Moog Music Selling Iconic Synth Company Back to Employees Over Six Years

Moog Music, perhaps the most famous brand name in the synthesizer market, will be sold off to the company's employees over the next six years, according to current CEO Mike Adams. The plan comes in part as a way of fulfilling founder Robert Moog's dream for the ownership of the company.

Adams announced his plan to retire in 2021 from Moog Music...and that he had sold off nearly half of the company this week. "The good news is I sold it to all of you," he quickly clarified.

The "employee stock ownership plan" will begin by distributing 49 percent of the company to current employees of the firm, while Adams holds the other 51 percent (handy for shooting down any quick and overly ambitious ideas the current cast has for the break room). Adams has opened a trust fund that will lend employees the cash needed to slowly buy him out of his shares across the next six years, until Moog employees own the company entirely.

The company has seen an increase in growth and productivity over the last few years, and Adams foresees that if trends continued, the average employee will be able to retire with a $100,000 payout after working with Moog for a decade. Considering that Moog has a tendency to keep employees for far longer than that, it's the "ultimate pension plan." To date, profits at Moog are up nearly 50 percent from this point during 2014, a reflection of the company's size increase from 27 to 62 full-timers.

Apparently Moog himself had always envisioned leaving the company to his staff, however a 2005 fight with brain cancer didn't leave him enough time to put the plan in motion.

"Bob would be thrilled that Mike Adams realized this shared dream 14 years later," said his widow, Ileana Grams-Moog.

Moog founded Moog Music during 1953, producing theremins and then moving into synthesizers. As Billboard noted in its coverage, groundbreaking electronic acts such as Kraftwerk preferred the band, giving it credence. The company went into bankruptcy during 1986, going out of business during 1993. Moog began Big Briar and eventually reestablished the Moog Music name during 2001.

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