????就估值而論，人們似乎總是過分迷戀市場價值。這個問題同樣一直困擾著我，因為作為一家私人公司，并不存在一個買賣股票的流動性市場，所以估值的確定沒有把任何程度上的市場效率考慮在內。簡言之，估值是公司和一組投資者在某一特定時間點進行的有根據(jù)猜測。

????但不管怎樣，事情是這樣的。不錯，這確實是一次估值較低的融資（down round，指投資者在一輪融資中購買同一家公司股票的價格低于對上一次融資投資者支付價格的情況——譯注），我敢肯定沒有人會覺得吃驚。跟上一輪融資時比較起來，我們公司的估值已經(jīng)大幅縮水。在本輪融資中，我們將公司7.5%的股份作價1.1億美元。不過，正如前面提到的，那部分股份還附加了一些條款，這些應該能夠讓你們對公司目前的估值水平有所了解了。

????那么，本輪融資對員工股份有什么影響呢？簡言之，有影響，但影響并不是很大。基本上，現(xiàn)在疊加起來的清算優(yōu)先權有點高。不過，我們在公司估值超過10億美元的時候清理了一大部分優(yōu)先權。作為比較，我們主要競爭對手的市值現(xiàn)在是39億美元。在進行首次公開募股后，所有的優(yōu)先股都會變成普通股，清算優(yōu)先權也就消失了。

????我們公司的年營收超過5億美元，如果我們繼續(xù)努力下去，公司有望在不久的將來扭虧為盈。得益于這輪融資，我們獲得了更多的資金以抓住機遇，推動公司業(yè)務在未來的增長。

????如果你們對這輪融資存在或產(chǎn)生了任何疑問，希望這份備忘錄有助于澄清問題?，F(xiàn)在，我們該回頭執(zhí)行我們的計劃了。

????~ Tim

????PrivCo定期發(fā)布有關私人公司融資的信息，這份備忘錄是對該公司非常嚴肅的控告。我設法聯(lián)系到PrivCo的首席執(zhí)行官山姆?哈馬德，不過他說會打電話給我。電話還沒打過來，我將在聽過他的說法后對本文進行更新。

????最新消息：我剛剛結束與哈馬德的通話，他仍然堅持原先報告的觀點。哈馬德說，奧肖內西是在誤導自己的員工，鑒于那些附加的類債務條款，他把這輪融資定性為“股權投資”是在說漂亮話。他還表示，PrivCo在發(fā)布報告之前跟LivingSocial的發(fā)言人進行了溝通，向后者寄送了一份草稿，并詢問需要更正的地方。LivingSocial沒有做出回應，PrivCo在四個小時之后才發(fā)布了這份報告。

????“我不認為真相在于融資的細節(jié)，”哈馬德說?！岸窃谟谌鮿萑后w——即所有商家，他們是LivingSocial真正的無擔保債權人——將要面對的情況，如果LivingSocial破產(chǎn)的話……只需6-9個月的時間，你就能看到我們說的沒錯?！?/p>

????值得指出的是，如果奧肖內西真的誤導了自己的投資者——幾乎可以肯定的是，其備忘錄經(jīng)過了公司律師的審核——那么他將讓自己和公司擔上重大責任。

????但不要擔心，確實有一個辦法可以厘清兩人的不同言論——找到LivingSocial提交給特拉華州企業(yè)管理部門的監(jiān)管文件。稍后還會進行更新……

????On valuation, people always seem to be overly enamored with market value, which has puzzled me because as a private company, there is no liquid market on which to buy and sell shares, so a valuation is established without any degree of market efficiency. In short, it's an educated guess between the company and a set of investors at one particular snapshot in time.

????But nevertheless here goes. Yes, this was a down round, which I'm sure is not a shock to anyone. Our main comp in the market is down significantly from when we last fundraised. In this round, we sold 7.5% of the company for $110mm. Although there were some bells and whistles associated with those shares, as mentioned above, this should give you some idea of the current valuation of the company.

????So how does this round impact employee stock? In short, some, but not much. Basically, the preference stack is a little higher now. At any valuation over $1B, though, we clear that stack by quite a bit. For comparison, our major competitor's market cap is now $3.9B. In the event of an IPO, all preferred stock becomes common stock, and the preference stack goes away.

????We are a company that does over half a billion in revenue. If we stay diligent, we hope to turn the corner to become profitable soon. Thanks to this round, we have significantly more capital to be able to be opportunistic and drive the future growth of the business.

????Hopefully this will help clear up any questions you may have or get on yesterday's round. Now it's back to executing on our plan.

????——蒂姆

????This is a pretty damning indictment of PrivCo, which regularly distributes information on private company financings. I managed to reach PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh, but said he'd call me right back. Hasn't happened yet. Will update if and when I hear from him.

????UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Hamadeh, who is standing by his original report. He says O'Shaughnessy is misleading his own employees, and that classifying the round as "equity" is a technicality given all of the debt-like provisions PrivCo continues to believe were attached. He also says that PrivCo spoke with a LivingSocial spokesman prior to publishing, and sent him a draft of the report with a request for any needed corrections. When nothing came back four hours later, PrivCo published.

????"I don't think the real story here is the details of the financing," Hamadeh said. "It's what's going to happen to the little guys, all of the merchants who are really the company's unsecured creditors, if LivingSocial goes bankrupt... You'll see that we were right in six or nine months."

????Worth noting that if O'Shaughnessy really misled his investors -- in a memo that almost certainly was vetted by company attorneys -- he would be opening both himself and the company to major liabilities.

????But have no fear. There is indeed a way to settle this he-said/he-said once and for all -- find the filing that LivingSocial sent to the Delaware Division of Corporations. Check back shortly...