Barkley, one of the largest ESOP-owned (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) ad agencies in the U.S., has transitioned ownership to its leadership team. The ESOP sold 100% of its shares back to the company at an all-time high valuation. As a result, a management group led by its executive team now owns 100% of the company’s stock.
Prior to this sale, a significant percentage of the stock was held by former Barkley employees. This change brings 100% of the shares back into the company and maintains Barkley’s competitive advantage as an independent agency. Barkley announced that it has retained all of its current leadership team through this process.
“This helps us preserve our strong culture and puts us in a great position to continue attracting and retaining the best talent in the industry,” said CEO Jeff King. “This process helped us create the best possible conditions to continue driving growth and providing exceptional value to our clients.”
“The ESOP was the right tool for the company to grow during the last 22 years,” said Dan Fromm, president and COO. “This new structure will be a catalyst for maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit that has always been at our core.”
Nintendo reports lower profits as demand drops for its aging Switch console
Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34% from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).
More than 74% of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn't break down quarterly numbers.
Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.
But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.
Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29% from the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales were forecast to drop 23% to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).
It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.
Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year's, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.
Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.
Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were "Paper Mario RPG," which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and "Luigi Mansion 2... Read More