Goodwill and Intangible Assets

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Note 6. Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Goodwill by segment was:



	As of March 31, 2019		As of December 31, 2018
	(in millions)
Latin America	$	822	$	823
AMEA	3,237		3,210
Europe	7,440		7,519
North America	9,187		9,173
Goodwill	$	20,686	$	20,725

Intangible assets consisted of the following:



	As of March 31, 2019			As of December 31, 2018
	(in millions)
Non-amortizable intangible assets	$	17,200		$	17,201
Amortizable intangible assets	2,330			2,328
	19,530			19,529
Accumulated amortization	(1,572		)	(1,527		)
Intangible assets, net	$	17,958		$	18,002

Non-amortizable intangible assets consist principally of brand names purchased through our acquisitions of Nabisco Holdings Corp., the Spanish and Portuguese operations of United Biscuits, the global LU biscuit business of Groupe Danone S.A. and Cadbury Limited. Amortizable intangible assets consist primarily of trademarks, customer-related intangibles, process technology, licenses and non-compete agreements.

Amortization expense for intangible assets was $44 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and $44 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. For the next five years, we currently estimate annual

amortization expense of approximately $175 million for the next two years and approximately $85 million in years three to five (reflecting March 31, 2019 exchange rates).

Changes in goodwill and intangible assets consisted of:



	Goodwill			Intangible Assets, at cost
	(in millions)
Balance at January 1, 2018	$	20,725		$	19,529
Currency	(39		)	1
Balance at March 31, 2019	$	20,686		$	19,530

During our 2018 annual testing of non-amortizable intangible assets, we recorded $68 million of impairment charges in the third quarter of 2018 related to five trademarks. We recorded charges related to gum, chocolate, biscuits and candy trademarks of $45 million in Europe, $14 million in North America and $9 million in AMEA. We also identified seven brands, including the five impaired trademarks, with $537 million of aggregate book value as of March 31, 2019, that each had a fair value in excess of book value of 10% or less. We believe our current plans for each of these brands will allow them to continue to not be impaired, but if the product line expectations are not met or specific valuation factors outside of our control, such as discount rates, change significantly, then a brand or brands could become impaired in the future.