The November 16, 2011, edition of the Wall Street Journal Online contains an article by Maxwell Murphy entitled The Big Number: 51. The article is available in the Readings and Resources of this Module. Read the article and then answer the following questions.

a. What do the 51 companies referred to in the title have in common? What implications does this have regarding the fair value of a companys assets?

b. What significance does the common trait referred to in part (a) have for a companys goodwill?