Boston Scientific Corporation M&A Scorecard: $9B in Goodwill Writeoffs

Boston Business Journal by Galen Moore, Web Editor

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) has written off $9.25 billion in goodwill charges over the past five years, the Wall Street Journal reports – part of the Journal's analysis of several companies' M&A performance, based on goodwill charges.

At the beginning of the year, medical device maker Boston Scientific was one of two firms carrying more goodwill on its balance sheet than the entire market value of the firm. The other was Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Goodwill reflects how much the price of an M&A deal exceeds the value of the acquired company's hard assets. When an acquisition fails to meet expectations, companies write down the value of the goodwill they put into the deal.