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Employee Buyout Example
Revenue
$8,530,217
EBITDA
$2,985,576
Employees
73
$22.4 million
Employee Buyout Valuation

Sell your business to your employees.

Plenty is a platform for employee buyouts: we help business owners sell 30-100% of their businesses to employees for market rates.

How Plenty works

We're a platform that connects business owners with capital, transaction expertise, and a white-glove concierge to sell part (or all) of your business to employees.
Expert Consultation

Learn fast if an employee buyout is right for you

We'll answer all your questions about employee buyouts and Plenty's process, take you through our 10-minute diagnostic, and recommend an action plan that's right for your goals.
Your Company
Buyout Pre-approval
Deadline
04/02/22
Notes
Complete the buyout
pre-approval checklist.
Cancel
Submit
Due Diligence

White glove diligence & transaction support

We provide an account manager to guide you through every stage of the diligence and transaction process. This includes a two-stage discovery process: an initial, free diligence and custom plan followed by a formal feasibility study to set the transaction structure.
Dedicated account management
Two-stage process designed to save you time & money
Customize employee buyout to meet your goals

Learn More About Plenty's Model
Brian Kelley
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Employee Buyout Transaction

The most experience in employee buyouts

Our transaction partners have completed hundreds of employee buyouts, worth $ billions. We'll guide you through an exit process that's more certain than private equity, and offers market rate for your business, and customizes cash and company control for your needs.
Fair market valuations
Reinvest proceeds tax-free
Transaction range
30-100% of company
Maintain management/control of business
Fully exit business operations

Learn More About Plenty's Model

Get started now with a free consultation

We'll guide you through our diagnostic and recommend a plan for your business.
We'll answer your questions about Plenty and the employee buyout process.

Why employee buyouts?

Compared to private equity or conventional acquisition, employee buyouts get owners comparable financial returns, greater flexibility, and lower risk – all while ensuring that your employees and community reap the future upside.
Conventional Exits
Valuation
Fair market value,
Set by independent valuation
Fair market value,
Set by acquirer
Transaction risk
Low – there is no counterparty to pull out
Moderate – counterparty can pull out until last minute
Deal structure
30-50% cash up front + 
Market rate seller note + 
Tax deferred on proceeds of sale
Cash or shares up front + 
Performance earn-out
Management flexibility
You dictate your involvement
Upside for employees
Increase employee wealth 3X
Increase private equity manager wealth 100X
Ensure jobs for employees & community
Keep jobs in community
Cut jobs for greater efficiency
Your legacy is in the hands of
Your employees
Wall street + private equity managers

FAQs

If they’re so great, why doesn’t everyone do employee buyouts?
First off, many companies do employee buyouts: 6,000 companies and 2 million employees take part of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). But this is still only 1% of US workers – and a tiny fraction of US businesses.

So what’s the problem?

We see two big problems: awareness and incentives. Conventional exits (driven by established firms and private equity investors) have a thriving ecosystem: massive marketing budgets to find companies, 5-10% transaction incentives for business brokers, and incentives so your existing lawyers and accountants can get a piece of the transaction cost. Because employee buyouts are less common, they require specialized expertise, so lawyers and accountants are afraid of losing business, and business brokers and most investment banks can’t make as much money.

Plenty’s mission is to build awareness and change incentives: by creating a platform to connect sellers, service providers, and capital around employee buyouts, we want to increase volume and align incentives to doing more deals – recognizing that everyone benefits by decreasing costs, streamlining processes, and taking employee buyouts more mainstream.

Plenty does this in three ways:

First, we provide a free seller concierge to simplify and streamline the process for business owners.

Second, we don’t make money based on services, but by charging investors who want to fund employee buyouts an asset management fee – including retail investors who can earn market returns while funding employee buyouts.

Third, we invest in marketing – including by turning every employee buyout into a PR event that creates opportunities for company customers and stakeholders to help finance employee ownership.
What companies qualify for employee buyouts?
Any profitable business can qualify for an employee buyout, and Plenty can recommend the best course of action for you on our free consultation.

On the small side, the sweet spot for Plenty’s work are businesses with a history of stable revenue and EBITDA of at least $100K for the last 3-5 years.

On the large side, we can work with companies with up to $100 millions in revenue and $10 millions in EBITDA.
How do employee buyouts compare to conventional acquisitions?
What are tax incentives for employee buyouts?
How does valuation and financing work?
How does company governance work?
How long does the employee buyout process take?
How do partial buyouts work?
What legal structures are used for employee buyouts?
How much does Plenty cost?
What is an ESOP?

Learn more about employee buyouts with a free consultation