White Wave Spin-Off Transaction and Disposition of Remaining Ownership of White Wave Common Stock	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
WhiteWave Foods
White Wave Spin-Off Transaction and Disposition of Remaining Ownership of White Wave Common Stock	WHITEWAVE SPIN-OFF TRANSACTION AND DISPOSITION OF REMAINING OWNERSHIP OF WHITEWAVE COMMON STOCK On October 31, 2012, The WhiteWave Foods Company ("WhiteWave") completed its initial public offering (the "WhiteWave IPO") and sold 23 million shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $17 per share. The WhiteWave IPO was accounted for as an equity transaction in accordance with ASC 810 and no gain or loss was recognized as we retained the controlling financial interest immediately upon completion of the transaction. The WhiteWave IPO increased our equity attributable to non-controlling interest by $98.1 million, which represented the carrying value of the non-controlling interest, increased our additional paid-in capital by $265 million and reduced our accumulated other comprehensive loss by $4.5 million. Upon completion of the WhiteWave IPO, we owned an 86.7% economic interest, and a 98.5% voting interest, in WhiteWave. On May 23, 2013, we completed the spin-off of WhiteWave through a tax-free distribution to our stockholders of an aggregate of 47,686,000 shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock and 67,914,000 shares of WhiteWave Class B common stock as a pro rata dividend on the shares of Dean Foods common stock outstanding at the close of business on the record date of May 17, 2013. Each share of Dean Foods common stock received 0.25544448 shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock and 0.36380189 shares of WhiteWave Class B common stock in the distribution. The WhiteWave spin-off qualified as a tax-free distribution to Dean Foods stockholders for U.S. federal tax purposes; however, cash received in lieu of fractional shares was taxable. In connection with the WhiteWave spin-off, we recorded a $617.1 million reduction to additional paid-in capital. The distribution was recorded through additional paid-in capital rather than through retained earnings, as we were in an accumulated deficit position at the time of the WhiteWave spin-off. Upon completion of the WhiteWave spin-off, we reclassified WhiteWave’s results of operations as discontinued operations for all periods presented. See Note 3. We retained ownership of 34,400,000 shares of WhiteWave’s Class A common stock, or approximately 19.9% of the economic interest of WhiteWave, which we disposed of in July 2013 in a tax-free transaction described in more detail below. From the completion of the WhiteWave spin-off through the date of disposition in July 2013, we accounted for our investment in WhiteWave common stock using the fair value method of accounting for available-for-sale securities, which requires the investment to be marked to market with unrealized gains and losses recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income until realized or until losses are deemed to be other-than-temporary. On July 25, 2013, we announced the closing of a secondary public offering of 34.4 million shares of Class A common stock of WhiteWave owned by us at a public offering price of $17.75 per share. Following the closing of the offering, we no longer owned any shares of WhiteWave common stock. Immediately prior to the closing of the offering, we exchanged our shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock in partial satisfaction of two term loans. Following the closing of the debt-for-equity exchange, we repaid the non-exchanged balance of the two term loans in full and terminated the loan agreement. The debt-for-equity exchange resulted in total cash proceeds, net of underwriting fees, of $589.2 million. We recorded a gain in continuing operations of $415.8 million, which included $385.6 million of unrealized holding gains that were previously recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income as of June 30, 2013, in the third quarter of 2013 related to the disposition of our investment in WhiteWave common stock. The gain represents the excess of the value of the exchanged shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock over our cost basis in such shares. The gain was recorded in the gain on disposition of WhiteWave common stock line item in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. As the debt-for-equity exchange qualified as a tax-free transaction pursuant to the terms of our private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") , we did not incur, nor did we record, any income tax expense associated with the transaction.

WHITEWAVE SPIN-OFF TRANSACTION AND DISPOSITION OF REMAINING OWNERSHIP OF WHITEWAVE COMMON STOCK

On October 31, 2012, The WhiteWave Foods Company ("WhiteWave") completed its initial public offering (the "WhiteWave IPO") and sold 23 million shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $17 per share. The WhiteWave IPO was accounted for as an equity transaction in accordance with ASC 810 and no gain or loss was recognized as we retained the controlling financial interest immediately upon completion of the transaction. The WhiteWave IPO increased our equity attributable to non-controlling interest by $98.1 million, which represented the carrying value of the non-controlling interest, increased our additional paid-in capital by $265 million and reduced our accumulated other comprehensive loss by $4.5 million. Upon completion of the WhiteWave IPO, we owned an 86.7% economic interest, and a 98.5% voting interest, in WhiteWave.

On May 23, 2013, we completed the spin-off of WhiteWave through a tax-free distribution to our stockholders of an aggregate of 47,686,000 shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock and 67,914,000 shares of WhiteWave Class B common stock as a pro rata dividend on the shares of Dean Foods common stock outstanding at the close of business on the record date of May 17, 2013. Each share of Dean Foods common stock received 0.25544448 shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock and 0.36380189 shares of WhiteWave Class B common stock in the distribution. The WhiteWave spin-off qualified as a tax-free distribution to Dean Foods stockholders for U.S. federal tax purposes; however, cash received in lieu of fractional shares was taxable.

In connection with the WhiteWave spin-off, we recorded a $617.1 million reduction to additional paid-in capital. The distribution was recorded through additional paid-in capital rather than through retained earnings, as we were in an accumulated deficit position at the time of the WhiteWave spin-off. Upon completion of the WhiteWave spin-off, we reclassified WhiteWave’s results of operations as discontinued operations for all periods presented. See Note 3. We retained ownership of 34,400,000 shares of WhiteWave’s Class A common stock, or approximately 19.9% of the economic interest of WhiteWave, which we disposed of in July 2013 in a tax-free transaction described in more detail below. From the completion of the WhiteWave spin-off through the date of disposition in July 2013, we accounted for our investment in WhiteWave common stock using the fair value method of accounting for available-for-sale securities, which requires the investment to be marked to market with unrealized gains and losses recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income until realized or until losses are deemed to be other-than-temporary.

On July 25, 2013, we announced the closing of a secondary public offering of 34.4 million shares of Class A common stock of WhiteWave owned by us at a public offering price of $17.75 per share. Following the closing of the offering, we no longer owned any shares of WhiteWave common stock. Immediately prior to the closing of the offering, we exchanged our shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock in partial satisfaction of two term loans. Following the closing of the debt-for-equity exchange, we repaid the non-exchanged balance of the two term loans in full and terminated the loan agreement. The debt-for-equity exchange resulted in total cash proceeds, net of underwriting fees, of $589.2 million. We recorded a gain in continuing operations of $415.8 million, which included $385.6 million of unrealized holding gains that were previously recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income as of June 30, 2013, in the third quarter of 2013 related to the disposition of our investment in WhiteWave common stock. The gain represents the excess of the value of the exchanged shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock over our cost basis in such shares. The gain was recorded in the gain on disposition of WhiteWave common stock line item in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. As the debt-for-equity exchange qualified as a tax-free transaction pursuant to the terms of our private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") , we did not incur, nor did we record, any income tax expense associated with the transaction.