Table of Contents Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes The gross liability for unrecognized tax benefits at December 2, 2011 was $163.6 million, exclusive of interest and penalties.
The timing of the resolution of income tax examinations is highly uncertain as are the amounts and timing of tax payments that are part of any audit settlement process.
These events could cause large fluctuations in the balance sheet classification of current and non-current assets and liabilities.
We believe that within the next 12 months, it is reasonably possible that either certain audits will conclude or statutes of limitations on certain income tax examination periods will expire, or both.
Given the uncertainties described above, we can only determine a range of estimated potential decreases in underlying unrecognized tax benefits ranging from $0 to approximately $40 million.
Royalties We have certain royalty commitments associated with the shipment and licensing of certain products.
Royalty expense is generally based on a dollar amount per unit shipped or a percentage of the underlying revenue.
Guarantees The lease agreements for our corporate headquarters provide for residual value guarantees.
The fair value of a residual value guarantee in lease agreements entered into after December 31, 2002, must be recognized as a liability on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
As such, we recognized $5.2 million and $3.0 million in liabilities, related to the extended East and West Towers and Almaden Tower leases, respectively.
These liabilities are recorded in other long-term liabilities with the offsetting entry recorded as prepaid rent in other assets.
The balance will be amortized to our Consolidated Statements of Income over the life of the leases.
As of December 2, 2011 and December 3, 2010, the unamortized portion of the fair value of the residual value guarantees, for both leases, remaining in other long-term liabilities and prepaid rent was $0.1 million and $0.7 million, respectively.
Indemnifications In the normal course of business, we provide indemnifications of varying scope to customers against claims of intellectual property infringement made by third parties arising from the use of our products and from time to time, we are subject to claims by our customers under these indemnification provisions.
Historically, costs related to these indemnification provisions have not been significant and we are unable to estimate the maximum potential impact of these indemnification provisions on our future results of operations.
To the extent permitted under Delaware law, we have agreements whereby we indemnify our directors and officers for certain events or occurrences while the director or officer is or was serving at our request in such capacity.
The indemnification period covers all pertinent events and occurrences during the director's or officer's lifetime.
The maximum potential amount of future payments we could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is unlimited; however, we have director and officer insurance coverage that limits our exposure and enables us to recover a portion of any future amounts paid.
We believe the estimated fair value of these indemnification agreements in excess of applicable insurance coverage is minimal.
ITEM 7A.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK All market risk sensitive instruments were entered into for non-trading purposes.
Foreign Currency Risk Foreign Currency Hedging Instruments In countries outside the U. S. , we transact business in U. S.  dollars and various other currencies which subject us to exposure from movements in exchange rates.
We hedge our net recognized foreign currency assets and liabilities with foreign exchange forward contracts to reduce the risk that our earnings and cash flows will be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates.
Additionally, we may use foreign exchange option or forward contracts to hedge our Euro- , Yen-, or British Pound-denominated revenue.
Our revenue exposures for fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009 were as follows (in millions, except Yen):
## Table 0 ##
8.
RETIREMENT BENEFITS Pension and Postretirement Plans The Company has several non-contributory defined benefit pension plans covering certain U. S.  employees and has various defined benefit pension and termination indemnity plans covering employees outside the U. S.  The U. S.  qualified defined benefit plan was frozen effective January 1, 2008 for most employees.
Accordingly, no additional compensation-based contributions have been credited to the cash balance portion of the plan for existing plan participants after 2007.
However, certain employees covered under the prior final pay plan formula continue to accrue benefits.
The Company also offers postretirement health care and life insurance benefits to certain eligible U. S.  retired employees, as well as to certain eligible employees outside the U. S.  The Company also sponsors a number of non contributory, nonqualified pension plans.
These plans, which are unfunded, provide supplemental defined pension benefits to certain U. S.  employees.
With the exception of certain employees covered under the prior final pay plan formula, the benefits under these plans were frozen in prior years The plan obligations, plan assets and periodic plan expense for the Company鈥檚 most significant pension and postretirement benefit plans (Significant Plans) are measured and disclosed quarterly, instead of annually.
The Significant Plans captured approximately 90% of the Company鈥檚 global pension and postretirement plan obligations as of December 31, 2015.
All other plans (All Other Plans) are measured annually with a December 31 measurement date.
Net (Benefit) Expense The following table summarizes the components of net (benefit) expense recognized in the Consolidated Statement of Income for the Company鈥檚 pension and postretirement plans, for Significant Plans and All Other Plans, for the periods indicated.
