Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Goodwill

v3.20.4
Goodwill
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]  
Goodwill Goodwill
Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair value of the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired in business combinations. Our annual impairment assessment of our two reporting units is performed as of the fourth quarter of each year, and an assessment is performed at other times if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount. ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other, states that an entity should perform its annual or interim goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount and recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value. ASC 350 also states that a reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount is not required to perform a qualitative assessment. Our Sirius XM reporting unit, which has an allocated goodwill balance of $2,290, had a negative carrying amount as of December 31, 2020.
We determined the fair value of our reporting units using a combination of an income approach, employing a discounted cash flow model, and a market approach. The discounted cash flow model relies on making assumptions, such as the extent of the economic downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the expected timing of recovery, expected growth in profitability and discount rate, which we believe are appropriate. Additionally, assumptions related to guideline company financial multiples used in the market approach decreased based on current market observations. The results of our goodwill impairment test indicated that the estimated fair value of the Sirius XM reporting unit exceeded its carrying amount. The carrying amount of the Pandora reporting unit exceeded its estimated fair value primarily due to a reduction in the long-term forecast to reflect
increased costs related to royalty rates for streaming and increased uncertainty surrounding the projected demand for advertising and decrease of listening hours. As a result, we recorded a goodwill impairment charge of $956 during the year ended December 31, 2020 to write down the carrying amount of the Pandora goodwill in the Impairment charges line item in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. No impairment losses were recorded for goodwill during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.  
As of December 31, 2020, the cumulative balance of goodwill impairments recorded was $5,722, of which $4,766 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2008 and is included in the carrying amount of the goodwill allocated to our Sirius XM reporting unit and $956 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020 and is included in the carrying amount of the goodwill allocated to our Pandora reporting unit.
As a result of the Simplecast and Stitcher acquisitions, we recorded additional goodwill of $17 and $218, respectively, during the year ended December 31, 2020 in our Pandora reporting unit. The goodwill of Simplecast is not deductible for tax purposes, however, the goodwill of Stitcher is deductible as it was an asset acquisition. Refer to Note 3 for information on these acquisitions.
Refer to the table below for our goodwill activity for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
Sirius XM Pandora Total
Balance at December 31, 2018 $ 2,290  $ —  $ 2,290 
Acquisition —  1,553  1,553 
Balance at December 31, 2019 2,290  1,553  3,843 
Acquisition —  235  235 
Impairment charge —  (956) (956)
Balance at December 31, 2020 $ 2,290  $ 832  $ 3,122