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Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2022
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract] |
Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets | Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets Goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets consisted of the following:
| As of December 31,
| 2022(1) |  | 2021(1)
| (Dollars in millions)
Goodwill | $ | 12,657 |  |  | 15,986 |
Indefinite-lived intangible assets | $ | 9 |  |  | 9 |
Other intangible assets subject to amortization: |  |  |
Customer relationships, less accumulated amortization of $3,606 and $11,740(2) | 4,574 |  |  | 5,365 |
Capitalized software, less accumulated amortization of $3,895 and $3,624 | 1,482 |  |  | 1,459 |
Trade names, patents and other, less accumulated amortization of $188 and $160 | 101 |  |  | 137 |
Total other intangible assets, net | $ | 6,166 |  |  | 6,970 |
______________________________________________________________________ (1)These values exclude assets classified as held for sale. (2)Certain customer relationships with a gross carrying value of $8.7 billion became fully amortized during 2021 and were retired during the first quarter of 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the gross carrying amount of goodwill, customer relationships, indefinite-lived and other intangible assets was $26.5 billion. Our goodwill was derived from numerous acquisitions where the purchase price exceeded the fair value of the net assets acquired. We are required to assess our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually, or, under certain circumstances, more frequently, such as when events or changes in circumstances indicate there may be impairment. Our annual impairment assessment date for indefinite-lived intangible assets other than goodwill is December 31. We completed our qualitative assessment of our indefinite-lived intangible assets other than goodwill as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 and concluded it is more likely than not that our indefinite-lived intangible assets are not impaired; thus, no impairment charge for these assets was recorded in 2022 or 2021. We are required to write down the value of goodwill only when our assessment determines the carrying value of equity of any of our reporting units exceeds its fair value. Our annual impairment assessment date for goodwill is October 31, at which date we assess our reporting units. We report our results within two segments: Business and Mass Markets. See Note 17—Segment Information for more information on these segments and the underlying sales channels. As of December 31, 2022, we had three reporting units for goodwill impairment testing, which are (i) Mass Markets, (ii) North America Business ("NA Business") and (iii) Asia Pacific ("APAC") region. Prior to the planned divestiture of the EMEA business, the EMEA region was also a reporting unit and was tested for impairment in the pre-classification test as of October 31, 2022 discussed below. Prior to its August 1, 2022 divestiture, the Latin American ("LATAM") region was also a reporting unit. At October 31, 2020 we used eight reporting units for goodwill impairment testing, which were consumer, small and medium business, enterprise, wholesale, North American global accounts ("NA GAM"), EMEA, LATAM and APAC. Our reporting units are not discrete legal entities with discrete full financial statements. Our assets and liabilities are employed in and relate to the operations of multiple reporting units. For each reporting unit, we compare its estimated fair value of equity to its carrying value of equity that we assign to the reporting unit. If the estimated fair value of the reporting unit is greater than the carrying value, we conclude that no impairment exists. If the estimated fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value, we record a non-cash impairment charge equal to the excess amount. Depending on the facts and circumstances, we typically estimate the fair value of our reporting units by considering either or both of (i) a discounted cash flow method, which is based on the present value of projected cash flows over a discrete projection period and a terminal value, which is based on the expected normalized cash flows of the reporting units following the discrete projection period, and (ii) a market approach, which includes the use of market multiples of publicly-traded companies whose services are comparable to ours. 2022 Goodwill Impairment Analyses As of October 31, 2022, we estimated the fair value of our four above-mentioned reporting units by considering both a market approach and a discounted cash flow method. We discounted the projected cash flows for our Mass Markets, NA Business, EMEA and APAC reporting units using a rate that represented their weighted average cost of capital as of the assessment date, which comprised an after-tax cost of debt and a cost of equity, as disclosed in the table below. We utilized company comparisons and analyst reports within the telecommunications industry which at the time of assessment supported a range of fair values derived from annualized revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") multiples between 1.8x and 4.6x and 4.7x and 10.8x, respectively. We selected a revenue and EBITDA multiple for each of our reporting units, resulting in an overall company revenue and EBITDA multiple of 2.5x and 5.5x, respectively. We also reconciled the estimated fair values of the reporting units to our market capitalization as of October 31, 2022 and concluded that the indicated control premium of approximately 59% was reasonable based on recent market transactions, including our divestitures, and our depressed stock price. Due to the depressed trading price of our stock at October 31, 2022, and our assessment performed with respect to the reporting units described above, we concluded that the estimated fair value of our NA Business reporting unit was less than our carrying value of equity for that reporting unit, resulting in a non-cash, non-tax-deductible goodwill impairment charge of approximately $3.2 billion. See the goodwill rollforward by segment table below for the impairment charges by segment. As of October 31, 2022, the estimated fair value of equity exceeded the carrying value of equity for our Mass Markets, EMEA and APAC reporting units by 97%, 171% and 101%, respectively. Based on our assessments performed, we concluded that the goodwill assigned to our Mass Markets, EMEA and APAC reporting units was not impaired at October 31, 2022.
