Goodwill impairment recorded by U.S. public companies fell 10 percent, from $78.9 billion in 2018 to $71 billion in 2019, according to Duff & Phelps’ 2020 U.S. Goodwill Impairment Study. The total still marks the second-highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, according to the annual review of over 8,800 U.S. publicly traded companies’ goodwill impairments.
General Electric’s (GE) $22.1 billion charge had the highest impact on the 2018 aggregate goodwill impairment amount. Excluding GE’s impairment event from 2018 totals, aggregate goodwill impairment would have risen by 25 percent in 2019, according to Duff & Phelps.
