· peter tcherepnine officially joined gamco from loeb partners corporation and the assets were reflected in our aum as of june 30 , 2019 . · gamco hosted a conference on rule 852 ( b ) ( 6 ) , the dynamics and implications for the fund industry on july 11 , 2019. industry participants and members from the academic community covered a number of topics including “ heartbeat trades ” and innovations in the active etf market . · dennis j. decore was named managing director of gabelli fund 's etf business on august 29 , 2019. gabelli funds is a licensee of the precidian investments activeshares , the first non-transparent , actively-managed etf . · as of the november 15 , 2019 record date for the shareholder-designated charitable contribution ( “ sdcc ” ) program , approximately 82 % of all shares were registered and eligible to designate a total of $ 4.5 million in contributions ( $ 0.20 per share ) to be paid in 2020 . · our 43 rd annual automotive symposium took place on november 4 , 2019 in las vegas , nevada . the meeting featured presentations by senior management of several leading automotive companies with an emphasis on industry dynamics , technical innovation , ev , and macroeconomic trends . · the gabelli dividend & income trust ( nyse : gdv ) successfully completed its first transferable rights offering on november 18 , 2019. gdv issued 8.2 million common shares for gross proceeds of $ 165 million . · gabelli funds and columbia business school 's healthcare and pharmaceutical management program co-hosted a symposium at the paley center for media entitled healthcare at a crossroads : what 's the path forward ? on november 22 , 2019. the symposium topics included the impact of the 2020 election on healthcare access and coverage , drug pricing , and leveraging data and technology to transform care . · the gabelli equity trust inc. ( nyse : gab ) completed a $ 100 million offering of 5.00 % series k cumulative preferred stock on december 16 , 2019. the series k preferred is perpetual , non-callable for five years , and was issued with a liquidation preference of $ 25 per share . · the gabelli multimedia trust inc. ( nyse : ggt ) successfully completed the issuance of $ 50 million of series g cumulative preferred stock on december 20 , 2019. the series g preferred is perpetual , non-callable for five years , and was issued with a liquidation preference of $ 25 per share . past and future - giving back to society generating returns for our stakeholders is not the sole gauge we use in measuring our success . since the inception of gamco 's sdcc program in 2013 , shareholders have designated contributions of approximately $ 27 million to over 150 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) initiatives . as a result of the board of directors most recent sdcc approval , $ 4.5 million was designated by shareholders to 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) organizations in november 2019. this program underscores our commitment to managing socially responsible portfolios since 1987 , which has evolved to include integrating environmental , social , and governance ( esg ) factors into the analysis of companies and the structuring of portfolios . since our initial public offering ( “ ipo ” ) in february 1999 , approximately $ 57 million will have been donated to charities by us , including the current year 's sdcc . 24 shareholder compensation and initiatives during 2019 , we returned $ 39.6 million of our earnings to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases . we returned to shareholders a total of $ 0.08 per share in regular quarterly cash dividends in 2019 totaling $ 2.2 million . during 2018 , we returned $ 12.9 million of our earnings to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases . we returned to shareholders a total of $ 0.08 per share in regular quarterly cash dividends in 2018 totaling $ 2.3 million . through our stock buyback program ( the “ stock repurchase program ” ) , including routine open market purchases under rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 of the securities exchange act of 1934 , as amended and opportunistic private transactions , we repurchased 1,834,434 shares and 419,995 shares in 2019 and 2018 , respectively , for approximately $ 37.4 million and $ 10.6 million , respectively , or $ 20.36 per share and $ 25.25 per share , respectively . at december 31 , 2019 , the total shares available under the stock repurchase program to be repurchased in the future were 1,243,135. the stock repurchase program is not subject to an expiration date . assets under management aum was $ 36.5 billion as of december 31 , 2019 , an increase of $ 2.1 billion , or 6.1 % , from the december 31 , 2018 aum of $ 34.4 billion . the activity for 2019 consisted of $ 6.3 billion of market appreciation , net cash outflows of $ 3.5 billion and recurring distributions , net of reinvestments , from open-end and closed-end funds ( the “ funds ” ) of $ 616 