Employee Ownership Blog

Corey Rosen

New Study Shows ESOP Company Stock Prices Outperformed Market Indices

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.

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Corey Rosen

Harvard Business School Releases Employee Ownership Report

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.

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Nancy Wiefek

Announcing the 2025 ESOP Corporate Governance Report

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.

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Corey Rosen

Senate Unanimously Passes Two Bills to Encourage ESOPs

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.

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Corey Rosen

NCEO Paper Assesses ESOP Risks for Employees, Managers, and Business Owners

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have widespread support from politicians and academics and can offer significant benefits for employees, business owners, and society. But there are those who argue that there are too many risks associated with these plans. Do they put too much of employee retirement assets at risk? Does the debt that an ESOP typically takes on to finance ownership transition put employee jobs and companies at risk? Do business owners and board members face a high risk of litigation? The new NCEO paper Assessing the Risks of ESOPs for Employees, Managers, and Business Owners (PDF; also see the embedded version below) by NCEO founder Corey Rosen summarizes in detail the extensive research on each aspect of ESOP risk.

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