Asset Sale: Buyer Friendly. During an asset sale, the seller retains legal ownership of the business.Asset sales are types of business transaction where buyers purchase assets from a business, and the sellers retain legal ownership of the company. From a tax standpoint, an asset sale allows buyers to step up the depreciable basis of the acquired assets. An asset sale is the purchase of individual assets and liabilities, whereas a stock sale is the purchase of the owner's shares of a corporation. Similarly, this exemp- tion can be applied to asset sales because businesses are not typically in the business of selling their assets. Asset sales dominate smaller business sales because the buyer can write up the value of the assets and depreciate the costs.