Employee Buyout - EBO

A restructuring strategy in which employees buy a majority stake in their own firms. This form of buyout is often done by firms looking for an alternative to a leveraged buyout. Companies being sold can be either healthy companies or ones that are in significant financial distress.

For small firms, an employee buyout will often focus on the sale of the company's entire assets, while for larger firms, the buyout may be on a subsidiary or division of the company. The official way an employee buyout occurs is through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The buyout is complete when the ESOP owns 51% or more of the company's common shares.