Stranded Costs
Fixed costs that don't shrink when a business is divested — the single biggest driver of the gap between headline price and true proceeds.
The Net Proceeds Bridge
The single chart that reconciles what a deal looks like on the term sheet with what a seller actually walks away with.
Confidence Levels & Data Gaps
Why every number in DiligenceDesk carries a Low/Medium/High badge instead of pretending to be precise — and how to read one.
Core Concepts
The vocabulary of separation economics.
Stranded Costs
3 min readFixed costs that don't shrink when a business is divested — the single biggest driver of the gap between headline price and true proceeds.
Revenue & Operating Dis-Synergies
3 min readValue that quietly disappears after close: lost cross-sell, weaker purchasing scale, and go-to-market disruption that no line item captures on its own.
Transition Service Agreements (TSAs)
4 min readThe bridge that lets a divested business keep operating on the seller's systems and staff after close — and the biggest source of both risk and hidden cost.
RemainCo, SpinCo, and Carve-Out Terminology
2 min readThe vocabulary deal teams use to talk about who keeps what — worth getting precise, because loose terms lead to loose models.
The Net Proceeds Bridge
3 min readThe single chart that reconciles what a deal looks like on the term sheet with what a seller actually walks away with.
Confidence Levels & Data Gaps
3 min readWhy every number in DiligenceDesk carries a Low/Medium/High badge instead of pretending to be precise — and how to read one.
How DiligenceDesk Calculates
The engine behind the numbers.
How the Net Proceeds Bridge Is Calculated
3 min readThe bridge isn't hand-typed per report — it's derived once from cost driver data so every screen and export agree.
How Downside / Base / Upside Scenarios Are Derived
2 min readThree scenarios, one dataset — no separate downside model to maintain and drift out of sync.
Functional Area Primers
Where stranded costs and dis-synergies actually come from.
HR / People
2 min readShared HR, payroll, and benefits infrastructure rarely shrinks in step with headcount — and partial-FTE roles are the hardest to cleanly split.
IT / Technology
2 min readUsually the largest and least certain stranded-cost category — ERP separation alone can swing a model by tens of millions.
Finance
2 min readReporting, controls, and close processes that have to run in duplicate during the transition — smaller in dollars than IT, but persistent.
Contracts / Procurement
2 min readLost purchasing scale on shared vendor agreements — quiet, ongoing, and easy to underestimate until the vendor sends the new pricing.
Revenue / Commercial Dis-Synergies
2 min readThe hardest category to size with confidence, because it depends on how customers behave — not on a contract you can read.
Playbooks & Checklists
Field-tested sequences for the first 30–90 days.
First 30 Days: Stranded Cost Assessment
2 min readA practical sequence for standing up a credible stranded-cost view fast, before deal fatigue sets in.
TSA Negotiation Checklist
2 min readWhat to nail down before signing a Transition Service Agreement, so it doesn't quietly become the most expensive line in the deal.
Vendor & Customer Dis-Synergy Review
2 min readA combined checklist for the two dis-synergy categories that depend most on relationships rather than paperwork.