Lumen, a US telco, loses $8.74bn due to non-cash impairment

In the second quarter, Lumen Technologies reported a loss of $8.74 billion, a significant decrease from the $344 million profit in the same quarter last year. The company, formerly CenturyLink Enterprise, has lost more than 66 percent of its value this year, reducing its market capitalization to just $1.8 billion. Second-quarter revenue was $3.66 billion. Lumen incurred an $8.793bn noncash impairment charge, which is a financial record that reflects a decrease in the value of an asset due to a decline in its anticipated future cash flows or fair value. It was triggered by Lumen's share price's continuous decrease from April to June.

The company continues to grapple with a massive debt load, but it has reduced its debt from $20.42 billion at the end of last year to $19.9 billion. It spends over a billion dollars annually on interest payments. CFO Chris Stansbury stated in an earnings call that did not address the impairment charge, "Our turnaround is underway, and we're very excited about the future." "We are decreasing our estimate for stock-based compensation expenses for 2023 to approximately $65 million," he added.

During the quarter, Lumen lost 93,000 copper DSL customers and gained 21,000 Quantum Fiber customers.