Investments and other assets

Our investments and other assets consisted of the following as of June 30, 2018, and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):



	June 30, 2018		Dec. 31, 2017

Cash value life insurance	$	51,163	$	51,188
Equity method investments	31,910		27,098
Cost method investments	20,637		17,374
Deferred debt issuance cost	10,709		6,048
Other long term assets	35,322		35,458
Total	$	149,741	$	137,166

Cash value life insurance: We are the beneficiary of life insurance policies on the lives of certain employees/retirees, which are recorded at their cash surrender value as determined by the insurance carrier. These policies are utilized as a partial funding source for deferred compensation and other non-qualified employee retirement plans. Gains and losses on these investments are included in Other non-operating expenses within our Consolidated Statement of Income and were not material for all periods presented.

Equity method investments: We hold several strategic equity method investments. Our largest equity method investment is our ownership in CareerBuilder, of which we own approximately 17% (or approximately 12% on a fully-diluted basis) and has an investment balance of $20.8 million as of June 30, 2018. Our ownership stake provides us with two seats on CareerBuilder’s board of directors and thus we concluded that we have significant influence over the entity.

On May 14, 2018, CareerBuilder sold Economic Modeling LLC (also known as EMSI). As a result, we received a dividend of $9.9 million in connection with the sale commensurate with our equity ownership in CareerBuilder. Our share of CareerBuilder’s gain on the sale was approximately $16.8 million which is included in Equity income (loss) in unconsolidated investments, net, on our Consolidated Statements of Income. During the six months ended June 30, 2018, we recorded $14.8 million in equity income from our CareerBuilder investment.