[Edaily Reporter JAEMIN SONG ] The book value of “Athom,” a Dutch smart home platform company acquired by LGELECTRONICS to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) home ecosystem, has fallen by nearly half in just a year and a half. This is the result of a conservative accounting reevaluation of the synergies expected from Athom. LGELECTRONICS plans to unveil the evolution of Athom—a core component of its AI Home strategy—at “IFA 2026,” Europe’s largest home appliance and IT exhibition.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 25th, the book value of LGELECTRONICS’ investment in AtHome, as reflected in its separate financial statements, decreased by 48.6% from an initial 69.206 billion won to 35.584 billion won at the end of last year. LGELECTRONICS recognized the difference of 33.622 billion won as other non-operating expenses after determining that the recoverable amount from its investment in AtHome fell short of the book value. LGELECTRONICS also maintained the book value of its AtHome investment without reflecting any separate valuation gains or losses in its recent first-half report for this year.

An impairment loss is an accounting treatment in which the difference is recognized as a loss when the recoverable amount—calculated based on expected future cash flows from the investment asset—is less than the carrying amount.

Previously, in June 2024, during the tenure of former CEO Jo Ju-wan, LGELECTRONICS paid 69.206 billion won in cash to acquire an 80% stake in AtHome. It also entered into a conditional purchase agreement for the remaining 20% stake and recorded it as a financial liability of 17.251 billion won. At the time, LGELECTRONICS valued the goodwill—which reflected AtHome’s technological capabilities, customer base, and the potential for revenue growth expected from the merger—at 72.111 billion won.

An LGELECTRONICS official stated, “At the time of the acquisition, we reflected the expected synergies from the combination of LGELECTRONICS and AtHome in the book value, but last year we conservatively reevaluated this for accounting purposes,” adding, “The fact that the book value has decreased does not mean that AtHome’s corporate value or business outlook has diminished.”

Despite the decline in book value, AtHome is considered a core pillar of LGELECTRONICS’ AI Home strategy. This is because, for AI to understand the conditions inside the home and users’ lifestyle patterns and provide personalized services, it must integrate information from not only LGELECTRONICS home appliances but also a variety of external devices. LGELECTRONICS has used AtHome to complement the connectivity of external devices on its proprietary platform, ThinQ, and has integrated AtHome’s open ecosystem into the AI Home hub “LG ThinQ On,” unveiled in 2024. Competitor SamsungElectronics is also expanding its AI Home ecosystem—which encompasses both its own products and devices from external brands—by acquiring the U.S. smart home platform SmartThings in 2014.

In fact, AtHome Holdings’ financial indicators, as disclosed in public filings, are showing an upward trend. According to LGELECTRONICS’ report on investments in other companies, AtHome Holdings’ total assets for the most recent fiscal year increased from 7.177 billion won at the end of 2024 to 15.987 billion won at the end of last year. Net income also rose during the same period, from 871 million won to 8.024 billion won.

An LGELECTRONICS spokesperson stated, “AtHome is a competitive smart home platform in Europe,” adding, “We plan to showcase how AtHome has evolved since its acquisition by LGELECTRONICS—including expanded integration with ThinQ—at IFA 2026 and during our schedule in the Netherlands.”