InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[The Count]

AMS, you are wrong in so many ways

I do the books for a VC firm here in silicon valley which is audit annually by E&Y. They do a funny thing with our investments - it's called "Mark to market", where the investments are valued for financial statement purposes at their fair market value. The related income or expense is reported. We mark to market in our interim reports to the investors of the fund as well. When an investor enters or leaves the fund, it is at the Net Asset Value at that point in time, not the cost basis. While it's not a publicly traded company, I'm sure there are others out there following the same accounting policy that you could find.

Regardless, accounting standards DO NOT represent absolute accuracy. They report HISTORICAL COST, not VALUE. Gains are real whether or not they've been converted into cash.

But please, don't stop with this foolishness. I'll let you get in the last word. Just tell me, when you sell IDCC stock on the nasdaq, when does the profit or loss become real? When the sale is executed, when the dollars are delivered to your broker, when the dollars are converted into your currency, or when you withdraw the money from your account. It's really tough following your "reasoned argument".

Perhaps a lottery ticket filled in but not purchased may better suit some IDCC investors.
Wrong again. The comparison should be of a winning lottery ticket not yet cashed. You own the ticket, the value is known and you can convert it to cash whenever you want. I guess you would value the winning ticket at $1, whereas I would value it at the amount I could get in cash today.

I do wish you'd stop telling people you're an accountant. It's embarrassing.

To quote BB, "What a maroon."