $484 million in cash. The Company also completed the sale of all of its Ilim Group shares (constituting a 2.39% stake) for $24 million, and divested other non-material residual interests associated with Ilim, to its joint venture partners. Following the completed sales, the Company no longer has an interest in Ilim or any of its subsidiaries. Additionally, we incurred transaction fees of $36 million in connection with the sale of our investment. The Company reclassified currency translation adjustments in AOCI of $517 million to the investment at the completion of the transaction.

As of December 31, 2022 and for all subsequent periods, the Company concluded that the held for sale balance sheet classification criteria had been met and classified the investment as Assets held for sale in the consolidated balance sheet. Also, all current and historical results of the Ilim investment have been presented as Discontinued Operations, net of taxes in the consolidated statement of operations.

Also in conjunction with the previously announced agreement entered into in January 2023 to sell the Company's ownership interests in Ilim and related offer for the Company's shares in Ilim Group, a determination was made that in the fourth quarter of 2022 and for all subsequent periods through the third quarter 2023, the combined book value of our investments, plus associated cumulative translation losses, exceeded fair value based upon the agreed upon transaction price of $484 million for Ilim and the offer price of $24 million for Ilim Group and the company recorded impairment charges as presented in the table below.

The following summarizes the items comprising Equity Earnings, Impairment Charges, Tax Expense (Benefit), Discontinued Operations and Dividends related to the sale of our equity interest in Ilim:

In millions	Equity Earnings		Impairment Charges		Tax Expense (Benefit)		Discontinued Operations, net of tax (a)		Dividends
Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2022	$	296	$	533	$	—	$	(237)	$	204
Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2023	$	112	$	135	$	(9)	$	(14)	$	13

(a)    Discontinued operations, net of tax is Equity Earnings less Impairment Charges and Tax Expense (Benefit).

GRAPHIC PACKAGING INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, LLC

The Company completed the transfer of its North American Consumer Packaging business in exchange for an initial 20.5% ownership interest (79,911,591 units) in Graphic Packaging International Partners, LLC ("GPIP") in 2018. The Company has since fully monetized its investment in GPIP with transactions beginning in the first quarter 2020 through the second quarter 2021.

Date	Transaction Type	Units	Proceeds		Pre-Tax Gain		After-Tax Gain
In millions except units
2021 First Quarter	Units exchange and open market sale	24,588,316	$	397	$	33	$	25
2021 First Quarter	TRA (a)				42		31
2021 Second Quarter	Units exchange and open market sale	22,773,077	403		64		48
2021 Second Quarter	TRA (a)				66		50

(a)    The tax receivable agreement ("TRA") entitles the Company to 50% of the amount of any tax benefits projected to be realized by GPIP upon the Company's exchange of its units. The Company made income tax payments of $310 million in 2021 as a result of the monetization of its investment in GPIP.

As of June 30, 2021, the Company no longer had an ownership interest in GPIP. The Company recorded equity earnings of $4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021. The Company received cash dividends from GPIP of $5 million during 2021.

The Company's remaining equity method investments are not material.