Want To Retire? Sell Your Business To Your Staff, City Says

Small businesses closing and increasingly not reopening is something the city is concerned about, and its latest efforts include help for some of those mom and pop shops to sell their businesses to their employees.

“Closures due to COVID-19 come on top of a looming wave of potential closures coming from aging business owners who want to retire,” Deputy Mayor Phillip J. Thompson said at the announcement this morning. “85% of these aging business owners did not have a succession plan and 80% of those wanting to sell their businesses can’t find a buyer. There’s a real chance that these businesses will simply disappear and even more people will lose jobs.”

The city hopes that by helping employees buy these businesses woud allow them to remain in business.  The goal of the new initiative – Employee Ownership NYC – is to educate business owners about employee ownership and offer  support for owners exploring selling their businesses to their employees and the city hopes to reach 20,000 business owners to help them determine whether employee ownership would be a good option at no cost.

If you are a business owner in need of options, call (646)-363-6592, or visit Owner2Owners.nyc to find out more.