Chapter 52: The biggest customer

Damian spent most of the morning looking at one company.

Not his own.

Not Westbridge.

The company he was considering buying.

More specifically, one customer.

Meridian Retail Group.

They accounted for almost thirty percent of the company’s annual recurring revenue.

That number alone wasn’t enough to kill the acquisition.

But it was enough to make Damian uncomfortable.

He opened the contract Marcus had managed to obtain.

His eyes moved down the page.

Then stopped.

"Wait."

He leaned closer.

The contract was approaching its renewal period.

Damian checked the date again.

Three months.

Three months until one of the company’s largest customers could decide whether to continue.

He leaned back.

"So that’s the catch."

Not exactly.

But it explained why the valuation looked strange.

The company had recurring revenue.

The question was how much of that revenue was actually secure.

Damian opened another document.

Customer history.

Meridian had been with the company for nearly five years.

That was good.

Very good, actually.

Long-term customers usually didn’t leave without a reason.

Damian started reading through support records.

There were dozens.

Then hundreds.

He frowned.

A large percentage of the company’s support requests came from Meridian.

Custom reports.

Special integrations.

Feature requests.

Data exports.

Changes to existing workflows.

Damian rubbed his forehead.

"They’re expensive."

Not financially.

Operationally.

The company had practically built parts of its product around them.

Damian wrote it down.

Meridian = major revenue + major workload.

He stared at the sentence.

Then added:

Potentially replaceable?

That was the question.

If Meridian stayed, the acquisition could be attractive.

If Meridian left, the company would immediately become much less valuable.

Damian needed to know why they might leave.

His first call was to Marcus.

"You found something?" Marcus asked.

"Meridian."

There was a brief silence.

"Yeah."

"You knew about them?"

"Of course."

"How risky is the contract?"

"That’s what I’m trying to determine."

Damian looked at the documents.

"Do they have a renewal coming up?"

"Yes."

"Three months?"

"Yes."

Damian leaned back.

"And you’re still not telling me to walk away."

"I didn’t say that."

"You didn’t say the opposite either."

Marcus laughed.

"You want me to make the decision for you?"

"No."

"Good."

Damian smiled.

"I just want your opinion."

"My opinion is that you don’t buy a company because one customer makes the numbers look good."

"Agreed."

"And you don’t reject a company because one customer makes the numbers look bad."

Damian nodded.

"So?"

"So talk to Meridian."

"That’s what I’m doing."

"Then you’ll know more."

The call ended.

Simple.

Useful.

Exactly what Damian wanted.

Michael arranged the meeting for the following afternoon.

This time, Damian wasn’t meeting the owner.

He was meeting Meridian’s operations director.

A woman named Laura Bennett.

Damian arrived early.

He sat in the reception area and looked around.

Meridian was much larger than the company he was considering buying.

The office was busy.

Employees moved between desks.

Phones rang.

People were actually working.

This wasn’t some shell company sitting on an old customer list.

Meridian was real.

Damian’s phone vibrated.

A message from Ethan.

Ethan:Bro you coming to class?

Damian sighed.

Damian:I have a meeting.

Ethan:Again?

Damian:Yeah.

Ethan:You’re actually becoming a businessman.

Damian smiled.

Damian:Don’t say that like it’s a disease.

Ethan:It is.

Damian shook his head and put his phone away.

"Mr. Cross?"

He looked up.

A woman stood in front of him.

"Laura Bennett."

"Damian."

They shook hands.

"Let’s talk."

Laura didn’t waste time.

"I understand you’re considering acquiring them."

"I’m doing my due diligence."

"Good."

She sat down across from him.

"Because I’ll be honest with you."

Damian waited.

"We’re not committed to staying."

There it was.

Directly.

Damian nodded.

"Can I ask why?"

Laura leaned back.

"The software works."

"That sounds promising."

"It isn’t enough."

Damian stayed quiet.

"Our company has grown considerably over the last few years. Their software hasn’t kept pace with us."

"What specifically?"

"Reporting."

She counted on her fingers.

"Integrations. Automation. User permissions. Some of the analytics."

Damian wrote it down.

"Have you told them?"

"Repeatedly."

"And?"

"They’ve tried."

"That’s good."

"They’ve tried," she repeated. "But every improvement seems to create another problem somewhere else."

Damian frowned.

"So the issue isn’t that the software is unusable."

"No."

"It’s that your needs have outgrown it."

"Exactly."

Damian nodded slowly.

That made sense.

"Then why haven’t you left already?"

Laura smiled slightly.

"Because changing systems is painful."

That answer caught Damian’s attention.

"Even if you’re unhappy?"

"Especially then."

She explained that Meridian had thousands of records inside the platform.

Employees had been trained on it.

Existing workflows were built around it.

Switching systems meant migrating data, retraining staff, integrating new tools and potentially dealing with months of disruption.

