Liza Shifrin
The 2025 ESOP Executive and Board Compensation Survey report is now available. Thank you to all of the survey respondents for making this survey possible. All respondents received the full report as a thank you.
Corey Rosen
The House Committee on Small Business unanimously passed H.R. 5778, the “Improving SBA Engagement on Employee Ownership Act,” which would expand the Small Business Administration's (SBA) outreach program on employee ownership under the Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA). That bill directed the SBA to conduct an outreach program through its Small Business Development Centers to “establish an employee-owned business promotion program to provide assistance on structure, business succession, and planning." It also directed the SBA to work with other agencies to implement the program. In 2021, the committee found that this was not happening and directed the SBA to “fully implement these requirements."
Scott Rodrick
On November 13, the IRS announced its annual cost-of-living (COLA) increases to plan limits for 2026, which are detailed in Notice 2025-67 (PDF). The most important figures for ESOPs and related plans are:
Corey Rosen
On October 23, 2025, the Slovenian Parliament passed the Employee Ownership Cooperative Act (in Slovenian; see this English-language explanation from the Institute for Economic Democracy in Slovenia), Europe's first law of its kind. The law combines elements of the US leveraged ESOP model with elements of European worker cooperatives, providing tax incentives for business owners to sell to a Coop/ESOP. In a Coop/ESOP, employees have capital accounts in the plan, as with a US ESOP. Unlike a US ESOP, employees must buy a membership in the cooperative to be covered by the plan, although the maximum amount that can be charged is €300.
Corey Rosen
In the first study of its kind, The Stout ESOP Index, the global advisory firm Stout found that between 2021 and 2024, the average annual share price growth in an index of private ESOP companies substantially outperformed the S&P 500 index and the broader Russell 2000 index. The index was composed of just over 350 of Stout's clients that had an ESOP for more than one year during the time period. Stout weighted and rebalanced its index annually in the same manner that the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 are weighted.
Corey Rosen
Harvard Business School’s Institute for Business in Global Society released a report, The Possibilities of Worker Ownership Engaging Employees, Boosting Profits and Combating Wealth Inequality, summarizing a two-day meeting on employee ownership held at the school in May. The meeting brought together leading scholars, practitioners, and nonprofits in the field to discuss the research on employee ownership, the various models for employee ownership, and what needs to be done to help employee ownership grow.
Nancy Wiefek
The 2025 ESOP Corporate Governance Survey report is available. This survey report includes comprehensive data on board policies and practices, trustee types, and other governance topics along with demographic questions. The NCEO has conducted surveys on ESOP companies' corporate governance since 2005. Our 2025 survey received responses from 556 ESOP companies in May–June 2025.
Corey Rosen
After an Oxfam report revealed that global billionaire wealth has surged by $33 trillion since 2015, Shark Tank star Mark Cuban told Fortune that it is time for companies to share ownership with employees.
Corey Rosen
Members of Congress may not agree on a lot these days, but as they have for 51 years, they do unanimously agree on employee ownership. On October 10, the Senate unanimously passed two bills to promote ESOPs. The first, the Retire through Ownership Act (S. 2403), could make it easier for companies to avoid legal challenges to the valuation of shares the ESOP acquires. A parallel bill (H.R. 5169) has been introduced in the House but has not yet been acted on. The second, the Employee Ownership Representation Act of 2025 (S. 1728), would add ESOP representatives to the ERISA Advisory Council. A parallel bill has not yet been introduced in the House. Both bills will now move to the House.
