Employee Ownership Blog

Most employee ownership plans involve someone selling stock to an employee plan. Paul Merriman just gave it away. Merriman bought a tiny operation called HISCO, a Houston industrial supply company, in 1974 for $100,000.

John Case of Inc. magazine has been one of the outstanding chroniclers of the revolution taking place at work.

In one of the largest studies on ESOPs ever, two academics compared ESOPs to diversified plans.

A federal judge has ruled that a trustee cannot follow employee directions on unallocated shares in an ESOP, nor use mirror voting on shares for which no directions are received.

Kemper Securities, a division of the Kemper Company, will be sold to an ESOP that will own 55% of the company. One percent will go to management and 44% to existing Kemper Company shareholders. Kemper Securities has been a lackluster performer in recent years. It employs 1300 stockbrokers.

The pilots union and USAir have agreed on a transaction that would involve substantial concessions in pay and work rules by the pilots in return for board representation and stock. The proposal would only become effective if other labor groups at USAir reach a settlement.

United Airlines has started an extensive series of print and electronic media ads stressing its employee owned character. The ads were kicked off by three page ads in major papers.

Four hundred companies have petitioned the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in opposition to that body's proposal that companies provide a footnote disclosure of the value of outstanding stock options.

Despite a government environment that ranges from indifferent to unfriendly, employee ownership is still being chosen as one of the most common routes to privatization in Poland.

The NCEO now estimates that employees own the rights to 5.8% of the corporate stock in the U.S. The estimates are based on Form 5500 filings for ESOPs and 401(k) plans and an estimate of the value of stock options granted broadly to employees.

A new survey of 3,173 companies for the Bureau of the Census looks at participation in the workplace.

In Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM) 9503002, issued January 9, 1995, the IRS said that a plan that allows employees to use their 401(k) deferrals to repay an ESOP loan does not violate ERISA.