The 2025 Study examines goodwill impairment (GWI) trends from January through December 2024 of over 8,000 publicly traded companies incorporated in the U.S. Our inaugural study was launched in 2009 and since then we have published numerous studies that present goodwill impairment trends recorded by U.S.-based companies and industries.
Goodwill and impairment continue to be topics of interest to standard setters and stakeholders. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have been deliberating these topics in recent years, including whether to retain the impairment-only model or reintroduce amortization for goodwill. In 2022, both the FASB and IASB concluded on retaining an impairment-only model. However, both boards continued deliberations on this topic. The IASB unanimously voted against revisiting the impairment-only goodwill accounting model in February 2025. More recently, as part of its 2025 Agenda Consultation, the FASB asked stakeholders whether to pursue a project on the subsequent accounting for goodwill. The comment period closed at the end of June, and the FASB will be evaluating the responses received when deciding which projects to add to its active standard setting agenda.
This year’s edition of our report aggregates the goodwill impairment taken by U.S.-based companies through 2024 (for information collected and available through April 9, 2025) and presents the Top 10 impairments in 2024. The report also provides historical GWI trends over the 2020-2024 period.
In 2024, the total amount of goodwill impaired in the U.S. increased by approximately 16% from $83 billion to $96 billion.
The top ten impairments taken in the U.S. in 2024 totaled approximately $51 billion, which represented approximately 53% of total goodwill impaired in the U.S.
Impairments in 2024 in the U.S. were concentrated in the Communication Services, Consumer Staples, and Healthcare industries (approximately 67% of the total goodwill impaired in the year).
