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Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

The consolidated financial statements include the operating results and financial position of Leap and its wholly-owned subsidiaries and consolidated joint ventures. The Company consolidates its non-controlling interest in Savary Island in accordance with the authoritative guidance for the consolidation of variable interest entities because Savary Island is a variable interest entity and, among other things, the Company has entered into an agreement with Savary Island's other member which establishes a specified purchase price in the event that it exercises its right to sell its membership interest to the Company. The Company consolidates STX Wireless in accordance with the authoritative guidance for consolidations based on the voting interest model. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements.

Segment and Geographic Data

The Company operates in a single operating segment and a single reporting unit as a wireless communications carrier that offers digital wireless services in the United States. As of and for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, all of the Company's revenues and long-lived assets related to operations in the United States.

Revenues

The Company's business revenues principally arise from the sale of wireless services, devices (handsets and broadband modems) and accessories. Wireless services are provided primarily on a month-to-month basis. The Company's customers are required to pay for their service in advance and the Company does not require customers to sign fixed-term contracts or pass a credit check. Service revenues are recognized only after payment has been received and services have been rendered.

When the Company activates service for a new customer, it often sells that customer a device along with a period of service. In accordance with the authoritative guidance for revenue arrangements with multiple deliverables, the sale of a device along with service constitutes a multiple element arrangement. Under this guidance, once a company has determined the best estimate of selling price of the elements in the sales transaction, the total consideration received from the customer must be allocated among those elements on a relative selling price basis. Applying the guidance to these transactions results in the Company recognizing the total consideration received, less amounts allocated to the wireless service period (generally the customer's monthly service plan), as equipment revenue.

Amounts allocated to equipment revenues and related costs from the sale of devices are recognized when service is activated by new customers. Revenues and related costs from the sale of devices and accessories to existing customers are recognized at the point of sale. The costs of devices and accessories sold are recorded in cost of equipment. In addition to devices that the Company sells directly to its customers at Cricket-owned stores, the Company sells devices to third-party dealers, including nationwide retailers. These dealers then sell the devices to the ultimate Cricket customer, similar to the sale made at a Cricket-owned store. Sales of devices to third-party dealers are recognized as equipment revenues only when service is activated by customers, since the level of price reductions and commissions ultimately available to such dealers is not reliably estimable until the devices are sold by such dealers to customers. Thus, revenues from devices sold to third-party dealers are recorded as deferred equipment revenue and the related costs of the devices are recorded as deferred charges upon shipment of the devices by the Company. The deferred charges are recognized as equipment costs when the related equipment revenue is recognized, which occurs when service is activated by the customer.

Through a third-party provider, the Company's customers may elect to participate in an extended warranty program for devices they purchase. The Company recognizes revenue on replacement devices sold to its customers under the program when the customer purchases the device.

Sales incentives offered to customers and commissions and sales incentives offered to the Company's third-party dealers are recognized as a reduction of revenue when the related service or equipment revenue is recognized. Customers have limited rights to return devices and accessories based on time and/or usage, and customer returns of devices and accessories have historically been insignificant.

Amounts billed by the Company in advance of customers' wireless service periods are not reflected in accounts receivable or deferred revenue since collectability of such amounts is not reasonably assured. Deferred revenue consists primarily of cash received from customers in advance of their service period and deferred equipment revenue related to devices sold to third-party dealers.

Universal Service Fund, E-911 and other telecommunications-related regulatory fees are assessed by various federal and state governmental agencies in connection with the services that the Company provides to its customers. The service plans the Company currently offers are "all-inclusive" of telecommunications and regulatory fees, in that the Company does not separately bill and collect amounts owed and remitted to government agencies from its customers. For the Company's legacy service plans, which are not "all-inclusive," the Company separately bills and collects from its customers amounts owed and remitted to government agencies. Regulatory fees and telecommunications taxes separately billed and collected from the Company's customers are recorded in service revenues. Amounts owed to government agencies are recorded in cost of service. During the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 the total amount of regulatory fees and telecommunications taxes separately billed and collected from customers and recorded in service revenues was $32.6 million, $108.4 million and $96.4 million, respectively. Sales, use and excise taxes for all service plans are reported on a net basis.

