Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) | 12 Months Ended |
Dec. 31, 2021 |
Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
Basis of Presentation | Basis of Presentation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company’s consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and include the assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of all controlled subsidiaries. The consolidated statements of operations include the results of entities acquired from the date of each respective acquisition. |
Consolidation | Consolidation The Company consolidates an entity if its ownership, direct or indirect, exceeds 50% of the outstanding voting shares of an entity and/or it has the ability to control the financial or operating policies through its voting rights, board representation or other similar rights. For entities where the Company does not have a controlling interest (financial or operating), the investments in such entities are accounted for using the equity method or at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income, as appropriate. The Company applies the equity method of accounting when it has the ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies of an investee. The Company measures all other investments at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income or in the case that an equity investment does not have readily determinable fair values, at cost minus impairment (if any) plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment. |
Use of Estimates | Use of Estimates The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods covered by the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. These judgments, estimates and assumptions are used for, but not limited to (i) valuation of the Company’s common stock and stock awards, (ii) fair value of acquired intangible assets and goodwill, (iii) fair value of contingent consideration arrangements in connection with business combinations, (iv) incremental borrowing rate used for the Company’s operating lease, (v) useful lives of long-lived assets, (vi) impairment of intangible assets and goodwill, (vii) allowance for Compass Concierge receivables and (viii) income taxes and certain deferred tax assets. The Company determines its estimates and judgments on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes are reasonable under the circumstances. However, actual results could differ from these estimates and these differences may be material. There are many uncertainties regarding the ongoing coronavirus (“COVID-19”) COVID-19 COVID-19 |
Segment | Segment Operating segments are defined as components of an entity for which discrete financial information is available that is regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance. The Company’s Chief Executive Officer is the Company’s CODM. The CODM reviews financial information on a consolidated basis for purposes of making operating decisions, allocating resources and evaluating financial performance. As such, the Company has one operating and reportable segment. Substantially all long-lived assets are located in the United States and substantially all revenue is attributed to sellers and buyers based in the United States. |
Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders | Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders The Company follows the two-class method The two-class method The two-class method For periods in which the Company reports net losses, diluted net loss per common share attributable to common stockholders is the same as basic net loss per common share attributable to common stockholders, because potentially dilutive common shares are not assumed to have been issued if their effect is anti-dilutive. |
Foreign Currency | Foreign Currency The Company established its first foreign subsidiary in India in 2020. The functional currency of the entity is U.S. dollars. Transactions denominated in currencies other than the functional currency are remeasured to the functional currency at the exchange rate on the transaction date. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency are remeasured at period-end using the period-end exchange |
Cash and Cash Equivalents | Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all investments with an original maturity date at the time of purchase of three months or less to be cash and cash equivalents. Cash equivalents consist primarily of money market funds. The Company’s accounts, at times, may exceed federally insured limits. |
Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses | Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses Accounts receivable is stated as the amount billed, net of an estimated allowance for credit losses (“ACL”). The Company’s ACL is adjusted periodically and is based on management’s consideration of the age and nature of the past due accounts as well as specific payment issues. Changes in the Company’s estimate to the ACL is recorded through bad debt expense and individual accounts are charged against the allowance when all reasonable collection efforts are exhausted. The following table summarizes the activity of the ACL for Accounts receivable (in millions): December 31, 2021 2020 Opening balance $ 8.1 $ 2.7 Allowances 1.7 6.9 Net write-offs and other (2.7 ) (1.5 ) Closing balance $ 7.1 $ 8.1 |
Prepaid Incentives | Prepaid Incentives Other current assets and Other non-current assets |
Property and Equipment, net | Property and Equipment, net Property and equipment is reported at cost net of any accumulated depreciation and is depreciated using the straight-line method over the useful lives of the related assets. Expenditures for maintenance, repair and renewals of minor items are charged to expense as incurred. Major improvements are capitalized. The Company capitalizes costs associated with developing software systems that are in the application development stage. Software development costs that are incurred in the preliminary project stage and post-implementation stage are expensed as incurred. The useful lives of property and equipment are as follows: Description Useful Life Leasehold improvements Lesser of estimated useful life or remaining lease term Office furniture and equipment Five years Computer software and internally-developed software Three years Computer equipment Three years |