million . average total aum was $ 36.4 billion in 2019 versus $ 40.3 billion in 2018 , a decrease of 9.7 % . we earn incentive fees for certain institutional client assets , assets attributable to certain preferred issues for our closed-end funds , our gdl fund ( nyse : gdl ) , the gabelli merger plus + trust plc ( lse : gmp ) , and the gamco merger arbitrage fund . story_separator_special_tag in the first six months of 2017 , the ratable vesting continued for the 2016 compensation , and the new first half 2017 dcca grant resulted in compensation for the first six months of 2017 being deferred and expense being recorded for 33 % vesting in that period . the ceo 's third quarter 2017 compensation was not deferred so 100 % of the ceo 's compensation for that period was recorded together with the ratable portions of the vesting of the 2016 dcca and the first half 2017 dcca . this resulted in a compounding effect in periods when non-deferred current period compensation was incurred and prior period deferred compensation was ratably vested . on may 23 , 2018 , the ceo waived receipt of $ 6 million of the first half 2017 dcca and a reduction in expense was recognized in 2018. on july 2 , 2018 , the first half 2017 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment in the amount of $ 28.3 million was made to the ceo . this payment was after the waiver of $ 6.0 million by the ceo and a reduction of $ 2.6 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 27.1837 ) versus the original vwap over the first half of 2017 ( $ 29.6596 ) . on april 1 , 2019 , the fourth quarter 2017 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment in the amount of $ 11.0 million was made to the ceo . this payment was reduced by $ 4.5 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 20.7916 ) versus the original vwap over the fourth quarter of 2017 ( $ 29.1875 ) . subsequent to december 31 , 2019 , on january 2 , 2020 , the 2016 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment of $ 43.7 million was made to the ceo . this payment was reduced by $ 32.3 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 18.8812 ) versus the original vwap over 2016 ( $ 32.8187 ) . accordingly , this vesting schedule resulted in an $ 18.4 million increase in compensation expense in 2019 versus 2018 as well as a $ 2.7 million decrease in management fee expense in 2019 as compared to 2018 . 30 the following tables show the amortization and earnings per share ( “ eps ” ) impact , inclusive of the indexing to the gbl stock price , of the dccas by quarter ( in thousands , except per share data ) : replace_table_token_9_th the following tables ( in thousands , except per share data ) show a reconciliation of our results for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 between the u.s. gaap basis and a non-gaap adjusted basis ( “ as adjusted ” ) as if all of the 2016 dcca was recognized in 2016 and the first half 2017 dcca and the fourth quarter 2017 dcca expense was recognized in 2017 without regard to the vesting schedule . we believe the non-gaap financial measures below provide relevant and meaningful information to investors about our core operating results . these measures have been established in order to increase transparency for the purpose of evaluating our core business , for comparing results with prior period results , and to enable more appropriate comparisons with industry peers . however , non-gaap financial measures should not be considered a substitute for financial measures calculated in accordance with u.s. gaap and may be calculated differently by other companies . replace_table_token_10_th 31 story_separator_special_tag serif ; font-size : 10pt ; font-weight : bold ; `` > contractual obligations we are obligated to make future payments under various contracts such as debt agreements and finance and operating lease agreements . the following table sets forth our significant contractual cash obligations as of december 31 , 2019 ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_12_th the finance lease contains an escalation clause tied to the change in the new york metropolitan area consumer price index which may cause the future minimum payments for finance lease obligations to exceed $ 1,080,000 annually . any increases to the base rental will be accounted for prospectively . off-balance sheet arrangements we do not invest in any other off-balance sheet vehicles that provide financing , liquidity , market , or credit risk support or engage in any leasing activities that expose us to any liability that is not reflected on the consolidated financial statements . 33 critical accounting policies the preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with u.s. gaap requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods presented . we base our estimates on historical experience , when available , and on other various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances . actual results could differ significantly from those estimates . the critical accounting policies should be read in connection with our “ risk factors ” in part i , item 1a of this form 10-k. major revenue-generating services and revenue recognition the company 's revenues are derived primarily from investment advisory and incentive fees and distribution fees . investment advisory and incentive fees are directly influenced by the level and mix of aum , as fees are derived from a contractually-determined percentage of aum for each account as well as incentive fees earned on certain accounts . advisory fees from the funds

