"Look, you and I both know your company is worth $50 million. But I only want to pay $10 million, and I've already worked out a deal with my competitors so they

"Look, you and I both know your company is worth $50 million. But I only want to pay $10 million, and I've already worked out a deal with my competitors so they won't bid any more than that either. We own the market for investment, so you can take it or your company can die for lack of funding." You don't see a problem with this kind of artificial market manipulation? This is no longer a market; it short circuits true capitalism and only serves to siphon gains from the seller (in this case, the company's founders) to the buyer, who will turn around and effectively try to resell (or otherwise exit) the company for profit. Everyone seems to be convinced that price fixing only applies to sellers. That's wrong. It firmly applies to both selling and buying. It's fundamentally about market manipulation; taking steps to undermine the economy of the system for direct personal gain. That kind of behavior destroys wealth and erodes confidence in the marketplace.