GE's Loss Of Goodwill

General Electric just announced a $22 billion write-off related to the company's 2015 acquisition of the power grid business from Alston SA. The Alstom purchase was made for $10.1 billion, so GE wrote off more than twice the original purchase price. What makes this is write off unique is that GE is writing off previously unrecognized intangible assets. This means that previously misvalued or unrecognized intangible assets were not recognized in accounting for the acquisition.