Earlier in 2018, the Tennessee Supreme Court clarified Tennessee’s appraisal and valuation law in the case Athlon Sports Communications v. Duggan. Tennessee had long followed the “Delaware Block” system of valuation. The Delaware Block system averages market value, asset value, and earnings value to arrive at a valuation. But as one commentator has observed “In the last 25 years, the traditional Delaware Block framework has become outmoded and less relied on by courts and valuation analysts.” Delaware’s Supreme Court already holds that the Delaware Block method is not the exclusive valuation method in the state (despite the name!). In Athlon, the Tennessee Supreme Court brought Tennessee appraisal law forward in finding that the Delaware Block method was not the sole measure of fair value in Tennessee, opening up the use of other valuation metrics, such as a discounted cash flow model.
For more on this decision, see this recap.