Lower than forecast handset sales could lead to a multi-billion dollar write off for Microsoft

Lower than forecast handset sales could lead to a multi-billion dollar write off for Microsoft: The $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia Devices and Services announced by Microsoft on September 2, 2013 turned into a $9.4 billion deal by the time it closed. The guys working in Redmond on the financial aspects of the deal, considered $5.5 billion of the purchase price to be Goodwill. That is the amount of the cost of an acquisition that consists of intangible assets like the value of a company's name, good customer and employee relations, patents and proprietary technology. Another $4.5 billion of intangible assets not considered Goodwill was also part of the deal.



The danger is that if ...