AMERICAN TOWER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued) 3.00% Convertible Notes—During the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007, the Company issued an aggregate of approximately 8.9 million and 973 shares of Common Stock, respectively, upon conversion of $182.8 million and $0.02 million principal amount, respectively, of 3.00% Notes.
Pursuant to the terms of the indenture, holders of the 3.00% Notes are entitled to receive 48.7805 shares of Common Stock for every $1,000 principal amount of notes converted.
In connection with the conversions in 2008, the Company paid such holders an aggregate of approximately $4.7 million, calculated based on the discounted value of the future interest payments on the notes, which is reflected in loss on retirement of long-term obligations in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2008.14.
IMPAIRMENTS, NET LOSS ON SALE OF LONG-LIVED ASSETS, RESTRUCTURING AND MERGER RELATED EXPENSE The significant components reflected in impairments, net loss on sale of long-lived assets, restructuring and merger related expense in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations include the following: Impairments and Net Loss on Sale of Long-Lived Assets—During the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006, the Company recorded impairments and net loss on sale of long-lived assets (primarily related to its rental and management segment) of $11.2 million, $9.2 million and $2.6 million, respectively.
During the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively, the Company recorded net losses associated with the sales of certain non-core towers and other assets, as well as impairment charges to write-down certain assets to net realizable value after an indicator of impairment had been identified.
As a result, the Company recorded net losses and impairments of approximately $10.5 million, $7.1 million and $2.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively.
The net loss for the year ended December 31, 2008 is comprised of net losses from asset sales and other impairments of $10.7 million, offset by gains from asset sales of $0.2 million.
The net loss for the year ended December 31, 2007 is comprised of net losses from asset sales and other impairments of $7.8 million, offset by gains from asset sales of $0.7 million.
Merger Related Expense—During the year ended December 31, 2005, the Company assumed certain obligations, as a result of the merger with SpectraSite, Inc. , primarily related to employee separation costs of former SpectraSite employees.
Severance payments made to former SpectraSite, Inc.  employees were subject to plans and agreements established by SpectraSite, Inc.  and assumed by the Company in connection with the merger.
These costs were recognized as an assumed liability in the purchase price allocation.
In addition, the Company also incurred certain merger related costs for additional employee retention and separation costs incurred during the year ended December 31, 2006.
The following table displays the activity with respect to this accrued liability for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006 (in thousands):
## Table 0 ##
As of December 31, 2008, the Company had paid all of these merger related liabilities.
The loss from discontinued operations for the year ended December 31, 2007 is primarily due to the settlement of the Verestar bankruptcy proceedings and related litigation and the related tax effects.
In November 2007, following approval by the bankruptcy court, the Verestar settlement agreement became effective, we paid the $32.0 million settlement amount and the litigation was dismissed.
In connection with the approval of the settlement agreement by the bankruptcy court and the dismissal of the bankruptcy proceedings and related litigation, we determined that the benefits from certain of Verestar’s net operating losses would more likely than not be recoverable by us.
We had not previously recorded these tax benefits related to net operating losses generated from the operations of Verestar and used by us because our ability to realize such benefits was potentially impacted by the bankruptcy proceedings and related litigation that had yet to be resolved.
Accordingly, in November 2007, we recorded $5.6 million of additional tax benefits related to Verestar.
We also recorded a tax provision of $10.7 million in loss from discontinued operations, net during the three months ended December 31, 2007 to write off deferred tax assets associated with Verestar that should have been written off in 2002 and removed from the consolidated balance sheet when Verestar was deconsolidated upon its bankruptcy filing in December 2003.
Liquidity and Capital Resources Overview As a holding company, our cash flows are derived primarily from the operations of and distributions from our operating subsidiaries or funds raised through borrowings under our credit facilities and debt and equity offerings.
As of December 31, 2008, we had approximately $638.2 million of total liquidity, comprised of approximately $143.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and the ability to borrow approximately $495.1 million under our Revolving Credit Facility.
As of December 31, 2008, our cash and cash equivalents increased by $110.0 million as compared to December 31, 2007.
Summary cash flow information for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006 is set forth below.
## Table 1 ##
We use our cash flows to fund our operations and investments in our business, including tower maintenance and improvements, tower construction and DAS network installations, and tower and land acquisitions.
During the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007, we also used a significant amount of our cash flows to fund refinancing and repurchases of our outstanding indebtedness, as well as our stock repurchase programs.
By refinancing and repurchasing a portion of our outstanding indebtedness, we improved our financial position, which increased our financial flexibility and our ability to return value to our stockholders.
Our significant transactions in 2008 included the following: ?
We entered into a new $325.0 million Term Loan pursuant to our Revolving Credit Facility and used the net proceeds, together with available cash, to repay $325.0 million of existing indebtedness under the Revolving Credit Facility.  ?
We reduced the amount of indebtedness outstanding under our convertible notes through conversions of approximately $201.1 million face amount of convertible notes into shares of our Common Stock.
ITEM 6.
SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA You should read the selected financial data in conjunction with our “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report.
In accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”), the consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented in this “Selected Financial Data” have been adjusted to reflect certain businesses as discontinued operations (see note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report).
Year-over-year comparisons are significantly affected by our acquisitions, dispositions and, to a lesser extent, construction of towers.
