> Goodwill is something you add to the value of a company to sweeten the pot during acquisitions but it should never be the primary value proposition.

What? Goodwill is an accounting name for the excess paid to acquire a company beyond the fair market value of its assets. It's a "stub", basically used so that the books balance in terms of debits and credits (i.e. you paid X cash for the company, and that value splits between FMV of its assets and the rest is "goodwill".) Nobody ever says "I'm going to add some goodwill to sweeten the pot" when buying a company, nor would anyone attempt to use it for determining purchase price.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_(accounting)

Also, the parent post refers to "flipping" but that generally means quickly reselling something, not killing it after three years.