BoiseCradlepoint sells for $1.1 billion
Ericsson agreed in September 2020 to buy Boise-based Cradlepoint at an enterprise value of $1.1 billion, paid in cash at closing before the end of 2020.
PR Newswire (Ericsson), 2020
Sell a business in Idaho
The road from today to the years after a sale runs through Idaho'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.
ComplexityMediumTax on the gain5.3% 2025Deal volumeLow
Idaho is a smaller market, with fewer buyers competing for any one business. The state takes a meaningful share of the gain, 5.3% at the top. Expect a tax-clearance or bulk-sale notice before closing.
Today
Where you stand
Idaho cut its flat tax to 5.3 percent in 2025, has no rule against perpetuities, and makes the buyer withhold for your unpaid sales tax.
A small, fast-churning market: roughly 10,000 establishments open and close each year, and small firms employ more than half the workforce.
Establishment churn
0
Opened
0
Closed
0
Net gain
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2024
Between March 2023 and March 2024, 10,867 Idaho establishments opened and 9,928 closed, a net gain of 939.
Small-business employment share
0.0%
of Idaho workers are employed by small businesses.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2024
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 Idaho briefing, read aloud
The deal team on what changes when you sell a business in Idaho.
Before the letter of intent
What Idaho takes
The tax on the gain, and what to settle before a buyer names a price
A flat 5.3 percent on the gain since 2025, with a 60 percent deduction only for Idaho real property and business equipment, not for stock or goodwill.
State tax on the gain
0.0%
Office of the Governor of Idaho, 2025
A founder on film
On what he learned about tax on the way to the sale.
Lewis Titus Wastewater purification and manufacturing · Wyoming
A flat 5.3 percent
House Bill 40, signed 6 March 2025, cut the flat income tax rate for individuals and businesses from 5.695 to 5.3 percent.
Deduction for Idaho property only
The capital gains deduction covers only Idaho property: real property and tangible property used in a revenue-producing enterprise held 12 months, plus cattle, livestock, and timber.
A 60 percent deduction
The deduction is 60 percent of the qualifying gain, computed on Form CG.
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 Idaho runs under
The buyer must ask the Tax Commission what you owe and withhold it, a real estate licence covers business sales only when property transfers, and non-competes bind only key employees.
01The buyer holds back tax
Under Idaho Code 63-3628 a buyer must ask the Tax Commission what sales tax the seller owes and withhold it until a receipt shows nothing due, or be personally liable.
Idaho Legislature
02Licence only with real estate
Idaho Code 54-2004 defines a business opportunity as an established business or its goodwill only where real property transfers, so the licence reaches business sales only with real estate.
Idaho Legislature
03Non-competes bind key employees
Idaho Code 44-2701 enforces a non-compete only against a key employee or key contractor, and only when reasonable in duration, area, and line of business.
Idaho Legislature
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
If the Tax Commission does not answer the buyer's inquiry within 60 days, the buyer is released from any duty to withhold your tax from the price.
The Tax Commission must state what the seller owes within 30 days of a buyer's inquiry, 60 at most; if it stays silent, the buyer need not withhold anything.
When the process opens
Who buys
Who shows up for a business in Idaho
Boise technology founders sell to global strategics and stay put: Cradlepoint went to Ericsson in 2020 for $1.1 billion and kept its Boise headquarters.
BoiseThe headquarters stayed in Boise
Cradlepoint kept its brand, its staff, and its Boise headquarters as an Ericsson subsidiary; its 2019 sales were SEK 1.2 billion at a 61 percent gross margin.
PR Newswire (Ericsson), 2019
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 Idaho lets the proceeds do
No rule against perpetuities and no estate tax: an Idaho trust can hold proceeds for as long as the family wants without a state death tax.
CloseDay 0
Proceeds land. What the state keeps of them is settled above; what it lets them do from here is below.
Idaho Code 55-111Forever
Idaho Code 55-111 abolishes the rule against perpetuities for real and personal property, so an Idaho trust can last indefinitely.
No estate or inheritance tax
Idaho levies neither an estate tax nor an 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 Idaho 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 Idaho is on film yet. These are founders in other states who worked with FNDRS.47 founders on film
Nearby
Other states in the West
| West | Tax on the gain | Complexity | Deal volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | None 2025 | Very low | Very low |
| Arizona | 2.5% 2025 | Medium | High |
| California | 13.3% 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Colorado | 4.4% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Hawaii | 7.25% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Montana | 4.1% 2025 | Low | Very low |
| Nevada | None 2025 | Medium | Low |
| New Mexico | 5.9% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Oregon | 9.9% 2025 | High | Medium |
| Utah | 4.5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Washington | 9.9% 2025 | High | High |
| Wyoming | None 2025 | Low | Very low |
Your next step
The road starts with one step
Know where you stand in fifteen minutes, or talk the Idaho sale through with a dealmaker. Either way, no pitch and no obligation.
Selling in Idaho? 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.