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What is a distribution business worth?

Wholesale and distribution businesses that sold from 2021 to 2025 went for a median of 2.68x seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). The middle half sold for 2x to 3.44x. ^[1]

Last verified October 24, 2026

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What multiple do wholesale and distribution businesses sell for?

Lower quartile

2x

Median

2.68x

Upper quartile

3.44x

Times seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). Wholesale & distribution, BizBuySell, sales 2021–2025; sample size not published.

SDE is the profit one owner takes out of the business: pre-tax profit plus one owner's pay and perks, interest, depreciation and one-time costs. How we calculate it.

What raises the value of wholesale and distribution businesses?

• A wholesaler with about $3MM in sales trades around 3.4x. ^[1]
• Upper-quartile pricing goes with consistent financials, above-average revenue and earnings, growth potential, low owner involvement, a competitive advantage and seller financing (common to all BizBuySell benchmark pages). ^[2]

What lowers the value of wholesale and distribution businesses?

• A distributor under $500K trades close to 2x. ^[1]
• Lower-quartile pricing goes with low sales volume, thin margins, full-time owner involvement and many competitors (common to all BizBuySell benchmark pages). ^[2]

What is the market for wholesale and distribution businesses like?

• 75 distribution deals in Q2 2026 vs 87 in Q1 2026 and 97 in Q2 2025; industrial and building products distribution showed relative resilience. ^[3]
• Searchfunder: wholesale trade 2.3x average (asking-based; weak). ^[4]

Which types of business does this cover?

Each type uses its own published quartiles where they exist; the rest use the broader category, and the table says which.

Low and high are the lower and upper quartiles: the middle half of sales. Figures are BizBuySell, businesses sold 2021–2025.

Durable goods distribution

Median 2.88x SDE; middle half 2.2x to 3.51x (sample size not published). ^[5]

Value a durable goods distribution business

Food & nondurable distribution

Median 2.69x SDE; middle half 2.11x to 3.61x (sample size not published). ^[6]

Value a food & nondurable distribution business

Industrial distribution

Based on the broader category (Wholesale & distribution): no published quartiles for industrial distribution.

Value a industrial distribution business

Packaging distribution & kitting

Based on the broader category (Wholesale & distribution): no published quartiles for packaging distribution & kitting.

Value a packaging distribution & kitting business

Building products distribution

Based on the broader category (Wholesale & distribution): no published quartiles for building products distribution.

Market notes:

• Building products overall (larger deals): 10.6x EV/EBITDA 2025–YTD 2026. ^[7]
• BizBuySell 'Building Material & Hardware Stores' (retail) averages 3.28x SDE – a retail cut, not distribution. ^[8]

Value a building products distribution business

How should you use these numbers?

Multiply your SDE by a multiple in the range to get a rough price for the business, not counting real estate. Where you land in the range depends on how much the business depends on you, how much revenue repeats, growth, customer concentration and the other factors in the calculator. Half of all sales land outside the quartile range, so a real deal can go higher or lower.

Where do these numbers come from?