“David Wetzel tried for two years to sell his New Jersey hardware store.” Source of caption and photo: online version of the WSJ article quoted and cited below.
(p. B1) Small-business owners banking on a big payoff when they sell their establishments may have to settle for a lot less than planned.
A combination of tight credit, skittish buyers and business owners unwilling to sell at rock-bottom prices–factors similarly affecting home sellers–has left the small-business marketplace at a standstill.
. . .(p. B4) “Owners still think their businesses are worth what they used to be,” says Thomas Coffey, a partner in Malvern, Pa., with B2BCFO, a provider of outsourced chief financial officers to small businesses. In reality, many “small companies just aren’t earning what they used to earn,” he says.
For the full story, see:
SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN. “Businesses Put Up for Sale Smack Into Harsh Reality.” The Wall Street Journal (Thurs., OCTOBER 14, 2010): B1 & B4.
(Note: ellipsis added.)