Acquisitions and Dispositions (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended				9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 business	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013 Other Businesses Segment And Education Division [Member] business	Jul. 03, 2014 Residential Healthcare Group Inc. [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Kaplan [Member] Kaplan China [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Kaplan International [Member] Kaplan China [Member] school	Sep. 30, 2013 Kaplan International [Member] Kaplan China [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Kaplan International [Member] Kaplan China [Member] Scenario, Forecast [Member] school	Sep. 30, 2014 Test Preparation [Member] business	Sep. 30, 2014 Higher Education [Member] business	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Businesses [Member] business	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Discontinued Operations [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Berkshire Hathaway Inc [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] WPLG [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Common Class A [Member] Berkshire Hathaway Inc [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Common Class B [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Common Class B [Member] Berkshire Hathaway Inc [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Berkshire Exchange Transaction [Member] Class A and B [Member] Berkshire Hathaway Inc [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of businesses acquired			7		5						2	1	4
Acqusition purchase price			$ 204,900,000
Percentage of interest acquired						80.00%
Percent of noncontrolling interest purchased							15.00%
Fair value of noncontrolling interest						18,800,000
Number of schools sold								3		1
Number of Berkshire Shares Exchanged																		2,107		1,278
Amount of Cash Exchanged to Berkshire														327,700,000
Number of shares received in Berkshire Hathaway agreement																			1,620,190
Gain on Berkshire marketable equity securities exchange	0	0	266,733,000	0												266,700,000
Gain on exchange of Berkshire Hathaway shares	0	0	(3,044,000)	879,000
Gain (loss) on sales of discontinued operations	(4,352,000)	0	349,875,000	(70,000)					4,400,000
After-tax gain (loss) on sale and/or disposition															(375,000,000)
Effective tax rate			26.70%
Fair value of available-for-sale equity securities exchanged																					400,300,000
Estimated fair value of business exchanged																	438,000,000
Treasury stock increase														$ 1,165,400,000