Founders of Aardman Animations have decided to transfer the company’s ownership to its employees.
Ownership of the multi-award-winning animation studio to its employees in order to ensure that the company retains its independence in an era of mergers and acquisitions. What this essentially means is that a majority of shares will be transferred to a trust, while senior management remains in their positions and form an executive board.
The decision was made by founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who founded Aardman in 1972. They explained their decision in a statement saying, “We’re not quitting yet, but we are preparing for our future. This approach, the creation of an employee trust, is the best solution we have found for keeping Aardman doing what it does best, keeping the teams in place and providing continuity for our highly creative culture. And of course, those that create value in the company will continue to benefit directly from the value they create.”
“We’ve spent so much time building this company up and being so profoundly attached to it. It’s not a business to us, it’s everything, it’s our statement to the world,” the two added. “Having done that for so many years, the last thing we wanted to do was to just flog it off to someone.”
Aardman’s best known for Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit.
