Reasons for ESOP Termination/ESOPs and Economic Development/Next Step in Tribune Transaction
April 24, 2007

ESOP Termination Phase I – A Report on the Reasons Companies Terminate Employee Stock Ownership Plans is the first part of a research project funded by the Employee Ownership Foundation. The report, “describes the results of the first phase of a research project on the reasons companies terminate employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). It summarizes interviews with company leaders at former ESOP companies and suggests directions for the quantitative research planned for phase 2 of this project.” I will be reviewing the report and sharing my comments in a separate post.

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This article talks about how employee-owned businesses are engines of economic development:

An ESOP "can't make a poor company good, but it can make a good company great,'' he said, as long as leadership seeks "to enrich everyone, not just a few at the top.”

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Federal antitrust regulators approved the first step of the Tribune transaction. The next step, the merger of the Tribune and the ESOP, needs to be approved by various regulatory agencies and the shareholders.