Middle-market company

A middle-market or mid-market company is one that is larger than a small business and smaller than a big business.^[1][2] Different authorities use different metrics to compare company sizes — some look at revenue, others at either asset size or number of employees^[3] — with the result that different authorities give different definitions of the "middle market".

Definitions of the middle market are generally derived by dividing the United States economy into three categories: small business, middle-market, and big business. According to figures collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, the total revenue of all U.S. businesses in 2012 was roughly $32.6 trillion.^[4] The largest of these companies, which are big businesses with revenue of over $3 billion,^[5] make up roughly one-third of that total, and businesses with a revenue of under $100 million made up about another third of the total revenue. The middle market can thus be defined as the companies larger than small businesses but smaller than big businesses that account for the middle third of the U.S. economy's revenue.^[6]

Other authorities define middle-market firms differently. The National Center for the Middle Market at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business^[7] as well as Dun & Bradstreet’s proprietary database of commercially-active U.S. firms^[8] define middle market businesses as those companies with revenues between $10 million and $1 billion per year. The definition is defined in reference to small businesses, which earn less than $10 million in annual revenue, and big business, which earn at least $1 billion in revenues and are generally the smallest eligible for a credit rating by one of the "major" credit-rating agencies. Investopedia considers middle market firms to be those with sizable annual revenues, ranging from $50 million to $1 billion,^[9] which straddle the market between smaller companies and billion-dollar giants.