At a glance
- About $113.1 billion of the total came from active ESOPs during normal operation, and about $28.7 billion, roughly 20%, came from plans entering termination, typically triggered by a company sale or ownership change.
- The study, More Than What Remains: Measuring the Wealth ESOPs Have Already Delivered, was written by Steve Storkan, executive director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network, with data analysis by Aaron Dean, founder and CEO of Deanalytics.
- For advisors counseling business owners on succession, the study gives a concrete benchmark: ESOP distributions can be substantial when a plan winds down after a sale, not only at retirement.
Employee stock ownership plans paid out $141.8 billion to workers and beneficiaries from 2009 through 2024, InvestmentNews reported, citing a study that aggregated distributions rather than plan assets.
About $113.1 billion of the total came from active ESOPs during normal operation, and about $28.7 billion, roughly 20%, came from plans entering termination, typically triggered by a company sale or ownership change. The study, More Than What Remains: Measuring the Wealth ESOPs Have Already Delivered, was written by Steve Storkan, executive director of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network, with data analysis by Aaron Dean, founder and CEO of Deanalytics. Dean's software analyzed roughly 100,000 Form 5500 filings over the 16 years.
For advisors counseling business owners on succession, the study gives a concrete benchmark: ESOP distributions can be substantial when a plan winds down after a sale, not only at retirement. At Dynetics, an employee-owned Huntsville, Alabama, company acquired by Leidos in 2020, about $977 million went to roughly 2,260 participants across 2019 and 2020 as the plan wound down.
One-fifth of ESOP payouts came as plans wound down
Distributions to workers and beneficiaries, 2009-2024, $B
| Part | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 113.1 | 79.8% | |
| 28.7 | 20.2% |
Reported by the Succession & selling a firm desk from InvestmentNews. Published . Corrections