Employee Ownership:
The Story of NewAge Industries
The Timeline
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CEO Ken Baker sold 30% of the company to its employees
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He sold another 10% to employees
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He sold another 9% to employees
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He sold the remaining 51%, making NewAge 100% Employee Owned
By the final sale in 2019, NewAge’s share price had appreciated 975%
The Sale
- Baker was paid full fair market value for each sale
- Employees paid nothing
- With ESOPs, the owner is paid by a traditional bank loan
- The loan is paid back by significant tax breaks
- awarded to ESOP companies
The Stucture
- Baker still serves as the CEO - ESOP companies are run traditionally
- However, when he does decide to retire he already has a succession plan in place
- The employees will remain the owners, NewAge will stay in PA, and a new CEO will be appointed
"I've had a lot of other business owners ask me, 'Why employee ownership? Why not just take the cash and walk away?' And my response has always been, 'Because I don't want to see the company that my father started, and that we've worked so hard to build, get broken into pieces, or shuttered, or absorbed by some big conglomerate,' "
Ken Baker, CEO
NewAge Industries
The Pittsburgh Citywide Task Force on Employee Ownership
A partnership between Pittsburgh City Council, the Mayor’s Office, Chatham University, and the nonprofit PaCEO
The PaCEO exists solely to teach people about employee ownership
