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Discontinued operations (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Statement [line items] |
Respective Useful Lives of Available-for-Use Intangible Assets |
|  | Useful life |  | Income statement location for amortization and impairment charges |
Currently marketed products |  | 5 to 20 years |  | "Cost of goods sold" |
Technologies |  | 10 to 20 years |  | "Cost of goods sold" or "Research and development" |
Other (including computer software) |  | 3 to 7 years |  | In the respective functional expense |
Defined contribution plans |
(USD millions) |  | 2020 |  | 2019 |  | 2018 |
Contributions for defined contribution plans continuing operations |  | 501 |  | 422 |  | 443 |
Discontinued operations |
Statement [line items] |
Consolidated income statement, discontinued operations |
(USD millions) |  | 2019 1 |  | 2018 |
Net sales to third parties from discontinued operations |  | 1 777 |  | 7 149 |
Sales to continuing segments |  | 32 |  | 4 |
Net sales from discontinued operations |  | 1 809 |  | 7 153 |
Cost of goods sold |  | – 860 |  | – 3 983 |
Gross profit from discontinued operations |  | 949 |  | 3 170 |
Selling, general and administration |  | – 638 |  | – 2 754 |
Research and development |  | – 142 |  | – 585 |
Other income |  | 15 |  | 61 |
Other expense |  | – 113 |  | – 126 |
Operating income/(loss) from discontinued operations |  | 71 |  | – 234 |
Interest expense |  | – 10 |  | – 25 |
Other financial income and expense |  | – 3 |  | – 1 |
Income/(loss) before taxes from discontinued operations |  | 58 |  | – 260 |
Taxes |  | – 159 |  | 74 |
Net loss from discontinued operations before gain on distribution of Alcon Inc. to Novartis AG shareholders |  | – 101 |  | – 186 |
Gain on distribution of Alcon Inc. to Novartis AG shareholders 2 |  | 4 691 |  |  |
Net income/(loss) from discontinued operations |  | 4 590 |  | – 186 |
1 The consolidated income statement amounts are for the period from January 1, 2019, to the completion of the spin-off.
2 See Note 2 for further details on the non-taxable, non-cash gain on distribution of Alcon Inc. to Novartis AG shareholders.
Consolidated income statement, additional information |
(USD millions) |  | 2019 |  | 2018 |
Interest income |  |  |  | 2 |
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment |  | – 42 |  | – 235 |
Depreciation of right-of-use assets |  | – 9 |  |  |
Amortization of intangible assets |  | – 174 |  | – 1 052 |
Impairment charges on property, plant and equipment |  |  |  | – 3 |
Impairment charges on intangible assets 1 |  |  |  | – 391 |
Additions to restructuring provisions |  |  |  | – 13 |
Equity-based compensation of Novartis equity plans |  | – 9 |  | – 93 |
1 2018 includes an impairment of USD 337 million related to the write-down of the CyPass currently marketed product, which was acquired with the Alcon Division 2016 acquisition of Transcend Medical, Inc.
Respective Useful Lives of Available-for-Use Intangible Assets |
|  | Useful life |  | Income statement location for amortization and impairment charges |
Marketing know-how |  | 25 years |  | "Cost of goods sold" |
Alcon brand name |  | Not amortized, indefinite useful life |  | "Other expense" |
Balance sheet, additional information |
(USD millions) |  | 2019 |
Additions to property, plant and equipment |  | 113 |
Additions to right-of-use assets |  | 3 |
Additions to goodwill and intangible assets |  | 36 |
Cash flows used in investing activities |
(USD millions) |  | 2020 |  | 2019 |  | 2018 |
Payments attributable to the spin-off of the Alcon business |  | – 39 |  | – 29 |  |  |
Divested cash and cash equivalents |  |  |  | – 628 |  |  |
Cash flows attributable to the spin-off of the Alcon business |  | – 39 |  | – 657 |  |  |
Other cash flows used in investing activities, net |  | – 88 |  | – 502 |  | – 1 001 |
Net cash flows used in investing activities from discontinued operations |  | – 127 |  | – 1 159 |  | – 1 001 |
Disclosure of net assets derecognized |
(USD millions) |  | 2019 |
Property, plant and equipment |  | 2 858 |
Right-of-use assets |  | 269 |
Goodwill |  | 8 906 |
Intangible assets other than goodwill |  | 11 121 |
Deferred tax assets |  | 732 |
Financial and other non-current assets |  | 526 |
Inventories |  | 1 469 |
Trade receivables and other current assets |  | 1 787 |
Cash and cash equivalents |  | 628 |
Deferred tax liabilities |  | – 1 713 |
Current and non-current lease liabilities |  | – 269 |
Current and non-current financial debts |  | – 3 538 |
Trade payables, provisions and other liabilities |  | – 2 751 |
Net assets derecognized |  | 20 025 |
Defined contribution plans |
(USD millions) |  | 2019 |  | 2018 |
Contributions for defined contribution plans discontinued operations |  | 33 |  | 104 |

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