97,481 corporations without discernible succession in management

In 104,338 German corporations, even the youngest managing director has reached the age of 65. In 93.4% of these companies, together 97,481, nobody within the business is ready to take over the management. This is the result of an analysis by HDH Group Research of the population of 988,031 corporations with known management.

The companies concerned make up 10.6% of the database. In 49,274 of them, the entire management is even aged 70 or over. For each of these companies, we examined whether a considerably younger executive with registered power of attorney or a next generation of the same family name is represented in management or among the holders of power of attorney. Such a person exists in only 6.6% of cases.

The weak second management tier is striking. Only 12.5% of the companies with a management aged 65 or over have granted any power of attorney at all, compared with 14.2% of companies with a younger management. 91.0% of them are run by a single person. Open succession is thus concentrated in solely managed businesses in which the founding generation is frequently still in office.

Large differences between the federal states

Saarland shows the highest share of older management at 13.1%, followed by Baden-Württemberg at 11.7%. It is lowest in Berlin at 8.2%. The differences mainly reflect the renewal of the corporate population: where many companies have been formed in recent years, management is younger on average.

For the companies concerned, the handover, if it is to succeed, will predominantly have to come from outside: through a sale to a competitor, to a private equity investor or to an individual seeking to take over an existing business. For advisers, banks and buyers, the group is therefore large and precisely defined.

Method

Counted are active corporations whose entire management had reached the age of 65 as of 23 October 2026. A succession that has already been agreed without appearing in management or among the holders of power of attorney remains undetected; the share without discernible succession is therefore an upper bound.

The report

This item is based on the report “The generational question in the German Mittelstand” by HDH Group Research. It contains all figures and tables, the definition of the population and a section on method and limitations: The generational question in the German Mittelstand, also as PDF.