Cost of Service

Cost of Service. The major components of cost of service are: charges from other communications companies for long distance, roaming and content download services provided to the Company's customers; charges from other communications companies for their transport and termination of calls originated by the Company's customers and destined for customers of other networks; expenses for tower and network facility rent, engineering operations, field technicians and utility and maintenance charges, and salary and overhead charges associated with these functions; and regulatory fees and telecommunications taxes, including Universal Service Fund and E-911 fees.

Cost of Equipment

Cost of Equipment. Cost of equipment primarily includes the cost of devices and accessories purchased from third-party vendors and resold to the Company's customers in connection with its services, as well as the lower of cost or market write-downs associated with excess or obsolete devices and accessories.

Selling and Marketing, General and Administrative

Selling and Marketing. Selling and marketing expenses primarily include advertising expenses, promotional and public relations costs associated with acquiring new customers, store operating costs (such as retail associates' salaries and rent), and salary and overhead charges associated with selling and marketing functions.

General and Administrative. General and administrative expenses primarily include call center and other customer care program costs and salary, overhead and outside consulting costs associated with the Company's customer care, billing, information technology, finance, human resources, accounting, legal and executive functions.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity at the time of purchase of three months or less to be cash equivalents. The Company invests its cash with major financial institutions in money market funds, short-term U.S. Treasury securities and other securities such as prime-rated short-term commercial paper. The Company has not experienced any significant losses on its cash and cash equivalents.

Short-Term Investments

Short-term investments generally consist of highly liquid, fixed-income investments with an original maturity at the time of purchase of greater than three months. Such investments consist of commercial paper, asset-backed commercial paper and obligations of the U.S. government and government agencies.

Investments are classified as available-for-sale and stated at fair value. The net unrealized gains or losses on available-for-sale securities are reported as a component of comprehensive income (loss). The specific identification method is used to compute the realized gains and losses on investments. Investments are periodically reviewed for impairment. If the carrying value of an investment exceeds its fair value and the decline in value is determined to be other-than-temporary, an impairment loss is recognized for the difference.

Restricted Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short Term Investments

Restricted Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

The Company has set aside certain amounts of cash, cash equivalents and short term investments to satisfy certain contractual obligations and has classified such amounts as restricted in its consolidated balance sheets. Restricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are included in either other current assets or other assets, depending on the nature of the underlying contractual obligation. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately $3.6 million and $8.8 million of restricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, included in other current assets and other assets, respectively. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately $3.6 million and $7.8 million of restricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, included in other current assets and other assets, respectively.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The authoritative guidance for fair value measurements defines fair value for accounting purposes, establishes a framework for measuring fair value and provides disclosure requirements regarding fair value measurements. The guidance defines fair value as an exit price, which is the price that would be received upon the sale of an asset or paid upon transfer of a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The degree of judgment utilized in measuring the fair value of assets and liabilities generally correlates to the level of pricing observability. Assets and liabilities with readily available, actively quoted prices or for which fair value can be measured from actively quoted prices in active markets generally have more pricing observability and require less judgment in measuring fair value. Conversely, assets and liabilities that are rarely traded or not quoted have less pricing observability and are generally measured at fair value using valuation models that require more judgment. These valuation techniques involve some level of management estimation and judgment, the degree of which is dependent on the price transparency of the asset, liability or market and the nature of the asset or liability. The Company has categorized its assets and liabilities measured at fair value into a three-level hierarchy in accordance with this guidance. See Note 3 for further discussion regarding the Company's measurement of assets and liabilities at fair value.

The authoritative guidance for fair value measurements defines fair value for accounting purposes, establishes a framework for measuring fair value and provides disclosure requirements regarding fair value measurements. The guidance defines fair value as an exit price, which is the price that would be received upon the sale of an asset or paid upon the transfer of a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The degree of judgment utilized in measuring the fair value of assets and liabilities generally correlates to the level of pricing observability. Assets and liabilities with readily available, actively quoted prices or for which fair value can be measured from actively quoted prices in active markets generally have more pricing observability and require less judgment in measuring fair value. Conversely, assets and liabilities that are rarely traded or not quoted have less pricing observability and are generally measured at fair value using valuation models that require more judgment. These valuation techniques involve some level of management estimation and judgment, the degree of which is dependent on the price transparency of the asset, liability or market and the nature of the asset or liability.

