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The NCEO analyzed data from the Department of Labor to find out what a typical ESOP participant receives as a distribution from the plan.

In a study released on September 14, Fidelity reports that an increasing number of employees see equity compensation as their most importa

According to a new report from the Institute of Management and Administration, 42% of the funds employees invest in the 401(k) plans of large public firms are invested in company stock. In just the 246 companies surveyed, employer stock accounted for $133 billion in the employees' accounts.

The Irish telecommunications company Eircom emerged from bankruptcy protection on June 12 with a new ownership structure.

The NCEO now estimates that employees own the rights to 5.8% of the corporate stock in the U.S. The estimates are based on Form 5500 filings for ESOPs and 401(k) plans and an estimate of the value of stock options granted broadly to employees.

According to economic theory, an employee given a stock option would be "irrational" to sell the option too soon before it expires. Models for pricing the value of options, in fact, typically assume they are held until the expiration date.

The 370 employees of a Maine textile plant that makes blankets for Sunbeam electric blankets have bought their company from Sunbeam. Sunbeam has undergone radical downsizing in the last year. The Biddeford plan is sole supplier and will continue to be.

Employee ownership plans are often one of the largest blocs of ownership in public companies, almost always through ESOPs or 401(k) plans. Traditionally, employees have either not voted their shares at all or supported management.

A $1 billion class action suit has been filed by several United Airlines employees who contend the ESOP overpaid for the shares (Summers v. State Street Bank). The suit alleges that true value of the shares was $88, not $198, the price assumed in valuing the concessions made by employees.

In a highly publicized move, several well-known Los Angeles Times reporters have filed a class-action lawsuit against Sam Zell over how he structured the ESOP at the Tribune Company (parent of the Times) and how he is now running it.