liquidity and capital resources our principal assets are highly liquid in nature and consist of cash and cash equivalents , short-term investments , and securities held for investment purposes . cash and cash equivalents are comprised primarily of a 100 % u.s. treasury money market fund managed by gamco ( the gabelli u.s. treasury money market fund ) . summary cash flow data for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 was as follows ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_11_th cash and liquidity requirements have historically been met through cash generated by operating income and our borrowing capacity . we filed a “ shelf ” registration statement with the securities and exchange commission ( “ sec ” ) that was declared effective in april 2018. the shelf provides us opportunistic flexibility to sell any combination of senior and subordinate debt securities , convertible debt securities , equity securities ( including common and preferred stock ) , and other securities up to a total amount of $ 500 million . the shelf is available through april 2021 , at which time it may be renewed . on february 23 , 2018 , the company announced that its ceo elected to irrevocably waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from march 1 , 2018 through december 31 , 2018. on december 26 , 2018 , the company announced that the ceo elected to continue to waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from january 1 , 2019 to march 31 , 2019. on august 27 , 2019 , the ceo elected to irrevocably waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from september 1 , 2019 to november 30 , 2019. as a result of these waivers , there was $ 27.2 million and $ 56.5 million of compensation and management fee waived by the ceo for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```liquidity and capital resources our principal assets are highly liquid in nature and consist of cash and cash equivalents , short-term investments , and securities held for investment purposes . cash and cash equivalents are comprised primarily of a 100 % u.s. treasury money market fund managed by gamco ( the gabelli u.s. treasury money market fund ) . summary cash flow data for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 was as follows ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_11_th cash and liquidity requirements have historically been met through cash generated by operating income and our borrowing capacity . we filed a “ shelf ” registration statement with the securities and exchange commission ( “ sec ” ) that was declared effective in april 2018. the shelf provides us opportunistic flexibility to sell any combination of senior and subordinate debt securities , convertible debt securities , equity securities ( including common and preferred stock ) , and other securities up to a total amount of $ 500 million . the shelf is available through april 2021 , at which time it may be renewed . on february 23 , 2018 , the company announced that its ceo elected to irrevocably waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from march 1 , 2018 through december 31 , 2018. on december 26 , 2018 , the company announced that the ceo elected to continue to waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from january 1 , 2019 to march 31 , 2019. on august 27 , 2019 , the ceo elected to irrevocably waive all of his compensation that he would otherwise have been entitled to for the period from september 1 , 2019 to november 30 , 2019. as a result of these waivers , there was $ 27.2 million and $ 56.5 million of compensation and management fee waived by the ceo for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : · peter tcherepnine officially joined gamco from loeb partners corporation and the assets were reflected in our aum as of june 30 , 2019 . · gamco hosted a conference on rule 852 ( b ) ( 6 ) , the dynamics and implications for the fund industry on july 11 , 2019. industry participants and members from the academic community covered a number of topics including “ heartbeat trades ” and innovations in the active etf market . · dennis j. decore was named managing director of gabelli fund 's etf business on august 29 , 2019. gabelli funds is a licensee of the precidian investments activeshares , the first non-transparent , actively-managed etf . · as of the november 15 , 2019 record