Employee Owned Company Sold Due to Upcoming Repurchase Obligation

The December 1, 2011 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following:  

• Berkshire Hathaway to Buy Employee-Owned Omaha World-Herald Co.
• Updated Database of Employee Ownership Plans in Large Public Companies
• Oxford Launches Employee Ownership Job-Creation Awards
• NCEO Board Nominations Close December 19 

The Update discussed how Warren Buffet will be purchasing the 80% employee owned Omaha World-Herald, Buffet's hometown newspaper.  The deal was viewed as a positive in part due to the significance of the future obligation to pay upcoming retirees:

One newsroom employee, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said Wednesday's announcement was positive.

"It's obviously good news for the paper because we were facing a pretty heavy load of debt to pay to older stockholders (as they retired).

While the newspaper industry is a difficult industry to be in at this time and we don’t know the extent of the company's Long-Term Objectives, this can serve as a lesson to ESOP companies by illustrating the importance of forecasting and ESOP planning for the future ESOP repurchase obligation to ensure the ESOP remains Sustainable in the long-term.