Stockholders’ Equity Derivative instruments activity, net of tax, included in Non-owner changes to equity within the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006 is as follows:
## Table 0 ##
Net Investment in Foreign Operations Hedge At December 31, 2008 and 2007, the Company did not have any hedges of foreign currency exposure of net investments in foreign operations.
Investments Hedge During the first quarter of 2006, the Company entered into a zero-cost collar derivative (the “Sprint Nextel Derivative”) to protect itself economically against price fluctuations in its 37.6 million shares of Sprint Nextel Corporation (“Sprint Nextel”) non-voting common stock.
During the second quarter of 2006, as a result of Sprint Nextel’s spin-off of Embarq Corporation through a dividend to Sprint Nextel shareholders, the Company received approximately 1.9 million shares of Embarq Corporation.
The floor and ceiling prices of the Sprint Nextel Derivative were adjusted accordingly.
The Sprint Nextel Derivative was not designated as a hedge under the provisions of SFAS No.133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities.
” Accordingly, to reflect the change in fair value of the Sprint Nextel Derivative, the Company recorded a net gain of $99 million for the year ended December 31, 2006, included in Other income (expense) in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.
In December 2006, the Sprint Nextel Derivative was terminated and settled in cash and the 37.6 million shares of Sprint Nextel were converted to common shares and sold.
The Company received aggregate cash proceeds of approximately $820 million from the settlement of the Sprint Nextel Derivative and the subsequent sale of the 37.6 million Sprint Nextel shares.
The Company recognized a loss of $126 million in connection with the sale of the remaining shares of Sprint Nextel common stock.
As described above, the Company recorded a net gain of $99 million in connection with the Sprint Nextel Derivative.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments The Company’s financial instruments include cash equivalents, Sigma Fund investments, short-term investments, accounts receivable, long-term receivables, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, derivatives and other financing commitments.
The Company’s Sigma Fund, available-for-sale investment portfolios and derivatives are recorded in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets at fair value.
All other financial instruments, with the exception of long-term debt, are carried at cost, which is not materially different than the instruments’ fair values.
Using quoted market prices and market interest rates, the Company determined that the fair value of longterm debt at December 31, 2008 was $2.8 billion, compared to a carrying value of $4.1 billion.
Since considerable judgment is required in interpreting market information, the fair value of the long-term debt is not necessarily indicative of the amount which could be realized in a current market exchange.
Equity Price Market Risk At December 31, 2008, the Company’s available-for-sale equity securities portfolio had an approximate fair market value of $128 million, which represented a cost basis of $125 million and a net unrealized loss of $3 million.
These equity securities are held for purposes other than trading.
Concentrations of Credit Risk Credit risk is the possibility of loss from the failure of a borrower, guarantor, or another obligor to fully perform under the terms of a credit-related contract.
Credit risks (whether on- or off-balance sheet) may occur when individual borrowers, groups of borrowers, or counterparties have similar economic characteristics, including industries, geographies, collateral types, sponsors, etc.
, and are similarly affected by changes in economic or other conditions.
Credit risk also includes the loss that would be recognized subsequent to the reporting date if counterparties failed to perform as contracted.
See Note 7 for a discussion of counterparty risk associated with the Company’s derivative transactions.
We perform an ongoing analysis of our loan portfolio to evaluate whether there is any significant exposure to any concentrations of credit risk.
Based on this analysis, we believe that the loan portfolio is generally well diversified; however, due to the nature of the Company’s geographical footprint, there are certain significant concentrations primarily in CRE and energy-related lending.
Further, we cannot guarantee that we have fully understood or mitigated all risk concentrations or correlated risks.
We have adopted and adhere to concentration limits on various types of CRE lending, particularly construction and land development lending, leveraged lending, municipal lending, and energy-related lending.
All of these limits are continually monitored and revised as we judge appropriate.
These concentration limits, particularly the various types of CRE and real estate development loan limits, are materially lower than they were just prior to the emergence of the recent economic downturn.
Purchased Loans Background and Accounting We purchase loans in the ordinary course of business and account for them and the related interest income based on their performing status at the time of acquisition.
Purchased credit-impaired (“PCI”) loans have evidence of credit deterioration at the time of acquisition and it is probable that not all contractual payments will be collected.
Interest income for PCI loans is accounted for on an expected cash flow basis.
Certain other loans acquired by the Company that are not credit-impaired include loans with revolving privileges and are excluded from the PCI tabular disclosures following.
Interest income for these loans is accounted for on a contractual cash flow basis.
Certain acquired loans with similar characteristics such as risk exposure, type, size, etc.
, are grouped and accounted for in loan pools.
Outstanding Balances and Accretable Yield The outstanding balances of all required payments and the related carrying amounts for PCI loans are as follows:
## Table 1 ##
At the time of acquisition of PCI loans, we determine the loan’s contractually required payments in excess of all cash flows expected to be collected as an amount that should not be accreted (nonaccretable difference).
With respect to the cash flows expected to be collected, the portion representing the excess of the loan’s expected cash flows over our initial investment (accretable yield) is accreted into interest income on a level yield basis over the remaining expected life of the loan or pool of loans.
The effects of estimated prepayments are considered in estimating the expected cash flows.
Schedule 6 presents a comparison of the major components of noninterest expense for the past three years.
