5 Ways to Destroy Company Value: Poor Ownership Structures, Bad Liquidity Timing, Pointless Acquisitions, Weak Balance Sheets, and Mindless Growth

GigaOm M&A Advisor:  “Sales Don’t Create Value.  What You Do Creates Value.” 

GigaOm M&A Advisor Marty Wolf explains how, especially in the tech field, five great ways to destroy your company include:

1. Opportunistic acquisitions

2. Growth for the sake of growth

3. Weak balance sheet

4. Convoluted ownership structures

5. Missing the window on a liquidity event

How does this play out in the real world?

Just look at Cisco, writes Wolf.  Over the span of 10 years, Cisco’s sales rose nearly 94 percent while its enterprise value actually declined 29 percent.

Read the whole thing.