## Table 2 ##

<table><tr><td></td><td>Liability  as of December 31, 2005</td><td>2006 Expense</td><td>2006 Cash Payments</td><td>Other</td><td>Liability  as of December 31, 2006</td><td>2007 Expense</td><td>2007 Cash Payments</td><td>Other</td><td>Liability  as of December 31, 2007</td><td>2008 Expense</td><td>2008 Cash Payments</td><td>Other</td><td>Liability  as of December 31, 2008</td></tr><tr><td>Employee separations</td><td>$20,963</td><td>$496</td><td>$-12,389</td><td>$-1,743</td><td>$7,327</td><td>$633</td><td>$-6,110</td><td>$-304</td><td>$1,546</td><td>$284</td><td>$-1,901</td><td>$71</td><td>—</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td rowspan="2"></td><td colspan="3">Year Ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td>2008</td><td>2007</td><td>2006</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by (used for):</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Operating activities</td><td>$773,258</td><td>$692,679</td><td>$620,738</td></tr><tr><td>Investing activities</td><td>-274,940</td><td>-186,180</td><td>-129,112</td></tr><tr><td>Financing activities</td><td>-388,172</td><td>-754,640</td><td>-323,063</td></tr><tr><td>Net effect of changes in exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents</td><td>-192</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents</td><td>$109,954</td><td>$-248,141</td><td>$168,563</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="5">Year Ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2010</td><td>2009</td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td><td>2006</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="5">(In thousands, except per share data)</td></tr><tr><td> Statements of Operations Data:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Revenues:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Rental and management</td><td>$1,936,373</td><td>$1,668,420</td><td>$1,547,035</td><td>$1,425,975</td><td>$1,294,068</td></tr><tr><td>Network development services</td><td>48,962</td><td>55,694</td><td>46,469</td><td>30,619</td><td>23,317</td></tr><tr><td>Total operating revenues</td><td>1,985,335</td><td>1,724,114</td><td>1,593,504</td><td>1,456,594</td><td>1,317,385</td></tr><tr><td>Operating expenses:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Cost of operations (exclusive of items shown separately below)</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Rental and management</td><td>447,629</td><td>383,990</td><td>363,024</td><td>343,450</td><td>332,246</td></tr><tr><td>Network development services</td><td>26,957</td><td>32,385</td><td>26,831</td><td>16,172</td><td>11,291</td></tr><tr><td>Depreciation, amortization and accretion-1</td><td>460,726</td><td>414,619</td><td>405,332</td><td>522,928</td><td>528,051</td></tr><tr><td>Selling, general, administrative and development expense</td><td>229,769</td><td>201,694</td><td>180,374</td><td>186,483</td><td>159,324</td></tr><tr><td>Other operating expenses</td><td>35,876</td><td>19,168</td><td>11,189</td><td>9,198</td><td>2,572</td></tr><tr><td>Total operating expenses</td><td>1,200,957</td><td>1,051,856</td><td>986,750</td><td>1,078,231</td><td>1,033,484</td></tr><tr><td>Operating income</td><td>784,378</td><td>672,258</td><td>606,754</td><td>378,363</td><td>283,901</td></tr><tr><td>Interest income, TV Azteca, net</td><td>14,212</td><td>14,210</td><td>14,253</td><td>14,207</td><td>14,208</td></tr><tr><td>Interest income</td><td>5,024</td><td>1,722</td><td>3,413</td><td>10,848</td><td>9,002</td></tr><tr><td>Interest expense</td><td>-246,018</td><td>-249,803</td><td>-253,584</td><td>-235,824</td><td>-215,643</td></tr><tr><td>Loss on retirement of long-term obligations</td><td>-1,886</td><td>-18,194</td><td>-4,904</td><td>-35,429</td><td>-27,223</td></tr><tr><td>Other income</td><td>315</td><td>1,294</td><td>5,988</td><td>20,675</td><td>6,619</td></tr><tr><td>Income before income taxes and income on equity method investments</td><td>556,025</td><td>421,487</td><td>371,920</td><td>152,840</td><td>70,864</td></tr><tr><td>Income tax provision</td><td>-182,489</td><td>-182,565</td><td>-135,509</td><td>-59,809</td><td>-41,768</td></tr><tr><td>Income on equity method investments</td><td>40</td><td>26</td><td>22</td><td>19</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>Income from continuing operations</td><td>373,576</td><td>238,948</td><td>236,433</td><td>93,050</td><td>29,122</td></tr><tr><td>Income (loss) from discontinued operations</td><td>30</td><td>8,179</td><td>110,982</td><td>-36,396</td><td>-854</td></tr><tr><td>Net income</td><td>373,606</td><td>247,127</td><td>347,415</td><td>56,654</td><td>28,268</td></tr><tr><td>Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest</td><td>-670</td><td>-532</td><td>-169</td><td>-338</td><td>-784</td></tr><tr><td>Net income attributable to American Tower Corporation</td><td>$372,936</td><td>$246,595</td><td>$347,246</td><td>$56,316</td><td>$27,484</td></tr><tr><td>Basic income per common share from continuing operations attributable to American Tower Corporation-2</td><td>$0.93</td><td>$0.60</td><td>$0.60</td><td>$0.22</td><td>$0.06</td></tr><tr><td>Diluted income per common share from continuing operations attributable to American Tower Corporation-2</td><td>$0.92</td><td>$0.59</td><td>$0.58</td><td>$0.22</td><td>$0.06</td></tr><tr><td>Weight average common shares outstanding-2</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Basic</td><td>401,152</td><td>398,375</td><td>395,947</td><td>413,167</td><td>424,525</td></tr><tr><td>Diluted</td><td>404,072</td><td>406,948</td><td>418,357</td><td>426,079</td><td>436,217</td></tr><tr><td> Other Operating Data:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ratio of earnings to fixed charges-3</td><td>2.65x</td><td>2.27x</td><td>2.12x</td><td>1.50x</td><td>1.25x</td></tr></table>

Question: as a result of the sales of certain non-core towers and other assets what was the percent of the change in the recorded net losses from 2007 to 2008
Answer: 0.47887