american tower corporation and subsidiaries notes to consolidated financial statements 2014 ( continued ) stock-based compensation 2014the company complies with the provisions of sfas no .148 , 201caccounting for stock-based compensation 2014transition and disclosure 2014an amendment of sfas no .123 , 201d which provides optional transition guidance for those companies electing to voluntarily adopt the accounting provisions of sfas no .123 .the company continues to use accounting principles board opinion no .25 ( apb no .25 ) , 201caccounting for stock issued to employees , 201d to account for equity grants and awards to employees , officers and directors and has adopted the disclosure-only provisions of sfas no .148 .in accordance with apb no .25 , the company recognizes compensation expense based on the excess , if any , of the quoted stock price at the grant date of the award or other measurement date over the amount an employee must pay to acquire the stock .the company 2019s stock option plans are more fully described in note 13 .in december 2004 , the fasb issued sfas no .123r , 201cshare-based payment 201d ( sfas no .123r ) , described below .the following table illustrates the effect on net loss and net loss per share if the company had applied the fair value recognition provisions of sfas no .123 ( as amended ) to stock-based compensation .the estimated fair value of each option is calculated using the black-scholes option-pricing model ( in thousands , except per share amounts ) : .
[['', '2004', '2003', '2002'], ['net loss as reported', '$ -247587 ( 247587 )', '$ -325321 ( 325321 )', '$ -1163540 ( 1163540 )'], ['add : stock-based employee compensation expense associated with modifications net of related tax effect included in net loss asreported', '2297', '2077', ''], ['less : total stock-based employee compensation expense determined under fair value based method for all awards net of related taxeffect', '-23906 ( 23906 )', '-31156 ( 31156 )', '-38126 ( 38126 )'], ['pro-forma net loss', '$ -269196 ( 269196 )', '$ -354400 ( 354400 )', '$ -1201666 ( 1201666 )'], ['basic and diluted net loss per share 2014as reported', '$ -1.10 ( 1.10 )', '$ -1.56 ( 1.56 )', '$ -5.95 ( 5.95 )'], ['basic and diluted net loss per share pro-forma', '$ -1.20 ( 1.20 )', '$ -1.70 ( 1.70 )', '$ -6.15 ( 6.15 )']]
during the year ended december 31 , 2004 and 2003 , the company modified certain option awards to accelerate vesting and recorded charges of $ 3.0 million and $ 2.3 million , respectively , and corresponding increases to additional paid in capital in the accompanying consolidated financial statements .fair value of financial instruments 2014the carrying values of the company 2019s financial instruments , with the exception of long-term obligations , including current portion , reasonably approximate the related fair values as of december 31 , 2004 and 2003 .as of december 31 , 2004 , the carrying amount and fair value of long-term obligations , including current portion , were $ 3.3 billion and $ 3.6 billion , respectively .as of december 31 , 2003 , the carrying amount and fair value of long-term obligations , including current portion , were $ 3.4 billion and $ 3.6 billion , respectively .fair values are based primarily on quoted market prices for those or similar instruments .retirement plan 2014the company has a 401 ( k ) plan covering substantially all employees who meet certain age and employment requirements .under the plan , the company matching contribution for periods prior to june 30 , 2004 was 35% ( 35 % ) up to a maximum 5% ( 5 % ) of a participant 2019s contributions .effective july 1 , 2004 , the plan was amended to increase the company match to 50% ( 50 % ) up to a maximum 6% ( 6 % ) of a participant 2019s contributions .the company contributed approximately $ 533000 , $ 825000 and $ 979000 to the plan for the years ended december 31 , 2004 , 2003 and 2002 , respectively .recent accounting pronouncements 2014in december 2004 , the fasb issued sfas no .123r , which is a revision of sfas no .123 , 201caccounting for stock-based compensation , 201d and supersedes apb no .25 , accounting for .

Question: what was the percentage increase in the employee contribution from 2002 to 2003
Answer: -15.7%