---
title: "Why a $14K-MRR SaaS sold for just $128K: the Black Magic teardown"
url: https://firstpassmemo.com/teardowns/famous/black-magic/
updated: 2026-10-16
publisher: FirstPass Memo (hello@firstpassmemo.com)
---

Famous-deal teardown · 2023

# Why a $14K-MRR SaaS sold for just $128K: the Black Magic teardown

Short answer: A low multiple is not automatically a bargain. The discount was the price of a platform risk that had already happened. The question to ask on any platform-built product: what happens if the platform changes its terms tomorrow?

Updated 16 October 2026 · By Joan Murphy (https://firstpassmemo.com/about/joan-murphy/) (pen name) · How we check (https://firstpassmemo.com/methodology/) · Corrections (https://firstpassmemo.com/editorial-policy/)

## Check a listing now, free

FirstPass Memo offers a free red-flag checker for business-for-sale listings and a $79 first-pass memo on a specific listing you send, paid after delivery. Paste any listing below for payback, the asking multiple and its red flags. Nothing you paste leaves your browser. Open the full checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) to unlock every flag with its seller question.

Based on public figures only. This page applies our published rules to numbers the seller or press reported publicly, linked below. We had no access to the business's accounts. A flag here means a number was not published or points to a risk worth asking about; it is not a claim that anything was wrong with the business or the deal. Figures may be rounded or out of date. Spotted an error? Email hello@firstpassmemo.com and we will correct it.

## The publicly reported numbers

| Price | $128,000 |
| --- | --- |
| Revenue at sale | About $14K MRR (about $168K ARR) |
| Buyer | Hypefury |
| Age | About 2 years |
| Why it sold | Twitter's new API pricing (stated at $42K a month) made the business unprofitable |

## What follows from them

| Price ÷ ARR | About 0.76× ($128K ÷ $168K) |
| --- | --- |

Our arithmetic on the public figures. Revenue multiples, not profit multiples, unless stated.

## Flags the public numbers raise

- HIGH Platform dependence (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/depends-on-a-platform/): The whole product ran on the Twitter API. When API pricing changed, the seller wrote that the business was no longer profitable. This is the platform-dependence flag playing out in full.

- MEDIUM Priced below one year of profit (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/priced-below-one-year-of-profit/): Priced below one year of revenue. Our rule flags prices below one year of profit as a prompt to ask why; here the public answer was the API change.

- MEDIUM No churn figure (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/no-churn-figure/): No churn figure was published for the subscription revenue.

## What looks clean

- The seller published the price, MRR and reason for sale openly, which is rare.

- A specific, verifiable reason for sale (the API pricing change), not a generic one.

## The buyer's lesson

A low multiple is not automatically a bargain. The discount was the price of a platform risk that had already happened. The question to ask on any platform-built product: what happens if the platform changes its terms tomorrow? Run the same rules on a listing you are looking at with the free checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/).

## FAQ

### Do these flags mean the Black Magic deal was bad?

No. They show which questions the public numbers leave open. The buyer had access we did not, and may well have answered each one.

### Where do the figures come from?

Only from the public sources listed below, mostly the seller's own announcement. We did not contact either party.

## Sources

- Tony Dinh, “May 2023: I sold my 2 years old business for only $128K”, https://news.tonydinh.com/p/may-2023-i-sold-my-2-years-old-business (https://news.tonydinh.com/p/may-2023-i-sold-my-2-years-old-business), read 16 October 2026.

- Black Magic, “Black Magic has joined Hypefury”, 17 May 2023, https://blackmagicso.substack.com/p/black-magic-has-joined-hypefury (https://blackmagicso.substack.com/p/black-magic-has-joined-hypefury), read 16 October 2026.

All famous-deal teardowns (https://firstpassmemo.com/teardowns/famous/) · Live listing teardowns (https://firstpassmemo.com/teardowns/) · General information, not advice.

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FirstPass Memo is informational screening, not investment, legal, tax, accounting or valuation advice, and not an audit. Seller figures are not independently verified. HTML version: https://firstpassmemo.com/teardowns/famous/black-magic/