On September 8, 2019 the Buzz column in the Seattle Times was titled, “Seattle Cider sues founder, former CEO” and dealt with a lawsuit against the founder of Seattle Cider and Two Beers Brewing initiated by Agrial, a French company that acquired them. In simple terms, the plaintiff alleged the books were cooked to increase the price.
More about the above later and it fits with a quote I saw this summer from Richard Parker, “Numbers don’t lie, sellers do.” I wrote him and told him how I had seen a case where the owners/sellers (creatively) made the numbers lie, at least temporarily. Richard’s response was something like, it’s amazing how creative people can get with this stuff.
The Seattle Cider case involves the seller supposedly doing “channel stuffing.” He allegedly had his top distributor accelerate orders, so sales looked stronger than they really were and then, post-sale, orders declined because the distributor had months and months of product. Oops, the buyer is now getting no orders and had the privilege of paying the seller an inflated amount (again, alleged).
It seems so easy, but this stuff always comes out (at some point). For example, a seller ripped a letter off a bulletin board as she gave the buyer a tour of the business. Turns out the letter was from their top (30%) customer informing them a change in strategy meant they were ending the relationship. The buyer later found out from an employee.
Or many years ago when a buyer sabotaged himself by letting the seller convince him he couldn’t talk to the customers because the industry was so tight word of the sale would somehow get out. Even though his attorney and I told him to “kill the deal,” he agreed (to not do customer research, even as a reference check). Turns out the top, 25%, customer was doing a “test kitchen” of new systems without inviting their current provider (the seller’s firm) to participate. No wonder the seller didn’t want any customer related due diligence. (By not talking to the customers a buyer risks not knowing about damaged relationships. If the customer has already stopped doing business and is still disclosed in the purchase and sale agreement as being an active customer there should be protections in the representations and warranties in the agreement, although it’s still deception and a major hassle.)
And this is not confined to the small business and lower middle market. Just look at what’s in the headlines about We (WeWork).
When it comes to integrity and ethics, 99% of business owners have a high level (unless you count blending the personal and business checkbooks). But the other 1%…
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” Satchel Paige
