New Data on ESOP Persistence over Time

A new analysis by the NCEO shows that of the ESOPs set up in the 1970s, about 20% still survive today, while about 40% of those set up in the 1980s do, and more than half of the ESOPs established in the 1990s still exist. While that rate of termination may seem alarming to some, other data show that ESOP companies are more likely than comparable non-ESOP companies to stay in business over time and that ESOPs themselves are terminated at roughly the same rate as other kinds of retirement plans.