The Folio Society moves to Employee Ownership Trust

Following five successful years of consistent growth, The Folio Society has announced the sale of the publisher to its employees under the terms of an ‘EOT’, giving employees 100 per cent ownership of the company. With social enterprise, employee well-being and engagement driving the approach, The Folio Society will, like others such as John Lewis, Riverford and Richer Sounds, become a company owned by its employees via the Trust, whose only beneficiaries are those who work in the business.

The transition is the brainchild of CEO Joanna Reynolds. Shareholder and management board chair Kate Gavron and Reynolds are committed to new and inclusive approaches to company ownership that underpin the direction of this significant change. The move to an EOT reflects the values of Folio and is a trailblazing example of progressive sharing of power and profit in publishing.

The structure of the day to day business remains unchanged with the current management board remaining in post. It comprises Joanna Reynolds, CEO; Urmi Dutta-Roy CFO; Tom Walker Publishing Director; Emma Lawson Marketing Director and Mark Mainstone Business Services Director, who, with the addition of Brian Edwards as the non-executive Chair are the company directors. An employee council and The Folio Society Trust are the other key elements of the structure.

Commenting on the change in ownership, Kate Gavron said: “The shareholders are delighted by the creation of an Employee Ownership Trust for The Folio Society. I am certain that my late husband, Bob Gavron, who bought the company in 1982, would have approved enthusiastically. Folio is a publisher of beautiful books, created to the highest editorial standards and with outstanding design and illustration. It is fitting that the new owners should be the employees, as they are the people who have made it what it is today. I am confident that Folio has an exciting and successful future under the leadership of Joanna Reynolds, with an excellent management team supported by Brian Edwards as Non-Executive Chair.”