Embracer Group and the adjusted profits

As a boy, Lars Wingefors collected comic books. At 13, he began trading them, and by 15, he was running Sweden's largest mail-order company. Now, at 46, he is the CEO of Embracer Group and still collects the kind of intellectual property that interested him as a boy, but this time, he's collecting companies.

Embracer is a global video game developer, publisher, and distributor and has a presence in film, television, board games and card games. The company is behind several well-known franchises, such as Borderlands, Saints Row and Settlers of Catan. Embracer has completed over 200 acquisitions with a total value of several billion dollars, and shows little sign of slowing down.

This aggressive acquisition strategy has led to an increase in revenue from SEK 178 million (US$17 million) in 2014 to SEK 17 billion (US$1.64 billion) in 2022. Embracer's market cap is now roughly SEK 57 billion (US$5.5 billion).

Embracer's growth has been remarkable, if not organic, and now some investors have voiced concerns about the company's accounting practices with respect to this growth.