Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Significant Accounting Policies

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Significant Accounting Policies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Significant Accounting Policies

2. Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The unaudited interim financial information of the Company has been prepared in accordance with Article 10 of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s, or the SEC, Regulation S-X. Accordingly, it does not include all of the information required by generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S., or U.S. GAAP, for complete financial statements. The condensed consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2011 was derived from the audited financial statements at that date and does not include all the disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2012, and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, include Herbalife and all of its direct and indirect subsidiaries. In the opinion of management, the accompanying financial information contains all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, necessary to present fairly the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2012, and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, or the 2011 10-K. Operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2012.

Venezuela

Currency restrictions enacted by the Venezuelan government in 2003 have become more restrictive and have impacted the ability of the Company’s subsidiary in Venezuela, Herbalife Venezuela, to obtain U.S. dollars in exchange for Venezuelan Bolivars, or Bolivars, at the official foreign exchange rates from the Venezuelan government and its foreign exchange commission, CADIVI. The application and approval processes have been intermittently delayed and the timing and ability to obtain U.S. dollars at the official exchange rates remains uncertain. Effective January 1, 2012, additional laws were enacted that required companies to register with the Registry of Users of the System of Transactions with Securities in Foreign Currency, or RUSITME, prior to transacting with the SITME, the regulated system, which is controlled by the Central Bank of Venezuela. As an alternative exchange mechanism, the Company has participated in certain bond offerings from the Venezuelan government and from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, a Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company, where the Company effectively purchased bonds with its Bolivars and then sold the bonds for U.S. dollars. In other instances, the Company has also used alternative legal exchange mechanisms for currency exchanges.

During the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, the Company recognized $2.0 million and $4.1 million of foreign exchange losses, respectively, as a result of exchanging Bolivars to U.S. dollars using alternative legal exchange mechanisms that were approximately 41% less favorable than the 5.3 Bolivars per U.S. dollar published SITME rate for both periods. During the six months ended June 30, 2012, the Company has exchanged 53.9 million Bolivars for $6.0 million U.S. dollars using these alternative legal exchange mechanisms. As of June 30, 2012, Herbalife Venezuela’s net monetary assets and liabilities denominated in Bolivars were approximately $50.4 million, and included approximately $52.6 million in Bolivar denominated cash and cash equivalents. The majority of these Bolivar denominated assets and liabilities were remeasured at the SITME rate. The Company continues to remeasure its Bolivars at the published SITME rate given the limited availability of alternative exchange mechanisms and the uncertainty in the effective exchange rate for alternative exchange mechanisms. These remeasured amounts, including cash and cash equivalents, being reported on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet using the published SITME rate may not accurately represent the amount of U.S. dollars that the Company could ultimately realize. Although Venezuela is an important market in the Company’s South and Central America region, Herbalife Venezuela’s net sales represented approximately 3% and 2% of the Company’s consolidated net sales for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and its total assets represented approximately 5% and 3% of the Company’s consolidated total assets as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

See the Company’s 2011 10-K for further information on Herbalife Venezuela and Venezuela’s highly inflationary economy.