April 2, 2007 (Washington, DC) – The following is a statement from J. Michael Keeling, President of The ESOP Association, in reaction to the sale of the Tribune Company to an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan).
The ESOP Association is pleased to see news today of the sale of the Tribune Company to an ESOP. There are very few companies in ESOP history the size of the Tribune Company using a leveraged ESOP. It is refreshing to see a private equity/LBO transaction take place that includes the employees.
The deal put together by Mr. Zell will permit employees to share in the wealth of the company. We urge the company’s leadership to be aware of the challenges of being an ESOP company and to pay attention to the education of the employees so they are conscious of the needs of being an ESOP company and will be able to make the company succeed beyond anyone’s expectations.
Dr. Steven Freeman, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, recently released a study covering over 30 years of research on ESOPs and employee ownership and the positive impact that can be brought to a company by an ESOP. It offers fresh opinions on employee ownership and ESOPs and is important research on the topic. The study can be found on The ESOP Association’s website at www.esopassociation.org.
Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents over 1,400 ESOP companies and over 1 million employee owners who believe that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation and strengthen our free enterprise economy.