Morning Briefing: Familienunternehmen – Weniger Familie, mehr Unternehmen
Eine neue Generation an Unternehmern öffnet sich für Geldgeber von außen. Nicht aus Not, sondern weil ihnen professionelle Strukturen helfen. Was macht das mit dem klassischen Unternehmerbild?
Good morning, dear readers. The German family business is a fairly reliable organization. It manufactures tangible goods, is rooted deeply in the provinces, yet successful in the global market. It prefers conservative financing and remains under the control of its founding family, come what may. However, the typical German family business is increasingly giving up on this principle, and this should not necessarily be a bad thing.
In fact, research by our business and financial reporters has shown that more and more family businesses are opening up to external money and professional structures. Many do not act out of necessity, but because external pressure forces a level of professionalism that is hard to achieve with old structures: digitalization and artificial intelligence compel significant investments.
The succession pressure rises, and the third generation often has different interests. Geopolitical conflicts and uncertain conditions increase trade barriers. In Germany, there are over 800 transactions annually where family-owned businesses change hands for the first time. In 2018, the share of financial investors in these transactions was less than ten percent, compared to nearly a quarter in 2025.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
