For an LBO they don&#x27;t need to be paid 10x.<p>If I borrow 900K to buy a million dollar business, I have only 100K invested in it.  Let&#x27;s say 2 years later I sell the business for 2 million...  After paying back the 900K and perhaps 100k in interest I am left with 10x (1 million) of my 100k equity.<p>Of course if the debt kills the company, we all lose.