Franchise Rights Acquired, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Franchise Rights Acquired, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

6.	Franchise Rights Acquired, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

The Company performed its annual impairment review of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015. As a result of this review, no impairment charges were recorded for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2016 and January 2, 2016.

Franchise rights acquired are due to acquisitions of the Company’s franchised territories as well as the acquisition of franchise promotion agreements and other factors associated with the acquired franchise territories. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, the change in the carrying value of franchise rights acquired is due to the Miami Acquisition as described in Note 5 and the effect of exchange rate changes.

Goodwill primarily relates to the acquisition of the Company by H.J. Heinz Company in 1978, the acquisition of WeightWatchers.com, Inc. in 2005, the acquisitions of the Company’s franchised territories, the acquisitions of the majority interest in VPM and of Wello in fiscal 2014 and the acquisition of Weilos in fiscal 2015. See Note 5 for further information on certain acquisitions. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, the change in the carrying amount of goodwill is due to the Miami Acquisition as described in Note 5 and the effect of exchange rate changes as follows:


	North America		United Kingdom			Continental Europe			Other		Total
Balance as of January 2, 2016	$	133,408	$	1,370		$	7,260		$	17,293	$	159,331
Goodwill acquired during the period		2,945		0			0			0		2,945
Effect of exchange rate changes		1,190		(225	)		(376	)		3,273		3,862

Balance as of December 31, 2016	$	137,543	$	1,145		$	6,884		$	20,566	$	166,138

The carrying values of finite-lived intangible assets as of December 31, 2016 and January 2, 2016 were as follows:


	December 31, 2016				January 2, 2016
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization
Capitalized software costs	$	126,737		101,316	$	119,658	$	86,134
Website development costs		119,971		87,736		100,105		68,673
Trademarks		11,092		10,647		10,960		10,435
Other		7,945		7,434		7,976		7,118

Trademarks and other intangible assets	$	265,745	$	207,133	$	238,699	$	172,360

Franchise rights acquired		4,551		4,551		4,182		4,059
Total finite-lived intangible assets	$	270,296	$	211,684	$	242,881	$	176,419

Aggregate amortization expense for finite-lived intangible assets was recorded in the amounts of $35,752, $34,719 and $29,372, for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2016, January 2, 2016 and January 3, 2015, respectively. The franchise rights acquired related to the VPM acquisition were amortized ratably over a 2 year period. The franchise rights acquired related to the Miami Acquisition were amortized ratably over a 3 month period.

Estimated amortization expense of existing finite-lived intangible assets for the next five fiscal years and thereafter is as follows:


Fiscal 2017	$	33,585
Fiscal 2018	$	17,586
Fiscal 2019	$	6,363
Fiscal 2020	$	1,034
Fiscal 2021 and thereafter	$	44

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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