Thresher Industries, Inc. (THRR)

[ryanmnly]

YouTube was bought for $1.6 billion by Google, despite only being 9 months old, burning money, and no model for generating revenue.

It was purchased because it was believed that whoever owned YouTube would control the market, not that they would make money specifically from the current business.

YouTube is the extreme, but this happens all the time in high-tech startups. Actually, in high-tech startup, you are banking on the idea that someone is going to buy your IP. It's part of your exit strategy.

Thresher could be an operation that is currently packing its bags and getting ready to jump on a plane to the Bahamas. But until you can really pinpoint the value of their IP, the facts stated in your post are not fully supported. You can not overlook the value of the patents, processes in place, research with Universities, and contracts they currently have.