Question 6 of 10

What happens to the team?

In a share transaction, employment continues unchanged because the employer is the same legal entity. In an asset transaction the position depends on national rules on the transfer of undertakings, which in most European countries protect existing terms.

Buyers of small online businesses usually want the team to stay. The staff are often the only people who know how the operation works, which makes them part of what is being purchased rather than an obstacle to it.

Timing of the announcement is a judgement. People who have to answer buyer questions are told once a deal is reasonably certain; the wider group at signing. Either way it should come from the owner.