Goodwill write-offs starting to spread.

• Position: Business Briefs

The list of companies deciding to bite the bullet and take huge write offs on impaired goodwill -- a mandate of Financial Accounting Statement 142 -- continues to grow.

AOL Time Warner Inc. really kicked off the process in late March, when it took a $54 billion write-off, reflecting the erosion of value in the merger between AOL and Time Warner. A week later, Qwest Communications International -- which acquired US West in 2000 -- announced that it expected to take a charge of $20 billion to $30 billion, probably at the end of this quarter, to reflect a slide in the value of acquired assets.

Telecommunications firms are at the center of the goodwill write-off wave. WorldCom Inc., which had acquired MCI Corp., is expected to take a slightly smaller one, of $15 billion to $20 billion. Nextel Communications' $335 million charge, announced in mid-April, was a pittance in...