date for the shareholder-designated charitable contribution ( “ sdcc ” ) program , approximately 82 % of all shares were registered and eligible to designate a total of $ 4.5 million in contributions ( $ 0.20 per share ) to be paid in 2020 . · our 43 rd annual automotive symposium took place on november 4 , 2019 in las vegas , nevada . the meeting featured presentations by senior management of several leading automotive companies with an emphasis on industry dynamics , technical innovation , ev , and macroeconomic trends . · the gabelli dividend & income trust ( nyse : gdv ) successfully completed its first transferable rights offering on november 18 , 2019. gdv issued 8.2 million common shares for gross proceeds of $ 165 million . · gabelli funds and columbia business school 's healthcare and pharmaceutical management program co-hosted a symposium at the paley center for media entitled healthcare at a crossroads : what 's the path forward ? on november 22 , 2019. the symposium topics included the impact of the 2020 election on healthcare access and coverage , drug pricing , and leveraging data and technology to transform care . · the gabelli equity trust inc. ( nyse : gab ) completed a $ 100 million offering of 5.00 % series k cumulative preferred stock on december 16 , 2019. the series k preferred is perpetual , non-callable for five years , and was issued with a liquidation preference of $ 25 per share . · the gabelli multimedia trust inc. ( nyse : ggt ) successfully completed the issuance of $ 50 million of series g cumulative preferred stock on december 20 , 2019. the series g preferred is perpetual , non-callable for five years , and was issued with a liquidation preference of $ 25 per share . past and future - giving back to society generating returns for our stakeholders is not the sole gauge we use in measuring our success . since the inception of gamco 's sdcc program in 2013 , shareholders have designated contributions of approximately $ 27 million to over 150 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) initiatives . as a result of the board of directors most recent sdcc approval , $ 4.5 million was designated by shareholders to 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) organizations in november 2019. this program underscores our commitment to managing socially responsible portfolios since 1987 , which has evolved to include integrating environmental , social , and governance ( esg ) factors into the analysis of companies and the structuring of portfolios . since our initial public offering ( “ ipo ” ) in february 1999 , approximately $ 57 million will have been donated to charities by us , including the current year 's sdcc . 24 shareholder compensation and initiatives during 2019 , we returned $ 39.6 million of our earnings to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases . we returned to shareholders a total of $ 0.08 per share in regular quarterly cash dividends in 2019 totaling $ 2.2 million . during 2018 , we returned $ 12.9 million of our earnings to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases . we returned to shareholders a total of $ 0.08 per share in regular quarterly cash dividends in 2018 totaling $ 2.3 million . through our stock buyback program ( the “ stock repurchase program ” ) , including routine open market purchases under rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 of the securities exchange act of 1934 , as amended and opportunistic private transactions , we repurchased 1,834,434 shares and 419,995 shares in 2019 and 2018 , respectively , for approximately $ 37.4 million and $ 10.6 million , respectively , or $ 20.36 per share and $ 25.25 per share , respectively . at december 31 , 2019 , the total shares available under the stock repurchase program to be repurchased in the future were 1,243,135. the stock repurchase program is not subject to an expiration date . assets under management aum was $ 36.5 billion as of december 31 , 2019 , an increase of $ 2.1 billion , or 6.1 % , from the december 31 , 2018 aum of $ 34.4 billion . the activity for 2019 consisted of $ 6.3 billion of market appreciation , net cash outflows of $ 3.5 billion and recurring distributions , net of reinvestments , from open-end and closed-end funds ( the “ funds ” ) of $ 616 million . average total aum was $ 36.4 billion in 2019 versus $ 40.3 billion in 2018 , a decrease of 9.7 % . we earn incentive fees for certain institutional client assets , assets attributable to certain preferred issues for our closed-end funds , our gdl fund ( nyse : gdl ) , the gabelli merger plus + trust plc ( lse : gmp ) , and the gamco merger arbitrage fund . story_separator_special_tag in the first six months of 2017 , the ratable vesting continued for the 2016 compensation , and the new first half 2017 dcca grant resulted in compensation for the first six months of 2017 being deferred and expense being recorded for 33 % vesting in that period . the ceo 's third quarter 