Note 5 - Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Sep. 26, 2021

Notes to Financial Statements

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

5    GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill related to continuing operations are as follows:

(Thousands of Dollars)	2021			2020
Goodwill, gross amount		1,617,174			1,539,038
Accumulated impairment losses		(1,288,729	)		(1,288,729	)
Goodwill, beginning of year		328,445			250,309
Goodwill acquired in business combinations		—			78,136
Measurement period adjustments		1,759			—
Goodwill, end of year		330,204			328,445

Identified intangible assets related to continuing operations consist of the following:

	September 26			September 27
(Thousands of Dollars)	2021			2020
Non-amortized intangible assets:
Mastheads	39,672			40,459
Amortizable intangible assets:
Customer and newspaper subscriber lists	774,242			774,604
Less accumulated amortization	(657,243		)	(632,457		)
		116,999			142,147
Non-compete and consulting agreements	28,656			28,656
Less accumulated amortization	(28,656		)	(28,582		)
		—			74
		156,671			182,680

The Company reviews goodwill for impairment in accordance with ASC Topic 350 - Goodwill and Other. For companies that have reporting units with zero or negative carrying value, the new standard requires disclosure of the amount of goodwill for those reporting units.

All of the Company’s goodwill is attributed to the single reporting unit. The Company performed its annual assessment on the first day of our fourth fiscal quarter, and determined the fair value of our single reporting unit was in excess of carrying value and as such, there was no impairment in 2021 and 2020.

In 2021 and 2020, due to continuing revenue declines, cost of debt, and debt to equity weighting, we recorded non-cash charges to reduce the carrying value of non-amortized intangible assets. No such charges occurred in 2019. Such charges are recorded in assets loss (gain) on sales, impairments and other in the Consolidated Statements of Income (loss) and Comprehensive Income (loss). We recorded deferred income tax benefits related to these charges.

A summary of the pretax impairment charges is included in the table below:

(Thousands of Dollars)	2021		2020		2019
Non-amortized intangible assets		787		972		—
Property, equipment and other assets		190		—		—
		977		972		0

The Company recognized $27,620,000 of advertiser relationships, $27,850,000 of subscriber relationships, $19,560,000 of commercial print relationships, and $20,390,000 of indefinite-lived masthead assets as part of the Transactions.

Annual amortization of intangible assets for the years ending September 2022 to September 2026 is estimated to be $21,226,000, $19,793,000, $17,096,000, $11,091,000, and $6,992,000, respectively. The weighted average amortization period for those amortizable assets acquired as part of the Transactions is 13.5 years.

The Company recognized $79,896,000 of Goodwill as part of the Transactions. The value of the acquired Goodwill is primarily related to an assembled workforce and expected synergies from combining operations. For tax, purposes, the amount of Goodwill that is expected to be deductible is $42,442,000. Refer to Note 2 for more information regarding the final purchasing accounting for the Transactions.