Employee Ownership Blog

In the November-December issue of the Employee Ownership Report (our newsletter for members), the article on ISO and ESPP reporting indicates that the new reports required by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 will be due in 2009. They actually will be due in 2008.

"Robber baron" Leland Stanford (who started Southern Pacific Railroad, served as U.S. Senator, and founded Stanford University) is not much remembered these days as a strong advocate of employee ownership, but, in fact, as he got older, it was central to his thinking.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is arguably the most influential employee-owned company in the world. The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company, a new book by J.

According to data from the 2006 Employee Benefit Research Institute/Investment Company Institute Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project, the percentage of 401(k) assets held in company stock declined to 11.1% in 2006, down from 13% in 2005 and a peak of 19% in 1999.

The NCEO has just completed an analysis of Form 5500 retirement plan filings filed by ESOP companies.

The SEC is proposing major changes to Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933.

Two recent surveys find that employee ownership, while still comprising a small part of the European economy, is growing.

Five of the 15 winners of the 2007 Top Small Workplaces award have significant employee ownership plans, and four are majority employee-owned.

Annual elections for the NCEO board will be held in January. Board members meet in person once a year before the annual conference, in periodic call-in meetings, and on occasional ad hoc committees. They serve at their own expense.

The deadline for deferred compensation plan documents to comply with Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code has been pushed back again, this time until December 31, 2008. Originally, plans were required to comply by January 1, 2007.

Roughly 15% of the companies on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies that responded to an Inc. magazine survey say that selling to an ESOP is a likely strategy for transferring ownership.

The announcement by the South African energy giant Sasol that it is giving its 27,000 employees an estimated 4 billion Rand worth of stock (about $561 million) is the latest sign that broad-based ownership plans are gaining traction there.