Employee Ownership Blog

Ramona Rodriguez-Brooks

Experts Outline How to Successfully Structure an ESOP Deal

On February 3, Nick Francia and Mark Padjen presented an NCEO webinar where they walked attendees through the steps of an ESOP transaction, in particular highlighting the roles different advisors play on the path to employee ownership. If you're a business owner exploring exit strategies or a CFO evaluating succession planning options, understanding how to structure and execute an ESOP transaction could be one of the most valuable investments of your time. These two advisors noted that a successful ESOP transaction requires excellent execution from both the advisory team and the company. Here's what each party should focus on:

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Corey Rosen

Funding for State Centers in Recent DOL Appropriations Bill

The 2026 appropriations bill for the Department of Labor (DOL), passed on February 3 by Congress, lacks line-item funding for state employee ownership offices authorized by the WORK Act. The Senate Appropriations Committee had recommended a specific appropriation last July. However, a joint explanatory statement from the House and Senate appropriation committees states that $2 million should be provided for the Employee Ownership Initiative. In general, the joint explanatory statement notes that its recommendations on spending (which cover a variety of issues) “should be complied with unless specifically addressed to the contrary in this explanatory statement.” 

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Corey Rosen

EU Parliament Legislation Boosts Employee Ownership

Thanks to Kosta Juri, director of operations at the Institute for Economic Democracy (IED), and Rachel Bachmann, head of strategic initiatives at IED, for helping draft this post.

Last week, the European Parliament (EP) plenary adopted (by 492 votes in favor, 144 against, and 28 abstentions) a resolution with recommendations to the European Commission to propose a harmonizing directive aimed at creating an EU-wide unified legal framework (the “28th Regime,” referring to an additional legal framework alongside those of the current 27 member states) for innovative companies.

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Matthew Licina

The Annual Conference Isn’t Just for ESOPs: Here’s Why You Should Attend

The NCEO Annual Conference brings together over 2,300 leaders in the employee ownership community. While ESOPs make up a significant portion of our attendee base, this year’s conference in Milwaukee (April 6-9) features 46 sessions relevant to non-ESOP employee-ownership structures—nearly a third of the entire program. 

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Corey Rosen

DOL Removes ESOPs from National Enforcement Project List

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the US Department of Labor (DOL) announced today that it removed ESOPs from its national enforcement project list. ESOPs had been on that list since 2005 as one of five items on the list, which also included improper handling of various health plan issues, criminal abuse of defined contribution plans, plan investment conflicts, and benefit distribution violations.

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Scott Rodrick

S ESOP Companies Included in US Exemption from Global Minimum Tax

The Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA) reports that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that a “side by side” arrangement will exempt all US companies from a new 15% tax on the global income of large multinational corporations. Senior US Treasury staff members have assured ESCA representatives that the US exemption will cover multinational US ESOP-owned S corporations, which otherwise would be subject to entity-level taxes.

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