Note 5 GOODWILL

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013 were as follows (in thousands):


	Americas⁽¹⁾			EMEA⁽²⁾			Asia Pacific⁽³⁾			Total
Net balance as of January 1, 2012	$	2,866,365		$	581,523		$	452,864		$	3,900,752
Acquisitions		5,616			—			—			5,616
Korea goodwill write-off		—			—			(85,642	)		(85,642	)
Foreign currency translation adjustments		(1,950	)		12,090			(4,117	)		6,023

Net balance as of December 31, 2012	$	2,870,031		$	593,613		$	363,105		$	3,826,749
Acquisitions		934,135			1,567			1,921			937,623
Goodwill impairment charge		—			(63,555	)		—			(63,555	)
Foreign currency translation adjustments		(1,832	)		15,231			(34,568	)		(21,169	)

Net balance as of December 31, 2013	$	3,802,334		$	546,856		$	330,458		$	4,679,648

⁽¹⁾	Gross goodwill balances for the Americas segment were $2.9 billion as of January 1, 2012 and $3.8 billion as of December 31, 2013.

⁽²⁾	Gross goodwill balances for the EMEA segment were $1.1 billion as of both January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013. The EMEA segment includes accumulated impairment losses of $488 million as of January 1, 2012, and $551 million as of December 31, 2013.

⁽³⁾	Gross goodwill balances for the Asia Pacific (“APAC”) segment were $517 million as of January 1, 2012 and $480 million as of December 31, 2013. The APAC segment includes accumulated impairment losses of $64 million as of January 1, 2012 and $150 million as of December 31, 2013.

As a result of the annual goodwill impairment test, the Company concluded that the carrying value of the Middle East reporting unit, included in the EMEA reportable segment, exceeded its fair value. As required by the second step of the impairment test, the Company performed an allocation of the fair value to all the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit, including identifiable intangible assets, based on their estimated fair values, to determine the implied fair value of goodwill. Accordingly, the Company recorded a goodwill impairment charge of approximately $64 million during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 for the difference between the carrying value of the goodwill in the reporting unit and its implied fair value with goodwill remaining of $77 million. The impairment resulted from reductions in the Company’s actual and projected operating results and estimated future cash flows that resulted from a decline in business conditions in the Middle East during the latter half of 2013.

The estimated fair values of the Company’s other reporting units exceeded their estimated carrying values and therefore goodwill in those reporting units was not impaired.