[steve_adams_86]

I won't argue that gifting the company would be innately bad. However, I don't think selling it to the workers is bad either.

I don't agree with the "founders take all" model where risk and initial investment trump all future efforts and contributions. At the same time, there are merits to creating, managing, and sustaining a company which deserves some reward. Selling the company to workers over 10 years at a price they can feasibly afford while still earning good salaries and maintaining good finances seems kind of perfect to me.

I don't know the specifics; perhaps the company had to go into debt and the acquisition was a precarious thing. Regardless, it seems to me that a scenario where the sale is fair to both parties in this way seems ideal. The founder/owner is compensated reasonably and the workers gain agency and control over the capitalization of their own labour.

That's only to say I don't think it would need to be a gift to the workers to still be a virtuous or good thing to do. If it was a gift, great, that's nice that the owner can afford this and the workers get an incredible windfall they can all share in. It doesn't seem innately good because it's a gift, though.