Few owners like running a business and then ceding power gradually to evolve into a business that operates entirely without their input prior to sale. Most owners want a sale and to exit the business, but most new owners want the opposite, to retain the old owners, for a defined time period, to ensure they haven’t done Due Diligence properly and haven’t bought a ‘Lemon‘, with lots of Undeclared risks and liabilities, mutinous staff or disgruntled customer base.

It’s entirely the exiting owners fault if they don’t organise the business first, to operate without their daily input, then wonder why they get a 2 year lock-in as part of the sale. Quite solvable Deferred Considerations, it just needs more preparation prior to sale.