Lehman scale

The Lehman Scale is a traditional schedule of business broker and advisers’ chargeable fees. The scale is based on the transaction size of the deal, and is normally payable by the vendor(s) of the business once the purchaser's funds have cleared.

5% on the first $1,000,000; plus: 4% on the second $1,000,000; plus: 3% on the third $1,000,000; plus: 2% on the fourth $1,000,000; plus: 1% on everything above $4,000,000.

Note that US currency is shown for familiarity, though the currency is not relevant, i.e. could be dollars, pounds or euros.

The Lehman Scale was widely used in the 70's, 80's and 90's, however its popularity has waived recently mainly due to the fact that there is little incentive for the adviser 'to go the extra mile' in achieving a higher sale value.