How to Read a Revenue Trend Before You Buy: The Decline Analysis Framework Every Digital Buyer Needs
Most buyers anchor on the trailing twelve months and miss the revenue trend entirely. Here is the decline analysis framework I use before every bid on a digital asset.
The Pre-Close Checklist: What to Verify in the Final 30 Days Before a Digital Asset Deal Closes
I’ve walked away from two deals in the final week before closing. Both times, something surfaced during the pre-close verification window that the original due diligence didn’t catch — not because the diligence was sloppy, but because a 30-day gap between signing an LOI and wiring funds is enough time for a content site to […]
The Earnout Trap: Why Seller Financing and Earnout Structures Are the Most Misused Tools in Digital Acquisitions
If there is one area where I see digital acquisition deals go sideways — not at closing, but in the months after — it is the earnout. Specifically, it is the earnout that both the buyer and the seller think they understand but that neither has actually defined with enough precision to survive the first […]
SDE Adjustments Are Where Digital Deals Break Down: What Every Buyer Must Verify Before Trusting a Listing
Every digital business listing that crosses my desk comes with a seller discretionary earnings number. Sellers present it like it’s a fact. Brokers repeat it like it’s gospel. And buyers — especially newer ones — accept it at face value and build their entire offer around a number that may have been engineered to look […]
The Concentration Trap: How Single-Source Revenue Risk Can Destroy an Acquisition’s Value
When One Source Holds All the Power Most digital asset buyers focus on headline metrics: monthly revenue, traffic volume, profit margins. These numbers matter. But experienced acquirers know that a clean income statement can mask a structural vulnerability that no multiple can justify — concentration risk. Concentration risk occurs when a disproportionate share of a […]