Note 15 - Shareholders' Equity

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

15.      Shareholders’ Equity

Fixed Rate Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A

On January 15, 2014, Corning designated a new series of its preferred stock as Fixed Rate Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A, par value $100 per share, and issued 2,300 shares of Preferred Stock at an issue price of $1 million per share, for an aggregate issue price of $2.3 billion.  The Preferred Stock is convertible at the option of the holder and the Company upon certain events, at a conversion rate of 50,000 shares of Corning’s common stock per one share of Preferred Stock, subject to certain anti-dilution provisions.  As of March 31, 2016, the Preferred Stock has not been converted, and none of the anti-dilution provisions have been triggered.

Share Repurchases

On July 15, 2015, Corning’s Board of Directors approved a $2 billion share repurchase program (the “July 2015 Repurchase Program”) and on October 26, 2015 the Board of Directors authorized an additional $4 billion share repurchase program (together with the July 2015 Repurchase Program, the “2015 Repurchase Program”).  The 2015 Repurchase Program permits Corning to effect repurchases from time to time through a combination of open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, advance repurchase agreements and/or other arrangements.

On October 28, 2015, Corning entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement (“ASR”) with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) to repurchase $1.25 billion of Corning’s common stock (the “2015 ASR agreement”).  The 2015 ASR agreement was executed under the July 2015 Repurchase Program.  On January 19, 2016, the 2015 ASR agreement was completed and Corning received an additional 15.9 million shares on January 22, 2016 to settle the 2015 ASR agreement.

In addition to the shares repurchased through the 2015 ASR agreement, during the three months ended March 31, 2016, we repurchased 39.8 million shares of common stock for $751 million as part of the 2015 Repurchase Program.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

In the first three months of 2016 and 2015, the primary changes in accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) were related to the foreign currency translation component.

A summary of changes in the foreign currency translation adjustment component of AOCI is as follows (in millions):

	Three months ended March 31,
	2016		2015
Beginning balance	$	(1,171)	$	(581)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		385		(174)
Equity method affiliates		43		(82)
Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)		428		(256)
Ending balance	$	(743)	$	(837)

There were no material tax effects related to foreign currency translation gains and losses.