Marathon Media: Acquire, Raise Capital, Increase Profit, Exit

Situation

Startup had just acquired 3 radio stations in a single acquisition and planned to raise capital, acquire dozens more, increase EBITDA through discretionary and synergistic expense reductions and then exit. Larry was brought in as the first financial executive and was tasked with due diligence on acquisitions, modelling pro forma expense reductions, creating financial models for investors, closing the transactions and expeditiously implementing the planned cost-saving measures. Further, the company had no accounting department or infrastructure of its own, and Larry had to formulate and implement the best plan for the accounting needs of this fast-growing company.

Actions taken

  1. Completed due diligence and pro forma expense reductions for 25 acquisitions totaling over 90 radio stations. Created financial models for commercial lenders and private equity investor through the first 10 acquisitions raising an additional $8m in equity and $12M in senior debt. Implemented all planned cost reductions increasing the value of all acquired radio stations by millions of dollars based on valuing the business at a flat multiple of EBITDA as compared to the actual aggregate purchase prices.
  2. Brought all accounting other than billing and collections to a newly-formed corporate accounting department which ultimately managed the accounts payable, preparation of financial statements, reporting to management, lenders and investors for 15 operations (down from 25 acquisitions via operational and financial synergistic consolidation) as well the same for a dozen or more other entities owned and managed by the same entrepreneur but outside of Marathon Media.
  3. Managed the sell side due diligence process for 4 divestiture transactions for all of the acquired ratio stations including estimates of working capital and post-sale reconciliations.

Outcome

The Company raised more than $100M in equity and debt, acquired 95 radio stations. Operating expenses were significantly reduced through synergistic and discretionary savings, and it successfully sold the group of radio stations at significantly higher than the combined purchase prices.