Common Good Capitalism
The Ownership Economy Newsletter, Vol. 138
Welcome back!
Congrats to our 1000th Stakeholder, Andrew Farrell!! Enjoy the bookshop.org gift card, buddy.
Did you miss us last week? Dr. Hand was on Spring Break, relaxing by learning about common good capitalism. Here’s Marco Rubio on it in 2019:
🥃 Top Shelf News
KKR says its sale of Ownership Works-affiliated CoolIT Systems resulted in 1-8x salary payouts to employees (paywalled). Katie Boland is not impressed, but the photos are pretty great
🇺🇸 Corey Rosen and Jim Bonham cover the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee’s passage of ERISA litigation reform
Erinch Sahan & co published a new book, Doughnut Economics for Regenerative Business Design
Shared ownership of attention? MrBeast may be considering shared ownership of his $5.2 billion company. Says his business partner:
I imagine at some point we want to be able to give the 1.4 billion unique people around the world who [have] watched Jimmy’s content in the last 90 days a chance to be owners of the company…sounds fun.
👉 In This Issue
🏙️ Events
For a full list of upcoming events, see our events page. Share your conference recaps with us, too!
March 27: Cooperative Development Foundation’s How to Move Shared Equity Housing Forward with Better Data webinar
March 30: LSE’s in-person event on economic democracy
April 4: The Kensington Corridor Trust is hosting an in-depth discussion about development and shared ownership
Jobs + opportunities
The Industrial Commons is hiring a Senior Director of Community Engagement
NCEO is looking for speakers for their 2026 NCEO Forum in August
Employee stock ownership plans
Me-n-Ed’s Pizzeria of California and EmbedTek of Wisconsin are now 100% employee-owned. Congrats!
Colorado’s Employee Ownership Tax Credit now covers 75% of ESOP conversion costs; in 2027 a state capital gains tax kicks in, too
🎧 On David Jaeger and Craig Hettrich share how they use the Entrepreneurial Operating System on ESOP Radio
Trevor Gilmore and Benjamin Spadt share 10 predictions for 2026 on the ESOP landscape
On Journey to an ESOP & Beyond, Jason W. Miller and Makenzie Wirth highlight the role of frontline managers in employee ownership transitions
In Medical Economics, Michael Bannon and Gary Herschman argue for ESOPs as an exit option for medical private practices
Chris Mazzanti and Blake Head + Richard A. Glassman Financier Worldwide discuss ESOPs as an M&A strategy
For even more ESOP news, check out the ESOP Association’s March newsletter
Worker cooperatives
Subvert says it is on track to become the world’s largest cooperative of artists and creatives
The Cooperative Development Foundation highlights how cooperatives emerge where traditional systems fall short
📺 The Industrial Commons of North Carolina posted a new video on their cooperative learning journey
International Cooperative Alliance posted their most recent Co-Op Snack Break, Enacting Transformative Solidarity
Purpose trusts + steward ownership
Matthew Licina of NCEO interviews Graeme Nuttall and Maike Kauffmann on the relationship between employee ownership and steward ownership
In Main Street Journal, Michael Shuman profiles Zingerman’s ownership via perpetual purpose trust
🎧 Carol Cone ON PURPOSE hosts Vincent Stanley of purpose trust-owned Patagonia
On the Sound of Economics podcast, Rebecca Christie unpacks the EU’s 28th regime legislation
Purpose Foundation shared two new research resources: a curated literature database and an updated white paper on the effects of steward-ownership
Triodos Bank published an analysis of steward ownership, too
Dennis Price at ImpactAlpha reported out on the last month’s Purpose Trust Ownership Conference
Brad Herrmann shared at the conference how an employee ownership trust allowed him to prioritize and protect his company’s culture
Employee ownership, broadly speaking
Chris Cooper’s framing of succession planning as an entrepreneur’s “last act” caught our eye
Common Trust outlines key tax considerations in employee ownership transitions
Project Equity’s newly launched Ownership Opportunity Map uses economic and demographic data to identify geographic areas of opportunity for employee ownership
They also posted video from their recent webinar, Why Boutique Consultancies are Ideal for Employee Ownership Transitions
Jason Blevins covers Outdoor Rec Collective’s plan for an employee-owned collective of outdoor companies
Smitha Das argues for broadening governance alongside economic rights
The Predistribution Initiative similarly argues that worker voice fails without structure
The Center for Social Capital interviews Mike Brady on employee ownership as a path to access, fairness, and economic empowerment
🇨🇦 Jon Shell had a busy week talking about Canadian employee ownership trusts, including on the Do Not Pass Go podcast, in Canadian Business, and The Future Economy
David Ellerman’s latest spotlights of lesser-know historical supporters of employee ownership are Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and economist Jane Jacobs
The ownership economy
Antony Bugg-Levine announces his upcoming book Investing in America, on how to make financial opportunity more accessible across the U.S.
Neil McInroy argues for local ownership and control of capital, land, and labor
On shared ownership of land:
Roody Senatus of ImpactAlpha writes about Brick by Brick’s restoring home-ownership in the Twin Cities and tenant equity models as a tool for wealth-building and housing stability (both paywalled)
kevin jones profiles Farmers Land Trust, which helps communities own their farmland
Amanda Abrams from The Hustle highlights the Kensington Corridor Trust’s community ownership strategy
On shared ownership of capital:
Aspen Institute’s Maya Smith examines how some CDFIs understand and act on workers’ perspectives
Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) assets fell for the first time in years, writes Oscar Perry Abello in Next City
Jessica David argues for community investments funds (including in Rhode Island) as a way for “communities impacted by investment to own that investment”
📚 Academic updates + opportunities
The Rutgers Institute has extended its deadline to April 3 for proposals to the June 2026 Future of Equity Symposium. RSVP here; submit your proposal here; and review the 2025 program here
Trebor Scholz also invites submissions for this year’s Platform Cooperativism Consortium conference
New papers!
Michael Zimmer on AI adoption in ESOP firms
Trevor Young-Hyman et al. on how organizations resist centralization pressures and manage stakeholder governance over time
Tee Malleson & Yang-Yang Cheng on the tradeoffs of hierarchical and democratic management
Valerie Wincomb on the use of learning management in employee-owned companies
Jason Kerr & Maxim Polonsky on employee ownership’s association with quality culture
Yifat Aran on equity compensation and bargaining power
Vijay Sathe et al. on the best practices trap in family business succession (cc Peter Boumgarden)
Eric Shone on common good-oriented corporate governance of real estate