Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

2.  Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

We conduct and plan to continue to conduct our activities in such a manner as not to be deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Therefore, no more than 40% of our total assets can be invested in investment securities, as such term is defined in the Investment Company Act. In addition, we do not invest or intend to invest in securities as our primary business. We structure and intend to continue structuring our investments to be taxed as a partnership rather than as a corporation under the applicable publicly traded partnership rules of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended.

Events beyond our control, including significant appreciation or depreciation in the market value of certain of our publicly traded holdings or adverse developments with respect to our ownership of certain of our subsidiaries, could result in our inadvertently becoming an investment company that is required to register under the Investment Company Act. Our sales of Federal-Mogul LLC, Tropicana Entertainment Inc., American Railcar Industries, Inc. and Ferrous Resources Ltd. in recent years did not result in our being considered an investment company. However, additional transactions involving the sale of certain assets could result in our being considered an investment company. Following such events or transactions, an exemption under the Investment Company Act would provide us up to one year to take steps to avoid becoming classified as an investment company. We expect to take steps to avoid becoming classified as an investment company, but no assurance can be made that we will successfully be able to take the steps necessary to avoid becoming classified as an investment company.

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) related to interim financial statements. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. The financial information contained herein is unaudited; however, management believes all adjustments have been made that are necessary to present fairly the results for the interim periods. All such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature.

Principles of Consolidation

Our condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of (i) Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings and (ii) the wholly and majority owned subsidiaries of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings, in addition to variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in which we are the primary beneficiary. In evaluating whether we have a controlling financial interest in entities that we consolidate, we consider the following: (1) for voting interest entities, including limited partnerships and similar entities that are not VIEs, we consolidate these entities in which we own a majority of the voting interests; and (2) for VIEs, we consolidate these entities in which we are the primary beneficiary. See below for a discussion of our VIEs. Kick-out rights, which are the rights underlying the limited partners’ ability to dissolve the limited partnership or otherwise remove the general partners, held through voting interests of partnerships and similar entities that are not VIEs are considered the equivalent of the equity interests of corporations that are not VIEs.

Except for our Investment segment and Holding Company, for equity investments in which we own 50% or less but greater than 20%, we generally account for such investments using the equity method. All other equity investments are accounted for at fair value.

Reclassifications

Certain reclassifications from the prior year presentation have been made to conform to the current year presentation, which did not have an impact on previously reported net income and equity and are not deemed material.

Consolidated Variable Interest Entities

The following is a discussion of variable interest entities in which we are deemed to be the primary beneficiary and we therefore consolidate.

Icahn Enterprises Holdings

We determined that Icahn Enterprises Holdings is a VIE because it is a limited partnership that lacks both substantive kick-out and participating rights. Although Icahn Enterprises is not the general partner of Icahn Enterprises Holdings, Icahn Enterprises is deemed to be the primary beneficiary of Icahn Enterprises Holdings principally based on its 99% limited partner interest in Icahn Enterprises Holdings, as well as our related party relationship with the general partner, and therefore continues to consolidate Icahn Enterprises Holdings. The condensed consolidated financial statements of Icahn Enterprises Holdings are included in this Report. The balances with respect to Icahn Enterprises Holdings’ consolidated VIEs are discussed below, comprising the Investment Funds, CVR Partners and Viskase’s joint venture.

Investment

We determined that each of the Investment Funds are considered VIEs because these limited partnerships lack both substantive kick-out and participating rights. Because we have a general partner interest in each of the Investment Funds and have significant limited partner interests in each of the Investment Funds, coupled with our significant exposure to losses and benefits in each of the Investment Funds, we are the primary beneficiary of each of the Investment Funds and therefore continue to consolidate each of the Investment Funds.

Energy

CVR Partners is considered a VIE because it is a limited partnership that lacks both substantive kick-out and participating rights. In addition, CVR Energy also concluded that, based upon its general partner’s roles and rights in CVR Partners as afforded by CVR Partners’ partnership agreement, coupled with its exposure to losses and benefits in CVR Partners through its significant limited partner interest, intercompany credit facilities and services agreements, it is the primary beneficiary of CVR Partners.

Food Packaging

Viskase holds a variable interest in a joint venture for which Viskase is the primary beneficiary. Viskase’s interest in the joint venture includes a 50% equity interest and also relates to the sales, operations, administrative and financial support to the joint venture through providing many of the assets used in its business.

The following table includes balances of assets and liabilities of VIE’s included in Icahn Enterprises Holdings’ condensed consolidated balance sheets.

