ustwo studios is today an employee owned business,
founded about 18 years ago by John Sinclair and Matt Miller.
Moving into this next stage to be able to hand the business over
to the partners now is the thing that's going to make us truly ustwo.
So an EOT is an employee ownership trust.
It's a mechanism according to UK law that allows founders to transfer ownership
to their employees.
So the trust is owning the business on behalf of our employees
and then our employees forever will own that equity via
the trust and the trust then manages that ownership on their behalf.
It's a bit like working at a partnership
where we're all partners in the business and we all have a stake.
It empowers the employees to feel like they are part
of the business and part of the financial success of a business
as well.
It's a way for us to stay independent and retain a lot of those values
and a lot of that culture that I think makes it a unique and special place.
And we think that will unlock energy and ideas
to take ustwo studios to a place that we could have never imagined.
Our clients will see that reflected in the value that we give to them.
There will obviously be more financial benefits for the employees in the future.
And then I think short term, getting more input
from the employees on strategic decisions that the board is making.
It's more popular in the UK, but I think it's something
that will find a very welcome audience in the United States.
So people are really curious about other ways of structuring organizations
and companies.
The main alternative probably would have been to do some sort of trade sale.
The risk with that is that you lose that culture
that you've been nurturing and developing.
In this day and age I think we see there's a fundamental question about
who does the business speak for or act on behalf of.
I want other founders who are sort of building businesses
like ours today to look at this ownership model
and for them to see that actually this is a potential route for them.
I think it's the right route isn't it?
I think the future of ustwo is
whatever ustwobies design it to be, and that's what's exciting.
Yeah. I can't wait to see what happens next.