While going public is often touted as a cure-all, surefire way to gain funds for a company, it's not without its drawbacks. If a company is not in a good position to go public, the decision may actually hurt the corporation more than it helps. Even as money flows in from the offering, the costs of setting up and maintaining a public corporation are high, and should be taken into consideration before such a drastic step is taken.
Even before a corporation actually goes public, the costs are high. It's not uncommon for a company to spend a year beforehand just to get the company in shape and gather necessary documents. Day-to-day activities become difficult as employees struggle to perform preparation work and their normal duties. Since investors want to see a company in excellent financial health, every aspect of the corporation must be examined in advance. If a company decides to go public and the offering is unsuccessful, it loses legal and underwriting expenses in addition to the lost capital.
For many business owners, the biggest costs of going public are personal losses. Privacy vanishes in a flurry of disclosure requirements, allowing investors, competition, and the general public to peer into previously confidential details of the company. Cost of sales, net income, major customers, and management salaries become available to anyone who cares to look. In some cases, these disclosures could give a substantial competitive advantage to competitors, especially those that haven't yet taken the step of going public.
Those disclosures can also mean huge expenses after a company decides to go public. Quarterly and annual SEC filings are required, and regular tax preparation becomes more complicated than before. Additional legal and accounting staff may be necessary to keep up.
When a company decides to go public, decision-making privileges are quick to go. Instead of making instinctual, unilateral decisions, shareholders must be considered and it may be necessary to consult with the board of directors. The kind of decision-making that made the company successful can give way to actions borne out the desire to minimize immediate risk and maximize shareholder revenue. Unhappy shareholders can drive down the company's value, damaging employee morale, personal wealth, and company reputation.
If insiders of a company fail to hold onto a majority of the corporation's shares, the loss of control can be even greater. While this can be mitigated by limiting the number of shares made available, it's a costly option to a company that is attempting to raise money. Some corporations going public prefer to offer voting-restricted shares. Such restrictions reduce raised capital in a more subtle way. Investors pay less for shares with fewer privileges, so the total funds raised are lower, even though a large number of shares is being offered.
Despite the drawbacks, many corporations find that going public is the most effective way to expand a business quickly without the use of traditional debt financing. For those that have carefully considered the positives and negatives, the transition can be smooth and prosperous for everyone involved.
Guide To Going Public
First off, watch some late night infomercials on TV. And possibly order some real estate tapes from Carlton Sheets. This will provide you with a positive upbeat attitude and a sense of false confidence that is essential in order to go bankrupt. Believe that after listening to some tapes, you can compete with people that have done this 7 days a week for years.
Second. For your first investment, buy in a city you know little to nothing about and avoid using a buyers agent who does know the city. Go directly to the sellers agent. The best way to make a truly horrible decision is to avoid any outside advice. The best part of this is that avoiding a buyers agent usually doesn't save you any money since the selling agent simply makes more when you deal with them directly.
Look for a discount or a distressed property over a good long term investment. Late night infomercials and Carlton Sheets talk a lot about this. Getting equity at the point of sale. One thing about distressed properties with desperate sellers is that they frequently are in crappy areas with low appreciation rates. Buying a property at under market rate in an area with low appreciation potential versus a property in a good area is the kind of short sighted thinking that will really help you reach the goal of bankruptcy and foreclosure.
When you talk to people including your realtor, try to spend time talking about all the crap you learned from your book or light night infomercial. The more you listen to other people, the more you might get different perspectives and the higher chance you might learn new things. This could really hurt your chances of going bankrupt so avoid listening to anyone. Remember you know everything even if you only got interested in real estate last week.
Be positive to the point of stupidity. Alot of investors I know always think about how their situation would be affected by a 10 or 20 percent drop in the market before making a purchase. You should avoid this kind of thinking. You need to be blinded by greed. You should only fantasize about how you are going to double your money.
When calculating your monthly cashflow, assume that you will have 100% occupancy all the time and no maintenance cost. While you are at assume that its going to rain money tomorrow.
Also, be stubborn when renting your properties. Decide upon a number say $900 a month and refuse to budge. Come up with some bizarre logic about how the property deserves $900 a month. Lose months of rent having the property sit vacant instead of going down $50 on the rent. Instead of responding to the market make statements like "Well the markets wrong then".
As you move closer to foreclosure, don't alter your spending habits. Don't move into a smaller house or cut spending. Act like nothing is wrong.
Overextend, overextend, overextend. Are you approved to buy one house. Why not buy 5, heck why not 20. Instead of building up a portfolio of properties over time, gaining experience along the way, just buy alot of properties next Tuesday.
Alot of people are getting into the foreclosure game. Their is no reason you should be left behind. Throwing caution to the wind and filling your eyes with greed and you should find yourself walking down the golden path to foreclosure.
This is not a definitive guide to foreclosure. Alot of people end up in foreclosure due to many things unforeseen events like unpreventable family illness, divorce or job loss. This is simply a guide to what I call elective foreclosure.
Both Joel Arberman & Austin Real Estate Team are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Joel Arberman has sinced written about articles on various topics from Bird Flu, Initial Public Offering and Investments. Joel Arberman is the Managing Member of Public Financial Services, LLC. We help private companies through the process of becoming publicly traded via an initial public offering or direct public offering. Learn more at. Joel Arberman's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
Austin Real Estate Team has sinced written about articles on various topics from Cruise Ships, Property Guide and Real Estate. is a realty company operating in Austin Texas. Their website has a page on. Austin Real Estate Team's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.
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