In our organization we used to use earn outs quite frequently but have made mixed experiences with it. Some of the problems have been pointed out here. In my opinion earn outs conceptually work great but the devil is in the detail and those “details” often turn out to be quite crucial and often preventing the new owner from generating the full synergy potential. One frequent issue I have come across is how to deal with investments whose benefits only materialize after the earn out period, same applies for hiring decisions, new customer ramp ups etc.
