Major white-owned companies are buying up black-owned businesses.

Black-owned businesses have seen tremendous growth from 2017 to 2020, with Black women-owned businesses experiencing the greatest increase of 18.14%, according to the Brookings Institute. This growth has been accompanied by some concerns surrounding the potential for Black companies to be bought by or taken over by white businesses.

These concerns stem from the fear that business acquisitions will lead to a detachment from the Black consumers that were instrumental to the original success of the businesses. In the words of Tami Hall, shared founder and CEO of Prestige Blinds LLC, “If you’re a serial entrepreneur and the numbers are right, it makes a lot of sense to build it, grow it, sell it, maintain a stake, and move on to the next venture. I firmly believe that this ‘fast money’ mentality somewhat works against our people when it comes to building generational wealth and community.” As such, there is a fear that products will no longer have the same cultural significance and value for Black consumers.

The notion of “selling out” has been debated in the past, particularly in the case of Black Entertainment Television (BET), which was acquired by Viacom Inc. in 2000. Fee Bolden, serial entrepreneur and founder of RootedinBlk, believes that many of these concerns may be due to a “lack of exposure” to successful business acquisitions, such as Instagram, Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix. She suggests that “freedom should be even more of a goal than perceived legacy,” and that Black business owners should launch businesses that are acquirable.

Ultimately, what happens after a business is acquired is significant. As reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, TikTok star Veronica Shaw was left in financial struggle after partnering with a company that never reimbursed her out-of-pocket costs. In light of this, Black-owned businesses must consider how business acquisitions and new partnerships will affect the consumers who supported them from the beginning.

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