esop
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The Advertising Agency That Put Its Future on the Payroll
Zehnder Communications survived Katrina, built an analytics habit before it was fashionable, and made its employees the owners. Thirty years in, its most interesting product may be the way the agency itself is designed.
Harpoon Bet $70 Million on Its Workers. Then the Beer Market Changed.
Harpoon used a leveraged employee buyout to keep a beloved Boston brewer independent. A decade later, consolidation forced a second experiment: share the machinery, protect the local brands and make the taproom matter as much as the six-pack.
The Firm Buying Back America's Factory Floor - Then Handing It to the Workers
Two brothers watched private equity buy their father's factory and shut it down. Their answer was to build a manufacturing group that ends with the employees owning the whole thing.
The Holding Company That Never Plans to Sell
OwnersEdge buys healthy companies, folds their employees into one diversified ownership plan, and keeps the exit door shut. Its wager is that patient capital, shared services and a stake for the people doing the work can turn succession planning into a durable growth model.
Qapita
Qapita is a Singapore-headquartered equity management platform that helps private and public companies, startups and investment funds run their cap tables, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), valuations, fundraising, liquidity events and fund administration in one system. Founded in 2019 by a banker-investor-technologist trio, it serves over 2,400 private companies and 100+ listed companies across India, Southeast Asia and now the US, managing more than $55B in equity for over 500,000 stakeholders.
California Drywall Co.
California Drywall Co. is one of the largest wall-and-ceiling specialty contractors in the United States, building interiors and exteriors across Northern California since 1946. From its San Jose base it delivers drywall, lath and plaster, metal framing, cold-formed steel engineering, fireproofing, acoustical ceilings, rainscreens and prefabricated wall panels for landmark projects including Apple Park, Levi's Stadium, SFO Terminal 2 and major hospitals. In August 2023 it became a 100% employee-owned company through an ESOP, putting equity in the hands of its roughly 700 team members.
Hathaway Dinwiddie
Hathaway Dinwiddie is a 100% employee-owned general contractor headquartered in San Francisco that has spent more than a century building the landmarks California works, lives, and heals in - from the Salesforce Tower to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and more than 10 million square feet of life-science space on the Peninsula. Built on planning, adaptation, and proactive partnership, the firm pairs century-old craft with advanced BIM workflows, LEED-driven sustainability, and an industry-leading safety record.
R.S. Hughes Co., Inc.
R.S. Hughes Co., Inc. is a privately held, employee-owned industrial distributor founded in 1954. From its Sunnyvale, California headquarters it runs more than 40 stocking warehouses across the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica, carrying over 350,000 products - adhesives, abrasives, tapes, safety gear, labels, electrical and shipping supplies - for aerospace, OEM, and MRO customers. Its Saunders division provides custom cutting and converting, and the company pairs deep local inventory with trained product specialists.
Walters & Wolf
Walters & Wolf is an employee-owned (ESOP) building-envelope contractor based in Fremont, California. Founded in 1977 by John Walters and Randy Wolf, the firm designs, engineers, fabricates, and installs curtain wall, architectural glass, metal panels, stone cladding, GFRC and architectural precast concrete, plus interior door/frame/hardware systems. With roughly 600 employees across seven locations in five western states, it is one of North America's largest building-envelope manufacturers and has clad landmark projects for Apple, Google, Adobe, Kaiser, and Sutter Health.
Pulley
Pulley is an equity and token management platform that helps founders, finance teams, and employees run cap tables, fundraises, valuations, and tax-compliant token distributions from one place - without spreadsheets or paralegal time.