Financial Statement Information Finite-Lived Intangible Assets Acquired as Part of Business Combination (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Acquired Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]

Intangible Assets

Intangible assets consist primarily of goodwill (the cost of purchased businesses in excess of the fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired) and other specifically identifiable intangible assets, such as trade names, trademarks, customer and supplier relationships, software and other technology related assets, and covenants not to compete.

Goodwill is tested for impairment at least annually, and we performed annual impairment tests during the fourth quarters of 2018, 2017 and 2016. Goodwill impairment testing may also be performed on an interim basis when events or circumstances arise that may lead to impairment. The fair value estimates of our reporting units are established using weightings of the results of a discounted cash flow methodology and a comparative market multiples approach.

Based on our annual goodwill impairment test in the fourth quarter of 2018, we determined the carrying value of our Aviation reporting unit exceeded the fair value estimate by more than the carrying value, thus we recorded an impairment charge of $33 million, which represented the total carrying value of goodwill in our Aviation reporting unit. The impairment charge was due to a decrease in the fair value estimate from the prior year fair value estimate, primarily driven by a significant deterioration in the outlook for the Aviation reporting unit due to competition, customer financial issues and changing market conditions for the airplane platforms that the business services, which lowered our projected gross margin and related future cash flows. We reported the impairment charge in Impairment of goodwill on the Consolidated Statements of Income for the year ended December 31, 2018. We determined no other impairments existed when we performed our annual impairment testing on the remaining reporting units as all those reporting units had a fair value estimate which exceeded the carrying value by at least approximately 15%, the level at which our Europe reporting unit exceeded its carrying value.

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill by reportable segment are as follows (in thousands):



	North America			Europe			Specialty			Total
Balance as of January 1, 2016	$	1,433,499		$	594,482		$	291,265		$	2,319,246
Business acquisitions and adjustments to previously recorded goodwill	226,483			614,437			1,889			842,809
Exchange rate effects	1,818			(108,943		)	(161		)	(107,286		)
Balance as of December 31, 2016	$	1,661,800		$	1,099,976		$	292,993		$	3,054,769
Business acquisitions and adjustments to previously recorded goodwill	39,836			155,366			119,615			314,817
Exchange rate effects	7,718			159,556			(349		)	166,925
Balance as of December 31, 2017	$	1,709,354		$	1,414,898		$	412,259		$	3,536,511
Business acquisitions and adjustments to previously recorded goodwill	6,805			970,923			(4,838		)	972,890
Impairment of goodwill	(33,244		)	—			—			(33,244		)
Exchange rate effects	(9,383		)	(85,532		)	216			(94,699		)
Balance as of December 31, 2018	$	1,673,532		$	2,300,289		$	407,637		$	4,381,458
Accumulated impairment losses as of December 31, 2018	$	(33,244	)	$	—		$	—		$	(33,244	)

During the year ended December 31, 2018, we recorded $908 million of goodwill related to our acquisition of Stahlgruber. See Note 2, "Business Combinations" for further information on our acquisitions.

Schedule of Finite-Lived Intangible Assets Acquired as Part of Business Combination [Table Text Block]

The components of intangible assets acquired as part of our acquisitions in 2018 are as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended						Year Ended
	December 31, 2018						December 31, 2017
	Stahlgruber		Other Acquisitions ⁽¹⁾		Total		All Acquisitions
Trade names and trademarks	$	173,946	$	8,870	$	182,816	$	87,306
Customer and supplier relationships	77,980		20,779		98,759		75,450
Software and other technology related assets	33,329		376		33,705		15,757
Covenants not to compete	—		—		—		2,703
Total	$	285,255	$	30,025	$	315,280	$	181,216

Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life [Table Text Block]

The weighted-average amortization periods for our intangible assets acquired during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 are as follows (in years):



	Year Ended			Year Ended
	December 31, 2018			December 31, 2017
	Stahlgruber	Other Acquisitions	Total	All Acquisitions
Trade names and trademarks	18.0	10.0	17.6	11.2
Customer and supplier relationships	3.0	7.9	4.0	18.6
Software and other technology related assets	5.2	6.5	5.2	11.1
Covenants not to compete	—	—	—	4.4
Total acquired finite-lived intangible assets	12.4	8.5	12.0	16.5