The Company has categorized its assets and liabilities measured at fair value into a three-level hierarchy in accordance with the authoritative guidance for fair value measurements. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value using quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities are generally categorized as Level 1; assets and liabilities measured at fair value using observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data for similar assets or liabilities are generally categorized as Level 2; and assets and liabilities measured at fair value using unobservable inputs that cannot be corroborated by market data are generally categorized as Level 3. Assets and liabilities presented at fair value in the Company's consolidated balance sheets are generally categorized as follows:


Level 1:	Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. The Company did not have any Level 1 assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2011 or December 31, 2010.

Level 2:

Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, quoted prices in markets that are not active or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. The Company's Level 2 assets as of December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010 included its cash equivalents, its short-term investments in obligations of the U.S. government and government agencies and its short-term investments in commercial paper.

Level 3:

Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities. Such assets and liabilities may have values determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, and include instruments for which the determination of fair value requires significant management judgment or estimation. The Company did not have any Level 3 assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2011 or December 31, 2010, other than the non-financial assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis discussed below.

Inventories and Deferred Charges

Inventories consist of devices and accessories not yet placed into service and units designated for the replacement of damaged customer devices, and are stated at the lower of cost or market using the average cost method. Devices sold to third party dealers and nationwide retailers are recorded as deferred charges upon shipment of the devices by the Company. The deferred charges are recognized as cost of equipment when service is activated by the customer.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are initially recorded at cost. Additions and improvements are capitalized, while expenditures that do not enhance the asset or extend its useful life are charged to operating expenses as incurred. Depreciation is applied using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets once the assets are placed in service.

The following table summarizes the depreciable lives for property and equipment (in years):



		Depreciable Life
Network equipment:
Switches		10
Switch power equipment		15
Cell site equipment and site improvements		7
Towers		15
Antennae		5
Computer hardware and software		3-5
Furniture, fixtures retail and office equipment		3-7

The Company's network construction expenditures are recorded as construction-in-progress until the network or other asset is placed in service, at which time the asset is transferred to the appropriate property or equipment category and depreciation commences. The Company capitalizes salaries and related costs of engineering and technical operations employees as components of construction-in-progress during the construction period to the extent time and expense are attributed to the construction effort. The Company also capitalizes certain telecommunications and other related costs as construction-in-progress during the construction period to the extent they are incremental and directly related to the network under construction. In addition, interest is capitalized on the carrying values of both wireless licenses and equipment during the construction period and is depreciated over an estimated useful life of ten years. During the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company did not capitalize any interest to property and equipment.

In accordance with the authoritative guidance for accounting for costs of computer software developed or obtained for internal use, certain costs related to the development of internal use software are capitalized and amortized over the estimated useful life of the software.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company assesses potential impairments to its long-lived assets, including property and equipment and certain intangible assets, when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate that their respective carrying values may not be recoverable. An impairment loss may be required to be recognized when the undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by a long-lived asset (or group of such assets) is less than its carrying value. Any required impairment loss would be measured as the amount by which the asset’s carrying value exceeds its fair value and would be recorded as a reduction in the carrying value of the related asset and charged to results of operations. There were no events or circumstances that occurred during the year ended December 31, 2011 that indicated that the carrying value of any long-lived assets may not be recoverable.

In August 2010, the Company entered into a wholesale agreement with an affiliate of Sprint Nextel which the Company uses to offer Cricket services in nationwide retailers outside of its current network footprint. This agreement allowed it to strengthen and expand its distribution and provided it greater flexibility with respect to its network expansion plans. As a result, after entering into this wholesale agreement, the Company determined to spend an increased portion of its planned capital expenditures on the deployment of next-generation LTE technology and to defer its previously planned network expansion activities.

Impairment of Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

The Company assesses potential impairments to its indefinite-lived intangible assets, including wireless licenses and goodwill, on an annual basis or when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate an impairment condition may exist. In addition on a quarterly basis, the Company evaluates the triggering event criteria outlined in the authoritative guidance for goodwill and other intangible assets to determine whether events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment condition may exist. The Company's annual impairment test is conducted each year during the third quarter as further discussed in Note 5.

