#bizdev_utils #pe_utils
## Overview
In the PE / M&A industries, it is often necessary to research a company's ownership before the question is explicitly asked (e.g. when qualifying companies for business development initiatives). Determining ownership, however, is not always a straight-forward task. Doing so frequently requires multiple checks of various types, things like: data delivery services (e.g. Pitchbook, Crunchbase), legal filings (e.g. UCC filings), and open web searches (e.g. PR News Wire). However, there is an often overlooked, yet simple and effective, method for this research: investigating the company's domain.
The majority of businesses in America rely on Microsoft. As a result, you can lookup the Microsoft Exchange Online domain for a given website to see if it is shared with any other companies. If so, its highly likely that the company in question has already been acquired or has worked with an investment bank (and thus is not a truly 'off market' deal).
To lookup a company, simply replace the example.com domain this this script with the domain of interest, copy and paste it into PowerShell, and click enter.
```ps1
function Get-ExODomains {
param (
[parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]
$Domain
)
# https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/web-service-reference/getfederationinformation-operation-soap
$body = @"
<soap:Envelope xmlns:exm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"
xmlns:ext="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing"
xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<soap:Header>
<a:Action soap:mustUnderstand="1">http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/Autodiscover/Autodiscover/GetFederationInformation</a:Action>
<a:To soap:mustUnderstand="1">https://autodiscover-s.outlook.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.svc</a:To>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<GetFederationInformationRequestMessage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/Autodiscover">
<Request>
<Domain>$Domain</Domain>
</Request>
</GetFederationInformationRequestMessage>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
"@
$headers = @{
"SOAPAction" = '"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/Autodiscover/Autodiscover/GetFederationInformation"'
}
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -uri "https://autodiscover-s.outlook.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.svc" -Body $body -Headers $headers -UserAgent "AutodiscoverClient" -ContentType "text/xml; charset=utf-8"
$response.Envelope.body.GetFederationInformationResponseMessage.response.Domains.Domain | Sort-Object
}
Get-ExODomains -Domain example.com
```