Selling the Family BusinessSelling the Family Business

We’ve all heard the statistics. While nearly 80 percent of family business owners want to pass their business on to the second generation, only a third of those owners succeed in doing so. By the third generation, only 12 percent of family businesses will be family controlled, shrinking to 3 percent at the fourth generation and beyond. The remaining family businesses either go out of business or are sold.¹ While successful family business succession seems to be part of the American Dream, it may be advantageous to sell the business in certain circumstances. In fact, a 2014 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) of family businesses revealed that 20 percent of family business owners were contemplating selling the family business at some p...