The Earnout Trap in Tech M&A Deals

When a big tech company buys a startup, the founders often get part of their payout tied to future performance targets—an earnout. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down why earnouts have become more common in software acquisitions, how they can backfire, and what the rise of earnouts says about today's M&A market. With Oracle up nearly 3% this week and ServiceNow down slightly, the hosts look at recent earnout structures in deals like Snowflake's acquisition of Neeva and Adobe's failed Figma deal to understand why earnouts are a double-edged sword. Plus, a brief look at how the current regulatory environment is pushing buyers toward earnout-heavy structures. #Earnout #TechMA #SoftwareAcquisitions #Oracle #Snowflake #ServiceNow #Figma #Adobe #Neeva #MergersAndAcquisitions #Business #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #StartupExit #FounderPayout #DealStructures #EarnoutTrap Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo