Little RockAcxiom sells to Interpublic
Acxiom, started in Conway in 1969 as Demographics Inc., sold its marketing services business to Interpublic Group for $2.3 billion in 2018.
Talk Business & Politics, 2018
Sell a business in Arkansas
The road from today to the years after a sale runs through Arkansas's rules. Here it is in the order you will meet them: where you stand, what the state takes, the rules of the sale, who buys, and what the money can do after.
ComplexityLowTax on the gain3.9% 2025Deal volumeLow
Arkansas is a smaller market, with fewer buyers competing for any one business. The state's cut of the gain is modest, 3.9% at the top. Little else gets in the way of the sale.
Today
Where you stand
Arkansas excludes half of a long-term gain, and all of a gain above $10 million, from state income tax.
Small firms carry 46 percent of Arkansas jobs, above the national share; roughly 36,000 owner-identified employer firms are the pool a buyer draws from.
Small-business employment share
0.0%
of Arkansas employment in 2022, above the national small-business share.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2022
Male-owned businesses
0
counted by the state, alongside 113,495 female-owned businesses.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
The elements this touches
- TmTime The years before you want out. It feeds the exit-readiness score and never moves the price; every other decision is planned against it.
ListenThe Arkansas briefing, read aloud
The deal team on what changes when you sell a business in Arkansas.
Before the letter of intent
What Arkansas takes
The tax on the gain, and what to settle before a buyer names a price
Half of a long-term gain is excluded and any net gain above $10 million is fully exempt; there is no estate tax; LLCs pay a flat $150 franchise tax.
State tax on the gain
0.0%
Tax Foundation, 2025
A founder on film
On what he learned about tax on the way to the sale.
Lewis Titus Wastewater purification and manufacturing · Wyoming
Half the gain is excluded
Arkansas excludes 50 percent of a net long-term capital gain from taxable income under Code section 26-51-815.
Gain over $10 million exempt
The portion of a net capital gain above $10 million in a tax year is exempt from Arkansas income tax entirely.
A $150 annual franchise tax
Every corporation and LLC registered in Arkansas files an annual franchise tax report with the Secretary of State; an LLC pays a flat $150 and a corporation at least $150.
The rate is the state's top rate on the gain for the year shown, the same figure as the indicator in the hero, so the two can never disagree.
The elements this touches
- TxTax Strategy The deal and entity structure, set before the letter of intent. FNDRS tracks whether it is in place. It never moves the price; it changes what you keep.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
Under contract and at closing
The rules of the sale
The rules a sale in Arkansas runs under
A buyer inherits unpaid sales tax unless cleared, so ask the DFA for a clearance before closing; non-competes carry a two-year presumption; no bulk-sale notice.
01The buyer inherits sales tax
A purchaser of business assets becomes responsible for the outstanding sales and use tax of the seller, so buyers request a DFA tax clearance before closing.
Acquisition Stars
02Two years presumed reasonable
Under section 4-75-101 a two-year restriction is presumptively reasonable, and a court may blue-pencil a broader one.
Justia, 2025
03No bulk-sale notice
Arkansas repealed UCC Article 6, so there is no bulk-sale notice to creditors.
Aaron Hall, Attorney
The elements this touches
- LcLegal & Compliance Contracts, licences, and filings in order and enforceable. The FNDRS valuation reads it, and the score moves the multiple.
- DrData Room The documents a buyer will ask for, ready before they ask. FNDRS tracks it in the deal-readiness report card; it decides how fast and how cleanly a deal closes.
One thing you would not guess
Sell big enough and the state steps aside: net capital gain above $10 million in a year is exempt from Arkansas income tax.
Beyond the 50 percent exclusion, net capital gain over $10 million in a tax year is exempt from Arkansas income tax entirely.
Gain on a venture capital investment made after 2000 and held at least five years is 100 percent exempt.
When the process opens
Who buys
Who shows up for a business in Arkansas
The biggest founder exit in Arkansas was Acxiom, sold to Interpublic for $2.3 billion; Stephens Inc. in Little Rock has banked the companies of the state since 1933.
Little RockStephens stays private
Stephens Inc., founded in Little Rock in 1933, is privately owned and one of the largest investment banks based outside Wall Street.
Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 1933
Little RockAlltel merges into Verizon
The decades-long relationship between Stephens and Allied Telephone grew into Alltel, which merged into Verizon Wireless in 2009.
Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2009
The elements this touches
- SyStrategic Synergy What one buyer gains that another cannot. The buyer at the table prices it, which is why the sell-side process goes looking for them.
Day 0, and the years after
After the close
What Arkansas lets the proceeds do
No estate tax since 2005; the uniform 90-year perpetuities rule caps how long an Arkansas trust can run.
CloseDay 0
Proceeds land. What the state keeps of them is settled above; what it lets them do from here is below.
Uniform perpetuities rule90 yrs
Arkansas follows the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (sections 18-3-101 to 109), which limits a noncharitable trust to about 90 years.
No estate tax since 2005
Act 645 of 2003 repealed the Arkansas estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005; there is no inheritance tax.
WealthWhere FNDRS comes in
The post-exit wealth plan is the third act of the same engagement, and it starts in diligence, before the letter of intent, when a move or a trust can still change the answer.
FNDRSThe elements this touches
- EsEstate Architecture Trusts and ownership set up before the letter of intent. It changes what the family keeps, not what a buyer pays.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
People who walked it
Founders
Founders who worked with FNDRS, in their own words
From founders elsewhere
What founders say about working with FNDRS
No founder in Arkansas is quoted yet. These are founders in other states, quoted word for word, each described by role and state.
1 of 3
“I definitely don't think we'd be in the same spot without you guys.”
No founder in Arkansas is on film yet. These are founders in other states who worked with FNDRS.47 founders on film
Nearby
Other states in the South
| South | Tax on the gain | Complexity | Deal volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Delaware | 6.6% 2025 | Medium | Very low |
| Florida | None 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Georgia | 5.19% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Kentucky | 4% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Louisiana | 3% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Maryland | 8.5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Mississippi | 4.4% 2025 | Low | Low |
| North Carolina | 4.25% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Oklahoma | 4.75% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| South Carolina | 6% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Tennessee | None 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Texas | None 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Virginia | 5.75% 2025 | Medium | High |
| West Virginia | 4.82% 2025 | Medium | Low |
Your next step
The road starts with one step
Know where you stand in fifteen minutes, or talk the Arkansas sale through with a dealmaker. Either way, no pitch and no obligation.
Selling in Arkansas? Start with a conversation
No pitch and no obligation. If the honest answer is not yet, we will say so, and say what to work on.