Gen X at Work · Nobody tells you what the top is really like.
2026
Owners whose substantial company was bought by another company had a median age of 55 when they let go. Owners who handed the company to another individual had a median age of 62, and two thirds of them were past 55. Selling happens seven years earlier than passing on.
The count is mine, from the Companies House persons with significant control register and company snapshot, both processed in full on 28 September 2026. No price, terms or multiple are public for a private company, so the count says how often and at what age, never for how much.
Every individual person with significant control (25 per cent or more of shares or voting rights) recorded as having ceased control of an active British company, Companies House PSC snapshot of 26 September 2026 against the company snapshot of 1 September 2026. Substantial means a company filing full, group or medium accounts, above the small-company threshold. 21,340 such companies; 36,779 departing owners with a recorded birth year. Age is the year of cessation minus the year of birth. Bases by outcome: 12,516 owners where the company was acquired, 7,681 where control passed to another individual.
My count Source: Magnus Wood, When British owners let go (Companies House PSC register, own count), 28 September 2026.