Damian nodded.

"So staying is easier."

"For now."

"That’s important."

"It is."

Laura looked at him.

"That’s why your question matters."

"What question?"

"If you’re actually considering buying them."

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because if you buy them and fix the problems, we’d have a reason to stay."

Damian stopped writing.

That was interesting.

"So you’re saying the customer isn’t necessarily leaving."

"I’m saying the customer is waiting to see what happens."

Damian nodded.

That changed things.

Not completely.

But enough.

"Would you consider signing another contract if those issues were fixed?"

Laura thought about it.

"Yes."

"Even if the company changed ownership?"

"If the product improves, I don’t care who owns it."

Damian smiled.

That was probably the most useful answer he’d heard all week.

After the meeting, Damian sat in his car for several minutes.

He didn’t start the engine.

He just stared through the windshield.

The situation was becoming clearer.

The company wasn’t dying.

Its biggest customer wasn’t necessarily leaving.

The problem was that the company had stopped growing while its customers continued to grow.

That was dangerous.

But it was also an opportunity.

If he could modernize the product, improve the infrastructure and reduce the amount of custom work being done for individual customers, the company could become more efficient.

Maybe even grow.

But there was still one problem.

Michael.

Damian pulled out his phone.

He called him.

Michael answered after a few rings.

"Hey."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why didn’t you tell me Meridian was up for renewal?"

Silence.

Not long.

But noticeable.

Damian waited.

Finally, Michael sighed.

"I knew you’d find out eventually."

"That doesn’t answer the question."

"No."

Another pause.

"I didn’t hide it because I wanted to trick you."

"Then why?"

Michael exhaled.

"Because every potential buyer I’ve spoken to sees that contract and immediately walks away."

Damian said nothing.

"And honestly?"

Michael continued.

"I didn’t blame them."

Damian looked down.

"Do you think they’ll leave?"

"I don’t know."

"That’s not reassuring."

"I’m not going to lie to you."

Michael’s voice became quieter.

"They might."

Damian nodded.

"Then why sell now?"

"Because if I wait until after they leave, the company is worth even less."

There it was.

The uncomfortable truth.

Michael wasn’t trying to scam him.

He was trying to sell before the risk became reality.

Damian leaned back.

"That should’ve been in the first conversation."

"I know."

"You almost lost the deal because of that."

"I know."

Damian rubbed his forehead.

He couldn’t even be angry.

Michael had been honest once confronted.

But the omission still mattered.

"I need everything."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything about Meridian."

"Okay."

"Emails. Support records. Renewal discussions. Complaints. Contracts. Everything."

Michael hesitated.

"That’s a lot."

"I’m considering putting millions into this."

Another pause.

"You’re right."

"I need the full picture."

"You’ll get it."

"Good."

The call ended.

Damian sat quietly.

Then he smiled.

Not because the acquisition had suddenly become safe.

It hadn’t.

If anything, it was more complicated.

But now he understood the actual situation.

And that was worth something.

That evening, Damian returned home and opened the acquisition file.

He changed one line.

Reason for sale — Mostly understood.

He deleted it.

Then wrote:

Reason for sale — Seller wants out before major customer renewal risk materializes.

He stared at the sentence.

Then added:

Not necessarily a deal breaker.

His phone buzzed.

Emily.

Emily:Hey babe, you home?

Damian smiled.

Damian:Yeah. Just finished another meeting.

Emily:Still working?

Damian:Unfortunately.

Emily:You need a break 😂

Damian:Probably.

There was a pause.

Then:

Emily:How’s the company looking?

Damian thought about it.

Damian:Riskier than I thought.

Emily:So you’re not buying it?

Damian smiled.

Damian:Didn’t say that.

Emily:I knew it.

Damian:What does that mean?

Emily:You like complicated things.

Damian laughed.

Damian:Maybe I do.

Emily stared at the message on her phone.

She wanted to tell him.

She really did.

Her mother’s situation was getting better, but the secret hadn’t become easier to carry.

If anything, it was becoming heavier.

She typed:

Emily:There’s something I need to tell you.

She stopped.

Her finger hovered over the send button.

Then she deleted it.

Instead, she typed:

Emily:Just don’t forget to eat, okay?

Damian replied almost immediately.

Damian:Yes ma’am.

Emily smiled.

Emily:Good boy 😂

Damian laughed at the screen.

For a few seconds, everything felt normal again.

Then another message appeared.

Emily:Goodnight love.

Damian:Goodnight babe.

Emily placed her phone beside her.

She stared at the ceiling.

She had borrowed money from Adrian.

She was still spending time with him.

And Damian knew none of it.

Meanwhile, Damian was getting closer to buying a company whose biggest customer could walk away in three months.

Two separate problems.

Both getting harder to ignore.

And neither of them knew how close those problems were to changing everything.