Do you have any idea how stock retains value in an employee-owned situation like that? Seems like it needs buyers to work as a commodity-hence the pyramid scheme warning I guess lol. Thanks for sharing your experience! Really clarifying my understanding of coops and their potential limitations. (I realize calling these kind of very capitalist ESOPs coops is contentious)
So, from what I understand, an outside company comes and “values” the stock twice a year. It’s definitely based on “market fundamentals” like revenue, profit, comparisons to similar companies, etc. I don’t know a whole lot more than that, sadly. It started off at like 0.21$ in the 70s and it’s around $23 or something now.
I definitely know employees are able to buy stock once they hit 6 months employment or something like that. I think—but I’m not sure—that the company buys the stock back when you quit/retire (and you would have to reinvest in normal stock shit to not pay taxes then and there). I quit a few weeks ago with like 40 shares or something, I imagine they’ll take them and compensate me sometime soon if I’m right.
I think that’s what makes it literally like a pyramid scheme, in that new stock purchases fund the buybacks of retirees’ etc shares.
So it’s maybe not so much a commodity as a store of value or something (idk not super Marx-smart unfortunately). Or maybe company scripp!
Do you have any idea how stock retains value in an employee-owned situation like that? Seems like it needs buyers to work as a commodity-hence the pyramid scheme warning I guess lol. Thanks for sharing your experience! Really clarifying my understanding of coops and their potential limitations. (I realize calling these kind of very capitalist ESOPs coops is contentious)
So, from what I understand, an outside company comes and “values” the stock twice a year. It’s definitely based on “market fundamentals” like revenue, profit, comparisons to similar companies, etc. I don’t know a whole lot more than that, sadly. It started off at like 0.21$ in the 70s and it’s around $23 or something now.
I definitely know employees are able to buy stock once they hit 6 months employment or something like that. I think—but I’m not sure—that the company buys the stock back when you quit/retire (and you would have to reinvest in normal stock shit to not pay taxes then and there). I quit a few weeks ago with like 40 shares or something, I imagine they’ll take them and compensate me sometime soon if I’m right.
I think that’s what makes it literally like a pyramid scheme, in that new stock purchases fund the buybacks of retirees’ etc shares.
So it’s maybe not so much a commodity as a store of value or something (idk not super Marx-smart unfortunately). Or maybe company scripp!