Asset Purchase Agreement vs Stock Purchase Agreement

It's a three-legged stool: legal, tax, and what I like to call "administrative" which is basically the ease of transferring ownership. Generally speaking: Legal is always going to favor asset. Tax is generally asset on the buy-side, but there are various approaches, as ^Searchfunder member‌ mentioned above, that can give you the same tax benefits as an asset deal even when doing a stock deal. Administratively, it's almost always easier to go stock. Employees don't need to be terminated/hired, contracts don't need to be assigned (but watch for change-of-control provisions!), and we don't need to open up new bank accounts. Is this administrative ease worth the legal risk? That's for you to decide, probably in conjunction with your trusted advisors.

I guess the more trustworthy the seller the safer it would be with stock purchase agreement relatively speaking. Extensive due dilligence is of course mandatory no matter which.