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Wow, $1B goodwill impairment sounds absurd (for a company of Etsy's size). Had to look this up. https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/02/02/etsys-1b-problem-that

by brvsft 3y ago

Wow, $1B goodwill impairment sounds absurd (for a company of Etsy's size). Had to look this up. https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/02/02/etsys-1b-problem-that-no-one-seems-to-be-talking-a/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/02/02/etsys-1b-problem-t... > In this case, Etsy believes that it overpaid by $1 billion for Depop and Elo7. A company normally takes write-downs like this when the results of an acquired business don't live up to the expectations at the time of the acquisition. That's not so good, noting that these two businesses are expected to be long-term growth drivers for the company.

goatking 3y ago
Aren't they just killing competition? Maybe it's worth the 1bill in the long term (for them, not for the customers)
- throwup238 3y ago
  If that were the case, they wouldn't have to declare the goodwill impairment. Goodwill is meant to account for the kind of intangible benefit they'd get from killing off competition.
  - araes 3y ago
    The issue is, it doesn't matter what it's "meant" to do. It matters how it's technically implemented, and what they can legally claim without the claim running afoul of the IRS (or other tax agencies).
wintogreen74 3y ago
The key is this is how you get a (typically) non-amortizable asset off the balance sheet and expensed on the income statement when all those synergies and economies of scale promised by the (no longer with the company) executive who pushed the deal don't materialize.