Investments in Unconsolidated Entities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Investments in Unconsolidated Entities

INVESTMENTS IN UNCONSOLIDATED ENTITIES

We have strategic investments in certain non-publicly traded equity securities that do not have a readily determinable fair value. We account for most of these investments using the equity method. We accounted for other investments in such equity securities using the cost method of accounting prior to January 1, 2018. In connection with our adoption of the New Investment Standard effective January 1, 2018 (see Note 2), we elected to measure our equity securities without a readily determinable fair value, other than those accounted for using the equity method, at cost adjusted for changes resulting from impairments, if any, and observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or similar securities of the same issuer. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we did not identify any observable price changes requiring an adjustment to our investments.

Our investments in unconsolidated entities consisted of the following:

	As of December 31,
	2018		2017
	(In thousands)
Investments in unconsolidated entities:
Equity method	$	182,035	$	91,702
Other equity investments without a readily determinable fair value	80,438		69,725
Total investments in unconsolidated entities	$	262,473	$	161,427

As of December 31, 2018, our aggregate investment in our equity method investees exceeded our proportionate share of the net assets of the investees by $24 million. This difference is attributable to goodwill recorded at acquisition and certain adjustments related to intra-entity transactions subsequent to acquisition.

We recorded cash distributions from our investments accounted for using the equity method of $10 million, $19 million and $10 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. These cash distributions were determined to be a return on investment and reported in cash flows from operating activities in our consolidated statements of cash flows.

A summary of financial information for Dish Mexico and our equity method investees in the aggregate is as follows:

	As of December 31,
	2018			2017
	Dish Mexico		Aggregate	Dish Mexico		Aggregate
	(In thousands)
Balance sheet data:
Current assets	$	147,140	162,593	$	146,851	172,234
Noncurrent assets	187,130		188,077	185,345		187,067
Total assets	$	334,270	350,670	$	332,196	359,301
Current liabilities	$	128,708	129,837	$	129,087	130,443
Noncurrent liabilities	109,643		110,460	109,428		110,472
Total liabilities	$	238,351	240,297	$	238,515	240,915

	As of December 31,
	2018						2017				2016
	Dish Mexico			Aggregate			Dish Mexico		Aggregate		Dish Mexico		Aggregate
	(In thousands)
Income statement data:
Revenue	$	444,264		$	475,559		$	497,096	$	535,153	$	498,069	$	541,066
Operating income (loss)	$	(55,062	)	$	(43,553	)	$	15,094	$	31,919	$	32,280	$	52,656
Income (loss) before income taxes	$	(33,449	)	$	(23,701	)	$	18,267	$	32,739	$	10,195	$	29,083
Net income (loss)	$	(20,126	)	$	(10,378	)	$	15,658	$	30,130	$	6,374	$	25,262
Net income (loss) attributable to EchoStar	$	(10,828	)	$	(5,954	)	$	9,946	$	16,973	$	1,358	$	10,802

In January 2017, we sold our investment in Invidi Technologies Corporation (“Invidi”) to an entity owned in part by DISH Network for $19 million. Our investment was accounted for using the cost method and had a carrying amount of $11 million on the date of sale and as a result we recognized a gain of $9 million in connection with this transaction for the year ended December 31, 2017. See Note 20 for additional information about this transaction.

In connection with the Share Exchange (see Notes 4 and 20, our equity interests in NagraStar L.L.C. (“NagraStar”) and SmarDTV SA (“SmarDTV”), which we accounted for using the equity method, and our equity interest in Sling TV Holding L.L.C. (“Sling TV Holding”), which we accounted for using the cost method, were transferred to DISH Network as of February 28, 2017.