The Number

If you want to buy or sell a business, 2017 looks like the right time. Peter Siegel, chief executive of BizBen.com, a website publisher in the Northern California city of Dublin that connects buyers and sellers of businesses in the state, said a combination of factors have created a rising tide of transactions. “I think it’s going to be a record year,” Siegel told the Business Journal. “There are a lot of baby boomers starting to cash out. They want to move on.” During April, 333 businesses were sold in Los Angeles County, according to BizBen.com data. BizBen.com compiles the numbers from county recorder offices and the website’s extensive network of advertisers, mostly business brokers. Los Angeles was the city with the most sales at 100, followed by Long Beach at 15. Then came three cities from the Valley region – Lancaster with 10, Glendale with nine and Northridge with seven. In total, 67 businesses were sold in the greater San Fernando Valley region, not counting those in the Valley portion of the city of Los Angeles. Siegel said the number of businesses sold in a particular city varies month to month, but he has noticed a lot of activity in the Antelope Valley. “It’s a growing area. Business owners are in transition, selling to buy bigger businesses in the Antelope Valley. It’s going through a generational phase,” he explained. Factors that make 2017 a good time for sales include low interest rates, high home prices and a high-value stock market. Siegel owns another website called Bizbuyfinancing.com that provides money for purchases and it’s “seeing record numbers too,” he said. As for the type of businesses, carwashes, gas station and coin-operated laundries are always “real popular with buyers,” Siegel said. But right now, nearly any business is popular, he added. “If it can show how much money it’s making, there are buyers,” he said. – Joel Russell