Building Business
Private equity: mega-funds are swallowing all the capital
The private equity mega-funds are raising record sums while smaller managers struggle to close their funds. A handful of houses now captures close to half of the industry's capital, tilting the balance of power inside a business that owns companies on every continent.
IPO explained: Men’s Wearhouse owner returns to market
Tailored Brands, owner of Men’s Wearhouse, files for a US IPO five years after bankruptcy. A chance to understand what an initial public offering really is: a financing and liquidity tool bound by strict obligations, not a finish line.
Private equity explained: buyouts, returns, controversies
Praised for its returns, accused of hollowing out the companies it buys, private equity now manages trillions. Behind the LBO lies a structure where debt amplifies gains as much as risks. The same leverage has built fortunes and triggered dramatic bankruptcies. How can one financial tool produce such opposite results? A data-driven look at an industry that quietly shapes jobs, savings and markets worldwide.
Value creation: when a giant grows yet loses worth
Volkswagen wants to cut up to 100,000 jobs to restore profitability. Behind the clash lies a forgotten mechanism: a company can sell millions of vehicles and still destroy value once its return on capital falls below its cost of funding.
Profitability and value creation: reading a company
A company can double its revenue and still grow poorer. Reported profit is not the cash in the bank, and EBITDA flatters more than it informs. Behind the words "profit" and "return" hide different measures that decide a firm's real fate. This Fundamental unpacks five indicators, from cash to return on capital, to learn how to read a company for what it is truly worth.
KNDS IPO: governments buy in before the public can
Europe is rearming at full speed, and KNDS is going public to finance the acceleration. But in this IPO, governments buy in first, and the public gets what’s left.
SpaceX IPO: $1.8T valuation on $18.7B of revenue
Investment banks are pricing SpaceX at USD 1.8 trillion for a company that lost USD 4.94 billion last year. That is not a miscalculation, it is a method. And that method applies to every valuation you will ever read.
Mergers and acquisitions: how M&A deals work
Every year, thousands of companies merge or get acquired for trillions of dollars combined. Yet studies consistently find that most deals fail to deliver their promised value. This Fundamental breaks down how M&A actually works: why companies pursue deals, what due diligence really uncovers, why synergies are so often overpromised, and what separates the transactions that create lasting value from those that quietly destroy it.
Meta bought Manus. China made it undo the deal
Meta acquired Manus for $2 billion. Four months later, the Chinese government ordered the deal unwound. A global first that shows how mergers and acquisitions, the operations that reshape jobs, products and strategies worldwide, can fail in ways no one anticipated.
Business valuation: how companies are priced
DCF, market multiples, asset-based valuation, Berkus, VC Method, business valuation isn’t one technique but a family of competing approaches that often produce wildly different numbers for the same company. Here’s how to read them, and when each one actually applies.
How companies raise money: from love money to IPO
Every publicly listed company started with a bank transfer between friends or a maxed-out credit card. Between that moment and ringing the stock exchange bell lies a precise sequence of funding rounds, each with its own logic, its own investors, and its own trade-offs.