Some of the world’s biggest companies are facing multibillion-dollar writedowns on recent acquisitions as a wave of dealmaking gives way to a new era of economic uncertainty and higher interest rates.
With a third of the global economy forecast to be in recession this year, world leaders will this week gather in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss what the World Economic Forum has called a “polycrisis” as business leaders engage in a painful reckoning over their empire building.
US media and healthcare companies are among those to have slashed the value of business units in the past few months and accountants are warning that more cuts could be imminent as the annual reporting season gets under way.