The 50:50 Company
Creating equality and sustainability
What is a 50:50 Company?
The 50:50 Company is a new type of company that gives equal ownership to employees and users. Both groups hold 50% of the shares and jointly steer the company through democratic participation. We aim to balance fair working conditions with user-centered products.
Empowering Consumers
Half of a 50:50 company is owned by the users or buyers of a product or service. This way, they can make sure the offer matches their needs and prices are fair.
Led & owned by the Team
The other half of the company is owned by the people that work for it. The workplace becomes democratic with bottom-up structures, profit participation, and joint decision-making.
Purpose instead of Profit
Instead of optimising for return on investment of external shareholders, 50:50 companies seek a balance between great solutions for its customers and good working conditions for its workers.
How it works
In 50:50 companies users and the team work hand in hand to create the best outcome for everyone.
Products & Services
Developed together
50:50 companies create and improve their offerings with direct input from both employees and users. This way it is ensured that products and services meet actual needs and solutions are viable, fostering constant innovation and true relevance.
Representation
Bringing in everyone
Users and employees in 50:50 companies have equal say in decisions. Both groups can propose ideas and initiatives, with major decisions made through a democratic voting process. This structure empowers everyone involved, creating a more responsive and inclusive company.
Personal management
Decided on by the team
In 50:50 companies, teams self-organize through democratic processes. Employees vote on their leaders, ensuring fair representation and shared responsibility. This contrasts with traditional top-down management, promoting collaboration and equal influence.
Profit distribution
Shared amongst all of us
Profits in 50:50 companies aregenerally shared equally between employees and users. Rather than maximizing shareholder returns, these businesses reinvest in the communities and workforce, promoting long-term sustainability and shared prosperity.
50:50 Companies in real life
The concept of a 50:50 Company is brand new (as far as we are aware) and is now tried out for the first time. There are plans to apply the 50:50 principles to all sorts of business models ranging from traditional industries to modern startup concepts as well as brand new solutions for problems we're only just becoming aware of.
The 50:50 Vision
Our goal is to democratise business. The voices of the workforce and the needs of the users are decisive and given equal weight. The 50:50 Company aims to inspire a shift toward an economy thats values cooperative decision-making, purposeful innovation, and fair distribution of success. We want to proof that great working conditions and listening to users creates the best results for all of us.
We believe in working together instead of against each other.
We believe that people know more about what they need than investors do.
We believe that experienced teams come up with the best possible solutions, not managers.
We believe in ourselves.
We believe in you.
Get involved
In order to bring the 50:50 Company concept to life, we are dependent on active support. In addition to promoting the concept and the products and services offered through it in the form of discussions, networking or public placement, the following areas are particularly relevant:
Legal and tax expertise
We can use the help of experts, especially when developing the articles of association and legal agreements within the 50:50 structure. Also, identifying how to navigate taxation within the set of different companies is of high relevance.
Experience in creating organisations
We are happy to exchange ideas with people or organisations and researchers who are already creating innovative working methods, effective involvement of users and employees and similar structures.
Knowledge about finance structures
How can innovative ideas be provided with financial resources? In addition to public funding and possible support from the private sector (under the principles of the 50:50 Company), setting up internal funding mechanisms is an are you could support in.
Aspiring and seasoned founders
The 50:50 concepts offers founders an alternative that is characterized by its sustainable actions, existing infrastructure and its own attractive financing options.
Cargobike mechanics
The first 50:50 company - a cargobike subscription service - is looking for entrepreneurial people with a mechanics background and a drive to collaborate with the team and the users.
