Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

v3.22.1
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
For a discussion of our significant accounting policies and estimates, please refer to our 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 3, 2022.
Share-Based Compensation
The Company has a stock-based compensation program which provides for equity awards including time-based stock options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”). Stock-based compensation expense is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as expense over the requisite service period for the award. The Company records forfeitures as a reduction of stock-based compensation expense as those forfeitures occur.
The Company uses the Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model to determine the fair value for option awards. In valuing our option awards, the Company makes assumptions about risk-free interest rates, dividend yields, volatility and weighted-average expected lives. The Company accounts for forfeitures as they occur. Risk-free interest rates are derived from United States Treasury securities as of the option award grant date. Expected dividend yield is based on our historical cash dividend payments, which have been zero to date. The expected volatility for shares of the Company's Class A common stock is estimated using our historical volatility. The weighted-average expected life of the option awards is estimated based on our historical exercise data.
The Company's dual class structure was created upon the Domestication (as defined in Note 1—Background and Basis of Presentation). The Class B common stock including Class B common stock underlying vested stock options, held by Mr. Andrew Pascal, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, or his affiliates (the "Founder Group") carry a super vote premium. As the Founder Group did not have control of Old PLAYSTUDIOS prior to the Business Combination, and Mr. Pascal is an employee of the Company, the incremental value resulting from the super vote premium is accounted for as incremental compensation costs.
The Company utilized the market approach by observing other market participants with (i) dual class structures, (ii) super vote premiums for a single class and (iii) both classes trading on a national exchange. Based on the observed data, management selected a premium for the Class B common stock and the stock options held by members of the Founder Group.
The Company uses the estimated fair value of equity and associated per-share value at the time of grant to determine the compensation cost to be recognized associated with RSUs granted.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted
In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). The amended guidance is intended to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. The adoption of this guidance is expected to result in a significant portion of the Company’s operating leases, where the Company is the lessee, to be recognized in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The guidance requires lessees and lessors to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified retrospective approach. This guidance is effective for the Company for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, with earlier adoption permitted. The Company intends to first present the application of this guidance in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022 with an effective date of January 1, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this guidance.
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326). The new guidance replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current guidance with a current expected credit loss model (“CECL”) that incorporates a broader range of reasonable and supportable information including the forward-looking information. This guidance is effective for the Company for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that annual reporting period, with early adoption permitted. Application of the amendments is through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the effective date. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this guidance.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The new guidance removes certain exceptions for recognizing deferred taxes for investments, performing intraperiod allocation and calculating income taxes in interim periods. It also adds guidance to reduce complexity in certain areas, including recognizing deferred taxes for tax goodwill and allocating taxes to members of a consolidated group. The Company adopted this guidance prospectively on January 1, 2022. The adoption resulted in the Company not utilizing the prior exception under ASC 740-270-30-28 to the general methodology of calculating interim income taxes for the period ended March 31, 2022, but did not have a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.