Steve2023

ESOP Guy - Thanks for the input; much appreciated!

I left my former company a few years ago and, unfortunately, the ESOP plan has been losing value every year since. I did take a distribution when I turned 55 last year and, in a few years, I'll be able to start collecting payments every year (20%/year for five years). I just received a letter stating that the ESOP plan was recently amended to allow for a one-time offer to terminated/vested employees (which I am) to receive a distribution from the plan. The amount they are offering is roughly 40% of the amount I have left in the plan (which is all in stock). I've reached out to other people who have left this company and they've also received the same letter (with the flat rate same amount). Since the plan has been going down ever since I've left (probably down about 25-30%) I'm very tempted to take this offer (I have until mid-November to decide) but I'm curious as to why it would be offered in the first place. I know that there are no more shares to allocated to new employees so this could be a way to buy back shares for them. Would it also be advantages for the company to buy back shares in they were looking to sell it? Curious to see what other people think and what they would do in this situation.