In brief: Welcoming the start of the employee ownership ‘movement’

A new nonprofit organisation, Ownership Works, is backed by 60+ partners, including several global private equity firms and US pension funds.

“Today is the official public launch of Ownership Works, a new nonprofit with a mission to increase prosperity by sharing ownership with all workers!” writes Anna-Lisa Miller, executive director of Ownership Works, in a post on LinkedIn. The nonprofit organisation is backed by more than 60 partners, including investment firms KKR, Apollo Global Management, Ares, Goldman Sachs, Silver Lake, TPG, Warburg Pincus, and pension funds such as California Public Employees’ Retirement System and Washington State Investment Board.

KKR’s Pete Stavros – who has spearheaded employee ownership efforts in the firm’s industrials team – described the launch as “the start of a new movement”. This is something we have been following for a while, having also bought into the idea that this could indeed be a new model for PE. Back at the end of 2020, Stavros told us in an in-depth interview that he was in discussions with other buyout firms to share notes on his experiences.

  • On the move? Listen to this podcast, in which we ask Stavros why the firm has been promoting shared ownership, and why – given the success – all companies don’t do it.
  • Other firms have worked on models to share more of the economic upside with workers. Here we get an inside look at Ardian’s efforts, courtesy of Philippe Poletti, who chairs the French firm’s sustainability committee.
  • Ownership Works’ press release can be found here.