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5by5 is now employee-owned

We’re thrilled to announce a big change for our agency — the introduction of our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

In short, this means we are becoming an employee-owned company. We’ve always been proud of our dedicated team who act like they own the place. Now, they actually do.

An ESOP is an employee benefits plan that enables employees to own part or all of the company they work for. The 5by5 partners have currently sold 30% ownership to the ESOP Trust with plans for that percentage to increase in the future.

Becoming an ESOP doesn’t change how 5by5 will operate. Our CEO Shannon Litton, Chief Development Officer Mike Schatz and President Josh Miller will still be active in the day-to-day operations of the agency. However, studies have shown that employee ownership firms increase their productivity and value significantly.

“Our success over the past decade is due to the great work our team does on behalf of our clients. Every time we made the Inc. 5000 list, we received inquiries about selling our agency. As we started seriously discussing our succession plans about four years ago, a client introduced us to the concept of an ESOP.” — Shannon Litton, CEO

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

No. In fact, implementing this ESOP allows 5by5's founder-owners to have the best of both worlds — purchase for the company they started, while at the same time continuing to lead and stay involved in the incredible change-making work of the agency.

Want to learn more?

If you're curious about our decision or about ESOPs in general, we'd love to talk with you about it.

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