Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 88,047	$ 29,782
Costs and expenses:
Engineering and development expenses - industrial operations	200	0
Sales and marketing expenses - industrial operations	1,538	0
General and administrative expenses	35,666	24,476
Total costs and expenses	73,502	49,300
Operating income (loss)	14,545	(19,518)
Equity securities investments:
Change in fair value of equity securities	87,527	176,173
Gain on sale of equity securities	116,129	7,352
Earnings on equity investment in joint venture	3,530	0
Net realized and unrealized gain	207,186	183,525
Gain on sale of prepaid investment and derivative	0	2,845
Change in fair value of investment	(2,752)	5,474
Gain on sale of investment	3,591	8,187
Change in fair value of the Series A and B warrants and embedded derivatives	(40,408)	(58,238)
Loss on foreign currency exchange	(89)	(4,905)
Interest expense on Senior Secured Notes	(7,922)	(10,136)
Interest income and other	501	838
Total other income	160,107	127,590
Income before income taxes	174,652	108,072
Income tax (expense) benefit	(24,287)	1,159
Net income including noncontrolling interests in subsidiaries	150,365	109,231
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in subsidiaries	(1,168)	0
Net income attributable to Acacia Research Corporation	149,197	109,231
Income per share:
Net income attributable to common stockholders - Basic	$ 118,804	$ 86,846
Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Basic	48,797,290	48,840,829
Basic net income per common share (in usd per share)	$ 2.43	$ 1.78
Net income attributable to common stockholders - Diluted	$ 188,224	$ 84,894
Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Diluted	98,470,870	57,435,128
Diluted net income per common share (in usd per share)	$ 1.91	$ 1.48
Intellectual property operations
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 76,043	$ 29,782
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenues - intellectual property operations	28,691	24,824
Industrial operations
Revenues:
Total revenues	12,004	0
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenues - intellectual property operations	$ 7,407	$ 0