2 ms·

> Ultimately, companies are not sold, they are bought. What does that even mean? Companies are both sold and bought. One implies the other. There are always wi

> Ultimately, companies are not sold, they are bought. What does that even mean? Companies are both sold and bought. One implies the other. There are always willing buyers for entities with non-negative value. Hell, I'm a willing buyer for Magic Leap, at the right price.

manigandham 7y ago
It's more nuanced. A company being "bought" means that an acquirer actively sought them out because they were such an attractive target. This is the best position to be in. A company being "sold" means that they don't have active interest and instead offer themselves up as a last resort for whatever price they can get. Usually everything is liquidated at the absolute minimum to avoid completely shutting down the company and still marking it as an "exit" on the investors books.
aliswe 7y ago
> I'm a willing buyer for Magic Leap, at the right price. That's exactly the point, the buyer dictates the price it is willing to buy at. At the wrong selling price for a specific product, there are no buyers.
wpietri 7y ago
> What does that even mean? It means the number of potential buyers for a company is generally small. That it's a buyer's market: https://www.redfin.com/guides/buyers-market-vs-sellers-market https://www.redfin.com/guides/buyers-market-vs-sellers-marke... > Hell, I'm a willing buyer for Magic Leap, at the right price. You almost certainly aren't. Magic Leap is burning money at an incredible rate, reportedly $50 million/month. Even if you could buy it for $1 over their cash on hand, you'd be a fool to do it, as you'd have to spend the next several months laying people off, negotiating with creditors, liquidating assets, and fending off lawsuits. It would be miserable, and there's a good chance you'd have little to show for your time. Any serious buyer would expect to put another couple billion in cash in just to get it to where it has a product people will actually pay money for. I'm guessing that isn't you.

manigandham 7y ago

It's more nuanced. A company being "bought" means that an acquirer actively sought them out because they were such an attractive target. This is the best position to be in. A company being "sold" means that they don't have active interest and instead offer themselves up as a last resort for whatever price they can get. Usually everything is liquidated at the absolute minimum to avoid completely shutting down the company and still marking it as an "exit" on the investors books.

aliswe 7y ago

> I'm a willing buyer for Magic Leap, at the right price. That's exactly the point, the buyer dictates the price it is willing to buy at. At the wrong selling price for a specific product, there are no buyers.

wpietri 7y ago

> What does that even mean? It means the number of potential buyers for a company is generally small. That it's a buyer's market: https://www.redfin.com/guides/buyers-market-vs-sellers-market https://www.redfin.com/guides/buyers-market-vs-sellers-marke... > Hell, I'm a willing buyer for Magic Leap, at the right price. You almost certainly aren't. Magic Leap is burning money at an incredible rate, reportedly $50 million/month. Even if you could buy it for $1 over their cash on hand, you'd be a fool to do it, as you'd have to spend the next several months laying people off, negotiating with creditors, liquidating assets, and fending off lawsuits. It would be miserable, and there's a good chance you'd have little to show for your time. Any serious buyer would expect to put another couple billion in cash in just to get it to where it has a product people will actually pay money for. I'm guessing that isn't you.