Universal Screen Arts Becomes 100% Employee Owned

HUDSON, Ohio, March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Screen Arts -- a multi-brand direct-to-consumer marketer including the brands Signals, What on Earth, Bas Bleu, Support Plus, and Daedalus -- set in motion a strategy for continued stability and success by becoming a 100% employee-owned company in December of 2021. Universal Screen Arts was founded in 1983 with its first title, What on Earth, and has grown via acquisitions and partnerships to become one of the top multi-title direct marketers in the United States. Now, through the creation of an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), employees will earn shares in the business while working for Universal Screen Arts and share in its future long-term growth and continued success.

CEO and President, Matthew Bender, stated "Our founder and majority owner, Jared Florian, wanted to ensure the legacy of Universal Screen Arts. He and the leadership team wanted an ownership succession that maintained our company culture, our leadership team, our employees, our physical presence in our current locations, and provided the biggest wealth sharing opportunity to all our dedicated employees. An ESOP was the only solution that checked all these boxes. We are extremely excited about this next phase for Universal Screen Arts and look forward to sharing our future success with all of our new employee owners."

An ESOP is a qualified employee retirement plan that holds all the stock of Universal Screen Arts for the benefit of employees. Over time employees will accumulate company stock in their individual accounts and eventually be paid the value of those shares after they leave employment at retirement. "We are so excited and happy to offer this benefit to our dedicated team members" stated Hallie Sturgill, Chief Financial Officer.

"Our trusted advisors helped us make this dream a reality," notes Bender. The company received assistance from a team of professionals: David Solomon and Walker Duncan from Raymond James, Chuck Coyne and Dan Cooper from Empire Valuation Consultants, Tabitha Croscut from Divine Millimet, and Doug Sesnowitz from Ulmer & Berne LLP. "We also want to extend thanks to our banking partners," Bender added. "We worked with Huntington National Bank, Bank of America and CIBC with a special call out to Dan Waldeck and Stefanie Dormody from Huntington."

Universal Screen Arts joins 6,500 businesses with ESOPs in the United States, employing about 14 million employee owners. According to research compiled by the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), ESOP-owned companies tend to outperform others in their industry, retain employees longer in difficult times and provide an overall higher level of retirement benefits than companies that do not have employee ownership.

Universal Screen Arts, Inc.

Universal Screen Arts, Inc. is a leading internet retailer and mail-order cataloguer committed to strengthening the connections between our customers and their loved ones by providing thousands of unique and expressive gifts at affordable prices.

Contact: Alison Ganz
aganz@woecatalog.com 
330-650-5000 
www.universalscreenarts.com

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SOURCE Universal Screen Arts, Inc.