2017 compensation was not deferred so 100 % of the ceo 's compensation for that period was recorded together with the ratable portions of the vesting of the 2016 dcca and the first half 2017 dcca . this resulted in a compounding effect in periods when non-deferred current period compensation was incurred and prior period deferred compensation was ratably vested . on may 23 , 2018 , the ceo waived receipt of $ 6 million of the first half 2017 dcca and a reduction in expense was recognized in 2018. on july 2 , 2018 , the first half 2017 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment in the amount of $ 28.3 million was made to the ceo . this payment was after the waiver of $ 6.0 million by the ceo and a reduction of $ 2.6 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 27.1837 ) versus the original vwap over the first half of 2017 ( $ 29.6596 ) . on april 1 , 2019 , the fourth quarter 2017 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment in the amount of $ 11.0 million was made to the ceo . this payment was reduced by $ 4.5 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 20.7916 ) versus the original vwap over the fourth quarter of 2017 ( $ 29.1875 ) . subsequent to december 31 , 2019 , on january 2 , 2020 , the 2016 dcca vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement and a cash payment of $ 43.7 million was made to the ceo . this payment was reduced by $ 32.3 million resulting from the dcca rsus being indexed to gbl 's stock price and utilizing the lesser of the vesting date vwap ( $ 18.8812 ) versus the original vwap over 2016 ( $ 32.8187 ) . accordingly , this vesting schedule resulted in an $ 18.4 million increase in compensation expense in 2019 versus 2018 as well as a $ 2.7 million decrease in management fee expense in 2019 as compared to 2018 . 30 the following tables show the amortization and earnings per share ( “ eps ” ) impact , inclusive of the indexing to the gbl stock price , of the dccas by quarter ( in thousands , except per share data ) : replace_table_token_9_th the following tables ( in thousands , except per share data ) show a reconciliation of our results for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 between the u.s. gaap basis and a non-gaap adjusted basis ( “ as adjusted ” ) as if all of the 2016 dcca was recognized in 2016 and the first half 2017 dcca and the fourth quarter 2017 dcca expense was recognized in 2017 without regard to the vesting schedule . we believe the non-gaap financial measures below provide relevant and meaningful information to investors about our core operating results . these measures have been established in order to increase transparency for the purpose of evaluating our core business , for comparing results with prior period results , and to enable more appropriate comparisons with industry peers . however , non-gaap financial measures should not be considered a substitute for financial measures calculated in accordance with u.s. gaap and may be calculated differently by other companies . replace_table_token_10_th 31 story_separator_special_tag serif ; font-size : 10pt ; font-weight : bold ; `` > contractual obligations we are obligated to make future payments under various contracts such as debt agreements and finance and operating lease agreements . the following table sets forth our significant contractual cash obligations as of december 31 , 2019 ( in thousands ) : replace_table_token_12_th the finance lease contains an escalation clause tied to the change in the new york metropolitan area consumer price index which may cause the future minimum payments for finance lease obligations to exceed $ 1,080,000 annually . any increases to the base rental will be accounted for prospectively . off-balance sheet arrangements we do not invest in any other off-balance sheet vehicles that provide financing , liquidity , market , or credit risk support or engage in any leasing activities that expose us to any liability that is not reflected on the consolidated financial statements . 33 critical accounting policies the preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with u.s. gaap requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods presented . we base our estimates on historical experience , when available , and on other various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances . actual results could differ significantly from those estimates . the critical accounting policies should be read in connection with our “ risk factors ” in part i , item 1a of this form 10-k. major revenue-generating services and revenue recognition the company 's revenues are derived primarily from investment advisory and incentive fees and distribution fees . investment advisory and incentive fees are directly influenced by the level and mix of aum , as fees are derived from a contractually-determined percentage of aum for each account as well as incentive fees earned on certain accounts . advisory fees from the funds

