Pujji: Red Ventures Doubled Bankrate's EBITDA in Nine Months
Jesse Pujji · #2284 Why is Morning Brew’s founder selling “AI Transformation”? · Nov 5, 2025 · at 14:59
Jesse Pujji uses Red Ventures' acquisition of Bankrate to illustrate private equity roll-up opportunities to Tenex co-founders Alex Lieberman and Arman Hazarkhani.
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“When Red Ventures bought Bankrate, it was a publicly traded company, they paid 1.3 billion dollars for it. They paid 10 times EBITDA roughly, according to their math. Rick knew, he had done the math, he had seen all the levers, he knew that within a year of closing it, I mean, his projections were that his effective EBITDA would have been five times EBITDA, because he knew exactly how he was going to double the EBITDA of the business, and he came in three months ahead of time. He got it done in nine months, right?”
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