12. ACQUISITIONS The acquisition method of accounting is based on ASC Subtopic 805-10,  Business Combinations,  and uses the fair value concepts defined in ASC Subtopic 820-10,   Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,   which the Company has adopted as required. The total purchase price is allocated to the net tangible and intangible assets based upon their fair values as of the acquisition dates. The excess of the purchase price over the fair values of the net tangible assets and intangible assets was recorded as goodwill. The allocation of the purchase price was based upon a valuation and is subject to change within the one-year measurement period following the acquisition. MSCI expects to continue to obtain information to assist it in determining the fair value of the net assets acquired at the acquisition date during the measurement period. Acquisition of GMI Ratings On August 11, 2014, the Company completed the acquisition of GMI Ratings for $15.5 million in cash through its subsidiary MSCI ESG Research Inc. GMI Ratings is a provider of corporate governance research and ratings on companies worldwide. Clients of GMI Ratings include institutional investors, banks, insurers, auditors, regulators and corporations seeking to incorporate ESG factors into risk assessment and decision-making. As of December 31, 2014, the preliminary purchase price allocations for the GMI Ratings acquisition were $9.9 million for goodwill, $3.6 million for identifiable intangible assets, $6.7 million for assets other than identifiable intangible assets and $4.7 million for other liabilities. Acquisition of InvestorForce On January 29, 2013, MSCI completed the acquisition of InvestorForce by paying $23.6 million in cash. The acquisition of InvestorForce enhances MSCI s position as a leader in performance analysis and risk transparency and furthers its goal of providing investment decision support tools to institutional investors across all client segments and asset classes. InvestorForce is a provider of performance reporting solut