Reliance Trust Co. is accused by the Labor Department of breaching its fiduciary duties by allegedly causing an employee stock ownership plan to overpay for Tobacco Rag Processors Inc. stock ( Acosta v. Reliance Trust Co., Inc. , E.D.N.C., No. 5:17-cv-00214, complaint filed 5/4/17 ).
Read MoreNew York, NY: Grand Central Oyster Bar, the century-old seafood restaurant in New York City's Grand Central Terminal, is iconic. Diners revere the New York City landmark as much for its intricately tiled ceiling and oyster pan roast as its longevity, but the Oyster Bar, which won the Design Icon Award at Monday's James Beard Awards, deserves recognition for another aspect of its legacy: It's one of the few restaurants in the country that is owned entirely by its employees — 14 employees, at the moment.
Read MoreRosendin Electric, a national employee-owned company and one of the largest electrical contractors in the U.S., is celebrating 25 years of employee ownership and has been recognized as a winner of the 2017 Best Places to Work Award for Largest Employers (more than 1,000 Bay Area employees) by the San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Read MoreNorth River Boats North River Boats, one of the largest private employers in Roseburg, Ore., has new partners – more than one hundred of them. CEO Brent Hutchings informed his entire company of a newly formed employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that will help him transfer over time a third of his ownership to eligible employees – the vast majority of his team of 131. The structure, Hutchings says, helps share the privately held company’s success with the people who deserve it most, reflecting the true spirit of North River Boats. “My wife, Chrys, and I want to share the wealth with the people who have worked so hard to build this iconic company by creating a legacy of ownership in the Roseburg community. It feels very much the right thing to do. Our team already behaves like owners, and now they actually are.” said Hutchings. “Creating an ESOP keeps the company I love forever afloat in Douglas County, without selling the business or giving up control to an outside investor.”
Read MoreALEXANDRIA, Va., May 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. (MTSI) is proud to announce it is now officially 100% employee owned. The distinction represents the completion of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) initiated in 2008 for MTSI, an engineering services and technology solutions provider for the defense industry, intelligence community, and commercial markets.
Read MoreFox Bros. Piggly Wiggly Inc., a chain of seven grocery stores in Milwaukee's suburbs, said Tuesday it is adopting an employee stock ownership plan as a means to chart the future ownership of the business and help the company compete in the region's super-competitive grocery market. Owners Pat and Lori Fox said there were a number of reasons they decided to transfer ownership of the business to the folks who work there. The obvious one is we're not getting any younger and so we had to figure out exit strategy," Lori Fox said. They could have sold the company outright. "We really didn't like that option because we really value our employees and that would create a lot of uncertainty for them," Lori Fox said. "We really wanted to protect them but recognize that we needed some kind of exit strategy." They decided the ESOP was the way to go.
Read MoreThe Colorado legislature introduced and passed HB17-1214, "Encourage Employee Ownership Of Existing Small Business" that requires its office of economic development to engage the services of a local nonprofit organization that supports and promotes the employee-owned business model to educate the staff at the office on the forms and merits of employee ownership in order for the office to promote employee ownership as part of its small business assistance center.
Read MoreAt the 25th annual meeting of the Woodruff Sweitzer company, workers heard about a company name change, a new logo and new branding efforts, but it was the next news nugget that caused them to stand up and cheer.
Read MoreVHV Company, based in Winooski, VT, announced today the establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which effectively transfers ownership of the company to all employees. David Brown, President of VHV Company, sold his ownership interest to the newly created Employee Stock Ownership Trust, allowing employees to gain the benefit of ownership without any personal investment. "This transaction will give employees a financial interest in the future success of the business," Brown said. "After 20 years of ownership, I decided it was time to sell all my stock to the people who I trust and value the most: the employees. People are the core of our business and it is extremely important to reward them for their passion, loyalty, and most importantly, their competence. I'm excited to take our already strong culture to the next level by instilling an ownership mentality that connects employees' everyday work to a higher purpose. I hope my grandfather, who started the business in 1949, is looking down and smiling."
Read MoreCOO Teresa Van Horn, with salesman Matt Sukowaty, says the ESOP adds "a personal touch" in how employees and customers are treated. In mid-2015, Van Horn Automotive Group's leaders discussed how to attract and retain talent, increase store count and keep family control of the business.
Read MoreSUMMIT Engineering, Laboratory and Testing, P.C., a consulting firm based in the Charlotte region and with branch offices throughout North and South Carolina, is now a 100% employee-owned ESOP company. Founded in 2004 by Douglas Curley, Drew Coffey and Bob McDonnell, over the last 13 years the firm has grown from a small operation to a well-respected, regional consultant with proven expertise in the areas of geotechnical, environmental and structural engineering, as well as materials testing and special inspections.
Read MorePresident Trump and Congress have promised to boost American job stability while giving workers greater control over their economic destinies. Fortunately, Trump's presidency overlaps with a unique window of opportunity to deliver on these promises. Nearly half of all private businesses are owned by Baby Boomers, which means as older Americans age out of the workforce, many family and locally-owned companies will change hands. Business owners can sell to a competitor, private equity, or go public, but they can also convert to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). In short, businesses can become employee-owned, which is consistent with more rapid and resilient job growth.
Read MoreThe U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Encouraging Employee Ownership Act (H.R.1343) by a bipartisan vote of 331 to 87. The bill would ease current Securities and Exchange Commission rules, making it easier for private companies to provide stock-based compensation to employees. The bill would increase to $20 million the current $5 million cap on the amount of stock closely held companies can award employees before triggering certain SEC reporting requirements. The amount would be indexed for inflation annually. The bill was received in the Senate and referred to committee.
Read MoreApril 3, 2017 (Chicago) – A staunch supporter of the American manufacturing movement, Hannibal Industries today announced that 2016 was a historic year of growth for one of the leading manufacturers of steel pallet racks in the material handling industry.
Read MoreBy 2001, global market strategies forced long-time customers to send work overseas—including Dacor, Yale Security, Halo Lighting, Motorola and Federal Mogul—and the drop-off forced Arlington Plating to take a serious look at its business model.
Read MorePrivate equity investors typically share equity ownership with a select group of very senior managers. The conventional (if empirically wrong) wisdom is that the top echelon of management can "move the needle" on the value of a company, and only the top people understand and value ownership.
Read MoreIn a recent Forbes article, PFS Brands founder Shawn Burcham talks with Darren Dahl, contributor to Forbes magazine, about his reasons for selling his reasons for creating an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. Mr. Burcham – in his mid-40s and far from retirement age – sold his business to the ESOP to help grow the business faster. Having a 100% ESOP will relieve the company from paying corporate taxes, show commitment to the employees' future and incentivize them to pull together to fulfill their ambitious growth plans.
Read MoreJim McCormack and Raymond "Skip" Hansen, both young insurance salesmen who had been friends since junior high school, decided to form their own agency and strike out on their own 35 years ago. Their agency would become Diversified Insurance Solutions, which now employs about 70 people in Brookfield.
Read MoreLAMAR, Mo., March 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Danny Little, CEO of Redneck Outdoor Products, Inc proudly informed employees on December 27th, 2016 that the Company has formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and, in doing so, has joined the growing list of companies whose employees are stakeholders.
Read MoreIn a recent court decision (Perez v. First Bankers Tr. Servs., Inc., No. 3:12-cv-04450 (D.N.J. March 17, 2017), a district court ordered First Bankers Trust (FBT) to pay almost $9.5 million to the plaintiffs for failing to adequately protect the interest of ESOP participants by allowing the ESOP to overpay for the shares from the owners of SJP Services. SJP provides site development for residential construction in New Jersey. The ESOP paid $16 million to buy the company's shares in 2007 (a price at the low end of the valuation range). The company subsequently saw a significant decline in stock price during the housing recession.
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