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A recent article in the Boston Globe reported that although more attention is on the large, primarily publicly held companies, more and more people are making their living by operating their own businesses. In fact, nationally, over 500,000 new businesses are started every year.  What this means is that over 10 percent of workers are…

Small companies are the innovators. The need for large companies to acquire small companies is necessary in order for the former to capture new products and services.  According to Fortune magazine, “Big companies almost never innovate. This is unfortunate because innovation is one of the few ways to gain proprietary advantage and stay profitable.  It’s…

The median sales of a company going public has gone from an average $15 million in 1999 and 2000 to $164 million in 2004.  Smaller companies have decided not to go public as often as in years past, and they reap the quick – and cheap – money as a result of that decision.  The…

In most jurisdictions, a board of directors is not required for privately held companies.  However, many of these companies have appointed what might be termed advisory boards.  Although they may not have any legal authority, owners of these privately owned companies have discovered that this team of outside advisors can assist them in many ways.…

The deal is getting down to the wire, the price differential is close, but the parties are not yet in agreement. Following are some ideas that might get the ball rolling and help bring the parties together. Let the seller retain the real estate and rent it to the buyer, thus reducing the price. The…

A  recent article in M&A Today offered some observations concerning current and future M&A trends. “The business world is constantly changing.  For the first half of the 20th century, vertical integration was the objective in which, oil companies, for example, owned the entire process from drilling to retailing at the gas station.  From 1950 to…

We suspect that the answer to this question depends on who you ask! The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that they received some 24.8 million business tax returns for the year 1999. We can hear the joyful sounds emanating from new business brokers and those considering the profession. Wow, almost 25 million businesses! We can hear them…

Here is a common and much-used breakdown by the federal government: Small Business Administration (SBA): Very Small Business = 19 or fewer employees Small Business = 20 to 99 employees Medium-Size Business = 100 to 499 employees Large Business = 500+ employees