to pay a third party to assume the support obligation. We do not include any costs associated with selling efforts or research and development or the related fulfillment margins on these costs. Profit associated with any selling efforts is excluded because the acquired entities would have concluded those selling efforts on the support contracts prior to the acquisition date. We also do not include the estimated research and development costs in our fair value determinations, as these costs are not deemed to represent a legal obligation at the time of acquisition.

 

As a result, we did not recognize software license updates and product support revenues related to support contracts in the amounts of $179 million, $212 million and $391 million that would have been otherwise recorded by the acquired businesses as independent entities in fiscal 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively. Historically, substantially all of our customers, including customers from acquired companies, renew their contracts when the contracts are eligible for renewal. To the extent these underlying support contracts are renewed, we will recognize the revenues for the full value of the support contracts over the support periods, the substantial majority of which are one year.

 

Had we included costs for our estimated selling and research and development activities and the associated margin for unspecified product upgrades and enhancements to be provided under our assumed support arrangements, the fair values of the support obligations would have been significantly higher than what we had recorded and we would have recorded a higher amount of software license updates and product support revenues both historically and in future periods related to these assumed support arrangements.



Other significant estimates associated with the accounting for business combinations include restructuring costs. Restructuring costs are typically comprised of severance costs, costs of consolidating duplicate facilities and contract termination costs. Restructuring expenses are based upon plans that have been committed to by management, but are generally subject to refinement during the purchase price allocation period (generally within one year of the acquisition date). To estimate restructuring expenses, management utilizes assumptions of the number of employees that would be involuntarily terminated and of future costs to operate and eventually vacate duplicate facilities. Estimated restructuring expenses may change as management executes the approved plan. Decreases to the cost estimates of executing the currently approved plans associated with pre-merger activities of the companies we acquire are recorded as an adjustment to goodwill indefinitely, whereas increases to the estimates are recorded as an adjustment to goodwill during the purchase price allocation period and as operating expenses thereafter.

 

For a given acquisition, we may identify certain pre-acquisition contingencies. If, during the purchase price allocation period, we are able to determine the fair value of a pre-acquisition contingency, we will include that amount in the purchase price allocation. If, as of the end of