A friend of mine helps employee-owned companies get set up and running. When I first met him, this was my big question-- how do you get a business owner to jus

A friend of mine helps employee-owned companies get set up and running. When I first met him, this was my big question-- how do you get a business owner to just hand things over? Apparently a common model is that somebody builds up a business, and, on deciding to retire, sells the company. The current employees can be the purchasers, and they can, of course, compete with other potential purchasers. This can also happen at larger companies that run into troubles. For example, United Airlines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines): "The aftermath of the Gulf War and increased competition from low-cost carriers led to losses in 1991 and 1992. In 1994, United's pilots, machinists, bag handlers and non-contract employees agreed to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), acquiring 55% of company stock in exchange for 15% to 25% salary concessions, making the carrier the largest employee-owned corporation in the world." As you might expect, it is not the model that a group of workers agitate to have the company just handed over to them, and it is not the model that the "bastions of capitalism" just turn over shares for nothing.