That doesn't sound like an acquisition

"that company made 38.5 million dollars a year"

No, they made $38.5 million dollars ONE YEAR. The year before, it was 5.5 ... the year after, who knows ...

I guess little semantic games like this are necessary when you need to position yourself as a seasoned expert–for the purposes of gaining readership to your blog or selling your book.

After reading the two-chair tale o' woe, the comment that they "sold the business in pieces" leads me to think his company collapsed after the dot.com bust.

Sure, their 1999-2000 balance sheet looked spiffy, but that was the peak of the boom. How did the next year go? Did these guys enjoy a profitable exit or endure a liquidation?

Edit: Poking about, it seems they sold the company in 2003. That's quite a time after the 1999-2000 numbers being splashed about in his feel-good writing. I'll bet the numbers in those later years would shine a bit more light on the business's true condition.