Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquisition over the fair value of the net assets acquired. The company tests goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually as of the first day of the fourth quarter, or more frequently if indicators of potential impairment exist.

As of the first day of the fourth quarters of 2016, 2015, and 2014, the company's annual impairment testing did not result in any indicators of impairment of goodwill of companies acquired.

Goodwill of companies acquired, allocated to the company's business segments, is as follows:



	Global Components			Global ECS			Total
Balance as of December 31, 2014 (a)	$	1,051,783		$	1,017,426		$	2,069,209
Acquisitions	187,977			174,074			362,051
Foreign currency translation adjustment	(8,928		)	(53,500		)	(62,428		)
Balance as of December 31, 2015 (a)	1,230,832			1,138,000			2,368,832
Acquisitions	20,724			36,430			57,154
Foreign currency translation adjustment	(11,815		)	(21,951		)	(33,766		)
Balance as of December 31, 2016 (a)	$	1,239,741		$	1,152,479		$	2,392,220


(a)	The total carrying value of goodwill of companies acquired for all periods in the table above is reflected net of $1,018,780 of accumulated impairment charges, of which $716,925 was recorded in the global components business segment and $301,855 was recorded in the global ECS business segment.

Intangible assets, net, are comprised of the following as of December 31, 2016:



	Weighted-Average Life	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Trade names	indefinite	$	101,000	$	—		$	101,000
Customer relationships	10 years	476,176		(247,206		)	228,970
Developed technology	5 years	9,140		(4,435		)	4,705
Other intangible assets	(b)	6,721		(4,514		)	2,207
		$	593,037	$	(256,155	)	$	336,882


(b)	Consists of non-competition agreements, sales backlog, and an amortizable trade name with useful lives ranging from two to five years.

Intangible assets, net, are comprised of the following as of December 31, 2015:



	Weighted-Average Life	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Trade names	indefinite	$	101,000	$	—		$	101,000
Customer relationships	10 years	498,319		(215,263		)	283,056
Developed technology	5 years	13,154		(7,894		)	5,260
Other intangible assets	(c)	917		(907		)	10
		$	613,390	$	(224,064	)	$	389,326


(c)	Consists of non-competition agreements with useful lives ranging from two to three years.

The gross carrying value of trade names in the table above is reflected net of a $78,000 non-cash impairment charge recorded during the fourth quarter of 2014. In connection with the company's global re-branding initiative to brand certain of its businesses under the Arrow name, the company made the decision to discontinue the use of a trade name of one of its businesses within the global ECS business segment. As no future cash flows will be attributed to the impacted trade name, the entire book value was written-off, resulting in the non-cash impairment charge of $78,000 as of December 31, 2014 in the company's consolidated statements of operations. Fair value was determined using unobservable (Level 3) inputs. The impairment charge did not impact the company’s consolidated cash flows, liquidity, capital resources, and covenants under its existing revolving credit facility, asset securitization program, and other outstanding borrowings. No impairment existed as of December 31, 2014 with respect to the company's other identifiable intangible assets.

Amortization expense related to identifiable intangible assets was $54,886, $51,036, and $44,063 for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. Amortization expense for each of the years 2017 through 2021 is estimated to be approximately $49,386, $43,245, $36,929, $29,973, and $21,724, respectively.