## Table 1 ##
(1) Losses (gains) due to curtailment, settlement and special termination benefits relate to repositioning and divestiture actions.
(2) Cumulative effect of adopting quarterly measurement for Significant Plans.
The estimated net actuarial loss and prior service cost that will be amortized from Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) into net expense in 2016 are approximately $226 million and $1 million, respectively, for defined benefit pension plans.
For postretirement plans, the estimated 2016 net actuarial loss and prior service cost (benefit) amortizations are approximately $35 million and $(11) million, respectively.
Net Operating Revenues Year Ended December 31, 2015 versus Year Ended December 31, 2014 The Company’s net operating revenues decreased $1,704 million, or 4 percent.
The following table illustrates, on a percentage basis, the estimated impact of key factors resulting in the increase (decrease) in net operating revenues for each of our operating segments:
## Table 2 ##
* Calculation is not meaningful.1 Represents the percent change in net operating revenues attributable to the increase (decrease) in concentrate sales volume for our geographic operating segments (expressed in equivalent unit cases) after considering the impact of structural changes.
For our Bottling Investments operating segment, this represents the percent change in net operating revenues attributable to the increase (decrease) in unit case volume after considering the impact of structural changes.
Our Bottling Investments operating segment data reflects unit case volume growth for consolidated bottlers only.
Refer to the heading "Beverage Volume" above.
Refer to the heading “Beverage Volume” above for additional information related to changes in our unit case and concentrate sales volumes.
“Acquisitions and Divestitures” refers to acquisitions and divestitures of brands or businesses, some of which the Company considers to be structural changes.
Refer to the heading “Structural Changes, Acquired Brands and Newly Licensed Brands” above for additional information related to the structural changes.
The acquisitions and divestitures percent change for 2015 versus 2014 in the table above consisted entirely of structural changes.
Price, product and geographic mix had a favorable 2 percent impact on our consolidated net operating revenues.
Price, product and geographic mix was impacted by a variety of factors and events including, but not limited to, the following: ?
Eurasia and Africa — favorable price mix in most of the segment’s business units, partially offset by unfavorable geographic mix; ?
Latin America — favorable price mix in all four of the segment’s business units and the impact of inflationary environments in certain markets; ?
North America — favorably impacted as a result of price increases and package mix; ?
Asia Pacific — unfavorable product and channel mix as well as unfavorable geographic mix; and ?
Bottling Investments — unfavorable price mix attributable to channel, product and package mix.
The unfavorable impact of foreign currency fluctuations decreased our consolidated net operating revenues by 7 percent.
This unfavorable impact was primarily due to a stronger U. S.  dollar compared to certain foreign currencies, including the South African rand, euro, U. K.  pound sterling, Brazilian real, Mexican peso, Australian dollar and Japanese yen, which had an unfavorable impact on our Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Bottling Investments operating segments.
Refer to the heading “Liquidity, Capital Resources and Financial Position — Foreign Exchange” below.
Net operating revenue growth rates are impacted by sales volume; acquisitions and divestitures; price, product and geographic mix; and foreign currency fluctuations.
The size and timing of acquisitions and divestitures are not consistent from period to period.
The Company currently expects acquisitions and divestitures to have a mid single-digit unfavorable impact on full year 2016 net operating revenues.
Based on current spot rates and our hedging coverage in place, we expect currencies will continue to have an unfavorable impact on our full year 2016 net operating revenues.
measured from the period beginning June 30, 2001 and ending the most recent fiscal quarter in which financial statements are internally available.
We are restricted in our ability to pay dividends by the covenants contained in the revolving credit facility.
Our declaration of dividends is also subject to Cayman Islands law and the discretion of our board of directors.
Under the terms of the Seagate Technology shareholders agreement (which was amended on September 2, 2004) at least seven members of our board of directors must approve the payment of dividends in excess of 15% of our net income in the prior fiscal year (provided that such consent is not required to declare and pay our regular quarterly dividend of up to $0.10 per share).
In deciding whether or not to declare quarterly dividends, our directors will take into account such factors as general business conditions within the disc drive industry, our financial results, our capital requirements, contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends by our subsidiaries to us or by us to our shareholders, the impact of paying dividends on our credit ratings and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant.
Since the closing of our initial public offering in December 2002, we have paid dividends, pursuant to our quarterly dividend policy totaling approximately $604 million in the aggregate.