	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020
	(in millions)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	110	$	31
Cash held at consolidated affiliated partnerships and restricted cash		1,636		1,558
Investments		9,653		8,239
Due from brokers		5,149		3,437
Accounts receivable, net		33		37
Inventories, net		59		42
Property, plant and equipment, net		993		1,042
Unrealized gain on derivative contracts		793		785
Intangible assets, net		217		232
Other assets		59		107
Accounts payable		45		25
Accrued expenses and other liabilities		91		70
Deferred tax liabilities		1		1
Unrealized loss on derivative contracts		476		622
Securities sold, not yet purchased, at fair value		4,957		2,521
Due to brokers		1,622		1,618
Debt		625		636

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, cash held at consolidated affiliated partnerships and restricted cash, accounts receivable, due from brokers, accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities and due to brokers are deemed to be reasonable estimates of their fair values because of their short-term nature. See Note 4, “Investments,” and Note 5, “Fair Value Measurements,” for a detailed discussion of our investments and other non-financial assets and/or liabilities.

The fair value of our long-term debt is based on the quoted market prices for the same or similar issues or on the current rates offered to us for debt of the same remaining maturities. The carrying value and estimated fair value of our long-term debt as of September 30, 2021 was approximately $7.7 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively. The carrying value and estimated fair value of our long-term debt as of December 31, 2020 was approximately $8.1 billion and $8.2 billion, respectively.

Cash Flow

Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents on our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows is comprised of (i) cash and cash equivalents and (ii) cash held at consolidated affiliated partnerships and restricted cash.

Cash Held at Consolidated Affiliated Partnerships and Restricted Cash

Our cash held at consolidated affiliated partnerships balance was $95 million and $686 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. Cash held at consolidated affiliated partnerships relates to our Investment segment and consists of cash and cash equivalents held by the Investment Funds that, although not legally restricted, are not available to fund the general liquidity needs of the Investment segment or Icahn Enterprises.

Our restricted cash balance was $1,652 million and $926 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. Restricted cash primarily relates to our Investment segment’s cash pledged and held for margin requirements on derivative transactions.

Revenue From Contracts With Customers and Contract Balances

Due to the nature of our business, we derive revenue from various sources in various industries. With the exception of all of our Investment segment’s and our Holding Company’s revenues, and our Real Estate segment’s leasing revenue, our revenue is generally derived from contracts with customers in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Such revenue from contracts with customers is included in net sales and other revenues from operations in the condensed consolidated statements of operations, however, our Real Estate segment’s leasing revenue, as disclosed in Note 9, “Leases,” is also included in other revenues from operations. Related contract assets are included in accounts receivable, net or other assets and related contract liabilities are included in accrued expenses and other liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Our disaggregation of revenue information includes our net sales and other revenues from operations for each of our reporting segments as well as additional disaggregation of revenue information for our Energy and Automotive segments. See Note 12, “Segment Reporting,” for our complete disaggregation of revenue information. In addition, we disclose additional information with respect to revenue from contracts with customers and contract balances for our Energy and Automotive segments below.

Energy

Our Energy segment’s deferred revenue is a contract liability that primarily relates to fertilizer sales contracts requiring customer prepayment prior to product delivery to guarantee a price and supply of nitrogen fertilizer. Deferred revenue is recorded at the point in time in which a prepaid contract is legally enforceable and the associated right to consideration is unconditional prior to transferring product to the customer. An associated receivable is recorded for uncollected prepaid contract amounts. Contracts requiring prepayment are generally short-term in nature and revenue is recognized at the point in time in which the customer obtains control of the product. Our Energy segment had deferred revenue of $34 million and $31 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, our Energy segment recorded revenue of $30 million and $27 million, respectively, with respect to deferred revenue outstanding as of the beginning of each respective period.

As of September 30, 2021, our Energy segment had $7 million of remaining performance obligations for contracts with an original expected duration of more than one year. Our Energy segment expects to recognize approximately $1 million of these performance obligations as revenue by the end of 2021 and the remaining balance thereafter.

Automotive

Our Automotive segment has deferred revenue with respect to extended warranty plans of $41 million at each of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, which are included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, our Automotive segment recorded revenue of $18 million and $19 million, respectively, with respect to deferred revenue outstanding as of the beginning of each respective period.

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

In December 2019, the Financial Account Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2019-12, Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes, which amends FASB ASC Topic 740, Income Taxes. This ASU simplifies the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to the general principles in the standard and modifies other areas of the standard to clarify the application of U.S. GAAP. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and interim periods within those fiscal years. We have adopted this

standard on January 1, 2021. Certain amendments in this ASU are applied using a retrospective approach and others using the prospective approach. The adoption of this standard did not have a significant impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting, which amends FASB ASC Topic 848, Reference Rate Reform. By the end of 2021, banks will no longer be required to report information that is used to determine London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) which is used globally by all types of entities for various types of transactions. As a result, LIBOR could be discontinued, as well as other interest rates used globally. This ASU provides companies with optional expedients for contract modifications under U.S GAAP, excluded components of certain hedging relationships, fair value hedges, and cash flow hedges, as well as certain exceptions, which are intended to help ease the potential accounting burden associated with transitioning away from these reference rates. Companies can apply this ASU immediately and will only be available for a limited time (generally through December 31, 2022). We are currently assessing the impact of this standard on our condensed consolidated financial statements.