Company: ACTG
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000934549-25-000004
Chunk: 28

Company: ACACIA RESEARCH CORP
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 28
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 patents. In 2020, we acquired five new patent portfolios consisting of (i) flash memory technology, (ii) voice activation and control technology, (iii) wireless networks, (iv) internet search, advertising and cloud computing technology and (v) GPS navigation. The patents and patent rights acquired in 2021 and 2020 have estimated economic useful lives of approximately five years.

We have established a proven track record of licensing and enforcement success with over 1,600 license agreements executed as of December 31, 2024, across nearly 200 patent portfolio licensing and enforcement programs. As of December 31, 2024, we have generated gross licensing revenue of approximately $1.9 billion, and have returned $881.0 million to our patent partners. During the past five calendar years ending on December 31, 2024, we generated gross licensing revenue of approximately $234.0 million and returned approximately $91.2 million to our patent partners.

As attractive opportunities become available, we remain open to opportunistically deploying additional capital into the IP business in the future, consistent with our mission to maximize value for shareholders. Our team is made up of well-respected leaders in the IP space, and intellectual property owners actively seek us out as a partner.

Refer to Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information concerning our Patent Licensing, Enforcement and Technologies business.

Energy Operations Business

Our Energy Operations Business consists of the Company’s approximately 73.5% interest in Benchmark Energy II, LLC (“Benchmark”). Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Benchmark is an independent oil and gas company focused on the acquisition, production and development of operated and non-operated oil and natural gas assets in Texas and Oklahoma. Benchmark is run by an experienced management team led by Chief Executive Officer Kirk Goehring and seeks to acquire predictable and shallow decline, cash-flowing oil and gas properties whose value can be enhanced via a disciplined, field optimization strategy, with risk managed through robust commodity hedges and low leverage. Through its investment in Benchmark, the Company, along with the Benchmark management team, will evaluate future growth and acquisitions of oil and gas assets at attractive valuations.

Benchmark’s current position is concentrated in the Anadarko Basin region of Western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. As of December 31, 2024, Benchmark’s operated assets consisted of 551 gross (472 net) operated wells, and its non-operated assets consisted of an average working interest