Live Ventures Incorporated
Live Ventures Inc. is a U.S.-based diversified holding company that acquires and operates profitable middle-market businesses across several unrelated industries. Its portfolio currently spans retail entertainment, flooring retail, flooring manufacturing, steel manufacturing, and corporate/other activities, with operating companies run on a decentralized basis.
Fiscal year 2025 · change from previous year
Development 2020–2025
Business
Share of revenueRetail sale of new and pre-owned video games, consoles, accessories, and related entertainment products.
Retail and installation of flooring, carpeting, cabinets, and countertops for homeowners, builders, and contractors.
Manufacture and sale of carpet, yarns, luxury vinyl, laminate, rigid core, and engineered hardwood flooring.
Fabrication and supply of specialized metal products for data centers and other industrial end markets.
Corporate overhead and legacy products or services no longer actively sold to new customers.
Customers
Live Ventures sells to a mix of consumers, builders, contractors, specialty retailers, and industrial customers depending on the subsidiary. Demand is driven by discretionary consumer spending in entertainment and home improvement, as well as project-based purchasing from commercial and industrial buyers.
Buy new and pre-owned games, consoles, and accessories for personal entertainment and value pricing.
Buy flooring, carpeting, cabinets, and countertops for home renovation and improvement projects.
Buy flooring products and installation services for residential construction and remodeling jobs.
Buy carpet, vinyl, laminate, and hardwood products from Marquis for project and channel demand.
Buy fabricated metal products, especially for data centers and related applications.
Strategy
Live Ventures’ strategy is to acquire profitable, well-managed middle-market businesses and operate them with a long-term buy-build-hold approach. It also emphasizes decentralized management, targeted cost reductions, and disciplined capital allocation to improve cash generation and support future acquisitions.
Growth depends on adding cash-generative businesses that fit the portfolio and can be operated without heavy central overhead.
Recent EBITDA improvement was driven by lower operating expenses, showing cost control is a key lever in a cyclical portfolio.
The company needs cash and revolver capacity to fund operations, debt service, acquisitions, and shareholder returns.
Geography
The company is primarily U.S.-focused, with operating businesses and stores concentrated in domestic markets. Flooring Liquidators operates in Arkansas, California, Missouri, and Nevada, while manufacturing and fabrication assets are based in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois and ship to customers across North America and Mexico.
Risks
The business is exposed to cyclical demand, especially in discretionary retail and housing-related end markets, which can quickly affect revenue and margins. Its acquisition-led model also creates integration, goodwill impairment, and financing risk, while the decentralized structure can make portfolio oversight and execution uneven across subsidiaries.
- Cyclical consumer and housing demandImpact: HighLikelihood: Medium
Retail entertainment and flooring depend on discretionary spending and renovation activity, both of which weaken in softer economic conditions.
Exposure - Acquisition and integration riskImpact: HighLikelihood: Medium
Growth depends on buying and integrating businesses, which can fail due diligence, strain management, or reduce customer retention.
Exposure: Company-wide acquisition strategy
- Goodwill and intangible asset impairmentImpact: MediumLikelihood: Medium
Acquired businesses create goodwill that must be tested for impairment if performance weakens or assumptions change.
Exposure: All acquired subsidiaries
- Competitive pressure and pricingImpact: MediumLikelihood: Medium
Retail entertainment and flooring markets face intense competition from online, mass-market, and specialty rivals.
Exposure: Retail-Entertainment and Retail-Flooring
- Cybersecurity and data privacy incidentsImpact: MediumLikelihood: Medium
The company stores customer and employee data, and a breach could cause legal costs, operational disruption, and reputational damage.
Exposure: Corporate systems and retail operations
Accounting
Judgemental itemsThe company sells products, installation services, and project-based manufactured goods, so timing of revenue can vary by business line.
Impact: Affects quarterly comparability and reported margins
Retail and manufacturing operations carry meaningful inventory that can be affected by demand shifts and obsolescence.
Impact: Can affect gross margin and write-downs
Acquisitions create goodwill that must be tested for impairment if operating performance weakens.
Impact: Potential non-cash impairment charges
B2B and contractor customers can create collection risk, especially in cyclical or project-based businesses.
Impact: Affects allowance for credit losses
The company notes income tax estimates as a critical policy, and profitability swings can change tax expense materially.
Impact: Can move net income and effective tax rate
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Last updated: 24/09/2026