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24/12/20
10:52
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Originally posted by DreadPirateRoberts:
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It's easy to say "they should have raised more money at a better price" but it's not that simple. At the time, the company was not looking group. Ohm was severely underperforming and the Lifx acquisition was pretty risky at the time. They raised as much as they could under the circumstances. It's not like they turned down any money. As for over-paying for Lifx, yeah maybe. It does appear that way. But I'm not sure if anything was missed during Due diligence, that's hard to say (and to be honest I have no experience such things related to large deals like this). Remember that the major shareholder was the the manufacturer, and they were the ones DM was directly negotiating with (it was not an easy/smooth negotiation). They have now decided to forgive a large portion of the debt. My suspicion is that DM went to them after getting settled and said "WTF guys"? Also of note, the three top people who were at lifx pre-aquistion, and who would have been most responsible for any sales forecasts, are now gone (the head of sales, CEO and co-founder, and the first two left very quickly after the acquisition). Coincidence? Maybe, or perhaps DM showed some people the door.
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No coincidence, re who's no longer there. But I work in the finance sector, I have a simple rule, better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. Another $2 to 5m retail would have done the world of good. There may have been no interest, but it needed to be put out there. Purchase was probably 20m overs, but we all have 20/20 hindsight don't we.