Business Combinations | Business Combinations Business combinations are accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting. This method requires, among other things, allocation of the fair value of purchase consideration to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their estimated fair values on the acquisition date. The excess of the fair value of purchase consideration over the values of these identifiable assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. When determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, management makes estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets. Management’s estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable and, as a result, actual results may differ from estimates. During the measurement period, not to exceed one year from the date of acquisition, the Company may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with a corresponding offset to goodwill if new information is obtained related to facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date. After the measurement period, any subsequent adjustments are reflected in the consolidated statements of operations. Acquisition costs, consisting primarily of third-party legal and consulting fees, are expensed as incurred. |
Intangible Assets | Intangible Assets Intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of entities are accounted for using the acquisition method based on management’s estimate of the fair value of assets received. Intangible assets are finite lived and mainly consist of customer relationships, workforce and acquired technology and are amortized over their respective estimated useful lives. The useful lives were determined by estimating future cash flows generated by the acquired intangible assets. The Company amortizes these intangible assets on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives within the Company’s operating expenses. |
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets | Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets or asset groups (collectively “asset groups”) may not be recoverable. This includes but is not limited to significant adverse changes in business climate, market conditions, or other events that indicate an asset groups’ carrying amount may not be recoverable. Recoverability of asset groups to be held and used is measured first by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset group. If such asset groups were considered to be impaired, an impairment loss would be recognized when the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset. No impairment losses for long-lived assets have been recognized in any of the periods presented. |
Goodwill | Goodwill Goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquired business over the fair value of the assets acquired at the date of acquisition. Goodwill is not subject to amortization but is subject to impairment testing on an annual basis, as of October 1, or whenever events and circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the reporting unit may be in excess of the reporting unit’s fair value. The Company has one reporting unit and tests goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level. As part of the goodwill impairment test, the Company first performs a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary. If, as a result of its qualitative assessment, it is more-likely-than-not that a two-step impairment If factors indicate that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the Company performs a quantitative assessment and the fair value of the reporting unit is determined by analyzing the expected present value of future cash flows. If the carrying value of the reporting unit continues to exceed its fair value, the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill is calculated and an impairment loss equal to the excess is recorded. The Company has not |
Leases | Leases The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease at inception based on whether there is an identified asset and whether the Company controls the use of the identified asset throughout the period of use. The Company classifies leases as either financing or operating. The Company does not have any finance leases. Right-of-use (“ROU”) Present value of lease payments are discounted based on the more readily determinable of (i) the rate implicit in the lease or (ii) the Company’s incremental borrowing rate. Because the Company’s operating leases generally do not provide an implicit rate, the Company estimates its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at lease commencement date for collateralized borrowings with a similar term, an amount equal to the lease payments and in a similar economic environment where the leased asset is located. The collateralized borrowings were based on the Company’s estimated credit rating corroborated with market credit metrics like debt level and interest coverage. The Company’s operating lease ROU assets are measured based on the corresponding operating lease liability adjusted for (i) payments made to the lessor at or before the commencement date, (ii) initial direct costs incurred and (iii) lease incentives under the lease. Options to renew or terminate the lease are recognized as part of the Company’s ROU assets and lease liabilities when it is reasonably certain the options will be exercised. ROU assets are also assessed for impairments consistent with the Company’s long-lived asset policy. The Company does not allocate consideration between lease and non-lease components, and non-lease components Operating leases are presented separately as operating lease right-of-use assets and non-current, in |
