FIS Slides on $17.6 Billion Writedown, Merchant-Unit Spinoff (2)

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. plummeted after it booked a $17.6 billion writedown on the payment-processing business it bought for $41 billion just four years ago, a unit it now plans to dump.

The fintech said it will pursue the tax-free spinoff in the next year, according to a statement Monday. The impairment charge resulted in a $17.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter, the firm said in a separate statement.

“It’s a sign that the acquisition was a huge failure,” Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho Securities who has been calling for a spinoff of the merchant ...