Q1Industry report
Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, Private Capital Markets Project (Craig R. Everett; earlier editions John K. Paglia). (2026)
Pepperdine Digital Commons. Latest: 2026 Private Capital Markets Report, revision date June 22, 2026, 217 pages. (2026 edition:
Publisher: Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. Frequency: annual; the repository lists 19 reports from 2009 (dated 8-2-2009, author Paglia) to 2026, with two in 2010 (Winter and Summer). Method as stated in the 2026 report: "The Pepperdine private cost of capital (PCOC) survey was originally launched in 2007"; "This year's survey was deployed in January 2026" to senior lenders, asset-based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately-held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, business appraisers, equipment lessors and factoring firms. Segment samples in the 2026 edition are small: 43 investment bankers, 49 business brokers, 13 bank lenders, 21 limited partners, 5 mezzanine lenders. How respondents are recruited and the response rate were not found in the passages read. Relevant content: Figure 45 (investment banker section, listed at p. 61 in the table of figures), "Percentage of Business Sales Engagements Terminated Without Transacting": Transacted 66, Not Transacted 34; Figure 46 gives reasons (valuation gap 24, no market for business 21, insufficient cash flow 15, economic uncertainty 13, lack of capital 12, unreasonable demands 10, seller misrepresentations 5). Data availability: the reports are free PDFs; nothing read states that respondent-level data are available to researchers. The PDF itself is blocked to scripted download and was read through a rendering service.
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Q2Industry report
International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) and M&A Source. (2026)
Earliest PDF opened: Second Quarter 2012. Latest opened: Q2 2026 Highlights
Publisher: IBBA and M&A Source. Frequency: quarterly. First edition confirmed: Q2 2012, which is also the oldest file on the IBBA archive page; the Q4 2023 report calls itself "the 47th edition of this quarterly report", which counts back to Q2 2012. (An IBBA press release headline for Q1 2020 says "Since Survey Started in 2013"; the 2012 PDFs contradict that.) Latest: Q2 2026 Highlights PDF; the page says "The Q3 2026 Survey is open October 1-15, 2026". Method as stated: a national survey of business brokers and M&A advisors covering Main Street ("values $0-$2MM") and the lower middle market ("values $2MM -$50MM"); "The Q4 2023 survey was conducted January 1-15 and was completed by 382 business brokers and M&A advisors. Respondents completed 330 transactions this quarter." The Q2 2012 report says it was presented "in partnership with the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project"; no Pepperdine reference was found in the Q4 2023 text. Limits: self-selected respondents reporting their own closed deals; from Q1 2024 only a short "Highlights" PDF is public and the page states "The Executive Summary report is only available to survey participants." The Q2 2026 Highlights states no sample size. No researcher access to underlying data is described. No statistic on the share of listings that sell was found in the Q2 2012, Q4 2023 or Q2 2026 files.
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Q3Industry report
BizBuySell. (2026)
Publisher: BizBuySell, an online business-for-sale marketplace. Frequency: quarterly. Latest edition read: Q2 2026 ("A total of 2,117 businesses changed hands in Q2 2026, down 10% both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year"; median sale price $349,250; median cash flow $155,921; median revenue $692,087; average cash flow multiple 2.7; average revenue multiple 0.7). Method as stated: "Each quarter, BizBuySell analyzes sales and listing prices of small businesses across the United States based on approximately 50,000 businesses for sale and those recently sold"; "Closed transactions are reported to BizBuySell.com on a voluntary basis by business brokers nationwide"; coverage of "over 70 major U.S. markets" and "65 small business industries". The report also quotes survey percentages for owners, buyers and brokers without stating sample sizes. First edition: not confirmed. The chart axes on the current page run from 2017 Q1, and the January 2017 Ruback and Yudkoff HBR article already cites BizBuySell for the first three quarters of 2016, so the series predates 2017. Limits: transactions are only those brokers choose to report on one platform, and the report does not publish a sold-to-listed ratio. Data availability: the page links to "Data Tables", "Interactive Market Data" and an "Insight Report Archive" (none opened); no researcher licence is described. The page blocks scripted access and was read through a rendering service's same-day cached copy.
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Q4Industry report
Exit Planning Institute (EPI). (2023)
Latest opened: 2025 State of Owner Readiness Generational National Report (66 pages), Also opened: 2023 National State of Owner Readiness Report (41 pages), from a third-party hosted copy at because EPI gates the download at Series page:
Publisher: Exit Planning Institute, a credentialing body for exit planning advisors (the CEPA designation), so the reports support its own training product. Frequency: irregular. First edition per the 2025 report: "In 2013, in partnership with the Northeast Ohio Chapter of EPI, Grant Thorton, PNC Bank, and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, we conducted a first-of-its-kind survey ... the 2013 National State of Owner Readiness (SOOR) Survey." National editions confirmed: 2013 (not opened), 2023, and a 2025 generational re-analysis of the 2023 respondents; the series page also names regional editions (for example a 2021 New York and a 2025 Tennessee report). Sample as stated in the 2023 report: "Over 1,162 business owners from across the United States of America were surveyed". How owners were recruited, the response rate and any weighting were not found in the text searched; the report itself says "The response group diverges from United States Census" figures. Data availability: none described; the 2025 report carries the notice "This report may not be printed or reproduced without the express consent of the Exit Planning Institute". These reports are the source of the "$14 trillion" update to the "$10 trillion" figure (section 4, claim b).
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Q5Industry report
Business Valuation Resources (BVR).
A subscription database of private and public company sale transactions used for valuation comparables; it is a data product, not a report. As described on the product page: "the most complete financials on acquired companies in both the private and public sectors", searchable "across 200+ data points", with new deals reviewed by BVR analysts and published daily. Deals are contributed in part by intermediaries: "Become a Contributor Network member and submit your deals online for complimentary access to DealStats". A quarterly publication, the DealStats Value Index, summarises private company acquisitions from the database and is included for subscribers. The product page does not state the number of transactions or the years covered (a linked spec sheet was not opened). Access: "$1,499.00/year (Essential - 500 unique transaction exports/month)" or a day pass at $529.00; a separate licensing agreement is required to load the data into any external model, platform or data lake. No academic or researcher programme is mentioned on the page, so researcher use would run through a paid subscription or a licence, or through contributing deals.
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