The Dark Side of Valuation: Valuing Young, Distressed, and Complex Businesses, Second Edition

Guide to valuing companies in all stages and industries, fully revised to reflect todays financial markets and crisis. Indispensable, up-to-the-minute guidance from the worlds #1 expert in corporate valuation, Aswath Damodaran. Expanded to include detailed coverage of companies in financial services, real estate, infrastructure, human capital, commodity, and cyclical markets. Answers crucial valuation questions that have suddenly emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis. Financial professionals have long faced the challenge of accurately valuing companies that are difficult to value using conventional methodologies. Years ago, this challenge was most keenly felt in the dot-com industries, and many professionals fell victim to the dark side, creating values that were simply unsustainable. Now, amidst todays global financial crisis, the same challenge applies to a far wider spectrum of enterprises and assets, ranging from Asian equities to mortgage-backed securities, financial services firms like Lehman to real estate firms like Sears. In The Dark Side of Valuation , the worlds top expert on valuation brings together todays best practices for accurately valuing young, distressed, and complex businesses. Aswath Damodaran has thoroughly revised this book, broadening its perspective to consider all companies that resist easy valuation. He covers the entire corporate lifecycle, from idea and nascent growth companies to those in decline and distress; and offers specific guidance for valuing infrastructure, real estate, technology, human capital, commodity, and cyclical firms. Damodaran places special emphasis on the financial sector, illuminating the implications of todays radically changed credit markets for valuation. Along the way, he addresses valuation questions that have suddenly gained urgency, ranging from Are US treasuries risk-free? to How do you value assets in highly illiquid markets?