Markus,

How does this counter the statement you quoted?

This is the key. Those already in control are going to stay in control. For a while, at least. Most of the ESOPs I've seen have been total buyouts, where the exiting owner hangs around for a contracted period for knowledge transfer. In the end, they are generally exit plans for owners who want to try and ensure the company survives the transition for legacy purposes. Like Griff says, we really don't know the specifics. I hope for the sake of the employees, Griff is right.

Thanks. Brad.

at the end of the day it is Randy's business to do as HE chooses so it is really not for us to debate what we think will happen or should have been done. personally I have known Randy for a long time and wish him and the others involved the best.

Would you rather him sell it to his employees like this and make fair on the deal, or sell out to some lawyer bozo and laugh all the way to the bank like a former owner of the boats with “1”s all over them?

We just hired a guy from an employee owned company that sold. The company ran just like any others for many years (since the early 90's).

In fact I never knew this company was employee owned or way back when I interviewed with them in the mid 90's I may have went to them. The only thing that was different is when they sold, depending on position and the amount of years ALL the employees benefited from the sell to a larger company.

Unlike the one I am at, we sold in 2022 and what I got was less PTO, less benefits, less stipend and less pay. One of the two owners retired (Mid 50's).
Oh I did get more work,,,,,,,,,

MTI is sold to people who truly care about the company and the head cheese gets to stay and run the show. Win win. I hope Skater does something similar to avoid Cig's debacle.
Would you buy an MTI Randy wasnt involved in? A Skater Peter wasnt invovled in? Me neither. Randy has always been a gentleman at the races. This is pretty cool.

Don't expect any changes at Skater any time soon, Pete's still going strong and doing what he's enjoyed doing for 50+ years now.

I think what he was saying is we hope Pete has succession planning going on. As much as Pete loves it and as long as he plans to keep doing it doesn’t matter, his day will come like the rest of us and that day is not determined by us.

how does randy/any owner get paid in these deals? they leverage the company to a bank and pull the funds out as a loan in order to avoid the funds as being taxable income or?