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M20Case notefailed and stalled searches

On the Nature of a Search Fund Not Working Out as Planned

Ryan Leibowitz, A. J. Wasserstein, Mark Agnew, Brian O'Connor. (2020)

Yale Case, no number printed, July 31, 2020

Six named searchers' first-person accounts, sorted into three archetypes (no-dealer, imploder, drifter); argues the drifter is worst because of the time cost. All statistics are third-party: "A full 31% of searches launched do not result in an acquisition. Of the 69% of searchers who do close a deal, an additional 29% of searches end in a partial or total loss of equity" (Stanford 2018, p3). The "over 50% of searches do not meet the common definition of success" line is the authors' own combination of those Stanford figures, not a Stanford-reported number.

Source

Full citation

Ryan Leibowitz, A. J. Wasserstein, Mark Agnew, Brian O'Connor. (2020). On the Nature of a Search Fund Not Working Out as Planned. Yale Case, no number printed, July 31, 2020.

https://som.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/On%20the%20Nature%20of%20a%20Search%20Fund%20Not%20Working%20Out%20as%20Planned.pdf

This page describes a work published elsewhere. The summary, where present, states what the authors claim; it is not the school's position. Read the source before quoting a figure.