But later it disclosed that its exposure was more than double that amount, in part because of its dispute with the insurers over the surety bonds.
The Californian company stunned investors on Tuesday when it disclosed that its software division, including Autonomy, would take an $8.8bn charge in the fourth quarter.
In November 1999, it disclosed that all of its outside directors had resigned from the board and had been replaced by associates of Mr Tan.
Real's move comes after it disclosed that it sold its stake in another online music venture, MusicNet, to a group of private investors.
Last month the company said it continued expanding its distribution but, in June, it disclosed that it had less than $30,000 in cash.
In September, it disclosed that it had increased its capital to account for those investments.
Freddie's problems arose in 2003 when it disclosed that it had understated its income from 2000 to 2002; the company revised its results by an additional $5 billion.
The tribunal bared its teeth on October 2nd when it disclosed that it had issued an arrest warrant for Walter Barasa, a Kenyan journalist whom the prosecution accuses of bribing witnesses to withdraw.
It would be hard to call the company a pyramid scheme if it disclosed that, say, 80 percent of its final sales were to customers, rather than new sales representatives.
Mr. Hicks resigned from the company's board in September after it disclosed that it would drastically fall short of its estimated profits.
Adelphia's troubles started to become evident in March when it disclosed that it had guaranteed $2.3 billion in loans to its controlling shareholders, the Rigas family.
