| Investments in available-for-sale securities and other cost investments |
(8) Investments in Available-for-Sale Securities and Other Cost Investments
All marketable equity and debt securities held by the Company are classified as AFS and are carried at fair value generally based on quoted market prices. GAAP permits entities to choose to measure many financial instruments, such as AFS securities, and certain other items at fair value and to recognize the changes in fair value of such instruments in the entity's statements of operations (the "fair value option"). Liberty has elected the fair value option for those of its AFS securities which it considers to be non-strategic ("Fair Value Option Securities"). Accordingly, changes in the fair value of Fair Value Option Securities, as determined by quoted market prices, are reported in realized and unrealized gains (losses) on financial instruments in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.
Investments in AFS securities, the majority of which are considered Fair Value Option Securities and other cost investments, are summarized as follows:
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December 31,
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December 31,
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2016
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2015
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amounts in millions
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QVC Group
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Other investments
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$
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4
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4
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Total attributed QVC Group
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4
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4
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Ventures Group
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Charter (1)
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1,543
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NA
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Interval (2)
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302
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NA
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Time Warner (3)
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1
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284
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TWC (1)
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NA
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994
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Other investments
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72
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71
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Total attributed Ventures Group
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1,918
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1,349
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Consolidated Liberty
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$
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1,922
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1,353
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(1)
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As discussed in note 2, in connection with the merger of Legacy Charter and TWC, Liberty exchanged, in a tax-free transaction, its shares of TWC common stock for shares of Charter Class A common stock, on a one-for-one basis, and Liberty has granted to Liberty Broadband a proxy and a right of first refusal with respect to the shares of Charter Class A common stock held by Liberty after the exchange.
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(2)
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On May 12, 2016, Interval completed an acquisition which was accomplished, in part, through the issuance of additional Interval shares. As a result of the share issuance, Liberty’s ownership interest in Interval was reduced from 28.7% to 12.8%. Prior to the transaction, Interval was accounted for as an equity method investment. As a result of the transaction, Liberty does not have ability to exercise significant influence. Accordingly, Interval is classified as available-for-sale and is carried at fair value. The Company recognized a dilution gain of $65 million related to Interval that is reflected in the Other, net line item in the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2016.
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(3)
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During the year ended December 31, 2016, Liberty sold approximately 4 million shares of Time Warner common stock for proceeds of $343 million.
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