Chapter 50: The reason for the sale

Chapter 50: The Reason for the Sale

Monday morning came with another email.

Damian opened it while sitting in the back of a lecture hall.

Subject: Re: Acquisition Opportunity

He read it once.

Then again.

The owner had agreed to meet.

Damian smiled slightly.

That was faster than expected.

He opened his notebook beneath the desk and wrote down the address.

A small technology office downtown.

Nothing fancy.

The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Damian locked his phone and looked toward the front of the room.

The lecturer was talking about something he had absolutely no idea about.

He sighed.

For a few minutes, he tried to pay attention.

Then his phone vibrated.

Ethan:You alive?

Damian looked at the message.

Damian:Unfortunately.

Ethan:Good. Need your notes later.

Damian:You have your own notes.

Ethan:They’re terrible.

Damian smiled.

Damian:That’s a you problem.

Ethan:Fish brain.

Damian shook his head and put the phone away.

At least some things were still normal.

After class, Damian headed toward the student parking area.

Claire was waiting near the entrance.

"You disappeared after Saturday."

Damian looked at her.

"I had work."

"Work?"

"Business stuff."

Claire raised an eyebrow.

"You’re becoming boring."

"Becoming?"

She laughed.

"Fair."

They started walking together.

"So what are you working on?"

"Potential acquisition."

Claire stopped.

"Wait. You’re buying a company?"

"Potentially."

"You’re serious?"

"I don’t know yet."

She caught up with him.

"What kind of company?"

"Small tech company. Software. Existing customers. Recurring revenue."

Claire nodded slowly.

"That actually sounds interesting."

"It is."

"So what’s wrong with it?"

Damian looked at her.

"That’s what I’m trying to find out."

She smiled.

"Good answer."

They continued walking.

Claire glanced at him.

"You’ve changed."

Damian looked over.

"How?"

"You used to talk about getting enough money to stop worrying."

"And now?"

"Now you’re talking about buying companies."

Damian thought about that.

"Yeah."

He smiled faintly.

"I guess I’m still trying to stop worrying."

Claire laughed.

"That’s one way to put it."

The meeting took place two days later.

The building wasn’t impressive.

Three floors.

Old concrete exterior.

A faded sign near the entrance.

Damian checked the address again.

This was definitely the place.

He walked inside.

The receptionist pointed him toward a small conference room.

"Mr. Cross?"

Damian turned.

A man in his early forties stood behind him.

Casual shirt.

Rolled-up sleeves.

Tired eyes.

"Yeah."

"I’m Michael Reeves."

They shook hands.

"Damian."

"I know."

Michael gave a small smile.

"Come in."

Damian followed him.

The conference room was almost painfully ordinary.

A table.

Four chairs.

An old television mounted against the wall.

A whiteboard covered with half-erased notes.

Michael sat down.

Damian took the seat opposite him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Michael asked,

"So, what do you know about the company?"

"Enough to be interested."

Michael smiled.

"That’s not much."

"I know your software has around four hundred active business customers."

Michael’s expression changed slightly.

"Okay."

"Recurring revenue has been stable for the last eighteen months."

"Mostly."

"Your growth stalled about two years ago."

Michael leaned back.

"That’s one way to describe it."

"And your infrastructure needs an upgrade."

Michael nodded.

"Eventually."

Damian noticed the wording.

Eventually.

Not immediately.

Interesting.

"And you’re selling below what the company appears to be worth."

Michael looked at him for several seconds.

"That’s the part you’re interested in."

"It’s the part that doesn’t make sense."

Michael smiled.

"I figured."

Damian leaned forward.

"So why?"

Michael didn’t answer immediately.

He looked toward the window.

Then back at Damian.

"Because I’m tired."

Damian waited.

Michael continued.

"I’ve been running this company for eight years."

"Okay."

"I built the original product myself."

Damian glanced around.

"And now?"

"Now I’m spending most of my time dealing with problems that have nothing to do with building software."

He rubbed his forehead.

Staff issues.

Customers.

Sales.

Infrastructure.

Bills.

Everything.

Damian understood.

"You don’t want the company anymore?"

Michael shook his head.

"No. That’s not it."

"Then what?"

"I want someone else to take it somewhere I can’t."

That answer caught Damian off guard.

Michael opened a folder and slid it across the table.

"I’ve had offers before."

Damian opened it.

"There were three?"

"Four."

"Why didn’t you accept?"

"Two wanted to strip it down and sell the customer list."

Damian frowned.

"The other two?"

"One wanted to absorb us into their existing software."

Michael paused.

"And the last one wanted the technology but didn’t care what happened to the employees."

Damian looked at him.

"And you do?"

Michael gave him a strange look.

"Of course I do."

Damian nodded.

That explained part of the discount.

But not everything.

He flipped through the documents.

"What about the debt?"

Michael sighed.

"There is debt."

"How much?"

"Enough to matter."

