Goodwill is the premium over the assets actually acquired. Read it as a share of net worth. When most of a company's book value is goodwill, its equity is standing on a price, not on assets.

An impairment gets called non-cash, just an accounting entry. It is not. It is the company admitting the deal destroyed value. The cash left the day they overpaid, not the day they wrote it down.

Watch serial acquirers stacking goodwill deal after deal. Growth bought at a premium looks like growth until the premium becomes a write-down. Read the impairment note, not just the asset total.