Meaning & use
employee buyout
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Meaning
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A situation in which the employees of a company buy a large part or all of that company, often to keep it running or to control its future.
Grammar: Countable: an employee buyout, two employee buyouts. Often used with 'a' or 'the'.
Patterns
- an employee buyout of something
- a management and employee buyout
- the company was sold in an employee buyout
The factory closed after the employee buyout failed.
An employee buyout can protect jobs when an owner wants to sell.
The staff organized an employee buyout of the local newspaper.
Word forms
| plural | employee buyouts |
|---|
Common combinations
- employee buyout of a company
- The employee buyout of the company was completed last year.
- management and employee buyout
- The management and employee buyout gave workers a share of the business.
- proposed employee buyout
- The proposed employee buyout was discussed at the meeting.
- employee buyout plan
- They presented an employee buyout plan to the board.
Synonyms and how they differ
- management buyout
- A management buyout is when the managers, not all the employees, buy the company; an employee buyout usually involves a wider group of workers.
- worker takeover
- This is a less formal phrase for workers taking control of a company; 'employee buyout' is the standard business term.
Word family
- buyout noun
- the act of buying all or most of a company
- employee noun
- a person who is paid to work for a company
Commonly confused: employee buyout or takeover?
employee buyout vs takeover
A takeover is when one company buys another; an employee buyout is when the employees buy their own company.
Practice
What is an employee buyout?
Choose one answer.
An employee buyout is when the workers buy the business. The other options describe different situations and do not match the meaning of 'buyout'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “employee buyout”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.