Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Assets And Liabilities Measured At Fair Value

v2.4.0.8
Assets And Liabilities Measured At Fair Value
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]  
Assets And Liabilities Measured At Fair Value

(4)   Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value

For assets and liabilities required to be reported at fair value, GAAP provides a hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. Level 1 inputs are quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date. Level 2 inputs are inputs, other than quoted market prices included within Level 1, that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.  Liberty does not have any assets or liabilities required to be measured at fair value considered to be Level 3.

Liberty's assets and liabilities measured at fair value are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair Value Measurements at

 

Fair Value Measurements at

 

 

 

September 30, 2014

 

December 31, 2013

 

 

    

 

 

    

Quoted

    

 

    

 

    

Quoted

    

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

prices

 

 

 

 

 

prices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in active

 

Significant

 

 

 

in active

 

Significant

 

 

 

 

 

 

markets

 

other

 

 

 

markets

 

other

 

 

 

 

 

 

for identical

 

observable

 

 

 

for identical

 

observable

 

 

 

 

 

 

assets

 

inputs

 

 

 

assets

 

inputs

 

Description

 

Total

 

(Level 1)

 

(Level 2)

 

Total

 

(Level 1)

 

(Level 2)

 

 

 

amounts in millions

 

Cash equivalents

 

$

244 

 

214 

 

30 

 

859 

 

859 

 

 —

 

Short term marketable securities

 

$

296 

 

 —

 

296 

 

15 

 

15 

 

 —

 

Available-for-sale securities

 

$

1,062 

 

987 

 

75 

 

1,293 

 

978 

 

315 

 

Financial instrument assets

 

$

330 

 

31 

 

299 

 

397 

 

 —

 

397 

 

Debt

 

$

983 

 

 —

 

983 

 

1,002 

 

 —

 

1,002 

 

 

The majority of Liberty's Level 2 financial assets are primarily investments in debt related instruments and certain derivative instruments. The Company notes that these assets are not always traded publicly or not considered to be traded on "active markets," as defined in GAAP.  The fair values for such instruments are derived from a typical model using observable market data as the significant inputs.  Accordingly, those available-for-sale securities and debt related instruments are reported in the foregoing table as Level 2 fair value.

Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses) on Financial Instruments

Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on financial instruments are comprised of changes in the fair value of the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three months ended 

 

Nine months ended

 

 

 

September 30,

 

September 30,

 

 

    

2014

    

2013

    

2014

    

2013

 

 

 

amounts in millions

 

Fair Value Option Securities

 

$

(30)

 

53 

 

33 

 

189 

 

Cash convertible notes (a)

 

 

41 

 

 —

 

18 

 

 —

 

Other derivatives (b)

 

 

(26)

 

11 

 

(106)

 

33 

 

 

 

$

(15)

 

64 

 

(55)

 

222 

 

 


(a)

Liberty issued $1 billion of cash convertible notes in October 2013 which are accounted for at fair value (Level 2), as elected by Liberty at the issuance of the notes.

(b)

Derivatives, including the Charter warrants (as discussed in note 6) and the bond hedge (as discussed in note 8), are marked to market based on the trading price of underlying securities and other observable market data as the significant inputs (Level 2).