this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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Interesting - Publix is 255k and it says it's 'employee owned'. In fact most of the big ones are all Supermarkets for some reason. But it's an outlier in many ways, the next biggest is 22k, and the vast majority, 88%, are under 10k.
The rest are services (ambulance, call centers, tree services, maintenance) or for some reason architecture and engineering.
There's no software companies on there that I saw, which I think speaks, at least in part, to the issues I mentioned above about speed of decisions.
Software companies usually form as worker coops directly rather than using an ESOP mechanim
Here is a list worker coops: https://www.usworker.coop/directory/
There are some software companies in there under technology
Worker coops can delegate decision-making to managers and executives. This can ensure speedy decision-making. Having workers control the firm doesn't mean that every decision must be made by referendum. There can be delegation and more representative democracy
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I would say the software industry's long running undercurrent of libertarianism and anti-worker/anti-collective action is a bigger deterrent to co-ops not forming there.
For an example that does exist there, see Motion Twin.
I'm aware of the Peter Thiels of the world and (prior to that, Bill Gates) and so on, but it's also where FOSS lives and Open Source itself is a collectivist process, albeit a very slow one in most cases.
The lack of co-ops is (IMO) more likely due to timely processes related to decision making. New code can be deployed instantaneously, but direction and all the bells & whistles all take time and it's just about impossible in a traditional heirarchical organization. I'd expect if there was no single entity making decisions it'd take even longer to do basic things.