Employee Ownership is a Win-Win for Workers and Companies

Cathy Burch and her twin sister Deborah began working 27 years ago, at the age of 19. Cathy took a job at WinCo, a supermarket chain. Her sister went to work at a telephone company. Cathy stayed at WinCo; Deborah moved around. By 2014, an article in Forbes reports, Deborah had about $30,000 in retirement savings, fairly typical for her age group. Cathy, who stayed at WinCo, had nearly $1 million saved for retirement.

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Studio Elias
DOL Enters into 5th Settlement Agreement with an ESOP Trustee - and It Looks Familiar,

The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a fifth settlement agreement with the trustee of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The agreement was entered into in connection with a recently settled case relating to the 2010 purchase of Cactus Feeders Inc. stock by the Cactus Feeders Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
The agreement with Lubbock National Bank (the LNB Agreement), announced on May 4, 2018, is identical to the first process agreement that the DOL entered into in 2014 with GreatBanc Trust Company (the GBTC Agreement).
Notably, the LNB Agreement does not contain any of the items that the DOL requested be added to agreements with ESOP trustees that were entered into after the GBTC Agreement.

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USA Mortgage: The Future is Bright

In September 2015, Doug Schukar, president and CEO of USA Mortgage, paid a visit to one of the company's largest branches, located in Jefferson County. Schukar regularly checks in with branch managers and loan officers, treating them as if they're family. But, this particular trip was different.

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U.S Senator Gillibrand Visits Syracuse Label & Surround Printing In North Syracuse to Announce Bipartisan Co-Op and Employee Ownership Legislation

North Syracuse, NY – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited Syracuse Label & Surround Printing, which supports worker-owned co-ops, to announce her bipartisan legislation the Main Street Employee Ownership Act, which would support small businesses that invest in and reward their workers and communities by transitioning to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or a cooperative (co-op).

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Five Things to Know About Buying a Company with an ESOP

One of the management team members let out a gasp. Two others shook their heads in disbelief and angst. The senior leader on their team had just informed them that the company they had been strategically targeting over the last several months was employee-owned, or at least partially employee-owned, through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

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ESOP Owned Sonnax Sold to Warren Buffett

Sonnax Industries Inc, a maker of automatic transmission parts in Bellows Falls, was sold in early April to Marmon Holdings, Inc, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway. Sonnax was an employee-owned company, whose ESOP was sued by the US Department of Labor, as first reported by VBM in January 2017. According to a press release and email, the new company will operate as Sonnax Transmission Company. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The company will remain in Vermont.

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A Tale of Two ESOPs

An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is a benefit program in which employees acquire ownership of the company they work for by receiving shares of stock in it, typically with the help of bank loans that fund the ESOP. When employees retire or leave for other reasons, the company buys back their shares at current value. Significant tax breaks make ESOPs attractive to owners looking for an exit strategy that will compensate them and enhance their employees' financial security at the same time.

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Studio Elias
Three Solar Companies Form ESOPs

Three pioneers of the solar industry in the Bay Area are in different stages of transferring the businesses they created, but they are all traveling on a similar road. They are all transferring the ownership of their businesses to their employees.

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Stewart's ESOP Creating Millionaires

Workers at Stewart's Shops are riding a rising company stock price that has created dozens of new millionaires heading for retirement, at least on paper. Stock for the privately held company, which employs more than 4,500 people, has boomed this decade, rising 66 percent between 2011 and 2016, according to annual reports filed with the U.S. Labor Department.

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