No matter how profitable your adult website may be, there will always come a time when you must exit the company. Whether you’re looking for your next venture and need cash to invest in it or have decided to retire, selling or closing down your business is an inevitable part of business life.
No matter your reasons for leaving your adult website, knowing which type of exit strategy is appropriate for you and your business needs is crucial to being prepared and ensuring a smoother transition.
In this article, Adult Site Broker will walk you through the different types of exit strategies you can choose when selling your adult website and how you can decide which is the appropriate one for you.
Why Sell Your Adult Website
As we have discussed in previous articles, there will always come a time when you wish to move on from your adult website. This could be due to life changes such as retirement, illness, or a decision to move or travel. It could also be because of business reasons, such as needing cash flow for a new business venture, such as buying a new adult website, or because you want to make a profit off your adult website while the market is good.
There are multiple reasons you may wish to move on from your adult site, including selling it, passing it down to a family member, or allowing your employees to buy you out.
Whatever your reasons for leaving, choosing the right exit strategy for your adult website is crucial to ensuring a successful transfer to a new owner.
Types of Business Exit Strategies?
Before you jump into selling off your adult site to the highest bidder or liquidating your site and declaring yourself bankrupt, you must carefully consider the different types of exit strategies available to you and your adult website. The different types of exit strategies include:
Outright Sale
This is the usual exit strategy: you list your adult website for sale and sell the entire website, the business, and all assets to the highest bidder. You may do this through a merger or acquisition of another company, or by selling directly to an individual who wants to buy and operate a website in the adult industry. This allows you to step back from running the website and provides cash flow for future business ventures or a retirement fund.
Partial Sale
If you want to stay involved or keep a financial stake in your adult website, you may opt for a partial sale as your exit strategy. This is where you sell part of your stake in the business, allowing you to reap the rewards of your hard work setting up a profitable adult site and profiting from a future payout. However, if you want to leave the business running, a partial sale may cause more problems because you’re still involved.
Other issues can arise when the sale agreement takes you out of the day-to-day running of the site, leaving you with little to no say in future decisions for the website.
Bankruptcy/Liquidation
If you find that your adult site has incurred multiple debts or is close to bankruptcy, you may wish to liquidate it and all its assets instead of selling.
This is the process of liquidating all your business assets to pay off your debts. On one hand, it is a great way to ensure a clean break between you and your business; however, you shouldn’t expect to make a profit.
Family Succession
A common exit strategy for large businesses is to pass the business to a trusted family member rather than sell it. This can be beneficial if you want to keep a close eye on the business without having to run it; however, it can be a high-stakes decision that could lead to hurt feelings, divisions, and distrust between you and your family members if it doesn’t work out.
Employee Buyout
This is where one or more employees buy the business from you and continue to operate it under their ownership. This allows you to sell your adult site to a trusted buyer who already understands how the business operates; however, it can create tricky situations if the sale goes south, potentially straining your relationship with your employees.
IPO
Instead of selling your adult website, you may choose to do an IPO, otherwise known as an initial public offering, where you sell shares to the public. Currently, the adult industry rarely offers this opportunity, and few investors want to take it, given the industry’s high risk.
How To Choose The Right Exit Strategy For Your Adult Website
Before you start the process of extracting yourself from your adult site, take your time to consider which exit strategy is best for you. You need to choose an exit strategy for your adult company that best reflects your future needs, including your finances, free time, and business goals.
Top Tips for a Successful Business Exit Strategy When Selling Your Adult Website
No matter which exit strategy you choose, there are certain things you need to do to ensure that the sale, merger, or succession of your adult website is a success. These include:
Set Your Goals
When planning your exit strategy, whether it’s an outright sale or a succession, you need to set goals. This includes setting a realistic timeline for how quickly you want the sale to go through and who your ideal buyer/the person who will take over the company via succession, is.
Get Your Paperwork in Order
Paperwork is a fact of life, whether you have a membership site, an adult dating site, or a tube site. Get your paperwork in order to make your exit strategy as smooth as possible. This includes all necessary legal and financial documents, licenses, and a record of everything that happens in the business, such as agreements, loans, best practices, and administrative matters.
Get a Website Valuation
Find out how much your adult website is worth by having a website valuation. This will look at your traffic, revenue, and net profit and give you a rough estimate of your website’s value before you find a buyer. This allows you to set realistic expectations on how much you can make on the sale. We are happy to offer a free valuation of your adult business at Adult Site Broker. Just contact us.
Work With a Broker/Find Your Ideal Buyer
Working with a website broker like Adult Site Broker offers you the opportunity to work with professionals who have in-depth knowledge of the industry trends and current market; with their expertise, they can also tap into a wider database of potential buyers and support you throughout the process of negotiating and selling your adult website, allowing you to sit back, relax and let them do the complex tasks of selling a website as you focus on your business.
Make Yourself Redundant
Finally, to make the transfer of your adult website as smooth as possible for a new buyer, you must step back from the role of website owner. This shows potential buyers that your website can run without you at the helm, generating greater interest in buying your adult website.
You want to show potential buyers that your adult website is a well-oiled machine that can operate without you. Train any staff you have, automate processes, and ensure all protocols are written down so the new owner can walk in and immediately understand how the business works.
Conclusion
Understanding the best exit strategy for your adult site allows you to plan for when you eventually sell it. By preparing for how you will leave the company, you can create a timeline before the sale goes through and get the business, your documents, and your redundancy in order, allowing for a smoother handover of the adult site to the new buyer.
If you are looking to sell your adult site, then Adult Site Broker can help; contact us today!
