As we noted in NPQ last fall, nearly half of US small business owners are baby boomers, aged 53 to 71. Collectively, they own 2.34 million businesses, employ 24.7 million people, and have combined sales of $5.14 trillion. It is estimated that 80 percent of these businesses lack a plan for what they are going to do when their owners retire or, if misfortune falls, die unexpectedly. In short, people’s livelihoods across the nation are at stake, as hundreds of thousands of companies are likely to shut down in the coming decade due to the failure to develop adequate business succession plans. Some have labeled this pending crisis a silver tsunami. One step to address this situation is to make it
Earlier this week, Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a new piece of legislation – the Accountable Capitalism Act – which requires the largest companies in America to get a federal charter that is conditioned on their recognizing their obligations to society. The idea is as simple as the lesson from Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility. The biggest corporations are extraordinarily powerful, but they often exercise that power in a way that can deepen economic inequality, stack the deck in our politics in favor of the powerful, and undermine the well-being of workers. The Accountable Capitalism Act addresses these issues. The bill would require corporations with more than $1
The gap in wealth in the United States between the ultrawealthy and everyone else has reached its widest point in decades. One way to narrow the divide is through the use of worker buyouts, in which ownership of a company transfers from a single person or a small number of people to the workers of the company. Currently, about 10% of Americans hold equity stakes in their workplaces. By providing more workers and employees with opportunities to buy shares, companies can help workers and communities raise their standard of living and simultaneously feel more invested — literally — in the success of the enterprise. In that way, worker buyouts also increase firms’ competitiveness: Research sugge
Our Heartland Network congratulates our newest member, Amalgamated Bank, which announced yesterday that it successfully launched a public offering ("IPO") at $15.50 per share. This is an important milestone for the bank and the culmination of a great deal of hard work by the entire company. Amalgamated is the country's longest running labor-sponsored bank, and, as we demonstrated in our Responsible Investor Handbook, an unwavering leader in responsible banking, good corporate governance and impact investment. According to bank President and CEO Keith Mestrich, in a letter to his team, "Investors specifically called out our unique focus on meeting the needs of other mission-driven and susta