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@VENTURES INVESTMENTS
6 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2013
@VENTURES INVESTMENTS

(17) @VENTURES INVESTMENTS

The Company maintains interests in several privately held companies primarily through its interests in two venture capital funds which invest as “@Ventures.” The Company invests in early stage technology companies. These investments are generally made in connection with a round of financing with other third-party investors.

During the three and six months ended January 31, 2013, approximately $0.9 million and $1.5 million was invested by @Ventures in privately held companies, respectively. The Company invested approximately $1.1 million in privately held companies during the six months ended January 31, 2012. This investment occurred during the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 and no additional investments were made during the second quarter of fiscal year 2012. At January 31, 2013 and July 31, 2012, the Company’s carrying value of investments in privately held companies was approximately $9.6 million and $10.8 million, respectively. During the three months ended January 31, 2013, the Company recorded a $1.5 million impairment charge related to a certain investment in the @Ventures portfolio of companies. No impairment charges were recorded during the quarter ended October 31, 2012. The Company did not record material impairment charges during the three and six months ended January 31, 2012. Investments in which the Company’s interest is less than 20% and which are not classified as available-for-sale securities are carried at the lower of cost or net realizable value unless it is determined that the Company exercises significant influence over the investee company, in which case the equity method of accounting is used. For those investments in which the Company’s voting interest is between 20% and 50%, the equity method of accounting is generally used. Under this method, the investment balance, originally recorded at cost, is adjusted to recognize the Company’s share of net earnings or losses of the investee company as they occur, limited to the extent of the Company’s investment in, advances to and commitments for the investee. These adjustments are reflected in “Equity in losses of affiliates and impairments” in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Operations.

The Company assesses the need to record impairment losses on its investments and records such losses when the impairment of an investment is determined to be other than temporary in nature. The process of assessing whether a particular investment’s net realizable value is less than its carrying cost requires a significant amount of judgment. In making this judgment, the Company carefully considers the investee’s cash position, projected cash flows (both short and long-term), financing needs, recent financing rounds, most recent valuation data, the current investing environment, management/ownership changes and competition. The valuation process is based primarily on information that the Company requests from these privately held companies and is not subject to the same disclosure and audit requirements as the reports required of U.S. public companies. As such, the reliability and the accuracy of the data may vary.