| As of October 31, 2022
| Reporting Units
| Mass Markets |  | NA Business |  | EMEA |  | APAC
Weighted average cost of capital | 9.4 | % |  | 9.4 | % |  | 9.8 | % |  | 11.3 | %
After-tax cost of debt | 4.7 | % |  | 4.7 | % |  | 5.1 | % |  | 6.3 | %
Cost of equity | 14.0 | % |  | 14.0 | % |  | 14.4 | % |  | 16.2 | %
The classification of held for sale related to the EMEA business as described in Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American and ILEC Businesses and Planned Divestiture of the EMEA Business was considered an event or change in circumstance which required an assessment of our goodwill for impairment as of October 31, 2022. We performed a pre-announcement goodwill impairment test described above to determine whether there was an impairment prior to the classification of these assets as held for sale and to determine the November 2, 2022, fair values to be utilized for goodwill allocation regarding the disposal group to be classified as assets held for sale. We also performed a post-announcement goodwill impairment test using our estimated post-divestiture cash flows and carrying value of equity to evaluate whether the fair value of our NA Business, Mass Markets and APAC reporting units that will remain following the divestiture exceeds the carrying value of the equity of such reporting units after classification of assets held for sale. We concluded no impairment existed of our reporting units that remain following the divestiture. Separate from the annual, pre-announcement and post-announcement goodwill assessments discussed above, we performed an assessment of our EMEA business disposal group for impairment using the purchase price compared to the carrying value of the EMEA business net assets. As a result, the EMEA business disposal group was impaired, resulting in a non-cash, non-tax-deductible goodwill impairment charge of $43 million. See Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American and ILEC Businesses and Planned Divestiture of the EMEA Business for additional information regarding the purchase price, carrying value, and impairment for goodwill of the EMEA business. See the goodwill rollforward by segment table below for the impairment charges by segment. 2021 Goodwill Impairment Analyses At October 31, 2021, we estimated the fair value of our five above-mentioned reporting units by considering both a market approach and a discounted cash flow method. As of October 31, 2021, we determined that the estimated fair value of equity exceeded the carrying value of equity for our Mass Markets, NA Business, EMEA, LATAM and APAC reporting units by 277%, 8%, 57%, 100% and 125%, respectively. Based on our assessments performed, we concluded it was more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units exceeded the carrying value of equity of those reporting units at October 31, 2022. Therefore, we concluded no impairment existed as of our assessment date. Our classification of held for sale assets related to the divestitures of the Latin American and ILEC businesses on August 1, 2022 and October 3, 2022, respectively, as described in Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American and ILEC Businesses and Planned Divestiture of the EMEA Business, was considered an event or change in circumstance which required an assessment of our goodwill for impairment as of July 31, 2021. We performed a pre-classification goodwill impairment test to determine whether there was an impairment prior to the classification of these assets and to determine the July 31, 2021 fair values to be utilized for goodwill allocation regarding the Latin American and ILEC businesses classified as assets held for sale. We concluded it was more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units exceeded the carrying value of equity of those reporting units at July 31, 2021. We also performed a post-classification goodwill impairment test using our estimated post-divestiture cash flows and carrying value of equity to evaluate whether the fair value of our reporting units that would remain following the divestitures exceeded the carrying value of the equity of such reporting units after classification of assets held for sale. At July 31, 2021, we estimated the fair value of our five above-mentioned reporting units by considering both a market approach and a discounted cash flow method. As of July 31, 2021, we determined that the estimated fair value of equity exceeded the carrying value of equity for our Mass Markets, NA Business, EMEA, LATAM and APAC reporting units by 150%, 24%, 58%,100% and 134%, respectively. Based on our assessments performed, we concluded it was more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units exceeded the carrying value of equity of our reporting units at July 31, 2021. Therefore, we concluded no impairment existed as of our assessment date. The January 2021 internal reorganization of our reporting structure was considered an event or change in circumstance which required an assessment of our goodwill for impairment. We performed a qualitative impairment assessment in the first quarter of 2021 and concluded it was more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units exceeded the carrying value of equity of those reporting units at January 31, 2021. Therefore, we concluded no impairment existed as of our assessment date. 2020 Goodwill Impairment Analyses At October 31, 2020, we estimated the fair value of our eight