Employee Ownership Blog

The John Lewis Partnership, an iconic British retailer, is considering outside investors for the first time, a move that would dilute its 100% ownership through an employee ownership trust.

A new NCEO study found that, over the last 10 years, 68 private company ESOP court cases had results in settlements or judgments that cost the defendants a total of $385.5 million. The average payout per employee in these cases was $14,400 per participant.

Employee retirement plan holdings in company stock in banks have declined in the last two decades, but employees at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and several other banks saw significant losses following SVB’s implosion.

The “Employee Ownership, Empowerment, and Expansion Act” (SB0085 and HB0154) has unanimously passed authorizing committees in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly.

The proposed 2024 New Jersey budget includes $6 million in funding for conversions to ESOPs and other plans, and legislation in Missouri would restore a capital gains exclusion for sellers to an ESOP.

The NCEO kicked off 2023 with a bang! Two weeks ago, we held our first feasibility meeting of the year in Portland, Oregon.

We’re thrilled to announce that our new Recruitment and Retention toolkit is now live!

The NCEO is delighted to announce six new members of its board of directors: Lori Atone, Jennifer Briggs, Haydee Caldero, Timothy Garbinsky, Susan Kildahl, and Dan Markowitz -- their bios are below. The three-year terms of the new directors will begin on April 1, 2023.

We recently released three new ESOP-related books: Don't Do That with Your ESOP! 3rd ed., Executive and Director Compensation in ESOP Companies, 8th ed., and Banks as ESOP Sponsors.

The free Coursera course "Our Share: Employee Ownership as a Wealth Sharing Tool," launched by The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, begins on January 30.

Our 2023 ESOP Repurchase Obligation Survey is now collecting responses from ESOP companies. The survey is open through March 15.

Across the U.S. there is a burgeoning and vibrant network of state centers for employee ownership that are working to get the word out about ESOPs, worker cooperatives, employee ownership trusts (EOTs), and other forms of broad-based ownership for businesses.