Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

7. Income Taxes

The benefit from / (provision for) income taxes decreased $19.3 million in the first quarter of 2012. The decrease was attributable to the decrease in pre-tax income of $121.4 million in the first quarter of 2012, which was primarily driven by higher stock-based expense. The income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2011 was impacted by non-deductible stock-based expense and the costs of implementing our international structure.

For the foreseeable future, our effective tax rate will be impacted by additional tax expense associated with the implementation of our international tax structure and the deductibility of stock-based expense. As the implementation of our international tax structure is completed, we anticipate that our effective tax rate will be lower than the U.S. statutory rate.