Equity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Equity [Abstract]

Equity

11. Equity

Special Dividend and Special Distribution

On March 28, 2012, our Board of Directors declared a special dividend of $13.60 per share for an aggregate dividend of $417.6 million. The dividend was paid on April 20, 2012 to holders of record of Loral voting and non-voting common stock as of April 10, 2012.

In accordance with Loral’s stock incentive plan, an equitable adjustment was made to outstanding stock-based awards to reflect the special dividend. As a result, options outstanding increased by 19,058 and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) increased by 6,875.  Certain RSU holders, who elected to receive the dividend at the $13.60 per share value, will receive additional payments totaling $2.5 million on their RSU settlement dates primarily in June 2013.

On November 7, 2012, in connection with the receipt of the proceeds from the Sale, our Board of Directors declared a special distribution of $29.00 per share for an aggregate distribution of $892.1 million. The special distribution was paid on December 4, 2012to holders of record of Loral voting and non-voting common stock as of November 19, 2012. In accordance with Loral’s stock incentive plan, an equitable adjustment was made to outstanding stock-based awards to reflect the special distribution. This equitable adjustment had no effect on our consolidated financial statements. Certain RSU holders who elected to receive the special distribution at the $29.00 per share value will receive additional payments totaling $5.3 million on their RSU settlement dates, primarily in June 2013.

 Treasury Stock

In November 2011, our Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to 800,000 shares of our voting common stock. These purchases may be made from time to time in the open market or private transactions, as conditions may warrant. We intend to hold repurchased shares of our voting common stock in treasury. We account for the treasury shares using the cost method. The following is a summary of common stock purchases under this repurchase program (total cost in thousands):

	Shares Repurchased	Total Cost		Average Cost
Year ended December 31,
2012	18,000	$	1,192	$	66.22
2011	136,494		8,400		61.54
Total program	154,494	$	9,592	$	62.04