On Family Business in TV, Private Equity, and Succession Planning
This Week in Family Business (07/21)
Rounding up recent news and notes from the always dynamic and often dysfunctional world of family business:
Succession & 15 Other Shows About Family-Owned Business Empires, Ranked
Summary: A ranking of the top TV shows about family businesses, with summaries of the general plots and the key family business themes that they cover.
Quotable: “So begins a fight among the siblings and others, from power-hungry employees, rivals, entrepreneurs, and even extended family members, to opportunistic individuals looking to get their piece of the pie.”
Family offices embracing private equity
Summary: Private equity recently passed public equities as the number one asset class invested in by family offices. This article explores why that trend has been growing, including the fact that family offices tend to have relatively patient capital as well as an entrepreneurial orientation, and also are more likely to consider synergies with the family’s operating company or companies.
Quotable: “Growing interest in private equity ties in with the fact that FOs, and especially next gens, are “avid investors in technology”, their focus being on healthcare tech, biotech, fintech, green tech and artificial intelligence.”
Summary: A third generation CEO of a century old family business reflects on his life and career path at the company, his relationship with his sister (with whom he works), and the mixed emotions he feels about the possibility of the next generation entering the business in the future.
Quotable: “Kristina has three kids, who are now young adults. I have an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old. None of the kids seem interested in joining the family business. I'm hearing that from other people I know who own family businesses, too.”