ButcherJoseph & Co. Director Tristan Tahmaseb joined FOX 2’s Off the Clock to talk about one of the biggest issues facing business owners today: what happens to a company when its owner is ready to retire.

Tristan explained why so many St. Louis business owners, many of them baby boomers nearing retirement, don’t have a plan in place for their business. He walked through how an ESOP works as an alternative to a third-party sale, letting owners sell to their employees while preserving continuity and legacy, and shared research showing employee owners build significantly more wealth than the average American household.

The Case for Employee Ownership

The typical American household has about $17,000 in savings, while the median wealth for an employee owner in an ESOP is roughly $165,000. Employee-owned businesses also tend to see higher retention and stronger engagement, since employees have a direct stake in the outcome.

For business owners, an ESOP can check several boxes at once: a fair price for the business, continuity of operations, and a legacy that includes the employees who helped build it.

ButcherJoseph’s Role in the St. Louis Employee Ownership Initiative

ButcherJoseph & Co. is a partner in the St. Louis Employee Ownership Initiative, a coalition of local partners working to raise awareness of employee ownership across the region. As Tristan noted, the ESOP structure has existed for decades and comes with meaningful incentives, but growth depends on more business owners simply knowing it’s an option.

The impact goes beyond any single transaction. When a business sells to its employees instead of an outside buyer, jobs tend to stay local, wealth stays with the people who built the business, and tax dollars stay in the community. For a region like St. Louis, that kind of continuity can have a real, lasting effect on the local economy.

Watch the full interview on fox2now.

To learn more about the St. Louis Employee Ownership Initiative, visit wepowerstl.org.