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BizBuySell's Insight Reports

About the Insight Reports

The BizBuySell Insight Report is a nationally-recognized economic indicator that tracks the health of the U.S. small business economy. Each quarter, BizBuySell analyzes sales and listing prices of small businesses across the United States based on over 50,000 businesses for sale and those recently sold. The BizBuySell Insight Reports focus on over 60 major U.S. markets and publish local, regional, state and national data for trending and analysis.

An expert in small business issues, BizBuySell General Manager Mike Handelsman discusses the trends revealed by the Insight Reports in various media outlets. Mike has been featured in many news publications regarding small business issues.

Insight Reports

In reviewing this data, please be aware of the following:

  1. As the largest business-for-sale marketplace, BizBuySell has access to the nation's largest inventory of business-for-sale listings and completed transactions. This data has not been available publicly prior to the release of these Q307 BizBuySell.com Insight Reports.
  2. The data provides insights on local market small business economic trends, industry trends, and trends for the overall U.S. small business economy.

2008-Q1 National Data

BizBuySell.com released its Q1 2008 data on what small businesses are selling for in the United States.  After crunching the numbers on over 40,000 business-for-sale listings, BizBuySell determined that the median asking price for businesses for sale in the United States now stands at $250,000. In Q4 2007, the median asking price for businesses in United States was exactly $255,000.

The Q1 listed businesses had a median revenue of $400,000. In Q4 2007, the median revenue was the same.  The median cash flow, meaning the money that comes out of the business over the course of a year, is $99,182, versus $100,000 in the previous quarter.

According to BizBuySell's analysis, business owners in the United States will typically ask for, on average, a revenue multiple of .92 and a cash flow multiple of 3.47. In addition to analyzing business-for-sale listings, BizBuySell analyzed 1,796 completed business sale transactions. Business buyers paid on average 0.73 times revenue and 2.79 times cash flow, suggesting that sellers accept significant discounts on their asking prices as part of their negotiations with business buyers.

2007-Q4 National Data

At the end of Q4 2007, BizBuySell released its data on small business business-for-sale transactions in the United States.  The median asking price for businesses for sale in the United States stood at $255,000. The Q4 listed businesses had a median revenue of $400,000. The median cash flow, meaning the money that comes out of the business over the course of a year, stood at $100,000.  As of year end 2007, the BizBuySell data indicated that business owners in the United States were asking for, on average, a revenue multiple of .92 and a cash flow multiple of 3.45.

2007-Q3 National Data

BizBuySell has been able to gather and release this information from an extensive database of active business-for-sale listings (currently over 50,000) and completed transactions reported from members of the site. The release marks the first time this data has been publicly available as a market indicator by U.S. major market. The median asking price for businesses for sale in the United States in Q3 2007 on BizBuySell was $250,000. These businesses had a median revenue of $400,000 and a median cash flow of $99,247. Owners asked for, on average, a revenue multiple of 0.93 and a cash flow multiple of 3.47. In the past 4 weeks of Q3 2007, business for sale listings in the U.S. were found in search results an average of 889 times and the listing detail was viewed an average of 40 times. Brokers reported 1047 closed transactions nationwide to BizBuySell in Q3 2007. Businesses sold for a median sale price of $200,000. On average, this is 0.87 of the ask price. These businesses had a median revenue of $400,000 and a median cash flow of $93,942. Business buyers paid on average 0.64 times revenue and 2.57 times cash flow.

For information about local data in your area, or questions regarding the BizBuySell Insight Reports, contact Frank Krolicki at fkrolicki@walkersands.com or by phone at 312-546-4127.

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