Goodwill and Intangible Assets (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2021

Goodwill and Intangible Assets [Abstract]

The following table summarizes the activity in goodwill by segment as of April 30:

	2020 ⁽¹⁾		Acquisitions ⁽²⁾		Foreign Translation Adjustment		2021
Research Publishing & Platforms	$	448,130	$	136,789	$	34,284	$	619,203
Academic & Professional Learning		501,091		—		11,421		512,512
Education Services		167,569		—		5,056		172,625
Total	$	1,116,790	$	136,789	$	50,761	$	1,304,340

⁽¹⁾	The Education Services goodwill balance as of April 30, 2020 includes a cumulative pretax noncash goodwill impairment of $110.0 million.

⁽²⁾	Refer to Note 4, “Acquisitions,” for more information related to the acquisitions that occurred in the year ended April 30, 2021.

Intangible Assets, Net

Intangible assets, net as of April 30 were as follows:

	2021							2020
	Cost		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Cost		Accumulated Amortization			Accumulated Impairment			Net
Intangible assets with definite lives, net
Content and publishing rights	$	1,062,072	$	(497,843	)	$	564,229	$	806,862	$	(444,756	)	$	—		$	362,106
Customer relationships		384,462		(117,985	)		266,477		377,652		(87,234	)		—			290,418
Developed technology ⁽¹⁾		42,785		(7,824	)		34,961		19,225		(3,273	)		(2,841	)		13,111
Brands and trademarks		45,630		(26,094	)		19,536		42,877		(22,689	)		—			20,188
Covenants not to compete		1,250		(1,192	)		58		1,675		(1,429	)		—			246
Total ⁽²⁾		1,536,199		(650,938	)		885,261		1,248,291		(559,381	)		(2,841	)		686,069
Intangible assets with indefinite lives
Brands and trademarks ⁽¹⁾		37,000		—			37,000		130,107		—			(93,107	)		37,000
Publishing rights		93,041		—			93,041		84,336		—			—			84,336
Total		130,041		—			130,041		214,443		—			(93,107	)		121,336
Total intangible assets, net	$	1,666,240	$	(650,938	)	$	1,015,302	$	1,462,734	$	(559,381	)	$	(95,948	)	$	807,405

⁽¹⁾	The developed technology balance as of April 30, 2021 is presented net of accumulated impairments and write-offs of $2.8 million. The indefinite-lived brands and trademarks cost balance as of April 30, 2021 is net of accumulated impairments of $93.1 million.

⁽²⁾	Refer to Note 4, “Acquisitions,” for more information related to the acquisitions that occurred in 2021 and 2020.

Future Amortization Expense

Based on the current amount of intangible assets subject to amortization and assuming current foreign exchange rates, the estimated amortization expense for the following years are as follows:

Fiscal Year	Amount
2022	$	82,401
2023		76,125
2024		71,367
2025		65,764
2026		63,410
Thereafter		526,194
Total	$	885,261