Wireless Licenses

The Company operates networks under Personal Communications Services (“PCS”) and Advanced Wireless Services (“AWS”) wireless licenses granted by the FCC that are specific to a particular geographic area on spectrum that has been allocated by the FCC for such services. Wireless licenses are recorded at cost when acquired and are not amortized. Although FCC licenses are issued with a stated term (ten years in the case of PCS licenses and fifteen years in the case of AWS licenses), wireless licenses are considered to be indefinite-lived intangible assets because the Company expects to provide wireless service using the relevant licenses for the foreseeable future, PCS and AWS licenses are routinely renewed for either no or a nominal fee and management has determined that no legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic or other factors currently exist that limit the useful lives of the Company's or Savary Island's PCS and AWS licenses. On a quarterly basis, the Company evaluates the remaining useful lives of its indefinite-lived wireless licenses to determine whether events and circumstances, such as legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic or other factors, continue to support an indefinite useful life. If a wireless license is subsequently determined to have a finite useful life, the Company would first test the wireless license for impairment and the wireless license would then be amortized prospectively over its estimated remaining useful life. In addition, on a quarterly basis, the Company evaluates the triggering event criteria outlined in the authoritative guidance for the impairment or disposal of long-lived assets to determine whether events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment condition may exist. The Company also tests its wireless licenses for impairment on an annual basis in accordance with the authoritative guidance for goodwill and other intangible assets. The Company's annual impairment test is conducted each year during the third quarter. Refer to Note 5 for further discussion regarding the Company's impairment evaluation of wireless licenses.

Goodwill

The Company records the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired in a business combination as goodwill. As of December 31, 2011 and 2010, goodwill of $31.9 million and $31.1 million, respectively, primarily represented the excess of the purchase price over the fair values of the assets acquired (net of liabilities assumed, including the related deferred tax effects) by STX Wireless in connection with the formation of the joint venture. Refer to Note 6 for further discussion of the Company's purchase price allocation and determination of goodwill. Goodwill is tested for impairment annually as well as when an event or change in circumstance indicates an impairment may have occurred. The Company's annual impairment test is conducted each year during the third quarter. In addition, on a quarterly basis, the Company evaluates the triggering event criteria outlined in the authoritative guidance for the impairment or disposal of long-lived assets to determine whether events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment condition may exist. Refer to Note 5 for further discussion regarding the Company's goodwill impairment evaluation.

Other Intangible Assets

The Company's other intangible assets consist of trademarks and customer relationships. The Company's trademarks were recorded upon adoption of fresh-start reporting and are being amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives of fourteen years. Customer relationships acquired in connection with the Company's acquisition of Hargray Wireless, LLC (“Hargray Wireless”) in 2008 and the formation of the STX Wireless joint venture in the fourth quarter of 2010 are amortized on an accelerated basis over a useful life of up to four years. The Company assesses potential impairments to its other intangible assets, when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. An impairment loss may be required to be recognized when the undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by the intangible asset is less than its carrying value. Any required impairment loss would be measured as the amount by which the asset's carrying value exceeds its fair value and would be recorded as a reduction in the carrying value of the related asset and charged to results of operations.

Investments in Other Entities

The Company uses the equity method to account for investments in common stock of corporations in which it has a voting interest of between 20% and 50% or in which the Company otherwise has the ability to exercise significant influence, and for investments in limited liability companies that maintain specific ownership accounts in which it has more than a minor but not greater than a 50% ownership interest. Under the equity method, the investment is originally recorded at cost and is adjusted to recognize the Company's share of net earnings or losses of the investee. The Company's ownership interest in equity method investees ranges from approximately 6% to 20% of outstanding membership units. The carrying value of the Company's investments in its equity method investees was $11.0 million and $26.7 million as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. During the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, the Company's share of earnings in its equity method investees (net of its share of their losses) was $3.0 million, $1.9 million and $3.9 million, respectively.

