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Private Equity Hits Subscribe: The Money Is Made at 4x, Not 20x, Initiating Thematic Coverage

In a YouTube channel roll-up the money is made at the entry price, not the exit, and the risk sits with the host, not the multiple. Ten channels bought at 4.0x earn a 27.5% base-case equity IRR on a 9.0x exit; if acquired audiences shrink about 10% a year, the gain is gone. Selective.

By K2 Research TeamSep 2, 2026PDF · 9 pages

In a YouTube channel roll-up the money is made at the entry price, not the exit, and the risk sits with the host, not the multiple. Ten channels bought at 4.0x earn a 27.5% base-case equity IRR on a 9.0x exit; if acquired audiences shrink about 10% a year, the gain is gone. Selective.

What’s inside

  1. Selective; base-case equity IRR 27.5%
  2. The 20x is the least important number
  3. The host is the collateral
  4. Summary investment thesis and valuation
  5. Who is buying
  6. Who the buyers are
  7. What the buyers say they do
  8. Illustrative YouTube roll-up returns methodology
  9. Disclosed creator-media transactions
  10. Where the base-case return comes from
  11. The playbook, claim by claim
  12. Key-man risk: the asset can resign
  13. Risks to our view
  14. What would make us wrong?
  15. Signposts

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