Ask HN: When you sell your company, do you receive the money with a normal wire?

For those who sold their company for a substantial amount, did the money just arrive on your "regular" bank account?

Did you arrive in several times?

Don't laugh, I'm trying to visualize the moment my startup is sold, and I want simple details like this one.

Thank you for sharing your experience

4 points | by supergilbert 2 hours ago

2 comments

gojkoa 2 hours ago
We sold a company last year, and the deal was structured for 80% after the asset migration, and then 5% quarterly for 4 quarters to ensure we don't disappear. So it was 5 payments, but effectively the first one was one big transfer into the bank account. The money first went from the buyer to an escrow service before the migration started, and they released it to us when the migration was complete. The escrow service was very picky about which banks they wanted or did not want to work with, and they refused to send money to our Wise account which would have saved a lot of money in transfer fees and forex later. Sending to a traditional bank was fine.
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- beardyw 1 hour ago
  I think traditional banks are a safeguard against money laundering (as in WE did the right thing).
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  - gojkoa 33 minutes ago
    yes it did, and oddly enough having the choice of that escrow reduced our legal costs. Our lawyers wanted to perform AML research to ensure we were compliant (or I guess that they are compliant) but the fact that the deal used a reputable escrow allowed them to just tick that box without charging us an arm and a leg.
rogerkirkness 2 hours ago
Yes it's a giant wire payment. Depending on your bank, it might have to be setup to send in daily large amounts (e.g. $999k every day for X days). It can actually cause problems for your local bank branch because one thing banks have to do at the regional level is show that their own local balance sheet is healthy. So a giant deposit moving in and out of the bank can cause compliance issues.