Advertisement

Middle Market

Published: July 26, 2012

What Does Middle Market Mean?

The middle market, or “mid-market,” is a reference to the size of a company usually in terms of its revenue and/or asset base. There is no universally accepted revenue range that defines middle market companies. Some financial professionals use a range of $5 million to $500 million in revenue, while others use $100 million to $1 billion.

Regardless of the range, conceptually, middle market companies fall between main street companies (below $5 million in revenue) and large multinational corporations (over $1 billion in revenue).

Advertisement

Divestopedia Explains Middle Market

The middle market is a significant part of the North American economy. In the U.S., middle market businesses represent one-third of private sector GDP and employ approximately 25% of the total labor force.

Because of the wide range of company sizes within the definition, the middle market can be further broken down into the following:

  • Lower Middle Market: $5 – $50 million of revenue;
  • Middle Market: $50 – $500 million of revenue; and
  • Upper Middle Market: $500 million – $1 billion of revenue.

It is important to distinguish between upper and lower middle market for a few reasons:

  • There are different buyer groups for each level of middle market companies;
  • Premiums are typically paid for businesses that can grow into a higher tier; and
  • Investment banks tend to specialize in a certain size of business.
Advertisement

Synonyms

SME

Mid-Market

Share This Term

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Related Reading

Trending Articles

Go back to top