Damian waited.

Michael gave him the figure.

Damian’s expression didn’t change.

But internally, he recalculated everything.

The company wasn’t cheap.

It was simply cheaper because the buyer would inherit its problems.

That was different.

"Why not restructure the debt and keep going?"

Michael leaned back.

"Because I’d have to spend another two or three years doing it."

"And you don’t want to."

"No."

Michael looked tired.

"I’ve got another project I want to build."

Damian studied him.

"So you’re not desperate."

"No."

"You just want out."

"Exactly."

Damian nodded slowly.

That was much more interesting.

He closed the folder.

"What would you do if you were buying this company?"

Michael laughed.

"You’re asking me?"

"You know it better than anyone."

Michael thought for a moment.

"Fix the infrastructure."

Damian nodded.

"Then?"

"Sales."

"Then?"

"Customer retention."

Michael smiled.

"You’ve been doing your homework."

"A little."

"Then you already know the biggest problem."

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"The company isn’t broken."

Michael tapped the folder.

"It’s stuck."

Damian sat quietly.

That sentence stayed with him.

The company wasn’t broken.

It was stuck.

And maybe that was exactly what made it interesting.

By the time Damian left the building, he had filled almost three pages in his notebook.

He stood outside for a moment.

The acquisition was riskier than he’d initially thought.

But it wasn’t the disaster he’d feared either.

There were real assets.

Real customers.

Real revenue.

Real problems.

And problems could be solved.

The question was whether they could be solved cheaply enough.

His phone buzzed.

Emily.

Emily:Hey love, how’s your day going?

Damian smiled.

Damian:Just finished a meeting about that company.

Emily:And?

Damian:Interesting.

Emily:That’s your favorite word when you don’t know what you think yet 😂

Damian laughed.

Damian:Maybe.

Emily:So are you buying it?

He looked back at the building.

Damian:Not yet.

Emily:Good. Don’t rush.

Damian smiled.

Damian:Exactly what I’m thinking.

There was a pause.

Then another message.

Emily:I have to go for a bit. Talk later babe.

Damian looked at the screen.

Damian:Okay. Take care ❤️

He put his phone away.

Emily sat across from Adrian at a café.

She looked uncomfortable.

Adrian noticed.

"You don’t have to look like you’re being held hostage."

Emily frowned.

"I’m not."

"Then relax."

She sighed.

"I’m trying."

Adrian took a sip of his drink.

"Your mom?"

"She’s stable."

"Good."

Emily nodded.

"I’ll start paying you back soon."

"You don’t need to rush."

"I want to."

"I know."

There was a brief silence.

Adrian looked at her.

"You know, you could actually enjoy spending time with me."

Emily gave him a flat look.

"I am enjoying it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

He smiled.

"See?"

"Don’t push it."

Adrian laughed.

"Fair."

Emily looked down at her phone.

A message from Damian was still on the screen.

She smiled without realizing it.

Adrian noticed.

But this time, he didn’t comment.

He simply looked away.

That evening, Damian sat alone in his apartment.

The acquisition documents were spread across the table.

He opened his laptop.

Then another file.

Then another.

He started building his own numbers.

Purchase price.

Debt assumption.

Infrastructure costs.

Employee expenses.

Potential sales investment.

Operating runway.

He wasn’t trying to convince himself to buy it.

He was trying to convince himself not to buy it if the numbers didn’t work.

After nearly an hour, he leaned back.

"Damn."

The numbers were close.

Very close.

There was a path.

But it required capital.

And patience.

A lot of both.

The System appeared.

[ACQUISITION OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS UPDATED.]

Damian looked up.

[ASSET QUALITY: MODERATE.]

[REVENUE STABILITY: MODERATE.]

[GROWTH POTENTIAL: HIGH.]

[RISK LEVEL: HIGH.]

Damian stared at the last line.

"Finally. Something honest."

The System continued.

[RECOMMENDATION: FURTHER DUE DILIGENCE REQUIRED.]

Damian smiled.

"That’s what I was going to do anyway."

The screen disappeared.

He looked at the documents again.

Then at his bank balance.

$5,099,924.32

Five million dollars.

A few months ago, he would have thought that was enough to solve every problem he’d ever have.

Now he was realizing something.

Money didn’t eliminate risk.

It just gave you the ability to take bigger risks.

Damian picked up his pen.

At the top of the page, he wrote:

ACQUISITION — PHASE TWO

Then underneath:

1. Full financial audit.

2. Debt verification.

3. Customer contracts.

4. Employee obligations.

5. Technology assessment.

6. Legal review.

He paused.

Then added one more.

7. Why hasn’t anyone fixed it already?

Damian stared at the question.

That was the part he needed answered.

Because if the opportunity was really as good as it looked, someone else should have taken it already.

And he wasn’t interested in discovering the reason after spending millions.

He closed the notebook.

"Let’s find out what I’m missing."