Schedule 6 NONINTEREST EXPENSE
## Table 2 ##
Salaries and employee benefits increased by 4.8% in 2014 compared to 2013, driven by a higher amount of salaries and bonuses.
The increase in base salaries resulted, in part, from increased headcount related to the Company’s major systems projects and build-out of its enterprise risk management and stress testing functions, partially offset by reductions elsewhere.
Staff involved in those projects tend to be in more highly compensated roles than positions in which reductions occurred.
At June 30, 2014, the Company’s headcount had increased to 10,536 full-time equivalent (“FTE”) employees from 10,452 at December 31, 2013.
During the third quarter of 2014, the Company incurred severance costs of approximately $5 million and reduced FTE employees to 10,462 as of December 31, 2014.
Salaries and employee benefits increased by 3.1% during 2013.
Most of the increase can be attributed to higher base salaries and bonuses, which were partially offset by decreased share-based compensation and lower retirement expense.
Salaries and employee benefits are shown in greater detail in Schedule 7.
Schedule 7 SALARIES AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
## Table 3 ##

<table><tr><td></td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td><td>2006</td></tr><tr><td>Balance at January 1</td><td>$—</td><td>$16</td><td>$2</td></tr><tr><td>Increase (decrease) in fair value</td><td>-9</td><td>-6</td><td>75</td></tr><tr><td>Reclassifications to earnings</td><td>2</td><td>-10</td><td>-61</td></tr><tr><td>Balance at December 31</td><td>$-7</td><td>$—</td><td>$16</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">December 31,</td></tr><tr><td>(In thousands)</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial</td><td>$104,942</td><td>$150,191</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial real estate</td><td>118,217</td><td>233,720</td></tr><tr><td>Consumer</td><td>17,910</td><td>28,608</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding balance</td><td>$241,069</td><td>$412,519</td></tr><tr><td>Carrying amount</td><td>$179,299</td><td>$311,797</td></tr><tr><td>Less ALLL</td><td>2,800</td><td>6,478</td></tr><tr><td>Carrying amount, net</td><td>$176,499</td><td>$305,319</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>(Amounts in millions)</td><td>2014</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2013</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2012</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries and employee benefits</td><td>$956.4</td><td>4.8%</td><td>$912.9</td><td>3.1%</td><td>$885.7</td></tr><tr><td>Occupancy, net</td><td>115.7</td><td>3.0</td><td>112.3</td><td>-0.5</td><td>112.9</td></tr><tr><td>Furniture, equipment and software</td><td>115.3</td><td>8.2</td><td>106.6</td><td>-2.2</td><td>109.0</td></tr><tr><td>Other real estate expense</td><td>-1.2</td><td>-170.6</td><td>1.7</td><td>-91.4</td><td>19.7</td></tr><tr><td>Credit-related expense</td><td>28.0</td><td>-16.7</td><td>33.6</td><td>-33.5</td><td>50.5</td></tr><tr><td>Provision for unfunded lending commitments</td><td>-8.6</td><td>49.7</td><td>-17.1</td><td>-488.6</td><td>4.4</td></tr><tr><td>Professional and legal services</td><td>66.0</td><td>-2.9</td><td>68.0</td><td>29.5</td><td>52.5</td></tr><tr><td>Advertising</td><td>25.1</td><td>7.3</td><td>23.4</td><td>-8.9</td><td>25.7</td></tr><tr><td>FDIC premiums</td><td>32.2</td><td>-15.3</td><td>38.0</td><td>-12.4</td><td>43.4</td></tr><tr><td>Amortization of core deposit and other intangibles</td><td>10.9</td><td>-24.3</td><td>14.4</td><td>-15.3</td><td>17.0</td></tr><tr><td>Debt extinguishment cost</td><td>44.4</td><td>-63.1</td><td>120.2</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Other</td><td>281.1</td><td>-6.4</td><td>300.4</td><td>9.2</td><td>275.2</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$1,665.3</td><td>-2.9</td><td>$1,714.4</td><td>7.4</td><td>$1,596.0</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>(Dollar amounts in millions)</td><td>2014</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2013</td><td>Percent change</td><td>2012</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries and bonuses</td><td>$814.2</td><td>5.3%</td><td>$773.4</td><td>3.7%</td><td>$745.7</td></tr><tr><td>Employee benefits:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Employee health and insurance</td><td>53.9</td><td>10.2</td><td>48.9</td><td>0.6</td><td>48.6</td></tr><tr><td>Retirement</td><td>35.0</td><td>-10.3</td><td>39.0</td><td>-4.4</td><td>40.8</td></tr><tr><td>Payroll taxes and other</td><td>53.3</td><td>3.3</td><td>51.6</td><td>2.0</td><td>50.6</td></tr><tr><td>Total benefits</td><td>142.2</td><td>1.9</td><td>139.5</td><td>-0.4</td><td>140.0</td></tr><tr><td>Total salaries and employee benefits</td><td>$956.4</td><td>4.8</td><td>$912.9</td><td>3.1</td><td>$885.7</td></tr><tr><td>Full-time equivalent (“FTE”) employees at December 31</td><td>10,462</td><td>0.1</td><td>10,452</td><td>0.8</td><td>10,368</td></tr></table>

Question: what was the percent change in balance of stockholder equity from the beginning to the end of 2006?
Answer: 7.0