Loading
Baby boomers who run their own business have had enough.
That's the upshot of a new survey from the International Business Brokers Association, M&A Source and Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management. The survey, from a nationwide poll taken in the fourth quarter, found that baby boomer retirement was the top reason entrepreneurs put their businesses up for sale.
This is the first time that category took the No. 1 slot in the quarterly survey. The potential for tax increases, for example, was the main concern for many business owners last year, according to a press release.
“Baby boomer retirement will be a consistent trend, particularly now that 2009 is four years behind us for valuation purposes and the first boomers are now 67 years old,” says Boynton Beach-based Berkowitz Acquisitions President Barry Berkowitz, a member of both IBBA and M&A Source, a professional trade organization. “Many boomers would have sold in 2009 or 2010, but they were blindsided by the recession and had to hold on much longer than they expected.”
Business brokers who responded to the survey say overall they are optimistic the industry will produce more sales in 2013. In addition to pending retirements, survey respondents, for reasons to have hope, cited the clarity that followed the presidential election and the fiscal cliff resolution. So certainty, even a bad one, is better than nothing at all.
“People might not like everything that happened in Washington over the last few months, but at least now they have the answers they need to move forward,” IBBA Chairman George Lanza says in the release. “Combine the U.S election and fiscal uncertainty with the financial mess over in Europe, and it's not hard to see why many sellers were just sitting tight and waiting for the dust to clear.”
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