The following are dividends paid in the last two fiscal years:

Tables referenced above, in order (Table 0 first):
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">Fiscal2011</td><td colspan="2">Fiscal2010</td><td colspan="2">Fiscal2009</td></tr><tr><td>Euro</td><td>€</td><td>557.6</td><td>€</td><td>542.9</td><td>€</td><td>504.3</td></tr><tr><td>Yen (in billions)</td><td>¥</td><td>34.7</td><td>¥</td><td>35.6</td><td>¥</td><td>30.3</td></tr><tr><td>British Pounds</td><td>£</td><td>144.8</td><td>£</td><td>123.9</td><td>£</td><td>—</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="6">Pension plans</td><td colspan="6">Postretirement benefit plans</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">U.S. plans</td><td colspan="3">Non-U.S. plans</td><td colspan="3">U.S. plans</td><td colspan="3">Non-U.S. plans</td></tr><tr><td>In millions of dollars</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td></tr><tr><td>Qualified plans</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Benefits earned during the year</td><td>$4</td><td>$6</td><td>$8</td><td>$168</td><td>$178</td><td>$210</td><td>$—</td><td>$—</td><td>$—</td><td>$12</td><td>$15</td><td>$43</td></tr><tr><td>Interest cost on benefit obligation</td><td>553</td><td>541</td><td>538</td><td>317</td><td>376</td><td>384</td><td>33</td><td>33</td><td>33</td><td>108</td><td>120</td><td>146</td></tr><tr><td>Expected return on plan assets</td><td>-893</td><td>-878</td><td>-863</td><td>-323</td><td>-384</td><td>-396</td><td>-3</td><td>-1</td><td>-2</td><td>-105</td><td>-121</td><td>-133</td></tr><tr><td>Amortization of unrecognized</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Prior service (benefit) cost</td><td>-3</td><td>-3</td><td>-4</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>-1</td><td>-11</td><td>-12</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Net actuarial loss</td><td>139</td><td>105</td><td>104</td><td>73</td><td>77</td><td>95</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>43</td><td>39</td><td>45</td></tr><tr><td>Curtailment loss (gain)<sup>(1)</sup></td><td>14</td><td>—</td><td>21</td><td>—</td><td>14</td><td>4</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>-1</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Settlement loss (gain)<sup>(1)</sup></td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>44</td><td>53</td><td>13</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr><td>Special termination benefits<sup>-1</sup></td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>9</td><td>8</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Net qualified plans (benefit) expense</td><td>$-186</td><td>$-229</td><td>$-196</td><td>$281</td><td>$324</td><td>$322</td><td>$30</td><td>$32</td><td>$30</td><td>$46</td><td>$41</td><td>$100</td></tr><tr><td>Nonqualified plans expense</td><td>43</td><td>45</td><td>46</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Cumulative effect of change in accounting policy<sup>-2</sup></td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>-23</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Total net (benefit) expense</td><td>$-143</td><td>$-184</td><td>$-173</td><td>$281</td><td>$324</td><td>$322</td><td>$30</td><td>$32</td><td>$30</td><td>$46</td><td>$41</td><td>$103</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="5">Percent Change 2015 vs. 2014</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Volume 1</td><td>Acquisitions & Divestitures</td><td>Price, Product & Geographic Mix</td><td>Currency Fluctuations</td><td>Total</td></tr><tr><td>Consolidated</td><td>1%</td><td>—%</td><td>2%</td><td>-7%</td><td>-4%</td></tr><tr><td>Eurasia & Africa</td><td>2%</td><td>-1%</td><td>3%</td><td>-14%</td><td>-10%</td></tr><tr><td>Europe</td><td>2</td><td>-1</td><td>1</td><td>-9</td><td>-7</td></tr><tr><td>Latin America</td><td>1</td><td>—</td><td>9</td><td>-23</td><td>-13</td></tr><tr><td>North America</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td><td>3</td><td>-1</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Asia Pacific</td><td>2</td><td>—</td><td>-3</td><td>-8</td><td>-9</td></tr><tr><td>Bottling Investments</td><td>6</td><td>3</td><td>-3</td><td>-10</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr><td>Corporate</td><td>*</td><td>*</td><td>*</td><td>*</td><td>*</td></tr></table>

Question: Does the average value of Interest cost on benefit obligation in U.S. plans greater than that in Non-U.S. plans?
Answer: yes