Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Investments In Available-For-Sale Securities And Other Cost Investments (Details)

v2.4.0.6
Investments In Available-For-Sale Securities And Other Cost Investments (Details) (USD $)
In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified
 1 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Jun. 30, 2011
Dec. 31, 2010
Jan. 31, 2011
Motorola Solutions [Member]
Jan. 31, 2011
Motorola Mobility [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Time Warner Inc [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Time Warner Inc [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Time Warner Cable Inc [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Time Warner Cable Inc [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Sprint [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Sprint [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Motorola Solutions [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Motorola Solutions [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Viacom, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Viacom, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Live Nation [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Live Nation [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Century Link, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Century Link, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Barnes & Noble, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Barnes & Noble, Inc. [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Priceline [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Priceline [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Other AFS Equity Securities [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Other AFS Equity Securities [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
SIRIUS XM Debt Securities [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
SIRIUS XM Debt Securities [Member]
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Other AFS Debt Securities [Member]
Dec. 31, 2010
Segment, Liberty Capital [Member]
Other AFS Debt Securities [Member]
Investments in available-for-sale securities $ 1,859   $ 4,550     $ 340 [1],[2] $ 1,101 [1],[2] $ 150 [1],[2] $ 567 [1],[2] $ 44 [1] $ 301 [1] $ 0 [1] $ 471 [1] $ 345 $ 301 $ 24 [3] $ 389 [3] $ 67 [1] $ 248 [1] $ 253 [4] $ 0 [4] $ 0 [1] $ 208 [1] $ 46 [1],[2] $ 176 [1],[2] $ 384 $ 384 $ 206 $ 404
Stock issued during period, stock splits (shares)         0.125                                                
Stock issued during period, stock reverse splits (shares)       0.1428571429                                                  
Subscription agreement, shares   5,500,000                                                      
[1] Includes shares previously pledged as collateral for share borrowing arrangements. These arrangements were settled in the fourth quarter of 2011 through the release of these shares, held as collateral, to the counterparty. See note 9 for additional discussion.
[2] As discussed in note 2, prior to the Split-Off, certain of these securities were reattributed from the Capital Group to the Interactive Group in the first quarter of 2011.
[3] During June 2011, Liberty acquired an additional 5.5 million shares of Live Nation which increased our ownership percentage above 20% of the outstanding voting shares. Due to the presumption that an entity with an ownership percentage greater than 20% has significant influence absent other factors to rebut that presumption, the Company is accounting for the investment as an equity method affiliate. The Company has elected to record its share of earnings (loss) for Live Nation on a three-month lag due to timeliness considerations. Increases in ownership which result in a change to the equity method of accounting generally require retroactive recognition of an investment's share of earnings (loss) in prior periods. Due to the relative insignificance of our share of losses for Live Nation in previous periods, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the Company has recorded such amounts in the current year. Approximately $12 million of the losses recorded for the year ended December 31, 2011 relate to the prior year.
[4] In August 2011, Liberty acquired 204,000 shares of preferred stock of Barnes & Noble, Inc., which is convertible into an approximate 17% common equity interest, for $204 million. The preferred stock pays dividends at a rate of 7.75% per annum. Liberty has elected to account for its investment in Barnes & Noble at fair value. Accordingly, changes in fair value of Barnes & Noble, Inc. preferred stock are reported in realized and unrealized gains (losses) on financial instruments in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations.