Find Your Resource

How to use the ESOP to make safe harbor contributions in combination with a 401(k). 

As a board member in a number ESOP companies,* one of the key issues I have worked on is evaluating the CEO, a core task for any board member.

Douglas Pugliese, Alpha Architect; Peter Abrahamson, ESOP Structuring Specialists; Tabitha Croscut, Devine Millimet

When approaching a bank to help finance an ESOP transaction, the company and sellers should go in with a plan.

Updated September 20, 2021

Over the last 28 years, the NCEO has been tracking ESOP and employer stock plan litigation for our annual compendium ESOP and 401(k) Plan Employer Stock Litigation Review.  In the last 12 months, three trends have stood out.

Last year, the employee-owners of New Belgium Brewing voted to sell their 100% ESOP company to Kirin Holdings. New Belgium’s ESOP allowed for pass-through voting of shares on the proposal.

Tom Peters, a management consultant who rose to considerable fame in the 1980s (and who was a fan of employee ownership), is famous for telling companies that “if it ain’t broke, you just haven’t looked hard enough. Fix it anyway.”

The NCEO’s first-ever ESOP transaction survey shows a number of trends in how companies structure, manage, and evaluate ESOP transactions.

The September-October newsletter included a Q&A in which our answer made a general statement that people selling to an ESOP should not pay success fees. Several readers responded forcefully.