Magazine publishers, business plan review and valuation
Situation
A pool of publishers and a French public group for economic development were considering investing in an electronic kiosk. The Ministry of Culture also wished to help the French newspaper and magazine industry by developing a local actor able to compete with Apple and Amazon. Those various stakeholders needed help in valuing this electronic kiosk.
Approach
We studied the electronic magazine and tablet technologies, markets and industries, and analysed the historical performance of the target in this light. We also interviewed the managing directors of the target, as well as the directors of 6 publishing companies interested in this investment. We then challenged the hypotheses of the business plan, identified major risks and developed various scenarii, and valued the potential investment and its financing requirement.
Results
We presented the conclusions to the board of directors of the magazine publishers association, and the work was praised by the publishers. As the target presented risks related to technology and customer journeys, the publishers decide to explore the opportunity of an alternative project.