Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson are two leading producers of healthcare products. Each has considerable assets, and each expends considerable funds each year toward the development of new products. The development of a new healthcare product is often very expensive and risky. New products frequently must undergo considerable testing before approval for distribution to the public, For example, it took Johnson and Johnson 4 years and $200 million to develop its 1-DAY ACUVUE contact lenses. Below are some data compiled from the financial statements of these two companies. Johnson & Johnson (all dollars in millions) total assets: $53,317 Total revenue: $47,348 Net income: $8,509 Research and development expense: $5,203 Intangible assets: $11,842 Merck (all dollars in millions): Total assets: $42,573 Total revenue: $22,939 Net income: $5,813 Research and development expense: $4,010 Intangible assets: $2,765 Respond to the following questions: 1. What kinds of Intangible assets might a healthcare products company have? Does the composition of these intangibles matter to investors - that is, would it be perceived differently if all of Merck?s intangibles were goodwill, than if all of its intangibles were patents? 2. The notes to Merck?s financial statements note that Merck has goodwill of $1.1 billion. Where does recorded goodwill come from? Is it necessarily a good thing to have a lot of goodwill on your books? Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson are two leading producers of healthcare products. Each has considerable assets, and each expends considerable funds each year toward the development of new products. The development of a new healthcare product is often very expensive and risky. New products frequently must undergo considerable testing before approval for distribution to the public, For example, it took Johnson and Johnson 4 years and $200 million to develop its 1-DAY ACUVUE contact lenses. Below are some data compiled from the financial statements of these two companies. Johnson & Johnson (all dollars in millions) total assets: $53,317 Total revenue: $47,348 Net income: $8,509 Research and development expense: $5,203 Intangible assets: $11,842 Merck (all dollars in millions): Total assets: $42,573 Total revenue: $22,939 Net income: $5,813 Research and development expense: $4,010 Intangible assets: $2,765 Respond to the following questions: 1. What kinds of Intangible assets might a healthcare products company have? Does the composition of these intangibles matter to investors - that is, would it be perceived differently if all of Merck?s intangibles were goodwill, than if all of its intangibles were patents? 2. The notes to Merck?s financial statements note that Merck has goodwill of $1.1 billion. Where does recorded goodwill come from? Is it necessarily a good thing to have a lot of goodwill on your books
