million of cash and cash equivalents were held by our foreign subsidiaries. If these funds are needed for our operations in the U.S., we would be required to accrue and pay U.S. income taxes and foreign withholding taxes on the amount associated with undistributed earnings for certain foreign subsidiaries. See Note 10 of Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data for additional information.

On June 11, 2010, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program allowing us to repurchase $300.0 million of our common stock through the end of 2012. Under this plan, we repurchased $259.0 million. At December 31, 2012, this authorization expired and the remaining $41.0 million was not used.

Free Cash Flow

We define free cash flow as cash provided by operating and investing activities excluding the non-operational cash flows from purchases, maturities and sales of short-term investments. We believe free cash flow is an important liquidity metric because it measures, during a given period, the amount of cash generated that is available to repay debt obligations, make investments and for certain other activities. Free cash flow is considered a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, net income, operating income, cash flow provided by operating activities, or any other measure of financial performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP.

In assessing liquidity in relation to our results of operations, we compare free cash flow to net income, noting that the three major recurring differences are excess content payments over expenses, non-cash stock-based compensation expense and other working capital differences which include deferred revenue, taxes and semi-annual interest payments on outstanding debt. Our receivables from members settle quickly and deferred revenue is a source of cash flow. For streaming content, we typically enter into multi-year licenses with various content providers that may result in an increase in content library and a corresponding increase in liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The payment terms for these license fees may extend over the term of the license agreements, which typically range from six months to five years.

Cash provided by operating activities increased $76.2 million, primarily due to an increase in revenues of $765.3 million or 21%. This increase was partially offset by increased payments for content acquisition and licensing other than DVD library of $502.6 million or 24% as well as increased payments associated with higher operating expenses. Operating activities were further impacted by increased payments for streaming content delivery, payment processing fees and customer service call centers due to our growing member base.

Cash used in investing activities increased $11.2 million, primarily due to an increase of $17.7 million in the acquisition of DVD content library and a $13.9 million increase in the purchase of property and equipment primarily due to investments in our streaming content delivery network. Cash outflow was offset by a $23.2 million increase in the proceeds from sales