Should companies be owned by their workers?

Private equity deals sometimes come with layoffs

To increase profits, private equity firms often try to streamline and consolidate operations within the companies they acquire as much as possible. They also often alter company business models, expanding into new product offerings and markets that could necessitate team changes.

See a database of large companies owned by private equity firms

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project tracked more than 200 companies owned by private equity with more than 7,000 employees. Companies on the list include J. Crew, Jersey Mike's Subs, Barnes and Noble, Panera Bread, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

American CEOs getting super rich has a lot to do with stock buybacks

In 1965, the pay gap between American CEOs and their workers was roughly 15-to-1. But by 2018, that ratio had ballooned to 220-to-1.

Activist investors use large ownership positions to influence companies

By holding large ownership positions, which often come with leveraged access to a company's board or the ability to force a shareholder vote, activist shareholders can change a company's corporate governance, leadership, and overall direction. Critics argue that activist shareholders hurt companies in the long term by prioritizing short-term higher shareholder returns over sustainability and growth efforts.

Private credit and private equity are both alternative assets

Like private equity fund managers, private credit managers typically raise funds directly from investors, lending to corporations. The borrowers can benefit from the lack of middlemen and resulting efficiency, and the lenders often yield comparatively higher returns.

Roughly 10% of US apartments were owned by private equity firms as of 2025

Almost half of those apartments were purchased after 2021. However, local community groups across the country are experimenting with ways to put residential and commercial real estate in the hands of community members.

The first private equity fund was launched in 1960

At the time, the industry—and the public's understanding of it—was rather limited, and few private equity firms existed until the 1980s. The first leveraged buyout is thought to have taken place in 1955.

Why companies go public

There are many ways the founders of private companies can make money off an exit. They could sell the company to a larger organization, for instance. But there are unique benefits to having a company listed on the stock market that aren’t often outlined in news alerts about IPOs.

Dual-class stock structures separate equity and decision-making authority

In the past few decades, dual-class stock structures have become an increasingly popular way for companies to raise capital in public markets without allocating traditional shareholder voting rights. Meta, Estée Lauder, and The New York Times are companies that are famously dual-class.

Do unions still work?

Workers everywhere from Starbucks to Uber have made headlines about unionizing—and some union experts argue that despite union membership being lower than it was in eras past, unions could still help the economy.

Family CEOs tend to prioritize a non-economic goal: keeping the business in the family

Companies led by family CEOs tend to prioritize corporate social responsibility, but they also tend to invest less in innovation and international growth. They also have more debt on average.

The wealthiest Americans own the vast majority of the stock market

Recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that the richest people in America own 93% of all the country's stock—the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks.

Remote work offers a way for companies to save money on office space

Before the pandemic, real estate costs were between 3% to 9% of the typical S&P 500 company's budget (with the exception of companies in the energy industry). Eliminating some or all of a company's expensive office leases is one way that companies can save money by adopting work-from-home models. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Working at a startup isn't for everyone, and is often more fast-paced than a run-of-the-mill job

Some argue that ideal startup employees have to be better than the average worker at managing uncertainty, acting with an "ownership" mindset rather than being a cog in the machine, and pushing limits.

One of Warren Buffett’s investing principles is investing in well-managed companies

The "Founders" podcast reviews biographies of the world’s top entrepreneurs, and this episode explores a 2012 book about Warren Buffett. The episode includes Buffett's advice on becoming a better business manager and investor.

Pay transparency 101

The star of this Harvard Business Review video interviews experts—from an organizational psychologist and business professor to a TikToker who asks people how much money they make—to get to the bottom of core issues about pay transparency. Why is talking about money becoming less taboo? How do pay transparency laws impact workers, employers, and office culture? Watch this video to find out.

Lenin’s “dictatorship of the proletariat” meant power held by workers, not elites

Lenin argued that capitalism concentrated power in a small ruling class, and only transferring authority to industrial workers could eliminate exploitation and class hierarchy. This five-minute explainer outlines how he envisioned that revolutionary shift.

The venture capital mindset is shaping the US into a 'portfolio state'

For decades, the US has operated as a low-regulation, private-sector-driven, globalized economy (also known as neoliberalism). In recent years, the Trump administration has taken direct stakes (rather than providing subsidies) in private companies with strategic products like semiconductors and rare earths. This paper argues the approach allows the US to capture the upside of growth.

Modern workplaces were engineered for efficiency, not work-life balance

Modern work organization traces back to 19th-century scientific management, an approach that optimized output by viewing workers as machine components. That logic still persists today and contributes to burnout, stress, and disengagement. Researchers propose a "circular work" model that combines effort with recovery, learning, and renewal, suggesting productivity and well-being should align rather than compete.

Market concentration and high markups don't always signal a monopoly

When regulators and economists evaluate whether a company constitutes an illegal monopoly, they often consider its overall market share or its relatively high price markups. This piece argues that the Olley-Pakes decomposition is a better measure, identifying whether customers within a market are switching to more productive companies.

The basics of private credit—plus why it matters in 2026

This podcast episode—one of the best we found for explaining the ins and outs of private credit—details how private credit became a significant lender for the tech industry, and how AI could disrupt private credit investments.

62% of independent workers said they would prefer permanent or non-contract work

In the consulting firm McKinsey’s 2022 “American Opportunity Survey,” 36% of employed respondents (about 58 million Americans) classified themselves as “independent workers.” But they’re not all thrilled about their current professional status.

How to find happiness at work

Can someone be happy at work? Harvard Business School professor and co-author (with Oprah Winfrey) of “Build the Life You Want” attempts to answer the enduring question in this video. Brooks strays from measuring one’s power, income, or title and instead emphasizes the importance of believing in one’s work and positively impacting others.

Why endowments took off at the turn of the century

After the Civil War, economic growth boosted philanthropy, much of it ending up in universities and colleges. Charles Eliot, the longtime president of Harvard, realized a university’s success was determined by how much money it could hold in the endowment. His approach to endowments radically changed their role in the modern university.

Some politicians have argued that Social Security should be privatized

Specifically, some assert that diverting funds into self-directed retirement accounts should replace Social Security taxes and benefits to some extent in a privatized retirement savings system. This article details the pros and cons of privatizing Social Security.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.