If the limiting factor is revenue, they need to get realistic. 4 years of earnings for a business that has already exhausted the available market potential (at least for sub count), and where infrastructure can require a forklift upgrade every 3-5 years, is about as good as they will find.
On the other hand, if the limiting factor is costs consuming most of the revenue, the value of the business might change post acquisition. Perhaps you can cut salaries, if your existing techs can cover installs and maintenance, and you no longer need to pay the owners. Perhaps you can replace their expensive bandwidth with your less expensive bandwidth. Perhaps with your greater economies of scale and purchasing power, you can lower their other costs, renegotiate tower leases, etc. In business school, I remember being taught this is the stuff M&A is built on, assets that are worth more to the buyer than to the seller. Although you wouldn’t know it from the deals that make the news, they seem to be about getting bigger just to get bigger, with correspondingly bigger executive pay. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brett A Mansfield Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 3:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Price per sub? There are only 190 subs. I'll have to get their financials to determine ebitda since they don't even know. But if it's what I think it is then they won't sell for what I'll offer. 4x ebitda isn't much for only 190 subs. Thank you, Brett A Mansfield On Jan 11, 2017, at 2:14 PM, Josh Reynolds <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: How many subs? On Jan 11, 2017 3:13 PM, "Brett A Mansfield" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: When looking at buying a competitor, I'm wondering what everyone's thought is on a price per sub? They don't do contracts and they use the litebeam hardware. I'm not looking for legal advice, just wondering what all of you think is fair. This company has about a 90% take rate in the area they're in. Their plans are $20, $40, and $50/mo. Thank you, Brett A Mansfield
