Bank of America’s Private Bank Study says more U.S. businesses are being handed to heirs rather than sold

Bank of America is highlighting a structural change in how U.S. businesses are likely to change ownership, saying more companies are being passed down to heirs instead of being sold to new buyers. In its latest Private Bank Study for 2026, the bank frames the trend as part of the broader “Great Wealth Transfer,” the multi-year transition of wealth from older generations to younger ones.

The report’s central message is that ownership continuity is becoming more common for privately held businesses, with families favoring succession over exit. That contrasts with a traditional expectation that business owners would sell to outside investors or strategic buyers when it comes time to step back, particularly in industries where private firms depend on long-term relationships and local knowledge.

Bank of America’s study also positions the family-succession trend as a response to capital and liquidity planning needs. Even when families want to preserve control, they must still manage estate and tax considerations, support new leadership transitions, and keep businesses funded through the handoff period, according to the framing described in the bank-related coverage.

The report comes at a time when succession planning has drawn increased attention from wealth managers. For private-business owners, the act of transferring ownership is not simply legal, it is operational, affecting management continuity, employee stability, and the ability to invest while ownership and governance shift.

While the coverage characterizes the study as showing a “sharp rise” in businesses passing to heirs rather than new buyers, Bank of America’s specific data points, methodology, and the magnitude of the change are not detailed in the account provided for this story. As a result, readers do not yet have the precise percentages, time series comparisons, or survey sample details that would allow a more exact assessment of how much the pattern has accelerated.

For Bank of America, the findings fit squarely within its Private Bank business strategy, which focuses on affluent and high-net-worth clients with complex planning needs. Succession planning, including the coordination of estate planning, trust structures, and business transfer strategies, is a natural service area for a bank that competes on relationship management and long-horizon advisory work.

More broadly, if the trend holds, it may reduce the volume of certain categories of business sales that would otherwise flow through merger and acquisition channels. It could also increase demand for advisory services that specialize in family governance, valuation of closely held companies, and structured liquidity plans designed to help heirs step into control without disrupting operations.

What is not clear from the publicly available account tied to the study is whether the shift is concentrated in specific business sizes, sectors, or regions, or whether it reflects changing preferences versus constraints on buyers. The bank also did not outline, in the information provided, how macro factors such as interest rates or valuation conditions are interacting with succession decisions, leaving open how much of the change is driven by sentiment relative to financing realities.