NOTE 3: REAL ESTATE SALES AND ASSETS HELD FOR SALE

Assets Held for Sale—Assets held for sale in the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets consisted of the following (in thousands):



	March 31, 2018		December 31, 2017
FCC licenses	$	—	$	38,900

Sales of Real Estate—In the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company sold two properties for net pretax proceeds totaling $44 million and recognized a net pretax gain of less than $1 million, as further described below. The Company defines net proceeds as pretax cash proceeds on the sale of properties, net of associated selling costs.

On January 26, 2017, the Company sold its Denver, CO property for net proceeds of $23 million, which approximated the carrying value, and entered into a lease for the property. On January 31, 2017, the Company sold one of its Chicago, IL properties for net proceeds of $22 million and entered into a lease with a term of 10 years, subject to renewal, retaining the use of more than a minor portion of the property. The Company recorded a deferred pretax gain of $13 million on the sale, which will be amortized over the life of the lease in accordance with sale-leaseback accounting guidance.

FCC Licenses—As of December 31, 2017, certain FCC licenses that were part of the FCC spectrum auction were included in assets held for sale. The gross proceeds received for these licenses in 2017 totaled $172 million and were reflected in current liabilities in the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2017. The Company recognized a net gain of $133 million in the first quarter of 2018 related to the surrender of the spectrum associated with these licenses in January 2018. See Note 8 for additional information regarding the Company’s participation in the FCC spectrum auction.