You've been handed the deal book.
You'll buy five companies, each with a mix of your investors' cash and borrowed . You'll negotiate your own price, size your own loan, and pick a plan on every deal, then watch five years play out. At the end your score you on one number: — dollars out divided by dollars in. Around 2.0x keeps them happy.
Start at the Academy
Five units, twelve short skills. Every skill teaches one idea, then drills it — multiple choice, term matching, charts to read and real arithmetic to do. Finish one to unlock the next. Your XP, streak and progress are saved.
- 1The business of buying businessesWhat private equity is · EBITDA · Margins
- 2What a company costsMultiples · Enterprise value & the equity check
- 3LeverageHow debt multiplies returns · Interest & coverage · Covenants & blowups
- 4Making it worth moreThe three value levers · Debt paydown
- 5Keeping scoreMOIC · IRR
The slate
Every company you bid on is a real deal from Blackstone's buyout portfolio, with revenue, and entry drawn from what was publicly reported at signing. What happens after you bid is simulated — that part is yours to get right or wrong.
Hilton Worldwide
Global hotel operator and franchisor — the largest LBO ever closed.
Blackstone, 2007 — $26B take-private
$1,700M
EBITDA
15.3x
Refinitiv
Financial-markets data and trading terminals carved out of Thomson Reuters.
Blackstone, 2018 — $20B carve-out
$2,100M
EBITDA
9.5x
Ancestry.com
Subscription genealogy and consumer DNA testing service.
Blackstone, 2020 — $4.7B buyout
$470M
EBITDA
10.0x
Copeland (Emerson Climate)
Compressors and controls for HVAC and commercial refrigeration.
Blackstone, 2023 — $14B carve-out
$1,400M
EBITDA
10.0x
Merlin Entertainments
Legoland parks, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life attractions worldwide.
Blackstone-led consortium, 2019 — £5.9B take-private
$700M
EBITDA
10.7x
Cvent
Event-management and hospitality software platform.
Blackstone, 2023 — $4.6B take-private
$115M
EBITDA
12.0x
Gates Industrial
Power-transmission belts and fluid-power hoses for industrial OEMs.
Blackstone, 2014 — $5.4B buyout
$570M
EBITDA
9.5x
TeamHealth
Outsourced physician staffing for hospital emergency departments.
Blackstone, 2016 — $6.1B take-private
$560M
EBITDA
10.9x
Taught, not tested
A mentor walks you through every decision before you make it, and explains what happened after.
Real numbers
Actual reported revenue, EBITDA and entry multiples from deals that really closed.
Scored like a fund
MOIC, IRR, covenant breaches and a report card from your investors at the end.
Educational simulation. Company names and figures are used for teaching purposes and reflect publicly reported information around each transaction; outcomes in the game are fictional and not affiliated with or endorsed by Blackstone or any portfolio company.