Here are a couple of scary facts.
Fact One
Over 80% of private businesses in developed economies are owned by baby boomers. This equates to businesses worth literally trillions of dollars worldwide.
Fact Two
The last of the baby boomers turn 50 this year, so the baby boomer generation is well and truly heading towards retirement.
The inevitable conclusion is there will be a virtual tsunami of baby boomers trying to exit their businesses over the next ten years or so.
If this scenario wasn’t bad enough, recent reports by PwC and Pitcher Partners/Swinburne University add even more concerns.
The reports (Succession Reset: Family Business Succession in the 21st Century and Building for Success Today and Tomorrow: Family Business Survey 2014) include the following key findings about Australian private businesses:
- Over 80% of business owners don’t have a business exit plan in place.
- In 2012, 38% of business owners planned to pass their business to the next generation. By 2014 that had dropped to only 24%.
- 47% of private businesses don’t have a succession plan for key senior roles.
There is no doubt that over the next 10 years many business owners will achieve poor results on exit due to the impact of the baby boomer business exit tsunami.
So, what do you do? There are, in fact, a lot of positive steps you can take. I cover many of these in my new book, The Smart Business Exit: Getting rewarded for your blood sweat and tears.
Business owners who get a good exit plan in place and prepare well will still have plenty of opportunities to achieve a successful business exit despite the baby boomer business exit tsunami.
To buy The Smart Business Exit click here.