On June 30, 2011, one of the Company's equity method investees declared a cash dividend and paid the dividend with funds borrowed under a third-party line of credit. The Company's share of the dividend based on its ownership percentage was $18.2 million and was received in full on July 1, 2011. In the consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company presented the portion of the dividend equal to its share of accumulated profits (approximately $6.6 million) as cash from operating activities and the remainder (approximately $11.6 million) as cash from investing activities, as it represented a return of the Company's original investment.

The Company regularly monitors and evaluates the realizable value of its investments. When assessing an investment for an other-than-temporary decline in value, the Company considers such factors as, among other things, the performance of the investee in relation to its business plan, the investee's revenue and cost trends, liquidity and cash position, market acceptance of the investee's products or services, any significant news that has been released regarding the investee and the outlook for the overall industry in which the investee operates. If events and circumstances indicate that a decline in the value of these assets has occurred and is other-than-temporary, the Company records a reduction to the carrying value of its investment and a corresponding charge to the consolidated statements of operations.

Concentrations

The Company generally relies on one key vendor for billing services, a limited number of vendors for device logistics, a limited number of vendors for its voice and data communications transport services and a limited number of vendors for payment processing services. Loss or disruption of these services could materially adversely affect the Company's business.

The networks the Company operates do not, by themselves, provide national coverage and it must pay fees to other carriers who provide roaming or wholesale services to the Company. The Company currently relies on roaming agreements with several carriers for the majority of its voice services and generally on one key carrier for its data roaming services. The Company has also entered into a wholesale agreement which the Company uses to offer Cricket services in nationwide retailers outside of its current network footprint. If the Company were unable to obtain or maintain cost-effective roaming or wholesale services for its customers in geographically desirable service areas, the Company's competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Operating Leases

Rent expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the initial lease term and those renewal periods that are reasonably assured as determined at lease inception. The difference between rent expense and rent paid is recorded as deferred rent and is included in other long-term liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets.

Asset Retirement Obligations

The Company recognizes an asset retirement obligation and an associated asset retirement cost when it has a legal obligation in connection with the retirement of tangible long-lived assets. These obligations arise from certain of the Company's leases and relate primarily to the cost of removing its equipment from such lease sites and restoring the sites to their original condition. When the liability is initially recorded, the Company capitalizes the cost of the asset retirement obligation by increasing the carrying amount of the related long-lived asset. The liability is initially recorded at its present value and is accreted to its then present value each period, and the capitalized cost is depreciated over the useful life of the related asset. Accretion expense is recorded in cost of service in the consolidated statements of operations. Upon settlement of the obligation, any difference between the cost to retire the asset and the liability recorded is recognized in operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

Debt Issuance Costs

Debt issuance costs are amortized and recognized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the expected term of the related debt. Unamortized debt issuance costs related to extinguished debt are expensed at the time the debt is extinguished and recorded in loss on extinguishment of debt in the consolidated statements of operations. Unamortized debt issuance costs are recorded in other assets or as a reduction of the respective debt balance, as applicable, in the consolidated balance sheets.

Advertising Costs

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred.

Share-based Compensation

The Company accounts for share-based awards exchanged for employee services in accordance with the authoritative guidance for share-based payments. Under the guidance, share-based compensation expense is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as expense, net of estimated forfeitures, over the employee's requisite service period. Compensation expense is amortized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period for the entire award, which is generally the maximum vesting period of the award.

Income Taxes

The Company calculates income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which it operates. This process involves calculating the current tax expense or benefit and any deferred income tax expense or benefit resulting from temporary differences arising from differing treatments of items for tax and accounting purposes. These temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are also established for the expected future tax benefits to be derived from net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards, capital loss carryforwards and income tax credits.

