Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

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Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Business Description and Accounting Policies [Text Block]
1. Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Description of Business
MaxLinear, Inc. (the Company) was incorporated in Delaware in September 2003. The Company is a provider of integrated, radio-frequency and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband communication applications whose customers include module makers, original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, and original design manufacturers, or ODMs, who incorporate the Company’s products in a wide range of electronic devices including cable and terrestrial and satellite set top boxes, DOCSIS data and voice gateways, and hybrid analog and digital televisions. The Company is a fabless semiconductor company focusing its resources on the design, sales and marketing of its products.
Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation
The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of MaxLinear, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and investments have been eliminated in consolidation.
The functional currency of certain foreign subsidiaries is the local currency. Accordingly, assets and liabilities of these foreign subsidiaries are translated at the current exchange rate at the balance sheet date and historical rates for equity. Revenue and expense components are translated at weighted average exchange rates in effect during the period. Gains and losses resulting from foreign currency translation are included as a component of stockholders’ equity. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses are included in the results of operations and, to date, have not been significant.
The Company has prepared the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and disclosures required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments, considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2013 included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on February 6, 2014.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of unaudited consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the unaudited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes of the unaudited consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is generated from sales of the Company’s integrated circuits. The Company recognizes revenue when all of the following criteria are met: 1) there is persuasive evidence that an arrangement exists, 2) delivery of goods has occurred, 3) the sales price is fixed or determinable and 4) collectability is reasonably assured. Title to product transfers to customers either when it is shipped to or received by the customer, based on the terms of the specific agreement with the customer.
Revenue is recorded based on the facts at the time of sale. Transactions for which the Company cannot reliably estimate the amount that will ultimately be collected at the time the product has shipped and title has transferred to the customer are deferred until the amount that is probable of collection can be determined. Items that are considered when determining the amounts that will be ultimately collected are: a customer’s overall creditworthiness and payment history; customer rights to return unsold product; customer rights to price protection; customer payment terms conditioned on sale or use of product by the customer; or extended payment terms granted to a customer.
A portion of the Company’s revenues are generated from sales made through distributors under agreements allowing for pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights of return. Revenues from the Company’s distributors accounted for 29% of net revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2014. Revenues from the Company’s distributors accounted for 28% of net revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Pricing credits to the Company’s distributors may result from its price protection and unit rebate provisions, among other factors. These pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights prevent the Company from being able to reliably estimate the final sales price of the inventory sold and the amount of inventory that could be returned pursuant to these agreements. As a result, for sales through distributors, the Company has determined that it does not meet all of the required revenue recognition criteria at the time it delivers its products to distributors as the final sales price is not fixed or determinable.
For these distributor transactions, revenue is not recognized until product is shipped to the end customer and the amount that will ultimately be collected is fixed or determinable. Upon shipment of product to these distributors, title to the inventory transfers to the distributor and the distributor is invoiced, generally with 30 day terms. On shipments to the Company’s distributors where revenue is not recognized, the Company records a trade receivable for the selling price as there is a legally enforceable right to payment, relieving the inventory for the carrying value of goods shipped since legal title has passed to the distributor, and records the corresponding gross profit in the consolidated balance sheet as a component of deferred revenue and deferred profit, representing the difference between the receivable recorded and the cost of inventory shipped. Future pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights from the Company’s distributors may result in the realization of a different amount of profit included in the Company’s future consolidated statements of operations than the amount recorded as deferred profit in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.
The Company records reductions in revenue for estimated pricing adjustments related to price protection agreements with the Company’s end customers in the same period that the related revenue is recorded. Price protection pricing adjustments are recorded at the time of sale as a reduction to revenue and an increase in the Company’s accrued liabilities. The amount of these reductions is based on specific criteria included in the agreements and other factors known at the time. The Company accrues 100% of potential price protection adjustments at the time of sale and does not apply a breakage factor. The Company reverses the accrual for unclaimed price protection amounts as specific programs contractually end or when the Company believes unclaimed amounts are no longer subject to payment and will not be paid. See Note 4 for a summary of the Company's price protection activity.
Litigation and Settlement Costs
Legal costs are expensed as incurred. The Company is involved in disputes, litigation and other legal actions in the ordinary course of business. The Company continually evaluates uncertainties associated with litigation and records a charge equal to at least the minimum estimated liability for a loss contingency when both of the following conditions are met: (i) information available prior to issuance of the financial statements indicates that it is probable that an asset had been impaired or a liability had been incurred at the date of the financial statements and (ii) the loss or range of loss can be reasonably estimated.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Effective January 1, 2014, the Company adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board's amendments to guidance on the financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward exists. The amendments require entities to present an unrecognized tax benefit netted against certain deferred tax assets when specific requirements are met.