above-mentioned reporting units (prior to the January 2021 reorganization) by considering both a market approach and a discounted cash flow method. We discounted the projected cash flows for our consumer, enterprise, wholesale, small and medium business, NA GAM, EMEA, LATAM and APAC reporting units using a rate that represented their weighted average cost of capital as of the assessment date, which comprised an after-tax cost of debt and a cost of equity, as disclosed in the table below. We utilized company comparisons and analyst reports within the telecommunications industry which at the time of assessment supported a range of fair values derived from annualized revenue and EBITDA multiples between 2.0x and 5.5x and 4.8x and 12.5x, respectively. We selected a revenue and EBITDA multiple for each of our reporting units, resulting in an overall company revenue and EBITDA multiple of 2.3x and 5.7x, respectively. We also reconciled the estimated fair values of the reporting units to our market capitalization as of October 31, 2020 and concluded that the indicated control premium of approximately 33% was reasonable based on recent market transactions. Due to the depressed trading price of our stock at October 31, 2020 and our assessment performed with respect to the reporting units described above, we concluded that the estimated fair value of our consumer, wholesale, small and medium business and EMEA reporting units was less than our carrying value of equity for those reporting units. As a result, these reporting units were impaired, resulting in a non-cash, non-tax-deductible goodwill impairment charge of approximately $2.6 billion. As of October 31, 2020, the estimated fair value of equity exceeded the carrying value of equity for our enterprise, NA GAM, LATAM and APAC reporting units by 2%, 46%, 74% and 23%, respectively. Based on our assessments performed, we concluded that the goodwill assigned to our enterprise, NA GAM, LATAM and APAC reporting units was not impaired at October 31, 2020.
| As of October 31, 2020
| Reporting Units
| Consumer, Enterprise, Wholesale, Small and medium business, and NA GAM |  | EMEA |  | LATAM |  | APAC
Weighted average cost of capital | 7.6 | % |  | 8.0 | % |  | 14.3 | % |  | 10.1 | %
After-tax cost of debt | 2.5 | % |  | 2.9 | % |  | 6.9 | % |  | 3.9 | %
Cost of equity | 10.7 | % |  | 11.2 | % |  | 18.8 | % |  | 14.0 | %
The following table shows the rollforward of goodwill assigned to our reportable segments (including the January 2021 reorganization discussed above) from December 31, 2020 through December 31, 2022.
| International and Global Accounts | Enterprise | Small and Medium Business | Wholesale | Consumer | Business | Mass Markets | Total
| (Dollars in millions)
As of December 31, 2020(1) | $ | 2,555 |  | 4,738 |  | 2,808 |  | 3,114 |  | 5,655 |  | — |  | — |  | 18,870 |
January 2021 reorganization | (2,555) |  | (4,738) |  | (2,808) |  | (3,114) |  | (5,655) |  | 12,173 |  | 6,697 |  | — |
Classified as held for sale | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | (913) |  | (1,946) |  | (2,859) |
Effect of foreign currency exchange rate change and other | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | (25) |  | — |  | (25) |
As of December 31, 2021(1) | $ | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | — |  | 11,235 |  | 4,751 |  | 15,986 |
| Business | Mass Markets | Total
| (Dollars in millions)
As of December 31, 2021(1) | $ | 11,235 |  | 4,751 |  | 15,986 |
Effect of foreign currency exchange rate change and other | (58) |  | — |  | (58) |
Impairment | (3,271) |  | — |  | (3,271) |
As of December 31, 2022(1) | $ | 7,906 |  | 4,751 |  | 12,657 |
______________________________________________________________________ (1)Goodwill at December 31, 2022, December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 is net of accumulated impairment losses of $11.0 billion, $7.7 billion and $12.9 billion, respectively. The change in accumulated impairment losses at December 31, 2021 is the result of amounts classified as held for sale related to the divestitures of our Latin American and ILEC business on August 1, 2022 and October 3, 2022, respectively. The change in accumulated impairment losses at December 31, 2022 is the result of the impairments discussed above. For additional information on our segments, see Note 17—Segment Information. As of December 31, 2022, the weighted average remaining useful lives of our finite-lived intangible assets were approximately 7 years in total, approximately 8 years for customer relationships and 4 years for capitalized software. Total amortization expense for finite-lived intangible assets for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 was $1.1 billion, $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. We estimate that total amortization expense for finite-lived intangible assets for the years ending December 31, 2023 through 2027 will be as provided in the table below. As a result of classifying our EMEA business as being held for sale on our December 31, 2022 consolidated balance sheet, the amounts presented below do not include future amortization expense for intangible assets of the business to be divested. See Note 2—Divestitures of the Latin American and ILEC Businesses and Planned Divestiture of the EMEA Business for more information.
| (Dollars in millions)
2023 | $ | 941 |
2024 | 871 |
2025 | 810 |
2026 | 765 |
2027 | 687 |

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