Herbalife Ltd. Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Basis of Presentation - Additional Information (Detail)

Basis of Presentation - Additional Information (Detail) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($) sqft	Dec. 31, 2013 VEF	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 VEF	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 VEF	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($) sqft	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2014 New CADIVI rate [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Alternative Bolivar Exchange Mechanisms [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Alternative Bolivar Exchange Mechanisms [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Alternative Bolivar Exchange Mechanisms [Member] VEF	Mar. 31, 2013 Remeasurement of assets and liabilities using new CADIVI rate [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Devaluation of Bolivar Denominated Cash [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 CADIVI rate [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Buildings [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Buildings [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Land [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Land [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Minimum [Member] Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Minimum [Member] Building Improvements [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Maximum [Member] Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Maximum [Member] Building Improvements [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Venezuela [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Venezuela [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Venezuela [Member]	Jan. 31, 2014 Venezuela [Member] SITME [Member] USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2013 Venezuela [Member] SITME rate [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 Venezuela [Member] New CADIVI rate [Member]	Feb. 28, 2013 Venezuela [Member] Previous CADIVI rate [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Venezuela [Member] Minimum [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Venezuela [Member] Maximum [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 SICAD [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 SICAD [Member] CADIVI rate [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 SICAD [Member] CADIVI rate [Member] VEF	Sep. 30, 2014 SICAD II [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 SICAD II [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 SICAD II [Member] VEF	Dec. 31, 2014 SICAD II [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 SICAD II [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 SICAD II [Member] Selling, general and administrative expenses [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 SICAD I [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 SICAD I [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 SICAD I [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 SICAD I [Member] Selling, general and administrative expenses [Member] USD ($)
Subsidiary or Equity Method Investee [Line Items]
Foreign currency transaction losses				$ 219,000,000		$ 37,900,000		$ 16,700,000				$ 700,000	$ 4,800,000		$ 15,100,000	$ 16,900,000																					$ 500,000			$ 98,000,000	$ 700,000					$ 17,100,000	$ 200,000		$ 86,100,000
Cash and cash equivalents		333,500,000		645,400,000		973,000,000		333,500,000	258,800,000																			36,400,000	215,900,000
Receivables from credit card company				57,600,000us-gaap_CreditCardReceivables		72,800,000us-gaap_CreditCardReceivables
Bad-debt expense				2,200,000us-gaap_ProvisionForDoubtfulAccounts		2,100,000us-gaap_ProvisionForDoubtfulAccounts		2,900,000us-gaap_ProvisionForDoubtfulAccounts
Allowance for doubtful accounts				1,900,000		2,200,000
Amortization expense related to deferred financing costs				6,800,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfFinancingCosts		2,600,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfFinancingCosts		1,800,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfFinancingCosts
Square footage of facility purchased		800,000us-gaap_AreaOfRealEstateProperty						800,000us-gaap_AreaOfRealEstateProperty
Purchase price of facility		22,200,000us-gaap_PaymentsToAcquireRealEstate
Purchase price of facility																		18,800,000	18,800,000
Purchase price of facility																				3,400,000	3,400,000
Estimated useful life																		40 years					3 years	10 years		10 years	15 years
Capitalized internal-use software costs				158,800,000		140,600,000
Depreciation and amortization of property, plant and equipment				81,500,000us-gaap_Depreciation		81,100,000us-gaap_Depreciation		70,900,000us-gaap_Depreciation
Marketing related intangible assets		310,000,000		310,000,000		310,000,000		310,000,000
Goodwill				102,200,000us-gaap_Goodwill		105,500,000us-gaap_Goodwill
Additions to goodwill or marketing related intangible assets				0		0		0
Impairments of goodwill or marketing related intangible assets				0		0		0
Intangible assets with finite lives are amortized over their expected lives				2 years	2 years
Intangible assets with finite lives				400,000us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet		700,000us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
Amortization expense for finite life intangible assets				300,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets		400,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets		600,000us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets
Future amortization expense for 2015				300,000
Future amortization expense for 2016				100,000
Advertising costs				69,700,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense		57,900,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense		42,300,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense
Equity grants with anti-dilutive effect				2.7	2.7	3.0	3.0	4.0
Convertible notes initial conversion price				$ 86.28
Period of receiving anticipated returns				12 months	12 months
Allowance for product returns				4,300,000us-gaap_SalesAllowancesGoods		4,700,000us-gaap_SalesAllowancesGoods		3,900,000us-gaap_SalesAllowancesGoods
Product returns				7,300,000us-gaap_SalesReturnsGoods		9,700,000us-gaap_SalesReturnsGoods		11,100,000us-gaap_SalesReturnsGoods
SITME could only be used for amount per day																															50,000
SITME could only be used for amount per month																															350,000
Period to use denominated bonds																															90 days
Foreign currency exchange rate, Bolivars per USD																						180.0			200.0							5.3	6.3	4.3			11.3				56.2	56.2	50.0	50.0				10.7
Percentage of cumulative inflation rate										100.00%hlf_PercentageOfCumulativeInflationRate
Percent by which alternative legal exchange mechanism was less favorable than SITME													43.00%	43.00%
SITME rate for remeasurement													5.3	5.3
Currency exchanged through alternative legal exchange mechanisms						200,000	5,600,000						6,400,000	59,200,000																							600,000	1,100,000	6,800,000		100,000	5,300,000
Percent by which new CADIVI rate being less favorable than SITME	16.00%
CADIVI rate for remeasurement											6.3
Percent by which alternative legal exchange mechanism was less favorable than new CADIVI rate												75.00%
Reduction in cash and cash equivalents				(248,200,000)		(13,300,000)		3,100,000																											(26,300,000)	(27,300,000)				(102,500,000)								(96,000,000)
Inventory write-downs in cost of sales				24,500,000us-gaap_InventoryWriteDown		29,800,000us-gaap_InventoryWriteDown		11,400,000us-gaap_InventoryWriteDown																																					7,600,000
Long lived asset impairments																																													7,000,000
Net monetary Bolivar denominated assets and liabilities																												35,100,000	186,900,000
Purchase price of bonds invested in Bolivar denominated bonds			25,500,000	12,600,000	144,600,000	4,100,000											4,100,000
Other-than-temporary impairments relating to available-for-sale securities				$ 13,000,000		$ 0
Subsidiary's net sales to Company's consolidated net sales, percentage																												3.00%	6.00%	4.00%
Subsidiary asset as percentage of consolidated assets																												2.00%	10.00%