The best way to close up shop

[eznight]

I was just told that the family buiness will end at the 3rd generation. I know that it was a hard decision for my dad. I would like to help him to get the most possable from the assesets. He has a small screw machine shop. E Bay? Auction?

[Geof]

Why not try selling it as a going concern or is it not 'going' with the current state of the economy?

[TOTALLYRC]

Auctions can be very tough on the old wallet. If it is a slow day, some of the stuff will go for next to nothing and there isn't much you can do about it unless you have an arrangement with the auction people, such as reserves or something. I ma not entirely sure how that works. If considering an auction, get all the terms up front form the auctioneer and consider having a lawyer look them over before signing anything.

If you have the time to do it, ebay, the local papers and the classified section here on the zone would probably generate more money, at the cost of more work.

Mike

[harryn]

One of the challenges, especially right now, is going to be that regardless of the price, loans for equipment purchases (and most anything else) are tough to obtain. This is true not matter your credit rating, etc.

With this in mind, the ability of your firm to "carry the debt" of the buyer will be very valuable, but of course it take more time to be paid in full.

In most cases, a going firm is worth more than the sum of the pieces, so this is always a better way to position the sale if you can. Of course, if the firm is badly bleeding cash, then that is a different issue.

Depending on the accounting structure of the company, and frankly, the willingness of the owners to be a little bit creative, the sale can be easier or more difficult.

I will send a PM to you to discuss further off line if you like. I don't promote this much as I am mostly on this forum as a hobby, but my "real" job is "Business Development Consulting", which includes company sales.

[WLee]

Originally Posted by eznight I was just told that the family buiness will end at the 3rd generation. I know that it was a hard decision for my dad. I would like to help him to get the most possable from the assesets. He has a small screw machine shop. E Bay? Auction?

Don't neglect the value of the "non-tangible" assets -- the customer list, etc.

Even if business is "down" in volume, there might be multiple people looking for a "small scale" business to buy -- so it might be possible to sell off a "part" of the business (i.e. some of the machinery along with the customer list & contracts, skilled loyal employees, and/or the company name [and its associate "good will"], etc.) -- and then sell off the remaining (excess) equipment separately.

There are even people (who typically already own other businesses, and have ready reserves of cash) who look at "down economies" as the time to buy up various small businesses, expecting to endure the downturn and profit from them later on (either by integrating them into their other businesses and/or as viable entities in themselves when the economy picks up again).

[Apostile]

Apparently after almost 8 years of making many folks laugh and offending exponentially more–T-Shirt Hell is closing up shop. I’ll be frank–I love the website in all of it’s abrasive crudeness. Apparently, the owner of the website isn’t doing it because of the economy; he’s not being forced to shut it down either; plainly, he’s just tired of dealing with all the ignorant folks in the world who don’t have a sense of humor.

Here’s what’s posted on the website:

I’m done. I’m finished. I can’t take the stupidity anymore, so I’m leaving and I’m taking my website with me. As of Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009, T-Shirt Hell will be no more.

No, I’m not selling out to some douchebag corporate entity. No, we’re not being sued by any of the over 40 companies that have sent us cease and desists over the years. No, I’m not going to jail (yet) and no, it’s not because of the economy. Although, the recent dip in sales certainly does make the idea easier to accept, even though we still sell over 3000 shirts a week.

I started this company in June of 2001, nearly 8 years ago, with the intention of producing the best satirical, the most controversial, the funniest t-shirts on the internet. Generally speaking, I feel I’ve accomplished that and am satisfied with what we’ve put out. I made a ****load of dough along the way. I’ve done cocaine off the better body parts of supermodels. I’ve even raped and killed a mountain panda in the hills of Shaanxi. But these perks are besides the point.

I just don’t feel like dealing with idiots anymore. I’ll give you an example of the kind of misguided morons we deal with on a regular basis at T-Shirt Hell. We released a new shirt a couple weeks ago that says “It’s not gay if you beat them up afterwards”. I will not explain the irony or the social commentary of the slogan because anyone with half a brain should be able to handle that on their own. Problem is, we’ve been besieged with emails from angry people complaining about the “fact” that the shirt is hate speech or that we’re promoting gay bashing and should take it down immediately.
Apostile

[harryn]

I am not sure the original poster even really wanted advice or help as much as to vent frustration. I sent a PM to them with an honest offer to help and some ideas and was ignored. Either they are in depression, don't read the forum, or aren't really interested in other opinions. Or, maybe they just really did not like my advice - reminds me of home.