Earn-outs protect Xero from acquisitions undershooting

CEO Steve Vamos said it isn’t a good environment for lending to small businesses. (Image: Xero)

Mon, 14 Nov 2022

A number of Xero’s acquisitions over the past few years are delivering less than the accounting software company had hoped.That’s certainly the case for the invoice financing company Waddle, which it bought for up to A$80 million ($87.7m) in August 2020.In its latest results, Xero has written off $25.9m of Waddle’s value and said this reflected “changed operational and market conditions”.Another couple of acquisitions bought in March last year also appear to not be panning out as expected, workforce management plat...

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