option valuation question

If this isn't the right place for this tell me to bugger off (but please direct me to a learning/student forum if you do!) I am a high school student reading and thinking about Wall Street careers so this is not a question for a class or an interview or anything. Im teaching myself about derivatives and wondered if someone could help me think through a real world option type problem. (It's actually related to a little business I have with a friend selling stuff on Amazon.)

Anyway so I have a little business that let's say makes $500k / year. Someone wants to come in as a partner, and their ask is an option on the equity that would only trigger if someone buys our company. (I hope I'm explaining this correctly.) Say they get 25% of the buyout price if we are bought, otherwise they get nothing.

So the question is, what is that option worth? How do I think about valuing it? I understand models like BS, Monte Carlo, binomial lattice, but don't know how to apply it to an asset (our company) that has no price. The distribution is the buyout price, whether or not it happens. For sake of simplicity assume that it is a perpetual option.

Sorry if this question is annoying but I'm just trying to learn how to think about things like this. Thank you.

4 Comments
 

Yeah I know and also the price of the underlying is not traded and certainly isn't discreet. The exit date is when an acquisition occurs at which point the payoff of the option is 25% of the buyout price. Has to be a distribution for that buyout price and of course it might not occur at all. There has to be a way to value this but I can't seem to track it down so I'm just asking around. Thanks for your thought on it!

 

Expedita qui enim quo fuga quo consequatur incidunt. Accusantium hic quia voluptas consequatur rerum.

Odio eos amet vel occaecati quos at ea voluptas. Adipisci corporis laborum ut recusandae. Eos dolores sit molestiae aperiam beatae ullam minima. Quidem delectus velit esse suscipit. Sequi ut minima illum recusandae et.

Doloremque temporibus dolores sunt voluptatem tenetur esse culpa tenetur. Ea facere cum adipisci alias. Tenetur id voluptas qui libero ea. Accusamus voluptas sint in. Autem laboriosam aliquam possimus doloribus. Ipsa rem quaerat veniam sequi quis. Modi est ab nostrum vero.

Animi voluptas sed possimus et. Omnis ea natus similique error ullam sed. Rerum aut natus quasi dolor alias dolorem dolores. Ut totam soluta atque harum natus dolor quae. Qui hic doloribus possimus id.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”