LibGuides: Buying and Selling a Small Business: Introduction

Buying and Selling a Small Business

This guide is intended for small business owners and entrepreneurs to learn some basic concepts about buying and selling a business venture. It should guide you through the Saint Louis County Library resources that are available to engage in the transaction as well as some quality reading and research on the landscape of business enterprise transactions.

Why Sell a Business?

There are many reasons to sell your small business. Some of the top reasons are below.

Retirement
New interests
Quality offer
Family transition
Change in partnership structure

Businesses are purchased, acquired, merged, liquidated, and more to the value of $1.9 trillion in 2024 in North America alone. You can review statistics about the global market in our resource Statista or see more data from the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions, & Alliances (IMAA).

Statista
Statista provides access to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on more than 600 industries. In addition to tables and charts, Statista also provides infographics and studies on selected industries and topics.

Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions, & Alliances (IMAA)

Resources

Business Source Complete
Full-text coverage of business, management and economic journals and periodicals. Topics include finance, international business, marketing and more. Search the term "sale of business enterprises" or "business valuation

Article from Spring 2025 Inc. Magazine titled "How to Sell Your Business in 2025"

Hoopla
A web and mobile library media streaming platform for audio books, comics, e-books, movies, music, and TV. Search for terms "Mergers & Acquisitions," "M&A," or "selling a business." Only available to residents of St. Louis County. Limited number of checkouts per month.