The Company periodically assesses the likelihood that its deferred tax assets will be recoverable from future taxable income. To the extent the Company believes it is more likely than not that its deferred tax assets will not be recovered, it must establish a valuation allowance. As part of this periodic assessment for the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company weighed the positive and negative factors and, at this time, does not believe there is sufficient positive evidence to support a conclusion that it is more likely than not that all or a portion of its deferred tax assets will be realized, except with respect to the realization of a $1.9 million Texas Margins Tax (“TMT”) credit. Accordingly, at December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company recorded a valuation allowance offsetting substantially all of its deferred tax assets. The Company will continue to monitor the positive and negative factors to assess whether it is required to continue to maintain a valuation allowance. At such time as the Company determines that it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the deferred tax assets are realizable, the valuation allowance will be reduced or released in its entirety, with the corresponding benefit reflected in the Company's tax provision. Deferred tax liabilities associated with wireless licenses and investments in certain joint ventures cannot be considered a source of taxable income to support the realization of deferred tax assets because these deferred tax liabilities will not reverse until some indefinite future period when these assets are either sold or impaired for book purposes.

The Company has substantial federal and state NOLs for income tax purposes. Subject to certain requirements, the Company may “carry forward” its federal NOLs for up to 20 years to offset future taxable income and reduce its income tax liability. For state income tax purposes, the NOL carryforward period ranges from five to 20 years. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had federal and state NOLs of approximately $2.5 billion, which begin to expire in 2022 for federal income tax purposes and of which $37.2 million will expire at the end of 2012 for state income tax purposes. While these NOL carryforwards have a potential to be used to offset future ordinary taxable income and reduce future cash tax liabilities by approximately $973.6 million, the Company's ability to utilize these NOLs will depend upon the availability of future taxable income during the carryforward period and, as such, there is no assurance the Company will be able to realize such tax savings.

The Company's ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited if it were to experience an “ownership change,” as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code and similar state provisions. In general terms, an ownership change can occur whenever there is a collective shift in the ownership of a company by more than 50 percentage points by one or more “5% stockholders” within a three-year period. The occurrence of such a change generally limits the amount of NOL carryforwards a company could utilize in a given year to the aggregate fair market value of the company's common stock immediately prior to the ownership change, multiplied by the long-term tax-exempt interest rate in effect for the month of the ownership change.

The determination of whether an ownership change has occurred for purposes of Section 382 is complex and requires significant judgment. The occurrence of such an ownership change would accelerate cash tax payments the Company would be required to make and likely result in a substantial portion of its NOLs expiring before the Company could fully utilize them. As a result, any restriction on the Company's ability to utilize these NOL carryforwards could have a material adverse impact on its business, financial condition and future cash flows.

On August 30, 2011, the Company's board of directors adopted a Tax Benefit Preservation Plan to help deter acquisitions of Leap common stock that could result in an ownership change under Section 382 and thus help preserve the Company's ability to use its NOL carryforwards. The Tax Benefit Preservation Plan is designed to deter acquisitions of Leap common stock that would result in a stockholder owning 4.99% or more of Leap common stock (as calculated under Section 382), or any existing holder of 4.99% or more of Leap common stock acquiring additional shares, by substantially diluting the ownership interest of any such stockholder unless the stockholder obtains an exemption from the Company's board of directors.

None of the Company's NOL carryforwards are being considered as an uncertain tax position or disclosed as an unrecognized tax benefit. Any carryforwards that expire prior to utilization as a result of a Section 382 limitation will be removed from deferred tax assets with a corresponding reduction to valuation allowance. Since the Company currently maintains a full valuation allowance against its federal and state NOL carryforwards, it is not expected that any possible limitation would have a current impact on its results of operations.

In accordance with the authoritative guidance for business combinations, which became effective for the Company on January 1, 2009, any reduction in the valuation allowance, including the valuation allowance established in fresh-start reporting, will be accounted for as a reduction of income tax expense.

The Company's unrecognized income tax benefits and uncertain tax positions, as well as any associated interest and penalties, are recorded through income tax expense; however, such amounts have not been significant in any period. All of the Company's tax years from 1998 to 2010 remain open to examination by federal and state taxing authorities. In July 2009, the federal examination of the Company's 2005 tax year, which was limited in scope, was concluded and the results did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

Basic and Diluted Earnings (Loss) Per Share

Basic earnings (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing net income available to common stockholders by the sum of the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period and the weighted-average number of dilutive common share equivalents outstanding during the period, using the treasury stock method and the if-converted method, where applicable. Dilutive common share equivalents are comprised of stock options, restricted stock awards, employee stock purchase rights and convertible senior notes.