PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

Pension

Single-Employer Plans

We sponsor several single-employer defined benefit pension plans, the majority of which have been frozen. We also participate in joint Company and Guild-sponsored plans covering employees of The New York Times Newspaper Guild, including The Newspaper Guild of New York - The New York Times Pension Fund, which was frozen and replaced with a new defined benefit pension plan, The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Plan. On June 18, 2014, the Board of Trustees of The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Fund received a favorable determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service approving the new plan.

The components of net periodic pension cost/(income) were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended
	September 28, 2014								September 29, 2013
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	2,386		$	—	$	2,386		$	2,323		$	256	$	2,579
Interest cost	21,112			2,382		23,494			19,284			2,643		21,927
Expected return on plan assets	(28,460		)	—		(28,460		)	(31,063		)	—		(31,063		)
Amortization of prior service credit	(486		)	—		(486		)	(486		)	—		(486		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	6,655			990		7,645			8,443			1,313		9,756
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	1,207		$	3,372	$	4,579		$	(1,499	)	$	4,212	$	2,713



	For the Nine Months Ended
	September 28, 2014								September 29, 2013
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	7,158		$	—	$	7,158		$	6,968		$	768	$	7,736
Interest cost	63,336			7,968		71,304			57,858			7,929		65,787
Expected return on plan assets	(85,380		)	—		(85,380		)	(93,188		)	—		(93,188		)
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,456		)	—		(1,456		)	(1,459		)	—		(1,459		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	19,964			3,077		23,041			25,327			3,935		29,262
Effect of pension settlement	—			9,525		9,525			—			—		—
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	3,622		$	20,570	$	24,192		$	(4,494	)	$	12,632	$	8,138

On August 8, 2014, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 was enacted. The legislation extended interest rate stabilization for single-employer defined benefit pension plan funding for an additional five years. During the first nine months of 2014, we made pension contributions of approximately $12 million to certain qualified pension plans and we expect to make an additional $1.9 million contribution in 2014 to satisfy minimum funding requirements.

Multiemployer Plans

In the third quarter of 2013, we recorded a $6.2 million charge related to a partial withdrawal obligation under a multiemployer pension plan.

Lump-Sum Payment Offer

During the first quarter of 2014, we offered to certain former employees who participate in certain non-qualified pension plans the option to elect to receive a lump-sum payment equal to the present value of the participant’s pension benefit. The election period for this voluntary offer closed on April 25, 2014, and thereafter we made a lump-sum payment of approximately $24 million to those former employees who accepted the offer, reducing pension obligations by approximately $32 million. As a result, during the second quarter of 2014, we recorded a pension settlement charge of $9.5 million.

Other Postretirement Benefits

The components of net periodic postretirement benefit cost/(income) were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended						For the Nine Months Ended
(In thousands)	September 28, 2014			September 29, 2013			September 28, 2014			September 29, 2013
Service cost	$	145		$	285		$	439		$	855
Interest cost	930			1,009			2,950			3,027
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,800		)	(3,693		)	(5,000		)	(11,078		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	1,237			1,022			3,605			3,066
Net periodic postretirement benefit cost/(income)	$	512		$	(1,377	)	$	1,994		$	(4,130	)

On September 2, 2014, the ERISA Management Committee approved certain changes to The New York Times Company Retiree Medical Plan provisions, which triggered a remeasurement under ASC 715-60, “Compensation–Retirement Benefits–Defined Benefit Plans–Other Postretirement.” The change in the plan provisions decreased obligations by $17.4 million and the change in discount rate as of the remeasurement date increased obligations by $3.6 million. Overall, the remeasurement decreased our obligations by $13.8 million as reflected in other comprehensive income in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income/(Loss) as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended					For the Nine Months Ended
(In thousands)	September 28, 2014			September 29, 2013		September 28, 2014			September 29, 2013
Unrecognized (gain)/loss due to change in discount rate	$	3,617		$	—	$	3,617		$	—
Unrecognized prior service cost due to change in plan provisions	(17,373		)	—		(17,373		)	—
Total effect of other postretirement benefit changes	$	(13,756	)	$	—	$	(13,756	)	$	—

Recent Developments

On October 27, 2014, the Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) released new mortality tables that increased life expectancy assumptions. Based on this data, it is likely we will revise the mortality assumptions used in determining our pension and postretirement benefit obligations. We expect the adoption of new mortality assumptions for purposes of funding our plans will trail the adoption for accounting purposes. Our preliminary analysis of the impact of the revised mortality tables, when fully implemented for accounting and plan funding purposes, estimates an increase of approximately $150 million in pension and postretirement liabilities and approximately $10 million in annual pension and postretirement expense and may result in higher pension funding requirements in future periods depending upon the funded status of our pension plans. These expectations presume all other assumptions remain constant and there are no changes to applicable funding regulations.