New Things on ChrisMercer.net for the New Year in 2016
Welcome to 2016! There will be changes to the focus of the blog in 2016. Read more about the changes here.
Category Archives: The Personal Side
Volkswagen’s Emission Scandal is Expensive and Tragic
The moral compass at Volkswagen was evidently not set to true north. The easy way or the cheapest solution in the short run may well be the most difficult way and the most expensive in the long run. Let the example at Volkswagen be a call for all of us to reexamine our moral compasses, both as individuals and as those compasses get translated within our companies. Some of the best decisions are made when we simply say no to the easy road.
Business Valuation Content on Periscope
Twitter's New App Can Be Used to Share Intellectual Content
After reflecting about Periscope and its potential use for me as a new social media tool, I decided to give it a try. I decided that I’d conduct my own Periscope experiment, and did my first Scope last Friday. I’ll be talking about business valuation and ownership transition, the same topics I now blog about and speak about. View a video in this post of my first scope about “Basic Business Valuation.”
Labor Day
An Inflection Point for the Year
The summer is sandwiched between Memorial Day, a day to remember those who died while serving in the armed forces of the United States, and Labor Day, a day dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. I’ve always viewed Memorial Day as a time to reflect and to remember those who died […]
Orthogonal: A Word to Remember
You say “hockey stick projections,” I now say “orthogonal projections.”
New York’s Largest Corporate Dissolution | AriZona Iced Tea
Buy-sell agreements are critical corporate documents. I’ve said that many times and in three books on the topic. This post is about a case in which the parties did not have a buy-sell agreement. They were involved in litigation over the buyout of one 50% owner (not in management) by the other (in management). There was a trial and, following the trial, a private settlement. I was involved in the case and so now am providing an analysis of the case.
New York’s Largest Corporate Dissolution | AriZona Iced Tea
Buy-sell agreements are critical corporate documents. I’ve said that many times and in three books on the topic. This post is about a case in which the parties did not have a buy-sell agreement. They were involved in litigation over the buyout of one 50% owner (not in management) by the other (in management). There was a trial and, following the trial, a private settlement. I was involved in the case and so now am providing an analysis of the case. The text of the analysis begins:
After several years of litigation involving a number of hearings and trials on various issues, a trial to conclude the collective fair value of a group of related companies known as the AriZona Entities occurred.
The Court’s decision in the AriZona matter was filed on October 14, 2014. I have not written about the AriZona matter because I was a business valuation expert witness on behalf of one side. The parties recently closed a private settlement of the matter, so there will be no appeal.
When is the Right Time for Management Transition?
When I read about Uber’s most recent financing, which valued its equity at $51 billion, I thought about FedEx Corporation, a Memphis-based company. I then wrote a blog post titled Uber Market Cap of Equity Exceeds that of FedEx. This past week, my thoughts about FedEx turned towards AutoZone, another Memphis-based company, as well as […]
Top 10 Takeaways from National Speakers Association 2015 Conference
A good friend and nationally known speaker, Don Hutson, invited me to join the National Speakers Association way back in 1997. NSA conferences are just about the only non-appraisal related meetings I attend. Last week, I attended the 2015 annual convention of NSA, where the theme was Influence.
I attend the NSA conferences to learn more about the art and craft of speaking, as well as to hear about new trends in social media and more. However, this year, I was pleased to find the session beneficial both for me personally and professionally, but also, perhaps, for you as well in my top 10 takeaways.
What’s So Magic About Age 65?
Baby Boomers own a disproportionate number of the private businesses in America. They are turning 65, or reaching the so-called “normal” retirement age at an astounding rate. Generation X is smaller than the Boomer generation by a significant amount and that means there are fewer of them to take the place of retiring Boomer business owners.
Following the smaller Generation X, the Millenials will exceed the Baby Boomers in numbers by 2016 or 1017. While they are the largest generation in the workforce today, they may not yet be likely purchasers of businesses from Boomers.
So what’s an aging business owner to do? Is the glass half empty and this situation is all bad?