Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
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Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#2I've been a Pluralsight subscriber for probably over a decade now. Their content is awesome for getting up to speed quickly or just learning about a technology without too much fluff.
I do see though how AI is a huge threat to them. Using Claude 3 for coding and being able to ask questions about my specific issues and getting tailored responses every time to my exact issue (vs watching a general video and applying that knowledge through trial and error) has made me much more productive and also greatly reduced my reliance on using sites like Pluralsight to get up to speed/debug/etc.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#3Pluralsight is a classic example of a small tutorial site forced to become a giant company. It just doesn't work. There was another: Treehouse, which had a similar fate. On the other hand Jeffrey Way's Laracasts is an astounding success and had a huge role to play in the second coming of PHP.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#41B+ write-off's all deserve a full post-mortem. It's crazy to imagine such amount of value disappear into void.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#5> One source says that the Utah-based company's financials have improved, with a around 26% EBITDA growth in 2023, but not enough to service nearly $1.3 billion of debt that was issued when interest rates were lower.
Pluralsight hasn’t failed entirely as a company. It’s just that it can’t produce enough profits to pay down the huge debt Vista took to acquire it.
Many tech PE deals happened under low interest rates, but higher interest rates mean debt has become more expensive to service.
Pluralsight would be very successful if it took minimal VC funding and didn’t go the PE way.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#6Normally PE funds are know for not writing things down due to a few reasons:
- they are private so whose to say what its worth
- rolling funds where as one fund closes the new fund that is raising can take in those positions so no need to mark down or try and sell those positions at firesale prices.
This is a bit different as this is a "dropdown". Here the company is moving some IP into a new company and using that to get new financing, hence Pluralsight being written down to zero. Existing lenders get less security so this is often used to bring in new lenders money to pay off old lenders and get in new ones at better rates.
Vista probably made money here by having their old debt bought out so they may not be to unhappy about this and this isn't a position going to zero as is being reported.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#71B+ write-off's all deserve a full post-mortem. It's crazy to imagine such amount of value disappear into void.
I consider it the beauty of capitalism. People are equally free to create huge value or destroy huge value.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#81B+ write-off's all deserve a full post-mortem. It's crazy to imagine such amount of value disappear into void.
Why would any of us care? It's not our money. $1B+ valuation changes happen all the time.
Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#9Pluralsight is a classic example of a small tutorial site forced to become a giant company. It just doesn't work. There was another: Treehouse, which had a similar fate. On the other hand Jeffrey Way's Laracasts is an astounding success and had a huge role to play in the second coming of PHP.
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Re: Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5B buyout
#10The timing coinciding with the founder exiting is interesting.
I've heard multiple horror stories from founders who sold to Vista. They don't exactly have the best reputation.
I wouldn't be surprised if this move stripped value away from other stakeholders in some slightly questionable manner.