The Sale of My Microsoft Technology Business
An In-Depth Overview of the Process
At some point every business owner dreams about selling their business and either retiring, pursing other business interests, or combining with someone larger to increase the size, reach and opportunities not easily accomplished organically. Maybe you have been contemplating the sale or merger for some time and are wondering when the right time is to step into the process. As a long-time Microsoft technology CEO and from my personal experience in this channel, the time is NOW. Why now? Here are my top three reasons:
- Microsoft is HOT, sexy, in vogue, call it what you want, but companies outside this space want in.
- The economy is doing well and customersare spending money on technology; cloud, apps, consulting.
- There is money to spend; investorsare still sitting on record amounts of cash, interest rates are still low to facilitate M&A activity and acquisitions remain the best source of growth (organic growth takes too long.)
Since the announcement on the sale of my Microsoft Technology business, in addition to receiving many well wishes from friends and colleagues, surprisingly, I have also received a number of questions on HOW the process worked. While not everyone is contemplating the sale of their business today, I thought it would be worthwhile to share some valuable tips for those who plan to sell at some point as well as things I learned along the way. I have broken down the process into three parts as follows:
Part I – Timing of the Transaction – When to start and how long it will take.
Part II – Valuations (realistic ones) that you can expect for your Microsoft business
Part III – Getting your Financials in order – EBITDA and more importantly “Adjusted EBITDA”