This is what the family wanted: the creator of a toy empire transferred a multi-million dollar company to employees (5 photo)

British businessman and co-founder of the toy store chain The Entertainer, Gary Grant, has decided to hand over his empire to his employees. This gesture is due to the desire of the man's family to leave a legacy for everyone involved in this business.





Harry and his wife Catherine opened their first establishment in 1981, and during this time they managed to build an entire "Toy Empire" worth more than 250 million pounds, the BBC reports.

Journalists write that now more than 1900 employees of The Entertainer chain will have the right to control the business after the owner refuses it. All 100% of the assets the man and his family plan to transfer to a trust, which will be managed by the company's staff with the help of authorized persons.

This will allow everyone who has devoted themselves to work in the chain for years to receive "a share of the profits and will have influence over the company's activities." Under the terms of the trust, owned by the employees, Grant and his family will also receive financial benefits. They will receive a payment for the transfer of their 100% of the shares, which will be covered from the profits of the business over time.

The company reported a pre-tax profit of £6.7m in its latest annual accounts for the financial year ending January 2024.



Two of Mr Grant's four children work for the company, but he says they have "other plans for their lives". After careful succession planning that considered various exit options, the family chose an employee trust.

The business owner himself explained his decision at home with arguments - this is an unwillingness to sell the business for money and to leave it in reliable hands.

"If the business was simply sold for money, it would not be the passing of the baton in the way the family would like it to be," the businessman says frankly in an interview, adding that the first payments to employees will begin in January 2027.





The media points out that The Entertainer chain has several unusual features: it receives its greatest amount of income on the eve of Christmas, and a significant number of employees - almost 400 - have been working in the company for more than ten years, and about 50 - for more than twenty years.



"We would be very worried if we sold the business to a company with values that are fundamentally different from those that we have built over the past 44 years. This is a win-win situation for each of our employees," the owner stated.