For Big O Tires, what does the 'median' represent in the context of the financial performance tables?

According to Big O Tires's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the term 'median' is used in the financial performance tables to represent the central value in a range of data from Big O Tires stores. Specifically, in Part A of Item 19, the median represents the middle value of annual Gross Revenues for each grouping of stores. In Part B, the median represents the middle value of Total Income, Gross Profit, and Net Income for each quartile of stores.

To calculate the median, Big O Tires ranks the stores within each group according to the relevant data category. If there is an odd number of stores, the median is the result of the store in the middle. If there is an even number of stores, the median is the average of the results of the two stores in the middle of the group. For a prospective franchisee, understanding the median provides a more balanced view of typical performance, as it is less influenced by extremely high or low values compared to an average.

For example, if you are looking at the gross revenues of ten Big O Tires stores, the median would be calculated by ordering the revenues from lowest to highest. The median would be the average of the fifth and sixth highest gross revenues. This measure helps to temper the impact of any exceptionally high-performing or under-performing stores, giving a more realistic expectation of potential earnings. This is a common statistical practice in franchise disclosures to provide a more representative financial performance benchmark.