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> phoned 20 companies and said that you wanted to buy them

Not a lie. He actually did buy the company which responded. For more than it received from the former bidder.

> You promised them ten million dollars which you didn't have.

Most of the purchases are made without the hard cash in the bank.



Not a lie. He actually did buy the company which responded.

True, but he didn't want to buy 20 companies. Do you think it's reasonable for a man to ask 20 women to marry him, based on the premise of "19 of them will probably say no"?

For more than it received from the former bidder.

Only if you accept his completely fictitious stock valuation.

Most of the purchases are made without the hard cash in the bank.

Sure, but I'd hope there's usually a fairly clear path to obtaining the cash -- clearer than turning around and selling (part of) the company you just bought.


> True, but he didn't want to buy 20 companies. Do you think it's reasonable for a man to ask 20 women to marry him, based on the premise of "19 of them will probably say no"?

Oh, come on. Do you think its reasonable to try to buy a car at 20 different dealers, even if you only want one of them?


If I wanted to buy a car, I might go to 20 different dealers and say "I want to buy a car and I'm considering car X", but I wouldn't phone up 20 dealers and say "I want to buy car X" for 20 different values of X.


...but the point of a rollup is that you do want to buy five or seven cars out of those twenty.


>> For more than it received from the former bidder.

> Only if you accept his completely fictitious stock valuation

It's about what those who sell are willing to accept. They accepted, they did consider that a better offer.

> Do you think it's reasonable for a man to ask 20 women to marry him

That's obviously a wrong analogy for his search for a company ready to be sold.


>> Sure, but I'd hope there's usually a fairly clear path to obtaining the cash -- clearer than turning around and selling (part of) the company you just bought.

Mezzanine financing? Interest rates suck for that stuff though. In the world of M&As, I don't think stuff like this is uncommon, given what I hear from my finance friends.


Promises based on stock valuations are hollow, unless backed by an option to sell at a fixed price.




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