How do I find out how much a private company is worth?

[robphelan]

Is there a way to get a good estimate on the net worth of a private company?

For instance.. are there public tax records (or something similar) where we could infer this type of information?

 

[nickbits]

You'd have to go over their books

 

[lykaon78]

If they publish anything you could use info from some type of annual report to back in to a valuation. But private companies don't necessarily have to publish anything. But without figures like their assets, revenue, profit, etc... it might be hard to determine.

You could look at comparable companies with known values for an estimate or recent sales of comparable companies where the value was known.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

There's not a great way as private company financial information is not publicly available, though there are a variety of different ways to estimate. For a quick estimate, you can look them up on Manta.com, but their information should be taken with a grain of salt. Dun & Bradstreet company valuations are more accurate, but expensive, so unless you're doing it professionally, it's probably not worth the cost. You can also get hardcore and find out the basic size of the company (number of employees) and look up industry averages, revenues for companies of similar size, general profit percentage by industry, etc... Something tells me you don't want to get that involved. So I'd stick with Manta; you can always verify their information by looking up what they say the number of employees is and see if their data is out of date.

 

[robphelan]

sheeshh.. you guys are fast!

My brother ran a D&B for me but it had very little information about the company. You're right about private companies keeping very private about their financials.

I just tried Manta.com and it returned:

"Our records show it was established in 2004 and incorporated in Texas. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $50 to 100 million and employs a staff of approximately 20 to 49. "

As far as getting involved... I'm 100% for it.

 

[rudeguy]

What do you want this information for?

I have a friend that does business appraisals if you are willing to pay.