Stock-based Compensation

Stock Compensation Plans

Pursuant to stockholder approved plans, the Company has and is permitted to grant stock-based awards to certain employees, consultants or non-employee directors of the Company and its subsidiaries or affiliates. As of December 31, 2013, the Company has 12.5 million shares available for future issuance pursuant to its 2013 stock compensation plan.

Restricted Stock Awards

The restricted stock awards granted to certain executives and employees include (1) annual performance awards that often include provisions for forfeiture by the employee if certain market performance of the Company's common stock is not achieved, (2) new hire or promotional awards that generally contain only service conditions, or (3) other awards related to specific business initiatives or compensation objectives including retention and merger integration. Such restricted stock awards vest over periods of up to five years.

The following is a summary of the restricted stock award activity during the year ended December 31, 2013.



	Number of Shares		Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
	(In thousands of shares)		(In dollars per share)
Shares outstanding at the beginning of year	2,343		$	34.2
Shares granted	958		46.4
Shares vested	(978	)	33.5
Shares forfeited	(41	)	46.8
Shares outstanding at end of year	2,282		$	39.4

For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, the Company granted 1.0 million shares, 1.0 million shares, and 0.9 million shares, respectively, of restricted stock awards to the Company's executives and certain other employees. The weighted-average grant-date fair value per share of the grants for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011 was $46.37, $38.82, and $37.05 per share, respectively. The weighted-average requisite service period for the restricted stock awards granted during 2013 was 2.6 years.

During the year ended December 31, 2013, the Company granted 0.5 million shares of restricted stock awards that time vest over a three-year or five-year period. During the year ended December 31, 2013, the Company granted 0.5 million shares of restricted stock awards to the Company's executives and certain other employees which may vest on the third anniversary of the grant date based upon achieving a price appreciation hurdle along a price range continuum using the highest average closing price per share of common stock for 20 consecutive trading days during the last 180 days of the performance period.

Certain restricted stock awards contain provisions that result in forfeiture by the employee of any unvested shares in the event that the Company's common stock does not achieve certain price targets. To the extent that the requisite service is rendered, compensation cost for accounting purposes is not reversed; rather, it is recognized regardless of whether or not the market performance target is achieved.

The following table summarizes the assumptions used in the Monte Carlo simulation to determine the grant-date fair value for the awards granted during the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively, with market conditions.



	Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012		2011
Risk-free rate	0.4	%	0.4	%	1.4	%
Expected volatility	23	%	31	%	48	%
Expected dividend rate	—	%	—	%	—	%

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to restricted stock awards of $37.8 million, $32.7 million, and $31.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively. The unrecognized compensation (net of estimated forfeitures) related to restricted stock awards at December 31, 2013 is $33.2 million and is estimated to be recognized over a weighted-average period of less than one year.

The following table is a summary of the restricted stock awards vested during the three years ended December 31, 2013.



Years Ended December 31,	Total Shares Vested	Fair Value on Vesting Date
	(In thousands of shares)
2013	978	$	66,666
2012	1,974	101,692
2011	1,717	74,754

CCAL Awards

CCAL may award to its employees and directors restricted units settled in cash. The CCAL vested options for the purchase of CCAL shares, vested restricted units, or CCAL shares may be periodically settled in cash. As of December 31, 2013 and 2012, the liability for the CCAL options and restricted units was $8.1 million and $11.7 million, respectively.

Stock-based Compensation by Segment

The following table discloses the components of stock-based compensation expense. For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, the Company recorded tax benefits, exclusive of the change in the valuation allowance and the impact of the REIT election, of $14.5 million, $14.7 million, and $11.4 million, respectively, related to stock-based compensation expense (see note 10).



	Year Ended December 31, 2013
	CCUSA		CCAL		Consolidated Total
Stock-based compensation expense:
Site rental costs of operations	$	1,193	$	—	$	1,193
Network services and other costs of operations	1,799		—		1,799
General and administrative expenses	36,038		2,758		38,796
Total stock-based compensation	$	39,030	$	2,758	$	41,788
	Year Ended December 31, 2012
	CCUSA		CCAL		Consolidated Total
Stock-based compensation expense:
Site rental costs of operations	$	3,401	$	—	$	3,401
Network services and other costs of operations	2,721		—		2,721
General and administrative expenses	35,822		5,597		41,419
Total stock-based compensation	$	41,944	$	5,597	$	47,541
	Year Ended December 31, 2011
	CCUSA		CCAL		Consolidated Total
Stock-based compensation expense:
Site rental costs of operations	$	942	$	—	$	942
Network services and other costs of operations	1,555		—		1,555
General and administrative expenses	30,113		3,381		33,494
Total stock-based compensation	$	32,610	$	3,381	$	35,991