investment advisory revenues earned on the other investment portfolios that we manage decreased $ 44 million , or 8.5% ( 8.5 % ) , to $ 477.8 million in 2009 . average assets in these portfolios were $ 129.5 billion during 2009 , down $ 12.6 billion or 9% ( 9 % ) from 2008 . other investment portfolio assets under management increased $ 46.7 billion during 2009 , including $ 36.5 billion in market gains and income and $ 10.2 billion of net inflows , primarily from institutional investors . net inflows include $ 1.3 billion transferred from the stock and blended asset mutual funds during 2009 . administrative fees decreased $ 35 million , or 10% ( 10 % ) , to $ 319 million in 2009 . this change includes a $ 4 million decrease in 12b-1 distribution and service fees recognized on lower average assets under management in the advisor and r classes of our sponsored mutual funds and a $ 31 million reduction in our mutual fund servicing revenue , which is primarily attributable to our cost reduction efforts in the mutual fund and retirement plan servicing functions . changes in administrative fees are generally offset by similar changes in related operating expenses that are incurred to provide services to the funds and their investors . our largest expense , compensation and related costs , decreased $ 42 million , or 5% ( 5 % ) , from 2008 to $ 773 million in 2009 . the largest part of this decrease is attributable to a $ 19 million reduction in our annual bonus program . reductions in the use of outside contractors lowered 2009 costs $ 14 million with the remainder of the cost savings primarily attributable to the workforce reduction and lower employee benefits and other employment expenses . average headcount in 2009 was down 5.4% ( 5.4 % ) from 2008 due to attrition , retirements and our workforce reduction in april 2009 . advertising and promotion expenditures were down $ 31 million , or 30% ( 30 % ) , versus 2008 due to our decision to reduce spending in response to lower investor activity in the 2009 market environment . depreciation expense and other occupancy and facility costs together increased $ 4 million , or 2.5% ( 2.5 % ) compared to 2008 , as we moderated or delayed our capital spending and facility growth plans . other operating expenses decreased $ 33 million , or 18% ( 18 % ) from 2008 , including a decline of $ 4 million in distribution and service expenses recognized on lower average assets under management in our advisor and r classes of mutual fund shares that are sourced from financial intermediaries . our cost control efforts resulted in the remaining expense reductions , including lower professional fees and travel and related costs . our non-operating investment activity resulted in net losses of $ 12.7 million in 2009 and $ 52.3 million in 2008 . the improvement of nearly $ 40 million is primarily attributable to a reduction in the other than temporary impairments recognized on our investments in sponsored mutual funds in 2009 versus 2008 . the following table details our related mutual fund investment gains and losses ( in millions ) during the two years ended december 31 , 2009. .

1	2008	2009	change
2	other than temporary impairments recognized	$ -91.3 ( 91.3 )	$ -36.1 ( 36.1 )	$ 55.2
3	capital gain distributions received	5.6	2.0	-3.6 ( 3.6 )
4	net gain ( loss ) realized on fund dispositions	-4.5 ( 4.5 )	7.4	11.9
5	net loss recognized on fund holdings	$ -90.2 ( 90.2 )	$ -26.7 ( 26.7 )	$ 63.5

lower income of $ 16 million from our money market holdings due to the significantly lower interest rate environment offset the improvement experienced with our fund investments . the 2009 provision for income taxes as a percentage of pretax income is 37.1% ( 37.1 % ) , down from 38.4% ( 38.4 % ) in 2008 . our 2009 provision includes reductions of prior years 2019 tax provisions and discrete nonrecurring benefits that lowered our 2009 effective tax rate by 1.0% ( 1.0 % ) . c a p i t a l r e s o u r c e s a n d l i q u i d i t y . during 2010 , stockholders 2019 equity increased from $ 2.9 billion to $ 3.3 billion . we repurchased nearly 5.0 million common shares for $ 240.0 million in 2010 . tangible book value is $ 2.6 billion at december 31 , 2010 , and our cash and cash equivalents and our mutual fund investment holdings total more than $ 1.5 billion . given the availability of these financial resources , we do not maintain an available external source of liquidity . t . rowe price group annual report 2010 .

Question: between the years of 2008 and 2009, what was the variation in the capital gain distributions?
Answer: -2.7