Dancing With Tycoons? is an interesting article that provides a snapshot of one person's viewpoint of the history of ESOPs. The article includes discussions about the following events in the history of ESOPs:

• Louis Kelso, the author of The Capitalist Manifesto, convinced Louisiana Sen. Russell Long to provide tax benefits for ESOPs.
• The Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act of 1979, which helped bail out Chrysler, required Chrysler to establish an ESOP as part of the bailout.
• Avis employees purchased the car-rental company in 1987 for $1.75 billion (more information can be found here and here).
• A Harvard professor started the shared capitalism project.
• Sam Zell used an ESOP to facilitate the $8.2 billion buyout of Tribune Co.
• Today, the Rangel Tax Proposal would prevent most Tribune-like transactions from occurring in the future, and would also have other negative side-effects for current and future ESOP companies.