It’s not just the Murdochs or the Arnaults. As family-owned companies change hands, new data shows more American businesses are now being inherited than purchased—part of the broader Great Wealth Transfer marking a shift in how the next generation could shape the economy.
Bank of America‘s recent Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans found that in 2026, the share of businesses inherited among wealthy Americans is projected to reach 23% versus 11% that are purchased, a deviation from a previous pattern of more businesses being purchased than inherited. For example, in 2022, 28% of businesses were purchased compared to 5%, which were inherited, according to BofA data. Researchers surveyed 1,400 U.S. adults with at least $3 million in investable assets to look particularly at how high-net-worth individuals were saving and passing down their wealth.
Of course, this is all part of what’s become called the Great Wealth Transfer, the projected inheritance of between $36 trillion and $124 trillion in assets from Baby Boomers to younger generations over the next two decades. Wealthy individuals play an outsized role in this transference, as wealth accumulation is highly concentrated toward the top. The immense amount of wealth moving through generations has raised questions of how the economy will be shaped by the young and the rich. Jonathan Parker, an MIT Sloan School of Management professor of financial economics, said that how assets—in this case businesses—change hands can sometimes offer illumination of broader economic patterns.
