Employee Buyout - next revolution in Finance

If anyone would have predicted in 1985 that Buy-out firms would grow to the enormous size they have reached now you would not have been taken for serious. Like Hedge Funds the LBO firms were at the margins of the financial markets. So my prediction that Employee-led buyouts (EBOs) may well be the next frontier for financial markets will be laughed at by most - if not all - my readers. But just look at an - admittedly extreme - example: the purchase of a major sports team in the US. With a little bit of organisation - and help from some investment bankers keen to participate in this new trend - the players AS A GROUP (Union?) could easily demand a seat on the table during the sale negotiations. Would any potential purchaser really want to proceed with a transaction against the wish of the key asset that he might want to pay an immense amount of money for? Key problem: any employer would like to take the 'divide et impera' approach and outmanoeuvre employees or their representatives. That is why 'alternative' unions would play a key role. They may actually be outsiders who sign up staff and then hire investment bankers to act on their behalf. These outside professionals could not be picked off by employers as they are not under their control. EBOs would go a long way to alleviate the problems of rising income and wealth disparity and move towards a proper shareholder democracy.
(30 May 2014)