Revenue Recognition | Revenue Recognition The Company generates revenue by assisting home sellers and buyers in listing, marketing, selling and finding homes. The Company holds the real estate brokerage license that is necessary under relevant state laws and regulations to provide brokerage services and therefore controls those services that are necessary to legally transfer real estate between home sellers and buyers. Although the Company’s agents are independent contractors, they cannot execute a real estate transaction without a brokerage license, which the Company possesses. The Company has the only contractual relationship for the sale or exchange of real estate with its clients. Accordingly, the Company is the principal in its transactions with home buyers and sellers. As principal, the Company recognizes revenue in the gross amount of consideration to which the Company expects to receive in exchange for those services. The Company concluded that its brokerage revenue contains a single performance obligation that is satisfied upon the closing of a real estate services transaction, at which point the entire transaction price is earned. Revenue is recognized upon the closing of a real estate transaction (i.e. purchase or sale of a home) since the Company is not entitled to any commission until the performance obligation is satisfied and is not owed any commission for unsuccessful transactions, even if services have been provided. The Company operates exclusively in the United States and generates substantially all of its revenue from commissions from home sellers and buyers. In addition to commission revenue, the Company generates revenue through adjacent services related to the home transaction such as title and escrow services which comprised an immaterial amount of the consolidated revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Management evaluated and determined that no disaggregation of revenue is necessary or appropriate. As the Company generally bills for its services at the time of revenue recognition, the Company does not have material deferred revenue or contract asset balances. In addition, the Company does not capitalize commissions paid to agents as incremental contract costs as there are no future benefits associated with the expenses. |
Commissions and Other Related Expense | Commissions and Other Related Expense Commissions and other related expense primarily consist of commissions paid to the Company’s agents, who are independent contractors to the Company, upon the closing of a real estate transaction (i.e., purchase or sale of a home), as well as stock-based compensation expense related to the Company’s Agent Equity Program (see Note 2 — “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Stock-Based Compensation”) and fees paid to external brokerages for client referrals, which are recognized and paid upon the closing of a real estate transaction. The Company also charges resource fees to affiliated agents. These fees are either transaction based, where amounts are collected at the closing of a brokerage transaction, or in the form of periodic fixed fees over a defined period of time. Fees charged to affiliated agents are recognized as a reduction to Commissions and other related expense as the reimbursements do not constitute a form of revenue nor do they constitute a reimbursement for a specific, incremental, identifiable cost for the Company. |
Sales and Marketing | Sales and Marketing Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of marketing and advertising expenses, compensation and other personnel-related costs for employees supporting sales, marketing, expansion and related functions, occupancy-related costs for the Company’s regional offices, agent acquisition incentives and costs related to administering the Compass Concierge Program, including associated bad debt expenses. Advertising expense primarily includes the cost of marketing activities such as print advertising, online advertising and promotional items, which are expensed as incurred. Advertising costs were $118.1 million, $101.1 million and $103.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 202 0 |
Operations and Support | Operations and Support Operations and support expenses include compensation and other personnel related expenses for employees supporting agents, third-party consulting and professional services costs, fair value adjustments to contingent consideration for the Company’s acquisitions and other related expenses. |
Research and Development | Research and Development Research and development expense consists primarily of compensation and other personnel-related costs for employees in the product, engineering and technology functions, website hosting expenses, software licenses and equipment, third-party consulting costs, data licenses and other related expenses. |
General and Administrative | General and Administrative General and administrative expense primarily consists of compensation costs for executive management and administrative employees, including finance and accounting, legal, human resources and communications, the occupancy costs for the Company’s New York headquarters and other offices supporting administrative functions, professional services fees, insurance expenses and talent acquisition expenses. |
Depreciation and Amortization | Depreciation and Amortization Depreciation and amortization expense primarily consists of depreciation and amortization of the Company’s property and equipment, capitalized software and acquired intangible assets. |
Interest Expense | Interest Expense Interest expense consists primarily of expense related to the interest, commitment fees and amortization of debt issuance costs associated with the Company’s revolving credit facility and concierge credit facility. See Note 9 — “Debt.” |
Income Taxes | Income Taxes The Company utilizes the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to settle. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities resulting from a change in tax rates is recognized as income or expense in the period that includes the enactment date. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are classified as non-current in (“ASU”) No. 2015-17. Valuation The Company recognizes tax benefits from uncertain tax positions only if the Company believes that it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities based on the technical merits of the position. The Company continuously reviews issues raised in connection with ongoing examinations and open tax years to evaluate the adequacy of its tax liabilities. The Company’s policy is to adjust these reserves when facts and circumstances change, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will affect the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made and could have a material impact on its financial condition and operating results. The provision for income taxes includes the effects of any reserves that management identifies. |
