Brad Jacobs

So the only way I know to create huge value is to create a company that five and 10 years after you started is much, much larger.

And the easiest way to do that is through M&A.

Of course, you have to have organic growth as well.

But I look for an industry where it's large enough.

If I want to create a company that's tens of billions of dollars in revenue, then I have to do an industry that's hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.

If I want to consolidate an industry, there has to be things to buy.

There have to be things to buy on accretive terms.

There have to be things that we can buy at lower multiples than what we're going to trade at.

I look for industries where there's synergy.

As you get bigger, there's economies of scale, there's benefits of size, that as you buy things and get bigger, you just don't get bigger, you get better.

You spread your SG&A out more, you get better technology, you get a better sales force, you get better training.

So the advantages of size, you have a better cost basis.

You please the customer better.

You have more density, more advantages of being a national network or maybe even a global network.

There's plenty of other people who have done M&A and created tons of value doing M&A.

I've maybe done a little more M&A than most people.

And the teams I've led have done it very well in terms of integration and optimization of those acquisitions.

But I didn't invent M&A.

M&A has been around for a long time.

It's not that they have to have low multiples, although I tend to go to industries that are single digit multiples, not double digit multiples, maybe low double digit multiples, but I'm not a 15, 20 times EBITDA kind of guy.