When Goodwill Turns Bad:
The Case of Lightspeed Commerce Inc.

Lightspeed Commerce Inc. was once among the darlings of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), with a peak share price of over $150 in 2021. But the high rate of growth was not sustainable for this Canadian-based provider of point-of-sale and e-commerce software, and its share price dropped by more than 85 percent by the middle of 2022.

The 2025 results for Lightspeed included a write-down of Goodwill totalling US$556.4 million, an overall net loss of US$667.3 million and an adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) profitability for the year of US$53.7 million. The case requires participants to discuss the difference between intangible assets and goodwill, assess the nature of goodwill impairment, discuss the nature of pro forma measures of income under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and inform potential investors whether or not the future is promising for Lightspeed.