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Filing Flows › Best BUY (BBY) › Takeover & LBO

Is Best BUY (BBY) a takeover target?

A leveraged buyout at today's price plus 30% ($129.22 a share) would return a loss of about 2% a year to a private-equity buyer over 5 years; no price, however low, gets a buyer to 20%. Historically 1.9% of companies with its figures were bought within a year (0.38× the average).

Share price$99.40
Offer at +30%$129.22
Buyer's IRR−2%
EV / EBITDA8.0×
Buyout debt5.5× EBITDA

The buyout, step by step

EntryAmountHow
Offer price a share$129.22today's $99.40 plus 30%
× shares212.7 million
= Equity value$27.5B
+ Debt refinanced$1.2B
− Cash$2.3B
= Enterprise value$26.4B10.5× EBITDA of $2.5B
Fees$528M2% of the price
New debt$13.8B5.5× EBITDA at 7.65% a year; the limit that binds: 5.5× EBITDA
Buyer's own money$13.1B49% of the cost

5 years under the buyer

Best BUY: buyout debt left, year by yearBest BUY: buyout debt left, year by year$13.8BEntry$13.3BYear 1$12.7BYear 2$12.1BYear 3$11.4BYear 4$10.7BYear 5
Free cash flow after interest and tax repays the debt; a shortfall is borrowed.
YearRevenueEBITDAInterestFree cash flowDebt left
Year 1$42.8B$2.5B$1.1B$528M$13.3B
Year 2$43.6B$2.6B$1.0B$565M$12.7B
Year 3$44.6B$2.6B$972M$609M$12.1B
Year 4$45.7B$2.7B$925M$660M$11.4B
Year 5$47.1B$2.8B$875M$720M$10.7B

The exit and the buyer's return

ExitAmount
Exit multiple8.0× EBITDAtoday's trading multiple, before any premium
Enterprise value at exit$22.4B
− Debt left$10.7B
= Buyer's equity$11.7B
Money multiple0.89×on $13.1B put in
Buyer's yearly return (IRR)−2.3%

Price against return

What the buyer makes at other premiums over today's $99.40.

PremiumPrice a shareBuyer's IRR
10%$109.345.8%
20%$119.281.2%
30%$129.22−2.3%
40%$139.16−5.3%
50%$149.10−7.7%

The figures used

FigureAmount
Revenue, last 12 months$42.2B
EBITDA, last 12 months$2.5B5.9% of revenue
Depreciation and amortization$798M
Capital spending$707M
Debt$1.2B
Cash$2.3B
Share price$99.40on Nov 6, 2026

Fixed rules, the same as the interactive view's starting point: the shares are bought at today's price plus 30%, the company's debt is refinanced and fees take 2%. New debt is the least of 5.5× EBITDA, 65% of the price and the amount whose interest EBITDA covers 2 times, at 7.65% a year (SOFR 3.89% plus the high-yield B spread 3.26% plus 0.5%, rates of Oct 15, 2026). Revenue grows 1.4% in the first year — the company's own rate, held between −3% and +8% — fading to 3% by year 5; the EBITDA margin, depreciation and capital spending stay at today's share of revenue; working capital takes 10% of each year's added revenue; tax is 27% of profit after interest. Every dollar of free cash flow repays debt. After 5 years the buyer sells at today's multiple of EBITDA.

What a takeover could cost

Takeovers on record paid a median premium of 32.5% over the share price before the deal (the middle half 20% to 51.8%), according to the 1,437 merger proxies and tender-offer responses on EDGAR that state a premium. At the median, Best BUY would cost about $131.71 a share, $28.0B for all its shares.

Premium%Price a shareAll shares
Low end (a quarter of deals paid less)20%$119.28$25.4B
Median32.5%$131.71$28.0B
High end (a quarter paid more)51.8%$150.89$32.1B

The odds, from history

Historically 1.9% of companies with its figures were bought within a year (0.38× the average). Its figures put it in decile 1 of 10 (10 = the most likely to be bought). The odds come from a model of every merger proxy, tender-offer response and going-private statement filed on EDGAR since 2011, set against each company's size, margins, debt, cash flow and growth the year before.

Best BUY's latest quarter

Best BUY, Q2 FY27: revenue $9.8B (+4% year over year), operating margin 4.3%, net earnings $315M, operating cash flow $921M. The chart follows the revenue to costs, profit and cash.

Questions

Is Best BUY being acquired?

No headline, 8-K or 13D about a sale is on file in the last year.

Could private equity buy Best BUY?

A leveraged buyout at today's price plus 30% ($129.22 a share) would return a loss of about 2% a year to a private-equity buyer over 5 years; no price, however low, gets a buyer to 20%.

What would a takeover of Best BUY cost?

Takeovers on record paid a median premium of 32.5% over the share price before the deal (the middle half 20% to 51.8%), according to the 1,437 merger proxies and tender-offer responses on EDGAR that state a premium. At the median, Best BUY would cost about $131.71 a share, $28.0B for all its shares.

Open the interactive view →

Updated Nov 8, 2026. Read automatically from SEC filings and public data; errors are possible. Not investment advice.