NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[CogDiss 1188X]

Actually, typically with buyouts, the acquiring firm will want to keep as much of that deferred tax benefit to help fund the buyout, so they rarely give it up to the selling shareholders at all. Maybe on a bidding war they might give it up, but it’s not typically discussed as such. It’s rare that anyone can make them pay for it as an asset. It will be offset against future cash flow, if any. So it is typically viewed by the acquirer as contingent where a company has no existing taxable cash flow to offset.

I believe I follow you until the bolded sentence. “So it” — “it” being tax loss carry forward.

“viewed by the acquirer as contingent,” contingent on whether any cash flow will be realized, I assume?

Or is contingent an accounting term I’ve never seen before (accounting being an unfortunate blind spot that I should remedy one day, but chasing rabbits down rabbit holes is too much fun to forego. Bugs Bunny is the best and the White Rabbit has a certain addictive quality.)

There seems to be a strong element of probability embedded here — how likely is this technology to pay off and how big is the payoff. This can be valued. So this is a “contingency” as well. Hence my confusion.