Fair Value Measurements | Fair Value Measurements Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or an exit price paid to transfer a liability in the principal or most advantageous market for an asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The accounting standards also establish a fair value hierarchy, which requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs when measuring fair value. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value: Level 1 Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable, unadjusted quoted prices in markets that are not active, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data. Level 3 Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity, requiring the Company to develop its own assumptions. The carrying amount of the Company’s financial instruments including Cash and cash equivalents, Accounts receivable, Compass Concierge receivables, Accounts payable and Commissions payable approximate their respective fair values because of their short maturities. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the carrying amount of the Company’s debt facilities approximates fair value as the stated interest rate approximates market rates currently available to the Company. See Note 5 — “Fair Value of Financial Assets and Liabilities,” for more information on the fair value of financial assets and liabilities. |
Stock-Based Compensation | Stock-Based Compensation The Company measures compensation expense for all stock-based awards based on the estimated fair value of the awards on the date of grant. Compensation expense is generally recognized as expense on a straight-line basis over the service period based on the vesting requirements. The Company recognizes forfeitures as they occur. For stock options, which the Company issues to employees and affiliated agents, the Company generally estimates the fair value using the Black- Scholes option pricing model, which requires the input of subjective assumptions, including (1) the fair value of common stock, (2) the expected stock price volatility, (3) the expected term of the award, (4) the risk-free interest rate and (5) expected dividends. The Company also issues RSUs to employees and affiliated agents. In addition to the issuance of RSUs to agents as equity compensation for the provision of services, the Company offers RSUs to affiliated agents through its Agent Equity Program. The Agent Equity Program offers affiliated agents the ability to elect to have a portion of their commissions earned during a calendar year to be paid in the form of RSUs. RSUs issued in connection with the Agent Equity Program are granted at the beginning of the year following the calendar year in which the commissions were earned and are subject to the terms and conditions of the 2012 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, as applicable. The Company’s RSUs granted prior to December 2020 generally vest based upon the satisfaction of both a service-based condition and a liquidity event-based condition. The service-based vesting condition for these awards is generally satisfied over four years, except for the RSUs associated with the 2020 Agent Equity Program which vested immediately on the date of issuance. The liquidity event-based vesting condition is satisfied on the occurrence of a qualifying event, generally defined as a change in control or the effective date of the registration statement for the Company’s IPO. The fair value of these RSUs is measured based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date and will begin to be recognized as expense when both the required service-based vesting condition and the liquidity event-based vesting condition has been achieved using the accelerated attribution method. The liquidity event-based vesting requirement was met on March 31, 2021, the effective date of the Company’s registration statement, see Note 1—“ Business—Initial Public Offering.” Beginning in December 2020, the Company began issuing RSUs that vest upon the satisfaction of only a service-based vesting condition that is generally ranging from four For RSUs to be granted in connection with the 2021 Agent Equity Program, the Company determines the value of the stock-based compensation expense at the time the underlying commission is earned and begins to recognize the associated expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service periods beginning on the closing date of the underlying real estate commission transactions. The stock-based compensation expense is recorded as a liability and will be reclassified to additional paid-in On a limited basis, the Company has issued stock options and RSUs that contain service, performance and market-based vesting conditions that include stock price targets to be met after the listing of the Company’s stock on a public exchange. Such awards are valued using a Monte Carlo simulation and the underlying expense will be recognized as the associated vesting conditions are met. |
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements | Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326) which In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework — Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-15, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force) obtain internal-use software an internal-use software In November 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-08, Compensation — Stock Compensation (Topic 718) and Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Codification Improvements — Share-Based Consideration Payable to a Customer Compensation — Stock Compensation In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes Income Taxes a step-up in |
New Accounting Pronouncements | New Accounting Pronouncements In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting In October 2021, the FASB issued ASU 2021-08, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers. |