Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, Net

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, Net

A summary of changes in the Company's goodwill by reportable business segment is as follows for 2011 and 2010 (in millions):



Segment	December 31, 2010 Balance		Acquisitions		Impairment Charges			Other Adjustments⁽¹⁾			Foreign Currency			December 31, 2011 Balance ⁽²⁾
Newell Consumer	$	998.7	$	—	$	—		$	—		$	(7.1	)	$	991.6
Newell Professional	1,315.1		2.2		(64.7		)	(9.3		)	(2.9		)	1,240.4
Baby & Parenting	435.7		—		(305.5		)	—			3.8			134.0
	$	2,749.5	$	2.2	$	(370.2	)	$	(9.3	)	$	(6.2	)	$	2,366.0



Segment	December 31, 2009 Balance		Acquisitions		Impairment Charges		Other Adjustments⁽¹⁾		Foreign Currency			December 31, 2010 Balance ⁽²⁾
Newell Consumer	$	1,002.0	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	(3.3	)	$	998.7
Newell Professional	1,330.5		—		—		1.5		(16.9		)	1,315.1
Baby & Parenting	421.8		—		—		—		13.9			435.7
	$	2,754.3	$	—	$	—	$	1.5	$	(6.3	)	$	2,749.5


(1)	Newell Professional includes payments of $10.0 million and $1.5 million in 2011 and 2010, respectively, for contingent payments relating to the Company's acquisition of PSI Systems, Inc. (“Endicia”) in 2007. The contingent payments are based on Endicia’s post-acquisition revenues.


(2)	Cumulative impairment charges relating to goodwill since January 1, 2002 were $1,642.4 million and $1,272.2 million as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Of these amounts, $538.0 million was included in cumulative effect of accounting change, and $298.9 million was included in discontinued operations.

The Company performs its annual impairment tests of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles as of the first day of the Company's third quarter because it coincides with the Company's annual strategic planning process. The Company recorded non-cash impairment charges of $382.6 million in 2011 as a result of its annual impairment tests, principally related to goodwill impairments in the Company's Baby & Parenting and Hardware global business units. The impairments generally resulted from declines in sales projections relative to previous estimates due to economic and market factors based in large part on actual declines in sales in the first six months of 2011, which adversely impacted projected operating margins and net cash flows for these global business units. The decline in anticipated future cash flows adversely affected the estimated fair value of the global business units calculated using the discounted cash flow approach and resulted in the estimated fair value of the Baby & Parenting and Hardware global business units being less than their net assets (including goodwill). In addition to $370.2 million of goodwill impairments, the Company recorded $12.4 million of non-cash impairment charges relating to impairments of trade names and other assets. See Footnote 18 for further details.

Other intangible assets, net consisted of the following as of December 31, (in millions):



	2011							2010
	Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Book Value		Gross Carrying Amount		Accumulated Amortization			Net Book Value
Trade names - indefinite life	$	311.3	$	—		$	311.3	$	317.7	$	—		$	317.7
Trade names - other	42.3		(25.1		)	17.2		46.2		(23.2		)	23.0
Capitalized software	387.1		(125.8		)	261.3		317.2		(100.8		)	216.4
Other ⁽¹⁾	206.1		(129.8		)	76.3		207.6		(116.4		)	91.2
	$	946.8	$	(280.7	)	$	666.1	$	888.7	$	(240.4	)	$	648.3

The table below summarizes the Company's amortization periods using the straight-line method for other intangible assets, including capitalized software, as of December 31, 2011:



	Weighted-Average Amortization Period (in years)	Amortization Periods (in years)
Trade names - indefinite life	N/A	N/A
Trade names - other	10	3 – 20 years
Capitalized software	10	3 – 12 years
Other ⁽¹⁾	8	3 – 14 years
	9

(1) Other consists primarily of patents and customer lists with net book values of $29.2 million and $47.0 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2011.

Amortization expense for intangible assets, including capitalized software, was $51.0 million, $54.3 million and $53.0 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

As of December 31, 2011, the aggregate estimated intangible amortization amounts for the succeeding five years are as follows (in millions):



2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
$54.9	$50.6	$48.3	$42.0	$38.9

Actual amortization expense to be reported in future periods could differ materially from these estimates as a result of acquisitions, changes in useful lives and other relevant factors.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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