A
IFA
PV
PV (9%)
A
$102,511 3.890 (rounded)
$26,353
=
= =
COMPREHENSIVE PROBLEM
Medical Research Corporation (Comprehensive time value of money) Dr. Harold Wolf of
Medical Research Corporation (MRC) was thrilled with the response he had received from drug
companies for his latest discovery, a unique electronic stimulator that reduces the pain from
arthritis. The process had yet to pass rigorous Federal Drug Administration (FDA) testing and
was still in the early stages of development, but the interest was intense. He received the three
offers described following this paragraph. (A 10 percent interest rate should be used throughout
this analysis unless otherwise specified.)
Offer I – $1,000,000 now plus $200,000 from year 6 through 15. Also, if the product did over
$100 million in cumulative sales by the end of year 15, he would receive an additional
$3,000,000. Dr. Wolf thought there was a 70 percent probability this would happen.
Offer II – Thirty percent of the buyer’s gross profit on the product for the next four years. The
buyer in this case was Zbay Pharmaceutical. Zbay’s gross profit margin was 60 percent. Sales in
year one were projected to be $2 million and then expected to grow by 40 percent per year.
Offer III – A trust fund would be set up for the next eight years. At the end of that period, Dr.
Wolf would receive the proceeds (and discount them back to the present at 10 percent). The trust
fund called for semiannual payments for the next eight years of $200,000 (a total of $400,000 per
year).
The payments would start immediately. Since the payments are coming at the beginning of
each period instead of the end, this is an annuity due. To look up the future value of an annuity
due in the tables, add 1 to n (16 + 1) and subtract 1 from the value in the table. Assume the
annual interest rate on this annuity is 10 percent annually (5 percent semiannually). Determine
the present value of the trust fund’s final value. Hint: See page 280for a discussion of calculating
an annuity due.
Required: Find the present value of each of the three offers and indicate which one has the
highest present value.
CP 9-1. Solution:
Medical Research Corporation