All articles tagged with #write down
Berkshire Hathaway took a $3.76 billion write-down on its Kraft Heinz stake, reflecting ongoing struggles and strategic uncertainties, while its operating profit declined 4% and net income dropped 59%, amid broader economic and market challenges. Warren Buffett's conglomerate remains cautious, with significant cash reserves and reduced stock buybacks, as Buffett plans to step down at year-end.
Berkshire Hathaway's earnings were significantly impacted by a $3.8 billion writedown of its stake in Kraft Heinz, reflecting ongoing challenges with the investment and Kraft Heinz's exploration of a breakup. The company's total net income dropped, and operating earnings exceeded expectations despite broader market volatility and reduced stock buybacks, with Buffett's firm maintaining high cash reserves amid cautious investment activity.
Verizon Communications Inc reported a $5.8 billion write-down in the value of its business services division, attributed to ongoing declines and pressures from competition and macroeconomic factors, particularly in its legacy wireline operations. The write-down reflects challenges in its enterprise operations, with the wireline business experiencing a significant decrease in demand. Despite this, Verizon's wireless segment showed growth, and the company continues to focus on expanding its consumer unit.
Verizon will take a $5.8 billion write-down in the fourth quarter, primarily due to the declining value of its wireline business, and has revised its financial projections for its Business unit. The wireline business has been facing pressure from strong competition, an uncertain economy, and a shift to wireless services. Verizon's shares were down more than 1% following the announcement, and the company is set to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 23.
British American Tobacco's stock plummeted to its lowest point in over a decade after the company announced a potential $31.5 billion write-down related to its U.S. brands. The company's expansion in the U.S. through the acquisition of Reynolds in 2017 has been met with a significant decline in the American cigarette market.
British American Tobacco, the cigarette giant, has announced a write-down of the value of its brands by $31.5 billion due to a slowing economy and a shift towards vaping. The company reassessed the "useful economic lives" of some brands, mainly in the United States, including Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport, and Pall Mall. This write-down reflects an overpayment for Reynolds American, which British American Tobacco acquired in 2017. While the write-down is primarily an accounting matter, it has negatively impacted the company's shares. British American Tobacco expects half of its sales to come from vapes and other non-combustible products by 2035. The shift away from cigarettes is driven by factors such as proposed bans on menthol cigarettes and reduced nicotine levels.
British American Tobacco (BAT) announced a write-down of approximately $31.5 billion from the value of its U.S. cigarette brands, acknowledging the lack of a long-term future for its traditional market. BAT cited stricter regulations, health risks, economic challenges, and the rise of illicit disposable vapes as factors contributing to declining cigarette volumes. The company plans to adjust the treatment of some U.S. brands on its balance sheet, shifting their value to a finite lifetime of 30 years. BAT's shares fell over 8%, and it became the first major cigarette player to acknowledge the expiry date of its tobacco brands' value. BAT also set a new goal to generate 50% of its revenues from non-combustibles by 2025.
Cathie Wood's investment firm ARK has written down its stake in Twitter by 47%, reflecting a decrease in the value of the social media company's shares.
Disney is set to take a $1.5 billion write-down during the fiscal third quarter after removing more than 30 shows off of Disney+ and Hulu last month in an effort to bring down costs. The company is expecting to remove additional produced content from its streaming services during the third quarter, with those removals expected to incur an additional $400 million write-down. Despite the write-downs related to removing content, Disney is expecting streaming losses to widen by $100 million during the current quarter.
Credit Suisse bondholders, holding about $5 billion of the bank's canceled debt, have filed legal action against Switzerland's financial regulator, arguing that it violated Swiss law when it wrote down around $17 billion of bank bonds as part of UBS's rescue of the troubled bank last month. The bondholders are alleging that the total write-down was disproportionately punitive to them and violated their property rights.